Tidbits on December 122019
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Set 3 of My Miscellaneous Photographs
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Misc/Set03/MiscSet03.htm 

 

Tidbits on December 12, 2019
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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 

My Latest Web Document
Over 400 Examples of Critical Thinking and Illustrations of How to Mislead With Statistics --
-
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/MisleadWithStatistics.htm

Excellent, Cross-Disciplinary Overview of Scientific Reproducibility in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ---
https://replicationnetwork.com/2018/12/15/excellent-cross-disciplinary-overview-of-scientific-reproducibility-in-the-stanford-encyclopedia-of-philosophy/
[Researchers] are rewarded for being productive rather than being right, for building ever upward instead of checking the foundations.---
Decades of early research on the genetics of depression were built on nonexistent foundations. How did that happen?

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/05/waste-1000-studies/589684/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20191022&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0
Bob Jensen:  My take on research validation or lack thereof is at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm

Tom Lehrer on Mathematical Models and Statistics ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfZWyUXn3So
You must watch this to the ending to appreciate it.

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

Animated  Visualization of the United States’ Exploding Population Growth Over 200 Years (1790 – 2010) ---
A Visualization of the United States’ Exploding Population Growth Over 200 Years (1790 – 2010)

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

In September 2017 the USA National Debt exceeded $20 trillion for the first time ---
http://www.statedatalab.org/news/detail/national-debt-surpasses-20-trillion-for-the-first-time-in-us-history

Human Population Over Time on Earth ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUwmA3Q0_OE 




Online Video, Slide Shows, and Audio

How to Improve Your Memory: Four TED Talks Explain the Techniques to Remember Anything ---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/how-to-improve-your-memory.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Stephen Hawking’s Black Hole Information Paradox: An Animated Explanation of the Greatest Unsolved Challenge to Our Understanding of Reality ---
https://www.brainpickings.org/2019/11/19/stephen-hawking-black-hole-information-paradox-explained/

Kitty Economics:  Teaching Economics Using Cat Videos ---
https://kittyconomics.com/
Jerry thwarted Tom in those old Tom (the cat) and Jerry (the mouse) Cartoons ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry

How a Bach Canon Works. Brilliant.---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/how-a-bach-canon-works-brilliant.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The Sunset Hill House Hotel (near our cottage) ---
https://www.thesunsethillhouse.com/
Watch the video
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 

Watch an Incredible Performance of “Take Five” by the Dave Brubeck Quartet (1964) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/watch-an-incredible-performance-of-take-five-by-the-dave-brubeck-quartet-1964.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

A Little Bit of Harmonica --- https://jborden.com/2019/12/02/music-monday-a-little-bit-of-harmonica/

Early Hints of Stardom --- https://jborden.com/2019/12/09/music-monday-early-hints-of-stardom/

Bob Jensen's Links to Free Music
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Music.htm


Photographs and Art

North Korea Opens Mountain Spa, Ski Resort in Tourism Push ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-09/north-korea-opens-new-mountain-resort-amid-tourism-drive?cmpid=BBD120919_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=191209&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily
The problem is the possibility that you won't be allowed to use your return home ticket

Meet the man in charge of putting Chester Beatty Museum online (far eastern artifacts) ---
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/innovation/meet-the-man-in-charge-of-putting-chester-beatty-online-1.4095904

This is the first image of an asteroid as it chucks debris off into space ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/

Historic Pictures of Christmas at the White House ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-christmas-photos-historical-2017-12#every-president-has-brought-their-own-traditions-into-the-white-house-grover-cleveland-for-example-lit-up-the-first-christmas-tree-inside-the-white-house-to-the-delight-of-his-young-daughters-2

Meet the Stratolaunch, the world's largest airplane ---
https://www.cnet.com/pictures/meet-the-stratolaunch-the-worlds-largest-airplane/?ftag=ACQ-10-10abh2b&vndid=phys.org&utm_campaign=336458398205&utm_source=

A Look Inside Porsche’s Massive New Taycan Factory ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/photo-essays/2019-11-27/in-photos-look-inside-porsche-s-new-taycan-factory

What the Great Pyramid of Giza Would’ve Looked Like When First Built: It Was Gleaming, Reflective White ---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/what-the-great-pyramid-of-giza-wouldve-looked-like-when-first-built.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Haunting photos of abandoned palaces and castles around the world ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-palaces-castles-around-the-world-photos

Bob Jensen's threads on art history ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#ArtHistory

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


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

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

Spenser Online (poetry) --- www.english.cam.ac.uk/spenseronline/welcome

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s American Idea ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/11/the-atlantic-and-ralph-waldo-emersons-american-idea/602689/

160,000 Pages of Glorious Medieval Manuscripts Digitized: Visit the Bibliotheca Philadelphiensis ---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/160000-pages-of-glorious-medieval-manuscripts-digitized.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 December 12, 2019
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2019/TidbitsQuotations121219.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




Discounts and Benefits Seniors Are Entitled To But Often Forget to Claim ---
https://quickwaystosave.com/trending/often-forgotten-senior-discounts.php?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuvac5rem5gIV0gPTCh29TQSvEAEYASAAEgJnMvD_BwE


Columbia University:  The Fact-Check Industry ---
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/fact-check-industry-twitter.php

Jensen Comment
My problem with biased fact checkers like Snopes is that Snopes cherry picks in an obvious biased way on what "facts" are reported.

. Search for "Cherry" at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/MisleadWithStatistics.htm


Marriage Story Film --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_Story_(2019_film)

Film Reviews:  Marriage Story ---
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ACYBGNTuVGmTYD_fikB8h75QXiW8ArVugQ%3A1575980143790&ei=b4zvXc3tL-_B_Qb78aSoAg&q=marriage+story+review&oq=marriage+story+review&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i131l4j0l6.22914.23698..23975...0.2..0.74.406.7......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j0i131i67j0i131i20i263j0i20i263j0i3.kssXYJRhv_8&ved=0ahUKEwiN4ZLFh6vmAhXvYN8KHfs4CSUQ4dUDCAs&uact=5

 


The Treviso Arithmetic on December 10, 1578, the first printed mathematics text, published in Treviso, Italy, as Arte dell'Abbaco by an unknown author---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treviso_Arithmetic

Luca Pacioli:  Author of the First Printed Work (Summa) in Algebra That Also Featured Algebraic Applications in Accountancy

Luca Pacioli was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and an early contributor to the field now known as accounting ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luca_Pacioli

Pacioli published several works on mathematics, including:

·         Tractatus mathematicus ad discipulos perusinos (Ms. Vatican Library, Lat. 3129), a nearly 600-page textbook dedicated to his students at the University of Perugia where Pacioli taught from 1477 to 1480. The manuscript was written between December 1477 and 29 April 1478. It contains 16 sections on merchant arithmetic, such as barter, exchange, profit, mixing metals, and algebra, though 25 pages from the chapter on algebra are missing. A modern transcription was published by Calzoni and Cavazzoni (1996) along with a partial translation of the chapter on partitioning problems.[7]

·         Summa de arithmetica, geometria. Proportioni et proportionalita (Venice 1494), a textbook for use in the schools of Northern Italy. It was a synthesis of the mathematical knowledge of his time and contained the first printed work on algebra written in the vernacular (i.e., the spoken language of the day). It is also notable for including one of the first published descriptions of the bookkeeping method that Venetian merchants used during the Italian Renaissance, known as the double-entry accounting system. The system he published included most of the accounting cycle as we know it today. He described the use of journals and ledgers and warned that a person should not go to sleep at night until the debits equalled the credits. His ledger had accounts for assets (including receivables and inventories), liabilities, capital, income, and expenses — the account categories that are reported on an organization's balance sheet and income statement, respectively. He demonstrated year-end closing entries and proposed that a trial balance be used to prove a balanced ledger. Additionally, his treatise touches on a wide range of related topics from accounting ethics to cost accounting. He introduced the Rule of 72, using an approximation of 100*ln 2 more than 100 years before Napier and Briggs.[8]

·         De viribus quantitatis (Ms. Università degli Studi di Bologna, 1496–1508), a treatise on mathematics and magic. Written between 1496 and 1508, it contains the first reference to card tricks as well as guidance on how to juggle, eat fire, and make coins dance. It is the first work to note that Leonardo was left-handed. De viribus quantitatis is divided into three sections: Mathematical problems, puzzles, and tricks, along with a collection of proverbs and verses. The book has been described as the "Foundation of modern magic and numerical puzzles," but it was never published and sat in the archives of the University of Bologna, where it was seen by only a small number of scholars during the Middle Ages. The book was rediscovered after David Singmaster, a mathematician, came across a reference to it in a 19th-century manuscript. An English translation was published for the first time in 2007.[9]

·         Geometry (1509), a Latin translation of Euclid's Elements.

·         Divina proportione (written in Milan in 1496–98, published in Venice in 1509). Two versions of the original manuscript are extant, one in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the other in the Bibliothèque Publique et Universitaire in Geneva. The subject was mathematical and artistic proportion, especially the mathematics of the golden ratio and its application in architecture. Leonardo da Vinci drew the illustrations of the regular solids in Divina proportione while he lived with and took mathematics lessons from Pacioli. Leonardo's drawings are probably the first illustrations of skeletal solids, which allowed an easy distinction between front and back. The work also discusses the use of perspective by painters such as Piero della Francesca, Melozzo da Forlì, and Marco Palmezzano.[b]

Jensen Comment
Although Pacioli printed applications of double-entry accounting the first applications of double-entry accounting arose at an unknown time (probably in ancient Rome) ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping_system

Bob Jensen's threads on the history of accountancy ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#AccountingHistory


Yale University Gets a Zero on Political Diversity and a 100 on Hiring Bias

https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2019/12/06/faculty-call-for-ideological-diversity/

Despite Yale’s push for increased diversity among faculty members — specifically with regards to demographic categories such as race, gender and sexual orientation — several members of the University community voiced their concerns about the lack of political diversity.

According to data from the Office of Institutional Research, the faculty gender gap is shrinking. Since 2006, the percentage of female Faculty of Arts and Sciences members has grown from roughly one-quarter to one-third. Yale faculty have also grown racially diverse over the years.

But conservative professors criticized what they saw as a lack of effort to recruit a faculty body that better represents the nation’s political makeup. Four professors interviewed by the News said that as is, Yale’s climate stifles political discourse. According to a 2017 survey, almost 75 percent of Yale professors said they were liberal. Still, according to University President Peter Salovey, Yale is actively seeking to recruit scholars from a range of backgrounds with different perspectives.

“I think diverse points of view, ideas that challenge the mainstream … represented in a University setting are critical to both providing a great educational environment and also to making headway in scholarship and research,” Salovey said in an interview with the News. “And that diversity of thinking includes, but is not limited to, a range of political opinions.”

The University’s reputation as a liberal school is not new. Conservative pundits often consider Yale to be a perfect atmosphere for “snowflakes” — a term used against students and faculty members who passionately advocate for ideas far to the left of the American political spectrum. And in a 2017 News survey, under 10 percent of Yale faculty respondents identified as conservative. This finding nearly matched nationwide data from a different faculty political opinion poll cited by Inside Higher Ed in 2007 nearly a decade prior.

According to another study conducted by a professor at Sarah Lawrence College and a researcher at Stanford University, academics in the Northeast are polarized even more. The ratio of liberals to conservatives is 28:1 according to this data from 2014.

To prominent history professor Carlos Eire GRD ’79, Yale’s liberal bent can choke productive discussion.

“Yale talks a lot of diversity, but basically all that diversity means here is skin color,” Eire said. “There’s definitely no diversity here when it comes to politics. The liberal point of view is taken to be objective — not an opinion, not a set of beliefs.”

When it comes to politics, Eire said that his views do not exactly align with one party. On some issues, he says, he is conservative. On others, he is “more liberal than people who call themselves liberal.” Still, he added that most of his colleagues would call him a conservative.

“There’s an assumption that goes unquestioned that if you’re not part of the herd groupthink there’s something wrong with you,” he said.

Eire, who escaped from Cuba as a child, said that having lived in a totalitarian regime he often has views that differ from his “coddled” American colleagues. While Eire advocated for human rights and for a change of regime in Cuba, he said, he mostly keeps quiet on political matters.

Even so, Eire said his political beliefs are the source of faculty whispers, which he said can prevent open dialogue and contribute to a culture of silence. In turn, this leads to alienation that Eire said also weeds out conservative graduate students, resulting in a faculty hiring pool filled with liberal-leaning professors.

“[It’s] not helpful if you want to have an open society with creative and productive political dialogue,” he said. “If everything you say is immediately invalid because you are not virtuous then there’s no dialogue.”

According to computer science professor David Gelernter ‘76, faculty political diversity at Yale is low: “0%,” he wrote in an email. He added that while there are a “few conservatives, including prominent ones,” their numbers are not high enough to have a significant impact on campus culture.


Continued in article

 

Jensen Comment

In the 2020 elections it will be interesting to witness how far professors will go to destroy their own pension savings (think CREF).
None of the 2020 Democratic Party Presidential candidates and most of its Congressional have no interest in saving the stock and bond markets.
 

Bob Jensen's threads on political bias in both the Academy and the Media ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#LiberalBias


Not every campus is a political battlefield ---
https://theconversation.com/not-every-campus-is-a-political-battlefield-128196

Jensen Comment
My own experience across 40 years of teaching full time at four universities is that students are more concerned about grades than politics. Their knowledge of government budgets, taxation, and personal finance is very limited.

Last night I saw a New Hampshire television add featuring Presidential candidate Andrew Yang and his wife. Yang claimed that instead of taxing people "We're going to fund Medicare-for-All by making big companies like Amazon pay for it."

Are students really naive enough to believe this? I think the answer is YES! Students don't ask where Amazon and Walmart get the money to pay for the $39+ trillion Medicare-for-All tax?

Urban Institute: From Incremental to Comprehensive Health Reform: How Various Reform Options Compare on Coverage and Costs ---
https://www.urban.org/research/publication/incremental-comprehensive-health-reform-how-various-reform-options-compare-coverage-and-costs

 


From the CFO Journal's Morning Ledger on December 11, 2019, 2019

The University of Phoenix has agreed to pay a $191 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges it used deceptive marketing to recruit students by touting relationships with high-profile companies.


How to Mislead With Statistics

The best students in the world, charted ---
https://qz.com/1759506/pisa-2018-results-the-best-and-worst-students-in-the-world/

Once again, Asian countries came out on top. In the latest test, China and Singapore ranked first and second, respectively, in math, science, and reading. Elsewhere, Estonia is noteworthy for its performance, ranking highly in all three subjects.

In the world’s biggest education test, one small country has raced past all the others ---
https://qz.com/853656/massachusetts-ranks-nears-singapore-the-education-powerhouse-in-global-assessment-of-15-year-olds-who-are-the-best-students-in-the-world-according-to-pisa-2015/

The United States fared poorly, as usual: with a math score of 470, it performed well below the OECD average, and it is among the lowest-performing countries in the subject. Results in science declined from 2012, coming in at 496, slightly above the OECD average. In reading, it also performed slightly better than the OECD average (493) at 497.

 

Disadvantaged Schools Don't Need Smaller Classes --- They Need Better Teachers ---
https://qz.com/1759506/pisa-2018-results-the-best-and-worst-students-in-the-world/

Jensen Comment
Who can argue against wanting and needing better teachers? But I've long contended that two-parent homes (like you find in Finland, China, Estonia, and other top-ranking nations) are the single most important factor in education. It isn't just the helping of kids do homework. What's more important are the externalities of two-parent homes in terms of discipline, teamwork, role modeling, motivation, and (gasp) happy homes.

The problem is that you can't just legislate two-parent homes like you can legislated increased school  budgets.

Jensen Comment
I'm bound to be lambasted for a closing observation on this topic of "best students." I begin by noting that these are averages, and averages are distorted by outliers and skewed distributions. Now the controversial observation:  The highest ranking nations in terms of education are really not very diverse and generally are highly restrictive regarding immigration.

But before we conclude that diversity may draw testing performance down, we need to observe that there are many confounding factors when it comes to measuring what we really want from education in terms of economic performance, innovation, etc. For example, the USA is overwhelmingly successful in terms of development of new medications and technologies in spite of the relatively poor performance of the USA relative to top performing OECD nations on the PISA tests ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment
The above articles contain some legitimate complaints about PISA testing as a measure of education performance.

I'm a strong believer is diversity and rather generous limits on diverse legal immigration. But open borders can destroy the USA or any other advanced economy irreparably.


OpenClassrooms Online Vocational Training --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenClassrooms

Among the prestigious firms using OpenClassrooms for retraining are Amazon, Microsoft, and PwC ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-openclassrooms-is-helping-corporations-like-amazon-retrain-workers-2019-11

Bob Jensen's threads on fee-based online training and education programs ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm


Women Now Majority at Medical Schools ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/12/11/women-now-majority-medical-schools?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=b05c7037b4-DNU_2019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-b05c7037b4-197565045&mc_cid=b05c7037b4&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Women Now a Majority in Accounting Masters Programs (that are the most popular way of qualifying to sit for the CPA examination) ---
https://www.aicpa.org/content/dam/aicpa/interestareas/accountingeducation/newsandpublications/downloadabledocuments/2019-trends-report.pdf
The largest multinational CPA firms now hire more women than men


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

Walter E. Williams:  Fraud in Higher Education ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2019/12/04/fraud-in-higher-education-n2557348?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=12/04/2019&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

. . .

It's clear that high schools confer diplomas that attest that a student can read, write and do math at a 12th-grade level when, in fact, most cannot. That means most high school diplomas represent fraudulent documents. But when high school graduates enter college, what happens? To get a hint, we can turn to an article by Craig E. Klafter, "Good Grieve! America's Grade Inflation Culture," published in the Fall 2019 edition of Academic Questions. In 1940, only 15% of all grades awarded were A's. By 2018, the average grade point average at some of the nation's leading colleges was A-minus. For example, look at the average GPA at Brown University (3.75), Stanford (3.68), Harvard College (3.63), Yale University (3.63), Columbia University (3.6), and the University of California, Berkeley (3.59).

The falling standards witnessed at our primary and secondary levels are becoming increasingly the case at tertiary levels. "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses" is a study conducted by Professors Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa. They found that 45% of 2,300 students at 24 colleges showed no significant improvement in "critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing by the end of their sophomore years."

An article in News Forum for Lawyers titled "Study Finds College Students Remarkably Incompetent" cites a study done by the American Institutes for Research that revealed that over 75% of two-year college students and 50% of four-year college students were incapable of completing everyday tasks. About 20% of four-year college students demonstrated only basic mathematical ability, while a steeper 30% of two-year college students could not progress past elementary arithmetic. NBC News reported that Fortune 500 companies spend about $3 billion annually to train employees in "basic English."

Continued in article

How to Mislead With Statistics

The best students in the world, charted ---
https://qz.com/1759506/pisa-2018-results-the-best-and-worst-students-in-the-world/

Once again, Asian countries came out on top. In the latest test, China and Singapore ranked first and second, respectively, in math, science, and reading. Elsewhere, Estonia is noteworthy for its performance, ranking highly in all three subjects.

In the world’s biggest education test, one small country has raced past all the others ---
https://qz.com/853656/massachusetts-ranks-nears-singapore-the-education-powerhouse-in-global-assessment-of-15-year-olds-who-are-the-best-students-in-the-world-according-to-pisa-2015/

The United States fared poorly, as usual: with a math score of 470, it performed well below the OECD average, and it is among the lowest-performing countries in the subject. Results in science declined from 2012, coming in at 496, slightly above the OECD average. In reading, it also performed slightly better than the OECD average (493) at 497.

