Howdy istites. My name's Mike Dahmus, otherwise known all around various ratholes of the internet as M1EK, and I've been invited to write an honest-to-goodness post instead of a wimpy little comment. Normally, I crackplog ("crackplot blog") at my own place, M1EK's Bake-Sale of Bile, which is "Mostly Austin. Mostly Transportation. Mostly Bile.". I served on the city's Urban Transportation Commission from 2000 to 2005, before Daryl Slusher gave me the boot for being insufficiently slavish to Mike Krusee's plan to screw Austin's rail fans forever. I've been writing that crackplog since about 2003, starting in the run-up to the commuter rail disaster. ...

Thousands of monkeys are invading government buildings in Delhi, forcing employees to arm themselves with sticks and stones in case they are attacked. David Byrne and Thom Yorke on the Real Value of Music at Wired magazine. Britney Spears' 16-year-old sister, who stars as a schoolgirl in Nickelodeon's popular TV show "Zoey 101," is pregnant. She met the father at church. Reuters photographs of the year The Pirate Bay just launched their new music......

Russian Premier, er, we mean President Putin using Soviet-style measures to suppress political opposition? The evidence just keeps on rolling in... Yesterday, British forces formally handed the province of Basra to the Iraqi government. This is the ninth province transferred to Iraqi control by American-led forces since July 2006. The week-long U.N. climate-change conference, held in Bali, ended last Friday. A ranking has been released showing which countries have the most proactive greenhouse gas......

Former Dallas resident Nancy Rose McGowan, 26, was thrown in Travis County Jail yesterday after authorities discovered that she lacked a state board license and, more disconcertingly, any kind of formal education in pharmacy work whatsoever. McGowan had been working at the CVS Pharmacy at 4405 E. Riverside Drive for the past two months, and actively filled prescriptions using the names "Amber Mclendon" and "Amber Shcherbelis."...

City Council Member Lee Leffingwell and the City of Austin seek resident and visitor input alike for a major City of Austin website redesign via the Austin Go survey. Up until January 4th, you can tell the gub'ment just how you'd like their new-fangled webhighwaytubes to assist you by filling out the online survey on such topics as how you use the City of Austin site, how you'd like to see it improved, and how you rate redesign areas such as navigation, timeliness and accuracy of the online information the city provides, and security of personal information....

AFS Essentials: Les Amants Réguliers Tuesday, November 27thAlamo Drafthouse Downtown (320 E 6th Street)6:15pm, $4 / Free for AFS members[info]Poor Philippe Garrel. He has made dozens of films over the last four decades, but has been mostly overlooked stateside because he didn't fit into the tidy (or not so tidy) box of French New Wave, thereby not enjoying the peripheral fame brought about by heavy hitters such as Godard, Truffaut, or Melville. In truth,......

Photo by jcolman on flickrSam Kambo has been living in Texas since 1994 when he came to Austin to attend UT. After his graduation from UT, he worked for the LCRA. At least, he did until the fall of 2006, when he was arrested and detained in San Antonio for allegedly taking part in a mass murder. Before Kambo came to Texas, he was one of eight leaders of a coup in Sierra Leone in......

Fantastic Fest '08 Badges are on sale now! VIP badges sold out while the '07 festival was still running, but there are some new ticket options for '08 including "2nd Half" and "Daytime Only" badges. UT Professor Ellen Spiro and Talkshow Host Phil Donahue's doc "Body of War" has made the Oscar shortlist. Check out Chris Garcia's interview with Spiro here. The Belgian government has honored four Austin filmmakers for their documentary work. We......

The first U.S. troop cutback in Iraq has officially begun. The tentative working title for this one is "Operation Mistake Acknowledgment." Human rights organization takes the Kenyan police force to task on allegations of mass murder. In order to prevent the "destruction of culture," the French government has outlawed certain forms of P2P downloading. Event is referred to as a "victory" for the recording industry. Oh reeeeally? Economist suggests that we could soon know......

