You don't have to pay steep registration fees to have a good time at one of the world's most influential music festivals. In fact, it might be better if you don't

By Ron Brownlow
It began as a tiny showcase for independent bands, but as South by Southwest (SXSW) celebrates its 22nd year, it seems as if the festival's success has come to overshadow its original purpose as a platform for aspiring musicians.

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Even before she was out of her teens, Irene Khan had seen enough hate and cruelty for several lifetimes. Rather than run away from injustice, she decided to fight it head on

By Kira Cochrane
As a studious, idealistic teenager, living with her family in Dhaka, Irene Khan witnessed conflict first-hand: bloodied bodies in the street, indiscriminate violence, boys just a few years older than herself heading into the fray. This was 1971, as East and West Pakistan slid into the war that would eventually create an independent Bangladesh. The school Khan attended was quickly closed, and from then on she and her two sisters stayed home together, day after day. They saw corpses just outside their windows - the same windows that shattered as stray bullets flew through. "For a 13-year-old," says Khan, "it was like living through a war movie." She and her sisters heard the terrible stories of rape, of soldiers marching from house to house, brutalizing whoever happened to be inside. "I remember the three of us talking about what would happen if the army actually came," she says. "I had figured out that there was a place up in the roof where I could hide behind a water tank, and if they found me, I could jump from there."

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In the wake of shows like 'America's Next Top Model' and 'Survivor,' a new kind of contest is emerging with big prizes for innovative technology

By G. Pascal Zachary
What do reality TV shows like Survivor and America's Next Top Model have in common with an insurgent method of stimulating useful innovations around the world?

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By Richard Li
Java conjures up steaming cups of strong coffee in the minds of many. After last week's Java Jazz Festival, it should be jazz.

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The same techniques used to teach a large marine mammal to do tricks can help keep 'homo sapiens domesticus' in line, too - particularly husbands and wives

By Cecelia Goodnow
Next time your neighbor blasts his leaf blower when you're trying to sleep in, don't get mad, don't get even.

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'Alien Encounters' leads the reader back to Edward Said's old assertion that the West's attitude to the East has always been characterized by fear and desire

By Bradley Winterton
Vietnamese Americans arriving back in Vietnam, usually around the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday, can present a disquieting spectacle. "They don't have the charm of the locals," said a Saigon friend of mine. "They've lost it somehow, I don't know why."

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