The Overthrow of Everything
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The Revolution Will Not Be Televised -- Democracy, The Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything is a book on the story of Howard Dean's presidential campaign. He was a candidate with no chance whatsoever of winning, who, out of nowhere, almost won the US-primaries. He did this by using the Internet and his campaign blog in many innovative ways. Listen to his former campaign manager, Toe Trippi, talk about the whole thing.

The Overthrow of Everything
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The Revolution Will Not Be Televised -- Democracy, The Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything is a book on the story of Howard Dean's presidential campaign. He was a candidate with no chance whatsoever of winning, who, out of nowhere, almost won the US-primaries. He did this by using the Internet and his campaign blog in many innovative ways. Listen to his former campaign manager, Toe Trippi, talk about the whole thing.

Vlogs
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Wired magazine has an article about Vlogging, or video blogging, or video world wide web logging (to expand the shorthand complete). Short 3-5 minute videos of Vedic philosophy delivered in a fun way by devotees with interesting personalities have so much potential to become really popular.

The most popular of the vlogs is Rocketboom. We can do at least as good as they, don't you think? Let alone the other (terrible) vlogs out there.

Vlogs
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Wired magazine has an article about Vlogging, or video blogging, or video world wide web logging (to expand the shorthand complete). Short 3-5 minute videos of Vedic philosophy delivered in a fun way by devotees with interesting personalities have so much potential to become really popular.

The most popular of the vlogs is Rocketboom. We can do at least as good as they, don't you think? Let alone the other (terrible) vlogs out there.

Gurudeva stopover: day three
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Snippet of advice: "Make the best Krishna conscious decision at the moment. Who knows what is going to happen in the future?"

CD: It is difficult dealing with people's packed schedule of engaging their senses in so many ways.
DS: Keep trying. The mode of passion is like that. They are like monkeys pointlessly swinging from branch to branch.
DS: Mode of goodness means that one is not attached to the result. It also means that one doesn't do just anything, but engages in mode of goodness activities.

Lunch:

Drink: Apple and Ginger juice
Salad: Carrot and Watercress Salad with Tahini sauce dressing (GVD page 127)
Cumin Basmati Rice with Wild Rice
Pea and Broccoli Samosas (my spicing was just a off by a bit)
Subji 1: Kumara, Corn and Spinach (variation of Sweet Potato Pie filling GVD page 91)
Subji 2: Tomato Soup with Zucchini (GVD page 27, but without flour)
Vanilla Raisin cookies (variation of Chinese Almond Cookies GVD page 141, needs more flour because of the extra liquid in the raisins)

Computer questions I answered:

  • As a travel wireless network router the Apple Airport Express is the best, lightest, smallest, most fully featured and easiest option. However, it costs nearly double the price of the competition. Nevertheless, I recommended the quality Apple product.
  • The Docupen and other pen-like hand-held scanners remain too flaky for actual use.
  • Flash memory stick prices have plummeted, since DRAM prices have fallen drastically.
    The reason: the iPod shuffle has not sold nearly as well as expected. Consequence 1: the Chinese and Taiwanese RAM manufacturers have overproduced. Consequence 2: more supply than demand. Result: price falls (hint: buy memory in the next few months!)
  • A digital camera for capturing spontaneous shots has to be small and light enough to carry around anywhere and capable of capturing clear images in low-light. I recommended the Fuji F10, an ultra-compact point-and-shoot with D-SLR-like ISO 1600 image capturing capability.

... and just like that, he was gone again. Off to helping people in far off countries ...

Gurudeva stopover: day three
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Snippet of advice: "Make the best Krishna conscious decision at the moment. Who knows what is going to happen in the future?"

CD: It is difficult dealing with people's packed schedule of engaging their senses in so many ways.
DS: Keep trying. The mode of passion is like that. They are like monkeys pointlessly swinging from branch to branch.
DS: Mode of goodness means that one is not attached to the result. It also means that one doesn't do just anything, but engages in mode of goodness activities.

