Cyrus Farivar

In trying to get my email domain (cfarivar.org) to point to this site, my email has been down for several hours. If you need to email me, use cfarivar [at] sonic [dot] net. And I can only communicate with my host via web-based messages. Argh.

The Atlantic, September 2006: Several months ago, I discovered that I was being “considered for deletion.” Or rather, the entry on me in the Internet behemoth that is Wikipedia was. For those of you who are (as uncharitableWikipedians sometimes say) “clueless newbies,” Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia. But it is like no encyclopedia Diderot could have imagined. Instead of relying on experts to write articles according to their expertise, Wikipedia lets anyone write about anything. You, I, and any wired-up…

Mana, the woman who I wrote about for Wired News a few weeks’ ago has finally evacuated to Europe. In order to keep herself busy, she’s started an online store of products of interested to Lebanese expats and Lebanophiles. I think I’m going to get myself a long-sleeved t-shirt with the illustration to the left. The Arabic reads: Wali Lubnani (“And I Have My Lebanon”, a famous line by Lebanon’s adored poet: Khalil Gibran). Check out some of her other…

A New York friend is coming to San Francisco for a weekend to attend a wedding. She’s staying in Union Square and only has one full day to tour the city on her own, and this is what I recommended: 1) Get up whenever, stroll around Union Square/Market St. 2) Optionally check out Yerba Buena Gardens and the Museum of Modern Art, or the California Historical Society Museum, or the Cartoon Art Museum. 3) Around lunchtime, make your way to…

You know, there are days when it feels like the whole world is smiling on you. Yesterday I went for a run at about 7 pm up in the Berkeley Hills on the side of Strawberry Canyon. As I was coming down the hill, the sun was setting over the Bay and there were wild blackberries blooming on the trailside. I love this place.

Wow, this terrorism stuff is scary. Kudos to the British authorities for doing a job well done. That said, isn’t this a little overboard? IHT: In Britain, the authorities banned laptop computers, mobile phones, iPod music players, and other electronic devices from being carried on board; passengers were obliged to empty their remaining carry-on items into the plastic bags.

Go read this article about asshole extraordinaire and scum of the earth Joe Francis, the founder of the “Girls Gone Wild” empire. Bravo to Claire Hoffman of the L.A. Times for doing such a fantastic piece of journalism. L.A. Times: Eventually, Szyszka [an 18-year-old girl recruited at a Chicago night club for a GGW video] says, Francis told the cameraman to leave and pushed her back on the bed, undid his jeans and climbed on top of her. “I told…

This past weekend, my grandparents moved out of their home in the Berkeley Hills of nearly half a century. As many of you know, that house is very near and dear to my heart. As I told them, if they were selling it (they’re not), I would sell everything that I owned to be able to keep that house in our family. On Monday evening, I took a tour of the house, in its empty and soon-to-be-rented state, and went…

After being inspired by my buddy Alan Wiig‘s razor, I wanted to go old-school. (Not as old-school as I went once in 2002, but old-school nonetheless.) A few weeks ago, I acquired one of these, a Merkur Classic Razor. I’ve decided to completely ditch my crappy and expensive Mach 3 in favor of the Merkur. I like the metallic and heavier body that it has versus the Mach 3, and I like its double-edged awesomeness. It cuts better, it’s easier…

Before you head out to buy your next tank of gas, go read this incredible series of articles from two-time Pulitzer-winning Chicago Tribune reporter Paul Salopek: Oil Safari What does it take to quench America’s mighty thirst for gasoline? Pulitzer-winning correspondent Paul Salopek traced gas pumped at a suburban Chicago station to the fuel’s sources around the globe. In doing so, he reveals how our oil addiction binds us to some of the most hostile corners of the planet—and to…