Tidbits on July 17, 2018
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Wes Lavin's 2018 June Part 2 --- Featuring Small Town Fourth of July
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Lavin/2018June/2018June2.htm

 

Tidbits on July 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




Online Video, Slide Shows, and Audio

Video:  A massive insect collection reimagined as ‘a mescaline vision dreamt by Charles Darwin’---
https://aeon.co/videos/a-massive-insect-collection-reimagined-as-a-mescaline-vision-dreamt-by-charles-darwin?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a6508a143d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_06_28_12_47&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-a6508a143d-68951505

Crash Course Media Literacy --- www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD7N-1Mj-DU

Glenn Gould Plays Bach on His U.S. TV Debut … After Leonard Bernstein Explains What Makes His Playing So Great (1960) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/06/glenn-gould-plays-bach-u-s-tv-debut-leonard-bernstein-explains-makes-playing-great-1960.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Dancing in Movies: A Montage of Dance Moments from Almost 300 Feature Films ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/06/dancing-movies-montage-dance-moments-almost-300-feature-films.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29
The clips are teasers that are too short. But the list of movies helps to find longer clips on YouTube

Learn the History of Indian Philosophy in a 62 Episode Series from The History of Philosophy: The Buddha, Bhagavad-Gita, Non Violence & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/the-history-of-indian-philosophy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The ancient library where the books are under lock and key ---
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180706-the-ancient-library-where-the-books-are-under-lock-and-key

YouTube: Worldwide Center for Math --- www.youtube.com/user/CenterofMath/featured

John Wayne 1970 Variety Show Celebrating America's History ---
https://www.youtube.com/embed/UFv-fqQ9D_Y?rel=0
Thank you Tina for the heads up

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


,

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

Glenn Gould Plays Bach on His U.S. TV Debut … After Leonard Bernstein Explains What Makes His Playing So Great (1960) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/06/glenn-gould-plays-bach-u-s-tv-debut-leonard-bernstein-explains-makes-playing-great-1960.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Black Gospel Music Restoration Project: Royce-Darden Collection ---
http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm/portal/collection/fa-gospel

Switched on Pop Arts --- www.switchedonpop.com

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

University of Kansas Flies a Defaced, Desecrated American Flag to Get at President Trump:  Remember That Jayhawk Donors and War Veterans if the University Does Not Apologize ---
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/07/11/todd-starnes-university-kansas-flies-defaced-american-flag-on-campus-on-purpose.html

Winners of the 2018 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/06/winners-of-the-2018-national-geographic-travel-photographer-of-the-year-contest/564002/

The Atlantic:  Photos of the Week ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/06/photos-of-the-week-wild-horses-scarlet-sails-sun-god/564164/

There's a strange forest in Poland that's filled with crooked trees — and no one can explain how it got that way ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/a-forest-with-unexplained-crooked-trees-2015-12

The Lonely Palette Arts (art history) --- www.thelonelypalette.com

Dazzling photos show how Americans celebrated Independence Day ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/july-4-fireworks-photos-independence-day-celebrations-2018-7

The most beautiful building in every US state, according to people who live there ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/most-beautiful-buildings-in-the-us-2018-7

Iceland --- Click Here

New Web Site Showcases 700,000 Artifacts Dug Up from the Canals of Amsterdam, Some Dating Back to 4300 BC ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/new-web-site-showcases-700000-artifacts-dug-canals-amsterdam-dating-back-4300-bc.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Inside the world's largest plane, which has a wingspan longer than a football field and could be used to launch a spaceship the size of a shuttle ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/stratolaunch-is-worlds-largest-plane-pictures-2018-2

Russia is blanketed in sunlight nearly 24-hours a day this time of year — here's what it looks like at every hour ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/st-petersburg-white-nights-russia-photos-guide-tour-tips-2018-7

The Morgan Library & Museum: Walks in Rome --- www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/City-of-the-Soul

Nearly 1,000 Paintings & Drawings by Vincent van Gogh Now Digitized and Put Online: View/Download the Collection ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/nearly-1000-paintings-drawings-vincent-van-gogh-now-digitized-put-online-view-download-collection.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

San Francisco is so expensive, this couple decided to live on a boat — here's what it's like 10 years later ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/couple-buys-boat-to-avoid-san-francisco-rent-2017-7
Jensen Comment
This leaves some unanswered questions. How does San Francisco get property taxes out of boat owners who live on their boats? In some way these folks must contribute toward schools and municipal services like fire and police protection. If these are covered in the $900 "slip fee" it's a darn good deal relative to what renters and home owners pay in San Francisco. The Bay Area has a long history of boat residents. On the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito, San Francisco State accounting professor friend Tom Montgomery lived for decades on a houseboat --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sausalito,_California

Silicon Valley's real estate market is so absurd that this 1-acre dirt lot in Palo Alto is selling for $15 million ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valleys-real-estate-market-absurd-1-acre-palo-alto-lot-selling-15-million-2018-7
Silicon Valley's housing crisis is so dire that this 897-square-foot Palo Alto home is selling for $2.59 million — take a look inside
http://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-housing-market-expensive-897-square-foot-palo-alto-259-million-2018-7
Jensen Comment
This about half the size of a double wide mobile home --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_home

Here's how the US military's sidearms have evolved over the past 200 years ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-us-militarys-sidearm-has-evolved-over-the-past-200-years-2018-7

LeBron James is now a Laker — take a tour of the $23 million mansion he bought in Los Angeles ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-james-los-angeles-brentwood-home-photos-2017-12

I rode the Orient Express' sister train through the English countryside, and it took me back to the Golden Age of travel ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/i-rode-the-orient-express-sister-train-through-english-countryside-2018-7

OMCA Collections: Political Posters ---
http://collections.museumca.org/?q=category/2011-schema/history/political-posters

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

13 rare animals that are teetering on the brink of extinction ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/12-rare-animals-that-are-almost-extinct-2016-7

Badger picked a fight with the wrong antelope as he is sent flying through the air ---
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5914325/Butt-Antelope-smashes-honey-badger-attacked-South-Africa.html

Scientists spent three weeks exploring the Gulf of Mexico's uncharted ocean habitats — and the images they captured are fascinating ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/photos-deep-ocean-creatures-from-the-gulf-of-mexico-2018-5#this-trip-follows-an-expedition-noaa-conducted-last-year-to-explore-the-gulf-of-mexico-on-this-most-recent-trip-the-scientists-sought-to-explore-deep-coral-and-sponge-communities-bottom-fish-habitats-undersea-canyons-shipwrecks-and-a-rich-variety-of-ecosystems-on-the-seafloor-2

From the Scout Report on July 6, 2018

New Quantitative Study Finds That Lightning Is Consistently Underestimated in Paintings

 

Do You Know What Lightning Really Looks Like?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/science/lightning-paintings-photographs.html

Why Is It So Hard to Paint Lightning?
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-does-lightning-look-like

Why Artists Have So Much Trouble Painting Lightning
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-artists-have-so-much-trouble-painting-lightning-180969323/

How realistic are painted lightnings? Quantitative comparison of the morphology of painted and real lightnings: a psychophysical approach
http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/474/2214/20170859

What's the Difference Between a Camera and a Human Eye?
https://medium.com/photography-secrets/whats-the-difference-between-a-camera-and-a-human-eye-a006a795b09f

How to Photograph Lightning: Helpful Tips for Nailing the Shot
https://petapixel.com/2017/03/03/photograph-lightning-helpful-tips-nailing-shot/

From the Scout Report on June 29, 2018

1986 Keith Haring Mural Uncovered in Amsterdam

 

Giant Keith Haring Mural Revealed Nearly 30 Years After It Was Covered Up
https://hyperallergic.com/449059/keith-haring-mural-amsterdam-revealed/
 

Keith Haring Mural in Amsterdam is Uncovered After Nearly 30 Years
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/26/arts/design/keith-haring-amsterdam.html

A Massive Keith Haring Mural, Hidden for 30 Years, Has Just Been Uncovered
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/keith-haring-mural-hidden-just-uncovered

Meeting the Graffiti Rock Star - An Interview with Mick La Rock at UAF Paris
https://www.widewalls.ch/mick-la-rock-interview-urban-art-fair-paris-2018

The Keith Haring Foundation
http://www.haring.com

Haring Kids
http://www.haringkids.com

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

Harpar's Weekly Archives 1858 ---
https://archive.org/details/harpersweekl00bonn

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

DPLA: Open Bookshelf (free ebooks) ---
https://pro.dp.la/ebooks/open-bookshelf

Archaeologists Think They’ve Discovered the Oldest Greek Copy of Homer’s Odyssey: 13 Verses on a Clay Tablet ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/archaeologists-think-theyve-discovered-oldest-greek-copy-homers-odyssey-13-verses-clay-tablet.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

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




Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on July 17, 2018
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2018/TidbitsQuotations071718.htm             

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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




Countries With the Highest Household Wealth on Average ---
http://ritholtz.com/2018/07/countries-highest-household-wealth/


Betsy DeVos: How We Can Catch Up to Other Countries in Education ---
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/06/28/betsy-devos-how-we-can-catch-up.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news1&M=58533104&U=2290378

Jensen Comment
These ideas are great for experimenting in most USA school systems. They will not solve fundamental problems rooted in communities themselves like gang infestation in Chicago's public schools.


2,000+ MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) Getting Started in July: Enroll Today ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/2000-moocs-massive-open-online-courses-getting-started-july-enroll-today.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29


Learning Management Systems: Canvas overtook the market shares of Blackboard and Moodle

Learning Management System (LMS) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system
The market shares shown in this Wikipedia module are out of date.

Blackboard Learn --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard_Learn

Canvas (a MOOC, cloud-based LMS) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructure

Moodle (Opensource) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle

Canvas has unseated Blackboard Learn as the leading LMS at U.S. colleges and universities, according to new data from MindWires Consulting ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2018/07/10/canvas-catches-and-maybe-passes-blackboard-top-learning?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=945726ab27-WNU_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-945726ab27-197565045&mc_cid=945726ab27&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Early History of Course (Learning)  Management Systems (Toolbook vs. Authorware) ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245ch02.htm


California Evidence:  What Happens When States Decide to Really, Really Soak the Rich With Taxes ---
https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickgleason/2018/07/06/millionaires-flee-california-after-tax-hike/#34aa8f514189
Jensen Comment
This overlooks other tactics taken by the rich. For example, portfolios of very people are heavy into tax exempt bonds which may have to be municipal bonds issued in the state of residence in order to be exempt from state income taxes. More commonly, rich people invest for capital gains that are not taxed until realized (think common stocks and art work). Really rich people use off shore tax havens that reduce both federal and state taxes. In other words it's very difficult to soak the rich with taxes if they are astute enough to defer or avoid those taxes. And sometimes they move to more tax-friendly states like the nine states states that have no general state income tax ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_income_tax
However, it appears that only a small proportion of really rich folks in California headed for Nevada, Texas, Florida, or some other state having no income tax. In part this is due to the many magnets that hold people to their long-time homes such as nearness to family and climate and close friends and jobs. More important is the impact of high taxes that prevent many wealthy people from moving/retiring into California. California also has another barrier to inflows of people at all income levels --- the astronomical price of real estate. You have to be really, really, really rich to consider buying even a modest home in San Francisco or other parts of the Silicon Valley. When high real estate prices combine with high upper tax rates you really don't need to build a physical wall at the border to keep rich people from moving into a state like California.  And some rich folks don't like the fact that la la land politicians control all branches of government in cities, counties, and the entire la la state of California.


From a Chronicle of Higher Education Newsletter on July 13, 2018

A dozen public-college presidents made more than $1 million in 2016-17, and the top earner received a lucrative final payout — after his resignation in a cloud of controversy — that amounted to more than four times that. You can read all about it, including statistics on your university, or your peer universities, in Monday’s Chronicle.

Jensen Comment
By comparison the head coach at the University of Georgia makes over $4 million per year.

2018 AAUP Faculty Salary Report ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/04/11/aaups-annual-report-faculty-compensation-takes-salary-compression-and-more


Type II Error in Statistical Inference --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_I_and_type_II_errors#Type_II_error

A Flawed Statistical Method Was Just Banned From A Major Sports Science Journal ---
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-flawed-statistical-method-was-just-banned-from-a-major-sports-science-journal/

Jensen Comment
I don't know of a single accounting research study that tested for Type II error. My conjecture is that accounting researchers make statistical inferences limiting themselves to Type 1 error. Recently they are also in deep trouble because they can't seem to wein themselves from p-values now questioned by statisticians ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong
In other words accountics scientists are just not keeping up with the times.

I arrived at my PhD program long on accounting (already a CPA) and weak in statistics. Stanford sent me for my first graduate statistics course to the engineering school. This was fortunate because Type II error testing is most often used in engineering, especially in quality control inference testing. The advantage here is that quality control testing generally is accompanied by Operating Characteristic (OC) Curves on probability distributions that generally remain unknown in most other types of inference testing ---
https://study.com/academy/lesson/operating-characteristic-oc-curve-definition-uses.html

Also see
https://www.itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/pmc/section2/pmc232.htm

To my knowledge OC curves are not yet defined in Wikipedia among the otherwise magnificent coverage of statistics in Wikipedia.

In my 40 years of college teaching at four universities I was amazed at how many statistics textbooks and courses totally ignored OC sampling. This is due mainly to inability to estimate reliable OC curves in most inference testing outside of engineering. My guess at the forthcoming AAA annual meeting that if you ask an accountics scientist about OC sampling you will get a blank stare. This was my experience when I was a discussant following a presentation by Deirdre McCloskey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deirdre_McCloskey
To her credit Deirdre know about OC curves.

June 28, 2018 reply from David Johnstone

Dear Bob,

It’s good that you raised the OC curve. That approach is a Neyman-Pearson extension of Fisher’s sig tests.  Even Fisher agreed that OC curves were a worthwhile invention – but only in repeated sampling quality assurance sampling in industry, rather than in scientific research and evidence assessment.

In quality inspection, the null hyp might be that the batch of lightbulbs has 3% defective and a one-sided test is run to test whether the defective rate is higher than 3%. If the null is rejected, the batch is scrapped, otherwise it goes out to buyers.

In these situations, the model (i.e. underlying probability distribution of defectives from this factory) is well sorted out from experience and the company can set both type I and type II error probabilities merely by setting the sample size n (and wearing the cost of that n). Even the costs of the two error types are clear.

Neyman said repeatedly that this approach is not about evidence, it’s simply about error frequencies in repetitions of the same test and the same decision. In the “long run” if the producer follows the test procedure unthinkingly in every single case, it will achieve the given error probabilities over time (which is true only if the underlying model is true).

The OC curve shows the power of the test at each possible type I error probability setting, and was Neyman’s invention.

It works in sampling inspection in manufacturing because the model is known and the error probabilities of the test can actually be checked empirically (by repeating it on different batches of known defective rates).

Fisher went on and on about why the repeated-sampling approach was not the right approach for scientific work, where such test repetitions and modelling simplicity don’t exist.

Neyman actually failed his own philosophy by lapsing into a Fisher-like evidential interpretation whenever the repeated quality inspection repeated-sampling freqentist model did not suit the important one-off research application.

A good book on all this history and philosophy of statistics is Howson and Urbach's Bayesian Philosophy of Science (now 3rd ed. I think).


Has the EU become a place for criminals to hide?
Financial watchdogs from North America, Britain and Asia are urgently seeking a formal exemption from the European Union’s tough new data privacy law to avoid hampering cross-border investigations
---
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-securities-regulators-europe-exclusiv/exclusive-north-american-uk-asian-regulators-press-eu-on-data-privacy-exemption-idUSKBN1JL24S

Failure by the EU to explicitly exempt markets regulators from the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) could jeopardize international probes and enforcement actions in cases involving market manipulation and fraud, the officials warned.

The new rules, which came into force on May 25, have been several years in the making but lobbying by foreign regulators and their key international body has intensified over the past year with multiple meetings on both sides of the Atlantic as the law’s launch has approached, three people said.

The new EU law strengthens personal data privacy rights in the bloc, giving consumers greater control over their personal information

Continued in article

Wikipedia is blacked out across Europe in protest against laws that could change the internet forever ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/wikipedia-is-protesting-new-eu-copyright-laws-with-a-blackout-2018-7
Jensen Comment
I would really, really, really miss Wikipedia
I will really miss contributions that could've been made to Wikipedia by European scholars who now have no wiki encyclopedia to record their potential contributions


Trade Balance --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balance_of_trade (note that China and the USA are opposing outliers)

June’s trade surplus was US$28.9 billion (for the month) on the back of a 12.6 per cent rise in China’s exports to the United States before Trump's tariffs kicked in ---
https://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2155113/china-reports-record-surplus-and-strong-exports-growth-us-july-6
 

Jensen Comment
What would happen if all countries eliminated their tariffs? (presumably preferred by President Trump although this is not entirely clear for all industries since destroying some industries is political suicide)
Aside from military-induced tariffs, the primary political argument for tariffs is to save jobs and industries (such as saving Japan's inefficient labor-intensive rice farms)
One somewhat surprising gift to Trump is the way other countries (think Brazil and Egypt) reacted to China's increased soybean tariffs was to pick up the demand and price for USA soybeans.

Because the political stakes are so high with trade wars (pitting industries against one another) there's a massive amount of fake news as trade wars heat up!

USA Today:  Trade wars are damaging, so why is Trump fighting one with China?
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/07/13/trade-wars-tariffs-us-china-donald-trump/778719002/


Strayer and Capella Merger Approved (80,000 students) ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/07/11/strayer-and-capella-merger-approved?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=897720751f-DNU_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-897720751f-197565045&mc_cid=897720751f&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Capella University received approval Monday from its accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, to merge its parent company, Capella Education Company, with Strayer Education Inc. The merger is expected to close on or before Aug. 1. Capella University and Strayer University, both successful for-profit universities, will continue to operate independently under the combined parent company, renamed Strategic Education Inc. The merger was originally announced last October. Together, the universities enroll about 80,000 students, and the new combined company is worth an estimated $1.9 billion.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
As far as I know, no for-profit university requires admission test scores (SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, etc.) for admission. Also for-profit schools allegedly conspire not to submit data for rankings such as US News rankings. Therefore, US News can only rank non-profit onsite and online programs, making it difficult to compare for-profit versus non-profit higher education institutions.

Strayer has 40,000+ students both online and on 74 campuses located mostly east of the Mississippi River, although there are four campuses in Texas. The 78 campuses mainly serve commuting students.

These two merged universities will still be smaller than the for-profit University of Phoenix (nearly 150,000 students but down from the 600,000+ students in 2010)

Liberty University (private and nonprofit) has over 135,000 residential students and another 100,000 plus online students.


Venture Capital --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capital

The Stanford Venture Capital Initiative is quietly assembling a massive database from people who prefer to stay mum ---
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/inside-secret-world-venture-capital?utm_source=Stanford+Business&utm_campaign=fc7e23dc99-Stanford-Business-Issue-141-7-8-2018&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0b5214e34b-fc7e23dc99-70265733&ct=t(Stanford-Business-Issue-141-7-8-2018)


Blog:  The Pedagogy of Podcasts ---
https://gcci.uconn.edu/2018/05/30/the-pedagogy-of-podcasts/?elqTrackId=a555348f227a42539092cd2622bf75d6&elq=779b7c70b8f741b18acf37e5f6b9d2b8&elqaid=19598&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=9015


University of Kansas Flies a Defaced American Flag to Get at President Trump:  Remember That Jayhawk Donors and Veterans if the University Does Not Apologize ---
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/07/11/todd-starnes-university-kansas-flies-defaced-american-flag-on-campus-on-purpose.html
Update
The University of Kansas moved the desecrated flag (but not entirely off campus) and war veterans are turning up the heat ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/07/12/university-kansas-removes-controversial-flag-art?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=060c11dfb1-DNU_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-060c11dfb1-197565045&mc_cid=060c11dfb1&mc_eid=1e78f7c952


Vermont Strips Tenure From 14 Of 19 Law Profs ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/07/vermont-strips-tenure-from-14-of-19-law-profs.html

Jensen Comment
This is a bit surprising for the blue high-tax state that gave us the socialist presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and brands their very rare conservatives with scarlet letters.. A K-12 education in Vermont is quite good, although the state's education system is inefficient. The joke in Vermont, somewhat true actually, is that there are more School Board members in some school districts than there are students. Keep in mind that the entire state only has around 600,000 men, women, and children. High taxes do not encourage much population growth --- which is the way Vermont's tree huggers like it while they cross over to New Hampshire to avoid sales taxes at giant Walmart stores. Don't get me wrong --- I'm all for tree huggers who tend to keep the masses from the other 49 states in their place.


GI Bill Bait and Switch Scheme Defrauded 2,500 Student Veterans ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/07/13/gi-bill-scheme-defrauded-2500-student-veterans?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=cfeedb96fd-DNU_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-cfeedb96fd-197565045&mc_cid=cfeedb96fd&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

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


Ronald Coase --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Coase
(by the way, I appeal to you to make a donation to the greatest knowledge database in the world --- Wikipedia)

Coase and Fireworks ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/07/coase-and-fireworks.html#more


Now Facing Criminal Charges:  The Colorado State University professor managed to get a $5,000 raise, until the university suspected his competing job offer was fake ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/This-Professor-Made-Up-a-Job/243873?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=7a4e0c4fd84b46a8a896f31b0c3eb6ae&elq=fb995e29986f47cfb634c9d6400d9d73&elqaid=19688&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=9082

Jensen Comment
Years ago there was a rumor that a famous Operations Research professor did something similar when negotiating a salary to move to Northwestern University --- by inflating the purported salary offer from another university. Northwestern supposedly advised him to take the other offer.


Temple reveals that scandal over false information submitted for rankings of its online M.B.A. was much broader than earlier known. Dean, found to have dismantled Temple's system for checking accuracy of data, is ousted ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/07/10/temple-ousts-business-dean-after-report-finds-online-mba-program-years-submitted?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=e8cdd4a1a8-DNU_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-e8cdd4a1a8-197565045&mc_cid=e8cdd4a1a8&mc_eid=1e78f7c952


Expand your mind with John Brockman’s ‘This Idea Is Brilliant’ ---
https://www.star2.com/culture/2018/05/04/brockman-idea-brilliant-review/#6ik55Tk9JjABwcHB.99

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, or so the saying goes. If we are to take such warnings literally then the latest in an increasingly long list of books edited by John Brockman should be handled with care. But if science teaches us anything it is to question everything and to take trite adages and metaphors with a grain of salt.

The books are a part of a series that compiles essays from Edge.org – sometimes dubbed “the world’s smartest website” – that Brockman launched in 1996 and where he asks top academics and popular thinkers to write about a given theme by posing a question.

Previous books in the series that I reviewed here in 2016 examined artificial intelligence and genetics: What To Think About Machines That Think (online at tinyurl.com/star2-machines) and Life: The Leading Edge Of Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, Anthropology, And Environmental Science (online at tinyurl.com/star2-life).

Food For Thought

The question Brockman asks in This Idea Is Brilliant  is: “What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known?”

There are 206 contributors (yes, you read that correctly) to this collection. At just over 500 pages long, that makes an average of fewer than two and a half pages per featured writer.

As such, the answers to Brockman’s question, while conveniently bite-sized, don’t, and can’t, go into a lot of depth. This is both the book’s strength and weakness.

On the one hand, all the reader gets is a taste or teaser. On the other hand the smorgasbord is vast and the number of concepts featured here is large enough to satisfy, and also potentially overload, even the most voracious minds.

Though some of the featured pieces are roughly grouped together with analogous topics, this is a book to be dipped into rather than read from cover to cover.

Continued in article


"Improving My Teaching Via Podcast," by Jim Lang, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 17, 2015 ---
https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1125-improving-my-teaching-via-podcast?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

At the end of every academic year, my department gathers to celebrate our graduating English majors and everyone is invited to share a favorite poem or passage. One of my colleagues always reads aloud Galway Kinnell’s poem "Oatmeal," in which the poet describes how the great authors of the world enrich his breakfast with their writing.

"Yesterday morning," she recites, "I ate my oatmeal porridge, as he called it with John Keats.

Keats said I was absolutely right to invite him:

"due to its glutinous texture, gluey lumpishness, hint of slime, and unusual willingness to disintegrate, oatmeal should not be eaten alone.

"He said that in his opinion, however, it is perfectly OK to eat it with an imaginary companion, and that he himself had enjoyed memorable porridges with Edmund Spenser and John Milton."

I’ve been having a similar experience lately, although, instead of the great poets, my companions have been leading thinkers and visionaries on teaching in higher education. Nevertheless, they have been very kind to accompany me as I run my daily errands, do chores around the house, exercise, and even wait in security lines at the airport.

As I was making pancakes for my twins the other day (I’m not an oatmeal fan), Jose Antonio Bowen, president of Goucher College and author of Teaching Naked, spoke to me about why he loves "noisy and messy classrooms." He also reminded me that "the thing that teachers do best in the classroom is to be human beings, and to get to know their students as human beings, and to make that connection between what matters to your students and what matters to you." -

Read more at: https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1125-improving-my-teaching-via-podcast?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en#sthash.KZe6xhFe.dpuf


From a Chronicle of Higher Education Newsletter on June 29, 2018

Bad financial news for public universities. Median revenue growth among public universities has fallen for the second consecutive year, according to a report from Moody's Investors Service. In the 2017 fiscal year, growth was 2.9 percent. Meanwhile, the median growth of expenses is on the rise, too — at a rate of 4.8 percent. The good news? Total public-university enrollment is up.


On the Positive Side
The philosophy of Mexicanness ---
https://aeon.co/classics/to-be-accidental-is-to-be-human-on-the-philosophy-of-mexicanness?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a6508a143d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_06_28_12_47&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-a6508a143d-68951505

On the Negative Side
130 Mexican Political Candidates Assassinated in 10 Months ---
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2018/06/28/political-murders-push-120-in-mexican-elections/
Jensen Comment
Being in politics is tough in the USA, but it's nothing compared to Mexico and south.


Scholarly publishing is broken ---
https://aeon.co/ideas/scholarly-publishing-is-broken-heres-how-to-fix-it


San Francisco is so expensive, this couple decided to live on a boat — here's what it's like 10 years later ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/couple-buys-boat-to-avoid-san-francisco-rent-2017-7
Jensen Comment
This leaves some unanswered questions. How does San Francisco get property taxes out of boat owners who live on their boats? In some way these permanent residents should contribute toward schools and municipal services like fire and police protection. If these are covered in the $900 "slip fee" it's a darn good deal relative to what renters and home owners pay in San Francisco for property taxes. It's possible in San Francisco that parking a car near the boat might cost an added $900 per month.  Of course one might have two homes --- a boat in a slip and a motor home in a parking space. Where I live in the mountains of New Hampshire nobody lives on a boat, but a few folks avoid property taxes by living with wheels under their homes. That can be drafty at 30 degrees below zero with a strong wind. To avoid frozen toes up here you need a basement.
The SF Bay area has a long history of boat residents.
On the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge in Sausalito, my San Francisco State University accounting professor friend, Tom Montgomery, lived for decades on a houseboat --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sausalito,_California
The night views looking across at the lighted hills of San Francisco were fantastic.
Note that it's possible to live on a boat away from water. The son of a friend of mine lived for ten years in a boat in the backyard of his parent's home in Fullerton, Colorado. He used the bathroom in the swimming pool cabana.

July 7, 2018 reply from Glen Gray

In California, the boat property tax is like car tax. It’s paid annually based on the value of the boat. Since the boat decreases in value over time, the tax goes down every year. The tax has a fixed amount, so it never goes to zero. However, the dock master is paying real estate taxes which generally only goes up in California. That tax is indirectly built into the slip fees. Like any rents (e.g., apartment rents) slip fees mostly reflect market rate. As far as I know they aren’t building any more marinas in California. I live in a marina but not on a boat. The marina is rebuilding the existing slips (built in the late 1960s) replacing the existing slips with longer slips. Slips are rented on a per foot per month basis. If they replace shorter slips with longer slips, there will be less slips overall. Presumably someone has done a calculation to determine there is more demand for longer slips than shorter slips. I know there has always been a waiting list to get into the marina.

Glen

July 7, 2018 reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Glen,

Sounds like a better way to reduce property taxes is to live in a motor home rather than a boat, although there are still annual registration fees that decline with age of the motor home. There are more options for parking motor homes, although local zoning laws can be restrictive. 

Car and presumably boat registration fees sound like they are state taxes that avoid local fees like the town, county, and school district portions of property taxes that can be much more expensive than state vehicle registration fees. My property taxes in NH are nearly 25 times the annual NH registration fees for my new car even though the value of my home is not 25 times the current value of my new car. 

The $900 slip fee in San Francisco for the boat in the article is far less than my average monthly NH property tax.  And the $900 (assumed monthly) "slip fee" includes annual returns to the marina owner. Only a portion of those cover local "taxes." Hence, I think people living on boats in marinas are probably dodging a lot of local taxes for towns, counties, school districts, hospitals, etc.

One huge problem with boats is maintenance expense, especially if the boat sits in corrosive salt water. The article covered that a bit. 

Probably the biggest difference between owning a house and owning a boat or motor home is that houses on land that are well maintained tend to go up in value except in a very depressed housing areas. Value appreciation rarely happens with boats and motor homes irrespective of maintenance. In other words, your house is both an investment and a shelter from the weather. I don't know that anybody buys a boat or motor home for purposes of having a long-term investment.

There also is an income tax consideration. A $250,000 mortgage on a house is tax deductible even under Trump's new income tax law. I don't think a $250,000 loan on a boat is tax deductible, although I did not research this issue. Oops! Mortgage interest on a boat or motorized RV is still deductible for tax purposes. Trump's new tax law removed this option for towable RVs that are not motorized.

The bottom line is that living on a boat is a way to avoid most local taxes but is a lousy option relative to home ownership as a long-term investment. In California home ownership is an even better long-term investment relative to most of the other states in the USA because of Proposition 13 that caps local property taxes even if home value soars through the roof. 

As an example, a friend of mine has lived in the same Palo Alto house for over five decades. Due to Prop 13 his property taxes are negligible relative to what anybody who buys his house will pay. The value of his home soared through the roof over the last 50 years. He would be a lesser millionaire if he'd lived on a boat for 50 years in Palo Alto. 

But, as the article implies about Silicon Valley boat living, living on a boat, car, van, or motor home in Palo Alto may be the only option for someone wanting to move to Palo Alto in 2018. This is why Stanford University housing subsidies became vital to sustaining this university. But you have to work for or be retired from Stanford to get those subsidies. 

Now we know why so many Silicon Valley employees, including those making over $100,000 per month, are living in cars, vans, motor homes, and boats. Investing in a Silicon Valley home may not be a feasible alternative.

Bob

Silicon Valley's real estate market is so absurd that this 1-acre dirt lot in Palo Alto is selling for $15 million ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valleys-real-estate-market-absurd-1-acre-palo-alto-lot-selling-15-million-2018-7
 

Silicon Valley's housing crisis is so dire that this 897-square-foot Palo Alto home is selling for $2.59 million — take a look inside
http://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-housing-market-expensive-897-square-foot-palo-alto-259-million-2018-7
Jensen Comment
This about half the size of a double wide mobile home --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_home
Think of what a double wide is worth in Palo Alto at $3,000 per square foot.
In truth, the land is too valuable for single-level buildings at $15 million per acre. At the same time, in Palo Alto high-rise buildings are at great risk over the San Angreas Fault ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Andreas_Fault


Make-or-Break Exams Bring Out the Best and Brightest Cheaters ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/make-or-break-exams-bring-out-the-best-and-brightest-cheaters-1530806771

BAGHDAD—The exam papers are stored in triple-lock safes, transported under armed escort and distributed in envelopes with a special seal that can’t be reclosed once opened.

But on inspecting the envelopes after an exam in recent years, Iraqi education officials discovered small incisions made in the sides. A tiny camera had been inserted to scan the questions inside. The breach resulted in the cancellation of the results in several test-taking centers.

“For every measure we develop,” lamented Ban al-Sumaidae, an official on the exams board, “there is a countermeasure.”

Some of the world’s most creative cheaters are showing up in Iraqi exam halls this summer armed with gadgets, ruses and accomplices to pilfer answers for a series of high-school tests that will help determine their futures.

Most schemes involve variations on an earpiece that enables cheaters to get answers to the questions during the test. One of the latest versions is a tiny flesh-colored earpiece that is practically invisible. This week, several students were caught wearing sneakers with a communication device embedded in the soles. (How they operated the device through their feet was unclear.)

Students buy questions ahead of time, and sell them on to others at an increasingly steep discount as the exam nears. Sometimes questions are posted on the internet for anyone to see.

Some students have bribed exam supervisors for help during the test, or to get them to turn a blind eye to cheating. More bribes—even by parents—have been offered afterward to ensure high scores. Raed al-Rawi, who works in the office of a local education official, said he had been approached by the mother of a pupil.

. . .

Female students have an advantage, because they can conceal an earpiece under a head scarf, according to Ms. Sumaidae, the official on the exams board.

Some students have even undergone surgery to have a microphone implanted beneath their skin or deep inside their ears, according to Messrs. Lafta and Qaisi. The latest anti-cheating weapon to discover such devices is a wand the education officials said was invented by an Iraqi physics teacher. The white plastic device with a blinking light at the end picks up signals from hidden devices. It is swept over rows of students before every exam

Continued in article


Want a Tour de France-Level Bike? That'll Be About $12,000 ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-06/want-a-tour-de-france-level-bike-that-ll-be-about-12-000?cmpid=BBD070618_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=180706&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily


Neuroscientists chase incorrect theories; brain-imaging studies suffer from statistical mistakes; economics embraces faulty premises. Does bad science spread? ---
https://www.weeklystandard.com/daniel-sarewitz/all-ye-need-to-know


From a Chronicle of Higher Education Newsletter on July 5, 2018

When we asked what book has had the biggest impact on your teaching, Dom Caristi, a professor of telecommunications at Ball State University, found himself unable to narrow it down to one title. Fair enough — during a 2017 sabbatical, Caristi wrote, he read “all or part of about 100 books related to teaching and higher ed.” Instead, he passed along the takeaways from three books that he shared in his sabbatical presentation:

·          The Courage to Teach, by Parker J. Palmer: “Good teachers know themselves and have a connection to their students.”

·         Drive, by Daniel H. Pink: “People who are extrinsically motivated will never rise to the level of people who have autonomy, mastery, and purpose.”

·         Mindset, by Carol S. Dweck: “If I know that my students’ attitudes toward the class affect their ability to learn, what about my attitude and its effect on my ability to teach?”

Jensen Comment
So much of great teaching is rooted in great preparation. Sometimes it shows when renowned scholars do not prepare for class. Years ago there was a famous mathematics professor at Stanford who students avoided whenever possible because of his reputation for not preparing for class and repeatedly messing up in class.


Tesla Shares Drop Sharply on Model 3 Quality and Demand Doubt ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-03/tesla-slumps-as-model-3-quality-demand-questioned-by-analysts?cmpid=BBD070318_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=180703&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily

Jensen Comment
Without a network of dealers there's trouble for customers in need of warranty repairs. Cars can't be sent back and forth via UPS for warranty repairs. I also note that the media is relatively silent about a severe battery fire where the entire underside of a Tesla went up in flames. The liberal media avoids negative reporting on electric cars.


Walter E. Williams --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_E._Williams

Walter Williams:  College Destruction of Black Students ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2018/07/04/college-destruction-of-black-students-n2496493?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=

Jensen Comment
Given the enormous problem of grade inflation I'm flabbergasted that affirmative action has not worked better. I also think that blacks are not genetically inferior for academe. Much of the problem is environmental beginning with single parenthood and gangland environments (Chicago ghetto schools comprise Exhibit A). Perhaps we should look closely at how Denmark is now trying to eradicate it's mostly Islamic ghettos ---
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/7/3/17525960/denmark-children-immigrant-muslim-danish-ghetto
The focus, however, should be more on K-12 education improvement to make up for the poor learning environments of many ghetto homes and many more rural homes of minorities (not just blacks). Denmark is such a small country, however, it's initiatives to eradicate 25 "ghettos" are much easier to implement since the entire nation only has six million people giving it a total population smaller than NYC.

Most certainly Trump's most recent initiatives to end affirmative action admissions to colleges will only make matters worse without enormous efforts to correct the problem before students graduate from high schools.

I'm a strong believer that legalizing drugs would go a long way toward blowing up ghettos in the USA. That, of course, will not in and of by itself eliminate single parenthood and poverty.

Merely raising income levels of the poor is no solution if those incomes are foolishly spent on things other than training, education and health.


Kim Kardashian --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Kardashian

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

Retraction Watch:  Kim Kardashian has been removed as an author of a recent paper. BeforeAfterBackground.
Especially note
https://retractionwatch.com/2018/05/28/kim-kardashian-pairs-up-with-an-mit-post-doc-to-publish-a-scientific-paper/
It's important to read the comments that follow the interview.

. . .

Retraction Watch Interviewer: The paper bears a striking resemblance to others written by SCIgen, a random paper generator that, we note, was developed at MIT, your present institution. Can you comment on whether this is the case?

 

Tomáš Pluskal (TP): Indeed, I have been using SCIgen for a while. It is a fantastic tool that saves so much time and reduces the burden and stress associated with paper preparation. It’s cutting-edge MIT technology at its best

Continued in article (especially note the comments)


A publisher (SAGE) just retracted ten papers whose peer review was “engineered” ---
https://retractionwatch.com/2018/07/12/publisher-has-known-of-problem-of-fake-reviews-for-years-so-how-did-10-papers-slip-its-notice/

Many publishers have been duped by fake peer reviews, which have brought down more than 600 papers to date. But some continue to get fooled.

Recently, SAGE retracted 10 papers published as part of two special collections in Advances in Mechanical Engineering after discovering the peer review process that had been managed by the guest editors “did not meet the journal’s usual rigorous standards.” After a new set of reviewers looked over the collections, they determined 10 papers included “technical errors,” and the content “did not meet the journal’s required standard of scientific validity.”

Yeah, we’re not exactly sure what happened here, either. SAGE gave us a little extra clarity — but not much.

SAGE is no stranger to the damage caused by fake reviews. In 2014, one of its journals busted a “peer review and citation ring” that took down 60 papers, and prompted the resignation of Taiwan’s education minister. The following year, it retracted 17 more papers from five different journals, all affected by faked reviews.

So how did the latest papers escape the editors’ notice?

Continued in article

University of Illinois at Chicago went to great lengths to block the release of information about a child psychiatry trial gone wrong ---
https://retractionwatch.com/2018/07/03/a-university-went-to-great-lengths-to-block-the-release-of-information-about-a-trial-gone-wrong-a-reporter-fought-them-and-revealed-the-truth/

Reports of misconduct investigations can tell us a lot. Here are more than a dozen of them ---
https://retractionwatch.com/2018/07/02/reports-of-misconduct-investigations-can-tell-us-a-lot-here-are-more-than-a-dozen-of-them/

University recommends researcher be fired after misconduct finding ---
https://retractionwatch.com/2018/06/28/university-recommends-researcher-be-fired-after-misconduct-finding/

Bob Jensen's threads on professors who cheat ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#ProfessorsWhoPlagiarize


If you didn’t like last year’s MacBook Pros, you probably won’t like this year’s either ---
https://qz.com/1326844/apple-refreshed-its-macbook-pro-laptops-but-theyre-pretty-much-the-same/


Behavioral Economics --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_economics

The agony and ecstasy of a soccer penalty kick, explained with behavioral economics ---
https://www.vox.com/2018/7/11/17537886/world-cup-2018-penalty-shootouts-kicks


Zucman: The World Cup Of Tax Evasion — If Ronaldo Can’t Beat Uruguay, The Least He Can Do Is Pay Taxes ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/07/zucman-the-world-cup-of-tax-evasion-if-ronaldo-cant-beat-uruguay-the-least-he-can-do-is-pay-taxes.html


Oregon State University Faculty Is Unionized ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/06/29/oregon-state-u-faculty-unionized?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=884802b742-DNU_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-884802b742-197565045&mc_cid=884802b742&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Jensen Comment
Unionization can either be a good thing or a bad thing. Aside from possibly creating a hostile environment between faculty and administration, another bad thing is refusal to adjust salaries for the law of supply and demand. For example, a professor in a unionized Minnesota state university told me that her university gave up hiring new accounting PhD graduates because the union would not adjust pay scales for the difference between what is paid for high supply PhD graduates (think some areas of  humanities) versus low supply PhD graduates (think accounting, finance, criminology, computer science, information systems, etc). As a result those programs that cannot pay market rates must either hire non-PhD applicants with little chance for tenure or tenure rejects from other universities that may enter in non-tenure track positions.

Some faculty unions that do not interfere with market prices for faculty, although when budgets are tight the differentials offered to the best candidates may not be adequate. There are, of course, other reasons some candidates will take lower compensation. For example, the University of Colorado at Boulder can sell mountain living and skiing that appeal to many top faculty candidates. The University of South Dakota appeals to some candidates because of low real estate costs where acreages are affordable relative to having to be a billionaire for a nearby Long Island acreage. CUNY universities, on the other hand, can pay less for professors who make more from NYC consulting than they do in their CUNY faculty jobs.

Median starting salaries are often set by relatively affluent flagship universities with lower lifestyle appeal and not-so-great real estate prices.

With or without unions it must be tough hiring faculty in some high-cost living environments. I can't imagine how San Jose State can hire new faculty given the Silicon Valley real estate prices. Wealthy universities like Stanford have low-cost apartments for new faculty and virtually free building lots (think $1 for an annual long-term lease) on the Stanford-owned land. Of course when you want to sell the home you built on Stanford land your only sales prospects must work for Stanford.

One of the best deals in NYC is the rental price of an NYU faculty apartment. This brings to mind something that universities may ignore when their managerial accountants teach about it all the time --- opportunity value. Perhaps NYU could not survive without subsidized housing such that the opportunity value of NYU apartment buildings can be ignored.

There are times when opportunity values should be factored into decision making. Exhibit A is the New England Baptist Hospital on atop a steep hill (Parker Hill) very close to downtown Boston. The NEBH owned a nearby large apartment building where advanced medical student families could live while these students took their surgical residencies at the NEBH. It was also possible for people like me to rent rooms while their spouses were in the NEBH. I might add that hotel facilities in the region of the Harvard Medical School are woefully inadequate and outrageously expensive. When I'm forced to stay in a hotel over five miles away it costs $35 (10%) extra per night just to park my car.

In any case the NEBH considered the opportunity value of that wonderful huge apartment building and could no longer refuse the immense offer from a developer who wanted to turn the apartment building into expensive condominiums. The last time Erika was a patient in the NEBH I could no longer get a relatively cheap room a block down from the hospital. Eventually the NEBH also considered the even greater opportunity value of the hospital itself. The last I heard plans were being made to sell the entire hospital for an outrageous sum (called opportunity value to the Baptist hospital system). However, the NEBH still seems to be in business as an orthopedic hospital (without emergency room services) ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_Baptist_Hospital
I don't know when and if the NEBH will cash in at an outrageous opportunity value.

How did I wander from unions to opportunity value?


An AI Lab in a Library Why artificial intelligence matters ---
https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/ai-lab-library/


How we discovered three poisonous books in our university library ---
https://theconversation.com/how-we-discovered-three-poisonous-books-in-our-university-library-98358


Quantile (Including Median) Regression --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantile_regression

From David Giles: --- http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2018/07/handbook-of-quantile-regression.html
 

Handbook of Quantile Regression

Quantile regression is a powerful and flexible technique that is widely used by econometricians and other applied statisticians. In modern terms we tend to date it back to the classic paper by Koenker and Bassett (1978).

Recently, I reviewed the Handbook of Quantile Regression. This edited volume comprises a number of important, original, contributions to the quantile regression literature. The various chapters cover a wide range of topics that extend the basic quantile regression set-up.

You can read my review of this book (Giles, 2018), here. I hope that it motivates you to explore this topic further.

References

Giles, D. E., 2018. Review of Handbook of Quantile Regression. Statistical Papers, 59, 849-850. 

Koenker, R., 2005. Quantile Regression. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Koenker, R. and G. W. Bassett, 1978. Regression quantiles. Econometrica, 46, 33-50.

Koenker, R., V. Chernozhukov, H. Huming, & L. Peng (eds.), 2017. Handbook of Quantile Regression. Chapman & Hall/CRC, Boca Raton, FL.

David Giles:  Interpreting Dummy Variable Coefficients After Non-Linear Transformations ---
http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2018/07/interpreting-dummy-variable.html

Econometrics Reading Suggestions from David Giles ---
http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2018/07/some-reading-suggestions-for-july.html

Some Reading Suggestions for July

Some summertime reading:

·                     Chen, T., DeJuan, J., & R. Tian, 2018. Distributions of GDP across versions of  the Penn World Tables: A functional data analysis approach. Economics Letters, in press. 

·                     Clements, K.W., H. Liu, & Y. Tarverdi, 2018. Alcohol consumption, censorship and misjudgment. Applied Economics, online

·                     Jin, H., S. Zhang, J. Zhang,& H. Hao, 2018. Modified tests for change points in variance in the possible presence of mean breaks. Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, online

·                     Pata, U.K., 2018. The Feldstein Horioka puzzle in E7 countries: Evidence from panel cointegration and asymmetric causality analysis. Journal of International Trade and Economic Development, online.

·                     Sen, A., 2018. A simple unit root testing methodology that does not require knowledge regarding the presence of a break. Communications in Statistics - Simulation and Computation, 47, 871-889.

·                     Wright, T., M. Klein, &K. Wieczorek, 2018. A primer on visualizations for comparing populations, including the issue of overlapping confidence intervals. American Statistician, online.


Thomas Bayes (1701-1761_ --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bayes

Thomas Bayes and the crisis in science ---
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/public/thomas-bayes-science-crisis/

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


Bad financial news for public universities. Median revenue growth among public universities has fallen for the second consecutive year, according to a report from Moody's Investors Service. In the 2017 fiscal year, growth was 2.9 percent. Meanwhile, the median growth of expenses is on the rise, too — at a rate of 4.8 percent. The good news? Total public-university enrollment is up.Alexa Voice Service (AVS) ... may be Amazon’s best hardware product since its Kindle e-reader
"Amazon's Awesome Alexa Voice Tech Reaches Out To Other Devices:  The Alexa Voice Service goes into developer preview." by Adriana Lee, ReadWriteWeb, July 31, 2015 ---
http://readwrite.com/2015/07/31/amazon-alexa-voice-service-developer-preview-echo

Alexa, the chatty personality that makes the Amazon Echo smart speaker so fun and handy, wants to join more devices. The company announced Friday the launch of its free Alexa Voice Service (AVS) developer preview.

AVS was born out of the company’s work on the Echo, which may be Amazon’s best hardware product since its Kindle e-reader. The device is a voice-controlled cylindrical appliance that can tell you the weather, give you traffic conditions on your commute, play music, control connected lights and other appliances, and—of course—buy things from Amazon. 

See also: Amazon Echo’s Ready To Chat Up Everyone Now—Except Developers

Voice features may seem rather dime-a-dozen these days, but Echo’s accuracy and grasp of natural language could be among the best to date. Although it’s not perfect either, it does largely succeed in living up to the promise of understanding organic speech. Users can talk to it easily, without learning a rigid lexicon of verbal commands.

Now hardware makers, both professional and hobbyists, can see what those language powers can bring to their projects.

Here's the caveat!

Continued in article

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


Tesla Sells $195 million In Transferable Tax Credits To Boost Its Bottom Line ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/06/tesla-sells-195-million-in-transferable-tax-credits-to-boost-its-bottom-line.html


Facebook exec says the controversial Time cover with Trump and a crying girl is a good example of a 'difficult call' on fake news ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-trump-time-cover-with-crying-girl-example-of-difficult-call-fake-news-2018-7


THE BLOCKCHAIN IN BANKING REPORT: The future of blockchain solutions and technologies ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/blockchain-in-banking-2017-3


33 Jurisdictions Now Use Uniform Bar Exam; California And Florida Are Two Biggest Holdouts (plus Texas) ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/06/33-juridictions-now-use-uniform-bar-exam-california-and-florida-are-two-biggest-holdouts.html

Jensen Comment
The CPA exam is uniform for all 50 states, but states vary regarding requirements to sit for the examination and requirements for becoming a CPA on criteria other than CPA exam passage.

The State of Louisiana probably would be the most difficult state for the uniform bar exam ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Louisiana


Apple is fixing busted MacBook keyboards for free, which is going to cost them money. This all could have been avoided if the keyboard were easy to repair or replace ---
https://www.howtogeek.com/fyi/apples-terrible-keyboards-and-why-repairability-matters/

It's safe to buy a new MacBook laptop now that Apple has finally addressed the "butterfly" keyboard problems ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-macbook-pro-laptop-butterfly-keyboard-problems-2018-6


Elite Business Schools Are Having Trouble Finding Deans: Tough Expectations From Multiple Constituencies ---
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/06/wsj-elite-business-schools-have-trouble-finding-deans.html


Chronicle of Higher Education:  The Humanities as We Know Them Are Doomed. Now What? ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Humanities-as-We-Know-Them/243769?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=64cab42d1a6b47379dc946fc70c6178e&elq=1e0af113154b48e0b34161ff7cdc463e&elqaid=19625&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=9035

. . .

To my colleagues involved in Ph.D. programs, I say something simple and hard: Unless you are placing most of your students in the professorial jobs for which you are training them, you need to rethink what you are doing. We cannot go on allowing ourselves to accept students who believe that they will be the ones to make it, when we see so clearly that the job market is a matter not of individual talent but of structural violence, of a system whose primary ideological function is to absolve the individuals who participate in it from any moral responsibility for its effects.

A couple of years ago, I was talking with someone who was chair of a large English department. "I feel so worried about the profession," she told me, "that sometimes I just think to myself, ‘Oh, well, at least I only have five years to retirement, so I won’t have to watch it all fall apart.’"

Sometimes I feel that way myself. Many of us, having invested much of our lives in these fields, look at what’s going on and feel scared or sad. Part of the problem is that the sheer scale of the collapse makes it feel impossible to combat, and so despair leads to a kind of learned helplessness: There’s nothing I can do. At least I’ll be dead before it’s all over.

But it doesn’t have to end, even if it does have to change. No one ever said you would get to do the job in the same way for all 40 years of your career. No one ever said that large-scale social changes wouldn’t change your working conditions. And now they have. It is time to be creative, time to look for new ways to connect with our students, and help them love what the humanities can do for them. There’s still time to fight

 



29 awesome career choices most college kids would never think of ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/great-careers-college-kids-often-ignore/#air-traffic-controller-1 

Jensen Comment
There's a big difference in opportunity among the career choices listed in this article. Young people starting careers should always as where they will likely be if they stay in that career for 20 years or more. Some careers like becoming a dental hygienist aren't so great in that regard. In comparison internal auditors usually have more career track choices and advancement opportunities. Most of the "awesome career choices" aren't so great in terms of growth opportunities and advancement.

There are some exceptions for careers that offer entrepreneurship opportunities. One of my best friends in these mountains is a former cartographer. However, instead of working for somebody else he commenced his own cartography business in a small town (Littleton)) in New Hampshire. His business thrived, and he retired handsomely at age 59 after selling his business for a huge profit.

One of my friends, now deceased, left academia to start his own thriving compliance testing/assurance consulting practice in Dallas. It became so prosperous that he had both great home in Dallas and a great coastal second home near Bar Harbor, Maine.

There are countless success and failure stories of accountants who left large firms to start their own local accounting firms. One of my former colleagues, a tax assistant teacher at Trinity University, failed to complete his PhD dissertation at the University of Texas. In part this was due to time he spent spent on tax consulting that detracted him from his doctoral studies research. When Jim left academia he started his own tax accounting practice that became enormously successful. His income became many times more than my salary that I considered generous as an endowed professor at Trinity University.

Not everybody can become a successful entrepreneur. In addition to technical skills, it usually takes personality, drive, and willingness to accept financial risks. But when the mix is right, becoming an entrepreneur can be especially rewarding in terms of financial and non-financial criteria. However, remaining a lifetime professor can also be rewarding financially and non-financially. Beware of careers that can be somewhat rewarding financially but become very dull routines year in and year out for a lifetime.

I looked forward to each and every new academic year for 40 years as a professor.


Sweden cancels Elsevier contract as open-access dispute spreads ---
http://lisnews.org/sweden_cancels_elsevier_contract_as_openaccess_dispute_spreads


How to Mislead With Statistics
Forbes: Top States People Are Leaving Versus Top States People Are Moving Into According to United Van Lines

Ranked in Terms of Moving Out of

01 Illinois
02 New Jersey
03 New York
04 Connecticut
05 Kansas
06 Massachusetts
07 Ohio
08 Kentucky
19 Utah
10 Wisconsin

Ranked in Terms of Moving Into

01 Vermont
02 Oregon
03 Idaho
04 Nevada
05 South Dakota
06 Washington
07 South Carolina
08 North Carolina
09 Colorado
10 Alabama

Jensen Comment
Firstly, these rankings are misleading to the extent that moves on United Van Lines are not reflective of total moves in the 50 states. United Van Lines is not to my knowledge the leading moving van company in each of the 50 states and has more presence in some states than others. And for many moves the people relocating do not even use expensive van lines such as when new college graduates move into or out of a state.

Secondly, these are based upon proportions of moves in a state --- thereby creating misleading numbers for very large and very small states. This is almost certainly the case for Vermont having slightly over 700,000 men, women, and children in the entire state.  Fewer people move into Vermont each year than into Boston. Similar population distortions arise for Nevada and Idaho.

Thirdly, these rankings are misleading in terms of the types of people moving into and out of a state. People are moving into Washington, South Carolina, North Carolina, Colorado, and Alabama because of economic opportunity, but that's not likely to be the case for Vermont. People moving to Vermont are more likely lower income retirees and/or tree huggers who want cheap real estate and are not afraid of high taxes. Vermont's generous welfare benefits also attract people on the dole.

Fourthly, the rankings above are distorted by geography. Boston is growing rapidly due to high tech job opportunities. But other parts of Massachusetts have obsolete factory towns due to technology changes. union labor rates, and Taxachussets high taxes.

Some outcomes are most confusing for me such as the outcomes for Utah and South Dakota. Colorado should be ranked higher because of all the pot addicts attracted to Colorado. Maybe a lot of those addicts can't afford moving vans.

 It seems to me that Florida should be ranked Number 01 in place of Vermont since so many people move into Florida to retire and then die. United Van lines does not haul out the caskets and urns.


From a Chronicle of Higher Education Newsletter on July 10, 2018

I’m Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education covering innovation in and around academe. Here’s what’s on my mind this week:

Why a university plans to raze two residence halls — and what that means for the future of campus spaces.

If ever there were a metaphor for the impact of technology and demographic shifts on college spaces, it can be found at Fayetteville State University, which plans to demolish two rundown dormitories — and not replace them at all.

The reason? It doesn’t need to. Enrollment isn’t falling at Fayetteville State, a historically black university in North Carolina; in fact, it’s held steady at about 6,200 students overall for the past five years. But these days, more of its students are attending fully online, or they’re older. Some are both. This is the changing face of the American college student.

And as James Anderson, Fayetteville’s chancellor, succinctly put it to me recently, there’s another reality about the new breed of students: “They don’t need dormitories.”

Gone will be the 240-bed Vance Hall, which has been unused for 10 years (Anderson describes it as looking “like a big prison”), and the 198-bed Bryant Hall, which the university decided to close after last year. The cost of tearing down Vance would be about $850,000 because of lingering asbestos issues; Anderson is hoping the state legislature will provide the money.

The institution has no immediate plans for the soon-to-be-open spaces. But it does have further ambitions for its online and adult-student offerings. Along with the 10 online degrees it already offers, next year Fayetteville State will add a $10,000 degree in conjunction with six nearby community colleges. (It’s called the $10K Pathway, but Jon Young, Anderson’s chief of staff, says the university is open to a better name if you’ve got one.) And with its proximity to Fort Bragg, the giant Army base, the university is also looking to develop programs in fields like cybersecurity that might appeal to soldiers from the base. Those won’t necessarily be four-year programs.

Fayetteville State’s moves fascinate me for several reasons. There’s the adult-student angle, sure. (By now you know I’ve got a thing for that issue.) Also, I’ve written previously about how
some HBCUs have struggled to get their programs online, so the growth trajectory of this one is noteworthy.

But mostly I’m curious about how the growth of online education at colleges (with or without a commensurate decline in face-to-face enrollment) is affecting the character of campus life. I’m curious about the physical spaces, but also the less-visible changes. How do faculty dynamics change? Do power centers in the administration shift as certain schools or departments become more important generators of revenue? I’d love to hear from you on this, especially if you have specific examples you can share.

The latest Moody’s blues for small colleges.

It’s gotten to the point where I almost (
almost!) don’t bother to read the Moody’s higher-education reports. The credit-rating agency has been so consistent in its gloomy outlook for the sector over the past several years that it’s easy to assume each new analysis will be more of the same.

That was true for the agency’s latest reports on public and private colleges, which highlighted continuing pressures on institutions in both sectors when it comes to revenue. I also noticed another trend — one that could be especially worrying for smaller colleges.

The report on public colleges noted that small public universities were being forced by financial constraints to spend less on their facilities. Spending wasn’t keeping up, the report said, so the buildings were depreciating in value. The Moody’s analysts found the same for small private colleges that aren’t wealthy.

When you consider that one of the biggest draws smaller colleges have is the campus setting, that’s certainly not a promising finding. As a Moody’s analyst, Jared Brewster, told me, “it could diminish their competitiveness going forward.”

In other words, if their campuses get shabbier, they’ll have a harder time attracting students. I asked Susan Fitzgerald, head of Moody’s higher-education practice, whether the agency saw anything on the horizon that would suggest a reversal of this trend.

She didn’t.

When Anderson, Fayetteville State’s chancellor, was describing his institution’s embrace of online courses and adult learners, he told me, “I think more institutions are going to have to change to this model.” Perhaps some of these small colleges will choose a similar course. I suspect many won’t want or be able to make that kind of shift. And that leaves me, and maybe you too, wondering: Where does that leave them?

Jensen Comment
Dorms still serve a purpose in housing students who want to escape our ghettos. The problem after years of low-achieving schools, to bring them up to speed for college-level courses. An even bigger problem is inspiring them to want to get up to speed for college level courses.




From the Scout Report on June 29, 2018

Riot Science --- https://about.riot.im/
Riot is an integrated collaboration platform. For conversing with other humans, it supports one-to-one instant messaging, group chats, voice and video chats, and file transfers. Riot also includes app integrations for Github and Travis CI that provide chat-based notifications from the service (e.g., when an issue is created or a test fails). In addition to notifications from a service, Riot app integrations can also provide chat-based commands for the service. For example, with the "!github" command, Riot users can create new GitHub issues from within a chat. Riot "bots" provide small "smart" software that responds to specific commands, like a "Wikipedia" that can look things up on Wikipedia. Riot runs atop the Matrix secure, distributed chat protocol. However, "bridges" allow Riot to connect to other services like Slack, Gitter, IRC, Twitter, even SMS. Riot is open-source software, distributed under the Apache license, with code available on Github. The web-based version of Riot works in any modern browser. Desktop versions are available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Mobile versions are available for Android and iOS devices.


Converse.js Science --- https://conversejs.org/
Converse.js is a JavaScript-based client for Jabber (XMPP) chat servers. It can be run in any modern browser. End-users can use the public conversjs.org site to connect to their chat service without the need to install dedicated chat software (e.g., from a machine in a computer lab). Converse.js site can connect to any Jabber server that can be reached from the internet, including both public jabber providers and private servers. On servers that support account registration, Converse.js can even be used to create new accounts. Site owners can integrate Converse.js into their own sites in order to provide chat services for their users. Integration plugins are available for Ruby on Rails, Plone, Django, Wordpress, Roundcube, and others. Converse.js is free software, licensed under the Mozilla Public License, with source code available on Github.

From the Scout Report on July 6, 2018

Elvish --- https://elv.sh/
lvish is an interactive shell and scripting language with an emphasis on user-friendliness and manipulation of structured data. In contrast to more traditional shells, where pipelines can only carry unstructured text, pipelines in Elvish can also carry list, maps, and other rich data types. The built-in "from-json" command is particularly useful for consuming data from a JSON-producing API (e.g., from DPLA, GitHub, Wikidata, and so on). The Powerful Pipelines tab on the Elvish homepage contains an example of parsing a GitHub JSON issue feed to produce a summary of recent issues. To aid with ease of use, Elvish includes interactive command completion features and also an integrated file manager. It also incorporates a directory history feature similar to utilities like autojump, z, or fasd. The integrated file manager uses a Miller columns layout reminiscent of the macOS file browser or UNIX tools like ranger, rover, or nnn. Elvish is free software, available under the BSD license, with source code on GitHub. Pre-built executables are available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.


QTM Science --- http://qtm.blogistan.co.uk/
QTM is a desktop application for writing and revising weblog entries. QTM can interface with any blogging platform or content management system that understands the MetaWeblog API. Currently, this includes Wordpress, Movable Type, Drupal, TypePad, and Squarespace, among others. The "How do I set up QTM to access my blog?" entry under "Using QTM" gives detailed instructions on how to configure QTM to work with a variety of systems. Once configured, users can opt to compose blog entries either using QTM's What You See Is What You Get (or WYSIWYG) interface or by using markdown formatting. The "Quick Post" feature gives users a system tray icon that they can click to begin a new post from a series of pre-configured templates. QTM is free software, licensed under the GNU General Public License v2, with source code available on bitbucket. Pre-built executables are available from the QTM website for Windows and macOS. For Linux, most major distributions include a QTM package.


Beyond Citation --- www.beyondcitation.org
Last featured in the 11-11-2016 Scout Report
Beyond Citation is a valuable resource for librarians, scholars, instructors, and students. By allowing visitors to quickly learn about popular datasets, Beyond Citation offers an important service for researchers in all academic disciplines. Researchers, students, and instructors use academic databases to find scholarship on topics of interest. Yet, it is difficult to get information about how these databases work and what materials are included in - or left out of - them. In response to this challenge, a group of students in a digital praxis seminar at the City University of New York (CUNY) created Beyond Citation, a website dedicated to providing the public with information and analysis about major academic search engines. As of this writing, Beyond Citation features explorations of thirteen major databases, including Google Books, Project MUSE, HathiTrust Digital Library, JSTOR, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Each database record includes an overview outlining what the database contains, available reviews of each database, and information about access. In addition, readers will also find a useful conversations feature, which offers links to outside analysis and criticism about the selected database. Beyond Citation not only helps researchers critically evaluate databases but also teaches researchers how to use these databases most effectively.


New Quantitative Study Finds That Lightning Is Consistently Underestimated in Paintings

 

Do You Know What Lightning Really Looks Like?
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/11/science/lightning-paintings-photographs.html

Why Is It So Hard to Paint Lightning?
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-does-lightning-look-like

Why Artists Have So Much Trouble Painting Lightning
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/why-artists-have-so-much-trouble-painting-lightning-180969323/

How realistic are painted lightnings? Quantitative comparison of the morphology of painted and real lightnings: a psychophysical approach
http://rspa.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/474/2214/20170859

What's the Difference Between a Camera and a Human Eye?
https://medium.com/photography-secrets/whats-the-difference-between-a-camera-and-a-human-eye-a006a795b09f

How to Photograph Lightning: Helpful Tips for Nailing the Shot
https://petapixel.com/2017/03/03/photograph-lightning-helpful-tips-nailing-shot/


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


Education Tutorials

Crash Course Media Literacy --- www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD7N-1Mj-DU

Neuroscience is... Cool (K-12) --- www.aan.com/education-and-research/neuroscience-is/neuroscience-is-cool

5 Minute Librarian --- www.5minlib.com

The Public Medievalist --- www.publicmedievalist.com

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

Video:  A massive insect collection reimagined as ‘a mescaline vision dreamt by Charles Darwin’---
https://aeon.co/videos/a-massive-insect-collection-reimagined-as-a-mescaline-vision-dreamt-by-charles-darwin?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a6508a143d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_06_28_12_47&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-a6508a143d-68951505

University of California Santa Barbara:  Alexandria Digital Research Library (science) --- www.alexandria.ucsb.edu

Are we witnessing the extinction of bees ---
https://mindfoster.co/1251/bees/

HHMI BioInteractive: Chemistry of Life --- www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/chemistry-life

Neuroscience is... Cool (K-12) --- www.aan.com/education-and-research/neuroscience-is/neuroscience-is-cool

The New Yorker: The Neuroscience of Pain Science --- www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/02/the-neuroscience-of-pain

Eruptions, Earthquakes, and Emissions ---  https://volcano.si.axismaps.io/

Bumble Bee Watch --- www.bumblebeewatch.org

Morbus Delirium Science (epidemiology game) --- www.morbusdelirium.com

At the age of 38, Alexander Wilson was a middling poet with no scientific expertise. So how did he produce, over the next 10 years, his astounding ornithological writings?
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/147188/flights-of-fancy

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

Encyclopaedia Iranica --- www.iranicaonline.org

University of California Santa Barbara:  Alexandria Digital Research Library (science) --- www.alexandria.ucsb.edu

Crash Course Media Literacy --- www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD7N-1Mj-DU

Charles Booth's London: Poverty maps and police notebooks --- https://booth.lse.ac.uk/

NOTCHES: (re)marks on the history of sexuality ---
http://notchesblog.com/

The city of Amsterdam first had a mayor nearly 700 years ago, in 1343. Yesterday, it chose its first woman mayor ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44641981

Morbus Delirium Science (epidemiology game) --- www.morbusdelirium.com

OMCA Collections: Political Posters ---
http://collections.museumca.org/?q=category/2011-schema/history/political-posters

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

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

YouTube: Worldwide Center for Math --- www.youtube.com/user/CenterofMath/featured

The Shortest-Known Paper Published in a Serious Math Journal: 2 Succinct Sentences ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/shortest-known-paper-published-serious-math-journal-2-succinct-sentences.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29
Jensen Comment
It's always dangerous to to make declaratives about "shortest," "longest", "first," "original," "proves," "proof," etc., but sometimes they inspire further and deeper searches.

The Pudding: The Birthday Paradox Interactive Experiment --- https://pudding.cool/2018/04/birthday-paradox/

A Beautiful Mind --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Beautiful_Mind_(film)
John Nash’s Super Short PhD Thesis: 26 Pages & 2 Citations ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/john-nashs-super-short-phd-thesis-26-pages-2-citations.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

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

The philosophy of Mexicanness ---
https://aeon.co/classics/to-be-accidental-is-to-be-human-on-the-philosophy-of-mexicanness?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a6508a143d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_06_28_12_47&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-a6508a143d-68951505

Why Medieval Monasteries Branded Their Books ---
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/why-did-missionaries-brand-books

Encyclopaedia Iranica --- www.iranicaonline.org

The Public Medievalist --- www.publicmedievalist.com

British Library: In the Spotlight --- www.libcrowds.com/collection/playbills

5 Minute Librarian --- www.5minlib.com

The Morgan Library & Museum: Walks in Rome --- www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/City-of-the-Soul

John Wayne 1970 Variety Show Celebrating America's History ---
https://www.youtube.com/embed/UFv-fqQ9D_Y?rel=0
Thank you Tina for the heads up

Harpar's Weekly Archives 1858 ---
https://archive.org/details/harpersweekl00bonn

At the age of 38, Alexander Wilson was a middling poet with no scientific expertise. So how did he produce, over the next 10 years, his astounding ornithological writings?
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/147188/flights-of-fancy

The Entire History of Steel ---
https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a20722505/history-of-steel/

New Web Site Showcases 700,000 Artifacts Dug Up from the Canals of Amsterdam, Some Dating Back to 4300 BC ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/new-web-site-showcases-700000-artifacts-dug-canals-amsterdam-dating-back-4300-bc.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Learn the History of Indian Philosophy in a 62 Episode Series from The History of Philosophy: The Buddha, Bhagavad-Gita, Non Violence & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/the-history-of-indian-philosophy.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Archaeologists Think They’ve Discovered the Oldest Greek Copy of Homer’s Odyssey: 13 Verses on a Clay Tablet ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/archaeologists-think-theyve-discovered-oldest-greek-copy-homers-odyssey-13-verses-clay-tablet.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Nearly 1,000 Paintings & Drawings by Vincent van Gogh Now Digitized and Put Online: View/Download the Collection ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/nearly-1000-paintings-drawings-vincent-van-gogh-now-digitized-put-online-view-download-collection.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Cotton textile production in medieval China unraveled patriarchy ---
https://aeon.co/ideas/cotton-textile-production-in-medieval-china-unravelled-patriarchy

The ancient library where the books are under lock and key ---
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180706-the-ancient-library-where-the-books-are-under-lock-and-key

Behold an Incredibly Detailed, Handmade Map Of Medieval Trade Routes ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/06/behold-incredibly-detailed-handmade-map-medieval-trade-routes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The charred papyrus scroll recovered from Herculaneum is preserved in 12 trays mounted under glass. Here is PHerc.118 in tray 8. The scroll was physically unrolled in 1883-84, causing irreparable damage ---
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/buried-ash-vesuvius-scrolls-are-being-read-new-xray-technique-180969358/
The vast majority of the opened scrolls contained Greek philosophical texts, relating to the ideas of Epicurus

The city of Amsterdam first had a mayor nearly 700 years ago, in 1343. Yesterday, it chose its first woman mayor ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44641981

Here's how the US military's sidearms have evolved over the past 200 years ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-us-militarys-sidearm-has-evolved-over-the-past-200-years-2018-7

NOTCHES: (re)marks on the history of sexuality ---
http://notchesblog.com/

NPR:  History of Fake News ---
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/25/623231337/fake-news-an-origin-story
Jensen Comment
Fake financial news probably has an even longer history. Think about such things as rumors of buried treasure, gold discoveries, phony medicines, etc.
One of the best known frauds in history is the South Sea Bubble in the early 1700s ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Sea_Company
One of my favorite fraud stores, having lived in northern California,  is about the 1913 planting of over 30 million eucalyptus trees in the USA in investment scam using fake-news news that eucalyptus trees were great hardwood investments. Buyers should've investigated why there was not more eucalyptus furniture in Australia. Eucalyptus is a fast-growing hardwood, but it's too difficult to work with for making furniture ---
https://books.google.com/books?id=xQU3AQAAMAAJ

The Lonely Palette Arts (art history) --- www.thelonelypalette.com

OMCA Collections: Political Posters ---
http://collections.museumca.org/?q=category/2011-schema/history/political-posters

The Rise and Fall of The Simpsons: An In-Depth Video Essay Explores What Made the Show Great, and When It All Came to an End ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-simpsons.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Bob Jensen's threads on history tutorials are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Scroll down to History
Also see http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm  

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


Language Tutorials

Quechua Real Words (linguistic study of words difficult to translate) --- http://quechuarealwords-dev.byu.edu/

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

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


Music Tutorials

Glenn Gould Plays Bach on His U.S. TV Debut … After Leonard Bernstein Explains What Makes His Playing So Great (1960) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/06/glenn-gould-plays-bach-u-s-tv-debut-leonard-bernstein-explains-makes-playing-great-1960.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

NPR: Deceptive Cadence --- www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence

Black Gospel Music Restoration Project: Royce-Darden Collection ---
http://digitalcollections.baylor.edu/cdm/portal/collection/fa-gospel

Switched on Pop Arts --- www.switchedonpop.com

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

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


Writing Tutorials

Margaret Atwood to Teach an Online Class on Creative Writing ---
http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/margaret-atwood-teach-online-class-creative-writing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Parsing --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsing
How Computers Parse the Ambiguity of Everyday Language ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/06/how-computers-parse-the-ambiguity-of-everyday-language/563828/

Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries



Bob Jensen's threads on medicine ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2-Part2.htm#Medicine

CDC Blogs --- http://blogs.cdc.gov/

Shots: NPR Health News --- http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots

Updates from WebMD --- http://www.webmd.com/

June 28, 2018

June 30, 2018

July 2, 2018

July 5, 2018

July 6, 2018

July 7, 2018

 July 10, 2018

July 11, 2018

July 12, 2018

July 13, 2018

July 15, 2018

View All Health News

 


A Massachusetts school for special needs children can continue to use a form of electric shock therapy on students after a long-running battle with state officials over the controversial treatment was decided in their favor ---
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/electric-shock-therapy-special-students-treatment-torment/story?id=56238582


Does Meditation Work?
https://aeon.co/essays/can-meditation-really-make-the-world-a-better-place?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=ead7343299-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_07_12_12_57&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-ead7343299-68951505

 


Humor for July 2018

All the best quotes from Jerry Seinfeld's new season of 'Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee' ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/best-quotes-seinfeld-comedians-in-cars-getting-coffee-season-10-2018-7#hasan-minhaj-4


12 Clever Memes For The 4th Of July 2018 ---
https://www.romper.com/p/12-clever-memes-for-the-4th-of-july-2018-that-history-buffs-will-love-9549294


17 Jokes for Smart People ---
http://www.businessinsider.com/smart-joke-explanations-2013-6#a-logicians-wife-is-having-a-baby-the-doctor-immediately-hands-the-newborn-to-the-dad-the-wife-says-is-it-a-boy-or-a-girl-the-logician-says-yes-3


Forwarded by Paula

Answers To Quiz:

 

1 The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the participants 
know the score or the leader until the contest ends: 
 Boxing.

 

2 North American landmark constantly moving backward:

Niagara Falls .. The rim is worn down about two and a half 
feet each year because of the millions of gallons of 
water that rush over it every minute.

 

3 Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several growing seasons: 

Asparagus and rhubarb.

 

4 The fruit with its seeds on the outside:  
Strawberry.

 

5 How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? 

It grew inside the bottle. The bottles are placed over 
pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place 
on the tree. The bottle is left in place for the 
entire growing season. When the pears are ripe, they 
are snipped off at the stems.

 

6 Three English words beginning with dw: 

Dwarf, dwell and dwindle...

 

7 Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar: 

Period, comma, colon, semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe, 
question mark, exclamation point, quotation mark, 
brackets, parenthesis, braces, and 
ellipses.

 

8 The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, 
processed, cooked, or in any other form but fresh: 
 Lettuce.

 

9 Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with 'S': 

Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates, 
snowshoes, stockings, stilts.


 

 




Humor June 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q2.htm#Humor0618.htm

Humor May 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q2.htm#Humor0518.htm

Humor April 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q2.htm#Humor0418.htm

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

The Cult of Statistical Significance: How Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DeirdreMcCloskey/StatisticalSignificance01.htm

How Accountics Scientists Should Change: 
"Frankly, Scarlett, after I get a hit for my resume in The Accounting Review I just don't give a damn"
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm
One more mission in what's left of my life will be to try to change this
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/AccounticsDamn.htm 

What went wrong in accounting/accountics research?  ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong

The Sad State of Accountancy Doctoral Programs That Do Not Appeal to Most Accountants ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#DoctoralPrograms

AN ANALYSIS OF THE EVOLUTION OF RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS BY THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW: 1926-2005 ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR395wp.htm#_msocom_1

Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm

Tom Lehrer on Mathematical Models and Statistics ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZWyUXn3So

Systemic problems of accountancy (especially the vegetable nutrition paradox) that probably will never be solved ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#BadNews

 

World Clock --- http://www.peterussell.com/Odds/WorldClock.php
Facts about the earth in real time --- http://www.worldometers.info/

Interesting Online Clock and Calendar --- http://home.tiscali.nl/annejan/swf/timeline.swf
Time by Time Zones --- http://timeticker.com/
Projected Population Growth (it's out of control) --- http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/worldpopulation.htm
         Also see http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/Populations.html
        
Facts about population growth (video) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U
Projected U.S. Population Growth --- http://www.carryingcapacity.org/projections75.html
Real time meter of the U.S. cost of the war in Iraq --- http://www.costofwar.com/ 
Enter you zip code to get Census Bureau comparisons --- http://zipskinny.com/
Sure wish there'd be a little good news today.

Free (updated) Basic Accounting Textbook --- search for Hoyle at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

CPA Examination --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpa_examination
Free CPA Examination Review Course Courtesy of Joe Hoyle --- http://cpareviewforfree.com/

Rick Lillie's education, learning, and technology blog is at http://iaed.wordpress.com/

Accounting News, Blogs, Listservs, and Social Networking ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm 
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

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

Some of Bob Jensen's Tutorials

Accounting program news items for colleges are posted at http://www.accountingweb.com/news/college_news.html
Sometimes the news items provide links to teaching resources for accounting educators.
Any college may post a news item.

Accounting  and Taxation News Sites ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/AccountingNews.htm

 

For an elaboration on the reasons you should join a ListServ (usually for free) go to   http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
AECM (Educators) http://listserv.aaahq.org/cgi-bin/wa.exe?HOME
AECM is an email Listserv list which provides a forum for discussions of all hardware and software which can be useful in any way for accounting education at the college/university level. Hardware includes all platforms and peripherals. Software includes spreadsheets, practice sets, multimedia authoring and presentation packages, data base programs, tax packages, World Wide Web applications, etc.

Over the years the AECM has become the worldwide forum for accounting educators on all issues of accountancy and accounting education, including debates on accounting standards, managerial accounting, careers, fraud, forensic accounting, auditing, doctoral programs, and critical debates on academic (accountics) research, publication, replication, and validity testing.

 

CPAS-L (Practitioners) http://pacioli.loyola.edu/cpas-l/  (Closed Down)
CPAS-L provides a forum for discussions of all aspects of the practice of accounting. It provides an unmoderated environment where issues, questions, comments, ideas, etc. related to accounting can be freely discussed. Members are welcome to take an active role by posting to CPAS-L or an inactive role by just monitoring the list. You qualify for a free subscription if you are either a CPA or a professional accountant in public accounting, private industry, government or education. Others will be denied access.
Yahoo (Practitioners)  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xyztalk
This forum is for CPAs to discuss the activities of the AICPA. This can be anything  from the CPA2BIZ portal to the XYZ initiative or anything else that relates to the AICPA.
AccountantsWorld  http://accountantsworld.com/forums/default.asp?scope=1 
This site hosts various discussion groups on such topics as accounting software, consulting, financial planning, fixed assets, payroll, human resources, profit on the Internet, and taxation.
Business Valuation Group BusValGroup-subscribe@topica.com 
This discussion group is headed by Randy Schostag [RSchostag@BUSVALGROUP.COM
FEI's Financial Reporting Blog
Smart Stops on the Web, Journal of Accountancy, March 2008 --- http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/mar2008/smart_stops.htm
FINANCIAL REPORTING PORTAL
www.financialexecutives.org/blog

Find news highlights from the SEC, FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board on this financial reporting blog from Financial Executives International. The site, updated daily, compiles regulatory news, rulings and statements, comment letters on standards, and hot topics from the Web’s largest business and accounting publications and organizations. Look for continuing coverage of SOX requirements, fair value reporting and the Alternative Minimum Tax, plus emerging issues such as the subprime mortgage crisis, international convergence, and rules for tax return preparers.
The CAlCPA Tax Listserv

September 4, 2008 message from Scott Bonacker [lister@bonackers.com]
Scott has been a long-time contributor to the AECM listserv (he's a techie as well as a practicing CPA)

I found another listserve that is exceptional -

CalCPA maintains http://groups.yahoo.com/taxtalk/  and they let almost anyone join it.
Jim Counts, CPA is moderator.

There are several highly capable people that make frequent answers to tax questions posted there, and the answers are often in depth.

Scott

Scott forwarded the following message from Jim Counts

Yes you may mention info on your listserve about TaxTalk. As part of what you say please say [... any CPA or attorney or a member of the Calif Society of CPAs may join. It is possible to join without having a free Yahoo account but then they will not have access to the files and other items posted.

Once signed in on their Yahoo account go to http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/TaxTalk/ and I believe in top right corner is Join Group. Click on it and answer the few questions and in the comment box say you are a CPA or attorney, whichever you are and I will get the request to join.

Be aware that we run on the average 30 or move emails per day. I encourage people to set up a folder for just the emails from this listserve and then via a rule or filter send them to that folder instead of having them be in your inbox. Thus you can read them when you want and it will not fill up the inbox when you are looking for client emails etc.

We currently have about 830 CPAs and attorneys nationwide but mainly in California.... ]

Please encourage your members to join our listserve.

If any questions let me know.

Jim Counts CPA.CITP CTFA
Hemet, CA
Moderator TaxTalk

 

 

 

 

Many useful accounting sites (scroll down) --- http://www.iasplus.com/links/links.htm

 

Bob Jensen's Sort-of Blogs --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Some Accounting History Sites

Bob Jensen's Accounting History in a Nutshell and Links --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#AccountingHistory
 

Accounting History Libraries at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) --- http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/accountancy/libraries.html
The above libraries include international accounting history.
The above libraries include film and video historical collections.

MAAW Knowledge Portal for Management and Accounting --- http://maaw.info/

Academy of Accounting Historians and the Accounting Historians Journal ---
http://www.accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/aah/

Sage Accounting History --- http://ach.sagepub.com/cgi/pdf_extract/11/3/269

A nice timeline on the development of U.S. standards and the evolution of thinking about the income statement versus the balance sheet is provided at:
"The Evolution of U.S. GAAP: The Political Forces Behind Professional Standards (1930-1973)," by Stephen A. Zeff, CPA Journal, January 2005 --- http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/105/infocus/p18.htm
Part II covering years 1974-2003 published in February 2005 --- http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/205/index.htm 

A nice timeline of accounting history --- http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2187711/A-HISTORY-OF-ACCOUNTING

From Texas A&M University
Accounting History Outline --- http://acct.tamu.edu/giroux/history.html

Bob Jensen's timeline of derivative financial instruments and hedge accounting ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#DerivativesFrauds

History of Fraud in America --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/415wp/AmericanHistoryOfFraud.htm
Also see http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Fraud.htm

Bob Jensen's Threads ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

More of Bob Jensen's Pictures and Stories
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm

All my online pictures --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/PictureHistory/

 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
190 Sunset Hill Road
Sugar Hill, NH 03586
Phone:  603-823-8482 
Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu