Science Times celebrates the 50th anniversary of Sputnik, which changed everything - history, geopolitics, the scientific world. The US dollar hit to new record low against the euro as investors fretted about a world credit crunch. The Democratic chairman of a House committee complained Tuesday that the State Department was blocking his panel’s efforts to investigate the private security firm Blackwater USA and its operations in Iraq. How To Lose All Your Friends Immediately,......

A patient at South Austin Hospital started a fire in his room with a lighter yesterday. Charges may be filed if he survives the severe burn damage he suffered as a result of the fire. Our fair city is among those that the music industry is focusing on for their investigation into CD piracy. Public school students will have to find a new way to get their caffeine/sugar fix. The AP reports that coke/soda/pop......

The hip-hop references alone had us smitten… we would like to add our gyrating crotch to the many crotches already gyrating upon the leg of Gary Shteyngart. His latest novel, Absurdistan, kept us rapt for the past week. Goncharov's Oblomov and Biggie Smalls alluded to in one book, frequently... who does that? Absurdistan is the narrative plea issued by the extremely corpulent man-child Misha Vainberg, "son of the 1,238th richest man in Russia," to regain......

Thinking of taking quick jont down to mexico for a little border town shopping? Or maybe you just want to fly up north to visit our friendly Canadian neighbors. If you do, you had better start dusting off your passport. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, to be phased in by 2008 in three proposed stages, will require travelers to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and the Caribbean to present passports to gain admittance back into the United......