Driver's Ed: Drive Fast [Friday, Period One]

[needsacatchphrase]

Physics were back to normal for class this week, but that was good. Because the danger shop was done up like a bumper car course. And physics were important for this one,

"Welcome back," Jane said with a tight smile. "Glad to see you all made it through last week."

"We hope all learnt a valuable lesson about steering through difficult terrain," Cara said. "Today's class could be considered an extension of that." Whether it should was another question.

"And avoiding danger in a safe, controlled way," Jane said like anyone could resist slamming into another bumper car while driving one.

"And recovering from unexpected events." Like a bumper car slamming into yours.

Weather & Storms, Friday, Second Period

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The students would once again find themselves in the classroom in the danger shop, with the storm still raging outside. This time, a map was projected on the whiteboard.

"There is a saying," Thor began. "'Off the coast of' whichever country you like, China is often used, 'a butterfly flaps its wings. On the other side of the world, there is a mighty hurricane.' It is meant to show cause and effect, how everything is interconnected and a small action may lead to tremendous consequences. It is also, to a certain extent, true."

He picked Mjolnir up off the desk, flipped it in the air and caught it reversed, so that he could use the handle to point to the orange blob on the map. "Scientists are currently monitoring this tropical wave, a collection of disorganized rain showers and thunderstorms, off the coast of Africa. Due to warm ocean temperatures and other conditions, they estimate there is a forty percent chance it will come together into a cyclone in the next week, a tropical depression which may then become a tropical storm, which may then become a mighty hurricane--or it may not. This season has been unusually quiet so far." Knock on wood. "And why is that?"

Thor pointed Mjolnir's handle at Africa on the map. "Among other reasons, dust. Windstorms in the vast Sahara desert have blown dust out over the seas, and when they meet these tropical waves, the dust weighs them down and chokes them out. A mighty storm, a great devastation...undone by a grain of sand." Thor considered the map for another moment, then turned to his students. "If you have any thoughts on this, I would be interested to hear them."