A few of weeks ago, former tax accounting professor Will Yancey visited our cottage
on the way home from a Dartmouth College reunion.
Will and his wife built a beautiful new home on an ocean point overlooking Acadia National Park

I took Will part way up Cannon Mountain about 10 miles from our cottage
It was shortly after sunrise near where the tram takes skiers to the top of Cannon Mountain
Part way up Cannon Mountain there are two lakes in Franconia Notch State Park
Note that Will has an expensive camera and is a better photographer than me.
Here are Will's pictures of Echo Lake inside the Notch
Lafayette and Lincoln Mountains are to the left across the Notch

This is another shot of Echo Lake not taken by Will.
This one shows where I93 passes beside Echo Lake in the Notch


There is an Alpine Lodge in Mittersill

This is a portion of the Omega climbing route up Cannon Mountain

Near Echo Lake is the tiny (no stores) alpine village of Mittersill that has a chair lift to the top of the mountain
Will Yancey took a picture from Mittersill back toward our cottage across the Gale River valley
This was in late autumn and all the colorful leaves were off the trees
Vermont is only a short way off in this direction (west)
Our tiny village of Sugar Hill is hidden behind the Sunset Hill ridge and is not visible from our cottage
Our cottage is a mere white dot in this photograph taken by Will from Mittersill

The above shot was zoomed quite a lot.
Here's how it looked to the naked eye when looking out toward Vermont from Mittersill.

The front side of the Sunset Hill House just down the road from our cottage

This is a shot from our front lawn earlier in the fall when there was still some color
Looking out to the east toward Mittersill that we can see lit up at night
We can also see skiers (as tiny dots) coming down a few of Cannon's many ski trails

Here's how it looked behind the cottage looking across the golf course toward Vermont

Lafayette and Lincoln mountains do not yet in 2009 have quite this much snow,
But this is how they looked just before Thanksgiving last year.
The white trails on Cannon Mountain are ski trails
We had a very long skiing season last year
The bright light is the reflection of camera flash that marks
the start if the Franconia Notch mountain pass between Lafayette and Cannon

 

Here are a few humor shots of the week

A nice way to grow old as the best of friends and years of marriage
(looks a little like Warren Buffett but I don't know this happy old couple)

Centrum Silver Strip Poker Advertisement --- Click Here

They Just Don't Look Good Naked Anymore ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_6I50oXAVM

Thanksgiving --- http://www.cpmsglife2.org/MSG/Pres/td/td1.html

The Farmers by Artist Robert Duncan (Slide Show) --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/Farmers.pps

Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations Between November 11-17, 2009
To Accompany the November 17, 2009 edition of Tidbits
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits091117Quotations.htm     

U.S. Debt/Deficit Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Bob Jensen's health care messaging updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm

 

 

Tidbits on November 17, 2009
Bob Jensen

For earlier editions of Tidbits go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
For earlier editions of New Bookmarks go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm 

Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron" enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and other universities is at http://www.searchedu.com/.


Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   


Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/

CPA Examination --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpa_examination

Cool Search Engines That Are Not Google --- http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/06/coolsearchengines

World Clock and World Facts --- http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf

U.S. Debt/Deficit Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Free Residential and Business Telephone Directory (you must listen to an opening advertisement) --- dial 800-FREE411 or 800-373-3411
 Free Online Telephone Directory --- http://snipurl.com/411directory       [www_public-records-now_com] 
 Free online 800 telephone numbers --- http://www.tollfree.att.net/tf.html
 Google Free Business Phone Directory --- 800-goog411
To find names addresses from listed phone numbers, go to www.google.com and read in the phone number without spaces, dashes, or parens

Daily News Sites for Accountancy, Tax, Fraud, IFRS, XBRL, Accounting History, and More ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm

Cool Search Engines That Are Not Google --- http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/06/coolsearchengines
Bob Jensen's search helpers --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm
Education Technology Search --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm
Distance Education Search --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm
Search for Listservs, Blogs, and Social Networks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm

Bob Jensen's essay on the financial crisis bailout's aftermath and an alphabet soup of appendices can be found at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm

Free Online Textbooks, Videos, and Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Free Tutorials in Various Disciplines --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials
Edutainment and Learning Games --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
Open Sharing Courses --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
The Master List of Free Online College Courses ---
http://universitiesandcolleges.org/

 

For earlier editions of Tidbits go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbitsdirectory.htm

For earlier editions of New Bookmarks go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm 

 


On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

Bob Jensen's blogs and various threads on many topics --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
       (Also scroll down to the table at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ )

Global Incident Map --- http://www.globalincidentmap.com/home.php

If you want to help our badly injured troops, please check out
Valour-IT: Voice-Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops  --- http://www.valour-it.blogspot.com/




Free Online Textbooks, Videos, and Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Free Tutorials in Various Disciplines --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials
Edutainment and Learning Games --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
Open Sharing Courses --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI




Online Video, Slide Shows, and Audio
In the past I've provided links to various types of music and video available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm

Thanksgiving --- http://www.cpmsglife2.org/MSG/Pres/td/td1.html

NOTICE THAT THIS IS FROM CNN, NOT FOX!!!
CNN video on the proposed change in immigration laws
 http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/17260182/1610997888/name/ftc-vi26..wmv

IOUSA (the most frightening movie in American history) ---
(see a 30-minute version of the documentary at www.iousathemovie.com )

Harvard Stem Cell Institute --- http://www.hsci.harvard.edu/

NASA: Interactive Features [Flash Player] http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/mmgallery/features_archive_1.html

Hidden Histories of Exploration [Flash Player] http://hiddenhistories.rgs.org/

Statler Brothers with Burma Shave Road Signs Video --- http://oldfortyfives.com/DYRT.htm

Video Special This Week --- http://useloos.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=8715
Amazing Nature (I mean really amazing)
Birth of a Baby Elephant
Especially note what the mother does when her newborn appears to be dead on the floor!

Amidst the budget cutting crises in California, English, history, math, and other really important courses are being cut in colleges throughout California. And students are being denied admission because of cutbacks in course offerings. Accordingly we must seriously question the need for adding a position at the University of Santa Cruz for archiving the works of The Grateful Dead rock band.
Here's John Stewart's Comedy Central video on this Grateful Dead archivist job:
"Jon Stewart on the Job Posting for a Dead Archivist," Chronicle of Higher Education, November 12, 2009 --- Click Here
http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Jon-Stewart-on-the-Job-Posting/8829/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en


Free music downloads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm

Statler Brothers with Burma Shave Road Signs Video --- http://oldfortyfives.com/DYRT.htm

Christmas With a Capital "C" --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAckfn8yiAQ Web outfits like Pandora, Foneshow, Stitcher, and Slacker broadcast portable and mobile content that makes Sirius look overpriced and stodgy ---
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc20090327_877363.htm?link_position=link2

Hafez Nazeri: From Iran, Music Beyond Politics ---
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120397164

Meshell Ndegeocello Puts Life In Rhythm ---
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114237531

TheRadio (my favorite commercial-free online music site) --- http://www.theradio.com/
Slacker (my second-favorite commercial-free online music site) --- http://www.slacker.com/

Gerald Trites likes this international radio site --- http://www.e-radio.gr/
Songza:  Search for a song or band and play the selection --- http://songza.com/
Also try Jango --- http://www.jango.com/?r=342376581
Sometimes this old guy prefers the jukebox era (just let it play through) --- http://www.tropicalglen.com/
And I listen quite often to Soldiers Radio Live --- http://www.army.mil/fieldband/pages/listening/bandstand.html
Also note
U.S. Army Band recordings --- http://bands.army.mil/music/default.asp

Bob Jensen listens to music free online (and no commercials) --- http://www.slacker.com/ 


Photographs and Art

Saturn Is Beautiful --- http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/post.aspx?bid=358&bpid=24383&nlid=2503

Langston Hughes Papers and Photographs --- http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/hughes.ht

In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960-1976
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/inandout/ 

Night Falls on Hong Kong
Paula writes:  Place your cursor at the top of the photo. You will notice it is 6:10 PM. Bring the mouse down slowly over the photo without pressing the button on the mouse. Do not right or left click. Night time appears, the lights come on, and at 7:40 PM, it's dark! Photo Technology at its best!  Please take about 10 to 15 full seconds to really see this.
Click below:
http://61226.com/share/hk.swf 

NASA: Interactive Features [Flash Player] http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/mmgallery/features_archive_1.html

Public Art In the Bronx --- http://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/publicart/index.html 

Louis Braille: His Legacy and Influence on the blind [Flash Player] http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/braille/Pages/Default.aspx

Animate Projects [Art and Animation] --- http://www.animateprojects.org/home

Art & Architecture --- http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/ 

With enough poking around you can find portraits of Oswald posing with his rifle, picnicking and drinking from tiny bottles with a lady friend, and even lying dead in a morgue. There's even one shot of strippers from Jack Ruby's club . . "U. of North Texas Catalogs the Photos of the JFK Investigation You Haven't Seen," Chronicle of Higher Education, November 13, 2009 --- Click Here
The Portal to Texas History at the UNT --- http://texashistory.unt.edu/

Bob Jensen's threads on history, literature and art ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#History


Online Books, Poems, References, and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

Louis Braille: His Legacy and Influence on the blind [Flash Player] http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/braille/Pages/Default.aspx

In Transition: Selected Poems by the Baroness Elsa von Freytag- Loringhoven
http://www.lib.umd.edu/digital/transition/index.jsp
Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters --- http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/

Sanora Babb, Stories from the American High Plains [Flash Player] http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/web/babb/

Langston Hughes Papers and Photographs --- http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/hughes.ht

Free Online Textbooks, Videos, and Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Free Tutorials in Various Disciplines --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials
Edutainment and Learning Games --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
Open Sharing Courses --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI




Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations Between November 11-17, 2009
To Accompany the November 17, 2009 edition of Tidbits
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2009/tidbits091117Quotations.htm     

U.S. Debt/Deficit Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Bob Jensen's health care messaging updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm




Question
What is Japan's hottest car company?

Hint:
The company only makes all-wheel drive vehicles with continuously variable transmissions and unique boxer engines.
I love our new car, the first new car I ever purchased in lifetime (thanks to Cash for Clunkers)

"Subaru: Japan's Hottest Car Company:  As rivals watch their U.S. sales slide, Fuji Heavy Industries' Subaru is heading for a record year ," by Ian Rowley, Business Week, November 11, 2009 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/nov2009/gb20091111_789023.htm?link_position=link11

Here's our new Subaru Forrester.


