Tidbits on January 6, 2011
Bob Jensen
at Trinity University
It seems appropriate to begin
your new year with a wish upon a rainbow.
I prepared a special file of my rainbow pictures at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits\Rainbows\RainbowFavorites.htm
Happy and Prosperous New Year from Bob and
Erika
This is a Champaign-bucket gift given to us years ago by friends in San Antonio
Cannon Mountain is on the right side of
Franconia Notch as seen from the beach at Echo Lake
Is she still backing out the car?
Four Seasons of Life
Enjoy your holiday gifts all year long
White
Mountain News ---
http://www.whitemtnews.com/
Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on January 6, 2011
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2011/TidbitsQuotations010611.htm
Tidbits on January 6, 2011
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/
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
Video: Open Education for an Open World
45-minute Video from the Long-Time President of MIT ---
http://18.9.60.136/video/816
Video: Marxism Insurgency in America ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7w3ZEbC09k
"Fama Says Too-Big-to-Fail `Distorting' Financial System
(of efficient markets)" Bloomberg Video ---
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64476076/
Jensen Comment
This seems to coincide with the hypothesis that "Too Big to Lose" is distorting
the auditing system worldwide.
Three ways to save video from the Internet ---
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11327_7-6555399-1.html?tag=rb_content
Also see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube
Bob Jensen's threads on open source video and course materials from
prestigious universities ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Bob Jensen's threads on education technology in general ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm
THE COLLEGE OF 2020: STUDENTS ---
https://www.chronicle-store.com/Store/ProductDetails.aspx?CO=CQ&ID=76319&PK=N1S1009
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.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
574 Shields Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
- With a Rejoinder from the 2010 Senior Editor of The Accounting
Review (TAR), Steven J. Kachelmeier
- With Replies in Appendix 4 to Professor Kachemeier by Professors
Jagdish Gangolly and Paul Williams
- With Added Conjectures in Appendix 1 as to Why the Profession of
Accountancy Ignores TAR
- With Suggestions in Appendix 2 for Incorporating Accounting Research
into Undergraduate Accounting Courses
Gaming for Tenure as an Accounting Professor
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTenure.htm
(with a reply about tenure publication point systems from Linda Kidwell)
"So you want to get a Ph.D.?" by David Wood, BYU ---
http://www.byuaccounting.net/mediawiki/index.php?title=So_you_want_to_get_a_Ph.D.%3F
Do You Want to Teach? ---
http://financialexecutives.blogspot.com/2009/05/do-you-want-to-teach.html
Jensen Comment
Here are some added positives and negatives to consider, especially if you are
currently a practicing accountant considering becoming a professor.
Accountancy Doctoral Program Information from Jim Hasselback ---
http://www.jrhasselback.com/AtgDoctInfo.html
Why must all accounting doctoral programs be social science
(particularly econometrics) "accountics" doctoral programs?
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms
What went wrong in accounting/accountics research?
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong
AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH
CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW: 1926-2005 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1
Systemic problems of accountancy (especially the
vegetable nutrition paradox) that probably will never be solved ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#BadNews
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
A Must View
Video: Authors@Google: Chris Chabris (including his book on the Invisible
Gorilla and perceptual psychology) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdUk52h-MY&feature=youtu.be
Great Dance Routine: James Cagney and Bob Hope ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOoNOs8Ql28
How to Sharpen a Knife With a Cup ---
http://www.dump.com/2010/12/08/how-to-sharpen-your-knife-with-a-cup-video/
I never thought of this.
Top 10 YouTube Videos of All Time (not my picks) ---
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/top_10_youtube_videos_of_all_time.php
You have to watch to the end to study the lawyer language for
warm wishes ---
http://www.manatt.com/holidaycards/2010/
This video was generated by a "warm wishing" law firm.
Now you know why we don't waste half our lives reading the fine print on
every contract we sign,
every label on a package, and every footnote in a set of financial statements
Language professors might be especially interested in this "Word Lens" app
for an iPhone ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2OfQdYrHRs
Oh Holy Night (without the legal footnotes) ---
http://worriersanonymous.org/Share/Christmas/Holynite.htm .
Star Spangled Banner -(the real story) --
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Iwa-lSVqA1M&vq=medium
Tipu Sultan (d.1799) Weapons Research, Warrior Empire ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHnjq4-Ixck
Thank you Jagdish
The Journey Through Hallowed Ground ---
http://www.hallowedground.org/
Oliver North Giving Thanks to Our Heroes ---
http://www.nragive.com/ringoffreedom/index.html
Video on the Beauty of Mathematics ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h60r2HPsiuM&feature=youtube_gdata_pl
The Multimedia History of Artificial Intelligence
https://lib.stanford.edu/ai-media
I've linked to this one before, but it's too good not to
repeat
Johnny Carson and Betty White in the Garden of Eden ---
http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/164409/detail/
Three ways to save video from the Internet ---
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11327_7-6555399-1.html?tag=rb_content
Also see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youtube
Cowboy Examination, by Garrison Keillor, Prairie Home
Companion ---
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2010/11/20/scripts/cowboy.shtml
The Best of Not Necessarily the News (HBO, 1 of 6) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppHMk6seu9E
Homeless Man with Golden Radio Voice Will Have Your Ears
Ringing for Days ---
http://tv.gawker.com/5724444/homeless-man-with-radio-voice-will-have-your-ears-ringing-for-days
Free music downloads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
'Oxford American' Digs Into Alabama's Music ---
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/31/132525909/oxford-american-digs-into-alabama
Do You Remember These (Statler Brothers) ---
http://oldfortyfives.com/DYRT.htm
A Fairytale Grows Up: Rossini's 'La
Cenerentola'(Introduction to the Opera) ---
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/24/132210721/a-fairytale-grows-up-rossinis-la-cenerentola
The King's Singers: Four Decades Of Close, Sweet
Harmony (Studio Concert) ---
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/23/132228929/the-kings-singers-four-decades-of-close-sweet-harmony
Ancient Inspiration: Monteverdi's 'Return of
Ulysses' (Introduction to the opera) ---
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/17/132108065/monteverdi-return-of-ulysses
An Early Look At 2011's Best Music ---
http://www.npr.org/2011/01/01/132490038/an-early-look-at-2011s-best-music
Forwarded by Paula
Bosa Nova Baby
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxHs7OMZcWM
Suspicious Minds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-NDXtDUcGQ
Blue Suede Shoes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s70rkdP1qI
Great Dance Routine: James Cagney and Bob Hope
---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOoNOs8Ql28
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
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
National Snow and Ice Data Center ---
http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/
Virtual Museum of Optical Illusions ---
http://www.opticalillusionsmuseum.com/index.html
NEH Grant Project: The AGS Library's Historic
Images ---
http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/digilib/NEHgrant/
Maryhill Museum of Art ---
http://www.maryhillmuseum.org/index.html
American Medical Association: Atlas of the Human
Body ---
Click Here
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/patient-education-materials/atlas-of-human-body.shtml
The Journey Through Hallowed Ground ---
http://www.hallowedground.org/
Gillray Collection (Art History) ---
http://diglib.princeton.edu/xquery?_xq=getCollection&_xsl=collection&_pid=gc108
Maryland ArtSource: Maryland Historical Society
Painting Collection
http://www.marylandartsource.org/collections/collection_index_000000001.html
Tokens & Treasures: Gifts to Twelve Presidents
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/tokens_and_treasures/tokens_and_treasures_home.html
Imagining the Past in France, 1250-1500
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/imagining_past_france/
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
American Medical Association: Atlas of the Human Body ---
Click Here
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/patient-education-materials/atlas-of-human-body.shtml
Papers Past (New Zealand) ---
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
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 on January 6, 2011
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2011/TidbitsQuotations010611.htm
Peter G.
Peterson Website on Deficit/Debt Solutions ---
http://www.pgpf.org/
Bob Jensen's health care messaging updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm
What did you accomplish in the fall semester? You
helped to make the world a better place because you are a teacher.
"Take a Moment to Relish What You Did," by Joe Hoyle, January 2, 2011 ---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2011/01/take-moment-to-relish-what-you-did.html
The real meaning of Occam's razor ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_Razor
"Top Scientific Breakthroughs in 2010," Gizmodo, December 31,
2010 ---
http://gizmodo.com/5721504/the-top-scientific-breakthroughs-of-2010
This is actually quite good and written in Adrienne's usual entertaining
style
"The Second Annual Jr Deputy Accountant Fed Year In Review," Jr.
Deputy Accountant Blog, December 31, 2010 ---
http://www.jrdeputyaccountant.com/2010/12/second-annual-jr-deputy-accountant-fed.html
A
Must View
Video: Authors@Google: Chris Chabris (including his book on the
Invisible Gorilla and perceptual psychology) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdUk52h-MY&feature=youtu.be
Jensen Comment
This has some implication for financial statement analysis. We are conditioned
to look for certain types of things like return on investment, net cash flow,
and other things that are commonly looked at in financial statements. We may be
warned ahead of time to look for a "gorilla" or a "woman carrying an umbrella
passing by." But we have limited ability to perceive unexpected events.
PS
Also note why "hands free" cell phones do very little to make driving safer
while being on the phone.
"Skype 5 beta is horrible," by Dennis Howlett, AccMan, January
4, 2011 ---
Click Here
http://accmanpro.com/2011/01/04/skype-5-beta-is-horrible/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+flacknhack/jRao+%28Dennis+Howlett:+AccMan%29
I am not alone.
The
howls of protest on the Skype forums are both
impassioned and detailed in their condemnation of the new UI/UX.
January 4, 2010 reply from Robert Bowers (tax accountant)
This Skype thread interests me.
I have been cutting costs w/ a vengeance for sev
yrs
Sev yrs ago I went from Verizon tel (120) + full
Comcast cable (130) + net = about 250/mo
I talked Com into giving me a promo rate of 62,
went to Vonage @ 25, total 87 … not bad
Then Com went back to 130, so I talked Verizon into
70 for all 3. But this expires in June.
I have looked at Vonage, Magic Jack, not Skype –
all these alt phones don’t seem to support Faxes,
and to be honest it seems Verizon still beats all
these for clarity
This wouldn’t bother me, as I send email
attachments to all but one – guess who – the IRS
As far as cable, I just went w/ Netflix – unlimited
movies for $8/mo
Now if I could find a TV provider of all the news (incl
CNBC), I would be happy
When you go to alternative providers there is
always a tradeoff – you can’t get something for nothing.
January 4, 2010 reply from Rick Lillie
While there are some features in Skype v5.0.0.156
that I do not care about, overall I really like the new Skype version. I'm
not a Facebook person. I prefer that links to Facebook and other social
media be kept optional for users who want such features.
