Tidbits on April 17, 2018
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Part 1 of Hiking and Skiing in New Hampshire (especially in the New Hampshire)
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Hiking/01HikingLinks.htm

Tidbits on April 17, 2018
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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

Free Online Updates in Audio, Video, Art, Photography, and Literature

Online Video, Slide Shows, and Audio

Radiooooo: Discover the Musical Time Machine That Lets You Hear What Played on the Radio in Different Times & Places ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/radiooooo-the-musical-time-machine.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Aldous Huxley Tells Mike Wallace What Will Destroy Democracy: Overpopulation, Drugs & Insidious Technology (1958) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/aldous-huxley-tells-mike-wallace-what-will-destroy-democracy-overpopulation-drugs-insidious-technology-1958.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Madurese Storytellers (antropology video from Indionesia) --- http://madurese.lib.uiowa.edu/#/home

A Whaling Season in Alaska --- www.awhalingseasoninalaska.com/en

Hear Beowulf and Gawain and the Green Knight Read in Their Original Old and Middle English by an MIT Medievalist ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/03/hear-beowulf-and-gawain-and-the-green-knight-read-in-their-original-old-and-middle-english.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The Political Thought of Confucius, Plato, John Locke & Adam Smith Introduced in Animations Narrated by Aidan Turner ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/the-political-thought-of-confucius-plato-john-locke-adam-smith.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

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

KQED: Deep Look (Science Videos) --- www.youtube.com/user/KQEDDeepLook

Smithsonian Channel: Full Episodes (history) --- www.smithsonianchannel.com/full-episodes

Free music downloads --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
In the past I've provided links to various types of music and video available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm 

The Deceptively Accessible Music of Cecil Taylor ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/04/cecil-taylor-obituary/557507/

How Sampling Transformed Music and Created New Tapestries of Sound: An Interactive Demonstration by Producer/DJ Mark Ronson ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/how-sampling-transformed-music-and-created-new-tapestries-of-sound.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

One of the US Navy's most dangerous warships that just launched Tomahawk missiles into Syria ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/uss-john-warner-submarine-tour-2017-12

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

NYPL Digital Collections: Pictures of Science: 700 Years of Scientific and Medical Illustration ---
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/pictures-of-science-700-years-of-scientific-and-medical-illustration#/?tab=navigation

NASA's $1 billion Jupiter probe has taken gorgeous new photos of the giant planet ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-juno-spacecraft-new-photos-jupiter-clouds-storm-bands-2018-2

NASA's Images of Cities at Night --- http://citiesatnight.org/

Here's how Russia's MiG-29 fighter jet compares to the F/A-18 Hornet ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-the-fa-18-hornet-and-the-mig-29-fighter-jets-stack-up-2018-4

Here's Every Class of Ships in the USA Navy ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-every-class-of-ship-2018-4

The Most Popular Tourist Attraction in Every State ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-most-popular-tourist-attraction-in-every-state-2018-3?op=0&r=UK&IR=T#alabama-tour-of-mobile-1
The phrase "most popular" has many definitions. The "most popular" above are not necessarily the most visited each year. But some of the most visited may be somewhat disappointing to some like the very young or the very old.

The Strange Beauty of Sandstorms ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/03/the-strange-beauty-of-sandstorms/556607/

The Museum of Failure: A Living Shrine to New Coke, the Ford Edsel, Google Glass & Other Epic Corporate Fails ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/03/the-museum-of-failure-a-living-shrine-to-new-coke-the-ford-edsel-google-glass-other-epic-corporate-fails.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

AVES: A Survey of Literature of Neotropical Ornithology (birds) --
http://exhibitions.blogs.lib.lsu.edu/?p=5206

A Shazam for Nature: A New Free App Helps You Identify Plants, Animals & Other Denizens of the Natural World ---
http://www.openculture.co, m/2018/03/a-shazam-for-natur Se-a-new-free-app-helps-you-identify-plants-animals-other-denizens-of-the-natural-world.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Chiura Obata’s Stunning Paintings of Yosemite ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/03/23/chiura-obata-yosemite/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=b5b2fcc486-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-b5b2fcc486-234390133&mc_cid=b5b2fcc486&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

China's 'bullet train' network is the largest in the world — and it's about to get even bigger ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/china-bullet-train-hong-kong-shenzhen-guangzhou-express-rail-link-completion-2018-4

Colorful Wood Block Prints from the Chinese Revolution of 1911: A Gallery of Artistic Propaganda Posters ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/colorful-wood-block-prints-from-the-chinese-revolution-of-1911.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Princeton University:  The Index of Medieval Art ---
https://ima.princeton.edu/

A Dazzling Aerial Photograph of Edinburgh (1920) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/a-dazzling-aerial-photograph-of-edinburgh-1920.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

13 Places to Visit in May for Every Type of Traveler ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-places-to-visit-may-2018-3#asheville-north-carolina-1

It's been 76 years since one of World War II's worst atrocities — the Bataan Death March ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/bataan-death-march-photos-from-world-war-ii-2017-4

The US Navy basically admitted that the Littoral Combat Ship looks like a massive failure ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-littoral-combat-ship-problems-2018-4

The Huntington Archive of Buddhist and Asian Art ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/162bfb031a005ab9

LACMA: Teacher Resources (Art History) --- www.lacma.org/students-teachers/teacher-resources

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

Seamus Heaney Died:  s we mourn the poet, do we not mourn the loss of what he had in his keeping: a way of living that served us for aeons?
https://aeon.co/essays/as-we-mourn-the-poet-we-mourn-a-way-of-being-in-the-world

The Chapel Hill Rare Book Blog --- https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/rbc/

Enter the Pulp Magazine Archive, Featuring Over 11,000 Digitized Issues of Classic Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Detective Fiction ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/03/enter-the-pulp-magazine-archive-featuring-over-11000-digitized-issues-of-classic-sci-fi-fantasy-detective-fiction.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Hear Beowulf and Gawain and the Green Knight Read in Their Original Old and Middle English by an MIT Medievalist ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/03/hear-beowulf-and-gawain-and-the-green-knight-read-in-their-original-old-and-middle-english.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Petrarchive: An Edition of Petrarch's Songbook Rerum vulgarium fragmenta ---
http://dcl.slis.indiana.edu/petrarchive/newindex.php

PG Wodehouse:  Frivolous, Empty, and Perfectly Delightful ---
https://www.claremont.org/crb/article/frivolous-empty-and-perfectly-delightful/

One of the Best Preserved Ancient Manuscripts of The Iliad Is Now Digitized: See the “Bankes Homer” Manuscript in High Resolution (Circa 150 C.E.) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/one-of-the-best-preserved-ancient-manuscripts-of-the-iliad-is-now-digitized.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29
This would've been better in English with more pictures

DigiNole: Cookbooks and Herbals ---
https://fsu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/search/?type=edismax&collection=fsu%3Acookbooksandherbals

Nietzsche on Truth, Lies, the Power and Peril of Metaphor, and How We Use Language to Reveal and Conceal Reality ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/03/26/nietzsche-on-truth-and-lies-in-a-nonmoral-sense/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=b5b2fcc486-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-b5b2fcc486-234390133&mc_cid=b5b2fcc486&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

Stream 47 Hours of Classic Sci-Fi Novels & Stories: Asimov, Wells, Orwell, Verne, Lovecraft & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/stream-47-hours-of-classic-sci-fi-novels-stories-asimov-wells-orwell-verne-lovecraft-more.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Stephen King Creates a List of His 10 Favorite Novels ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/stephen-king-creates-a-list-of-his-10-favorite-novels.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Digital Scriptorium (medieval and Renaissance print culture) www.digital-scriptorium.org

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 April 17, 2018
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2018/TidbitsQuotations041718.htm             

The Atlantic:  The digital manipulation of video may make the current era of “fake news” seem quaint ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/realitys-end/556877/

The Atlantic:  The Scientific Paper is Obsolete ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/the-scientific-paper-is-obsolete/556676/

TED Talks --- https://www.ted.com/

TED Talk Tweets --- https://twitter.com/TEDTalks

Newsweek:  The 50 Most Popular TED Talks ---
http://www.newsweek.com/pictures-top-50-most-popular-ted-talks-885062

Question
For a lawn tractor, what's the huge difference between an Amazon Versus Sears Warranty?

Sears to close last store in Chicago, the city that helped launch its growth into a major retail presence ---
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sears-closing-last-chicago-store-20180412-story.html

Jensen Comment
Gangland Chicago is no longer a safe place for anchor stores in some shopping malls, although Sears troubles extend well beyond security (think Amazon). What's really sad about the demise of Sears is having to rely on other local retailers or Amazon) that do not repair what they sell in the boondocks.