Questions
After testing seven of the most popular e-book readers to date, what did PC World magazine was their top choice to purchase (if you could only have one reader)?

What in the world justifies this unsuspected choice?

"The Best of Today's E-Book Readers:  The number of high-quality e-readers available is mushrooming. We tested seven and gave our highest marks to one that might surprise you," by Yardena Arar, PC World via The Washington Post, November 6, 2009 --- Click Here

If you think the universe of e-book readers begins with the Kindle 2 and ends with the Kindle DX, think again. That universe is expanding rapidly. We recently completed thorough hands-on testing of seven of the top e-readers available today and came to a surprising conclusion: Our number one choice isn't from Amazon at all; it's the Sony Reader Touch Edition.

Sony's $300 reader matches the Kindle 2's screen size and quality but adds a touchscreen and support for free e-books and Adobe ePub, an e-book file format that book publishers and resellers have widely embraced. Whereas Adobe's PDF reproduces a fixed image of a page, ePub permits text to reflow in order to accommodate different fonts and font sizes.Certainly the wireless connectivity in Amazon's Kindle models makes buying new books a breeze, but to this point Amazon's readers support only Amazon's format, locking you into buying exclusively from the online giant.

Of course, no company's lead in the rapidly evolving e-reader market is safe. Barnes & Noble looks to be one of Amazon's chief competitors. The giant bookseller announced its Nook e-reader last month, and most people who got a peek at the device seemed to love it. The Nook isn't yet available for thorough testing, however.

E-books have numerous benefits. Eliminating paper saves resources. E-book readers take up little room in travelers' backpacks and purses, and yet can store the equivalent of a whole bookshelf. You don't have to go anywhere to buy or borrow an e-book title. For the vision-impaired, the ability to adjust font size can mean the difference between being able to read a book and having to hope that the publisher will eventually release an audio version. Some e-book readers double as music players, and some even have a speech capability for reading books aloud.

Unfortunately, the world of e-books is Balkanized, with multiple incompatible file formats and digital rights management (DRM) technologies, and devices with varying support for both. Books in the public domain are widely available in PDF and other standard formats. But copyrighted material is another story. Amazon's current Kindles can obtain commercial e-books in Amazon's AZW file format via wireless download only in the United States (in early October, however, the company announced a Kindle capable of downloading content in most countries).

Adobe offers a DRM technology called Adobe Content Server 4. Sony and a number of other online bookstores--most notably Borders--sell commercial titles in ePub/ACS4 format, and some libraries let patrons check out ePub books. As of early October, 17 e-book readers supported ePub and ACS4, making that combination the closest thing the industry has to a standard for DRM-protected books. Aside from the Amazon Kindles and Foxit's eSlick, all of the e-book readers in this collection of reviews support ePub/ACS4.

We compiled a comparison chart of the five highest-ranking e-readers at the conclusion of our evaluations. For the details, see our Top 5 E-Book Readers chart. And for individual reviews of the seven e-readers we put through their paces --- http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/collection/1985/.html .
Jensen Comment
Today, November 6, 2009,  the comparison buttons would not work for me.

"Amazon Kindle for PC E-Book Software:  This highly usable e-book reader for the PC shows off the Kindle platform well, even though it lacks some niceties found in its iPhone cousin and in Kindle hardware," PC World via The Washington Post, November 12, 2009 --- Click Here

Amazon's Kindle family gained a new member today with the arrival of the free Amazon Kindle for PC reader app. And while I'm not a big fan of reading books on computer displays, I have to admit that Kindle for PC handles the basics of its job well. But it lacks a few features--most significantly the ability to create your own notes--found not just in Kindle hardware but also in the Kindle for iPhone app.

A 5.3MB download, Kindle for PC installs in a jiffy. After you log in to your account, it presents a home screen with options to look at your archived items or to shop at the Kindle store (the latter simply opens a Web browser window to Amazon.com's Kindle home page). Books appear as color thumbnails, sortable by author or title. It was nice to see the book covers in color for a change (the Kindle iPhone app does this, too).

The Menu button on the far right brings up an option for changing the account registration info; the app does not support registration of multiple accounts. You'll also find a command to sync and check for new items purchased in the Kindle store, which do not automatically appear with your archived items.

You must click on a book in the list of archived content to download it and bring up the reading interface. The first time you do so, a little pop-up graphic shows how to turn pages: You can use either your PC's arrow keys (pressing the down or right arrow moves a page forward, and pushing the up or left arrow goes back, just as I expected) or the scroll wheel of your mouse. Pages on the PC looked good and crisp. Clicking the font icon on top gives you ten font sizes to choose from--plus, you can also set the page width with a slider, a nice feature you don't get in any other Kindle hardware or software. On the far top right, an icon labeled 'Show Notes & Marks' produces a pane for annotations and bookmarks. Another button lets you set bookmarks, and a 'Go To' button produces a menu for navigating to the cover (enlarged, and again in lovely color), the table of contents, the beginning of the book, or a specific location.

Also in the Go To menu is the 'Sync to Furthest Page Read' command, which you use when you've been reading a book on another Kindle registered to your account (or on the Kindle for iPhone app) and you want to pick up where you left off. This feature worked smoothly when I tried it, and it could be a huge convenience for people who wish to move seamlessly among devices. Kindle for PC also syncs bookmarks and annotations, but you don't have to create a bookmark for it to note the location you leave off reading on the PC: Whispernet automatically provides this info to other devices on demand through similar sync commands.

For Whispernet synchronization to work, however, you must keep it turned on in your account settings on the Amazon site (it's on by default)--and, of course, you must turn on the wireless support on your Kindle devices. The option of turning sync on or off is useful, because if more than one person is reading a book registered to a single account at the same time, they probably don't want to use one another's bookmarks. But if you're the only account user, turning sync on lets you pick up reading on any Kindle device or application.

Kindle for PC, by the way, does not support the creation of annotations; this seems a bit odd considering that the iPhone app supports not only note creation but also the application of highlights to text. Kindle for PC also lacks search capability, although a Future Improvements item in the menu says that Amazon plans to add both annotation and search support.

The only somewhat unintuitive aspect of the interface is the Back button in the reading screen: I thought that clicking it would turn the book a page back, but the button turns out to be inactive unless you've used one of the Go To navigation options, in which case clicking Back returns you to wherever you were before you jumped around.

At the bottom of the page, you get your current location range in the center, your percentage of progress through the book on the left, and the total number of locations on the right (the e-book equivalent of the number of pages in print). Clicking the Home button at the top of the page returns you to a list of books you've opened on the PC (you must click the Archived Items button to see your entire collection).

And that's pretty much the entire application. Kindle for PC is simple and intuitive, and if you don't mind reading on a backlit screen or doing without annotation features, it offers a cheap way to get going with the Kindle store.

Bob Jensen's threads on the history of e-book readers is at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ebooks.htm

Bob Jensen's links to free books, poems, and textbooks ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

Bob Jensen's threads to open sharing courses, tutorials, and videos from prestigious universities ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


"Spike in Social Media Malware, Phishing Attacks," by Brian Krebs, The Washington Post, November 5, 2009 ---
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/11/spike_in_social_media_malware.html?wprss=securityfix

E-mail scams targeting users of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are blurring the lines between traditional phishing attacks and those designed to plant password-stealing malicious software on the victim's PC.

For the past week, scammers have been blasting out e-mails that at first glance appear to be run-of-the-mill phishing scams aimed at stealing user names and passwords from Facebook users. The messages urge recipients to "update" their information by clicking a provided link and entering their Facebook user name and password at a counterfeit Facebook login page.

Facebook users who fall for the ruse are "logged in" to the fake Facebook page and then prompted to install a "Facebook Update Tool," which is in fact a copy of the Zeus password stealing Trojan.

A study released in October found that 54 percent of U.S. companies have banned workers from using social networking sites. The author of that survey cites the impact that social media sites can have on worker productivity, but a growing number of businesses are becoming attuned to the potential for these sites to introduce malware into corporate networks, said Rohyt Belani, chief executive of Intrepidus Group, a security consulting firm in New York City.

"When you click a link in a phishing [e-mail] it could be a regular phishing site or it might lead to malware," Belani said. "Companies are being forced to train employees to help protect their networks."

Intrepidus offers the Phishme service, which helps companies test how susceptible their employees are to phishing attacks by sending workers mock phishing e-mails and then recording how many employees take the bait. Employees that fail the test are immediately presented with training materials to help them better spot a phishing scam the next time around.

Intrepidus customers have tried to phish roughly 100,000 employees using social media sites as bait, and so far the initial results are not good: 61 percent of employees clicked links included in mock phishing attacks that spoofed Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Intrepidus found that on average only 18 percent of employees who fell for the initial phishing test were vulnerable in follow-up tests.

Figures released by Microsoft this week about cyber crime trends in the first half of this year also suggest that Internet users are far more susceptible to phishing and malware scams that use social media sites as a lure. Using the phish filter in its Internet Explorer 7 and 8 Web browsers, Microsoft can track phishing "impressions," or how many times people click through to a known phishing Web site. According to Redmond, May and June saw a massive increase in the number of people clicking through to phishing sites.

Continued in article (the graphic does indeed show a huge spike)

Bob Jensen's threads on phishing and malware (I've been victimized by a so-called network security vendor) --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce/000start.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on social networking ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm


Chicago State University:  More Money + Less Accountability =  Lousy Outcomes

"A Real-Life Lesson in Why Accountability Matters By Goldie Blumenstyk, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 8, 2009 --- Click Here

When you don't have much money, sometimes the difference between staying in college and dropping out really is a bus fare to campus. Or a library that doesn't close too early. Or a registration process that doesn't cost you days away from your job.

So it's heartening to hear from students here at Chicago State University, most of whom come from the poor South Side communities nearby, and are also juggling family responsibilities and jobs they can't afford to give up, that they appreciate changes a new administration has finally brought to this campus.

A dormitory so rundown that one student said it "was almost like living in a project building" has been repaired. Course calendars have been prepared for semesters beyond the current one, so students can better plan to complete their degrees. There's even a new shuttle service that takes students directly to the campus from a subway stop several dicey blocks away.

"The grass is green, the trees are trimmed, and the garbage is off the ground," was the proud assessment from Levon James Jr., a junior, as he walked me through the library, student union, and other landmarks of the 160-acre campus recently.