We all have our biases, which is clear from the
Howlett article, forum comments and my comments in this email message. I'm a
"PC" person. I'm not an "Apple" person. I'm probably in the minority, but I
don't care for the iPad. I'll stick with my ThinkPad Tablet computer. It's
capabilities go far beyond what the iPad can do.
I use Skype to offer virtual office hours for my
students. This makes it possible to extend the benefits of traditional
office hours to students who are unable to come to my office during set
times. Students really like using Skype to work together.
Skype features like desktop sharing make it easy to
work one-on-one with students when they need help with assignments. The
instant messaging and file sharing features are exceptional, especially with
improvements added in v5. With v5, you can send a message or file to someone
even though the other party is not online at the moment. Skype now
temporarily stores the message or file until the other party is available
and then downloads it. This improvement takes peer-to-peer to the next
performance level.
I have used Skype's new multi-party video
conferencing. It worked fine. Several study groups used multi-party video
conferencing during Fall Quarter 2010 and liked its performance. I see a
real future for multi-party video conferencing. My concern is that it will
become a fee-based service that students will not be able to afford.
I combine the free features of Skype with features
of other free Web 2.0 technologies to teach my students how to use
technology to create, share, and communicate. For example, when we combine
Skype with Google Docs and Spreadsheets, students learn to do what you can
do in WebEx or Adobe Connect. This combination is free. The alternatives are
extremely expensive.
Skype's interface changed with v5. Without a doubt,
it will change again. Skype listens to feedback. Technology evolves.
Skype includes a bundle of features that makes it a
powerful communicative, collaborative Web 2.0 technology tool. It includes
far more useful features in one tool than I find in other similar tools.
This is what makes Skype really useful and easy to use.
Skype changes itself about every 15 minutes. If you
don't like the current version, be patient or find a better alternative. If
you truly find a better alternative, please share it.
Happy New Year! May we all prosper in 2011.
Rick Lillie, MAS, Ed.D., CPA
Assistant Professor of Accounting
Coordinator, Master of Science in Accountancy
CSUSB, CBPA, Department of Accounting & Finance
5500 University Parkway, JB-547
San Bernardino, CA. 92407-2397
Email: rlillie@csusb.edu \
Telephone: (909) 537-5726
Skype (Username): ricklillie
Nations ranked as to level of corruption ---
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/gov_cor-government-corruption
David Albrecht reminded us that Canada quietly reduced its top corporate tax
rate ---
http://21stcenturytaxation.blogspot.com/2011/01/canada-further-drops-its-top-corporate.html
"Fama Says Too-Big-to-Fail `Distorting' Financial System (of efficient
markets)" Bloomberg Video ---
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64476076/
Jensen Comment
This seems to coincide with the hypothesis that "Too Big to Lose" is distorting
the auditing system worldwide.
Bob Jensen's threads on the EMH ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory01.htm#EMH
Yahoo Education ranks "hot careers" through 2018 and beyond.
Accountants/audits get top billing, which is probably the first time we've
ever been called "hot."
http://education.yahoo.net/articles/hot_careers_through_2018.htm
Accounting Careers are Hot at Rank 2 According to College Board
"Hottest Careers for College Graduates: Experts Predict Where the Jobs
Will Be in 2018," College Board, December 30, 2010 ---
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/csearch/majors_careers/236.html
Government economists estimate which occupations
will have the most job openings between 2008 and 2018. Openings occur
because new jobs are created and because workers retire or leave the field
for other reasons.
Check out these top 10 lists of occupations, sorted
by the level of education typically required:
Occupations with the Most Job Openings: Graduate Degree
Occupation
|
Total
Job Openings 2008–2018 |
Postsecondary teachers |
553,000 |
Doctors and surgeons |
261,000 |
Lawyers |
240,000 |
Clergy |
218,000 |
Pharmacists |
106,000 |
Educational, vocational, and school counselors |
94,000 |
Physical therapists |
79,000 |
Medical scientists, except epidemiologists |
66,000 |
Mental health and substance abuse social workers |
61,000 |
Instructional coordinators |
61,000 |
Occupations with the Most Job Openings: Bachelor's Degree
Occupation
|
Total Job Openings 2008–2018 |
Elementary school teachers, except special education |
597,000 |
Accountants and auditors |
498,000 |
Secondary school teachers, except special and vocational education |
412,000 |
Middle school teachers, except special and vocational education |
251,000 |
Computer systems analysts |
223,000 |
Computer software engineers, applications |
218,000 |
Network systems and data communications analysts |
208,000 |
Computer software engineers, systems software |
153,000 |
Construction managers |
138,000 |
Market research analysts |
137,000 |
Occupations with the Most Jobs Openings: Associate's Degree or
Postsecondary Vocational Award
Occupation
|
Total
Job Openings 2008–2018 |
Registered nurses |
1,039,000 |
Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants |
422,000 |
Licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses |
391,000 |
Computer support specialists |
235,000 |
Hairdressers, hairstylists, and cosmetologists |
220,000 |
Automotive service technicians and mechanics |
182,000 |
Preschool teachers, except special education |
178,000 |
Insurance sales agents |
153,000 |
Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration technicians |
136,000 |
Real estate sales agents |
128,000 |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Bob Jensen's threads on careers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers
Fun Facts About Accountant
Celebrities ---
http://cpatrendlines.com/2010/11/08/fun-facts-12-accountant-celebrities/
A Sociology Decision Provokes Sociologists
Apart from having to consider costs as well as benefits of particular accounting
standards, accounting standard setters face the inevitable problem of tradeoffs
in benefits where achieving a greater good on one criterion harms performance on
another criterion. This for example, is a problem in the various standards that
are now requiring the booking of fair values of financial instruments in place
of their original booked historical costs and before their ultimate realized
transactions sales values. If you only have one number that can be reported on a
given balance sheet on a particular date you cannot have your cake and eat it
too.
Similarly, you cannot be physically present in two cities in the same meeting
at the same point in time time.
A sociology meeting was rescheduled from from Chicago to Las Vegas because a
hotel labor dispute in Chicago is not yet settled and sociologists cannot be
hired in college sociology departments if they do not side with unions in labor
disputes --- that's the first or second rule of political correctness. But
meeting planners soon discovered that there are greater priorities among many
sociologists than bashing hotel owners. Read the comments at the bottom
of this article ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/relocated-sociology-meeting-will-take-place-in-las-vegas/29479
May I recommend the Sunset Hill House Hotel in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire
where there've been no labor disputes in history to my knowledge and a pimp
would freeze to death and be buried in four feet of fresh snow while waiting
outside the hotel.
Is hiring a stalker cheaper than paying rent?
"There Oughta Be a Law: Californians Getting 725 New Ones in 2011," by
Hoa Patch, LaMesa Patch, December 31, 2011 ---
http://lamesa.patch.com/articles/there-outta-be-a-law-californians-getting-725-new-ones-in-2011
Jensen Comment
Are you tired of the same old "Make versus Buy" or "Buy versus Rent" cases in
your managerial and cost accounting courses? Spice up your teaching with the new
"Stalk versus Pay" house rental cases from California. Assume that long-term
stalkers are plentiful for a fee. Determine the breakeven point where you become
indifferent between paying a stalker versus paying your landlord.
What if a company leasing the tallest building in Los Angeles is being
stalked by Carl Icahn? Can the company stop paying rent until Carl Icahn agrees
to leave the lessee alone ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Icahn
I think David Albrecht should adapt a new variation of his use of Parker
Bros. Monopoly board game when teaching accounting. If you land on luxurious
Park Place or Boardwalk, with each having four very expensive rental houses, you
should have a chance to get out of paying rent with a "Hired a Stalker" card
from the Community Chest.
You might even hang your stalkers by the fireplace on Christmas eve. Moms
should make a point of buying stalker stuffers for each stalker hung by the
chimney with care.
Additional Comment
AB 1871 allows people to lease out their cars when they are not being
used—alleviating the need to purchase additional insurance. Can your teenage
son, who caused four deaths in three separate accidents in which he was
convicted of drunk driving, get a better deal on insurance by leasing a car from
his parents instead of borrowing a car from them?
Here's another managerial and cost accounting project for students.
When is it cheaper for a sixteen year old driver to lease a his grandpa's car
rather than take out insurance on his own new car?
Does your answer vary whether the teenager lives in New York versus Wyoming when
he's contemplating renting Grandpa's car in Yuba City, California.
Additional Comment
Here's another project for accounting students. Since insurance companies can no
longer differentiate teenage driver car insurance fees on the basis of gender of
the teenager, will teenage women end up paying more in 2011 than they were
paying insurance companies in 2010 to insure their SUVs?
Does this new gender-neutral law really screw women in general for life
insurance, medical insurance, car insurance, etc.
Did California women simply overlook this law before it went into effect?
Additional Comment
AB 12 allows foster youth to acquire state services until the age of 21.
Is it a good idea to put your kid out for foster care when she/he graduates from
high school.
With any kind of luck, your neighbor might get paid to take care of your kid
between the ages of 18 and 21. Maybe you can get a kickback. Wouldn't that be a
kick?
"Half of Money Lent to
Students at For-Profits Will End Up in Default, Government Predicts,"
Chronicle of Higher Education, December 22, 2010 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/half-of-money-lent-to-students-at-for-profits-will-end-up-in-default-government-predicts/29325
Bob
Jensen's threads on for-profit university controversies are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#ForProfitFraud
Cash Flow versus Accrual Accounting
A Secret That Will Never Be Revealed on MSNBC
"Cooking the Books: The 2010 Deficit Was $2.1 trillion," by Bruce
Bartlett, The Fiscal Times, December 24, 2010 ---
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Issues/Budget-Impact/2010/12/24/Cooking-the-Books-The-2010-Deficit-Was-2trillion.aspx
When federal finances are discussed, it is almost
always in terms of the difference between expenditures and revenues.
Usually, the former exceed the latter and we have a deficit. The cumulative
total of deficits less the occasional surpluses is what we call the national
debt. When we analyze the debt in terms of its burden, it is usually by
looking at it in terms of the gross domestic product. Presently, debt held
by the public, the most common measure of federal debt, is $9.3 trillion, or
about 60 percent of GDP.
If the federal government was a corporation and one
was contemplating buying shares of its stock, however, one would certainly
want to know much more about its finances. One would want to know about the
government’s assets as well as its liabilities. And one would want to know
whether there are any liabilities other than those included in the figures
for debt held by the public, among other things.
These data are not easy to come by. For many years
they appeared only in an obscure mimeographed document called the Statement
of Liabilities and Other Financial Commitments of the United States that the
Treasury Department produced only because it was required by a 1966 law to
do so. The reason is that the financial statement showed vast government
liabilities not included in the usual figures for the national debt. Since
1998, these data have been published in a document called the
Financial
Report of the U.S. Government. The fiscal year 2010 edition was released
on Dec. 21.
