Cyrus Farivar

This morning the Chronicle ran a front page story about a 23 year-old woman named Alicia, a copy editor at the Chronicle who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. It’s the first in a seven-part series. My thoughts go out to her. I came into The Chronicle building early, at 8 a.m., because it was a Wednesday, deadline day for my department, the Friday section. It was almost 10 o’clock when I grabbed a muffin and some yogurt from the…

Update: both measures passed! BBC: By Imogen Foulkes BBC News, Berne Swiss voters are going to the polls to decide on two different referendums. The first is to decide whether Switzerland – which is not a member of the European Union – should join the Schengen and Dublin agreements. This would mean opening Switzerland’s borders to its EU neighbours and sharing information on crime. The second will decide whether to legalise same sex partnerships, and marks the first time a…

So next time I have a big party, someone remind me to buy about a third to a half of as much food as I usually do. I ended up giving away two cases of beer, and still had a watermelon vodka, a bunch of veggies, loads of chicken, and lots of oatmeal raisin cookies left. Thanks for coming, everyone. It was great to see you all again. I want to do another one soon. And big ups to my…

Big ups to my former buddy at the Daily Cal, Ron Lin, who has this LA Times piece from my old stomping grounds, Santa Monica: By Rong-Gong Lin II Times Staff Writer June 4, 2005 To some people on the Westside and in the South Bay, 310 is more than just an area code. It’s a geographic marker Ñ one that many associate with wealth, glamour and the beach. “It stirs up feeling of ‘Ah, Ooh.’ You always have great…

Wired News (Disclaimer: I write for Wired News) has a new reprint policy, which seems to have a weird clause in it: Anyone is free to make one copy for personal use. This can include one photocopy, one printed copy, one email copy, or posting an HTML link (without text or photos). This includes use by a student for an academic purpose. Click on the article title above to go back to the article. From there, you can print (or…

So I had just a small problem with my DSL, so I called SBC Tech Support. Not surprisingly, they’re located in India. When I tried to strike up a conversation with the guy, “John”, and asked him where in India he was, he said “We’re not allowed to reveal it for security reasons.” Give me a break. (He did fix my problem though.) Why was I dead tired an hour ago and now I can’t sleep?

Nappy Roots is playing at the Red Devil Lounge on June 25. And even better, following Digital Underground on July 2, they’ve got Sir Mix-A-Lot on July 21. Amazing. I’m really tempted to get tickets to one of the latter two. I just bought tix for Mountain Goats (23rd) and for the Ted Leo show in September. Also for sure want to get tix to Daara J and Youssou N’Dour. And speaking of music, check out the Berkeley World Music…

What a steal.

June 4 – Sleater-Kinney – Warfield (SF) June 11 – Violent Femmes – Civic Center Plaza (SF) June 11 – Village People – Civic Center Plaza (SF) June 23/24 – The Mountain Goats – Bottom of the Hill (SF) June 25 – Nappy Roots – Red Devil Lounge (SF) July 2 – Digital Underground – Red Devil Lounge (SF) July 3 – Big Bad Voodoo Daddy – Stanfurd (Palo Alto) July 12 – Jason Mraz – Paramount Theatre (Oakland) July…

In case you missed it, the idiot-of-the-week award goes to Kirk Reynolds, former PR head of the 49ers. From the SF Chronicle, June 1, 2005: It was meant to be funny Ñ but no one is laughing now in the San Francisco 49ers’ front office over an in-house training film that featured off- color racial jokes, lesbian porn, a spoof of gay marriage and a trio of buxom, topless blondes frolicking with team public relations director Kirk Reynolds. The 15-minute…