We had to do some shoveling before we could bump Erika up these stairs in a wheel chair in April. Now we have good news on two fronts. One is that the late April snow is melted so that this shortest stairway to our cottage is safer. Two is that Erika can now walk up and down these front stairs --- no need for a wheel chair. However, she still has excruciating leg pain most of the time. Our inside lift will be installed on May 21 about the same time our new propane backup generator will also be installed. During May 6-8 we will once again be down in Boston for a myelogram. The saga of her recent surgeries is chronicled at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Erika2007.htm

It's been sunny and beautiful up here but the winds are still cold. I love the coolness of a mountain springtime. We have nearly 16 hours of daylight now which is double winter's light. They've commenced to golf (in warm jackets and hats) behind our cottage, although Bob Jensen has no time for such frivolity. He's too busy in retirement. Retirement? What in the heck is that?

 Paul Heywood from the historic Homestead down the road tapped two of our big maple trees and brought us a quart of sweet maple syrup. The young daughters of Lon and Nancy Henderson are raising four ducklings in a Sunset Hill House bathtub. Ducklings grow at an amazing rate. These will be moved to a pond on the golf course in early June. Then the worry will be coyotes, bobcats, and fisher cats. These fat predators, however, focus more on our many wild turkeys up here. Fortunately there are no alligators or dangerous snakes in New Hampshire. Bull frogs in our small pond beside our cottage sometimes disturb our sleep and night, but not as bad as the occasional screams of fisher cats in the woods. I especially love the night calls of the hoot owls.

If you look close at the pond above you will see a white speck that is really a mother duck. About a mile away a New Hampshire landmark called Polly's Pancake Parlor at Hildex Farm will be opening for Mothers Day.

Tidbits on May 6, 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 

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

Do You Remember Me? (in Iraq) --- http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0
Meet Our Decorated Heroes: God Bless Them! --- http://familysecuritymatters.org/global.php?id=950394

Video: The Acting Speaker of the Palestinian Authority's Legislative Council called for the killing of every last Jew and American.
Nissan Ratzlav-Katz, IsraelNationNews, May 1, 2007 --- http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122302

Birth of TV [cultural apocalypse] --- http://www.birth-of-tv.org/

What Not to Do in PowerPoint (Video) --- http://blog.wildform.com/2007/04/death_by_powerpoint_a_comedy_v.html

An Electrifying Life Off the Ground (with a physics lesson) --- http://www.glumbert.com/media/highpower
Ed Scribner claims the guy on top of the helicopter is accounting professor David Albrecht. I think Ed was down below trying to toss up a grounding cable.

Tom Rush - Remember Song (country song about growing old) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yN-6PbqAPM

National Academy of Sciences: Webcast Archive --- http://www.nap.edu/webcast/webcast_list.php

Not Just A Number (Video about violence in Oakland, CA) ---  http://www.bayareanewsgroup.com/multimedia/iba/njn/index.html

A Reporter’s Memories of Writer David Halberstam --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9790650 

Frontline: Hot Politics --- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hotpolitics/

Amazing 11-Year Old Girl --- http://www.dailymotion.com/visited/video/x6sfz_amazing-11-year-old

Aboriginal Canada Portal --- http://www.aboriginalcanada.gc.ca/acp/site.nsf/en/index.html

Who drank the orange soda (a budding politician)? --- http://watch.break.com/287498/A_little_kid_lies_his_head_off/

Annoying Office Worker --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyeDF1CAK-c

Podcast
Sex Traffic, Third Most Lucrative International Criminal Activity Dechen Tsering from Global Fund for Women introduced Thailand/Cambodia service learning trip participants to this underground industry by which millions of women and girls each year are tricked, trapped, bought, sold, and forced into sex services ---
http://www.siconversations.org/shows/detail1198.html

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

Smithsonian Jazz --- http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/start.asp

Amazing 11-Year Old Girl --- http://www.dailymotion.com/visited/video/x6sfz_amazing-11-year-old

Tom Rush - Remember Song (country song about growing old) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yN-6PbqAPM

Music for Dusty Roads and Endless Possibilities --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9974112

'Moonglow, Lamp Low' by Eleni Mandell --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10001874

Infectious Pop From Peter Björn & John --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9807712

Mel Bay’s Creative Keyboard --- http://www.creativekeyboard.com/

Looking for a song you heard between stories on one of NPR's news or talk programs? It's called "Music Interlude." ---
http://www.npr.org/templates/music/

There are no free music downloads here, but note the names of the CPA bands reported in the AccountingWeb on April 30, 2007:

Five bands composed of accountants will rock out May 19 in a battle of the bands to raise money for accounting scholarships at two Washington state colleges.

Seattle-area bands including Disregarded Entity, Accounting Crows, Industry Audit Guys, Facial Depreciation, and Terminal Liability will participate in the second annual Battle of the Bands.

The players are all members of the Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants.

The money raised will go toward accounting scholarships at Highline Community College and Central Washington University.

Question If you had a CPA music band, what would you name it?
Jensen Ideas:

Horny Accountants
Dancing Debits
Crying Credits
Croaking the Books or Crooning the Books
CPA Sway
Energized Equities
Sin Doctors or Sin Surgeons
The Intangibles
Booked Options
Backdated Options
Jail House Rhythms
Prison Pals 
REA Rhythms
Unlimited Liabilities
The Contingencies
The Fair Values
The Excels
The ERPs
The SAPs
Rockers and Geekers
Mr. Taxman, Send Me a Team

George Wright (Loyola College) tells us he's in the Mood Swings band --- http://moodswings.com/
It sounds great!

May 2, 2007 reply from Tracey Sutherland [tracey@aaahq.org]
Who started this -- it's just terrible -- but irresistible . . . Smashing Derivatives . . . The Special Entities. . . Tones at the Top. . . perfect end of spring semester temptation! Thanks. Hope all's well with you. Tracey

May 1, 2007 reply from Peter Kenyon [pbk1@HUMBOLDT.EDU]

We have to consider the music genre. Try these
.
Pop/Top 40: Functional Fix
Rap: BBBL (Big, Bad Bottom Line)
Soul: The Expectations
Gospel: The Chambers Singers
World Beat: Accrual World
Blues: The Regulators
Reggae: Watts Happening
Country: Death & Taxes
Smooth Jazz: Sweet Deferral
Big Band: Concatenated Keys

Peter Kenyon
Humboldt State

Jensen Comment
I agree with David Albrecht that Peter's best one is "Accrual (A Cruel) World."

Sue Ravenscroft suggested Financial Notes or Sliding Scales.
Her Relay for Life team was named the Running Subtotals.

Roberta Lipsig wrote:
When my son was a statistics major he came up with a band name: Mean and the Standard Deviations. Their motto would be “You may think we’re normal, but we’re mean!