 

Disadvantaged Schools Don't Need Smaller Classes --- They Need Better Teachers ---
https://qz.com/1759506/pisa-2018-results-the-best-and-worst-students-in-the-world/

Jensen Comment
Who can argue against wanting and needing better teachers? But I've long contended that two-parent homes (like you find in Finland, China, Estonia, and other top-ranking nations) are the single most important factor in education. It isn't just the helping of kids do homework. What's more important are the externalities of two-parent homes in terms of discipline, teamwork, role modeling, motivation, and (gasp) happy homes.

The problem is that you can't just legislate two-parent homes like you can legislated increased school  budgets.

Jensen Comment
I'm bound to be lambasted for a closing observation on this topic of "best students." I begin by noting that these are averages, and averages are distorted by outliers and skewed distributions. Now the controversial observation:  The highest ranking nations in terms of education are really not very diverse and generally are highly restrictive regarding immigration.

But before we conclude that diversity may draw testing performance down, we need to observe that there are many confounding factors when it comes to measuring what we really want from education in terms of economic performance, innovation, etc. For example, the USA is overwhelmingly successful in terms of development of new medications and technologies in spite of the relatively poor performance of the USA relative to top performing OECD nations on the PISA tests ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment
The above articles contain some legitimate complaints about PISA testing as a measure of education performance.

I'm a strong believer is diversity and rather generous limits on diverse legal immigration. But open borders can destroy the USA or any other advanced economy irreparably.


Based on existing research, “the strongest predictor of (student) evaluations is grade expectations,” he said ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/09/study-attempts-debunk-criticisms-student-evaluations-teaching?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=bd09d7a331-DNU_2019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-bd09d7a331-197565045&mc_cid=bd09d7a331&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Jensen Comment
The results are consistent with RateMyProfessors.com millions of evaluations where the highest evaluations tend to go to easy graders.

This also supports the contention that having student evaluations affect performance and tenure decisions led to massive grade inflation across the USA  ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#RateMyProfessor

The Atlantic:  Has College Gotten Too Easy? Time spent studying is down, but GPAs are up ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/07/has-college-gotten-easier/594550/

Statement Against Student Evaluations for Promotion and Tenure Decisions (American Sociological Association) ---
https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/asa_statement_on_student_evaluations_of_teaching_sept52019.pdf


A Dutch university has found a former psychology researcher at the institution guilty of misconduct for several offenses ---
https://retractionwatch.com/2019/12/05/psychology-researcher-committed-misconduct-says-university/

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


Plagiarism Resources (For Students & Teachers in 2019) ---
https://www.websitehostingrating.com/plagiarism/


The University of Michigan is betting it can change introductory core courses (but does not yet know where it's going) ---
https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/20191206-GatewayCourses?cid=db&source=ams&sourceId=296279

Jensen Comment
Harvard University was one of the first universities to change its common core of a few required courses into a smorgasbord of many courses to choose from among virtually all undergraduate major required common core categories. Justifications for alternative choices were partly academic (think class size) and partly turf protection among specialties that were losing majors. The University of Michigan is focusing more on pedagogy --- how the core courses are delivered. However, consideration is also given to content in terms of breadth versus depth.

I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way
Carl Sandburg
Many other writers and singers have also used this phrase

I Don't Know Where I'm Going But I'm On My Way ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Don%27t_Know_Where_I%27m_Going_But_I%27m_On_My_Way

This one best fits the University of Michigan's five-year core course project
We Don;t Know Where We're Goin'
But We're on Our Way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W46QztcusLE

The operation's on
Movin' forward
We don't know where we're goin',
But we're on our way

So raise the alarm
Movin' forward
We don't know where we're goin',
We're goin' our own way
So move away from home
it's happening
we don't know where we're goin'
but we're on our way
Pack up anything you own
it's happening
we don't know where we're goin'
we're goin' our own way
If we're gonna survive,
We gotta let go of you
I'm sorry that it took me so long
To open up and tell you the truth
The operation's on
Movin' forward
We don't know where we're goin',
But we're on our way
So raise the alarm
Movin' forward
We don't know where we're goin',
We're goin' our own way
If we're gonna survive,
We gotta let go of you
I'm sorry that it took me so long
To open up and tell you the truth

 


Woman pleads guilty to charges that she paid someone to take online courses for her son, and to transfer the credits to Georgetown University, where he was a student.---
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/california-woman-charged-and-agrees-plead-guilty-college-admissions-case

BOSTON – A California woman will plead guilty to charges filed today alleging that she paid $9,000 to have an individual take online classes for her son, in order to earn credits to facilitate his graduation from Georgetown University.

Karen Littlefair, 57, of Newport Beach, Calif., will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A plea hearing has not yet been scheduled by the Court. According to the terms of the plea agreement, the government will recommend a sentence of four months in prison, one year of supervised release, a fine of $9,500 and restitution.

According to the charging documents, Littlefair agreed with William “Rick” Singer and others to pay approximately $9,000 to have an employee of Singer’s for-profit college counseling business, The Edge College & Career Network (“The Key”), take online classes in place of Littlefair’s son and submit those fraudulently earned credits to Georgetown to facilitate his graduation. The Key employee allegedly completed four classes for Littlefair’s son at Georgetown and elsewhere, and in exchange, Littlefair paid Singer’s company approximately $9,000. Littlefair’s son graduated from Georgetown, using the credits earned by the Key employee, in May 2018.  

Singer previously pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the government’s investigation.

Case information, including the status of each defendant, charging documents and plea agreements are available here: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/investigations-college-admissions-and-testing-bribery-scheme.

The charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Joseph R. Bonavolonta, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Kristina O’Connell, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eric S. Rosen, Justin D. O’Connell, Leslie A. Wright and Kristen A. Kearney of Lelling’s Securities and Financial Fraud Unit are prosecuting the cases.

The details contained in the court documents are allegations and the remaining defendants are presumed not guilty unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
It's not clear what what the punishments will be for those who took the classes for money. This problem is not unique to distance education. When my daughter was at the University of Texas she learned that some students with fake IDs were taking large lecture courses on campus for money. The problem with distance education is that it becomes easier to hire out course taking. For example, there's a case where the wife of a football player took her husband's online courses so he could concentrate more on preparation for a NFL career. It may well be that he was too dumb to take the courses as well.

Ohio State Accuses 85 Students of Cheating on Online Tests ---
http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/ohio-state-u-accuses-85-students-of-cheating-on-online-tests/112000?elqTrackId=592e2bcfef3742f0a01015fb1aa9fc87&elq=657ef66861154a85908c76c54666a981&elqaid=9366&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=3288

Claims of Cheating in Online Courses at Iowa ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2016/05/23/claims-cheating-online-courses-iowa?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=3bae57df2e-DNU20160523&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-3bae57df2e-197565045

Respondus and other online tools for monitoring and exam cheating monitoring ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#OnlineOffCampus

Bob Jensen's threads on online cheating ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#OnlineCheating

December 10, 2019 reply from Tom Amlie

This seems like a very targeted prosecution for such a widespread problem.  If you google "on-line course help" you'll get lots of links to firms which will arrange for someone to take your entire on-line class for you, with a guaranteed "A" or "B".  

Part of my course load includes teaching Advanced Accounting in an on-line program.  I was concerned about the identity of some of the people who were actually doing the work so I looked into this.  I went into an on-line "chat" with one of these "homework help" firms, posing as a student about to take Advanced Accounting.  They told me that depending on the course complexity, it would probably cost $600 - $800 to get someone to take a class posing as me, with a guaranteed "A" or "B" in the course.

As a result of this, and the other inherent opportunities for academic dishonesty in on-line courses, I insist that at least 80% of my course grade be based on proctored examinations (proctored via an on-line service).  Even then, if these "homework help" firms create false ID's for their stand-ins then that is likely to defeat the proctoring system. 

Tom A.

December 10, 2019 reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Tom,

In the early days of correspondence courses in the British Empire, correspondence courses were often proctored by village vicars or other trustworthy local residents.

As you point out these days there are testing services that will administer examinations to online students. But they don't have foolproof ways of assuring identity.

One of the most difficult things to proctor relative to earlier days of small village proctoring is identity. Photo IDs these days are pretty easy to counterfeit. How many universities require finger printing or facial recognition to take examinations onsite (think large lectures) or online? Not many!

And it's even easier for cheating on term papers relative to examinations. I recall a divorce dispute where a wife of an athlete contended that she deserved a higher settlement because she'd written her husband's term papers while he was in college. I was relieved to learn that this was not the publication list he was submitting for tenure as a faculty member.

There's no foolproof solution unless colleges go totally deep into internal controls. One former member of the AECM prided herself in giving oral examinations in intermediate accounting. But having lived in a fraternity long enough to learn about files on teachers I question this as a control against cheating. It's pretty easy to compile Frequently Asked Questions and Answer files on a teacher's oral examinations. Of course a student can learn a lot from memorizing answers to the FAQ questions.

My other problem with oral examinations is that it's difficult and inefficient to make students solve in-depth problems in oral examinations.

Thanks,
Bob


Brad DeLong:  Is it Finally Time to Fear Robots ---
https://www.bradford-delong.com/2019/12/is-it-finally-time-to-fear-the-robots.html


Kitty Economics:  Teaching Economics Using Cat Videos ---
https://kittyconomics.com/
Jerry thwarted Tom in those old Tom (the cat) and Jerry (the mouse) Cartoons ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry

My favorite example of video courses is at BYU where the entire two course introductory accounting sequence is taught with variable speed videos ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#BYUvideo
BYU does not pussy foot around.

Jensen Comment
The bottom line is that video courses often work very well for highly motivated top students. BYU consistently has such students in accountancy courses. The BYU video course pedagogy won't work as well where students need more hand holding combined with kicks in the butt in the classroom and outside the classroom.


Differences in items stolen between four-star versus five-star hotels ---
https://jborden.com/2019/12/10/i-always-knew-the-rich-were-different-than-the-rest-of-us/

Jensen Comment
The thieves are often not hotel guests such that it's misleading to conclude that there's a significant difference based on guest wealth. Also its not necessarily true that guest wealth determines who chooses four star versus five star hotels. Other factors such as employer expense account policy can greatly affect hotel choices. Some employers who pay less salary may provide more generous expense accounts. Also hotel reward programs can greatly affect hotel choices. A business traveler may choose a five star hotel that offers greater rewards for later family vacations.

I do have a jeweler friend who says, based on anecdotal evidence, the the wealthier customers are more often slower about paying up their accounts when purchasing on store credit. My jeweler friend factors this into price negotiations.


Computer pioneer Grace Hopper born in New York, NY. While working for private industry, she invented the compiler that would become the COBOL computer language. She retired from the U.S. Navy as a Rear Admiral in 1986 at the age of 80.

More information about: Grace Hopper ---
http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Hopper.html

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


The career rise of Susan Wojcicki (from renting a garage in 1998 to CEO of YouTube in 2019) ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/susan-wojcicki-youtube-ceo-bio-career-life-2018-12


From Brad Delong ---
https://www.bradford-delong.com/2019/12/joan-robinson-open-letter-from-a-keynesian-to-a-marxist-tuesday-sixty-years-ago-on-the-non-internet-weblogging.html#more

Joan RobinsonOpen letter from a Keynesian to a Marxist: Tuesday Sixty Years Ago on the Non-Internet Weblogging 
https://www.bradford-delong.com/2013/07/joan-robinson-open-letter-from-a-keynesian-to-a-marxist-tuesday-sixty-years-ago-on-the-non-internet-weblogging.html?asset_id=6a00e551f08003883401901dbd9795970b:

"Again, suppose we each want to recall some tricky point in Capital, for instance the schema at the end of Volume II. What do you do? You take down the volume and look it up. What do I do? I take the back of an envelope and work it out. Now I am going to say something still worse. Suppose that, just as a matter of interest, I do look it up, and I find that the answer on my old envelope is not the one that is actually in the book. What do I do? I check my working, and if I cannot find any error in it, I look for an error in the book. Now I suppose I might as well stop writing, because you think I am stark staring mad. But if you can read on a moment longer I will try to explain...

...I was brought up at Cambridge, as I told you, in a period when vulgar economics had reached the very depth of vulgarity. But all the same, inside the twaddle had been preserved a precious heritage–Ricardo’s habit of thought. It isn’t a thing you can learn from books. If you wanted to learn to ride a bicycle, would you take a correspondence course on bicycle riding? No. You would borrow an old bicycle, and hop on and fall off and bark your shins and wobble about, and then all of a sudden, Hey presto! you can ride a bicycle. It was just like that being put through the economics course at Cambridge. Also like riding a bicycle, once you can do it, it is second nature.

When I am reading a passage in Capital I first have to make out which meaning of c Marx has in mind at that point, whether it is the total stock of embodied labour (he does not often help by mentioning which it is–it has to be worked out from the context) and then I am off riding my bicycle, feeling perfectly at home. A Marxist is quite different. He knows that what Marx says is bound to be right in either case, so why waste his own mental powers on working out whether c is a stock or a flow? Then I come to a place where Marx says that he means the flow, although it is pretty clear from the context that he ought to mean the stock. Would you credit what I do? I get off my bicycle and put the error right, and then I jump on again and off I go...


Statistically Controlling for Confounding Constructs is Harder than You Think—Jacob Westfall and Tal Yarkoni ---
https://blog.supplysideliberal.com/post/2019/10/17/jacob-westfall-and-tal-yarkoni-statistically-controlling-for-confounding-constructs-is-harder-than-you-think

Bob Jensen's Threads on P-Values and What Went Wrong ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong


A new approach to teaching physics "energy first" holds promise, especially for students who struggle with math.---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/12/03/new-approach-teaching-introductory-physics-first-holds-some-promise?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=87c2fe40ed-DNU_2019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-87c2fe40ed-197565045&mc_cid=87c2fe40ed&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Jensen Comment
It's important to note that this is only one introductory course. Math is still part and parcel to being a physics major. We may see more math deleted from introductory courses in order to promote more STEM majors, especially majors not as reliant upon math as physics. Some other tough things may also be reduced in introductory courses.

How to Mislead Without Statistics

The USA West Coast Beats Math Down as Racist
Seattle Schools Propose To Teach That Math Education Is Racist—Will California Be Far Behind? ---

https://www.hoover.org/research/seattle-schools-propose-teach-math-education-racist-will-california-be-far-behindseattle

 

Asia Expands its Math Curriculum Down to the Second Grade
Vietnam to Introduce Statistics, Probability in 2nd Grade in New Syllabus -
--

https://saigoneer.com/vietnam-news/17753-vietnam-to-introduce-statistics,-probability-in-2nd-grade-in-new-syllabus

SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS K-12 Math Ethnic Studies Framework (20.08.2019)
https://www.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/public/socialstudies/pubdocs/Math SDS ES Framework.pdf
Thank you Zafar Khan for the heads up

Power and oppression, as defined by ethnic studies, are the ways in which individuals and groups define mathematical knowledge so as to see “Western” mathematics as the only legitimate expression of mathematical identity and intelligence. This definition of ​legitimacy is then used to disenfranchise ​ people and communities of color. This ​erases the historical contributions ​ of people and communities of color.

Jensen Comment
I find it interesting that Seattle public schools asserts "Western" mathematics disenfranchises communities of color as if "Eastern" communities of color don't count. Throughout history "Eastern" mathematics (think India and China)  is probably more rigorous in terms of mathematics than Seattle's so-called oppressive "Western" mathematics.

My link to how Vietnam is including statistics and probability in the second grade merely reflects the emphasis "Eastern" communities place upon mathematics and statistics. Math is probably stressed more in much of Asia than in the Western Hemisphere.

Why do "Ethnic Studies" always blame the West for the disenfranchisement of "communities of color." This same disenfranchisement of some communities of color is far greater in "Eastern" communities of color.

The problem with the above Math Ethnic Studies Framework is that the changing of math studies from how it is taught in the Western hemisphere and Asia serves to further disenfranchise some communities of color for being competitive in colleges and careers. All communities of whites and color should get credit for mathematical contributions in history. But we should avoid current "Ethnic Studies" form of mathematics that disenfranchises some color groups from the rigors of mathematics as taught in both the West and the East.


Gigafactory Plan:  US automaker GM and South Korean battery manufacturer LG Chem announced a $2.3 billion joint venture (JV) to create an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant near Lordstown, Ohio.---
https://www.businessinsider.com/gm-lg-chem-partner-for-us-electric-vehicle-battery-foundry-2019-12


Nine once-popular restaurant chains that have faded into bankruptcy or total oblivion in the last decade ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/chains-popular-last-decade-but-now-dead-dying-2019-12

Jensen Comment
Although it may not have entirely faded away, I was surprised to see Luby's Cafeterias on this list. When I lived in San Antonio Luby's was one of the most popular places to dine.


Top 25 Holiday Gifts for the Techie in Your Life ---
https://readwrite.com/2019/11/28/top-25-holiday-gifts-for-the-techie-in-your-life/


Best Data Visualization Tools for 2020 Reviewed ---
https://readwrite.com/2019/11/21/best-data-visualization-tools-for-2020-reviewed/


Superfast Charging High-Capacity Potassium Batteries Based on Organic Polymers ---
https://scitechdaily.com/superfast-charging-high-capacity-potassium-batteries-based-on-organic-polymers/

Skoltech researchers in collaboration with scientists from the Institute for Problems of Chemical Physics of RAS and the Ural Federal University have shown that high-capacity high-power batteries can be made from organic materials without using lithium or other rare elements. In addition, they demonstrated the impressive stability of cathode materials and record high energy density in fast charge/discharge potassium-based batteries. The results of their studies were published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, and Chemical Communications.

Lithium-ion batteries are indispensable in our daily life: they are widely used for energy storage, in particular, in portable electronics. The demand for batteries is surging due to the rapid advancement of electric vehicles that are attracting ever-increasing investment. For example, Volvo intends to increase the share of electric vehicles to 50% of its overall sales by 2025, and Daimler announced its plans to give up internal combustion engines altogether, shifting the emphasis towards electric vehicles.

However, mass use of lithium-ion batteries brings to the foreground the acute shortage of resources needed for their production. Transition metals commonly used in cathodes, such as cobalt, nickel, and manganese, are fairly rare and expensive, and toxic too. While the greater part of the less common lithium is produced by a handful of countries, the global supply of lithium is too meager for all conventional automobiles to be replaced with electric vehicles powered by lithium batteries. As estimated by the German Research Center for Energy Economics (FFE), the scarcity of lithium reserves may become a major issue in the coming decades. Recently, scientists have suggested looking at other alternatives, such as sodium and potassium, which are similar to lithium in chemical properties.

Skoltech researchers led by Professor Pavel Troshin have made significant advances in the development of sodium and potassium batteries based on organic cathode materials. Their research findings were reported in three publications in top international scientific journals.

Continued in article


LibGen:  The largest free library in the world, servicing tens of thousands of scientists and medical professionals around the world ---
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/pa7jxb/archivists-are-trying-to-make-sure-a-pirate-bay-of-science-never-goes-down .

Bob Jensen's threads on libraries ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#---Libraries


How China CFA Applicants Keep Beating Finance’s Hardest Exam ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-25/how-china-cfa-applicants-keep-beating-finance-s-most-brutal-exam?cmpid=BBD112919_WKND&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=191129&utm_campaign=weekendreading


Survey: 91% of Researchers in Arab Nations Want to Emigrate ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/12/05/survey-91-researchers-arab-nations-want-emigrate?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=57e4448d63-DNU_2019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-57e4448d63-197565045&mc_cid=57e4448d63&mc_eid=1e78f7c952
Reasons are multiple ranging for funding shortages to lack of freedom


How to Mislead With Psychology

A Theory for Why Trump’s Base Won’t Budge ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/12/how-narcissists-wear-out-their-welcome/602446/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=politics-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20191202&silverid-ref=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0

But Trump is stranger than any diagnostic category can convey. Narcissism is a psychological construct with profound implications for an individual’s well-being and interpersonal relationships. Personality and social psychologists have done hundreds of studies examining narcissistic tendencies, revealing certain patterns of behavior and outcome. In some ways, Trump fits those patterns perfectly. But in at least one crucial respect, he deviates.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment

First let me state that I did not vote for Trump and will never vote for Trump unless the only alternative wants to spend $20+ trillion per year in new social programs that will destroy the stock markets, pension funds, and the USA economy in general.

I don't think that Trump's voting base is glued to his narcissistic tendencies. If anything most of his base hates the ridiculous extremes of his narcissism, paranoia, morality, and general lack of integrity. I think the main reason for his success to date in politics is the fear of voting for what the Democratic Party wants to offer as an alternative --- a spendthrift who will destroy the USA economy.

Having said this, I do think there's a certain amount of psychology gluing Trump to some of his base. Some in this base are appalled at the unfairness with which he's been treated in the media and more recently by the House of Representatives. The attacks on him are relentless and unprofessional to a fault ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Reid
Many American voters hate this kind of unfairness and political correctness taken to extremes.

There's also a certain amount of psychology to the "fixity" of the voting base for most all past presidents. Note how the approval ratings of virtually all recent presidents hovered at or near 40% going into their final year in the White House ---
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings/?ex_cid=rrpromo
Their approval ratings stayed near 40% until the end except in the case of Jimmy Carter (after the Iran Hostage Crisis) and Bill Clinton (after Monica).

Trump's voting base sticks with Trump because these voters like the campaign promises he made and his obsession to fight for these promises. And his base includes a surprising proportion of minorities.

I do think Donald Trump can be beaten in 2020. However, it will take a better alternative than the Democratic Party is currently putting forth for public evaluation. Most of the spendthrift Democratic Party candidates frighten even former President Obama (who most definitely does not support Donald Trump in any way). Cory Booker gave up an opportunity to be a winner by becoming more like Bernie Sanders and less like Barack Obama. By the way, Barack Obama deported over a million undocumented refugees.

How to Mislead With Cherry Picking

Chronicle of Higher Education:  Some 250 People (mostly from India) Arrested in ICE’s ‘U. of Farmington’ Sting Operation ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Some-250-People-Arrested-in/247635?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&cid=at&source=ams&sourceId=296279

 

Jensen Comment
Notice that the above article fails to mention that this was a fake university for ICE that was commenced by President Obama's administration. It would not be politically correct for the left-leaning Chronicle to mention this in the above article. The Chronicle also has a new policy of not allowing comments due to fear that they might be conservative.

 

NPR is more informative on President Obama's role in this sting operation.

 

NPR:  An Elaborate ICE Sting Set Up A Fake College To Lure Student Visa Fraud ---
https://www.npr.org/2019/11/29/783681028/an-elaborate-ice-sting-set-up-a-fake-college-to-lure-student-visa-fraud

. . .

 

INSKEEP:
OK. First, I should note, you said 2015 or '16, so this goes back to the Obama administration. President Trump has his own immigration policies, but this is not necessarily part of that. It came from before, right?

 

WARIKOO:
Exactly. They started this when President Obama was in office, correct.

 

Continued in article

I suspect that mentioning this was just not politically correct for the Chronicle's readership base.


Lawsky's Free Income Tax Problem Generator ---
https://www.lawskypracticeproblems.org/about

 


Harvard To Pay $50 Million Tax Due To Trump Tax Reform ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/10/25/50-million-tax-bill-harvard

Harvard University expects to pay $49.8 million in federal taxes as a result of the tax reform package passed in 2017.

Most of the tax bill, $37.7 million, comes from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act’s new tax on net investment income -- the so-called endowment tax. The other $12.1 million is from a net investment income tax on operational revenues, unrelated business taxable income and excise taxes on executive compensation.

The nearly $50 million tax bill is still an estimate, Harvard said in its annual financial report for the fiscal year ending in June 2019, which the university released Thursday. The federal government hasn’t issued final guidance that would allow the exact amount of tax to be calculated, but accounting principles require Harvard to book expenses in the year they were incurred.

Dozens of the country’s wealthiest colleges and universities are expected to be hit by the endowment tax, a 1.4 percent tax on earnings, although federal estimates anticipate 40 or fewer being affected immediately. Some institutions’ leaders have lobbied hard for a repeal of the tax, without any success to this point.

 Continued in article

 


MIT:  Machine learning has revealed exactly how much of a Shakespeare play was written by someone else ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/614742/machine-learning-has-revealed-exactly-how-much-of-a-shakespeare-play-was-written-by-someone/

Jensen Comment
I don't know that during the life of Shakespeare that this would be considered cheating. In that era master painters got credit for student paintings, and professors were named as authors on student-written papers and books.

However, in modern times noted celebrities have cheated and knew at the time they were cheating ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#Celebrities


Black–Scholes Formula for Option Pricing --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black–Scholes_model

Pafnuty Chebyshev --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pafnuty_Chebyshev

Fast Implied Volatilities using Chebyshev Interpolation ---
https://www.nag.com/content/fast-implied-volatilities-using-chebyshev-interpolation


American Bar Association (ABA) --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Bar_Association

California's Disappearing ABA Law Schools ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2019/12/californias-disappearing-aba-law-schools.html


Chronicle of Higher Education
Data-Visualization And Student Evaluations: Male Profs Are Brilliant And Funny; Female Profs Are Mean And Rude ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2019/11/data-visualization-and-student-evaluations-male-profs-are-brilliant-and-funny-female-profs-are-mean-.html
Jensen Comment
These and other conclusions are reached after an analysis of millions of course evaluations on RateMyProfessors.com. Keep in mind that course evaluations are self selecting on RMP and accordingly do not meet the criteria for statistical analysis. However, the volume of such samples makes them somewhat informative. I always ignore the numbers and read the subjective comments for insights.

The above study looks at various other aspects of courses other than teacher genders.
Given my own rather extensive experiences reading RMP course evaluations I find it's a mistake to think that most of the responders are disgruntled students. Although there are clearly a lot of disgruntled students, it seems to me that most evaluations are positive rather than negative --- possibly meaning that teachers who suspect they will get positive evaluations may prompt students to submit evaluations to RMP. I doubt that any teacher who anticipates negative submissions ever mentions RMP. This biases the millions of RMP submissions to be more positive than negative.

I was glad to see that RMP dropped its "Red Hot Chili Pepper" competition that attempted to identify the most popular college teachers in the USA with pictures of red hot peppers. This encouraged popular teachers to promote their students to send in RMP evaluations.

The bottom line is that the numerical evaluations don't mean much on RMP due to self-selecting samples. However, I find that the subjective comments do provide some information about course difficulty, teaching style, and course rigor.

In general I'm against making student evaluations of any kind a factor in promotion and tenure and performance evaluations by college administrators. The reason is that these evaluations are one of the primary causes of disgraceful grade inflation ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#RateMyProfessor

Statement Against Student Evaluations for Promotion and Tenure Decisions (American Sociological Association) ---
https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/asa_statement_on_student_evaluations_of_teaching_sept52019.pdf


New statistical model improves the predictive power of standardized test scores ---
https://phys.org/news/2019-11-statistical-power-standardized-scores.html

. . .

Researchers from the Arizona State University and the University of Denver have devised a way to predict academic performance that is three times more predictive than a single standardized assessment. The research team developed and validated a statistical model that uses readily available test scores to predict future academic performance. The study will be published in Multivariate Behavioral Research.

"Everyone is affected by testing at some point—tests are used to make high-stakes decisions about admissions to schools and sometimes even job placement—and the model we developed captures what is going on in the data and predicts future performance better than existing methods," said Daniel McNeish, assistant professor of psychology at ASU and first author on the paper.

Current ability does not always predict future learning

The stated purpose of many standardized tests is a one-time assessment, not to inform long-term performance. These tests are sometimes used to predict the future performance of anyone who takes the test, but few tests actually do this well, said Denis Dumas, who is an assistant professor at the University of Denver and second author on the paper. The idea that a single test can fail to adequately measure a student's future learning potential is not a new one: The sociologist, historian and civil rights activist W.E.B. DuBois raised it almost a century ago.

"Test scores from a single time point give a good snapshot of what someone knows at the time of testing, but they often are incapable of providing information about the potential to learn," added Dumas. "Test scores are frequently used to indicate how much a person might benefit from future education, like attending college, but this concept is completely different from how much the test taker knows right now."

Continued in article


 

Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Scroll down to Mathematics and Statistics

 

Quantum Country
Posted by Brad DeLong on December 2, 2019

Comment of the Day: Impressed https://www.bradford-delong.com/2019/11/note-to-self-one-take-on-how-we-can-learn-better-andy-matuschak-and-michael-nielsen-_how-can-we-develop-transfo.html?cid=6a00e551f0800388340240a4f1a44c200b#comment-6a00e551f0800388340240a4f1a44c200b: On Quantum Country 'Thanks for consuming a full day of my weekend reviewing matrix mathematics and learning the basics of quantum computing. I highly recommend people view http://quantum.country and if necessary, view the recommended matrix videos. I didn't realize quantum computing was this easy to understand. Computers are absolutely revolutionizing the learning process. The video series on matrix mathematics suggested at http://quantum.country is astounding in its clarity. Commenters agree—the new generation of students have unprecidented learning tools which can condence a month or more of learning into a single day. The visualizations in the video series are astounding. I wish I had these available when I originally learned this subject. The mnemonic medium mentioned is very similar to they way I learned Skinner's behaviorism. It was presented in the same kind of manner, but all within a single workbook which included the repetitive review at the proper intervals. As I previously stated years ago, it was extremely effective, and nobody in the survey class received less than a B...

Quantum computing for the very curious ---
https://quantum.country/qcvc
Excellent

Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Scroll down to Mathematics and Statistics


In Defense Of American Excellence ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2019/11/in-defense-of-american-excellence.html


More than 1 in 10 packages 'disappear without explanation' in major US cities, and it's a huge headache for retailers ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/packages-stolen-in-cities-report-2019-12

Jensen Questions
Fortunately, package theft has not yet been an issue in our rural locale.
What do you do to secure package delivery to your residence? (I think porch videos are better than nothing for delivery security.)
What does your neighborhood do to secure packages delivery?