I don't need a new lawn tractor, but this made me think about warranty support for something really heavy to ship like a lawn tractor. For what I think is a reasonably-priced at-home-warranty Sears will send a repair technician many miles to my home to fix heavy items like lawn tractors, refrigerators, microwaves, washing machines, etc.  Here's what one customer writes about a lawn tractor purchased from Amazon ---
https://www.amazon.com/Husqvarna-YTA24V48-Continuously-Variable-Transmission/dp/B019ZN119G/ref=sr_1_9?s=lawn-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1523737302&sr=1-9&keywords=lawn+tractor

Customer Quotation
I love most things about this machine (the lawn tractor purchased from Amazon) but I have a problem I think others should note. First let's make clear that I live in a very rural area. That means there is only one approved service location in my area (and far away). That said, I had problems with the transmission from the day I first drove it (purchased March 17, 2017). Reverse was almost impossible to hit and then it was impossible. I called to find my nearest service location as it is still under warranty. The treatment I got was awful! This man claims Husqvarna does not back up its warranty, that he has many customers ahead of me and can't guarantee my repair would be under warranty, and chided me for not buying locally (he is a dealer, of course). So I still have a tractor that will not go into reverse, have no local options for service under warranty, will have to pay for repairs myself I guess. This is something to consider before purchase. Had I known I might have elected another option.
Unhappy Customer

Jensen Comment
If he bought the lawn tractor from a nearby Sears store or online a Sears repair technician would come to his house and either fix a warranty-repair problem or Sears would deliver a new lawn tractor (or refrigerator or washing machine, etc.). I really, really hope our nearby Sears store stays in business for those huge and heavy items that I now have under 14 extended Sears warranties. You pay extra for the home service, but for me in the mountains it's worth the price. By the way, last summer Sears delivered to my home warranty replacements for a dehumidifier and an edging machine that Sears technicians decided could not be repaired. I paid no added cost for the new replacements. Plus our washing machine had free repairs for a new transmission and some other parts. The Sears home service contract also includes one free maintenance visit every year to do such things as clean filters and check belts.

What is not clear is whether Amazon would've sent the customer quoted above a shipping label if he tried to return the Husqvarna lawn tractor to Amazon within 30 days. On most products Amazon will take back items within 30 days and pay the return shipping costs (no matter what you don't like about the product). This may not apply to really heavy items like lawn tractors that can't be returned via UPS. I think Amazon makes you deal with the manufacturer for such heavy items like lawn tractors under the manufacturer's (often lousy) warranty. Give me a Sears at-home warranty any day.

So where did I buy a tractor when I wanted one somewhat larger (with a loader) than I could purchase from Sears?
I went to the closest dealer --- a New Holland dealer slightly less than 25 miles from our cottage. New Holland house calls were free during the warranty period, and now I pay $100 extra for a house call or when the dealer hauls the tractor in for full service.

Some big box stores (like Home Depot) will provide local warranty service for items that they don't service in the store. Typically they outsource this service to local technicians (mechanics, plumbers, electricians) and will provide product replacements for items that can't be repaired. They usually will work on your behalf when you have troubles with a claim filed with the manufacturer ---
https://www.protection-plans.com/content/thd/en/IndoorGarden/Index#/how-plan-works
Years ago I purchased a new Amana refrigerator from a local store that did not work when it was delivered. The local store said it would pay for new compressor but not replace the refrigerator. I then contacted Amana myself and got Amana to pay the local store for a new replacement refrigerator. Some manufacturers are better than others about honoring warranties.

A public university president in Oregon gives new meaning to the idea of a pensioner.

Joseph Robertson, an eye surgeon who retired as head of the Oregon Health & Science University last fall, receives the state’s largest government pension.

It is $76,111.

Per month.

That is considerably more than the average Oregon family earns in a year.

Oregon — like many other states and cities, including New Jersey, Kentucky and Connecticut — is caught in a fiscal squeeze of its own making. Its economy is growing, but the cost of its state-run pension system is growing faster. More government workers are retiring, including more than 2,000, like Dr. Robertson, who get pensions exceeding $100,000 a year.

The state is not the most profligate pension payer in America, but its spiraling costs are notable in part because Oregon enjoys a reputation for fiscal discipline. Its experience shows how faulty financial decisions by states can eventually swamp local communities.

Oregon’s costs are inflated by the way in which it calculates pension benefits for public employees. Some of the pensions include income that employees earned on the side. Other retirees benefit from long-ago stock market rallies that inflated the current value of their payouts.

For example, the pension for Mike Bellotti, the University of Oregon’s head football coach from 1995 to 2008, includes not just his salary but also money from licensing deals and endorsements that the Ducks’ athletic program generated. Mr. Bellotti’s pension is more than $46,000 a month.

The bill is borne by taxpayers. Oregon’s Public Employees Retirement System has told cities, counties, school districts and other local entities to contribute more to keep the system afloat. They can neither negotiate nor raise local taxes fast enough to keep up. As a result, pensions are crowding out other spending. Essential services are slashed.

Continued in article

The Atlantic:  Why American Students Haven't Gotten Better at Reading in 20 Years
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/04/-american-students-reading/557915/

Jensen Question
Should that read in "200 years?"

I wonder how much worse today's students would be with a McGuffey Reader?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McGuffey_Readers

The Dutch University That's Shaping the Campus of the Future ---
https://qz.com/1221867/the-dutch-university-that-is-shaping-the-campus-of-the-future/ ---

Jensen Comment on the Case For Lectures ---
The case for lectures should be considered by teachers desperate for better teaching evaluations. Students like to learn with the least amount of work. They often like lectures that regurgitate textbook chapters. Regurgitation lectures may yield higher teaching evaluations, especially if the tests are easy and most students get A grades.

Also the lecturing is one of the cheapest pedagogies when you have hundreds or thousands of students to teach in a course. It is not, however, the cheapest and probably not the most effective for top students. For highly motivated top students video courses are both cheaper and more effective because students can learn at their own paces and repeat video content. The key, however, is to have highly motivated top students who do not need much hand holding individually or in smaller recitation sections. Stanford University nearly 20 years ago introduced the ADEPT video lecture masters of engineering program for cream of the crop distance education students in Silicon Valley. Brigham Young University teaches the first two accounting courses with mostly variable-speed video lessons that replaced live classes ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#BYUvideo
This frees up costly faculty resources for more advanced courses in the curriculum. Think of why the BYU video lessons might be less effective in other universities and community colleges.
Hint:  Think of the student profiles, motivation, and discipline of BYU students.

The Case Against Lectures --- http://nautil.us/blog/the-case-against-lectures

Is the Lecture Obsolete? ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/04/is-the-lecture-hall-obsolete.html

Jensen Comment
Much of this debate is complicated by not having a good definition of a "lecture." Some lectures are monologs; Some have much more student discussion; Some throw out a lot of answers; Some rarely provide answers (as in Socratic method), etc. In the Harvard Business School it's common for professors to never give out answers --- they rely on answers discovered by students. Often there are no "best" answers to complicated questions in real-world cases.

Is a lecture anything that gives out answers such as a video "lecture?" When I flipped my classroom at Trinity University I prepared over 100 short Camtasia videos that that explained technical things like how to value and account for interest rate swaps. I assigned students to view these videos before class and then had them demonstrate what they learned from those videos. Was this equivalent to a lecture even though I no longer lectured as much in front of the class in my "flipped classrooms?"

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

April 13, 2018 reply from Jim Martin

Lecturing is the easy and most enjoyable way to teach (for the teacher), the know-all, tell-all approach. Leading a discussion class is much more difficult, but much more beneficial to the students when it works. The trick is to figure out how to get it to work. I am not saying I ever figured it out, but the following book was very helpful in my attempts to do so, and I recommend it to those who want to try. Christensen, C. R., D. A. Garvin, and A. Sweet. (Eds.) 1991. Education for Judgment: The Artistry of Discussion Leadership. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
James R. Martin

The Natural Enemy of the Librarian ---
https://www.canopycanopycanopy.com/contents/the-natural-enemy-of-the-librarian

Jensen Comment
In San Antonio we had a large family room with a bar. The smaller front parlor was just an ornate room that had to be dusted and vacuumed now and then.

Philosophy's First Steps:  Science asks and answers its big questions, so why is philosophy taking its time? Because it’s only just getting started ---
https://aeon.co/essays/why-philosophy-is-taking-its-time-to-answer-the-big-questions?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=10cf6859a2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_09&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-10cf6859a2-68951505

Jensen Comment
Perhaps this is true of any discipline (think economics) built upon unproven or seemingly impossible assumptions. Science just has moved a bit further along the robustness continuum where we dare to call some derivations laws (think Kepler). In economics calling derivations "laws" is the subject of seminar humor.

Gelman Post on “Failure of Failure to Replicate” a Great Read ---
https://replicationnetwork.com/2018/04/12/gelman-post-on-failure-of-failure-to-replicate-a-great-read/

Bob Jensen's threads on validity testing and replication or lack thereof (in the case of accountancy) ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm

Elizabeth Kolbert: "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History" ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x00LP0QfRTk

Google loses landmark 'right to be forgotten' case ---
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/13/google-loses-right-to-be-forgotten-case

Jensen Question
What makes this outcome more difficult for Google than Wikipedia?

Answer
Wikipedia can delete references to past felonies in a single module about a convicted felon. Google often provides multiple hits, including links to newspaper archives that discuss past crimes. For example, suppose the New York Times in 1973 ran an article about a fraud conviction of John X. Doe. The outcome of this case does not require that the NYT remove that article from the history archives, and a Google search for John X, Doe may link to that article without mentioning details of that article. John X, Doe cannot be forgotten in the NYT archives.

I doubt that all archives containing reference to Bernie Madoff will ever be removed from the public record no matter how much descendents of Bernie Madoff would like reference to him removed from history.

From a MIT Newsletter on April 13, 2018

Self-Taught Robot Seizing Warehouse Jobs Using Computer Vision and Machine Learning

 

Big data

Supercomputer Powered by Mobile Chips Suggests New Threat to Intel

 

Clean power

Wind and Solar Installations Are Outgrowing Their Grids

 

Genomic medicine

Clinics Offering Unproven Stem Cell Therapies Are Proliferating Across the U.S.

 

 

AAUP Annual Faculty Compensation Data for 2017-18 ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-much-did-professors-earn/243085?cid=db&elq=e723fbc6b5444b05a5336833608d3969&elqCampaignId=8341&elqTrackId=0e0a84a9c6ce4879b9d54b79a8764ff4&elqaid=18566&elqat=1

In 2017–18, average salaries for full-time continuing faculty members increased by 3.0 percent over the previous academic year, or by 1.1 percent after adjusting for inflation. Presidents of institutions participating in the AAUP’s Faculty Compensation Survey are paid 4.78 times more than fulltime faculty members, on average.

Accompanying this year’s report are two data snapshots that serve to situate the report’s results within the larger national discussion about retirement benefits, state funding of higher education, and early-career faculty. Drastic cuts in state appropriations have often affected faculty at public colleges and universities more than other public employees as legislators have targeted higher education budgets. And states with catastrophic decreases in support for higher education have typically faced a corresponding financial crisis caused by the underfunding of public pensions. The coming retirement crisis for employees under forty is worsened for early-career faculty because of their late entry into the workforce relative to other employees.

This year’s report explores some of the benefits full-time faculty receive. Many of the broader societal trends affecting retirement and health benefits hit faculty especially hard. What appear to be very generous retirement benefits for some faculty become much less generous when the mobility required for early-career faculty is considered. Some public institutions seem to offer better retirement benefits than private institutions but are not paying into Social Security for their employees. The continually increasing costs of health care have also affected faculty—while premiums for employer-covered health-care plans rose by 3 percent nationally in 2017, the average increase in employer contributions at reporting institutions was below that (and was negative at private religiously affiliated institutions). The data gathered by the AAUP can help explore such nuances in a complicated compensation landscape.

Download the report as a pdf.

Continued in article

107 free online courses from the best colleges in the US — including Princeton, Harvard, and Yale ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/free-online-courses-from-the-best-colleges-2018-4

For example, Princeton University offers a course entitled Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies, 11 weeks, available at Coursera

Harvard offers a four-week course on Data Science

Chicago offers a course entitled Understanding the Brain: The Neurobiology of Everyday Life, 10 weeks, available at Coursera

There are 104 other courses mentioned in this article

UC Berkeley Is Offering Data Science, Its Fastest-Growing Course Ever, for Free Online ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/uc-berkeley-is-offering-data-science-its-fastest-growing-course-ever-for-free-online.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Unbelievable:  450+ MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) Getting Started in April: Enroll Today ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/450-moocs-massive-open-online-courses-getting-started-in-april-enroll-today.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

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

The Guardian:  From protoscience to proper science: The path ahead for reforming psychology  ---
https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2017/may/09/from-protoscience-to-proper-science-the-path-ahead-for-reforming-psychology

The urgency of curbing pollution from ships, explained ---
https://theconversation.com/the-urgency-of-curbing-pollution-from-ships-explained-94797

A dead, 10-meter long sperm whale was found off the coast of Spain with 30 kilograms of trash in its stomach ---
https://www.smh.com.au/environment/sustainability/dead-sperm-whale-found-with-30-kilograms-of-trash-in-digestive-system-20180412-p4z97c.html

Coral reefs are in crisis – but scientists are finding effective ways to restore them ---
https://theconversation.com/coral-reefs-are-in-crisis-but-scientists-are-finding-effective-ways-to-restore-them-92506

Stanford Free Online:  150 Courses Starting at Stanford Continuing Studies Next Week: Explore the Catalogue of Campus and Online Courses ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/03/150-courses-starting-at-stanford-continuing-studies-next-week.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The Riddle of Consciousness ---
https://www.csicop.org/si/show/the_riddle_of_consciousness

The Tricky Business of Measuring Consciousness ---
https://www.wired.com/story/tricky-business-of-measuring-consciousness/

CNN:  The biggest Facebook page for the Black Lives Matter movement was fake and funds raised probably went overseas ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/black-lives-matter-fake-facebook-page-sent-money-to-australia-2018-4

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) seeks record fine against Wells Fargo for abuses ---
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-wells-fargo-accounts-fine-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-watchdog-seeks-record-fine-against-wells-fargo-for-abuses-sources-idUSKBN1HG2PO?il=0

Vanity Fair:  A recording salvaged from three miles deep tells the story of the doomed “El Faro,” a cargo ship engulfed by a hurricane. ---
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/04/inside-el-faro-the-worst-us-maritime-disaster-in-decades?elqTrackId=664d5b82589444daa2722fabe37e1524&elq=2af3ac820bc64789bedfdce9fbccb295&elqaid=18603&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=8364

Chronicle of Higher Education on the Digital Campus:  The Robot Has Arrived ---
https://www.chronicle.com/specialreport/The-Digital-Campus-The-Robot/197?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=1e68dab5148d49419b7450bcb9259989&elq=c226e432339846d69350fd2c1c75702b&elqaid=18602&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=8363

This special report of The Digital Campus examines how artificial intelligence is spreading quickly on college campuses, in ways both seen and unseen. New technologies — chatbots, “smart” buildings, the internet of things, predictive analytics, plagiarism-detection software — are taking on tasks previously handled by humans. We haven't quite reached the point where robots are leading lectures or androids are running amok on a Westworld-style campus. More likely, artificial intelligence might be apparent in a new irrigation system that conserves money and water by sensing when to shut down, or in an admissions chatbot that saves staff time by answering prospective students’ questions.

This report also explores concerns about AI, including questions about the ethical use of data that’s so essential for many of its functions. And it offers other futuristic content, including advice on how to spice up your classroom with virtual technology and a report on the growing number of academic programs focused on drone technology.

Chronicle subscribers and site-license holders have complimentary access to The Digital Campus. To purchase the report separately, please visit our online store (also see the other Digital Campus reports for sale)

How A.I. Is Infiltrating Every Corner of the Campus ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-AI-Is-Infiltrating-Every/243022?cid=cp197

In enrollment, advising, and campus facilities, the revolution is spreading fast

MIT:  This battery advance could make electric vehicles far cheaper ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610792/this-battery-advance-could-make-electric-vehicles-far-cheaper/

Sila Nanotechnologies has pulled off double-digit performance gains for lithium-ion batteries, promising to lower costs or add capabilities for cars and phones.

For the last seven years, a startup based in Alameda, California, has quietly worked on a novel anode material that promises to significantly boost the performance of lithium-ion batteries.

Sila Nanotechnologies emerged from stealth mode last month, partnering with BMW to put the company's silicon-based anode materials in at least some of the German automaker’s electric vehicles by 2023. A BMW spokesman told the Wall Street Journal the company expects that the deal will lead to a 10 to 15 percent increase in the amount of energy you can pack into a battery cell of a given volume. Sila’s CEO Gene Berdichevsky says the materials could eventually produce as much as a 40 percent improvement (see “35 Innovators Under 35: Gene Berdichevsky”).

For EVs, an increase in so-called energy density either significantly extends the mileage range possible on a single charge or decreases the size and cost of the batteries needed to reach standard ranges. For consumer gadgets, it could alleviate the frustration of cell phones that can’t make it through the day, or it might enable power-hungry next-generation features like bigger cameras or ultrafast 5G networks.

Researchers have spent decades working to advance the capabilities of lithium-ion batteries, but those gains usually only come a few percentage points at a time. So how did Sila Nanotechnologies make such a big leap?

Berdichevsky, who was employee number seven at Tesla, and CTO Gleb Yushin, a materials scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, recently provided a deeper explanation of the battery technology in an interview with MIT Technology Review. 

 

The Free-Trade Malaise Vindication—and a change of heart—for a veteran contrarian who saw it coming ---
https://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2018/03/the-free-trade-malaise/

A Shazam for Nature: A New Free App Helps You Identify Plants, Animals & Other Denizens of the Natural World ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/03/a-shazam-for-nature-a-new-free-app-helps-you-identify-plants-animals-other-denizens-of-the-natural-world.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Stephen King Creates a List of His 10 Favorite Novels ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/stephen-king-creates-a-list-of-his-10-favorite-novels.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

·         Lord of the Flies by William Golding

·         Ship of Fools by Katherine Anne Porter

·         Watership Down by Richard Adams

·         The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson

·         The Hair of Harold Roux by Thomas Williams

·         Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

·         Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

·         1984 by George Orwell

·         American Pastoral by Philip Roth

·         The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Stephen King's Top 20 Rules for Writers ---
http://www.openculture.com/2014/03/stephen-kings-top-20-rules-for-writers.html

For Teenagers, Praising 'Effort' May Not Promote a Growth Mindset ---
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/inside-school-research/2018/03/praising_effort_teenagers_growth_mindset.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news2-rm&M=58429932&U=2290378
Jensen Comment
How many teachers, including college professors, bump up grades for students who really, really tried?

Atlanta Working 'Around The Clock' To Fight Off Ransomware Attack ---
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/27/597208778/atlanta-working-around-the-clock-to-fight-off-ransomware-attack

Business Insider:  35 Tech Predictions for 2018 ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/35-big-tech-predictions-for-2018-2018-1

Forbes:  Tech Trends for 2018 ---
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesfinancecouncil/2018/03/27/whats-on-tap-in-finance-and-accounting-automation-for-2018/#32ed1e907106

State of America’s Libraries 2018 ---
https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/state-of-americas-libraries-2018/

Jensen Comment
Libraries carry a lot of the out-of-print items that are not available on Amazon or they are not available at reasonable used book prices.

Having said this I'm finding it really convenient these days to download Amazon books (a lot of them free or virtually free) directly into my PC rather than into my Kindle. It is really convenient to have these books stored on hard drives. Amazon has a nifty app for downloading books directly into a PC or mobile device other than a Kindle.

Research libraries are still getting ripped off by exorbitant oligopoly subscription fees, but some of the top research libraries (think Cornell) are fighting back ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudReporting.htm#ScholarlyJournals

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

Blockchain is not only crappy technology but a bad vision for the future ---
https://medium.com/@kaistinchcombe/decentralized-and-trustless-crypto-paradise-is-actually-a-medieval-hellhole-c1ca122efdec

MIT:  In Blockchain We Trust ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610781/in-blockchain-we-trust/

Everything (well not really everything) You Wanted to Know About Blockchain (But Were Afraid to Ask) ---
https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2018/04/03/everything-always-wanted-know-blockchain-afraid-ask/

The rise of blockchain and cryptocurrency uncertainties in the theory as well as the street profession of finance that still is unsure whether cryptocurrencies are really Ponzi schemes ---
Blockchain --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain
Cryptocurrency --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin
Ethereum --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum

This Interactive Simulation Will Teach You How Blockchain Works ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/sc/ibm-blockchain-think-conference-2018-3

IBM told investors that it has over 400 blockchain clients — including Walmart, Visa, and Nestlé ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/ibm-blockchain-enterprise-customers-walmart-visa-nestl-2018-3

A good place to start reading
AICPA:  Blockchain was made to solve one problem and here's what it is ---
http://blog.aicpa.org/2018/02/blockchain-was-made-to-solve-1-problem-heres-what-that-is.html#sthash.NHgU1LDZ.dpbs

Even Congress is jumping on the blockchain bandwagon --- and IBM is urging it on
http://www.businessinsider.com/congressional-hearing-explored-uses-of-blockchains-in-government-2018-2

All at once, it seems, corporate treasury departments are embracing the distributed-ledger technology to manage Foreign Exchange more efficiently, among other reasons ---
http://ww2.cfo.com/cash-management/2018/02/blockchain-suddenly-hot/

Scams & stupidities around 'blockchain stocks' ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-blockchain-stocks-price-moves-2017-12

Knowledge @ Wharton
Blockchain, The Bard and Building More Inclusion in Blockchain ---
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/blockchain-the-bard-and-building-more-inclusion-for-banking/

A soybean shipment to China became the first commodity deal to use blockchain tech ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/energy-and-commodity-companies-use-blockchain-tech-for-trading-2018-1

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

Deloitte’s new blockchain lab in New York anticipating make-or-break year ---
http://www.big4.com/big4-thought-leader-interviews/deloittes-new-blockchain-lab-in-new-york-anticipating-make-or-break-year/

Zorba:  Blockchain ledgers are not accounting ledgers ---
https://zorba-research.blogspot.ca/2018/01/blockchain-ledgers-are-not-accounting.html

The Lucretius Problem is a mental defect where we assume the worst case event that has happened is the worst case event that can happen ---
https://www.fs.blog/2015/04/lucretius-problem/

Poaching Talent From U.S. Canada announces 24 scholars recruited to its universities from all over the world -- with more than half coming from the U.S. ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/03/30/canada-announces-24-scholars-recruited-worldwide-many-top-american-universities?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=c97f926543-DNU20180111&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-c97f926543-197565045&mc_cid=c97f926543&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Jensen Question
Why is the movement of 12 scholars from the USA to Canada such an important statistic?
Each year the USA attracts many more scholars than that from Canada than vice versa. The typical pattern is for Canadians to enter USA graduate programs and then not return to Canada. This was especially common in accountancy since Canada was slow to commence accountancy doctoral programs. Now of course there are more Canadians going to the accountancy doctoral programs in top Canadian universities.

My guess, however, is that the net exchange still favors the USA where more Canadians enter USA doctoral programs than vice versa. Of course this would not be surprising since there are so many more USA doctoral programs in accountancy. and there's very high USA demand for Ph.D. gratuities in accountancy ---
www.jrhasselback.com/AtgDoct/XDocChrt.pdf

A portion of a lump-sum Social Security disability payment ruled includible in gross income ---
https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2018/mar/social-security-disability-payment-gross-income.html?utm_source=mnl:cpald&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=29Mar2018

A brief history of the scatter plot—data visualization’s greatest invention ---
https://qz.com/1235712/the-origins-of-the-scatter-plot-data-visualizations-greatest-invention/

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

SSL Certificate:  Explanation and apology to MAAW followers ---
http://maaw.blogspot.com/2018/04/explanation-and-apology-to-maaw.html

The Evolution of the Microscope ---
https://daily.jstor.org/the-evolution-of-the-microscope/

Galileo’s invention of the telescope not only broke with the church but upset philosophers as well ---
http://nautil.us/issue/58/self/when-the-heavens-stopped-being-perfect

How to Mislead With Statistics (in this case rankings)
Reuters Top 100: The World's Most Innovative Universities - 2017
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amers-reuters-ranking-innovative-univ/reuters-top-100-the-worlds-most-innovative-universities-2017-idUSKCN1C209R

Jensen Comment
First of all, the rankings surprised me when I noticed some that some of the world's leading universities on other criteria were not at or even near the top. The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, for example, barely made the top third at Ranks 31 and 28 respectively. Smaller Universities have almost no chance of high rankings, although Vanderbilt is a noted exception. Rice University is near the bottom at 01/100. Dartmouth College and Swarthmore are not even ranked, although in Swarthmore's case

Swarthmore College --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarthmore_College

Despite its small size, Swarthmore's alumni have gone on to make advances in their field. Graduates include 5 Nobel Prize winners (2nd highest number of Nobel Prize winners per graduate in the U.S.), 11 MacArthur Foundation fellows (second highest per graduate in the U.S.), 30 Rhodes Scholars, 27 Truman Scholars, 10 Marshall Scholars, 201 Fulbright Grantees, and hundreds of prominent figures in law, art, science, business, politics, and other fields. Swarthmore also counts 49 alumni as members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine, the fourth highest ratio per graduates in the U.S.