May 1, 2007 reply from Paul Krause

Bob-

Add these to your list-

Pop/Top 40: Functional Fix
Rap: BBBL (Big, Bad Bottom Line)
Soul: The Expectations
Gospel: The Chambers Singers
World Beat: Accrual World
Blues: The Regulators
Reggae: Watts Happening
Country: Death & Taxes
Smooth Jazz: Sweet Deferral
Big Band: Concatenated Keys

Paul Krause

Chico, CA, USA
Paul@PaulKrause.com 

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

Love, War and History: Israel's Yehuda Amichai (audio poetry) ---
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9699843

Remembering the Hindenburg in Verse --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9996225

The Vital Message by Arthur Conan Doyle --- Click Here 

A Pacifist's Plainspoken Poetry (William Stafford) --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9859873 

The Dynamiter by Robert Louis Stevenson --- Click Here 

The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson --- Click Here 

Aboriginal Canada Portal --- http://www.aboriginalcanada.gc.ca/acp/site.nsf/en/index.html 

"Coalbrookdale and the History of Coal Power," by Renee Montagne --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9955564 
Also see "China's Coal-Fueled Boom Has Costs," by Louisa Lim, NPR, May 2, 2007 ---http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9947668 

Science and Engineering Encyclopedia http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/h/o/home/source.html

Dear Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, National Guard, Reservists, in Iraq , in the Middle East theater, in Afghanistan , in the area near Afghanistan , in any base anywhere in the world, and your families: Let me tell you about why you guys own about 90 percent of the backbone in the whole world right now and should be happy with yourselves and proud of whom you are.
Ben Stein --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Stein

Switzerland is one of the world's richest and most tranquil countries, but it also has more suicides than most. This may show that money (or yodeling) doesn't buy happiness,
Douwe Miedema, Reuters via Yahoo News, May 1, 2007 --- http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070501/lf_nm/swiss_suicide_dc

“It would come through the small-business community like a tsunami,” he said in an interview. “For a substantial number of small businesses and many of our established businesses, the tax would be higher than the profit. That is the real problem with it.” “We all want health care,” Mr. Jackson continued. “But business closure is not good health.”
Susan Saulny, "Tax to Pay for Health Plan in Illinois Faces Resistance," The New York Times, May 5, 2007 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/05/us/05illinois.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Euro MPs are demanding new laws to stop cows and sheep PARPING (i.e., burping and farting). Their call came after the UN said livestock emissions were a bigger threat to the planet than transport. The MEPs have asked the European Commission to “look again at the livestock question in direct connection with global warming”. The official EU declaration demands changes to animals’ diets, to capture gas emissions and recycle manure.
The Sun, April 29, 2007 --- http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007190671,00.html
Jensen Comment
Research may show that all that's needed is a tube connecting the animal's air intake to its mouth and butt. If it works for cows, I recommend that we also apply it to the other great parpers of the world --- lawyers and politicians.

Howard Dean, head of the Democratic National Committee, once again is proving he has unusual views on the media. He says groups that want to hear candidates talk openly (i.e. not PARPING) should bar the media. "If you want to hear the truth from them, you have to exclude the press," is how he bluntly put it. On one level, that's not so controversial an idea. Today's "gotcha" journalism certainly makes candidates cautious and fearful that any stray remark will be blown out of proportion by someone in search of a headline . . . The Democratic Party's chairman has long expressed a position that federal regulation of the media -- in the form of a new Fairness Doctrine or the breakup of entities such as Fox News -- wouldn't be a bad idea. In 2003, while a presidential candidate, he railed, "Media corporations have too much power... The media has clearly abused their privilege, and it is hurting our democracy."
Political Diary, April 27, 2007 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/politicaldiary/ \

The U.S. economy is getting stronger, and the war in Iraq is getting more unpopular. Normally that spells trouble for military recruiters. But for nearly two years, the Army has managed to meet or exceed its recruiting and retention goals.
Guy Raz, "Against the Odds, Army Meets Recruiting Goals," NPR, May 1, 2007 ---
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9937581

Testifying under oath recently, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misled Congress in her strong defense of Al-Hurra, the taxpayer financed Arab TV network. It was unwitting, though. She herself was misled.
Joel Mowbrey, "Mad TV:  U.S. taxpayers subsidize terrorist propaganda and Holocaust denial in the Arab world," The Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2007 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010011

How much money does it take to screw in a compact fluorescent light bulb? About US$4.28 for the bulb and labour -- unless you break the bulb. Then you, like Brandy Bridges of Ellsworth, Maine, could be looking at a cost of about US$2,004.28, which doesn't include the costs of frayed nerves and risks to health. Sound crazy? Perhaps no more than the stampede to ban the incandescent light bulb in favour of compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs).
Steven Malloy, "The CFL mercury nightmare," Financial Post, April 28, 2007 --- Click Here

Flush with petrodollars, and amid disarray in the Western camp, Russia's hopes of restoring its lost empire are rising. Vladimir Putin's annual address to both houses of the parliament, delivered last week, was just the latest signal. The Russian president declared that his country's obligations under the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty would be suspended as long as the U.S. planned to install a missile defense shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Mr. Putin threatened Russia would abandon the treaty if NATO countries failed to address his grievances. The defense shield, he claimed, was a threat to national security.
Mart Lar, "Imperially Deluded," The Wall Street Journal, May 3, 2007 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117814574418090052.html?mod=opinion&ojcontent=otep

The book "Freakonomics" estimates that 50 percent of people lie on their resumes. Marilee Jones is one of them, and it cost her a high-profile job at MIT.
"Another Worker Pays the Price for Fabricating Resume," PhysOrg, April 28, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news96987628.html

Let us enrich ourselves with our mutual differences.
Paul Valéry --- Click Here

There was the (high school) girl who, during summer vacation, left her house before 7 each morning to make a two-hour train ride to a major university, where she worked all day doing cutting-edge research for NASA on weightlessness in mice. When I was in high school, my 10th-grade science project was on plant tropism — a shoebox with soil and bean sprouts bending toward the light. These kids who don’t get into Harvard spend summers on schooners in Chesapeake Bay studying marine biology, building homes for the poor in Central America, touring Europe with all-star orchestras. Summers, I dug trenches for my local sewer department during the day, and sold hot dogs at Fenway Park at night.
Michael Winerip (Harvard alum who now interviews occasional Harvard applicants), "Young, Gifted, and Not Getting Into Harvard," The New York Times, April 29, 2007 --- Click Here
Jensen Comment
The above quotation caught my eye since when I was in high school (in the 1950s) I worked on a farm (mostly mucking up after cows, horses, and hogs), washed cars for the local Chrysler dealer, detassled corn for Pioneer Seed Corn Company, and cut meat in a local grocery store. My high school physics project consisted of four small lights that I could switch on and off to illustrate binary coding for computers. How times and pressures have changed for college applicants in modern times

A few weeks ago, the Phoenix City Council agreed to give Thomas J. Klutznick Co. $100 million for building a high-end shopping center. Backers of the deal say failure to subsidize retail would send developers to other cities or to Arizona’s Indian reservations. With a total sales tax of 8.1 percent, Phoenix has the highest sales tax rate of competitor cities. It may very well be true that Phoenix is losing business to neighboring cities. Poor tax policy has that effect. If taxes are stifling new business, the city should lower rates across the board. But tax deals for select...
Darcy Olsen, "The Millionaire’s Club Sweetheart deals between cities and private companies violate constitution," Goldwater Institute, May 1, 2007 --- http://www.goldwaterinstitute.org/aboutus/articleview.aspx?id=1551

Nationwide, home values crept up by barely 1% last year, but property-tax collections rose by 7%. The spread can be expected to continue to widen; home sales fell by 8% in March, the largest decline in 18 years. Even Connecticut has noticed. Republican Governor M. Jodi Rell, who is trying to raise income taxes and has been rated as one of the Governors least friendly to taxpayers, recently warned the Legislature "there is going to be a property-tax revolt in this state if real action is not taken." She's seeking a 3% per year cap on annual increases, this for a state that ranks third highest in per-capita property taxes. A new report from the Tax Foundation finds that while federal taxes have moderated, state and local taxes are now at an all-time high as a share of income. Florida could be the next state to act. The Legislature's current session has been dominated by debate over how to cap or reduce property taxes, and every politician in sight seems to have a plan. One proposal would roll back property taxes an enormous $6 billion and cut assessments as much as 40% in cities such as Miami where spending is out of control.
"Homeowners Rebellion," The Wall Street Journal, May 1, 2007; Page A20 --- Click Here

Video: The Acting Speaker of the Palestinian Authority's Legislative Council called for the killing of every last Jew and American.
Nissan Ratzlav-Katz, IsraelNationNews, May 1, 2007 --- http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122302

Afghanistan had nothing to do with September 11.
Rosie O'Donnel, on The View television show, as reported by Justin McCarthy, "Rosie Makes Up Facts and Smears Volunteer Soldiers, News Busters, May 1, 2007 --- http://newsbusters.org/node/12441
Jensen Comment
This is tantamount to denying al-Queda that  had anything to do with 9/11 terrorism since Afghanistan was openly Bin Laden's headquarters at the time. Rosie declares that its a fact President Bush killed over 3,000 Americans that day. What's sad is that media executives give air time to a nut like this.

Campaign Reform Hypocrisy: 527 Ways
The Democratic majority in Congress has pursued a reform agenda that so far has overlooked the campaign-finance loophole allowing soft money to flood so-called 527 organizations, loosely regulated political groups, most of which support liberal candidates. Top Democrats including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California once denounced soft money's influence on American politics, but they have backed off since taking over Congress this year. Since the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act prohibited national political parties from accepting or spending soft money unregulated dollars not given directly to candidates the 527 groups...
S.A. Miller, "Favored by 527s, Democrats mum on reforms," The Washington Times, May 1, 2007 --- http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070429-113415-2565r.htm

Missouri State University agreed to pay $185,000 to Michael Hendrix, who agreed to give up his job as a professor after it became known that he had been convicted of raping a child 25 years ago, The Springfield News-Leader reported.
Inside Higher Ed, May 2, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/05/02/qt
Jensen Comment
How long does it take to be forgiven? Forever and a day?

It's like a Thomas Hardy tragedy, because she did so much good, but something she did long ago came back and trumped it.
Leslie C. Perlman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, on Marilee Dean, the schools dean of admissions. Dean served the position for 10 yers before stepping down last week after it was revealed that she fabricated her academic credentials.

Jacques-Alain Miller has delivered unto us his thoughts on Google. In case the name does not signify, Jacques-Alain Miller is the son-in-law of the late Jacques Lacan and editor of his posthumously published works. He is not a Google enthusiast. The search engines follows “a totalitarian maxim,” he says. It is the new Big Brother. “It puts everything in its place,” Miller declares, “turning you into the sum of your clicks until the end of time.”
Scott McLemee, "Digital Masonry," Inside Higher Ed, May 2, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/05/02/mclemee 
Jensen Comment
I wonder if the same can be said (e.g., the clicks of a heel) of the Subject Index of an old-fashioned card catalog in a library? There's a bit of arrogance at work here that says finding knowledge should be the monopoly of specialists who develop their own index filing systems over years of personalized detection. Knowledge discovery that comes easy should be banned under Miller's reasoning. Banning Google seems to be more of a Big Brother-type of book (database) burning.

Engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a unique photocatalytic cell that splits water to produce hydrogen and oxygen in water using sunlight and the power of a nanostructured catalyst.
PhysOrg, May 1, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news97255464.html
Jensen Comment
General Motors recently bet the farm on hydrogen cars. Maybe this will bring hope to what otherwise is GM's fantasy.Much depends on the volume of hydrogen that can be cheaply produced.

The extermination of Jews is Allah’s will and is for the benefit of all humanity, according to an article in the Hamas paper, Al-Risalah. The author of the article, Kan'an Ubayd, explains that the suicide operations carried out by Hamas are being committed solely to fulfill Allah’s wishes. Furthermore, Allah demanded this action, because “the extermination of the Jews is good for the inhabitants of the worlds.” The killing of innocent Jews by terrorist attacks is portrayed as Allah’s plan for the benefit of humanity. 
Hamas --- http://pmw.org.il/bulletins_apr2007.htm#b030507

Equality of men and women is stupidity. What men can do, women cannot do. Women are weak physically and mentally compared to men. Men have to take care of women.
Qazi Ahmed and the Jamat --- Click Here

Britain teems with nests of serpents and scorpions of extremism who come from around the world: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Pakistan and other countries due to its flexible systems and the adoption of a policy to receive outcasts during the aftermath of World War II and the Soviet-Western conflict during which doors were opened to persecuted refugees who sought their rights.
"Britain: On the Brink of A Terrorist War," Aswarq Alawsat, April 7, 2007 ---
http://www.asharqalawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=8854

In this case the only salvation remaining was war… If the Jew with the help of his Marxist creed is victorious over the peoples of this world, then his crown will be the funeral wreath of humanity… Thus I believe today that I am acting according to the will of the almighty Creator: when I defend myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.
Adolph Hitler, Mein Kampf --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf

On the Gulf Coast of Florida, just south of the metropolitan Tampa Bay area, lies once-sleepy Manatee County, which today is experiencing gang warfare waged on its beaches by illegal aliens.
James H. Walsh, NewsMax, May 4, 2007 --- http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/5/4/133806.shtml?s=lh

We must remember that there are many men who, without being productive, are anxious to say something important, and the results are most curious.
Goethe as quoted in the bottom of an email message from Jagdish Gangolly

A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.
Daniel Webster as quoted by Mark Shapiro at http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-05-05-07.htm

A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
Washington Irving (1783-1859) --- Click Here

To speak to an operator go back in time to 1965.
Cartoon in The Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2007

She lived with her husband 50 years and died in a confident hope of a better life.
Epitaph quoted in the Readers Digest, March 2007, Page 180.

Do more than anyone expects, and pretty soon everyone will expect more.
As quoted at the bottom of a recent email message from Aaron Konstam

From the Opinion Journal on May 4, 2007
The Associated press asked the candidates for president what they would most like to have if stranded on a desert island. Here are the responses:

-Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich, Duncan Hunter and Mitt Romney said they'd bring their wives.
(Notably, Hillary Clinton did not say she'd bring her husband.)

-Mrs. Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama and John McCain all said books. Rudy Giuliani said "books and music."

-Chris Dodd said "coffee with cream and sugar."

-Sam Brownback said a tarp.

-Mike Huckabee said a "laptop with satellite reception."

-Tom Tancredo said a boat.

-Bill Richardson said "BlackBerry and a Davidoff cigar."

Jensen Comments
Spouses somehow bring Donner Pass to mind.
Books and music --- not very practical for survival.
Coffee with cream and sugar is not a bad idea if it's a year supply. Probably better to order bottled water, dried fruit, canned food, and a can opener (remember the economist versus the mathematician versus the cleric).
A tarp is less useful in a desert climate, but a rubber raft and a water dehydrator would be more practical.
Now the laptop with satellite reception is a good idea but not much help if you've no clue as to where you're located.
A Blackberry without a nearby service provider is not as wise as black berries.
Nobody mentioned a fishing pole with bait.
Now me, I'd wish for a genie in a bottle that would grant at least three wishes with no strings attached.
If there's no genie, them maybe Deborah Palfrey and a few of her friends.

Question
How did they overlook Bob Jensen as one of the most influential people in the world?
Who is the accounting/finance professor on the list and where’s in from?

• Artists & Entertainers
• Scientists & Thinkers
• Leaders & Revolutionaries
• Builders & Titans
• Heroes & Pioneers

"The Most Influential People in The World," Time Magazine Cover Story --- http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/time100?internalid=AOT_h_05-04-2007_the_most_influe

I'll never tell a backdated "Lie"

University of Iowa finance professor Erik Lie has been named one of the world's most influential people by Time magazine....In the overall list, Lie is included with other notables that include Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Roger Federer, Tony Dungy, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, John Roberts, Pope Benedict XVI, Al Gore, Elizabeth Edwards, Condolezza Rice and Chien-ming Wang. Lie was named to the list for his work in uncovering the stock options backdating scandal currently roiling corporate America.
Iowa City Press Citizen, May 3, 2007 --- Click Here

From ABC News: The Great Ethanol Fraud
There was a great piece on 20/20 last night about the ethanol fraud, read it here: http://abcnews.go.com  For example: But if ethanol made so much sense, we wouldn't have to subsidize it or mandate its consumption. Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute said, "If you can make a profit in this economy by putting something on the market, the government doesn't need to put a gun to your head."
John Stossel and Andrew G. Sullivan, "Sacrificing Our Children to the 'Corn God':  Ethanol May Not Be the Miracle It's Made Out to Be," ABC News, May 2, 2997 --- http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3130684&page=1 

Link forwarded by Richard Campbell
What Not to Do in PowerPoint (Video) --- http://blog.wildform.com/2007/04/death_by_powerpoint_a_comedy_v.html 

"European Science Foundation Report Examines Peer Review Issues," University of Illinois Issues in Scholarly Communication blog, April 24, 2007 --- http://www.library.uiuc.edu/blog/scholcomm/

The European Science Foundation (ESF), France, has published a report which reveals some concern on the shortcomings of peer review and outlines some possible measures to cope with them. The report, ‘Peer review: its present and future states’, draws on ideas from an international conference held in Prague in October 2006. Scientists are questioning whether peer review, the internationally accepted form of scientific critique, is able to meet the challenges posed by the rapid changes in the research landscape. The ESF report showcases a number of options that could lead to greater openness in innovative research. A central theme of the report is that the current peer review system might not adequately assess the most pioneering research proposals, as they may be viewed as too risky. The conference called for new approaches, enabling the assessment of innovative research to be embedded in the peer review system. Participants agreed that the increasing importance of competitive research funding has also added on the pressure on referees and on research funding agencies. All contributors to the conference report agreed that peer review is an essential part of research and that no other credible mechanism exists to replace it.

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

The AICPA's Financial Literacy Helper Site --- http://www.360financialliteracy.org/

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the U.S. --- http://www.fdi.net/

James Kazoun writes (ArabicNews)  that Iraq and Lebanon should declare bankruptcy --- http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/070501/2007050127.html

Jensen Question
What nations should not declare bankruptcy?
Certainly the U.S. should declare bankruptcy ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/entitlements.htm

Question
What online pharmacies are selling fake drugs?

"FDA Warns About Fake Internet Drugs FDA Says 24 Web Sites May Be Involved in Distributing Counterfeit Prescription Drugs," by Miranda Hitti, WebMD, May 1, 2007 ---
http://www.webmd.com/news/20070501/fda-warns-about-fake-internet-drugs

The FDA today strongly cautioned consumers about purchasing drugs from 24 web sites that may be involved in the distribution of counterfeit drugs.

The FDA links two of the 24 web sites to counterfeit versions of the weight loss drug Xenical.

The FDA says that Xenical's maker, the drug company Roche, tested three phony Xenical pills obtained from brandpills.com and pillspharm.com.

One phony Xenical pill contained the active ingredient in another weight loss drug. The two other fake Xenical pills contained only talc and starch, according to the FDA.

The FDA has previously linked four of the 24 web sites to counterfeit versions of the flu drug Tamiflu and counterfeit versions of the erectile dysfunction drug Cialis.

Overseas Web Sites

The web sites, which the FDA says appear to be operated outside the U.S., are:

• AllPills.net
• Pharmacy-4U.net
• DirectMedsMall.com
• Brandpills.com
• Emediline.com
• RX-ed.com
• RXePharm.com
• Pharmacea.org
• PillsPharm.com
• MensHealthDrugs.net
• BigXplus.net
• MediClub.md
• InterTab.de
• Pillenpharm.com
• Bigger-X.com
• PillsLand.com
• EZMEDZ.com
• UnitedMedicals.com
• Best-Medz.com
• USAPillsrx.net
• USAMedz.com
• BluePills-Rx.com
• Genericpharmacy.us
• I-Kusuri.jp

The 24 web sites appear on pharmacycall365.com under the "Our Websites" heading, the FDA notes.

FDA's Advice to Consumers

The FDA says consumers using online pharmacies should be wary if there is no way to contact a web site pharmacy by phone, if prices are dramatically lower than the competition, or if no prescription from your doctor is required.

The FDA's web site includes these safety tips for people buying prescription drugs online:

• Make sure the web site requires a prescription.
• Make sure the web site has a pharmacist available for questions.
• Buy only from licensed pharmacies located in the U.S.
• Don't provide personal information such as credit card numbers unless you're sure the web site will protect that information.

The FDA urges consumers to visit www.fda.gov/buyonline for more information before buying prescription drugs over the Internet.

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

Bob Jensen's consumer fraud site is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudReporting.htm

Accounting Controls in the State of Colorado Have at Least Ten Million Leaks
The amount Department of Revenue supervisor Michelle Cawthra allegedly stole from state coffers is now up to $10 million, double the initial estimate, lawmakers learned Friday. Cawthra's supervisor, Janet Swaney, was placed on administrative leave Friday as the investigation continued into how such a large amount could have been diverted without anyone noticing.
"Missing state money now put at $10 million:  Revenue chief testifies; boss of suspect on leave," Rocky Mountain News, May 5, 2007 --- Click Here

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

Global Business Traveler Knowledge Center on BusinessWeek.com
The Global Business Traveler Knowledge Center on BusinessWeek.com offers practical and business-related travel information on global destinations. From getting the and where to stay, to getting around and business etiquette, it holds all the useful tips and links you need for you next business trip ---
http://knowledgecenter.businessweek.com/business_travel/

Question
Do our mathematics skills peak at age seven?