In my former neighborhood in San Antonio there was a stack of delivery receptacles for which keys could be rented. But the receptacles were too small to be of much use for package delivery. The receptacles did provide an option for secure mail delivery --- much more secure than our driveway mailboxes.

Years ago I predicted that neighborhood convenience stores would commence adding fee-based collection and storage for package deliveries. It works much like renting a Post Office box. But Post Offices are often not as convenient as neighborhood stores.

Remember that retailers don't pay for package theft or any form of shoplifting. Theft losses are factored into prices paid for goods.

I sigh when Californian's applaud the tens of billions of dollars that PG&E is being forced by the bankruptcy court to pay out for forest fire losses. I sigh because PG&E is collecting the money for those losses by charging higher prices for electricity. Think about that when Elizabeth Warren  promises no tax increases for the middle class because she plans to take trillions of dollars from Amazon, Walmart, and other businesses with enormous increases in corporate taxes. Who really pays for those tax increases? Mostly the lower and middle classes of the USA who pay those taxes in their higher prices.


11-28-1977
Charles Babbage Institute incorporated in Palo Alto, California, as International Charles Babbage Society. In 1980, the Institute moved to the University of Minnesota, where it thrives as the Center for the History of Information Technology.
More information about:
Charles Babbage Institute

Charles Babbage

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


Recommended Fiction for 2019 ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/11/favorite-fiction-of-2019.html


Study: Student attitudes toward cheating may spill over into their careers ---
https://phys.org/news/2019-11-student-attitudes-careers.html

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


Meetings at work should be seen as a form of "therapy" rather than about decision-making, say researchers ---
https://www.bbc.com/news/education-50418317


Why Are So Many Women Leaving Big Law?
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2019/11/why-are-so-many-women-leaving-big-law.html


How can we develop transformative tools for thought?
https://numinous.productions/ttft/

Flash Cards for Learning (over 500 million) ---
https://www.chegg.com/flashcards

Amazon Kindle Textbook Creator --- https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1002998671 

Amazon launched a new service that helps educators and authors publish their own digital "textbooks" and other educational content that students can then access on Fire tablets, iPad, iPhone, Android smartphones and tablets, Mac, and PC.

"Educators and authors can use the public beta of Amazon's new Kindle Textbook Creator tool to easily turn PDFs of their textbooks and course materials into Kindle books," the company explained in its announcement. "Once the book is ready, authors can upload it to KDP in just a few simple steps to reach students worldwide."

Features include flashcards, highlighting, and note-taking.

Those who publish through the KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) program can earn royalties of up to 70% and keep their rights and maintain control of their content. "They can also choose to enroll their books in KDP Select for additional royalty opportunities like Kindle Unlimited and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library, and access to marketing tools like Kindle Countdown Deals and Free Book Promotions," Amazon said.

More information about the KDP program is available on the Amazon website.

From the Scout Report on March 4, 2016

FlashTabs --- https://flashtabs.co/

The idea behind FlashTabs is as simple as it is effective. Let's say you are studying for an anatomy exam, or a driver's test, or a learning a new language. How do you integrate the information and the studying process throughout the day? FlashTab has an answer. The Chrome browser extension lets you create digital flashcards that will appear every time you open a new tab. This way, learning is integrated into daily activities at work and/or at home. Adding the extension takes only a few clicks of your mouse. From there, create a deck of flashcards and activate. Then learn your targeted information as you browse the Internet

 

Flashcard Machine --- http://www.flashcardmachine.com/

A free service for creating web-based study flashcards that can be shared with others.

With over 109 million flash cards created to-date, Flashcard Machine is your premier online study tool.

For example, search for the word "accounting" at
http://www.flashcardmachine.com/flashcards/flashcards.cgi

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


Warren Buffett --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett

Warren Buffett (Born in 1930) drinks 5 cans of Coke a day — here's why he switched from Pepsi after nearly 50 years
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/warren-buffett-switched-cherry-coke-pepsi-neighbor-don-keough-2019-11-1028727422

Jensen Comment
Yes, and some people smoked for over 90 years. This does not make bad habits advisable for anybody else.


Belgium, Where the State Pays $2 Billion (controversially)  for Your House cleaner ---
https://www.ozy.com/around-the-world/in-belgium-the-government-will-pay-for-your-maid/240788/
Thank you Glen Gray for the heads up.

Jensen Comment
There are some problems with this as a social program in the USA. Firstly, house cleaners in the underground economy are often undocumented immigrants where the USA has a vastly bigger problem than Belgium. This Belgium program would not work well until hiring of undocumented immigrants becomes legal. Secondly, it's often not the low wage that's an issue for great house cleaners. In San Antonio we found that it was common to pay these house cleaners over $20 per hour if they have a reputation for integrity, reliability, and quality of work. Also hiring in the underground economy an employer acting illegally saves the cost and hassle of having to pay fringe benefits like payroll taxes (including unemployment taxes).

One mother-daughter team in San Antonio made over $60,000 per year tax free cleaning mostly for our circle of social friends (mostly retired military officers). Plus they earned a huge amount more working for house parties after hours. They could afford to lease a new car every three years. Here in the sparsely-populated mountains of New Hampshire the last prospective and highly recommended house cleaner we interviewed wanted $50 per hour. My point is not that every (or even most) house cleaners are paid well for their skills. My point is that some are paid very well, and in this particular line of work, integrity, reliability, and quality of performance can be worth a great deal.

In the USA home services like house cleaning, elder care, lawn services, house repairs, and child care are wracked with fraud and sometimes abuse. First there's the risk of pilferage. Second there are problems of real or fake injury claims. Third there's the problem of casing the joint so that accomplices can more efficiently steal things at a later time. Sometimes the house cleaners themselves are victims of abuse, including forced demands to either steal or case the joint for theft or rape by somebody else.


How to Mislead With Cherry Picking

Time Magazine:  Slavery Still Exists All Around the World. Here's How Some Countries Are Trying to Change That ---
https://time.com/5741714/end-modern-slavery-initiatives/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20191202&xid=newsletter-brief

Jensen Comment
Notice how the above article fails to mention the most notorious modern-day slave trading nation in the world --- Libya. That's probably because Time Magazine became an extremely biased leftist magazine, and it's not politically correct to point out that Arab nations  like Libya remain a slave-trading nations.

Libya still has open slave markets.  It's just something the leftist media does not like to mention (except CNN did mention it at least once) ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Libya

Time Magazine cherry picked away any mention of the current Arab slave markets.
 


Justices stumped in SCOTUS tax refund case with “massive economic significance” ---
https://qz.com/1760630/scotus-justices-stumped-by-tax-refund-case-with-key-implications/


Stanley Fish --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Fish

The Unbearable Virtue Mongering of Academics ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwGCGsZZTnNHkmPTMxSbhzbmHpn

Charming and pugnacious, the literary critic and legal theorist Stanley Fish, at 81, remains one of the besieged humanities’ most prominent voices. His new book, The First: How to Think About Hate Speech, Campus Speech, Religious Speech, Fake News, Post-Truth, and Donald Trump, out last month from Simon & Schuster, brings his combination of theory and polemic to a host of topical controversies. Probably no one will agree with all of it, but, as ever with Fish, it’s impossible to come away from his arguments without feeling one’s own ideas become sharper.

Fish’s career, from Miltonist to university super-administrator to best-selling intellectual pundit, is difficult to imagine now, when the prestige of the humanities has plummeted, along with the funding. From the present vantage, the influence of figures like Fish — or Judith Butler, or Henry Louis Gates Jr., or any number of other scholars with primary appointments in departments of literary study — might seem idiosyncratic.

"Programs that I grew up with and assumed would always be a part of the educational landscape have disappeared," Fish told me. "That can’t be a good thing if you are interested at all in subjects like literature, history, philosophy."

In 1959, when Fish was finishing college, he faced a choice between graduate school in English and law school. He chose English, in part because Yale offered him a free ride. I asked whether he’d make the same decision today. "That wouldn’t be a choice at all," he said. "I would go for law."

Fish spoke with The Chronicle Review about academic culture, free speech, and cars.

In a recent editorial for The Wall Street Journal  you wrote about being disinvited from a talk at Seton Hall. What happened?

I got a call from a faculty member who is also an administrator at Seton Hall, who told me that they’re about to install a new president at the university and as part of the celebration they’re going to have a lecture series about matters of importance to campus life. Would I give the first of the lectures? I said sure, but it would depend on the date. He said he’d call me back, which he did a couple of weeks later — not to tell me a day, but that the invitation was being withdrawn.

Of course I asked why. He said that a committee, which hadn’t met in person but had communicated by email, had decided that I was not who they wanted the audience at Seton Hall to hear.

 Continued in article


Levy: Why I Resigned In Protest From Penn Law's Board When A Conservative Professor Was Punished (for not being politically correct)---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2019/12/levy-why-i-resigned-in-protest-from-penn-laws-board-when-a-conservative-professor-was-punished.html

TED Talk:  Why it Pays to Listen to People You Disagree With ---
https://www.ted.com/talks/zachary_r_wood_why_it_s_worth_listening_to_people_we_disagree_with?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2018-04-21&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_content=talk_of_the_week_button

Levy: Why I Resigned In Protest From Penn Law's Board When A Conservative Professor Was Punished (for not being politically correct)---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2019/12/levy-why-i-resigned-in-protest-from-penn-laws-board-when-a-conservative-professor-was-punished.html

Politically Correct Big Brother Will Not Allow Free Speech in USA Colleges
Williams College plans to revise its policies after a faculty petition to adopt free speech guidelines enraged student activists ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/04/23/williams-college-rework-free-speech-policies-after-controversies?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=1aea7e93d2-DNU_2019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-1aea7e93d2-197565045&mc_cid=1aea7e93d2&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Political Correctness at Georgetown University
Kevin K. McAleenan, acting head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was shouted off the stage by protesters who interrupted his talk at Georgetown University’s law school ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/us/politics/homeland-security-chief-protesters.html?cid=db&source=ams&sourc

Conservative Law Prof Heckled by CUNY Protestors ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2018/04/conservative-law-prof-heckled-by-cuny-protestors.html

Political Correctness in Universities Never Quits
Black Pro-Life Speaker Disinvited From Cornell ---
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/briannaheldt/2019/03/27/black-prolife-speaker-disinvited-from-cornell-n2543853?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=03/28/2019&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Beloit College:  The incident (a pro-capitalism speaker)  was the latest in a string of free expression occurrences on college campuses where students have intentionally drowned out speakers whose views they find distasteful ---
Click Here
Capitalism is such a dangerous topic that mention of it should be banned in all colleges and universities

Bob Jensen's threads on political correctness ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#PoliticalCorrectnesshttp://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#PoliticalCorrectness


Wilful Pencil Hurling ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2019/12/wilful-pencil-hurling.html


Library Systems Technology:  What Are the Larger Implications of Ex Libris Buying Innovative?
https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/what-are-the-larger-implications-of-ex-libris-buying-innovative/

Jensen Comment
One of the chronic worries of capitalism is the tendency to reduce competition in the frequent rise of oligopolies and monopolies. When competition is in jeopardy price gouging should be controlled either by forced breakups (as in the case of AT&T) or by government regulation (as in the case of electric utility companies). Sadly government controls are subject to political corruption. Socialism, however, is not the answer since that is a monopoly subject to  even more political corruption.  Exhibit A is Venezuela.

The biggest weapon we have to fight political corruption is freedom of the press where there are countless examples of political corruption being exposed by local newspapers. This is why I really, really hate to see the decline in newspapers across the USA.

For examples of government corruption controls that seem to work we need to look to the capitalist nations of Scandinavia. However, since these nations have such sparse populations there are all sorts of difficulties extrapolating to diverse nations the size of the USA. Scandinavian nations are also less innovative and face many fewer problems arising from price gouging due patents. For example, you don't look toward Scandinavia for new drugs since most of the new drugs are invented in the USA.  Drug price gouging in the USA arises because of patent monopolies and political corruption that protects those monopolies.
 


How to Mislead With Statistics

The US has become one of the lowest-taxed countries in the world. Here are the 6 other nations with the smallest tax burdens ---
https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/6-nations-smallest-tax-burdens-outside-us-ultra-low-tax-2019-12-1028748866#mexico-16-1-tax-rate1

Jensen Comment
Talk about comparing Apples with Thistles
Some things just cannot be compared between nations --- things like poverty, health care, and taxes. Poverty is tough because some people below the poverty line in the USA live like the middle or even upper class in really poor nations that have no comparable free education, Medicaid, food stamps, welfare, housing subsidies, and a $2+ trillion underground economy that funds millions of people in the USA ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient#Limitations

Health care is tough because of differences in services timing and quality as well as a myriad of other considerations. Some nations (think Canada and Germany) with very basic government-funded health care plans also have private sector funding for higher quality health care. Some nations have different policies on things like simplified euthanasia of patients who want to die. An enormous cost of Medicare and Medicaid in the USA is for patients who want to die. Some nations spend far less than the USA  trying to save pre-mature babies. Some nations make it more difficult for the elderly to get funding for some medical services like dialysis and very complicated surgeries like when Medicare paid for one of my wife's 14-hour spine surgeries to break her back in three places and implant rods.

Tax comparisons between nations are almost impossible because of differences in benefits that come with the taxes. In most of Europe, Canada, and some other nations taxes cover health care and long-term nursing care, college and training for some (such as the top 1/3 of high school graduates) and many other benefits that are not included in taxes in the USA. If that funding is added to tax revenues in the USA, the USA is no longer one of the "lowest-taxed countries of the world."

One way to see how tax comparisons differ greatly between nations is to compare payroll taxes and benefits at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payroll_tax


The five English-speaking democracies have heaps in common. All are free-talking, free-enterprise-loving places (though they often fall short of these ideals). They are attractive places, too. Between them, they draw in two-thirds of the world’s highly skilled immigrants. By contrast, of the 750m people who Gallup reports would like to migrate, only 1% want to move to the People’s Republic. Sydney alone has more foreign-born residents than mainland China.
https://worldin.economist.com/article/17310/edition2020anglosphere-and-sinosphere-drift-apart

Jensen Comment
You can tell the difference between border walls by looking at which direction  people are headed when they try to get under or over those walls.
The most desperate refugees trying to sneak into China are from North Korea.
China increasingly attracts tourists not intending to stay, but so does Zimbabwe that offers photographic safaris ---
https://theworldin.economist.com/article/17359/edition2020chinas-new-foreign-travellers

 

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_migration
As of 2019, the top ten immigration destinations were:

·         United States

·        Germany

·         Saudi Arabia

·         Russian Federation

·         United Kingdom

·         United Arab Emirates

·         France

·         Canada

·         Australia

·         Italy


In the same year, the top countries of origin were:

·         India

·         Mexico

·         China

·         Russian Federation

·         Syrian Arab Republic

·         Bangladesh

·         Pakistan

·         Philippines




From the Scout Report on December 6, 2019

Firepad --- https://firepad.io/
Firepad is a JavaScript library that provides a collaborative, real-time text editing widget. It can be used both for editing rich text documents (similar to Google Docs) and for editing source code. As with Google Docs, each user actively editing a document gets a cursor and a list of currently connected users is provided. Additionally, in Firepad text can be attributed to the user that entered it, specific versions can be checkpointed, and documents can be rolled back to earlier checkpoints. Firepad uses Google's Firebase Realtime Database service to store and synchronize data. The free tier of Firebase allows 1GB of data stored, 10GB per month of downloads, and 100 simultaneous connections. Higher quotas are available with paid plans. Firepad works in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer 8 and above, and Opera. Firepad is distributed under the MIT license, with source code available via GitHub


Wing --- https://wingware.com/
Wing is an Integrated Development Environment designed specifically for Python development. It comes in three flavors: Wing 101, a simplified, free version designed for novice programmers; Wing Personal, a free version for students and hobbyists; and Wing Pro, a commercial version for professional programmers. All three versions include an integrated debugger. The Wing Personal version adds a number of features including: code inspection and navigation tools that will allow a user to jump from uses of a function to its definition, a "project" manager to work with programs having multiple source code files, and extension support. A directory of user-contributed extensions can be found in the Extensions section under the Support menu. Under the Tutorial tab (accessible via the Support drop-down menu), users can find an introduction to all of Wing's features. An icon at the top right of each tutorial section indicates which versions of Wing include the feature in question. Wing can be downloaded for Windows, macOS, and Linux

 




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


Education Tutorials

Brightly (motivating children to read) --- www.readbrightly.com

NSTA: Science for Students with Disabilities --- www.nsta.org/disabilities

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

Interactive Periodic Table of Elements Shows How the Elements Get Used in Making Everyday Things ---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/interactive-periodic-table-of-elements.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

A spacecraft has finally gotten close enough to the sun to gather clues about some lingering questions ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/12/parker-solar-probe-nasa-sun/602962/

NSTA: Science for Students with Disabilities --- www.nsta.org/disabilities

Beautiful News Daily (visualizing the news) --- https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/

MedEdPORTAL (health journal) --- www.mededportal.org

This Podcast Will Kill (health) --- http://thispodcastwillkillyou.com/

Get in My Body: Drug Delivery (Health) --- www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/uoh_body_lesson0

Teachers of Evidence-Based Health Care --- https://teachingebhc.org/

Medical Heritage Library (Health) --- www.medicalheritage.org

Quack Cures and Self-Remedies: Patent Medicine ---
https://dp.la/exhibitions/patent-medicine

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

Kitty Economics:  Teaching Economics Using Cat Videos ---
https://kittyconomics.com/
Jerry thwarted Tom in those old Tom (the cat) and Jerry (the mouse) Cartoons ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Jerry

Beautiful News Daily (visualizing the news) --- https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/

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

Justices stumped in SCOTUS tax refund case with “massive economic significance” ---
https://qz.com/1760630/scotus-justices-stumped-by-tax-refund-case-with-key-implications/

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


Math Tutorials

Quantum Country
Posted by Brad Delong on December 2, 2019

Comment of the Day: Impressed https://www.bradford-delong.com/2019/11/note-to-self-one-take-on-how-we-can-learn-better-andy-matuschak-and-michael-nielsen-_how-can-we-develop-transfo.html?cid=6a00e551f0800388340240a4f1a44c200b#comment-6a00e551f0800388340240a4f1a44c200b: On Quantum Country 'Thanks for consuming a full day of my weekend reviewing matrix mathematics and learning the basics of quantum computing. I highly recommend people view http://quantum.country and if necessary, view the recommended matrix videos. I didn't realize quantum computing was this easy to understand. Computers are absolutely revolutionizing the learning process. The video series on matrix mathematics suggested at http://quantum.country is astounding in its clarity. Commenters agree—the new generation of students have unprecidented learning tools which can condence a month or more of learning into a single day. The visualizations in the video series are astounding. I wish I had these available when I originally learned this subject. The mnemonic medium mentioned is very similar to they way I learned Skinner's behaviorism. It was presented in the same kind of manner, but all within a single workbook which included the repetitive review at the proper intervals. As I previously stated years ago, it was extremely effective, and nobody in the survey class received less than a B...

Quantum computing for the very curious ---
https://quantum.country/qcvc
Excellent

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

Beautiful News Daily (visualizing the news) --- https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/

Meet the man in charge of putting Chester Beatty Museum online (far eastern artifacts) ---
https://www.irishtimes.com/business/innovation/meet-the-man-in-charge-of-putting-chester-beatty-online-1.4095904

What the Great Pyramid of Giza Would’ve Looked Like When First Built: It Was Gleaming, Reflective White ---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/what-the-great-pyramid-of-giza-wouldve-looked-like-when-first-built.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_cam

A New Digitized Menu Collection Lets You Revisit the Cuisine from the “Golden Age of Railroad Dining” ---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/a-new-digitized-menu-collection-lets-you-revisit-the-cuisine-from-the-golden-age-of-railroad-dining.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

82 Vintage Cookbooks, Free to Download, Offer a Fascinating Illustrated Look at Culinary and Cultural History ---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/82-vintage-cookbooks-free-to-download.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

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


Music Tutorials

How a Bach Canon Works. Brilliant.---
http://www.openculture.com/2019/12/how-a-bach-canon-works-brilliant.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Learning to Play the Piano Without a Piano ---
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/nov/22/experience-i-learned-to-play-piano-without-a-piano
Today it would be even easier with all the free videos such as learning to play the piano via YouTube.

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

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


Writing Tutorials

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



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

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

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

MedEdPORTAL (health journal) --- www.mededportal.org

MedEdPORTAL (health journal) --- www.mededportal.org

This Podcast Will Kill (health) --- http://thispodcastwillkillyou.com/

Get in My Body: Drug Delivery (Health) --- www.teachengineering.org/lessons/view/uoh_body_lesson0

Teachers of Evidence-Based Health Care --- https://teachingebhc.org/

Medical Heritage Library (Health) --- www.medicalheritage.org

Quack Cures and Self-Remedies: Patent Medicine ---
https://dp.la/exhibitions/patent-medicine

 

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

November 29, 2019

·         Women Lead Upswing in U.S. Binge Drinking

·         Ultrasound Treatment Might Ease Parkinson's Tremors

·         U.S. Birth Rate Falls to Lowest in Decades

·         Is CBD Safe to Carry on a Plane?

·         Calls Increase to Poison Control For Psychoactives

·         Mammograms Every 2 Years Could Come With Risks

·         Life Expectancy Shrinks for America's Working-Age Adults

·         Dramatic Drop Seen in Kids Choking to Death on Household Objects

·         FDA Cracks Down on Illegal Marketing of CBD Products

December 2, 2019

·         Can You Eat to Beat Depression?

·         Cleaner Teeth, Healthier Heart?

·         Sleep Deprivation a Big Drain on the Brain

·         Women Lead Upswing in U.S. Binge Drinking

·         Ultrasound Treatment Might Ease Parkinson's Tremors

·         U.S. Birth Rate Falls to Lowest in Decades

·         Is CBD Safe to Carry on a Plane?

·         Calls Increase to Poison Control For Psychoactives

·         Mammograms Every 2 Years Could Come With Risks

December 3, 2019

·         Samoa Shuts Down Government to Fight Measles Outbreak

·         Can You Eat to Beat Depression?

·         Cleaner Teeth, Healthier Heart?

·         Obesity Might Weaken Some Drugs' Effectiveness Against AFib

·         Sleep Deprivation a Big Drain on the Brain

·         Women Lead Upswing in U.S. Binge Drinking

·         Ultrasound Treatment Might Ease Parkinson's Tremors

·         U.S. Birth Rate Falls to Lowest in Decades

·         Is CBD Safe to Carry on a Plane?

December 4, 2019

·         Could MS Have Links to the Herpes Virus?

·         RECALL: Pre-Made Sushi for Listeria Fears

·         Marijuana Could Offer Relief From Migraine Pain

·         Prediabetes Now Common Among Teens, Young Adults

·         1 in 18 U.S. Teens Carries a Gun to School: Study

·         Samoa Shuts Down Government to Fight Measles Outbreak

·         Can You Eat to Beat Depression?

·         Cleaner Teeth, Healthier Heart?

·         Obesity Might Weaken Some Drugs' Effectiveness Against AFib

December 6, 2019

·         Drug Reduces Delusions in Dementia Patients

·         New Results for Experimental Alzheimer's Drug

·         Weight-Loss Surgery a Boon for the Heart

·         How Well Are You Aging? A Blood Test Might Tell

·         Distracted by Their Smartphones, Pedestrians Are Landing in the ER

·         Vaping Tied to Lung Illness Seen in Metalworkers

·         Popular Diabetes Drug May Contain a Carcinogen

·         Low-Dose Aspirin Might Cut Cancer Risk

·         African Americans Face Unique Mental Health Risks

December 7, 2019

·         BPA Levels in Humans Are Underestimated: Study

·         Flesh-Eating Infection Tied to Heroin Kills Seven

·         Drug Reduces Delusions in Dementia Patients

·         New Results for Experimental Alzheimer's Drug

·         Weight-Loss Surgery a Boon for the Heart

·         How Well Are You Aging? A Blood Test Might Tell

·         Distracted by Their Smartphones, Pedestrians Are Landing in the ER

·         Vaping Tied to Lung Illness Seen in Metalworkers

·         Popular Diabetes Drug May Contain a Carcinogen

December 9, 2019

·         Special Kitty Cat Food Recalled

·         Moderate Drinking May Increase Cancer Risk

·         Stress, Sadness Really Can Break Your Heart

·         BPA Levels in Humans Are Underestimated: Study

·         Flesh-Eating Infection Tied to Heroin Kills Seven

·         Drug Reduces Delusions in Dementia Patients

·         New Results for Experimental Alzheimer's Drug

·         How Well Are You Aging? A Blood Test Might Tell

·         Weight-Loss Surgery a Boon for the Heart

December 10, 2019

·           No One Brand Explains Vaping-Related Lung Injuries

·         Man Receives Testicle Transplant From Twin

·         Special Kitty Cat Food Recalled

·         Moderate Drinking May Increase Cancer Risk

·         White Castle Frozen Burgers Recalled for Listeria

·         Supreme Court Upholds Kentucky Abortion Law

·         Stress, Sadness Really Can Break Your Heart

·         BPA Levels in Humans Are Underestimated: Study

·         Flesh-Eating Infection Tied to Heroin Kills Seven

December 11, 2019

·         Hep A Outbreak in Six States tied to Blackberries

·         RECALL: Fresh Express Salad Kit for E. coli Fears

·         RECALL: Cut Fruit Linked to Salmonella Outbreak

·         Have a Purpose, Have a Healthier Life

·         'Smart' Contact Lenses Might Also Monitor Eye Health

·         An 'Epidemic of Loneliness' in America? Maybe Not

·         Man Who Inspired Ice Bucket Challenge Dies

·         Dangers of 'Superbug' Germs Greater Than Believed

·         Blood Tests Show Exposure to Ethylene Oxide

December 12, 2019

·              RECALL: Frozen Burritos for Plastic Pieces

·         Hep A Outbreak in Six States tied to Blackberries

·         RECALL: Fresh Express Salad Kit for E. coli Fears

·         RECALL: Cut Fruit Linked to Salmonella Outbreak

·         Black Patients May Not Benefit On Low-Dose Aspirin

·         Have a Purpose, Have a Healthier Life

·         'Smart' Contact Lenses Might Also Monitor Eye Health

·         An 'Epidemic of Loneliness' in America? Maybe Not

·         Man Who Inspired Ice Bucket Challenge Dies

VIEW ALL HEALTH NEWS

 


Is a Cure for Pancreatic Cancer at Hand?
https://www.ozy.com/presidential-daily-brief/pdb-250888/breakthrough-2-251304/


A Majority of The World’s Teens Aren't Getting Enough Physical Activity ---
https://time.com/5734685/global-teen-inactivity-study/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20191129&xid=newsletter-brief


Anecdotal Evidence --- https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/inside-warren-buffett-junk-food-diet-which-includes-5-cans-of-coke-mcdonalds-and-dairy-queen

Warren Buffett's (born in 1930) diet still includes 5 cans of coke, McDonald’s and Dairy Queen ---
https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/inside-warren-buffett-junk-food-diet-which-includes-5-cans-of-coke-mcdonalds-and-dairy-queen

Jensen Comment
And some people over 100 years of age smoked a pack cigarettes a day
Anecdotal evidence can contradict some hypotheses, but such evidence is hard to generalize.




Humor for October 2019

Hilarious White Elephant gifts under $50 that are guaranteed to get a good laugh ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/white-elephant-gift-ideas

A banana duct-taped to a wall was sold for $120,000 at Art Basel Miami ---
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/banana-art-basel-performance-artist-eats-banana-today-taped-to-wall-that-had-sold-for-120000-2019-12-07/
The value of the artwork is subject to accelerated depreciation

Ole Miss loses to Mississippi State after urinating dog celebration ---
https://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=401110863

Some Awful Puns --- https://www.pinterest.com/gulfcoastsynod/church-humor/

Church Humor --- https://www.pinterest.com/gulfcoastsynod/church-humor/

Church Humor Signs forwarded by Paula

Forbidden fruit causes many jams

Adam & Eve are the first two people not to read Apple's terms and conditions

If you stole our A/C units keep one --- It's hot where you will end up

Forgive your enemies --- It messes with their heads

If you're praying for snow, please stop!

Tweet others like you like to be treated

Under the same management for 2,000 years




Humor November 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q4.htm#Humor1119.htm

Humor October 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q4.htm#Humor1019.htm  

Humor September 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q3.htm#Humor0919.htm 

Humor August 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q3.htm#Humor0819.htm 

Humor July 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q3.htm#Humor0719.htm

Humor June 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q2.htm#Humor0619.htm

Humor May 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q2.htm#Humor0519.htm

Humor April 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q2.htm#Humor0419.htm 

Humor March 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q1.htm#Humor0319.htm

Humor February 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q1.htm#Humor0219.htm 

Humor January 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q1.htm#Humor0119.htm   

Humor December 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q4.htm#Humor1218.htm  

Humor November 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q4.htm#Humor1118.htm 

Humor October 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q4.htm#Humor1118.htm

Humor October 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q4.htm#Humor1018.htm   

Humor September 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q3.htm#Humor0918.htm 

Humor August 2018 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q3.htm#Humor0818.htm  

Humor July 2018--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book18q3.htm#Humor0718.htm 

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 




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

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