Aside

Ok, so it actually launched nine days ago. Still, big ups to my buddy David Cohn and his new community–funded journalism site, Spot.us! I’ll let him explain: Spot.Us is a nonprofit project of the Center for Media Change. We are an open source project, to pioneer “community funded reporting.” Through Spot.Us the public can commission journalists to do investigations on important and perhaps overlooked stories. All donations are tax deductible and if a news organization buys exclusive rights to the…

Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein “Hoder” Derakhshan may or may not have been arrested recently in Tehran. One Iranian site, Jahan News, is reporting that he has been — citing “reliable sources” — and up until now, that’s all we have. And yet, UPI, the Jerusalem Post, Ha’aretz, The Guardian and others are all treating this as fact, using one possibly dubious Iranian newspaper as the sole source. It’s even made the Iranian equivalent of Digg, Balatarin (“Highest”). For the record, NPR…

Dear Friends, I’ve been informed that my radio piece on Inveneo will be 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 – WGBH – 89.7 FM – www.wgbh.org San…

It’s a quiet, early Sunday morning in Lyon. I probably should head down to the baker, buy a couple of perfectly balanced crust and crumb baguettes and get my day started. I looked outside my window and all I see is fog. I didn’t even know fog existed this far inland. I take in a pasty white ambling mass of fuzziness and cold just hovering above and beyond the houses a short distance from my window. I can’t see towards…

This is a much better version of what I tried to do on election day. [Hat tip: Babak]

Hellz yeah. Oaktown is getting free WiFi! Waiting for my next Southwest flight will now be WAY better. Says the company presser: The launch marks FreeFi’s second deployment at a major U.S. airport in 2008. In January, FreeFi partnered with Denver International Airport to replace daily-fee Internet service with free Wi-Fi access. The Port of Oakland, owner and operator of Oakland International, awarded FreeFi a multi-year contract with the airport which commenced Oct. 1. [via Wi-Fi Net News and A…

Time: Wednesday, Nov. 05, 2008 My Chance Encounter With Obama in Hawaii By Pico Iyer It was three days before the new year in late 2006, and I was eating a burger with the traveler and writer Paul Theroux on Oahu’s North Shore. Beside us in the rickety little shack was a quintessentially Hawaiian group of Chinese Americans, African Americans, semi-Southeast Asians and kids who could have been any or all of the above, waiting for the dad in the…

Big ups to Newsweek for this massively amazing set of reporting on the Obama and McCain campaigns and the behind-the-scenes strategy and play-by-play of the buildup to the election. I’ve just finished part four of the seven part series, which closes with this fantastic kicker: The power of the Obama operation could be measured: doubling the turnout at the Iowa caucuses, raising twice as much money as any other candidate in history, organizing volunteers by the millions. (In Florida alone:…

Am I the last person to find out that Obama spoke on Tuesday night behind “10 feet high and 15 feet long” “two-inch thick bullet proof glass” ?

Written: November 3 2008 Bastia, October 25 2008 Once we got off the boat in Bastia, we were supposed to meet “Felipe” — “In front of the port across the road there is a tourist office, very well known place.” Um, ok. Our ferry was late, and with the rain, it took us that much longer to get out of the port and find the tourist office (obviously closed on a Saturday night). Once we got there, I called Felipe,…