[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The retrial in a high-profile case of a Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates... i man accused of killing a British teacher was adjourned on Sunday after the defence lawyer failed to show up in court.
The case of Badr Hashim Khamis Abdallah al-Jabar was adjourned until May 1 because of the legal no-show.
Jabar told the court that no defence team was present as "my lawyer was not informed about today’s hearing".
The judge then pushed the case back a further five weeks.
Jabar was initially sentenced to death two years ago after being convicted of stabbing and killing Lauren Patterson, 24, in October 2013 and burning her remains in a desert location.
The victim was also sexually assaulted, according to evidence given in court.
Last February, however, Qatar’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, threw out the conviction and sentence, ordering a retrial.
Jabar maintained he had accidentally stabbed Patterson after a row which she had started.
Lauren’s mother Alison told AFP she would attend the next hearing despite her disappointment on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016 00:00 ||
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[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The short answer is that students are going to need algebra at some point in their careers and that learning it goes a lot further toward teaching them to actually think than bullsquat courses that "teach them to think analytically."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/28/2016 00:00 ||
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#1
Cuts into time that could be spent on socially trendy subjects, don'cha know..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
03/28/2016 0:43 Comments ||
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#3
So the natural progression is the study of algebra will be reserved for those of privilege whose parents can afford to send them to the "right" private academies.
The Chinese and the Germans are laughing their asses off at this one...and licking their chops at the decline in American competition in engineering and science.
Pretty soon we won't be able to make an omelet without a guest worker.
#9
If a two I-phone package is $400 for the phones and $200 per month and a single I-phone $275 for the phone and $75 a month, which is the better deal?
Does graphing the total cost over time count as algebra?
Why do you need algebra when the salesman can tell you the best deal?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/28/2016 7:33 Comments ||
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#10
“When it came to x and y and graphing, that’s when I started dropping, and it made me feel low,” he said. “But we don’t need to learn what x and y is. When in life are we going to write on paper, ‘X and y needs to be this?’“
No wonder the kid failed.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/28/2016 7:38 Comments ||
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#11
Meanwhile students at, I beleave Emory, are severely traumatized by 'Trump 2016' written in chalk on the sidewalk....
#12
Algebra and geometry are the two specific courses that I can honestly say I couldn't have prospered without.
Try being a carpenter figuring out how to frame a complex roof and you'll see what I need. After that I switched careers and became a programmer, need I explain that one?
#17
“But we don’t need to learn what x and y is. When in life are we going to write on paper, ‘X and y needs to be this?’“
I must confess that was my problem. I wanted to know why and the teachers said "Just do it." It wasn't that math was too hard, it was that pointless memorization of theorems was boring, especially to a kid in high school who had just discovered girls, cars and surfing. I got through it but my grades were, ahem, not A's or B's. How, then, did I end up as a computer programmer?
I think we need a better approach to teaching math such as first present the students with a problem they might actually encounter in real life and then show them how math can be used to solve it. Teach them a practical application for it before you bore them to death. Teach them how they can use it to get a job and then make it clear to them that the jobs acquired with math skills pay a whole heckuva lot better. I think the real problem is getting the NEA to recognize they have a problem and getting them to change.
Here's what a teacher might tell them: "Now, kids, unless you want to end up teaching school like me you really should try to learn this stuff."
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 11:01 Comments ||
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#18
3dc, Robert Heinlein recommended calculus as a requirement for getting a driver's license.
#19
I'll take it a little further. My experience with high schools in California is that the emphasis is on getting kids into college. Never mind what college does to/for them. So if the college requires a year of algebra and a year or geometry those kids better damn well sit through those classes and do their homework for no other reason than they need it for four more years of sitting in boring classes?
The emphasis should be on job training for those who won't go to college. For those who will go to college, OK, make them learn math. But as I said earlier, learning math should be in the context of what can be done with math instead of math for the sake of math. Try a little elementary engineering or architecture. Teach 'em a little Javascript. Teach them something they might actually use in real life.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 11:13 Comments ||
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#20
Abu: you say that as if (oh, off the top of my head) the common mechanical drafter, machinist, or welder won't need to know albebra or geometry or precalculus or calculus.
#22
TfSM, I think that Abu was saying that as a kid he didn't get it (the need) but now he does AND to combat that problem teaching needs to change some.
He can defend himself better if necessary.
BUT, the key issue with Abu's approach is one I ran into when I became a substitute after retirement. first present the students with a problem they might actually encounter in real life
OMG!!!! Hit them first with the dreaded word problem!!! Sure fire failure all around.
Unfortunately I agree that is the way to go. Kids need to be taught how to THINK, analyse real problems and develop the proper methodology (sic) needed to solve it.