Lunch:

Drink: Apple and Ginger juice
Salad: Carrot and Watercress Salad with Tahini sauce dressing (GVD page 127)
Cumin Basmati Rice with Wild Rice
Pea and Broccoli Samosas (my spicing was just a off by a bit)
Subji 1: Kumara, Corn and Spinach (variation of Sweet Potato Pie filling GVD page 91)
Subji 2: Tomato Soup with Zucchini (GVD page 27, but without flour)
Vanilla Raisin cookies (variation of Chinese Almond Cookies GVD page 141, needs more flour because of the extra liquid in the raisins)

Computer questions I answered:

  • As a travel wireless network router the Apple Airport Express is the best, lightest, smallest, most fully featured and easiest option. However, it costs nearly double the price of the competition. Nevertheless, I recommended the quality Apple product.
  • The Docupen and other pen-like hand-held scanners remain too flaky for actual use.
  • Flash memory stick prices have plummeted, since DRAM prices have fallen drastically.
    The reason: the iPod shuffle has not sold nearly as well as expected. Consequence 1: the Chinese and Taiwanese RAM manufacturers have overproduced. Consequence 2: more supply than demand. Result: price falls (hint: buy memory in the next few months!)
  • A digital camera for capturing spontaneous shots has to be small and light enough to carry around anywhere and capable of capturing clear images in low-light. I recommended the Fuji F10, an ultra-compact point-and-shoot with D-SLR-like ISO 1600 image capturing capability.

... and just like that, he was gone again. Off to helping people in far off countries ...

Gurudeva stopover: day two
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Today he met with Hitesh and his mother. He also met with two youth workers who work to better the lives of 14 - 25 year-olds using a holistic 6-angled view. A recording of the conversation is available in the audio downloads section.

Lunch:

Drink: Apple and Ginger juice (not enough ginger)
Salad: Spinach and Tomato
Coriander Basmati Brown Rice with Wild Rice
Corn on the Cob
Subji 1: Kumara and Broccoli
Subji 2: Vegetable au Gratin (GVD page 56)
Carob Cake with Strawberry Jam filling and Vienna Icing (GVD page 151)

His response: You're good at the pies and cakes, Shilpa is good at subtle Indian spicings and flavours.

Gurudeva stopover: day two
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Today he met with Hitesh and his mother. He also met with two youth workers who work to better the lives of 14 - 25 year-olds using a holistic 6-angled view. A recording of the conversation is available in the audio downloads section.

Lunch:

Drink: Apple and Ginger juice (not enough ginger)
Salad: Spinach and Tomato
Coriander Basmati Brown Rice with Wild Rice
Corn on the Cob
Subji 1: Kumara and Broccoli
Subji 2: Vegetable au Gratin (GVD page 56)
Carob Cake with Strawberry Jam filling and Vienna Icing (GVD page 151)

His response: You're good at the pies and cakes, Shilpa is good at subtle Indian spicings and flavours.

Gurudeva stopover: day one
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My spiritual master is staying with me for a few days. Hare Krishna!

He arrived from Russia via Finland, tried and hungry. The UK is very, very different from Russia, he said.

Shilpa and I prepared his lunch:

Drink: Apple and Ginger juice (revived him by restoring his appetite)
Salad: Lettuce, Radish and Carrot
Yellow Basmati Rice with Wild Rice
Split-Mung Dal (GVD page 27)
Subji 1: Green Beans with added Carrots (GVD page 55)
Subji 2: Zucchini, Green Peppers and Tomato (GVD page 58)
Easy Apple Pie (GVD page 145)

His response: Hare Krishna! Really good. You two could open a restaurant. Really good ...later: that was good prasadam! I can't get over it!

It is nice to please the spiritual master and, for once, not to be a total space-out.

Gurudeva stopover: day one
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My spiritual master is staying with me for a few days. Hare Krishna!

He arrived from Russia via Finland, tried and hungry. The UK is very, very different from Russia, he said.

