Road Maps for the Soul
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Keep Kids Busy and Teach Real- World Skills with Board Games
Keep Kids Busy and Teach Real- World Skills with Board Games By Diane Nancarrow, MA, CCC-SLP KCC Director of Adolescent Programs If you’re hearing “I’m bored!” from your kids on a reg- ular basis, here’s an answer that sounds the same but is so much more fun: board games! Time at home with kids is a great opportunity to dust off those old games and remember the benefits of playing them as a family. Some extra benefits: Between smartphones, tablets, gaming systems and • Scrabble’s wooden tiles give wonderful tactile other devices, kids end up playing many games by pleasure. themselves. And let’s face it: pressing buttons on a • Trouble’s plastic dome forces a child to look and device is a lot easier than laying out a board, passing listen to the dice as they change. out money, moving your token, etc. • Chutes and Ladders teaches one-to-one corre- While many electronic games engage children in new spondence as kids move their markers and count and exciting ways, and some even involve physical the boxes. movement, board games also provide important learning opportunities. Since they are rarely complet- • Candy Land teaches colors. ed in a few short minutes, they encourage sustained • Monopoly encourages cooperation when choosing attention. Players must wait for others to complete who gets which iconic token. their turns while planning their own moves. • Parcheesi, Checkers, Sorry, and Aggravation teach When you play with your children, you help prepare turn-taking, strategy building, and patience. them to play with others. They will have the chance to respond to real people, watch facial expressions, body Board games appeal to our senses and are great to language, tone of voice, and the timing of their oppo- touch, see, and hear. -
Bur¯Aq Depicted As Amanita Muscaria in a 15Th Century Timurid-Illuminated Manuscript?
ORIGINAL ARTICLE Journal of Psychedelic Studies 3(2), pp. 133–141 (2019) DOI: 10.1556/2054.2019.023 First published online September 24, 2019 Bur¯aq depicted as Amanita muscaria in a 15th century Timurid-illuminated manuscript? ALAN PIPER* Independent Scholar, Newham, London, UK (Received: May 8, 2019; accepted: August 2, 2019) A series of illustrations in a 15th century Timurid manuscript record the mi’raj, the ascent through the seven heavens by Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam. Several of the illustrations depict Bur¯aq, the fabulous creature by means of which Mohammed achieves his ascent, with distinctive features of the Amanita muscaria mushroom. A. muscaria or “fly agaric” is a psychoactive mushroom used by Siberian shamans to enter the spirit world for the purposes of conversing with spirits or diagnosing and curing disease. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the author explores the routes by which Bur¯aq could have come to be depicted in this manuscript with the characteristics of a psychoactive fungus, when any suggestion that the Prophet might have had recourse to a drug to accomplish his spirit journey would be anathema to orthodox Islam. There is no suggestion that Mohammad’s night journey (isra) or ascent (mi’raj) was accomplished under the influence of a psychoactive mushroom or plant. Keywords: Mi’raj, Timurid, Central Asia, shamanism, Siberia, Amanita muscaria CULTURAL CONTEXT Bur¯aq depicted as Amanita muscaria in the mi’raj manscript The mi’raj manuscript In the Muslim tradition, the mi’raj was preceded by the isra or “Night Journey” during which Mohammed traveled An illustrated manuscript depicting, in a series of miniatures, overnight from Mecca to Jerusalem by means of a fabulous thesuccessivestagesofthemi’raj, the miraculous ascent of beast called Bur¯aq. -
Games Ancient and Oriental and How to Play Them, Being the Games Of
