Tidbits on May 28, 2020
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Set 04 of Dorothy's Winter and Early Springtime Wonderland
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Dorothy/Set04/Set04.htm

 

Tidbits on May 28, 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

Watch 3,000+ Films Free Online from the National Film Board of Canada ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/03/watch-3000-films-free-from-the-national-film-board-of-canada-2.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Once Upon a Long Time Ago ---
https://www.youtube.com/embed/nSC7SXQpInM?rel=0

The Sunset Hill House Hotel (near our cottage) ---
https://www.thesunsethillhouse.com/
Watch the video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5cqUX0LcbU&t=9s


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

Watch Joni Mitchell Sing an Immaculate Version of Her Song “Coyote,” with Bob Dylan, Roger McGuinn & Gordon Lightfoot (1975) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/05/watch-joni-mitchell-sing-an-immaculate-version-of-her-song-coyote.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

American Music Creators Web Archive Arts ---
www.loc.gov/collections/american-music-creators-web-archive/about-this-collection

The Sound Track of Urban Cowboy ---
https://jborden.com/2020/05/25/music-monday-the-soundtrack-from-urban-cowboy/

John Mayer Teaches Guitarists How to Play the Blues in a 45-Minute Masterclass ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/05/john-mayer-teaches-guitarists-how-to-play-the-blues-in-a-45-minute-masterclass.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

College Marching Band Fails and Perfections ---
https://jborden.com/2020/05/18/music-monday-college-marching-bands-fails-and-perfection/

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


Photographs and Art

This image could be the first direct evidence of a planet being born ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/20/1002006/first-direct-evidence-planet-formation-ab-aurigae/

The Largest & Most Detailed Photograph of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch Is Now Online: Zoom In & See Every Brush Stroke ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/05/the-largest-most-detailed-photograph-of-rembrandts-the-night-watch-is-now-online-zoom-in-see-every-brush-stroke.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Jupiter Looks, Um, Different ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/jupiter-infrared-image/611647/

This Week in Pictures ---
https://www.foxnews.com/world/the-week-in-pictures-may-16-may-22

Wisconsin: Images of the Badger State ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2020/05/wisconsin-photos/611710/

Creepy wolf spider hatchlings seen in US Fish & Wildlife photo ---
https://www.foxnews.com/science/wolf-spider-hatchlings-us-fish-wildlife-photo

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 Pulter Project: Poet in the Making ---
http://pulterproject.northwestern.edu/

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




100 online courses (from prestigious universities) delivered by Coursera are $0 now through May 31 — here's a list of all the trmendous classes open for free enrollment ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/free-online-coursera-courses


Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on May 28, 2020
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2020/TidbitsQuotations052820.htm             




Libraries Do Not Need Permission To Lend Books: Fair Use, First Sale, and the Fallacy of Licensing Culture ---
https://kylecourtney.com/2020/05/18/libraries-do-not-need-permission-fair-use-first-sale-and-the-fallacy-of-permission-culture/

Copyright ownership concerns abound in the rapid shift to remote instruction ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/19/who-owns-all-course-content-youre-putting-online?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=9a7da3e4f6-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-9a7da3e4f6-197565045&mc_cid=9a7da3e4f6&mc_eid=1e78f7c952Bob

Bob Jensen's threads on the DMCA ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm#Copyright 


Literacy Resources from the Verizon Foundation
What Happened to Thinkfinity.org?
https://www.mymove.com/broadband/provider/verizon-fios/


How the coronavirus will change book publishing, now and forever ---
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2020-03-25/how-the-coronavirus-will-change-book-publishing-now-and-forever


Lax Unemployment Benefits Rules Made Washington State Primary Target Of Nigerian Crime Ring ---
https://www.blabber.buzz/conservative-news/893982-gov-inslees-lax-unemployment-benefits-rules-made-washington-primary-target-of-nigerian-crime-ring?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=2KvkcSGywrCfXsRfotUH4XJ8Trg..A

Copyright bots and classical musicians are fighting online. The bots are winning ---
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/copyright-bots-and-classical-musicians-are-fighting-online-the-bots-are-winning/2020/05/20/a11e349c-98ae-11ea-89fd-28fb313d1886_story.html

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


Phishing Scam --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing

How to avoid COVID-19 phishing scams ---
https://www.fm-magazine.com/news/2020/may/avoid-coronavirus-phishing-scams.html?utm_source=mnl:cpald&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=22May2020

Virus unleashes wave of fraud in US amid fear and scarcity ---
https://apnews.com/f7ab8d9f968905498cb3b31c9c753b1e

What Is Dropshipping, and Is It a Scam? ---
https://www.howtogeek.com/667846/what-is-dropshipping-and-is-it-a-scam/

Secret Service unearths Nigerian fraud ring stealing hundreds of millions in unemployment benefits ---
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/498160-secret-service-unearths-overseas-fraud-ring-stealing-millions-in-unemployment

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


Colleges Worry They'll Be Sued if They Reopen Campuses ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/15/colleges-seek-protection-lawsuits-if-they-reopen?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=1deb579398-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-1deb579398-197565045&mc_cid=1deb579398&mc_eid=1e78f7c952
Colleges aren't alone in such worries. Lawyers are salivating!


Boston University Probes Cheating On Online Exams During COVID-19 ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/05/boston-university-probes-online-cheating-on-exams-during-covid-19.html

The Fight Against Cheating in Distance Education ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/11/online-proctoring-surging-during-covid-19?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=eebf0d01a5-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-eebf0d01a5-197565045&mc_cid=eebf0d01a5&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Jensen Comment
Cheating control can be difficult in large lecture courses on campus. My daughter's chemistry class had nearly 1,000 students at the University of Texas. Some chemistry majors were supporting themselves by taking the course for other students (there's an enterprise for generating fake ID cards)

TESTING CAN BE DIFFICULT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE NOT REPEATEDLY GIVING "ORAL EXAMS" VIA INSTANT MESSAGING.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE TRICKS OF THE TRADE FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION ---

http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#OnlineOffCampus 
Also see
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Ideas


Colleges Lower the Boom on Retirement Plans ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/21/more-institutions-are-suspending-or-cutting-retirement-plan-contributions?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=4014dceb11-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-4014dceb11-197565045&mc_cid=4014dceb11&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Duke to suspend University-paid retirement fund contributions, cut salaries for highly compensated employees ---
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/05/duke-university-to-suspend-contributions-to-employee-retirement-funds/

Jensen Comment
Such suspensions are in most cases breaches of employment contracts.


American shale drillers helped turn the U.S. into the world’s top oil producer, topping 13 million barrels a day earlier this year. It likely will be years—if ever—before they reach such heights again ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-threatens-to-hobble-the-u-s-shale-oil-boom-for-years-11590312601?mod=djemCFO


How to Mislead With Statistics

NYT:  Air Travel Surges by 123%! (Beware of Misleading Data Like That) ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/19/upshot/virus-economic-data-upended.html

Jensen Comment
Many business firms had earnings fall to zero or negative. Beware of future reports of enormous percentage gains in earnings or sales. In statistics we warn students to beware of denominator effects.


Most Community Colleges Plan to Stay Virtual ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/20/many-four-years-plan-reopen-fall-most-community-colleges-plan-virtual-semester?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=906c43b7c5-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-906c43b7c5-197565045&mc_cid=906c43b7c5&mc_eid=1e78f7c952


Michigan Overhauls Policies for Dismissing Tenured Professors ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/05/26/michigan-overhauls-policies-dismissing-tenured-professors?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=e8b58cc620-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-e8b58cc620-197565045&mc_cid=e8b58cc620&mc_eid=1e78f7c952


College Presidents Say Fall Reopening Likely ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/05/26/college-presidents-say-fall-reopening-likely?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=e8b58cc620-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-e8b58cc620-197565045&mc_cid=e8b58cc620&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Jensen Comment
Sadly, it's the lawyers who worry college presidents more than the physicians ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/15/colleges-seek-protection-lawsuits-if-they-reopen


Three myths about federal regulation ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/three-myths-about-federal-regulation.html

Jensen Comment
Although I'm not a fan of ruining the USA economy by spending $100 trillion on regulations, I am a fan of government regulations. For example, I document hundreds of reasons (frauds) why derivative financial markets need regulating due to costly abuses that were and still are taking place with derivatives contracts (where I also document the history of accounting rules for derivative contracts) ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm#DerivativesFrauds
This is such a huge document it may load slowly


The New Economics of Chess ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/the-new-economics-of-chess.html

NPR:  Humans are No Match for Computers on the Chessboard ---
https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/10/24/499162905/20-years-later-humans-still-no-match-for-computers-on-the-chessboard


Isaac Newton wrote Nathaniel Hawes: "A Vulgar Mechanick can practice what he has been taught or seen or done, but if he is in an error he knows not how to find it out and correct it, and if you put him out of his road, he is at a stand; Whereas he that is able to reason nimbly and judiciously about figure, force and motion, is never at rest till he gets over every rub." In 1980, Richard Westfall took Never at Rest as the title of his biography of Newton.
http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Newton.html
Jensen Comment
In your academic life have you encountered "scholars" like Nathaniel Hawes?

 


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

Helicopter Money --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_money

Scott Pelly from CBS News --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Pelley

Jerrome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Powell

CBS Sixty Minutes
Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the coronavirus-ravaged economy ---

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-economy-jerome-powell-federal-reserve-chairman-60-minutes/

Pelly:  Fair to say you simply flooded the system with money?

 

Powell:  Yes. We did. That's another way to think about it. We did.

 

Pelly: Where does it come from?

 

Powell:  We print it digitally. So as a central bank, we have the ability to create money digitally. And we do that by buying Treasury Bills or bonds for other government guaranteed securities. And that actually increases the money supply. We also print actual currency, and we distriubte that through the Federal Reserve banks.

 

Jensen Comment
This printing of money is not the normal way money is created. Currency is usually printed only to satisfy liquidity (currency) demand for money that's already in the money supply such as when you write a $100 check for cash. The money in your checking account is already in the money supply. Money is created when you borrow from the bank to add to your checking account.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money#Creation_of_money

Bank money, or broad money (M1/M2) is the money created by private banks through the recording of loans as deposits of borrowing clients, with partial support indicated by the cash ratio.

Currently, bank money is created as electronic money. In most countries, the majority of money is mostly created as M1/M2 by commercial banks making loans. Contrary to some popular misconceptions, banks do not act simply as intermediaries, lending out deposits that savers place with them, and do not depend on central bank money (M0) to create new loans and deposits

But there are reserve requirements that banks must maintain to limit the amount of money created by banks

 


This AI Computer Poet Mastered Rhythm, Rhyme, and Natural Language to Write Sonnets Like Shakespeare ---
https://spectrum.ieee.org/artificial-intelligence/machine-learning/this-ai-poet-mastered-rhythm-rhyme-and-natural-language-to-write-like-shakespeare
Jensen Comment
The computer's poems are technically correct, but they aren't very good poems. However, does anybody doubt that they will get better?


There was a group of economists who had been trained at the University of Chicago who had a ready-made plan for a radical marketization of the economy
The Political Slant of the Nobel Prize in Economics ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/10/nobel-factor-offer-soderberg/503186/

Chicago Price Theory:  An authoritative textbook based on the legendary micro economics course taught at the University of Chicago ---
https://www.amazon.com/Chicago-Price-Theory-Sonia-Jaffe/dp/0691192979/marginalrevol-20

Price theory is a powerful analytical toolkit for measuring, explaining, and predicting human behavior in the marketplace. This incisive textbook provides an essential introduction to the subject, offering a diverse array of practical methods that empower students to learn by doing. Based on Economics 301, the legendary PhD course taught at the University of Chicago, the book emphasizes the importance of applying price theory in order to master its concepts.

Jensen Comment
I ordered this, but have not yet read it.


After 26 years in the classroom, a professor was pushed out. Was he a legitimate threat, or just tough?
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwHNMbdcpWVwDnpNHVpzDgBQZMS

Michael Jay Shively was rigorous — on that much, everyone agrees.

Over his 26-year career at Utah Valley University, the biology professor took pride in the anatomy courses he built and the hard work they required.

Students who made it through often credited Shively with their successful medical careers. He prepared them for the demands of urgent care or of the emergency room. Other students were less charmed by his deadly multiple-choice exams. The workload, they felt, was beyond reasonable.

He also butted heads with colleagues, including a junior faculty member in the department, who saw him as an imposing micromanager.

For a while, frustrations with Shively stayed dormant. Last year, they erupted. On March 25, 2019, Shively received a single-page letter from the president that listed six types of misconduct. The letter accused him of arbitrary and capricious course requirements and grading, and of violating the academic freedom of colleagues. The letter also accused him of  intimidating and threatening students and employees.

That day, he was suspended and escorted from campus.

An investigation ensued. According to his family, Shively grew anxious and depressed. He felt investigators were withholding details that would enable him to defend himself.

Nearly five months after he was suspended, before a decision was announced, Shively died by suicide. He was 73. This February, his widow sued Utah Valley, claiming the investigation had caused Shively to suffer “a spiraling decline.” Utah Valley denies any responsibility for Shively’s death.

It’s impossible to know for sure why Shively took his own life. Mental-health experts stress that suicide never has a single cause. But the events preceding his death, and people’s differing interpretations of them, expose the gap between academic ideals and academic practice.

At Utah Valley, Shively’s case became a Rorschach test. With little detail into the initial allegations, a group of faculty members saw the shape of something that seemed wrong: a protracted investigation of a tenured professor without due process. They questioned why suspension was warranted and why Shively’s classroom practices were under scrutiny.

Academic freedom is an ideal treasured by professors, and universities vow to protect it. The classroom is the instructor’s domain. But that freedom doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Instead, it’s exercised by people with different amounts of power, who don’t always see things the same way. And it's bound by the university’s ultimate goal: to keep its community safe.

Is a professor challenging students or abusing them?

Is he mentoring a junior colleague or bullying her?

Is he rigorous or unreasonable?

The answers depend on your vantage point. At Utah Valley, no one seems to have the full picture.

Shivelywas traditional. For years, he taught the same way, from the same textbook and from the same question bank. Politically conservative, he was opinionated and outspoken, with a broad smile and lively sense of humor. In class, he often strummed funny songs that he had composed on his guitar.

He regularly competed in the Texas Water Safari, a canoe race that touts itself as the toughest in the world, and he liked to see toughness in his students, too. Years ago, he offered what was known as his I’ll-Do-Anything-for-A-Few-More-Points Canoe Race, a 62-mile, extra-credit opportunity, with more points awarded the farther and faster students paddled, according to a Salt Lake Tribune article. By the end of the semester, students were typically itching for extra credit.

“If I scattered broken glass on the floor and said, ‘Walk across that and I’ll give you one more point,’ I’ve got students who would do it,” Shively told the paper.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
In my 40+ years at four universities I've encountered professors (not many) who were legendary for grading toughness One extreme was a Swiss visiting math professor at Stanford University. He flunked all of his students in an advanced math class and was not again invited to teach again at Stanford. I wonder if those students still have F grades on their transcripts.

There's somewhat of a myth that top researchers are top teachers. I've encountered too many counter examples for that. Stanford had a famous tenured math professor who had a legendary reputation in research. Among students he also had a legendary reputation for lack of preparation for class that made his courses useless even though he had a reputation as being an easy grader (possibly because he did not want to waste time grading). At another university I made friends with a professor who had an outstanding reputation in operations research. However, students never signed up for his courses. His teaching reputation was not for being tough. He was, quite simply, a lousy teacher.

And I've encountered quite a few professors from other nations who quite frankly never overcame language and other communication problems in class.

Probably the saddest thing I encountered in my career is how professors changed their grading distributions at or around the time universities commenced to make student evaluations mandatory and included them in tenure and performance evaluations. I could name names of formerly tough graders who later became known as easy graders. In fairness I also encountered some professors who had lousy teaching reputations who commenced to change their ways when student evaluations became mandatory. They "listened" to their students and made more of an effort to improve their teaching reputations.

But the tragic outcome of mandatory teaching evaluations became the nationwide scandal of grade inflation where median grades of C+ quickly moved to median grades of A-
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#RateMyProfessor
Look at the data for many universities


Will Our Military State Fail Us?
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/05/will-our-military-state-fail-us.html


Simpson's Rule --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson%27s_rule

Thomas Simpson did not invent the rule named after him, Simpson's Rule ---
http://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Simpson.html

Bob Jensen's threads on mathematics ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm
Scroll down to Mathematics and Statistics


MIT:  The pandemic is emptying call centers. AI chatbots are swooping in ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/05/14/1001716/ai-chatbots-take-call-center-jobs-during-coronavirus-pandemic/

MIT:  Facebook claims its new chatbot beats Google’s as the best in the world ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/04/29/1000795/facebook-ai-chatbot-blender-beats-google-meena/
It has also open-sourced the AI system to spur further

Bob Jensen's threads on chatbots (the wave of the future in automated distance education/training about technical processes) ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Chatbots


Results of Finland's basic income experiment: small employment effects, better perceived economic security and mental wellbeing ---
https://www.kela.fi/web/en/news-archive/-/asset_publisher/lN08GY2nIrZo/content/results-of-the-basic-income-experiment-small-employment-effects-better-perceived-economic-security-and-mental-wellbeing?campaign_id=4&emc=edit_dk_20200507&instance_id=18283&nl=dealbook&regi_id=30788195&segment_id=26792&te=1&user_id=ac433822f9751950671a52757d020e14

Jensen Comment
Finland also suffered from a high unemployment rate before the pandemic. Finland is 98.6% white and aims to keep it that way with very tight border security. That greatly affects the economic reasonableness of a guaranteed annual income.

From an economic standpoint the reasonableness depends much upon whether the basic income is in addition to other safety nets (think welfare, food stamps, housing subsidies, child care, free college, etc.). Karl Marx admitted that there is a core of unemployed people who cannot or otherwise will not work in any economy.

With loose border controls as proposed by all present and former Democratic candidates for the 2020 election, a guaranteed annual income becomes another carrot to attract more and more border crossings. I suspect that Finland's basic income would've been an overwhelming failure with loose border controls.

With loose border controls you will be making the social safety net global.

Open immigration can’t exist with a strong social safety net; if you’re going to assure healthcare and a decent income to everyone, you can’t make that offer global ---
Paul Krugman
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/724654-open-immigration-can-t-exist-with-a-strong-social-safety-net


UC-Hastings Sues San Francisco Over ‘Insufferable’ Sidewalk Conditions Amid COVID-19 ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/05/uc-hastings-sues-san-francisco-over-insufferable-sidewalk-conditions-amid-covid-19.html
The thousands of street dwellers are the homeless not presently among the 7,000+ fortunates now getting free rooms, food, condoms, cigarettes, narcotics, and booze in San Francisco's most luxurious hotels.

The vexing problem soon will be what to do with those 7,000+ secured homeless when those luxury hotels want to once again open up to rich visitors to San Francisco. Will these secured homeless get new free tents? Most of them will refuse to live in traditional shelters (that are often deemed unsafe and worse than living on the streets).
My solution is to permanently dock unused cruise ships having nowhere to go. Let the Silicon Valley billionaires pay for "passenger" condoms, cigarettes, food, narcotics, and booze.


How to Mislead With Statistics

Simple Solution to California’s Anticipated $54 Billion Budget Deficit ---
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/05/15/simple-solution-to-californias-anticipated-54-billion-budget-deficit/

. . .

A 50% tax on the wealth of just Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk would solve the deficit with tens of billions remaining. A quick google search puts their wealth at:[1]

Zuckerberg $68.2 billion

Ellison $67.4 billion

Musk $36.8 billion

An emergency wealth tax of 50% on these three individuals alone would come to $86.2 billion.[2] That would leave over $30 billion more than the estimate of California’s government deficit. That extra money could be used to house the homeless, guarantee everyone food and access to medical care, finally provide a proper level of funding for the state’s public colleges and schools, lift many, if not all, of the state’s residents out of poverty, and have funds to help out in case the state experiences another round of destructive fires and/or a major earthquake.

 

This type of tax should have no impact on the lifestyles of the super-wealthy. Recently, they appeared to be able to get by on “far less.” Zuckerberg’s wealth was put at $46 billion at the end of 2015 and “just” $4 billion in 2010, less than 6% of what it is today. In 2015, Musk’s wealth was estimated at $13.2 billion, not even half of what it is now. After the tax, the net worth of the super-wealthy would still be excessive.

Continued in article

Jensen Common

An extreme wealth tax such as that suggested above is not so simple as the article naively makes it sound. California needs cash and none of the billionaires mentioned above are sitting on tens of billions in cash or gold or any other investments that are easily cashed in at market values. They're sitting mostly on common stock in the companies they control (Facebook, Oracle, Tesla, Boring, and SpaceX, etc.). Stock prices are set by supply and demand at relatively small amounts of daily trading. Forcing these huge shareholders to quickly dump 50% of their enormous holdings would send share values plunging to a point where these billionaires and their companies no longer have the wealth envisioned in the above article.

Secondly, the author of the above article assumes that these billionaires will passively accept a 50% tax on all their wealth. If such legislation in Sacramento approaches reality those billionaires will be long gone from California and may even move their companies out of state. The naive author of the above article does not investigate why Sweden and France experimented with and then abandoned much more modest wealth taxes on their most wealthy taxpayers as the wealth taxes were discovered to be counterproductive on the economies. 

Thirdly, California would be sending a message that there is no longer a California dream of becoming a billionaire with new ventures in the no-longer Golden State. Instead the message would be to start new ventures iin more business-friendly states that still offer an American Dream.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain's wealthiest man and a key Brexit backer, has decided to leave the UK and live in Monaco ---
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/jim-ratcliffe-brexit-uk-richest-man-monaco-move-tax-haven-eu-leave-a8484211.html

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Britain’s wealthiest man and a key Brexit backer, has decided to leave the UK and live in Monaco.

Despite his previous claims that the UK would be “perfectly successful” outside of the European Union (EU), the billionaire has chosen to leave the country of his birth and move to the principality, whose residents do not pay income tax, on the Mediterranean coast.

Sir Jim, founder and CEO of the chemicals giant Ineos, was named as the richest man in Britain in this year’s Sunday Times rich list, with an estimated fortune of £21bn.

Continued in article

The Achilles heel of the dual income tax : the Norwegian case ---
https://ssb.brage.unit.no/ssb-xmlui/handle/11250/180583

The dual income tax provides the self-employed individual with large incentives to participate in tax minimizing income shifting. The present paper analyses the income shifting incentives under the Norwegian split model in the presence of technology risk, and it concludes that the widely held corporation serves as a tax shelter for high-income self-employed individuals. In addition, real capital investments with a low risk profile are means to shift income from the labor income tax base to the capital income tax base for the high-income self-employed.

OECD:  Recommended Tax Reform in Norway --- Phase Out the Wealth Tax
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/content/paper/5k9bls0vpd5d-en?crawler=true

Tax Reform in Norway

A Focus on Capital Taxation

Norway’s dual income tax system achieves high levels of revenue collection and income redistribution, without overly undermining economic performance and while paying attention to environmental externalities. It treats capital and labour income in different ways: capital income is taxed at a single low rate, while labour income is taxed at progressive rates. However, effective tax rates on savings vary widely across asset classes. The favourable treatment of owner-occupied housing relative to financial savings should be reduced, preferably by taxing imputed rents at the standard 28% statutory rate. The wealth tax implies very high effective tax rates on savings, indicating that it either gives rise to tax avoidance or significantly inhibits growth. The government should investigate the issue and, if the growth-equity trade-off is too unfavourable to growth, phase out or lower the wealth tax. To restrain tax avoidance by the wealthy, the base of the gift and inheritance tax should be broadened. Overall, the reform package recommended in this paper would improve the allocation of capital and increase work and investment incentives. It could be designed to be broadly neutral in regard to income redistribution and public revenue.

American Economic Review 2019:  Tax Evasion and Inequality (Scandinavia) ---
https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20172043

Drawing on a unique dataset of leaked customer lists from offshore financial institutions matched to administrative wealth records in Scandinavia, we show that offshore tax evasion is highly concentrated among the rich. The skewed distribution of offshore wealth implies high rates of tax evasion at the top: we find that the 0.01 percent richest households evade about 25 percent of their taxes. By contrast, tax evasion detected in stratified random tax audits is less than 5 percent throughout the distribution. Top wealth shares increase substantially when accounting for unreported assets, highlighting the importance of factoring in tax evasion to properly measure inequality.

Here's a humorous and serious TED talk that seriously argues why the world needs billionaires---
https://www.ted.com/talks/harald_eia_where_in_the_world_is_it_easiest_to_get_rich
 


Elon Musk’s Boring Company completes underground tunnels in Las Vegas ---
https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/elon-musk-boring-company-tunnels-complete


How to Mislead With Statistics

The average cost of car insurance in the US ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/average-cost-of-car-insurance

Jensen Comment
The article initially warns of some misleading things about the averages listed for states. Much depends upon age and driving records. Also much depends upon package deals where home owner's insurance, personal liability insurance, and auto insurance are bundled into one deal.

Also much depends upon such things as deductible choices (having a high deductible usually saves a lot of money) and "only paying for what you need" such as choosing to forego collision and theft insurance on older vehicles. Risk of car theft varies greatly by state such as Texas versus Vermont.


JAMA journal retracts well-publicized paper linking doctor burnout to patient safety ---
https://retractionwatch.com/2020/05/21/jama-journal-retracts-well-publicized-paper-linking-doctor-burnout-to-patient-safety/#more-119503


Nature:  When a handful of authors were caught reviewing their own papers, it exposed weaknesses in modern publishing systems ---
https://www.nature.com/news/publishing-the-peer-review-scam-1.16400


A renowned Oxford scholar claimed that he discovered a first-century gospel fragment. Now he’s facing allegations of antiquities theft, cover-up, and fraud ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/06/museum-of-the-bible-obbink-gospel-of-mark/610576/


Brain Stuff forwarded by Auntie Bev ---
https://www.coursehero.com/file/23088175/Brain-Stuff/
Jensen Comment
Before long you can get better at picking out things


Youth Football Coach Set Up After-School Programs to Bilk Medicaid Out of Millions of Dollars ---
https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/health-care-fraud-ring-busted-051320


Massachusetts doctor accused of Medicare fraud charged with murdering his wife ---
https://www.foxnews.com/us/massachusetts-doctor-accused-of-medicare-fraud-charged-with-murdering-his-wife


Libraries have spent years reinventing themselves. Will they have to do it again?
https://www.marketplace.org/2020/05/14/libraries-have-spent-years-reinventing-themselves-will-they-have-to-do-it-again/


Nursing Homes Are Obtaining Liability Immunity Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic ---
https://time.com/5835228/nursing-homes-legal-immunity-coronavirus/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief-coronavirushomes&utm_content=20200517
Can't Live With Them and Can't Live Without Them
Prices would soar through the roof if charges for care have to cover insurance and liability losses for malpractice (states would suffer the most due to Medicaid obligations)


Secret Service unearths Nigerian fraud ring stealing hundreds of millions in unemployment benefits ---
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/498160-secret-service-unearths-overseas-fraud-ring-stealing-millions-in-unemployment


Humpbacks Returning to Pre-whaling Numbers ---
https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/hell-on-whales/65447/

More like comeback whales. The 19th-century whaling boom reduced the population of these massive marine mammals from 27,000 to just 450 — but a recent study found that since whaling was largely banned in the 1980s, populations have rebounded to 93 percent of what they once were. This isn't just an animal issue, but a climate change one: Since each humpback can store up to 37 tons of carbon in its body, more whales help to reduce planetary emissions.


The Sears Headquarters Deal Cost Taxpayers $500 Million. 30 Years Later, There’s Little to Show for It ---
https://www.propublica.org/article/sears-story-day-2-study

Jensen Comment
There are winners and losers in big tax deals like this. Silicon Valley might not have amounted to much without tax relief. Some tax deals are hard to assess as of yet, particularly tax deals for solar and wind power energy conversions.

Peoria's tax deal with Caterpillar probably saved retaining the headquarters and plant locally and thus far looks like an economic winner for Peoria. Hoffman Estates bet big on Sears which is beginning to look like a big loser --- because, unlike Caterpillar, Sears became a big loser. Hoffman Estates bet on a losing horse. Peoria bet on a winner.

Some local deals are affected by factors outside the control of local politics. For example, towns in Texas and the State of Washington benefit by not having state personal income taxes. Towns in Illinois, California, New Jersey, and Connecticut are being hammered by increases in personal income taxes that are state-wide. In some states, fiscal problems (think unfunded pensions) create huge fears among businesses when making location decisions. Tax deals for companies in those states may be good for the companies but bad for employees. Vermont is Exhibit A that discourages professionals from moving into the lowly-populated state that taxes everything imaginable.


The coronavirus pandemic could cost the global economy a nightmarish $82 trillion over 5 years, a Cambridge study warns ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-pandemic-cost-global-economy-82-trillion-cambridge-study-2020-5

Putting Things in Perspective
Forwarded by Auntie Bev

It’s a mess out there now. Hard to discern between what’s a real threat and what is just simple panic and hysteria. For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900.


On your 14th birthday, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday, 22 million people perish in that war. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until your 20th birthday. 50 million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million.

On your 29th birthday, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, the World GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy.

When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren’t even over the hill yet.
And don’t try to catch your breath. On your 41st birthday, the UnitedStates is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war.

Smallpox was epidemic until you were in your 40’s, as it killed 300 million people during your lifetime.


At 50, the Korean War starts. 5 million perish. From your birth, until you are 55 you dealt with the fear of Polio epidemics each summer. You
experience friends and family contracting polio and being paralyzed and/or die.

At 55 the Vietnam War begins and doesn’t end for 20 years. 4 million people perish in that conflict. During the Cold War, you lived each day with the fear of nuclear annihilation. On your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, almost ended. When you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends.

Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How did they endure all of that? When you were a kid in 1985 and didn’t think your 85 year old grandparent understood how hard school was. And how mean that kid in your class was. Yet they survived through everything listed above. Perspective is an amazing art. Refined and enlightening as time goes on. Let’s try and keep things in perspective. Your parents and/or grandparents were called to endure all of the above – you are called to stay home and sit on your couch.

Jensen Comment
Thus far in terms of deaths the coronavirus is a relatively minor pandemic. However, in terms of tens of trillions of dollars in spending worldwide and its impact on future economies this latest pandemic may become a bigger disaster than anything else in history --- a disaster that could bring the USA to its knees. Are we paying too much for health and safety?

 


University Of Minnesota Law Professor Falsely Accused of Rape Wins $1.2 Million Defamation Judgment ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/05/university-of-minnesota-law-professor-falsely-accused-of-rape-wins-12-million-defamation-judgment.html


 

 

 




From the Scout Report on May 15, 2020

OpenElement --- www.openelement.com 
OpenElement is a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) web authoring platform. It presents an interface similar to desktop publishing platforms such as Adobe InDesign and Microsoft Publisher. Using modern web standards (e.g. HTML5 and CSS3), OpenElement generates responsive, mobile-friendly sites that work consistently across all major browsers. If necessary, users can edit the generated HTML and CSS directly to fine-tune and customize the look of their generated pages. OpenElement includes a local web server and embedded copy of PHP for working and locally testing dynamically generated websites. On the OpenElement Wiki, visitors will find detailed usage documentation and video tutorials. OpenElement is available for Windows computers.

Jensen Comment
Microsoft Expression ---
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=36179
I like Microsoft Expression for Website authoring, but sadly it will not handle some of my enormous files such that I use the much older Microsoft FrontPage. But if I did not have these huge Web documents to update I would use Microsoft Expression.


Joplin --- https://joplinapp.org/ 
Joplin is a note taking and to-do list application similar to Evernote. It is designed to handle large numbers of notes organized into notebooks. Notes are stored in Markdown format and can be modified using either Joplin itself or with the text editor of your choice. Similarly, all of Joplin's metadata is stored in plain text formats that can be easily inspected and modified with standard text editing tools. Joplin is able to import Evernote's .enex export files. The application also supports synchronizing notebooks across devices, using a number of cloud services including: Nextcloud, Dropbox, and OneDrive. Joplin is available for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS devices. Joplin is free software, distributed under the MIT license, with source code available via GitHub.

 




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


Education Tutorials

Questacon: Hands On STEM Activities Science ---
www.questacon.edu.au/outreach/programs/questacon-smart-skills-initiative/workshops/resources/teacher-resource-hands-stem-activities

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


Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials

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

Jupiter Looks, Um, Different ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/05/jupiter-infrared-image/611647/

Questacon: Hands On STEM Activities Science ---
www.questacon.edu.au/outreach/programs/questacon-smart-skills-initiative/workshops/resources/teacher-resource-hands-stem-activities

Animal Planet Endangered Species --- www.animalplanet.com/wild-animals/endangered-species

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species http://www.iucnredlist.org/

Art for the Sky (Ecology, Threatened Species) --- http://www.artforthesky.com/default.htm

Great Big Story: On the Brink (threatened species) --- www.greatbigstory.com/series/animals-on-the-brink

Species in Pieces --- http://species-in-pieces.com/

World Wildlife Fund: Teaching Resources --- www.worldwildlife.org/teaching-resources

Projects for Wildlife Podcast --- www.projectsforwildlife.com

Bob Jensen's threads on free online science, engineering, and medicine tutorials are at --http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm

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


Social Science and Economics Tutorials

ChefSteps (videos) --- www.youtube.com/user/chefsteps
Bob Jensen's threads on food and recipes --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#---Recipes

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

 

Bob Jensen's threads on mathematics ---
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 Largest & Most Detailed Photograph of Rembrandt’s The Night Watch Is Now Online: Zoom In & See Every Brush Stroke ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/05/the-largest-most-detailed-photograph-of-rembrandts-the-night-watch-is-now-online-zoom-in-see-every-brush-stroke.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Canadian National Digital Heritage Index --- www.cndhi-ipnpc.ca/en

Grant was both a Civil War general who preserved a nation and a reluctant politician who helped stabilize its postwar economy. He also produced one of the most remarkable pieces of writing by any president, or by any American, and under the most extreme of circumstances — a feat facilitated by an unexpected friendship with Mark Twain ---
https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/how-ulysses-s-grant-and-mark-twain-rescued-each-others-fortunes/330133/?utm_term=OZY&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=History / Grant Dedicated
Also see Civil War faked news ---
https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/how-one-major-hoax-panicked-an-entire-nation/31615/?utm_term=OZY&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=History / Grant Dedicated

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

American Music Creators Web Archive Arts ---
www.loc.gov/collections/american-music-creators-web-archive/about-this-collection

Copyright bots and classical musicians are fighting online. The bots are winning ---
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/copyright-bots-and-classical-musicians-are-fighting-online-the-bots-are-winning/2020/05/20/a11e349c-98ae-11ea-89fd-28fb313d1886_story.html

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

The Pulter Project: Poet in the Making ---
http://pulterproject.northwestern.edu/

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/

May 15, 2020

·        States Not Hitting Testing Goals; Feds Promise Aid

·        COVID-19: Millions of Older Americans Going Hungry

·        COVID Test Used at White House Often Wrong

·        L.A. Could Keep Stay-at-Home Order Through Summer

·        Countries Renew Restrictions As COVID Spikes

·        Group Screening Could Help COVID-19 Test Shortages

·        1 in 4 YouTube Videos Mislead Viewers About COVID

·        Some Data May Be Worse Than No Data in the COVID Era

·        COVID-19 Will Likely Change Docs' Incentive Targets, Bonuses

May 16, 2020

·        Quarantine Having Lasting Impacts on Kids’ Health

·        Retiring Nurse Gets Surprise Parade After 42 Years

·        Studies: Hydroxychloroquine Useless Against COVID

·        Newborn May Have Contracted Coronavirus in Womb

·        Could Interferon Drugs Help Fight COVID-19?

·        Trending Clinical Topic: Kawasaki Disease and COVID-19

·        Pfizer: COVID-19 Vaccine Could Arrive in October

·        L.A. Mayor: All Residents Must Wear Masks

·        Limited Reopenings at Many National Parks

May 19, 2020

·        More Vitamin D, Lower Risk of Severe COVID-19?

·        Disney: Shopping Area in Florida Reopens This Week

·        HHS Chief: Reopening a ‘Very Localized’ Decision

·        Men Say Masks ‘Not Cool,’ Less Likely to Wear Them

·        Trump Gives Details About COVID-19 Vaccine Project

·        Wisconsin Bars Full As Stay-Home Order Struck Down

·        People Mount Strong Immune Responses to COVID-19

·        More USS Roosevelt Sailors Test Positive Again

·        FDA Authorizes First at-Home COVID-19 Sample Kit

·        WebMD Poll: Many Report Weight Gain During Shutdown

May 20, 2020

·        Summer Camp Groups Release COVID-19 Guidance

·        First COVID Vaccine Tested on Humans Shows Promise

·        Pandemic Has Cut Global Carbon Emissions

·        Antibodies May Tame Inflammatory Condition in Kids

·        Texas Has Biggest One-Day Increase in New Cases

·        VA Reports More Than 1,000 Deaths From COVID-19

·        Coronavirus Puts UV in the Disinfectant Spotlight

·        Childhood Vaccination Rates Drop During Pandemic

·        How Will COVID Change the Workplace?

May 21, 2020

·        Heart Attack Cases at ERs Fall by Half

·        Annie Glenn, Widow of Astronaut John Glenn, Dies

·        Johnson & Johnson Halts Talc Baby Powder Sales

·        As PSA Tests Drop, Adv. Prostate Cancer Cases Rise

·        Trump Takes Hydroxychloroquine to Prevent COVID-19

·        70% of Israel’s COVID-19 Cases Came From the US

·        COVID: Asthma Ups Ventilator Needs of Young Adults

·        1 in 5 Hospitalized NYC COVID Patients Needed ICU

·        Enlarged Right Ventricle and COVID-19 Deaths

May 22, 2020

·        Former Patients Testing Positive Aren’t Infectious

·        Blood Test Might Predict Worsening MS

·        Lockdown Got You Feeling Low? Yoga May Help

·        COVID Can Complicate Pregnancy If Mom Is Obese

·        Positive Tests Temporarily Recloses Ford Plant

·        Poll Shows Health Care Workers Lacked Enough PPE

·        CDC Posts Guidance on Reopening of US

·        Quarantine Weight Gain Not A Joking Matter

·        Warehouse Employees Sue over Ethylene Oxide Exposure

May 23, 2020

·        Strokes Are Deadlier When They Hit COVID Patients

·        Pandemic Has Overburdened Parents Stressed Out

·        How To Do Memorial Day Safely During Pandemic

·        Consumer Reports Ranks Top Sunscreens for 2020

·        Blood Vessels in Lungs Split in Response to COVID-19

·        WHO: Global COVID-19 Cases Hit Single-Day Record

·        TSA Unveils New Security Procedures at Airports

·        Longtime White House Butler Dies From Coronavirus

·        Keto Might Change Your Gut in More Ways Than One

May 26, 2020

·        Could a Hormone Help Spur High Blood Pressure?

·        Can You Catch COVID-19 Through Your Eyes?

·        Dirty City Air Might Raise MS Risk

·        Picky Eating Isn't Just a Phase, Study Finds

·        Nursing Homes Are Ground Zero for COVID-19

·        Getting Back to Work Safely After Lockdown

·        White House Updates COVID-19 Testing Strategy

·        Remdesivir Speeds Recovery for COVID-19 Patients

·        Sales of Drug Trump Touted Rise Sharply

·        Restart Guidelines for TV and Film in Georgia


Scientists find evidence of link between diesel exhaust, risk of Parkinson's ---
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-scientists-evidence-link-diesel-exhaust.html


How the Lyme disease epidemic is spreading and why ticks are so hard to stop ---
https://theconversation.com/how-the-lyme-disease-epidemic-is-spreading-and-why-ticks-are-so-hard-to-stop-123142


Humor for May 2020

This Hilarious Walmart Deli Employee Drives His Bosses Crazy In the Most Creative Way Possible ---
https://twentytwowords.com/this-hilarious-walmart-deli-employee-drives-his-bosses-crazy-in-the-most-creative-way-possible/?utm_source=deck&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=influencer&utm_campaign=dm64


Brothers allowed black widow to sting them believing they'd turn into Spider-Man ---
https://www.foxnews.com/world/bolivian-brothers-believing-they-would-become-spiderman-get-stung-by-dangerous-spider-report


Forwarded by Glen Gray

Jay Leno, of the Tonight Show, would visit college graduations and ask students questions. The answers were funny or sad depending on point of view regarding education. For example, who were we fighting in WWII and who was our ally? Answer: fighting Russia; ally was Germany. In what war did John McCain fight in? Answer: Civil war. How many moons circle the earth? 2.

I was thinking about those kinds of answers when I was watching the Late, Late Show last night. James Cordon, the host, had 16 people in a Zoom meeting. He asked each of them a different question. If they had less than 3 wrong answers, they would each win $100. They did end up with three wrong answers. One question was who was the actress in Pretty Woman? The person couldn’t remember the actress’ last name. That’s ok, maybe the guy didn’t watch movies. I didn’t know Lady Ga Ga’s real name. But the other two questions they missed were sad.

 The 16 people were in their 20s. The other two questions they missed were: What is the name of the Queen of England? The person didn’t have a clue. The second question was: Name one of the two houses of congress? The person said: Republicans.

Forwarded by Auntie Bev

Nostalgic 1950’s Memories ---
https://biggeekdad.com/2015/05/1950s-memories/

 




Humor May 2020 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book20q2.htm#Humor0520.htm

Humor April 2020 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book20q2.htm#Humor0420.htm   

Humor March 2020 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book20q1.htm#Humor0320.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