Tidbits on March 27 2014
Bob Jensen
at Trinity University
This edition features photographs of Crawford
Notch
History of The White Mountains --- Set 04 (Crawford Notch)
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Mountains/HistoryWhiteMountains/04/WhiteMountains04-CrawfordNotch.htm
Tidbits on March 27, 2014
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/
More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and
Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.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
Computer Genius Builds Language That
Lets Anyone Calculate Anything ---
http://blog.wolfram.com/2014/02/24/starting-to-demo-the-wolfram-language/
Watch the First Episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos Reboot
on Hulu (US Viewers) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/watch-the-first-episode-of-neil-degrasse-tysons-cosmos-reboot-on-hulu-us-viewers.html
Episode 2 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/neil-degrasse-tyson-tells-fox-viewers-evolution-is-a-scientific-fact-on-cosmos.html
Video: Fama on the history of Market Efficiency ---
http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/fama-on-history-of-market-efficiency.html
Syria at War (five videos from PBS Frontline) ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/syria-at-war/?utm_campaign=syria-at-war&utm_source=newsletter&elq=760d40bba877469490ee0369e4ff0689&elqCampaignId=856
The Return of the Cicadas (after 17 years) ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JJz36rSob0&feature=youtu.be
Hear William S. Burroughs’ Lectures on Creative Reading and
Writing at Naropa University (1979) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/william-s-burroughs-lectures-on-creative-reading-and-writing.html
Check Out These Mesmerizing Computer Animations from the 1960s
---
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/check-out-these-mesmerizing-computer-animations-from-79478825200.html
The History of the Movie Camera in Four Minutes: From the Lumiere Brothers to
Google Glass ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/the-history-of-the-movie-camera-in-four-minutes.html
Starlings ---
https://www.youtube.com/embed/88UVJpQGi88
Inside the WGBH Open Vault (television video) ---
http://www.wgbh.org/topics/Inside-the-WGBH-Open-Vault-353
Montana Country (Bears in a Dumpster) ---
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=464372510267787
Free music downloads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
Monty Python Sings “The Philosopher’s Song,”
Revealing the Drinking Habits of Great European Thinkers ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/monty-python-sings-the-philosophers-song.html
Les Beaux Frères - Serviette (brief nudity) ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUr3XbROoA8
I had to wait a long time for a commercial for a new movie to end
Kevin Bacon Recreates Iconic 'Footloose' Dance For His
Entrance On Jimmy Fallon's Show ---
http://www.businessinsider.com#ixzz2woZQnbJ3
Sid Vicious Sings Paul Anka’s “My Way” in His Own
Spectacular Way ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/sid-vicious-sings-paul-ankas-my-way-in-his-own-spectacular-way.html
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
The EY Exhibition: Paul Klee ---
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ey-exhibition-paul-klee-making-visible
Colorized Rare Historical Photographs ---
http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=d6d9d5385aee
A Russian Mother's Great Photographs ---
http://themetapicture.com/these-pictures-are-what-dreams-are-made-of/
Europe's Shiny New B-School Buildings ---
http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/2014-02-20/europes-shiny-new-b-school-buildings
31 Mesmerizing Pictures From A Remote Part Of Afghanistan That
Is Still Untouched By War ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/eastern-afghanistans-wakhan-animal-herders-photos-2014-3
Why A US Aircraft Carrier Is A Dominant Force, In 41 Pictures
---
http://www.businessinsider.com/uss-eisenhower-persian-gulf-imcmex-2012-2014-2
31 Mesmerizing Pictures From A Remote Part Of Afghanistan
Where People Live On The Edge Of Civilization ---
http://www.businessinsider.com#ixzz2wi0pLwhf
Declassified Photographs of an Atomic Bomb Loading ---
http://www.alternatewars.com/Bomb_Loading/Bomb_Guide.htm
18 Award-Winning Pictures From World Press Photo's 2014
Contest ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/world-press-photos-2014-contest-winners-2014-3
The Painted Churches of Texas ---
http://www.klru.org/paintedchurches/
A Wild New Look at Birds, Thanks to Time-Bending
Video Trickery ---
http://www.wired.com/design/2014/03/birds-like-youve-never-seen/
Discover Soviet-Era Illustrations Of J. R. R.
Tolkien’s The Hobbit (1976) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/discover-soviet-era-illustrations-of-j-r-r-tolkiens-the-hobbit-1976.html
National Historic Sites of Canada ---
http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/lhn-nhs/index.aspx
Canadian Pacific Railway Collection (Photographs) ---
http://www.vpl.ca/cpr/index.html
Parks Canada ---
http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/np-pn/pr-sp/index_e.asp
The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project ---
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/searchmapframes.php
Irish in the American Civil War ---
http://irishamericancivilwar.com/
Boston Abolitionists, 1831-1865 ---
https://www.masshist.org/features/boston-abolitionists
The University of Iowa Libraries: 1923 African American
Patrobas Cassius Robinson Collection ---h
ttp://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/pcr/
The Goldfinch (Iowa History Magazine)
http://ir.uiowa.edu/goldfinch/
Two Friends Hiked For 10 Months And Captured This Breathtaking
Footage Of Yosemite ---
http://www.businessinsider.com#ixzz2wcpvEQCX
University of Wisconsin Digital Collections: Marinette County Local
History
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/WI/subcollections/MarinetteLocHistAbout.html
Beloit College: Bartlett Collection (Asian Art Objects) ---
http://www.beloit.edu/bcdc/logan/bartlett/
Freer and Sackler Galleries [iTunes, Smithsonian Asian Art] ---
http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts/default.htm
Eastern Washington University Digital Collections ---
http://econtent.library.ewu.edu/
Mountains and Mountaineering in the Pacific Northwest ---
https://content.lib.washington.edu/portals/mountaineering/index.html
Washington State Department of Natural Resources ---
http://www.dnr.wa.gov/Pages/default.aspx
Tacoma Community History Project ---
http://content.lib.washington.edu/tacomacommweb/index.htm
University of Washington Digital Collections: Panorama Photographs
Collection ---
http://content.lib.washington.edu/panoramweb/index.html
Fenimore Art Museum: The Smith and Telfer Photographic Collection
http://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/fenimore/collections/photography
James Wallace Black, 1825-1896 (photographs) ---
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/collections/72157625067549743/
Robert Adams: The Place We Live ---
http://artgallery.yale.edu/adams/
The Huntington Archive (Buddhist and Asian Art) ---
http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/database.php
Auburn University Theatre Collection ---
http://diglib.auburn.edu/collections/theatre/
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
Read All of Shakespeare’s Plays Free Online, Courtesy of the
Folger Shakespeare Library ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/read-all-of-shakespeares-plays-free-online-courtesy-of-the-folger-shakespeare-library.html
Listen to Orson Welles’ Classic Radio Performance of 10
Shakespeare Plays ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/listen-to-orson-welles-classic-radio-performance-of-10-shakespeare-plays.html
In Search
of Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Sonnets Lesson Plan ---
http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/educators/language/lessonplan.html
The Harvard Classics: Download All 51 Volumes as Free eBooks
---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/the-harvard-classics-download-all-51-volumes-as-free-ebooks.html
Orson Welles Reads From America’s Greatest Poem, Walt Whitman’s “Song of
Myself” (1953) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/orson-welles-reads-from-whitmans-song-of-myself.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
Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on March 27, 2014
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2014/TidbitsQuotations032714.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
Identity Theft Information and Tools from the AICPA and IRS ---
http://www.aicpa.org/interestareas/tax/resources/irspracticeprocedure/pages/idtheftinformationandtools.aspx
Tax
practitioners and their clients are concerned about the growing epidemic of
tax-related identity theft in America - both refund theft and employment
theft. At the end of fiscal 2013, the IRS had almost 600,000 identity theft
cases in its inventory, according tothe IRS National Taxpayer Advocate.
The AICPA shares
members' concerns about the impact of identity theft and offers the
resources below to help them learn more about this issue and advise clients.
We have provided recommendations to Congress and the IRS Oversight Board on
ways to further protect taxpayers and preparers.
IRS Identity Protection
Specialized Unit at 800-908-4490
Identity Theft Resource Center
---
http://www.idtheftcenter.org/
Note the tab for State and Local Resources
The IRS has an Identity Theft Web Page at
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Identity-Protection
FTC Identity Theft Center ---
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft/
"IRS is overwhelmed by identity theft fraud: Billions
wrongly paid out as scammers find agency an easy target," by
Michael Kranish, Boston Globe, February 16, 2014 ---
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/02/16/identity-theft-taxpayer-information-major-problem-for-irs/7SC0BarZMDvy07bbhDXwvN/story.html
Advanced video production for your touch screen computer or
mobile---
Http://www.touchcast.com
Thank you Richard Campbell for the heads up on March 22, 2014.
So if you have an IPad, go to the above link to view their sample
content.
Also you can download the free app to create content on your IPad.
Bob Jensen's threads on Video Capturing, Editing, Compression, and Playback
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Video
Video: Fama on the history of Market Efficiency ---
http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/fama-on-history-of-market-efficiency.html
Behavioral finance and investment from Berkeley ---
http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/behavioral-finance-and-investment-from.html
Bob Jensen's threads on the EMH ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory01.htm#EMH
No California Vote on Lifting Ban on Affirmative Action ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/03/18/no-california-vote-lifting-ban-affirmative-action
Legislative leaders in California have shelved a
proposal that would have set up a state vote to repeal a ban on the
consideration of race and ethnicity in public college and university
admissions,
The San Francisco Chronicle reported. Many
black and Latino leaders have encouraged lawmakers to authorize a vote on
repealing the ban. But legislative support lagged as many Asian Americans
came out in favor of keeping the ban.
Bob Jensen's threads on affirmative action in higher education ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#AffirmativeAction
"The 17 Equations That Changed The Course Of History," by Andy Kiersz, Business Insider,
March 12, 2014 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/17-equations-that-changed-the-world-2014-3#ixzz2vqf4EeBR
Jensen Comment
I am the most familiar with the Black-Scholes Model that changed the financial
world in controversial ways. The must complicated behavior to model is arguably
human behavior, especially investment behavior. Among other things one of the
inventors, Nobel Laureate Myron Scholes, of the BS (appropriate initials) led to one of the
most spectacular busts on Wall Street --- the infamous "Trillion Dollar Bet" of
a failed hedge fund known as Long-Term Capital Management --- LTCM ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#LTCM
Nova's "The Trillion Dollar Bet" transcripts are free ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2704stockmarket.html
However, you really have to watch the graphics in the video to appreciate this
educational video ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/stockmarket/
Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics
Wolfram Alpha ---
http://www.wolframalpha.com/
Also see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfram_Alpha
This is an amazing innovation from one of the all-time geniuses of
mathematics and computing
"Computer Genius Builds Language That Lets Anyone Calculate Anything," by
Andy Kiersz, Business Insider, March 10, 2014 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/wolfram-language-demo-2014-3
Controversial
mathematician Stephen Wolfram is about to release a programming language
with the goal of being able to quickly do just about any calculation or
visualization on just about any kind of data a person could want.
Wolfram, creator
of the widely used mathematical software
Mathematica and
the "computational knowledge engine"
Wolfram|Alpha,
has announced the forthcoming release of the
Wolfram Language, the
underlying programming language powering those two pieces of software.
Wolfram describes and demos the language in a
video posted late last month:---
http://blog.wolfram.com/2014/02/24/starting-to-demo-the-wolfram-language/
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's illustrations about how to use the traditional Wolfram Alpha for
both computing and printing of equations ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theorylearningcurves.htm
"What Should Mathematics Majors Know About Computing, and When Should They
Know It?" by Robert Talbert, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 18,
2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/castingoutnines/2014/03/18/what-should-mathematics-majors-know-about-computing-and-when-should-they-know-it/?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Jensen Comment
Increasingly professors complain that Wolfram Alpha inhibits learning in
mathematics unless assignments, quizzes, and examinations are administered in
tightly controlled conditions where students cannot gain access to Wolfram
Alpha.
Bayesian super hero Nate Silver is not standing by his original predictions
of the Final Four. Nate is treating it more like predicting voting outcomes
where predictions can be modified with each new poll. One time he learned a sad
lesson by not adapting effectively to late polling when Scott Brown won the
Senate seat vacated by Ted Kennedy. I'm sure he does not want to make that
non-adaptation mistake in the future.
March 21, 2014 from NATE SILVER: Florida Is No Longer A Favorite To Win
The NCAA Tournament ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/florida-ncaa-tournament-odds-2014-3#ixzz2wcnZJI1u
Arizona seems to be on the rise in his predictions, although he's not completely
pushed out Florida from the Final Four.
Question
What is FiveThirtyEight?
Hint: It has everything to do with Nate Silver.
Nate Silver (The Fox) ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Silver
Nate is famous for his Bayesian forecasts of baseball outcomes and his stint
at election forecasting for The New York Times. and FiveThirtyEight.
