In any language...

So yesterday was my birthday, which was no secret for my students. I came into my first afternoon class and all the students had written "Happy Birthday" in their native languages. As the afternoon went on the other classes added to it, and the final product is shown below. How many languages can you identify?

Stoopid People #1

So this came to my attention yesterday. If you're too lazy to click on the link, here's the basics.

A substitute teacher in Land O' Lakes, Florida (seriously, it's a real place, 20 miles north of Tampa) performed a brief "magic" trick for one of his classes, in which he made a toothpick disappear and reappear. He was later called in by his supervisor and told he wouldn't be able to take any more substitute assignments because he was being accused of ... wait for it ... wizardry.

I'd like to know where (and when) are we? Is this Salem, MA in 1692, the middle of the witch trials? Madrid, Spain in the 16th century, the Spanish Inquisition (which nobody expected)? I was under the impression that it was 21st century United States, where reason and common sense prevail, or at least no one seriously believes in witchcraft anymore. Am I wrong? Apparently.

To quote my source of this story Phil Plait, "Teh stoopid! It hurts!"

Extra credit on a test: Follow Up

The question I decided on is this: "Portland is the largest city in Maine. What is its population, to with 10,000 people?"

I'll post the answer when everyone has taken the test. Hint: it's pretty small for a state's largest city.

Update 3/30/08
The test is over. The answer is about 64,000. I got answers ranging anywhere from 8,000 to 4 million (nearly four times the population of the entire state of Maine). It's kind of sad and amusing at the same time when you realize that so many kids have such little concept of anything like that.

Extra credit on a test

I don't give many extra credit assignments, but I do like to put a bonus question on a test, worth a few extra points added to the overall score. These are sometimes questions about physics or astronomy ("What star is closest to us besides the sun?"), the school ("What year did the science building open?"), or other random things ("At what point in his life did your teacher start playing the bagpipes?"). Little fun things that they either know or can make a reasonable guess.

I'm giving a test tomorrow in my Honors Physics classes, and I'm trying to think of a good question to use as a bonus. Any ideas?

P.S. - Alpha Centauri, 1995-1996 school year, college or age 18