Shilpa and I prepared his lunch:

Drink: Apple and Ginger juice (revived him by restoring his appetite)
Salad: Lettuce, Radish and Carrot
Yellow Basmati Rice with Wild Rice
Split-Mung Dal (GVD page 27)
Subji 1: Green Beans with added Carrots (GVD page 55)
Subji 2: Zucchini, Green Peppers and Tomato (GVD page 58)
Easy Apple Pie (GVD page 145)

His response: Hare Krishna! Really good. You two could open a restaurant. Really good ...later: that was good prasadam! I can't get over it!

It is nice to please the spiritual master and, for once, not to be a total space-out.

Podcasting on the Mac
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Prominent blogger John Gruber has posted a very good article on his "Daring Fireball" blog about what Apple is doing to support podcasting on the Macintosh. Among other things he comments on how quickly Apple has picked up on this very new phenomenon and developed software to handle it. They must see major growth potential (as also predicted by Adam Curry, see here).

All the tools and tech are outlined in detail. Check it out if you want to create Podcasts and own a Mac (or just use iTunes on the PC and want to listen-in).

Podcasting on the Mac
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Prominent blogger John Gruber has posted a very good article on his "Daring Fireball" blog about what Apple is doing to support podcasting on the Macintosh. Among other things he comments on how quickly Apple has picked up on this very new phenomenon and developed software to handle it. They must see major growth potential (as also predicted by Adam Curry, see here).

All the tools and tech are outlined in detail. Check it out if you want to create Podcasts and own a Mac (or just use iTunes on the PC and want to listen-in).

Blogs: use both RSS and email
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Here is an interesting take on the RSS phenomenon. The author's basic point: RSS is too complicated for most people, so provide them with an email delivery mechanism in addition to RSS.

A "top-10 blog postings of the week" type email newsletter could, for example, reach a much wider audience than a difficult to subscribe to RSS feed.

Blogs: use both RSS and email
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Here is an interesting take on the RSS phenomenon. The author's basic point: RSS is too complicated for most people, so provide them with an email delivery mechanism in addition to RSS.

A "top-10 blog postings of the week" type email newsletter could, for example, reach a much wider audience than a difficult to subscribe to RSS feed.

Lotus flowers and compassion
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Compassion is like a lotus flower. Did you know that a lotus flower has a brilliant self cleaning mechanism? Its leaves' surfaces are not smooth, as one might expect, but very rough. The roughness somehow causes any dirt on a leaf to attach itself to water as it glides off the leaf's surface. The result: a perfectly clean and beautiful flower.

I hate death. I'm sad even when a bee dies (and, believe me, I hate bees), let alone when another human being leaves his or her body. My condolences to those victims of the London terror attack and Word Trade Center terror attack. My condolences to the victims of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wish they could all still be alive. However, as stated in the Bhagavad-Gita, for everyone who is born death is certain (BG 2.27). It's only a question of time.

So, though I may sometimes/often seem quite cruel and heartless, this attitude is not due to a lack of compassion (though possibly due to a lack tact). I'm attempting to agitate the dirt of materialistic conceptions out of my mind (and the minds of others) by "roughing things up" and letting current events do the cleaning. Please help me in this endeavour.

Lotus flowers and compassion
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Compassion is like a lotus flower. Did you know that a lotus flower has a brilliant self cleaning mechanism? Its leaves' surfaces are not smooth, as one might expect, but very rough. The roughness somehow causes any dirt on a leaf to attach itself to water as it glides off the leaf's surface. The result: a perfectly clean and beautiful flower.

I hate death. I'm sad even when a bee dies (and, believe me, I hate bees), let alone when another human being leaves his or her body. My condolences to those victims of the London terror attack and Word Trade Center terror attack. My condolences to the victims of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wish they could all still be alive. However, as stated in the Bhagavad-Gita, for everyone who is born death is certain (BG 2.27). It's only a question of time.

