Monday, November 11

Today is Monday of Week 13. No kidding: Week 13 already! Here is a link to Week 13 and also Week 12 if you are finishing that up during the grace period this morning. And yes, there are just three weeks left: this week, Week 14, and then Dead Week (Week 15).

Class Procedures and Reminders

Project Stack. As always, the stack is huge on Monday! You can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment. My goal today is to reply to all the assignments that were turned in last week, and maybe the Saturday assignments too if all goes well.

Choose your grade. A couple of people wrote me this weekend to ask if it really is okay to stop the class when they have a grade of B or C, and of course that is okay! In fact, it's great: if finishing early in this class can help you cope with all your other end-of-the-semester obligations, I'm very glad about that. So, as soon you are done with the points you need for your desired grade (410-A, 360-B, 320-C), just fill out the "Finished!" form in Canvas and you're done.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. I'm actually sharing something from my own blog this time! I wrote a Twine story this weekend using one of the other Twine styles (this one is light background instead of dark), and I wrote a Tech Tip for those of you Twine users who are interested in how to do that! Nursery Rhyme Maze:

Twitter Stream. I'm a huge fan of Philip Pullman, and Tom Gauld is one of my favorite cartoonists, so of course I love this one from Tom Gauld's Twitter stream:

Writing. Here's another fun one from Tom Gauld: Magical Items for Fantasy Writers.

And here's a great graphic from Sylvia Duckworth about superpowers: 10 Things We Can Learn From Superheroes.

Story of the Day. Today's origin story is a Cherokee legend about The Origin of the Bear. The bears used to be people...

Indian Epics Today. The character of the day today is a member of Ravana's family: his giant brother, Kumbhakarna. This beautiful illustration shows Kumbhakarna falling in battle; you can see that the artist has drawn it like an animation, showing you the fall as if it were frame by frame:

Myth-Folklore. Some of you encountered genies in the Myth-Folklore readings this semester, so I thought I would share this brilliant Cyanide and Happiness cartoon:

Myth-Folklore Video. Here are some goddesses from Crash Course: Fire and Buffalo Goddesses.

Event on Campus. School of Music’s Percussion Orchestra, Percussion Ensemble and Steel Band will be performing at 7:30P in the Sharp Concert Hall (details).

November 11: Armistice Day. Today is Armistice Day, "The Day of the Setting-Down-of-Arms," which marked the end of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I on November 11 in 1918. Here is a photograph of the German surrender:

November 11 is also the birthday of Kurt Vonnegut. You can read about Vonnegut's life and career in this Wikipedia article, and here he reflects on what it was like to have November 11 for his birthday:

When I was a boy, all the people of all the nations which had fought in the First World War were silent during the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of Armistice Day, which was the eleventh day of the eleventh month. It was during that minute in nineteen hundred and eighteen, that millions upon millions of human beings stopped butchering one another. I have talked to old men who were on battlefields during that minute. They have told me in one way or another that the sudden silence was the Voice of God. So we still have among us some men who can remember when God spoke clearly to mankind.

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