It never rains on field trips

One of the Phactor's cardinal rules is that it doesn't rain on field trips. OK maybe once in a while it rains on field trips when teaching rain forest ecology, but then rain is expected. On one memorable field trip, after 4 hot, dry days at the start of a rain forest field trip, one of my charges said, "Where's the rain? Thought this was a rain forest." Late that afternoon a deluge moved in and provided about 36 solid hours of heavy rain. OK then, it's really rain forest, so no whining (actually that's #1 rule on field trips). More than anything this is an attempt to teach students the power of positive thinking, and the futility of getting annoyed at something you cannot control. A little dampness never hurt anyone. However, at the moment my next field trip is 31 minutes away and some sort of precipitation is pounding on my office window. While it probably is rain now, in a mere half hour it will by definition not be raining. Useful rule that.

Drinking Safety Rules

Until you actually learn how to consume alcoholic beverages in true moderation, no drinking is really safe. A career long association with young adults gives the Phactor some perspective on the steepness of the learning curve, and when a college student sets out to "get drunk", that's one of the warning signs that they've got a problem. My Father was pragmatic to the core, and he liked good times and was no stranger to a drink now and again. His rule, before sending his 17 year old son off to college at a time when the legal drinking age was 18, was very simple. Don't drink anything that has a funny color or funny name! So this article on fancy spring break drinks just screams trouble. Several are clearly concoctions designed to pour alcohol into people who don't like the taste of real drinks. Actually our drinking was kept in check financially because who could afford fancy drinks? The delightful concoction pictured is called a fishbowl and breaks both rules at once. They used to be just filled with beer. Probably tastes like a blue jelly bean.