Aside

So, as you probably know by now, I was traveling in Iran for two weeks in late March. I didn’t blog about it or publicize it much, given that as a dual-citizen (I can be drafted into the Iranian military, although I have a short-term exemption) and a journalist (I didn’t do any reporting while I was there), there was a very small possibility that I’d somehow get into trouble. You never know. Fortunately, I made it back without incident.…

Associated Press: LOS ANGELES (AP) — California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037, scientists said in the first statewide temblor forecast. New calculations reveal there is a 99.7 percent chance a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger will strike in the next 30 years. The odds of such an event are higher in Southern California than Northern California, 97 percent versus 93 percent. ”It basically guarantees it’s going to happen,” said Ned Field,…

Posts re Austin and more from Iran coming soon. It’s good to be home.

Owners of lunch trucks blast parking time limit: A county ordinance targeting food vending trucks took some heat Tuesday when a couple dozen truck owners and their lawyer came to the Board of Supervisors meeting to oppose it. The supervisors had given the ordinance tentative approval last week. But after the vendors’ protested Tuesday, the supervisors put off a final vote, which now could take place next week. One vender vowed to sue the county unless changes are made to…

The New York Times Magazine: [Jan] Chipchase is 38, a rangy native of Britain whose broad forehead and high-slung brows combine to give him the air of someone who is quick to be amazed, which in his line of work is something of an asset. For the last seven years, he has worked for the Finnish cellphone company Nokia as a “human-behavior researcher.” He’s also sometimes referred to as a “user anthropologist.” To an outsider, the job can seem decidedly…

The Baltic Times: TALLINN – Islam is taking off in Estonia. The Koran, the holy book which was recently published for the first time in Estonian, has been on the best sellers list for months. The liberalization of immigration policy, meanwhile, is likely to lead to an increase in the number Muslims settling in the country. Three thousand copies of the Koran have been sold since it was first published in December 2007. To put this in the context of…

Here’s my first batch. I’ve got nearly 1,000 in all. Here’s a few of my favs from the first round:

We had a six-hour flight from Tehran, braved Paris rush-hour traffic and made it to my aunt Firouzeh’s house in Issy-Les-Moulineaux. I’ll be spending two nights here (my parents four) before heading home to California for one night before I mosey on over to Austin for a week for the Science Literacy Project conference. So all of you who’ve been asking me when I’ll be back in Oakland, I wouldn’t count on seeing me until April 13.

They have free WiFi, and serve “Caffè Americano” at Tehran airport. No joke. More on the flip side.

I will be traveling abroad starting tomorrow and will not be blogging until early April. However, feel free to email me if need be. Thanks.