If you were a superhero, what power would you have?

I take attendance by asking students a question.

If you were a superhero, what power would you have? (previously)

Traditional:

• invisibility
• fly (x3)
• mind control
• telekinesis
• teleportation (x4)
• time travel (x2)
• painless and instant shapeshifting
• technically you can shapeshift into a version of yourself with every power ever, so is that cheating?
• all possible powers

Extremely traditional award goes to "water to wine". Less traditional but reasonably-scoped version of "time travel" is just "actual ability to use time management", which might be my favorite low-stakes superpower.

• power to defeat all LeetCode hard questions
• A in this class :)
• The Gardener - plant communication
• cloning
• to always have exactly as much money as I need
• food generation
• eating w/o negative effects fooood
• to teach PA drivers how not to be completely incompetent
• no sleep
• be good at math
• super cool breath

The Professor's Side-Eye award goes to "using hash maps in class" because we just talked about this and no, you absolutely may not.

This post's theme word is yentz (v tr), "to cheat." Shapeshifting to a "form" that has different powers seems like a wish-for-more-wishes sort of yentz.

What is the most useless technology ever invented?

I take attendance by asking the students a question.

What is the most useless technology ever invented?

Lots of disdain for Apple products:

• AirPods
• iPhones without headphone jacks
• iPod
• iPod shuffle

Some people listed general one-purpose or unnecessarily one-purpose-plus-SMART things:

• blenders
• hand-dryers (x2)
• carbonation machines -- just deal with drinking "flat" liquids
• glasses headphones, but they cool
• smart fridge
• an iron
• any unitasker -- see Alton Brown's Good Eats
• fidget spinners
• juice keurig
• toasters
• toaster-oven (inspired)
• juicers

Some people took issue with the question or tried to hedge:

• I don't know (x3)
• probably something I don't know about
• any answer I give would probably upset someone
• How do you define technology?
• all technology is useful

Other people seemed to have a grudge, and express it via this question:

• those rainbow chairs on buses
• eye massager
• gunpowder
• AI
• Yahoo
• the U.S. Senate
• cars

I'll award the "yep, definitely" prize to "eye massager", which is certainly useless and probably also unwanted.

This post's theme word is rowel (n), "a small spiked wheel at the end of a spur attached to the shoe of a horse rider; used to goad a horse" or (v tr), "to prick, to vex." The attendance questions seem to rowel certain students.