He parted ways with the NYT, but I think he still does sports predictions for
ESPN and general forecasting as founder and editor in chief of
FiveThirtyEight ---
http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-the-fox-knows/
Nate's March Madness Predictions ---
http://fivethirtyeight.com/interactives/march-madness-predictions/
"The Outlier Who Wasn’t," by Natalya Balnova, by Susan
D’Agostino, Chronicle of Higher Education's The Chronicle Review, March
17, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Outlier-Who-Wasn-t/145297/?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en
Kyle was an uncommon student in my advanced
statistics class. An Army veteran who had served in Iraq, he was not only
older than the other students but was also studying business, while most of
the others were math majors. And his grades were well above average. Most
uncommon of all, Kyle died before the semester ended.
My ambitious students have the opportunity to make
strides that position them for bright futures, and Kyle was definitely
ambitious. As might be expected from a soldier, he did not flinch when he
failed the first exam. Rather, he told me, "I was too confident pressing
buttons on the statistical software. Now I understand you want me to explain
what I’m doing." After he sought my help, his performance on the second exam
drastically improved. So I offered him a deal: Continue on the upward
trajectory, and his first exam grade would disappear. He responded by
becoming the most active participant in class.
"Aren’t you
concerned about multicollinearity?" Kyle
asked a classmate one day, undeterred by the prospect of looking foolish if
he mispronounced "multicollinearity." When he did mispronounce it, he simply
tried again, this time taking care with each syllable so that he got it
right. Kyle was also the first student to utter "heteroscedasticity" aloud
in class. He laughed at his first botched attempt but, as with "multicollinearity,"
succeeded the second time. No one would have accused him of showing off.
Rather, the other students admired him, an ordinary guy who understood
advanced statistics and was having fun to boot.
In short, Kyle was what is known in statistics as
an outlier. Many statisticians disregard outliers, but I prefer to consider
their impact. Occasionally they highlight a flaw in a statistical model. In
class, I might explain the ambiguity of so-called outliers using a
scatterplot concerning student success on an exam.
With "number of hours studied" on the horizontal
axis and "grade earned on the exam" on the vertical axis, each dot on my
scatterplot would represent individual student metrics. Because students who
study zero, one, or two hours are likely to earn poor grades on the exam,
while students who study eight, nine, or 10 hours are likely to perform
significantly better, one might hypothesize a straight-line model for
student performance based on hours studied.
In this model, a student who studied 16 hours but
does not see a proportional increase in his grade compared with the student
who studied 10 hours would be considered an outlier. Of course, this student
might not be an outlier; the law of diminishing returns is probably at work
here. The flaw is in the straight-line model. That is, a curved-line model
might be more appropriate. In superimposing a curved line over the dots on
our scatterplot, we observe that the so-called outlier student may not, in
fact, be an outlier after all.
So maybe Kyle wasn’t an outlier. In many ways, he
was exactly like my other students. Though 30 years old, he was still quite
young. He was president of the campus chapter of the Student Veterans of
America, loved the Boston Red Sox, was nurturing a relationship with a young
woman, and eagerly anticipated his graduation. Maybe, as the government and
universities work to ensure that veterans have access to emotional,
practical, and financial support, individuals like Kyle eventually will fall
in the center of our undergraduate student demographic. No doubt our
classrooms, as well as our nation, would be better for it.
I was shocked when I learned that Kyle had died
after a short illness. When we had exchanged emails the week before, he
hadn’t told me that his condition was life-threatening. Rather, he
apologized for having missed class and told me he would present his
end-of-semester project in our last class, just days away. In a subsequent
email, he revealed that he had been hospitalized, but added, "They’re saying
I’m going to be out of here by Tuesday at the latest." Our last class was
scheduled for Thursday, two days after he died. Had Kyle been worried for
his life as he wrote me those emails?
If he was willing himself back to health and
normalcy, I understood the inclination. Oddly enough, six months earlier, I
had faced my own serious illness. At the time, I continued email
correspondence while hospitalized, without revealing my situation. There was
some question about my chances of survival before an experimental treatment
saved me.
Had Kyle’s illness actually been as "short" as the
university’s email to the community had indicated? And why had I survived
while Kyle had not?
Though Kyle and I had never discussed mortality
directly, we came close twice. The first time was on Veterans Day, one month
before he died. He invited me to hear him read out the names of soldiers who
had died in Iraq and Afghanistan. He once confided to me that he felt that
his responsibilities as campus president of the student-veterans group
outweighed his responsibilities as a student. He had achieved near-perfect
grades; I was moved to realize that his bar for honoring fallen soldiers was
set even higher.
The second occasion took place shortly after
Veterans Day. The illness I endured had brought on an autoimmune condition
that put me at an unpredictable risk for anaphylactic shock. One night I
woke at 4 a.m. to discover that my eyes, face, and throat were swelling.
With some intervention, the crisis passed by 9 a.m. I headed to class,
opting to wear sunglasses until the eye swelling and pain subsided.
Continued in article
Jensen Question
Can you really test for multicollinearity?
Jensen Answer
Common Accountics Science and Econometric Science Statistical Mistakes ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsScienceStatisticalMistakes.htm
Anti-Social Media (hate speech, slurs, and lyrics) ---
http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/antisocialmedia
How to define the limits of free speech is a
central debate in most modern democracies. This is particularly difficult in
relation to hateful, abusive and racist speech. The pattern of hate speech
is complex, but there is an increasing focus on the volume and nature of
hateful or racist speech taking place online.
This study aims to inform the discussion over free
speech and hate speech by examining specifically the way racial, religious
and ethnic slurs are employed on Twitter.
The download link for the paper is at
http://www.demos.co.uk/files/DEMOS_Anti-social_Media.pdf?1391774638
Jensen Comment
Hate speech can be directed at any ethnic group (e.g., whites, blacks, Latinos,
and Asians) religions (e.g., e.g.g Christian, Islamic), and sexual orientations.
The social media is particularly troublesome in this regard because people on
the Web will often say things that they would never say aloud in groups of
people. Hate speech becomes even more exaggerated when its from anonymous
sources such as anonymous comments following an article. Much depends upon the
filters on hate speech that are in place such as having a blog writer filter the
speech before posting a comment with hate speech.
I think there is also a maturity issue. Young teens will often say things in
messages to get attention, things that embarrass them after they graduate form
college or otherwise put on enough years to to realize how hateful they sounded
back then. Unfortunately there are some offensive people who just never grow up!
Wikipedia makes a concerted effort to filter hate speech, but sites as
massive as Wikipedia can be overwhelmed with massive volume of inputs each and
every day.
One of the long-standing complications of hate speech arises when the source
of a slur is in the same ethnic group being maligned such as the use of "nigga"
being commonly used by African American rappers and commedians. Jews can say things or make
jokes about Jews that others dare not whisper. Gays can make jokes about gays
that sound hateful when coming from heterosexuals, etc.
Also there are changing standards over time. I'm sometimes startled when I
hear something in an old movie that would be considered much more offensive in
this era. Of course there are hateful things in 21st Century movies that would
have appalled my parents. Hence, time can work both ways in this regard. For
example the N-word, C-word, and the F-word seem much more common in movies today
than they did in the 1950s. The language of Bill Mahar would've would've
completely appalled my parents, such things as using the C-word to describe
Sarah Palin pr other names we hear people say on television about Bill and
Hillary Clinton. Late night standup "comedy" on television is appalling.
Erika and I prefer mysteries from BBC, because we're just plain tired of the
car chases and repeated use of the F-word that seem to be a necessary condition
for mysteries and thrillers produced in Hollywood. BBC seems to have better
taste.
Bob Jensen's threads on the social media are a t
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm
Leave it to the Lawyers to Invent This Scam
"Some Law Schools Are Paying Graduates' Salaries To Boost
Rankings," The Economist via Business Insider, March 14, 2014
---
http://www.businessinsider.com/some-law-schools-are-paying-graduates-salaries-to-boost-rankings-2014-3
. . .
Among the rankings most important components is the
share of graduates who find jobs. The 2014 table, announced on March 11th,
shows that the University of Virginia (UVA) and George Washington University
(GW) do especially well on this.
Although UVA's law students are only in ninth place
for their scores in standard admission tests, 97.5% of the class of 2012 had
a job on graduating--the best mark in the country. At GW the discrepancy was
even more striking: its 85% graduate-employment rate ranked ninth, whereas
its admission-test scores were 21st.
However, the two schools' performance is not as
stellar as it seems. A close look at the online employment database of the
American Bar Association reveals that GW and UVA are among the leaders in a
striking trend: law schools paying the salaries of their alumni when they go
to work in legal firms, non-profits or the government. GW paid the starting
salaries of a whopping 22% of its 2012 graduates; at 15%, UVA was not far
behind.
Some law schools have long given aid to a few
alumni who forsake high-paying corporate firms to pursue public-interest
law. But since the 2008-09 recession, entry-level jobs at big firms have
been scarce. This has led to a big expansion of "bridge to practice"
schemes, in which the schools pay graduates a stipend to do a work
placement.
In a recent survey by the National Association for
Law Placement (NALP), 45 of the 94 schools that responded now run such
programmes. Half of them began in 2009 or 2010, but UVA's has run since
2007. It now pays $31,500 for graduates to work in public service for a
year. Arizona State University plans to set up a non-profit law firm,
modelled on teaching hospitals, that will hire 30 recent graduates to
provide legal services to lower-income clients.
Continued in article
Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/some-law-schools-are-paying-graduates-salaries-to-boost-rankings-2014-3#ixzz2w2Tq0HGz
Bob Jensen's threads on law school controversies ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#OverstuffedLawSchools
Bob Jensen's threads on rankings controversies ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#BusinessSchoolRankings
This is worthwhile advice to graduating students in accounting and finance
and probably in some other disciplines.
I do suggest that men wear dark suits to an interview with business recruiters
--- and long dark socks, shined shoes, and white shirts.
Dress like you already have the job and are going to be meeting with a client!
I don't have anything against a black suit, but my male and female students
generally preferred dark blue suits.
Their bosses generally prefer pin stripes and are most often seen in vests
rather than suit coats.
"To My Fellow Job-Hunting College Seniors Never wear a black suit to an
interview. Get a Gmail address. LinkedIn? Yes. And write thank-you notes,"
by David Pierce, The Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2014 ---
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303730804579435040049720068?mod=djemBestOfTheWeb_h&mg=reno64-wsj
"I have no idea what I'm doing." This is the
thought that runs through the minds of college students most of the time. As
we begin to look for jobs during our senior year, between bouts of temporary
alcohol-induced amnesia, we start to suspect that our cluelessness is a real
problem. When we find out that the guy who has worn the same Greek function
T-shirt and sunglasses backward around his neck for four years has accepted
a job offer, panic sets in.
At the University of Arkansas' Walton College of
Business, I have diligently learned the CAPM model and inner workings of
financial statements. I can DCF all D-A-Y. But when it came to my job search
I discovered a disconnect between my education and the real world.
So to my fellow generation of entitled
adult-adolescents who expect a $75,000 salary if they're going to get up
before 10 a.m., here's my advice from the other side of the job search. You
won't hear any of this from your college career center.
• Never wear a black suit to an interview.
Black suits are for weddings and funerals. Go to a classy men's boutique
and have them fix you up with a nice $500 suit, gray or navy blue. It'll
last you five years. The key is to make sure it fits so you'll feel
snappy in the job interview despite your stutters and flop sweat. If you
can swing it, buy the gray and the blue suit. Wear the blue for the
first-round interview, and the gray to the more formal second- or
third-round interviews. (Women: Sorry, I'm not qualified to advise on
pencil-skirts and heels.)
• If you get nervous in social situations, make
an effort to go out to a bar—not with your buddies—a few months before
interview season, have a couple of drinks, and strike up a conversation
with an unfamiliar girl (or guy). Bars are low-pressure, and even if you
do get shut down, you'll realize that the rejection isn't that bad. More
important, you'll gain new confidence that will help in higher-pressure
environments such as interviews and networking sessions.
• In networking sessions, don't talk about the
fascinating people you've met or the exotic places you've been if that
information hasn't been strongly solicited by the other person. Better
to talk about your friend who deep-fried an entire bag of Doritos than
the semester you spent at Oxford. You'll get laughs and seem
down-to-earth.
• Don't use your university email on your
resume. Schools often discontinue email addresses, and if an employer
wants to get in touch after graduation you'll be out of luck. Get a
Gmail account with some easy-to-understand form of your name. Note: It's
safe to assume that job interviewers think people with Yahoo YHOO -0.03%
or AOL email accounts are suspect.
• When you get a business card, write on the
back where and when you met the person and any useful notes about him or
her. Keep track of these cards. Personally, I use a spreadsheet for all
the info. Email your contacts—even a few lines—every three or four
months and make sure you have something to say.
• Trying to network with someone in a company
but don't know their email? If you have someone else's email from the
company, follow the format. If an analyst's email is John.Doe@bank.com,
and you want to get in touch with Jane Smith, send the email to
Jane.Smith@bank.com. I have used this trick a few times and it works.
• LinkedIn. Get one.
• Social Media. As you've noticed, parents now
use Facebook FB -0.03% more than we do, and the people who are thinking
about hiring you will probably be parents. Before you start your job or
internship search, reset your privacy settings so that strangers can see
only your profile picture. Choose a presentable photo—no random arm
around you or red Solo cups. Make your Twitter TWTR +0.25% and Instagram
private. Oh, and delete your Myspace if it still exists. Any potential
employer will Google GOOG +1.65% you, so if there's anything floating
around on the Web that you don't want them to see, take it down.
