Cyrus Farivar

And thoroughly destroyed the first four opponents, which was an awesome feeling. The entire concept of the Wii is a lot funner than I had thought it would be.

I’m back from the East Coast. Philadelphia airport is surprisingly easy to get to. Also, I had a cheesesteak sandwich before leaving the confines of the City of Brotherly Love. Looking forward to chillaxing at home this week until CES begins and I head out for Africa.

It’s been a long-standing tradition in our family to have my grandfather read “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” on Christmas Eve. This year, I’ve recorded it for posterity and will release it as my Christmas present to everyone! “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas, as read by John Hadsell [MP3 – 20:31 – 9.6MB]

“When the things got for real, I got up in the fold / and put into practice all that I was told.” – “The Inkwell”, Blue Scholars Things are getting pretty freakin’ real right about now, that’s for sure. I just got a book deal. Yeah. Really. A book. Like you know, one of those things that’s printed on dead trees and sits in libraries and stuff. Maybe you’ve heard of ’em? I’m going to have an entry in the…

I’ve been tagged by Glenn Fleishman for the latest blogger meme du jour. I’m supposed to list five things that most people don’t know about me. 1. My only run-in with school authorities came when I was in kindergarten. I was suspended for one day for biting Lee Kramer, a friend of mine (yes, we’re still friends) on the hand. Basically, at recess there was a shopping cart full of balls (for four-square, handball, etc.) and it was always a…

The Washington Post: Moscow is not alone in the unexpected warmth — it stretches across the continent. Preliminary data from the Met Office, Britain’s national weather service, and the University of East Anglia indicate that 2006 has been the warmest year in Britain since record-keeping concerning weather conditions began in central England in 1659. Trees are sprouting leaves in Switzerland. And low-altitude ski resorts across the Alps look more like springtime meadows. “We are currently experiencing the warmest period in…

I have a way-the-hell-too-early flight (read: 07h15) to Baltimore tomorrow. I spend about 24 hours in the DC area before hopping on a train to New York with my parents on Dec. 20. I’ll be busy nearly every minute, either working or visiting with friends, and then I’ll have an encore ride of the Hartford Chinatown bus (featured in my Master’s thesis) on Dec. 23, where I’ll be spending Christmas vacation with my assembled family. A Happy Chrismahanukwanzakah, Solstice and…

[Screen grab taken around 8 am Pacific.] How is it that it’s colder at night in Oakland than it is in New York? And that my aunt in Hartford (where I’m headed later this week) tells me that there’s no snow on the ground? And that the cars on our street got frost last night?!?! What is going on?

So here’s the deal: Apple France and French ISP Orange are hooking up to provide French consumers with a rented MacBook and 1 Mbps DSL for €60 ($79.50) a month. That works out to about €2 a day. (You can upgrade to 8 Mbps DSL for an additional €5 per month.) The catch is that you have to sign up for three years, but that includes three years of Apple Care. Louis-Pierre Wenes, executive director of France Telecom’s domestic operations…

This is a piece I wrote for The Economist’s latest “Technology Quarterly” guide (December 2, 2006). You’ll just have to take it on faith that I wrote it, given that there’s no byline. Hed: Roaming holiday Dek: Communications : New gizmos that combine audio guides with satellite tracking let tourists explore cities at their own pace WHEN Melissa Mahan and her husband visited The Netherlands, they felt imprisoned by their tour bus. It forced them to see the city according…