Those darned students have been keeping me busy. Grading, classroom teaching, preparing lectures and demos...not that I'm complaining. I also have emails begging my attention, but I'm letting some students wait. Students who turn in identical lab reports, except for font type and point size, deserve to squirm after their plea of "we did our own work."

---

I started the class discussion of the solar system by asking the students to name all nine planets in order out from the Sun. (I'll get into the Pluto debate later.) As true for every semester, 40% of the students get the order of the planets incorrect. It's fun to do, because they all think they know the answer and roll their eyes at the question. After writing their answers down on paper, I have the class recite the order as a group. Man, does it get quiet out near Saturn!

---

Today I played with lasers and power tools. The lasers are for optics demonstrations and I promise I won't aim the lasers at the students. The power tools were used to sand off part of a rock that a student thinks might be a meteorite. Good heft, magnetic, correct color, glints of metal on the inside...she may well have a meteorite.

Today was a good day.

Discuss Laser beams and power tools