The above picture was taken last winter in 2006. This winter's February 14, 2007 big storm left much deeper snow that now covers the entire fence. I came home from Boston this week to check on the house in preparation for Erika's anticipated release from her rehab hospital. I knew there was a lot of new snow, but I was not aware that this "Nor'easter" was one of the worst storms in decades. I came home to nearly three feet of new snow that gale-force winds had whipped into huge drifts twice as deep. My plowed driveway is like a tunnel. Snowplows on the road buried my mailbox so deep that my neighbor used a backhoe to try to find my mailbox. It was badly bent out of shape when he found it. Whereas Boston on the coast was covered in deep ice, Sugar Hill in the mountains was buried in snow ---
although not as deep as some places in upstate New York where entire houses were buried in earlier storms.

In the February 26, 2007 issue of Time Magazine, Page 6 is entitled "A Little Taste of the Arctic Close to Home:  If you like awful weather, you'll love spending a night on Mount Washington." To read about the history and mean weather on this mountain --- Click Here
Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm#Washington

Those of you that want the latest updates on Erika's recovery (with pictures) may go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Erika2007.htm

Tidbits on February 25, 2007
Bob Jensen

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

The new December 31 edition of New Bookmarks is linked at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm 

Fraud Updates are linked at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron" enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and other universities is at http://www.searchedu.com/.

Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   

Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/

Online Video, Slide Shows, 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

Take One Step for a Healthy Heart --- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/

Senator Kennedy on Net Neutrality --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UlCXXZTTh8

Accounting Rap (wipe off that smirk) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnA9Lu58oHc

The Best New Years Party --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGX0RaLdVkI

Blues Slide Guitar Cam Strikes Again --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUi9-jqq_i0

Independent Lens Online Short Video Festival --- http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/insideindies/shortsfest/index.html

Free music downloads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm

Met Archives: The Metropolitan Opera --- http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/

Handel --- http://www.gfhandel.org/

Beethoven: Hear All Nine Symphonies --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5477647
Beethoven's Sonatas: 'From Darkness to Light' --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5528318

Online Conservatory --- http://www.bso.org/images/conservatory/

Blues Slide Guitar Cam Strikes Again --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUi9-jqq_i0

Drummerworld --- http://www.drummerworld.com/index2.html

Levon Helm Studios --- http://www.levonhelm.com/midnight_ramble.htm

Love Songs Capture Ancient Ritual in New China --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7502196

Photographs and Art

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

The Phrase Finder (including commentaries on the history of the phrase) --- http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/index.html

Thurgood Marshall Law Library: Historical Publications of the United States Commission on Civil Rights --- 
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/index.asp 

On The Origin Of Species by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) --- Click Here

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin --- http://darwin-online.org.uk/

The Heathen by Jack London (1876-1916) --- Click Here

The Paradise Of Bachelors And The Tartarus Of Maids by Herman Melville (1819-1891) --- Click Here

The Crystal Egg by Herbert G. Wells --- Click Here

Soul of a Bishop by Herbert G. Wells (1866-1946) --- Click Here

Letters to Nathaniel Hawthorne by Herman Melville (1819-1891) --- Click Here

Bob Jensen's threads on the Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI) and open access to course materials around the world are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Digital History --- http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/

Franck-Bertacci Collection: Louisiana Digital Library --- http://louisdl.louislibraries.org/FBC/Pages/home.php

Bob Jensen has two sites with links to online history learning:

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

 

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#History

Online Mathematics Textbooks --- http://www.math.gatech.edu/~cain/textbooks/onlinebooks.html

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives --- http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/doc/intro.jsp 

Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics

Bob Jensen's threads on online textbooks are at --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

Virtual Courseware for Science Learning --- http://www.sciencecourseware.org/eecindex.php

Chem1 Virtual Textbook --- http://www.chem1.com/acad/webtext/virtualtextbook.html

Bob Jensen's threads on online helpers for science and medicine learning are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Science

Bob Jensen's threads on open sharing of courseware are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

The Basics of 3D/4D Ultrasound ---
http://www.gehealthcare.com/usen/ultrasound/education/products/cme_3d4d.html

University Teachers: Know Your Copy Rights!
From the University of Illinois Blog Issues in Scholarly Communications on February 12, 2007 --- http://www.library.uiuc.edu/blog/scholcomm/

The American Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has recently produced a 6-page pamphlet about the rights teachers and teaching assistants have to share with their classes the intellectual property produced by others. Know Your Copy Rights: What You Can Do provides tips and guidelines for when articles, video, music, images, and other intellectual property can be shared with students under the banner of "fair use". Among the topics covered in the brochure are: fair use, the advantages of linking to instead of copying works, and special provisions for displaying or performing works in classes. It also includes a handy one-page chart that highlights 24 situations when various categories of works can be used. The pamphlet is free to download.

 

Bob Jensen's threads on the dreaded DMCA are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm#Copyright

February 2, 2007 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu]

ONLINE EDUCATION TRENDS

"Making the Grade: Online Education in the United States, 2006" is the fourth annual report on the state of online learning in U.S. higher education conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group and the Sloan Consortium. The report, based on responses from over 2,200 colleges and universities, addresses these questions:

-- Has the growth of online enrollments begun to plateau?

-- Who is learning online?

-- What types of institutions have online offerings?

-- Have perceptions of quality changed for online offerings?

-- What are the barriers to widespread adoption of online education?

For more information or to download the complete report, go to
http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/pdf/making_the_grade.pdf.

The Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is a consortium of institutions and organizations committed "to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth of their online programs according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines." Sloan-C is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. For more information, see http://www.sloan-c.org/.

For a related article, see:

"The Invisible Professor and the Future of Virtual Faculty"
By Martha C. Sammons, Wright State University, and Stephen Ruth, George
Mason University

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND DISTANCE LEARNING January 2007 http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jan_07/article01.htm

"Although the online teaching continues to grow in popularity, it places greater demands on faculty than traditional courses. The Sloan report found that this problem exists at all levels of postsecondary education, from doctoral-granting institutions to community colleges. A significant number of full-time professors are thus understandably reluctant to participate in distance learning, and faculty questions about online teaching continue. Traditional professors are disappearing from online classrooms as distance learning has altered their roles and responsibilities, as well as their professional status, job security, workload, rewards, and intellectual freedom. This article delineates some of the most significant challenges and suggests that distance learning has created new questions about the future of virtual faculty."

......................................................................

2007 HORIZON REPORT ON EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

The 2007 Horizon Report is a collaboration between the New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative that "seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression within higher education."

Some key trends that the report calls attention to include

-- Increasing globalization is changing the way we work, collaborate, and communicate.

-- Information literacy increasingly should not be considered a given.

-- Academic review and faculty rewards are increasingly out of sync with new forms of scholarship.

-- The notions of collective intelligence and mass amateurization are pushing the boundaries of scholarship.

-- Students' views of what is and what is not technology are increasingly different from those of faculty.

The complete report is available at --- http://www.nmc.org/pdf/2007_Horizon_Report.pdf.

The New Media Consortium (NMC) is an "international 501(c)3 not-for-profit consortium of nearly 200 leading colleges, universities, museums, corporations, and other learning-focused organizations dedicated to the exploration and use of new media and new technologies."
For more information, go to http://www.nmc.org/.

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) is a "strategic initiative of EDUCAUSE. While EDUCAUSE serves those interested in advancing higher education through technology, ELI specifically explores innovative technologies and practices that advance learning." For more information, go to http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?Section_ID=86.

In "If the Academic Library Ceased to Exist, Would We Have to Invent It?" (EDUCAUSE REVIEW, vol. 42, no. 1, January/February 2007, pp. 6-7) Lynn Scott Cochrane argues that "if college and university libraries and librarians didn't exist, we would certainly have to invent—better yet, re-invent—them."
The article is available at http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm07/erm0714.asp

......................................................................

SOCIAL SOFTWARE IN EDUCATION

The growing popularity of social software (e.g., instant messaging, blogs, wikis, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube) among college students raises questions on how can these tools be used to support instruction. Here are some resources that address the topic and/or provide background information on the tools.

"Social Networking Websites and Teens: An Overview"

Pew Internet & American Life Project report http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/198/report_display.asp

"More than half (55%) of all online American youths ages 12-17 use online social networking sites, according to a new national survey of teenagers conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The survey also finds that older teens, particularly girls, are more likely to use these sites. For girls, social networking sites are primarily places to reinforce pre-existing friendships; for boys, the networks also provide opportunities for flirting and making new friends."

"Digital Rendezvous: Social Software in Higher Education"

EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research
Research Bulletin, vol. 2007, issue 2, January 16, 2007
http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ERB0702

(Registration required to access this report.)

"The origins of social software -- from blogs to facebooks to instant messaging to wikis -- are firmly based in the information technologies of the past few decades. This research bulletin explores the genesis of some of the current social software products, helps define common characteristics, describes how the software is being used in higher education, and examines the implications for activities in colleges and universities."

The EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative's "7 Things You Should Know About..."

(http://www.educause.edu/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAboutSeries/7495) series provides concise information on emerging learning technologies including briefings on

YouTube

http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7018

Facebook

http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7017

Instant Messaging

http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7008

Blogs

http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7006

Wikis

http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7004

Social Bookmarking

http://www.educause.edu/LibraryDetailPage/666?ID=ELI7001

---

RECOMMENDED READING

Infobits subscriber Arun-Kumar Tripathi (arun.tripathi@waoe.org) recommends DEMOCRATIZING TECHNOLOGY: BUILDING ON ANDREW FEENBERG'S CRITICAL THEORY OF TECHNOLOGY, edited by Tyler J. Veak (SUNY Press, 2006; ISBN: 0-7914-6918-2 pbk).

The book is a festschrift honoring Feenberg, who is Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of Technology, School of Communication at Simon Fraser University.

"Largely because of the Internet and the new economy, technology has become the buzzword of our culture. But what is it, and how does it affect our lives? More importantly, can we control and shape it, or does it control us? In short, can we make technology more democratic? Using the work of Andrew Feenberg, one of the most important and original figures in the field of philosophy of technology, as a foundation, the contributors to this volume explore these important questions and Feenberg responds."

You can preview portions of the book online through Google Books: http://books.google.com/

Bob Jensen's threads on education technology are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm

"Uninspiring Vista:  How Microsoft's long-awaited operating system disappointed a stubborn fan," by Erika Jonietz, MIT's Technology Review, January 8, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/17992/ 

February 10, 2007 message from Mark McCrohon

Dear Bob,

I have developed a plagiarism detection tool called DOC Cop that may be of interest to you and your colleagues.

DOC Cop does NOT take ownership or copyright of your material. It does not retain your material beyond the time it takes to generate your report.

DOC Cop is lightning fast:

* When processing documents, DOC Cop scans a document of up to 500 words against the web in minutes.

* When processing a corpus, DOC Cop scans one million words, a thousand thousand-word documents or Homer's Odyssey against Joyce's Ulysses within 20 minutes.

DOC Cop is on the web at http://www.doccop.com  and processes your material free of charge.

Featuring:

* 8-hour turnaround
* Create and submit your own corpus
* Detailed reports
* Entirely web based, no installation necessary
* Exclude repetitious text (e.g. the question itself)
* Include your own material (e.g. lecture notes)
* Online support * SSL Security (128 Bit)

Thank you very much for your consideration of DOC Cop.

Sincerely, Mark McCrohon
DOC Cop Plagiarism Detection
ABN: 97 815 799 245
doccop@doccop.com 

* DOC Cop Plagiarism Detection guarantees that no submission is copied, retained elsewhere, passed on to others or sold. DOC Cop Plagiarism Detection guarantees to delete every submission once processing is complete.