CO CD CO GAMES ANCIENT AND ORIENTAL AND HOW TO PLAY THEM. BEING THE GAMES OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS THE HIERA GRAMME OF THE GREEKS, THE LUDUS LATKUNCULOKUM OF THE ROMANS AND THE ORIENTAL GAMES OF CHESS, DRAUGHTS, BACKGAMMON AND MAGIC SQUAEES. EDWARD FALKENER. LONDON: LONGMANS, GEEEN AND Co. AND NEW YORK: 15, EAST 16"' STREET. 1892. All rights referred. CONTENTS. I. INTRODUCTION. PAGE, II. THE GAMES OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 9 Dr. Birch's Researches on the games of Ancient Egypt III. Queen Hatasu's Draught-board and men, now in the British Museum 22 IV. The of or the of afterwards game Tau, game Robbers ; played and called by the same name, Ludus Latrunculorum, by the Romans - - 37 V. The of Senat still the modern and game ; played by Egyptians, called by them Seega 63 VI. The of Han The of the Bowl 83 game ; game VII. The of the Sacred the Hiera of the Greeks 91 game Way ; Gramme VIII. Tlie game of Atep; still played by Italians, and by them called Mora - 103 CHESS. IX. Chess Notation A new system of - - 116 X. Chaturanga. Indian Chess - 119 Alberuni's description of - 139 XI. Chinese Chess - - - 143 XII. Japanese Chess - - 155 XIII. Burmese Chess - - 177 XIV. Siamese Chess - 191 XV. Turkish Chess - 196 XVI. Tamerlane's Chess - - 197 XVII. Game of the Maharajah and the Sepoys - - 217 XVIII. Double Chess - 225 XIX. Chess Problems - - 229 DRAUGHTS. XX. Draughts .... 235 XX [. Polish Draughts - 236 XXI f. Turkish Draughts ..... 037 XXIII. }\'ci-K'i and Go . The Chinese and Japanese game of Enclosing 239 v. -
Learning Board Game Rules from an Instruction Manual Chad Mills A
Learning Board Game Rules from an Instruction Manual Chad Mills A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science University of Washington 2013 Committee: Gina-Anne Levow Fei Xia Program Authorized to Offer Degree: Linguistics – Computational Linguistics ©Copyright 2013 Chad Mills University of Washington Abstract Learning Board Game Rules from an Instruction Manual Chad Mills Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Gina-Anne Levow Department of Linguistics Board game rulebooks offer a convenient scenario for extracting a systematic logical structure from a passage of text since the mechanisms by which board game pieces interact must be fully specified in the rulebook and outside world knowledge is irrelevant to gameplay. A representation was proposed for representing a game’s rules with a tree structure of logically-connected rules, and this problem was shown to be one of a generalized class of problems in mapping text to a hierarchical, logical structure. Then a keyword-based entity- and relation-extraction system was proposed for mapping rulebook text into the corresponding logical representation, which achieved an f-measure of 11% with a high recall but very low precision, due in part to many statements in the rulebook offering strategic advice or elaboration and causing spurious rules to be proposed based on keyword matches. The keyword-based approach was compared to a machine learning approach, and the former dominated with nearly twenty times better precision at the same level of recall. This was due to the large number of rule classes to extract and the relatively small data set given this is a new problem area and all data had to be manually annotated. -
Myanmar Buddhism of the Pagan Period
MYANMAR BUDDHISM OF THE PAGAN PERIOD (AD 1000-1300) BY WIN THAN TUN (MA, Mandalay University) A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAMME NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE 2002 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to the people who have contributed to the successful completion of this thesis. First of all, I wish to express my gratitude to the National University of Singapore which offered me a 3-year scholarship for this study. I wish to express my indebtedness to Professor Than Tun. Although I have never been his student, I was taught with his book on Old Myanmar (Khet-hoà: Mranmâ Râjawaà), and I learnt a lot from my discussions with him; and, therefore, I regard him as one of my teachers. I am also greatly indebted to my Sayas Dr. Myo Myint and Professor Han Tint, and friends U Ni Tut, U Yaw Han Tun and U Soe Kyaw Thu of Mandalay University for helping me with the sources I needed. I also owe my gratitude to U Win Maung (Tampavatî) (who let me use his collection of photos and negatives), U Zin Moe (who assisted me in making a raw map of Pagan), Bob Hudson (who provided me with some unpublished data on the monuments of Pagan), and David Kyle Latinis for his kind suggestions on writing my early chapters. I’m greatly indebted to Cho Cho (Centre for Advanced Studies in Architecture, NUS) for providing me with some of the drawings: figures 2, 22, 25, 26 and 38. -
