Tidbits on August 27, 2020
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

Set 2 of My Maple Tree Favorite Photographs ---
http://cs.trinity.edu/rjensen/Tidbits/Trees/Maple/Set02/Maples02.htm

 

Tidbits on August 27, 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

MIT Video on How to Speak Better ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unzc731iCUY
Thank you Jagdish Gangolly for the heads up
Jagdish points out that Professor Winston passed away last year, and it may be the last speech by him you will ever view.

Video from the University of Chicago:  Teaching Faculty How to Write Better---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIzMaLkCaM
Thank you Jagdish Gangolly for the heads up

Bill Gates  How the pandemic will shape the near future ---
https://www.ted.com/talks/bill_gates_how_the_pandemic_will_shape_the_near_future?rid=p2k4O53rj1Tt&utm_source=recommendation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=explore&utm_term=watchNow

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


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

The First Black Woman to Perform at the Grand Ole Opry ---
https://daily.jstor.org/the-first-black-woman-to-perform-at-the-grand-ole-opry/
Listen to Linda ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsNaHdYMTmk&list=PL7PPqyb1yFqlgZnwNqRhxDySBPoRXcF3N

Music for Headphone Testing --- https://jborden.com/2020/08/24/music-monday-music-to-test-your-headphones-with/

Bubblegum Music --- https://jborden.com/2020/08/17/music-monday-bubblegum-music-part-one/

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


Photographs and Art

Discover the Cosmos:  A Different Astronomy Photograph Every Day ---
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200818.htm

'This Is Our Last Chance.' A Photographer Captures the Energy for Change in Beirut After the Explosion ---
https://time.com/5879192/beirut-explosion-lebanon-reform/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief-covidwave2&utm_content=20200816&et_rid=31470513

North Carolina: Images of the Tar Heel State ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2020/08/north-carolina-photos/615520/

COLORS OF NATURE --- www.colorsofnature.org

Vincent Van Gogh’s Self Portraits: Explore & Download a Collection of 17 Paintings Free Online ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/vincent-van-goghs-self-portraits-explore-download-a-collection-of-17-paintings-free-online.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OpenCulture+%28Open+Culture%29

Bear family enters occupied Vermont Airbnb ---
https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/bear-family-occupied-vermont-airbnb

A historic house in Missouri comes with a hidden door that leads to 9 functional jail cells on the lower level ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-show-inside-historic-missouri-house-complete-former-jail-2020-8

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

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY POETRY ARCHIVE --- www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org

OPEN EDITIONS --- https://open-editions.org/

About Gaul Jones ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/gayl-jones-novel-palmares/614218/

An Introduction to Postmodernist Thinkers & Themes: Watch Primers on Foucault, Nietzsche, Derrida, Deleuze & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/an-introduction-to-postmodernist-thinkers-themes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

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




Now in Another Tidbits Document
Political Quotations on August 27, 2020
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/tidbits/2020/TidbitsQuotations082720.htm             




Free Prestigious University Courses to Maintain Mental & Physical Health During a Pandemic ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/free-courses-to-maintain-mental-physical-health-during-a-pandemic.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)


2020 Has Been Terrible So Far, but There's Still Good News Out There ---
https://reason.com/2020/08/18/2020-has-been-terrible-so-far-but-theres-still-good-news-out-there/


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


Not Just Books: All the Free Digital Stuff Your Local Library Might Offer ---
https://www.howtogeek.com/366860/not-just-books-all-the-free-digital-stuff-your-local-library-might-offer/


When Big Innovations Happen --- https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/when-the-magic-happens/

Jensen Comment
Big innovations are often preceded by big discoveries. A big discovery happened when Watson and Crick discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. Big innovations followed such as the use of DNA in forensic science.


Screen time GOOD for toddlers? Touchscreens may strengthen attention in young kids, study says ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/screen-time-good-for-toddlers-attention-span/
Perhaps to a fault?


New blood thinner can prevent blood clots without risk of excessive bleeding ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/new-blood-thinner-prevents-blood-clots-excessive-bleeding/


In trial, Israeli gargle test gives COVID results in 1 second, at 95% accuracy ---
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-trial-israeli-gargle-test-gives-covid-results-in-1-second-at-95-accuracy/
It must not be any good, because the major media is ignoring it --- or maybe their ignoring it because it was discovered by Israel.


We've Decommissioned 85% if the World's (Known) Nuclear Warheads ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/541-nuclear-warheads/


The Gender Gap in Primary Schools Has Disappeared ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1331-gender-gap-primary/


‘Love hormone’ oxytocin can reverse aging processes that lead to osteoporosis ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/oxytocin-love-hormone-reverses-aging-osteoporosis/


Experimental Covid Vaccine Prevents Pneumonia, Yields High Antibody Levels In Mice ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/experimental-coronavirus-vaccine-prevents-covid-19-pneumonia-high-antibody-levels/


We could soon be wearing artificial spider silk clothes ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1346-biofabrication-leaps/


Why do birds sing early in the morning? They’re warming up for their grand performance ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/why-do-birds-sing-early-in-morning/


How to Mislead With Statistics
Statistical Fallacies ---
https://www.geckoboard.com/best-practice/statistical-fallacies/

How to Mislead With Statistics
We think linearly, in terms of cause and effect, but the fact is that we live in a complex system – a system with many interacting agents, whose collective behaviour is usually hard to predict ---
https://aeon.co/essays/complex-systems-science-allows-us-to-see-new-paths-forward

My Latest Web Document
Over 600 Examples of Critical Thinking and Illustrations of How to Mislead With Statistics --
-
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/MisleadWithStatistics.htm


An Introduction to Postmodernist Thinkers & Themes: Watch Primers on Foucault, Nietzsche, Derrida, Deleuze & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/an-introduction-to-postmodernist-thinkers-themes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)


Slate:  In Praise of Textbooks Especially During a Pandemic ---
https://slate.com/technology/2020/08/remote-learning-means-we-need-textbooks.html

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
Error 5: Little feedback

 


Law Faculty Hiring Is Down 50% This Year ---
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2020/08/law-prof-hiring-down-50-this-year.html


Clemson to furlough employees through end of year ---
https://www.wspa.com/news/local-news/clemson-to-furlough-employees-through-end-of-year/

Clemson University said they are instituting a furlough program for more than half of their employees due to financial impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Clemson employees must take furlough days between September 1 and December 31, the university said.

The number of furlough days depends on employee salary:

Continued in article


Beware! A New Linux Malware From Russian Hackers Is Stealing Data ---
https://fossbytes.com/drovorub-linux-malware-russian-hackers-stealing-data/

A New Class of Russian Mobile Malware (for Android) Steals Banking Information
"Malware on the Move," MIT's Technology Review, June 25, 2014 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/graphiti/528306/malware-on-the-move/?utm_campaign=newsletters&utm_source=newsletter-daily-all&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20140625
Note the worrisome graphic


Chegg's Directory of Online Programs at Community Colleges ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/08/14/cheggs-directory-online-programs-community-colleges?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=3c269c0777-DNU_2020_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-3c269c0777-197565045&mc_cid=3c269c0777&mc_eid=1e78f7c952

A Tough Year for Community Colleges ---
https://www.insidehighered.com/admissions/article/2020/08/17/community-colleges-have-tough-year-enrollments?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=8edafc2c90-DNU_2020_COPY_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1fcbc04421-8edafc2c90-197565045&mc_cid=8edafc2c90&mc_eid=1e78f7c952


Justice Department Finds Yale Illegally Discriminates Against Asians and Whites in Undergraduate Admissions in Violation of Federal Civil-Rights Laws ---
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-yale-illegally-discriminates-against-asians-and-whites-undergraduate


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


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


The Weight of Debt:  The Economy Needs More Than A Vaccine ---
https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/michaelpento/2020/08/25/the-economy-needs-more-than-a-vaccine-n2574992?bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&utm_campaign=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=thdaily


Russia’s biggest tech company (Yandex)  is almost a Silicon Valley all unto itself. But that comes at a price ---
https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/08/19/1006438/yandex-putin-arkady-volozh-kremlin/


A leading chemistry journal has retracted a 2019 paper by a pair of researchers in Switzerland after determining that it contained fabricated data ---
https://retractionwatch.com/2020/08/18/top-chemistry-journal-retracts-paper-for-faked-data/

Consumer business professor leaves Pitt after retractions for data anomalies ---
https://retractionwatch.com/2020/08/13/consumer-researcher-leaves-pitt-after-retractions-for-data-anomalies/


How to Mislead With Statistics

Wharton:  How Fixed-income Portfolios Match or Beat Stocks in the Long Run ---
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/fixed-income-portfolios-match-beat-stocks-long-run/

Jensen Comment
My main objection to this study is the time span of the study across five decades. Fixed income portfolios did well when interest rates were relatively high over four decades. Then came the crash in interest rates over over the most recent decade. Investment decisions based upon a study across five years may be misled by non-stationarity arising in the most recent decade.

A second objection is that fixed-income portfolios are not what they used to be. In recent years hybrid securities are comprising a larger proportion of fixed income securities. By this I mean there are built-in conversion options and other features that make some fixed-income securities not purely fixed-income alternatives.

A third objection is that fixed-income securities come in two basic types --- taxable income versus tax-free income. Many (most) fixed-income portfolios are comprised of both types of fixed-income securities such that investment performance confounds major tax rulings into portfolio performance, particularly tax changes on the taxable securities.

A third objection is that fixed-income securities such as a municipal bond mutual fund really has variable annual returns even when the fund is comprised of only fixed-income securities. The variability arises mainly from when some bonds mature and are replaced by newer bonds having different fixed return rates. When an investor has such a mutual fund investment is this a fixed-income or variable-income component of the portfolio? If variable, the variability is fundamentally different than with a common stock portfolio where the income variability is caused by operating performance variability of each company in the stock fund.

A fourth objection is that real estate components of a portfolio differ fundamentally from stock and bond components. Firstly, an owner of real estate is taxed at least twice --- property taxes plus income taxes. Secondly, real estate investment performance is highly variable in terms of location (think of the 2020 crash in real estate value in Manhattan), type (think shopping centers), and political events such as how the current Corona-19 pandemic is currently crippling landlords. It's very difficult to diversify some real estate investment risks relative to other portfolio investment alternatives.


A Commentary on Textbooks in the Library Collection ---
https://commonplace.knowledgefutures.org/pub/vvwc4nrv/release/1

Jensen Comment
A great up-to-date textbook with wonderful end-of-chapter challenges can be as important or more important than the course instructor. There's no reason why students should get textbooks free and pay for the instructors. Both should be rewarded for the value of their services. The problem arises when textbook publishers commence to extract monopoly profits due to stifling of competition. The problem for publishers is that they get ripped off in various ways (think of nations that do not enforce copyright laws).


We're Developing & Harnessing Natural Organisms and Substances to Eat Plastic ---
https://informationisbeautiful.net/beautifulnews/1270-bacterium-eats-plastic/


What to Know About COVID Contact Tracing and Scams ---
https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200824/what-to-know-about-covid-contact-tracing-and-scams

Inside the get-rich-quick scheme that cost Amazon sellers thousands — and then got them banned ---
https://www.vox.com/2020/8/21/21380241/amazon-sellers-dynasty-toys-jim-cockrum-brett-bartlett-account-suspended

Over 25 years, almost every book and map of value vanished from the Carnegie Library. How did the thief pull it off? ---
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/theft-carnegie-library-books-maps-artworks-180975506/

How did a Harvard divinity scholar fall for a clumsy archaeological fraud?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/11/books/review/veritas-ariel-sabar.html

A disabled veteran defrauded donors and used money for a border wall to pay for this luxury fishing boat, federal prosecutors say ---
https://www.businessinsider.com/disabled-vet-used-crowdsourced-border-wall-funds-for-luxury-boat-2020-8

