Set 02 of My Sunrise and Sunset Favorites from the White Mountains of New Hampshire ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/SunriseSunset/02/SunriseSunsetFavoritesSet02.htm 

Tidbits on October 29, 2013
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/

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

The Earth is Beautiful and Alive --- http://www.youtube.com/embed/nGeXdv-uPaw

75 Years of Superman in 2 Minutes ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/75-years-of-superman-in-2-minutes.html

Moreea Island Tahiti ---
http://www.tahiti-tourisme.com/islands/moorea/moorea.asp

Japanese Beer Commercial --- https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/141d3fb465f52fcd

Chicago Film Archives --- http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/

MetMedia --- http://www.metmuseum.org/metmedia

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

Verdi's Requiem With The Chicago Symphony ---
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/10/10/230992693/tonight-at-8-30-pm-et-watch-live-verdis-requiem-with-the-chicago-symphony

Act Like You Know: Giuseppe Verdi ---
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/10/09/230068774/act-like-you-know-giuseppe-verdi

Verdi's Operas: A Vigorous Soundtrack To Human Nature ---
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/10/10/231015862/verdis-operas-a-vigorous-soundtrack-to-human-nature

Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington: Solo Piano, Berlin 1969 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/thelonious-monk-plays-duke-ellington-solo-piano-berlin-1969.html

Patti Smith Sings “You Light Up My Life” with Composer Joe Brooks on 1979 Show Kids Are People Too ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/patti-smith-sings-you-light-up-my-life-with-composer-joe-brooks-on-1979-show-kids-are-people-too.html
Debbie Boone does it better ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b07-yKnKRMQ

The Fundamentals of Jazz & Rock Drumming Explained in Five Creative Minutes ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/the-fundamentals-of-jazz-and-rock-drumming.html

A Debt Ceiling Playlist: 5 Songs To Push Your Mind To The Brink ---
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/10/17/236215408/a-debt-ceiling-playlist-5-songs-to-push-your-mind-to-the-brink

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

Pandora (my favorite online music station) --- www.pandora.com
TheRadio (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's threads on nearly all types of free music selections online ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Music.htm

Photographs and Art

Stunning Time-lapse of Lasers at the Mauna Kea Observatories in Hawaii ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/stunning-time-lapse-of-lasers-at-the-mauna-kea-observatories-in-hawaii.html

National Geographic Asked Fans To Submit Their Best Travel Pictures And Got Some Amazing Results ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/national-geographic-your-shot-community-2013-10

Science More: Mountain Technology Drones Geography Iconic Matterhorn Mountain Mapped In Impeccable Detail By Drones ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/matterhorn-mapped-out-by-drones-2013-10

Great Wild Animal Photographs ---
http://www.rense.com/general96/shots.html

First Nations Collection (Native Americans in Oregon) --- http://soda.sou.edu/tribal.html

The Big New Yorker Book of Cats --- http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/10/14/the-big-new-yorker-book-of-cats/

Theodore Roosevelt Collection Photographs --- http://hcl.harvard.edu/collections/digital_collections/roosevelt.cfm

Theodore Roosevelt Collection --- http://www.bartleby.com/people/RsvltT.html

The Duke Chronicle --- http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/dukechronicle/

ArtBabble (art history at Indianapolis Museum of Art) --- http://www.artbabble.org/

MetMedia --- http://www.metmuseum.org/metmedia

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

Famous Writers Name “Good Books That Almost Nobody Has Read” in The New Republic (1934) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/famous-writers-name-good-books-that-almost-nobody-has-read-in-the-new-republic-1934.html

The Very First Reviews of James Joyce’s Ullyses: “A Work of High Genius” (1922) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/the-very-first-reviews-of-joyces-ullyses.html

Virginia Woolf Writes About Joyce’s Ulysses, “Never Did Any Book So Bore Me,” and Quits at Page 200 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/09/virginia-woolf-writes-about-joyces-ulysses-never-did-any-book-so-bore-me-and-quits-at-page-200.html

Vice Meets Up with Superstar Communist Cultural Theorist Slavoj Žižek ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/vice-meets-superstar-communist-slavoj-zizek.html

When universities have cat fights --- in this case over the Emily Dickenson Poetry Archives ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/quickwire-acrimony-accompanies-dickinson-papers-to-online-archive/47651?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

30 Renowned Writers Speaking About God: From Isaac Asimov to Margaret Atwood ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/30-renowned-writers-speaking-about-god-from-isaac-asimov-to-margaret-atwood.html

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer Discusses His Love for Reading Proust, and Why “Literature is Crucial to Any Democracy” ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/stephen-breyer-discusses-his-love-for-reading-proust.html

Beat Poetry, Broadsides, and Little Magazines --- http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/Beat

Broadside Verses Collection --- http://epfl.mdch.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/mdbv

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

Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on October 29, 2013
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2013/TidbitsQuotations102913.htm      

U.S. National Debt Clock (now $17+ trillion booked debt) ---
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Also see http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

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

"CONVERSATION WITH BOB JENSEN," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Blog, October 8, 2013 ---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2013/10/conversation-with-bob-jensen.html

Question
How far have USA students slipped in terms of:

• Problem Solving Proficiency?
• Literacy?
• Proficiency in Numeracy?

The charts in the following article from The New Yorker are not pretty.

John Cassidy is my favorite columnist for The New Yorker
"Measuring America’s Decline, in Three Charts Posted," by John Cassidy, The New Yorker, October 2013 ---
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2013/10/measuring-americas-decline-in-three-charts.html

. . .

I’ll just make three additional points.

There are some questions that should be asked about any multi-country survey like this one: Is the methodology consistent across the sample? Does it control for cultural and language differences? Can the results from various countries really be compared? As far as I know, nobody has suggested that this study particularly disadvantaged the U.S. subjects, or that the results were unreliable. (Of course, the survey is still new. Criticisms may yet emerge.)

The education and skill levels of a country’s population aren’t the only determinants of its economic fate. Other factors matter: resource endowments; investment in physical capital and R. & D.; political stability; competition; openness to new innovations, ideas, and people; a reliable legal system; and ready access to finance. In some of these areas, the United States still ranks very high. But as countries such as Japan and Korea have amply demonstrated, having a well-educated and well-trained labor force is an essential foundation of economic prosperity. And for the United States, where one of the greatest economic challenges is raising the living standards of the middle class, enhancing workers’ skill sets and productivity is simply essential.

This is, again, far from the first international comparison to make the United States look bad. It is well known, for example, that when it comes to test scores in math and science, American middle-school and high-school students lag behind their counterparts in Asia and Europe. At this stage, we don’t really need more evidence that there is a problem. We need a concerted national effort to address it.

Bob Jensen's threads on controversies in education ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm

How to Mislead With Headlines
The Going Concern Website asserted that this is:  "Yet another sign that most MBAs are worthless. ."
http://goingconcern.com/post/footnotes-why-are-auditors-different-pwc-acquires-humanr-life-deloitte-sometimes-includes-book

This is misleading, because the scandal concerns a diploma mill where degrees are purchased and not earned.
"Dog Earns MBA---But Can He Deduct It On His Taxes?" Forbes, October 23, 2013 ---
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2013/10/23/dog-earns-mba-but-can-he-deduct-it-on-his-taxes/

Jensen Comment
Diploma mill degrees are indeed worthless unless employers are too dumb to know the difference between a purchased college degree from on that is earned with lots of time and sweat.
 

Bob Jensen's threads on diploma mills ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudReporting.htm#DiplomaMill

"4 Tax Breaks Every College Student Should Know About," by Mandi Woodruff, Business Insider, October 25, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/college-student-tax-breaks-2013-10

Bob Jensen's tax helpers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#010304Taxation

This is Really, Really Bad Malware --- Maybe we're fighting a losing battle
"Ransomware: Why This New Malware is So Dangerous and How to Protect Yourself," How-To-Geek, October 2013 ---
http://www.howtogeek.com/174343/ransomware-why-this-new-malware-is-so-dangerous-and-how-to-protect-yourself/

Jensen Comment
What is not clear is whether your malware protection is up to date. I use F-Secure and thus far I cannot find any information about updated Ransomeware protection. In the meantime about all I can do is back up as much as I can.

As the article points out, sending money to criminals is not a particularly good idea. They may leave something behind to hit you again and again and again if they help you at all after getting your money.
 

How to Fix Browser Settings Changed by Friendlier Malware or Other Programs ---
http://www.howtogeek.com/172141/how-to-fix-browser-settings-changed-by-malware-or-other-programs/

Question
Robert Lucas, the 1995 Nobel Prize Winner In Economics, Lost Half His Award Money To?

Answer ---
http://www.howtogeek.com/trivia/robert-lucas-the-1995-nobel-prize-winner-in-economics-lost-half-his-award-money-to/

Robert Lucas is a highly accomplished American economist well known for his investigations into rational expectations, theory of supply, and behavioral economics. In 1995, he won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences but only received his award and half the cash prize.

