A Straight Dope message board member attempted to waterboard himself, then shared all the details. It's as close to feeling tortured as most of us will ever experience. A hundred years after Freud, one man may have figured out why we dream. You'll never think the same way about nightmares again. Exhaustive Sesame Street video archive makes searching for your favorite old clips easier than ever. Oh, and maybe your kid will be into......

Beginning of the end? First baby boomer files for Social Security. The Rockies are going to the World Series. No, not the Rockettes. The Rockies. The South is thirsty. Not metaphorically. China is, like, the only entity in the world that doesn't love the Dalai Lama. Greenpeace says the iPhone is toxic. Small boys rejoice: a giant new dino has been found in Argentina. Led Zep finally gets with the program.......

Add 197,000 names to the laundry list of people hurt by data and identity theft, as the University of Texas announced yesterday that the computer system for the McCombs School of Business was hacked by an "unknown person or persons" from April 11th to April 21st, when the breach was discovered due to unusual activity within the system. In a press conference Sunday evening, President William Powers assured that no financial or academic information......

On Saturday, former US Congressman James Jarrell "Jake" Pickle died at the age of 91. His was a legacy of extraordinary accomplishments. Born and raised in West Texas, Pickle went on to attend UT Austin, where was a champion swimmer and senior-year student body president. After a stint in the US Navy during WWII, Pickle went on to serve in the House of Representatives for over three decades. When the Civil Rights Act of......

Soon, we'll be able to add the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and all the good they've done this country to the list of progressive measures our country has taken over the last 100 years, a list that already includes Social Security, the Kyoto treaty, and innumerous social and governmental practices, that the Bush administration has attempted to dismantle. In what seems to us like an effort to silence all dissenting press, even if that......

In the news today: 1 out of 3 Texans don’t have health insurance. In response to that, “small businesses that have fewer than 50 employees are now allowed to band together to form a small business insurance coalition” to help mitigate the cost. [Source] Get a haircut to benefit Travis County at-risk children! Today from 8:30 AM - 6:00 PM, your haircut at Jackson Ruiz Salon will benefit CASA of Travis County. The trial......

We at the Austinist know how some of you love to broadcast your political affiliations through your bumper stickers. We find reading the spirited phrases helps us to pass the time while stuck in traffic. And we think some of the stickers are quite clever. After all, you really can't hug children with nuclear arms! Additionally, we're sure you've kept up with the rising number of President Bush's exclusive "public" speeches concerning Social Security. Bumper......