The most important difference between the Financial
Report and the federal budget is that the former calculates costs on an
accrual basis, whereas the latter only measures cash flow. Thus if the
federal government incurred a debt that would not be paid until some time in
the future, that cost would not be part of the conventionally measured
national debt. It would only add to the debt when cash had to be expended to
cover the expense that had been incurred. It’s worth remembering that
private corporations are required to use accrual accounting and corporate
executives would be jailed for using the sort of accounting that the federal
government routinely uses.
The difference in accounting methods is most easily
grasped in terms of Social Security. It has a liability over the next 75
years of $8 trillion more than the projected revenue from payroll taxes and
interest on the Social Security trust fund. In every meaningful sense of the
term, this is part of the national debt, but is excluded from the official
debt figures.
Another consequence of ignoring future liabilities
in calculating the national debt is that programmatic changes that save
money in the future are similarly ignored. Thus, according to the Financial
Report, Medicare had estimated liabilities in excess of future revenues over
the next 75 years of $38 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2009. However,
in the meantime, Congress enacted the Affordable Care Act, which contains
significant cost controls on future Medicare spending. As a consequence,
Medicare’s long-term liabilities fell by $15 trillion in 2010.
Financial Report of the U.S. Government ---
http://www.fms.treas.gov/fr/index.html
Bob Jensen's threads on the sad state of governmental accounting ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory02.htm#GovernmentalAccounting
Hugo Chavez Takes Over the Oil Monopoly in Franconia, New Hampshire
Among those states that tax businesses on the basis of worldwide income are
Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts,
Montana, New Hampshire, New York (oil companies only), North Dakota, Oregon, and
Utah. There may be others (Maine?) by now. ---
http://custom.cengage.com/pktax/09_edition/CHE-ARC2009-07-1202-001-IT.pdf
Our village of Sugar Hill has no fuel station so I often fill my tank at
Bob's Mobil Station, the only fuel station in nearby Franconia. Bob's wife told
me that there soon would not be a Mobil station in Franconia because of
increases in the corporate income tax rates in Massachusetts and Maine
According to her (I could not verify this in an early morning search of the Web)
the domestically-owned oil stations are pulling out of New England due largely
to Massachusetts and Maine corporate tax rate increases on global profits.
Presumably the loss of these fuel stations in other New England states is
collateral damage due to tax increases in Maine and Mass. It just does not pay
to keep the fuel stations in the smaller New England states when pulling out of
the bigger states.
I should point out that we will not losing our only nearby fuel station.
Bob's independently owned fuel station will replace its Bob's Mobil sign with a
new Bob's Citgo sign, but this boils Bob's blood since Citgo is owned by
"communist dictator" Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. You must realize that Bob, a very
proud war veteran, complained incessantly about the leftist leanings of Ronald
Regan and Barry Goldwater. He suspects that Chavez is supporting Hezbollah and
other insurgent bases that will launch attacks on U.S. soil. He feels no comfort
in the probability that Citgo stations are safe from Chavez terror attacks.
If what Bob's wife tells me is really true about domestic companies selling
or abandoning their fuel stations in New England, this is like taxation without
representation to residents of New Hampshire. New Hampshire voters have no say
in the setting of nearby Massachusetts tax rates. Yet we will be left with only
foreign-owned fuel stations like Citgo (Chavez), Irving (Canadian), and Shell
(Dutch) fuel stations. Fewer companies means reduced competition, and reduced
competition means higher prices that we in New Hampshire will be paying because
of tax increases in Maine and Mass. Also New Hampshire will be losing corporate
tax revenues due to tax rate hike decisions in nearby Mass. and Maine.
I have two questions:
- Are there authoritative confirmations of what Bob's wife told me about
domestic oil companies pulling out of New England?
- Do foreign-owned oil companies have a tax break on state income
taxes or can their global profits be taxed just like domestic corporation
global profits are taxed in some of our U.S. states?
"What's In Store for Technology in 2011: Products, Services and Big
Developments to Watch for and the Challenges Facing the Major," by Walter S.
Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal, December 30, 2011 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704774604576035624059759898.html
Some excerpts only:
In 2011, Apple also is likely to try to address two
areas where it has been weak: cloud computing and social networking. Both
its MobileMe cloud service and its Ping social network had rough starts, and
MobileMe charges $100 a year for services others give away.
. . .
A separate group at Google will try in 2011 to
revolutionize the PC operating-system business and muscle in on incumbents
Microsoft and Apple. Its new Chrome OS will power notebooks that essentially
act as Web browsers, and run programs stored in the cloud, not on a hard
disk. They also store all your files in the cloud. We'll learn in 2011 how
many consumers are comfortable with that approach. Google also may take
another whack at social networking, where it hasn't made much of a dent
after its Buzz service failed to take off. And it will have to rework its
overly complex Google TV effort to bring Internet video to the living room.
. . .
In tablets, Microsoft is hinting that a new version
of Windows is being designed with a tablet focus to complement its PC focus.
That product can't be too late, given the rapid rise of the iPad and the
many planned Android and other tablets for 2011. One golden opportunity
Microsoft has is to expand the reach of its brilliant Kinect technology for
games to other forms of computing. This system can recognize individual
users and interpret gestures without the use of a controller device.
. . .
The BlackBerry maker had a good 2010 in some ways,
though sales were propped up by two-for-one giveaways, and consumer surveys
show enthusiasm fading for the iconic smart phone. It needs a radically new
user interface to keep up with iPhone and Android, and a lot more
third-party apps. But it can't afford to alienate its fan base. The company
has an answer: a new software platform called QNX, but is vague on when that
will show up on the BlackBerry. For 2011, RIM's big move will be a new QNX-based
tablet, the PlayBook, which looks speedy and highly attractive in the
limited demos RIM has provided. What isn't clear is how much the PlayBook
will be aimed at consumers, as company officials have consistently stressed
its appeal to businesses.
. . .
The technology behemoth's (HP) laptops and printers
have proved popular with consumers. But it hasn't had any real presence in
smart-phones, tablets or consumer cloud services. To solve the problems, in
2010 HP bought innovative but struggling Palm, whose smart-phone operating
system, webOS, and phones, the Pre and Pixi, got good reviews but sold
poorly and didn't attract many third-party apps. In 2011, HP hopes to use
its ample money and talent to revive webOS with new phones and tablets to
challenge Apple and Android. A successful Palm re-launch, with the new
initiatives from RIM and Microsoft, would be good for consumers by providing
more choice and competition. HP also hopes to boost home printing with a new
line of printers that can print anything emailed across the Internet and
wirelessly print from Apple's hand-held devices
. . .
The twin leaders (Facebook and Twitter) in
social networking were red-hot in 2010, attracting vast numbers of users.
They have huge opportunities for further success, but face challenges.
Smaller services, like social-coupon company Groupon, continue to emerge
with new social and community ideas consumers like. Apple and Google could
be big headaches if they get social right in 2011. Facebook must continue
its recent initiative to let members share personal details with more
limited groups of friends, and to find ways to make money while offering
more privacy, which has been a thorn in its side. Twitter is on a mission to
get more than an active minority to post, while convincing people it is a
valuable way to keep up with news and opinion even if you never post.
. . .
For all of Walt's columns and videos, go to the All
Things Digital site.
How to find Excel commands that were visible in the 2007 and are hidden in
the 2010 version of Excel ---
http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2011/Jan/ICommandYou.htm
Unlimited Supply of Labor: The Dismal Economic Theories of Arthur Lewis
Hi
Zafar,
In all my years in the academy I've never seen
a direct Ronald Reagan quote blaming poverty on laziness, although virtually
all economists including Karl Marx, admit that many of the unemployed are
incapable for one reason or another of holding down jobs. The problem has
become more accute with the spread of drug addiction that harms the
prouctivity of many workders. If Reagan really said this it would be a
stupid remark since some of our poorest people like hotel chambermaids and
taxi drivers are examples on non-laziness.
You fail to look into more credible theories of
why we have unemployment and will continue to have unemployment in virtually
all the nations of the global economy. One of the best places to begin, in
my opinion, is in the writings of Arthur Lewis ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Lewis_(economist)
.
Even Karl Marx attributed much of the cause of
unemployment to overpopulation. Arthur Lewis provides a rather clear theory
that the wage rates in industrialized nations will always remain low because
of the "unlimited supply" of global subsistence-level labor. Laziness has
little to to with the major problem of unemployment. It has more to do with
the oversupply of labor coupled in modern times with vastly improved
communication and transportation systems. Now when I have a problem with my
new computer a Dell technician in India is on the other end of the phone
helping me.
World Population
Growth
Year |
Population |
1 |
200 million |
1000 |
275 million |
1500 |
450 million |
1650 |
500 million |
1750 |
700 million |
1804 |
1 billion |
1850 |
1.2 billion |
1900 |
1.6 billion |
1927 |
2 billion |
1950 |
2.55 billion |
1955 |
2.8 billion |
1960 |
3 billion |
1965 |
3.3 billion |
1970 |
3.7 billion |
1975 |
4 billion |
1980 |
4.5 billion |
1985 |
4.85 billion |
1990 |
5.3 billion |
1995 |
5.7 billion |
1999 |
6 billion |
2006 |
6.5 billion |
2009 |
6.8 billion |
2011 |
7 billion |
2025 |
8 billion |
2050 |
9.4 billion |
In 1954, when Lewis wrote his most famous theory, there were 2.8 billion
people back in the wonderful 1950s (when I was literally enjoying every
moment of high school). Now we're living in a world of 7 billion where jobs
are easily transported to India, Indonesia, Africa, Mexico and all other
points south of the Rio Grande.
We will soon have technology capable of
assembling automobiles with one worker who turns the factory switch on or
off. It's analogous to the evolution of replacing 5,000 1940 telephone
switchboard operators in Cleveland with 2010 automated switchboards. All
this is taking place while the world population more than doubled between
1950 and 1990. There's one highly automated factory in China that now
produces over a third of the foot socks sold in the world.
When I was a kid, a farm family in Iowa could
make a good living on 80 acres of land. That same family probably cannot
make good living on less than 240 acres of land in Iowa and even 240 acres
is too small for the farming capacities of modern farming machinery designed
to work 2,000 or more acres of land with one or two farmers.
Now we are witnessing the decline of the
newspaper and magazine industry due to an explosion of faster and more
innovative ways of communicating local and global news.
The problem becomes ever more acute as we keep
producing more people faster than jobs for those people. There are a few
positive signs such as the fact that the rate of growth in population is
slowing even if the growth itself is still upward.