In neglected urban neighborhoods, the "broken windows" theory says, simple things like picking up the trash and washing away graffiti can help reverse the decline.

Now, with what might be considered the higher-education equivalent—visible improvements like streamlining registration and giving students a safe and quiet place to study by keeping the library open until midnight—Wayne D. Watson, the new president, is looking to kick-start the same effect here, at one of the country's most troubled urban universities.

Mr. Watson, former chancellor of the City Colleges of Chicago, is no stranger to the bureaucracies of higher education nor to the Byzantine politics of the predominantly black South Side, and of Illinois. Passionate and charismatic, he's taken some jabs from professors and the local press who question whether his status as a City Hall insider landed him the job. But judging by the many warm hugs and hellos that came his way as we walked across the campus—some from students who knew him at City Colleges and have now transferred here—there's an abundance of support, or perhaps hope, mixed in with the rancor.

Still, he's got his work cut out for him.

Years of mismanagement by prior administrations, meddling from the statehouse, and until very recently lackadaisical oversight by trustees have left many academic and financial scars.

And while Chicago State's travails may be more egregious than most, sadly there are many other public colleges that can trace their failings to some of the same forces.

Here, priority one is the abysmal graduate rate: 16 percent for first-time full-time freshmen in 2007, a figure that ranks as one of the worst in the country even considering that fewer than 10 percent of the university's 7,200 students fit into that category. The median for 13 of the university's peers across the country is 37 percent, according to an analysis conducted for the Illinois Board of Higher Education. It's been terrible for more than a decade.

The problems go on from there. For two years running, the university has been criticized for lousy financial management by state auditors (12 of the problems cited in the audit of the 2008 fiscal year were repeats from 2007). Its enrollment, which topped 10,000 in the mid-1990s, has dropped by more than a quarter. And its accreditor announced in July that it would be conducting an unusual "focused visit" to examine, among other things, concerns about leadership and retention.

It would be easy to assume—and many here and around the country quickly do—that the university's problems arise from a lack of state support, another example of an urban institution not getting its due. But this institution has fared well by the state, thanks mostly to the former president of the State Senate, Emil Jones Jr., who by all accounts made Chicago State his pet project for new buildings while encouraging hands-off treatment for those seeking to scrutinize its effectiveness.

In fact, the higher-education board's data show that the proportion of Chicago State's budget coming from the state is higher than the median for its peers (44 versus 41 percent), while its spending on instruction and services to students also exceeds the median.

Meanwhile, students say their science labs are sub par, roofs leak, and it can take days to get a bill straightened out or to get a student ID card. For students whose lives are already complicated enough, those signs send a message. "You don't want to go somewhere where you don't feel welcome," says Jessica Bolden, a junior.

Mr. Watson, who officially took office October 1 but was consulting on decisions in the months before that, has already begun to attack the many management problems—and what he calls "the lack of an educational focus."

He's replaced or filled 10 top administrative posts, including a vice president for administration and finance, a vice president for enrollment management, and the general counsel. He's also told the deans to establish goals for retention and graduation in their schools and to have their chairs do the same for their departments. And he cracked down on a star professor who had been allowed to teach just one course a year while drawing a full salary. Next up: a study on staffing levels, which will probably show that they're too high.

What took so long? And where was the board during all of this?

Continued in article

Recall that the reporter, Goldie Blumenstyk, is the Chronicle's editor who monitors for-profit-college standards and accountability. She's the mole that enrolled in a University of Phoenix Governmental Accounting course and found it tough as nails.

The Chronicle's Goldie Blumenstyk has covered distance education for more than a decade, and during that time she's written stories about the economics of for-profit education, the ways that online institutions market themselves, and the demise of the 50-percent rule. About the only thing she hadn't done, it seemed, was to take a course from an online university. But this spring she finally took the plunge, and now she has completed a class in government and nonprofit accounting through the University of Phoenix. She shares tales from the cy ber-classroom -- and her final grade -- in a podcast with Paul Fain, a Chronicle reporter.
Chronicle of Higher Education, June 11, 2008 (Audio) --- http://chronicle.com/media/audio/v54/i40/cyber_classroom/

Jensen Added Comment
It wasn't mentioned, but I think Goldie took the ACC 460 course --- Click Here

ACC 460 Government and Non-Profit Accounting

Course Description

This course covers fund accounting, budget and control issues, revenue and expense recognition, and issues of reporting for both government and non-profit entities.

Topics and Objectives

Environment of Government/Non-Profit Accounting

Fund Accounting Part I

Fund Accounting Part II

Overview of Not-for-Profit Accounting

Current Issues in Government and Not-for-Profit Accounting

Bob Jensen's threads on asynchronous learning --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on free online video courses and course materials from leading universities --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Bob Jensen's threads on assessment --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on the dark side --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on education technology --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm


Penn State requires academic advisors to be available in Second Life virtual worlds
Plenty of colleges have a presence in Second Life. Pennsylvania State University is taking that a step further, requiring academic advisers at its online campus to be available for meetings with students in the virtual world.
"Second Life Duty Is Now Required for Penn State's Online Advisers," by Marc Parry, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 9, 2009 --- Click Here

November 11, 2009 reply from David Albrecht [albrecht@PROFALBRECHT.COM]

I'm not sure what I think of this. It is not for all students. Students taking face-to-face classes still get advised the traditional way. I imagine the traditional way at Penn State is much like the traditional way at a lot of other public universities, in which students largely figure out things on their own.

I tried out second life, and found that there were significant start-up or learning costs. Therefore I simply stopped making the effort. A factor was that my fairly new computer had difficulty in rendering the graphics. A lot of people use laptops that don't quite have the muscle of many desktops, and hence have problems.

I keep asking students how familiar they are with second life, and it is rare that anyone indicates ever having been on it.

I wonder, is Second Life a failed experiment. It has never caught on in a big way.

Now, if Penn State required academic advisors to be available on Facebook, they might have lots of traffic.

David Albrecht

November 12. 2009 reply from Bob Jensen

Hi David,

You’re correct about the startup costs of Second Life. In retirement I just am not interested in that kind of second life.

However, you’re wrong in your conjecture about Second Life being a “failed experiment” (at least at this point in time until something better comes along for virtual world communicating and learning at reasonable costs). High end virtual reality is still too costly for widespread collegiate applications even though it is great for deep-pockets pilot training and battlefield training of military officers. Before launching the infamous Gulf War I retaking of Kuwait, the U.S. commanders purportedly invaded a virtual Kuwait in a high-end virtual reality.

Google closed down Lively rather than upgrading it to be a serious competitor to Second Life.

Second Life has become ubiquitous inside and outside academe, although Steve Hornik reported that in his early experiments in accounting education some students question the benefits relative to their costs in time and trouble ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#SecondLife

Bob Jensen

November 2, 2009 reply from Steven Hornik [shornik@BUS.UCF.EDU]

Just to add to Bob's (as usual thorough coverage of a topic) here's a link to a Second Life blog devoted to covering education in Second Life:
https://blogs.secondlife.com/community/learninginworld

You'll see in 2 out of the 3 most recent posts two are for the Texas Statewide roll out of Second Life and Open Universities new presence in the virtual world.  Coupled with Penn State's announcement I'd say this data suggests that Second Life is growing in importance for educational institutions not declining.

To the comment about learning curves, the curve is there but its really not that more difficult from learning any new piece of software.  I think many of us have become accustomed (perhaps too much) to expecting everything to be easy with similar if not the same interfaces.  And certainly its true that without believing there is a reward at the end for your effort many feel that its not worth it to learn the interface.  To that end Linden Lab is working on what they call the first 5 minute (or some similarly small amount of time) experience and the interface to try to make it easier for new users to a) understand the interface and b) understand how/what second life can be used for. But we will have to wait to see if their efforts are successful as these changes haven't been rolled out yet.

And as Bob correctly pointed out, my students consistently fall into 3 groups, 1/3 who really like it (they "get" it), 1/3 who really don't like it (much of that I believe has to do with hardware issues as David pointed out), and 1/3 who use it and view it as just another tool assigned by me.  And while it still takes time to implement the students who are using it in general outperform those who don't.

_____________________________
Dr. Steven Hornik
University of Central Florida
Dixon School of Accounting
407-823-5739
Second Life: Robins Hermano

http://mydebitcredit.com
yahoo ID: shornik
 

Bob Jensen's threads on Second Life virtual worlds are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#SecondLife


"SAVVY SEARCHING Google Scholar revisited," by Pe´ter Jacso, (I think this came from The Washington Post, but I lost the reference)

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to revisit Google Scholar.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Google

Scholar.

Findings – The Google Books project has given a massive and valuable boost to the already rich and diverse content of Google Scholar. The dark side of the growth is that significant gaps remain for top ranking journals and serials, and the number of duplicate, triplicate and quadruplicate records for thesame source documents (which Google Scholar cannot detect reliably) has increased.

Originality/value – This paper discusses the strengths and weaknesses of Google Scholar.

Keywords Data collection, Worldwide web, Document delivery

Google Scholar had its debut in November 2004. Although it is still in beta version, it is worthwhile to revisit its pros and cons, as changes have taken place in the past three years both in the content and the software of Google Scholar – for better or worse.

Its content has grown significantly - courtesy of more academic publishers and database hosts opening their digital vaults to allow the crawlers of Google Scholar to collect data from and index the full-text of millions of articles from academic journal collections and scholarly repositories of preprints and reprints. The Google Books project also has given a massive and valuable boost to the already rich and diverse content of Google Scholar. The dark side of the growth is that significant gaps remained for top ranking journals and serials, and the number of duplicate, triplicate and quadruplicate records for the same source documents (which Google Scholar cannot detect reliably) has increased.

While the regular Google service does an impressive job with mostly unstructured web pages, the software of Google Scholar keeps doing a very poor job with the highly structured and tagged scholarly documents. It still has serious deficiencies with basic search operations, does not have any sort options (beyond the questionable relevance ranking). It recklessly offers filtering features by data elements, which are present only in a very small fraction of the records (such as broad subject categories) and/or are often absent and incorrect in Google Scholar even if they are present correctly in the source items.

These include nonexistent author names, which turn out to be section names, subtitles, or any part of the text, including menu option text which has nothing to do with the document or its author. This makes “F. Password” not only the most productive, but also a very highly cited author. Page numbers, the first or second segment of an ISSN, or any other four-digit numbers are often interpreted by Google Scholar as publication years due to “artificial unintelligence”. As a consequence, Google Scholar has a disappointing performance in matching citing and cited items; its . . .

