Sven Slootweg @joepie91@pixie.town

@varve @RadiantEmber My first chemistry teacher, just before high school, did (on our very first class) one thing that was absolutely fantastic and that I still think about today.

She had a small box wrapped in gift paper, full of assorted things, that she passed around the classroom. We could shake it, move it, feel it, but not open or damage it... and we would try to guess what was inside. She wrote our guesses on the blackboard, and we decided what most people agreed with.

And then she put it away and said we would never open it. This is what science is like, she said; we had created a model based on our observations, and we had some confidence in it, but we could never know for sure, there isn't some perfect, infallible truth. She told us how frustrated she was when her professor had first done it on her college class, and things she had thought she would be able to see and that were impossible.

This single lesson taught me so much about (philosophy of) science.

@eldaking @RadiantEmber my high school chemistry teacher was quite open about the "lies to children" in what he taught. He would also say stuff like, this thing I'm teaching you right now is simplified because you haven't learned calculus yet. He was a great teacher.

There are far too few of those.

teachers really just lie to students because it's convenient.

This teacher was teaching that there are no male calico cats because males always have XY chromosomes and females have XX chromosomes.

I looked it up and found that there in fact are male calico cats, usually because they have XXY chromosomes. I brought this up and the teacher was like I know that but we're not talking about that now, don't confuse them.

So you're just purposefully lying to the students?

This kind of shit is responsible for so much erasure and discrimination against intersex and trans people. It makes me angry

Wouldn't it be better to just explain the actual reality to the students? Wouldn't it be better for them to understand what's actually going on instead of teaching them a lie?

@mynameistillian if you're in a building with central HVAC, such as an apartment complex or student dormitories, seal your HVAC registers with painter's tape and garbage bags. magnetic covers *are not enough.* you need to cover the entire register, including around the edge where it's set into the wall/floor/ceiling.

if you want to know how I know this? my mom was a student on campus during the protests leading up to the Kent State shootings.

@mynameistillian further safety information that may become relevant as protests escalate:

gas munitions target mucous membranes, and are carried by vapors. consider tight-fitting swimming goggles and a half-mask respirator for your emergency kit, with a new-in-packaging set of organic vapor/acid gas rated filter cartridges.

if you must shelter in place when gas blows your way? jam towels under your outside doors, and seal edges with painter's tape.

@mynameistillian as stated in the thread: tear gas munitions are so hot their metal casings glow and they're also belching toxic chemicals by design, *do not handle them without proper PPE.* temperatures and chemicals like those are Not Good For The Body. if you're not going to gear up, clear the area so folks who can extinguish these devices have a clear path.

also, do not handle extinguished devices with bare hands due to the chemical hazard.