So, though I may sometimes/often seem quite cruel and heartless, this attitude is not due to a lack of compassion (though possibly due to a lack tact). I'm attempting to agitate the dirt of materialistic conceptions out of my mind (and the minds of others) by "roughing things up" and letting current events do the cleaning. Please help me in this endeavour.

London bomb attack
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After reading the official ISKCON statement on the 7th of July London bombing I was a bit disappointed. It's very politically correct and reads just like it could have come from any other religion. Even Krishan Dharma Dasa's opinion piece is safe, watertight and generic. Ho-hum.

Have we lost all taste for preaching? Do we lack the courage for controversy? Can we not use this as a chance to stir things up, get into the news and get people thinking?

So, in that interest, here's my take on the current events:

No one has any knowledge that they are spirit soul. The terrorists, the big western politicians, the average guy on the street, the innocent victim that gets blown to bits, all of them don't have a clue who they are and what they should be doing. We see the people (British fundamentalists) affirming that they aren't scared (of the Muslim fundamentalists). They vow to continue to mindlessly consume and continue to try to squeeze pleasure out of the dry towel of the material world.

Not scared? We should be scared! It's perfectly healthy to be scared of dying at any moment. The entire premise of the Srimad-Bhagavatam (a 5000-year old Vedic philosophical thesis) is that death can strike at any moment and we should therefore always act as if we were just about to die. Closing our eyes in a pit of poisonous snakes won't make the problem go away. We have to open our eyes, intelligently assess the situation and grab onto the rope!

Thinking "I'm British, I'm American, I'm Saudi, I'm Iraqi" just exasperates the problem. Instead we have to realize that we are not our bodies, but spirit souls and must engage in service to the supreme soul. If everyone is united in purpose and dedicated to performing personal loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna (or Allah, or Jehovah, or ...), only then we can have peace. Not by continuing to try to selfishly enjoy the temporary material body.

Srila Prabhupada writes:

"If one advocates the Hindu religion, the Muslim religion, the Christian religion, this religion or that religion, there will be conflicts. History shows that the followers of religious systems without a clear conception of God have fought with one another. There are many instances of this in human history, but systems of religion that do not concentrate upon service to the Supreme are temporary and cannot last for long because they are full of envy." - SB 6.16.41 purport

Update: Mukunda Goswami has since written this statement about terrorism. I like it a lot. It is short, tactful, well-written and subtly injects Krishna consciousness philosphy.

London bomb attack
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After reading the official ISKCON statement on the 7th of July London bombing I was a bit disappointed. It's very politically correct and reads just like it could have come from any other religion. Even Krishan Dharma Dasa's opinion piece is safe, watertight and generic. Ho-hum.

Have we lost all taste for preaching? Do we lack the courage for controversy? Can we not use this as a chance to stir things up, get into the news and get people thinking?

So, in that interest, here's my take on the current events:

No one has any knowledge that they are spirit soul. The terrorists, the big western politicians, the average guy on the street, the innocent victim that gets blown to bits, all of them don't have a clue who they are and what they should be doing. We see the people (British fundamentalists) affirming that they aren't scared (of the Muslim fundamentalists). They vow to continue to mindlessly consume and continue to try to squeeze pleasure out of the dry towel of the material world.

Not scared? We should be scared! It's perfectly healthy to be scared of dying at any moment. The entire premise of the Srimad-Bhagavatam (a 5000-year old Vedic philosophical thesis) is that death can strike at any moment and we should therefore always act as if we were just about to die. Closing our eyes in a pit of poisonous snakes won't make the problem go away. We have to open our eyes, intelligently assess the situation and grab onto the rope!

Thinking "I'm British, I'm American, I'm Saudi, I'm Iraqi" just exasperates the problem. Instead we have to realize that we are not our bodies, but spirit souls and must engage in service to the supreme soul. If everyone is united in purpose and dedicated to performing personal loving service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna (or Allah, or Jehovah, or ...), only then we can have peace. Not by continuing to try to selfishly enjoy the temporary material body.

