Cyrus Farivar

LA Times: Dodger General Manager Paul DePodesta expressed disappointment, but he immediately moved on, closing in on a three-team trade that would send right fielder Shawn Green, starting pitcher Brad Penny and reliever Yhency Brazoban to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pitcher Randy Johnson, the five-time Cy Young Award winner, would go from Arizona to the New York Yankees, who would send starter Javier Vazquez and two highly regarded minor leaguers to the Dodgers. Bill Plaschke rips Frank McCourt a new one:…

So, if you’ve been a follower of this blog/email (or just my life lately) you’ve probably gotten some idea of what I’ve been up to. You probably know that I’ve been freelancing for The New York Times and some other publications lately. Maybe you’ve forgotten that I’m also a grad student at Columbia (hey, sometimes I forget, too.) You may have known that I was winding down the semester with a big (read: 2500 words) story on AIDS education in…

Back from DC. Stopped for some Koronet. Off to California (I’ve been singing “Hail to California” and the “Cal Drinking Song” to myself today) on Monday! Potentially big news (work-related) to announce coming up. Stay tuned.

Dec. 12 2004 Mood: on the road Music: They Might Be Giants – Drink (glacially slow ; Live at New Haven 2004) I’m really digging the fact that TMBG is such a techno-conscious band (not to mention the fact that they’re awesome). What I mean is that if you’re a free subscriber to their email list, they periodically release free mp3s via their site, and then just the other day, they released a whole live album via mp3 (encoded at…

December 16, 2004 WHAT’S NEXT When Shots Ring Out, a Listening Device Acts as Witness By CYRUS FARIVAR IN an unusual application of neuroscience research, police agencies around the country may soon be able to equip street corners with microphones and video cameras to fight gun-related crime. The system, based on work by Dr. Theodore Berger, director of the Center for Neural Engineering at the University of Southern California, uses the equipment and a computer to recognize gunshots, pinpoint where…

MeFi points out: Photos of the 1906 SF earthquake. This is my favorite one, looking at the Ferry building in the foreground. And from Bennington, VT, Reuters reported earlier this week: Students occasionally parading naked around Vermont’s Bennington College campus has been a tolerated, if peculiar, part of the university’s student culture here since the 1960s. Now Robert Graves, hired this year as Bennington’s dean of students, has embarked on a crusade against public nudity — one that has run…

Then head over to Kiev to be an

LA Times: Cold numbers won out over warm memories Tuesday night when the Dodgers unceremoniously severed ties with Steve Finley and Jose Lima, players who made unforgettable contributions to the team’s division championship. Neither player was offered salary arbitration by the 9 p.m. deadline, meaning the Dodgers cannot negotiate with them until May 1. By then, they undoubtedly will be wearing new uniforms. Among the 12 Dodger free agents, only third baseman Adrian Beltre, catcher Brent Mayne and pitchers Odalis…

Yet another reason why I love the Internet: Jewish Hey-Ya (courtesy Accordion Guy) Happy Hannukah everyone!

Subject: book seminar From: Samuel G. Freedman To: Cyrus Farivar Date: Dec. 8, 2004 11:53 am [Eastern] Cyrus- A spot in the class has become available, and you’re first on the waiting list. Do you want to take the class for credit? Let me know ASAP. If you do, I’ll work out the scheduling issues with Melanie Huff. Sam Freedman Subject: book seminar From: Cyrus Farivar To: Samuel G. Freedman Date: Dec. 8, 2004 11:55 am [Eastern] Yes! I want…