Adventures with Anon: 18/02/2000
Anon looked around the classroom. He saw about 30 kids "working" at their computers. You could always tell when the teacher was out of the room, because at those times, "working" consisted of playing JavaNoid. In that class, one would practically learn to minimize the browser with one's eyes closed. There was one simultaneous "click" of 30 mouse buttons, and MS Access was instantly up on the screen instead of the Arkanoid clone that everyone found so enthralling.
Yes, it was easy to tell when the teacher entered the room again as well. There were usually two signs, the first being the giant click of doom, the second being the permeating stench of moth balls. Instinctively, Anon resumed breathing through his mouth, as he had done so many times before.
Everyone knew what Mr. Moth Ball would say next. "The only time you kids are wasting is your own." Of course, class had started 20 minutes ago, and nobody had been told what today's assignment was, but then, that was logic at work. Logic never seemed to find an entrance into the brick that was Mr. Moth Ball's brain.
After taking five minutes to sit at his desk, he started calling roll. You'd think he'd learn our names eventually, Anon thought. There was the usual chorus of heres, yos, and whats, and the assignment was given. Page 274. As normal, two-thirds of the class finished in ten minutes. The back row, also as normal, was either doing nothing or busy being utterly confused as to the meaning of "Any Key". And then, the expected happened.
"OK, everybody done with page 277?" No wait for an answer. "OK, good, print it out and turn it in." The kids who cared about their grades piped up. "You didn't tell us to do 277." "Oh, I didn't? It must be your fault." And off he goes, to... somewhere, Anon thought. He'll be gone for anther ten minutes, easily. Oh well, back to JavaNoid.