Given the general quality and ability of the teachers I saw in an upscale public system I'm not holding out much hope.
#24
Thing, I never studied drafting or machining. Sorry. It sounds interesting but I was just never even exposed to it. But my bottom line is the emphasis in high school should be jobs and not just going on to college so the high school teachers can brag about how many of their students go on to college.
Some people might find it interesting to sit and work equations just for the sake of working the equations just like some people like to work crossword puzzles. More power to them but I think that most people don't.
If you need math to be a drafter or machinist then by all means learn it. I think it would help if the math was presented as a tool to use on the job instead of an end unto itself. But as AlanC said, the teachers in our public school systems don't offer much hope.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 12:57 Comments ||
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#25
Here is the algebra logic of today. A sad commentary of today's educators and students.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/28/2016 13:12 Comments ||
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#26
Think of algebra as rite of passage in our culture
#27
I flunked my first year of algebra (1960) and passed on my second attempt. I worked on my first computer in 1963 and 44 years retired as a corporate engineer for DEC. During my years in high school, they also taught people to be mechanics, enginemen and machinists. Everyone is not meant for college! Our education system should be like the European one.
#28
I am finding myself in serious agreement with Heinlein more and more every day.
The math problems I review on eldest's school work is not only poor in math theory, they are also poor in English composition. Some are damn near unreadable. Common Dunce is frustrating to all but the natural mathematician and reading students. So I find myself supplementing the school education.
As the CC program is, they have them learning basic algebra before having their basic +-X/ tables memorized.
It is my theory that math, especially algebra and geometry, is like riding a bike. It takes some longer than others, but once you get it, your world is suddenly much larger.
How I got Algebra:
I have $10. A candy bar and soda cost $1.25. How many candy+sodas can I buy this week?
How I got Geometry:
Hey, this can help my billiards game!
Yes, drudgery in learning proofs, but side-angle-side etc. paid off just as well as +-X/ tables.
I actually really enjoyed Calculus after I got it.
#29
I notice that some people breeze through algebra and have problems with (classical proof-based) geometry, others have it the other way round. (some of us found both subjects fun) I'm not sure why there should be a difference, but... different branches of math, different approaches.
Posted by: james ||
03/28/2016 15:40 Comments ||
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#30
Their real problem with Algebra isn't that it's hard. But that it reflects reality as opposed to the flights of fantasy reflected in most Government forecasts.
#31
re #27: Omoluling Platypus4760 44 years retired as a corporate engineer for DEC.
Where and when at DEC? I spent 14 yrs mostly in Software Services, in and around Maynard. Were you at the Mill, Spitbrook, Nashua?? Those were interesting times, no?
#33
The only thing I learned in high school that proved useful in the real world was basic statistics and probability. I was in a program that omitted trigonometry to teach it. Trig to this day baffles me.
#34
Yes, drudgery in learning proofs, but side-angle-side etc. paid off just as well as +-X/ tables.
That's what I call a practical application. If only I'd had a pool table.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 17:17 Comments ||
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#35
Sometimes my walk home from school would be past a bowling alley with a game room. Planted get a job seeds as well, because losing was expensive.
Suddenly bowling pens were not a random flurry, carom shots in mini golf made sense. I didn't get it easily, had to work at it, but see the classic 3-4-5 triangle and know 30/60/90 - which years later fortuitously helped me learn drafting which landed me my first real job in high school and afford to take dates to the bowling alley and really lose some money.
#40
If they are factoring higher order polynomials, the courses may be too advanced for high school. Better to hammer home the basics and save something for the advanced placement courses.
For a map, click here. You can enlarge the map, if you open it separately.
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
Attacks and counterattacks around northern Donetsk city have significantly increased over the weekend as both sides report casualties and even combat deaths, mostly from artillery shelling, according to Russian language news accounts.
According to a news account which appeared in tsensor.net.ua, a probe by Russian backed separatists near Avdievka on Sunday evening was driven back with four Ukrainian wounded and an unknown number of casualties on the rebels' side. Ukrainian positions also were hit with 82mm and 120mm mortar fire.
At around the same time, rebel military officials say the Ukrainians attempted a breakthrough fight near Avidievka, which resulted in five Ukrainian soldiers being killed and four wounded.
According to the Donetsk ministry of defense news release, Number 16 Company of the Ukrainian 58th Separate Rifle Brigade was the lead element in the attack.
Quoting the Donetsk ministry of defense spokesman Lt. Colonel Eduard Basurin, Ukrainian front line units have been ordered to limit the number of dead reported to five per day. Basurin said that 23 Ukrainian dead were being kept hidden at an aid station in Avdievka.
