Epics of India

I'm back at it again with some famous last words! So this week ramped up the work a lot, and I am not backing down on any of my other commitments. I want to see how far I can take that until push comes to shove and I have to start cutting back on fun and put my nose to the grindstone more with class. Class updates: Control Theory is extremely difficult. Who knew graduate classes are hard, right? So the first homework took me 8 hours to do - very very nice stuff right there. Computer vision is a blast and my professor's facial recognition attendance software works very well. It's honestly a great way to do attendance because you actually have to be there In understanding theatre we took a tour of the various theatres at OU. I also bought tickets to the OU production of Blood Wedding in a couple of weeks for my girlfriend and myself. I'm looking forward to it! I got into reading the Ramayana parts A and B this week, and I think I'm going to really enjoy this...

Every day, the first thing I ask is "Alexa, what is the weather like today?" and my Echo Dot tells me. This is how I decide what to wear and what to expect for the day, which is especially important since I walk to class. Sometimes I have to ask Alexa multiple times because I am too tired to remember things in the morning, so adding a weather widget to my blog can only drive the point home further, right? I added the weather widget using the instructions on the course page . Bonus tech tip - the Accuweather widget got discontinued in 2019, but I recommend the DarkSky widget that is mentioned on the course page. The instructions are the same for this, so you should definitely try this tech tip! Screenshot I took of the widget on my blog

How to Give Feedback Without Being a Jerk The first article I read was about giving negative feedback. As the president of OU's competitive robotics team, I have to give a fair amount of feedback, both positive and negative. I think giving negative feedback is the hardest, because I tend to worry if I come down too harshly if I will lose a team member. College clubs have less ability to tie down members than companies, mainly because companies have money to pay their employees. So learning how to give good negative feedback was top of mind for me, and I think this article helped me come up with ways to give such feedback. I liked the collaborative aspect of the advice given in the article - instead of handing down edicts from above, the focus was more directed toward working together to improve. I believe good leaders go out of their way to help their members succeed through working together, and I want to model my feedback off of this rather than being a person on a pedestal who...

Super Ramayana Bros. Story Idea 1: World 1, The Abduction of Sita In the beginning of Super Mario Bros., Princess Peach is abducted by Bowser, resulting in Mario and Luigi setting out on a dangerous quest to save her. Similarly, in the Ramayana (after some exposition), Sita is abducted by Ravana, which means that Rama and Lakshmana have to chase him down to rescue her. Starting with Sita's abduction and her time in Lanka refusing to give in to Ravana, I think I can weave together a story that shows Rama and Lakshmana conquering minor beasts in an "easy world" as they "try to get their bearings in the game" that is the Ramayana. Once Rama and Lakshmana learn the controls and encounter different Mario / Ramayana cross-over elements that are new to them, I can move on to the next phase of the story, where the encounter an intermediate boss who tries to stop them. Sources: PDE Ramayana #35 - Ravana and Sita PDE Ramayana #37 - Sita in Lanka PDE Ramayana #...

The Yes Men of the Ramayana Brahma was experimenting with ways to create different worlds, trying to improve off of his first work, when he noticed a rakshasa praying to him on a mountainside, with the traditional dreadlocks of an ascetic. Brahma was pleased by the effort and sacrifice of the demon, and promised to give him a boon. Brahma loved giving gifts to his creation, like a proud father giving gifts to his children. So Brahma made the demon invincible to weapons of men, and thus the demon was able to go ravage an entire city on his own. Brahma did not mind the matter at all, because this rakshasa had shown dedication to him for a while, and he could do nothing to stop the demon from destroying a town - a god never goes back on his word. In the time when the demon was ransacking various cities, there was a prince. This prince was very special, and according to some, the greatest prince of all. One day the prince was exiled because his father's third wife did not like him...

Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition from M. Dutt , R. Dutt , Gould , Griffith , Hodgson , Mackenzie , Nivedita , Oman , Richardson , and Ryder . Notes for PartB #21 My initial questions about Bharata were immediately answered in this first page - Bharata wanted nothing to do with his mother's plans. He, like his father and Rama, is honorable and upstanding. The Ramayana values the characters who are compassionate and respectful. Even though Bharata could have killed the Queen an his maid, he knew this was not a good response to the situation and showed restraint. This is a common virtue of the story, and something I am always interested in reading in this epic. I think I like this component of the Ramayana because I feel like I have less restraint than the characters and admire their calm approach to these difficult life events. #23 and 24 Bharata wants to make things right with Rama, so he brings the army and a counsellor into the forest to find Rama. My favorite par...

Ramayana Online: Public Domain Edition from M. Dutt , R. Dutt , Gould , Griffith , Hodgson , Mackenzie , Nivedita , Oman , Richardson , and Ryder . Notes for Part A #10 and #11 Rama breaks the bow of Shiva, and draws the bow of Vishnu in these parts. The interesting thing to me is how a show of strength is needed to gain Sita's hand in marriage. I think it's interesting that the king is basically posing a strength challenge to make sure his future son in law is strong enough to protect his beloved daughter. Even more intriguing to me is how Parashurama just appears suddenly to apprehend Rama and Lakshmana. In each part of the Ramayana it seems like time isn't important, with things and people just appearing at the right moment. Parashurama just shows up immediately on cue and has a new challenge for Rama - to draw the bow of Vishnu. Rama is Vishnu's avatar, so this is an easy task and this is how he confirms Sita's hand in marriage #15 I think this part...