Cyrus Farivar

The so-called Principality of Sealand, seven miles off the coast of Felixstowe and Harwich, was evacuated at lunchtime yesterdayafter a generator caught fire. Thames Coastguard, Harwich RNLI lifeboat, Felixstowe Coastguard rescue teams, firefighting tug Brightwell, the RAF rescue helicopter from Wattisham and 15 Suffolk based firefighters from the National Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG) were all called into action to tackle the blaze. One man, believed to be a security guard, was airlifted from the scene and taken to Ipswich…

I just read the latest by the Frugal Traveler, signed up for CouchSurfing, and finally descended on the site of Adam Katz, an Oaklander who is currently making his way from Zanzibar back to San Francisco. He’s currently living in Dahab, Egypt, on the Gulf of Aquaba. Damn, I need to get out there. Way out there. ALSO SEE: Thoughts on Wanderlust; December 12, 2005

Every so often you get in a funk with your own music collection and want to listen to something a bit different. After being exposed to Soma FM, courtesy of my co-worker, Curt Poff (who gave me a Soma FM sticker), I finally tuned in. I’ve been loving their Indie Pop Rocks! feed, which is exactly the kind of music I love, but it’s fresh and new every day. I’m sold.

NYT : If the major characters in the migration drama unfolding in Chiapas could be captured in a collage, it would include a burly, white-haired farmer named Eusebio Ortega Contreras, who did not hide that most of the workers who picked mangos in his fields for $6 a day were underage, undocumented Guatemalans. Indians from Chiapas used to do these jobs, Mr. Ortega said. But in the past five years, they have been migrating to the United States. And lately,…

Wikipedia, Bière de Chimay: As with all other Trappist breweries, the beer is only sold in order to financially support the monastery and some other good causes. The brewery business pays rent for use of the property within the abbey, which is used to support the monastic community. All of the profits from the sale of the beer is distributed to charities and for community development around the region.

I have been informed by the powers at 901 Mission St. that my review of Once In A Lifetime will run in the Datebook section of The San Francisco Chronicle on June 26. On a semi-related note, I’m still trying to watch the World Cup on my Mac.

Without a TV at my disposal, if I want to watch any of the World Cup games online, apparently there are ways to get it to work. But alas, after an hour of muddling through them, I couldn’t get it. Apparently the BBC is showing some of the games online, but you have to have a British ISP in order for it to work — in other words that old proxy trick won’t work anymore. I tried checking Australia’s SBS…

BBC: The Dutch ambassador to Estonia, Hans Glaubitz, is leaving the country, complaining of persistent racist and homophobic abuse. Mr Glaubitz said he and his partner, a black Cuban man, were regularly insulted when they went out. An Estonian foreign ministry spokesman said the men had been well received at an official level, but expressed “regret” over any public abuse. Mr Glaubitz is to be posted to Canada to become consul-general in Montreal. He told Dutch newspapers: “It is not…

2 BLEACHERS TIX – LA DODGERS VS. OAKLAND A’S – SAT JUNE 17 – $20 I have two bleachers seats to this game and would love to sell them for what I paid, or preferably, trade for like tickets for Friday night’s game (June 16). I live in Rockridge but work in SF, and can arrange pickup in either place.

Becky and I went to Vancouver the week after Memorial Day weekend. I won’t bore you with the details, but here are some of the highlights. – We departed Oakland on May 26, 2006. – We saw my old friend Katie Saxon and her master’s recital at the University of Oregon in Eugene. May 27, 2006 : – Then, en route to Sasquatch (in George, WA), we stopped in Portland. We tried to have lunch at the Montage Bistro, but…