Sciencing Things All Sciencily, Monday

[whatisclocks]

"We'll be talking about chemistry today, 'cos that's a science," Philomena announced. She had a little black chicken riding on her shoulder, but she didn't appear to think this was odd. "You see it on the telly all the time. When people get close together and they look like they're about to get their rocks off together except their clothes are on, that's chemistry."

Beat.

"Also something about fluids and gasses but that's more like intermediate chemistry, like when you've married and you have to start deciding whether to hold it in or not and if the price of easy access to booty is worth not farting half the time."

She eyed the class with all seriousness. "It's not," she offered, with casual, serious intensity.

"But since chemistry's sciencing and so's experiments, we'll be experimenting and measuring it today," she said, holding up the top of a stack of rulers. "I want all you lot to stand up and walk at one another, one by one, and then measure the exact distance at which you start feelin' the chemistry."

Getting to Know Your Own Backyard | Monday, Period 2

[futurespacemom]

"So, it looks like this week, we're heading for the big one," Kanan said, once the class had gathered in front of the Ghost. "We won't be making a landing on this one, partly because the weather there leaves something to be desired, and partly because nobody wants to find out what it's like to suddenly weigh over double what you normally do. Little things like walking get tricky. I don't recommend it."

Plus there was that whole thing where the atmospheric pressure of the planet was high enough to convert hydrogen and helium to liquid. You didn't want to be twice as heavy and also swimming. Never mind the layer of liquid metallic hydrogen underneath that. Gas planets were cool, but not super great for casual strolls.

Not that anybody on Earth was even certain if Jupiter had some sort of solid surface anywhere on it.

"That said," he added, "the planet's got something like seventy moons, of which only fifty-three have been named so far. I think they ran out of goddesses or something. After doing a Jupiter fly-by, we could probably get out and take a stroll around one of those with a lot less 'being crushed alive' to worry about."

Also, that many moons was just overkill. Calm down, Jupiter.

"This one's called Jupiter," Hera added, amused. Kanan, start with the basics. "We're not even sure if there is a surface to land on, so yeah, just a fly-by. And it's closer in its orbit right now than Mars was, so it shouldn't take too long to get there."

And soon they were there, looking at Jupiter from pretty far out as Hera avoided its dust ring.

"It's pretty active down there," she noted. "Some of those storms are bigger than your planet. And check out that one." She pointed toward it. "That's several times bigger. Hope they never need to mine this gas."

While they flew by and took reading, Hera was also checking out the moons Kanan had mentioned. "Looks like our best option for a landing might be Europa," she said. "It's frozen solid at the surface, far enough down to support our weight, and smooth as anything." She called up an image of it. "We'll still need the envirosuits, though. I hope everyone's got them down by now."

Advanced Takeout, May 26, 2017

[heroic_jawline]

This week there were both teachers in front of the class. Weren't you all lucky?

"Welcome back. Good to see you're all here for the holiday," Tony said. "Memorial Day, in case you don't know which one."

"Memorial Day is a day devoted to remembering those who have given their lives in service to our country," Steve said, "but it also serves as the unofficial start of summer in America, so people hold barbecues some times."

Not that Steve was planning to go to one. He was heading to Arlington after class.

Because sadness errands.

"Today we will tell you how to do one of these barbecues without needing to actually do the cooking," Tony said. "It involves a lot of side dishes you can get at the grocery store and hoping you have one friend who thinks they can grill."

Everyone had one.

"Barring that... cooking a hot dog is easy enough?" Mostly because they were already cooked.

Steve nodded. "Just...make sure you poke it before you put it in a microwave."

Steve and Tony should maybe just not cook with microwaves. "Salads are good--but any with mayonnaise if you're going to be eating outside because they go bad in the heat."

Clearly a charcoal grill would work better than a microwave for them!

"Fried chicken is good both hot and cold, so that's another thing you can pick up for these sort of parties," Tony added. "Pizza... less so. Sorry."

"And when you're running low on money, bringing ice is always a good thing," Steve added.

"And soda!" No encouraging drinking with the students here. "But, alright. Since this is a holidays of sorts, we won't keep you long. Everyone pick a side and... see if there is a party to take it to. Or make a party of your own."

Try Not to Die, Tuesday, May 30, 2017

[sith_happened]

"Today we're going to Botswana, which is in Africa," Anakin said. "Waaay down here," he added, pointing to the map. He smiled evilly. "And we're upping the difficulty level slightly today."

Think "animals that can eat you," kids. Anakin was an amazing teacher this way.

[OOC: Up early for potential baby-having shenanigans tomorrow.]