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Open Season: Do Laws Against Animal Crushing Videos Violate Free Speech?

Ashley Nicole Richards, who filmed herself torturing and killing kittens, puppies, cats and dogs, was the first person brought up on revised federal crush-video charges -- which backfired magnificently.

Google Wallet Takes on PayPal with Send Money Function

Remember checks? Some of us still use them on occasion. They are those paper things we have to fill out by hand and use to pay for stuff, mostly rent and maybe a birthday gift for the nephew. Just like the U.S. Postal Service is rapidly being replaced by e-mail, checks (and, in some cases, cash) are ... More >>

Feds Break Websites Selling Fake High-End Cycling Gear & Clothing

That Coolmax and Lycra bike stuff you bought online? It wasn't from the website bikejersey.com or Cycleoutfit.com, was it? If so, you might have bought yourself an expensive piece of counterfeit merchandise. The Homeland Securities Investigation office in Houston announced today they'd shut down 1 ... More >>

Want to Help a Dog Some A-Hole Shot in the Face and Left to Die?

When we heard Satan was busy this morning roping off a special area in the Future Residents section of Hell, we gave him a call (as members of the media, we have him on speed-dial) to find out about the hubbub. He told us that a dog was found in Conroe early Saturday morning with terrible buckshot w ... More >>

No Sanctuary at Spindletop

People dropping dogs off at the refuge trusted they were sending them to the best place possible. Not exactly.

Charalambides Guitarist Tom Carter On the Mend

Tom Carter, guitarist for Charalambides, the influential and prolific ex-Houston avant-garde/psychedelic duo, is out of intensive care and recovering at a rehabilitation hospital in Ahrenshoop, Germany after awakening from a medically induced coma last week. Carter's bandmate and ex-wife, Christina ... More >>

Charles Reese: Accountant Paid Vidor Woman $750,000 for Videos of Her Molesting Her Children & Sexing Animals

A Louisiana accountant has been charged with the production of child porn, but the story is far stranger than that simple statement. Charles Edward Reese, 66, paid a Vidor woman $750,000 over eight years for sending videos and photos of herself having sex with her children and with animals, accordi ... More >>

App of the Week: Tophatter

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine alerted me to a Web site called Tophatter where she had started selling her photos, suggesting I might consider doing the same. Before I could take a look, it was explained to me that Tophatter was a live auction Web site for selling handmade or vintage goods market ... More >>

SOPA & GoDaddy Explained

White and Nerdy: Explaining SOPA vs GoDaddy for the Tech-Challenged

When trying to explain the debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act and the involvement of domain name registrar GoDaddy in a staff meeting this week, my words were met with collective blank stares, as if I were speaking a different language. It is a look I often get from Web-design clients when I tal ... More >>

The Peddler

Both in and out of prison, Brian Culwell has spent his life selling people baubles, trinkets and jewels. Now he's buying your gold and silver.

Nothing's Shocking: Thank You, Iggy Pop

singinglamb.caA young Iggy Pop has his way with a microphone stand c. 1968​Cyberspace was all abuzz on Monday, thanks to Lady Gaga's "shocking" VMA performance of "You and I" dressed as a young Ralph Macchio, or at least that's what it looked like from here. It was creative and bold, and defin ... More >>

Clint Broussard Has Blues In Hi-Fi After Car Wreck

Lauren Summerville​Longtime KTRU disc jockey Clint Broussard, whose popular show Blues in Hi-Fi has been a Wednesday-night staple for more than 12 years, is recuperating at home after two surgeries on his leg. Broussard's leg was "separated below the knee" during a collision on U.S. 59 near th ... More >>

My Chase Bank High School Checking Account Nightmare

Banks and "customer service"​ UPDATE: It's one thing when banks screw me, quite another when they screw my son. I wasn't going to let this stand, so this morning I went back to Chase, dressed head to toe in black. I took a tape recorder, and I was ready for a Chase banker to explain to me how ... More >>

The Ten Most Spectacular Cyber Attacks of 2010

According to 4chan, Tea Party folks think cocaine is a helluva drug.​As the internet becomes a primary source for everything from news and entertainment to commerce and business, it makes sense that groups and hackers would be busier than ever. Websites are far more vulnerable to attack than, ... More >>

Weird Party Seeking Donations, Leads In Family Member's Death

Craig HlavatyWeird Party at the Mink, March 2010​This is about the worst thing you can report, let alone have happen to someone in your family, but Weird Party guitarist Bryan Agan's family is looking for donations and any information surrounding the suspected homicide of his 18-year-old cousi ... More >>

"McContent" Coming To Your Houston Chronicle

Fast and not-so-juicy​Demand Media is a company that churns out reams of copy for which freelancers get paid very little; content is geared toward generating search-engine hits. Reporters sometimes call what it does "McContent" because it's high-volume, quickly done work by low-paid employees.And ... More >>

Cry for Yelp

The popular Web site has buckled to pressure, but it isn't enough.

Galveston's Di Bella's Restaurant Survives Ike, Gets Hit By Fire

Di Bella's, a cozy little Italian place (we guess we should call it a "joint") in Galveston, got hit by Ike but opened its doors a month or so after the storm.So it really sucked that the place was knocked out by a big fire early Monday morning.No one was injured seriously in the -- as they say in t ... More >>

Money for Nothing

Hopeful beggars shake their virtual cups online

Lyin' Scion

How deep is this Toyota subsidiary's love of hip-hop?