"The Ol' Bait and Click:  Devices Meant to Reassure Online Buyers Are Often Used to Swindle Them," by Alan Sipress, The Washington Post, March 16, 2007, Page D01 --- Click Here

The eBay vendor had a glowing record -- more than 900 successful sales, with only a single complaint amid a long series of positive testimonials from customers. So when a Georgia bidder won the seller's auction for an Olympus digital camera in January, there seemed little reason to worry about dispatching almost $700 into cyberspace.

But the camera never arrived.

"I don't think I will ever buy anything over the Internet again," the conned bidder lamented in a posting on an eBay discussion board. "I am not a wealthy person, had saved long and hard for this camera for my business, and don't know when, or IF EVER I will see my $700 again."

Ever since the early days of the Internet, Web sites have struggled to find ways of reassuring users that a stranger could be as honest as a well-known local merchant, as knowledgeable as a respected teacher or as insightful as a wise grandparent. With Internet commerce now estimated to exceed $100 billion a year and greater numbers of people turning to the Internet for products, advice and love, Web sites are crafting more elaborate rating and feedback systems -- reputation monitors of sorts -- to help people evaluate whom they can trust. But the cheats have also noticed the unprecedented chance for ill-gotten gains. This has set off a high-stakes game of cat and mouse as Web sites spend more time and money to secure their systems against those trying to game them.

"We are increasingly living in a mobile, virtual world," said Chrysanthos Dellarocas, a professor of information systems at the University of Maryland business school. "To retain some form of social fabric in this world, we need some reputation mechanism."

One of the best-known reputation systems is the one used by Amazon.com, which provides user-written reviews of the books and it sells and then allows other users to rate the reviewers. Slashdot, a popular technology and current affairs Web site, developed what it calls a "karma" system for evaluating contributors. One of Yahoo's fast-growing features, Yahoo Answers, now boasts 75 million users who ask and answer each other's online questions about nearly any subject, with greater weight accorded to those who earn expert ratings from other users.

"Reputation is key to it all," said Bradley Horowitz, Yahoo's vice president of product strategy.

EBay established its position as the Web's premier auctioneer in part by pioneering a system to allow buyers and sellers to rate each other and comment on the quality of their transactions.

"It has been essential for eBay's success. It increased trust in the marketplace and created a community," eBay chief executive Meg Whitman said in an interview.

But users have repeatedly found ways to inflate or wholly fabricate their reputations. The online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, was thrown into turmoil late last month after users learned that one of the site's major editors was not a tenured university religion professor as he claimed in his online profile but a 24-year-old college dropout. At Amazon, a computer glitch three years ago inadvertently exposed the real names of reviewers writing under pseudonyms. Some turned out not to be disinterested literary judges but authors giving their own books glowing reviews to boost sales.

The scams take countless and ever more ingenious forms. These include intimidating other users who give negative ratings by threatening to retaliate with negative feedback of their own. Some con artists also create false secondary accounts, known as "sock puppets," that a cheat can use to give himself fake positive feedback. It also includes piling up legitimate positive reviews and then closing in for the kill as an eBay seller from New Jersey called "malkilots" did to nearly three dozen would-be camera buyers, including the bidder from Georgia.

That scheme -- according to feedback, discussion boards and auction descriptions on the eBay site -- went down like this: Malkilots built a sterling track record by selling memory cards for digital cameras for as little as $20 each. The vender sold them by the hundreds, delivering them as promised and accumulating page after page of positive feedback from satisfied customers.

Then, in late January, malkilots switched to offering the cameras themselves, which regularly fetched more than $650. In one auction, the Georgia bidder -- who communicated and did business only under a user name and did not respond to e-mails -- put in the highest of 37 offers for an Olympus SLR professional camera, paying for it online. Instead of receiving the camera, the buyer got a cheap camera bag.

"I had checked out the seller, all positive feedback going back several years," the buyer wrote. "What I didn't check out was WHAT kind of item that feedback was for."

Other successful bidders reported they also got cheap bags instead of cameras -- if they got anything at all. With losses totaling about $25,000, the bidders complained to eBay, which shut down the vendor's account. Negative feedback streamed into the site calling malkilots a fraud.

EBay did not return calls requesting comment on the case.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
I've never purchased anything on eBay. But I do almost all my shopping (even grocery shopping) on Amazon these days. I cannot say enough good things about the product selections, prices, and service. I have an Amazon Visa for such purposes that gives me lower prices, and I often get free shipping. For example, Erika needed an extra-wide wheel chair because of her brace. At the moment we use a wheel chair to carry her up and down the front porch steps. Her Boston doctor wrote a prescription for temporary rental of the chair, but the price was about $120 per week. I purchased a great one through Amazon for $138 that included free shipping. The new high quality chair was here in the boonies in less than five days.

Bob Jensen's threads on how to avoid being taken on eBay if you shop on eBay --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudReporting.htm#eBay

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

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"The Ol' Scientist Bait and Switch Trick:  Global Warming Swindles
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has produced a devastating documentary titled "The Great Global Warming Swindle." It has apparently not been broadcast by any of the networks in the U.S. But, fortunately, it is available on the Internet. Distinguished scientists specializing in climate and climate-related fields talk in plain English and present readily understood graphs showing what a crock the current global warming hysteria is. These include scientists from MIT and top-tier universities in a number of countries. Some of these are scientists whose names were paraded on some of the global warming publications that are being promoted in the media -- but who state plainly that they neither wrote those publications nor approved them. One scientist threatened to sue unless his name was removed.
Thomas Sowell, "Global Warming: Just Another Hysterical Crusade," IBD Editorials, March 15, 2007 --- http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=258837415794054

Also see http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54737

"Tinkering with Earth's climate to stop global warming raises new risks, warn scientists," MIT's Technology Review, March 18, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Wire/18402/

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Search for bin Laden's Hideout on Google Earth!
Where in the world is Osama bin Laden? Uh ... try checking Google Earth. After Google recently updated its satellite images of parts of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, much of the region still looked blotchy — the kind of low resolution that persists in coverage of, say, upstate New York. But several small squares (they stand out as off-color patches from 680 miles up) suddenly became as detailed as the images of Manhattan. These sectors happen to be precisely where the US govern­ment has been hunting for bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
"Search for bin Laden at Home!" Wired Magazine, March 2007 ---
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.03/start.html?pg=10

The Google Earth link is at http://earth.google.com/

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

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Note to College Presidents:  We've got kickback ethics problems right here in River City!

"Lenders Pay Universities to Influence Loan Choice," by Jonathan D. Glater, The New York Times, March 16, 2007 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/16/education/16loans.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Dozens of colleges and universities across the country have accepted a variety of financial incentives from student loan companies to steer student business their way, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced yesterday.

The deals include cash payments based on loan volume, donations of computers, expense-paid trips to resorts for financial aid officers and even running call centers on behalf of colleges to field students’ questions about financial aid.

“We have found that these school-lender relationships are often highly tainted with conflicts of interest,” Mr. Cuomo said. “These school-lender relationships are often for the benefit of the schools at the expense of the student, with financial incentives to the schools that are often undisclosed.”

Continued in article

Appearance Versus Reality of Trustee/School Kickbacks

One of the most common reality is that trustees who run portfolio investment firms become trustees to steer a portion of the school's endowment to their companies. The connections can be direct or extremely circuitous.

All to often members of the boards of trustees of colleges and school boards of K-12 schools serve for business reasons (typically to steer business their way) rather than for purposes of ethically guiding the institutions. Sometimes these kickbacks are highly illegal. Sometimes they are not illegal but they are unethical and are frowned upon if details are exposed to the public. For example, institutions commonly, albeit secretly, promote insurance, legal, personal finance, computer, or travel business of a trustee. These arrangements sometimes entail questionable and unmentioned kickbacks such as a kickback to the school for every trip booked with a trustee's travel agency or every insurance policy written with an employee, student, or alumnus. One of the more subtle examples is where a school or alumni association promotes a credit card without revealing that the school gets a kickback every time the user makes a payment to the credit card company. Often these kickback arrangements are established without a trustee being involved, but all too often a trustee has guided the school into such arrangements.

Stanford University paid more than $2 million in legal fees to a firm headed by a Stanford trustee, The San Francisco Chronicle reported. While Stanford defended the arrangement and it is not illegal, it is the type of apparent conflict of interest that for-profit companies increasingly try to avoid, the newspaper reported.
Inside Higher Ed, July 3, 2006 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/07/03/qt

Are conflicts of interest and kickbacks among college "trustees" the norm or the exception?
But Adelphi’s trustees had never voted on his compensation; only a small committee even knew the details. Adelphi even concealed the largesse from the Internal Revenue Service for five years, incurring an $11,500 fine. The Regents also found conflicts of interest involving two trustees, including the former board chairwoman. Her insurance company was found to have gotten $1.2 million in fees for handling Adelphi’s accounts.
"University Enjoys a Renaissance After 90’s Strife," by Bruce Lambert, The New York Times, September 5, 2006 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/04/nyregion/04adelphi.html

Bob Jensen's fraud updates are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

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

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Question
How can you ruin a student's career and maybe her/his life on a discussion board?

Answer
Trash talk on AutoAdmit (which bills itself at "The most prestigious college discussion board in the world ") ---
http://www.autoadmit.com/

"Trash Talk:  Some lawyers-to-be should exercise their right to remain silent," by Elizabeth Wurtzel, The Wall Street Journal, March 19, 2007 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110009805 

It's hard out there for a law student. All the stuff to stumble through on the way to that J.D.: torts, property, contracts, evidence, civil procedure, AutoAdmit.

That last item is a new development: a Web site of postings for law schools prestigious and otherwise, where students blab about whatever. An awful lot of it is about other students, most of it mean-spirited. This is all extremely weird for those of us born before the Carter administration, who tend to assume that scrutiny about breast implants--there was a whole thread of discussion devoted to whether one Ms. J.D.-to-be was silicone-enhanced--is reserved for celebrities. The flat, affectless sexual bravado of the trash-talk on AutoAdmit is also a bit of a shock, coming from allegedly intelligent legal minds.

The AutoAdmitters were happily going about their gossip, yakking away like yentas pinning laundry on the clothesline, until sometime last week. That's when the Washington Post ran a front-page story about some young women here at Yale Law School whose careers--if not their lives--had been ruined by some salacious postings. The descriptions of them--sluts and whores--and the suggestions about what might be done to them--rape and sodomy--were showing up on Google searches of their names, and had prevented at least one of them from securing employment.

Since then, Dean Elena Kagan at Harvard Law School and Dean Harold Koh here at Yale have sent out open letters, condemning the nasty communications. We've had speak-outs and write-ins, organized blue-ribbon panels and worn red outfits for solidarity. There's talk of legal remedies and media campaigns. Mostly, the young women would simply like the offending postings removed from the bulletin board. This is not likely to happen. Not because it shouldn't--of course it should. But because once again, for about the 80th time in my memory and for at least the 80,000th time in the life of this country, here is an issue in which the right to free speech--as opposed to the need for everyone to just shut up--is going to overwhelm us all.

Cybertalk is about as governable as Iraq, and the First Amendment allows for most other expression, making the U.S. a very loud place. For every interest group that says it's being silenced, for all the people who think they're not permitted to talk back to power, there are the real rest of us for whom the din is deafening. The firstness of the First Amendment trumps everything that competes with it. This is particularly so if you're going to take your case as high as the Supreme Court, which has struck down rape shield laws and permitted pictures that resemble kiddie porn--in the name of First Amendment freedom. For all Congress's threats to pass a bill banning the burning of the American flag, even Justice Antonin Scalia has voted for the right to set Old Glory ablaze, because the First Amendment guarantees it. Free expression is an issue that everyone can agree on: old-fashioned conservative textualists, because it's in the Constitution, and new-fangled liberal interpreters, because, well, it's in the Constitution. The Federalist Society and the ACLU all believe the same thing: the First Amendment means that anyone can say just about anything.

And really, short of that old chestnut--screaming "Fire!" on the main floor of Bloomingdale's--there's not a whole lot you can't say in public. Including the word "faggot," as we recently found out. Social norms may force you to go to rehab for your stupidity, but the law can't touch you at all. Likewise, there's not much that cannot be said about you. "Exposure of the self to others in varying degrees is a concomitant of life in a civilized society," opined the Supreme Court in 1967. This was decades before "Cops," in the century before YouTube.

In such a world, what to do about AutoAdmit? To start with, pray for mercy, because based on the content of its postings, the future of jurisprudence does not look good. Having done that, plead for civility. Just because we can say anything, does that mean we must say everything? While I could never advocate censorship, I would certainly ask for sensitivity. We all have to live in this world, all seven billion of us, brushing closer and closer together, and bristling in this claustrophobia. Maybe we ought to be slightly more careful before we say whatever it is we feel compelled to freely express. Maybe we ought to stop, have a hesitation, before pressing the send button.

Continued in article

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

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Questions of Accounting and Accountability for Shrine Charities

"In Shriner Spending, a Blurry Line of Giving," by Stephanie Strom, The New York Times, March 19, 2007 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/19/us/19shrine.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

But his faith was shaken when he joined the leadership of the Suez Shriners in San Angelo, one of 191 temples affiliated with the order. He found that much of the money collected to support the hospitals was commingled with money used for liquor, parties and members’ travel to Shrine events. The Shrine’s national auditor largely confirmed his findings, but not before Mr. Goline was forced out of office.

His experience is not unique. An examination by The New York Times of Shrine records and minutes of Shrine meetings and interviews with current and former Shrine officials painted a picture of lax accounting procedures and oversight under which money earmarked for the hospitals instead financed temple activities.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's fraud updates are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

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"A Fresh Start for the Internet:  Stanford University researchers aren't just dreaming of a new Internet: they're building it" by Rachel Ross, MIT's Technology Review, March 19, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18397/

Researchers at Stanford University are on a mission to completely revamp the Internet. Plans for their multipart program, called the Clean Slate Design for the Internet, will be presented to the public this Wednesday at the school's annual Computer Forum. Ultimately, the researchers hope to make the Internet safer, more transparent, and more reliable by reconsidering both private and public networks.

Ten years ago, some researchers thought the Internet would be routinely used for all kinds of essential services, from remote surgery to even air-traffic control. "To think of that today is kind of laughable," says Nick McKeown, an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Stanford and leader of the Clean Slate project. "If air-traffic control was carried on the Internet, I, for one, wouldn't fly."

The Internet may have revolutionized society, but McKeown points out that there are still some basic things it doesn't do well. There's no reliable way of knowing whom data comes from, for example, because the Internet was designed in a way that makes it "ridiculously easy" to fake any information's origin, McKeown says. It would be much easier to eliminate unsolicited e-mail messages if the sender could be verified because spammers could be quickly identified and prosecuted.

The intent of data can also be masked. Data packets that might look as though they were sent for a legitimate purpose could actually be intended to damage the network by spreading viruses or searching for secret information. When the Internet was first designed, "it was assumed that everyone would be well behaved, but we're obviously in an era now where we can't make that assumption," McKeown says.

To address these and other issues, Clean Slate researchers are working in small teams on separate projects. One team is tackling corporate network security issues by turning the current model on its head and developing a 400-user wireless network called Ethane.

Most corporate computer networks currently have a firewall at the outer edge of the network to protect it. But machines within the corporate network are free to communicate with one another. "That shouldn't be the case," says David Mazieres, assistant professor of computer science at Stanford and member of the Ethane development team, in part because the current model is a "big pain" to maintain.

McKeown says there should be an easy way, for example, to send all of the traffic from computers without the latest security patches installed and filter it through an intrusion detection device, so that viruses don't spread within the corporate network. "But there's no way of doing that now," he says.

Instead of letting all computers within the corporate network communicate freely, Ethane is designed so that communication privileges within the corporate network have to be explicitly set; that way, only those activities deemed safe are permitted. "With hindsight, it's a very obvious thing to do," McKeown says.

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Vista: Slow And Dangerous
The security program is so annoying you're likely to turn it off.
Stephen H. Wildstrom, "Vista: Slow And Dangerous,"  Business Week, March 26, 2007 --- Click Here

When I write a column, I almost never feel I have had enough time using the product under review. Even in the rare instance in which deadlines aren't bearing down, I often realize later on that I've missed a fair amount. In the case of Microsoft's (MSFT ) Windows Vista, flaws that I thought would grow less annoying with extended use have actually become more troublesome.

Most of the time I spent testing Vista was with sluggish pre-release versions. I expected things to improve when I ran the finished software on PCs configured for the new Windows version. I now realize that Vista really is slow unless you throw a lot of hardware at it. Microsoft claims it will run with 512 megabytes of memory. I had recommended a minimum of a gigabyte, but 2 GB is more like it if you want snappy performance. This is especially true if you're also running resource-hungry Microsoft Office 2007.

The most exasperating thing about Vista, though, is the security feature called User Account Control. UAC, satirized in an Apple (AAPL ) ad as a security guy who constantly interrupts a conversation, appears as a pop-up asking permission before Windows will do a number of things: change system settings, install programs, or update antivirus software. UAC may well be necessary to block malicious programs from secretly installing themselves or hijacking your browser settings. But Microsoft has designed it to drive you nuts.

A RECENT EXPERIENCE DEMONSTRATES what I mean. I was working away when Windows OneCare, Microsoft's extra-cost security program, suddenly popped open a window asking me if it should give a program called wercon.exe access to the network. To begin with, this is a question that would mystify nearly everyone. (It turns out wercon.exe is a tool that sends error reports back to Microsoft.) When I clicked O.K., UAC asked me if it should let OneCare proceed. You would think Windows would be able to figure this out for itself and that these different security components would work together. But Vista leaves it all to the user to sort out.

There's a real danger here: UAC is such a nag that many folks will just turn it off, which Microsoft has made quite easy to do. Disabling UAC is especially tempting if you have set up limited accounts for your children that let you restrict the sort of Web sites they can visit, the programs they can run, and the amount of time they can spend on the computer. With limited accounts, the kids will have to find a parent whenever a UAC window pops up. But if you give them unlimited accounts to deal with UAC requests, they can undo any restrictions.

Unfortunately, turning off UAC severely weakens Vista's defenses. In a study of Vista security, Symantec (SYMC ) researcher Orlando Padilla found that without UAC, Vista's resistance to hostile software was similar to that of Windows XP. Before Vista, Windows promiscuously let programs install new software and make system changes without any notice to the user. UAC goes way too far the other way, requiring intervention for many innocent actions. The version of UAC in Mac OS X works much better, rarely popping up except during a software installation or upgrade.

As for general usability, I still have trouble finding once-familiar features that have been hidden in odd places. For example, unlike XP's My Network button, an item on Vista's main menu called Network does not give access to any network settings.

Things don't have to be this way. I've spent as much time with the redesigned Office 2007, and it feels quite comfortable. I'm sure I'll get used to Vista's quirks, Microsoft will smooth out the rough edges, and, in time, Vista's many attractions will outweigh the drawbacks. For now, though, it's a pain.

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American Women Through Time --- http://www.mtsu.edu/~kmiddlet/history/women/wh-timeline.html

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Some Elite Private Universities are Eliminating Student Loans

"Davidson Eliminates All Loans," by Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, March 19, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/19/davidson

Davidson College is today announcing that it will change future financial aid packages so that students will no longer need to borrow anything.

While several elite private universities and flagship public universities have effectively eliminated loans for students from low-income backgrounds, these programs (except for the one at Princeton University, which applies to all) typically have income limits. Davidson would be out front of other liberal arts colleges, including some with much larger endowments.

The move comes at a time that many colleges are rethinking their aid and loan policies. Just last week, Hamilton College, for example, announced that it was eliminating all merit scholarships and shifting the funds to need-based aid. Among the reasons Hamilton cited was a belief that demographics in the years ahead would require greater support for need-based financial aid.

Continued in article

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

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National Association of Biology Teachers: Instructional Materials --- http://www.nabt.org/sites/S1/index.php?p=25 

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

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Journal of Online Mathematics and its Applications --- http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/4/

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

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Free Conferencing

March 20, 2007 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU]

Our school has been looking at Horizon-Wimba for web conferencing but it is verrry expensive. I personnaly have been using GoToMeeting --- https://www.gotomeeting.com/ 

See the Techsmith blog below.
http://www.techsmith.com/community/blogcomments.asp?thread=324 

Richard J. Campbell
School of Business
218 N. College Ave.
University of Rio Grande
Rio Grande, OH 45674
Voice:740-245-7288
http://faculty.rio.edu/campbell 

March 20, 2007 reply from Bob Jensen

Yesterday Amy Dunbar set up a free conference call for eight people on FreeConference.com --- http://www.freeconference.com/ 
This free service can be used by businesses, individuals, and organizations.

It works great, although users do have to pay their own telephone charges (if any). Some of us were using cell phones yesterday to avoid long distance fees.

Bob Jensen

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A Website Devoted to Introductory Accounting

Intro to Accounting - Simple (Lessons, Problems, Solutions) --- http://www.simplestudies.com/ 

This site is created to increase understanding and popularity of accounting as a profession. Initially, the site was developed for CIS countries; however, it became quite popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, India and other countries. We received a lot of feedback and thank you letters. Thus, we decided to change design and revise all the materials. This site is the result of such effort.

Access to the site is completely free now. In the future we are planning to create a more sophisticated system with opportunities to adjust online learning environment to your individual needs. The future site will at least include lessons, problems, and multiple-choice questions. Solutions and answers will be available as well. Some additional features will be provided on a prepaid basis.

We believe that knowledge should be available to anybody without limits; thus, now and in the future, we will keep all theoretical material free for your use. We hope that such a structure will provide you with an opportunity to get material (free) and increase your understanding (paid basis), if so desired.

Subjects like cost/managerial accounting, statistics, economics, etc. will be covered in the future after we have seen that this site reaches its goal. The goal is to provide an opportunity to practice in a subject which is interesting to you at an affordable price.

Meanwhile, thank you for taking some time to read this message and for your desire to educate yourself. As a famous writer said, Knowledge is light, and Negligence is darkness.

Bob Jensen's links to free online accounting textbooks (and textbooks in other disciplines) can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks

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Top Undergraduate Business Schools According to Business Week --- http://bwnt.businessweek.com/bschools/undergraduate/07rankings/index.asp

"The Best Undergrad B-Schools," Business Week, March 19, 2007 --- http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_12/b4026066.htm

Some things have stayed the same. Wharton School is once again No. 1, solidifying its hold on the title of best undergraduate B-school in America. Outstanding faculty and high-caliber students make Wharton a premier program. But Wharton isn't standing still. In 2006-07 it introduced more opportunities to study abroad, more student involvement in faculty research, and a cohort system for undergrads that allows incoming students to take classes as a group, much the way MBAs do.

The University of Virginia, meanwhile, made a repeat appearance at No. 2, underscoring how different programs can excel on their own terms. A tiny two-year program at a public university, with in-state annual tuition of just $7,845, Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce could not be more different from Wharton, an elite four-year private-school program with enrollment and tuition about four times as high.

Yet Virginia rates higher on student satisfaction, sends a larger percentage on to top MBA programs, and is roughly on par with Wharton on key measures of academic quality. A dedicated faculty with a teaching style that demands active participation and teamwork, plus innovations such as a new multidisciplinary leadership program, don't hurt either.

We've profiled four business programs that stood out from the pack. You'll learn how the University of California at Berkeley leaped to No. 3; why No. 5-ranked University of Michigan is phasing out its two-year program; and how Cornell University provides opportunities for academic exploration at every turn. Finally, you'll get a peek behind Villanova University's surprising jump to No. 12.

BERKELEY (NO. 3) Don't be fooled by students lounging outdoors in the Haas Courtyard at University of California at Berkeley's gloriously sunny campus. At the Haas School of Business, the two-year undergraduate experience is packaged much like an MBA program, complete with advanced courses and a summer cohort system that allows students to progress as a group. But recruiter satisfaction, not the program's MBA-like structure, explains why Haas rocketed up nine spots to No. 3. In 2006 recruiters ranked Berkeley 41st. This year: No. 1.

What changed their minds? Haas cranked up its recruiting efforts, staffing Berkeley's undergraduate career center with an accounts manager who reaches out to potential employers and helps place students. This fall alone, 584 companies attended career fairs at Berkeley, up from 501 last fall, including a new early-bird event in November that helped employers get a head start on intern recruiting. The fair was one of a dozen held on campus throughout the year, where the likes of Intuit (INTU ), Cisco Systems (CSCO ), and Google (GOOG ) sought out students more vigorously alongside such newcomers as Bloomberg.

