Faith Starts Where You Stop Thinking?

Yesterday I was stopped in front of Namasthe Plaza (Indian Grocery Store in Sunnyvale) by an ISKON volunteer. She was a dimunitive white lady of 52 (her information). She started off trying to get us to pick up a book on Krishna (and offer a "donation" in return.) Another volunteer saw my pregnant wife and swooped in on her with a couple of Baby Krishna books.

After we had brushed off the initial baits, the little old lady went to the next gear, and produced a thicker, more serious looking book titled Krsna. She declared it was a required book for any one who wants to combat the stresses of materialistic existence and wants to go beyond the cycle of life, and stuff like that.

At that point, I lost a bit of my patience, and started off saying "You should realize that, being from India, we have been exposed to this stuff a lot...." And so started a short debate that quickly accelerated in full fledged battle of beliefs.

At some point she said something like "you are going to be a father, and you would be failing in your duty if you do not equip your child with this knowledge of life and the soul...". I got ticked off and told her I disagreed, and that it's good for someone only if they buy into it. It boils down to "faith", I said. She agreed, but went on to say, thousands are benefitting from the knowledge of Krishna all over the world; this is being taught in leading universities all over the world; people who have a higher taste seek this.

Wow, wait a minute! Higher Taste?

I was tempted to say, people of lower intelligence seek this stuff, but that would have been foolishness.

Anyway, I said, faith is that point where you choose not to think anymore, or you can't think anymore. (Implying, I have some distance to go before I give up thinking and trying to figure 'it' out.) I don't think she understood. But, I think I was on to something there.

Got to think about that one!

when canned/frozen fruit is better than fresh

Dr. Dean Edell: fruit/vegetables harvested to be sold fresh have to be plucked before they reach prime. however, fruits for canning/freezing can get closer to full ripeness before being harvested.

but the diff. are small. instead of nit-picking, just each some fruit - in whatever form!

The confusing world of Digital Video

My first deliberate foray in to the Digital Video jungle happened this weekend, after our Seemandham (Hindu Baby Shower). Thanksfully, I didn't have to go through the agony of having to decide which Camcoder to buy - thanks to my brother's wedding gift 4 years ago, which is surprisingly still not obsolete.

I spent a few hours googling and reading internet forums and tutorials, and learnt a bit. But it is still a very confusing jungle to navigate, especially if your attention span is not good. And since my memory is not very good either, I thought I'll record my new-found knowledge here before it slowly evoporated away.

Some basic facts:

1. all camcoders today are digital - they store the video and audio data in digital format, in a miniDV tape, mini DVD, a hard-disk or a flash memory.

2a. miniDV is a magnetic tape medium, on which data is stored digitally. the data rate is roughly 25 mbps. intra-frame compression is used, but not inter-frame compression (not sure about this)

2b. mini DVD is the same format as a regular DVD, just a smaller size (so less capacity?). the data in a DVD is stored using the MPEG-2 format, with bitrates in the range 5 to 10 mbps. intra and inter-frame compression are used.

3. video transfer from a miniDV camcoder to a PC (over USB or FireWire) is a real-time "capture". so, unless the transfer interface (USB/FireWire) has enough bandwidth and the PC is fast enough, data-loss can occur (mostly in the form of dropped frames). this is not like transferring files from a CD to a hard drive, where slower interface/hardware just results in longer time of transfer. put differently, transferring 60 minutes of video from a miniDV camcoder to a PC takes exactly 60 minutes - no matter how fast or slow the hardware is.

The Urge To Be Teacher

I assume it's fairly common among men (perhaps among women too) at some point in their lives to want to be a teacher. It's an urge to help the younger generation, to show them the way, to give back to the society, etc.

But I wonder if it's really a manifestation of another common wish - to go back in time and meet one's younger self, and give some real good advice! Something to ponder...