Tidbits on June 30, 2015
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Photographs Our Animals, Including a Bear Pulling Down Our Hummingbird Feeder
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Animals/Set02/Set02.htm

 

Tidbits on June 30 2015
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

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery: Recorded Lectures --- http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/discovery/recorded-lectures/prior-lectures.cmsx

My friend Phil Zimbardo let a psychology experiment go terribly wrong
Watch the New Trailer for the Stanford Prison Experiment Film, Soon in Theaters Near You ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/watch-the-new-trailer-for-the-stanford-prison-experiment-film.html

English Country Garden --- https://www.youtube.com/embed/9H9IojB9iYY

Video:  Our unhealthy obsession with choice --- http://www.ted.com/talks/renata_salecl_our_unhealthy_obsession_with_choice

Wolves and the Environment --- https://www.youtube.com/embed/ysa5OBhXz-Q?feature=player_embedded

Nature: The Specials Archive --- http://www.nature.com/nature/archive/specials.html

Stunning video captures what it's like to live on the International Space Station ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/life-on-the-international-space-station-iss-nasa-space-2015-6#ixzz3diLBCnnN

This mesmerizing video of Chinese students jumping rope in unison is going viral ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/chinese-students-jump-rope-unison-china-2015-6#ixzz3dyJ6dQ5j

Animated Introductions to Three Sociologists: Durkheim, Weber & Adorno ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/animated-introductions-to-three-sociologists-durkheim-weber-adorno.html

A rabbit fights a snake to save her babies and wins in one of nature's most epic battles ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/rabbit-fights-snake-and-wins-video-2015-6#ixzz3e4j5HYOp

Hear Johnny Cash Deliver Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#inbox/14e34e8a0c07aa27

A Beautiful Creation ---
http://www.andiesisle.com/creation/magnificent.html  


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

 

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

Time Magazine:  These Are the Best iPhone Photos of the Year ---
http://time.com/3919216/iphone-photography-awards-winners-revealed/?xid=newsletter-brief

From Clay to Mosaics --- https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/oEc-ESRjntg?rel=0&autoplay=1

This is America's New $13 Billion Warship ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-the-us-new-13-billion-warship-2015-6

The US military took these incredible photos in just a single week  ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-military-took-these-incredible-photos-in-just-a-week-2015-6

The Best Military Pictures Taken in One Week ---
 http://www.wearethemighty.com/best-military-photos-jun20-2015-06#ixzz3dpArvnbb

The History of Economics & Economic Theory Explained with Comics, Starting with Adam Smith ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/the-history-of-economics-economic-theory-explained-with-comics.html
This is not a free download ---

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810988399/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0810988399&linkCode=as2&tag=openculture-20

Climb Virtually Up “El Capitan,” Yosemite’s Iconic Rock Wall, With Google Street View ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/climb-virtually-up-el-capitan-yosemites-iconic-rock-wall-with-google-street-view.html
 

Old NYC --- http://www.oldnyc.org/

Here's how New York City's subway system looked over 110 years ago ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-nyc-subway-system-looked-110-years-ago-2014-10#ixzz3eIYzgY5B

7 unbelievable military weapons most people have never heard of ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/7-unbelievable-military-weapons-most-people-have-never-heard-of-2014-6#ixzz3eIbxezQO

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

"Neil Gaiman on How Stories Last," by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, June 15, 2015 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/16/neil-gaiman-how-stories-last/?mc_cid=661f567940&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

"Oliver Sacks on Storytelling, the Curious Psychology of Writing, and What His Friendship with the Poet Thom Gunn Taught Him About Creativity and Originality,"  by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, June 15, 2015 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/19/oliver-sacks-thom-gunn-writing/?mc_cid=661f567940&mc_eid=4d2bd13843
Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries

See Flannery O’Connor’s Story “The Displaced Person” Adapted to a Film Starring a Young Samuel L. Jackson (1977) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/see-flannery-oconnors-story-the-displaced-person-adapted-to-a-film-starring-a-young-samuel-l-jackson-1977.html

Take a Visual Walking Tour of Franz Kafka’s Prague with Will Self, Then Read His Digital Essay, “Kafka’s Wound” ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/take-a-visual-walking-tour-of-franz-kafkas-prague-with-will-self-then-read-his-digital-essay-kafkas-wound.html

Banned Books

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 June 30, 2015
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2015/TidbitsQuotations063015.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




Mr. Wieman hopes that adoption of his inventory will lead colleges to put far less weight on the end-of-semester ritual of course evaluations, when students get to anonymously judge their professors on a standardized form. In his paper, Mr. Wieman wrote that one of his goals was to free professors from "the capricious, frustrating, and sometimes quite mean-spirited tyranny of student evaluations."
"Everyone Complains About Evaluations. A Nobel Laureate Offers an Alternative." by Meg Bernhard, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 15, 2015 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Everyone-Complains-About/230885/?cid=at

Jensen Comment
I'm vehemently opposed to the present system of teaching evaluations because it is the leading cause (in my opinion) of dysfunctional grade inflation in the USA ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#RateMyProfessor


The old thumb on the scale trick
Time Magazine:  Whole Foods Is Accused of Overcharging Customers Again

New York investigators say it's the "worst case" they've ever seen ---
http://time.com/money/3933703/whole-foods-overcharging-customers/?xid=newsletter-brief


Question
What do hackers and many of your students know that you don't know?

Free Code Camp --- http://www.freecodecamp.com/

11 popular programming languages that can help you land a job ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/programming-languages-in-highest-demand-2015-6?op=1#ixzz3eIfM4fpC

Java:
Originally invented in 1991 as a programming language for smart televisions, Oracle's Java is now the most popular language in the world — a position solidified by the fact that Java is crucial to Android app development and lots of business software. Java: Originally invented in 1991 as a programming language for smart televisions, Oracle's Java is now the most popular language in the world — a position solidified by the fact that Java is crucial to Android app development and lots of business software. Flickr/ D. Miller

. . .

PHP:
This language for programming web sites is incredibly common — some estimates say it powers one-third of the web. Big sites like WordPress, Facebook, and Yahoo use it. A lot of programmers also hate PHP with a passion — Stack Exchange founder Jeff Atwood once wrote "PHP isn't so much a language as a random collection of arbitrary stuff, a virtual explosion at the keyword and function factory." PHP: This language for programming web sites is incredibly common — some estimates say it powers one-third of the web. Big sites like WordPress, Facebook, and Yahoo use it. A lot of programmers also hate PHP with a passion — Stack Exchange founder Jeff Atwood once wrote "PHP isn't so much a language as a random collection of arbitrary stuff, a virtual explosion at the keyword and function factory." Reddit

. . .

Perl:
Originally developed by a NASA engineer in the late eighties, Perl excels at processing text, and developers like it because it's powerful and flexible. It was once famously described as "the duct tape of the web," because it's really great at holding websites together, but it's not the most elegant language. Perl: Originally developed by a NASA engineer in the late eighties, Perl excels at processing text, and developers like it because it's powerful and flexible. It was once famously described as "the duct tape of the web," because it's really great at holding websites together, but it's not the most elegant language. Wikimedia Commons

. . .

C:
One of the oldest programming languages still in common use, C was created in the early 1970s. In 1978, the language's legendary and still widely read manual, the 800-page "The C Programming Language," saw print for the first time. C: One of the oldest programming languages still in common use, C was created in the early 1970s. In 1978, the language's legendary and still widely read manual, the 800-page "The C Programming Language," saw print for the first time. Flickr

. . .

Objective-C:
The original C programming language was so influential that it inspired a lot of similarly named successors, all of which took their inspiration from the original but added features from other languages. Objective-C has grown in popularity as the standard language to build iPhone apps, though Apple's been pushing its own Swift language, too. Objective-C: The original C programming language was so influential that it inspired a lot of similarly named successors, all of which took their inspiration from the original but added features from other languages. Objective-C has grown in popularity as the standard language to build iPhone apps, though Apple's been pushing its own Swift language, too. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

. . .

JavaScript:
This is a super-popular programming language primarily used in web apps. But it doesn't have much to do with Java besides the name. JavaScript runs a lot of the modern web, but it also catches a lot of flak for slowing browsers down and sometimes exposing users to security vulnerabilities. JavaScript: This is a super-popular programming language primarily used in web apps. But it doesn't have much to do with Java besides the name. JavaScript runs a lot of the modern web, but it also catches a lot of flak for slowing browsers down and sometimes exposing users to security vulnerabilities. Dmitry Baranovskiy via Flickr

. . .

Visual Basic:
Microsoft's Visual Basic (and its successor, Visual Basic .NET) tries to make programming easier with a graphical element that lets you change portions of a program by dragging and dropping. It's old, and some think it's lacking features next to other languages, but with Microsoft's backing, it's still got its users out there. Visual Basic: Microsoft's Visual Basic (and its successor, Visual Basic .NET) tries to make programming easier with a graphical element that lets you change portions of a program by dragging and dropping. It's old, and some think it's lacking features next to other languages, but with Microsoft's backing, it's still got its users out there. Wikimedia Commons

. . . 

Ruby:
 Like Python, developers like this 24-year-old language because it's easy to read and write the code. Also popular is Rails, an add-on framework for Ruby that makes it really easy to use it to build web apps. The language's official motto is "A programmer's best friend." Ruby: Like Python, developers like this 24-year-old language because it's easy to read and write the code. Also popular is Rails, an add-on framework for Ruby that makes it really easy to use it to build web apps. The language's official motto is "A programmer's best friend." ©V&A images

Python:
This language traces back to 1989, and is loved by its fans for its highly readable code. Many programmers suggest it's the easiest language to get started with. Python: This language traces back to 1989, and is loved by its fans for its highly readable code. Many programmers suggest it's the easiest language to get started with. Flickr/nyuhuhuu CSS: Short for "Cascading Style Sheets," CSS is a programming language to design the format and layout of a website. A lot of website menus and mobile app menus are written with CSS, in conjunction with JavaScript and garden-variety HTML.

CSS:
Short for "Cascading Style Sheets," CSS is a programming language to design the format and layout of a website. A lot of website menus and mobile app menus are written with CSS, in conjunction with JavaScript and garden-variety HTML. Wikimedia Commons

. . .

R:
This is the programming language of choice for statisticians and anybody doing data analysis. Google has gone on record as a big fan of R, for the power it gives to its mathematicians.

Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/programming-languages-in-highest-demand-2015-6?op=1#ixzz3eIfsCJdR

Free Code Camp --- http://www.freecodecamp.com/


"Here are the most-retracted scientists in the world, ranked," by Julia Belluz, Vox, June 25, 2015 ---
http://www.vox.com/2015/6/24/8834405/scientists-most-retractions

. . .

Yoshitaka Fujii (total retractions: 183)

Joachim Boldt (89)

Peter Chen (60)

Diederik Stapel (54)

Hua Zhong (41)

drian Maxim (38)

Shigeaki Kato (36)

Hendrik Schön (36)

Hyung-In Moon (35)

Naoki Mori (32)

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on cheating are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm


Jensen Comment
Yesterday the power company replaced the meters for our house and barn. No longer will a "meter reader" pull up our driveway and go under the back deck or climb the rail fence to get read the meter on the barn. This changeover is probably behind the times for most power companies. Our meter reading jobs in these White Mountains may be among the last meter reading jobs to disappear in the USA. This is only one example, but it is an important example because up here in the mountains there aren't all that many unskilled jobs left aside from McJobs at restaurants.

Will Advances in Technology Create a Jobless Future (especially for the unskilled workers without much aptitude for higher skills)
"Who Will Own the Robots? We’re in the midst of a jobs crisis, and rapid advances in AI and other technologies may be one culprit. How can we get better at sharing the wealth that technology creates?" by David Rotman, MIT's Technology Review, June 16, 2015 --- Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/538401/who-will-own-the-robots/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150623

The way Hod Lipson describes his Creative Machines Lab captures his ambitions: “We are interested in robots that create and are creative.” Lipson, an engineering professor at Cornell University (this July he’s moving his lab to Columbia University), is one of the world’s leading experts on artificial intelligence and robotics. His research projects provide a peek into the intriguing possibilities of machines and automation, from robots that “evolve” to ones that assemble themselves out of basic building blocks. (His Cornell colleagues are building robots that can serve as baristas and kitchen help.) A few years ago, Lipson demonstrated an algorithm that explained experimental data by formulating new scientific laws, which were consistent with ones known to be true. He had automated scientific discovery.

Lipson’s vision of the future is one in which machines and software possess abilities that were unthinkable until recently. But he has begun worrying about something else that would have been unimaginable to him a few years ago. Could the rapid advances in automation and digital technology provoke social upheaval by eliminating the livelihoods of many people, even as they produce great wealth for others?

“More and more computer-guided automation is creeping into everything from manufacturing to decision making,” says Lipson. In the last two years alone, he says, the development of so-called deep learning has triggered a revolution in artificial intelligence, and 3-D printing has begun to change industrial production processes. “For a long time the common understanding was that technology was destroying jobs but also creating new and better ones,” says Lipson. “Now the evidence is that technology is destroying jobs and indeed creating new and better ones but also fewer ones. It is something we as technologists need to start thinking about.”

Worries that rapidly advancing technologies will destroy jobs date back at least to the early 19th century, during the Industrial Revolution in England. In 1821, a few years after the Luddite protests, the British economist David Ricardo fretted about the “substitution of machinery for human labour.” And in 1930, during the height of the worldwide depression, John Maynard Keynes famously warned about “technological unemployment” caused by “our discovery of means of economising the use of labour.” (Keynes, however, quickly added that “this is only a temporary phase of maladjustment.”)

Now, technology is once again under suspicion as rising income inequality confronts the United States, Europe, and much of the rest of the developed world. A recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development concluded that the gap between the rich and poor is at a historically high level in many of its 34 member countries, driven largely by a drop in earning power for the bottom 40 percent of the population. Many of the lowest earners have seen wages decrease over the last few decades, and the OECD warns that income inequality is now undermining economic growth. Meanwhile, the erosion of the American middle class and the pressure on the lowest-paid U.S. workers has been painfully evident for years.

Continued in article


Google finally makes ‘Undo Send’ an official feature of Gmail on the Web ---
http://venturebeat.com/2015/06/23/google-finally-makes-undo-send-an-official-feature-of-gmail-on-the-web/


Comparing States on Many Issues

  1. Go to https://www.yahoo.com/
  2. Search "Business Insider" AND "states" 
  3. Scan the page and hit Next

*************

  1. Go to https://www.yahoo.com/
  2. Search "24/7" AND "states" 
  3. Scan the page and hit Next

Survey: 22% of Female Students at Michigan Sexually Assaulted ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/06/25/survey-22-female-students-michigan-sexually-assaulted


Computers are Getting Better at Language Skills
"Computers Are Getting a Dose of Common Sense," by Will Knight, MIT's Technology Review, June 24, 2015 --- Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/538821/computers-are-getting-a-dose-of-common-sense/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150625

Bob Jensen's links to language tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2-Part2.htm#Languages


Yeah Right!
"Sweet Briar Survives," by Scott Jaxchik, Inside Higher Ed, June 20, 2015 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/20/deal-will-save-sweet-briar-college

In a deal announced Saturday evening by Virginia's attorney general, the college's current leaders agreed to relinquish control to a new president and a largely new board. Saving Sweet Briar, an organization of alumnae that have fought the planned closure of the college, has agreed to raise $12.5 million to continue operating the college in the 2015-16 academic year. The first $2.5 million would have to be provided by July 2.

Based on that agreement, the attorney general will end restrictions on $16 million in the college's endowment. The funds from the endowment and from Saving Sweet Briar are believed to be sufficient to operate the college in the next academic year. All litigation will be dropped.

The deal also states that there will be a severance plan for faculty and staff members, but also that they "may be offered employment" after the change in leadership.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
I don't see how the state attorney general, with a wave of a magic wand, can "drop all litigations" now or in the future. It would seem that unpaid creditors can still sue, students can still sue, faculty who had losses finding new jobs can still sue, and even donors can still sue such as if endowment funds going to future faculty salaries are spent in ways that they did not intend when making their gifts.

What about accreditation for next year. If so many former faculty will not return what about accreditation for next year and the inevitable financial struggle if the college does manage to open its doors in Fall 2015?

What students will apply for next year under the uncertain conditions.


"Econometrics Videos," by David Gilles, Econometrics Beat, June 12, 2015 ---
http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2015/06/econometrics-videos.html

The Royal Economics Society (publisher of The Econometrics Journal) has recently released a video of invited addresses by Alfred Galichon and Jeremy Lise, in the special session on “Econometrics of Matching” at the 2015 RES Conference.

This video joins similar ones from previous RES conferences, these being:
This link will take you to all of these videos.
http://www.res.org.uk/view/special-session-menu.html
 

Common Accountics Science and Econometric Science Statistical Mistakes ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsScienceStatisticalMistakes.htm


Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge has embarked on an $85 million upgrade to its student gym and recreational facilities, including a lazy river in the shape of the university’s initials, a climbing wall, a rope course and a 40,000-square-foot weight and cardio facility. The student government in 2011 voted to fund the project by quadrupling student fees. Students now pay $200 a semester in a recreational fee, or $1,080 more over four years than they would have paid under the old fee structure. The fee increase was approved by an 84 percent vote.
"Lazy Rivers and Student Debt," by Kellie Woodhouse, Inside Higher Ed, June 15, 2015 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/15/are-lazy-rivers-and-climbing-walls-driving-cost-college

Jensen Comment
I do think that competitions for more luxurious living on private college campuses (residence and dinning halls) have contributed greatly to the cost of room and board at private colleges. But I don't think "lazy rivers" on campuses of non-profit universities contribute greatly to the costs of attending those universities (as is noted in the article). Firstly, the lazy rivers are often funded from private donations and do not greatly increase  tuition or even room and board charges. To the extent that those lazy river donations do not distract from giving to other programs there's probably not a huge impact on what it costs students to attend those universities. There are certainly some possible impacts such as the cost of air conditioning and staffing of enormous gymnasiums that add to increases in student recreation fees.

As much as faculty like to deny it, residential learning is labor intensive and largely driven by increases payrolls, although many faculty have not seen much in the way of raises themselves in recent years. Faculty costs are also increased by labor costs of research and support of doctoral programs where faculty costs are higher for only a few students. I'm not arguing that this is a bad thing. How can we deny the need for new knowledge? I'm simply stating that faculty in universities are paid for much more than just teaching most of the students of the universities.

Distance education may or may not increase the cost of student learning. When done right with relatively small classes (say 25 students) and high instructor-student online communications (e.g., Instant Messaging) distance education marginal costs may be higher than onsite costs, especially for onsite courses using classrooms at night and week ends that would otherwise be empty. Some universities like the University of Wisconsin are now charging more for online courses --- treating them like cash cows.

The real issue is political --- how public higher education competes with other expenditures of federal and state tax dollars. Politicians on the campaign trail promise more tax money for higher education, but then again they promise more tax money for every other voter-sensitive program including more health care subsidies, medicine subsidies, job training, business subsidies, improvements to roads and bridges, better K-12 schools, more farm subsidies, higher minimum wages, high-tech weapons, and every other cause that wins votes including lower taxes.

The USA is already burdened with $100+ trillion in unfunded entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid and free K-12 education. I'm actually glad that I'm probably too old to see the eventual destruction that will come for overspending on entitlements like free K-16 education, greatly expanded Medicaid,  and fewer taxpayers actually paying income taxes while reaping the entitlements. Americans actually think Greece is not Exhibit A for us. How ignorant can we get? In the meantime please keep on generously paying my Medicare medical and medicine costs.


From MIT's Technology Review
Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending June 20, 2015)
--- Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/538621/recommended-from-around-the-web-week-ending-june-20-2015/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150619


Illustrated
"How Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage Invented the World’s First Computer: An Illustrated Adventure in Footnotes and Friendship,"  by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, June 15, 2015 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/15/the-thrilling-adventures-of-lovelace-and-babbage-sydney-padua/?mc_cid=661f567940&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

In 1843, Ada Lovelace — the only legitimate child of the poet Lord Byron — translated a scientific paper by Italian military engineer Luigi Menabrea titled Sketch of an Analytical Engine, adding seven footnotes to it. Together, they measured 65 pages — two and half times the length of Menabrea’s original text — and included the earliest complete computer program, becoming the first true paper on computer science and rendering Lovelace the world’s first computer programmer. She was twenty-seven.

About a decade earlier, Lovelace had met the brilliant and eccentric British mathematician Charles Babbage who, when he wasn’t busy teaming up with Dickens to wage a war on street music, was working on strange inventions that would one day prompt posterity to call him the father of the computer. (Well, sort of.) The lifelong friendship that ensued between 18-year-old Lovelace and 45-year-old Babbage sparked an invaluable union of software and hardware to which we owe enormous swaths of modern life — including the very act of reading these words on this screen.

The unusual story of this Victorian power-duo is what graphic artists and animator Sydney Padua explores in the immensely delightful and illuminating The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer (public library), itself a masterwork of combinatorial genius and a poetic analog to its subject matter — rigorously researched, it has approximately the same footnote-to-comic ratio as Lovelace’s trailblazing paper. The footnote, after all, is proto-hypertext linking one set of ideas to another, and in these analog hyperlinks, Padua draws on an impressive wealth of historical materials — from the duo’s scientific writings and lectures to Lovelace’s letters to Babbage’s autobiography to various accounts by their contemporaries.

Padua begins at the beginning, with Lovelace’s unusual upbringing as the daughter of Lord Byron, a “radical, adventurer, pan-amorist, and poet,” and Anne Isabella Millbanke, a “deeply moral Evangelical Christian and prominent anti-slavery campaigner.”

Continued in article


New Issues in Diversity:  Doubling Up on Paternity Lawsuits
It turns out it's scientifically possible to have twins who have different dads — this woman did it ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/twins-with-two-different-fathers-2015-5


The History of Economics & Economic Theory Explained with Comics, Starting with Adam Smith ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/the-history-of-economics-economic-theory-explained-with-comics.html
This is not a free download ---
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810988399/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0810988399&linkCode=as2&tag=openculture-20

. . .

The book covers two (plus) centuries of economic history. It starts with the Physiocrats, Adam Smith and theoretical development of capitalism, and then steams ahead into the 19th century, covering the Industrial Revolution, the rise of big business and big finance. Next comes the action packed 20th century: the Great Depression, the New Deal, the threat from Communism during the Cold War, the tax reforms of the Reagan era, and eventually the crash of 2008 and Occupy Wall Street. Along the way, Goodwin and the illustrator Dan E. Burr demystify the economic theories of figures like Ricardo, Marx, Malthus, Keynes, Friedman and Hayek — all in a substantive but approachable way.

As with most treatments of modern economics, the book starts with Adam Smith. To get a feel for Goodwin’s approach, you can dive into the first chapter of Economix, which grapples with Smith’s theories about the free market, division of labor and the Invisible Hand. Economix can be purchased online here.

Related Content:

An Introduction to Great Economists — Adam Smith, the Physiocrats & More — Presented in a Free Online Course

60-Second Adventures in Economics: An Animated Intro to The Invisible Hand and Other Economic Ideas

Reading Marx’s Capital with David Harvey (Free Course)


Question
When correlation suggests causality --- maybe?

"Data Mining Reveals the Surprising Factors Behind Successful Movies," MIT's Technology Review, June 22, 2015 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/538701/data-mining-reveals-the-surprising-factors-behind-successful-movies/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150623

Jensen Comment
Perhaps the "causes" in this are the director's uncanny ability to cherry pick from the best scripts and having the resources (e.g., producer friends) to purchase and develop those scripts. The article suggests that having top actors is probably not as important as having a money-winning director.

Sometimes what seem like obvious winners often fail. For example, top actors alone cannot usually save bad movies. Exhibit A is almost always Ishtar starring Dustin Hoffman. and Warren Beatty ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishtar_%28film%29
More recently I think that Grace and Frankie starring Lilly Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Martin Sheen, and Sam Waterston is a terrible comedy. A better script and better directing might have helped more than the famous and talented actors.

Sometimes having a top director is no magic bullet. Alfred Hitchcock directed some pretty awful movies and TV shows.

Blockbuster movies like many other things in life depend heavily upon luck and timing. Many of the successful Disney productions of the 1950s and 1960s might not have been so successful if introduced 50 years later in the era of multimedia competition. Good directors and producers perhaps have a better feel for what is right for the times. For example, in the 21st Century we seem to demand more reality and less fantasy. Exhibit A is American Sniper ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sniper .
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington wouldn't have a chance these days ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Smith_Goes_to_Washington


"Debt-Free and (Mostly) Detail-Free," by Michael Stratford, Inside Higher Ed, June 19, 2015 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/19/debt-free-movement-colleges-see-challenges-and-opportunities-few-details

Jensen Comment
Bernie Sanders thinks his "Robin Hood Plan" of taxing USA financial transactions can pay for college education of every student in the USA. A trillion here and a trillion there in taxation and pretty soon we're talking real money (remember Senator Dirksen?). These trillions in taxation might be feasible if all global financial transactions took place in the USA.

In reality, Sander's plan would simply ship most of the global financial transacting off shore to where there are already enormous trading markets such as in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, Switzerland, Paris, etc. The rest of the world will salivate over such a USA Robin Hood Plan if it has half a chance.

We can argue about the extent of our current unfunded entitlements, especially for Medicare and expanded Medicaid, but estimates range from $60-$150 trillion in unbooked obligations that cannot be paid for with hyperinflation. What funding of free college education for all USA citizens who want a college diploma would really do is add to the destruction of the USA economy with more  unfunded entitlements that cannot possibly be paid by future generations of taxpayers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm 

People point to nations like Germany that provide free tuition for higher education. But these nations wisely restrict who is allowed to go to college. Over 70% of young Germans and an even larger percentage of older Germans are not allowed to go to college. Instead those who are denied university admission must opt for training in the skilled trades where much of the financing comes from on-the-job apprenticeships.

No nation to date  is so economically ignorant as to to offer free college education to everybody. And if we do so, most of our graduates will have diplomas from the University of Lake Wobegon ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wobegon
Graduates with prestigious diplomas in other parts of the world treat a college diploma as something special in society --- not an entitlement.

The Robin Hood Plan might be financially feasible if we instead restrict college education in the USA to only 28% of the high school graduates who apply to get into college --- like the Germans.


"Restore Integrity to College Sports by Converting Big Programs to Farm Teams," by Perry A. Zirkel, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 17, 2015 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Restore-Integrity-to-College/230935/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Later this month, the National Basketball Association will hold its annual draft, which will be televised nationally on ESPN. Seven members of this year’s University of Kentucky team have declared themselves eligible for the draft, and Duke, which won the national championship, is expecting three of its freshmen to be one and done.

It is beyond dispute that college football and men’s basketball have become big business, with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, television, sports-apparel companies, gambling enterprises, and a rotating set of well-paid coaches and commentators at its center. It is also indisputable that, at some colleges, the term "student athlete" is a myth.

It is high time to do something about the hypocrisy and abuses at the moneyed tip of big-time college sports. Big-time Division I institutions dominate the national stage, competing for bigger slices of the ever-fattening financial pie. The big five conferences — the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC — collected a combined $311 million last year just from bowl games and NCAA tournament payouts.

Those conferences have muscled their way into obtaining a separate set of rules that has allowed them to pay players a so-called full cost of attendance. The problem, however, is that the colleges cloak these measures under the increasingly corrupting guise of the student athlete. Yes, colleges trickle down a subsidy from their huge profits to smaller sports, but there is a far more preferable way to improve equity and integrity among institutions of higher education in terms of athletic and academic opportunity.

I propose a surgical separation that retains a more limited connection between big-time sports and students’ higher education that preserves each on a mutually healthier basis. The starting point for this model comes from baseball. Feeding major-league baseball are minor leagues at various levels. Minor-league teams are for-profit businesses with employees that play and manage and are entirely separate from college baseball.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment

There are many problems with this proposal.
Firstly there's the problem of facilities. Most big-time NCAA Division 1 stadiums, gymnasiums, tennis courts, swimming pools, baseball fields, etc. were built with heavy funding from alumni and other large donors. Turning these facilities into for-profit facilities in total or in part may entail all sorts of complications and lawsuits. More importantly many of the benefactors will probably stop giving to for-profit farm teams.

Secondly there's the problem of student athletes. Every team in every sport generally has some serious and often very gifted scholars. In some teams like those of Notre Dame, Stanford, the Ivy League, etc. the scholars outnumber those that major in basket weaving.

Thirdly, if universities are going to make investments  in for-profit enterprises there are probably better opportunities to earn higher returns than the returns of farm teams. For example, Stanford University makes a fortune on its leases of land to Silicon Valley tech businesses (e.g., Intel) and a luxury shopping mall. I doubt that the football, basketball, and baseball teams will earn anything close to Stanford's land-leasing enterprise.

The best way to clean up the athletics mess in higher education is to take away athletics scholarships. That can be accomplished by simply turning Division 1 into Division 2 and let the chips fall where they may. Students can still participate in varsity sports in Division 2,  but make them earn their scholarships on the basis of academic merit and need for funding to support their academic goals.

Sure some universities will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket sales and loss of television revenues. And some programs such as swimming and volleyball that are funded from football "profits" will have less money for travel and payroll for assistants to the assistant coaches, but perhaps this is a price universities must pay to restore integrity to the academic missions in  higher education.

I've been on the faculties of three Division 1 universities and one Division 2 university. I think the Division 2 sports teams were more supported by a spirited student body. Sure the are fewer fans from the outside descending on campus for sports spectaculars. Should that really be a major mission of a university?

Bob Jensen's threads on athletics controversies and cheating  in higher education ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#Athletics


My think-tank friend Phil Zimbardo let a psychology experiment go terribly wrong
Watch the New Trailer for the Stanford Prison Experiment Film, Soon in Theaters Near You ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/watch-the-new-trailer-for-the-stanford-prison-experiment-film.html


If you printed Wikipedia in hard copy, how many pages would you have to print? ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/17/books/moving-wikipedia-from-computer-to-many-many-bookshelves.html?_r=1

Jensen Comment
Of course the size of Wikipedia varies minute-to-minute, and I cannot imagine anyone wanting to print this massive online encyclopedia. However, it might be that one or more libraries would like to save it for posterity in hard copy. That, however, would probably be a great waste of time and money.


Quotations
"WHAT DID LIBRARIANS WANT IN 1945? Many of the same things we want today. by Brian Mathews, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 22, 2015 ---
http://chronicle.com/blognetwork/theubiquitouslibrarian/2015/06/22/what-did-librarians-want-in-1946-more-time-for-thinking-and-planning-plus-equality-and-better-marketing/?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

Bob Jensen's threads on libraries and librarians ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm  (Scroll down to Libraries)


How to Mislead With Statistics
This epic chart shows the average wage for almost every job in America ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-average-wage-for-almost-every-job-in-america-2015-6#ixzz3d2buLBjq

Jensen Comment
Once again I remind readers of how misleading compensation rankings can be due to missing variables in deriving the numbers. The biggest source of error becomes "gross" versus "net" compensation. For example the highest paid professionals in the USA are anesthesiologists and surgeons. But they may not lead the pack in terms of net compensation after deducting for malpractice insurance, business insurance, medical office space costs, and medical office staff(receptionists, nurses, accountants, computer technicians, etc.) Those  who work for medical centers, including VA centers, that pay anesthesiologists and surgeons net of such expenses  do not make nearly as much as the gross compensation rankings in the comparisons in the above citation.

Gross compensation varies considerably with location. For example, malpractice insurance is much cheaper in Texas due to a constitutional amendment that caps punitive damages that make lawyers salivate. Office space costs that must be covered  in San Francisco and Silicon Valley is out of sight compared to what it costs in Bangor, Maine.

Compensation also varies a great deal with perks that are almost impossible to compare in various professions. For example, large public accounting firms spend a fortune on training costs relative to what is drug chains spend for training pharmacists and what doctors spend for training their nurses.  For newly-hired staff accountants this and on-the-job experience is more important than starting salaries, especially for those accounting graduates who have no intention of staying in public accounting pressure cookers for more than a few years before moving on.

Some companies like Starbucks and Blue Cross Anthem will now provide free or nearly-free general education leading to most any type of undergraduate degrees (not necessarily job related) even for lowest-paid full-time employees whereas this perk is not common in most other companies. The USA military branches provide very generous college stipends for enlisted personnel to use even after being honorably discharged. Those stipends in many instances cover full tuition, room and board. We have a granddaughter who intends to join the Navy just because of this perk.

Retirement benefits vary greatly. For example, in the private sector it's rare to provide generous retirements to employees who are 40-50 years of age. It's commonplace among USA military retirees. Several of my cousins retired from the Air Force before they were 40 years of age and now live comfortably on marginal farms (think cold northern Minnesota) that do not pay a whole lot beyond military retirement benefits.

Job security also varies a great deal and is perk for which employees will take sacrifices in take-home pay. For example, it's virtually impossible to be fired from the USA Civil Service, which is why many folks try so hard to work for the Civil Service. One of our sons who works for the largest Caterpillar dealer in the world had a chance for promotion that would have given him a huge increase in compensation. However, he would no longer have job security backed by his union. He turned the promotion down.

College professors frequently turn down higher paying opportunities that do not have tenure. Some that could nearly double their salaries will not give up their tenure. For example, sometimes even endowed chairs in the Academy are offered under conditions where tenure will only be evaluated after a year on the job. Sometimes professors will not put their current tenure at risk by relocating where they must be re-evaluated for tenure after a year. Bob Jensen is Exhibit A, although when I moved from Florida State University to Trinity University I did have to be re-evalueated for tenure after a year as the Jesse Jones Professor of Business Administration. I had opportunities to move after than without immediate tenure, but there's no way I would have done that again. There's too much stress having to earn tenure more than once!

I have a friend who wanted to leave a university in Ohio so badly that he gave up his tenure to move elsewhere. He lost three different professorships after that and is, I think, belatedly sorry he sacrificed his tenured job security.

Then are all the problems with comparing averages (means or medians) due to varying standard deviations and that pesky kurtosis.

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


RateMyProfessor.com --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RateMyProfessors.com

"When My Son Discovered RateMyProfessors.com," by James F. McGrath, Inside Higher Ed, June 15, 2015 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2015/06/15/essay-about-professor-who-learns-his-son-has-discovered-ratemyprofessorscom

Jensen Comment
I do agree that in most instances the very small percentage of his or her students who bother to send evaluations into RateMyProfessor.com tend to be outliers --- positive and negative. Having studied RMP for years (often for entertainment) I find that the positives in general tend to outnumber the negatives. As I mention repeatedly, the numerical ratings are nonsense because of sample size and self selection. But the comments are often really, really informative.

The comments tell us about as much or more about students as they do about teachers.  

I'm really amazed that RMP survives in our litigious society.

RateMyProfessor.com --- http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/


"Ten things that shocked me when I moved to Germany," by Genevieve Northup, Business Insider, June 15, 2015 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/things-that-shocked-me-when-i-moved-to-germany-2015-6

Jensen Comment
She did not include the fact that being admitted to a university is both free and an extraordinary privilege.  Unlike in the USA, over 70% of the people who may want to go to college are not allowed to go to college. Those folks, however, are allowed to learn skilled trades.

My wife and I in the past made many visits to Germany. Although many Germans really are kike like Genevieve points out, they are not always kind about waiting politely in line. A German once pointed out that Germans really don't form lines. They form rather aggressive queues called wedges. People in England, however, tend to form polite lines.


A Performance-Based Graduate Program for Teachers Intended to Be Superior to Onsite Programs

"After Years Lambasting Teacher-Ed Programs, Art Levine Creates One," by Goldie Blumenstyk, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 16, 2015 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/After-Years-Lambasting/230931/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, headed by one of the most visible critics of teacher-education programs, is creating its own graduate school and research center in the field in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The new venture, the Woodrow Wilson Academy for Teaching and Learning, will offer master’s degrees entirely through a competency-based program. It will provide instruction largely through online teaching, and will conduct research on new approaches to teacher education and school leadership. It will also distribute its course modules as free "open source" materials to any colleges that want to use them in their own master’s programs or in professional-development courses that teachers take throughout their careers.

"We’re hoping to reach tens of thousands of people," said Arthur Levine, president of the foundation, who announced the venture on Tuesday at a news conference with MIT’s president.

Mr. Levine, a former president of Teachers College at Columbia University, has been known for his prior critiques of teacher-education programs, at one point calling the range of quality in graduate programs in school leadership "inadequate to appalling" and too often valued by their universities mostly as a "cash cow."

For Mr. Levine, the new academy is a chance to put into practice much of what he has been advocating in his decade as a public critic, and to apply what the foundation has learned through its teaching-fellowship program, which has worked with state policy leaders and 28 schools of education during his eight-year tenure as president there.

Continued in article

Watch the Video at http://chronicle.com/article/Video-A-Teacher-Education/230929/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Jensen Comment
I suspect that Levine's goal is to provide graduates who are as good or better than the top graduates of most traditional College of Education programs.

Like all emerging competency-based education programs, the ultimate test for success will be the rigor of the competency criteria (which may include some on-the-job apprenticeship evaluations as well as testing) and the quality of the students attracted into the program. Advantages include the advantages of having many non-traditional students in the world who are mature, motivated, and possibly high in academic ability. These students  may have had some hardships in life, such as combat horrors, poverty,  and/or failed marriages, that make them especially appreciative of education opportunities.

Disadvantages include the need for more traditional students, especially those recently graduated from high school, who need a lot more from college residency than courses themselves. Nearly all college campuses provide living and learning opportunities where students learn a great deal about survival in life apart from what is formally taught in courses.

Bob Jensen's threads on emerging competency-based education programs --- 
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#ECA


Serious Study of Legos and Edutainmentt

Cambridge University to Create a Lego Professorship ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/cambridge-university-to-create-a-lego-professorship.html

In 1996 Cathleen Burns and Sherry Mills won the American Accounting Association Innovation in Accounting Education Award for their use of Legos when teaching cost accounting.

Bob Jensen's threads on edutainment ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment


"Defining Competency," by Paul Fain, Inside Higher Ed, July 17, 2015 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/06/17/new-letters-us-and-accreditors-provide-framework-approval-competency-based-degrees

The U.S. Department of Education and regional accreditors are closer to being on the same page about competency-based education.

Earlier this month the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions, which represents the seven regional accreditors, issued a common framework for how to assess and approve competency-based programs. The Education Department followed last week, with a letter to accreditors that echoes many of the same points. The department's letter also described requirements for a meaningful faculty role in competency-based education, including students' ability to interact directly with instructors.

With two sides of the regulatory triad that oversees higher education having weighed in (states are the third), experts said colleges have clearer guidance as they seek to create competency-based programs.

“It’s designed to provide clarity for our institutions,” Barbara Brittingham, president of the higher education commission of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and chair of C-RAC, said of the accreditors’ four-page guidance document.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on emerging competency-based education programs --- 
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#ECA


STEM Fields (including STEM-eligible degrees in US immigration) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STEM_fields

"Report Tracks Latino STEM Graduates," Inside Higher Ed, June 17, 2015 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/06/17/report-tracks-latino-stem-graduates

Key findings of the report --- http://www.edexcelencia.org/research/workforce/health

 - Latinos graduating with credentials in health professions are more likely to be in lower paying support occupations (home health aides or nursing aides), than higher paying practitioner and technical occupations (physicians, surgeons, or dentists).

 - In 2012-13, 76% of Latinos graduating in health fields and related programs earned certificates or associate degrees.

 - Between 2010 and 2013, the credentials earned by Latinos in health fields have increased by 91%.

 - Latinos earned credentials in health fields at a relatively small number of institutions, many identified as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs).

- See more at: http://www.edexcelencia.org/research/workforce/health#sthash.lLVZ6Vkc.dpuf

 Jensen Comment
All races, including whites and African Americans, "graduating with credentials in health professions are more likely to be in lower paying support occupations (home health aides or nursing aides), than higher paying practitioner and technical occupations (physicians, surgeons, or dentists).""

All races are also seeing increases in health profession employment because that's where jobs are relatively more plentiful in the 21st Century.

One contribution of the report cited above lies in showing what higher education institutions are making a concerted effort to educate Latinos. There are many (sham?) programs do not walk the talk in terms of quality education or training.


"GDP's Wicked Spell," by Dirk Philipsen, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 15, 2015 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/GDPs-Wicked-Spell/230881/?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en

The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds.
John Maynard Keynes

. . .

To develop such measures, local, national, and global communities need to open a sustained, deliberate, and democratic public conversation on what it is we want to produce, and to what ends. As a historian, my job is to show the specific steps of how we got to this place. Those who are adept at convening deliberate civic conversations need to pick up the thread to help us develop new goals; then economists and accountants can help us redesign metrics to achieve those goals.

The direction of economic activity has to move from growth to development, from more to better, from indiscriminate to smart, from the goods life to the good life. We may then discover that universal human needs — for strong and sustainable communities, for the expansion of human capacities and meaningful work — can be realized only once we break the spell of the little big number.

Jensen Comment
Be that as it may, we cannot explosively increase public spending for good works (health care, education, roads, bridges, defense, etc.) without supporting it with economic growth.


Never Give Up Hope
Author, whose book was rejected 44 times, has won a £25,000 Scottish literary prize with a 'mesmerising' work ---
http://lisnews.org/author_whose_book_was_rejected_44_times_has_won_a_25000_scottish_literary_prize_with_a_mesmerising

Jensen Comment
What's left unsaid is how some of the rejections improved the manuscript. It seems unlikely that it was not revised repeatedly before it was finally published. My point is that rejection and criticism is not always a bad thing.


Concerns Over Shortage of Competent Accounting Recruits
"Staffing issues surge to forefront of accounting firm concerns,"  by Jeff Drew, Journal of Accountancy, June 9, 2015 ---
http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/news/2015/jun/accounting-firm-issues-201512451.html 

It’s been a long time, but U.S. accounting firms are again dealing with a full-fledged talent shortage.

That’s one of the main takeaways from the 2015 Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) CPA Firm Top Issues survey, which found staffing issues leading the list of concerns for accounting firms of all sizes except sole proprietors.

Finding qualified staff ranked as one of the two most pressing issues for all firms with more than one professional, topping the list for firms with two to 10 professionals and ranking second among firms with 11 or more professionals (see chart below). Firms in the two largest size categories (11–20 professionals and 21+ professionals) named staff retention as their No. 1 concern.

Continued in article

The same is true in other nations ---
http://intheblack.com/articles/2015/06/05/robust-salary-growth-for-accountants-in-china-survey

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


Jensen Comment
I read where their are more people speaking English in China than in any other country in the world. Of course this does not mean that most people in China speak English due to the massive number of people in China.

A Proportional Visualization of the World’s Most Popular Languages ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/a-proportional-visualization-of-the-worlds-most-popular-languages.html

Last week we highlighted for you a beautiful Tree of Languages infographic, created by Minna Sundberg using data from ethnologue.com. This week, we present another visualization of world languages, this one produced by Alberto Lucas Lopéz, on behalf of the South China Morning Post. And, once again, the underlying data comes from ethnologue.com, a research project that catalogues all of the world’s known living languages.

Today’s graphic — click here to view it in a large format — takes the world’s 23 most popular languages, and then gives you a visual sense of how many people actually speak those languages overall, and where geographically those languages are spoken. The more a language is spoken, the more space it gets in the visual.

When you view the original graphic, you’ll note that Chinese speakers outnumber English speakers by a factor of four. And yet English is spoken in 110 countries, as compared to 33 for Chinese. And the number of people learning English worldwide dwarfs the number learning Mandarin.

As you look through Lopéz’s visual, you’ll want to keep one thing in mind: Although the 23 languages visualized above are collectively spoken by 4.1 billion people, there are at least another 6700 known languages alive in the world today. Someone has to cook up a proportional visualization of those. Any takers?

Continued in article




From the Scout Report on June 19, 2015

FOLD --- https://readfold.com/ 

Brought to us by the MIT Media Lab and the MIT Center for Civic Media, FOLD is an open-source "reading, authoring, and publishing platform allowing storytellers to structure and contextualize stories." Anyone with a Twitter or email account can join the platform for free, then easily build stories using narrative cards and context cards. narrative cards are the blocks of text that tell the story; context cards are the videos, maps, photos, gifs, tweets, interactive visualizations (or just about any other media format) that accompany select words and phrases in each narrative card. The effect is fresh and compelling. For instance, a recent story explicated the ins and outs and history of Bitcoin, using a combination of original narrative and various YouTube content to tell the tale. While reading the content already on the site is interesting, it becomes even more compelling when you start using the innovative, user-friendly service to join the conversation yourself.


AutoHotkey --- http://ahkscript.org/ 

AutoHotkey, the free, open-source custom scripting language, was originally designed to provide easy keyboard shortcuts ("hotkeys") for Microsoft Windows applications. While advanced programmers can utilize the software to do much, much more, the average user will still find AutoHotkey to be wonderfully in line with its initial aim. Using very simple scripts, users can program Windows apps to do a host of interesting tasks, from changing the meaning of keys on the keyboard, to remapping the keyboard from QWERTY to Dvorak or opening programs and documents with custom keystrokes. More information on just how this all works can be found on the Forum and Docs sections of the site.


A Gift from the Skies, as Comet Lander Philae Reestablishes
Communication
Scientists celebrate comet lander Philae's call after 7-month slumber
http://news.sciencemag.org/europe/2015/06/scientists-celebrate-comet-lander-philae-s-call-after-7-month-slumber

Comet Lander Philae Wakes Up From Nap
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/smart-news/comet-lander-philae-wakes-nap-180955599/

Revived Philae poised to do comet science
http://www.nature.com/news/revived-philae-poised-to-do-comet-science-1.17767

Rosetta spacecraft to change orbit in bid to strengthen Philae
communication
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jun/15/rosetta-spacecraft-to-change-orbit-in-bid-to-strengthen-philae-communication

Now That The Philae Comet Lander Is Awake, What Happens Next?
http://io9.com/now-that-the-philae-comet-lander-is-awake-what-happens-1711631749

Where's Philae? Space Agency Narrows Search Area for Lost Comet Lander
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2014/11/12/comet-landing-a-success-european-craft-makes-fairly-gentle-touch-down


From the Scout Report on June 26, 2015

UMapper --- http://www.umapper.com/ 

UMapper makes life easy for anyone who would like to create, manage, distribute, and even monetize their own custom maps. Umapper Basic, which includes the creation of unlimited public and private maps (but doesn't cover commercial applications) is free. Sign up requires nothing more than an email address. From there, users can create and distribute interactive maps and track their usage. The service is ideal for educators looking to spice up their lesson plans, bloggers of all kinds, and a wide range of readers with unique roles and interests. For inspiration, there are plenty of maps to peruse under the Explore tab on the site. 


HabitRPG --- https://habitrpg.com/static/front 

If you need a little extra accountability and want to have some fun while you're at it, HabitRPG, an online tool that turns your to-do list into a video game, might be just the thing. With HabitRPG anyone can "gamify" their daily and weekly tasks - whether work, school, or wellness related. Along the way, users may compete with friends and join interest groups. This community then reinforces good behaviors and discourages laxity by giving your avatar prizes for crossing off items on the to-do list or subtracting "health" as a consequence for weak moments. Getting started is easy, simply register for an account using either Facebook or an email address. Then create and customize an avatar, add tasks, and let the games begin.


Gmail Introduces New 'Undo Send' Feature
An end to email shame? Gmail's 'Undo Send' comes to the masses
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/24/gmail-undo-send-email-google

Gmail adds an 'undo Send' email tool for its users
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/33256814/gmail-adds-an-undo-send-email-tool-for-its-users

Gmail's 'Undo Send' Option Officially Rolls Out
http://www.forbes.com/sites/amitchowdhry/2015/06/23/gmail-undo-send/

Gmail Officially Adds Undo Send, Turn It On Right Now
http://gizmodo.com/gmail-officially-adds-undo-send-turn-it-on-right-now-1713353235

Google Gives Gmail Users the Ability to 'Undo Send'
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/06/23/google-gives-gmail-users-the-ability-to-undo-send/

How to Unsend Emails in Gmail
http://www.wired.com/2015/06/gmail-undo-send/

 




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


Education Tutorials

Free Code Camp --- http://www.freecodecamp.com/

11 popular programming languages that can help you land a job ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/programming-languages-in-highest-demand-2015-6?op=1#ixzz3eIfM4fpC

Computers are Getting Better at Language Skills
"Computers Are Getting a Dose of Common Sense," by Will Knight, MIT's Technology Review, June 24, 2015 --- Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/538821/computers-are-getting-a-dose-of-common-sense/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150625

Book Riot --- http://bookriot.com/
This is a great site --- see for yourself

Every Culture: Multicultural America --- http://www.everyculture.com/multi/

Edutopia: Teacher Development --- http://www.edutopia.org/teacher-development
Although directed toward K-12 teachers, higher education instructors may find value in this site

Annenberg Learner: Patterns, Functions, and Algebra --- http://www.learner.org/courses/learningmath/algebra/

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery: Recorded Lectures --- http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/discovery/recorded-lectures/prior-lectures.cmsx

Rights in America --- http://www.docsteach.org/home/rights

PBS Learning Media: Gratitude and the Environment --- http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/transt.pd.lpgratitude/gratitude-and-the-environment/

Video:  Our unhealthy obsession with choice --- http://www.ted.com/talks/renata_salecl_our_unhealthy_obsession_with_choice

Animated Introductions to Three Sociologists: Durkheim, Weber & Adorno ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/animated-introductions-to-three-sociologists-durkheim-weber-adorno.html

Damn Interesting (obscure true stories in history) --- http://www.damninteresting.com/

The Visible Human Project (medicine and anatomy) --- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html

ScienceGeek.net --- http://www.sciencegeek.net/

BAM! Radio Network (health and social issues for children and parents) ---  http://www.bamradionetwork.com/

U.S. Military Academy Library: Digital Collections --- http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/

This Land Is Your Land: Parks and Public Spaces --- http://dp.la/exhibitions/exhibits/show/this-land

The National Archives: Beginners' Latin --- http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latin/beginners/

Crossword Puzzle Maker --- http://worksheets.theteacherscorner.net/make-your-own/crossword/

Video
How a Crossword Puzzle is Made: Behind the Scenes with The New York Times ---
http://www.openculture.com/2012/11/how_a_crossword_puzzle_is_made_behind_the_scenes_with_the_new_york_times_.html

Bob Jensen's threads on Tools and Tricks of the Trade (including edutainment) --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

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

NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars --- http://www.ncas.aerospacescholars.org/

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery: Recorded Lectures --- http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/discovery/recorded-lectures/prior-lectures.cmsx

ScienceGeek.net --- http://www.sciencegeek.net/

Cyberphysics --- http://www.cyberphysics.co.uk/index.html

Physics Central: Physics in Action --- http://www.physicscentral.com/explore/action/index.cfm

Cell Biology Animation --- http://www.johnkyrk.com/index.html

How Cells Work --- http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/cell.htm

The Visible Human Project (medicine and anatomy) --- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html

US EPA: Water ---  http://water.epa.gov

Yale Project on Climate Change Communication --- http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication/

edX: World of Wine: From Grapes to Glass --- https://www.edx.org/course/world-wine-grape-glass-adelaidex-wine101x-0

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery: Recorded Lectures --- http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/discovery/recorded-lectures/prior-lectures.cmsx

Nature: The Specials Archive --- http://www.nature.com/nature/archive/specials.html

Health: NPR --- http://www.npr.org/sections/health/

PBS Learning Media: Gratitude and the Environment --- http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/transt.pd.lpgratitude/gratitude-and-the-environment/

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

Every Culture: Multicultural America --- http://www.everyculture.com/multi/

Animated Introductions to Three Sociologists: Durkheim, Weber & Adorno ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/animated-introductions-to-three-sociologists-durkheim-weber-adorno.html

Video:  Our unhealthy obsession with choice --- http://www.ted.com/talks/renata_salecl_our_unhealthy_obsession_with_choice

Rights in America --- http://www.docsteach.org/home/rights

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery: Recorded Lectures --- http://discovery.wisc.edu/home/discovery/recorded-lectures/prior-lectures.cmsx

"Oliver Sacks on Storytelling, the Curious Psychology of Writing, and What His Friendship with the Poet Thom Gunn Taught Him About Creativity and Originality,"  by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, June 15, 2015 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/19/oliver-sacks-thom-gunn-writing/?mc_cid=661f567940&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

America During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic --- http://dp.la/exhibitions/exhibits/show/1918-influenza

US EPA: Water ---  http://water.epa.gov

Yale Project on Climate Change Communication --- http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication/

Health: NPR --- http://www.npr.org/sections/health/

BAM! Radio Network (health and social issues for children and parents) ---  http://www.bamradionetwork.com/

The History of Economics & Economic Theory Explained with Comics, Starting with Adam Smith ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/the-history-of-economics-economic-theory-explained-with-comics.html 
This is not a free download ---
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810988399/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0810988399&linkCode=as2&tag=openculture-20

Immigrant Heritage Month --- http://welcome.us/

This Land Is Your Land: Parks and Public Spaces --- http://dp.la/exhibitions/exhibits/show/this-land

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

Legal Information Institute: Supreme Court --- https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/home

Rights in America --- http://www.docsteach.org/home/rights

Bob Jensen's threads on law and legal studies are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm


Math Tutorials

Annenberg Learner: Patterns, Functions, and Algebra --- http://www.learner.org/courses/learningmath/algebra/

Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm


History Tutorials

This map shows 4,000 years of world history ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/john-b-sparks-histomap-shows-4000-years-of-world-history-2015-6#ixzz3dyFqyklD

Links added by Scott Bonacker

World History --- http://www.fsmitha.com/maps.html
Bridging World History --- http://www.learner.org/resources/series197.html
3,000 Years of World History --- http://www.hyperhistory.com/
The Encyclopedia of World History http://www.bartleby.com/67/
HISTORICAL INFORMATION RESOURCES --- http://www.refdesk.com/facthist.html
Digital History of the U.S. --- http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/timeline/timelineN.cfm
 

The History of Economics & Economic Theory Explained with Comics, Starting with Adam Smith ---
http://www.openculture.com/2013/12/the-history-of-economics-economic-theory-explained-with-comics.html
This is not a free download ---
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810988399/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0810988399&linkCode=as2&tag=openculture-20

Illustrated
"How Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage Invented the World’s First Computer: An Illustrated Adventure in Footnotes and Friendship,"  by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, June 15, 2015 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/15/the-thrilling-adventures-of-lovelace-and-babbage-sydney-padua/?mc_cid=661f567940&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

Animated Introductions to Three Sociologists: Durkheim, Weber & Adorno ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/06/animated-introductions-to-three-sociologists-durkheim-weber-adorno.html

Africa through a lens: The National Archives --- http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/africa/

"Neil Gaiman on How Stories Last," by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, June 15, 2015 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/16/neil-gaiman-how-stories-last/?mc_cid=661f567940&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

U.S. Army Center of Military History --- http://history.army.mil/ 

U.S. Military Academy Library: Digital Collections --- http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/

"Oliver Sacks on Storytelling, the Curious Psychology of Writing, and What His Friendship with the Poet Thom Gunn Taught Him About Creativity and Originality,"  by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, June 15, 2015 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/19/oliver-sacks-thom-gunn-writing/?mc_cid=661f567940&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

America During the 1918 Influenza Pandemic --- http://dp.la/exhibitions/exhibits/show/1918-influenza

U.S. Military Academy Library: Digital Collections --- http://digital-library.usma.edu/cdm/

Big Apple History - PBS Kids Go! http://pbskids.org/bigapplehistory/index-flash.html

Metropolis: New York City Water and Transit Infrastructure in Photographs
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?topic=industry&col_id=186

Streetscape and Townscape of Metropolitan New York City, 1860-1942 ---
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?topic=cities&col_id=243

2nd Avenue Online (Jewish History in NYC Theater) ---  http://2ndave.nyu.edu/

Old NYC --- http://www.oldnyc.org/

Here's how New York City's subway system looked over 110 years ago ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-nyc-subway-system-looked-110-years-ago-2014-10#ixzz3eIYzgY5B

Streetscape and Townscape of Metropolitan New York City, 1860-1942 ---
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/explore/dgexplore.cfm?topic=cities&col_id=243 

Hear Johnny Cash Deliver Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#inbox/14e34e8a0c07aa27

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

Computers are Getting Better at Language Skills
"Computers Are Getting a Dose of Common Sense," by Will Knight, MIT's Technology Review, June 24, 2015 --- Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/538821/computers-are-getting-a-dose-of-common-sense/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150625

The National Archives: Beginners' Latin --- http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/latin/beginners/

Bob Jensen's links to language tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2-Part2.htm#Languages


Music Tutorials

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

"Oliver Sacks on Storytelling, the Curious Psychology of Writing, and What His Friendship with the Poet Thom Gunn Taught Him About Creativity and Originality,"  by Maria Popova, Brain Pickings, June 15, 2015 ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/19/oliver-sacks-thom-gunn-writing/?mc_cid=661f567940&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries



Bob Jensen's threads on medicine ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2-Part2.htm#Medicine

Updates from WebMD --- http://www.webmd.com/

June 15, 2015

June 16, 2015

June 17, 2015

June 18, 2015

June 19, 2015

June 20, 2015

June 21, 2015

June 22, 2015

June 23, 2015

June 24, 2015

June 25, 2015

June 27, 2015

 


The Visible Human Project (medicine and anatomy) --- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html


Health: NPR --- http://www.npr.org/sections/health/


We applaud the genetic modification of our own blood but not our babies and corn meal

"Biotech’s Coming Cancer Cure," by Antonio Regalado, MIT's Technology Review, June 18, 2015 --- Click Here
http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/538441/biotechs-coming-cancer-cure/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150618




 

A Bit of Humor

Maya Rudolph Finally Did the Rachel Dolezal Impression We’ve All Been Waiting For ---
http://www.vulture.com/2015/06/maya-rudolph-rachel-dolezal-late-night.html 

Bride Can't Stop Laughing During Wedding Vows --- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV2BfjkP6fU

The Secret Life of Pets --- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-80SGWfEjM

Paper is Not Dead --- http://www.youtube.com/embed/V_gOZDWQj3Q?rel=0 

Canadian Dad Takes Daughter for a Ride --- http://kottke.org/15/06/airplane-aerobatics-are-hilarious 

Python Eats Porcupine, Regrets It Later (Here's Why) ---
http://news.yahoo.com/python-eats-porcupine-regrets-later-heres-why-114016276.html




Humor June 1-30,  2015 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book15q2.htm#Humor043015

Humor May 1-31,  2015 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book15q2.htm#Humor043015

Humor April 1-30, 2015 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book15q2.htm#Humor043015

Humor March 1-31, 2015 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book15q1.htm#Humor033115

Humor February 1-28, 2015 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book15q1.htm#Humor022815

Humor January 1-31, 2015 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book15q1.htm#Humor013115

Humor December 1-31, 2014 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book14q4.htm#Humor123114

Humor November 1-30, 2014 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book14q4.htm#Humor113014

Humor October 1-31, 2014 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book14q4.htm#Humor103114

Humor September 1-30, 2014 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book14q3.htm#Humor093014

Humor August 1-31, 2014 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book14q3.htm#Humor083114

Humor July 1-31, 2014--- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book14q3.htm#Humor073114




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

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