I give Swarthmore credit for having five Nobel Prize winners among alumni, but how much credit should Swarthmore get among the many other contributing factors to the success of alumni, including the ones that went on to graduate school at Harvard, Stanford, etc. In fact how much credit should Harvard and Stanford get for their intermediate role in the success of top innovators that would probably have achieved success had they gone to graduate school at lower ranked Oxford or Cambridge or the University of Mississippi.

In some respects Swarthmore does better than Vanderbilt University that came out at rank 10/100 in the Reuters ranking on "innovation." Note the variation in rankings of Vanderbilt in world competition

Vanderbilt is ranked the 108th best university in the world in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and 52nd in the United States by the Academic Ranking of World Universities. U.S. News & World Report ranks it the 14th best university nationally, and Reuters ranked it the 10th most innovative university in the world.

There are all sorts of problems with trying to rank colleges and university in terms of innovation. Such rankings are heavily influenced by faculty reputations. The question here is timing of acquisition of faculty. Stanford and Harvard get credit for having Nobel Price winners on the faculty but some were hired after they already won these honors. The methodology used by Reuters is based heavily on journal article publications, but it's much easier in the academic world for Nobel winners to publish both alone and with highly talented co-authors.

The methodology used by Reuters is explained at
https://www.reuters.com/innovative-universities-2017/methodology

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

Japan whalers return from Antarctic hunt after killing 333 whales ---
https://phys.org/news/2018-03-japan-whalers-antarctic-whales.html

Alan Lightman on the Longing for Absolutes in a Relative World and What Gives Lasting Meaning to Our Lives ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/03/27/alan-lightman-searching-for-stars-on-an-island-in-maine/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=6373655c3d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_03_30&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-6373655c3d-234390133&mc_cid=6373655c3d&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

The missile defense system that the US and its allies rely on fails just about everywhere it's used ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/patriot-missiles-have-been-failing-just-about-everywhere-2018-3

Jensen Comment
Until something better comes along, the best defense is a good offense, but this is complicated when one side has more concern about civilian casualties than the other side.

Nothing Ever Changes in Division 1:  2018 New Colleges (Kansas and North Carolina) Are Named in FBI's Basketball-Corruption Inquiry ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/New-Colleges-Are-Named-in/243091?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=a27c9467e42247b08af2e0f2dbbc1167&elq=d6726c6e75f14f9795b2381d76401686&elqaid=18583&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=8351

Bob Jensen's threads on college athlete scandals ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#Athletics

What Are Senior Citizens’ Biggest Financial Regrets From Their Twenties? ---
https://priceonomics.com/what-are-senior-citizens-biggest-financial-regrets/

Here were a few key takeaways from the study:

55% of senior citizens said they have not saved enough for retirement, 18% were not sure if they had enough saved, and 27% felt as if they did

21% of older Americans, the plurality, indicated that their biggest financial regret from their twenties was not saving enough for retirement

69% of respondents stated that Social Security benefits are a critical part of their financial strategy while 47% said the same regarding life insurance 

More Than Half of Senior Citizens Underprepared for Retirement, Most Wish They Started Saving Sooner

To gather the data for LendEDU’s story, we surveyed 1,000 Americans, all of whom were at least 65 years of age.

 

Complicated Rules About Getting Medicaid to Pay for Nursing Home Care

Here's one of the best articles explaining the circumstances of income and Medicaid payments for a nursing home ---
https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/when-will-medicaid-pay-nursing-home-assisted-living.html

Also see
https://www.medicareinteractive.org/get-answers/cost-saving-programs-for-people-with-medicare/medicare-and-medicaid/medicaid-eligibility-for-medicare-beneficiaries-who-need-long-term-care-in-a-nursing-home

Bob Jensen's threads on Financial Literacy and Personal Finance ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#InvestmentHelpers
 

Opinion: Is science really facing a reproducibility crisis, and do we need it to? ---
http://www.pnas.org/content/115/11/2628

Ohio State Professor Admits Falsifying Data, Quits ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/04/02/ohio-state-professor-admits-falsifying-data-quits?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=4167f5c7f9-DNU20180111&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-4167f5c7f9-197565045&mc_cid=4167f5c7f9&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) has found that, by exploiting Obamacare’s expansion of the program, California has enrolled hundreds of thousands of ineligible adults in Medicaid. Consequently, the state has bilked the federal government out of more than $1 billion in funding to which the state was not entitled.
https://spectator.org/california-commits-massive-medicaid-fraud/
Jensen Comment
Nearly half of the Medicaid recipients in Illinois were found to be not elgible for Medicaid due to their income levels.

Quebec province plans to impose a 9.75 percent sales tax on subscribers of U.S. video and audio streamers operating locally ---
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/quebec-tax-netflix-amazon-us-streaming-services-1097821

Jensen Comment
It seems this is an import duty that will not affect Canadian video and audio streaming services.

It's not clear that this will be imposed on fee-based educational video and audio streaming services.

Can you use a fake name on Facebook ---
https://www.howtogeek.com/347128/can-you-use-a-fake-name-on-facebook/

There are also a couple(?) of other rules your name must abide by. It can’t include:

Symbols, numbers, weird capitalization, and the like.

A mix of characters from different languages.

A title like Doctor or Father.

Words that aren’t your name; for example, I couldn’t have “Majestic Harry Guinness” as mine, no matter how much I wanted it.

Offensive or suggestive words.

Continued in article

U.K. Lawmakers Begin Probe Into $18 Billion of Missing VAT ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-26/u-k-lawmakers-begin-probe-into-18-billion-of-missing-vat

Growing debt among older Americans threatens their retirement ---
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/04/growing-debt-among-older-americans-threatens-retirement.html

ensen Comment
This should read "may threaten their retirement." There are circumstances where more debt is beneficial for seniors. For example, when mortgage rates were below 4% I refinanced my huge mortgage. This did not add to the amount of debt but it put 30 years back on the maturity date. I could easily have paid off that debt by writing a check from my tax exempt fund, but the tax-exempt fund lowers by income taxes due in part by having a mortgage interest deduction on my tax return. The return from my tax exempt fund is about equal to the interest rate on my mortgage. I can then pocket my income tax savings to save for if and when they haul me off to a nursing home. By the way, nursing home insurance was always too expensive in my opinion, and the costs of such insurance recently doubled. For some this insurance is a good idea, but not for me.

Note that my investment choice may not, and probably is not, good advice for you. Each person's investment circumstance is unique. Don't necessarily be a copycat. Young people face more inflation risk than us oldsters. Think CREF rather than TIAA.

From the March 30, 2018 Scout Report

Promenade Educational Technology --- www.pomocado.com 
These days there are a number of phone applications and web extensions dedicated to enhancing the Pomodoro Technique, which involves working for approximately 25 minutes followed by five minute breaks. The website Pomocado is one of the latest options available for this technique. In addition to providing a customizable timer for work sessions and breaks, Pomocado allows users to collect data about how frequently they use the timer tool, which may appeal to those who are interested in mapping out their productivity. Users can then view this data in through two different visualizations. Interested users may use Pomocado for free by completing a registration with their email address.

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Silk: Interactive Generative Art --- http://weavesilk.com/
Silk Interactive Generative Art allows users to create their own artwork by dragging the cursor (or a finger if using the app) across the screen in whatever pattern the heart desires. The pattern that appears can have a variety of effects and colors - allowing the user to "weave" their own design. A color wheel and pattern choices are available in the control bar to the left of the screen. The site allows users to save their designs for future admiration (or criticism) and has the option to go full-screen if accessed on a computer. The Silk app is available for download in the App Store.

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As Antibiotic Use Surges, Scientists and Health Professionals Seek to Fend Off Antibiotic Resistant Superbugs

Surge in Antibiotics is a Boon for Superbugs https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/03/26/597014559/surge-in-antibiotics-is-a-boon-for-superbugs PBS Newshour: The problem with overusing antibiotics https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/the-problem-with-overusing-antibiotics Discovery of MRSA-busting antibiotic gives hope against resistant superbugs https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/28/discovery-mrsa-busting-antibiotic-hope-resistant-superbugs A new class of synthetic retinoid antibiotics effective against bacterial persisters https://www.nature.com/articles/nature26157 NCBI: The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378521 W.K. Kellogg Biological Station: Antibiotic Resistance Lesson http://www.kbs.msu.edu/2017/01/antibiotic-resistance-lesson

From the Scout Report on April 6, 2018

Seek
www.inaturalist.org/pages/seek_app
Seek is a smartphone app designed to encourage and enrich exploration of the outdoors. It uses image recognition to identify plants and animals in photos, providing additional context for people already exploring nature around them. Seek also has a scavenger hunt mode, where it presents lists of commonly-recorded species near the user. As users find and photograph species on this list they earn badges and are presented with information about the species they are locating. Seek's creators recommend it for "families who want to spend more time exploring nature together." Seek is currently available for iOS. An Android version is in development but there is currently no estimated release date.

---

Unison
www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison
Unison is a cross-platform tool for synchronizing collections of files over the internet. Unison has the somewhat unique ability to handle updates to multiple copies of a file. For many file formats, it is able to determine if the updates conflict with each other. If they do not, it can create a merged file incorporating changes from both updated versions. Otherwise, it will alert the user to the situation for them to resolve. Unison uses a bandwidth-efficient protocol similar to the well-known rsync program, so it is able to tolerate slow links (like public wifi). Unison is resilient to network failures. It will not corrupt files if synchronization is interrupted and synchronizations can be resumed later. Unison is free software licensed under the GPL with source code available on GitHub. Installers are available from the Unison website for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

---

Lost Painting by Dutch Master Otto van Veen Found in a Theater in Des Moines, Iowa

A Lost Painting is Rediscovered. Have You Checked Your Closests Lately? https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/05/arts/lost-painting-found.html Found Painting in Hoyt Sherman Has Been in a Storage Bin for 95 Years http://iowapublicradio.org/post/found-painting-hoyt-sherman-has-been-storage-bin-95-years#stream/0 Forgotten Old Master Painting Rediscovered in Iowa Storeroom https://hyperallergic.com/436001/otto-van-veen-painting-rediscovered-iowa-storeroom Rijksmuseum: Otto van Veen https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio/1851712--francois-bachelard/collections/otto-van-veen The National Gallery: Peter Paul Rubens https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/peter-paul-rubens See the Top 10 Art Discoveries of 2016 https://news.artnet.com/art-world/biggest-art-discoveries-2016-776081

From the Scout Report on April 13, 2018

Decentraleyes --- https://decentraleyes.org/
 Many modern websites make extensive use of javascript libraries for interactive content and increasingly for basic page-layout tasks. Rather than keeping a copy of these libraries on their own servers, many website creators will leverage one of the content delivery networks (Google APIs, Cloudflare's CDNJS, MaxCDN, etc). As an unfortunate side-effect, CDN owners have the ability to track users across any websites that use their services. Decentraleyes is a browser extension that keeps copies of the most popular javascript libraries, rewriting requests to CDNs to use the local copies instead. In addition to increasing user privacy, this technique can also reduce network traffic and speed up loading of websites. Decentraleyes is free software, released under the Mozilla Public License with source code available on GitHub. Decentraleyes is available for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera

---

Pandoc --- https://pandoc.org/
Pandoc bills itself as "a universal document converter." It can read input files in nearly twenty markup formats (including Markdown, reStructuredText, textile, and HTML) and convert them to over forty other formats (including docx, odt, epub, tei, and many, many more). A diagram of the built-in conversions is shown on the bottom of Pandoc's "about" page. These format conversions can be used to bring content to new devices. For example, a user could download the HTML of a web page and convert it to an ebook for offline reading. Pandoc can also be used for document production. For example, users can write presentation slides in Markdown using their favorite text editor, then use Pandoc to generate a PowerPoint presentation. The same Markdown file can also be used to generate a reveal.js version of the presentation that can be uploaded to a website. Pandoc understands the Citation Style Language (CSL) of citationstyles.org and can also generate bibliographies for academic work. Pandoc is a free software, released under the GNU General Public License with source code available on the "installing" page. The "installing" page also lists installers for Windows, macOS, Linux, and BSD operating systems.

---

New Study Reveals that Costa's Hummingbirds Can Whistle With Their Tail Feathers

This Hummingbird's Tale Whistles, and No One's Sure Why https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/the-mystery-of-the-hummingbirds-whistling-tail/557858 These hummingbirds aim their singing tail feathers to wow mates https://www.sciencenews.org/article/costas-hummingbirds-singing-tail-feathers Researchers show how male Costa's hummingbirds control the acoustics of a tail song produced during high-speed dives https://phys.org/news/2018-04-male-costa-hummingbirds-acoustics-tail.html Strategic Acoustic Control of a Hummingbird Courtship Dive http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(18)30322-1 All About Birds: Costa's Hummingbird https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Costas_Hummingbird/overview Doppler effect: reflection off a moving object https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4ZiV6NIs98

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

Education Tutorials

International Literacy Association: Free Resources from ILA Journals ---
https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/free-resources.html

Mr. Elementary Math: Blog --- https://mrelementarymath.com/ 

Internet Archive: Handheld History Game ---
https://archive.org/details/handheldhistory

LACMA: Teacher Resources (Art History) --- www.lacma.org/students-teachers/teacher-resources

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

NASA's Images of Cities at Night --- http://citiesatnight.org/

NASA's $1 billion Jupiter probe has taken gorgeous new photos of the giant planet ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-juno-spacecraft-new-photos-jupiter-clouds-storm-bands-2018-2

Stuff in Space (Including orbiting junk) --- http://stuffin.space/

KQED: Deep Look (Science Videos) --- www.youtube.com/user/KQEDDeepLook

How We, the Indians, Came to Be ---
https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/genomic-study-vedic-aryan-migration-dravidian-languages-sanskrit

The Weather Guys --- http://wxguys.ssec.wisc.edu/

Madurese Storytellers (antropology video from Indionesia) --- http://madurese.lib.uiowa.edu/#/home

AVES: A Survey of Literature of Neotropical Ornithology (birds) --
http://exhibitions.blogs.lib.lsu.edu/?p=5206

A Shazam for Nature: A New Free App Helps You Identify Plants, Animals & Other Denizens of the Natural World ---
http://www.openculture.co, m/2018/03/a-shazam-for-natur Se-a-new-free-app-helps-you-identify-plants-animals-other-denizens-of-the-natural-world.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The Evolution of the Microscope ---
https://daily.jstor.org/the-evolution-of-the-microscope/

Catalogue of Life (natural history, biodiversity) --- www.catalogueoflife.org

A Whaling Season in Alaska --- www.awhalingseasoninalaska.com/en

New York State: Environmental Education Lesson Plans --- www.dec.ny.gov/education/73131.html

Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media ---
https://refractory-journal.com/

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Heritage Blog ---
https://rcogheritage.wordpress.com/

Elizabeth Kolbert: "The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History" ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x00LP0QfRTk

Museum of Health Care at Kingston: Research Collection Catalogue ---
http://mhc.andornot.com/

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

Smithsonian Channel: Full Episodes (history) --- www.smithsonianchannel.com/full-episodes

How We, the Indians, Came to Be ---
https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/genomic-study-vedic-aryan-migration-dravidian-languages-sanskrit

Ancient World Online --- http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/

Madurese Storytellers (antropology video from Indionesia) --- http://madurese.lib.uiowa.edu/#/home

OutHistory.org Social studies (LGBTQ American history) --- www.outhistory.org

Renewing Inequality: Urban Renewal, Family Displacements, and Race, 1955-1966 ---
http://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/renewal/#view=0/0/1&viz=cartogram

Ancient Phoenicia Never Existed ---
https://aeon.co/essays/phoenicia-an-imaginary-friend-to-nations-in-need-of-ancestors?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f2126a7ca9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-f2126a7ca9-68951505

First Draft (Journalism) --- https://firstdraftnews.org/

Ordinary Philosophy (ordinary life) --- https://ordinaryphilosophy.com/

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

Crash Course: Statistics --- www.youtube.com/watch?v=zouPoc49xbk&list=PL8dPuuaLjXtNM_Y-bUAhblSAdWRnmBUcr

Mr. Elementary Math: Blog --- https://mrelementarymath.com/ 

A brief history of the scatter plot—data visualization’s greatest invention ---
https://qz.com/1235712/the-origins-of-the-scatter-plot-data-visualizations-greatest-invention/

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

LITA Blog (for Library Professionals) --- http://litablog.org/

Mapping History at the University of Illinois Social studies (interactive maps) www.library.illinois.edu/mappinghistory

The Chapel Hill Rare Book Blog --- https://blogs.lib.unc.edu/rbc/

Radiooooo: Discover the Musical Time Machine That Lets You Hear What Played on the Radio in Different Times & Places ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/radiooooo-the-musical-time-machine.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Smithsonian Channel: Full Episodes (history) --- www.smithsonianchannel.com/full-episodes

Museum of Health Care at Kingston: Research Collection Catalogue ---
http://mhc.andornot.com/

The Museum of Failure: A Living Shrine to New Coke, the Ford Edsel, Google Glass & Other Epic Corporate Fails ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/03/the-museum-of-failure-a-living-shrine-to-new-coke-the-ford-edsel-google-glass-other-epic-corporate-fails.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

How We, the Indians, Came to Be ---
https://www.thequint.com/voices/opinion/genomic-study-vedic-aryan-migration-dravidian-languages-sanskrit

Ancient World Online --- http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/

Ancient Phoenicia Never Existed ---
https://aeon.co/essays/phoenicia-an-imaginary-friend-to-nations-in-need-of-ancestors?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=f2126a7ca9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-f2126a7ca9-68951505

Digital Scriptorium (medieval and Renaissance print culture) www.digital-scriptorium.org

LACMA: Teacher Resources (Art History) --- www.lacma.org/students-teachers/teacher-resources

Colorful Wood Block Prints from the Chinese Revolution of 1911: A Gallery of Artistic Propaganda Posters ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/colorful-wood-block-prints-from-the-chinese-revolution-of-1911.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Hear Beowulf and Gawain and the Green Knight Read in Their Original Old and Middle English by an MIT Medievalist ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/03/hear-beowulf-and-gawain-and-the-green-knight-read-in-their-original-old-and-middle-english.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Petrarchive: An Edition of Petrarch's Songbook Rerum vulgarium fragmenta ---
http://dcl.slis.indiana.edu/petrarchive/newindex.php

Galileo’s invention of the telescope not only broke with the church but upset philosophers as well ---
http://nautil.us/issue/58/self/when-the-heavens-stopped-being-perfect

#ADPHD: Africa Diaspora, Ph.D. (history of slavery) ---
https://africandiasporaphd.com/

Seamus Heaney Died:  s we mourn the poet, do we not mourn the loss of what he had in his keeping: a way of living that served us for aeons?
https://aeon.co/essays/as-we-mourn-the-poet-we-mourn-a-way-of-being-in-the-world

Internet Archive: Handheld History Game ---
https://archive.org/details/handheldhistory

NYPL Digital Collections: Pictures of Science: 700 Years of Scientific and Medical Illustration ---
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/pictures-of-science-700-years-of-scientific-and-medical-illustration#/?tab=navigation

Renewing Inequality: Urban Renewal, Family Displacements, and Race, 1955-1966 ---
http://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/renewal/#view=0/0/1&viz=cartogram

Duke University Libraries: Preservation Underground ---
https://blogs.library.duke.edu/preservation/

The 1700+ Words Invented by Shakespeare ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/the-1700-words-invented-by-shakespeare.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

One of the Best Preserved Ancient Manuscripts of The Iliad Is Now Digitized: See the “Bankes Homer” Manuscript in High Resolution (Circa 150 C.E.) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/one-of-the-best-preserved-ancient-manuscripts-of-the-iliad-is-now-digitized.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29
This would've been better in English with more pictures

The Huntington Archive of Buddhist and Asian Art ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/162bfb031a005ab9

Grand Comics Database --- www.comics.org

DigiNole: Cookbooks and Herbals ---
https://fsu.digital.flvc.org/islandora/search/?type=edismax&collection=fsu%3Acookbooksandherbals

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

Lingthusiasm (linguistics) --- http://lingthusiasm.com/

Nietzsche on Truth, Lies, the Power and Peril of Metaphor, and How We Use Language to Reveal and Conceal Reality ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/03/26/nietzsche-on-truth-and-lies-in-a-nonmoral-sense/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=b5b2fcc486-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-b5b2fcc486-234390133&mc_cid=b5b2fcc486&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

The 1700+ Words Invented by Shakespeare ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/the-1700-words-invented-by-shakespeare.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

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

Music Tutorials

What Makes This Song Great?: Producer Rick Beato Breaks Down the Greatness of Classic Rock Songs in His New Video Series --- 
http://www.openculture.com/2018/04/what-makes-this-song-great.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29 

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

Nietzsche on Truth, Lies, the Power and Peril of Metaphor, and How We Use Language to Reveal and Conceal Reality ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2018/03/26/nietzsche-on-truth-and-lies-in-a-nonmoral-sense/?utm_source=Brain+Pickings&utm_campaign=b5b2fcc486-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_04_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_179ffa2629-b5b2fcc486-234390133&mc_cid=b5b2fcc486&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

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/

March 28, 2018

• Infection Disease Deaths Highest in Poorest Areas
• Newly Discovered Human Organ May 'Drive Advances'
• ADHD Tied to Brain Size Changes in Young Children
• Global Antibiotic Use Raises Resistance Fears
• Genetic Testing: Do You Really Want to Know?
• Reading With Toddlers Boosts More Than Language
• Aging Can Be Tough to Swallow
• Anti-Vaccine Movement Affecting Kids With Autism
• Hoverboard Injuries Speeding U.S. Kids to the ER

March 29, 2018

• Big Weight Loss May Bring Big Relationship Changes
• Are Meat Eaters Contributing to Climate Change?
• Pot Smoking Might Lead Users to Cigarettes
• Rubber Duckies Swimming With Bacteria: Study
• Medical E-Records Not Without Risks: Study
• Alzheimer's Stigma a Barrier to Prevention, Care
• Could Coffee Perk Up Your Heart Health?
• Groups Sue FDA to Speed Review of E-Cigarettes
• MRI Sheds Light on Brain Networks Tied to Autism

• More Women Die of Lung Cancer in 2 U.S. 'Hot Spots'
• ER Docs Prescribe More Opioids Than They Realize
• Man's Stubborn Belly Fat Actually A 30-Pound Tumor
• California Coffee Shops Must Post Cancer Warnings
• Many Pick the Wrong Drugs for Sneezin' Season
• More Baseball Fans Getting Hit By the Ball
• Why Whooping Cough Has Made a Comeback
• Stores Urged to Pull Products With Deadly Chemical
• Fentanyl Fuels Latest Spike in Opioid Deaths

April 2, 2018

• Cell Transplant Helps Difficult Type 1 Diabetes
• ER Docs Prescribe More Opioids Than They Realize
• More Women Die of Lung Cancer in 2 U.S. 'Hot Spots'
• Man's Stubborn Belly Fat Actually A 30-Pound Tumor
• California Coffee Shops Must Post Cancer Warnings
• Many Pick the Wrong Drugs for Sneezin' Season
• More Baseball Fans Getting Hit By the Ball
• Why Whooping Cough Has Made a Comeback
• Stores Urged to Pull Products With Deadly Chemical

April 3, 2018

• Early Periods May Heighten Obesity Risk Later
• Seeking Better Sleep Under a Weighted Blanket
• Baby's Heart Defects Tied to Mom's Heart Trouble
• Raised BP Before Pregnancy Linked to Miscarriage
• Abandoning Your Workouts May Bring on the Blues
• Brain Cell Development Differs in Those With Autism: Study
• As Season Ends, Cases of Lesser Flu Strain Grow
• Cell Transplant Helps Difficult Type 1 Diabetes
• ER Docs Prescribe More Opioids Than They Realize

April 4, 2018

• Experts Warn of Emerging ‘Stimulant Epidemic’
• FDA Recalls Kratom Products For Salmonella Threat
• Sorry Older Guys: Protein Binges Won't Aid Health
• Red Meat Tied to Higher Colon Cancer Risk in Women
• Bleeding Cases in Illinois Tied to Synthetic Pot
• Rear-Facing Car Seats Protect When Hit From Behind
• All That Overtime Could Be Killing You
• Key Heart Risks Decline for Older Americans
• Testicular Cancer May Lead to Heart Trouble Later

April 5, 2018

• Super Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea Coming to U.S.
• Levels of Toxic Fire Retardants Declining in Kids
• Veggies a Healthy Recipe for Older Women's Hearts
• Despite Cancer Warning, Experts Say Coffee Is Safe
• Experts Warn of Emerging ‘Stimulant Epidemic’
• 'Nightmare Superbug' Crisis Could Come, CDC Warns
• FDA Recalls Kratom Products For Salmonella Threat
• Sorry Older Guys: Protein Binges Won't Aid Health
• Red Meat Tied to Higher Colon Cancer Risk in Women

April 6, 2018

• Older Brains Can Create New Cells Too
• 'Magnetic Pulse' Device May Prevent Migraines
• Opioid Addiction Treatment Costs Rise for Large Employers
• Major Project Completes Genetic 'Map' of 33 Cancers
• Beware Cheaper Plastic Surgery Abroad
• Stem Cells Show Promise For Macular Degeneration
• Super Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea Coming to U.S.
• Levels of Toxic Fire Retardants Declining in Kids
• Veggies a Healthy Recipe for Older Women's Hearts

April 7, 2018

• Hawaii Legalizes Medically Assisted Suicide
• Heart Disease Carries Huge Cost for Some Families
• Eating Pasta Linked to Modest Weight Loss
• Recall: Paw Patrol Marshall Hat Poses Fire Hazard
• Origins of Adult Killer COPD May Lie in Childhood
• U.S. Surgeon General: More Should Carry Naloxone
• Older Brains Can Create New Cells Too
• Opioid Addiction Treatment Costs Rise for Large Employers
• Bananas Edge Out Sports Drinks in Study

April 8, 2018

• Hawaii Legalizes Medically Assisted Suicide
• Heart Disease Carries Huge Cost for Some Families
• Eating Pasta Linked to Modest Weight Loss
• Recall: Paw Patrol Marshall Hat Poses Fire Hazard
• Origins of Adult Killer COPD May Lie in Childhood
• U.S. Surgeon General: More Should Carry Naloxone
• Older Brains Can Create New Cells Too
• Opioid Addiction Treatment Costs Rise for Large Employers
• 'Magnetic Pulse' Device May Prevent Migraines

• Woman Says Parents' Fertility Doctor Is Her Father
• Belly Fat Lowers Kidney Cancer Survival
• More Muscle Improves Breast Cancer Patients' Odds
• Exercise Cuts Heart Risks, Regardless of Genes
• Reading to Your Kids Might Boost Social Skills
• Will a Narcissist Steal Your Mate Just for Kicks?
• Why Americans' Life Expectancy Is Getting Longer
• Hawaii Legalizes Medically Assisted Suicide
• Heart Disease Carries Huge Cost for Some Families

April 11, 2018

• Strawberries Number 1 (Again) On the ‘Dirty Dozen’
• Video Games OK for Toddler, But Only With a Parent
• Eyebrow-Raising Finding on Communication Evolution
• Sugar-Craving Gene Fights Fat, But Has Downside
• Study Finds Vast Health Differences Between States
• Even Toddlers Endangered By Opioids, Other Drugs
• The Focus Shifts in Alzheimer's Research
• Who Do City Mosquitoes Bite Most?
• Human Cancer Meds Might Help Save Tasmanian Devils

April 12, 2018

• Texas's Maternal Death Rate Not as High as Thought
• Mariah Carey Reveals Battle with Bipolar Disorder
• As Menopause Symptoms Get Worse, Heart At Risk
• Did 2016 Election Unleash OCD in the USA?
• FDA Approves Contact Lenses That Shade the Sun
• Gynecologic Condition Tied to Mental Health Issues
• Strawberries Number 1 (Again) On the ‘Dirty Dozen’
• Eyebrow-Raising Finding on Communication Evolution
• Sugar-Craving Gene Fights Fat, But Has Downside

April 13, 2018

• E. Coli Outbreak Hits 7 States, Source Is Unknown
• Study Says Pot Use Highest Among Restaurant Staff
• Philly's Soda Tax Is Working, Study Finds
• Who Lives Longer -- Night Owls or Early Birds?
• Doctor Salaries Show Modest Rise, Report Says
• FDA OKs AI Device to Detect Diabetic Retinopathy
• Control Blood Pressure to Keep Dementia at Bay
• Sleep Apnea Makes For More Crash-Prone Drivers
• Zika May Not Linger in Semen for as Long as Feared

April 16, 2018

• Limit Alcohol To One Drink a Day: Study
• Yoga Can Soothe Anxious Grade Schoolers
• Fewer U.S. Kids Are Getting Cavities
• Doctor Salaries Show Modest Rise, Report Says
• E. Coli Outbreak Hits 7 States, Source Is Unknown
• Study Says Pot Use Highest Among Restaurant Staff
• Philly's Soda Tax Is Working, Study Finds
• Who Lives Longer -- Night Owls or Early Birds?
• FDA OKs AI Device to Detect Diabetic Retinopathy

View All Health News

Costco workers reveal 14 things they'd never buy from the store (not at all scientific) ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/costco-products-employees-would-not-buy-2018-4

The search for a new Alzheimer's treatment just hit another setback ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/vtv-therapeutics-stock-price-alzheimers-drug-trial-failure-2018-4

Can Leslie Jamison top The Empathy Exams with her mega-memoir of addiction?
http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/leslie-jamison-the-recovering-addiction-memoir.html

Over 25% of Harvard's Law Students are Depressed (with less than 1/3 of those being treated) ---
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/3/29/lee-chan-savitt-wellness-at-law-school/
Jensen Comment
I have my doubts about how this study defines depression and how it determines whether of not a student is depressed. The study appears to rely on self-diagnosis and self reporting among the students in the sample. This could add significant error to the reported outcomes.

Drinking just one extra glass of wine or pint of beer over the recommended weekly limit could cut life expectancy by 30 minutes.---
http://www.businessinsider.com/drinking-wine-beer-life-expectancy-new-study-2018-4

Bipolar Disorder --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipolar_disorder

Mariah Carey says she has bipolar disorder; a psychiatrist explains what that is ---
https://theconversation.com/mariah-carey-says-she-has-bipolar-disorder-a-psychiatrist-explains-what-that-is-94893

Researchers analyzed the salt in 2,000 types of bread in 32 countries. Here’s what they found ---
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/4/12/17226478/salt-bread-sodium-analysis

A slice of bread has more salt than a package of potato chips (of comparable weight)

Humor for April 2018

The best jokes on Twitter about Zuck's congressional testimony ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-congressional-testimony-jokes-memes-2018-4
They aren't very good

Glen Gray forwarded this link to a video of two accountants arriving at the office in the morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1efDVBDLDDw
The term "junior" in this case means workers who are not yet partners (probably 99.9% who will never be partners)
The funniest parts of the video are subtle, like the brown shoes and the argyle socks
Comedian Gobel on the Johnny Carson shoe had a quip about brown shoes
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=george+gobel+dean+martin+bob+hope+on+johnny+carson
When late-night television was funny if not politically correct

Gobel ribbed Carson about coming on last and having to follow major stars Hope and Martin. He quipped to Carson, "Did you ever get the feeling that the world was a tuxedo and you were a pair of brown shoes?", to which Carson, Hope, Martin, and the audience came unglued with laughter. After the laughter died down, ...

Ed Scribner forwarded this link to a school answering machine ---
https://youtu.be/Pwghabw4N80
See Snopes at
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/high-school-confidential-2/

Watch the Queen make a joke about Trump’s helicopter — which makes Sir David Attenborough giggle ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-queen-elizabeth-make-a-joke-about-trumps-helicopter-obama-buckingham-palace-2018-4

“I don’t know anything about any cocaine,” Posey said, according to a police report. “It’s a windy day. It must have flown through the (car) window and into my purse.” ---
http://kdvr.com/2018/04/08/florida-woman-blames-windy-day-for-cocaine-found-in-purse/

Forwarded by Paula

A Scotsman appeared before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.

"Have you ever done anything in your life of particular merit?" St. Peter asked.

"Well, I can think of one thing," the Scotsman replied. "On a trip to the outskirts of Glasgow, I came upon a gang of bikers who were threatening a young woman. I asked them to leave her alone but they wouldn't listen. So, I approached the largest and most tattooed biker and smacked him in the face, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring, and threw it on the ground. I yelled, 'Now, back off or I'll kick the s - - t out of all of you!'"

St. Peter was impressed, "When did this happen?"

"A couple of minutes ago."

From a Chronicle of Higher Education Newsletter on April 4, 2018

April Fools’ Day pranks on college campuses are something of a tale of two cities. On the one hand, student newspapers often publish joke issues full of insider humor, sketchy satire, and what someone thought was funny. The results are typically sophomoric at best, offensive at worst. On the other hand, faculty members and administrators pull off rare but exalted pranks that, largely because of who they are — serious scholars, officials fearing bad publicity, presidents aching to keep everyone happy — are memorable beyond others.

In 2012, for example, we reported that editors at two student papers had resigned after their parody issues offended many readers. By contrast, in 2015, a Biola University professor “delighted his students with an impressively choreographed — and exceedingly nerdy — piece of pedagogy.” In 2009 the College of Wooster's president responded to a spoof issue by announcing that the newspaper had started a free laundry service for use by anyone at the college. And one of the best pranks ever was the Johns Hopkins University’s announcement, in 2010, that it had corrected a longstanding typo by dropping the “s” in “Johns.”

Humor March 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q1.htm#Humor0318.htm 

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

• With a Rejoinder from the 2010 Senior Editor of The Accounting Review (TAR), Steven J. Kachelmeier
• With Replies in Appendix 4 to Professor Kachemeier by Professors Jagdish Gangolly and Paul Williams
• With Added Conjectures in Appendix 1 as to Why the Profession of Accountancy Ignores TAR
• With Suggestions in Appendix 2 for Incorporating Accounting Research into Undergraduate Accounting Courses

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

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.

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