Steve Bannon charged with fraud over crowdfunnding campaign for border wall ---
https://www.vox.com/2020/8/20/21377209/banon-arrested-indicted-build-border-wall-gofundme

Dozens arrested in widespread ATM theft scam at Santander bank branches ---
https://www.nj.com/news/2020/08/dozens-arrested-in-widespread-atm-theft-scam.html

'Lottery lawyer' scammed millions from winners in mob-connected scheme, feds allege ---
https://www.foxnews.com/us/lottery-lawyer-long-island-new-york-mob-scheme-scam-alleged

Managing portfolio risk in the “Golden Age of fraud” ---
https://medium.com/view-from-level-39/managing-portfolio-risk-in-the-golden-age-of-fraud-75cb4122982a

Oregon Ballot Initiative Would Decriminalize Low-Level Possession of All Drugs:  Measure 110 would reduce felony convictions for drug possession by an estimated 95 percent
https://reason.com/2020/08/21/oregon-ballot-initiative-would-decriminalize-low-level-possession-of-all-drugs/

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


Virginia Colleges Steer Millions in No-Bid Contracts to New Covid-19 Testing Company ---
https://www.chronicle.com/article/virginia-colleges-steer-millions-in-no-bid-contracts-to-new-covid-19-testing-company

At least three Virginia universities have hired a fledgling New Orleans-based company on no-bid contracts to provide Covid-19 tests to students before allowing them to move into campus dorms, sparking criticism from some faculty members and students.

The company, Kallaco, continues to conduct screening tests designed to keep the virus from spiraling out of control. The College of William & Mary, George Mason University, and Virginia Commonwealth University are among the institutions that contracted with Kallaco — which was incorporated less than four months ago — to handle testing.

There’s one problem: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed to The Chronicle this week that Kallaco’s throat-swab test is not approved for at-home use. That means the FDA has approved the test’s use only when a medical professional collects the samples.

That’s not what’s happening.

Instead, students have been receiving the test kits in the mail and swabbing their own throats. Because of this, the results might be inaccurate. An infected student could receive a false negative, and potentially infect others.

The procedure can be complex for an 18-year-old just starting college. An incoming freshman at William & Mary told The Chronicle that his test instructed him to locate and swab his “bilateral posterior pharynx.”

“Kallaco is an opportunistic company that’s exploiting the pandemic for their gains,” said Bethany Letiecq, an associate professor of human development at George Mason University. “And they’re willing to use ill-gotten procedures and put people’s lives in jeopardy to make a lot of money, off of higher education.”

Letiecq is president of her campus’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, and she is demanding that George Mason sever ties with Kallaco, retest all affected students using a different company, and investigate how Kallaco was chosen in the first place.

Amy Cheronis, a spokeswoman for Kallaco, responded that the firm “is providing a much-needed solution in these unprecedented times.”

“We stand by the economics of our model and are proud that we have been able to provide testing services through Kallaco that are at, or in many cases, below market rates. The notion that we are ‘exploiting the pandemic for gain’ or that the tests provided through Kallaco are ‘ill-gotten procedures’ is patently untrue.”

Continued in article

In trial, Israeli gargle test gives COVID results in 1 second, at 95% accuracy ---
https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-trial-israeli-gargle-test-gives-covid-results-in-1-second-at-95-accuracy/
It must not be any good, because the major media is ignoring it --- or maybe they're ignoring it because it was discovered by Israel.

The University of Illinois is working to contain predicted increase in on-campus COVID-19 cases (with a test similar to the above Israeli saliva-based test) ---
https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/1990170345?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=atlantic-daily-newsletter&utm_content=20200825&silverid=NTk4MzY1OTg0MzY5S0


Rather Than Give Away Its COVID Vaccine, Oxford Makes a Deal With Drugmaker ---
https://khn.org/news/rather-than-give-away-its-covid-vaccine-oxford-makes-a-deal-with-drugmaker/

In a business driven by profit, vaccines have a problem. They’re not very profitable — at least not without government subsidies. Pharma companies favor expensive medicines that must be taken repeatedly and generate revenue for years or decades. Vaccines are often given only once or twice. In many parts of the world, established vaccines cost a few dollars per dose or less.

Last year only four companies were making vaccines for the U.S. market, down from more than 20 in the 1970s. As recently as Feb. 11, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, complained that no major drug company had committed to “step up” to make a coronavirus vaccine, calling the situation “very difficult and frustrating.”

Oxford University surprised and pleased advocates of overhauling the vaccine business in April by promising to donate the rights to its promising coronavirus vaccine to any drugmaker.

The idea was to provide medicines preventing or treating COVID-19 at a low cost or free of charge, the British university said. That made sense to people seeking change. The coronavirus was raging. Many agreed that traditional vaccine development, characterized by long lead times, manufacturing monopolies and weak investment, was broken.

“We actually thought they were going to do that,” James Love, director of Knowledge Ecology International, a nonprofit that works to expand access to medical technology, said of Oxford’s pledge. “Why wouldn’t people agree to let everyone have access to the best vaccines possible?”

A few weeks later, Oxford—urged on by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—reversed course. It signed an exclusive vaccine deal with AstraZeneca that gave the pharmaceutical giant sole rights and no guarantee of low prices—with the less-publicized potential for Oxford to eventually make millions from the deal and win plenty of prestige.

Other companies working on coronavirus vaccines have followed the same line, collecting billions in government grants, hoarding patents, revealing as little as possible about their deals—and planning to charge up to $37 a dose for potentially hundreds of millions of shots.

Even as governments shower money on an industry that has not made vaccines a priority in the past, critics say, failure to alter the basic model means drug industry executives and their shareholders will get rich with no assurance that future vaccines will be inexpensively available to all.

“If there were ever an opportunity” to change the economics of vaccine development, “this would have been it,” said Ameet Sarpatwari, an epidemiologist and lawyer at Harvard Medical School who studies drug-pricing regulation. Instead, “it is business as usual, where the manufacturers are getting exclusive rights and we are hoping on the basis of public sentiment that they will price their products responsibly.”

