Epics of India

Figure 1: Depiction of Rama   Wikimedia “You have been stripped of all property and banished. You are to leave by tonight, and you may only take the supplies that we have laid out before you.” Rama looked at the provisions that his father had laid out for him: two robes of bark, a water sling, a basket, a spade and small sack of coins. “Father, this must… there must be some kind of mistake. This is a joke isn’t it?” Just then, Manthara appeared and spoke. “Excuse me sir! I think we forgot to give him sandals and sword as well.” A servant brought Rama sandals and his sword as well. As the servant handed Rama his sword, the reality of the situation finally came to him, and he felt as though the very earth were falling apart. His sword, a khanda given to him by his father had been stripped of its jewel encrusted handle and re-hilted with a plain wooden handle wrapped in string. Worse still, the etchings on the blade describing his family's history had b

Figure 1:  Typical Depiction of Ravana  Wikimedia Again, I will be focusing primarily on the plot of the Ramayana. Bharata returns home and is then informed that not only has his father died, but Rama has been banished and he is to be the next ruler. His mother explains how she did this for his sake, but he is furious with her. Shatrughan is also there, and attempts to kill Manthara for her conspiracy, but Bharata stops him, saying that Rama would be angry with their actions. Bharata holds a funeral for his father and then attempts to persuade Rama to return and assume the throne. However, Rama refuses on principle, and insists on living out his punishment. They agree to place Rama's shoes on the throne as a placeholder until Rama completes his exile. Rama and his companions interact with some forest sages. A demon named Viradha abducts Sita, but Rama and his brother kill the creature, and in doing so, purify it and allow it to return to heaven. They then interact with mo

Figure 1: Illustration of the Ramayana  Wikimedia I have found that the Ramayana is very plot centered. As such, I will focus my notes on the general plot. Rama is an incarnation of Vishnu born to an ancient Indian king who had no sons prior to a horse sacrifice. The reason Vishnu chose to take a mortal form was to combat a demon who could only be killed by an earthly creature. Once he became a young man, Rama and his brother went on several adventures; they slew demons, found beautiful wives, and learned about the world. Rama is also chosen to be the next ruler. However, bitter and jealous forces conspire to oust him. Because older stories are plot focused, I have selected my favorite story from this reading based on its plot. My favorite story from this section of the reading was "Rama is Banished". The basic plot of this story is as follows. A prince who is expecting to be become regent soon, is instead betrayed and told that he is going into exile, and he th

Figure 1:  Feedback  Blue Diamond Gallery The most important factors in feedback are accuracy and precision; all feedback must be constrained within these two parameters. Once feedback is accurate and precise within a reasonable degree, it is important to have a diversity of perspectives, and to be able to learn from this diverse, but constrained feedback. False feedback is unbelievably harmful. False internal negative feedback leads to things like suicide, anorexia, and depression. False internal positive feedback will run you into a brick wall. False external feedback will lead to either the results labelled above, a serious miscalibration, or, in my case, a serious mistrust of external feedback. I should mention that as a child, I was feed a saccharine diet of praise and naive optimism, and as I realized that I was lied to, I came to distrust almost all positive feedback in general. I think that's one of the most damaging phenomenon in my life. As such, it is necessary

Figure 1:  Hanuman  Wikipedia Figure 2:  Sun Wukong  Wikimedia Ganesha, The Elephant Headed God  - I was originally interested in Ganesha for one reason. I love the story about how he "walked around his world" and got married; however, I can't seem to find the version that my Indian friends told me. I'm curious to learn other versions of this myth, and if I were to tell a story, it would be a mess of conflicting accounts regarding his marriage from different points of view where nobody remembers anything accurately. Hanuman - When I was younger, my favorite picture book was one about the monkey king. I think that examining one of his main inspirations would be useful. I'm curious to learn more about the literary similarities between them. I also wonder how their abilities and characterization vary, especially in regards to the monkey king's more mischievous traits. I would probably place him in stories where he interacts with the monkey king.

Updated Version Figure 1:  Statue of Man Killing a Snake  Pixabay Far away, by a remote village, there was a dark forest, and in that forest lived a terrible serpent. Beside this forest was a small cottage, and in that cottage sat a young boy, slurping soup, relaxing in a blanket, and pretending that the serpent didn't exist. That whole town pretended that there was no serpent; they lived in fear of it, and the slightest mention threatened to send the town into a panic. The animals in the forest feared the serpent, constantly worrying that it would devour them. A giant lion passed through the town. As he did, he noticed the small boy. Perhaps at another time he would simply have eaten the child, but the boy's cowardice dismayed him such that he could not even muster the will to devour him. Incensed by the child's inaction, the lion leaped through an open window and into the boy's room. There he spoke to the child. "Rawr" "But that

Figure 1:  Typical Depiction of The Buddha  Wikimedia The Foolish, Timid Rabbi t by Ellen C. Babbitt Until relatively recently I was rather dismissive of these moralizing stories. This story is about a mass hysteria caused by an initial overreaction to some stimulus. The overreaction is halted by the lion, who while monstrous and predatory is also brave and unafraid. Inspecting the initial issue it is found that there was no real issue to begin with. these stories seem obvious now, but I suspect that at the time of this stories' writing it was the most efficient way to state that not overreacting and confronting one's fears was an optimal course of action. It also states something that the modern incarnation of this saying does not: to confront that which you have overestimated requires the fiercer part of your mind or a fierce external individual. I think I'll keep the lion around. Two Turtle Jatakas  by Ellen C. Babbitt The first story is a relatively simple

