Tidbits on May 16, 2017
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Set 1 of the Colors of Early Springtime in the White Mountains
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/SummertimeFavorites/EarlySpringtime/EarlySpringtimeSet01.htm

 

Tidbits on May 16, 2017
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Bob Jensen's Tidbits ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm

For earlier editions of Fraud Updates go to http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
For earlier editions of New Bookmarks go to http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm 
Bookmarks for the World's Library --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm 

Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page is at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

Updates from WebMD --- Click Here

Google Scholar --- https://scholar.google.com/

Wikipedia --- https://www.wikipedia.org/

Bob Jensen's search helpers --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm

Bob Jensen's World Library --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm

USA Debt Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/ ubl




Online Video, Slide Shows, and Audio
 

YouTube: YaleCourses: Let This Be a Lesson (History) --- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNewopQgXzhCVScpnvy8o32mU

Video:  Non-invasive Surgery of the Future ---
https://safeshare.tv/x/DTAINyElxY

Buckminster Fuller Creates an Animated Visualization of Human Population Growth from 1000 B.C.E. to 1965 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/04/buckminster-fuller-creates-an-animated-visualization-of-human-population-growth-from-1000-b-c-e-to-1965.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

NASA's Most Recent Photos of Saturn ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-cassini-saturn-finale-closest-images-2017-4

Interesting Video on the Jewish Symbolic Wall ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/jewish-eruv-wire-hidden-in-manhattan-religious-carrying-sabbath-2017-4

Aeon: Videos (various topics in history and science) --- https://aeon.co/videos

Why you can't stop watching baby animal videos ---
http://time.com/4764877/neoteny-baby-animals-viral-videos/?xid=newsletter-brief

Why Should We Read Tolstoy’s War and Peace (and Finish It)? A TED-Ed Animation Makes the Case ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/05/why-should-we-read-tolstoys-war-and-peace-and-finish-it.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Watch a Timelapse Film Showing How the British Library Digitized the World’s Largest Atlas, the 6-Foot Tall “Klencke Atlas” from 1660 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/05/watch-a-timelapse-film-showing-how-the-british-library-digitized-the-worlds-largest-atlas.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29


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

NPR:  Tedeschi Trucks Band ---
http://www.npr.org/2016/03/24/471725403/tedeschi-trucks-band-tiny-desk-concert

The NPR Classical 50 ---
http://www.npr.org/series/99866406/the-npr-classical-50

An Aging Louis Armstrong Sings “What a the Wonderful World” in 1967, During the Vietnam War & The Civil Rights Struggle ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/05/an-aging-louis-armstrong-sings-what-a-the-wonderful-world-in-1967.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

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://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Music.htm


Photographs and Art

Unusual Photographs --- http://www.woodsmall.com/Unusual-Photos.pdf

2017 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/05/2017-national-geographic-travel-photographer-of-the-year-contest/526119/

Download 200+ Modern Art Books from the Guggenheim Museum  ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/04/download-200-modern-art-books-from-the-guggenheim-museum.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

NASA's Most Recent Photos of Saturn ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-cassini-saturn-finale-closest-images-2017-4

A new NASA video shows exactly what Cassini ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-cassini-saturn-dive-video-2017-5

Google Earth: Voyager --- https://earth.google.com/web/data=CgQSAggB

Mutter Museum: Civil War Lesson Plans --- http://muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/civil-war-lesson-plans

Daily Heller (art and design) --- http://www.printmag.com/daily-heller

Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art --- http://www.jhna.org http://www.businessinsider.com/ordos-china-ghost-town-2017-5http://www.businessinsider.com/ordos-china-ghost-town-2017-5

Rhizome (contemporary media art) --- http://rhizome.org

Historical Photos and Images: EPA's Documerica Project (1971-77) --- https://www.epa.gov/history/historical-photos-and-images

The Prettiest Town in Every State --- http://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/the-prettiest-town-in-every-state/ss-BBAshp3?ocid=spartandhp

Surreal Photos of China's Failed "City of the Future" ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/ordos-china-ghost-town-2017-5

Take a look at the Queen's extravagant £10 million car collection ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/queen-car-collection-worth-10-million-2017-5

Bob Jensen's threads on art history ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#ArtHistory

Bob Jensen's threads on history, literature and art ---
http://faculty.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://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on libraries --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#---Libraries

Shakespeare Unlimited --- http://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited

The Neglected Books Page --- http://neglectedbooks.com

The Marie Howe Poetry Collection ---
https://daily.jstor.org/friday-reads-marie-howe/

Why Should We Read Tolstoy’s War and Peace (and Finish It)? A TED-Ed Animation Makes the Case ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/05/why-should-we-read-tolstoys-war-and-peace-and-finish-it.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Historically Black --- http://www.apmreports.org/historically-black

The Love Letters of Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/05/the-love-letters-of-hannah-arendt-and-martin-heidegger.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Free Electronic Literature --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm
Free Online Textbooks, Videos, and Tutorials --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Free Tutorials in Various Disciplines --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials
Edutainment and Learning Games --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Edutainment
Open Sharing Courses --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI




Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on May 16, 2017
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2017/TidbitsQuotations051617.htm          

USA Debt Clock --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/ ubl

To Whom Does the USA Federal Government Owe Money (the booked obligation of $19+ trillion) ---
http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/politicalcalculations/2016/05/25/spring-2016-to-whom-does-the-us-government-owe-money-n2168161?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl
The US Debt Clock in Real Time --- http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 
Remember the Jane Fonda Movie called "Rollover" --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollover_(film)

To Whom Does the USA Federal Government Owe Money (the unbooked obligation of $100 trillion and unknown more in contracted entitlements) ---
http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/15/news/economy/entitlement-benefits/
The biggest worry of the entitlements obligations is enormous obligation for the future under the Medicare and Medicaid programs that are now deemed totally unsustainable ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm

Entitlements are two-thirds of the federal budget. Entitlement spending has grown 100-fold over the past 50 years. Half of all American households now rely on government handouts. When we hear statistics like that, most of us shake our heads and mutter some sort of expletive. That’s because nobody thinks they’re the problem. Nobody ever wants to think they’re the problem. But that’s not the truth. The truth is, as long as we continue to think of the rising entitlement culture in America as someone else’s problem, someone else’s fault, we’ll never truly understand it and we’ll have absolutely zero chance...
Steve Tobak ---
http://www.foxbusiness.com/business-leaders/2013/02/07/truth-behind-our-entitlement-culture/?intcmp=sem_outloud

"These Slides Show Why We Have Such A Huge Budget Deficit And Why Taxes Need To Go Up," by Rob Wile, Business Insider, April 27, 2013 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/cbo-presentation-on-the-federal-budget-2013-4
This is a slide show based on a presentation by a Harvard Economics Professor.

Peter G. Peterson Website on Deficit/Debt Solutions ---
http://www.pgpf.org/

Bob Jensen's threads on entitlements --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Entitlements.htm

Bob Jensen's health care messaging updates --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm




I had cataract surgery in my right eye that was a success in every respect except one. The world through that eye turned bluish like living under a bright and cold fluorescent light. I'm told there is a good chance the condition will slowly go away,

The condition is known as cyanopsia --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanopsia 

Interestingly, I'm now wearing amber sunglasses when viewing computer screens.


Bragging About a Trinity University Accounting Graduate ---
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has chosen Gabrielle Roe ’16 ’17 as a postgraduate technical assistant (PTA) for the 2018 calendar year. Roe, a graduate student in Trinity’s master’s program in accounting, is one of seven students nationwide to be selected for the appointment. She will begin her year-long term this winter in Norwalk, Conn ---
https://new.trinity.edu/news/accounting-excellence?utm_source=Our+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=7f2cd39cdf-Tower_News_May_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_00cfaca66d-7f2cd39cdf-160446777


MIT:  10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2017 (to date) ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/lists/technologies/2017/


2017 Princeton Review's Best 381 Colleges ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2017/05/2017-princeton-reviews-best-381-colleges.html


Why Don't White Supremacists Pay Taxes? ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2017/05/why-dont-white-supremacists-pay-taxes.html


Capitalism --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism

Gareth Dale on the Past and Future of Capitalism ---
https://daily.jstor.org/ask-a-professor-gareth-dale-on-the-past-and-future-of-capitalism/

Harvard Business School --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Business_School

History of the Harvard Business School ---
https://daily.jstor.org/when-harvard-business-school-tried-to-fix-capitalism/


How to Predict If a Borrower Will Pay You Back
http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/05/what-the-words-you-use-in-a-loan-application-reveal.html

From the book
EVERYBODY LIES: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
Copyright © 2017 by Seth Stevens-Davidowitz.
Reprinted With Permission by Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers


MIT:  An Algorithm Summarizes Lengthy Text Surprisingly Well ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/607828/an-algorithm-summarizes-lengthy-text-surprisingly-well/?set=607859&utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=33455d1353-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-33455d1353-153727301

Jensen Comment
This does not seem so surprising for some types of books --- Readers Digest has been summarizing (shortening) books for years using human "Digesters." But there are many, many textbooks where relying on shortened versions is risky business for students. Firstly, it's dangerous to exam performance to skip even a third of hundreds of modules in a textbook. My point is that each module should probably be covered in a shortened textbook.

Secondly, textbook modules like those in mathematics and accounting have modules that build upon earlier modules in a chapter.  Each full module is a shortened explanation of a topic where further shortening is quite risky when moving on to more advanced modules.

The shortened version may work well in some courses that cover a relatively large number of assigned books to read. In those instances the teacher usually hopes that students capture the essence of a book without grasping all the details.

There may be copyright hazards to avoid. For example, teachers should not make multiple shortened versions of a book available in a way that allows students to avoid purchasing an assigned book. There are gray zones such as when a teacher assigns the Cliff Notes version of a book.--- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CliffsNotes
I can't imagine further shortening Cliff Notes with an algorithm.


A Philosopher Gets Pilloried:  The academic left accuses her of ‘epistemic violence’ for asking scholarly questions about identity. ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-philosopher-gets-pilloried-1494283355?mod=djemMER


Challenge to B-School Rankings:  21 scholars publish call to reject popular measures and ordinal rankings -- and to replace them with more meaningful tools for comparisons ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/12/business-scholars-and-adminsitrators-pubilsh-call-move-away-current-rankings-systems?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=7c7662c4c7-DNU20170512&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-7c7662c4c7-197565045&mc_cid=7c7662c4c7&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Abstract of the Study ---
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/deci.12274/full
I've not read the full article.

Jensen Comment
One possible erroneous conclusion is that the proposed alternate set of rankings will make the rankings less subjective. Since others' opinions (such as opinions of B-School deans, alumni, recruiters, etc.) nearly always play a major role in popular B-School rankings (such as US News, the WSJ, and Bloomberg rankings) the traditional rankings are aggregations of highly subjective opinions.

It appears that the proposed alternative rankings will focus on a larger number of specific criteria than the popular traditional rankings that tend to be heavily influenced by broad criteria such as "research reputation" and "admission standards."

The biggest problem when it comes to subjective rankings is that the rater (say a business school dean at a state university) may be very familiar with a peer set of 20 state universities but have very little knowledge of other sets of B-school programs like those of MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Oxford, Cambridge, Dartmouth, Wharton, Rice, etc. that are assumed to be near the top of the rankings because of the halo-effects of the prestige reputations of the entire university where each assumed prestigious B-School resides. Dean X at California State University may know almost nothing about business studies at Oxford University, but since it's at Oxford the Oxford business program has to be great.

