Wikipedia Trails: Tutankhamun to Ra

Tut's Death Mask (Wikipedia)

Tutankhamun: I started with this because I don't know much about King Tut and he showed up in the class Twitter.

Amun (Wikipedia)

Amun: Tutankhamun means "Living image of Amun", and I don't know who Amun is so I'm here!

Montu (Wikipedia)

Montu: Amun replaced Montu as the patron deity of Thebes, so I was curious who Montu was.

Ra: Ra apparently manifested as Montu, but Ra fused with Amon.. Egyptian mythology is pretty confusing

Review: Week 5

I liked this video because it provides some useful tips for taking notes during reading, focusing on specific details that stand out instead of general stuff can really help when I go to write my actual story. Most of this stuff we already do while taking reading notes already though, like taking notes when we get ideas.

Extra Credit Meme (Class Announcements)

Even though I do my reading assignments, this was really funny.

Time Challenge: Schedule Review

Clock (Public Domain Pictures)

I have to say I'm definitely on track to finish the class a little bit early, or rather, I have enough extra credit to save myself if I miss some assignments, haha. The problems I've been having with time management is that some of my other classes are pretty unpredictable in terms of workload. Sometimes an assignment in one class takes 30 minutes to do then the next one takes 6 hours. It's pretty frustrating and I always end up pushing my Indian Epics assignments back until deadline, when I absolutely must finish them. Other than that though, I think I could afford to be less lazy over the weekend and stop doing all my work on Sunday.

Growth Mindset Motto: Never Give Up

When I thought about growth mindset motttos and mantras, I was immediately reminded of the tennis player Matsuoka Shuzo, a tennis player who recorded himself harvesting Asiatic clams and giving an inspirational speech to his viewers, encouraging them not to give up. So of course my motto would be "NEVER GIVE UP!!"

Einstein Tech Tip

Week 5 Story: SCP-5093

Ornate bow and arrow (Open Clip Art)

An updated portfolio version is available here!


Item #: SCP-5093

Object Class: Safe

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-5093 is to be stored in a standard reinforced security safe It is should only be accessible to Level 4+ staff, excepting those with permission to access from Level 4+ staff.

Description: SCP-5093 is an ornately decorated arrow that measures 110 centimeters in length. The arrow shaft is made from ficus religiosa. The shaft is inset with with sapphires and rubies. The arrowhead is composed of an unknown metal, tested to be at least as hard as wurtzite boron nitride. The fletching is made from particularly large feathers of unknown origin.

SCP-5093 was recovered just south of the Himalayas, located in the epicenter of a smoldering crater measuring 138 meters in diameter and 14 meters in depth.

SCP-5093 exhibits noteworthy properties when fired under certain circumstances, which are shown in the experiment logs below and accessible only to Level 4+ staff. These properties are entirely dependent on the user wielding the arrow, and range from a simple increase in force applied to the arrow, to the arrow instantaneously reaching its target upon firing.

Experiment Log #001-00A
Class D Personnel skilled in archery instructed to use standard compound bow to fire arrow down outdoor testing range. The arrow was wildly inaccurate due to its size but otherwise exhibited no anomalous properties.

Experiment Log #002-00A
After over 100 experiments failing to activate the arrow, Dr. █████, who practices Hinduism, personally volunteered to be a test subject after seeing the arrow. After picking up the arrow, Dr. █████ chanted a prayer in Hindi, which caused the arrow to emanate a yellow glow. Upon firing, the arrow was measured to have an initial velocity of 1200 meters per second, creating a sonic boom at the point it was fired. The arrow was embedded into the target with reasonable accuracy. The properties exhibited here are consistent with some astras appearing in Hindu texts.

Experiment Log #003-00A
The foundation enlisted the aid of a skilled Hindu archer, Mr. █████, for the purposes of the experiment. After identifying SCP-5093 as the Aindrastra, Mr. █████ was reluctant to fire the arrow, repeatedly explaining to staff that he was not worthy of it. Mr. █████ was eventually convinced by Dr. █████ to fire the arrow.

When Mr. █████ chanted a prayer and fired the arrow, it created no sonic boom. Rather, a loud shrieking of the air reverberated across the testing grounds, retaining a constant volume regardless of distance from the epicenter. The shriek was detected from up to 1km away from the testing point. Furthermore, the arrow seemed to have instantly arrived at the target as no detection devices monitoring the testing point which were capable of detecting near light-speed objects, could detect the arrow midflight.

Experiment Log #003-00B
The test was repeated, but with a steel barrier between the target and Mr. █████. Upon firing the arrow, the the arrow once again instantly hit the target, but the steel barrier was destroyed after this. The results of this experiment suggest that the arrow is capable of causality reversal. Further experimentation has been requested.

Author's Note: I wanted to do a kind of SCP story like this but with an astra since around the start of the semester. It's a weird writing style from what I'm used to and it feels kind of like I'm writing a report. Anyways this is a story about the Aindrastra, the astra that Lakshmana used to behead Indrajit. In the story, it was said that the arrow was flying so fast that Indrajit, although seeing it coming, could not physically react fast enough to dodge it. I decided to have it go a step further and create an Aindrastra that not only went super fast, but reached its target so fast that it reverses the nature of cause and effect. I thought adding in the shriek for when it did this would give the Aindrastra a more intimidating and powerful nature. The arrow fired by the Doctor was really powerful and broke the sound barrier, causing a loud crack in the air. I thought "If the arrow were made even more powerful, shouldn't the noise generated be even crazier?", so I made a really loud noise that sounded the same regardless of how far they were and how much stuff was between them and the arrow.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by Krishna Dharma

Reading Notes: Krishna Dharma's Ramayana Part G

Archer's Arrow (Public Domain Pictures)

Continuing on my focusing of the weapons used, I took interest in the brahmastra. The arrow seemed like an unstoppable meteoric force of nature when fired. It dazzled and blinded everyone in its path with the brightness of a star. What I thought was most interesting was when Rama suggested that two brahmastras colliding could bring an end to the cosmos itself, as if all the energy contained within would suddenly release and bring about uncontrollable destruction. When I read that I thought that I could do a story where Rama does use the brahmastra against Ravana. I could detail the build up to the event, the arrow as it flew through the sky, and the shock of the collision. After this I think I would have Rama and Lakshmana still alive at the end of it, with Ravana being defeated but their surroundings turned to ash. It would be like a pyrrhic victory, and with no home to return to, or loved ones to meet, Rama would come to deeply regret firing the brahmastra.

Bibliography: The Ramayana by Krishna Dharma

Reading Notes: Krishna Dharma's Ramayana Part H

Crescent Moon (Wikipedia)

Coming into this reading I knew I wanted to focus on astras. When I made a storybook I planned to have it themed around the SCP Project stuff so I want to do at least one story so that idea doesn't go to waste. I read about Lakshmana's battle with Indrajit and saw that Lakshamana ended up winning the battle with the divine Aindrastra. So if I lay out all the things described about the Aindrastra I get that it's activated through prayer (as are the other astras), it requires great concentration to aim, it flies faster than Indrajit can react, and the tip is shaped so that it could sever Indrajit's head cleanly. So I think I'll make the tip crescent shaped. I think in my story I'll up the supernatural properties of it so that instead of being extremely fast, it affects causality itself. In the experiments I could have the arrow disappear from reality and reappear as it hits its target. I could also note that nothing happens when someone uses it if they don't activate it with a prayer, and that unskilled users would result in a diminished effect of the arrow (it just flies slightly faster than a regular arrow or misses the target). I'd include a physical description of the item as various experiments, such as shooting the arrow from multiple kilometers away from the target and shooting the arrow into a target obstructed by a wall. (It would still hit the target as long as the arrow is pointed at it, and it would destroy the wall and still hit the target too.)

Bibliography: The Ramayana by Krishna Dharma