New Bookmarks
Year 2003 Quarter 1:  January 1-March 31 Additions to Bob Jensen's Bookmarks
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

We're moving to the mountains on June 15, 2003 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm  
Update:  I added some winter scenes from our front window.  One of them is shown below.

 

FOR SALE:  Our nice San Antonio home
details (with pictures) at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen\house\HouseForSale.htm 

For earlier editions of New Bookmarks, go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm 

Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search Site.
This search engine may get you some hits from other professors at Trinity University included with Bob Jensen's documents, but this may be to your benefit.

For date and time, try The Aggie Digital Clock --- http://yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html
Time anywhere in the world http://www.worldtimeserver.com/ 

Bob Jensen's Dance Card
Some of My Planned Workshops and Presentations --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations 

Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Language Other Goodies --- http://dictionary.reference.com/ 

Hline.jpg (568 bytes)

Choose a Date Below for Additions to the Bookmarks File

March 31, 2003         March 15, 2003     

February 28, 2003     February 12, 2003  

January 31, 2003       January 15, 2003    

   

 

March 31, 2003

 Bob Jensen's New Bookmarks on March 31, 2003
Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

I am not the anti-business activist Robert W. Jensen from the University of Texas.  I have been getting some hate mail messages to a Bob Jensen that should have been routed to a Robert W. Jensen in the Department of Journalism at the University of Texas --- http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/home.htm 
I am Robert E. Jensen, a professor of accounting at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX.

Quotes of the Week

Why does the United States always want to take more land?
When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying that, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."
Forwarded by Barbara Hessel

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
Abba Eban.

The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.
Stanley Kubrick

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury.
E.H. Chapin

The idea that people could use computers to amplify thought and communication, as tools for intellectual work and social activity, was not an invention of the mainstream computer industry or orthodox computer science, nor even homebrew computerists; their work was rooted in older, equally eccentric, equally visionary, work. You can't really guess where mind-amplifying technology is going unless you understand where it came from.
Tools for Thought by Howard Rheingold (a free book) --- http://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/8.html 

Share what you know, it's like throwing stars into the night sky.
Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie

In the first week on the Web, the OCW site received more than 13 million visits from users, about 52 percent from outside of the United States. The OCW team also processed more than 2,000 e-mails in those first days, more than 75 percent of them supportive of the project. The remaining 25 percent were a mix of technical questions, inquiries about specific course offerings, and questions about content. Less than 2 percent of those e-mails were negative.
Anne H. Margulies (See below for her article on MIT's OpenCourseWare project)

The books that help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.
Theodore Parker as quoted by Mark Shapiro --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-03-14-03.htm 

True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it.
Karl Popper

If You Want to Be a Writer--Be a Reader
Tina Blue --- http://tinablue.homestead.com/writerisreader.html 

Traditional training puts the emphasis on what someone does to employees; employees are regarded as passive recipients of ideas and information.  Learning, on the other hand, implies that employees actively participate in expanding their own skills. Moreover, with growing frequency, employees are learning from one another in a structured measurable way.  Learning needs to be continuous. Organizations face continual change of products, services, processes, markets, and competition, as well as technology. Since every one in the organization is caught up in change, everyone must participate in a learner centered environment. A learner centered environment is one in which when change is contemplated, when performance indicators decline or generally when things must improve ­ training is immediately recognized as a key component.
Ken Kell, "Achieving Measured Success through Competency Based Learning," June 1999 --- http://snurl.com/KenKell 
Bob Jensen's threads on competency-based education and training are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/competency.htm 

Its performance is the envy of executives and engineers around the world ... For techno-evangelists, Google is a marvel of Web brilliance ... For Wall Street, it may be the IPO that changes everything ( again ) ... But Google is also a case study in savvy management -- a company filled with cutting-edge ideas, rigorous accountability, and relentless attention to detail ... Here's a search for the growth secrets of one of the world's most exciting young companies -- a company from which every company can learn.
Keith H. Hammonds --- http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/69/google.html 
Bob Jensen's threads on searching are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm 

Last spring federal officials released the results of the 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress. In U.S. history only eleven percent of high school seniors qualified as "proficient" or "advanced." Nearly sixty percent failed to score at the "basic" level.
Mark Shapiro --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-03-20-03.htm 

A Case for Writing (rather than purchasing) Options
The Money Tree by Ronald Groenke and Wade Keller. Now I must confess, the reason I started this is because the authors are subscribers to the newsletter, but it has turned out to be a interesting look at selling calls on stocks that you already own. It is written as a novel, yet is full of financial strategies and terms. I am still not 100% convinced that opportunity costs are completely considered but definitely worth the time! I will let you know more when I finish it.
From Jim Mahar, TheFinanceProfessor on March 24, 2002.  See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967412811/finpapers/104-9378365-5272442 

The Social Security Board of Trustees has declared that the Social Security program is not sustainable over the long term. The 2003 Social Security Trustees Report does extend the projected solvency of the trust funds by one year.
From the AccountingWeb  http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97323 

In the 2003 Annual Report to Congress, the Trustees announced:

From Jim Mahar, TheFinanceProfessor on March 24, 2003

As many of you saw, St. Bonaventure went through some hard times in recent weeks. A player on the men’s basketball team was found to be ineligible and the team had to forfeit its games in the Atlantic 10. To make matters worse, the University president had signed off allowing him to play. Then in a moment of much pain, the team quit and decided to forfeit their last two games. Quickly Bonaventure went to the top story in ESPN and other sports networks.

While that made news, what has not made nearly as much news is the Bonaventure response to this story. The president resigned, the basketball coach, and assistant basketball coach, and the AD were placed on administrative leave. However, more than that, was the amazing speed at which the Bonaventure “community” came together and began working to make sure the same thing never happens again. It was actually quite inspiring. So to the many who wrote when the news was happening, thank you for your concern, but Bonaventure will survive and the basketball team will emerge stronger, at least better rounded, than ever.

The Perilous Fight:  Then and Now

From PBS:  The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color --- http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/ 
(Includes the Battlefield, Psychology of War, The Home Front, Social Aspects, WW II Timeline, etc.)

Letters bring comfort to fighting men even as they witness unimaginable atrocities that forever change them. The war not only affects the mental state of those involved, but also changes the way that wars are fought and introduces the world's most frightening psychological weapon, the atomic bomb.

Live Weblog messages (at least while he lives) from a U.S. soldier headed for IRAQ
L.T. SMASH LIVE FROM THE SANDBOX

Due to the overwhelming traffic this site is receiving, we have decided to relocate it to another server. The address for the new site is http://www.lt-smash.US. Please update your bookmarks. We hope to forward lt-smash.COM to the new server at a future date. We apologize for any incovenience this may cause.

For other Weblogs by soldiers, see http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB104854599843896800,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fmarketplace%5Fhs 
"Web Logs Tell War Stories, Unfiltered and in Real Time," The Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2003

Curiously, unlike the military, traditional media outlets have been trying to quash their personnel's blogging efforts. Kevin Sites, a CNN correspondent in northern Iraq, had been posting photographs, short accounts and audio reports on his Web log until CNN pressured him to stop. 
For more information write to Matthew Rose at matthew.rose@wsj.com and Christopher Cooper at christopher.cooper@wsj.com

From the Scout Report

A Minute Longer: A Soldier's Tale --- http://www.rooba.net/will/

Forbes.com: Best War Blogs http://www.forbes.com/2003/03/20/cx_ah_0320warblogs.html

Let Slip the Blogs of War http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017770789.php

The Home Front: Dispatches of Ernie Pyle http://www.private-art.com/scrapbook/pyle/gallery.html

Frontline: The War Behind Closed Doors --- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/ 

Reuters To Stream War Video News and financial data giant adds frontline footage from Iraq to its recently revamped Web site. http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2117191 
I guess from an academic side the theory might be to make financial markets more efficient in reacting to war news.

Ann-Maragret's Spontaneous Tribute to Vietnam Vets --- 

The Tall Texan's Website (including the music) --- http://www.talltexian.com/ 

With mounting civilian fatalities in Iraq, a unique website is drawing thousands of hits and increased media attention. The site, Iraq Body Count, keeps a running total of civilian deaths (actually unauthenticated reports of deaths) in the Iraq war --- http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,58241,00.html  
One problem when military personnel fight disguised as civilians is the partitioning of actual civilians from the total population.  There is also an immense data interpretation problem when the Iraq military protects itself behind civilians or even kills civilians who run away.  The Iraq Body Count tries to keep track of reported deaths, but attributing cause in particular instances is a dubious effort.

Hi Andy,

Erika really fears any war.  She was a small child when she was a war refuge. She tells me that in those days she never heard of The Marshall Plan or the U.S. Constabulary.  She was just too young.

What she remembers is the kindness of the U.S. GIs. When she was very tiny, she recalls begging by the U.S. army bases in Munich. In those days there were separate bases for black soldiers and white soldiers. She has fond memories of being given food and clothing at both types of bases, but she also recalls that the black soldiers seemed to be a bit more generous. She was told that a black soldier who taught her how to chew bubble gum rather than swallow it was a huge soldier who said his name was Martin Luther King (Sr.). However, his name was never verified.  She like to think it really was him.

Erika would have answered this herself, but she does not yet do email.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: FRIENDS [mailto:friends@usd308.com]  
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 11:53 AM 
To: Jensen, Robert Subject: Erika's experiences in WWII

We are doing a project for History Day on the U.S. Constabulary. These were the men that carried out the Marshall plan in Germany after WWII. We read Erika's letter about her aunt and familly in WWII. Would Erika have time to answer a few questions?

1. Were you or your family helped by the Constabulary men to rebuild your home or business? 2. Do you know young people(then) who were involved in the youth groups started by the Constabulary? 3. What are your feelings about the Marshall Plan and how it helped Germany to rebuild? Sincerely, 
Andy Clark

Part of Erika's story can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/erika/xmas00.htm 

My March 31, 2003 updates on the accounting and finance scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud033103.htm
(The above document also includes updates on tax frauds, scams, identity theft, and similar updates.)

Bob Jensen gets "behind" on Andersen poetry ---  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud033103.htm

FASB Project Schedules --- http://www.fasb.org/project/index.shtml 

From KPMG:  Revisiting Stock-Option Accounting --- http://www.fei.org/download/KPMGMarch03_6.pdf 
Bob Jensen's threads on this issue are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory/sfas123/jensen01.htm 

New
Fraudulent Dealer Tricks:  An Interactive DHTML Illustration ---  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudDealerTricks.htm 
This includes a summary of ten unethical tricks of the trade by automobile dealers.

How FAS 133 Cost Sears $270 Million
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm#Sears 

March 13, 2003 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU] 

Thought Bob and others may be intrigued about this link (to a Chinese mirror site for one of Bob's Web documents):

http://home.kimo.com.tw/pastudy/pais/cyber/e-book.htm  

Richard Campbell

The above Chinese mirror site was taken from http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ebooks.htm 

Wow Sharing Professor of the Week is Jim Mahar 

I highly recommend TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 

Goodbye to my two most prized American Accounting Association journals.
Wow Bummer of the Week ---- I vote NO!

There were so many long threads on this one that I transferred the material to a new document at 
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/AAAjournals.htm 

Your every keystroke may be being logged and you do not even know it!

March 31, 2003 message from Jim McKinney [jim@MCKINNEYCPA.COM] 

The most recent issue of PC Magazine (April 22,2003) has an interesting article regarding spyware. I downloaded some shareware that was recommended and found several pieces of spyware running on my machine including one that logs my keystrokes. My son who has downloaded music sharing software found over forty running on his. Sorry I do not have a link to the article. The software that PC Magazine recommended was at http://www.spybot.safer-networking.de/   

Jim McKinney 
Howard University

Wow Risk and Capital Management Site of the Week --- A Great Newsletter and Case Studies for Education and Practice

This is what Professor Jim Mahar says about ERisk in the March 24, 2003 edition of TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 

Erisk.com. I simply love the site. I know it has been site of the week before, but it is so good, it earned it again. Try it, you’ll love the case studies and the newsletter! http://www.erisk.com

The ERisk Report is great, but it is rather expensive at $149 per year.  However, rather delayed summaries are free at http://www.erisk.com/Research/ERiskReport/report_Jul2002.asp#one 

ERisk --- http://www.erisk.com/ 

ERisk is the leading provider of strategic solutions for risk and capital management. We deliver a unique combination of world-class analytics for risk-based capital, strategic risk management expertise, risk transfer advice and risk information.

You can find out more about our products and services in the Overview section. On this page, you can find out more about the people and ideas that power our company.

The ERisk Report --- http://www.erisk.com/about/about_company.asp?ct=n#report 

The ERisk Report is a concise monthly briefing for senior financial executives. Every month, contributors from ERisk's team of risk management experts address today's most pressing issues in strategic risk and capital management. Sign up today for your personal copy of this cutting-edge publication!

Vol 1.6: Measuring the return on risk management; leveraging the economic benefits of risk management

Vol 1.5: Putting the real value on customer relationships; rolling out risk management

Vol 1.4: Making risk more transparent; fed takes pulse of economic capital practices

Vol 1.3: Credit scoring: robots versus humans; James Lam's three lessons from Enron

Vol 1.2: Weathering credit losses; regulators line up behind economic capital

Vol 1.1: Revamping your credit ratings system; measuring bank profitability

The ERisk Portal --- http://www.erisk.com/portal/home.asp 
Resources for Enterprise Risk Management

ERisk today continues to successfully develop and install its analytics at client sites, conduct high-value consulting engagements, offer unbiased advice on risk transfer alternatives, and attract thousands of readers to the ERisk portal.

Bob Jensen's related sites are as follows:

Financial Instruments Derivatives and Risk Management --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 

Bob Jensen's Threads on Return on Business Valuation, Business Combinations, 
Investment (ROI), and Pro Forma Financial Reporting --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm 

Accounting for Electronic Commerce, Including Controversies on Business Valuation, ROI, and Revenue Reporting --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm 

Accounting Theory --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory.htm 

It's freezing in Stanford University!

PROVOST ANNOUNCES SALARY FREEZE: 
In a Feb. 26 letter to employees, Provost John Etchemendy said the projected $25 million budget shortfall for 2003-04 led to the "difficult decision" to freeze faculty and staff salaries for next year. The expected savings of up to $8 million will help avoid more extensive layoffs, he told the Faculty Senate March 6, adding that feedback since the notice went out has been overwhelmingly supportive. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/report/news/2003/march5/salary-35.html 

British Columbia's History of Education Web site http://www.mala.bc.ca/homeroom/ 

Bob Jensen's education bookmarks are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm 

Wow Education Technology of the Week

From Syllabus News on March 25, 2003

New Products: SCORM Simulation Tool for eLearning Market

A simulation software company released what it called the first SCORM- compliant simulation software designed for the eLearning market. eHelp Corp. markets RoboHelp, a Flash-based simulation application that enables trainers to create simulations with quizzing and scoring capabilities. The simulations can be integrated with a learning management system, viewed on a Web site or intranet, burned on a CD, e- mailed to an end user or integrated into a Help system. RoboDemo can record the use of any application or on-screen activity, and creates a movie in Flash format with visible and audible mouse clicks. Simulations can be easily enhanced by adding rollover and transparent text captions and images, audio, interactive text fields and click boxes, eLearning-specific features like quizzing, scoring and branching, hyperlinks, and special effects.

CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) 

Ohio State University's Department of Athletics is using a CRM package from ForeSee Results as a tool for what it calls "online customer satisfaction management." The system helps isolate market factors that will most influence user satisfaction and loyalty, which helps OSU make high-impact, cost-effective content and design decisions. The software helps predict how satisfaction levels with various Web site elements will affect future behaviors such as the likelihood to purchase again or return to the site. It also provides real-time data on what Web site visitors are looking for so changes can take place almost immediately. The system incorporates the methodology of the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Bob Jensen's threads on authoring software are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 

Bob Jensen's threads on resources are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm#Resources 

Wow Aid for Student Writing and Research

McGraw-Hill Higher Education Launches Innovative Catalyst Writing and Research Tool Available in Handheld Format Companion to "A Writer's Resource" text also available Online and on CD-ROM --- http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/19060.html 

McGraw-Hill Higher Education, a leading provider of electronic and print learning solutions, today unveiled Catalyst: A Tool for Writing and Research, a unique technology-based tool that enhances students' composition and research skills.

Catalyst is thoroughly integrated with "A Writer's Resource," the leading student-centered text designed as a resource for achieving excellence in writing and learning. This powerful teaching and learning solution includes resources in Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) downloadable format, online, and on CD-ROM, including tools for learning, research, writing, and editing.

"Catalyst utilizes today's technologies to access proven writing, research and composition resources," said Ed Stanford, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education. "With Catalyst, students now have instant support at their fingertips for writing assignments in composition class and all other subjects."

Major features of Catalyst include:

Catalyst is available free of charge with every copy of "A Writer's Resource" for online and/or PDA use. It may also be purchased separately on CD-ROM, which includes access to all online material, including the download for PDAs.

To view the online brochure for Catalyst, visit http://www.mhhe.com/wmg/catalyst. Catalyst will also be featured in an ongoing demonstration at the McGraw-Hill Higher Education exhibit at the 54th Annual Conference on College Composition and Communication, held at the Hilton Hotel in New York on March 20-22.

McGraw-Hill Higher Education is a leading global provider of educational materials and professional information targeted at the higher education market. It is part of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, a global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in financial services, education and business-to-business information through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's and BusinessWeek. Founded in 1888, the Corporation has more than 350 offices in 33 countries. Sales in 2002 were $4.8 billion. Additional information is available at www.mcgraw-hill.com.

Bob Jensen's threads on resources are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm#Resources 

Wow Technology of the Week

Looking for a new notebook? You'd be remiss if you didn't at least consider one of the new tablet PCs. Now that they've been on the market for a few months, they've matured—sort of. We've put nine systems—the best of the bunch—through some pretty intensive testing and even lived with them day and night. So what did we find? Well, for certain tasks they're great; for others ... Let's just say they're not for everyone. Still, these are all far more useful than past doomed tablet efforts, including the Eo, Gridpad and Momenta. And if you've got one, we've compiled 50 of our favorite tablet tips gleaned from our extensive testing.
"What's New Now," by Jim Louderback, Ziff Davis on March 25, 2003

Some Winners and Losers to Date in Online MBA Programs

"Universities Exporting M.B.A. Programs via the Internet," by Otto Pohl, The New York Times, March 26, 2003 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/26/nyregion/26MBA.html 

LONDON — If Jeremy Hallett had his way, he would be sitting on a leafy university campus in the United States with plenty of time to contemplate the theories of business.

Instead, he spends hectic lunch hours and long evenings in his office cubicle here, earning his M.B.A.

"It's not a perfect world," he says with a shrug.

Driven by the mantra of globalization and enabled by Internet-based technologies, M.B.A. programs in the United States are expanding rapidly into new markets overseas. The schools are looking for full-time, on-campus students seeking an international M.B.A. degree as well as part-timers like Mr. Hallett, who want to learn from afar while they continue working.

Some of the universities are virtual, offering American degrees via the Internet. Mr. Hallett, a London-based senior vice president at Thomson Financial, is earning his M.B.A. from Cardean University, a newly created entity that exists only in cyberspace and markets a course package created by other institutions, including Stanford, Columbia and the University of Chicago.

For Mr. Hallett, it was the availability of these prestigious schools on his computer screen that persuaded him to enroll. "These schools are recognized around the world," he said. "This degree will be truly international."

The M.B.A. is an American creation. More than 100,000 students are enrolled in M.B.A. programs in the United States, and now tens of thousands more are enrolled overseas. Even the threat of global recession has not diminished its popularity, as unemployed workers sharpen their job skills.

The biggest growth opportunity today for American online universities is inside the United States, but the schools are also looking to carry the prestige of American education overseas.

"We're serving a global market," said Andrew Rosenfield, the founder and chairman of Cardean University. A third of Cardean's students are outside the United States, and he expects the proportion to grow significantly over time.

"The United States certainly has no monopoly on running successful businesses," he says, adding that business students have to get their training somewhere.

Traditional campus-based programs are looking to train them as well. Columbia formed a partnership with the London Business School, and the Stern School of Business at New York University recently inaugurated the Trium M.B.A. degree with the London School of Economics and H.E.C. Paris. Thunderbird, an M.B.A. program in Arizona that bills itself as the oldest international M.B.A. program in the world, established its own satellite campus in France last fall.

These programs are designed to appeal to executives who want globally recognized names on their résumés.

Lawrence Naested, an American Express executive in London, is enrolled in the Trium program, studying in places like Hong Kong, Paris, Brazil, and New York. "This is far and away superior to a traditional M.B.A. program," he says. "Mixing with different backgrounds and nationalities far outweighs spending a year in a book."

Even schools that are very careful about diluting their brand names are looking for new growth opportunities. The Harvard Business School is keeping its campus-based education sacrosanct while offering noncredit Harvard-branded education to managers who can tap into a database for answers to specific questions. Instead of teaching what may be needed one day, they offer continuous assistance to managers confronted with real-life situations.

"We're moving from just-in-case education to just-in-time education," says Jonathon D. Levy, vice-president of online learning solutions at Harvard Business School Publishing, a subsidiary of the Harvard Business School.

This wealth of new business models centered on education has caught the eye of investors. "Very solid returns, solid profits, and good cash flow," says Richard Close, a vice president of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, summing up why he feels for-profit post-secondary education is a great investment opportunity. "Online, you can leverage that success even more."

Most of the online universities are hoping to emulate the success of the University of Phoenix, whose growth is one of the most remarkable stories in for-profit academia. The university, with 140,000 students, has become the largest university in the country in terms of enrollment. About 60,000 of those students attend classes online and 4,000 are overseas. The stock of Apollo Group, which owns the university, has kept pace, rising 500 percent since January 2000.

There have also been plenty of failures. Many online programs founded during the Internet boom did little but hemorrhage money. Pensare, an online M.B.A. company using Duke courses, has been scrapped. Quisic, an online program developed with the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, was closed.last year, and SUNY Buffalo had an online M.B.A. program that lasted only 18 months.

Administrators of campus-based programs believe the failure of many online programs highlights the importance of extensive classroom time and personal interaction. And while few of those involved with online degrees dispute the superiority of full-time, face-to-face learning, they point to the much larger market of those who would like an education but cannot quit their jobs or travel to a campus.

Unlike elite campus-based programs, which offer exclusivity along with the degree, the online programs accept anyone with a good credit history and a reasonable likelihood of finishing the program. The online programs are expensive — Cardean's M.B.A. costs $24,000 — but that is still much less than a program like Trium, which costs $92,000.

The success of the American M.B.A. overseas already has some foreign schools marketing themselves as alternatives. "We reflect an Anglo-American way of doing business," says Mark Fenton-O'Creevy, the director of the British Open University Business School master's program.

Continued in the article.

Bob Jensen's distance education threads are listed at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

Betraying the College Dream: How Disconnected K-12 and Postsecondary Education Systems Undermine Student Aspirations [.pdf] http://www.stanford.edu/group/bridgeproject/betrayingthecollegedream.pdf 

MIT OpenCourseWare (Open Knowledge Initiative OKI and DSpace) Shares Lessons from Pilot Project.

"Open Access to World-Class Knowledge," by Anne H. Margulies, Syllabus, March 2003, pp. 16-18 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7360 

A student in Johannesburg, South Africa. An educator in Wiesbaden, Germany. Ethiopian refugees trying to finish an engineering education cut short by civil war. These are just a few of the people who have tapped the potential of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's OpenCourseWare (OCW) project, a two-year-old effort to make available original course materials from all five of MIT's schools to students around the world.

Started by an MIT faculty committee charged with providing guidance on how MIT should position itself in the distance and eLearning environment, the OCW project supports the university's interest in contributing to the "shared intellectual commons" in higher education. "OpenCourseWare combines two things: traditional openness and outreach, and the democratizing influence of American education, with the ability of the Web to make vast amounts of information instantly available," says MIT President Charles M. Vest.

On Sept. 30, 2002, the pilot site of OCW was launched. It offers users the opportunity to see and use course materials from 50 MIT subjects, representing 20 individual academic disciplines and MIT's schools of Architecture, Science, Engineering, the Sloan School of Management, and the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

In the first week on the Web, the OCW site received more than 13 million visits from users, about 52 percent from outside of the United States. The OCW team also processed more than 2,000 e-mails in those first days, more than 75 percent of them supportive of the project. The remaining 25 percent were a mix of technical questions, inquiries about specific course offerings, and questions about content. Less than 2 percent of those e-mails were negative.

Govert van Drimmelen, a university student in Johannesburg, South Africa, found the video lectures of MIT Professor Gil Strang, in Course 18.06: Linear Algebra, compelling. "I have watched some of the video lectures from mathematics course 18.06. The lectures are wonderful and having these available over the Internet from South Africa is a great privilege," Van Drimmelen wrote the OCW team by e-mail. "Please continue with this excellent project and accept my sincere thanks for the efforts. Making the quality education of MIT more broadly available will be a valued contribution to global education."

Dorothee Gaile, an educator and trainer of teachers in Wiesbaden, Germany, wrote that as OCW continued to add more subjects, it would become a remarkable resource for educators around the world. "As a teacher of English at both high school and University of Applied Science level in Germany, I very much appreciate having free access to the tremendous amount of knowledge MIT is currently putting on the Web. Congratulations on this idea and a warm thank you."

And Timothy Choe, a volunteer with an organization called Project Detour in Africa, immediately recognized OCW's potential in developing countries: "I recently spent time with a group of Ethiopian refugees, living in Kenya, who will benefit greatly from this initiative. They are students in Project Detour, an effort initiated to encourage their continuing education while living in a country where they are not granted access to the educational system. Many are Ethiopian-trained engineers, whose academic pursuits were cut short by political turmoil. Just thought you might appreciate another example of how this initiative will benefit the world's community of knowledge seekers."

In people like these, OCW found its intended audience—educators from around the world who can adapt the course materials and learning objects embedded in online lecture notes into their own pedagogy, and self-learners who will be able to draw on the materials for self-study or supplementary use.

"I read about your initiative in the NY Times online and have to say this is one of the most exciting applications of the Internet to date," wrote Charles Bello. Based in Nigeria, Bello is the Web master for www.clickafrique.com, an African Web portal. "I look forward to taking advantage of this opportunity to ‘take a dip' in MIT's enormous reservoir of human intellect."

Building a Sustainable Platform
For the pilot phase, the pages were built using what Cecilia d'Oliveira, OCW's Technology Director, calls "brute-force HTML." Using Web content editors such as Macromedia Inc.'s DreamWeaver, a team of programmers from MIT and consulting firm Sapient Corp. built and designed the first 32 subjects. Over the course of summer 2002, templates were developed, sign-off was secured from faculty, and the site was prepared for the pilot release.

With course materials from 18 more subjects added to the site in December 2002, the total number of HTML pages supporting the initial 50 subjects rose to more than 2,000, together with more than 10,000 supporting files including PDFs of lecture notes, images, and video simulations.

The production model used for the pilot is not scalable for what by 2007 is estimated to be more than 2,000 individual MIT subjects published. Indeed, the OCW goals are not going to be achieved overnight: An aggressive timeline calls for about 500 subjects to be published by September 2003, and then 500 each year there after until the course materials from virtually all of MIT's subjects—undergraduate and graduate—are available to the world.

This first year of the OCW pilot is called the "Discover/ Build" mode, where the focus is on developing the technology, process, and organization to sustain OCW over the long term as an organization. Over the course of the next two years, the team hopes to be able to provide the entire curriculum track for certain MIT subject areas.

The project will take a big leap forward in April 2003 with the implementation of a content management system, which will manage the Web pages and embed learning objects. The content management system will also:

Tracking copyright status will be vital to the long-term success of OCW. During the pilot phase, we assembled a "SWAT team" of attorneys, graphic artists, researchers, and photo image specialists who were charged with obtaining copyright and intellectual property clearances for all the charts, quotes, images, and other items that were embedded in the lecture notes that MIT professors had been using for years.

It was an arduous process, but it has paid off. There has not been a single copyright or intellectual property infringement claim filed against OCW. The copyright permissions process was slow and labor-intensive, but I am confident we have developed a strong set of alternative strategies for acquisition of copyrighted content as the project moves toward publishing hundreds of courses in the coming years.

Reaction at Home
The faculty experience with OCW has been positive. Many professors who were once skeptics are now ready to participate. The project is particularly useful for courses involving intersecting disciplines. For example, while faculty often do not have time to explore the research of peers who might be right down the hall, one faculty member, Paul Sclavounos, has been contacted by another researcher at MIT who wants to explore cross-disciplinary work.

Where did that professor discover Sclavounos' work? On the site for Sclavounos' ocean engineering subject, Course 13.022: Surface Waves and their Interaction With Floating Bodies.

"This initiative is particularly valuable for courses covering emerging new areas of knowledge, as well as intersecting disciplines," says Jonathan A. King, an MIT professor of molecular biology. "Having spent many years developing a course on protein folding that served the needs of biochemists, chemists, chemical engineers, and computational biologists, I am delighted that this work will be made available to a far broader audience."

Shigeru Miyagawa, an MIT professor of linguistics, serves on the OCW Faculty Advisory Board and has two subjects on the current site: Course 24.946: Linguistic Theory and the Japanese Language and CMS.930/21F.034: Media, Education, and the Marketplace, a cross-listed course that explores a broad range of issues on new media and learning.

"OCW reflects the idea that, as scholars and teachers, we wish to share freely the knowledge we generate through our research and teaching," Miyagawa explains. "While MIT may be better known for our research, with OCW, we wish to showcase the quality of our teaching."

The OCW team hopes this will be the first of many open courseware initiatives. "This is about something bigger than MIT," states president Vest. "I hope other universities will see us as educational leaders in this arena, and we very much hope that OpenCourseWare will draw other universities to do the same. We would be delighted if—over time—we have a World Wide Web of knowledge that raises the quality of learning—and ultimately, the quality of life—around the globe."

MIT OpenCourseWare --- http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html 
Find individual course listings on the following MIT OCW Department pages, or view a complete course list.
     Aeronautics & Astronautics
     Anthropology NEW
     Biology
     Chemical Engineering
     Chemistry
     Civil & Environmental Engineering
     Comparative Media Studies NEW
     Earth, Atmospheric, & Planetary Sciences
     Economics
     Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
     Engineering Systems Division
     History NEW
     Linguistics & Philosophy
     Literature NEW
     Materials Science & Engineering NEW
     Mathematics
     Mechanical Engineering
     Nuclear Engineering NEW
     Ocean Engineering
     Physics
     Political Science
     Sloan School of Management
     Urban Studies & Planning

Bob Jensen's threads on free sharing of courseware from MIT, Stanford, and other colleges and universities are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI 

The AT&T Learning Network Community Guide http://www.att.com/communityguide/index.html 

Welcome to the AT&T Learning Network Community Guide. AT&T developed this Guide as part of its ongoing effort to help communities take advantage of the many benefits of information technology. As part of that effort, AT&T funded a variety of organizations to develop public community access centers for community members who do not have other means to connect to the Internet. This Guide is intended to be a companion document for those centers and other technology access centers around the country. Whether you’re involved in running a community access center or you’re a community member interested in learning the uses and benefits of the Internet, this Guide will help get you started. If you’re a community member looking for ways to begin planning your own access center, you’ll find tips on how to “kickstart” that effort.

Community access centers take many forms and take place in many sites within the community where people gather to communicate with and learn from one another. You may find Internet access points in a library, a church or a senior citizen-center. Perhaps your children attend a summer camp that has an area where they can learn about and use these technology resources. Many organizations, like the NAACP and the National Urban League, provide many types of services for community members and are now branching out to bring the reach of the Internet to their centers as well. The point is that there are many organizations, many types of centers and many opportunities to “get connected”— often from places that may have seemed unlikely in the past.

 Bob Jensen's threads on online education and training alternatives are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

Question
How does an "archive" differ from a "journal" in some contexts?

Answer
Philosophy of Science (Emerging) Archive ---  http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/ 

Although this topic is not nearly as popular in courses and in research publications as it was several decades ago, it is nice having an archive available. Actually this is a preprint archive which makes it more focused upon emerging studies.  

A journal publishes material that has passed scrutiny by referees and has been edited by the editorial staff to bring it to the journal standards. The archive does not referee postings and does not edit them. The archive merely filters minimally to assure relevance to philosophy of science.

The first accredited competency-based and online university in the United States is Western Governors University (WGU) --- http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/index.html 

As noted in The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 21, 2003, Page A34, WGU is opening an online college that allows teachers to earn compentency-based certificates online.  There are also business and IT undergraduate degrees as well as various other certification programs.

A noteworthy competency-based program in accountancy is the Chartered Accountancy School of Business (CA) covering the Western Provinces and Northern Territories in Canada --- http://www.casb.com/ 
This is a two-year post-graduate program between the undergraduate accounting degree and the uniform CA examination.  All CASB students take online "modules" while being employed full time in firms and/or government.

The CA School of Business gives you graduate style business education combining practical business experience with an innovative approach to learning. As a student you will learn the business basics that underpin the CA designation in an individually paced environment.

CASB's unique focus is on building the skills you will require to become an effective CA. It isn't about memorizing arcane details or cramming for exams. It's about being able to do what you need to do to be successful in the business world.

Our program follows the business life cycle from start-up to IPO so you learn about issues facing companies of all sizes and develop skills in managing the transitions that accompany business success and growth. The first module focuses on a small business. In the second, the business incorporates. In the third, you learn about mergers, acquisitions and international operations. Then you're introduced to controllership and the world of non-profits. Finally, you'll explore strategic management issues and take a company public.

Each module uses ten-weeks of on-line materials and an interactive workshop to build skills in research, analysis, problem solving, interpretation, forecasting, leadership, and innovation. Modules build competencies in organizational effectiveness, control and risk management; finance; performance measurement; taxation; information technology, including e-Business; and assurance. Students then choose one of these competencies for modules 7 and 8.

CASB will help you develop and apply practical business tools. And you'll get to put your new skills to work right away. While at CASB, you complete 36 months of paid work experience in an approved training office where you will put your CASB knowledge to use with a wide variety of different client companies. The modules take 24 months to complete and are studied while working. This allows for breaks for work or personal reasons.

CASB graduates are business-ready CAs, equipped with skills and experience relevant to today's global business environment.

Want to learn more? Meet a CA Student or take the Steps to Becoming a CA.

Bob Jensen's threads on competency-based education and training are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/competency.htm 

Thank Goodness!  Distance Education Students Shy Away From Diploma Mills

From Syllabus News on March 21, 2003

Value Tops in Survey of Distance Grad School Prospects

In a recent survey, one-third of a group of prospective graduate students said "reputation of program" would be the most important factor to them in choosing a distance learning grad school program. The Distance Graduate School survey was conducted by the University of Texas TeleCampus, the support center for online degrees within the UT System, and GradSchools.com. More than 11,500 students participated. The survey sponsors said the results showed that students shy away from "degree mills" and consider content and program value more important than delivery method. The finding was further supported by the fact that 19 percent of the respondents said a "high degree of interactivity between professors and students" was their most important criteria for choosing a distance graduate school. Affordability ranked as the third most important criteria in selecting a graduate program.

New Products: Assessment Tool Eases Remote Test-Taking

Testing and assessment software supplier Questionmark released Perception to Go (P2G), which enables remote test takers to synchronize from their PCs to their Web servers. Test takers can pull down new assessments scheduled by an administrator, disconnect from the network and then answer questions, receive feedback offline, and merge results back to their Web servers when they reconnect. Many universities already deliver examinations via the Internet. The synchronization module will enable users to download data in advance, only going back online to upload results, which will reduce the load on the Web server. The company says the tool will enable schools to conduct large assessments without having to run servers that would lie idle at other times, saving on transmission costs, and eliminating network latency that might affect the timing of high-stakes exams.

"XML in Higher Education," by Frank Coyle, Syllabus, March 2003, pp. 22-25 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7361 

 SMIL (prnounced "smile"): Multimedia Rides the XML Wave

SMIL (pronounced "smile") is an acronym for Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, an XML-based dialect for describing the layout and synchronization of multimedia applications.

For educators, SMIL opens the door to sophisticated multimedia development. With minimal effort, SMIL makes it possible for authors to:

As illustrated in the figure below, individual multimedia components can be stored either on a user's PC or delivered from a Web server. SMIL presentations may play in a browser with a SMIL plug-in or in a standalone player such as RealOne or QuickTime that reside on consumer devices and are independent of browsers. Because SMIL documents are text files, SMIL files can be customized on a server manually with a text editor or by using a script, such as AppleScript or PERL, or through the use of XML transformation tools such as XSLT. What's exciting for the aspiring multimedia author is that anything that can generate text can create a SMIL document.

Continued in the article.

Bob Jensen's threads on XML and SMIL are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm#TimelineXML/SMIL 

Hello Katarzyna,

You message has two parts. One is whether there are inherent biases is using student behavior as a surrogate for behavior of persons in "real life" such as business decision makers. The other aspect of your message concerns the safety and well being of students in research studies.

The Surrogate Issue I have an old document on this issue entitled "Do students respond in the same manner as professionals in behavioral experiments?" http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/cultures/student1.htm 

The Safety and Liability Issue Universities in the United States are very sensitive about research that can lead to lawsuits. The U.S. is the most litigious nation in the world. Parties are quick to sue for damages, and students can be damaged by some types of research. One of the best examples, is the well-known research study of Phil Zimbardo at Stanford University --- http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/august22/prison2-822.html 

Virtually all universities in the U.S. now have policies that no research can be undertaken using human subjects prior to that research being approved by a committee of experts on the dangers of research to human subjects. I think that similar safeguards are also placed upon animal studies in general.

An example of the process is provided by the University of Minnesota --- http://www.irb.umn.edu/ 

I hope this helps.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: KJPM@gmx.de [mailto:KJPM@gmx.de]  
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 9:59 AM 
To: Jensen, Robert Subject: students as subjects

Dear Sir, 
I am a students from frankfurt, studying economics. For my university I have to write about the use of students as subjects in different researches. I have to find out the advantages and the disadvantages of the use of students. Searching in the internet I found your webside and I was wondering if you could give me some advice in references to this topic. Do you know some qualified papers? Sorry for my bad englisch. 

Best regards 
Katarzyna Walkiewicz

FindWhat.com Launches ROI Tool AdAnalyzer helps marketers calculate post-click sales from paid-search programs. http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2114531 

Bob Jensen's ROI threads are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm 

Blackboard Versus WebCT

**********************************
The WebCT site has the following PR document --- http://www.webct.com/service/ViewContent?contentID=15301032 

Ithaca College switches to WebCT to power Web-based learning

Institution replaces Blackboard to get better customer service, flexible education alternatives


LYNNFIELD, Mass., March 17, 2003 - Ithaca College, a private institution with an enrollment of 6,200 students in upstate New York, has selected the WebCT Campus Edition course management system as the foundation of its e-learning program going forward. Citing WebCT's superior flexibility, service and professionalism, the school is switching from the Blackboard course management system it has used for three years.

"As we were getting ready to take our online learning offerings to the next level, we knew we had to make a switch to a true partner," said David Weil, Ithaca's associate director of academic computing and client services. "WebCT's technology provides us with the flexibility and quality that we need, and in our experience, their people are the most professional and responsive in the industry."

Ithaca faculty members, who are consulted on all major e-learning decisions, ratified the switch after a hands-on introduction to WebCT Campus Edition. Unlike competing systems, WebCT lets faculty present content to students when, where and how they choose, and it provides superior content management and assessment features.

Approximately 550 Ithaca College courses feature online components, including most of the courses in the School of Business. Physical therapy students also use Web-based learning extensively during their clinical experience in their junior and senior years. WebCT is helping Ithaca deploy all of its online courses on WebCT Campus Edition, which will go live this fall.

"Ithaca College is typical of a lot of new customers we're encountering," said Carol Vallone, WebCT president and CEO. "They're committed to advancing their e-learning programs but feel alone in that endeavor or restricted by their technology. The entire WebCT team is behind Ithaca College and is deeply invested in its e-learning success."

 Ithaca College
A comprehensive college that since its founding in 1892 has recognized the value of combining theory and performance, Ithaca provides a rigorous education blending liberal arts and professional programs of study. Ithaca College strives to become the standard of excellence for residential comprehensive colleges, fostering intellect, creativity, and character in an active, student-centered learning community. Ithaca offers over 100 degree programs through its five schools - Business, Communications, Health Sciences and Human Performance, Humanities and Sciences, and Music - and its Division of Interdisciplinary Studies.

About WebCT
WebCT is the world's leading provider of integrated e-learning systems for higher education. Over 2,600 colleges and universities in over 80 countries worldwide are using WebCT's products and services to transform the educational experience of their students. Consortia in 24 American states, four Canadian provinces, two Australian territories, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and the Consortium of Distance Education have licensed WebCT for their member institutions, making it the de facto standard in higher education. For more information, please visit www.webct.com.

 ********************************

University of Missouri Comparison of BlackBoard and WebCT Course Management Platforms --- http://etatmo.missouri.edu/courses/resources/comparison.htm 

BlackBoard and WebCT are two different course management platforms that each offer distinct advantages. Together, they complement each other; while BlackBoard offers less customization than WebCT, many faculty members have found Blackboard to be an easier-to-learn platform.

On the other hand, WebCT’s higher level of complexity affords it more sophistication for “power users” who need additional features. Whether faculty need a simple, easy-to-learn interface or need more sophisticated tools, one of these two platforms should suit most circumstances. Designed to help faculty choose the system that better suits his or her needs, the chart below highlights the main similarities and differences between the two platforms.

Note the comparison table at http://etatmo.missouri.edu/courses/resources/comparison.htm  

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

An older document that provides some comparison links is at http://www.westga.edu/~distance/webct/facultymanual/whywebct.htm 

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

March 18, 2003 reply by Ganesh M. Pandit [profgmp@hotmail.com] 

I have used both WebCT and Blackboard. WebCT is filled with several features that are useful; but at the same time it is step-driven where you have go through one step at a time which can be very annoying, especially if you are in a hurry. It is powerful, yet at times very cumbersome to use.

Blackboard may not have as many features as WebCT does; but it is somewhat easier to use as compared to WebCT.

Ganesh M. Pandit

March 18, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU] 

Bob, 

I have not personally experienced WebCT. However, JMU did an extensive test of both WebCT and Blackboard, and to make a long story short, we now use Blackboard exclusively, and everyone who participated in the comparison felt it was a no-brainer choice.

The technical support people especially felt that Blackboard offered superior vendor service, was more attentive to requests for upgraded features, and offers better response time on problems and questions.

The faculty, however, reported that Blackboard was much more robust, intuitive, extremely easy to learn (both for faculty and for students), and contained more useful features, served up in quicker time.

Some drawbacks to Blackboard that I have discovered, based on the way I personally use it:

The on-line gradebook spreadsheet view takes a LONG time to serve up from the server. But everything else is quick-as-a-wink response time.

Setting up student groups can take a long time if you have 30 groups of 3 or 4 students each. It is a “checklist” approach for each group, rather than a drag-and-drop operation which would go faster.

Posting PDF files, PowerPoint slides, and other specialized content takes a little more effort than the import-then-drag-and-drop-to-link approach used by FrontPage. But nevertheless, unless you do multiple uploads per class day, it is not exceptionally time-consuming. And I have no idea how WebCT does it, but I can’t imagine it would be so much better as to overcome the other factors.

Blackboard interfaces with our registrar’s PeopleSoft registration system seamlessly. Every semester, my entire class appears magically, complete with email addresses, in my Blackboard courses. It is password protected, with flexible access for guests, so you can post copyrighted materials. I used the communication features extensively from home while the university was closed due to snow. My students love it. I love it. The huge majority of the faculty here (that use it) love it.

WebCT got a lukewarm response here from faculty and students. Tech support gave it a thumbs down.

This comparison took place about a year ago. Since then, we’ve upgraded Blackboard twice, and each upgrade has gone off without a hitch… no retraining, no loss of data, no problems at all.

Hope this helps.
David R. Fordham
PBGH Faculty Fellow
James Madison University

March 18, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU] 

Bob, 

if the goal is distance learning, consider a product called "CENTRA".

We use both Blackboard and Centra here at JMU.

Blackboard is a "student resources" tool. Blackboard allows posting of material, links, group communication, forums, quick email, announcements, on-line exams, grade posting, etc. and allows students to quickly (and safely!) submit electronic submissions/spreadsheets/documents to the professor in a way far superior than email attachments.

Centra is what we use for "real-time synchronous" class meetings on-line, and even "replay later" asynchronous class presentations and responses. It is where the on-line courses meet.

These are two every different products, for very different purposes.

WebCT sounds like it may be trying to blend the two purposes. However, when WebCT was reviewed here, it was marketed as a competitor to Blackboard, and at the time, it lost. I have no idea how it would fare if it were competing with Centra.

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University

The Centra home page is at http://www.centra.com/ 

March 18, 2003 reply from Robert C. Holmes [rcholmesgcc@HOTMAIL.COM] 

No experience with Blackboard but I am continually frustrated with the inability to do any kind of formatting in e-mail, quiz questions and other areas of WebCT. How do you discuss Journal Entries if you can't even put a tab in your answer?

Robert C. Holmes

May 17, 2003 reply from Vidya Ananthanarayanan vidya@trinity.edu 

With reference to customization, WebCT ships with a library of icons, banners, and symbols that can be used to create the look and feel of the course. BB does something similar but it only applies to the buttons on the navigation panel. WebCT also allows designers to change page background colors, set font specifications and the like for basic customizability. The tech-savvy designer can create their own images and upload those to the site. So there's a range of sophistication available based on the designers comfort and familiarity.

Hope this helps.

Vidya

 

Bob Jensen's threads on the history of course authoring and course management systems can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 

Bob Jensen's threads on Blackboard are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Blackboard.htm 

The Irascible Professor, March 14, 2003 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-03-14-03.htm 

Commentary of the Day - March 14, 2003: I Don't Know HOW to Read This Book! Guest commentary by Tina Blue.

Over the past few years, I have found that more and more students in my freshman-sophomore English classes at the University of Kansas are completely unable to keep up with their college reading assignments.

I quit teaching "Introduction to Fiction" five years ago because the students could not handle the course readings, even though I had reduced the reading list by about 30 percent. I switched to teaching "Introduction to Poetry." At least in that class I can read each poem aloud to them before we begin to discuss it. Obviously I can't read a 500-page novel out loud at the beginning of every class period.

In my English 101 class I now spend a fair amount of time teaching my students how to read their textbooks. One semester a young man, almost in tears, held up his thick geology textbook and said, "My professor doesn't even lecture on what's in the book. He lectures on other stuff and expects us to read the book on our own. But I don't even know HOW to read this book!"

A lot of them tell me they never read their textbooks in high school or middle school, because they didn't have to. They could usually get A's or B's without doing the readings. Their teachers went over the textbook material in lectures, passed out lecture notes and study guides for tests, and gave easy extra-credit assignments to help them raise their grades if they still did badly on exams.

Continued in the article.

Tina Blue is a lecturer in English at the University of Kansas. She also publishes the Teacher, Teacher web page --- http://www.teacherblue.homestead.com/index.html 

Question"
What is the Stonewall Rebellion?"

Answer
See the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Encyclopedia http://www.glbtq.com/ 
(Includes biographical, literature, art, and photograph items.)  There also is a discussion forum.

Bob Jensen's glossary bookmarks are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#08051Glossaries 

Women of Our Time http://www.npg.si.edu/cexh/woot/index.htm 

Girl Power http://www.girlpower.gov/ 

Sharing Professor of the Week --- Tina Blue --- http://www.teacherblue.homestead.com/index.html  

"For Poets--and Readers of Poetry," by Tina Blue --- http://tinablue.homestead.com/articleindex.html 

An introduction to the elements of poetry and to the techniques of poetic interpretation, for those who love to read and write poetry, but who sometimes find it intimidating or hard to understand.

March 9, 2003 message from Gerald Trites [gtrites@stfx.ca] 

Hi Bob,

Here's a link that might interest you. It's www.cica.ca/itac . This is a "redirected" link for the Information Technology Advisory Committee of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, which has been set up to facilitate access to the Committee's work. The Committee studies various issues related to the impact of technology on the profession, and accordingly has issued studies, white papers and other documents on IT controls, Web Reporting, XBRL, etc. Several of the documents are available for free download from this site.

In your new location, won't you have satellite TV? We live out in the "boonies", where there is no cable, but have access to a satellite service provided by Bell Canada, which includes pretty much everything cable companies offer, including high speed internet. They just launched a second satellite and now are going to offer video on demand as well. There are over 200 channels.

Jerry

Gerald Trites, FCA Professor of Accounting and Information Systems St Francis Xavier University Antigonish, Nova Scotia Tel. 902-867-5410, Fax 902-867-3352, Study 902-386-2832, Cell 902-867-0977 Website - http://www.stfx.ca/people/gtrites 

Bob Jensen's threads on electronic commerce accounting are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm 

Bob Jensen's threads on XBRL are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm 

From Syllabus News on March 18, 2003

Faculty Best Practices: What are Colleagues Doing?

Discuss key issues and hot topics with the experts and your colleagues in the Syllabus Forums at www.syllabus.com/forum . David Brown of Wake Forest University leads a forum on faculty best practices and how to use technology to improve teaching and learning. How are you using asynchronous discussions? What tips do you have for others? Weigh in with your thoughts and questions and see what solutions your colleagues might have.

http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=529 

From Syllabus News on March 14, 2003

eCollege, Houghton Mifflin Strike Content Sharing Accord

Course management system developer eCollege formed a partnership with publisher Houghton Mifflin Inc. to provide eCollege's customers access to Houghton Mifflin's online supplements for introductory courses in business, humanities, mathematics, science, social science, student success, and world languages. The titles will be available via the eCollege AU+ course management system, and will enable faculty to use the platform’s self-authoring and course development tools to improve their online courses. "It's important that faculty members have access to the kind of resources they need to best engage and challenge their students, and we believe the Houghton Mifflin content can ideally support them in this effort," said Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege.

Bob Jensen's threads on the history of course authoring systems can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 

LEARNING SYSTEMS -- Syracuse University has adopted Blackboard Learning System for campuswide use in supporting face-to-face classes. This spring, in the final phase of a pilot program before going to the enterprise, Syracuse has 100 faculty teaching 153 courses to more than 3,000 students using Blackboard. The school said it is making the move because of Blackboard’s ability to scale from 3,000 to 18,000 users, as well as its support of open standards and its ability to integrate with its PeopleSoft student information system.

Bob Jensen's threads on Blackboard are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/blackboard.htm 

March 19, 2003 message from Mark McConkey [mark@u101.com] 

I came across your site while searching for education links. We'd like to invite you to add U 101 College Search to your collection of links at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm  (or anywhere else that you thought suitable). U 101 is a directory of over 3000 college, community college and university websites in the US and Canada, organized by state/province.

Here's the information:

TITLE: U 101 College Search URL: http://U101.com/  (please note that we prefer to omit the www. bit) Description: Directory of college, community college, and university websites in the US and Canada. Lists over 3000 schools by state or province.

If you prefer, feel free to link to any page within the site, as well.

We'd be honored if you considered our website as a useful link for your visitors!

Regards from Manitoba, Canada,

Mark McConkey
Assistant to the Editor mark@u101.com 

Bob Jensen's bookmarks on this topic are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#DirectoriesGeneral 

A Women's Entrepreneur Site from the U.S. Government --- http://www.women-21.gov/index2.asp 

The growth of women entrepreneurs is one of the most remarkable features of the American economy as more and more women launch businesses as their path to professional success. This website offers you key resources, targeted information, registration for online programs, and networking opportunities to help build the rewarding career you deserve

From The Wall Street Journal Accounting Educators' Review on March 21, 2003

TITLE: Entrepreneurs' Biggest Problems-- And How They Solve Them 
REPORTER: Paulette Thomas 
DATE: Mar 17, 2003 
PAGE: R1, 3 
LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB104749882695232600,00.html  
TOPICS: Entrepreneurship

SUMMARY: A special report on small business is offered addressing many of the issues facing entrepreneurs, particularly small business entrepreneurs. The lead article by Thomas lists the essentials ingredients for success.

QUESTIONS: 
1.) Discuss how important a clear strategy is to the entrepreneur. Relate it to the article by Bialik about product options. What does flexibility mean in this context? Relate it to the other article offered by Thomas.

2.) Give examples of the effects of having an unrealistic view. How does a realistic view impact the related article by Bailey?

3.) What does the author suggest one should do where ethical behavior is concerned? What does Thomas mean by a robust network and why is this important?

4.) Is a global perspective always appropriate? Argue that it is. Argue that it might not be. How is an ability to deal with technology important? What does Thomas mean when she says passion is a necessary component for the successful small business person?

Reviewed By: Judy Beckman, University of Rhode Island 
Reviewed By: Benson Wier, Virginia Commonwealth University 
Reviewed By: Kimberly Dunn, Florida Atlantic University

--- RELATED ARTICLES --- TITLE: How Do You Make Adjustments When Your Market Dries Up? REPORTER: Paulette Thomas PAGE: R8 ISSUE: Mar 17, 2003 LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB104749839851198500,00.html

TITLE: How Do You Survive In a Market Where Size Matters? REPORTER: Jeff Bailey PAGE: R7 ISSUE: Mar 17, 2003 LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB104749860044888100,00.html 

TITLE: How Do You Narrow Your Product Options? REPORTER: Carl Bialik PAGE: R3 ISSUE: Mar 17, 2003 LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB104749959790502600,00.html 

TITLE: How Do You Sell a Pricey Product In a Thrifty Market? REPORTER: Jennifer Saranow PAGE: R6 ISSUE: Mar 17, 2003 LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB104749811820326100,00.html 

Bob Jensen's helpers for small business are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#SmallBusiness 

PLANNING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES: GRANT THORNTON/FERF SURVEY 
The December issue of Private Net featured a summary of Grant Thornton's Fall 2002 "Survey of Middle-Market Business Leaders" (go to "Charting a Course in Uncertain Times" http://www.fei.org/newsletters/privatenet/pnet1202.cfm ). The survey results reflected the priority CEOs place upon identifying and fine-tuning the value their companies provide to customers and evaluating and using customer profitability analysis. Grant Thornton and FERF wanted to find out how some CFOs are supporting these priorities, and asked CFOs and other senior financial executives for their perspectives on these topics.

