Tom Delay, Hallmarks of a Leader

Tom Delay has the makings of the archetypical corrupt politician. Look, he even has all the requisite character traits:

1. Inverted Philanthropist: Siphon large amounts of money back into your own pocket. Delay’s method, hiring wife and daughter as “political consultants”, and paying them a modest 500,000.

2. Opportunist: Regardless of the frailty of circumstances, leap beyond appointed purview and share officious legal misinterpretations to the judiciary. Be as obstreperous as possible, and shy not away from slandering.

3. Interest Conflicter: With open arms and a bright artificial smile, accept the “donations” of wealthy foreign interests–and hey, you may even get a free trip to S. Korea from it.

4. Republican: (Not fair, I know.)

Unenviable Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky is one of my favorite authors. Not because I’m familiar with much of his work, because I’m not. I’ve only finished one book by him, “Crime and Punishment”–but that was enough. “Crime and Punishment” is such a powerful book and easily one of my favorites. But now I’m in the middle of another one of his novels, considered the seminal piece of his writing career “The Brothers Karamazov”. I still can’t pronounce the title, but so far the book has met, shook hands, and sprinted past all my expectations.

One similarity I’ve noticed between this book and “Crime and Punishment”, is that Dostoevsky uses pathos to draw affection to his protagonists; you are so moved with compassion and pity for the character, that you are eager to see them succeed.

And this may not be a coincidence. They say you can only write about what you know, and Dostoevsky certainly didn’t have the easiest of lives. First his father was murdered when he was a child. Then Dostoevsky was sentenced to death when he was about my age– a sentence that was eventually commuted to imprisonment in Siberia. He was later released, but he suffered other losses, like the loss of his son and wife, (which are alluded to in Karamazov). Then he fell into enormous debt. Not from situations outside his control, but from excessive dissipation, especially gambling. He can’t be revered for the self-decadency of his later lifestyle, but the understanding of the hand he was dealt growing up, conjures up feelings of nothing but pathos, pity; and I think this may be one of the strongest themes he applies to his novels. That “the tides of fortune, no man can tell”, placing oneself in perspective to the misfortunes of another, you may just find a hero or a great man– in the seemingly lowliest of persons.

Rule-abiding Ferengi

The Ferengi are an alien species in Star Trek—orbiting around all things pecuniary. They are easily identified by their enormous ears and low brows, and of course with their unmistakable personalities which are motivated only by one thing, profit. In the era that Star Trek takes place, our race, the human race, is no longer driven by wealth, money, and a healthy economy. These things no longer exist in Earth, and are unneeded–and as a direct consequence so are, crime, poverty, and war. In fact, Earth is considered to be a paradise. The human species evolves into a race that is committed to exploration, knowledge and the sole pursuit of “bettering themselves”, fully embracing the ancient quip that money is the root of all evil.

Which brings me again to the Ferengi, the big-eared and tan, 4 foot 9 race, made purposely to look uglier then most other species. They still live a lifestyle revolving around wealth, business and acquiring more, and for the sake of Star Trek, represent astounding similarities to the way we, in this age, currently live our lives. Every time we watch the Ferengi and snicker at their loathsome ethical values, every time we shiver in disgust at their inexorable avarice, we are showing deprecation not at the Ferengi, but at a mirror, one reflecting the current state of our race—it’s a sobering perspective.

But the Ferengi, are an extreme. An extreme that, again, may be intentional to play the duel role as comic relief in Star Trek. What is particular amusing with the Ferengi is something they are continually quoting from in order to justify their sometimes dubious actions. It is called the “Rules of Acquisition”, the Ferengi ancient text that is simply a serious of aphorisms that the Ferengi model their lives around. Some of these “rules” are very funny in their complete disregard to what we would consider to be sound business ethics, and then again, some of them are surprisingly wise in their veracity.

A couple of my favorite rules are:

6 Never allow family to stand in the way of opportunity.
15 Acting stupid is often smart.
21 Never place friendship above profit.
29 When someone says “It’s not the money,” they’re lying.
31 Never make fun of a Ferengi’s mother … insult something he cares about instead.
37 You can always buy back a lost reputation.
44 Never confuse wisdom with luck.
47 Don’t trust a man wearing a suit better than your own.
60 Keep your lies consistent.
100 Give someone a fish, you feed him for one day. Teach him how to fish, and you lose a steady customer.
111 Treat people in your debt like family … exploit them.
180 Never offer a confession when a bribe will do.
284 Deep down everyone’s a Ferengi.
285 No good deed ever goes unpunished.

I have a complete list here.

Quark: Ferengi
Dax: non-Ferengi

Dax: And, as the 34th Rule of Acquisition states: “Peace is good for business.”
Quark: That’s the 35th Rule.
Dax: Oh, that’s right. What’s the 34th?
Quark: “War is good for business.” It’s easy to get them confused.

Street Signs

You know that daily commute home? The one you’ve taken every day for many years, where you have every detail memorized, every pot hole, every street light, to the point where you really don’t need to pay attention anymore, you kind of just make it home without thinking too much. Well, today for the first time in years, I started to think about a particular street sign. It’s one that I’ve must of crossed maybe a thousand times and I’ve become so used to this sign that I apply the same predicable reactions in resonse; I slow down, turn my head from left to right, over and over, and examine the sidewalks till I get to the end of the road.

No, the sign isn’t a silhouette of a deer or a moose, or of a man on a horse (which I ran into once near Charleston). In fact, those probably wouldn’t apply on a street with a sidewalk. It’s a simple sign with the words “Deaf Child” on it.

