Austinist is considering offering a weekly advice column in the vein of Dear Abby, Salon's Cary Tennis, and Slate's Dear Prudence (among other columnized advice givers). We need your help in getting this started. ...

Britain creates new drug to combat obesity...dog obesity. Dear Abby supports gay marriage. A London judge has found nine lies in Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, orders disclaimer to air before being played in schools. The Empire State Building will glow green for the end of Ramadan this year. In China, there is a 95-year old woman growing a horn out of her forehead. Houston ISD is thinking of charging students (and their parents)......

...the 2006 ArtSpark Festival Let's hop in our magical Austinist Time Machine and go back 12 weeks. (Cue flashback music.) You're sitting in an "apricot flower colored" conference room. (Does that mean apricot colored...or something else?) You've just had a fun evening of "food and games." Someone hands you an envelope that contains the following "sparks": Mars, Nu Wave music, and internet dating, with topical support materials including cartoons, guitar tabs, articles, lyrics, and......