Everything's a Weapon, Wednesday, Period 1

[raspberryturk]

This week's Danger Shop setup probably gave most students an idea right away as to just what sort of trouble Reno had lined up for you today. There was a gray haze in the air from a few smokers across the room, playing cards at a table. People were knocking back drinks left and right. A jukebox was playing Jailhouse Rock, just barely audible over the noises of the people talking and drinking in the bar. No bar on the island, mind. This one was a little larger and a lot busier than those ones typically were.

All the better for keeping the moving targets coming, really.

"Yo, rookies! This week, I'm gonna keep it simple and straightforward." He nodded to the bar scene behind himself. "You're out drinking for some kinda party. Some asshole says something untoward about some other asshole's.. I dunno... fashion sense or something, and suddenly you're right in the middle of the biggest bar brawl this side of Ingvar, yo."

Behind him, one of the simulated men stood, yelling. Another grabbed a bottle and flipped the table out of the way in order to lunge at him.

"You got the entire population of the bar up and fighting now, and the exit is all the way on the other side of the room. Yeah, they're gonna try to drag you in, and yeah, they're using improvised weapons, too. Mostly bottles, chairs, pool cues... Not much variety, but they're wielding them well, yo. Your mission is to either survive until the cops show up to wrangle these losers, or to find your way out before the cops show up. And remember, no powers, yo."

Reno loved his job. He was going to smirk, take a seat at the bar, and order a drink (simulated though it was) as all hell broke loose in the room.

[Open!]

Practical Philosophy, Wednesday

[endsthegame]

"This is not a particularly kind week in history," Ender said. "It is far from being the worst - but it's terrible enough that, even though most of us are not from this time and place, I feel it might be worth reflecting on the way we process loss."

He took a swig of water from his bottle, then shifted until he was sitting comfortably.

"Every culture treats loss differently," he said. "Even within those cultures, there are spaces - families, schools, groups - that have differing idea about the mourning process, about how much time to pour into it, about how to do it. In fact, we are even cultures in and of ourselves in this; some of us might cry, some of us might channel that energy into other things, some of us may try to show nothing at all."

Guess which one of those categories Ender fell into.

"How do you handle loss? Do you mourn your dead? How? How does your culture handle it, and how much did you learn from it? Twenty-first century Earth has its funerals, its ceremonies, its rage and its vocal sorrow. As for my time - when I grew up, we were largely blunted by loss, numbed by fear. Our sorrow was humancentric, downright xenophobic... and it lasted for many decades."

Customer Service & You [Wednesday, July 23, 2014]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Hey, everyone," Josh said from where he was leaning against a tree in the lawn in front of the dorms. "Today we're going to take on a different form of customer service--when you provide a service to one customer at a time, like when, say, you're hired to mow the lawn or trim hedges or do general garden maintence."

Guess what you're doing today, kids! Who doesn't want to do yardwork when it's hitting 90, right?

Josh handed out rakes, gardening gloves and shears. "Today you're supplementing the school's normal gardening staff. Don't get bit by a gremlin--I left my phone in my office and I'd to miss out on a good story."

Fun With Microwaves!, Wednesday

[toteshammered.livejournal.com]

The item on the agenda for today was no stranger to microwaves... admittedly, usually it was prepared in some manner before making its way into the machine.

But not today. Today, everyone was going to see what would happen when one put a whole egg, still in the shell, into the microwave.

"Today I thought we would experiment with another food item," Thor explained. "Although without removing it from the shell first. So take your egg, select the time you wish, and then step back." Honestly, at this point the class needed very little direction, but still.