Cyrus Farivar

Two videos recently came across my radar: Best line: “You can deny the Holocaust all you want, but you can’t deny that there’s something between us.” [via Noah Breuer] This is a public service announcement by the firefighters (sapeurs-pompiers) of Geneva. Apparently people still confuse the emergency fire number (118) for the old information number (111). They’ve been inundated with calls and figured that the best way to solve this problem was to make a rap video featuring rapping and…

Apparently seeing the world through my own two naked eyes are over — here’s to the new eyeglassed me! That’s right, after constantly being amazed that Becky could see things at a distance when I couldn’t (and spending many hours in front of a computer screen), I gave in and finally had a proper eye exam at the University of California Berkeley School of Optometry. (I probably haven’t had an optometrist examine me since at least high school if not…

Both Vanity Fair and The New Yorker have astonishing profiles of Bobby Egan, a “freelance diplomat” to the DPRK who otherwise runs a BBQ joint in Hackensack, NJ. The New Yorker: Egan, who has run Cubby’s for twenty-five years, is well known in Hackensack, though not solely for the quality of his ribs. For nearly fifteen years, he has served as a kind of unofficial ambassador—a go-between and a gofer—for the government of North Korea. He is, as he puts…

I was with Boyk and Michele today in downtown Oakland, and we happened to park in front of a new Belgian beer bar that’s about to open up on 8th St. at Broadway. Dude, Belgian beers! Right here in Oakland! The Trappist: The Trappist is owned and operated by Aaron Porter and Chuck Stilphen. We strive to bring you the finest beer available, served properly at the correct temperature and in the correct glass. Our bottle list features over 120…

Pico Iyer on Orhan Pamuk: Pamuk has two enduring loves: books and Istanbul. Often they converge as his journeys through his hometown come to resemble excursions through memory itself. Like Proust, Pamuk has spent decades of his life — 15,300 days, he calculates — in the same room in his beloved birthplace, alone with his books and thoughts. Yet his window is always open to catch the sound of the sandwich vendors in the street, the men in the teahouse,…

Time: Elsewhere, the trend looks unstoppable. In Estonia, for instance, technology website operator and wi-fi evangelist Veljo Haamer has helped convince hundreds of cafés and parks to install wi-fi, getting the city of Tallinn involved and bringing in advertisers. He’s even helped to put wi-fi on an international bus that runs from Tallinn to Riga in Latvia. Interesting that it’s wi-fi and not cellular delivering a lot of the broadband to Estonians on the go.

There’s cops blocking both ends of my street. Apparently, there’s a robbery suspect running around the neighborhood. I’ve never seen so many cops here before. Whoa. I got this email from a neighbor: “As I write this the cops are staked out on [street name redacted] and surrounding streets looking for the suspect in a strong-arm robbery. Believed to be BM with white pants. If you see anything call 911.” Update from said neighbor (1:28 pm): “Hi All–The cops apprehended…

Hey DC folks, My cousin Nena do Nascimento just got a job at IRD, an Arlington NGO. She’s a 22-year-old, recent McGill graduate, and has lived all over the world including being born in France, raised in Chicago, Switzerland, and Connecticut and just came back from a 3-month stint in Ghana. She speaks four languages (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese) and is just generally really awesome. She’s looking for a DC apt/room in a house for no more than $700 at…

UN: 25 September 2007 – The international community should step up its efforts to defeat cyber crime, starting by acceding to an international convention on the issue and eventually building to the development of a globally negotiated and comprehensive law of cyberspace, Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves told the General Assembly tonight. Mr. Ilves said his country’s experience in April and May this year in coping with an extensive cyber attack highlighted both the dangers faced and the value of…

Man, I should have pitched this to NPR! But still, it’s def worth a listen. All Things Considered, September 18, 2007 · Taco trucks are a new destination for gourmands. They are celebrated in blogs with maps of where the best trucks park. In Oakland, Calif., many fans embark on late-night taco treks.