Tidbits on August 29, 2017
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Photographs of Putting a New Rubber Roof Under Our Widow's Walk
http://cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/CottageHistory/WidowsWalk/WidowsWalk.htm

 

Tidbits on August 29, 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

The Inn on Sunset Hill (just down from our cottage) ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5cqUX0LcbU&t=9s

 


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 

The Web Site “Centuries of Sound” is Making a Mixtape for Every Year of Recorded Sound from 1860 to Present ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/the-web-site-centuries-of-sound-is-making-a-mixtape-for-every-year-of-recorded-sound-from-1860-to-present.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Stream 35 Hours of Classic Blues, Folk, & Bluegrass Recordings from Smithsonian Folkways: 837 Tracks Featuring Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/stream-35-hours-of-classic-blues-folk-bluegrass-recordings-from-smithsonian-folkways.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Download 400,000 Free Classical Musical Scores & 46,000 Free Classical Recordings from the International Music Score Library Project ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/download-400000-free-classical-musical-scores-46000-free-classical-recordings.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Hear 9 Hours of Hans Zimmer Soundtracks: Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight & Much More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/9-hours-of-hans-zimmer-soundtracks.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Hear the Beach Boys’ Angelic Vocal Harmonies in Four Isolated Tracks from Pet Sounds: “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “God Only Knows,” “Sloop John B” & “Good Vibrations” ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/hear-the-beach-boys-celestial-vocal-harmonies-in-four-isolated-tracks-from-pet-sounds.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Internet Archive: 78rpm Records Digitized by George Blood, L.P.---- https://archive.org/details/georgeblood

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

Incredible photos of the solar eclipse across the United States ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/solar-eclipse-photos-2017-8

NASA's Cassini probe just got closer to Saturn than ever before — here's what its death spiral is revealing ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-cassini-probe-saturn-plunge-2017-8/#gravity-from-titan-saturns-planet-sized-moon-plays-a-key-role-in-cassinis-final-orbits-nasa-is-using-the-force-to-bend-cassinis-course-a-task-that-would-otherwise-require-large-amounts-of-fuel-1

The Mauritshuis: Discover the Story Behind The Goldfinch (art history Dutch masters) --- http://puttertje.mauritshuis.nl/en

I'm serious here. Can you answer the above question? ---
http://time.com/4917530/hurricane-harvey-pictures/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2017082811am&xid=newsletter-brief

Community of Gardens (Smithsonian) --- https://communityofgardens.si.edu

The Getty Conservation Institute: Conservation Perspectives (art history) ---
http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters

Hookedblog (street art) --- http://www.hookedblog.co.uk

Artistic Maps of Pakistan & India Show the Embroidery Techniques of Their Different Regions ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/artistic-maps-of-pakistan-india-show-the-embroidery-techniques-of-their-different-regions.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Discover the Paintings, Drawings & Collages of Sylvia Plath: Now on Display at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/discover-the-paintings-drawings-collages-of-sylvia-plath-now-on-display-at-the-smithsonian-national-portrait-gallery.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Incredible Salt Ponds of Peru ---
http://www.indiatimes.com/culture/travel/these-incredibly-gorgeous-salt-ponds-in-peru-are-something-you-have-to-see-before-you-die-327411.html

29 photos of the US's war in Afghanistan — a fight James Mattis has said 'we are not winning' ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/mattis-us-not-winning-longest-war-in-afghanistan-photos-2017-6

George Eastman Museum: Works: Photography --- ttp://collections.eastman.org/collections/objects/20331

Bob Jensen's threads on art history ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#ArtHistory

Bob Jensen's threads on history, literature and art ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#History


Online Books, Poems, References, and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

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

Laboring-Class Poets Online --- http://lcpoets

The American Experience in 737 Novels --- https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2017/737-novels

Read 1,000 Editions of the The Village Voice: A Digital Archive of the Iconic New York City Paper ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/read-1000-editions-of-the-the-village-voice-a-digital-archive-of-the-iconic-new-york-city-paper.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

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




Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on August 29, 2017
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2017/TidbitsQuotations082917.htm          

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




Chronicle of Higher Education
The Almanac of Higher Education 2017-18
---
http://www.chronicle.com/specialreport/The-Almanac-of-Higher/132?cid=db&elqTrackId=dff430ae7ceb435b9116b120a7011598&elq=b3d5be5fafa44f349321a8fd4f485032&elqaid=15150&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=6456
The above document is not free.


Educause:  The Next Generation of Learning ---
http://nextgenlearning.org/ \


A Free MOOC From Australia:  EdX: Human Rights Theory and Philosophy ---
https://www.edx.org/course/human-rights-theory-philosophy-curtinx-hrig1x-0


Are There Really Free College Credits Online From Over 2,900 Colleges and Universities? ---
http://www.realclearlife.com/education/modern-states-freshman-year-for-free/

Something important happened in the field of education this month.

For the first time ever, any student anywhere can take top-quality courses online in every major freshman college subject, taught by professors from the most prestigious universities, that lead to full academic credit at 2,900 traditional colleges, such as Purdue, Penn State, Colorado State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all absolutely free.

There is no tuition cost. No text book cost. No administrative or connection fees. No taxpayer subsidy or federal Title IV funding required. And this is not a plan for the future, but a working reality available to students now, already built, entirely as a private 501(c)(3) philanthropy, at an exceptionally efficient price.

The charity that built the courses, over 40 in all, is called the Modern States Education Alliance. It has a bipartisan set of allies that include the nation’s largest public college systems, such as the State University of New York system and Texas State, which themselves serve over one million students and want to improve college access. Modern States is a new type of “on-ramp to college” for any hardworking person anywhere, and a way to cut the cost of traditional four-year college by many thousands of dollars and up to 25 percent.

Now, anyone can go to ModernStates.org, the way they go to Netflix, and choose a college course the way they pick a Netflix movie. There is no charge for the course and no charge for the online textbook that comes with it. The student can watch the lectures at any time of the day or night, repeating any part of it as often as needed. When the student feels ready, they can take the CLEP exam (a well-established, credit-bearing test from the College Board, described below) almost anywhere at any time at one of the thousands of already existing test sites.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
Free learning from prestigious universities has been available at nearly all levels of academe for years, most notably via free MOOCs ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

The clinker is that if you want a certificate or transcript credit for what you learned those are not generally free because they require added resources to verify your competency in what you claim to have learned. There are various respected fee-based services to demonstrate this competency.

The above ModernStates.org program is somewhat unique in that it tries to coordinate the CLEP testing services of respected universities for competency testing. The catch is that the CLEP-based courses are only a small part of a university degree.

In other parts of the world (think Germany, Finland, Norway, and Denmark) college degrees and training certificates are free. The catch is that college admissions are limited to the intellectually elite comprising less than 50% of high school graduates ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_education_attainment

It is possible to get a free college education in the USA, but this is not a universal right.
In most cases college is free only to students of low or lower-middle income. Most of the Ivy League-type universities now offer free or nearly free tuition fo students from families earning less than $60,000 per year. The catch is that this is only available to students admitted to those universities, and the competition for admission is very, very tough. The State of New York is now offering similar alternatives at all of its state universities. There are some strings attached to this one.

Most other respected colleges and universities provide some free or nearly free tuition to students from very poor families. The students must also meet admission standards.

There are many programs to help African and Native American students at all levels of education. For example, the KPMG Foundation has a relatively generous program for helping African and Native Americans get PhD degrees. The support is more than just financial and customized to particular needs of the students. Dartmouth and many other universities have dedicated financial support for Native Americans. When I was on the faculty at the University of Maine Native Americans were not charged tuition.

Some states are now offering free community colleges to state residents.

In Europe and the USA top students can now get tuition-free college degrees. The enormous political controversy surrounds how much to lower the admissions bar for this free college eduation. Progressives want free universal college education at taxpayer expense. In addition to the enormous cost of doing so there are serious questions about whether cheapens respect for a college degree to a point where it has little more respect than a high school diploma (which no longer means as much in current times).

"Pending Crackdown on "Degree Inflation" in the U.K.?" by Elizabeth Redden, Chronicle of Higher Education,  August 21, 2017 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/08/21/pending-crackdown-degree-inflation-uk?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=1019bf46db-DNU20170821&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-1019bf46db-197565045&mc_cid=1019bf46db&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Jensen Comment
While the USA and the UK struggle to make undergraduate college degrees as common as high school diplomas, the nations providing free college (think Germany, Finland, Norway, and Denmark) and training restrict the number of enrollees to less than 50%. Those that don't make the free college or training cut must seek apprenticeships and job training from the private sector .---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tertiary_education_attainment 


Customer Service Halls of Shame and Fame in the Private Sector ---
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2017/08/24/customer-service-hall-of-fame-5/?utm_source=247WallStDailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=AUG252017A&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter

Jensen Comment
If there were a Hall of Shame for the Public Sector, some of the VA Hospitals have to lead the shame by delaying appointments until after patients die and then altering the records to create fictitious delay times ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veterans_Health_Administration#Veterans_Health_Administration_scandal_of_2014
The real scandal is that VA employees. like most all civil service employees, seemingly cannot be fired for cheating and lying and not giving a damn (although most do care about their patients). Even the IRS employees fired for fraud have been secretly hired back by the IRS ---
 IRS Rehires 213 Employees Ousted for Falsifying Documents, Avoiding Taxes, Other Offenses ---
http://dailysignal.com/2017/08/14/another-irs-scandal-rehiring-employees-ousted-for-falsifying-documents-avoiding-taxes/


How to Mislead With Statistics:  Your Credit Score Could Make or Break Your Love Life ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-21/a-high-credit-score-can-make-you-look-sexy-on-dating-apps?cmpid=BBD082117_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=170821&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily

She’s a 793? Swipe right! 

It turns out credit scores are statistical shorthand for a whole lot more than the likelihood you'll repay a loan, according to a number of consumer surveys and academic studies. One study, released two years ago, looked at consumer credit data over 15 years and found that the higher the year-end credit score, the likelier the person was to form a romantic relationship over the next year.

Now comes a survey from Discover Financial Services and Match Media Group, parent of Tinder and other dating sites, that shows just how appealing a good credit score can be. Financial responsibility was ranked as a very or extremely important quality in a potential mate by 69 percent of the 2,000 online daters surveyed. That placed it ahead of sense of humor (67 percent), attractiveness (51 percent), ambition (50 percent), courage (42 percent), and modesty (39 percent). A good credit score was associated with being responsible, trustworthy, and smart. 

That’s right. These amorous respondents effectively put credit score 18 points ahead of cute.

Other salacious details:

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
I hardly think credit score truly rates above things like "attractiveness," "sense of humor," "ambition," etc. while dating, especially early on.

What happens in love is that the importance's of some criteria are conditional upon meeting thresholds on other criteria. To top that off these thresholds are sort of variable. For example, if you want a second date with a really ugly first date then that  first date is probably extremely wealthy or has the answer key to a forthcoming final examination. Credit scores won't matter much if that first blind date scored awful on some other criteria.

