Tidbits on November 12, 2014
Bob Jensen
at Trinity University
This week I feature
photographs of
Blossoms That Made Our Cottage Smell Like a Death House With a Maggot-Infested
Rotting Corpse
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/DeathBlossoms/StarFlowers.htm
Forwarded by
James Hill at Trinity University
The Soldier's Poem
I was that which others did not want
to be.
I went where others feared to go, and did
what others failed to do.
I asked nothing, and reluctantly
accepted the thought of eternal loneliness...should I fail.
I have seen the face of terror; felt
the stinging cold of fear; and enjoyed the sweet taste of a moment's
love.
I have cried, pained, and hoped...but
most of all I have lived times others would say were best forgotten.
At least someday I will be able to say
that I was proud of what I was...
....a soldier.
Anonymous
Tidbits on November 12,, 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
A Quick Introduction to Literary Theory: Watch Animated Videos
from the Open University ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/NJG3DEm15JA/animated-introduction-to-literary-theory-by-open-university.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Azar Nafisi views American society through its literature
(video from PBS news hour) ---
http://lisnews.org/azar_nafisi_views_american_society_through_its_literature
Maya Angelou Tells Studs Terkel How She Learned to Count Cards
& Hustle in a New Animated Video ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/10/maya-angelou-tells-studs-terkel-how-she-learn-to-count-cards-hustle-in-a-new-animated-video.html
VW Advertisement ---
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JHixeIr_6BM?rel=0&autoplay=1&iv_load_policy=3
This Video Will Make It Punishingly Clear How The Union Won
The Civil War ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-video-will-make-it-punishingly-clear-how-the-union-won-the-civil-war-2014-11
Two Gigantic Bears Had A Violent Battle In The Middle Of A New
Jersey Suburb ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/black-bears-battle-new-jersey-suburb-fight-rockaway-nj-2014-11
44 Essential Movies for the Student of Philosophy ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/p-hz0wBhEKw/44-essential-movies-for-the-student-of-philosophy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Cosby Show Favorite Episode ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8nV81QWd4M
Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo#t=272
Free music downloads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
Salut Salon - four German musicians - they're
fantastic! ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKezUd_xw20
Lindy Hop Finals 2013 ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9xxeWRxSbA
Scientists Have Discovered The Catchiest Song Of
All Time ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-have-discovered-the-catchiest-song-of-all-time-2014-11
Behold the Blistering Bass Solos of Cream Bassist and Singer,
Jack Bruce (1943-2014) ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/vkOlrb1rET8/blistering-bass-solos-of-jack-bruce.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Free: Stream Songs from Bob Dylan’s Upcoming
Release, The Basement Tapes Complete ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/DG3pau8RfYI/stream-songs-from-the-basement-tapes-complete.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Man Hauls a Piano Up a Mountain in Thailand and
Plays Beethoven for Injured Elephants ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/_Sol2vlEpvk/playing-beethoven-for-injured-elephants.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Argentine Tango ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ5R837rVPY
How to Clean Your Vinyl Records with Wood Glue
---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/zxc4PWRvIZQ/how-to-clean-your-vinyl-records-with-wood-glue.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Turkish Musician Shows How to Play the Yaybahar,
His Mesmerizing, Newly-Invented Instrument ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/-4gnhA_WWQY/turkish-musician-gorkem-shows-how-to-play-the-yaybahar.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
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
40 Maps That Will Help You Make Sense of the
World ---
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/08/maps-that-will-help-you-make-sense-of-the-world/
25 Maps to Help You Understand the World ---
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1002312/pg1
The 50 Most Perfectly Timed Photos Ever ---
http://twistedsifter.com/2013/03/most-perfectly-timed-photos-ever/
50,000 Norman Rockwell Photographs Now Digitized
and Available Online ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/BCfRyGT5qYk/50000-norman-rockwell-photographs-now-digitized-and-available-online.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Stunning Photos Show The Transformation Of Hong Kong Over 50
Years ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/hong-kong-50-years-ago-and-today-2014-9
Here's How New York City's Subway System Looked 110 Years Ago
---
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-nyc-subway-system-looked-110-years-ago-2014-10
David Lynch’s Photographs of Old Factories ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/G-ihbGXUJaY/david-lynchs-photographs-of-old-factories.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
The Sistine Chapel Just Got A $2.3 Billion Revolutionary
Makeover ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-sistine-chapel-dazzles-after-technological-makeover-2014-10
Vintage Photos of Veterans of the Napoleonic
Wars, Taken Circa 1858 ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/Gdj3tREvp0U/vintage-photos-of-veterans-of-the-napoleonic-wars.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Neil Gaiman Reimagines Hansel & Gretel, with
Gorgeous Black-and-White Illustrations by Italian Graphic Artist Lorenzo
Mattotti ---
http://brainpickings.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=13eb080d8a315477042e0d5b1&id=cb20e462c1&e=4d2bd13843
Here's A Look Inside Abu Dhabi's 2017 Guggenheim
Museum ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-abu-dhabi-unveils-artwork-acquired-for-its-guggenheim-2014-11
These Stunning Hubble Images Show Us The Secrets
Of The Universe ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/hubble-images-show-universes-secrets-2014-10
The 25 Best Resorts in Hawaii ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/conde-nast-traveler-best-resorts-in-hawaii-2014-10
Stop the Emden: The day Australia’s fledgling
navy defeated Germany’s most successful warship ---
http://www.news.com.au/national/anzac-day/stop-the-emden-the-day-australias-fledgling-navy-defeated-germanys-most-successful-warship/story-fnmewwpe-1227115010322
Trending in Photography ---
Click Here
https://twitter.com/i/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FExploringBird%2Ftimelines%2F482300331020124160%3Ft%3D1%26cn%3DZXhwbG9yZV9iYWNrZmlsbF9kaWdlc3Q%253D%26sig%3D37f13c45153f30b5bd54da35a6c7db565161d8ee%26al%3D1%26refsrc%3Demail%26iid%3D4a4bbf12dd6b48eaacae70cadf696cdf%26autoactions%3D1415493593%26uid%3D104534227%26nid%3D244%2B1816%2B20141107&t=1&cn=ZXhwbG9yZV9iYWNrZmlsbF9kaWdlc3Q%3D&sig=864ce173fecbf0329b3ec3c64dd4633fa36a8113&iid=4a4bbf12dd6b48eaacae70cadf696cdf&uid=104534227&nid=244+1816+20141107
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
The New Republic: 100 Years and 100 of Its Most
Remarkable Articles ---
http://www.newrepublic.com/tags/100-years-100-stories
Download 110 Free Philosophy eBooks: From Aristotle to
Nietzsche & Wittgenstein ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/7KCZcr9eKM4/download-110-free-philosophy-ebooks-from-aristotle-to-nietzsche-wittgenstein.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Stephen King’s Top 10 All-Time Favorite Books ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/Ri8DWHqb86E/stephen-kings-top-10-all-time-favorite-books.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
The Complete Ulysses: Alec Baldwin, Garrison Keillor, Bob
Odenkirk & Others Read Joyce’s Opus Aloud ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/Il3CSUWOjQM/the-complete-ulysses.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
The Fall of the House of Usher: Poe’s Classic Tale Turned Into
1928 Avant Garde Film, Scripted by e.e. cummings ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/letD9bmaSEU/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-1928-avant-garde-film.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Download the Complete Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle’s
Masterpiece ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/vk1m5JCi-fU/download-the-complete-sherlock-holmes-arthur-conan-doyles-masterpiece.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
The Complete
Sherlock Holmes Now Free on the Kindle ---
http://www.openculture.com/2012/12/the_complete_sherlock_holmes_now_free_on_the_kindle.html
THE COMPLETE SHERLOCK HOLMES (includes drawings) ---
http://www.bakerstreet221b.de/canon/
The Chronicles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ---
http://www.siracd.com/work_bell.shtml
Mystery Net ---
http://www.mysterynet.com/
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: His Life, All
His Works and More ---
http://sirconandoyle.com/index.php
A Study In Scarlet by Arthur
Conan Doyle (1859-1930) ---
Click Here
The Adventure Of The
Sussex Vampire by Arthur Conan Doyle ---
Click Here
The Adventures of
Gerard by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) ---
Click Here
The Adventure Of
Charles Augustus Milverton by Arthur Conan
Doyle ---
Click Here
The Adventure Of The
Dancing Men by Arthur Conan Doyle ---
Click Here
The Hound Of The
Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
---
Click Here
Round the Red Lamp by
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) ---
Click Here
The Poison Belt
by Arthur Conan Doyle ---
Click Here
The Adventure Of The
Beryl Coronet by Arthur Conan Doyle ---
Click Here
Tales of Terror and Mystery
by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) ---
Click Here
A Case of Identity
by Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930) ---
Click Here
The Day Dylan Thomas's Poetic Brilliance Triumphed Over His
Sad Alcohol Dependency He couldn't even pour a glass of water. Then, he began to
read his poetry...
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120001/violence-dylan-thomas
The Day Dylan Thomas's Poetic Brilliance Triumphed Over His Sad Alcohol
Dependency He couldn't even pour a glass of water. Then, he began to read his
poetry...
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120001/violence-dylan-thomas
Dylan Thomas Poetry ---
http://www.dylanthomas.com/
Anthony Hopkins Reads Dylan Thomas ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2011/05/anthony_hopkins_reads_dylan_thomas.html
J.K. Rowling Publishes New Harry Potter Story About the
Malevolent Dolores Umbridge ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/0aZ2NZbkQWU/j-k-rowling-publishes-new-harry-potter-essay.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
John Keats's Passionate, Lusty Letters Are the Key to His Poems
---
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120069/review-john-keats-complete-letters
Dylan Thomas ---
http://www.dylanthomas.com/
Not So Gentle Into That Good Night ---
http://poetry.suite101.com/article.cfm/dylan_thomas___do_not_go_gentle_
Free Online Video
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 November 12, 2014
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2014/TidbitsQuotations101514.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/
GAO: Fiscal Outlook & The Debt ---
http://www.gao.gov/fiscal_outlook/overview
Bob Jensen's threads on entitlements ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm
Bob Jensen's health care messaging updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm
"What Book Changed Your Mind?" Chronicle of Higher Education's
Chronicle Review, November 7, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/What-Book-Changed-Your-Mind-/149839/?cid=wb&utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en
The Chronicle Review asked 12 scholars
what nonfiction book published in the last 30 years has most changed their
minds—not merely inspired or influenced their thinking, but profoundly
altered the way they regard themselves, their work, the world.
Continued in article
Click of the listing of scholars on the left side of the screen.
Jensen Comment
As usual when asked to name one thing such as my favorite book, my
favorite movie, my favorite teacher, favorite cocktail, favorite wine, or my
favorite whatever I cannot answer such a question out of context. Context
means everything in terms of "favorites."
The same applies when asked to name a thing or event that changed my life
because there are so many things that changed my life in certain contexts.
For example the thing that first changed my mind to major in accounting was
a notice on the a bulletin board in the Placement Center at Iowa State
University. I was only in my first year of college and not really seeking a
job, but I went to the Placement Center out of some curiosity that I cannot
recall. What I noticed was that if I were (hypothetically) a graduating
senior one of the best things to be was an accounting major. The prompted me
to sign up for an accounting course in my second year of college even though
I was currently a General Science major. That course led me to take a second
course in accounting and to discuss accountancy as a career with my
professor. The rest is is a history of my life that led ultimately to a
Ph.D. and academic career in accountancy. There were other events that
changed by aspirations to be a professor instead of a practicing accountant,
but I won't go into that here. It had to do with skiing!
Hence if I'm asked to name a book that "changed my life" I have to put it
into context --- religion, love life, career, research, etc.
I will put my choice of a book that "changed my life" in the context of
my research while I was an accounting faculty member at four different
universities. Although I got a Ph.D. in accountancy at Stanford University
in the late 1960s, this was a great transition period for accountancy and
business schools in general. I entered Stanford's doctoral program as an MBA
and CPA and was told focus over 90% of my time and effort learning outside
the business school in such areas as mathematics, economics, statistics, and
operations research. The idea was to be on
the vanguard of accounting professors who brought more science and
mathematics and statistics into academic accounting research.
While at Stanford I stumbled upon a book in the campus library that
changed my research life after graduation. The book is not well known
but led me to years of conducting research and publishing papers in the area
of "cluster analysis."
Cluster Analysis ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_analysis
The book is as follows:
Cluster analysis : correlation
profile and orthometric (factor) analysis for the isolation of unities
in mind and personality
by Robert Choate Tryon
Ann Arbor, Michigan : Edwards brothers, inc., 1939
I never had my own copy of this book, and the book itself was not nearly
so important in my research as related books and academic papers on the
topics of cluster analysis, numerical taxonomy, factor analysis, and related
technical materials.
My point is that the book that changed my life was not necessarily the
most important reference work in my changed life. There were far more
important references and exposures to other researchers at academic
conferences and workshops. But Robert Tryon changed
my research life for years to come.
Later my research moved on from cluster analysis, but it was my
publishing in cluster analysis that got me promotions, tenure, two years in
a think tank at Stanford University, and three endowed chairs before I moved
into other topical areas and research methodologies.
Bob Jensen
Retired
Replies from my friends
Richard Sansing (Dartmouth)
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by
Robert Putnam.
Amy Dunbar (University of Connecticut)
Theory of Justice - John Rawls
The book made me realize that what I
earn/accomplish is only in small part due to my effort. I finally
started to grasp how endowments affect distributions and why a society
that attempts to be just needs safety nets. I personally changed and
became more willing to share, and as I look back on my life, that was
one of the best decisions I ever made.
November 11, 2014 reply from Paul Williams
Amy,
Interesting choice. Considering Bob's comment about context, Rawls'
book was central in re-directing my academic career. I taught in the
FSU London Program in the fall of 1983 and one Saturday was browsing
in an Oxford U. bookstore. Picked up Rawls Theory of Justice, bought
it and read it while I was teaching in London. The result was a
paper "The Legitimate Concern with Fairness" that Anthony Hopwood
published in AOS in 1987 (a paper that still picks up the occasional
cite today). Changed the entire course of my academic life.
Paul
The paper by Paul Williams is available at
http://maaw.info/ArticleSummaries/ArtSumWilliams87.htm
Testimony by Sylvia Manning President, Higher Learning Commission , North
Central Association of Colleges and Schools
Senate Committee o n Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
March 10, 2011
http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Manning.pdf
"No Surprise: Accrediting Agency Opts To Stunt Innovation," by Michael
Horn, Forbes, August 8, 2013 ---
http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhorn/2013/08/08/no-surprise-accrediting-agency-opts-to-stunt-innovation/
"Innovation vs. Gatekeeping," by Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed,
November 11, 2014 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/11/one-way-permit-federal-funding-new-postsecondary-institutions
The tension between promoting innovation and new
approaches on the one hand and protecting academic quality and federal
financial aid funds on the other is at the core of many major issues in
higher education -- not the least of which is the accreditation system. The
system of peer-reviewed quality assurance is
frequently attacked as a brake on progress and
competition in American higher education, even as others criticize it for
going too soft on institutions in ways that cost taxpayers money.
Sylvia Manning does not pretend to have all the
answers to all of the issues, and she took her share of guff when caught in
the vise between the two competing pressures. But as the former head of the
nation's largest regional accrediting body, Manning believes she has a
possible answer to one of the dilemmas: how to get new
degree-granting institutions off the ground without undermining the
accreditors' traditional "gatekeeping" role.
In
a paper published last week by the American
Enterprise Institute, Manning begins (in ways that some critics might find
predictable) by challenging assertions that accreditation, in and of itself,
is a barrier to innovation.
Yes, Manning writes, accreditors depend heavily on
"inputs" (credentials of the faculty, services provided to students, etc.)
as proxies to judge whether an institution is likely to "continue to offer
an acceptable level of quality in the education it provides."
But ultimately, an accrediting agency can't
accurately assess an institution based only on its plans, she argues.
"Accreditation demands evidence, and evidence must be based in
accomplishment, not plans," she writes. Since the evidence revolves around
how students perform and "what the institution does with students," the
evidence can be developed only after students are enrolled.
