Weaponry; Wednesday, Second Period [03/23].

[special_rabbit]

The racks that usually stood bristling with weapons behind Amaya in their training field was definitely being put to good use that morning, lined up with an an assortment of weapons that should leave no guesses as to what the subject of today's class would be.

And, even if there were guesses, Amaya was obviously about to answer that question straight away. "Polearms!" she declared happily. "Close range combat weapons that usually involve something sharp and pointy at the the end of a stick! And, well, consider it the spear's fancier, more elaborate cousin who maybe went to some kind of posh military school, or the like. Though not quite as varied as the sword, there are a multitude of different styles of pole arms, from your halberds to your glaives, tridents count, harpoons, bardiches, war cythes, and lances! Even the humble spear! So there's plenty to talk about today, and plenty of techniques to go over, so let's not waste another moment and get right into it!"

And get right into it she did, in the hopefully-by-now expected exhaustive fashion, covering everything from how the concept came about to a more detailed breakdown on how the various different heads of polearms evolved over time, complete witha chart and several actual examples of this evolution, with an emphasis on how their versatility and effectiveness, as well as the low cost and ease of production, lead to a lot of experimentation with styles, which is why so many pole arms'll look so different, even among the same kinds, and why they became so popular as a weapon on the battlefield, especially when you start getting into how effective they were against enemies on horseback.

"Now, generally speaking," ha!, "as you may have noticed by the development of the weapons, pole arms can be divided into three broad categories: those designed for extended reach and thrusting tactics used in pike square or phalanx combat, those designed to increase leverage, thanks to hands being able to move freely towards several differnet leverage points all along the pole, which could maximize centrifugal force against cavalry, and those designed for throwing tactics used in skirmish line combat. Since we've talked a little bit about throwing spears in previous classes, we'll be mostly focusing on thrusting and leverage today. Your focus should really be on what makes the pole arm different from other weapons we've studied in this class so far: the range, the length, and, really, how you use it changes based on the positioning of your hands on the shaft."

Aaaaaand Amaya was just going to ignore that snort from Rosa at that line. Instead, she was just going to take a few more moments to get into more specific details about some of the more well known pole arms and what classifies them, although... "As I mentioned, there's been a lot of playing around with different forms of pole arms over the centuries, so this is not even remotely exhaustive, but it' a good look at some of the differences, and hopefully, you'll be able to see if those differences make much...well, difference...once you get out there and get a feel for them yourselves.

"And, with that, we'll turn it over to the Detective, unless there's any other lingering questions about pole arms before we start getting into the good stuff."

Well, Amaya definitely thought all this history and technical stuff was the good stuff, but she knew her audience, as well.

Great Legends of Hyrule; Wednesday, Third Period [03/23].

[in_sidon_we_trust]

This class had definitely taken the students to some absolutely beautiful Hyrule-inspired landscapes, and this week was no exception, as they gathered on a stretch of grass field, bordered by lush forest, with a large lake nearby. Although it was not an exact match of an actual place in Hyrule, it was a good facimile of some of the more popular features...which would certainly play into today's lesson.

"Welcome back," Sidon greeted them all with his usual enthusiasm, "intrepid adventurers! As you may recall, last week, we took a trip to the mysterious and bewildering Lost Woods, where I told you a little bit about Koroks, or the fabled children of the forest said to make the place their home. As with most of the spirit life on Hyrule, many have heard tales and rumors of the elusive Koroks, but very few have claimed to actually have seen them. But there are some who believe that they are quite actually to be found everywhere around Hyrule, watching over in secret and sometimes being a bit cheeky and mischevious in playing tricks on passers-by who might not know any better.

"Those who are inclined to believe that such elusive spirits may be sighted by those with the right disposition or purity of heart also claim that the koroks will remain hidden even from them...unless you are able to find them! They like to hide, it is said, in a multitude of different places, from underneath rocks to within circles, inside of holes, or even within clay pots or in the arms of a pinwheel! You can find many such interesting little things all throughout Hyrule, and they say that if you can solve the puzzle, a Korok might appear and bestow upon you a little gift!

"Tales of the Koroks are certainly a delight for all Hylian children, who no doubt spend a great deal of time checking under rocks or inside of trees in the hopeful search to find these mystical little spirits! And that is what we shall be doing today! Have a look around and see if you might be able to dredge up a Korok! There are many different things all about us that might be harboring one, and there's no way of knowing for sure unless you try! But before we do that, I'll ask if there's any questions, and I would like to know....are there any stories from your own worlds and cultures that are similar to Koroks? Any forest spirits that only few can see, or little mischevious types that like to play games with people but leave great rewards for those who succeed? I would be absolutely fascinated to know! And then we shall try our luck at discovering our own!"

Bakineering - Wednesday - 4th Period

[imafuturist]

Today's class had a stream running through it. That was probably fine. "Hello!" Steve said enthusiastically.

"Today we'll be working on more engineering with bridges this time around," Tony said, gesturing at the stream. Just be glad they didn't make it a chocolate milk stream, kids. Because that had been in the original plans.

Someone needed to stop watching movies about candy factories for inspiration. Maybe. "Today your bridge has to cross this stream, be made entirely of edible materials, and be sturdy enough for your Roomba friend to make it safely across," Steve said.

One of the little roombas made a worried little noise at that.

"It'll go great," Tony added quickly.

Oh, now it was a dubious electronic trill.

"It'll be swell," Steve said reassuringly. "Dum-E's here on fire control, as usual."

Intro to Mechanical Engineering - Wednesday, 1st Period

[notagoose]

“Good morning,” Goose began the session when everyone was seated, “for today’s class we’re going to look at Thermodynamics and how it relates to mechanical engineering,”

He began to start going through what Thermodynamics was and then a more detailed version of the different laws of Thermodynamics.

“For this week’s practical, I thought we’d look at making a steam powered rocket boat,” apparently there was a bit of a theme going on with these last few weeks, “and we’ll see how far we can get them to travel,”