Tidbits on August 14, 2020
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Part 2 Pictorial of the Move of St. Matthews Chapel ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Churches/StMatthews/Move/MoveSet02.htm 

 

Tidbits on August 14, 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

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

James Baldwin Talks About Racism in America & Civil Rights Activism on The Dick Cavett Show (1969) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/james-baldwin-talks-about-racism-in-america-civil-rights-activism-on-the-dick-cavett-show-1969.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

Amazing Waterfalls --- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0FRt0CNhbo

The Map of Quantum Physics: A Colorful Animation Explains the Often Misunderstood Branch of Science ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/the-map-of-quantum-physics-a-colorful-animation-explains-the-often-misunderstood-branch-of-science.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

Take an 360° Interactive Tour Inside the Great Pyramid of Giza ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/07/take-an-360-interactive-tour-inside-the-great-pyramid-of-giza.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

Send In The Clowns --- https://www.theretrosite.com/send-in-the-clowns/

Revisit Scenes of Daily Life in Amsterdam in 1922, with Historic Footage Enhanced by Artificial Intelligence ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/scenes-of-daily-life-in-amsterdam-in-1922.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

Beautiful Wild Animals ---
https://biggeekdad.com/2014/06/beautiful-wild-animals/

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

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 

Sarah Blackwood of W.O.T.E. with a Beautiful Lullaby ---
https://jborden.com/2020/08/03/music-monday-sarah-blackwood-of-w-o-t-e-with-a-beautiful-lullaby/

A Tribute to Songs About Caroline ---
https://jborden.com/2020/08/10/music-monday-a-tribute-to-songs-about-caroline-with-no-link-to-a-video-of-sweet-caroline/

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


Photographs and Art

View 250,000 British Paintings & Sculptures Free Online ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/view-250000-british-paintings-sculptures-free-online.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

Sweden:  The Story Behind Malmo’s Turning Torso, the World’s First Twisting Tower ---
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/sweden/articles/the-story-behind-malmos-turning-torso-the-worlds-first-twisting-tower/?utm_term=OZY&utm_campaign=daily-dose&UTM_content=Monday_08.10.20&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Final

A Virtual Tour of Ancient Rome, Circa 320 CE: Explore Stunning Recreations of The Forum, Colosseum and Other Monuments ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/a-virtual-tour-of-ancient-rome-circa-320-ce-explore-stunning-recreations-of-the-forum-colosseum-and-other-monuments.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

Istanbul Captured in Beautiful Color Images from 1890: The Hagia Sophia, Topkaki Palace’s Imperial Gate & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/istanbul-captured-in-beautiful-color-images-from-1890.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

More people are moving to Arctic Norway ---
https://www.ozy.com/around-the-world/the-capital-of-the-arctic-finds-a-new-true-north/85625/?utm_term=OZY&utm_campaign=WIYC&UTM_content=Wednesday_08.12.20&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Final

Explore the Ruins of Timgad, the “African Pompeii” Excavated from the Sands of Algeria ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/explore-the-ruins-of-timgad-the-african-pompeii-excavated-from-the-sands-of-algeria.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

HEARTS OF OUR PEOPLE: NATIVE WOMEN ARTISTS ---
https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/native-women-artists

BOOKBINDERS MUSEUM: BOUND FOR BEAUTY (book covers) ---
https://bookbindersmuseum.org/catalog/collection/?folder_id=3c91a280-1630-11ea-9d21-63cd57060682

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

PLANET EBOOK (free classic books online) --- www.planetebook.com

WOCREADS (books by women of color) --- https://wocreads.wordpress.com/

WHAT TO DO ABOUT WILLIAM FAULKNER ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/michael-gorra-william-faulkner/614206/

BOOKSANDQUILLS SCIENCE (book reviews) --- www.youtube.com/user/booksandquills/featured

FIRST DRAFT WITH SARAH ENNI (story telling) --- www.firstdraftpod.com

BOOK CLUB FOR KIDS --- www.bookclubforkids.org

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




Time for a Little Good News
Warning:  The data supporting most of the Good News tidbits shown below were cut off before the 2020 Pandemic. That pandemic might have lessened some of the good news such as good news about tremendous progress being made to reduce world poverty and hunger.

The Power of Kindness ---
https://jborden.com/2020/08/13/the-power-of-kindness/

Alcoholism drug disulfiram shows strong potential as COVID-19 treatment ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/alcoholism-drug-disulfiram-covid-19-treatment/

Poverty Among Black and Hispanic Men in the USA is Falling ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1246-black-men-poverty/

USA's child poverty rate hit an all-time low ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/428-us-child-poverty/

Worldwide fewer kids are dying from malnutrition ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/292-malnutrition-deaths/

World Poverty was Lower Than You Think (Before the 2020 pandemic) ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/66-world-poverty/

Child labour is falling around the world ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1277-child-labour/

Chronic Homelessness is Declining in Most States ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/289-homelessness-declining/

Homelessness among USA veterans is down by 1/3 ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/286-us-veteran-homeless/

New Plant-Based Plastic Bottles Will Degrade on One Year ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1334-plant-based-plastic-bottle/

75% of All Aluminum in the USA Has Been Recycled ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1359-aluminium-recycling/

Child Cancer Survival Rates are Increasing ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1278-child-cancer-survival/

Newly Discovered Microbe Prevents Malaria Spreading by Mosquitoes ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1312-microbe-stops-malaria/

We're Eliminating Trachoma Blindness Worldwide ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/313-eliminating-trachoma/

Australia has a mobile shower and laundry service for the homeless ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/632-mobile-service-homeless/

There's Finally an Ebola Vaccine that Works ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/989-ebola-vaccine/

Ebola Outbreak in the DR Congo is Over ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1321-ebola-congo/

Biologists in Finland Developed a Vaccine to Protect Bees ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1240-vaccine-for-bees/

The world will add 70,000 new solar panels per hour over the next five years ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/17-world-solar-panels/

Clever chemistry turns ordinary bricks into electricity storage device ---
https://theconversation.com/clever-chemistry-turns-ordinary-bricks-into-electricity-storage-devices-144051

Ukraine's First Solar Power Plant is Constructed at the Chernobyl Site of Nuclear Disaster ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/479-solar-plant-chernobyl/

How falling solar costs have renewed clean hydrogen hopes ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/07/1006126/green-hydrogen-affordable-solar-wind-renewables/

Scotland generates enough wind energy to power all of its homes ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/

China is winning its war on air pollution ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/857-china-war-pollution/
But at the same time its building new coal plants to generate electricity

Rhino Populations are Increasing ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1320-rhino-populations/

Mountain Gorilla Populations are Increasing ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/803-gorilla-populations-rising/

Penguin Poop Seen In Satellite Images Leads To Discovery Of New Colonies In Antarctica ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/emperor-penguin-poop-satellite-images-antarctica/

300 non-profit hospitals have formed their own drug company ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/213-nonprofit-drug-company/
Will they pass the savings on while they're losing money at record levels (due in large part from loss in day surgery revenues during the pandemic)?

There have never been more female CEOs ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1323-female-ceos/
Bob Jensen's threads on women professionals (the good news and the bad news) ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Women 

Internet access is now available for over 95% of the global population ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1148-afford-mobile-internet/
Affordability varies

Reduced Risk of Dementia ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/08/the-flynn-effect-is-stronger-than-you-think.html


Irving Fisher and the quantification of everything ---
https://hedgehogreview.com/issues/questioning-the-quantified-life/articles/quantifying-vitality-the-progressive-paradox


Will COVID-19 mark the end of scientific publishing as we know it?
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-covid-scientific-publishing.html


How to Prepare for the Coming Flood of Student Mental-Health Needs ---
https://community.chronicle.com/news/2383-how-to-prepare-for-the-coming-flood-of-student-mental-health-needs?cid=VTEVPMSED1


President Trump signed a memorandum that defers federal student-loan borrowers’ repayments until the end of 2020 and waives interest for that time period ---
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/09/heres-what-is-actually-trumps-four-executive-orders/?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1426127_nl_Daily-Briefing_date_20200810&cid=db&source=ams&sourceId=296279


If you're considering splurging on a new iPhone in the near future, it's probably best to re-think that decision ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-iphone-12-release-worst-time-buy-new-iphone-2020-8


Software that monitors students during tests perpetuates inequality and violates their privacy ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/07/1006132/software-algorithms-proctoring-online-tests-ai-ethics/

The coronavirus pandemic has been a boon for the test proctoring industry. About half a dozen companies in the US claim their software can accurately detect and prevent cheating in online tests. Examity, HonorLock, Proctorio, ProctorU, Respondus and others have rapidly grown since colleges and universities switched to remote classes.

While there’s no official tally, it’s reasonable to say that millions of algorithmically proctored tests are happening every month around the world. Proctorio told the New York Times in May that business had increased by 900% during the first few months of the pandemic, to the point where the company proctored 2.5 million tests worldwide in April alone.

I'm a university librarian and I've seen the impacts of these systems up close. My own employer, the University of Colorado Denver, has a contract with Proctorio.

It’s become clear to me that algorithmic proctoring is a modern surveillance technology that reinforces white supremacy, sexism, ableism, and transphobia. The use of these tools is an invasion of students’ privacy and, often, a civil rights violation.

If you’re a student taking an algorithmically proctored test, here’s how it works: When you begin, the software starts recording your computer’s camera, audio, and the websites you visit. It measures your body and watches you for the duration of the exam, tracking your movements to identify what it considers cheating behaviors. If you do anything that the software deems suspicious, it will alert your professor to view the recording and provide them a color-coded probability of your academic misconduct.

Depending on which company made the software, it will use some combination of machine learning, AI, and biometrics (including facial recognition, facial detection, or eye tracking) to do all of this. The problem is that facial recognition and detection have proven to be racist, sexist, and transphobic over, and over, and over again.

In general, technology has a pattern of reinforcing structural oppression like racism and sexism. Now these same biases are showing up in test proctoring software that disproportionately hurts marginalized students.

A Black woman at my university once told me that whenever she used Proctorio's test proctoring software, it always prompted her to shine more light on her face. The software couldn’t validate her identity and she was denied access to tests so often that she had to go to her professor to make other arrangements. Her white peers never had this problem.

Similar kinds of discrimination can happen if a student is trans or non-binary. But if you’re a white cis man (like most of the developers who make facial recognition software), you’ll probably be fine.

Students with children are also penalized by these systems. If you’ve ever tried to answer emails while caring for kids, you know how impossible it can be to get even a few uninterrupted minutes in front of the computer. But several proctoring programs will flag noises in the room or anyone who leaves the camera’s view as nefarious. That means students with medical conditions who must use the bathroom or administer medication frequently would be considered similarly suspect.

Beyond all the ways that proctoring software can discriminate against students, algorithmic proctoring is also a significant invasion of privacy. These products film students in their homes and often require them to complete “room scans,” which involve using their camera to show their surroundings. In many cases, professors can access the recordings of their students at any time, and even download these recordings to their personal machines. They can also see each student’s location based on their IP address.

. . .

Fortunately, there are movements underway to ban proctoring software and ban face recognition technologies on campuses, as well as congressional bills to ban the US federal government from using face recognition. But even if face recognition technology were banned, proctoring software could still exist as a program that tracks the movements of students’ eyes and bodies. While that might be less racist, it would still discriminate against people with disabilities, breastfeeding parents, and people who are neuroatypical. These products can’t be reformed; they should be abandoned.

Cheating is not the threat to society that test proctoring companies would have you believe. It doesn’t dilute the value of degrees or degrade institutional reputations, and student’s aren’t trying to cheat their way into being your surgeon. Technology didn’t invent the conditions for cheating and it won’t be what stops it. The best thing we in higher education can do is to start with the radical idea of trusting students. Let’s choose compassion over surveillance.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
It would seem that many of software features that reinforce white supremacy, sexism, ableism, and transphobia also are features of traditional in-classroom testing procedures where children are seldom allowed, noises are held down, students are observed continuously by proctors, etc. Bathroom breaks have always been problematic whether onsite or online. One of my colleagues grew suspicious of several male buddies who repeatedly took bathroom breaks during a final exam. When he checked the nearby bathroom he found the course textbook and the publisher's test bank stuffed under paper towels in a disposal can.

It would seem that the author of the above article downplays the seriousness of cheating and fails to recognize the many, many students who are expelled from universities or or otherwise punished for cheating. What laxity toward cheating does is undermine the integrity of a school that does nothing to prevent it.

Students who don't cheat despise when professors let other students get away with cheating. When student honor courts dole out cheating punishments these courts often are tougher on cheaters than the professors.

Huge Cheating Scandals at the University of Virginia, Harvard, Ohio, Duke, Cambridge, and Other Universities ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#UVA

Professors Who Let Students Cheat ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#RebeccaHoward

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

Question
Why did the University of Missouri rename its basketball arena?

Answer (forwarded by Debbie Bowling)

"Wal-Mart heir returns degree amid cheating claims," iWon News, October 21, 2005 --- http://snipurl.com/iWonOct21

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wal-Mart heiress Elizabeth Paige Laurie has surrendered her college degree following allegations that she cheated her way through the school.

The University of Southern California said in a statement that Laurie, 23, "voluntarily has surrendered her degree and returned her diploma to the university. She is not a graduate of USC."

The statement, dated September 30, said the university had ended its review of the allegations concerning Laurie.

Laurie's roommate, Elena Martinez, told a television show last year that she was paid $20,000 to write term papers and complete other assignments for the granddaughter of Wal-Mart co-founder Bud Walton. Wal-Mart is the world's biggest retailer. The family could not be reached for comment.

Following the allegations, the University of Missouri renamed its basketball arena, which had been paid for in part by a $425 million donation from the Lauries and was to have been called "Paige Sports Arena."

Continued in article


Only 25% of Harvard's First Year Class Chooses to Live on Campus ---
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brandonbusteed/2020/08/07/20-of-harvards-first-year-class-has-deferred/amp/?__twitter_impression=true


Overcoming Mistakes of Early Efforts in Online Teaching During the 2020 Pandemic

Five Common Mistakes in Online Teaching (based upon student feedback)---
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3634399

1. Over-Assigning Work
2. Recording Long Video Lectures
3. Not Engaging Students in Multiple Formats of Learning
4. Being Disorganized
5. Not Engaging with Students

Eight Mistakes in Online Teaching ---
https://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/2020/04/the-8-most-common-mistakes-when-teaching-online/

  1. Trying to "translate" a classroom course to the online environment. While I'd argue that there's no such thing as "online pedagogy" (there's only good pedagogy and poor pedagogy), classroom and online are different experiences that require attention to the conditions of learning distinct to each. Attempts to re-create the classroom learning experience, methods, and modes to the online environment is a basic error. Teaching online requires a "start over" in your course design, though not necessarily a change in student learning outcomes.

     
  2. Applying wrong metrics to the online experience. For example, many professors are wondering how to take attendance, or figuring out what counts for attendance. Attendance is a rather archaic and almost meaningless metric left over from the industrial age model of schooling. A better metric is student engagement.

     
  3. Becoming a talking head. It's bad enough students have to put up with a lot of poor classroom lectures. Now they have to suffer through countless hours of talking heads as professors videotape themselves "lecturing." I've been teaching online for 22 years. I've never once used Zoom in an online course or posted taped lectures. Forcing students to watch a taped disembodied talking head almost guarantees student disengagement, especially if we fail to appreciate the liability of transactional distance in the online environment. If the content of your lecture is that important, give your students a manuscript or your lecture notes to study.

     
  4. Posting video lectures over seven minutes long. The lecture method takes on a different function in the online environment. When instructors ask me how they can video tape and post their lectures online I ask, "Why would you want to duplicate the most maligned and least effective teaching method and pretend the online environment is a ‘classroom’ when it offers so much greater opportunity for student engagement?" The question to ask is, "What is the pedagogical function of this video?" The most effective functions are: a short introduction, an explication, or a demonstration.

     
  5. Assessing the wrong thing. I see some schools wanting to assess whether students "like" the online experience. What students "like" is beside the point of the educational. A common student comment on course evaluation for online courses is, "I would have preferred to have taken this course in the classroom." The response is, "How do you know?" Ask those students if they learned what the course was intended to provide, and they'll likely say, "Yes!" Assess the right thing: evidence of student learning and achievement of the course student learning outcomes. One can also evaluate the effectiveness of the course design: structure, scope, flow, alignment with program goals, etc.

     
  6. Ignoring aesthetics and design when creating an online course. Figuring out your course should not be an assignment. Your course should be designed so intuitively and aesthetically pleasing so the student perceives, intuits, and understands immediately what they are seeing and what is expected of them. Your students don't read a user manual or instructions when playing complex video games—they can immediately perceive what the game is about and what they are supposed to do. A well-designed website does not provide an orientation to new visitors. Your course should be clean, intuitive, and logical in design (and that includes not adding anything that does not directly support the learning outcomes).

     
  7. Attempting to go for coverage rather than depth. Many classroom instructors fail to appreciate that because online learning requires a higher level of student engagement, they need to reduce the amount of coverage they usually attempt in a classroom course—-which usually is way too much as it is. A good rule of thumb: cut the content coverage by half and focus on student engagement that (1) helps students achieve a learning outcomes and (2) provides evidence of learning.

     
  8. Failing to ask for help. Most faculty members are used to the silo-oriented isolated nature of academia. Traditionally, they develop their courses alone. At most they may share their course syllabi with colleagues on their faculties or departments, though more often than not they are seen mostly by the dean, registrar, and library services. Teaching online, especially for first time instructors, is a great opportunity to be more collaborative in our approach to teaching. Ask for help. Experienced online instructors, your school's instructional designers, and numerous online teaching support groups are ready and happy to help you make your online course the best it can be.

Common Mistakes in Online Teaching ---
https://www.tboxplanet.com/en/2020/05/12/common-mistakes-of-online-teaching/

Mistake 1: Preferring quantity over quality
Mistake 2: Lack of planning and organization
Mistake 3: Using too many assumptions
Mistake 4: Being monotonous
Mistake 5: Little feedback

Jensen Comment
Nothing is more boring than watching talking heads or endless PowerPoint slides on a computer screen or inside classrooms.

Students prefer live-action asynchronous and even interactive videos.
Exhibit A is the hundreds of wonderful tutorials available free from Khan Academy ---
https://www.khanacademy.org/
For example sample the math videos ---
https://www.khanacademy.org/math

Exhibit B is at Brigham Young University where the first two semesters of basic accounting is taught via asynchronous videos to students living on campus.
There are only a few times where students meet in a classroom ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#BYUvideo

Exhibit C is when I flipped my own classrooms
In the last ten years of my 40 years of teaching full time I flipped my classrooms. I prepared hundreds of short Camtasia videos on the most technical parts of my accounting and AIS courses. Before class meetings students viewed these videos over and over until they saw the light. In class I then had students demonstrate in front of the class what they had learned. Student teams can even make their own videos as term projects.

Camtasia videos or related screen capture videos from other software vendors are really quite easy to make and don't take much more time than preparing a lecture. They work best where what you are trying to teach can be shown in successions of computer screens. Students watch your cursor move about and listen to you explaining what is happening --- you use a microphone to put your voice into the videos. In Camtasia you can even make the videos interactive to keep students engaged.

Camtasia Free Trial --- https://www.techsmith.com/video-editor.html
Ask you campus educational technology experts about Camtasia and competing software for preparing Camtasia-like videos.

You can use Zoom to bring your videos into remote classrooms, although there are other ways to bring these videos to students on and off campus.

What's Next for Remote Learning ---
https://insidehighered.com/content/taking-colleges-online-how-smart-institutions-and-their-leaders-can-approach-online?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=64e3c438c8-SR9_email4_20200723_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-64e3c438c8-197565045&goal=0_1fcbc04421-64e3c438c8-197565045&mc_cid=64e3c438c8&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

How a Flipped Classroom, Journal Clubs, and “Ad-Lib” Conversations Kept Students Engaged in Brian Gibbs' biology and chemistry courses ---
https://narratives.insidehighered.com/covid-19-forced-him-to-teach-online/index.html?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=1f9c3dc283-DNU_2020_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-1f9c3dc283-197565045&mc_cid=1f9c3dc283&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

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


We need to talk about what school closures mean for kids with disabilities ---
https://www.vox.com/2020/8/6/21353154/schools-reopening-covid-19-special-education-disabilities


Global Commodities (illustrations of data visualization) ---
https://www.dailyfx.com/research/global-commodities/?tr=imports&yr=2018&cm=gold,copper,oil,gas

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


WSJ: Purdue Closes MBA Program Due To 70% Enrollment Decline; B-Schools Outside Top 20/30 Will Struggle To Survive ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/08/wsj-missouri-purdue-close-mba-programs-schools-outside-top-2030-will-struggle-to-stay-afloat.html


With school, day care, and college schedules in constant flux, academic parents brace themselves for a chaotic fall ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-pandemic-child-care-crisis?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_1411850_nl_Academe-Today_date_20200804&cid=at&source=ams&sourceId=296279

Trial Lawyers Looking for a $100 Billion Coronavirus Jackpot ---
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2020/08/04/trial-lawyers-looking-for-a-100-billion-coronavirus-jackpot-n2573638?utm_source=thdaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nl&newsletterad=08/04/2020&bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&recip=17935167

Jensen Comment
In this time of crisis the USA has certain organizations desperately in need of Corona-19 limited liability protections from the lawyers circling like wolves. Probably the most needed services we have at the moment is elderly care, particularly nursing homes. What on earth do we do without them in this pandemic? Then there are the medical services like ambulances, hospitals, and home care services? Then there are the grocery stores and food production/distribution services.

And along the path are schools and colleges that are attempting to keep a gap school year from becoming an enormous GAP.

And underlying the functioning of all these services is a need for day care and other child care services that also needs limited liability protection.

But guess what?
The lawyers control the state and federal legislatures that are the only possible source of granting limited liability. The lawyers are not about to cut off their bread and butter.


U. of Arizona Expands Reach With Acquisition of Ashford U. ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/u-of-arizona-expands-reach-with-acquisition-of-ashford-u

The University of Arizona announced today that it has reached a deal to acquire Ashford University, a for-profit, online institution, for $1.

The acquisition will result in a new nonprofit entity, called University of Arizona Global Campus, to be affiliated with the University of Arizona but to operate independently under its own board of directors and president, who will be nominated by the university.

The deal will help fulfill Arizona’s land-grant mission by “providing access to a diverse student population,” said Brent White, vice provost for global affairs, and will “expand our reach to a group of students we haven’t reached to date.”

Ashford has 35,000 students, most of them working adults: Eighty-seven percent of its undergraduates are 25 and older, according to federal data. Among Arizona’s 35,000 undergraduates, about the same proportion is 24 and under.

Working conditions for faculty members of the new entity, including tenure, will be determined by the board. “It should be a seamless transition of students and faculty,” White said.

The deal will broaden online academic offerings, said White and Craig Wilson, vice provost for online and distance education. Arizona and Ashford have 140 online degree programs between them, the officials said, but about 15 of them overlap. Ashford’s programs are “very attuned” to work-force development, said Wilson.

Ashford, which is owned by the publicly held company Zovio (formerly Bridgepoint Education), has had a rocky history, of which Arizona’s administrators said they were “certainly aware.” Ashford was the subject of a Chronicle investigation that examined how it had avoided California’s tough regulatory oversight of eligibility for GI Bill money by designating the state of Arizona as its headquarters. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs threatened to cut off Ashford’s GI Bill funding unless it obtained proper approval in California or moved its entire operation to Arizona. When Ashford requested approval from California for GI Bill eligibility, the state rejected the bid.

Ashford’s most recent accreditation, in 2019, by the WASC Senior College and University Commission, came with a “notice of concern,” largely regarding the persistence and completion rates of its students. Absent significant improvements, the accreditor warned that Ashford risked being found out of compliance with standards relating to “core functions of teaching and learning, scholarship and creative activity, and support for student learning and success.” But the commission also lauded the “authentic and enthusiastic commitment” of Ashford “to enacting its mission of serving students from underserved groups.”

Arizona is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Arizona Global Campus will seek accreditation from the WASC commission.

Lessons From Purdue Global

The newly announced deal bears similarities to another recent acquisition of an online for-profit by a large public university: Purdue University’s acquisition in 2017 of Kaplan University to create Purdue University Global.

That deal made a splash but also led to questions about the transparency of the new enterprise. Later, despite projections of a “very substantial revenue stream,” Purdue Global reported considerable losses earlier this year.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
There are a number of ways these various "global universities" are reaching out for students. One way is to contract with business firms and government agencies for dedicated programs for employees such as the Starbucks online education and training programs provided by Arizona State University's global online program. Over the years the IRS has had contracted employee education and training programs with univesities.

Another outreach strategy is to offer certificates/badges apart from college credits toward degrees.
Video: A Scenario of Higher Education in 2020 (or perhaps a decade longer)---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gU3FjxY2uQ

Liberty University became a mega university due to its Christian history and reputation among USA churches. The University of New Hampshire became a mega university largely because of a massive advertising campaign.

Bob Jensen's threads on mega universities and their partnerships---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Partnerships

Video: A Scenario of Higher Education in 2020 (or perhaps a decade longer)---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gU3FjxY2uQ


Jensen Comment
Mega Universities have or are shooting for enrollments onsite and/or online of over 100,000 students. These include Liberty University, Western Governors University, Arizona State University, Purdue Global, and the University of Southern New Hampshire plus newer mega players on the scene like the University of Maryland Global ---
https://globalmedia.umuc.edu/2019/04/18/introducing-university-of-maryland-global-campus/

 

Other and sometimes older programs like Penn State Global have more modest enrollment goals, although virtually all online universities are trying to tap into the adult education market, especially workers who are increasingly getting tuition benefits from employers. Without saying so loudly, nearly all online programs are preparing for the tide of students who will one day get government "free" education funded by federal and state governments ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-an-Online-Education/246291?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&cid=at

 

. . .

The (Penn State) World Campus was a pioneer of online education (actually, a pioneer in distance education altogether, considering that it used Rural Free Delivery to begin mailing correspondence courses to farmers in the late 1800s). My colleagues and I have been writing about this online arm of Penn State University for more than 20 years, dating to the days when the Sloan Foundation was awarding millions to it and other fledgling ventures that were developing asynchronous online learning. One of our latest longer pieces came out in 2014, when Renata Engel was named associate vice provost for online programs. She’s now vice provost.

Its name aside, World Campus draws relatively few international students. Only about 4 percent are overseas. It does have a national footprint, though; only about 29 percent of its graduate enrollment and 38 percent of its undergrads are in Pennsylvania. About 15 percent of students are also enrolled as residential Penn State students, either at the University Park campus, which I visited, or at one of the 20-plus other branches.

Two things really struck me in my conversation with Engel and the associate vice provost, Karen Pollack. One was World Campus’s apparent caution in offering new programs. It doesn’t start them until it and the relevant academic departments agree that requisite foundational courses also are available in an online format that satisfies the faculty. Pollack said the standard is: “Would you accept a graduate from this program into your doctoral program?”

Such decisions are easier to make when the online campus is considered an integral part of the overall institution. But caution runs both ways. I also heard privately from some faculty members who bristle that the marketing team at World Campus too often nixes ideas for new programs. Pollack acknowledged the hesitancy. “We’re not saying yes to as much,” she said, but attributed that to concerns about being able to compete and keep 160 existing programs up to date.

Engel’s nonchalance about about big-spending competitors also struck me. Over all, World Campus takes in about $170 million a year in revenue, so it won’t be matching Maryland on internet ads or on TV anytime soon, or probably never. Rather than expanding the top of the admissions funnel, Engel said, World Campus is focusing on improving its retention.

That begins with getting admitted students to actually attend; as many as 35 percent of admitted students never enroll. “Our transfer-credit process might be a barrier,” she said.

She also hopes to find more donor support to expand a pilot scholarship program designed specifically for World Campus adult students who come to college with little or no experience in higher education. Along with a $1,500-per-semester scholarship, the Smart Track to Success program provides students with a specially designed two-semester free course that includes faculty and peer mentoring and just-in-time skills tutoring to help students navigate their first year. It now serves about 70 students a year.

Penn State never formally called off that big enrollment goal from the early 2000s. Engel and Pollack both said they value it for the “ambition” it fueled, but it’s not really part of their day-to-day planning. Meanwhile, Engel said, easily 250 adults enrolled in Penn State right now could benefit from Smart Track to Success. No doubt, that’s one expansion she’d be happy to oversee.

From the mouths of adults: what colleges should keep in mind about adult students

The second highlight of my time at Penn State was hearing from the adult students who took part in a Hendrick Conference panel. For me and the 250 or so Penn State administrators and faculty members in the room, the comments were an important reminder of the challenges real people with real lives face when they decide to enroll in college later in their lives. Here’s how they described some of those challenges.

Costs. Michelle Stroud, a nurse pursuing her doctorate in the field at the World Campus and at Penn State at Altoona, said that without financial aid, she probably wouldn’t have returned to college. She thinks of every dollar she spends on tuition as money “I’m taking away from my family.”

The application process. Laura Ruane, an aspiring substance-abuse counselor attending the DuBois campus, recounted the anxiety she endured after noting on her application that she had a felony conviction in her past. It dated from the days before she got sober. “I had to say yes to a box” and just wait, she said. “I didn’t have a chance to talk to anybody about it.”

The disconnect with friends and family members. A 45-year-old student on the Altoona campus, America Rojas said her “parents couldn’t understand why I was going back to school.” They did eventually come around and are now her “best support system.” But Scott Carl Schival, a former Marine who treated his posttraumatic stress disorder with drugs and alcohol before getting sober and deciding to return to school after learning that his wife was pregnant, said he’d lost a few friends as he’s put more time into his English-major studies on the Wilkes-Barre campus. “They couldn’t accept the fact that I’m not available anymore.”

Continued in article


Introducing InStride, Arizona State's For-Profit, Preferred Provider Strategy for Growing Online Enrollments ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/digital-tweed/introducing-instride-asu%E2%80%99s-profit-preferred-provider-strategy-growing-online

ASU's InStride is latest entrant to the $20 billion tuition benefits market, a potential growth area as employers mull alternatives to the traditional college degree and whether to pay for customized online credentials for their workers.---
https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2019/05/30/asu-spin-latest-arrival-20-billion-corporate-tuition-benefits?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=021639dbd8-DNU_2019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-021639dbd8-197565045&mc_cid=021639dbd8&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

ASU Online ---
https://go.asuonline.asu.edu/lpppc-brand/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=


Northeastern's B-School Partners With For-Profit ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2019/05/07/northeasterns-b-school-partners-profit?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=a9b26a5e62-DNU_2019_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-a9b26a5e62-197565045&mc_cid=a9b26a5e62&mc_eid=1e78f7c952


Papa John's has offered to pay the tuition of around 20,000 employees enrolled in Purdue University Global's online undergraduate and graduate-degree programs ---
https://www.wilx.com/content/news/Papa-Johns-offers-free-college-tuition-for-employees-505991211.html?elqTrackId=3a885d0d515c461796111feb02f56c76&elq=c27b13832aab47b98b52843cdca2b5dc&elqaid=22298&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=10978
Jensen Comment
This follows a succession of fast-food company announcements of free college benefits to employees, including those of Starbucks, McDonalds, and Taco Bell. Most are online degree programs, but I think McDonalds will also pay local onsite tuition. Walmart is among the earliest major companies to cover tuition for college degrees. Large accounting firms for years have had much smaller and more-focused degree programs for employees that entail more extensive leaves from jobs to enroll in on-line campus courses. Also in this competitive market for top recruits it's increasingly common to offer new employees student-loan repayment assistance.

Mega-Universities (unexpectedly) on the Rise ---
https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/Trend19-MegaU-Main?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=818d19efc4804478bc59234df45cb112&elq=e45302a1d7524e09bb00395f674bd07c&elqaid=22287&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=10969

Liberty, Southern New Hampshire, Grand Canyon, Western Governors, and a few other universities have found a new way to play the game that many colleges are losing. Could they one day lay claim to a significant share of the nation’s new college students?

. . .

At a time when many colleges are struggling with shrinking enrollment and tighter budgets, Southern New Hampshire is thriving on a grand scale, and it’s not alone. Liberty, Grand Canyon, and Western Governors Universities, along with a few other nonprofit institutions, have built huge online enrollments and national brands in recent years by subverting many of traditional higher education’s hallmarks. Western Governors has 88,585 undergraduates, according to U.S. Education Department data, more than the top 14 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings combined.

Jensen Comment
Especially note the graph of enrollment trends at Arizona State, Grand Canyon, Liberty, Southern New Hampshire, and Western Governors.
The most important key to success, in my viewpoint, is the attraction of top students coupled with tougher admission standards that are key to academic reputations. If admission standards are not tough reputation depends upon academic standards for flunking out low performers. If you graduate low performers you can soon develop a reputation for being a diploma mill ---  which is the fate of most of the for-profit universities that have closed or will soon close.

Of course the attraction of reputable faculty is important, especially in research (R1) universities, but often the top research faculty are not even teaching undergraduates. What the Mega-Universities have to concentrate is on hiring and nurturing of great teachers who are experts in their disciplines. This will increasingly change accreditation standards and enforcement.

Arizona State University is somewhat unique in that it seems to want to be both a reputable R1 research university (with distinguished researchers) along with a diversity of missions such as providing Starbucks' funded degrees to any Starbucks employee (including part-time employees) who want to do the academic work for free.

Note that religion is no key to success in and of itself. Many religious colleges are on the verge of bankruptcy while Liberty University enrollments soar.

For me the greatest surprise is how competency testing seems to not be the kiss of death that I predicted in this era where students are constantly brown nosing teachers for grades and seeking leniency based upon race and age. Both WGU and Southern New Hampshire are noted for grading based upon competency testing ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#ConceptKnowledge


Color-Coded Map of the USA:  Winners and Losers in Terms of Distance Education (heavily adult education) ---
https://www.chronicle.com/img/photos/biz/Screen Shot 2019-06-10 at 11.20.52 AM.png?cid=wc

Bob Jensen's links to distance education and training alternatives ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Crossborder.htm

Onside Education and Training in "Microcampus" Retail Stores ---
https://www.chronicle.com/interactives/20150503-campusspaces-03-microcampus?cid=wc

Not every college campus features a full-fledged library, a student union, or residence halls. But when a campus has no classrooms, is it really a campus? 

For some, the answer is yes. 

As education moves online and colleges seek new ways of interacting with students, alumni, local communities, and other constituencies, institutions as diverse as the University of Phoenix, the University of Washington, and the Georgia Institute of Technology are responding with experimental, storefront-sized “microcampuses.” They’re also looking at unexpected models — such as Amazon’s bricks-and-mortar stores — for ideas to improve students’ experience.

The spaces, some located on the ground floors of apartment buildings or commercial high-rises, give the institutions public visibility while providing stylish drop-in spaces for students. They can also be focal points for colleges’ educational and outreach activities with local employers and community groups. 

Microcampuses are typically under 2,500 square feet, with interiors designed for maximum flexibility to accommodate one-on-one tutoring sessions, casual student meetups, employer presentations, and the occasional formal lecture. What they usually don’t have is a set spot designated as a full-time classroom. 

The University of Washington’s Othello Commons, which opened in southeast Seattle in January, is a prime example. The 2,300-square-foot space is on the ground floor of a new eight-story apartment building and currently plays host to a “Foundations of Databases” course that meets one night a week to help local residents develop basic IT skills.

Continued in article


Employer-Subsidized and/or Inexpensive Online MOOC Degrees

Will half of our colleges and universities go bankrupt or otherwise fail within a decade?
Harvard:  Christensen Scorecard: Data visualization of US postsecondary institution closures and mergers ---
https://mfeldstein.com/christensen-scorecard-data-visualization-of-us-postsecondary-institution-closures-and-mergers/
Jensen Comment
This, of course, is highly uncertain with respect to numbers and timing?
An interesting question for small private colleges will be the impact of free college that some 2020 Democratic presidential candidates are promising.
Perhaps you can start a debate on this among your students who understand college financing.
An interesting subtopic is adult education and training in mega universities such as Arizona State University that just spun off a for-profit online universities seeking funding from employers like Starbucks and others

Following Starbucks' lead, JetBlue employees will now get free college education in the online Arizona State University program
"JetBlue Will Pay Employees’ College Tuition Upfront," by Corinne Ruff, Chronicle of Higher Education, April 18, 2016 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/JetBlue-Will-Pay-Employees-/236144?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=2c1186cfd9b341cb9c63ee9ed19e27b4&elq=ff4810688471400f82f0d34fb98b721c&elqaid=8697&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=2932

The program is the latest company-and-college partnership that takes cues from the Starbucks College Achievement Plan — a program, created in 2014, that allows employees of the coffee-shop chain to take online classes at Arizona State University while continuing to work at the company.

But there’s a key difference between the JetBlue program and many other partnerships in the Starbucks-Arizona State model.

Most of the programs either reimburse tuition costs or offer discounts, requiring employees to foot at least some of the bill for their courses. But JetBlue employees won’t pay anything upfront: The company will cover the full cost of an associate degree.

To earn a bachelor’s degree, however, students would have to cover the $3,500 capstone course at Thomas Edison State, either out of pocket or through a scholarship.

In August the company started a pilot version of the program with 200 employees with at least two years’ seniority and with at least 16 credits from an accredited college or university already in hand.

Bonny W. Simi, president of the subsidiary JetBlue Technology Ventures, says that employees had long asked for tuition reimbursement, but that the company wanted to go a step further and foot the whole bill.

‘Success Coaches’ Are Assigned

As interest grows in the unbundling of higher education — the use of just the learning material from the college experience — Ms. Simi says the JetBlue program was made possible by the flexibility and affordability of competency-based education.

"We’ve mapped out degrees so that it’s basically higher ed but stripped away are the cafeterias, the football team, the big campuses, the dorm, and everything," says Ms. Simi, who oversees the program. "It’s just the class."

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
There are other free or highly subsidized college programs paid for by employers such as the huge Wal-Mart program with American Public University, but the Starbucks and JetBlue programs have the most prestigious diplomas in my opinion.

"News Analysis: Is 'Wal-Mart U.' a Good Bargain for Students?" by Marc Parry, Chronicle of Higher Education, June 13, 2010 ---
http://chronicle.com/article/Is-Wal-Mart-U-a-Good/65933/?sid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Following Starbucks employee education benefits with Arizona State University,
Anthem Blue Cross offers education benefits with the University of Southern New Hampshire


Walmart’s too-good-to-be-true “$1 a day” college tuition plan, explained ---
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/1/17413326/walmart-college-tuition-worker-pay-unemployment

If headlines this week like “Walmart’s perk for workers: Go to college for $1 a day” (CNN) or “Walmart to offer employees a college education for $1 a day” (Washington Post) sound too good to be true, that’s because they largely are. The benefit is real, but it is much more restrictive than those headlines suggest. It’s essentially a bulk purchasing discount for a narrow range of online college courses.

It’s also a telling benefit on a number of levels. The labor market is getting stronger, and employers are needing to think harder about how to invest in recruiting and retaining employees. But the old-fashioned strategy of paying more continues to be something corporate America resists, in part out of habit and in part because offering higher wages is a little more complicated than it looks. Companies like Walmart are, in essence, trying to get creative with their compensation packages in hopes of narrowly targeting the money they expend on the core goal of recruiting and retaining desirable workers.

The question is whether policymakers will keep unemployment low long enough to break through the wall of resistance to across-the-board pay hikes and force big companies to finally just raise pay.

Walmart’s actual tuition plan, explained

The Walmart program is limited to online degree programs offered by three schools — the University of FloridaBrandman University, and Bellevue University — and specifically focused on bachelor’s or associate degrees in either business or supply chain management.

You won’t, in other words, be able to do part-time shifts at Walmart to “pay your way through college” in the traditional sense.

But qualifying Walmart employees (including both full-time and part-time workers who’ve been with the company for 90 days) will get discounted tuition, books, and access to a coach who will help them decide on an appropriate program and shepherd them through the application process

It’s a nice opportunity for Walmart employees to gain a chance at upward mobility off the retail floor, and that’s likely the point. Unlike higher cash wages (which of course can be used for online college tuition as well as rent, gasoline, movie tickets, medical expenses, etc.), the tuition benefit is likely to be disproportionately appealing to people who are on the more ambitious end of the distribution. It’s an effort, in other words, to make Walmart more attractive specifically to the most appealing set of potential workers, a strategy other companies have pursued in recent years.

Many large employers are trying tuition benefits

Modest tuition programs have long been a staple of large employer benefits packages largely because of favorable tax treatment. The IRS allows employers to give employees several thousand dollars’ worth of tuition benefits tax-free, which makes establishing a program something of a no-brainer for most companies big enough to be employing a large back-office staff anyway.

But four years ago, Starbucks blazed the trail of offering a much more ambitious reimbursement program that essentially offered taxable tuition subsidies rather than taxable wage increases.

The reason: Academic research shows that workers who are interested in tuition subsidies are different from workers who are not. While everyone likes money, Peter Cappelli’s 2002 research indicates that the workers who like tuition subsidies are more productive than those who don’t, and Colleen Manchester’s 2012 research shows that subsidy-using employees have longer time horizons and are less likely to switch jobs.

In March of this year, a consortium of big US hotels launched a generous tuition discount program, and later that month, McDonald’s substantially enhanced its tuition benefits. Kroger — another top five US employer — rolled out a new tuition program in April, and Chick-fil-A expanded its program in May.

These initiatives differ in detail, but the broad story is the same. The unemployment rate is now low, so recruiting new staff is getting harder. Companies are looking to enhance their compensation but would like to do so in targeted ways.

Continued in article

This thread continued in
Bob Jensen's threads on mega universities and their partnerships---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Partnerships

Probably the best ways for very good students to learn free are the thousands of free online MOOC courses offered regularly by the most prestigious universities in the world ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
For a small fee certificates of attendance are also available.

The problem is that most students who sign up for MOOC courses become overwhelmed and for various reasons are not able to keep up with the pace and demands of MOOC learning. But there are sufficient glorious successes of MOOC learning that keep prestigious universities interested in sharing their on-campus live courses.


The Supply and Demand Model Predicts Behavior in Thousands of Experiments ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/08/supply-and-demand-model-predicts-behavior-in-thousands-of-experiments.html


Don’t Cry for Me Argentina
The South American nation appeared to be close to a landmark $65 billion debt deal with creditors, sparking a bond rally in the recession-hit country that’s poised for a record contraction of its economy this year.
Ecuador struck a similar $17 billion deal with creditors ---
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-03/argentina-creditors-inch-closer-on-65-billion-debt-deal?utm_term=OZY&utm_campaign=WIYC&UTM_content=Tuesday_08.04.20&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=Final 


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

Coase Theorem --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coase_theorem

Coasean bargaining over ransomware ---
https://twitter.com/jc_stubbs/status/1289199296328298497?s=09


Harper's Letter on Justice and Social Debate ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Letter_on_Justice_and_Open_Debate

Noam Chomsky and Other Scholars Fear the Dangers of Losing Open Debate and Toleration of Differences in Ideology ---
https://www.ibtimes.com/noam-chomsky-malcolm-gladwell-address-cancel-culture-open-letter-3007684

Thomas Chatterton Williams on Race, Identity, and “Cancel Culture” ---
https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/thomas-chatterton-williams-on-race-identity-and-cancel-culture

John McWhorter on the now-famous Harper's Letter--- Our Oppressive Moment ---
https://quillette.com/2020/07/29/our-oppressive-moment/

As one of the signatories to the much-discussed “Open Letter” in Harper’s magazine, I’ve been bemused by the objection that we are merely whiners—people with impregnable career success, flustered that social media is forcing us to experience unprecedented criticism, particularly in the wake of the Floyd protests. This represents a stark misunderstanding of why I and many others signed it. I am certainly not complaining about being criticized. As someone frequently described as “contrarian” on the fraught topic of race, I have been roasted for my views for over 20 years—it’s just that, when I started out, I received invective scrawled on paper folded into envelopes instead of typed into tweets. The sheer volume of criticism is greater, of course, but the last thing I would do is sign a letter protesting it. For writers of commentary on controversial subjects, the barrage keeps us on our toes. Haters can be ignored, but informed excoriation can help sharpen our arguments and ensure we remain acquainted with the views of the other side.

The Harper’s letter is a declaration intended to resist the poisonous atmosphere suffocating those who don’t enjoy our platforms and profiles. We are not taking issue with critique, but with the idea that those who express certain views must not simply be criticized but have their epaulets torn off—demoted, shunned, and personally vilified. Earlier this month, hundreds of members of the Linguistics Society of America (LSA) signed their own open letter calling for eminent psychologist and linguist Steven Pinker to have his career award as a Linguistics Society of America Fellow revoked. This was not mere criticism of views the signatories found objectionable. It was not even just criticism of Pinker for expressing them (although it was certainly that). It was a demand for punishment that would also serve as an instructive example to others.

Discussion of this issue has become mired in semantic quibbles over just what constitutes “cancellation”—the LSA letter signatories were at pains to stress they did not wish to “cancel” Pinker. But the demand that he be shamed and sanctioned sent an unmistakable message to other writers and scholars not protected by his success and reputation. Nor is this simply a debate about “free speech,” or about whether or not it is still permissible to argue the merits of slavery or women’s suffrage. The more pressing problem is that opinions which, until recently, were well within the Overton Window of acceptable discourse are being bracketed under the same umbrella as unambiguously outlandish and hateful opinions that really do now lie beyond the limits of civilized discussion. Today, views deemed insufficiently anti-racist (or also anti-misogynist) are increasingly described as thinly coded expressions of racism and misogyny that we are encouraged to treat as such.

A lot of smart, progressive people these days seem to think that this kind of public defrocking is appropriate, just, and even necessary. This general tendency veers too close to Salem and the Cultural Revolution for comfort, and its defenders should be aware that their position is a radical and eccentric one that will require a more rigorous defense than most of them have seen fit to produce. We are not tenured infants; we are alarmed at what is starting to pass for enlightenment in our society, and that this narrow, punitive form of moral judgment is acquiring such power. Supporters of these developments suppose that power is simply being taken from white heterosexual men and redistributed to the historically voiceless. Excesses have been very few, they contend, and highlighting them misses broader and more laudable developments.

Alas, social history is seldom that tidy. Consider the following three examples:

·        New York Times food columnist was suspended for a passing criticism of half-Thai Chrissy Teigen and Japanese citizen Marie Kondo, both of whom she accused of selling out. Does this mean a white person can never criticize a woman of color or was there something about this particular criticism about representatives of these particular ethnicities that crossed a particular line? This was never made entirely clear and was probably never intended to be.

 

·        The president and the board chairman of the Poetry Foundation resigned after 1800 members signed a protest letter condemning them because the statement that they had released in support of Black Lives Matter was not long or substantial enough.

 

·        The president of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art was forced to resign after a meeting during which the museum was criticized for being insufficiently committed to non-white artists. He concurred but added that the museum would not stop collecting white artists because this would constitute “reverse discrimination.” His use of that term cost him his job, because it implied that non-whites are capable of racism despite their lack of institutional power.

Are these three cases examples of comfortable whites receiving their proper comeuppance at the hands of those speaking truth to power, or are they symptomatic of broader ideological policing? That it is not only the powerful who find themselves in the sights of our current mania for persecution suggests the latter reading is closer to the mark.

·        A data analyst at a progressive consulting firm tweeted a link to a study by a black Ivy League political science professor, Omar Wasow, which found that violent black protests during the long hot summers of the late 1960s were more likely than nonviolent protests to make local voters vote Republican. Wasow’s findings had been reported by the Washington Post as far back as 2015 without incident, and the analyst’s intention was clearly progressive—he was not anti-protest, but wanted to draw attention to the fact that violence might harm Democrats’ electoral chances come November. But following the death of George Floyd, criticizing street violence suddenly became taboo in some progressive circles, and so the thread below the analyst’s tweet began to fill with caustic sanctimony. When a random Twitter user tagged his employer with the instruction “come get your boy,” the consulting firm shamefully expelled him.

 

·        Two years ago, a young white woman attended a costume party thrown by the Washington Post. She arrived dressed as Megyn Kelly in blackface, a reference to Kelly’s recent defense of the trope that had resulted in the news anchor’s abrupt exit from NBC. This was hardly a graceful decision regardless of intent, and a number of attendees (including the party’s co-host) made this clear to the guest. She left the party in tears and apologized to the host the next day. But in June of this year, a (white) management consultant and a (black) artist who had both confronted her at the party approached the Post with their story, which two of the paper’s writers somehow managed to work up into a 3,000-word feature. When she warned her employers that a story about her mortifying faux pas would be running in a national newspaper, she was fired.

 

·        A newly hired nursing dean was fired from her position for sending an email which included the newly taboo phrase “everyone’s life matters.” But in the context of her email the phrase could hardly have been more innocuous:

I am writing to express my concern and condemnation of the recent (and past) acts of violence against people of color. Recent events recall a tragic history of racism and bias that continue to thrive in this country. I despair for our future as a nation if we do not stand up against violence against anyone. BLACK LIVES MATTER, but also, EVERYONE’S LIFE MATTERS. No one should have to live in fear that they will be targeted for how they look or what they believe.

An obscure data analyst, a private citizen with no public profile, and the dean of a nursing school hardly have their hands on the levers of power, and yet people like these are as likely to be persecuted under the new mood as the heads of art museums and leading food columnists (if indeed people in public positions like those can reasonably be considered powerful). These are the new norms and the modus operandi that alarm those of us who signed the Harper’s letter, not any perceived threat to our own careers.

Bob Jensen's Threads on Political Correctness and Other Academic Freedom Issues ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#PoliticalCorrectness


Loyola University Maryland is being criticized for removing the name of Flannery O'Connor from a residence hall ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/08/10/should-flannery-oconnor-be-name-residence-hall?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=cc6f8fdf0a-DNU_2020_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-cc6f8fdf0a-197565045&mc_cid=cc6f8fdf0a&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

The New Yorker:  How Racist Was Flannery O’Connor?
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/22/how-racist-was-flannery-oconnor


Dean Indicted for Kickback Stealing From University ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/08/13/dean-indicted-stealing-university?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=060f944599-DNU_2020_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-060f944599-197565045&mc_cid=060f944599&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

Fraud in the Time of Crisis ---
https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2020/aug/fraud-iq-quiz-coronavirus-crisis.html?utm_source=mnl:cpald&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=07Aug2020

CalPERS chief’s abrupt resignation preceded by conflict of interest questions ---
https://www.data-z.org/news/detail/calpers-chiefs-abrupt-resignation-preceded-by-conflict-of-interest-questions

Banking Regulator Fines Capital One $80 Million Over 2019 Hack ---
https://www.wsj.com/articles/banking-regulator-fines-capital-one-80-million-over-2019-hack-11596727367

Florida Doctor Charged in Massive $681 Million Substance Abuse Treatment Fraud Scheme ---
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/florida-doctor-charged-massive-681-million-substance-abuse-treatment-fraud-scheme

Boulder Man Pleads Guilty To Nearly $32 Million Bank Fraud Scheme ---
https://www.justice.gov/usao-co/pr/boulder-man-pleads-guilty-nearly-32-million-bank-fraud-scheme

McDonalds Sues Former CEO  to Recover Tens of Millions of Dollars in Severance Pay
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-10/mcdonald-s-sues-former-ceo-easterbrook-to-recover-severance-pay?cmpid=BBD081020_BIZ&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_term=200810&utm_campaign=bloombergdaily

McDonald’s sued fired ex-CEO Steve Easterbrook to recover tens of millions of dollars in severance pay. Why? The fast-food chain alleged it has evidence that he had sexual relationships with multiple employees, tried to cover them up and even arranged for one worker to get a lucrative stock award. McDonald’s also said it uncovered sexually explicit photographs in Easterbrook’s corporate email account and other evidence of the additional affairs following an anonymous tip last month.

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


Examples of Failure in Artificial Intelligence ---
https://readwrite.com/2020/07/31/failure-in-artificial-intelligence/


Heterogeneity --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homogeneity_(statistics)
Also see --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heterogeneity_in_economics

How to Mislead With Statistics

Pandemics and persistent heterogeneity ---
https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.26.20162420v1

It has become increasingly clear that the COVID-19 epidemic is characterized by overdispersion whereby the majority of the transmission is driven by a minority of infected individuals. Such a strong departure from the homogeneity assumptions of traditional well-mixed compartment model is usually hypothesized to be the result of short-term super-spreader events, such as individual's extreme rate of virus shedding at the peak of infectivity while attending a large gathering without appropriate mitigation. However, heterogeneity can also arise through long-term, or persistent variations in individual susceptibility or infectivity. Here, we show how to incorporate persistent heterogeneity into a wide class of epidemiological models, and derive a non-linear dependence of the effective reproduction number R_e on the susceptible population fraction S. Persistent heterogeneity has three important consequences compared to the effects of overdispersion: (1) It results in a major modification of the early epidemic dynamics; (2) It significantly suppresses the herd immunity threshold; (3) It significantly reduces the final size of the epidemic. We estimate social and biological contributions to persistent heterogeneity using data on real-life face-to-face contact networks and age variation of the incidence rate during the COVID-19 epidemic, and show that empirical data from the COVID-19 epidemic in New York City (NYC) and Chicago and all 50 US states provide a consistent characterization of the level of persistent heterogeneity. Our estimates suggest that the hardest-hit areas, such as NYC, are close to the persistent heterogeneity herd immunity threshold following the first wave of the epidemic, thereby limiting the spread of infection to other regions during a potential second wave of the epidemic. Our work implies that general considerations of persistent heterogeneity in addition to overdispersion act to limit the scale of pandemics.


By far the most cited article in Psychometrika ---
http://cda.psych.uiuc.edu/psychometrika_citation_classic_summaries/cronbach_citation_classic_alpha.pdf

Jensen Comment
An illustration of when the inventor's followers remain more faithful to the invention than the inventor.


 

MIT:  Chinese and Russian Hackers Were Sanctioned by Europe for the First Time ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/07/30/1005822/chinese-and-russian-hackers-were-just-sanctioned-by-europe-for-the-first-time/


Bat in the House?
https://www.jppestservices.com/blog/bat-in-the-house?utm_source=Customers&utm_campaign=683bfc89fd-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_07_22_03_05&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5d6a2c943c-683bfc89fd-367682219

Jensen Comment
On two different occasions we've had a bat flying about inside our house --- once in our house in Maine and the other in our house in New Hampshire. On both occasions I simply opened an exterior door and the bat disappeared in less than an hour. Three times it was much harder to get rid of a bird flying about inside the house. The birds just seemed to ignore open doors even when we use brooms to try to coax them closer to the open doors. On all these occasions we captured the birds under towels an took them outside.

In our large classroom/office building called Chapman we once had a more serious bat problem. Roofers had sealed off the escape route of a bat colony. We eventually had bats flying most everywhere inside the building. Most disappeared through open exit doors, but there were a number that persisted in the building for days. Campus security officers obtained poles with tiny nets on the end. It turned out to be relatively easy to place the net over bats resting on bulletin boards and other vertical surfaces.

One morning there was a bat that hung like a tiny fur ball on a hallway bulletin board in our office suite. It seemed literally impossible to wake it up (although nobody touched it). We even wondered if it was alive. Two campus security officers arrived with a net and easily captured the mammal. They said that when they released it outdoors it flew off. South Texas has hundreds of millions of bats living in underground limestone caves. Bat watchers sit in strategic places to watch them cloud the setting sun when they commence their nightly hunt ---
https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/bats/bat-watching-sites/

I have bat houses outdoors and hate to see harm come to any bat. We have an unknown number (maybe hundreds of thousands) of brown bats in the abandoned shafts of an iron mine about two miles from our cottage. I consider it lucky to have such a large number of bats living nearby.
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Resden/IronMine/Set01/01IronMine.htm
Our cottage is amazingly free of mosquitoes and other flying bugs. I like to credit our many bats for the free pest control service.


On August 1 I was having severe chest pressure and difficulty breathing. I called 911, and our Sugar Hill Fire Chief, Allan Clark, and a cop were inside our house in less than five minutes. The Littleton ambulance was here in less than 10 minutes. By then the three nitro tablets I took over 15 minutes had restored my breathing before the ambulance arrived.

The Littleton LRH Emergency Room was waiting. I was really lucky. The very popular ER doctor named Levitan was on duty. Dr. Levitan is an expert on respiration and gives lectures around the world. During the Covid19 crisis in NYC he volunteered his services in NYC. Fortunately, he's now back in the Littleton ER ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_M._Levitan

The symptoms were the same in August as when I had a stent put in in early May. In my mind I was dreading having to go down to Dartmouth Hitchcock for more stents. But Dr. Levitan scratched his head and revealed to me that he did not think I had blockages that needed a new stents. He suspected I needed lots of Lasix for congestive heart failure.  Two chest x-rays later confirmed that I was having congestive heart failure with fluid around my heart.

I was taken to a hospital room connected to a telemonitor. A wonderful nurse named Maureen with 26 years experience expertly installed a Foley and commenced injecting Lasix. She said I was her only patient. she sat outside my door all night. Every now and then a cardiac care expert at Dartmouth Hitchcock commenced two way interactive communications explaining that my vital signs were being monitored during my entire stay in the LRH room. I had an especially long conversation with Dartmouth Hitchcock in the morning.

By morning I seemed back to normal, although I have more tests scheduled later this week. I was released about noon on August 2 and am feeling quite well back home. With a higher daily dose of Lasix, diet, and exercise I should carry on for a more comfortable future.

I'm writing this message to express my gratitude for the care and expertise of Allan Clark, the two ambulance attendants (who were making their Trip 7 to the LRH ER that day), the competent ER staff (including Dr. Levitan) , and two great nurses (Maureen at night) and Cindy (by day). I'm also grateful for the technology that linked me interactively with experts at Dartmouth Hitchcock Cardiac Care Center.

And of course I'm grateful for Erika --- my ever loving and caring wife.


NYT:  Should We Cancel Aristotle? He defended slavery and opposed the notion of human equality ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/21/opinion/should-we-cancel-aristotle.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
Jensen made no comment on the above tidbit when he posted it to two listservs.

One of the replies reads as follows:

Hi everyone,

I disagree with a lot of the views that are being posted to this group.  This article in particular is in my field (I am a philosophy professor who teaches Aristotle) so I decided to write out some questions I had.  Here is the short list:

I wonder how many people who are posting this article haven’t read it and just like it because it comes to the conclusion they want, that we should continue to center our syllabuses on these canonical figures (that have been central to white supremacist narratives).

I wonder how many people who reflexively approve of this conclusion enjoy the benefits and privilege that the white supremacist narratives have put in place.

I wonder how many people who reflexively approve of this conclusion have bothered looking at the criticisms (of centering syllabuses around figures like Aristotle) coming from people who have not benefited from white supremacist narratives.  (Hint: a lot of these critics aren’t “real philosophers” – and this fact is largely due to the sorts of ideas you find in Aristotle.)

I wonder how many people who think that Aristotle should stay on the syllabuses because we should “engage difficult ideas, don’t cancel them” really ever seriously engage their difficulty.

I wonder how many people who think that Aristotle should stay on the syllabuses because we should “engage difficult ideas, don’t cancel them” have Angela Davis on their syllabuses too.  Or don’t, because “there just isn’t enough time”.  I wonder which difficult ideas people have time to engage.  (Actually, I don’t.)

Jensen Comment
The set me thinking about how difficult it is to keep politically incorrect people and their scholarly contributions out of courses and curricula even if they want to do so. Imagine how irresponsible it would be to keep politically incorrect Roman History out of a world history curriculum. Or try to keep Thomas Jefferson out American history or Flannery O'Connor out of American literature.

Or try to keep the fundamental contributions of James Watson (a despised and politically incorrect human being) out of biology and genetics courses ---
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watson
Especially note (I don't agree with Watson on this)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Watson#Comments_on_race

Most academic disciplines have politically incorrect contributors that are so part-and-parcel to the discipline that they cannot be avoided. Some politically incorrect scholars will be part of all textbook choices and will be brought up by students in class discussions, term papers, etc.

In addition to famous scholars there are obscure academics like me who are no longer so easily left out of course content because of our massive Websites and the Web Crawlers like Google. Some people on listservs refuse to open my messages due heavily to my conservatism in economics and to all the tidbits I write abhorring political correctness restraints of research, scholarship, and campus life ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#PoliticalCorrectness
I'm glad subscribers to the listservs have an option to not open my "junk mail" messages.                 
Labeling me as politically incorrect, however, is more difficult than labeling James Watson as politically incorrect, because of my many tidbits in support of women's rights, gay rights, transgender rights (to a point), abortions, denying differences in intelligence due to race or ethnicity, etc. Those who think I'm politically incorrect have never seen my awards from the Minority Business Students' Association for my contributions to their careers.

But suppose you really want to keep Bob Jensen completely out of your courses. In some courses he will pop up now and then in front of students because of over 100,000 tidbits and other documents that are searched out 24/7 from his Websites by Webcrawlers.

For example, I could not find one of my own documents on learning curves the other day at my own Website. So I did a Web crawler search for "Cumulative Average vs. Incremental Unit" on Duck Duck Go and was shown a link to http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/theorylearningcurves.htm
Professors who absolutely despise me or my conservatism may not be able to stop their students from studying my tidbits and longer documents in their courses. Professors without large and interactive Websites are making fewer contributions to the academic world irrespective of quality of their scholarship.

There is a price to pay for large and controversial Websites.
My mail box is stuffed daily with messages concerning  some document or tidbit on my Website. The above document came about because of questions raised about an article I wrote years ago. The questions raised by this Australian professor actually led to a considerable amount of time and effort needed on my part to prepare the above document for my Website.

This is a major reason many researchers and scholars resist having big Websites --- they don't have the time to respond to their readers.


Tenured Law Prof Suspended For Use Of N-Word In Torts Class Sues Emory And Former Dean For Libel And Retaliation ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/08/tenured-professor-suspended-for-use-of-n-word-in-torts-class-sues-emory-law-school-and-former-dean-f.html

. . .

"Professor Zwier's use of the racist term was part of the class discussion and used as an example of how a tortfeasor's words could elevate the severity of the tort being committed," according to the complaint. "Professor Zwier did not direct the word at any individual student, but instead used it as a teaching moment and integral part of the lecture and discussion."

That evening, according to the suit, Zwier learned that Black students in his class had complained about his use of the word. Zwier apologized to his class the next day and had a discussion with Black students about his use of the word, he said. Any student issues appeared to be resolved at that time, he said.

Still, Emory leaders and his then-boss, former interim law school dean James B. Hughes Jr., suspended him and issued several misleading public statements that made it look like he "improperly used a racial slur in class without an academic purpose," Zwier said.

Later, Zwier complained that he was being treated differently because he was white, saying that Black professors had used the word without reproach, discipline or dismissal. Hughes then tried to have Zweir's tenure revoked in retaliation, the professor said. However, the Faculty Hearing Committee ultimately found that Hughes and Emory had failed to demonstrate adequate cause to do so, according to the suit.


Joshua Katz Objects to the Politically Correct Demands at  Princeton University
A Princeton professor has drawn anger from his department and the university’s president after criticizing an open letter signed by faculty members which made extensive “anti-racist” policy requests to combat racism on campus, among which was the curtailment of academic freedom ---
https://dailycaller.com/2020/07/14/princeton-joshua-katz-quillette-anti-racism-faculty-academic-freedom/

Joshua Katz, a professor of classics at Princeton, published a “declaration of independence” in in Quillette days after more than 350 faculty members called on the university to adopt a series of “anti-racist” actions, some of which Katz says would “lead to civil war on campus.”

In the July 4 Faculty Letter,” the signatories request Princeton’s administration implement measures they say will combat racism, including rewarding “the invisible work done by faculty of color with course relief and summer salary” and removing questions about felony convictions from admissions applications.

One request specifically called for punishment of “racist” academic work, reported Forbes The letter demands a “Constitute a committee composed entirely of faculty that would oversee the investigation and discipline of racist behaviors, incidents, research, and publication on the part of faculty … Guidelines on what counts as racist behavior, incidents, research, and publication will be authored by a faculty committee for incorporation into the same set of rules and procedures.”

While Katz says he agrees with many of the ideas expressed in the faculty letter, he argued that many of the specific changes, if implemented, would stoke chaos and erode public confidence in elite higher education.

“It boggles my mind that anyone would advocate giving people—extraordinarily privileged people already, let me point out: Princeton professors—extra perks for no reason other than their pigmentation,” Katz writes, referencing the calls to reward faculty of color for “invisible work” and with a guaranteed one additional semester of sabbatical.

“Not incidentally, if you believe anti-blackness to be foundational, it is not a stretch to imagine that you will teach the 1619 Project as dogma,” he goes on.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on the politically correct goose step in academe ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies2.htm#PoliticalCorrectness


Indiana's Open Book Bar Exam ---
https://calendar.in.gov/site/courts/event/supreme-remote-bar-exam-to-be-held-with-adjustments/


FBI Updates on August 12, 2020

·        08.12.2020

 

Robots Help Manage Billions of Pages at New FBI Central Records Complex

The new facility in Virginia will house more than 2 billion pages of records and enlists robots to help with filing and retrieval.

·        07.29.2020

 

Trade Secret Theft

A lengthy FBI investigation resulted in guilty pleas from two men who admitted to their roles in stealing trade secrets from General Electric to start a competing business in another country.

·        07.22.2020

 

Danger Beneath the Surface

Get an interactive look at how the FBI’s Underwater Post-Blast Investigation course prepares the nation's public safety bomb tech divers to counter threats in their home harbors and waterways.

·        07.16.2020

 

Money Mule Reined In

When a Texas school district fell victim to a $2 million business email compromise scheme, a Florida man moved much of the stolen money away from law enforcement’s grasp—and is now spending time behind bars.

 

FBI Updates on July 29, 2020

·        07.29.2020

Trade Secret Theft

A lengthy FBI investigation resulted in guilty pleas from two men who admitted to their roles in stealing trade secrets from General Electric to start a competing business in another country.

·        07.22.2020

Danger Beneath the Surface

Get an interactive look at how the FBI’s Underwater Post-Blast Investigation course prepares the nation's public safety bomb tech divers to counter threats in their home harbors and waterways.

·        07.16.2020

Money Mule Reined In

When a Texas school district fell victim to a $2 million business email compromise scheme, a Florida man moved much of the stolen money away from law enforcement’s grasp—and is now spending time behind bars.

·        07.01.2020

Rescuing Victims of Child Sexual Abuse

The FBI's Endangered Child Alert Program and Operation Rescue Me initiative support an urgent effort to identify and aid the young victims being harmed in images of child sexual abuse

The Demise of Research Papers Having One Author ---
https://twitter.com/deevybee/status/1290914078693695488

Among finance and accounting researchers Heck, Cooley, and Jensen found demise of single authorship to be the case clear back in the early 1990s:

"An Analysis of Contributors to Accounting Journals Part II: The Individual Academic Journals," (Louis Heck, Philip Cooley, and Bob Jensen), The International Journal of Accounting, Vol.26, 1991, pp. 1-17.

"An Analysis of Contributors to Accounting Journals. Part I: The Aggregate Performances," (Louis Heck, Philip L. Cooley, and Bob Jensen), The International Journal of Accounting, Vol.25, 1990, pp. 202-217. Released in 1991.

Jensen Comment
I wonder how typical the joint authorship duties were in the above two articles? Finance professor Philip Cooley's major contribution was bringing Jean Heck and Bob Jensen together. Finance professor Jean Heck collected massive bibliographic databases in various disciplines, including accounting, economics, and finance. Bob Jensen's assignment was to analyze Jean's accounting databases and write the first draft of each article. Phil Cooley then brought his editing skills in to fine tune the papers.

In terms of hours of effort, Jean Heck's sacrifice was by far the greatest. Phil Cooley put in the least amount of time, but without him the two articles above probably would never have been written.


'Big 4' salaries, revealed: How much Deloitte, KPMG, EY, and PwC accountants and consultants make, from entry level to executive roles ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/salary-of-consultants-accountants-big-4-deloitte-kpmg-ey-pwc-2020-7?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI Prime 2020-08-04&utm_term=BI Prime Select

 

·        Last year, the so called "Big Four" accounting firms — PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, Ernst & Young (EY), and Deloitte — employed well over a million people

·        These firms are known for paying employees six-figure salaries right out of business school. 

·        To figure out how much accountants and consultants make at these firms, Business Insider analyzed the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification's 2019 disclosure data for permanent and temporary foreign workers.

·        For example, some analysts and auditors made more than $120,000 at Ernst & Young (EY), principals were given up to $950,000 in compensation at KPMG, and managers at PwC made $123,019 or more. 

 

The so called "Big Four" accounting firms — PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, Ernst & Young (EY), and Deloitte — are known for paying their staff high salaries. 

In 2019, the four firms combined employewell over a million people worldwide. New hires typically earn six-figure salaries from the get-go. An entry-level consultant who just graduated from business school can makmore than $200,000 a year at the four firms when you include base salary, bonuses, and relocation expenses. 

Business Insider analyzed the US Office of Foreign Labor Certification's 2019 disclosure data for permanent and temporary foreign workers to find out what PwC, KPMG, EY, and Deloitte paid employees for jobs ranging from entry-level to executive roles. The salary data analyzed were based across the US. 

We looked through entries specifically for roles related to management consulting and accounting. Performance bonuses, signing bonuses, and compensation other than base salaries are not reflected in this data.

Here's how much PwC, KPMG, EY, and Deloitte paid their hires last year. 

Continued in article (with considerable detail, but only for consulting divisions)

Also see
https://www.businessinsider.com/bain-bcg-and-mckinsey-base-salaries-how-much-consultants-make-2020-7?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI Prime 2020-08-06&utm_term=BI Prime Select

Jensen Comment
The accounting/auditing divisions of the firms pay considerably less up to and sometimes including promotions to be partners sharing in profits.

A majority of graduates of accounting programs await whatever the starting salaries due to job availability, excellent training, location choices, and client exposures.

Corporations and some government agencies (think FBI) require experience years in addition to accounting degrees. This leaves CPA firms and the IRS relatively alone in the hiring of new graduates that have minimal experience other than perhaps very short internships while in college.

Many new employees of large CPA firms do not intend to make lifetime careers in those firms. These new employees want the excellent training and experience to eventually move elsewhere, including sometimes opening up their own CPA firms and tax practices. Many want to move to rural communities where there are small accounting/tax firms and businesses wanting accountants (where there are no larger CPA firms in the region). Many accountants just do not want lifetime careers in mega offices in mega cities.

My point here is that graduates contemplating job offers from all divisions of large accounting firms should concern themselves with many factors more important than starting salaries. For example, training and certain types of experience provide more career opportunities relative to those starting salaries.

There's an added consideration when choosing between auditing versus consulting. The enormous problem with consulting engagements is that they are often for specific engagements with limited life. Consultants are constantly having to seek out and win over new clients. The auditing engagements, on the other hand, are often repeat engagements year after year after year. It took GE nearly 100 years to seek out an auditor other than KPMG.

Personally I would not want to spend much of my working life seeking out new clients, writing proposals, and glad handing my way into new contracts. I was more inclined to want a steady day job and fill in with high paying gigs now and then. I would not like being a gig worker full time.

Bob Jensen's threads on careers ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#careers


MBA grads of Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and more share the unique career paths they took after business school — that didn't end in finance or consulting ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/mba-graduates-harvard-stanford-columbia-share-unique-career-paths-after-business-school?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BIPrime_select&utm_campaign=BI Prime 2020-08-06&utm_term=BI Prime Select

 

·        According to statistics from Harvard Business School, financial services and consulting are the most popular paths for its graduates.

·        That said, there are plenty of other career paths you can take after getting an MBA.

·        Business Insider spoke with graduates of Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and more to learn about the steps they took after getting a degree.

·        These graduates ended up in unique fields such as nonprofit, medicine, sports marketing, and retail.

·       

People tend to get their MBA for the same reasons: career advancement, leadership training, and a strong network. But once MBA students graduate from school, there are many ways they can use their degrees.

According to statistics from Harvard Business School, financial services and consulting are the most popular paths for its graduates. Liz Chilla, the senior director of Emory University's Goizueta Business School Career Management Center, told Business Insider that she's "seen an increase in [students interested in] consulting" over the seven and a half years she's worked in business education, in both admissions and counseling positions. 

However, while consulting and finance jobs may be more popular than other options, they are by no means the only tracks business school students can take. 

Business Insider spoke to five MBA graduates who used their degrees in unique ways, and have gone on to find great success in their respective sectors. 

I became the cofounder and director of a nonprofit

While Chesca Colloredo-Mansfeld's first job out of business school was rather typical for an MBA, consulting was never her end goal. 

Growing up the daughter of a diplomat, the inequality that existed between Colloredo-Mansfeld's family and those she drove past in Somalia and Malaysia was always apparent to her. Early on, she assumed one day she would work in international development. 

After working in investment banking for two years after college, she got a job with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Pakistan.

"I had never planned on going to business school. I thought I'll do that year [with the IRC] and apply to public policy school," she said.

But as she spoke to leaders with successful international development careers, she was told to go to business school if she wanted to make a real impact, and ended up attending Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, which has a public management program.

Read more: Here's exactly what it takes to get accepted into Stanford Graduate School of Business, according to 6 grads and the assistant dean of admissions

After graduating, getting married, and realizing it would be too hard to move abroad, Colloredo-Mansfeld started working at the Boston Consulting Group, and then at tech companies like Citysearch and eToys at the dawn of the dotcom bubble.

"I got the entrepreneurial bug at that point," she recalled.  

When Colloredo-Mansfeld's husband got a professorship at the University of Iowa, she started working at Iowa's business school. It was there that she heard about Dr. Ignacio Ponseti and his nonsurgical treatment for clubfoot.

She watched a video of a boy in Uganda with untreated clubfoot, and it brought tears to her eyes. That night she told her husband, "I've figured out what I need to do with my life."

Unsatisfied with another business school job and hoping to fulfill Dr. Ponseti's wish to treat clubfoot in children worldwide, Colloredo-Mansfeld started MiracleFeet. With the help of two cofounders, the nonprofit has been helping to bring the nonsurgical treatment for clubfoot to children globally for nine years now.

She approached it like any business problem, explained to investors the return on philanthropic investment, and spoke the language of business executives, said Colloredo-Mansfeld about starting the organization. 

Uniquely positioned with a business background, "We've done things a typical NGO might shy away from," she added. For example, MiracleFeet has partnered with companies like Clarks and Suncast to innovate its technology.

Colloredo-Mansfeld is thankful for her degree and the network she built along the way. "For people leaning toward nonprofit and entrepreneurship," she said, "I think an MBA gives you a really good foundation."

I propelled myself into a director role in the medical profession 

After 10 years of practicing as an ER doctor, Benjamin Lee started to notice a disconnect between the decisions hospital leaders were making and what was happening at the patient bedside. Lee questioned why clinicians weren't more involved in decision-making, and then looked at what degrees hospital leaders had. He decided that holding an MBA or MPH seemed like "an unspoken rule."

"You had to have some kind of management skills," Lee said.

Ultimately, Lee enrolled at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in their executive MBA program. He was initially attracted to Fuqua's health sector management program, but never ended up taking classes in it. Nonetheless, he feels that his degree and the network he made have been invaluable.

"Business school opens up doors that otherwise might be difficult to open," Lee said.

At Fuqua, Lee met classmates who helped him start a company to facilitate patient transfer via cloud-based software. During his customer discovery phase, Lee spoke with a healthcare services company called Adeptus Health, to see if it might be interested in his product.

Continued in article


The Truth Is Paywalled But The Lies Are Free ---
https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/08/the-truth-is-paywalled-but-the-lies-are-free


Painting Eyes on The Butts of Cattle Can Protect Them From Lions, Research Shows ---
https://www.sciencealert.com/lions-are-less-likely-to-attack-cattle-with-eyes-painted-on-their-backsides

Jensen Comment
Something tells me this is a very, very short-term solution since it won't take long for the lions to lose their fear of painted eyes. More troublesome for the lions would be something that hurts them (not mortally) when they attack from behind. Don't ask me what this would be?

The painted eyes are analogous to the problem of non-stationarity in statistical analysis. It's very hard to conduct time series or other analyses on data sets drawn from non-stationary processes. The famous baseball and election poll guru Nate Silver blames non-stationarity for his failed prediction that Attorney General Martha Coakley would defeat Scott Brown on the eve of the election for Ted Kennedy's empty Senate seat. Nate Silver said too many voters changed their minds immediately preceding election day --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Brown_(politician)




From the Scout Report on July 17, 2020

JAMULUS --- http://llcon.sourceforge.net/
Jamulus is a low-latency streaming audio platform that "enables musicians to perform real-time jam sessions over the internet." Any connection with a bandwidth of over 200 Kbps and a ping time to the Jamulus servers of less than 40ms should suffice. If none of the public Jamulus servers have sufficiently low ping times, users may opt to run their own server as well. The Getting Started page on the Jamulus Wiki provides detailed instructions on how to install and configure the Jamulus client software on Windows, Linux, and Macintosh computers. The Hardware Setup section provides additional information on setting up audio hardware, including a list of hardware known to work well. Detailed documentation on all the options in the client software is presented on the Jamulus Help Manual page. Installers for Windows and macOS can be located on the Jamulus website. Linux and BSD users can locate packages in their system's package repositories


DOUBLE COMMANDER --- https://doublecmd.sourceforge.io/
Double Commander is a cross platform dual-pane file manager inspired by the Windows-only Total Commander. In addition to allowing users to move files between the two directories displayed in its two panes, Double Commander can also compare the contents of those directories. It can be set either to highlight files that differ or those that are identical. For files that differ, Double Commander provides a built-in file comparison tool to determine what specifically is different. Users can bookmark specific locations for quick access in the future and can open numerous locations simultaneously in tabs. Archive files (for example, .zip or .tar) can be browsed as if they were directories without needing to unpack them. For quick changes to text file formats, Double Commander includes a built-in text editor. Double Commander also provides a full-text search feature to query within selected directories. Installers are provided on the Double Commander website for Windows, macOS, Linux, and FreeBSD systems

 

From the Scout Report on August 7, 2020

TURTL --- https://turtlapp.com/
Turtl is a secure, collaborative note-taking application. Users can create notes in Markdown format and share them across all their devices. Files and photos can be attached to individual notes. From there, notes can be tagged and organized into projects. Those who wish to collaborate can invite other Turtl users to view and edit notes in specific projects. All data stored in the Turtl app is encrypted using the industry standard libsodium before being sent to a server, keeping users' data safe and private. The Turtl server is open source. Those interested in increased security may also opt to self-host their own server, rather than using the public servers. The Download section of the Turtl website offers Turtl clients for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android devices. An iOS version is also currently in development.


PYCHARM ---  www.jetbrains.com/pycharm 
PyCharm is a Python-focused integrated development environment. It includes a number of "smart assistance" features to streamline the programming process, including: code completion, error checking as code is entered, style checking, and "project navigation" to work with large codebases. PyCharm also includes an interactive debugger that allows users to single-step their code, set breakpoints, examine the contents of variables, and more. In addition, PyCharm has integrated support for unit testing that can produce line-by-line code coverage summaries for the tests that were run. A "professional" version of PyCharm that includes support for additional languages, web frameworks, and data science frameworks is also available for purchase. The free version of PyCharm can be located in the Download section of the website. PyCharm is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.





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


Education Tutorials

OPEN EDITIONS (free scholarly literature) --- https://open-editions.org/

The Map of Quantum Physics: A Colorful Animation Explains the Often Misunderstood Branch of Science ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/the-map-of-quantum-physics-a-colorful-animation-explains-the-often-misunderstood-branch-of-science.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

COLORS OF NATURE (STEM learning) ---  www.colorsofnature.org

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


Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials

Clever chemistry turns ordinary bricks into electricity storage device ---
https://theconversation.com/clever-chemistry-turns-ordinary-bricks-into-electricity-storage-devices-144051

Access Mars --- https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/#

What is ammonium nitrate, the chemical that exploded in Beirut?
https://theconversation.com/what-is-ammonium-nitrate-the-chemical-that-exploded-in-beirut-143979

DISTILLATIONS (science storytelling) --- www.sciencehistory.org/distillations

COLORS OF NATURE (STEM learning) ---  www.colorsofnature.org

SPARK SCIENCE PODCAST --- www.sparksciencenow.com/category/podcast

INSPIRATION LABORATORIES: SUMMER SCIENCE SERIES ---
https://inspirationlaboratories.com/tag/summer-science-series/

INSTITUTE OF MAKING (materials science) --- www.instituteofmaking.org.uk/blog

BUILDINGS --- www.mdpi.com/journal/buildings

ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIES --- https://journal.eahn.org/

The Map of Quantum Physics: A Colorful Animation Explains the Often Misunderstood Branch of Science ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/the-map-of-quantum-physics-a-colorful-animation-explains-the-often-misunderstood-branch-of-science.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

 

 

Hummingbirds can count their way to food
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/07/hummingbirds-can-count-their-way-food

Bright feathers, bright brains: hummingbirds 'can order numerically'
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/08/bright-feathers-bright-brains-hummingbirds-can-order-numerically

Researchers Discover Hummingbirds May Use Counting To Find Their Flowers
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/12/890148639/researchers-discover-hummingbirds-may-use-counting-to-find-their-flowers

Numerical ordinality in a wild nectarivore
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2020.1269

Internet Bird Collection
https://www.macaulaylibrary.org/the-internet-bird-collection-the-macaulay-library/

North American Bird Guide
https://www.audubon.org/bird-guide

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

THE MOBILITY SPACE REPORT: WHAT THE STREET!?  www.move-lab.com/project/whatthestreet/chicago?bike=0.18&rail=0.63&car=0.18

MOVING THE LINE: SHIFTING BORDERS AND DISPARITIES IN AMERICAN CITIES (housing discrimination) ---
https://jsteele2003.github.io/msdv_thesis/redlining/dist/index.html

SHE EXPLORES PODCAST (for and about women) ---
https://she-explores.com/podcast/

USA's child poverty rate hit an all-time low ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/428-us-child-poverty/

Worldwide fewer kids are dying from malnutrition ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/292-malnutrition-deaths/

Child labour is falling around the world ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1277-child-labour/

Homelessness among USA veterans is down by 1/3 ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/286-us-veteran-homeless/

Australia has a mobile shower and laundry service for the homeless ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/632-mobile-service-homeless/

The world will add 70,000 new solar panels per hour over the next five years ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/17-world-solar-panels/

Scotland generates enough wind energy to power all of its homes ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/

There have never been more female CEOs ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1323-female-ceos/
Bob Jensen's threads on women professionals (the good news and the bad news) ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Women 

Internet access is now available for over 95% of the global population ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1148-afford-mobile-internet/
Affordability varies

 

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

Global Commodities (illustrations of data visualization) ---
https://www.dailyfx.com/research/global-commodities/?tr=imports&yr=2018&cm=gold,copper,oil,gas

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

BLACK HISTORY BUFF PODCAST ---
www.blackhistorybuff.com/blogs/podcast

COURSERA: RACE AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY IN AMERICAN LIFE AND HISTORY  ---
www.coursera.org/learn/race-cultural-diversity-american-life

HOW EACH USA STATE GOT ITS NAME ---
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2020/08/05/how-each-state-got-its-name-4/?utm_source=247WallStDailyNewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyNewsletter&utm_content=AUG122020a

THE LEAKY TECH PIPELINE (racial inequality in technology studies) ---
https://leakytechpipeline.com/

WHAT TO DO ABOUT WILLIAM FAULKNER ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/michael-gorra-william-faulkner/614206/

TALKING ABOUT RACE ---
https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race

PROJECT IMPLICIT: IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TESTS (scientifically addressing our biases) ---
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html

BLACKPAST.ORG: AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY: PRIMARY DOCUMENTS ---
www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/primary-documents-african-american-history

ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIES --- https://journal.eahn.org/

Take an 360° Interactive Tour Inside the Great Pyramid of Giza ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/07/take-an-360-interactive-tour-inside-the-great-pyramid-of-giza.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

HATHITRUST: ISLAMIC MANUSCRIPTS ---
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/mb?a=listis&c=1961411403

Revisit Scenes of Daily Life in Amsterdam in 1922, with Historic Footage Enhanced by Artificial Intelligence ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/scenes-of-daily-life-in-amsterdam-in-1922.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

Global Commodities (illustrations of data visualization) ---
https://www.dailyfx.com/research/global-commodities/?tr=imports&yr=2018&cm=gold,copper,oil,gas

A Virtual Tour of Ancient Rome, Circa 320 CE: Explore Stunning Recreations of The Forum, Colosseum and Other Monuments ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/a-virtual-tour-of-ancient-rome-circa-320-ce-explore-stunning-recreations-of-the-forum-colosseum-and-other-monuments.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

Istanbul Captured in Beautiful Color Images from 1890: The Hagia Sophia, Topkaki Palace’s Imperial Gate & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/istanbul-captured-in-beautiful-color-images-from-1890.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

Explore the Ruins of Timgad, the “African Pompeii” Excavated from the Sands of Algeria ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/explore-the-ruins-of-timgad-the-african-pompeii-excavated-from-the-sands-of-algeria.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

Florence Nightingale --- https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Nightingale/

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

Racism:  Whose Music Theory?
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/08/07/music-theory-journal-criticized-symposium-supposed-white-supremacist-theorist?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=b93f1bf03f-WNU_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-b93f1bf03f-197565045&mc_cid=b93f1bf03f&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

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/

July 31, 2020

·        Pandemic Could Complicate Hurricane Season

·        Study Reveals How Coronavirus Travels Indoors

·        A Long Road to Recovery for Some COVID Survivors

·        New Study Shows Kids Are COVID Spreaders, Too

·        FDA Warns of Silver, Other Bogus COVID-19 Cures

·        American Cancer Society Recommends HPV Test

·        Former GOP Candidate Herman Cain Dies of COVID-19

·        Ginsburg Hospitalized for Non-Surgical Procedure

·        Gynecological Cancers Not Tied to Severe COVID-19

 August 1, 2020

·        How COVID-19 Raced Through a Georgia Summer Camp

·        First U.S. Dog With COVID-19 Has Died

·        Another Effect of COVID: Lasting Hearing Problems?

·        Vaccine May Be Cleared Within Weeks of Trial Data

·        New FDA Guidelines for Rapid, At-Home Testing

·        Gohmert to Take Hydroxychloroquine for Coronavirus

·        Fauci Suggests Wearing Goggles for Full Protection

·        Pandemic Could Complicate Hurricane Season

·        Study Reveals How Coronavirus Travels Indoors

August 3, 2020

·        How COVID-19 Raced Through a Georgia Summer Camp

·        First U.S. Dog With COVID-19 Has Died

·        Another Effect of COVID: Lasting Hearing Problems?

·        Vaccine May Be Cleared Within Weeks of Trial Data

·        New FDA Guidelines for Rapid, At-Home Testing

·        Gohmert to Take Hydroxychloroquine for Coronavirus

·        Fauci Suggests Wearing Goggles for Full Protection

·        Pandemic Could Complicate Hurricane Season

·        Study Reveals How Coronavirus Travels Indoors

August 5, 2020

·        Pandemic Expert: Schools Need Testing in Place to Safely Reopen

·        Asian Countries Report Record COVID-19 Spikes

·        White House Staff Subject to Random COVID Testing

·        CDC Forecasts Up to 11,000 Deaths Weekly in August

·        First U.S. Face Transplant Recipient Dies

·        Birx Says Midwest Coronavirus Surge is Developing

·        3% Drop in Daily COVID-19 Cases Over 7 Days

·        Huge Parties Mean Suspensions for Airbnb Rentals

·        California Sets Record 500,000 COVID-19 Cases

August 6, 2020

·        260 Teachers Infected in GA’s Largest District

·        Fauci Says Safety a Priority for School Opening

·        WHO: There's No 'Silver Bullet' for COVID-19

·        Novavax Reports Encouraging Vaccine Results

·        Colleges Weigh How Best to Test for COVID

·        Skip the 'Maskne,' Not the Mask

·        Obesity Tied to Severe COVID-19, But Age Matters

·        Many COVID Patients Get Useless Antibiotics: Study

·        Cancer Diagnoses Drop, COVID Drives Down Screenings

August 7, 2020

·        Biden Won’t Attend DNC In Person

·        Ohio Governor Tests Positive for Coronavirus

·        Only 42% Would Get Vaccinated Against COVID

·        NYC, LA Increase Coronavirus Restrictions

·        Can You Protect Kids from COVID-19 at School?

·        Moderna Prices COVID Vaccine Higher than Others

·        Americans More Stressed by COVID Than Other Nations

·        Are Boomers Less Sharp Than Previous Generations?

·        Clorox Wipes Shortage Will Last Until 2021

 August 8, 2020

·        As in Adults, Minority Kids Hit Hardest by COVID

·        Simple Test Shows Which Face Masks Are Best

·        Will Coffee Shop Culture Survive COVID-19?

·        Can a Cheap Pill Cure Gonorrhea? New Test Can Tell

·        Trump Misinformation Posts Pulled By Social Media

·        Biden Won’t Attend DNC In Person

·        Ohio Governor Tests Positive for Coronavirus

·        Only 42% Would Get Vaccinated Against COVID

·        NYC, LA Increase Coronavirus Restrictions

August 10, 2020

·        Many Stay Optimistic for Most of Their Lives

·        As in Adults, Minority Kids Hit Hardest by COVID

·        Simple Test Shows Which Face Masks Are Best

·        Will Coffee Shop Culture Survive COVID-19?

·        Can a Cheap Pill Cure Gonorrhea? New Test Can Tell

·        Trump Misinformation Posts Pulled By Social Media

·        Biden Won’t Attend DNC In Person

·        Ohio Governor Tests Positive for Coronavirus

·        Only 42% Would Get Vaccinated Against COVID

August 11, 2020

·        Social Distancing? Your Paycheck Plays a Role

·        ‘The Year Has Been Sort of Canceled’

·        A Great Unknown: When Flu Season and COVID Collide

·        Can We Prevent the Next 5 Million COVID Cases?

·        Ohio Governor Cautions About Rapid COVID-19 Tests

·        Chronic Fatigue May Be Long-Term Effect of COVID

·        COVID Hits Health Care Workers of Color Hardest

·        Blood Test Might Spot Most Dangerous COVID Cases

·        Is Your Bread Really 'Whole Grain'? Maybe Not

August 12, 2020

·        Climate Change Means Senior Health Could Suffer

·        Another COVID Hazard: False Information

·        Students' Struggle with Mental Health in Pandemic

·        Russia OKs COVID Vaccine Before Trials Completed

·        From Trees and Grapefruit Comes New Bug Repellent

·        Social Distancing? Your Paycheck Plays a Role

·        ‘The Year Has Been Sort of Canceled’

·        A Great Unknown: When Flu Season and COVID Collide

·        Can We Prevent the Next 5 Million COVID Cases?

April 13, 2020

·        Florida Sets Weekly Record for Hospitalizations

·        GA Gov. Won’t Order Masks Despite School Outbreaks

·        Redfield: This Fall Could Be ‘Worst’ We’ve Seen

·        Big 10 Cancels Football, All Fall Sports

·        Many COVID Outbreaks Traced to Restaurants, Bars

·        Asymptomatic COVID: Silent, but Maybe Not Harmless

·        COVID Risk Up to 7 Times Higher for Young Vapers

·        Climate Change Means Senior Health Could Suffer

 


Florence Nightingale --- https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Nightingale/  


Reduced Risk of Dementia ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/08/the-flynn-effect-is-stronger-than-you-think.html




Humor for August 2020

Forwarded by Auntie Bev
Send In The Clowns --- https://www.theretrosite.com/send-in-the-clowns/


Major league baseball stadiums replaced live fans with cardboard cutouts. Beer and hot dog sales are down 100%. But average IQs in the stands went up 38 points.


Forwarded by Auntie Bev

Age Humor:

Couple in their nineties are both having problems remembering things. During a check-up, the doctor tells them that they're physically okay, but they might want to start writing things down to help them remember. Later that night while watching TV, the old man gets up from his chair, 'Want anything while I'm in the kitchen?' he asks.

'Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?'

'Sure.'

'Don't you think you should write it down so you can remember it?'

'No, I can remember it.'

'Well, I'd like some strawberries on top, too. Maybe you should write it down, so as not to forget it?'

He says, 'I can remember that. You want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries.'

'I'd also like whipped cream. I'm certain you'll forget that. Write it down?'

Irritated, he says, 'I don't need to write it down. I can remember it! Ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream. I got it, for goodness sake!' He toddles into the kitchen. After 20 minutes, the old man returns from the kitchen and gives his wife a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the plate for a moment. 'Where's my toast?'

**********************

An elderly couple had dinner at another couple's house, and after eating, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen. The two gentlemen were talking and one said, 'Last night we went out to a new restaurant and it was really great. I would recommend it highly.'

The other man said, 'What’s the name of the restaurant?'

The first man thought and thought and finally said, 'What’s the name of that flower you give to someone you love? You know, it’s red and has thorns.'

'Do you mean a rose?'

'Yes, that's the one,' replied the man. He then turned toward the kitchen and yelled, 'Rose, what's the name of that restaurant we went to last night?'

***********************

A man was telling his neighbor, 'I just bought a new hearing aid that cost me four thousand dollars, but it's state of the art. It's perfect.'

'Really,' answered the neighbor. 'What kind is it?'

'Twelve thirty.'


 

 

 

 




Humor July 2020 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book20q3.htm#Humor0720.htm 

Humor June 2020 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book20q2.htm#Humor0620.htm

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/

 

Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on August 14, 2020
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2020/TidbitsQuotations081420.htm             




 

 

 

 

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