Photo by DESMONDWYSON on flickrGov. Rick Perry and his staff are holding off on hitting the "delete" key, thanks to the work of a political activist. John Washburn of Milwaukee programmed his computer to automatically send out two requests a week for all government e-mail generated by Perry staffers. Under state law, records aren't supposed to be destroyed once somebody has asked for them. The governor's office said they will comply with Washburn's requests, which......

It's official! A California boy playing with matches started a 38,000 acre fire. Victoria's Secret in hot water over releasing scantily-clad dolls. Sex is a no-no in the cabins inside the new jumbo airliner, The Airbus A380. The State of Texas and Travis County are both suing the developer who polluted Hamilton Pool. Remember that military contractor that killed innocent people in Iraq, your government is reportedly granting them immunity. The House passes legislation......

A new 668-page report by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission has declared that Texas has too many state reports. The 18-month-long project surveyed over 170 agencies, public colleges, and universities, all of whom are required by the State Legislature to generate a periodic report of some sort. The task force anticipated dealing with about 400 of these reports; the final tally exceeded 1,600 before investigators evidently decided they'd had enough. "At first, we......

Watch the northeastern sky at 7:06pm tonight for the shuttle. Austin ad firm GSD&M loses part of the AT&T account. Statesman has a story on the split between LBJ High School and the magnet school housed therein. Crimestoppers looking for a man who followed a woman home from HEB and attempted to rob her earlier this month. Someone is mutilating cats in the San Antonio area. $3,000 from the feds isn't enough to convince......

Proposition 12 on the November 6 ballot would authorize the Texas Transportation Commission to issue up to $5 billion in general obligation bonds for highway improvement projects. That means TTC could borrow $5 billion dollars, spend it building new highways and require that the $5 billion be repaid by general revenue (taxes). This is being widely touted as a "stopgap" measure allowing the state to put off making a decision on how it will pay......

Louisiana elects the first Indian-American to ever serve as governor of a U.S. state. Is nuclear power (excuse us, we meant "nuke-ular") in the cards for America's post-petroleum energy future? Greenpeace takes issue with the environmental friendliness of the iPhone. Bill that seeks to increase court control over government surveillance passes through the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee. The ISP war against file sharers intensifies; BitTorrent comes under heavy fire. Prediction: Apple + Google =......

Senator Larry E. Craig of Idaho will remain in the Senate despite calls for his resignation. Myanmar junta summons U.S. envoy for talks. Ig Nobel awards celebrate jet-setting Viagra-using hamsters and our military's attempt to make a "gay bomb." East Sixth Street, between Pedernales and Robert Martinez, now open after yesterday's train accident caused it to be closed. North Korea agrees to dismantle "all" of its nuclear facilities by the end of the year.......

Last Friday in Houston, a young girl brought a loaded 9mm pistol to school and started pointing it at people. She is 12 years old. The U.S. Supreme Court's new term starts this week. Why exactly is socialized medicine such a bad idea? Interesting article... The guy who tried to extort $1 million from Tom Cruise commits suicide. Article about the bloggers who helped bring the story of recent government oppression in Burma to......

Swedish pirates turn the tables on Big Media! Arrr! Iranian Prez Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia University today. Myanmar: Buddhist monks stage largest anti-government demonstrations in 20 years. $100 laptop to hit market in North America this fall. The White House switches its strategy on having peace talks with "evil" countries. The Governator is calling for a boycott of firms who do business with Iran. Study: Less sleep = more dreams......

Another Friday means another round of fresh outta the box movies. With summer's end possibly mere weeks away, these are our last days to indulge in the pastime of escaping Austin's scorching good vibes to sit in distracted air-conditioned comfort. And in some parts of the country it's already fall, which means there's a bumper crop of new movies out! The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: On one hand, this period......

Fat Man and Little Boy seem like innocuous pejorative phrases, possibly used to tease other kids on the monkey bars, but when associated with a date, specifically August 6th and 9th, 1945, those words become something else altogether. No longer mere verbal darts, those words evoke images of pillars of fire and shredded skin, of a war certainly ended, but possibly not won. Wednesday night, Academy Award winning director Steven Okazaki will take you on......

