Basic Strategy, Monday, Period 4

[halfman-lion.livejournal.com]

As the students took their seats, they would each find a book being rather firmly placed on their desks by a teacher who had switched to modern dress for the week, though he wasn't quite sure he understood the point of his tie.

"Books," Tyrion informed them, once he'd finished the process of handing them out, "are the greatest tool there is in sharpening a mind. You may not think you need a sharp mind; perhaps you can get by on charging at things with a sword. And certainly that will work for some of you some of the time. For the rest of the time -- and especially for ensuring you have a properly full mind in a time of crisis -- there's nothing like reading."

"I am aware that there are other ways to obtain and store information on the island, but from what I can tell plain words on paper retain some popularity. Let's stick to those for the day."

"Your assignment is a simple one. Take the book I've handed you at random. Read as much as you can from it in the next half-hour. Then turn to the person next to you and have a discussion about what you read, and how you can see using the information in the future. And, sometime over the next week, pick out a book from the library or bookstore that talks about something you know nothing about, and be prepared to explain it to me when we next meet."

"If you cannot read, please let me know and we'll work out an alternate assignment." Probably it would be learning how to read, but that was a detail.

Comments

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi's book (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.V.A.) about the band E.V.A. (http://www.evaband.it/) at least was about music (http://www.mtv.it/musica/artisti/archivio/artista.asp?idArt=14157), and interesting for that. But she needed the translated pages included in order to make sense of it. Which also lead to some fun just trying to pick out words she recognized, English to Italian. Also, hey, all-girl band. She liked that.

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"How's your Spanish?" Kate asked, plunking her book on Colombian journalism down on the desk. "Mine's a little rusty." Not that most of the book was in Spanish, but a lot of the newspaper names were.

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Enough to get by," Kenzi said, looking up, then peering at Kate's book. "Oh, that's not so bad. Here, I have Italian pop bands. But I lucked out into Google translate a translation too."

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"I think this went the right way, because my Italian is worse than my Spanish." Yes, there was a translation, she got that. Still.

"I don't see how I'm ever going to use this," she had to admit.

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Kenzi tapped El Popular and said, "'The People', not just the ones who get voted Prom King... what, no Spanish people where you're from?" she asked, curious. "I mean, I'm not going to use the Italian pop band info. But it's fun to know five girls from Milan got it together enough to put out a disc."

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"There are Spanish people, but I'm betting none of these magazines exist," Kate theorised, tapping the list. "Way out of date for me."

"Are you going to look this lot up, then?" she wondered, peering at Kenzi's book.

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Maybe? I can see if their CD is still available somewhere, maybe. It's not that long ago, 2006." She grinned a little. "Oh yeah, I forgot, different world, right?"

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"Different world," Kate confirmed. "Or, not so different, but twenty years in the future." Because she imagined her world would've been very much like this once.

"Yours is like this one?" she guessed. Assumed, anyway. It felt like most people's were.

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Pretty much? Though I didn't know there was magic there 'til just before I arrived," Kenzi admitted. "I met somebody with superpowers. But that's it, otherwise, same as this one, without Hannah Montana as some kind of popstar or phones shaped like pears." That had been one of the more random bits that came up when talking to Sam. "Twenty years, hunh. We're not extinct yet?"

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"Not yet." Although it sometimes felt like it was heading that way. "Normal humans are a rarer breed than they used to be, though."

"And there's no Hannah Montana or pear shaped phones there either." So it was normal in that way.

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

Sometime when she was feeling bitchy, she'd tell Miley that. "Normal humans are rare? Really?" Kenzi blinked. "Wait, are you normal?"

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[withasword.livejournal.com]

Kate looked sideways at her. "For a certain definition of normal." Because, you know, she was by all appearances human.

"Human yes, the normal can be a topic of debate." That covered so much, didn't it?

Re: READ & DISCUSS [9/26]

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"What the hunh nuh?" Kenzi tilted her head. "Do you mean people who don't have swords and defend themselves, or something else? Not that I'd care, I'm just really curious now."

Re: READ DISCUSS [9/26]

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"People who don't use magic," Kate clarified, wriggling her fingers in a sort of illustration. "Magic users are about 30% of the population now, and the numbers are only getting higher."

Re: READ DISCUSS [9/26]

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Sweet," was Kenzi's opinion. "Hunh. I wonder if any the fake magicians and witches in my world are real now... was there always magic in your world, and everybody knew it?"

Re: READ DISCUSS [9/26]

[withasword.livejournal.com]

"Magic only reappeared twenty something years back." Kate shrugged, "Before 2010 we were in full tech, and people just forgot, I guess." Given her father was immortal way before that, clearly there was magic, it just was running at such a low level that most couldn't use it.

"So they could be real. Most likely they just wish they were."

Re: READ DISCUSS [9/26]

[regretiz4suckas.livejournal.com]

"Hunh." Kenzi felt a vague kind of regret. Then again, maybe that meant Baba Yaga wasn't real. And that was a good thing. "That's so wild. Like gravity might stop working some day."