Tidbits on March 17, 2020
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Wes Lavin Shows Us How to Have Fun in Mountain Winters (Part 1) ---
http://cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Lavin/2020-2/Part01.htm 

 

Tidbits on March 17, 2020
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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

The History of the Plague: Every Major Epidemic in an Animated Map ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/the-history-of-the-plague-every-major-epidemic-in-an-animated-map.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

 

Ted Talk on How Technology Has Changed What it's Like to Be Deaf ---
 https://www.ted.com/talks/rebecca_knill_how_technology_has_changed_what_it_s_like_to_be_deaf?utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=newest-talks-2
Bob Jensen's Threads On Newer Technologies for Disabled Persons ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Handicapped

Ted Talk:  When local news dies, so does democracy
https://www.ted.com/talks/chuck_plunkett_when_local_news_dies_so_does_democracy?utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=newest-talks-3

The Story of Physics Animated in 4 Minutes: From Galileo and Newton, to Einstein ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/02/the-story-of-physics-animated-in-4-minutes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

UO Today with The BreakBeat Poets Language Arts (Rap Poetry) ---
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt6-RArJTss

 

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 

The Documentary Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool Is Streaming Free for a Limited Time ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwGDWzdNTLZRBZFGmZjKmXQZwXt

Music Loved by Your Parents ---
https://jborden.com/2020/03/02/music-monday-do-you-know-your-parents-favorite-music/

The Amazing Turkish Ice Cream Men ---
https://jborden.com/2020/03/11/the-amazing-turkish-ice-cream-men/

 

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


Photographs and Art

The Smithsonian Puts 2.8 Million High-Res Images Online and Into the Public Domain ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/02/the-smithsonian-puts-2-8-million-high-res-images-online-and-into-the-public-domain.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

A peek at a critical time for Japan through its art ---
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/02/painting-edo-offers-window-into-rich-era-of-japanese-art/

The Unintended Beauty of Starlings ---
http://nautil.us/issue/83/intelligence/the-unintended-beauty-of-starlings

The Photos That Ended Child Labor in the US: See the “Social Photography” of Lewis Hine (1911) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/02/the-photos-that-ended-child-labor-in-the-us.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Once Upon a Gemstone ---
http://earth.nautil.us/article/527/once-upon-a-gemstone

New York homes covered in ice, resemble 'Frozen' after storm brings strong winds, lake-effect snow ---
https://www.foxnews.com/us/new-york-lake-effect-snow-winds-frozen-naria-lake-erie-hamburg 

Chinese Museums, Closed by the Coronavirus, Put Their Exhibitions Online ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/chinese-museums-closed-by-the-coronavirus-put-their-exhibitions-online.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Rennovating an Old Farm ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/empty-nesters-buy-abandoned-farm-pennslyvania-renovate-photos-progress-2020-1#they-cleaned-out-a-bedroom-painted-the-floors-with-oil-based-kilz-set-up-a-bed-so-they-could-sleep-and-started-renovating-the-house-18

Photographs:  Most Overrated Tourist Attraction in Each State ---
https://thebrainypenny.com/native/50-most-overrated-tourist-attractions-in-the-united-states/?utm_source=adrizer&utm_campaign=230165&utm_term=foxnews-foxnews&utm_medium=taboola_ar&azc=230165
Jensen Comment
These are probably overrated when there's essentially only one place of interest at a "tourist attraction." However, it's a little misleading when there's a lot to see and do such as in Times Square in New York. Times Square may be over priced in terms of hotels, but there's a lot to see and do once you're visiting. The same can't be said for many of the tourist attractions highlighted in the above article.

The article above also ignores some of the disappointments. For example, visitors to San Francisco are now being turned off by the poopy streets, the stench, the crime, addicts on the streets, and other negatives that distract from the beauty of the city. It does not help when California's new laxity in law enforcement encourages drug abuse, pan handling, mugging, and theft. Fisherman's Wharf in my opinion is now the most overrated tourist attraction in California.

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

The Library of Congress Wants You to Help Transcribe Walt Whitman’s Poems & Letters: Almost 4000 Unpublished Documents Are Waiting ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/the-library-of-congress-wants-you-to-help-transcribe-walt-whitmans-poems-letters.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The poetry of hip-hop: A playlist for your classroom ---
https://britannicalearn.com/blog/classroom-hip-hop-playlist/

UO Today with The BreakBeat Poets Language Arts (Rap Poetry) ---
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt6-RArJTss

 

 

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 March 17, 2020
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2020/TidbitsQuotations021220.htm             




Quantitative Easing --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_easing

Federal Reserve Cuts Rates to Zero, Launches $700 Billion Quantitative Easing ---
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/federal-reserve-cuts-rates-to-zero-and-launches-massive-700-billion-quantitative-easing-program.html

Jensen Comment
In spite of past attempts to glamorize quantitative easing, it is in fact dangerous printing of money for the government to avoid taxing and borrowing. In large amounts it leads to hyper inflation as in Zimbabwe and Venezuela. In small amounts the impacts are not so disastrous. But simply printing money to fund government spending is like walking on quicksand for a nation's economy.

What's worse is that quantitative easing combined with zero interest rates for banks effectively takes away our last weapons to fight inflation. The even sadder news is that the world's economies are in sadder shape.


Refinance student loans now and you'll likely save money — here's why ---
https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/refinance-student-loans-save-money

Jensen Comment
Millions of people are also refinancing home mortgages, but there are transactions costs to consider above and beyond what it costs to refinance student loans.


How Wikipedia’s volunteers became the web’s best weapon against misinformation ---
https://www.fastcompany.com/90471667/how-wikipedia-volunteers-became-the-webs-best-weapon-against-misinformation


Jensen Comment
My new Dell laptop has an option for memorizing my fingerprint so that it will not commence to operate unless it recognizes my print. However, since I'm the only one who uses the computer in my house I decided not to activate the fingerprint option. If I did activate this option and then die suddenly I would have been remiss not to tell my wife beforehand to place my finger on the keyboard before they remove my corpse. Or maybe she should cut off my finger before I'm carted off. With password protection I can tell her the current password before I croak.

I suspect somebody has thought of this before it dawned on me --- fingerprints are less secure than passwords. I can change passwords as often as I like. I'm stuck with the same fingerprints I had as I had when I first became an adult and even before when my fingers were smaller.

Unsecured database exposes 76,000 fingerprints ---
https://techxplore.com/news/2020-03-unsecured-database-exposes-fingerprints.html

A security firm handling employee fingerprint identification for companies worldwide has exposed more than 2 million bits of data, including 76,000 fingerprints, according to a cyberthreat research group.

Jensen Comment
If the above firm instead lost passwords those threatened could quickly change passwords.

Can a 3-D printer create a finger with some person's known print?


MIT:  Here’s how long the coronavirus can live in the air and on packages ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615348/heres-how-long-the-coronavirus-can-stay-in-the-air-and-on-packages/
The virus prefers steel and plastic, materials commonly found in hospitals and homes.
Three days is a suggested finding, but there's no evidence of the disease spreading via packaging or other inanimate objects.


Tax preparation checklist: What to know before filing
https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/filing-taxes-what-to-know

The IRS Website can be really helpful ---
https://www.irs.gov/

If you make less than $69,000 you can file for free. Don't go directly to sites like TurboTax or H&R Block for free filing since those vendors try to sneak in charges for there supposedly "free software." Instead commence your free-filing quest at this IRS site ---
https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
If you use a computer filing your own taxes is quite easy, and there are volunteers in schools and churches who will help you with your taxes.

Check here for the paperwork you should take along when you consult anybody about taxes ---
https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/filing-taxes-what-to-know 

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It helps to take along the returns you filed last year.


Trinity University is one of hundreds of USA colleges and universities closing residence halls and completing its Spring Semester 2020 with "remote synchronous learning" as a precaution against the coronavirus ---
https://sites.google.com/trinity.edu/trinityuniversitycovid-19


Among some of the colleges that moved classes quickly from onsite to online, I'm getting all sorts of raves about "Keep Teaching" temporary remote teaching software ---
https://keepteaching.osu.edu/

Going Online in a Hurry: What to Do and Where to Start ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Going-Online-in-a-Hurry-What/248207?utm_source=wb&utm_medium=en&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1081819&cid=wb&source=ams&sourceId=296279

The coronavirus has colleges and universities swinging into action to move courses online. In the coming weeks, we’ll find out just how prepared (or not) academe is to do this on a large scale. Those of us in online teaching and educational technology have moved quickly to help, too, and it’s astonishing how many helpful resources have already been pulled together.

Even just a few weeks into the crisis, and really only a few days since class cancellations started to become a reality, there are top-quality guides free for the taking, created by people who really know their stuff. I will make no claim to have read all or even a fraction of them, but there are several that are clearly share-worthy:


Continued in Article

Bob Jensen's long-time threads on asynchronous learning ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on education technology in general ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

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


Complimentary software offering for organizations transitioning to remote environments ---
http://links.email.techsmithmail.com/servlet/MailView?ms=NjQyNjc5NjIS1&r=MTQ4MzE0MDYwOTcxS0&j=MTg0MTQ4ODc0NwS2&mt=1&rt=0


How a Guardian Angel Watched Over the Wireless Transfer of Old Software Into My New Computer
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/0000GuardianAngel.html


NY Times:  A Botnet Is Taken Down in an Operation by Microsoft, Not the Government ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/us/politics/microsoft-botnets-malware.html

 
Employees had tracked the group, believed to be based in Russia, as it hijacked nine million computers around the world to send spam emails meant to defraud unsuspecting victims.


Microsoft organized 35 nations on Tuesday to take down one of the world’s largest botnets — malware that secretly seizes control of millions of computers around the globe. It was an unusual disruption of an internet criminal group, because it was carried out by a company, not a government.


The action, eight years in the making, was aimed at a criminal group called Necurs, believed to be based in Russia. Microsoft employees had long tracked the group as it infected nine million computers around the world, hijacking them to send spam emails intended to defraud unsuspecting victims. The group also mounted stock market scams and spread ransomware, which locks up a computer until the owner pays a fee.


Over the past year, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit has been quietly lining up support from legal authorities in countries around the world, convincing them that the group had seized computers in their territories to conduct future attacks.


“It’s a highway out there that is used only by criminals,” Amy Hogan-Burney, the general manager of the Digital Crimes Unit and a former F.B.I. lawyer, said on Tuesday. “And the idea that we would allow those to keep existing makes no sense. We have to dismantle the infrastructure.”
 
 Continued in the Article


A fake coronavirus tracking app is actually ransomware that threatens to leak social media accounts and delete a phone's storage unless a victim pays $100 in bitcoin ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-fake-app-ransomware-malware-bitcoin-android-demands-ransom-domaintools-2020-3

Jensen Comment
Here's a legitimate coronavirus tracking map from Microsoft ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-map-for-tracking-covid-19-cases-state-country-microsoft-2020-3


Video from the University of Minnesota
Warren Lecture Series:  Plagiarism, Plagiarisma, Plagiarmania ----
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQo7rzmnkA4

Bob Jensen's threads on plagiarism and cheating---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm


NYT:  Think Cheating in Baseball Is Bad? Try Chess ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/sports/chess-cheating.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage

Jensen Comment
Whereas the recent baseball cheating scandal is interesting from the standpoint of ethics theory, the technique of beating on trash cans does not make teachers fearful of the baseball cheating techniques being extended to classrooms. Teachers should be more fearful of the techniques used by cheating chess players. Think of all the technology that is shrinking into smart watches and tiny cameras sending pictures over the Internet, pictures that might be images of test pages.

Bob Jensen's threads on some of the new ways to cheat in education ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#NewWays

A law student was caught using invisible ink and a UV light to cheat on an exam. The woman had legitimately taken her law textbook into an exam. However, it had 24 pages of secret notes written throughout it. She used a "black light" attached to her pen to read them ---
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/student-caught-using-invisible-ink-to-cheat-during-law-exam/ar-BBAMsr3?ocid=spartandhp


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

MIT:  This is how North Korea uses cutting-edge crypto money laundering to steal millions ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/615324/north-korean-hackers-cryptocurrency-money-laundering/


France Fines Apple $1.2 Billion for Antitrust Issues ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/technology/france-apple-antitrust-fine.html?action=click&module=Latest&pgtype=Homepage


Ted Talk on How Technology Has Changed What it's Like to Be Deaf ---
 https://www.ted.com/talks/rebecca_knill_how_technology_has_changed_what_it_s_like_to_be_deaf?utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=newest-talks-2

Bob Jensen's Threads On Newer Technologies for Disabled Persons ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Handicapped


 Why You Might Want Your University to Invest in Large Oil Companies? (That $145 Billion with a "B")

Shell just announced plans to build the world's largest 'green hydrogen' plant. Here's everything you need to know about the $145 billion industry, which is set to transform the energy sector.---
https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-hydrogen-fuel-industry-explainer-2020-1?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI%20Prime%202020-02-28&utm_term=BI%20Prime%20Select


Magnitude Based Statistics (based in traditional methods) Was Just Banned From A Major Sports Science Journal ---
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/a-flawed-statistical-method-was-just-banned-from-a-major-sports-science-journal/

Sports performance is a difficult thing to study. There are only so many trained athletes available for experiments, and most of the measurements required to investigate human performance are time-consuming to collect. As a result, most sports science studies are small, and that means it can be difficult to tease out the signal from the noise. In 2006, Will Hopkins and Alan Batterham published a commentary proposing a method for making meaningful inferences in such situations.

Their method, “magnitude-based inference,” or MBI, was controversial from the start. It was rebutted in 2008 by two statisticians who concluded that it was generally unreliable and represented an improper use of existing statistical methods. In 2009, the flagship journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, published a set of statistical guidelines for the journal that included a description of MBI, but the journal published it as an invited commentary after peer reviewers would not agree to accept it. Since then, MSSE has published two critiques of MBI that concluded the method was too flawed to be used (the most recent of which arose from reporting by FiveThirtyEight). Now FiveThirtyEight has learned that MSSE has decided to stop accepting papers that use MBI.

The journal’s editor-in-chief, L. Bruce Gladden made the policy change after reviewing the published criticisms of MBI and consulting the journal’s editorial board, numerous statistical experts and ACSM leaders. “Science is self-correcting,” he said by way of explanation. The decision will be formalized in new instructions to authors, “but we’re putting the word out now, informally,” Gladden said.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on recent controversies surrounding traditional statistical inference analyses ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory01.htm#WhatWentWrong


How to Be a Better Teacher Online ---
https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/advice-online-teaching?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1070631&cid=at&source=ams&sourceId=296279

Jensen Comment
Teachers who meet students during office hours often find that they are answering the same questions time and time again. The same can be true for students online. Sometimes these questions can be answered with group email messages or Website documents. However, often the questions about technical things are difficult to put into words and are better explained with videos such as videos of how to use software (think Excel or MatLab or SAS) or how to do a sequence of technical things like solving mathematics problems.

I answered many of my students' questions with Camtasia videos of computer screens while I solved complicated problems (you can also use cheaper screen and voice capture alternatives like SnagIt). After I started making these videos available on line I felt like the Maytag Repairman during office hours, but not entirely. Students still came in with their own unique questions such as when they were seeking career advice.


Read the Fine Print of Insurance Contracts:  A typical $500 million property insurance plan of a college could include a $1 million pandemic damages sublimit ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/09/insurance-coverage-scarce-coronavirus-threatens-college-finances?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=143f931802-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-143f931802-197565045&mc_cid=143f931802&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Jensen Comment
Since there's a fault line not far from our mountain home I added earthquake insurance to my home owners policy one year. Then I read the fine print that excluded basement, foundation, cement, and brick wall damages that made me doubt that the added earthquake coverage was worth the cost. My neighbor not far down the road who had a fully brick house got the same doubts after I told him what I found by reading the fine print. Since our earthquake risk is quite low I did not pursue the cost of getting coverage that does not have so many waivers.

“Potential losses are so large that commercial insurers no longer provide affordable liability insurance to the Big Four Auditing Firms. They are now self-insured through “captives,” or insurance firms owned by the global audit networks and funded with premiums paid by member firms. Yet the captives have limited capital and cannot cover the full risks faced by audit firms, according to a 2006 study by London Economics."
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-accounting-lawsuits-idUSBRE92K0QB20130321

Jensen Comment
By "affordable" this means that insurance companies only offer policies with such miniscule liability sublimits that they are not worth the cost of buying. The result is that the the huge class action lawsuit settlements in recent years have been covered by the firms themselves and on occasion through capital calls from partners --- as in the case of the settlement fine of over $400 million imposed upon KPMG for fraudulent sales of tax shelters ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud001.htm#KPMG
Scroll down to the tax shelter settlement of KPMG


US homeowners are taking advantage of low interest rates to refinance mortgages.
The Mortgage Bankers Association forecasts $1.23 trillion in refinancing originations this year, double an earlier projection ---

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/10/mortgage-bankers-double-their-2020-refinance-forecast.html

I'm not advocating a Quicken Loan mortgage, but this site will give you a benchmark on the refinancing rate for your home ---
https://www.quickenloans.com/l/progpi?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI88r-4syS6AIVEK_ICh1iEQjXEAAYAiAAEgLoTvD_BwE&qls=GAW_R2MORTRe.0000711620&ef_id=EAIaIQobChMI88r-4syS6AIVEK_ICh1iEQjXEAAYAiAAEgLoTvD_BwE:G:s&s_kwcid=AL!1083!3!315466509756!e!!g!!mortgage%20rates&gclsrc=aw.ds&ds_rl=1246578&ds_rl=1240468


A 3-inch hook purchased for 56 cents around the end of World War I could help determine whether PG&E Corp. faces criminal charges for starting the deadliest wildfire in California history ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/this-old-metal-hook-could-determine-whether-pg-e-committed-a-crime-11583623059?mod=djemCFO


How to Mislead With Statistics

Research Finds that High School GPAs Are Stronger Predictors of College Graduation than ACT Scores ---
https://www.aera.net/Newsroom/Research-Finds-that-High-School-GPAs-Are-Stronger-Predictors-of-College-Graduation-than-ACT-Scores

Jensen Comment
This study is all well and good about what it sets out to do. What's misleading is the implication that ACT scores do not have predictive values. ACT scores have predictive values above and beyond high school grades when predicting college grades. High school grades are not very good at predicting high school grades because of grade inflation in most USA high schools. If most applicants to a prestigious universities have nearly perfect grade averages, how can those universities sort out which applicants will perform better in college than other applicants who will also likely graduate from college?

When the problem is to predict college gpa, standardized admission tests have value cutting through grade inflation and fine tuning among a set of applicants all having high grades from high school.---
http://www.act.org/content/dam/act/unsecured/documents/5931-research-report-2016-7-examining-the-validity-of-act-composite-score-and-hs-gpa.pdf

Of course there are other useful college performance predictors other than high school grades and standardized test scores. For example, other predictors might find promise among some students who have both poor grades and low ACT scores such as students who, with remedial education and maturity, become shining stars.


How to Mislead With Statistics

How a Physics Department Became One of the Country’s Largest Producers of Majors ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/How-a-Physics-Department/248121
The article does not discuss job availability

Jensen Comment
If true this is popularity among majors is exceptional since physics is not even included in the US News rankings of the Top 100 Best Jobs ---
https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-best-jobs 

 It seems to me that somewhere "Physics" jobs would be included in the above rankings if physics is now becoming an extremely popular major in the USA. Be aware that there are many limitations in the above rankings of "Best Jobs."

The first clue is that the rankings rate physical therapists above some types of physicians. Say what? What physician would rather be a physical therapist?

The second clue is that all lawyers are lumped together as one occupation. Lawyers in reality vary enormously in terms of compensation and job types (think patent attorney versus personal injury lawyer versus FBI agent) that I doubt that any one ranking of "Lawyers" means much. The same is true of "Accountants" (thank CFOs versus FBI agents versus payroll clerks) and many of the other "Jobs" ranked above.

The adjective "Best" is really a multivariate thing when it comes to careers. For example, in the following ranking of STEM specialties, "Atomic or Molecular Physics" comes out at Rank 2. However, among the subcategories of "job availability" these physicists end up at Rank 65 ---
https://www.worldwidelearn.com/education-rankings/25-best-stem-majors.html 


How to Mislead With Quotations

College is "not for learning" and "basically for fun."
Elon Musk

Elon Musk said a college degree isn't required for a job at Tesla — and Apple, Google, and Netflix don't require employees to have 4-year degrees either ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/top-companies-are-hiring-more-candidates-without-a-4-year-degree-2019-4?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI%20Prime%202020-03-11&utm_term=BI%20Prime%20Select

Jensen Comment
But what proportion of professional employees (computer scientists, engineers, accountants, lawyers, nurses, financial analysts, etc.) have college degrees?
My guess is over 99%.
Some professionals must have college degrees (maybe even advanced degrees just to be licensed). For example CPAs and lawyers cannot be licensed without advanced degrees.

Prodigies hired without college degrees are few and far between, although there are interesting stories about Harvey Firestone, Bill Gates, and others who became wealthy CEOs without diplomas on the wall. You don't have to have a diploma to lead a company, but that company is not going to hire a notable proportion of professionals without college diplomas.

I hate it when Elon Musk encourages students to party it up in college rather than make the primary goals learning and completion of one or more degree programs.


Sunrun crushed Tesla in solar installations last year. A top executive reveals a key piece of the $2.2 billion company's strategy to widen its lead ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/sunrun-strategy-rooftop-solar-batteries-to-aid-grid-avoid-blackouts-2020-2?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI Prime 2020-02-29&utm_term=BI Prime Select

In the years before it was acquired by Tesla in 2016, SolarCity was the largest residential solar installer in the country, owning a third of the market.

Now, it's in the shadow of a little-known rival that is dominating the business of putting solar panels on your roof.

The rooftop solar company Sunrun deployed more than 400 megawatts (MW) of residential solar panels in 2019, according to numbers released by the company on Thursday, while Tesla's annual installation came in at just 173 MW. 

"In a lot of ways, SolarCity ceded leadership when they were acquired by Tesla," Ron Pernick, the founder of the clean energy research firm Clean Edge, said. "Selling a car to a consumer and putting solar on the roof of a consumer's home should have been a good synergy, but I don't think it proved out that way." 

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment for this article.

As the industry leader, Sunrun — which has a market value of about $2.4 billion — is riding the surge of consumer interest in clean and affordable energy

But Audrey Lee, the VP of energy services at Sunrun, revealed that Sunrun's products aren't just about access to renewable power for individual consumers.

The company is trying to position itself as part of the solution to make the power grid more stable and reliable.

Its batteries and panels can keep homes powered during blackouts. They can also contribute energy to the broader grid when the need for power spikes throughout the day, helping replace carbon-emitting power plants on the grid. 

Sunrun is, of course, aware that sweeping blackouts are good for its business. The company sells battery packs that can power a home for days, linked to its solar panels.

Following California's PG&E shutoffs last fall, Sunrun published a report that showed how its customers who lost grid power were able to keep the lights on for up to five or six days straight. 

According to a company spokesperson, the proportion of new Sunrun customers in the Bay Area who bought batteries with their residential systems doubled in October, when the shutoffs reached their peak, from 30% to 60%. 

"Especially given Public Safety Power Shutoffs in California, customers want resiliency," Lee said. 

Continued in article


How can a law student accumulate a $900,000 student loan and then admit she can never pay it back?
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/03/ohio-supreme-court-2019-law-grads-900000-student-loan-debt-does-not-disqualify-her-for-admission-to-.html


The Juiced Scorpion bike is rated for a top speed of 28 mph (45 km/h) and a range of up to 45 miles (72 km) from its nearly 700 Wh battery pack.
Debuts at a low price of $1299.
https://electrek.co/2020/02/29/28-mph-juiced-scorpion-moped-electric-deliveries/
Jensen Comment  
For commuters, this is not a good alternative for rain, ice, snow, and carrying luggage. It's higher value also makes it more tempting for thieves relative to  pedal bicycles.  
At 100 lbs it's a bit heavy to pedal. The recharge time is 2-3 hours.  
Unlike a motorcycle, It's also too slow for freeways. is rated for a top speed of 28 mph (45 km/h) and a range of up to 45 miles (72 km) from its nearly 700 Wh battery pack.  Debuts at a low price of $1299.  https://electrek.co/2020/02/29/28-mph-juiced-scorpion-moped-electric-deliveries/  Jensen Comment  For commuters, this is not a good alternative for rain, ice, snow, and carrying luggage.
It's higher value also makes it more tempting for thieves relative to pedal bicycles.  
At 100 lbs it's a bit heavy to pedal. The recharge time is 2-3 hours.  Unlike a motorcycle, It's too slow for freeways. Up here in the mountains, the narrow shoulders (think 12 inches or less) make any kind of biking dangerous.


Meet the 11 execs who left Amazon's 'CEO Factory' and went on to become power players at major enterprise companies like Twilio, Tableau, and Intel ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/former-amazon-web-services-power-players-ceo-factory-2020-2?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI Prime 2020-03-02&utm_term=BI Prime Select
Jensen Comment
I wonder if this CEO Factory has free shipping for Prime members of Amazon


Criteria for Optimal Home Locations:  An Illustration of Multivariate Utility Maximization

After 17 spine surgeries and various experiments with pain management (including a failed embedded electronic stimulator), my wife has an embedded pain pump at the base of her spine. Last week, after having the pump's morphine tank refilled with a slight increase in dosage, the next morning Erika had excruciating pain like her right knee was being sawed off without anesthesia. Because of red tape, an ambulance would have taken 5-6 hours (rules call for an ambulance to a local hospital, an examination in the ER, and boarding another ambulance to get to the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center that refills her pain pump every month.

In spite of the horrendous winter frost heaves we are now having on our mountain roads I took her on a painful ride to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Center in about 75 minutes. In Dartmouth's ER, it took her two doctors less than two minutes on a wireless laptop to reduce the morphine dosage from the pain pump. Like magic her pain went away (apart from the pain that will never go away).

Afterwards Erika and I wondered why we live so far away from a major medical center when, in San Antonio before I retired, we only lived one block from a major medical center.

This begs the question of where it's best to locate your retirement living. Erika and considered the following choices in 2006:

1. Beside a major medical center (where we already owned a very nice, albeit very large, home that was hard to maintain)
2. Beside a nursing home (in case your partner needs 24/7 long-term care and you want to live nearby)
3. Beside a funeral home
4. Beside a cemetery (so you can easily replace fresh flowers)
4. Within a mile of Polly's Pancake Parlor in very remote and scenic mountains

In spite of Erika's recent episode, I think we would still opt for Polly's Pancake Parlor. We also live on a golf course even though I don't play golf.

Other folks may prefer living alongside a college campus, casino, yacht dock, liquor store, dance hall, super market, shopping mall, grandchild, international airport, sand beach, fishing river, riding stables, freeway exit, library, Broadway theatre, Central Park, bridge/poker players, rental car service, taxi station, prison, organic farm, winery, church, meals-on-wheels center, former spouse, future spouse, sugar daddy, etc.

See how hard it is to maximize multivariate utility functions!

Pictures of where we retired ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Pictures.htm


In 1960, 94% of doctors and lawyers were white men. Today that number has fallen to 60%, and the economy has benefited dramatically because of it ---
https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/workplace-equality-economys-hidden-engine?utm_source=Stanford+Business&utm_campaign=74a19590e3-Stanford-Business-Issue-182-03-1-2020&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0b5214e34b-74a19590e3-70265733&ct=t(Stanford-Business-Issue-182-03-1-2020)

Jensen Comment
In 1960 I was a newly-minted CPA graduating from college and working for the largest multinational CPA firm in Denver called Ernst & Ernst (now Ernst & Young EY). We had female secretaries and one woman professional (not a CPA) doing tax returns in the back room. Only men in the office were allowed to meet with tax and audit clients. Today my hunch is that there are more women CPAs in that same office than men. CPA firms in the USA now hire more college graduates of accounting programs than men, largely because women usually have higher grade averages. There's still somewhat of a glass ceiling but that's largely due to voluntary turnover since the firms now have affirmative action programs to promote women to executive level partnerships. Also CPA firms are among the best companies in the world to promote full-time work-at-home alternatives for working mothers. Partly this is due to the nature of client work that often allows working at home.

There are still issues. I recall a Stanford University study that found women physicians earn less on average than male physicians largely due to not putting in as much overtime work as the men. In law firms there seems to be a problem of with a higher proportion of women leaving law firms. Reasons women leave the larger firms are complicated and studied extensively. I won't go into those findings here. They are somewhat similar to why women leave accounting firms.

Why Are Women Leaving The Legal Profession In Droves?
https://abovethelaw.com/2017/11/why-are-women-leaving-the-legal-profession-in-droves/ 

A huge problem in the medical profession for both men and women is burnout.
Physician burnout in 2019, charted ---
https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2019/01/18/burnout-report

I witnessed the burnout of our two best general surgeons in our local hospital.

Medicare-For-All will exacerbate the physician burnout crisis.


Consulting firms that have given MBA grads the biggest salary boosts in the last 5 years ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/consultancies-with-the-highest-salary-increases-for-mba-grads-bain-mckinsey-pwc

Consultants can make high salaries, and their expertise continues to be in high demand

Consulting firms hand pick young professional out of business school and offer them hefty salaries. While a recent college graduate can earn up to $130,600 right out of college, MBA graduates get drastic salary bumps and can make up to $170,000 in base salary alone — and that's not including bonuses and company covered expenses like relocation.

Management Consulted, a careers resource company that helps graduates land consulting jobs, has released salary reports from leading consultancies for more than six years. They based figures off information from clients, industry insiders, and offer letters. The company declined to give the exact number of salaries used to compile the data.

Business Insider compiled a ranking of firms with the highest salary increases for MBA grads in the past five years. From 2015 to 2020, these firms have an average salary increase of nearly $40,000. Bain & Company, for example, boosted their total potential pay by $57,250, from offering $195,000 in 2015 to $252,250 this year, according to Management Consulted's reports. 

The potential total compensation includes the base salary, signing bonus, performance bonus, and compensation for relocation. The ranking is determined based on the calculated compensation from 2015 to 2020. It's also important to note that the numbers below are maximum possible salaries for business school graduates

. . .

PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) salary increased $23,000 since 2015
Boston Consulting Group's (BCG) salary increased $25,250 since 2015.
Accenture's salary increased $26,000 since 2015.
Deloitte's salary increased $28,000 since 2015.
McKinsey & Company's salary increased $30,000 since 2015.
Kearney's salary increased $48,600 since 2015.
L.E.K. Consulting's salary increased $50,000 since 2015.
Bain & Company's salary increased $57,250 since 2015.
PwC Strategy& salary increased $59,900 since 2015
KPMG's salary increased $65,250 since 2015.

 Continued in article

Jensen Comment
Why do the Big 4 international CPA firms cling to their less profitable auditing engagements when consulting is so profitable and growing by leaps and bounds?
Answer
Auditing is still the bread and butter business for large CPA firms and contributes more to recovery of fixed costs than consulting and tax work. Also auditing is more reliable with clients sticking to the same audit firms year after year. Consulting clients come and go, and to do well in the consulting business you constantly have to make bids for new clients. The drawback of auditing is that litigation risks are greater to a point where audit firms usually have to self-insure for liability risks. Also audit firms are under close scrutiny by government regulators demanding better audits, especially in the United Kingdom recently.

University accounting programs depend heavily upon large international accounting firms who hire the cream of the crop of both accounting and tax graduates. Those graduates usually want offers from those large firms because of both the exceptional training and opportunities to work with great clients who frequently hire auditors away from their accounting firm employees. Many graduates go to work for large CPA firms without ever intending to stay with those firms. This turnover in CPA firms is great for universities seeking employment for their forthcoming graduates.

The most prestigious MBA programs do not usually provide graduates for the accounting and tax practices of accounting firms. Usually state requirements for accounting majors to sit for the CPA exam are too comprehensive for MBA curricula. Any MBA graduate seeking an auditing or tax career usually majored in accounting as an undergraduate before entering a MBA program. Nearly all MBA graduates from prestigious universities majored in something other than accountancy as undergraduates. Most CPA candidates these days graduated from masters of accounting degree programs.


USA Cities Having an Unsually Mild Winter This Year ---
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2020/02/28/places-having-the-most-unusually-mild-winters-this-year/?utm_source=247WallStDailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter&utm_content=MAR022020a

Jensen Comment
Winters seem to be getting milder, wetter, and stormier with dangerous winds, snow, ice, and flooding.


Rents in urban areas are skyrocketing, and faculty and staff members at universities increasingly face long commutes and housing insecurity. San José State hopes a creative solution can help ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/03/amid-severe-cost-living-crunch-san-josé-state-builds-housing-employees?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=bd016d2ef2-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-bd016d2ef2-197565045&mc_cid=bd016d2ef2&mc_eid=1e78f7c952
Note that San Jose in the Bay Area of Silicon Valley is the 10th largest city in the USA according to the above article

. . .

“We pretty regularly hire people, then they last a little while and then they feel they can’t make it, in part because of the housing crisis,” he said. “And they leave.”

This problem is not unique to the university, he said, but one that unfortunately affects many other people in the region.

 

“Working people in the Bay Area are having to move further and further away and make longer and longer commutes. It’s a pervasive problem,” Rudy said. “The Bay Area hasn’t done enough to address these problems.”

Though not every day, Rudy himself commutes from Sacramento.

 

Creative Solutions

San Jose State University has acknowledged the housing crisis and to some extent made addressing it a priority.

 

Faas explains that San José State, despite the higher cost of living in the area, isn’t able to offer faculty members more money than can its peers in the CSU system. Union-negotiated salary scales for both faculty and staff apply to all 23 universities, regardless of geographic location.

 

“[Faculty recruits] quickly realize they’re not going to live anywhere near the campus,” he said. “They’re going to live an hour, two hours, an hour and a half away from the campus, having to commute in here on that type of salary.”

“What they quickly do is they fall in love with California and they end up going up to [CSU campuses at] Stanislaus or Sonoma or Humboldt or one of these lower cost of living areas,” he said.

So the university is now investing heavily in building subsidized housing for faculty and staff.

 

“Four years ago we looked at this situation we found ourselves in and said if we don’t look at faculty and staff housing and giving people options, we’re going to, sometime in the near future, be faced with a massive, massive problem,” Faas said. “You have to find ways than are different than we’ve ever tried to do here.”

 

The university already provides about 50 housing units for faculty and staff, but it is pushing for more placements and more subsidies.

 

The hallmark of San José State's campaign is the Alquist Building, about one block from the university, which once housed state government offices. Early this year California, after prodding from state lawmakers, transferred the building and land to the university. San José State plans to build 800 to 1,200 apartments on the land for faculty, staff, graduate students and students with families. (The university is also planning on substantial investment elsewhere in student housing and housing grants.)

 

Through eliminating land costs and any expectation of profit, Faas said the university can easily get units to 80 percent of market value, although they’re looking to go lower.

 

“This is one of those 'wow' moments, that this could really happen and this could make a difference for our faculty and staff,” he said.

 

President Mary Papazian said early in her tenure she realized the university needed to have affordable housing options to continue recruiting accomplished and diverse talent.

 

“When the development of the Alquist Building is completed as planned, it may very well be one of the most important projects ever completed at San José State. It will definitely be a unique model in converting a state-owned building into affordable housing for our campus community,” she said via email. “Long-term, sustainable solutions take some time, of course, but we are happy to be addressing it now and putting real resources behind it.”

 

Faculty and staff seem hopeful about the potential of the Alquist Building. But they acknowledge it will be more helpful for future staff members.

 

“It’s positive that the university is thinking about trying to develop solutions to address the difficulty of getting housing for faculty,” Rudy said.

Other universities, especially those in urban areas, have not been immune to the housing crisis.

 

San Francisco State University only has enough housing for 4,000 of its 30,000 students, and some have become homeless. In 2018, a City University of New York survey found that 55 percent of students who responded to a survey were housing insecure in the past year. It seems likely that faculty and staff at CUNY and San Francisco State may be struggling as well.

 

Stanford University, just 25 minutes away and also in one of the most expensive housing markets in the country, has for its part developed hundreds of faculty and staff units, some below market rate for those who are eligible.

Stanford, though, has an endowment of over $27 billion. San José State’s endowment is $153 million, 180 times smaller than Stanford’s. San José State also serves twice the students that Stanford does.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
Stanford University has lots of land given to it originally by the Stanford Family on condition that it cannot be sold. This enables Stanford to lease lots for faculty and staff to build homes complete with streets, utilities, emergency services, and campus schools. I think the lease fee is about $1 per year for a campus lot, Faculty like my friends Bill Beaver and Sue Beaver have lived in large and convenient homes that they built decades ago and can live in these homes until they die. However, when they pass on the homes must be sold to Stanford employees. Thus Professor Beaver cannot make the $100 million profit he would probably get if his house was in Woodsville, Atherton, or Palo Alto. However, he's lived very nicely on campus for most of his working life and retirement years. 

When I was in a think tank on the Stanford University campus during two disjointed years I rented two different faculty houses at very reasonable rates for my family. I think faculty who own those homes can only rent to people connected in some way to Stanford. Faculty usually rent their houses when they themselves go on temporary leave off campus.

Stanford also has built faculty, staff, and student short term rental housing that is much more affordable than surrounding rental properties. There are also a lot of dorms on campus.

This faculty and staff housing plus a lot of dormitory space makes Stanford a unique university in the Silicon Valley in much the same way NYU and Columbia are unique among universities in Manhattan although demand greatly exceeds supply at both NYU and Columbia ---
https://facilities.columbia.edu/housing-faculty-and-staff
Manhattan is better than most cities in the USA in terms of transportation alternatives for long-range commuting by students and staff of universities.

A major problem for for faculty in large cities is that living near campus generally means having unsafe public schools for children. This generally requires some kind of salary supplements to pay for private schools. The good news is that there are usually better jobs available for both spouses in large cities relative to Vermillion, South Dakota. Conversely, it's relatively cheap to own a horse acreage not far from the University of South Dakota --- thus making low real estate prices a huge non-taxable fringe benefit for faculty in South Dakota. And the public schools in South Dakota are great.


No Raw Data No Editorial Review ---
https://molecularbrain.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13041-020-0552-2

Jensen Comment
Academic accounting researchers rely heavily upon purchased data available to anybody who will pay for it. Presumably this satisfies the "raw data" issue in the above article. However, what it does not alleviate is the tendency for researchers not to challenge the validity of the purchased data. Hence, any error in the data generally goes undetected even in the event of a replication efforts by independent researchers.

Bob Jensen's threads on the validity and replication problem in accountics science ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/TheoryTAR.htm


A Partnership with Pearson Online Learning Services is Enabling Duquesne University's School of Nursing to Grow Nationally Online
https://sponsored.chronicle.com/Evolution-of-Nursing-Education/index.html


Cambridge College Acquires Online Business School

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/03/06/cambridge-college-acquiring-profit-college-doubling-down-online-offerings-working?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=b4b5d6182f-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-b4b5d6182f-197565045&mc_cid=b4b5d6182f&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

 

Harvard Business School offers online classes that run parallel to its MBA program — for a fraction of the cost
https://www.businessinsider.com/harvard-business-school-online-courses-change-careers-without-mba?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI Prime 2020-03-05&utm_term=BI Prime Select

Jensen Comment
This article documents the success of three students who took the online versions. However, don't be lured into thinking that the online versions are as valuable as the onsite versions in terms of the job market for Harvard MBAs.  For one thing, most any resume of an onsite  graduate from a very prestigious university carries with it the prestige of having been admitted to an onsite program. The advantage of having been admitted to a prestigious university is an enormous plus when it comes to jobs or admission to a another university for further study.

Also Harvard MBA courses are not highly conducive to online learning. Harvard's graduate business school, like its law school, prides itself on Socratic method in the form of in-class case studies where grades depend heavily on performance in case discussions. In fact, Harvard Business School faculty often pride themselves in not revealing their own preferred solutions and often there are no single optimal solutions to the complex cases studied in the Harvard Business School. It's possible to have online students participate in case discussions (think online chat rooms and instant messaging), but this is more difficult to pull off than live-class case discussions.

In comparison, one-on-one tutorial courses may be more effective online. But this is not so for large case courses such as those at Harvard that often have 90 students or more in the classroom competing with one another for air time.

MOOC courses are a bit different in the sense that they are videos of onsite classrooms. The MOOC student usually does not get a chance to contribute to the case discussions on onsite students, but that MOOC student does get to observe students having case discussions.


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

 Bob Jensen's threads on free MOOC learning ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI


Why You Should Stop Using or Cancel Your Citi Mastercard: Systematic Violation of Cardmember Chargeback Rights ---
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/03/why-you-should-stop-using-or-cancel-your-citi-mastercard-systematic-violation-of-cardmember-chargeback-rights-insistence-on-using-fraud-friendly-voiceprints.html


California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CalPERS

CalPERS Legacy Assets: How Much in Overvaluation Has CalPERS Been Hiding?
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2020/03/calpers-legacy-assets-how-much-in-overvaluation-has-calpers-been-hiding.html


Over 400 research papers from different authors and affiliations that all appear to have been generated by the same source ---
https://scienceintegritydigest.com/2020/02/21/the-tadpole-paper-mill/

Current and past editions of my blog called Fraud Updates --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm


Nobel laureate Robert Shiller identifies a rising 'existential threat' to the economy's expansion — and tells us why it's similar to what made the Great Depression so severe
https://www.businessinsider.com/next-recession-robert-shiller-existential-threat-artificial-intelligence-jobs-fear-2020-3?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI%20Prime%202020-03-07&utm_term=BI%20Prime%20Select

 

The fear of artificial intelligence and its ability to displace workers pose an "existential threat" to our sense of economic strength, Robert Shiller, the Nobel Memorial Prize-winning Yale University economist, said. 


He exclusively showed Business Insider the similarity between concerns about AI and the so-called technological-unemployment narrative that sprang up just before the Great Depression.

Robert Shiller popularized a benchmark metric for evaluating whether the stock market is overvalued: the S&P 500 Shiller CAPE ratio.

But the winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is as preoccupied with qualitative factors that influence markets as he is with the raw numbers. 

Shiller has long explored how narratives drive behavior and move the needles of both the financial markets and the economy. In his book "Irrational Exuberance," for example, he presciently outlined the psychological factors and herd thinking that sowed the seeds of the dot-com bust and the 2008 financial crisis. 

More recently, Shiller focused on the market-moving power of oral tradition in a book aptly called "Narrative Economics." And in a recent email exchange with Business Insider, he drew a direct link between one narrative trigger for the Great Depression and a prospective catalyst of the next recession.  

Shortly before the 1930s financial disaster — and within a century of the industrial revolution — the idea that technology would displace human labor became widespread.

Shiller said a book by the economist Stuart Chase called "Men and Machines" popularized the idea of "technological unemployment," which refers to job losses caused by automation. 

If this idea sounds eerily familiar, it is because a similar concern is pervasive today — and artificial intelligence is the culprit this time around. Different iterations of AI are already changing the world, from algorithms that determine the severity of market sell-offs to smart suggestions about which shows we should binge-watch.

Shiller produced the chart below to quantify this fear of "the robots." It shows the share of newspaper articles that have contained the phrases "technological unemployment" and "artificial intelligence" since 1900. The source is a ProQuest news database of more than 3,000 sources.

Continued in article

 

March 7, 2020 reply from XXXXX

The thick book, A Monetary History of the United States, 1967-1960 by Milton Friedman and Anna Jacobson Schwartz would be useful in understanding the depth and length of the Great Depression.  The Board of Governors of the FRS apparently had no idea of the effects of growth or contraction of the money supply on the economy.  Banks failed, the fed allowed the money supply to shrink, and the great depression continued until the beginning of WWII. Benjamin Strong, the chair until his death in 1928, knew of the importance of the money supply.  Too bad he died a year before the market crashed.  We are very fortunate that Ben Bernanke was fed chair in 2007.  In Dec 2007 I was told by a colleague in Economics that the velocity of money had declined but that the fed under Ben Bernanke's leadership was pouring money into the economy by purchasing treasury bonds.  As a result the market bottomed out in early March 2008, and we have been in an expansion for over 10 years.

 


 
Tesla Sent Incomplete Injury Reports, California Regulator Says

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-06/tesla-sent-incomplete-injury-reports-california-regulator-says?cmpid=BBD030620_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=200306&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily

Tesla has repeatedly denied that working conditions at its main California assembly plant are unsafe. New documents show the company omitted hundreds of injuries from an annual summary it sends to the government.

Jensen Comment
Thus far Tesla has resisted attempts to unionize its only automobile manufacturing plant in the USA.


Facebook: the Inside Story (history book) ---
https://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Inside-Story-Steven-Levy-ebook/dp/B07V8CL7RH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=17YXRVUIGIXI6&keywords=steven+levy+facebook&qid=1583707500&sprefix=steven+levy%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-1/marginalrevol-20


In 1665, Cambridge University closed because of the plague. Issac Newton decided to work from home. He discovered calculus & the laws of motion. Just saying.
— Paddy Cosgrave
Cosgrave, chief executive of Web Summit, in a tweet last week reflecting on the ramifications of coronavirus.
As quoted again in a March 11, 2020 Chronicle of Higher Education newsletter.
Jensen Comment
For Cambridge students in 1665 there were no photocopy machines for lecture notes, telephone, Web sites, video/radio technologies, and other online technologies used today for online teaching.

 

The Coronavirus Is Upending Higher Ed. Here Are the Latest Developments---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Coronavirus-Is-Upending/248175?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1075283&cid=at&source=ams&sourceId=296279

The novel coronavirus and Covid-19, the disease it causes, are becoming a public-health threat across the world, fueling fears of a possible pandemic.

As more cases are reported, colleges are canceling study-abroad programs, moving courses online, and even asking students to leave campus. Meanwhile, some academic associations are canceling their conferences.

We’ve compiled what you need to know — to be updated regularly — on the virus’s spread and its implications for higher ed.

Which American campuses have reported cases?

As of March 10, at least 808 cases of the virus had been reported in the United States. Scattered reports have connected some of those cases to colleges, and a growing number of them have responded by canceling in-person classes:

After a Vanderbilt University student who had been traveling with other students to Barcelona, Spain, tested positive for Covid-19, the institution announced on March 9 that it was canceling in-person instruction beginning on March 16 for at least two weeks.

After an employee tested positive for coronavirus, Rice University, in Houston, announced on March 8 that in-person classroom instruction and undergraduate teaching labs for March 9 to March 13 — the last week of classes before spring break begins — have been canceled. Faculty members “can provide material that can be completed remotely and does not require group interaction,” the university said. In addition, on-campus public events involving more than 100 people have been banned through April 30.

The University of Washington, with three campuses in the Seattle area, reported that a staff member had tested positive for coronavirus, and on March 6 it announced it would move in-person classes online until the end of the quarter, on March 20. The university said it intended to resume in-person instruction on March 30, with the beginning of a new quarter.

How are colleges preparing for an outbreak on campus?

In addition to restricting travel (more on that later), a number of campuses have canceled in-person classes and moved most or all course work online. Among the latest to announce such a step are Ohio State University, Indiana University, and New York University:

Continued in article

Harvard cancels in-person classes for the rest of the semester ---
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/486765-harvard-cancels-in-person-classes-for-the-rest-of-the-semester

It's a little neater to Stanford University because of the quarter system. Students at Stanford are not caught on campus in the middle of a term. Instead Stanford is asking them not to return to campus for the Spring Quarter ---
Sanford Newsletter on March 11, 2020

University update regarding Spring Quarter
In response to the virus threat and supporting efforts to curtail its transmission, this afternoon the University communicated that undergraduate students should not return to campus for the start of the Spring Quarter. In situations where this is not a viable option, students have been directed to appropriate resources to address their individual needs.

University guidance regarding events
Stanford recently shared guidance designed to limit transmission situations. Stanford Alumni Association is following these guidelines for events on and off campus and we have shared them with our club and chapter leaders. As a result, many events in March and April have been cancelled or postponed. We are closely monitoring the COVID-19 situation and will assess future events as they draw nearer. In the meantime, we will continue to offer online content and plan future events for alumni to connect once this situation is behind us.

This is a rapidly evolving situation and healthalerts.stanford.edu is the best source for tracking updates and accessing Stanford resources related to the virus.

Jensen Comment
Some professors may discover they like online teaching.


Coursera (online courses from prestigious universities) ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coursera

Coursera Providing Free Access to Its Course Catalog to Universities Impacted by COVID-19 ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/coursera-providing-free-access-to-its-course-catalog-to-universities-impacted-by-covid-19.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

 


If onsite courses are cancelled there are many accounting video tutorials and complete courses available both for free and for a modest fee ---
https://www.google.com/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&as_q=BYU&as_epq=Accounting+Videos&as_oq=&as_eq=&imgsz=&imgar=&imgc=&imgcolor=&imgtype=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&as_filetype=&as_rights=
Especially note Khan Academy
These videos may be used to complete courses that are forced to go online due to the coronavirus.

At Amazon search for the phrase "Accounting Video" in quotes
https://www.amazon.com/s?i=aps&k=%22Accounting%20Video%22&ref=nb_sb_noss_2&url=search-alias%3Daps


CASE Introduces World's First Fully Electric Backhoe Loader ---
https://insideevs.com/news/403585/case-fully-electric-backhoe-loader/

Jensen Comment
The author discusses purchase costs superficially but totally ignores operating costs in this article. The way the article is pitched toward operation by electric utility companies leads me to believe that operating costs are quite high for users who cannon buy inexpensive power to recharge the batteries.

This might be a project for cost accounting students to compare purchase and operating costs of an electric backhoe with a comparable diesel backhoe. The comparison should be across different usage scenarios and climate conditions. For example, how well does the tractor do in terms of parking lot snow removal --- which is how such tractors are used in the winters where I live. Battery powered vehicles generally perform less efficiently in cold weather.


Goodyear invented a new tire that never needs to be replaced. Here's how its self-regenerating tread works ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/goodyear-invented-concept-tires-self-regenerating-self-charging-2020-3

Jensen Comment
Never say never. Kmart got burned with a battery warranty that provided full replacement of a battery for the life of a car (I got four free batteries on my enduring Plymouth station wagon). Chrysler got burned with a lifetime powertrain warranty on the life of a car. I think the government added some funding for this when Chrysler got a bailout.


SAT and ACT college tests canceled due to coronavirus fears has students worried ---
https://www.foxnews.com/us/high-schoolers-troubled-as-sat-and-act-college-tests-canceled-because-of-virus-fears


How to remove negative items from your credit report ---
https://www.foxbusiness.com/money/remove-negative-credit-report-items

Jensen Comment
With pending good deals for buying vehicles and homes now is probably a good time to do what you can to clean up your credit status. Of course this assumes your income has not been badly disrupted by current economic conditions.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 




From the Scout Report on March 6, 2020

Jp Science --- https://github.com/sgreben/jp
Jp is a command-line utility for generating quick visualizations of data. It can produce bar charts, line charts, scatter plots, histograms, and heatmaps from either JSON or CSV data. Users could employ tools like jq (featured in the 04-27-2018 Scout Report), pup (featured in the 04-11-2019 Scout Report), or csvkit (featured in the 01-31-2020 Scout Report) to extract data from online sources or local data sets, then use jp to generate visual summaries of that data. The jp README file describes the various data formats that the tool understands and shows plots generated from each type. In the Examples folder, users can locate the specific data files used to generate the example plots. Jp is free software, distributed under the MIT license, with source code available on GiHub. Executable binaries are available for download for Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.

 




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


Education Tutorials

Bob Jensen's threads on education links ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch


Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials

From India:  COVID19 Files – Scientific Investigation On Mysterious Origin Of Coronavirus ---
https://greatgameindia.com/covid19-files-scientific-investigation-on-mysterious-origin-of-coronavirus/#Virological_Evidence_Gene_Variation_in_Wuhan_New_Coronavirus

How to Make Sense of Quantum Physics ---
http://nautil.us/issue/83/intelligence/how-to-make-sense-of-quantum-physics
Why is quantum physics a lot like social science?
The quantum effects disappear when scientists try to measure them.

Radical hydrogen-boron reactor leapfrogs current nuclear fusion tech ---
https://newatlas.com/energy/hb11-hydrogen-boron-fusion-clean-energy/

The Story of Physics Animated in 4 Minutes: From Galileo and Newton, to Einstein ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/02/the-story-of-physics-animated-in-4-minutes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Cheese Science Toolkit Science --- www.cheesescience.org

 

Interesting facts about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster --- https://www.foxnews.com/science/chernobyl-facts-ukraine-nuclear-disaster-fallout

01. Chernobyl may have actually been a boon for wildlife
02. Chernobyl has become a spooky tourist attraction
03. There was no containment building
04. The greatest harm ended within weeks of the blast
05. The Soviet Union attempted a cover-up of the disaster
06. The clean up after the fallout was much deadlier than the initial blasts
07. The death toll is unknown
08. The level of radiation was similar to Hiroshima
09. People still live there illegally
10. Abortions were performed on women after the incident
11. CHERNOBYL SHOCKER AS FUNGI THAT EATS RADIATION FOUND INSIDE NUCLEAR REACTOR

 

MIT:  10 Breakthrough Technologies of 2020 ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/lists/technologies/2020/

Here is our annual list of technological advances that we believe will make a real difference in solving important problems. How do we pick? We avoid the one-off tricks, the overhyped new gadgets. Instead we look for those breakthroughs that will truly change how we live and work.

01.    Unhackable internet
02.    Hyper-personalized medicine
03.    Digital money
04.    Anti-aging drugs
05.    AI-discovered molecules
06.    Satellite mega-constellations
07.    Quantum supremacy
08.    Tiny AI
09.    Differential privacy
10.    Climate change attribution

 

This story is part of our March/April 2020 Issue

See the rest of the issue
Subscribe

We’re excited to announce that with this year’s list we’re also launching our very first editorial podcast, Deep Tech, which will explore the the people, places, and ideas featured in our most ambitious journalism. Have a listen here.

 

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

Watch 85,000 Historic Newsreel Films from British Pathé Free Online (1910-2008) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/watch-85000-historic-newsreel-films-from-british-pathe-free-online-1910-2008.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

For a limited time the Quarterly Journal of Economics is allowing free downloads of articles in its Religion and Economics archives ---
https://academic.oup.com/qje/pages/religion-and-economics-collection

Bob Jensen's threads on Economics, Anthropology, Social Sciences, and Philosophy tutorials are at
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm

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


Law and Legal Studies

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


Math Tutorials

Euler's Sum of Powers Conjecture --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler%27s_sum_of_powers_conjecture
The Shortest Known Paper Published in a Serious Math Journal ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/02/shortest-known-paper-published-in-a-serious-math-journal.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

February 27, 2020 reply from Jagdish Gangolly

Bob,

In one of Jerzy Neyman's PhD classes, George Dantzig misunderstood two problems Neyman had written on the board as a homework problem. Neyman told him what he had achieved. A year later when Dantzig was fishing for a dissertation topic he went to see Neyman who asked him to put his paper in a binder and he would accept it as his dissertation. You can find the two papers at:

On the Non-Existence of Tests of "Student's" Hypothesis Having Power Functions Independent of $\sigma$

On the Fundamental Lemma of Neyman and Pearson

Regards,

Jagdish

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

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


History Tutorials

The History of the Plague: Every Major Epidemic in an Animated Map ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/the-history-of-the-plague-every-major-epidemic-in-an-animated-map.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Watch 85,000 Historic Newsreel Films from British Pathé Free Online (1910-2008) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/watch-85000-historic-newsreel-films-from-british-pathe-free-online-1910-2008.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

A peek at a critical time for Japan through its art ---
https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/02/painting-edo-offers-window-into-rich-era-of-japanese-art/

How Hawaii's Japanese Population Was Spared Internment During World War II ---
https://time.com/5802127/hawaii-internment-order/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief-pm&utm_content=20200316&xid=newsletter-brief

Facebook: the Inside Story (history book) ---
https://www.amazon.com/Facebook-Inside-Story-Steven-Levy-ebook/dp/B07V8CL7RH/ref=sr_1_1?crid=17YXRVUIGIXI6&keywords=steven+levy+facebook&qid=1583707500&sprefix=steven+levy%2Caps%2C138&sr=8-1/marginalrevol-20

Depictions of Emily Dickinson vary by decade. In the ’80s she was seen as a model feminist; in the ’90s, as queer. Today we see her as driven ---
https://bostonreview.net/arts-society/lynne-feeley-emily-dickinson-escapes

The Russo-Turkish Wars ---
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwGDWwKWqhlzKhmkxBJCnldfTDs

The Smithsonian Puts 2.8 Million High-Res Images Online and Into the Public Domain ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/02/the-smithsonian-puts-2-8-million-high-res-images-online-and-into-the-public-domain.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

The influenza pandemic of 1918 was the most contagious calamity in human history ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/03/what-worked-in-1918-1919.html

11 pandemics that changed the course of human history, from the Black Death to HIV/AIDS — to (maybe) coronavirus ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/pandemics-that-changed-the-course-of-human-history-coronavirus-flu-aids-plague

Mapping the Lives Social studies (holocaust) --- www.mappingthelives.org

Robert Parkin Peters was a con artist. His biggest fraud: infiltrating Oxford’s academic elite ---
https://www.historytoday.com/reviews/our-friend-fraud

18 Surprising Things Stolen From Libraries ---
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/618612/things-stolen-libraries

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

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings ---
https://folkways.si.edu/

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


Music Tutorials

 

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

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


Writing Tutorials

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



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

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

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

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

February 29, 2020

·         Drug Shows Promise Vs. Aggressive Breast Cancer

·         Record Number of Pedestrian Deaths Seen in U.S.

·         More Than 4 in 10 Americans Are Now Obese: CDC

·         Study: No Need for Adult Tetanus, Diphtheria Shots

·         Weight Gain Is No Friend to Aging Lungs

·         FDA Warns Jimmy John's Over 'Adulterated' Produce

·         Losing a Spouse Could Speed Brain's Decline

·         Drug May Help Tough-to-Treat Chronic Cough

·         Another Vaping Hazard: Less-Healthy Mouths

March 3, 2020

·

·     YYour Pets Unlikely to Get or Give Coronavirus

·         Preparing for Coronavirus: Dos and Don’ts

·         Drug Shows Promise Vs. Aggressive Breast Cancer

·         Record Number of Pedestrian Deaths Seen in U.S.

·         More Than 4 in 10 Americans Are Now Obese: CDC

·         Study: No Need for Adult Tetanus, Diphtheria Shots

·         Weight Gain Is No Friend to Aging Lungs

·         FDA Warns Jimmy John's Over 'Adulterated' Produce

·         Losing a Spouse Could Speed Brain's Decline

V

March 4, 2020

·         Helping Seniors Manage Meds After Hospital Reduces Readmission: Study

·         Dirty Air Cuts Millions of Lives Short Worldwide: Study

·         Want to Help Keep Diabetes at Bay? Brush & Floss

·         Coronavirus: What You Need to Know

·         A Flood of COVID-19 Patients Could Swamp Hospitals

·         Your Pets Unlikely to Get or Give Coronavirus

·         Preparing for Coronavirus: Dos and Don’ts

·         Drug Shows Promise Vs. Aggressive Breast Cancer

·         Record Number of Pedestrian Deaths Seen in U.S.

 

March 7, 2020

 

·        The Power of Hand-Washing to Prevent Coronavirus

·        CRISPR Used Inside Person's Body For First Time

·        Melanoma Death Risk Rises When a Spouse Dies

·        Lose Weight, Lower Prostate Cancer Risk

·        Only 20% Have Fast Access to Best Stroke Care

·        Low Stock, High Prices for Coronavirus Supplies

·        Get Ready for Clocks to 'Spring Ahead'

·        Brain Cancer Research Could Help Dogs AND Kids

·        RECALL: IKEA Dressers May Tip Over

·        Unscrambling the Egg Data: One a Day Looks OK

March 9, 2020

·        Spread of Coronavirus Cancels Travel and Events

·        Standard Methods Rid Hospital Rooms of Coronavirus

·        Will a Jolt of Java Get Your Creative Juices Flowing?

·        The Power of Hand-Washing to Prevent Coronavirus

·        CRISPR Used Inside Person's Body For First Time

·        Melanoma Death Risk Rises When a Spouse Dies

·        Lose Weight, Lower Prostate Cancer Risk

·        Only 20% Have Fast Access to Best Stroke Care

·        Low Stock, High Prices for Coronavirus Supplies

·        Get Ready for Clocks to 'Spring Ahead'

VIEW ALL HEALTH NEWS

March 10, 2020

·        Lack of Paid Sick Leave a Coronavirus Threat

·        Gene Tests May Help Older Breast Cancer Patients

·        Know the Symptoms of COVID-19

·        Some Could Show COVID-19 Symptoms After Quarantine

·        Pricey New HIV PrEP Drug No Better Than Generics

·        Spread of Coronavirus Cancels Travel and Events

·        Second HIV Patient Reportedly 'Cured'

·        Standard Methods Rid Hospital Rooms of Coronavirus

·        Will a Jolt of Java Get Your Creative Juices Flowing?

·        The Power of Hand-Washing to Prevent Coronavirus

March 11, 2020

·        Could Dad-to-Be's Health Affect Baby's Health?

·        4 Dead, 32 Ill From Recalled Enoki Mushrooms

·        AA Still Best to Beat Problem Drinking: Review

·        Lack of Paid Sick Leave a Coronavirus Threat

·        Gene Tests May Help Older Breast Cancer Patients

·        COVID-19 Symptoms

·        Some Could Show COVID-19 Symptoms After Quarantine

·        Pricey New HIV PrEP Drug No Better Than Generics

·        Spread of Coronavirus Cancels Travel and Events

March 12, 2020

·        Cancer Death Rates Continue to Fall in U.S.

·        Living Healthier Can Help Shield You From A-fib

·        Could Dad-to-Be's Health Affect Baby's Health?

·        4 Dead, 32 Ill From Recalled Enoki Mushrooms

·        AA Still Best to Beat Problem Drinking: Review

·        Lack of Paid Sick Leave a Coronavirus Threat

·        Gene Tests May Help Older Breast Cancer Patients

·        COVID-19 Symptoms

·        Some Could Show COVID-19 Symptoms After Quarantine

March 14, 2020

·        Finding Signs of Health Woes in Facebook Postings

·        Cancer Death Rates Continue to Fall in U.S.

·        Living Healthier Can Help Shield You From A-fib

·        Could Dad-to-Be's Health Affect Baby's Health?

·        4 Dead, 32 Ill From Recalled Enoki Mushrooms

·        AA Still Best to Beat Problem Drinking: Review

·        Lack of Paid Sick Leave a Coronavirus Threat

·        Gene Tests May Help Older Breast Cancer Patients

·        COVID-19 Symptoms

March 16, 2020

·        Poll Finds Many Americans Heeding Advice on Coronavirus

·        New York Leads Race to Expand Coronavirus Testing

·        Finding Signs of Health Woes in Facebook Postings

·        Cancer Death Rates Continue to Fall in U.S.

·        Living Healthier Can Help Shield You From A-fib

·        Could Dad-to-Be's Health Affect Baby's Health?

·        4 Dead, 32 Ill From Recalled Enoki Mushrooms

·        AA Still Best to Beat Problem Drinking: Review

·        Lack of Paid Sick Leave a Coronavirus Threat

VIEW ALL HEALTH NEWS

 


From Israel:  An Optimistic Mathematics Scenario for the Coronavirus ---
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-nobel-laureate-Coronavirus-spread-is-slowing-621145


Coronavirus vaccine test opens with 1st doses ---
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-03-coronavirus-vaccine-volunteer-1st-shot.html

. . .

This vaccine candidate, code-named mRNA-1273, was developed by the NIH and Massachusetts-based biotechnology company Moderna Inc. There's no chance participants could get infected from the shots because they don't contain the coronavirus itself.

It's not the only potential vaccine in the pipeline. Dozens of research groups around the world are racing to create a vaccine against COVID-19. Another candidate, made by Inovio Pharmaceuticals, is expected to begin its own safety study—in the U.S., China and South Korea—next month

Continued in article


From India:  COVID19 Files – Scientific Investigation On Mysterious Origin Of Coronavirus ---
https://greatgameindia.com/covid19-files-scientific-investigation-on-mysterious-origin-of-coronavirus/#Virological_Evidence_Gene_Variation_in_Wuhan_New_Coronavirus_COVID-19


Anecdotal Evidence --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence

Can You Get Coronavirus Twice? How Long Are You Immune After COVID-19?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/03/15/can-you-get-infected-by-coronavirus-twice-how-does-covid-19-immunity-work/#5a34c3d05c0f

Jensen Comment
The above article raises more questions than it answers. Beware of anecdotal evidence and evidence based upon very small samples.

For instance, is it possible that you have been declared "over" Covid-19 when in fact you are not truly over it? Most of us have experienced colds or flu that bounced back when we thought the infection had ended.

It may well be that there is not immunity after having Covid-19, but I don't think there's enough scientific evidence to date about this important issue.


Four puzzling coronavirus facts ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/03/four-puzzling-coronavirus-facts.html

Jensen Comment
The comments at the end of this tidbit are interesting, but responders are no all medical experts.


Amazon Has Been Secretly Working on a Cure for the Common Cold ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-secretly-working-on-cold-cure-2020-3?IR=T&utm_medium=email&utm_term=BII_Daily&utm_source=Triggermail&utm_campaign=BII%20Weekender%202020.3.13
Jensen Comments
Problems are that there's no one kind of cold and causes quickly mutate.


CBS News:  Flu has killed 20,000 Americans so far this season, including 136 children, CDC ---
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/flu-deaths-20000-americans-this-season-including-136-children-cdc/

Jensen Comment
Flu, like pneumonia, is often termed a friend of the dying since it often since it often brings about an earlier end to suffering while slower death approaches. However, this does not mean that such efforts should not be made to prevent flu and pneumonia across the world.


The Cauliflower Boom ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-new-kale-cauliflower-becomes-a-bestseller-11583317803


BLUECROSS PLANS SHOW ALZHEIMER’S TRIPLED AMONG 30- TO 64-YEAR-OLDS ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/alzheimers-rates-tripled-for-younger-us-adults-2020-2?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BII20200303LastWeekinDHPro&utm_term=BII%20Marketing%20%28Engaged%2C%20Active%2C%20Passive%2C%20Disengaged%2C%20New%29%20Active%20Suppression


The influenza pandemic of 1918 was the most contagious calamity in human history ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/03/what-worked-in-1918-1919.html


11 pandemics that changed the course of human history, from the Black Death to HIV/AIDS — to (maybe) coronavirus ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/pandemics-that-changed-the-course-of-human-history-coronavirus-flu-aids-plague

 

 

 


Humor for March 2020

On Super Tuesday the only place where Bloomberg won was American Somoa. Rumor has it that was because he bought it before the election.

Blonde Jokes --- http://www.laughfactory.com/jokes/blonde-jokes

There was a blonde who just got sick and tired of all the blonde jokes. One evening, she went home and memorized all the state capitals. Back in the office the next day, some guy started telling a dumb blonde joke. She interrupted him with a shrill announcement, "I've had it up to here with these blonde jokes. I want you to know that this blonde went home last night and did something probably none of you could do. I memorized all the state capitals." One of the guys, of course, said, "I don't believe you. What is the capital of Nevada?" "N," she answered.

 

 

 

 

 




Humor February 2020 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book20q1.htm#Humor0220.htm 

Humor January 2020 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book20q1.htm#Humor0120.htm

Humor December 2019--- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book19q4.htm#Humor1219.htm

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   




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