A mathematical problem that just doesn't add up
Most of us share it and it seems a safe enough assumption: mathematical skills and performance develop and advance as students progress through their elementary school years. However, a new study by University of Notre Dame psychologist Nicole M. McNeil suggests that for at least one type of math problem, 7-year-old students are outperforming 9-year-olds.
PhysOrg, May 5, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news97508859.html

Cheating Scandal in the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University
In the biggest cheating scandal ever at Duke University’s business school, 34 students are facing penalties for collaborating on exam answers, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. Nine students face expulsion, while others face a range of penalties, including one-year suspensions from the MBA program.
Inside Higher Ed, April 30, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/30/qt
The ABC News account on May 1, 2007 is at http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3105733
 

"Duke MBAs Fail Ethics:  Test Thirty-four Fuqua School of Business students are accused of violating the school's honor code by cheating on an exam,"  by Alison Damast, Business Week, April 30, 2007 --- Click Here  

Cheating on the Rise

Business-school leaders have reason to be concerned. Fifty-six percent of graduate business students admitted to cheating one or more times in the past academic year, compared to 47% of nonbusiness students, according to a study published in September in the journal of the Academy of Management Learning & Education (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/24/06, "A Crooked Path Through B-School"). Donald McCabe, the lead author of the study and a professor of management and global business at Rutgers Business School, says the large number of students implicated in the Duke case is above average. "It's certainly not the biggest, but it's one of the bigger ones," he says of academic scandals involving all kinds of students.

One of the larger cases in the past five years was a cheating scandal in a physics class at the University of Virginia in 2002. The school eventually dismissed 45 students and revoked three graduates' degrees. In 2005, Harvard Business School rejected 119 applicants accused of hacking the school's admissions Web site (see BusinessWeek.com, 3/9/05, "An Ethics Lesson for MBA Wannabes").

The Duke occurrence came to light in mid-March, when the professor for the class noticed some unusual consistencies among students' answers on the final exam and as well as on assignments given during the course.

Stiff Penalties

The students were brought before the school's Judicial Board and are facing a range of wide range of punitive measures, including expulsion. The board is made up of three faculty members, three students, and one nonvoting faculty chair who only votes in case of a tie.

Thirty-eight students were initially investigated, only four of whom were found not guilty of violating the honor code. (Of the 38 students, 37 were accused of cheating and one of lying.) Of the remaining 34 students, 9 will be expelled, 15 will be suspended for one year and receive an F in the class, and the remaining 9 will receive an F in the course. The penalties for the students will not go into effect until June 1, after which students will have 15 days to file an appeal. The school did not release the names of the students involved or name the professor.

Gavan Fitzsimons, a professor who is chair of the Fuqua Honor Committee, said in a written summary of the board hearings that the board spent several weeks "deliberating at length" the circumstances of the case. "It is my utmost hope that all of the individuals found guilty of violating our Honor Code will learn how precious a gift honor and integrity is," he wrote. "I know from my interactions with many of them that they will forever be changed by this experience."

Academic Pressures

The faculty and student body at Duke were informed of the committee's decision on the afternoon of Apr. 27, and the news spread throughout the campus and on Internet chat groups. Charles Scrase, Fuqua's student body president, was surprised by the charges: "The classmates I work with on a day-to-day basis are ethical, outstanding individuals," he says. "We're shocked that [cheating] could've occurred to this degree."

Sonit Handa, a first-year Fuqua student, suggests the students involved in this case might have been tempted to cheat because they wanted to ensure they did well in the class: "Duke is a hectic MBA business school, and employers want good grades, so there's a lot of pressure to do well."

The pressure, of course, is not confined to Duke. Many schools have policies that encourage an open dialogue on business ethics. Students at the Thunderbird School of Global Management sign a Professional Oath of Honor similar to doctors' Hippocratic Oath, while Penn State created an honor committee of students and faculty last year to help foster academic integrity on campus.

Codes Not Foolproof

One of the more recent examples is the new graduate honor court at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School. In January, the business school established a student-run honor court, a body devoted to investigating student violations of the honor code. Between 30 and 40 students, from the school's five MBA programs, are involved with the court, according to Dawn Morrow, a second-year MBA student who serves as the student attorney general for the court.

Before this, student honor code violations were dealt with through the graduate honor court system, which handled cases from other graduate programs. Morrow says that students have been eager to get involved with the honor court because they want to ensure that the school's values are upheld inside and outside the classroom. Rutgers' McCabe estimates that 50 to 100 colleges and universities have honor codes.

Schools with extensive honor codes, such as Duke, tend to have less cheating in general, McCabe says. Still, he says, it's not a foolproof measure. Business-school students are more competitive than other students, and some use cheating as a way to ensure they get ahead: "It's kind of like a businessperson who has the opportunity to embezzle money in the dark of night," says McCabe. "Sure it's more tempting, but we still expect them to be honest."

Continued in article

Huge Cheating Scandals at the University of Virginia, Ohio, and Duke Universities --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm#UVA

Jensen Comment
There are two broad types of student honor codes. The toughest one is where each student signs an oath to report the cheating of any other student. This is a rough code that, in my opinion, must be backed by a college commitment to back the whistle blowing student if litigation ensues in the very litigious society of the United States (where 80% of the world's lawyers reside.)

The second kind is a softer version where students are not honor bound to report cheating by run their own honor courts to dole out punishment recommendations for cheating reported by others, usually their instructors. This may actually result in harsher punishments than instructors would normally dole out. For example, professors often think an F grade is sufficient punishment. Honor courts may recommend more severe punishments such as in the Duke scandal noted above.

One problem with honor courts is that they are more of a hassle for instructors having to take the time to report details of the infraction to the court and then appear before the court as witnesses. An even more controversial problem is that the inherent right of an instructor to assign a course grade punishment for cheating is taken out of the hands of the instructor and passed on to the honor court. Instructors generally do not like to lose their authority and responsibility for assigning grades.

Question
What should you ban when students are taking examinations? Baseball caps? iPods?

Banning baseball caps during tests was obvious - students were writing the answers under the brim. Then, schools started banning cell phones, realizing students could text message the answers. Nick d'Ambrosia, 17, holds up his iPod inside a classroom at Mountain View High School in Meridian, Idaho Friday, April 13, 2007. In Idaho, Mountain View High School recently enacted a ban on iPods, Zunes and other digital media players. Some students were downloading formulas and other cheats onto the players, although none were ever caught.
Rebecca Boone, PhysOrg, April 27, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news96865353.html

April 28, 2007 reply from Patricia Doherty [pdoherty@BU.EDU]

Well, as I've said before, you can drive yourself, and also the majority of your students, who are honest, crazy with trying to prevent cheating. One solution I came up with eliminates the reason for many of the cheating options (save texting questions and answers back and forth): I allow one sheet of notes, 8-1/2 x 11, double sided, handwritten, at my exams. They can write anything they want on it - formulas, definitions, problems, prayers. Many students actually find it a good study tool - by the time they condense 4 or 5 chapters onto one sheet of paper and write it up neatly so they can read it, they've learned the material pretty well. Of course, there are always those I notice scribbling frantically in the auditorium 5 minutes before the test. Some people never learn.

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

Say what?
Why bother entering into contracts that are not enforceable?
Do unenforceable contracts create emerging problems in accounting theory and in practice?
"The Best Way to Construct Unenforceable Contracts," by Erica Plambeck, Stanford Graduate School of Business Newsletter, April 2007 --- http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/research/mfg_plambeck_contracts.shtml

Strong relationships are frequently more important than legally binding contracts when companies outsource key operational activities.

Researchers say that as more firms form international relationships—particularly in innovation-intensive industries such as biopharmaceuticals or high tech—ironclad legal agreements can be impractical, if not impossible. Overburdened court systems around the world and the growing complexity of the types of collaborative deals being forged mean that increasingly firms rely on the threat of loss of future business rather than the court system to enforce those deals.

“When an innovative product is under development and a supplier must invest in capacity up front, it can be difficult—if not impossible—to write a court-enforceable contract that specifies exactly what will be delivered,” says Erica Plambeck, associate professor of operations, information, and technology at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

For example, she says, electronics giant Toshiba is continually making design changes, frequently substantial ones, throughout the development process. If Toshiba’s suppliers delayed making capacity investment for manufacturing a new product until the design was finalized and a court-enforceable procurement contract could be negotiated, Toshiba would miss the small windows of opportunity that the consumer electronics market allows for releasing state-of-the-art products. Therefore, Toshiba needs suppliers to build capacity early, without a contract. In a one-off transaction, a supplier would be likely to build far too little capacity, anticipating that Toshiba would attempt to negotiate a low price for production once the capacity investment was made. But within the context of an ongoing, cooperative relationship, Toshiba could offer more generous compensation, and convince the supplier to expand its capacity—and both firms’ profits—even without a contract.

Alternatively, she says, there are cases where assurances about the quality or quantity of output cannot be legally enforceable. “Frequently, producing a viable product depends on the collaborative efforts of both parties, and it’s difficult to determine fault if something goes wrong,” she says. A case in point: A biopharmaceutical firm could hand over genetically modified cells and the liquid medium in which to multiply them to a supplier, who then would be responsible for managing that fermentation process to produce a therapeutic protein. If the protein yield is unexpectedly low, a court would have difficulty determining whether the cells and medium were of poor quality or the supplier made mistakes in managing the fermentation process.

“This kind of complicated business arrangement can be difficult to specify in a contract in a manner that a court could enforce,” says Plambeck. “Under such conditions, an ongoing relationship between partners is critical to cooperation.”

Plambeck has written a series of papers on so-called relational contracts—agreements enforced by the value of the ongoing cooperative relationship—research she has conducted with Terry Taylor, an associate professor in the business school at Columbia University. Plambeck became interested in relational contracts after realizing that there was an almost universal assumption in the operations and supply chain management literature that all contracts were court-enforced.

“By recognizing that the strength of incentives for investment in design, capacity, and inventory are limited by the value of the future business, one obtains qualitatively different managerial insights and policies for operations and supply chain management,” she says. There is a rich body of economics research in this area—indeed, it was a Stanford economics professor, Robert Gibbons (now at MIT) who coined the phrase “relational contracts.” Plambeck and Taylor build on this existing work by taking the abstract idea of relational contracts and applying it to dynamic problems of collaborative product development, capacity, production, and inventory management.

Plambeck has some high-level recommendations for managers.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on intangibles in accounting theory are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/theory01.htm#TheoryDisputes

Question
For affirmative action college admissions, will any black student do?

A study released this year put numbers on the trend. Among students at 28 top U.S. universities, the representation of black students of first- and second-generation immigrant origin (27 percent) was about twice their representation in the national population of blacks their age (13 percent). Within the Ivy League, immigrant-origin students made up 41 percent of black freshmen. Wilcher would like to know why. She asks if her cause has lost its way on U.S. campuses, with the goal of correcting American racial injustices replaced by a softer ideal of diversity--as if any black student will do.
Cara Anna, "Among black students, many immigrants," Yahoo News, April 30, 2007 --- http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070430/ap_on_re_us/colleges_black_students_4

Bob Jensen's threads on affirmative action college admissions and academic standards are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#AcademicStandards

400 Students Pay for an A:  Sure beats having to work for one
Authorities at the institution, Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, about 40 miles east of here, said in a statement issued late Thursday that at least 74 students might have paid someone to change lower grades to higher ones. The college authorities said as many as 400 grades recorded on computer transcripts might have been altered in a five-year period. The interim president at Diablo Valley College, Diane Scott-Summers, said the administration had transferred all records, the names of students who might be involved and other materials to the Contra Costa County district attorney’s office, which is investigating.
Carolyn Marshall, "Students May Have Paid Cash to Change Grades, College Says," The New York Times, May 5, 2007 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/05/us/05grades.html

"Deathbed Confession of Howard Hunt Fingers LBJ in JFK Murder:  Wider Conspiracy Revealed," by Ranger, AC Associates --- Click Here 

E. Howard Hunt, a CIA covert agent and Foreign Station Chief, was the Leader of the White House "plumbers" team, who's burglary eventually brought about the resignation of then President Richard Nixon. E. Howard Hunt, who passed away at the age of 88, was involved in many of the CIA's most notorious operations in Cuba and Central & South America. Hunt is considered by some investigators to be one of the "tramps" detained, photographed and released without arrest or charges near the grassy knoll at Dealey Plaza. All sources agree that Hunt could have had knowledge of the players, and motives in the most mysterious assassination in US history. Many life-long students of this event are having a hard time ignoring this new evidence.

. . .

Fast forward to the present, now the eldest son of E. Howard Hunt, Saint John Hunt, has come forward with his father's deathbed confession tapes, revealing that Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy's Vice President, and thereby the man with the most to gain, orchestrated a larger conspiracy to eliminate JFK. First Lady Jackie Kennedy always suspected LBJ, from the day of her husband's death. Late in the day of November 22nd, she stood by at LBJ's swearing in as President, still wearing the pink dress stained with the President's blood. When asked by reporters why she did not change, she replied, "I want them to see what they have done to my husband." A mistress of LBJ did publically admit that the former president had confided to her his role in the crime, but her admission has been discounted for years. A best-selling biography of LBJ in the 1990s seemed to point in this direction as well. Other criminals, with connections to the French underworld, have admitted to being part of other shooting teams at Dealey Plaza. A trial in the 1960s, led by the District Attorney in New Orleans (Garrison), centered on elements of the mafia working with the CIA as part of the conspiracy, but was unable to obtain any convictions.

Continued in article

Should a professor get fired for selling his own textbook to his own students or other students in his college?
The director of Florida International University’s online education arm stepped down this week amid an investigation into charges that he arranged for students to buy their electronic textbooks from a company that he and a former colleague reportedly owned.
Andy Guess, "An Online Course in Ethics," Inside Higher Ed, May 4, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/05/04/fiu
Jensen Comment
I think much involves prior disclosure and ethical distribution of the profits (if any). Years ago authors of textbooks widely adopted their own textbooks and pocketed the royalties from publishing companies. A few authors returned the royalties from their students back to their academic departments, although in a way they were distributing student money to the university.

A few decades back several accounting professors purchased a publishing company and sold their company's books to their own students at least two large and prestigious universities in Texas. They apparently got away with it and never hid the fact that they owned the company.

Can some of you out there flesh in some details here about college policies in this regard?
As a matter of fact, in the past publishing companies often sought out coauthors with the main purpose of capturing a huge market in universities that employed those coauthors. In some instances I think the contribution of a coauthor was more in persuading a textbook adoption (e.g., for over 2,000 introductory accounting students) than in writing parts of the textbook.

