Tuesday, February 6

Today is Tuesday of Week 4, and I've re-arranged the Modules area in Canvas so the new week is on top. The first reading is due today, and the blog commenting assignment is also ready to go for this week. Here is a link to the Week 4 assignments.

Class Procedures and Reminders

Success Tips: Talk to yourself while reading. Yes, I know that sounds strange, but anything you do to mix your other senses into the reading experience will make a more lasting impression. Reading out loud is one way to do that, and another way to do that is to talk to yourself while you read. You can even have imaginary conversations with the characters. Do you ever talk to the TV when you are watching a show? (I do! It drives my husband crazy.) You can do the same thing when you read: if you vocalize, you will form stronger memories.

Project Stack. If you turned in a project last week on Friday or on Saturday before 3PM, you should now have comments back from me. 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 will finish up the Saturday assignments today, and then I'll start working on the Sunday morning assignments.

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. This funny graphic in Tabi's post made me laugh out loud: it's the nursery rhyme about "the cow jumping over the moon" turned into a cheezburger-style graphic. So cute!

India Item. Did you ever play the game "Chutes and Ladders" when you were a kid? Well, the game comes from India, where it is called Moksha Patam, with snakes and ladders. The blog post has several pictures of the Indian board; this one dates to around the year 1800:

Myth Video: I know there are some dragon fans in class, so I wanted to share this video: Crash Course: Dragons.

India Comic Book: Today's comic book is Hanuman to the Rescue: Hanuman Brings the Sanjeevani. See the Amar Chitra Katha blog for the Bizzell Reserve call number and more information. This comic book provides all kinds of details about Hanuman's amazing feat, including his encounter with an enchanted crocodile.

Proverb of the Day: I chose another Latin proverb for today: It is a very healthy thing to rise early in the morning. Find out more at the Proverb Laboratory. The Latin rhymes: Est sanum plane de lecto surgere mane.

Writing: This is a spelling error for which the spellchecker itself is to blame: DEFINITELY v. DEFIANTLY (if you type "definately," the spellchecker will oh-so-helpfully change that to "defiantly" if you are not careful).

Reading: Here is some advice from Tyrion Lannister to inspire your reading this week: A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone if it is to keep its edge. That is why I read so much.

Growth Mindset: Today's growth mindset cat urges you to be curious while you read: The future belongs to the curious. You can find out more at the Growth Mindset blog.

Video: And for more on the power of curiosity and creativity, check out Scott Barry Kaufman's New Theory of Human Intelligence. Kaufman is the author of Wired to Create, a book I highly recommend, especially to those of you embarking on creative careers.

Event on Campus: Boomer Buzz is back! Come by Bizzell's Community Room for pizza and printing at 5PM (details). Find out more about this and other events at the Campus Calendar online.

February 6: Aldus Pius Manutius. Today marks the anniversary of the death of Aldus Pius Manutius in the year 1515. Manutius founded the Aldine Press of Venice in 1494, and thus he published some of the first printed editions of the Latin and Greek classics. Aldus was an innovator in typography, too; most famously, he invented the italic font! You can read more at Wikipedia about Aldus and about the Aldine Press. The image below shows a page from his 1501 edition of Horace; even though it is a printed book, it is designed to imitate the style and layout of a medieval manuscript:


And here's a fun animation of the Aldine Press logo, a dolphin, done by Laura Aydelotte:

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