Things principals say

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have just been informed that there is a foul odor in the borough of Manhattan."

Yes, that was how I began my day... turns out there was a gas leak in NJ - and the principal wanted us to close the windows.

When drinking glasses explode

This evening, I removed a stack of glasses from my cabinet. I separated the top one from the one below it, and put the other two back in the cabinet. About five minutes later, we heard a shattering noise. When I reopened the cabinet, there was one glass, with the shattered remnants of the glass that had been above it settled in its bottom and clinging around the upper edges in a way that was still vaguely drinking-glass shaped. The shards looked like the kind you get when a car window breaks, and for a few minutes afterward, just like with the car window (yes, a car window once broke on me - safety glass is very cool), we could hear the glass crackling. Later, when I cleaned all of the glass off the shelf, I discovered that shards of glass had landed in the top glass of another stack of three glasses (remember, the broken one was in a stack of two when it broke) - which means that not only did it shatter, it shattered with enough force to send glass flying upward! It is a very good thing that cabinet door was closed.

I took pictures, but I don't know how to post them here.

It was a rather intriguing experience.