Public Speaking [Tuesday, March 19, 2013, 1st period]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Today's Danger Shop was full of the bright lights and cameras of a television news show.

"Hi there," Josh said, looking up from where a shop-generated makeup artist was putting foundation on his face. "You guys have gotten pretty good at talking in front of each other, so it's now time to up the stakes." He waved his hand around. "Welcome to television. You're going to get made up and stuffed into appropriate attire and then you'll be on Capitol Beat to talk about the issues of the day--specifically the squirrel news strike. Please try to come up with three coherent points to make and then try to to get a word in edgewise--the other moddable hosts can talk."

He glanced down at his notes. "Oh, and when we're done, our press secretary is Jace Wayland. Congratulations, kid."

Industrial Arts, Tuesday

[not_a_whiner]

"Since we're working with metal right now, I think we need to take a quick break and work on some basics," Kaidan said. "If you rush through this part, you can get back to your battle bots-- if it takes a little more time, then it takes a little more time. Anyway, we're going to be talking soldering."

You know, if the equipment on everyone's workbenches hadn't made that clear already.

"This is a soldering iron," he said, holding it up. "It runs up to four hundred degrees Celsius. Don't touch anything outside of the grip. Don't let it touch anything else. If you do, it's going to burn through whatever it touches like it's made of butter. When you're done with it, put it back on the stand. Don't leave it laying around." He put the soldering iron back. "In front of you, you'll find some circuit boards. When they're completed, they should make three or more - I'll leave that up to you - LED lights light up in response to audio input. So if you yell at it, it's going to light up."

Beat.

"Don't test it by yelling. I, uh, need my eardrums. First, turn on your iron. It's going to take a while to heat up. Take the sponge and make it damp. Then carefully wipe the tip of the iron with it - just let it touch the sponge. Then-- you can turn to the solder. Hold the iron to it and it should melt, if it's the right temperature." He demonstrated accordingly. "Then touch the iron to the point you want your joint to form at. Once the tin makes a little volcano shape, you're good. Check it, then move on to the next one."

And back into the stand it went.

"You've all got all the parts you need for this project," he said, "and a little extra stuff, if you want to see if you can tweak it. Get as crazy as you want, just... don't burn anybody."

Sage advice.