Aside

Then head over to Kiev to be an

LA Times: Cold numbers won out over warm memories Tuesday night when the Dodgers unceremoniously severed ties with Steve Finley and Jose Lima, players who made unforgettable contributions to the team’s division championship. Neither player was offered salary arbitration by the 9 p.m. deadline, meaning the Dodgers cannot negotiate with them until May 1. By then, they undoubtedly will be wearing new uniforms. Among the 12 Dodger free agents, only third baseman Adrian Beltre, catcher Brent Mayne and pitchers Odalis…

Yet another reason why I love the Internet: Jewish Hey-Ya (courtesy Accordion Guy) Happy Hannukah everyone!

Subject: book seminar From: Samuel G. Freedman To: Cyrus Farivar Date: Dec. 8, 2004 11:53 am [Eastern] Cyrus- A spot in the class has become available, and you’re first on the waiting list. Do you want to take the class for credit? Let me know ASAP. If you do, I’ll work out the scheduling issues with Melanie Huff. Sam Freedman Subject: book seminar From: Cyrus Farivar To: Samuel G. Freedman Date: Dec. 8, 2004 11:55 am [Eastern] Yes! I want…

At 105, the Rabbi Doesn’t Sleep Late: A century of poring over ancient Jewish texts has carved deep circles under Rabbi Yehuda Chitrik’s eyes. Decades of Sabbath- table storytelling have left him speaking softly and seldom. At 105 years old, he seems almost mortal. “He is not so good,” his daughter Shaindel Schneerson, 72, said the other night. “Right now, he’s saying his morning prayers” – she reported after dinner. “In the evening, he is doing this.” But even at…

NPR’s “All Things Considered” had a great show on Friday, in case you missed it. There were two segments that I really loved: The first, about the Internet in Iran (two of my favorite subjects), called “Internet Popularity Soars in Iran”, featured my second cousin, Karim Sadjadpour, who was quoted as an analyst in the piece. The second, called Exploring African Hip-Hop, profiled a West African and East African rap group and how rap, in Africa, is starting to really…

[redacted] (1:36:58 PM): hey FarivarCJ (1:37:22 PM): hi [redacted] (1:37:56 PM): whats wrong FarivarCJ (1:38:09 PM): nothing FarivarCJ (1:38:11 PM): why? [redacted] (1:38:24 PM): when people say “hi” they are usually mad or something [redacted] (1:38:34 PM): or annoyed FarivarCJ (1:38:34 PM): huh? FarivarCJ (1:38:38 PM): where’d you get that from? [redacted] (1:38:45 PM): just from my own experiences [redacted] (1:38:53 PM): hows everything

So at the time my article was published a couple days ago, I set up a little experiment to see how a relatively unknown idea propagates through the Internet. “HungryPod” turned up three hits on Google, and zero hits on Feedster and received an average of 30 unique hits per day. 72 hours later, Google now turns up 90 hits, Feedster turns up 9 hits, and within 24 hours of the story, Catherine Keane reported she received over 1100 unique…

Either way, I’m glad to see that someone is playing hardball around here. Says the WashPost: As Major League Baseball’s steroid scandal widened to include the sport’s most prolific active home run hitter, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said yesterday that he will introduce legislation imposing drug testing standards on professional athletes if baseball players and owners do not adopt a stringent crackdown on steroids by January. In the wake of the disclosure that San Francisco Giants slugger…

The WashPost ran an article today about two Massachusetts soldiers who were killed in Iraq. Their funerals were attended by Sens. Kennedy and Kerry. But down on the second page, this paragraph jumped out at me: On Sept. 11, 2001, during the moments before the attacks on the World Trade Center, Gavriel had been on the phone with a friend working in one of the towers, according to the news stories. That made it clear: He would go to Iraq.…