Something Fishy...

The Dhiraagu Internet Awards 2003, has caused suspicion and outrage by some of the participants. Mostly because www.aafathisnews.com.mv, a mediocre news website was given the award for the "Most Popular Website". Some claimed that, it was more likely that either haveeru.com.mv(won the award twice) or lockforum.net(a popular maldivian forum) to be the winners of this contest. My suggestion? Well, please respect the votes of your likely customers, it's a Good Thing™.

Is Hell Exothermic?

Critical Section - Is Hell Exothermic?

Think about it, does hell give off heat(exothermic) or absorbs heat(endothermic)? And then read the article.

Acute Sleeping in Class Disorder

This is the third time that I've slept in class, since last January. Last year I slept twice. Waking up to giggles from all the girls behind me, is very embarrassing, trust me on this. It seems to be getting worse everyday. I've tried to find/google for some answers. Most likely reason would be, because I'm sleeping, too late in the night. It haven't got any better since 1997, when I was studying at MES evening classes. I hate evening classes, especially those that have closed windows, and air-conditioning. It cuts off my oxygen supply, making me drowsy and cold - explained to me by Gaha Saeed, who was teaching me then. We all need fresh oxygen, he explained, while opening the windows. Had slept in his class almost every night. I can find the most awkward places to sleep. Ford has pictorial evidence, of this nasty "habit" of mine, while sleeping at work (Dhiraagu) of all places. This a total U-turn from an insomniac state. No kidding, I was diagonsed with it four years ago, really! Several causes come to mind. During my short break, I've been going through what is known as free-running sleep. Most likely because, I seem to have a slight Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. Just speculation! Assuming that this free-running state is interrupted, what I would most likely incur is, sleeping at odd places and hours like this. I really need some more information on this, or perhaps just a good night's sleep.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection has over 10,000 maps online. It focuses on acquiring 18th and 19th century maps. Particularly what interested me most, was a map of Maldives made in 1827 by Philippe Vandermaelen titled "les Maldives et Laquedives", from his "Atlas Universel", a six volume atlas of the entire globe.

Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash

You've seen Freddy Vs Jason. Now watch Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash. Ash(played by Bruce Campbell) is the guy from the Evil Dead series. Let me take this opportunity to predict Freddy Vs Jason Vs Ash Vs Predator Vs Alien, coming in 2006.

Lain

Serial Experiments Lain : an abstracted story of the layers within our modern, or soon to be society. A prophetic call to re-examine the values, before the layers collapse. Lain asks us to question everything that surrounds us, and leaves us with so many questions to wonder about. It touches upon almost every aspect of our modern world - religion, technology, society, culture, emerging philosophies. It also reminds us to break through the fog of abstractions we have created in our modern world, that those abstractions are of our own creation, and to hold too much faith in them would be our ultimate failure. Also, to use what we have effectively to achieve what we are supposed to be. What is that ? Well, you would have to watch it, to know.

Note : I've seen some people complaining in the forums, because of the word "God", in Lain. God, in Lain, refers to an omnipresent being, not the creator of worlds. But it leaves us to wonder, much later in the series, whether.. hmmm.. just watch it.

The Living Web

I have been blogging since last September, and sometimes, it would really help to get some advice on how to do it right. With all the confusion, name calling, rumours and fiery arguments in the blogosphere, you would rarely find anything that would create order out of this chaos. However, today I was lucky enough to stumble upon this article on A List Apart's website, titled "10 Tips on Writing the Living Web".

Mark Bernstein provides us with 10 tips on how to write the "right" stuff, be it the irregular blog, online editorial or the journal. It's way back from 2002, so don't complain about it being old news. If you are like me and is completely new to this kind of thing, I'm sure it will help you.


In other completely unrelated news, Larry Wachowski is ready for a sex change.

World Press Freedom Day

I'm back in full color and today is World Press Freedom Day.

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), which coordinates activities each year on May 3rd, World Press Freedom Day is:

· a day of action to encourage and develop initiatives in favor of the freedom of the press;
· a day to assess the state of press freedom worldwide;
· a day to remind governments to respect their commitments to press freedom;
· a day to alert the public and to increase awareness of the importance of freedom of the press;
· a day of reflection to encourage debate among media professionals on the issues of press freedom and professional ethics;
· a day of remembrance for journalists who have lost their lives in the exercise of their profession; and
· a day of support for media which fall victim to any measures which restrain, or seek to abolish, freedom of the press.

SomaFM

Ambient beats, casts a soothing, dreamy spell
Listen and enjoy


Just in case you are wondering what Soma is ...
from wikipedia.org

The term "Soma" was used in Aldous Huxley's novel Brave New World (1932) in which it describes a drug. This is an 'opium of the people' that replaces religion in an oppressive futuristic science-based society. Soma is a pill consumed as an anti-depressant by workers who lead emotionally repressed and regimented lives. The use of the term satirically refers to the revived interest in ancient Aryan culture at the time. Huxley's society is caste based, like that of Brahminical India. Some people say that our modern, Western society has been kept under the "soma" of television for the last few decades.

Huxley's soma was taken by the Anti-psychiatry movement in the 1960s as a model for their claim that anti-depressants and other drugs functioned to emotionally control people whose distress and mental illness arose from the oppressive nature of modern society.