The Role of Fitrah As an Element in the Personality of a Da’I in Achieving the Identity of a True Da’I
International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 3 No. 4 [Special Issue - February 2012] THE ROLE OF FITRAH AS AN ELEMENT IN THE PERSONALITY OF A DA’I IN ACHIEVING THE IDENTITY OF A TRUE DA’I Zaizul Ab. Rahman Jabatan Usuluddin dan Falsafah Islamic Studies Faculty Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Malaysia Abstract In the era of fast-paced development, a dā„ī is constantly faced with a variety of challenges as a result of globalization, among which are attacks on mentality headed and sponsored by other religious groups. A strong element of true fitrah (which translates as „disposition‟) is a critical requirement in dealing with these challenges by supplying oneself with knowledge, faith and good deeds. With these elements, a dā„ī can face the era of globalization that is so rife with tribulations. A dā„ī that has no true identity is an easy mark for exploitation by those with interest in doing so. Introduction Fitrah is a highly important factor in shaping the identity of a dā„ī who is capable of carrying out a successful mission in his da‟wah movements. A dā„ī who is not in possession of an element of fitrah that has been sown with the seeds of an untainted personality cannot face the trials he will encounter from the target audience of his da‟wah. This is especially so if a comparison is made to the missionaries of other religions such as Christianity, whose missions move systematically and with detailed planning. Fitrah in Developing the Personality of a Dā‘ī In Islam, “tendency” may bear similarity to the term “fitrah”. -
Heaven in the Early History of Western Religions
Alison Joanne GREIG University of Wales Trinity Saint David MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology Module Name: Dissertation Module Code: AHAH7001 Alison Joanne Greig Student No. 27001842 31 December 2012 Heaven in the early history of Western religions Chapter 1 Approaches to concepts of heaven This dissertation examines concepts of heaven in the early history of Western religions and the extent to which themes found in other traditions are found in Christianity. Russell, in A History of Heaven, investigates the origins of the concept of heaven, which he dates at about 200 B.C.E. and observes that heaven, a concept that has shaped much of Christian thought and attitudes, has been strangely neglected by modern historians.1 Christianity has played a central role in Western civilization and instructs its believers to direct their life in this world with a view to achieving eternal life in the next, as observed by Liebeschuetz. 2 It is of the greatest historical importance that a very large number of people could for many centuries be persuaded to see life in an imperfect visible world as merely a stage in their progress to a world that was perfect but invisible; yet, it has been neglected as a subject for study. Russell notes that Heaven: A History3 by McDannell and Lang mainly offers sociological insights.4 Russell holds that the most important aspects of the concept of heaven are the beatific vision and the mystical union.5 Heaven, he says, is the state of being in 1 Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Heaven – The Singing Silence (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997) xiii, xiv. -
Brian Munroe Clerk of Courts Bucks County
