Reading Notes Week 11 Part B

The Wise Goat and the Wolf

-A group of goats lived in a cave and two wolves hunted these goats until only one goat was left alive

-The last goat was wise and learned from the deaths of all her friends that left the cave before her

-The wolves had no clue on how to catch this wise goat that was a left in the cave, every time they tried to catch this goat it always escaped

-The wolves came up with a plan to catch the last remaining goat by tricking the goat into helping them

-However, this plan was foiled when one of the wolves let his impulses get the best of him and the wise goat caught on to what the wolves were trying to do

-The wise goat was able to run back to the safety of the cave before the wolves were able to fulfill their plan

-The wolves tried once again to try and draw the goat out of the cave

-However, the goat was wise and knew that nothing good was going to come out of listening to the wolves so the goat came up with her own plan to trick the wolves 

-When the goat agreed to come back with the wolf for a second time, this time the goat tricked the wolves by saying she was going to bring her friends with her also 

-Once the wolves found out who the goat had as friends they ran far away and left the goat alone 

Wise goat and Wolf
Source: kidsgen

How The Monkey Saved His Troops

-This troop of monkeys lived on the shore of river that was home to a mango tree 

-These monkeys relied on this mango tree to supply them with fresh fruit to eat when they hunted for food at night 

-Each night the troop of monkeys went to the mango tree to pick up all the mangoes off the ground that fell over the day and then climbed the tree for more mangoes

-Later one a king and his fishermen a distance down river were checking their nets for fish when they noticed a strange fruit in the nets 

-The king called upon his forestry people to find out what the strange fruit was called, his people advised him that it was mango and that it was safe to eat

-The king and princess loved the mangoes and the king demanded that he be taken to where the mango tree was at 

-The king and his people arrived at the mango tree and picked up all the mangoes and then stayed overnight to get more in the morning 

-The monkeys like clockwork came back to the tree that night and found no mangoes on the ground due to the kings people picking all of them up

-The monkeys then climbed the tree to find more mangoes and in this process waked the king from his sleep

-The king was not happy about this and demanded his archers to shoot the monkeys as they descended the tree 

-The monkeys were scared and sought help from their leader to evade death from the archers down on the ground 

-The chief monkey came up with a plan to save his troops, the chief did this by building a bridge with his own body for his troops to move to another tree to escape the archers arrows 

-The chief saved all of his troops and the king saw everything the chief monkey had done and was impressed with it and decided to let the monkeys live a happy life 

Monkey saving his troops
Source: BBC School Radio

Bibliography: Ellen C. Babbitt. The Wise Goat and the Wolf. Source

Ellen C. Babbitt. How The Monkey Saved His Troops. Source

Reading Notes Week 11 Part A

The Three Fishes

-Three different fish named: Thoughtful, Thoughtless, Very-Thoughtful 

-Thoughtful and Thoughtless took off down the river and weren't paying attention and ran into a fish net

-Very-Thoughtful saw this and sprung into action to save the other two fish

-Very-Thoughtful to get the fish out made the fisherman that owned the net think the net was broke

-The fisherman pulled the net out of the water and freed the fish

-Thoughtless and Thoughtful thanked Very-Thoughtful for saving them 

Fish
Source: Bed Time Stories

The Red-bud Tree

-Four princes found about this tree that was covered in red-buds and wanted to see it for themselves

-The first prince went to see the tree, but it was not covered in red-buds it was bare and black 

-The second prince went to see the tree, but it was not bare it was now covered in beautiful red-buds

-The third prince went to see the tree, but this time the tree was not covered in red-buds it was covered only in green leaves

-Lastly the last prince went to see the tree, but the tree didn't have any buds or leaves this time the tree had bean pods on it

-The last prince ran back to tell his brothers what he saw and all of them disagreed with each other on what they each saw at the different times they went to see the tree

-Their father heard all of this and came over to sort out the disagreement between the brothers by making them realize they had all went to see the tree at different times and this why they each saw something different

Redbud tree
Source: Tree Center

Bibliography: Ellen C. Babbitt. The Three Fish. Source

Ellen C. Babbitt. The Red-Bud Tree. Source

Story Lab Week 10: Tedx Videos

A New Theory of Human Intelligence 

I found this Tedx video to be really inspiring and also interesting to actually see something like this take place somewhere to see what the results would be. Universities get way to caught up in the stats of year to year and always trying to be the top dog against everyone else in having the highest scores. However, what opportunities are they missing out on and also what opportunities are they taking away from students that want to pursue a college degree. Are there people out there that can't pass the normal standardized tests that would may not look on paper but actually be really good in the real world environment and they are missing out because they don't fit the social norm. I think it will be really interesting to see some results of what Kaufman finds out if and when he does any studies on his new theory. 

Copy Right is Brain Damage 

This was a very interesting way to think about what copyrighting has done to a lot of what people and the creations that they have made. Getting copyrights really does put a damper on the possibilities of what something can become, through the original artist and others that wish to branch off and create their own version. All copyright has done is made it so that the artist is hurt in the long run and the community that they share, all the while the corporations are making money off it and changing it to what they want to attract more people to buy their version. This video also really got me to thinking about how culture is formed and how the idea of copyright has really suppressed the progression of culture through works of art. 

Neural Connections
Source

Tedx Videos Source: Story Lab Creative Mind 

Reading Notes: Epified Krishna Part B

- Krishna showed a devotion that Brahma wanted to challenge to see how Krishna would react. Brahma started to kidnap the cows and villagers that would equal a year. However, Krishna combated this by just making replicas of the lost cows and village people from himself. Brahma bowed down to Krishna after this task.

-Krishna wanted to prove to all his brothers and villagers that he can ride a vicious bill named Hastin. So, Krishna started to spend a lot of time with Hastin by playing music to him and feeding him sweet straw until Krishna thought enough time had passed by to earn Hastin's trust. To all the villagers and Krishnas brothers surprise Krishna mounted the bull and rode the bull all around the village with no problem. Krishna thought them the lesson of kindness through taming and building a friendship with a wild creature.

-Kansa makes a come back into the stories about Krishna, when he invites Krishna to Mathura for a event called Dhanur Yajna. However, Kansa had a plan that was not in good faith and this plane was to try and kill Krishna for a second time; however, the news of this plan made its way back to Krishna and even with the advice of his brothers and villagers Krishna said he must go.

-Krishna and Delmar arrived at Mathura and there was a very nice warming party of villagers that met them and Krishna and Delmar adverted any angry villagers by bringing happiness and this was done by fixing a deformed woman.

-Kansa then came at Krishna trying to kill him and Belram by trampling them with an aggressive elephant called Kuvalayapida; however, the creature was no match against Krishna who knocked the creature out in one blow. The brothers fought off all things that Kansa threw at them to try and kill them. The brothers made it to the event where Krishna picked up the bow that was created by Shiva and it snapped and Kansa launched his whole army upon the brothers. However, just like everything else there was no chance and Krishna and Belram defeated the army and Kansa didn't even get a chance to run before the brothers reached him and successfully attacked him.

-With the defeat of Kansa, Krishnas birth parents and grandfather who were locked up in the kingdom of Mathura were set free and Krishnas grandfather became the new king of Mathura. However, an ally of Kansa was not happy about the defeat of Kansa and so king of Magadh waged a war against Krishna and the Mathura kingdom. However, Krishna and his grandfather had another kingdom built to house the villagers of Mathura so when Jarasandh came to the kingdom they would only find a empty city. Krishna became king of the new location and the Pandava brother Bhima was left to defeat Jarasandh.

Krishna and Cow Herd
Source: Wattpad

Bibliography: Epified, Krishna, Part B Video Source: Youtube Playlist

Reading Notes: Epified Krishna Part A

The story about how Krishna came about starts when he was born as the eighth child, Krishna was able to survive the death that captured the other seven babies before him. Krishna was not just any baby and he turned out to be a spectacle they all did not expect. They all thought the eighth kid was in safe hands until Kansa found out about the eighth child being born. Kansa came to look at the eighth child and to kill the baby like the other seven. However, the child which is now known as Krishna was able to overcome Kansa and Krishna was safe at last. Krishna later became King and many other things.

Krishna grew up and was known for not being a very nice child, he was becoming a terror throughout the community's. Krishnas mother tried to kill him one day; however, from that day she found out that he was not a normal being and that Krishna was special.

There was a huge storm that came through the town brought on by Inda and it was a huge one and all the towns people ran to Krishna for shelter. Krishna raised the mountain that was next to him and lifted it with his little finger. Krishna then asked for forgiveness from the gods and goddesses. Krishna was then given a Gopi named Radha which was proven to be loyal to him through making her drink scalded milk.

Baby Krishna
Source: Clip Dealer

Bibliography: Epified Krishna Video Source: Youtube

Week 9 Story Telling: The Friends Return

Updated Story Found Here: Tyler's Portfolio

Teacher of the Sons
Source

The band of friends that is now five was once a group of six, but these friends are closer than most and once you break a vow you are no longer wanted in the inner circle. The group was once comprised of Brooke, Mia, Rowdi, Steven, Josh, and Anthony. It was only just a few months ago that all six friends were seen walking around together having the best time in each other company, until Anthony broke the vow to never release any information that was talked about within the friend’s circle. This group of friends has one thing in common and that is they all work together at the same place; however, Anthony was transferred to another store due to conflicts with his leader. Once transferred Anthony envied the other friends because they were able to stay together and were having fun at the store he was no longer at and he didn’t like that at all. So, even with the vow to never tell anyone outside the circle of friendship, Anthony began to tell people at his new store about things that he and the other friends use to do at his old store.

With Anthony spreading rumors about stuff he and the friends use to do it made its way back to his old leader through the back channels and the team started to get in trouble. The friends found out about what Anthony had done and they banned him from the circle of friends. Once Anthony found about the friends agreeing to ban him from being within their circle, he ran back to them wanting to be accepted back into the group. However, this group of friends don’t take the breaking of vows they have made lightly and told him that they won’t be able to accept him back into the group.

Upon kicking Anthony out of the group, a great leader that the friends always looked up to came upon the friends during this time and took them under his wing. This leader was known as Bruce the Almighty (at least this what he thought he was), Bruce took the friends one by one and taught them different things on how to navigate the drama that was lingering over them.  Through the guidance of Mr. Almighty himself the friends were able to make their circle between the five of them even stronger and not let the drama that Anthony has bestowed upon the group take them down. With everything that the friends have overcame they are now an inseparable group that hasn’t let anything come between them.

Authors Note: For this story I tried my best to find a way to incorporate the group of friends I have used in a couple of my blog posts again for this week. So, for this short story I took a couple of the videos from the Karmic Revolution video series and relate to the friends to the best I can. The first video that I used was about Ambas Ruin and how once she was kidnapped and wasn’t able to return to either kingdoms that she went to. Ambas Ruin and Anthony getting kicked out of the friends circle is were I tried to relate that section of the story to the reading we did. Then for the second story that I used was Sons of Vyasa  and this is were Bruce the Almighty comes into the story of when he takes the friends under him and teaches them different things. This is not really completed and will have more context added into at a later date. 

Bibliography: Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution. Source 

Week 9 Reading Notes: Part A

Goddess Ganga
Source: Wolverton Mountain

For this week I have chose the video files: Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution for the reading assignment. Having the stories put into a video form has really helped me with being able to follow the story line and how things fit together. When it comes to imagining things like the stories that are told in the Mahabharata I really start to lack in my conceptualize of things.

The narrator of the videos does a really good job in the visualization of the characters while the story the is going along. The other really nice thing about the videos is that now I have a reference as to if I am saying the names correctly (I found out I was really wrong on a lot of the names).

The story that was interesting to was about Shantanu and his wife Ganga goddess of the river Ganga. The narrator does a really good job of keeping the story true to itself but also making it in a more playful manner than it was depicted in the book that we read a few weeks ago. The videos also go through and really show more of depiction of what Ganga does and gives a more in-depth picture of what she does.

The other interesting part is when we get to see how Bhishma becomes who he is as we know him throughout the book. The book doesn't really go into depth about how the characters become who they are in the present unlike the videos. I think having more of a background for each character as they go from being one person to another would have cleared a lot more things up when trying to read the book.

Bibliography: Mahabharata: Karmic Revolution.

Week 8 Progress

Source: Flickr

Looking at the overall progress that I have made in this class, it has not been great and that is mainly due to my own doing. I let the hustle of all my other classes and work take over me and I caved and so I just threw a blanket on all my assignments like they didn't exist. This hurt me as now I am way behind in the course as far as points and will have to be doing some more of the extra credit options at the end of each week.

Looking forward for me in this class, I will have to make sure that I am on top of each assignment and giving this class a dedicated time each day to knock out the assignments in a efficient way. Also, I will have to make sure to do a couple of the extra credit assignments at the end of each week to rack up those missing points that I missed out on, on the weeks before.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Looking back at the what has been accomplished in this semester so far in this class really amazes me and I truly never would have thought I would have made it this far. This class has really opened up the realm of what I have exposed myself to, some of this stuff I probably would have never even gave it a second look before this class. However, I have really enjoyed both books that we have read in this class so far. As far as the readings go even though I have enjoyed them I would like to see maybe a little more time in between the reading and story telling due dates. I find for a person like me that doesn't really have a creative story telling side to struggle a little in pushing to get the reading done and then having to write a story right after.

As far as the website that I have created, it is okay for what is right now. I really haven't had the chance to really go through every setting that google sites has to offer. I think the biggest issue I have is google sites not giving the owner of the site the option to change font colors for their site and just making the user have to use the preset font colors in whatever theme that they have chose to use. The blog for this class, I am really happy with how it is turning out and the layout that I have. Blogger, really has a lot of versatility in it for the user to be able to make the blog what he/she wants it to be, blogger has also made it really simple for a beginner to learn how to use the software and become comfortable with doing stuff in it.

Looking forward in the Epics of India class, there is a few things that need to be changed for me to get more out of this class and be more productive. I think the biggest issue I have is time management and it really is taking a toll on all my classes this semester. I get bogged down with all my classes and so they all take a hit when that happens. I think to better my experience in this class I really just need to sit down and write up a time schedule for all my classes and make myself stick to it no matter what happens. I feel if I can get a time that is just dedicated to this class then I can sit down and actually consume more from the readings and other things in this class. If I am able to consume more from what I'm doing in this class then I wouldn't have to rush through everything and just do enough to check the boxes and submit and move on, I would actually be able to create something that actually has some worthy content.

Source: Biodivvy

I chose the picture of the sacred groves of India to add to this post because it entices my travel bug. We have been reading all these old stories about India and the culture that has been passed down and looking at this piece of history that relates to the things we have been reading about really intrigues me to travel to India to explore the culture. 

Week 7 Story: The Fate of Five Friends

Updated Story Link

The Fate of Five Friends

Friends

In the town of Norman Ka Shivir, there were five friends; Mia, Brooke, Rowdi, Steven, and Josh. These five friends hung out every week just doing whatever they could pass time and have a fun time together. So, one day the friends went on an adventure around the town on the new electric scooters that made their mark in town. In a group of friends like these five, there is always a few that could be questionable on how they make through the day and still come out without hurting themselves or others and then there are some that are noble and levelheaded that some look up to.

The friends set out the scooters to go roam the campus and experience the new fall colors added to the gardens and the trees that were starting to change the colors of their leaves. As stated, before some of the friends were not to adapt to roam about on these scooters with ease and Brooke and Josh really set the bar for this theory to become true. As the friends were making their way across campus Brooke and Josh going as slow as they could, running off the sidewalks and falling off the scooters at every turn that was made. While Mia, Rowdi, and Steven were moving along with grace and coordination following next to each other making the ride seem like a breeze, awhile Brooke and Josh are covered in grass and scuffed up hands.

The ride finally came to end when the friends arrived at their favorite place to be on campus corner to wind down for the night, ochonnaills. The friends parked the scooters and made their way into the pub to sit at the bar and relax for the night. However, there was a problem that faced them once they arrived at the bar to sit down, the normal bartender that served them every time they visited was no longer there and the new bartender was not going to allow them a free seat unless they were to answer questions given to them. The bartender made clear that no one was to sit at the bar until all questions asked to them were answered.

As the friends approached each was given a question and as Rowdi approached she answered and was granted a seat, Mia and Steven were next in line and both answered correctly and were granted a seat. Next was Brooke and Josh and both being clumsy and no regard for their surrounding proceeded to sit down and have no regard to the warnings that were given to them. The bartender said to them, “I warned you to not sit at the bar unless you could answer my simple questions first.” Brooke replied, “I only want a drink not to play any games with you.” So, the bartender turned to the big security guard sitting the corner and summoned him over to take care of Brooke and Josh. Mia being the noblest of them all pleaded with the bartender to give her more questions to answer for Brooke and Josh to have a place at the bar.

The bartender being one to not cave with persuasion that all college students plead with on a nightly basis. The security guard grabbed the two friends and outside they were sent to spend the rest of the night, sitting next to the old gentleman playing the guitar while everyone else sat inside enjoying a cold one. 

The yaksha and Yudhistira

Authors Note: I am not very good this creative writing thing and so it took me way longer than it probably should have to write 500 words to get this short story completed. When reading the Mahabharata, the story that really stuck out to me the most was the story of the Hundred Questions. This is when the brothers are famished from hunting all day and need water and they come upon a pond and are told to answer questions before they can partake in drinking the water. One by one the brothers go to the pond to make sure it safe to drink and each one is given the warning to not drink the water until they answer the questions that is asked to them. However, being tired and thirsty and disregarded the warning and drank the water and instantly fell dead. Each one of the brothers did this until the last one, Yudhistira and he was wise enough to see his brothers mistake and answer the questions the yaksha asked him, in return he was granted a one wish since he was able to answer all the questions that was asked to him. In the first line, “Norman Ka Shivir” is Hindi for Norman’s Camp, I used this because the name for the town of Norman came from a guy named Norman and to be funny when surveying the land for Oklahoma before the land rush he branded “Normans Camp” into a elm tree. Then also there is another Hindi worded used which is “ochonnaills” which is the Hinidi translations for O’Connells which I’m sure most know is a bar on campus corner here in Norman.

Bibliography: the Mahabharata, R.K. Narayan. Book Source.

Reading Notes: Mahabharata Part D

Mahabharata Part D- this starts when the brothers are going back forth with their uncle on trying to come up with a peace option for giving the brothers back something and the uncle is just not willing to give in.

Battle Field Kurukshetra
Source: OrissaPost

• This starts by Yudhishthira sending one of his messengers named Krishna to go and speak to Dhritarasthtra about coming up with a peace deal and that the brothers just want five villages so each one will have their own
•        When Dhritarasthtra finds out about Krishna coming to the palace he wants to set a big ceremony for him and try to basically make him a friend to them; however, Duryhodhana has different plans and to set up a trap to try and take Krishna as prisoner
•         Krishna arrives and speaks about the peace deal and it is quickly declined
•         Krishna returns to the brothers to tell the bad news and say that a war has been declared between the brothers and their uncle
•         The battle starts and both of the parties set up their armies in different ways and certain guidelines are set forth for how the battle is suppose to happen, one that I found weird is that all battle is suppose to stop at night time and pick back up in the next morning
•         The battle goes on for days, the different armies start with different formations and they are counterattacked with a different formation from their opponent
•         There is many deaths and each side really takes turns throughout the battle on who loses the most and looks like they are going to win
•        Finally towards the end of the battle both sides are starting to get angry with each other and they both just want the battle to be over and so they start to lose all moral guidelines and just start taking lives
•         The brothers are stronger and have a noble person on their side that is able to lead in the right direction for each action to defeat their uncle in the quickest way
•         The brothers come out on top of the battle and win
•         They head to the palace where they once lived to take it back and Yudhishthira becomes the King, along with his brothers in other positions of authority under him

Bibliography: the Mahabharata, R.K. Narayan. Source: Web Link

the Mahabharata Part C: Reading Notes

Sacred Groves in India
Source: Biodivvy

Mahabharata Part C- in this section it starts out with the brothers and their wife still out in the forest on the last part of their twelve years.

-starts out with Yudhishthira and Nakula were running after a deer and they kept missing and went on and on hunting until they gave up

-they had chased this deer for so long that they were thirsty for water and so one of them climbed a tree in search for some water

-there was place that seemed it had water and so Nakula went to find the water and see if it was going to be a safe place and come back with whatever he found out

-as Nakula approached the water there was a voice that instructed him to not drink the water until he answered some questions

-Nakula disregarded these commands and took a sip of the water and Nakula died just after drinking the water

-so since Nakula never returned one after the other, the brothers went to go find out what happened, each brother passing away because they wouldn’t follow the commands to answer the questions before they partook in the water

-Yudhishthira was the last brother and since none of his brothers returned from the watering hole he went on a search himself to find out what happened to his brothers

-Yudhishthira found his four brothers dead next to the shore of the water and there was the voice again “saying if you don’t want to be like your brothers then answer these questions and you can have all the water you want”

-Yudhishthira being the person he was didn’t follow any commands unless he could get something in return (because as we learned from the beginning he was not afraid to gamble)

-Yudhishthira answered the questions that were asked of him and in return he was able to drink the water and at first he was only promised to get one brother back, but since he was able to answer all questions and also pass the test of not revealing who he truly was all the brothers were brought back to life

Second part of the part C read

-the brothers and their wife get to the end of their twelve year sentence to the forest and now comes the time were they are to stay unrecognized for another year

-they find a kingdom they will call home for the thirteenth year

-they struggle to work as servants in the palace and follow the rules so they are not to be noticed as their true selves

-they make it through the thirteenth year and now make their decisions on how to get back their kingdom and royalty back from their uncle and cousins

Bibliography: the Mahabharata, R.K. Narayan. Source: Web Link