Cyrus Farivar

I was looking at the Wikipedia entry for the old Key System, the old light-rail system that existed in the East Bay from 1900 until the 1950s. There, I found an old movie from 1945 called The March of Progress that has a great 20 minute film on the history of the Bay Area as seen through transportation. Well worth it. It looks like there was an old line that used to go right near my house.

The Good: I took the casual carpool to work this morning. This brings my BART fare down to $60, and with a $45 commuter check from work, down to $15/month! The Bad: While trying to cut through some tape on a package, the tip of my car key snapped off.

So while doing a search in the Slate archives, I came across a series of fascinating articles (March 2004) about the demise of feminism ˆ la Girls Gone Wild. The piece mentions that the author, Ariel Levy, was working on a book about this topic. The book Female Chauvinist Pigs : Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture is due to be out next month. I’m interested.

Ed: Big ups to G. Pascal Zachary, whom I knew from my Business 2.0 days, who just published this piece called The African Hacker in the IEEE magazine, Spectrum. “Saviors” are common in Africa, and they usually come in the form of demagogues or rebel leaders, missionaries or medical doctors, peacekeepers or refugee-camp managers. Rarely are they Birkenstock-wearing engineers or software programmers. That’s why Chinery-Hesse is worth getting to know. Because if Africa has a sunny future, Chinery-Hesse will be…

It’s the last few weeks of minor league baseball season. Both the Stockton Ports and the Sacramento River Cats are in first place in their divisions! There are only a few more home games left in the season. I’d love to go to one or a couple of these games (I’ve never been to see either of these teams) — these are the only ones that I can attend. I’d be happy to drive if someone wanted to come along…

After spending some time online and talking with a few people, I’ve settled on this new car stereo. I just ordered it, along with a harness and crimping tool, for just under $100. I plan on installing it myself as soon as it comes. The Crutchfield website has a video and Circuit City has written instructions on how to install it myself. It seems easy enough, and if successful, I’ll have a new stereo with an aux input (for the…

NYT on why Niger is being focused on when there is famine in many other countries in the subcontinent. NYT Interactive Graphic on the Gaza pullout. This is a really, really great use of web technology. You could never do this in print, and it’s very effective. Plus, maps are cool. A great piece at Slate on IDF training pre-pullout. A site about world subway systems via MeFi And finally, an inside look at Pres. Bush’s “speechalist” via MeFi

Ed: Thanks to Eric Steuer at Wired for reminding me of this. I’m going to try this starting tomorrow. SF Chronicle ; January 31, 2005 This is the one line people actually like to stand in. Or park in, for that matter. Every weekday morning, mostly in the East Bay, you see them lined up like lemmings — sedans, SUVs, pickup trucks and the odd sports car, creeping along the curb. Coming up the sidewalk toward them, dressed for the…

Macworld Podcast #5: Mighty Mouse By Cyrus Farivar Multi-button mouse users of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your single-button Apple Pro Mouse. Last week Apple ended two decades of producing single-button input devices when it released the multi-button Mighty Mouse. The new input device features a touch-sensitive button on the side, two buttons on the top front end, and a 360 degree scroll wheel which can scroll up and down, left and right, and diagonally. Naturally,…

Dear Car Theives, Sometime last night or this morning, you smashed one of the small back windows of my car, (which was parked in my driveway) and stole my car stereo. Firstly, let me just tell you a resounding “fuck you.” I also wanted to thank you for not taking my Fastrak, nor my rock climbing gear which was in the trunk. Sincerely, -Cyrus PS: I still can’t get through to Oakland Police. I’ve been on hold for 20 minutes.…