Tidbits on January 16, 2014
Bob Jensen
at Trinity University
Photographs:
History of The White Mountains --- Set 01
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Mountains/HistoryWhiteMountains/01/HistoryWhiteMoutains01.htm
Tidbits on December 31, 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/
Facebook is perhaps the
ultimate example of the old, wise saying: If you aren’t paying for a product,
then you ARE the product
Comparisons of Antivirus Software ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_antivirus_software#Microsoft_Windows
Based upon this analysis I chose F-Secure
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
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ---
http://plato.stanford.edu/
Old Barnes ---
http://www.youtube.com/embed/J8Ioa1gVVeA?showinfo=0&rel=0
More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and
Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
Common
Accountics Science and Econometric Science Statistical Mistakes ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsScienceStatisticalMistakes.htm
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
Google Funnies ---
https://plus.google.com/explore?cfem=1
Benjamin Bratton Explains “What’s Wrong with TED Talks?” and
Why They’re a “Recipe for Civilizational Disaster” ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/benjamin-bratton-explains-whats-wrong-with-ted-talks.html
Jensen Comment
I don't quite agree, but in some of those talks I get irritated by the passing
over of crucial underlying assumptions.
Watch Laurence Olivier, Liv Ullmann and Christopher Plummer’s Classic
Polaroid Ads ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/watch-laurence-olivier-liv-ullmann-and-christopher-plummers-class-act-polaroid-spots.html
Mathematics Assessment: A Video Library ---
http://www.learner.org/resources/series31.html
Watch The Trial (1962), Orson Welles’ Worst or Best Film,
Adapted From Kafka’s Classic Work ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/orson-welles-the-trial.html
The Ten-Year Lunch: Watch the Award-Winning Documentary About
the Great Writers Who Sat at the Algonquin Round Table ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/the-algonquin-round-table.html
Jensen Comment
I remember that Round Table Room (empty). When I used to go to Manhattan quite
often, the Algonquin Hotel (a country in with a great location) most of the
time. It's not the same since Four Seasons took it over.
Free music downloads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
Auld Lang Syne performed live by Sissel as part of a Happy New
Year video greeting card ---
http://biggeekdad.com/2011/01/happy-new-year/
Van-Anh Vanessa Vo: Tiny Desk Concert (Classical)
---
http://www.npr.org/event/music/259390015/van-anh-vanessa-vo-tiny-desk-concert
High Notes And Clams: The Best And Worst Of
Classical 2013 ---
http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2013/12/31/258649125/high-notes-and-clams-the-best-and-worst-of-classical-2013
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
Free: Google Puts Over 57,000 Works of Art
on the Web ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/google-puts-over-57000-works-of-art-on-the-web.html
The 29 Coolest Air Force Images Of 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-gorgeous-air-force-images-2014-1
See The Original Alice In Wonderland Manuscript, Handwritten &
Illustrated By Lewis Carroll (1864) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/original-alice-in-wonderland-manuscript.html
Alice in Wonderland Illustrated by Ralph Steadman: A 1973 Gem
---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/01/10/alice-in-wonderland-illustrated-by-ralph-steadman/
Free: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the
Guggenheim Offer 474 Free Art Books Online ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/free-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-and-the-guggenheim-offer-474-free-art-catalogues-online.html
Spectacular Photos Of A Partially-Frozen Niagara Falls Paul Szoldra ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/frozen-niagara-falls-pictures-2014-1
The British Library Is Putting Millions Of
Amazing Images On Flickr That Probably Would Have Been Lost In Time ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-british-librarys-important-flickr-plan-2013-12
Also see
http://www.businessinsider.com/british-library-releases-pictures-to-flickr-2013-12
The Most Mind-Blowing Space Photos of 2013 ---
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/best-space-photos-2013/
"On a Beam of Light: The Story of Albert
Einstein, Illustrated by the Great Vladimir Radunsky," by Maria Popova, Brain
Pickings, December 30, 2013 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/12/30/on-a-beam-of-light-albert-einstein-radunsky/
1950s Pictures ---
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blast_of_the_past/page1/
12 Of The Most Remarkable Caves On Planet Earth ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/coolest-cavdes-2014-1?op=1#ixzz2qB9zcp8F
Here's The Hong Kong That Westerners Never See (prostitutes and homeless
people) ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-part-of-hong-kong-that-westerners-never-see-2014-1
The Costa Concordia rusting away in the Mediterranean Sea as
massive operation to lift stricken cruise liner begins ---
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2538109/Italy-prepares-mark-second-anniversary-Costa-Concordia-tragedy-operation-lift-stricken-cruise-liner-begins.html
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
700 Free eBooks from the University of
California Press ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/read-700-free-ebooks-made-available-by-the-university-of-california-press.html
Free: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Offer
474 Free Art Books Online ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/free-the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-and-the-guggenheim-offer-474-free-art-catalogues-online.html
Vintage Photos of a Young Virginia Woolf Playing Cricket (Ages
5 & 12) ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?shva=1#inbox/14395fffce97472b
Virginia Woolf: Her Voice
Recaptured ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2010/02/virginia_woolf_her_voice_recaptured.html
Virginia Woolf’s Handwritten
Suicide Note: A Painful and Poignant Farewell (1941) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/virginia-woolfs-handwritten-suicide-note.html
75 favorite books from the past 7 years ---
http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/68224464863
Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys ---
http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/
Cambridge Public Libraries: Directories ---
https://archive.org/details/cambridgepubliclibrary
The Ten-Year Lunch: Watch the Award-Winning Documentary About
the Great Writers Who Sat at the Algonquin Round Table ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/the-algonquin-round-table.html
Jensen Comment
I remember that Round Table Room (empty). When I used to go to Manhattan quite
often, the Algonquin Hotel (a country in with a great location) most of the
time. It's not the same since Four Seasons took it over.
Read Dictator Kim Jong-il’s Writings on Cinema, Art & Opera:
Courtesy of North Korea’s Free E-Library ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/read-dictator-kim-jong-ils-writings-on-cinema-art-opera.html
See The Original Alice In Wonderland Manuscript,
Handwritten & Illustrated By Lewis Carroll (1864) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/original-alice-in-wonderland-manuscript.html
Alice in Wonderland Illustrated by Ralph Steadman: A 1973 Gem
---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/01/10/alice-in-wonderland-illustrated-by-ralph-steadman/
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 January 16, 2014
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2014/TidbitsQuotations011614.htm
U.S. National Debt Clock ---
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
While reading the latest public letter from the President of Trinity
University, Dennis Ahlburg, I noted the following paragraph:
School of Business professors
Julie Persellin and Mike Wilkins, the Jesse H. Jones Professor of
Business Administration, received the American Accounting Association's
(AAA) Best Contribution to Teaching Award for a paper they wrote about
ethics in accounting.
Julie commenced her tenure-track career at Trinity. Mike was a tenured full
professor of accounting at Texas A&M before answering the call to fill my old
Jesse Jones Chair at Trinity. At the same time Mike's wife (not Julie) answered
a call to fill the endowed finance chair previously held by Phil Cooley (nos
retired).
Congratulations to Mike and Julie. The Best Contribution to Teaching Award’
is granted by the Professionalism and Ethics Committee and Public Interest
Section of the American Accounting Association
Pale King (an unfinished novel by David Foster Wallace at the time of his
suicide) ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_King
Read David Foster Wallace’s Notes From a Tax
Accounting Class, Taken to Help Write The Pale King ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/david-foster-wallaces-notes-from-a-tax-accounting-class.html
. . .
In writing
The Pale King, a novel of 1980s IRS
agents stultified by boredom in Peoria, Illinois,
David Foster Wallace joined the latter group.
Although Wallace had left an unfinished manuscript when he committed suicide
in 2008, he had spent more than a decade working on it. In fact, a year
after the release of his opus,
Infinite Jest, Wallace enrolled in
accounting classes at Illinois State University to learn about precisely
what IRS agents did.
According to The New York Times’ Jennifer Schuessler,
the author began “plowing through shelves of
technical literature, transcribing notes on tax scams, criteria for audit
and the problem of ‘agent terrorism’ into a series of notebooks.”
Today, we bring you two pages of his notes
(click the images to enlarge). In the first, above, Wallace has jotted down
a few key points about
accrual and deferral, alongside what is
likely a note to self on the subject’s difficulty: “A BITCH.”
Continued in article
January 15, 2014 reply from Patricia A. Doherty
This was really
interesting. I've actually read (and loved) Infinite Jest.
My daughter actually gave it to me. In high school,
she took an entire course that was completely devoted to the book. They read,
analyzed and discussed it for the entire course term. It was one of the most
popular courses at the school.
Patricia A. Doherty
Senior Lecturer in Accounting Coordinator, Managerial Accounting
Boston University School of Management
595 Commonwealth Ave. Room 524A Boston, MA 02215
Infinite Jest with 388 numbered endnotes ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_Jest
Bob Jensen's Helpers for Writers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries
Dr. Oz Should Be Ashamed
Dr. Oz: Is this the miracle weight loss solution without exercise that
the world is waiting for?
http://everyday.news-2014.net/diet/tips/
Warning:
Research studies conclude that this "miracle weight loss solution" is no better
than a placebo. Dr. Oz should be ashamed ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garcinia_Cambogia#Weight_loss
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Accountics is the mathematical science of values.
Charles Sprague [1887] as quoted by McMillan [1998, p. 1]
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1
Tom Lehrer on Mathematical Models and Statistics ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZWyUXn3So
You must watch this to the ending to appreciate it.
Strategies to Avoid Data Collection Drudgery and
Responsibilities for Errors in the Data
Obsession With R-Squared
Drawing Inferences From Very Large Data-Sets
The Insignificance of Testing the Null
Zero Testing for Beta Error
Scientific Irreproducibility
Can You Really Test for Multicollinearity?
Models That aren't Robust
Simpson's Paradox and Cross-Validation
Reverse Regression
David Giles' Top Five Econometrics Blog Postings
for 2013
David Giles Blog
A Cautionary Bedtime Story
574 Shields Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm
Real Science versus Pseudo Science ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm#Pseudo-Science
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
"How Non-Scientific Granulation Can Improve Scientific
Accountics"
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsGranulationCurrentDraft.pdf
Gaming for Tenure as an Accounting Professor ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTenure.htm
(with a reply about tenure publication point systems from Linda Kidwell)
Déjà vu:
Hidden Swiss Bank Accounts All Over Again (unless USA appeal succeeds)
"Swiss court stops handover of tax information to U.S.," by Alistair M.
Nevius, Journal of Accountancy, January 10, 2014 ---
http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/News/20149410.htm
Law School ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_school
Brian Leiter (University of Chicago) : American Legal Education: The First
150 Years ---
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-leiter/american-legal-education-_b_4581672.html
Fraud Analytics: Strategies and Methods for Detection and Prevention
by Delena D. Spann, United States Secret Service, Chicago Field Office
ISBN: 978-1-118-23068-8
October 2013
176 pages
http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-111823068X.html
There are only three reviews to date at Amazon. Two reviewers give it five
stars and one reviewer only gave it the lowest possible rating (one star) ---
http://www.amazon.com/Fraud-Analytics-Strategies-Detection-Prevention/dp/111823068X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389726327&sr=1-1&keywords=Fraud+Analytics%3A+Strategies+and+Methods+for+Detection+and+Prevention
The low rater is Brian Spiering. I don't know him, but he claims to be a quant.
I might add that I'm not an optimist for fraud analytics. There are just too
many non-stationarities, missing variables, covariances, and issues of outliers.
Still this might be a useful reference book even if Spiering is correct about
the poor writing and lousy cases. Then again maybe the two high raters are more
discerning.
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Telephone Scam
FTC Declares Rachel From Cardholder Services 'Enemy Number 1'; Files
Complaints Against Five Scammy Robocollers ---
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121101/11131820906/ftc-declares-rachel-cardholder-services-enemy-number-1-files-complaints-against-five-scammy-robocollers.shtml
"Rachel" calls me four or five times a week. How can I stop this!
It Isn’t Really Rachel From Cardholder Services ---
http://www.bbb.org/blog/2012/07/it-isnt-really-rachel-from-cardholder-services/
A Gentle Introduction to Statistics Hosted by Harvard Geneticist Pardis
Sabet ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/a-gentle-introduction-to-statistics-hosted-by-harvard-geneticist.html
Statistics Explained Through Modern Dance: A New Way of
Teaching a Tough Subject ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/statistics-explained-with-modern-dance.html
New Jersey Institute of Technology: OpenCourseWare ---
http://ocw.njit.edu/index.php
Bob Jensen's threads on mathematics and statistics tutorials and videos ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics
Bird-Pollan: Nozick, Libertarianism, and the Estate Tax ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/01/bird-pollan.html
"The Sound Of Music May Have Been Composed By The Machine," by Melissa
Olsen, ReadWriteWeb, January 2, 2014 ---
http://readwrite.com/2014/01/01/music-machine-composed-creativity#awesm=~osVW5jekmFEoKw
Early this year, Swedish development company
DoReMIR Research finally released its widely-praised ScoreCleaner app, a
program that takes musical notation with impressive accuracy. It’s been
promoted as the answer for would-be-composers who need help converting their
ideas into something more shareable in the musical community. It’s a great
example of machines helping humans produce art as music.
It’s not alone, of course. There are many more
examples of machines helping the musical process along. It was a reverse
talk-back circuit that gave us the gated reverb of the 80’s (think of the
drums from “In the Air Tonight”) and auto-tuning gave us the distinctive
sound of Daft Punk’s greatest hits.
On a more advanced level, we also have vocal
synthesizers now: the Japanese Vocaloids, programmable “singers” in a box
who can be made to sing the compositions of whomever happens to own the
program. Machines, it seems, have been helping composers do their work for
quite a while.
In fact, they might be able to replace the
composers already. The Artificial Creator
Enter such visionaries as David Cope, who is
responsible for the controversial Emmy and the later but still controversial
Emily Howell. Emmy was the first of Cope’s fascinating creations, a program
of Experiments in Musical Intelligence (EMI) that eventually became so
advanced that it could recreate famous composers’ musical styles in new
compositions.
How did it work? Essentially, Cope fed Bach’s
compositions to the program in order to establish a database whereby the
composer’s patterns could be deduced. Then he added another database for
deriving Bach’s rules of composition. This wasn’t just the standard way he
strung notes together but also when he went against his own “formulae” (or
deviated from his own standard). And then he added classifications of
phenomena found in music.
The result? By 1987, Emmy’s Bach-style compositions
were being played to a speechless audience at the University of Illinois.
And polarizing listeners around the world. A Composer Without a Soul
Cope’s work with Emmy and the program he regards as
her daughter, Emily Howell (a more interactive composition program that
actually engages Cope in an exchange that helps it put together music
gradually through associations and Cope’s preferences), has elicited
powerful responses in many people. Some welcome it, but perhaps even more
view it with distrust.
Jensen Comment
It was rumored that the score for the film 2001 Space Odyssey was composed by a
computer. This appears to be a false rumor ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Space_Oddessey
Bob Jensen's pictures of the Trapp Family Lodge ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/Hotels/TrappFamilyLodge/Trapp2013.htm
B
Bob Jensen's threads on music, including computer-composed music ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#050421Music
"Chasing the Dream of Half-Price Gasoline from Natural Gas: A
startup called Siluria thinks it’s solved a mystery that has stymied huge oil
companies for decades." by Kevin Bullis, MIT's Technology Review,
January 15, 2014 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/523146/chasing-the-dream-of-half-price-gasoline-from-natural-gas/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140115
At a pilot plant in Menlo Park, California, a
technician pours white pellets into a steel tube and then taps it with a
wrench to make sure they settle together. He closes the tube, and oxygen and
methane—the main ingredient of natural gas—flow in. Seconds later, water and
ethylene, the world’s largest commodity chemical, flow out. Another simple
step converts the ethylene into gasoline.
The white pellets are a catalyst developed by the
Silicon Valley startup Siluria, which has raised $63.5 million in venture
capital. If the catalysts work as well in a large, commercial scale plant as
they do in tests, Siluria says, the company could produce gasoline from
natural gas at about half the cost of making it from crude oil—at least at
today’s cheap natural-gas prices.
If Siluria really can make cheap gasoline from
natural gas it will have achieved something that has eluded the world’s top
chemists and oil and gas companies for decades. Indeed, finding an
inexpensive and direct way to upgrade natural gas into more valuable and
useful chemicals and fuels could finally mean a cheap replacement for
petroleum.
Natural gas burns much more cleanly than oil—power
plants that burn oil emit 50 percent more carbon dioxide than natural gas
ones. It also is between two and six times more abundant than oil, and its
price has fallen dramatically now that technologies like fracking and
horizontal drilling have led to a surge of production from unconventional
sources like the Marcellus Shale. While oil costs around $100 a barrel,
natural gas sells in the U.S. for the equivalent of $20 a barrel.
But until now oil has maintained a crucial
advantage: natural gas is much more difficult to convert into chemicals such
as those used to make plastics. And it is relatively expensive to convert
natural gas into liquid fuels such as gasoline. It cost Shell $19 billion to
build a massive gas-to-liquids plant in Qatar, where natural gas is almost
free. The South African energy and chemicals company Sasol is considering a
gas-to-liquids plant in Louisiana that it says will cost between $11 billion
and $14 billion. Altogether, such plants produce only about 400,000 barrels
of liquid fuels and chemicals a day, which is less than half of 1 percent of
the 90 million barrels of oil produced daily around the world.
The costs are so high largely because the process
is complex and consumes a lot of energy. First high temperatures are
required to break methane down into carbon monoxide and hydrogen, creating
what is called syngas. The syngas is then subjected to catalytic reactions
that turn it into a mixture of hydrocarbons that is costly to refine and
separate into products.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
The question is why Google does not already own nearby Siluria.
"New Michael Lewis Book on Financial World Will Be Published in March,"
by Julie Bosmanian, New York Times, January 14, 2014 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/business/media/new-michael-lewis-book-on-financial-world-will-be-published-in-march.html?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytimesbusiness&_r=0
Michael Lewis, whose colorful reporting on
money and excess on Wall Street has made him one of the country’s most
popular business journalists, has written a new book on the financial world,
his publisher said on Tuesday.
The book, titled “Flash Boys,” will be released by
W.W. Norton & Company on March 31. A spokeswoman for Norton said the new
book “is squarely in the realm of Wall Street.”
Starling Lawrence, Mr. Lewis’s editor, said in a
statement: “Michael is brilliant at finding the perfect narrative line for
any subject. That’s what makes his books, no matter the topic, so indelibly
memorable.”
Mr. Lewis is the author of “Moneyball,” “Liar’s
Poker” and “The Big Short.”
Jensen Comment
His books are both humorous and well-researched.
Absolutely Must-See CBS Sixty Minutes Videos
You, your students, and the world in general really should repeatedly study the
following videos until they become perfectly clear!
Two of them are best watched after a bit of homework.
Video 1
CBS Sixty Minutes featured how bad things became when poison was added to loan
portfolios. This older Sixty Minutes Module is entitled "House of Cards" ---
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3756665n&tag=contentMain;contentBody
This segment can be understood without much preparation except that it would
help for viewers to first read about Mervene and how the mortgage lenders
brokering the mortgages got their commissions for poisoned mortgages passed
along to the government (Freddie Mack and Fannie Mae) and Wall Street banks. On
some occasions the lenders like Washington Mutual also naively kept some of the
poison planted by some of their own greedy brokers.
The cause of this fraud was separating the compensation for brokering mortgages
from the responsibility for collecting the payments until the final payoff
dates.
First Read About Mervene ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm#Sleaze
Then Watch Video 1 at
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3756665n&tag=contentMain;contentBody
Videos 2 and 3
Inside the Wall Street Collapse (Parts 1 and 2) first shown on March 14,
2010
Video 2 (Greatest Swindle in the History of the World) ---
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6298154n&tag=contentMain;contentAux
Video 3 (Swindler's Compensation Scandals) ---
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6298084n&tag=contentMain;contentAux
My wife and I watched Videos 2 and 3 on March 14. Both videos feature one of
my favorite authors of all time, Michael Lewis, who hhs been writing (humorously
with tongue in cheek) about Wall Street scandals since he was a bond salesman on
Wall Street in the 1980s. The other person featured on in these videos is a
one-eyed physician with Asperger Syndrome who made hundreds of millions of
dollars anticipating the collapse of the CDO markets while the shareholders of
companies like Merrill Lynch, AIG, Lehman Bros., and Bear Stearns got left
holding the empty bags.
"The End," by Michael Lewis December 2008 Issue The era that
defined Wall Street is finally, officially over. Michael Lewis, who chronicled
its excess in Liar’s Poker, returns to his old haunt to figure out what went
wrong.
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm#TheEnd
Liars Poker II is called "The End"
The Not-Funny Punch Line is Not Until Page 9 of This Tongue in Cheek
Explanation of the Meltdown on Wall Street!
Now I asked
Gutfreund about his biggest decision. “Yes,” he said. “They—the
heads of the other Wall Street firms—all said what an awful thing it was
to go public (beg for a government
bailout) and how could you do such a
thing. But when the temptation arose, they all gave in to it.” He agreed
that the main effect of turning a partnership into a corporation was to
transfer the financial risk to the shareholders. “When things go wrong,
it’s their problem,” he said—and obviously not theirs alone. When a Wall
Street investment bank screwed up badly enough, its risks became the
problem of the U.S. government. “It’s laissez-faire until you get in
deep shit,” he said, with a half chuckle. He was out of the game.
This is a must read to understand what went wrong on Wall Street ---
especially the punch line!
"The End," by Michael Lewis December 2008 Issue The era that defined Wall
Street is finally, officially over. Michael Lewis, who chronicled its excess
in Liar’s Poker, returns to his old haunt to figure out what went wrong.
http://www.portfolio.com/news-markets/national-news/portfolio/2008/11/11/The-End-of-Wall-Streets-Boom?tid=true
To this day, the willingness of a Wall Street
investment bank to pay me hundreds of thousands of dollars to dispense
investment advice to grownups remains a mystery to me. I was 24 years
old, with no experience of, or particular interest in, guessing which
stocks and bonds would rise and which would fall. The essential function
of Wall Street is to allocate capital—to decide who should get it and
who should not. Believe me when I tell you that I hadn’t the first clue.
I’d never taken an accounting course, never run
a business, never even had savings of my own to manage. I stumbled into
a job at Salomon Brothers in 1985 and stumbled out much richer three
years later, and even though I wrote a book about the experience, the
whole thing still strikes me as preposterous—which is one of the reasons
the money was so easy to walk away from. I figured the situation was
unsustainable. Sooner rather than later, someone was going to identify
me, along with a lot of people more or less like me, as a fraud. Sooner
rather than later, there would come a Great Reckoning when Wall Street
would wake up and hundreds if not thousands of young people like me, who
had no business making huge bets with other people’s money, would be
expelled from finance.
When I sat down to write my account of the
experience in 1989—Liar’s Poker, it was called—it was in the spirit of a
young man who thought he was getting out while the getting was good. I
was merely scribbling down a message on my way out and stuffing it into
a bottle for those who would pass through these parts in the far distant
future.
Unless some insider got all of this down on
paper, I figured, no future human would believe that it happened.
I thought I was writing a period piece about
the 1980s in America. Not for a moment did I suspect that the financial
1980s would last two full decades longer or that the difference in
degree between Wall Street and ordinary life would swell into a
difference in kind. I expected readers of the future to be outraged that
back in 1986, the C.E.O. of Salomon Brothers, John Gutfreund, was paid
$3.1 million; I expected them to gape in horror when I reported that one
of our traders, Howie Rubin, had moved to Merrill Lynch, where he lost
$250 million; I assumed they’d be shocked to learn that a Wall Street
C.E.O. had only the vaguest idea of the risks his traders were running.
What I didn’t expect was that any future reader would look on my
experience and say, “How quaint.”
I had no great agenda, apart from telling what
I took to be a remarkable tale, but if you got a few drinks in me and
then asked what effect I thought my book would have on the world, I
might have said something like, “I hope that college students trying to
figure out what to do with their lives will read it and decide that it’s
silly to phony it up and abandon their passions to become financiers.” I
hoped that some bright kid at, say, Ohio State University who really
wanted to be an oceanographer would read my book, spurn the offer from
Morgan Stanley, and set out to sea.
Somehow that message failed to come across. Six
months after Liar’s Poker was published, I was knee-deep in letters from
students at Ohio State who wanted to know if I had any other secrets to
share about Wall Street. They’d read my book as a how-to manual.
In the two decades since then, I had been
waiting for the end of Wall Street. The outrageous bonuses, the slender
returns to shareholders, the never-ending scandals, the bursting of the
internet bubble, the crisis following the collapse of Long-Term Capital
Management: Over and over again, the big Wall Street investment banks
would be, in some narrow way, discredited. Yet they just kept on
growing, along with the sums of money that they doled out to
26-year-olds to perform tasks of no obvious social utility. The
rebellion by American youth against the money culture never happened.
Why bother to overturn your parents’ world when you can buy it, slice it
up into tranches, and sell off the pieces?
At some point, I gave up waiting for the end.
There was no scandal or reversal, I assumed, that could sink the system.
The New Order The crash did more than wipe out
money. It also reordered the power on Wall Street. What a Swell Party A
pictorial timeline of some Wall Street highs and lows from 1985 to 2007.
Worst of Times Most economists predict a recovery late next year. Don’t
bet on it. Then came Meredith Whitney with news. Whitney was an obscure
analyst of financial firms for Oppenheimer Securities who, on October
31, 2007, ceased to be obscure. On that day, she predicted that
Citigroup had so mismanaged its affairs that it would need to slash its
dividend or go bust. It’s never entirely clear on any given day what
causes what in the stock market, but it was pretty obvious that on
October 31, Meredith Whitney caused the market in financial stocks to
crash. By the end of the trading day, a woman whom basically no one had
ever heard of had shaved $369 billion off the value of financial firms
in the market. Four days later, Citigroup’s C.E.O., Chuck Prince,
resigned. In January, Citigroup slashed its dividend.
From that moment, Whitney became E.F. Hutton:
When she spoke, people listened. Her message was clear. If you want to
know what these Wall Street firms are really worth, take a hard look at
the crappy assets they bought with huge sums of borrowed money, and
imagine what they’d fetch in a fire sale. The vast assemblages of highly
paid people inside the firms were essentially worth nothing. For better
than a year now, Whitney has responded to the claims by bankers and
brokers that they had put their problems behind them with this
write-down or that capital raise with a claim of her own: You’re wrong.
You’re still not facing up to how badly you have mismanaged your
business.
Rivals accused Whitney of being overrated;
bloggers accused her of being lucky. What she was, mainly, was right.
But it’s true that she was, in part, guessing. There was no way she
could have known what was going to happen to these Wall Street firms.
The C.E.O.’s themselves didn’t know.
Now, obviously, Meredith Whitney didn’t sink
Wall Street. She just expressed most clearly and loudly a view that was,
in retrospect, far more seditious to the financial order than, say,
Eliot Spitzer’s campaign against Wall Street corruption. If mere scandal
could have destroyed the big Wall Street investment banks, they’d have
vanished long ago. This woman wasn’t saying that Wall Street bankers
were corrupt. She was saying they were stupid. These people whose job it
was to allocate capital apparently didn’t even know how to manage their
own.
At some point, I could no longer contain
myself: I called Whitney. This was back in March, when Wall Street’s
fate still hung in the balance. I thought, If she’s right, then this
really could be the end of Wall Street as we’ve known it. I was curious
to see if she made sense but also to know where this young woman who was
crashing the stock market with her every utterance had come from.
It turned out that she made a great deal of
sense and that she’d arrived on Wall Street in 1993, from the Brown
University history department. “I got to New York, and I didn’t even
know research existed,” she says. She’d wound up at Oppenheimer and had
the most incredible piece of luck: to be trained by a man who helped her
establish not merely a career but a worldview. His name, she says, was
Steve Eisman.
Eisman had moved on, but they kept in touch.
“After I made the Citi call,” she says, “one of the best things that
happened was when Steve called and told me how proud he was of me.”
Having never heard of Eisman, I didn’t think
anything of this. But a few months later, I called Whitney again and
asked her, as I was asking others, whom she knew who had anticipated the
cataclysm and set themselves up to make a fortune from it. There’s a
long list of people who now say they saw it coming all along but a far
shorter one of people who actually did. Of those, even fewer had the
nerve to bet on their vision. It’s not easy to stand apart from mass
hysteria—to believe that most of what’s in the financial news is wrong
or distorted, to believe that most important financial people are either
lying or deluded—without actually being insane. A handful of people had
been inside the black box, understood how it worked, and bet on it
blowing up. Whitney rattled off a list with a half-dozen names on it. At
the top was Steve Eisman.
Steve Eisman entered finance about the time I
exited it. He’d grown up in New York City and gone to a Jewish day
school, the University of Pennsylvania, and Harvard Law School. In 1991,
he was a 30-year-old corporate lawyer. “I hated it,” he says. “I hated
being a lawyer. My parents worked as brokers at Oppenheimer. They
managed to finagle me a job. It’s not pretty, but that’s what happened.”
He was hired as a junior equity analyst, a
helpmate who didn’t actually offer his opinions. That changed in
December 1991, less than a year into his new job, when a subprime
mortgage lender called Ames Financial went public and no one at
Oppenheimer particularly cared to express an opinion about it. One of
Oppenheimer’s investment bankers stomped around the research department
looking for anyone who knew anything about the mortgage business.
Recalls Eisman: “I’m a junior analyst and just trying to figure out
which end is up, but I told him that as a lawyer I’d worked on a deal
for the Money Store.” He was promptly appointed the lead analyst for
Ames Financial. “What I didn’t tell him was that my job had been to
proofread the documents and that I hadn’t understood a word of the
fucking things.”
Ames Financial belonged to a category of firms
known as nonbank financial institutions. The category didn’t include
J.P. Morgan, but it did encompass many little-known companies that one
way or another were involved in the early-1990s boom in subprime
mortgage lending—the lower class of American finance.
The second company for which Eisman was given
sole responsibility was Lomas Financial, which had just emerged from
bankruptcy. “I put a sell rating on the thing because it was a piece of
shit,” Eisman says. “I didn’t know that you weren’t supposed to put a
sell rating on companies. I thought there were three boxes—buy, hold,
sell—and you could pick the one you thought you should.” He was
pressured generally to be a bit more upbeat, but upbeat wasn’t Steve
Eisman’s style. Upbeat and Eisman didn’t occupy the same planet. A hedge
fund manager who counts Eisman as a friend set out to explain him to me
but quit a minute into it. After describing how Eisman exposed various
important people as either liars or idiots, the hedge fund manager
started to laugh. “He’s sort of a prick in a way, but he’s smart and
honest and fearless.”
“A lot of people don’t get Steve,” Whitney
says. “But the people who get him love him.” Eisman stuck to his sell
rating on Lomas Financial, even after the company announced that
investors needn’t worry about its financial condition, as it had hedged
its market risk. “The single greatest line I ever wrote as an analyst,”
says Eisman, “was after Lomas said they were hedged.” He recited the
line from memory: “ ‘The Lomas Financial Corp. is a perfectly hedged
financial institution: It loses money in every conceivable interest-rate
environment.’ I enjoyed writing that sentence more than any sentence I
ever wrote.” A few months after he’d delivered that line in his report,
Lomas Financial returned to bankruptcy.
Continued in article
Michael Lewis, Liar's Poker: Playing the Money Markets (Coronet, 1999,
ISBN 0340767006)
Lewis writes in Partnoy’s earlier whistleblower
style with somewhat more intense and comic portrayals of the major
players in describing the double dealing and break down of integrity on
the trading floor of Salomon Brothers.
Reply from Tom Hood
Thanks Bob for the Michael Lewis article, “The End” – great explanation of
the mess we a re in and how we got here. Just found this one that does a
great job of summarizing the mess – visually
http://flowingdata.com/2008/11/25/visual-guide-to-the-financial-crisis/
Tom Hood, CPA.CITP, CEO & Executive Director, Maryland Association of CPAs
443-632-2301,
http://www.macpa.org
Check out our blogs for CPAs
http://www.cpasuvvess.com
http://www.newcpas.com
http://www.cpaisland.com
Financial WMDs (Credit Derivatives) on Sixty Minutes (CBS) on August 30,
2009 ---
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5274961n&tag=contentBody;housing
The free download will only be available for a short while. I downloaded this
video (a little over 5 Mbs) using a free updated version of RealMedia ---
Click Here
http://www.real.com/dmm/superpass?pcode=cj&ocode=cj&cpath=aff&rsrc=1275588_10303897_SPLP
Steve Kroft examines the complicated financial instruments known as credit
default swaps and the central role they are playing in the unfolding economic
crisis. The interview features my hero Frank Partnoy. I don't know of
anybody who knows derivative securities contracts and frauds better than Frank
Partnoy, who once sold these derivatives in bucket shops. You can find links to
Partnoy's books and many, many quotations at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#DerivativesFrauds
For years I've used the term "bucket shop" in financial securities marketing
without realizing that the first bucket shops in the early 20th Century were
bought and sold only gambles on stock pricing moves, not the selling of any
financial securities. The analogy of a bucket shop would be a room full of
bookies selling bets on NFL playoff games.
See "Bucket Shop" at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket_shop_(stock_market)
Bob Jensen's Rotten to the Core threads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm
Question
Is this a really stupid declaration that "most people have no interest in
spreadsheet computing, photo editing, or software development" outside the
office?"
Hint
Most workers probably do more photo editing outside the office rather than
inside the office. Many people keep their personal finances on spreadsheets and
update those spreadsheets at home. And white collar workers take some of their
work home where they work on their own laptops. I would even argue that
professors tend to update their courses and write up research outcomes at home
rather than in the office.
I think Timothy Lee (below) is really being naive about the importance of
laptops both at home and in the office. Yeah I'm retired and have a Kindle Fire
for reading books and watching streaming video on a television set. But over 98%
of the time I'm on my laptops rather than any other electronic device.
When going to trade shows it's easy to be mislead by the promotions of newer
types of electronic devices relative to boring old laptops. But the market
for those new devices is from customers who still own and extensively use their
laptops. Microsoft is plugging hardware like Surface 3 at trade shows, but
the bread and butter sales are sales of Windows 7+ and Windows 8+ operating
systems for laptops and PCs. Buyers tend to pay for those operating systems when
they buy their new computers, and they are buying new computers even though
companies are trying to push other new devices toward computer users.
If you are looking for a new device to buy for your college-bound high school
graduate, the most important device is a laptop computer as the main dish.
Tablet computers are gravy items. Mobile phones, of course, are essential these
days but these are not laptop substitutes.
Laptop advantages include big RAM and the many kinds of ports on a laptop
that are not found on tablets. Laptops also have better keyboards and screens,
although users like me usually connect them to full-sized keyboards and
displays. That way there's not much difference at all between a desktop computer
and a laptop except for greater repair complexities of a laptop. But if the the
computer must be shipped off to a repair technician, the laptops are cheaper to
ship.
"The PC is dead, and this year’s CES proves it," by Timothy B. Lee,
The Washington Post, January 8, 2014 ---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/01/08/the-pc-is-dead-and-this-years-ces-proves-it/
. . .
Microsoft is right: if you want to do serious
spreadsheet wrangling, photo editing, or software development, a Chromebook
probably won't cut it. But most people have no interest in doing those
things outside the office. If, like millions of people, you mostly want to
check Facebook, read your email, and watch YouTube videos, then a ChromeBook
works just fine. And ChromeBooks aren't only cheaper, they also avoid many
of the hassles and pitfalls—software updates, malware, baffling error
messages—of Windows PCs. Most users
don't
actually need all the features of a standard PC,
and for them the extra complexity just means more headaches.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
One frustration for laptop makers like Dell is that laptops last for such a
long time that the long-delayed replacement market can lead to cash flow
problems for laptop manufacturers. How old is the your main laptop computer?
One of my laptops still runs on Windows 7 and the other one runs on XP. I delay
buying a laptop for as long and possible because I don't look forward to the
agony of shifting to Windows 8.1.
Cash flow problems are an even bigger problem for some software companies.
It's not such a problem for companies like Turbo Tax where it's essential to
upgrade at least once per year. But for most other companies like Tech Smith
that sells Camtasia, most Camtasia users are fully satisfied with the versions
they bought five or more years ago. This forces Tech Smith to develop some
enormously significantly upgrades, but this is monumentally difficult to do each
and every year.
My main software program is MS FrontPage that Microsoft no longer sells. For
versions to put on new computers I have to buy legacy from Amazon. Yeah there
are lots of folks that buy and archive unused (virgin) versions of software and
hold it for the resale market years later much like they might store unopened
bottles of wine for resale years later. If you buy a FrontPage installation CD
the CD's case will still be sealed like the day it was boxed up in 1983 or
whatever year.
Buy the way I read where wines really don't improve with age when they are in
bottles. The aging improvements only come when the wine is stored in big casks
--- usually in huge wooden vats for good wine. Incidentally, big wooden wine
vats can be reused for wine aging. Oak scotch vats, on the other hand, cannot be
used for more than one batch of scotch. I don't know whether scotch whiskey
improves with age in a bottle, but I doubt it.
From the Stanford University Center of Social Information on January 10, 2014
When Carl Bass, president and CEO of Autodesk, got
up to speak at our Social Innovation Summit last November, he provided a
compelling perspective on key trends of our time. Carl was rare for a CEO;
he did not talk directly about Autodesk or himself (the all too common
company PR pitch). Rather, he brought the company's learning and expertise
as a leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software to bear on
the world's needs and opportunities for change. I've shared Bass's thoughts,
and elaborated on each point to highlight the way each trend might apply for
social impact.
Read More ---
http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/5-trends-impact-2014
What makes us want to help others?
Does "Group Membership" Influence Behavior? ---
http://csi.gsb.stanford.edu/does-group-membership-influence-behavior
Finding a Path to Service and Impact ---
http://gettingsmart.com/2013/11/finding-path-service-impact/
Question 1
How should accountancy doctoral programs in the USA change where there is
general shortage of supply of graduates relative to tenure-track
positions available?
Question 2
How should doctoral change in humanities and sciences where there is general
overage of supply of graduates relative to tenure-track positions available?
Answer from Recommendation Two of the Pathways Commission Report --- a
recommendation that is seemingly impossible
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/07/31/updating-accounting-curriculums-expanding-and-diversifying-field
The report includes seven recommendations. Three
are shown below:
- Integrate accounting research, education
and practice for students, practitioners and educators by bringing
professionally oriented faculty more fully into education programs.
- Promote accessibility of doctoral education
by allowing for flexible content and structure in doctoral programs and
developing multiple pathways for degrees. The current path to an
accounting Ph.D. includes lengthy, full-time residential programs and
research training that is for the most part confined to quantitative
rather than qualitative methods. More flexible programs -- that might be
part-time, focus on applied research and emphasize training in teaching
methods and curriculum development -- would appeal to graduate students
with professional experience and candidates with families, according to
the report.
- Increase recognition and support for
high-quality teaching and connect faculty review, promotion and tenure
processes with teaching quality so that teaching is respected as a
critical component in achieving each institution's mission. According to
the report, accounting programs must balance recognition for work and
accomplishments -- fed by increasing competition among institutions and
programs -- along with recognition for teaching excellence.
Bob Jensen's threads on the sad state of accountancy doctoral programs in
North America ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms
Question 2
How should doctoral change in humanities and sciences where there is general
overage of supply of graduates relative to tenure track positions available?
"How Should Graduate School Change? A dean discusses the future of
doctoral-education reform," by Leonard Cassuto, Chronicle of Higher
Education, January 13, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/How-Should-Graduate-School/143945/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
. . .
What sorts of changes would you like to see
in American graduate study?
The biggest one is that our doctoral curricula need
to be changed to acknowledge what has been true for a long time, which is
that most of our Ph.D. students do not end up in tenure-track (or even
full-time faculty) positions—and that many of those who do will be at
institutions that are very, very different from the places where these
Ph.D.'s are trained.
The changes will differ from program to program but
might include different kinds of coursework, exams, and even dissertation
structures. Right now we train students for the professoriate, and if
something else works out, that's fine. We can serve our students and our
society better by realizing their diverse futures and changing the training
we offer accordingly.
The other necessary change: We need to think
seriously about the cost of graduate education. There is a perception that
graduate students are simply a cheap labor force for the university, and
that universities are interested in graduate students only because they
perform work as teachers and laboratory assistants cheaper than any one
else.
At elite universities—or at least at elite private
ones—that is simply not true, and I am glad that it is not. It is absolutely
true that graduate students perform labor necessary for the university in a
number of ways, but it is not cheap labor, nor should it be.
The cost of graduate education has repercussions
for the humanities and social sciences, which is one reason you are seeing
smaller admissions numbers and some program closings. It also has
repercussions for the laboratory sciences, where I am seeing too many
faculty members shift from taking on graduate students to hiring postdocs.
Unfortunately, they regard postdocs as a less expensive and more stable
alternative to graduate students, and postdocs come without the same burdens
of education or job placement that otherwise fall on the faculty member who
hires doctoral students.
I want to underline that I don't think that
graduate programs should be cheaper, but we can't have an honest
conversation about their future unless we acknowledge their cost.
What might those changes look like at your
medium-size private university?
I am not sure. If I were, I'd be writing a white
paper for the dean of our graduate school rather than talking with you. They
would probably include coursework designed to prepare doctoral students for
nonacademic careers, internship options, and even multiple dissertation
options.
I have a sense of what this could look like in my
own discipline, but this needs to be a collective conversation. Anyone can
chart out a "vision" and write it up for The Chronicle. It's
another thing altogether to make it work, starting from the ground up, at
one's own university with the enthusiastic support of everyone involved. For
that to happen, there needs to be sustained, open dialogue about the real
challenges. And most administrators and faculty are unwilling to engage in
that work in a serious way until they see examples of similar changes in the
very top programs in their fields.
Why does this kind of change have to start
from the top?
Both faculty and administrators are extremely
sensitive to the hierarchies of prestige that drive the academy. In most
fields, the majority of faculty members who populate research universities
have graduated from a handful of top programs—and they spend the rest of
their careers trying to replicate those programs, get back to them, or both.
They are worried about doing anything that diverges from what those top
programs do, and will argue strongly that divergences place them at a
competitive disadvantage in both recruiting and placing graduate students.
Administrators are just as much to blame as faculty
for that state of collective anxiety. No matter what deans, provosts, and
presidents say, we all rely too heavily on rankings and other comparative
metrics that play directly into these conservative dynamics.
Is this a version of the "mini-me
syndrome," in which advisers try to mold their graduate students in their
own image, writ large?
That is certainly part of it. The desire to see
your own scholarly passions continue through students you have trained is
truly powerful,and administrators underestimate that desire at their peril.
Of course we all want our faculty members to be passionate about their
research, and graduate training is one way that faculty research makes an
impact on the profession. But there are moments when the desire for
scholarly replication can be troubling. The training of graduate students
should fill a greater need than our personal desire for a legacy.
Graduate school is where we all become socialized
into the academic profession. It sets the template for our expectations of
what it means to be an academic. No matter how many years go by, most of us
hold certain ideals in our mind and think graduate training should be based
on those experiences.
And we build and run our programs
accordingly?
Right. Faculty members often try to either recreate
a graduate program that they attended or carve out their own institutional
training ground by creating a new center. Even as the number of academic
positions has receded over the past five years, the administration here has
been bombarded with requests for new graduate programs.
Administrators, again, are not blameless in that
dynamic. We overvalue new programs, centers, and so on, as a way of being
able to tell a progressive story of institutional growth. Every research
university trumpets "the new" loudly. No press release ever comes out and
says, "We're doing things the same way as last year, because it is all
working so well!"
The focus on vaguely defined "excellence"
contributes to that behavior, because there is nothing to define
"excellence" beyond the hierarchies that are already in place.
Administrators are worried about lookingtoo
different from their peers or from the institutions with which they would
like to compare themselves. As much as they might talk about innovation or
disruption, they are worried that if they look too different, they won't
be playing the right game. Of course, that also means that they will never
actually leapfrog into the top, because we are all trying to do the same
thing.
That makes you more conservative in your
own job?
Let's just say I wish I were more creative and
ambitious. On the other hand, I share my faculty's skepticism of wide-eyed
visionaries who don't appreciate the real complexities and challenges that
we are facing.
You say that professors are too defensive
and afraid of innovation. What do you mean? Can you give an example or two?
Faculty members are too quick to experience any
proposed change as a loss. That is especially true in humanities fields,
where the "crisis of the humanities" has made faculty nervous and defensive.
This temperament has made it difficult to take seriously proposals that
could actually help sustain the programs they care about.
For instance, as cohorts get smaller in certain
doctoral programs, it makes sense to think about combining them—to create
both a broader intellectual community and better administrative support. But
most faculty fear that kind of move—even if it could result in a newly
defined and exciting intellectual community. They think it would erode the
particular discipline to which they have devoted themselves.
Two other examples: First, nearly every
private-university administrator I talk with says that the current state of
language instruction is not sustainable. Most campuses think that they
cannot continue to teach the languages they are teaching at their current
levels while meeting expanding student demands in new fields (including
languages that are more recently arrived in the curriculum). This is going
to require some innovative and integrative solutions if we are going to
provide graduate training in many fields, but the same administrators will
tell you that it is hard to work with professors to resolve those problems,
because they are so afraid of losing what they have now.
Second, we all know that we should change our
graduate curricula across the board—from the laboratory sciences to the
humanities—to reflect the fact that a diminishing number of our Ph.D.'s will
work in tenure-track jobs. But how many departments have changed their
requirements, introduced new classes, or rethought the structure of their
dissertations?
Everyone is afraid that they will lose something by
doing so, either because it will mean less time for their students in the
lab or library, or because it will make their students less competitive, or
because it will be interpreted by prospective recruits as an admission of
weakness.
The long and short of what you say is that
the conservatism of tenured faculty—which they learn from their tenured
advisers before them—is hurting graduate students badly. It locks them into
curricula and expectations that ill suit their prospects in today's world.
How can we break out of this cycle?
It's not a cycle that we can break, but a structure
that has limitations. We certainly can serve both our graduate students and
our society better. Experimentation and innovation could have a significant
effect, and small groups of tenured faculty members and administrators have
the power to make these changes. The biggest barrier is our own collective
fears and self-imposed conservatism.
But I see reasons for optimism. For example, the
discussion of tracking Ph.D. placement in The Chronicle (and
elsewhere) will have very healthy effects, and I think it is possible that
we can, and should, create a future with a greater diversity of graduate
programs, even if there are slightly fewer of them.
I also believe that the majority of faculty members
who received their Ph.D.'s in the past 10 years are likely to take for
granted that these changes are inevitable, and even desirable. For all of
the challenges we've discussed, graduate education will be a necessary and
vital component of the research university for at least, say, the next
half-century. And I'm stopping there only because to go farther out than
that is science fiction.
As we focus on the challenges, let's not forget
that our current model of graduate training has been the source of
tremendous creativity and innovation. For all the pessimism running through
our conversation, the research university is still the most interesting,
productive institution in American contemporary life—and what we have built
in the American academy is truly remarkable. There's no other place I'd
rather be.
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
The USA received another C- for K-12 school quality
States With the Best (and Worst) Schools ---
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/01/14/states-with-the-best-and-worst-schools-2/?utm_source=247WallStDailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=JAN142014A&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter
Jensen Comment
The top five states in order are Massachusetts,
Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and Vermont. New Hampshire is
the only low taxation state among the top five states ranked on education
quality.
The bottom five states are Mississippi, Louisiana,
New Mexico, West Virginia, and Alabama. The problem appears to be
more one of rural poverty than low tax rates.
The surprising state to me was South Dakota. For years South Dakota was the
top-ranked state along with Iowa.
8. South Dakota
> State score: 63.2
> High school graduation rate: 76.3% (24th best)
> Per pupil expenditure: $11,742 (22nd highest)
> Preschool enrollment: 38.8% (7th lowest)
South Dakota got a D or worse in four of the six
categories reviewed by Education Week. State level policy in South Dakota
does not seem to support successful school systems. Unlike the most states,
South Dakota’s early learning standards were not aligned with national K-12
standards in 2012. Also, according to Education Week, South Dakota schools
were not adequately held accountable for their performance. Further, key
policies designed to improve the teaching profession, including incentive
programs and professional development standards, were completely absent in
South Dakota in 2011 and 2012.
Jensen Comment
Personally I would rather have my grandchildren in
South Dakota schools than any of the Top Five state schools mentioned above.
The rankings above put too much stress on preschool enrollment.
1. Massachusetts
> State score: 83.7
> High school graduation rate: 79.9% (14th best)
> Per pupil expenditure: $13,127 (15th highest)
> Preschool enrollment: 59.4% (3rd highest
Per student expenditure is a misleading criterion unless it is adjusted for
living expenses. South Dakota has no large cities and on average the living
costs are very low relative to Massachusetts, especially housing costs in the
relatively large cities of Massachusetts.
Is a graduation rate of 76.3% (24th best) versus
79.9% (14th best) really all that different
unless adjusted for performance scores of graduates?
All states in the mid-west region perform better on average SAT performance
than in all other regions of the USA, including the Top Five states listed above
that consider preschool enrollments more important than college preparation
scores. You can view the 2009 map of states ranked by SAT scores at
http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2009/05/sat-scores-ranking-by-state-average.html
In the comments it is correctly pointed out that high performance on the SAT
is heavily due to demographic factors like two-parent families in addition to
school performance. It's hard to determine causes from data with high
correlations.
Poverty data is mixed for the mid-west since there are some huge cities in
the mid-west that have high poverty rates such as Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis,
and Kansas City. South Dakota is not noted for poverty, especially after
adjusting for cost of living.
Chicago State University ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_State_University
Chicago State University has long been controversial, especially when a
Chicago Tribune investigation revealed the it was impossible to flunk out of CSU
even with a success of terms carrying a 0.00 gpa. It seems that doing so helped
CSU get more state allocation of funds. Of course there is the argument that
after years of trying there are some students that conceivably can pass a
course. Too bad CSU is not big time into collegiate athletics. Then students
could pass without trying to pass.
Now CSU is in the news once again for trying to shut down a blog maintained
by a group of faculty critical of the administration of CSU.
Crony State University Blog ---
http://csufacultyvoice.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2012-12-31T22:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2013-11-27T16:59:00-06:00&max-results=50&start=14&by-date=false
"Fight Over Faculty Blog Escalates," by Andrea Watson, Inside
Higher Ed, January 13, 2014 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/13/chicago-state-again-seeks-changes-highly-critical-faculty-blog
"Chicago State U.’s Interim Provost Is Accused of Plagiarism," by
Charles Huckabee, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 14, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/chicago-state-u-s-interim-provost-is-accused-of-plagiarism/71383?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
The University of Illinois at Chicago is reviewing
the dissertation of Chicago State University’s interim provost, Angela
Henderson, amid allegations that parts of it were plagiarized, the
Chicago Tribune reported. Ms. Henderson, who
became who became interim provost in July, received her Ph.D. in nursing
from Illinois-Chicago in August.
The investigation began last month after a
professor at Chicago State raised concerns that parts of the document were
copied from other sources without proper attribution or with inadequate
citation. A faculty committee of the UIC Graduate College has reviewed the
investigation’s findings and has made a confidential recommendation to Karen
J. Colley, dean of the college. She is expected to decide this week whether
any further action is warranted, a university spokesman said.
The plagiarism charge was first brought by Robert
Bionaz, an associate professor of history at Chicago State who is among a
group of faculty members who operate a blog that has criticized Ms.
Henderson and the university’s president, Wayne D. Watson, among other
administrators. The blog has twice
received letters from a university lawyer,
most recently on January 3, demanding that it
remove images and references to Chicago State and even change its domain
name,
csufacultyvoice.blogspot.com.
Bob Jensen's threads on professors who cheat or allow students to cheat
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#RebeccaHoward
Question
Do business professors negotiate pensions better university pensions?
"Six-figure salary and a buyout create quite a pension," by Johanna
Somers, TheDay Connecticut, January 12, 2014 ---
http://theday.com/article/20140112/NWS12/301129954
Of all the state pension checks cashed in 2012,
none was bigger than John F. Veiga's.
The Coventry resident spent 37 years teaching
business at the University of Connecticut. In 2009, he accepted an early
retirement buyout offer from the state after contributing $222,128 to his
pension during his UConn career.
Now, at age 70, that pension pays him $276,364 a
year, the largest amount paid to a single state retiree in 2012, nearly nine
times the $31,666 average state employee pension.
According to calculations by the data analysis firm
VisiGov: Visible Government Online Inc. for The Day, Veiga
could collect another $4 million in his lifetime.
"I don't know what to tell you," Veiga said. "Is it
fair? It was what was offered. It seemed fair at the time."
Of the top 10 state pensions in 2012 - all six
figures - all but two were paid to former employees of UConn or the UConn
Health Center. Nine retired under the most generous retirement plan, called
Tier I.
Veiga left Kaiser Aluminum in 1968, earned his
doctorate in 1971 and became a professor at UConn after a brief stint
teaching at Northeastern University in Boston. He said his former boss
called him "crazy" to leave Kaiser, where he was earning $50,000 to $55,000
as a senior industrial engineer, for an assistant professor position at
UConn with a starting salary of $16,000.
But over the nearly 40 years that Veiga worked for
the state, that salary gap narrowed. Private companies cut back pension and
retiree health benefits, according to a 2012 Employee Benefit Research
Institute report. More and more, private companies came to rely on "defined
contribution plans" - 401(k)-type plans that have no guaranteed annual
benefit amount.
Veiga said the early retirement incentive package
offered in 2009 during Gov. M. Jodi Rell's administration was too good to
pass up. More than 4,700 state employees took advantage of the offer.
The buyout "made it very hard to say, 'Well, I am
going to keep working,' when I can earn as much on a pension as I can
working," Veiga said. It added three years to his to his term of service,
and the state let him add three more years because he had worked as a
residence hall director at Kent State University in Ohio, and another year
because he had been an assistant professor of management at Northeastern
University. That brought his credited years of service to 44.
His pension also comes with annual cost-of-living
adjustments, Medicare insurance and prescription drug coverage, and
supplemental health insurance and prescription coverage through the state.
He pays a co-payment at the doctor's office occasionally, he said, but
otherwise he does not pay for his health care.
State Comptroller Kevin Lembo said early retirement
incentive programs put a lot of stress on pension systems. While they reduce
payroll, they increase lifetime pensions because they add additional years
of service. To Lembo, "They are short-term thinking at best."
The tier system
Veiga served as chairman of the management department at the School of
Business for more than two decades and as the interim dean of the School of
Business in 1991 to 1992. He was named the Northeast Utilities endowed
chairman of business ethics in 2000, and a Board of Trustees Distinguished
Professor in 2001. His final average salary for pension calculation purposes
was $361,293 annually.
State retirees are classified according to a system
of "tiers." Tier I, the most generous, was closed to new employees in 1984.
As a Tier I retiree, Veiga's pension is determined by several factors,
including his credited years of service and the average of his three highest
salary years.
He also receives a cost-of-living adjustment
ranging from 2.5 to 6 percent.
Pension benefits have been reduced as each new
retirement tier was added. Under Tier II, retirees' benefits were based on a
smaller percentage of their annual salary. Tier IIA, which began in 1997,
required retirees to contribute to their retirements. With Tier III, which
began in 2011, the retirement age was increased.
The Tier I average annual pension benefit in 2012
was $36,404; for Tier II, $23,106; and for Tier IIA, $11,556. Data for Tier
III retirees is not yet available.
According to The Day's analysis, Veiga was one of
492 Tier I retires who, because of their high salaries, collected six-figure
pensions in 2012. That number represents just 1.6 percent of the 30,472 Tier
I retirees.
Although the Connecticut State Employees'
Retirement System is funded at only 42 percent, Veiga said that will change
when the economy rebounds in the next five to 10 years. People wouldn't even
be discussing whether retirees' benefits were too rich if the economy hadn't
gone downhill or if the state had managed its pensions better, he said.
"Every chance they get, where it is not obvious,
they use the money right now and don't fund it all," Veiga said. "Can you
imagine having money in a 401(k) somewhere and them saying, 'We will, for
the next five years, not give you any interest or earnings, we are not going
to do our part?' That is basically what they did."
From fiscal years 1996 through 2013, the state
rarely contributed the annual amount recommended by actuaries. If it had
done so, there would be $2 billion more in the State Employees' Retirement
System fund, according to the State Comptroller's Office.
Continued in article
The Underfunded Pension Mess in the USA
From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on July 25, 2013
Companies are getting closer to bringing their pension
plans back to fully funded status this quarter,
says CFOJ’s Emily Chasan. Rising
interest rates and stock prices have narrowed the gap of underfunded pension
liabilities by 40% this year, and some companies—including
Alaska Air,
Cytec Industries
and VF Corp.— have
announced their pensions are nearly topped up. “A reduction in our pension
expense is right around the corner, which is important because most of our
competitors don’t have pension plans,” said VF Chief Financial Officer Bob
Shearer.
The vast majority of pension plans are still in the
red, but more than 208 S&P 500 companies with pension plans have improved
their funded status by over $100 million each since the end of last year.
Boeing,
Ford,
General Electric
and IBM are all
expected to improve their funding by more than $5 billion at the end of the
year.
Ford,
which reported a 19% jump in quarterly profit
yesterday, is seeing a marked improvement in its pension plan this year,
says CFO Bob Shanks. Ford chipped in $2 billion, but rising discount rates
were the big reason the company has closed its $9.7 billion funding gap by
about $4 billion this year. That would bring the funded status to about 85%,
up from 82% last year. “We’re very encouraged by the progress we’re seeing,”
Mr. Shanks said.
Jensen Comment
Government pensions, including teacher pensions, are in far worse shape. For
example, the Governor of Illinois is withholding pay of state legislators until
they come to agreement on how to my public pensions in Illinois sustainable. The
USA Postal Service cannot figure out how to meet its pension obligations.
Bob Jensen's threads on pension accounting are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory02.htm#Pensions
Why fire such a great recruiter?
"Administrator Who Ran Phone Sex Line Won't Be Fired," Inside Higher
Ed, January 13, 2014 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/01/13/administrator-who-ran-phone-sex-line-wont-be-fired
Question
You can pretty much tell when your students or your dates are wearing Google
Glass. But do you check for Pebbles?
"Pebble vs. Google Glass: Why The New May Triumph Over The Radical,"
by Taylor Hatmaker, ReadWriteWeb, January 8, 2014 ---
http://readwrite.com/2014/01/08/pebble-vs-google-glass#awesm=~ostadnIUUkzfzm
Pinterest ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinterest
Pinterest is already the Visual Web’s most notable search engine—just not
a very good one ---
http://readwrite.com/2014/01/06/why-pinterest-needs-to-upgrade-visual-search-stat#awesm=~ostdNJvHTObQYy
Bob Jensen's search helpers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm
700 Free eBooks from the University of California Press ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/read-700-free-ebooks-made-available-by-the-university-of-california-press.html
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
Microsoft Surface 2 Tablet ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface_2
"Here's The Microsoft Surface 2 Tablet Delta Bought 11,000 Pilots Instead
Of iPads," by Julie Bort, Business Insider, January 9, 2014 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/surface-2-tablet-delta-bought-pilots-2014-1
Jensen Comment
Purportedly these Surface 2 tablets loaded with MS Office are selling about as
fast as Microsoft can make them.
"Yahoo Is Working With Samsung On A Plan To Save — Or Kill — Television,"
by Jim Edwards, Business Insider, January 9, 2014 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-smart-tv-save-or-kill-television-2014-1
Shipments of devices powered by the Android operating system will top 1
billion units in 2014 ---
http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/01/07/report-android-to-top-1-billion-shipments-in-2014.aspx
"Intel Unveiled Some Massive Innovations Yesterday But The Only Thing
People Are Talking About Is This 'Smart Bowl' by Jim Edwards, Business
Insider, January 7, 2014 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/intel-smart-bowl-2014-1
Jensen Comment
Too bad the bowl is not large enough for your Tesla Model S or your Chevy Volt
or that lazy kid locked in the bedroom upstairs.
The periodic table of data/information visualisation:
http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html
Thank you Jagdish Gangolly for the heads up.
Visualization of Multivariate Data (including faces) ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.htm
50 Shades of MLA: The Scholar Who Sought Role Play on Craigslist Is Really
Sorry ---
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/263-50-shades-of-mla-the-scholar-who-sought-role-play-on-craigslist-is-really-sorry?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en#sthash.g8RWAMhA.dpuf
What 5 Ed Tech Experts Expect in 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/What-5-Tech-Experts-Expect-in/143829/
Also see
http://thejournal.com/articles/2013/12/13/the-10-biggest-trends-in-ed-tech.aspx
Jensen Comment
No mention is made of the wonderful and totally free Khan Academy. I predict
more partnerships between some colleges and the Khan Academy for both remedial
studies modules and advanced study modules (such as advanced topics in
mathematics when a college does not have specialized faculty for those topics).
But its the remedial studies coverage where the most demand for Khan Academy
will probably lie. I hope you knew that Khan Academy is now offering free
partnerships with colleges.
David Albrecht informs me that there is a Khan Academy app for the iPad.
I also predict more competency based testing courses such as those now
available at the University of Wisconsin. Someday higher education is just going
to have to serve students who cannot afford onsite or online credits that are
more costly to administer than competency based testing.
"The Degree Is Doomed,"by Michael Staton, Harvard Business Review
Blog, January 9, 2014 ---
http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/the-degree-is-doomed/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+harvardbusiness+%28HBR.org%29&cm_ite=DailyAlert-010914+%281%29&cm_lm=sp%3Arjensen%40trinity.edu&cm_ven=Spop-Email
"New Approach to Transfer," by Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed,
January 9, 2014 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/01/09/wiche-transfer-passport-based-proficiency-rather-credits
Bob Jensen's threads on competency-based testing and assessment of deep
understanding ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#ConceptKnowledge
The 10 Best Places In The World To Retire Next Avenue Richard Eisenberg
---
Read more:
http://www.nextavenue.org/blog/best-places-world-retire-2014-edition#ixzz2poA6idXM
Jensen Comment
These are the worst places to retire. The best places to retire are the states
in the USA that will soon be providing free lifetime nursing home care to most
folks who now find in to their advantage of dropping Medicare (that pays zero
for nursing home care) in favor of Medicaid (that pays all nursing home
care) ---
"Millionaires on Medicaid Got a house worth $802,000, lots of savings and
a nice car? You might still qualify for benefits," by Mark Warshawsky,, The
Wall Street Journal, January 6, 2014 ---
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304325004579297052950416982?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb_h
"The Baloney Detection Kit: Carl Sagan’s Rules for Bullshit-Busting and
Critical Thinking," by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, January 3, 2014
---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/01/03/baloney-detection-kit-carl-sagan/
Carl Sagan was many things — a
cosmic sage,
voracious reader,
hopeless romantic, and
brilliant philosopher. But above all, he endures
as our era’s greatest patron saint of reason and common sense, a master of
the vital balance between skepticism and openness. In
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (public
library) — the same indispensable volume that
gave us Sagan’s timeless meditation on
science and spirituality,
published mere months before his death in 1996 — Sagan shares his secret to
upholding the rites of reason, even in the face of society’s most shameless
untruths and outrageous propaganda.
In a chapter titled “The Fine Art of
Baloney Detection,” Sagan reflects on the many types of deception
to which we’re susceptible — from psychics to religious zealotry to paid
product endorsements by scientists, which he held in especially low regard,
noting that they “betray contempt for the intelligence of their customers”
and “introduce an insidious corruption of popular attitudes about scientific
objectivity.” (Cue in
PBS’s Joe Hanson on how to read science news.) But
rather than preaching from the ivory tower of self-righteousness, Sagan
approaches the subject from the most vulnerable of places — having just lost
both of his parents, he reflects on the all too human allure of promises of
supernatural reunions in the afterlife, reminding us that falling for such
fictions doesn’t make us stupid or bad people, but simply means that we need
to equip ourselves with the right tools against them.
Continued in article
Concept Knowledge and Assessment of Deep Understanding ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#ConceptKnowledge
Assessing Student Performance --- Thank you
Andy for the
heads up
"Valuing the Immeasurable," by Will Richardson, July 14, 2014 ---
http://willrichardson.com/post/27223512371/valuing-the-immeasurable
"The “Immeasurable” Part 2," by Will Richardson, July 14, 2014 ---
http://willrichardson.com/post/28626310240/the-immeasurable-part-2
Bob Jensen's threads on assessment ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm
"23 Defining Traits Of Your Favorite Teacher: When “teacher” =
mentor, friend, and partner in crime," by Rega Jha, BizFeed, November
29, 2013 ---
http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/defining-traits-of-your-favorite-teacher
1. Every teacher taught
you a few lessons in class, but this one made time to impart some life
lessons as well.
2. They were the first to
tell you what you were good at, and what you got right.
3. And they had absolutely
no qualms telling you what you should be doing better.
4. You often barged into
their classroom (perhaps office is a better term here)
when you needed advice, and they
never minded.
5. Which means at some
point, they knew more about your life than your best friends did.
6. Theirs was the only
class you ever looked forward to going to, even when you dreaded all the
others.
7. And it was the reason
you went to school on days when every bone in your body wanted to skip.
8. Because they somehow
managed to make the most boring subject matter exciting to learn.
9. Their class projects
were always fun to do.
10. And their homework
barely ever felt like work.
11. You’re still good
friends with everyone else you were in their class with.
12. And, no matter how
long it’s been, you’re probably still in touch with them too.
13. They let you get away
with a whole lot in class, because they knew you were doing your best.
Jensen Comment
In higher education perhaps some of the above do not apply. For example, in
higher education classes may be to large to become familiar with the personal
lives of all or even any students in the class. Sometimes it's not advised for
professors to probe too deeply into private lives of students or to become
"buddies" of students.
I don't agree that assignments and class projects should always be "fun to
do" in higher education. At some point students must learn that real progress in
life entails blood, sweat, and tears. Sometimes giving a student a low grade is
the best thing that happened to that student in college. Success is often
"trouble turned inside out."
After graduation from college it's quite common to learn that some of the
professors you hated the most were your best professors in preparing for you to
deal with your graduate studies, your career, and your life. Maybe the professor
who is never completely satisfied is the professor you needed the most at the
time --- the professor or coach who almost always demanded more than you thought
you could give.
Coaches Graham (for Randy Pausch) and Gazowski (for Bob Jensen)
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#Randy
"Recent Mexican Reforms and the Impact on the United States," by Nobel
Laureate Gary Becker, The Becker-Posner Blog, January 6, 2014 ---
http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2014/01/recent-mexican-reforms-and-the-impact-on-the-united-states-becker.html
. . .
For the first time in a hundred years there is real
hope that Mexico is getting its act together. Mexico might even eventually
join its North American neighbors in doing justice to its people and natural
resources, and attaining top-level economic status. This will have a major
impact on the US, especially through reduced immigration from Mexico, and
from having a much stronger neighbor.
"Mexico’s Economic Reforms, by Richard Posner, The Becker-Posner
Blog, January 6, 2014 ---
http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2014/01/mexicos-economic-reformsposner.html
. . .
I don’t see anything in the Mexican
administration’s reform program concerning drug violence. There is an
extraordinary level of drug violence in Mexico resulting from what amounts
to warfare among the numerous drug cartels, and it is abetted by widespread
public corruption. The drug wars, which appear to kill about 10,000 Mexicans
a year, must be a drag on economic output. The annual number of murders in
Mexico is almost twice the number of U.S. murders, even though the U.S.
population is more than two and a half times the Mexican population.
Jensen Comment
I don's see a whole lot of hope for human rights and economic prosperity in any
nation where the wolves (corrupt police and soldiers) guard the hen houses (ripe
for plucking any time and any place). I don't see a whole lot of hope for any
nation that is on the global top ten list for kidnapping risk.
There will probably be no real hope for Mexico until the war on drugs is won
--- and this will probably never happen until law-abiding addicts in the USA can
get pure narcotics like heroine, cocaine, and pot with medical prescriptions.
Question
Why does the company the world love to hate keep dominating its market? (91%
market share)
Hint
The company (Apple)everybody loves never has made much headway in the operating
systems markets for desktops and laptops.
"Microsoft (MSFT)’s Windows 8 and 8.1 Gained Ground, And Overall Sales
Forecast Looks Good in Markets," by Asif Imtiaz, US Finance Post,
January 2, 2014 ---
http://usfinancepost.com/microsoft-msfts-windows-8-and-8-1-gained-and-overall-sales-forecast-looks-good-11689.html
Microsoft released its latest upgrade to the much discussed Windows 8
operating system, Windows 8.1, in October of 2013. Last month, during
December, devices running the Windows 8 and 8.1 crossed over 10 percent
market share for the first time. A month earlier, in November, it only
had a 9.30 percent market share. Effectively, last month Windows 8.x
versions gained over 1.49 percent market share,
reported The Next Web.
The gain represents a fundamental shift in
the Windows userbase, as Windows XP users were forced to abandon the
platform as Microsoft is
discontinuing support and security updates for XP from April 8,
2014.
As Windows 8.1 was offered as a free upgrade, it will not provide
Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT)
MSFT
+0.77% with any revenue gain.
However, discontinuing Windows XP will eventually drive the sales of
Windows 8.x operating system further up over the course of next few
quarters. Back in the first quarter of 2013, Microsoft’s revenues went
up 24 percent (in the first three months) compared to the previous
year’s first three months; as Windows 8 sales pushed revenues of the
Windows division alone to US$ 5.7 billion from US$ 4.633 billion.
However, overall as a company, Microsoft’s revenue has been declining
since the start of 2013.
Read more at
http://usfinancepost.com/microsoft-msfts-windows-8-and-8-1-gained-and-overall-sales-forecast-looks-good-11689.html#FDkfo3oEcAg0OkOt.99
Regardless of how stalled Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT)
MSFT +0.77% business seems to Wall Street analysts, the fact of the matter
is that this company powers 90.73 percent of the Desktops and Notebooks
around the world. Its nearest competitor at second place is Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL)
AAPL +0.72% Mac operating system which has only 7.54 percent market share.
Microsoft released its latest upgrade to the much discussed Windows 8
operating system, Windows 8.1, in October of 2013. Last month, during
December, devices running the Windows 8 and 8.1 crossed over 10 percent
market share for the first time. A month earlier, in November, it only had a
9.30 percent market share. Effectively, last month Windows 8.x versions
gained over 1.49 percent market share,
reported
The
Next Web.
The
gain represents a fundamental shift in the Windows userbase, as Windows XP
users were forced to abandon the platform as Microsoft is
discontinuing support
and security updates for XP from April 8, 2014.
As Windows 8.1 was offered as a free upgrade, it will not provide Microsoft
(NASDAQ:MSFT)
MSFT +0.77%
with any revenue gain. However, discontinuing Windows XP will eventually
drive the sales of Windows 8.x operating system further up over the course
of next few quarters. Back in the first quarter of 2013, Microsoft’s
revenues went up 24 percent (in the first three months) compared to the
previous year’s first three months; as Windows 8 sales pushed revenues of
the Windows division alone to US$ 5.7 billion from US$ 4.633 billion.
However, overall as a company, Microsoft’s revenue has been declining since
the start of 2013.Continued in article
SAT Test ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAT_test
ACT Test ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACT_test
In the USA, how does any selected state compare with other selected states on
SAT performance and career readiness? ---
The 2013 SAT Report on College & Career Readiness, The College Board,
2013 ---
http://research.collegeboard.org/programs/sat/data/cb-seniors-2013
National Center for Education Statistics ---
http://nces.ed.gov/
Jensen Comment
Much of the report focuses on averages. Averages can be misleading without
accompanying information on standard deviations and kurtosis and sample sizes.
The biggest worry with means is the impact of outliers.
Note the the ACT test is generally assumed to be somewhat easier such that
many worried students opt for the ACT in place of the SAT. Elite colleges seldom
admit to bias, but in my opinion the SAT may be more important for elite college
admission unless there are intervening factors such as affirmative action
factors.
Bob Jensen's threads on sources of economic and other data ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#EconStatistics
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
"The Dangerous Rise of 'Entrepreneurship Porn',” by Morra Aarons-Mele,
Harvard Business Review Blog, January 6, 2014 ---
http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/the-dangerous-rise-of-entrepreneurship-porn/
Sir Richard Branson has
proclaimed 2014 “The Year of the Entrepreneur.”
Breathless coverage
abounds: sexy stories of the young and old who
threw off the yoke and started their own businesses. It’s all goodbye
cubicle — hello freedom, vitality, creativity.
Fed by media and online coverage of an idealized
lifestyle, this “entrepreneurship porn” presents an airbrushed reality in
which all work is always meaningful and running your own business is a way
to achieve better work/life harmony.
But the reality of starting and running a small
business is different from the fantasy – and I should know, because I run
one, and am married to a long-time entrepreneur. Starting a company doesn’t
mean being freed from the grind; it means that the buck stops with you,
always, even if it’s Sunday morning or Friday night.
Moreover, it’s just not possible that every smart
young graduate can launch her own successful enterprise. Part of me wants to
cry every time I meet a smart young student and the notion of joining a
respected, existing institution cannot compete with the thought of creating
her own.
Very few of the talented young people I meet want
to work for something that already exists. On the contrary, they want to
create new enterprises. They want to work according to their own
rules, not a boss’s rules. Part of this may be youth, but surely part of it
is what these young people have seen: their parents and older friends
grinding it out, feeling unrecognized and judged on the wrong criteria.
Women leaving high-powered jobs once they have children and stifled in a
desire to be both a good mother and good worker, and men who cannot express
their need to have a life at home and at work.
I went to graduate school to study why people —
women in particular — leave work, and how employers can help them to stay. I
also went to graduate school to escape my own struggles with a frustrating
corporate environment; I quit 10 jobs before I was 31. In the years since,
I’ve spent hours interviewing both experts in human capital and the men and
women who’ve left firms.
I’ve come to suspect that the rise of
“entrepreneurship porn” is at least as much about escaping a company as
starting one. Most Americans don’t like their work. Data on Americans’
dissatisfaction regarding their work – in corporate environments, in
particular, show:
- 2 million Americans voluntarily leave their jobs every month (Bureau
of Labor Statistics)
- 74% of people would today consider finding a
new job
- 32% of employees are looking for a
new job
- Only 47.3 percent of currently employed Americans are satisfied with
their position (Conference
Board)
- The majority of American employees are disengaged from their work
(Gallup)
- Entrepreneurs are more likely to have an optimistic view about their
futures than other employees (Gallup).
Entrepreneurial escapism thrives in such an
environment. A
joint study from INSEAD/Princeton shows that
“Non-pecuniary motivations are more important than monetary motivations for
people to start a new business. One is autonomy: People want to be their own
boss. The other is identity fulfillment, which is more about people having a
vision about a product or a service. But their employers do not give them
the freedom to develop within the company structure. That is a key driver.”
Despite these noble yearnings, the
data
show the most effective workplaces with happy
employees are not necessarily startups. The criteria that define happy
workplaces are work-life fit, autonomy, job challenge and learning, a
climate of respect and trust, supervisor task support, and financial
security. None of these spells “small business” to me.
The longer the fantasy of entrepreneurship
continues and the media continues to churn out entrepreneurship porn the
weaker our established institutions become. The data on creating effective
workplaces are clear, and can basically be boiled down into simple tenets:
Create an environment that treats employees like grown ups. Focus on
accountability, not face time. Allow men and women to live whole lives.
Continued in article
It Isn’t Really Rachel From Cardholder Services
Important IRS Publication
The IRS has released a revised edition of Publication 17, Your Federal Income
Tax (288 pages), for use in preparing 2013 tax returns ---
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf
Jensen Comment
It's tempting to ignore this and related tax publications and turn your tax
return preparation to Turbot Tax or other relatively cheap tax preparation
software. Even though you, like me, use this software to file your annual
returns, it may well be to your advantage to learn a bit more about what is
going on with your money. For example, if the software asks what energy savings
investments you made, it may be a good idea to read more about the tax
advantages and traps of energy saving investments.
Always remember that the so-called "experts" who prepare your tax returns are
probably not so great at tax planning. You can find out by doing your homework
in advance by asking them questions that true "experts" should be able to answer
without doing a Web search before responding.
One of the hardest areas of tax planning entails retirement planning and
saving. Another complicated area entails gains and losses and adjustments to
income.
There are many other (probably more important tax sites) at the IRS which,
contrary to the belief that the government is incapable of creating good Web
sites, is a very, very good site.
Always there almost always is some risk to investments that offer tax
savings. This does not mean that you should not become somewhat aggressive in
sheltering some earnings from current taxes. I'm an advocate of balancing
portfolios with tax exempt and tax sheltered investments, but what is a good
idea for me is not necessarily a good idea for you. You may be more worried
about fluctuating value whereas I'm more concerned about having steady monthly
cash flows that are exempt from taxation in spite of value fluctuations of my
Vanguard "Insured" Long-Term Exempt Fund. Among other things learn what
"insured" really means in this fund or related tax exempt mutual funds.
Also understand that age makes a huge difference. I'm a retired accounting
accounting professor with one foot in the grave. Inflation risk does not concern
me like it should concern you working stiffs. At some point inflation will be
more worrisome on the nightly news than the winter weather. It's just that
nobody knows when inflation will erupt like a volcano.
"Typical Boomer Retirement Modest Compared to Parents’," by Barry
Ritholtz, January 4th, 2014,---
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/01/typical-boomer-retirement-modest-compared-to-parents/
Jensen Comment
The Fed's absurd policy of near-zero interest return on USA savings funds is
killing the boomer retirement plans unless they invest in higher risk
alternatives that leave them somewhat vulnerable to losing a lot of their
savings if the stock market crashes and --- it always crashes at some point in
time!
When my father died in 2001, most of his savings (other than his pensions,
home in town, and the family farm) were tied up in bank Certificates of Deposits
(CDs) paying around 6% compounded interest. This gave him cash liquidity since
he and my mother spent some of the interest each year without touching the
capital. Since 2008 CDs pay little more than zero interest.
The next time you enter your bank bring out a crying tissue and ask the bank
for the current rates on Certificates of Deposits (CDs). TIAA interest rates are
a bit better, but they are nowhere near what they were in 2006 when I retired.
My point is that your retirement deals vary a lot with when you retire, but now
the deals are much lower due to
Quantitative Easing by the Fed that reduces savings rates to almost zero.
Thanks Ben and Janet for making boomers remain in their jobs until they are
over 80 years of age. I ain't yellen' for Yellen's confirmation. ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Yellen
Video: Nobel Laureate Eugene Fama on QE, Tapering, and Volatility
http://video.cnbc.cohttp://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000211021
m/gallery/?video=3000211021
Jensen Comment
Where QE has been monumentally successful is in compensating the savings of
older people. Many could previously retire and have saving supplemented by safe
Certificate Deposit interest income. Thanks to QE the CDs and other save savings
alternatives pay virtually zero interest such that these old folks must more of
their savings capital for living expenses. Thanks Ben. You wiped out the old
folks and provide zero incentives for younger folks to save early in the career
for compounded interest. Compounded interest? What's that?
Bob Jensen's tax planning helpers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#010304Taxation
By the way I don't do any tax advising to individuals or business firms. I
ceased being a CPA tax accountant in 1960 and went on to become an accounting
professor who taught no tax course. In fact I did not teach much of anything
practical. The Academy works that way.
Virginia Supreme Court
"Dispute Over Climate Scientist's Records Pits Academe Against Media Groups,"
by Peter Schmidt, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 9, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Dispute-Over-Climate/143881/
"Can't Get Tenure? Then Get a Real Job," by Megan McArdle,
Bloomberg, January 3, 2014 ---
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-03/can-t-get-tenure-then-get-a-real-job.html
The last few days have seen the eruption, among
academic bloggers, of a tense discussion over tenure. These discussions have
been going on for a while, of course, as the situation for newly minted PhDs
keeps getting more dire, and the reaction of people with tenure is to
tut-tut about how awful it is and say that someone should do something.
The proximate cause of the most recent explosion is
a letter that University of California at Riverside sent to applicants for
tenure-track positions in the English department, informing them that five
days hence, they would have the opportunity to interview at the annual
meeting of the Modern Languages Association. Rebecca Schulman reasonably,
if somewhat intemperately, pointed out that for
people living on the paltry wages of a grad student, a last-minute plane
ticket is a pretty expensive entry fee for a slim chance of a tenure-track
job.
Karen at The Professor Is In blog
followed up with a
long, angry post about the blind eye that tenured
faculty turn to the travails of adjuncts and grad students. The title, “How
the Tenured are to the Job Market as White People are to Racism” drew more
than a little anger, understandably. But her broader point is sound:
academia is now one of the most exploitative labor markets in the world.
It’s not quite up there with Hollywood and Broadway in taking kids with a
dream and encouraging them to waste the formative decade(s) of their work
life chasing after a brass ring that they’re vanishingly unlikely to get,
then dumping them on the job market with fewer employment prospects than
they had at 22. But it certainly seems to be
trying to catch up.
As I’ve remarked before, it’s not surprising that
so many academics believe that the American workplace is a desperately
oppressive and exploitative environment in which employers can endlessly
abuse workers without fear of reprisal, or of losing the workers. That’s a
pretty accurate description of the job market for academic labor ... until
you have tenure.
Continued in article
Why Do They Hate Us?
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Hate
From 24/7 Wall Street on January 9, 2014
The U.S. has the highest corporate tax rate in
the developed world
After Japan lowered its tax rate last year, the combined federal and average
state tax rate of 39.2% in the U.S. was the highest of any nation in the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Some
mega-corporations pay little in federal or state taxes. General Motors,
which had annual revenue of more than $150 billion, received a tax benefit
of $28.6 billion.
These are the companies paying the most (and least) taxes.
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/01/08/companies-paying-the-most-taxes/2/
Jensen Comment
The amount of taxes paid by corporations, especially large corporations, can
vary greatly from year-to-year. For example, a few years ago GE was paying no
corporate income tax, but this has since changed since GE's CEO became the top
economic advisor to President Obama.
The USA may have the highest corporate tax breaks but Congress salivating
over lobbying graft has salted the corporate tax code with lots of tax breaks.
This is the reason why many of the largest USA corporations pay a lot less than
others. This is why I personally favor eliminating corporate income taxes in
favor of offsetting VAT taxes. Businesses hate the VAT tax since it's easier to
collect and more immune from cheating. Business firms also fear that federal and
state governments will run wild with a VAT tax. Nations in other parts of the
world favor the VAT tax, especially nations having weak corporate and personal
tax law enforcement --- like Greece.
"Malware Attack Hits Thousands Of Visitors To Yahoo.com," by
Paul Szoldra, Business Insider, January 4, 2014 ---
Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-malware-attack-2014-1#ixzz2pWZ9mllF
Bob Jensen's threads on viruses and malware ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce/000start.htm#Viruses
180 MOOCs to Start the 2014 New Year (Is This the Crest of the Wave?) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/180-moocs-to-start-the-new-year.html
800 Free MOOCs from Great Universities ---
http://www.openculture.com/free_certificate_courses
MOOC FAQ ---
http://www.openculture.com/mooc_faq
Bob Jensen's threads on MOOCs, including instructions on how to sign up
for one ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
I think this applies to all academic disciplines!
"Digital Humanists: If You Want Tenure, Do Double the Work," by Sydni
Dunn, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 5, 2014 ---
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/249-digital-humanists-if-you-want-tenure-do-double-the-work?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
As interactive databases and open-access online journals fill academic
dossiers, one question continues to be discussed: What happens when the
scholars who build them come up for tenure?
It’s clear that timeworn tenure incentives—those that reward
monographs published by prestigious university presses, say, or a series
of individually written journal articles—aren’t a good fit for digital
work.
So scholarly groups and universities with an interest in digital
humanities are stepping up efforts to establish alternatives. But
consensus is still a long way off. At many institutions, enthusiasm
about the trending field is outpacing progress in rethinking the
evaluation process.
This leaves digital humanists in a difficult position: convinced that
their scholarly work is worth doing but unclear on what it will get
them, careerwise. Some scholars who do digital work have found so-called
alt-ac, alternative academic, careers, working at universities but off
the traditional tenure track. But for those who want to stay on that
classic track, a digital-only portfolio is a gamble. To play it safe,
they are putting in overtime to satisfy the traditional requirements of
an evaluation process that hasn’t caught up to their digital work.
In fact, many digital humanists who have successfully navigated the
promotion process agree that the most reliable way to impress a tenure
committee is to mix traditional work with the technological.
“We want to push the boundaries, but it’s hard to disrupt the
expectations,” says Matthew K. Gold, an associate professor of English
and digital humanities at the City University of New York’s College of
Technology and Graduate Center. “So, unfortunately, going this route of
creating digital projects still requires twice as much work.”
First, some good news: Earning tenure and promotion for digital
scholarship is no longer a left-field idea, says Victoria E. Szabo, an
assistant research professor of art, art history, and visual studies and
program director of information science and information studies at Duke
University. A growing number of digital humanists are moving up in the
academy.
At the annual convention of the Modern Language Association, this
month in Chicago, Szabo, a member of the group’s Committee on
Information Technology, assembled a panel that can attest to that. A
discussion titled
“Evaluating Digital Scholarship: Candidate Success Stories” was to
convene Gold, Cheryl E. Ball, Kari M. Kraus, Adeline Koh, and Alex
Gil—all scholars who have secured tenure or promotion on the basis, at
least partially, of their digital scholarship.
The MLA, for its part, is trying to create more success stories. It
has joined the American Historical Association and an array of academic
commenters, like
Geoffrey Rockwell and
Bethany Nowviskie, in offering guidance on how to assess digital
scholarship.
The recommendations advise making expectations clear to candidates;
asking faculty members familiar with digital work to participate in the
review; accepting the work in its original, electronic form and not
only, for example, as printed screen shots; and staying informed about
technological innovations that help people with disabilities to conduct
research, among other principles.
But, as the advocates of digital work will tell you, those broad
guidelines are not hard-and-fast rules.
“The pace of technological change makes it impossible for any one set
of guidelines to account completely for the ways digital media and the
digital humanities are influencing literacies, literatures, and the
teaching of modern languages,” the MLA guidelines warn. “A general
principle nonetheless holds: Institutions that recruit or review
scholars working in digital media or digital humanities must give full
regard to their work when evaluating them for reappointment, tenure, and
promotion.”
Meanwhile, some universities trying to build out their
digital-humanities programs, such as Emory University and the University
of Nebraska at Lincoln, are leading their own efforts to clearly define
what’s at stake with tenure and promotion.
According to
a policy adopted in November, Emory’s College Humanities Council
will evaluate digital humanities by reviewing digital projects in their
electronic forms, working with tenure candidates to understand the
extent and nature of their projects, and ascertaining the relationship
among the “form, design, and medium” of the projects.
“We’re at a very different place than we were in 2009,” says Brian
Croxall, a digital-humanities strategist and lecturer of English at
Emory.
When departments and professors have the same objectives,
communicating about digital scholarship can seem pretty easy. Kari M.
Kraus, an associate professor in the College of Information Studies and
the department of English at the University of Maryland, is a case in
point.
Kraus, who began in her tenure-track post in 2007 and was promoted in
the spring of 2013, was not required—or even encouraged—to have a
published book, she says. Although she listed both traditional and
nontraditional scholarship in her dossier, she felt she was able to
expand her scholarly repertoire “by not being tied to the book model.”
But Kraus, whose focus is new media, digital preservation, game
studies, transmedia storytelling, and speculative design, may be an
exception that proves the rule. Her tenure home was in Maryland’s
information-studies school, so most of the readers deciding her academic
future were familiar with digital work.
Her department’s tenure requirements also varied greatly from those
of the English department, which expects more text-driven application
materials, she says.
Kraus’s experience is a demonstration: It is up to individual
university departments to decide how digital work should be weighed, and
reward systems vary on the basis of the nature of the institution.
That remains true, Croxall says, even now that most academics are
willing to understand and support digital work.
“For people in the digital humanities, it’s no longer a question of,
‘Will my institution count it?’” he says. “It can get counted. It just
might involve a bit more work on your part than what you would like.”
Adeline Koh, an assistant professor of literature and director of
digital humanities at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, began
her tenure-track job in 2010 and received tenure and a promotion in
2013. (Her title will be upgraded for the next academic year.) For both
tenure and promotion, she says, the experience was welcoming and
supportive.
But it wasn’t all about her digital work, which includes projects
like Trading Races, a historical role-playing game designed to teach
race consciousness. The job description for her literature professorship
didn’t include a digital-humanities component, she says, so she listed
her projects as a supplement to her traditional publications and
discussed them in her interview. The panel focused more on her printed
material, she says, but her digital work was also recognized.
- See more at: https://chroniclevitae.com/news/249-digital-humanists-if-you-want-tenure-do-double-the-work?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en#sthash.nH8SMvhF.dpuf
As interactive databases and open-access online journals fill academic
dossiers, one question continues to be discussed: What happens when the
scholars who build them come up for tenure?
It’s clear that timeworn tenure incentives—those that reward
monographs published by prestigious university presses, say, or a series
of individually written journal articles—aren’t a good fit for digital
work.
So scholarly groups and universities with an interest in digital
humanities are stepping up efforts to establish alternatives. But
consensus is still a long way off. At many institutions, enthusiasm
about the trending field is outpacing progress in rethinking the
evaluation process.
This leaves digital humanists in a difficult position: convinced that
their scholarly work is worth doing but unclear on what it will get
them, careerwise. Some scholars who do digital work have found so-called
alt-ac, alternative academic, careers, working at universities but off
the traditional tenure track. But for those who want to stay on that
classic track, a digital-only portfolio is a gamble. To play it safe,
they are putting in overtime to satisfy the traditional requirements of
an evaluation process that hasn’t caught up to their digital work.
In fact, many digital humanists who have successfully navigated the
promotion process agree that the most reliable way to impress a tenure
committee is to mix traditional work with the technological.
“We want to push the boundaries, but it’s hard to disrupt the
expectations,” says Matthew K. Gold, an associate professor of English
and digital humanities at the City University of New York’s College of
Technology and Graduate Center. “So, unfortunately, going this route of
creating digital projects still requires twice as much work.”
First, some good news: Earning tenure and promotion for digital
scholarship is no longer a left-field idea, says Victoria E. Szabo, an
assistant research professor of art, art history, and visual studies and
program director of information science and information studies at Duke
University. A growing number of digital humanists are moving up in the
academy.
At the annual convention of the Modern Language Association, this
month in Chicago, Szabo, a member of the group’s Committee on
Information Technology, assembled a panel that can attest to that. A
discussion titled
“Evaluating Digital Scholarship: Candidate Success Stories” was to
convene Gold, Cheryl E. Ball, Kari M. Kraus, Adeline Koh, and Alex
Gil—all scholars who have secured tenure or promotion on the basis, at
least partially, of their digital scholarship.
The MLA, for its part, is trying to create more success stories. It
has joined the American Historical Association and an array of academic
commenters, like
Geoffrey Rockwell and
Bethany Nowviskie, in offering guidance on how to assess digital
scholarship.
The recommendations advise making expectations clear to candidates;
asking faculty members familiar with digital work to participate in the
review; accepting the work in its original, electronic form and not
only, for example, as printed screen shots; and staying informed about
technological innovations that help people with disabilities to conduct
research, among other principles.
But, as the advocates of digital work will tell you, those broad
guidelines are not hard-and-fast rules.
“The pace of technological change makes it impossible for any one set
of guidelines to account completely for the ways digital media and the
digital humanities are influencing literacies, literatures, and the
teaching of modern languages,” the MLA guidelines warn. “A general
principle nonetheless holds: Institutions that recruit or review
scholars working in digital media or digital humanities must give full
regard to their work when evaluating them for reappointment, tenure, and
promotion.”
Meanwhile, some universities trying to build out their
digital-humanities programs, such as Emory University and the University
of Nebraska at Lincoln, are leading their own efforts to clearly define
what’s at stake with tenure and promotion.
According to
a policy adopted in November, Emory’s College Humanities Council
will evaluate digital humanities by reviewing digital projects in their
electronic forms, working with tenure candidates to understand the
extent and nature of their projects, and ascertaining the relationship
among the “form, design, and medium” of the projects.
“We’re at a very different place than we were in 2009,” says Brian
Croxall, a digital-humanities strategist and lecturer of English at
Emory.
When departments and professors have the same objectives,
communicating about digital scholarship can seem pretty easy. Kari M.
Kraus, an associate professor in the College of Information Studies and
the department of English at the University of Maryland, is a case in
point.
Kraus, who began in her tenure-track post in 2007 and was promoted in
the spring of 2013, was not required—or even encouraged—to have a
published book, she says. Although she listed both traditional and
nontraditional scholarship in her dossier, she felt she was able to
expand her scholarly repertoire “by not being tied to the book model.”
But Kraus, whose focus is new media, digital preservation, game
studies, transmedia storytelling, and speculative design, may be an
exception that proves the rule. Her tenure home was in Maryland’s
information-studies school, so most of the readers deciding her academic
future were familiar with digital work.
Her department’s tenure requirements also varied greatly from those
of the English department, which expects more text-driven application
materials, she says.
Kraus’s experience is a demonstration: It is up to individual
university departments to decide how digital work should be weighed, and
reward systems vary on the basis of the nature of the institution.
That remains true, Croxall says, even now that most academics are
willing to understand and support digital work.
“For people in the digital humanities, it’s no longer a question of,
‘Will my institution count it?’” he says. “It can get counted. It just
might involve a bit more work on your part than what you would like.”
Adeline Koh, an assistant professor of literature and director of
digital humanities at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, began
her tenure-track job in 2010 and received tenure and a promotion in
2013. (Her title will be upgraded for the next academic year.) For both
tenure and promotion, she says, the experience was welcoming and
supportive.
But it wasn’t all about her digital work, which includes projects
like Trading Races, a historical role-playing game designed to teach
race consciousness. The job description for her literature professorship
didn’t include a digital-humanities component, she says, so she listed
her projects as a supplement to her traditional publications and
discussed them in her interview. The panel focused more on her printed
material, she says, but her digital work was also recognized.
- See more at: https://chroniclevitae.com/news/249-digital-humanists-if-you-want-tenure-do-double-the-work?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en#sthash.nH8SMvhF.dpuf
As
interactive databases and open-access online journals fill academic
dossiers, one question continues to be discussed: What happens when the
scholars who build them come up for tenure?
It’s
clear that timeworn tenure incentives—those that reward monographs published
by prestigious university presses, say, or a series of individually written
journal articles—aren’t a good fit for digital work.
So
scholarly groups and universities with an interest in digital humanities are
stepping up efforts to establish alternatives. But consensus is still a long
way off. At many institutions, enthusiasm about the trending field is
outpacing progress in rethinking the evaluation process.
This
leaves digital humanists in a difficult position: convinced that their
scholarly work is worth doing but unclear on what it will get them,
careerwise. Some scholars who do digital work have found so-called alt-ac,
alternative academic, careers, working at universities but off the
traditional tenure track. But for those who want to stay on that classic
track, a digital-only portfolio is a gamble. To play it safe, they are
putting in overtime to satisfy the traditional requirements of an evaluation
process that hasn’t caught up to their digital work.
In
fact, many digital humanists who have successfully navigated the promotion
process agree that the most reliable way to impress a tenure committee is to
mix traditional work with the technological.
“We
want to push the boundaries, but it’s hard to disrupt the expectations,”
says Matthew K. Gold, an associate professor of English and digital
humanities at the City University of New York’s College of Technology and
Graduate Center. “So, unfortunately, going this route of creating digital
projects still requires twice as much work.”
First,
some good news: Earning tenure and promotion for digital scholarship is no
longer a left-field idea, says Victoria E. Szabo, an assistant research
professor of art, art history, and visual studies and program director of
information science and information studies at Duke University. A growing
number of digital humanists are moving up in the academy.
At the annual convention of the Modern Language
Association, this month in Chicago, Szabo, a member of the group’s Committee
on Information Technology, assembled a panel that can attest to that. A
discussion titled
“Evaluating Digital Scholarship: Candidate Success
Stories” was to convene Gold, Cheryl E.
Ball, Kari M. Kraus, Adeline Koh, and Alex Gil—all scholars who have secured
tenure or promotion on the basis, at least partially, of their digital
scholarship.
The MLA, for its part, is trying to create more
success stories. It has joined the American Historical Association and an
array of academic commenters, like
Geoffrey Rockwell
and
Bethany Nowviskie, in
offering guidance on how to assess digital scholarship.
The recommendations advise making
expectations clear to candidates; asking faculty members familiar with
digital work to participate in the review; accepting the work in its
original, electronic form and not only, for example, as printed screen
shots; and staying informed about technological innovations that help people
with disabilities to conduct research, among other principles.
But,
as the advocates of digital work will tell you, those broad guidelines are
not hard-and-fast rules.
“The
pace of technological change makes it impossible for any one set of
guidelines to account completely for the ways digital media and the digital
humanities are influencing literacies, literatures, and the teaching of
modern languages,” the MLA guidelines warn. “A general principle nonetheless
holds: Institutions that recruit or review scholars working in digital media
or digital humanities must give full regard to their work when evaluating
them for reappointment, tenure, and promotion.”
Meanwhile, some universities trying to build out their digital-humanities
programs, such as Emory University and the University of Nebraska at
Lincoln, are leading their own efforts to clearly define what’s at stake
with tenure and promotion.
According to
a policy adopted in November,
Emory’s College Humanities Council will evaluate
digital humanities by reviewing digital projects in their electronic forms,
working with tenure candidates to understand the extent and nature of their
projects, and ascertaining the relationship among the “form, design, and
medium” of the projects.
“We’re
at a very different place than we were in 2009,” says Brian Croxall, a
digital-humanities strategist and lecturer of English at Emory.
When
departments and professors have the same objectives, communicating about
digital scholarship can seem pretty easy. Kari M. Kraus, an associate
professor in the College of Information Studies and the department of
English at the University of Maryland, is a case in point.
Kraus,
who began in her tenure-track post in 2007 and was promoted in the spring of
2013, was not required—or even encouraged—to have a published book, she
says. Although she listed both traditional and nontraditional scholarship in
her dossier, she felt she was able to expand her scholarly repertoire “by
not being tied to the book model.”
But
Kraus, whose focus is new media, digital preservation, game studies,
transmedia storytelling, and speculative design, may be an exception that
proves the rule. Her tenure home was in Maryland’s information-studies
school, so most of the readers deciding her academic future were familiar
with digital work.
Her
department’s tenure requirements also varied greatly from those of the
English department, which expects more text-driven application materials,
she says.
Kraus’s experience is a demonstration: It is up to individual university
departments to decide how digital work should be weighed, and reward systems
vary on the basis of the nature of the institution.
That
remains true, Croxall says, even now that most academics are willing to
understand and support digital work.
“For
people in the digital humanities, it’s no longer a question of, ‘Will my
institution count it?’” he says. “It can get counted. It just might involve
a bit more work on your part than what you would like.”
Adeline Koh, an assistant professor of literature and director of digital
humanities at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, began her
tenure-track job in 2010 and received tenure and a promotion in 2013. (Her
title will be upgraded for the next academic year.) For both tenure and
promotion, she says, the experience was welcoming and supportive.
But it
wasn’t all about her digital work, which includes projects like Trading
Races, a historical role-playing game designed to teach race consciousness.
The job description for her literature professorship didn’t include a
digital-humanities component, she says, so she listed her projects as a
supplement to her traditional publications and discussed them in her
interview. The panel focused more on her printed material, she says, but her
digital work was also recognized.
- See more at:
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/249-digital-humanists-if-you-want-tenure-do-double-the-work?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en#sthash.nH8SMvhF.dpuf
Bob Jensen's threads on the dark sides of digital scholarship ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm
Gaming for Tenure as an Accounting Professor
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTenure.htm
(with a reply about tenure publication point systems from Linda Kidwell)
"How to Survive Your First Years of Teaching," by Stacey Patton,
Chronicle of Higher Education's Chronicle Review, January 3, 2013 ---
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/248-how-to-survive-your-first-years-of-teaching?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en
. . .
Don’t fight grade inflation. Okay, maybe just a little.
Kenneth Aslakson teaches at Union College, a
liberal-arts institution in upstate New York. He believes grade inflation is
wrong: “Students should understand that a B is a good grade and they
shouldn’t whine and cry about it.”
But when he was trying to secure tenure, he refused
to fight it.
That’s because he knew how important student
teaching evaluations were to his tenure committee. “Teaching evaluations, at
least at my school, matter and they matter a lot,” he said. “Do students
think you’re cool? Can you get along with people? These things aren’t about
how much students are learning, but they factor into how the tenure
committee evaluates you.”
If the rest of your college is giving a certain
kind of grade and you’re operating on a different scale, Aslakson said, that
can hurt you.
“When you just get out of grad school, you can be a
little out-of-touch with your expectations for your students,” he said. “I’m
not saying it is right, I’m just saying that it might not be in your best
interests to fight it.”
That’s far from a universal viewpoint, and two
panelists disagreed. Peterson, of Emory, said that she attempts to strike a
balance: She won’t hesitate to give a low grade for a lousy paper, but she
gives students a chance to rewrite.
“I give them an out from a low grade and I show
them how to learn from their mistakes and make their work stronger,” she
said. “In doing so, it changes the consumer dynamic in the classroom.”
And Maria Bollettino, of Framingham State, stuck up
for high standards. Bollettino teaches mostly first-generation students who
haven’t had opportunities to really think and write like scholars. When
those students fall short of the mark, she lets them know.
“It does students disservice to tell them that they
are awesome if they are not. If they can’t write a grammatically correct
sentence or put together a convincing argument, that’s not going to fly
later in life,” Bollettino said. “My job is to hold them to a certain
standard, to let them know if they are reaching it or not, and to prepare
them for the real world, where they are going to have to communicate well.”
-
See more at:
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/248-how-to-survive-your-first-years-of-teaching?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en#sthash.zj8oEKo3.dpuf
Bob Jensen's threads on why grade inflation is the biggest disgrace in
higher education and why the primary cause is the role teaching evaluations play
in performance evaluations, promotion, and tenure ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#RateMyProfessor
"Former University of North Carolina professor faces fraud charge in
academic scandal," Fox News, December 2, 2013 ---
http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/12/02/former-university-north-carolina-professor-faces-fraud-charge-in-academic/
A former professor at the center of an academic
scandal involving athletes at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill has been charged with a felony, accused of receiving $12,000 in payment
for a lecture course in which he held no classes.
A grand jury on Monday indicted Julius Nyang'Oro
with a single felony count of obtaining property by false pretenses.
Nyang'Oro was chairman of the Department of African
and Afro-American Studies. He resigned from that post in 2011 during a
campus investigation that found certain classes in the department that
instructors did not teach, undocumented grade changes and faked faculty
signatures on some grade reports.
The scandal contributed to the departure of
football coach Butch Davis and the resignation of a former chancellor,
Holden Thorp.
Nyang'Oro, who retired in 2012, could face up to 10
months in prison if convicted. The university said it recouped the $12,000
from his final paycheck.
Calls to two numbers listed for Nyang'Oro rang
busy. A man answering a call to a third number for Nyang'Oro on indictment
documents hung up without comment and follow-up messages weren't returned.
Orange County District Attorney James Woodall said
the professor's 2011 summer course was supposed to have had regular class
meetings. But he said Nyang'oro instead ran an independent study class that
required students to write papers but not show up. The school found that the
course, a late addition to the schedule, had an enrollment of 18 football
players and one former football player.
A campus investigation into academic fraud released
last year blamed the scandal solely on Nyang'oro and a department
administrator who also has since retired. The probe led by former Gov. Jim
Martin concluded that alleged fraud didn't involve other faculty or members
of the athletic department.
Martin, a former college chemistry professor, was
aided by consultants with experience in academic investigations. After
shortcomings of the report's method were highlighted, Martin and university
officials said they lacked the subpoena powers of State Bureau of
Investigation, or SBI, to force people to answer questions and produce
evidence.
"Both the university and Mr. Woodall relied on the
SBI to help determine whether any criminal acts had occurred, since the SBI
had broad investigative powers not available to the university," said Tom
Ross, president of the state university system.
He added in his statement Monday that the
university's ongoing cooperation with the criminal process will continue to
its conclusion.
Martin said there was no evidence the university's
athletics department pushed students into courses with known irregularities
that would allow athletes to remain eligible for competition. Unauthorized
grade changes in the African studies department were not limited to
student-athletes, Martin said, and athletes generally didn't flock to
problematic African studies courses.
The NCAA sanctioned the university's football
program in March 2012 with a one-year bowl ban and scholarship reductions
for previously discovered improper benefits including cash and travel
accommodations. The NCAA reviewed irregularities in the African studies
department after an earlier campus probe found 54 problem classes between
2007 and 2011. The collegiate sports oversight body told university
officials it had found no new rules violations.
The school's chancellor issued her own statement
Monday on the indictment.
"The action described in today's indictment is
completely inconsistent with the standards and aspirations of this great
institution," Chancellor Carol Folt said in a statement. "This has been a
difficult chapter in the university's history, and we have learned many
lessons."
"Scandal Bowl: Why Tar Heel Fraud Might Be Just the Start," by Paul M.
Barrett, Bloomberg Businessweek, January 6, 2014 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-06/unc-athletic-scandal-charges-of-fraud-could-be-tip-of-wider-revelations?campaign_id=DN010614
The corruption of academics at the University
of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus could turn into the most revelatory
of all of the undergraduate sports scandals in recent memory. Beginning
three years ago with what sounded like garden-variety reports of
under-the-table payments from agents and improper classroom help for
athletes, the affair has spread and deepened to include evidence of hundreds
of sham courses offered since the early 1990s. Untold numbers of grades have
been changed without authorization and faculty signatures forged—all in the
service of an elaborate campaign to keep elite basketball and football
players academically eligible to play.
After belatedly catching up with the UNC debacle in
this recent dispatch,
I’ve decided the still-developing story deserves wider
attention. Or, to put it more precisely, the
excellent reporting already done by the News &
Observer of Raleigh merits amplification outside of North Carolina.
The rot in Chapel Hill undermines UNC’s reputation
as one of the nation’s finest public institutions of higher learning.
Officials created classes that did not meet. That’s not the only reason more
scrutiny is needed. There’s also the particularly pernicious way that the
school’s African and Afro-American Studies Department has been used to
inflate the GPAs of basketball and football players. The corruption of a
scholarly discipline devoted to black history and culture underscores a
racial subtext to the exploitation of college athletes that typically goes
unidentified in polite discussion. (UNC’s former longtime Afro-Am chairman,
Julius Nyang’oro, has been criminally indicted for fraud.)
Another reason Chapel Hill requires sustained
investigation is the manner in which the athletic and academic hierarchies
at UNC, along with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, have so far
whitewashed the scandal. Officials have repeatedly denied that the fiasco’s
roots trace to an illicit agenda that, in the name of coddling a
disproportionately black undergraduate athlete population, has left many
students intellectually crippled.
Dan Kane, the News & Observer‘s lead
investigative reporter, does old-school, just-the-facts-m’am work—and more
power to him. Digging up the basic data has been a lonely and arduous task
for which Kane has been rewarded with craven accusations of home state
disloyalty. As he wrote
last month, the six official “reviews” and
“investigations” of the wayward Afro-Am Department have all failed to
connect the dots in any meaningful way. In coming weeks and months, I hope I
can supplement Kane’s dogged efforts with some long-distance perspective.
Valuable tips from concerned local people, some of them UNC alumni, are
already pouring in, and that’s part of the reason I’m going to pursue the
story. Keep those e-mails coming.
One source of insight is Jay Smith, a professor of
early modern French history at UNC. A serious scholar who understands the
university’s sports-happy culture, Smith has developed a powerful distaste
for the way his employer has obfuscated the scandal. “What’s going on here
is so important,” he told me by telephone, “because it’s emblematic of what
I think goes on at major universities all across the country,” where the
business of sports undermines the mission of education. That sounds right to
me.
Smith has the best sort of self-interested
motivation for making sense of what has happened on his campus: He’s writing
a book about the whole mess, based in part on statistics and personal
experiences proffered by UNC instructors assigned over the years to assist
varsity athletes. To me that sounds like a page-turner—and even the basis of
an HBO movie.
I asked Smith what he thinks is going to happen
next. He pointed to comments that the local district attorney made when the
disgraced former Afro-Am chairman, Nyang’oro, was indicted in December.
Orange County DA Jim Woodall told the News & Observer that a second
person is also under investigation and could be indicted soon. Woodall did
not identify the second target, except to say the person is not someone who
currently works for UNC. ”Other probes have identified Nyang’oro’s longtime
department manager, Deborah Crowder, as being involved in the bogus
classes,” the News & Observer noted. “She retired in 2009.” Both
Crowder and Nyang’oro have refused to comment publicly, and Nyang’oro’s
criminal defense lawyer didn’t return my e-mail inquiry.
The indictment of Crowder, a relatively low-level
administrative figure, could crack open the case. It defies logic that
Nyang’oro and his assistant would have operated a rogue department without
the knowledge of more senior faculty members, if not top university
administrators. It further defies reason that this pair would have created
phony classes for athletes without the urging and participation of people in
the UNC athletic bureaucracy. Nyang’oro and Crowder are going to have ample
reason to sing as part of potential plea deals.
Even before that happens, according to Smith,
one or more well-positioned whistle-blowers are likely to go public and
start naming names if they think the powers that be are planning to isolate
Crowder and Nyang’oro as the sole villains. This thing goes much higher, and
there’s much more to come from Chapel Hill.
"University of North Carolina learning specialist receives death threats
after her research finds one in 10 college athletes have reading age of a THIRD
GRADER," by Sara Malm, Daily Mail, January 10, 2014 ---
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2537041/University-North-Carolina-learning-specialist-receives-death-threats-research-finds-one-10-college-athletes-reading-age-fifth-grader.html
Mary Willingham exposed college athletes' lack of
academic abilities
- She found that 10 per cent read at elementary
school level
- A majority of players' reading level was
between 4th and 8th grade
- Men's basketball makes $16.9m-a-year for
University of North Carolina
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
Put another way, the poor readers can only comprehend children's books. This is
why they need agents to explain their pro contracts. Opps only a few get pro
contracts.
Don't like your grade? Change it to the grade you prefer and forge the
teacher's signature!
"Professors in Class on Time? Check. At the U. of North Carolina, a culture
of autonomy falls victim to one department's no-show scandal," by indsay
Ellis and Robin Wilson, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 6, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Professors-in-Classroom-on/143813/
. . .
The academic improprieties, in which
professors' signatures were forged to change
students' gradee and undergraduates got
credit for courses that never met, went undetected for nearly 15 years
within the African- and Afro-American-studies department. The university
says the fraud appears to be the work of a longtime administrator in the
department and its chairman, Julius E. Nyang'oro, who led African-American
studies here for nearly two decades. Many of the students who were involved
in the questionable classes were athletes.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
The internal control question is how students got access to their grade
sheets in order to change grades! Sounds like an insider made it easy for
them to find those grade sheets in the dead of night.
"CNN Finds Athletes Who 'Read Like 5th Graders'," Inside Higher Ed,
January 8, 2014 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/01/08/cnn-finds-athletes-who-read-5th-graders
Jensen Comment
Given their admission qualifications naive analysts might wonder unqualified
applicants got into college. But it's really simple when you think about it. I
recall the time when five varsity basketball players sued UCLA because after
four years at UCLA they still could not read. To UCLA's credit none of these
illiterate basketball players graduated with a diploma.
Athletes Seek Out Professors Who Will Pass Almost Any Athlete
Watkins says it is all too common to see athletes
grouped in certain departments or programs under the sheltering wings of faculty
members who appear to care more about their success on the courts, rinks and
fields than in the classroom. Faculty members are often the most vocal critics
of favoritism for athletes (the issues at Auburn were raised by one whistle
blowing sociology professor against another), he says, but it is frequently
professors who are responsible for the favoritism in the first place.
Rob Capriccioso, "Tackling Favoritism for Athletes," Inside Higher Ed, July 20,
2006 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/07/20/sports
Linebacker's Wife Says She Wrote His Papers
(and took two online courses for him)
The wife of a star University of South Florida
linebacker says she wrote his academic papers and took two online classes for
him. The accusations against Ben Moffitt, who had been promoted by the
university to the news media as a family man, were made in e-mail messages to
The Tampa Tribune, and followed Mr. Moffitt’s filing for divorce. Mr. Moffitt
called the accusations “hearsay,” and a university spokesman said the matter was
a “domestic issue.” If it is found that Mr. Moffitt committed academic fraud,
the newspaper reported, the university could be subject to an NCAA
investigation.
"Linebacker's Wife Says She Wrote His Papers," Chronicle of Higher Education
News Blog, January 5, 2008 ---
http://chronicle.com/news/article/3707/linebackers-wife-says-she-wrote-his-papers?at
Bob Jensen's threads on professors who cheat and let students cheat ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#RebeccaHoward
Didn't UNC learn from FSU?
Academic Fraud and Friction at Florida State University
On Friday,
the
National Collegiate Athletic Association announced
that more than 60 athletes at the university had cheated in two online courses
over a year and a half long period, one of the most serious cases of academic
fraud in the NCAA's recent history. Yet just about all anyone seemed to be able
to talk about -- especially Florida State fans in commenting on the case and
news publications in reporting on it -- is how the
NCAA's penalties (which include requiring Florida State to vacate an
undetermined number of victories in which the cheating athletes competed) might
undermine the legacy of the university's football coach, Bobby Bowden. Bowden
has one fewer career victory than Pennsylvania State University's longtime
coach, Joe Paterno, and if Florida State has to wipe out as many as 14 football
wins from 2007 and 2008, it could end Bowden's chance of being the all-time
winningest coach in big-time college football.
Inside Higher Ed, March 9, 2009 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/03/09/fsu
Compounding FSU's problem is an earlier cheating scandal
20 Florida State University Football Players Likely to Be Suspended in Cheated
Scandal
"Source: Multiple suspensions likely for Music City Bowl, plus 3 games in
2008," by Mark Schlabach, ESPN.com, December 18, 2007 ---
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3159534
The Now Infamous Favored
Professor by University of Michigan Athletes
A single University of Michigan professor
taught 294 independent studies for students, 85 percent of them
athletes, from the fall of 2004 to the fall of 2007, according to
The Ann Arbor News. According to the
report, which kicks off a series on Michigan athletics and was based on
seven months of investigation, many athletes reported being steered to
the professor, and said that they earned three or four credits for
meeting with him as little as 15 minutes every two weeks. In addition,
three former athletics department officials said that athletes were
urged to take courses with the professor, John Hagen, to raise their
averages. Transcripts examined by the newspaper showed that students
earned significantly higher grades with Hagen than in their regular
courses. The News reported that Hagen initially denied teaching a high
percentage of athletes in his independent studies, but did not dispute
the accuracy of documents the newspaper shared with him. He did deny
being part of any effort to raise the averages of his students. The
newspaper also said that Michigan’s president and athletics director had
declined to be interviewed for the series.
Inside Higher Ed, March 17, 2008 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/03/17/qt
"Academic Fraud for College Jocks Reaches Across the Country," by Paul
M. Barrett, Bloomberg Businessweek, January 8, 2014 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-08/why-the-university-of-north-carolinas-sports-academic-fraud-matters-to-everyone
Bob Jensen's threads on professors who cheat and let students cheat ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#RebeccaHoward
Bob Jensen's threads on athletics controversies in higher education ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Athletics
"The Integration of Women and Minorities into the Auditing Profession
since the Civil Rights Period," by Paul Madsen, The Accounting Review,
November 2013, pp. 2145-2177 ---
http://aaajournals.org/doi/full/10.2308/accr-50540 (not free)
Following the Civil Rights Movement and the “quiet
revolution” in women's work over the years from 1950 to 1970, women and
minorities increasingly joined the auditing profession while the profession
ramped up efforts to encourage integration. The purpose of this study is to
rigorously examine how the integration of auditors has evolved since the
civil rights and quiet revolution period. The primary distinctive feature of
this study is that it evaluates the auditing profession's integration by
comparing it to samples of occupations similar to auditing for the purpose
of isolating auditing-specific forces influencing integration. I find that
the pay structure in auditing is unusually equal, consistent with “equal pay
for equal work.” The results for women, Hispanics, and miscellaneous
minorities are consistent with members of these groups responding as one
might expect to equal pay in auditing: groups that are poorly paid in other
occupations select into auditing at higher rates, and groups that are well
paid in other occupations select out of auditing at higher rates. The
results for blacks are anomalous in that their pay in auditing has been good
relative to many comparable occupations, but they have nevertheless been
poorly represented in auditing. There are a number of theories that could
potentially explain why blacks may be anomalously underrepresented in
auditing. To begin to test them, I perform an exploratory analysis of the
representation of women and minorities among college freshmen, college
graduates, and young auditors. The results suggest that accounting is a
popular degree among black college freshmen and that a relatively high
percentage of accounting graduates are black. However, although they are
well represented in the pool of potential new auditors, black accounting
graduates enter the auditing profession at very low rates relative to other
occupations requiring levels of education similar to auditing. The results
suggest that black underrepresentation in auditing is not due to a lack of
awareness among, or role models for, young blacks.
Jensen Comment
In recent years the CPA profession has hired more women than men, which is
consistent with both admissions and graduation data for universities.
The study does not show what proportion of newly hired African American
graduates are from "historically
black colleges and universities," but my guess is that it's relatively high
relative to total first-year hirings of African Accounting Graduates in total in
accountancy. My guess is that a relatively high proportion of those hirings are
in government (e.g., the IRS) and clients of CPA firms as opposed to CPA firms
themselves.
I will now make a statement that is probably not politically correct and
certainly is anecdotal. I have a acquaintance who is a retired dean of the
business school of a well-known historically black university. She told me that
her program played down a CPA examination preparation curriculum in favor of an
industry and government accounting curriculum. One reason was fund raising,
where large corporations showered her business school with scholarship funding
and with multi-year internships for nearly all of the accounting students.
Another reason was that her accounting program could attract more students if it
offered career opportunities that did not require the highly stressful CPA
examination.
"African American Students and the CPA Exam Mentoring, internships and
scholarship programs can draw students into the profession," by Quinton Booker,
Journal of Accountancy, May 2005 ---
http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Issues/2005/May/AfricanAmericanStudentsAndTheCpaExam.htm
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY |
DESPITE DECADES OF EFFORT by organizations such as the
AICPA and NASBA to bring more minority candidates into the
profession, the numbers are still small. Still, there were 5,731
African American candidates for the CPA exam in 2002—the largest for
any year since 1997.
THE DATA SUGGEST A SEVERE SHORTAGE of African American
males under age 25 holding graduate degrees.
SINCE MANY STUDENTS DECIDE TO major in accounting as early
as high school, employers should begin to build relationships with
high school juniors and seniors through summer job opportunities.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF CANDIDATES are concentrated in 10
states. Employers in other states need to be more creative in
finding and hiring CPAs.
PROGRESS IS BEING MADE. Much of the success can likely be
attributed to mentoring, internship and co-op programs, and
scholarship programs at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral
levels. |
QUINTON BOOKER, CPA, DBA, is professor and chairman of the
department of accounting at Jackson State University, Mississippi.
His e-mail address is
qbooker@jsums.edu
. |
National Association of Black Accountants ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Association_of_Black_Accountants
Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Latino_Professionals_in_Finance_and_Accounting
American Society of Women Accountants ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Cambridge#Women.27s_education
History of women accountants in the 1880. US Federal Census ---
http://repository.usfca.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=acct
Mary Jo McCann (First Woman CPA in Kansas) ---
http://www.kscpa.org/about/news/119-mary_jo_mccann_first_woman_cpa_in_kansas_passes
Bertha Aldrich (First Woman CPA in California) ---
http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.aldrich/600/mb.ashx
Accounting Reform (search for women) ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_reform
Accounting and Financial Women's Alliance ---
http://www.afwa.org/
Accounting History
Libraries at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) ---
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/accountancy/libraries.html
There are many items pertaining to accounting women in history, especially
in the Accounting Historians Journal
Bob Jensen's threads on the history of women in the accounting profession
are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Women
Bob Jensen's threads on careers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers
"On a Beam of Light: The Story of Albert Einstein, Illustrated by the
Great Vladimir Radunsky," by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, December 30, 2013
---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/12/30/on-a-beam-of-light-albert-einstein-radunsky/
"LinkedIn Sues Unknown Hackers in an Attempt to Find Out Who They Are,"
by Joshua Brustein, by Blookmberg Businessweek, January 8, 2014 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-08/linkedin-sues-unknown-hackers-in-an-attempt-to-find-out-who-they-are
LinkedIn (LNKD)
is facing a common plague of social networking
companies: thousands of fake accounts used for spam and other nefariousness.
So the company is using an increasingly familiar tactic:
It’s suing those responsible for setting up the
fake accounts, even though it doesn’t know who they are.
Suspicious patterns of activity started on
LinkedIn’s network last spring, according to a complaint filed Monday in
federal district court in Northern California. Thousands of accounts were
set up with automated tools, then used to gather information about actual
people on the site. LinkedIn has tools in place to monitor accounts with
suspiciously high levels of activity. Whoever was running the scheme was
apparently aware of these limits, the complaint says, and designed the fake
accounts to do just enough not to hit the thresholds.
All this violates LinkedIn’s user agreements and,
the company claims, also breaks state and federal computer security laws, as
well as federal copyright law. The hackers are making the site fundamentally
less useful by gumming up the system with fake accounts, LinkedIn argues. As
such, the hackers are unfairly competing with LinkedIn by stealing user data
that it worked hard to assemble legitimately. (The company declined to
comment about the case to Bloomberg Businessweek.)
LinkedIn isn’t the first Silicon Valley company to
sue parties that’ve used computer programs to scrape data from its site.
Late last year,
Facebook won a long-running case against a company
that collected user data to send spam.
Craigslist has pursued companies
that pull listings from its site and display them in different ways.
In those cases, the companies know who to target.
LinkedIn, however, isn’t quite sure who it’s up against. Filing a lawsuit is
one way to put pressure on Internet service providers to help the networking
platform find out—it’s a tactic used by other technology companies in
similar situations.
“Filing the lawsuit allows you to issue enforceable
subpoenas to third parties,” says Al Saikali, co-chair of the data privacy
and data security practice at law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon. “Otherwise
you’re simply sending a letter to the in-house lawyer at the service
provider, who will usually either ignore it or file it in the trash can
because it has no legal weight, and most service providers try to protect
their users’ anonymity.”
LinkedIn’s lawsuit won’t necessarily unmask the
people behind the scheme. The computers carrying out the activity could very
well be owned by victims of some previous attack; hackers simply have
co-opted the machines without the owners’ knowledge. A court case is an
early step in an investigation, with several more to follow. “If the accused
are sophisticated in any shape or form, it may not help at all,” says
Chester Wisniewski of security firm Sophos.
LinkedIn may not need to identify the John Doe
defendants to claim victory. Saikali guesses the company is looking to
intimidate future bot operators from targeting the site. And the case could
be winnable, even without a known defendant. In recent years,
Microsoft’s (MSFT)
digital crimes unit has won a series of court orders
to shut down the physical infrastructure used to carry out various
cybercrimes, even in instances when it doesn’t know who is behind the
attacks.
As victories go, this one could be mixed, says Jose
Nazario of Arbor Networks. As he told the New York Times: “You can
take out a botnet, but unless you take down the coders and put the clients
behind bars,
they’re just going to go ahead and do this again.”
Time Magazine's 10 U.S. News Stories ---
http://nation.time.com/2013/12/04/top-10-best-u-s-news-stories/#ixzz2p0D5tBw4
Edit Wars Reveal The 10 Most Controversial Topics on Wikipedia ---
Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/522901/best-of-2013-edit-wars-reveal-the-10-most-controversial-topics-on-wikipedia/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140103
WIRED’s Top Science Stories of the Year (2013) ---
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/top-stories-of-the-year-2013/
The 15 Most Popular Posts from Open Culture in 2013 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/the-15-most-popular-posts-from-open-culture-in-2013.html
The 13 "best-love" Brain Pickings articles of 2013
Reflections on how to keep the center solid as you
continue to evolve.
:: READ ARTICLE ::
“Imagine immensities, don’t compromise, and don’t waste
time.” A spectacular illustrated-essay-turned-commencement-address.
:: READ ARTICLE ::
“Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get
— only with what you are expecting to give — which is everything.” From
Shakespeare to Sontag, the most beautiful definitions of the highest human
capacity.
:: READ ARTICLE ::
The playful short story young Mark Twain had written in
1865 at age of 30, newly illustrated by celebrated Russian-born children’s
book illustrator Vladimir Radunsky, mischievously encouraging girls to think
independently rather than blindly obey rules and social mores.
:: READ ARTICLE ::
“Time perception matters because it is the experience of
time that roots us in our mental reality.” The psychology of the ultimate
dimension.
:: READ ARTICLE ::
“The truth is, most of us discover where we are headed
when we arrive.”
:: READ ARTICLE ::
Fantastic read on cultivating the ability to experience
the “geeky rapture” of metaphorical thinking and pattern recognition, plus
the year's best infographics.
:: READ ARTICLE ::
“It is not necessary to accept the choices handed down to
you by life as you know it.” A poignant and beautiful letter to the author's
best friend.
:: READ ARTICLE ::
“Avoid socks. They are a fatal giveaway of a phony
nonconformist.” A delightful vintage piece of cultural satire, timelier than
ever, written and illustrated by a sixteen-year-old girl.
:: READ ARTICLE ::
"I wanted to convey an emotion I have about the beauty of
the world… this feeling about the glories of the universe.” The celebrated
scientist's little-known art, collected by his daughter Michelle.
:: READ ARTICLE ::
What Goethe can teach us about cultivating a healthy
relationship with our finances.
:: READ ARTICLE ::
“You can never know anyone as completely as you want. But
that’s okay, love is better.”
:: READ ARTICLE ::
Beautiful and necessary read on the art-science of
“allowing the various petals of our identity to fully unfold.”
From the Center for Digital Education
10 Top Ed Tech Stories for 2013
1.
Why the 'Maker Movement' is Popular in Schools
A number of forces are driving schools to rethink the way they teach
students.
2.
Google's 80/20 Principle Applies to Students
Educators from Canada to Mexico give students 20 percent of their time to
pursue projects they are passionate about.
3.
7 Tips for School Leaders New to Twitter
Whether you have already started exploring the educational community on
Twitter or have yet to set up an account, here are some tips to help you on
your journey.
4.
What College Students Really Think About Online Courses
Education leaders and politicians often make decisions about online learning
without seeking student input. And since students are their customers,
that's a big mistake.
5.
6 Emerging Technologies in Higher Ed
The 2013 NMC Horizon Project lists six technologies that could be adopted in
colleges and universities over the next five years.
6.
Top 5 Preschool Apps for 2013
A speech-language pathologist from Baltimore City Public Schools shares her
app recommendations.
7.
Google's 80/20 Principle Gives Students Freedom
A group of seniors spends 20 percent of class time on their own projects.
8.
6 Emerging Technologies in K-12 Education
The annual Horizon Report highlights six emerging technologies that could
become mainstream in K-12 education.
9.
The Higher Education Short List of Emerging Technology
The NMC Horizon Project will choose six technologies that could be adopted
over the next five years.
10.
The 'Maker Movement' Inspires Shift in STEM Curriculum
Science, technology, engineering and math curriculum is starting to
emphasize projects including app development.
Bob Jensen's threads on education technology ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm
$4,878 Room and Board Charge for One Night in the Hospital: Those meals
must've been fantastic
"This $55,000 Bill Is The Perfect Example Of Our Broken Hospital System,"
by Lauren F. Friedman, Business Insider, December 30, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/redditors-appendectomy-cost-5502931-2013-12
See a copy of the bill itself (note how the charge for aspirin is now hidden)
Jensen Comment
Cost Accounting Student Assignment: Backflush the line items on this bill
to identify possible components and justify the charges
Hint: Don't forget hospital bad debts and executive salaries and subtle
kickbacks to doctors.
For example, it's common for physicians in the Emergency Room to recommend at
least one night at $10,000 in ICU when a $4,878 room for one night would
probably suffice.
Bob Jensen's health care messaging updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm
"I Have Not Yet Begun to Write: Responding to the New York Times’ Farrago
of Dishonesty, Insinuations, and Ad Hominem ," by
Craig
Pirrong, Streetwise Professor, December 10, 2014 ---
http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?p=7930
“Streetwise Professor” is the web persona of me, who happens to be Craig
Pirrong.* My day job (to the extent that I have a real job) is as
Professor of Finance and Energy Markets Director of the Global Energy
Management Institute at the Bauer College of Business, University of
Houston. I have been in academia since 1989–shortly before the Ferruzzi
soybean squeeze on the Chicago Board of Trade in July of that year,
which was quite propitious and which had a big impact on the trajectory
of my career. I have a PhD in Business Economics from the Graduate
School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Looking at my cv one
might have a hard time identifying a common thread, but it is there. My
formal training is as an industrial organization economist, but I took
the PhD finance sequence at Chicago. My thesis was on an application of
core theory, completed under the tutelage of a great economist, Lester
Telser. I think core theory is an extremely valuable tool, but the
profession is not quite so enthusiastic. During my first academic job in
the Business Economics Group at the Michigan Business School,
recognizing that core theory was not my road to academic success, I was
casting around for a new research direction, and Ferruzzi provided it.
Through a series of serendipitous events, I had the opportunity to work
on a project evaluating how to re-design the Chicago Board of Trade
Markets to reduce the likelihood of a repeat of the events of July,
1989. This led to many academic spinoffs.
Specifically, the Ferruzzi episode and my work on the CBT project
made me aware of many interesting points of contact between finance and
IO, and much of my research has explored that nexus. I’ve written a good
deal on manipulation in financial markets–manipulation is a
manifestation of market power, which is a core concept in IO. Since
exchanges have some legal responsibility to prevent and deter
manipulation in financial markets, I became interested in the incentives
that exchanges face in carrying out such tasks. This in turn required an
analysis of the organization of governance of exchanges–another
IO-related subject. Moreover, it soon became clear that the incentives
of exchanges to adopt efficiency enhancing measures also depends on the
nature of competition between them, the analysis of which resulted in
several articles on the “macrostructure”–the industrial organization– of
financial markets.
Along the way, the study of commodity markets like soybeans or oil
which have been manipulated from time to time sparked an interest in
commodity price formation and commodity price dynamics, and their
implications for derivatives pricing. My most active research in this
area focuses on electricity prices and electricity derivatives, but I am
also working on models applicable to storable commodities.
My academic work has also allowed me to serve as an expert in legal
cases involving commodities and derivatives.
Outside of academia and litigation consulting my time is spent
primarily with my family–my wife Terry, and my daughters Renee and
Genevieve. I have a deep interest in history–particularly the history of
the US Civil War–that dates back to my childhood, and that I continue to
pursue through reading and travel; I would have become a historian if I
had been independently wealthy. I am also a big Chicago sports fan,
although I have to say that the Cubs’ persistent ineptitude is slowly
draining me of my interest in baseball, and the Bulls–oy. The
Blackhawks–double oy. The Bears, you say? Well, we’ll see if they’re for
real or not soon.
* The original version of this page didn’t include my name. Never
really thought about it. I wrote it in haste late one night in
January, 2006, and didn’t really look at it after it was originally
posted. I didn’t intend for this to be an anonymous blog, and I
certainly gave enough biographical and photographic evidence to let
anyone interested figure out who I am. Indeed, many people figured it
out, and I also gave out the blog name to a lot of folks. I’ve edited
this bio page to include my name because a reporter who has interviewed
me from time to time in the past came across it, and thought that the
blogger sounded familiar, but wasn’t sure it was me. So, now there’s
no possibility for confusion.
- See more at: http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?page_id=8#sthash.YwXYreyj.dpuf
“Streetwise Professor” is the web persona of me, who happens to be Craig
Pirrong.* My day job (to the extent that I have a real job) is as
Professor of Finance and Energy Markets Director of the Global Energy
Management Institute at the Bauer College of Business, University of
Houston. I have been in academia since 1989–shortly before the Ferruzzi
soybean squeeze on the Chicago Board of Trade in July of that year,
which was quite propitious and which had a big impact on the trajectory
of my career. I have a PhD in Business Economics from the Graduate
School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Looking at my cv one
might have a hard time identifying a common thread, but it is there. My
formal training is as an industrial organization economist, but I took
the PhD finance sequence at Chicago. My thesis was on an application of
core theory, completed under the tutelage of a great economist, Lester
Telser. I think core theory is an extremely valuable tool, but the
profession is not quite so enthusiastic. During my first academic job in
the Business Economics Group at the Michigan Business School,
recognizing that core theory was not my road to academic success, I was
casting around for a new research direction, and Ferruzzi provided it.
Through a series of serendipitous events, I had the opportunity to work
on a project evaluating how to re-design the Chicago Board of Trade
Markets to reduce the likelihood of a repeat of the events of July,
1989. This led to many academic spinoffs.
Specifically, the Ferruzzi episode and my work on the CBT project
made me aware of many interesting points of contact between finance and
IO, and much of my research has explored that nexus. I’ve written a good
deal on manipulation in financial markets–manipulation is a
manifestation of market power, which is a core concept in IO. Since
exchanges have some legal responsibility to prevent and deter
manipulation in financial markets, I became interested in the incentives
that exchanges face in carrying out such tasks. This in turn required an
analysis of the organization of governance of exchanges–another
IO-related subject. Moreover, it soon became clear that the incentives
of exchanges to adopt efficiency enhancing measures also depends on the
nature of competition between them, the analysis of which resulted in
several articles on the “macrostructure”–the industrial organization– of
financial markets.
Along the way, the study of commodity markets like soybeans or oil
which have been manipulated from time to time sparked an interest in
commodity price formation and commodity price dynamics, and their
implications for derivatives pricing. My most active research in this
area focuses on electricity prices and electricity derivatives, but I am
also working on models applicable to storable commodities.
My academic work has also allowed me to serve as an expert in legal
cases involving commodities and derivatives.
Outside of academia and litigation consulting my time is spent
primarily with my family–my wife Terry, and my daughters Renee and
Genevieve. I have a deep interest in history–particularly the history of
the US Civil War–that dates back to my childhood, and that I continue to
pursue through reading and travel; I would have become a historian if I
had been independently wealthy. I am also a big Chicago sports fan,
although I have to say that the Cubs’ persistent ineptitude is slowly
draining me of my interest in baseball, and the Bulls–oy. The
Blackhawks–double oy. The Bears, you say? Well, we’ll see if they’re for
real or not soon.
* The original version of this page didn’t include my name. Never
really thought about it. I wrote it in haste late one night in
January, 2006, and didn’t really look at it after it was originally
posted. I didn’t intend for this to be an anonymous blog, and I
certainly gave enough biographical and photographic evidence to let
anyone interested figure out who I am. Indeed, many people figured it
out, and I also gave out the blog name to a lot of folks. I’ve edited
this bio page to include my name because a reporter who has interviewed
me from time to time in the past came across it, and thought that the
blogger sounded familiar, but wasn’t sure it was me. So, now there’s
no possibility for confusion.
- See more at: http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?page_id=8#sthash.YwXYreyj.dpuf
“Streetwise Professor” is the web persona of me, who happens to be Craig
Pirrong.* My day job (to the extent that I have a real job) is as
Professor of Finance and Energy Markets Director of the Global Energy
Management Institute at the Bauer College of Business, University of
Houston. I have been in academia since 1989–shortly before the Ferruzzi
soybean squeeze on the Chicago Board of Trade in July of that year,
which was quite propitious and which had a big impact on the trajectory
of my career. I have a PhD in Business Economics from the Graduate
School of Business at the University of Chicago.
Looking at my cv one
might have a hard time identifying a common thread, but it is there. My
formal training is as an industrial organization economist, but I took
the PhD finance sequence at Chicago. My thesis was on an application of
core theory, completed under the tutelage of a great economist, Lester
Telser. I think core theory is an extremely valuable tool, but the
profession is not quite so enthusiastic. During my first academic job in
the Business Economics Group at the Michigan Business School,
recognizing that core theory was not my road to academic success, I was
casting around for a new research direction, and Ferruzzi provided it.
Through a series of serendipitous events, I had the opportunity to work
on a project evaluating how to re-design the Chicago Board of Trade
Markets to reduce the likelihood of a repeat of the events of July,
1989. This led to many academic spinoffs.
Specifically, the Ferruzzi episode and my work on the CBT project
made me aware of many interesting points of contact between finance and
IO, and much of my research has explored that nexus. I’ve written a good
deal on manipulation in financial markets–manipulation is a
manifestation of market power, which is a core concept in IO. Since
exchanges have some legal responsibility to prevent and deter
manipulation in financial markets, I became interested in the incentives
that exchanges face in carrying out such tasks. This in turn required an
analysis of the organization of governance of exchanges–another
IO-related subject. Moreover, it soon became clear that the incentives
of exchanges to adopt efficiency enhancing measures also depends on the
nature of competition between them, the analysis of which resulted in
several articles on the “macrostructure”–the industrial organization– of
financial markets.
Along the way, the study of commodity markets like soybeans or oil
which have been manipulated from time to time sparked an interest in
commodity price formation and commodity price dynamics, and their
implications for derivatives pricing. My most active research in this
area focuses on electricity prices and electricity derivatives, but I am
also working on models applicable to storable commodities.
My academic work has also allowed me to serve as an expert in legal
cases involving commodities and derivatives.
Outside of academia and litigation consulting my time is spent
primarily with my family–my wife Terry, and my daughters Renee and
Genevieve. I have a deep interest in history–particularly the history of
the US Civil War–that dates back to my childhood, and that I continue to
pursue through reading and travel; I would have become a historian if I
had been independently wealthy. I am also a big Chicago sports fan,
although I have to say that the Cubs’ persistent ineptitude is slowly
draining me of my interest in baseball, and the Bulls–oy. The
Blackhawks–double oy. The Bears, you say? Well, we’ll see if they’re for
real or not soon.
* The original version of this page didn’t include my name. Never
really thought about it. I wrote it in haste late one night in
January, 2006, and didn’t really look at it after it was originally
posted. I didn’t intend for this to be an anonymous blog, and I
certainly gave enough biographical and photographic evidence to let
anyone interested figure out who I am. Indeed, many people figured it
out, and I also gave out the blog name to a lot of folks. I’ve edited
this bio page to include my name because a reporter who has interviewed
me from time to time in the past came across it, and thought that the
blogger sounded familiar, but wasn’t sure it was me. So, now there’s
no possibility for confusion.
- See more at: http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?page_id=8#sthash.YwXYreyj.dpuf
The New York Times,
in
an article written by David Kocieniewski, has singled out me and the
University of Illinois’ Scott Irwin for an extended
ad hominem
treatment alleging that our statements and research on commodity
speculation are tainted due to financial connections with “Wall Street.”
As one individual put it to me, the article is “nasty, biased and
thinly researched.” All true (if incomplete-the list of sins is even
longer). But at the risk of providing credence to the incredible, I
believe some sort of response is warranted. So here it goes.
Let me
start by saying I have been very fortunate. I have been able to pursue
my academic passions, publish papers and books on them, and consult and
testify as an expert witness on many matters related to these passions.
Through each and all parts of this, I have been true to my Chicago
School roots and to what I thought the data and good economics showed.
My opinions on speculation are the product of my training and my
research, period.
Moreover, completely contrary to the impression in the NYT piece, the
vast bulk of my consulting and testifying work has been adverse
to Wall Street and commodity trading firms. Virtually none of this work
relates to the alleged subject of the NYT story: the impact of
speculation on commodity prices. In fact, much of this work relates to
market manipulation (which is distinct from speculation) by commodity
traders. I have been, and continue to be, on the side of plaintiffs in
attempting to hold traders who abuse markets accountable for their
conduct.
The failure of David Kocieniewski to point out this salient fact
alone betrays his utter unprofessionalism and bias, and is particularly
emblematic of the shockingly shoddy excuse for journalism that his piece
represents.
Moreover, none of the research or writing I have done on the
speculation issue received financial support from any firm or entity
with even a remote stake in this issue. I
started writing about this on my blog in 2006, and have been arguing
this issue on my own time with no financial support from anyone.
Unlike, say,
Ken Singleton (whom I admire immensely and am not accusing of
anything remiss) I have not written any commissioned research on the
subject of commodity speculation. My work that has been done with firms
that are connected, in some way, to commodities trading has been on
subjects unrelated to financial speculation, and/or with firms that are
not financial speculators, and/or took place well after my opinions on
the subject were a matter of public record, including in national
publications like the Wall Street Journal. Therefore, to
suggest some connection between my paid outside work and my opinions on
speculation is misleading, deceptive, and plainly libelous.
True to my Chicago School roots, I believe this is a data issue
informed by a strong understanding of the theory and empirics of
commodity pricing-a literature to which I have made many peer reviewed
contributions. And I have been open and remain open to reviewing any
data on any market. I further note that the vast bulk of other research
on this subject, undertaken by world-class scholars including James
Hamilton and Lutz Killian supports my conclusions (and those of Scott
Irwin). Ironically, considering the where this piece appears, even
Paul Krugman is in agreement.
The simple explanation for my views is that I am avowedly a “super-freshwater
economist” by training and conviction. Because I know that drinking
saltwater makes you go crazy. Kidding aside, my work on speculation is a
piece with all of my academic work, my background, and my training.
Randall Kroszner, former Fed governor, told me once that I was one of
the last true Chicago School economists. That’s a compliment, that’s
pretty accurate, and that’s aspirational. That is a much better
predictor of where I come down on any issue than anything else:
including money.
What’s more, I do not solicit, have never solicited and would not
solicit money for any institution or purpose based upon my views of
speculation or the policy issues relating to speculation. Or any other
issue.
A couple of other points before getting into specifics.
First, there are no coincidences, comrades. The NY Times has been
Tiger Beat effusive in its praise for Gary Gensler of the CFTC. This
piece attacking two of the most prominent academic critics of Gensler’s
efforts to impose a speculative position limits rule comes out days
after the Commission approved a new version of the rule, and is in the
midst of the comment period leading up to the formulation of a final
rule. Gensler fought for this rule for 5 years, and he views it as an
important part of his legacy. That is, there is a clear political
agenda at work here: to kneecap those who have the audacity to oppose
the regulatory agenda of Gensler and his media acolytes.
Second, this kind of ad hominem attack will have the effect
(which is likely intended) of serving as a warning to other academics
who cross powerful political interests with their academic research, and
who have the temerity to speak out on controversial matters. How can
this be seen as anything other than having a chilling effect on other
academic researchers in the the financial and commodity markets? But
maybe that’s exactly the point.
Now some specifics.
- There are many egregious distortions in the article, but the
most egregious is Kocieniewski’s lying by omission. Lying. By.
Omission. Specifically, he omits the salient fact that the bulk of
my consulting engagements (in the form of expert testimony) have
been adverse to commodity traders and banks. I have
testified numerous times about manipulations by these types of
firms, and have testified against them on other matters unrelated to
manipulation.
- Let’s examine some of the firms I have been adverse to in my
work over the past 20 years, shall we? Off the top of my head: BP
(twice); AEP; Ferruzzi (a commodity trading firm); Duke Energy;
Nasdaq market makers; JP Morgan; MetLife; Morgan Stanley; Goldman
Sachs; Cargill; Amaranth (a hedge fund that was one of the largest
speculative-industry players in the country); Moore Capital (one of
the world’s largest hedge funds, and another huge speculative
industry player); Optiver (a major trading firm); Pimco (the world’s
largest fixed income fund); Merrill Lynch (twice); Sumitomo (major
copper trader); Microsoft; Cantor Fitzgerald (twice); and on and on.
A veritable murderers’ row of banksters and traders and energy
firms.
- I say again: by omitting any mention of this work the Times is
lying by omission, and presenting a biased
and extremely distorted picture of me and my work. This biased
selectivity makes a joke of the Times’ motto “all the news
that is fit to print”. Leaving out this salient fact makes it
plain that Kocieniewski and the Times have an agenda, and no
interest in presenting a complete picture of me and my work. The
Times article (inaccurately-see below) lists some of my work on the
side of commodity traders and exchanges to create the impression
that I am their creature, but leaves out the work in which I have
been their fierce antagonist-and in the performance of which I have
contributed to their payment of damages running into the
many hundreds of millions of dollars. This failure to mention
evidence that contradicts his pre-conceived conclusion is shoddy,
dishonest journalism.
- Nowhere in the article does the article point out any mistakes
or inaccuracies in my research or Scott’s, only making it plain that
the problem is that our research does not fit his and the NYT’s
preconceived notions about speculators. I spoke to the reporter for
quite a while. Mostly about the substance of my arguments. None of
that made it into the article, and the reporter wasn’t even able to
find another academic to criticize my arguments (or Scott’s):
there’s no evidence he even tried, suggesting that the substance was
irrelevant to him. The failure to address the substance of my
arguments is very telling. If I am merely advancing some
illegitimate commercial interest, my arguments would be easy to
refute, no? Moreover, Kocieniewski fails to mention my numerous
peer-reviewed publications on commodities. This provides
independent validation (though imperfect, because I have serious
criticisms of peer review) of my work on the behavior of commodity
prices.
- There are several factual errors. Most notably, Kocieniewski claims
I wrote a “flurry” of comment letters on speculation/position
limits. I guess in the NYT Thesaurus, “flurry” is a synonym for
“one.” For I wrote a single comment on the issue: as I noted in an
earlier post, the comment must have had something of an effect
because the CFTC’s new speculative limit proposal eliminates
language I had criticized in my letter. (I also wrote a comment on
the CFTC rule proposal relating to clearinghouse governance. Thus
my “flurry” of comments to the CFTC on Frankendodd totals two
snowflakes.) Also, the article ominously suggests that I simultaneously
had undisclosed “financial ties” to banks and trading firms when I
wrote the study on the systemic risk of commodity trading firms for
the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA). This is not
correct. I agreed to write a white paper on commodity trading firms
for Trafigura more than a year after writing the GFMA report.
Indeed, the GFMA report led to the Trafigura engagement. Which
again indicates that public revelations of my views typically
precede any paid retention.
- Obviously,
the
story of the GFMA study, which I have discussed earlier on the
blog, demonstrates clearly that my opinions are not for sale, and
that I have stood up to and do stand up to “Wall Street.” I would
specifically note that one thing that I adamantly refused to remove
from that study, despite the insistence of the attorney for JP
Morgan’s commodity trading division, was my statements that
commodity trading firms have been known to manipulate markets.
- Kocieniewski’s’ claim that I somehow conceal my consulting work
by referring to myself “solely as an academic” is refuted by the
biography linked to in his story. That bio includes the
following language, which I include in the bio for every speaking
engagement I undertake: “Professor Pirrong has consulted widely. His
clients have included electric utilities, major commodity processors
and consumers, and commodity exchanges around the world.”
Therefore, Kocieniewski’s characterization of how I represent
myself is deceptive and fundamentally dishonest. I gladly reveal
that I consult because it suggests I might actually know something
about the real world that real people might learn from.
- Kocieniewski’s representations about disclosures are invalidated
by his dishonest handling of chronology. He insinuates that I did
not disclose my work for the CME or commodity trading firms when I
testified before Congress in 2008. But the work for CME Group, GFMA,
Trafigura, etc., that Kocieniewski mentions occurred in 2011 and
later. My disclosures in my testimony were accurate at the time I
made them. But I guess I should have invented a time machine, or
become Karnac the Magnificent and disclosed things that I would do
in the future.
- The Times insinuates that my work for CME, Trafigura, TruMarx
and others is related to the speculation issue, and hence taints my
opinions about this matter. My work for CME has consisted of
evaluating the performance of the WTI contract as
a hedging mechanism and an expert witness engagement regarding a
patent on electronic trading systems: neither has anything to do
with commodity speculation. Trafigura is a physical commodity
trader that uses derivatives almost exclusively to hedge, not
speculate. TruMarx launched a platform to trade physical energy,
primarily between end users: again, nothing to do with financial
speculation. These matters and these companies are not related to
the financial speculation issue, and Trafigura and TruMarx in
particular have no real stake in the speculation debate. Moreover,
my work for them has nothing to do with the speculation issue.
Either Kocieniewski is ignorant of the fact that many commodity
traders are not speculators, in which case he is not competent to be
writing this story, or he is counting on the inability of his
readers to understand the great diversity of firms involved in
commodity markets, most notably the fact that many (most?) are not
speculators, in which case he is attempting to mislead. I know
where I am laying my bets.
- The Times also mis-states facts about Scott Irwin, but that is
mainly for Scott to correct. One particularly egregious thing
stands out which I cannot let pass though. Kocieniewski talks about
the $1.5 million that CME Group donated to the University of
Illinois. But not one cent-one cent-of that went to Irwin’s
Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, let alone to
Irwin personally. To say that Kocieniewski’s connection of the
CME’s financial support for the University of Illinois (a $4.4
billion dollar operation) and Scott Irwin is scurrilous is an
extreme understatement.
- See more at: http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?p=7930#sthash.itwAbQZh.dpuf
The New York Times, in
an article written by David Kocieniewski, has
singled out me and the University of Illinois’ Scott Irwin for an extended ad
hominem treatment alleging that our statements and research on commodity
speculation are tainted due to financial connections with “Wall Street.” As
one individual put it to me, the article is “nasty, biased and thinly
researched.” All true (if incomplete-the list of sins is even longer).
But at the risk of providing credence to the incredible, I believe some
sort of response is warranted. So here it goes.
Let me
start by saying I have been very fortunate. I have been able to pursue my
academic passions, publish papers and books on them, and consult and testify
as an expert witness on many matters related to these passions. Through each
and all parts of this, I have been true to my Chicago School roots and to
what I thought the data and good economics showed. My opinions on
speculation are the product of my training and my research, period.
Moreover, completely contrary to the impression in the NYT piece, the vast
bulk of my consulting and testifying work has been adverse to Wall
Street and commodity trading firms. Virtually none of this work relates to
the alleged subject of the NYT story: the impact of speculation on commodity
prices. In fact, much of this work relates to market manipulation (which is
distinct from speculation) by commodity traders. I have been, and continue
to be, on the side of plaintiffs in attempting to hold traders who abuse
markets accountable for their conduct.
The
failure of David Kocieniewski to point out this salient fact alone betrays
his utter unprofessionalism and bias, and is particularly emblematic of the
shockingly shoddy excuse for journalism that his piece represents.
Moreover, none of the research or writing I
have done on the speculation issue received financial support from any firm
or entity with even a remote stake in this issue. I
started writing about this on my blog in 2006,
and have been arguing
this issue on my own time with no financial
support from anyone. Unlike, say,
Ken Singleton
(whom I admire immensely and am not accusing of anything remiss) I have not
written any commissioned research on the subject of commodity speculation.
My work that has been done with firms that are connected, in some way, to
commodities trading has been on subjects unrelated to financial speculation,
and/or with firms that are not financial speculators, and/or took place well
after my opinions on the subject were a matter of public record, including
in national publications like the Wall Street Journal. Therefore, to
suggest some connection between my paid outside work and my opinions on
speculation is misleading, deceptive, and plainly libelous.
True to my Chicago School roots, I believe this is a
data issue informed by a strong understanding of the theory and empirics of
commodity pricing-a literature to which I have made many peer reviewed
contributions. And I have been open and remain open to reviewing any data
on any market. I further note that the vast bulk of other research on this
subject, undertaken by world-class scholars including James Hamilton and
Lutz Killian supports my conclusions (and those of Scott Irwin).
Ironically, considering the where this piece appears, even
Paul Krugman is in agreement.
The simple explanation for my views is that I am
avowedly a “super-freshwater
economist” by training and conviction.
Because I know that drinking saltwater makes you go crazy. Kidding aside,
my work on speculation is a piece with all of my academic work, my
background, and my training. Randall Kroszner, former Fed governor, told me
once that I was one of the last true Chicago School economists. That’s a
compliment, that’s pretty accurate, and that’s aspirational. That is a much
better predictor of where I come down on any issue than anything else:
including money.
What’s
more, I do not solicit, have never solicited and would not solicit money for
any institution or purpose based upon my views of speculation or the policy
issues relating to speculation. Or any other issue.
A
couple of other points before getting into specifics.
First,
there are no coincidences, comrades. The NY Times has been Tiger Beat
effusive in its praise for Gary Gensler of the CFTC. This piece attacking
two of the most prominent academic critics of Gensler’s efforts to impose a
speculative position limits rule comes out days after the Commission
approved a new version of the rule, and is in the midst of the comment
period leading up to the formulation of a final rule. Gensler fought for
this rule for 5 years, and he views it as an important part of his legacy.
That is, there is a clear political agenda at work here: to kneecap those
who have the audacity to oppose the regulatory agenda of Gensler and his
media acolytes.
Second, this kind of ad hominem attack will have the effect (which is
likely intended) of serving as a warning to other academics who cross
powerful political interests with their academic research, and who have the
temerity to speak out on controversial matters. How can this be seen as
anything other than having a chilling effect on other academic researchers
in the the financial and commodity markets? But maybe that’s exactly the
point.
Now
some specifics.
-
There are many egregious distortions in the article, but the most
egregious is Kocieniewski’s lying by omission. Lying. By. Omission.
Specifically, he omits the salient fact that the bulk of my consulting
engagements (in the form of expert testimony) have been adverse
to commodity traders and banks. I have testified numerous times about
manipulations by these types of firms, and have testified against them
on other matters unrelated to manipulation.
-
Let’s examine some of the firms I have been adverse to in my work over
the past 20 years, shall we? Off the top of my head: BP (twice); AEP;
Ferruzzi (a commodity trading firm); Duke Energy; Nasdaq market makers;
JP Morgan; MetLife; Morgan Stanley; Goldman Sachs; Cargill; Amaranth (a
hedge fund that was one of the largest speculative-industry players in
the country); Moore Capital (one of the world’s largest hedge funds, and
another huge speculative industry player); Optiver (a major trading
firm); Pimco (the world’s largest fixed income fund); Merrill Lynch
(twice); Sumitomo (major copper trader); Microsoft; Cantor Fitzgerald
(twice); and on and on. A veritable murderers’ row of banksters and
traders and energy firms.
-
I
say again: by omitting any mention of this work the Times is lying
by omission, and presenting a biased and extremely distorted
picture of me and my work. This biased selectivity makes a joke of the
Times’ motto “all the news that is fit to print”. Leaving out
this salient fact makes it plain that Kocieniewski and the Times have an
agenda, and no interest in presenting a complete picture of me and my
work. The Times article (inaccurately-see below) lists some of my work
on the side of commodity traders and exchanges to create the impression
that I am their creature, but leaves out the work in which I have been
their fierce antagonist-and in the performance of which I have
contributed to their payment of damages running into the many hundreds
of millions of dollars. This failure to mention evidence that
contradicts his pre-conceived conclusion is shoddy, dishonest
journalism.
-
Nowhere in the article does the article point out any mistakes or
inaccuracies in my research or Scott’s, only making it plain that the
problem is that our research does not fit his and the NYT’s preconceived
notions about speculators. I spoke to the reporter for quite a while.
Mostly about the substance of my arguments. None of that made it into
the article, and the reporter wasn’t even able to find another academic
to criticize my arguments (or Scott’s): there’s no evidence he even
tried, suggesting that the substance was irrelevant to him. The failure
to address the substance of my arguments is very telling. If I am
merely advancing some illegitimate commercial interest, my arguments
would be easy to refute, no? Moreover, Kocieniewski fails to mention my
numerous peer-reviewed publications on commodities. This provides
independent validation (though imperfect, because I have serious
criticisms of peer review) of my work on the behavior of commodity
prices.
-
There are several factual errors. Most notably, Kocieniewski claims I
wrote a “flurry” of comment letters on speculation/position limits. I
guess in the NYT Thesaurus, “flurry” is a synonym for “one.” For I
wrote a single comment on the issue: as I noted in an earlier post, the
comment must have had something of an effect because the CFTC’s new
speculative limit proposal eliminates language I had criticized in my
letter. (I also wrote a comment on the CFTC rule proposal relating to
clearinghouse governance. Thus my “flurry” of comments to the CFTC on
Frankendodd totals two snowflakes.) Also, the article ominously
suggests that I simultaneously had undisclosed “financial ties”
to banks and trading firms when I wrote the study on the systemic risk
of commodity trading firms for the Global Financial Markets Association
(GFMA). This is not correct. I agreed to write a white paper on
commodity trading firms for Trafigura more than a year after writing the
GFMA report. Indeed, the GFMA report led to the Trafigura engagement.
Which again indicates that public revelations of my views typically
precede any paid retention.
-
Obviously,
the story of the GFMA study,
which I have discussed earlier on the blog,
demonstrates clearly that my opinions are not for sale, and that I have
stood up to and do stand up to “Wall Street.” I would specifically note
that one thing that I adamantly refused to remove from that study,
despite the insistence of the attorney for JP Morgan’s commodity trading
division, was my statements that commodity trading firms have been known
to manipulate markets.
-
Kocieniewski’s’ claim that I somehow conceal my consulting work by
referring to myself “solely as an academic” is refuted by the biography linked
to in his story. That bio includes the following language, which I
include in the bio for every speaking engagement I undertake: “Professor
Pirrong has consulted widely. His clients have included electric
utilities, major commodity processors and consumers, and commodity
exchanges around the world.” Therefore, Kocieniewski’s characterization
of how I represent myself is deceptive and fundamentally dishonest. I
gladly reveal that I consult because it suggests I might actually know
something about the real world that real people might learn from.
-
Kocieniewski’s representations about disclosures are invalidated by his
dishonest handling of chronology. He insinuates that I did not disclose
my work for the CME or commodity trading firms when I testified before
Congress in 2008. But the work for CME Group, GFMA, Trafigura, etc.,
that Kocieniewski mentions occurred in 2011 and later. My disclosures
in my testimony were accurate at the time I made them. But I guess I
should have invented a time machine, or become Karnac the Magnificent
and disclosed things that I would do in the future.
-
The Times insinuates that my work for CME,
Trafigura, TruMarx and others is related to the speculation issue, and
hence taints my opinions about this matter. My work for CME has
consisted of
evaluating the performance of the WTI contract
as a hedging mechanism and an expert
witness engagement regarding a patent on electronic trading systems:
neither has anything to do with commodity speculation. Trafigura is a
physical commodity trader that uses derivatives almost exclusively to
hedge, not speculate. TruMarx launched a platform to trade physical
energy, primarily between end users: again, nothing to do with financial
speculation. These matters and these companies are not related to the
financial speculation issue, and Trafigura and TruMarx in particular
have no real stake in the speculation debate. Moreover, my work for
them has nothing to do with the speculation issue. Either Kocieniewski
is ignorant of the fact that many commodity traders are not speculators,
in which case he is not competent to be writing this story, or he is
counting on the inability of his readers to understand the great
diversity of firms involved in commodity markets, most notably the fact
that many (most?) are not speculators, in which case he is attempting to
mislead. I know where I am laying my bets.
-
The Times also mis-states facts about Scott Irwin, but that is mainly
for Scott to correct. One particularly egregious thing stands out which
I cannot let pass though. Kocieniewski talks about the $1.5 million
that CME Group donated to the University of Illinois. But not one
cent-one cent-of that went to Irwin’s Department of Agricultural and
Consumer Economics, let alone to Irwin personally. To say that
Kocieniewski’s connection of the CME’s financial support for the
University of Illinois (a $4.4 billion dollar operation) and Scott Irwin
is scurrilous is an extreme understatement.
-
See more at:
http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?p=7930#sthash.itwAbQZh.dpuf
PS
Paul Krugman at one time made a fortune consulting for Enron while he was a
tenured professor at Princeton University. Now he's a hero of the New York
Times writing a blog column for the NYT.
Here Are The USA States and Canadian Provinces That Everyone Using Atlas
Van Lines Moved Into And Out Of In 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/atlas-2013-moving-map-2014-1
Caution
The data are based upon only household moves of Atlas Van Lines. It probably is
misleading to extrapolate the outcomes to total migration data. That means,
among other things, that California is not really in steady-state yet. And
Florida may be drowning in retirees who sold all their possessions up north and
simply bought new condos, flip flops, and shorts after landing in Florida
airports.
Compare the historical patterns here ---
http://www.atlasvanlines.com/migration-patterns/archives/
Jensen Comment
There are some surprises here, notably the household moves from nearly all of
Canada into the USA. Reasons could be climate, economic opportunity. lower
taxes, and a desire for Obamacare. Yeah Right! The provinces having the highest
percentages of outbounders are Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec. But the flows
across the USA's northern border are nothing like the flood tides on its
southern border. Most of the moves across the southern border did not use van
lines of any type.
Another surprise is that California is not hemorrhaging with population net
loss due to having high and ever increasing taxes. The states with the highest
percentages of outbound population were Connecticut, New York, and Indiana.
Connecticut and New York outbounders were probably driven by high and
ever-increasing taxes. But Indiana's outbounders confuse me. The highest
inbounder states are largely due to low taxes and oil and gas opportunities ---
except for North Carolina. What's in North Carolina?
Florida is a bit of a surprise. I would have guessed it was flooding in new
tax dodgers and sun-seeking retirees. The same goes for Arizona, although
Arizona has fewer tax incentives.
Nevada is also a bit of a surprise because of the tremendous tax incentives.
But Nevada is the worst of the 50 USA states in terms of job opportunities.
New Hampshire is one of the states with a high proportion if inbounders. I
will vote for a 10-foot double fence surrounding the entire state. Come on
folks. There's no oil and gas or jobs in New Hampshire. Must be the lure of low
taxes.
The bottom line is that this is mostly an exercise for students seeking to
learn how to mislead with statistics and graphs.
Chuck Pier forwarded more a more accurate migration graphic for the USA
---
http://vizynary.com/2013/11/18/restless-america-state-to-state-migration-in-2012/
California and New York seem to be losing it. Wonder why?
Over 3,000 Cuban doctors defected from Venezuela in 2013: Most Cuban
doctors defecting to the US over the last 12 months came from Venezuela, ---
http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/131228/over-3000-cuban-doctors-defected-from-venezuela-in-2013
Over the last 12 months some 3,000 Cubans, mostly
doctors, have arrived in the United States after deserting one of the
Venezuelan government's social programs they staff. This accounts for a 60%
increase as compared with 2012.
In 2012 there were about 5,000 refugee Cuban
doctors and nurses in the United States coming from all over the world.
Through December 1, 2013 this figure had surged to 8,000, 98% of them came
from Venezuela.
These are estimates by Dr. Julio Cesar Alfonso,
head of the South Florida group Solidarity Without Borders Inc. (SWB), which
helps Cuban medical professionals who try to desert the medical programs
Havana sells worldwide as "exports of services."
Venezuela hosts the largest contingent of Cuban
medical professionals under the cooperation agreement signed by Caracas and
Havana in 2003.
By 2012, 44,804 Cubans staffed the seven social
programs starting in 2003, according to the last official data released.
"In 2012 we had 5,000 refugee medical professionals
in the United States under federal assistance, but that figure has surged so
far in 2013 reaching 8,000 doctors, 98% of whom defected from Venezuela
because of continuously worsening conditions in that country," Alfonso says.
"Most Cubans who have defected complain about
low salaries, late payment, increased workload in the Barrio Adentro
neighborhood clinics and CDIs (Comprehensive Diagnostic Centers) across
Venezuela, which to some critics amounts to modern-day slavery," Alfonso
says.
"Cuban doctors only get USD 300 a month, but the
Venezuelan government pays the Castro regime around USD 6,000 per doctor, so
individual doctors are paid less than 10% of what Cuba collects," Alfonso
says.
Since 2006, Cuban doctors and some other health
workers who are serving their government overseas are allowed to request a
United States visa under the Cuban Medical Professional Parole (CMPP)
Program.
After requesting assistance from the US Embassy in
Caracas, most doctors defect to the United States via Colombia, but Brazil
is also being used as an alternative transit route to freedom.
Cuban medical professionals are required to
produce numerous patient records for the purposes of drafting reports, many
of which contain patient data that have been tampered with.
"This is done so that Cuba can show positive
reports to the Venezuelan government," Alfonso says.
Jensen Comment
Cuba and Venezuela have done more than nearly all other nations have done more
to eliminate income inequality than other nations. Contrary to the lies you hear
from Michael Moore, their efforts do not appear to be healthy. Soon the U.S. and
parts of Europe may be getting an influx of very skilled French physicians.
Warning: The numbers in this article need to be validated, but this
should not be too difficult to do since the U.S. government has records most of
these types of defections as opposed to records on people wading across the Rio
Grande. There will also be records on defectors seeking certifications to
practice, many of which will probably be in Florida among the many Cuban
defectors already located in and around Miami.
"The Graying of America (Or Bad Demography)," by Barry Ritholtz ,
January 3rd, 2014 ---
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2014/01/the-graying-of-america-youngest-boomers-turn-50-this-year/
Most of the sunshine states are doing well with net increases in retired folks
--- except for California!
Questions
How does the English Literature major differ from a Sociology major or a Gender
Studies major at UCLA?
Would Accounting Majors object if we did the same thing in the accounting
curriculum?
Jensen Comment
There can be differences between sexual orientation studies in sociology versus
English literature in term of focus on selected scholars in history and perhaps
neglected contributions of those scholars to a discipline. But I think the
research and writing contributions should stand on their own apart from the
gender, race, and sexual orientation of the scholar.
I sympathize that we should expand what we know and teach in every academic
discipline. Genetic discoveries should replace much of what we used to teach in
biology. Surgeons should become skilled with laser scalpels. We should learn
more about the important contributions of diverse races and women in history.
But do we really care to study the sexual orientation of John Maynard Keynes
if doing so pushes out some of the required study of his economic theories? I
don't! His sexual orientation was his personal business.
I think undergraduate students in any discipline facing certification
examinations would object if certification examination content was extensively
removed from the curriculum in favor of extensive sociology and gender studies
content. For example, accounting majors would object if we took most CPA
examination content out of the curriculum in favor of most any other academic
content. Engineering majors would object if they took most engineering out of
the curriculum. Nursing majors would object if they had studied minimal nursing
examination content. The same with pharmacy majors, education majors, etc. Who
cares about English "Literature" majors? Sigh!
It's bad enough that we took accounting out of accountancy doctoral programs
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms
For those of you wanting to replace Accounting Principles 102 content with
gender studies of accountants, some of the course material might be drawn from
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Women
There are also some good modules on accounting gender studies in the AAA
Commons.
I don't have any curriculum material for transgendering and sexual
orientation in accounting, although one of my closest friends (in church) is a
transgendered accountant. In the discipline of economics there is a
transgendering book reference at |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deirdre_McCloskey
Deirdre has the good sense to not let her transgendering overtake her devotion
to classical economic history and statistics history in her courses. I
got to know her somewhat in personal correspondence and really, really respect
her classical scholarship where I think she would prefer that transgendering be
ignored in her course and research content ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DeirdreMcCloskey/StatisticalSignificance01.htm
Some undergraduate majors like math majors might object to taking traditional
math out of the curriculum even if they do not face certification examinations.
They may especially object if political activists have pushed out traditional
discipline content in mathematics.
At the moment are there better places to major in English literature than
UCLA? I can't really answer that, but I know that I would prefer that at least
one course in Shakespeare should be required in every English literature
curriculum. Then I could perhaps get an intelligent answer about Shakespeare
when having lunch with an English literature graduate. And I really don't care
about the sexual orientation of Shakespeare or having a conversation about his
sexual orientation with someone who has never studied any of Shakespeare's plays
and poetry. It would not really interest me if the Bard was or was not a cross
dresser.
"The Humanities Have Forgotten Their Humanity When Shakespeare lost out to
'rubrics of gender, sexuality, race, and class' at UCLA, something vital was
harmed," by Heather Mac Donald, The Wall Street Journal,
January 3, 2013 ---
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304858104579264321265378790?mod=djemEditorialPage_h
In 2011, the University of California at Los
Angeles wrecked its English major. Such a development may seem
insignificant, compared with, say, the federal takeover of health care. It
is not. What happened at UCLA is part of a momentous shift that bears on our
relationship to the past—and to civilization itself.
Until 2011, students majoring in English at UCLA
had to take one course in Chaucer, two in Shakespeare, and one in Milton
—the cornerstones of English literature. Following a revolt of the junior
faculty, however, during which it was announced that Shakespeare was part of
the "Empire," UCLA junked these individual author requirements. It replaced
them with a mandate that all English majors take a total of three courses in
the following four areas: Gender, Race, Ethnicity, Disability and Sexuality
Studies; Imperial, Transnational, and Postcolonial Studies; genre studies,
interdisciplinary studies, and critical theory; or creative writing.
In other words, the UCLA faculty was now officially
indifferent to whether an English major had ever read a word of Chaucer,
Milton or Shakespeare, but the department was determined to expose students,
according to the course catalog, to "alternative rubrics of gender,
sexuality, race, and class."
Such defenestrations have happened elsewhere, and
long before 2011. But the UCLA coup was particularly significant because the
school's English department was one of the last champions of the
historically informed study of great literature, uncorrupted by an
ideological overlay. Precisely for that reason, it was the most popular
English major in the country, enrolling a whopping 1,400 undergraduates.
The UCLA coup represents the characteristic
academic traits of our time: narcissism, an obsession with victimhood, and a
relentless determination to reduce the stunning complexity of the past to
the shallow categories of identity and class politics. Sitting atop an
entire civilization of aesthetic wonders, the contemporary academic wants
only to study oppression, preferably his or her own, defined reductively
according to gonads and melanin.
Course catalogs today babble monotonously of group
identity. UCLA's undergraduates can take courses in Women of Color in the
U.S.; Women and Gender in the Caribbean; Chicana Feminism; Studies in Queer
Literatures and Cultures; and Feminist and Queer Theory.
Not so long ago, colleges still reflected the
humanist tradition, which was founded not on narcissism but on the
all-consuming desire to engage with the genius and radical difference of the
past. The 14th-century Florentine poet Francesco Petrarch triggered the
explosion of knowledge known today as Renaissance humanism with his
discovery of Livy's monumental history of Rome and the letters of Cicero,
the Roman statesman whose orations, with their crystalline Latin style,
would inspire such philosophers of republicanism as John Adams and Thomas
Jefferson.
But Petrarch wanted to converse with the ancients
as well as read them. So he penned heartfelt letters in Latin to Virgil,
Seneca, Horace and Homer, among others, informing them of the fate of their
writings and of Rome itself. After rebuking Cicero for the vindictiveness
revealed in his letters, Petrarch repented and wrote him again: "I fear that
my last letter has offended you. . . . But I feel I know you as intimately
as if I had always lived with you."
In 1416, the Florentine clerk Poggio Bracciolini
discovered the most important Roman treatise on rhetoric moldering in a
monastery library outside Constance, a find of such value that a companion
exclaimed: "Oh wondrous treasure, oh unexpected joy!"
Bracciolini thought of himself as rescuing a
still-living being. The treatise's author, Quintilian, would have "perished
shortly if we hadn't brought him aid . . ." Bracciolini wrote to a friend in
Verona. "There is not the slightest doubt that that man, so brilliant,
genteel, tasteful, refined, and pleasant, could not longer have endured the
squalor of that place and the cruelty of those jailors."
This burning drive to recover a lost culture
propelled the Renaissance humanists into remote castles and monasteries to
search for long-forgotten manuscripts. The knowledge that many ancient texts
were forever lost filled these scholars with despair. Nevertheless, they
exulted in their growing repossession of classical learning.
In François Rabelais's exuberant stories from the
1530s, the giant Gargantua sends off his son to study in Paris, joyfully
conjuring up the languages—Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chaldean and Arabic—that he
expects his son to master, as well as the vast range of history, law,
natural history and philosophy.
This constant, sophisticated dialogue between past
and present would become a defining feature of Western civilization,
prompting the evolution of such radical ideas as constitutional government
and giving birth to arts and architecture of polyphonic complexity. And it
became the primary mission of the universities to transmit knowledge of the
past, as well as—eventually—to serve as seedbeds for new knowledge.
Compare the humanists' hunger for learning with the
resentment of a Columbia University undergraduate, who had been required by
the school's core curriculum to study Mozart. She happens to be black, but
her views are widely shared, to borrow a phrase, "across gender, sexuality,
race and class."
"Why did I have to listen in music humanities to
this Mozart?" she groused in a discussion of the curriculum reported by
David Denby in "Great Books," his 1997 account of re-enrolling in Columbia's
core curriculum. "My problem with the core is that it upholds the premises
of white supremacy and racism. It's a racist core. Who is this Mozart, this
Haydn, these superior white men? There are no women, no people of color."
These are not the idiosyncratic thoughts of one disgruntled student; they
represent the dominant ideology in the humanities today.
W.E.B. Du Bois would have been stunned to learn how
narrow is the contemporary multiculturalist's self-definition and sphere of
interest. Du Bois, living during America's darkest period of hate,
nevertheless heartbreakingly affirmed in 1903 his intellectual and spiritual
affinity with all of Western civilization: "I sit with Shakespeare and he
winces not. Across the color line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas. .
. . I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all
graciously with no scorn nor condescension."
It is no wonder, then, that we have been hearing of
late that the humanities are in crisis. A recent Harvard report from a
committee co-chaired by the school's premier postcolonial studies theorist,
Homi Bhabha, lamented that 57% of incoming Harvard students who initially
declare interest in a humanities major eventually change concentrations. Why
may that be? Imagine an intending lit major who is assigned something by
Professor Bhabha: "If the problematic 'closure' of textuality questions the
totalization of national culture. . . ." How soon before that student
concludes that a psychology major is more up his alley?
No, the only true justification for the humanities
is that they provide the thing that Faust sold his soul for: knowledge. It
is knowledge of a particular kind, concerning what men have done and created
over the ages.
The American Founders drew on an astonishingly wide
range of historical sources and an appropriately jaundiced view of human
nature to craft the world's most stable and free republic. They invoked
lessons learned from the Greek city-states, the Carolingian Dynasty and the
Ottoman Empire in the Constitution's defense. And they assumed that the new
nation's citizens would themselves be versed in history and political
philosophy.
But humanistic learning is also an end in itself.
It is simply better to have escaped one's narrow, petty self and entered
minds far more subtle and vast than one's own than never to have done so.
The Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino said that a man lives as many
millennia as are embraced by his knowledge of history. One could add: A man
lives as many different lives as are embraced by his encounters with
literature, music and all the humanities and arts. These forms of expression
allow us to see and feel things that we would otherwise never
experience—society on a 19th-century Russian feudal estate, for example, or
the perfect crystalline brooks and mossy shades of pastoral poetry, or the
exquisite languor of a Chopin nocturne.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
As long as the English majors at UCLA don't care if they've not studied
Shakespeare since high school, who are we to care? Perhaps Oscar Wilde is more
important than Shakespeare in terms of core studies in English literature at
UCLA.
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
Video Series
Milton Friedman & John Kenneth Galbraith’s Present Their Opposing Economic
Philosophies on Two TV Series (1977-1980) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/milton-friedman-john-kenneth-galbraith-tv-shows.html
The Age of Uncertainty
- The Prophets and Promise of
Classical Capitalism
- The Manners and Morals of High
Capitalism
- The Dissent of Karl Marx
- The Colonial Idea
- Lenin and the Great Ungluing
- The Rise and Fall of Money
- The Mandarin Revolution
- The Fatal Competition
- The Big Corporation
- Land and People
- The Metropolis
- Democracy, Leadership,
Commitment
- Weekend in Vermont (part one,
part two,
part three)
Free to Choose
- The Power of the Market
- The Tyranny of Control
- Anatomy of a Crisis
- From Cradle to Grave
- Created Equal
- What’s Wrong with Our Schools?
- Who Protects the Consumer?
- Who Protects the Worker?
- How to Cure Inflation
- How to Stay Free
Related Content:
Milton Friedman on Greed
The History of Economics & Economic Theory Explained with Comics, Starting
with Adam Smith
An Introduction to Great Economists — Adam Smith, the Physiocrats & More —
Presented in a Free Online Course
60-Second Adventures in Economics: An Animated Intro to The Invisible
Hand and Other Economic Ideas
Economics:
Free Online Courses
Jensen Comment
For me the most important point in all the above is Professor Friedman's warning
about ruining an economy with unfunded and runaway entitlement obligations that
can only be settled with breach of promises or hyperinflation. The most ruinous
form of entitlement is a promise to pay whatever the cost such as medical care
and medication obligations in Medicare and Medicaid insurance. In particular,
the Medicare D prescription drug program initiated by George W. Bush will be a
disaster. President Obama admits that Medicare entitlements cannot be
sustained, but reducing those entitlements is tantamount to political suicide.
Medicaid will become a disaster now that even
millionaires with proper financial planning can qualify for free medical care
and medications --- such as students with million dollar trust funds.
Entitlements are
two-thirds of the federal budget. Entitlement spending has grown 100-fold over
the past 50 years. Half of all American households now rely on government
handouts. When we hear statistics like that, most of us shake our heads and
mutter some sort of expletive. That’s because nobody thinks they’re the problem.
Nobody ever wants to think they’re the problem. But that’s not the truth. The
truth is, as long as we continue to think of the rising entitlement culture in
America as someone else’s problem, someone else’s fault, we’ll never truly
understand it and we’ll have absolutely zero chance...
Steve Tobak ---
http://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/2013/02/07/truth-behind-our-entitlement-culture/?intcmp=sem_outloud
Bob Jensen's threads on entitlements ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm
This Time It's No Joke: Italy is dangerously deteriorating ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/italian-unemployment-hits-37-year-high-2014-1
Jensen Comment
Seems like unemployment is an enormous problem for every EU nation bordered by
the Mediterranean Sea, especially youth unemployment rates approaching 50%.
However, the economy of Spain is picking up while the economies of France and
Italy are headed for the drink. Socialism taxes and regulations and car burning
riots hurt France. Anarchy and government instability and lack of tax
enforcement hurt Italy. Can Northern Europe really save Southern Europe is will
a day come when Northern Europe will just stop trying?
Paul Krugman ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Krugman
. . .
Krugman's columns have drawn criticism as well as praise. A 2003 article in
The Economist[111]
questioned Krugman's "growing tendency to attribute
all the world's ills to
George Bush," citing
critics who felt that "his relentless partisanship is getting in the way of
his argument" and claiming errors of economic and political reasoning in his
columns.[81]
Daniel Okrent, a former The New York Times
ombudsman, in his farewell column, criticized
Krugman for what he said was "the disturbing
habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing numbers in a fashion that
pleases his acolytes but leaves him open to substantive assaults."[11
"Why Was Paul Krugman So Wrong?" by William Greider, The Nation,
Date Unknown ---
http://www.thenation.com/article/173593/why-was-paul-krugman-so-wrong#
. . .
In recent years, as the global system broke down,
Krugman had less to say about international trade theory, his academic
specialty, because he directed his wrath mostly at conservative Republicans
demanding balanced budgets. But for many years Krugman made it his personal
duty to act as the watchdog warning the public against non-economists
peddling false ideas. In practice, this usually meant skewering progressive
writers who criticized globalization from a liberal-labor perspective—offshoring
of jobs, stagnating wages, sweatshops and all that.
Krugman was notorious among opponents for a snide
polemical style. An old friend, another liberal author, once confided to me
that he had “inoculated” his own forthcoming book against a blistering
Krugman review. He attacked Krugman in print first, which effectively
disqualified Krugman as a potential reviewer.
So Krugman chewed on my new book instead—One
World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism—which
he described as “a thoroughly silly book.” He made a nasty campaign against
it,
first on Slate,
Microsoft’s online magazine, next a harsh review
in The Washington Post, then
again in his book entitled The
Accidental Theorist. I have to admit it. In
Krugman’s telling, I did sound like a drooling idiot
Cotinued in article.
Jensen Comment
I have to admire Professor Krugman for being an equal opportunity critic. I
think he was correct in the case of the book mentioned above. I think he was
correct in the case of the WSJ article mentioned below, although in the latter
case I have to ultimately agree with Bret Stephens.
"About Those Income Inequality Statistics An answer to Paul Krugman,"
by Bret Stephens, The Wall Street Journal, January 3, 2014 ---
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304325004579298502492870522?mod=djemEditorialPage_h
Let me do something
New York Times
NYT -0.13% columnist
Paul Krugman isn't exactly famous for doing, at
least not graciously: acknowledge a mistake.
In my Dec. 31 column on income inequality, I used a
data set from the U.S. Census Bureau to make the case that incomes in the
U.S. have been growing across the board, even if the incomes of the wealthy
have grown faster than those of others further down the income scale. But I
wrote those lines looking at a set of numbers that had not been adjusted for
inflation.
Professor Krugman, in a post on his New York Times
blog, takes me to task for this. Had I done so looking at the
inflation-adjusted table, it would have shown the incomes of the bottom 20%
essentially stagnating since 1979 (and long before then, too), though it
also would have shown incomes for the top 20% rising far less dramatically.
That was an error, roughly of the kind the Nobel
Laureate economist made last August when he confused an x for a
1/x. As is his charming wont, Mr. Krugman accuses me not of making an
honest mistake, but of "pulling a fast one."
My mistake is all the more unfortunate because
the basic point I was making is right: Americans are getting richer across
the entire income spectrum, even if they are getting richer at very
different rates. That much is confirmed by data from the Congressional
Budget Office. The CBO finds that between 1979 and 2007 income for poor
households grew by 18%, for the middle classes by nearly 40%, and for the
top 81-99% by 65%. It's the top 1% who have made out very handsomely, with a
jump of 275% over nearly three decades.
The difference between the Census Bureau and CBO
data comes down to the complicated (and ultimately subjective) way in which
"income" is defined. The Census Bureau data relies on a definition of income
that is pre-tax but post-transfer cash income. But it also excludes the
non-cash benefits that go to many of the poor, such as food stamps,
Medicaid, CHIP (children's Medicaid) and housing subsidies. (and now
more free or subsidized medical care and medications)
By contrast, the CBO numbers measure after-tax,
after-transfer income. It also includes non-cash transfers. Those benefits
may not be fungible, but they do have value. And they vindicate my core
point: "The richer have outpaced the poorer in growing their incomes, just
as runners will outpace joggers who will, in turn, outpace walkers." What
mattered, I said, was that "the walking man walks."
My column also noted that President Obama erred
when he said the top 10% take half of aggregate income; in fact, it's the
top 20% who take half the income, according to Census Bureau data. Mr.
Krugman takes issue with this, too, saying the Census Bureau figures are
pretty much worthless when it comes to quantifying the aggregate incomes of
the very rich. Much better, he says, is data from a controversial study by
two left-wing French economists, Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty, which is
in line with President Obama's contention.
Talk about a fast one. As Greg Mankiw, chairman of
the Harvard Economics department, notes, Saez-Piketty has its own set of
very large problems: "The data are on tax units rather than households, they
do not include many government transfer payments, they are pre-tax rather
than post-tax, they do not adjust for changes in household size, and they do
not include nontaxable compensation such as employer-provided health
insurance."
Ultimately, debates about income inequality are
never going to be settled because both "income" and "inequality" are very
hard to measure. Is the best measure of inequality wage inequality,
income inequality, or consumption inequality? If a poor family today can now
afford a car, an air conditioner, a computer and other goods unaffordable or
unavailable to the poor of 35 years ago, can they really be said to have
stagnated economically? How do changes in the tax code affect the ways in
which income can be reported, sheltered and measured? What is the true money
value of health insurance?
And so on and on. The argument I made in my column
is that inequality should only matter to Americans if, Russia-like, the rich
are getting richer at the expense of the poor.
Neither the Census Bureau nor the CBO figures show
that.
None of this is to excuse the fact that I goofed in
my use of data. My apologies. As for Mr. Krugman, he should bear in mind
something the public editor of the New York Times once said about him: "Paul
Krugman has the disturbing habit of shaping, slicing and selectively citing
numbers in a fashion to please his acolytes but leaves him open to
substantive assaults."
Over 3,000 Cuban doctors defected from Venezuela in 2013: Most Cuban
doctors defecting to the US over the last 12 months came from Venezuela, ---
http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/131228/over-3000-cuban-doctors-defected-from-venezuela-in-2013
Over the last 12 months some 3,000 Cubans, mostly
doctors, have arrived in the United States after deserting one of the
Venezuelan government's social programs they staff. This accounts for a 60%
increase as compared with 2012.
In 2012 there were about 5,000 refugee Cuban
doctors and nurses in the United States coming from all over the world.
Through December 1, 2013 this figure had surged to 8,000, 98% of them came
from Venezuela.
These are estimates by Dr. Julio Cesar Alfonso,
head of the South Florida group Solidarity Without Borders Inc. (SWB), which
helps Cuban medical professionals who try to desert the medical programs
Havana sells worldwide as "exports of services."
Venezuela hosts the largest contingent of Cuban
medical professionals under the cooperation agreement signed by Caracas and
Havana in 2003.
By 2012, 44,804 Cubans staffed the seven social
programs starting in 2003, according to the last official data released.
"In 2012 we had 5,000 refugee medical professionals
in the United States under federal assistance, but that figure has surged so
far in 2013 reaching 8,000 doctors, 98% of whom defected from Venezuela
because of continuously worsening conditions in that country," Alfonso says.
"Most Cubans who have defected complain about
low salaries, late payment, increased workload in the Barrio Adentro
neighborhood clinics and CDIs (Comprehensive Diagnostic Centers) across
Venezuela, which to some critics amounts to modern-day slavery," Alfonso
says.
"Cuban doctors only get USD 300 a month, but the
Venezuelan government pays the Castro regime around USD 6,000 per doctor, so
individual doctors are paid less than 10% of what Cuba collects," Alfonso
says.
Since 2006, Cuban doctors and some other health
workers who are serving their government overseas are allowed to request a
United States visa under the Cuban Medical Professional Parole (CMPP)
Program.
After requesting assistance from the US Embassy in
Caracas, most doctors defect to the United States via Colombia, but Brazil
is also being used as an alternative transit route to freedom.
Cuban medical professionals are required to
produce numerous patient records for the purposes of drafting reports, many
of which contain patient data that have been tampered with.
"This is done so that Cuba can show positive
reports to the Venezuelan government," Alfonso says.
Jensen Comment
Cuba and Venezuela have done more than nearly all other nations have done more
to eliminate income inequality than other nations. Contrary to the lies you hear
from Michael Moore, their efforts do not appear to be healthy. Soon the U.S. and
parts of Europe may be getting an influx of very skilled French physicians.
Question
Why or why did my grandparents leave Norway?
Everyone in Norway became a theoretical crown
millionaire on Wednesday in a milestone for the world's biggest sovereign wealth
fund that has ballooned thanks to high oil and gas prices ---
Alister Doyle, Reuters,
January 8, 2013 ---
http://news.yahoo.com/norwegians-become-crown-millionaires-oil-saving-landmark-172511178--sector.html
"TEACHING IN JUST TWO WORDS," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Blog, December 31, 2013
---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2013/12/teaching-in-just-two-words.html
Jensen Comment
The word "explain" is somewhat ambiguous. It could mean "spoon feed" --- which
is the surest way to high teaching evaluations. It could mean explanations of
how and where to look for answers to be sought out on your own --- not
the surest way for high teaching evaluations. There are of course definitions
between these two extremes. Joe Himself teaches mostly by Socratic Method ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method
In education the most important learning probably takes place outside the
classroom itself. But it's the teachers who inspire. It's the teachers who give
guidance on what should be the priorities of learning (which vary with the
particular students involved). It's the teachers who adapt to the maturity level
of students. It's the teachers who become role models to a point, although
sometimes those role models are negative. Fortunately, students receive their
queues from many teachers over the years and good teaching usually balances bad
teaching.
If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't
thinking.
George S. Patton
December 31, 2013 message from Scott Bonacker
For most
Americans, the history of the United States is built on a set of
long-accepted beliefs about events, each of which resonates in the nation's
collective memory. But what if those beliefs—however familiar—don't really
tell the whole story? Our knowledge of history—or what we believe
to be history—is
the lens through which we view and interpret the world. And when that lens
is distorted with misleading information, it has powerful effects on how we
perceive the present and how we make decisions in the future, from choosing
whom to vote for to interpreting the latest developments in today's news and
opinion pieces.
To take a
skeptical approach to American history is not to dabble in imaginative
conspiracy theories or doubt the essence of the American experiment; rather,
it's to reframe your understanding of this great nation's past and actually
strengthen your appreciation for what makes American history such a
fascinating chapter in the larger story of Western civilization.
Sorting through
misconceptions, myths, and half-truths about America's past is also a chance
to revisit some of the country's greatest episodes, figures, and themes from
a fresh perspective and an opportunity to hone the way you think about and
interpret the past, the present, and even the future.
In The Skeptic's
Guide to American History, you can do just that. This bold 24-lecture course
examines many commonly held myths and half-truths about American history and
prompts you to think about what really happened in the nation's past—as
opposed to what many believe happened.
http://www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/courses/course_detail.aspx?cid=8588
Scott Bonacker CPA
McCullough and Associates LLC
Springfield, MO
December 31, 2013 reply from Bob Jensen
Hi Scott,
Keep in mind that in terms of our Academy, Professor Stoler is preaching
to the choir.
I once talked with a friend and history professor about the Stoler
lectures in nearby Vermont. He said these lectures make important points but
that they exaggerate the premise that American History professors have
neglected these points. One must remember that our Humanities Academy is
predominantly liberal and that that historians are among the most
liberally-biased professors in the Academy. He could not imagine most USA
college history professors teaching on a platform of patriotism. Like
Political Science professors in our academy, American history professors are
among the most anti-patriotism professors in the Academy:
The Liberal Bias of the Media and Academe ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#LiberalBias
However, he would not go so far as to defend K-12 American History
teachers where the textbooks are vetted by parents and politicians.
Sometimes, however, this vetting serves a purpose in correcting extreme left
as well as extreme right biases. For example, the State of Texas used at one
time the same textbooks in all public schools. One year an American History
text was found to have over 200 liberally-biased factual errors ---
including a claim that the USA dropped an atomic bomb in the Korean War.
Certainly our friends and foes across the Atlantic cannot walk the high
road when it comes to European history.
From Guide to U.S. History by RM
McInerny (ISI Guides) ---
http://www.moxzi.com/folio/collegeguide/surviving/ushistory.pdf
History is not reducible to a simple morality
play, and it rarely obliges our moral aspirations in anything but rough
form. The crimes, cruelties, inequities, and other misdeeds of American
history are real. But they need to be weighed on the scale of all human
history, if their relative gravity is to be rightly assessed. It is all
very well, for example, to be disdainful of corporate capitalism, or
postwar suburbia, or any of the other obligatory targets. But the
criticism will lack weight and force unless the standard against which
corporate capitalism is measured is historically plausible rather than
utopian. One can always imagine something better than what is. But the
question is, Are there any real historical instances of those
alternatives? And what hid- den price was paid for them ? That is the
kind of thinking that historians are obliged to engage in. It is not the
content of these more particular stories that constitutes the problem
for our dissolving national narrative. It is the fact that the push to
tell them, and feature them, has been too successful. The story of
American history has been deconstructed into a thousand pieces, a
development that has been reinforced and furthered by both professional
and ideological motives, but one that is likely in due course to have
untoward public effects. Which raises an interesting question: Since
throughout history strong and cohesive nations generally have had strong
and cohesive historical narratives, how long can we continue to do
without one? Do our historians now have an obligation to help us recover
one — one, that is, that amounts to something more than a bland-
to-menacing general background against which the struggles of smaller
groups can be highlighted? Or are the scholarly obligations of
historians fundamentally at odds with any public role they might take
on, particularly one so prominent? Such a conundrum is not easily
resolved. One should, however, at least acknowledge that it exists.
Respectfully,
Bob Jensen
"Sport Ethics: Gamesmanship versus Sportsmanship," by Steven
Mintz, Ethics Sage, January 5, 2014 ---
http://www.ethicssage.com/2014/01/sport-ethics-.html
Transitioning from a small college to a mega university
"4+1 Interview: Gavin LaRose," by David Talbot, Chronicle of Higher
Education, December 29, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/castingoutnines/2013/12/29/41-interview-gavin-larose/?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
. . .
3. What’s the biggest pedagogical challenge
you see right now, either in
your own classes or those of your colleagues?
Perhaps because I’m working in technology and have
been seeing examples of it in the past couple of years, I think the biggest
challenge is the increasing reality that students can get, on-line,
solutions to any problem we can pose to them. Tools like Wolfram Alpha can
solve almost any problem that evaluates skills that we want our students to
learn, and many other problems as well. This coupled with the availability
of social networking and answer sites that range from the simple (Yahoo
Answers) to sophisticated (Stack Exchange) means that we are suddenly in a
world where any question we ask of our students—from introductory courses to
graduate level courses in pure mathematics—can be answered by use of a
networked device, be it a phone, tablet, or more traditional computer. We’ve
always had to be concerned with students’ abilities to get answers from
other sources (talking with ones neighbor is a time-honored method of
getting an answer to a difficult problem), but the issue is suddenly
much more significant when the neighbor can be a smarter Ph.D. mathematician
than I (a world away!) or an application with language processing capability
that is able to perform any calculation we expect our students to learn how
to do.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
This is an interesting article on the differences between small colleges and
mega universities. Gavin LaBose is a mathematics professor, but his comments
apply to most undergraduate disciplines in mega university.
Some things left unsaid probably are obvious. One is the need in most
instances for small college professors to teach more preps and highly varied
preps. For example, a math professor in a small college might have to teach
Calculus I and II plus advanced number theory and topology. That would be almost
unheard of in a mega university.
Years ago I shared a speaking platform with a woman who taught all the
accounting courses at a small Catholic university --- from Principles 101 to
Corporate Tax 304 to Auditing 416.. She was the Accounting Department. But her
class sizes were very small. I recall that her pedagogy in intermediate
accounting was rooted in The Wall Street Journal. She would find articles
impacted by accounting rules and then expand upon those rules in her classes.
Coverage may have been somewhat random, but students probably remembered what
they learned better than if they memorized textbook passages.
It's more difficult to generalize about variance in quality of students.
Small colleges can have enormous variances when the bar is pretty low for
admissions. Mega universities can have similar variances, although some
disciplines within such universities have higher bars. For example, the mega
university in thr article above is the University of Michigan. The Mathematics
Department at Michigan must deal with the lowest SAT admissions to the highest
SAT admissions. The Accounting Department at the University of Michigan, on the
other hand, does not have to teach remedial courses and restricts admissions to
become an accounting major. I don't know what the bar is today, but in the past
the bar was a 3.94 grade average to become an accounting major.
Oh Poop!
The new mayor of NYC banned horse drawn carriages in Central Park and NYC
in general ---
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2013/12/bill-de-blasio-on-horse-drawn-carriage-industry-its-over
This was just one of those services benefitting the 1%. It's better business for
muggers if rich people walk or jog in Central Park.
FBI investigates military style attack on California power station ---
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2530879/FBI-investigates-military-style-attack-California-power-station.html
"Why Every SAT Essay is the Same," Bloomberg Businessweek,
December 31, 2013 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-31/why-every-sat-essay-is-the-same
"Logic Questions on the SAT Math Section," Bloomberg Businessweek,
December 24, 2013 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-24/logic-questions-on-the-sat-math-section
Lowering the Bar: New Mexico Proposes Relaxed Standards for High School
Grads ---
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/01/12/lowering-bar-new-mexico-proposes-relaxed-standards-high-school-grads
Jensen Comment
Do we really care if high school graduates can read and write in New Mexico?
Yeah we really do unless they are varsity athletes. Then we don't care.
Nigerian Pastor Tries to Walk on Water Like Jesus, Then Drowns in Front of
His Congregation ---
http://www.reportghananews.com/nigerian-pastor-tries-to-walk-on-water-like-jesus-then-drowns-in-front-of-his-congregation/
From the Scout Report on January 10, 2014
Pixiclip ---
http://www.pixiclip.com/beta/
Pixiclip is an online canvas that lets users
communicate using a webcam or mic and contains several dozen tools that are
easy to use. Visitors can also add audio messages, video messages, and
static images. First-time users can check out "What is Pixiclip?" to get
started. Additionally, users can sign in to save and modify their Pixiclips
for future reference. This version is compatible with all operating systems.
MediaCrush ---
https://mediacru.sh/
If you want to share any range of media files
quickly with friends and others, MediaCrush can be quite useful. Visitors
just need to drag and drop their images or URLS into the online box to get
started. It's a completely open-source program and visitors don't need to
worry about downloading any programs. This version is compatible with all
operating systems and users may also wish to look over their "Blog" for
helpful updates
With the continued success of anti-smoking efforts in the United
States, global concern about nicotine addiction remains
Anti-smoking efforts have saved 8 million American lives
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/07/anti-smoking-efforts-saved-lives/4355227/
Study: U.S. tobacco control laws have saved 8 million lives over 50 years
http://www.healthline.com/health-news/addiction-anti-smoking-laws-save-8-million-lives-in-50-years-010714
New E-Cig TV Spot Comes Very Close to Making Health Claims
http://adage.com/article/media/njoy-e-cig-tv-spot-insists-friends-friends-smoke/290886/
World Health Organization: Tobacco Free Initiative
http://www.who.int/tobacco/en/
Tobacco Cessation: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
http://www.rwjf.org/en/topics/search-topics/T/tobacco-cessation.html
The Reports of the Surgeon General: the 1964 Report on Smoking and Health
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/NN/p-nid/60
Free online textbooks, cases, and tutorials in accounting, finance,
economics, and statistics ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Education Tutorials
Benjamin Bratton Explains “What’s Wrong with TED Talks?” and Why They’re a
“Recipe for Civilizational Disaster” ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/benjamin-bratton-explains-whats-wrong-with-ted-talks.html
Jensen Comment
I don't quite agree, but in some of those talks I get irritated by the passing
over of crucial underlying assumptions.
Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch
New Jersey Institute of Technology: OpenCourseWare ---
http://ocw.njit.edu/index.php
Cambridge Public Libraries: Directories ---
https://archive.org/details/cambridgepubliclibrary
Smithsonian X 3D ---
http://3d.si.edu/
Mathematical Imagery ---
http://www.ams.org/mathimagery/thumbnails.php?album=28#galleries
The Educational Multimedia Visualization Center (video) ---
http://emvc.geol.ucsb.edu/
From the Scout Report on June 21, 2013
Skype Recorder ---
http://im.simkl.com/
In an increasingly connected world,
it's often necessary to conduct interviews, customer support, and more
over Skype. Simkl is a good way to keep track of conversations users
need to reference later. The conversations can be stored on any computer
or to the cloud. Additionally, visitors can use the same application to
record IM conversations. The program is available in over a dozen
languages and it is compatible with all operating systems
Video: Augmented 3-D Sketching
---
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/24253/?nlid=2446&a=f
Bob Jensen's threads on visualization of multivariate data ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.htm
Bob Jensen's bookmarks for multiple disciplines ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm
Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials
The periodic table of data/information visualisation:
http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html
Thank you Jagdish Gangolly for the heads up.
"On a Beam of Light: The Story of Albert Einstein, Illustrated by the Great
Vladimir Radunsky," by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, December 30, 2013
---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/12/30/on-a-beam-of-light-albert-einstein-radunsky/
NASA Wavelength Digital Library ---
http://nasawavelength.org/
The Most Mind-Blowing Space Photos of 2013 ---
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/01/best-space-photos-2013/
A Mathematical Way To Think About Biology ---
http://qbio.lookatphysics.com/
Methods in Biostatistics I ---
http://ocw.jhsph.edu/index.cfm/go/viewCourse/course/MethodsInBiostatisticsI/coursePage/index/
WIRED’s Top Science Stories of the Year (2013) ---
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/top-stories-of-the-year-2013/
New Jersey Institute of Technology: OpenCourseWare ---
http://ocw.njit.edu/index.php
This Week at USDA ---
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=thisweek
Bob Jensen's threads on free online science,
engineering, and medicine tutorials are at ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Science
Social Science and Economics Tutorials
The periodic table of data/information visualisation:
http://www.visual-literacy.org/periodic_table/periodic_table.html
Thank you Jagdish Gangolly for the heads up.
Studs Terkel Interviews Bob Dylan, Shel Silverstein, Maya Angelou & More in
New Audio Trove ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/studs-terkel-interviews.html
Nebraska Department of Natural Resources ---
http://www.dnr.ne.gov/website/MainPage.aspx
Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections (New Mexico) --- .
http://library.unm.edu/cswr/index.php
New Mexico's Digital Collections ---
http://econtent.unm.edu/
USDA Agricultural Projections to 2022
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/oce-usda-agricultural-projections/oce131.aspx#.UVHuhI7WczY
This Week at USDA ---
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=thisweek
USDA: 2012 Census of Agriculture ---
http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/index.php
United States Department of Agriculture: Marketing and Trade
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=MARKETING_TRADE&navtype=SU
Dairy and the US Congress ---
http://cdi.uvm.edu/collections/getCollection.xql?pid=dairy&title=Dairy and
the US Congress
USDA: Educators and Students ---
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome?navid=EDUCATOR_STUDENT&navtype=AU
Rodale Institute (organic farming) ---
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/home
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Corporate
Document Repository
http://www.fao.org/documents/en/docrep.jsp
United Nations Development Programme: Open Data ---
http://data.undp.org/
Farm Radio International ---
http://www.farmradio.org/english/partners/home.asp
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
Mathematics Assessment: A Video Library
http://www.learner.org/resources/series31.html
Carleton Quantitative Inquiry, Reasoning, and Knowledge Initiative ---
http://serc.carleton.edu/quirk/index.html
A Mathematical Way To Think About Biology ---
http://qbio.lookatphysics.com/
Mathematical Imagery ---
http://www.ams.org/mathimagery/thumbnails.php?album=28#galleries
The Educational Multimedia Visualization Center (video) ---
http://emvc.geol.ucsb.edu/
From the Scout Report on June 21, 2013
Skype Recorder ---
http://im.simkl.com/
In an increasingly connected world,
it's often necessary to conduct interviews, customer support, and more
over Skype. Simkl is a good way to keep track of conversations users
need to reference later. The conversations can be stored on any computer
or to the cloud. Additionally, visitors can use the same application to
record IM conversations. The program is available in over a dozen
languages and it is compatible with all operating systems
Teaching Mathematical Thinking
Through Origami ---
http://newmedia.purchase.edu/~Jeanine/origami
Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics
History Tutorials
Smithsonian X 3D ---
http://3d.si.edu/
Video: Augmented 3-D Sketching
---
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/editors/24253/?nlid=2446&a=f
Bob Jensen's threads on visualization of multivariate data ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.htm
The Ten-Year Lunch: Watch the Award-Winning Documentary About the Great
Writers Who Sat at the Algonquin Round Table ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/the-algonquin-round-table.html
Jensen Comment
I remember that Round Table Room (empty). When I used to go to Manhattan quite
often, the Algonquin Hotel (a country in with a great location) most of the
time. It's not the same since Four Seasons took it over.
Brian Leiter (University of Chicago) : American Legal Education: The First
150 Years ---
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-leiter/american-legal-education-_b_4581672.html
Watch Laurence Olivier, Liv Ullmann and Christopher Plummer’s Classic
Polaroid Ads ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/watch-laurence-olivier-liv-ullmann-and-christopher-plummers-class-act-polaroid-spots.html
San Francisco: From the David Rumsey Map Collection ---
http://www.flysfo.com/museum/exhibitions/san-francisco-david-rumsey-map-collection
Willard E. Worden Glass Plate Negative Collection (San Francisco Bay Area
Photographs) ---
http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=2000069301
Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections (New Mexico) --- .
http://library.unm.edu/cswr/index.php
New Mexico's Digital Collections ---
http://econtent.unm.edu/
WPA Architectural Survey: Census of Old Buildings in Connecticut ---
http://cslib.cdmhost.com/cdm/landingpage/collection/p4005coll7
Crace Collection of Maps of London ---
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/crace/index.html
National Building Museum ---
http://www.nbm.org/
Great Buildings Collection (architecture) ---
http://www.greatbuildings.com/gbc.html
The Magic of America (buildings) ---
http://www.artic.edu/magicofamerica/
Alice Weston: Great Houses of Cincinnati ---
http://digitalprojects.libraries.uc.edu/weston/index.html
Forgotten Detroit (buildings) ---
http://www.forgottendetroit.com/
Society of Architectural Historians: Archipedia Classic Buildings ---
http://sah-archipedia.org/
The ABC of Architects: An Animated Flipbook of Famous Architects and
Their Best-Known Buildings ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2013/01/the_abc_of_architects_an_animated_flipbook_of_famous_architects_and_their_best-known_buildings.html
London’s Historic Buildings Hit: Big Ben, Westminster Abbey,
Parliament
Houses Struck
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=lFNQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HA4EAAAAIBAJ&dq=big%20ben&pg=6773%2C2000920
The Annotated Newspapers of Harbottle Dorr, Jr. ---
http://www.masshist.org/dorr/
The Janet A. Ginsburg Chicago Tribune Collection ---
http://tomcat.lib.msu.edu/branches/dmc/tribune/
Chicago History Museum: Civil War ---
http://chicagohistory.org/education/resources/civil-war
Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys ---
http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/
Cambridge Public Libraries: Directories ---
https://archive.org/details/cambridgepubliclibrary
75 favorite books from the past 7 years ---
http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/68224464863
Watch The Trial (1962), Orson Welles’ Worst or Best Film, Adapted From
Kafka’s Classic Work ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/orson-welles-the-trial.html
See The Original Alice In Wonderland Manuscript, Handwritten &
Illustrated By Lewis Carroll (1864) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/original-alice-in-wonderland-manuscript.html
Alice in Wonderland Illustrated by Ralph Steadman: A 1973 Gem
---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/01/10/alice-in-wonderland-illustrated-by-ralph-steadman/
Vintage Photos of a Young Virginia Woolf Playing Cricket (Ages 5 & 12) ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?shva=1#inbox/14395fffce97472b
Virginia Woolf: Her Voice Recaptured ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2010/02/virginia_woolf_her_voice_recaptured.html
Virginia Woolf’s Handwritten
Suicide Note: A Painful and Poignant Farewell (1941) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/virginia-woolfs-handwritten-suicide-note.html
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
Sir Patrick Stewart Demonstrates How Cows Moo in Different English Accents
---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/sir-patrick-stewart-demonstrates-how-cows-moo-in-different-english-accents.html
This brings back the days of the Golden Fleece Awards by Senator Proxmire ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Fleece_Award
Bob Jensen's links to language tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Languages
Music Tutorials
Center for Southwest Research and Special Collections (New Mexico) --- .
http://library.unm.edu/cswr/index.php
"The Sound Of Music May Have Been Composed By The Machine," by Melissa
Olsen, ReadWriteWeb, January 2, 2014 ---
http://readwrite.com/2014/01/01/music-machine-composed-creativity#awesm=~osVW5jekmFEoKw
Early this year, Swedish development company
DoReMIR Research finally released its widely-praised ScoreCleaner app, a
program that takes musical notation with impressive accuracy. It’s been
promoted as the answer for would-be-composers who need help converting their
ideas into something more shareable in the musical community. It’s a great
example of machines helping humans produce art as music.
It’s not alone, of course. There are many more
examples of machines helping the musical process along. It was a reverse
talk-back circuit that gave us the gated reverb of the 80’s (think of the
drums from “In the Air Tonight”) and auto-tuning gave us the distinctive
sound of Daft Punk’s greatest hits.
On a more advanced level, we also have vocal
synthesizers now: the Japanese Vocaloids, programmable “singers” in a box
who can be made to sing the compositions of whomever happens to own the
program. Machines, it seems, have been helping composers do their work for
quite a while.
In fact, they might be able to replace the
composers already. The Artificial Creator
Enter such visionaries as David Cope, who is
responsible for the controversial Emmy and the later but still controversial
Emily Howell. Emmy was the first of Cope’s fascinating creations, a program
of Experiments in Musical Intelligence (EMI) that eventually became so
advanced that it could recreate famous composers’ musical styles in new
compositions.
How did it work? Essentially, Cope fed Bach’s
compositions to the program in order to establish a database whereby the
composer’s patterns could be deduced. Then he added another database for
deriving Bach’s rules of composition. This wasn’t just the standard way he
strung notes together but also when he went against his own “formulae” (or
deviated from his own standard). And then he added classifications of
phenomena found in music.
The result? By 1987, Emmy’s Bach-style compositions
were being played to a speechless audience at the University of Illinois.
And polarizing listeners around the world. A Composer Without a Soul
Cope’s work with Emmy and the program he regards as
her daughter, Emily Howell (a more interactive composition program that
actually engages Cope in an exchange that helps it put together music
gradually through associations and Cope’s preferences), has elicited
powerful responses in many people. Some welcome it, but perhaps even more
view it with distrust.
Jensen Comment
It was rumored that the score for the film 2001 Space Odyssey was composed by a
computer. This appears to be a false rumor ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Space_Oddessey
Bob Jensen's pictures of the Trapp Family Lodge ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/Hotels/TrappFamilyLodge/Trapp2013.htm
B
Bob Jensen's threads on music, including computer-composed music ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#050421Music
Bob Jensen's threads on music performances ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
Writing Tutorials
75 favorite books from the past 7 years ---
http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/68224464863
Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries
Updates from WebMD ---
http://www.webmd.com/
January 1, 2014
January 2, 2014
January 3, 2014
January 6, 2014
January 9, 2014
Drug and product warnings, alerts, and
recalls
January 13, 2014
January 14, 2014
January 15, 2014
This is why Einstein's brain was better than yours ---
|http://io9.com/this-is-why-einsteins-brain-was-better-than-yours-1441971724
Are we prepared for the hard choices prenatal genetic testing labs may
force upon expectant parent and a world with only perfect children? ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/review/522661/too-much-information/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140106
"Mental Disorders in America a Cause of Rising Violence in our Schools,"
by Steven Mintz, Ethics Sage, December 30, 2013 ---
http://www.ethicssage.com/2013/12/mental-disorders-in-america-a-cause-of-rising-violence-in-our-schools.html
Jensen Comment
This is another example of inappropriate use of the word "cause." I don't deny
that much of the violence in our schools is "caused" by mental illness. But in
the 21st Century this mental illness, in my viewpoint, reaches trigger points
due to other, often interactive, "causes." A leading cause is the media that
creates and environment for attention seeking teens. Another leading cause of
bullying is deteriorating home life in terms of single and/or working parents
where countervailing factors at home are losing out to bullying gangs. In spite
of what the tech companies claim, I think violent video and computer games
exacerbate mental illness violence.
Most importantly we cannot ignore the pervasiveness of the drug culture where
greed and addictions combine to create of generation of youth that will do
almost anything for drug money and drug addictions. These causes are recipes for
disaster when combined with mental illness relative to decades ago when the drug
culture did not fan the flames of mental illness.
From the Scout Report on January 10, 2014
With the continued success of anti-smoking efforts in the United
States, global concern about nicotine addiction remains
Anti-smoking efforts have saved 8 million American lives
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/07/anti-smoking-efforts-saved-lives/4355227/
Study: U.S. tobacco control laws have saved 8 million lives over 50 years
http://www.healthline.com/health-news/addiction-anti-smoking-laws-save-8-million-lives-in-50-years-010714
New E-Cig TV Spot Comes Very Close to Making Health Claims
http://adage.com/article/media/njoy-e-cig-tv-spot-insists-friends-friends-smoke/290886/
World Health Organization: Tobacco Free Initiative
http://www.who.int/tobacco/en/
Tobacco Cessation: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
http://www.rwjf.org/en/topics/search-topics/T/tobacco-cessation.html
The Reports of the Surgeon General: the 1964 Report on Smoking and Health
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Narrative/NN/p-nid/60
A Bit of Humor
Google Funnies ---
https://plus.google.com/explore?cfem=1
“Lol My Thesis” Showcases Painfully Hilarious Attempts to Sum up Years of
Academic Work in One Sentence ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/lol-my-thesis.html
Sir Patrick Stewart Demonstrates How Cows Moo in Different English Accents
---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/sir-patrick-stewart-demonstrates-how-cows-moo-in-different-english-accents.html
This brings back the days of the Golden Fleece Awards by Senator Proxmire ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Fleece_Award
It's So Cold That Beers At The Packers-49ers Game Will Freeze In An Hour ---
Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com#ixzz2pWeDt26M
Jensen Advice: Hold your breath if you approach anybody in the parking lot who
sat through the entire game.
Yakov Smirnoff Remembers “The Soviet Department of Jokes” & Other Staples of
Communist Comedy ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/yakov-smirnoff-remembers-the-soviet-department-of-jokes.html
Bob Hope Entertaining the Troops ---
http://biggeekdad.com/2011/02/bob-hope-christmas/
Grandpa Gets an iPad ---
http://www.snotr.com/video/8965/
Lutheran Airlines ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KakIacaDyCI&feature=share
Forwarded by Paula
Paddy texts his wife...
"MARY, I’M JUST HAVING ONE MORE PINT WITH THE LADS.
IF I’M NOT BACK IN 20 MINUTES, READ THIS MESSAGE AGAIN.”
Jensen Comment
This is an example of dynamic messaging where a message sends a signal and then,
after 20 minutes, sends another and another and another until something turns
the dynamic message off. In the days of Fortran programming we used to call this
a "'Do Loop' with a variable ending."
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
Some of Bob Jensen's Tutorials
Accounting program news items for colleges are posted at
http://www.accountingweb.com/news/college_news.html
Sometimes the news items provide links to teaching resources for accounting
educators.
Any college may post a news item.
Accounting and Taxation News Sites ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm
For an elaboration on the reasons you should join a ListServ (usually for
free) go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
AECM
(Educators)
http://listserv.aaahq.org/cgi-bin/wa.exe?HOME
AECM is an email Listserv list which
provides a forum for discussions of all hardware and software
which can be useful in any way for accounting education at the
college/university level. Hardware includes all platforms and
peripherals. Software includes spreadsheets, practice sets,
multimedia authoring and presentation packages, data base
programs, tax packages, World Wide Web applications, etc.
Over the years the AECM has become the worldwide forum for
accounting educators on all issues of accountancy and accounting
education, including debates on accounting standards, managerial
accounting, careers, fraud, forensic accounting, auditing,
doctoral programs, and critical debates on academic (accountics)
research, publication, replication, and validity testing.
|
CPAS-L
(Practitioners)
http://pacioli.loyola.edu/cpas-l/ (Closed
Down)
CPAS-L provides a forum for discussions of
all aspects of the practice of accounting. It provides an
unmoderated environment where issues, questions, comments,
ideas, etc. related to accounting can be freely discussed.
Members are welcome to take an active role by posting to CPAS-L
or an inactive role by just monitoring the list. You qualify for
a free subscription if you are either a CPA or a professional
accountant in public accounting, private industry, government or
education. Others will be denied access. |
Yahoo (Practitioners)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xyztalk
This forum is for CPAs to discuss the activities of the AICPA.
This can be anything from the CPA2BIZ portal to the XYZ
initiative or anything else that relates to the AICPA. |
AccountantsWorld
http://accountantsworld.com/forums/default.asp?scope=1
This site hosts various discussion groups on such topics as
accounting software, consulting, financial planning, fixed
assets, payroll, human resources, profit on the Internet, and
taxation. |
Business Valuation Group
BusValGroup-subscribe@topica.com
This discussion group is headed by Randy Schostag
[RSchostag@BUSVALGROUP.COM] |
FEI's Financial Reporting Blog
Smart Stops on the Web, Journal of Accountancy, March 2008 ---
http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/mar2008/smart_stops.htm
FINANCIAL REPORTING PORTAL
www.financialexecutives.org/blog
Find news highlights from the SEC, FASB
and the International Accounting
Standards Board on this financial
reporting blog from Financial Executives
International. The site, updated daily,
compiles regulatory news, rulings and
statements, comment letters on
standards, and hot topics from the Web’s
largest business and accounting
publications and organizations. Look for
continuing coverage of SOX requirements,
fair value reporting and the Alternative
Minimum Tax, plus emerging issues such
as the subprime mortgage crisis,
international convergence, and rules for
tax return preparers. |
|
|
The CAlCPA Tax Listserv September 4, 2008 message from Scott Bonacker
[lister@bonackers.com]
Scott has been a long-time contributor to the AECM listserv (he's a techie as
well as a practicing CPA)
I found another listserve
that is exceptional -
CalCPA maintains
http://groups.yahoo.com/taxtalk/
and they let almost anyone join it.
Jim Counts, CPA is moderator.
There are several highly
capable people that make frequent answers to tax questions posted there, and
the answers are often in depth.
Scott
Scott forwarded the following message from Jim
Counts
Yes you may mention info on
your listserve about TaxTalk. As part of what you say please say [... any
CPA or attorney or a member of the Calif Society of CPAs may join. It is
possible to join without having a free Yahoo account but then they will not
have access to the files and other items posted.
Once signed in on their Yahoo account go to
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TaxTalk/ and I believe in
top right corner is Join Group. Click on it and answer the few questions and
in the comment box say you are a CPA or attorney, whichever you are and I
will get the request to join.
Be aware that we run on the average 30 or move emails per day. I encourage
people to set up a folder for just the emails from this listserve and then
via a rule or filter send them to that folder instead of having them be in
your inbox. Thus you can read them when you want and it will not fill up the
inbox when you are looking for client emails etc.
We currently have about 830 CPAs and attorneys nationwide but mainly in
California.... ]
Please encourage your members
to join our listserve.
If any questions let me know.
Jim Counts CPA.CITP CTFA
Hemet, CA
Moderator TaxTalk
|
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