Where did the other half go? To his ex-wife Rita Lucas, who put a clause in their 1988 divorce that, should Robert win the Nobel Prize within 7 years of their divorce, she would receive half the money. She might not have thought highly of his qualifications as a husband, but she clearly stood with the rest of the world in regarding him as one of the most brilliant economists alive.

Question
What Medicine Is Radically More Effective When Produced In Zero Gravity?

Answer ---
http://www.howtogeek.com/trivia/what-medicine-is-radically-more-effective-when-produced-in-zero-gravity/
 

NASA has conducted numerous experiments in the microgravity of low-Earth orbit over the last thirty years with more than a few surprising results. Among those experiments, one discovery that potentially has the greatest good for the common man back down on Earth is that resulting from the production of insulin in microgravity.

Insulin, used to help diabetics regulate their blood sugar, has a crystalline structure. Insulin produced on Earth has an irregular structure and is prone to, on a microscopic level, folding and breaking under its own molecular weight. As such, large extended crystals were difficult (if not impossible) to produce on Earth, we had never been able to observe large and gravity-uninhibited crystals before. The insulin produced aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1994 proved remarkable in several ways, including the clarity and size of the crystalline structure (which allowed scientists on Earth to study it with a clarity unavailable with terrestrial samples) as well as potency. The larger and more cleanly organized insulin crystals provided by the experiment proved to be incredibly effective compared to regular insulin samples; if the insulin could be mass produced on Earth with a matching structure, diabetics dosing down multiple times a day with insulin could instead dose down every few days.

 

"How It Felt To Go From Driving A Nissan Leaf To A Tesla Model S," by George Parrott, Business Insider, October 25, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/nissan-leaf-vs-tesla-model-s-2013-10 

Jensen Comment
Note that this comparison was made in California and not in New Hampshire or even worse in the in Montana or Canada where driving distances may require battery recharges between towns. When a Tesla car needs service or repairs in California it's possible to find a service shop. But not in New Hampshire!

You need thermal underwear inside a NIssan Leaf on a winter day, and the article mentions that the Leaf loses 20% of its short driving range on cold days --- no mention is made about super-cold days at near -30F. The article fails to compare driving range losses and heater problems of the Model S at -30F, Maybe that's why Tesla has not sold a car to my knowledge in New Hampshire, although there may be one or two down near the Mass. border where the weather is warmer. I don't think Teslas are in the boon docks open spaces ---  even tourists who visit those scenic remote places.

No mention is made regarding whether body shops will touch a Model S after an accident, particularly in remote areas like New Hampshire. The Model S has some unique body features that may discourage body shops from repairing a Model S --- like complicated retractable door handles. I also wonder about the safety of those retractable door handles. What if the car is upside down in a ditch and the door handles will not retract with an unconscious driver inside? At least with my locked Subaru a helper outside could smash a window, grab the keys, and unlock the door even if the battery is disabled in an accident.

The article does mention how a Leaf can go unnoticed in a parking lot. Not so with a Tesla. When I lived in San Antonio I drove an ancient and beat up looking Ford Stationwagon (with a new engine and transmission) because so many shiny new cars are stolen each day in San Antonio and other regions close to the southern USA border. If I parked a Tesla or any other high value vehicle in most any public parking place in San Antonio I would worry that that a flat bed truck with a winch would have that car south of the Rio Grande in less than three hours.

Does a Tesla come with a hidden GPS tracking device like a Mercedes?
I don't have a whole lot of faith in these since the super pros that steal cars in San Antonio can disable GPS devices about as fast as they can get inside any car in San Antonio. Hidden noise alarms are a bit more of a worry for them.

How to Mislead With Statistics

"‘Flipping’ Classrooms May Not Make Much Difference." by Hannah Winston, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 22, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/quickwire-flipping-classrooms-may-not-make-much-difference/47667?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

In preliminary research, professors at Harvey Mudd College haven’t found that students learn more or more easily in so-called flipped courses than in traditional classes, USA Today reports. In flipped courses, students watch professors’ lectures online before coming to class, then spend the class period in discussions or activities that reinforce and advance the lecture material.

Earlier this year, the National Science Foundation gave four professors at the college in Claremont, Calif., a three-year grant for $199,544 to study flipped classrooms. That research isn’t complete yet, but the professors already tried flipping their own classes last year and found “no statistical difference” in student outcomes.

The article notes that flipping classes requires professors both to record lectures in advance and to come up with activities that will engage students in class sessions. Nancy Lape, a professor of engineering at Harvey Mudd, said instructors’ lives “might be easier and their students might be happier if they just do a traditional class.”

Jensen Comment
This is not surprising since most studies of pedagogy alternatives find that pedagogy choice does not in general make significant statistical differences. This is widely known in the Academy as "The No Significant Differences Finding" ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#AssessmentIssues

The basic finding is that students tend to do whatever it takes to earn the highest grades that they can attain, thereby overcoming pedagogy differences such as in-class lectures versus flipping lectures versus Socratic method versus the BAM pedagogy of making students learn everything on their own.

But the "The No Significant Differences Finding" in my opinion is misleading. Nearly all the empirical studies have limited the assessment of pedagogy to short term effects. Flipping the classroom and even a more extreme pedagogy like BAM forcing students tot learn on their own has been shown to have greater impact on long-term memory. In other words students tend to have longer memory of things they learned on their own as opposed to being spoon fed in course via a lecture and help sessions ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm (where the BAM Pedagogy is explained)

"The Decline of Wikipedia," by Tom Simonite, MIT's Technology Review, October 22, 2013 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/520446/the-decline-of-wikipedia/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20131024

The sixth most widely used website in the world is not run anything like the others in the top 10. It is not operated by a sophisticated corporation but by a leaderless collection of volunteers who generally work under pseudonyms and habitually bicker with each other. It rarely tries new things in the hope of luring visitors; in fact, it has changed little in a decade. And yet every month 10 billion pages are viewed on the English version of Wikipedia alone. When a major news event takes place, such as the Boston Marathon bombings, complex, widely sourced entries spring up within hours and evolve by the minute. Because there is no other free information source like it, many online services rely on Wikipedia. Look something up on Google or ask Siri a question on your iPhone, and you’ll often get back tidbits of information pulled from the encyclopedia and delivered as straight-up facts.

Yet Wikipedia and its stated ambition to “compile the sum of all human knowledge” are in trouble. The volunteer workforce that built the project’s flagship, the English-language Wikipedia—and must defend it against vandalism, hoaxes, and manipulation—has shrunk by more than a third since 2007 and is still shrinking. Those participants left seem incapable of fixing the flaws that keep Wikipedia from becoming a high-quality encyclopedia by any standard, including the project’s own. Among the significant problems that aren’t getting resolved is the site’s skewed coverage: its entries on Pokemon and female porn stars are comprehensive, but its pages on female novelists or places in sub-Saharan Africa are sketchy. Authoritative entries remain elusive. Of the 1,000 articles that the project’s own volunteers have tagged as forming the core of a good encyclopedia, most don’t earn even Wikipedia’s own middle-­ranking quality scores.

The main source of those problems is not mysterious. The loose collective running the site today, estimated to be 90 percent male, operates a crushing bureaucracy with an often abrasive atmosphere that deters newcomers who might increase participation in Wikipedia and broaden its coverage.

When Wikipedians achieved their most impressive feat of leaderless collective organization, they unwittingly set in motion the decline in participation that troubles their project today.

In response, the Wikimedia Foundation, the 187-person nonprofit that pays for the legal and technical infrastructure supporting Wikipedia, is staging a kind of rescue mission. The foundation can’t order the volunteer community to change the way it operates. But by tweaking Wikipedia’s website and software, it hopes to steer the encyclopedia onto a more sustainable path.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
I had not thought about this before, but Wikipedia may be the closest thing in the real world that depicts pure Communism. Users contribute to and take from the resource freely in a Communist spirit. We don't belittle a scholar who repeatedly takes something from Wikipedia without giving something back to Wikipedia. We don't belittle the scholar who plants a faulted concept into the archives and awaits others in the world to add to or modify that seed toward greater scholarship perfection.

What is unbelievable is the magnitude of the technical terminology and obscure history that flowed into the archives to a point where no commercial encyclopedia can possibly compete in terms of scope of coverage in real time --- it would cost too much to get that kind of coverage and timing  in a business or government effort to compete with Wikipedia.

Like all other Communism experiments in real life Wikipedia may not be sustainable.
But if Wikipedia stopped accepting all new additions and revisions it is already a monumental knowledge portal that would serve global scholarship for many, many years into the future.

One of the sustaining efforts that is really appealing is when course instructors assign projects to add to and otherwise edit Wikipedia modules. Medical schools took an early and significant lead in this regard. As Wikipedia becomes the primary source of medical knowledge for millions of people it is vital that the medical modules be as complete and accurate as possible.

By way of an example, I have a friend, a physical therapist, in these mountains who was just not happy with the diagnosis given by a neurologist for his wife's symptoms. So he went on a Web search. Sure enough he found a clue in Wikipedia that his wife may be leaking spinal fluid, a fatal condition if left untreated. Armed with this new information her neurologist ordered some obscure lab tests and sure enough spinal fluid leakage was the problem that  once detected could be corrected. Wikipedia in this anecdotal example may have saved her life. I don't know why the doctor did not check for such leakage given her symptoms.  This made me wonder if there have been other lives saved by Wikipedia.

My wife has a very complicated spinal problem that is a side effect of 15 spine surgeries ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Erika2007.htm
Wikipedia most assuredly helped us to better understand her problem even though her surgeons don't have to go to Wikipedia on this one ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnoiditis
 

Earned Income Tax Credit --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earned_Income_Tax_Credit

This is the Real IRS Scandal
That's $110.8 Billion with a "B" Mistake (yeah right, supposedly a "mistake"

"IRS mistakenly distributed at least $110.8B in earned income tax credits," by Bernie Becker, The Hill, October 22, 2013 ---
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/329879-audit-irs-allowing-billions-in-improper-tax-payments

The IRS has failed to clamp down on improper refundable tax credit payments, according to a new federal audit.

In all, the IRS said it wrongly distributed as much as a quarter of Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) payments, to the tune of between $11.6 billion and $13.6 billion, according to Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration. Between 2003 and 2012, the IRS erroneously paid out at least $110.8 billion and as much as $132.6 billion, the new report says. 

Due to a 2009 executive order, the IRS is supposed to have targets for rolling back those improper payments. But the agency has yet to do so, and the Treasury inspector general says in its audit that the IRS needs to rethink its methods for cutting down on waste in EITC payments.

Russell George, the tax administration inspector general, noted that the IRS had made some strides in stopping inappropriate payments, and in educating taxpayers about EITC eligibility. Still, George said the billions of dollars lost to waste each year was “disturbing.”

“The IRS must do a better job of reining in improper payments in this and in other programs,” George said in a statement.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), the top Republican on the Finance Committee, called on the IRS to “aggressively crack down on these erroneous payments,” insisting the agency’s issue with the EITC “doesn’t bode well” for its oversight of subsidies for President Obama’s healthcare law.

“Refundable tax credits are a nightmare to administer and lead to far too much of the American people’s money going out to those who aren’t eligible,” Hatch said in a statement.

For its part, the IRS said it is doing its best to balance the need to target mistaken payments and to ensure that eligible taxpayers know to claim the EITC, which is aimed at helping low-income workers. Improper payments have also declined since 2010, the IRS added in a statement.

Democrats successfully fought to extend expanded versions of the EITC and other refundable tax breaks in the fiscal-cliff deal signed early this year. Taxpayers who claim the EITC or other refundable tax breaks receive payments from the government if those credits are worth more than their tax burden.

IRS officials told the inspector general that they were meeting with the Office of Management and Budget to search for ways to supplement their efforts to reduce improper EITC payments. 

The 21 percent to 25 percent figure the IRS uses includes payments that should have never been made and both over- and underpayments.

“The IRS appreciates the Inspector General’s acknowledgment of all our work to implement processes that identify and prevent improper EITC payments,” the agency said in its statement. “The IRS protects nearly $4 billion in improper claims each year and is committed to continuing to work to reduce improper claims.”

Still, the IRS acknowledges that complexities in the tax law, and confusion and high turnover among those claiming the EITC have hampered its efforts to reduce those payments.

Continued in article

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

The 10 Purported 10 Best Jobs for a College Graduate ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/10-best-careers-recent-college-graduates-2013-10?op=1

Jensen Comment
Accountant/Auditor is Number 4 on the list even though it requires 150 approved credits (usually 2-4 extra semesters in an accounting masters program) to get permission to take the CPA examination. The list is a bit misleading in that it does not base the rankings on how hard it is to successfully break into the jobs on the list.

For example, elementary school teachers have relatively easy times finding entry-level jobs relative to management consultants/analysts who almost never land entry-level jobs before they gain years of experience in business and earn one of more specialty certifications. The majority of graduates from prestigious MBA programs do not necessarily become management consultants/analysts without experience, some of who were experienced in business or engineering before they entered the MBA programs.

There's also a difference between landing a job and landing a job in a top firm. For example, the top accounting firms generally offer entry-level jobs to only the top graduates of a masters program although the proportion of the class hired varies considerably with the prestige of the program and the black book maintained by accounting firms on schools where they recruit. In recent years more women than men are hired by the top accounting firms. Business firms and small CPA firms tend not to hire new accounting graduates and wait for moments when prospects have more accounting experience such as experience as auditors and tax accountants in respected accounting firms.

The IRS offers great opportunities to new accounting graduates whereas the FBI hires a lot of accounting graduates only after they are experienced in business or government.

"How To Get Hired If You Have A Tattoo," by J.T. O'Donnell, Business Insider, October 22, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-hired-if-you-have-a-tattoo-2013-10

Bob Jensen's threads on careers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers

Psst! Want a new job as a Chief Financial Officer (CFO)?

Then try EBay!

From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on October 22, 2013

Aspiring tech-sector CFOs should check out the job listings at eBay. At least 20 executives who have become finance chiefs in Silicon Valley and beyond over the past three years have learned the ropes in the big e-commerce company’s finance department, CFOJ’s Emily Chasan reports in this must-read story on B1 today. “We recruit people who aspire to be CFOs,” says Robert Swan, eBay’s finance chief since 2006. “If along the way there are opportunities outside, that’s OK .… We have a deep bench.”

Members of the eBay Mafia—the tongue-in-cheek name for company veterans who now are corporate-level CFOs—include Rob Krolik at Yelp, Douglas Jeffries at RetailMe Not and Sean Aggarwal at Trulia, who have all taken their companies public in the past two years. Startups with former eBayers at the financial controls include the online clothing retailer ModCloth, digital-video company Roku and online ticketing company Eventbrite.

One reason that EBay has churned out so many CFOs is that it has the resources to invest in grooming up-and-coming financial talent and the breadth to offer the best prospects hands-on experience running their own operations. The company says it has about 1,000 financial executives around the world and more than a dozen divisional and regional CFOs. Rookies get both theoretical and practical training in finance, analytics and leadership. And, as part of a two-year program, eBay rotates star performers to a different division every six months to expand their professional networks across the company, Chasan writes.

Bob Jensen's threads on careers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers

Chromecast --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromecast

"Streaming Video Magic with Chromecast," by Ryan Cordell, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 21, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/streaming-video-magic-with-chromecast/52969?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

Bob Jensen's video helpers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm

"Take a Free Course on the Financial Markets with Robert Shiller, Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/take-a-free-course-on-the-financial-markets-with-robert-shiller-winner-of-the-2013-nobel-prize-in-economics.html

"Why Does College Cost So Much?" Judge Richard Posner, Becker-Posner Blog, October 13, 2013 ---
http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2013/10/why-does-college-cost-so-much-posner.html

"Higher College Costs and its Consequences," by Nobel Laureate Gary Becker, Becker-Posner Blog, October 13, 2013 ---
http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2013/10/higher-college-costs-and-its-consequences-becker.html

Jensen Comment
Not much new in the above posts. Both Becker and Posner seem to accept the fact that more USA students need to be college educated with fewer drop outs. My tack would instead be the German model. Make college education more competitive with greater stress and opportunity for learning the skills of the trades. In France and other parts of Europe, medical doctors are now in the skilled trades and do not have to be college educated in the traditional sense.

Up here in the mountains it's next to impossible to find a really skilled plumber or brick layer whereas college-graduated accountants, real estate sales people, poets, clergy, physicians, lawyers, and like are behind every rock. We needed a rather simple roof repair and had to pay a guy to drive nearly an hour from Vermont. In truth some types of physician and lawyer specialists are not behind every rock.

The company that sold me my New Holland diesel tractor operates about ten miles away. This company can do simple service on these tractors, but upon becoming stumped on a tough diagnostics problem they have to bring in a New Holland super mechanic who lives nearly two hours from our cottage.

We have 20 items under in-house service contracts (mostly from Sears). Fortunately, we are not charged extra by the mile for most of these service experts who drive all the way up from Manchester (nearly 100 miles each way). For people like me who live in the boon docks these extended service contracts are good deals on some items like snow throwers where Sears has had to send a mechanic to my cottage 11 times and counting. I'm covered on most of those 20 items until late in 2017. (Note that extended warranty contracts are not always good deals for people who live in cities and on some appliances like refrigerators that are usually more reliable than snow throwers.)

Why can't more of our marginal college students and even some of the top students be diverted some way into joining the skilled trades that are ever so popular and well-compensated in Germany and France? Nothing stops a diesel mechanic from writing poetry on the side.

"For Upstart Learning-Management Company, an Educause Moment," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 18, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/for-upstart-learning-management-company-an-educause-moment/47551?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

"Video: MOOCs Lead the List of Hot Topics at Educause Meeting," by Megan O'Neil, The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 17, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/video-hot-topics-emerge-at-educause/47483?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

"CONVERSATION WITH BOB JENSEN," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Blog, October 8, 2013 ---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2013/10/conversation-with-bob-jensen.html

MOOCs, SMOCS, Future Learn, iversity, and OKI Free Learning Alternatives Around the World

You can find all courses by Future Learn (United Kingdom) and iversity (Germany) listed in Open Culture's big collection of 600+ MOOCs from Top Universities (worldwide).
For other MOOC, SMOC, and OKI alternatives go to
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

For online distance education and training alternatives (not free) go to
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/CrossBorder.htm

MOOC --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOOCs

MOOC Providers Take Flight in Britain and Germany: Introducing Future Learn and Iversity ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/future-learn-and-iversity.html

They may be a little late to the MOOC party, but two newly-launched European open course platforms might still be able to carve out a niche.

Coursera and edX, the two main players in the US at this point, have been up and running for almost 18 months. And although both ventures have a long list of international partners, the rising cost of higher education is building interest in MOOCs in Europe and the UK. The founders of new European platforms  – Future Learn in the UK, and iversity in Germany — are betting they can still make headway in an increasingly crowded market.

A subsidiary of the British Open University, Future Learn is in its beta stage, but it’s already boasting partnerships with universities across Britain, Ireland, and Australia. And come this November, it will be rolling out courses across multiple disciplines. Take for example:

• The mind is flat: the shocking shallowness of human psychology - University of Warwick
• Web science: how the web is changing the world - University of Southampton
• Introduction to ecosystems - The Open University
• England in the time of King Richard III (NI) – University of Leicester

Meanwhile Berlin-based startup iversity recently relaunched itself as a MOOC platform. This week, iversity’s first six courses begin. Four are in German and two are in English: Contemporary Architecture and Dark Matter in Galaxies. A total of 115,000 students are currently enrolled.

Future Learn and iversity both seem to be aimed at audiences who are relatively new to the MOOC concept. Both sites take care to explain what MOOCs are in very simple terms—which may be a smart strategy for businesses setting out to convince Europe and Britain that the MOOC trend is for real.

You can find all courses by Future Learn and iversity listed in our big collection of 600+ MOOCs from Top Universities.

Related Content:

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Go International

625 Free MOOCs from Great Universities (Many Offering Certificates)

The Big Problem for MOOCs Visualized

Coursera now used in over 100 universities ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2013/10/24/coursera-passes-100-partner-universities

"Vive la Révolution MOOC (France)," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 4, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/vive-la-revolution-mooc/47099?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

How to Mislead With Statistics

"Report by Faculty Group Questions Savings From MOOCs," by Lawrence Biemiller, Inside Higher Education, October 16, 2013 --- Click Here
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/report-by-faculty-organization-questions-savings-from-moocs/47399?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

In the second of a series of papers challenging optimistic assumptions about massive open online courses, a coalition of faculty-advocacy organizations asserts that online instruction “isn’t saving money—and may actually be costing students and colleges more,” but that “snappy slogans, massive amounts of corporate money, and a great deal of wishful thinking have created a bandwagon mentality that is hard to resist.”

The paper, “The ‘Promises’ of Online Higher Education: Reducing Costs,” was released by the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education, whose backers include a number of faculty unions. Drawing on news articles and public-opinion surveys, it says that while the business model supporting MOOCs is “still a work in progress,” the trend is to offer courses free but charge for “a degree or a certificate or anything from the MOOC that carries real value.”

Merely having taken one of the courses, the paper says, is “virtually valueless in the marketplace.”

“The bottom line for students? The push for more online courses has not made higher education cheaper for them. The promise has always been that it will—but that day always seems to be in the future,” the paper says.

MOOCs may also cost colleges money, the paper says, citing an agreement between Udacity and the Georgia Institute of Technology to offer an online master’s degree in computer science.

“Udacity gets the intellectual content for a master’s program of 20 courses at an upfront cost of $400,000,” the paper says. “It borrows Georgia Tech’s reputation as its own, at a huge discount (no training of graduate students, no support for labs, no decades of accumulated know-how through which Georgia Tech earned its reputation).  It acquires these courses for a proprietary platform: Georgia Tech cannot offer these OMS CS courses, created by its own faculty, to a competing distributor.”

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
This is a classic study on how to mislead with statistics. The study does not give credit to the fact that the MOOC effort commenced by Stanford that fits totally within the Open Knowledge Initiative of MIT and other prestigious universities was intended not to save money.

By definition, a MOOC is free to anybody in the world and does not have prerequisites or admission standards. Anybody can take a MOOC free of charge by the very definition of a MOOC. The prestigious universities offering such courses intended these courses to give the world access to course materials and some of the top teaching professors of the world.

There are adaptations like SMOCs, Future Learn, and Iversity that are intended to become massive (10,000+ plus students) distance education courses that are not MOOCs. And there are options to pay for transcript credits for some MOOCs but this entails paying fees for competency-based examinations ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Firstly, in my opinion the universities with hundreds of billions of dollars in endowments given from rich sources that took advantages of tax deductions when contributing to those endowment funds can well afford to offer some free MOOCs. We're not talking in the case of Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Yale, Texas, etc. about stealing tuition money paid by on-campus students and taxpayers to benefit the poor people who take MOOCs. The universities offering free MOOCs can afford to pay the costs from endowment funds ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Second, what I find as inconsistent is that the same professors, often union activists, arguing that:  "Merely having taken one of the (MOOC) courses, the paper says, is “virtually valueless in the marketplace," have not conducted any meaningful study of how many students who intently completed MOOCs are using the knowledge gained. If they did they would find some teachers who benefitted when taking licensure examinations to become teachers. If they did they would find many college professors who added what they learned in MOOCs to the courses they themselves teach. Most MOOCs, by the way, are advanced courses on highly specialized topics like the literature of both famous and obscure writers. Otherss are basic courses that contribute to career advancement.

• For example, the business school at Penn, Wharton, now offers its core MBA courses as free MOOCs. Some students who intently take these courses are seeking to get into Wharton and other prestigious MBA programs.
   
• Sometimes the purposes of taking free Wharton MOOCs are to raise GMAT scores to get into prestigious MBA programs and to do better in those programs once admitted so that they too can tap those six-figure starting salaries of graduates from prestigious MBA Programs.
   
• Sometimes the purposes of taking free Wharton MOOCs are to raise GMAT scores to obtain better financial aid packages for further graduate study.
   
• Sometimes the purposes of taking free Wharton MOOCs are to perform better on the job and thereby get better performance evaluations and raises.
   

Third, the above study ignores what universities save by having their students take some off-campus free offerings. For example, the Khan Academy is now partnering with various colleges that require free Khan Academy modules as part of the curriculum. Those colleges do not have to hire as many instructors like math instructors to meet the needs of students both at the introductory and advanced levels of mathematics.

The study confuses free MOOCs with fee-based distance education. For example, Harvard University offers many MOOCs as a free public service to the world. The Harvard Business School, however, will soon offer expensive distance education MBA courses because of enormous anticipated profits from those courses.

Fourth, if Georgia Tech is losing money on its online engineering degree it's not necessarily a bad thing. Georgia Tech loses money on its on-campus engineering degrees that require taxpayer subsidies to survive. Why are taxpayer subsidies for Georgia Tech's online engineering degrees any worse in in principle? An argument might be made that there is more justification since taxpayers do not also have to subsidize room and board fees.

Five, Distance education courses are gaining acceptance in the academic sector, the private sector, and public sector. For example, a distance education outfit called 2U has gained prestigious acceptance.
"3 Universities (Baylor, Southern Methodist, and Temple Universities) Will Grant Credit for 2U’s Online Courses," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, July 30, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/3-universities-will-grant-credit-for-2us-online-courses/45143?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

I have one word for the self-serving study cited above that contends;
"Merely having taken one of the (MOOC) courses, the paper says, is “virtually valueless in the marketplace,"
My word for such an assertion is --- BARF!

Of course this not mean that there are not tremendous problems with MOOCs. One of the problems is that most of them are advanced courses, thereby shutting out introductory students.

Another problem is that most students sign up for MOOCs out of curiosity without the intent, time, and ability to successfully complete the courses with heavy sweat that is usually necessary for serious learning.. MOOCs probably would pass the benefit-cost tests for these casual students, but the prestigious universities are intending to make opportunities available to those students who will successfully complete the courses for financial and other educational benefits in their lives. These are courses they could never afford at on-campus student prices.

An appeal from a Wharton School (at Penn) professor who teaches a MOOC

"Don’t Call Us Rock Stars," by Kevin Werbach, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 25, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/conversation/2013/10/25/dont-call-us-rock-stars/

"CONVERSATION WITH BOB JENSEN," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Blog, October 8, 2013 ---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2013/10/conversation-with-bob-jensen.html

Bob Jensen's threads on
Shared Open Courseware (OCW) MOOCs, SMOCs, MITx, and EdX Courses :
OKI, MIT, Rice, and Other Sharing Prestigious Universities
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

"'What Is Open Access?' An Explanatory Video," by George Williams, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 23, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/what-is-open-access-an-explanatory-video-from-phd-comics/53077?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

"Why Teacher Colleges Get a Flunking Grade:  Let's give up on education majors --- Too much theory, not enough practical learning about teaching," by Barbara Nemko and Harold Kwalwasser and Barbara Nemko, The Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2013 ---
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304864504579143902608329802?mod=djemEditorialPage_h 

Education gurus in recent years have taken to lamenting the sorry state of teacher training in the United States. Arthur Levine, the former president of the Teachers College at Columbia University, wrote a scathing report in 2006 on its deficiencies. Harvard Graduate School of Education Prof. Katherine Merseth made an even glummer assessment in 2009. Four months ago, the National Council on Teacher Quality released a report asserting that approximately 1,100 of the nation's 1,400 teacher-preparation programs are inadequate. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has dismissed the programs as the "Bermuda Triangle" of higher education.

How can new teachers be expected to educate children without first having been trained well? The problem, put simply, is that entrance requirements to most colleges of education are too lax, and the requirements for graduation are too low.

Most colleges and universities have no incentive to change: The education schools are cash cows, milked for the benefit of the rest of the institution and rarely held accountable for being subpar. Education curricula are almost uniformly out of date and far too theoretical, with minimal classroom-teaching requirements. Too often, these future educators learn to "teach" math, but they don't necessarily learn how to do the math itself.

The problem dates to the 19th or early 20th century, when these schools first opened. Teachers at that time, most of them women or minorities, weren't expected to have great skills. Education professors assumed their students could only teach if given a script to read every day. But after the civil-rights and feminist movements, these once underestimated individuals had other opportunities, leaving the weak curriculum consistent with the collective quality of students. By 2010, the mean critical-reading SAT score of entering college freshmen was 501, but for education majors it was 481. The math score was 516 compared with 486, and in writing, 492 versus 477.

Teachers, however, have always bridled at low expectations, wanting to be thought of as professionals. The American Federation of Teachers even calls itself "the union of professionals." So colleges of education treat training as "professional" rather than "vocational." Essential and practical teaching skills, like classroom management, took a back seat to endless discussions of theories about how we learn—which won't seem very relevant to a struggling first-year teacher.

These problems existed well before the drive for individual instruction and the introduction of learning through the Internet. Today school districts are learning to navigate instructing students in compliance with Common Core standards. Districts are trying combinations of old-style lecturing, project-based learning, embedded technology and co-teaching. With such different techniques in each school district, new teachers must either relearn or unlearn what they supposedly paid to learn in college.

Instead of trying to improve undergraduate teacher training—as experts have proposed for decades—we have another idea: Get rid of it. Or at least end teacher education as we know it.

Two simple but radical changes could transform teaching in America. First, require aspiring teachers to major in something other than education. Students who want to be math teachers must major in math, for example, and fulfill the same graduation requirements as the school's other math majors. Same for English and science. That alone would improve the quality of teachers enormously.

Next, take state funding for colleges of education and give it to school districts instead. The districts would take on the obligation of teacher training, either doing it themselves or contracting with an outside organization or university. Many districts already train this way with what's called "alternative certification," and research suggests that these programs can be more effective than traditional, college-based programs.

The Tennessee Higher Education Commission found in a 2012 study that several alternative-certification programs were among the state's most effective teacher-training programs. Their success affirms that the technical teaching skills learned while in the classroom are generally far more important than all the theory learned in college.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
I agree with some things in this article but not everything. It is well known that many of the graduates for the College of Education probably would not have made it if they majored in some (most?) other colleges in the university, especially the math and science disciplines. Colleges of Education often teach their own technical topics in math and science rather than throw their majors to the wolves.

But it's absurd to think that K-12 teachers need to compete with the top academic students in the university. Teaching middle school math is not the same thing as being an engineer going to work for GE or a mathematics student preparing for a doctoral program at Cal Tech. At the same time teachers of mathematics at all levels should be aware of the latest trends in advanced mathematics and changing career opportunities for mathematicians. A teacher of college algebra does not need skills in advanced topology, but she/he should be aware of trends in topology. Middle school algebra does not change much, but courses in the Mathematics Departments of colleges have changed a great deal since I was a lowly student.

I agree that alternate certification programs would probably be beneficial such that teachers of seniors in high school have higher level mathematics skills than math teachers in middle school. But even here there can be problems. We want minority teachers as role models when certification examinations may be screen out some very fine dedicated minority teachers.

I don't have a knee jerk solution to these problems, but if I had one suggestion it would be to expand the practicum of preparing K-12 teachers. Perhaps they should have at least one more term of intensely monitored practice teaching. Perhaps there should be more courses where they practice teach each other where some of the teachers pretending to be students create problems similar to problems encountered in real life.

It amazes me how many low paid K-12 teachers are hugely dedicated to their students. The work rules, often union instigated, are often counterproductive such as not teaching in the classroom for more than 4-5 hours per day. I'm a firm believer that K-12 students need more hours per day of monitored learning time. They should not eat lunch and then board the buses to go home at 1:30 in the afternoon. This wastes their days in most instances and is probably one of the reasons home-schooled students perform better on average than public school children.

My point is that we may be blaming the teachers for dysfunctional learning that should instead be blamed on the systems. Students who arrive home before 3:00 p.m. assume that the learning day is over and turn on the television or head for an outdoor basketball court.

"Key White House Nominee Has Background in Teacher-Ed Reform," by Kelly Field, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 23, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Key-White-House-Nominee-Has/142591/

"The College Admissions Passion Play Just being well-rounded apparently is a defect. Better to be obsessive—or at least sound that way in the essay," by M.N. Stabler, The Wall Street Journal, October 18, 2013 ---
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303918804579105502677266862?mod=djemEditorialPage_h

My daughter, a high-school senior, seems like a strong college prospect: an avid learner with good grades and lots of extracurricular activities including varsity sports, student government and volunteer work. But with college early-admissions deadlines looming, doubt has now crept into her thinking. Poring over brochures and reflecting on her campus visits, this over-programmed teenager has discovered a glaring flaw: She has no "demonstrated passion."

Her varied interests, which once might have been considered a sign of well-roundedness, now apparently indicate to college-admissions officers a shallow inability to become obsessed with one particular interest.

Too late, she realized that she would have been better served by learning to become a master glassblower or by arranging Mozart's Requiem for steel drums.

Oh, the parental failure! How misguided we were in adopting the approach of letting her try many things, take risks and have fun.

Clearly, my husband and I should have forced her to pick one sport—the more obscure the better—in which to strive for near-Olympian prowess. Better yet, she could have turned her fascination with the TV show "Bones" into summers at forensics camp or a homicide-unit internship. Anything to feed the admissions beast.

What constitutes a passion, anyway? What alchemy transforms a childhood fascination into Ivy League gold? I suspect that the kid once known as "enthusiastic" is now "passionate" simply for the sake of college. I guarantee that mercenary college consultants, hired by desperate parents, have crafted all manner of prefab passions according to what they claim will "work" on admissions boards at Harvard and Yale.

I recall one college representative telling us: "It doesn't matter what it is. We want to see genuine enthusiasm for something." Come on. Does online poker count? How, at age 18, can most kids be expected to have identified the thing that moves them above all else?

Of course, there are exceptions. My son, a 15-year-old, is a serious musician whose interests are narrow and consuming. His knowledge of early jazz and punk rock is astonishing. He is the poster child for discovered passion. But I should note that this is also a child who will often discover that he has forgotten his bus money, left his phone in his room and misplaced his lunch within an hour of leaving the house.

His sister, on the other hand, is more of a stickler: She refused to miss soccer practices for orthodontist appointments, so she wore braces much longer than necessary. A demonstrated passion for not skipping soccer practice probably isn't what colleges are looking for. Maybe they would like the fact that she worked full time for a month last summer to fund a trip to the Dominican Republic so that she could volunteer in a camp for Haitian refugees. But she's reluctant to piggyback on the life's work of the program's founder just for college-essay fodder. She also resists calling her volunteering a "passion." She wonders why she can't just be into something.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
I think this is inevitable because there's often no way to separate the wheat from the chaff when students list their extra-curricular activities on resumes in high school or college. I used to write letters of recommendation for my students who were nearing college graduation day. I often chuckled to myself but never belittled a student for having a long list of mostly dubious extra-curricular activities like being officers in obscure student clubs that did virtually nothing and met once a year to elect a long slate of officers and board members. And even when graduating from college they listed four high school sports.

I would be a hypocrite if I criticized them since in three successive years I was once Secretary, Vice-President, and President of a business executives town club that only had a mission to meet once a month for cocktails and a country club dinner in various private clubs. I spend two additional years on the Board of Directors. I could argue that this helped build university relations in the community and perhaps contributed to some endowment gifts down the road. But I think this would be stretching efforts to justify my being an officer in this club.

The problem for recruiters and admissions officers is that virtually every applicant has a long laundry list of extracurricular activities to a point that its difficult to identify many for whom there were significant extra-curricular accomplishments. For example, I'm related to a young woman who has a resume line:  "Mission Work in Latin America." When she was in high school she took a trip with 20 other students to Mexico for 10 days. That would be a whole lot different than someone else who spent three entire summers or the better part of a year teaching English in dirt-street small village.

In case your interested I still have my Algona High School football letter jacket with four chevrons on the sleeve.

"Who Owns College Courses? Flexible and open models are changing the way colleges and universities approach content ownership." by Michelle Fredette, Campus Technology, October 16, 2013 ---
http://campustechnology.com/articles/2013/10/16/who-owns-college-courses.aspx?=CT21

Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm

"The End of the Class-Action Carnival," by Paul M. Barrett, Bloomberg Businessweek, October 21, 2013 --- Click Here
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-10/class-action-lawsuits-dead-end-at-supreme-court-dot-big-business-approves?campaign_id=DN101013

"Half Time Adjustments," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Blog, October 22, 2013 ---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2013/10/half-time-adjustments.html

"Million-Year Data Storage Disk Unveiled:  Magnetic hard discs can store data for little more than a decade. But nanotechnologists have now designed and built a disk that can store data for a million years or more," MIT's Technology Review, October 18, 2013 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/520541/million-year-data-storage-disk-unveiled/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20131022 

"The Secrets of Online Money Laundering," MIT's Technology Review, October 18, 2013 --- Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/520501/the-secrets-of-online-money-laundering/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20131021

Criminals are increasingly using the internet to turn dirty money into a spotless shade of green. Now a report written for the United Nations lifts the lid on many of these increasingly popular techniques.

Money laundering is increasingly becoming a cybercrime. Gone are the days when the bad guys would pop down to the casino and hope to convert their loot into a clean win on the roulette table. And less popular is the old scam of taking out an insurance policy and then redeeming it at a discount.

Instead, modern criminals are focusing on the internet. And the opportunities for turning dirty money into a spotless shade of green are plentiful.

So today, Jean-Loup Richet, a research associate at the ESSEC Business School just outside Paris, surveys the new techniques that criminals are using in a report written for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. And he reveals just how creative and opportunistic money launderers have become.

Researching these kinds of operations is inherently difficult. As Richet puts it: “Bad guys and their banks don’t share information on criminal pursuits. “

Instead, he has had to cast his net a little wider. Richet’s main sources of information are online hacker forums where anonymous criminals exchange tips on the best ways to launder money and are surprisingly frank about their methods.

In some ways, many of these methods are unsurprising. A common approach until recently was to use the Costa Rican digital currency service called Liberty Reserve. This converted dollars or Euros into a digital currency called Liberty Reserve dollars or Liberty Reserve Euros, which could then be sent and received anonymously—one of the few services to allow this. The receiver can then convert the Liberty Reserve currency back into cash for a small fee.

In May this year, however, the US authorities shut down the service and charged its founder and various others with money laundering.

But Richet says the closure of Liberty Reserve is unlikely to end these practices because there so many alternatives. These include WebMoney, Bitcoins, Paymer, PerfectMoney and so on.

Another increasingly common way of laundering money is to use online gaming. In a growing number of online games, it is possible to convert money from the real world into virtual goods services or cash that can later be converted back into the real thing. “Popular games for this type of scam include Second Life and World of Warcraft,” says Richet.

Then there are the money mule scams. Most people will be familiar with the spam in which a high level official from a developing country asks your help to transfer significant amounts of money and are prepared to pay well for your services. But first, they require your banking details which they promptly use to empty your account and then disappear.

In a growing number of cases, however, the criminals do actually transfer large amounts of money into your account and then ask you to forward it. However, since this involves stolen funds that are being laundered, you are accountable for the crime.

Another scam is to offer people jobs in which they can make a substantial income working from home. However, the ‘job’ involves accepting money transfers into their accounts and then passing these funds on to an account set up by the employer. In other words, money laundering!

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

From the Scout Report on October 25, 2013

Tackk --- http://tackk.com/ 

Are you looking for a simple way to share a range of content, whether it be photos or music, on your homepage? Tackk has you covered and it's a nice way to customize a visitor's experience through colors, shapes, images, and creative backgrounds. Visitors will not need to login and these new creations can be shared instantly and saved for future use. This version is compatible with computers running all operating systems, including Linux.

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LightZone --- http://www.lightzoneproject.org/

If you've ever tried to modify a photo with any degree of complexity, it can be tough. LightZone makes this entire process quite simple and easy. While the program is designed for more expert users, the interface here is user-friendly and visitors will note that there are over 120 filters and customizable options to take advantage of via the program. This version is compatible with all operating systems, including Linux.

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How do you solve a problem like poverty?
Zen and the art of poverty reduction
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21588119-calm-and-confusion-worlds-biggest-development-institution-zen-and-art

World Bank President Pledges to Reduce Poverty in Half by 2020
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-10-09/world-bank-president-pledges-to-reduce-poverty-in-half-by-2020.html

Is the World bank reforming its approach?
http://tribune.com.pk/story/616278/is-the-world-bank-reforming-its-approach/

A Solutions Partnership to End Poverty
http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/speech/2013/10/16/solutions-partnership-end-poverty

Poverty Home: World Bank
http://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty

World Bank Data: Poverty
http://data.worldbank.org/topic/poverty

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

Education Tutorials

"Take a Free Course on the Financial Markets with Robert Shiller, Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/take-a-free-course-on-the-financial-markets-with-robert-shiller-winner-of-the-2013-nobel-prize-in-economics.html

The Wallace Foundation (for disadvantaged children)
http://www.wallacefoundation.orgEducational

Uses of Digital Storytelling --- http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/

Science as Storytelling --- http://serc.carleton.edu/teacherprep/resources/activities/storytelling.html

Nanotechnology Center for Teaching and Learning --- http://community.nsee.us/ 

Nanotechnology Curriculum Materials --- http://www.nnin.org/education-training/k-12-teachers/nanotechnology-curriculum-materials

Launchings (mathematics education happenings)) ---  http://launchings.blogspot.com/

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

Bob Jensen's bookmarks for multiple disciplines ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm

Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials

I-STEM --- http://www.istem.illinois.edu/index.html

ISTEM: Lesson Plans --- https://www.istemnetwork.org/resource/educational/lesson.cfm

Nanotechnology Center for Teaching and Learning --- http://community.nsee.us/ 

Nanotechnology Curriculum Materials --- http://www.nnin.org/education-training/k-12-teachers/nanotechnology-curriculum-materials

Iowa State University: Center for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education ---
http://www.cesmee.hs.iastate.edu/

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

League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis --- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/league-of-denial/

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

First Nations Collection (Native Americans in Oregon) --- http://soda.sou.edu/tribal.html

Building a Stronger Illinois --- http://buildingstrongeril.com/

Anthropology.net --- http://anthropology.net/

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

Launchings (mathematics education happenings)) ---  http://launchings.blogspot.com/

Iowa State University: Center for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education ---
http://www.cesmee.hs.iastate.edu/

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

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

History Tutorials

4000 Years of History Displayed in a 5-Foot-Long “Histomap” (Early Infographic in 1931) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/4000-years-of-history-in-histomap-from-1931.html

30 Renowned Writers Speaking About God: From Isaac Asimov to Margaret Atwood ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/30-renowned-writers-speaking-about-god-from-isaac-asimov-to-margaret-atwood.html

ArtBabble (art history at Indianapolis Museum of Art) --- http://www.artbabble.org/

Encyclopedia of Indianapolis --- http://indiamond6.ulib.iupui.edu/cdm/search/collection/EOI

The Duke Chronicle --- http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/dukechronicle/

Theodore Roosevelt Collection Photographs --- http://hcl.harvard.edu/collections/digital_collections/roosevelt.cfm

Theodore Roosevelt Collection --- http://www.bartleby.com/people/RsvltT.html

Oregon Multicultural Archives Digital Collection --- http://digitalcollections.library.oregonstate.edu/cdm4/client/cultural/index.html

MetMedia --- http://www.metmuseum.org/metmedia

Chicago Film Archives --- http://www.chicagofilmarchives.org/

Curious City (Chicago) --- http://curiouscity.wbez.org

Beat Poetry, Broadsides, and Little Magazines --- http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/Beat

Native American Special from the Scout Report on October 18, 2013

1. First Nations Collection http://soda.sou.edu/tribal.html 

The First Nations Tribal Collection of the Southern Oregon Digital Archives contains books, articles, and documents related to the history of the native peoples of the area, including the Coos, Hupa, Karuka, Klamath, and more. Many of the items here are in the public domain, and they include tribal language dictionaries, Bureau of Indian Affairs publications, and publications from the Bureau of American Ethnology. Visitors can look through the materials via the Author List or use the Title heading to look around. Documents on the site include a wealth of treaties regarding fishing practices and limitations along with documents detailing the particulars of different religious ceremonies. The site is rounded out by the inclusion of a comprehensive search engine. [KMG]

