Re: [Phys-l] Advice from a veteran teacher?

[Marty Weiss <martweiss@comcast.net>]

	Let me tell a tale from my tenure as physics teacher when I inherited an ancient lab in the high school I retired from in 1998.   When I took on the physics job around 1989 many of the keys to the various old wooden storage cabinets were missing or scattered around in various drawers and desks.  Old timers know the type of cabinets I speak of... tall, heavy dark wood, old brass key slots, some cabinets and drawers numbered with paint labeled by several teachers in the past that were supposed to match certain keys.   Well, I spent a lot of time searching for the keys for many of those cabinets and after eventually found many of them.  Inside the cabinets were pieces of equipment for which I had no idea of their use; plus some useful electrical pieces, many old demo items of Newtonian type mechanics, and other things I could cannibalize for different labs and demos.  However, inside one drawer was a Geiger counter and a box of rocks.  You know the kind of counter this was... one of those yellow machines from the cold war/ nuclear war scare-days.  It didn't work any longer but I suspected the rocks were radioactive samples of some sort... but they were unlabeled.   I figured this stuff was locked up in the drawer since the 50's.  I thought it best to report my find.  
	So, I went to the principal and told him.  He came down to the lab, took a look, shook his head and said,  "That's long before my time, but I can look into it."    I put the stuff back in the drawer, locked it, and put the key in a safe place.    A year passed, and I had forgotten about the stuff in that drawer.  One day, I think it was now 1993 or so, the principal called me down to his office and said,  "Some people are coming to look at the stuff you found."  I shrugged and said,  "Ok, I have the key.  Just send them down."     Several weeks later a big unmarked white truck with US government plates pulled up to the side driveway leading to my lab area.  A bunch of guys jumped out, put on white jump-suits with hoodies, masks, "footies", and gloves, and marched into the building next to the lab.  The principal got on the intercom,  "Please do not allow anyone out of your rooms.  Will all security guards report to the hall outside of M- 30  (the physics lab.").  Please escort the physics students to the auditorium."    The cleanup crew entered my room, any curious kids who were in the hall were ordered to leave.  They asked me for the key.  (no one bothered to give me any *safe-gear*!! I suppose the teacher was what they call collateral damage!)  They gingerly removed all the stuff from the drawer, bagged it all up, and left as quickly as they had arrived.   The emergency was called off, and that was the last I ever saw of the rocks and the Geiger counter.  Much later I asked the supervisor what it all amounted to.  She told me she had no idea.  No one ever said what they did with the materials or what branch of the government these people were from  (this was long before 9/11 so there was no Homeland Security dept.).  To my knowledge, no one had to sign any waivers or release forms and that was the end of the it.  

Marty


On Dec 19, 2009, at 1:35 PM, Bernard Cleyet wrote:

> > > > These pictures were sent with Picasa, from Google.
> > > > Try it out here: http://picasa.google.com/
> > > > <100_5198.JPG><100_5199.JPG><100_5200.JPG><100_5201.JPG>
>
>
> Doesn't work --
>
> bc old timer familiar w/ stuff back > 80 years.
>
>
> BTW,  none of the posts below have I received.
>
>
>
> On 2009, Dec 19, , at 06:59, Peter Schoch wrote:
>
> > The scope is for electronics, and is probably WWII surplus -- I had
> > 3.  They generally work well when warmed up, but don't bet on getting
> > parts!
> >
> > HOWEVER, don't throw things away!  Contact a local antiquarian!  I
> > donated/sold much of my very old equipment to local amateur radio
> > people, and got a fair chunk of money from the antiquarians for the
> > other stuff so that I could then go out and purchase some new stuff.