What stood out in this Fast Company magazine article (http://tiny.cc/) were the survey statistics:

-- 70% of those surveyed said they buy some organic food but only 20% thought they knew what organic means.

-- 59% expressed concern about GMOs but only 32% could define GMO.

Now, granted, the sample size was small. BFG, the agency that conducted the study, interviewed 300 shoppers, most of them younger than 35.

But does anyone really doubt the survey? Maybe not the precise numbers, but the direction, seems right. Other studies have sounded a similar note: Everyone eats but few know much about food (http://tiny.cc/).

That's hardly a shocking notion. There's a lot to know about a lot of things in this bewildering world; no one can master more than the smallest part of it all. If we're honest with ourselves, most of us would admit that we've bought a product or voted for a candidate or judged an acquaintance based on sketchy information -- even no information.

Which raises a question: When we lack the necessary information, what substitutes for facts? Opinions, for one thing. People may not know what organic food is but they "know" it's good for them. They may not know what a GMO is but they "know" GMOs are bad.

Which raises another question, one that preoccupies marketers, politicians, public-relations people and psychologists: Where do our opinions come from? What makes us embrace one view and reject another?

Whole books have been written on this, but a simple way to think about it is to imagine yourself in a wine store. Even if you're an oenophile, chances are you won't know much about many of the bottles. How do you decide what to buy?

One way is to trust the wine merchant. He spends his whole day dealing in wine; if he recommends a particular Cabernet, he must know something about it. He's an authority.

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What Wine and Organic Food Have in Common

The ashram sisters, who were discharged from the hospital on Monday, declared that they would continue to fight for justice.

A day after five sisters were evicted from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram-run apartments, on a Supreme Court order, two of the sisters and their mother ended their lives on December 18 in an alleged family suicide bid by drowning in the sea. The father and three other sisters were rescued by fishermen and were admitted to the Government General Hospital.

They were given medical treatment and counselling at Government General Hospital since then and they were discharged from hospital on Monday. The family members were escorted by the police to their respective places where they are going to reside. Ms. Hemalata told The Hindu, I feel very happy to be free again after 18 days. It is a new birth for me and all my family members.

She also thanked the government, doctors, nurses and police personnel for their support and treatment given to them.

Explaining her further plans, Ms. Hemlata said, I want justice. One should remember all these years this ashram trustees have been misrepresenting facts about us. I appeal to the government to suspend trustees and appoint interim administrators as part of justice.

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Aurobindo ashram sisters vow to continue fight for justice

The Dalai Lama seemingly announced his slot on 28 June at Glastonbury festival. Photograph: Michael Mayhew/Allstar/Sportsphoto Ltd

Glastonbury is the home of spiritual enlightenment for thousands festival goers who make their pilgrimage to Worthy Farm each June, but 2015s event could be a particularly enlightening experience if rumours of the Dalai Lamas appearance turn out to be true.

On his official website dalailama.com Tenzin Gyatso, the 79-year-old head monk of Tibetan Buddhism, seemingly self-announced his slot at this years festival, detailing his attendance at the event on Sunday 28 June.

His Holiness will give a talk at the Glastonbury Festival in the morning, a post on the sites schedule section read.

There is now confusion though, over whether the spiritual leader will be appearing. Festival officials refused to comment on Monday on the Dalai Lamas possible appearance and the original listing on the spiritual leaders website was removed once news began to circulate.

At present, there still remains a Glastonbury shaped gap in his diary: the Nobel peace prize winner is scheduled to give a talk on The Wisdom of Giving and Receiving in Perth, western Australia on 14 June and a public talk on Buddhism in the 21st Century in Middlesex on 29 June. Perhaps a Pyramid stage gig is still possible.

With Glastonbury synonymous with an ethos of peace and love, news of his potential arrival on Worthy Farm is a surprising yet well suited choice: pop culture has long celebrated his spiritual and environmental causes, with the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers performing for him in 2013, and the Beastie Boys late Adam Yauch regularly working alongside the leader to raise awareness on the plight of the Tibetan people.

While it would be his debut at Glastonbury, in 2013, the Dalai Lamas Tibetan monks The Gyuto Monks of Tibet, who are exiled with the 14th Dalai Lama in north India performed their chants in the famous Green Fields.

The full Glastonbury lineup is not expected to be revealed until April, with this years only confirmed name remaining soul singer, Lionel Richie, who makes his debut on the Pyramid stage on the Sunday. Tickets for 2015s Glastonbury, which runs from 24th to 28th June, are sold out.

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Dalai Lama rumoured to be appearing at Glastonbury festival 2015

GAYA: Vishva Hindu Parishad, on Monday ruled out any Havan or Ghar Wapasi programme for about 500 Hindus who converted to Buddhism in the Manpur block area of the district a couple of days back. Earlier, the Hindu body organised a Ghar Wapasi cum Havan programme in Atia village of Bodh Gaya block for the reconversion of about 200 Mahadalits who embraced Christianity on Chirstmas day this year.

Asked about a programme on the lines of the Atia Havan cum Ghar Wapasi, VHP state patron Udai Kumar Verma said that the the 'Deeksha' (Initiation) of the Manpur villagers can not be compared with the earlier Conversion of Atia villagers to Christianity, as, unlike Christianity, Buddhism was not a separate religion and the villagers simply showed their reverence for Buddha by getting a Buddhist Guru. 'I too worship Buddha and we regard Buddha as a Vishnu incarnate' and as such the question of Ghar Wapasi or Suddhikaran does not arise as those who showed reverence to Buddha did neither desert the large Hindu family nor did anything that defiled our religious belief' said Verma.

Echoing the stand of the VHP state patron, the district VHP chief Mani Lal Barik said that the question of an Atia like programme in the Manpur village simply did not arise as nobody has deserted the faith. The Hindu umbrella was too wide to accommodate different streams and Buddhism was just another stream of Hinduism and as such the VHP does not consider any Atia like programme.

The VHP chief alleged that the media has been less than fair to the Hindu organisation as the organisation's Atia programme was not given proper importance and some vernacular newspapers even went to the extent of saying that no convert to Christianity participated in the VHP Havan cum Ghar Wapasi programme and only Hindus participated in the programme. Barik maintained that the VHP will continue to keep the Hindu flag flying high in Atia village and will organise more interactive programmes to counter Christian missionaries active in the area.

Interestingly, in the Manpur conversions, foreign organisations are said to have played an important role and a Srilankan Buddhist missionary has been instrumental in wooing about 500 members of an intermediary caste to the Buddhist faith.

Meanwhile, Buddhist leader Bhadant Anand has questioned the VHP claim that Buddhism was just another sect of Buddhism. Maintaining that Buddhism was the anti thesis of Hinduism, the Buddhist leader and Chief of the All India Monks Association said that Buddhism outrightly rejects Manuvad, the centre point of Hindu philosophy. Unlike Hindus, the Buddhists do not believe either in God or in fate. The birth cycle, an integral part of the Hindu philosophy too was alien to Buddhism. Buddhism was a Godless concept, maintained Anand.

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No Havan, Ghar Wapsi for Buddhist converts: VHP