Shop Class; Tuesday, Fourth Period [01/30].

[special_rabbit]

Amaya was definitely a morning person who might have actually preferred her classes being a bit earlier in the day, but she was feeling very grateful for the fourth period time slot today! But she was also pretty excited about the lesson today, too, so she was going to eagerly get right to it.

"Now I know last week's class wasn't the most...productive," she said, "and I know I didn't go into depth with a lot of the tools like I would usually like to under....less difficult circumstances, but a lot of them are pretty simple, and I hope you got the general gist of everything regardless. If you have any further questions, you know I'll be happy to go over them, and we've got one more big tool class today before we start getting into individual projects proper, but trust me, this is a good one. Because today, we're going to be talking about welding!

"For those of you unfamiliar, welding is, essentially, when you take heat and fire to fuse pieces of metal together! It's a pretty simple concept, really, where the heat melts the metal, and, when it cools, they form together. There are a few different ways to go about welding, but one of the most popular and easiest....and what we'll likely use most in this class...is the welding torch and there's a few different variations of those, as well, and we'll go over some of them and how to use them, and then we'll....well, get to use them!

"But," here she grinned a little, looking over the class to see if anyone knew where she was already going with this...a pointed look at Beaker assuming he was there omg when she passed over him might help if you weren't actually sure, "...before we get into any of that, we, of course, have to talk about safety! Welding can be a lot of fun, but it can also be pretty dangerous if you're not careful, with risks not only from the fire and the hot metal, but for your eyes, as well, and even your lungs, as the chemical processes can release harmful gases and vapors into the air. Metal work is pretty serious business, so you've always got to be careful if you want to keep doing it in any capacity!

"And once we're done with all that, you'll have the rest of class to work on your welding. We've got a lot of scrap metal here, and so see what you can weld together to make something interesting! I'll show you how to make a scrap metal dragonfly as an example or jumping off point, but the only limit is your own imagination!

"Well," Amaya amended, a beat later, "and I guess what we actually have for scrap metal, but you get the idea. Right, then." She nodded, pounded her fist into her palm. "Let's get to it."

In the Cupcake of Good and Evil, Tuesday 2nd Period [1/30]

[stykera]

“Today,” Stark said with some trepidation, “we have vegetables to use in cupcakes. I have carrots because carrots are sweet and carrot cake is delicious.”

Was all of his nervousness due to what horrors Summer might be producing? Or was there something a bit off that he hadn’t properly dealt with since the last class? Probably the latter. Or maybe he just felt a need to twirl a carrot around in his hands.

"It is pretty good," Summer agreed, with a nod and a smile that seemed wholly unaware of anything that could possibly be wrong with anything that could be doing on inside this class or outside of it. "You know what other vegetable is pretty good in cakes and breads, actually? Zucchini."

Which, anyone familiar with those kind of things was probably thinking that actually wasn't too bad. Of course, anyone familiar with Summer would know that there was definitely going to be more to this story.

She paused, for dramatic effect, for maybe getting those hopes up a little bit higher before she swung in with, "But I'm not using that for my cupcakes. You can, if you want to! But I'm using kale, spinach, and pickles!"

“Those are all…very green,” Stark said. “Green and not at all sweet and not flavors that belong in cupcakes. Green could be fine. Mint is green! And lime. But kale and spinach and picked don't belong in dessert!”

At least Summer hadn't suggested olives? Yet, anyway.

It was there in the back of her mind, but all she could find, recipe-wise, were olive oil cupcakes!

"Agree to disagree," Summer stated proudly, thrusting up her chin and then grinning at the class. "And we'll see what the class has to say. We've got the vegetables. What you decide to do with them is up to you."

Stark had nothing to add to that except the slightly pleading look he was giving the students in the room.

Diplomacy, Relationships & Tactics: the Art of War [Tuesday, Period 1]

[atreideslioness]

Ghanima was sitting on her desk as the students arrived, her book in her lap and Trebor safely ensconced in his playpen behind her desk as he crawled around inside, happily babbling to himself.

The moment the last student was seated, she flipped her book open. "Good morning, class, and welcome. Today with the third P'ien," she said, holding up the book. "'Attack by Stratagem.' Or as one of my former co-teachers once called it, 'Avoiding Attack by Stratagem from my side of the fence: Make Love, Not War and Drink Sake and Keep Calm ♥.'" Which, honestly, was not the worst stratagem Ghanima had ever encountered.

"Or, in the words of Tzu, 'Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting.'"

"Sun Tzu also said that 'He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.' And, of course, there's the phrase everyone knows, but rarely do they know the source. 'If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.' Know thy enemy and know thyself."

"So, how do you formulate a plan of attack, if are forced to fight? Resorting immediately to violent means is not always the best option. 'Thus the highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans;'" Ghanima recited, watching all of them carefully. "'The next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy's forces; the next in order is to attack the enemy's army in the field; and the worst policy of all is to besiege walled cities.' So speaks Tzu. I'm curious as to how you feel this reflects the every day world, and if you have seen this applied at all in Fandom."

Art in STEM, Tuesday, January 30, 2024

[heroic_jawline]

"It doesn't really matter how nice your building is if the signage on it is distracting in the worst way," Steve began from the front of the classroom. "Like this one," he said as the picture went up on the wall. "Though the building it's on isn't wildly exciting, either."

"Fonts, kerning, the whole package makes or breaks a product," Tony added, bringing up more examples for the class.

"What's the last one even trying to sell?" Steve demanded, making a face.

"It's supposed to say Locum." Which. You know. It didn't.

There was a long pause. "Sure," Steve said finally.

"So, class! How would you make your own logo without... falling into one of these pitfalls?" Tony asked, beaming at how much Steve was judging it.

Go on, kids, make graphic design your passion!