There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and......

Good morning, Houston. The Chron's Eric Gerber points out something interesting: a Washington Post story that says people hold onto utterly untrue myths even when they're faced with factual information that disproves them. An example: A University of Michigan psychologist showed people a CDC flyer stating that myths about the flu vaccine aren't true — such as the story that the side effects of the vaccine are worse than the flu itself — and......

Good morning, Houston, and a happy Labor Day. We're abandoning our usual posting schedule today in favor of all-American grilled foods and the Jerry Lewis Telethon. We'll be back with our regular schedule tomorrow, but first, how about some Labor Day trivia? Labor Day began in the 1880s as annual street parades to show "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations." In the early days, there was a movement......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

With 11th hour upon the citywide smoking ban taking effect (on a long weekend no less), all sorts of commentary from both sides are coming to light (no pun intended). Houstonist thought it would be only fair to have videos for and against the smoking ban...we also threw in a music video at the end for those who don't care about the issue. The music video is one of our favorites, Franz Ferdinand performing Jacqueline......

Houstonist has told you about one of our favorite lunch bargains - Vietnamese Sandwiches, and at $1.50 - $3.00 a pop, they're a definite bargain. Now, we'll give you a recipe, in case you feel all picnic-like over the weekend and want to make your own. As with most of our recipes, we encourage a little "gastronomic experimentation" as your taste allows. Like the "jalapeno/cayenne/serrano/garlic" additions - we love more - that is just us.......

Steel Lounge Underground Music Series at CAMH Well, we hope you all survived the storm of the century last night. Even if you did, looks like the labor day weekend's gonna be more of the same. Guess we should just chalk this whole summer up. Here's to a sunny 2008 summer! Of course, really the only event worth going to tonight is our Houston's B-day Pub Crawl Downtown, but of course that wouldn't be fair......

Good morning, Houston. Today's the last day of August, and you know what that means: Yes! Tomorrow, it'll be September! And why is that exciting, you ask? Well, as it happens, there are a few (relatively) interesting thing about the ninth month: For example, when the British Empire adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, Sept. 2 was immediately followed by Sept. 14 — which, legend has it, led to riots by people who thought......

Good morning, Houston. Seems like everyone's listening to iPods these days, eh? And even if you don't have one of the near-ubiquitous mp3 players, all might not be peace and quiet: As the AP notes, iPod-related noise pollution is a growing problem. It can happen in several ways, including people who turn their iPods up to top volume and others who sing along with the music in their heads. Bbut there are ways to......

Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. How much are you supposed to tip a pizza delivery driver? Assuming you’re ordering only one or two pizzas (and pizza is ALL you’re ordering), $3 to $5 is probably a good estimate. If you ordered out because Houston is experiencing one of its “flood events” and you didn’t want to risk floating down the street in your car, you might consider hooking......

Houston Shakespeare Festival That which we call a free show , by any other name would smell as free. And with that poor, poor attempt at Shakespearean quote alteration, Houston kicks off the annual Shakespeare Festival. Love's Labor's Lost Directed by Sidney Berger Performances | July 27 , August 2, 4, 8, 10 Romeo and Juliet Directed by Carolyn Houston Boone Performances | July 28 , August 1, 3, 9, 11 Now celebrating its thirty-third......

We really wish Gomez was performing a headlining show here, but we have to settle with them just being an opening act for The Fray (along with Eisley) this Friday night in The Woodlands. However, Gomez is playing a stand-alone show Saturday night in Austin, if you're lucky enough to find tickets for it. Some veteran Houston acts play around town this week. Beaumont's Clay Walker will perform after the races at Sam Houston......

Good morning, Houston. Hot weather? Rain? Another week in our cube farm? Looks like Houstonist has a case of the Mondays. We'd better just move on to the news ... >> Mayor: I'll find money to keep day-labor site open: A spokesman for Mayor Bill White said Friday that the mayor will help find $100,000 to fund a day-labor site after city officials voted to cut its public funding. Critics of the site, which......

More details on the story of Claudia Cortes, the 23-year-old mother in whose closet a newborn baby's body was found Sunday: The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office has ruled that the baby girl was strangled to death. Cortes, who was charged with tampering with evidence after she showed up at Ben Taub and insisted she hadn't given birth, though doctors found that she had, could face additional charges pending the outcome of an interview by......

If there's one thing we love, it's an election. And the city has been obliging lately. Melissa Noriega and Roy Morales, the two candidates left standing after last month's special election to fill a vacant at-large city council seat, traded remarks on immigration as early voting began yesterday. Noriega, the clear favorite after garnering 47% of the vote in May, accused Morales of using "fear as a tactic to try to get people worked up."......

Good morning, Houston. Can Texas gas prices get any higher? Well, sure — they increased for the 15th straight week last week, and now they're edging toward the previous record high. The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded in Texas last week was $2.952, just 1.2 cents short of the previous record, $2.964, which we hit after Hurricane Rita in September 2005. Houston's average price is $2.92, still lower than most major......

We've been wondering why the Mecom Fountain hasn't been lighted at night lately, and this weekend, the Chronicle had the answer: It's because someone stole the fountain's lighting system, though no one's quite sure when or how they did it. Or, for that matter, when the lights might come on again. The theft was actually pretty amazing: Someone cut through the cables to the lighting system and carted off the fountain's 264 light bulbs and......

Most people know that sushi and seafood are never fresh on Mondays. Many restaurants don’t get their shipments in until Tuesday and/or Thursday so the seafood you eat on Monday is likely to be the weekend’s leftovers. Against our moral fiber, we headed to Sushi King (3401 Kirby Dr) on Monday with every intention of ordering their delicious Nabeyaki Udon soup. Then we broke down and ordered some sushi. Our server informed us that they......

Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. Last night, I went out with some friends for a few drinks. Since when has Cinco de Mayo become such a big drinking event? It’s not even a major holiday in Mexico. As long as Dilettante has been aware of Cinco de Mayo, it has been a drinking holiday. But it does seem to be turning into more and more of an excuse......

Ah ... Spring is in the air. With spring comes festival season! The International Festival begins its two-weekend stint on Saturday, bringing a wide range of musicians. This weekend, George Clinton headlines, but you can also catch Ruthie Foster, Grupo Fantasma, and more. Another annual tradition (well, a 14 year tradition) is Buzzfest sponsored by 94.5 KTBZ. This year's line-up for the rock station (notice that we didn't say "alternative?" -- there's a reason......

Good morning, Houston. Do you feel more metropolitan? Or bigger, maybe? According to estimates released by the Census Bureau yesterday, the influx of hurricane evacuees has made the Houston metro area the country's sixth largest. The Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area now has an estimated 5,483,857 residents, which puts it ahead of Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami Beach but still behind the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth and Philadelphia metro areas. Another population fact: Harris County......

What is the deal with the building off of the east side of 45 in downtown across from the post office (bounded by Franklin and Bagby)? It looks like it was constructed (or renovated) recently and yet it sits there half-finished with broken glass. — Chris Chris, the building you're wondering about is the old Tennison Hotel at the corner of Bagby and Franklin, and you're right: It was renovated in the last few years,......

Local Artist Hosts Sacred Heart Series Showing @ Kobain William K. Stidham came to painting after a bruising experience in trying to get his contemporary fiction novel published. Having spent 4 years in writing, editing, choosing an agent,more editing, then shopping publishing houses and hitting a dead end... William decided to pick up a watercolor kit from the local Walgreen's in order to do something different with his creative energy. His latest series, Sacred......

Consolidation talks in the airline industry have reached Houston's Continental Airlines, The New York Times reports today: According to sources close to the companies, Continental and United Airlines are in preliminary merger talks because neither wants to be left at a disadvantage by a possible consolidation of US Airways and Delta Air Lines. The Times reports that Glenn Tilton and Larry Kellner, the CEOs of United and Continental, have met in person to talk about......

Weeks before he's set to report to prison, former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling has agreed to the distribution of $85 million to former Enron employees, part of a series of settlements totaling $265 million for more than 20,000 workers trying to recover some part of their pensions. "Yes, it's over. Our clients are thrilled," Lynn Sarko, a lawyer representing former Enroners, said. "While they are grateful that some of their retirement money was recovered, it......

About a week after Houston janitors walked off the job to protest their average $5.30 hourly pay, the janitors have taken their show on the road, hoping to stir up their brethren in Chicago, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Washington. Organizers call it a "national escalation plan," and Cornell University labor studies professor Richard Hurd said the move is meant to send a message to janitorial companies elsewhere: "It's a way of sending a message to......

OK, here's the situation: It's the Friday before Halloween you still ain't got no costume. Houstonist doesn't either. Defaulting to the standard the pimps-and-hookers costume theme of many parties is tempting us this late in the game. But, sometimes it's fun to take a break from your normal club attire and wear something original. Fortunately, Houstonist kicks ass at beer pong recovering from procrastination. We've been combing the InterWeb for about two minutes now. Here......

A plane crashed in Montgomery County this afternoon; engine failure was apparently the cause Tuesday's police chase by the guy who thought he couldn't be chased had City Council all atwitter this week The Labor Department has proposed a $12 million settlement to cover some Enron workers' claims Kalip Jefferson, 18, was found guilty of murder today for killing a woman when he ran a red light during a 2005 police chase Donations to the......

There's nothing like a story about declining wages for a midweek pick-me-up, is there? In that spirit, Houstonist brings you the news that, though Texas has had more job growth than the national average in the last few years, our median income is dropping. In fact, there's been a 6.2 percent drop in the median wage in Texas since 2002, and young and black workers are being hit particularly hard. The information comes from the......

Local lawyer John O'Quinn, who made millions in tobacco settlements in Texas, had a lovely weekend at Kruse International's annual Labor Day car auction, the Chronicle tells us. He purchased a $500,000 Lamborghini Gallardo signed by such varied celebrities as Samuel L. "Motherf****ing Snakes" Jackson, Paula Abdul, and Regis Philbin. (Does he even count as a celebrity at this point?) Profits from the one-of-a-kind car went to benefit the Child Safety Network, whose mission is......