Verse for the week 11 ( v w 11)

Habakkuk 2:20

But the LORD is in his holy temple;

let all the earth be silent before him.

photo courtesy: albinomonkey81

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff124/albinomonkey81/silhouette.jpg

Tech it or leave it - 3 : Sing a song of six ONEs ???

By Derick Mathew

 

Sing a song of six ONEs ???

There are a few of us who spend the whole day listening to music, and then there are the rest of us who cannot even imagine let alone spend a whole day with less than 8 hours of music. It has come to be fused that most of what we do and so we end up playing it while we walk, talk, eat, travel, and work using many devices that primarily use the MP3 format. This format gained its importance with the wide spread of the internet on which mp3 files were interchanged so much so that it was soon said that the passage of time saw the term MP3 becoming synonymous to Music.

Mp3 stands for MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, (quite a mouthful isn’t it ???????) anyway it has come to be known as MP3 and the world embraced it. And it is with good reason that it was so widely accepted, MP3 is what people call a lossy compression algorithm, A fancy way of saying that it is stored in one way and decoded to be something similar (not “equal”) to the original copy, this means that the quality of the music seemed to be great while the space used to store a song would reduce drastically (An ordinary MP3 file is only about 1/10 -1/11 of the original file size). But as usual there is a trade off that is when space is saved a resulting loss in quality. So it can understood that the quality of an MP3 file would increases as it grew larger in size. The size of the MP3 file varies depending on something called the bit-rate. The normal bit rate of an MP3 file is 128 Kb/s (that is 1048576 zeros and ones every second).

Victor Hugo once said “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” And the MPEG, or Moving Picture Expert Group (You will hear about these guys a couple more times in future articles), must have thought along the same lines when they designed the MP3 format. The MPEG guys used a technique called “Perpetual Noise Shaping” which uses certain traits of the human ears such as :
The human ear can only hear some sounds that lies within a particular frequency range
It takes in some sounds better than other sounds
It takes in the louder of 2 or more sounds that are played together

The MPEG thought of using the Perpetual Noise Shaping by showing only parts of a file by using a mask, i.e. the mask allows encoding of only certain parts of the music files. The mask blocks the frequencies that the human ear cannot pick up [its kinda like ur phone’s signal which is outta range every once in a while :P ].

This write up is just the tip of the iceberg, to read more about the MP3 format check out the Fraunhofer-Gesellshaft Website “http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/EN/bf/amm/products/mp3/mp3history/mp3history01.jsp”.

P.S. Fraunhofer - Gesellshaft is a German company that owns the patent for the MP3 format.

Ranjan, we'll miss you.

Our prayers are with the family of 

Renjan Thomas

of Secunderabad Parish who passed away in a bike accident.

May the Lord grant his family the peace and comfort only He can give

We'll miss you, man.

Mar Thoma Yuvajana Sakhyam members of the Chennai- Bangalore Diocese

picture courtesy:  Shanu Thomas, Chetpet, Chennai

God Does Big Things with Small Deeds - by Max Lucado

“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin” (Zech. 4:10 NLT).

Begin. Just begin! What seems small to you might be huge to someone else. Just ask Bohn Fawkes. During World War II, he piloted a B-17. On one mission he sustained flak from Nazi antiaircraft guns. Even though his gas tanks were hit, the plane did not explode, and Fawkes was able to land the plane.

On the morning following the raid, Fawkes asked his crew chief for the German shell. He wanted to keep a souvenir of his incredible good fortune. The crew chief explained that not just one but eleven shells had been found in the gas tanks, none of which had exploded.

Technicians opened the missiles and found them void of explosive charge. They were clean and harmless and with one exception, empty. The exception contained a carefully rolled piece of paper. On it a message had been scrawled in the Czech language. Translated, the note read: “This is all we can do for you now.”

A courageous assembly-line worker was disarming bombs and scribbled the note. He couldn’t end the war, but he could save one plane. He couldn’t do everything, but he could do something. So he did it.

God does big things with small deeds.