So yes, she concedes, "the barrier to innovative
new institutions is accreditation." But that is not, she quickly adds,
"because accreditation cannot deal with innovation, but because it wants and
needs time to assess innovation, if the innovation is actually new." But the
institution needs accreditation -- or at least one of the key benefits to
accreditation -- the ability to enroll students who receive federal
financial aid -- right away.
That creates what Manning calls the "chicken or egg
problem": fledgling degree-granting institutions needing accreditation so
they can enroll students with federal funding, and accreditors not wanting
to approve institutions until they've enrolled students and proven their
performance with them.
What Happens Now
Most of the ways that accreditors and institutions
have worked around this problem in recent years have, in one way or another,
"perverted" the process, Manning said in an interview.
Throughout much of the decade of the 2000s,
entrepreneurs purchased already-accredited institutions and essentially
turned them into a different institution altogether. The Higher Learning
Commission was at the forefront of such an approach before Manning became
its president, and under her the accreditor largely shut off that pathway.
(That didn't stop her from getting
raked over the coals at a 2011 Senate hearing that
focused on the exploits of the poster child for that type of transformation,
Bridgepoint Education's 2005 purchase of a struggling Iowa college that
became Ashford University.)
More recently, those trying to create new
institutions have turned to what Manning calls "accreditation by
association," in which an existing institution teams up with a new entity
(often a for-profit company) to create a joint venture. Manning and the
Higher Learning Commission were in the middle of that trend, too, with the
much-contested 2013 implosion of Tiffin
University's partnership with Altius Education, known as Ivy Bridge College.
(Supporters of Ivy Bridge
criticized her and AEI for the limitations of
Manning's proposal and for failing, they said, to fully acknowledge her role
in its demise.)
Essentially, Manning argues, there have not yet
been good ways for the accreditation system to "handle these kinds of [new]
institutions while remaining true to itself."
That disconnect has many policy makers calling for
major changes in how accreditation works, although those discussions have
largely revealed how little agreement there seems to be on what those
changes might be. Manning is skeptical that shortening the time before an
institution is accredited, as some have suggested, would work: "[I]t is not
possible to both preserve the time test of accreditation and hurry up
accreditation for new institutions. To drop the time test would be to drop
the elements of an accreditation review that add up to some sort of proof,"
she writes.
Her alternative is creating something else
entirely: a provisional approval to award federal financial aid that would
act something like a building permit in facilities construction. This
process would involve close study of the would-be new institution's plans
(with, yes, a focus on "inputs"), and then once a prospective institution is
given permission to recruit students who are eligible for federal aid,
annual reviews (not unlike inspections for construction of a new building)
to keep that approval. The institution would then need to earn regular
accreditation within a specific period of time, say seven years. Students
who chose to attend these institutions in the meantime -- and the federal
government, to the extent it backed them with financial aid -- would still
take on risk, since the students' credits might not transfer.
Some key elements of Manning's vision remain less
than fully sketched. She offers several possibilities, for instance, for who
might grant this provisional approval -- the Education Department,
recognized accreditors, or new nongovernmental agencies.
And she acknowledges the problems that her solution
does not deal with at all, most notably whether and how the federal
government might recognize the growing number of institutions that do not
have any intention of granting degrees. (The Council for Higher Education
Accreditation and the Presidents' Forum
released a paper last month exploring potential
ways to ensure the quality of "non-institutional" providers of higher
education.)
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
The issues of innovation and elitism versus accreditation has been even more
controversial in the AACSB International that accredits business schools
worldwide ---
http://www.aacsb.edu/
First came the reluctance/stubbornness of the AACSB to accredit graduate
programs in some large corporations and elite consulting firms. These were often
intended to be advanced-degree programs of employees, often extremely talented
employees. To date I don't think any of these corporate business education
programs have received the AACSB seal of approval in North America, thereby
forcing firms like PwC and EY to partner with AACSB-accredited universities like
Notre Dame, the University of Virginia, and the University of Georgia where the
universities set up dedicated courses and degree programs for employees of the
firms. Debates still rage over whether this is a quality issue or merely
protectionism by deans of non-profit universities who virtually control the
AACSB. There now are "universities" such as Deloitte University, but these are
not accredited by the AACSB and are mainly for advanced technical and leadership
training.
Second came the reluctance/stubbornness of the AACSB to accredit business
schools in for-profit universities like the massive University of Phoenix.
To date I don't think the AACSB has accredited any business program in a
for-profit universities in North America. Here the issue is more of a quality
concern. For example, for-profit universities, even those with academic respect,
tend to have virtually no admission standards.
Third came the reluctance/stubbornness of the AACSB to accredit stand-alone
distance education programs. To date there are many AACSB-accredited distance
education programs in North America, but all are part of traditional onsite
business education programs that had prior AACSB accreditation.
Recently the AACSB was about to be put to a test that is common in regional
accreditation programs. To obtain regional accreditation for-profit universities
commonly purchased marginal, often bankrupt, colleges that still had their
regional accreditations. Thereby the for-profit universities essentially bought
their regional accreditations. This same ploy almost happened recently with the
financially struggling Thunderbird School of Global Management, a nonprofit
university with AACSB Accreditation. A deal was nearly completed for the
international for-profit
Laureate International Universities to purchase Thunderbird in a complicated
leaseback agreement ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbird_School_of_Global_Management
I'm not certain how the AACSB would have handled the Thunderbird leaseback
deal, but a horrific fight between Thunderbird and its alumni put an end to the
deal before it was consummated.
One thing is certain. The issues of innovation and quality are not going away
in the arena of accreditation. In an effort to obtain a foothold in Europe the
AACSB made some concessions to corporate universities that it probably would not
yet make in North America. For example, some AACSB-accredited corporate programs
probably would not meet AACSB standards in North America. For example, in Europe
it is common to have doctoral programs that do not have the research rigor and
admission standards of North American business school doctoral programs.
Bob Jensen's threads on accreditation issues are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#AccreditationIssues
Question
Some leading graduate business schools have new one-year masters degrees in big
data and business analytics.
So why don't schools of accountancy offer one-year masters degrees in accounting
analytics?
So why don't law schools have new one-year masters degrees in big data and law
analytics?
"Big Data Gets Master Treatment at B-Schools; One-Year Analytics Programs
Cater to Shift in Students’ Ambitions," by Lindsay Gellman, The Wall
Street Journal, November 5, 2014 ---
http://online.wsj.com/articles/big-data-gets-master-treatment-at-b-schools-1415226291
B-school students can’t get enough of big data.
Neither can recruiters.
Interest in specialized, one-year master’s programs
in business analytics,
the discipline of using data to explore and solve
business problems, has increased lately, prompting at least five business
schools to roll out stand-alone programs in the past two years.
The growing interest in analytics comes amid a
broader shift in students’ ambitions. No longer content with jobs at big
financial and consulting firms, the most plum jobs for B-school grads are
now in technology or in roles that combine business skills with data acumen,
say school administrators.
But some faculty and school administrators remain
unconvinced that the programs properly prepare students to work with
analytics.
The University of Southern California’s Marshall
School of Business began its Master of Business Analytics program this fall
with 30 students. About 50 to 60 students are expected to enroll in the
$47,000 program next year, the school said.
The program was the brainchild of Marshall’s
corporate advisory board-executives at blue-chip firms like General Electric
Co. , Boeing Co. and Walt Disney Co. who say they need more hires with
analytics talent, said James Ellis, the school’s dean. The board also
recommended that undergraduate students at Marshall be required to take a
course in the subject.
“We find it invaluable to have people who can
synthesize data” and suggest changes based on those insights, said Melissa
Lora, president of Yum Brands Inc. ’s Taco Bell International, who serves on
the school’s corporate-advisory board.
Business-analytics professionals, for instance, are
needed at Taco Bell to sort data on restaurants’ service speed and product
quality, as well as social-media metrics, Ms. Lora said.
Amy Hillman, dean at Arizona State University’s W.P.
Carey School of Business, said interest in a year-old master’s program in
business analytics has spread “like wildfire.” More than 300 people applied
for 87 spots in this year’s class, according to the school.
Ayushi Agrawal, a current Carey student, said she
left her job as a senior business analyst at a Bangalore, India, branch of a
Chicago-based analytics firm to enroll in the program. As data become
central to more business decisions, “I want to be at the forefront” of the
emerging field, the 24-year-old student said.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology also has
a new program in the works. Professors and administrators at its Sloan
School of Management are developing a tentatively titled Masters in
Analytics program to be offered jointly with the university’s Operations
Research Center beginning in 2016, said Dimitris Bertsimas, co-director of
the center. The program will enroll about 50 students, he said.
At
General
Motors Co. , business-analytics professionals
“make sense of big data, mine vast quantities of information, and look for
trends in customer and dealer behavior,” said Nate Bruin-Slot, a
customer-experience manager at GM who has recruited students from analytics
programs.
Starting salaries for 2013 grads of the M.S.
Business Analytics program at Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College
of Business averaged $75,000, according to the school, while salaries for
graduates of the two-year M.B.A. program averaged $90,000. Generally, the
analytics students tend to have a strong background in computer programming
and statistics, school officials say.
Yet others say it is smarter to deliver analytics
training to all students, rather than a select few.
Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of
Management offers several courses in analytics, some of which are required
for M.B.A.s. The school has no plans to offer a stand-alone
business-analytics degree, said Florian Zettelmeyer, director of Kellogg’s
Program on Data Analytics.
“These one-year masters programs are creating a
type of person who is neither fish nor fowl,” Dr. Zettelmeyer said. “We fear
they’re neither as competent with data as real data scientists, nor have the
leadership skills that you really need to drive change in analytics,” he
said.
Michael Rappa, founding director of the Institute
for Advanced Analytics at North Carolina State University, said analytics is
best studied in an interdisciplinary context, rather than only through a
university’s business school.
“Analytics programs in a business school will
always be in the shadow of the M.B.A. program,” said Dr. Rappa, architect of
the Institute’s popular Master of Science in Analytics program, launched in
2007. “That’s how the school is ranked.”
"Should Law Schools Offer Degrees in Legal Analytics?" by Paul Caron,
TaxProf Blog, November 11, 2014
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/11/should-law-schools-offer-degrees-in-legal-analytics.html
Jensen Comment
Business schools are a great place to experiment in these new masters degrees in
analytics.
Schools of accountancy and law are probably not good places to experiment in
these new masters degrees in analytics. Students entering accounting masters
programs and law school JD programs are mainly focused on becoming licensed as
CPAs and attorneys. Students expect these graduate programs to help them prepare
for the tough licensure examinations, e.g., the Uniform CPA examination.
Programs that focus on analytics rather than licensure exam preparation probably
won't have much demand in accountancy and law. The same goes for nursing,
pharmacy, medicine. etc.
The same does not go for general business where MBA prospects may instead
give serious consideration to masters degrees in business analytics.
AACSB Standard A7 ---
http://www.aacsb.edu/en/accreditation/standards/2013-accounting/learning-and-teaching-standards/standard7/
November 11, 2014 reply from Patricia Walters
Given that most of us are trying to determine how
to accommodate the AACSB's new requirement on data analytics, one reason is
that many schools don't have any accounting faculty who can teach it. We are
working with other departments in the business school who do have the skills
to design and teach this type of course.
Pat
Jensen Comment
Given the obsession of most accounting, finance, and other business
doctoral programs with the General Linear Model (GLM) for data mining, Pat's
comment begs the question of why virtually all new business school faculty
cannot teach modules under the AACSB Standard A7. The reason is that meeting
the A7 standard requires skills in MIS and AIS more than advanced skills in
the GLM. Most new Ph.D.s in accounting, finance, and business in general do
not have MIS and AIS skills. For example, in accounting there's an extreme
shortage of new AIS doctoral graduates.
I seriously doubt that most new Ph.D. graduates in accounting, finance,
and business in general are able to teach even the fundamentals of ERP
systems that should be part and parcel to meeting the A7 standard much more
than the GLM ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning
From the wonderful Khan Academy
Resources on How to Apply for College ---
Click Here
https://www.khanacademy.org/college-admissions?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=All
Users&utm_campaign=College Admissions Announcement&utm_content=Final
Don't be fooled by scholarship offers
Bob Jensen's threads on student loans and financial net price calculators
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#NetPriceCalculators
At 3,100 Colleges and Universities
Tuition and Fees, 1998-99 Through 2013-14 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/TuitionFees-1998-99/142511/
Think of a dubious tactic of doubling tuition and then giving all student
prospects 50% scholarships to attract more applicants
"Net-Price Calculators Get the Kayak Treatment," by
Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 9, 2012 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/headcount/net-price-calculators-get-the-kayak-treatment/32238?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Question
Did anybody in the Academy not see this lawsuit coming?
"Former Football Player Sues U. of North Carolina Over Sham Courses,"
by Charles Huckabee, Chronicle of Higher Education, November 10, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/former-football-player-sues-u-of-north-carolina-over-sham-courses/89299?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
A former football player at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill has filed a federal lawsuit against the university,
saying it failed to provide him and other athletes with a quality education
by steering them toward sham classes that never met and had no instruction,
the
Associated Press reports.
In the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District
Court in Charlotte, N.C., the former player, Michael McAdoo, says that the
university promised him a good education but ultimately guided him and other
athletes into a “shadow curriculum” of bogus courses in African-American
studies, the curriculum at the heart of a
long-running scandal over
academic fraud
at Chapel Hill. The
latest investigation of that scandal, led by
Kenneth L. Wainstein, a former federal prosecutor, found that more than
3,000 students—almost half of them athletes—had enrolled in and received
artificially high grades for no-show classes in the African and
Afro-American studies department.
Mr. McAdoo, who played football at Chapel Hill from
2008 through 2010, was ruled permanently ineligible in 2010 for academic
violations related to work for a class in that department. His lawsuit is
seeking class-action status.
Meanwhile, the
News & Observer reports that, during the
2004-5 academic year, when the university’s men’s basketball team won the
NCAA championship, members of the team accounted for 35 enrollments in the
bogus classes.
According to documents accompanying the Wainstein
report, the newspaper says, nine of those enrollments came during the fall
semester of 2004, when eligibility for the spring was determined, and 26
were during the spring semester. One player, Rashad McCants, previously told
ESPN that he took nothing but paper classes in the spring 2005 semester.
The concentration of players in the sham courses
that semester raises questions about whether the team enjoyed a competitive
advantage, the newspaper says, because players didn’t have to attend many
classes and were guaranteed high grades. The NCAA has resumed its
investigation of academic irregularities involving
athletes at Chapel Hill.
Jensen Comment
Years ago five varsity basketball players who attended UCLA for four years sued
the university because they could not read afterwards. I don't know how that
lawsuit was resolved.
The reading instructor at UNC whose research showed that 10% of the athletes
could not read above a third-grade level received death threads and was
encouraged to resign by UNC leaders.
University of North Carolina learning specialist receives death threats
after her research finds one in 10 college athletes have reading age of a THIRD
GRADER," by Sara Malm, Daily Mail, January 10, 2014 ---
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2537041/University-North-Carolina-learning-specialist-receives-death-threats-research-finds-one-10-college-athletes-reading-age-fifth-grader.html
Mary Willingham exposed college athletes' lack of
academic abilities
- She found that 10 per cent read at elementary
school level
- A majority of players' reading level was
between 4th and 8th grade
- Men's basketball makes $16.9m-a-year for
University of North Carolina
Continued in article
Chapel Hill Researcher at Center of Turmoil Over Athletes’ Literacy
Resigns ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/chapel-hill-researcher-at-center-of-turmoil-over-athletes-literacy-resigns/76317?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Jensen Comment
More often than not employers make it uncomfortable for whistleblowers who don't
resign. UNC does not deny that for 20 years varsity athletes took fake courses
and were "allowed" to change their grades. They just contend that these athletes
did not suffer academically because they were in the wonderful learning
environment of the University of North Carolina. Yeah Right!