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on how scholars search the Web ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm#Scholars 


The World is Open (Website to accompany the book) ---
http://worldisopen.com/


The Amazing Way Children Can Organize to Teach Each Other

"Jaw-dropping: a talk about "lightweight learning," by Sugata Mitra at Google's London office, Schmoller, November 2009 ---
http://fm.schmoller.net/2009/10/jawdropping-a-talk-by-sugata-mitra-at-googles-london-office.html

Sugata is Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University and he will be one of the three keynote speakers at the 2010 ALT Conference between 7 and 9 September 2010.  [Disclosure - I work for ALT part time.] Since the late 1990s Sugata Mitra he has been running empirical experiments to see what happens when children are able to use an Internet connected PC, usually in a public space, and always on the basis of several sharing the PC, usually in groups involving a wide age range. Most but not all of his experiments have been in areas of poverty, with much of the research having taken place in impoverished areas of India.

Here are some of Sugata's findings, some of which are covered in Remote Presence: Technologies for ‘Beaming’ Teachers Where They Cannot Go, from the August 2009 issue of the Journal of Emerging Technologies in Web Intelligence [680 kB PDF], as well as in the 2007 TED talk at the foot of this piece. What follows is a lightly and probably too quickly cleaned up version of the notes I took during Sugata's talk.

  1. Groups of children can learn to use computers and the Internet, without the support of adults.
  2. Over 300 children can become computer literate in 3 months with 1 public access computer.
  3. The computer needs to be in a safe public place that the children associate with safety, free time, and play.
  4. Children will self-organise their learning. Mitra "does not know how this happens".
  5. Alongside becoming computer literate, the children improve their maths and english, improve their social values, get better at collaborating, improve their school attendance, reduce their drop out rates. 
  6. Depending on how the computer is set up, and the software and content it has, Mitra has observed and tested children doing various things including teaching themselves functional English, algebra, biotechnology, and improving their pronunciation of English.

These results are replicable, in many different parts of the world where "hole in the wall" experiments have been carried out; and such "learning stations" can be provided in countries like India at an all in cost of around 0.03USD per child per day. 

Some readers will be asking themselves "is this relevant to education in countries like the UK?". Yes, according to Sugata, describing a February 2008 experiment he conducted in Gateshead, in the North East of England, where ten year old children (who each had a laptop, but who seemed not to be benefiting) were put in groups of four, with one laptop per group, and with ground rules encouraging them to reach consensus and to listen out for progress on neighbouring tables, and to claim it as their own. (Sugata quipped "that is how scientific research works...")  In 20 minutes (45 for the slowest) the children had solved several questions from the GCSE chemistry examination (normally taken by a minority learners of 16),  by collaborative learning using Google, Wikipedia, Ask Jeeves, Ask, Answerbag, etc.

Tests of these children several months later showed that their learning (but their understanding?) was retained. Why? According to Sugata, having to learn collaboratively and to reach consensus is the key to the success of this approach. 

Bob Jensen's threads on asynchronous learning ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm


Investment Clubs, Hedge Funds, and Tax Implications

Investment clubs commenced with friends in communities and/or work places that sometimes made social events out of studying investments and pooling small amounts of money in a fund that in turn was managed by the group as a whole ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&redirs=0&search=Investment+club&fulltext=Search&ns0=1

I also think of an hedge fund as a much larger investment club where a professional investor generally manages the investments for a group of individuals who join that index fund. Hedge funds, like lower end investment clubs, do not sell shares in the club to the public in general. An advantage and a disadvantage of not going public is that such funds, until recently, are not subject to state and Federal securities laws and SEC oversight, although since the adverse publicity (read that Madoff Hedge Fund) of the failed attempts are being made by lawmakers to rein in on hedge funds --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedge_fund

The Madoff Hedge Fund turned out to be the largest Ponzi Scheme in the World (aside from the Social Security Fund of the U.S. which is a Ponzi scheme not yet shut down).

Investment Club Software ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment_club_software

An Investment Club Helper Site ---
http://investmentclubsonline.com/result.php?Keywords=Investment%20Clubs
Note that investment clubs should understand state and local tax laws regarding investment club returns and liquidations.

IRS Publication 550 (2008), Investment Income and Expenses
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p550/index.html

Abusive Tax Scheme Investigations - Fiscal Year 2009 ---
http://www.irs.gov/compliance/enforcement/article/0,,id=187267,00.html

Bob Jensen's investment helpers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/BookBob1.htm#WebsitesForInvestors

Bob Jensen's taxation helpers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/BookBob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers


"Business-School Professors Learn a Hard Lesson in Competition, Study Finds," by Peter Schmidt, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 5, 2009 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Business-School-Professors/49052/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Among faculty members at business schools in the United States, the rich tend to be getting richer while others fall farther behind, according to a paper being presented here Thursday at the annual conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.

In recent years, business schools that were already in the top fifth in terms of what they pay tenured and tenure-track faculty members have been giving professors substantially larger pay raises than those being offered by competing institutions, the paper says. The wealth is not being shared equally, however. The faculties of the highest-paying institutions are themselves becoming more stratified in terms of earnings, with professors at the top of the heap enjoying much faster proportional growth in their salaries than those on the bottom.

The authors of the paper are John J. Cheslock, an associate professor of higher education at Pennsylvania State University at University Park and senior research associate at its Center for the Study of Higher Education, and Trina Callie, assistant dean of the University of Arizona's Eller College of Management.

They based their analysis on salary data from nearly every business school in the nation collected as part of an annual survey by AACSB International-the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. They restricted their analysis to the academic years from 1997-98 to 2004-5, and to full-time faculty members with the rank of assistant, associate, or full professor at research/doctoral or master's universities with at least 10 such faculty members on the business school's payroll.

Contributing to the pay gaps between business-school faculty members was a marked difference in how the institutions approached disparities in what their professors earned, the paper says. In contrast to the most generous business schools, those that had been paying their faculty members the least tended to compress wages, giving their highest-paid professors smaller raises than those who earned less. As a result, the highest-paid faculty members at low-paying business schools lost even more ground to their best-compensated counterparts at business schools where salaries were the most generous.

The paper also describes a widening in the pay gap between faculty members at private and public business schools. Full professors, for example, earned an average annual salary of about $107,900 at private schools and $95,300 at public schools in 1997-98. By 2004-5, those figures had risen to $120,900 and $105,400, respectively, meaning that the private-public pay gap in average salaries at their rank grew by about $3,000, or 24 percent, to just over $15,500. The study found an interesting wrinkle in the trend, however, in that the lowest-paying private business schools actually paid their professors less, on average, than the lowest-paying public ones.

Among the factors the paper's authors cite as likely to have driven the trends they chart was a decline in the number of business Ph.D.'s granted annually. That decline, they say, has contributed to a shortage of business-school faculty members that has caused entry-level salaries to increase and prompted institutions to raid one another for established professors.

Jensen Comment
When I contemplated leaving Florida State University (where pay raises had been worse than disappointing for all faculty during my four years at FSU) to accept the Jesse Jones Chair at Trinity University, one of the main questions I raised with President Calgaard at Trinity University was whether highest-paid faculty (officially designated as "Distinguished Professors") at Trinity ceteris paribus would not be capped in the sense that an average raise of 10% would not be capped off at a lower percentage to highest-paid faculty because the rate was being multiplied by much higher base salaries. In other words. a faculty member making $120,000 could get a $12,000 raise when faculty members earning $40,000 got $4,000 raises.

President Calgaard truly lived up to his word. In all my 24 years at Trinity I was not capped off a lower percentage raise because my base pay was among the three highest paid professors on campus. Of course in most years we got raises of less than 10%, but I always received what I considered more than my fair share of the percentage raises that were given every year while I was at Trinity even though my base salary made the dollar raises relatively high on campus each year.

At the same time, President Calgaard strived to boost the pay levels of faculty in humanities to a point where Trinity received an A-Level compensation rating from the AAUP signifying that Trinity was paying all faculty very competitive wages. In recent years the hardest thing for Trinity and most other universities has been the compression problem in Business Administration where starting salaries for new accounting, finance, and business faculty were soaring at rates much higher than raises the university could give existing faculty. Another problem area in this regard was Computer Science.

Is there any college that pays incoming newly-minted accounting PhDs the lowest salaries in their Departments of Accounting? In most colleges these new accounting assistant professor hires may be offered starting salaries higher than salaries earned by all existing full professors of accounting. This is more than a compression problem --- it's really an inversion problem.

Some comparative nine-month academic year salaries recently released by the AACSB
Note that major research university salaries considerably higher than average while salaries in many private universities are much lower as are salaries in state universities that are not flagship research universities. The results for accounting and taxation new assistant professors primarily reflects the downward trend of doctoral graduates in accounting, auditing, and taxation in the past two decades --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms

In the current budget crunches many colleges have opted out of paying full price for newly minted PhDs in accounting, finance, and business administration. Trinity paid dearly for two new assistant professors of accounting to replace me and Petrea Sandlin as we departed into the retirement sunset, but in most other areas of business more reliance is being placed upon use of adjunct faculty to meet soaring preferences among students to major in the Department of Business Administration.

From the Financial Rounds Blog on February 16, 2009 --- http://financialrounds.blogspot.com/

The Annual AACSB salary survey is the definitive source for business school faculty salaries. Here's the most important table from the report - it shows the mean salaries for new doctorates for the major business disciplines



The figures above are for 9-month salaries. At research schools, summer research support can add another 10-20% to that, and there are also opportunities to pick up additional $$ teaching over the summer. However, at teaching oriented schools, there typically isn't summer support, and summer teaching money is also much lower.

For years, finance professors got the highest salaries across all business disciplines. That's changed in the last few years, with accounting salaries pulling ahead. The increase in accounting new-hire salaries is likely due to smaller numbers of accounting PhD's being graduated and a lot of retirements in their field. But still, $120K isn't bad.

Click here for the free executive summary (you can also get the full report, but it'll cost you unless your AACSB Dean can get it for you).

Bob Jensen's threads on salary compression and inversion problems in academe are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Salaries

November 6, 2009 reply from David Albrecht [albrecht@PROFALBRECHT.COM]
Note the definitions of PQ and AQ were created by the AACSB business college accrediting body ---
http://aacsb.edu/publications/Archives/novdec08/34-41 Qualified to Teach.pdf

Bob, thanks for posting this one. I noticed it, but wanted your take on it before commenting. B-school faculty salaries achieve a pattern not unlike that of pro sports. On a 25-person roster (as in baseball), there will be some really outlandishly high salaries (the NY Yankees have three making at least 20 million, nine making at least 10 million, but six making less than 0.5 million. In baseball, the established stars rake in the cash.

1. Alex Rodriguez 33,000,000
2. Derek Jeter 21,600,000
3. Mark Teixeira 20,625,000
4. A.J. Burnett 16,500,000
5. CC Sabathia 15,285,714
6. Mariano Rivera 15,000,000
7. Jorge Posada 13,100,000
8 a. Johnny Damon 13,000,000
8 b. Hideki Matsui 13,000,000
10. Robinson Cano 6,000,000
11. Andy Pettitte 5,500,000
12. Nick Swisher 5,400,000
13. Damaso Marte 3,750,000
14. Jose Molina 2,125,000
15. Jerry Hairston Jr. 2,000,000
16. Eric Hinske 1,500,000
17. Melky Cabrera 1,400,000
18. Brian Bruney 1,250,000
19. Joba Chamberlain 432,575
20. Brett Gardner 414,000
21. Phil Hughes 407,650
22. David Robertson 406,825
23. Alfredo Aceves 406,750
24. Phil Coke 403,300
25. Ramiro Pena 400,000

In an accounting department, there will be some high salaries, but to make it affordable to the institution there will be PQ and non-PQ instructors making far less than the Ph.D. AQ faculty. And the new AQs make more than the older AQs.

I think the shortage of accounting Ph.D. candidates is going to continue to drive what some might view as inequitable intradepartmental salary distributions.

The other key factor is the necessity of maintaining AQ status. A senior faculty member losing AQ status becomes nearly unemployable. I think this is a shame. There are many ways for senior faculty members to remain active and valuable contributors. Getting refereed pubs is only one aspect of a range of professional responsibilities. Given that professor-written articles many times have so little real-world worth, I wonder if our priorities are misplaced. I think a senior faculty member should be able to maintain AQ status with speeches, presentations and non-refereed pubs.

Dave Albrecht

November 6, 2009 reply from Jagdish Gangolly [gangolly@GMAIL.COM]

All these (bus profs salaries, baseball player salaries, ...) are examples of what in Physics is called Power Law. Such laws are ubiquitous in nanture. Their cousins go by names such as Pareto Law (Sociology), Zipf's law (Information Science), Heap's Law (Linguistics), Benford's Law (Statistics), Gutenberg-Richter Law (Geology), Scaling Laws (Biology), Fractals (Computing/Mathematics), Inverse-Square Laws (Physics), Steven'sPower Law (Psychophysics), Kepler's Third Law (Astronomy), Kleiber's Law (Metabolism), ...

In fact there is a branch of mathematics that specialises in its study, called "extreme value theory". Finance people seem to have studied it as have most natural and social scientists. As to academic accountants, it is an entirely different story.

Jagdish S. Gangolly
Department of Informatics College of Computing & Information State University of New York at Albany Harriman Campus, Building 7A, Suite 220 Albany, NY 12222 Phone: 518-956-8251, Fax: 518-956-8247


I suspect that the phrase "cream at the top" does not truly connect with the younger generation. Old folks like me remember that milk used not be homogenized and was sold in glass, recyclable bottles where the cream rose to the neck of the bottle and the skim milk sank to the bottom. If you wanted "regular milk" you had to shake the bottle each time the bottle was to be opened. If you wanted cream for your coffee you poured cream from the top of the bottle without shaking the bottle.

In the MBA graduation market over the past three or more decades we've had graduates that were "cream at the top" and generally had much better career opportunities than MBA graduates from other colleges and universities. These graduates were admitted by MBA programs having very competitive admission competition such as the competition to get into MBA programs at Harvard, Wharton, Chicago, Duke, MIT, NYU, Yale, Dartmouth, and in the far west Stanford. The typical graduate from these programs paid $80,000 or more to be launched into business worlds of dreams.

"MBAs Confront a Savage Job Market The MBA Class of 2009 was hit harder than expected by the recession. At some top schools, 1 in 5 are jobless 3 months after graduation," by Anne VanderMey,  Business Week, October 29, 2009 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/oct2009/bs20091029_862211.htm?link_position=link1 

According to the latest data reported to BusinessWeek, 16.5% of job-seeking students from the top 30 MBA programs did not get even one offer by the time schools collected their final fall employment data three months after graduation. Last year that was true of just 5% of students. And despite the meteoric rise of salaries over the past several years, starting pay was down this year for the top 30, dipping from roughly $98,000 in 2008 to $96,500. For many programs, it marked the first time since the tech bubble burst that salaries didn't increase. Signing bonuses, too, fell both in value and quantity.

Even students at top schools have been affected by the slump. With MBA mainstays like the consulting and financial services sectors still hurting from the crisis, industries that were once elite schools' bread and butter have hit lean times. The average number of students without job offers three months after graduation at the top 10 programs was 15%, just three percentage points better than the rest of the top 30. Heavyweights such as the Wharton School (Wharton Full-Time MBA Profile), the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business (Ross Full-Time MBA Profile), and Duke University's Fuqua School of Business (Fuqua Full-Time MBA Profile) are reporting close to 20% of students without job offers.

Particularly hard hit are the Wall Street Wannabes. The luckiest graduates these days had specialty technical skills from undergraduate studies such as skills in CPA-level accounting, computer science, and engineering. Sadly, for philosophy,  history, and physics majors it's not quite the same to hold forth a mere MBA diploma from a top-level university as it was two years ago.

Back in the Great Depression farmers and creameries often had to dump milk and cream on the ground because the markets turned so bad with too much supply relative to demand.

The bright light for some graduates is that government is hiring just like the unemployed in the Great Depression sought out government jobs. MBA programs that are smart will probably adapt curricula to the increasing career opportunities in government work such as law enforcement for white collar crime and health care fraud.

Bob Jensen's threads on careers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/BookBob1.htm#careers


Before reading this it is advisable to read about the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient_Market_Hypothesis
For decades Fama and French have been the leading scholars on this hypothesis

Stocks are still the best investment for the long run. But maybe not for your long run.
Justin Fox, "Are Stocks Still Good for the Long Run?" Time Magazine, June 15, 2009 --- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1902843-2,00.html
Also see Jim Mahar's June 10, 2009 summary at http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/
In particular this references a study by Arnott that asserts that over the past 40 years the stock market underperformed the bond market. In my opinion, if you into bonds for the next 40 years they'd better be inflation-indexed bonds such as Treasury TIPs.

 

Question
So where's Eugene Fama's Nobel Prize if he really "won?"

I suspect Wolfpack faculty will have to look up at North Carolina State to find their colleague Paul Williams. Paul will hit the ceiling after reading this (as will Warren Buffet and Janet Tavakoli).

"Fox concludes that passive investing is the right choice for almost all investors. My academic friends in behavioral finance (for example, Richard Thaler) almost always end up with a similar conclusion. In my view, this is an admission that the EMH provides a good view of the world for almost all practical purposes. At which point, I say I won."
"Is Market Efficiency the Culprit?" by Eugene Fama, Fama French Forum, November 4, 2009 ---
http://www.dimensional.com/famafrench/2009/11/qa-is-market-efficiency-the-culprit.html

Justin Fox ("The Myth of the Rational Market") and many other financial writers claim that much of the blame for the financial meltdown is attributable to a misguided faith in market efficiency that encouraged market participants to accept security prices as the best estimate of value rather than conduct their own investigation. Is this a fair assessment? If so, how should policymakers respond?

EFF: The premise of the Fox book is that our current economic problems are largely due to blind acceptance of the efficient markets hypothesis (EMH), which posits that market prices reflect all available information. The claim is that the world's investors and their advisors in the financial industry bought into this model. Because they ceased to investigate the true value of assets, we have been hit with "bubbles" in asset prices. The most recent is the rise and sharp decline in real estate prices which froze financial markets and led to the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The book is fun reading, but its main premise is fantasy. Most investing is done by active managers who don't believe markets are efficient. For example, despite my taunts of the last 45 years about the poor performance of active managers, about 80% of mutual fund wealth is actively managed. Hedge funds, private equity, and other alternative asset classes, which have attracted big fund inflows in recent years, are built on the proposition that markets are inefficient. The recent problems of commercial and investment banks trace mostly to their trading desks and their proprietary portfolios, and these are always built on the assumption that markets are inefficient. Indeed, if banks and investment banks took market efficiency more seriously, they might have avoided lots of their recent problems. Finally, MBA students who aspire to high paying positions in the financial industry have a tough time finding a job if they accept the EMH.

I continue to believe the EMH is a solid view of the world for almost all practical purposes. But it's pretty clear I'm in the minority. If the EMH took over the investment world, I missed it.

The Fox book is an example of a general phenomenon. Finance, financial markets, and financial institutions are in disrepute. The popular story is that together, they caused the current recession. I think one can take an entirely different position: financial markets and financial institutions were casualties rather than the cause of the recession.

But suppose we buy into the more common negative current view of finance. There is still a big open question. Beginning in the early 1980s, the developed world and some big players in the developing world experienced a period of extraordinary growth. It's reasonable to argue that in facilitating the flow of world savings to productive uses around the world, financial markets and financial institutions played a big role in this growth. Despite any role of finance in the current recession, are the market naysayers really ready to argue that worldwide wealth would be higher today if financial markets and financial institutions didn't develop as they did?

Toward the end of the book, Fox concludes that passive investing is the right choice for almost all investors. My academic friends in behavioral finance (for example, Richard Thaler) almost always end up with a similar conclusion. In my view, this is an admission that the EMH provides a good view of the world for almost all practical purposes. At which point,
I say I won.

Bob Jensen's threads on the ups and downs of the EMH, including Fama's videos, are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#EMH


Question
Can a clever cost accountant save Intel from Attorney General of New York State?

"N.Y. files antitrust lawsuit against Intel:  Chipmaker used bribes, coercion to get PC makers to shun its rivals, Cuomo says," by Tomoeh Murakami Tse and Cecilia Kang, The Washington Post, November 5, 2009 --- Click Here

New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo filed an antitrust suit against Intel on Wednesday, accusing the world's largest chipmaker of illegally threatening computer makers and paying them billions of dollars in kickbacks to stop using chips made by rivals.

