Sunday, February 4

Today is Sunday of Week 3. If you have not finished the Week 3 assignments, you need to do that today, and maybe you will have time to do some extra credit options too! You can find all the assignments for this week and also for Week 4 at the Class Calendar.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Success Tips: Extra credit now for midterm break. Some of you will probably have midterm exams starting up in a couple of weeks in your other classes. If you can do extra credit now, you can build up your points so that you can take a week off in this class when things get intense in your other classes!

Project Stack. I'll update the stack periodically today so that you can check the stack to make sure I received your email. The sooner you turn in your assignment, the sooner you will get comments back from me. If you wait until Sunday evening to turn it in, that means you will probably have to wait until Thursday or Friday for my comments. So, don't wait until Sunday evening; turn your assignment in this afternoon if you can.

Call me Laura. As I mentioned earlier in the semester, please just call me Laura! I'm on a first-name basis with all of you, so it just makes sense for you to use my first name too. Really!

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. I really enjoy seeing the memes and graphics that people include in their posts, like this "determination" graphic in Jessie's feedback post:

India Item. Flowers are a big part of folklore and mythology around the world, including India, so I wanted to share this beautiful webpage with Indian flower stories: Flowers of India. Be sure to check out the story about Rama, the goddess Durga, and the blue lotus!

Myth Video: This is a fun video for learning about mythology, and it is also an example of a powerful storytelling: Rap Battles: Zeus v. Thor. Find out more at Epic Rap Battles of History. Warning: NSFW!

India Comic Book: Today's comic book includes some great Ravana stories that are not part of the epic Ramayana: Ravana Humbled: An Arrogant King Finds New Friends . See the Amar Chitra Katha blog for the Bizzell Reserve call number and more information.

Proverb of the Day: Today's proverb comes from Poland: Adam ate the apple, and our teeth still hurt. Find out more at the Proverb Laboratory.

Writing: Here's a story generator for all of you who are fans of Game of Thrones.

Reading: This graphic is for anybody who is starting the Week 4 reading today: Escape Reality!

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat has lofty aims: And if I try harder, I can climb higher. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Video: Here's a beautiful video with words by Alan Watts and music by Hans Zimmer: Life from Above. Find out more at YouTube: Alan Watts.

Event on Campus: Bizzell is open from noon until 2AM every Sunday for your reading and learning pleasure (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

February 4: Sri Lanka National Day. On February 4, seventy years ago, in 1948, the island nation of Sri Lanka gained independence from British rule. (India had gained its independence about six months earlier, in August of 1947.) For those of you who are in the Indian Epics class, Sri Lanka is a place of special interest because it is the legendary home of Ravana the demon king. You can read more about Sri Lanka in this Wikipedia article, and the image below shows a mountain, Sri Pada, commonly called "Adam's Peak" in English, which supposedly holds the footprint of the Buddha (according to Buddhist tradition), the footprint of Shiva (in Hindu tradition) or the footprint of Adam (in Islamic tradition):

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