2. American Indians of the Pacific Northwest Collection http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/ 

Created by the University Libraries of the University of Washington, this remarkable digital archive presents a vast collection of materials related to the Northwest Coast and Plateau Indian cultures. Along with these primary source items, the site also contains essays written by anthropologists, historians, and teachers about particular tribes and cross-cultural topics. Additionally, the site contains bibliographies and links to related text and images and lesson plans for K-12 educators. The database contains over 2,300 original photographs, 1,500 pages from the Annual Reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of the Interior from 1851 to 1908, and six Indian treaties negotiated in 1855. Visitors can try out a Sample Search and then go ahead and get started with their own quest for knowledge and edification. Additionally, visitors can use the Browse Images and Browse Documents tabs to explore this massive collection. [KMG]

3. New York State Archives: Native American Digital Collection http://iarchives.nysed.gov/PubImageWeb/listCollections.jsp?id=337 

The New York State Archives contains a vast cornucopia of materials related to the history of Native American groups in the Empire State and surrounding areas. On this site, visitors can take advantage of maps, artifacts, photographs, and publications that document communities such as the Iroquois Six Nations, the Long Island Algonkians, the Shinnecocks, and the Poospatucks. The materials here are divided into areas that include Maps, Visual Resources, Treaties and Land Use, and Census Records. First-time visitors should take a look at the Artifacts area to explore annotated photos of items such as cradleboards, moccasins, and elaborate pouches. The Treaties and Land Use area is quite compelling, as it features thirteen documents that provide insights into the relationships between various nations and the federal and New York state governments. The Maps area should not be missed as it contains representations of various reservations in the 18th and 19th century rendered with great detail. [KMG]

4. Native American Manuscript Collections http://digital.libraries.ou.edu/whc/nam/ 

Based at the University of Oklahoma's Western History Collection, the Native American Manuscript Collections contain over 200 documents relating to Native Americans in Oklahoma, Indian Territory, and the southwestern United States. On the homepage, visitors can browse the manuscripts, which are listed by nation. The Creek Nation area is quite fascinating, as there are over 35 documents here including handwritten journals, trading company ledgers, and letters from farmers like James M. Latty and other Creeks. After this introduction, visitors can browse around through the works of other nations, including the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw. [KMG]

5. The Indian Sentinel, 1902-1962 http://cdm16280.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15072coll2 

The Indian Sentinel was published from 1902 to 1962 by the Catholic Church and it serves as a fascinating repository of information about the ways in which this organization interacted with various Native American communities during the first half of the 20th century. Over its six decades, the Sentinel featured articles about Native Americans across the United States and their evangelization by the Catholic Church. Most of the accounts in these pages contain first-hand musings by lifelong missionaries, along with a bevy of photographs. The site also has a set of Search Tips for those looking for articles that mention specific Catholic religious groups, including the Benedictine Sisters, the Grey Nuns, and others. [KMG]

6. Heard Museum: American Indian Art and History http://www.heard.org/ 

In 1929, the Heard Museum was founded by early Phoenix settlers Dwight B. and Maie Bartlett Heard. The focus of the museum then and now was "to educate people about the arts, heritage and life ways of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, with an emphasis on American Indian tribes of the Southwest." On the website, visitors can learn about the museum's collections, upcoming programs, and volunteer opportunities. The site contains a number of thematic areas, including Events, Library, and Explore Art. One area that should not be missed is the Featured Documentaries. Here visitors can learn about the museum's public art projects, archaeological efforts, and concerts. The Current Exhibitions area contains highlights from recent offerings, such as Native People in the Southwest and Chocolate, Chili & Cochineal: Changing Taste Around the World. Finally, the link to the Library is a real treat. The digital collections here cover the Heard Museum Indian Fairs and Markets, the storied Fred Harvey Company, and a wide selection of elaborate beadwork items. [KMG]

===== Native Peoples Today ===

7. Seminole Tribe of Florida http://www.semtribe.com/ 

The Seminole Tribe of Florida is the only tribe in the United States that has never signed a peace treaty and its website provides ample information about Seminole history, culture, government, business ventures, and publications. Visitors might want to look first at the Seminole Tribune, which offers excellent current news updates on the goings on throughout the community. Moving on, the Government area contains key information about the operations of the tribal council, the board of directors, and day-to-day activities. The Culture area offers interested parties access to slideshows, fact sheets, and information about Seminole material culture. One section that should not be missed is the History area. Here, visitors can learn about the tribe's history, resistance, and storied Council Oak. [KMG]

8. Native American Times http://www.nativetimes.com/ 

The Native American Times makes good on its promise to deliver "today's independent Indian news." The site has a clean design that includes ten sections covering topics like business, culture, education, sports, and powwows. The News area offers a nice digest of what's going on in several areas of interest to Native Americans, with topical headlines that include "Cherokee Art Market Announces Winners" and "Yakama Maintain Wild Horse Race Tradition." The site also includes a great jobs area for folks who might be looking for Native American-focused work in public policy, community development, technology, and other fields. [KMG]

9. American Indian Policy Institute http://aipi.clas.asu.edu/ 

Based at Arizona State University, the American Indian Policy Institute collaborates with tribal governments and American Indian communities on issues that affect them and also works to nurture innovation for American Indian sustainability. The site offers a wealth of reports, news articles, publications, conference programs, and other items that will be of interest to scholars. The Reports & Publications area contains thoughtful missives such as "Tribes and Energy within Arizona" and "Land Use Challenges and Choices for the 21st Century." The Award-Winning First Innovations area offers up a host of best practices designed to introduce sustainability entrepreneurship in Native American communities. Additionally, the Projects & Initiatives area offers detailed program information about tribal planning summits and financial management seminars. [KMG]

10. National Indian Law Library http://www.narf.org/nill/

The National Indian Law Library (NILL) has worked for over three decades to bring together key resources for Native Americans and their advocates in the field of legal scholarship and service. Today it remains the only entity that offers a comprehensive vision of past and present tribal governmental documents from across the United States. The NILL is based in Boulder, Colorado and its website provides selected documents, information on ongoing activities and the very useful Indian Law News Bulletins. These bulletins are published almost every week and offer succinct and timely information about new developments in Indian Law. Visitors can search through the archives of these bulletins back to 1998, or look through the bulletins for links to germane legal briefs. This same area contains links to digests that cover activities in state courts, federal trial courts, and law review journal articles. Users shouldn't miss the Research By Topic area, which contains links that deal with 20 different themes, including tribal education, health & human services, sacred sites, prisoners' issues, and child welfare. [KMG]

11. Indian Country Today http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/ 

The Indian Country Today website is a one-stop shop for people with an interest in the world of Native American culture. The site includes special sections dedicated to news updates in the areas of genealogy, sports, environment, politics, and so on. First-time visitors will want to look at the Editor's Picks to get started, as this contains the most salient news items as of late. The Around the Web area features stories related to Native Americans from a range of online media sources. People with a visual bent will appreciate the Our World In Pictures area, as it contains key links to images culled from across the country, including blogs, Flickr, and a range of other sources. Finally, the Things About area provides thoughtful opinion pieces on a range of topics that affect Native Americans, including higher education, federal policy changes, and environmental degradation. [KMG]

12. Alaska Native Knowledge Network http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/ 

The Alaska Native Knowledge Network (ANKN) was established to serve as "a resource for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing." To achieve this goal, the website brings together publications, information about academic programs, curriculum resources, and a calendar of events. In the Curriculum Resources area, visitors can look over lesson plans, fact sheets, and classroom activities that weave together indigenous and Western knowledge systems. Moving on, the Publications area contains links to print publications for sale and a range of free titles, including "Guidelines for Culturally Responsible School Boards" and "Guidelines for Respecting Cultural Knowledge." Also, visitors should take a look at the Announcements area for updates about relevant training programs, workshops, and conferences. [KMG]

13. Native American Affairs: Department of Commerce http://www.commerce.gov/office-secretary/native-american-affairs 

The United States Department of Commerce has an active Native American Affairs program whose work is coordinated by a team of government professionals and advisors. On the homepage, visitors can learn about the program's advising work, which includes outreach related to small businesses, intertribal relations, and reservation-based economic development programs. Visitors can look over the Policy area, as it contains key documents like the official tribal consultation and coordination policy for the department. A valuable area of the site is the Resources section, which lists online resources from other government agencies, including NOAA, the Census Bureau, and the Patent and Trademark Office. [KMG]

14. Administration for Native Americans: Children & Families http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ana 

The Administration for Native Americans (ANA) works to promote "self-sufficiency for Native Americans by providing discretionary grant funding for community based projects and training and technical assistance to eligible tribes and native organizations." Operated as an office within the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the ANA provides high-quality information on its grants, training programs, and resources. First-time visitors might do well to check out the Featured Resource, which takes a look at various outreach efforts, such as the Native American Veterans "Storytelling for Healing" program. In the ANA Quick Fact area, visitors can learn about the accomplishments of the ANA in recent months and years. Also, the Resources area includes guides, videos, fact sheets, reports, and webinars organized by topic, such as best practices, economic development, project management, and tribal governance. [KMG]

15. American Indian Environmental Office Tribal Portal http://www.epa.gov/indian/ 

Based within the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the American Indian Environmental Office (AIEO) works to protect human health and the environment of federally recognized tribes by supporting implementation of federal environmental laws. The materials on the site are divided into different areas, including Consultation, Indian Policies, Maps & Data, and Tribal Calendar. Visitors will enjoy the Indian Policies area, as it contains detailed links to a range of reports and special documents dating back to 2002. The Maps & Data area is a real gem, as visitors can use spatial tools to locate and learn about the various environmental problem areas and cleanup sites that affect Native Americans who live on reservations around the United States. Finally, the Consultation area contains information on the outreach services provided by the EPA to these different communities. [KMG]

 

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/

October 15, 2013

• Exercise Might Boost Men's Sperm Counts
• 'Craze' Sports Supplement Contains Meth-Like Substance: Report
• Irregular Bedtimes & Behavior Problems in Kids
• New Test May Spot Which Embryos Stand Greatest Chance of Survival
• High Smog Levels Tied to Serious Heart Problems
• Women in Labor May Be Fine Taking in Nourishment
• Affordable Care Act: State Rules Can Boost Costs
• 'Obamacare' and Mental Health
• Government Shutdown Threatens Food Safety
• Affordable Care Act Prices Now Easier to Access

October 16, 2013

• Blood Test Shows Promise for Cancer Detection
• Cinnamon May Help Ease Common Cause of Infertility
• Popular Morning Sickness Drug Safe in Pregnancy, Study Finds
• Did Recession Lead to Increase in Vasectomies?
• Tweaked Club Drug Shows Promise as Antidepressant
• Expert Q&A: Childhood Vaccine Safety
• How Much Alcohol In Your Drink? Stronger Beverages Make It Tough to Tell
• Diabetes With Heart Disease: Bypass vs. Angioplasty
• Study Sees Link Between Psoriasis, Kidney Problems
• 'Craze' Sports Supplement Contains Meth-Like Substance: Report

October 17, 2013

• Immune Protein Found to Block HIV Spread in Some
• Blood Test Shows Promise for Cancer Detection
• High Out-of-Pocket Costs Called a Hidden 'Side Effect' of Treatment
• Hardening of Arteries & Alzheimer's Plaques Linked
• Cinnamon May Help Ease Common Cause of Infertility
• Study Sees Link Between Psoriasis, Kidney Problems
• Expert Q&A: Childhood Vaccine Safety
• Popular Morning Sickness Drug Safe in Pregnancy, Study Finds
• Diabetes With Heart Disease: Bypass vs. Angioplasty
• Did Recession Lead to Increase in Vasectomies?

October 18, 2013

• Doc Dispels Common Myths About Head Lice
• Air Pollution a Leading Cause of Cancer
• Too Much Texting May Leave College Kids Sleepy
• Buying Insurance on Exchanges: It Helps to Have Help
• FDA Investigates Brain Infection-Gilenya Case
• U.S. Teens More Vulnerable to Genital Herpes: Study
• Study: Vitamin D Supplements May Not Raise Risk for Kidney Stones
• Surgical Tools Too Often Left Behind in Patients
• Nosebleeds Common But Seldom Serious, Study Finds
• In Minn., 3,700 Obamacare Applications Under Way

October 20, 2013

• Could a Good Night's Sleep Guard Against Alzheimer's?
• Breast Milk Bought Online May Contain Harmful Germs
• Kids With ADHD Often Prone to Bowel Problems: Study
• Researchers Report Progress With Growing Hair
• Social Networking Sites May Help Smokers Kick Habit
• Ladies, Take 5 Steps to Avoid Osteoporosis
• Insurance Companies Cancel Thousands of Policies
• Doc Dispels Common Myths About Head Lice
• Air Pollution a Leading Cause of Cancer
• Too Much Texting May Leave College Kids Sleepy

October 22, 2013

• Researchers Report Progress With Growing Hair
• Breast Milk Bought Online May Contain Harmful Germs
• Kids With ADHD Often Prone to Bowel Problems: Study
• Could a Good Night's Sleep Guard Against Alzheimer's?
• Buying Insurance on Exchanges: It Helps to Have Help
• Doc Dispels Common Myths About Head Lice
• Too Much Texting May Leave College Kids Sleepy
• Air Pollution a Leading Cause of Cancer
• Ladies, Take 5 Steps to Avoid Osteoporosis
• Insurance Companies Cancel Thousands of Policies

October 23, 2013

• Ob/Gyns Change Pregnancy Length Definitions
• Flu Season Off to Slow Start . . .
• First Windpipe Transplant Holding Up: Report
• Weight-Loss Surgery Seems to Beat Diet & Exercise
• Being Web-Savvy Tied to Better Health in Seniors
• Your Flu Shot May Also Help Your Heart
• Obese Patients With Pancreatic Cancer Have Shorter Survival, Study Finds
• Kids Who Exercise More May Get Better Grades
• Breast Milk Bought Online May Contain Harmful Germs
• Kids With ADHD Often Prone to Bowel Problems: Study

October 24, 2013

• Stroke Affecting Younger People Worldwide: Study
• Men May Stroll a Little Slower Down Lovers' Lane
• Affordable Care Act Penalties to Be Delayed
• Removable 'Gut Sleeve' a Future Weight-Loss Tool?
• Ob/Gyns Change Pregnancy Length Definitions
• Child 'Cured' of HIV Remains Free of Virus: Report
• Longer Detox for Prescription Pain Med Addiction
• Your Questions About 'Obamacare' Answered
• Flu Season Off to Slow Start . . .
• First Windpipe Transplant Holding Up: Report

October 25, 2013

• Kids With Head Injuries May Be Prone to Depression
• Blood Test for Pancreatic Cancer Shows Promise
• Saturday Is National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
• Common BP Drugs Tied to Lower Risk of Alzheimer's: Study
• FDA Urges Tighter Controls on Certain Painkillers
• Some Improvement Seen in U.S. Cholesterol Levels
• Stroke Affecting Younger People Worldwide: Study
• Affordable Care Act: Ohio Expands Medicaid
• Men May Stroll a Little Slower Down Lovers' Lane
• Administration: 700,000 Have Applied for Obamacare

The bad press of Obamacare does not seem to be slowing down applications to medical school, applications that are at an all-time high ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2013/10/medical-school-.html

Jensen Comment
Then  again the increase in the number of medical school application may be mostly due to the more serious decline in competing career opportunities such as finance, business, law, and science.

Growing evidence suggests that gloomy moods (apart from chronic medical depression) improve key types of thinking and behavior ---
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/bright-side-sadness

A Bit of Humor

The 10 Best Pointy-Haired Boss Moments From 'Dilbert' ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-pointy-haired-boss-moments-from-dilbert-2013-10

7 Outrageous Things People Actually Put On Their Resumes (not advisable for tenure application files) ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/outrageous-things-people-put-on-resumes-2013-10

Watch an Animation of Orson Welles’ Famous Frozen Peas Rant ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/watch-an-animation-of-orson-welles-famous-frozen-peas-rant.html

Forwarded by Paula

Belief has it that the more cedar branches bedecking a home, the safer it is from witches. The theory behind this is that the devil decreed a witch must count every needle before she enters a house where she's intent on mischief.
From: Blue Ridge Country Magazine, January/February 2007.

Here's The Weirdest Stuff That Happened At Walmart This Week ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-weird-crimes-2013-10

. . .

A woman on a motorized scooter allegedly stole a flat screen television from a Walmart in Tennessee by toting it out the door in a cart trailing the scooter, CBS affiliate WJHL reports. She was caught in the act on surveillance cameras. Police are still searching for the suspect.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-weird-crimes-2013-10#ixzz2iAhCYhTo

 

Forwarded by Zafar

The Allergists voted to scratch it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.

The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve.

The Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception.

Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.

Pathologists yelled; "Over my dead body!" while the Pediatricians said, 'Oh, Grow up!

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it.

Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.

The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter."

The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea.

The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.

In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the *******s in Washington !

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/

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

The Cult of Statistical Significance: How Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DeirdreMcCloskey/StatisticalSignificance01.htm

How Accountics Scientists Should Change: 
"Frankly, Scarlett, after I get a hit for my resume in The Accounting Review I just don't give a damn"
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm
One more mission in what's left of my life will be to try to change this
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm 

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

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.

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

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

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

All my online pictures --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/PictureHistory/

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