The report also said that a total of 189 Ukrainian have died at the line of contact, not just in Donetsk, with another 322 wounded since early March. Many of those casualties are from hazing, which is prevalent in both armies, and from accidental firearms discharges.
A separate tsensor.net.ua report said that on Saturday night a total of four rebel soldiers were killed and six were wounded in a rebel probe in Avdievka.
The report also said that soldiers from the rebel 3rd Separate Rifle Brigade has refused to carry out attack orders. The report does not make clear if those elements were the same elements who were involved in Saturday's attacks.
Official rebel reports claim that about 20 individuals were removed from their residences in Avdievka by Ukrainian security forces on Saturday. Rebels in the past have claimed similar incidents in which Ukrainian security services have removed families near the forward zone because they were considered pro Russian.
Fighting elsewhere on the line of contact
According to a news report which appeared in korrespondent.net, rebel forces in both Donetsk and Lugansk fired on Ukrainian forces a total of 44 times in a 24 hour period.
Rebels fired a variety of weapons at Ukrainians in Lugansk city, Novogorodskoye, Mayorsk, Zaytsevo, Leninskoye, Peski, Opytnoye, Shirokino, Troitskoye and Marinka.
Weapons used at Zaitsevo included 122mm artillery. Zaytsevo has been the focus of an ongoing artillery exchange since early in March.
On Saturday between 0500 hrs and 0800 hrs, according to a separate korrespondent.net news report, rebels fired on Ukrainian positions near Zaytsevo and Mayorsk a total of 160 times, a comparatively powerful barrage for this war.
On Saturday rebels also hit Ukrainian positions on the right bank of the northern Donetsk River using artillery.
According to rebel officials, Ukrainian forces violated the ceasefire a total of 43 times in a 48 hour period. Ukrainian artillery has reportedly hit rebel positions in Yasinovataya, Zaytsevo, Spartak, at the Donetsk airport, and in western districts of Donetsk city. Rebel positions hit by artillery in southern Donetsk include at Kominternovo, Sahanka and Dokuchaevsk. Four residences were reported damaged in Ukrainian artillery fire at Dokuchaevsk.
Yasinovataya
According to rebel media from Russian reserve FSB Colonel Igor Girkin's novorusinform.org, rebel forces have ousted Ukrainian forces from two positions near Avdievka over the weekend. According to a report from Radio Liberty, sourced in the news article, Ukrainian forces attempted a rapid counterattack, but it is unclear in the report if the counterattack was successful.
According to the article, two Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another five were wounded in Avdievka and in Marinka.
Chris Covert writes about foreign military issues for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter. You can read past articles about the 2014 war in southeastern Ukraine by clicking here.
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose on Thursday, helped by higher rates for bigger vessels.
The overall index that factors in the rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, was up five points to 406 points.
The capesize index rose seven points or 3.57 percent to 203 points.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were up $77 to $2,082.
The panamax index was up eight points at 466 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, rose $58 to $3,731.
Among smaller vessels, the supramax index rose five points to 473 points, while the handysize index was up two points at 268 points.
#1
Upgrades to ships using less expensive gas power so as to make them much less costly to operate also. This will cull the herd. Scrap value will drop.
#2
The gas may be less expensive, but the engineering, fabrication, and vessel modification costs for storage and delivery, at this point, rather negate the savings in fuel.
#3
Just another fly in the ointment---Lake Gatun in the Panama Canal is in the dry season, and the lake level is lowering because of the lowered amount of rain in the watershed supplying the lake. That means there are restrictions on ship draft. That could limit how many containers can be loaded on a ship. Large ships that cannot carry full loads may be more economical to move around the Cape than through the Panama Canal.
I do not know all the economics, but it could affect large ship traffic through the Canal.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/28/2016 19:54 Comments ||
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#4
According to a railroads trade art that was discussing decline in intermodal in ound from Asia was this : decline in oil prices allowed ship owners options to transit around south america (cheaper than canal tolls) or return to china around Africa. either way adds to cruise duration and would boost thr baltic
I suppose they've never heard of redacting.
Judicial Watch announced today that it is asking a federal court to order the National Archives and Records Administration to release draft criminal indictments of Hillary Clinton. In its motion for summary judgment, the National Archives claimed that "the drafts involve a significant [Clinton] privacy interest that is not outweighed by any public interest...." In its March 11 opposition brief, Judicial Watch counters that allegedly "making false statements and withholding evidence from federal investigators bears on Mrs. Clinton's honesty, credibility, and trustworthiness ... for the position she currently seeks," rendering the National Archives claim "neither serious nor credible."
#3
Honestly doesn't sound like a big deal. Everyone had to scramble, but the fact that it was handled in 2 hours kind of makes it a success story, not a failure.
