Centennial

For my one-hundredth post, I'd like to get back to the basics. I named this blog the musing teacher because I'm a teacher and this is a great outlet for some of the more humorous things I encounter as such. So, here goes.

Today the long awaited "atom smasher" was finally tested. This is a 17 mile long tunnel, 14 years and billions of dollars in the making. Scientists sent the first particle clockwise in this tunnel last night. We are on the brink of possibly knowing more about the atom, or blowing up the earth, whichever comes first. Get this though: it can send a particle around the 17 MILE loop as fast as 11,000 times PER SECOND. Science.

So, I have a student that is really smart. He's mentioned Stephen Hawking before. I asked him in front of the whole class if he had heard of the recent successful test of the "atom smasher". This caused an uproar in my classroom. One girl said, "there is a ten percent chance that everyone on earth will die today, and a thirty percent chance that everyone on earth will die tomorrow." I quickly squelched that rumor. However, the class was now loud and boisterous, shouting out their opinions on the "atom smasher". In the second row sat a rather rotund student with glasses. I watched as he sat, eyes glazed during the classwide debate. Several moments later, he clued in and realized he was behind on what everyone was talking about.

"What's an APPLE BLASTER?" he asked.

I immediately pictured scientists in white lab coats cheering the successful launch of the long awaited apple blaster.