Austin's PBS affiliate KLRU-TV received a record 21 Emmy nominations from the Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The awards dinner will take place in Dallas on Saturday, October 27th. The complete list of KLRU honors includes: KLRU producer Elena Ramirez (Public/Current/Community Affairs Feature Segment category), for her story "Getting By in Austin." This documentary, which aired on Austin Now, focused on the difficulty of families making minimum wage......

Iraq to review all security contractors working within its borders, after Blackwater screwup kills eight over the weekend. What the hey, they're an autonomous government. Right? Clinton to public: Can I have a health-care do-over? Racism ain't dead, for the 897th time. Mayor Wynn doesn't drive a hybrid, but he will, he tells Sprig.com. Senator Craig is getting support from the ACLU, which has got to sting. Everybody's leaving Britney. Why didn't FOX let......

Austin’s rising population and stagnant housing supply have resulted in increased housing prices. Even though there are a lot of condos under construction, few have hit the market. Our pal Wells Dunbar over at the Chronicle has a nice article discussing the complicated answers to the problem of affordable housing. One undiscussed simple answer would be to get people to stop moving to Austin. Despite our commenters efforts, that plan isn't working [ed: isn't......

An earthquake in Indonesia brings fears of possible tsunami in Indian Ocean. One year into serving as Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe is resigning. Another government shakeup: Putin is dissolving Russia's current government in preparation for upcoming elections. Aviator Fossett still lost, but six other lost planes have been found in the search for his plane. US Senate will hold hearing on toy safety today. Doesn't Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson deserve better than playing Carrie......

New Yorker Leona ("Queen of Mean") Helmsley seals her fate as a heartless biatch by leaving $12 million, the majority of her will, to her dog. Lindsay Lohan checklist: Coke possession. Check. Arrested. Check. Sex Scene? Check! With his last official day of work approaching this Friday, Karl Rove's car got Saran Wrapped and slapped with an I Heart Obama sticker. Straight out of the 18th century--drug dealer gets tarred, feathered while holding a......

Pseudosix Pseudosix (Sonic Boom) Pseudosix began as Tim Perry's solo project, but quickly became a group effort with Emil Amos (Grails, Dolorean), Joe Kelly, and a handful of other local, talented friends. The band has written and recorded with pals from Joggers, Decemberists and The Standard in their relatively short existence, but the impetus has been barreling towards this release since back in the day when Perry wrestled with the nerve to perform live,......

In recent weeks, news out of Austin City Hall hasn't been too great. In fact, as more and more stories of "improper" or, shall we say, "uncomfortable" relationships between our elected officials and businesses float to the surface, it looks as though one of the nation's most admired muncipal governments may, in fact, be a tad more crooked than we all thought. Of course, only time will tell, but things are not looking so good......

Between claiming that we need more highways no matter how we pay for them and promoting Smithville as an affordable alternative to living in Austin (commute to Austin, Houston or San Antonio!), it was easy to miss the Statesman's publication of a new rant by developer Ed Wendler, Jr., in which Wendler points out that downtown condos are expensive and says that "Austin should abandon the idea that it is encouraging downtown living to......

Next year's Olympic Games in Beijing won't be quite as explosive as Neo-Tokyo's futuristic Games. From the title character's astonishing powers to Tetsuo's astonishing rage, Akira represents a truly revolutionary advance in anime, not to mention some prescient observations about the unchecked ruthlessness of government. A ground-breaking anime film, Akira was one of the first displays of truly excellent animation. Adapted from Katsuhiro Otomo's manga series (also called Akira), the movie follows both delinquents and......

Banner week for SFist as the site's new editor introduced himself -- hooray for Brock! While the NY Times weighed in on SF's mayoral race, only SFist had the (insert tongue firmly into cheek) hard-hitting latest on candidate/activist Josh Wolf. Coverage of a protest vs. gentrification spawned a fantastic debate amongst SFist's readers. Finally, from the sublime to the ridiculous: video of a man that confused a Board of Supes meeting with "open mic......