Bob Jensen's threads on professors who let students to cheat, including
the UNC 20-year scandal ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm
Question
What did
Galileo Galilei claim was the language of the universe?
Hint
Pacioli wrote a book on this language and claimed it was the language of
accounting ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luca_Pacioli
Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (sometimes
Paccioli or Paciolo; 1445–1517) was an
Italian
mathematician,
Franciscan
friar, collaborator with
Leonardo da Vinci, and seminal contributor to the
field now known as
accounting.
Answer from Khan Academy
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/algebra/introduction-to-algebra/overview_hist_alg/v/the-beauty-of-algebra?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Stuff
You Might Like Test Cohort&utm_campaign=Highlighted Content
110914&utm_content=Final
The Jigsaw Classroom: A Cooperative Learning Technique ---
http://www.jigsaw.org
Welcome to the official web site of the jigsaw
classroom, a cooperative learning technique that reduces racial conflict
among school children, promotes better learning, improves student
motivation, and increases enjoyment of the learning experience. The jigsaw
technique was first developed in the early 1970s by Elliot Aronson and his
students at the University of Texas and the University of California. Since
then, hundreds of schools have used the jigsaw classroom with great success.
The jigsaw approach is considered to be a particularly valuable tool in
averting tragic events such as the Columbine massacre.
Bob Jensen's threads on tools and tricks of the trade ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm
Question
Why do you think the Texas Bar Examination performances of University of Texas
Law School graduates differed so much between the February 2014 examination and
the July 2014 examination?
Hints
Bob Jensen is clueless on this one.
Texas Bar Exam Results for July 2014:
Texas moves from dead last to Number 2 ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/11/texas-bar-exam-results.html
- Baylor: 91.57% (#51 in U.S. News)
- Texas: 90.08% (#15 in
U.S. News)
- Houston: 86.29% (#58)
- SMU: 85.51% (#42)
- South Texas: 83.58% (#146)
- Texas Tech: 77.46% (#107)
- Texas A&M: 73.25% (Tier 2)
- St. Mary's: 70.45% (Tier 2)
- Texas Southern: 62.70% (Tier 2)
Jensen Comment
The previous explanation given was that Texas did poorly because it played more
politics with admissions in the UT Law School, e.g., admitting students with
lower LSAT scores who came from families connected to powerful alumni, judges,
top law firms, etc.
"Cronyism Blamed for Half of Univ. of Texas Law School Grads’ Inability to
Pass the Bar," by Paul Caron, TaxProf Blog, May 23, 2014 ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/05/cronyism-blamed.html
Raw Story ---
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/21/cronyism-blamed-for-half-of-univ-of-texas-law-school-grads-inability-to-pass-the-bar/
A mushrooming scandal at the University of Texas
has exposed rampant favoritism in the admissions process of its
nationally-respected School of Law.
According to Watchdog.org, Democratic and
Republican elected officials stand accused of calling in favors and using
their clout to obtain admission to the law school for less-than-qualified
but well-connected applicants.
The prestigious program boasts a meager 59 percent
of recent graduates who were able to pass the Texas bar exam. Those numbers
rank UT “dead last among Texas’ nine law schools despite it being by far the
most highly regarded school of the nine,”
wrote Erik Telford at FoxNews.com.
“Every law school — even Harvard and Yale — turns
out the occasional disappointing alum who cannot pass the bar,” said
Telford. “In Texas, however, a disturbing number of these failed graduates
are directly connected to the politicians who oversee the university’s
source of funding.”
Telford singled out State Sen. Judith Zaffirini (D)
and State House Speaker Joe Straus (R) as particularly egregious offenders.
A
series of Zaffirini emails showed that the state
Senator was more than willing to pull strings in applicants’ favor. Another
six recent graduates who failed the bar exam twice each have connections to
Straus’ office.
“None of the emails published so far explicitly
mention any sort of quid pro quo, but none need do so,” wrote Watchdog.org’s
Jon Cassidy, “as the recipients all know Zaffirini is the most powerful
voice on higher education funding in the Texas Legislature. Even so, in one
of the emails, Zaffirini mentions
how much funding she’s secured for the university
before switching topics to the applicant.”
Furthermore,
the children of three Texas lawmakers, including
Zaffirini’s son, have graduated from UT Law School and failed the bar exam
eight times between them. In addition to Zaffirini, State Sen. John Carona
(R) and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts (R) each sent
their sons to the program, neither of whom has passed the bar to this day.
Continued in article
Feb. 2014 Texas Bar (1st Time Takers) |
Rank |
School |
Number |
Pass Rate |
1 |
Texas Tech |
24 |
91.7% |
2 |
Baylor |
37 |
89.2% |
3 |
Texas A&M |
48 |
87.5% |
4 |
Houston |
32 |
84.4% |
5 |
South Texas |
111 |
83.8% |
6 |
SMU |
25 |
72.0% |
7 |
St. Mary’s |
42 |
66.7% |
8 |
Texas Southern |
24 |
66.7% |
9 |
Texas |
17 |
58.8% |
Jensen Comment
Bill Powers became famous (some might argue infamous) while Dean at the UT Law
School when he was also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Enron when Enron
imploded. However, in my opinion Enron's top executives were adept at hiding
their illegal and unethical behavior from the Board and the Audit Committee.
Bill Powers commissioned the very long and informative Powers Report about the
underhanded dealings of Enron executives, most of whom eventually served short
prison terms ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm
It seems unlikely that the UT Law School Law School turned this around in
such a short period of time between February 2014 and July 2014 with a changed
admissions policy.
My first thought in such instances is that this change in performance might
be due to small sample variations where performances of a small number of exam
takers vary due to sample sizes. But the number of exam takers in this instance
is quite large each and every time the Texas Bar examination is given.
Go figure!
From the American Library Association
Advocacy: Online Learning ---
http://www.ala.org/onlinelearning/issues/advocacy
The President of Northwestern University Predicts Online Learning … in
1934! ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/the-president-of-northwestern-university-predicts-online-learning-in-1934.html
Only the medium was radio in those days --- the barrier then and now was
inspiring people to want to sweat and endure pain to learn
Bob Jensen's threads for online education and training alternatives ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/CrossBorder.htm
Also see the following links from Bob Jensen
Growth Worldwide ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#DistanceEducation
Alternatives Worldwide ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/CrossBorder.htm
Free online tutorials, videos, and courses from prestigious universities
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
"Competency, Texas-Style November 6, 2014," By Paul Fain, Inside
Higher Ed, November 6, 2014 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/11/06/competency-based-health-profession-credentials-university-texas-system
The University of Texas System plans to make its
first foray into competency-based education fittingly far-reaching.
The system’s forthcoming “personalized” credentials
will be limited to the medical sciences, for now. But the new,
competency-based curriculum will involve multiple institutions around the
state, system officials said, with a track that eventually will stretch from
high school, or even middle school, all the way to medical school.
Many details still need to be hashed out about the
project, which the system
announced this week. But several key elements are
in place.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
Competency-based college credits are now widely available from both non-profit
and for-profit universities. However, the programs are very restricted to
certain disciplines, often graduate studies. In Western Canada, for example, the
Chartered Accountancy School of Business (CASB) has offered a competency-based
masters degree for years. However, students do enroll in courses and have
extensive internships on the job ---
http://www.casb.com/
Bob Jensen's threads on competency-based college credits ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#ConceptKnowledge
"The Real Student Debt Problem No One is Talking About," by Jon
Marcus, Time Magazine, November 9, 2014 ---
http://time.com/3544912/graduate-school-loans-debt/?xid=newsletter-brief
Graduate students make up just 14% of university
enrollment, but account for nearly 40% of student debt.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
It's important to put the graduate student distributional problem in context
with other problems of student debt.
- A major problem of USA outstanding student debt is that it has become so
huge --- over $1.2 trillion dollars. Much of this debt will be
uncollectable.
- The cost of borrowing is a barrier to many students in deciding to go to
college or stay in college.
- The cost of unpaid student debt has many externalities such as decisions
to get married, have children, be independent financially from parents, etc.
For example, many graduates are still living with their parents because they
cannot afford their cars, student loan payments, and housing costs. Cars may
sound like a luxury, but in most parts of the nation they are essential for
jobs since there is no affordable public transportation available. Potential
spouses are scared off by having to help pay off huge outstanding student
loads of a "significant other."
- In some cases, some of the student debt is not paid off after reaching
retirement age.
It's tempting to look at European nations like Germany where students can go
to college for no tuition. However, the media sometimes overlooks the fact that
the majority of high school graduates in these nations are not allowed into
college. For example, in Germany only the top 25% of the high school graduates
are allowed into college.
In the USA the feeling is that any high school graduate who chooses to go to
college should be given a chance to go to college. And indeed, there is usually
a college of some type nearby and ample opportunity these days for distance
education degrees. But the alternatives are seldom free and room and board costs
are prohibitive to many students without going into debt.
44 Essential Movies for the Student of Philosophy ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/p-hz0wBhEKw/44-essential-movies-for-the-student-of-philosophy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Bob Jensen's threads on philosophy ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Social
Search on the word "philosophy"
The 20 Most Popular TED Talks Of All Time ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-popular-ted-talks-2014-10
10 Of The Most Ridiculous TED Talks ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/ridiculous-ted-talks-2014-8?op=1#ixzz3BJVOOTac
Benjamin Bratton Explains “What’s Wrong with TED Talks?” and Why
They’re a “Recipe for Civilizational Disaster” ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/01/benjamin-bratton-explains-whats-wrong-with-ted-talks.html
Jensen Comment
I don't quite agree, but in some of those talks I get irritated by the passing
over of crucial underlying assumptions.
Under legislation signed by spendthrift President GW Bush who rarely vetoed
any spending bills causing huge budget deficits
"Are We Forgiving Too Much Student-Loan Debt?" by Max Lewontin,
Chronicle of Higher Education, November 7, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Are-We-Forgiving-Too-Much/149883/?cid=at
Back in 2007, Congress made a simple promise to
student-loan borrowers: Stick with a public-service career for 10 years,
making monthly payments along the way, and we’ll forgive the rest of your
debt.
Now, as the bill gets closer to coming due, a
growing chorus of analysts and observers is asking: Was that the right
promise to make?
At issue is a program known as
Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The program,
included in the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, is an attempt
to fight two problems at once: ballooning student-loan debt and a scarcity
of graduates serving the public good.
At least, that’s the thinking. And it’s been the
thinking behind loan forgiveness for quite a while. Since 1958, when
Congress created the first such program—to forgive the loan debts of
teachers—lawmakers have offered loan forgiveness to people working in a wide
variety of fields, including military-service members, doctors working on
American Indian reservations, even large-animal veterinarians and U.S.
Capitol police officers.
All told, there are about 30 other loan-forgiveness
programs now on the books. Millions of dollars in debt are scrubbed each
year, some by the federal government, some by states.
Tearful Testimony
The large number of participants in some
programs—particularly for teachers and health professionals—may indicate
that loan forgiveness encourages people to pursue those low-paying but
valuable careers. An administrator of one such plan describes some
participants as growing tearful when they speak of the impact loan
forgiveness has had on their careers.
"I wish I could bring Congress to this and let them
see that this is one program that they put in place that really is doing
what they want," says the administrator, who declines to be named because
she is not authorized to speak for her agency.
But while advocates see the new plan as an
extension of that goal, others see a program with several loopholes—one that
could allow borrowers to forgo dangerously large amounts of debt while
leaving taxpayers to pick up the tab.
What’s different this time around? Much of the
controversy comes down to two key features of the program, which will begin
forgiving loans in 2017. First, unlike its predecessors, it puts no cap on
how much money can be forgiven. Second, its broader eligibility requirements
could make forgiveness available to more people, in more jobs, than ever
before.
Those features mean the plan could have a wide
impact on legions of borrowers struggling with the burdens of student-loan
debt. But they also raise questions about whether the program can be
exploited.
With the first wave of payouts bearing down,
lawmakers, think tanks, and even President Obama have recommended
significant modifications. Their suggestions have stoked a broader question:
What, exactly, is loan forgiveness meant to achieve?
To Cap or Not to Cap?
Much of the concern about Public Service Loan
Forgiveness stems from a single source: the New America Foundation, a
nonprofit public-policy institute that has been
raising alarms about the program
since 2012.
And on New America’s list of fears, the lack of a
cap looms large. Nearly all other existing programs restrict the amount that
can be forgiven—often holding it to around $40,000 to $60,000 total,
sometimes less.
If the government doesn’t cap how much debt can be
wiped clean, the group argues, the new program could simply encourage
borrowers to take on unmanageable debt levels.
Overborrowing is a problem for everyone, not just
the borrower, says Jason Delisle, a policy analyst at New America, because
it could drive the cost of college further upward. "Public Service Loan
Forgiveness tells the colleges, Yes, you can charge 60 grand, and tells the
student, Yeah, you can borrow 60 grand."
New America’s predictions have had a far-reaching
impact. In March, President Obama, traditionally a proponent of expanding
federal programs that would reduce student debt, took a step back. His
2015 budget proposal includes a plan to limit the
amount of individual debt forgiven under the public-service program to
$57,500, which is the current limit that financially independent
undergraduates can take out in federal loans.
Some student-loan administrators share the
president’s concern.
"There’s a moral hazard for the student—whether
it’s degree-hopping or whether it’s going too far into debt for any single
program," says Justin Draeger, president of the National Association of
Student Financial Aid Administrators.
In
a recent report, the
group also recommended limiting forgiveness to the $57,500 level. But it
suggested that borrowers also have half of any additional loan debt
forgiven, up to a total of $138,500.
Mr. Obama’s proposed cap has yet to be reviewed by
lawmakers. But it has already raised its own set of concerns—chief among
them that adding a cap amounts to neutering the program.
"Do we need to have some safeguards to prevent
overborrowing?" asks David A. Bergeron, vice president for postsecondary
education at the Center for American Progress, a public-policy group.
"Maybe—but we’re a little early in that process to make that determination."
Mr. Bergeron, a former Education Department
official, points out that the cost of Public Service Loan Forgiveness is
built into the government’s loan program. Essentially, he says, the profits
from other borrowers who go into default or forbearance on their federal
loans subsidize loan forgiveness.
It’s difficult to assess how the lack of a cap will
affect the new program, especially because it requires a much longer
public-service commitment than most others of its kind. But a closer look at
earlier loan-forgiveness programs serves as a reminder that not everyone
takes advantage of the full benefits.
For example, the Government Employee Student Loan
Repayment Program allows employees of nearly any federal agency to have up
to $10,000 forgiven each year, up to a maximum of $60,000. In 2012,
$70.3-million in debt was forgiven for 10,543 employees who participated.
That works out to an average of $6,670 per person, about two-thirds of the
amount available.
Who Counts as a Public Servant?
The new loan-forgiveness program covers several
jobs traditionally thought of as rooted in public service—teacher, public
defender, social worker, nurse. But the program also offers forgiveness to
anyone working at tax-exempt nonprofit organizations for 10 years. That
could open up forgiveness to policy analysts or public-relations officials,
for example.
Analysts at New America think that might be a
loophole. Here’s how that would work, according to Mr. Delisle. A borrower’s
monthly loan payments would be based on his or her income, not on the amount
of debt he or she had incurred. If someone gets an expensive degree and then
enters into a low-paying job, the gap between the debt paid and the debt
forgiven after 10 years can grow wide.
In one example presented by New America, a nurse
who owes $75,000 in debt would make regular payments amounting to $36,000 in
total over 10 years. Factor in high interest rates, and that nurse could end
up with $67,000 in forgiven loans.
The think tank argues that it’s a real problem when
that kind of money is spent to subsidize career choices that don’t seem
underrepresented or vital to the public.
Analysts at New America have
frequently singled out Georgetown University’s law
school, which informs its students about the loan-forgiveness plan as part
of its routine financial-aid counseling, as an example. Too many law
students—who have among the largest amounts of debt of any student
group—could take advantage of the program, New America says, because the
expansive list of eligible jobs now goes beyond traditional public-service
roles like public defenders or county prosecutors.