Against a towering giant, a brook pebble seems futile. But God used it to topple Goliath. Compared to the tithes of the wealthy, a widow’s coins seem puny. But Jesus used them to inspire us. And in contrast with sophisticated priests and powerful Roman rulers, a cross-suspended carpenter seemed nothing but a waste of life. Few Jewish leaders mourned his death. Only a handful of friends buried his body. The people turned their attention back to the temple. Why not?

What power does a buried rabbi have? We know the answer. Mustard-seed and leaven-lump power. Power to tear away death rags and push away death rocks. Power to change history. In the hands of God, small seeds grow into sheltering trees. Tiny leaven expands into nourishing loaves.

Small deeds can change the world. Sow the mustard seed. Bury the leaven lump. Make the call. Write the check. Organize the committee.

Moses had a staff.
David had a sling.
Samson had a jawbone.
Rahab had a string.
Mary had some ointment.
Aaron had a rod.
Dorcas had a needle.
All were used by God.
What do you have?

God inhabits the tiny seed, empowers the tiny deed. He cures the common life by giving no common life, by offering no common gifts. Don’t discount the smallness of your deeds.

Sent in by: Vinay George, Mar Thoma Church, Primrose Road, Bangalore

Image courtesy:  prmonteiro

(http://media.photobucket.com/image/b%2017/prmonteiro/B-17_FAB_72_07.jpg)

Where have you kept your reference line?

Soumya Mariam Sam

Ebenezer Mar Thoma Church, Jalahalli, Bangalore

When we are doing some measurements, we usually take a reference. For example, from place X, place Y is 2 km and place Z is 14 km. Also, how do we usually say whether something is good or bad? Most of the times it will be relative. We use comparisons in our day-to-day life. Think of a society where slavery is existing, then we'll say it's ok to get a slave to get our work done(Is it right to promote slavery?). Now, what if the reference itself is floating? This is a very dangerous situation and destruction is not far. It can be explained through an example. Imagine you have a beaker of hot water and you had put a frog in that. The frog will immediately understand the danger and will surely jump out. Now you put the frog in a beaker of cold water and try to heat the water, it will understand that something is different in it's environment and will try to adjust to it. But it will never try to jump out and finally it dies. Here the reference point it gradually changing and the victim fails to identify the symptoms of danger. If one keep something in the world as their reference, the reference will keep varying and you will be in no more by the time you realize the danger. As Christians, we are supposed to keep our reference on the word of God. We should have a firm foundation and reference. Then we'll be able to understand quickly when things goes wrong, and will be able to escape from traps of this world.

"On Christ the solid rock i stand, all other ground is sinking sand"

sad news

Demise of Rev. Mathew Thomas "I HAVE FOUGHT A GOOD FIGHT, I HAVE FINISHED MY COURSE, I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH. HENCEFORTH THERE IS LAID UP FOR ME A CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHICH THE LORD THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGE SHALL GIVE ME AT THAT DAY" (II Timothy 4:7,8)

Dear Sakhyam Friends, I regret to advise of the sudden demise of Rev. Mathew Thomas (35), Thazhathekuttu, Kumbanad P. O., Tiruvalla – 689547, who expired on Friday, 30.10.2009. The funeral will be held on 02.11.2009 at Kumbanad Vattakottal Christ Mar Thoma Church.Dear Achen served first in my centre (Kunnamkulam) in two parishes Chalissery & Mukuthala. He was a very active and energetic youth who was quite friendly. His demise is really a lost for our Church. May his soul rest in peace. On behalf of Immanuel Marthoma Yuvajanasakhyam Fujairah, I extend my heartfelt condolences and remember Leena Kochamma and family Members in our Prayers.Regards Renil RoySecretaryImmanuel MTYSFujairah, UAE

You Can Sleep When The Wind Blows (Refuge from the Storm)

Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work on farms along the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the Atlantic, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farmhand?" the farmer asked him. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the man's work.Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired hand's sleeping quarters. He shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!" The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows." Enraged by the old man's response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all of the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away.The farmer then understood what his hired hand meant, and he returned to bed to also sleep while the wind blew. SPIRITUAL TRUTH: When you're prepared, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired hand in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm.We secure ourselves against the storms of life by grounding ourselves firmly in the power of God.