Tidbits on December 28, 2017
 Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Historic Photographs (Set 02) of the Sunset Hill House Resort Shared by Gunsmith Ron Resden from Vermont
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/02ResdenSSH.htm 

 

 

Tidbits on December 28, 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

Learn Philosophy, from the Ancients to the Moderns, with 350 Animated Videos ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/12/learn-philosophy-from-the-ancients-to-the-moderns-with-350-animated-videos.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Lunch Atop a Skyscraper --- https://www.youtube.com/embed/7QCYDzs Q_yM?rel=0  

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 

Tulane University:  Hogan Jazz Archive --- https://jazz.tulane.edu/

A 17-Hour Chronological Playlist of Beatles Songs: 338 Tracks Let You Hear the Musical Evolution of the Iconic Band ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/12/a-17-hour-chronological-playlist-of-beatles-songs.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

David Bowie & Bing Crosby Sing “The Little Drummer Boy”: A Wonderful Christmas Chestnut from 1977 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/12/david-bowie-bing-crosby-sing-the-little-drummer-boy-a-wonderful-christmas-chestnut-from-1977.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

The Stories Behind the Best Photos of 2017 ---
http://time.com/top-10-photos-of-2017/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2017122612pm&xid=newsletter-brief

The most stunning science photos of 2017 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-science-space-and-nature-photos-2017-12

40 Views of Hawaii ---
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/40-views-of-hawaii-that-will-knock-it-to-the-top-of-your-bucket-list/ss-BBGAWU6?ocid=spartandhp

Beautiful Winter Escapes ---
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/tripideas/the-most-beautiful-winter-escapes-in-the-world/ss-BBGpC1K?ocid=spartandhp

Gingerbread Train --- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5210645/Pastry-chef-creates-incredible-massive-gingerbread-train.html

The 50 Most Incredible Photographs of the US Military in 2017 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-most-incredible-photos-2017-12

These are the most incredible photos of the US Air Force in 2017 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-air-force-most-incredible-photos-2017-2017-12

13 Photos of the WW II Battle of the Bulge ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/battle-of-the-bulge-nazi-germany-world-war-ii-photos-2016-12

Time Magazine:  Top 100 Photographs of 2017 ---
http://time.com/top-100-photos-of-2017/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2017122019pm&xid=newsletter-brief

33 photos of Google's rise from a Stanford dorm room to world domination ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/google-history-in-photos-2016-10

MIT:  Best Illustrations in Technology Stories in 2017 ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609625/our-best-illustrations-of-2017/

These are the most incredible photos of the US Army in 2017 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-army-most-incredible-photos-2017-12

Tour the remote island where some of the most secret scenes in 'Star Wars' were filmed ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-ahch-to-skellig-michael-island-2017-12

From the Scout Report on December 2017

Winners of the 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Contest
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/12/winners-of-the-2017-national-geographic-nature-photographer-of-the-year-contest/548183

Capturing ecology 2017 photo competition - winners in pictures
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2017/dec/01/capturing-ecology-2017-photo-competition-winners-in-pictures

Here Come the Penitent Penguins: the Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards Are Back
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/14/568932169/here-come-the-penitent-penguins-the-comedy-wildlife-photo-awards-are-back

Natural History Museum: Wildlife Photography
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/wildlife-photography.html

The First Flash Photographs of the Natural World at Night
https://hyperallergic.com/270663/the-first-flash-photographs-of-the-natural-world-at-night

This American Life: So a Monkey and a Horse Walk Into a Bar: Monkey in the Middle
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/631/so-a-monkey-and-a-horse-walk-into-a-bar?act=1

 

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

The Best of The Atlantic From 1967, 1917, and 1867 ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/the-best-of-the-atlantic-from-1967-1917-and-1867/549113/

Six Degrees of Francis Bacon --- www.sixdegreesoffrancisbacon.com/?ids=10000473&min_confidence=60&type=network

Jacket2 (Modern and Contemporary Poetry) --- https://jacket2.org/

Willing to Be Reckless Marianne Moore’s New Collected Poems, edited by Heather Cass White ---
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/articles/144804/willing-to-be-reckless

Joseph Conrad fell out of favor long ago. There's the racism, of course, and his obsession with courage and honor ---
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-dawn-watch-review-a-reminder-of-joseph-conrad-s-artistic-greatness-1.3315692

The rise of the Instapoets. Often dismissed as “not real poetry” or for “greeting-card verse,” the works of Rupi Kaur and other social-media scribes deserve our attention ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/15/books/review/rupi-kaur-instapoets.html

Historically, books were read out loud, to an audience — lighting was expensive, illiteracy common, and reading was deemed dangerous ---
http://www.weeklystandard.com/shared-words/article/2010691

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

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 December 28, 2017
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2017/TidbitsQuotations122817.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

 

The New York Times Interactive Tax Calculator ---
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/12/17/upshot/tax-calculator.html

Jensen Comment
This is an example where averages can be misleading. For example, because my wife and I have relatively large medical deductions the NYT Calculator is seriously incorrect. It will be even more incorrect for those having long-term care nursing expenses (fortunately not us, yet) ---
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-latest-trump-predicts-monumental-tax-bill-will-pass/2017/12/15/b982d956-e1aa-11e7-b2e9-8c636f076c76_story.html?utm_term=.a44a56e4bcc4
In fairness the NYT article mentions many of the misleading aspects of its calculator.