Srila Prabhupada writes:

"If one advocates the Hindu religion, the Muslim religion, the Christian religion, this religion or that religion, there will be conflicts. History shows that the followers of religious systems without a clear conception of God have fought with one another. There are many instances of this in human history, but systems of religion that do not concentrate upon service to the Supreme are temporary and cannot last for long because they are full of envy." - SB 6.16.41 purport

Update: Mukunda Goswami has since written this statement about terrorism. I like it a lot. It is short, tactful, well-written and subtly injects Krishna consciousness philosphy.

Podcasting (Adam Curry)
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I was listening to Adam Curry's podcast "the daily source code" today. Adam Curry is a former MTV host who has a daily podcast about other podcasts (and other useless stuff that is on his mind) and is considered to be one of the pioneers of podcasting.

He has an interesting take on the difference between blogs and podcasts:

Blogs come from an inherent desire of people to publish. Podcasts are the opposite, people create them because they are dissatisfied with what they what is available in the media (Radio/TV). In that way they are similar to the iPod (which is presumably why Apple has built podcast support into iTunes 4.9, the companion software to the iPod). The listening experience is no longer tied to what someone else thinks we will like. Instead everyone can listen to what they want to listen to when they want to listen to it. Freedom! Liberation! True happiness! (snicker)

"I want to tell people about something I'm interested in" vs. "I don't like what on the radio, so I'll create my own"

There was no real market for the former (blogs) when they first manifested, but the later (podcasting) is likely to have a much faster uptake, since people are actively looking for something like it. Mundane sound is just so dull and lifeless. All it needs is to become easy enough for the average-Joe to "tune in" and we'll have a listening revolution on our hands.

For those interested in creating their own podcasts: Adam and his friends are developing some podcast creation software.

Podcasting (Adam Curry)
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I was listening to Adam Curry's podcast "the daily source code" today. Adam Curry is a former MTV host who has a daily podcast about other podcasts (and other useless stuff that is on his mind) and is considered to be one of the pioneers of podcasting.

He has an interesting take on the difference between blogs and podcasts:

Blogs come from an inherent desire of people to publish. Podcasts are the opposite, people create them because they are dissatisfied with what they what is available in the media (Radio/TV). In that way they are similar to the iPod (which is presumably why Apple has built podcast support into iTunes 4.9, the companion software to the iPod). The listening experience is no longer tied to what someone else thinks we will like. Instead everyone can listen to what they want to listen to when they want to listen to it. Freedom! Liberation! True happiness! (snicker)

"I want to tell people about something I'm interested in" vs. "I don't like what on the radio, so I'll create my own"

There was no real market for the former (blogs) when they first manifested, but the later (podcasting) is likely to have a much faster uptake, since people are actively looking for something like it. Mundane sound is just so dull and lifeless. All it needs is to become easy enough for the average-Joe to "tune in" and we'll have a listening revolution on our hands.

For those interested in creating their own podcasts: Adam and his friends are developing some podcast creation software.

Keep it short. Keep it simple.
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Attention spans are decreasing. Mine too.

When reading blogs I tend to skip those huge monster essays that some bloggers write unless I??(TM)m really, really, really interested in the subject matter. 500 words should be the limit. If a blog posting is longer than 500 words it is simply too long for the Internet audience. Better to write a book instead.

However, this is not to say that long articles are impossible. They just have to be broken up into multiple postings over multiple days. I'll read any number of words if my mind is tricked in that way.

So, all you reading this, please, for my sake, keep it short and keep it simple (and I??(TM)ll try to do the same for you).

Keep it short. Keep it simple.
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Attention spans are decreasing. Mine too.

When reading blogs I tend to skip those huge monster essays that some bloggers write unless I??(TM)m really, really, really interested in the subject matter. 500 words should be the limit. If a blog posting is longer than 500 words it is simply too long for the Internet audience. Better to write a book instead.