Figure 1:  General Illustration of the Ramayana  Wikipedia I intend to read the " Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition ". as an anthology with many contributing authors, I suspect that the diversely written nature of the work will be more representative of diverse Indian culture in general. I also suspect that an anthology reading will be less risky to read than a novel, as I may dislike the manner in which the novel is written, but the probability that I will dislike every anthology is lower, given that they are all written differently. The two comic books that I intend to read are " Tales of Durga " and " Tales of Balarama ". " Tales of Durga " involves a series of battles, which always excites me. The fact that its women beating up all the demons is also something that I find appealing. " Tales of Balarama " interests me because I often find the secondary players in a narrative be interesting. Being the brother of an incar

Figure 1:  Start Gun  Pixabay The advice in " The Importance of Just Starting " is a conclusion that I've found before, although their reasoning that the pain of non-productivity is greater than the pain of working is slightly different from my own, which is that deliberately beginning and focusing on a task is necessary for adequate concentration. Furthermore, although humans instinctively value short term immediate "advantages" over more long term ones, humans need to place their long term interests first to some degree. I actually mastered this bit of advice when I was younger. I had a strong drive and could simply start and focus on a task. But now, I have trouble doing that. I think its because the path that I took didn't really result in the outcomes that I wanted, or maybe the goals I was aiming for weren't what I really wanted. I suppose the easiest way to lose the habit of pro-activity and self starting is to exhibit that behavior in a

Figure 1:  Cat at Computer  PICRYL  and  Pixabay I have run into/been exposed to most of the web technologies described. I've followed blogs, used google docs, made memes, used bookmarks and so on, but I am not particularly familiar with any of them. Given the online nature of the course, I suspect that the amount of information that I can convey will be larger. Also, the recording nature of the internet means that keeping track of what I say will be easier. I do find online communication to be more difficult than in person communication. However, many of my classes are very online oriented, so perhaps there will not be much of a difference. Technology progresses at such a rate that the likelihood that acquired technical knowledge will be obsolete before it can be fully utilized. As such, I don't have any technological skills that I want to develop. However, acclimating to new technologies can be considered a skill in and of itself; if there is any web skill I want t

 Having done the assigned reading, I will provide my opinions on the main required assignments.  1-2. Reading . I'm not a very fast reader, but I can hopefully learn something useful from the reading assignments.  3. Storytelling . This portion of the class is going to be interesting to me. I do enjoy writing, but I have little experience with it. Hopefully I'll improve over time. 4. Blog Comments . I do enjoy talking to people, so this will be relatively fun. I occasionally have trouble finding anything worth saying to other people, but I can probably make a semi-relevant comment in most cases.  5. Project . With large projects, I generally don't know where to start. However, once I do find a foothold, I usually have an alright time.  6. Project Feedback . Unlike the Blog comments, the clear objective of commenting with the intent to improve another's writing makes this assignment very straightforward.  All in all, I find that the course assign

I've found that pathological behavior is often the result of a subscription to a certain truth without the proper reconciliation with a seemingly contradictory truth. The central thesis that Carol Dweck is postulating is that the typical ability to adapt and acquire new skills, what she calls intelligence, is significantly greater than the typical challenges faced by human beings and the typical skills that a person must acquire; more importantly, believing, understanding, and acting on this hypothetical truth is the best possible course of action when confronted with difficulty. That human beings have the ability to acquire new skills and overcome challenges is generally evident in the world; watching an individual's progression in developing any skill, whether it is competence on the job, writing or mathematics. Human capacity to overcome challenges is significantly more difficult to observe, but if we consider that learning new skills are themselves a challenge, then this

I am Jenon Fung, engineer, mathematician, amateur evolutionary psychologist, violinist, diabolo practitioner, LARP warrior, weightlifter, philosopher, webcomic connoisseur, and SCP D-class personnel. An aerospace and electrical engineering double major, the most enjoyable aspect of my profession is telling people that airplane companies use glue to hold modern composite planes together, such as the Boeing 787. I hope to work for Boeing, and I have a second internship lined up with them this summer. Hopefully, I will be able to contribute something meaningful to the company. Aside from this, my career plans include working very hard and allowing my work drive to get completely out of control and eat my happiness and personal values. My hobbies include impersonating Marie Curie online, explaining the Konigsberg bridge problem to people waiting to order Canes Chicken, explaining fiber layup shear moment coupling to people in line at Walmart, and trying to kill my friends with padded

I primarily selected stories based on their core appeal and the author's capacity to execute this appeal. Indian Horror Figure 1:  Common Depiction of Asura Courtesy of  Wikipedia This story is about Indian horrors coming to small town america. I confess to being a bit f a horror junkie, so a story about Indian horror would definitely appeal to me. The idea that these Americans are going to face a threat that is genuinely alien to them is fascinating. Stories told as a collection of accounts or diary entries are especially well suited for these types of stories in which the suppression of critical information is part of the appeal. Aside from this, the storybook itself is relatively easy to navigate and use. Indra: The Thunder God Figure 2: Common Depiction of Indra Courtesy of  Wikipedia This storybook is a relatively simple introduction to the Indian thunder god Indra. It describes how he obtains his weapon, the Vajra, and defeats the terrible serpent Vrita. The

Figure 1: Panorama of The Current River from  Wikimedia The current river is a tributary river flowing in the Mississippi that forms in the southeastern Ozarks of Missouri. It is my favorite camping spot. Canoeing down it with my boy scout troop is one of my favorite memories, as it was one of the most relaxing experiences that I've ever had. Alternatively, kayaking against friends provided adequate excitement when I had my fill of relaxation. I highly recommend that everyone visit, as it is an accessible and relaxing camping experience. 

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