The death toll from the cyclone that hit Bangladesh is over 3,000 now; the UN says a million people have been left homeless. We're (*cough*) so surprised: Austin named the fall allergy capital of the nation. Alberto Gonzales didn't have an easy time speaking at the University of Florida last night. After child workers were found at one of their factories in India, Gap is determined to improve working conditions there. US Military calls......

Image by the "Subway Cyrano," from GothamistNew York City was at its strangest and swellest this week. On Sunday, tens of thousands people ran in the NYC Marathon, including Mrs. Tom Cruise, aka Katie Holmes, who ran it in just under 5 hours, 30 minutes. Gothamist also found out that limes in Corona are sometimes illegal, the weird maple syrup might be back and a famous punk music pioneer-turned-real estate broker was possibly killed by......

M.I.A.'s Friday ACL performance felt so seductive because it was both spicy and sweet; but what else can you expect from a girl who salts and peppers her mango? She burst onto stage wearing pink pedal-pushers, white trainers, wrap-around glasses and war paint, all the while shimmying her heart out to Kala's "Bamboo Banga." Her dancing seemed confounded by tentative limb placement, and it marked her as one extremely sexy dork. (Hawt!) It's this......

Thank God for shiftless, neurotic, pothead New Englanders. In the late 1980s, Lou Barlow, lately laid off from his day job as bassist for then-indie powerhouse Dinosaur Jr., hooked up with fellow "noise-terrorist" Eric Gaffney to expand his home-recording project, mindlessly dubbed "Sebadoh" after a nonsense word he coined while stoned, into a proper touring band. A steadily growing cult pursued the group (teenage Jason Lowenstein quickly joined as touring drummer) well into the......

Between fake terrorist alerts and scandals big and small, this just might be the Best Best of the -ists ever. We're exhausted just thinking about it. First up, SFist, who saw their little 'ole site be the center of what was a nice little scandal (even getting their editor on TV) only to find their scandal dwarfed by the even bigger scandal caused by their Mayor boffing one of his aides' wife. We're not......

Looking for something to do this Saturday Sunday night? The secret rulers of the burgeoning global police state would like you to get wasted at the Chuggin' Monkey and not ask any questions, but the ever-vigilant Alex Jones knows better. He'll be at BookPeople talking about his latest DVD documentary, TerrorStorm: A History of Government Sponsored Terrorism. Spanning a multitude of media, Alex Jones is known for his syndicated radio program, local cable television show......

The Young Conservatives of Texas created a national stir when they displayed their ACLU Solstice Barn on the UT campus. This parody of the nativity scene featured parents Gary and Joseph, Nancy Pelosi as an angel, a terrorist as a sheppard and Marx, Lenin and Stalin as the Three Wise Men. They got pictures, too. Students at UT recently held a sit-in at the Flawn Academic Center seeking 24-hour access to computer and study......

We thought we were surely dreaming when we heard over the radio this early morning that Scotland Yard had successfully foiled a terrorist plot to blow up nearly a dozen airplanes in mid-flight. The plan evidently revolved around liquid-based explosive devices, to be smuggled on board in hand luggage. After 21 people were arrested in London and surrounding areas, a nation-wide "critical" threat level was announced by UK security service MI5. This status is......

Mendell D. Morgan, Jr, the Head Librarian at San Antonio's University of the Incarnate Word has cancelled the library's subscription to the New York Times in protest, claiming that the paper's recent stories exposing a secret government program that monitors international financial transactions in the hunt for terrorists is a violation of the war effort. "Since no one elected the New York Times to determine national security policy, the only action I know to register......

We never felt engaged in the story, nor did we find any of the characters or their plights to be particularly believable, much less sympathetic....

[The following is an editorial column by contributor Alison Coffey and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Austinist staff. --The Editors] The producers of 24 must have received my memo! The one titled 24 Should Stop Sucking and that began with the line: Tell your writers to get off their asses. Who knew I had such power? To tell the truth, I was getting kind of bored there for awhile. I was......

Tonight, Dionysium's debate will be resolve whether or not movies should be released in theaters and on DVD simultaneously and will feature The Reel Deal host Korey Coleman vs. Burnt Orange Productions DVD producer Byron Sebock. This looks like it will be a fascinating evening with the following program to accompany the debate: A PRESENTATION "GOD IS A TERRORIST : TALES OF A PENTECOSTAL HERETIC IN THE AMERICAN HEARTLAND" by Journalist Russ Cobb, fresh......

Parents traveling with screaming children this holiday season should learn to make them hush up; your fellow passengers can once again be armed and dangerous. Beginning Dec. 22, you will be allowed to carry scissors, screw drivers, and the notorious nail clippers on commercial airlines. The thousands of dollars we have spent replacing confiscated manicure equipment is depressing. Apparently many in the airline industry are disturbed by this logical turn of events. Our favorite......

-Police in the UK are trying to figure out the true identity of the fake Earl of Buckingham, who "married under the false name, passed it to his children, laid claim to the Buckingham crest and promised his teenage son that the peerage would one day be his." Sounds almost too awesome to be true. -The crazy woman in Houston who drowned her five children back in 2001 has had her murder convictions thrown......

We don't care what some televangelists say. Cindy Sheehan is not a terrorist. Sheehan, who has been camping outside of President Bush's vacation hideaway, will be coming to Austin tomorrow. Her visit will be a part of the "Bring Them Home Now Tour." But the tour needs somewhere to sleep. If you have some extra room in your home for a tour member or members, please send Karen an e-mail detailing the type of......

It was announced yesterday by the powers that be that antlers are now on the list of prohibited items at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. As if losing his wife to cancer last fall wasn’t bad enough, Larry Primeau must now retire his legendary alter-ego, the Packalope. For those not familiar with the Packalope, imagine a grown-ass man wearing a 60s era Packer helmet adorned with a ten point deer rack.......

The terror alert in the U.S was raised to code orange for the nation's mass transit systems in response to the rush hour explosions in London. The heightened alert will apply to "regional and inner city passenger rail, subways and metropolitan bus systems." The nation's overall terror alert status will remain at yellow. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said U.S. authorities have no specific credible evidence pointing to an attack in the United States.......

In case you have not heard, early this morning in London (which would have been the middle of the night for us) several explosions hit the city’s transport system near the financial district and King’s Cross. Three bombs exploded in the tube system, one other on a public bus. The subway and bus lines were immediately shut down, bringing the city to a standstill. London's transportation system remains frozen indefinitely while rescuers search among......