• Set up your voice mail like someone who has a
real job or deserves one. Don't make people sit through even five
seconds of your favorite song or your jokey explanation of why they need
to leave a message. If they're calling to set up a job interview, they
just want to be sure it's you.
• Write thank-you notes for job interviews.
Emails don't cut it, so play it safe and do both. Write and mail the
note the minute you get home.
• Once you accept a job offer, don't talk about
your salary—you'll either sound like you're bragging or you'll discover
that you should have held out for more. An exception: Friends may ask in
earnest, especially juniors, so they can better grasp the job market.
But tell them at your own risk.
• If you've accepted an offer, do everything in
your power to help classmates find a job. Getting an offer means you're
doing something right and probably have at least one valuable piece of
advice to pass along. Share if others ask. You would want someone to do
the same for you.
Don't worry, if you get one or more of these things
wrong, it isn't going to totally kill your chances of landing an internship
or job. And it was probably time to clean up your Facebook anyway.
Mr. Pierce is a senior finance student at the University of Arkansas'
Sam M. Walton College of Business. After graduation, he'll be working as an
investment-banking analyst.
Jensen Comment
Recruiters are hard to predict for interviews, because they often pride
themselves in not being conventional. Most importantly be yourself and be
totally honest especially if questions border on the fringes of politics. But
also be prepared for trick questions. Often it's not the answers that are
important. It's the way you handle yourself when you don't know the answers.
This is a job interview, not a Ph.D. oral examination or an interview for a
faculty job.
I suggest that men and women be prepared to make conversation. In the
interviews keep your questions focused on career opportunities like training and
clients you might be serving. My favorite male and female employees can also
informally talk sports statistics with Nate Silver. It's not like you will be
asked sports questions in a formal interview. But interviewers have been known
to take recruits to lunch.
Like it or not, business firms are usually looking for team players even when
trying to hire geeks. They are almost always looking for recruits who can make
conversations. Learn how to keep conversations going by asking questions in
various settings from cocktail parties to business luncheons. Sometimes learn
from watching others who are really good at starting conversations and keeping
them going. Avoid personal questions that might embarrass a recruiter who really
does not want to admit that he or she has five kids by three former marriages
and an extramarital affair.
Be prepared for a recruiter that prefers stress testing. Hold your
temper, be calm, and don't show the cracks in your confidence. Always remain
polite and as self-assured as possible. This is not a cop giving you a traffic
ticket. You don't have to keep your mouth shut or be timid. Timid people often
have to look for another job.
If you don't feel like it do not be embarrassed by turning down alcohol when
others around you are drinking the hard stuff. If if you do imbibe always
stay sober enough to drive safely home even if you are not the designated
driver. Always know how your body handles alcohol. Whereas I get happy and
talkative after two martinis, I know some folks who turn surly on booze. That's
not good!
And lastly, never post anything in a social media site that you might be
embarrassed to discuss in a job interview. The interviewer may see this site
before or after the interview or hear about it from somebody you know. Taking
political sides should not hurt you when seeking a business job --- unless you
are applying for a faculty position in a college where conservative leanings can
kill your chances until you're granted tenure.
Bob Jensen's threads on careers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers
The 15 Highest-Paying Companies in America (in terms of median salaries of
professional employees) ---
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/03/18/the-15-highest-paying-companies-in-america/
Special note to Jagdish and Zafar,
Jensen Comment
Note that the Number One company listed above employs physicians. You can judge
how well physicians do financially in various ways, but one of the
anecdotal ways in any town is to survey who lives in the most expensive
neighborhoods in that town/city and who belongs to the most expensive country
clubs and dining clubs. Stock brokers and real estate brokers salivate over
getting a physician for a client.
The life of a physician is filled with good news and bad news items.
Physicians are highly paid, usually among the most highly paid professionals in
both small towns and big cities. Physicians are independent in the sense that
they perform their jobs independently relative to many other types of
professionals who are told what to do by their project managers and employers.
Physicians as a rule have a lot less travel time --- time that is pretty much
wasted getting to and from places of work and time wasted in hotels.
The life of a physician can be high tension when dealing with diagnostics and
procedures that entail life and death. Physicians must often pay very high
malpractice insurance and face risks of enormous lawsuits. For this reason, many
of them work for organizations like the Veterans Administration and large
medical clinics that pay the insurance premiums and put up shields of defense
lawyers, protections not available to sole practitioners.
Physicians these days generally start out by owing a lot of money in terms of
paying off years of student loans and debt incrured when going into business or
buying out a practice.
Being a physician varies a lot by specialty, but many specialties must be
very boring, e,g., taking out gall bladders, repairing heart valves, or clipping
herniated disks each and every day of each and every year. The more specialized
the physician becomes the more routine becomes the job. I recently had surgery
from a terrific surgeon who does nothing by clip eyelids in his daily practice.
He's the only surgeon in New Hampshire performing this surgery. He makes a truck
load of money but must get very tired of clipping eyelids. And if he should make
a mistake all sorts of bad things can happen to the patient including damaged
tear ducts, damaged eyelid nerves and muscles, damaged corneas, etc. This is
tough and tedious work that he performs several times each day except on days he
examines patients before and after such surgeries.
By the way he lives in one of the most expensive homes in Concord, NH. I
wonder if he would rather be a relatively low paid professor living in a cottage
near campus?
Innovation District ---
http://www.innovationdistrict.org/
The Innovation District is Mayor Thomas M.
Menino’s initiative to transform 1,000 acres of the South Boston waterfront
into an urban environment that fosters innovation, collaboration, and
entrepreneurship. From a tech meetup at a coworking space to an art
exhibition opening, to the launch of a new start-up or a special chef’s
event at a local restaurant, the Innovation District is expanding quickly.
The Innovation District is nestled between Boston’s
transportation gateways: abutting historic Boston Harbor, adjacent to Logan
International Airport, and at the nexus of two major interstate highways.
It also contains the largest tract of underdeveloped land in the city of
Boston, and is an area with opportunity for growth, a strong existing
knowledge base, and the ideal location for producing new ideas, new services
and new products.
In the three years since the initiative began, the
area has grown rapidly. The growth is spread across a diverse range of
companies in different sectors and at different scales. Here are selected
highlights of all we’ve accomplished in just a few short years:
New Jobs
- Added over 5,000 new jobs in over 200 new companies
- Technology companies have contributed 30% of new job growth
- 21% of new jobs are in creative industries like design and advertising
- Greentech + life sciences are growing, with 16% of new jobs in these
sectors
New Companies
- Of the new companies, 11% are in the education and non-profit sectors
- 40% of new companies are sharing space in co-working spaces and incubators
- 25% of new companies are small scale, with 10 employees or fewer
…And More on the Way!
Many other companies have announced plans to join the Innovation District
community, and will add another 4000+ jobs to the neighborhood.
Jensen Comment
What works in Boston (or San Francisco) may be somewhat unique. If it works in
Boston (or San Francisco) it may not work as well in Chicago, San Antonio, St.
Louis, New Orleans, Albany, etc.. One of the things that makes Boston unique is
the high concentration of world class universities where startups are seeking to
locate in the first place for various reasons, including a high-tech labor
force.
It can be taken further with temporary tax abatements such as those now being
granted around universities in New York. Tax abatements work better for
companies that are making taxable income. Most of the high tech startups aren't
giving much thought to tax abatements when they are not yet making any profits.
New York should have perhaps given more thought to rent subsidies and land
purchase deals.
Having said this, I think innovation districts are worth considering for most
any cities even though expectations may be different than expectations in
Boston.
"Are Malls Over? " by Amy Merrick, The New Yorker,
March 11, 2014 ---
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2014/03/are-malls-over.html
Nine Retailers Closing the Most Stores (and thereby
creating a lot of unemployment and empty mall stores) ---
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2014/03/12/retailers-closing-the-most-stores/?utm_source=247WallStDailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=MAR132014A&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter
-
Abercrombie & Fitch
-
Barnes & Noble
-
Aeropostale
-
J.C. Penney
-
Office Depot
-
Radio Shack
-
Sears Holdings
-
Staples
-
Toys "R" Us
Whistle Blower Award
An Illinois judge on Tuesday increased to $3-million the amount of money that
Chicago State University must pay to a former official who recently won his
lawsuit against the institution ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/jp/judge-increases-award-to-whistle-blower-who-sued-chicago-state-u?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Jensen Comment
Although not related to the above lawsuit, the Chicago Tribune revealed a
scandal about students who had 0.00 grade averages never being flunked out of
the university --- supposedly because state support is based on number of
students.
"Khan Academy to Offer Free SAT Prep," by Christopher Piehler ,
T.H.E. Journal, March 13, 2014 ---
http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/03/13/khan-academy-to-offer-free-sat-prep.aspx
Last
week, the College Board announced not only that the
SAT
will
be redesigned for 2016, but that it has formed a partnership with Khan
Academy to offer free SAT prep materials.
According to the Khan Academy
website,
students taking the SAT in 2014–2015 can visit the site now to find hundreds
of questions from unreleased SATs and more than 200 videos with step-by-step
solutions.
As for students taking the new SAT starting in 2016, Khan Academy said it
will create thousands of practice problems and instructional videos that
will be available in the spring of 2015. Students will have a full year in
which to practice at their own pace using Khan Academy’s personalized
learning dashboard, which recommends exercises at each student’s level and
shows progress, points and badges.
David Coleman, president and CEO of the College Board, said, "The SAT should
reward merit and hard work, and success on the exam should be available to
all. There is no better statement of our commitment to making the SAT a
world-class, high-quality and fair test than partnering with Khan Academy to
provide free SAT preparation for the world."
Read more at
http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/03/13/khan-academy-to-offer-free-sat-prep.aspx#XOqXVHk6QedvIBhh.99
Jensen Comment
Although the SAT has just been significantly dumbed down, most students can
improve performance with heavy sweat in studying for the exam. Former test
questions may be harder than future test questions. Students no longer must
write an essay, although the essay is optional. Unless you are a varsity
athlete, learning how to read helps quite a lot, and learning how to read
better helps even more.
A Romp Through the Philosophy of Mind: A Free Online Course from Oxford ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/a-romp-through-the-philosophy-of-mind-a-free-online-course-from-oxford.html
World Science U Starts to Offer Innovative, Free Courses in the Sciences
---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/world-science-u-starts-to-offer-innovative-free-courses-in-the-sciences.html
A Big List of 875 Free Courses From Top Universities: 27,000 Hours of
Audio/Video Lectures ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/a-big-list-of-875-free-courses-from-top-universities-27000-hours-of-audiovideo-lectures.html
Bob Jensen's threads on MOOCs and open sharing learning materials in
general ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Visualization of Multivariate Data (including faces) ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.htm
Department of Education in March 2014: 17,374 online higher education
distance education and training programs altogether in rhw USA
Jensen Comment
Note that the hundreds of free MOOC courses from prestigious universities are
not the same as fee-based distance education degree and certificate programs
that are more like on-campus programs in terms in student-instructor
interactions, graded assignments, and examinations. Some campuses like the
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee even treat online programs as cash cows
where the tuition is higher for online programs than identical on-campus
programs.
The (Department of Education Report in
March 2014) report says that American colleges now
offer 17,374 online programs altogether, 29 percent of which are master’s-degree
programs, with bachelor’s and certificate programs making up 23 percent each.
Business and management programs are the most popular, at 29 percent of the
total, followed by health and medicine programs (16 percent), education programs
(14 percent), and information technology and computers (10 percent) ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/quickwire-there-may-be-fewer-online-programs-than-you-think/51163?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
From US News in 2014
Best Online Degree Programs (ranked) ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education
Best Online Undergraduate Bachelors Degrees ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/bachelors/rankings
Central Michigan is the big winner
Best Online Graduate Business MBA Programs
---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/mba/rankings
Indiana University is the big winner
Best Online Graduate Education Programs ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/education/rankings
Northern Illinois is the big winner
Best Online Graduate Engineering Programs
---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/engineering/rankings
Columbia University is the big winner
Best Online Graduate Information Technology
Programs ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/computer-information-technology/rankings
The University of Southern California is the big winner
Best Online Graduate Nursing Programs ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/nursing/rankings
St. Xavier University is the big winner
US News Degree Finder ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/features/multistep-oe?s_cid=54089
This beats those self-serving for-profit university biased Degree Finders
US News has tried for years to rank for-profit universities, but they
don't seem to want to provide the data.
Bob Jensen's threads on online programs ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/CrossBorder.htm
The top flagship state universities in the USA are under increasing pressures
from their legislators to offer more an more business degrees online, including
undergraduate business degrees, masters of accounting degrees, and MBA degrees.
The question is whether the most prestigious private universities like Stanford
and Harvard will join in the competition.
The Top MBA Programs in the World according to the Financial Times ---
http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-ranking-2014
The Top MBA Programs in the USA according to US News
http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-business-schools
"Half of U.S. Business Schools Might Be Gone by 2020," by Patrick
Clark, Bloomberg Businessweek, March 14, 2014 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-14/online-programs-could-erase-half-of-u-dot-s-dot-business-schools-by-2020
Richard Lyons, the dean of University of
California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, has a dire forecast for
business education: “Half of the business schools in this country could be
out of business in 10 years—or five,” he says.