May 4, 2007 reply from Patricia Doherty [pdoherty@BU.EDU]

From what I have seen (and I have not written a full textbook myself), writing a textbook requires an enormous commitment of time and effort - it is virtually a full time job in itself. And no sooner is the book off the press, than the revisions and updates begin. Why is it unethical for someone to be compensated for that effort? I could see that if the adoption were over the objections of other faculty teaching the course, brooked no competition, done secretly. But if it is open and above-boards, don't the students benefit from being taught by the person who wrote the script? Just my $.02.

p

Freedom isn't free ... someone has to pay for it. attributed to Bob Hope

Patricia A. Doherty
Department of Accounting
Boston University School of Management
595 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215

May 4, 2007 reply from Ron Huefner [rhuefner@ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU]

This case doesn't seem to be about a professor requiring his own text, but rather about the professor owing the bookstore to which students were directed. This is more reminiscent of the flap some years ago about doctors owning pharmacies.

A textbook is above board, in that you can see who the author is. In this case, one of the issues seemed to be that the ownership of the bookstore was not disclosed.

Ron Huefner

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

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

Website Citations

April 30, 2007 message from by Jean Heck [jean.heck@yahoo.com]

Bob,

Here is a link to the authority on web site citation:

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite5.html#1 

Rarely are page number listed on web citations. There are many online journals now that have to deal with that and all of the ones I'm familiar with do not use page numbers.

Jean

More Banking Dirty Tricks and Special Privileges

"Banks Tap Social Security Funds Too," by Ellen E. Schultz, The Wall Street Journal, April 28, 2007; Page A10 ---
Click Here

James Cain, a terminally ill Florida veteran, got his first Social Security disability payment last month. Before he could withdraw any of it to pay for his medicine or mortgage, his bank took it out of his account.

His wife's Social Security check went in the same day. The bank took most of that, too. It withdrew the money to make payments to itself on a car loan the bank had made to the Cains.

Federal law says Social Security can't be taken to repay debts. So how can banks do it?

They don't use the technique of debt collectors, which is to file garnishment orders on bank accounts -- orders that succeed because by and large no one is enforcing the exemption (see adjoining article).

Banks have a different rationale. They say the federal ban on taking Social Security benefits to repay debts doesn't apply to them. The reason: They aren't really collecting debts.

Auto Loan at the Bank

They cite the doctrine of "set-off," which says banks can collect money that customers owe them by taking it out of customers' accounts. All agree this traditional practice makes sense for routine fees like monthly account charges. But banks apply it broadly, to other money customers owe them. Banks argue that when they take cash out of a customer's account -- including cash from a Social Security check -- they aren't really collecting a debt, just "setting off" what's owed them.

The Cains, of Palm Coast, Fla., took out a $31,000 loan from a SunTrust bank to buy a Ford Expedition in 2005. But last summer, Mr. Cain was diagnosed with bladder cancer and soon was unable to work. His wife, Elna, tried to find someone to take over the $690 monthly payments but couldn't, so she surrendered the SUV to the bank this January. After selling it at auction for $16,000, the bank told the Cains they owed it a balance of $15,703, which included late charges, repossession expenses and interest.

Mrs. Cain, 63, says she told the bank her husband's cancer had spread and he was confined to a wheelchair. They lost their health coverage when he had to quit working. A Vietnam vet, Mr. Cain has applied for veteran's benefits, but isn't yet receiving them.

He also applied for Social Security disability. On March 14, both his first disability check, $1,343, and Mrs. Cain's $1,161 regular Social Security hit their SunTrust account through direct deposit.

The same day, SunTrust took $1,924 out of their account. The next week, the Cains got a letter from SunTrust Recovery Department, dated March 15, thanking them for their payment.

Exempt Funds

Besides Social Security, the Cains' account received money from Mrs. Cain's pension from the American Red Cross. In Florida, that is also exempt from collection to repay a debt.

The Cains contend they had never given SunTrust permission to debit their account. SunTrust Banks Inc. pointed to its deposit agreements, which say that the bank can use money in customers' accounts to offset debts to the bank.

Asked whether the bank believes its set-off right makes it legal to seize exempt funds such as Social Security, the bank said in a statement: "We cannot publicly disclose the specifics of individual client relationships. However, in cases when we offset accounts for delinquent loans, we as a matter of policy exclude exempt funds and provide proper notice to the customer."

Mark Budnitz, a Georgia State College of Law professor and co-author of "Consumer Banking and Payment Law," said, "It's an abuse of the right of set-off to use it to take money from Social Security funds.... Banks are flouting federal policy."

California Lawsuit

A case before the California Supreme Court is testing the issue. The court has agreed to review a suit alleging that Bank of America Corp. seeks to profit from Social Security recipients by charging high fees and taking them from the recipients' accounts.

The suit cites a case where the bank charged a Santa Cruz man five overdraft fees in one day, totaling $160, based on debit-card purchases that totaled $11. It took this out of an account funded by Social Security disability benefit checks for the man, the victim of a disabling head injury.

The fees are steep because of a newer type of overdraft protection common with direct-deposit accounts set up to receive Social Security. Instead of a line of credit, which preferred customers get, this newer type creates a short-term loan to the account holder every time he or she writes a check or makes an ATM withdrawal from an account with insufficient funds.

Each such loan carries a fee, typically $25 to $30, instead of interest. And instead of giving the customer time to repay, the bank repays itself out of the account as soon as the customer puts some more money in it.

Continued in article

Bob Jensen's threads on dirty tricks of banks and credit card companies are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudReporting.htm#FICO

Bob Jensen's "Rotten to the Core" threads are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudRotten.htm

Math Teaching and Learning Center --- http://www.uwstout.edu/cas/mathtlc/

Free Online Statistics Education Journals and Tutorials

Journal of Statistics Education --- http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/

Statistics Education Research Journal --- http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/publications.php?show=serj

Teaching Statistics --- http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/publications.php?show=serj

Bob Jensen's links to math and statistics free online tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics

National Academy of Sciences: Webcast Archive --- http://www.nap.edu/webcast/webcast_list.php

Science and Engineering Encyclopedia http://www.diracdelta.co.uk/science/source/h/o/home/source.html

Exploring Magnetism on Earth --- http://ds9.ssl.berkeley.edu/themis/pdf/explore_mag_on_earth.pdf

Northwest Center for Sustainable Resources --- http://www.ncsr.org/

Penn State University Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization ---  http://www.cneu.psu.edu/

Bob Jensen's links to free online science tutorials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Science

Not Just A Number (Violence in Oakland, CA) ---  http://www.bayareanewsgroup.com/multimedia/iba/njn/index.html

Bob Jensen's threads about free online tutorials in economics and social science --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Social

"An iPod Rival With an Edge Music Player Uses Wi-Fi Connection; No Search on Device," by Katherine Boehret, The Wall Street Journal, May 2, 2007; Page D10 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/the_mossberg_solution.html

