Best science fair project ever

How many of you remember the dreaded 8th-grade science fair project?

Mine came in 1976. I knew in advance it was coming thanks to having an older brother who already went through it, so I actually embarked on it a year ahead of time. Being a budding biologist, my project was called “A Year’s Cycle of a Stream.”

Yes, the photo above is the notebook I assembled to illustrate my findings. (I still have it! — though it’s missing a few letters.) It was a hefty notebook, too, full of write-ups on the flora, fauna, and entire ecology of a particular pool found in this stream.

I got an “A” and a blue ribbon, and the opportunity to display my work at the regional science fair.

But most science fair projects strike terror into the hearts of students, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more clever illustration of this than what was featured on the SunnySkyz website, done by a student named Susan M.:

Okay, clearly this was assembled at the last minute. But what it lacks in research and hard work, it more than makes up in creativity and the guffaw factor.

Kudos to Susan M., whoever she is. I hope she got an “A.”