His plan worked!! A judge tossed Ken Lay's conviction. He is now free to rise from the dead and roam freely. A 54-year-old Violinist sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl he met at band camp. Parmesan Cheese is the most stolen item in Italy. Anyone know the most commonly stolen item in the US? We're thinking it isn't cheese. We are internet addicts. After surpassing the 300 million population mark on Tuesday, we're still unhappy.......

This has been a rough week for your -ist pals, though you wouldn't know it from the great posts all over the network. Plagued with server problems, our tech team (led by the great Neil Epstein) toiled around the clock to solve the glitches as they arose. Seriously, we've said, typed, and thought the phrase "server problems" more in the past week than we have for the last 35 years combined. Why not say it......

Torontoist immediately wins our heart by using the word "Jackass" in a headline. In fact, we love their use of it so much that we're going to use it as much as possible throughout this post. For example, it looks like there are Toronto-area jackasses besides those who misuse the sidewalk: look at the crap on sale on Toronto's craigslist. But it looks like Toronto doesn't contain the kind of jackasses who pee in public......

LAist is flashing a sad peace out to their editor Carolyn Kellogg with one hand and bumping knuckles with their new head typist L.A. blogger king Tony Pierce with the other. Where do ist editors go when they hang up the 'editorial we'? They take on MySpace, apparently. At least Ben Brown does. Austinist reminds us of the just rewards of less savory careers this week and then they witness the Arctic Monkeys and We......

After 16 weeks of testimony, the jury has come back. And fairly quickly. The Smartest Guys in the Room now know their fates. Jeff Skilling (28 counts) Guilty on Conspiracy and all counts of Security Fraud charges. Not guilty on charges 42-51 (insider trading). Ken Lay (6 counts) Guilty on Conspiracy and all counts of Security Fraud charges. Experts think the two men will receive close to 20-25 years for their misdeeds. It is......

This Friday marks the opening of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room at the Dobie and South Lamar Alamo theaters. The film was in Austin about a month ago when it showed at SXSW, so some of you lucky ones may have already seen it. (Also? It's based on the book of the same name.) None of that really matters though. Austinist just wants you to go see this film. We know. It's......

FRIDAY [fun] Austinist contributors Katie Spence & Reed Becker will be wandering around Austin's "financial district" wearing Ken Lay masks in support of the new documentary film, "Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room" - 2ish this afternoon [art] Tex-Mex Casserole Opening Party at Flux (new collaborative work from Dennis Hodges & Brandon Petree. 6-10) [music] Crack Pipes Record Release party at Beerland (with John Schooley & His One-man Band) [music] True Penny at El......