Tidbits on July 12, 2017
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Bob Jensen's Set 6-2017a of Favorite Summertime Flowers
http://cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/SummertimeFavorites/Set06-2017a/Set06-2017a.htm

 

Tidbits on July 12, 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

An Animated Introduction to Stoicism, the Ancient Greek Philosophy That Lets You Lead a Happy, Fulfilling Life  ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/06/an-animated-introduction-to-stoicism-the-ancient-greek-philosophy-that-lets-you-lead-a-happy-fulfilling-life.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

An Animated Introduction to the Life & Work of Marie Curie, the First Female Nobel Laureate ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/an-animated-introduction-to-the-life-work-of-marie-curie.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

An Animated Introduction to Economist John Maynard Keynes ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/an-animated-introduction-to-economist-john-maynard-keynes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

A Bear's Eye View of Yellowstone --- http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/05/yellowstone-national-parks-bears-video

PBS NewsHour: Science --- http://www.pbs.org/newshour/topic/science


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 

Women of Jazz: Stream a Playlist of 91 Recordings by Great Female Jazz Musicians ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/women-of-jazz-stream-a-playlist-of-91-recordings-by-great-female-jazz-musicians.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

43 paintings you need to see before you die ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/art-to-see-before-you-die-2017-7
Jensen Comment
Most of these are not on my bucket list since I'm more of a fan of the Dutch Masters and the Saturday Evening Post Paintings (especially Norman Rockwell's paintings that make me smile) ---
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/227572587391098378/
I wouldn't walk across the street to see most of the 43 paintings above.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Makes 140,000+ Artistic Images from Its Collections Available on Archive.org ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/06/the-metropolitan-museum-of-art-makes-140000-artistic-images-from-its-collections-available-on-archive-org.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Education at the Getty: When Art Talks
 http://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/classroom_resources/curricula/when_art_talks/wat_index.html

11,700 Free Photos from John Margolies’ Archive of Americana Architecture: Download, Use & Re-Mix ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/11700-free-photos-from-john-margolies-archive-of-americana-architecture.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Hand-Colored Photographs from 19th Century Japan: 110 Images Capture the Waning Days of Traditional Japanese Society ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/hand-colored-photographs-from-19th-century-japan.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

James Mulraine: Early Modern British Art --- https://jamesmulraine.com

Canadians celebrated the nation's 150th anniversary with fireworks and poutine — here are the photos ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-canada-150-anniversary-celebrations-2017-7

23 Photos That Will Make You Want to Travel to Canada ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-things-to-do-canada-photos-2017-6

Browse a Collection of Over 83,500 Vintage Sewing Patterns ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/06/browse-a-collection-of-over-83500-vintage-sewing-patterns.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The Calvert Journal (Russian Art & Culture) --- http://www.calvertjournal.com

BirdNote (tidbits about birds) --- http://birdnote.org

Architect's Virtual Capitol (buildings of Washington DC) --- https://www.capitol.gov

 International Sculpture Center: re:sculpt --- https://blog.sculpture.org

bridgesnyc: postcards (NYC Bridges) --- http://bridgesnyc.com/postcards

LibGuides at Butler University: Art and Visual Rhetoric --- http://libguides.butler.edu/c.php?g=34108&p=217254

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

Behold Lewis Carroll’s Original Handwritten & Illustrated Manuscript for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1864)  ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/behold-lewis-carrolls-original-handwritten-illustrated-manuscript-for-alices-adventures-in-wonderland-1864.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

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

Poetry Atlas --- http://www.poetryatlas.com

Frankenstein: the Afterlife of Shelley's Circle  --- http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/node/1568

LibGuides at Butler University: Art and Visual Rhetoric --- http://libguides.butler.edu/c.php?g=34108&p=217254

TFree 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 July 12, 2017
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2017/TidbitsQuotations071217.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

Who Pays USA Taxes?
http://www.pgpf.org/budget-basics/who-pays-taxes?utm_source=google&utm_campaign=whopaystaxes&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=CKPfk5jG5dQCFci4wAodzZsNyw

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




These 15 little-known perks show why Amazon Prime is so much more than free shipping ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-membership-perks-explainer-2016-3

Jensen Comment
Two that surprised me are unlimited photo storage and the Kindle Lending Library. There's also the Prime Pantry.


College in Sweden is free but students still have a ton of debt. How can that be? ---
https://qz.com/85017/college-in-sweden-is-free-but-students-still-have-a-ton-of-debt-how-can-that-be/


Smishing --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_phishing

Time Magazine:  ‘Smishing’ Is Internet Scammers’ New Favorite Trick. Here’s How to Avoid It ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_phishing

Bob Jensen's Threads on Identity Theft: Phishing , Pharming, Vishing, Slurping, Smishing, and Spoofing ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce/000start.htm#Phishing


A  Weird Ranking of Colleges and Universities
Time:  2,400 colleges + 27 data points = 711 Best Colleges For Your Money

http://time.com/money/best-colleges/rankings/best-colleges/?xid=newsletter-brief

Jensen Comment
This is obviously a different kind of ranking when CUNY-Baruch comes out at Rank 2 and Cornell is at Rank 59, Duke is at Rank 64, Bowdoin is at Rank 67, Davidson is at Rank 70, Northwestern is at Rank 103, and Trinity University in San Antonio is at Rank 108.
Tulane University is at Rank 325 and the University of Pittsburgh is at Rank 331.

This controversial ranking differs greatly from the popular US News rankings ---
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges


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

Five Big Companies (including Microsoft and PayPal)  that Currently Accept Bitcoin ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/5-big-companies-that-currently-accept-bitcoin-2017-7/#overstockcom-1


Science:  Why modern mortar crumbles, but Roman concrete lasts millennia ---
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/07/why-modern-mortar-crumbles-roman-concrete-lasts-millennia?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=b0d16698c7-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-b0d16698c7-153727301

Jensen Comment
Unlike aging human bodies and modern concrete, Roman concrete improves with time.


MIT:  50 Smartest Companies in 2017 ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/lists/companies/2017/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=4513745bb8-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-4513745bb8-153727301
Jensen Comment
If you're as ignorant as me you've not even heard of most of them. Some of the older companies are getting left behind in technology dust.
Look them up on Wikipedia.


What the 21st-Century Library Looks Like ---
http://www.chronicle.com/article/What-the-21st-Century-Library/240494?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=b30974e517db47d5a5cad1ecfbaa220f&elq=0ba4edbe7a5b4e7e88f91e049a1db494&elqaid=14653&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6196

When DePaul University opened its new library in 1992, the information ecosystem was on the precipice of change. The internet was becoming mainstream and, with it, libraries’ role in providing access to information was crumbling. Two and a half decades later, DePaul’s John T. Richardson Library looks the same from the outside. But when visitors walk through its tall-ceilinged hallway and onto the first floor, they enter a space that’s clearly adapted to the digital age.

For one thing, most of the books have been moved off this floor. Instead, a spacious room swims in warm light and hums with activity. Soft chairs are clustered in pods across the floor, and a buzz of conversation fills the air.

There’s a Genius Squad counter, where students can get technical help, and a Scholar’s Lab, equipped with 42-inch monitors and scanners. In another corner, a job-preparation night is underway in the Learning Commons, a community room for campus groups.

Some students are tapping away at laptops; others are scrolling through phones or chatting with neighbors. This part of the library is a place for people, not books.

Offices once lined the walls, blocking the windows from view, says Scott Walter, the university librarian. Bookcases rose seven and a half feet high.

"It was all completely gutted in the renovation," he says.

The transformation reflects how the internet has upended a premise around which libraries had long structured their existence: that more books on shelves meant easier access to content.

Now, with information always a few taps away, libraries have had to carve out a new niche. They’ve done so by pivoting away from books and toward supporting students. Institutions across the country have moved books off-site to make way for study spaces, "Maker" labs, and nap pods

Librarians’ jobs are changing, too, as they find new ways to make themselves central to the changing needs of colleges. Though their focus differs depending on their institution, librarians are broadly spending less time with collections and more time teaching students how to do research and use digital tools. DePaul’s library is one of many that employs staff members with titles like Wikipedian in Residence, and Assessment and Marketing Librarian.

But as libraries adapt to a digital world by carting books off-site and rebranding themselves, are they shedding part of their core identity? Is anything being lost?

As libraries have been displaced by the internet as the go-to place to seek information, a diminished sense of place and importance has followed.

A survey published in April by Ithaka S+R, a research-and-consulting service, found that library directors feel increasingly less valued by senior academic leadership and less involved with decisions on their campuses. Only one-fifth of respondents said their institution’s budget demonstrated a recognition of the library’s value. And while librarians reported being deeply committed to student success, they struggled to articulate what exactly their contributions are.

Continued in article


Stanford University:  Why Working From Home Is a “Future-looking Technology” ---
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/why-working-home-future-looking-technology?utm_source=Stanford+Business&utm_campaign=097889484d-Stanford-Business-Issue-116-7-9-2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0b5214e34b-097889484d-70265733&ct=t(Stanford-Business-Issue-116-7-9-2017)

“There’s not much to lose, and there’s a lot to gain,” he says.

Jensen Comment

Actually there's a whole lot to gain from working at home in some types of jobs, but for other types of jobs there's a whole lot to lose. The above article is not in the academic spirit of pointing out the negatives as well as the positives. It's a little like the articles that promote the advantages of online education without sampling the majority of professors who would provide a whole lot of reasons for favoring face-to-face encounters with their students.

In the private and public sectors, there's a whole lot to gain by working at home in jobs that are largely isolated such as being a report editor for technical reports. A woman in our small village, for example, edits technical reports for one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the world. She devotes over 50 hours a week to concentrated home effort with minimal diversions that would otherwise take place commuting to a large office in a large city and interacting face-to-face with other employees.

But IBM found that workers at home were less creative and productive in most jobs.

Face-to-face encounters entail positive gains in many (most?) lines of work --- especially from serendipity that's lost in online working. It's not just gossip that transpires in chance encounters (such as at the water cooler) and conversations that transpire before and after face-to-face meetings.

IBM slashes work-from-home policy
IBM was a pioneer in the work-from-home revolution — now it's cracking down
---
http://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-slashes-work-from-home-policy-2017-3

. . .

IBM's decision to bring more people from digital workspaces into physical ones bucks a longstanding trend at the company of giving employees latitude in where they get their work done. Between 1995 and 2009, the company shrank its footprint by 78 million square feet — at a savings of more than $100 million.

Other companies soon followed suit: Work-from-home became a desirable perk of many white-collar jobs. Now one out of every four American workers telecommutes with some regularity. Data indicate roughly 80 to 90% of people who don't currently telecommute would like to start.

A spokesperson for IBM says the company decided to require in-office work for its marketing teams in batches (as opposed to the other departments, which either started as co-located or gradually moved in that direction) because of the field's modern demands.

"Marketing is no longer a 'waterfall' work process, where work is handed from one person to another," the spokesperson told Business Insider. "It is an iterative process, where the effects of changes in a campaign can be understood live, and responded to in real-time."

Employees heard a similar message from IBM's chief marketing officer, Michelle Peluso, in a video she distributed through the company's intranet.

"There is something about a team being more powerful, more impactful, more creative, and frankly hopefully having more fun when they are shoulder to shoulder," she reportedly said. "Bringing people together creates its own X Factor."

Much of the research on telecommuting has indicated the policy tends to benefit employees and their employers more than it detracts. Data analysis from Global Workplace Analytics, which looked at the findings from more than 4,000 studies, revealed twice the number of upsides to downsides. Employees who telecommute are generally happier, more productive, and leave companies at a lower rate.

On the other hand, telecommuting can also breed jealousy among colleagues, pose security risks, and exacerbate managers' distrust. GWA also found the policy may simply not suit everyone — some workers aren't sufficiently self-directed or tech-savvy to work remotely.

IBM's spokesperson cites internal research that has found "marketing teams that work in a co-located, agile environment are more effective and have better job satisfaction. In fact, there has been a very positive response to making this universal across marketing."

Peluso acknowledged to her employees, however, that the transition would indeed be tough for some. In particular, families would need to decide if the job was worth the move. One anonymous employee told Quartz the morale at the company was low following the announcement.

"Everyone I know is very upset," the employee reportedly said.

Added Jensen Comment
There also is the very real certainty that some employees cheat on their telecommuting (remote) working benefits ---

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-10/the-rise-and-fall-of-working-from-home


Re:Learning at ASU + GSV Summit 2017 ---
http://www.chronicle.com/specialreport/Re-Learning-at-ASU-GSV/122?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=0099ec732bf14da393dcee31dce05550&elq=0ba4edbe7a5b4e7e88f91e049a1db494&elqaid=14653&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6196

This special series from the team of Chronicle reporters who attended the ASU+GSV Summit this year showcases video highlights from some of the key speakers at the annual gathering of educators, tech entrepreneurs, and investors.

The edited segments, hosted by the senior writers Goldie Blumenstyk and Scott Carlson, feature speakers including:

Jeremy Bailenson, of Stanford University, highlighting the teaching potential of virtual reality.

Ted Dintersmith, an investor and financer of documentary films, contending that schools should give students relevant skills, not just courses to pad a college application.

Three experts on education in Finland, sharing some of the surprising approaches that nation takes in education.

See below for those videos and others from the event. For more on educational innovation, explore The Chronicle’s re:Learning project.

 

Should Colleges or Employers Give People Job-Relevant Skills?

By Scott Carlson

Peter Capelli, a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania, describes how employers have given up on an essential part of the American-labor system: a role in training the next generation of workers.

 

Should the Future of Education Include a ‘Personalized Prescription’ of Video Games?

By Goldie Blumenstyk

Adam Gazzaley, a neuroscientist at the University of California at San Francisco who studies the effects of games and other physical and cognitive challenges, says they can improve memory and multitasking, and even treat attention-deficit disorders.

 

With the ‘Coming Battles’ Between People and Machines, Educators Are All the More Vital

By Scott Carlson

Andrew Ng, a computer scientist and co-founder of Coursera, says innovations in artificial intelligence will both create great wealth and raise ethical challenges if we want not just a wealthier society “but also a fairer society.”

 

How ‘College for All’ Goes Wrong

By Scott Carlson

Ted Dintersmith, an investor and financer of documentary films, argues that schools should give students relevant skills, not just courses to pad a college application.

 

Could Finland’s Strategy of Supporting Education – and Teachers’ Stature – Translate to the U.S.?

By Goldie Blumenstyk

A founder of the company behind Angry Birds and two others highlight how the Finish way of promoting creativity in the classroom has paid off.  

 

Virtual Reality Can Teach Altruism, Empathy — and Why You Should Use Less Toilet Paper

By Goldie Blumenstyk

Jeremy Bailenson, a professor at Stanford University and founding director of its Virtual Human Interaction Lab, says the technology, in the right circumstances, can be educationally transformative.


Tesla's massive batteries could power 50,000 homes in Australia — here are 15 other ways they're already being used ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-powerpack-uses-2017-7

It Might Be Time for Tesla to Get Out of the Car Business ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/it-might-be-time-for-tesla-to-get-out-of-the-car-business-2017-6


10 tech gadgets that’ll make your everyday life easier ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/tech-gadgets-to-make-life-easier-2017/#the-amazon-echo-1


Working for the NFL will be softer next year
Deflategate 2.0: Big-Spending Viagra and Cialis Are Pulling Out of the NFL ---
http://adage.com/article/special-report-tv-upfront/erectile-dysfunction-viagra-cialis-NFL-pullout/309692/


Caron & Testy:  The Quantity And Quality Of Law School Applicants ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2017/07/caron-testycorrected-data-the-quantity-and-quality-of-law-school-applicants.html


Deep Blue --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Blue_(chess_computer)

MIT:  A new book offers the chess master Kasparov's account of his famous match against Deep Blue—and some thoughts on the future of AI.---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608136/kasparov-thinks-deeply-about-his-battle-with-a-machine/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=3e5e6dbcc0-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-3e5e6dbcc0-153727301

If we feel like we are being surpassed by our own technology it’s because we aren’t pushing ourselves hard enough, aren’t being ambitious enough in our goals and dreams. Instead of worrying about what machines can do, we should worry more about what they still cannot do

Jensen Comment
We can create robots that write books and music, but it will be a long time before there are robots who emotionally appreciate their own works. The world will be a different place when Hal really has a temper tantrum.


Time Magazine:  All the Places in the U.S. Where You Can Go to College for Free ---
http://time.com/money/4830367/free-college-tuition-promise-programs/?xid=newsletter-brief

Jensen Comment
There are certain words scholars often avoid, including the words "all", "true," and "proves." In most instances use of such words entails assumptions or conditions that make them not as inclusive as it seems at first blush.

First, there is the condition of family income that can make some of the most prestigious universities (think Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, etc.) free to middle and low income families when an applicant is accepted. Most other colleges and universities have all or most tuition forgiven for lower income families, although the maximum level may be lower than the $60,000 or more allowed by the Ivy League universities.

Second there are other free rides (sometimes including room and board) for athletes and minorities. Beware that free deals may have strings attached. Free is not always best when shopping for anything, including an education. Sometimes a Ph.D degree is totally free such as the KPMG Foundation accounting doctoral fellowship program for African American and Native American students. This program covers virtually all expenses.

Years ago Bob Jensen (a white male) got a totally free (including room, board, and books) accounting Ph.D. from the Ford Foundation to generously cover six years of full-time graduate study at Stanford University.

Third, many employers like Wal-Mart have offer free online college as a perk.

Fourth, the article does not mention free graduate programs such as the free MBA program at Arizona State University. Also many doctoral programs are "free," although in most instances students much work as teaching or research assistants. 

My point is that the phrase "All the Places" for those places listed in this article overlooks how thousands upon thousands of students in the USA are receiving free tuition and in some cases free room and board on college campuses. There are also tens of thousands of online students who are receiving free tuition.

Lastly, the article does not point out that if all a student wants is learning (without transcript credit) there are wonderful free learning alternatives ranging from the Khan Academy to the thousands of free MOOC courses from the most prestigious universities in the world ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

In the MOOC era learning almost anything is free.
Getting transcript credit is not usually free, but the prices are relatively reasonable considering the very high tuition costs of attending class on campus as such universities as MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Oxford, Cambridge, etc. without financial aid.

The bottom line is that the cost of learning is no longer an excuse for not learning if students can somehow free up the time to participate in a "free" learning process.

Exhibit A is an impoverished top MIT student from Mongolia who did it with MOOCs.

"This Mongolian Teenager Aced a MOOC. Now He Wants to Widen Their Impact," by Jeffrey R. Young, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 4, 2016 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/This-Mongolian-Teenager-Aced-a/236362?cid=wc&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=d2d2bb431560465bbc40d7fc9fdba41a&elq=515025d323e34845a1279920e3ae34cc&elqaid=8993&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=3088

Free online courses changed the life of one super-smart Mongolian teenager. His name is Battushig Myanganbayar, and four years ago, while he was still a high-school student in Ulan Bator, he took a massive open online course from MIT. It was one of the first they had ever offered, about circuits and electronics, and he was one of about a hundred and forty thousand people to take it. He not only passed, he was one of about three hundred who got a perfect score. He was only 15 years old.

He was hailed in The New York Times and other media outlets as a boy wonder, and soon he got accepted to the real MIT campus. It was a feel-good story that matched the hopeful narrative about MOOCs at the time. These free courses were touted as a way to bring top education to underserved communities around the world. The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman soon wrote that "Nothing has more potential to unlock a billion more brains to solve the world’s biggest problems." This was the peak of the MOOC hype.

Today, Mr. Myanganbayar remains a fan of MOOCs, but he also has a critique of this knowledge giveaway, and he questions how much good it’s really doing for people in the developing world.

After taking a MOOC, "What do you do?" he asks. "If you’re just learning for the sake of the learning, the knowledge alone is useless without the opportunity to build, or show, or to use it."

While at MIT, he has continued to take free online courses on the side, especially those on data science to help him with research projects that he’s worked on here. Like many students that I’ve met at MIT, he’s focused on trying to solve real-world problems with his student research — he helped build an electronic glove for the blind, for instance — and that’s his main problem with how colleges have handled MOOCS.

The courses aren’t really an end, after all, they’re a means to an end. Why don’t colleges do more to help connect students to resources, he asks, to apply their knowledge?

 

Listen to the full audio. Below is an edited and adapted transcript of the podcast.
https://soundcloud.com/relearning/episode-6-this-mongolian-teenager-aced-a-mooc-now-he-wants-to-widen-their-impact

Q. Do you think your work as a MOOC student made you more hungry to experience all the unique aspects of a campus that you can’t get by sitting at home at a computer?

A. I always try to go to office hours that professors do because it’s one of the disadvantages of the MOOC. You learn about things, but your questions, it’s really hard to get a good answer. You can post it in the forum in an online course, but having a chance to meet with the professor is an amazing thing.

After coming to MIT, the biggest thing I learned was, as one person, no matter how good you are, you can do nothing. You need a team or you need a group of people in order to really build the complex and amazing thing. Just by yourself, sitting in your room and reading a book, nothing will happen. No matter how good you are, unless you are Albert Einstein or unless you’re a theoretical mathematician then something might happen, but for engineers you need a team. I think that’s one of the biggest lessons that I learned at MIT.

Q. What do you think is missing for MOOC students, as far as support?

Continued in article


Newspapers continue to be a terrible business and the Wall Street Journal is giving up on paper in Europe ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/trinity-mirror-drop-in-print-advertising-newspapers-moving-digital-2017-6

Jensen Comment
This is sad because television networks and bloggers get much (most?) of their news from newspaper reporters. Newspaper reporters go all the way to the grass roots of town meetings and investigations of local corruptions. Even police departments are often dependent upon newspaper reporter investigations.

Even The New York Times was in big financial trouble until the wealthiest businessman  in Mexico (and forth richest person in the world) saved the NYT ---
http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/business/alatheia-nielsen/2016/10/06/ny-times-hides-ties-mexican-billionaire-more-50-stories

Amazon's billionaire owner helped to save (and change)  The Washington Post ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-washington-post-changed-after-jeff-bezos-acquisition-2016-5

The problem in the newspaper industry is that most struggling newspapers cannot find billionaire sugar daddies after the Internet and other technologies changed the news industry.


Brown University Is Completely Off the Table:   Private counselors report that, since the election, more parents are ruling out their children applying to some colleges, based on political reputations.---
https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2017/06/26/private-college-counselors-report-parents-increasingly-bring-politics

LONG BEACH, Calif. -- The parents were distraught. Their daughter, a top student, had her heart set on a college that was, in their view, dangerously liberal, an institution to be avoided. They wanted options besides her daughter's choice at the time … Yale University.

This was the situation a private college counselor shared here at the annual meeting of the Higher Education Consultants Association, one of the two national associations for private counselors. Others in the audience nodded their heads in agreement. Parents were vetoing children's choices based on the parents' (not the would-be applicants') perceptions of the campus political climate. The situation has gotten worse, many said, since last year's election.

Counselors discussed the issue only on condition their names not be used, saying they did not want to violate the privacy of the families that hire them or risk losing future business.

To some extent, several said, counselors have long faced questions about the campus political and social climate, but primarily in the past from religious parents who want assurance that if they send their children to a secular institution, there will be space and respect for people of faith. What's taking place now is more political, they said, and is complicated by these parents' desire for a certain level of prestige, regardless of politics.

The counselor facing the "anyplace but Yale" demand from parents said the student wanted a research university, and so she suggested that she consider Baylor University, Pepperdine University or Southern Methodist University -- all universities with student bodies generally viewed as well to the left of that of Yale. The parental response? Anger that these universities were not seen as being from the very top tier. "I had to say to the parents, 'I'm out of options.' "

The student eventually landed at Stanford University, where she is happy and her parents are happy as well. While Stanford has plenty of liberal students, the university's reputation is more entrepreneurial than ideological, the university is home to both Condoleezza Rice and the Hoover Institution and of course the academics are top notch and the prestige hard to beat.

The counselor said that she couldn't complain about a student landing at Stanford, but that she was frustrated by the family distaste for Yale based on, in the counselor's opinion, an uninformed sense of the place. Yale of course has plenty of activists on the left, and has had its share of debates over campus culture and politics -- from free speech to Halloween costumes. But the university has multiple, active groups on the right, has a president who has repeatedly defended free speech and has a storied history of educating Republican politicians. (Four of the five Yale graduates who served as president of the United States were Republicans.)

The reality, the counselor said, is that while the dislike of Yale surprised her, there are other colleges that parents are vetoing. "Many won't consider Oberlin or Wesleyan, and Brown is completely off the table," she said.

At some level, such antipathy toward those and other colleges isn't surprising. Their students are liberal, and conservative publications love to write articles with headlines like "Oberlin Is an Insane Asylum." And those articles attract more attention than articles in conservative publications in which, for example, a conservative student at Brown urges people not to stereotype his institution and praises the way the administration handled a disruption of a speaker by liberal students.

Another counselor said that she had several students and parents -- liberals -- who said that they didn't want to consider colleges that have been in the news for incidents in which some groups were seen as taking positions against free speech.

Yet another counselor, this one based in New York City and serving families who are generally liberal, said she too is hearing more parents ask about colleges' political reputations, only sometimes based on real information.

This counselor laments that these questions shift the focus away from academic fit, where it belongs. But she's not surprised by all the questions.

"Just think of the role models in America today," she said, leaders such as President Trump who don't promote the idea of working with people of a range of views, but who encourage mocking those with whom they disagree.

When the counselors here were talking, most of their concern was about parents, not students themselves. One described a student whose first choice is Williams College. The student is conservative but told her he was excited by the college's tradition of small classes and one-on-one tutorials as ideal ways for him to debate with others and refine and strengthen his ideas.

A counselor at a private high school, who was not at the meeting and who also asked not to be identified, said that the strategy to preventing parents from vetoing good college choices is twofold. First, counselors need to insist on good information, which means moving beyond stereotypes. "If you look hard enough, you can find liberal groups on most conservative campuses and conservative groups on most liberal campuses," she said. And it's important to remind people of this. "A parent's perception of liberal vs conservative frequently has little connection to reality," she said.

Second, she said counselors need to insist that college choices be made by students. "I tell them not to tip the parental hand unless they want to own the result with the kiddo saying, 'you told me to pick this one.' "

Despite the concern here, there isn't much evidence that political vetoes are hurting colleges. Yale hardly lacks for applicants, after all. Neither does Brown.

Middlebury College might be the institution this year that could be most vulnerable to parental vetoes. The furor over the way some students shouted down a speaker came in the spring and criticism of the college was intense during the time students decide whether to accept admissions offers. (Much of the publicity didn't note that Middlebury punished dozens of students found to have violated college rules by disrupting a speech.)

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
Comments of students about liberalism of their teachers at RateMyProfessor.com often reveal that students at many private universities are more conservative than their professors. This, in my opinion, reflects the influence parents have on the political leanings of their children. In many instances parents have a much more enduring impact than teachers. The apple does not fall far from the tree, but in the case of young people there are more exceptions.

I found both the student body and faculty at Trinity University (where I spent 24 years of my life) to be more tolerant of speakers on a wide ranging spectrum than at many state universities.. There was politeness for Trinity speakers ranging from Michael Moore to Milton Friedman. Trinity is a relatively wealthy university that puts a lot of money into paying speakers, including formal programs to bring in speakers from nearly all former heads of state from around the world and Nobel Laureates.

Of course there are exceptions for some private universities where there is less tolerance for some speakers --- think Brown University, Middlebury, Liberty University, Evergreen, etc. That is a shame in higher education.

Some universities are troubled by activists who are not, and never were, enrolled students or faculty --- think UC Berkeley, Wisconsin, Texas, etc. This often adversely affects images of those sites by parents and counselors.

Bob Jensen's threads on academic freedom, political correctness, and the "Closing of the American Mind" are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#PoliticalCorrectness


REPORT: There are hundreds of judges in New York who do not have law degrees ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/judges-without-law-degrees-new-york-2017-6

Jensen Comment
When I lived in Texas the San Antonio Express News reported a sad instance where the County Judge of Dimmit County did not have a law degree and did not understand how the court system works. Drunk drivers took advantage of this by having their lawyers request a jury trial for DUI arrests. Since the Dimmit (read that Dimwit) Judge did not understand jury trials this became a sure way of letting DUI offenders off the hook without fines.

In Texas many judges are elected. Campaign expenses often exceed the judgeship salaries --- which is a gilded invitation for corruption. For example great DUI defense attorneys contribute heavily to judicial campaigns. The sad joke is that each defense attorney has his own judge. The trick is to get the attorney's client assigned to the attorney's judge in Texas.

If a DUI offender does not kill somebody on the road it's pretty easy to get a DUI case thrown out of court in Texas. The same is not true in all states --- especially Maine after Maine got serious about drunk drivers. The trouble in Maine is that it never got serious about bad drivers who are sober.


Cash may be on the endangered list ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/cash-declining-future-ebt-transactions-2017-6

Jensen Comment
This probably will never happen in the USA, at least not until over 160 nations set the precedent. The reason is simply that in the USA it will take an act of Congress to do away with cash --- which is extremely popular with criminals. And, as Mark Twain once said:
Congress is our only native criminal class.
Mark Twain --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain


We're now one step closer to recharging electric cars while they're driving ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/were-now-one-step-closer-to-recharging-electric-cars-while-theyre-driving-2017-6


English Grammar Day:  50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice ---
http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2017/06/27/english-grammar-day/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=4f5a2094ca8b46f08720cbf2c2eee737&elq=7499c185662a49d297043f6a5e5817b3&elqaid=14545&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6133

This Monday, July 3, I’m an invited speaker at English Grammar Day, an annual event involving nonspecialist talks and discussion on aspects of English, held at the British Library, in London.

People have been warning me against full-scale frontal assaults on the general public’s beliefs, or polemics against authorities they respect. Be positive and nonconfrontational, they advise. They want me all soft and kind, as if it’s National Brotherhood Week.

Well, I’ve tried that. My article “50 Years of Stupid Grammar Advice” gently described a certain much-loved usage-and-style manual as “a bunch of trivial don’t-do-this prescriptions by a pair of idiosyncratic bumblers who can’t even tell when they’ve broken their own misbegotten rules.” But this timidity and tentativity got me nowhere. Enough of such pussyfooting. The gloves are coming off. Monday’s talk will be called:

"If Doctors Knew Medical Science Like Writing Critics Know Grammar, You’d Be Dead"

I will actually stress not so much that many authorities on English grammar and usage get the facts wrong, but that much of the description found in books on English grammar fails to capture the right generalizations. The line drawn between prepositions and subordinating conjunctions is a major analytical mistake; the traditional characterization of adjectives is confused; and so on.

And I’d like to give some sense of why researching English grammar is interesting and rewarding. Linguists are lucky: We encounter high-quality documentable data everywhere we go. Almost every day I discover things about English that I never knew before, things I’m fairly sure have never been recorded in any grammar book. We linguists are engaged in a live investigation of a huge and fascinating system, not the compilation or critique of a short list of arbitrary rules of verbal etiquette. We seek a satisfying theory of the whole system, not just a few justifications for casting aspersions on other people’s writing. That’s what I want the audience to understand.

Let me give you just one example of a small discovery. Yesterday I picked up the 128-page event program book for the Edinburgh International Book Festival, flipped it open at page 105, and saw this endorsement on a picture of the front cover of a novel:

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
Blogging and email messaging daily makes me vulnerable to making writing mistakes I know are wrong. I make these errors because I'm in too much of a hurry to move on to the next topic or the next sentence. I'm more prone than ever  to phonics mistakes such as "there" rather than "their" (or vice versa) or "to" rather than "too" etc. I suspect most of us would rather not judge our email messages by the same standards we use for our submissions to journals. I must admit that proof reading was never a high priority for me. It's (not its) even less of a priority for me as a blogger.  What I've noticed is that as a reader I'm also more tolerant of other bloggers'  grammar and grammar mistakes or people who send me email messages. In fact I take some comfort in their hurried grammar mistakes.

One danger for me is rewording something on the fly. I'm prone in this saturation to repeating repeating words.

But I take pride in knowing how to write better when I have to write better and when I'm a referee on a journal submission:
Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries


Plagiarism costs author five papers in five different journals ---
http://retractionwatch.com/2017/06/28/plagiarism-costs-author-five-papers-five-different-journals/

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


The Tesla Model 3 and the Chevy Bolt are completely different approaches to the car of the future ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/again-tesla-model-3-design-different-chevy-bolt-2017-6

The all-electric Chevy Bolt is an automotive masterpiece ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/2017-chevy-bolt-review-photos-2017-6

Jensen Comment
But in spite of all the hype, electric cars will be owned by buyers that also own a gasoline car for longer trips and owners that like the government tax breaks on purchase prices.
Also owners who think they are buying an anti-pollution vehicle fail to realize how much pollution is being spewed out by lithium mining and battery manufacturing. Electric cars will never truly be helping to save the planet until we find a better power storage alternative to lithium. They will also not be saving the planet as long as they depend upon coal or gas to fuel the power stations when they recharge their batteries.

In my opinion the most unfair aspect of current (mostly high-income folk) electric car laws is how electric car owners are total or almost total free riders on our roads and bridges, leaving traditional vehicle owners to foot hundreds of billions in road construction and maintenance. The good news is that they still pay something for roads when they also own gasoline or diesel vehicles.

Warning:  Comparison shopping is not so great until all car dealers can seriously compete with Chevy Bolt dealers.
See the tidbit below.


Bob Jensen's New Car:  Comparing Leasing Deals

Since leasing can be (this week I discovered not always) a good deal due to the Fed's near-zero interest policy these days. I leased a car for the first time in my life. This enables me to leave more liquid cash in my relatively high-yielding tax-free Vanguard mutual fund. Also if I get a lemon (with free repairs to me) a leased lemon is owned by somebody else.

My 1999 Jeep Cherokee, that I loved in spite a ton of repair costs over the years, finally would not pass New Hampshire inspection due to underneath rust caused by road salt used during our harsh winters. Erika's car is a 2009 Subaru Forrester that over the years has no rust and never needed a thing except new tires and a replacement battery. I assumed I would buy or lease a second Forrester to replace my Jeep.

But my neighbors down the road rave about their 2014 Chevy Equinox. So I decided to comparison shop a bit. I wanted to negotiate with a dealer rather than seek greater bargains on the Internet. There are three dealers 10 miles away --- Chevrolet, Ford, and Chrysler. And there is a Vermont Subaru dealer up I-93 about 27 miles. All other dealers I consider too far away from our mountain home. I will never buy another car made by Consumer Reports-whipped Chrysler Corporation --- so this left only Chevy, Ford, and Subaru.

Two days ago our Chevy dealer had no new 2017 Equinox models left in stock. The dealer could not offer any rebate on a new 2018 Equinox such that my best cash price was $32,000. What floored me is that the best negotiated lease price was a 39-month lease for $449 per month. That evening I noticed on TV that I could lease a luxury Lexus lease for almost the same deal.

Yesterday our Vermont Subaru dealer had some new 2017 Foresters left in stock. My negotiated cash prices were $28,317 for the Premium Forester and $22,256 for the Standard Forrester (both with automatic transmissions). The lease deals on 36-month leases were $259 per month for the Premium Forrester versus $228 for the Standard Forrester. New Hampshire residents do not have to pay the Vermont sales taxes on new cars.

Erika drove home in her new Premium Forrester. We probably never will open the Premium Model's sunroof to our cool mountain air, but we did want the power seat adjustments and heated seats when our mountain air turns frigid. To be honest I like the Forrester over the Equinox. I probably should have sought out a Ford Escape deal, but I was so happy with the Premium Forrester that I did not visit our Ford dealership.

My point is this message is that cash price comparisons for cars may differ considerably from leasing price comparisons on the same vehicles.
I was not aware until yesterday that the differences could be so great. By the way not all people lease for the same price at the same dealer. Most dealers offer better leasing deals to folks retired from the military and public safety workers.

I am aware that it's usually possible to save considerably by shopping for cars on the Internet. But when it comes to a car I like face-to-face negotiating with good folks in my nearby communities.

Incidentally the 2017 Subaru Forrester seems noticeably larger than our 2009 Forrester, especially in terms of height and rear-seat leg room. However, the bigger 2017 model gets about five more miles to the gallon on the open road. Gas mileage really does not matter much to us since we will only average 5,000 miles a year on both cars combined. We live high on a hill looking out at our mountains and don't have much desire anymore to travel anywhere else. Friends and family come to us. Last week we rented two rooms at a nearby inn to handle the overflow of California's Mike (son) and Rene and their four children.

Nearly half of Americans say their expenses are equal to or greater than their income, causing them financial stress, according to a new report.---
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/26/greatest-cause-of-money-stress-when-expenses-exceed-income.html


Garry Kasparov Will Teach an Online Course on Chess ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/06/garry-kasparov-will-teach-an-online-course-on-chess.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29


Ask A Biologist --- https://askabiologist.asu.edu

Jensen Comment
The closest thing we have for accounting and taxation questions is the free AECM listserv --- 
http://listserv.aaahq.org/cgi-bin/wa.exe?HOME 


Seattle's $15 Minimum Wage is Hurting the Workers It's Intending to Help ---
http://reason.com/reasontv/2017/07/05/seattles-minimum-wage-hurts-workers

A new study reminds us that the law of supply and demand still applies to labor

The Seattle Times:  Lessons from Seattle’s courageous minimum-wage experiment ---
http://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/lessons-from-a-wage-experiment/

. . .

What are the lessons of these findings for policymakers? We see three.

First, our findings should give some pause to other local governments that are considering setting a local minimum wage significantly above their state’s minimum wage. While we are surprised by the magnitude of the estimated loss in hours, we are not surprised to see some loss of low-wage employment caused by a local minimum wage. It is easier to relocate low-wage employment outside city boundaries than it is to relocate employment outside a state or country. Consequently, we should expect greater employment losses from a local minimum wage than from a state or national minimum wage. This means, in turn, that one should not assume our specific findings generalize to minimum-wage policies set at the state or federal level.

Second, local and state governments can use numerous other public policies to reduce inequality and promote economic opportunity. These include additional funding for pre-K child education and care, K-12 and higher education, apprenticeship programs, earned income tax credits and tax reform.

Third, just because one social experiment appears to be yielding disappointing effects to date is no reason to stop experimenting. Seattle, the state of Washington, and the nation face many challenging, long-standing social problems. Only by trying new ideas and carefully assessing their impacts can we hope to improve the social well-being of the nation.

Seattle has provided entrepreneurial leadership in many areas of social policy. We commend the city’s leaders for providing this policy leadership and having the willingness to fund research to evaluate impacts of policy changes. While the findings sometimes disappoint advocates for the policy, good governance relies on being receptive to new information and a willingness to adapt, if necessary.

Continued in article

 

Emails Show Seattle Mayor Worked With Berkeley To Preempt Study Criticizing Minimum Wage Law ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2017/07/03/busted-emails-show-seattle-mayor-worked-with-berkeley-to-preempt-study-criticizi-n2348804?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

Jensen Comment
Some other cities like Baltimore turned down calls to raise the minimum wage in feat that loss of low-paying jobs would be more dramatic that experienced in Seattle.

However, some other cities are going ahead with raising the minimum wage.

Minimum Wage to Rise in Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Other California Cities on July 1 ---
http://ktla.com/2017/06/30/minimum-wage-to-rise-in-los-angeles-santa-monica-other-california-cities-on-july-1/

Jensen Comment
Because the underground economy is much larger in the LA area than Seattle it will be much more difficult to measure the impact of the rise in legal minimum wages in the LA area. Another complication is the tax reason employers use the underground economy. In many instances the underground economy wages are higher than the new higher minimum wage. For example, it's not at uncommon for underground house cleaners and roofers to make $20 per hour or more (based on my experience living in San Antonio for 24 years). However, underground employers are avoiding such taxes as employer contributions to Social Security and Medicare as well as payments into the unemployment compensation system, There are no required contributions to employee health care and pension plans. Underground employers also avoid OSHA rules and other labor regulations.

The underground economy is correlated with distance from the border with Mexico. The closer a city is to the border the more likely there will be a higher supply of workers seeking employment in the underground economy. Many of them are desperate to obtain income for their families. Cities close to the border also provide an infrasturcture of families, friends, and Spanish-speaking neighborhoods for undocumented workers.

Higher minimum wages also contribute to the loss of summer and other seasonal jobs for teens and college students. Higher minimum wages lead to more applicants among adults (especially senior adults) for full-time employment that crowds out the opportunities for young folks seeking part-time employment.


Forbes:  Which State Has The Most Overpriced College Tuition? ---
https://www.forbes.com/sites/prestoncooper2/2017/06/26/which-state-has-the-most-overpriced-college-tuition/#4eaf4c073001

Everyone knows that college is expensive: $8,778 per year for in-state students at public four-year colleges in the previous academic year. But the price tag might be higher or lower depending on where you live. Across America, the price of college ranges from $4,178 in Wyoming to $15,062 in Vermont—more than a threefold difference.

Of course, some of this is due to regional differences in the cost of living. Prices are higher in Maryland than in Mississippi, not least because of the scarcity of land in urban areas. It follows that the cost of higher education should also be higher in pricey, urban states such as Maryland than inexpensive, rural areas such as Mississippi.

Fortunately, the Bureau of Economic Analysis produces an index for the cost of living in each state, known as the regional price parity (RPP) index. I use this to adjust the in-state tuition level for four-year public colleges in each state for that state’s cost of living. For instance, in Montana the cost of living is about 5% below the U.S. average. While nominal tuition in Montana is $6,443, adjusting for cost-of-living differences means “real” tuition in the state is $6,796.

The cost-of-living adjustment brings Montana tuition closer to the national average of $8,778, but it is still well below what we would expect based on cost of living differences alone. Montana tuition is thus “underpriced” relative to the nation by around $2,000.

In the graphs below, I display how “overpriced” or “underpriced” each state’s tuition level is relative to the nation based on cost-of-living differences alone. Variation in cost of living does not come close to explaining the massive disparities in tuition levels across the country.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
The Blue States of Vermont and New Hampshire charge the most whereas the Red State pf Wyoming is the best deal among the 50 states.

However, this may be an illustration about how to lie with statistics. Our daughter Lisl graduated in biology from the University of Texas at Austin. Tuition was seemingly cheap. However, UT was a master in adding on fees that greatly raised the annual cost of being a student at UT. To really be meaningful the above study should have adjusted for the fees and other expenses added to tuition, including dorm expenses.


MIT:  Toyota’s Home Helper Is a Glimpse of Our Robot-Assisted Future ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608206/toyotas-home-helper-is-a-glimpse-of-our-robot-assisted-future/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=5bb37239c1-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-5bb37239c1-153727301


As Illinois Budget Impasse Ends, So Does a ‘Nightmare of Total Uncertainty’ for Its Public Colleges ---
http://www.chronicle.com/article/As-Illinois-Budget-Impasse/240553?cid=db&elqTrackId=ebe6490b43bf497aafc7220e77c468e4&elq=c44271860c3c4a35b24c410cc3ba600f&elqaid=14628&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6179
Jensen Comment
Gov. Bruce V. Rauner did not get the spending cuts he wanted, thereby leaving some remaining uncertainties about revenue shortfall in the proposed income tax hike. The biggest problem is that this budget does nothing to solve a long-range disaster in Illinois, especially out-of-control pensions and Medicaid.


Texas makes self-driving cars legal again, no human driver required ---
https://readwrite.com/2017/06/20/texas-self-driving-tl4/


7 startups that were massively funded that died in 2017 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/startups-that-raised-148-billion-have-shut-down-or-may-soon-2017-7/#quixey2009-february-2017-2


Here's how the 'unlimited' plans from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile compare ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/unlimited-plans-comparison-verizon-att-sprint-tmobile-2017-7


9 must-have gadgets for first-time parents ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/must-have-tech-gadgets-for-new-parents-2016-6/#a-white-noise-machine-1




From the Scout Report on June 30, 2017

Vivaldi --- https://vivaldi.com

Many web browsers were designed with casual or non-technical users in mind. Not so with the Vivaldi browser, which was designed to meet the needs of both heavy internet users and technical users. For example, it includes a bookmark manager built to easily sort and organize thousands of bookmarks. It also has support for mouse gestures for faster navigation. Vivaldi's tabbed browsing support includes a number of unique features. Tabs can be organized into 'stacks.' Multiple tabs can be tiled in a single window. Users who keep large numbers of tabs open may also appreciate Vivaldi's ability to place tabs in 'hibernation' to minimize their resource use. Under the hood, Vivaldi uses the same Blink rendering engine that Google Chrome does. Because of this, Vivaldi is compatible with Chrome extensions. Vivaldi is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.


Terminology -- http://agiletortoise.com/terminology 

Terminology is a comprehensive reference tool for the English language. It combines a dictionary, a thesaurus, and an internet-enabled research tool. Terminology's dictionary/thesaurus feature is usable offline. It contains clear, simple definitions along with root words, synonyms, antonyms, more/less specific words, audio pronunciations, and more. Terminology supports wildcard searching, maintains search history, offers spelling suggestions, and allows users to add notes to any term. When used with a network connection, Terminology's definitions are enriched with cross references to online sources like Wikipedia, IMDb, Google, and others. Terminology is available for macOS and iOS. The iOS version adds a "Look Up" option to text in all others apps.


Australian Research Team Uncovers the Percussion Skills of Palm
Cockatoos
Cockatoos Drop Sick Beats to Charm Mates
https://www.livescience.com/59646-rhythmic-cockatoos-drum-to-the-beat.html

Cockatoos impress opposite sex will Phil Collins-style drum solos
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/28/cockatoos-impress-opposite-sex-phil-collins-style-drum-solos

Drumming Cockatoos and Rhythms of Love
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/28/science/drumming-palm-cockatoos.html

Tool-assisted rhythmic drumming in palm cockatoos shares key elements of
human instrumental music
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/6/e1602399

The Piccolo and the Pocket Grouse
https://orionmagazine.org/article/test

Zoomusicology
http://www.zoomusicology.com


From the Scout Report on July 7, 2017

Brackets --- http://brackets.io 

Brackets is a text editor designed especially for front-end web developers. Web development workflow often involves jumping between the HTML, Javascript, and CSS files that comprise a site. Many other editors support this workflow by allowing users to open multiple files in tabs. Brackets supports tabs too, but also provides an "inline editor" feature that can quickly open related files. For example, a user editing an HTML file can place their cursor on an HTML element, enter a keystroke, and Brackets will then open an inset showing all the corresponding CSS for that HTML element. Google Chrome users can also use Brackets' "live preview" feature to watch their code edits take effect in Chrome in real-time. Users working with Javascript-heavy sites may also appreciate Brackets' integrated JS debugging facilities. Brackets can also serve as a general-purpose editor, and includes syntax highlighting for most common programming languages including Python, Perl, Ruby, Java, and C/C++. Brackets is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.


JSFiddle --- https://jsfiddle.net 

JSFiddle provides an online sandbox for testing snippets of HTML, CSS, and Javascript.  Users enter code in each of these languages into the corresponding panel, press 'run', and a fourth panel displays the result. JSFiddle supports streamlined loading of most popular Javascript libraries. Rather than vanilla Javascript, users may also employ Typescript or CoffeeScript. JSFiddle also provides a "tidy" feature that can be used to format messy code according to commonly used style guides. Individual "fiddles" can be saved and shared, allowing users to demonstrate interesting techniques and also to seek help with code that does not quite work as desired. The "collaborate" feature may be of particular interest to users seeking assistance. This feature generates a link that will permit other users to access and edit a fiddle, displaying their modifications in real time. JSFiddle can be used from all the popular web browsers


80 Years After Her Disappearance, Amelia Earhart Still Makes Headlines
Does A Newly Discovered Photo Show Amelia Earhart Survived A Crash Landing?
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/06/535861448/does-a-newly-discovered-photo-show-amelia-earhart-survived-a-crash-landing

All the theories of Amelia Earhart's mystery disappearance
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/06/us/amelia-earhart-mystery-theories

Smithsonian Curator Weighs In on Photo that Allegedly Shows Amelia Earhart
in Japanese Captivity
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/smithsonian-curator-photo-allegedly-shows-amelia-earhart-japanese-captivity-180963964/

Amelia Earhart's Navigator: The Life and Loss of Fred Noonan
http://www.history.com/news/amelia-earharts-navigator-the-life-and-loss-of-fred-noonan

Amelia Earhart: Official Website
http://ameliaearhart.com/

Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence
http://www.history.com/specials/amelia-earhart-the-lost-evidence




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


Education Tutorials

PLATO: Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization ---  http://www.plato-philosophy.org

BioEd Online: Courses --- http://www.bioedonline.org/online-courses

C-SPAN Classroom Deliberations --- http://c-spanclassroomdeliberations.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

J. Robert Oppenheimer: Freedom and Necessity in the Sciences --- http://www.dartmouth.edu/~library/digital/collections/lectures/oppenheimer

Ask A Biologist --- https://askabiologist.asu.edu

BioEd Online: Courses --- http://www.bioedonline.org/online-courses

People Behind the Science Podcast --- http://www.peoplebehindthescience.com

MIT BLOSSOMS: Introducing Green Chemistry: The Science of Solutions ---
https://blossoms.mit.edu/videos/lessons/introducing_green_chemistry_science_solutions

An Animated Introduction to the Life & Work of Marie Curie, the First Female Nobel Laureate ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/an-animated-introduction-to-the-life-work-of-marie-curie.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

PBS NewsHour: Science --- http://www.pbs.org/newshour/topic/science

BirdNote (tidbits about birds) --- http://birdnote.org

Architect's Virtual Capitol (buildings of Washington DC) --- https://www.capitol.go

Science:  Why modern mortar crumbles, but Roman concrete lasts millennia ---
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/07/why-modern-mortar-crumbles-roman-concrete-lasts-millennia?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=b0d16698c7-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-b0d16698c7-153727301

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

C-SPAN Classroom Deliberations --- http://c-spanclassroomdeliberations.org

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

Math Ed Podcast --- http://mathed.podomatic.com

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

Frederick Douglass’s Fiery 1852 Speech, “The Meaning of July 4th for the Negro,” Read by James Earl Jones ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/frederick-douglasss-fiery-1852-speech-the-meaning-of-july-4th-for-the-negro.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

John Wayne Recites and Explains the Pledge of Allegiance (1972) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/john-wayne-recites-and-explains-the-pledge-of-allegiance.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Browse a Collection of Over 83,500 Vintage Sewing Patterns ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/06/browse-a-collection-of-over-83500-vintage-sewing-patterns.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Palgrave Communications: Shakespeare Studies --- http://www.palgrave-journals.com/palcomms/article-collections/shakespeare
Also search for "Shakespeare" at --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

The Living New Deal (economic history) --- https://livingnewdeal.org

James Mulraine: Early Modern British Art --- https://jamesmulraine.com

PLATO: Philosophy Learning and Teaching Organization ---  http://www.plato-philosophy.org

Adam Smith --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith
Is Adam Smith the Father of Economics and Free-Market Capitalism? [Reason Podcast] ----
http://reason.com/blog/2017/07/05/soho-forum-adam-smith

William Blake --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake
The William Blake Archive --- http://blakearchive.org

Allen Ginsberg Sings the Poetry of William Blake (1970) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/01/allen-ginsberg-sings-the-poetry-of-william-blake-1970.html

William Blake's Sublime Drawings for Dante's Divine Comedy, Over Which He Labored Until His Dying Day ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2014/01/17/william-blake-dante-divine-comedy/

William Blake’s Last Work: Illustrations for Dante’s Divine Comedy (1827) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2015/01/william-blakes-last-work-illustrations-for-dantes-divine-comedy-1827.html

Frankenstein: the Afterlife of Shelley's Circle  --- http://exhibitions.nypl.org/biblion/node/1568

An Animated Introduction to Economist John Maynard Keynes ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/an-animated-introduction-to-economist-john-maynard-keynes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Musical Festivals Database (1695-1940) --- http://musicalfestivals.org

Behold Lewis Carroll’s Original Handwritten & Illustrated Manuscript for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1864)  ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/behold-lewis-carrolls-original-handwritten-illustrated-manuscript-for-alices-adventures-in-wonderland-1864.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The Magazine of Early American Datasets --- http://repository.upenn.edu/mead

Education at the Getty: When Art Talks
 http://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/classroom_resources/curricula/when_art_talks/wat_index.html

The Calvert Journal (Russian Art & Culture) --- http://www.calvertjournal.com

Civitates Orbis Terrarum (ancient maps of cities around the world) ---
http://clemson.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Shortlist/index.html?appid=ba6fb42c256746f1ae96136087b1e7

Old Maps Online --- http://www.oldmapsonline.org

Poetry Atlas --- http://www.poetryatlas.com

Architect's Virtual Capitol (buildings of Washington DC) --- https://www.capitol.go

bridgesnyc: postcards (NYC Bridges) --- http://bridgesnyc.com/postcards

International Sculpture Center: re:sculpt --- https://blog.sculpture.org

City Readers: Digital Historical Collections at the New York Society Library --- http://cityreaders.nysoclib.org

George Washington University: the Textile Museum --- https://museum.gwu.edu/textile-museum

Arab American National Museum --- http://www.arabamericanmuseum.org

Treasures from Islamic Manuscript Painting at the Morgan --- http://www.themorgan.org/collection/treasures-of-islamic-manuscript-painting

An Animated Introduction to the Life & Work of Marie Curie, the First Female Nobel Laureate ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/an-animated-introduction-to-the-life-work-of-marie-curie.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

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  

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


Language Tutorials

A Lecture About the History of the Scots Language … in Scots: How Much Can You Comprehend?
http://www.openculture.com/2017/06/a-lecture-about-the-history-of-the-scots-language-in-scots-how-much-can-you-comprehend.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

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


Music Tutorials

Musical Festivals Database (1695-1940) --- http://musicalfestivals.org

Kafka on the Power of Music and the Point of Making Art ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/07/03/kafka-music-art/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=c8f7a6574a-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_07_07&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-c8f7a6574a-234390133&mc_cid=c8f7a6574a&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

Women of Jazz: Stream a Playlist of 91 Recordings by Great Female Jazz Musicians ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/07/women-of-jazz-stream-a-playlist-of-91-recordings-by-great-female-jazz-musicians.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Carnegie Hall: Performance Search --- https://www.carnegiehall.org/PerformanceHistorySearch

From the Scout Report on June 30, 2017

Australian Research Team Uncovers the Percussion Skills of Palm
Cockatoos
Cockatoos Drop Sick Beats to Charm Mates
https://www.livescience.com/59646-rhythmic-cockatoos-drum-to-the-beat.html

Cockatoos impress opposite sex will Phil Collins-style drum solos
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/28/cockatoos-impress-opposite-sex-phil-collins-style-drum-solos

Drumming Cockatoos and Rhythms of Love
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/28/science/drumming-palm-cockatoos.html

Tool-assisted rhythmic drumming in palm cockatoos shares key elements of
human instrumental music
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/6/e1602399

The Piccolo and the Pocket Grouse
https://orionmagazine.org/article/test

Zoomusicology
http://www.zoomusicology.com

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

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/

June 27, 2017

June 29, 2017

June 30, 2017

July 1, 2017

July 5, 2017

July 7, 2017

July 8, 2017

July 11, 2017

July 12, 2017

View All Health News

 


Minnesota Department of Health: Climate and Health Resources ---
http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/climatechange/climatevideo.html


By scouring Mormon family trees, scientists tracked down a cancer-causing mutation that could save the lives of the church's current congregation ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/06/mormon-genetic-testing/530781/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=c73f80500c-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-c73f80500c-153727301




Humor for Early July 2017

United Kingdom:  Dyson Vacuum Commercial ---
http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/dyson.html

Hilarious video shows Swedish golver being chased off the course by a young elk ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/swedish-golfer-chased-by-moose-elk-2017-6

 

 

 

 




Humor June 2017--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q2.htm#Humor0617.htm

Humor May 2017--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q2.htm#Humor0517.htm

Humor April 2017--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q2.htm#Humor0417.htm

Humor March 2017--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q1.htm#Humor0317.htm

Humor February 2017 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q1.htm#Humor0217.htm

Humor January 2017 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q1.htm#Humor0117.htm

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

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