* Mark McCrohon developed software for the Department of Economics, the Department of Accounting and Business Information Systems and the Teaching and Learning Unit in the Faculty of Economics and Commerce at The University of Melbourne from 1998 to 2005.

Throughout 2006, Mark devoted himself to the development and deployment of DOC Cop Plagiarism Detection.

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

Ending Oil Dependence --- http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/fellows/sandalow20070122.pdf

February 15, 2006 message from Mike Gasior [michael@afs-seminars.com]

As recently as 1980, the cost of electricity produced by the wind was running around $.80 per kilowatt-hour.  By 1991 the cost had dropped to $.10.  Today, the most efficient on-shore installations in the U.S. are producing power at a cost between $.03 and $.04 per kilowatt hour, but more commonly the cost runs from $.06 to $.09, which does include government subsidies that are currently 1.9 cents per kilowatt-hour.  This makes wind power an already viable competitor to coal and it will beat natural gas if the gas prices remain high, even without subsidies.

 

Interestingly, the U.S. government has even admitted as much in a Department of Energy report issued in 2006.  It stated that the cost of producing one kilowatt-hour of electricity for power plants coming online in 2015 would be as follows:

 

-- Wind 5.58 cents

 

-- Natural Gas 5.25 cents

 

-- Coal 5.31 cents

 

-- Nuclear 5.93 cents

 

The report did not include or quantify what the environmental impact of any of the production methods, but focused purely on cost.

 

 

Paying More for a Lower-Ranked University: Where What You Pay is Supposed to Mean Prestige

"The High-Price Leaders," by Mark Shapiro, The Irascible Professor, February 20, 2006 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-02-20-07.htm

An "op-ed" piece in the February 18, 2007 issue of the Los Angeles Times by staff writer Peter Hong caused the IP to do a double take. Hong pointed out that George Washington University (GW to anyone who has lived in the Washington, DC area), which is located in the Foggy Bottom section of our nation's capital, now is the most expensive undergraduate institution in the United States. At $50,000 a year for tuition and mandatory fees (including housing), GW now charges the highest tuition and mandatory fees of any college or university in the country. One might have expected to find some of the "Ivies" or top-ranked science and engineering schools such as MIT and Caltech leading the tuition race. But surprisingly, the highest undergraduate tuition rates last year were found at places like Landmark College in Vermont, GW, University of Richmond, Sarah Lawrence, Kenyon, Vassar, Trinity, Bennington, Simon's Rock College of Bard, and Hamilton University. Most of these institutions are reasonably well-respected, but not exactly at the top of the heap in academic quality. Among national universities, GW is tied with Syracuse University for 52nd place in the 2007 U.S. News and World Report rankings. Among national liberal arts colleges the University of Richmond tied for 34th place with the University of the South, Sarah Lawrence ended up in a three-way tie for 45th place with Rhodes College and Gettysburg College, Kenyon tied for 32nd place with Holy Cross, Vassar did a bit better tying for 12th place with Claremont McKenna College, Trinity came in 30th, Bennington was rated 91st, Simon's Rock didn't even make the top 100, and Hamilton came in 17th.

The bottom line is that none of these colleges and universities that are charging the highest tuition rates in the country were ranked among the top ten in academic quality. As Hong notes in his "op-ed" piece, the current median income for US households is slightly more than $46,000 per year, so only the very wealthiest families can afford to send their children to colleges and universities with tuition and fees than approach $50,000 per year. Even relatively well-to-do families with more than one child in college would be hard-pressed to cover costs this high. To be sure, most of these pricey colleges and universities offer financial aid packages to many of their students. For example as many as 40% of GW's students receive some kind of financial aid. But often that aid includes substantial student loans at relatively high interest rates, which often leave the student heavily in debt upon graduation.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm

Controlling Music Downloads on Campuses Gets Harder and Harder

Cracking down on college students, the music industry is sending thousands more complaints to top American universities this school year than it did last year as it targets music illegally downloaded over campus computer networks.
"Downloading Music," MIT's Technology Review, February 21, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=18214&ch=infotech

FAS 159 (which greatly affects FAS 157 and FAS 133)
FASB Issues Fair Value Option (but only for financial assets and liabilities)
 

From SmartPros on February http://accounting.smartpros.com/x56603.xml

The objective is to reduce both complexity in accounting for financial instruments and the volatility in earnings caused by measuring related assets and liabilities differently.

Generally accepted accounting principles have required different measurement attributes for different assets and liabilities that can create artificial volatility in earnings. The standard aims to help to mitigate accounting-induced volatility by enabling companies to report related assets and liabilities at fair value, which would likely reduce the need for companies to comply with detailed rules for hedge accounting.

"Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 159, The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities," also establishes presentation and disclosure requirements designed to facilitate comparisons between companies that choose different measurement attributes for similar types of assets and liabilities.

The standard requires companies to provide additional information that will help investors and other users of financial statements to more easily understand the effect of the company's choice to use fair value on its earnings. It also requires entities to display the fair value of those assets and liabilities for which the company has chosen to use fair value on the face of the balance sheet. The new statement does not eliminate disclosure requirements included in other accounting standards, including requirements for disclosures about fair value measurements included in FASB Statements No. 157, Fair Value Measurements, and No. 107, Disclosures about Fair Value of Financial Instruments.

This statement is effective as of the beginning of an entity's first fiscal year beginning after Nov. 15, 2007. Early adoption is permitted as of the beginning of the previous fiscal year provided that the entity makes that choice in the first 120 days of that fiscal year and also elects to apply the provisions of Statement 157.

Jensen Comments

Good News
This can simplify some aspects of FAS 133 and IAS 39 accounting since hedging contracts adjusted to fair value and hedged item contracts can both be adjusted to fair values that offset to the extent that hedges are effective. The complicated hedge accounting rules of FAS 133/IAS 39 can, thereby, be avoided in many circumstances.

Bad News
A huge problem is that there will be a whole lot if confusion over inconsistencies over the way any two companies account for a financial contracts. Another problem is that adjustments to fair value more often than not create fiction in financial statements for transactions that never took place.

Other good news and bad news aspects of fair value accounting are discussed by Bob Jensen at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/theory01.htm#FairValue

Especially note the link to a paper that will soon be published in a book entitled Routledge Companion to Fair Value in Financial Reporting --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FairValueDraft.htm

Migration of Firms Across Size and Value Portfolios

"Migration,"  by Eugene Fama and Kenneth French, SSRN, February 2007 ---
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=926556

We study how migration of firms across size and value portfolios contributes to the size and value premiums in average stock returns. The size premium is almost entirely due to the small stocks that earn extreme positive returns and as a result become big stocks. The value premium has three sources: (i) value stocks that improve in type either because they are acquired by other firms or because they earn high returns and so migrate to a neutral or growth portfolio; (ii) growth stocks that earn low returns and as a result move to a neutral or value portfolio; and (iii) slightly higher returns on value stocks that remain in the same portfolio compared to growth stocks that do not migrate.

From the Scout Report on February 16, 2007

Rendezvoo 1.0 --- http://rendezvoo.com/ 

There are many fine ways to get the good word out to other like-minded individuals on the web, and Rendezvoo is certainly one of the best new entries. Billed as the “word-of-mouth platform”, users can come here to post materials for other guests, connect with other members, and also rate the posts as they see fit. Another feature allows users to find posts by looking through a list of tags that include such headings as “politician”, “teacher”, and “foodie”. This version of Rendezvoo is compatible with computers running Firefox 1.0+, Internet Explorer 6.0+ and Safari 2.0+

---

Trailfire Toolbar 1.0.978 --- http://trailfire.com/ 

With all the talk about user-generated content out on the web, there’s been less interest in what people are talking about as they browse around. Trailfire may create more discussion about such material, as it allows users to leave electronic notes on various webpages for other visitors. It’s quite a bit of fun, and visitors can also view different “guides” posted by other users to the Trailfire homepage. A basic tutorial will help new users get started, and there are also a number of support forums here as well. This version of Trailfire is compatible with all operating systems running Windows XP or Vista.

From the Scout Report on February 2, 2007

Drupal 5.0 --- http://drupal.org/ 

With more and more groups and individuals becoming interested in placing content online, a number of programs have been developed to simplify this process, with a minimum of technical know-how. Drupal 5.0 allows users to create everything from personal websites to e-commerce applications. Visitors will also want to learn about the different modules that can extend Drupal's functionality and look over the forums, which are heavily trafficked. This version is compatible with all computers running Windows 98 and newer or Mac OS X and newer.

---

Moodle 1.7 --- http://moodle.org/ 

The word moodle is an acronym for "modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment", which is quite a mouthful. What Scout Report readers should know is that Moodle 1.7 is a tremendously helpful opens-source e-learning platform. With Moodle, educators can create a wide range of online courses with features that include forums, quizzes, blogs, wikis, chat rooms, and surveys. On the Moodle website, visitors can also learn about other features and read about recent updates to the program. This application is compatible with computers running Windows 98 and newer or Mac OS X and newer.

Updates from WebMD (in changed format) --- http://www.webmd.com/

Question
How can granny trash her dentures and grow healthy new teeth?

Regrowing Teeth
"Researchers are finding ways to use stem cells to regrow teeth--a potentially easier and healthier alternative to dentures and dental implants," by Jennifer Chu (no pun intended), MIT's Technology Review, February 22, 2006 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/18216/

Take One Step for a Healthy Heart --- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/takeonestep/

Geriatric Nursing Resources for Care of Older Adults: Assessment Tools ---
http://www.geronurseonline.org/index.cfm?section_id=7

Genetic Predisposal for Deep Depression
Medical School researchers have located a specific region on one chromosome that may predispose some people to severe depression. If problematic genetic variations could be identified, it would open the door to new avenues of investigation and future treatment possibilities.
"Closing in on genes linked to severe depression," by Louis Bergeron, Stanford Report, February 2007 ---
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/february7/med-depression-020707.html

Why do non-smokers get lung cancer?
Researchers at the Medical School and the Northern California Cancer Center have taken the first steps toward analyzing why people who never smoked get lung cancer. Their data, published in the February 10 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, shows that never-smokers get lung cancer more often than thought, with women even more at risk than men.
Sarah C.P. Williams, "Lung cancer rates higher among female non-smokers than once thought," Stanford Report, February 14, 2007 --- http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/february14/med-lung-021407.html 

Five Best Books of Wartime Leaders According to James Swanson
The Wall Street Journal, February 17, 2006 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/fivebest/?id=110009682
 

Commanding History Portraits of wartime leaders, from Washington through Churchill to LBJ. BY JAMES L. SWANSON Saturday, February 17, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST 1. "President Washington's Indian War" by Wiley Sword (University of Oklahoma, 1985). He won the Revolution and secured American Independence several years before his 1789 inauguration, so we do not think of George Washington as a wartime president. But frontier conflicts in the old northwest bedeviled his administration. The struggle climaxed on Nov. 4, 1791, with the great "Columbian Tragedy," the massacre of almost 1,000 U.S. soldiers by the forces of Chief Little Turtle in the Miami Valley of Ohio. The stunning catastrophe caused many to suspect divine disfavor for the prospects of the young republic and to question the destiny of the American enterprise. Wiley Sword, renowned for his Civil War scholarship--including the classic "Shiloh: Bloody April"--chronicles the little-known but pivotal battles to expand the territory of the new nation. A master of combat narrative, Sword also reveals how President Washington's Indian-war policy set the stage for the century-long conflict to come between the federal government and the Native Americans who occupied the continent's coveted western and southern lands. 2. "Polk" edited by Allan Nevins (Longmans, Green, 1929). Allan Nevins, America's greatest narrative historian in the first half of the 20th century, distilled the cumbersome four-volume edition of the diaries of James K. Polk, first published in 1910, into "Polk: The Diary of an American President, 1845-1849." It is an accessible and revealing self-portrait of the president who did as much as Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt to transform the U.S. into a world power with international interests. The Mexican War (1846-48), overshadowed by the Civil War that followed a generation later, set in motion a chain of events that added vast new territories to the American map, caused the expansion of slavery, brought notice--and ridicule--to an obscure antiwar congressman named Abraham Lincoln, ignited the embers of Southern nationalism, and, ultimately, incited secession and armed rebellion. Ignored today, but in fact one of our five most important and successful presidents, Polk sent a shock wave through American history that still reverberates. His diary takes the reader into the mind that envisioned the American empire and sent the nation in frenzied pursuit of her Manifest Destiny. 3. "Lincoln and His Generals" by T. Harry Williams (Knopf, 1952). Most books on Abraham Lincoln focus on and often romanticize his pioneer youth, prairie wanderings, folksy law practice, family life, antislavery leadership, rise to the presidency and poetic writings. Indeed, the trend in recent scholarship is to cut the thinnest possible slice from the Lincoln pie and subject it to microscopic and often tedious scrutiny. This will not do for the warrior Lincoln, who saved the Union and smashed slavery, evolving from an inexperienced chief executive reluctant to challenge his generals into an intuitive master strategist who fired them in rapid order until he found one, Ulysses Grant, who shared his killer instinct. In a vintage study--one of the best Lincoln books ever--a great historian of the old school reveals how Lincoln remade himself and won his war. 4. "Franklin and Winston" by Jon Meacham (Random House, 2003). The outcomes of our wars have turned not only on troops and tactics but also on the individual characteristics and personalities of our presidents. The "friendship that changed the world" genre has become overpopulated of late--possibly a tribute to the brilliance of Jon Meacham's account of the relationship between Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill. It did not begin as a friendship of equals. From 1939 to late 1941, while Britain was engaged in a death struggle with Hitler's Germany, the U.S. sat on the sidelines. Churchill believed that without America he would lose the war, and he tried desperately to bring Roosevelt into the conflict. After Pearl Harbor, when the U.S. joined against Japan and Germany, Churchill said he knew that no matter how long it took, or what price it would cost, England was saved. Roosevelt and Churchill exchanged almost 2,000 letters and spent 113 days spent in each other's company during the war, forming a partnership that Churchill called "the rock on which I build for the future of the world." The image of these convivial men plotting the defense of civilization over cocktails and champagne in the White House, chatting and laughing late into the night, is magical. 5. "Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream" by Doris Kearns (Harper & Row, 1976). Before there was Robert Caro (whose grand multivolume work has not yet taken Lyndon Johnson into the presidency), there was a young historian who had served LBJ and whose debut book remains the essential character portrait of the wily Texan. A shrewd observer of power and politics, Doris Kearns (Goodwin was added later) anticipated the current Johnson revival, which does not ignore Vietnam but looks beyond it. Kearns's LBJ is a man of Shakespearian proportions who could at one moment humiliate a bullied foe and at the next deliver, 100 years after the Gettysburg Address, one of the greatest speeches in modern politics, calling on the nation to complete Lincoln's promise to black Americans. Kearns not only documents the ruin of Johnson's administration in the jungles of Vietnam but also unfolds one of the saddest "what might have been" stories of the American presidency. Mr. Swanson, senior legal scholar at the Heritage Foundation, is the author of "Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer," out this month in paperback from HarperPerennial.

Forwarded by a friend

While watching a football game a couple weeks back, my wife and I were discussing life and death.

I told her, "Just so you know, I never want to live in a vegetative state, dependent on some machine and fluids from a bottle. If that ever happens, just pull the plug."

She promptly got up, unplugged the TV and threw out all my beer.

Some days I hate being married to a smart ass.

---

Ole

Ole had a car accident. In court, the trucking company's lawyer was questioning Ole .

"Didn't you say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine,'?" asked the lawyer.

Ole responded, "Vell, I'll tell you vat happened. I had just loaded my favorite mule, Bessie, into the..."

"I didn't ask for any details", the lawyer interrupted. "Just answer the question. Did you not say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine!'?"

Ole said, "Vell, I had just got Bessie into the trailer and I was driving down the road...."

The lawyer interrupted again and said, "Judge, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."

By this time, the Judge was fairly interested in Ole 's answer and said to the lawyer, "I'd like to hear what he has to say about his favorite mule, Bessie".

Ole thanked the Judge and proceeded. "Vell as I vas saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite mule, into the trailer and vas driving her down the highway ven this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my truck right in the side. I vas thrown into one ditch and Bessie vas thrown into the other. I vas hurting, real bad and didn't vant to move. However, I could hear Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans. Shortly after the accident a Highway Patrolman came on the scene. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning so he went over to her. After he looked at her, and saw her fatal condition, he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes. Then the Patrolman came across the road, gun still in hand, looked at me and said, "How are you feeling?" "Now vat the HELL vould you say?

Forwarded by Paula

Remember when you'd be hanging out clothes and it'd be so cold they'd freeze by the time you got them on the line? Remember how wonderful the clean sheets and towels smelled?

This reminds me of one of my Grandmother's sayings: "Always tell the truth, pay your bills, and hang out a white wash." For all of us who are older, this will really bring memories. For those of you who are younger, it will add some thoughts.

1. You had to wash the clothesline before hanging any clothes. Walk the length of each line with a damp cloth around the line.
2. You had to hang the clothes in a certain order and always hang whites with whites and hang them first.
3. You never hung a shirt by the shoulders, always by the tail... what would the neighbors think?

CLOTHESLINES

A clothesline was a news forecast To neighbors passing by. There were no secrets you could keep When clothes were hung to dry. It also was a friendly line For neighbors always knew If company had stopped on by To spend a night or two. For then you'd see the fancy sheets And towels upon the line; You'd see the company table cloths With intricate design. The line announced a baby's birth To folks who lived inside As brand new infant clothes were hung So carefully with pride. The ages of the children could So readily be known By watching how the sizes changed You'd know how much they'd grown. It also told when illness struck, As extra sheets were hung; Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too, Haphazardly were strung. It said, "Gone on vacation now" When lines hung limp and bare. It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged With not an inch to spare. New folks in town were scorned upon If wash was dingy gray, As neighbors raised their brows, And looked disgustedly away.

But clotheslines now are of the past For dryers make work less. Now what goes on inside a home Is anybody's guess.

I really miss that way of life. It was a friendly sign When neighbors knew each other best By what hung on the line!

More Tidbits from the Chronicle of Higher Education --- http://www.aldaily.com/

Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
For earlier editions of New Bookmark s go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm 
Archives of Tidbits: Tidbits Directory --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm

Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron" enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and other universities is at http://www.searchedu.com/.

Three Finance Blogs

Jim Mahar's FinanceProfessor Blog --- http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/
FinancialRounds Blog --- http://financialrounds.blogspot.com/
Karen Alpert's FinancialMusings (Australia) --- http://financemusings.blogspot.com/

Some Accounting Blogs

Paul Pacter's IAS Plus (International Accounting) --- http://www.iasplus.com/index.htm
International Association of Accountants News --- http://www.aia.org.uk/
AccountingEducation.com and Double Entries --- http://www.accountingeducation.com/
Gerald Trite's eBusiness and XBRL Blogs --- http://www.zorba.ca/
AccountingWeb --- http://www.accountingweb.com/   
SmartPros --- http://www.smartpros.com/

Bob Jensen's Sort-of Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Tidbits --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud Updates --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

Richard Torian's Managerial Accounting Information Center --- http://www.informationforaccountants.com/ 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
190 Sunset Hill Road
Sugar Hill, NH 03586
Phone:  603-823-8482 
Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu