Casey's Blogs: Indian Epics 4993-995

Daydreaming This article talks about how daydreaming can be a good thing. Based off a recent study, daydreaming suggests that you might be really smart and creative. They suggest that people with efficient brains naturally wander to think of new things. As long as you can go in and out of situations while still hitting the main points then daydreaming can be a great thing, they suggest. I already knew that daydreaming can mean that you are creative, but I'm interested in learning more about why our brains daydream. Based on this article, it is possible that they daydream because they are efficient brains and need to wander in order to think properly. (daydream: Science Daily)

How to Spark Creativity When You're in a Rut The author suggests that when you are in a mindset of conformity or just "going through the motions," it becomes easy to not be creative. Instead, you should think new, capitalize on obstacles, look for intersections, and share what you know. The thinking new part seems self-evident and is something I already knew. I would like to learn more about looking for intersections because it is something I'm interested in and had no prior knowledge about it. (Creative: Pixabay )

GOT comes out this Sunday the 14th and I'm super excited for it. Here is a meme to commemorate that! I used Meme Generator to create this meme. (Study vs Don't Study: Meme Generator )

Is Game of Thrones Worth Your Time? This article is interesting because it discusses the appropriate length of what a story should be. It seems totally subjective to what the length of a story should be and the author complains that the TV show is worth watching more than reading the book. I am a big fan of both the books and movie. I think both serve their own purpose, but to simply say that the books shouldn't be read because they are too redundant or long seems silly. To subject books to be smaller based off of a fast-paced society gets away from the purpose of reading and what it truly means. At the end of the day, as long as the author can tell a good story and convey their message and have fans that are willing to read it, then it serves its purpose. You're meant to get caught up in reading. Don't expect it to go along with your fast-paced life. Make time for reading. (Books: Wikipedia )

Rama In this Wikipedia page, I discovered that Rama's life story is full of symbolism. In many Indian texts, his purpose is to represent, conceptualize, and comprehend the world and the nature of life. His story differs from western religious epics in that he is a divine human, a mortal god, incorporating both into the exemplar who transcends both humans and gods. Rama Navami This is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birthday of lord Rama. This is important because Rama is important to the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism as the seventh avatar of Vishnu. The festival celebrates the descent of god Vishnu as Rama avatar, through his birth to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya in Ayodhya. Dasharatha He is the descendant of the Raghuvanshalkshvaku-Suryavansha dynasty and the Maharaja of Ayodhya. He is the son of Aja and Indumati. He had three wives Kausalya, Kaikeyi, and Sumitra. With his wife Sumitra, they had Rama the 7 incarnations of Vishnu. Sumitra She is the third w

The article talks about 6 yoga poses you can do at your desk and they are not embarrassing to do. I thought this was really cool because I enjoy doing yoga and stretching is important while your studying and sitting for long periods of time. They include shoulder rolls, open chest stretch, neck stretch, chair twist, reverse prayer pose, and twisted arms. (Stretching: Harvard Business Review ) 

A Growth Mindset Fuels Creativity in Youth The author expands upon Carol Dweck's growth mindset. There are five ways that the growth mindset can be expanded upon in someone who is learning how to be in a growth mindset. This includes seeing connections, being open to new ideas, bowing to your mistakes, embracing diversity, and to live in a human-virtual world. This confirmed my knowledge of being open to new ideas. I would be interested in learning more about living in a human virtual world. I had no previous knowledge about embracing your mistakes and bowing to them.  (Books: Wikipedia )

Here is my meme from Cheezburger. I didn't mean to add the random W, but somehow it was added on there. Oh well. (Final semester: Cheezburger )

More Jataka Tales How the Monkey Saved His Troop A Mango tree grew on the bank of a great river. The monkey would gather there. Some fisherman cast out their nets and gathered fish and a strange looking fruit. They brought it to their king. The king liked it and wanted more of it. The king made a promise to the Chief Monkey and took care of him. He kept his promise. The Hawks and their Friends A family of hawks lived on an island. There was also a lion and some other animals. They all made promises to protect one another and when the time came they protected one another. Since they realized they had to work together to survive they all lived for a long time and lived happily on their islands, protecting each other when the time came. The Brave Little Bowman There was a man with a crooked back. He saw a strong man digging a ditch. He asked why he did this and said that he did it for money. The man said dig no more. They both went to the king. The man said he wanted to join the

More Jataka Tales The Girl Monkey and the String of Pearls The King sent his family down to the lake for a swim. A monkey saw the queen's pearls and wanted them. The monkey got the pearls and put them on, then she hid them in a hole in the tree. They found out that the pearls were gone. They tried to get the pearls back by hanging some bright colored beads. The monkeys then tried to get them. The other monkeys teased her which made her mad. She came out with the pearls and the guards captured her. The Three Fishes Three fishes were named thought, very thoughtful, and thoughtless. They left the wild country one day. Very thoughtful was concerned about the people around them, but the others were too lazy to be concerned. A fisherman caught them in a net and them, but they broke free. They all then went home. The Tricky Wold and the Rats A big rat lived in the forest and the other smaller rats worshipped him. A big wolf saw all the rats and worked on a plan to eat them. The w

