Fly on the wall

Police interrogation room. Flat white walls, single dark window, cold steel table shining in fluorescent light. No distractions, no uncertainties, no questions.

"We just want to know the truth, Mr. Fisher"

It is not possible for a real man to be a cliche. We must remember this. For each part of his life that fits a stereotype, there are a multitude of surprising secrets. Even so, we are not often presented with the secrets. Neither could Jacob Fisher see the secrets behind the apparent cliche of the police officer in front of him: narrow red tie hanging loose from coffee stained white shirt, top buttons undone from...frustration? exhaustion? heat?...cigarette hanging on for dear life through every grunted syllable, barely more than a comical prop. Even the cop's attitude and pose were straight out of a movie: leaning forward across the table, resting his weight on the knuckles of his fists, eyes pleading with his subject to give up the tired game.

"Heads," said Jacob Fisher.

An angry hiss emitted from the corner of the room followed by a sharp slap of skin on skin and a grunted curse. Then the soft ping as the detective flipped his quarter in the air again.

"What are you trying to prove, Fisher?" The cop looked over his shoulder at the detective who nodded briefly, the movement barely more than a shift in the shadows on his fedora. "Why do you persist in avoiding the question at hand?"

"Simple," said Fisher, "if you give me my freedom - heads - that you have so arrogantly deprived me of, I will tell you exactly why - tails - I can correctly predict the result of your friend's coin flip. Heads."

The detective sullenly stopped flipping the coin at this point and stuffed it back into his pocket, retrieving a small notebook and hurriedly scribbling a note, which he handed over to the interrogating officer.

The officer smiled tiredly and placed the note flat on the table.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Fisher, but I have no choice but to keep you detained until you offer us the assistance we need. Simmons, would you escort this prisoner back to his cell, please?"

With this last he opened the interrogation room door and admitted a uniformed officer who firmly guided Mr. Jacob Fisher out of sight down the corridor. Returning to the note on the table, Officer Redmond looked at Detective Laughlin and chuckled.

"Smug bastard. Don't know why he thinks he was so special. Nothin' special about guessing a coin flip...and being wrong every time. Any stupid monkey could guess wrong."

"Yes sir," said Laughlin, "but not even a monkey would be wrong every time. Sixteen times in a row yesterday, and thirty-three today."

Redmond grunted. "Wrong is still wrong," he said, and turned out the light as they left the empty room.

Physical Breakdown

Today I slept for six hours. I got home and by four o'clock I was in bed. Typically I take a nap in the afternoons, since I have to get up early and like to stay up late. I don't think I had actually planned on napping, but I was lying on my bed with my dog, talking to my mom about something. And the next thing I know, it's ten o'clock.

This really weirds out your night.

For your education tonight: mandatory sensitivity training for men, and for women.

Ladiess, if you don't understand why what happened in that second comic is a BAD thing, then you are not ready to deal with men. And no the answer is not that men should put down their silly video games and come play with you instead. The answer is that you should take an interest in what your man is interested in, and in this day and age, video games are a simple and easy place to start - that and sports are like surefire simple things you can pay attention to that will make your man happier.

And guys...seriously stop staring at her boobs. Maybe the things she studied in college, or read today in whatever book she's picked up, or heard on the news...maybe these things are important to her? She's probably kind of sick of carrying that extra weight on her chest, and your unexplained fascination with them does not help.

Well that's my Love Doctor moment for the evening. Note the earlier message regarding things that might affect my mental state before following my advice.

What I do all day

I teach Physics to a wide range of high schoolers. Every school in our county has a "Specialty Center" associated with it - a range of classes that run parallel to the regular school day, and students enter the program by application and take these specialty classes while completing their regular school diploma.

At Lloyd C. Bird High School (see picture at right), we are host to the Pre-Engineering Specialty Center. Students who express some interest in studying engineering later in life take a variety of classes designed to prepare them for a college engineering program. They take an introduction to physics as freshman, along with "Foundations of Engineering". They take "Engineering Design" as sophomores. As juniors or seniors there is an "Aerospace Engineering" elective. And as seniors they can take AP Chemistry or AP Physics. And these are just a few of the courses offered as part of the program.

I teach the sophomore Engineering Design class, and the senior AP Physics class. These kids are supposedly the best and brightest, but as an educator and teacher you've got to know that I hate putting kids in categories like that.

Especially because I also teach three sections of "General Physics". Students who have taken Earth Science and Biology have the choice of studying Chemistry, Marine Ecology, or Physics. Usually a student will not study Physics until after Chemistry, and they will take the "Conceptual Physics" course taught by one of my colleagues. However, if a student is not interested in Chemistry (or their Biology teacher does not think they have the aptitude for it), but they still need three science credits for a standard diploma, they can take General Physics.

This is not the position that I am used to putting Physics in...it involves lots of higher-level thinking skills, so I think of it as a higher-level course in the high school curriculum. But now I am discovering a whole new way of applying the principals of physics to every day life, thanks to these students who have a strong grasp on the real world that awaits them outside the high school's doors. They may not be designing the world's next bridges, skyscrapers, and cars, like the engineering kids. But whatever they do, they can have the opportunity to do it thoughtfully and analytically.

Truth

I have the right to proclaim truth to anyone I see. Not "my truth" or "my beliefs". Truth. The world works a certain way, and when a person's thinking matches the way the world works, then they are "right", their statements are "true". If their thinking doesn't match the way the world works, then their statements are false and wrong.

I should never be criticized for speaking the truth in love. And yet I can't think of any activity that would be more likely to earn insults and anger from the world around me than pointing out when they are wrong. No one likes it. Which is not to say that isn't fair - I don't like it when people point out where I am wrong, either. But please, world, do not forget the importance of truth.

Can someone please tell me...

What is up with this blog?

It seems to be gibberish, but well-organized gibberish. It's almost like someone is talking in code, or used a computer program to randomly replace some words with other words. There are comments on the blog, written in the same style, but all 'anonymous' so it could be the author playing some silly game. Or it could be friends who have found an awfully unique way to communicate with each other.

School starts tomorrow and I am so excited. Finishing up some laundry tonight so I will have nice clothes to wear tomorrow to impress all the kiddies. Gotta go before the drier stops!

Oh PS - spammers have found my blog, so now in order to post a comment you will have to verify that you are a human and not a computer program by recognizing a group of random letters - it's called word verification and it is on like Donkey Kong.