Friday, November 1

HAPPY FRIDAY! And you have reached the end of Week 11. Here is a link to the Week 11 assignments ... and Week 12 also if you are working ahead!

Class Procedures and Reminders

Extra credit goodness. There are several different reasons why there is so much extra credit available each week: to help you make up missing assignments, to give you a chance to get ahead, and also to encourage you to try new things, fun and/or useful. So before things get totally busy at the end of the semester, see if you can find some time to do some of the extra credit options this week.

Project Stack. I replied to all the Sunday assignments yesterday, and I'll get through as much of the rest of the stack as I can today: all of the Week 10 assignments for sure, and hopefully some of the Week 11 and Week 12 items in the stack. You can check the stack to make sure I received your assignment. If I don't get to something in the stack today, you'll be at the top of the stack for Monday!

The following items are for fun and exploration:

Blog Stream. I thought this was so cute: Marshall used his own photos to illustrate his retelling of a jataka story featuring... his dogs as characters! Here's his story: The Framing.

Twitter Stream. As you can guess, there was all kinds of Halloween goodness going on at the #FolkloreThursday stream yesterday, including this bit of Welsh folklore:

Indian Epics Today. Today's character is AGNI, the god of fire. His name is related to the Latin word ignis, which gives us the English word "ignite," i.e. to set on fire! More about Agni. Here is Agni in a scene from the Ramayana:

India Video. This is an Epified video about Swaha, Agni's wife:

Indian Music Video. Here's a Maati Baani video that might remind you about the Pygmalion story from Greek mythology where a man brings his beloved statue to life: Naina Bawre.

Story of the Day. Today's aetiology is about how the horse became tamed by human riders: The Horse and the Stag. It's an Aesop's fable, and see below for more about Aesop's fables.

Proverbs. Here's a fun Latin proverb: The frog jumps back into the swamp even if you've placed him on a throne. (Latin here)

H.E.A.R.T.. This is some advice from Anne Lamott about unplugging at the end of the week:

Writing Video. Here's a video from John McWhorter, one of my favorite linguists, about languages not on that family tree: Are Elvish, Klingon, Dothraki and Na'vi real languages?

Event on Campus. Come to the Fiber Workshop today at 3PM in Bizzell to learn to make braided cord using the Japanese technique kumihimo (details).

Here's a sneak preview video if you are curious how it works:

All Saints Day. The meaning of Halloween is "Eve of All Hallows" (Hallow-Evening), i.e. the Eve of All Saints, which is celebrated today, November 1; you can find out more at Wikipedia: All Saints. In many countries, this is a day for visiting graveyards and bringing flowers in memory of the dead. This photo shows a Polish graveyard decorated for the holiday, which is called "Wszystkich Świętych" in Polish:

Today is also the eve of All Souls Day which is celebrated on November 2. These holy days, All Saints and All Souls, are known as Days of the Dead, which you can read about at Wikipedia. The image below is a Catrina, a tradition for Día de los Muertos originally created by Jose Guadalupe Posadas:

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