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
How to Clean Your Vinyl Records with Wood Glue ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/zxc4PWRvIZQ/how-to-clean-your-vinyl-records-with-wood-glue.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
53 New York Times Videos Teach Essential Cooking Techniques: From Poaching
Eggs to Shucking Oysters ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/BbNFutHCREU/53-the-new-york-times-videos-demonstrate-cooking-techniques.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
100 MOOCs in November 2014 ---
http://www.openculture.com/free_certificate_courses
Accountants might note the following:
Forensic Accounting and Fraud Examination (VC$) – West Virginia
University on Coursera – November 3 (5 weeks)
Introduction to financial and management accounting (NI) – Politecnico
di Milano on Polimi OPEN KNOWLEDGE – November 10 (3 weeks)
An Introduction to Financial Accounting (VC/SA) – Penn on Coursera –
September 5 (10 weeks)
An Introduction to Financial Accounting (SA) – Penn on Coursera –
September 16 (10 weeks)
Intro to Accounting (NI) – BYU Hawaii on Canvas – January 13
Introduction to Business in Asia (SA) – Griffith University on
Open2study – January 13 (4 weeks)
Accounting Cycle: The Foundation of Business Measurement and Reporting (NI)
– Utah State on Canvas – August 5 (4 weeks)
Bob Jensen's threads on MOOCs and free learning resources from prestigious
universities ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
"Disruption Ahead: What MOOCs Will Mean for MBA Programs,"
Knowledge@wharton Blog, July 16, 2014 ---
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/moocs-mba-programs-opportunities-threats/
In a new research paper, Christian Terwiesch,
professor of operations and information management at Wharton, and Karl
Ulrich, vice dean of innovation at the school, examine the impact that
massive open online courses (MOOCs) will have on business schools and MBA
programs. In their study — titled, “Will Video Kill the Classroom Star? The
Threat and Opportunity of MOOCs for Full-time MBA Programs” — they identify
three possible scenarios that business schools face not just as a result of
MOOCs, but also because of the technology embedded in them. In an interview
with Knowledge@Wharton, Terwiesch and Ulrich discuss their findings.
An edited transcript of the interview appears
below.
Knowledge@Wharton: Christian, perhaps you could
start us off by describing the main findings or takeaways from your
research?
Terwiesch: Let me preface what we’re going to
discuss about business schools by saying that Karl and I have been in the
business school world for many, many years. We love this institution, and we
really want to make sure that we find a sustainable path forward for
business schools.
Continued in article
"What Georgia Tech’s Online Degree in Computer Science Means for Low-Cost
Programs," by Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education, November
6, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/What-Georgia-Tech-s-Online/149857/?cid=wc
Among all recent inventions that have to do with
MOOCs, the Georgia Institute of Technology’s online master’s program in
computer science may have the best chance of changing how much students pay
for a traditional degree.
The
program, which started last winter, pairs MOOC-like
course videos and assessments with a support system of course assistants who
work directly with students. The goal is to create a low-cost master’s
degree that is nonetheless "just as rigorous" as the on-campus
equivalent—producing graduates who are "just as good," to quote one of the
new program’s cheerleaders, President Obama. The price: less than $7,000 for
the three-year program, a small fraction of the cost of the traditional
program.
It’s too early yet for a graduating class. But
researchers at Georgia Tech and Harvard University have studied the students
who have enrolled in the program, in an effort to figure out "where the
demand is coming from and what it’s substituting for educationally," says
Joshua S. Goodman, an assistant professor of public policy at Harvard.
By understanding what kinds of students are drawn
to the new program, Mr. Goodman and his fellow researchers think they can
begin to understand what competitors it might threaten.
Here is what they found out about those students:
How They Are Different
The enrollees are numerous. The
online program this year got as many applications as Georgia Tech’s
traditional program did during two recent semesters. But while the
traditional program accepted only about 15 percent of its applicants, the
online program accepted 50 percent, enrolling about 1,800 in its first year.
That might not qualify as large in light of the 50,000-students-per-course
figures often quoted in reference to MOOCs, but it does make the online
program three times as large as the largest traditional master’s programs in
computer science, according to the researchers.
They’re older (and they already have jobs).
The people enrolling in the online program are 35 years old, on average, and
are far more likely to report that they are working rather than studying
full time. (The average age of the students in Georgia Tech’s traditional
program is 24, with only half indicating that they are employed.) That
should not surprise anyone who has even a passing familiarity with online
education. Online programs have pitched themselves to adults who are
tethered to work and family, and who want to earn degrees without
rearranging their lives around a course schedule.
They’re from the United States.
Online education is supposed to make geographic borders matter less. But
this online master’s program has drawn 80 percent of its students from
within the country. By contrast, in the traditional program, 75 percent of
the students are foreign, mostly from India and China.
Most of them did not study computer science
in college. In the traditional graduate program, 62 percent of
students have completed an undergraduate major in computer science. That is
true of only 40 percent of the online students. The percentage of
undergraduate engineering majors, 27 percent, remained constant.
How They Are Similar
They’re good at school. Unlike San
Jose State University’s MOOC-related pilot program, which
tried and failed to help underperforming students,
Georgia Tech’s online program appeals to students with a proven academic
track record, specifically those who earned bachelor’s degrees with a
grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. (The university told The Chronicle
last year that its first group of applicants averaged a 3.58 GPA—about the
same as the students in the traditional program.) They seem to be doing well
so far: Courses held last spring and summer saw pass rates of about 88
percent, according to the university.
They’re mostly men. The online
program had a lower rate of female applicants than the traditional program
did, but there were precious few in either pool: 14 percent and 25 percent,
respectively. Among American applicants, the rates were similar: 13 percent
and 16 percent.
Over all, the first enrollees in Georgia Tech’s
MOOC-like master’s program fit the profile of students who are applying to
online graduate programs at institutions across the country.
Continued in article
"The 25 Best Universities In The World For Computer Science," by Melia
Robinson, Business Insider, October 30, 2014 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-universities-for-computer-science-2014-10
Ranking Criteria ---
http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings-articles/world-university-rankings/qs-world-university-rankings-methodology
Jensen Comment
The ranking is heavily influenced by the overall prestige ranking of the
university apart from computer science.
I would be inclined to put more emphasis on the quality of the students. For
example, it may well be that a Russian university that graduates the hackers
that upset world businesses and national intelligence agencies is really a
better computer science university in terms of having some of the most gifted
students in the world\. However, Russian Universities in general do not have
stellar academic standards and tolerate a lot of cheating on the part of
students and faculty.
The problem is that in the case of computer science and some other
disciplines like art and music, "student quality" is very difficult to measure.
The elusive component is creativity.
At a conference years ago an associate dean from MIT mentioned that MIT
graduates on average will do wonderfully if the university does not get in their
way.
Bob Jensen's threads on college ranking controversies ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#BusinessSchoolRankings
Dark Internet ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Internet
Deep Web ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Web
Dark Net (File Sharing) ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darknet_%28file_sharing%29
"The Dark Net Is Thriving," The Economist via Business
Insider, October 31, 2014 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/illicit-e-commerce-the-amazons-of-the-dark-net-2014-10
The first ever e-commerce transaction, conducted by
students from Stanford and MIT in the early 1970s, involved the sale of a
small quantity of marijuana.
For decades afterwards, the online drugs trade was
severely constrained by the ability of law enforcement to track IP addresses
and the means of payment.
The trickle of transactions threatened to become a
flood with the emergence a few years ago of Silk Road, a drug-dealing site
on the “dark net”. These e-depths cannot be reached through a normal browser
but only with anonymising software called Tor. Buyers and sellers transact
there pseudonymously in bitcoin, a crypto-currency.
Silk Road was shut last year with the arrest of
Ross Ulbricht, the 29-year-old American whom investigators believe to be
Dread Pirate Roberts, the site’s founder. Mr Ulbricht is due to stand trial
in New York next January on charges that include computer hacking and money
laundering.
But law enforcers who predicted that Silk Road’s
demise would mark the beginning of the end for online black-market bazaars
were wrong. Instead, dozens of dark-net Amazons and eBays (also known as
crypto-markets) have sprung up to fill the void. They are not only proving
remarkably resilient but expanding their offerings and growing more
sophisticated.
The number of for-sale listings in the 18
crypto-markets tracked by the Digital Citizens Alliance (DCA), an advocacy
group, grew from 41,000 to 66,000 between January and August. The largest
market until August, Silk Road 2.0 (whose logo, like its predecessor’s,
features an Arab trader on a camel), has since been overtaken by two
upstarts, Agora and Evolution, whose combined listings have grown by 20%, to
36,000 in the past two months. Each of these three has more listings than
the original Silk Road ever did (see chart). It is unclear whether listings
are a good measure of sales, which the markets do not disclose.
Vendors vary in size: the largest turn over several
million dollars a month on a single site, the smallest a few hundred. They
pay a fee to register and a commission per transaction, typically 3-6%.
Buyers come from all over the world. Their purchases are sent by post—the
vast majority appear to arrive undetected. Customer satisfaction is high.
Illegal and prescription drugs are the largest
product category. (Some sellers are crooked pharmacists.) Silk Road 2.0,
whose operators are avowedly libertarian, focuses almost exclusively on
weed, powders and pills. Agora, whose mascot is an armed bandit, sells
weapons, too. These are marketed mostly to Europeans, who face strict
gun-control laws.
The fastest-growing of the big three, Evolution, is
the least principled. Though, like the others, it bans child pornography, it
hawks stolen credit-card, debit-card and medical information, guns and fake
IDs and university diplomas. One-fifth of its listings are in its “Fraud”
section or in “Guides and Tutorials”, which often explain how to commit
crimes. Some see Evolution’s rapid growth as a worrying sign that
cyber-criminals are looking to fuse their identity-theft operations with the
“victimless” online drugs trade. (It is not, however, the most unsavoury
corner of the dark net, where some make markets in contract killings.)
For drug buyers, online markets offer several
advantages. They are less physically dangerous than street trades. This goes
for dealers, too: a recent study found that a third or more of sales on Silk
Road were to “a new breed of retail drug dealer”, a transformation of the
wholesale market that “should reduce violence, intimidation and
territorialism.”
Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/illicit-e-commerce-the-amazons-of-the-dark-net-2014-10#ixzz3HqZGqLUe
Chicago Boys
---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Boys
The (Former)
Miracle of Chile ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_Chile
The “Miracle of Chile” was a term used by Nobel
laureate economist Milton Friedman to describe the reorientation of the
Chilean economy in the 1980s and the benefits of the economic policies
applied by a large group of Chilean economists who collectively came to be
known as the
Chicago
Boys, having studied at the University of
Chicago where Friedman taught. He said the “Chilean economy did very well,
but more important, in the end the central government, the military junta,
was replaced by a democratic society. So the really important thing about
the Chilean business is that free markets did work their way in bringing
about a free society.”[1] The junta to which Friedman refers was a military
government that came to power in a 1973 coup d'état, which came to an end in
1990 after a democratic 1988 plebiscite removed Augusto Pinochet from the
presidency.
In the early 1970s, Chile experienced chronic
inflation, reaching highs of 140 percent per annum, under socialist
President Salvador Allende, whose government implemented high protectionist
barriers, resulting in a lack of foreign-exchange reserves and falling
GDP.[2] The economic reforms implemented by the Chicago Boys had three main
objectives: economic liberalization, privatization of state-owned companies,
and stabilization of inflation. The first reforms were implemented in three
rounds – 1974–83, 1985, and 1990.[2] The reforms were continued and
strengthened after 1990 by the post-Pinochet center government of Patricio
Aylwin's Christian Democrats.[3] However, the center-left government of
Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle also made a commitment to poverty reduction. In
1988, 48% of Chileans lived below the poverty line. By 2000 this had been
reduced to 20%. The 1990s center-left governments implemented a 17% increase
in the minimum wage, a 210% increase in social spending targeted at the
low-income sectors of the population, and across the board tax increases,
reversing the Pinochet tax cuts of 1988 and taxing an additional 3% of the
country's GDP into government coffers. Overall, economic growth stemming
from the Chicago Boys' reforms accounted for 60% of the poverty reduction,
whereas government programs aimed at poverty alleviation accounted for the
rest.
Continued in article
Investment and
growth are falling, and now the government targets private schools.
"The Chile ‘Miracle’ Goes in Reverse," by
Mary Anastasia O’Grady, The Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2014 ---
http://online.wsj.com/articles/mary-anastasia-ogrady-the-chile-miracle-goes-in-reverse-1414973280?tesla=y&mod=djemMER_h&mg=reno64-wsj
It’s nonsense to suggest that a free society can
guarantee equal opportunity or equal economic outcomes. But that doesn’t
stop elected politicians in modern democracies from promising both.
That’s why an A for honesty is in order for Chile’s
education minister, Nicolás Eyzaguirre, who admitted in June that Socialist
President Michelle Bachelet ’s campaign pledge to rid Chilean education of
“inequality” requires withdrawing the freedom parents now have to choose
their child’s school.
“What we have now is one competitor . . . with
skates going at a high speed and the other barefoot,” he said. “The barefoot
one is public education. I have been asked why not provide better training
and more food to the one going barefoot? First, I have to take away the
skates of the other.” (Emphasis added)
Welcome to Ms. Bachelet’s Chile, where freedom is a
problem because it upends the Socialists’ brave new world of equality.
Learning more now, or earning more later, are symptoms of unfairness in the
eyes of la presidenta and her party militants.
To understand why the outlook for the Chilean
“miracle” is so grim and investment is plummeting, look no further than this
government’s obsession with holding back those who would skate ahead of the
pack.
Ms. Bachelet has increased tax rates on everything
from capital to consumption. One objective is to soak the investor class,
making it poorer so that income inequality goes down. But it is more likely
that income disparities will go up since the rich have ways to shelter
income while the poor depend on job creation from investment to earn their
daily bread and build wealth.
When policies are capital-friendly, as they have
been in Chile since the 1980s, life on the lower economic rungs improves in
absolute terms. Writing in the Chilean daily El Mercurio on Oct. 19, former
finance minister Hernán Büchi noted that Chile tripled its real income in
three decades “and as a consequence generated an enormous social
transformation especially for the poorest.” A 2013 World Bank study showed
that between 1992 and 2009 Chile was “the country with the greatest social
mobility on the continent,” Mr. Büchi wrote.
Last month the International Monetary Fund reported
that on a purchasing-power basis Chile’s annual GDP per capita is now
equivalent to $23,165, putting it just behind Poland ($24,429) and well
ahead of Mexico ($17,925).
This impressive performance is unlikely to continue
now that Chile is becoming another high-tax jurisdiction. According to the
most recent figures available from Chile’s central bank, investment dropped
12.3% in the last quarter of 2013, 5.5% in the first quarter of this year
and 8.1% in the second quarter. Last year around this time, the forecast for
2014 GDP growth was 4.5%. Now it hovers around 2%, thanks to falling
commodity prices and the rising uncertainty produced by Ms. Bachelet’s
hostility toward competition and profits.
The higher tax rates are supposed to generate
higher revenue which the government says will be spent to improve public
schools. Yet in the unlikely event that tax revenues increase while
investors are running for the exits, there is no correlation between
spending increases in union-controlled classrooms and academic results. The
intellectual authors of the plan seem to recognize this, and it’s why they
want to destroy private-school competition.
Chile’s popular voucher program began in 1981.
Today it allows students to get an education at nonunionized private schools
with a combination of government resources and parental assistance. It also
permits selective admissions. The program has been enormously successful,
and according to the Santiago-based Institute for Liberty and Development (ILD)
nearly 1.9 million children (54% of the K-12 population) now attend private
schools using government vouchers. Of those, some 1.1 million (31% of all
school children) attend “for-profit” schools using a voucher.
The new law, which passed the lower house last
month and now goes to the senate, would prohibit students from using
vouchers to attend for-profit schools and prohibit schools that receive
public subsidies from charging parents a co-payment. What is more, schools
will no longer be allowed to select students because, apparently, it is
“unfair” for gifted children to learn at their own speed.
