Blacksmithing Basics; Monday, Second Period [05/29].

[special_rabbit]

"At this point," Amaya started began class with a nod, and delving right into things; no need to waste any time when there was work to be done, right? Besides, it was hard not to get excited about quenching day and to want to get right to it, "after the initial shaping and some fine-tuning with the filing, your swordsshould start looking more like swords, and if they don't, well....we might need to go back to the drawing board or perhaps work a little bit more on filing, but I think you've all got it close enough. If you think otherwise, don't worry about going back a few steps if you have to, it's important that you feel good about what you've got before progressing forward. But today, we are going to be going over some of the more basic finishing techniques, or, at least, finishing when it comes to the blade itself, and those techniques involve heat treatments, especially tempering and quenching.

"First things first: I've had some steel heating up in the forge for a bit now, so I'd like each of you to grab one of these rods with your tongs and put those in the buckets of oil you've got at your station. That's what we're using to quench the blades, and you'll have a much better time if you quench with warmed oil than cold. If you cool your blade...especially if you've been working with a thinner blade...too quickly, you're more likely to crack it, and that's no good. No one wants that."

So she had them heat their oil, then check their blades, and get started on the first step: normalizing. Reseting and redistributing the steel to a more normalized state and relieving stresses. Heating it and then letting it cool in still air, repeating it about two or three times, and she showed them how to use a magnet to help determine if they were doing it properly, because heating it properly will cause the metal to become nonmagnetic, which was just neat, when you got right down to it. She explained how color could also be taken into consideration, but determining that easily was something that would develop with experience, since there's a fine art to just telling it's ready by looking at it.

Next step: the quench! Amaya explained that quenching is basically what's going to harden your steel, and oil is generally better than water, and they were basically rapidly cooling the metal, changing the makeup of it to strengthen it. Heat it up, quench it to cool it, then heat it back up again. Heat and quench, heat and quench. You want to be quick about it; the steel cools pretty quickly even just in the air, and then get it in the oil with a slight back and forth or slicing movement. Be careful of flare ups, and submerge the blade for about ten to fifteen seconds.

Do a file test on it, to see if the file bites into the steel. If it does, the blade's not hard enough, time to go for another round. If it doesn't bite into the steel, your blade is hard enough, and you've got to finish it up with some tempering that wasn't too dissimilar to baking.

"I usually just pop these guys up on top of the forge for that step," she explained, doing just that and showing off a few other things that were already up there. "And that's probably where we'll leave them until next week, when we'll see how they turned out and finish up on making 'em a little prettier. Any questions before you all get started?"

Underwater Basket Weaving and Other Aquatic Arts!; Monday, Third Period [05/29].

[in_sidon_we_trust]

"Good morning, everyone!" As would be usual for this class, Sidon greeted his students with a bright smile and a pump of his fist at their meeting spot on the beach, where a a nice bonfire for warming up by afterwards already awaited them. "Today, I would like to propose to you all a question: is having fun an art? I know what my thoughts on the matter are, but let's find out today, with some fun water games!

"Since we're a bit of a smaller class, I have just one water game we are going to focus on, but that means you'll have plenty of time to play or we'll open up the opportunity for you to share some of your own favorite water games! I'll explain more about the game before we get started, but first, let us stretch, so that our muscles and bodies are ready for the most fun to be had!

Stretching was very important! And he felt it gave everyone the chance to really get pumped for class!

"And then everybody into the water!"

Pizza!, Monday, First Period

[carbsliftthespirit]

If Raiden seemed slightly subdued at the beginning of this week's workshop, he got over it quickly when it came time to once again talk about his very favorite subject. Funny how that worked.

"I brought some supreme pizzas for you guys to snack on while we talk today," Raiden said with a gesture toward the boxes. "Please help yourselves. We've covered the beginnings of pizza in Italy, but how did it become the taste sensation we know and love today? To answer that, we've got to cross an ocean. You see, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century--that's over a hundred years ago now, time flies, huh?--there was a large wave of immigrants from Italy to the United States, and most of them came from southern Italy, including, you guessed it, Sicily, the birthplace of pizza. And they nobly, kindly brought pizza with them to share with the benighted, pizza-less people of America.

"So, in Italy--we all know Italy, right, it's a boot? Well, northern Italy has rich soil and good agriculture, and southern Italy has rocky soil and does a lot of fishing. It's just how it is. So when all those southern Italians got to America, they found it this land of plenty with readily available meats and cheeses everywhere you looked, and they got really excited, and they started doing new things with food. Everything got bigger and more robust, and that's why if a food snob tells you, 'Oh, American Italian food isn't authentic,' first off, what's authentic, anyway, and second, what it is is a southern Italian's idea of northern Italian food, using the ingredients available in the US. Spaghetti and meatballs, veal parmigiana, baked ziti..." Raiden's stomach growled. "Sorry. Makin' myself hungry. Oh! The muffuletta! Can't forget the New Orleans contingent." Maybe he should just...help himself to a slice of pizza (or two) before he went any further. Lest he get even further off track.

Thus fortified, Raiden resumed his train of thought: "Anyway, the point is, we see this happen with pizza, too. You add more toppings, and then you make the crust more robust to support more toppings, and ta-da! The American pizza is born! Look at it, it's beautiful." Raiden beamed at it for a moment, then said, "And now, let's eat it."

Galactic Field Trips, Monday

[unusual_sith]

"Hello, everybody." Lana smiled. "Today we can step through the portal before I do our introduction." She waved them through, where they came out in front of a stately home in a cool climate (which they had been alerted to dress for).

"Welcome to Alderaan. It's somewhat less cosmopolitan than either of the capitals. The inhabited area is largely forests and mountains. The cities are smaller and largely centered around noble houses - House Thul and House Organa are two of the major houses locally. We won't be visiting either of them, though; politics are very important here, and which house is aligned with which government can be a touchy subject. The Alliance's staunchest allies here are the indigenous species, the killiks."

She nodded to a man standing a little way off, and he came over and bowed. "Good afternoon. We are Vector Hyllus, the Dawn Herald of the Oroboro nest. We will be your guide through the nest today, where you will encounter some of our art and technology. Most killiks cannot speak Basic, but joiners like us can and will. Please let us know if you have any questions."

Lana nodded to Vector. "There is also an aerial tour of the planet, which I highly recommend because the thrantas are SO EFFING COOL OMG, but which is entirely optional if you have difficulties with heights."

Sam Eagle Presents WeirDONT'S: How Not To Be A Weirdo, Monday, Period Five, 5/29

[but_mostly_america]

Sam was looking somber today as he stood in the front of the room.

“Today, students, we will discuss an important holiday that I am sure all of you are already aware of.” Sam, no they weren’t.

“Today, the last Monday in May, is Memorial Day where we remember and honor those brave soldiers who have died while serving their country!”

“Memorial Day has a storied history in America. The birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York. Not,” Sam clarified with a small shudder, “the one in Europe.” Perish the thought!

“It is important to remember these brave souls who gave their lives for their country. So, today, I have brought in materials for you all to make decorations for this island. There is a lack of proper respect here so we must rectify that!”

Rectify it with glitter and paper streamers and tiny flags. Of course. Because that made sense to an overly patriotic Muppet eagle, okay?

“Please be respectful and do not be weird!”

BEAKER.