Aside

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on the “refocusing” of the One Laptop Per Child project is airing today. It will be available on any of these stations (and their Internet streams): New York – 3 pm Eastern – WNYC – 820 AM – www.wnyc.org Washington, DC – 8 pm Eastern – WAMU – 88.5 FM – www.wamu.org Los Angeles – 12 pm Pacific – KPCC – 89.3 FM – www.kpcc.opg Boston – 4 pm Eastern –…

via Accordion Guy

I spent a couple hours this weekend making this map based on info collected by Lucy Vanel and by the city of Villeurbanne. Feel free to send me updates, tips, or suggestions!

The Atlantic’s Michael Hirschorn, January/February 2009: But what if the old media dies much more quickly? What if a hurricane comes along and obliterates the dunes entirely? Specifically, what if The New York Times goes out of business—like, this May? It’s certainly plausible. Earnings reports released by the New York Times Company in October indicate that drastic measures will have to be taken over the next five months or the paper will default on some $400 million in debt. With…

Apparently in early 2001, David Manilow, one of the creators of “Check, Please!” sold his idea for a food TV show to Chicago’s WTTW. One of the early episodes, filmed in August 2001, featured a young state senator named Barack Obama, who was one member of the four-person panel to review Chicago’s Dixie Kitchen. According to The Internet Food Association: The episode was never broadcast. Obama didn’t seem “amateur” enough, and he dominated the show. But on [January 16 2009],…

Dear Friends, My piece on the American release of Alan’s War aired on The World on December 22. I apologize for the late notice — this got caught up in my vacation backlog. Audio is here. Happy New Year to all!

How come no one told me (sorry, Garett, I’m behind on my RSS feeds) that there was a new Star Trek movie trailer out? Man, this is gonna be SWEET. Also, scope out this YouTube vid of this sweet, new Blue Scholars’ joint: “Coffee and Snow.”

While walking around the European Parliament building last week, I invented a new gang sign. EU in da house, y’allz! We spent a great three days putzing around the Marché de Noël in Strasbourg. We’re now in Paris until Sunday, then Lyon for a night. Then Nate comes and we’ll all head to Lucy’s châlet in Pontcharra for two nights, then back to Lyon for New Year’s and then my birthday on the 2nd. I start teaching again on the…

Holy crap. The Internet of Elsewhere might actually be real — I just filed my first draft. Grand total word count came to about 83,000 words. I’m pretty stoked but also deathly afraid. I apologize if I haven’t been very communicative over these past few weeks as I’ve been trying to pound this thing out. Becks and I are in Geneva for the weekend for the Fête de l’Escalade and to visit my old Italian teacher, Luca Notari. Thanks to…