I don't think Reagan ever blamed the bulk of
poverty on laziness. If anything poverty is caused by teens and adults who
are too ambitious in producing children relative to the finite resources of
this planet. Of course there are many ways we can support population growth
by better utilizing and preserving the most crucial resources like fish in
the sea.
I think Arthur Lewis was correct about the true
causes of unemployment and poverty --- the problem is too many of us
creating an unlimited supply of labor.
Questions
Although all 50 states are in deep financial troubles, what state is in the
worst shape at the moment and is unable to pay its bills?
Hint: The state in deepest trouble is not California, although California is in
dire straights!
How did accountants hide the pending
disasters?
Watch the Video
This module on 60 Minutes on December 19 was one of the most worrisome episodes
I've ever watched
It appears that a huge number of cities and towns and some states will default
on bonds within12 months from now
"State Budgets: The Day of Reckoning Steve Kroft Reports On The Growing
Financial Woes States Are Facing," CBS Sixty Minutes, December 19, 2010 ---
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/19/60minutes/main7166220.shtml
The problem with that, according to Wall Street
analyst Meredith Whitney, is that no one really knows how deep the holes
are. She and her staff spent two years and thousands of man hours trying to
analyze the financial condition of the 15 largest states. She wanted to find
out if they would be able to pay back the money they've borrowed and what
kind of risk they pose to the $3 trillion municipal bond market, where state
and local governments go to finance their schools, highways, and other
projects.
"How accurate is the financial information that's
public on the states? And municipalities," Kroft asked.
"The lack of transparency with the state disclosure
is the worst I have ever seen," Whitney said. "Ultimately we have to use
what's publicly available data and a lot of it is as old as June 2008. So
that's before the financial collapse in the fall of 2008."
Whitney believes the states will find a way to
honor their debts, but she's afraid some local governments which depend on
their state for a third of their revenues will get squeezed as the states
are forced to tighten their belts. She's convinced that some cities and
counties will be unable to meet their obligations to municipal bond holders
who financed their debt. Earlier this year, the state of Pennsylvania had to
rescue the city of Harrisburg, its capital, from defaulting on hundreds of
millions of dollars in debt for an incinerator project.
"There's not a doubt in my mind that you will see a
spate of municipal bond defaults," Whitney predicted.
Asked how many is a "spate," Whitney said, "You
could see 50 sizeable defaults. Fifty to 100 sizeable defaults. More. This
will amount to hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of defaults."
Municipal bonds have long been considered to be
among the safest investments, bought by small investors saving for
retirement, and held in huge numbers by big banks. Even a few defaults could
affect the entire market. Right now the big bond rating agencies like
Standard & Poor's and Moody's, who got everything wrong in the housing
collapse, say there's no cause for concern, but Meredith Whitney doesn't
believe it.
"When individual investors look to people that are
supposed to know better, they're patted on the head and told, 'It's not
something you need to worry about.' It'll be something to worry about within
the next 12 months," she said.
No one is talking about it now, but the big test
will come this spring. That's when $160 billion in federal stimulus money,
that has helped states and local governments limp through the great
recession, will run out.
The states are going to need some more cash and
will almost certainly ask for another bailout. Only this time there are no
guarantees that Washington will ride to the rescue.
Continued in article
The Government' Recipe for Off-Budget Debt
"US Government 'hiding true amount of debt'," by Gregory Bresiger, news,com ---
http://www.news.com.au/business/breaking-news/us-government-hiding-true-amount-of-debt/story-e6frfkur-1225926567256#ixzz106MjZzOz
Bob Jensen's threads on the economic
crisis ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm
The Sad State of Government Accounting and
Accountability ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory02.htm#GovernmentalAccounting
Basic Accounting Crossword Games ---
http://www.ehow.com/list_6830614_basic-accounting-games.html
Bob Jensen's threads on edutainment ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
Tenure Tacks for Professionally Qualified (PQ) Faculty as well as
Academically Qualified (AQ) Faculty
December 23, 2010 message from Bob Jensen to Patricia Walters
Hi Pat,
I think your question should be reworded as follows:
Rhetorical question: How many new doctoral program graduates would opt
for a clinical appointment if (as in medical schools) the clinical faculty
could get tenure alongside the research faculty? .
Clinical faculty presumably would have heavier teaching loads and in some
ways more difficult loads in that they have to stay as up to date as
practicing accountants on standards, interpretations, tax laws, and business
applications of accountancy. As far as teaching is concerned they may have
to be more generalists in covering intermediate, advanced, auditing,
systems, and masters level professional accountancy courses. .
Research faculty would have to make original contributions to knowledge
and joust with research referees and journal editors. They could become more
narrowly focused on research specialties, methodologies, and data mining. .
Of course there are a few areas where clinical faculty could become more
narrowly specialized such as in ERP and XBRL and forensic accounting
specialties. .
How would clinical faculty be judged for tenure beyond teaching
excellence and outstanding service?
Clinical faculty might be required to become active in case writing
associations such as NACRA and be required to write Harvard-style cases and
teaching notes upon which they would be judged on the quality of the cases
and even publication of the cases. Hence, publish or parish may not
completely disappear for clinical faculty.
Clinical faculty might be required to publish in some top professional
journals such as* Issues in Accounting Edu*cation and *Accounting
Horizons*and the *Harvard Business Review*.
As an example of a case that I think would make a great contribution
toward tenure for a clinical faculty member I recommend one of my all time
favorite cases published in IAE:
"Questrom vs. Federated Department Stores, Inc.: A Question of Equity
Value," May 2001 edition of* Issues in Accounting Educati*on, by University
of Alabama faculty members *Gary Taylor, William Sampson, and Benton Gup*,
pp. 223-256. .
Perhaps clinical faculty would even have to take annual professional
examinations as one of the conditions for tenure granting.
It's important that clinical faculty do not have an easier track for
tenure.
The clinical track should be a rigorous track based on teaching excellence,
scholarly publications, and evidence of professional competency much like
clinical medical faculty are judged upon their superb skills in medical
practice.
It may even be easier to conduct research on the brain than to become
an outstanding and tenured brain surgeon in a leading medical school
In one of my think tank years I lived in Staford housing on campus.
Across the street I became close with a clinical hand surgeon in the
Stanford Medical School. His duties included teaching and performing
experimental surgeries installing metal joints in hands. Surgeons came from
far and wide just to watch him perform surgeries.
I once asked him why he took such a sacrifice in income to be a medical
school professor? He said it was to avoid the hassle of practice including
such things as having to deal with malpractice insurance and a larger
patient caseload. In medical school he could cherry pick the most
interesting surgery cases. He said he also got more sleep as a medical
school surgeon than as a surgeon in private practice.
Beside me lived a tenured research professor in the Stanford Medical
School who was not even an MD. He was a PhD engineer with a specialty in the
kidney and fluid dynamics. He was tenured on the basis of his research and
publication record. I remember he and his wife especially well. They had a
huge doberman that was gentle as a lamb when my daughter watched their baby
in their house. But I didn't dare step inside the house when my daughter was
baby sitting.
Respectfully,
Bob Jensen
**************
Hi Tom,
You mentioned Denny Beresford standing tall in a crowd. Denny also stands
tall in another department for the last 13-14 years of his career. Although
he holds a named professorship at the University of Georgia he's probably
viewed more as a clinical professor than a research professor by his
colleagues. He's also one of our pioneers in distance education who's not
burned out when he teaches online to students in the PwC online MBA Program
at the University of Georgia. .
As a clinical professor Denny stands tall as my role model for a clinical
professor who actively publishes articles in practitioner journals such as
the *CPA Journal* and elsewhere where he has published some excellent
articles. And he's one of the more popular speakers in the academy. Hall of
Fame Citation ---
Click Here
http://fisher.osu.edu/departments/accounting-and-mis/the-accounting-hall-of-fame/membership-in-hall/dennis-robert-beresford/
.
Thus if we are to grant tenure to clinical professors it would not be
unreasonable to still require that they publish even if their articles are
scholarly-professional rather than research contributions. .
Denny is well beyond traditional retirement age with substantial savings.
He remains in harness (rather being pastured like me) largely out of the
love of teaching and the love of still making a difference in our craft. .
For those clinical professors who are younger, like Patricia Walters, I
would like to stress that trying to get employers to grant tenure to PQ
full-time professors should be a goal. There are many advantages to tenure.
In times of financial crisis, tenured professors are the last employees
standing.
Contract employees serve at the whim of an administrator. If the new Dean
or new Department Chair does not particularly like a contract employee it's
c'est la vie. .
Also when it comes time to make deals for early retirement tenured
professors are given much better offers than most contract employees ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Retire .
Of course there is one huge drawback of being on tenure track. Tenure
track faculty face an up-or-out crisis point after six or seven years.
Contract employees not on tenure track face contract renewals but these are
not quite the same as the tenure decision hurdle. .
Perhaps PQ faculty should be given a choice as to whether they want to
take a tenure track.
Respectfully,
Bob Jensen
Bob Jensen's threads on tenure appear in various places at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
Say What?
Common sense dictates that employees would ceteris paribus rather have
pay raises than bonuses, but on Wall Street there seems to be something beyond
economics in the desire for bonuses.
"Mental accounting on Wall Street," Nudges, December 20, 2010
---
http://nudges.org/2010/12/20/mental-accounting-on-wall-street/
Even though employees will receive roughly the same
amount of money, the psychological blow of not getting a bonus is
substantial, especially in a Wall Street culture that has long equated
success and prestige with bonus size. So there are sure to be plenty of long
faces on employees across the financial sector who have come to expect a
bonus on top of their base pay. Wall Streeters typically find out what their
bonuses will be in January, with the payout coming in February.
One executive, whose firm prohibited discussing the
topic with the news media, said the bump in base salaries had confused
people, even though their overall compensation was the same. “People expect
a big bonus,” this person said. “It is as if they don’t even see their base
doubled last year.”
"A Wind Power Boonedoggle T. Boone Pickens badly misjudged the supply and
price of natural gas," by Robert Bryce, The Wall Street Journal,
December 22, 2010 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704368004576027310664695834.html
After 30 months, countless TV appearances, and $80
million spent on an extravagant PR campaign, T. Boone Pickens has finally
admitted the obvious: The wind energy business isn't a very good one.
The Dallas-based entrepreneur, who has relentlessly
promoted his "Pickens Plan" since July 4, 2008, announced earlier this month
that he's abandoning the wind business to focus on natural gas.
Two years ago, natural gas prices were spiking and
Mr. Pickens figured they'd stay high. He placed a $2 billion order for wind
turbines with General Electric. Shortly afterward, he began selling the
Pickens Plan. The United States, he claimed, is "the Saudi Arabia of wind,"
and wind energy is an essential part of the cure for the curse of imported
oil.
