Aside

When I was a sophomore at Berkeley in 2002, I took a class with Prof. Anna-Livia Brawn, on French colonial films — given that I knew I would be headed to Senegal later that fall. One of the filmmakers that she introduced us to was Ousmane Sembène, a Senegalese director and writer who she highly lauded and suggested that if ever we had the chance to see a Sembène film, that we should, given that Sembène apparently is very finicky…

A Columbia cohort of mine, Sam Gustin, has just penned a sweet article for The Village Voice on Google’s plans to expand in the Big Apple: For the time being, by installing itself above Chelsea’s broadband “fiber highway” at 111 Eighth Avenue, St. Arnaud explained, Google can bypass many of the major telecommunications firms and interface directly with Tier 2 service providers such as Level 3 Communications or XO Communications, which also are located in the building. This will significantly…

Paul Boutin just pointed me to the fact that Google Maps has updated its imaging. It’s so good now that I can pick out the building that I used to live in in Senegal (click on the image to make it bigger). The red arrow marks my home from November 2002 – May 2003. The Université Gaston Berger is about 12 km east of the city of Saint-Louis, Senegal.

NYT: Aides to Mr. Bush bristled Monday at the notion that they were trying to avoid a chance run-in between Mr. Ahmadinejad and Mr. Bush in the United Nations hallways. Contending that they were giving no extra attention to the possible walking route of the Iranian delegation or the Iranian leader’s bathroom schedule, they said that to do so would only help to elevate the stature of a man they would rather diminish.

Newswire.co.nz: Residents of the remote Pitcairn Island are a step closer to the outside world with the introduction of a host of modern communications. Thanks to funding from the British Government, all homes now have a private telephone and fast internet connection, as well as live television broadcasts. Pitcairn’s Deputy Governor, Matthew Forbes, says islanders previously communicated via unstable satellite phones and an intermittent internet service. He says the new services will help reduce Pitcairn’s isolation and are being met…

E&P: [Dexter] Filkins, one of the longest-lasting and most-honored reporters in Iraq, said that many situations lately have become even too dangerous for Iraqi reporters to report on. He described the current climate as “anarchy,” and, when asked if the country was already involved in a civil war, he said, “Yeah, sure.” Asked what advice he had for a reporter from a small paper going to Iraq now without the kinds of money and backup that the Times was able…

Just for the record, there needs to be more movies where Sacha Baron Cohen plays a gay French race car driver. Or better yet, there needs to be more movies with Sacha Baron Cohen period.

Here’s audio for the first version that I recorded for NPR earlier today. (If for some reason that doesn’t work, try this link.) This first aired, as far as I’m aware, at 22h00 Eastern today. There’s a second version airing sometime tonight/early tomorrow. Comments/suggestions welcome!

So I just finished recording two “spot news” one minute pieces for NPR which will air at the top of the news hour sometime tonight. No idea when, though. Lemme know if you hear it! Went well, and thanks again to Rick Karr. 🙂 Back to the Engadget trenches.

So tomorrow I’ll be covering the Apple Special Event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in downtown San Francisco — but this time for N P FREAKIN R ! That’s right, thanks to my radio instructor Rick Karr from Columbia, I got a call from National Public Radio to cover the event in the absence of Laura Sydell. Fortunately on Thursday I bought myself a new Marantz PMD660 from Leo’s Audio here in Oakland, so I have my…