Public Speaking, Class 3 (Wednesday, January 23)

[trashmouth7.livejournal.com]

"All right," said Richie once the class had arrived, "quick show of hands, who either went, or witnessed someone who went, crazy this weekend?" His own hand went up, and while the look on his face was trying to be a smile, it was more like a grimmace of pain. Painful pain.

( So this week, we're going to address the topic of 'too soon'. )

Library; Wednesday [ 01/23 ]

[ecirpnellehada.livejournal.com]

Open the library. Y'rar, bileht nepo. Something weren't as good backward, but Y'rar, bileht desolc wasn't much better and it might be too early in the day for her to effectively get away with that, anyway. She had books, though, and she had a relatively comfortable chair at a nice, big desk. There were no bottles of prescriptions, though, that she could make lists out of horrible side effects from, and then write backwards, which just meant that she'd have to make up her own horrible side effects, list them neatly, and then slide them into the books before putting them in the pile of books to be put away. It was only her duty, as a doctor, to warn people that excessive readings of King of the Bracelets may cause frequent, contagious bouts of being hopelessly ostracized, and that these books on religions are likely to get you an unscratchable, burnable rash; if untreated, it could be crippling, much like a leper.

Discovery & Invention, Period 5, 23 Jan '08

[offthelisthero.livejournal.com]

"Good afternoon," Mohinder greeted the class from his position at the front of the room. "I hope you've completely recovered from the effects of the weekend."

"This planet alone contains a fascinating array of biological organisms. Current estimates are of some nine million, of which humans - Homo sapiens sapiens - are only a small fraction."

"What makes a fish a fish? What difference is there between a rose and a lily? How can we tell? Animal, vegetable or mineral? The taxonomy of species acknowledges the evolutionary history of an organism, but also tells us about what makes them unique, what makes them special." Mohinder continued on into a digression on species classification.

"How would you classify some of Fandom's more unusual examples of wildlife - the gremlins or teal deer for example?" asked Mohinder. He pointed at the photographs on the desks - different moddable plants and animals. "Systems of organisations are only used as long as they're useful to us. How would you classify these - which are closely related or complete strangers?"

[OCD is up!]

Driver's Ed [Wednesday, Period Four]

[doubleohblonde]

Today, the Dangershop was set to simulate a garage with a number of workstations. The Bentley was back, this time up on a ramp while Bond worked on the undercarriage. "Good afternoon class," he addressed them, wiping grease off his hands with a rag. "Now that I've got some idea of your driving skills, today we're going to be going over cars themselves."

After giving a short lecture on cars and their history, Bond continued. "Now you'll find a number of handouts describing the various systems and components that make up a car, and we'll be going into more detail on them later in the semester, but for this class we'll be focusing on three systems in particular, the engine, a manual transmission, and most importantly, brake systems."

Bond gestured around the room. "I've marked the places in the handouts pertaining to these systems, and set up each of these workstations around the room with an example of each of the three, and I want you to divide into groups of two or three to examine them and get a feel for them. If ou feel the need to take them apart, there are tools provided."

[ooc: wait for OCD up!]

[Syllabus|Roster|Rules|Previous Classes]

Ethics [Thursday, January 24]

[sith_happened]

When the students came into the classroom, they found Anakin scrawling a quote on the board:

“In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes.”--John Ruskin

He turned around with an eyebrow raised. "Is Master Ruskin correct? How about Master Lao Tzu? He said: 'Pride attaches undue importance to the superiority of one's status in the eyes of others; and shame is fear of humiliation at one's inferior status in the estimation of others. When one sets his heart on being highly esteemed, and achieves such rating, then he is automatically involved in fear of losing his status.'"

He began pacing around the room. "Does pride always go before a fall? Do we have to be humiliated before we can learn? How high do the stakes have to be before we'll admit we've made a mistake, or have been fooled?"

"In order to deal ethically with other people, we need to acknowledge this very human flaw in ourselves and others. We want to believe that we are different, better than everyone around us." His gaze sharpened. "We're not. Everything is connected. You, me, the desks, the rocks outside, the deer in the preserve, the annoying person in the dorm who plays their music too loudly. Take pride in being yourself, certainly," he concluded. "But don't for a moment believe that who you are makes you more than the person sitting next to you. Because that kind of pride is where you make your first mistake."

Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd