Tidbits on August 11, 2015
Bob Jensen
at Trinity University
My Favorite Birch Tree
Photographs ---
www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits//Trees/Birch/Birches01.htm
Tidbits on August 11, 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
Here’s How 5 Legendary Talk Show Hosts Said Goodbye ---
http://time.com/3982859/tv-hosts-last-shows/?xid=newsletter-brief
30 movies that will inspire you to travel around the world ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/movies-that-will-inspire-you-to-travel-2015-6?op=1#ixzz3h6IEvY2P
Philosophy TV ---
http://www.philostv.com/
Neil Gaiman’s Philosophical Dream, in a Whimsical Animation
Narrated by Amanda Palmer ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/30/behind-the-trees-neil-gaiman-dream-amanda-palmer/?mc_cid=06d956e795&mc_eid=4d2bd13843
What is Love? BBC Philosophy Animations Feature Sartre, Freud,
Aristophanes, Dawkins & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/08/what-is-love-bbc-philosophy-animations-feature-sartre.html
The Women of the Avant-Garde: An Introduction Featuring Audio
by Gertrude Stein, Kathy Acker, Patti Smith & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/08/the-women-of-the-avant-garde.html
An Animated Intro to G.W.F. Hegel, and Everything Else You
Wanted to Know About the Daunting German Philosopher ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/07/an-animated-intro-to-g-w-f-hegel.html
Audrey Hepburn’s Moving Screen Test for Roman Holiday (1953)
---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/08/audrey-hepburns-moving-screen-test-for-roman-holiday-1953.html
Free music downloads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
Hear All of Mozart in a Free 127-Hour Playlist ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#inbox/14ecf6daff614c60
An old codger dances to Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy
---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdcj3rG7IWk&feature=youtu.be t
Jerry Garcia ---
http://jerrygarcia.com/
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
Unique historic photographic collection online from Mount
Holyoke College ---
http://lisnews.org/unique_historic_photographic_collection_online_from_mount_holyoke_college
Digital.Bodleian (over 115,000 images books in history)
---
http://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
Louis Prang and Chromolithography ---
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/prang /
Grimm's Fairytales (from National
Geographic) ---
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/
The Most Beautiful Illustrations from 200 Years of Brothers
Grimm Fairy Tales ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/20/best-brothers-grimm-illustrations/?mc_cid=702ce5340a&mc_eid=4d2bd13843
The U.S. Coast Guard is 225 Year Old (33 action pictures) ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-coast-guard-225-birthday-2015-8
New Technology for Measuring Methane Pollution
Burp by Burp, Fighting Emissions from Cows ---
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/08/150803-cows-burp-methane-climate-science/
Thanks to Bob Blystone for the heads up.
Jensen Comment
We could ask whether the hookups work on either end, but that's asking a lot
from technology.
New Photos from North Korea ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-from-inside-north-korea-2015-8
Gorgeous photos of the US Thunderbirds flying over Niagara
Falls ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/gorgeous-photos-of-the-us-thunderbirds-flying-over-niagara-falls-2015-7#ixzz3h6HgF2ph
The B-17 'Flying Fortress' debuted 80 years ago today — here's
its legacy ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-b-17-flying-fortress-debuted-80-years-ago-today-here-is-its-legacy-2015-7?op=1#ixzz3hBf5mKuo
These amazing colorized photographs bring World War I to life
---
http://www.businessinsider.com/world-war-i-color-photos-to-life-2014-8?op=1#ixzz3hDF3N34j
10 breathtaking views of mountains from Business Insider
readers ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/business-insider-instagram-contest-mountain-winners-2015-7?op=1#ixzz3hIMnj7zv
Here are stunning pictures of the wreck of one of America's
first aircraft carriers ---
http://www.argunners.com/wreck-of-the-uss-saratoga-cv-3/#ixzz3hPEqv5XS
There's a giant, underground ocean hidden in the middle of
this Chinese desert ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-discover-a-massive-underground-lake-in-china-2015-7#ixzz3hYqfKvoR
Profiles in Science: Visual Culture and Health Posters ---
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Collection/CID/VC
Stunning pictures expose the clash between modern life and
native culture in Greenland ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/stunning-photos-of-modern-life-in-greenland-2015-7?op=1#ixzz3hl6Y8MDB
Big, beautiful photos of Russia's tram of the future ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-russias-futuristic-new-tram-2015-1#ixzz3hgZNtota
Why no one wants to travel to Naples ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-no-one-wants-to-travel-to-naples-2015-7#ixzz3hPGbmXNV
Jensen Comment
Good and bad things about travel in cities is quite relative, and much depends
on your budget. For example, if crime is a worry I think Mexico City is more
dangerous and more polluted.
There’s a massive World War II bomber at the bottom of a lake
in Nevada ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/massive-world-war-ii-bomber-at-the-bottom-of-lake-mead-nevada-2015-7?op=1#ixzz3hYrWW6CL
Community Service Society Photographs ---
http://css.cul.columbia.edu/
LIFE magazine photo essay, “Country Doctor” —
seen here, in its entirety, followed by several unpublished photographs from the
shoot ---
http://time.com/3456085/w-eugene-smiths-landmark-photo-essay-country-doctor/
21 rare and weird facts about World War II ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/21-rare-and-weird-facts-about-world-war-2-2015-8#ixzz3iJeW3HcS
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
Bob Jensen's threads on libraries ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#---Libraries
Orson Welles Reads Moby-Dick: The Great American Director
Takes on the Great American Novel ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/07/orson-welles-reads-moby-dick-the-great-american-director-takes-on-the-great-american-novel.html
Vladimir Nabokov’s Hand-Drawn Sketches of Mind-Bending Chess
Problems ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/07/vladimir-nabokovs-hand-drawn-sketches-of-mind-bending-chess-problems.html
Newly Discovered F. Scott Fitzgerald Story Published ---
http://time.com/3980487/new-f-scott-fitzgerald-temperature/?xid=newsletter-brief
The Women of the Avant-Garde: An Introduction Featuring Audio
by Gertrude Stein, Kathy Acker, Patti Smith & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/08/the-women-of-the-avant-garde.html
Iggy Pop Reads Edgar Allan Poe’s Classic Horror Story, “The
Tell-Tale Heart” ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/08/iggy-pop-reads-edgar-allan-poes-classic-horror-story-the-tell-tale-heart.html
Free Electronic Literature ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm
Free Online Textbooks, Videos, and Tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Free Tutorials in Various Disciplines ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials
Edutainment and Learning Games ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
Open Sharing Courses ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on August 11, 2015
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2015/TidbitsQuotations081115.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
Editing Wikipedia Content via Screen Reader: Easier Interaction with ARIA ---
http://giove.isti.cnr.it/attachments/publications/2009-A0-058.pdf
A new study "proves" that you can check if a battery still has a charge by
dropping it ---
http://www.techinsider.io/how-to-tell-if-a-battery-is-fully-charged-2015-8#ixzz3iDsTUwzS
Jensen Comment
Outside the realms of mathematics and logic I recommend not using the words
"proves" or "proof." In this case "confirms" seems to be a better verb.
"Tech’s Enduring Great-Man Myth," by Amanda Schaffer, MIT's
Technology Review, August 4, 2015 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/review/539861/techs-enduring-great-man-myth/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-weekly-business&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150807
Jensen Comment
I think this is a misleading article. Firstly, it ignores some truly great tech
innovators like Alan Turing,
Tim
Berners-Lee, and others in history. It focuses in leaders like Bill Gates,
Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk. Bill Gates was a great innovator in marketing rather
than the invention of technology he purchased from IBM. Similarly, Steve Jobs
was an innovator in product development rather than original technology
discovery.
However, in the Academy it is true that very few, if any, discoveries are
truly seminal. Typically detailed historical research into "seminal discoveries"
uncovers how they too were built upon earlier ideas and findings. For example,
without earlier innovative and dogged science of by Friedrich Miescher, William
Astbury, Rosalind Franklin. Maurice Wilkins, Linus Pauling, etc. Watson
and Crick would never have derived the DNA structure.
Since the late
1960s, universities have considered it their mission to teach students what
rather than how to think. Students soon internalize the catechism, summed up in
the Twitter hashtag #whiteprivilege, meaning: Western civilization thrived on
white, Christian, Euro-centric aggression against Others; Western literature and
art are the patriarchy’s handmaidens; the university’s mission is to further a
just society and empower the wretched of the Earth; objective “knowledge” is a
tool for one dominant race, gender and sexuality to oppress the powerless;
reason is but one “way of knowing”; any opposition to identity politics and
multiculturalism is racism; there are no hierarchies in cultural values — in
matters of gender, art and family, all manifestations are equally valid; and
most insidiously, acknowledging and rewarding objective merit is considered an
“institutionalized form of racism and classism.”
Barbara Kay ---
http://news.nationalpost.com/2015/03/11/barbara-kay-universities-are-teaching-students-what-to-think-not-how-to-think/
History and Meaning of "Political Correctness" ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_Correctness
What is the difference between education and indoctrination?
"Noam Chomsky Spells Out the Purpose of Education," by Josh Jones, Open
Culture, November 2012 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2012/11/noam_chomsky_spells_out_the_purpose_of_education.html
"The Suicide of the Liberal Arts: Indoctrinating students isn’t the
same as teaching them. Homer and Shakespeare have much to tell us about how to
think and how to live," by John Agresto, The Wall Street Journal,
August 7, 2015 ---
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-suicide-of-the-liberal-arts-1438987258
. . .
To restore the liberal arts, those of us who teach
should begin by thinking about students. Almost all of them have serious
questions about major issues, and all of them are looking for answers. What
is right? What is love? What do I owe others? What do others owe me? In too
many places these are not questions for examination but issues for
indoctrination. Instead of guiding young men and women by encouraging them
to read history, biography, philosophy and literature, we’d rather debunk
the past, deconstruct the authors and dethrone our finest minds and
statesmen.
But why would any student spend tens of thousands
of dollars and, rather than see the world in all its aspects, instead spend
his time being indoctrinated and immersed in the prejudices of the current
culture and the opinions of his tendentious professors? The job of teachers
is to liberate minds, not capture them.
Reform at the university level will require brave
work by deans and presidents. A hundred-course set of “distribution
requirements” with minimally guided choice fosters intellectual randomness.
Instead, the best faculty should put together a coherent program of core
studies to introduce students to the finest books, to alternative answers to
the most compelling questions, to great literature and art and pivotal
historical events. Contemporary political issues of race, class and gender
do not define what’s truly important. That’s the greatest fallacy of higher
education today.
Second, find ways to increase interaction with
departments of business, engineering, pre-med and the like. Most students
will properly go on to work in various vocational, professional or technical
fields. They should be offered our civilization’s best work and its broadest
vision—but humanities teachers should not begin with the notion that
business and law will be “improved” by the humanities. The benefits flow
both ways.
Finally, a word to secondary schools and their
teachers: You may be the last hope many of your students will have to think
broadly and seriously about literature, science, math and history. If they
don’t read Homer or Shakespeare, or marvel at the working of the universe,
or read and understand the Constitution, they never will. The hope of
liberal learning rests on your shoulders. Please don’t shrug.
Continued in article
The Political Correctness Debate
"Halting the Race to the Bottom," by John Sexton, Inside Higher Ed,
September 18, 2006 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2006/09/18/sexton
The Politically Correct Fracture in Academe ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#PoliticalCorrectnessFracture
Alexa Voice Service (AVS) ... may be Amazon’s best
hardware product since its Kindle e-reader
"Amazon's Awesome Alexa Voice Tech Reaches Out To Other Devices: The
Alexa Voice Service goes into developer preview." by Adriana Lee,
ReadWriteWeb, July 31, 2015 ---
http://readwrite.com/2015/07/31/amazon-alexa-voice-service-developer-preview-echo
Alexa, the chatty personality that
makes the Amazon Echo smart speaker so fun and handy, wants to join more
devices. The company announced Friday the launch of its free Alexa
Voice Service (AVS) developer preview.
AVS was born out of the company’s
work on the Echo, which may be Amazon’s best hardware product since its
Kindle e-reader. The device is a voice-controlled cylindrical appliance that
can tell you the weather, give you traffic conditions on your commute, play
music, control connected lights and other appliances, and—of course—buy
things from Amazon.
See also:
Amazon Echo’s Ready To Chat Up Everyone Now—Except Developers
Voice features may seem rather
dime-a-dozen these days, but Echo’s accuracy and grasp of natural language
could be among the best to date. Although it’s not perfect either, it does
largely succeed in living up to the promise of understanding organic speech.
Users can talk to it easily, without learning a rigid lexicon of verbal
commands.
Now hardware makers, both
professional and hobbyists, can see what those language powers can bring to
their projects.
Here's the caveat!
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on Tricks and Tools of the Trade ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm
"Triaging Textbook Costs, by Carl
Straumsheim, Inside Higher Ed, August 4, 2015 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/08/04/era-400-college-textbook-affordability-initiatives-take-utilitarian-approach
No, Windows 10 Won’t Require a Subscription: Here’s How Microsoft Plans on
Making Money Instead ---
http://www.howtogeek.com/220957/no-windows-10-won%E2%80%99t-require-a-subscription-heres-how-microsoft-plans-on-making-money-instead/
Microsoft’s Windows 10 message hasn’t always been
clear. They’ve declared the Windows 10 upgrade will be free for the first
year and that going forward they’ll be pushing “Windows 10 as a service.
Some rumors going around say Windows 10 will
require a paid subscription or a fee in the future if you want to continue
using it or receiving updates. But Microsoft has said that won’t happen.
Windows 10 is available for free to most computers
out there. Assuming your computer runs either Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or
Windows 8.1, you’ll see a “Get Windows 10″ pop-up as long as you have
Windows Update enabled. This allows you to reserve that free upgrade.
. . .
Free For “The Supported Lifetime of Your Device”
Microsoft doesn’t say that your PC will continue
getting free updates forever. Instead, they say that those feature updates
and security updates will continue “for the supported lifetime of your
device.”
Microsoft hasn’t actually explained what this
phrase means, but it has a bit of an obvious explanation to it. Windows
can’t continue to support old hardware forever — Windows 10 won’t run on PCs
from 20 years ago. Whatever version of Windows exists twenty years from now
probably won’t support today’s Windows 10 PCs. Microsoft gets to draw the
line of when they want to stop supporting old hardware with future updates.
So How Does Microsoft Plan on Making Money?
Microsoft still plans on charging for Windows
licenses. When you buy a new PC, the manufacturer will still have to pay
MIcrosoft for that license. If you build your own PC, you’ll need to pay
$119 for a Windows license. Businesses will still need to pay for volume
licenses — Enterprise versions of Windows 7 and 8.1 don’t get the free
upgrade offer.
Yes, Microsoft is losing upgrade revenue — people
won’t pay to upgrade Windows 7 and 8.1 PCs to Windows 10. But very few
people actually go out and buy a boxed copy of Windows to upgrade those old
computers, anyway.
Windows 10 includes many of Microsoft’s
applications and services. Windows 10 itself isn’t a service, but it does
encourage you to pay for other things, including:
- Windows Store Apps: Windows
10 includes the Windows Store, which sells a variety of apps. Windows 10
will expand the Windows Store to include desktop apps and allow
developers to easily port iPad apps and Android apps to Windows. Even
new “universal apps” now run in windows on the desktop and are more
appealing than they were on Windows 8.
- Continued in article
Jensen Comment
Windows 10 is not a come on to get you to buy Windows 11 --- not for five
years at least.
Of course, Microsoft could change tactics in
the future, releasing WIndows 11 in five years and declaring that older
devices are no longer within their “supported lifetime.” But this is
clearly Microsoft’s plan right now — you shouldn’t worry about having to
spend money for an existing Windows 10 install in the future. It’s free.
Google Plus = Google+ = Google Failure ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%2B
"Inside the failure of Google+, a very expensive attempt to unseat
Facebook," by Seth Fiegerman, Mashable, August 2, 2015 ---
---
http://mashable.com/2015/08/02/google-plus-history/
. . .
The rise and fall of Google+
Google's effort to build a social network to rival
Facebook began with a bold, company-wide yell. Now Google appears to be
winding down Google+ with barely a whimper.
This week, four years and one month after
launching Google+ with the stated mission to "fix"
online sharing, Google announced it would eliminate a much-criticized
requirement to use a Google+ account when signing on to other Google
services like YouTube. The move is the clearest indication yet that Google
is ditching its playbook of trying to push everyone in the world use its
social network.
Google earlier this year began to spin out the
service's most popular features, like Photos and Hangouts. What's left is
being re-worked (or pivoted, as Google+ chief Bradley Horowitz said in his
latest
blog post) to find a salvageable kernel of a
social experience that might still be built up to appeal to a large
audience. Google+ launched with big aspirations but no well-defined purpose
for users; now, very belatedly, Google is trying find some purpose for the
social network as those aspirations shrink.
Google+ has become a favorite punchline in the
technology industry, but the objective was deadly serious. Interviews with
more than a dozen Google insiders and analysts in recent months, many
speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, paint the Google
of 2010-2011 as increasingly fearful of Facebook snatching away users,
employees and advertisers. Google tried to mobilize itself quickly, but
approached the task with all the clumsiness of a giant trying to dance with
a younger, nimble startup.
Google launched Plus without a clear plan to
differentiate the service from Facebook. It bet on a charismatic leader with
a flawed vision, ignored troubling indications about the social network's
traction (or lack thereof) with users and continued throwing features at the
wall long after many had written Google+ off for dead.
The slow demise of Google+ sheds light on how a
large technology company tries and often fails to innovate when it feels
threatened. The Google+ project did lead to inventive new services and
created a more cohesive user identity that continues to benefit Google, but
the social network itself never truly beat back existing rivals. Facebook is
now larger than ever, with 1.4 billion users and a market capitalization
more than half of Google's. It continues to poach Google employees. Facebook
and Twitter are also
slowly chipping away at Google's dominance in
display ad revenue.
Continued in article
Thomas Piketty ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Piketty
Krugman Slams Piketty's 'New' Book On Inequality ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/08/krugman-slams-pikettys-new-book-on-inequality.html
Jensen Comment
Stanford University had a professor of management in the 1960s who made a lot of
money selling his textbook. In tiny fonts it was typed on very large index
cards in a clever way where he could get a new edition by merely shuffling the
deck for each chapter and then re-arranging the chapters.
Wheeling Jesuit University will pay the federal government $2.3 million to
settle claims that the West Virginia institution misspent research grant funds
over nearly a decade ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/08/04/wheeling-jesuit-pay-23m-settle-grant-fraud-claims
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Disabilities ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability
Jensen Question
Are there any HTML processors that automatically code for sight and hearing
impaired readers?
Are there any Web browsers that will read text aloud? See the Jaws Screen Reader
cited below.
There is software available for captioning video
for the hearing impaired but it is purportedly tedious to use for authors.
Increasingly learning videos are captioned for the hearing impaired.
"The Challenges of Surfing While Blind: My seeing-eye dog can’t help
me with your website. Please code it for accessibility," by Deann Elliott,
The Wall Street Journal, July 26, 2015 ---
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-challenges-of-surfing-while-blind-1437950347?tesla=y
. . .
A well-designed website that conforms to the Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) permits use by people of all
abilities. In my case, text labels that identify the buttons and graphical
features allow me to “see” what’s on the screen. The code is hidden and need
not interfere with the way the website works for sighted customers. But
without these features, a site that works beautifully with a mouse is
useless to me.
Technology has removed many of the barriers that
people with disabilities face in the physical world, making life in the
mainstream tantalizingly close. Can’t drive to the mall? There’s Amazon!
Can’t read the electric bill? Bank online! As my guide dog and I contemplate
the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the
landmark civil-rights law signed July 26, 1990, the gap between sight and
blindness has never been narrower.
The ADA requires government websites to be
accessible. Sadly, the law provides little guidance to the private sector on
this point, since it was passed before the Internet became ubiquitous. It
applies to a “place” of public accommodation—but is the Internet a place?
That question has been wending its way through the courts.
Disability advocates have worked to broaden the
law’s applicability, with some success. In April, Harvard University and
M.I.T. announced plans to voluntarily make their edX website for online
courses compliant with the WCAG after deaf advocates filed federal lawsuits
alleging discrimination. In 2010 the Justice Department announced it would
consider issuing Web-accessibility regulations under the ADA, though the
rule-making process lumbers on. With the number of websites growing rapidly,
change isn’t coming fast enough.
“More than 50 percent of the websites on the
Internet are either inaccessible or unusable for people who use adaptive
technology,” Brian Charlson, director of technology at the Carroll Center
for the Blind in Newton, Mass., told me in his office a few months back.
The consequences range from inconvenient to
significant. When I can’t place an online order at my favorite Vietnamese
noodle shop, I get Chinese instead. If a task is urgent, I pester family and
friends for “favors.” When they hover over my screen to help me navigate
around a virtual barrier, I’m keenly aware that my charge-card number and
the details of my transaction are on display. At work, unequal access in an
increasingly networked economy contributes to an unemployment rate that’s
more than twice as high for people with disabilities—and that’s not counting
many who have given up looking for work.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
The above article is disappointing in that it does not mention most
technologies and newer products that can be tried by the sight-impaired
learners.
"For Bill on Disabled Access to Online Teaching Materials, the Devil’s in
the Details," by Rebecca Koenig, Chronicle of Higher Education,
September 30, 2014 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/for-bill-on-disabled-access-to-online-teaching-materials-the-devils-in-the-details/54651?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
User:Steinsky/Encyclopaedia for the blind ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Steinsky/Encyclopaedia_for_the_blind
Scroll down to Software for the Spoken Wikipedia
Free Monitor
I don't know anything about this free monitor or the open-source software for
sight-impaired people, but it sounds wonderful
http://www.nvaccess.org/
Thank you Scott Bonacker for the heads up.
Jaws Screen Reader ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAWS_%28screen_reader%29
JAWS (Job Access With Speech) is a computer screen
reader program for Microsoft Windows that allows blind and visually impaired
users to read the screen either with a text-to-speech output or by a
Refreshable Braille display.
JAWS is produced by the Blind and Low Vision Group
of Freedom Scientific, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA.
A May 2012 screen reader user survey by WebAIM, a
web accessibility company, found JAWS to be the most popular screen reader
worldwide; 49.1% of survey participants used it as a primary screen reader,
while 63.7% of participants used it often.[1]
Continued in article
"Awesome FingerReader Gadget Lets the Blind Read Printed Text," Chris
Smith, Yahoo Tech, April 18, 2014 ---
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/awesome-fingerreader-gadget-lets-the-blind-read-printed-83091898650.html
Useful Products for the Blind ---
http://acb.org/node/1644?gclid=CILy1Ymm-8YCFQeLaQodK74Iiw
Carroll Store Products for the Blind ---
http://carroll.org/products-for-the-blind-specials/?gclid=CKuM0vKo-8YCFYsRHwodm-8D8g
Web Accessibility Services ---
http://carroll.org/accessibility-services/web-accessibility-services/
World Access for the Blind ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Access_for_the_Blind
Royal Society for the Blind ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Society_for_the_Blind
Bob Jensen's threads on learning technologies for people with disabilities
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Handicapped
New York Times hit with age, gender discrimination suit ---
http://nypost.com/2015/08/07/nyt-hit-with-age-gender-discrimination-suit/
. . .
The most explosive claim in the suit is the
allegation that Levien, in a downsizing that took place in September 2013,
let go predominantly older and minority employees.
A Times spokeswoman pointed out the Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission has passed on taking action on Quitasol’s
complaints and said, “We plan to mount a vigorous defense against this
suit.”
Continued in article
Jensen Question
Are minority executives more difficult to fire simply because they are
minorities?
Princeton Review's Top 10 Partying Universities ---
http://time.com/3982847/princeton-review-top-party-schools/?xid=newsletter-brief
1. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2. University of Iowa
3. University of Wisconsin-Madison
4. Bucknell University
5. Syracuse University
6. University of California-Santa Barbara
7. West Virginia University
8. University of Georgia
9. Tulane University
10. Colgate University
"The U.S. Digs Itself Into a Hole on
Vital Minerals," Senator Lisa Murkowski, The Wall Street Journal,
August 3, 2015 ---
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-u-s-digs-itself-into-a-hole-on-vital-minerals-1438642855?tesla=y
The United States is turning the tables on the
global oil market, going from one of the largest importers of crude oil to a
country that could and should export it, thanks to an energy renaissance
that has made America the largest oil producer in the world.
But when it comes to the minerals that fuel so much
else in modern life—from smartphones to flat-screen TVs to wind turbines—we
are still stuck in the Dark Ages, highly dependent on other countries as we
sit on valuable resources that could be meeting national needs.
The U.S. relies on foreign suppliers for 100% of 19
minerals and at least half of our supply for some 24 more. The list includes
everything from rare-earth elements used in F-35s (and electric car
batteries) and computer hard drives to extremely rare
metals like rhenium, a key component of alloys for industrial gas turbines
and petroleum refining.
America’s foreign dependence has grown
significantly since 1978 and seems to deepen each year as federal mineral
policies become more obsolete. At stake is the future of U.S. manufacturing
and the country’s international competitiveness—as illustrated by a
September 2014 Edelman Berland
survey of 400 manufacturing executives that found
that more than 90% worry about mineral supply disruptions outside their
control.
Continued in article
The EPA is Waving Goodbye to Every Mine
in the USA, not just coal mines
From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on August 3, 2015
Coal miner Alpha to seek chapter 11.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/alpha-natural-resources-to-seek-chapter-11-1438557901?mod=djemCFO_h
Alpha Natural Resources Inc. is expected to file for chapter 11
bankruptcy protection early
Monday to cut its more than $3 billion debt load. The Bristol,
Va., company, one of the largest U.S. coal producers, hasn’t completed the
terms of a restructuring plan but will likely sell some of its best mines or
turn them over to creditors and close others during its trip through
bankruptcy court, according to people familiar with the matter.
The EPA is
creating rules that defeat even environmentalists ---
http://reason.com/archives/2015/07/29/zealots-at-the-epa
EPA zealots want to close every mine in the USA, including those essential to
the economy
Avoid Foreign Currency Transaction Fees for Credit Card Purchases
Why You Need a No Foreign Transaction Fee Credit Card ---
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/money-finance/credit/why-you-need-a-no-foreign-transaction-fee-credit-card?utm_source=MG20150730&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=moneygirl#sthash.euDKtSwd.dpuf
From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on
August 3, 2015
For New York Times, a gamble on giveaways
http://www.wsj.com/articles/for-new-york-times-a-gamble-on-giveaways-1438556347?mod=djemCFO_h
New York Times Co.
has been experimenting with making its content available free across a
multitude of platforms. It wants to boost its Web and mobile audience to
help ad sales—but without undermining a steadily growing
digital-subscription business.
Woman Who Alleged Rape by 3 Oregon Athletes Will Get $800,000 Settlement
(plus a free education) ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/woman-who-alleged-rape-by-3-oregon-athletes-will-get-800000-settlement/102765?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
Idaho State Distances Itself From Accountant / Hunter ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2015/08/05/idaho-state-distances-itself-accountant-hunter
The Trouble with Lawyers
by Deborah L. Rhode
Oxford University Press
2015 ---
Click Here
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0190217227/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0190217227&linkCode=as2&tag=lawproblo-20&linkId=QMAEC7UH2BRGV4B7
Reviewed by Paul Caron, TaxProf Blog, August 6, 2015 ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/08/rhode-the-trouble-with-lawyersstrong.html
. . .
Deborah Rhode's
The Trouble with Lawyers is a comprehensive
account of the challenges facing the American bar. She examines how the
problems have affected (and originated within) law schools, firms, and
governance institutions like bar associations; the impact on the justice
system and access to lawyers for the poor; and the profession's underlying
difficulties with diversity. She uncovers the structural problems, from the
tyranny of law school rankings and billable hours to the lack of
accountability and innovation built into legal governance-all of which do a
disservice to lawyers, their clients, and the public.
The Trouble with Lawyers is a clear call to fix a
profession that has gone badly off the rails, and a source of innovative
responses.
Brian Leiter (University of Chicago) : American Legal Education: The First
150 Years ---
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-leiter/american-legal-education-_b_4581672.html
What good is the study of ethics if it doesn't make us more ethical? It
breaks down strictures and transports us to wild, unpredictable places.
"Cheeseburger Ethics," by Eric Schwitzgebel, AEON, 2015 ---
http://aeon.co/magazine/philosophy/how-often-do-ethics-professors-call-their-mothers/
. . .
What’s more, abstract doctrines lack specific
content if they aren’t tacked down in a range of concrete examples. Consider
the doctrine ‘treat everyone as moral equals who are worthy of respect’.
What counts as adhering to this norm, and what constitutes a violation of
it? Only when we understand how norms play out across examples do we really
understand them. Living our norms, or trying to live them, forces a
maximally concrete confrontation with examples. Does your ethical vision
really require that you free the slaves on which your lifestyle crucially
depends? Does it require giving away your salary and never again enjoying an
expensive dessert? Does it require drinking the hemlock if your fellow
citizens unjustly demand that you do so?
Few professional ethicists really are cheeseburger
ethicists, I think, when they stop to consider it. We do want our ethical
reflections to improve us morally, a little bit. But here’s the catch: we
aim only to become a little morally better. We cut ourselves slack when we
look at others around us. We grade ourselves on a curve and aim for B+
rather than A. And at the same time, we excel at rationalisation and
excuse-making – maybe more so, the more ethical theories we have ready to
hand. So we end, on average, about where we began, behaving more or less the
same as others of our social group.
Continued in article
"Law Students Sue Their Law Schools for Deceptive Employment Reporting
Practices," by Paul Caron, TaxProf Blog, March 11, 2014 ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/03/law-students-.html
The Law School Bubble Bursts
"Pop Goes the Law," by Steven J. Harper, Chronicle of Higher Education's
Chronicle Review, March 11, 2013 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Pop-Goes-the-Law/137717/?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en
The Law School Admission Council recently reported
that applications were heading toward a 30-year low, reflecting, as a New
York Times article put it, "increased concern over soaring tuition, crushing
student debt, and diminishing prospects of lucrative employment upon
graduation." Since 2004 the number of law-school applicants has dropped from
almost 100,000 to 54,000.
Good thing, too. That loud pop you're hearing is
the bursting of the law bubble—firms, schools, and disillusioned lawyers
paying for decades of greed and grandiosity. The bubble grew from a
combination of U.S. News-driven ranking mania, law schools' insatiable
hunger for growth, and huge law firms' obsession with profit above all else.
Like the dot-com, real-estate, and financial bubbles that preceded it, the
law bubble is bursting painfully. But now is the time to consider the
causes, take steps to soften the impact, and figure out how to keep it from
happening again.
The popular explanation for the recent application
plummet is that information about the profession's darker side, including
the recession's exacerbation of the attorney glut, has finally started
reaching prospective law students. Let's hope so. Marginal candidates and
those choosing law school by default might be opting out, and the law-school
market may finally be heading toward self-correction.
Still, the bubble has been huge, and the correction
will need to be, too. There were 68,000 applicants to the fall of 2012
entering class, while the total number of new, full-time jobs requiring a
law degree is 25,000 a year and falling. The onset of the recession drove
more students to consider law school as a place to wait out the economic
collapse. The number of June 2009 and 2010 admissions tests had surged to
almost 33,000. To put that in historical perspective, the June 1987 testing
session drew just under 19,000 students. The reduction in the number of LSAT
takers in the summer of 2011 to 27,000 merely brought it back to 2008
levels.
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on law schools ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#OverstuffedLawSchools
"NY Fed: Federal Aid For College Has Jacked Up Tuition (Especially In
Graduate Schools)," by Paul Caron, TaxProf Blog, August 4, 2015 ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/08/ny-fed-federal-aid-for-college-has-jacked-up-tuition-especially-in-graduate-schools.html
When students fund their education through loans, changes in student
borrowing and tuition are interlinked. Higher tuition costs raise loan
demand, but loan supply also affects equilibrium tuition costs—for example,
by relaxing students’ funding constraints. To resolve this simultaneity
problem, we exploit detailed student-level financial data and changes in
federal student aid programs to identify the impact of increased student
loan funding on tuition. We find that institutions more exposed to changes
in the subsidized federal loan program increased their tuition
disproportionately around these policy changes, with a sizable pass-through
effect on tuition of about 65 percent. We also find that Pell Grant aid and
the unsubsidized federal loan program have pass-through effects on tuition,
although these are economically and statistically not as strong. The
subsidized loan effect on tuition is most pronounced for expensive, private
institutions that are somewhat, but not among the most, selective.
Wall Street Journal,
Federal Aid’s Role in Driving Up Tuitions Gains Credence:
"Student Loans May Be Driving the Tuition Explosion," by Janet Loren,
Bloomberg, July 9, 2015 ---
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-09/why-is-college-tuition-rising-blame-student-loans-fed-says?cmpid=BBD070915_BIZ
The surging cost of U.S.
college tuition has an unlikely culprit: the generosity of the
government’s student-aid program, a report by the Federal Reserve Bank
of New York said.
Increases in federal loans, meant to help students cope with rising
costs, are quickly eaten up by schools in higher prices, wrote David O.
Lucca, Karen Shen and Taylor Nadauld.
Private colleges raise their tuition 65 cents
for every dollar increase in federal subsidized loans and 55 cents for
Pell grants given to low-income students, according to the report.
College tuition has outstripped U.S.
inflation for decades.
“The subsidized loan
effect on tuition is most pronounced for expensive, private institutions
that are somewhat, but not among the most, selective,” they wrote in a
paper released this month.
The
premise, raised in 1987 by former Education
Secretary William Bennett, is more pronounced today as the sticker price
of college has increased to $65,000 annually at some private schools.
About two-thirds of undergraduates take out loans to fund their
education. Outstanding student debt is now more than
$1.36 trillion, according to the Federal
Reserve Bank. Government loans account for the bulk, almost $1.2
trillion.
The government has made
significant changes to the loan program since it began in 1965, such as
giving parents access to federal loans and increasing annual borrowing
limits for undergraduates.
Students took out $120
billion in education loans in 2012, up from $53 billion in 2001, with 90
percent of the borrowings backed by the government, according to the
paper.
Tuition rose 46 percent in the period on
average, “resembling the twin house price and mortgage balance booms,”
Lucca and Shen of the Federal Reserve and Nadauld of Brigham Young
University, said in the report.
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on on student loans and government aid has
contributed to tuition rises well in excess of inflation rates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#LoansDriveDuition
RANKED: The economies of all 50 US states and DC from worst to best
---
http://www.businessinsider.com/state-economy-ranking-july-2015-2015-7?op=1#ixzz3hkycMMnY
Jensen Comment
Some of the top-ranked economies are low-tax states including New Hampshire,
Florida, Texas, Washington, and North Dakota at Rank 1. Some like New York,
California, and Taxachusetts tax everything under the sun. Those states benefit
from the tech industry concentrations and top universities.
Some of the top-ranked states are in very
deep trouble with underfunded public pensions and high energy costs, including
New York and California. Go figure!
The worst state economies are
traditionally the worst state economies like Mississippi, West Virginia, and
Arkansas. These states cannot seem to overcome the plague of poverty. West
Virginia is probably in the worst shape given that the EPA is Hell-bent to end
all mining in the USA.
The EPA is
creating rules that defeat even environmentalists ---
http://reason.com/archives/2015/07/29/zealots-at-the-epa
EPA zealots want to close every mine in the USA, including those essential to
the economy
The EPA is Waving Goodbye to Every Mine
in the USA, not just coal mines
From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on August 3, 2015
Coal miner Alpha to seek chapter 11.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/alpha-natural-resources-to-seek-chapter-11-1438557901?mod=djemCFO_h
Alpha Natural Resources Inc. is expected to file for chapter 11
bankruptcy protection early
Monday to cut its more than $3 billion debt load. The Bristol,
Va., company, one of the largest U.S. coal producers, hasn’t completed the
terms of a restructuring plan but will likely sell some of its best mines or
turn them over to creditors and close others during its trip through
bankruptcy court, according to people familiar with the matter.
MIT: Seven Must-Read Stories (Week Ending August 8, 2015) ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/539996/seven-must-read-stories-week-ending-august-8-2015/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150807
MIT: Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending August 8, 2015)
---
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/539991/recommended-from-around-the-web-week-ending-august-8-2015/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150807
MIT Seven Must-Read Stories (Week Ending August 1, 2015) ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/539776/seven-must-read-stories-week-ending-august-1-2015/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150731
MIT: Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending August 1, 2015) ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/539771/recommended-from-around-the-web-week-ending-august-1-2015/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150731
MIT Seven Must-Read Stories (Week Ending July 25, 2015) ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/539601/seven-must-read-stories-week-ending-july-25-2015/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-weekly-robotics&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150729
MIT: Recommended from Around the Web (Week Ending July 25, 2015) ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/view/539596/recommended-from-around-the-web-week-ending-july-25-2015/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-weekly-robotics&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150729
How to Mislead With Statistics and Visualization
"I'm Business Insider's math reporter, and these 10 everyday things drive
me insane, by Andy Kiersz, Business Insider, August 2, 2015 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/things-annoying-for-a-quant-reporter-2015-4
Bob Jensen's threads on common statistical analysis and reporting mistakes
---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsScienceStatisticalMistakes.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on multivariate data visualization ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.htm
From Econometrics Beat by David Giles on August 4, 2015 ---
http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2015/08/august-reading.html
August reading
Here's my (slightly delayed) August reading list:
-
Ahelegbey, A. F., 2015. The econometrics of networks: A
review. Working Paper 2015/13, Department of Economics,
University of Venice.
-
Clemens,
M. A., 2015. The meaning of failed replications: A review
and proposal. IZA Discussion Paper No.9000.
-
Fair, R. C., 2015. Information limits of aggregate data.
Discussion Paper No. 2011, Cowles Foundation, Yale University.
-
Phillips, P. C. B., 2015. Inference in near singular
regression. Discussion Paper No. 2009, Cowles Foundation, Yale
University.
-
Stock, J. H. and M. W. Watson, 2015. Core inflation and
trend inflation. NBER Working Paper 21282.
-
Ullah, A. and X. Zhang, 2015. Grouped model averaging for
finite sample size. Working paper, Department of Economics,
University of California, Riverside.
Blackboard Learn ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard_Learn
Moodle ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle
Why Colleges Love to Hate Blackboard (and love Moodle?)
"Even Though Colleges Love to Hate Blackboard, It Might Sell for $3 Billion,"
by Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, July 30, 2015 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Even-Though-Colleges-Love-to/232007/?cid=wc
Blackboard knows it has an image problem. Though it
started out as an innovator — helping invent course-management systems — its
core products have become a Frankenstein-like creation of acquired companies
and legacy software. That’s why, just last week, Blackboard announced at its
annual conference that it was significantly
retooling its
products.
Even so, Blackboard is reportedly seeking a buyer
willing to pay up to $3.4 billion, according to a
report on Tuesday by Reuters, and experts say that
at a time when investment in education technology is at an
all-time high, it might just get that price.
Exactly what a sale would mean for colleges — and
for the professors and students who regularly use Blackboard software to
turn in assignments, hold online class discussions, and the like — depends
on who buys the company. But with that kind of price tag, the list of
potential buyers is pretty short, say some who watch the
education-technology market.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
One of the main reasons many colleges moved away (totally or partially) from
Blackboard is that it became expensive relative to cheaper alternatives.
Bob Jensen's threads on education technology ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm
Texas Tech Is Investigating Business Professor’s Grade-Tampering Claim
---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/texas-tech-is-investigating-professors-grade-tampering-claim/102621?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
The New York Times found some of the most 'loathed' college dorms
in the country — here's what they look like ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-loathed-college-dorms-2015-7?op=1#ixzz3hP7pV9SV
Jensen Comment
I think this article missed a few. The Jester Center at the University of Texas
takes up one square block and has two zip codes for over 3,000 residents ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jester_Center
One of the drawbacks of such a large complex is that it's noisy 24/7 due to rude
students making noise at all hours. There are also a lot of what seem like
non-student pot smokers hanging around all the time, often on roller
skates.
My daughter instead opted for a nearby private dorm (Dolby). Actually it was
a sky rise tower (silo) that made life miserable for students above the third
floor because the elevators did not work over half the time making some students
climb up and down over 20 flights of stairs day and night. Fortunately Lisl
lived on the third floor.
After the first year she shared apartments off campus. Although she had
her own car, parking on campus was impossible such she had to deal with a
shuttle bus service that covers most of Austin but takes up a lot of what would
otherwise be free time.
There are of course private universities that compete in terms of luxurious
dorms. But there's a catch. The total cost of attending full time and living in
one of these dorms costs more than $50,000 per year.
I never much liked sharing apartments or houses because meals and cleaning
such things as bathrooms became such a hassle. I'm not fussy about food such
that I did not mind campus dining halls. Living in a fraternity turned into
Mickey Mouse --- one year of that was too much. Dorms were better places for
playing bridge and getting dates.
Vladimir Nabokov’s Hand-Drawn Sketches of Mind-Bending Chess Problems
---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/07/vladimir-nabokovs-hand-drawn-sketches-of-mind-bending-chess-problems.html
Bob Jensen's threads on edutainment ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm
"The enemy within Rogue employees can wreak more damage on a company than
competitors," The Economist, July 25, 2015 ---
http://www.economist.com/news/business/21659776-rogue-employees-can-wreak-more-damage-company-competitors-enemy-within
. . .
The most familiar type of enemy within is the
fraudster. The Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister organisation of The
Economist, conducts a regular poll of senior executives on the subject of
fraud committed by insiders. In 2013 the poll discovered that about 70% of
companies had suffered from at least one instance of fraud, up from 61% in
the previous survey. Fraud is often petty: a survey of British employees for
YouGov in 2010 found that a quarter of staff eligible for expenses admitted
to inflating claims. But fraud can also be more audacious and more harmful:
think of former employees setting up rivals using stolen technology and
purloined client lists.
Even more dangerous than the fraudster is the
vandal. Thieves at least have a rational motive. Vandals are driven by a
desire for revenge that can know no limits. David Robertson of K2
Intelligence, a company that specialises in corporate investigation,
recounts the story of a British manufacturing company that was undergoing
restructuring. A member of the information-technology department discovered
that his name was on the list of people whose services would no longer be
required. He built a “backdoor” into the company’s IT system from his home
computer and set about wreaking damage—deleting files, publishing the chief
executive’s e-mails and distributing pornographic pictures.
Some enemies-within start out as star employees. A
striking number of the worst corporate scandals in recent years have been
the work of high-flyers who bend and then break the rules in order to please
their bosses. Barings, a collapsed British investment bank, showered Nick
Leeson with rewards before it discovered that he had produced his outsized
results because he took outsized (and unauthorised) risks.
Other enemies-within are the very opposite of
high-flyers. The HSBC execution squad are only the latest example of
low-level employees who have either wittingly or unwittingly used the power
of the internet to blacken their employer’s reputation. In April 2009 two
employees of Domino’s, a fast-food chain, posted videos of themselves
“abusing takeaway food”. And in July 2012 a Burger King employee posted
photos of himself online which showed him standing in a tub of lettuce in
filthy shoes along with the caption “This is the lettuce you eat at Burger
King”.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
If employees do not get greedy and limit themselves to relatively small damages
to the company they are almost impossible to detect --- such as those that pad
expense accounts, use business vehicles for personal use, take home office
supplies, etc. The greater the greed the greater the risk.
Probably the most effective way to detect employee misdeeds is to reward or
at least encourage whistle blowing. This of course is no panacea "if everybody
is doing it." For example, if a lot of professors are attending phony research
conferences in Europe in order to partly fund family vacations it becomes less
likely that they will rat on each other.
Almost everything boils down to having internal controls. Universities are
notorious for lack of controls on most everything concerning faculty behavior
and performance. Professors do not check up on each other to see of data is
faked. Administrators generally do not inspect submitted receipts with a
magnifying glass. We pride ourselves on trust even though, as accounting
professors, we preach otherwise when it comes to internal controls that we teach
to our students.
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on managerial accounting and controls ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory02.htm#ManagementAccounting
Trump's Higher Ed Fraud: No Accreditations, No Degrees, and No Trump
in the Fake Trump University
"Trump University: How Donald Trump persuaded students to pay $35,000 to become
just like him," by Libby Nelson, Vox, July 29, 2015 ---
http://www.vox.com/2015/7/29/9067429/trump-university
From 2005 to 2010, Trump offered what he called
"Trump University," which was supposed to offer instruction on becoming a
real estate investor.
This was a generous — and, New York officials
claim, illegal — use of the term "university." Trump's institution wasn't
chartered as a university; he later renamed it the Trump Entrepreneur
Initiative. New York's attorney general sued Trump in 2013, saying the
operation was a fraud, and former students have filed a class-action suit
asking for their money back.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
This gets more and more bizarre as you read deeper into the article.
Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
"Nokia launches virtual reality camera," Reuters, July 29, 2015 ---
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/07/29/us-nokia-virtualreality-idUSKCN0Q30R720150729
Finland's Nokia, once the world's largest phone
maker, has unveiled a spherical camera designed for making 3D movies and
games that can be watched and played with virtual reality headsets.
The device, showcased at an event in Los Angeles,
takes video and audio in 360 degrees with eight sensors and microphones, and
is the first from Nokia's digital media solutions business -- one of its new
focuses for future growth.
Nokia is going through restructuring after selling
its mobile phone business to Microsoft last year and following that up with
a proposed 15.6 billion euro ($17.2 billion) acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent,
which is set to boost its main network equipment business.
Continued in article
Bob Jensen's threads on education technology ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm
"Remedial Educators Warn of Misconceptions Fueling a Reform Movement,"
by Katherine Mangan, Chronicle of Higher Education ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Remedial-Educators-Warn-of/231937/?cid=at
. . .
1. If you graduated from high school,
you’re ready for college-level classes. Nearly 70 percent of the
students entering community colleges are assigned to remedial coursework,
according to the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s
Teachers College. Many of those students could probably do just fine if they
took college-level classes, researchers there have concluded, and most
developmental educators agree.
. . .
2. Developmental education is the same
thing as taking remedial classes. Catch-up, or remedial, classes
are one component of a broader approach that includes tutoring, time
management, study skills, and other supports.
"Developmental education is about treating students
holistically and realizing that they’re not just students taking courses but
people who are parenting and working, many of whom are struggling to manage
their finances and their time," says Hunter R. Boylan, director of the
National Center for Developmental Education.
"The focus of many of the remedial-reform efforts
appears to be on getting students through courses as quickly and cheaply as
possible," he adds, and that often requires a heavy reliance on online
support courses where minority and underprepared students are more likely to
struggle.
3. Eliminating remedial-course requirements
will help more students graduate.
Early evidence from Florida indicates that
students who are given the option to skip remedial classes will do so, and
that many unprepared students who jump into college-level classes will
struggle.
"The mission of developmental education is to give
students the skills they need to succeed in their first college courses,"
says D. Patrick Saxon, an associate professor of educational leadership at
Sam Houston State University, in Texas. "When you take away those supports,
you’re essentially returning to the revolving door of the 1960s, when anyone
could attend college, but once there, it was sink or swim."
4. Co-requisite remediation will work for
nearly everyone needing extra help. That’s a message that Stan
Jones, president of Complete College America, sought to convey at the
meeting here and in an interview this week.
"The evidence is pretty overwhelming, as we scale
across states, that even at the lowest levels, students perform better in
co-requisite courses than if they had been in traditional stand-alone
remediation," he says. His nonprofit group, which is heavily supported by
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been pushing states to carry out
its
"game-changing" strategies,
including co-requisite remediation, performance-based
funding, and highly structured schedules.
About 30 percent of the students who place into a
remedial class never show up for it, Mr. Jones contends, often because
they’re embarrassed or frustrated. He’d favor
eliminating all stand-alone remedial classes as
long as options like an intensive boot camp right before classes start,
co-requisite remediation, and math requirements that are tied to what
students actually need are in place.
Robin Ozz, the association’s president-elect, is
director of developmental education at Phoenix College, a community college
in Arizona. She’s been teaching co-requisite classes for seven years, and
says the approach works well for many, but not so well for those with the
greatest needs.
"These students get all excited thinking they’ll be
able to finish their college class in one semester," she says, "but then
some struggle and drop out, which is terrible on their self-esteem."
5. Remedial educators resist change.
Rebecca Goosen, associate vice chancellor for college preparatory at San
Jacinto College, in Texas, doesn’t buy that.
"I have found that developmental educators are the
most innovative and adaptable faculty that respond to mandates," she says.
In addition, "they are the first to initiate and adopt practices that
improve student success and are the closest to understanding the needs and
ability of students they serve."
Jensen Comment
Many (most?) of those students most in need of remedial education have some form
of learning disability such as dyslexia. It's important to recognize such
disabilities and perhaps use some of the evolving technologies for disabled
learners ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Handicapped
"Black Students Are Among the Least-Prepared for College, Report Says,"
by Andy Thomason, Chronicle of Higher Education, July 27, 2015 ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/black-students-are-among-the-least-prepared-for-college-report-finds/102435?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en
African-American students’ college readiness is
lagging compared with that of other underrepresented students, according to
a new report released on Monday by ACT and the
United Negro College Fund. Sixty-two percent of African-American students
who graduated from high school in 2014 and took the ACT met none of the
organization’s four benchmarks that measure college readiness, which was
twice the rate for all students.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
The report stresses the need to improve K-12 education of African Americans. The
report itself lists the following:
Using This Report
This report is designed to help inform the following questions driving
national efforts to strengthen P–16 education.
- Are African American students prepared for
college and career?
- Are enough African American students taking
core courses?
- Are core courses rigorous enough?
- Are younger African American students on
target for college and career?
- What other dimensions of college and career
readiness should we track?
- Are African American students who are ready
for college and career actually succeeding?
Education only can go so far in circumstances of poverty at home,
single-parent homes, a drug-addicted parent, and gang-dominated schools that
lure students with opportunities in drug peddling and prostitution. Worst
of all is probably the culture of fear and intimidation.
Family environments are the main differences between Asians versus African
Americans living in poverty. Charter schools in the worst ghettos show that the
more hours students can be removed from home and street environments the better
the chances of motivating African Americans to learn.
What is needed most is a change of attitude that it's really not cool to be
ignorant outside of being street smart.
"India Loves MOOCs: In a country of rigid teaching styles and scarce
university slots, students and professors are exploring what online learning can
be," MIT's Technology Review, July 27, 2015 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/539131/india-loves-moocs/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150727
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
Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Meet the 'Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives' in America (July 2015) ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/fbi-top-10-most-wanted-2015-4#ixzz3h6GgSHN7
Question
What are the 10 most-expensive and 10 least-expensive states to own a car in the
USA?
Hint
An important factor is insurance pricint. The most surprising outcomes are the
outliers where Hawaii is the least-expensive state and Michigan is the most
expensive state. I would have put Alaska, California, and Hawaii on top
with Michigan, Texas, and Louisiana near the bottom. Shows what I know!
Most-expensive car ownership states:
Michigan (most expensive)
Mississippi
North Dakota
California
Maryland
West Virginia
Wyoming
Louisiana
Texas
Georgia
Least-expensive car ownership states:
Washington State
Illinois
Minnesota
North Carolina
Vermont
Idaho
Iowa
Ohio
Wisconsin
New Hampshire
Hawaii (least expensive)
Jensen Comment
One factor that seems to be ignored is depreciation cost. One only has to look
at the rust trim on older cars to realize what salting the roads does in the
snowbelt. Vehicle bodies last much longer in most southern states. You can
usually get better buys on used cars that have never been near snow, ice,
or salty ocean breezes.
Another factor that's ignored is parking cost. For example I think (without
checking the facts) almost half the people in New York live in New York City.
Most people living in Manhattan, for example, avoid car ownership because
of the cost and other hassles of parking (such as trying to find a parking place
on a crowded street).
Maintenance costs are ignored in the above rankings. The first time we rented
a car in Alaska a long-time resident (Professor Tom Robinson) who met us at the
airport warned us not to sign anything until we inspected the windows of the car
we were about to rent. Look for cracks and ships. Since there are only three
paved highways in Alaska there are a lot of broken windows arising from flying
rocks on unpaved roads. It's not that you should refuse to rent a car with some
damage to windows. That may even be a good thing if you catch my drift. The
important thing is to note the prior damage on paper before you drive off in the
car. Sure enough the car we rented had a small crack in the windshield before we
drove off from the airport in Fairbanks.
Even though it's expensive I generally take all the insurance I can get on a
rental car just to avoid any hassle with having to deal with the insurance
policies on my own cars. It would seem that there is an added consideration of
insurance coverage variations in states. For example, maybe it is smarter to pay
for rental car insurance in Michigan and Mississippi than in New Hampshire and
Hawaii. I also advise paying for the added insurance in Maine where native
drivers are "Maniacs" even if drunk driving laws are strictly enforced.
Also pay the added insurance cost in Texas where drunk drivers roam free.
I might add that I've never had an insurance claim on a rental car. I did
have a claim on my new Subaru when somebody took out two doors while we were
having a meal in a Maine restaurant. Must have been one of those "Maniacs."
17 Most Unreliable Cars To Own ---
http://www.trendingstories.net/es/95/page2/17-Most-Unreliable-Cars-To-Own
Recall that in the 2008 Chrysler was taken over by Fiat. It seems that did not
help Chrysler's reputation for manufacturing unreliable cars --- sort of like
the blind leading the blind. However. there are other unreliable models from
supposedly more reputable manufacturing companies.
Fiat 500L (the least reliable of all)
Volkswagen Beetle
Ford Fiesta
Audi RS6
Nissan Pathfinder
Mercedes-Benz CLA 250
Chevrolet Silverado
Ford Escape
Cheverolet Cruze
Dodge Dart
Volkswagen Passat
Ford C-MAX Energi
Infiniti Q50
Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Mini Cooper Countryman
Volkswagan Touran
Jeep Grand Cherokee
The Worst Heisman Winners to Ever Play in the NFL---
http://worthly.com/sports/worst-heisman-winners-ever-play-nfl/
Jensen Comment
Sink "Anchors Away" for the worst Heisman winner.
"Four-day week for Georgia public school district: Does it work?," by
Shontee Pant, Yahoo News, July 31, 2015 ---
http://news.yahoo.com/four-day-week-georgia-public-school-district-does-151949233.html
Students will have each Monday off from school,
saving the county $800,000.
. . .
In the state of Georgia, schools are required to
have no less than a daily average of five and a half hours of daily
“instructional time” based on a 180-school-day calendar, according to
guidelines set forth by the Georgia Department of Education. Martin says
that Chattooga High School is able to meet state requirements for the
minimum hours by having longer, but fewer days; teens at Chattooga High
School start their day at 7:40 am and the final bell for the day sounds at
3:45 pm.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
Way back in the good old days when I was in K-12 schools in Iowa the school days
started at 8:30 am and ended at 4:30 p.m. That's what made us so much smarter.
We brought our own lunches. In elementary school there were two recesses, and in
higher grades there was one physical education class per day except that varsity
athletes were released at 3:30 pm each day for practices.
It seems to me that having three free days in a row
each week all year long leaves a lot of wasted education time for most of
our children. Think of how much smarter these kids will
be with 2-3 days of home schooling added onto their four-days of school.
Did anybody think that the four-day work week gives education advantage to
affluent families who can afford the added home schooling time created by having
at ;east three days free from school all year long? The other kids will get more
time to to watch cartoons and play basketball..
"The new millennial mystery: why young
people with jobs are still living at home," by Emily Badger, The
Washington Post, July 31, 2015 --- |
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/31/this-new-millennial-mystery-is-terrible-news-for-ikea/
Several years ago, when the economy was still
looking grisly, it was easy to explain the single most popular trope about
millennials — that an unusually high number of them were still living in
their parents' basements. Obviously, they didn't have jobs. Where were they
supposed to go?
"The standard explanation was, 'it’s a crummy job
market,'" says Richard Fry, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center.
He reasoned, as just about everyone did, that as the job market improved,
Millennials would move out. A new Pew analysis this week muddles that
picture: The unemployment rate has fallen significantly since the recession
for 18-to-34-year-olds. But the number of them heading their own households
has not budged at all.
"That expectation," Fry recalls of the old
job-market hypothesis, "at least so far has proven wrong."
About 42 million 18-to-34-year-olds lived
independently of their families on the eve of the recession. About 42
million of them live on their own today, even as the size of this age
bracket has grown. That means a young adult is even more likely to live at
home in 2015 than back in 2008.
So now we have a modest, more perplexing new trend:
Millennials are finding work, but they still seem stuck at home.
That pattern raises some much tricker questions.
For one: Why? And how long will this last? Is this a sign of financial savvy
or gun-shy caution? And what are these people doing with their newfound
income if they're not spending it on rent?
Some of this may be explained by student debt. But
the Pew analysis, based on data from the Census Bureau's Current Population
Survey, suggests that young adults are less likely than at any point since
the recession to live on their own, whether they have a college degree or
just a high school diploma.
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
The slow growth in wages certainly has not helped these millennial wprlers
beginning to carry the entitlements granted to the retiring baby boomers ---
like the entitlement disasters of under-funded Medicare, Medicaid, Social
Security benefits, and Social Security Disability benefits. The problem is not
so much the benefits as it is Congressional stupidity in not adequately funding
those benefits in advance of when the financial obligations come due. There's
also the immense problem that all big government programs are piñatas for fraud.
Bob Jensen's threads on the entitlements
disaster ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm
More Declines in in the Number of History Majors
The Future Of American History ---
http://lisnews.org/the_future_of_american_history
Jensen Comment
I attribute much of added losses in humanities majors to the decline in
opportunities for law school graduates. In the past many humanities tracked into
law schools for careers. Now that only about half of the law school graduates
are finding jobs in law, undergraduates are thinking more about majors leading
to other careers, and many of those majors like accounting, nursing, pharmacy,
engineering, education, and science entail earlier decisions about career
tracks.
In my day kids could dig worms (especially the big night crawlers), put out a
homemade sign, and sell them to anglers going fishing.
"Cornwall lawyer offers to represent boys (kids) with worm-selling business
Bylaw threatened to find the brothers $240 a day," by Kristy Cameron,
CFRA. July 29, 2015 ---
http://www.cfra.com/news/2015/07/29/cornwall-lawyer-offers-to-represent-boys-with-wormselling-business
A Cornwall lawyer has stepped in to help two kids
who were threatened with a fine for selling worms from their front porch.
A bylaw officer told Kristopher Cadieux,10,and his
brother Clayton,8,they must take their operation inside their home and
remove signage or they could face fines of $240 a day.
The controversial story made headlines and caught
the attention of local lawyer, Andre Bourgon.
"As a Cornwallite, having sold worms as a kid, I
reached out to them," says Bourgon. "They needed someone to in order to
assist them and navigate through the process and I am certainly happy to do
so."
Continued in article
Jensen Comment
Erika I watched an excellent albeit tear-jerking Netflix streaming film
called Still Mine produced in Canada ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_Mine
One focus of the film is about government costly red-tape regulations. It's
not so much that the regulations are absurd. What is absurd is the not being
able to enforce the regulations with reason because of the manias of
bureaucrats. For example, one regulation in the film is that local farmers
must deliver strawberries to nearby markets in refrigerated trucks even iv the
strawberries were freshly picked less than an hour earlier. The markets flatly
refuse to accept any strawberries not arriving in refrigerated trucks.
What would you rather have? Strawberries that were picked a week ago
and refrigerated versus strawberries picked less than an hour earlier and
delivered fresh off the plants?
From the Scout Report on July 31, 2015
RANDOM.ORG ---
https://www.random.org/
Created by Dr. Mads Haahr of the School of Computer
Sciences and Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, RANDOM.ORG has generated
over two trillion truly random bits in its nearly two decade history. As the
site notes, "true" randomness is not as easy to come by as one might think.
In fact, most computers generate pseudo-random numbers using mathematical
formulae. RANDOM.ORG, on the other hand, uses atmospheric noise to generate
truly random numbers for anything from lottery drawings to coin flips to
card shuffles. Many of the services on the website are free, though readers
may also use the Third-Party Draw Service for a small fee. Readers may also
like to explore the Learn About Randomness section, where they can learn
about the history of randomness, read testimonials, and peruse quotations.
Map Stack ---
http://mapstack.stamen.com/
Map Stack allows educators, students, or anyone
fascinated by maps to create exquisitely tailored cartographic images via a
web-based click interface. The tool uses a system very close to the classic
Photoshop platform of layers and palettes, allowing users to design their
own maps without having to know any code, install software, or even do any
typing. Layers are created using roads, labels, backgrounds, and even
satellite imagery. In addition, the maps can be tweaked and fine-tuned with
different colors, opacity, brightness, and other visuals. Best of all, the
site makes sharing completed images via Pinterest and Tumblr quite easy.
While learning the ins and outs of the site can take a little while, the
results are more than worth it.
From the Scout Report on February 13, 2015
History: Maps of the World ---
https://seungbin.wordpress.com
This app, which is designed to be compatible
with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch (iOS 5.0+) features 178 historical
maps from around the world, organized by category or era. The maps are
interactive and intended to highlight geopolitical and geographic shifts
over time. Perfect for history teachers, or anyone fascinated by
history.
The Benefits of Natural Spaces May Be Greater than We Think
How Trees Calm Us Down
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/what-is-a-tree-worth
New research suggests nature walks are good for your brain
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/06/29/fixating-or-brooding-on-things-take-a-walk-in-the-woods-for-real/
Neighborhood greenspace and health in a large urban center
http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150709/srep11610/full/srep11610.html
Alliance for Community Trees: Resources About Trees
http://actrees.org/resources/about-trees/
Walking
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1862/06/walking/304674/
Ralph Waldo Emerson - Texts:
http://www.emersoncentral.com/natureand.html
From the Scout Report on August 7, 2015
Asana ---
https://asana.com/
Asana, a collaborative
workplace management tool,
has garnered positive reviews around the Internet, including recognition as
an "Editor's Choice" at PC Magazine. The platform seeks to replace email for
group projects, offering in its stead a holistic work environment, with
deadlines, priority options, and seamless communication all built into a
single system. The layout includes three basic areas: a left rail that
displays a list of projects, a main window that features the current working
project, and an information box on the right that provides more details on
the current work. The platform is extremely fluid and malleable, which makes
creative use of the service possible, but, as with any flexible,
template-free service, can also produce frustration in the early stages of
learning. The free version supports up to 15 team members. Most users will
find that they do not need the premium version, though it offers some extra
capabilities, such as unlimited guests, private teams, and more access to
help desk features. Asana is designed for tech savvy teams that are looking
for the next level of online synergy.
tricider ---
http://www.tricider.com/
As promised, tricider really does make
brainstorming and voting
amazingly easy. In fact, by the end of the 87-second video on the site's
homepage, most users will know everything they need to know about the
service. The first step is to sign up with an email address or Facebook or
Google account. From there, type in a question (for instance, "What should
we have for dinner?"). Then share your question with friends through
Facebook, Twitter, or other avenues. Friends can then add ideas ("pizza!"),
add arguments for ideas ("everyone loves pizza!"), and vote on ideas. The
result is simple, powerful, and efficient.
Wild Fires Wreak Havoc Across the West
Light rain brings little relief to Calif. wildfire
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/08/04/california-fire-jumps-containment-line/31093505/
Dry Days Bring Ferocious Start to Fire Season
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/us/dry-days-in-west-bring-ferocious-start-to-fire-season.html?_r=0
Fire and the U.S. Forest Service
http://www.foresthistory.org/ASPNET/Policy/Fire/index.aspx
10 of the worst wildfires in U.S. history
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/10-of-the-worst-wildfires-in-us-history
Western Wildfires & Climate Change
http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/impacts/infographic-wildfires-climate-change.html#.Vb-2pjBViko
Free online textbooks, cases, and tutorials in accounting, finance,
economics, and statistics ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Education Tutorials
Free Lesson Plans for Teachers (including technology modules), By Teachers
---
http://lessonplanspage.com/
TeachingEnglish: Resources
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-resource
Scratch (kindergarten learning from the MIT Media Lab) --- https://scratch.mit.edu/
Teenagers in the Times (learning Blogs) ---
http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/category/teens-in-the-times/
Annenberg Classroom: Resources for Excellent Civics Education ---
http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/
Teachers & Writers Magazine ---
http://www.teachersandwritersmagazine.org/
Climate Program Office: Outreach and Education ---
http://cpo.noaa.gov/OutreachandEducation.aspx
Teaching Climate ---
http://www.climate.gov/teaching
"India Loves MOOCs: In a country of rigid teaching styles and scarce
university slots, students and professors are exploring what online learning can
be," MIT's Technology Review, July 27, 2015 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/news/539131/india-loves-moocs/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20150727
An Animated Intro to G.W.F. Hegel, and Everything Else You Wanted to Know
About the Daunting German Philosopher ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/07/an-animated-intro-to-g-w-f-hegel.html
Philosophy TV ---
http://www.philostv.com/
Neil Gaiman’s Philosophical Dream, in a Whimsical Animation Narrated by
Amanda Palmer ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/30/behind-the-trees-neil-gaiman-dream-amanda-palmer/?mc_cid=06d956e795&mc_eid=4d2bd13843
Beatrix Potter, Mycologist: The Beloved Children's Book Author's Little-Known
Scientific Studies and Illustrations of Mushrooms ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/28/beatrix-potter-a-life-in-nature-botany-mycology-fungi/?mc_cid=06d956e795&mc_eid=4d2bd13843
Two Tutorials From Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Phases of Mitosis (How the Body Makes New Cells)
---
Click Here
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/cellular-molecular-biology/mitosis/a/phases-of-mitosis?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Stuff
You Might Like Test Cohort&utm_campaign=Highlighted Content 080215
Khan Academy: How USA Presidents are Chosen ---
Click Here
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/history/American
civics/american-civics/v/primaries-and-caucuses?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Stuff
You Might Like Test Cohort&utm_campaign=Highlighted Content 080215
Also see OpenSecrets (money and politics blog) ---
https://www.opensecrets.org
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
Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials
GrantSpace ---
http://grantspace.org/
Beatrix Potter, Mycologist: The Beloved Children's Book Author's Little-Known
Scientific Studies and Illustrations of Mushrooms ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/28/beatrix-potter-a-life-in-nature-botany-mycology-fungi/?mc_cid=06d956e795&mc_eid=4d2bd13843
Coastal Flood Risks ---
http://www.fema.gov/coastal-flood-risks-achieving-resilience-together
Zoology ---
http://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/zoology
The Blue Brain Project (building a virtual brain in a supercomputer) ---
http://bluebrain.epfl.ch
Bob ensen's threads on computing and networking ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#---ComputerNetworking-IncludingInternet
Bob Jensen's threads on the brain and neuroscience ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2-Part2.htm#---Neuroscience
Louis Prang and Chromolithography ---
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/prang /
Lousiana Digital Media Archive
http://ladigitalmedia.org/
Louisiana Works Progress Administration (WPA) ---
http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=/LWP
Thomas H. and Joan W. Gandy Photograph Collection (Acadian culture in
Louisiana) ---
http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/index.php?name=Thomas%20H.%20and%20Joan%20W.%20Gandy%20Photograph%20Collection
From Tulane University Natalie V. Scott Exhibit (Essays, New Orleans,
Newspapers) ---
http://larc.tulane.edu/collections/dig_init/exhibits/nvs/
Archaeology for the Public: Resources for Educators ---
http://www.saa.org/publicftp/public/resources/foredu.html
Top 10 archeological finds of all time
http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/04/top-10-archaeological-finds-of-all-time-3379570/
ScienceDaily: Engineering News ---
http://www.sciencedaily.com/news/matter_energy/engineering/
Wright in Racine (architecture) ---
https://wrightinracine.wordpress.com/
Climate Program Office: Outreach and Education ---
http://cpo.noaa.gov/OutreachandEducation.aspx
Teaching Climate ---
http://www.climate.gov/teaching
Computer ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer
Computer Network ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_network
Computer Science ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science
Computer Software ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_software
Communications of the ACM (computing machinery) ---
http://cacm.acm.org
MIT Video (150 channels and over 12,000 videos) ---
http://video.mit.edu/
Code.org (computer science education and learning) ---
http://code.org/
Free Computer Tutorials at GCFLearnFree ---
http://www.gcflearnfree.org/computers
From Google: Made with Code ---
https://www.madewithcode.com/
Aspen Institute: Skills for
America's Future ---
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/economic-opportunities/skills-for-americas-future
Pew Research Center: Web IQ Quiz ---
http://www.pewinternet.org/quiz/web-iq-quiz/
National Center for Women & Information Technology ---
https://www.ncwit.org
The Ultimate Student’s Guide to Search Engines ---
http://alexmiller.com/the-students-guide-to-search-engines/
Bob Jensen's search helpers ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm
How Technology Changed the Medium
The Visionary Thought of Marshall McLuhan, Introduced and Demystified by
Tom Wolfe ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#inbox/14c6fb9b32f00f0f
This Harvard Course is Free
Harvard MOOC: edX: Introduction to Computer Science ---
https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-harvardx-cs50x
Bob Jensen's threads on other free MOOC courses from prestigious
universities ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
MIT Center for Civic Media ---
https://civic.mit.edu/
CS Unplugged: Computer Science without a computer ---
http://csunplugged.org/
Cross-Cultural Investigations: Technology and Development
(Multicultural Online Education and Open Sharing) ---
http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/anthropology/21a-801j-cross-cultural-investigations-technology-and-development-fall-2012/
Computing History
Numbers...Easy for the Machine ---
http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/sgahistory/clips/numbers-easy-for-the-machine
In this clip from Who's Got the Action, a mafia
boss describes his UNIVAC mainframe and how it keeps the records of his
gambling business.
The Blue Brain Project (building a virtual brain in a supercomputer) ---
http://bluebrain.epfl.ch
Bob ensen's threads on computing and networking ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#---ComputerNetworking-IncludingInternet
Bob Jensen's threads on the brain and neuroscience ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2-Part2.htm#---Neuroscience
Critical Commons (tutorials on varied topics) ---
http://www.criticalcommons.org/
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
Other comuting and networking links ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#---ComputerNetworking-IncludingInternet
Bob Jensen's threads on free online science,
engineering, and medicine tutorials are at --http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Social Science and Economics Tutorials
GrantSpace ---
http://grantspace.org/
Annenberg Classroom: Resources for Excellent Civics Education ---
http://www.annenbergclassroom.org/
The Center on Congress at Indiana University (purpose and history of USA
Congresess) ---
http://www.centeroncongress.org/
Election Information ---
http://www.rockthevote.com/get-informed/elections/
The Protection Project (human trafficking) ---
http://www.protectionproject.org/
Profiles in Science: Visual Culture and Health Posters ---
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Collection/CID/VC
Archaeology for the Public: Resources for Educators ---
http://www.saa.org/publicftp/public/resources/foredu.html
Community Service Society Photographs ---
http://css.cul.columbia.edu/
Top 10 archeological finds of all time
http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/04/top-10-archaeological-finds-of-all-time-3379570/
MIT Center for Civic Media ---
https://civic.mit.edu/
Crime in the United States: 2013 ---
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013
Crime Solutions ---
http://www.crimesolutions.gov/
OpenSecrets (money and politics blog) ---
https://www.opensecrets.org
Community Service Society Photographs ---
http://css.cul.columbia.edu/
Khan Academy: How USA Presidents are Chosen ---
Click Here
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/history/American
civics/american-civics/v/primaries-and-caucuses?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Stuff
You Might Like Test Cohort&utm_campaign=Highlighted Content 080215
Also see Also see
OpenSecrets (money and politics blog) ---
https://www.opensecrets.org
Philosophy TV ---
http://www.philostv.com/
The Avalon Project: The Middle East 1916-2001: A Documentary Record ---
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/mideast.asp
Neil Gaiman’s Philosophical Dream, in a Whimsical Animation Narrated by
Amanda Palmer ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/07/30/behind-the-trees-neil-gaiman-dream-amanda-palmer/?mc_cid=06d956e795&mc_eid=4d2bd13843
Coastal Flood Risks ---
http://www.fema.gov/coastal-flood-risks-achieving-resilience-together
Edible Geography (food traditions) ---
http://www.ediblegeography.com/
Bob Jensen's threads on Economics, Anthropology, Social Sciences, and
Philosophy tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Law and Legal Studies
Crime in the United States: 2013 ---
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2013/crime-in-the-u.s.-2013
Crime Solutions ---
http://www.crimesolutions.gov/
OpenSecrets (money and politics blog) ---
https://www.opensecrets.org
Philosophy TV ---
http://www.philostv.com/
Bob Jensen's threads on law and legal studies are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Math Tutorials
Be an Actuary ---
http://www.beanactuary.org/
Communications of the ACM (computing machinery) ---
http://cacm.acm.org
The Blue Brain Project (building a virtual brain in a supercomputer) ---
http://bluebrain.epfl.ch
Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
From the Scout Report on July 31, 2015
RANDOM.ORG ---
https://www.random.org/
Created by Dr. Mads Haahr of the School of Computer
Sciences and Statistics at Trinity College, Dublin, RANDOM.ORG has generated
over two trillion truly random bits in its nearly two decade history. As the
site notes, "true" randomness is not as easy to come by as one might think.
In fact, most computers generate pseudo-random numbers using mathematical
formulae. RANDOM.ORG, on the other hand, uses atmospheric noise to generate
truly random numbers for anything from lottery drawings to coin flips to
card shuffles. Many of the services on the website are free, though readers
may also use the Third-Party Draw Service for a small fee. Readers may also
like to explore the Learn About Randomness section, where they can learn
about the history of randomness, read testimonials, and peruse quotations.
Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
History Tutorials
GrantSpace ---
http://grantspace.org/
Unique historic photographic collection online from Mount Holyoke College ---
http://lisnews.org/unique_historic_photographic_collection_online_from_mount_holyoke_college
The Center on Congress at Indiana University (purpose and history of USA
Congresess) ---
http://www.centeroncongress.org/
Digital.Bodleian (over 115,000 images books in history) ---
http://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
Top 10 archeological finds of all time
http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/04/top-10-archaeological-finds-of-all-time-3379570/
Animated map shows how Christianity spread across the world ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-christianity-spread-around-world-animated-map-2015-7#ixzz3iJy3jnNU
Christianity is currently the world's largest religion with over 2 billion
followers. B
An Animated Intro to G.W.F. Hegel, and Everything Else You Wanted to Know
About the Daunting German Philosopher ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/07/an-animated-intro-to-g-w-f-hegel.html
Khan Academy: How USA Presidents are Chosen ---
Click Here
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/history/American
civics/american-civics/v/primaries-and-caucuses?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Stuff
You Might Like Test Cohort&utm_campaign=Highlighted Content 080215
Teachers & Writers Magazine ---
http://www.teachersandwritersmagazine.org
Archaeology for the Public: Resources for Educators ---
http://www.saa.org/publicftp/public/resources/foredu.html
Edible Geography (food traditions) ---
http://www.ediblegeography.com/
Profiles in Science: Visual Culture and Health Posters ---
http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/ps/retrieve/Collection/CID/VC
Louis Prang and Chromolithography ---
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/prang /
Wright in Racine (architecture) ---
https://wrightinracine.wordpress.com/
Philosophy TV ---
http://www.philostv.com/
The Avalon Project: The Middle East 1916-2001: A Documentary Record ---
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/mideast.asp
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
Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Language Tutorials
TeachingEnglish: Resources
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-resources
Bob Jensen's links to language tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2-Part2.htm#Languages
Music Tutorials
Hear All of Mozart in a Free 127-Hour Playlist ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#inbox/14ecf6daff614c60
The Museum of Imaginary Musical Instruments ---
http://imaginaryinstruments.org/
Jerry Garcia ---
http://jerrygarcia.com/
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
Teachers & Writers Magazine ---
http://www.teachersandwritersmagazine.org
Bukowski on Writing, True Art, and the Courage to Create Outside Society’s
Forms of Approval ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/08/03/bukowski-on-writing/?mc_cid=702ce5340a&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/
July 28, 2015
July 29, 2015
July 30, 2015
July 31, 2015
August 1, 2015
August 3, 2015
August 4, 2015
August 5, 2015
August 6, 2015
August 7, 2015
August 8, 2015
Khan Academy: Phases of Mitosis (How the Body Makes New Cells)
---
Click Here
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/cellular-molecular-biology/mitosis/a/phases-of-mitosis?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Stuff
You Might Like Test Cohort&utm_campaign=Highlighted Content 080215
New Study: Immersing Yourself in Art, Music & Nature Might Reduce
Inflammation & Increase Life Expectancy ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/08/new-study-immersing-yourself-in-art-music-nature-might-reduce-inflammation-increase-life-expectancy.html
Jensen Comment
Life expectancy in the small (e.g., one person) is complicated by the many
random factors in life that make it impossible to predict that a given person
will live longer by composing music, painting pictures, or listening to
classical recordings each and every day. For example, Mozart died at age 35.
A Bit of Humor
Here’s How 5 Legendary Talk Show Hosts Said Goodbye ---
http://time.com/3982859/tv-hosts-last-shows/?xid=newsletter-brief
Mystery pooper targeting holes of Norwegian golf course ---
http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2015/07/24/Mystery-pooper-targeting-holes-of-Norwegian-golf-course/2881437763634/
Hump-Day Humor ---
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2015/07/29/Joe-Biden-Looming-Threat-Republican-Presidency
Jensen Comment
This guy just set a word's record in the number of holes-in-one.
Forwarded by Paula
An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman,
a Gurkha, a Latvian, a Turk, an Aussie, a German, a Yank, an Egyptian, a
Korean, a Mexican, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Jordanian,
a Kiwi, a Swede, a Finn, a Canadian, an Israeli, a Romanian, a Bulgarian, a
Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian, an
Argentinian, a Libyan and an African go to a night club. The bouncer says,
"Sorry, I can't let you in without a Thai."
Humor July 1-31, 2015
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book15q3.htm#Humor073115
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
-
With a Rejoinder from the 2010 Senior Editor of The Accounting Review
(TAR), Steven J. Kachelmeier
- With Replies in Appendix 4 to Professor Kachemeier by Professors
Jagdish Gangolly and Paul Williams
- With Added Conjectures in Appendix 1 as to Why the Profession of
Accountancy Ignores TAR
- With Suggestions in Appendix 2 for Incorporating Accounting Research
into Undergraduate Accounting Courses
The Cult of Statistical Significance:
How Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DeirdreMcCloskey/StatisticalSignificance01.htm
How Accountics Scientists Should Change:
"Frankly, Scarlett, after I get a hit for my resume in The Accounting Review
I just don't give a damn"
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm
One more mission in what's left of my life will be to try to change this
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm
What went wrong in accounting/accountics research?
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong
The Sad State of Accountancy Doctoral
Programs That Do Not Appeal to Most Accountants ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms
AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH
CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW: 1926-2005 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1
Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory
---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm
Tom Lehrer on Mathematical Models and
Statistics ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZWyUXn3So
Systemic problems of accountancy (especially the
vegetable nutrition paradox) that probably will never be solved ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#BadNews
World Clock ---
http://www.peterussell.com/Odds/WorldClock.php
Facts about the earth in real time --- http://www.worldometers.info/
Interesting Online Clock
and Calendar
---
http://home.tiscali.nl/annejan/swf/timeline.swf
Time by Time Zones ---
http://timeticker.com/
Projected Population Growth (it's out of control) ---
http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/worldpopulation.htm
Also see
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/Populations.html
Facts about population growth (video) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U
Projected U.S. Population Growth ---
http://www.carryingcapacity.org/projections75.html
Real time meter of the U.S. cost of the war in Iraq ---
http://www.costofwar.com/
Enter you zip code to get Census Bureau comparisons ---
http://zipskinny.com/
Sure wish there'd be a little good news today.
Free (updated) Basic Accounting Textbook --- search for Hoyle at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
CPA Examination ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpa_examination
Free CPA Examination Review Course Courtesy of Joe Hoyle ---
http://cpareviewforfree.com/
Rick Lillie's education, learning, and technology blog is at
http://iaed.wordpress.com/
Accounting News, Blogs, Listservs, and Social
Networking ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm
Bob Jensen's Threads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New
Bookmarks ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called
Tidbits ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud
Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Online Books, Poems, References,
and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available
free on the Web.
I created a page that summarizes those various links ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm
Some of Bob Jensen's Tutorials
Accounting program news items for colleges are posted at
http://www.accountingweb.com/news/college_news.html
Sometimes the news items provide links to teaching resources for accounting
educators.
Any college may post a news item.
Accounting and Taxation News Sites ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm
For an elaboration on the reasons you should join a ListServ (usually for
free) go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
AECM
(Educators)
http://listserv.aaahq.org/cgi-bin/wa.exe?HOME
AECM is an email Listserv list which
provides a forum for discussions of all hardware and software
which can be useful in any way for accounting education at the
college/university level. Hardware includes all platforms and
peripherals. Software includes spreadsheets, practice sets,
multimedia authoring and presentation packages, data base
programs, tax packages, World Wide Web applications, etc.
Over the years the AECM has become the worldwide forum for
accounting educators on all issues of accountancy and accounting
education, including debates on accounting standards, managerial
accounting, careers, fraud, forensic accounting, auditing,
doctoral programs, and critical debates on academic (accountics)
research, publication, replication, and validity testing.
|
CPAS-L
(Practitioners)
http://pacioli.loyola.edu/cpas-l/ (Closed
Down)
CPAS-L provides a forum for discussions of
all aspects of the practice of accounting. It provides an
unmoderated environment where issues, questions, comments,
ideas, etc. related to accounting can be freely discussed.
Members are welcome to take an active role by posting to CPAS-L
or an inactive role by just monitoring the list. You qualify for
a free subscription if you are either a CPA or a professional
accountant in public accounting, private industry, government or
education. Others will be denied access. |
Yahoo (Practitioners)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xyztalk
This forum is for CPAs to discuss the activities of the AICPA.
This can be anything from the CPA2BIZ portal to the XYZ
initiative or anything else that relates to the AICPA. |
AccountantsWorld
http://accountantsworld.com/forums/default.asp?scope=1
This site hosts various discussion groups on such topics as
accounting software, consulting, financial planning, fixed
assets, payroll, human resources, profit on the Internet, and
taxation. |
Business Valuation Group
BusValGroup-subscribe@topica.com
This discussion group is headed by Randy Schostag
[RSchostag@BUSVALGROUP.COM] |
FEI's Financial Reporting Blog
Smart Stops on the Web, Journal of Accountancy, March 2008 ---
http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/mar2008/smart_stops.htm
FINANCIAL REPORTING PORTAL
www.financialexecutives.org/blog
Find news highlights from the SEC, FASB
and the International Accounting
Standards Board on this financial
reporting blog from Financial Executives
International. The site, updated daily,
compiles regulatory news, rulings and
statements, comment letters on
standards, and hot topics from the Web’s
largest business and accounting
publications and organizations. Look for
continuing coverage of SOX requirements,
fair value reporting and the Alternative
Minimum Tax, plus emerging issues such
as the subprime mortgage crisis,
international convergence, and rules for
tax return preparers. |
|
|
The CAlCPA Tax Listserv September 4, 2008 message from Scott Bonacker
[lister@bonackers.com]
Scott has been a long-time contributor to the AECM listserv (he's a techie as
well as a practicing CPA)
I found another listserve
that is exceptional -
CalCPA maintains
http://groups.yahoo.com/taxtalk/
and they let almost anyone join it.
Jim Counts, CPA is moderator.
There are several highly
capable people that make frequent answers to tax questions posted there, and
the answers are often in depth.
Scott
Scott forwarded the following message from Jim
Counts
Yes you may mention info on
your listserve about TaxTalk. As part of what you say please say [... any
CPA or attorney or a member of the Calif Society of CPAs may join. It is
possible to join without having a free Yahoo account but then they will not
have access to the files and other items posted.
Once signed in on their Yahoo account go to
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TaxTalk/ and I believe in
top right corner is Join Group. Click on it and answer the few questions and
in the comment box say you are a CPA or attorney, whichever you are and I
will get the request to join.
Be aware that we run on the average 30 or move emails per day. I encourage
people to set up a folder for just the emails from this listserve and then
via a rule or filter send them to that folder instead of having them be in
your inbox. Thus you can read them when you want and it will not fill up the
inbox when you are looking for client emails etc.
We currently have about 830 CPAs and attorneys nationwide but mainly in
California.... ]
Please encourage your members
to join our listserve.
If any questions let me know.
Jim Counts CPA.CITP CTFA
Hemet, CA
Moderator TaxTalk
|
Many useful accounting sites (scroll down) ---
http://www.iasplus.com/links/links.htm
Bob Jensen's Sort-of Blogs ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New
Bookmarks ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called
Tidbits ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud
Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Some
Accounting History Sites
Bob Jensen's
Accounting History in a Nutshell and Links ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#AccountingHistory
Accounting
History Libraries at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) ---
http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/accountancy/libraries.html
The above libraries include international accounting history.
The above libraries include film and video historical collections.
MAAW Knowledge Portal for Management and Accounting ---
http://maaw.info/
Academy of Accounting Historians and the Accounting Historians Journal ---
http://www.accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/aah/
Sage Accounting History ---
http://ach.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf_extract/11/3/269
A nice timeline on the development of U.S. standards and the evolution of
thinking about the income statement versus the balance sheet is provided at:
"The Evolution of U.S. GAAP: The Political Forces Behind Professional
Standards (1930-1973)," by Stephen A. Zeff, CPA Journal, January 2005
---
http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/105/infocus/p18.htm
Part II covering years 1974-2003 published in February 2005 ---
http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/205/index.htm
A nice
timeline of accounting history ---
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2187711/A-HISTORY-OF-ACCOUNTING
From Texas
A&M University
Accounting History Outline ---
http://acct.tamu.edu/giroux/history.html
Bob
Jensen's timeline of derivative financial instruments and hedge accounting ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#DerivativesFrauds
History of
Fraud in America ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/415wp/AmericanHistoryOfFraud.htm
Also see
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud.htm
Bob Jensen's
Threads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and
Stories
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm
All
my online pictures ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/PictureHistory/
Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob)
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
190 Sunset Hill Road
Sugar Hill, NH 03586
Phone: 603-823-8482
Email:
rjensen@trinity.edu