Defending Yourself Against Magic | Friday, period 2

[nuclear_snide]

"Well, glad to see you all back again." Bob eyed the students in appraisal. "This is probably one of the more useful classes you'll actually have here, for your time on the island if not at home, so please pay attention."( Read more... )

Hitting Things Makes You Feel Better, Thursday, 3rd Period

[wrongkindofsith]

Cara had her students meet her in the Danger Shop today, and had an air of being entirely too pleased with herself.

"Since you all seemed to have some idea what you're doing last week, we'll be skipping the part where you learn to throw a simple punch." And if anyone broke a finger because they didn't know how to make a fist that would be a valuable lesson for them about not overstating their abilities in the future. "Instead we'll skip to the next most important part, taking a hit, because sometimes the things you hit, hit back."

"The best strategy is to avoid getting hit at all, and if if you're quick enough I'd advise you to go with that, but since that doesn't always work there are various methods you can use to limit the damage. If you're using weapons you can attempt to parry the blow. You can wear armour, though that comes with trade offs in speed, flexibility, endurance, and vision or hearing depending on the kind. You can attempt to direct the blow away from your vitals, as something hitting your head, gut, or groin will tend to have more dramatic results than elsewhere. You can also attempt to move with a blow as it connects, so it hits with less force. So you have more options then just standing there and walking it off." Teaching them how to do that effectively would take far too much time.

"Now, I could just have you hit each other to try all this out, but that would be less interesting than putting you through your paces on this." She fiddled with a control, and a giant monstrosity of raised platforms, moving walkways, and various padded arms all swinging, rotating, and generally moving in vaguely ominous ways. A giant pit filled with a squishy looking substance surrounded it. Barring a lack of neon colours, it wouldn't have looked entirely out of place on some kind of game show. "Doesn't that look fun? Also, because people generally like measuring the length of their swords, I'm going to time you."

Advanced Driver's Ed: Driving Other Stuff, Friday, First Period

[10secondcar]

Today, class was meeting in an empty parking lot with some kind of course marked off in cones and caution tape winding through it. "So, I was going to start you guys out with motorcycles, but then I decided maybe some of you weren't ready for that yet. So instead, this week we're going to do something a step before motorcycles: bicycles!" Brian tried to sound enthusiastic about this. It didn't really work. "It's just like a motorcycle without the motor, which means you provide the power. Through pedaling!" Brian explained how one pedaled a bike, as well as steering and the importance of balance. "There are no training wheels because it's the Danger Shop, you can't get hurt anyway. Your assignment? Hop on a bike, race through the course. Aaaaaand go!"

20th Century American History, Friday, January 15, 2016

[heroic_jawline]

"Today we're going to start in the 20th Century, and we're going to start in the 1900s," Steve said. "I wasn't alive for those--I'm not that old--but I knew people who were. And since it's been over a hundred years, it's pretty easy to figure out the important events from the day to day stuff." He smiled. "It's a lot harder to tell what's going to be remembered when you're living through it."

He handed out a small stack of papers. "I picked three events from 1900 to 1910 that still reverberate today: the first World Series baseball game, the Wright brothers' first flight in North Carolina, and Teddy Roosevelt's new foreign policy doctrines: Big Stick Diplomacy and the Roosevelt Corolllary to the Monroe Doctrine."

Steve then spent half of the class talking about the airplane's link to technology and warfare, how the Roosevelt foreign policies started manuevering the United States as a global power and began interfering in Central and South America, and how baseball was really swell.

And yes, he actually used the word "swell." Repeatedly. Sorry.

He brought a computer screen to life, linked to Wikipedia's summary of history from 1900 until 1929 and projected it onto the wall. "But I'm still pretty new to this time, and while I did a lot of reading this week, there might be an event mentioned in the first ten years of the century that you think we should talk about instead. Anything catch your eye? What event from 1900 to 1910 do you think has had the longest lasting impact?"

Library, Friday 1/15

[crimson_sister]

The library was both peaceful and exciting, which was what Lucille liked best. She had a pile of books that needed to go back on the shelves, but she quickly got distracted by their contents. Sadly though, she couldn't find a shelf for romantic novels. Cassandra had promised her friend would be able to help her though.

But look, there was the music shelf! Perhaps she could find something to play on the piano?

The library aide would be here to help, only hidden behind a shelf and quite absorbed in sheet music.

[Open!]