The threat, says Lyons, is that more top MBA
programs will start to offer degrees online. That will imperil the
industry’s business model. For most business schools, students pursuing
part-time and executive MBAs generate crucial revenue. Those programs,
geared toward working professionals, will soon have to compete with elite
online alternatives for the same population.
. . .
Online MBA programs aren’t siphoning choice
students from campuses yet, says Ash Soni, executive associate dean at
Indiana University’s
Kelley School of Business. Kelley ranks 15th on
Bloomberg Businessweek’s list of full-time programs and was an
early player in online MBAs. The school draws students from across the
country, but it is more likely to compete with online MBA programs offered
by the University of North Carolina’s
Kenan-Flagler Business School and Arizona State’s
Carey School of Business. Says Soni: “If you’re a
dean from a regional school and you’re asking, ‘Are these online guys
tapping into my space?’ The answer is: maybe in the future, but not yet.”
Michael Desiderio, the executive director of the
Executive MBA Council, says change is coming, but his group isn’t panicking.
“We’re not saying it’s a threat or this is the end of the EMBA space,” he
says. “It’s stimulating a discussion: How do we adapt to continue to serve a
population that has changing needs?”
Online education is sure to shift the ways schools
compete for students. For-profit MBA programs such as DeVry’s
Keller School of Management have been the early
losers as more traditional universities go online, says Robert Lytle, a
partner in the education practice at consultancy Parthenon Group. That trend
could extend to lower-ranked schools as the big-name brands follow.
When Lytle talks to directors at schools who are
debating the merits of online learning, he tells them to stop dallying and
start building programs. “Once you get out of the top tier of schools,
you’re either already online, on your way there, or dead in the water,” he
says. It isn’t clear which online models will be most successful, but many
schools are feeling pressure to get on board. When Villanova School of
Business announced a new
online MBA program earlier this year, Dean Patrick
Maggitti said there has never been a more uncertain time in higher
education. “I think it’s smart strategy to be looking at options in this
market.”
Jensen Comment --- Where I Disagree
Firstly, this is not so much a threat to undergraduate business schools, because
most of the prestigious and highly ranked universities with MBA programs do not
even offer undergraduate business degrees. It's not likely that Harvard and
Stanford and the London Business School will commence to offer undergraduate
business degrees online.
Secondly, this is not so much a threat to masters of accounting programs,
because most of the prestigious and highly ranked universities with MBA programs
do not even offer masters of accounting degrees and do not have enough
accounting courses to meet the minimal requirements to take the CPA examination
in most states. . It's not likely that Harvard and Stanford and the London
Business School will commence to offer masters of accounting degrees online.
Thirdly, this is not so much of a threat even at the MBA level to
universities who admit graduate students with lower admissions credentials. The
US News Top MBA programs currently pick off the cream of the crop in
terms of GMAT and gpa credentials. The top flagship state universities like the
the Haas School at UC Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and the University
of Illinois pick off the top students who cannot afford prestigious private
universities. By the time all these universities skim the cream of the crop the
second-tier public and private universities struggle with more marginal students
applying for MBA programs.
It would be both dangerous and sad if the very top MBA programs introduced
lower admissions standards for online programs vis-a-vis on-campus
programs. In order to maintain the highest standards the most prestigious
universities will have to cater to the highest quality foreign students and
herein lies a huge problem. Some nations like China are notorious for fraud and
cheating on admissions credentials like the GMAT. In Russia such credentials are
for sale to the highest bidders.
The name of the game in business education is placement of graduates.
Prestigious university MBA programs are at the top of the heap in terms of
placement largely because of their successful alumni and strong alumni networks
that actively seek MBA graduates from their alma maters. This will not work as
well for online programs, especially since many of the online graduates of
prestigious university online programs will live outside the USA.
However, top flagship state universities are under increasing pressures from
their legislators to offer more an more business degrees online, including
undergraduate business degrees, masters of accounting degrees, and MBA degrees.
This is already happening as is reflected in the following rankings of online
programs by US News:
From US News in 2014
Best Online Degree Programs (ranked) ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education
Best Online Undergraduate Bachelors Degrees ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/bachelors/rankings
Central Michigan is the big winner
Best Online Graduate Business MBA Programs
---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/mba/rankings
Indiana University is the big winner
Best Online Graduate Education Programs ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/education/rankings
Northern Illinois is the big winner
Best Online Graduate Engineering Programs
---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/engineering/rankings
Columbia University is the big winner
Best Online Graduate Information Technology
Programs ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/computer-information-technology/rankings
The University of Southern California is the big winner
Best Online Graduate Nursing Programs ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/nursing/rankings
St. Xavier University is the big winner
US News Degree Finder ---
http://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/features/multistep-oe?s_cid=54089
This beats those self-serving for-profit university biased Degree Finders
US News has tried for years to rank for-profit universities, but they
don't seem to want to provide the data.
I don't anticipate that the highest-prestige MBA programs will have online
degree programs anytime soon.
They may have more and more free MOOCs, but that is an entirely different
ballgame if no credit is given for the MOOCs. The highly prestigious
Wharton is now offering its first-year MBA courses as
free MOOCs ---
http://www.topmba.com/blog/wharton-steps-experimentation-moocs-mba-news
Also see
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-09-13/wharton-puts-first-year-mba-courses-online-for-free
Who are these students taking free first-year MOOC courses from Wharton?
Some are college professors who adding what they learn in MOOCs to the courses
they themselves teach. Most MOOCs, by the way, are advanced courses on highly
specialized topics like the literature of both famous and obscure writers.
Others are basic courses that contribute to career advancement.
- For example, the business school at Penn, Wharton, now offers its core
MBA courses as free MOOCs. Some students who intently take these courses are
seeking to get into Wharton and other prestigious MBA programs.
- Sometimes the purposes of taking free Wharton MOOCs are to raise GMAT
scores to get into prestigious MBA programs and to do better in those
programs once admitted so that they too can tap those six-figure starting
salaries of graduates from prestigious MBA Programs.
- Sometimes the purposes of taking free Wharton MOOCs are to raise GMAT
scores to obtain better financial aid packages for further graduate study.
- Sometimes the purposes of taking free Wharton MOOCs are to perform
better on the job and thereby get better performance evaluations and raises.
Bob Jensen's threads on online training and education programs ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/CrossBorder.htm
"Law Students Sue Their Law Schools for Deceptive Employment Reporting
Practices," by Paul Caron, TaxProf Blog, March 11, 2014 ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/03/law-students-.html
Jensen Question
If you could only afford one device to buy for each student and/or faculty
member, would it be a laptop or a tablet?
Jensen Answer
Aside from a cell phone (maybe a cheap prepaid version), I don't think it's a
contest between a laptop or a tablet. Tablets are only frosting on the
cake.except in very unique circumstances such as iPads for autistic children.
The decision between a Mac and a Windows laptop is a tougher decision since
Mac's can now run so most MS Office apps. I still think it is very important for
business graduates, especially in accountancy, to be skilled at using MS Office.
In MS Office, Excel is very important along with MS Access unless
accounting majors became proficient in some other relational database software.
"Dell Rolls Out Education Series Laptops, Interactive Projector," by
David Nagel, T.H.E. Journal, March 6, 2014 ---
http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/03/06/dell-rolls-out-education-series-laptops-interactive-projector.aspx
Dell has launched a new line of laptops purpose-built for education called
the Latitude 13 Education Series. The company also took the wraps off a
multitouch-enabled interactive projector and a new mobile cart.
Interactive Projector
The new Dell Interactive Projector-S520 offers wireless display and
multitouch interaction, allowing multiple users — up to 10 — to collaborate
simultaneously. Using the included whiteboard, users can draw or annotate
with their fingers, included styluses or old-time dry-erase pens. It
supports Intel WiDi with Miracast for wireless display via Windows, Android
and iOS devices. It also supports standard WiFi (802.11a/b/g/n).
Other features include:
-
Single-chip, 0.65-inch DLP;
-
WXGA native resolution (1,280 800);
-
3,100 lumens;
-
2,200:1 native contrast ratio;
-
0.35 throw ratio, with diagonal screen sizes of 70 inches to 100 inches
from 1.7 feet to 2.49 feet; and
-
2
GB internal flash memory for file storage and PC-free presentation.
Read more at
http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/03/06/dell-rolls-out-education-series-laptops-interactive-projector.aspx#reqhT6ZGx4MfXS0Q.99
"George Lucas on the Meaning of Life," by Maria Popova, Brain
Pickings, March 17, 2014 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/03/17/george-lucas-meaning-of-life/
When a frustrated young woman asked the most
brilliant man in the world why we’re alive, Einstein
responded in five poignant lines. This question —
at the heart of which is a concern with the meaning of life — has since been
answered by many other great minds: For David Foster Wallace,
it was about
going through life fully conscious; for
Carl Sagan, about
our significant insignificance in the cosmos; for
Annie Dillard, about
learning to live with impermanence; for
Richard Feynman, about
finding the open channel; for Anaïs Nin, about living
and relating to others
“as if they might not be there tomorrow”; for
Henry Miller, about
the mesmerism of the unknown; and for Leo
Tolstoy, about
finding knowledge to guide our lives.
But one of the most profound answers comes from
legendary Star Wars director George Lucas. In
The Meaning of Life: Reflections in Words and Pictures on Why We Are Here
(public
library) — that remarkable 1991 anthology
that gave us
timeless meditations on existence
from a number of luminaries — Lucas uses an autobiographical anecdote as the
springboard for a larger meditation on the meaning of life and our best
chance for reaching its fullest potential:
When I was eighteen I was in an automobile
accident and went through a near-death experience. I was actually taken
away from the scene, presumed dead, and it wasn’t until I reached the
hospital that the doctors revived my heartbeat and brought me back to
life. This is the kind of experience that molds people’s beliefs. But I
have found that most of my conclusions have evolved from observing life
since that time. If I’ve come to know anything, it’s that these
questions are as unknowable for us as they would be for a tree or for an
ant.
Like John Updike, who argued that
“the mystery of being is a permanent mystery”,
and like John Cage, who believed that
“the world, the real is not an object [but] a process,”
Lucas considers the just-is nature of life:
Scholars who have studied myth and religion for
many years and have connected all of the theories spawned over the ages
about life and consciousness and who have taken away the superficial
trappings, have come up with the same sensibility. They call it
different things. They try to personify it and deal with it in different
ways. But everybody seems to dress down the fact that life cannot be
explained. The only reason for life is life. There is no why. We are.
Life is beyond reason. One might think of life as a large organism, and
we are but a small symbiotic part of it.
Lucas arrives at a conclusion rather similar to
Alan Watts’s ideas about the interconnectedness of all life
and writes:
It is possible that on a spiritual level we are
all connected in a way that continues beyond the comings and goings of
various life forms. My best guess is that we share a collective spirit
or life force or consciousness that encompasses and goes beyond
individual life forms. There’s a part of us that connects to other
humans, connects to other animals, connects to plants, connects to the
planet, connects to the universe. I don’t think we can understand it
through any kind of verbal, written or intellectual means. But I do
believe that we all know this, even if it is on a level beyond our
normal conscious thoughts.
If we have a meaningful place in this process,
it is to try to fit into a healthy, symbiotic relationship with other
life force. Everybody, ultimately, is trying to reach a harmony with the
other parts of the life force. And in trying to figure out what life is
all about, we ultimately come down to expressions of compassion and
love, helping the rest of the life force, caring about others without
any conditions or expectations, without expecting to get anything in
return. This is expressed in every religion, by every prophet.
Continued in article
"Is This Really Part of an Accounting Education -- Well, I Certainly Think
So," by Joe Hoyle, Teaching Blog, March 12, 2014 ---
http://joehoyle-teaching.blogspot.com/2014/03/is-this-really-part-of-accounting.html
Jensen Comment
I read where one of the authors of the Affordable Health Care Act complained
that there was too much medical education in medical school. A major reason that
we don't have enough doctors for the the ACA is that it takes too long to get
through medical school, internships, and residencies in such specialties as
psychiatry.
Johns Hopkins is now experimenting with the French Model. Don't take the
medicine out of medical school. Just take the education out of medical school.
The French model admits high school graduates to medical school, thereby
eliminating 3-4 years out of the training of our surgeons, psychiatrists,
pathologists, internists, etc.
Maybe we could follow the same training model for schools of accountancy by
having them recruit top high school graduates.
Question
How do admissions gate controllers distinguish between tens of millions of
applicants who all graduated from high school summa cum laude due to the
epidemic of grade inflation?
Problem
Nearly all graduates in NYC have A or B grade averages mostly because teachers
are paid on the basis of student academic performance. Are most of these
graduates prepared for Harvard? Are many of these high performing graduates
still in need of much remedial work in reading and arithmetic.
Double Problem
If they get into Harvard they will continue to get A or B grades since grade
inflation at Harvard is worse than in NYC public schools ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#RateMyProfessor
Solution
For graduates who become varsity athletes at the University of North Carolina
they will become great readers since, due to recent scandals, UNC will offer
varsity athletes world-class resources on how to read better than Harvard
graduates.