In the United States and other developed nations, the solution to drug-company reluctance was to shower them with billions of dollars in public funds to persuade them to help. The Trump administration has announced deals worth more than $10 billion with seven companies to try to turn basic research—often funded by the government—into effective, widely distributed vaccines—but with no guarantee they would be widely affordable or available.

That approach has driven up stock prices in the past four months and enriched drug executives betting with somebody else’s money.

AstraZeneca stock and options owned by CEO Pascal Soriot have increased by nearly $15 million in value since early April, according to calculations by KHN based on company disclosures. The stock hit an all-time high in July. The stock market value of Novavax, a biotech that never recorded a profit in more than two decades, soared tenfold to $10 billion after a nonprofit and the Trump administration agreed to give it $1.6 billion to make a vaccine.

Companies “say we have to charge high prices because we are taking a risk,” said Mohga Kamal-Yanni, an independent consultant on global health based in the United Kingdom. “Actually, the public is taking the risk. The public is paying for the cost of research and development and probably the cost of manufacturing as well.”

Moderna, another company working on a vaccine candidate, received nearly $1 billion from the U.S. government to pay essentially all costs to research the product and get it approved by regulators. It’s using a vaccine designed in large part by the National Institutes of Health and academic scientists using federal grants.

If the vaccine works, the company gets an additional $1.5 billion to cover 100 million doses, a deal that U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat, likened to giving taxpayers “the privilege of purchasing that same vaccine that we already paid for.”

That deal comes to $15 a dose. Moderna told Wall Street analysts it might charge as much as $37 a dose for smaller-volume contracts.

“This is greedy, and the taxpayers who have funded all of this should have expected better negotiation on the part of the U.S. government,” said Margaret Liu, a globally respected vaccine scientist who once worked for Merck and is now chairperson of the International Society for Vaccines.

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department “conducted extensive market research and price analysis” to ensure prices are fair, said a senior HHS official who asked for anonymity. “We are prohibited from disclosing price discussions and details.”

Continued in article


K-12 Districts Lay Off Thousands of Paraprofessionals as Students Switch to Remote Learning ---
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/District_Dossier/2020/08/districts_layoff_thousands_of_.html?cmp=eml-enl-eu-news2&M=59659919&U=2290378&UUID=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f


Differential occupational mortality in Sweden from Covid-19 ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/08/differential-occupational-mortality-in-sweden-from-covid-19.html


The case of Jonathan Pruitt, a Canadian spider researcher suspected of fabricating data in potentially dozens of studies, keeps getting weirder ---
http://retractionwatch.com/

Pruitt, according to our count, now has six retractions. Currently associate professor and Canada 150 Research Chair at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, he made a name for himself by providing other scientists with field data — much of which now appears to be unreliable.

Jensen Comment
Jonathan Pruitt reminds me of James Hunton who provided other accounting researchers with data that led to over 30 retractions of published papers where he was one of the co-authors ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#ProfessorsWhoPlagiarize


A word in your ear… why the rise of audiobooks is a story worth celebrating ---
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/02/a-word-in-your-ear-why-the-rise-of-audiobooks-is-a-story-worth-celebrating

Bob Jensen's links to free audio books ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Audio


BBC Radio 4 - Laws That Aren't Laws, Murphy's Law ---
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ltkj

LAWS THAT AREN’T LAWS: In this Radio 4 show, Robin Ince explores quirky rules of thumb such as Murphy’s Law (anything that might go wrong does so), Betteridge’s Law (any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word 'no'), and the Peter Principle (employees rise to their own level of incompetence).


The Monopolists by Mary Pilon:  Everything You Want to Know About the Parker Bros. Game Called Monopoly ---
https://timharford.com/2020/07/book-of-the-week-28-the-monopolists-by-mary-pilon/

Jensen Comment
Some accounting professors (think David Albrecht) used this board game to teach basic accounting ---
http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#Monopoly


The farmer-influencer and the economics of streaming ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/08/the-farmer-influencer-and-the-economics-of-streaming.html

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


Political Correctness: Iowa Professor Warns Students Might Get Dismissed If They Oppose Pro-Choice Or Black Lives Matter Positions ---
https://www.lacortenews.com/n/iowa-professor-warns-students-might-get-dismissed-if-they-oppose-pro-choice-or-black-lives-matter-positions

Political Correctness:  The administrative torment of UCF Prof. Charles Negy ---
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/08/the-administrative-torment-of-ucf-prof-charles-negy/

After Negy questioned claims of ‘systemic racism’ and asserted ‘black privilege is real,’ there has been a university-wide pile-on, with Negy alleging UCF is soliciting complaints against him and conducting an abusive investigation in an effort to justify firing him.

I had heard of Charles Negy, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Central Florida (UCF). What I heard seemed like a particularly egregious example of cancel culture that is purging academia and imposing uniformity of opinion, particularly with regard to the Black Lives Matter movement. Having looked into it more, it’s worse than I realized.

Negy’s alleged crime that sparked the controversy was two tweets questioning the orthodoxy of systemic racism and white privilege.

One tweet, which no longer is available,said:

“If Afr. Americans as a group, had the same behavioral profile as Asian Americans (on average, performing the best academically, having the highest income, committing the lowest crime, etc.), would we still be proclaiming ‘systematic racism’ exists?”

second tweet, also no longer available, said:

“Black privilege is real: Besides affirm. action, special scholarships and other set asides, being shielded from legitimate criticism is a privilege. But as a group, they’re missing out on much needed feedback.”

Rather than debate the merits or lack of merits in his opinions, a particularly aggressive attempt to get Negy fired ensued.

