Month: June 2005

Muffled Chinese Blogs

The thought of a world where you can be arrested and sentenced to prison for criticizing public officials or for simply voicing an opinon is quite scary. So scary in fact, I often feel they are just confined to Orwell’s fictional and pejorative views of the distant future, the ominous mid-80’s ..ooooooo. And then there’s Rand, with Anthem, her take on the future–just as dismal. But then, when the book is closed, it’s all over; the world within the pages, is not the world you live in. Everything’s fine.

…then there’s China.

This week, bloggers in China are being required by law to register their websites with the government in another attempt to duct tape the mouths of their citizens.

So for those “seditious” bloggers that are being strong-armed by their government to stop writing on their blogs, I welcome you to host on my server. Contact me via e-mail.

Motel in Kissimmee Florida

My Uncle Tom is one of the few–if not the only–entrepreneur in our family. And, I guess it’s only fitting that this same uncle is not even “technically” related, but when it comes to Sri Lankans, it’s a blurred line that separates the friends from the family.

So, my Uncle Tom a year ago, packed his family (and his things) and headed over to Kissimmee Florida to run his own motel business, and from what I hear, it’s going well.

He came to visit the other weekend and asked me if I could give him a hand setting up a website for him to reel in more visitors. I was delighted.

--- Begin Shameless Plug ---

I’d like to introduce: http://www.sunrisemotelfl.com

Of course the links on the left don’t quite work yet ( it’s me doing it remember).

So for your next trip to Disney world (which is like 15 minutes from there) stay at my Uncle’s Motel. It’s in Kissimmee Florida, and the prices are really good and he runs a very nice facility. Mention his website and get a little discount.

Post-College Rut

Sustaining a blog can be so difficult sometimes, and even more so when your life is as dull as mine– even my meals haven’t differentiated much. Every morning (since I wake up with little to no time to spare) I toss some Raisin Bran in a bowl, splash a little 1% on top of it, and head out to my car. I’ve perfected cereal eating while driving, bowl, spoon, and everything, it’s really quite an art. By the time I reach work every morning, I’ve finished my serving of cereal, and then off to work I go. Oh, I forgot to mention, during my morning hustle I toss a few bags of tea in my pocket on the way out, Earl Grey, from Twinings.

After arriving into the office, I have a mug of tea, no sugar, with the tea bag steeped for 3 minutes exactly. Then the rest of my day is spent programming, and doing a load of work related minutia, which since I am a programmer, involves a lot of QT with my computer–we have quite a relationship. This computer I use is itself quite a mystery. It’s a 433 Mhz processor (archaic I know), with less that 400MB of ram and about 8GB of Harddrive space, yet however, It somehow performs better than any PC I have ever had, that includes my 2.5 Ghz laptop at home. I guess it’s one of those cases where it’s NOT what is inside that counts, but instead what kind of strange supernatural spiritual being has possessed your computer, because really, this is not natural.

Lunch time is Subways– always Subways. They know us there.

The afternoon commute from Warwick to Rumford is the only divergent item in my routine. Sometimes it will take an hour home, sometimes 15 minutes, it’s as unpredictable as the weather.

At home, I have a new treadmill, that my parent’s bought me for graduation. And now, I am an absolute fiend at running. My average distance now is 6 miles, which– mind you– is after an enormous sedentary, and inactive lifestyle prior. I absolutely love that feeling after a long run. It’s quite a high. In fact I read somewhere that it technically is a “high”: your neurons release betaendorphins into the brain, which act as a natural pain suppressant, and creates a mild euphoric sensation in your brain. They say this can be addicting–and who said addiction was a vice?

So after the run, comes the reading. Right now I’m in the middle of Anna Karenina, which I thought at first was going to be another eponymous “chick-book” like Jane Eyre, but I have been surprisingly wrong. It’s not what I expected, and really quite engaging. Tolstoy is the man.

And then the cycle repeats.

The post-college-quarter-life crisis. The time when school is over, as well as those clearly defined goals, and you carry on a routine until you find a real full time job. Then it all changes, but only for a little while.

Ariyam.com 2.0.1

I was starting to get a little bored with my website so I’ve made some slight modifications. I’ve further stratified my blog categories into labels more specific than just “general” and “politics”.

I also ripped-off Monet for my new banner image–ah, he’s dead, he won’t mind. Now the only thing left to upgrade is the content! Don’t you worry, that’s next!

The Cellphone Anathema

I thought of a neat little device for a cell phone. I call it the “People Scanner”. It works like this: it will be a built in device that will detect if there is more than one person around the cell phone. And in the event that the reading comes out positive, the phone will not ring for an incoming call, but instead direct the caller immediately to a voicemail.

I think this device would be really great. I also think I’m really great for coming up with it.

Cell phones have become a problem. It wasn’t so bad during the Zack Morris day of those large gray dumbbell-size phones. Back then, air charges were like 20$ a minute so your were limited to just using it for an emergency. But now, minutes are practically free, they number in the thousands, and they rollover and play dead, and do all sorts of stupid little tricks.

But we can’t just get rid of the phones. Nope. That would be impossible. Ever try to forcibly take back a toy you gave to a little toddler? It’s not a pretty site.

So cell phones can’t be removed, per se; we have to stick to other options. This may be one of those times when we have to just fight technology with technology. The Russians got a bow and arrow, someone please roll out that cannon. They upgrade to the Gattling gun, our engineers come out with air-to-ground laser guided missiles. They counter with the nuclear warhead, we tap our brightest researchers to come out with some good ol’ Ebola and some Super-Tiny Pox.

So for the Cell-phone problem, we may need to fight it with technology. But don’t turn those keys just yet, there may be a less nuclear solution. If the People Scanners are impractical, what about stationary jamming signals set up in those tight public spots were the true misanthropes of society lurk and bring their insipid conversations. The train-cars, the busses, the waiting rooms, the grocery stores, the classrooms, the ballgames, the MOVIE THEATERS, the outside, the inside, everywhere! should have installed Jamming signals, or EMP pulses– so what if your heart defibrillator stops working, at least you’ll die NOT knowing where the idiot next to you is meeting his friends for dinner.

Forster’s Two Cents

Most of life is so dull that there is nothing to be said about it, and the books and talks that would describe it as interesting are obliged to exaggerate, in the hope of justifying their own existence. Inside its cocoon of work or social obligation, the human spirit slumbers for the most part, registering the distinction between pleasure and pain, but not nearly as alert as we pretend. There are periods in the most thrilling day during which nothing happens, and though we continue to exclaim, “I do enjoy myself,, or , “I am horrified,” we are insincere.

E.M. Forster from
A Passage to India