The lawsuit comes amid increased scrutiny of the company's business practices and adds to a growing chorus of complaints by overseas regulators who have accused the chipmaker of anti-competitive behavior.

Intel has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and a company spokesman did so again Wednesday. "We disagree with the New York attorney general," Chuck Mulloy said. "Neither consumers who have consistently benefited from lower prices and increased innovation nor justice are being served by the decision to file a case now. Intel will defend itself."

Cuomo's suit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Delaware, claims that Intel violated state and federal antitrust laws by "engaging in a worldwide, systematic campaign of illegal conduct" that involved threatening and bribing executives at firms with such household names as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and IBM.

According to the lawsuit, Intel persuaded computer makers to use its chips in exchange for billions of dollars of payments masked as "rebates." The company also threatened to retaliate against manufacturers that worked with Intel's competitors, in a particular Advanced Micro Devices.

For example, Cuomo said, Intel paid nearly $2 billion in 2006 to Dell, which agreed to refrain from marketing AMD products. Intel also paid IBM $130 million not to launch a product using AMD chips and threatened to derail a joint development project with Hewlett-Packard if the computer maker promoted AMD products, Cuomo said.

A history of scrutiny

"Rather than compete fairly, Intel used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market," Cuomo said in a statement. "Intel's actions not only unfairly restricted potential competitors, but also hurt average consumers who were robbed of better products and lower prices."

As part of the lawsuit, Cuomo presented internal e-mails between Intel executives as well as between Intel executives and those at computer makers.

According to Cuomo, for example, Intel chief executive Paul S. Otellini wrote a 2005 e-mail to Dell chief executive Michael S. Dell, who had complained that his company's business performance was suffering. Otellini reminded him that Intel had paid more than $1 billion to Dell. " This was judged by your team to be more than sufficient to compensate for the competitive issues," Otellini allegedly wrote.

Hewlett Packard, Dell and IBM either declined to comment or did not return phone calls and e-mail.

While numerous foreign regulators have filed lawsuits against Intel, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif., Cuomo's is the first formal antitrust action against Intel by U.S. regulators in more than a decade. In 1998, the Federal Trade Commission filed an administrative complaint, which was later settled.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
One gray zone in such lawsuits is where the "bribes" in reality are volume discount pricings. Accountants often teach cost-volume-profit decision making with one of the decision variables being how to set prices on the basis of expected sales volumes at each of the various pricing alternatives (that affect contribution margins over variable costs). We seldom, however, bring into the CVP equation the possibility that certain types of discount pricing restrains competition. Also giving a $2 billion "bribe" is not quite the same as setting a lower price per unit that can be justified on the basis of economies of scale in production. A fixed $2 billion bribe falls more into the realm of a "fixed cost." Fixed costs are included in CVP analysis, but they're usually assumed, in our courses, to be legitimate fixed costs and not illegal bribes. It will be interesting to see how Intel (an Dell) presents a defense to this lawsuit. Ken Lay (at Enron) personally paid over a million dollars for an accounting professor from USC to be his expert witness. It did not do any good in Ken's trial where Lay was found guilty.

In the testimony below, defense witnesses for Skilling and Lay (Walter Rush and Jerry Arnold) "attribute Enron's descent into bankruptcy proceedings to a combination of bad publicity and lost market confidence" rather than accounting fraud. This places the Professor Arnold's opinion in conflict with that of Professors Hartgraves and Benston earlier analyses based upon the lengthy Powers Report commissioned by the former Chairman of the Board of Enron ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm

November 5, 2009 reply from Jagdish Gangolly [gangolly@GMAIL.COM]

Bob,

I am wondering if Cuomo (and other regulators) is barking the wrong tree.

It is very difficult to regulate behaviour by detection/punishment. It is easier by incentives. The incentives can be through reduced patent protection, regressive corporate taxation, and the like.

It is even easier to regulate by looking at the effect of behaviour. Examples include the Standard Oil, AT&T, IBM, and similar cases. It is well known that failure risks are under-estimated (fat tail theory), and so the way to control risks of bad behaviour is by use of anti-trust to breakup monopolies that are too big to fail. Intel, Goldman Scahs, Microsoft, are all ripe for this.

These corporations are like pedigree dogs. When they get sick (and we may not even know it), and that they definitely will, the whole family suffers and ends up paying financially as well as emotionally.

Jagdish

 

Bob Jensen's fraud updates are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm


Note especially the last paragraph in the article below concerning alleged frauds of accountants he employed!

"Joe Francis free: Was he a victim of accountants gone wild?" AccountingWeb, November 11, 2009 ---
http://www.accountingweb.com/topic/watchdog/joe-francis-free-was-he-victim-accountants-gone-wild

In spite of a future that looked pretty dismal, “Girls Gone Wild” producer Joe Francis will not serve another day of jail time for tax evasion. The charges against him included underreporting his income by about $20 million, and later, bribing jail workers in Nevada while he was being held on the tax charges. For awhile it looked like he might end up with ten years in prison. Now, he's free, having been sentenced by U.S. District Judge James Otero to 301 days in jail -- which happens to be the amount of time he has already served -- plus a year of probation, and a quarter million dollar fine. In an unusual twist, just as Francis has worked out his IRS problems, the official spotlight has turned on the guy who blew the whistle on him.

Francis's trouble started in 2005 when the Internal Revenue Service began looking into his tax returns for 2002 and 2003. His accountant, Michael Barrett, turned Francis into the IRS under the Whistleblower program, hoping to collect a multi-million dollar reward. Oddly enough, the information Barrett gave the IRS related to tax returns which he himself prepared, signed, and filed, without showing them to Francis. Barrett said the tax returns showed $20 million in bogus business expenses, including $3.78 million used to build a home in Mexico, $10.4 million in false consulting expenses, and a half million dollar phony insurance claim. In addition, Francis is accused of transferring $15 million from an offshore bank account to a California brokerage account in the name of a Cayman Islands Company under his control.

At first the video producer denied the charges and claimed the IRS was targeting him because they were jealous of his youth and enormous success. His defense attorney, Robert Bernhoff, told the Los Angeles Times, "This ain't 'Girls Gone Wild.' This is the IRS gone wild. The American taxpayers should be outraged that an IRS program is being abused like this."

Then, after years of fighting the charges, Francis appeared in a Los Angeles court on September 23, 2009 to plead guilty to two misdemeanors, agreeing to pay $249,705. Judge Otero accepted the plea bargain on the misdemeanor charges after it was learned that a key witness withheld information from prosecutors.

As part of the plea, Francis agreed to admit that he underreported income by about $563,000 and also that he gave more than $5,000 worth of items to two jail workers in exchange for food during his incarceration at Washoe County, Nevada.

Brad Brian, Francis's lead trial attorney, said in a statement, "It took us seven months, but in the end we demonstrated that the felony tax charges never should have been brought in the first place."

After the hearing, Francis kissed his mother and told reporters simply, "I think we won that one."

His tax woes may be over. But in recent weeks, the IRS is turning up the heat on his accountant, Michael Barrett. For a long time, Francis maintained that his tax failures were caused not by his own wrongdoing, but by Barrett. Barrett, in fact, was scheduled to be a key witness for the prosecution against Francis. But as the IRS delved more deeply into the case against Francis, some of the scrutiny turned on Barrett himself and two other employees of Francis's production company, Mantra Films. The accountant is accused - among other things - of setting up shadow corporations and then using them to bilk Mantra out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. No arrests have yet been made.

Bob Jensen's fraud updates are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm


How Online Vendors are Changing CVP Analysis (behind our backs?)

I think modern-day novels would make interesting empirical and case studies of cost-profit-volume analysis. The focus could be the impact that the online book market should have on CVP analysis for authors and publishers. For many novels there are so many used copies available for sale (e.g., on Amazon) that a book costing $27.50 new might have 200 used copies available for a penny each or at most less than a quarter.

My good AECM friend Ed Scribner recommended that, as a mystery buff, I try Michael McGarrity mystery books. On Amazon I only had to pay $0.01 for one of his books and $.38 for another, but the shipping costs were $8.31 for both books. I expect these are very good books, but there are now hundreds upon hundreds of McGarrity books in the used book market, many for less than a dime. If I really like McGarrity I will order all the rest of his books (some in hard copy) that are available for less than a buck.

What this shows is how the online book market is destroying the long-term profitability of many novels that people read and then decide to sell. Publishers and authors must meet their fixed costs in the first year or two or take a hit.

What They're Reading on College Campuses
None of these are on my wish list while I struggle with everything ever written by Janet Tavakoli or relax with some of the old books in my library by Ngaio Marsh and Agatha Christie. Erika and I are working our way through the entire PBS Mystery collection available from Netflix. It will be a sad day during a blizzard when we realize that we've at last seen them all --- some of them twice.

"What They're Reading on College Campuses," Chronicle of Higher Education, November 1, 2009 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/What-Theyre-Reading-on/48996/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

 
1. The Lost Symbol
by Dan Brown
 
 —

2. The Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger
 
3

3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
 
1

4. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
 
 —

5. True Compass: A Memoir
by Edward M. Kennedy
 
 —

6. The Shack
by William P. Young
 
7

7. The Last Song
by Nicholas Sparks
 
 —

8. Eclipse
by Stephenie Meyer
 
 —

9. A Mercy
by Toni Morrison
 
 —

10. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man
by Steve Harvey
 
 —

The Chronicle's list of best-selling books was compiled from information supplied by stores serving the following campuses: American U., Beloit College, Brown U., Case Western Reserve U., College of William and Mary, Drew U., Florida State U., George Washington U., Georgetown U., Georgia State U., Harvard U., James Madison U., Johns Hopkins U., Kent State U., Pennsylvania State U. at University Park, Stanford U., State U. of New York at Buffalo, Tulane U., U. of California at Berkeley, U. of Chicago, U. of Florida, U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, U. of Miami, U. of New Hampshire, U. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, U. of North Dakota, U. of North Texas, U. of Northern Colorado, U. of Oklahoma at Norman, U. of Nebraska at Lincoln, Vanderbilt U., Washington State U., Washington U. in St. Louis, Wayne State U., Williams College, Winthrop College, and Xavier U. (Ohio).

Jensen Comment
Actually I randomly search among the free versions of classics available online, but I usually skim read rather than deep read most of my choices of novels and poems --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm


From the Scout Report on November 7, 2009

Opera 10.01 --- http://www.opera.com/ 

The Opera browser continues to offer new innovations with this latest release, and its relatively small size is always a major benefit. The visual features here are quite nice, and they include theme previews embedded within the interface and new widgets, like a sketchbook and an interactive solar system simulation. Of course, the browser still has favorite features such as a feed preview, speed dial browsing, and a resizable search field. This version is compatible with computers running Windows 95 and newer or Mac OS X 10.4 and newer.


Signature995 --- http://www.signature995.com/

If you're looking for a way to securely transmit and digitally sign PDFs, look no further than this application. Using Microsoft Cryptographic technology, Signature995 features a multi-tabbed interface that is easy to use. Visitors can also encrypt other file types (such as doc and zip files), and they can also limit file access to certain users. This version is compatible with computers running Windows 95 and newer.


From the Scout Report on November 13, 2009

Piwigo 2.0 --- http://piwigo.org/ 

Out of the vast universe of available photo gallery software packages, Piwigo distinguishes itself with a snappy user interface and a set of customizable features. Foremost among these features is a category "tree" which lets users create photo categories that expand and flatten the tree structure to view all the photos. Visitors can also set up user permissions and also create rating tabs for each photo, or groups of photos. This version is compatible with computers running Mac OS 10.3 or newer or Windows 95 and newer.


Smart System Informer 2.1 --- http://smartpctools.com/products/ 

It?s always a good idea to keep tabs on what programs your computer is running, and Smart System Informer 2.1 is a fine way to do exactly that. The application launches a small tabbed window that helps users quickly scan their system, and it returns information about the video and monitor settings, along with reports on memory use, currently running processes, and a list of all installed programs. This version is compatible with computers running Windows 95 and newer.


Controversy and conversation continue about the transparency of microcredit lending organizations Confusion on Where Money Lent via Kiva Goes [Free registration may be required] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/business/global/09kiva.html?ref=todayspaper 

Microfinance programs harness Web to connect borrowers and lenders http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_13726179?nclick_check=1 

Kiva is Not Quite What It Seems
http://blogs.cgdev.org/open_book/2009/10/kiva-is-not-quite-what-it-seems.php 

Innocuous Changes vs. Grand Designs
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dennis-whittle/innocuous-changes-vs-gran_b_350588.html  

Microfinance Gateway [pdf] http://www.microfinancegateway.org/p/site/m/ 

Kiva --- http://www.kiva.org/

 


Free online textbooks, cases, and tutorials in accounting, finance, economics, and statistics --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks


Education Tutorials

BBC: Learning English --- http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/

Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch


Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials

Saturn Is Beautiful --- http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/post.aspx?bid=358&bpid=24383&nlid=2503

Video Special --- http://useloos.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=8715
Amazing Nature (I mean really amazing)Birth of a Baby Elephant
Especially note what the mother does when her newborn appears to be dead on the floor!

NASA: Interactive Features [Flash Player] http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/mmgallery/features_archive_1.html

The Virtual Lab Book (microbiology, biology) --- http://delliss.people.cofc.edu/virtuallabbook/

National Association of Biology Teachers: Instructional Materials ---
http://www.nabt.org/sites/S1/index.php?p=25 

ChemPod --- http://www.nature.com/chemistry/podcast.html 

World Summit on Food Security --- http://www.fao.org/wsfs/world-summit/en/?no_cache=1

Harvard Stem Cell Institute --- http://www.hsci.harvard.edu/

Science of Sound in the Sea --- http://www.dosits.org/science/intro.htm

Genetics Selection Evolution --- http://www.gsejournal.org/

Geology Resources: The University of Texas of the Permian Basin http://ceed.utpb.edu/geology-resources/

Oregon Explorer: Natural Resources Digital Library --- http://oregonexplorer.info/

Art & Architecture --- http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/ 

Unbearable Pain: India's Obligation to Ensure Palliative Care --- 
http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/10/28/unbearable-pain-0

"Information Processing"  Questions for Dyson," by Stephen Hsu, MIT's Technology Review, November 7, 2009 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/post.aspx?bid=354&bpid=24371&nlid=2496
Jensen Comment
When I taught several First Year Seminar classes at Trinity Universities, I featured the Phi Beta Kappa lectures of Freeman Dyson, but that was years ago --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson

 

Bob Jensen's threads on free online science, engineering, and medicine tutorials are at --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Science


Social Science and Economics Tutorials

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online --- http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/

Film Literature Index ---  http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/fli/index.jsp

Hidden Histories of Exploration [Flash Player] http://hiddenhistories.rgs.org/

Canadian Geographical Names (History, Geography, Travel) ---  http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/index_e.php 

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/

With enough poking around you can find portraits of Oswald posing with his rifle, picnicking and drinking from tiny bottles with a lady friend, and even lying dead in a morgue. There's even one shot of strippers from Jack Ruby's club . . .
"U. of North Texas Catalogs the Photos of the JFK Investigation You Haven't Seen," Chronicle of Higher Education, November 13, 2009 --- Click Here
The Portal to Texas History at the UNT --- http://texashistory.unt.edu/

South African Government Information: Documents --- http://www.info.gov.za/view/DynamicAction?pageid=528

Institute for Democracy in South Africa --- http://www.idasa.org.za/index.asp

"Information Processing"  Questions for Dyson," by Stephen Hsu, MIT's Technology Review, November 7, 2009 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/post.aspx?bid=354&bpid=24371&nlid=2496
Jensen Comment
When I taught several First Year Seminar classes at Trinity Universities, I featured the Phi Beta Kappa lectures of Freeman Dyson, but that was years ago --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_Dyson

Expect Delays: An Analysis of Air Travel Trends in the United States ---  http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2009/1008_air_travel_tomer_puentes.aspx

Bob Jensen's threads on Economics, Anthropology, Social Sciences, and Philosophy tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Social


Law and Legal Studies

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online --- http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/

National Criminal Justice Reference Service --- http://www.ncjrs.gov/

Bob Jensen's threads on law and legal studies are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Law


Math Tutorials

Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics


History Tutorials

Film Literature Index ---  http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/fli/index.jsp

Vincent Van Gogh: The Letters --- http://www.vangoghletters.org/vg/

Louis Braille: His Legacy and Influence on the blind [Flash Player] http://myloc.gov/Exhibitions/braille/Pages/Default.aspx

Hidden Histories of Exploration [Flash Player] http://hiddenhistories.rgs.org/

Canadian Geographical Names (History, Geography, Travel) ---  http://geonames.nrcan.gc.ca/index_e.php

In & Out of Amsterdam: Travels in Conceptual Art, 1960-1976
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2009/inandout/ 

Langston Hughes Papers and Photographs --- http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/hughes.html

Public Art In the Bronx --- http://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/publicart/index.html

W.P. Davies Newspaper Columns --- http://www.und.nodak.edu/dept/library/digital/davies.html

In Transition: Selected Poems by the Baroness Elsa von Freytag- Loringhoven
http://www.lib.umd.edu/digital/transition/index.jsp

Florida Digital Newspaper Library --- http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/?c=fdnl1

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers --- http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/home.html

Animate Projects [Art and Animation] --- http://www.animateprojects.org/home

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/

American Experience: Civilian Conservation Corps --- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/ccc/

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online --- http://www.albany.edu/sourcebook/

Sanora Babb, Stories from the American High Plains [Flash Player] http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/web/babb/

With enough poking around you can find portraits of Oswald posing with his rifle, picnicking and drinking from tiny bottles with a lady friend, and even lying dead in a morgue. There's even one shot of strippers from Jack Ruby's club . . "U. of North Texas Catalogs the Photos of the JFK Investigation You Haven't Seen," Chronicle of Higher Education, November 13, 2009 --- Click Here
The Portal to Texas History at the UNT --- http://texashistory.unt.edu/

Bob Jensen's threads on history tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#History
Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm  


Language Tutorials

Bob Jensen's links to language tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Languages


Music Tutorials

 

Bob Jensen's threads on free music tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Music


Writing Tutorials

Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries


Updates from WebMD --- http://www.webmd.com/

 


On occasion in the past the Counseling Center at Trinity University notified me when a student had dyslexia. In most cases the student requested extra time on quizzes and examinations. If you discover that a student has dyslexia, it may help that student  if you request that the student sit near the front of the classroom as well as giving more time for examinations.

"Study Unravels Mystery of Dyslexia:  Children With Dyslexia Can't Focus on Repeated Speech Sounds, Researchers Say," by Kelli Miller Stacy, WebMD, November 11, 2009 ---
http://children.webmd.com/news/20091111/study-unravels-mystery-of-dyslexia

New research may provide an answer as to why children with dyslexia often have difficulty hearing someone talk in a noisy room.

Dyslexia is a common, language-based learning disability that makes it difficult to read, spell, and write. It is unrelated to a person's intelligence. Studies have also shown that patients with dyslexia can have a hard time hearing when there is a lot of background noise, but the reasons for this haven't been exactly clear.

Now, scientists at Northwestern University say that in dyslexia, the part of the brain that helps perceive speech in a noisy environment is unable to fine-tune or sharpen the incoming signals.

"The ability to sharpen or fine-tune repeating elements is crucial to hearing speech in noise because it allows for superior 'tagging' of voice pitch, an important cue in picking out a particular voice within background noise," Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern University's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory, says in a news release.

The brainstem is the first place in the brain to receive and process auditory (hearing) signals. It is supposed to automatically focus on the information, such as repeated bits of speech, and sharpen it so you can discern someone's voice from, say, the noise of a chaotic classroom. The new study, however, provides the first biological evidence that children with dyslexia have a deficit in this auditory process. As a result, the brainstem cannot focus on relevant, predictable, and repeating sounds.

The new evidence is based on a brain activity study of children with both good and poor reading skills. The children wore earphones that repeated the sound "da" in different intervals while watching an unrelated video. The first time, "da" repeated over and over again in a repetitive manner. In a second session, the sound "da" occurred randomly along with other speech sounds, in a variable manner. Electrodes taped to each child's scalp recorded the brain's response to the sounds.

The children also underwent standard reading and spelling tests and were asked to repeat sentences provided to them amid different noise levels.

"Even though the children's attention was focused on a movie, the auditory system of the good readers 'tuned in' to the repeatedly presented speech sound context and sharpened the sound's encoding. In contrast, poor readers did not show an improvement in encoding with repetition," Bharath Chandrasekaran, one of the study's authors, says in a statement.

The tests also revealed that children without dyslexia were better able to repeat sentences they had heard in noisy environments. However, the researchers noted enhanced brain activity of the children with dyslexia during the session when the "da" sound was variably played.

"The study brings us closer to understanding sensory processing in children who experience difficulty excluding irrelevant noise. It provides an objective index that can help in the assessment of children with reading problems," Kraus says.

The findings, which appear in this week's issue of Neuron, may also help teachers and caregivers devise better strategies for teaching children with dyslexia. For example, the study authors say children with dyslexia who have trouble sorting out voices in noisy classrooms may benefit simply by sitting closer to the teacher.

Bob Jensen's threads on aids for handicapped students ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Handicapped


The Virtual Lab Book (microbiology, biology) --- http://delliss.people.cofc.edu/virtuallabbook/

National Association of Biology Teachers: Instructional Materials ---
http://www.nabt.org/sites/S1/index.php?p=25 




Forwarded by Gene and Joan

Choose your partners, one and all, Aspirin, Advil, or Tylenol!

Now fling those covers with all you've got, One minute cold, the next minute hot,

Circle right to the side of the bed, Grab the tissues and Sudafed.

Back to the middle and don't goof off; Hold your stomach and cough, cough, cough.

Forget about slippers, dash down the hall, Toss your cookies in the shower stall.

Remember others on the brink; Wash your hands; wash the sink.

Wipe the doorknob, light switch too, By George, you've got the it, you're doing the Flu!

Some like it cold, some like it hot; If you like neither, get the shot.

 




Forwarded by Auntie Bev

Cleveland, OH (AP) - A seven-year old boy was at the center of a Cuyahoga County courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him.. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulation requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible..

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried and said that they also beat him.

After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with the child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Cleveland Browns, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

I FELL FOR IT!! DON'T FEEL BAD IF YOU DID TOO!!!




Tidbits Archives --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm

Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron" enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and other universities is at http://www.searchedu.com/

World Clock --- http://www.peterussell.com/Odds/WorldClock.php
Facts about the earth in real time --- http://www.worldometers.info/

Interesting Online Clock and Calendar --- http://home.tiscali.nl/annejan/swf/timeline.swf
Time by Time Zones --- http://timeticker.com/
Projected Population Growth (it's out of control) --- http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/worldpopulation.htm
         Also see http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/Populations.html
        
Facts about population growth (video) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U
Projected U.S. Population Growth --- http://www.carryingcapacity.org/projections75.html
Real time meter of the U.S. cost of the war in Iraq --- http://www.costofwar.com/ 
Enter you zip code to get Census Bureau comparisons --- http://zipskinny.com/
Sure wish there'd be a little good news today.

Three Finance Blogs

Jim Mahar's FinanceProfessor Blog --- http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/
FinancialRounds Blog --- http://financialrounds.blogspot.com/
Karen Alpert's FinancialMusings (Australia) --- http://financemusings.blogspot.com/

Some Accounting Blogs

Paul Pacter's IAS Plus (International Accounting) --- http://www.iasplus.com/index.htm
International Association of Accountants News --- http://www.aia.org.uk/
AccountingEducation.com and Double Entries --- http://www.accountingeducation.com/
Gerald Trites'eBusiness and XBRL Blogs --- http://www.zorba.ca/
AccountingWeb --- http://www.accountingweb.com/   
SmartPros --- http://www.smartpros.com/

Bob Jensen's Sort-of Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Online Books, Poems, References, and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

The Master List of Free Online College Courses --- http://universitiesandcolleges.org/

Shared Open Courseware (OCW) from Around the World: OKI, MIT, Rice, Berkeley, Yale, and Other Sharing Universities --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Free Textbooks and Cases --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

Free Mathematics and Statistics Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics

Free Science and Medicine Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Science

Free Social Science and Philosophy Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Social

Free Education Discipline Tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm

Teaching Materials (especially video) from PBS

Teacher Source:  Arts and Literature --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/arts_lit.htm

Teacher Source:  Health & Fitness --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/health.htm

Teacher Source: Math --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/math.htm

Teacher Source:  Science --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/sci_tech.htm

Teacher Source:  PreK2 --- http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/prek2.htm

Teacher Source:  Library Media ---  http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/library.htm

Free Education and Research Videos from Harvard University --- http://athome.harvard.edu/archive/archive.asp

VYOM eBooks Directory --- http://www.vyomebooks.com/

From Princeton Online
The Incredible Art Department --- http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/

Online Mathematics Textbooks --- http://www.math.gatech.edu/~cain/textbooks/onlinebooks.html 

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives --- http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/doc/intro.jsp

Moodle  --- http://moodle.org/ 

The word moodle is an acronym for "modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment", which is quite a mouthful. The Scout Report stated the following about Moodle 1.7. It is a tremendously helpful opens-source e-learning platform. With Moodle, educators can create a wide range of online courses with features that include forums, quizzes, blogs, wikis, chat rooms, and surveys. On the Moodle website, visitors can also learn about other features and read about recent updates to the program. This application is compatible with computers running Windows 98 and newer or Mac OS X and newer.

Some of Bob Jensen's Tutorials

Accounting program news items for colleges are posted at http://www.accountingweb.com/news/college_news.html
Sometimes the news items provide links to teaching resources for accounting educators.
Any college may post a news item.

Accountancy Discussion ListServs:

For an elaboration on the reasons you should join a ListServ (usually for free) go to   http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
AECM (Educators)  http://pacioli.loyola.edu/aecm/ 
AECM is an email Listserv list which provides a forum for discussions of all hardware and software which can be useful in any way for accounting education at the college/university level. Hardware includes all platforms and peripherals. Software includes spreadsheets, practice sets, multimedia authoring and presentation packages, data base programs, tax packages, World Wide Web applications, etc

Roles of a ListServ --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
 

CPAS-L (Practitioners) http://pacioli.loyola.edu/cpas-l/ 
CPAS-L provides a forum for discussions of all aspects of the practice of accounting. It provides an unmoderated environment where issues, questions, comments, ideas, etc. related to accounting can be freely discussed. Members are welcome to take an active role by posting to CPAS-L or an inactive role by just monitoring the list. You qualify for a free subscription if you are either a CPA or a professional accountant in public accounting, private industry, government or education. Others will be denied access.
Yahoo (Practitioners)  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xyztalk
This forum is for CPAs to discuss the activities of the AICPA. This can be anything  from the CPA2BIZ portal to the XYZ initiative or anything else that relates to the AICPA.
AccountantsWorld  http://accountantsworld.com/forums/default.asp?scope=1 
This site hosts various discussion groups on such topics as accounting software, consulting, financial planning, fixed assets, payroll, human resources, profit on the Internet, and taxation.
Business Valuation Group BusValGroup-subscribe@topica.com 
This discussion group is headed by Randy Schostag [RSchostag@BUSVALGROUP.COM

Many useful accounting sites (scroll down) --- http://www.iasplus.com/links/links.htm

 

Some Accounting Blogs

Paul Pacter's IAS Plus (International Accounting) --- http://www.iasplus.com/index.htm
International Association of Accountants News --- http://www.aia.org.uk/
AccountingEducation.com and Double Entries --- http://www.accountingeducation.com/
Gerald Trites'eBusiness and XBRL Blogs --- http://www.zorba.ca/
AccountingWeb --- http://www.accountingweb.com/   
SmartPros --- http://www.smartpros.com/
Management and Accounting Blog
--- http://maaw.info/

Bob Jensen's Sort-of Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Some Accounting History Sites

Bob Jensen's Accounting History in a Nutshell and Links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#AccountingHistory
 

Accounting History Libraries at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) --- http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/accountancy/libraries.html
The above libraries include international accounting history.
The above libraries include film and video historical collections.

MAAW Knowledge Portal for Management and Accounting --- http://maaw.info/

Academy of Accounting Historians and the Accounting Historians Journal ---
http://www.accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/aah/

Sage Accounting History --- http://ach.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf_extract/11/3/269

A nice timeline on the development of U.S. standards and the evolution of thinking about the income statement versus the balance sheet is provided at:
"The Evolution of U.S. GAAP: The Political Forces Behind Professional Standards (1930-1973)," by Stephen A. Zeff, CPA Journal, January 2005 --- http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/105/infocus/p18.htm
Part II covering years 1974-2003 published in February 2005 --- http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/205/index.htm 

A nice timeline of accounting history --- http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2187711/A-HISTORY-OF-ACCOUNTING

From Texas A&M University
Accounting History Outline --- http://acct.tamu.edu/giroux/history.html

Bob Jensen's timeline of derivative financial instruments and hedge accounting ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#DerivativesFrauds

History of Fraud in America --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/415wp/AmericanHistoryOfFraud.htm
Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud.htm


 

 

Concerns That Academic Accounting Research is Out of Touch With Reality

I think leading academic researchers avoid applied research for the profession because making seminal and creative discoveries that practitioners have not already discovered is enormously difficult. Accounting academe is threatened by the twin dangers of fossilization and scholasticism (of three types: tedium, high tech, and radical chic)
From http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm
 

“Knowledge and competence increasingly developed out of the internal dynamics of esoteric disciplines rather than within the context of shared perceptions of public needs,” writes Bender. “This is not to say that professionalized disciplines or the modern service professions that imitated them became socially irresponsible. But their contributions to society began to flow from their own self-definitions rather than from a reciprocal engagement with general public discourse.”

 

Now, there is a definite note of sadness in Bender’s narrative – as there always tends to be in accounts of the shift from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft. Yet it is also clear that the transformation from civic to disciplinary professionalism was necessary.

 

“The new disciplines offered relatively precise subject matter and procedures,” Bender concedes, “at a time when both were greatly confused. The new professionalism also promised guarantees of competence — certification — in an era when criteria of intellectual authority were vague and professional performance was unreliable.”

But in the epilogue to Intellect and Public Life, Bender suggests that the process eventually went too far. “The risk now is precisely the opposite,” he writes. “Academe is threatened by the twin dangers of fossilization and scholasticism (of three types: tedium, high tech, and radical chic). The agenda for the next decade, at least as I see it, ought to be the opening up of the disciplines, the ventilating of professional communities that have come to share too much and that have become too self-referential.”

 

What went wrong in accounting/accountics research? 
How did academic accounting research become a pseudo science?
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong


 

 

 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
190 Sunset Hill Road
Sugar Hill, NH 03586
Phone:  603-823-8482 
Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu