Tuesday, September 5

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 3, and I've re-arranged the Modules area in Canvas so the new week is on top. You will be starting the Ramayana in the Indian Epics class, and in Myth-Folklore it's Classical OR Biblical reading. Here is a link to this week's assignments.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Week 3 Blog Comments. The blog commenting for Week 3 is ready to go; this time you will be reading Introductions and Stories. Thanks to everybody for all the Week 2 comments! Everybody should have gotten at least one comment on their Introduction, hopefully more. The first commenting assignment is always kind of chaotic, even more so with Labor Day, so I am really glad for all of you who did that assignment. From here on out, my goal is for everybody to get at least one comment on their Story each week; let's see if the power of random will work its magic this week.

Points. Week by week you can always check to see how you are doing with this Progress Chart. At the start of Week 3 you should have around 60 points if you're aiming for an A, 50 for a B, 45 for a C. If you are not where you want to be with the points, you can always do some extra credit; that's what it is there for. :-)

Extra Credit. As you are doing the reading for class, you might find something you want to look up at Wikipedia, and that can be the beginning of a Wikipedia Trail for extra credit. Find out more in the extra credit section of this week's assignments.

Project Stack. As always at the start of the week, the Project stack is huge. While you are waiting on comments back from me about your Project assignment, you can check the stack to make sure I received your email. I work through the projects in the order received, and I'll update the announcements each day about my progress.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Class Twitter. From yesterday's Twitter @OnlineMythIndia, here is a gorgeous painting of Vamana, Vishnu's diminutive avatar. You can read the story of Vamana at Wikipedia.

Reading. I know I'm not the only Doctor Who fan in the class, so here is something for you Whovians to ponder as you do your reading for class: Every books is a TARDIS.

Storybook Archive. This project is from the Myth-Folklore class: HGTV: Homer and Garden Television. Join Persephone as she redecorates both in heaven and in the underworld, while Zeus and Hera squabble on camera, and Odysseus goes house-hunting together with his loving wife Penelope — all part of the HGTV line-up for this season.

Free Book Online: Today's free book is Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat. See the Freebookapalooza blog for links and the table of contents. Noor Inayat was a remarkable woman: she was an SOE agent in World War II, working undercover in France, and was executed at Dachau in 1944. You can read more about her at Wikipedia.

Story of the Day. Today's story is from Aesop's fables: The Crow and the Fox, a fable about flattery. The illustration is by Arthur Rackham:

Video: The video for today is a beautiful arrangement by the fusion musician Karsh Kale where he blends Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah with Shilpa Rao's Hindi Jhoola, and Warren Mendonsa's Ode to a Sunny Day: Hallelujah. Find out more about Karsh Kale at Wikipedia.

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat is inspired by a motto that someone shared in their growth mindset blog post: She believed she could, so she did. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Event on Campus: Today is the first day of Brazil Week at OU! (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

September 5: Teacher's Day. Today is celebrated as Teacher's Day in India in honor of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan who was a philosopher and writer, and who was also the president of India from 1962-1967; he was born on this day in 1888. You can read more Radhakrishnan at Wikipedia. This graphic shows Radhakrishnan and the words of the Guru Mantra.

Check out the Twitter stream for information and fun stuff during the day, or click here for past announcements.