This is cruel. It won’t affect Chile’s wealthy
families, but many lower-income children will lose out. According to ILD,
enrollment at the public schools dropped by 545,000 students from 2004-13
while subsidized private schools have increased by 364,000 students. The
fact that many parents make the sacrifice to make co-payments demonstrates
how badly they want to avoid public schools.
Ms. Bachelet has the teachers unions on her side
but is rapidly losing support from the public. Chileans are catching on that
“fairness” is just a cover for special-interest politics. A government that
wanted to truly help the disenfranchised would work to expand choice rather
than deny children the right to skate as fast as they can.
Picking The Locks: Redefining Copyright Law In The Digital Age ---
http://lisnews.org/picking_the_locks_redefining_copyright_law_in_the_digital_age
Bob Jensen's threads on the dreaded DMCA ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm#Copyright
Question
Are "independent" bookstores being crushed by eBook publishing?
October 30, 2014 - 12:41pm —
Bibliofuture
"Two Important Publishing Facts Everyone Gets Wrong"
October 27th, 2014 | Hugh C. Howey
Almost everything being said about publishing today is
predicated on two facts that are dead wrong. The first is that
publishers are somehow being hurt by ebook sales. The second is that
independent bookstores are being crushed. The opposite is true in both
cases, and without understanding this, most of what everyone says about
publishing is complete bollocks.
Full post here:
http://www.hughhowey.com/two-important-publishing-facts-everyone-gets-wr...
. . .
In the mid to late 90s, retail began moving
online. Suddenly, the biggest strength of the big boxes — price and
selection — paled before the power of “everything stores.” Borders
bookstores went under in 2011. B&N has been showing quarterly losses,
even as it closes stores and shrinks shelf space within existing stores.
The advantage in one direction became a serious weakness in the other,
as the big boxes couldn’t compete with online retailers:
At first, it appears that each of the three
parties has an advantage that trumps one other. The problem here is that
big box discounters don’t excel enough in either area (physical space or
price/selection) to beat the others. In fact, what looks to be a
balanced ecosystem between three retail paths will probably devolve into
simply online and independent booksellers (the latter will form regional
chains). There are enough people who will support independents and pay
full price and enough who will shop online when they know what they need
that the two will coexist.
So feel bad for hardbacks and paperbacks, but
don’t feel bad for stories, storytellers, or readers. The latter trio is
doing just fine. As are publishers.
And feel bad for big-box discounters if you
want, but remember that they were far worse for mom-and-pop stores than
online retail has been. In fact, since the advent of online retail,
we’ve seen their numbers and their revenues rebound.
You can’t argue with either fact. Publishers
and small bookshops are, on the whole, doing better now than they were
in 2007, when the Kindle launched. That’s irrefutable. And so any
conversation about the effect online retail and ebooks are having on the
industry need to begin right here, rather than assume the opposite is
true and then spread fear and doubt to generate clicks.
There are many replies to this article. Here are a few that I found
the most informative
johnmonk
At first, it appears that each of the three parties has an advantage
that trumps one other. The problem here is that big box discounters
don’t excel enough in either area (physical space or price/selection)
to beat the others. In fact, what looks to be a balanced ecosystem
between three retail paths will probably devolve into simply online
and independent booksellers (the latter will form regional chains).
There are enough people who will support independents and pay full
price and enough who will shop online when they know what they need
that the two will coexist.
So feel bad for hardbacks and paperbacks,
but don’t feel bad for stories, storytellers, or readers. The latter
trio is doing just fine. As are publishers.
And feel bad for big-box discounters if you
want, but remember that they were far worse for mom-and-pop stores
than online retail has been. In fact, since the advent of online
retail, we’ve seen their numbers and their revenues rebound.
You can’t argue with either fact.
Publishers and small bookshops are, on the whole, doing better now
than they were in 2007, when the Kindle launched. That’s
irrefutable. And so any conversation about the effect online retail
and ebooks are having on the industry need to begin right here,
rather than assume the opposite is true and then spread fear and
doubt to generate clicks.
Michael W. Perry
Quote: “Publishers and small bookshops are, on the whole, doing
better now than they were in 2007, when the Kindle launched. That’s
irrefutable,” Howey concludes. So Hachette and Authors United might
as well give it up: They have nothing to fight for.
Where to start?
1. Hachete is not fighting about its
present income. It’s fighting about its future against an aggressive
and market-dominating Amazon that has its eyes on that added ebook
income publishers are making. Amazon sees that money and wants it.
To state the obvious, we are in the middle of a war over those ebook
profits. In no way can this current struggle be interpreted as a win
for the big publishers. It could very well end up a defeat.
2. Authors United isn’t in this for the
currently up profits of large publishers. Its name is “Authors
United.” They are in this because Amazon has been kicking them and
their readers around like a football its battle with Hachette. That
they don’t like. That they want to see stopped.
Author’s United has authors who know their
business, having in some cases made millions from their writing.
They know that they’re far more likely to benefit from having a
publisher flush with profits than from having an Amazon pocketing
that same money and using it to grow other areas of its business.
What they’re doing in eminently sensible.
Jensen Comment
Parts of this article are long on hopes and weak on facts. For example,
there's a high variance in the future of physical bookstores and their
business models. Some considerations are as follows:
- The days of big browsing bookstores with coffee and nibbles like the
former business model of the failed Borders Bookstore chain are
numbered. The cost of carrying large inventories of physical books is
just too high relative to premium prices that can be charged relative to
prices available from online sellers like Amazon. Also it's just
not possible to carry the selection that's available from online sellers
along with the two choices often available online, i.e., new versions
and used versions of the same books.
- Physical bookstores that remain have a high variance in terms of
business models, seasonality, and location advantages. For example, many
are really multiproduct stores with the physical book selections giving
way to craft items, food items, toys, beverages, notions, and other drug
store items.
Many are open only in season like a small book store in Bar Harbor,
Maine. The streets of Bar Harbor are rolled up in the harsh winter time.
Bookstores of this nature are run more like hobbies for retired people
than as profitable businesses.
Many surviving bookstores sell mostly lower markup paperback books to
travelers relative to expensive hard copy editions that are difficult to
carry on airplanes and trains.
- Not all bookstores are alike and cannot be duplicated in other
locations. For example, a small rare books shop might survive in
Manhattan but not in a Toledo strip mall.
- Physical chains of bookstores probably cannot sustain the
superstructure of overhead that goes with multiple owned bookstores or
franchised bookstores. The bookstores that survive will tend to be more
mom and pop stores that are locally owned and operated with very little
overhead and very little labor expense. The exception might be a chain
of college bookstores like the Barnes and Noble chain that works closely
with college faculty in stocking textbooks for courses. I'm told that
the profit of these stores is not so much in the textbooks as it is in
the high markup college-logo items like sweat shirts, jogging suits,
jackets, shorts, gym bags, backpacks, mugs, etc. Textbooks themselves
are low markup, high labor items selling for a few weeks around the
beginning of each term. Textbooks cannot justify being open daily
throughout the year without other sales items that sell more evenly
day-to-day.
My point is that Hugh Howey tends to lump physical bookstores into one
category when in fact the business models are highly variable with greatly
different outlooks for the future.
InterOperability Laboratory ---
https://www.iol.unh.edu
Networking and Communications Product Testing Lab at the University of New
Hampshire
How to Mislead With Statistics: Ignore the Variance and Ignore the
Outliers (in this case graduates without law jobs)
"Why Huge Salaries Don't Necessarily Make Law Grads Rich," bv Akane Otani,
Bloomberg Businessweek, October 22, 2014 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-22/law-school-grads-make-good-salaries-but-have-high-debt-and-few-jobs
Graduates of Harvard Law School, among all
the graduate schools in the U.S., make the most money, earning a median
salary of $201,000 once they are 10 years out of school, according to a new
report. Law schools rank higher than other graduate programs when it comes
to salaries, yet skyrocketing debt and
a
thinning job market for law graduates may dampen
the appeal of a J.D.
Harvard Law School, Emory University School of Law,
and Santa Clara University School of Law topped salary
rankings for graduate and professional programs in
a study released Wednesday by compensation-tracking company PayScale. Of the
top 20 schools, 12 were law schools. The rest were business schools.
Despite a few law schools dominating the rankings,
law school graduates did not hold claim to the most lucrative degree on the
market. The median midcareer salary for a law school graduate was $139,300—a
far smaller sum than the figures boasted by the schools that topped
PayScale’s rankings. Considering that the median debt load for law school
graduates
rose to $140,616 in
2012, even a six-figure salary doesn’t sound as glamorous.
What’s more, Payscale’s data didn’t factor in law
school grads who don’t have jobs—and jobs are scarcer for lawyers now than
they have been in years. The employment rate for law school graduates has
dropped six years in a row. “Since 1985, there
have only been two classes with an overall employment rate below [84.5
percent], and both of those occurred in the aftermath of the 1990-91
recession,” the National Association for Law Placement said in a
report this summer. Over the past decade, at least
12 firms, accounting for more than 1,000 lawyers, have shut their
doors. Others are eyeing cuts
among partners.
One reason why a J.D. isn’t a get-rich-quick
guarantee is the wide range of salaries within the field of law. A new
graduate working as a public interest lawyer or for local government will
make an average of $60,000 or less a year, according to the
NALP.
“If you want to be a public defender vs. a
corporate attorney, there is going to be a big difference in terms of
ability to pay off your loans,” says Lydia Frank, editorial and marketing
director for PayScale. “Because there’s such a wide variety in earnings
potential, you can’t assume that any job you’re going to pursue with a J.D.
is going to be equal.”
While the salary rankings may provide a good
benchmark for what’s possible with an elite law degree, great job
connections, and a lucrative specialty, the average would-be lawyer should
think carefully about the return on an investment in legal education.
“If you’re going to take out ‘X’ amount in student
loans, you really want to have a good understanding of the likelihood of
being able to repay that loan in a timely fashion,” Frank says. “I think it
still behooves everybody to really examine things other than salary
potential, such as employment potential for JDs.”
Jensen Comment
Traditionally, accounting graduates who go to work for large CPA firms get great
training and great client exposure. The bad news is that probabilities of
attaining partnerships after 6-10 years are very low. The good news is that
prospects of going to work for clients are high, and new graduates never wanted
the pressures, travel, and time commitments of partnerships in CPA firms in the
first place.
Among the least-wanted pressures are the pressures to obtain new clients via
lots of night and weekend community volunteer work, golf outings that aren't all
that much fun, and selling the firms' services over and over and over year after
year Some of the things that discourage faculty from striving to be college
presidents also discourage staff accountants and lawyers from seeking
partnerships.
My point is that winnings of the highest salaries as partners in both
law and accounting firms are not all they're cracked up to be in terms of job
stress, long hours, frequent travel, glad-handing, broken marriages, neglected
children, etc. Most of the very good lawyers and accountants want no part of
this partnership lifestyle even at much higher compensation. Men and women
partners who are also parents are advised to have spouses who will take on the
chores of child rearing and keeping the home fires burning.
A bummer for finance and marketing graduates is performance-based
compensation. For example, landing that job on Wall Street sounds great until
you realize that your pay is really based upon sales commissions. It's not a
great life unless you really like to spend your days wooing customers to buy
what you're selling (like bonds and derivatives) year after year after year.
Probabilities of becoming partners in the Big Four vary with domestic and
international location where, in my viewpoint, it's sometimes easier to make
partner in some foreign offices. For example, one of my students who had a low
probability of becoming partner in a Texas office of a Big Four firm became a
partners rather quickly in Moscow.
"The qualities of a Big Four partner: Chris
Carter, Crawford Spence and Claire Dambrin studied Big Four firms in three
countries to find out what qualities make a partner," Economia, July
16, 2014 ---
http://economia.icaew.com/finance/july-2014/essay-the-qualities-of-a-big-four-partner
The Big Four are quintessentially global
organisations, their logos adorn major commercial centres and they are
prominent players in most western economies. Unlike their corporate
counterparts, their governance structures are more opaque. This is a
consequence of the partnership model which gives a high degree of
independence to each country in which the Big Four operates. Global
organisations –in general – and the Big Four in particular invite the
following question: to what extent is there convergence or divergence
between their operations in different countries?
We set out to answer this question by
researching partners in Canada, France and the UK. We were particularly
interested in the types of people that became partner and the process of
them actually getting there. Was this similar across the three countries
or were there striking differences?
The broad career structure is much the same
across the three contexts: following qualification, employees move into
the manager position – during which time many tend to leave the firm –
before proceeding to senior manager, director and ultimately partner.
Only 2-3% of members of the Big Four will ever make partner; ascension
to this position is to enter the elite of the accounting profession. In
provincial cities, Big Four partners are well known “business
celebrities”, while in capital cities they are players within their
service lines. Partners are the pinnacle of the accounting profession
for those that remain in private practice.
We started by looking at British and Canadian
partners. What we found was remarkably similar: it takes most partners
15-17 years to become a partner after joining; 60 to 70 hour weeks are
the norm; partners are more likely to be white and male; the process of
becoming a partner has become far more formalised than it was in the
past; most people who make partnership highlight the importance of
“having a good mentor” to help them navigate the complex, Byzantine
politics of a Big Four firm.
To add to this picture, interviewees emphasised
the importance of trust: does the firm trust a candidate enough to make
them a part-owner? All of this takes place against a broader economic
backdrop which will determine whether a particular service is deemed
worthy of supporting a further partner. The economic conditions can in
boom times create more partnerships in a firm; recessionary times can
preclude gifted candidates from making partner.
We talked to over 50 partners, ex-partners and
people who didn’t make partner in Britain and Canada. The similarities
far overshadowed any differences. Partners were very much “self-made
men” and, save for a few exceptions, were drawn from modest social
backgrounds. This meritocratic quality was deeply infused within the
firms we visited, with a notable ‘can do’ ethos. The driven quality of
the partners often extended to their leisure pursuits. Whereas the
stereotype is of a partner playing a good deal of golf, they were much
more likely to be competing in endurance cycle races or long distance
running events. The participation in endurance sports is a fitting
metaphor. Partners are driven, high energy people who exude
self-confidence.
By midway through our research we were
accustomed to partners recounting that “their career was different”.
This statement surprised us as most of the partners spent most of their
careers in one firm, something that is very unusual in the contemporary
workplace, and we imagined that there was a distinct career path. The
expression, however, spoke to the different ways in which the partners
had proved themselves.
In every case, the accountant “proved
themselves” through completing a difficult piece of work that gained
praise from the firm. This demonstrated that the accountant had ability
and could be trusted by the organisation. This building of reputation
brought the accountant into new networks in the firm where more
opportunities arose. Proving oneself as being very good at a complex job
is generally enough to get a promotion to director. Beyond that, wannabe
partners need to demonstrate that they can move effortlessly with senior
executives in client firms and that they can generate revenue. It’s a
cliché, but cash is king. The Big Four are packed full of extremely
competent technical specialists – what makes someone stand out is their
ability to generate fee income. Entrepreneurialism is a prime quality.
The similarities between British and Canadian
partners were striking regarding this topic, in fact the only compelling
difference was that British partners went for football and rugby
metaphors, while their Canadian counterparts used ice hockey and NFL.
We travelled to France to find out about the
French experience. Our intuition was that the capacity to generate new
business would be crucial there too but that leverages to increase
turnover might be of a different nature. In particular we expected that
belonging to a cultural or social elite would be essential for partners
to bring in new business in France. The Big Four are similarly prominent
in France, although there are different rules around audit rotation.
What became immediately clear was the Big Four are structured
differently in France.
First, it was incredibly important where an
employee had studied. In France, there are a number of Grandes Ecoles
that are, in effect, elite Business Schools. The Big Four strive to
recruit a quota from each of these schools. Unlike in Britain, where the
Big Four recruit from a wide range of universities and where partners
are pretty diverse in terms of their educational backgrounds, in France
attending one of these Grande Ecoles will vastly increase your chances
of getting recruited in the first instance, and is even more important
in rising to partner grade in the second instance. One of our French
partners explained: “We are worried when we don’t have enough
‘parisiennes’ [graduates of top Grandes Ecoles]. I find that daft but in
this firm we always have the illusion that if you haven’t been to a
‘parisienne’ then you can’t be a partner. That said, given that the
clients of tomorrow will have studied at the same place, it is better to
have them.”