The bottom line is that your 800+ credit score alone is just not enough make you the envy on campus. It helps only if you don't bomb out on most other criteria. After all those 800+ credit scores probably don't help much for accounting majors.

And how many of your friends ask for a credit score when somebody asks for a first-time date?

Where credit score probably matters the most is after the marriage.
Lack of financial responsibility is one of the leading causes of divorces. That's were credit scores can really, really, really affect your love life. That's when you wish you had dated that accounting major.


Expensive Wines May Taste Better Just Because People Think They're More Expensive ---
https://moneyish.com/upgrade/this-is-why-more-expensive-wines-taste-better/

. . .

Researchers tapped 15 men and 15 women around 30 years old, and rigged the subjects to an MRI scanner as they tasted the wines, which were randomly labeled as costing $3, $7 or $21. Of course, they were really sipping the same $14 bottle of red, which the report described as “average to good quality.” But the subjects said the “more expensive” bottles tasted better.

See also: You’ll spend more on wine if the label tells you to

Enjoying the “more expensive” wine was also consistent with whether the subjects were told they had to pay for it or not. And the brain activity on the scans backed up the tasters’ claims that the pricier wine was better on the palate, since the area of their gray matter that forms part of the reward and motivation center was more active when the wine was labeled as more expensive.

Previous research by the University of Bonn and the INSEAD Business School also found that pricing chocolates higher sweetened the expectation that the treats would taste better.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment

This study is a little misleading in my opinion. It may well be true that Charlie the Tuna and I cannot discern differences in wine that suit our amateur preferences (dry wines that are relatively smooth) but my neighbor down the road is a connoisseur with his own air-conditioned wine cellar. He often serves medium-priced wines that he claims are as good or better than expensive wines to him, but in wine tasting competitions generally wins by identifying wines and/or their price ranges. He also wins competitions in cheese tasting. His wine tasting skills improved while living a couple of decades in Europe.

In the above study the sample size is too small and perhaps too random for extrapolation into the world of wine connoisseurs.

It's true, however, that non-connoisseurs of wine like me probably pay too much for wine at times --- all I have to go on when entertaining is price because of my ignorance regarding what medium-priced wines are better than similarly-priced worse wines.

One problem with wine versus scotch in a big liquor store is that there are so many kinds of wines from so many different countries relative to choices of scotch. I've tried most of the brands of scotch in New Hampshire's State Stores and know which ones I like best irrespective of price. It seems impossible to do this with wine because there are so many choices. It does help to ask for advice from my neighbor down the road.

In truth I rarely drink wine at home. I do have one or two cocktails a day --- less than half of what the Queen of England has in daily cocktails.

As to chocolate, to me an almond Hershey bar is better than any chocolate in a fancy box. But I do think sugar is a bad thing and live accordingly by shying away from most things high in sugar content. Sigh!


Tracing the links between basic research and real-world applications ---
https://theconversation.com/tracing-the-links-between-basic-research-and-real-world-applications-82198

Jensen Comment
The distinction between basic and applied research is not a clear in accountancy as it is in science and medicine. Equally unrewarding is the tracing of significant innovative ideas in academic research that led to recognized implementations in professional practice.

What are some "aha" moments in the history of accounting that are attributed to one person's original/seminal idea? 
A short summary of the history of accounting is available at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#AccountingHistory

Of course this lack of "aha" moments in academe that significantly changed practice does not mean that there are virtually no impacts of academic research on professional practice. Practitioners (an usually academics) are just not aware off the top of their heads when accounting standards setters have been influence (and occasionally funding) academic research that affects standards. For example, years ago I was appointed to a committee to choose among submitted proposals for a study of the impact of SFAS 13 on companies. Academic research was influential in the rescinding of SFAS 33 requiring large corporations to supply supplementary information on replacement costs.

In my opinion there's a great difference between how academic engineers versus academic accountants approach research problems. Academic engineers are more apt to identify problems faced by professional (practicing) engineers and make noteworthy contributiohons to solving real-world engineering problems. Practicing accountants tend to ignore academic accounting research literature and don't bother attending academic accounting conferences.

It is harder to find where companies themselves were directly impacted by academic accounting research.
If you have some examples I would really, really like to hear about them.


How Information Got Re-Invented The story behind the birth of the information age.---
http://nautil.us/issue/51/limits/how-information-got-re_invented

Jensen Comment
Of course the word "information" has various meanings and contexts ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information
One of the most important distinctions, however, is the difference between information and data.


Hacks are a big barrier for driverless trucks ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608618/hackers-are-the-real-obstacle-for-self-driving-vehicles/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=da0dca2e77-The_Download&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-da0dca2e77-153727301


Five Microsoft Tips ---
http://www.cgma.org/magazine/2017/aug/microsoft-office-tips.html?utm_source=mnl:globalcpa&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=16Aug2017


Descartes was wrong: ‘a person is a person through other persons’ ---
https://aeon.co/ideas/descartes-was-wrong-a-person-is-a-person-through-other-persons?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8b9260dcdd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_08_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-8b9260dcdd-68951505


From the Scout Report on August 18, 2017

ChartsBin --- http://chartsbin.com 

Interactive data visualizations are a powerful tool for quickly and clearly demonstrating complex topics. However, constructing such visualizations on a webpage can require significant coding ability. ChartsBin is a web based visualization tool that can be used without writing code. Visualizations created with the tool can be easily embedded in a website or blog, on social media, or even exported for use in presentations. In addition, ChartsBin maintains a public gallery of visualizations derived from authoritative sources. Each visualization in the gallery is attributed to a primary source, many of which provide their data in downloadable formats. ChartsBin can be used with all major browsers.

Bob Jensen's threads on multivariate data visualization ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.htm 


World Science U --- http://www.worldscienceu.com 

Science Unplugged

Science Unplugged provides hundreds of short video answers to a wide range of questions from “What is a Higgs Particle?” to “What happens to time near a black hole?”

Master Classes

Take classes designed by prestigious scientists from leading research universities. The materials can generally be covered in a few hours. Students can earn World Science U certification upon successful class completion.

Courses

Short courses, suitable for a broad spectrum of learners, typically require two to three weeks to complete and have no homework or exams.

University courses are university-level offerings that typically require eight to ten weeks to complete. Students work at their own pace and can earn World Science U certification upon successful course completion.

Jensen Comment
Registration is free and certificates are available to students who earn enough points in a course. However, no college credits are available for these courses.

Bob Jensen's threads on MOOCs from prestigious universities that are free with fees for certificates and college credits ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


Why the Charitable Deduction for Gifts to Educational Endowments Should Be Repealed ---
http://repository.law.miami.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4506&context=umlr

Jensen Comment
Let me say that I've always supported both the charitable deduction of all gifts to college endowment funds and the exemption of endowment income from taxation in non-for-profit colleges. Having said this, however, the article above gives me pause for second thoughts. The real eye opener for me is how endowments have grown since 1990 as revealed in Table 4 of the article. The article itself, however, is two one-sided in terms of private versus public universities. Many public universities have enormous endowment growth as well as explosion in CEO compensation.

I think any action such as eliminating or reducing the charitable deduction for educational endowments should be done at the federal level and not piecemeal by states.


The Purdue Owl: Preventing Plagiarism --- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/3/33 

Detecting Plagiarism and Cheating ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm


Meeting the challenge of the Psychonomic Society’s 2012 Guidelines on Statistical Issues: Some success and some room for improvement ---
https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758%2Fs13423-017-1267-y

. . .

It was not possible to examine every topic addressed in the Guidelines, but we were able to explore many of the issues raised. These included the reporting of a priori power analyses (e.g., Faul, Erdfelder, Lang, & Buchner, 2007) to estimate the number of participants required to have a given probability (e.g., 80%) of obtaining a significant result for a particular size of effect, if the effect does exist. We also recorded whether there was any discussion of power in the papers. The Guidelines emphasize the benefits of going beyond NHST by routinely reporting effect sizes (e.g., Fritz et al., 2012; Morris & Fritz, 2013a, b) and their confidence intervals (CIs; e.g., Cumming, 2012, 2014; Masson & Loftus, 2003; Smith & Morris, 2015). We therefore coded the papers for these practices. The Guidelines state: “It is important to report appropriate measures of variability around means and around effects (e.g., confidence intervals around means and/or around standardized effect sizes).” We surveyed the reporting of measures of variability both of the sample data, such as standard deviations (SDs), and of the sample means, through standard errors (SEs) and confidence intervals (CIs). There are two principle ways in which variability is reported: in error bars in figures or in numerals within the text or tables. Error bars can visually convey the likely values of means in other data samples, but the figures are often too small to allow the error bars to be translated into numbers for further analysis (e.g., Morris & Fritz, 2013a). Therefore, we coded both the use of error bars and numbers in reporting variability within each article. We also took the opportunity to survey the types of statistical tests being reported in the papers surveyed, and we catalogued the types of effect size measures reported.

Finally, we noted the types of figures used in presenting means and variability. Newman and Scholl (2012) demonstrated that the use of bar charts to present means leads to a within-the-bar bias such that values within the bar are perceived as more likely than values outside (e.g., above) the bar (see also Fritz, Morris, Cherchar, Smith, & Roe, 2015; Okan, Garcia-Retamero, Cokely, & Maldonado, 2017).

Our purpose in this research was to document recent practices in the conduct and reporting of experimental research in both Psychonomic Society journals and another experimental psychology journal. Where practice falls short of the Guidelines, we hope to encourage improvement.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on the evolving p-value reporting controversy ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong


Incorporating Whiteboard Voice-Over Video Technology into the Accounting Curriculum
by Camillo Lento (Lakehead University)
Issues in Accounting Education: August 2017, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp. 153-168
https://doi.org/10.2308/iace-51584

This article discusses how accounting instructors can adopt whiteboard voice-over (WBVO) video technology as a supplemental resource in traditional classroom designs or as an integral resource in a flipped or online classroom design. WBVO technology can facilitate a blended learning classroom design by allowing instructors and/or students to create short videos that can be posted in a learning management system or public domain. The benefits of utilizing WBVO technology are analyzed through the lens of variation theory, and include (1) providing students with additional instructional design materials to increase learning opportunities, (2) aiding instructors in focusing on the “process of learning” as opposed to the “product of knowledge” in order to make it easier for students to learn, (3) developing instructional design resources that are unique to the classroom learning environment to reduce the unintended consequences of adopting third-party materials that may have been designed for different learning objectives, (4) freeing up class time for active learning activities that focus on higher-order cognitive skills, and (5) reinforcing a student-centered learning environment. Observations from the classroom provide some preliminary empirical evidence to support the efficacy of utilizing WBVO technology to create instructional design materials.


On the Power of Teaching Philosophy in Prisons ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/on-the-power-of-teaching-philosophy-in-prisons.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Jensen Comment
Much depends upon the selection of students. This is no magic bullet for many prisoners.


Columbia Offers 1-Year Masters In Data Journalism For $106,000 ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2017/08/columbia-offers-1-year-masters-in-data-journalism-for-106000-.html

Harvard Goes Outside:   To Go Online With With edX  to Start a Technical Business Analytics Certificate Program (heavy in math and statistics) ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/08/08/harvard-teams-corporate-partner-offer-online-business-analytics-program?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=2e2909c6fa-DNU20170808&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-2e2909c6fa-197565045&mc_cid=2e2909c6fa&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Three schools at the oldest university in the United States team up with 2U to start an online program in an emergent field.

If any American university might be positioned to begin a new online program all by itself, Harvard University -- with its world-famous brand, many-billion-dollar endowment and founding relationship with the online course provider edX -- might be it. But the university announced Monday that three of its schools would create a new business analytics certificate program with 2U, the online program management company.

A collaboration between 2U and professors at the Harvard Business School, the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the department of statistics in Harvard's main college, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the program will teach students how to leverage data and analytics to drive business growth.

Aimed at executives in full-time work, the course will be delivered through 2U’s online platform and will feature live, seminar-style classes with Harvard faculty members. The course will cost around $50,000 for three semesters, with an estimated time requirement of 10 hours per week.

Continued in article

Also see
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/08/09/inside-digital-learning-experts-weigh-harvard-2u-opm-deal?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=d46e7c64f9-DNU20170809&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-d46e7c64f9-197565045&mc_cid=d46e7c64f9&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Jensen Comment
Unlike most MOOC courses from prestigious universities (including Harvard) this expensive certificate program is not free on a non-credit basis.

Bob Jensen's threads on free MOOC courses (with added fees for students who want transcript credits or certificates) ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


Apple’s Hypercard Software, the Innovative 1980s Precursor to Hypertext, Now Made Available by Archive.org ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/apples-hypercard-software-the-innovative-1980s-precursor-to-hypertext-now-made-available-by-archive-org.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Jensen Comment
Hypercard was a precursor of slide show software in the days when PowerPoint was a latecomer into the slide show era.

The history of these slide show software that, in turn, led to course management software like Authorware and ToolBook is summarized at
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245ch02.htm


What Herman Melville Can Teach Bob Dylan about Plagiarism ---
https://daily.jstor.org/herman-melville-can-teach-bob-dylan-plagiarism/

Hilliary Clinton's Pastor Plagiarized a Portions of New Book ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/laurettabrown/2017/08/14/hillary-clintons-pastor-plagiarized-portions-of-new-book-n2368663?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

Bob Jensen's threads on celebrity plagiarists ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#Celebrities


Does biology explain why men outnumber women in tech?
https://theconversation.com/does-biology-explain-why-men-outnumber-women-in-tech-82479


MIT:  Hackers Are the Real Obstacle for Self-Driving Vehicles ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/608618/hackers-are-the-real-obstacle-for-self-driving-vehicles/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=e0752cde62-weekly_roundup_2017-08-24_edit&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-e0752cde62-153727301&goal=0_997ed6f472-e0752cde62-153727301&mc_cid=e0752cde62&mc_eid=fe7f400ea3

Jensen Comment
Hackers in modern times seem almost able to ruin any advances in technology. Damages are often caused by insiders (think employees) who get hacked off (pardon the pun). Some of the most worrisome tactics entail leaving back doors for causing troubles "down the road" so to speak. Motivations range from revenge to money to just plain fun and games in proving it can be done. Think of what can happen now that trains and commuter buses are being deployed that have no drivers.


How to Mislead With Statistics
Students At Most Colleges Don’t Pick ‘Useless’ Majors ---
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/students-at-most-colleges-dont-pick-useless-majors/

Jensen Comment
One way to mislead with statistics is to have a poor or non-existent definition of a major theme of an article. The article above focuses on "useless degrees" without ever defining a "useless degree." In undergraduate school a "useless degree" is contingent upon whether the degree is a terminal degree and whether the there are careers for those who have this terminal degree. For example, for many students in any undergraduate degree is likely to be useless for students who graduated marginally  (think a 2.00 gpa) and/or terrible graduate school admission scores on the GRE, the MCAT, the LSAT, the GMAT, or whatever. For those students a "useless degree" can in almost any major since job prospects are lousy for low-performing students, especially in this era of grade inflation where the median grades across the USA are A-.

The above article implies, for example, that business is not a "useless degree" when in fact business is a useless degree for  a marginal graduate with a 2.00 gpa, especially if the graduate does not have any affirmative action criteria to fall back on such as being Native or African American.

As a second example, the physical sciences are pretty much useless degrees for students who are not headed for graduate school for a K-12 teaching job. And some physical science Ph.D. degrees are not really attractive for finding careers in those disciplines that get hundreds of applicants for every tenure track opening. The author contends that students avoid physical science and math degrees because they are not prepared for the rigors of such majors in college. That most certainly is true to some extent, but there would be far more majors in the physical sciences if there were better career opportunities with or without Ph.D. degrees in the physical sciences.

The author fails to note that the popularity of biological sciences in prestigious universities is driven heavily by students aspiring to become physicians. If it weren't for premed tracks I doubt that biological sciences would be nearly as popular even in the most prestigious universities.

My main point is that a "useless major" in terms of finding a job in a given discipline really cannot be defined without adding other predictors to the equation such as gpa, ethnicity, etc.

Having said this, a "useless major" can also be defined in terms of starting salaries for those who find jobs in the discipline on their diplomas. These are likely to be those graduates with high gpas. A useless major could be defined in terms of a 4.00 graduate in social work earning less than $25,000 per year with little prospect of earning more than $50,000 per year (plus inflation adjustments) after 50 years in the job. Here there are some pretty useless careers unless other variables are added to the equation such as job security, days off of work per year (think teachers having summers free), stress on the job, etc.

Once "useless degrees" have been defined for purposes of an article a better approach would be to study (e.g., by survey or interviews) those graduates with "useless" majors to find out why they chose those particular majors. For example, I know a woman in a good marriage to a successful physician who majored in who went back to college to get a degree in art because making a living in art did not matter in the least. The same can be said for a lot of men and women who choose majors (think music, art, art history, fine arts, history, literature) because making a living in their discipline does not matter. This point is made in the article.

Another point to be stressed is that having a "non-useless" major is no guarantee of success in finding a job or having a high expected lifetime accumulation of earnings.
I've had a number of top accounting majors (think 4.00 gpa) who had traits that stood in the way of fulfilling careers. Yes being exceptionally introverted can stand in the way of a career --- even in accounting. Being obese can stand in the way of most any career. One of the members of my own family had great prospects as a science teacher until she became increasingly bipolar and can no longer work at all.


From the FBI

Becoming an FBI Agent --- Part 1
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/becoming-an-agent-part-1

Becoming an FBI Agent --- Part 2
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/becoming-an-agent-part-2

Becoming an FBI Agent --- Part 3
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/becoming-an-agent-part-3

Becoming an FBI Agent --- Part 4
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/becoming-an-agent-part-4


How union stakes in ailing papers like the Chicago Sun-Times may keep them alive ---
https://theconversation.com/how-union-stakes-in-ailing-papers-like-the-chicago-sun-times-may-keep-them-alive-81066

The recent purchase of the Chicago Sun-Times for a nominal US$1 by a consortium of labor-affiliated organizations and individual investors highlights the troubled state of the newspaper industry.

It also raises the question of whether union ownership can bolster the odds that this Windy City daily whose founding dates back to 1929 can survive.

Research conducted by me and others suggests that, perhaps surprisingly, giving unions a financial stake in a company can offer advantages that would not only benefit Chicago Sun-Times employees but the newspaper and the wider community as well.

The state of the industry

Regardless of who owns it, the Chicago Sun-Times operates in an industry wrenched by a tsunami of economic, technological and social change that has rendered the traditional business model of newspapers obsolete.

Just 20 percent of the U.S. population got its news from a print newspaper last year, compared with 27 percent in 2013. Weekday circulation for print dailies dropped to 34.7 million in 2016 – the lowest in at least 77 years – down from 52.3 million a decade earlier. And advertising revenue from both print and digital dailies plunged to $18.3 billion last year from $49.4 billion in 2005.

The Chicago Sun-Times, which has won eight Pulitzer Prizes and was the home of legendary film critic Roger Ebert, itself offered vivid testimony of these hardships when it declared bankruptcy in 2009. This led to steep bargaining concessions by its employees after it was bought by STMG Holdings, the only bidder for the company.

For example, the paper negotiated a 15 percent cut in pay and benefits for newsroom employees who belonged to the NewsGuild union.

These realities highlight the challenges confronting the new Chicago Sun-Times investors, which include the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) union, former Chicago Alderman Edwin Eisendrath and several local labor unions. The head of the CFL is expected to be named chairman, while Eisendrath will be the chief executive.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
There are not a whole lot of examples where employee or union ownership fails to save companies.  Exhibit A is Chrysler Corporation prior to bankruptcy in 2007 that was reorganized in 2009 by, among other things, leaving employee shares worthless.

The advantage of employee and union ownership arises when employees will make concessions in wages, plant closings, and robotics that that were not possible when outside investors owned the majority stake in the companies.

The disadvantage is cost of capital when outside investors cannot be attracted to invest in companies that employees and unions own. Employee owners may also be less inclined to take on risky mergers and acquisitions and otherwise fund ventures that keep other companies viable. Also at some point employees refuse to continue to make wage concessions even for their own companies.


Floyd Mayweather, widely regarded as one of boxing's greatest, apparently owes the Internal Revenue Service unpaid 2015 taxes. As penalties and interest accrue over time, his bill could deliver a knockout blow.---
http://blog.aicpa.org/2017/08/fighting-his-way-out-of-irs-penalties-literally.html#sthash.iEc5ipo9.dpbs

Jensen Comment
Some of you older folks recall how the famous heavyweight Joe Louis (who won 66 of his 69 lifetime prize fights) tried but never could fight his way out of IRS debt
---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Louis

A combination of this largesse and government intervention eventually put Louis in severe financial straits. His entrusting of his finances to former manager Mike Jacobs haunted him. After the $500,000 IRS tax bill was assessed, with interest accumulating every year, the need for cash precipitated Louis's post-retirement comeback. Even though his comeback earned him significant purses, the incremental tax rate in place at the time (90%) meant that these boxing proceeds did not even keep pace with interest on Louis's tax debt. As a result, by the end of the 1950s, he owed over $1 million in taxes and interest.[80] In 1953, when Louis's mother died, the IRS appropriated the $667 she had willed to Louis.[60] To bring in money, Louis engaged in numerous activities outside the ring. He appeared on various quiz shows, and an old Army buddy, Ash Resnick, gave Louis a job greeting tourists to the Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas, where Resnick was an executive.[80] For income, Louis even became a professional wrestler. He made his professional wrestling debut on March 16, 1956 in Washington, D.C., defeating Cowboy Rocky Lee. After defeating Lee in a few matches, Louis discovered he had a heart ailment and retired from wrestling competition. However, he continued as a wrestling referee until 1972.]


Charlotte Law School Closes 'Effective Immediately' ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2017/08/charlotte-law-school-closes-effective-immediately.html


49 States Legally Allow Employers to Discriminate Based on Weight ---
http://motto.time.com/4883176/weight-discrimination-workplace-laws/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2017081711am&xid=newsletter-brief
Jensen Comment
That, of course, does not mean that employers themselves do not have policies against such discrimination except in extreme cases where obesity interferes with job performance. Sometimes overweight employees are amazing in terms of how long they can work on their feet. This is an analog rather than digital basis for discrimination as well as being variable based upon the employee's ability to perform. Many of the same issues arise with discrimination based upon hea


As this essay reveals, while men outnumbered women on the bestseller list 3 to 1 in 1950, in 2001 that ratio was exactly 1 to 1.
The Pudding: Bias, She Wrote --- https://pudding.cool/2017/06/best-sellers




From the Scout Report on August 18, 2017

ChartsBin --- http://chartsbin.com 

Interactive data visualizations are a powerful tool for quickly and clearly demonstrating complex topics. However, constructing such visualizations on a webpage can require significant coding ability. ChartsBin is a web based visualization tool that can be used without writing code. Visualizations created with the tool can be easily embedded in a website or blog, on social media, or even exported for use in presentations. In addition, ChartsBin maintains a public gallery of visualizations derived from authoritative sources. Each visualization in the gallery is attributed to a primary source, many of which provide their data in downloadable formats. ChartsBin can be used with all major browsers.


 Iris --- https://irisdesk.io/site 

Readers who find traditional to-do lists to be overly linear and hard to conceptualize may be interested in Iris. Iris is a graphical task manager that incorporates mind map principles. Rather than presenting a checklist, a conceptual diagram of work to be done. Iris users set a number of goals, then breaks each goal down into component sub-goals. These goals can be nested as deeply as required to fully capture the task to be done. As users mark individual sub-goals completed, Iris provides a completion percentage to indicate progress. Users may also invite friends or co-workers to collaborate add comments, suggestions, and notes to each goal. Iris can be used with all major browsers


In a New Research Study, Scientists Erase Fear Response in Mice
UC Riverside scientists erase fear in mice, hope to help humans one day
http://www.pe.com/2017/08/17/how-uc-riverside-scientists-were-able-to-erase-fear-in-mice

Memories of fear could be permanently erased, study shows
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/17/memories-of-fear-could-be-permanently-erased-study-shows

Fear erased from mouse brains in step toward new PTSD treatment
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fear-mice-brains-ptsd-treatment-remove-laboratory-step-addiction-a7898416.html

Adult brain's fear HQ can grow new cells
https://cosmosmagazine.com/biology/adult-brain-s-fear-hq-can-grow-new-cells

2-Minute Neuroscience: Amygdala
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVvMSwsOXPw

The Science of Fear
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/the-science-of-fear-ainissa-ramirez


From the Scout Report on August 25, 2017

Duplicati --- https://www.duplicati.com 

Backups are essential to avoiding data loss over the long term. To reduce the risk of data loss as much as possible, backups should be performed frequently and stored off site. When using cloud storage, backups should also be encrypted so that storage providers cannot rifle through them. Duplicati is a free and open source backup client designed with online backups in mind. All data is encoded with AES-256 encryption before being uploaded. After an initial full backup, Duplicati wiil perform incremental backups, only sending the data that has changed. Duplicati can upload data to numerous cloud storage providers, including Amazon S3, Microsoft OneDrive, Google Drive. Any generic file server that provides WebDAV, sftp, or ftp can also be used. Duplicati includes a scheduler that can automatically keep backups up to date. Duplicati is available for windows, macOS, and Linux. [


Twist --- https://twistapp.com 

Email shines as a tool for person-to-person correspondence, but it can often be less effective as a collaborative space for teams. It can be difficult to share old messages in a thread with a new team member to bring them up to speed. Furthermore, the process of fleshing out new ideas often works better as a conversation rather than a correspondence. A number of collaboration platforms have arisen in recent years that provide both a global history and a more conversational interface. Twist is one such platform. Unlike similar platforms, Twist maintains the concept of threads with their own distinct topics. It also features an inbox where users can see all threads with recent activity. The "Twist vs Email" and "Twist vs Slack" sections on Twist's website present an argument for why this organization is a sweet spot for team collaboration. Twist is available on the web, as an application for Windows and Macintosh computers, and in the iOS and Android app stores


Celebrating Alexander Girard: Influential Designer Featured in Michigan
Exhibit and Upcoming Film
Cranbrook Exhibit: Modern Master Alexander Girard
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/life/home-garden/2017/06/29/cranbrook-alexander-girard-exhibit/103301010

Alexander Girard, the Designer Who Made American Modernism Less Sterile
https://hyperallergic.com/393224/alexander-girard-the-designer-who-made-american-modernism-less-sterile

Modern love: Columbus architecture plays starring role in new film made in
Indiana
http://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/movies/2017/07/31/columbus-indiana-architecture-plays-film-starring-role/506283001/

Columbus, Ind., Renews Its Big Design Legacy
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/18/arts/design/columbus-ind-renews-its-big-design-legacy.html?_r=0

Organizing the World: How multi-hyphenate designer Alexander Girard made
America modern
https://www.curbed.com/2017/7/7/15931278/alexander-girard-designer-cranbrook-exhibition

YouTube: Introducing Miller House and Garden in Columbus, IN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxkla7tWBDk

 




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


Education Tutorials

USGS: 27 Ideas for Teaching with Topographic Maps --- https://education.usgs.gov/lessons/teachingtopomaps.html

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

Berkman Klein Center: Youth and Media --- http://youthandmedia.org

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

World Science U --- http://www.worldscienceu.com

Decoding Cancer --- https://www.decodingcancer.org

Science Robotics --- http://robotics.sciencemag.org

NASA: Hurricanes and Tropical Storms --- https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/main/index.html

TwilightBeasts (dinosaurs) --- https://twilightbeasts.wordpress.com

The Story Collider: Epidemics: Stories of Medical Crises ---
https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2017/8/4/epidemic-stories-of-medical-crises

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

Click! The Ongoing Feminist Revolution https://www.cliohistory.org/click

Darwin Correspondence Project --- https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk

Science Robotics --- http://robotics.sciencemag.org

Berkman Klein Center: Youth and Media --- http://youthandmedia.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

Quanta Magazine: Abstractions Blog --- https://www.quantamagazine.org/abstractions

3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet rewrites the history of maths - and shows the Greeks did not develop trigonometry ---
https://www.yahoo.com/news/3-700-old-babylonian-tablet-180000397.html

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

Click! The Ongoing Feminist Revolution https://www.cliohistory.org/click

The Getty Conservation Institute: Conservation Perspectives (art history) ---
http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/newsletters

The Web Site “Centuries of Sound” is Making a Mixtape for Every Year of Recorded Sound from 1860 to Present ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/the-web-site-centuries-of-sound-is-making-a-mixtape-for-every-year-of-recorded-sound-from-1860-to-present.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The Mauritshuis: Discover the Story Behind The Goldfinch (art history Dutch masters) --- http://puttertje.mauritshuis.nl/en

Community of Gardens (Smithsonian) --- https://communityofgardens.si.edu

Society for American Baseball Research --- http://sabr.org

FDR Library Virtual Tour (Roosevelt) --- http://www.fdrlibraryvirtualtour.org

The American Experience in 737 Novels --- https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2017/737-novels

TwilightBeasts (dinosaurs) --- https://twilightbeasts.wordpress.com

Cross Continents: Syria's Secret Library --- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07lhh6x

Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music --- https://www.diamm.ac.uk

3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet rewrites the history of maths - and shows the Greeks did not develop trigonometry ---
https://www.yahoo.com/news/3-700-old-babylonian-tablet-180000397.html

Scott Polar Research Institute: Antarctic Collection --- http://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/museum/catalogue/antc/gallery

George Eastman Museum: Works: Photography --- ttp://collections.eastman.org/collections/objects/20331

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

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


Music Tutorials

Download 400,000 Free Classical Musical Scores & 46,000 Free Classical Recordings from the International Music Score Library Project ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/08/download-400000-free-classical-musical-scores-46000-free-classical-recordings.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Internet Archive: 78rpm Records Digitized by George Blood, L.P.---- https://archive.org/details/georgeblood

Digital Image Archive of Medieval Music --- https://www.diamm.ac.uk

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

Dictionary of American Regional English
UW Digital Collections: DARE Fieldwork Recordings --- https://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/amerlangs

The Purdue Owl: Preventing Plagiarism --- https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/3/33

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/

August 14, 2017

August 16, 2017

August 17, 2017

August 18, 2017

August 19, 2017

August 21, 2017

August 22. 2017

August 23, 2017

August 24, 2017

August 25, 2017

August 26, 2017

August 28, 2017

View All Health News

 


Decoding Cancer --- https://www.decodingcancer.org


The Story Collider: Epidemics: Stories of Medical Crises ---
https://www.storycollider.org/stories/2017/8/4/epidemic-stories-of-medical-crises




Humor for August 2017

Video:  You're Kidding Me Dog --- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbJ2GxNTPJs


The Funniest Messages Left on Windshields of Terrible Parkers (some aren't so funny) ---
http://omgcheckitout.com/meanest-notes-left-windshields-terrible-drivers-parkers/1/?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=nydailynews-nydailynews&utm_campaign=tb-us-d-note-1705_v1


Forwarded by Scott Bonacker

Why did the auditor get run over crossing the road?
Auditors never actually do the risk assessment well until after the
accident happens.


There was an accountant named Phil, 
his clients he'd overbill, 
He charged them all double, 
and if they caused trouble, 
he'd add $100 more for a thrill.


Q: Why did the auditor cross the road?
A: Because it was in prior year workpapers.


What do cannibal auditors do after their Office Christmas dinner?
Toast Their Clients.,


Forwarded by Tina

Subject: Fwd: The "Learning" curve explained.

You start with a cage containing four monkeys, and inside the cage you
hang a banana on a string,

and then you place a set of stairs under the banana.

    Before long a monkey will go to the stairs and climb toward the banana.

      You then spray ALL the monkeys with cold water.

   After a while, another monkey makes an attempt. As soon as he
touches the stairs, you spray ALL the monkeys with cold water again.

     Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the
other monkeys will try to prevent it.

   Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and
replace it with a new monkey.

The new monkey sees the banana and attempts to climb the stairs. To
his shock, ALL of the other monkeys beat the crap out of him. After
another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the
stairs he will be assaulted.

    Next, remove another of the original four monkeys, replacing it
with a new monkey. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked.
The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment – with enthusiasm
-- because he's now part of the "team."

   Then, replace a third original monkey with a new monkey, followed
by the fourth. Every time the newest monkey

takes to the stairs, he is attacked.

     Now, the monkeys that are beating him up have no idea why they
were not permitted to climb the stairs. Neither do they know why they
are participating in the beating of the newest monkey. Having replaced
all of the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys will have
ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, not one of the
monkeys will try to climb the stairway for the

banana

.



     Why, you ask? Because in their minds, that is the way it has always been!

This is how today's Congress and Senate operates, and this is
why, from time to time, ALL of the monkeys need to be REPLACED..... AT
THE SAME TIME!

 

 




Humor August 2017--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q3.htm#Humor0817.htm

Humor July 2017--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q3.htm#Humor0717.htm

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 IRS

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