Voters and politicians embraced the folksy
billionaire's plan. Last year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he had
joined "the Pickens church," and Al Gore said he wished that more business
leaders would emulate Mr. Pickens and be willing to "throw themselves into
the fight for the future of our country."
Alas, market forces ruined the Pickens Plan. Mr.
Pickens should have shorted wind. Instead, he went long and now he's stuck
holding a slew of turbines he can't use because low natural gas prices have
made wind energy uneconomic in the U.S., despite federal subsidies that
amount to $6.44 for every 1 million British thermal units (BTUs) produced by
wind turbines. As the former corporate raider explained a few days ago,
growth in the wind energy industry "just isn't gonna happen" if natural gas
prices remain depressed.
In 2008, shortly after he launched his plan, Mr.
Pickens said that for wind energy to be competitive, natural gas prices must
be at least $9 per million BTUs. In March of this year, he was still hawking
wind energy, but he'd lowered his price threshold, saying "The place where
it works best is with natural gas at $7."
That may be true. But on the spot market natural
gas now sells for about $4 per million BTUs. In other words, the free-market
price for natural gas is about two-thirds of the subsidy given to wind. Yet
wind energy still isn't competitive in the open market.
Despite wind's lousy economics, the lame duck
Congress recently passed a one-year extension of the investment tax credit
for renewable energy projects. That might save a few "green" jobs.
But at the same time that Congress was voting to
continue the wind subsidies, Texas Comptroller Susan Combs reported that
property tax breaks for wind projects in the Lone Star State cost nearly
$1.6 million per job. That green job ripoff is happening in Texas, America's
biggest natural gas producer.
Today's low natural gas prices are a direct result
of the drilling industry's newfound ability to unlock methane from shale
beds. These lower prices are great for consumers but terrible for the wind
business. Through the first three quarters of 2010, only 1,600 megawatts of
new wind capacity were installed in the U.S., a decline of 72% when compared
to the same period in 2009, and the smallest number since 2006. Some wind
industry analysts are predicting that new wind generation installations will
fall again, by as much as 50%, in 2011.
There's more bad news on the horizon for Mr.
Pickens and others who have placed big bets on wind: Low natural gas prices
may persist for years. Last month, the International Energy Agency's chief
economist, Fatih Birol, said that the world is oversupplied with gas and
that "the gas glut will be with us 10 more years." The market for
natural-gas futures is predicting that gas prices will stay below $6 until
2017.
So what is Mr. Pickens planning to do with all the
wind turbines he ordered? He's hoping to foist them on ratepayers in Canada,
because that country has mandates that require consumers to buy more
expensive renewable electricity.
How do you say boonedoggle in French?
Mr. Bryce is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. His latest
book is "Power Hungry: The Myths of 'Green' Energy and the Real Fuels of the
Future" (PublicAffairs, 2010).
Jensen Comment
It has long been my contention since the oil crisis in the 1970s that
alternative sources of energy will most likely never compete with oil and gas
until at least 2030 because the Middle East and other world suppliers of oil
will simply turn up their valves and lower their prices to make oil and gas the
cheapest alternative, especially when our infrastructure of pipelines and fuel
stations are all geared to oil and gas.
But we should still vigorously search for alternative sources of energy.
That's what will make oil and gas prices "relatively" cheap for everybody.
Without these other alternatives, sheiks will simply add more gold plating to
their limousines.
How to Lie With Statistics
Questions
Since most business and accounting graduate school applicants take the GMAT, I
can't figure is why prospective business and accounting majors are taking the
GRE?
Do the smart accounting graduate school
applicants take the GMAT and the dumb ones take the GRE?
"Verbal vs. mathematical aptitude in academics,"
Discover Magazine, December 11, 2010 ---
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/12/verbal-vs-mathematical-aptitude-in-academics/
Some observations:
- Social work people have
more
EQ
than IQ (this is not a major achievement because
of the scale obviously).
- Accountants never made it into the “blue bird”
reading group.
- Philosophers are the smartest humanists,
physicists the smartest scientists, economists
the smartest social scientists.
- Yes, anthropologists can read and write far
better than they can do math.
The raw data
below.
Major |
Verbal |
Quant |
Writing |
Philosophy |
589 |
636 |
5.1 |
English |
559 |
552 |
4.9 |
History |
543 |
556 |
4.8 |
Art History |
538 |
554 |
4.7 |
Religion |
538 |
583 |
4.8 |
Physics |
534 |
738 |
4.5 |
Anthropology |
532 |
571 |
4.7 |
Foreign
Language |
529 |
573 |
4.6 |
Political
Science |
522 |
589 |
4.8 |
Economics |
504 |
706 |
4.5 |
Math |
502 |
733 |
4.4 |
Earth
Science |
495 |
637 |
4.4 |
Engineering, Materials |
494 |
729 |
4.3 |
Biology |
491 |
632 |
4.4 |
Art &
Performance |
489 |
571 |
4.3 |
Chemistry |
487 |
682 |
4.4 |
Sociology |
487 |
545 |
4.6 |
Education,
Secondary |
486 |
577 |
4.5 |
Engineering, Chemical |
485 |
727 |
4.3 |
Architecture |
477 |
614 |
4.3 |
Banking &
Finance |
476 |
709 |
4.3 |
Communications |
470 |
533 |
4.5 |
Psychology |
470 |
543 |
4.5 |
Computer
Science |
469 |
704 |
4.2 |
Engineering, Mechanical |
467 |
723 |
4.2 |
Education,
Higher |
465 |
548 |
4.6 |
Agriculture |
461 |
596 |
4.2 |
Engineering, Electrical |
461 |
728 |
4.1 |
Engineering, Civil |
457 |
702 |
4.2 |
Public
Administration |
452 |
513 |
4.3 |
Education,
Elementary |
443 |
527 |
4.3 |
Engineering, Industrial |
440 |
710 |
4.1 |
Business
Administration |
439 |
562 |
4.2 |
Social Work |
428 |
468 |
4.1 |
Accounting |
415 |
595 |
3.9 |
December 20, 2010 reply from Apostolos Ballas
As always, it is a good idea to have a look at the
raw data. ETS’s relevant webpage shows that the scores of prospective
Accounting majors refer to only 424 test-takers while for economists close
to 7.900 test-takers. Thus, there is some merit to the thesis that the dumb
ones take the GRE. Indeed, since most schools hint that they want applicants
to take the GMAT (administered by GMAC not ETS) those who do take it,
definitively have “perception” issues.
Apostolos Ballas
December 21, 2010 reply from
Thank you so much for Apostolos for finding the data to support my
conjecture that the outcomes reported in Discover Magazine are very
misleading. I've always admired Discover Magazine until now. A science
magazine should know better than to make this elementary mistake that third
grader would understand once they realize that the majority of accounting
applicants that the GMAT and not the GRE and that the GRE takers are
probably outliers, some of whom probably had low a gpa averages and were not
allowed to major in accounting as an undergraduate.
Bob Jensen
"How Social Networking Has Changed Business," by Bill George, Harvard
Business Review Blog, December 20, 2010 ---
Click Here
http://blogs.hbr.org/hbsfaculty/2010/12/how-social-networking-has-chan.html?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date
.
Bob Jensen's threads on social networking ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
December 24, 2010 reply from David Albrecht
One of the topics for this semester's research
paper was the current status of business use of social media.
One student found that Starbucks employs 340 different types of social
media.
Times have changed, and very quickly. Michelle
Golden's new book
(
http://www.amazon.com/Social-Media-Strategies-Professionals-Their/dp/0470633107/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293198412&sr=8-1
)
on Social Media for business is a must aread.
Dave Albrecht
"Trying Out a Revamped Myspace," by Katherine Boehret, The Wall
Street Journal, December 22, 2010 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703581204576033703049174660.html
Thanks to the popularity of Facebook, it's easy to
assume that all social networks are designed primarily to connect friends
with one another. But many of these networks—think Twitter, Yelp and
LinkedIn—aren't focused on that. Instead, they provide information from
strangers, business contacts and group postings on a variety of topics.
Myspace is now also shifting in this direction after Facebook decisively
overtook it as the most popular social network.
Last month, the company rolled out a revamped
version of Myspace, which is owned by News Corp., publisher of the Wall
Street Journal. I've been testing it to see what has changed and if it's
worth using. Its interface is cleaner than the old version of Myspace and I
found it easy to navigate. It's also inviting for non-members or people
who've long-since given up on Myspace. But I can't definitely say I like it
enough to add it to my large list of social networks.
Step one of this site's rehab was a new focus.
Myspace (myspace.com) was redesigned to serve as a source of information
about entertainment. People who use it can follow five categories—TV, music,
movies, celebrities and comedy—that include more than 100,000 topics. News
about these topics comes from sites all over the Web and is arranged on
users' home pages to show loads of information at a glance. A Discovery tab
at the top of the page shows content related to trends on Myspace makes
suggestions based on a user's preferences and taste. A spokesman said the
Myspace topics can be expanded, but for now, if you're fonder of, say,
books, theater or hard news, Myspace won't be a good fit.
. . .
This week, a Myspace mobile app was launched in
Apple's App Store, and an Android app is due out next year.
Myspace successfully reinvented itself in a way
that could very well get people using it again, but Facebook's more
personalized social network may be more valuable than a rich library of
entertainment content.
Bob Jensen's threads on social networking ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
"Tenure, RIP: What the Vanishing Status Means for the Future of Education,"
by Robin Wilson, Chronicle of Higher Education, July 4, 2010 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Tenure-RIP/66114/
Some time this fall, the U.S. Education Department
will publish a report that documents the death of tenure.
Innocuously titled "Employees in Postsecondary
Institutions, Fall 2009," the report won't say it's about the demise of
tenure. But that's what it will show.
Over just three decades, the proportion of college
instructors who are tenured or on the tenure track plummeted: from 57
percent in 1975 to 31 percent in 2007. The new report is expected to show
that that proportion fell below 30 percent in 2009. If you add graduate
teaching assistants to the mix, those with some kind of tenure status
represent a mere quarter of all instructors.
The idea that tenure, a defining feature of U.S.
higher education throughout the 20th century, has shrunk so drastically is
shocking. But, says Stanley N. Katz, director of Princeton University's
Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, "we may be approaching a
situation in which there will not be good, tenure-track jobs for the great
majority of good people."
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on tenure are scattered about at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
This might be viewed as a complement to "Make Versus Buy" cases in
accounting. However, "Buy Versus Rent" cases have added complications in tax
laws and transactions cost complexities (it may take a lot of time and money to
sell real estate) coupled with greater risk of price declines for owners.
