Beware The Haboob

My classes learned a new word today, courtesy of Science World magazine. Did you know that haboob is Arabic for strong wind? It's true.

Yeah. They really liked that one. I gave them a little Jeopardy-type game to see what they knew before reading the magazine. About half of the classes guessed that the statement, "Haboob is an Arabic word for strong wind" was false. Like Science World would put in a fake word such as haboob. I'm so sure.

Mainly, they giggled. As did I, when I read the question out loud. It was on the big screen up front, too, for all to feast on with their eyes. One girl said, "Well, I'm not sure. I seem to have left my Arabic to English dictionary at home today." Good one.

We also read a good article about Tasmanian Devils and a contagious facial cancer that is killing them. So much so that they needed an intervention. A wildlife sanctuary/breeding program has been established on mainland Australia, called Devil Ark. A devil heaven, according to Science World. A person quoted in the article happened to attend the University of Tasmania. Which just struck me funny. Because of the Looney Tunes devil, Taz. And because one of my classes has been teasing me that I never actually graduated from college. That's because my college changed its name since then, and because I told them I don't know where my diploma is, and because I refuse to tell them my graduation year and/or provide them with my social security number, age, lock of hair, or a blood sample. These little whippersnappers are dead set on getting a quality education.

I am SO going to tell them tomorrow that I've been lying. That I graduated from the University of Tasmania.