However, this is not to say that long articles are impossible. They just have to be broken up into multiple postings over multiple days. I'll read any number of words if my mind is tricked in that way.

So, all you reading this, please, for my sake, keep it short and keep it simple (and I??(TM)ll try to do the same for you).

Subscriptions vs. one-off payment
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Assertion: subscriptions are better, but people generally don't like them.

Consider the iTunes music store, unlike Yahoo music or Napster they offer a very simple fixed price of $1 per song. Whatever you buy is yours to keep. All other online music stores offer a subscription based plan where you pay $5 - $10 per month and download as much as you like, or some hybrid scheme.

One might thing that the subscription model is more popular. After all, it's better value, just think: unlimited songs!

Wrong! Even people that buy more than 10 songs per month prefer the simple iTunes buy-once model. People like to feel in control. People also like to any kind of commitment. Finally, people don't want things to be too complicated. Keep it simple!

Subscription services do sell in some scenarios. Take online role-playing games (please!): something like Sony's Everquest charges $40 for the game and then another $15 per month on top of that, yet is hugely popular. Some players spend hundreds of hours online, fighting monsters, completing quests, building up their virtual character, earning fake money (even more fake than the so-called real money) and so on. Everquest is designed to hook people into "just one more quest" and keep them playing and paying for-"ever". It works, too: Sony was astonished at how much money they made off Everquest.

Some smart new online games (most notably Guild Wars) have figured out that they can reach a much larger market (and more money) by not charging a subscription fee. Instead they'll release an "expansion pack" every few months and steal people's money that way.

Yoga teachers are notoriously bad at business. Most yoga classes I see advertised around the University want people to sign up for a 10-session course, or something of the sort. Most people I've talked to don't want to make that commitment and therefore end up not doing any yoga at all. Major untapped potential!

These yoga courses mean well, of course. People won't get any real benefit from just a single yoga session here and there. If someone really wants to improve their bodily and mental condition, it is best if they do two 90-minute sessions per week. But, low and behold, no one wants to do that. People don't care about themselves.

The same hold true with chanting the maha-mantra. Great if someone utters the mantra once. However, Krishna is most pleased when we make a commitment to chant a fixed amount each day. When Krishna is pleased we automatically also get satisfied. It's like watering the root of a tree. Again, the subscription model benefits all parties. And yet again, few people want to make the commitment.

Solution: I plan to offer a 40-minute yoga class once a week for a one-off one pound fee/donation and then follow that with some (free) chanting and philosophy, for those that are so inclined.

Scheme: attract people with something that they think they want, though it won't really benefit them and then make it as easy as possible for them to take to something that actually will give unlimited benefit.

Subscriptions vs. one-off payment
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Assertion: subscriptions are better, but people generally don't like them.

Consider the iTunes music store, unlike Yahoo music or Napster they offer a very simple fixed price of $1 per song. Whatever you buy is yours to keep. All other online music stores offer a subscription based plan where you pay $5 - $10 per month and download as much as you like, or some hybrid scheme.

One might thing that the subscription model is more popular. After all, it's better value, just think: unlimited songs!

Wrong! Even people that buy more than 10 songs per month prefer the simple iTunes buy-once model. People like to feel in control. People also like to any kind of commitment. Finally, people don't want things to be too complicated. Keep it simple!

Subscription services do sell in some scenarios. Take online role-playing games (please!): something like Sony's Everquest charges $40 for the game and then another $15 per month on top of that, yet is hugely popular. Some players spend hundreds of hours online, fighting monsters, completing quests, building up their virtual character, earning fake money (even more fake than the so-called real money) and so on. Everquest is designed to hook people into "just one more quest" and keep them playing and paying for-"ever". It works, too: Sony was astonished at how much money they made off Everquest.

Some smart new online games (most notably Guild Wars) have figured out that they can reach a much larger market (and more money) by not charging a subscription fee. Instead they'll release an "expansion pack" every few months and steal people's money that way.

Yoga teachers are notoriously bad at business. Most yoga classes I see advertised around the University want people to sign up for a 10-session course, or something of the sort. Most people I've talked to don't want to make that commitment and therefore end up not doing any yoga at all. Major untapped potential!

These yoga courses mean well, of course. People won't get any real benefit from just a single yoga session here and there. If someone really wants to improve their bodily and mental condition, it is best if they do two 90-minute sessions per week. But, low and behold, no one wants to do that. People don't care about themselves.

The same hold true with chanting the maha-mantra. Great if someone utters the mantra once. However, Krishna is most pleased when we make a commitment to chant a fixed amount each day. When Krishna is pleased we automatically also get satisfied. It's like watering the root of a tree. Again, the subscription model benefits all parties. And yet again, few people want to make the commitment.

Solution: I plan to offer a 40-minute yoga class once a week for a one-off one pound fee/donation and then follow that with some (free) chanting and philosophy, for those that are so inclined.

Scheme: attract people with something that they think they want, though it won't really benefit them and then make it as easy as possible for them to take to something that actually will give unlimited benefit.

Effects of time
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The BBC has a story of a show they did in which they digitally altered kids' pictures to make them look like 40 years old. The children had bad eating habits and the aim was to scare them into changing their habits by showing them the grim reality of the future. Check it out.

If only they could be encouraged to take up the real solution...

Effects of time
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The BBC has a story of a show they did in which they digitally altered kids' pictures to make them look like 40 years old. The children had bad eating habits and the aim was to scare them into changing their habits by showing them the grim reality of the future. Check it out.

If only they could be encouraged to take up the real solution...

Creating culture
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Think back just 10 years. It used to be the case that only special people created culture. No normal person could hope to be called "author", "filmmaker", or "musician". This is rapidly changing. I was listening to a podcast discussion on digital lifestyle and one on maximizing your blogging strategies. One of the speakers mentioned that anyone can now consume as well as create media. Anyone can publish a blog, anyone can podcast, anyone can create a film (okay, a fair amount of disposable income is needed, but, believe me, digital filmmaking is much cheaper than you might think). The shape of our culture is in the hands of everyone.

Great danger: given power to the masses will lead to chaos! The masses are dumb! They don't know what's good for them! This will just lead to more porn on the Internet.

Great opportunity: show the masses how to be Krishna conscious and a cultural revolution can spring for the bottom-up. Distribute enough books (and get people to actually read and then post their realizations on the blogs) and BOOM! It's the talk of the city/nation/world.

Great difficulty: information overload! With everyone creating content how do you choose which content to consume? What will make the Krishna conscious content stand out from the throngs of useless posts? How to get someone to pay attention for more than 5 seconds?! How to get someone to commit to a process of self-realization for more than 1 day?

Creating culture
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Think back just 10 years. It used to be the case that only special people created culture. No normal person could hope to be called "author", "filmmaker", or "musician". This is rapidly changing. I was listening to a podcast discussion on digital lifestyle and one on maximizing your blogging strategies. One of the speakers mentioned that anyone can now consume as well as create media. Anyone can publish a blog, anyone can podcast, anyone can create a film (okay, a fair amount of disposable income is needed, but, believe me, digital filmmaking is much cheaper than you might think). The shape of our culture is in the hands of everyone.

Great danger: given power to the masses will lead to chaos! The masses are dumb! They don't know what's good for them! This will just lead to more porn on the Internet.

Great opportunity: show the masses how to be Krishna conscious and a cultural revolution can spring for the bottom-up. Distribute enough books (and get people to actually read and then post their realizations on the blogs) and BOOM! It's the talk of the city/nation/world.

Great difficulty: information overload! With everyone creating content how do you choose which content to consume? What will make the Krishna conscious content stand out from the throngs of useless posts? How to get someone to pay attention for more than 5 seconds?! How to get someone to commit to a process of self-realization for more than 1 day?

Choose bliss, choose Krishna
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I read SB11.13.9 and thought:

Under the influence of the material mode of passion a materialist endeavors to enjoy life, but ends up just giving him or herself more and more suffering. They know full-well that there real happiness to be had. They write, sing and talk about the many problems of their life (again and again). However, firmly believing that they are the body and fully absorbed in matter/nature, they have no other option but to try to enjoy, enjoy for some time, suffer misery and repeat the same loop endlessly.

The alternative is simple. One must break out of the vicious circle by absorbing the mind in something which is not matter: Krishna. Then one can act on the realization that trying to enjoy matter eventually results in misery and, through gradually practice of thinking of Krishna, switch into the mode of goodness. Then, using goodness as a launching pad one can rocket off into pure goodness and transcendence.

Note to self: remember Krishna (again and again) always. It's really simple: practice makes perfect.

Choose bliss, choose Krishna
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I read SB11.13.9 and thought:

Under the influence of the material mode of passion a materialist endeavors to enjoy life, but ends up just giving him or herself more and more suffering. They know full-well that there real happiness to be had. They write, sing and talk about the many problems of their life (again and again). However, firmly believing that they are the body and fully absorbed in matter/nature, they have no other option but to try to enjoy, enjoy for some time, suffer misery and repeat the same loop endlessly.

The alternative is simple. One must break out of the vicious circle by absorbing the mind in something which is not matter: Krishna. Then one can act on the realization that trying to enjoy matter eventually results in misery and, through gradually practice of thinking of Krishna, switch into the mode of goodness. Then, using goodness as a launching pad one can rocket off into pure goodness and transcendence.

Note to self: remember Krishna (again and again) always. It's really simple: practice makes perfect.

On powerpoint presentations
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Powerpoint is ubiquitous in the commercial world. Seemingly every talk, presentation, meeting, lecture and discussion must be accompanied by a presentation. There are some good presentation and very many bad ones. Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publishing company in the world, has given a few useful guidelines on effective presentations in his blog.

In the devotee world presentations are very rare. The Vedic process of dissemination of knowledge is by sabda, or sound. Up until 5000 years ago no one even saw the need to write anything down. Western education, on the other hand, is almost completely visually focused. Many people, myself included, find it somewhat difficult to switch between the two paradigms.

My spiritual master tried giving a presentation in Wellington using a projector and a few simple presentation slides. He was blown away by the result. The attentiveness, retention, quality of questions asked afterwards, all were phenomenal. The audience even applauded afterwards. All because of having a projector screen to look at.

I suggest combining the transcendental sound vibrations of Vedic knowledge and expertly constructed visual imagery of the western world. The result: ultimate learning experience.

(Side note from Michael Hyatt that I also agree with: dump PowerPoint and use Apple Keynote instead. It produces much better looking presentations. Unlike Microsoft, Apple software has a sense of style.)

On powerpoint presentations
→ Home

Powerpoint is ubiquitous in the commercial world. Seemingly every talk, presentation, meeting, lecture and discussion must be accompanied by a presentation. There are some good presentation and very many bad ones. Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the largest Christian publishing company in the world, has given a few useful guidelines on effective presentations in his blog.

In the devotee world presentations are very rare. The Vedic process of dissemination of knowledge is by sabda, or sound. Up until 5000 years ago no one even saw the need to write anything down. Western education, on the other hand, is almost completely visually focused. Many people, myself included, find it somewhat difficult to switch between the two paradigms.

My spiritual master tried giving a presentation in Wellington using a projector and a few simple presentation slides. He was blown away by the result. The attentiveness, retention, quality of questions asked afterwards, all were phenomenal. The audience even applauded afterwards. All because of having a projector screen to look at.

I suggest combining the transcendental sound vibrations of Vedic knowledge and expertly constructed visual imagery of the western world. The result: ultimate learning experience.

(Side note from Michael Hyatt that I also agree with: dump PowerPoint and use Apple Keynote instead. It produces much better looking presentations. Unlike Microsoft, Apple software has a sense of style.)