Renters, however, may just not be able to find adequate properties to rent,
especially for their manufacturing operations and for operations that otherwise
require expensive installations such as pollution control and air purification
equipment.
"Buy vs. Rent: An Update," by David
Leonhardt, The New York Times, December 22, 2010 ---
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/buy-vs-rent-an-update/
Below is an updated list of
rent ratios — the price of a typical home divided by the annual cost of
renting that home — for 55 metropolitan areas across the country.
We last covered this subject
about eight months ago, and you’ll notice that most ratios have not changed
much since then. A good rule of thumb is that you should often buy when the
ratio is below 15 and rent when the ratio is above 20. If it’s between 15
and 20, lean toward renting — unless you find a home you really like and
expect to stay there for many years.
Metro area |
Ratio |
East Bay,
Calif. |
35.9 |
Honolulu |
34.4 |
San Jose,
Calif. |
32.7 |
San
Francisco |
27.9 |
Seattle |
27.3 |
Charlotte,
N.C. |
27 |
Orange
County, Calif. |
27 |
New York
(Manhattan) |
26.7 |
Raleigh,
N.C. |
26.2 |
Portland,
Ore. |
25.9 |
North –
Central New Jersey |
25.2 |
Nashville |
24 |
Denver |
22.6 |
San Diego |
22.1 |
Long
Island, N.Y. |
21.4 |
Milwaukee |
21.4 |
Austin,
Tex. |
20.5 |
Norfolk,
Va. |
19.9 |
Richmond |
19.7 |
Memphis |
19.3 |
Bridgeport,
Conn. |
18.5 |
Hartford |
18.4 |
Boston |
18.4 |
Washington
– Northern Virginia – Maryland |
18.3 |
Oklahoma
City |
18.2 |
Baltimore |
17.6 |
Columbus,
Ohio |
17.6 |
Palm Beach
County, Fla. |
17.6 |
Salt Lake
City |
17.6 |
Sacramento |
16.7 |
San Antonio |
16.7 |
Chicago |
16.6 |
New Orleans |
16.2 |
Philadelphia |
16.1 |
Houston |
15.9 |
Fort
Lauderdale, Fla. |
15.7 |
Miami |
15.6 |
New York |
15.4 |
Los Angeles |
15.4 |
Kansas
City, Kan. |
15.3 |
Inland
Empire, Calif. |
15.1 |
National average for metro areas |
15.1 |
Indianapolis |
15.1 |
Jacksonville, Fla. |
15 |
Minneapolis |
14.9 |
St. Louis |
14.6 |
Las Vegas |
14.3 |
Atlanta |
14.3 |
Orlando,
Fla. |
14.1 |
Tampa, Fla. |
14 |
Cincinnati |
13.9 |
Dallas –
Fort Worth |
13.8 |
Phoenix |
13.3 |
Detroit |
12.4 |
Cleveland |
11.7 |
Pittsburgh |
11.4 |
It’s pretty amazing when
you think about it. The country has suffered
through a terrible crash in home prices, yet
buying a house remains
an iffy proposition
in many markets.
The data comes from Mark Zandi of Moody’s
Analytics and covers the second quarter of this
year. Home prices haven’t changed very much
since then, so I would expect ratios in most
places to be quite close to the numbers
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
I'm told that towns in New Hampshire where there have been mill closings,
especially paper mills, are getting an influx of chronic welfare recipients
because of dirt-cheap rents on abandoned apartments and houses. In small farm
towns such as those decaying farm towns in Iowa where economies of scale in
agribusiness forced small family famers out of business, real estate prices have
been declining for years. People that trickle into these decaying towns are
elderly people on very low retirement incomes and chronic welfare cases.
The big house my grandfather built in around
1900 in Swea City, Iowa is surprisingly well maintained to this day. A few years
back it was purchased for $10,000 by a retired couple. I remember as a child how
neighbors congregated on this house's big front porch to cool off on hot summer
nights and to partake in my grandmother's endless pitcher of fresh lemonade.
Darn! I could've become rich 50 years ago suing over the "prize" inside a box
of Cracker Jacks!
If I'd only been smart enough to move to California and hire a lawyer.
Now the prize in each box of Cracker Jacks must be taped to the business card
of a law firm.
And alongside the nutrition chart in each California fast food restaurant
must be a bulletin board for law firm business cards.
Just think of how much easier it would be for Attorney General Cuomo if
Lehman had offered an Elmo toy with the purchase of each Ropo 105 and a Barbie
Doll with each Repo 108! The jingle could've been "A Barbie date with every
108."
"A Lawyer's Paradise: Atop all its other woes, California adds
litigation madness," The Wall Street Journal, December 24, 2010 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703581204576033781635883412.html#mod=djemEditorialPage_t
.
With an unemployment rate at the national outer
limits of 12.4%, a state budget deficit of $28 billion, and rains that would
have challenged Noah, Californians are in a glum mood this week. But that's
no reason to take it out on the kids who may be the only happy citizens left
in California. Tell that to the Center for Science in the Public Interest,
which is suing McDonald's in California in the hopes of obtaining a court
injunction banning Happy Meals. Only in California could such mindlessness
float alongside a state crisis.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is
representing the mother of a six-year-old girl in a class-action lawsuit on
behalf of all California children under the age of eight who have been
exposed to McDonald's "inherently deceptive and unfair" marketing in the
last three years. The suit claims that McDonald's has "engaged in a highly
sophisticated scheme to use the bait of toys to exploit children's
developmental immaturity and subvert parental authority" and that arguments
over Happy Meals have caused "needless and unwarranted dissension in their
parent-child relationship." Who can doubt that tableside Happy Meals
arguments will be at the center of these kids' sessions with their shrinks
in another 10 years?
The suit arrived too late for this year's report by
the American Tort Reform Association of the nation's top "Judicial
Hellholes," in which California placed second, behind top-ranked
Philadelphia. (And for aficionados of the tort follies, remember that
lawsuit filed in Long Island, New York, by one doctor who sued his doc
partner for not yelling "Fore!" before an errant ball hit him in the eye?
The state court of appeals ruled this week that failure to yell "fore" isn't
"reckless conduct.")
The tort reform group's report lists some other
notable examples of frivolous class-action suits in California, including
one against more than a dozen olive-oil companies for fraud and deception.
Allegedly, their extra-virgin olive oil wasn't extra virgin enough to meet
USDA standards. Where were these attorneys when Madonna was singing about
similar virginal nuances?
Another suit alleged that Apple misled customers
with the claim that "reading on the iPad is just like reading a book." Au
contraire. Unlike a real book which can be left outside on a hot day, the
iPad automatically shuts down after reaching a critical temperature in order
to allow its system to cool down.
More serious was a class-action suit brought
against one of the nation's largest nursing-care providers Skilled
Healthcare Group. It alleged that some of the company's facilities sometimes
didn't provide the 3.2 nursing hours per patient per day as required by
California's health code. A Humboldt County jury demanded that the company
pay $677 million in damages. The financially strapped company settled for
$62.8 million, but not until after its stock plunged 75%. The plaintiffs bar
ended up with roughly $20 million of the haul and the patients with $26
million.
So by all means, add tort hellhole to floods,
fiscal calamity and whatever else is turning once heavenly California into
something else.
Bob Jensen's threads on the Lehman/Ernst Repo 105 scandal are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud001.htm#Ernst
"University of California Faculty, Administrators Earning > $245k to Sue for
Higher Pensions," by Paul Caron, Tax Professor Blog, December 30, 2010
---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/
Three dozen of the University of California's
highest-paid executives are threatening to sue unless UC agrees to spend
tens of millions of dollars to dramatically increase retirement benefits for
employees earning more than $245,000.
"We believe it is the University's legal, moral and
ethical obligation" to increase the benefits, the executives wrote the Board
of Regents in a Dec. 9 letter and position paper obtained by The Chronicle.
...
The executives fashioned their demand as a direct
challenge to UC President Mark Yudof, who opposes the increase. "Forcing
resolution in the courts will put 200 of the University's most senior, most
visible current and former executives and faculty leaders in public
contention with the President and the Board," they wrote. ...
They want UC to calculate retirement benefits as a
percentage of their entire salaries, instead of the federally instituted
limit of $245,000. The difference would be significant for the more than 200
UC employees who currently earn more than $245,000.
Under UC's formula, which calculates retirement
benefits on only the first $245,000 of pay, an employee earning $400,000 a
year who retires after 30 years would get a $183,750 annual pension. Lift
the cap, and the pension rises to $300,000. ...
The executives say the higher pensions are overdue
because the regents agreed in 1999 to grant them once the IRS allowed them
to lift the $245,000 cap, a courtesy often granted to tax-exempt
institutions like UC. The IRS approved the waiver in 2007.
Yudof wants the regents to rescind their original
approval of the higher pensions, but withdrew his recommendation after
receiving the letter. He did so to allow "time for further review by the
regents," his spokesman said.
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
Laugh of the Day (if some attorneys weren't making money on this)
Who is suing the SEC for $3.87 trillion of taxpayer money?
http://www.jrdeputyaccountant.com/2010/12/cmkm-greatest-financial-statements-weve.html
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
I suspect video cameras and Webcams deter shoplifting in much the same way
--- if the odds of getting caught increase then many potential violators are
deterred by the fear of being caught!
"Cheaters Find an Adversary in Technology," by Tripp Gabriel, The
New York Times, December 27, 2010 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/28/education/28cheat.html?_r=1&hpw
Mississippi had a problem born of the age of
soaring student testing and digital technology. High school students taking
the state’s end-of-year exams were using cellphones to text one another the
answers.
With more than 100,000 students tested, proctors
could not watch everyone — not when some teenagers can text with their
phones in their pockets.
So the state called in a company that turns
technology against the cheats: it analyzes answer sheets by computer and
flags those with so many of the same questions wrong or right that the
chances of random agreement are astronomically small. Copying is the almost
certain explanation.
Since the company, Caveon Test Security, began
working for Mississippi in 2006, cheating has declined about 70 percent,
said James Mason, director of the State Department of Education’s Office of
Student Assessment. “People know that if you cheat there is an extremely
high chance you’re going to get caught,” Mr. Mason said.
As tests are increasingly important in education —
used to determine graduation, graduate school admission and, the latest,
merit pay and tenure for teachers — business has been good for Caveon, a
company that uses “data forensics” to catch cheats, billing itself as the
only independent test security outfit in the country.
Its clients have included the College Board, the
Law School Admission Council and more than a dozen states and big city
school districts, among them Florida, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta —
usually when they have been embarrassed by a scandal.
“Every single year I’ve been in testing there has
been more cheating than the year before,” said John Fremer, 71, a Caveon
co-founder who was once the chief test developer for the SAT.