What struck me as odd for the first time was that I have seen this sign on this road all my life–well at least since my family first moved to East Providence 14 years ago. So if it was there at LEAST 14 years ago, God knows how far it really goes back. 20 years? 25 years? In all probability this “child” the sign refers to is probably not really a child anymore, and in fact, he probably doesn’t even live on the same street anymore. Do they ever retire these signs? And how does a sign like this go up in the first place?

Talk about minutiae …

War and Peace

I’ve finally finished reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, an absolutely phenomenal book. It takes place during the Napoleonic war between the nascent French Empire and the sovereign nation of Russia. The book serves as a history of that period, told by an omnipotent narrator who expatiates the lives of various Russian Aristocrats. Each character in the story is so complex and so easily identifiable, who in the end serve as postulates to Tolstoy’s elaborate proof of the farce of man’s free will, and the leading role that fatalism can have on the course of history.

It is so rich and can be read and interpreted on so many levels. It’s really one of a kind. I strongly recommend!

4.5 stars
(One star deduction because I think it may have been a tad too long.)

Oscar Night

Normally, I could care less about the Oscars, or any of these celebrity award shows for that matter; I figure I’d reserve that for the daytime pink hair-curler wearing, soap-opera watching, Nat’l enquirer fans, that usually have these events circled on their TV-guides. But, this year I made an exception. I was lured in by the hype that Chris Rock was hosting it–and I LOVE Chris Rock.

But, much to my dismay, I found the whole thing painfully boring. Rock wasn’t as funny as usual. Beyonce sang two songs, one song in French, which I played off as though it were a commercial, and went to the kitchen to make myself a snack. The other song was with a piano accompaniment by Andrew Loyd Webber, again.. another commercial. The actors gave their predicable speeches, thanking everyone they’ve ever met in their life, and a list of other names that are new and that people pay no attention to.

Ultimately, I turned it off at around 10 or so, coming to the realization that this is not entertainment; this is an award show. The only people that watch televised award ceremonies, are people in it, and usually the parents of people in it. And I am neither.

Smoked Beer?

It is a historic moment in Rhode Island.

Never again, upon entering a restaurant, will you hear the question “Smoking or Non-smoking?”. I have always found it particularly disgusting that someone would want to eat while smoking. But hey, that’s their prerogative– or was.

I am very excited about this new law which makes it illegal to smoke in public places. I remember times going to a local place in East Providence called Red Bridge Tavern, and having to leave my jacket or sweater in the car, bracing the weather, and enter into the establishment wearing only the bare-minimum. If I didn’t do this, when I left that place at night, my clothes would be coated with that awful stench of cigarettes, which I can only get off my sweaters by dry cleaning. And I don’t wash sweaters and fleeces after every use, so wearing them out at smoke-deluged places would really put a wrench in my whole wardrobe cycle by having to take them temproarily out of commision.

There is a lot of oppistion to this new law, which has been expressed completly last minute, and mostly from small buissness’s under the notion that this law would criple their business. Ah, well, I’m happy.

Hate it. Love it.

Anyone that knows me, knows I’m very picky with what I read. Reading a sizeable novel–especially at my pace–takes a while, and I have to be absolutely certain I will like a book before I’m willing to commit to it.

I was making a book order on Amazon.com this weekend– really just plucking out some books from my wish list. I took down:

  • The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
  • The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

    • Then after clicking my way to the cart, Amazon informed me that if I were to add just a measly 3.35$ to my total order, I would be eligible for free shipping. So it’s either I find something that costs 3.35$ and get the shipping free or dish out an extra 4.25$ . Clearly, the reasonable thing to do was add something else to the cart. So I looked. The only thing I wanted that comes close to reaching my 3.35$ is a 6$ paperback Star Trek novel (yes I said “Star Trek”; I can almost hear the shudders of disgust, and the nods of disapproval).

    So the search for a good Star Trek novel began, and after some searching through the lists, I came across Cardassia and Andor (Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Vol. 1); It screamed “Buy Me”. And being the nervously uncertain guy that I am, and easily persuaded by the voice of public opinion, I read the reader reviews that followed:

    5 stars The Cardassia story is excellent., July 30, 2004 …

    4 stars Andorian fans should love this!, May 25, 2004 …

    2 star Boring…, February 15, 2005

    1 star I was disappointed, November 6, 2004

    As you can see, the reviews did little but exacerbate my petty decisioning dilemma.

    It comes to show, what one person loves, another despises. One person’s junk, another’s treasure. I put so much weight on the opinion of others when making a decision, and in reality, opinions are so conflicting, so biased, so inconclusive, that sometimes… they can be almost meaningless.

    Spam Woes

    Spam–the mosquitoes of the Internet. Since I planted my new site on some fresh soil, it has become almost a part-time job for me to try and contain the build-up of Spam from overrunning my site. Every new comment, that has something to do with Texas Holdem, or Poker, or Viagra, or that may contain a slew of links, all to sites that serve no purpose other than surreptitiously installing spy-ware on some unsuspecting victim (who is not using Firefox), and flood their computer screen with a dozen pop-up advertisements for things no one has an interest of purchasing– it has me seething at the teeth.

    There are two people I would like to meet in the Spam Market. First, the filthy hoodlums that write the life-giving code behind Spam. Second, the idiots that are actually purchasing this stuff. I imagine they exist? I mean, if spammers weren’t reeling in a few pigeons for all their efforts, would they even bother?

    Ariyam.com 2.0

    Like the new site? I’ve upgraded to the latest version of WordPress (V1.5). I’ve also been working on some performance issues. Hopefully this will put an end to my site’s notorious downtime.

    The banner I threw together is from a painting called “The Son of Man”, by René Magritte. You may remember it from the movie “The Thomas Crowne Affair.”

    Props to Mills for all the help!