Comparative Culture, Tuesday, Period One

[doubleohblonde]

Bond emailed his students to meet him down in the computer lab today.

"Good morning," he greeted them. "I hope that none of you are the worse for wear after the last few days. In light of the fact it may seem a good idea to take comfort in the familiar, today we'll once again be looking at what is familiar to you. I would like you to spend the first half of the class looking for examples of popular culture from your own worlds here. If your world is at a technology level where it wouldn't be available online, you have my permission to head to the library to see if there are any relevant books there. Once you've all found an example, during the second half of the class you'll share your examples, speak a few words about what place they have in your culture, and answer any questions your classmates might have."

"Get to it."

[Class Roster]

How To Get By In A Hostile World, Wednesday

[suitably_heroic]

"We've been talking about lying a lot," Atton said, "and yet we haven't really been talking about it. Which is a good thing, on one level, because usually the less you think about how you're lying, the more convincing you are." He shrugged. "That being said, there's different brands of the lie. They're all useful in different kinds of situations, but usually there's only a couple of them you can actually pull off. Depending on how you work."

He sat down on the desk again because, well, that was his spot.

"Let's start with one everyone's pulled off at some point. White lies," he said. "That's what you use when, for example, you want to get out of a party. 'No, I'm feeling sick, I'm staying in.' Or maybe you don't want to offend someone who's wearing a taun-taun head for a hat, so you tell 'em it looks good. Most people can pull off white lies. They're little, uh, life hacks, to make your life more comfortable. As long as you don't overindulge in those, well, no harm, no foul."

Not that he had ever particularly cared about harm or foul when he was lying, but hey. "Similar to white lies, but with a whole lot more potential impact, is the lie of omission. That's probably the most useful tool you have when you really don't want to talk about something - just don't mention it as a thing, and no one will think to ask about it. Come from a homeworld involved in a civil war you might have gotten your hands dirty on? Well, no one at Fandom knows about that world, so you either don't mention it, or mention the world's name and then move on. No one thinks to ask about your role in the war, because they don't even know there was a war."

"The good thing about lies of omission is that they keep you from getting yourself stuck in a web of increasingly more outrageous lies that make it easier and easier to figure out you're lying," he said. "Of course, on the other hand, that could be your strategy: make sure you lie so painfully obviously without giving a damn, switching from one to the other, so nobody knows what to make of you."

"There's a middle ground, of course. There's a whole range of middle ground. You can lie by exaggeration, which usually works unless there's someone else around who also witnessed what you're lying about. You can take the omission to the next level by dropping clues about yourself without saying anything outright, so people get the wrong impression. Or you can even just make promises you don't intend on keeping, but don't intend to be around not to keep."

He clapped his hands. "So. What different types of lying do you know of? What are you capable of? What's morally okay and what's not, since I hear some people care about that kind of thing?"

Joking. Sort of. Maybe?

"Talk."

Keeping Your Advantage: Terrain and You [Weds, 3rd Period]

[atreideslioness]

Today when the students arrived, the Danger Shop was already set to today's terrain. Students would see pristine beaches stretching for miles, with an island about a half-mile offshore.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I present your compensation for having been without class while I was indisposed," Ghanima said cheerfully, although she was well away from the water, next to a trunk of gear. "You may be wondering what sort of terrain you need to learn about with a beach. Rather than build sandcastles, however, today we'll be learning about scuba diving. Water covers most of this planet, so being able to move through it is an important ability."

"Scuba diving may be performed for a number of reasons, both personal and professional. Most people begin though recreational diving, which is performed purely for enjoyment and has a number of distinct technical disciplines to increase interest underwater, such as cave diving, wreck diving, ice diving and deep diving."

"Divers may be employed professionally to perform tasks underwater. Most of these commercial divers are employed to perform tasks related to the running of a business involving deep water, including civil engineering tasks such as in oil exploration, underwater welding or offshore construction. Commercial divers may also be employed to perform tasks specifically related to marine activities, such as naval diving, including the repair and inspection of boats and ships, salvage of wrecks or underwater fishing, like spear fishing."

"Other specialist areas of diving include military diving, with a long history of military frogmen in various roles. They can perform roles including direct combat, infiltration behind enemy lines, placing mines or using a manned torpedo, bomb disposal or engineering operations. In civilian operations, many police forces operate police diving teams to perform search and recovery or search and rescue operations and to assist with the detection of crime which may involve bodies of water. In some cases diver rescue teams may also be part of a fire department or lifeguard unit."

She went on to explain how to suit up properly, as well as the mechanics of scuba diving. "Today we're looking at two ways you might need to use the ocean, and scuba, to achieve a goal," Ghanima continued. "There's three scenarios today, and you can choose just one, or all, if you have the time."

"So suit up, and enjoy the water."

Heroic Tales, Wednesday, Period Two

[toteshammered.livejournal.com]

Everyone in Thor's class would have received an email informing them to meet in... the music classroom?

Yes, for those wondering, there was indeed a music classroom. Just about every instrument was available for students to use, from any world Fandom could reach.

"I had originally intended for today to be about epic poetry," Thor admitted, as he handed out stacks of paper and pencils to everyone. "But Fandom's plans for us these past couple days gave me another idea. In the realm of Asgard, we enjoy telling tales of heroism and adventure, both historical and personal experiences. What makes these tales even more enjoyable to listen to is when the bards get ahold of them and set the tale to music! On that note," he took a moment to chuckle to himself, because that was hilarious, thank you, "I have decided we are going to discuss how to create song lyrics. And then, should you be so inclined, you could create the melody to accompany your lyrics." Yes, there was also blank staff paper available, as well as a number of technologies that could transcribe musical notation in standard Midgardian format used today, or any other format the students might use.

"Once you have decided on the theme or message of your song, you are going to want to start with your title. Create a phrase of one to five words that indicates the message you wish to convey to the listener. If you find yourself stuck here, write down some words or phrases you wish to include in your song, and perhaps one of those can be the title." He went on to outline the rest of the steps, and then let the students get to the songwriting. He wasn't expecting Grammy material here, of course, but hopefully everyone would have some fun.