Exposing cheats using statistical anomalies is more
than a century old. James Michael Curley, the so-called rascal king of
Massachusetts politics, and an associate were shown to have copied each
other’s civil service exams in 1902 because they had 12 identical wrong
answers.
Probability science has come a long way since then,
and Caveon says its analysis of answer sheets is the most sophisticated to
date. In addition to looking for copying, its computers, which occupy an
office in American Fork, Utah, and can crunch up to one million records,
hunt for illogical patterns, like test-takers who did better on harder
questions than easy ones. That can be a sign of advance knowledge of part of
a test.
The computers also look for unusually large score
gains from a previous test by a student or class. They also count the number
of erasures on answer sheets, which in some cases can be evidence that
teachers or administrators tampered with a test.
When the anomalies are highly unlikely — their
random occurrence, for example, is less than one in one million — Caveon
flags the tests for further investigation by school administrators.
Although its data forensics are esoteric and the
company operates in the often-secretive world of testing, Caveon’s methods
are not without critics. Walter M. Haney, a professor of education research
and measurement at Boston College, said that because the company’s methods
for analyzing data had not been published in scholarly literature, they were
suspect.
“You just don’t know the accuracy of the methods
and the extent they may yield false positives or false negatives,” said Dr.
Haney, who in the 1990s pushed the Educational Testing Service, the
developer of the SAT, to submit its own formulas for identifying cheats to
an external review board.
David Foster, the chief executive of Caveon, said
the company had not published its methods because it was too busy serving
clients. But the company’s chief statistician is available to explain
Caveon’s algorithms to any client who is curious.
Other means that the company uses to stop cheating
are not based on statistics.
For the Law School Admission Council, which
administers the LSAT four times a year to a total of more than 140,000
people, Caveon patrols the Internet looking for leaked questions on sites it
calls “brain dumps,” where students who have just taken an exam discuss it
openly.
“There’s all kinds of stuff on the blogs after the
test trying to guess which stuff will show up in the future; there’s a whole
cottage industry,” said Wendy Margolis, a spokeswoman for the council.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
It would seem that one means of discouraging cheating would be to video test
takers during an entire examination much like stores videotape shoppers as they
move about a store. If the text takers know they are on camera the entire time
and the videos will be examined in a serious way, will this discourage them from
some common types of cheating (like using cell phones or passing notes) --- I
think so. Of course they must be discouraged from leaving the classroom during
an examination --- let them turn in their examinations early or pee their pants.
Grandfather was explaining price inflation to his grandson. Gramps
asserted he could go into the the grocery store in the 1940s and, for one
dollar, bring home three quarts of milk, five loaves of bread, three pounds of
ground beef, six pork chops, a carton of cigarettes, three tomatoes, a head of
lettuce and two bits in change. Later he admitted that he'd never try such a
fete today because of "all the f**king video cameras."
Bob Jensen's threads on cheating are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm
"Islamic Accounting," IAS Plus, January 3, 2011 ---
http://www.iasplus.com/islamicfinance/islamicaccounting.htm
Accounting Standards for financial reporting by
Islamic financial institutions have to be developed because in some cases
Islamic financial institutions encounter accounting problems because the
existing accounting standards such as IFRSs or local GAAP were developed
based on conventional institutions, conventional product structures or
practices, and may be perceived to be insufficient to account for and report
Islamic financial transactions. Shariah compliant transactions that observe
the prohibition to charge interest may not have parallels in conventional
financing and therefore, there may be significant accounting implications.
Likewise, the Islamic finance industry is under considerable pressure to
enhance practice and improve risk management systems and protect investors.
On this page, we maintain a history of recent
developments in Islamic accounting requirements and practices.
Bob Jensen's threads on Islamic accounting are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory01.htm#IslamicAccounting
"Which of These Banks Was 2010's Most Shameless Corporate Outlaw?" by
Richard Escow, Huffington Post, December 30, 2010 ---
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/which-of-these-banks-was_b_802887.html
Their collective rap sheet includes fraud, sex
discrimination, collusion to bribe public officials... even laundering drug
money for Mexican drug cartels. One of them is accused of ripping off some
nuns! None of this criminal behavior has stopped them from sulking over a
presidential slight. Let's review the record for these corporate
malefactors, and then decide:
The Greatest Swindle in the History of the World ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm#Bailout
More on the Nightmares of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (they have their feet
on the ground far beneath looming dark clouds)
"Google Goes to the Cloud for New Idea in PC System," by Walter S.
Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal, December 15, 2010 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704828104576021571135209978.html
In the personal-computer industry, where things
change fast, one fact has been a constant for years: There are two major,
mainstream operating systems for consumers. One, Microsoft Windows, runs on
many brands of hardware and dominates sales. The other, Apple's Mac OS X,
runs only on its maker's Macintosh computers, and has had a resurgence in
popularity in recent years. Other contenders, such as various versions of
Linux, have remained on the fringes.
Next summer, however, Google hopes to add a third
broad-based computer-operating system to challenge the duopoly. It's called
Chrome OS, and is based on Google's Chrome Web browser. With Chrome, Google
isn't just aiming to elbow its way into the OS business. It's hoping to
change the entire paradigm. Instead of storing most programs and files on
your computer itself, the Chrome OS will mainly run programs from, and
require you to keep your data in, the cloud—remote servers located on the
Internet. In effect, it turns your entire computer into a giant Web browser,
instead of treating the browser as just one among many local programs.
More Mossberg's Mailbox .The Chrome OS isn't
finished, and isn't ready for broad public testing. Google readily concedes
it has lots of bugs and rough edges. But the company has designed a small
test laptop with the new operating system installed and distributed "a few
thousand" of them to outsiders to try.
I have been using this machine, called the Cr-48,
for about a week, and have some explanations and first impressions to share.
This isn't a formal review; that will have to wait till the product is
finished and is on commercial computers.
I focused mainly on the software, which is built on
a Linux underpinning. That's because Google doesn't ever intend to sell the
Cr-48 hardware, an all-black, unbranded laptop with a 12-inch screen, a
rubbery surface and a large, buttonless touchpad that resembles those
pioneered on the Mac.
In my tests, I found this early Chrome OS machine
to be fast, with decent battery life and almost instant resumption from
sleep. It handled most Web sites fine, and worked almost exactly like the
very nice Chrome browser on Windows and Mac.
I also liked the one hardware feature worth
mentioning: a radically redesigned keyboard. Instead of function keys, or
various legacy keys such as Caps Lock, Chrome OS keyboards feature dedicated
browser-oriented keys, like ones for moving back and forth among Web pages
and windows, refreshing a page, entering full-screen mode, or quickly
opening a new tab and beginning a search.
The Chrome OS will have a big advantage. Because it
is mainly a front-end-to-cloud service, if you lose your laptop, you can get
another one and just sign into your cloud accounts. You should be able to
find all your stuff waiting for you.
However, users of the Chrome OS will have a huge
adjustment to make. They will have to give up the rich, local programs they
have spent years learning to use and tweaking to their liking. You can't
install local programs on a Chrome OS computer. Instead, Google provides a
Web Store inside the browser that allows you to download icons for "Web
apps"—mostly websites designed to look and work like standard programs.
Some of these, like Gmail, are familiar and
popular. Others are newer. For instance, the New York Times and AOL already
designed Web-based news apps for Chrome OS, and there is a Web-based version
of the TweetDeck program for Twitter. These apps, and the store's own icon,
appear on the new Tab screen of Chrome OS (and also are available in the
current Chrome browser.)
In my tests, I found these apps generally worked
fine. But most aren't as rich and versatile as local Windows and Mac
programs. For example, there was no way to play my local, personalized
iTunes music collection, unless I spent many hours uploading it to some
Web-based service.
I also had to settle for Web-based productivity
programs—like word processors and spreadsheets—with many fewer features than
standard local ones, such as Microsoft Office.
And I ran into plenty of frustrations. At this
stage, Chrome OS can't do anything with USB flash drives or SD memory cards,
and can't synchronize phones. And it has a very limited ability to store, or
allow you to do anything with, email attachments or other files you might
download and prefer to keep locally rather than on a server controlled by
somebody else.
Printing was a chore, requiring a complicated setup
on a Windows computer that Chrome used as a conduit to a printer.
Plus, Chrome OS is hardly stable yet. I suffered
numerous crashes of Adobe's Flash player, and even Google's own Google Talk
instant-messaging service, which appears in a little pop-up window on top of
the browser. The company says it hopes to fix these problems by next summer.
Finally, the biggest downside: Because it's a
cloud-oriented system, Chrome OS is almost useless if you lack an Internet
connection. Google says it plans to offer some limited offline
functionality, and to encourage makers of Web apps to do the same. It will
also eventually be able to make some use of some files stored on external
hard disks. But the basic operating mode will require you to be connected to
the Internet.
To help with this, the Cr-48 has a Verizon cellular
modem built in, to supplement its Wi-Fi connectivity. Verizon is offering
100 megabytes of data free, but that is a small amount, and you have to pay
for more.
Like the Mac OS, but unlike Windows or Google's own
smartphone operating system, Android, the Chrome OS will be deeply
integrated with hardware. So, Google doesn't plan to distribute or license
the new operating system to every hardware maker—at least not at first. You
won't be able to install it on an existing computer. It will be available in
2011 on a limited number of computer models from selected manufacturers.
Google says this is because security is a high
priority and requires special hardware designs that tightly bond with the
software.
Also, Chrome OS computers will, in some respects,
be more like iPads than laptops. They won't have hard disks, just a limited
amount of flash-memory storage, and they won't have DVD drives.
They are an attempt to realize the old idea of a
"network computer," or one which is mostly a front end for network services.
Of course, many people already spend most of their
time with their PCs and Macs connected to the Net. Many use Web-based email
programs or streaming music programs instead of local software.
So the time may be right for a cloud computer, a
change in the paradigm. Google certainly hopes so.
From the Scout Report on December 17, 2010
WordPress 3.0.3 ---
http://wordpress.org/
For those looking for a way to document their
experiences throughout the holiday season and the New Year, WordPress might
be just the ticket. This new release of the popular blogging software
contains a few new plugins, including those that are designed to synchronize
posts with Twitter and the "BuddyPress", which helps users build social
networks for their company, school, or sports team. This version is
compatible with all operating systems, including Linux.
Aviary ---
http://www.aviary.com/
Designed to be a powerful suite of online creation
tools, Aviary has an image editor, a screen capture tool, image markup
capabilities, and five other free tools. One of the newer additions is the
music creator, which gives users the ability to pick an instrument (such as
the drums) and then create their own riff for use on their website.