The quote reveals a great deal about how
educational background is a determinant of future success in the Big
Four in France. Simply put, having graduated from a top school (a
parisienne) marks out an employee as special and puts them onto a
different career trajectory from those who had attended more routine
universities. In France Big Four firms agree with each other on starting
salary grids depending on the school category of their recruits. High
expectations are placed very early on their recruits from Grandes Ecoles
and this has a very basic economic rationale.
It is through the process of offering
parisiennes more varied and exciting work – projects that add value and
generally “pampering” them – that their “specialness” becomes a reality
in the French Big Four. Contrary to what we expected, educational
pedigree actually becomes more important at the partner level: it is
easier for graduates of the Grandes Ecoles to interact with each other
and so future sources of revenue will come through the conversion of
their educational background into social skills and new business for the
firm. It is a fascinating contrast to the British and Canadian
experiences where the treatment of recruits is much more homogeneous.
More broadly, the French experience is suggestive of the grip that
Grandes Ecoles have on elite careers within the French corporate sector.
The Grandes Ecoles cast a long shadow over the
Big Four in France; this raises questions as to whether a different set
of qualities are required to become partner. A key insight from our
research study is that the pressures that French partners and aspirant
partners face are much the same as in Britain and Canada: clients need
to be kept happy; new business needs to be generated and delivered; new
service lines need to be developed; for personal career strategies,
aspirant partners need to be seen as less technical and more strategic.
In short, the descriptions of the Big Four in
France were remarkably similar to their counterparts in Britain and
Canada. What was particularly striking was the creed of commercialism
that underpins the Big Four across the three countries. One partner in
France explained: “The first thing we look at is [the candidate’s]
commercial skills. Dilution [of profit-per-partner] is a real concern
for us. If partners don’t bring in revenue, the partners’ committee will
lose money because there is less to share in the end. So the capacity to
make business grow obviously matters a lot.”
This quote could have come from any of the
firms in any of the three countries. The ability to generate business
and ‘grow the cake’ is an absolutely central skill for someone who wants
to make partner. The central difference between Britain, Canada and
France is that in the French case the assumption is that being a
graduate of a Grandes Ecoles will help generate new business. In Britain
and Canada it is demonstrably not the case that an elite degree will
lead to these outcomes. In France, attendance at one of these schools
has a huge bearing on an alumnus’s future career in the Big Four.
Our research emphasises that people skills –
the ability to get on with people and build durable networks – are
crucial to success in a Big Four career. These skills need to be
converted into revenues. To put this in some sort of context, the
following revenues were quoted to us. In Canada, one interviewee
suggested that a partner needed to generate around $3m (Canadian) per
annum (£1.63m), in France this figure was estimated at €3m (£2.4m),
whereas in Britain, a figure of £2m was frequently cited. Partners are
clearly under pressure to generate vast sums of fee income for the Big
Four; the prospect of being able to generate such fees is crucial to
ascending to a partnership.
Continued in article
See more at:
http://economia.icaew.com/finance/july-2014/essay-the-qualities-of-a-big-four-partner#sthash.BukvhkPO.dpuf
Bob Jensen's threads on careers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers
Precursor to NCAA Scholarship
Did Bach’s Wife Compose Some of “His” Masterpieces? A New Documentary Says
Yes
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/lsaOq7gi22E/bachs-wife.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Linebacker's Wife Says She Wrote His Papers
(and took two online courses for him)
The wife of a star University of South Florida
linebacker says she wrote his academic papers and took two online classes for
him. The accusations against Ben Moffitt, who had been promoted by the
university to the news media as a family man, were made in e-mail messages to
The Tampa Tribune, and followed Mr. Moffitt’s filing for divorce. Mr. Moffitt
called the accusations “hearsay,” and a university spokesman said the matter was
a “domestic issue.” If it is found that Mr. Moffitt committed academic fraud,
the newspaper reported, the university could be subject to an NCAA
investigation.
"Linebacker's Wife Says She Wrote His Papers," Chronicle of Higher Education
News Blog, January 5, 2008 ---
http://chronicle.com/news/article/3707/linebackers-wife-says-she-wrote-his-papers?at
Cybernetics, ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics
Video Tutorials
"'Getting Started' Guide to Cybernetics," by Paul Pangaro, Pangaro.com,
October 2014 ---
http://www.pangaro.com/definition-cybernetics.html
Thank you Mohammad Raza for the heads up.
Eight Econometrics Multiple-Choice Quiz Sets from David Giles
You might have to go to his site to get the quizzes to work.
Note that there are multiple questions for each quiz set.
Click on the arrow button to go to a subsequent question.
O.K., I know - that was a really
cheap way of getting your attention.
However, it worked, and
this post really is about
Hot Potatoes
- not the edible variety, but some
teaching apps. from "Half-Baked Software" here at the University
of Victoria.
To quote:
"The Hot
Potatoes suite
includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive
multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword,
matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web.
Hot Potatoes is
freeware,
and you may use it for any purpose or project you like."
I've included some Hot
Potatoes multiple choice exercises on the web pages for
several of my courses for some years now. Recently, some of the
students in my introductory graduate econometrics course
mentioned that these exercises were quite helpful. So, I thought
I'd share the Hot Potatoes apps. for that course with
readers of this blog.
There are eight multiple-choice
exercise sets in total, and you can run them from here:
I've also put the HTML and associated PDF
files on the
code page
for this blog. If you're going to download
them and use them on your own computer or website, just make sure
that the PDF files are located in the same folder (directory) as the
HTML files.
I plan to extend and update these Hot Potatoes exercises in
the near future, but hopefully some readers will find them useful in
the meantime.
From my "Recently Read" list:
-
Born, B. and J. Breitung, 2014. Testing for serial correlation
in fixed-effects panel data models. Econometric Reviews, in
press.
-
Enders, W. and Lee. J., 2011. A unit root test using a Fourier
series to approximate smooth breaks, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and
Statistics, 74, 574-599.
-
Götz, T. B. and A. W. Hecq, 2014. Testing for Granger causality
in large mixed-frequency VARs. RM/14/028, Maastricht University, SBE,
Department of Quantitative Economics.
-
Kass, R. E., 2011. Statistical
inference: The big picture.
Statistical Science, 26, 1-9.
-
Qian, J. and L. Su, 2014. Structural change estimation in time
series regressions with endogenous variables. Economics Letters,
in press.
-
Wickens,
M., 2014. How did we get to where we are now? Reflections on 50
years of macroeconomic and financial econometrics. Discussion No. 14/17,
Department of Economics and Related Studies, University of York.
"Statistical Inference: The Big Picture," by Robert E. Kass,
Statistical Science 2011, Vol. 26, No. 1, 1–9 DOI: 10.1214/10-STS337 ©
Institute of Mathematical Statistics ---
http://www.stat.cmu.edu/~kass/papers/bigpic.pdf
Abstract.
Statistics has moved beyond the frequentist-Bayesian controversies of the
past. Where does this leave our ability to interpret results? I suggest that
a philosophy compatible with statistical practice, labeled here statistical
pragmatism , serves as a foundation for inference. Statistical pragmatism is
inclusive and emphasizes the assumptions that connect statistical models
with observed data. I argue that introductory courses often mischaracterize
the process of statistical inference and I propose an alternative “big
picture” depiction.
Common Accountics Science and Econometric Science Statistical Mistakes ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsScienceStatisticalMistakes.htm
Statistical Science Reading List for June 2014 Compiled by David Giles in
Canada ---
http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2014/05/june-reading-list.html
Put away that novel! Here's some really fun June reading:
-
Berger, J.,
2003. Could Fisher, Jeffreys and Neyman have agreed on testing?.
Statistical Science, 18, 1-32.
-
Canal, L. and R. Micciolo, 2014. The chi-square controversy.
What if Pearson had R? Journal of Statistical Computation and
Simulation, 84, 1015-1021.
-
Harvey, D. I., S. J. Leybourne, and A. M. R. Taylor, 2014. On
infimum Dickey-Fuller unit root tests allowing for a trend break under
the null. Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, 78,
235-242.
-
Karavias, Y. and E. Tzavalis, 2014. Testing for unit roots in
short panels allowing for a structural breaks. Computational
Statistics and Data Analysis, 76, 391-407.
-
King, G.
and M. E. Roberts, 2014. How robust standard errors expose
methodological problems they do not fix, and what to do about it.
Mimeo., Harvard University.
-
Kuroki, M. and J. Pearl, 2014. Measurement bias and effect
restoration in causal inference. Biometrika, 101, 423-437.
-
Manski, C., 2014.
Communicating uncertainty in official economic statistics. Mimeo.,
Department of Economics, Northwestern University.
-
Martinez-Camblor, P., 2014. On correlated z-values in hypothesis
testing. Computational
Statistics and Data Analysis,
in press.
The Cult of Statistical Significance: How Standard Error Costs Us Jobs,
Justice, and Lives ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DeirdreMcCloskey/StatisticalSignificance01.htm
Common Accountics Science and Econometric
Science Statistical Mistakes ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsScienceStatisticalMistakes.htm
November 7, 2014 posting by David Giles in his Econometrics Beat blog.
This
post is one of a sequence of posts, the earlier members
of which can be found
here,
here,
here, and
here. These posts are
based on Giles (2014).
Some of the standard tests that we perform in
econometrics can be affected by the level of aggregation
of the data. Here, I'm concerned only with time-series
data, and with temporal aggregation. I'm going to
show you some preliminary results from work that I have
in progress with
Ryan Godwin. Although
these results relate to just one test, our work covers a
range of testing problems.
I'm not supplying the EViews program code that was used
to obtain the results below - at least, not for now.
That's because what I'm reporting is based on work in
progress. Sorry!
As in the
earlier posts, let's suppose that the aggregation is
over "m" high-frequency periods. A lower case symbol
will represent a high-frequency observation on a
variable of interest; and an upper-case symbol will
denote the aggregated series.
So,
Yt = yt + yt - 1 +
......+ yt - m + 1 .
If we're aggregating monthly (flow) data to
quarterly data, then m = 3. In the case of
aggregation from quarterly to annual data, m = 4,
etc.
Now, let's investigate how such aggregation affects
the performance of the well-known Jarque-Bera (1987)
(J-B) test for the normality of the errors in a
regression model. I've discussed some of the
limitations of this test in an
earlier post, and you
might find it helpful to look at that post
(and
this one) at this
point. However, the J-B test is very widely used by
econometricians, and it warrants some further
consideration.
Consider the following a small Monte Carlo
experiment.
Continued at
http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-econometrics-of-temporal.html#more
Jensen Comment
Perhaps an even bigger problem in aggregation is the assumption of stationarity.
From Two Former Presidents of the AAA
"Some Methodological Deficiencies in Empirical Research Articles in
Accounting." by Thomas R. Dyckman and Stephen A. Zeff , Accounting
Horizons: September 2014, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 695-712 ---
http://aaajournals.org/doi/full/10.2308/acch-50818 (not free)
This paper uses a sample of the regression and
behavioral papers published in The Accounting Review and the Journal of
Accounting Research from September 2012 through May 2013. We argue first
that the current research results reported in empirical regression papers
fail adequately to justify the time period adopted for the study. Second, we
maintain that the statistical analyses used in these papers as well as in
the behavioral papers have produced flawed results. We further maintain that
their tests of statistical significance are not appropriate and, more
importantly, that these studies do not—and cannot—properly address the
economic significance of the work. In other words, significance tests are
not tests of the economic meaningfulness of the results. We suggest ways to
avoid some but not all of these problems. We also argue that replication
studies, which have been essentially abandoned by accounting researchers,
can contribute to our search for truth, but few will be forthcoming unless
the academic reward system is modified.
The free SSRN version of this paper is at
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2324266
This Dyckman and Zeff paper is indirectly related to the following technical
econometrics research:
"The Econometrics of Temporal Aggregation - IV - Cointegration," by
David Giles, Econometrics Blog, September 13, 2014 ---
http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-econometrics-of-temporal.html
Common Accountics Science and Econometric
Science Statistical Mistakes ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsScienceStatisticalMistakes.htm
David Johnstone asked me to write a paper on the following:
"A Scrapbook on What's Wrong with the Past, Present and Future of Accountics
Science"
Bob Jensen
February 19, 2014
SSRN Download:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2398296
The Cult of Statistical Significance: How Standard Error Costs Us Jobs,
Justice, and Lives ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DeirdreMcCloskey/StatisticalSignificance01.htm
Common Accountics Science and Econometric
Science Statistical Mistakes ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsScienceStatisticalMistakes.htm
Yet Another Job Stealer from Unskilled Workers
"Your Retirement May Include a Robot Helper: As industrial robots
become more capable, they could start helping out around the home," by Will
Knight, MIT's Technology Review, October 27, 2014 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/531941/your-retirement-may-include-a-robot-helper/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20141029
Youngsters aren’t the only ones who get the latest
high-tech gadgets. Sometime in the next decade or two, homebound retirees
could be early adopters of an important new technology: the home-help robot.
As robots become safer, smarter, and more capable,
robotics companies are eyeing elder care as a huge potential market. A
rapidly expanding elderly population could also necessitate other new forms
of home-assistance technology.
“God help us if we don’t figure it out,” Colin
Angle, CEO of Roomba maker iRobot, said during
RoboBusiness,
a robotics conference held in Boston this month.
“Because over the next 20 years the ratio of people over the age of 65 to
the number of people under 65 is going to change rather dramatically.”
Estimates from the United Nations suggest the
population over 65 worldwide will increase 181 percent between 2010 and
2050, compared to a 33 percent increase in people aged 15 to 65. That shift
will create a large incentive to automate at least some assistive work.
Some robots are already lending a mechanical hand.
As part of an E.U.-funded research project, senior citizens in Italy, Spain,
and Sweden have had their homes equipped with sensors to track their
activity and health. Mobile telepresence robots—a wheeled videoconferencing
system that can be piloted remotely—let relatives and doctors check in with
them. Some nursing homes in Japan, Europe, and the U.S. give lonely
residents a robotic seal called Paro as a companion. It responds to petting
by cooing and purring and will cry if dropped or ignored.
As such machines become more sophisticated, robot
helpers could assist people with everyday household chores and with dressing
and bathing. Eventually robots may interact far more intelligently as
entertainment or company.
iRobot doesn’t make anything that sophisticated,
but Angle says the company is well positioned to develop such technology
because it has thought so long about how to make robots work in the home.
The company makes several telepresence robots, various robots for the
military, and a range of home-cleaning robots, including the Roomba.
“The Roomba is the most successful elder-care robot
ever created,” Angle said. “It helps people who can’t push a vacuum maintain
a sense of control over the environment they live in.”
Robots seem to be converging on elder care from
several directions. Robotic assistance systems that fit over arms or legs
are emerging as a way to help those who have a hard time walking or picking
up objects stay independent. Researchers in Denmark have adapted a robotic
factory arm made by Universal Robots to see if it can be used to
help people shower.
Some emerging robotic products can help with simple
jobs. For instance,
Yujin Robot, a Korean company, has a low-cost
system that navigates around a hospital or elder-care facility and delivers
meals. Other companies at RoboBusiness demonstrated sophisticated and
low-cost robotic manipulators. While these robot hands are being developed
primarily as a way to automate industrial tasks, they could also be put to
use folding laundry, collecting dishes, or straightening neckties.
Having machines perform such tasks—and not only for
the elderly—is “closer than people realize,” says Rich Mahoney, director of
robotics at the research company SRI. “There are tons of opportunities:
robots that can do dishes and can clean, and all the things people want in
terms of folding laundry and cleaning bathrooms,” he says.
Still, there’s a long way to go to make robots
user-friendly, especially for a set of users not known for being tech-savvy.
Angle pointed to the latest version of one of the military robots iRobot
makes, essentially a large metal claw on wheels. “Would you feel comfortable
having this robot dress your mom?” he asked. “Probably not.”
No More Jobs on the Farms or Most Anywhere Else
"Get Ready for Robot Farmers," by Jodi Helmer, CNNMoney
via Yahoo Tech, October 24, 2014 ---
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/get-ready-for-robot-farmers-100613764059.html
"Patented Book Writing System Creates, Sells Hundreds Of Thousands Of
Books On Amazon," by David J. Hull, Security Hub, December 13, 2012
---
http://singularityhub.com/2012/12/13/patented-book-writing-system-lets-one-professor-create-hundreds-of-thousands-of-amazon-books-and-counting/
Philip M. Parker, Professor of Marketing at INSEAD Business School,
has had a side project for over 10 years. He’s created
a computer system that can write books about specific subjects in about 20
minutes. The patented algorithm has so far generated hundreds of thousands
of books. In fact, Amazon lists over 100,000 books attributed to Parker, and
over 700,000 works listed for his company,
ICON Group International, Inc. This doesn’t
include the private works, such as internal reports,
created for companies or licensing of the system itself through a separate
entity called
EdgeMaven Media.
Parker is not so much an author as a compiler, but
the end result is the same: boatloads of written works.
"Raytheon's Missiles Are Now Made by Robots," by Ashlee Vance,
Bloomberg Business Week, December 11, 2012 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-11/raytheons-missiles-now-made-by-robots
A World Without Work," by Dana Rousmaniere, Harvard Business Review
Blog, January 27, 2013 ---
Click Here
http://blogs.hbr.org/morning-advantage/2013/01/morning-advantage-a-world-with.html?referral=00563&cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-daily_alert-_-alert_date&utm_source=newsletter_daily_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert_date
Jensen Comment
There's hope until robots are reading, comprehending, and writing reviews of
books written by robots.
"17% of Female MIT Students Say They Have Been Sexually Assaulted,"
Chronicle of Higher Education, October 28, 2014 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2014/10/28/17-female-mit-students-say-they-have-been-sexually-assaulted
About
17 percent of undergraduate women who responded to a
survey at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say
they have been sexually assaulted, but only 5 percent
say they ever reported the crime. Chancellor Cynthia
Barnhart said the findings,
detailed in a report released
by the university on Monday, highlight a challenge in
sexual assault prevention and education on campus. (The
survey defined assault as
"unwanted sexual behaviors involving the use of force,
physical threat, or incapacitation.") Students seem to
have differing ideas on what might constitute an assault
or how serious of a crime it is, Barnhart said. More
than 70 percent of students who did not report the
"unwanted sexual experiences" said they didn't believe
the misconduct was serious enough to report. MIT began
distributing its survey in April, prior to the U.S.
Department of Education urging colleges to conduct
similar "climate surveys." Legislation
announced by eight senators in
July would require colleges to undertake such surveys.
"What we
find from the survey is that we need more education in
our community," Barnhart said in a press call. "That's
exactly what we're positioning ourselves to do."
Jensen Comment
I wonder if the Columbia University woman still carries her mattress around the
campus to protest the alleged ignoring of her rape by campus police and the
NYPD?
Maybe MIT women should design robots to carry their mattresses! I'm serious.
Is Columbia University negligent on investigating three rapes by the same
alleged perpetrator?
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/03/college_rape_survivor_will_carry_her_mattress_around_campus_until_her_rapist_is_expelled/
One of the victims carries her mattress around the campus.
There are at least four victims of this one Columbia University rapist (this
is unbelievable) ---
"23 Students File Complaint Against Columbia for Mishandling Rape," by llie
Beusman, jezebel ---
http://jezebel.com/23-students-file-complaint-against-columbia-for-mishand-1567215473
"Students Nationwide Carry Mattresses to Protest Campus Rape," by Andy
Thomason, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 29, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/students-bear-mattresses-nationwide-to-protest-campus-rape/88651?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
From the Scout Report on October 31, 2014
Storehouse ---
https://www.storehouse.co
Storehouse won the 2014 Apple Design Award for good
reason. This incredibly intuitive app lets you tell "visual stories" with
the photos and videos you've amassed on your iPhone. So, instead of the
boring click through of vacation photos, you get a sophisticated
presentation of your fun times. This application is designed for iPhone and
iPad running iOS 7.0+
Slack ---
https://slack.com
Launched by Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterfield,
Slack is a very slick, very fast communication app that allows teams to
collaborate in real time as they develop complex projects. The tag line? "Be
less busy." Well, we'll see about that. Available for iOS 7.0+ and Android
2.3+.
Yes Means Yes (Maybe)
Making Sense of "Yes Means Yes"
http://verdict.justia.com/2014/10/29/making-sense-yes-means-yes
"Yes Means Yes" is a terrible law, and I completely support it
http://www.vox.com/2014/10/13/6966847/yes-means-yes-is-a-terrible-bill-and-i-completely-support-it
California's 'yes means yes' sexual standard has liberals divided
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-10-27-what-they-are-saying-20141027-story.html
'Yes means yes' opposition: It's about due process, not misogyny
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/yes-means-yes-opposition-its-about-due-process-not-misogyny/article/2555316
Rethink Harvard's sexual harassment policy
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/10/14/rethink-harvard-sexual-harassment-policy/HFDDiZN7nU2UwuUuWMnqbM/story.html
Consent Bro: Meet the guy who teaches frat brothers what 'yes means yes'
means
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/10/29/consent-bro-meet-the-guy-who-teaches-frat-brothers-what-yes-means-yes-means/
Free online textbooks, cases, and tutorials in accounting, finance,
economics, and statistics ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Education Tutorials
From the American Library Association
Advocacy: Online Learning ---
http://www.ala.org/onlinelearning/issues/advocacy
Also see the following links from Bob Jensen
Growth Worldwide ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#DistanceEducation
Alternatives Worldwide ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/CrossBorder.htm
Free online tutorials, videos, and courses from prestigious universities
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch
Bob Jensen's bookmarks for multiple disciplines ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm
Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials
This Is How Planets Are Born ---
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/11/alma-telescope-photographs-planets-forming-HL-Tau/382459/
Planetary birth revealed in best image yet from world’s most powerful
telescope ---
Click Here
https://twitter.com/i/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FExploringBird%2Ftimelines%2F530419876410564608%3Ft%3D1%26cn%3DZXhwbG9yZV9iYWNrZmlsbF9kaWdlc3Q%253D%26sig%3D33d1096e8aee42ecc1ccacff2f1a7d5b6b02d183%26al%3D1%26refsrc%3Demail%26iid%3Db069b8b06bb54dd1bd4cd1828f51e337%26autoactions%3D1415313655%26uid%3D104534227%26nid%3D244%2B1781%2B20141105&t=1&cn=ZXhwbG9yZV9iYWNrZmlsbF9kaWdlc3Q%3D&sig=df3c36f58241e247501233c92b364b8651c3b62c&iid=b069b8b06bb54dd1bd4cd1828f51e337&uid=104534227&nid=244+1781+20141105
Future Climate Change ---
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/future.html
American Chemical Society ---
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html
National Science Foundation: Discoveries ---
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/
The University of Akron: The Phineas Gage Information Page (mysteries of the
human brain) ---
http://www.uakron.edu/gage/
UNAIDS ---
http://www.unaids.org/en
InterOperability Laboratory ---
https://www.iol.unh.edu
Networking and Communications Product Testing Lab at the University of New
Hampshire
Design Other 90% Network ---
http://www.designother90.org/
Mysteries and Science: Exploring Aliens, Ghosts, Monsters, the end of the
world, and other weird things ---
http://sd4kids.skepdic.com
Bob Jensen's threads on free online science,
engineering, and medicine tutorials are at ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Social Science and Economics Tutorials
British Academy - National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences ---
http://www.britac.ac.uk
Polarized
We Govern?
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2014/05/27
polarized we govern
binder/brookingscepm_polarized_figreplacedtextrevtablerev.pdf
The University of Akron: The Phineas Gage Information Page (mysteries of the
human brain) ---
http://www.uakron.edu/gage/
UNAIDS ---
http://www.unaids.org/en
The Stanford Prison Experiment ---
http://www.prisonexp.org
Stanley Milgram’s experiments were not so much about proving a hypothesis as
about performing a play. Poor science, but great art ---
The psychology of torture The Milgram experiments
showed that anybody could be capable of torture when obeying an authority. Are
they still valid?
http://aeon.co/magazine/psychology/why-do-we-keep-repeating-the-milgram-experiments/
From the Scout Report on October 31, 2014
Yes Means Yes (Maybe)
Making Sense of "Yes Means Yes"
http://verdict.justia.com/2014/10/29/making-sense-yes-means-yes
"Yes Means Yes" is a terrible law, and I completely support it
http://www.vox.com/2014/10/13/6966847/yes-means-yes-is-a-terrible-bill-and-i-completely-support-it
California's 'yes means yes' sexual standard has liberals divided
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-10-27-what-they-are-saying-20141027-story.html
'Yes means yes' opposition: It's about due process, not misogyny
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/yes-means-yes-opposition-its-about-due-process-not-misogyny/article/2555316
Rethink Harvard's sexual harassment policy
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/10/14/rethink-harvard-sexual-harassment-policy/HFDDiZN7nU2UwuUuWMnqbM/story.html
Consent Bro: Meet the guy who teaches frat brothers what 'yes means yes'
means
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/10/29/consent-bro-meet-the-guy-who-teaches-frat-brothers-what-yes-means-yes-means/
Bob Jensen's threads on Economics, Anthropology, Social Sciences, and
Philosophy tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Law and Legal Studies
Picking The Locks: Redefining Copyright Law In The Digital Age ---
http://lisnews.org/picking_the_locks_redefining_copyright_law_in_the_digital_age
Bob Jensen's threads on the dreaded DMCA ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm#Copyright
Polarized
We Govern?
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2014/05/27
polarized we govern
binder/brookingscepm_polarized_figreplacedtextrevtablerev.pdf
From the Scout Report on October 31, 2014
Yes Means Yes (Maybe)
Making Sense of "Yes Means Yes"
http://verdict.justia.com/2014/10/29/making-sense-yes-means-yes
"Yes Means Yes" is a terrible law, and I completely support it
http://www.vox.com/2014/10/13/6966847/yes-means-yes-is-a-terrible-bill-and-i-completely-support-it
California's 'yes means yes' sexual standard has liberals divided
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-10-27-what-they-are-saying-20141027-story.html
'Yes means yes' opposition: It's about due process, not misogyny
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/yes-means-yes-opposition-its-about-due-process-not-misogyny/article/2555316
Rethink Harvard's sexual harassment policy
http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/10/14/rethink-harvard-sexual-harassment-policy/HFDDiZN7nU2UwuUuWMnqbM/story.html
Consent Bro: Meet the guy who teaches frat brothers what 'yes means yes'
means
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/10/29/consent-bro-meet-the-guy-who-teaches-frat-brothers-what-yes-means-yes-means/
Bob Jensen's threads on law and legal studies are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Math Tutorials
Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
History Tutorials
Polarized
We Govern?
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2014/05/27
polarized we govern
binder/brookingscepm_polarized_figreplacedtextrevtablerev.pdf
44 Essential Movies for the Student of Philosophy ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/p-hz0wBhEKw/44-essential-movies-for-the-student-of-philosophy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Hans Rosling's 200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbkSRLYSojo#t=272
Download 110 Free Philosophy eBooks: From Aristotle to Nietzsche &
Wittgenstein ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/7KCZcr9eKM4/download-110-free-philosophy-ebooks-from-aristotle-to-nietzsche-wittgenstein.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
History of Halloween ---
http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-halloween
Stop the Emden: The day Australia’s fledgling navy defeated Germany’s most
successful warship ---
http://www.news.com.au/national/anzac-day/stop-the-emden-the-day-australias-fledgling-navy-defeated-germanys-most-successful-warship/story-fnmewwpe-1227115010322
Vintage Photos of Veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, Taken Circa 1858 ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/Gdj3tREvp0U/vintage-photos-of-veterans-of-the-napoleonic-wars.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
50,000 Norman Rockwell Photographs Now Digitized and Available Online
---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/BCfRyGT5qYk/50000-norman-rockwell-photographs-now-digitized-and-available-online.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Stephen King’s Top 10 All-Time Favorite Books ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/Ri8DWHqb86E/stephen-kings-top-10-all-time-favorite-books.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Azar Nafisi views American society through its literature (video from PBS
news hour) ---
http://lisnews.org/azar_nafisi_views_american_society_through_its_literature
Now on View at the Library of Congress, One of the Four Surviving Copies of
the Magna Carta ---
http://lisnews.org/now_on_view_at_the_library_of_congress_one_of_the_four_surviving_copies_of_the_magna_carta
The Day Dylan Thomas's Poetic Brilliance Triumphed Over His Sad Alcohol
Dependency He couldn't even pour a glass of water. Then, he began to read his
poetry...
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120001/violence-dylan-thomas
Dylan Thomas Poetry ---
http://www.dylanthomas.com/
Anthony Hopkins Reads Dylan Thomas ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2011/05/anthony_hopkins_reads_dylan_thomas.html
Wisconsin Gazetteer ---
http://wisconsin.hometownlocator.com
Jefferson's Library ---
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/jefferson/index.html
Dylan Thomas ---
http://www.dylanthomas.com/
Not So Gentle Into That Good Night ---
http://poetry.suite101.com/article.cfm/dylan_thomas___do_not_go_gentle_
Free Online Video
Bob Jensen's threads on history tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
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
Music Tutorials
Did Bach’s Wife Compose Some of “His” Masterpieces? A New Documentary Says
Yes
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/lsaOq7gi22E/bachs-wife.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
How to Clean Your Vinyl Records with Wood Glue ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/zxc4PWRvIZQ/how-to-clean-your-vinyl-records-with-wood-glue.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
Bob Jensen's threads on free music tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on music performances ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
Writing Tutorials and Software
From the Scout Report on November 7, 2014
1. National Novel Writing Month
http://nanowrimo.org
Freelance writer Chris Baty declared November as
National Novel Writing Month in the fall of 2000. Since then, the number of
participants has grown from 21 aspiring authors hacking away at manuscripts
to over 300,000. The project's "No Plot? No problem" slogan tells it all. No
perfectionistic haute culture here. Participants are simply encouraged to
put at least 50,000 words on paper between 12:00 am on November 1 and
11:59:59 on November 30. Scout readers can explore this official website via
section subheadings such as, About, How It Works, Press Information, and
Testimonials to find out all about the process. Signing up to participate in
the challenge is easy and free, and the website will help track your
progress, link you to support in your geographical area, and provide
platforms to meet fellow writers in person and online. NaNoWriMo, as it's
called, is a great resource for encouraging novice and veteran writers alike
to work through their writer's block and delve into their creativity. [CNH]
2. Writing and Publishing Solutions
http://www.novel-writing-help.com
Anyone who has ever tried to write a novel will
agree on at least one basic fact: it's deceptively difficult. This site,
from novelist Harvey Chapman, provides beginners with helpful step-by-step
advice. He lays it all out in simple, digestible categories including, The
Writing Process, Becoming a Writer, Elements of Fiction, and How to Write.
Each category includes helpful, targeted articles designed to take some of
the sting out of putting words on screen or paper. For instance, How to
Write a Novel Step-by-Step breaks down the novel writing process into eleven
linear stages. Prose Writing 101, found under How to Write, is another great
feature of the site that details the importance of writing with a clear,
concise, and uncluttered style. [CNH]
3. How Writers Write Fiction
http://courses.writinguniversity.org/course/how-writers-write-fiction
The International Writing Program at the University
of Iowa is often considered the best fiction writing program in the United
States. Not everyone can dedicate the blood, sweat, and two years it takes
to complete the program, but this new MOOC series allows fiction writers to
engages with the material over a few short weeks. The course is free and the
teachers are extremely well known literary novelists. After signing up,
access to videos, transcripts, assignments, and tools will be at your
fingertips. Through video lectures and various writing assignments, the
series is a great way to learn about the writing process and interact with
other students/writers working on their craft. [CNH]
4. Fiction Writers Review
http://fictionwritersreview.com
If you want to write, read. And if you want to read
about fiction writing, a good place to start is the Fiction Writers Review.
Completely free and jam packed with writers writing about writing, this
continually updated online periodical will fill you up with ideas and
images. Start with the homepage, where you can explore numerous Features,
ranging from interviews to essays. Then explore Popular Posts to see what
other visitors have found valuable. There is a lot of fantastic stuff on
this site, and author Philip Graham's praise is quite illuminating: "I no
longer much bother reading The New York Times Book Review, and your site is
one of the reasons- what great work you're doing for literature." [CNH]
5. The Official SCBWI Blog
http://scbwi.blogspot.com
There are many great resources for those who want
to write stories for adults. But what if your market is more in the seven to
twelve range? Well, then this site, the official blog of the Society of
Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), is for you. Continually
updated, blog entries offer a variety of topics ranging from interviews with
award winning children's book authors, editors, and publishers to advice on
innovative marketing techniques, writing, and networking in children's
literature. It is a must for anyone looking to engage in the wide world of
writing and publishing for kids. [CNH]
===== Technical & Science Writing ===
6. Introduction to Technical Communication
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/writing-and-humanistic-studies/21w-732-5-introduction-to-technical-communication-explorations-in-scientific-and-technical-writing-fall-2006/
What if you could take a technical communication
class with a world class professor at a leading university? What if it was
all laid out for you - the readings, the lectures, the assignments? And what
if the only thing you had to pay for was a couple of books? That's exactly
what Dr. Donald N.S. Unger and the MIT Open Courseware system are offering
here. On this site, viewers can browse the syllabus, have a look at the
required readings, and ponder the ten assignments that form the foundation
of this writing intensive class. Self-directed learners who want to improve
their technical and scientific writing need look no further than this
web-based adaptation of an MIT classic. [CNH]
7. The Purdue OWL: Conducting Research https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/2/8/
Good research and good writing go hand in hand.
This site from the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) introduces students to
the principles of conducting good research. The clear and helpful
information on the site is divided into six digestible categories: Research
Overview, Conducting Primary Research, Evaluating Sources of Information,
Searching the World Wide Web, Internet References, and Archival Research.
Within each of these categories are numerous informative subcategories, such
as Research Ethics and Searching with a Search Engine. This last area is a
great tool for students learning how to conduct better searches, including
information on Boolean operators. [CNH]
8. Scientific Reports - The Writing Center
http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/scientific-reports/
Learning to write a good scientific report is no
easy task. Thank goodness this handout from the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill Writing Center provides you with everything you need to get
started. Beginning with Background and Pre-Writing and proceeding with
explanations of the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections
of research reports, the site answers such burning questions as, "What
should I do before drafting the lab report?" and "When should you use a
figure?" In all, students new to the art of technical science writing will
be much comforted by this detailed and user-friendly explanation of the
entire report writing process. Also of interest, the Other Resources section
links out to more useful resources around the web. [CNH]
9. National Association of Science Writers
http://www.nasw.org
Founded in 1934, the National Association of
Science Writers (NASW) has always sought to "encourage conditions that
promote good science writing." Today, the NASW boasts a roster of over 2,000
members, almost 300 of them students. The site itself is a panoply of
bustling information. Featured articles (for instance, "Coming soon to this
planet: More of us") touch into issues relevant to science writers and
bloggers, but also will appeal to anyone with an interest in empirical
research. A Twitter feed, ripe with science-y links and hashtags, is
available on the homepage and more than a dozen writer resources are on bold
display. If you think science writing might be in your future, look here for
the latest on how it's done. [CNH]
10. Sentence Structure of Technical Writing
http://web.mit.edu/me-ugoffice/communication/technical-writing.pdf
This visually clear treatise outlines "Good Tech
Writers Practice" in three pieces of sage advice: Plan your project,
understand good technical writing, and know that writing is a habit that
takes time to develop. Presented as lecture materials from Nicole Kelley at
MIT, this 24-page PDF leads students of technical writing through seven
steps (planning, clarity, brevity, simplicity, word choice, active voice,
committing to writing as a process), and is ripe with graphs, charts,
tables, and other compelling visuals. Adapted from The Craft of Scientific
Writing by Michael Alley and "The Science of Scientific Writing" by Gopen
and Swan, this is a great resource providing the basics of technical writing
in an easily digestible format. [CNH]
11. LabWrite for Students
http://www.ncsu.edu/labwrite/
This National Science Foundation funded site from
North Carolina State University "guides you through the entire laboratory
experience, from before you walk into the lab to after you get back your
graded report." Start with How to Use LabWrite for a comprehensive
Powerpoint overview of the program. Then, navigate slowly through the steps
of PreLab, InLab, PostLab, and LabCheck, each of which provides careful
instructions on everything from formulating a hypothesis to presenting
results. Teachers will especially recognize this tool as a welcome
supplement to in class discussions of best lab practices. [CNH]
===== Literary Greats ===
12. The Official Site for Alice Walker
http://alicewalkersgarden.com
Alice Walker, who has won the Pulitzer Prize and
the National Book Award, is one of America's best known and well loved
writers. Since publishing her first book of poems in the late 1960s, she has
been churning out books of essays, novels, short stories, and poetry at a
prodigious clip. Productivity, however, is not her real calling card; what
Walker is known for, above all, is her compassion and clarity. This official
site contains dozens of Walker's recent blog posts on a wide range of
literary, artistic, and social issues, from her thoughts on books and
paintings to her fierce musings on the state of the Palestine/Israel
conflict. The About section provides a great biography of Walker and her
work. Additionally, Books and New Books allows viewers to browse her ample
collection of literary achievements. [CNH]
13. Faulkner Collection
http://faulkner.lib.virginia.edu
William Faulkner was born in 1897 in Oxford,
Mississippi and toiled away in relative obscurity until unexpectedly winning
the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1949. His novels henceforth earned him two
Pulitzer prizes, and several of them are almost always listed on "best of"
lists for 20th century literature. This University of Virginia site is a
Faulker treasure trove. From the homepage, visitors can navigate to Contexts
for an overview of Faulkner and his times. Next, the Browse section provides
a list of Faulkner's recorded lectures and classes at UVA - a rare and
wonderful peek at a man from another era. Readers can also search the site
by Tapes & Transcripts and Rest of Archive. Selected clips, organized by the
author's novels, are also available. [CNH]
14. The Official Site of Richard Feynman
http://www.richardfeynman.com
The video on the homepage of the Official Site of
Richard Feynman is reason enough to visit. It features Feynman, the
theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner, and best selling author,
lecturing to a group of undergraduates on the topic of scientific and
unscientific understandings of nature. The talk is wildly entertaining,
vivacious, and intellectually clear; viewers are left with a vivid sense of
who this man was and why he so deeply impacted the popular imagination. A
detailed About section provides information on Feynman and his work, as well
as quotes and a small photo gallery. The Notable Works section lists his
writings for scientific and popular audiences, though, sadly, none of them
are available on the site. [CNH]
15. Charles Dickens at 200
http://www.themorgan.org/collection/Charles-Dickens-at-200
The Christmas Carol, which Dickens wrote in the six
weeks leading up to the Christmas of 1843, has continuously been in print
ever since, spawning adaptations into the forms of plays, films, TV
specials, mime performances, abstract performance art, and opera. This
online exhibition, hosted by the Morgan Library & Museum in New York,
features a leather bound manuscript of the author's first draft, presented
to his friend and debtor, Thomas Mitton, just before it's publication. This
excellent site allows viewers to visit half a dozen pages of the original
document, replete with cross outs and scribbles, corrections and revisions.
The accompanying essays cover topics such as Dickens at Work, which explains
the sense of Dickens "writing at a fast pace, usually enacting second
thoughts and changes of mind in the heat of original composition." [CNH]
16. Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 78, James
Baldwin
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2994/the-art-of-fiction-no-78-james-baldwin
Born in Harlem in 1924, James Baldwin moved to France in the late 1950s
because he didn't want to be read as "merely a Negro; or, even, merely a
Negro writer." He lived the rest of his life in Paris and the French
Riviera, publishing fiction and essays that deeply influenced American
literature from afar. This interview with Baldwin, published in the Paris
Review a few years before the author's death, touches on such topics as his
choice to permanently leave the United States for Europe, his writing
process, and his thoughts on race and racial justice. It's a rare gift to
find a freely available window into this revered writer's thoughts and
feelings in his later years. [CNH]
===== Writing Tools ===
17. SelfControl
http://selfcontrolapp.com
Whether you're writing the Great American Novel or
just trying to finish a term paper by tomorrow morning, the biggest threat
to productivity is distraction. And the biggest progenitor of distraction is
the very machine you are working on to write that novel or term paper. This
open source app blocks access to distracting websites, as well as mail
servers and everything else on the internet. Just set the timer, and write.
[CNH]
18. Merriam-Webster
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary-apps/android-ipad-iphone-windows.htm
Every writer needs a dictionary. The
Merriam-Webster app provides "America's most useful and respected
dictionary," plus synonyms, antonyms, example sentences, and many other
bonus functions. It's free, it's easy, and it's available for iPhone and
iPad (iOS 7.0+) as well as Android (2.3.3+). [CNH]
Other Suggestions From
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries
"The Year's Best Books on Writing and Creativity," by Maria
Popova, Brain Pickings, December 18, 2013 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/12/18/best-books-writing-creativity/
After the year’s best books in
photography,
psychology and philosophy,
art and design,
history and biography,
science and technology,
“children’s” (though we all know
what that means), and
pets and animals, the season’s subjective
selection of
best-of reading lists concludes with the
year’s best reads on writing and creativity.
The question of why writers write holds
especial mesmerism, both as a piece of psychological voyeurism and
as a beacon of self-conscious hope that if we got a glimpse of the
innermost drivers of greats, maybe, just maybe, we might be able to
replicate the workings of genius in our own work. So why do
great writers write? George Orwell itemized
four universal motives.
Joan
Didion saw it as
access to her own mind. For
David
Foster Wallace, it was
about fun.
Joy Williams
found in it
a gateway from the darkness to the light.
For Charles Bukowski, it
sprang from the soul like a rocket.
Italo Calvino found in writing the comfort of
belonging to a collective enterprise.
Continued in a very long article
Eight Common Grammar Mistakes ---
https://www.openforum.com/articles/8-common-grammar-mistakes-you-should-never-make-again/?extlink=of-syndication-sb-p
English Grammar Lessons ---
http://www.englishgrammar.org/
Grammar Girl Tips ---
www.englishgrammar.org
Kurt Vonnegut Explains “How to Write With Style” ---
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/OpenCulture/~3/pBIoS0Ttyek/kurt-vonnegut-explains-how-to-write-with-style.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email
"Finding Joy in Writing,"
by Eva Lantsoght, Inside Higher Ed, June 11, 2012 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/gradhacker/finding-joy-writing
This is great advice to give on a syllabus for students in courses that
have major writing components. The title maybe should be changed to
"Finding Work in Writing."
Subtle Distinctions in
Technical Terminology
Machine Learning, Big Data, Deep Learning, Data Mining, Statistics,
Decision & Risk Analysis, Probability, Fuzzy Logic FAQ ---
http://wmbriggs.com/blog/?p=6465
"SAT Tip: Ignore Prepositional Phrases," Bloomberg
Businessweek, December 5, 2012 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-12-05/sat-tip-ignore-prepositional-phrases
Bob Jensen's threads on business, finance, and accounting glossaries
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbus.htm
Dictionary of Art Historians ---
http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/
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
“Weird Al” Yankovic Releases “Word Crimes,” a Grammar Nerd Parody of “Blurred
Lines” ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/07/weird-al-yankovic-releases-grammar-nerd-parody-of-blurred-lines.html
5 Wonderfully Long Literary Sentences by Samuel Beckett, Virginia
Woolf, F. Scott Fitzgerald & Other Masters of the Run-On ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/07/5-very-long-literary-sentences.html
But never Hemingway.
From the Scout Report on February 14, 2014
Vocabulary Notebook ---
https://www.vocabularynotebook.com/
If you're looking for a fine way to get
your vocabulary up to speed, you should definitely check out
Vocabulary Notebook. Teachers can use the program to study words
with their students in the classroom and individuals can use it to
craft their own personalized vocabulary lists for reviewing while on
the go. This version is compatible with all operating systems.
The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies (creative ideas in
writing, art, and photography) ---
http://www.salt.edu/
John Steinbeck’s Six Tips for the Aspiring Writer and His Nobel Prize
Speech ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2012/02/john_steinbecks_nobel_prize_speech_and_his_six_tips_for_the_aspiring_writer.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29
The James Merrill Digital Archive Lets You Explore the Creative Life
of a Great American Poet ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/09/the-james-merrill-digital-archive.html
Jack Kerouac’s 30 Revelations for Writing Modern Prose
---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/01/jack_kerouacs_30_revelations_for_writing_modern_prose.html
Richard Ford, Jonathan Franzen, and Anne Enright Give Ten Candid
Pieces of Writing Advice Each ---
Click Here
http://www.openculture.com/2013/08/richard-ford-jonathan-franzen-and-anne-enright-give-ten-candid-pieces-of-writing-advice-each.html
Tom Clancy's Advice To Writers ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/tom-clancys-advice-to-writers-2013-10
Jensen Comment
Don't Forget Wikipedia's various writing modules.
Also check on the MOOCs focused on how to improve writing ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries
Updates from WebMD ---
http://www.webmd.com/
October 28, 2014
October 29, 2014
October 30, 2014
October 31, 2014
November 1, 2014
November 3, 2014
November 4, 2014
November 5, 2014
November 6, 2014
November 7, 2014
November 8, 2014
November 11, 2014
UNAIDS ---
http://www.unaids.org/en
Why Gluten Is Stumping Scientists ---
http://time.chtah.net/a/hBUT3oSBASRffB84oq1BRZ6xBOA/time6
A Bit of Humor
I Love Lucy: An American Legend ---
http://myloc.gov/exhibitions/ilovelucy/Pages/default.asp
Cosby Show Favorite Episode ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8nV81QWd4M
Paula says: "I'll bet no one goes to sleep in her class!"
Sister Strikes Again!: Late Nite Catechism 2 - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=7Jrh_uuPmd0
Forwarded by Paula
"I've got problems. Every
time I go to bed I think there's somebody under it. I'm
scared. I think I'm going crazy."
"Just put
yourself in my hands for one year", said the shrink. "Come
talk to me three times a week and we should be able to get
rid of those fears."
"How much do you charge?"
"Eighty dollars per visit, replied the doctor."
"I'll sleep on it", I said.
Six months later the doctor met me on the street. "Why
didn't you come to see me about those fears you were
having?" he asked.
"Well, eighty bucks a visit, three times a week for a year,
is $12,480.00. A bartender cured me for $10.00. I
was so happy to have saved all that money that I went and
bought me a new pickup truck."
"Is that so?" with a bit of an attitude he said, "and how,
may I ask,
did a
Bartender cure you?"
"He told me to cut the legs off the bed. Ain't nobody
under there now."
Moral: FORGET
THE SHRINKS. HAVE A DRINK & TALK TO A BARTENDER!
IT'S
ALWAYS BETTER TO GET A SECOND OPINION!
Forwarded by Gene and Joan
You know you are too old to Trick or Treat when:
10. You keep knocking on your own front door. 9. You remove your false teeth
to change your appearance.
8. You ask for soft high fiber candy only.
7. When someone drops a candy bar in your bag, you lose your balance and fall
over.
6. People say...'Great Boris Karloff Mask,' and you're not wearing a mask. .
5. When the door opens you yell, 'Trick or...' and you can't remember the rest.
4. By the end of the night, you have a bag full of restraining orders.
3. You have to carefully choose a costume that doesn't dislodge your
hairpiece.
2. You're the only Power Ranger in the neighborhood with a walker. And the
number 1 reason Seniors should not go Trick or Treating ... * * * 1. You keep
having to go home to pee.
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