Tidbits on February 28, 2018
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

My Photographs:  Seasonal Sunrises in the White Mountains --- Set 07
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Mountains/Set07/Mountains07.htm

 

Tidbits on February 28, 2018
Scroll Down This Page

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

You can now track where Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster is in space ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/where-is-elon-musk-tesla-roadster-in-space-2018-2

An Animated Introduction to the Existentialist Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre… and How It Can Open Our Eyes to Life’s Possibilities ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/an-animated-introduction-to-the-existentialist-philosophy-of-jean-paul-sartre.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

NPR: Skunk Bear (science stories) --- www.npr.org/series/462045954/skunk-bear

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

The 24 best science movies and shows streaming on Netflix that will make you smarter ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-science-documentaries-movies-shows-netflix-2017-5

YouTube: PBS Eons Science (billions of years ago) --- www.youtube.com/channel/UCzR-rom72PHN9Zg7RML9EbA


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 

Massive Archive of 78RPM Records Now Digitized & Put Online: Stream 78,000 Early 20th Century Records from Around the World ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/massive-archive-of-78rpm-records-now-digitized-put-online-stream-78000-early-20th-century-records-from-around-the-world.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Stream the “Complete” John Coltrane Playlist: A 94-Hour Journey Through 700+ Transformative Tracks ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/stream-the-complete-john-coltrane-playlist-a-94-hour-journey-through-700-transformative-tracks.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

Stunning Photos from the 2018 Olympics ---
 http://time.com/winter-olympics-2018-photos/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2018021814pm&xid=newsletter-brief

The best photos taken of planet Earth last year will transform the way you see the world ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-2017-international-landscape-photographer-of-the-year-contest-2018-2

Scientists have pinpointed when the first cave paintings were made — and it means Neanderthals were more advanced than they thought ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthals-created-first-cave-paintings-2018-2

The Morgan Library & Museum: Drawings Online (art history) --- www.themorgan.org/drawings/images

These are the 20 aircraft carriers in service today ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/aircraft-carriers-list-in-service-patrolling-the-world-2018-2#uss-gerald-r-ford-is-the-us-navys-newest-aircraft-carrier-2

20 incredible photos from one of the most legendary war photographers of all time, who was killed on assignment during the Arab Spring ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/chris-hondros-photos-story-documentary-by-greg-campbell-2018-2

The Tar Baby & the Tomahawk: Racist and Ethnic Images from American Children's Literature, 1880-1939 --- http://childlit.unl.edu/

Operation Gunnerside: The Norwegian attack on heavy water that deprived the Nazis of the atomic bomb ---
https://theconversation.com/operation-gunnerside-the-norwegian-attack-on-heavy-water-that-deprived-the-nazis-of-the-atomic-bomb-90360

Google Digitizes and Puts Online a Vast Archive of Latino Artworks and Artifacts ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/google-digitizes-and-puts-online-a-vast-archive-of-latino-artworks-and-artifacts.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

40 Photographs That Changed the Way We Eat ---
http://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/40-photographs-moments-changed-way-we-eat?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2018022413pm&xid=newsletter-brief

SAH Archipedia: Classic Buildings (zoom into the USA map) --- http://sah-archipedia.org/

Maps:  Misconceptions: Some Common Geographic Mental Misplacements ---
https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2018/misconceptions/index.html

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

From Various Libraries
Wynken de Worde: Early Modern Digital Collections --- http://sarahwerner.net/blog/early-modern-digital-collections/

De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children --- http://decoloresreviews.blogspot.com/

Nine Books to Read for Black History Month, According to Scholars ---
http://time.com/5157662/black-history-month-books-2018/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2018021914pm&xid=newsletter-brief

Joan Didion Creates a Handwritten List of the 19 Books That Changed Her Life --- |
http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/joan-didion-creates-a-handwritten-list-of-the-19-books-that-changed-her-life.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The Tar Baby & the Tomahawk: Racist and Ethnic Images from American Children's Literature, 1880-1939 --- http://childlit.unl.edu/

I Am Loved: Nikki Giovanni’s Poems for Kids, Selected and Illustrated by Beloved 94-Year-Old Artist Ashley Bryan ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/02/05/i-am-loved-nikki-giovannis-ashley-bryan/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=ef7c534b69-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-ef7c534b69-234390133&mc_cid=ef7c534b69&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

Werner Heisenberg Falls in Love: The Love Letters of the Nobel-Winning Pioneer of Quantum Mechanics and Originator of the Uncertainty Principle ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/02/14/dear-li-werner-heisenberg-love-letters/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=ef7c534b69-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-ef7c534b69-234390133&mc_cid=ef7c534b69&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

The Long Victorian (England) --- https://thelongvictorian.com/

The Continuous Thread of Revelation: Eudora Welty on Writing, Time, and Embracing the Nonlinearity of How We Become Who We Are ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/02/21/eudora-welty-one-writers-beginnings/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=9239059484-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-9239059484-234390133&mc_cid=9239059484&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

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 February 28, 2018
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2018/TidbitsQuotations022818.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




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

Udemy's 10 best-selling online classes you can enroll in for under $11 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/cheap-online-courses-under-10-dollars-2018-1

The Web Developer Bootcamp

Crypto Currency Trading Course (you may not make money today)

Learn to Code by Making Games

Music Theory Comprehensive Combined: Part 4, 5, & 6

The Ultimate Drawing Course - Beginner to Advanced

Microsoft Excel - Excel from Beginner to Advanced

Writing With Flair 2.0: How To Become An Exceptional Writer

Photography Masterclass: Your Complete Guide to Photography

AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate 2017


When should you claim Social Security? (Five Reasons to Wait Until Age 70)
https://money.usnews.com/money/retirement/social-security/articles/reasons-to-claim-social-security-at-age-70

Jensen Comment
Of course not everybody should wait so long.

U.S. Social Security Retirement Benefit Calculators --- http://www.socialsecurity.gov/estimator/

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


Amidst Millions of Lawyers No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
Peter Thiel Got His Revenge on Gawker. He May Yet Regret It
https://www.thedailybeast.com/peter-thiel-got-his-revenge-on-gawker-he-may-yet-regret-it


Positive Psychology:  The Most Popular Course at Yale University
Now open for enrollment, "The Science of Well-Being" officially starts in March 2018
http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/taken-a-free-online-version-of-yales-most-popular-course-the-science-of-well-being-and-learn-the-keys-to-happiness.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

An Introduction to the History & Theory of Architecture:  Enroll in Harvard’s Free Online Architecture Course ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/harvards-free-architecture-course.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Open Yale Course: Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 ---
https://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-234

Bob Jensen's threads on thousands of free MOOCs from prestigious universities ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


The History of Teaching Machines --- http://teachingmachin.es/timeline.html
Bob Jensen's threads on education technology history --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm


Free: The Best Books for Learning Modern Statistics ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/free-the-best-books-for-learning-modern-statistics.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29


Chronicle of Higher Education:  The Grief of a History Ph.D. Giving Up Hope After Job Searching Since 2015
https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Grief-of-the-Ex-Academic/242612?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=417260375ecb4eb58c097ca1cd59ac7b&elq=9659e063647d4b3ea10880ff7e6fc155&elqaid=17963&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7969

"I got a Ph.D. in history because I wanted to be a historian," Bartram wrote. "Now I have to do something else." At first, she said, she suppressed the sadness she felt — "I didn’t feel I had the right to grieve" — and then she released it.

Bartram’s essay has generated a vesuvian outpouring of responses from all over the virtual academic quad. There are scores of comments on her blog post. Her essay has been retweeted more 2,000 times on Twitter, and repeatedly reblogged.

What does all of this attention mean? To answer that, we must first understand that this sort of essay isn’t new. Contemporary academe supports a genre that has been dubbed "quit lit." The storyline — "I am leaving academe because … " — has proved catnip to academic readers. Some read quit lit out of curiosity, because they can’t comprehend how anyone could just walk away from our profession. Others clearly sympathize with a fellow traveler walking a hard road.

Bartram’s essay has quickly gained a prominent place in a quit-lit subfield that might be called "pushed-out lit." Up to now, the best-known work in that category is probably Rebecca Schuman’s anguished "Thesis Hatement," which was published almost five years ago.

A scholar of German literature, Schuman checked all the right professional boxes and still didn’t get a tenure-track job. Like Bartram, she treaded water for a few years in the contingent labor market, and then decided that she had had enough. Her account of her departure from academe blazes with anger.

Like Bartram, Schuman made a loud noise when she slammed the door shut on the academic job market. Her essay attracted thousands of comments, and eventually got her a job as a higher-education columnist for Slate. Today she writes about a variety of topics. As a successful freelance writer, she still criticizes the doings at colleges and universities, but her tone isn’t quite so angry. Now she sometimes defends professors, and this year she even went back on the academic job market, although her bid ended without a job offer.

Continued in article

Across nearly three decades there have been over twice as many philosophy Ph.D. graduates as there are job openings for philosophers in academia ---  
http://www.apaonline.org/?page=nonacademic 

Many humanities Ph.D.s, including some in philosophy, choose to teach management and marketing in business schools after taking the AACSB's Bridge Program ----
http://www.aacsb.edu/bridge/  


Longreads Best of 2017: Science, Technology and Business Writing ---
https://longreads.com/2017/12/27/longreads-best-of-2017-science-technology-and-business-writing/

Teaching the Art of Reading in the Digital Era ---
https://psmag.com/magazine/teaching-the-art-of-reading-in-the-digital-era

Math class techniques can fix the writing class culture that leaves too many students behind ---
https://qz.com/1213489/schools-and-teachers-should-teach-writing-class-the-same-way-they-teach-math-class/?mc_cid=1d3841b0df&mc_eid=85198c1dd9

Zane Swanson Comment

  I took Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics ( http://www.ewrd.com/ewrd/index.asp) in high school and have used it continually.  For technical material, it increased my reading speed about 5 times and helped comprehension.

Jensen Comment
For me the art of close reading is writing --- I take notes when I want to remember what I read. Many of you are used to reading portions of my notes in my blogs.


SAH Archipedia: Classic Buildings (zoom into the USA map) --- http://sah-archipedia.org/


Education publisher Pearson as reported a return to profit for the first time in six years.---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/02/26/pearson-projects-profit-after-6-year-slump?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=7ac01c1e45-DNU20180111&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-7ac01c1e45-197565045&mc_cid=7ac01c1e45&mc_eid=1e78f7c952


College Consultant Charged $1.5 Million To Get Child Admitted To Ivy League ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/02/college-consultant-charges-15-million-to-get-child-admitted-to-an-ivy-league-college.html


February 24, 2018 message from Dennis Beresford

Warren Buffet's always interesting letter to shareholders is available today at:

http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2017ltr.pdf

February 24, 2018 reply from Bob Jensen

Key Takeaways from Buffetts' Letter to Shareholders (especially note the FAQs at the bottom of the page)
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/031814/key-takeaways-warren-buffetts-annual-letters-shareholders.asp


The Atlantic
Mark Zuckerberg and others continue to tout the potential of personalized learning, pointing to decades-old research that’s been practically impossible to duplicate ---

https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/01/the-outdated-study-that-education-reformers-keep-citing/551804/


Lisa Marie Presley is suing her former business manager for the loss of almost all her $100 million inheritance ---
https://www.yahoo.com/news/lisa-marie-presley-sues-business-202440386.html
He ain't nuthin' but a hound dog!

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


Time Magazine:  250 People Were Just Charged With Scamming Seniors Out of $500 Million ---
http://time.com/money/5173441/elder-fraud-justice-department-charges/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2018022413pm&xid=newsletter-brief

Criminals, take note. If you target older Americans, U.S. law enforcement officials are coming after you.

The Justice Department on Thursday spearheaded the largest coordinated sweep of elder fraud cases in U.S. history. The numbers in this action are astonishing: law enforcement officials in all 50 states went after over 250 people around the globe for defrauding over a million older Americans out of $500 million.

“Today’s actions send a clear message: we will hold perpetrators of elder fraud schemes accountable wherever they are,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. “When criminals steal the hard-earned life savings of older Americans, we will respond with all the tools at the Department’s disposal.”

Law enforcement issued criminal, civil, and forfeiture actions against the operators behind a wide range of alleged scams, including IRS fraud, mass-mailings that announce recipients won the lottery, and telephone calls that trick seniors into believing their grandchildren are in trouble and need money.

As part of the sweep against fake lottery mailings, enforcement agencies coordinated strikes against 43 mass-mailing operators—searching premises in 14 locations, including Law Vegas and Florida. They also coordinated with Canadian authorities to execute another 20 warrants. Meanwhile, postal inspectors around the country executed search warrants on 12 locations that some of these same operators used to run their alleged scams.

“The defendants targeted elderly and vulnerable consumers both in the United States and abroad,” said Richard Donoghue, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “They sold false promises of life-changing prizes that never came true.”

Millions of older Americans fall victim to fraud every year. One study published in July in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that more than 5% of the elderly experience some sort of financial fraud or scam every year. Perhaps more alarmingly, a survey in New York State found that only 1 in 44 cases of elder financial abuse is reported.

Continued in article

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


Snow-Making For Skiing During Warm Winters Comes With Environmental Cost ---
https://www.npr.org/2018/02/17/584494192/snow-making-for-skiing-during-warm-winters-comes-with-environmental-cost
Jensen Comment
From my desk on winter days I often see snow plumes rising from Cannon Mountain's 500+ snow making machines ---
Set 09 (my little red fox)  --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Snow/Set09/SnowSet09.htm
Set 10  --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Snow/Set09/SnowSet10.htm


KPMG Report on New Tax Law (218 pages)
https://home.kpmg.com/content/dam/kpmg/us/pdf/2018/02/tnf-new-law-book-feb6-2018.pdf


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

Chatbots Explained ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/chatbots-explained-why-businesses-should-be-paying-attention-to-the-chatbot-revolution-2016-7

Chatbots Have Personalities ---
https://chatbotsmagazine.com/your-chatbots-personality-is-the-key-683a2051fb7d

A Stanford researcher is pioneering a dramatic shift in how we treat depression — and you can try her new chatbot app right now
http://www.businessinsider.com/stanford-therapy-chatbot-app-depression-anxiety-woebot-2018-1

THE CHATBOT MONETIZATION REPORT: Sizing the market, key strategies, and how to navigate the chatbot opportunity ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/chatbot-monetization-market-business-strategies-opportunites-2016-11

QuickBooks jumps on the chatbot bandwagon ---
https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/quickbooks-jumps-on-the-chatbot-bandwagon

Jensen Comment
If I were still teaching I would be developing chatbots for my courses and for other technical accountancy modules. There's currently a great opportunity for chatbot development consulting in higher education.


Here's how the 'unlimited' plans from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile compare ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/unlimited-plans-comparison-verizon-att-sprint-tmobile-2018-2


British Religion in Numbers --- www.brin.ac.uk


Gallup: Only 23% Of Law School Grads Say Their Education Was Worth the Cost ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/02/gallup-only-23-of-law-school-grads-say-their-education-was-worth-the-cost.html


How Do Computers Work?: New Video Series Explains the Inner Workings of the Device You Use Every Day ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/how-do-computers-work-new-video-series-explains-the-inner-workings-of-the-device-you-use-every-day.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Bob Jensen's threads on computers and networking ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#---ComputerNetworking-IncludingInternet


What’s Coming in Windows 10’s Redstone 4 Update, Available March 2018 ---
https://www.howtogeek.com/340688/whats-coming-in-windows-10s-redstone-4-update-available-march-2018/


Encryption keeps us safe. It must not be compromised with ‘backdoors’ ---
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/12/encryption-safe-hillary-clinton-secure-backdoors-privacy


Good Calculators --- https://goodcalculators.com/

Bob Jensen's neglected threads on calculators ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#080512Calculators


Nine Books to Read for Black History Month, According to Scholars ---
http://time.com/5157662/black-history-month-books-2018/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2018021914pm&xid=newsletter-brief


From the Harvard Business School Blog
The Future of MBA Education
https://hbr.org/ideacast/2018/02/the-future-of-mba-education?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=dailyalert&referral=00563&spMailingID=19023498&spUserID=MTkyODM0MDg0MAS2&spJobID=1200947910&spReportId=MTIwMDk0NzkxMAS2

Scott DeRue, the dean of University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, says the old model of business school education is gone. It’s no longer good enough to sequester yourself on campus for two years before heading out into the world of commerce. DeRue discusses how the perceived value of an MBA education is changing in the digital era, and how MBA programs are innovating in response to individual and company demands.

A transcript to this audio will not be available until February 22

Jensen Comment
The University of Wisconsin proposed dropping its MBA program entirely until alumni and faculty groups sidetracked the proposition.

Many analysts feel that graduate studies in business will break into shorter specialty programs, many of them somewhat technical such as data analytics masters degrees or certificates.


'Hello, Universe' wins Newbery for best children's book ---
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2018/02/12/hello-universe-wins-newbery-for-best-childrens-book/110345070/

Bob Jensen's threads on children books ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Children


Political Correctness in the UK
United Kingdom:  Universities to 'dumb down' final exams amid walkouts ---

Read the full story


United Kingdom:  Students at the country's leading universities (think Oxford and Cambridge)  face having their final-year exams cancelled after academics announced plans to escalate faculty strikes ---
Read the full story


Coffee Shops, Study Spaces, and Computer Labs are More Important than Musty Old Books
Why university libraries are tossing millions of books (or not buy hard copies in the first place) ---
https://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2018/0207/Why-university-libraries-are-tossing-millions-of-books

Jensen Comment
Google scanned many of those tossed books but not all by any matter of means.
The first to go are old textbooks, and the last things librarians want donated are older versions of textbooks.
Many of the tossed books end up in villages of developing countries, but this will be less popular as those villages become connected to the Internet.


Teaching the Art of Reading in the Digital Era ---
https://psmag.com/magazine/teaching-the-art-of-reading-in-the-digital-era

Jensen Comment
For me the art of close reading is writing --- I take notes when I want to remember what I read. Many of you are used to reading portions of my notes in my blogs.


Moore's Law --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moore%27s_law

Moore’s Law is ending and the future of technology is uncertain ---
http://www.newsweek.com/future-technology-uncertain-moores-law-comes-end-807546 

Metcalfe's Law was formulated in the earliest days of the internet to examine the power of network effects ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/icos-how-to-make-smart-bets-using-metcalfes-law-2018-2


Asian-American groups are saying that affirmative action hurts their chances to get into Ivy League schools ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/asian-american-groups-doj-affirmative-action-definition-ivy-league-harvard-2018-2


American halfpipe skier who didn't perform a single trick gamed the system to qualify for the Olympics while representing Hungary ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/elizabeth-swaney-freestyle-skiing-halfpipe-2018-2


Holland:  The Tulip Mania of 1636 ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania

Jensen Comment
This tulip mania legend lasted longer than most, but we seem to be learning all sorts of things these days from the likelihood that Shakespeare plagiarized to the fraud about the fraudulent Tulip Bubble. Actually there were doubts about Tulip Mania long before this year --- |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania#Mackay's_Madness_of_Crowds

The following article is timely because of the "mania" taking place these days in crypto currencies like bitcoin.

Tulip mania: the classic story of a Dutch financial bubble is mostly wrong ---
https://theconversation.com/tulip-mania-the-classic-story-of-a-dutch-financial-bubble-is-mostly-wrong-91413


Plagiarism Software Unveils a New Source for 11 of Shakespeare’s Plays
Shakespeare
leaned heavily on George North, a minor figure in the court of Queen Elizabeth ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/07/books/plagiarism-software-unveils-a-new-source-for-11-of-shakespeares-plays.html

Bob Jensen's threads on plagiarism among celebrities ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#Celebrities


Stanford University:  Rent Control’s Winners and Losers ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/161ad17374b864d1


Given that the sound quality of CDs is superior to streaming services like Spotify or Apple Music, it's not surprising that there are audiophile holdouts. But these diehards might be in for some tough times following the announcement by electronics retailer Best Buy that it will stop selling compact discs in its stores ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-compact-disc-industry-is-officially-dead-charts-2018-2

Jensen Comment
But until Netflix makes DVDs the only option for the majority of its movies (i.e., those that cannot be streamed) the DVD market is still in full bloom. I suspect that streaming licenses are more expensive for NetFlix.

I have an outside building I call my seldom-used studio office. In addition to high book shelves it contains stacks of videotapes, CDs, audio tapes, 8-track cassettes, phonograph records, 8-track audio cassettes, 35 mm slides, etc. that I don't play or view anymore. I even have a somewhat rare analog disk-playing machine that would play movies and interactive instructional material on analogTV sets. That DVI-A technology was known to be almost dead in the water before it got going. I'd never miss most of this stuff if I hauled it to the dump.

I had to junk my rusty 1999 Jeep that played audio tapes.

Trinity University was cleaning house and stumbled upon 50+ lbs of my old 35 mm slides. I received them in the mail last week. Years ago I paid Trinity's media services to scan them into computer files, but only about half were scanned. Yesterday I dug around my studio to find an old 35 mm projector. Now I will spend quite a lot of time viewing those old slides and deciding what ones are worth the trouble to scan into new computer files. Some are slides I used when teaching. Others are photographs taken during our family travels and holiday festivities over the years. I doubt if anybody is much interested in the slides, but if I make a video of them that's easier to view our family may better appreciate some of these old times.

Eventually these videos will be stored on hard drives buried in basements and attics before they, like me, are eventually hauled to the dump.

That's the life and death cycle of things!


Wow! American Bar Association Approves Online Law JDs at Syracuse and Southwestern ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/02/aba-approves-hybrid-online-jds-at-syracuse-southwestern.html
The programs do have live lectures in some weekend campus visits.

Jensen Comment
The ABA restricts online courses in many other law schools to 30% of required coursework to take the BAR exam.

The TSCPA Society in Texas requires 30 semester credits of approved upper level accounting courses to sit for the CPA exam, and at least half of half of those credits must be from traditional face-to-face courses on campus. This means that if a student takes a fully online accounting degree from an accredited university that student may have to enroll for 15 credits of face-to-face classes even if the student has previously taken those courses online. Plus a three credit ethics course is required that must be from a face-to-face course. There are also other required non-accounting courses but these can be online courses from accredited colleges ---
https://www.accountingedu.org/texas-cpa.html


Is this a fair analysis? Possibly as fair as can be at this point in time.
What If Men And Women Skied Against Each Other In The Olympics?

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-if-men-and-women-skied-against-each-other-in-the-olympics/

. . .

The separation of genders in Alpine skiing, combined with the fact that women are usually asked to do less than men, implies that if men and women were in head-to-head competition, women would never have a shot at gold. But we simply don’t know for sure if that is true — with all the differences between men’s and women’s races, the data can’t really tell us. Vonn herself has expressed doubts about how she would perform directly against men, telling the Denver Post, “I know I’m not going to win.”

Jensen Comment
Billy Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in a highly publicized tennis match focusing on gender differences. However, since Bobby Riggs was 55 and well past his prime it was more of a money raiser and publicity stunt than a gender-difference test ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Riggs

I don't know that there have ever been more scientific tests matching genders of competitors in their primes. There seemingly are differences when competitors play each other (such as in tennis, basketball, hockey, Nascar racing, etc.) versus when competitors compete against the clock or weight-lifting scales. One problem in comparing male versus female skiers at the Olympics is that the male versus female courses are not identical. This article does try to make some sense what might happen if genders competed against each other under identical conditions.

Record medal holder Bode Miller is now making claims Mikaela Shiffrin may be the greatest skier in the history of the world --- male or female ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikaela_Shiffrin

This could be at attempt to please his employer (NBC) at the 2018 Olympics or it may really be what Bode believes to be true. There will have to be much more varied tests of this claim at other times on other slopes and other weather conditions, etc. But I truly believe that evolution is such that gender differences in most every competition, including skiing, will shrink in years to come. I mean differences in averages as well as outliers.

Deeper thinkers than me will have to decide if this evolution is the best thing for the world. I'm happy if Mikaela is or becomes the greatest skier in the history of the world.

The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal.
Aristotle


Will a true artificial artist (think Rembrandt or Bernini) ever exist? ---
http://nautil.us/issue/57/communities/waiting-for-the-robot-rembrandt

Jensen Comment
I think the real test is whether AI painters and sculptures in the future can reproduce works that are virtually indistinguishable from originals. Alas, they may only be super-cameras and 3-D printers of the future.

In terms of pianists, AI player pianos will one day play pieces exactly as intended by composers. But audiences tend to applaud human pianists for their exceptional skills and interpretations when they don't exactly perform the pieces as intended by composers. Who wants to stand up and applaud a player piano?


The power in Excel mapping ---
https://www.intheblack.com/articles/2018/02/13/power-excel-mapping

New features have transformed Excel into a business intelligence tool with some surprising and very powerful applications.

An apple grower in New Zealand has a warehouse stocked with different types of apples stored in crates on shelves.

It would be useful for him to know the location not just of the type of apples and where they are in the warehouse, but also how old they are.

With this information, he could better manage his inventory and improve the speed at which the apples could leave the warehouse and more stock could be added.

New features in Excel

One low-cost solution to this, perhaps surprisingly, lies in Microsoft Excel. It’s not found in the tried and tested spreadsheet which most businesses have used for a decade or more, but in one of the newer features which has transformed Excel from a data entry tool to one offering self-serve business intelligence.

The apple warehouse example was one of the business cases which came across the desk of Excel expert Mynda Treacy, who operates the training site My Online Training Hub.

Treacy, who has the status of a “Most Valuable Professional” (MVP) accredited by Microsoft, is in the business of helping her clients solve data and business intelligence issues with Excel.

When the New Zealand apple grower got in touch, she recognised the problem could be addressed with a new feature called 3D Maps, which is now fully integrated in Excel 2016 as part of the Office 365 suite. 

3D Maps was previously called Power Maps and was available under particular licences as part of Excel 2013, but is now simply a tab which can be accessed on the Excel programs downloaded by hundreds of thousands of Australian businesses as part of their Office subscription.

“It was super easy and very intuitive,” says Treacy. “You just drag and drop from a data spreadsheet onto 3D Maps.”

3D in Excel

Data on the grower’s apples was taken from the spreadsheet and dragged onto 3D Maps, which created a three-dimensional representation of the warehouse with apples marked by location, type and age. 

An added benefit was that the representation was in 3D, giving the location of the apples by height, tracking their position on stacked shelves.

Continued in article

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


Brain Development --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain#Development

From a Chronicle of Higher Education Newsletter on February 15, 2018
The Teenage Brain

In many ways, 18- to 22-year-olds are adults. But in one significant way, they are not: The human brain doesn’t reach maturity until people are in their mid-20s.

So what’s going on in the brain of a high-school or college student? “The teen brain offers major advantages on the one hand but unperceived and often unacknowledged vulnerabilities on the other,” write Frances E. Jensen and her co-author in The Teenage Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Survival Guide to Raising Adolescents and Young Adults. Teenagers, it turns out, make and retain memories better than adults, making these years ripe for learning. At the same time, the authors write, the most important part of the brain, “where actions are weighed, situations judged, and decisions made,” develops last.

I picked up this fascinating book, which I am midway through, on the recommendation of Carly Stafford, who gave a presentation on the neuroscience of high-school student performance and motivation at the College Board Forum, a conference for admissions professionals, this past fall.

Stafford, an admission counselor at Colorado College who majored in neuroscience as a student there, focused her session on high school and the transition to college. But the book also has insights for those teaching traditional-age college students. Among them: Professors’ assumptions that students “have the self-discipline to study regularly for far-off deadlines” and “know how to structure and sequence large projects” may be misplaced, writes Ryan Korstange, an assistant professor in university studies at Middle Tennessee State University, in this reflection on the book.

All of that was on my mind as I read Kelly Field’s recent Chronicle article about an unusually comprehensive student-wellness program at the University of Vermont. The program includes a required course, "Healthy Brains, Healthy Bodies: Surviving and Thriving in College," in which “students are shown scans of brains that have benefited from exercise and good nutrition and of those damaged by alcohol and drug use,” Field writes.  

There’s some reason to think that understanding how the brain works can influence behavior. That idea lies at the heart of Carol Dweck’s “growth mind-set” work — if children know about brain plasticity, then they can use it to their advantage. And while The Teenage Brain is mostly geared toward parents and educators, the writers also suggest that teenagers themselves read it. “The teen generation is one that holds information in great esteem,” they write. “So when you talk to teens, you owe it to them to have actual data.”


Is this what reincarnation is all about?

IRS didn’t notify 458,658 identity theft victims ---
https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/irs-didnt-notify-458-658-employment-related-identity-theft-victims

The Internal Revenue Service failed to tell nearly half a million victims of identity theft last year their information was being used by others for employment purposes, according to a new report, which attributed the failure to a computer programming error.

The report, from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, found the programming glitch kept the IRS from notifying 458,658 victims of “employment identity theft.” The identity thieves used the victim’s identity to get jobs. Employment identity theft can be a big problem for legitimate taxpayers, as the IRS could incorrectly compute their taxes based on income that doesn’t belong to them.

 Continued in article

Jensen Comment
The good news is that I may not be retired after all. I just don't know where I'm working.

Is this what reincarnation is all about?

I might not even recognize my own pictures on the Web!
See below


Fake Porn --- putting a celebrity's face on an accounting professor's body

Some AI updates forwarded from a MIT newsletter on February 16, 2018

Especially note the attempts being made to generate Wikipedia modules using AI

Gif platform Gfycat built an AI-powered tool to spot and take down fake porn. (Wired $)

 

 

Google Brain is (trying) to train an AI to write Wikipedia articles but summarizing text is still tricky for algorithms. (The Register)

 

 

Alibaba has started testing facial and voice recognition software on pigs to track their health on Chinese farms that can have millions of the animals. (Quartz)

 

 

     Researchers deleted parts of photos and trained an AI to fill in the missing spots, a trick that could be used to improve photo-editing apps. (Nikkei Asian Review)

Trolley Problem --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem

Philosophers are building ethical algorithms to help control self-driving cars --- 
https://qz.com/1204395/self-driving-cars-trolley-problem-philosophers-are-building-ethical-algorithms-to-solve-the-problem/?elqTrackId=cfeb2ea1eed841fa94460d4225f530f6&elq=4ba319b671834fc2a3e58afeb7577eb4&elqaid=17873&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7911 

Bo Hunk's Choices:  Basket Weaving 101-123 versus Hospitality 101-118 versus Fake Course 101-120
Or Bo Hunk can take Astrophysics 101 and illegally change the transcript grade from an F to an A
Or the instructor of Astrophysics 101 assigns an A in exchange for six season tickets on the 50-yard line

Inside Auburn’s Secret Effort to Advance an Athlete-Friendly Curriculum ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Inside-Auburn-s-Secret/242569?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=d1dff08b5dee4373bcc1f8d6e4e6d6c0&elq=a189013ee18747daae60a18a570425a5&elqaid=17892&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7923

Two Auburn players, sophomores Austin Wiley and Danjel Purifoy, have not played this season due to their involvement in the widespread recruiting scandal. Former Auburn assistant Chuck Person was accused of providing the families of Wiley and Purifoy money and taking thousands in illegal payments himself.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/ncaabk/florida-fans-drop-money-on-auburn-players-chant-‘fbi’/ar-BBJzr1V?ocid=spartandhp

Several Universities May Be Implicated in 2018 Basketball Probe, New Report Suggests ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Several-Universities-May-Be/242626?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=4bf91fdef4a74733bfe4ac0b9ca7bf3a&elq=9659e063647d4b3ea10880ff7e6fc155&elqaid=17963&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=7969

A new report from Yahoo Sports suggests that several prominent universities could be implicated in a wide-ranging FBI probe of college basketball.

A former NBA agent, his former associate, and their agency gave cash advances to college basketball players, paid for meals and travel expenses, and paid advances to some recruits’ parents, according documents reviewed by Yahoo. That activity would most likely break National Collegiate Athletic Association rules about paying players.

The documents came out after the Federal Bureau of Investigation criminally charged 10 people, including four college coaches, in September 2017. The charges followed a federal investigation that found that the coaches had been paid bribes to influence college athletes.

Some basketball players received thousands in payments from ASM Sports, the agency named in the new report, according to the documents. At least 20 programs could be implicated, including Duke University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Kentucky, Yahoo reported.

For example, Markelle Fultz, a former point guard for the University of Washington, received $10,000, according to an agency balance sheet labeled “Loan to Players,” Yahoo reported. Fultz later became the No. 1 pick in the 2017 NBA draft but did not sign a contract with the agency.

Continued in article

The University of Louisville’s men’s basketball team must forfeit 123 wins, including its 2013 national title, a punishment stemming from a scandal in which staffers arranged for recruits and players to be visited by sex workers ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/02/21/louisville-must-vacate-2013-basketball-championship?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=04a989013e-DNU20180111&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-04a989013e-197565045&mc_cid=04a989013e&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

"The Admissions Gap for Big-Time Athletes," by Doug Lederman, Inside Higher Ed, December 29, 2008 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/12/29/admit

"University of North Carolina learning specialist receives death threats after her research finds one in 10 college athletes have reading age of a THIRD GRADER," by Sara Malm, Daily Mail, January 10, 2014 ---
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2537041/University-North-Carolina-learning-specialist-receives-death-threats-research-finds-one-10-college-athletes-reading-age-fifth-grader.html

Mary Willingham exposed college athletes' lack of academic abilities

Continued in article

"North Carolina Admits to Academic Fraud in Sports Program," Inside Higher Ed, September 20, 2011 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/09/20/qt#270772

Former U. of Southern Mississippi Coach Directed Cheating Ring, NCAA Says ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/former-u-of-southern-mississippi-coach-directed-cheating-ring-ncaa-says/110171?elqTrackId=9d30a63574cb44dc94a698eac5a736a6&elq=ecde872b4ec84565b7b560ec97cde1ff&elqaid=8605&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=2882

"Incomplete Passes: College-Athlete Academic Scandals," Bloomberg Businessweek, February 27, 2014 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-27/incomplete-passes-college-athlete-academic-scandals

Academic irregularities related to athlete eligibility have haunted several U.S. colleges.

Auburn (2006)
Helped by academic advisers, football players padded their grade-point averages in “directed reading” classes.
 
Florida (2008)
Cam Newton, now quarterback of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, left Florida after facing potential expulsion for cheating, Fox Sports reported.
 
Florida State (2009)
Academic advisers participated in taking tests and in writing papers for basketball and football players.
 
Fresno State (2003)
The men’s basketball statistician and an academic adviser were caught in a paper-writing-for-athletes scheme.
 
Georgia (2003)
The university withdrew from postseason play after basketball players received inflated grades in a coaching class.
 
Memphis (2008)
The NCAA stripped the basketball team of its run to the finals after
Derrick Rose’s SAT scores were ruled invalid.
 
Michigan (2008)
The Ann Arbor News reported that from 2004 to 2007, 251 athletes took independent study classes with the same professor and received suspiciously high grades.
 
Minnesota (1999)
The basketball team had tournament victories erased after hundreds of assignments were completed for players.
 
Stanford (2011)
Academic advisers discontinued a list of classes recommended for years because they were easy and/or convenient.
 
Tennessee (2000)
ESPN profiled an English professor whose objections led the university to acknowledge that, on average, athletes received twice as many grade changes as other students.
 
USC (2001)
The NCAA issued sanctions against the football and women’s swimming teams after tutors were found to have written papers for athletes
.

Others --- See Below

UNC Fudging the Grades of Athletes and Fake Courses for Nearly 20 Years at UNC
The NCAA Punishment Was a Wink Wink
"Scandal Bowl: Why Tar Heel Fraud Might Be Just the Start," by Paul M. Barrett, Bloomberg Businessweek, January 6, 2014 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-06/unc-athletic-scandal-charges-of-fraud-could-be-tip-of-wider-revelations?campaign_id=DN010614

The corruption of academics at the University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus could turn into the most revelatory of all of the undergraduate sports scandals in recent memory. Beginning three years ago with what sounded like garden-variety reports of under-the-table payments from agents and improper classroom help for athletes, the affair has spread and deepened to include evidence of hundreds of sham courses offered since the early 1990s. Untold numbers of grades have been changed without authorization and faculty signatures forged—all in the service of an elaborate campaign to keep elite basketball and football players academically eligible to play.

After belatedly catching up with the UNC debacle in this recent dispatch, I’ve decided the still-developing story deserves wider attention. Or, to put it more precisely, the excellent reporting already done by the News & Observer of Raleigh merits amplification outside of North Carolina.

The rot in Chapel Hill undermines UNC’s reputation as one of the nation’s finest public institutions of higher learning. Officials created classes that did not meet. That’s not the only reason more scrutiny is needed. There’s also the particularly pernicious way that the school’s African and Afro-American Studies Department has been used to inflate the GPAs of basketball and football players. The corruption of a scholarly discipline devoted to black history and culture underscores a racial subtext to the exploitation of college athletes that typically goes unidentified in polite discussion. (UNC’s former longtime Afro-Am chairman, Julius Nyang’oro, has been criminally indicted for fraud.)

Another reason Chapel Hill requires sustained investigation is the manner in which the athletic and academic hierarchies at UNC, along with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, have so far whitewashed the scandal. Officials have repeatedly denied that the fiasco’s roots trace to an illicit agenda that, in the name of coddling a disproportionately black undergraduate athlete population, has left many students intellectually crippled.

Dan Kane, the News & Observer‘s lead investigative reporter, does old-school, just-the-facts-m’am work—and more power to him. Digging up the basic data has been a lonely and arduous task for which Kane has been rewarded with craven accusations of home state disloyalty. As he wrote last month, the six official “reviews” and “investigations” of the wayward Afro-Am Department have all failed to connect the dots in any meaningful way. In coming weeks and months, I hope I can supplement Kane’s dogged efforts with some long-distance perspective. Valuable tips from concerned local people, some of them UNC alumni, are already pouring in, and that’s part of the reason I’m going to pursue the story. Keep those e-mails coming.

One source of insight is Jay Smith, a professor of early modern French history at UNC. A serious scholar who understands the university’s sports-happy culture, Smith has developed a powerful distaste for the way his employer has obfuscated the scandal. “What’s going on here is so important,” he told me by telephone, “because it’s emblematic of what I think goes on at major universities all across the country,” where the business of sports undermines the mission of education. That sounds right to me.

Smith has the best sort of self-interested motivation for making sense of what has happened on his campus: He’s writing a book about the whole mess, based in part on statistics and personal experiences proffered by UNC instructors assigned over the years to assist varsity athletes. To me that sounds like a page-turner—and even the basis of an HBO movie.

I asked Smith what he thinks is going to happen next. He pointed to comments that the local district attorney made when the disgraced former Afro-Am chairman, Nyang’oro, was indicted in December. Orange County DA Jim Woodall told the News & Observer that a second person is also under investigation and could be indicted soon. Woodall did not identify the second target, except to say the person is not someone who currently works for UNC. ”Other probes have identified Nyang’oro’s longtime department manager, Deborah Crowder, as being involved in the bogus classes,” the News & Observer noted. “She retired in 2009.” Both Crowder and Nyang’oro have refused to comment publicly, and Nyang’oro’s criminal defense lawyer didn’t return my e-mail inquiry.

The indictment of Crowder, a relatively low-level administrative figure, could crack open the case. It defies logic that Nyang’oro and his assistant would have operated a rogue department without the knowledge of more senior faculty members, if not top university administrators. It further defies reason that this pair would have created phony classes for athletes without the urging and participation of people in the UNC athletic bureaucracy. Nyang’oro and Crowder are going to have ample reason to sing as part of potential plea deals.

Even before that happens, according to Smith, one or more well-positioned whistle-blowers are likely to go public and start naming names if they think the powers that be are planning to isolate Crowder and Nyang’oro as the sole villains. This thing goes much higher, and there’s much more to come from Chapel Hill.

Bob Jensen's threads at the academic farce of Division 1 NCAA universities ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#Athletics


Shaquille O'Neal's son decommits from Arizona amidst alleged (basketball) bribery scandal (investigated by the FBI) ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/shaquille-oneals-son-shareef-decommits-arizona-fbi-probe-2018-2

Also see
http://www.businessinsider.com/arizona-sean-miller-fbi-wiretap-2018-2

Bob Jensen's threads at the academic farce of Division 1 NCAA universities ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#Athletics
It's a farce because so much cheating is still going on in Division 1 universities, especially academic fraud




From the Scout Report on February 16, 2018

Psiphon Science ---  www.psiphon.ca
Psiphon is a proxy and VPN service designed to circumvent internet censorship. The first version of Psiphon was developed at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab. This initial version allowed users in countries that do not censor the internet to provide proxy services for their friends in countries where the internet is censored. In 2007, Psiphon, Inc was founded as a Canadian company separate from the Citizen Lab. In current versions of Psiphon, connections are routed through Psiphon Inc's globally distributed cloud-based network of proxy servers. This network uses a performance-focused single hop architecture. The Psiphon FAQ notes that this design focused on circumventing censorship, but it does not provide strong anonymity - users that require anonymity should consider Tor instead. Psiphon has been used to circumvent large-scale government censorship of the internet a num


OpenStreetMap --- www.openstreetmap.org 
OpenStreetMap is a community-driven alternative to GoogleMaps. It is essentially Wikipedia for spatial data. Like Wikipedia, anybody can contribute new geographic data or refine the existing data. All of OpenStreetMap's data is open data, licensed under their "Open Data Commons Open Database License," which is broadly similar to a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. Users may copy, distribute, transmit, and modify the data provided that they credit OpenStreetMap. Modified versions of the data must be distributed under the same license. Users that don't want to download the full 64 GB data file can select from a number of smaller "extracts" or use the OpenStreetMap APIs to access the data online. Numerous desktop and mobile applications understand this API and a full list is available on the OpenStreetMap wiki. Users interested in contributing to OpenStreetMap may be interested in the projects category on the wiki for a list of ongoing projects (for example, wheelchair-friendly walking routes, US railways, historic battlefields, and dozens more).


New Study Debunks a Popular Story About Rabbit Domestication

 

Debunked: The Strange Tale of Pope Gregory and the Rabbits
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/science/rabbits-pope-domestication.html

People Have Believed a Lie About Rabbit Domestication for Decades
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/eh-whats-up-doc/553304

The Odd, Tidy Story of Rabbit Domestication That Is Also Completely False
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/strange-tidy-story-rabbit-domestication-also-completely-false-180968168

Rabbits and the Specious Origins of Domestication
http://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(18)30001-6

CARTA: Domestication: Transformation of Wolf to Dog; Fox Domestication; Craniofacial Feminization
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaS-teo33Zo

Here, Kitty Kitty: The Domestication of the Cat
https://www.missedinhistory.com/podcasts/here-kitty-kitty-the-domestication-of-the-cat.htm


From the Scout Report on February 23, 2018

Sourcetree --- www.sourcetreeapp.com 
Sourcetree is a graphical front-end for the Git revision control system. First created in 2005 for the community of Linux kernel developers, Git has become one of the most popular revision control systems among technical people of all kinds. For example, the Library of Congress maintains Git repositories (hosted on GitHub) for a number of projects they are working on. These include XSLT to translate MARC records into BIBFRAME RDF, reference implementations of the BagIt standard in a number of languages, XML schemas for a number of metadata standards, and more. Users typically access Git repositories using the Git command-line tool. Unfortunately, this tool is famously hard to learn - so much so that papers on Git's obtuseness have been published as computer science literature. Sourcetree provides a much more intuitive, visual tool for interacting with Git repositories. It also includes a set of comprehensive tutorials covering the basic concept of Git. Sourcetree is available for Windows and macOS


Next browser --- http://next-browser.com/
Next browser is a web browser for power-users inspired by the venerable Emacs text editor. Like Emacs, Next browser is written in and can be extended with the Lisp programming language. It can also be operated entirely from the keyboard, with keybindings that largely mimic those of Emacs. These include keyboard shortcuts for scrolling the page, navigating between tabs, jumping to HTML headings, searching the page, manipulating bookmarks, and navigating history. Next browser's history is featured as somewhat unique in that it stores history as a tree with multiple branches rather than a linear sequence. Next browser is open source software, available under the 3-Clause BSD license with source code on GitHub. Next browser is available for macOS and Linux.


New Study Investigates the History of Ancient Dice

 

How Centuries-Old Dice Reveal Changing Attitudes About Fate
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-centuries-old-dice-reveal-changing-attitudes-about-fate-1-180968090

The Shape of Ancient Dice Suggests Shifting Beliefs in Fate and Chance
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/dice-dice-baby/553742

How the Design of Dice Evolved Over Time
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/dice-evolution-fate-fairness-archaeology

The Ancient Origins of Dice
https://daily.jstor.org/the-ancient-origins-of-dice

Games of the Ancient World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfZb4kG614w

What is a Game?: Crash Course Games #1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPqR2wOs8WI&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtPTrc_yg73RghJEOdobAplG


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


Education Tutorials

The History of Teaching Machines --- http://teachingmachin.es/timeline.html
Bob Jensen's threads on education technology history --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

NPR: Skunk Bear (science stories) --- www.npr.org/series/462045954/skunk-bear

SAH Archipedia: Classic Buildings (zoom into the USA map) --- http://sah-archipedia.org/

Maps:  Misconceptions: Some Common Geographic Mental Misplacements ---
https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2018/misconceptions/index.html

LA Times: A History of Winter Olympic Medals ---
http://graphics.latimes.com/winter-olympics/

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

The Magnetic Field Is Shifting. The Poles May Flip. This Could Get Bad ---
https://undark.org/article/books-alanna-mitchell-spinning-magnet/ ,

Big Picture Science --- http://radio.seti.org/

NPR: Skunk Bear (science stories) --- www.npr.org/series/462045954/skunk-bear

The 24 best science movies and shows streaming on Netflix that will make you smarter ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-science-documentaries-movies-shows-netflix-2017-5

Great Backyard Bird Count --- http://gbbc.birdcount.org/

Werner Heisenberg Falls in Love: The Love Letters of the Nobel-Winning Pioneer of Quantum Mechanics and Originator of the Uncertainty Principle ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/02/14/dear-li-werner-heisenberg-love-letters/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=ef7c534b69-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-ef7c534b69-234390133&mc_cid=ef7c534b69&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

Dan Hogman Blog (architecture) --- www.danhogman.com/blog

SAH Archipedia: Classic Buildings --- http://sah-archipedia.org/

IRIS: Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology --- www.iris.edu/hq

Open Yale Course: Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 ---
https://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-234

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

Anti-Slavery Manuscripts --- www.antislaverymanuscripts.org

The Tar Baby & the Tomahawk: Racist and Ethnic Images from American Children's Literature, 1880-1939 --- http://childlit.unl.edu/

NewseumEd: Media Literacy Resources (ournalism) ---
https://newseumed.org/stack/media-literacy-resources/

British Religion in Numbers --- www.brin.ac.uk

Pew Research Center: Crossing the Line: What Counts as Online Harassment? ---
www.pewinternet.org/2018/01/04/crossing-the-line-what-counts-as-online-harassment

Today's Document from the National Archives --- www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc

Open Yale Course: Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 ---
https://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-234

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

Pew Research Center: Crossing the Line: What Counts as Online Harassment? ---
www.pewinternet.org/2018/01/04/crossing-the-line-what-counts-as-online-harassment

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


Math Tutorials

Free: The Best Books for Learning Modern Statistics ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/02/free-the-best-books-for-learning-modern-statistics.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Good Calculators --- https://goodcalculators.com/

Mathematics and Personalized Learning: Larry Berger’s Confession & Question About Personalized Learning ---
http://blog.mrmeyer.com/2018/must-read-larry-bergers-confession-question-about-personalized-learning/

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

Bodleian Treasures (University of Oxford Research Library) --- https://treasures.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/

Nine Books to Read for Black History Month, According to Scholars ---
http://time.com/5157662/black-history-month-books-2018/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=2018021914pm&xid=newsletter-brief

Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre Blog (England's Wiltshire County History) --- www.wshc.eu/blog.html

Scientists have pinpointed when the first cave paintings were made — and it means Neanderthals were more advanced than they thought ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthals-created-first-cave-paintings-2018-2

LA Times: A History of Winter Olympic Medals ---
http://graphics.latimes.com/winter-olympics/

The Morgan Library & Museum: Drawings Online (art history) --- www.themorgan.org/drawings/images

A Brief History of Skis --- https://daily.jstor.org/brief-history-skis/

The Long Victorian (England) --- https://thelongvictorian.com/

Anti-Slavery Manuscripts --- www.antislaverymanuscripts.org

New York Slavery Records Index --- https://nyslavery.commons.gc.cuny.edu/

Today's Document from the National Archives --- www.archives.gov/historical-docs/todays-doc

From Various Libraries
Wynken de Worde: Early Modern Digital Collections --- http://sarahwerner.net/blog/early-modern-digital-collections/

The Newberry: Writing the Voices of America (learning the languages of native Americans) ---
http://publications.newberry.org/dig/voices/index

I Am Loved: Nikki Giovanni’s Poems for Kids, Selected and Illustrated by Beloved 94-Year-Old Artist Ashley Bryan ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/02/05/i-am-loved-nikki-giovannis-ashley-bryan/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=ef7c534b69-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-ef7c534b69-234390133&mc_cid=ef7c534b69&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

Werner Heisenberg Falls in Love: The Love Letters of the Nobel-Winning Pioneer of Quantum Mechanics and Originator of the Uncertainty Principle ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/02/14/dear-li-werner-heisenberg-love-letters/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=ef7c534b69-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-ef7c534b69-234390133&mc_cid=ef7c534b69&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

Operation Gunnerside: The Norwegian attack on heavy water that deprived the Nazis of the atomic bomb ---
https://theconversation.com/operation-gunnerside-the-norwegian-attack-on-heavy-water-that-deprived-the-nazis-of-the-atomic-bomb-90360

British Religion in Numbers --- www.brin.ac.uk

De Colores: The Raza Experience in Books for Children --- http://decoloresreviews.blogspot.com/

SAH Archipedia: Classic Buildings (zoom into the USA map) --- http://sah-archipedia.org/

Maps:  Misconceptions: Some Common Geographic Mental Misplacements ---
https://storymaps.esri.com/stories/2018/misconceptions/index.html

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

The Newberry: Writing the Voices of America (learning the languages of native Americans) ---
http://publications.newberry.org/dig/voices/index

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


Music Tutorials

 

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

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


Writing Tutorials

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/

February 15, 2018

February 16, 2018

February 17, 2018

February 21, 2018


February 22, 2018

February 23, 2018

February 24, 2018

February 27, 2018

View All Health News

 


Using an Air Dryer After Washing Your Hands May Make Them Dirtier ---
https://qz.com/1207418/using-an-air-dryer-after-you-wash-your-hands-may-just-make-them-dirtier/


Exercising Yourself to Death: The Rare Risk of Rhabdo (Kidney Failure) ---
https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/news/20180222/exercising-yourself-to-death-the-risk-of-rhabdo


Why women’s ice hockey has a higher concussion rate than football ---
https://www.vox.com/videos/2018/2/14/17009594/concussion-olympics-womens-ice-hockey


Nietzsche on Depression and the Rehabilitation of Hope ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/02/12/nietzsche-hope/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=ef7c534b69-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_02_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-ef7c534b69-234390133&mc_cid=ef7c534b69&mc_eid=4d2bd13843


Open Yale Course: Epidemics in Western Society Since 1600 ---
https://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-234


Counterfeit valium bought online in enormous quantities from China has been blamed for a steep rise in drug-related deaths across Scotland ---
Read the full story

 


Humor for February 2018

The Most Unusual Menus From Libraries Around the World ---
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/menus-unusual-libraries

Senior  Honky --- the oldster farting the most each day at the senior center




Humor February 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q1.htm#Humor0218.htm  

Humor January 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q1.htm#Humor0118.htm 

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