Cyrus Farivar

Wait, there’s a networking company in Lithuania called Santa Monica Networks? And they do business from Lithuania, through Latvia and Estonia, all the way up to Finland? Huh?

Part III ; Part II ; Part I Music: Blue Scholars – Second Chapter 9:16 Pacific Time March 26 2008 Without even realizing it, I clench my teeth and suck in air quickly and audibly, almost every time I ride in a Tehran taxi — my instinctual physical reaction to the frightening proximity of myself to the driver of the adjacent speeding car. I’m not afraid, per say, of my own personal impending doom, but rather that one of these…

Parts I and II can be found here, and here, respectively. Music: Beethoven – Symphony No. 6 12:17 pm Pacific Time March 24 2008 For the last couple of days, we begin our morning with Iranian noon, a sweet, almost buttery cheese, homemade quince jam, Persian tea and Peet’s Coffee. That’s right, Peet’s Coffee in Tehran. My father packed two pounds of French roast as a little comfort element for my mother whilst in unfamiliar territory. Yesterday morning, after our…

SF Chronicle: Felakat is part of a thriving underground music scene, wh… (04-16) 04:00 PDT Tehran – — In a cozy soundproof recording studio housed in a decrepit downtown building, the rap musician known as Felakat lounged on a chair, surrounded by sound mixers and other sleek recording equipment. Sporting a tousled black shirt, a slick fur-lined jacket and spiky hairstyle. the Iranian rapper might well pass for an Western punk singer. “I devoted my life to rap when I…

Music: The New Pornographers – Sing Me Spanish Techno (Soho Sessions) 1:03 pm Pacific Time March 22 2008 Khanoom and her husband — who passed years before — are buried sideways, so that they can face the Shrine of Massoumeh in Qom for all of eternity. This is the holiest of Iranian cities, the base of Iranian Shi’ite clergy and theology. Men walk the streets in dark robes and white turbans and glare out from behind their bearded and sunglassed…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on Motley Crue’s new release on Rock Band will air on Morning Edition today (April 17)! It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams). New York – 5 am to 9 am Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 5 am to 10 am Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 2 am to 9 am Pacific –…

So, as you probably know by now, I was traveling in Iran for two weeks in late March. I didn’t blog about it or publicize it much, given that as a dual-citizen (I can be drafted into the Iranian military, although I have a short-term exemption) and a journalist (I didn’t do any reporting while I was there), there was a very small possibility that I’d somehow get into trouble. You never know. Fortunately, I made it back without incident.…

Associated Press: LOS ANGELES (AP) — California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037, scientists said in the first statewide temblor forecast. New calculations reveal there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97 percent versus 93 percent. ”It basically guarantees it’s going to happen,” said Ned Field,…

Posts re Austin and more from Iran coming soon. It’s good to be home.

Owners of lunch trucks blast parking time limit: A county ordinance targeting food vending trucks took some heat Tuesday when a couple dozen truck owners and their lawyer came to the Board of Supervisors meeting to oppose it. The supervisors had given the ordinance tentative approval last week. But after the vendors’ protested Tuesday, the supervisors put off a final vote, which now could take place next week. One vender vowed to sue the county unless changes are made to…