"The Empire is a disease that thrives in darkness, it is never more alive than when we sleep."

TA: “Okay, guys, everyone look at me. We’ve been over the rules, but just in case: no notes, pencil your answers in on the scantron sheet, and graphing calculators only – no more ‘can I just used my cell phone’ nonsense.”

Student: “[TA’s name], my calculator batteries just died! What should I do?”

TA: “Here, I’ve got a big box of spares.”

Student: *struggling* “I can’t get this packaging open…”

Student 2: “Here, I’ve got a pocket knife.”

TA: “And I’ve got a pair of scissors if you need them.”

Student 3: *from the back of the room* “OR MY AXE!”

(Everyone starts laughing.)

TA: “The only axes allowed on the exam are in the graph section.”

(Everyone groans.)

TA: “Oh, come on, you’re in a math class. Deal with the math jokes.”

(The professor enters with a stack of exams. With him are two exam proctors.)

Professor: “Tolkien jokes already, [TA’s name]?”

TA: “Hey, I didn’t start it.”

(The professor starts handing stacks of exams to the TA and proctors.)

Professor: “But I’m about to finish it. [TA], take these exams down the left flank. [Proctor 1], follow the desks down the center. [Proctor 2], take your exams right, along the wall.”

(At this point, many of the students have realized where this is going: Theoden’s lines from ‘Return of the King.’)

Professor: “Forth, and fear no problems! Solve! Solve, students of calculus! Points shall be taken, scores shall be splintered! A pencil day! A red-ink day! Until three thirty!”

(The professor pulls out a pencil, holding it out like a sword, and runs down the first row holding it out. Students hold up their pencils, hitting his as he passes.)

Professor: “Solve now! Solve now! Solve to good grades and the class ending! MAAATH!”

Entire Class: “MAAATH!”

Professor: “MAAAAATH!”

Entire Class: “MAAAAAATH!”

Professor: “Forth, exam-takers!”

(The entire class rises to their feet and gives him a standing ovation. A week later, we get an email from the professor.)

before the Big Bang, there was no up there was no down there was no side to side.

There was no up there was no down there was no side to side, there was no light, there was no dark, no shape of any kind. There were no stars or planet Mars or protons to collide, there was no up there was no down there was no side to side. And furthermore, to underscore this total lacking state, there was no here there was no there because there was no space. And in this endless void, which can’t be thought of as a place, there was no time and so no passing minutes, hours days. Of all the paradoxes that belabor common sense, I think this one’s the greatest this time before events, because how did we get from nothing to infinitely dense from immeasurably small to inconceivably immense. But before we get unmoored from the question at the start, let’s take a breath and marvel at when math becomes an art because we don’t have to understand it to know there was a time when there was no up there was no down. There was no side to side

https://www.tiktok.com/@reinaofthecid

Reina del Cid

me: for the next hour I will watch DW and think about it instead of Good Omens

doctor who opening scene:

Ted Lasso Finale + parallels