I’ve been working on Sigurd again although I’ve taken a break in recent days. Schools is starting up on the third and HCCS (which I totally forgot about) saw a massive influx in users and my code seems to have having problems coping with the load. Sadly, I’m not surprised. I rely heavily on the Facebook API to gather user information and the direct-PHP API is slow as balls on my host. I should fix it but I really don’t have the motivation at the moment. -_- Also need to finish summer reading, the books were decent this year Ishmael and The Power of One. No objections – just lazy.

On an entirely unrelated note – this website lacks any semblance of decent design. I, and I’d assume many others (from reading comments and what not), instinctively looked that the bottom of the page for the horizontal scroll bar to center all the images. This, however, was not there. Further, if you look at the taskbar on the image of the Windows computer at the top you’ll notice an interesting page loaded in IE. [Reddit]

The format:

• T – Topic Sentence; The topic sentence states the main idea of the paragraph. It is the writer’s promise to the reader to stay on topic and prove a point.
• S – Summary; Putting the text (quote) into your own words (paraphrasing)
• E – Evidence; A quote taken directly from the story (text) that proves your opinion. A quote is any word, phrase, or sentence that comes from the story (text).
• A – Analysis; Breaking something into parts to understand it more clearly and to identify the deeper meaning or purpose.
• C – Coherence; Details are arranged in a logical order and thoughts move smoothly from one sentence to another.
• U – Unity; All sentences relate to and prove the topic sentence.
• S – Style; An author’s flair; technique
• Sentence variety
• Use of figurative language
• Sentence Structure
• Word Choice

I just realized I could have had the paragraph done by now…

“I don’t really see the big deal, though the “terc method” seemed a bit odd, “everyday mathematics” seems like a pretty good text book.” – Nathan07

Wow. I agree 100% with this video. I am a freshman in high school. I used “Everyday Math” text books, which, I must say did teach us math; and luckily, our school also taught us the standard algorithm. Our schools stance was “We present the kids with different methods and they choose which they like best.” This idea was fine. I learned how to multiply and divide; I use the standard method. I remember thinking when we were learning the other methods that is was a waste of time – I can promise you it was. I do not know one student in my Honors Algebra 2 (which is the highest track in my school) class that uses any of those methods – Everyday Math wastes class time. There is one other MAJOR flaw with Everyday Math that she only quickly when over. She said that Everyday Math does not help the children learn how to work logically. This is completely correct. Students in my classes have problems working out problems that require logic – that must be done in an order. Luckily I started programming at a young age (when I was about 9 years old) and I have developed the skills required to work out these problems. I feel bad for the students who do no have the skills needed.

Just a note: A high percentile of students (me included) do not have their basic multiplication tables memorized. I urge everyone to make sure their schools are not using Everyday Math – the other math book sounds even worse then Everyday Math – I can only imagine what is happening to those students.

Digg the video.