Aside

Times of India: HRD contends that spending Rs 450 crore on digital empowerment can be better spent on primary and secondary education. “It is quite obvious that the financial expenditure to be made on the scheme will be out of public funds. It would be impossible to justify an expenditure of this scale on a debatable scheme when public funds continue to be in inadequate supply for well-established needs listed in different policy documents,” the ministry said. It also finds…

So, I’m listed under the Wikipedia category of People from Santa Monica, California. This is a category I share with Tiger Woods. But when I went to read his entry, I discovered that while he’s not actually from Santa Monica, (born in Cypress, CA), he apparently went to my alma mater, and was classmates and golf teammates with Carson Daly. Whoa.

Ethan Zuckerman: BBC reports the death toll from the second intifada at roughly 4000. Iraq Body Count offers an estimate of civilian deaths in Iraq between 39,000 and 43,000 – a study from Johns Hopkins projects a much larger number, 100,000 by October 2004. Marc Herold at UNH projects between 3 and 4,000 civilian deaths in Afghanistan from October 2001 – June 2004. Military casualties include 407 coalition casualties in Afghanistan and 2,564 coalition deaths in Iraq. Using the JHU…

I got my passport back! I had to get extra pages added to my U.S. passport. The website says it can take up to six weeks, but I got mine back in under two. Sweet! Today, I went to the Asian Art Museum and met Ala Ebtekar, a Berkeley-born Iranian hip-hop visual artist. We chatted a bit and he told me to Rose Market in Mountain View to get some real-deal koobideh as well as other staples like bastani (Persian…

Note from Cyrus: The following is an email from a friend of a friend studying Arabic for the summer at the American University in Beirut. I’ve edited it slightly for spelling. You can read the whole email here. From: Gabriel Nevin [himynameisgabe@hotmail.com] Date: 19 Jul 2006 08:35:43 -0700 Subject: To: While it has been far from continuous, and I honestly have not been scared for my safety much since this war has started, I have for the first time felt…

I’ve been informed that at last check, my radio piece on MobMov will be on The World today! 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 – 3 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 –…

Wired News: By Cyrus Farivar 02:00 AM Jul, 21, 2006 As we drove back down the hill we could clearly see new billows of smoke rising beyond our neighborhood, and a loud double blast shook the air just as we were turning into our driveway. A minute later, the power went out. The generator took over so we could get the groceries up in the elevator, to find my mom upstairs giggling madly because the blast had made her jump…

Macworld: By Cyrus Farivar The lone authorized Apple Center in Beirut, Lebanon, has been forced to shut its doors since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah ignited a week ago. And that store faces an uncertain future, as its owner prepares to flee the fighting. Jean Medlej, 51, and his family will likely evacuate Lebanon at the earliest opportunity, which may come as soon as this weekend. Dual citizens of France and Lebanon, he and his family are on an…

Catherine pointed me to the music video for The New Pornographer’s “Sing Me Spanish Techno“. It’s pretty funny.

MSNBC: Bush: See the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it’s over. Blair: Because I think this is all part of the same thing. What does he think? He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if he gets a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way, he’s done it. That’s what this whole thing’s about. It’s the same with Iran. Bush: I felt…