Brian Munroe Clerk of Courts Bucks County The Docket March/April 2021 Unclaimed Bail A bail bond allows a defendant to be released from incarceration with conditions and a promise to return for court appearances. Bail is determined by a Magisterial District Judge or a Common Pleas Judge. Bail can be posted by the defendant on their own behalf, by a surety or bail bondsman. If a surety or bail bondsman post the bail, it is their responsibility to ensure the accused appears for their court appointments. During this process bail can be revoked or adjusted. Failure to appear can result in the full amount of the bail to be forfeited to the county. If the offender appears in court and the case has been concluded, the bail will be returned, minus a fee. After a case has been completed, our office is required to wait 30 days before the TYPES OF BAIL refund process can begin. We send a letter to the appropriate person, asking how they would like their refund directed. Collected bail money can be applied directly to court ROR– Released on costs or returned. The office will attempt to reach out three times to the current recognizance. No payment but address on file. If a defendant does not change their address with the Clerk of Courts signs a bond assuring future office, or does not authorize distribution of the refund, the money will remain in appearances. escrow. Over the last four decades a significant amount of bail has been unclaimed even though this money still belongs to the defendant or surety. -
Temporal Difference Learning Algorithms Have Been Used Successfully to Train Neural Networks to Play Backgammon at Human Expert Level
USING TEMPORAL DIFFERENCE LEARNING TO TRAIN PLAYERS OF NONDETERMINISTIC BOARD GAMES by GLENN F. MATTHEWS (Under the direction of Khaled Rasheed) ABSTRACT Temporal difference learning algorithms have been used successfully to train neural networks to play backgammon at human expert level. This approach has subsequently been applied to deter- ministic games such as chess and Go with little success, but few have attempted to apply it to other nondeterministic games. We use temporal difference learning to train neural networks for four such games: backgammon, hypergammon, pachisi, and Parcheesi. We investigate the influ- ence of two training variables on these networks: the source of training data (learner-versus-self or learner-versus-other game play) and its structure (a simple encoding of the board layout, a set of derived board features, or a combination of both of these). We show that this approach is viable for all four games, that self-play can provide effective training data, and that the combination of raw and derived features allows for the development of stronger players. INDEX WORDS: Temporal difference learning, Board games, Neural networks, Machine learning, Backgammon, Parcheesi, Pachisi, Hypergammon, Hyper-backgammon, Learning environments, Board representations, Truncated unary encoding, Derived features, Smart features USING TEMPORAL DIFFERENCE LEARNING TO TRAIN PLAYERS OF NONDETERMINISTIC BOARD GAMES by GLENN F. MATTHEWS B.S., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2004 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE ATHENS,GEORGIA 2006 © 2006 Glenn F. Matthews All Rights Reserved USING TEMPORAL DIFFERENCE LEARNING TO TRAIN PLAYERS OF NONDETERMINISTIC BOARD GAMES by GLENN F. -
NEH Summer Institute July 16 2015 Buddhist Art of India: a Few Topics Jinah Kim, Harvard University
NEH Summer Institute July 16 2015 Buddhist Art of India: A Few TopiCs Jinah Kim, Harvard University After his final cessation The Blessed One isn’t is (isn’t isn’t) isn’t is and isn’t isn’t isn’t is and isn’t. –Nāgārjuna (trans. Beyer, The Buddhist Experience, 214) Style, Iconography, Formal analysis, Art as a solution to a problem George Kubler, The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things ( New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962; 2011 reprint). Part 1: Reading Visual Narratives in Buddhist Art of India Vidya Dehejia, “On modes of visual narration,” The Art Bulletin vol. 72, no.3 (1990), 374- 392. Parinirvana/Nirvana at Kushinagara (modern day U.P.) śarīra (sharira, lit. body, dead body): relic stūpa: Buddhist relic mound jātaka: stories about the previous lives of the Buddha Theravāda: doctrine of elders (also Hinayāna) Mahāyāna: Great way or Great vehicle Distribution of the relics Ten stupas of the original relics: eight portions of the Buddha’s relics, the funeral urn, and the ashes from the funeral pyre King Ashoka(r. 272-231 BCE)’s 84,000 stūpas Stupa as the symbol of the absent Buddha pradakṣiṇa: clockwise circumambulation, keeping one’s right shoulder to the object of veneration toraṇa: gateway vedika: terrace or platform aṇḍa: dome harmikā: rectangular vessel on top of aṇḍa yasti: pole chatra: umbrella TopiC 1: “AniConiC”-iconic representation of the Buddha “aniConiC”: “symbolizing without aiming at resemblanCe” aniConism: praCtiCe of avoiding anthropomorphiC representation of Buddha and using symbols as substitutes for Buddha’s presenCe Susan Huntington, “Early Buddhist Art and the Theory of AniConism,” Art Journal 49 (Winter 1990), 401-08. -
The Historical and Religious Significance of the Erection of Stūpa
Volume : 3 | Issue : 12 | Dec 2014 ISSN - 2250-1991 Research Paper History The Historical and Religious Significance of the Erection of Stūpa M.A, B.Ed, PhD Scholar,CMBS, ANU, Dept. of Buddhist Studies, Nageswara rao.K Acharya Nagarjuna University, Nagarjuna Nagar, Guntur dist, Andhra pradesh, India, pin 522510 Stūpa is the earliest and very sacred tool for Worshipping to the Buddhists in any country. They believed that Stūpa is “the body of the Buddha.” Primitively the Eighth Stūpas were constructed on the Relics of the Buddha. According to Hiuen- Tsiang the king Aśoka collected the Relics of Eighth Stūpas and kept them in 84,000 Stūpas which are constructed by him. Gradually Stūpas erecting in different types and each Stūpa was having the own salient features. The Stūpa and its parts indicated the life and fecundity. The Buddhists Worshipped the Stūpa through to serve the sixteen items to the God i.e. ABSTRACT śhoḍaṣopachāras. KEYWORDS In Buddhism, the earliest object of worship was the Stūpa .In owed much to enterprise of King Asoka. According to legend, the Pali text it has been mentioned that; the Stūpa is the body the king opened seven of the eight Stūpas that had been of the Buddha, the Stūpa is the Buddha, and the Buddhist built after the Buddha’s death and redistributed the rel- Stūpa. It is an object of veneration in its own rights, as a re- ics all over India, depositing them in 84,000 Dharma Stūpas placement of Buddha himself, became very popular with Bud- (dharmarakika).The present Stūpas at Kusinagara, Vaisali, dhists although Jainas also erected Stūpas. -
Games & Puzzles Magazine (Series 1 1972
1 GAMES & PUZZLES MAGAZINE (SERIES 1 1972-1981) INDEX Preliminary Notes [DIP] Diplomacy - Don Turnbull 1-10 [DIP] Diplomacy - Alan Calhamer 37-48 G&P included many series, and where a game [DRA] Draughts - 'Will o' the Wisp' 19-30 reference relates to a series, a code in square brackets [FAN] Fantasy Games - 'Warlock' 79-81 is added. [FIG] Figures (Mathematics) - Many authors 19-71 The table below lists the series in alphabetical order [FO] Forum (Reader's letters) 1-81 [GV] Gamesview (Game reviews) 6-81 with the code shown in the left hand column. [GGW] Great Games of the World - David Patrick 6-12 Principal authors are listed together with the first and [GO] Go - Francis Roads 1-12 last issue numbers. Small breaks in publication of a [GO] Go - John Tilley 13-24 series are not noted. Not all codes are required in the [GO] Go - Stuart Dowsey 31-43 body of the index. [GO] Go, annotated game - Francis Roads 69-74 Book reviews were initially included under [MAN] Mancala - Ian Lenox-Smith 26-29 Gamesview, but under Bookview later. To distinguish [MW] Miniature Warfare - John Tunstill 1-6 book reviews from game reviews all are coded as [BV]. [OTC] On the Cards - David Parlett 29-73 [PG] Parade Ground (Wargames) - Nicky Palmer 51-81 References to the Forum series (Reader's letters - [PB] Pieces and Bits - Gyles Brandreth 1-19 Code [FO]) are restricted to letters judged to [PEN] Pentominoes - David Parlett 9-17 contribute relevant information. [PLA] Platform - Authors named in Index 64-71 Where index entries refer consecutively to a particular [PR] Playroom 43-81 game the code is given just once at the end of the [POK] Poker - Henry Fleming 6-12 issue numbers which are not separated by spaces.