#4
Oh well. If you're using code that resides on somebody else's web site, you have no control over it so that kind of thing might happen. At least with jquery you get to install the libraries on your own system so nobody can mess with it. Maybe next time write your own code.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 11:33 Comments ||
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#5
This takes me back 30 years to the beginning of the whole OpenSource debates and the creation of OS languages and operating systems.
The relevant term was "industrial strength" AND when your system crashes and burns "Who ya gonna call"?
#6
These days if you have to call HP you're gonna be outta luck. Unfortunately I suspect it's pretty much the same with the other vendors.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
03/28/2016 14:46 Comments ||
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#7
This is where hackers can wreak havoc on systems that rely on remote code servers. This news release will alert mischievous hackers of a new target area.
Posted by: Ho Chi Crinens5363 ||
03/28/2016 21:07 Comments ||
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#8
A tempest in a teapot. But I fear it's just a harbinger of catastrophic things to come. Just wait til the whole cloud comes crashing down like a shattered glass ceiling.
External dependency is simply bad business.
I wonder how much of our national infrastructure is now dependent on external private repositories. A catastrophe waiting to happen.
I agree with Abu Uluque about code libraries such as jquery.
But only as long as they exist internally within your own system.
Not only have external repositories proven fragile, but the link itself presents a duel pathway to hackers. It allows potential hacker access, not only to the repository, but also to your own system files.
An electricity transmission line that will someday ship renewable energy directly from Oklahoma's panhandle to utilities in the southeastern United States cleared a key regulatory hurdle Friday as the federal Energy Department announced its participation in the project.
The 700-mile Plains and Eastern Clean Line project will cross parts of 14 Oklahoma counties before going through Arkansas and ending north of Memphis, Tenn. The privately funded, $2.5 billion project will deliver about 4,000 megawatts of renewable energy. So no State Department review? No Presidential inaction-to-death? How much transmission loss in that 700 miles? And 4000 megawatts is the output of a couple of nuclear reactors. Big deal...
"Building modern transmission that delivers renewable energy to more homes and businesses will create jobs, cut carbon emissions and enhance the reliability of our grid." Carbon-free jobs are better than oil pipeline jobs. And those wind farms don't effect the weather/climate any more than a butterfly flapping its' wings in China.
By opening up new areas for wind energy and renewable energy development, the line will enable a little over 4,000 megawatts of new wind projects to be built in the Oklahoma panhandle." Just the transmission line; there's no power to be transmissioned yet.
The federal government's transmission line participation is going through the Southwestern Power Administration, a federal agency that markets and transmits electricity from hydroelectric dams. The project will use the power administration's eminent domain powers as a last resort if Clean Line can't come to agreements with local landowners along the transmission line route. Which the engineering newsletter that gave me the link notes - Department of Energy, which invoked section 1222 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. This means the 700-plus-mile line will be built regardless of any state objections. Which explains why Slick Willie's home state is upset.
Members of Arkansas' congressional delegation said Friday they were disappointed with the involvement by the Energy Department. They said the federal government was going against the wishes of Arkansas regulators when they rejected the Plains and Eastern Clean Line in 2011. This is interstate commerce, you flyover rubes; the Feds take precedence!
"Today marks a new page in an era of unprecedented executive overreach as the Department of Energy seeks to usurp the will of Arkansans and form a partnership with a private company -- the same private company previously denied rights to operate in our state by the Arkansas Public Service Commission."
Sierra Club Executive Director called it a key step in growing a clean energy economy. "We've crossed a clean line towards building America's clean energy future and there's no turning back," he said. We won; get over it.
However, every silver lining has a cloud an Oklahoma group that wants to end state tax incentives for wind said the approval should bolster its case that the state can't afford the incentives any more.
"This approval amidst the current budget environment makes it crystal clear that the state must act now and stop all current and future wind subsidy payments," said the vice president of government relations for Continental Resources Inc., a member of The Windfall Coalition. "This project will increase the already outrageous amount of state dollars going to out of state wind developers who are selling their generated electricity to Arkansas and Tennessee. As a state we must act now."
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/28/2016 13:14 ||
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[LI] San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement Friday he doesn't want any city workers to travel to North Carolina unless necessary in wake of its legislation which blocks anti-discrimination for gay, lesbian and transgender people.
"We are standing united as San Franciscans to condemn North Carolina’s new discriminatory law that turns back the clock on protecting the rights of all Americas including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals," Lee said in the statement.
"Effective immediately, I am directing City Departments under my authority to bar any publicly-funded City employee travel to the State of North Carolina that is not absolutely essential to public health and safety."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[LI] San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee said in a statement Friday he doesn't want any city workers to travel to North Carolina unless necessary in wake of its legislation which blocks anti-discrimination for gay, lesbian and transgender people.
