Class Procedures and Reminders:
Storybook stack. There are still quite a few assignments in the Storybook stack. If you turned in your assignment by 8PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me now. Assignments turned in later on Sunday or on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday are probably still in the stack. You can check the contents of the stack to make sure I have received your assignment. As always, it is my hope to read and reply on Friday at the latest to anything turned in before Friday!
Mix and match points. (repeat announcement) Now that there are less than four weeks of the semester left (rest of Week 12, plus Weeks 13-14-15), you might want to plan to do some "mix and match" in terms of just which assignments you want to complete this semester to get the points you need for the grade you want to get (you need 410 points for an A, 360 points for a B and 320 points for a C). So, based on the assignments you enjoy most/least in the class, you can certainly skip some assignments, provided that you end up with the points you need at the end. My only recommendation is that you do this cautiously. You don't want to skip so many assignments that you end up not getting the points you need for your desired grade. If you have any questions, let me know!
The following items are for fun and exploration:
Writing Resource: The Fall of the Onomatopoeian Empire. Onomatopoeia is a great writing technique but, as you can see here, it is no way to defend an empire!
Indian Words in English: Today's Indian word in English is baksheesh, meaning charity given to a beggar, or a tip, or (in the usual English sense of the word) a bribe. It is from the Sanskrit bhiksha. For details, see this blog post.
Featured Storybook: Automatons: Robots of Legend. This Storybook from last year contains legends of mythological robots, beginning with the legendary Talos, guardian of the ancient Greek island of Crete, and the mechanical eagle that fed each day on the liver of the Titan Prometheus.
FREE Kindle eBook: Kalevala, The Land of the Heroes translated by W.F. Kirby. Here is a link to the book at Amazon, and this blog post provides additional information about the contents of the book. This is the national epic of Finland, and both volumes of the Kirby translation are available as free Kindle ebooks.
Words of Wisdom: Today's proverb poster is Teachers open the door; you enter by yourself (a Chinese proverb). Details at the Proverb Lab. Or, in the online teaching world: teachers create the links; you click on them. :-)
Mahabharata Image: Today's Mahabharata image is Vishnu and Shiva. Vishnu, as usual, is blue!
Thursday Event on Campus: Enjoy free food at the Taste of Israel event, 6PM-8PM in the Jim Thorpe Cultural Center - falafel! hummus! more! (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.
April 10: Lew Wallace. Today is the birthday of Lew Wallace, born in 1827, who was a Union general in the Civil War and later the governor of the New Mexico Territory — but who is most famous today for being the author of the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, which was published in 1880. Below is an image from the 1959 film adaptation of the book starring Charlton Heston:
Note: You can page back through older blog posts to see any announcements you might have missed.
