Adventures, Capers, and Escapes | Thursday Period 3

[notlikejack.livejournal.com]

Instead of a gawky, bowtied Doctor at the front of class, it was a gawky and overexcitedly nervous Bobby who was trying hard to act calm and grown up and stuff. He managed to wait until everyone was there before starting to talk.

"Hi!" he said, giving a little wave and trying to picture them all in the their underwear. ...No, no, that was a bad idea. There had to be another public speaking trick that would work. "So, um, the Doctor left me a message because he's sorry and he couldn't be here in class today, but he'll definitely be here next week so don't worry cause none of us will have to miss our final exam!" Bobby was actually excited about this, yes.

"There's a computer game I really, really like to play called 'Mission to Mars,' and I'm not going to make you guys play it cause it's kind of out of date now and Jack says it's stupid anyway," Bobby explained. "But still, it's an interesting question. What would happen on a Mission to Mars? The Doctor says he could go there really easily, but what if you were going to establish a colony? What kinds of supplies and gear would you need for a group of people to establish a permanent settlement on the surface of the planet? What kind of society would you try to establish if you were leading the colony? Cause, I mean, that would totally be the biggest adventure ever, you know?"

He paused. "Um, sorry, I know everyone might not be familiar with Mars and why settling it would be hard, so I have some facts and stuff about it here." He took a few minutes to give a remarkably succinct mini-lecture on Mars and its environment.

"So...um," Bobby swallowed nervously. "Does anyone have any questions? Before we start?"

Primatology; Thursday, Fourth Period [ 04/14 ].

[bootlessjane.livejournal.com]

"Can you believe it, class?" Jane asked once the period had begun and everyone had settled at their desks. "The semester is already over and, I must say, I've had a wonderful time and you've all been an incredibly fascinating first class! Remember, next week is the exam, and we'll be covering everything discussed thus far in class, from the very first day to today's lecture. There will be two parts to your exam; one will be written," and Jane tried ever so hard not to glance toward Miss Norwood, "and cover things like types of primate, diet, habitat, social structure, use of tools, theory of mind, and everything under the primatology sun. The second part will be an oral exam and what I expect of you from that is to pick a primate, any primate at all, and present a short presentation on what you find particularly interesting about that primate. Every primatologist plays favourites, it's true, because every primatologist has a species that they are just so passionate about that they can barely stand it! So I want you to explore any sparks of passion you may have about any primate that may have caught your eye in the course of the class.

( And then....one last lecture... )

"And, so, there you have a very brief look at how humans diverged from our ape cousins and developed into the species we are today! It's only the briefest of introductions, and, really, there's been so much in the past hundred or so years that I'm honestly still catching up myself, but surely you can see the similarities between the species, and, hopefully, this class has shown many other ways in which our primate pals resemble how humans might have been in the very infancy of our development. Our discussion question today, then, will be helpful for your review: in which ways does primate society resemble our own? Have you any other questions for the examination coming up?"

She smiled at the students. "I've done quite enough talking today, I should think, so the floor is all yours."

[[ and the OCD is approaching has evolved! ]]

Library, Thursday [4/13]

[nothornlessrose.livejournal.com]

The books that were biographies and the books that were adaptations of films seemed to be bristling at each other when Cassidy got into the library that morning. As soon as she saw them start to line up at opposite ends of the top of a bookcase she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, honestly, you guys!" She shook her head and put white shields around both groups. "Haven't you learned anything from the others?"

She put the rest of the books away, straightened things that needed it and then returned to the desk with two books. One was on hand to hand combat, and one was about staff fighting techniques.

The library was open -- and there would be no fighting if the books knew what was good for them.

Nation Building and the Origin of Government, Period 5, Class 14, Thursday, 4-14

[glasses-justice.livejournal.com]

"Welcome back," Alex said, sipping her tea as the students filed into the room. "This is our last regular class together. Next week is your final." Which she had yet to write, and would need to consider carefully.

"So, for this week, we'll take it easy. Part of this week will be review -- if there's anything you'd like to cover again, we can. Beyond that, though, there's just one discussion topic, but it's a little big, so hopefully there's room for us to dive in."

Another sip of tea. "Last week, we talked about finding yourself a successor. This week, we're going to talk about the other half of turning over your empire. Let's say this is the last day of your reign, and you are such an incredible ruler that you managed to accomplish every last thing your heart desired. This also means you're superhuman, and possibly magic, but this is just a thought experiment, and we're going somewhere with this."

"The point is: what does this perfect empire of yours look like? You solved all the problems you wanted to address. Society is running in exactly the way you would have hoped. What exactly does that look like, for you? When they build monuments to you, what kind of accomplishments will they list? What is it that you did for this country?"

She shrugged. "I just want to see how it is that you're defining success."