Bob Jensen's Tidbits

I recently sent out an "Appeal" for accounting educators, researchers, and practitioners to actively support what I call The Accounting Review (TAR) Diversity Initiative as initiated by American Accounting Association President Judy Rayburn --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/395wpTAR/Web/TAR.htm

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

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

Online Books, Poems, References, and Other Literature
In the past I've provided links to various types electronic literature available free on the Web.
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts.
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan --- FactCheck.org --- http://www.factcheck.org/
(Now and then we need reminders that opinion polls, especially political polls conducted by the media, are not facts)

Knowledge continues to make progress because we are able to base ourselves on the work of the great minds that have preceded us.
Margherita Hack (1922) --- Click Here

War amounts to shedding blood in the search for peace, while peace is a continuation of combat without shedding blood.
Author Unknown

That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil, in case he do otherwise.
John Stuart Mill --- http://patriotpost.us/pub/06-24_Brief.htm

I think that most Christians would be better pleased if the Lord did not inquire into their personal affairs too closely. They want Him to save them, to keep them happy, and to take them off to heaven at last, but not to be too inquisitive about their conduct or services.
A. W. Tozer --- http://patriotpost.us/pub/06-24_Brief.htm

So much of the language in the Constitution has been exaggerated from its initial meaning, or else reinterpreted with ideology in mind, that there is public mystification about what it is that is truly guaranteed, or truly prohibited. The question of interpretation came up early in after the FBI searched the office of Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., finding evidence that the gentleman had been accepting and paying bribes and falsifying his tax returns... The issue was almost immediately raised that the FBI agents were exercising themselves outside their constitutional competence. This vague point has affected the thinking of those who are attracted to theoretical extrapolations on the Bill of Rights, taking its provisions to lengths that would surely have surprised the Founders. If the Constitution's rule separating church and state can be held to mean that a replica of the scene at Bethlehem cannot be constitutionally displayed on state property, then maybe Mr. Jefferson is indeed protected, giving credibility to the new Hastert-Pelosi exegesis of the Constitution. But stare down hard at the language. The Constitution holds that lawmakers are 'privileged from arrest during their attendance at the session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same.'... This has nothing to do with Mr. Jefferson's case. Which means that those who say that the FBI should not have had access to the congressman's home or office are extending that constitutional provision to the point of immunity from search... What the defense will plead in the case of Rep. Jefferson we cannot know for certain. But to plead the procedural point—that the FBI had no business in his freezer—is cartoon constitutional reductionism.
William F. Buckley --- http://patriotpost.us/pub/06-24_Brief.htm

Perched on the edge of a white grand piano and decked out in a full-length evening gown, the former CBS and CNN anchorwoman (Connie Chung) warbled a farewell song that put down Dan Rather (with whom she co-anchored the CBS news in the early 1990s), her husband and cable TV - all at the same time.
Michael Shain, "CONNIE CROAKS ADIEU," The New York Post, June 19, 2006 --- http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/connie_croaks_adieu_entertainment_michael_shain.htm

In April 2006 I commenced reading a heavy book entitled Great Minds in Management: The Process of Theory Development, Edited by Ken G. Smith and Michael A. Hitt (Oxford Press, 2006).

The essays are somewhat personalized in terms of how theory development is perceived by each author and how these perceptions changed over time.

In Tidbits I will share some of the key quotations as I proceed through this book. The book is somewhat heavy going, so it will take some time to add selected quotations to the list of quotations at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/GreatMinds.htm

PG. #485 & 486 WILLIAMSON Transaction cost economics is an interdisciplinary research project in which law, economics, and organization theory are joined (Williamson, 1985). Although the operationalization of transaction cost economics began in the 1970s and has continued to develop in conceptual, theoretical, empirical, and public policy respects since, many of the key ideas out of which transaction cost economics (TCE) works have their origins in path-breaking contributions in law, economics, and organization theory from the 1930s. It was not, however, obvious how these key ideas were related, much less how they could be fruitfully combined. Two follow-on developments--the interdisciplinary program for doing social science research that took shape at the Graduate School of Industrial Administration (GSIA) at Carnegie-Mellon University during the late 1950s and early 1960s; and new developments in the market failure literature during the 1960s--were needed to set the stage.¹

As for my own involvement, I seriously doubt that I would have perceived the research opportunity presented by TCE but for my training in the Ph.D. program at GSIA (from 1960 to 1963).² More than such training, however, would be needed. My teaching, research, and public policy experience during the decade of the 1960s all served to alert me to the research needs and opportunities posed by TCE.

This chapter is organized in seven parts. Section 23.1 describes seminal contributions from the 1930s. Follow-on developments in the 1960s are examined in 23.2. My training, teaching, research, and involvement with public policy during the decade of the 1960s are sketched in 23.3. The foregoing led into what, for me, was a transformative research project: my paper on "The Vertical Integration of Production: Market Failure Considerations" (1971), which is described in 23.4. Some reflections on TECe as it has evolved since are set out in 23.5. I discuss the "Carnegie Triple"--be disciplined, be interdisciplinary; have an active mind--in 23.6. Concluding remarks follow.

¹ The operationalization of TCE is the result of the concerted effort of many contributors. A selection of some of the more influential articles can be found in Williamson and Masten, Transaction Cost Economics, Vols. 1 and II (1995). Also see Claude Menard (2005).

² For an autobiographical sketch of earlier events and people that were influential to my training and intellectual development, see Williamson (1995). Although good instincts helped me to make the "right choices" at critical forks in the road, I also had the benefit of a number of exceptional advisors and teachers--and fortunately often had the good sense to listen.

Badjocks
Northwestern University announced Wednesday that its women’s soccer coach had resigned, in the wake of a controversy over hazing that prompted the team’s suspension last month. Northwestern is one of numerous institutions that have been caught up in the publication by several Web sites, including Badjocks and The NCAA Is Weak on Hazing, of photographs of apparently drunk and occasionally nude athletes hazing, being hazed, or in post-hazing stupors.
Inside Higher Ed, June 22, 2006 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/22/qt

Students’ personal and social responsibility
The Association of American Colleges and Universities announced Wednesday a new $2 million program, supported by the John Templeton Foundation, to work with colleges to promote students’ personal and social responsibility. Programs will be designed that help encourage students’ work ethic, sense of academic integrity, competence in moral reasoning, and vision of themselves as part of larger communities.
Inside Higher Ed, June 22, 2006 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/22/qt

Genes, Not Experience Explain Why The Lives Of Some Take Bad Turn
Take the conventional wisdom that their parents' divorce increases the risk that children will develop depression. "It turns out that the increased risk of depression in these children reflects a common genetic liability in the parents and kids," says Brian D'Onofrio of Indiana University, Bloomington. Since depressed people have more trouble getting and staying married, this genetic risk of depression raises their risk of divorce, he finds in a study submitted for publication. Parents pass that risk of depression to kids through DNA, not failed marriage. "The same genetic risk that makes the parents more likely to divorce also makes the kids more likely to develop depression," he says.
Sharon Begley, "Genes, Not Experience Explain Why The Lives Of Some Take Bad Turn," The Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2006; Page B1--- http://online.wsj.com/article/science_journal.html

First Molecular Proof That Some Aspects of Aging Are Out of Our Control
There’s no argument that eating well, exercising wisely, and avoiding high risk behaviors can increase one’s chances for a longer, healthier old age. But it’s also obvious that in many ways the aging process is out of our control; that despite our best efforts (in concert with a genetic make-up that makes us more or less susceptible to certain diseases) our cells and tissues ultimately degenerate and eventually die. While scientists have long suspected that events outside our control can result in aging, a study led by Buck Institute faculty member Jan Vijg, PhD, provides the first direct evidence that the molecular machinery of our cells providing function to our tissues and organs spins irreversibly out of control as we age. The study appears in the June 22 edition of Nature.
"First Molecular Proof That Some Aspects of Aging Are Out of Our Control," PhysOrg, June 21, 2006 --- http://www.physorg.com/news70115352.html

Jensen Comment
It's less likely to be effective if the cinnamon is on a big sticky bun with lots of frosting.

Question
I've encountered a number of ABD students with Watson's Syndrome?
I imagine you've encountered a few as well.
Do you know the symptoms?

I first encountered Watson’s Syndrome as a second-year master’s student at a prestigious university in the Northeast. The syndrome is named after the first person I observed exhibiting pronounced symptoms of what is now referred to clinically as “Watson’s Syndrome.” The “Watson” case illustrates the progression to a full blown syndrome . . .
Joseph Gelpher, "Beyond a Sense of Place," Inside Higher Ed, June 22, 2006 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2006/06/22/gelfer

Moving Ahead on Admissions Reforms
Lloyd Thacker founded the Education Conservancy two years ago out of the belief that the admissions system is out of control and that obsessions over rankings, money, prestige and testing are hurting students. While Thacker almost immediately attracted fans in the admissions world, last week’s meeting marked a shift in his reform movement as many of the participants were presidents of elite liberal arts colleges. The meeting was held at New York University’s Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy.
Scott Jaschik, "Moving Ahead on Admissions Reforms," InsideHigherEd, June 20, 2006 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/20/admit

Inquiry Into Florida For-Profit University Widens
Florida's attorney general expanded his investigation of allegedly misleading sales tactics at for-profit Florida Metropolitan University, demanding records detailing the school's job-placement rates, grading, instructor qualifications, financial aid and course prices. The inquiry by Charlie Crist, the state's top legal officer, intensifies government scrutiny of for-profit career colleges, whose success has sparked fierce debate among educators and in Congress. U.S. lawmakers are considering legislation that would ease longstanding restrictions that curbed at least some of their rapid growth. Unlike the trade schools of the past, these for-profits have moved aggressively to offer bachelor's, master's and even professional degrees, taking on conventional universities.
"Inquiry Into Florida For-Profit University Widens," by John Hechinger, The Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2006; Page A12 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115093577533487007.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

"Leveling the Playing Field: A university is forced to treat white professors equally," The Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2006 --- http://opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110008521

Does affirmative action give false hopes to African Americans graduating from law schools
The other article — not yet available online or published — will appear in the North Carolina Law Review. This article examines the attrition of black lawyers from top law firms and links their departures to their poor grades in law school, which in turn the author has previously attributed to the use of affirmative action to admit minority law students who, on average, can’t compete at the same level with their white colleagues. A previous article on affirmative action by the same author — Richard Sander — was one of the most discussed pieces of legal scholarship in 2004, drawing both strong praise and intense criticism. Advocates are already lining up to dissect the new Sander article, even before it has appeared.
Scott Jaschik, "New Arguments on Affirmative Action," Inside Higher Ed, June 21, 2006 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/21/affirm

In addition to a free annual credit report, you can get a report following ID theft

As Sweden, Germany, and most other parts of Europe are cutting back on socialized benefits, Massachusetts is leading the way in the U.S. with state-mandated universal health care and 12-weeks each year of fully paid family leave in addition to vacation time

As Thomas takes her improvised leave, lawmakers in her home state are hammering out what they hope will be a better alternative. The Massachusetts legislature plans to vote this week on a bill that would give all employees in the state 12 weeks of paid medical leave annually--100% of their pay up to $750 a week and a guarantee to hold their jobs--to care for newborns or sick relatives. If passed, the bill would mandate the most generous paid-leave policy in the U.S.; it is the first of 24 similar proposals pending this year. Family friendly and popular with female voters, most of the bills are enjoying wide, bipartisan support, says Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women & Families. "We're seeing real movement toward more paid leave."
"Time Off, With Pay? Massachusetts leads a push across the U.S. to give paid family leave to every worker," by Kathleen Kingsbury, Time Magazine, June 18, 2006 --- Click Here

Jensen Comment
I like the way she writes. I can recall being on committees like this committee.

The Accountant and Lawyer Preservation Act is Protected by Ignoramuses and Professional Lobbies
As a financial adviser, I spend much of my time helping clients decide how to handle their estate tax liability. . . . It's not that hard to structure an estate to avoid the tax. That's what the thousands of accountants, lawyers and financial planners do. From my perspective, the estate tax is purely optional. So repeal is unnecessary except for the uninformed, the unfocused or those people who are unwilling to pay their financial planning team a little more to make the tax go away or be reduced. People pay their professionals to avoid lots of income tax legally, and they do it every year. Why is it so hard for them to pay a little every few years to review the estate plan and avoid much or all of the estate tax?
"Myth, Reality and the Estate Tax," The New York Times, June 12, 2006 --- Click Here
Jensen Comment
In my highly subjective opinion the estate tax should remain with alternative minimum tax provisions that take a progressive portion of estates valued at $1 million and higher. This AMT should not allow lawyers and accountants to eliminate virtually all of the taxes due on such estates.

"Scientists respond to Gore's warnings of climate catastrophe: "The Inconvenient Truth" is indeed inconvenient to alarmists," by Tom Harris, Canadian Free Press, June 12, 2006 --- http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/harris061206.htm

Another Success Story on the Internet: Craigslist could make $500 million a year
"Zen and the Art Of Classified Advertising: Craigslist could make $500 million a year. Why not?" by Brian Carney, The Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2006 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008531

"Picking Over Enron's E-Mail Remains," by Frank Ahrens, The Washington Post, June 11, 2006, Page F06 --- Click Here

Bob Jensen Comment
The SSRN home page is at http://www.ssrn.com/
Since I am such a huge fan of open sharing, a major disappointment for me is that SSRN became a huge business operation charging fees per download or for annual subscriptions. Many professors who previously would not charge to send copies of their working papers for free now refer students and other interested researchers to the fee-based SSRN. SSRN does provide a useful service, but it has been at the expense of free open sharing. In fairness, the SSRN has become a free site for some announcements and news.

Many scientists oppose open access publishing
At first glance, it seems that the research world is united against the Federal Research Public Access Act. Scholarly associations are lining up to express their anger over the bill, which would have federal agencies require grant recipients to publish their research papers — online and free — within six months of their publication elsewhere. Dozens of scholarly groups have joined in two letters — one organized by the Association of American Publishers and one by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. To look at the signatories (and the tones of the letters), it would appear that there’s a wide consensus that the legislation is bad for research. The cancer researchers are against it. The education researchers are against it. The biologists are against it. The ornithologists are against it. The anthropologists are against it. All of these groups are joining to warn that the bill could undermine the quality and economic viability of scholarly publishing.
Scott Jaschik, "In Whose Interest?" Inside Higher Ed, June 15, 2006 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/15/open

Question
In science it is somewhat common for published papers to subsequently be withdrawn because the outcomes could not be replicated. In the history of accounting research has any published paper ever been "withdrawn" or “retracted” because the results could not be replicated?

Jensen Comment
What's disappointing and inconsistent is that leading universities pushed accounting research into positivist scientific methods but did not require that findings be verified by independent replication. In fact leading academic accounting research journals discourage replication by their absurd policies of not publishing replications of published research outcomes. They also do not publish commentaries that challenge underlying assumptions of purely analytical research. Hence I like to say that academic accounting researchers became more interested in their tractors than their harvests.

The IAESB develops standards and guidance on pre-qualification education, training, and continuing professional development for all members of the accountancy profession. The board’s standards are designed to promote consistency and quality in education and development for professional accountants and prospective professional accountants. The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the global organization for the accountancy profession, is seeking nominations for a public member for the independent International Accounting Education Standards Board (IAESB). Nominations must be made by June 23, 2006.---
http://www.ifac.org/News/LastestReleases.tmpl?NID=11492650758055684

So if this sounds all nihilistic and grim, like an unending hamster wheel of futility or (my favorite metaphor) like being rotated on a George Foreman Rotisserie Oven in Hell, you would be correct. Don’t get mad at me, get even, and write that novel.
Interesting Blog noted in Newsweek Magazine, February 13, 2006, Page 14.
Bookfraud: A middlebrow look at the world of a struggling novelist facing middle age. At least 65 percent not depressing.

The radically different buffet-style Stanford University MBA customizable curriculum resembles, in spirit, the new buffet undergraduate curriculum at Harvard University

Urban Living Designs

The BoxTank --- http://www.theboxtank.com/

Discretionary Death Awaiting Tax Breaks

June 12, 2006 message from Amy Dunbar [Amy.Dunbar@BUSINESS.UCONN.EDU]

"Did the Death of Australian Inheritance Taxes Affect Deaths?"

Full Text: http://ssrn.com/abstract=907250

ABSTRACT: In 1979, Australia abolished federal inheritance taxes. Using daily deaths data, we show that approximately 50 deaths were shifted from the week before the abolition to the week after (amounting to over half of those who would have been eligible to pay the tax). Our findings suggest that the scheduled abolition of the US inheritance tax may lead some deaths to be shifted from the last week of 2009 into the first week of 2010.

Hmmmmmmmm, looks like they found the secret to living longer.

Amy Dunbar University of Connecticut School of Business Department of Accounting 2100 Hillside Road, Unit 1041 Storrs, CT 06269

From The Washington Post on June 12, 2006

An industry report predicts that the World Cup will provide the catalyst for TV services on mobile phones to start taking off, but real growth will occur over the next five years. How much are mobile users expected to spend during this year's World Cup to access streaming and broadcast services?

A. $50 million
B. $100 million
C. $300 million
D. $500 million

The Sad State of Professional Discipline in Public Accountancy

"SEC Accountant Fines Largely Go Unpaid," SmartPros, June 7, 2006 --- http://accounting.smartpros.com/x53399.xml

The Securities and Exchange Commission has taken disciplinary action against more than 50 accountants in 2005 and 2006 for misconduct in scandals big and small. But few have paid a dime to compensate shareholders for their varying levels of neglect or complicity.

It also turns out that nearly half of them continue to hold valid state licenses to hang out their shingles as certified public accountants, based on an examination of public records by The Associated Press.

So while the SEC has forbidden these CPAs from preparing, auditing or reviewing financial statements for a public company, they remain free to perform those very same services for private companies and other organizations that may be unaware of their professional misdeeds.

Some would say the accounting profession has taken its fair share of lumps, particularly with the abrupt annihilation of Arthur Andersen LLP and the jobs of thousands of auditors who had nothing to do with the firm's Enron Corp. account. Meantime, the big auditing firms are paying hundreds of millions of dollars in damages - without admitting or denying wrongdoing - to settle assorted charges of professional malpractice.

Individual penance is another matter, however, and here the accountants aren't being held so accountable.

Part of the trouble is that there doesn't appear to be an established system of communication by which the SEC automatically notifies state accounting regulators of federal disciplinary actions. In several instances, state accounting boards were unaware a licensee had been disciplined by the SEC until it was brought to their attention in the reporting for this column. The SEC says it refers all disciplinary actions to the relevant state boards, so the cause of any breakdowns in these communications is unclear.

Another obstacle may be that some state boards do not have ample resources to tackle the sudden swell of financial scandals. It's not as if, for example, the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy had ever before dealt with an accounting fraud as vast as that perpetrated at Houston-based Enron.

"We don't have the staff on board to manage the extra workload that the profession has been confronted with over the last few years," said William Treacy, executive director of the Texas board. "So we contracted with the attorney general's office to provide extra prosecutorial power."

Treacy said his office is usually notified of SEC actions concerning Texas-licensed CPAs, but the process isn't automatic.

With other states, communications from the SEC appear less certain. If nothing else, many boards rely upon license renewals to learn about SEC actions, but that only works if the applicants respond truthfully to questions about whether they've been disciplined by any federal or state agency. A spokeswoman for Georgia's board said one CPA recently disciplined by the SEC had renewed his license online without disclosing it.

Ransom Jones, CPA-Investigator for the Mississippi State Board of Public Accountancy, said most of his leads come from other accountants, media reports and annual registrations.

"The SEC doesn't necessarily notify the board," said Jones, whose agency revoked the licenses of key players in the scandal at Mississippi-based WorldCom.

Some state boards appear more vigilant than others in policing their membership. The boards in California and Ohio have punished most of their licensees who have been disciplined by the SEC since the start of 2005.

New York regulators haven't yet penalized any locals targeted by the SEC in that timeframe, though they have taken action against two disciplined by the SEC's new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. It is conceivable that cases are underway but not yet disclosed, or that some individuals have been cleared despite the SEC's findings. A spokesman for the New York State Education Department said all SEC referrals are probed, but not all forms of misconduct are punishable under local statute. New rules now under consideration would strengthen those disciplinary powers, he said.

Meanwhile, although the SEC deserves credit for de-penciling those CPAs who've breached their duties as gatekeepers of financial integrity, barely any of those individuals have been asked to make amends financially.

No doubt, except for those elevated to CEO or CFO, most accountants are not paid as handsomely as the corporate elite. That said, partners from top accounting firms are were [sic] paid well enough to cough up more than the SEC has sought, which in most cases has been zero.

Earlier this year, in what the SEC crowed about as a landmark settlement, three partners for KPMG LLP agreed to pay a combined $400,000 in fines regarding a $1.2 billion fraud at Xerox Corp. One of those fined still holds his license in New York.

"The SEC has never sought serious money from errant CPAs," said David Nolte of Fulcrum Financial Inquiry LLP. "Unfortunately, the small fines in the Xerox case set a record of the amount paid, so everyone else has also gotten off easy."

It's not that the CPAs found culpable in scandals don't deserve a right to redemption, or just to earn a living. Most of the bans against practicing before the SEC are temporary, spanning anywhere from a year to 10 years.

But the presumed deterrent of SEC action is weakened if federal and state regulators don't work together on a consistent message so bad actors don't get a free pass at the local level.

Bob Jensen's threads about why white collar crime pays even if you get caught are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#CrimePays

How e-Business Blog Turned into a B2B Book
Brian J. Carroll, author of the popular new book Lead Generation for the Complex Sale™ (McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0071458972, $24.95) got many ideas for his book and honed his writing style through his award-winning lead generation blog which is regularly read by thousands of marketers each week. Carroll’s experience shows that authors can leverage a popular blog into a book deal and why smart publishers take successful bloggers who want to write a book very seriously.
"How a Blog Turns Into a Book Deal: The Story of Brian Carroll’s Lead Generation for the Complex Sale," PR Web, June 20, 2006 --- http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/6/prweb396871.htm

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

"Smart Stops on the Web," Journal of Accountancy, May 2006 ---
http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/may2006/news_web.htm

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT SITES
Your Company’s Conscience
www.e-businessethics.com
CPAs charged with keeping their firms and employers on the straight and narrow will find PowerPoint presentations here on corporate reform, Sarbanes-Oxley and the nature and scope of business ethics. Users can find a link to the 2005 National Business Ethics Survey or read business ethics case studies on Bridgestone/Firestone’s tire recall and the much-publicized Napster Web site legal proceedings. Test your own ethics with case scenarios and accompanying possible solutions.
Visit the Vault
www.aspow.com
CPAs will want to check out this Association of Coaching and Consulting Professionals on the Web (ACCPOW) e-spot to register for instant access to the free Coaching Business Weekly, which includes business tips on practice building, management techniques and generating passive revenue. A membership fee of less than $20 a month gives subscribers discussion forums, tutorials and practice management articles on deducting medical expenses, setting fees and five things a contract should include. Here are other ACCPOW Web sites, linked at the bottom of the home page:

www.assessmentgenerator.com
Looking to expand or rethink your client base? Take a free test-drive at this Web stop to rate your marketing know-how and target niches, Web design skills and even stress levels. Find free articles on how to create and use value assessments to determine whether your service is an “ideavirus” and how to recognize and fire a difficult client early.

www.coachinglab.com
CPAs who need help with HR matters can browse this pay-per-item e-catalog of assessments, checklists and worksheets on business management, finance, marketing and small business. Get resources for writing a company profile, finding employees who are a perfect fit and “virtualizing” your business, or rate your clients’ financial fitness.

www.coachingbridgelines.com
Interested in implementing teleconferences and teleseminars or arranging focus groups for marketing purposes? Find help at this Web site and read the free article “How to Organize a Successful and Profitable Teleclass.”

"Smart Stops on the Web," Journal of Accountancy, May 2006 ---
http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/may2006/news_web.htm

On the Road Again?
http://businesstravel.about.com
CPAs on the go can find links here to the top seven frequent-flier programs and a plethora of tips, from how to quickly book a business trip to how to keep better records on the road. Sign up for a free newsletter to read “Crazy Business Travel Stories.” The Women’s Travel section offers advice for females traveling alone and the Travel Safety and Health section tackles tips for Americans taking trips overseas. There also are links to guidance geared to specific geographical areas such as China and the Middle East.

Bob Jensen's travel helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm

New Computer Products Ranging From Awful to Great
"Bad Ideas, Good Ideas Some real stinkers, plus a few terrific products," by Steve Bass PC World via The Washington Post, June 15, 2006 --- Click Here

Video recorder for the video-capable iPods
Next month, Belkin will begin selling a $70 plug-in recorder for the video-capable iPods. It's called the TuneTalk Stereo, and features twin mikes, plus a jack for hooking up an external mike. I haven't reviewed it, so can't say how well it works. Another option is to buy an MP3 player with a built-in recorder, like Creative Technology's Zen Vision: M.
Walter S. Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal, June 16, 2006 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/mossberg_mailbox.html

Lights, Camera, No Action

"Lights, Camera -- Jamming: A prototype device seeks out cameras and blocks them from taking pictures and video," by Kate Greene, MIT's Technology Review, June 22, 2006 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=17015&ch=infotech

Researchers have been trying to develop effective ways to jam a camera for years, says Edward Delp, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University. A number of companies, including Philips, Thomson, and Apogen Technologies, as well as a handful of universities, have been working on projects and prototypes. The Georgia Tech approach, which combines methods of detecting a camera and the means to automatically prevent it from taking pictures is "a nice technology," says Delp, that achieves these two goals in one device, while also using infrared light to spot cameras, in contrast to some other combination systems.

To locate a camera, the researchers exploited a component of many digital cameras and camcorders: the charge-coupled device (CCD) that converts light collected by a camera's lens into an image stored in its memory. Because of its shape, a CCD is retro-reflective, meaning it reflects incoming light back out at the same angle. Taking advantage of this, the Georgia Tech device shines infrared LED light, which is invisible to the human eye, at a distance of about 20 feet, then collects video of these reflections with a camcorder, Abowd explains. Then the video of the reflections is transferred to a computer, where it's sent through image-processing algorithms that pick out infrared light bouncing back. And to decrease the chances of false positives -- infrared light reflecting off other objects, such as eyeglasses and earrings -- the researchers added image-processing algorithms that account for the specific shape of the CCD reflections and those of other objects.

In the second step, to block the camera from taking pictures, the device uses a projector that emits a narrow beam of white light directly at a CCD. The beam saturates the CCD with varying intensities of light, Abowd says, forcing the camera's electronics to constantly adjust, and ultimately producing large white splotches that cover about one-third of the recorded scene. The result: a low-quality, if not worthless, recording or photograph.

Continued in article

Walt Mossberg Reviews Yet Another Way to Run Windows on a Mac

"New Product for Mac Operates Windows, OS X Simultaneously," by Walter S. Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2006; Page B1--- http://online.wsj.com/article/personal_technology.html

When Apple Computer announced back in April that its new Intel-powered Macintosh computers could run the Windows XP operating system as well as its own Mac OS X, the news was treated as a big deal. It meant that people considering switching from Windows to the Mac no longer had to worry about being unable to run the one or two Windows programs they relied on that might have no equivalent on the Apple platform. They could buy a Mac, work mainly in the nearly virus-free Macintosh operating system, and simply fire up Windows occasionally -- on the very same Mac -- to run any Windows software they needed.

Now, there's an even better approach to running Windows on a Mac. It's called Parallels Desktop for Mac, and it's from a small Herndon, Va., company called Parallels. It emerges from testing today and goes on sale for $79 at the company's Web site, parallels.com.

I've been testing Parallels Desktop on a new MacBook Pro laptop, and have found it works very well, despite a few drawbacks. I prefer it to Apple's solution, even though the Apple approach is free and also works very well.

Apple's system, called Boot Camp, has one big limitation: It allows you to run only one of the two operating systems at a time, requiring you to reboot the computer to switch between them. As a result, you can't quickly jump between Mac programs and Windows programs. You can't, for instance, simultaneously download your corporate email in Outlook using Windows while editing a home video in iMovie using the Mac OS.

With Parallels Desktop for Mac, you can do this. You can run any combination of Mac and Windows programs at the same time, on the same screen. No rebooting is necessary. You can even cut and paste material between Mac and Windows programs, and share files between the two environments.

The Parallels approach, called virtualization, runs Windows, with all its features, inside a window in the Mac operating system. It creates a faux Windows PC, called a "virtual machine," that co-exists with Mac OS X. You can devote the full screen to either operating system or you can reduce Windows, and whatever programs it's running, to a window on the Mac that can be dragged anywhere on the screen and made as small or as large as you like.

Unlike Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop can run every version of Windows back to Windows 3.1, not just Windows XP. It can also run Linux and even older operating systems like OS/2 and MS-DOS. You can even create and run multiple virtual machines, with different operating systems inside, up to the limit of your Mac's memory.

Virtualization isn't a new concept, and it's not even new on the Mac. Microsoft offers a product called Virtual PC for Mac that runs Windows inside a window on older, pre-Intel Macs. But Virtual PC runs painfully slowly on these older Macs, and it can't run every Windows program. It doesn't run at all on the new Intel-based Macs.

Parallels Desktop runs Windows a little more slowly than Apple's Boot Camp does because it is accessing the Mac's hardware through the Mac operating system rather than directly, as in a dual-boot system. But, in my tests, it was very snappy, as fast as many regular Windows computers.

Inside my virtual Windows machine, I was able to run programs like the Windows version of Microsoft Office, the Windows versions of the Firefox Web browser, iTunes, Adobe Reader, Google Earth and more. All worked well, as did Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser, Google's Picasa photo program and Google's Google Talk instant-messaging software.

I was able to do email in Apple's Mail program while simultaneously watching a baseball game in Internet Explorer inside my Parallels Desktop Windows virtual machine. I wrote part of this column in the Windows version of Microsoft Word and part in the Mac version, cutting and pasting between the two.

And, unlike Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop doesn't require you to dedicate a fixed section, or "partition," of your hard disk to Windows. Its virtual Windows computer is contained in a big Mac data file that uses only as much space as Windows needs.

Continued in article

June 1, 2006 message from James L. Morrison [jlm@nova.edu]

The June/July 2006 issue of Innovate (www.innovateonline.info) offers a range of practical ideas for using new technologies in classrooms as well as ways to avoid common pitfalls caused by technology. This is a one-time mailing to you; if you wish to receive future announcements of new issues and our webcast schedules, please take advantage of our free subscription at http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=subscribe

We open with Sir John Daniel and Paul West’s exploration of how the digital dividends of technology can be used to overcome the digital divide for impoverished nations worldwide. They examine the challenges of bringing higher education to developing nations and advocate open educational resources as a potential solution to the problem.
(See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=252 )

Our next three articles address specific ways in which instructors have used the digital dividends available to them in teaching. Ulises Mejias describes a graduate seminar he taught on the affordances of social software--software that allows for information exchange, collaboration, and ease of communication. His students used the software while learning about it and critiquing it, illustrating well the learning opportunities afforded by this category of technology.
(See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=260 )

S. Pixy Ferris and Hilary Wilder examine wikis, one example of social software, as a way to bridge the distance between students and teachers.

Adopting the linguistic theory of Walter J. Ong, they see teachers as part of a print paradigm of learning, whereas they propose that students are increasingly a part of a secondary-oral paradigm characterized by certain attributes of both oral-based cultures and print-based cultures. Wikis, they argue, can be a pedagogical bridge between these two educational positions.
(See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=258 )

Craig Smith focuses on chat, a common way for online instructors to replace classroom discussion. He provides a protocol to keep discussions focused and productive, helping teachers realize the potential usefulness of an easily accessible technological tool. (See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=246 )

Technology also presents some problems in the classroom. The easy availability of apparently anonymous information on the Internet blurs definitions of plagiarism. While tools such as electronic plagiarism detectors have become more common, Eleanour Snow argues that they are not enough. She advocates online tutorials as an easy and effective way of teaching students about plagiarism, and offers examples and links to tutorials for teachers eager to begin the process of educating themselves and their students.
(See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=306 )

Howard Pitler also sees a need to make copyright guidelines clear, but argues that copyrights should be more flexible. He offers guidance about how copyright works and describes Creative Commons, a Web site that provides writers and artists a way to select the rights that they want to reserve and make it clear to others exactly what they are allowed to reproduce and alter.
(See http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=251 )

Another difficulty inherent in the digital age is the notorious attrition rate in online education. While noting that drop rates for online courses should not necessarily be equated with lack of success, David Diaz and Ryan Cartnal acknowledge that reducing attrition in such courses should still be on educators' agendas. In addressing this issue they examine the impact of term length on attrition rates, advocating a shorter length to enable time-strapped students to complete the course more efficiently. (See

http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=196 )

Please forward this announcement to appropriate mailing lists and to colleagues who want to use IT tools to advance their work. Ask your organizational librarian to link to Innovate in their resource section for open-access e-journals.

Thanks!

Jim

James L Morrison
Editor-in-Chief, Innovate
http://www.innovateonline.info
Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership UNC-Chapel Hill http://horizon.unc.edu

Rudolph Guiliani's Five Favorite Biographies

"Witness the Leading: Top biographies of top dogs," by Rudolph Guiliani, The Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2006 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/fivebest/?id=110008500

1. "Churchill: A Study in Greatness" by Geoffrey Best (Hambledon & London, 2001).

On the night after the attacks of Sept. 11, I remember getting home at about 2:30 a.m. and seeing on my nightstand a book I had been reading, a prepublication copy of Roy Jenkins's forthcoming "Churchill." I picked up this biography of a man who embodied every leadership principle I value--courage, optimism, preparation and a determination to stand up to bullies--and began reading about Churchill's becoming prime minister in 1940. Jenkins captures beautifully how Churchill led Britain through months of nightly bombings, never losing his confidence in the will of a free people. The Jenkins biography serves as a sort of middle ground between "Churchill: A Life," the definitive eight-volume edition by official biographer Martin Gilbert, and its one-volume abridgement. Perhaps my favorite Winston Churchill biography of all, though, is Geoffrey Best's "Churchill: A Study in Greatness," which combines all the biographical information with a real sense of what it felt like to be English in Churchill's era.

2. "Jefferson and His Time" by Dumas Malone (Little, Brown, 1948-81).

I read the first volume of Dumas Malone's superb Jefferson biography in college and then later read the entire six-volume set for the pure joy of experiencing magnificent writing about a great man. These Jefferson books led me to others and ultimately to the conclusion that Jefferson, more than anyone else, was the voice of American ideals. Malone uses Jefferson's own papers and letters to bring to life the man who composed the Declaration of Independence at age 33. Jefferson believed in limited government and states' rights, but as president he was capable of exercising enormous executive power--witness his engineering of the Louisiana Purchase. Malone's depiction of our third president's complexities remains relevant for political leaders today.

3. "Herndon's Lincoln" by William Henry Herndon and Jesse W. Weik (Belford, Clarke, 1889).

My mother was a great storyteller and a natural teacher. She introduced me as a child to the life of Abraham Lincoln--but when she read a short Lincoln biography to me, she seamlessly weaved in anecdotes she recalled from her own reading about him. As an adult, I went on to Carl Sandburg's wonderful Lincoln biographies, "Abe Lincoln Grows Up" and "Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years," both of which I adored for their thoroughness and for their understanding of the Midwest at a time when it was the frontier of our young nation. But I especially appreciated "Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life" by Lincoln's former law partner, William Henry Herndon, for the sheer fun of experiencing a biography written contemporarily by someone who knew him so well.

4. "Profiles in Courage" by John F. Kennedy (Harper, 1956).

I read John F. Kennedy's book when it was first published and can still remember how inspired I felt as I followed the stories of eight senators who had risked their political survival to do the right thing. One profile in particular that stuck with me was that of Edmund Ross, the Kansas Republican who cast the deciding vote for acquittal in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868. Ross was no fan of Johnson's but sensed that the trial was more about rounding up votes than weighing the evidence. His decision to break ranks with his party ended Ross's political career, but his principled stand has been vindicated by history; Kennedy captures that dynamic expertly.

5. "President Reagan" by Richard Reeves (Simon & Schuster, 2006).

My wife, Judith, recently bought me Richard Reeves's book (subtitled "The Triumph of Imagination"), which excels in depicting Ronald Reagan's management style and unrelenting pursuit of his core principles: the restoration of the American spirit, limited government, a strong defense and the defeat of communism. For a longer-range look at the experiences that shaped Reagan's values, I recommend "The Role of a Lifetime" and "A Life in Politics," both by Lou Cannon, both works that do a remarkable job of revealing the character of this amazing man.

Mr. Giuliani, a former mayor of New York, is the author of "Leadership" and chairman and chief executive of Giuliani Partners.

"Free to Press: Does the First Amendment allow the media to publish classified information?" The Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2006 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110008511

Over the past six months, we have witnessed the publication of several pieces of classified information that appear to be extraordinarily sensitive, and extremely important tactical components of our ongoing effort to protect American citizens and property from additional terrorist attacks: The New York Times revelation last December of the NSA program conducting surveillance on Al Qaeda communications into or out of the United States, which the Times itself characterized as our "most closely guarded secret"; the USA Today disclosure earlier this month that several telephone companies were turning over databases of information about numbers called--so-called pen registers; and the Washington Post's story that some terrorists captured by U.S. forces were being held by the CIA in undisclosed locations in allied countries.

No one contests that in each instance, classified information was illegally provided to these media outlets and then subsequently published by them. And to my knowledge, no one seriously contends that the individuals who leaked the information are not subject to prosecution for violating the Espionage Act (or even subject to prosecution for treason if it could be proved that their intent in leaking the classified information was to undermine our war effort and thereby give aid and comfort to the enemy). Even those who would seek to bestow on the leaker the protected status of "whistle-blower" surely will acknowledge that the whistle-blower statute requires that the allegedly illegal activities be reported internally, through a certain specified administrative route, rather than shouted to the world from the front pages of our nation's major newspapers.

Otherwise, the whistle-blower statute would permit every government employee to be a classified information law unto himself, determining what should or should not be secret. The devastating consequences to our national security, and also to individual privacy, of such a flawed interpretation should be manifest. The question you are considering today is not the potential criminal liability of the leaker, of course, but of those in the institutional media who publish the classified information provided by the leaker.

That poses interesting constitutional questions if we assume, as I shall do, that classified information was leaked and subsequently published, and that the leaker himself, should his identity become known, is subject to criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act, among other things, for that illegal disclosure. Earlier this month, Bill Keller, Executive Editor of the New York Times, published an important letter to the editors of The Wall Street Journal challenging the notion "that when presidents declare that secrecy is in the national interest, reporters should take that at face value." Implicit in his rejection of that proposition is the view that reporters generally, and perhaps the editors of the New York Times in particular, are free to ignore the laws regarding publication of classified information when, in their view, the benefit to the public from gaining access to the information would outweigh any harm that might flow from its disclosure. Keller elaborated:

[P]residents are entitled to a respectful and attentive hearing, particularly when they make claims based on the safety of the country. In the case of the eavesdropping story, President Bush and other figures in his administration were given abundant opportunities to explain why they felt our information should not be published. We considered the evidence presented to us, agonized over it, delayed publication because of it. In the end, their case did not stand up to the evidence our reporters amassed, and we judged that the responsible course was to publish what we knew and let readers assess it themselves.

. . .

So where does that leave us with respect to the New York Times' contentions? Once it is clear that the "Freedom of the Press" acknowledged in the First Amendment does not create a special preserve for the institutional media, the full import of Bill Keller's claims come into view, and it is the old saw, long since disproved, that democratic governments are not permitted secrets, even in time of war. Our Constitution expressly recognizes the common-sense necessity of government secrets, for example, in the Article I requirement that each House of Congress shall publish a journal of its proceedings, "excepting such Parts as in their Judgment may require Secrecy." The need for secrecy is even more urgent in the executive branch, and as Alexander Hamilton noted in Federalist 71, it is one of the key reasons the Constitution provides for unity in the executive office, establishing an "energetic" executive who can operate with "secrecy" and "despatch" when necessary to protect "the community against foreign attacks."33 This need for secrecy in the conduct of certain executive functions such as those under consideration today has repeatedly been recognized and approved by the courts as well. Writing for the Court in United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp., for example, Justice Sutherland explained why the President's authority over foreign affairs was so great, noting that he "has his confidential sources of information. He has his agents in the form of diplomatic, consular and other officials. Secrecy in respect of information gathered by them may be highly necessary, and the premature disclosure of it productive of harmful results."34 A similar view was expressed by Justice Jackson in Chicago & Southern Air Lines, Inc. v. Waterman Steamship Corp.: "The President, both as Commander-in-Chief and as the Nation's organ for foreign affairs, has available intelligence services whose reports are not and ought not to be published to the world."

The constitutionality of protecting intelligence gathering and other operational military secrets in time of war is therefore beyond dispute, and the institutional press is no more permitted to ignore the legal restrictions imposed by the Espionage Act on the publication and other dissemination of such classified information than are ordinary citizens. Neither is it exempt from prosecution for willful violations of that Act. Justice Goldberg famously noted in Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez that our Constitution "is not a suicide pact,"36 and the sentiment is particularly apropos for the issues under consideration today. The simple fact is that the asymmetric nature of the current war against international terrorist organizations makes intelligence gathering the central and most critical front in the war. Not only must the executive branch aggressively pursue every legal means of gathering intelligence at its disposal, it must be equally aggressive in protecting the classified methods that it is using in that effort if it is to succeed in preventing future attacks on our homeland and fellow citizens such as those we witnessed on that fateful day in September nearly five years ago.

Every citizen, including--particularly including--those employed with major media organs have a responsibility to prevent ongoing operational secrets from falling into the hands of our enemies by complying with the law regarding classified information. It is one of those "basic and simple duties" of citizenship that rests equally "on taxi drivers, Justices, and the New York Times." We may never know how great the damage to our national security the recent disclosures of classified, highly-sensitive intelligence-gathering information have caused, but with the seriousness of the threat to our lives and liberty posed by terrorist organizations such as Al Qaeda, it is certainly the right, and may well be the duty, of the executive to prosecute those responsible for them.

Mr. Eastman, the Henry Salvatori Professor of Law and Community Service at Chapman University School of Law, is the director of the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence.

40 Things That Only Happen in the Movies --- http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/features/20moviethings.htm

Forwarded by Jesse Walker --- http://www.reason.com/hitandrun/

Science Discovers "World's Funniest Joke"

According to the London Telegraph, via Arts & Letters Daily, Science--with a capital S--has determined that the world's funniest joke was written by Spike Milligan, "Comic Genius!" and goes something like this:

Two hunters are out in the woods in New Jersey when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed.
The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps 'My friend is dead! What can I do?' The operator says: 'Calm down, I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.' There is a silence, then a shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says 'OK, now what?'

As a Garden Stater, I find nothing funny about this, but, dammit, the methodology used to arrive at the WFJ is simply unimpeachable and hence I must acknowledge Truth when it is revealed to me via science:

Five years ago, Prof Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, did an online experiment in which 300,000 people from around the world took part in LaughLab, where they voted for the best gag....
Prof Wiseman contacted Milligan's daughter, Sile, and she is as certain as she can be that he would have written the gag. She said she was "delighted that dad wrote the world's funniest joke".

Prof Wiseman said: "I think what is interesting here is that a joke from the 1950s still works, and how it has transformed over time from a cosy sitting room to hunters in New Jersey."

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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