I'm dubious about having raters (like business school deans) ranking over 200+ B-School programs on 20 or more criteria about which they know almost nothing for most of the schools they are ranking. For example, it's one thing to rate the the a Dean at California State rank Harvard Business School higher than the Tuck Business School on the broad criterion of "research" but it's quite another matter to compare Harvard with Tuck in more detailed dimensions if the rater knows very little about relative performance of those programs on those criteria.

Reducing rankings to numerical scores on criteria can be even more nonsensical. For example, comparing the rejection rate as a percentage of total number applications to a program is complete nonsense. Most potential applicants to a highly prestigious MBA program don't take the time and trouble to even bother to apply to such a program feeling that there is almost zero chance of being accepted.  If the University of Texas MBA Program has a higher rejection rate than the Tuck Business School rejection rate it would not surprise me because hundreds of applicants to UT's MBA program did not even apply to the Tuck Business School.


Massachusetts gave GE a “mega-deal” to move, but did it matter?
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/massachusetts-gave-ge-mega-deal-move-did-it-matter

. . .

As Norton Francis and I outline in our new report, states use three strategies to attract firms and encourage economic development, each of which came into play in the GE deal:

  1. Investments in business. Boston gave GE $25 million in property tax incentives, but the investment didn’t stop there. The city and state also provided “concierge” services to assist GE in moving its headquarters and people. This included promises of attention from key staff in the governor’s and mayor’s office, identification of temporary office space, and establishment of a mobile office for GE employees relocating to Massachusetts. General Electric also received access to the airport and parking for aircraft, preferences few other businesses in the state enjoy.
  2. Investments in the workforce. Massachusetts offers workforce programs that any firm can use, but the state agreed to provide GE $1 million in customized employee training and, as part of the concierge services, to help identify other appropriate state programs. For example, GE has already begun posting jobs on Massachusetts JobQuest, an online job board hosted by the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
  3. Investments in community. Infrastructure investments were the bulk of the incentive package, accounting for $250 million. These included targeted improvement projects at the selected site location ($120 million) and a bridge renovation and transit upgrades that will benefit the entire Boston community ($125 million).

So what part of this mega-deal convinced GE to move?

Tax incentives are alluring to policymakers because they usually have a higher short-term political return than long-term policies like investments in education or infrastructure. These latter investments and the Boston labor force, however, are likely part of what made Boston an attractive option for GE.

Research suggests that real economic activity is fairly unresponsive to changes in taxes and that firms care more about workforce development and infrastructure. In 2016, firms ranked highway access, availability of skilled labor, and cost of labor as the most important business location factors, with tax incentives and rates ranking fifth or lower.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
The high tech labor market seems to be a necessary condition for companies like GE --- which in turn means being near great research universities. In California, Silicon Valley evolved from such universities as Stanford, UC Berkeley, and other nearby universities of note. In Texas Austin became a hub for high tech industry largely due to the University of Texas plus surrounding greats like Texas A&M that serves both Austin and Houston. It's no secret that Boston became a high tech hub due to MIT, Harvard, and the many other great universities in the Boston metroplex. Also very important is being in a city with that's an international airport.

Tax incentives probably play a major role only after the necessary conditions are first satisfied. The article suggests that perhaps cities become overly generous with tax and other financial incentive honey pots for companies wanting to move.

Boston did not have to offer tax and financial deals nearly as great as some other cities probably did or would have offered GE.

The point here is that a state may attract tech companies more by investing tens of millions in research universities and airports than in wasting tens of millions on tax incentives and professional sports stadiums. I doubt that GE would've even considered moving to Las Vegas even if Las Vegas offered twice the tax and other financial incentives as Boston.

 


As Robots Displace Workers, Higher Ed ‘Will Change a Great Deal,’ Researcher Says ---
http://www.chronicle.com/article/As-Robots-Displace-Workers/239936?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=17baa22526024af88841fb5728705953&elq=132ac3a77c1247b68a3c052d47540eb4&elqaid=13841&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5767

. . .

In the meantime, the MIT researcher is skeptical of ideas like universal basic income, a government stipend that some of his peers suggest could be a stopgap against the poverty and hopelessness that have ravaged formerly middle-class workers.

Mr. McAfee talked with The Chronicle about how the robot-human war might unfold in the coming years, and the role higher education has to play in it. 

The political rhetoric about the middle class has been the same for a while, but the composition of the middle class has changed, and a lot of that change has had to do with technology and automation. What middle-class jobs are robots currently poised to take over for good?

The best way to answer that question is to look at the recent trajectory. The recent trajectory has been that technology has been automating lots of routine work. I mean both routine physical work (think about an assembly-line worker in a factory) and routine cognitive work (think about the payroll clerk in that same factory). There are a lot fewer of both of those jobs than there used to be, even though we still actually have a lot of factories in America and we turn out a lot of manufactured goods.

By far the most likely scenario is that that is going to continue and that is going to expand. It used to be the case that if you wanted to listen to another human being talk, figure out what they wanted, and satisfy their request, you had to have a human being involved in that work. That is not true anymore. I can easily envision lots of customer-service type jobs or customer-interaction type jobs that are going to be automated away at the same time. Jobs that don't look routine, but ­really are, are going to confront automation.

You mentioned customer-service jobs. There are other jobs you’ve mentioned as being at risk of being taken over: clerks, warehouse workers, cab drivers. …

Continued in article


High-quality instruction didn’t necessarily predict positive feedback on student evaluations, the researchers found:   Instead, high marks on evaluations were most positively correlated with students’ grades in a course ---
http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/students-dont-always-recognize-good-teaching-study-finds/118274?elqTrackId=110456401b944af981ca0a8e92e2c09d&elq=4c0221ec123d4a1f857645dc2af4e581&elqaid=13839&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5765

Jensen Comment
The study is consistent with the millions of evaluations of their professors on RateMyProfessors.com where top-rated professors are virtually all rated as easy graders ---
http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/students-dont-always-recognize-good-teaching-study-finds/118274?elqTrackId=110456401b944af981ca0a8e92e2c09d&elq=4c0221ec123d4a1f857645dc2af4e581&elqaid=13839&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5765

If a teacher wants to be a tough grader the necessary criterion for better evaluations is to be deemed fair in grading. One way to remove the grading from teacher evaluations is to assign grades on the basis of competency =-based grading where teachers do not assign the grades to their students. This is controversial, however, since students demand teaching toward the tests or other criteria they are graded on at the end of a course.

Some accounting recruiters (for internships and jobs) reported to me  privately that they keep grade-inflation files helping them to adjust their gpa thresholds for internships and hiring based up past impressions of their colleagues regarding grade inflation in schools. An obvious example would be a college where the median gpa of accounting graduates is 3.6 on a 4-point scale.

Bob Jensen's threads on grade inflation ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#RateMyProfessor


What makes deep learning deep ... and world changing?
http://readwrite.com/2017/04/28/what-is-deep-learning-il1/

Jensen Comment
As an accounting professor I deep-learned my debits and credits. However, as a math student back in my doctoral program studies my knowledge of how to integrate some functions (like the normal Gaussian distribution) by shifting to polar coordinates was intensely learned buy not deeply learned --- possibly because I've not used polar coordinates over the last 50 years. I also recognize images of apples, oranges, and bananas because I've shopped for produce so often over my entire lifetime.


Challenge to B-School Rankings:  21 scholars publish call to reject popular measures and ordinal rankings -- and to replace them with more meaningful tools for comparisons ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/12/business-scholars-and-adminsitrators-pubilsh-call-move-away-current-rankings-systems?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=7c7662c4c7-DNU20170512&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-7c7662c4c7-197565045&mc_cid=7c7662c4c7&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Abstract of the Study ---
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/deci.12274/full
I've not read the full article.

Jensen Comment
One possible erroneous conclusion is that the proposed alternate set of rankings will make the rankings less subjective. Since others' opinions (such as opinions of B-School deans, alumni, recruiters, etc.) nearly always play a major role in popular B-School rankings (such as US News, the WSJ, and Bloomberg rankings) the traditional rankings are aggregations of highly subjective opinions.

It appears that the proposed alternative rankings will focus on a larger number of specific criteria than the popular traditional rankings that tend to be heavily influenced by broad criteria such as "research reputation" and "admission standards."

The biggest problem when it comes to subjective rankings is that the rater (say a business school dean at a state university) may be very familiar with a peer set of 20 state universities but have very little knowledge of other sets of B-school programs like those of MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Oxford, Cambridge, Dartmouth, Wharton, Rice, etc. that are assumed to be near the top of the rankings because of the halo-effects of the prestige reputations of the entire university where each assumed prestigious B-School resides. Dean X at California State University may know almost nothing about business studies at Oxford University, but since it's at Oxford the Oxford business program has to be great.

I'm dubious about having raters (like business school deans) ranking over 200+ B-School programs on 20 or more criteria about which they know almost nothing for most of the schools they are ranking. For example, it's one thing to rate the the a Dean at California State rank Harvard Business School higher than the Tuck Business School on the broad criterion of "research" but it's quite another matter to compare Harvard with Tuck in more detailed dimensions if the rater knows very little about relative performance of those programs on those criteria.

Reducing rankings to numerical scores on criteria can be even more nonsensical. For example, comparing the rejection rate as a percentage of total number applications to a program is complete nonsense. Most potential applicants to a highly prestigious MBA program don't take the time and trouble to even bother to apply to such a program feeling that there is almost zero chance of being accepted.  If the University of Texas MBA Program has a higher rejection rate than the Tuck Business School rejection rate it would not surprise me because hundreds of applicants to UT's MBA program did not even apply to the Tuck Business School.

Bob Jensen's threads on ranking controversies ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#BusinessSchoolRankings

 

Teaching Case from The Wall Street Journal Accounting Weekly Review on May 12, 2017

Business Schools Take a Stand Against Academic Rankings
by: Kelsey Gee
May 09, 2017
Click here to view the full article on WSJ.com

TOPICS: Accounting

SUMMARY: A research paper to be published in the May 2017 edition of the Decision Sciences Journal has sparked a renewed effort on the part of business schools to thwart the annual ranking process conducted by Bloomberg Businessweek, the Financial Times, the Economist and others. The article currently is available for early view and download on the Decision Sciences web page at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/deci.12274/full The paper's 21 authors "weigh in on the issues," by discussing costs imposed on schools by the ranking procedure, shifts evident in institutional data used for rankings, and arguments for re-consideration of the entire process. Shortcomings in the ranking process, they say, stem "...from the conceptualization and the architecture of comparisons, and are evident in survey designs, data collection methods, and data aggregation procedures...." The authors propose minimum requirements for "...a socially responsible, transparent, flexible, and highly representative rating (vs. ranking) approach...." (Bachrach et al. 2017) Citation Bachrach, D. G., Bendoly, E., Beu Ammeter, D., Blackburn, R., Brown, K. G., Burke, G., Callahan, T., Chen, K. Y., Day, V. H., Ellstrand, A. E., Erekson, O. H., Gomez, J. A., Greenlee, T., Handfield, R., Loudder, M. L., Malhotra, M., Petroni, K. R., Sevilla, A., Shafer, S., Shih, M. and Voss, D. (2017), On Academic Rankings, Unacceptable Methods, and the Social Obligations of Business Schools. Decision Sciences, forthcoming. doi:10.1111/deci.12274

CLASSROOM APPLICATION: The article may be used in any class to discuss graduate school options.

QUESTIONS: 
1. (Introductory) What entities rank business schools?

2. (Advanced) What factors are considered in ranking business schools? Cite your source for this information.

3. (Introductory) What are the arguments in favor of ranking business schools, effectively distilling a lot information in to one number (the school's rank)?

4. (Introductory) What are the arguments against the ranking procedure?

5. (Advanced) Are you considering a graduate program? Would rankings influence the schools that you consider applying to?

Reviewed By: Judy Beckman, University of Rhode Island

 

"Business Schools Take a Stand Against Academic Rankings," by Kelsey Gee, The Wall Street Journal, May 9, 2017 ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/business-school-rankings-stir-new-rancor-1494331202?mod=djem_jiewr_AC_domainid

Deans and faculty at more than 20 universities urge others not to participate in the process

Business-school deans and research faculty at more than 20 universities are taking a stand against the academic rankings published by media outlets such as Bloomberg Businessweek, Nikkei Inc.’s Financial Times and the Economist Group.

Rather than “acquiesce to methods of comparison we know to be fundamentally misleading,” the administrators are urging their peers at other schools to stop participating in a process they say rates programs on an overly narrow set of criteria.

The plea, issued by deans and faculty from institutions including University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, comes in the form of a research paper to be published in the May edition of the Decision Sciences Journal.

The researchers examine the approaches used by media outlets to aggregate different factors like admitted students’ test scores and tenured faculty on a school’s payroll into a single number, arguing that the process oversimplifies the array of reasons students pursue business degrees.

The debate over rankings is hardly new, but the recent rancor comes as schools battle declining enrollment in two-year M.B.A. programs, compounding pressure on the institutions to tout the benefits of one of America’s priciest degrees.

Business-school deans and research faculty at more than 20 universities are taking a stand against the academic rankings published by media outlets such as Bloomberg Businessweek, Nikkei Inc.’s Financial Times and the Economist Group.

Rather than “acquiesce to methods of comparison we know to be fundamentally misleading,” the administrators are urging their peers at other schools to stop participating in a process they say rates programs on an overly narrow set of criteria.

The plea, issued by deans and faculty from institutions including University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business and the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, comes in the form of a research paper to be published in the May edition of the Decision Sciences Journal.

The researchers examine the approaches used by media outlets to aggregate different factors like admitted students’ test scores and tenured faculty on a school’s payroll into a single number, arguing that the process oversimplifies the array of reasons students pursue business degrees.

The debate over rankings is hardly new, but the recent rancor comes as schools battle declining enrollment in two-year M.B.A. programs, compounding pressure on the institutions to tout the benefits of one of America’s priciest degrees.

With sticker prices as high as $200,000 in tuition, an M.B.A. is “likely among the most expensive purchases these students will make in their lives,” says Francesca Levy, an editor at Bloomberg who oversees business-school coverage. “There’s big value in holding schools to the same standard and measuring them against the same, transparent criteria so students can make a better informed decision.”

Co-author of the research paper Elliot Bendoly, an associate dean at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business, disagrees. “If the goal is to help inform [students] about how to make the best decision about business schools, let’s give them the raw information, and not take numbers—which may or may not be relevant to the student—and bungle them together into a ranked list,” Mr. Bendoly says.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on ranking controversies ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#BusinessSchoolRankings


Forbes:  Best Value Colleges 2017 By Region: Northeast, West, Midwest And South ---
https://www.forbes.com/sites/justinconklin/2017/04/26/best-value-colleges-2017-by-region-the-best-in-the-northeast-west-midwest-and-south/#12f694494737


A Free Course on Machine Learning & Data Science from Caltech ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/05/a-free-course-on-machine-learning-data-science-from-caltech.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

YouTube: YaleCourses: Let This Be a Lesson (History) --- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNewopQgXzhCVScpnvy8o32mU

 

Lecture 1, Introduction to History Painting

by YaleCourses

Lecture 2, Unintended Consequences: Antonio del Pollaiuolo's Hercules and Deianira (c. 1475-80)

by YaleCourses

Lecture 3, Darkness to Light: Garofalo's The Conversion of Saint Paul

by YaleCourses

Lecture 4, "But, Lord, He Stinketh!": Marco Pino's The Resurrection of Lazarus

by YaleCourses

Lecture 5, Against Nature: Peter Paul Rubens's Hero and Leander

by YaleCourses

Lecture 6, "To Paint the Way the Spartans Spoke": Gavin Hamilton's The Death of Lucretia

by YaleCourses

Lecture 7, Benjamin West's Agrippina Landing at Brundisium with the Ashes of Germanicus

by YaleCourses

Lecture 8, John Trumbull and Historical Fiction: The Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775 (1786)

by YaleCourses

Lecture 9, Find the Hero: Ary Scheffer's The Retreat of Napoleon's Army from Russia in 1812 (1826)

by YaleCourses

Lecture 10, Handwriting on the Wall: John Martin's Belshazzar's Feast (1820)

by YaleCourses

Lecture 11, History at the Academy & the Salon: Jean-Léon Gérôme's Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant

by YaleCourses

Lecture 12, History Painting after Two World Wars: Anselm Kiefer's Die Ungeborenen

by YaleCourses


The Mind is a Collection (philosophy history) --- http://www.mindisacollection.org


Top 20 Library Scandals in Recent History ---
https://medium.com/@hubbard/top-20-library-scandals-in-recent-history-bf237e1025b2


The Australian Health Care System Sounds a Whole Lot like the German System of a Choice Between a National Health Care Plan or a Private Insurance Plan
Obviously the private plans would not survive unless there was value added when paying for private insurance

Is Australia's Health Care Plan Better Than Ours ---
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/05/is_australias_healthcare_better_than_ours.html

Jensen Comment
Since Australia has slightly over 30 million people with relatively few medical schools compared the USA with over 320 million people and many more medical schools, one has to question whether Australia can provide the highly specialized services (think neonatal care) available in the USA and India and other nations having many more medical schools for research and clinical service. For example, medical schools in the USA do a lion's share of the clinical testing of new drugs and devices for big pharmaceutical companies.

National health care systems, including the Australian system, handle malpractice claims more efficiently than in the USA where medical malpractice insurance alone can cost over $200,000 per year for some physicians.---
https://digital.lib.washington.edu/dspace-law/bitstream/handle/1773.1/689/13PacRimLPolyJ163.pdf?sequence=1

Canadian Malpractice Insurance Takes Profit Out Of Coverage," by Jane Akre, Injury Board, July 28, 2009 --- 
Click Here

The St. Petersburg Times takes a look at the cost of insurance in Canada for health care providers.

A neurosurgeon in Miami pays about $237,000 for medical malpractice insurance. The same professional in Toronto pays about $29,200, reports Susan Taylor Martin.

A Canadian orthopedic surgeon pays just over $10,000 for coverage that costs a Miami physician $140,000. An obstetrician in Canada pays $36,353 for insurance, while a Tampa Bay obstetrician pays $98,000 for medical malpractice insurance.

 

National health systems, including the Australian system, avoid much of the useless cost of keeping terminal patients hopelessly alive in near vegetative states.
On November 22, 2009 CBS Sixty Minutes aired a video featuring experts (including physicians) explaining how the single largest drain on the Medicare insurance fund is keeping dying people hopelessly alive who could otherwise be allowed to die quicker and painlessly without artificially prolonging life on ICU machines.
"The Cost of Dying," CBS Sixty Minutes Video, November 22, 2009 --- 
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-cost-of-dying-end-of-life-care/
As I read it its much more common to withhold life-sustaining treatments for terminally ill patients in Australia.

More on the comparisons of national health care systems ---
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633404/

Bob Jensen's threads on health care ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm


For years I've been a proponent of a national healthcare plan supplemented with discretionary private insurance much like the system in Germany. Some other national healthcare plans are falling apart --- 
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Health.htm

Nationalized healthcare is not all it's cracked up to be ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/nationalized-healthcare-is-not-all-its-cracked-up-to-be-2016-9

. . .

Back home, though, Canadians seem far more critical of the system. If you follow the internal Canadian debate, you’ll hear the word “crisis.” In fact, many Canadian healthcare economists warn that their system is headed for a major collapse. The aging population has continued to stress an already fragile system. This is the same system that many proponents of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, pointed to as a model.

Another model of national health care cited by fans of the ACA is the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). Like the Canadian system, there seems to be one attitude for export and another for domestic consumption. You may recall the odd tribute to the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. The NHS was portrayed as a sea of Mary Poppins bliss. At home, though, Brits had reason to complain. The UK was rated as having the worst patient care and lowest cancer survival rates in the Western World.

The NHS is in even worse shape now, and complaints are growing louder. According to the committee that represents UK hospitals, the NHS is on the verge of collapse. The former health minister Paul Burstow warned of this outcome two years ago. At the time, increases in the NIH budget were limited to the rate of inflation. But that did not allow for the increased cost of a growing elderly population. The NIH effort to find £30 billion in “efficiency savings” was already putting enormous strains on the system.

When a healthcare system is overloaded, it’s not just the aged who suffer. A Lancashire man operated on himself when he was put on a long waitlist for a surgery that he badly needed. With waitlists growing, the Royal College of Surgeons reports that financially challenged clinical groups are denying services to patients who are obese or smoke. Often, delayed treatment will increase medical costs in the long run.  

So it shouldn’t be surprising that the Affordable Care Act, which was inspired by the Canadian and British systems, is in deep trouble. Though I predicted it, it is worrisome when the act’s biggest supporters, including The New York Times, admit the program’s flaws.

The growing aged population is a huge financial burden

Obamacare doesn’t deal with the real source of rising healthcare costs: the increase in age-related diseases due to a growing elderly population. It is mathematically impossible to cut societal medical costs while at the same time providing adequate healthcare to a growing and increasingly expensive older population.

This is not just a problem with health care. Social Security and pension funds are running deficits, which will also worsen. Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, recently said that he has lost the optimism that he has long been known for. The reason is that “we have a 9 percent annual rate of increase in entitlements, which is mandated by law.  It has got nothing to do with the economy. It has got to do with age and health and the like.”

Greenspan points out that politicians refuse to deal with the “third rail” of entitlements. I agree, but I think there’s a solution. Politicians claim that voters won’t accept delayed retirement. But the evidence shows that most people would like to work longer and save more to pay their own way. Zoya Financial reports that almost two thirds of Americans have to retire earlier than planned, largely due to problems with their own health or a spouse’s.

Anti-aging biotechnologies are in labs right now that could lengthen health spans and working careers. This would allow us to save our entitlement systems. But economists and politicians still have no clue about the biotechnological progress that has marked the start of the 21st century. This will change because it must… but I hope it happens soon

Continued in article


OECD Health Statistics 2016 --- http://www.oecd.org/els/health-systems/health-data.htm


Presidential Libraries Are a Scam. Could Obama Change That? --- http://lisnews.org/node/44813/


Question
What are some of the ethical issues in promoting or allowing students to become glorified sales representatives campus ambassadors, associates, or whatever by any other name?
https://www.becker.com/cpa-review/resources/become-becker-campus-ambassador

Jensen Comment
One thing that bothers me is that students have inside tracks and relationships with a customer base that the university provides. Is the university ethically bound not to allow or to allow commercialism to be abused by individuals in the student body?

There are obvious ethical issues for faculty to become sales reps. But allowing students to become sales reps among fellow students is more of a gray zone.


"‘Volatile’ but Growing Online Ed Market," by Carl Straumsheim, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 2, 2017 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/02/report-finds-growth-volatility-online-education-market?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=50cc6fd192-DNU20170502&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-50cc6fd192-197565045&mc_cid=50cc6fd192&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Online enrollment continues to grow as the total number of students in college shrinks. The growth is particularly strong at private nonprofit colleges, report finds.

Continued in article

US News 2017 Ranking of the Best Nonprofit Online Colleges ---
https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education
Note that US News has a new service for comparing programs side-by-side on various criteria, including their US News Rankings ---
https://www.usnews.com/education/online-education/compare
For example, compare the online programs of Indiana University with Texas A&M University

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education alternatives ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm


Apple just handed Microsoft a major win for its newest version of Windows ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-itunes-microsoft-windows-10-store-2017-5


Northwestern’s journalism school drops its accreditor, shortly after Berkeley did the same, echoing broader questions about the value of the process and whether it impedes innovation ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/03/northwestern-and-berkeleys-journalism-schools-drop-accreditor-echoing-broader?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=f4dd856ab9-DNU20170503&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-f4dd856ab9-197565045&mc_cid=f4dd856ab9&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

. . .

Bhatia also differed with Hamm on the innovation question.

He said the accreditor in recent years had adjusted its standards to allow more students to take courses and to pursue second majors in other disciplines, like business, by reducing the number of credits that students are required to earn within a journalism and communications program. The accreditor also has sought to help the institutions it oversees add more training in digital media.

“We had to give students more flexibility precisely to encourage innovation,” said Bhatia. “We are holding schools accountable for preparing students for the digital workplace.”

The decision’s cost to Medill and its students will be minimal, Hamm said, arguing that student recruitment or hiring “have never been affected by whether a school is accredited in our field.”

But students and faculty members could feel some impact, such as being ineligible for outside activities that are open only to participants from accredited schools. For example, Hamm acknowledged that Medill students may no longer be able to apply for Hearst Journalism Awards, which are among the most prestigious honors for student journalists.

If social media is any guide (it often is for working journalists), Medill's move failed to gin up much panic. And that suggests few alums care much about their school's accreditation status.

Risk-Adjusted Accreditation?

Some academics at other universities applauded Medill’s move.

Accreditation for journalism and communication schools needs a radical shake-up, said Jeff Jarvis, a professor at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism.

“I don’t see how accreditation supports innovation and change,” he said, adding that both are badly needed in the fast-moving media industry.

Jarvis said CUNY has benefited from the self-evaluation ACEJMC requires. Yet he said that was work CUNY could do just as well on its own.

“We push ourselves harder on innovation than any accreditor,” Jarvis said, adding that journalism schools themselves are better positioned to decide how to adjust to a changing job market. “I can imagine quality accreditation. But I don’t think it would look like this.”

Michael Poliakoff agreed, extending that criticism to institutional accreditation. Poliakoff, who is president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni and a former member of the federal panel that oversees accrediting agencies, said Medill's move is a sign that colleges are beginning to demand deregulation of a broken system. He called the traditional model byzantine, costly and time-consuming, with only a marginal guarantee of educational quality.

"Accreditors have severely damaged their own brand," he said in a written statement, "and policy makers now have an opportunity and an obligation to create a new, transparency-based model of quality assurance."

Criticism about accreditors not doing enough to prevent colleges from taking advantage of students typically focuses on for-profits or, less often, community colleges with relatively low graduation rates.

For example, the U.S. Department of Education under President Obama, with the strong backing of Senator Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats in the U.S. Senate, in January finalized its decision to terminate the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools, a national accreditor that oversees 245 colleges, most of them for-profits. The Trump administration last weekend defended that decision.

However, the Obama administration also prodded accreditors to spend less time scrutinizing high-quality colleges, instead placing more attention on colleges that have had problems with finances or student achievement.

This approach, called risk-adjusted accreditation, has long been pushed by Princeton University and other highly selective colleges. It has the backing of some higher education associations, including the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

Likewise, some powerful Republicans, including Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who leads the Senate’s education committee, have considered risk-adjusted accreditation. Others have backed giving more flexibility to states, allowing them to opt out of the federally sanctioned accreditation system and to instead set up their own rules for quality control.

“Institutions should not be given a free pass, but differentiated reviews, if developed thoughtfully, should be equally as reliable and uphold accreditation’s serious responsibilities in quality assurance,” Alexander wrote in a 2015 white paper.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
The phrase "impedes innovation" is a bit vague in light of the problems journalism programs faced over the past few decades. Journalism programs have been losing jobs for graduates in the droves that in turn back flushed into losing majors. Almost 60% of the journalism jobs vanished in 26 years ---
https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2016/jun/06/almost-60-of-us-newspaper-jobs-vanish-in-26-years
The Decline in Journalism ---
http://joshuafoust.com/the-decline-of-journalism/

Innovation and technology are at the root of many of journalism program woes today. The explosion of the social media in popularity for news and analysis translated into loss of subscribers of traditional-print newspapers like the New York Times and print magazines like Newsweek. This in turn resulted in declining revenues to pay for thousands of reporters and correspondents around the world. This in turn resulted in fewer and fewer job opportunities for journalism majors.

It sounds to me like the accreditor in this conflict became a whipping boy for much deeper problems in the discipline. I hesitate to conclude that the accreditor really inhibited innovation in this troubled discipline. The world still needs lots and lots of reporters and correspondents. Where innovation is needed lies in finding ways to pay for them across their entire careers. Internet readers like me have come to expect to get all the news and news analyses for free.
What we need is innovation in the way to pay for journalists in the information technology era.


Before reading the tidbits below you may want to watch a video on the Scenarios of Higher Education for Year 2020 --- 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gU3FjxY2uQ 
The above great video, among other things, discusses how "badges" of academic education and training accomplishment may become more important in the job market than tradition transcript credits awarded by colleges. Universities may teach the courses (such as free MOOCs) whereas private sector companies may award the "badges" or "credits" or "certificates." The new term for such awards is a 
"microcredential."

Competency-Based Learning --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#ConceptKnowledge

"If B.A.’s Can’t Lead Graduates to Jobs, Can Badges Do the Trick?" by Goldie Blumenstyk, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 2, 2015 --- 
http://chronicle.com/article/If-BA-s-Can-t-Lead/228073/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

New Professional Certificate Programs from edX: Delivering real job impact and critical skills you need to stand out ---
http://blog.edx.org/professional-certificate-programs-delivering-real-job-impact-critical-skills-need-stand?track=blog

Today, we are proud to announce the launch of Professional Certificate programs, the latest offering to further our mission to increase access to education that today’s global, connected learner demands.

Professional Certificate programs are a series of in-demand courses designed to build or advance critical skills for a specific career. Created by industry leaders and top universities, Professional Certificate programs help develop the skills and actionable knowledge needed for today’s top jobs through a flexible and affordable online learning experience.

Offered in exciting fields, like digital marketing, virtual reality and data science, edX Professional Certificates are endorsed by corporations, including HSBC, GitHub and The North Face, and recognized for real career relevancy.

Meeting the Needs of Today’s Learner

After surveying our learners, we recognized that there was a need and desire for career-focused, professional content programs that deliver meaningful and impactful job-related results. Professional Certificate programs were developed to match this demand, offering programs that focus on skills, job competencies and professional development from the world’s top universities and industry leaders. Shorter in length compared to MicroMasters® programs, usually 2-6 months long, Professional Certificate programs allow you to quickly gain the skills you need to advance your career or position yourself for a new job.

Providing Expertise Valued by Employers

Professional Certificate programs are tailored for specific jobs and particular career paths, offering skills-based education in the fields where today’s employers are seeking top talent. After completing a Professional Certificate program, you can be confident that you have gained the actionable knowledge you will need to make a powerful impact on an organization. You can demonstrate this skillset to employers by including your Professional Certificate on a resume, CV or LinkedIn profile to showcase your achievement and stand out from the crowd.

Adding Immediate Pathways to Advance Careers

As an innovator in education, edX is always exploring how to further our mission to expand access to and improve the quality of learning. We launched the MicroMasters initiative in September 2016, and it marked a new and exciting step toward furthering this mission. MicroMasters programs were developed to bridge the gap between education and corporations, providing learners with the opportunity to begin down a path of advanced study through a credential with a pathway to credit.

Professional Certificate programs, which mark the next innovative step in our mission, are typically shorter than MicroMasters programs and are designed to provide learners with a more immediate path to reskill or upskill quickly in order to advance their career or position themselves for a new job.

15 New Professional Certificate Programs

I’m thrilled to share with you 15 Professional Certificate programs from 13 universities and companies across the globe! Explore the new program offerings in the most in-demand fields and gain the skills you need to stand out in your field today.

Continued in article

MOOC FAQ --- http://www.openculture.com/mooc_faq

MOOC Providers --- Click Here
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/higher-ed-beta?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=32623deadd-DNU20150817&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-32623deadd-197565045

700 MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) Getting Started in May: Enroll Free Today ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/05/700-moocs-massive-open-online-courses-getting-started-in-may-enroll-free-today.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Bob Jensen's threads on free distance education and training courses (most from prestigious universities) --- 
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

"Cut Through the Hype, and MOOCs Still Have Had a Lasting Impact," by Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, March 13, 2015 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Cut-Through-the-Hype-and/228431/?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en 


Chegg --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chegg

SLM Corporation (commonly known as Sallie Mae; originally the Student Loan Marketing Association) is a publicly traded U.S.[2] corporation that provides consumer banking ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sallie_Mae

Sallie Mae to Offer Online Up to Two Hours of Financial Literacy Tutoring With Clegg ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/05/10/sallie-mae-offer-online-tutoring-chegg?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=0a6e0af061-DNU20170510&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-0a6e0af061-197565045&mc_cid=0a6e0af061&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Sallie Mae, the student loan company, will offer free online tutoring to borrowers through a partnership with Chegg, an online textbook publisher that recently has moved into student support services, including test preparation and tutoring.

Borrowers will get 120 minutes of free access to tutors, Sallie Mae said. They can work with vetted university tutors in 175 subject areas via chat room or Skype, with a goal of helping students improve their grades and chances of graduating. Alternatively, Sallie Mae customers can get four months of free access to Chegg's online study guide service. Or they can do a combination of the two, meaning 60 minutes with tutors and two months with the study guide.

Jensen Comment
Two hours does not go far enough starting from scratch. Students are advised to first study the excellent free financial literacy video modules available from the Kahn Academy (and praised by CBS News) ---
https://www.financialworkshopkits.org/Other-Resources/Khan-Academy-Tutorials

Bob Jensen's Personal Finance Helpers ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers


Most Seniors Flunked a New Retirement Quiz. Could You Do Better? ---
http://time.com/money/4771461/retirement-quiz-pass-or-flunk/?xid=newsletter-brief

Bob Jensen's Personal Finance Helpers ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers


Kaplan University (a for-profit university) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaplan_University

"Purdue’s Purchase (for $1) of Kaplan Is a Big Bet — and a Sign of the Times," by Goldie Blumenstyk, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 28, 2017 ---
 
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Purdue-s-Purchase-of-Kaplan/239931?cid=db&elqTrackId=b7653e228b3341a6acebce86c52ed21a&elq=c91e61b14a254328a0af37dde807914b&elqaid=13706&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5700

With a surprise deal to acquire the for-profit Kaplan University, announced on Thursday, Purdue University has leapfrogged into the thick of the competitive online-education market. Purdue plans to oversee the institution as a new piece of its public-university system — a free-standing arm that will cater to working adults and other nontraditional students.

The purchase, conceived and executed in just five and a half months, puts Purdue in position to become a major force in an online landscape increasingly dominated by nonprofit institutions. Until now, said Purdue’s president, Mitch Daniels, the university "has basically been a spectator to this growth" in distance education, with just a few online graduate programs. Mr. Daniels, a former Republican governor of Indiana, described the acquisition as adding a "third dimension" to Purdue, along with its research-rich flagship in West Lafayette, Ind., and its regional campuses.

For Kaplan and its parent company, Graham Holdings, the deal offers a potentially profitable exit strategy for an operation that has seen its bottom line battered for several years by falling enrollments. (Kaplan now has 32,000 students.)

The contrast between the typical Purdue student and the military veterans, lower-income students, and members of minority groups who make up much of the enrollment at the open-access Kaplan is "stark," said Mr. Daniels. But he said the university has a responsibility to serve such students. Millions of Americans have some or no college credits, and Purdue can’t fulfill its land-grant mission "while ignoring a need so plainly in sight," he noted while unveiling the deal at a Board of Trustees meeting on Thursday.

The potential financial upsides were also clearly a factor. In an interview with The Chronicle, Mr. Daniels said it was "too soon" to talk about revenue projections. "We have hope and reason for hope" that Purdue’s new acquisition will do well, he said, alluding to the fast pace of online growth at other nonprofit institutions, like Western Governors and Southern New Hampshire Universities. "If the new entity gets an even modest version of that growth path, we’ll do very well financially."

Paul LeBlanc, president of Southern New Hampshire, said the online-education market was big enough for a number of new entrants, and he expects Purdue will be a formidable competitor. He also noted some potential pitfalls in absorbing a new entity. "Purdue enjoys a far better brand than Kaplan," said Mr. LeBlanc, and the Kaplan legacy might be a dealbreaker for some students.

Still, he acknowledged that most students searching on the web for an online degree program may not know or care about a university’s origins. If a search turns up Purdue as an option, he said, "you might get pretty excited pretty quick."

Merging university cultures also could be challenging. Value systems, reward structures, and budgeting priorities are not easily changed on a dime just because ownership changes, Mr. LeBlanc said. (Kaplan’s current president, Betty Vandenbosch, who worked previously at Case Western Reserve University, will remain as president when Purdue receives the necessary approvals and takes control.)

Still, Mr. LeBlanc sees the Purdue deal as a sign of the times: "not-for-profit higher ed coming to re-own the space that they ceded" to for-profit colleges.

An Intricate Deal

The new institution has no name as yet, but it will no doubt carry the Purdue name in some form for its brand value. It will receive no state funds, relying solely on tuition and donations for its operations.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education are at ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm


The Kentucky Derby Is Getting Predictable ---
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-kentucky-derby-is-getting-predictable/

Yeah Right
AI:  Artificial Intelligence Fails to Predict the 2017 Kentucky Derby Winner ---
http://fortune.com/2017/05/07/artificial-intelligence-kentucky-derby-predictions/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=58790d2eaf-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-58790d2eaf-153727301
Jensen Comment
There's a huge difference between predicting chess outcomes versus poker winners versus stock prices versus sports outcomes (including the Kentucky Derby).
The biggest difference is the assumption of stationary systems.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stationary_process


California plans to tax space travel by the mile ---
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/*/index?more=3550663

Liberals are salivating at the idea of taxing cars by the distance they travel, to better rake in money for their nefarious purposes. In California, they are taking the idea one step farther, planning to tax space rockets by the mile as well. According to the proposal, California will collect tax from space transportation companies based on a formula factoring in how often a company launches spacecrafts out of the state, and, most importantly, how far a commercial spacecraft travels from California soil. Between May and mid-October, there were eight launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base, in Santa Barbara County..

California seeks to tax rocket launches, which are already taxed ---
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/05/california-may-have-found-a-creative-new-revenue-stream-taxing-rocket-launches/

.. . .

Phil Larson, a former Obama White House official who now is assistant dean of the University of Colorado's College of Engineering and Applied Science, told Ars that California is discriminating against rocket companies by doubly taxing them. He also noted that such a tax would impede California's ability to launch climate satellites, which Governor Jerry Brown has said he would do if President Trump cuts the ability of federal scientists to study Earth's climate.

Instead of such a tax, Larson said, California should work with industry to develop a system of taxation that encourages investment in the state. "The state could advance a proactive effort in the legislature to make sure that California doesn’t end up at the back of the bus in the new space race by supporting a national framework for space innovation," Larson said.

Jensen Comment
Think of the zillions in tax sending space ships to Pluto and beyond.

Phil Larson, a former Obama White House official who now is assistant dean of the University of Colorado's College of Engineering and Applied Science, told Ars that California is discriminating against rocket companies by doubly taxing them. He also noted that such a tax would impede California's ability to launch climate satellites, which Governor Jerry Brown has said he would do if President Trump cuts the ability of federal scientists to study Earth's climate.
 

Jensen Comment
La La Land figured out a way to move all space business and jobs out of state.
California just added 12 cents pre gallon on state roads to help pay for unfunded state worker pensions. Someday Elon Musk will discover how much his companies and auto workers are getting screwed. High tech Silicon Valley workers are being paid so much they don't care about extra taxes they are being paid for the joys of working in the crowded valley. However, those that are living in their cars are concerned about the highest home prices in the USA.

California State Government Hides Billions of Its Debt With Accounting Deceptions

Hi Zafar,

The liberal versus conservative spending controversy has nothing to do with deceptive accounting and underfunded pensions. The liberal Nordic nations, for example, are known for high taxes and healthcare, education, and pension spending --- but they also have more open accounting and funding for their entitlements.

Liberalism should not justify deceptive accounting, and California has traditionally had the most deceptive accounting practices of all 50 states (along with Illinois).

California has been hiding massive debt from its books for years until new 2015 accounting rules at last disclose the extent of past accounting practices ---
http://www.truthinaccounting.org/library/doclib/CA-2015-2pager.pdf

Reported debt went from $11 billion in 2014 to $74.5 billion in 2015, Despite the new accounting rules California still manages to hide most of its unfunded obligations for state pensions.

California has the largest unfunded state worker pensions in the USA. It has funded only $96.1 billion to pay the estimated present value of $335.4 billion in bills. Gas tax originally intended for roads and bridges is not being used to pay pensions.

Liberalism should not justify deceptive accounting and spending mismanagement. Probably the worst mismanagement came when poor internal controls allowed for massive fraud in the setting of union pensions.  Exhibit A spending fraud is San Diego ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Add to dictionary
There are many other California cities where similar frauds transpired

Bob Jensen


Here's where Amazon’s profits are coming from (Hint: it's not from online shopping) ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-web-services-cloud-online-shopping-profits-chart-2017-5

Jensen Comment
Every managerial accounting professor teaches that the most important products and services may sometimes be "losing items" in the product mix. Those so-called losing items may be the most important products contributing to the recovery of fixed costs. The test of importance is what happens when those so-called losing products are dropped from the product mix and other products have to pick up larger shares of fixed costs. In cost accounting courses these are called "sales mix" or "product mix" modules. The classic example is the product mix of blade razors and razor blades. Companies usually sell blade razors at losing prices, because without lots and lots of blade razor sales the razor blade sales would be less profitable.

Another example, is the pricing of economy class tickets on an airplane such as economy-priced round trip tickets that require Saturday night stayovers. The gravy (profit) to an airline is usually in its higher priced business-traveler fares on one-way tickets and round trip tickets that do not require Saturday night stayovers. Business travelers tend to want to return home for weekends and will pay higher ticket prices to avoid having to stay over on Saturday nights. Those Saturday night low-priced round trip tickets may not be profitable to airlines but they contribute heavily, due to demand, toward recovery of the fixed costs of the airline. Without them business traveler tickets would have to cover more of the cost of flying empty seats.

In terms of online shopping Amazon is still recovering billions spent of comprehensive software, customer relations, and infrastructure for online sales. For most of its life Amazon had negative profits in anticipation of profits arising after recover of its heavy investments in the online shopping industry. Investors in Amazon common stock kept pouring money into Amazon in anticipation of future returns not current returns.


Jagdish Gangolly put down economics majors (and presumably business majors) with the following message:

. . .

So, now economics is very popular. But economics produces nothing, it only juggles what you have. Hard sciences, medicine, humanities, architecture, music, all contribute far more to civilization, and the mind.

Jensen Comment
Juggling resources in the economy can be very important. It leads to funding of innovation like all the funding IPOs give to new and innovative ventures. It can also lead to saving old and underfunded industries such as the boost Warran Buffett gave to railroads that were dying due to declining infrastructure like road bed and bridge repairs.

A millennial asked Warren Buffett what value his firm adds — here's what he said ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-asked-warren-buffett-what-berkshire-hathaway-adds-2017-5

When retired journalist Carol Loomis stepped to the microphone at Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting, she posed a question sent in from the younger generation.

The apparent "millennial" (Loomis' word) wanted to know what value Berkshire offers the companies in which it invests, and by extension the firm's own shareholders. Apple gives the world iPhones, while 3G Capital improves operations, he argued, but what does Berkshire do?

The investment conglomerate adds value through relief, responded Buffett, who noted that Berkshire does a lot of the dirty work for its portfolio companies. What it doesn't do is meddle, he said.

"We certainly don’t add to value by calling them up and saying we developed a better system," said Buffett. "We might very well free up about 20% of the time of a CEO just in terms of meeting with analysts, the calls and meeting with banks. Essentially, we relieve them so they can spend their time figuring out how to run their business."

Buffett defended Berkshire's relatively hands-off approach, while noting that the firm often serves as a protective shield from the public market while offering ample capital to the companies under its umbrella

Continued in article


Years of Work, Tabled:   Collapse of undergraduate curricular reform at Duke illustrates the difficulty of building consensus on just what students need to learn ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/04/26/duke-undergraduate-curricular-reform-vote-tabled-indefinitely-after-years-work?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=464d086324-DNU20170426&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-464d086324-197565045&mc_cid=464d086324&mc_eid=1e78f7c952


"Creative Ways to Help Students Recover From Failure," by Raynard S. Kington, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 23, 2017 ---
http://www.chronicle.com/article/Creative-Ways-to-Help-Students/239862?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=74248221e9894a0abe92fdcadaae4f50&elq=294c500819c141488fcca8a87988ea88&elqaid=13635&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5662


How to Manage Your Finances When One Spouse Retires – and the Other Doesn’t ---
http://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/articles/2017-04-28/how-to-manage-your-finances-when-one-spouse-retires-and-the-other-doesnt

Bob Jensen's Personal Finance Helpers ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers


The News Is Broken, and Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales Plans to Fix It With His New Site, Wikitribune ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/04/the-news-is-broken-and-wikipedia-founder-jimmy-wales-plans-to-fix-it-with-his-new-site-wikitribune.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29


THE BLOCKCHAIN IN BANKING REPORT: The future of blockchain solutions and technologies ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/blockchain-in-banking-2017-3

Wharton:  How Delaware's Block Chain Trial Could Change Wall Street ---
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/delawares-blockchain-trial-change-wall-street/

Can blockchain technology help poor people around the world?  ---
https://theconversation.com/can-blockchain-technology-help-poor-people-around-the-world-76059

Blockchain - a Database with a Twist
SSRN. April 30, 2017
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2958565

Author

Boon Seng Tan --- Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants

Abstract

This paper reviews the concept that a blockchain is simply a database without a central authority. This concept means that a blockchain-based application is inherently a database application that leverages on the strength blockchain has over a traditional database with central authority. Two major areas of applications are: (a) shared database containing records of interdependent transactions, (b) asset registries where the chain of historical ownership (i.e. provenance) is valuable. The absence of a central authority means that traditional security via login linked to permission to read and write the database is no longer the primary strategy. Instead, immutability of the blockchain, together with identification and allocation of the validator, becomes the primary security strategy. These conceptual differences are the driving force behind the unusual data and database structure of the blockchain. This paper presents these concepts to a non-technical audience at two levels: (a) an easy to read-no complexity level without explanation of mechanics, and (b) building on the previous level, explain the key mechanics for a non-technical audience.


Defense Contractors to Face New Cost Accounting Oversight with Creation of Defense Cost Accounting Standards Board ---
http://www.natlawreview.com/article/defense-contractors-to-face-new-cost-accounting-oversight-creation-defense-cost

Jensen Comment
Since fraud is also monumental in Medicaid and Medicare spending, I would also like to see the formation of a M&M Accounting Standards Board that investigates, among other things, both fraudulent billings by providers and fraudulent benefits by patients such as when half the people on Medicaid in Illinois were not even eligible for Medicaid. I also think there's way too much fraud in the pilfering of estates by heirs so that that grandma or grandpa can get free nursing home care paid for by Medicaid.


The former vice chancellor for research at the University of California, Los Angeles, has retracted a 2012 paper after an internal investigation found evidence of image manipulation.---
http://mct.aacrjournals.org/content/16/5/977

Science is retracting a paper about how human pollution is harming fish, after months of questions about the validity of the data ---
http://retractionwatch.com/2016/12/02/stolen-data-prompts-science-flag-debated-study-fish-plastics/

107 Studies Published in a Cancer Journal Have Just Been Retracted ---
http://www.sciencealert.com/107-studies-published-in-a-cancer-journal-have-just-been-retracted?elqTrackId=4561655267734dd89d40a6a025280840&elq=8e6f5d6a03de49d39c19969b99040d75&elqaid=13671&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5674

. . .

But there is massive publishing pressure in the scientific community, and with about 2.5 million papers published each year, some of those inevitably end up cutting corners. In this case, the transgression was what's known as 'fake peer review'.

Scientists are often asked to provide recommendations for potential reviewers of their work. While that sounds like an obvious invitation to cheat, it actually makes sense when the work is really specific and few others do similar research.

But it's easy to game the system by providing a fake reviewer email address, impersonating an actual researcher and sending the journal a super-positive review in their name.

"The articles were submitted with reviewer suggestions, which had real researcher names but fabricated email addresses," Springer representative Peter Butler told Yan Jie at Sixth Tone.

It's a pretty massive lot of retractions all at once, but a few of the big academic publishers have been sweeping their portfolios for potential breaches, including fake peer review, plagiarism, data fabrication and more.

Continued in article

Harvard teaching hospital to pay $10 million to settle research misconduct allegations ---
http://retractionwatch.com/2017/04/27/harvard-teaching-hospital-pay-10-million-settle-research-misconduct-allegations/

Brigham and Women’s Hospital and its parent healthcare network have agreed to pay $10 million to the U.S. government to resolve allegations it fraudulently obtained federal funding.

Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm 


Two Major Credit Reporting Agencies Have Been Lying to Consumers ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/01/credit-scores-cfpb/512162/

Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm 


San Francisco is considering a once unthinkable measure to offset the threat of job-killing robots ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/san-francisco-considers-robot-tax-jane-kim-2017-4

Jensen Comment
This is not an original idea. A French economist named Frédéric Bastiat proposed something similar in the 1800s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Bastiat

Bastiat's famous Candlestick makers' Petition ---
http://bastiat.org/en/petition.html

If the world did not have more economic sense we would still be subsidizing "Manufacturers of Candles, Tapers, Lanterns, sticks, Street Lamps, Snuffers, and Extinguishers, and from Producers of Tallow, Oil, Resin, Alcohol, and Generally of Everything Connected with Lighting."

Latte makers of San Francisco --- Stand up and unite for centuries more of job subsidies and other economic protections.


The top 15 organizations business majors want to work for after graduation ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/where-business-students-most-want-to-work-after-graduation-2017-4/#15-microsoft-1

Jensen Comment
CPA firm PwC came in at Rank 13 and Deloitte hit Rank 9. Note that the  "percentage of business students who want to work there" data point can be misleading. For example, it's reported that only 8.27% of the business majors want to work for Deloitte. This, in part, may be due to the fact that over 80% of the business major graduates are not eligible to work for Deloitte that hires mainly accounting and IT and computer science majors. Among accounting majors my guess is that over 80% would like a job offer from Deloitte. Accounting graduates who aspire to work for the Big Four and other large CPA firms often do not intend to stay with those high-stress and heavy-travel firms for their entire careers. What accounting graduates are seeking is expensive training and experience working with clients. Clients often hire away CPA firm employees after they have 5-10 years of professional work experience.

Most of the above 15 favored organizations (including the FBI) did, not however, make it into the top firms rated for home-work life balance.

The 20 Best Firms for Work-Life Balance ---
Kristen Bahler, Time Magazine, April 20, 2017
http://time.com/money/4748265/in-out-work-life-balance/?xid=newsletter-brief
Jensen Comment
No accounting firms made the Top 20 unless you want to call H&R Block an accounting firm. H&R Block not only made the Top 20, it came out Number 1 on this 2017 round. Top accounting firms, however, increasingly provide opportunities to parents, including very flexible work scheduling and opportunities to work at home on the computer. However, when going to work travel is the name of the game in public accounting.
I like Starbucks the best if for no other reason than Starbucks provides a free online degree from Arizona State University.


Electric 18-Wheel Trucks are Up to an Average of 124 Miles Between Battery Chargings ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-says-tesla-semi-truck-can-drive-like-sports-car-2017-4

Jensen Comment
As far as range goes, there's a big difference between crossing the Rocky Mountains loaded with army tanks versus driving in frigid northern Alberta with a load of lettuce. One thing about big trucks is that they might be able to haul their own hydrogen fuel cells for battery rechargings while moving on the road.

How long before electric caterpillars can push up giant tree stumps and perform any other heavy-duty job now performed by big diesel engines?

How long before electric caterpillars can be cost-competitive pushing up tree stumps and performing any other heavy-duty job now performed by big diesel engines? It may be a long time before lithium batteries are cost effective for really heavy duty tasks.

I suppose the question is not if but when electric trucks and road grading equipment can outperform their diesel ancestors.  My guess is that the answer lies in getting much more efficient and effective batteries than those lithium powered batteries used today.


Living Concrete That Can Heal Its Own Cracks ---
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/14/tech/bioconcrete-delft-jonkers/?inf_contact_key=a209262fc28997a401902a0b848b366a9b1aaf887522a594194d100a842a3021


Women Doctors Earn Less—and Not Because of the Jobs They Choose ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-27/women-doctors-earn-less-and-not-because-of-the-jobs-they-choose?cmpid=BBD042717_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=170427&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily

Jensen Comment
The study points out that women are bunched somewhat in the lower paying practices such as family practices versus higher paying neurosurgery.

But the study above fails to mention why within a given specialty, say family practice or pediatrics, women may earn less than their associates/partners in the same office.

Freakonomics:  The (Complicated) True Story of the Gender Pay Gap ---
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-true-story-of-the-gender-pay-gap-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/


Invisible Manipulators of Your Mind
The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds

by Michael Lewis
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/04/20/kahneman-tversky-invisible-mind-manipulators/

Thank you Jagdish Gangolly for the heads up.


Whistleblower sues Duke, claims doctored data helped win $200 million in grants ---
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/whistleblower-sues-duke-claims-doctored-data-helped-win-200-million-grants

On a Friday in March 2013, a researcher working in the lab of a prominent pulmonary scientist at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, was arrested on charges of embezzlement. The researcher, biologist Erin Potts-Kant, later pled guilty to siphoning more than $25,000 from the Duke University Health System, buying merchandise from Amazon, Walmart, and Target—even faking receipts to legitimize her purchases. A state judge ultimately levied a fine, and sentenced her to probation and community service.

Then Potts-Kant's troubles got worse. Duke officials took a closer look at her work and didn't like what they saw. Fifteen of her papers, mostly dealing with pulmonary biology, have now been retracted, with many notices citing "unreliable" data. Several others have been modified with either partial retractions, expressions of concern, or corrections. And last month, a U.S. district court unsealed a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former colleague of Potts-Kant. It accuses the researcher, her former supervisor, and the university of including fraudulent data in applications and reports involving more than 60 grants worth some $200 million. If successful, the suit—brought under the federal False Claims Act (FCA)—could force Duke to return to the government up to three times the amount of any ill-gotten funds, and produce a multimillion-dollar payout to the whistleblower.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm


How Statistical Thinking Should Shape the Courtroom ---
https://theconversation.com/how-statistical-thinking-should-shape-the-courtroom-74966

Jensen Comment
The biggest problem with statistics in the courtroom is educating the judges, juries, and attorneys about the limitations of statistics and probability theory, including such huge limitations as the assumptions of stationary processes that are seldom met, assumption of randomness of sampled items and events, declaration of statistical significance on non-substantive outcomes, and lack of robustness.

Stationary Processes --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stationary_process

Randomness --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randomness

Large samples can be your significance testing enemy ---
The Cult of Statistical Significance: How Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives --- 
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DeirdreMcCloskey/StatisticalSignificance01.htm

Robustness --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robust_statistics

And on and on and on

The road to hell (but not tenure) in academia is paved with bad statistical analyses. If the thousands of PhDs educated in statistics cannot get statistical analyses right we can hardly expect the statistically untrained members of the court to not be misled by faulty statistical analyses ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong

April 30, 2017 reply from Jagdish Gangolly

The earliest case where statistics was used that I know of is the so called Dreyfus case. A French case dating late nineteenth century, it had to do with establishing the authorship of a French document that had passed on to the Germans. Dreyfus was a captain in the French general staff. The prosecution witnesses made statistical arguments based on the word matches with other documents taken from Dreyfus home. Today, the method would be considered a crude application of statistical natural language processing methods.  Lawrence Tribe wrote a well known paper in the Harvard Law Review in the 1970s titled "Trial by mathematics: Precision and ritual in the legal process" (https://www.math.upenn.edu/~kazdan/proof/notes/Tribe-ritual1971.pdf). This paper has been generally considered unfavourable for the application of quantitative methods in legal decisions, but a careful reading suggests a balanced view.  

 

There is also a fascinating paper on "Bayes and the Law" at http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev-statistics-041715-033428.

 The point made in both is the "bad" application of statistics in the early cases that led to a backlash in legal proceedings. But now, I think, the situation is changed, and statistical arguments do play a role, but not yet a definitive role, except in genetic evidence.


Visualizing Law School Employment Outcomes In California, Illinois, New York, And Texas ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2017/04/mullervisualizing-law-school-employment-outcomes-in-california-illinois-new-york-and-texas.html

Jensen Comment
Entry-level employment is not necessarily great entry-level employment, and entry-level high starting salary does not necessarily mean great entry-level employment in terms of training and opportunity for the future. Generally great entry-level employment is correlated with both the quantity and quality of training and experience, especially when that training and experience is rooted in specialties of the profession where the most rewarding opportunities usually exist. For example experience searching rel estate title records is not the same as experience in contracting for mergers and acquisitions.

The sad thing in the 21st Century is that so many law school graduates are just grateful that they do not have to take orders for fries or make up hotel room beds in their first jobs.


The top 15 organizations business majors want to work for after graduation ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/where-business-students-most-want-to-work-after-graduation-2017-4/#15-microsoft-1

Jensen Comment
CPA firm PwC came in at Rank 13 and Deloitte hit Rank 9.

Most of the above 15 favored organizations (including the FBI) did, not however, make it into the top firms rated for home-work life balance.


Marissa Mayer: Do Something You Feel Unprepared To Do ---
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/marissa-mayer-do-something-you-feel-unprepared-do?utm_source=Stanford+Business&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Stanford-Business-Issue-111-4-30-2017&utm_content=general

Jensen Advice
Also move in early into technical things in an effort to be on the vanguard of early demand. For example, most of my nearly 400 speaking invitations around the world came from being early into:  (1) Education Technology and (2) SFAS 133 on accounting for derivative financial instruments and hedging activities ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Resume.htm#Presentations

It took a while, but eventually colleges and universities hired and trained their own experts on education technology such it was only early on that I was worth bringing to campus to offer something unique on this topic. Eventually, the experts trained by these colleges had more to offer than me.

When SFAS 133 was about to be released business firms (think General Electric), CPA firms (think the Big Five in those days), and college campuses had virtually no expertise on the technical aspects of SFAS 133 ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 
After working intensely to prepare a dog and pony show on this topic I was invited all over the world to present what I knew about this new and very complicated technical accounting standard. Within 10 years the business firms and CPA firms had developed their own experts to a point where there was no longer a need to bring me in for presentations. But for a decade I had a pretty good run. Interestingly, SFAS 133 is still a topic where college campuses lack expertise. I still get invitations to speak on this topic on college campuses, although I've intentionally cut back on travel at this stage of my retirement.

As much as I prepared my dog and pony shows on technical topics I always had a feeling that I was "doing something I was unprepared to do." For example, I was not experienced at dealing directly with audit clients on accounting for derivative financial instruments. But yet I was invited to consult with the auditors who had such clients. But I did my best when invited to talk about what I did know and could illustrate with my prepared materials. The key to making presentations is preparation, preparation, and then more preparation. Also when you are an invited speaker you usually encounter others who can teach you something you did not know. Never think you are the expert to a point where you cannot learn new things when teaching your subjects.


How Students Tunnel to Knowledge in a Low-Tech World
A pair of students at the University of Kentucky tried to get an early look at their professor's exam by using the air ducts in the ceiling as passageways into his office after hours. Luckily, the statistics professor is — like many of his colleagues, no doubt — either nocturnal or overworked. He was in the office working late when the students made their daring attempt, and he called the police. (The account was written up in the Lexington Herald-Leader.) ---
http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article148415434.html?elqTrackId=814ca647cc424c978d10d77ff6602dfb&elq=08f9f5802b2846c4b24158f2197e66e0&elqaid=13783&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5741

How Students Cheat in a High-Tech World ---
http://www.chronicle.com/resource/how-students-cheat-in-a-high-t/6122/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=0d7b54aea8e34661b75d5c907d10b04f&elq=991dd24aa8c64b80acbb0ac51b4a0661&elqaid=13721&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=5707

A law student was caught using invisible ink and a UV light to cheat on an exam. The woman had legitimately taken her law textbook into an exam. However, it had 24 pages of secret notes written throughout it. She used a "black light" attached to her pen to read them ---
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/student-caught-using-invisible-ink-to-cheat-during-law-exam/ar-BBAMsr3?ocid=spartandhp

Bob Jensen's threads on plagiarism and cheating ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm


Harvard Libertarian Philosopher Robert Nozick --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Nozick

How Robert Nozick put a purple prose bomb under analytical philosophy ---
https://aeon.co/ideas/how-robert-nozick-put-a-purple-prose-bomb-under-analytical-philosophy?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=842570fcee-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_05_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-842570fcee-68951505

Jensen Comment
In 1971/72 my office in the CASBS think tank overlooking Lake Lagunita on the Stanford University campus was next door to the office of Bob Nozick. It was a year in which we were both free to pursue whatever topics we wanted to think about. In those days my thoughts were more on statistical modeling while his were on liberation logic. In retrospect I wish I'd spent that year devoted to understanding his logic and learning more about libertarianism philosophy of small government. It was not a time of life when I gave much thought to social and economic philosophy. In retrospect that was my loss while residing next door to Robert Nozick.


Public Sector Fraud Per Usual in Chicago
Barbara Byrd-Bennett, Former Chicago Schools CEO, Sentenced to Prison  ---
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/District_Dossier/2017/04/barbara_byrd-bennett_former_chicago_district_CEO_sentenced_to_prison.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news2

Former Chicago schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett was sentenced Friday to more than four years in prison for her role in steering no-bid contracts to an education consulting company in exchange for kickbacks in a $20 million corruption scheme

Bob Jensen's Fraud Updates ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm


From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on May 3, 2017

SEC probes solar companies.
Federal regulators are investigating whether solar-energy companies are masking how many customers they are losing, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Some customers say they canceled contracts after being strong-armed into solar-energy deals; hundreds of complaints to state attorneys general ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/sec-probes-solar-companies-over-disclosure-of-customer-cancellations-1493803801

. . .

Hundreds of complaints have been filed against solar companies to attorneys general in Texas, Oregon, California and Florida, with customers saying they are paying more on their utility bills, not less as they were promised, and have been sold expensive systems they can’t afford, according to Freedom of Information Act requests filed by the Campaign for Accountability, a consumer-watchdog group, and according to lawsuits filed by customers.

Some customers say they were strong-armed into buying solar-energy systems by sales representatives who threatened to sue them if they didn’t proceed with a project or to place a so-called mechanic’s lien on their homes—a measure used to force a homeowner to pay for a home-improvement project. Others say they didn’t realize they had actually signed contracts. Many said they believed they were just giving permission for a consultation.

“In the residential solar industry, integrity and word of mouth recommendations are paramount,” the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, said in a statement in response to questions. “Our investigation of state public records suggests that the number of complaints represents a very small fraction of the number of successful solar installations nationwide.”

Continued in article


Six Ways to Fraud-Protect Savings of the Elderly (note the "springing" power of attorney)---
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/6-ways-to-fraud-proof-your-retirement-savings/

Jensen Comment
Some of these tips should be modified in light of protections such as the degree of protection provided by a trustworthy ID theft insurance protection company.
Definitely consider the deep pockets of your account provider. Many thefts are less protected if you use a local money manager (like a solo attorney or CPA) rather than a reputable money management company.
If you have a broker make sure that broker is not churning the accounts for increased transactions commissions.
Older folks may not really need to pay money managers if they park their savings in safe places like TIAA, Vanguard, or Fidelity offering free high-quality advice to older folks. Before retirement many employers provide some good free advice for money management.

Some things vital to younger people are not as relevant to older folks. For example, when investing pension savings a younger worker should definitely consider inflation risks. Inflation risk of of less concern to most older folks when it comes to weighing investment risk against inflation risk. For example, investing savings in a tax-exempt bond mutual fund is not a good alternative for long-term inflation protection, but may be a good place to park money for older folks like me less concerned with inflation risk. A high-priced house on an acreage may be good inflation protection for a young couple but retirees might consider selling it off after retirement so they can appreciate the liquidity without having to incur the financing cost of a reverse mortgage. In my opinion, reverse mortgages are over-hyped in the media. For sme older folks they are not the best alternative for liquidity.

Everybody should keep an eye on tax reform.
I doubt that Trump will be able to eliminate all the itemized deductions he recently proposed eliminating, but some older folks should reconsider both investing and spending practices if he has some success. Personally, I don't think Congress will greatly modify tax law for individuals, although there may be some major revisions for business firms. Older folks affected by the more complicated aspects of tax regulations, such as those having Subchapter S investments, definitely should seek out expert advice unless they are experts themselves. Don't be blind sided by serious tax reform!

Bob Jensen's personal finance helpers are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers


 


 


 

 


 


 


 




From the Scout Report on April  28, 2017

Brackets --- http://brackets.io 

Brackets is a text editor designed especially for web design. Compatible with HTML, CSS, and Javascript, this free open-source tool boasts a simple, no-frills design. The idea behind Brackets is to make coding simpler without a cumbersome tool bar. Instead, Brackets offers shortcuts with key commands. The text editor also works in one's web browser and allows users to work on web design while simultaneously testing the final product (including formatting and colors)  in real time. 


Liner --- http://getliner.com 

Liner has a simple purpose: it allows users to highlight text as they read. Want to highlight or annotate interesting sections of a research article? Give Liner a try. The Google Chrome extension and iOS application automatically syncs across multiple devices, allowing users to select a specific text or piece of information in an article or PDF. In addition, Liner also works with screenshots. This feature may appeal to anyone wanting to highlight a specific piece of text on a website during a presentation or as part of a social media post.


Introducing the Museum of Failure, a Reminder that with Innovation
Comes Colossal Flops
From Colgate Lasagne to Crystal Pepsi: visit the Museum of Failure
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2017/apr/19/museum-failure-samuel-west-sweden

A New Museum in Sweden is All About Failure
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/new-museum-sweden-all-about-failure-180962995

The Lessons of Commercial Flops on Display in Sweden's 'Museum of Failure'
http://www.npr.org/2017/04/22/525188041/the-lessons-of-commercial-flops-on-display-in-swedens-museum-of-failure

A Brief History of Failure
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/11/12/magazine/16innovationsfailures.html

YouTube: Foo Cafe: Playfulness Creative Thinking - Samuel West
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmXF7gKNjNA

Museum of Broken Relationships
https://brokenships.com




From the Scout Report on May 5, 2017

Google Keep --- https://keep.google.com 

Gmail users may be interested in Google Keep, a tool that allows users to save reminders, to-do lists, URLs, images, and more in just one place. Once downloaded, users can quickly and easily create reminders, upload images, or add notes. While Google Keep is folder-free (which may appeal to those looker for simplicity), users do have the option of adding labels, color-coding items, and conducting  a text search for a note or item of interest. Google Keep also syncs across multiple devices and users have the option of copying and exporting text from Google Keep into Google Docs for editing. Just like Google Docs, Google Keep also allows users to easily share notes and items with others.


 DashFlow Money Tracker --- http://dashflow.co

Looking for some digital help in tracking your spending habits and meeting financial goals? Dashflow may appeal. This financial application for iOS devices allows users to organize and track spending.  Financial information is presented across a number of useful graphs and the user-friendly and straight-forward interface allows users to focus on their financial life without distraction. In addition, DashFlow allows users to enter due date reminders and track multiple financial goals at once. The basic version of DashFlow is free; users have the option of purchasing Pro or Premium versions for additional features

Bob Jensen's Personal Finance Helpers ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers 


Scientists Identified the DNA of Neanderthals and Denisovans in the
Soil of Caves
DNA of extinct humans found in caves
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-39747326

No Bones About It: Scientists Recover Ancient DNA From Cave Dirt
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/27/science/ancient-human-dna-cave-dirt.html

No bones needed: ancient DNA in soil can tell if humans were around
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/04/no-bones-needed-ancient-dna-in-soil-can-tell-if-humans-were-around

Photos: Looking for Extinct Humans in Ancient Cave Mud
http://www.livescience.com/58873-dna-from-extinct-humans-photos.html

The Other Neanderthal
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/the-other-neanderthal/375916

YouTube: Neanderthal and Denisovan Genomes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoXwQ_H3bRs




Free Online Tutorials, Videos, Course Materials, and Learning Centers


Education Tutorials

AHA: Teaching With #DigHist (teaching history) ---
https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-with-dighist

Purdue Owl: White Papers (standards for white papers on various topics) --- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/546/1

How Well Are American Students Learning? (PDF) ---
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-brown-center-report-on-american-education.pdf

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki --- http://www.libsuccess.org

Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch

Bob Jensen's bookmarks for multiple disciplines --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm

Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

 


Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials

National Air and Space Museum: STEM in 30 --- https://airandspace.si.edu/connect/stem-

NOVA Labs: RNA (biology) --- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/labs/lab/rna

Smithsonian Learning Lab --- https://learninglab.si.edu

Google Earth: Voyager --- https://earth.google.com/web/data=CgQSAggB

Aeon: Videos (various topics in history and science) --- https://aeon.co/videos

Global Gender Gap Report 2016 --- http://projects.two-n.com/world-gender

CDC: 500 Cities Project --- https://www.cdc.gov/500Cities

An Atlas of Electricity (history of the power grid) --- http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2016/electricity

Mutter Museum: Civil War Lesson Plans --- http://muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/civil-war-lesson-plans

ADS: (Archaeology Data Services) Sound Bytes --- http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/blog

Garden Wildlife Health --- http://www.gardenwildlifehealth.org

Coursera: Stanford University: Machine Learning (computing without programming languages) --- https://www.coursera.org/learn/machine-learning

Bob Jensen's threads on free online science, engineering, and medicine tutorials are at --http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm

Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


Social Science and Economics Tutorials

Nieman Journalism Lab --- http://www.niemanlab.org

How Well Are American Students Learning? (PDF) ---
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2017-brown-center-report-on-american-education.pdf

ADS: (Archaeology Data Services) Sound Bytes --- http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/blog

Oral History of Twentieth Century Mongolia --- http://amantuuh.socanth.cam.ac.uk

Historical Photos and Images: EPA's Documerica Project (1971-77) --- https://www.epa.gov/history/historical-photos-and-images

Bob Jensen's threads on Economics, Anthropology, Social Sciences, and Philosophy tutorials are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm

Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


Law and Legal Studies

Bob Jensen's threads on law and legal studies are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Scroll down to Law


Math Tutorials

Beautiful Math --- http://momath.org/home/beautifulmath

RIP Malcolm Swan --- http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2017/rip-malcolm-swan/

Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Scroll down to Mathematics and Statistics

Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


History Tutorials

YouTube: YaleCourses: Let This Be a Lesson (History) --- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNewopQgXzhCVScpnvy8o32mU

Historically Black --- http://www.apmreports.org/historically-black

AHA: Teaching With #DigHist (teaching history) ---
https://www.historians.org/teaching-and-learning/teaching-resources-for-historians/teaching-with-dighist

National Air and Space Museum: STEM in 30 --- https://airandspace.si.edu/connect/stem-

Mutter Museum: Civil War Lesson Plans --- http://muttermuseum.org/exhibitions/civil-war-lesson-plans

Rhizome (contemporary media art) --- http://rhizome.org

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki --- http://www.libsuccess.org

Shakespeare Unlimited --- http://www.folger.edu/shakespeare-unlimited

The Mind is a Collection (philosophy history) --- http://www.mindisacollection.org

Aeon: Videos (various topics in history and science) --- https://aeon.co/videos

An Atlas of Electricity (history of the power grid) --- http://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2016/electricity

Bob Jensen's threads on history tutorials are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Scroll down to History
Also see http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm  

The Art and Science of Healing --- http://exhibitions.kelsey.lsa.umich.edu/art-science-healing

Daily Heller (art and design) --- http://www.printmag.com/daily-heller

Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art --- http://www.jhna.org

Oral History of Twentieth Century Mongolia --- http://amantuuh.socanth.cam.ac.uk

The Neglected Books Page --- http://neglectedbooks.com

Watch a Timelapse Film Showing How the British Library Digitized the World’s Largest Atlas, the 6-Foot Tall “Klencke Atlas” from 1660 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/05/watch-a-timelapse-film-showing-how-the-british-library-digitized-the-worlds-largest-atlas.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Historical Photos and Images: EPA's Documerica Project (1971-77) --- https://www.epa.gov/history/historical-photos-and-images

The Love Letters of Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/05/the-love-letters-of-hannah-arendt-and-martin-heidegger.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Presidential Libraries Are a Scam. Could Obama Change That? --- http://lisnews.org/node/44813/

Bob Jensen's links to free courses and tutorials --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


Language Tutorials

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


Music Tutorials

 

Bob Jensen's threads on free music tutorials are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Scroll down to Music

Bob Jensen's threads on music performances ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm


Writing Tutorials

Purdue Owl: White Papers (standards for white papers on various topics) --- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/546/1

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



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

CDC Blogs --- http://blogs.cdc.gov/

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

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

April 26, 2017

April 27, 2017

April 29, 2017

May 1, 2017

May 2, 2017

May 3, 2017

May 4, 2017

May 5, 2017

May 6, 2017

May 9, 2017

May 11, 2017

May 12, 2017

May 13, 2017

 

 

 

 


Why bacteria are more threatening than ever ---
http://time.com/4767683/bacteria-antibiotic-resistance-superbugs/?xid=newsletter-brief


What the Liberal Media Keeps Hush Hush (especially mutilation in the USA)
The Ongoing Practice of Female Genital Mutilation  ---
https://daily.jstor.org/ongoing-practice-female-genital-mutilation/


Time Magazines Coconut Oil Healthy ---
http://time.com/4755761/coconut-oil-healthy/?xid=newsletter-brief


Video:  Non-invasive Surgery of the Future ---
https://safeshare.tv/x/DTAINyElxY


CDC: 500 Cities Project --- https://www.cdc.gov/500Cities


2017 is shaping up to be the most profitable year ever for drug cartels peddling heroin ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-05-11/the-heroin-business-is-booming-in-america?cmpid=BBD051117_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=170511&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily


Great Video:  Hedge Funds Are Facing a U.S. Criminal Probe Over Bond Valuations ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-11/hedge-funds-facing-u-s-criminal-probe-over-bond-valuations?cmpid=BBD051117_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=170511&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily

Jensen Comment
It would seem that the easiest markets to illegally manipulate are extremely thin markets with infrequently traded securities.
This is one of the Achilles heel of fair value accounting.

 


Humor for May 2017

Forwarded by Paula
The world is full of flat squirrels that could not make a decision.

Forwarded by Paula
I just realized people are prisoners to their remote phones.
That's why they're called cell phones.

Dry Cleaning Video (takes me back to the days of Alan Funt's "Candid Camera") ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/15bf918e3e98c25b?projector=1

The Onion:  Notable Commencement Speeches for the Class of 2017 ---
http://www.theonion.com/infographic/notable-commencement-speakers-class-2017-55876?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=feeds

How to Remove Grumpiness ---
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/9th-intake-hmas-leeuwin/iw3MjOk4mNU

 


Forwarded by Glen Gray

There has been a lot of talk about Trump’s 100 days—What did he accomplish?

 

Well, under the Obama administration California had 5 years of record breaking drought—one of the 7 signs of the apocalypse.

 

However, since Trump’s election in November we have record snow and rain fall in California. Governor Brown (a Democrat) has recognized this accomplishment and has declared an end to the 5-year (Obama?) drought. Californian are downright giddy. The Governor has turned the water back on to showers at the beaches. The homeless who live there look and smell so much better now! Fountains have been filled with water again and turned on. The spectacular fountain across the street from USC in the Rose Garden is fully operational again. Weddings and quinceanera celebrations (Goggle it) will surely return to the Gardens.

 

So: IF Obama THEN drought and IF Trump THEN no drought. Looks like a 100% correlation to me.


 

 




Humor December 2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q4.htm#Humor1216.htm 

Humor November 2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q4.htm#Humor1116.htm 

Humor October 2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q4.htm#Humor1016.htm

Humor September 2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q3.htm#Humor0916.htm

Humor August  2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q3.htm#Humor083116.htm

Humor July  2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q3.htm#Humor0716.htm  

Humor June  2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q2.htm#Humor063016.htm

Humor May  2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q2.htm#Humor053116.htm

Humor April  2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q2.htm#Humor043016.htm

Humor March  2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q1.htm#Humor033116.htm

Humor February  2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q1.htm#Humor022916.htm

Humor January  2016 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book16q1.htm#Humor013116.htm

 




Tidbits Archives --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://faculty.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://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm
For-Profit Universities Operating in the Gray Zone of Fraud  (College, Inc.) --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#ForProfitFraud

Shielding Against Validity Challenges in Plato's Cave ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm

The Cult of Statistical Significance: How Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DeirdreMcCloskey/StatisticalSignificance01.htm

How Accountics Scientists Should Change: 
"Frankly, Scarlett, after I get a hit for my resume in The Accounting Review I just don't give a damn"
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm
One more mission in what's left of my life will be to try to change this
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm 

What went wrong in accounting/accountics research?  ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong

The Sad State of Accountancy Doctoral Programs That Do Not Appeal to Most Accountants ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms

AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW: 1926-2005 ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1

Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory ---
http://faculty.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://faculty.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://faculty.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://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm 
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://faculty.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://faculty.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://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm

 

For an elaboration on the reasons you should join a ListServ (usually for free) go to   http://faculty.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://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Some Accounting History Sites

Bob Jensen's Accounting History in a Nutshell and Links --- http://faculty.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://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#DerivativesFrauds

History of Fraud in America --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/415wp/AmericanHistoryOfFraud.htm
Also see http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud.htm

Bob Jensen's Threads ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://faculty.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