Flight & Flying [Tuesday, May 26, 4th period]

[sith_happened]

The flight shed, when the students entered, would be eating food-off-the-floor levels of spotless and still smell faintly of bleach.

And Anakin would be a barely contained bundle of rage. "Today," he spat, flinging his hand toward the simulator, "we work with the F-16 Flying Falcon, one of the aircraft used by the militaries of this world. It's adequate in air-to-air combat as well as air-to-surface attack, can go more than 850 kilometers before it needs to be refueled and can withstand up to nine G's--pretty high tech for this world's standards."

He opened the simulator door--carefully, despite his obvious rage--and gestured to the controls. "As you can see, it's configured differently than the systems we've been using in the last few weeks, but the joystick and the trigger button are fairly self-explanatory. You'll also be dealing with the Earth's gravity, so if you make the plane go up too quickly, the machine's been equipped to simulate G forces, so you'll pass out or throw up. If you throw up, you and Sheppard will be cleaning that up," he growled.

He clapped his hands together. "Begin! Sheppard, get in the Force-bedamned sim."

Beach Play - Tuesday - Period 5

[baskiceball.livejournal.com]

Today Marshall had everyone meet out by the volleyball nets on the beach.

Guess what they were going to do today?

"If the nets weren't a dead giveaway, today we're going to play volleyball. It's a pretty simple game and we're not even going to be playing the serious business volleyball with the rotations and crap they make you play in gym." That always confused him. "Volleyball is a good way to show off your athletic prowess to people you're attracted to and it's an excuse to nail people you don't like with a hard ball. Not dirty."

Marshall spent a couple minutes going over the rules of the game for those who weren't familiar with it before breaking out a whistle from his pocket and blowing it loudly. "Okay! So I've been told that I get kind of, well, insane coaching things so I'm not going to make you all play an actual game. I just have the whistle out because they're fun to blow. Not dirty."

"I just want you split up into pairs and practice serving and hitting the balls to each other. Not dirty," he said. God, what was with the dirty lecture today? "After you've worked up a sweat feel free to take a dip in the ocean."

He blew the whistle again for funsies. "Let's get going!"

Archeology: Tuesday 5/26 - Period Three

[cautiousfellow.livejournal.com]

Indy gave his students a warm grin as they came into the class room. "Don't worry," he said. "No bizarre traps this week."

On the table in front of him were a variety of different tools used in Archeology.

"Today we're going to review the standard tools for an archeologist and how they're used. Then we'll touch on some of the tools I find handy."

Indy then began to lecture about the use of mapping equipment, trowels, shovels and soil sifters.

( Then there's the not so common gear... )

[OCD is up!]

SAT Prep [Workshop #3]

[marsheadtilt.livejournal.com]

"Today we're going to focus on the Critical Reading portion of the exam. This is broken down into two sections: sentence completion and passage-based reading questions. I've prepared a handout with some practice questions for you all."

( cut for the handout )

Sexual Anthropology, Tuesday, Period 2

[doesnt-vomit.livejournal.com]

Brennan seemed to be in a good mood as she waited for the class today. She'd used part of her long weekend to solve a murder; that always got her cheerful.

"Morning," she greeted. "Today we're talking about courtship rituals -- dating, if you prefer. In traditional terms, 'courtship' refers to the time period between when two people become aware of each other as potential monogamous life partners and when they solemnify their bond, either with an engagement leading to a wedding or through some other step. Typically the word 'courtship' refers to a relationship that is known to the community, as opposed to an illicit affair."

"Courtship traditions differ in different societies. In ancient times, marriage by kidnapping was the norm. A hunter would simply walk up to a group and grab the young woman who most appealed to him, and she was his wife if he got her home and to the marriage bed safely. Later, parents and other elders selected for arranged marriages -- as they still do in certain South Asian cultures -- and the couple were consulted only for a token consent. This began to change in late medieval times, when the concept of romantic love was glorified. However, it was several hundred more years before romantic love was seen as the most important element in a marriage, rather than a happy coincidence. And even now, there's data suggesting arranged marriages to which both participants agreed are as happy or happier than love marriages."

"Modern courtship -- or, again, dating -- takes several forms. A traditional first date is coffee or dinner and a movie, and a normal modern courtship in the U.S. takes roughly a year to five years to get to the point of engagement. Most couples meet through friends, work, social activities such as religious services or community groups, but personal ads and online matchmaking services are growing in both popularity and acceptability. Also, many people, myself included, eschew traditional dating in favor of other arrangements that don't include the expectation of marriage as a goal. And, of course, gay couples also court and date."

"You've been assigned to pairs, and I would like for each pair to participate in some sort of mock courtship exercise to report back on during the next class. This can range from a token gift or conversation during this class period to a full date to any of the tactics described in your handout. I know some of you are otherwise committed, and others of you are paired outside your normal gender preference. If you cannot do the assignment for personal reasons, please see me after class to discuss alternate work, though there is nothing in this that should threaten your boyfriends or girlfriends."

"Also, please don't assume that the person in your pairing who is physically male has to play the male role for the purposes of this assignment, or the same for the physically female. This is a class exercise, not a true courtship; play the roles with which you are most comfortable."

"You have the rest of the class period to find each other and discuss how you wish to fulfill the assignment."

[OOC: OCD on its way is a go!]

Library [5.26]

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Yesterday had been Memorial Day, which always made Anemone giggle. This world had how many holidays for its fallen soldiers and veterans, and her world had still come to pass?

Humans. Anemone would laugh, if it wasn't so sad.

The library was open, but anyone who got patriotic at Anemone was going to get mocked. Very, very nastily.

[OCD is still asleep after the holiday weekend. FYI - Anemone's gone 2nd & 4th period for class, so you'd be stuck with a Gulliver for a library aide during those periods.]

Logically Speaking, Period 6, 26 May '09

[offthelisthero.livejournal.com]

Small desks were scattered throughout the classroom when the students arrived. On the desks were a checkered board, a stopclock, two closed boxes and two handouts.

"Computer programming is heavily logic based," said Mohinder. "Some of the earliest programs were written to simulate already existing games. The first chess-playing software was written in the fifties and forty six years later a computer beat a world champion under competition conditions." He backtracked into a quick summation of the rules of the game.

"Rather than using intuition or experience, these machines were programmed to sift through millions of possible outcomes several moves ahead, assess those and play the one with the best possible outcome. And on a more human scale that's what you're going to do today. Now, chess is only one of several logic heavy games - ones that have a limited or no dependence on chance - there's checkers, stratego, go..."

"Your boards are set up ready to play, so choose your game."

[OCD is up. Have at!]