There was a Change.org petition with over 30,000 signatures, a Twitter hashtag was launched (#UCFFireHim) that trended, the student Senate passed a resolution, and there were protestson campus in which the President participated:

Continued in article

Justice Department Finds Yale Illegally Discriminates Against Asians and Whites in Undergraduate Admissions in Violation of Federal Civil-Rights Laws ---
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-yale-illegally-discriminates-against-asians-and-whites-undergraduate

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


Decline of ExxonMobil ---
https://qz.com/1868508/where-oil-and-gas-companies-fall-in-the-sp-500-charted/

ExxonMobil used to be the crown jewel of the US economy. From 2006 to 2011, with oil prices at historic highs, it was the most valuable company in the S&P 500, with a market capitalization that exceeded $500 billion.

Since then, ExxonMobil’s fall from grace has been swift and steep. It now ranks at #24 in the S&P—below Home Depot. And it’s not alone: Oil companies, which once held center stage in the S&Pare now bit players, thanks to the crashing price of oil and its increasingly dim outlook. The oil industry’s decline is evidence of a global economy that is shifting inexorably toward cleaner fuels.

Jensen Comment
ExxonMobil still has the resources to emerge as a leader in alternative energy ventures ---
https://cleantechnica.com/2018/12/06/should-we-cheer-exxonmobils-renewable-energy-commitments-are-in-the-news/


The Food and Drug Administration's Dark Side Record ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/08/the-fda-burns.html


The Dreaded Lanternbug, Scourge of Agriculture, Spreads in New Jersey ---
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/science/lanternbug-invasive-insect.html?surface=home-discovery-vi-prg&fellback=false&req_id=363436487&algo=identity&imp_id=556451080&action=click&module=Science  Technology&pgtype=Homepage
Pretty things can be deadly


50 fascinating facts about farming in America ---
https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/50-fascinating-facts-about-farming-in-america/ss-BB18gWPF


Ronald A. Fisher --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Fisher
R.A. Fisher's eminence as a scientist is beyond doubt. So is the fact that he was a racist. How should the University of Cambridge remember him?
https://www.newstatesman.com/international/science-tech/2020/07/ra-fisher-and-science-hatred

Cancel Culture --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_shaming#Call-outs_and_cancellation
History of "Cancel Culture" ---
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/liberalism-harpers-letter-dewey

August 24, 2020 reply from Jagdish Gangolly

Bob,

I was deeply saddened to read about G&C college's decision to remove the Fisher window in their dining hall. Fisher might have held unconventional views on Eugenics, and distribution of various characteristics by race. But that was a brick wall he built for himself between science and society, and in that he was not alone and in good company. Those that believed in Eugenics included a galaxy of scientists and statesmen including Karl Pearson, Teddy Roosevelt, Justice Harlan, Julian Huxley, JBS Haldane, Francis Galton, among others. And probably even the great Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes who once observed, “It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind.” 

One of Fisher's only three doctoral students in statistics in his career  was an Indian (CR Rao, still a Professor at Penn State; he was at Pitt while I was a student there). He came to know another Indian Physics student at Cambridge who Fisher got to know, and  was probably partially responsible for changing his field from Physics to Statistics, PC Mahalanobis (M) (D^2 statistics, Fractile Graphical Analysis, large scale sample surveys, Feldman-Mahalanobis model in Economic planning,...). They also became lifelong friends, Fisher visiting and staying at M's home in Calcutta at least eight times. Had he really been a racist, I think, none of those things would have happened. 

When the scientists and anthropologists were discussing race at UNESCO, Fisher made the following statement:

"In so far as the statement condemns any defamation of races and emphasizes the appalling nature of the recent abuse of racial theory, it has my full and unqualified approval. I wholeheartedly agree, also, with its implicit and explicit finding that anthropology and racial studies afford no justification  for the assumption that members of any particular race are not entitled to the enjoyment of all fundamental rights, or for any form distinguished men as authors of this statement of racial discrimination." 

Source: Race Question in Modern Science, The Race Concept: Results of an Enquiry. UNESCO, Paris. 1952.

 Could a racist have written such an unambiguous statement? I doubt it.

Regards,

Jagdish

 


Economists see a chance of a double-dip recession ---
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/24/economists-see-a-chance-of-a-double-dip-recession-survey-shows.html


How to Mislead With Statistics

Ranking of State Economies ---
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2020/08/25/the-states-with-the-best-and-worst-economies-4/2/

01 Utah (best)
02 Idaho
03 Washington
04 Colorado
05 Washington
05 Maryland
06 Arizona
07 Nebraska
08 Oregon
09 Minnesota
10 Georgia

. . .

41 Rhode Island
42 New Jersey
43 Michigan
44 Alaska
45 Illinois
46 Delaware
47 West Virginia
48 Mississippi
49 New York
50 Louisiana (worst)

To determine the states with the best and worst economies, 24/7 Wall St. ranked states based on an index comprising five measures: GDP growth, job growth, unemployment rate, poverty rate, and the bachelor’s degree attainment rate among adults. The average annual GDP growth rate from Q1 2015 to Q1 2020 came from the Bureau of Economic Analysis and was included in the index at full weight. The average annual employment growth rate from June 2015 to June 2020 came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and was included in the index at full weight. The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate as of June 2020 also came from the BLS and was included in the index at full weight. The share of adults living below the poverty line came from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey and was included in the index at full weight.

In addition to the components in the index, we considered additional state data. Real GDP and contributions to real GDP growth by industry came from the BEA. Median household income, college attainment rate, and the share of workers commuting outside of the state for work came from the 2018 ACS. The affordability ratio of median home value to median household income is a 24/7 Wall St. calculation based on ACS data. Data on regional price parity, a measure of cost of living, came from the BEA and is for 2018. Population change due to natural causes and net migration from 2010 to 2019 came from the U.S. Census Bureau. All data are for the most recent period available.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
This is misleading in the sense that the ranking does not necessarily reflect states with the greatest flexibility for changing their rankings. For example, Delaware is a relatively low taxation state with no income tax. It has more ability to raise its ranking than New York that, like Illinois, has taxed just about everything to the maximum and has almost run out of options other than begging for bailouts from Washington DC. There are also states in the middle that are in more desperate needs for additional revenue than the bottom 10 states above. For example, California has been hit by both natural disasters (think wild fires) and bad management (think of phasing out gas power plants too quickly to avoid risk of electricity shortages that have very expensive solutions). Oregon and Washington are at greater risk of expensive civil war with entrenched Antifa factions.

