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Texas Tech coach (and head pirate) Mike Leach has told social networking sites Twitter and Facebook to walk the plank after some recent online postings by his players. more ›

A comic strip exploring Northern European contact styles. more ›

Each Friday, we'll be offering up a sampling of Longhorn- and Big 12-related sports coverage making its way around the Web. This week: the Q package reincarnated, some sports gambling, and a good old-fashioned brawl. more ›

Five days later, the reverberations of Sergio Kindle's crushing tackle of quarterback Taylor Potts in the Longhorns' 34-24 win over Texas Tech are still being felt. In a four-second burst of speed and power, the 255-pound Kindle blasted past Marlon Winn in 10 steps and crashed into Potts, knocking the quarterback's helmet off, the ball from his hand, and dislodging his contact lens. Watching the play again and again (as Texas fans have done all week), you wonder how Potts was able to recover. more ›

Shawn Gillespie completed the city's newest, and perhaps longest, mural, called "The Austinites" on September 16th. As Gillespie was dabbing on the last bits of purple paint, Leslie Cochran dropped by to inspect his portrait. Leslie, best known for his minimalist approach to cross-dressing, then said, “I really like your art, but could you give me a little more hair?” The artist obliged, but drew the line at larger breasts. Now you will always know where to find a formally attired version of Austin's best known street person: the south wall of the Hickory Street Bar and Grill. more ›

Two of the biggest technology names in Texas have joined forces Monday as Dell acquired Perot Systems by $3.9 billion. more ›

Leave the tandem jumps to lesser men and women. Tandem jumping is like eating your favorite ice cream with a balloon tied around your tongue. It’s like being introduced to Leonard Cohen through his 80s synth recordings. After all, you made up your mind to jump, possibly to your messy doom - really only about 30 people die from this a year - out of an airplane and paid good money for it. Wouldn’t you rather experience the full effect? If so, call up Texas Skydiving in Lexington, ask about the AFF program. more ›

Each Friday, we'll be offering up a sampling of Longhorn- and Big 12-related sports coverage making its way around the Web. This week: ESPN at UT, some zealous oddsmakers, and some contradictory reporting. more ›

Each week, we'll look at some reasons to taunt, belittle, and bully the Longhorns' football opponent. This one's almost too easy: the Texas Tech Red Raiders. more ›

Years ago, when I was researching a story for the Dallas Morning News, I interviewed a therapist who worked with abused kids. At that point I’d been a working journalist for maybe fifteen years and I think this was the first time I cried on the job. The story that got to me involved a little boy who had been presented with one of those bounce-back bop toys— you punch it, it goes down, then it pops back up. The boy was asked to say three things that upset him about his neglectful mom, and he was allowed each time to hit the bag. This he accomplished with ease. Then, a harder task was presented: Name three good things about your mother and hug the bag. He hesitated, unable to think of a single good memory until, at last, one came to him. more ›

Last Saturday, as Colt McCoy's passes floated in the thin Wyoming air and the senior quarterback was struggling through a first-half performance that was not up to his usual high standards, an old and feared monster reared its head: The Fickle Fan. more ›

Here's the deal: Have you ever been in a room full of hardcore computer geeks? You know how they talk in a different language, even though they're still speaking English? You know how it's more confusing than if they were, say, speaking Aramaic? Well... That's kind of how I felt sitting in the living room surrounded by these hardcore football geeks. I mean, sure, I understand football, but this is different. This is work. Pencil-behind-the-ear, squinty-eyed, brain-straining work. Research. Analysis. Statistics. Psychology. Stacks of paper. Extensive Google searching. Limiting beer intake to maintain clarity... more ›

Spawn Labs debuts the "Slingbox for video games", City Hall throws a party for game developers, CA buys NetQoS for $200 million, and UT alumnus Bob Taylor sits down to talk about inventing the Internet. more ›

Each Friday, we'll be offering up a sampling of Longhorn- and Big 12-related sports coverage making its way around the Web. This week: Injuries north and south of the Red River, a reality check for Texas' new kick returning sensation, and just a touch of swine flu. more ›

Each week, we'll look at some reasons to taunt, belittle, and bully the Longhorns' football opponent. Say howdy to the Wyoming Cowboys. more ›

Last week may have set a record for the number of college football stories that included the word "vomit". It had nothing to do with ESPN showing Kenny Chesney singing at nearly every commercial break, though: Swine flu is taking its toll on athletes across the country. more ›

High tech might be in survival mode right now, but Capital Factory, a new start-up accelerator, is trying to find the next big thing. Last April, Capital Factory solicited business proposals from entrepreneurs.They hoped for 100; they received over 200. On May 22nd they selected five teams and gave them a modest amount of cash and access to 20 experienced mentors: the founders of the Capital Factory, itself a start-up. The five companies, many with only an idea and name, had ten weeks to refine their business plans. On Wednesday, September 9th, the teams gave ten minute a brief pitch to around 250 investors, engineers and the general public at the AT&T Executive Conference Center on the UT Campus. more ›

So, I had a job interview this week. I have no idea how I did. Maybe I was impressively assertive, just the right amount of I-am-so-fabulous-yet-appropriately-humble proclamations emitting from my piehole. Or perhaps I fool myself. Maybe I was way too Jersey, and that what I hope came across as confidence instead sounded like Yo, you give me the job or I breaka you face. Either way, it was an interesting exercise and gave me a chance to reflect on a few things while I wait to hear back if I got the gig. Do you remember that scene in Bladerunner where the investigator is sitting across from a replicant but he’s not sure if the guy is a replicant so he asks a question designed to prompt a certain response that will reveal the truth? I believe the question was, Tell me about your mother. And the replicant says, My mother? I’ll tell you about my mother. And then he blows the guys to smithereens laying the groundwork for Harrison Ford to, among other things, spend the rest of the flick lusting after Sean Young while the rest of us drool over Daryl Hannah. (I mean, really, was she hot or what?) more ›

An Austin semiconductor company announced today it has produced a power amplifier that could mean a huge leap forward for any mobile phone's performance, cost, battery life, and reliability. more ›

This week, I signed up for a Speed Dating event. It seemed like a pretty fertile subject. What could be more fascinating than a whole bunch of single folks in varying states of desperation and curiosity trying to find true love in four minutes or less? That's kind of like randomly meeting someone on the street... more ›

Each Friday, we'll be offering up a sampling of Longhorn- and Big 12-related sports coverage making its way around the Web. This week: Hell, this week is game week. more ›

Each week, we'll look at some reasons to taunt, belittle, and bully the Longhorns' football opponent. There's certainly better material to work with later in the season (Oklahoma, A&M, Tech), but the University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks are up first more ›

A little after 8 o'clock on Saturday, the Texas Longhorns will be cruising to a victory over outmatched University of Louisiana-Monroe. Colt McCoy and most of UT's other stars will be resting on the sidelines while subs and first-year players mop up in what is little more than an organized scrimmage. And as you consider leaving early to get a jump on the crowd at Rio Rita, you'll ask yourself, "I paid $65 for this?". more ›

I heard Meat Loaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Light the other day and the muse screamed at me to tell you all why PBTDL is possibly the greatest pop song ever written, how magnificently it captures teenage angst, hormones, and the power of pussy in negotiations. So there I was, all set to wax poetic on Ellen Foley’s dramatic interpretation and beautiful pipes. And I was even going to give a nod to Scooter Rizzuto. Then I was going to tie it all into the radio conversation I started here last week by putting forth the theory that the real reason Paul and Larry got cut back has nothing to do with money or ratings, but simply because they didn’t play near enough Meat Loaf. But then… then something happened at the Elvis Costello show and blew that imagined column to hell. Because you will not, will not, will not believe what I witnessed at the Bass Concert Hall on Tuesday night. But I have just got to tell you anyway. more ›