December 22, 2017 reply from Carl Hubbard

I use moneychimp.com for basic tax estimates. Seems to be accurate.

http://moneychimp.com/

Carl

Women Are Majority of New Medical Students ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/12/19/women-are-majority-new-medical-students?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=1eaa2573b4-DNU20171219&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-1eaa2573b4-197565045&mc_cid=1eaa2573b4&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Over the past three decades, the proportion of women in medical schools has risen in Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and South Africa ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/world/europe/08iht-ffdocs08.html

Gendered specialties during medical education: a literature review ---
http://pubmedcentralcanada.ca/pmcc/articles/PMC4078047/

Bob Jensen's threads on women in the professions are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Women

If math is aspirin, how do we create the headache?
Dan Meyer
https://blog.mrmeyer.com/2015/if-math-is-the-aspirin-then-how-do-you-create-the-headache/

Algorithms for Big Data: A Free Course from Harvard ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/12/algorithms-for-big-data-a-free-course-from-harvard.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Inside Higher Ed:  Best Webcasts of 2017 ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/webcasts?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=224dbcb362-best_webcasts_2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-224dbcb362-197565045

Top 17/834 Blog Modules on JSTOR Daily in 2017 ---
https://daily.jstor.org/editors-picks-best-of-2017/

NetFlix:  The 23 Best Science Movies ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-science-documentaries-movies-shows-netflix-2017-5

Vox:  The 21 Best Movies of 2017 ---
https://www.vox.com/2017-in-review/2017/12/15/16751138/best-movies-2017

Google:  Top 50 Movies of 2017 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/top-50-movies-of-2017-google-play-2017-12

Google's 2017 Year in Search ---
https://trends.google.com/trends/yis/2017/GLOBAL/?hl=en-US&utm_source=Trends&utm_campaign=yis_2017&utm_medium=website&utm_content=page
Jensen Comment
These rankings are always depressing in the sense of how unimportant academic topics, global warming topics, health topics, etc. are to the masses compared in some way to sex and show business. Even victory over ISIS seems to not bring out heavy searchings.  Reminds me of the following quotation:

Without promotion something terrible happens --- Nothing!
P.T. Barnum

The exception regarding "promotion" this year seems to be searches regarding Trump "scandals." In spite of all the media attention (nearly 100% on CNN and MSNBC) Google searches regarding Trump scandals are not mentioned in the above link's top rankings  except for the Georgia Special Election that could be considered more sex than Trump.

Amazon:  Best Books of 2017 --- http://lisnews.org/best_books_of_the_year_amazoncom

Science Friday:  The Best Science Books of 2017 ---
https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/the-best-science-books-of-2017/
Thanks to Bob Blystone for the heads up.

MIT:  Best Tech Books of 2017 ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609624/best-tech-books-of-2017/

MIT:  Best Illustrations in Technology Stories in 2017 ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609625/our-best-illustrations-of-2017/

MIT:  Silicon Valley's (Unhappy) Report Card for 2017 ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609628/silicon-valleys-2017-report-card/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=818c198b2c-weekly_roundup_2017-12-28_edit&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-818c198b2c-153727301&goal=0_997ed6f472-818c198b2c-153727301&mc_cid=818c198b2c&mc_eid=fe7f400ea3

MIT:  The Five Most Amazing Things That Were 3-D-Printed in 2017 ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609634/the-five-most-amazing-things-that-were-3-d-printed-this-year/?utm_source=MIT+Technology+Review&utm_campaign=818c198b2c-weekly_roundup_2017-12-28_edit&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_997ed6f472-818c198b2c-153727301&goal=0_997ed6f472-818c198b2c-153727301&mc_cid=818c198b2c&mc_eid=fe7f400ea3 

The Atlantic:  The Nine Best Cookbooks of 2017 ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/12/the-9-best-cookbooks-of-2017/548039/

Maria Popova:  The 7 Loveliest Children’s Books of 2017 ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/12/17/best-childrens-books-2017/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=5af12dbde4-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_12_18&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-5af12dbde4-234390133&mc_cid=5af12dbde4&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

Technology:  The Human Machine Reading List ---
https://howwegettonext.com/the-human-machine-reading-list-a17980149d1e

Ten of Time Magazine's Favorite Holiday Gifts ---
http://time.com/5037490/gift-guide-favorites/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2017121812pm&xid=newsletter-brief

Top Toys of 2017 ---
http://time.com/5028518/top-10-toys-2017/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2017122112pm&xid=newsletter-brief

The Best (and Worst) Holiday Gifts, According to Science ---
http://time.com/5060375/best-holiday-gifts-science/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2017121918pm&xid=newsletter-brief

Scroll down Amazon's home page for some great gift ideas ---
https://www.amazon.com/

10 must-have travel tech accessories ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/must-have-travel-tech-accessories-2016-6

Also see this power converter for overseas travel ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/must-have-travel-tech-accessories-2016-6/#a-power-converter-2

Year 2017 20 Worst CEOs ---
http://247wallst.com/special-report/2017/12/26/worst-ceos-in-america-2017/?utm_source=247WallStDailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=DEC272017A&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter

Jensen Comment
This like most any other ranking of performance depends crucially upon both criteria and weighting of criteria. By analogy the best coach may not have the top winning record. There's always a conflict between short term outcomes versus the yet unknown long-term outcomes. Sometimes a CEO, like a coach, inherits an organization in really bad shape to begin with such that even slight improvements may be somewhat miraculous.

I'm often reminded of student rankings of their professors. Sometimes students may have learned the most under their most hated instructors.

In such situations I sometimes refer back to Randy Pausch's Coach Graham and my Coach Gazowski ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#Randy

CEOs have it tougher than coaches because CEOs have so many constituencies ranging from government to suppliers to employees to customers to creditors to owners to on and on and on.

20 Worst Ads of 2017 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-ads-of-the-year-2017-12

6 new Netflix original shows got trashed by critics in 2017 — here's the list ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/worst-netflix-original-shows-that-debuted-in-2017-list-2017-12

Business Insider:  The Best TV Shows in 2017 Ranked ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-new-tv-shows-of-2017-ranked-2017-12

The Wildest Scientific Discoveries of 2017 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/biggest-scientific-discoveries-2017-12

NYT:  Worst Passwords of 2017 ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/20/business/worst-passwords.html?WT.mc_id=SmartBriefs-Newsletter&WT.mc_ev=click&ad-keywords=smartbriefsnl

14 predictions for the future of media ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/14-predictions-for-the-future-of-media-2017-12

It is worth questioning what proportion of the news this year, what imperceptible fraction, was devoted to the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded for the landmark detection of gravitational waves — the single most significant astrophysical discovery since Galileo. After centuries of knowing the universe only by sight, only by looking, we can now listen to it and hear echoes of events that took place billions of lightyears away, billions of years ago — events that made the stardust that made us. ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/12/21/reflection/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=a0ca5edc9c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_12_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-a0ca5edc9c-234390133&mc_cid=a0ca5edc9c&mc_eid=4d2bd13843
Jensen Comment
Did CNN or MSNBC or Fox News even mention the 2017 Nobel Prize for Physics as they fell over themselves reporting ad nauseoum on one failed political meeting between Donald Trump Jr. and the Russian Ambassader?

Jensen Comment
Some major newspapers are being saved by billionaires such as when Jeff Bezos (Amazon) purchased The Washington Post, Carlos Slim from Mexico purchased a major stake in The New York Times, and Rupert Murdoch purchased The Wall Street Journal. Billionaires such as Rupert Murdoch, Oprah Winfrey, and others are also buying up cable networks. Fake news is not nearly as much of a problem as is the cherry picking of news that will or will not be featured. I stop short, however, of accusing the billionaire owners for being directly responsible for this cherry picking. Indirectly, however, they have a voice in choosing the management of their enterprises.

The point is that some of the major media outlets now longer depend upon making profits from circulation and advertising to be sustained as media giants. This point, the Battle of Billionaires, was not featured in the above article.

Supposed truth seekers like Snopes and Politico have enormous problems of cherry picking what they report.

I worry that the end of "net neutrality" will one day silence the voices of small "blogs" that counter the cherry pickers. I really support the initiative underway in the USA Congress to restore net neutrality.

Chronicle of Higher Education:  Innovators: 10 Classroom Trailblazers ---
https://www.chronicle.com/specialreport/Innovators-10-Classroom/156?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=aedc459027d84bcf8c69f0560d2ddeae&elq=499dd218c46f4987ae1f280407953b22&elqaid=17228&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7478

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

Here are the 18 biggest bankruptcies of the 'retail apocalypse' of 2017 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/retailers-bankruptcy-filings2017-9

Jensen Comment
In the case of retail chains, many stores close in bankruptcy but some stores often remain (possibly with new owners).

It's Gonna Get a Lot Easier to Break Science Journal Paywalls ---
https://www.wired.com/story/its-gonna-get-a-lot-easier-to-break-science-journal-paywalls/
Jensen Comment
My appreciation of this article was not improved by its use of street grammar.

Kroger is taking a direct shot at Amazon and Walmart and making checkout lanes obsolete ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/kroger-customers-check-out-without-registers-or-cashiers-2017-12

Walmart is planning a store without cashiers ---
https://www.axios.com/walmart-planning-a-cashierless-store-2518925675.html

Job Losses in Retail are Disproportionately Hurting Women ---
https://www.theatlas.com/charts/BJkYIx_Mz

Jensen Comment
The ultimate technology will be one that scans the entire cart as a customer leaves the store without having to scan each item. Perhaps this will work something like RFID technology. This would even detect prices of goods stuffed down bras and inside pockets ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio-frequency_identification

The fact that Kroger is doing this in 400+ stores surprises me since Kroger is a strong union shop relative to Walmart and many smaller chains.

As more stores in town put cashiers out of business and more stores unload driverless trucks and stock shelves with robots, I'm wondering where the town will find customers. I grew up in Iowa when four or more farm families had homes and buildings on a section (square mile) of land. Now a section of land is barely enough for one family, and most farms are even larger than one section. The Iowa farm I inherited had our home and all other buildings torn down to reclaim more land for crops farmed by giant tractors and other machinery.

And it's no surprise that there are 75% or fewer families around to shop in an Iowa farm town. Most stores on main street are boarded up, schools are regionally consolidated with long bus rides, and town homes are practically given away to retired old folks living on Social Security.

Will this same thing even happen to larger towns as robots take over for workers in retail stores?

Prodigies’ Progress: Parents and superkids, then and now ---
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2018/01/child-prodigies-as-adults 

National Academies Press --- https://www.nap.edu/

Titular Colonicity and Scholarship:  New Zealand Research and Scholarly Impact ---
http://www.psychology.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/NZJP-Vol121-1983-7-Townsend.pdf

Thanks to biologist Bob Blystone for the heads up. Bob reveals "titular colonicity" is

. . .

Seven of the first ten most download papers (recently linked at the National Academies Press) are examples of “titular colonicity”. J.T. Dillon
in 1981 presented the idea that a colon in a scholarly publication title was a correlate to
quality. He called it “titular colonicity”. I have added a brief review of this idea by
Townsend at the end of this email. NAP articles 11 through 20 have colons in five of their
titles.

The New Yorker Data Mining Illustration:  A former journalist, equipped with an algorithm and the largest collection of murder records in the country, finds patterns in crime ---
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/27/the-serial-killer-detector

Jensen Comment
In the early years of computing much of my research and attention was on cluster analysis and numerical taxonomy. But the tools were crude in those days. Now the tools are much more sophisticated, usually much more sophisticated than the operations people (e.g., the police) who resist using it.

Algorithms for Big Data: A Free Course from Harvard ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/12/algorithms-for-big-data-a-free-course-from-harvard.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Fake Reviews --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_review#Fake_reviews

Elsevier retracting 26 papers accepted because of fake reviews (and will retract more soon) ---
http://retractionwatch.com/2017/12/21/elsevier-retracting-26-papers-accepted-fake-reviews/

Jensen Comment
In various ways the concept of "fake review" can be extended to any situation where editors choosing reviewers cherry pick those reviewers in terms of likelihood of acceptance or rejection. Some reviewers never accept anything. Others are sympathetic with alumni in their circle of cohorts.

Justin Fox --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Fox

Corporations themselves don't ultimately pay taxes
Harvard's Justin Fox:  At&T's Tax Cut Bonus ($1,000 to every employee) is More Than Just a Gimmick ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-12-20/at-t-s-tax-cut-bonus-isn-t-just-a-gimmick?te=1&nl=dealbook&emc=edit_dk_20171221

A Brief History of Students Secretly Recording Their Professors ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/A-Brief-History-of-Students/242104?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=e7babcb73ca9470e9e49fd18893864b1&elq=ca490223b1314d878a30e998b266ad6b&elqaid=17251&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7498

Jensen Comment
Perhaps a better source for revealing professors going political in their courses are the comments made by students in RateMyProfessors.com ---
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/
This is especially revealing when political activism arises in courses where politics are not part of the intended curriculum for a course such as a course in advanced calculus or computer programming.

The real Apple iPhone battery scandal is that it took control away from customers ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-battery-conspiracy-apple-should-add-controls-2017-12

Apple confirmed a longtime conspiracy theory — and gave regular customers a big reason to distrust it ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-battery-throttling-gives-customers-reason-to-distrust-2017-12

How to Mislead With Statistics
Americans are moving into these 10 states in droves ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/states-americans-are-moving-to-2017-12

Jensen Comment
This is yet another illustration of the misleading denominator effect. The 10 states are those with the lowest denominators. For example, Vermont only has slightly over 600,000 residents such that a 3.4% increase is approximately 20,000 moves into the state. This is a drop in the bucket in California and New York. Another misleading word in the above title is "moving."  The way the data are gathered does not necessarily cover all moves. For example, a college graduate who takes a new job in Chicago may get everything into the back of a car.

THE VOICE ASSISTANT LANDSCAPE REPORT:
How artificially intelligent voice assistants are changing the relationship between consumers and computers ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/voice-assistant-report-2017-3

Jensen Comment
I think voice assistants and Chatbots (Chatterbots) are technologies of learning in the future.

Harvard:  Most Doctors Have Little or No Management Training, and That’s a Problem ---
https://hbr.org/2017/12/most-doctors-have-little-or-no-management-training-and-thats-a-problem?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert&referral=00563&spMailingID=18675533&spUserID=MTkyODM0MDg0MAS2&spJobID=1161342523&spReportId=MTE2MTM0MjUyMwS2

Nine Facts You Learned in School That Are No Longer True ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/facts-no-longer-true-2017-3

Don't you wish you had purchased options on the top six?
2017 Commodity Price Movements Ranked:  And the 2017 Winner is ... Cobalt
https://www.theatlas.com/charts/ryzpwNrzG

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

Bitcoin 101:  Your Essential Guide to Bitcoin ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-101-your-essential-guide-to-cryptocurrency-2017-12

The Bitcoin Paradox ---
http://nautil.us/issue/55/trust/the-bitcoin-paradox

Tax avoidance is causing a surge in bitcoin loans ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/tax-avoidance-is-causing-a-surge-in-bitcoin-loans-2017-12

A guide to paying taxes on cryptocurrency (e.g. bitcoin) profit ---
https://qz.com/1156706/a-guide-to-paying-taxes-on-bitcoin-investments/

DATA Tuition and Fees, 1998-99 Through 2017-18 for 3,000 Colleges and Universities (included room and board, in-state tuition, out-of-state tuition) ---
https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/tuition-and-fees?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=5a462a8687ce4b238b001905e558ec32&elq=31812f6bb6694559a3c4e21d15721177&elqaid=17163&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7445

 Jensen Comment
There are some variations not reported such as when room and board has a range of options on rooms and meal plans. There can also be variations in tuition that are not reported in the table such as higher tuition for graduate school. Some programs also have tuition variation. For example, it's common for accountancy doctoral programs to have $0 tuition plus stipends for room and board. It would help if the table provided links to each university so that these variations could be investigated from home pages.

Trinity University is On This List

Final GOP Deal Would Tax Universities With Large Endowments ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/12/18/large-endowments-would-be-taxed-under-final-gop-tax-plan?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=39cce06ca0-DNU20171218&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-39cce06ca0-197565045&mc_cid=39cce06ca0&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Princeton University
Princeton Theological Seminary
Yale University
Harvard University
Stanford University
Pomona College
The Juilliard School
Weill Cornell Medical College
Amherst College
Swarthmore College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Grinnell College
Williams College
California Institute of Technology
Rice University
Wellesley College
Cooper Union
Medical College of Wisconsin
Dartmouth College
Washington and Lee University
Bowdoin College
University of Notre Dame
University of Richmond
Smith College
Baylor College of Medicine
Icahn School at Mt. Sinai
Emory University
Washington University in St. Louis
Bryn Mawr College
Claremont McKenna College
 Trinity University (Texas)
University of Chicago

The Impossible Mathematics of the Real World ---
http://nautil.us/issue/49/the-absurd/the-impossible-mathematics-of-the-real-world?utm_source=frontpage&utm_medium=mview&utm_campaign=the-impossible-mathematics-of-the-real-world

2018:  Law School is Hot Again ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2017/12/wsj-law-school-is-hot-again.html

"NY Times: A Majority Of Law Schools Are Scamming Students And Taxpayers," by Paul Caron, TaxProf Blog, October 25, 2015 ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2015/10/ny-times-a-majority-of-law-schools-admit-unqualified-students-charge-outrageously-high-tuition-and-s.html

American law schools are increasingly charging outrageously high tuition and sticking taxpayers with the tab for loan defaults when students fail to become lawyers.

In 2013, the median LSAT score of students admitted to Florida Coastal School of Law was in the bottom quarter of all test-takers nationwide. According to the test’s administrators, students with scores this low are unlikely to ever pass the bar exam.

Despite this bleak outlook, Florida Coastal charges nearly $45,000 a year in tuition, which, with living expenses, can lead to crushing amounts of debt for its students. Ninety-three percent of the school’s 2014 graduating class of 484 had debts and the average was almost $163,000 — a higher average than all but three law schools in the country. In short, most of Florida Coastal’s students are leaving law school with a degree they can’t use, bought with a debt they can’t repay.

If this sounds like a scam, that’s because it is. Florida Coastal, in Jacksonville, is one of six for-profit law schools in the country that have been vacuuming up hordes of young people, charging them outrageously high tuition and, after many of the students fail to become lawyers, sticking taxpayers with the tab for their loan defaults.

Yet for-profit schools are not the only offenders. A majority of American law schools, which have nonprofit status, are increasingly engaging in such behavior, and in the process threatening the future of legal education.

Why? The most significant explanation is also the simplest — free money.

In 2006, Congress extended the federal Direct PLUS Loan program to allow a graduate or professional student to borrow the full amount of tuition, no matter how high, and living expenses. The idea was to give more people access to higher education and thus, in theory, higher lifetime earnings. But broader access doesn’t mean much if degrees lead not to well-paying jobs but to heavy debt burdens. That is all too often the result with PLUS loans.

The consequences of this free flow of federal loans have been entirely predictable: Law schools jacked up tuition and accepted more students, even after the legal job market stalled and shrank in the wake of the recession. For years, law schools were able to obscure the poor market by refusing to publish meaningful employment information about their graduates. But in response to pressure from skeptical lawmakers and unhappy graduates, the schools began sharing the data — and it wasn’t a pretty picture. Forty-three percent of all 2013 law school graduates did not have long-term full-time legal jobs nine months after graduation, and the numbers are only getting worse. In 2012, the average law graduate’s debt was $140,000, 59 percent higher than eight years earlier.

This reality has contributed to the drastic drop in law school applications since 2011, which has in turn exacerbated the problem — to maintain enrollment numbers, law schools have had to lower their admissions standards and take even more unqualified students. These students then fail to pass the bar in alarmingly high numbers — in 2014, the average score on the common portion of the test was the lowest in more than 25 years.

How can this death spiral be stopped? For starters, the government must require accountability from the law schools that live off student loans. This year, the Obama administration extended the so-called gainful employment rule, which ties a school’s eligibility to receive federal student loans to its success in preparing graduates for jobs that will enable them to repay their debt. The rule currently applies only to for-profit law schools, all of which, given their track records, would fail to qualify for federal loans

Continued in article

"Too Many Law Students, Too Few Legal Jobs." by Steven J. Harpe,  The New York Times, August 25, 2015 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/opinion/too-many-law-students-too-few-legal-jobs.html?_r=0

. . .

Amazingly (and perversely), law schools have been able to continue to raise tuition while producing nearly twice as many graduates as the job market has been able to absorb. How is this possible? Why hasn’t the market corrected itself? The answer is that, for a given school, the availability of federal loans for law students has no connection to their poor post-graduation employment outcomes.

Students now amass law school loans averaging $127,000 for private schools and $88,000 for public ones. Since 2006 alone, law student debt has surged at inflation-adjusted rates of 25 percent for private schools and 34 percent for public schools.

In May 2014, the A.B.A. created a task force to tackle this problem. According to its recent report, 25 percent of law schools obtain at least 88 percent of their total revenues from tuition. The average for all law schools is 69 percent. So law schools have a powerful incentive to maintain or increase enrollment, even if the employment outcomes are dismal for their graduates, especially at marginal schools.

The underlying difficulty is that once students pay their tuition bills, law schools have no responsibility for the debt their students have taken on. In other words, law schools whose graduates have the greatest difficulty finding jobs that require bar passage are operating without financial accountability and free of the constraints that characterize a functioning market. The current subsidy system is keeping some schools in business. But the long-term price for students and taxpayers is steep and increasing.

Paradoxically, the task force chairman was Dennis W. Archer, the former mayor of Detroit, who is also head of the national policy board of Infilaw, a private equity-owned consortium of three for-profit law schools — Arizona Summit, Charlotte and Florida Coastal. These schools are examples of the larger problem. Most Infilaw 2014 graduates didn’t find jobs that required their expensive degrees. Excluding positions funded by the law school, only 39.9 percent of Arizona Summit graduates found full-time jobs lasting at least a year and requiring bar passage. Florida Coastal’s rate was 34.5 percent. At Charlotte, it was 34.1 percent.

Yet as the demand for new lawyers continued to languish from 2011 to 2014, the size of Infilaw’s graduating classes almost doubled, to 1,223. These schools are also among the leaders in creating law student debt. Arizona Summit’s 2014 graduates had average law school debt of $187,792. At Florida Coastal, the average was $162,785. Charlotte’s average was $140,528.

Continued in article

"Too Many Attorneys," Dennis Elam's Blog, January 3, 2013 ---
http://professorelam.typepad.com/my_weblog/2013/01/too-many-attorneys.html

 

Jensen Comment
One downer for graduating lawyers is that many of the legal research jobs (often starting jobs in firms) are gone forever. This is one type of work that robots are proving to be more cost effective than humans.

Bob Jensen's threads on the ups and downs of law school ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#OverstuffedLawSchools

Junk science publisher ordered to stop ‘deceptive practices’ ---
https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/11/23/junk-science-publisher-ordered-to-stop-deceptive-practices.html

A U.S. federal court has ordered an Indian company accused of publishing junk science for profit to stop “deceptive practices” that lead the public to believe its online journals contain legitimate research.

OMICS has been ordered to remove all misleading claims from its websites that include displaying the names of prominent scientists who never agreed to join the editorial boards of its journals, stating the research is peer reviewed when it is not and claiming its journals are included in PubMed, the gold standard for trustworthy, peer-reviewed scholarship, according to the written judge’s ruling.

The temporary injunction was granted in Nevada in response to a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) last year.

“Absent such an injunction, the Court finds it likely that Defendants will continue to engage in deceptive practices,” wrote chief judge Gloria M. Navarro.

OMICS was the subject of a joint Torontohttp://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#OverstuffedLawSchools  Star/CTV News investigation last year that revealed the company had quietly bought more than a dozen respected medical journals in Canada, causing leading researchers to worry that their reputations were being hijacked to lend credibility to bogus research papers, riddled with typos and inaccuracies.

Based in Hyderabad, India, OMICS is an online “open access” publisher that started out with 10 scientific journals in 2009 and has grown to control more than 700 publications, according to its owner, Srinubabu Gedela.

Gedela says the lawsuit is motivated by traditional academic publishers in the West whose business models have been disrupted by online open access publishing. Instead of charging universities and research labs subscription fees to receive copies of a journal, open access publishers ask researchers to pay to publish their work, which is then made accessible online for free.

“Open access publications, the cost is less and maintenance is less and at the same time . . . scholars from around the world have access to scientific literature with less money,” Gedela told the Star and CTV News last year.

Continued in article

The German Post Office Built Its Own (small) Electric Trucks ---
https://qz.com/1158107/the-german-postal-service-has-built-its-own-electric-trucks/

The Near Future of Electric Cars: Many Models, Few Buyers ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-19/the-near-future-of-electric-cars-many-models-few-buyers?cmpid=BBD121917_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=171219&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily

Darwin Awards --- http://www.darwinawards.com/

They both deserve Darwin Awards
Woman Who Fatally Shot Boyfriend in YouTube Stunt Pleads Guilty ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/us/youtube-shooting-minnesota-guilty-plea.html

A 20-year-old Minnesota woman whose quest for internet fame took a tragic turn when she fatally shot her boyfriend during a stunt apparently intended for YouTube has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter.

In June, the woman, Monalisa Perez of Halstad, Minn., shot at a thick book that her boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz III, was holding, apparently believing that the bullet would not make it through the volume.

But the bullet went through the book and entered Mr. Ruiz’s chest, fatally wounding the 22-year-old man. Over the next several days, Ms. Perez and the YouTube videos she had previously posted with her boyfriend garnered much attention — but not for the reasons she had hoped.

On Friday, Ms. Perez entered her guilty plea, according to court records. Local media reports said that a plea agreement called for Ms. Perez to serve 180 days in jail and spend 10 years on supervised probation, though The Pioneer Press said a judge would have the final say on her sentence.

A predictive text bot wrote a new chapter of Harry Potter and it’s beautiful ---
https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/12/16/16781338/predictive-text-bot-wrote-new-chapter-harry-potter

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

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

Wikipedia’s cofounder on how he’s creating a bigger, better rival—on the blockchain ---
https://qz.com/1151073/wikipedias-cofounder-on-how-hes-creating-a-bigger-better-rival-on-the-blockchain/

Jensen Comment
I'm not sure about the "better rival" part. Sure there are more writers on Facebook and Twitter, but more does not mean better. What makes Wikipedia great is that very responsible writers track and improve important Wikipedia modules. For example, medical schools worry that Wikipedia's modules could be a great medical danger when they contain false or misleading information. Therefore, many medical schools have ongoing projects to track and improve Wikipedia's medical modules. The same thing happens in science, engineering, and finance where some university specialists regularly track key modules in Wikipedia. What impresses me most is the quality and timely updating of popular modules in Wikipedia.  It's such a chore for knowledgeable specialists to track and improve Wikipedia modules that I seriously doubt that a new "rival" will attract the same attention from specialists who struggle to keep up with Wikipedia.

I'm not arguing that Wikipedia does not have some poor and even misleading modules. These are likely to happen, however, on seldom-read modules such as biographical entries about people you've never heard of and don't care about. They may also arise in political modules, although Wikipedia editors do devote more of their time to tracking political modules. The more popular the module the more likely misleading revisions will be quickly corrected by users of Wikipedia.

For-profit rivals like Britannica have online encyclopedias with modules written only by specialists. But these are used much less often than Wikipedia because Wikipedia has vastly more topic coverage and much more frequent updating ---
https://www.britannica.com/

Wikipedia Versus Britannica ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/stratedgy/wikipedia-vs-britannica

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

The Hard Math Behind Bitcoin's Global Warming Problem ---
https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-global-warming/

December Econometrics Readings Suggested by David Giles ---
http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2017/12/reading-for-holidays.html

Here are some suggestions for your Holiday reading:

Athey, S. and G. Imbens, 2016. The state of econometrics - Causality and policy evaluation. Mimeo., Graduate School of Business, Stanford University.

http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2017/12/reading-for-holidays.htmlCook, J. D., 2010. Testing a random number generator. Chapter 10, in T. Rily and A. Goucher (eds.), Beautiful Testing, O' Reilly Media, Sebastol, CA. 

Ivanov, V. and L. Kilian, 2005. A practitioner's guide to lag order selection for VAR impulse response analysis. Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics and Econometrics, 9, article 2.

Polanin, J. A., E. A. Hennessy, and E. E. Tanner-Smith, 2016. A review of meta-analysis packages in R. Journal of Educational and Behavioural Statistics, 42, 206-242.

Young, A., 2017. Consistency without inference: Instrumental variables in practical application. Mimeo.,  London School of Economics.

Zhang, L., 2017, Partial unit root and surplus-lag Granger causality testing: A Monte Carlo simulation study. Communications in Statistics - Theory and Methods, 46, 12317-12323.

Larry Ellison: Oracle's fancy new 'autonomous' database is coming in January, and it will crush Amazon's Database Business ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/oracles-autonomous-database-coming-in-january-aims-to-crush-amazon-2017-12

Learn Philosophy, from the Ancients to the Moderns, with 350 Animated Videos ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/12/learn-philosophy-from-the-ancients-to-the-moderns-with-350-animated-videos.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

13 Wonderfully Specific Libraries Reveal Their Oldest Treasures ---
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/oldest-library-books-small-specific-libraries-manuscripts

City Colleges in Chicago Fudged Graduation Numbers ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/12/20/report-city-colleges-chicago-fudged-graduation-numbers?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=e69b9d8a17-DNU20171220&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-e69b9d8a17-197565045&mc_cid=e69b9d8a17&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

40 Online Math Courses ---
https://papersowl.com/blog/online-math-courses

When it comes to math the Khan Academy free online videos are outstanding ---
https://www.khanacademy.org/

Bob Jensen's threads on math tutorials ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics

Bob Jensen's threads on thousands of free MOOCs (with fees for transcript credits) ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

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

More and more higher education instructors are choosing open educational resources over traditional textbooks, a survey of more than 2,700 faculty members reveals ---
https://www.onlinelearningsurvey.com/oer.html

Jensen Comment
This report contains much more than open access issues concerning what instructors require for learning materials in their courses. The report is quick and easy to download for free.

From the Scout Report on December ,

Kingfisher --- https://kingfisher.link/
Kingfisher is a visual mapping tool designed to quickly and clearly convey complex information in a graphical format. Kingfisher's design was guided by years of applied research on cognition and learning. Individual boxes can be added to specific concepts or tasks, with smaller concepts or sub-tasks grouped within them. Color-coded connections can also be added between related concepts. Users can build maps individually or work collaboratively with a team to build a visual map in real-time. In addition to documenting processes or systems, Kingfisher can also be used as a graphical to-do list (e.g., as a Kanban board). Kingfisher works in any modern browser.

pfSense --- www.pfsense.org 
Firewalls are a vital component in any internet-connected computer lab or office. Because commercial firewalls are often massively over-sized for small organizations, many technical users opt to build their own firewalls. For less technical users, pfSense provides an alternative to pricier commercial options. pfSense is a free network firewall based on the FreeBSD operating system. It can be installed on an inexpensive computer (usually one with at least two network cards) to create a full-featured firewall. The included web-based interface is able to configure every part of the system. Users need not have any knowledge of UNIX concepts, won't need to use the command line, and will not need to manually edit firewall rules. The pfSense Hardware Requirements and Guidance page details recommended hardware based on how much traffic the firewall will handle. For networks that have less than 100 Mbps of traffic, a 1 GHz processor with 1 GB of memory and 1 GB of storage should be sufficient.

Winners of the 2017 National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year Contest
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/12/winners-of-the-2017-national-geographic-nature-photographer-of-the-year-contest/548183

Capturing ecology 2017 photo competition - winners in pictures
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2017/dec/01/capturing-ecology-2017-photo-competition-winners-in-pictures

Here Come the Penitent Penguins: the Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards Are Back
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/14/568932169/here-come-the-penitent-penguins-the-comedy-wildlife-photo-awards-are-back

Natural History Museum: Wildlife Photography
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/wildlife-photography.html

The First Flash Photographs of the Natural World at Night
https://hyperallergic.com/270663/the-first-flash-photographs-of-the-natural-world-at-night

This American Life: So a Monkey and a Horse Walk Into a Bar: Monkey in the Middle
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/631/so-a-monkey-and-a-horse-walk-into-a-bar?act=1

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

Education Tutorials

PBS Learning Media: Math at the Core: Middle School --- https://wpt.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/mathcore/#.WjVFV0xFycx

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

TED-Ed: Periodic Videos (Chemistry) ---
http://ed.ted.com/periodic-videos

Periodic Table Battleship!: A Fun Way To Learn the Elements ---
http://www.openculture.com/2016/10/periodic-table-battleship-a-fun-way-to-learn-the-elements.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The Human Protein Atlas --- www.proteinatlas.org

PBS Learning Media: Math at the Core: Middle School --- https://wpt.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/mathcore/#.WjVFV0xFycx

New Bird Species Arises From Others as Scientists Watch ---
http://abstractions.nautil.us/

Lost Continent of Zealandia ---
https://news.science360.gov/obj/story/6c3eb478-4b9a-48f0-9bdc-e95cbf0e1a97/best-2017-lost-continent-zealandia

The case that humans are creating new species despite killing off so many ---
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/10/23/16317238/humans-create-new-species-biodiversity-extinction

World Housing Encyclopedia (Engineering and Construction for Earthquakes) ---
http://db.world-housing.net/

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

ACRL: dh + lib (Research Liberians) --- http://acrl.ala.org/dh/

University of Virginia Demographics Research Group --- http://demographics.coopercenter.org/

London School of Economics: Video Podcasts About Inequality Social studies --- www.lse.ac.uk/International-Inequalities/Videos-Podcasts

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

The Impossible Mathematics of the Real World ---
http://nautil.us/issue/49/the-absurd/the-impossible-mathematics-of-the-real-world?utm_source=frontpage&utm_medium=mview&utm_campaign=the-impossible-mathematics-of-the-real-world

PBS Learning Media: Math at the Core: Middle School --- https://wpt.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/mathcore/#.WjVFV0xFycx

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the Women Cryptographers Who Fought WWII at the Intersection of Language and Mathematics ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/12/11/code-girls-liza-mundy/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=9497384ad2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_12_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-9497384ad2-234390133&mc_cid=9497384ad2&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

If math is aspirin, how do we create the headache?
Dan Meyer
https://blog.mrmeyer.com/2015/if-math-is-the-aspirin-then-how-do-you-create-the-headache/

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

Learn Philosophy, from the Ancients to the Moderns, with 350 Animated Videos ---
http://www.openculture.com/2017/12/learn-philosophy-from-the-ancients-to-the-moderns-with-350-animated-videos.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Six Degrees of Francis Bacon --- www.sixdegreesoffrancisbacon.com/?ids=10000473&min_confidence=60&type=network

BRANCH: Britain, Representation, and Nineteenth-Century History --- www.branchcollective.org

Jacket2 (Modern and Contemporary Poetry) --- https://jacket2.org/

Tulane University:  Hogan Jazz Archive --- https://jazz.tulane.edu/

New York Public Library Community Oral History Project ---
http://oralhistory.nypl.org/

Prodigies’ Progress:  Parents and superkids, then and now ---
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2018/01/child-prodigies-as-adults

Joseph Conrad fell out of favor long ago. There's the racism, of course, and his obsession with courage and honor ---
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-dawn-watch-review-a-reminder-of-joseph-conrad-s-artistic-greatness-1.3315692

The rise of the Instapoets. Often dismissed as “not real poetry” or for “greeting-card verse,” the works of Rupi Kaur and other social-media scribes deserve our attention ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/15/books/review/rupi-kaur-instapoets.html

Historically, books were read out loud, to an audience — lighting was expensive, illiteracy common, and reading was deemed dangerous ---
http://www.weeklystandard.com/shared-words/article/2010691

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

To save dying languages, use ‘evolutionary trees’ ---
http://www.futurity.org/conservation-trees-languages-1633992/

Memoir Monday (Writings About Life) --- http://mailchi.mp/narrative/narratively-update

New York Public Library Community Oral History Project ---
http://oralhistory.nypl.org/

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

Music Tutorials

Tulane University:  Hogan Jazz Archive --- https://jazz.tulane.edu/

Margaret Fuller on the Power of Music ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2017/12/04/margaret-fuller-on-music/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=9497384ad2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_12_15&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-9497384ad2-234390133&mc_cid=9497384ad2&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

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/

December 16. 2017

December 18, 2017

December 19, 2017

December 20, 2017

December 21, 2017

December 22, 2017

December 23, 2017

December 27, 2017

December 28, 2017

View All Health News

 

The (London) Times:  One portion of spinach a day can fend off dementia ---
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/one-portion-of-spinach-a-day-can-fend-off-dementia-hjnd3c2s5

Jensen Comment
The title is misleading with the word "can" whereas that word is changed to "could" in the article. Dementia has multiple and varied causes, some of which are probably not helped with spinach and kale. Also people that eat a lot of spinach and kale probably have other aspects of their diet and lifestyle that confound the isolation of spinach as health factor in and of themselves.

Actually Erika and I regularly eat spinach and kale, and this article motivates us to eat those foods even more often. Why not?
I keep waiting for the studies that show ice cream and milk shakes fend off dementia. Sigh!

Autism spectrum disorder has no single known cause. Given the complexity of the disorder, and the fact that symptoms and severity vary, there are probably many causes. Both genetics and environment may play a role.
Mayo Clinic --- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/autism-spectrum-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20352928

What is it about getting drunk that we love so much?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/20/unexpected-joy-being-sober-short-history-drunkenness-review

The Little Blue Pill: An Oral History of Viagra ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-12-11/the-little-blue-pill-an-oral-history-of-viagra

Jensen Comment
Too bad companies could not have this kind of success with a male contraceptive pill.

Humor for December 2017

Darwin Awards --- http://www.darwinawards.com/

Smart Kid Figures Out Santa is Fake ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b31Td-HTT8

Forwarded by Paula

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.

Then, Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.

He went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.

When he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a glass of cider and a shot of rum.

He went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drunk all the cider and hidden the rum.

In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor.

He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and an irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree.

The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Not a lot of people know this.

 

Forwarded by Dick Wolff

THE 6 BEST SMART ASS ANSWERS .......... 

 
It was mealtime during a flight on Alaska Airlines. 'Would you like dinner?' the flight attendant asked John, seated in front. 'What are my choices?' John asked. 'Yes or no,' she replied. 
SMART ASS ANSWER #5 
A flight attendant was stationed at the departure gate to check tickets. 
As a man approached, she reached for the ticket and he opened his trench coat and flashed her. 
Without missing a beat, she said, 'Sir, I need to see your ticket not your stub.' 

SMART ASS ANSWER #4 
A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the market but couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked a stock boy, 'Do these turkeys get any bigger?' The stock boy replied, 'No ma'am, they're dead.' 

SMART ASS ANSWER #3 
The cop got out of his car and the kid who was stopped for speeding rolled down his window. 
'I've been waiting for you all day,' the cop said. The kid replied, 'Yeah, well I got here as fast as I could.' 
When the cop finally stopped laughing, he sent the kid on his way without a ticket. 
SMART ASS ANSWER #2 
A truck driver was driving along on the freeway. A sign comes up that reads, ' Low Bridge Ahead.' 
Before he knows it, the bridge is right ahead of him and he gets stuck under the bridge. 
Cars are backed up for miles. Finally, a police car pulls up. The cop gets out of his car and walks to the truck driver, puts his hands on his hips and says, 'Got stuck, huh?' 
The truck driver says, 'No, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of gas.' 
SMART ASS ANSWER OF THE YEAR 2007 
A college teacher reminds her class of tomorrow's final exam. 'Now class, I won't tolerate any excuses for you not being here tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury, illness, 
Or a death in your immediate family, but that's it, no other excuses whatsoever!' 
A smart-ass guy in the back of the room raised his hand and asked, 'What would you say if tomorrow I said I was suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?' The entire class is reduced to laughter and snickering. When silence is restored, the teacher smiles knowingly at the student, shakes her head and sweetly says, 'Well, I guess you'd have to write the exam with your other hand.'

Forwarded by Dick Wolf

We ALL GET OLD IN THE END....

I changed my car horn to gunshot sounds.  People get out of the way much faster now.

Gone are the days when girls used to cook like their mothers.  Now they drink like their fathers.

You know that tingly little feeling you get when you really like someone?  That's common sense leaving your body.

I didn't make it to the gym today.  That makes five years in a row.

I decided to stop calling the bathroom the “John” and renamed it the “Jim”.  I feel so much better saying I went to the Jim this morning.

Old age is coming at a really bad time.  When I was a child I thought “Nap Time” was a punishment.  Now, as a grownup, it feels like a small vacation.

The biggest lie I tell myself is...."I don't need to write that down, I'll remember it."

I don't have gray hair; I have "wisdom highlights"!  I'm just very wise.

If God wanted me to touch my toes, He would've put them on my knees.

Last year I joined a support group for procrastinators.  We haven't met yet…

Why do I have to press one for English when you're just going to transfer me to someone I can't understand anyway?

Of course I talk to myself; sometimes I need expert advice.

At my age "Getting lucky" means walking into a room and remembering what I came in there for.

Actually I'm not complaining because I am a Senager (Senior teenager - not senile).  I have everything that I wanted as a teenager, only 60 years later.  I don’t have to go to school or work.  I get an allowance every month.  I have my own pad.  I don’t have a curfew.  I have a driver’s license and my own car.  The people I hang around with are not scared of getting anyone pregnant.  And I don’t have acne…Life is great!

I have more friends I should send this to, but right now I can't remember their names. Now, I’m wondering…did I send this to you, or did you send it to me?



 

 

 

 

Humor December 2017--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q4.htm#Humor1217.htm 

Humor November 2017--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q4.htm#Humor1117.htm

Humor October 2017--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q4.htm#Humor1017.htm

Humor September 2017--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book17q3.htm#Humor0917.htm 

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

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