Berkeley also lavishes white-glove treatment on recruiters, who get fresh fruit and other perks, including student guides. "When our employers step out of their cars, they are taken by the hand by students," says Tom Devlin, director of the center. To confer VIP status on such leading recruiters as McKinsey, Microsoft (MSFT ), and Goldman Sachs (GS ), the school put them in a group of their own called the Berkeley Circle. Members get prominent placement on the career center Web site and are encouraged to provide advice on what their companies are looking for in undergrad business majors.

Of course, companies wouldn't be descending on Berkeley if they weren't happy with the product. JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM ). recruiter Sasha Price says Berkeley students have a rare combination of business knowhow and communication skills that belies their youth. "We have had some interviewers say to us: My God, these Haas students know more than some of the MBAs we've just hired,'" Price says.

Although students at times feel shortchanged when MBAs get preferential treatment in everything from faculty to facilities, as they do at many other schools, there are no complaints from undergrads when it comes to the job search. Stephen Wan, a senior who will be working in Apple Inc.'s (AAPL ) finance department this fall, says he has yet to see an unhappy employer on the Berkeley campus. It's not just the weather.

MICHIGAN (NO. 5) With more undergraduate business programs moving to a four-year format, No. 5-ranked Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan faced a conundrum. A top-ranked two-year program, it nevertheless was losing high-caliber applicants to four-year programs. The solution: split the difference at three years, and allow high school students to apply directly to the program so that they have a guaranteed spot once they're sophomores. Freshmen are also allowed to apply.

Interest in the program is already strong, and competition for spots keen. For this fall, 900 high schoolers tossed their hats in the ring. Only 65 got in, and their average high school GPA was a staggering 3.9. Those who make the grade find a college experience that is remarkably similar to an MBA program, with small classes and an emphasis on both teamwork and competition. "We're all a bunch of overachievers," says sophomore Michelle Berta.

And what about that extra year? It gives students the chance to take courses outside their majors, study abroad, and explore various business specialties before settling on one. By allowing them to take business courses earlier, it also builds competitive internship candidates and increases the chances to intern at more than one company. More than 90% of Ross students surveyed by BusinessWeek reported having internships already; the average at the Top 50 schools was 74%.

Some things haven't changed. The e-mail responses from diligent professors still come at 2 a.m., and competition for the top of the grading curve is stiff. White-glove treatment from the B-school's own career service office is a given. And although Michigan's undergraduates number about 25,000, Ross students feel part of a tight-knit community while still getting that Big 10 experience. Says senior Jason Tanker: "You have the best of both worlds."

CORNELL (NO. 10) Many b-schools produce well-rounded grads—encouraging students to forage well beyond their majors. Cornell, set amid the bucolic splendor of 4,000 wooded acres in Ithaca, N.Y., takes academic exploration a big leap further. In addition to the variety they encounter outside the business program, students get a second dose inside, where they're required, strangely enough, to take a full year of biology—thanks to the program's affiliation with Cornell's agriculture school—as well as five electives ranging from consumer behavior to emerging markets. They're also encouraged to look beyond the program for business-related courses, studying human relations in the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or leadership in the Johnson Graduate School of Management, home of Cornell's MBA.

That's one reason Cornell, graduating a little over 200 business students annually, jumped four spots this year. "If you are a quant person who never wants to do marketing, this isn't the school for you," says Cindy van Es, a statistics professor.

At schools with both an undergrad and MBA program, the younger students sometimes get the short end of the resources stick. Not at Cornell, where the two programs have separate faculties and facilities. There is one drawback, though. While upper-level courses may have as few as a dozen students, packed lecture halls of as many as 600 are common for introductory courses, which are shared with many nonbusiness students. Still, Program Director Ed W. McLaughlin says professors are recruited with the understanding that teaching undergraduates is a top priority. Chrissie Eckhart, a senior starting at HSBC (HBC ) in the fall, says one finance professor in a lecture class with 300 students knew everyone by name: "Professors really care about students."

Attracted by top-quality candidates, recruiters are more than willing to make the trek to Ithaca. The top 10 recruiters for business majors include eight big New York investment banks, among them Lehman Brothers (LEH ), Morgan Stanley (MS ), and Merrill Lynch (MER ).

But for Cornell students with a hankering for power suits and city living, the upstate location takes some getting used to. Senior Jerald Chau, a Hawaii native and soon-to-be business analyst at Fannie Mae (FNM ), calls Cornell's location "the boondocks," but says he has adapted. "Instead of surfing," he says, "I snowboard."

VILLANOVA (NO. 12) In the sunlit atrium of Bartley Hall, home to Villanova's business school, students are bound to bump into at least one professor who knows their name. Downstairs in the "Exchange," servers decked out in dollar-bill ties dish out sandwiches with names like "the Naz Stack," while a stock ticker runs overhead. There, undergrads work on group projects, check e-mail on school-provided laptops, or plot investment strategies for use around the corner on the Applied Finance Lab's mock trading floor.

It's this personal attention, up-to-date technology, and emphasis on real-world learning that earned Villanova the No. 12 spot this year. That the school managed to leap seven spots in one year is a testament to a major improvement in student satisfaction. "People are happy," says Denis Connell, a senior accounting major. "You can't escape it."

When James M. Danko arrived as dean in 2005, he wanted the business school to join the ranks of nationally recognized programs. He spent his first 100 days as dean meeting individually with faculty to sort out their needs. One of his first big moves was to lose the dowdy "College of Commerce & Finance" name, and in its place came the sleeker-sounding Villanova School of Business. "I'm concerned about Villanova's long-term brand," Danko says.

Among Danko's ideas for keeping Villanova on the cutting edge are plans for a new innovation center, which will be largely funded by alumni. He also commissioned a new undergraduate center in Bartley Hall, where B-schoolers will be able to get help for everything from a death in the family to advice on where to get the best haircut. The new facility opens in September.

The changes go well beyond the cosmetic. A revised curriculum this fall will include more advanced calculus to meet the growing needs of high-caliber students, and, next year, freshmen will begin taking new introductory courses, including business communication. Faculty are learning how to use financial technology tools in the classroom and have been visiting such companies as Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers (LEH ), and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ ) to pick the brains of executives generally.