Question
What is really unique about the State of Kansas tax system?

Answer
Kansas requires that illegal drugs traded in Kansas have a tax stamp --- http://www.ksrevenue.org/faqs-abcdrugtax.htm 

Analogy
Urban centers having problems with dog walkers who fail to carry pooper scoopers should require that each pile left outdoors should have a tax stamp.  It would be easier to prosecute for tax evasion than littering.

New Technology and Manufacturing Processes --- http://www.psc.edu/science/newtech.html 

Which Is Better: TurboTax or TaxCut? --- http://www.thestreet.com/_tscs/funds/taxes/1359496.html#restofstory 
This article is two years old, but it is still somewhat informative.
A more recent Year 2003 comparison is at http://www.thestreet.com/_tscs/funds/beverlygoodman/10067709.html 

Also see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,810950,00.asp 

March 20, 2003 reply from from a tax expert --- John Stancil [jstancil@PEOPLEPC.COM] 

I find it unfortunate that the article did not mention what I consider to be the best of the bunch of the low cost tax prep programs. TaxAct by 2nd Story Software is an excellent program. I have used the preparer's edition for 3-4 years and have used the standard edition in my tax classes for 3 years. I have never had a software related problem. The consumer version is free to $19.95 including a state module. The preparer's version is about $100. TaxCut and TurboTax will not allow use by paid preparers in the consumer version. The profession version of TurboTax is very expensive.

Some of you may recall a company from years back by the name of Parson's Technology. This company sold good software at downright inexpensive prices. They had a number of different products. One of these products was Parson's Tax Edge for $19.95. This was a great little program, and it could be used by paid preparers. Intuit (of TurboTax fame) bought out Parsons, who subsequently sold it to Broderbund Software. As a part of the deal, Broderbund was prohibited from marketing a tax prep program. TurboTax replaced PTE and a great program died.

The people who founded 2nd Story Software and developed TaxAct are some of the people who were involved with PTE at Parsons. They have incorporated into the TaxAct software many of the good features of PTE.

John Stancil

March 20 reply from ROBERTS, Debra [dlr@NEI.org] 

I have used both. Turbotax has an advantage. (all in all) both products are very good. I like the interview and the audit checks on turbo tax a little better. cost is not a significant difference, particularly if you have many clients. It is not really a big deal. I would prefer better performance, greateer flexibility and ease of use (including the interview.)

Hi Dan,

Here are some related links on the copyright controversy in this year's TurboTax. At issue is C-Dilla software, commonly known as spyware, which Intuit installed to stop illegal copying of TurboTax:

The TurboTax activation page --- http://www1.turbotaxsupport.com/default.asp?platform=1&formName=&pd=&fs=&ver=&sku=&id=&DocID=815 

CNET threads --- http://www.cnet.com/software/0-3227903-1218-20714499.html?tag=dir 

I reported on this problem in the January 31 edition of New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book03q1.htm#013103 

The main problem was that users who started putting information into TurboTax for the Year 2002 return had to complete the job on the same computer and could not transfer the file to another computer such as the case when somebody begins the file on a home computer and then wants to transfer it to a business office computer or vice versa. The controversy had nothing to do with the quality of the software itself. What Intuit failed to anticipate is how angry users became over this effort to halt TurboTax software piracy.

Bob Jensen

Original Message----- 
From: Dan Stone [mailto:dstone@UKY.EDU]  
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 5:33 AM 
Subject: turbotax vs. taxcut Importance: High

A systems guy's perspective….. Turbotax includes some clunky (and offensive to some) copyright protection this year. Taxcut does not. There was a recent article on this in the WSJ - I apologize I can't find the reference this morning (and have to take my daughter to school!). I bought Turbotax because I wanted to see the nature of the copyright protection that they are using but this does make installation harder and limits your use to a single computer. You'll find no such problems with Taxcut. Kudos to anyone who can find the cite in WSJ about all of this. 

Cheers, 
Dan Stone

May 21, 2003 message from Paul Krause [Paul@PAULKRAUSE.COM] 

I can report from a sample of one that the C-Dilla ‘feature’ apparently has been disabled. I installed TurboTax on one computer (on March 5) and completed a good portion of the return, when the machine got so cranky I decided to get the new laptop I always wanted.

Installed TurboTax on the new laptop, copied over the working return file, printed and electronically filed with no problems whatsoever.

Paul Krause
Chico, CA

Hi Mike,

Good to hear from you on the AECM. We hope to tap your expertise more often.

Actually I'm a simple soul with a simple income. I just go down to the computer store here in San Antonio and buy the $19 version of TurboTax each January. It's cheap and very user friendly with a rather good review of your taxes before you submit the tax return to the great black hole in Washington.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Mike Groomer [mailto:groomer@INDIANA.EDU] 
 Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 7:36 AM 
To: AECM@LISTSERV.LOYOLA.EDU  
Subject: Re: turbotax vs. taxcut

Dan and Bob,

Thanks for your discussion of the two tax programs. Regarding TurboTax, I agree and have experienced that the TurboTax printing use on one machine is an inconvenience. Even more of an aggravation is the rebate process that Intuit places on most of its products (TurboTax, QuickBooks and Quicken). "Just sell me the product at the net price and don't have me chase around cutting off the flaps in the box and facilitating the rebate process". (;- I guess they figure that some people won't undertake the rebate process and they can collect the full freight. But in the case of QuickBooks, the rebate is substantial. I have used TurboTax for a number of years and will give serious consideration to moving to the competing product next year.

Hope all is well. Mike

March 21 reply from James Borden [james.borden@VILLANOVA.EDU] 

Here is a January 30 column by Walter Mossberg in the WSJ comparing TurboTax and TaxCut (no subscription needed to WSJ).

http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20030130.html 

Jim Borden 
Villanova University

The best place to start in the U.S. for tax help is the great site at http://www.irs.gov/ 

Bob Jensen's tax links are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#010304Taxation 

Reaching crisis proportions!  Wait until mortgage rates roar back.
What is probably the biggest thing making your home too expensive to keep and too expensive to sell?  

"A Tax Upon Your House," by Shawn Tully,, Fortune, March 31, 2003, pp. 132-139 --- http://www.fortune.com/fortune/realestate/articles/0,15114,433155,00.html 

On a sweltering summer day in 1861, Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson met a fierce Union charge with a pulverizing counterpunch that sent a blue tide of troops, sans weapons, fleeing over a grassy ridge in northern Virginia. The escape route of the first Battle of Bull Run passes the modest colonial-style house of state senator Ken Cuccinelli, a Civil War buff so ardent he ponders how Jackson obtained the legendary lemons he sucked in battle. Now Cuccinelli thinks his property is under siege again, not from marauding Rebs or Yanks, but from soaring property taxes. Outrage over the fiscal bayonets aimed at his home and hearth helped push Cuccinelli into politics as an antitax crusader. "I have Stonewall's fervor," he muses. "I hope I have his troop support."

It seems as though nothing can stop the majestic upward march of housing prices--not the feeble economy, not the looming war with Iraq. But homeowner beware! The frothy market masks a big, creeping problem for the 77 million families who've benefited from swelling prices and bank on more of the same. From New York City, where property taxes just jumped 18.5% in a single year, to tony Los Angeles suburbs, where the tax bill often triples when houses change hands--from sprawling cities to sleepy hamlets--property taxes are rising relentlessly. This powerful, largely overlooked trend could turn the housing miracle as sour as Stonewall's lemons.

 
Ken Cuccinelli: Fairfax County, Virginia
A colonial-style house near the site of the Battle of Bull Run.
Property tax
2000 2003
$2,560 $4,400
Percent increase: 72%

Property taxes are as American as Main Street. They're the levies that fund your local services, from schools to police to parks. Why are property taxes, a.k.a. real estate taxes, jumping? The answer is simple--and scary. In this strange economy, home prices are thriving while almost everything else is hurting. All other sources of revenue, from state aid to sales tax receipts, are flat or falling. But the pressure to keep spending ratcheting upward is enormous. So local governments are heaping more and more of the burden, indeed, their entire budget increases--which, by the way, are big--on the one strong pillar left standing: America's houses. That means this revolution in municipal finance is targeting your ranch or saltbox.

The rub is that the people who own those pillars and porches aren't seeing their incomes grow anywhere near as fast as their tax bills. "In this weak economy, taxes are rising far faster than people's ability to pay them," says Lewis Goodkin, a Miami-based real estate consultant. The danger: People will sell their houses because they can no longer afford the monthly charges, or pay less for a new abode because taxes are so high. Either way, rising property taxes could prove the weight that tips the seesaw, sending prices on a downward slope.

It isn't happening yet, for a fundamental reason--bargain interest rates. Homeowners pay less than 6% on a 30-year mortgage, the best deal in 40 years. For many Americans, interest payments have fallen even more than property taxes have risen. Hence, the total cost of carrying their house, the holy grail for any homeowner, is often actually falling. But let's look forward. The housing market faces two substantial negatives. First, after gaining almost 20% in value in the past three years, America's houses are extremely expensive. They resemble stocks whose P/Es stand far above their historic averages. From those lofty heights, they have little room for strong appreciation and are extremely vulnerable to more bad news--job losses, say, or worse, rising interest rates.

Second, the rates supporting those sterling prices are already so low that they're unlikely to fall much further. In fact, they're more likely to rise as the economy rebounds. Then, watch out! If that happens, the combination of higher taxes and ballooning interest payments will cause a big increase in the cost of owning a home. "So far, the effect of higher property taxes is getting washed out by falling rates," says Mark Zandi, a housing expert at http://www.economy.com/default.asp . "But without the counterbalancing effect of low rates, the power of taxes to drive down property values will become very apparent, very quickly."

Property taxes are no sideshow. The numbers are big--so big that, believe it or not, real estate taxes now rival mortgage payments as the largest expense for homeowners. Last year Americans paid $265 billion in interest on their houses. The bill for property taxes was $205 billion, according to a study of IRS records by Economy.com. So for every dollar homeowners pay in mortgage interest, they send 77 cents to the town tax office, compared with 61 cents in 1988. What's especially disturbing is the powerful pattern of increases. Since 1995 property taxes nationwide have jumped 48%, 30 percentage points more than inflation.

The rampage is happening because property taxes are tied not to homeowners' incomes but to the market prices of their houses. The levies are calculated by applying the town's tax rate to the home's "assessed value," a figure based on the municipality's appraisal of what similar homes are selling for. So if towns hold tax rates at the same level, the tax bills rise at the same pace that houses are gaining in value.

That's precisely what's happening. Towns and cities--which desperately need the money--are bagging a huge windfall from the hot real estate market without facing the political heat of raising tax rates. "It's nirvana for politicians," marvels David Brunori, a municipal-government specialist at George Washington University. "Tax rates stay the same, and the politicians keep getting more money every year. They're never subject to the charge that they 'raised taxes.' " What matters, however, isn't the fuzzy rhetoric but the actual increase in dollars homeowners are paying. Pick cases from across the country, and you'll see that the numbers are shocking.

Continued in the article.

Carl Hubbard forwarded this to help me with my looming problem of high speed access from a remote mountain home.
"A way out of the broadband wilderness," by Paul Rubens, BBC News, March 17, 2003 --- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2856321.stm 

The Holy Grail for web users is an internet connection where pages load almost instantly. For those in rural areas, beyond the reach of standard broadband services, do satellite-based packages deliver what's promised on the tin? Where I live in rural Buckinghamshire there is no chance of getting a fast broadband internet connection using my phone line. My local exchange is not equipped to offer BT's ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) service, which offers an always-on connection and download speeds up to 10 times faster than a normal modem, and is unlikely to do so for years to come.

Like millions of others in the broadband wilderness, the only way I can possibly get fast internet access is by using a satellite-based service, but as the dish, receiver and transmitter required cost thousands of pounds, I resigned myself to the fact that living in the country meant the broadband revolution was going to pass me by.

Working away from the office may bring its own frustrations The irony is that it is precisely those who live outside large towns or cities that need broadband access the most; those who work from home or run a business from a nearby office, and overcome their physical isolation by using the internet.

But now low-cost satellite internet services are springing up, offering broadband speeds for prices broadly similar to ADSL. All that's needed is a small, cheap dish - in some areas an existing satellite television dish can be used without interfering with television reception - and an inexpensive receiver.

There's no need to buy an expensive transmitter because the new services are "one way"; you still need to connect to the internet using a modem to send e-mails or requests for webpages and downloads, but everything coming from the internet is sent to your computer by satellite - e-mails, webpages and downloads are beamed back at speeds as high or higher than ADSL.

Initial excitement

My choices are to connect with Hampshire-based Silvermead for about £195 in equipment and set-up charges plus £24 a month, or Warrington-based SCS Broadband's Jetstream service, which costs about £230 to install and monthly payments of about £36. Both are broadly in line with standard ADSL rates of £25 to £30 a month.

The dream is pages that load fast Once up and running with Silvermead, my download speeds are initially astonishing - a program which would take the best part of an hour to get using a modem can be downloaded in minutes.

So no more envying my ADSL-equipped friends? Sadly not - the first disappointment is that surfing the web is not noticeably faster. Due to latency - the half second or so lag while data is sent up to the satellite and back down - only graphics-intensive web pages or those with multimedia content seem to appear any quicker.

But at least there are the superfast download speeds to enjoy? Only true up to a point, because operating a satellite is expensive and satellites have limited capacity. There's simply no way to offer a satellite broadband service to a large number of people at a price comparable with ADSL without imposing severe limits on the amount of internet traffic that can be received.

JUST HOW LOW CAN IT GO? Data speed can slow as follows: Silvermead: not normally below 256k but may go almost modem speed (64 kbps) SCS Broadband: about three times modem speed (128kbps) While most ADSL customers can receive thousands of megabytes of data at high speeds every day, these satellite broadband services can only guarantee users fast download speeds for about 75 megabytes a day (Silvermead), or 500 megabytes a month (SCS Broadband). After these quotas have been used up, data speeds may slow considerably.

Stephen Craggs, Silvermead's managing director, says slowdowns are unavoidable. "If a user tried to download an 800 megabyte movie it would affect the whole network, so instead of flying though it would slow after a while and take a little longer."

Only option

But Tom Law, a computer networking expert who has tried Silvermead's package, says the slowdowns, if too extreme, completely defeat the purpose of a broadband service.

I experienced speeds at times far lower than a modem connection - that's not acceptable

Tom Law, Silvermead user "People who want broadband expect to be able to download massive amounts of data at high speeds, but after about 75mb of data a day, which I used up rather quickly, I experienced speeds at times far lower than a modem connection. That's not acceptable. Any satellite service offered at a cost comparable to ADSL will always have to have throttling, but if speeds were guaranteed never to drop below 128k, they would still be worthwhile."

For the moment, this is the only way for people like me to get broadband internet access, and while it falls far short of ADSL, it does offer a limited amount of downloading or graphics intensive web browsing at high speeds which were previously unimaginable. It's not ADSL, but it's a start.

In the meantime I'll continue to dream of ADSL coming to my exchange, and look on with envy at those broadband customers of cable operator NTL who are up in arms because they are restricted to downloading 1,000 megabytes a day. I should be so lucky!

Send us your comments:

I cannot get broadband since my house is too far from the exchange and BT have expressed no interest in this problem. Cable internet is out of the question because my street isn't covered, and I can't even enjoy free-to-view digital TV - wrong postcode, apparently. Where is this technological black hole - the Outer Hebrides? Snowdonia? No. Brentwood, 25 minutes from central London. On a main "A" road, no less. Keith Griffiths, Essex, UK

One isn't allowed simple access "just the facts", one has to take the whole bite offered, the webpage complete with unwanted puffery. We need another dimension to be on offer from sites as a first offering. If the facts satisfy the inquiry, then one could click on the fuller version. It's the websites that need to become limited, not the subscribers' access. The solution looks like a two-stage offering: a bare bones bit, then a clickable full course. Joseph H Broyles, US

Continued in the article.

GENETICS STUDY OF BIPOLAR DISORDER MAY HELP PREDICT DISEASE IN KIDS: Parents who have bipolar disorder have good reason to worry that their children's mood swings may be more than adolescent irritability: Up to 24 percent of children of bipolar parents develop the disorder, and about one in four displays some other type of mood disorder. A study of the genetic underpinnings of early onset bipolar disorder may eventually help predict which children of parents with the disease are likely to develop it, allowing earlier, more effective treatment. http://mednews.stanford.edu/news_releases_html/2003/marchrelease/bipolarkids.html 

Todd Boyle's A PETITION for deregulation of financial reporting --- http://www.gldialtone.com/financialDeregulation.htm 

We petition the AICPA, SEC, and Congress of the USA to change the laws governing financial disclosure and reporting by publicly listed companies as follows:

A. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS BLOCKING ACCESS TO INFORMATION.

Insiders should not have better information than stockholders.

1. WEB ACCESS:  publicly listed companies should be required to maintain interactive, electronic interfaces available to the public providing all of today's required interim and annual financial statements and SEC reports.  This website should be required to provide drilldown into details whenever such details or links exist, to support a reported fact. This website should provide appropriate navigation, search, and query tools.

2. MACHINE READABLE:  Information should be published through machine-readable interfaces, as well as human-readable interfaces.  Electronic interfaces (i.e. functions, methods, APIs) should provide all of the drilldown, navigation, search and query capability required under the law (1) above.

3. STANDARDS-BASED TECHNOLOGY:  interfaces should be compliant with vendor-neutral standards for protocols, syntax, and semantics.  To qualify as a "Standard" under this law, would require minimum levels of transparency, vendor-neutrality, and governance of the Standards Organization that publishes the technology standard. 

4. GREATER DETAIL IN DISCLOSURE:  the scope of information required should be expanded to include breakdowns of the numbers reported in audited financial statements into reasonable and meaningful details. Each of those meaningful breakdowns should be further decomposed to disclose individual transactions larger than a material threshhold such as $10,000. 

5. GREATER TIMELINESS OF DISCLOSURE: the scope of information should, furthermore, be expanded to include *all* completed transaction data (including unaudited information) available in the accounting and information systems of the company more than 24 hours old. Transaction data includes orders, invoices, etc. together with any details of the surrounding contract or terms of trade necessary for understanding the transaction entry.

6. LEVELS OF ACCESS:  the level of detail to be provided in these new disclosures should be proportionate to the percentage of ownership plus long term debt held by the requestor of information, and should reach 100 percent of accounting detail for every holder of greater than 3% of the company or $1 million in equity+long term debt, whichever is less.

7. ACCOUNTABILITY:  this proposal would require new categories of interim, unaudited accounting information. New standards should be established to provide reasonable but not excessive, reliability and accountability for this new, interim, unaudited accounting information.


B.  DIGITAL EVIDENCE OF MATERIAL CONTRACTS BY PUBLICLY LISTED COMPANIES

1. DIGITAL SIGNATURE BY BOTH PARTIES:  No sale, purchase or other transaction or contract involving any publicly listed company should be enforceable by the courts in the U.S. or its states, unless that contract is digitally signed by both parties to the contract and if material, maintained for inspection by Owners within the disclosure system in (B) above.

2. MATERIALITY: This provision should apply to contracts, sales, trades etc above a material threshhold such as  $10,000. 

This provision would require agreement upon minimum standards for electronic trade and settlement. The costs of  implementation would be recovered by reductions in downstream bookkeeping, accounting, and settlement that follow from decisions to buy or sell.  Everything after that point determined by contract, would become increasingly automated after any standard is established, benefiting individuals and small companies as well as Enterprise.



C. DEREGULATION OF THE ACCOUNTING INDUSTRY (ENDING OF PROTECTED MONOPOLY)

Government regulation of an information industry is futile.

The public accounting industry has continually grown less competitive, more inefficient, and more costly since the 1930s when mandatory audits began. The industry has effectively maintained barriers to entry or competition, and effectively dictated the kinds of information included in financial reports in a self-serving manner.  In 1930s local data did not exist and CPAs added an enormous additional value.  Today, local information is abundant, and CPAs only limit and modulate the disclosure of that data. 

The entire regulatory burden and reporting standards applied to the largest companies (Big GAAP) is applied to every small CPA and business in the country, and enforced by state regulators. This is an economic injustice to smaller businesses and individuals.

All of these phenomena are relics of an earlier age. Financial information is just like any other information, and government involvement in the information process is destructive and counterproductive.  

1. Licensing requirements for CPAs should be removed. 

2. Owners and investors should freely choose, within a free market, their financial information provider based on objective quality, reputation, and the quality and methodology they apply to financial reports.  Providers highly skilled in data management would be allowed to publish financial statements. 

3. Definitions of terms used in financial statements (GAAP) should be determined solely by Owners and investors, as a matter of contract with their reporting providers or with officers and management. Government enforcement of GAAP terminology promulgated by private, unelected groups of CPAs, should end. Alternative definitions of GAAP should be encouraged, and Owners and investors should take responsibility for understanding them.

4. Software agents and robots should be granted equal rights to the provision of audit and accounting services as human CPAs. Discrimination against robots or software agent audits, failure of management to provide requested information or other obstruction of their function should be prohibited.


Todd Boyle CPA
23 jan 2002 updated 3 Feb 2003

 

In November 1999, the IASC Staff published a discussion paper, Business Reporting on the Internet. The discussion paper was authored by four academics, two from a university in Singapore, one from the UK and one from the USA. http://www.iasc.org.uk/cmt/   Although this paper, and all papers by Accountancy standards bodies and regulators, argued for stronger codes of conduct, it provides an encyclopedic report on the abuses within today's false reporting system.

In January 2000, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board published a steering committee report that addresses issues similar to those covered in the IASC study. The FASB report is available on line: Electronic Distribution of Business Reporting Information (PDF version 302kb). http://accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/fasb/brrp/brrp1.pdf

The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants has published a similar study, and the Auditing & Assurance Standards Board of the Australian Accounting Research Foundation has published an auditing guidance statement on the subject, but these are not available on line.

In the late 18th century the words of an American lawyer, Patrick Henry, helped persuade Congress to pass legislation protecting the public's right to know. "The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."

Bob Jensen's threads on proposed reforms are at  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudProposedReforms.htm 

March 21, 2003 message from Kate Sharp [Kate.Sharp@bristol.ac.uk] 

Dear Bob,

I am writing to let you know about an extensive new resource that is available on the Biz/ed Web site and was hoping that you could promote it via your mailing list or on your site. The materials, written by Duncan Williamson, are related specifically to ratio analysis so should prove interesting to your audience. I have included further details about the resource below.

Thanks in anticipation,

Kate.

Biz/ed is pleased to introduce a new feature on financial ratios.

Students often find ratio analysis a boring topic, tending to learn them by rote, with little experience of applying them to real-world situations.

Our new section leads learners through the theory of financial ratios.

· Students are encouraged to develop and test their understanding with a series of activities based on real business data. 
· Skills can be honed by accessing data from the profit and loss accounts and balance sheets of 33 business organisations. 
· Two full years of data have been gathered to allow comparisons to be made within the firm, across their industry and over the economy as a whole. · Featured organisations include: easyJet, Vodafone, BAA (British Airports Authority), Sainsbury's and Carphone Warehouse. 
· This resource and the companies used should be of interest to students of Accounting, AVCE, AS/A2, Nuffield and HND Business, as well as some programmes in Leisure and Recreation and Travel and Tourism. · Updated annually, the database will grow into a major resource of financial data.

Go to: http://www.bized.ac.uk/compfact/ratios/ to visit the new section and http://www.bized.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ratios/ratiodata.pl  to check out the database.

-Kate Sharp Biz/ed Service Manager, 
SWAD Europe and SWARA Project Manager 
University of Bristol, 8-10, Berkeley Square, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1HH 
Tel: 0117 9287189 Fax: 0117 9287112

http://www.bized.ac.uk       http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/Europe/ 

Kate.Sharp@bristol.ac.uk 

Cowboy Photographer: Erwin E. Smith --- http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/ 

Detroit Publishing Company Online Exhibit: Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village --- http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/dpc/ 

Dittrick Medical History Center --- http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/dittrick/home.htm 

John Donne (metaphysics, poetry, philosophy) --- http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/ 

Civil Rights Oral History Interviews: Spokane, Washington [Real Player] http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/xcivilrights.html 

Bob Jensen's threads on art and history museums are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#History 

And the Oscar Goes to... Online Advertisers There's nothing like a high-profile event to get online marketers thinking creatively. http://www.clickz.com/media/media_buy/article.php/2117931 

Bob Jensen's marketing and advertising bookmarks are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#Marketing 

"Hackers evolve from pranksters into profiteers," by Jon Swartz USA TODAY, March 16, 2003 --- http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2003-03-16-hacking_x.htm 

SAN FRANCISCO — Computer identity theft has long been a fast-growing cybercrime. But increasingly, hackers are seeking profit rather than just fun.

Complaints of Internet-related identity theft tripled to 1,000 last year, says the Federal Trade Commission. While that still accounts for a only fraction of the 160,000 nationwide reports of identity theft, the growth is alarming as more consumers put credit card and other financial data online

"It's the perfect crime of the information age," says Rich Stana, of the General Accounting Office. "The Internet gives identity thieves multiple opportunities to steal personal identifiers and gain access to financial data."

The biggest break-ins came last month, when computer intruders accessed more than 10 million Visa, MasterCard and American Express credit card account numbers from the computer system of a third-party payment company. No theft occurred.

Also last month, a computer-science student allegedly hacked a University of Texas database and swiped the Social Security numbers of more than 55,000 students, employees and former students, county prosecutors said. Authorities last week charged Christopher Andrew Phillips, 20, with unlawful access to a protected computer and unlawful use of a means of identification. Phillips told officials he had no intention of using the information to harm anyone, according to court papers.

But in two other high-profile cases, hackers did use the information to access funds:

The two men, an unemployed computer software developer and a businessman, allegedly got the passwords by using software to determine what keystrokes a previous PC user used. They allegedly snooped on about 100 computers at 13 Tokyo-area cybercafes last year. The software was downloaded from the Internet.

Such ID thefts have prompted financial institutions to fortify their computer systems with millions of dollars in security software and shore up computer security among employees, security experts say.

The Justice Department, meanwhile, is encouraging banks that are victims of computer crimes to be more forthcoming with details to aid authorities in the arrest and prosecution of hackers.

Continued in the article.

Bob Jensen's threads on identity theft are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#IdentityTheft 

Dangers of toting that barge and lifting that bale!

"Fears Mount Over Dangers Of Hoisting Heavy Weights," by Kevin Helliker, The Wall Street Journal, March 13, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB104749793770323300,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fpersonaljnl%5Fhs 

As a fitness trainer and health fanatic, Michael Logan knew that weight lifting could strengthen his bones and protect his heart.

What he didn't know was that it could be lethal. Mr. Logan had a bulge in his primary artery, the aorta. Knowledge of that bulge, or aneurysm, would have prompted doctors to allow only light-weight lifting. But like the vast majority of people with aneurysms, Mr. Logan didn't know he had one.

So he continued heavy-weight lifting -- until an aortic aneurysm killed him last June at age 46. "It's very surprising that something he did for his health might have hurt him," says Mike Logan, the late Chicago trainer's son.

In a nation obsessed with looks and fitness, weight lifting is the latest workout craze. Recent studies have shown that lifting can lower blood pressure, combat diabetes and strengthen bones. Bookstore shelves are teeming with new fitness tomes touting weight lifting. Over the three years ended in 2001, participation in weight lifting in the U.S. has risen 12% -- while aerobic exercise declined 2%, according to American.

Now, however, a small but growing number of researchers are raising concerns about the safety of lifting heavy weights. Such lifting can trigger strokes and aneurysms, and perhaps even cause a highly fatal arterial disease called dissection, believe doctors at prominent health centers such as Yale University School of Medicine and the Stanford University Medical Center.

Aneurysms alone kill 32,000 Americans a year, making them as big a killer as prostate cancer, and a more common killer than brain cancer or AIDS. Especially vulnerable to aneurysm and other arterial conditions are senior citizens -- a group that has been urged to take advantage of the bone-strengthening effects of weight lifting.

Aneurysm experts express little concern about moderate to light-weight lifting. Some define light as an amount that can be lifted 60 times, in four sets of 15. A leading aneurysm research and surgeon, John Elefteriades of the Yale University School of Medicine, recommends that people over 40 years old bench-press no more than half their body weight. Equally important is breathing regularly during exercise to minimize spikes in blood pressure.

Aneurysms aren't the only concern for heavy-weight lifters. Vascular experts say it can induce stroke, as well as dissection, in which the inner lining of the aortic artery separates from the outer walls.

Continued in the article.

Top Online Brokers, Barron's, March 10, 2003, Page 24
STAR POWER

Our first-ever 4-1/2-star rating goes to optionsXpress, with seven other brokers getting strong four-star scores.  Check also the scores in categories most important to you.

Broker Trade
Execution		 Ease of
Use		 Range of
Offerings		 Research
Amenities		 Reports and
Customer
Access		 Costs Weighted
Total		 Star
Rating
optionsXpress 4.8 4.3 4.5 4.6 4.1 4.0 26.5 ****1/2
TradeStation 5.0 4.0 3.9 4.5 4.0 4.5 25.9 ****
Terra Nova 4.8 3.8 3.8 3.8 4.6 4.0 25.2 ****
Ameritrade Apex 4.0 4.5 3.7 4.6 4.1 3.3 24.6 ****
Wall St.*E 4.5 3.0 4.8 3.4 4.2 4.5 24.3 ****
Wall St. Access 3.7 4.5 4.8 3.9 3.3 3.0 23.5 ****
SieberNet 3.8 4.2 3.6 4.1 4.2 3.0 23.4 ****
CyBerTrader 4.7 4.0 2.5 4.2 3.9 3.5 23.2 ****
E*Trade (Power) 3.4 3.0 4.2 4.2 4.3 3.1 22.6 ***1/2
Harrisdirect 3.6 3.5 4.5 4.4 3.7 1.9 22.5 ***1/2
Fidelity 3.4 3.5 4.3 3.7 4.4 2.0 22.3 ***1/2
Charles Schwab 3.4 3.7 4.1 4.4 4.2 0.4 21.9 ***1/2
Scottrade 3.8 3.8 3.5 3.7 3.2 4.0 21.8 ***1/2
E*Trade (Standard) 2.5 4.0 4.0 4.2 4.4 1.6 21.6 ***1/2
Interactive Brokers 4.3 3.7 3.0 2.7 3.3 4.9 21.4 ***1/2
Preferred Trade 4.8 3.7 3.4 2.4 3.1 3.9 21.3 ***1/2
myTrack 4.0 3.5 3.2 3.6 3.5 3.0 21.2 ***1/2
MB Trading 4.3 3.6 3.3 2.7 3.5 3.5 21.1 ***1/2
TD Waterhouse 3.0 3.0 4.6 3.4 3.7 3.1 20.9 ***1/2
Brown & Co. 2.7 2.5 3.3 2.6 2.6 5.0 17.5 ***
Brokerage America 1.7 3.5 3.1 3.0 2.6 5.0 17.5 ***
JB Oxford 3.1 2.5 3.5 2.0 2.7 3.4 17.0 ***
Vanguard 2.7 3.1 2.8 2.4 3.3 1.4 16.5 **1/2
Merrill Lynch Direct 2.2 2.7 3.0 3.8 3.0 0.7 16.4 **1/2
American Express 2.9 3.7 2.3 3.0 1.8 2.2 16.0 **1/2
Strong Funds 1.4 3.6 2.5 3.1 2.7 2.8 15.7 **
Firstrade 2.2 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.5 3.8 15.4 **
Quick & Reilly 2.2 2.4 3.3 3.2 2.4 1.3 15.3 **

 

Two of Bob Jensen's document for helping investors are as follows:

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm 

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fees.htm 

Small Business Helpers from the Journal of Accountancy, March 2003, Page 23 --- 

Survival Tips
home3.americanexpress.com/smallbusiness/tool/security/protect.asp
This page of the American Express Web site offers small business owners articles such as “Protect Your Business: Stop Fraud Before It Starts,” as well as quizzes on security risk including “Are You Vulnerable to Fraud and Theft?” Other resources provide guidance on running a small business with tips on creating effective financial controls and guarding intellectual property.

Resources for Entrepreneurs
 www.sbaer.uca.edu
For CPAs looking to start their own business or expand the services they currently offer, the Small Business Advancement National Center page of the University of Central Arkansas Web site features sections such as Counseling and Consulting, Research and Dissemination, Strategic Alliances, and Training and Education. The center also provides a free e-mail newsletter and links to information on effective Web marketing.

Advice from the Advisor
 www.isquare.com
The Small Business Advisor’s Web site offers CPA firm owners a free electronic newsletter that gives Internet tips and tricks, and marketing, sales and software assistance. Visitors can read up on legal issues and starting or selling a business. The site also includes a section on tax advice and answers to frequently asked questions.

Government Links for Businesses
 www.business.gov
The U.S. Business Advisor’s goal is to “make the relationship between business and government more productive.” It helps do that by “providing one-stop access to federal government information, services and transactions” on its Web site. Links to government Web pages also offer input on business development, financial assistance, international trade, taxes and workplace issues.

Small Business Links
 www.bizmove.com
CPAs who wish to enhance their existing Web presence will want to surf this Web site—“the small business knowledge base.” A free subscription to its e-zine, BizTips, includes a download of the e-book 101 Tips and Strategies to Small Business Success. Users also can link to applications for free government grants and business plan templates.

Online Business Information
 smallbusiness.yahoo.com
This section of Yahoo includes links to assist small business owners in finding online resources for creating a Web presence and managing and promoting their businesses. CPAs also can link to articles on business incorporation and financing, such as “How Attention to Safety Can Boost Your Profits” and “Is It Better to Lease or Buy Equipment?” This site also offers information on business, marketing and planning a Web strategy.

EP Phone (From) Home
www.en-parent.com
For entrepreneurial parents (EPs) working from home, this Web site aims to help “EPs make a living and a life.” The site features topical articles such as “Six Ways to Work-Family Balance” and “The Top Ten FAQs About Starting a Business.” It also includes links to administrative, entrepreneurial and home business Web sites.

Bob Jensen's small business links are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#SmallBusiness 

THE MP3 ADVENTURE, The Wall Street Journal, March 14, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/page/0,,2_1001,00.html 

In a five-part series, Jason Fry recounted his foray into the world of digital music. Plus, see an animated overview of Jason's project.

Update on Financial Instruments Derivatives in Risk Management and Accounting

Question:  How should Southwest Airlines account for these derivatives?
"Trying to Make Fuel Prices Less of a Wartime Gamble," by Daniel Altman, The New York Times, March 23, 2003 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/business/yourmoney/23HEDG.html 

Now that the war in Iraq has begun, oil prices could go $10 a barrel higher — or lower — by this time next month. How can a company that uses a lot of oil or its byproducts protect itself?

Because the risks run in both directions, businesses in several industries face a complex task: guarding against a price spike while staying open to the benefits of falling prices.

The companies' methods run the gamut. Some have been actively hedging, using complex financial instruments, while others have preferred to manage fuel inventories or pass along costs to consumers.

Last September, Southwest Airlines decided to prepare for the possibility of war in the Persian Gulf. The company bought financial derivatives to ensure that it would never pay much more than 70 cents a gallon for jet fuel — the equivalent of a bit more than $23 for a barrel of crude oil, compared with the price of $28.80 today — for its fuel supply this quarter. More than 75 percent of its fuel needs for the remainder of 2003 and all of 2004 are similarly protected, and some of its hedges extend all the way to 2008.

Southwest's hedges mostly take the form of common but sophisticated derivatives called collars and swaps, said Gary C. Kelly, the airline's chief financial officer. In the near term, about two-thirds of the derivatives are based on prices for heating oil, which follow rates for jet fuel more closely than those for crude oil.

The cost of price protection amounts to about 1 or 2 cents for each gallon of jet fuel, Mr. Kelly said. With jet fuel being traded for more than $1 a gallon lately, he added, "it's obviously a very substantial saving."

Southwest, though, may be the exception rather than the rule.

"It varies tremendously from firm to firm," said Edward N. Krapels, an expert on risk management at Energy Security Analysis, a research firm in Wakefield, Mass. "In the airline industry, you'll find some who are quite aggressive hedgers, and others who are not."

Mr. Krapels said some companies might have become wary of hedging after buying derivatives to protect themselves, only to find that oil prices would fall. In the Persian Gulf war of 1991, for example, the sudden drop in prices that accompanied the build-up of coalition forces and their early victories took many companies by surprise.

As a result, Mr. Krapels explained, "most large consumers are underhedged, with some very significant exceptions." He added, "The impact of an oil price increase on these guys will be very significant."

Companies that routinely engage in hedging tend to be in the middle of the petroleum supply chain, said Neal L. Wolkoff, the chief operating officer of the New York Mercantile Exchange, where energy derivatives are traded. "The greatest participation tends not to be from the ultimate consumer," he said. "It's more either merchants and refiners or integrated oil companies."

The Valero Energy Corporation, a top refiner, contracts in advance for cargoes of oil from China, Russia and other countries. The company uses simple mechanisms to guarantee oil prices into the near future. Because of the uncertainty about oil prices in the next few months, Valero has tried to insure itself in case market rates fall below those in its long-term contracts.

"We are concerned that prices are going to fall off after this whole Iraqi thing is resolved, so any extra barrels we have, we hedge them," said Gene Edwards, Valero's senior vice president for supply and trading.

 
ATHER than buying options to sell oil at fixed prices, as protection against prices falling, Valero sells future contracts for oil. For example, it might buy oil at $35 a barrel today and promise to sell oil at $32 a barrel next month. If the price of oil next month falls below $32, then Valero can buy oil from the market and sell it at a profit.

Mr. Edwards said that investment banks often approach Valero with more complicated derivatives, but that the futures generally offer a less expensive solution.

In addition to buying and selling futures, Valero has been engaging in a more tangible form of hedging — limiting its own stocks of oil so it can take advantage of prices if they fall. "You try to keep inventories low, because you don't want to be sitting on extra barrels," Mr. Edwards said.

That kind of activity has kept volume on the New York Mercantile Exchange near normal levels, Mr. Wolkoff said. "A lot of companies are, in effect, hedging through their physical business," he said. "That means there appears to be a reticence to hold inventory. That's one way of hedging, simply by reducing your exposure."

Some companies that use a lot of fuel have an even simpler way of dealing with high and low prices. The Roadway Corporation, the trucking-line operator, passes along the high cost of fuel to customers through a surcharge. Each week, the company updates the surcharge automatically, using the Energy Department's diesel price index.

"It makes fuel a pass-through for us," said John M. Hyre, a spokesman for Roadway. "We don't benefit by it, and we're not negatively impacted by it. We do have concern for the impact that rising fuel costs have on our customers, though."

The company can benefit, however, when fuel prices drop steeply. "If we encounter good pricing, we will work on getting long-term contracts under that good pricing," Mr. Hyre said.

If the war in Iraq does not go as the Pentagon has planned, any sudden spike in oil prices could have the harshest effects on some people who have little use for petroleum products, except on the drive to work. Hedge-fund managers and other speculators who sell financial protection to companies like Valero could be at risk, Mr. Krapels said.

"If the war goes badly, and the oil price goes significantly higher than it is today, how well can the people who took the short side of that bet withstand it?" he asked. "There could be some very big credit exposures." 

How FAS 133 Cost Sears $270 Million
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm#Sears 

The dangers of derivatives abuse and the excessive amounts of derivatives now in the markets --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#DerivativesFraud 

Bob Jensen's tutorials (including audio and video) derivatives, FAS 133, and IAS 39 are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 

Stock Options
If the FASB and the IASB require expensing of stock options when vested rather than exercised, it will have really adverse effects on the bottom lines of some companies who rely heavily upon employee stock options for compensation.  This is why the U.S. House and Senate are already gearing up for a fight with the FASB and possibly SEC due to heavy lobbying pressures.  In the March 31, 2003 issue of Barron's on Page 28, the following sample impacts are provided:

Adjusting Earnings for Options

 »Earnings of major tech companies are well below reported levels when adjusted for option grants to employees. Options will become a big issue next year when companies likely will be forced to record them as an expense. Some companies, like Microsoft, are reducing option grants, helping shareholders.
Company Microsoft Intel IBM Cisco Oracle Applied
Materials		 EMC Hewlett-Packard Texas
Instruments
Recent Stock Price $25.04 17.58 81.45 13.5 11.36 13.5 7.16 16.44 17.75
2002 Earnings* $0.92 0.51 3.95 0.39 0.41 0.19 -0.05 0.79 0.22
Option-adjusted'02 Profits* $0.71 0.34 3.28 0.19 0.33 0 -0.22 0.48 -0.01
2002 P/E Ratio 27.2 34.5 20.6 34.6 27.7 67.5 NM 20.8 80.7
2002 Option-adjusted P/E 35.3 51.7 24.8 71.1 34.4 NM NM 34.3 NM
2002 Options Grant (mil) 82 174 60 282 63 9 52 66 37
Options Grant Relative to Shares Outstanding 0.8% 2.6 3.5 3.8 1.2 0.5 2.4 2.2 2.1
Options Issuance Trend ä ä ã ä ä ä ä ã ã
*2002 Fiscal Year.    NM-Not meaningful.                                                                                                  Sources: Company reports; Thomson/Baseline

 

Note that adjustments for many more companies are available in the "Core Earnings" revisions from Standard and Poors at http://www2.standardandpoors.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=sp/Page/PressSpecialCoveragePg&b=5&r=1&s=3&ig=1026841911315 
I also created the shorter URL --- http://snurl.com/CoreEarnings 

In response to growing concern about companies earnings reports, Standard & Poor’s has introduced a new methodology called “Standard & Poor’s Core Earnings.” The ultimate goal is to lead investors and analysts to a consensus on earnings calculations, and bring more transparency and consistency to earnings analysis and forecasts.

Bob Jensen's threads on these this controversy can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory/sfas123/jensen01.htm 

March 30 message from Ira Kawaller

Hi Bob,

I’m using a new product called the AccuCard Service to keep my address book up-to-date. I would appreciate it if you would take a moment to review your contact information and make corrections if necessary.

Ira

The CardScan.net service is at https://www.cardscan.net 

Another coffin nail for the Efficient Market Hypothesis

From Jim Mahar, TheFinanceProfessor on March 24, 2003

It is always interesting to see what happened when two theories clash. For instance, I am largely a backer of the EMH (efficient market hypothesis) which would suggest that mutual fund managers can not do better than that the index and that overall all fund managers are about as good as any other. However, more than I believe EMH, I am sure that incentives are critical and that if you pay people to do something, it usually will happen. So it was with great anticipation that I read the forthcoming article by Elton, Gruber, and Blake in the Journal of Finance (JF). The authors study whether mutual funds where managers have an incentive pay system do better than those without. And they find that yes incentives do seem to lead to better performance. (Prediction, within the year, many more mutual funds will change their incentive structure, as of now less than 2% of funds reward their mangers with incentive pay plans. http://www.afajof.org/Pdf/forthcoming/april23.pdf

Another chink in the EMH hypothesis. A paper by Coval, Hishleifer, and Shumway finds that a significant proportion of investors did beat the market for the 1990 to 1996. Moreover, the top 10% did so by am amazing 15 basis points per DAY! (There are 100 basis points per percent). READ IT! http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=364000

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/business/1830496

A rights issue is a way a firm can raise new money. Typically the firm gives rights (think of them as coupons) to existing shareholders. The rights (coupons) give the holder the right to purchase new shares at a discount. Typically these rights can be sold if the investor does not want to invest more money in the firm. This week’s French Telecom provides a good example. The firm is hoping to raise 15 b Euro. In order to do so, they are offering new shares via a rights issue at a greater than 25% discount to the previous closing stock price.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4501-622099,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2880159.stm

Is the US market overvalued? (See the next story for the perspective of others). That is what Reinker and Tower try to determine by comparing expected returns for US firms with those of other nations. Their finding, which rests on the Gordon dividend growth model, suggests that it is and that international investments may earn higher returns going forward. Of course, this is no guarantee, but it is an interesting paper none-the-less.

http://www.econ.duke.edu/Papers/Other/Tower/Equity_Returns.pdf

Poor returns in stocks, low interest rates, and overly optimistic expectations have created problems for many retirees who are finding that they may not have enough money to maintain their desired lifestyle. Two solutions: gong back to work, and reverse mortgages.

http://www.nytimes.com/business/retirement/?8isc

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/business/retirement/18KILB.html

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/030324/bizrates_retirees_1.html

 

It's tempting to jump in the market now in anticipation that stock prices will soar if and when the U.S. and Iraq stop shooting at each other.
Think again.  Maybe TIAA isn't such a bad thing these days!

While they may have missed out on the biggest weekday rally in 20 years, both Bill Gross (the head of Pimco’s total return fund) and Warren Buffett spoke recently on the investment environment and each believes that prices of US stocks are still too high. . http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/030316/finance_gross_1.html 

One reason why Buffett may be such a good investor is that many people copy his stock picks. So since you may want to as well, here they are: http://www.forbes.com/2003/03/17/cz_mm_0317sf.html 

The best investment advice I can give is to not seek investment advice from Bob Jensen.  However, you may be interested in Buffett's portfolio.

His eagerly awaited year-end reports are available at http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2002pdf.pdf 

Bureau of Economic Analysis --- http://www.bea.gov/

Banking and interest rate data:  Econmagic.com --- http://www.economagic.com/

Bob Jensen's bookmarks to economic statistics --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#EconStatistics 

United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) --- http://www.forecasts.org/gdp.htm 

"Study Questions Net Sales Tax Payoff," by Brian Krebs, The Washington Post,  March 13, 2003 --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21580-2003Mar13.html 

States battling historic budget deficits can expect to collect far less money from Internet sales taxes than previously estimated, according to the first major study in 18 months on potential revenues from taxing e-commerce.

The study, conducted by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), said that the amount of uncollected taxes on e-commerce would be $3.2 billion by 2006, far lower than the $45 billion projected in an often-cited 2001 study by two University of Tennessee professors.

DMA President Robert Wientzen said the new study shows there will be "no pot of gold" for states trying to change the nation's tax laws to make it easier to collect Internet sales taxes.

The DMA is an industry group that represents the nation's largest mail-order catalog companies, which are subject to the same tax rules as online sellers. It was joined today by other opponents of mandatory online sales taxes, including auction giant eBay, travel site Orbitz and the Information Technology Association of America.

The report comes as three-dozen states are planning to simplify their sales tax systems in a bid to convince Congress to make tax collection mandatory on all Internet sales. Online merchants now are required to charge sales taxes only if the buyer lives in a state where the seller maintains a physical location, such as a store or warehouse.

The states have long complained that growing e-commerce sales would steal business from "bricks-and-mortar" stores where sales taxes are already collected in 45 states. Supporters of taxing all Internet sales have used the University of Tennessee study's $45 billion figure as a key point in their argument.

Both studies likely will be cited in arguments for and against collecting Internet sales taxes, and the groups backing them already maintain that the other has fundamental flaws.

Continued in the article

Jazz music and slide show --- http://www.rondavisson.com/ 

PictoPlasma for Children (Animation, Art, Design) --- http://www.pictoplasma.com/ 

What are the odds that smokers will get cancer?  These may be surprising.
This an other information can be found at the Sloan-Kettering site at http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/44.cfm 

Gravely Gorgeous from the Cornell University Art Museum (Art History, grotesque architectural ornaments) --- http://cidc.library.cornell.edu/adw/gravely.html 

Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids (Education, Children) --- http://bensguide.gpo.gov/ 

Spare Me!
Weight Watchers Recipe Cards, Circa 1974 --- http://www.poundy.com/wwcards.html 

For Father to Know Best (Divorce, Parenting, Legal Information) --- www.fathersworld.com 

Erwin E. Smith (1886-1947) (Cowboy History) --- http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/

Clothing designer Benetton plans to weave radio frequency ID chips into its garment tags. While Benetton is poised to save money by tracking the clothes with RFID, it could also mean a loss of customers' privacy --- http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,58006,00.html 

Forwarded by Debbie Bowling:  Where's the beef?
"Barbecue Fumes Adding to Haze," iwon News, March 18, 2003 --- http://news1.iwon.com/odd/article/id/310311|oddlyenough|03-18-2003::09:04|reuters.html 

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texans like to say that they live and breathe barbecue -- which may be one of the reasons why the air is so bad in Houston, the state's so-called barbecue capital. According to a study from scientists at Rice University in the city, microscopic bits of polyunsaturated fatty acids released into the atmosphere from cooking meat on backyard barbecues are helping to foul the air in Houston.

The city at times registers levels that rank it as one of the more polluted U.S. urban areas in terms of air quality.

Matthew Fraser, an assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at Rice who led the study, said he was measuring eight different sources of organic particulate matter in the atmosphere, coming from items such as burning gasoline.

"Meat turned out to be a somewhat important source of the atmospheric fine particles in the urban area in Houston," Fraser said.

Fraser said the percentage of particles in the atmosphere from cooking meat as a part of the overall level of airborne pollutants was in the single digits.

Continued in the article.

Better Get U.S. Homland Security to Go Undercover on This One
A Princeton University researcher has discovered a secret about microbes the science world overlooked. Bacteria are communicating with each other -- and plotting against us.
'Bacteria Whisper," Wired Magazine, April 2003 --- http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.04/quorum.html 

Congress cracks down on P2P porn --- http://news.com.com/2100-1028-992371.html?tag=fd_top 

The U.S. Congress is targeting peer-to-peer networks again--and this time politicians aren't fretting over music and software piracy.

A pair of government reports scheduled to be released at a hearing on Thursday warn that file-swapping networks are exploding with pornography--much of which is legal, and some of which is not.

Searching for words such as "preteen," "underage" and "incest" on the Kazaa network resulted in a slew of images that qualify as child pornography, the General Accounting Office said in a 37-page report, one of two obtained by CNET News.com. The second report, prepared by staff from the House Government Reform Committee, concluded that current blocking technology has "no, or limited, ability to block access to pornography via file-sharing programs."

EDUCAUSE Review
MARCH/APRIL 2003
Volume 38, Number 2

FEATURES

"Poised between Two Worlds: The University as Monastery and

Marketplace"
by NANCY CANTOR and STEVEN SCHOMBERG
Technology has an optimal role to play in stimulating vibrant exchange and keeping the university poised between the traditional monastery world of careful reflection and the modern marketplace world of dynamic give-and-take. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0320.pdf

"Delivering Value by Preserving Values: An Interview withDouglas Van Houweling"
"We need to always remember and question the core values that have sustained us in higher education and discover how those values can be applied in new ways to help us continue to advance society, to add value." http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0321.pdf

"Expanding the Concept of Literacy"
by ELIZABETH DALEY
Those who are truly literate in the twenty-first century will be fluent in the language of multimedia: students today need to be taught to write for the screen and analyze multimedia just as much as, if not more than, they need to be taught to write and analyze any specific genre in text. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0322.pdf

BOOK EXCERPT

"Getting beyond Budget Dust to Sustainable Models for Funding Information Technology"
by DAVID L. SMALLEN and JACK MCCREDIE
From Polley A. McClure, ed., "Organizing and Managing Information Resources on Your Campus" http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0323.pdf

DEPARTMENTS

techwatch
Information Technology in the News http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0324.pdf

Leadership
"Childhood's End?"
by RICHARD N. KATZ http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0325.pdf

E-Content
"Librarians and Publishers as Collaborators and Competitors"
by RICHARD E. LUCIER http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0326.pdf

New Horizons

"Digital Asset Management Systems"
by JAMES L. HILTON http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0327.pdf

policy@edu
"Looking to Spectrum for Network Utopia"
by DEWAYNE HENDRICKS http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0328.pdf

Viewpoints
"Putting Another 'E' in ERP?"

by JOHN D. LAWSON http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0329.pdf

Homepage
"The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace"
by MARK A. LUKER http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm03210.pdf

 

A picture from the past!

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If we break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

by John McCrae

Why does the United States always want to take more land?
When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying that, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."
Forwarded by Barbara Hessel

And to return the favor for U.S. aid such as the Marshall Plan and for help in liberating France, the French are now providing free pretzels for President Bush --- http://www.bretzelforbush.com/ 
This is a French Website that bemoans the fact that President Bush did not die when he choked on a pretzel in January 2002.

From PBS:  The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color --- http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/ 
(Includes the Battlefield, Psychology of War, The Home Front, Social Aspects, WW II Timeline, etc.)

Battle Hymn of the Republic:  Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory 

The Navy Hymn

Eternal Father, strong to save
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep
Oh, hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the sea!

Forwarded by Cindy Lara

This is an emotional, yet memorable site --- http://getthenews.net/911/  
cl 

Forwarded by Auntie Bev
(The  fortieth sounded familiar.)

THE CLASS REUNION

Every ten years, as summertime nears, An announcement arrives in the mail, A reunion is planned; it'll be really grand; Make plans to attend without fail.

I'll never forget the first time we met; We tried so hard to impress. We drove fancy cars, smoked big cigars, And wore our most elegant dress.

It was quite an affair; the whole class was there. It was held at a fancy hotel. We wined, and we dined, and we acted refined, And everyone thought it was swell.

The men all conversed about who had been first To achieve great fortune and fame. Meanwhile, their spouses described their fine houses And how beautiful their children became.

The homecoming queen, who once had been lean, Now weighed in at one-ninety-six. The jocks who were there had all lost their hair, And the cheerleaders could no longer do kicks.

No one had heard about the class nerd Who'd guided a spacecraft to the moon; Or poor little Jane, who's always been plain; She married a shipping tycoon.

The boy we'd decreed "most apt to succeed" Was serving ten years in the pen, While the one voted "least" now was a priest; Just shows you can be wrong now and then.

They awarded a prize to one of the guys Who seemed to have aged the least. Another was given to the grad who had driven The farthest to attend the feast.

They took a class picture, a curious mixture Of beehives, crew cuts and wide ties. Tall, short, or skinny, the style was the mini; You never saw so many thighs.

At our next get-together, no one cared whether They impressed their classmates or not. The mood was informal, a whole lot more normal; By this time we'd all gone to pot.

It was held out-of-doors, at the lake shores; We ate hamburgers, coleslaw, and beans. Then most of us lay around in the shade, In our comfortable T-shirts and jeans.

By the fortieth year, it was abundantly clear, We were definitely over the hill. Those who weren't dead had to crawl out of bed, And be home in time for their pill.

And now I can't wait; they've set the date; Our fiftieth is coming, I'm told. It should be a ball, they've rented a hall At the Shady Rest Home for the old.

Repairs have been made on my hearing aid; My pacemaker's been turned up on high. My wheelchair is oiled, and my teeth have been boiled; And I've bought a new wig and glass eye.

I'm feeling quite hearty, and I'm ready to party I'm gonna dance 'til dawn's early light. It'll be lots of fun; But I just hope that there's one Other person who can make it that night.

Author Unknown

Forwarded by Dick Haar

Man tells his doctor he’s unable to do all the things around the house that he used to do. After the exam, he says, “Now, doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English what the hell’s wrong with me.”

“In layman’s terms, you’re lazy,” says the doctor.

“OK. Now give me a medical term, so I can tell my wife

Forwarded by Bob Overn

The Pentagon recently unveiled its new super computer to the top brass. This fantastic device, capable of making bazillions of decisions in split nanoseconds, is designed to solve all military problems with the greatest of ease. 

To test its capabilities, the brass poses a tactical problem to it and then asks for a decision, "Attack or Retreat?"

The computer hums a bit, blinks a myriad of lights and answers, "Yes."

The brass, somewhat confused by this answer, replies, "Yes what?"

The computer instantly replies, "Yes, sir!"

Forwarded by Tony Digiovanni

These three Texans go down to Mexico one night, get drunk, and wake up in jail only to find out that they are to be executed in the morning, though none of them can remember what they did the night before.

The first one is strapped in the electric chair and is asked if he has any last words. He says, "I am from the Baylor school of divinity and I believe in the almighty power of God to intervene on behalf of the innocent." They throw the switch and nothing happens, so they figure God must not want this guy to die and they let him go.

The second one is strapped in and gives his last words, "I am from the University of Texas School of Law and I believe in the power of justice to intervene on the part of the innocent." They throw the switch and again nothing happens. They figure that the law is on this guy's side, so they let him go too.

The last one is strapped in and says, "Well, I'm a Texas Aggie Electrical Engineer, and I'll tell you right now you ain't gonna electrocute nobody if you don't connect them two wires."

Forwarded by Bob Overn

A man appears before the Pearly Gates. "Have you ever done anything of particular merit?" St. Peter asks.

"Well, I can think of one thing," the man offers.

"Once I came upon a gang of high-testosterone bikers who were threatening a young woman. I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn't listen. So I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker. I smacked him on the head, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring and threw it on the ground, then told him, 'Leave her alone now or you'll answer to me.'"

St. Peter was impressed. "When did this happen?"

"A couple of minutes ago."

Forwarded by Bob Overn

My mom is a less than fastidious housekeeper.

One evening my dad returned home from work, walked into the kitchen and teased her, "You know, dear, I can write my name in the dust on the mantel."

Mom turned to him and sweetly replied, "Yes, darling, I know. That's why I married a college graduate."

Forwarded by Team Carper

You Think A Gallon Of Gas Is Expensive
 
These comparisons makes one think, and puts things in perspective.

Diet Snapple (16 oz) $1.29 ............ $10.32 per gallon
Lipton Ice Tea (16 oz) $1.19 ......... $9.52 per gallon
Gatorade (20 oz) $1.59 ..................$10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray (16 oz) $1.25 ............$10.00 per gallon
Brake Fluid (12 oz) $3.15 ..............$33.60 per gallon
Vick's Nyquil (6 oz) $8.35 .............$178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol (4 oz) $3.85 ............ $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout (7 oz) $1.39 ................... $25.42 per gallon
Scope (1.5 oz) $0.99 . ...................$84.48 per gallon
This is the REAL KICKER..............
Evian water (9 oz) $1.49 ............... $21.19 per gallon.
$21.19 FOR WATER! ....and the buyers don't even know the source.
So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on
water, Scope, or Whiteout; or Nyquil; or Pepto Bismol; or Water!

Forwarded by Auntie Bev

Notice to people who visit my home. 

1. The dog lives here...you don't.

2. If you don't want dog hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture.

3. Yes, he has some disgusting habits. So do I and so do you. What's your point?

4. OF COURSE he smells like a dog.

5. It's his nature to try to sniff your crotch. Please feel free to sniff his.

6. I like him a lot better than I like most people.

7. To you he's a dog. To me he's an adopted son, who is short, hairy, walks on all fours, doesn't speak clearly, and hates cats. I have no problem with any of these things.

8. Dogs are better than kids: they eat less, don't ask for money all the time, are easier to train, usually come when called, never drive your car, don't hang out with drug using friends, don't smoke or drink, don't worry about whether they have the latest fashions, don't wear your clothes, don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and if they get pregnant you can sell the pups.

Forwarded by Team Carper

Grandmothers

What is a grandmother? ( taken from papers written by a class of 8 year olds)

A grandmother is a lady who has no little children of her own. She likes other people's.

A grandfather is a man grandmother.

Grandmothers don't have to do anything except be there when we come to see them.

They are so old they shouldn't play hard or run.

It is good if they drive us to the store and have lots of quarters for us.

When they take us for walks, they slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars.

They show us and talk to us about the color of the flowers and also don't step on "cracks."

They don't say, "Hurry up."

Usually grandmothers are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes.

They wear glasses and funny underwear.

They can take their teeth and gums out.

Grandmothers don't have to be smart. They have to answer questions like "Why isn't God married?" and "How come dogs chase cats?".

When they read to us, they don't skip. They don't mind if we ask for the same story over again.

Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don't have television, because they are the only grown ups who like to spend time with us.

They know we should have snack-time before bedtime and they say prayers with us every time, and kiss us even when we've acted bad.

Forwarded by Don Ramsey

Cards offering used textbooks for sale are posted on the college notice board at the beginning of each semester. 

One read: "Introduction to Psychology, $8, never used." The card was signed, "Must sell." 

The next day a note had been added: "Good price. Are you sure it's never been used?" Signed, "Prospective buyer." 

Below in a different hand was: "Positive!" Signed, "Professor who graded his exam."

The Tall Texan's Website (including a Funnybone site) --- http://www.talltexian.com/ 

The Mother of All Inspection Teams

How in the name of the United Nations does anyone expect men to find Saddam's stash? We all know that men have a blind spot when it comes to finding things.

Maybe this is why auditing firms now hire more women than men. These firms are also winning awards for being the most "parent-friendly" of professions. There are reasons mothers make especially good auditors. Bob Overn forwarded the following reasons:

For crying' out loud! Men can't find the dirty clothes hamper. Men can't find the jar of jelly until it falls out of the cupboard and splatters on the floor.... and these are the people we have sent into Iraq to search for hidden weapons of mass destruction?

I keep wondering why groups of mothers weren't sent in. Mothers can sniff out secrets quicker than a drug dog can find a gram of dope.

Mothers can find gin bottles that dads have stashed in the attic beneath the rafters. They can sniff out a diary two rooms and one floor away. They can tell when the lid of a cookie jar has been disturbed and notice when a quarter inch slice has been shaved off a chocolate cake. A mother can smell alcohol on your breath before you get your key in the front door and can smell cigarette smoke from a block away. By examining laundry, a mother knows more about their kids than Sherlock Holmes. And if a mother wants an answer to question, she can read an offender's eyes quicker than a homicide detective.

So... considering the value a mother could bring to an inspection team, why are we sending a bunch of old men who will rely on electronic equipment to scout out hidden threats?

My mother would walk in with a wooden soup spoon in one hand, grab Saddam by the ear, give it a good twist and snap, "Young man, do you have any weapons of mass destruction?" And God help him if he tried to lie to her. She'd march him down the street to some secret bunker and shove his nose into a nuclear bomb and say, "Uh, huh, and what do you call this, mister?" Whap!

Thump! Whap! Whap! Whap! And she'd lay some stripes across his bare bottom with that soup spoon, then march him home in front of the whole of Baghdad. He'd not only come clean and apologize for lying about it, he'd cut every lawn in Baghdad for free for the whole damn summer. Inspectors my a%$... You want the job done? Call my mother.

God, hold our troops in your loving hands. 
Protect them as they protect us. 
Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. 
Amen. 
Sherri Jaeger

And let's bow our heads for the people on all sides who suffered gravely so that others may live!  Let's hope that, in the future,  money spent on weapons of destruction (including those of the U.S. weapons) will instead be spent upon creating a better life for all species sharing this planet.

And that's the way it was on March 31, 2003 with a little help from my friends.

 

I highly recommend TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 

 

In March 2000, Forbes named AccountantsWorld.com as the Best Website on the Web --- http://accountantsworld.com/.
Some top accountancy links --- http://accountantsworld.com/category.asp?id=Accounting

 

For accounting news, I prefer AccountingWeb at http://www.accountingweb.com/ 
I also like SmartPros at http://www.smartpros.com/ 

 

Another leading accounting site is AccountingEducation.com at http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

 

Paul Pacter maintains the best international accounting standards and news Website at http://www.iasplus.com/

The Finance Professor --- http://www.financeprofessor.com/about/aboutFP.html 

 

How stuff works --- http://www.howstuffworks.com/ 

 

Bob Jensen's video helpers for MS Excel, MS Access, and other helper videos are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/ 
Accompanying documentation can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/default1.htm and http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 

 

Click on www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp for a complete list of interviews with established leaders, creative thinkers and education technology experts in higher education from around the country.

 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu  

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March 15, 2003 

 Bob Jensen's New Bookmarks on March 15, 2003
Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

In 1876, my grandparents (Julius and Regina Jensen) donated a corner of their farm so that nearby Norwegian immigrants could build the Blakjer Church and a cemetery --- http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/iowa/cemeteries/blakjerlutherancem.htm 
Bob mentions this church in his story about growing up --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm 
In the Year 2002, the church was moved from the country to a city park in Lone Rock --- http://www.lonerockiowa.com/attractions.html 
The cemetery is still out on our old farm.

Quotes of the Week

Final grades are where the University of Georgia football players want to look
In order to discover what courses they took.
Jay Leno, NBC Television, March 14, 2003

Few things I have done in the past year have created as much discussion as my recent editorial on fighting terrorism using financial theory and things we learned from the US Civil War. If you haven’t read it, please do. 
http://www.financeprofessor.com/editorials/terrorismfeb132003.html 

All greatness is achieved while performing outside of your comfort zone.
Greg Arnold

CEOs and investment bankers of today never took this to heart!
Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give up the earth itself…rather than do an immoral act.
Thomas Jefferson

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
Joseph Addison

A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
Washington Irving

Melancholy is the happiness of being sad.
Victor Hugo

Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.
George Van Valkenburg

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
Henry Kissinger

The Earth belongs to its owners, but the landscape belongs to those who know how to appreciate it.
Upton Sinclair

Ownership is a trap: what we think we own in fact owns us.
Alphonse Karr

This may be taking full disclosure a bit too far! You have to read at least some of this 8K filing from Expediators International. They tell you what they think, why, and why they may be wrong. And in a funny matter to boot. Some parts are hilarious! Definitely the most entertaining SEC filing I have ever seen! http://biz.yahoo.com/e/030220/expd8-k.html  
http://www.edgar-online.com/brand/yahoo/search/?sym=EXPD 
From a March 3, 2003 message from FinanceProfessor [FinanceProfessor@lb.bcentral.com] 

March 10, 2003 reply from Cindy Peck [cjpeck@ANDERSON.EDU] 

Thanks for the heads up on the filing by Expediators Intl. I once asked a class of non-accountants how to reduce currency fluctuation risk for a liability in a foreign currency and a student said to just pay it. I note that Expediators mentions that it follows this strategy.

Cindy Peck

Ok, but come on? A JF (Journal of Finance) article? If your friends invest in the stock market, you are more likely to do so as well. That is the finding of a new paper by Harrison Hong, Jeffrey D. Kubik and Jeremy C. Stein . To which I can only ask one question: “Are you going to jump off a cliff if your friends do?” http://www.afajof.org/Pdf/forthcoming/Social-jf-revision.pdf 
From a March 3, 2003 message from FinanceProfessor [FinanceProfessor@lb.bcentral.com] 

And in this corner, Alan Greenspan. The Fed Chairman spoke out against the President’s tax cut and stimulus plan by saying the economy was doing ok and would likely get better in the near future, and thus the stimulus plan is not needed and the tax cuts may increase the already rapidly expanding deficit. White House economic adviser Glenn Hubbard however, then went public and stressed that Greenspan was entitled to his opinion and the White House has complete faith in him. (of course, this acknowledgement came a week after the original comments, but….) http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/12/1044927662341.html  http://reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=economicNews&storyID=2294321 
Speaking of Hubbard, almost immediately after endorsing Greenspan he decided to resign. (Have I read too many fiction books?) http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2003/02/28/cnbush28.xml&sSheet=/money/2003/02/28/ixfrontcity.html 
Greenspan maybe right, the US economy is growing faster than most had thought. In fact, the 4th quarter GDP was again revised upwards. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2781833.stm 
From a March 3, 2003 message from FinanceProfessor [FinanceProfessor@lb.bcentral.com] 

Ok, quick! Name the largest trading partner of the US. If you said Canada, you are in the know! And on top of that they are one of, if not the largest!, exporter of oil and natural gas to the US. (I did not know Oil…in fact I question it, but that is what the article says.) http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?id=%7B4CCBA46E-A144-4E12-84C2-57C6C83444B2%7D 
From a March 3, 2003 message from FinanceProfessor [FinanceProfessor@lb.bcentral.com] 

Damned Americans, I hate the bastards.
Carolyn Parrish, Member of Parliament, Canada (the largest trading partner of the U.S.)
Parrish later apologized for her remark but has not resigned as an MP.
Minister Jean Chretien's communications director resigned after using the term "moron" to refer to U.S. President George W. Bush.

I am reminded of the young coed who came to her professor's office pleading for help because she had done poorly on the first exam. She pleaded that she desperately needed to pass the course and was willing to do anything to accomplish this goal. The professor said, "Anything?" She replied in as sexy a voice as she could muster, "Anything." He replied, "Then I suggest you study."
As forwarded by stating he could not recall the author, John Rodi, El Camino College 
Paul Poliski wrote:
John: I believe that's from "The Eiger Sanction", starring Clint Eastwood, where he's an art teacher by day, assassin by night (apparently the first "Chuck Barris"-like movie...)

A newly discovered flaw in a critical piece of Internet infrastructure software could put more than half the Internet’s e-mail servers at risk, researchers say. The flaw exists in Sendmail, a program that sorts and delivers most e-mail. A single message sent at a flawed e-mail server could allow an attacker to take control of the server, read its contents and use it to organize a massive denial of service attack. But officials are hopeful that a month’s work of secret efforts to shore up defenses against the flaw — which included informing top federal offices and foreign governments — will minimize its impact.
MSNBC on March 3, 2003 --- http://www.msnbc.com/news/880094.asp 

Flagship institutions -- those universities such as Pennsylvania State University, the University of North Carolina, the University of Washington, and the University of California that are in the same league as some of the best private universities -- have responded to the decline in state support by becoming more and more like the elite private universities. They have spun off expensive operations such as teaching hospitals, they have boosted development campaigns to levels unheard of for public institutions a few decades ago, and they have raised tuition levels again and again. Most of these flagship public institutions now receive roughly a third of their operating budgets from state funds, but some receive much less. For example, the $300 million that Penn State receives from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania accounts for only 13% of the total Penn State budget.
Mark Shapiro, March 7, 2003 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-03-07-03.htm

Erika and I are moving on June 10, 2003 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm 

A draft of my March 31, 2003 updates on the accounting and finance scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud033103.htm
(The above document also includes updates on tax frauds, scams, identity theft, and similar updates.)

Bob Jensen gets "behind" on Andersen poetry ---  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud033103.htm

FASB Project Schedules --- http://www.fasb.org/project/index.shtml 

The controversy over teaching/learning reading continues on --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-02-27-03.htm 

Latest News
NetNewsWire Lite --- http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/ 
(This is not free, but it can be customized to suit your interests.)

Bob Jensen's threads on news sources can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#news 

March 5, 2003 message from B. Loveless [info@careeradvantage.org] 

Dear Professor Jensen,

I would like to know if it would be possible to place a link on your website linking to my websites, www.community-college.org  and www.university-directory.org . Both are free non-profit websites that provide visitors with a current and comprehensive directory of community colleges and universities throughout the United States. Updates to these websites are made on a regular basis to ensure site visitors the most current and accurate directory of community colleges and universities in their respective geographies. If it would be at all possible to place a link from your website to community-college.org and university-directory.org it would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Becton Loveless
http://www.community-college.org 
http://www.university-directory.org 

I placed these links in the following documents:

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Directories 

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

Wow Technology of the Week:  Neuroeconomics 

"Looking Inside the Brains of the Stingy," by Virginia Postrel, The New York Times, February 27, 2003 ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/27/business/27SCEN.html 

Here's a game economists play: Player 1 has $10 and can give any dollar amount to Player 2. Player 2 can either accept or reject it. If Player 2 accepts, they both keep the money. If Player 2 rejects it, neither player gets anything.

What should the players do? Arguably, Player 2 should accept whatever is offered, since some money is better than none. Player 1 should thus offer as little as possible: $1. That strategy is the standard game-theory equilibrium.

But that's not necessarily what happens when real people play this "ultimatum game" in laboratory settings with real money on the line. Faced with low-ball offers, many Player 2's reject them. And many Player 1's make more generous offers, often nearly half the money.

"About half the subjects that we observed played according to the way the game theory said people should play, and about half didn't," said Kevin McCabe, an economist and director of the Behavioral and Neuroeconomics Laboratory at George Mason University.

The Player 1's who do not follow the presumably rational strategy often wind up better off. Even without communicating with fellow players, they are able to cooperate for mutual benefit.

Why do people react differently to the same situation? And why do so many people give up money to punish anonymous cheapskates?

Experimental economists have mapped out these anomalies and tested how much they affect economic interactions. Now a new field, called neuroeconomics, is using the tools of neuroscience to find the underlying biological mechanisms that lead people to act, or not act, according to economic theory.

In neuroeconomics, volunteers go through exercises developed by experimental economists studying trust or risk. Instead of simply observing subjects' behavior, however, researchers use imaging technologies, like M.R.I.'s, to see which brain areas are active during the experiment.

Researchers at Princeton, for instance, have found that receiving low-ball offers stimulates the part of the brain associated with disgust. "They can predict with good reliability, from looking at the brain, what a person will do," said Colin F. Camerer, an economist at the California Institute of Technology. "People whose brains are showing lots of disgust will reject offers."

Professor Camerer says looking inside the brain's "black box" is like looking inside a company. Traditionally, economists treated a company as a largely automatic "production function" that turns labor, capital and resources into output. Over the last several decades, however, many economists have turned their attention to understanding companies' internal workings. Most prominently, "agency theory" examines how companies can be governed to encourage employees (the "agents") to pursue the goals of the owners, rather than their personal agendas.

This research hasn't replaced the production-function approach, but it has enriched economists' understanding of company behavior. Neuroeconomists want to do something similar for how individuals make economic choices.

"Neuroeconomics could be to consumer theory what agency theory is to the production-function approach," Professor Camerer said.

Continued in the Article.

Sharing Accounting Professor of the Week --- Ronald R. Tidd [Ron@RRTIDD.COM] at Central Washington University

Introduction to WebQuests --- http://www.rrtidd.com/WebQuests/Index.htm 

WebQuests- A Brief Description

WebQuests (as developed by Dodge and March) are an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet. WebQuests are not “treasure hunts” in which learners are set loose on the Internet without a clear task in mind or a list of relevant references to start with. Their main goal is to improve learners’ ability to use information, not find information. There are two types of WebQuests:

Short-term WebQuests require no more than three class periods to complete and are designed to help learners acquire and integrate knowledge.

Long-term WebQuests take several weeks to complete and are designed to help learners analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information.

Standard WebQuests consist of five standard components that learners must work with in a sequential process:

Introduction- Introduces learners to the exercise, including the Big Question to be addressed.

Task- Describes what the end result of the exercise will be.

Process- Describes the steps that learners must take to complete the exercise.

Evaluation- Describes how learners' performance will be assessed.

Conclusion- Summarizes what learners will have accomplished after completing the exercise.

I have adapted these steps to reflect the schema commonly used by accounting professionals to organize their research:

Facts- Introduces learners to the subject of the exercise.

Issues- Describes the targeted outcomes of the exercise.

Authorities- Identifies the web-based resources to be used to complete the exercise.

Conclusion- Elicits learner responses to questions about the resources.

I (Ron Tidd) have and continue to develop WebQuests for the following courses:

One of the fastest growing segments of the communication industry is the area of Instant Messaging, where people can set up "buddy lists" on their computer and have real time text conversations with friends or colleagues. The problem until now has been how to capture the corporate benefits of Instant Messaging without spending the resources to ensure the security of the communication. Enter Microsoft. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97256 

You can listen to Amy Dunbar discuss the use of instant messaging in her distance education tax courses at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/002cpe/02start.htm#2002 

From Syllabus News on March 4, 2003

Online School Awards Dual Canadian-U.S. eMBAs

Canada’s Lansbridge University, one of the first completely online commercial universities, is launching an executive Master of Business Administration program that will award graduates dual eMBA degrees from Landsbridge and the Nashville, Tenn.-based American Graduate School of Management (AGSM). The eMBA program is designed for managers with at least five years of full-time work experience, including at least two years at a management level. The degree program requires about 18 to 20 hours of study per week, and typically takes two-and-a-half years to complete. AGSM was co-founded in 2000 by Lamar Alexander, a U.S. Senator, former U.S. secretary of education, and former president of the University of Tennessee.

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education alternatives are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

February 28, 2003 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu] 

STUDENT CITATION BEHAVIOR

A recently-released report of a study conducted at Cornell University, "Effect of the Web on Undergraduate Citation Behavior," indicated that students in the study "generally used fewer and fewer scholarly materials in their library research in the past six years," relying more on websites as research resources. Often faculty find that the links that students cite are "broken," making it impossible to verify the resource. The study pointed out that faculty, in cooperation with library staff, can reverse the trend by providing students with guidelines on the types of scholarly materials that they should use in their research.

The report was published in PORTAL: LIBRARIES AND THE ACADEMY, vol. 3, No 1, January 2003, and is available online to subscribers at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/v003/3.1davis.html 

A summarizing article in THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION is freely available at http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020601t.htm 

THE NEXT MAJOR WAVE OF CHANGE IN U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION

In "The Next Great Wave in American Higher Education" (PLANNING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, vol. 31, no. 2, 2002-03, pp. 52-59), James Ottavio Castagnera, Associate Vide President for Academic Affairs at Rider University, predicts that the Internet and new media forms will soon cause major changes. "When the shakeout is complete, higher education will not be populated exclusively by e-educators. Nor will the landscape of higher education boast only the largest and wealthiest bricks-and-mortar institutions." Some of the results of the wave that Castagnera believes will occur include partnerships between nonprofit and for-profit institutions, colleges merging to pool resources, and U.S. universities forming international institutional relationships.

The article is available online at http://www.scup.org/phe.htm  under the "Read" links. The direct URL is http://207.75.158.201/PHE/FMPro?-db=PubData.fp5&-lay=VP&-format=read_inner.htm&-error=error.htm&ID=PUB-KzAByWxQ4q4YzKvabn&-Find 

Planning for Higher Education is published quarterly by the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). For more information, go to http://www.scup.org/phe.htm 

SCUP, established in 1965, is an association "focused on the promotion, advancement, and application of effective planning in higher education." For more information, contact Society for College and University Planning, 311 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2211 USA; tel: 734-998-7832; fax: 734-998-6532; email: info@scup.org ; Web: http://www.scup.org/ 

LEARNING COMMUNITIES

The theme of the January 2003 issue of SIDEBARS is Learning Communities. Articles and resources cover a wide range of communities of online learners, from informally-organized groups to formal networks of educational institutions. The issue is available at no cost on the Web at http://online.bcit.ca/sidebars/index.htm 

SideBars is distributed by email and on the Web and is published by the Learning Resources Unit of the British Columbia Institute of Technology 
[ http://www.lru.bcit.ca/ ] to provide "useful information and news items for instructors, course developers, educational technologists and anyone else who has an interest in distributed learning in its various manifestations." For more information, contact the editors at email: sidebars@listserv.bcit.ca . Subscription information: http://online.bcit.ca/sidebars/subcribe.html 

The latest issue of CITE (vol. 2, issue 4, 2003) contains the text of Alfred Bork's lecture, "Interactive Learning," which he presented in 1978 as the American Association of Physics Teachers' Millikan Lecture. In "Interactive Learning: Twenty Years Later" Bork reviews his earlier predictions and reviews the current role of computer in schools today. You can read both the original lecture [ http://www.citejournal.org/vol2/iss4/seminal/article1.cfm ] and his current reflections 
[ http://www.citejournal.org/vol2/iss4/seminal/article2.cfm  ] online.

CITE (Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education) [ISSN: 1528-5804] is a free, online publication of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE). It was established as an electronic counterpart of the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education and funded by a U.S. Department of Education Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) catalyst grant. For more information, contact: Lynn Bell, Managing Editor of CITE, c/o Center for Technology and Teacher Education, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, 1912 Thomson Road, PO Box 400279, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4279 USA; email: publisher@citejournal.org ; Web: http://www.citejournal.org/ 

"Director MX Versus Flash," by Michael Kay, Webmonkey, January 28, 2003 ---  http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/03/03/index1a.html 

Director, which hit the scene way back in 1988, was always considered the ultimate multimedia authoring tool. Then the Web came along and Shockwave, a format that translated Director projects for the Web, was born. It was pretty wowie in its day (circa 1995), but the size of Shockwave files, along with the browser plugin users needed to see them, really slowed Shockwave down. Enter Flash's SWF format, which was designed solely for the Web so it was faster and easier to use than Shockwave. And the rest is history: Flash is everywhere, and whipper-snapper Web developers are all, "Shockwave who?"

But Shockwave has its uses.

Flash may be better than ever these days, but you can still outgrow it. Say you need better video performance, or you want to create a game or educational tool that uses a joy stick. Or maybe you're looking for the depth of 3D animation. When it comes to interactive projects in the non-Web world (yes, it's true, there is life outside the Web) — such as CD-ROM games, educational materials, reference books, and presentations — sometimes Flash just isn't enough. If you're tackling a big-league, off-Web project, or a particularly intricate website, then perhaps it's time to take another look at Macromedia's Director MX.

To be honest, the last time I paid any serious attention to Director was a good few releases ago. So when I siddled up to the latest version, I brought my old prejudices with me: that it was no longer a serious player, that Flash had passed it by long ago. But Director MX changed my mind.

Director has supported Flash vector content for awhile now, which helps performance, and Director 8.5 introduced real 3D support. Version MX, however, takes multimedia development to a whole new level. With even better Flash integration and a host of new features, Director MX is now the most powerful general interactive tool out there. And when it comes to non-Web projects with fewer file-size limitations, such as a kiosk or CD-ROM, Director is even more compelling.

Shold every Flash developer and Web designer run out and purchase Director MX today? At US$1,199 a pop, I'm not saying that. But if budget allows, and your next project has graduated past the abilities of Flash, Director MX could be the answer. In the pages that follow, I'll go over some of the issues you might want to consider as you contemplate taking the Director plunge

Continued in the article.

Bob Jensen's document on the history of course authoring technologies can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 

I found this interesting from Syllabus News on February 28, 2003:

Web-Based B2B Textbook Supplier Sales Skyrocket

The Thomson Corp. said sales of college textbooks through its business-to-business Web site, Service Plus, has grown from $10 million to more than $104 million in three years, an increase of almost 1,000 percent. The service provides U.S. college bookstores with round-the-clock online account management tools, title research capabilities and a powerful ordering function. The Web site is designed to handle basic customer inquiries, such as pricing and availability, freeing customer service representatives to handle more complex customer requests. Live chat with a customer service representative is also available. Approximately 36 percent of stores' pricing and availability inquiries were answered through the site in 2002. During the busiest ordering period in 2002 more than 10,500 online order-status inquiries were received.

Bob Jensen's threads on electronic commerce can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm 

This includes the academic job market around the world. 
The Internet's largest job listing site sends an e-mail to its users warning about the possibility of identity theft from fake help-wanted ads posted online --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57852,00.html 

The job sites generally advise users not to give out their social security, credit card or bank account numbers, not to disclose personal information that isn't related to work such as their marital status, and to be particularly careful of prospective employers from outside the country.

Bob Jensen's threads on identity theft are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#IdentityTheft 

Hi XXXXX,

Pardon my delay in answering. I have been in Canada all week and am returning to Canada next week on a consulting trip.

I will answer your questions on several levels.

First there is the level of interaction that can be greatly enhanced with distance education relative to face-to-face communications. I have written about this at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#Motivations  
If you want a workshop from one of the best in the business, I suggest that you contact Amy Dunbar at the University of Connecticut. She teaches out of her home using a highly effective and labor intensive Instant Messaging pedagogy. You can read about Amy and listen to a module she did in one of my workshops by going to http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/002cpe/02start.htm#2002 

Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book01q4.htm#Dunbar 

The University of Maryland's masters of accountancy program is built upon an Instant Messaging pedagogy. Contact Bruce Lubich [blubich@UMUC.EDU] 

At another level we can discuss trends in hardware and software for better learning. I am a big time advocate of Camtasia --- http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/default.asp  
My tutorials on Camtasia are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/Tutorials/ 

At another level, you can focus upon learning with special reference to metacognition and the BAM --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm  
For this type of workshop I recommend Tony Catanach from Villaova.

At another level, you can focus on asynchronous learning --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm 

Hope this helps.

Bob

-----Original Message----- 
From:  XXXXX
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 2:39 PM 
To: Jensen, Robert Subject: Re: Nice house, et al.

Hi Bob:

When I last contacted you, I asked if you might be willing to serve as an expert panel member to help me identify educational technologies. I'm at the point now where I need expert guidance.

Given your experience, and I've only been following your work since 1994, so I may have missed something, I wonder what you might think would characterize a highly malleable technology that supports education?

By malleable, I mean something that has many potential uses, perhaps as yet largely unexplored. My best example so far is Excel, and it's pretty lame as an example, being so mundane, but it is a huge technical package that spans usage from statistics, to accounting, to finance, to databases, to production optimization.

I'm curious, given the time you've spent on the topic, what other technologies that support education might be characterized as "malleable?"

Thanks for any help you can provide

XXXXX

From Syllabus News on February 28, 2003:

Online Provider Grows Curriculum to 1,700 Courses

RedVector.com Inc. said its library surpassed 1,700 online courses, double the number of courses it offered 12 months ago. The company works with international subject matter experts to develop online courses for continuing education, certification, and licensing exam preparation. The company specializes in online education for professionals in the engineering, architectural, construction, land surveying, interior design, building inspection, and landscape architecture industries. Its library includes courses on a wide range of subjects from toxic mold to wetlands to project management. The company recently expanded to include areas devoted to online certification courses and online licensing exam prep courses.

You can read the following at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

One of the fastest growing online training and education sites is RedVector.com --- http://www.redvector.com/default.asp 

RedVector.com (www.RedVector.com) is the global leader in online education for professionals in the engineering, architectural, interior design, construction, land surveying, building inspection and landscape architecture industries. The web site course library includes over 1,700 online courses including continuing education courses, certification courses and licensing exam prep courses, authored by more than 200 exclusive subject matter experts. Courses are designed to meet state board and professional organization requirements. RedVector.com attracts over 500,000 unique visitors from 50 states and 20 countries. The company has been featured on CNN, WallStreetReporter.com and in hundreds of trade magazines, newspapers and industry journals. RedVector.com’s top-rated client services department employs a bilingual staff of full time Account Managers dedicated to helping customers seven (7) days a week.

RedVector.com’s distinct clientele includes individual licensees, as well as Corporations. A few of RedVector.com’s most recent corporate partners include; PBS&J University, URS Corp, The Shaw Group Inc., Earth Tech, TECO Energy, O’Neal, Inc., EDG Inc., Fluor Corporation, The Ren Group, TBE Group, CH2MHill and SSOE, Inc. RedVector handles the full implementation of these programs including setup, tracking reports and scheduled invoicing.

RedVector.com's strong relationships with numerous international professional organizations and universities are also a big draw. Its list of partnerships and affiliations include Indiana State University, Clemson University, Valencia Community College, the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Institute of Engineers of Ireland (IEI), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC), the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), the American Institute of Constructors (AIC), the National Drilling Association (NDA), the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) and Professional Surveyor Magazine. RedVector.com also has an agreement with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

RedVector.com offers numerous FREE client services designed to benefit our customers and add to their learning experience:

RedVector.com's Mission is to provide our customers with the ability to manage their own time by offering quality online education, backed by a commitment to superior customer service.

RedVector.com's Vision is to become the leading Internet resource internationally for online education, information and communication, the essential tools our clients need to be successful in the business world.

Contact:
Brent A. Craven
President and Chief Operating Officer
Two Urban Centre
4890 West Kennedy Boulevard
Suite 530
Tampa, FL 33609
TOLL FREE 1-866-546-1212
Fax: 813-286-7992
International Phone: 001-813-207-0012
International Fax: 001-813-286-7992
Contact Mr. Craven

The LRN Center's business model is to provide legal and ethics training courses online to corporations, law firms, and other organizations who generally pay for employees to take courses in law and ethics.  For example, Dow Chemical contracted with LRN to train 50,000 employees.  LRN has similar contracts with many other corporations around the world.  I learned about the LRN Center from W. Michael Hoffman, the Director of the Bentley College Center for Ethics.  Dr. Hoffman writes course modules for LRN in the field of ethics.  After the recent corporate scandals, LRN's prospects for the future are very bright indeed.

LRN Legal Compliance and Ethics Center (LCEC)™ --- http://www.lrn.com/ 

LRN Legal Compliance and Ethics Center (LCEC)™ is the Web-based system that sets the standard for workplace ethics, legal and compliance education. With innovative technology, a powerful learning management system and a curriculum of more than 140 courses, LCEC offers your enterprise a complete workforce education solution.

Backed by a global network of 1,700 legal experts, LRN®, The Legal Knowledge Company™ offers an integrated legal knowledge management system that encompasses Expert Legal Research and Analysis, LRN KnowledgeBank®, proactive law services and much more. See how LRN is redefining the practice of law with innovation, efficiency and unparalleled expertise.

LRN® , The Legal Knowledge Company TM has been the country's leading purveyor of expert legal knowledge since 1994, with products that include sophisticated legal research and analysis for lawyers, databases of legal memoranda and other materials for corporate law departments and law firms, Web-based ethics and legal compliance education for corporate employees, ethics and compliance consulting, and proactive law services.

The LRN mission is to bring expertise and innovation to the creation, management and dissemination of knowledge that helps make a critical difference to businesses, lawyers and their clients. To accomplish this, LRN has built itself on a firm foundation of expertise. We feature a network of more than 1,700 of the world's finest legal minds, organized into more than 3,000 substantive areas of the law and expertly managed by our own team of highly experienced lawyers. Together, our research network and management team bring expertise to every step in the creation, capture and distribution of legal knowledge products. Our services include:

Successful companies all over the world have grasped the power of LRN's expert-driven approach and used it to their advantage. Contact us to learn about how we can put our resources to work to meet your company's business challenges.

UNext also seems to be adopting the online business training model in a big way.  One of the first major contracts obtained by UNext was a contract to educate and train over 90,000 employees of General Motors Corporation.  You can read more about what is happening at UNext at http://www.unext.com/ 

Thomson Enterprise Learning Takes Cardean University to Large Businesses Worldwide

Exclusive Agreement with Thomson Brings Cardean University's Award-Winning Online Courses and M.B.A. to Large Businesses

American Marketing Association Partners with Cardean University

Special Offer Provides Professional Business Education Online to 38,000 Members

I had two speakers from UNext in my Atlanta workshop last year.  You can listen to their presentation and view their PowerPoint show at  http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/001cpe/01start.htm 

 

Bob Jensen's threads on online training and education alternatives can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

March 10, 2003 message from Barbara Scofield [scofield_b@UTPB.EDU] 

I have used the trial subscription to www.turnitin.com and was pleased with the report provided.

I understand that each document submitted is added to their database, so it should provide student-to-student checks as well as a check against other sources.

Barbara W. Scofield, PhD, CPA
Coordinator of Graduate Business Studies
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin
4901 E. University
Odessa, TX 79762

Bob Jensen's threads on plagiarism are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/plagiarism.htm 

 

Investor Relations Website Design, February 18, 2003 --- http://useit.com/alertbox/20030218.html 
The Nielsen Norman group, conducted a research study to assess user response to information on corporate Web sites.

Investor Relations Website Design

Summary:
Individual investors are intimidated by overly complex IR sites and need simple summaries of financial data. Both individual and professional investors want the company's own story and investment vision.

Investor relations (IR) is one of the "Big Four" standard components of a corporate website (along with public relations, employment, and "About Us"). In the modern world, investors assume that they can go to www.company.com  to research a current or potential investment.

While companies must provide IR information to attract and retain investors, they must also be realistic about the types of content and features that users need most. Simplicity and a coherent story about the company are better than drowning users in incomprehensible data.

For more in-depth study of IR website design, I recommend the work of Gerald Trites --- http://www.stfx.ca/people/gtrites/ 
Jerry will share some of the material he developed for our two most recent workshops on this topic.

March 2, 2003 message from Saeed Roohani [sroohani@COX.NET] 

Results of the Third XBRL International Academic Competition 2002-2003

Congratulations to following teams and many thanks to judges of this year Competition.

Application Development (Undergraduate Team)
Prize winner

Title: South America Unified Market (SAUM)
Universidad Nacional de Rosario (UNR)
ARGENTINA

Team members:
Daniel Jose Diaz, Javier Rubianes, and Luciano Repetto
Advisor:Professor Jose Luis Pellegrini
 
You may view the project at:
http://www32.brinkster.com/xbrl2003/
user:  SAUM
password :  xbrl2003

Application Development (Graduate Team)
Honorable Mention

Title: InvestWise: Where investment forecasts are just a click away!
Bowling Green State University
USA

Team Members:
Ilya Kruglov (team leader), Faye Lim, Derek Diller, Brenda Wilson, and Sherry Niese
 
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Patricia Essex and Dr. Andreas I. Nicolaou

You may view the project at:
http://personal.bgsu.edu/~ilyak/xbrl
password is xbrl

Application Development (Graduate Team)
Honorable Mention

Title: XRL Reference Tool: US/IAS Correspondence
Emporia State University
USA

Team members:
Melissa Reynolds, Rebecca Chapman, Angela Teter, Bob Reeves, and Jeremy Luby

Faculty Advisors: Dr. Zane Swanson, Dr. Nitham Hindi, Dr. William Remington, and Mr. Adam Benson

You may view the project at:
http://www.adambenson.net
password: hornet
username: xbrl

Sites may not be visible at all times

Please see web.bryant.edu/xbrl  for projects related to the first and second year of the competition.

Saeed Roohani

Bob Jensen's threads on XBRL are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm#XBRLextended 

Question:
When does a hedge become a speculation?  

Answer:
There are essentially two answers.  Answer 1 is that a speculation arises when the hedge is not perfectly effective in covering that which is hedged such as the current value (fair alue hedge) of the hedged item or the hedged cash flow (cash flow hedge).  Testing for hedge ineffectiveness under FAS 133 and IAS 39 rules is very difficult for auditors.  Answer 2 is that a speculation arises when unsuspected credit risk arises from the settlements themselves such as when dealers who brokered hedge derivatives cannot back the defaults all parties contracted under the derivatives themselves.  Hedges may no longer be hedges!  Answer 2 is even more problematic in this particular down economy.

There is a lot of complaining around the world about need for and technicalities of the U.S. FAS 133 and the international IAS 39 standards on Accounting for Financial Instruments Derivatives and Hedging Activities.  But recent scandals adding to the pile of enormous scandals in derivatives over the past two decades suggest an increased  need for more stringent rather than weakened standards for accounting for derivatives.  The main problem lies in valuation of these derivatives coupled with the possibility that what is a safe hedge is really a risky speculation.  A case in point is Newmont Mining Corporation's Yandal Project in Australia as reported by Steve Maich in "Newmont's Hedge Book Bites Back," on  Page IN1 of the March 4, 2003 edition of Canada's Financial Post --- http://www.financialpost.com/ 

Even by the gold industry's relatively aggressive standards, Yandal's derivatives exposure is stunning.  The unit has 3.4 million ounces of gold committed through hedging contracts that had a market value of negative US$288-million at the end of 2002.

That would be a problem for any major producer, but the situation is particularly dire for Yandal because the development's total proven and provable gold reserves are just 2.1 million ounces.  In other words, the project has, through its hedging contracts, committed to sell 60% more gold than it actually has in the ground.

Making matters worse, the mine's counterparties can require Yandal to settle the contracts in cash, before they come due.  In all, about 2.8 million ounces are subject to these cash termination agreements by 2005, which could cost the company US$223.7-million at current market prices.

With insufficient gold to meet its obligations, and just US$58-million in cash to make up the difference, bankruptcy may be the only option available to Yandal, analysts said.

Comparing Yandal's reserves to its hedging liabilities "suggests that the Yandal assets may be worth more dead than alive," CIBC World Markets analyst Barry Cooper said in a report to clients.

All this is raising even bigger questions about the impact that the Yandal situation might have on the industry's other major hedgers.  Companies such as Canada's Barrick Gold Corp. and Placer Dome Ltd. have lagged the sector's strong rally of the past year, largely because many investors and analysts distrust the companies' derivative portfolios.

One thing that is not stressed hard enough in FAS 133 is the credit risk of the dealers themselves.  The FAS 133 standard and its international IAS 39 counterpart implicitly assume that when speculating or hedging with derivatives, the dealers who broker these contracts are highly credit worthy.  For example, in the case of interest rate swaps it is assumed that the dealer that brokers the swap will stand behind the swapping party and counterparty default risks.  There are now some doubts about this in the present weak economy.

"Derivatives Market a 'Time Bomb':  Buffet," Financial Post, March 4, 2003, Page IN1 --- http://www.financialpost.com/ 
Berkshire chairman warns of risks in shareholder letter --- http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html 
(The above link is not yet updated for the Year 2002 forthcoming annual Shareholder Letter.)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett calls derivative contracts "financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that while now latent are potentially lethal," according to excerpts from his forthcoming annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders.

Mr. Buffett, whose company is now seeking to divest of derivatives business tied to its General Re purchase, also worries that substantial credit risk has become concentrated "in the hands of relatively few derivatives dealers."

"Divided on Derivatives Greenspan:  Buffett at Odds on Risks of the Financial Instruments," by John M. Berry, The Washington Post, March 6, 2003, Page E01 --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48287-2003Mar5.html 

The use of derivatives has grown exponentially in recent years. The total value of all unregulated derivatives is estimated to be $127 trillion -- up from $3 trillion 1990. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is the world's largest derivatives trader, with contracts on its books totaling more than $27 trillion. Most of those contracts are designed to offset each other, so the actual amount of bank capital at risk is supposed to be a small fraction of that amount.

Previous efforts to increase federal oversight of the derivatives market have failed, including one during the Clinton administration when the industry, with support from Greenspan and other regulators, beat back an effort by Brooksley Born, the chief futures contracts' regulator. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has introduced a bill to regulate energy derivatives because of her belief that Enron used them to manipulate prices during the California energy crisis, but no immediate congressional action is expected.

Randall Dodd, director of the Derivatives Study Center, a Washington think tank, said both Buffett and Greenspan are right -- unregulated derivatives are essential tools, but also potentially very risky. Dodd believes more oversight is needed to reduce that inherent risk.

"It's a double-edged sword," he said. "Derivatives are extremely useful for risk management, but they also create a host of new risks that expose the entire economy to potential financial market disruptions."

Buffett has no problem with simpler derivatives, such as futures contracts in commodities that are traded on organized exchanges, which are regulated. For instance, a farmer growing corn can protect himself against a drop in prices before he sells his crop by buying a futures contract that would pay off if the price fell. In essence, derivatives are used to spread the risk of loss to someone else who is willing to take it on -- at a price.

Buffett's concern about more complex derivatives has increased since Berkshire Hathaway purchased General Re Corp., a reinsurance company, with a subsidiary that is a derivatives dealer. Buffett and his partner, Charles T. Munger, judged that business "to be too dangerous."

Because many of the subsidiary's derivatives involve long-term commitments, "it will be a great many years before we are totally out of this operation," Buffett wrote in the letter, which was excerpted on the Fortune magazine Web site. The full text of the letter will be available on Berkshire Hathaway's Web site on Saturday. "In fact, the reinsurance and derivatives businesses are similar: Like Hell, both are easy to enter and almost impossible to exit."

One derivatives expert said several of General Re's contracts probably involved credit risk swaps with lenders in which General Re had agreed to pay off a loan if a borrower -- perhaps a telecommunications company -- were to default. In testimony last year, Greenspan singled out the case of telecom companies, which had defaulted on a significant portion of about $1 trillion in loans. The defaults, the Fed chairman said, had strained financial markets, but because much of the risk had been "swapped" to others -- such as insurance companies, hedge funds and pension funds -- the defaults did not cause a wave of financial-institution bankruptcies.

"Many people argue that derivatives reduce systemic problems, in that participants who can't bear certain risks are able to transfer them to stronger hands," Buffett acknowledged. "These people believe that derivatives act to stabilize the economy, facilitate trade and eliminate bumps for individual participants. And, on a micro level, what they say is often true. Indeed, at Berkshire, I sometimes engage in large-scale derivatives transactions in order to facilitate certain investment strategies."

But then Buffett added: "The macro picture is dangerous and getting more so. Large amounts of risk, particularly credit risk, have become concentrated in the hands of relatively few derivatives dealers, who in addition trade extensively with one another. The troubles of one could quickly infect the others. On top of that, these dealers are owed huge amounts by nondealer counterparties," some of whom are linked in such a way that many of them could run into problems simultaneously and set off a cascade of defaults.

March 7, 2003 message from Risk Waters Group [RiskWaters@lb.bcentral.com] 

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, today once again defended the use of derivatives as hedging tools, especially credit derivatives. His comments come in the wake of Warren Buffett's criticism of derivatives as "time bombs" and Peter Carr - recipient of Risk's 2003 quant of the year award this week - saying that in a [hypothetical] argument between quants convinced of the infallibility of their models and derivatives sceptics such as Buffett, he would probably side with Buffett.

But Greenspan, speaking at the Banque de France's symposium on monetary policy, economic cycle and financial dynamics in Paris, said derivatives have become indispensable risk management tools for many of the largest corporations. He said the marriage of derivatives and securitisation techniques in the form of synthetic collateralised debt obligations has broadened the range of investors willing to provide credit protection by pooling and unbundling credit risk through the creation of securities that best fit their preferences for risk and return.

This probably explains why credit derivatives employees reap the highest salaries, with an Asian-based managing director in synthetic structuring at a bulge-bracket firm earning an average basic plus bonus of £1.35 million last year. These were the findings of a first-of-its-kind survey conducted by City of London executive search company Napier Scott. The survey found that most managing directors working in credit derivatives at the top investment banks earn more than £1 million, with synthetic structurers commanding the highest salary levels. Asia-based staff earn 12-15% more than their US counterparts, with UK-based staff not far behind their Asia-based counterparts. Even credit derivatives associates with one or two years' experience earn in excess of £150,000 a year on average at a tier-1 bank.

In more people news, Merrill Lynch has hired four ex-Goldman Sachs bankers for its corporate risk management group focused on Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Roberto Centeno was hired as a director with responsibility for Iberia. Andrea Anselmetti and Luca Pietrangeli, both directors, and Ernesto Mercadente, an associate, will focus on expanding the corporate risk management and foreign exchange business in the Italian region. The corporate risk management group focuses on providing advice and execution for corporate clients, covering all risk management issues, including foreign exchange, interest rate risk and credit risk. All four will report to Patrick Bauné, co-head of Merrill Lynch's global foreign exchange issuer client group, and Damian Chunilal, head of the EMEA issuer client group, and are expected to join within the next two weeks. Merrill also hired Scott Giardina as a director in credit derivatives trading, based in London. He will report to Jon Pliner, managing director of credit trading EMEA, and Neil Walker, managing director of structured credit trading, EMEA. Giardina also joins from Goldman Sachs.

Christopher Jeffery
Editor, RiskNews
www.risknews.net
cjeffery@riskwaters.com

 

You can read more about credit risk and credit derivatives at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/speakers/133glosf.htm#C-Terms 

Bob Jensen's threads on derivatives scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#DerivativesFraud 

Bob Jensen's helpers, tutorials, glossary, and instructional cases for FAS 133 and IAS 39 are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 

I frequently make jokes about drinking.  But these two items are not funny!

From Syllabus News on February 25, 2003

Students Spend More Time Inebriated than in Class

More than three-quarters of the 27,900 college students who took a recent online alcohol prevention course indicated that they regularly drink enough alcohol to be under the influence more hours per week than they average in the classroom. The online course, AlcoholEdu, from Outside The Classroom, also found that 78 percent of the students indicated they consumed an average of 9.72 drinks per week during the previous two weeks. That's enough to register discernible blood alcohol content levels for an average of more than 18 hours per week per student -- more than the roughly 15 hours per week spent in class by most college students. Other findings: 23.7 percent said that at least once in the previous two weeks they had attended a class with a hangover; and 18.4 percent said they had experienced memory impairment at some point while they had been drinking at least once in the previous two weeks.

For more information visit: http://www.outsidetheclassroom.com/ 

For comparison purposes (18 hours per week drinking versus six hours per week studying), I call your attention to the following item in my February 12, 2003 edition of New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book03q1.htm#021203 

And high school seniors are increasingly abandoning education for more experience.
A record low of 34.9% of college freshmen report having spent more than six hours per week on homework during their senior year in high school.
Mark Shapiro --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-31-03.htm  (See Below)

The Lake Wobegon Effect --- The Lowest Grade is Now Higher Than the Average Grade
Grade Inflation Trends Among Entering College Students --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-31-03.htm 

The Lake Wobegon Effect - All Our High School Graduates are "Above Average" --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-31-03.htm 

Especially note the graph!!!!

Question:
What accounting office was named  Illinois's Father Friendly Company of the Year:

Answer:
Deloitte & Touche's Chicago office was named Father Friendly Company of the Year by the Illinois Fatherhood Association (IFA) ---  http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97185 

This is remarkable since public accountants have to travel more than most other professionals, and they work tend to average more than 40 hours per week on the job during the busy seasons.

The New Military Industrial Complex To arm for digital-age war, the Pentagon has turned to a new generation of defense contractors. The hardware is impressive. It's also deadly --- http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,47023,00.html 

The Seven Deadly Habits of Highly Ineffective Executives, Part 2 The blockbuster management primer, updated for today's grimmer economy (with tongue firmly in cheek and apologies to Stephen R. Covey). http://www.clickz.com/crm/crm_strat/article.php/1587761 

The Cervantes Project (art, art history) --- http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/cervantes/ 

Bob Jensen's response to a question about derivatives in Enron.

Apart from Enron, you may want your class to note the really big financial derivatives instrument scandals documented at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#DerivativesFraud

 

There are two interesting aspects of derivatives in the Enron case.  The first is the heavy use of derivatives (mostly energy futures contracts) in its vast wheeling and dealing in energy trading when the energy market was deregulated.  In the 1990s, Enron made fortunes from its political pipelines. Our beloved Texas Senator Phil Gramm became an Enron pimp (behind the scenes like most pimps).  His wife (Wendy) was in a government position to pave the way for deregulation.  The big political prize was the deregulation of energy pricing (gas and electricity) and deregulation of energy futures trading. There are places where political markers held by Enron were called in big time for billions of dollars.  You can read more about this timeline of energy futures trading events above at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#Farm 

 

The second interesting aspect of derivatives in the Enron case is the use of put options by a “related party.”

What you see below is an actual footnote from Enron’s Year 2000 Ann ual Report.  Note the mention of “put options” with a “related party” who was Enron’s CFO, Andy Fastow.

Do the related party disclosures in the footnote below add value to you when analyzing risk?  Does this tell you that Enron's CFO made over $30 million from his limited partnership that entered into derivatives for Enron?

Footnote 16 from the Year 2000 Enron Ann ual Report  
http://www.enron.com/corp/investors/annuals/2000/ar2000.pdf 

16.  RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

In 2000 and 1999, Enron entered into transactions with limited partnerships (the Related Party) whose general partner's managing member is a senior office of Enron.  The limited partners of the Related Party are unrelated to Enron.  Management believes that the terms of the transactions with the Related Party were reasonable compared to those which could have been negotiated with unrelated third parties.

In 2000, Enron entered into transactions with the Related Party to hedge certain merchant investments and other assets.  As part of the transactions, Enron (i) contributed to newly-formed entities (the Entities) assets valued at approximately $1.2 billion, including $150 million in Enron notes payable, 3.7 million restricted shares of outstanding Enron common stock and the right to receive up to 18.0 million shares of outstanding Enron common stock in March 2003 (subject to certain conditions) and (ii) transferred to the Entities assets valued at approximately $309 million, including a $50 million note payable and an investment in an entity that indirectly holds warrants convertible into common stock of an Enron equity method investee.  In return, Enron received economic interests in the Entities, $309 million in notes receivable, of which $259 million is recorded at Enron's carryover basis of zero, and a special distribution from the Entities in the form of $1.2 billion in notes receivable, subject to changes in the principal for amounts payable by Enron in connection with the execution of additional derivative instruments.  Cash in these Entities of $172.6 million is invested in Enron demand notes.  In addition, Enron paid $123 million to purchase share-settled options from the Entities on 21.7 million shares of Enron common stock.  The Entities paid Enron $10.7 million to terminate the share-settled options on 14.6 million shares of Enron common stock outstanding.  In late 2000, Enron entered into share-settled collar arrangements with the Entities on 15.4 million shares of Enron common stock.  Such arrangements will be accounted for as equity transactions when settled.

In 2000, Enron entered in derivative transactions with the Entities with a combined notional amount of approximately $2.1 billion to hedge certain merchant investments and other assets.  Enron's notes receivable balance was reduced by $36 million as a result of premiums owed on derivative transactions.  Enron recognized revenues of approximately $500 million related to the subsequent change in the market value of these derivatives, which offset market value changes of certain merchant investments and price risk management activities.  In addition, Enron recognized $44.5 million and $14.1 million of interest income and interest expense, respectively, on the notes receivable from and payable to the Entities.

In 1999, Enron entered into a series of transactions involving a third party and the Related Party.  The effect of the transactions was (i) Enron and the third party amended certain forward contracts to purchase shares of Enron common stock, resulting in Enron having forward contracts to purchase Enron common shares at the market price on that day, (ii) the Related Party received 6.8 million shares of Enron common stock subject to certain restrictions and (iii) Enron received a note receivable, which was repaid in December 1999, and certain financial instruments hedging an investment held by Enron.  Enron recorded the assets received and equity issued at estimated fair value.  In connection with the transactions, the Related Party agreed that the senior officer of Enron would have no pecuniary interest in such Enron common shares and would be restricted from voting on matters related to such shares.  In 2000, Enron and the Related Party entered into an agreement to terminate certain financial instruments that had been entered into during 1999.  In connection with this agreement, Enron received approximately 3.1 million shares of Enron common stock held by the Related Party.  A put option, which was originally entered into in the first quarter of 2000 and gave the Related Party the right to sell shares of Enron common stock to Enron at a strike price of $71.31 per share, was terminated under this agreement.  In return, Enron paid approximately $26.8 million to the Related Party.

In 2000, Enron sold a portion of its dark fiber inventory to the Related Party in exchange for $30 million cash and a $70 million note receivable that was subsequently repaid.  Enron recognized gross margin of $67 million on the sale.

In 2000, the Related Party acquired, through securitizations, approximately $35 million of merchant investments from Enron.  In addition, Enron and the Related Party formed partnerships in which Enron contributed cash and assets and the Related Party contributed $17.5 million in cash.  Subsequently, Enron sold a portion of its interest in the partnership through securitizations.  See Note 3.  Also Enron contributed a put option to a trust in which the Related Party and Whitewing hold equity and debt interests.  At December 31, 2000 , the fair value of the put option was a $36 million loss to Enron.

In 1999, the Related Party acquired approximately $371 million of merchant assets and investments and other assets from Enron.  Enron recognized pre-tax gains of approximately $16 million related to these transactions.  The Related Party also entered into an agreement to acquire Enron's interests in an unconsolidated equity affiliate for approximately $34 million.

Hi David,

One of Andersen's big knowledge bases was the ARM! You can discover where it went later on in this message. I think other knowledge bases and training courses have been sold off or are still being used in St Charles. The last thing I heard from Art Wyatt (when I shared a platform with him in October courtesy of Virginia Tech) was that Andersen is still running the St Charles training facility under contract (with the principal client being Accenture for reasons that are probably obvious). Some of Andersen's executive partners are now running the show in St Charles, for a while least.

I copied the following from http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm  

Arthur Andersen's Accounting Research Manager (after a free 30-day trial, the cost is over $2,000 per year for a single user) --- http://www.arm.arthurandersen.com  Academic pricing is not mentioned at the Web site, but some universities might possibly negotiate lower pricing. Accounting Research ManagerTM is a comprehensive financial reporting knowledgebase that provides materials designed to help solve your most pressings issues. Continually updated, it is the most timely, complete, interpretive resource for your financial reporting needs.

January 22, 2003 message from Cynthia Arias [cynthia.arias@aspenpublishers.com] 

Hello Bob -

I previously worked with Arthur Andersen on the Accounting Research Manager product, and transitioned to Aspen Publishers who acquired the product and operations from the firm. I noticed on your site, you have a reference to Accounting Research Manager, which we greatly appreciate, however, may we request a change in name to refer to the product as Aspen Publishers' Accounting Research Manager? with a link to www.arm.aspenpublishers.com ?

I appreciate your input! Thank you so much for your help. 

Cindy Arias
GAAP. International GAAP. Knowledge Gap?
Accounting Research Manager. Your financial reporting solution. www.arm.aspenpublishers.com 

February 27, 2003 message from David Fordham

-----Original Message----- From: David R. Fordham [mailto:fordhadr@JMU.EDU] Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 8:29 AM To: AECM@LISTSERV.LOYOLA.EDU Subject: Where are the archives?

With the liquidation of Andersen's offices, furniture and other assets, I have to ask the question, where are the archives going?

Andersen (and all audit firms) are great repositories of information. Much of this information is going to be very, very useful to future auditors, --both in terms of performing audits on former Andersen clients, as well as in advancing the field of accounting and auditing at large. (Future accounting and auditing researchers may find this information collection to be of incalculable value.)

So where is this information going to be stored, catalogued, and retrieved?

Imagine this: a hospital patient dies under suspicious circumstances. The relatives sue the hospital, and the hospital goes out of business. As part of the liquidation, all of the patient records are ... (?) destroyed? Discarded? For all patients!?!

Regardless of whether the patient died from hospital negligence or from murder by a jilted lover, I can't imagine the hospital's records (of all its patients) simply being put in the trash bin. But that may be what's happening at Andersen as I write this.

I would think that academics should be in the forefront of the clamor to preserve information, even if solely for the altruistic purpose of posterity. Many useful discoveries have been made by historians poring over old data. Indeed, data mining was taught in my Ph.D. program as a legitimate pursuit, even if for little more than entertainment value. Sure, privacy and confidentiality may lock up the data for 90 years, like the census records. But at least the data isn't gone forever.

The call for preservation of knowledge should be even more raucous if others among the "final four" go belly-up under the satanic assaults from lawyers. I would think that historians would gag if they knew the extent of the knowledge contained in the audit firms' files and which will be gone forever if someone doesn't act soon...

Perhaps my thinking is clouded. (Hey, what if the weather bureau threw out their records?)

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University

February 27, 2003 reply from Davidson, Dee (Dawn) [dgd@MARSHALL.USC.EDU] 

Hi Bob and Others Regarding ARM: We had tried to get that resource last year and are trying again now in our search for AICPA Issue Papers.

Here are the results of my search for the AICPA Issues Papers. Basically, they're not readily available in a searchable format. I telephoned and emailed 5 people at AICPA, including the Accounting Standards board director Dan Noll. The AICPA librarian Susan Bolmer responded and said there are only 2 places where Issues Papers can be found, and one of those is the ARM and the other is the AICAP library which is now housed at Univ of Miss.

I contacted the librarian at Univ of Miss. She answered: Only AICPA members and other universities are able to use the resources. We have a copy charge of $10 to 20 (depending on the length of the material copied) and a fax fee of $5.

I'm now following up with Aspen Publishers about getting a 30-day trial package of Accounting Research Manager. At $2900 per user, I want to be sure the full content of the papers is included before we buy (we probably won't). However, last year I was denied a 30-day trial while it was still owned by A Andersen. They didn't allow any academic use, for faculty or students, even for 30 days and denied us the right to purchase the product for faculty use only.

It's interesting that the Issues Papers are part of the GAAP hierarchy, but are not easily accessible even for AICPA members' use.

CPA's are required to make GAAP decisions. Is it o.k. that they can't find resources that are referenced in the GAAP hierarchy? How can we teach students about doing GAAP research and making decisions with information in Issues Papers? How are you all teaching this?

dee davidson 
Accounting Systems Specialist 
Marshall School of Business 
Leventhal School of Accounting 
University of Southern California 213.740.5018 dee.davidson@marshall.usc.edu 

How to find a home for sale --- http://www.realtor.com/default.asp?hm=on&poe=realtor 

Coffin Nails: The Tobacco Controversy in the 19th Century (Health, History) --- http://tobacco.harpweek.com/ 

Locks, Docks and Beyond (History, Geography, Transportation, Business) --- http://www.locksdocks.com/ 

Black Facts Online (History, Literature, Art History, Culture, Sociology) ---  http://www.blackfacts.com/ 

"Tablet PCs: An Overnight Sensation After just three months, it's quickly becoming clear that the new technology is gaining wider acceptance than even Microsoft expected," Business Week Online, February 26, 2003 --- http://snurl.com/Tablets 

When Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled Windows XP Tablet PC Edition in November, 2002, he predicted that in five years, tablet PCs will be the most popular type of personal computer. Author Amy Tan and actor Rob Lowe raved about how the tablet gets their creative juices flowing: Lowe reads and marks up movie scripts on his tablet, and Tan draws pictures and jots down ideas for her novels. But analysts remained unconvinced. Market researcher Gartner forecasted in November that by the end of 2004, only a measly 3% of all notebooks purchased will be tablet PCs.

After just three months, though, analysts are reworking their estimates -- higher. While new numbers should be released in the next several weeks, the anecdotal evidence speaks clearly. Tablets -- full-powered computers built inside portable touch-sensitive screens that can be scribbled on with a digital pen -- are flying off the shelves. Best Buy (BBY ), which has been selling Toshiba's Portégé 3500 tablet through its Web site since November, is sold out, says Kevin Winneroski, the retailer's director for mobile computers.

In the next month, Best Buy will start offering tablets from several other manufacturers as well. And it also plans to start selling the Toshiba model at its brick-and-mortar stores, Winneroski says. In December, Toshiba had to ramp up its tablet production by 35% after a month's supply disappeared in two weeks.

NO-CLICK NOTE-TAKING. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ ), whose $1,699 Compaq Tablet PC TC1000 is one of the lower-price tablets now available, has exhausted its demo packs as corporations flock to evaluate the product, says Ted Clark, vice-president for tablet PCs and handhelds. HP just received an order for 1,000 tablets, he says.

While it will likely take a year to two for the tablets to enter the mainstream, it's already obvious that Gates & Co. has scored a hit. Users love the ability tablets offer to take notes, make sketches, and circle and underline text with a digital pen. They're a noiseless alternative to clicking on a keyboard during meetings or lectures. And, unlike paper notes, the electronic files can't be as easily lost.

Continued in the article.

Egypt Daily.com (Arabic news, travel guides) --- http://www.egyptdaily.com/ 

MasterCard, Visa, American Express and the banks that issue credit cards don't do enough to protect merchants and consumers from the perils of fraud, reports analyst firm Gartner --- http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,57823,00.html 

The credit card industry focuses too much on reducing its own fraud costs and not enough on protecting consumers.

That's the central claim in a new report from research firm Gartner that slams credit card companies for failing to notify consumers when credit card records are compromised by malicious hackers.

The report notes that while credit card companies' "zero-liability" policies protect card holders from paying for unauthorized or fraudulent charges, they do not protect consumers from identity theft and the credit report hell that can follow.

Avivah Litan, Gartner vice president and the report's co-author, said when security breaches happen, banks that issue credit cards seldom notify consumers.

"The issuers claim they don't really know if a card was compromised after a merchant or transaction processing firm reports a problem, so they wait to see whether a consumer reports fraud against his or her card," Litan said.

"Of course the fact that closing potentially compromised accounts and providing consumers with new cards costs the issuer about $35 per card is also a factor here. So the card issuers take a calculated risk that compromised cards won't be used fraudulently."

On Feb. 18, Visa, MasterCard and American Express confirmed that a malicious hacker had gotten access to 8 million credit card records through Data Processors International, a company that processes credit card transactions for mail order and online businesses.

The credit card companies quickly issued statements saying none of the stolen card-holder information was used fraudulently, and that all card-issuing banks had been alerted to the problem.

According to Litan, the card issuers have tagged the accounts believed to have been compromised in the theft, and will watch them for a period of time, typically three to six months, for possible fraudulent use.

"Based on a standard margin of error, I wouldn't be surprised to see 5 percent of those stolen cards compromised even while they are on the watch list," Litan said. "The only way to ensure that the cards will never be fraudulently used is to issue new cards to all 8 million users."

Consumer rights groups agreed that credit card companies should notify card holders about potential problems, and should at least offer the option of replacement cards if account records have been illegally accessed.

"Credit card issuers and other creditors should be required to let customers know immediately if they believe that their account information has been compromised," said Susan Grant, director of the National Fraud Information Center. "As it is now, it's hard for consumers to know exactly how security breaches happen or assess whether the companies who have their information have taken adequate steps to safeguard it."

"Credit card companies have a rocky road ahead of them," said Linda Sherry of Consumer Action in San Francisco. "Consumers are getting increasingly worried and angry about how their personal information is being used and protected. I wouldn't be surprised to see the federal government step in soon."

Continued in the article.

The Gartner Report is at http://www3.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=113282 

Event

On 18 February 2003, Visa, MasterCard and American Express confirmed that a computer hacker had recently accessed 8 million credit card records, including 2.2 million MasterCard accounts and 3.4 million Visa accounts. The hacker targeted Data Processors International, a merchant processor that mainly processes catalog and other card-not-present transactions. The card associations began to notify their member institutions in early February 2003. The card companies said that none of the information accessed was used fraudulently and that all card issuing banks were alerted. But fraud could potentially occur later on using these compromised records.

First Take

Although zero-liability policies protect card holders from paying for unauthorized or fraudulent charges, they do not protect consumers from identity theft and credit report nightmares that can follow. Seven percent of online adult consumers surveyed by Gartner in September 2002 reported being victimized by credit card fraud, and 1 percent reported having their identity stolen. However, since stolen credit card data makes stealing identities easy, Gartner believes identity theft will affect substantially more than 1 percent of this population. The credit card industry has focused too much on reducing its fraud costs and not enough on protecting consumer information.

Up to now, no one had much incentive to address the problem. Card issuers seldom notify consumers about hacking incidents they learn about through merchants or processors. The issuers claim they don't really know if a card was compromised, so they wait to see whether a consumer reports fraud against the card. Giving consumers replacement cards costs the issuer about $35 each. When fraud occurs in a physical store, the issuer bears the cost, but the merchant bears the cost of fraud for Internet, telephone and mail orders. If the present case follows typical patterns, the card associations will probably fine the processor whose site was hacked or possibly just issue a stiff warning.

However, rising levels of identity theft and consumer anger will lead to onerous legislation unless credit card companies move aggressively. Indeed, a recent California law (SB 1386) will require any company that sells to California citizens (just about every online merchant) to notify consumers. Accordingly, Gartner recommends:

  • Card companies should enforce requirements that all online credit card databases use encryption or other methods to ensure they aren't compromised.
  • Card companies should improve the vulnerability scanning of their online merchants and processors to find weaknesses before attackers do.
  • Card issuers should immediately inform consumers when their card information has been compromised so that they can try to protect themselves against identity theft by notifying credit bureaus and monitoring their own credit reports to catch problems early.

Analytical Sources: Avivah Litan and John Pescatore, Gartner Research

Recommended Reading and Related Research

(You may need to sign in or be a Gartner client to access all of this content.)

Bob Jensen's threads on fraud are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm 

Library Porn Filter Law Hits High Court --- http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/2084861 

Court Nixes Child Net Porn Law --- http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,57956,00.html 

AncientMexico.com (History, Anthropology, Archaeology, Mexico) --- http://www.ancientmexico.com/ 

Online Etymology Dictionary (Science) http://www.etymonline.com/ 

"AN OPEN-SOURCE OPENING FOR APPLE 
With Microsoft buying Virtual PC, which lets Macs run Windows wares, Apple's independence may well rest with programs such as Bochs," Business Week Online, February 26, 2003 --- http://snurl.com/v3i 

Spy Tools --- http://locate-unlisted-phone-numbers.com/ 
(I really don't know how legitimate this outfit really and make no endorsements of its services)

Find and Trace:

Unlisted Numbers

Cell Phone Numbers & Codes

E-mail Addresses

Protect Privacy:

Anonymous Surfing

Anonymous E-mail

Erase Your Tracks

Monitor Your PC

See the Pictures Your Kids, Mate or Employees Viewed Days, Weeks or Months Ago

See the Web Sites They Visit While Your Not Around

Find Hidden and Alternate Screen Names People May be Using to "Play" Online

The Best Spyware Stopper --- http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20941.html

After years of worrying about viruses and trojans, users have a new nemesis: spyware. This term refers to any program that distributes information from a user's computer without that user's knowledge.

To be sure, most of this software is more annoying than harmful. However, as Jamie Garrison, co-owner of Aluria Software, which produces the spyware stopper, put it, "Some spyware can ruin your life. It's that invasive."

So, what can a user do to avoid the onslaught of underhanded tracking programs?


The Spyware Menace

Garrison said the most pressing issue related to spyware is that people do not take it seriously enough. Part of the problem is awareness. Many people are only now finding out about spyware. "Few users are aware that everything they do on the Net or even while not connected to the Internet can be tracked," Ken Lloyd, lead developer at Aluria, told NewsFactor.

After all, spyware can range from a stealthy program that runs in the background, transmitting your surfing habits to a company for marketing purposes, to keylogging software installed by a spouse to monitor communications.

"Well over 85 percent of people have spyware on their computer," Lloyd said.

Programs That Fight It

Gartner analyst Richard Stiennon told NewsFactor that while antivirus products from companies like McAfee and Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC)  can be used to detect spyware, the user is also an important ingredient in stopping spyware. He or she must recognize spyware programs -- and know enough to remove them -- when they are detected.

Of course, most users do not know much about spyware. Stiennon recommended that users get a desktop firewall program that blocks unwanted outgoing connections. Then, even if spyware is running, it will be unable to connect to a server  to transmit information.

One personal firewall, ZoneAlarm, can make sure spyware cannot communicate with the outside world. According to Fred Felman, vice president of marketing at Zone Labs, ZoneAlarm "shuts down Internet connectivity instead of losing control of the system" when an unauthorized application tries to send information from a user's PC. Felman told NewsFactor that ZoneAlarm allows users to specify which programs are allowed to send and receive data over the network. Users even can restrict programs to certain ports or domains.

And in addition to antivirus vendors and personal firewalls, a number of companies like Aluria make spyware detection and removal software.

Arms Race

Even when a person recognizes spyware on his or her computer, removing it may be tricky business. According to Garrison, some spyware manages to "embed" itself into the software Windows uses to provide TCP/IP (Internet networking) services. She said that removing such spyware "actually removes your Internet connection. It's fixable, but it's a real pain."

This makes sense, considering that malware authors are always trying to stay one step ahead of users and spyware stoppers. The latest rash of annoyware consists of programs that send pop-ups to instant messaging  programs like MSN Messenger. Even more irritating, many of those pop-ups simply inform users that they are vulnerable to unwanted messages.

And it gets worse: Stiennon said that programs being sold to block this plague of IM pop-ups are scams, too. "Just go into the admin functions in the control panel [and do it yourself]," he said, noting that the program vendors are taking advantage of people who do not know they can turn off the function by themselves.

The Perils of Free

In fact, according to Garrison, most spyware is installed by users voluntarily, even if they do not know it. She blames free products like Grokster and Kazaa  for piggybacking spyware onto users' computers, though she noted that it is all disclosed in the fine print. "Here's the really dirty part of it. Let's say you go out and download a free program. It's almost certainly going to have spyware.... Very rarely does spyware get on your computer without your consent."

So, what is the solution? "Stop using free products... Don't download it if it's free."

Lloyd agreed. "The latest trend for software companies is to give their software away for free. By doing this they bundle ad software within it. They usually tell the customer in the EULA (end user license agreement) ... that some additional ad-tracking software will be installed, but they bury it so deep that the average person has no idea.

Continued in the article.

 

The Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval --- http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/ 

The Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval, a National Science Foundation-created S/IUCRC Center, is one of the leading information retrieval research labs in the world. The CIIR develops tools that provide effective and efficient access to large, heterogeneous, distributed, text and multimedia databases.

CIIR accomplishments include significant research advances in the areas of distributed information retrieval, information filtering, topic detection, multimedia indexing and retrieval, document image processing, terabyte collections, data mining, summarization, resource discovery, interfaces and visualization, and cross-lingual information retrieval.

The Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval continues to support the emerging information infrastructure for the next century, both through research and technology transfer. The goal of the CIIR is to develop tools that provide effective and efficient access to large, heterogeneous, distributed, text and multimedia databases.

"SIMPLY ACCOUNTING: SIMPLY A BETTER BUY 
Intuit QuickBooks is brimming with financial planning features, but the lower-priced Simply Accounting is a worthy rival," Business Week Online, February 26, 2003 --- http://snurl.com/SimplyAccounting 

Lost Labor (American History, Business, Labor) --- http://www.lostlabor.com/ 

Baseball Library (History, Recreation, Athletics, Sports) --- http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ 

Run the USA.com (Travel, Health) --- http://www.runtheusa.com/ 

Vagabonding (Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa.) --- http://www.vagabonding.com/ 

Bob Jensen's travel bookmarks are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#Travel 

March 1, 2003 message from James L. Morrison [morrison@unc.edu] 

INSIDE THE TECHNOLOGY SOURCE

Editor James Morrison interviews Carole Barone, vice president of EDUCAUSE and director of the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative, about her vision for creating new, technology-infused learning environments to meet the challenges that face educators. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1046 )

As higher education institutions respond to the technology revolution, the importance of realistic planning becomes paramount for long-term success. James Penrod, chief information officer at the University of Memphis, discusses the role of the CIO within higher education and provides a valuable road map for educational leaders formulating technology initiatives on their campuses. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1030 )

Leslie Hitch (Northeastern University) and Pamela MacBrayne (Collegis) acknowledge the positive effects of IT initiatives on teaching and learning. They argue, however, that complementary support services receive inadequate attention. Hitch and MacBrayne propose the ultimate support resource: a central call center where the staff would maintain automated services and respond to individual queries with highly personalized assistance 24/7/365. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1016 )

Bob Moul, an SCT executive, calls for an end to IT infrastructures dominated by disparate, non-integrated systems. He argues that applications that support course registration, tuition payment, access to grades and records, student services, and online learning should be designed so that data received in one area will be updated automatically in all other areas. While acknowledging the potential problems of a unified digital campus, Moul touts its advantages: reduced student inconvenience, reduced administrative labor, and a better institution-constituent relationship. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1058 )

Holly Blackford, assistant professor of English at Rutgers, describes the problems she encountered while teaching an online children’s literature class within a continuing education program. Blackford comments on the challenges unique to online humanities courses and proposes ways to promote greater communication, collaboration, and continuity in the e-learning process. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=971 )

Phillip Clark and Laurence Shatkin, independent consultants, comment on the growing need for programs that help professionals measure their current skills as assets and make strategic decisions about how to expand their competencies. Higher education would be a valuable vehicle for lifelong learning, the authors argue, if its resources included a comprehensive online database of specific learning tools, job skills, and course offerings all described by a common language of competency standards. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1064 )

The early planning stages of online instruction are crucial. Diane Chapman (North Carolina State University) and Todd Nicolet (UNC-Chapel Hill) describe the "project approach" to course development: a formal, team-based operation that makes use of consistent standards, trackable processes, standardized tools, and structured communication to facilitate technology initiatives. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1027 )

In his spotlight site review, Stephen Downes introduces Technology Source readers to elearnspace: a Web site designed to support the innovative use of information technology in online instruction, particularly at the grassroots level. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=2002 )

 

Don't You Wish We Were All Tater People? --- http://www.talltexian.com/TallTexiansThisnThat/id27.htm 

Auntie Bev forwarded this musical warning about the dangers of drinking beer --- http://members.aol.com/matt999h/beer.htm 

Ole and Lena joke forwarded by my Norwegian relative, Barb Hessel.

To those in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and for that matter the rest of the country, I must report the sad news that Ole was SHOT. He was up by the Canadian border on his 4-wheeler cutting some trees, when some rangers looking for terrorists spotted him. According to the news reports, using a loudspeaker, they shouted to him, "Who are you and what are you doing?" 

Ole shouted back, "OLE..... BIN LOGGIN'!" 

Ole is survived by his wife, Lena and Lena's good friend, Lars.

A new take on Medicare fraud.  Forwarded by Auntie Bev.

  A Florida couple, both age 78, went to a sex therapist's office. The doctor asked, "What can I do for you?"

  The man said, "We are not sure we are doing things right. Will you watch us have sex?"

  The doctor looked puzzled, but agreed. When the couple finished, the doctor said, "There's nothing wrong with the way you have sex," and charged them $50.

  This happened several weeks in a row. The couple would make an appointment, have sex with no problems, pay the doctor, and then leave.

  Finally the doctor asked, "Just exactly what are you trying to find ut?"

The old man said, "We're not trying to find out anything.  She's married and we can't go to her house. I'm married and we can't go to my house.

 The Holiday Inn charges $90. This Hilton charges $108.

 We do it here for $50, and I get $43 back from Medicare.

Forwarded by Dr. Digiovani

Two men crashed in their private plane on a South Pacific Island.

Both survived. One of the men brushed himself off and then proceeded to run all over the island to see if they had any chance of survival. When he returned, he rushed up to the other man and screamed, "This island is uninhabited, there is no food, there is no water. We are going to die!"

The other man leaned back against the fuselage of the wrecked plane, folded his arms and responded, "No we're not. I make over $250,000 per week."

The first man grabbed his friend and shook him. "Listen, we are on an uninhabited island. There is no food, no water. We are going to die!"

The other man, unruffled, again responded. "No I make over $250,000 per week."

Mystified, the first man, taken aback with such an answer again repeated, "For the last time, I'm telling you we ARE doomed ! There is NO one else on this island. There is No food. There is NO water. We are, I repeat, we are going to die a slow death."

Still unfazed, the first man looked the other in the eyes and said, "Do not make me say this again. I make over $250,000 per week.--- I tithe. 
MY PASTOR WILL FIND US!"

Forwarded by Dr. Digiovani

A woman's husband died and left her $20,000.   After the funeral, she tells her closest friend that there is no money left. 

 The friend says, "How can that be?   You told me he had $20,000  just days before he died.

The widow says, "Well, the funeral cost me $6,000.   And of course, I  had to make the obligatory donation to the church, so that was another $2,000.  The rest went to the memorial stone,"

The friend says, "$12,000 for the memorial stone?   How big was it?"

The widow says, "Three carats."

Forwarded by Dr. Digiovani

A little child in church for the first time watched as the ushers passed the offering plates. When they neared the pew where he sat, the youngster piped up so that everyone could hear: "Don't pay for me Daddy, I'm under five."

A little boy was attending his first wedding. After the service, his cousin asked him, "How many women can a man marry?" "Sixteen," the boy responded. His cousin was amazed that he had an answer so quickly. "How do you know that?" "Easy," the little boy said. "All you have to do is add it up, like the Bishop said: 4 better, 4 worse, 4 richer, 4 poorer."

After a church service on Sunday morning, a young boy suddenly announced to his mother, "Mom, I've decided to become a minister when I grow up." "That's okay with us, but what made you decide that?"Well," said the little boy, "I have to go to church on Sunday anyway, and I figure it will be more fun to stand up and yell, than to sit and listen."

A 6-year-old was overheard reciting the Lord's Prayer at a church service: "And forgive us our trash passes, as we forgive those who passed trash against us."

A boy was watching his father, a pastor, write a sermon. "How do you know what to say?" he asked. "Why, God tells me," the father replied.  "Oh, then why do you keep crossing things out?"

After the christening of his baby brother in church, little Johnny sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally, the boy replied, "That priest said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I want to stay with you guys!"

Terri asked her Sunday School class to draw pictures of their favorite Bible stories. She was puzzled by Kyle's picture, which showed four people on an airplane, so she asked him which story it was meant to represent. "The flight to Egypt," said Kyle. "I see ... And that must be Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus," Ms. Terri said. "But who's the fourth person?" "Oh, that's Pontius - the Pilot.

The Sunday School Teacher asks, "Now, Johnny, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?" "No sir," little Johnny replies, "I don't have to. My Mom is a good cook."

A college drama group presented a play in which one character would stand on a trap door and announce, "I descend into hell!" A stagehand below would then pull a rope, the trapdoor would open, and the character would plunge through. The play was well received. One day the actor playing the part became ill, and another actor who was quite overweight took his place. When the new actor announced, "I descend into hell!" the stagehand pulled the rope, and the actor began his plunge, but became hopelessly stuck. No amount of tugging on the rope could make him descend. One student in the balcony jumped up and yelled: "Hallelujah! Hell is full!"

Pastor Dave Charlton tells us, "After a worship service at First Baptist Church in Newcastle, Kentucky, a mother with a fidgety seven-year old boy told how she finally got her son to sit still and be quiet. About halfway through the sermon, she leaned over and whispered, "if you don't be quiet, Pastor Charlton is going to lose his place and will have to start his sermon all over again!' It worked."

A little girl was sitting on her grandfather's lap as he read her a bedtime story. From time to time, she would take her eyes off the book and reach up to touch his wrinkled cheek. She was alternately stroking her own cheek, then his again. Finally she spoke up, "Grandpa, did God make you?">"Yes, sweetheart," he answered, "God made me a long time ago." "Oh," she paused, "Grandpa, did God make me too?" "Yes, indeed, honey," he said, "God made you just a little while ago." Feeling their respective faces again, she observed, "God's getting better at it, isn't he?"

May the Lord keep you in the shadow of His wing.

Forwarded by Debbie Bowling

If you have one of these, you may need help understanding
the commands. The TEXAS EDITION may be recognized by the unique opening screen. It reads: WINDERS 2000, with a background picture of Willie Nelson superimposed on a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Please also note:

The Recycle Bin is labeled "Outhouse"
My Computer is called "This Dern Contraption"
Dial Up Networking is called "Good Ol' Boys"
Control Panel is known as "The Dashboard"
Hard Drive is referred to as "4-Wheel Drive"
Floppies are "Them little ol' plastic thangs"
Instead of an error message, "Duct Tape" pops up

Tiperiter.....................a word processing program
Colerin' Book........... .a graphics program
Cyferin' Mersheen......calculator
Outhouse Paper.........notepad
Inner-net.................. .Microsoft explorer 5.0
Pitchers......................a graphics viewer

Forwarded by Debbie Bowling

Brain Cramps
Can you say DUH!?


Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?

Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,"
Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.
``````````````````````````````````
"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids
all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
Mariah Carey
````````````
"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life,"
Brooke Shields, during an interview to become Spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.
`````````````````````````````````````````````````
"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body,"
Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.
`````````````````````````````````````````````
"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in
the country,"
Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC.
`````````````````````````````
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the President."
Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````
"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it,"
A congressional candidate in Texas.
````````````````````````````
"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them.
There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."
John Wayne
```````````
"Half this game is ninety percent mental."
Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark
``````````````````````````````````
"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in
our air and water that are doing it."
Al Gore, Vice President
```````````````````
"I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix."
Dan Quayle
``````````
" It's no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or
another"
George Bush, US President
``````````````````````
"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
Lee Iacocca
```````````
"I was provided with additional input that was radically different from the
truth. I assisted in furthering that version."
Colonel Oliver North, from his Iran-Contra testimony.
`````````````````````````````````````````
"The word "genius" isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like
Norman Einstein."
Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback &sports analyst.
````````````````````````````````````````````
"We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of
people."
Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor.
`````````````````````````````````
"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
Bill Clinton, President
``````````````````
"We are ready for an unforeseen event that may or may not occur."
Al Gore, VP
``````````
"Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas."
Keppel Enderbery
```````````````
"Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances."
Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina
````````````````````````````````````````````
"If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they
go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the
next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record."
Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman
````````````````````````

The Biggest Liars in New Zealand

An Australian ventriloquist visiting New Zealand walks into a small town and sees a local sitting on his porch patting his dog.

Ventriloquist: "Hey, good looking dog, mate. Mind if I speak to him?"

New Zealander: "The dog doesn't talk, you stupid Aussie."

Ventriloquist: "Hey dog, how's it going old mate?"

Dog: "Doin' all right."

The New Zealander is shocked!

Ventriloquist: "Is this Kiwi your owner?"

Dog: "Yep."

Ventriloquist: "How does he treat you?"

Dog: "Real good. He walks me twice a day, feeds me great food, and takes me to the lake once a week to play."

The New Zealander can't believe his ears!

Ventriloquist: "Mind if I talk to your horse?"

New Zealander: "The horse doesn't talk."

Ventriloquist: "Hey horse, how's it going?"

Horse: "No worries."

The New Zealander's mouth is agape.

Ventriloquist: "Is this your owner?"

Horse: "Yep."

Ventriloquist: "How's he treat you?"

Horse: "Pretty good, thanks for asking. He rides me regularly, brushes me down often, and keeps me in the barn to protect me from the elements."

The New Zealander is TOTALLY amazed!

Ventriloquist: "Mind if I talk to your sheep?"

New Zealander: "The sheep's a liar."

Forwarded by Auntie Bev

In April, Maya Angelou was interviewed by Oprah... on her 70+ birthday.

Maya really is a marvel who has led quite an interesting and exciting life. Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older. And, there on television, she said it was "exciting."

Regarding body changes, she said there were many, occurring everyday...like her breasts. They seem to be in a race to see which will reach her waist, first. The audience laughed so hard they cried.

She is such a simple and honest woman...with so much wisdom in her words. Because of that, I share this....

By Maya Angelou

When I was in my younger days, I weighed a few pounds less, I needn't hold my tummy in to wear a belted dress. But now that I am older, I've set my body free;

There's the comfort of elastic where once my waist would be. Inventor of those high-heeled shoes my feet have not forgiven; I have to wear a nine now, but used to wear a seven.

And how about those pantyhose -- they're sized by weight, you see, So how come when I put them on the crotch is at my knee?

I need to wear these glasses as the print's been getting smaller; And it wasn't very long ago I know that I was taller.

Though my hair has turned to gray and my skin no longer fits, On the inside, I'm the same old me, it's the outside's changed a bit.

But, on a positive note... I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.

I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life."

I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Hint:  "Phault" rhymes with "Fault."

Heard on Southwest Airlines just after a very hard landing. The flight attendant came on the intercom and said "That was quite a bump and I know what y'all are thinking, but I'm here to tell you that it wasn't the Airlines' fault, it wasn't the pilot's fault, it wasn't the flight attendant's fault, it was the asphalt. 

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde...

She thought a quarterback was a refund. 
She thought General Motors was in the army. 
She thought Meow Mix was a CD for cats. 
She thought Boyz II Men was a day care center. 
At the bottom of an application where it says "sign here," she wrote "Sagittarius.".

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde...

She took the ruler to bed to see how long she slept.
She sent me a fax with a stamp on it. 
She thought Eartha Kitt was a set of garden tools. 
She thought TuPac Shakur was a Jewish holiday. 
Under "education" on her job application, she put "Hooked On Phonics".

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde...

She tripped over a cordless phone. 
She spent 20 minutes looking at the orange juice can because it said, "Concentrate". 
She told me to meet her at the corner of "WALK" and "DON'T WALK." 
She asked for a price check at the Dollar Store. S
he tried to put M&M's in alphabetical order.

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde...

She studied for a blood test. 
She thought she needed a token to get on "Soul Train." 
She sold the car for gas money. 
When she missed the 44 bus, she took the 22 bus twice instead. 
When she went to the airport and saw a sign that said, "Airport Left," she turned around and went home.

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde...

When she heard that 90% of all crimes occur around the home, she moved. 
She thinks Taco Bell is the Mexican phone company. 
She thought if she spoke her mind, she'd be speechless. 
She thought that she could not use her AM radio in the evening. 
She had a shirt that said "TGIF," which she thought stood for "This Goes In Front" .

Forwarded by Bob Overn

Two tourist groups, one made up of all blondes and one of all brunettes, charter a double-decker bus for a weekend in Vegas. The brunettes ride on the first level of the bus and the blondes ride on the top level.

The brunettes down below are whooping it up and having a great time when one of them realizes she doesn't hear anything form the blondes upstairs. She decides to go up and investigate.

When the brunette reaches the top, she finds all the blondes frozen in fear, staring straight ahead at the road and clutching the seats in front of them.

The brunette says, "What's going on up here? We're having a great time downstairs!"

One of the blondes says, "Yeah, but you've got a driver!"

Forwarded by an old guy named Denny Beresford

Some people who receive this message won't understand a word of it. Others will be able to explain and laugh at every little detail.  The only difference between NOT understanding and understanding EVERYTHING  is your age.  You decide "how old you really are" 

Enjoy or be forever lost!!!!

 ******************************************************
 My Dad was cleaning out my grandmother's house and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of
 holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea.  She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to "sprinkle" clothes with because we didn't have steam irons.
 Man, I am old.
 ******************************************************
 OLDER THAN DIRT
 How Many Do You Remember??

 Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
 Ignition switches on the dashboard.
 Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
 Real ice boxes [Ask your Mom about that].
 Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
 Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
 Using hand signal for cars without turn signals.

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

 Older Than Dirt Quiz. Count all the ones that you remember,
 NOT the ones you were told about! And NO fudging! Ratings at the bottom.

 01.. Blackjack chewing gum
 02. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
 03. Candy cigarettes
 04. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottle
 05. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes
 06.  Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
 07.  Party lines
 08.  Newsreels before the movie
 09.  P.F.  Flyers
 10. Butch wax
 11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix Capital 4-4374 (CA4-  4374 or 744-4374)
 12.  Peashooters
 13.  Howdy Doody
 14.  45 RPM records
 15.  S&H Green Stamps
 16.  Hi-fi's
 17.  Metal ice trays with lever
 18.  Mimeograph paper
 19.  Blue flashbulb
 20.  Packards
 21.   Roller skate keys
 22.  Cork popguns
 23.  Drive-ins
 24. Studebakers
 25.  Wash tub wringers.

 If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
 If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
 If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age
 If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!

Forwarded by Dick Haar

You know the world is going crazy when... 
the best rapper is a white guy, 
the best golfer is a black guy, and 
Germany doesn't want to go to war.

Quotations Forwarded by Auntie Bev

"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes." ---Mark Twain

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me." --- General George S. Patton

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." --Norman Schwartzkopf

"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it." ---- Marge Simpson

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure" ---Jacques Chirac, President of France
"As far as France is concerned, you're right." ---Rush Limbaugh,

"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee." --- Regis Philbin

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know." --- P.J O'Rourke (1989)

You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it." ---John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona

"You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates America, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He IS French, people." --Conan O'Brien

"I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get the Germans out of France!" ---Jay Leno

"The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag." --David Letterman

Q. How many Frenchmen does it take to change a light bulb? A. One. He holds the bulb and all of Europe revolves around him.

Next time there's a war in Europe, the loser has to keep France.

But on the other side of the coin we read the following:

The Jackson Progressive --- http://www.jacksonprogressive.com/ 

Viva La France

2/21/2003 -- The French may be uppity; they may be exasperating; they may seem perverse; worst of all, at least in the eyes of the court-appointed Bush administration, they refuse to follow orders. We think the French are right. The French and the Germans have injected sanity into the Security Council debates and may have provided the breathing space for the movement against the war to gain some real traction. Click here.

The Monist Library of Philosophy --- http://monist.buffalo.edu/ToC/library_contents.html 

Many current developments in American academic life - multiculturalism, `political correctness', the growth of critical theory, rhetoric and hermeneutics, the crisis of scholarship in many humanities departments - have been closely associated with, and indeed in part inspired by, the ideas of European philosophers such as Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard, and others. In Europe itself, in contrast, the influence of these philosophers is restricted to a small coterie, and their ideas have certainly contributed to none of the wide-raging social and institutional changes we are currently witnessing in some corners of American academia.

Upstream --- http://www.mugu.com/cgi-bin/Upstream/Issues/education/eur-phil-aq-rev.html 

Now, as Willard writes, social causation is a slippery topic. But few readers of Academic Questions will dispute his claim that the chief fact about higher education in late twentieth-century America is that the university is no longer organized about the pursuit of knowledge but, on the student side, merely the granting of certificates. Nor was it always thus. A quotation from the French philosopher, Lyotard, taken from his report to the Conseil des Universites de Quebec, supports Willard's claim that for faculty what now counts is no longer knowledge that generates a consensus among those competent to make such judgments, but, rather, novelty that generates discourse. Willard defines knowing as to think of things as they really are and not as they appear to be and to do so on an appropriate basis of thought or experience. Universities today are concerned with something called "research": "[T] he way things have developed it often seems you could have research going on . . . without involving knowledge at all. . . . Truth sounds like dogmatism. It threatens self-expression, which is perhaps the primary right and value in contemporary America" (5, emphasis in original).

And no matter how we side in the current crisis of whether to go to war over weapons of mass destruction, the leaders of our most powerful nations are demonstrating bold leadership in the face of devastating political and cultural opposition.  It would be far more politically astute for President Bush and Prime Minister Blair to call off their willingness to spill blood at this juncture in an effort to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction.  It would be far more politically astute for Jacques Cirac and his Chinese and Russian counterparts to compromise in a genuine effort to halt the pending war than to stand on principle that makes the U.N. impotent in preventing the war.  Each side is polarized on the key issue of what will prevent the most ultimate spilling of blood.  This makes this a most dangerous juncture in the course of history and the future of life on earth.  What is clear is that we are fighting each other rather than fighting the real problems of life on earth.  It is a sad day on March 15, 2003.  There are no jokes in this matter.

And that's the way it was on March 15, 2003 with a little help from my friends.

 

I highly recommend TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 

 

In March 2000, Forbes named AccountantsWorld.com as the Best Website on the Web --- http://accountantsworld.com/.
Some top accountancy links --- http://accountantsworld.com/category.asp?id=Accounting

 

For accounting news, I prefer AccountingWeb at http://www.accountingweb.com/ 
I also like SmartPros at http://www.smartpros.com/ 

 

Another leading accounting site is AccountingEducation.com at http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

 

Paul Pacter maintains the best international accounting standards and news Website at http://www.iasplus.com/

 

The Finance Professor --- http://www.financeprofessor.com/about/aboutFP.html 

 

How stuff works --- http://www.howstuffworks.com/ 

 

Bob Jensen's video helpers for MS Excel, MS Access, and other helper videos are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/ 
Accompanying documentation can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/default1.htm and http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 

 

Click on www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp for a complete list of interviews with established leaders, creative thinkers and education technology experts in higher education from around the country.

 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu  

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February 28, 2003

 Bob Jensen's New Bookmarks on February 28, 2003
Bob Jensen at Trinity University 

Quotes of the Week

I like the road of any kind, 
for they intrigue me still.
I wonder what's around the bend,
or just beyond the hill.
Rachel Harnett (Age 95), Tucumcari Literary Review, Los Angeles

Every man is proud of what he does well; and no man is proud of what he does not do well. With the former, his heart is in his work; and he will do twice as much of it with less fatigue. The latter performs a little imperfectly, looks at it in disgust, turns from it, and imagines himself exceedingly tired. The little he has done, comes to nothing, for want of finishing.
 From the September 30, 1859 Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society.
Forwarded by Damian Gadal

A spate of recent hack attacks on America Online --- which hackers say are a regular thing --- underscores the popular online service's feeble security. It's a detail AOL's 35 million users don't hear much about 
Christopher Null, Wired News, February 21, 2003 --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57753,00.html 

Happiness is a marvelous thing: the more you give, the more you are left with.
Blaise Pascal

If you find offense where none was intended, you are a fool. If you find offense where offense was intended, you are a fool.
Spencer Kimball (as forwarded by David Fordham)

The big difference between sex for money and sex for free is sex for money costs less.
Brendan Francis

Ignorance is closer to the truth than a priori knowledge.
Diderot Denis

Europe's military muscle has grown soft in part because so much money is spent on pay and benefits that there isn't enough left for the technology, weapons and other gear that modern forces need.
Phillip Shiskin, The Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045087925290850423,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fpageone%5Fhs 

In the David Fincher suspense movie, The Game, Michael Douglas undergoes a terrifying series of life-or-death adventures that may, or may not, be staged by a Wink Back-like company called Consumer Recreation Services. As projects like Supafly and L3 grow in number, the existential doubt that was at the heart of that movie—is this real or is this immersive media?—is likely to become increasingly commonplace. The next time you see a strange street sign in your neighborhood, it might just be a prop in someone else's entertainment, and the next Google search results page you pull down might contain a link to a node in the L3 universe. That's the thing about games without frontiers. You never really know when you're playing.
Steven Johnson, "Geeks Without Borders" --- http://slate.msn.com/id/2078579/ 

Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want.
Clive Barnes

Rich Kids Have Affirmative Action
Most universities acknowledge favoring alumni kids. But to attract new donors, colleges are also bending admissions standards to make space for children who hail from rich or influential families without ties to the institutions.
Daniel Golden, The Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045691857478139943,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fpageone%5Fhs 

The Eastern U.S. may be digging out from the worst snowstorm in years, but up in Alaska people are out playing golf. In the Last Frontier State, it's the winter that wasn't.
The Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045693581405195343,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fmarketplace%5Fhs 
But if you plan to go up to Alaska for a game of golf, take a flash light with extra batteries.

It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
Charles Dickens

My son tells me about a nightmare he had: There is an announcement that we have to protect ourselves by duct taping ourselves into a safe room in our home because of the release of biological agents into the atmosphere. We're moving quickly, collecting our cats, hamsters, food, savings bonds, and water. As directed, I turn off the central air and heat and put a note on our front door stating there are people taped inside. My husband and son carefully tape over the vents and windows in our chosen room. We're safe. We seal ourselves in. We were prepared. We will survive. Then my son takes his paperback copy of A Tale of Two Cities from his back pocket to continue reading and realizes he forgot to bring his highlighters before we taped ourselves in.
Felice Prager --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-02-21-03.htm 

DARWIN MAY HAVE BEEN ALL WRONG ABOUT SEX: 
Researchers and theorists in the evolution of sexual behavior have begun to challenge Darwin's theory of sexual selection. At the 2003 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, researchers presented papers on topics from the multiple, social roles of gender to fish that change sex. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/report/news/2003/february19/aaassocialselection219.html 

A Czech distraught over financial losses in the notorious Nigerian 419 e-mail scam kills a diplomat at the Nigerian Embassy in Prague --- http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57760,00.html 
Bob Jensen's threads on the Nigerian-style frauds can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#ThingsToKnow 

Erika and I are moving on June 10, 2003 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm 

Once again I remind folks that the activist "Bob Jensen" at the University of Texas in Austin is a different person than the "Bob Jensen" at Trinity University in San Antonio --- http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=6055 

A draft of my February 28, 2003 updates on the accounting and finance scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud022803.htm
(The above document also includes updates on tax frauds, scams, identity theft, and similar updates.)

Demand for Public Accountants Is Rising, Experts Say --- http://www.smartpros.com/x37056.xml 

STARTING SALARIES FOR ACCOUNTING GRADS UP ON LAST YEAR --- http://accountingeducation.com/news/news3788.html

Public Accounting Report has published its annual ranking of America's Top 100 Accounting Firms, and it's no surprise that Andersen, last year's number five ranked firm, is no longer on the list. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/95611

  1. PricewaterhouseCoopers: $8,056.5 million
  2. Deloitte & Touche: $6,130 million
  3. Ernst & Young: $4,485 million
  4. KPMG: $3,171 million
  5. Grant Thornton: $432.5 million
  6. BDO Seidman: $353 million
  7. BKD: $210.9 million
  8. Crowe, Chizek & Co.: $204.7 million
  9. McGladrey & Pullen: $203 million
  10. Moss Adams: $163 million

"Second Six: Ready to Step Up?" CFO.com --- http://www.cfo.com/specialreport/0,5487,564||A,00.html 

As contributing editor Ed Zwirn reveals in his article ''The Second Six: Ready to Step Up?'', the demise of Andersen and the advent of Sarbanes-Oxley have not been an unqualified blessing for those firms that remain. And in ''Same Straw, Smaller Back,'' Zwirn notes how new regulatory burdens that fall heavily on smaller companies (the usual Group B clients) may persuade many of them to go private.

Amex hit by card break-in, too  Discover also likely victim; 8 million accounts placed at risk --- http://www.msnbc.com/news/874307.asp 

The reviews of Intuit's TurboTax 2002 are in and users are giving the perennially popular income tax software two thumbs down. At issue is C-Dilla software, commonly known as spyware, which Intuit installed to stop illegal copying of TurboTax. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97136 

LANDMARK GOVERNMENT REPORTING MODEL ISSUED IN CANADA 
The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants' (CICA) Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) has released a new Government Reporting Model that will see federal, provincial and territorial governments move to a full accrual system of accounting and a more comprehensive set of financial statements that places less emphasis on the annual surplus or deficit number ---  http://accountingeducation.com/news/news3755.html 

AICPA PUBLISHES CRITICAL GUIDANCE FOR LITIGATION AND BUSINESS VALUATION SPECIALISTS 
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has announced two new publications for CPAs who provide business valuation and litigation services: Valuation Toolkit for Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 141 and SFAS No. 142 and Special Report 02-01, Litigation Services and Applicable Professional Standards (AICPA Product Code No. 055297) ---  http://accountingeducation.com/news/news3739.html 

The New Hampshire Society of CPAs has a rather nice service providing abstracts of articles of interest to accountants --- http://www.nhscpa.org/May2002News/enews.htm 

OTHER USA NEWS AT ACCOUNTINGEDUCATION.COM --- http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

Click on the top of the photo of a cup of coffee to hear some great wake up music 
http://www.castlemountains.net/flashmar/A_Cup_Of_Joy.swf 

Stunning Photo of Jet Breaking the Sound Barrier 
http://rense.com/general8/boom.htm 

Playing with Time (Incredible Animation) --- http://www.playingwithtime.org/

Playing With Time is an exciting, new project that looks at how the world around you is changing over many different time periods. The project consists of two major parts: this web site and a traveling museum exhibit. The site is being developed by Red Hill Studios. The exhibit is a collaboration between Red Hill and the Science Museum of Minnesota. Here at the Playing With Time web site, unseen worlds of change will be revealed. You will see time sped up and slowed down, and behold the beauty of change. Time will be in your hands to witness, replay, and even create. You never know... you might not look at things quite the same way again.

PhotoLondon (Art History, Photographs) --- http://www.photolondon.org.uk/ 

London's libraries, museums and archives possess a treasure house of modern and historic photographs of London. The photoLondon website exists to highlight and promote these collections. The site also provides background information on photography in London. The five important public collections named to the right founded this site (view their pages by clicking on an individual name or select the Photo Gallery.) We have begun to include details of many more London libraries, museums and archives on the site. Click on the Associate Members link to view contact details, collection information and in some cases, a sample image. The latest additions to the site are Michael Pritchard's 'Directory of London photographers 1841-1908' and the photoLondon Survey of London's public collections of photographs. Click on the links to the left to view these valuable resources.

US News Education Rankings and Guides --- http://www.usnews.com/usnews/rankguide/rghome.htm 

America's Best Colleges --- http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php 

Best Graduate Schools 2003
Use our rankings, articles, and interactive tools to compare programs in business, law, engineering, medicine, education, and more.

Best Values 2003
Get the most for your money at these great schools with great prices.

US News listing of online (eLearning, E-Learning) accredited graduate programs --- http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/elearning/directory/gradonline.htm 

Online business degree programs:
      Regionally and professionally accredited
      Regionally accredited only

Online education degree programs:
      Regionally accredited only

Online engineering degree programs:
      Regionally accredited only

Online library science degree programs (Web exclusive!):
      Regionally and professionally accredited
      Regionally accredited only

Online public health degree programs (Web exclusive!):
      Regionally and professionally accredited
      Regionally accredited only 

How you can shorten virtually any URL!

Suppose you have such a long URL to place in an email message that it really messes up the looks of the message.

In addition the recipient may not be able to click on the text-wrapped link and have it work properly.

So what's a poor guy to do who wants to send you a long URL such as the one shown below? http://online.wsj.com/login?URI=%2Farticle%2F0%2C%2CSB1026084613164978760%2C00.html%3Fmod%3Dhome_whats_news_us 

Instead of pasting in such a long URL, I can simply paste in the following short URL shown below"

http://snurl.com/WSJbob 

Both links lead to the same WSJ site, but one is short and neat. The other one is long and cluttered.

So how did I get the shortened version?

  1. I copied the long URL to my computer's clipboard. 
  2. Then I navigated to the SnipURL site at http://snipurl.com/index.php  
  3. I pasted the long URL into the box in the above site. 
  4. I then got the short URL --- http://snurl.com/WSJbob 
  5. I copied it to the clipboard.
  6. I pasted it into this document.

Now I can paste the short URL into any email message or any Web document instead of having to use the long URL. For me, the primary advantage will be to use it in email messages where the long URL will wrap into more than one line of text.

When adding links to "Sharing Accounting Professors" below, I found that Professor Hanna at the University of Chicago has an extremely long URL.
http://gsbportal.uchicago.edu/portal/gateway/gateway.asp?GID=202&CID=202&URL=http%3A%2F%2Fgsbwebapp%2Euchicago%2Eedu%2Ffsp%2Fgadget%2Ffaculty%5Fdsc%2Ecgi%3Fweb%5Falias%3Djdouglas%252Ehanna 
However, when I put it into the SnipURl box, I received a message that a shortened link had already been created by someone else.  That shortened link was reported to me at http://snurl.com/Hanna 
Hence, someone else beat me to finding a shorter link to Professor Hanna's home page.

The downside as far as I can tell arises if the SnipURL server goes out of existence when the long URL link is not yet a broken link. The short link will then be broken and the long link will not be recorded in your document. Hence, I think this is mostly useful for short-term email messages rather than long-term documents at your Web site.

Thank you Jerry Turner for telling me about the useful SnipURL site at http://snipurl.com/index.php 

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Jerry L. Turner [mailto:jturner1@memphis.edu]  
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 12:08 PM 
To: Jensen, Robert 
Subject: Snurl

Bob: You've probably run across this before, but it is a neat little site to cut those long URLs down so they don't wrap in emails.