Additionally, visitors can check out items created by fellow users and their
own in-house blog. This version is compatible with all operating systems
As the new year approaches, a plan to showcase Chernobyl to visitors from
around the world emerges Kiev Sees Chernobyl as Tourist Hot Spot
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703727804576017720342095028.html
Ukraine plans to open Chernobyl, site of massive nuclear disaster, open
to tourists in 2011
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/12/13/201013_ukraine_plans_to_open_chernobyl_site_of_massive_nuclear_disaster_open_to_tourist.html
Chernobyl: now open to tourists
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/13/chernobyl-now-open-to-tourists
Chernobyl [pdf]
http://www.chernobyl.info/
US Nuclear Weapons Accidents
http://www.cdi.org/issues/nukeaccidents/accidents.htm
Atomic Heritage Foundation
http://www.atomicheritage.org/
Free online textbooks, cases, and tutorials in accounting, finance,
economics, and statistics ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Education Tutorials
Fire Safety for Kids ---
http://www.firesafety.gov/kids/flash.shtm
Mobilizing Minds: Teaching Math and Science in the Age of Sputnik ---
http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/small_exhibition.cfm?key=1267&exkey=535
The Multimedia History of Artificial Intelligence
https://lib.stanford.edu/ai-media
The Wikimedia
Foundation announced this morning that it has reached its goal of $16
million in record time, more than doubling the
$7.5 million the organization raised in 2009. The foundation, which is the
non-profit parent organization of massively collaborative online encyclopedia
Wikipedia and a multitude of
other wikis, says that more than half a million people from all over the world
donated to the effort this year.
ReadWriteWeb, January 1, 2011 ---
http://readwriteweb.com/
Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch
Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials
The Multimedia History of Artificial Intelligence
https://lib.stanford.edu/ai-media
Mobilizing Minds: Teaching Math and Science in the Age of Sputnik ---
http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/small_exhibition.cfm?key=1267&exkey=535
Virtual Museum of Optical Illusions ---
http://www.opticalillusionsmuseum.com/index.html
American Medical Association: Atlas of the Human Body ---
Click Here
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/patient-education-materials/atlas-of-human-body.shtml
National Institutes of Health: Research Matters ---
http://www.nih.gov/researchmatters/
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
The Multimedia History of Artificial Intelligence
https://lib.stanford.edu/ai-media
A
Must View
Video: Authors@Google: Chris Chabris (including his book on the
Invisible Gorilla and perceptual psychology) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rdUk52h-MY&feature=youtu.be
Jensen Comment
This has some implication for financial statement analysis. We are conditioned
to look for certain types of things like return on investment, net cash flow,
and other things that are commonly looked at in financial statements. We may be
warned ahead of time to look for a "gorilla" or a "woman carrying an umbrella
passing by." But we have limited ability to perceive unexpected events.
"Fama Says Too-Big-to-Fail `Distorting' Financial System (of efficient
markets)" Bloomberg Video ---
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64476076/
Jensen Comment
This seems to coincide with the hypothesis that "Too Big to Lose" is distorting
the auditing system worldwide.
Bob Jensen's threads on the EMH ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory01.htm#EMH
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
Bob Jensen's threads on law and legal studies are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Law
Math Tutorials
Video on the Beauty of Mathematics ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h60r2HPsiuM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Mobilizing Minds: Teaching Math and Science in the Age of Sputnik ---
http://americanhistory.si.edu/exhibitions/small_exhibition.cfm?key=1267&exkey=535
Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics
History Tutorials
Star Spangled Banner -(the real story) --
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Iwa-lSVqA1M&vq=medium
Tipu Sultan (d.1799) Weapons Research, Warrior Empire ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHnjq4-Ixck
Thank you Jagdish
The Journey Through Hallowed Ground ---
http://www.hallowedground.org/
NEH Grant Project: The AGS Library's Historic Images ---
http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/digilib/NEHgrant/
Gillray Collection (Art History) ---
http://diglib.princeton.edu/xquery?_xq=getCollection&_xsl=collection&_pid=gc108
Maryland ArtSource: Maryland Historical Society Painting Collection
http://www.marylandartsource.org/collections/collection_index_000000001.html
Maryhill Museum of Art ---
http://www.maryhillmuseum.org/index.html
Papers Past (New Zealand) ---
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/
Tokens & Treasures: Gifts to Twelve Presidents
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/tokens_and_treasures/tokens_and_treasures_home.html
Imagining the Past in France, 1250-1500
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/imagining_past_france/
Computing History
Timeline of Computing History ---
http://www.computer.org/computer/timeline/
The History of Computing ---
http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~history/
American University Computer History Museum ---
http://www.computinghistorymuseum.org/
The Apple (Computer) Museum ---
http://www.theapplemuseum.com/
A History of Microsoft Windows (slide show from Wired News) ---
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/pcs/multimedia/2007/01/wiredphotos31
Oldcomputers.com ---
http://www.old-computers.com/news/default.asp
The Multimedia History of Artificial Intelligence
https://lib.stanford.edu/ai-media
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
Bob Jensen's threads on music performances ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
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/
December 20, 2010
December 22, 2010
December 24, 2010
December 25, 2010
December 29, 2010
December 30, 2010
December 31, 2010
January 4, 2011
January 5, 2011
Depression Gene’ Linked to Response to Stress
Americans Say Their Diet Is Healthy, but Is It?
How to Know You’re in Love? Brain Scans Tell All
Study: Implanted Cardiac Defibrillators Overused
Walking Faster May Lead to a Longer Life
New Genetic Clues Help Explain Baldness
Meat Will Get New Nutrition Labels
Kids’ Lifestyle Changes Bring Later Heart Health
More Seat Belt Use, Fewer Car Crash Injuries
Clostridium Infection on the Rise in Hospitalized Kids
Ganser syndrome.
As described by WebMD.com: The most well-recognized symptom of Ganser syndrome
is the so-called symptom of approximate answers (alternately designated in the
literature by the German terms vorbeireden [talking past], vorbeigehen [to pass
by], or danebenreden [talking next to]). Here, the patient responds to questions
with an incorrect answer, but by the nature of the answer reveals an
understanding of the question posed. This can be illustrated by the patient
answering "3" when asked, "How many legs has a horse?" or "black" when asked
"What color is snow?" or "Tuesday" when asked "What is the day after Sunday?"
Frequently, the patient answers a number of questions with these odd approximate
answers. This is in direct contrast to answers that are simply nonsensical,
perseverative, or otherwise inappropriate.
A Southern grandma meets Bill Cosby ---
https://mail.google.com/a/trinity.edu/#inbox/12d060ef5df4be27
My Blackberry Is Not Working! - The One Ronnie, Preview - BBC One ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI
The Best of Not Necessarily the News (HBO, 1 of 6) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppHMk6seu9E
Cowboy Examination, by Garrison Keillor, Prairie Home Companion ---
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2010/11/20/scripts/cowboy.shtml
Cracker Jack 1975 ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK-BcJMuN5s
Forwarded by
Maureen
Cancel
your credit card before you die..........(hilarious!)
Now some people are really stupid!!!!
Be sure and cancel your credit cards before
you die.
This is so priceless, and so, so easy to see
happening, customer service being what it is
today.
A lady died this past January, and Citibank
billed her for February and March for their
annual service charges on her credit card,
and added late fees and interest on the
monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00
when she died, but now somewhere around
$60.00. A family member placed a call to
Citibank.
Here is the exchange :
Family Member: 'I
am calling to tell you she died back in
January.'
Citibank:
'The account was never closed and the late
fees and charges still apply.'
Family Member:
'Maybe, you should turn it over to
collections.'
Citibank:
'Since it is two months past due, it already
has been'
Family Member:
So, what will they do when they find out she
is dead?'
Citibank:
'Either report her account to frauds
division or report her to the credit bureau,
maybe both!'
Family Member:
'Do you think God will be mad at her?'
Citibank: 'Excuse
me?'
Family Member:
'Did you just get what I was telling you -
the part about her being dead?'
Citibank:
'Sir, you'll have to speak to my
supervisor.'
Supervisor gets on the phone:
Family Member:
'I'm calling to tell you, she died back in
January with a $0 balance.'
Citibank:
'The account was never closed and late fees
and charges still apply.'
Family
Member:
'You mean you want to collect from her
estate?'
Citibank:
(Stammer) 'Are you her lawyer?'
Family Member:
'No, I'm her great nephew.' (Lawyer info was
given)
Citibank:
'Could you fax us a certificate of death?'
Family Member:
'Sure.' (Fax number was given )
After they get the fax :
Citibank:
'Our system just isn't setup for death. I
don't know what more I can do to help.'
Family Member:
'Well, if you figure it out, great! If not,
you could just keep billing her. She won't
care.'
Citibank:
'Well, the late fees and charges will still
apply.'
(What is wrong with these people?!?)
Family Member:
'Would you like her new billing address?'
Citibank:
'That might help..'
Family Member:
' Odessa Memorial Cemetery , Highway 129,
Plot Number 69.'
Citibank:
'Sir, that's a cemetery!'
Family Member:
'And what do you do with dead people on your
planet???' |
|
|
Jensen Comment
If the will is still in probate, CitiBank can file a claim on the estate.
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/
Find a College
College Atlas ---
http://www.collegeatlas.org/
Among other things the above site provides acceptance rate percentages
Online Distance Education Training and Education ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm
For-Profit Universities Operating in the Gray
Zone of Fraud (College, Inc.) ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#ForProfitFraud
Shielding Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
-
With a Rejoinder from the 2010 Senior Editor of The Accounting Review
(TAR), Steven J. Kachelmeier
- With Replies in Appendix 4 to Professor Kachemeier by Professors
Jagdish Gangolly and Paul Williams
- With Added Conjectures in Appendix 1 as to Why the Profession of
Accountancy Ignores TAR
- With Suggestions in Appendix 2 for Incorporating Accounting Research
into Undergraduate Accounting Courses
What went wrong in accounting/accountics research?
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong
The Sad State of Accountancy Doctoral
Programs That Do Not Appeal to Most Accountants ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms
AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH
CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW: 1926-2005 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1
Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm
Tom Lehrer on Mathematical Models and
Statistics ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZWyUXn3So
Systemic problems of accountancy (especially the
vegetable nutrition paradox) that probably will never be solved ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#BadNews
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.
Free (updated) Basic Accounting Textbook --- search for Hoyle at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
CPA Examination ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpa_examination
Free CPA Examination Review Course Courtesy of Joe Hoyle ---
http://cpareviewforfree.com/
Rick Lillie's education, learning, and technology blog is at
http://iaed.wordpress.com/
Accounting News, Blogs, Listservs, and Social
Networking ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm
Bob Jensen's Threads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.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
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
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
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