And under Danko's leadership, previously overlooked fields such as marketing are finally getting their share of attention. Says Michael Radice, a senior marketing major: "They are bringing in people who are hiring all across the board."

Prospective students are taking notice of the improvements. Last year applications were up 35%, with a similar increase likely for this year. "The basketball team is hot," says Danko. "Well, so is the business school."

Bob Jensen's threads on the many controversies surrounding media rankings of colleges are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#BusinessSchoolRankings

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Should U.S. News Rankings Make College Presidents Rich?

"Should U.S. News Make Presidents Rich?" by Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, March 19, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/19/usnews

In a move that concerns some experts on college admissions and executive compensation, the Arizona Board of Regents has approved contract changes for Michael Crow, president of Arizona State University, that link $60,000 in bonus pay to an improved rating from U.S. News & World Report.

Crow — whose total compensation already tops half a million dollars — was awarded an additional bonus plan tied to achieving specific performance goals. Incentive-based bonuses are increasingly common as part of the compensation packages of college presidents — the idea, common in the corporate sector, is that such a system promotes accountability and rewards performance.

In Crow’s case, he would be paid an extra $10,000 for each of 10 goals he achieves and would get an extra $50,000 if he achieves all of them. Nine of the goals relate to actions on which the university is the key actor (goals such as increasing the diversity of freshmen, improving freshman retention, adding to research expenditures, improving faculty salaries, etc.). There is one goal over which the university has no direct control — an improved U.S. News ranking. If Crow achieves the other nine only, he would miss a shot at $50,000 in addition to the reward for the higher ranking.

While Arizona State has won acclaim for many academic improvements and innovations in recent years, it has never done well in U.S. News, and is currently listed as “third tier” among national universities.

The East Valley Tribune on Sunday drew attention to the rankings incentive, noting that Arizona State’s provost had been quoted in Inside Higher Ed just last week questioning whether there was any intellectual basis to the U.S. News approach to rankings.

Crow could not be reached for comment Sunday, but he told the Tribune that while he agreed that parts of U.S. News rankings were “subjective,” other parts — such as graduation rates — were valid and pointed to areas on which Arizona State needs to improve.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on the many controversies surrounding media rankings of colleges are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#BusinessSchoolRankings

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Top Business Firms in 2007 According to Business Week
This year's list is chock full of companies that are rewriting the rules in their industries. They are the agitators, the pioneers, and the game-changers that are leading the way in the 21st century.
Business Week, March 26, 2007 --- Click Here

When it comes to anticipating fashion trends, many apparel makers rely on the intuition of a charismatic designer like Ralph Lauren or a savvy executive like Mickey Drexler. But not the folks at Coach Inc. (COH ). Every year, the New York maker of women's handbags assiduously interviews more than 60,000 of its customers through Internet questionnaires, phone surveys, and face-to-face encounters with shoppers at the 300 stores. Such intense market research has helped Coach executives spot trends well before the herd, and this in turn has helped it to extend the brand far beyond the leather bags that long were its trademark and into watches, accessories, and clothing. After hearing customers complain that they couldn't find decent carry-on luggage for weekend getaways, for example, the company in July, 2006, launched its "Signature Stripe" travel bags--a new line that accounted for a hefty 15% of Coach's sales of full-priced merchandise during the first month out of the gate.

That ability to peer around corners ahead of competitors has paid off big for Coach shareholders: Sales have grown an average of 29% over each of the past three years, fueling a strong 63% averaged return on invested capital during the same period. Such stellar performance was enough to earn Coach the No. 2 spot in this year's BusinessWeek 50, our 11th annual ranking of the best-performing companies in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index. "This research gives us a real competitive advantage," acknowledges Coach Chief Executive Lew Frankfort. "The only way for us to grow on a sustained basis was if we evolved as our consumers evolved."

Companies in the BusinessWeek 50 represent our choices as the "best in class" from each of the 10 sectors that make up the S&P 500. To select this year's star performers, we first ran companies through a proprietary screen that we refined this year to emphasize two measures--how well each company's management has been using the capital at its disposal and sales growth. We also chose only the best performers from each sector, to ensure that we were rewarding true management excellence and not just the ability to ride the wake of a hot sector. And to provide the wisdom, perspective, and common sense that computers can't, BusinessWeek's editors and reporters reviewed each company on the list, making a limited number of changes where necessary.

OUTSTANDING CLASS The result may be one of the strongest groups of companies in the 11 years that we've conducted this annual search for the best performers. The Class of 2007 is chock full of companies that are rewriting the rules of engagement in their industries. They are the agitators, the pioneers, and the game changers that are leading the way in the 21st century. Case in point: This year's top performer, Google Inc. (GOOG ), is using the same mastery of algorithms that enabled it to dominate Internet search to launch innovative new services, including one brokering advertising for traditional media. The rankings also include dynamic companies such as Nucor (NUE ) (No. 4), which has deployed technology and cutting-edge employee-incentive programs to stand the steel industry on its head, and Apple (AAPL ) (No. 34), which is trying to revolutionize cell phones in the same way it did music players.

Our screening also produced the names of smaller companies playing at the top of their game, such as Rockwell Collins Inc. (COL ) (No. 24) and Varian Medical Systems Inc. (VAR ) (No. 14). They're joined by outfits ranging from Best Buy (BBY ) (No. 32) to payroll manager Paychex (PAYX ) (No. 40) to Black & Decker (BDK ) (No. 45). What distinguishes many of these organizations is a deep understanding of customers, a competitive advantage that has enabled them to sell more goods and services than rivals.

Best Buy, for example, recognized that computer buyers were nervous about fixing their desktop machines and developed its popular Geek Squad home PC repair service. For Paychex, a tight bond with customers has enabled it not just to manage payrolls for its small-business customers but also to provide tax services and benefits consulting. This type of constant innovation is increasingly critical for companies, given the shrinking lifespan of business plans. Chris Zook, head of the global strategy practice at Bain & Co. and author of the forthcoming management book Unstoppable: Finding Hidden Assets to Renew the Core and Fuel Profitable Growth, says his research shows that the average "shelf life" of business strategies has shrunk by roughly 50% over the past 15 years. The reason? "Globalization. Capital moves faster, and differentiations are harder to defend," he says. "But companies that are able to extend their franchise are able to achieve a new surge in growth, which is one of the hardest acts in business."

Zook points to United Parcel Service Inc. (UPS ), which clocked in at No. 33 in this year's rankings. With its basic business of delivering packages turning into a mature business growing in the mid-single digits, Atlanta-based UPS conducted extensive customer research that revealed that many of its corporate shippers were looking to offload the chore of managing their supply chains, which would free them to focus on their core businesses. So UPS went on an investment binge that today enables it to do everything from managing warehouses for customers to helping run clients' entire global transportation network. For some customers, it even handles repairs: If you own a Toshiba Corp. (TOSBF ) laptop that needs fixing, Toshiba provides an 800 number that's actually manned by UPS, which dispatches a UPS driver to pick up the broken laptop for shipping to a UPS warehouse in Louisville, where UPS-trained technicians fix it before shipping it back, via UPS, of course. That diversification has enabled Toshiba to focus on its core business of designing and building computers, and helped UPS boost its sales an average 13% over each of the past three years. "UPS is not just a transportation company anymore. It's an information technology company focusing on transportation," says David Simchi-Levi, a professor and supply-chain expert at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "There is going to be a lot of demand for such services, and UPS is perfectly positioned to deliver them efficiently."

STAYING FRESH

Inevitably, powerful macroeconomic forces helped shape this year's BW 50 rankings. The Class of 2007 includes a number of energy companies that are basking in the sharp rise in oil prices over the past two years: Sunoco (SUN ) (No. 6), EOG Resources (EOG ) (No. 20), Valero Energy (VLO ) (No. 36), and xto Energy (No. 49). And the housing boom taking place in recent years helped give a lift to a number of companies on the list, including Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY ) (No. 15), Sherwin-Williams (SHW ) (No. 22), and even Moody's (No. 29), which has enjoyed a booming business providing credit ratings for the trillions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities issued by Wall Street. (To avoid perceptions of favoritism, we excluded BusinessWeek's parent, The McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP ), from the rankings, even though its performance would have earned it a spot in the top 50.)

If there's one common trait among these companies, it's the degree to which these companies don't take their success for granted. Truth is, many work hard to anticipate and head off potential problems well before outsiders are even aware of these looming challenges. That's the case at Starbucks Corp. (SBUX ) (No. 28, its fourth consecutive appearance), where founder and Chairman Howard Schultz recently sent other executives a memo--leaked by an employee to a Starbucks blog--questioning whether such labor-saving initiatives as having baristas use automatic espresso machines was leading to what he called the "commoditization" of the Starbucks experience.

Continued in article

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From the World Bank
Economic Opportunities for Indigenous Peoples in Latin America --- Click Here

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From The Washington Post on March 20, 2007

How many companies did Microsoft buy last year?

A. 14
B. 19
C. 23
D. 26

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Arthur Andersen to Pay $73M In Enron Deal
A federal judge gave final approval to a $72.5 million settlement between Arthur Andersen and investors who sued the accounting firm over its role in the 2001 collapse of Enron.
"Arthur Andersen to Pay $73M In Enron Deal," SmartPros, March 13, 2007 --- http://accounting.smartpros.com/x56911.xml

The lead plaintiff, University of California Board of Regents, has recovered more than $7.3 billion, including $2 billion or more each from Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, J.P. Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) and Citigroup (NYSE: C), but Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER) and Credit Suisse Group (NYSE: CS), who are also named in the lawsuit, have asked a U.S. appeals court in New Orleans to rule that the complaint should not have been certified as a class action.

U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon signed the final order, effectively ending the now defunct accounting firm's involvement in the $40 billion class-action lawsuit.

Arthur Andersen was convicted in June 2002 of obstruction of justice for its role in the Enron saga. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned the conviction, but the accounting firm is now virtually out of business.

Bob Jensen's threads on Enron and Worldcom are at  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudEnron.htm

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Understanding Race --- http://www.understandingrace.org/

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From the Scout Report on March 16, 2007

Zotero 2.0 --- http://www.zotero.org/ 

For those trying to complete any lengthy citations (or even brief ones), Zotero will be a most welcome find. The program works as a Firefox 2.0 extension which helps users collect, manage, and cite research sources. As it functions within the browser itself, visitors can automatically capture citation information from web pages, and users can also take notes along the way as they work. The program also comes with complete documentation and is compatible with all computers running on either Windows or Mac operating systems. 

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Google Desktop 5.0.703.5398 --- http://desktop.google.com/ 

Slogging through the contents of any hard drive can be a laborious process, so it is nice to know that many aspects of this task are improved with the use of this version of Google Desktop. With this application, search results are returned in a web-page format which resembles the Google site. Visitors can also customize the program to add various gadgets, such as a calendar, a National Public Radio gadget, and a virtual flower pot. This version is compatible with all computers running Windows XP, 2003, and Vista.

 

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Updates from WebMD --- http://www.webmd.com/
 

March 16, 2007

• Binge Drinking Rises
• Kids' Asthma Out of Control
• Obesity Bad for Prostate Cancer
• ID Sudden Death Risk in Athletes
• Chickenpox Vaccine May Wear Off

March 18, 2007

• CPR: Mouth-to-Mouth Not Best
• Most New Drugs Come From Nature
• Hepatitis Rates Hit Record Lows
• Gene Glitches May Up Autism Risk
• Chickenpox Vaccine May Wear Off

March 20, 2007

• Americans Eating Fewer Veggies
• Chiropractic Cuts Blood Pressure
• Canned Fruits, Veggies Healthy
• Hepatitis Rates Hit Record Lows
• Most New Drugs Come From Nature

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WomenWatch: Feature on Women with Disabilities --- http://www.un.org/womenwatch/enable/index.html

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Chest Presses, Not Breaths, Help CPR
Chest compression -- not mouth-to-mouth resuscitation - seems to be the key in helping someone recover from cardiac arrest, according to new research that further bolsters advice from heart experts.
Marilynn Marchione, PhysOrg, March 16, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news93266927.html
Also see http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20070316/CPR-mouth-to-mouth-not-much-help

"Without Mouth-to-Mouth, CPR Still Works," The New York Times, March 18, 2007 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/17/health/17cpr.html

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Dramatic increase of Type 1 diabetes in under fives
Researchers are calling for more work in to the reasons behind a big increase of young children with Type 1 diabetes. A new study, led by Bristol University, has discovered that the number of children under five-years-old with Type 1 diabetes has increased five-fold over 20 years.
PhysOrg, March 16, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news93273633.html

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"Swell gel could bring relief to back pain sufferers:  Scientists at The University of Manchester believe injections of tiny sponge-like particles could provide an alternative to major surgery in the treatment of chronic lower back pain," PhysOrg, March 19, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news93523693.html 

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"Sexually Transmitted HPV Remains Mystery," by Martha Irvine, PhysOrg, March 16, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news93245643.html

Nearly every working day, Dr. Elizabeth Poynor encounters anxious young women who come to her New York City office with an HPV diagnosis. The human papillomavirus is the most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases - so common that researchers estimate most people will have some form of it in their lifetime. Young adults are especially at risk because they tend to be the most sexually active group.

And yet Poynor finds that most of her young patients - even if they've heard of a new vaccine aimed at preventing the worst kinds of HPV - know little about the virus and the harm it can do.

Many women find themselves scrambling to understand HPV after a routine Pap smear determines they have it. And that, Poynor and others say, creates angst that could be avoided with more education.

"This is a very common problem, period," Poynor, a gynecological oncologist in private practice, says of HPV. "That's the first thing I try to tell my patients, to put their minds at ease and to potentially take away some of the stigma that a sexually transmitted disease might carry."

The reasons that HPV is so little known are many. Poynor thinks it's been overshadowed by higher-profile STDs, such as HIV and herpes. Others note that, when marketing its vaccine, pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. has chosen to focus on the potential for cervical cancer rather than the virus itself, which also can cause genital warts.

Continued in article

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"Keep On Druckin':  Blue-chip books on business management," by Ken Roman, The Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2007 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/fivebest/?id=110009800 

1. "The Effective Executive" by Peter F. Drucker (Harper & Row, 1967).

"The Effective Executive" is the quintessential guide to management principles by the acknowledged master of the subject, Peter F. Drucker. He defines effectiveness as "a habit . . . a complex of practices that can always be learned." Those practices include knowing where time goes, focusing on outcomes rather than work, building on strengths and not weaknesses, and concentrating on a few areas that will produce outstanding results. Drucker once observed that there are not 24 hours in a day but only two or three; the difference between the effective executive and everyone else, he said, is the ability to use those hours productively and "get the right things done." 2. "Management and Machiavelli" by Antony Jay (Holt, 1967). British author Antony Jay makes the case in "Management and Machiavelli" that management is but a continuation of the old art of government. He finds management principles in Renaissance Italy, Bismarck's Prussia and imperial Rome. He regards Machiavelli's "The Prince" (1513) as "bursting with urgent advice and acute observations for top management"--e.g., strong vs. weak leaders ("the barons are strong when the king is weak"). Jay shows how the Roman Empire ran its world-wide business by putting in command men who were "trained, selected and trusted by Rome to govern the province." Ultimately, this is a portrait of leadership. Machiavelli saw success and failure for states as stemming directly from the qualities of the leader--the prince. 3. "What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School" by Mark H. McCormack (Bantam, 1984). There's no better guide to how to sell than "What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School," but the self- described "street smart" executive Mark H. McCormack also offers invaluable advice on getting ahead and managing a business. Showing how he used "applied people sense" to found the sports-management company IMG, which helped transform professional sports into big business, McCormack recommends learning how to utter three hard-to-say phrases: "I don't know," "I need help" and "I was wrong." A Drucker disciple, he seldom accepted incoming phone calls ("an interruption"), preferring to deal with phone messages in his own time, when he could focus his attention. Email was made for guys like that. 4. "Confessions of an Advertising Man" by David Ogilvy (Atheneum, 1963). Advertising is but a part of this book; the real message here is management. David Ogilvy's principles apply to any creative organization and many professional-service companies. He tells us that when he worked as a sous-chef in a French kitchen, he learned "exorbitant standards of service" that he later applied to his own company. He obsesses about finding talent (people with "fire in their bellies"), winning new business ("self-advertisement," "midnight oil")--and keeping it ("successful polygamy depends upon pretending to each spouse that she is the only pebble on your beach"). Having worked at the agency David Ogilvy founded, I was lucky enough to have seen him put these principles into practice. 5. "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?" by Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (HarperCollins, 2002). IBM was losing $16 billion a year and contemplating a breakup strategy when Lou Gerstner arrived as CEO in 1993. In "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?," he provides a blow-by-blow account of how he stabilized the company (famously, he said "the last thing IBM needs right now is a vision"), rebuilt its strategy around IT services and e-business, and rehabilitated IBM's reputation. In the process of this turnaround, Gerstner also overhauled a "hothouse" culture that cut off IBM from a quickly changing marketplace ("Culture isn't just one aspect of the game--it is the game"). This playbook about executing a successful competitive and cultural transformation--unlike so many others--was actually written by the man whose name is on the cover. Mr. Roman, the former chief executive of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, is writing a biography of David Ogilvy for Palgrave Macmillan.

 

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Forwarded by Paula

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A few from Maxine --- http://screamofcrop.tripod.com/max.html
Also see http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/552477539myShEE?start=36

They hold elections in November, because that's the best month for picking out a turkey.

I hear you changed your mind at last. What did you do with the diaper?

Pitching a tent is no problem. I pitched mine into the trash years ago.

You're welcome to kiss the cook. Guess where?

I always cook with charcoal. The gas comes later!

It's tourist season. How come we can't shoot them?

Don't let aging get you down. It's hard to get back up.

Butt jiggle is just another way of waving goodbye.

My definition of computer chips is what's left over after the sledge hammer.

If you woke up breathing then congratulations. It means you have another chance.

I think I've reached my sexpiration date.

I'm not saying sixty is old. But I'm thinking it.

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Forwarded by Paula

What will be the theme of your funeral?
A cardiologist died and was given an elaborate funeral. A huge heart covered in flowers stood behind the casket during the service. Following the eulogy, the heart opened and the casket rolled inside. The heart then closed, sealing the doctor in the beautiful heart forever. At that point, one of the mourners burst into laughter. When all eyes stared at him, he said, "I'm sorry, I was just thinking of my own funeral........I'm a gynecologist."

The proctologist fainted.