The Jewish Express:  A Brief History of Antifa: Part I ---
https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/a-brief-history-of-antifa-part-i/2020/06/14/

The Jewish Experess:  A Brief History of Antifa in the USA:  Part II ---
https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/a-brief-history-of-antifa-part-ii-antifa-in-the-united-states/2020/06/24/


Commercial Mortgage Debt in Distress Surges 320%, Moody’s Says ---
https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/commercial-mortgage-debt-in-distress-surges-320-moody-s-says-1.1484837

The Weight of Debt:  The Economy Needs More Than A Vaccine ---
https://finance.townhall.com/columnists/michaelpento/2020/08/25/the-economy-needs-more-than-a-vaccine-n2574992?bcid=b16c6f948f297f77432f990d4411617f&utm_campaign=nl&utm_medium=email&utm_source=thdaily


The Rise of the Lurker ---
https://newrepublic.com/article/157274/rise-lurker-joanne-mcneil-book-review




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


Education Tutorials

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

SHE CAN STEM --- https://shecanstem.com/

Slate:  In Praise of Textbooks Especially During a Pandemic ---
https://slate.com/technology/2020/08/remote-learning-means-we-need-textbooks.html

MIT Video on How to Speak ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unzc731iCUY
Thank you Jagdish Gangolly for the heads up
Jagdish points out that Professor Winston passed away last year, and it may be the last speech by him you will ever view.

Video from the University of Chicago:  Teaching Faculty How to Write ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIzMaLkCaM
Thank you Jagdish Gangolly for the heads up

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


Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials

Discover the Cosmos:  A Different Astronomy Photograph Every Day ---
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200818.html

Warming Greenland ice sheet passes point of no return ---
https://phys.org/news/2020-08-greenland-ice-sheet.html

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

What Made Richard Feynman One of the Most Admired Educators in the World ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/what-made-richard-feynman-one-of-the-most-admired-educators-in-the-world.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

The Shifting Terrain of Scientific Inquiry ---
https://www.edge.org/

JOURNAL OF PALEONTOLOGY --- www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology

EPICC VIRTUAL FIELD EXPERIENCES --- https://epiccvfe.berkeley.edu/

A GUIDE TO OUTREACH: ENGAGING THE PUBLIC WITH PALEONTOLOGY --- www.paleosoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/PS-Guide-to-Outreach.pdf

FOSSILS AND DINOSAURS SCIENCE www.courtenaymuseum.ca/fossils-dinosaurs/the-elasmosaur-find

WESTERN DIGS --- http://westerndigs.org/

COLORS OF NATURE --- www.colorsofnature.org

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

Deterrence (crime) --- https://www.nationalaffairs.com/blog/detail/findings-a-daily-roundup/deterrence

Dreadful Dads --- https://aeon.co/essays/what-the-childless-fathers-of-existentialism-teach-real-dads

The Rise of the Lurker --- https://newrepublic.com/article/157274/rise-lurker-joanne-mcneil-book-review

Why Whales Sing:  It's a Matter of Culture ---
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-whales-sing-it-s-a-question-of-culture

Ingemar Ståhl : A Market Liberal in the Swedish Welfare State ---
https://www.adlibris.com/se/bok/ingemar-stahl-a-market-liberal-in-the-swedish-welfare-state-9789175043715
Note that the Swedish Welfare State is a capitalist rather than a socialist state

The Hand Behind the Invisible Hand: Dogmatic and Pragmatic Views on Free Markets and the State of Economic Theory ---
https://www.amazon.com/Hand-Behind-Invisible-Dogmatic-Pragmatic/dp/1529209099/marginalrevol-20

GLOBAL COMMODITIES (interesting index of global trade) ---
www.dailyfx.com/research/global-commodities/?tr=imports&yr=2018&cm=gold,copper,oil,gas

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

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

Penguins seem to know what mathematicians learned long ago: The densest packing of shapes on a plane is a hexagonal grid ---
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2020/08/penguins-huddle-math/615595/
Rishard Sansing writes:  "Bees Too"---
Bees too.
https://askdruniverse.wsu.edu/2015/11/02/why-do-bees-make-hexagons/

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

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


History Tutorials

The Jewish Express:  A Brief History of Antifa: Part I ---
https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/a-brief-history-of-antifa-part-i/2020/06/14/

The Jewish Experess:  A Brief History of Antifa:  Part II ---
https://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/a-brief-history-of-antifa-part-ii-antifa-in-the-united-states/2020/06/24/

50 fascinating facts about farming in America ---
https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/foodnews/50-fascinating-facts-about-farming-in-america/ss-BB18gWPF

Cancel Culture --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_shaming#Call-outs_and_cancellation
History of "Cancel Culture" ---
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/liberalism-harpers-letter-dewey

A People’s History of Tennis by David Berry review – a game for everyone?
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/12/a-peoples-history-of-tennis-by-david-berry-review-a-game-for-everyone

PROCESS HISTORY (American History) --- www.processhistory.org

EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY POETRY ARCHIVE --- www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org

FIRST PEOPLES OF CANADA --- www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/fp/fpint01e.html

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

The First Black Woman to Perform at the Grand Ole Opry ---
https://daily.jstor.org/the-first-black-woman-to-perform-at-the-grand-ole-opry/
Listen to Linda ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsNaHdYMTmk&list=PL7PPqyb1yFqlgZnwNqRhxDySBPoRXcF3N

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

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

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

OPEN EDITIONS --- https://open-editions.org/

Ronald A. Fisher --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Fisher
R.A. Fisher's eminence as a scientist is beyond doubt. So is the fact that he was a racist. How should the University of Cambridge remember him?
https://www.newstatesman.com/international/science-tech/2020/07/ra-fisher-and-science-hatred
Cancel Culture --- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_shaming#Call-outs_and_cancellation
History of "Cancel Culture" ---
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/liberalism-harpers-letter-dewey

Russell's observations on the value of leisure were made in an era of mass unemployment – and they are just as pertinent today ---
https://www.newstatesman.com/2020/08/why-bertrand-russells-argument-idleness-more-relevant-ever

An Introduction to Postmodernist Thinkers & Themes: Watch Primers on Foucault, Nietzsche, Derrida, Deleuze & More ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/an-introduction-to-postmodernist-thinkers-themes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)

The Psychology of Vikings ---
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n16/tom-shippey/did-they-even-hang-bears

History of Ice Cream ---
https://www.historytoday.com/archive/historians-cookbook/we-all-scream-ice-cream

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

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


Language Tutorials

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

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


Music Tutorials

 

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

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


Writing Tutorials

In writing, habit seems to be a much stronger force than either willpower or inspiration . . . Just set one day’s work in front of the last day’s work. That’s the way it comes out. And that’s the only way it does.
John Steinbeck, Diary ---
http://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/02/john-steinbeck-working-days/?mc_cid=ba07e5d069&mc_eid=4d2bd13843

Video from the University of Chicago:  Teaching Faculty to Be Better Writers ---
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtIzMaLkCaM
Thank you Jagdish Gangolly for the heads up

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/

August 14, 2020

·        Illinois Strengthens Face Mask Rules in Businesses

·        Testing Drops as Texas Schools Prepare to Reopen

·        COVID Likely Deadlier for New York Than 1918 Flu

·        Feeling Anxious? Yoga Can Help Soothe You

·        N.J. Governor Gives Schools an All-Remote Option

·        Masters Tournament to Be Played Without Spectators

·        COVID-19 Supply Crunch Means More Testing Delays

·        COVID-19 and Masks: Doctor, May I Be Excused?

·        Sweden's COVID Policy Didn't Create Herd Immunity

August 15, 2020

·        Fast Food Makes an Unhealthy Comeback Among Kids

·        Schools Respond to Positive COVID-19 Cases

·        Previous Vaccines, Masks May Influence Spread

·        Father and Son Doctors Die of COVID-19 in Florida

·        SC Health Officials Say Wearing Face Masks Works

·        Mental Health Issues Soaring During COVID Pandemic

·        Fauci Has Doubts About Russia’s COVID-19 Vaccine

·        Illinois Strengthens Face Mask Rules in Businesses

·        Testing Drops as Texas Schools Prepare to Reopen

August 17, 2020

·        Is It Safe Again to Take the Bus or Subway?

·        FDA Authorizes New Saliva COVID-19 Test

·        COVID-19 Testing Numbers Drop, Cause Concern

·        NZ Lockdown Possibly From China Food Packages

·        1,900 El Paso Children Have Tested Positive

·        Biden Calls for National Mask Mandate

·        Parents Turn to 'Pods' for School During Pandemic

·        Fast Food Makes an Unhealthy Comeback Among Kids

·        Schools Respond to Positive COVID-19 Cases 

August 18, 2020

·        Is It Safe Again to Take the Bus or Subway?

·        Lasting Immunity to COVID Found in Early Studies

·        Researchers: COVID Clinical Trials Lack Diversity

·        Autopsies Show Microplastics in Major Human Organs

·        FDA Authorizes New Saliva COVID-19 Test

·        COVID-19 Testing Numbers Drop, Cause Concern

·        NZ Lockdown Possibly From China Food Packages

·        1,900 El Paso Children Have Tested Positive

·        Biden Calls for National Mask Mandate

August 19, 2020

·        Even With Misses, Rapid Tests Could Help Stop COVID

·        Coronavirus on a Plane: One Flight's History Outlines the Risk

·        Study Finds Rise in Domestic Violence During COVID

·        Genetic Testing for Alzheimer's Has Emotional Risk

·        Doctor, Patient Sing Duet Before Heart Transplant

·        K-12 Schools Struggle, UNC Halts in-Person Classes

·        Flu Season Nears as COVID Death Rate Hits 170,000

·        Florida's Positivity Rate Inches Downward

·        1 in 4 Connecticut Nursing Home Patients Had COVID

August 20, 2020

·        Coronavirus Test Could Give Inaccurate Results

·        Doctors: Take Effects of COVID-19 to Heart

·        Experts Reject Oleander Extract as COVID Treatment

·        Birth Control Pill May Cut Women's Risk for Asthma

·        107-Year-Old Who Beat Spanish Flu Beats COVID

·        Recall: Frozen Shrimp May Contain Salmonella

·        California Has First Plague Case in Five Years

·        Notre Dame, Michigan State Go to On-line Classes

·        COVID Means Money Issues for Many With Diabetes

August 21, 2020

·        FDA Halts Approval for Plasma to Treat COVID-19

·        Wawona Peaches Linked to Salmonella Outbreak

·        Asian American Students Face Bullying Over COVID

·        CDC Will Survey Wastewater for COVID-19 Spread

·        COVID-19 Vaccine Likely Won’t Be Mandatory

·        More Than Two Dozen Cases Linked to Maine Wedding

·        Iowa Teachers Union to Sue Over 50% In-Class Rule

·        Cases Rise in Europe Where Restrictions Eased

·        High Viral Load Makes Kids COVID 'Silent Spreaders'

August 22, 2020

·        Stress, Anger May Worsen Heart Failure

·        Flu Shots for Kids Protect Everybody, Study Shows

·        Miami And Mass. Schools Both Assessing Changes

·        Los Angeles Cuts Utilities to ‘Party House’

·        White House Blocks FDA Power to Regulate Lab Tests

·        In-Person Pregnancy Checks Won't Raise COVID Risk

·        Giroir Urges Caution Despite Dip in New Cases

·        Nevada Measuring COVID-19 in Wastewater

·        Fauci Has Vocal Polyp Removed

August 24, 2020

·        Teachers Could Stay in Class if Exposed to COVID

·        Growing COVID Cases Linked to Sturgis Bike Rally

·        Eating Disorders Cost Billions in the U.S.

·        Stress, Anger May Worsen Heart Failure

·        Flu Shots for Kids Protect Everybody, Study Shows

·        Miami And Mass. Schools Both Assessing Changes

·        Los Angeles Cuts Utilities to ‘Party House’

·        White House Blocks FDA Power to Regulate Lab Tests

·        In-Person Pregnancy Checks Won't Raise COVID Risk

August 25, 2020

·        What to Know About COVID Contact Tracing and Scams

·        BP Meds Could Improve Survival in COVID Patients

·        Flushing a Public Toilet? Be Sure to Wear a Mask

·        For Black Kids, Autism Caught Late in the Game

·        Pandemic Drove Spike in Panic Attacks

·        FDA Authorizes Convalescent Plasma for COVID-19

·        Daycares Don’t Have to be Hotbeds of COVID-19

·        Teachers Could Stay in Class if Exposed to COVID

·        Growing COVID Cases Linked to Sturgis Bike Rally

August 26, 2020

·        What If Many Americans Say No to a COVID Vaccine?

·        FDA Chief Apologizes for COVID Treatment Claim

·        Distributing COVID Vaccine Will Be Major Challenge

·        Study Confirms It’s Possible to Catch COVID Twice

·        What to Know About COVID Contact Tracing and Scams

·        BP Meds Could Improve Survival in COVID Patients

·        Flushing a Public Toilet? Be Sure to Wear a Mask

·        For Black Kids, Autism Caught Late in the Game

·        Pandemic Drove Spike in Panic Attacks

VIEW ALL HEALTH NEWS

 


Here’s what your Medicare costs could look like in retirement (until Congress messes with the costs and/or coverage) ---
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/19/heres-what-your-medicare-costs-could-look-like-in-retirement.html

Jensen Comment
I recommend some degree of Medicare supplemental coverage from the private sector. Because we can afford it, my wife and I both have premium Blue Cross Anthem supplements costing us each over $600 per month. This eliminates the deductibles for medical and pharmacy billings that are not covered by Medicare and, when available, will get us private hospital rooms. We've both been hospitalized recently after  emergency room visits. Never were we billed anything for the ambulance service, ER, hospitalization in private rooms, physician services, or medications.

There are supplemental plans costing less that cover less. Look into such options well in advance of retirement.

Keep in mind that Medicare only covers very short-term nursing care outside a hospital. Medicaid does provide long-term nursing care although that coverage is usually not sufficient for the better nursing homes that now charge $9,000 per month or more depending upon where you live and what nursing home quality you choose. Fortunately, Erika and I do not yet need nursing care. What's important is that you put away savings to cover long-term nursing care should the need arise. I have a friend who paid $17,000 per month for a relatively long time until her husband passed away. At those rates it often does not take long to wipe out retirement savings.

It's extremely important to plan ahead well in advance of retirement and to carefully track changes in Medicare legislated by Congress.

Begin by carefully examining the Medicare Website ---
https://www.medicare.gov/
Then look at options available for supplemental plans where you intend to live in retirement. Then create a sufficient savings plan before retirement.

If medical cost inflation soars before you retire, things will only get worse.


‘Love hormone’ oxytocin can reverse aging processes that lead to osteoporosis ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/oxytocin-love-hormone-reverses-aging-osteoporosis/


Experimental Covid Vaccine Prevents Pneumonia, Yields High Antibody Levels In Mice ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/experimental-coronavirus-vaccine-prevents-covid-19-pneumonia-high-antibody-levels/


Covid Herd Immunity Thread ---
https://twitter.com/yinonw/status/1295152579941249024


Heterogeneities, is the more infectious strain of Covid-19 spreading to Asia? ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/08/heterogeneities-is-the-more-infectious-strain-of-covid-19-spreading-to-asia.html


New blood thinner can prevent blood clots without risk of excessive bleeding ---
https://www.studyfinds.org/new-blood-thinner-prevents-blood-clots-excessive-bleeding/


Finnish Researchers Think They've Found a Real Hangover Cure ---
https://www.foodandwine.com/news/hangover-cure-finnish-researchers
Based to date on only a small sample


USA Suicide Trends ---
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/08/u-s-a-facts-of-the-day.html


How to Avoid Behaving Irrationally ---
https://jborden.com/2020/08/23/how-to-avoid-behaving-irrationally/




Humor for August 2020

Gilda Radner Does a Comic Impersonation of Patti Smith: Watch the Classic SNL Skit, “Rock Against Yeast” (1979) ---
http://www.openculture.com/2020/08/gilda-radner-does-a-comic-impersonation-of-patti-smith-watch-the-classic-snl-skit-rock-against-yeast-1979.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+OpenCulture+(Open+Culture)


BBC Radio 4 - Laws That Aren't Laws, Murphy's Law ---
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000ltkj

LAWS THAT AREN’T LAWS: In this Radio 4 show, Robin Ince explores quirky rules of thumb such as Murphy’s Law (anything that might go wrong does so), Betteridge’s Law (any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word 'no'), and the Peter Principle (employees rise to their own level of incompetence).


Forwarded by Tina

I'm not adding this year to my age, because I didn't use it.

Someone just used my driveway as a turn around, and here I stand with two beers in my hand and nobody to talk to.

Pretty weird how we used to eat birthday cake after is was blown on two or three times.

We're asking rioters to work from their homes.

When there was no toilet paper all we could think of is wiggle around on the sofa like our basset hound.

You never realize how anti-social you are until your life does not change during a pandemic lockdown.

I've reached the age where my chain of thought leaves the station without me.

The average panda eats 12 hours a day --- just like people locked down in their homes during what is called a pandaemic.

I'm glad I learned about parallegrams in high school rather than how to do my taxes --- it comes is handy during Parallegram Season.

 




Humor August 2020 --- http://faculty.trinity.edu/rjensen/book20q3.htm#Humor0820.htm 

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/

 

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