Data Reveals How Some College Students Sleep The data shows that students aren't as sleep deprived as some people think that they are. On average students are getting around 7-7.5 hours of sleep each night. Data suggest that the more difficult the college is, the longer students stay up. Women tend to go to bed sooner than men, but this could have a biological component to it. To no surprise, students in the military academy are getting the least amount of sleep of all students. It confirmed that students in college can have stressors that affect their rest. A new thing I learned is that on average we are getting more sleep than what most people think. One thing I would like to look into is how SES stressors affect peoples rest. I will use this data to continue to get good sleep at night as it can be so beneficial to all parts of life.  (Sleep: Pixabay )

The Secret to Raising Smart Kids Many people assume that superior intelligence or ability is the key to success. But more than three decades of research shows that an overemphasis on intellect or talent—and the implication that such traits are innate and fixed—leaves people vulnerable to failure, fearful of challenges and unmotivated to learn. Teaching people to have a “growth mindset,” which encourages a focus on “process” rather than on intelligence or talent, produces high achievers in school and in life. Parents and teachers can engender a growth mindset in children by praising them for their persistence or strategies (rather than for their intelligence), by telling success stories that emphasize hard work and love of learning, and by teaching them about the brain as a learning machine. (Raising Hands: Scientific American )

A Good Sentence This post was really good because it reminded me of what a good sentence is all about. It doesn't matter what how long a sentence truly is, as long as the reader is able to follow the sentence from beginning to end without having to read the sentence again or getting tripped up on it. Unless of course, your job is confuse your readers. A Character is Never a Whole Person In a story, the character is never fully a person. The author must know more than what he or she presents in the story. Characters can never be fully understood within the story, but the author is responsible to know everything so that they can better develop the character throughout the story and guide the character in a way that best fits them. (Books: Wikipedia )

For this tip, I will be talking about YouTube playlist. Creating a playlist is a good way to save videos that you are interested in. For instance, I really enjoy cooking, so one of the playlists I made involves various cooking videos that are either ideas for me to try, or they go over various cooking techniques. Regardless, I can always go back to them anytime I want because they are right there and are easy to access. Here is a link of the playlist I have described in this paragraph . I really only use Youtube to either learn or keep up with various comedians. I think Youtube can be a great educational source, but it is highly cluttered with almost meaningless videos. I've never attempted to upload any videos or start my own channel.  

Jataka Tales B The Wise and Foolish Merchant There was a wise and a foolish merchant. They traveled along a road trying to sell their products. Eventually, they sold them all but the wise merchant sold his products more efficiently than the foolish merchant. Eventually, they returned home safely. The Elephant Girly-Face The elephant was named girly-faced and was owned by the king. Some robbers came to the kingdom and they woke up the elephant. In the morning the king sent the elephant away because the elephant was hurtful. They elephant finally learned that she must be gentle and good. She mustn't hurt anyone.  The Banyan Deer The king of the Banyan Deer sent for the king of the monkey deer. They would go and lie down, placing their head on the chopping block for the cook. One day it was a mother deer's time to go to the chopping block and she didn't want to go because she was supposed to have a baby. The Banyan Deer took his place. The king was astounded by this ty

Jataka Tales The Monkey and the Crocodile The crocodile tries to get the monkey to ride on his mouth across the river so that he can eat him. The monkey knows the crocodile might try to do this. When the crocodile does, he tricks the crocodile and he makes it safely across the river. How the Turtle Saved His Own Life The turtle was caught by the king. He didn't know what to do with it so he was going to kill it. The turtle waited and tricked the king into letting him go in the river. The turtle was then able to escape. The Merchant of Seri The merchant went from town to town trying to sell stuff. A woman tried to sell him a bowl because they had no money. It was actually made of gold and there was another merchant who gave her the right amount of money for the pot so that they could eat some food. The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking There were some geese who wanted to take the turtle to where they were. The turtle had to hand onto a stick. Someone made fun of him w

I tried reading out loud for this assignment and it really slowed my reading times down. Even though it slowed my reading down, I don't think it improved my comprehension. I will be sticking to my regular ways of reading because it is faster and I am able to comprehend it better. (Books: Flickr )

Apparently, the secret to thriving is to have a sense of development and that you are working towards something. This seems rather self explanatory, but to some it may not be, especially if you are stuck in a rut and cannot see any optimism. Some important things to have are a sense of spirituality, challenging opportunities, and being socially competent.  \ (We Can Do it: Wikipedia )

Bookmarks are an easy way to access the websites you use the most on a daily basis. I use them all the time and create individual folders for either topics or ideas that I have. It is also a great to have quick access ones on the top of your browser right under your URL.

Story: The Wise Jedi It was a dry day on the planet of Tatooine. The sun beat down on the sea of sand. Miles upon miles of heat waves came up from the ground. It made it look like nothing was solid. Instead, everything was in fluid motion. Jedi Bhima was revisiting his home planet. He hadn't been back since he left for the Jedi Academy. He approached his old home, but something wasn't right. He knocked on the door, but no one answered nor did they come to the door. He opened the door slightly, and it creaked open. There he found his mother on the ground, all of the breath had left her and was lying on there motionless. At the sight of this, he was overcome with emotion and couldn't comprehend what happened. "What happened here? Why wasn't I here to prevent this?" he thought. Picking up his mother he took her back to his ship and traveled back to Coruscant. He took the body to the most talented Jedi Healer. He asked, "Is there any way that you can