Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Astronomy, Bald Spots, and Witty Students

Today, in Astronomy class while reviewing the seasons and the axial tile of the Earth for a quiz tomorrow, I pulled a classic Rideout non sequitur.  

I spontaneously made the leap from how the sunlight in Antarctica never heats up that continent despite months of continual daylight to how I discovered that I had a bald spot by getting a sunburn on the top of my head while mowing the lawn.  When I ended with something like "... and then I cried in the bathroom until I felt better", the class of seniors were all looking at me a bit strangely (it is, after all, only our 6th time meeting so it was, perhaps, bit much).

To ease the transition back into the material, I looked around the room and said, "You all thought you were taking Astronomy but really this is my therapy session."  Then, without hesitation, a student in the second row (RH) calmly asks "So, this will be on the quiz tomorrow, right?"

Well played sir, well played.




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