From the Director of Elite Education in San Frnacisco: Dumbing Down the
SAT
"Randolf Arguelles: The New SAT Will Widen the Education Gap Everyone
who takes the test is measured against the same yardstick. That's not true of
high school grades," by Randolf Arguelles, The Wall Street Journal,
March 11, 2014 ---
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304704504579429493504786468?mod=djemMER_h&mg=reno64-wsj
The College Board's March 5 announcement that the
SAT college-admissions exam will undergo a significant overhaul in 2016 has
generated no shortage of commentary, some of it praising the changes as a
"democratization" of the test. The College Board says it is expanding its
outreach to low-income students and shifting from testing abstract-reasoning
skills to evidence-based reading, writing and mathematical skills acquired
in high school. Ultimately, the exam will look a lot more like the ACT,
which has been taking away the SAT's market share in recent years.
The goal, according to College Board President and
CEO David Coleman, is to combat the advantages some students gain by costly
test-preparation. His message for students was that "we hope you breathe a
sigh of relief that this exam will be focused, useful, open, clear and
aligned with the work you will do throughout high school."
Despite this intention, and the fact that
low-income students will have the $51 test fee waived, I suspect the new SAT
will widen, not narrow, the education gap in the United States.
As someone who has worked for the past eight years
as a reader of freshman applications to the University of California at
Berkeley, and as the director of an SAT-preparation center, I know that a
score on the SAT or ACT is the only data point that is an apples-to-apples
comparison. An A in AP Chemistry at one school can be easier or harder to
attain than at another. Serving as president of the Speech and Debate Club
might entail vastly different responsibilities from one school to the next.
And what about the essays that students write for their college
applications? How can college admissions officers fairly compare those,
given the varying levels of parental or other editorial assistance?
While the question of what the SAT measures is
still an open one—it almost certainly does not measure native intelligence,
or the ability to do well in college classes—everyone who takes it is being
measured against the same yardstick. That comparison is extremely useful in
college admissions.
It's notable that those who wish to see the SAT
drastically altered or disappear as a college-admissions requirement do not
work for colleges or universities with a large number of applicants. Leon
Botstein, the president of Bard College (5,760 applicants for the freshman
class of 500 for fall 2013), wrote last week in Time magazine that the SAT
"needs to be abandoned and replaced," calling it "part hoax and part fraud."
In lieu of standardized-test scores, Bard College
promotes an innovative online essay exam. That's great for Bard College, but
UCLA received 80,522 freshmen applications in fall 2013. Imagine if UCLA's
admissions staff had to read 80,522 analytical essays in time to notify
students of the school's admissions decision by March. It wouldn't be
possible.
It should also concern us that the College Board
says the new SAT will more accurately reflect how well students are learning
in their high-school classrooms. Even the most sanguine education observers
acknowledge the inherent inequality in curriculum and pedagogy among the
nation's high schools. As a measure of academic skills derived from
classroom curriculum and teachers, the new SAT will amplify, not bridge, the
education gap between well-resourced suburban and poorly resourced
inner-city public schools.
As a tool for making higher education accessible to
all students regardless of incomes, the old format of the SAT was more
effective. When SAT debuted in 1926, it was based largely on IQ tests from
World War I. Until the College Board's announcement last week, the SAT had
retained the puzzle-solving characteristic that is the hallmark of
intelligence tests on which it was based.
In that respect the old SAT was a more equitable
means of rating college applicants. To do well on the old SAT, it didn't
matter so much if you had an excellent history teacher who taught you how to
analyze primary source documents. All that mattered was that you had a
strong vocabulary, could make valid inferences from a given text, and could
utilize foundational math concepts to solve the logic games that typified
the old SAT math section.
Defenders of the new SAT will point out that, in
addition to the fee waiver for the test, Khan Academy, the free online
tutoring service, has been contracted by the College Board to offer free
prep for SAT test-takers. Khan Academy has done great work, but free online
and in-person tutoring for underperforming students has been around for a
long time, most notably as part of President Bush's No Child Left Behind
program. I think it's safe to say that free tutoring has not managed to
level the playing field between students from disadvantaged and affluent
schools.
Democratizing access to higher education in the
U.S. is a noble goal, but the new SAT will further highlight the disparities
between the haves and have-nots.
Mr. Arguelles is the director
of Elite Education of San Francisco.
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
The IRS will not be telephoning to demand immediate payment of overdue
taxes
"IRS watchdog warns of ‘largest scam of its kind’ with agency
impersonators," by Josh Hicks, The Washington Post, March 20, 2014 ---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/03/20/irs-watchdog-warns-of-largest-scam-of-its-kind/?hpid=z4
The Internal Revenue Service watchdog on Thursday
warned taxpayers of a
sophisticated nationwide phone scheme that has
become “the largest scam of its kind that we have ever seen.”
The plot involves callers claiming to represent the
IRS and demanding immediate payments with a pre-paid debit card or wire
transfer.
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
Russell George announced that “thousands of victims” have already paid more
than $1 million to fraudsters and that his agency has received more than
20,000 reports of contact.
The callers have used roughly the same scripts to
bilk money from taxpayers, suggesting they may be connected, TIGTA officials
said in an interview with reporters.
Officials also said the perpetrators often know the
last four digits of the victims’ Social Security numbers and threaten
arrest, deportation and removal of driver’s licenses — something the IRS is
not authorized to do.
“If someone unexpectedly calls claiming to be from
the IRS and uses threatening language if you don’t pay immediately, that is
a sign that it really isn’t the IRS calling,” George said in a statement.
The callers tend to use common names and fake IRS
badge numbers, in addition to manipulating their caller ID to appear more
legitimate, according to officials. Some also follow up with false
IRS e-mails and phone calls in which they pretend to represent the police or
department of motor vehicles officials, TIGTA said.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
The IRS still uses snail mail to question you about your tax returns. Don't
turst email notices or phone calls from the IRS. You may end up working with the
IRS by telephone, but you must initiate calls to telephone numbers of IRS
offices.
As always just say no to people you don't know seeking payments, credit card
numbers, debit card numbers, or any other personal information on the telephone
or via email. The more legitimate they seem the more fraudulent they are likely
to be when contacting you out of the blue. Also beware of similar sounding
names. The Cancer Society of America is not the same as the American Cancer
Society, and even a phone call from somebody claiming to be from the American
Cancer Society may not be legitimate unless you know that person personally.
A woman recently scammed a bunch of well-meaning people by sending out email
pictures of her son's shaved head and claiming that he had cancer. He did not
have cancer, and she was just trying to raise money for a trip to Disney World.
Bob Jensen's threads on consumer frauds and fraud reporting ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudReporting.htm
Auto dealerships are flexing their muscles first by controlling Cars.com.
Secondly, (not mentioned in the article below) by lobbying state legislators to
ban Tesla direct sales that bypass dealers. The first state to ban direct
selling of automobiles was New Jersey, which comes as no surprise. Other states
will follow.
The article below reveals how Cars.com caters to dealers.
"Is Cars.com Really a Great Place to Find a Vehicle?," by Kyle Stock,
Bloomberg Businessweek, March 10, 2014 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-03-10/is-cars-dot-com-really-a-great-place-to-find-a-vehicle
Jensen Comment
When buying a new or used car from a dealer always pretend initially to be
paying the full price in cash. Negotiate the best possible cash price on the
model you want to buy. Then if you want to check on the interest rate (called
the APR annual percentage rate) that the dealer will offer on financing terms.
Many dealers compute the APR on the list price rather than a negotiated cash
price. The list price makes the financing APR appear to be artificially low.
It's easy to use the Rate Function in Excel or a financial calculator to find
the APR the dealer is really charging based upon the negotiated cash price. In
fact, the dealer is obligated to compute that rate for you if you request the
APR on the cash price. But always remember that "figures don't lie but liars
figure." It's best to check the numbers yourself or have an accounting student
verify the numbers.
I illustrate the use of Excel when buying a car from Earl Bob's dealership
---
www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/Excel/FraudEarlBob.xls
This is a sensational tax crime by European standards --- not so sensational
because there was a crime, but sensational because a wealthy German sports team
owneris going to prison
Uli Hoeness, the president of the European champion soccer club Bayern
Munich, was convicted Thursday of tax evasion and sentenced to three and a half
years in prison after a four-day trial that had consumed the country.
"Bayern Munich’s Hoeness Sentenced to Prison for Tax Evasion," by Alison
Smale, The New York Times, March 14, 2014 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/14/sports/soccer/bayern-munichs-hoeness-sentenced-to-prison-for-tax-evasion.html?_r=0
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
It's About Time!
Fraudster Author and Infomercial King Kevin Trudeau Gets 10 Years In Prison
For Massive Deception ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-selling-author-kevin-trudeau-gets-10-years-in-prison-for-massive-deception-2014-3
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
From David Giles Blog, Econometrics Beat, on March 16, 2014 ---
http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2014/03/research-on-interpretation-of.html
David often asks questions about underlying assumptions where accountics
scientists seldom dare to venture.
In his and most other blogs it is worthwhile to also read the comments.
Research on the Interpretation of Confidence Intervals
Like a lot of
others, I follow
Andrew
Gelman's blog with great interest, and
today I was especially pleased to see
this piece relating to a recent study
on the extent to which researchers do or do not interpret
confidence intervals correctly.
If you've ever
taught an introductory curse on statistical inference (from a
frequentist, rather than Bayesian perspective), then I don't
need to tell you how difficult it can be for students to really
understand what a confidence interval is, and (perhaps more
importantly) what it isn't!
It's not only
students who have this problem. Statisticians acting as "expert
witnesses" in court cases have no end of trouble getting judges
to understand the correct interpretation of a confidence
interval. And I'm sure we've all seen or heard empirical
researchers misinterpret confidence results! For a specific
example of the latter, involving a subsequent Nobel laureate,
see my old post
here!
The study
that's mentioned by Andrew today was conducted by four
psychologists (Hoekstra
et al., 2014) and involved a
survey of academic psychologists at three European Universities.
The participants included 442 Bachelor students, 34 Master
students, and 120 researchers (Ph.D. or faculty members).
Yes, the
participants in this survey are psychologists, but we won't hold
that against them, and my hunch is that if we changed
"psychologist" to "economist" the results wouldn't alter that
much!
Before
summarizing the findings of this study, let's see what the
authors have to say about the correct interpretation of a
confidence interval (CI) constructed from a particular sample of
data:
"Before proceeding,
it is important to recall the correct definition of a CI. A CI
is a numerical interval constructed around the estimate of a
parameter. Such an interval does not, however, directly indicate
a property of the parameter; instead, it indicates a property of
the procedure, as is typical for a frequentist
technique. Specifically, we may find that a particular
procedure, when used repeatedly across a series of
hypothetical data sets (i.e., the sample space), yields
intervals that contain the true parameter value in 95 % of the
cases. When such a procedure is applied to a particular
data set, the resulting interval is said to be a 95 % CI.
The key point is that the CIs do not provide for a
statement about the parameter as it relates to the particular
sample at hand; instead, they provide for a statement about
the performance of the procedure of drawing such intervals in
repeated use. Hence, it is incorrect to interpret a CI as the
probability that the true value is within the interval (e.g.,
Berger & Wolpert, 1988). As is the case with p-values, CIs do
not allow one to make probability statements about parameters or
hypotheses." (Hoekstra et al., 2014, 2nd. page of online
pre-print.)
For what it's
worth, I agree that this description and interpretation of a CI
is correct.
I'm not saying that
we should be using CI's. Specifically, when I'm wearing my
Bayesian hat, CI's make no sense at all, and the very term is
banished from my vocabulary. But I digress.........
So, what are the
findings of the study in question? Very briefly (because you
should read the paper yourself):
Participants were
given 5 6 incorrect statements about a
confidence interval, and were asked which ones , if any were
correct.
8 undergraduate
students (1.8%), 0 Masters students, and 3 (2.5%) Ph.D./faculty
correctly said that all five six statements
were incorrect.
The claimed
level of experience of the respondents had a slight positive correlation
with the extent to which misinterpretations of CIs were made.
Researchers
(Ph.D. and faculty) scored about as well as first-year students
without any training in statistics.
Very much a case of "read it and weep"!
However,....... check the survey questions in the Appendix of
the Hoekstra et al. paper, and see how you score.
References
Berger, J. O. and R. L. Wolpert, 1988. The Likelihood
Principle (2nd. ed.), Institute of Mathematical Statistics,
Hayward, CA.
Hoekstra, R., R. D. Morey, J. N. Rouder, and E-J. Wagenmakers,
2014. Robust misinterpretation of confidence intervals.
Psychonomic Bulletin Review, in press.
Common Accountics Science and Econometric Science Statistical Mistakes ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsScienceStatisticalMistakes.htm
"A Scrapbook on What's Wrong with the Past, Present and Future of
Accountics Science"
Bob Jensen Jensen
February 19, 2014
SSRN Download:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2398296
From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on March 17, 2014
The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), that scourge of the 2008 housing crisis,
is back on The Street
But the banks are adamant: it’s different this time.
As the WSJ’s Annamaria Andriotis
and Shayndi Raice write,
the terms many of the sellers are offering are certainly attractive:
compared with fixed-rate mortgages, some ARMs are cheaper than they have
been in more than a decade.
But
the tactics are very much reminiscent of the period before the 2008 crisis,
when ARMs exploded in popularity as banks and mortgage brokers touted their
low initial rates to consumers. The difference being that financial
executives insist they are now steering well and truly clear of ‘subprime’
borrowers, who used the loans to stretch their buying power to its absolute
limits, and focusing squarely on borrowers with strong credit.
According to
data from Black Knight Financial Services, ARMs comprised one third of
mortgages in the $417,001-to-$1 million range originating during the fourth
quarter of 2013. That is a surge from 22% a year earlier and the largest
proportion since the third quarter of 2008. On mortgages of more than $1
million, 61% were ARMs, up from 56% a year earlier. “We’re seeing a shift
back to ARMs,” says Mike McPartland, head of investment finance for North
America at Citi Private Bank, a unit of
Citigroup Inc. “My
opinion is, it’s going to continue.”
Jensen Comment
During the real estate bubble that burst in 2007, ARMs were being extended to
speculators who had no hope repaying the mortgages at zero interest rates let
alone ARM rates. As long as real estate prices were going up, up, and away
inside the bubble the strategy was to buy as much as you could with the intent
to flip the property in a year or two at a huge capital gain. Real estate agents
were eager to get their sales commissions. Mortgage brokers (usually Main Street
banks) were eager to get their lending commissions and sell the mortgages
upstream to Wall Street chefs like Bear Sterns, Merrill Lynch, and Lehman Bros.
who were cooking up collateralized soups called CDOs.
Real estate
appraisers played way too loose with value appraisals to get their commissions.
And buyers just wanted to flip at even higher prices.
When the real
estate bubble burst in 2007 and real estate prices crashed, property owners
defaulted, the ARM poisons kicked in, Wall Street investments bankers like Bear
Stearns and Lehman declared bankruptcy because they could not make good on the
CDO bond sales that they had guaranteed against default. To add pain to misery
USA taxpayers footed the bailout bills for the biggest interconnecting banking
swindles in the history of the world ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/2008Bailout.htm#Bailout
There's only
one major protection preventing these swindles happening once again in 2014. If
the originators of the mortgages (e.g. Main Street banks) are forced to bear a
serious portion of the default risk they will not be as free and easy giving
loans to buyers who cannot pay when the higher ARM rates kick in down the road.
Main Street
banks will still sell the new mortgages that they float upstream, but any
subsequent defaults will flow, at least in part, back downstream to the loan
origination Main Street banks. Without default losses flowing back downstream
there will otherwise be free and easy speculative lending to buyers who have no
hope of repaying the mortgages unless they can flip the properties at prices
higher than the collateral values.
Underlying all
of this is a forecasted recovery of the real estate market.
Main Street bankers and property buyers are gambling that real estate values
have bottomed out and are on the mend.
But aside the
usual GDP optimism and pessimism is an enormous two-ton gorilla --- the
California drought that could send real estate values crashing in reverberations
heard around the world. Pray for lots of rain in California and the rest of the
USA's southwest. And while you are at it pray that there will be no
record-setting earthquakes in California in the foreseeable future. A lot of us
depend on a viable California economy more than we realize.
Let's hope La
La Land with its Moonbeam Governor does not turn to dust in the winds.
From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on March 17, 2014
Fannie,
Freddie bill leaves status of private shareholders to courts
A Senate draft bill to wind down
government-run mortgage financiers
Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac, released
on Sunday, would leave a decision on how to treat their
private shareholders to the courts,
Reuters reports.
The 442-page draft bill, written by
Senate Banking Committee’s chairman Tim Johnson (D., S.D.) and Mike Crapo
(R., Id.), would replace the companies with a new industry-financed agency.
The bill would keep in place current terms of the government’s $187.5
billion bailout
of the two companies in 2008 that require them to divert all profits into
the U.S. Treasury. But is mute on whether or not private shareholders
should partake in any proceeds when the companies are liquidated. They
have since returned to profitability and by the end of March will have sent
the Treasury $202.9 billion in dividends. Private investors, including Perry
Capital and Fairholme Capital Management, have sued over the bailout terms.
They argue they should stand to benefit from the profits given that the
companies soon will have paid more in dividends to taxpayers than they
received in aid.
Jensen Comment
Is this a good example of what the founding fathers of the USA intended by
division of power in government?
In my opinion
its more like a shirking of responsibility of the legislative branch of the USA,
but that branch has become notorious for shirking responsibility on just about
everything except its own graft and corruption.
This bill
should be called the Tort Lawyers Relief Act. It will become much bigger than
asbestos.
There's hope
yet for our sinking law schools.
"Facebook Creates Software That Matches Faces Almost as Well as You Do:
Facebook’s new AI research group reports a major improvement in face-processing
software," by Tom Simonite, MIT's Technology Review, March 17, 2014
---
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/525586/facebook-creates-software-that-matches-faces-almost-as-well-as-you-do/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140318
Asked whether two unfamiliar photos of faces show
the same person, a human being will get it right 97.53 percent of the time.
New software developed by researchers at Facebook can score 97.25 percent on
the same challenge, regardless of variations in lighting or whether the
person in the picture is directly facing the camera.
That’s a significant advance over previous
face-matching software, and it demonstrates the power of a new approach to
artificial intelligence known as deep learning, which Facebook and its
competitors have bet heavily on in the past year (see “Deep
Learning”). This area of AI involves software that
uses networks of simulated neurons to learn to recognize patterns in large
amounts of data.
“You normally don’t see that sort of improvement,”
says Yaniv Taigman, a member of Facebook’s AI team, a research group created
last year to explore how deep learning might help the company (see “Facebook
Launches Advanced AI Effort”). “We closely
approach human performance,” says Taigman of the new software. He notes that
the error rate has been reduced by more than a quarter relative to earlier
software that can take on the same task.
Jensen Comment
Jensen Comment
It might be interesting to combine face recognition software with face
generation software. Years ago I experimented with displaying multivariate data
in faces. However, in those days I was working with Chernoff Faces that
were cartoon depictions of multivariate data. There were, however, some efforts
in those days to depict multivariate data in the form of real faces constructed
from FBI mug books.
The purpose behind displaying multivariate data in the form of faces is so
that human observers can then try to find faces that are the most similar or the
most different. It would seem that for real faces that depict multivariate data,
face recognition software could replace humans in matching up the faces.
Visualization of Multivariate Data (including faces) ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.htm
A Rare ACLU Victory Regarding Promotion Denial Due to Conservative Leanings
Victory for Academic Freedom: Jury Rules UNC-Wilmington Retaliated Against
Conservative Professor ---
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2014/03/20/victory-for-academic-freedom-jury-rules-uncwilmington-retaliated-against-conservative-professor-n1812321?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
A jury in North Carolina on Thursday
found that the University of North
Carolina-Wilmington retaliated against criminology professor Dr. Mike Adams
for his political and social views.
Adams, a Townhall columnist,
explained last year that despite his track record
of success at the university in terms of teaching, research and service, he
was denied a promotion to full professor because of the views he advanced in
his opinion columns. He described the promotion process as being “replete
with procedural irregularities and with direct criticism of [his] columns
and [his] beliefs.”
The ACLU, who represented Adams along with
Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Travis Barham,
explains further:
When Dr. Adams submitted his application for full
professor, university officials rejected it through the use of a
completely-fabricated promotion standard, passed along false and
misleading information about his academic record, explicitly considered
the content of his protected speech in promotion documents, and –
incredibly – allowed a professor who’d filed a false criminal complaint
against Dr. Adams to cast a vote against his application.
“[N]o individual loses his ability to speak as a
private citizen by virtue of public employment,” the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the 4th Circuit wrote in 2011. “Adams’ columns addressed
topics such as academic freedom, civil rights, campus culture, sex,
feminism, abortion, homosexuality, religion, and morality. Such topics
plainly touched on issues of public, rather than private, concern.”
The university hired Adams, a former atheist, in
1993 as an assistant professor, and promoted him to associate professor in
1998. The “campaign of academic persecution that culminated in his denial of
promotion to full professor” began when he converted to Christianity in
2000, which greatly influenced his views on social and political issues.
Continued in article
Also see
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/professor-wins-suit-that-accused-university-of-bias-in-denying-his-promotion/74703?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Jensen Comment
This is very surprising since the courts rarely intervene in promotion- and
tenure-related decisions except when civil rights are violated. Court
awards for illegal bias in hiring is a bit more common. One such hiring
discrimination regarding denial of appointment to a conservative law faculty
applicant at the University is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
When this adjunct was a tenure track employment the University of Iowa law
school had 48 Democrats, one Republican, and one independent. Since this went to
court, this program hired a new conservative.
The amount of compensation for damages has not yet been decided as of March
21, 2014. Usually the awards are monetary since the courts are hesitant to force
a college to hire, promote, or grant tenure to the damaged candidate.
What is somewhat unique is for the notoriously-liberal ACLU to take on a
conservatism case. But there is precedent such as a victory years ago when the
ACLU defended the right of the Nazi Party in the USA to demonstrate.
Bob Jensen's threads on significant liberal bias in higher education ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#LiberalBias
"The Overprotected Kid," by Hanna Rosen, The Atlantic, March
19, 2014 ---
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/
A preoccupation with safety has stripped childhood
of independence, risk taking, and discovery—without making it safer. A new
kind of playground points to a better solution.
Jensen Comment
When I grew up it was the exact opposite. About all we feared were bulls in the
cow pasture, horse kicks, and falling out of trees.
These days parents are mostly paranoid over pedophilia, perhaps with good
reason. When I grew up I don't know of any parents who worried about young
children running all over the rural towns ranging from population 10 to 10,000
in Iowa. We used to play kick-the-can in the town park until nearly ten at night
except on school nights. One of my childhood friends, Alvin, hit his head on a
flag pole in the dark and died instantly. His father was the town plumber.
Of course when I was still a kid on the farm we went to bed before dark,
because we had to get up about 4:00 am every morning for milking and other
chores to be done before breakfast. I really liked being around the horses on
the farm, but I think I had more fun when my folks moved into town. Farm kids
mostly did chores from morning to night except for the part of each day in
school. Town kids mostly entertained themselves all over town.
There was one case of a grimy father in a family living by the railroad
tracks who molested his 10-year old daughter --- my friend named Shirley. She
was afterwards put into a Catholic home in another town, but as far as I know
her dad still remained home with his wife and the rest of the younger kids. What
I remember most about their shack was how bad it smelled inside --- a gagging
stench. I don't think the bedding was ever washed, and I strongly suspect that
there was not a bathtub since the family still used an outhouse.
My folks put off buying a television set until I went off to college even
though some neighbors had TV sets with 40-foot antenna towers. Kids entertained
themselves in those years. Now they rarely divert their eyes outward from their
television sets, iPods, iPads, iPhones, etc.
I would rather be playing kick-the-can before I kick-the-bucket!
My hort story entitled
My Glimpse of Heaven: What I learned from Max and Gwen
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm
From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on March 21, 2014
The myth of the science and engineering shortage
This article in
the Atlantic looks at
the commonplace idea that the U.S. education system is short on cultivating
mathematical and scientific ability, and is falling behind other nations.
Then it goes all-out to dismantle it, claiming there is no credible evidence
of the claimed widespread shortages within the U.S. science and engineering
workforce. The high-tech jobs that require such an education are a
relatively small proportion of the U.S. employment pool anyway, and mostly
require a postgraduate qualification to enter. The piece cites various
respected research bodies that have failed to find any truth in the shortage
assertion. If anything, they have shown the science and engineering
workforce to be oversubscribed by qualified graduates – more applicants than
there are jobs. “No one has been able to find any evidence indicating
current widespread labor market shortages or hiring difficulties in science
and engineering occupations that require bachelors degrees or higher,
although some are
forecasting high growth in occupations that
require post-high school training but not a bachelors degree,” the author
asserts.
Bob Jensen's threads on careers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers
From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on March 21, 2014
Bernie Madoff speaks: politics, remorse and Wall Street
Politico pays Mr. Bernard Lawrence
Madoff a visit: a million metaphorical miles away from his old seven-room
duplex in Manhattan, at his eight by 10 shared cell at Butner Correctional
Facility, North Carolina. In the ultimate form of sensory deprivation for a
man used to handling millions of dollars in the past, there are notices
stuck to vending machines around the premises warning: “inmates are not
allowed to handle money.” Highlights of the three-hour interview with
Politico’s MJ Lee
include details Madoff gives of the constant fundraising solicitations
received from politicians and criticism of President Obama – whom Madoff
says he did vote for the year before he was convicted. He also warned that
there are “bad players like myself” currently getting away with their own
Ponzi schemes, as he spoke.
Jensen Comment
Bob Jensen's thread on the land of Ponzi frauds where Bernie Madoff was once
a king ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#Ponzi
From the Scout Report on March 14, 2014
TypoWeather ---
http://www.typoweather.com
The TypoWeather application is a great way to stay
on top of the latest weather conditions. This handy device presents users
with a five day outlook and an hourly breakdown that is updated based on
data from the National Meteorological Service. Visitors can customize their
layout to include alerts about certain meteorological conditions, such as
wind patterns, humidity, and more. This version is compatible with all
operating systems.
Spotliter ---
http://spotliter.com
Are you looking to customize your photos and videos
before sending them out to friends and family on various social networks?
You can do just that with Spotliter using various features that give you the
ability to add effects such as Horizon, Dots, Overlay, and twelve others.
It's easy to learn with the provided FAQ and there's also an introductory
video as well. This version is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch.
A stellar start for the 2014 'Cosmos' series
'Cosmos' dazzles in debut with Neil deGrasse Tyson
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/10/showbiz/tv/cosmos-show-reaction-tyson-fox/
'Cosmos' Reboot Starts With a (Big) Bang
http://www.universetoday.com/110187/cosmos-reboot-starts-with-a-big-bang/
'Cosmos' review: making science cool again
http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/9/5485162/cosmos-a-spacetime-odyssey-review
Old 'Cosmos' vs. new 'Cosmos': Who's the king of the universe?
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment2/57665057-223/cosmos-data-hide-true.html.csp
Flickr: 'Cosmos' - NASA Images of a Space-Time Odyssey
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/sets/72157642013369213/#
COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey
http://www.cosmosontv.com
From the Scout Report on March 21, 2014
Dictation ---
https://dictation.io/
Dictation is a wonderful program that allows users
to take advantage of "the magic of speech recognition to write emails,
narrate essays and long documents in the browser without touching the
keyboard.” Visitors just need to connect their microphone to their computer
and get started. Additionally, users can use the Commands section to get
more information about how to use the program. This version is compatible
with all computers running Google Chrome.
Tweet My Music ---
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.atredroid.tweetmymusic
Have you ever wanted to just tweet out your music?
Well, now you can with this handy application. Tweet My Music gives users
the ability to add a music player from their device, log in to Twitter, and
then send out playlists and more. Visitors will find this app most enjoyable
and it's a nice way to share thematic music collections with a wide range of
people. This version is compatible with all operating systems
Oldest case of cancer discovered in 3,200 year old skeleton
Oldest Case of Cancer Discovered in Ancient Skeleton
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/03/18/oldest-case-of-cancer-discovered-in-ancient-skeleton/#.Uyiewf1tdhE
World's oldest example of metastatic cancer discovered on a human skeleton
in Sudan
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/worlds-oldest-example-of-metastatic-cancer-discovered-on-a-human-skeleton-in-sudan-9197922.html
New evidence of human cancer found at ancient Amara West
http://blog.britishmuseum.org/2014/03/17/new-evidence-of-human-cancer-found-at-ancient-amara-west/
Archaeologists discover 3,000-year-old skeleton with metastatic cancer
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/274181.php
On the Antiquity of Cancer: Evidence for Metastatic Carcinoma in a Young
Man from Ancient Nubia (c. 1200BC)
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0090924
What Is Cancer? What Causes Cancer?
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/cancer-oncology/
Free online textbooks, cases, and tutorials in accounting, finance,
economics, and statistics ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Education Tutorials
Computer Genius Builds Language That Lets Anyone
Calculate Anything ---
http://blog.wolfram.com/2014/02/24/starting-to-demo-the-wolfram-language/
PBS Learning Media ---
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/
Inside Science TV ---
http://www.ams.org/news/discoveries/discoveries
Hear William S. Burroughs’ Lectures on Creative Reading and Writing at
Naropa University (1979) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/william-s-burroughs-lectures-on-creative-reading-and-writing.html
Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch
Alliance for Excellent Education: Publications (K-12 Magazines) ---
http://all4ed.org/publications/
Bob Jensen's bookmarks for multiple disciplines ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm
Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials
Computer Genius Builds Language That Lets Anyone
Calculate Anything ---
http://blog.wolfram.com/2014/02/24/starting-to-demo-the-wolfram-language/
Biodidac ---
http://biodidac.bio.uottawa.ca/index.htm
ATCC: The Global Bioresource Center (cell biology) ---
http://www.atcc.org/
Harvard Stem Cell Institute ---
http://www.hsci.harvard.edu/
Stem Cell Resources ---
http://www.stemcellresources.org/
ATCC: The Global Bioresource Center (cell biology) ---
http://www.atcc.org/
Mitosis ---
http://www.mitosisapp.com/
From the Scout Report on October 11, 2013
A Trio of Scientists Awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine
U.S.-Based Trio Wins Nobel Prize for Medicine
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303442004579120823331406810.html
For 3 Nobel Winners, a Molecular Mystery Solved
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/08/health/3-win-joint-nobel-prize-in-medicine.html?_r=0
Randy Shekman, molecular biologist and UCLA alumnus, wins 2013 Nobel
Prize
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/randy-schekman-molecular-biologist-248784.aspx
The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2013/press.html
All Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/
How Cells Work
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/cell.htm
Cell Biology Education Resources ---
http://www.ascb.org/ivl/design/education.html
Cell Biology Online Videos ---
http://ibioseminars.hhmi.org/lectures/cell-bio-a-med.html
Mitosis ---
http://www.mitosisapp.com/
Inside the Cell ---
http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/insidethecell/
The Return of the Cicadas (after 17 years) ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JJz36rSob0&feature=youtu.be
Scientists Say Earth Could Have A Massive Secret Reservoir Of Water (maybe
more than in the surface oceans) ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-earth-has-a-secret-reservoir-of-water-2014-3#ixzz2vqQFYQDs
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science
and Engineering ---
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/
The Society of Women Engineers ---
http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/
American Society for Engineering Education: PRISM ---
http://www.prism-magazine.org
Birmingham Public Library Cartography Collection ---
http://bplonline.cdmhost.com/cdm/search/collection/p4017coll7
Cartography 2.0 ---
http://cartography2.org/
Caught Mapping: A Cinematic
Ride Through the Nitty Gritty World of Vintage Cartography ---
http://www.openculture.com/2012/11/icaught_mappingia_cinematic_ride_through_the_nitty_gritty_world_of_vintage_cartography.html
USGS: Education Resources for
Paleontology ---
http://geology.er.usgs.gov/paleo/eduinfo.shtml
Finding Our Place in the Cosmos: From Galileo to Sagan and Beyond ---
http://www.loc.gov/collection/finding-our-place-in-the-cosmos-with-carl-sagan/about-this-collection/
Nova Video: The Fabric of the Cosmos ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/fabric-of-cosmos.html#fabric-time
Inside Science TV ---
http://www.ams.org/news/discoveries/discoveries
NOVA: scienceNOW: Explore Teacher's Guides ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/educators/subject-anth.html
NOVA Online: Health Science Classroom Activities ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/education/resources/subj_05_03.html
NOVA: Rise of the Drones ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/rise-of-the-drones.html
NOVA: Hunting the Elements
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/hunting-elements.html
Nova Video: The Fabric of the Cosmos ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/fabric-of-cosmos.html#fabric-time
Watch the First Episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos Reboot on Hulu (US
Viewers) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/watch-the-first-episode-of-neil-degrasse-tysons-cosmos-reboot-on-hulu-us-viewers.html
Episode 2 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/neil-degrasse-tyson-tells-fox-viewers-evolution-is-a-scientific-fact-on-cosmos.html
Center for Astronomy Education ---
http://astronomy101.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
Amazing Space: Visions of the Universe ---
http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/visions/
Impact: Earth! ---
http://www.purdue.edu/impactearth
EarthViewer (History of the Earth Created for the iPad) ---
http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/earthviewer/index.html
Lick Observatory Records Digital Archive ---
http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/p265101coll10
From the Scout Report on March 14, 2014
A stellar start for the 2014 'Cosmos' series
'Cosmos' dazzles in debut with Neil deGrasse Tyson
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/10/showbiz/tv/cosmos-show-reaction-tyson-fox/
'Cosmos' Reboot Starts With a (Big) Bang
http://www.universetoday.com/110187/cosmos-reboot-starts-with-a-big-bang/
'Cosmos' review: making science cool again
http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/9/5485162/cosmos-a-spacetime-odyssey-review
Old 'Cosmos' vs. new 'Cosmos': Who's the king of the universe?
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment2/57665057-223/cosmos-data-hide-true.html.csp
Flickr: 'Cosmos' - NASA Images of a Space-Time Odyssey
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/sets/72157642013369213/#
COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey
http://www.cosmosontv.com
From the Scout Report on March 21, 2014
Oldest case of cancer discovered in 3,200 year old skeleton
Oldest Case of Cancer Discovered in Ancient Skeleton
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2014/03/18/oldest-case-of-cancer-discovered-in-ancient-skeleton/#.Uyiewf1tdhE
World's oldest example of metastatic cancer discovered on a human skeleton
in Sudan
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/worlds-oldest-example-of-metastatic-cancer-discovered-on-a-human-skeleton-in-sudan-9197922.html
New evidence of human cancer found at ancient Amara West
http://blog.britishmuseum.org/2014/03/17/new-evidence-of-human-cancer-found-at-ancient-amara-west/
Archaeologists discover 3,000-year-old skeleton with metastatic cancer
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/274181.php
On the Antiquity of Cancer: Evidence for Metastatic Carcinoma in a Young
Man from Ancient Nubia (c. 1200BC)
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0090924
What Is Cancer? What Causes Cancer?
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/cancer-oncology/
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
Anti-Social Media
http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/antisocialmedia
Politically Correct Library Material on the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgendered Society
University of South Florida Libraries: LGBT Collections --- University of South
Florida Libraries: LGBT Collections
http://www.lib.usf.edu/special-collections/lgbt-collections/
http://www.lib.usf.edu/special-collections/lgbt-collections/
Dallas Voice (a LGBT voice for Dallas, Homosexual) ---
http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/DALVO/
Labor and Workplace Studies: University of Maryland Libraries ---
http://digital.lib.umd.edu/labor?pid=umd:78013
The Labor Trail ---
http://www.labortrail.org/index.html
Michigan Feminist Studies ---
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mfsg/
The Real Rosie the Riveter Project (labor, women, feminist,
gender) --- http://dlib.nyu.edu/rosie/
Crain's Chicago Business ---
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/
Curious City (Chicago) ---
http://curiouscity.wbez.org
Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archive ---
http://www.library.georgetown.edu/krogh
GAO: Fiscal Outlook & The Debt ---
http://www.gao.gov/fiscal_outlook/overview
Inside the WGBH Open Vault (television video) ---
http://www.wgbh.org/topics/Inside-the-WGBH-Open-Vault-353
Black History in Wisconsin ---
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/blackhistory/
The March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project ---
http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/digilib/march/index.cfm
Milwaukee Neighborhoods: Photos and Maps, 1885-1992
http://www.uwm.edu/Library/digilib/Milwaukee/index.html
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
African American Alumni Oral Histories ---
http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/cdm/search/collection/uwmalumni
Mountains and Mountaineering in the Pacific Northwest ---
https://content.lib.washington.edu/portals/mountaineering/index.html
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
"The 17 Equations That Changed The Course Of History," by Andy Kiersz, Business Insider, March 12, 2014 ---
---
http://www.businessinsider.com/17-equations-that-changed-the-world-2014-3#ixzz2vqf4EeBR
Whatcom Community College: Online Math Center
http://math.whatcom.ctc.edu/student-services/campus-resources/math-center/learning-math/free-courses/
Jensen Comment
I am the most familiar with the Black-Scholes Model that changed the financial
world in controversial ways. The must complicated behavior to model is arguably
human behavior, especially investment behavior. Among other things one of the
inventors, Myron Scholes, of the BS (appropriate initials) led to one of the
most spectacular busts on Wall Street --- the infamous "Trillion Dollar Bet" of
a failed hedge fund known as Long-Term Capital Managemetn --- LTCM ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#LTCM
The Trillion Dollar Bet transcripts are free ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2704stockmarket.html
However, you really have to watch the graphics in the video to appreciate this
educational video ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/stockmarket/
Is pi infinite?
Answer ---
Click Here
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/recreational-math/vi-hart/pi-tau/v/anti-pi-rant-2014?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Stuff
You Might Like Testing Send 95&utm_campaign=Highlighted Content 8 Ph2
03152014&utm_content=Final
Jensen Comment
Unlike what she says in this video Pi is special for reasons you should be able
to remember --- I hope!
"The Beautifully Simple Method Archimedes Used To Find The First Digits Of
Pi," by Andy Kiersz, Business Insider, March 14, 2014 ---
---
http://www.businessinsider.com/archimedes-pi-estimation-2014-3
"Computer Genius Builds Language That Lets Anyone Calculate Anything," by
Andy Kiersz, Business Insider, March 10, 2014 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/wolfram-language-demo-2014-3
"What Should Mathematics Majors Know About Computing, and When Should They
Know It?" by Robert Talbert, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 18,
2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/castingoutnines/2014/03/18/what-should-mathematics-majors-know-about-computing-and-when-should-they-know-it/?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics
History Tutorials
A Romp Through the Philosophy of Mind: A Free Online Course from Oxford ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/a-romp-through-the-philosophy-of-mind-a-free-online-course-from-oxford.html
ChronoAtlas (ancient world empires) ---
http://www.chronoatlas.com/MapViewer.aspx
Vandermaelen Atlas Universal (maps, data) ---
http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/vandermaelen/home.htm
Colorized Rare Historical Photographs ---
http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=d6d9d5385aee
Auburn University Theatre Collection ---
http://diglib.auburn.edu/collections/theatre/
Read All of Shakespeare’s Plays Free Online, Courtesy of the Folger
Shakespeare Library ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/read-all-of-shakespeares-plays-free-online-courtesy-of-the-folger-shakespeare-library.html
Listen to Orson Welles’ Classic Radio Performance of 10 Shakespeare Plays ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/listen-to-orson-welles-classic-radio-performance-of-10-shakespeare-plays.html
In Search
of Shakespeare: Shakespeare’s Sonnets Lesson Plan ---
http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/educators/language/lessonplan.html
The Harvard Classics: Download All 51 Volumes as Free eBooks
---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/the-harvard-classics-download-all-51-volumes-as-free-ebooks.html
Orson Welles Reads From America’s Greatest Poem, Walt Whitman’s “Song of
Myself” (1953) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/orson-welles-reads-from-whitmans-song-of-myself.html
Beloit College: Bartlett Collection (Asian Art Objects) ---
http://www.beloit.edu/bcdc/logan/bartlett/
The Huntington Archive (Buddhist and Asian Art) ---
http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/database.php
Freer and Sackler Galleries [iTunes, Smithsonian Asian Art] ---
http://www.asia.si.edu/podcasts/default.htm
Mapping a New Nation: Abel Buell's Map of the United States, 1784 ---
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mapping-a-new-nation/
The Labor Trail ---
http://www.labortrail.org/index.html
Michigan Feminist Studies ---
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mfsg/
The Real Rosie the Riveter Project (labor, women, feminist,
gender) --- http://dlib.nyu.edu/rosie/
Black History in Wisconsin ---
http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/topics/blackhistory/
The March on Milwaukee Civil Rights History Project ---
http://www4.uwm.edu/libraries/digilib/march/index.cfm
Milwaukee Neighborhoods: Photos and Maps, 1885-1992
http://www.uwm.edu/Library/digilib/Milwaukee/index.html
University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee
African American Alumni Oral Histories ---
http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/cdm/search/collection/uwmalumni
The EY Exhibition: Paul Klee ---
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/ey-exhibition-paul-klee-making-visible
The History of the Movie Camera in Four Minutes: From the Lumiere Brothers to
Google Glass ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/the-history-of-the-movie-camera-in-four-minutes.html
Orson Welles Reads From America’s Greatest Poem, Walt Whitman’s “Song of
Myself” (1953) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/orson-welles-reads-from-whitmans-song-of-myself.html
National Historic Sites of Canada ---
http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/lhn-nhs/index.aspx
Canadian Pacific Railway Collection (Photographs) ---
http://www.vpl.ca/cpr/index.html
Parks Canada ---
http://www.pc.gc.ca/progs/np-pn/pr-sp/index_e.asp
The Canadian County Atlas Digital Project ---
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/countyatlas/searchmapframes.php
Irish in the American Civil War ---
http://irishamericancivilwar.com/
Boston Abolitionists, 1831-1865 ---
https://www.masshist.org/features/boston-abolitionists
The University of Iowa Libraries: 1923 African American Patrobas Cassius
Robinson Collection ---h
ttp://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/pcr/
The Goldfinch (Iowa History Magazine)
http://ir.uiowa.edu/goldfinch/
Amherst College: Digital Collections (History of Amherst) ---
http://clio.fivecolleges.edu/amherst/
Digital Collections: Amherst
College ---
https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/holdings/electexts
Amherst College: Emily Dickinson Collection ---
https://acdc.amherst.edu/browse/collection/collection:ed
Emily Dickenson
---
http://www.emilydickinson.org/
Mead Art Museum (Amherst College) ---
https://www.amherst.edu/museums/mead/
Inside the WGBH Open Vault (television video) ---
http://www.wgbh.org/topics/Inside-the-WGBH-Open-Vault-353
Bob Jensen's threads on history tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#History
Also see
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm
Language Tutorials
Bob Jensen's links to language tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Languages
Music Tutorials
Bob Jensen's threads on free music tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Music
Bob Jensen's threads on music performances ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
Writing Tutorials
30 Ideas for Teaching Writing
http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922
Stephen King’s Top 20 Rules for Writers ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/stephen-kings-top-20-rules-for-writers.html
Stephen King Creates a List of 96 Books for Aspiring Writers to Read ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/stephen-king-creates-a-list-of-96-books-for-aspiring-writers-to-read.html
Hear William S. Burroughs’ Lectures on Creative Reading and Writing at Naropa
University (1979) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/william-s-burroughs-lectures-on-creative-reading-and-writing.html
Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries
Updates from WebMD ---
http://www.webmd.com/
March 14, 2014
March 15, 2014
March 18, 2014
March 19, 2014
March 20, 2014
March 21, 2014
March 22, 2014
March 25, 2014
"Professor Writes Startlingly Honest Account Of Her Own Dementia," vy
Corey Adwar, Business Insider, March 21, 2014 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/gerda-saunders-writes-about-her-dementia-2014-3
Study Questions Fat and Heart Disease Link ---
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/03/17/study-questions-fat-and-heart-disease-link/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
"The Overprotected Kid," by Hanna Rosen, The Atlantic, March
19, 2014 ---
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/
A preoccupation with safety has stripped childhood
of independence, risk taking, and discovery—without making it safer. A new
kind of playground points to a better solution.
Jensen Comment
When I grew up it was the exact opposite. About all we feared were bulls in the
cow pasture, horse kicks, and falling out of trees.
Short story entitled
My Glimpse of Heaven: What I learned from Max and Gwen
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm
Court Tosses Out $1.2 Billion Judgment Against Johnson & Johnson:
Arkansas Had Sued Over Janssen Pharmaceuticals Unit's Antipsychotic Drug
Risperdal ---
WSJ March 20, 2014
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304256404579451162380919936?mod=djemCFO_h&mg=reno64-wsj
A long-delayed correction of a lie
"You Might (Really) Lose Your Doctor Under Obamacare," WebMd, March 14,
2014 ---
http://hotair.com/archives/2014/03/14/great-news-80-of-employers-have-or-may-raise-deductibles-thanks-to-obamacare/
Voters in November might be ready to show Democrats
what they think about removing choice and hiking costs, as well as their
arrogance in determining that a few politicians in Washington know better
about their choices than they do. Unfortunately, Barack Obama doesn’t appear
to have figured out this problem. In an interview with WebMD, Obama finally
acknowledged that, contra his promise, people might not be able to keep the
doctors they liked, but that they probably shouldn’t have liked those
doctors in the first place.
Jensen Comment
Why won't he still admit the truth. Many of those doctors that "they liked" tend
to be so good that they get more than enough business without working for
medical clinics. Many of the hospitals that refuse to participate are the best
hospitals in the USA like the Andersen Cancer Center in Houston.
Here in New Hampshire 10 of the 26 hospitals and many of the best physicians
in the state refuse to go on network. One of the main reasons is that patients
in default on their health exchange premiums must be treated for 90 days with
physicians and hospitals bearing the treatment costs for the last 60 of those 90
days. God forbid that the fat-cat insurance companies or the Federal government
take the risks of paying for the free care during those 60-days.
A Bit of Humor
Watch David Brenner (RIP) Make the First of His 158 Appearances on The
Tonight Show in 1971 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/watch-david-brenner-rip-make-the-first-of-his-158-appearances-on-the-tonight-show-in-1971.html
Happy St. Patrick's Day Pub Lunch ---
http://www.jacquielawson.com/preview.asp?cont=1&hdn=0&pv=3153666&path=98301
Les Beaux Frères - Serviette (brief nudity) ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUr3XbROoA8
I had to wait a long time for a commercial for a new movie to end
The Darwin Awards ---
http://www.darwinawards.com/
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
20 Jokes Only Intellectuals Understand ---
http://thelookingspoon.com/conservative-lol/117-general-humor/5360-will-you-get-these-20-jokes-meant-for-really-brainy-people.html
Bob Hope Entertaining the Troops ---
http://biggeekdad.com/2011/02/bob-hope-christmas/
Forwarded by Paula
Paraprosdokians are figures of speech in which the latter part of a sentence
or phrase is surprising or unexpected and is frequently humorous.
1. Where there's a will, I want to be in it.
2. The last thing I want to do is hurt you ... But it's still on my list.
3. Since light travels faster than sound, Some people appear bright until you
hear them speak.
4. If I agreed with you, We'd both be wrong.
5. We never really grow up -- We only learn how to act in public.
6. War does not determine who is right, Only who is left.
7. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a
fruit salad.
8. To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism. To steal from many is
research.
9. I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was blaming you.
10. In filling out an application, where it says, "In case of emergency,
notify... " I answered "a doctor."
11. Women will never be equal to men until they can walk down the Street with
a bald head and a beer gut, and still think they are sexy.
12. You do not need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute to
skydive twice.
13. I used to be indecisive, But now I'm not so sure.
14. To be sure of hitting the target, Shoot first and call whatever you hit
"the target."
1 5 . You're never too old to learn something stupid.
1 6 . I'm supposed to respect my elders, But it's getting harder and harder
for me to find one now.
Forwarded by James Don Edwards
A father was approached by
his small son who told him proudly, "I know what the Bible means!"
His father smiled and replied, "What do you mean, you 'know' what the
Bible means?
The son replied, "I do know!"
"Okay," said his father. "What does the Bible mean?"
"That's easy, Daddy..." the young boy replied excitedly," It stands for
'Basic Information Before Leaving Earth..' (This one is my favourite)
=======
There was a very gracious lady who was mailing an old family Bible to
her brother in another part of the country.
"Is there anything breakable in here?" asked the postal clerk.
"Only the Ten Commandments." answered the lady.
========
"Somebody has said there are only two kinds of people in the world.
There are those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good morning,
Lord," and there are those who wake up in the morning and say, "Good
Lord, it's morning."
========
A minister parked his car in a no-parking zone in a large city because
he was short of time and couldn't find a space with a meter.
Then he put a note under the windshield wiper that read: "I have circled
the block 10 times. If I don't park here, I'll miss my appointment.
Forgive us our trespasses."
When he returned, he found a citation from a police officer along with
this note "I've circled this block for 10 years. If I don't give you a
ticket I'll lose my job. Lead us not into temptation."
========
There is the story of a pastor who got up one
Sunday and announced to his
congregation: "I have good news and bad news. The good news is, we have
enough money to pay for our new building program. The bad news is, it's
still out there in your pockets."
========
While driving in Pennsylvania , a family caught up to an Amish carriage.
The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humour, because
attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign... "Energy
efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in
exhaust."
========
A
Sunday School teacher began her lesson
with a question, "Boys and girls, what do we know about God?"
A hand shot up in the air. "He is an artist!" said the kindergarten boy.
"Really? How do you know?" the teacher asked.
"You know - Our Father, who does art in Heaven... "
========
A minister waited in line to have his car filled with gas just before a
long holiday weekend. The attendant worked quickly, but there were many
cars ahead of him. Finally, the attendant motioned him toward a vacant
pump.
"Reverend," said the young man, "I'm so sorry about the delay. It seems
as if everyone waits until the last minute to get ready for a long
trip."
The minister chuckled, "I know what you mean. It's the same in my
business."
========
People want the front of the bus, the back of the church, and the center
of attention.
========
Sunday after church, a Mom asked her
very young daughter what the lesson was about.
The daughter answered, "Don't be scared, you'll get your quilt."
Needless to say, the Mom was perplexed. Later in the day, the pastor
stopped by for tea and the Mom asked him what that morning's
Sunday school lesson was about.
He said "Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming."
========
The minister was preoccupied with thoughts of how he was going to ask
the congregation to come up with more money than they were expecting for
repairs to the church building. Therefore, he was annoyed to find that
the regular organist was sick and a substitute had been brought in at
the last minute.. The substitute wanted to know what to play.
"Here's a copy of the service," he said impatiently. "But, you'll have
to think of something to play after I make the announcement about the
finances."
During the service, the minister paused and said, "Brothers and Sisters,
we are in great difficulty; the roof repairs cost twice as much as we
expected and we need $4,000 more. Any of you who can pledge $100 or
more, please stand up."
At that moment, the substitute organist played "The NATIONAL ANTHEM."
And that is how the substitute became the regular organist!
When you carry the Bible, Satan gets a headache..... When you open it,
he collapses..... When he sees you reading it, he faints..... When he
sees that you are living what you read, he flees...... And when you are
about to forward this message.... He will try and discourage you.. I
just defeated him!!! Any other takers?
Humor Between March 1-31,
2014 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book14q1.htm#Humor033114
Humor Between February 1-28,
2014 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book14q1.htm#Humor022814
Humor Between January 1-31,
2014 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book14q1.htm#Humor013114
Humor Between December 1-31,
2013 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book13q4.htm#Humor123113
Humor Between November 1-30,
2013 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book13q4.htm#Humor113013
Humor Between October 1-31,
2013 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book13q4.htm#Humor103113
Humor Between September 1-30, 2013 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book13q3.htm#Humor093013
Humor Between July 1 and August 31,
2013 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book13q3.htm#Humor083113
Humor Between June 1-30, 2013
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book13q2.htm#Humor063013
Humor Between May 1-31, 2013
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book13q2.htm#Humor053113
Humor Between April 1-30, 2013
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book13q2.htm#Humor043013
Tidbits Archives ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and
Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
Update in
2014
20-Year Sugar Hill Master Plan ---
http://www.nccouncil.org/images/NCC/file/wrkgdraftfeb142014.pdf
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