Tuesday, August 16

School does not start officially until Monday, August 22, but if you would like to start this online class early, it is ready to go! All the first week assignments are available now if you want to get a head start. Even though there are no class meetings for this online course, you do have assignments that are DUE already on Tuesday of the first week of classes (August 23) - so if you can complete those assignments before the deadline, that will give you one less thing to worry about when your regular classroom-based classes get started.

All the information you need about the Week 1 Orientation assignments can be found at the course website; just click on the Week 1 Orientation link to get started. The assignments for Week 2 and for the following weeks are also ready to go, if you want to get a big head start. As always, there are lots of little things I have to adjust at the beginning of each new semester, and if you find something that is not working or is not clear, it will be a big help if you can let me know. Thanks!

August 16: Ramakrishna. Today marks the anniversary of the death in the year 1886 of the great Indian mystic, Ramakrishna. You can read about Ramakrishna's life, career, and teachings in this detailed Wikipedia article, and along with an article at Wikiquote, which includes this item: "It is true that God is even in the tiger, but we must not go and face the animal. So it is true that God dwells even in the most wicked, but it is not meet that we should associate with the wicked." The image below shows the Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa Shrine in Mysore, India (image source):