Aside

Stolen from my post at Chowhound: Four friends and I gathered together last night for a Frutivale five burrito showdown. We usually hit up El Ojo de Agua about once a week. Their burritos are the best that we’ve found in the neighborhood, and it’s well-worth the trek from the confines of Rockridge to get some mind-blowingly amazing burritos. But we often forget that El Ojo is but one taqueria amidst many in Fruitvale, so we decided to give some…

It’s Norouz (Persian New Year) time again, and for the first time on my own, I’ve set up a haft seen. I’m really glad that I did this (although my cat is eyeing the fish). The Traditional Haft Sîn The Traditional Haft Sîn Haft Sîn (هفت سین) or the seven ‘S’s is a major tradition of Norouz. The haft sin table includes seven items specific starting with the letter S or Sîn (س) in Persian alphabet). The items symbolically correspond…

In case you hadn’t heard, I have a new gig as a freelance (read: part-time) producer for Your Call Radio on KALW 91.7 FM (that’s San Francisco’s oft-neglected other NPR affiliate). My first show as a producer, which will air on March 13, will be covering students’ views on sharing private information in a public, online forum, such as blogs, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook and the like. So, if you’re a student at any Bay Area university, college, or community college,…

Ed: Here’s my third piece to date for The Economist. The Economist: THE people, places and things inside “Second Life,” a thriving online virtual world with millions of residents, may be imaginary*but the power consumption of the computers that maintain the illusion is all too real. Nicholas Carr, a business writer and blogger, recently worked out that each of the 15,000 or so residents logged in at any one time consumes electricity as a result of their activities in the…

Wired News: By Cyrus Farivar 02:00 AM Mar, 06, 2007 RIGA, Latvia — At first glance, Hansa Buss’ new coach seems like any ordinary bus — it’s got big, not-yet-sticky rubber steps leading inside to row after row of seats. Curiously, some of the seats have electrical outlets mounted in the sidewalls of the bus. Farther down the aisle, in the midsection of the bus, is a kitchenette, complete with an espresso machine, a microwave and a small pantry area.…

The Scene: David Boyk is IMing with me, seated somewhere in India in front of his swanky new MacBook Pro. Boyk: dude, this apple remote thing? Boyk: fucking awesome Boyk: all i require from life is a way to make fun little 3D things happen on my screen without touching my computer Fin.

There was just an earthquake 12 miles from my house. Update: The San Francisco Chronicle is on it: (03-01) 21:06 PST — A quake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.2 hit one mile northeast of Lafayette at 8:40 p.m. tonight. Various police and fire departments in the East Bay said there were no immediate reports of damage. BART reported no damage. The quake’s depth was 10.3 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At Stanley Middle School in Lafayette, the…

So Senegal just had its presidential elections this past Sunday, and the results are in today: Abdoulaye Wade has been re-elected. Ethan has a great roundup via Global Voices about what various Senegalese bloggers are saying about things. Not sure who’s who or what’s what? You’re in luck, because Ethan’s also found this fantastic three-part video series: Democracy in Dakar Project 2007.

So if you’re not going to Chaharshanbeh Suri with me on March 13, maybe you’d rather hear Stephen Hawking give a lecture at UC Berkeley? I’ve got two tickets for sale if you’re interested. 10 percent discount for blog readers. Update: Been sold! Thanks!

Josh Quittner, the editor-in-chief at Business 2.0 magazine (where I was an intern a mere three years ago), wants to be the next dean at the North Gate Graduate School of Journalism? Also, why didn’t anyone tell me that Ted Leo & the Pharmacists are playing a $15 show at Stanford this Sunday night? I’m so there, dude.