But despite improvements on the original iPod, none has enabled interaction with other players or wireless Internet connectivity -- two features that competitors are eager to offer so as to chip away at iPod's huge market share. Microsoft Corp.'s Zune music player, for example, was shipped with built-in Wi-Fi, enabling song sharing -- albeit limited -- with nearby Zunes. Apple is about to bring out its own wireless music player in the iPhone, which combines a full iPod with Wi-Fi and cellphone connectivity. But so far, it's unclear whether you'll be able to use the iPhone to download or share music. This week, I tested San-Disk's $250 Sansa Connect player, a collaborative effort from SanDisk Corp., Yahoo Inc.'s Yahoo Music and Zing Systems Inc. that comes with built-in Wi-Fi for more than just limited sharing with other players. Unlike the iPod, which must be plugged into a computer to load new music, Sansa Connect can play and download content on the player whenever a Wi-Fi network is available, including photos, Internet Radio, songs from Yahoo's music store or recommendations from friends. The Sansa Connect isn't without flaws. Downloading music on the go requires a subscription plan that costs $144 a year or $15 monthly, so you never outright own this content. The player also relies on a Wi-Fi connection for much of its functionality, and you may not always be within Wi-Fi range. Another problem is that Yahoo's music store doesn't sell videos and offers fewer songs than Apple's iTunes: roughly two million versus five million. Lastly, the Sansa Connect doesn't enable searching the store for specific music. Instead, you're limited to Internet radio or play-lists suggested by Yahoo, a caveat that can be maddening if you want to find a certain title or artist. But overall, I really liked the Sansa Connect. It forced me to look at my portable player as an evolving, untethered device that introduced me to lots of songs. When it wasn't connected to Wi-Fi, I was disappointed to not be downloading new songs. My iPod suddenly seemed old-fashioned. The four-gigabyte, black Sansa Connect isn't as handsome as the iPod, and has a stubby Wi-Fi antenna protruding from its top edge. It measures about a half an inch wider than and two and a half times as thick as the comparably priced iPod Nano, which has twice as much memory -- eight gigabytes rather than four. The Sansa Connect has a microSD card slot for expanding its capacity, but doesn't come with such a card. The Sansa has a movable scroll wheel similar to that found on the original iPod. This wheel aids navigation tremendously, as does its smart interface. A colorful 2.2-inch display showed seven menus in a fan formation at the bottom of the screen, and I flipped through each by turning the wheel. A tiny speaker is built onto the back of the device, which came in handy more often than I anticipated. I cut right to the chase when I opened my Sansa Connect, testing its Wi-Fi capabilities by playing an Internet radio station through the device. The player detected my Wi-Fi network, I entered my Yahoo username and password and seconds later was listening to a new Carrie Underwood song on one of 16 pop stations. Even without a paid subscription to Yahoo Music Unlimited To Go, owners of the Sansa Connect can access about 100 Internet Radio stations; subscribers get twice as many. Each player comes with a free 30-day subscription. You can also view uploaded digital photos without a subscription. The Sansa Connect links to Yahoo's free photo-sharing site, Flickr.com, so you can see your images as well as the top 50 photos Flickr labels as Today's Most Interesting -- but you can't view friends' albums. These photos looked good on my Sansa Connect screen, automatically adjusting to fit the screen in landscape or portrait views depending on the image. With a subscription, the Sansa Connect's Wi-Fi connection becomes more useful. While a song is playing, you can press a button to download it or the whole album to your player. I tried this with Mat Kearney's "Nothing Left To Lose," opting first to download just that song but then deciding to get the entire album. One by one, the songs downloaded, averaging about 10 seconds each at best, until they were loaded in the player's My Music section. Finding exact songs, artists or albums using the Sansa Connect is complete hit or miss. Rather than gaining access to Yahoo's entire store on your player, you're limited to choosing from general genres via the Internet Radio section, top songs on Yahoo Music or Yahoo's recommendations for what you'll like. So if you want to hear a certain band, you'll have to guess which category the band falls under in Internet Radio, hope to see one of its songs and then download as the song plays. Though this lack of a search process is frustrating at times, it also might force you to discover music that you haven't yet heard. This is a different way of thinking for iPodders, so it may not catch on as easily as the Sansa player's creators hoped. But remember: The Sansa Connect is Wi-Fi capable so it can receive software updates wirelessly, adding new features to the player at any time. Its developers say search on the device is something they're looking at for the future. Continued in article

Future Lab (in the U.K.):
Developing innovative learning resources and practices that support new approaches to education for the 21st century.
By bringing together the creative, technical and educational communities, Futurelab is pioneering ways of using new technologies to transform the learning experience.
FutureLab Innovation in Education --- http://www.futurelab.org.uk/index.htm

Literature reviews:		a series of reviews into areas such as thinking skills, games, e-assessment, mobile technologies and 14-19 education
Futurelab handbooks:		themed findings from related projects, including creativity and collaboration, designing with users, and games
Opening Education:		a series of publications designed to open up areas for debate and stimulate new visions for education
Personalisation report:		a report presenting the key issues of the personalisation agenda (includes the Learner's Charter)
Innovations reports:		outcomes from a series of workshops looking at the impact of different technologies in the future
ESRC seminars report:		a report on improving the design of interactive media for children (includes Directory of Educational Researchers)
Discussion papers:		articles that aim to raise questions and prompt debate
Other publications:		externally-published books and articles by Futurelab staff

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

Bob Jensen's threads on tools of education technologies are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm

Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance ---] http://www.cssia.org/

Maricopa Advanced Technology Education Center --- http://www.matec.org/

Computer Graphic News ---  http://www.cgnews.com/

Major Inventions of the 19th Century
Workshop of the World --- http://www.workshopoftheworld.co.uk/

Bob Jensen's links to history and museums --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#History

Moral Hazard in Mortgage Brokering
In the old days, most homeowners obtained mortgages from their local bank or credit union, which adhered to strict lending rules. Nowadays, the lion's share of homebuyers' business (70 percent) goes to independent mortgage brokers — some of whom get bonuses for steering borrowers to higher-interest loans. Experts say many recent borrowers were put into ARMs that are likely to cost far more over the life of the loan than if they'd chosen a fixed-rate option. Often, consumers could have locked in fixed-rate loans at low interest rates, but lenders downplayed the advantages of these loans.
Chris Arnold, "Mass. Homeowners Rally Against Foreclosures," NPR, April 27, 2007 --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9870466

Subprime Mortgages: A Primer
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are demanding answers from regulators and lenders about subprime mortgages. Many worry that rising mortgage defaults and lender failures could hurt America's overall banking system. Already, the subprime crisis has been blamed for steep declines in the stock market. But just what is a subprime loan — and why should you care? Here, a primer:
"Subprime Mortgages: A Primer," NPR, March 23, 2007 --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9085408

Bob Jensen's advice on mortgages --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudReporting.htm#MortgageAdvice

Color-Editing for Dummies
A new Xerox prototype aims to let people use simple natural-language commands to tweak photos and documents, avoiding complex color-editing tools.
David Talbot, MIT's Technology Review, May 1, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18612/

How do lenders rate on treats at the University of Texas?
Officials at the University of Texas at Austin — already facing scrutiny over how they recommended lenders to students — have a new embarrassment to face. The Daily Texan obtained and published documents showing that the office rated lenders not just on the quality of services provided to students, but on the “treats” provided to the aid office — treats like fajita lunches, happy hours, birthday cakes and more.
Inside Higher Ed, May 1, 2007 ---