Bear Cubs Making Themselves at Home in a Dumpster.
It's not smart to stand there taking their picture!
I did not take this picture.

From Celine
What a Wonderful World --- http://www.barb-coolwaters.com/c004/wonderful_celine.html

From Sachmo
What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong) --- http://oldbluewebdesigns.com/wonderfulworld.htm

Man has been endowed with reason, with the power to create, so that he can add to what he's been given. But up to now he hasn't been a creator, only a destroyer. Forests keep disappearing, rivers dry up, wild life's become extinct, the climate's ruined and the land grows poorer and uglier every day.
Anton Chekhov, Uncle Vanya, 1897 --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov

When we understand that man is the only animal who must create meaning, who must open a wedge into neutral nature, we already understand the essence of love. Love is the problem of an animal who must find life, create a dialogue with nature in order to experience his own being.
Ernest Becker --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Becker

To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.
Helen Keller --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller

If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen.
Henry David Thoreau --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau

I had a wooden pole in the barn where I hang heavy old suits that I really should give to charity since I've not worn a suit for over a year in retirement (nobody close died or got married this year). To make a long story short, the pole broke and I did not notice it for several weeks in that part of the barn. When I eventually replaced the pole with a steel pipe and commenced picking up my fallen clothes, at the bottom of the pile I found a badly chewed up blue blazer serving as a nest for about a dozen baby mice. Each wiggly baby with unopened eyes was about the size of a thimble. I didn't have the heart to hurt the babies or move the nest. In a few months, however, I may put some mouse baits in the barn with messages that "field mice" are supposed to live in fields.

Once in May I put out three bird feeders on the back deck. The next morning all three were torn down. We can't feed birds up here, because the favorite food of White Mountain black bears is bird seed. If I try again this winter, I will put out a sign by the bird feeder stating that bears are supposed to dine in fancy hotel dumpsters.

Lon Henderson and his wife own the Sunset Hill House Hotel down the road. They took their family camping last week. Upon their return , I sent a message that it was a good thing that the bears concentrated on the hotel's dumpster rather than their sleeping bags in the woods. Lon wrote back as follows:

I heard the bears peeled our dumpster lid back like foil (only the middle was chained, not the ends as the guys working at the inn are supposed to do). No bears where we were camping, but a mouse ate all of Mary Pearl’s Kit Kat bar .

Unless threatened, our black bears are not dangerous and aggressive unlike their brown relatives in other parts of the world. That does not mean that our bears cannot be frightening and obnoxious. Our friends who live outside a nearby village called Easton reported that, while they were working in the yard in broad daylight, a black bear simply walked past them in their driveway and helped herself to the garbage bags inside the garage. We never leave garbage outdoors up here except when some dumb accounting professor (who retired from Texas) did so the first night after moving into his cottage. We heard a commotion in the night and turned on the flood lights. What we then saw was a furry black butt sticking out from our largest trash can.

Another friend had family visiting for Thanksgiving. They looked up from the dinner table and saw a bear inside one of their cars helping itself to some food inadvertently left inside the unlocked car. The bear actually opened the car door without damaging the car.

Our physician up here is a woman named Virginia Jeffryes. She reported that her mother put a sack of garbage temporarily in a back room. When she later opened the door, she saw the window broken and the screen torn off. In the yard was a black bear dragging that sack of garbage toward the woods.

I have a friend who is a professional "bear chaser." This means people hire him and his specially trained dogs with radio collars to chase a bear into some distant part of the mountains. Only on very rare occasions is he hired to kill a bear. Most of us prefer to live and let live as far as all animals are concerned except when they need to be thinned out for their own good as is the case on occasion with deer in various parts of the world. In my opinion up here in the White Mountains, paying somebody to chase bears off is a waste of time and money. Bears easily find their way back in a very short period of time. But on occasion a bear might prefer its new habitat, and this can be beneficial to prevent inbreeding. And there may be some better dumpsters in the bear's new locale.

Actually, dumpster diving is not the main way bears survive up here. Although they eat most all kinds of nuts and berries, the staple for them up here is acorns. The supply of acorns is somewhat weather related and varies from year to year. We see more bears wandering about if it happens to be a bad acorn year. Otherwise bears are quite shy and prefer to live deep in the woods. And their hearing and smell senses are so sensitive that hikers rarely encounter them in the woods. Sadly our bears are still hunted down and killed by grownups with nothing better to brag about.

Tidbits on August 26, 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

Four Hands Guitar (amazing) --- http://www.jibjab.com/view/175903

Link forwarded by Vidya
A great video that captures the essence of the global shift to the knowledge era and it's implications for us in the education community.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U 
Related Link (Size Matters) --- http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/video/shifthappens

Saddam's Secrets --- http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1sx7x_saddams-secrets_news

Stock Market Report by John Klee (Monty Python, Humor) --- http://youtube.com/watch?v=9ZrCkBJVlm4

The Money Program  (John Klee-like Humor) ---  http://youtube.com/watch?v=DkhOhUkhIFA

Pres. George W. Bush Parody by a kid --- Click Here

From the WSJ:  Bribes in New Orleans (not funny) --- http://online.wsj.com/public/page/8_0004.html?bcpid=86195573&bclid=212338097&bctid=1144206605

To find YouTube videos of your favorite singers, use Google. For example, to find music videos of Bette Midler, enter "Bette Middler" AND "YouTube" in the search boxes at
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

Kurzfilme is German for short films and maybe thats interesting for your "Online multimedia" section.
You can find netzwelt Kurzfilme at http://www.netzwelt.de/divxvideo/divxkurzfilme.html

KPMG partners with major league baseball to bring baseball to inner city kids --- http://kpmginfo.com/rbi/

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

Find music and audio books from Akuma --- http://www.akuma.de/

Google Hacks (search for music) --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Hacks

Four Hands Guitar (amazing video) --- http://www.jibjab.com/view/175903

I Just Don’t Look Good Naked Anymore  (video) --- http://www.rushfrisby.com/youtubedotnetdemo/GetVideo.aspx?VideoID=Z06vdR8W3VM

Humor Music Links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm#Humor

The Hypnotic Handrum (video) --- http://www.groovygrooves.com/video/the-hypnotic-handrum

Max Roach was the hottest drummer in New York by the time he was 20 years old. By the time he died at age 83, he was truly one of the giants of jazz. --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12847242

Born and raised among the jazz greats of New Orleans, trumpeter Terence Blanchard honed his skills in the early 80s when he replaced Wynton Marsalis on trumpet for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12840737

Puccini's 'The Girl of the Golden West' --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12819446

Vasectomy Song --- Click Here 

Selected YouTube Music Videos --- Click Here

The Rose (Bette Midler Video) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYWAYLZWZBg

Bette Midler - Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (Jumpin')--- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUxUbYUHExs

Elvis Presley - In The Ghetto...(Video)  --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmVFnhO3A98

Elvis Presley - Blue Suede Shoes (Video of Elvis live in 1969) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpYL08wVJUo

Barbra Streisand - Woman in Love (video) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHqAllSQ_eM

Video: Johnny Cash - Kris Kristofferson - Willie Nelson - Wayloon Jennings - Me and Bobby McGee --- Click Here

To find YouTube videos of your favorite singers, use Google. For example, to find music videos of Bette Midler, enter "Bette Middler" AND "YouTube" in the search boxes at
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

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

Download the Internet Safety for Kids book --- http://www.packet-level.com/kids/

How to Publish in Top Journals --- http://www.roie.org/how.htm

Writing World --- http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/

Venice is a seductive city that has bewitched artists from all over the world. One writer who has settled in "the city on stilts" is the American author Donna Leon. The sinking Renaissance jewel is the backdrop of her "Commissario Brunetti" detective stories. Leon recently gave a visiting reporter a tour of her Venice. The story is part of a series, Crime in the City, about crime novelists and the places they and their characters inhabit ---
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12878560

Tibet Writes (Poetry) --- http://www.tibetwrites.org/

Hebrew Poets in Old Spain --- http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.html?id=10901

Espresso Stories (about consumerism) --- http://espressostories.com/

Charlie Brown Quotes --- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064107/quotes

Roderick Hudson by Henry James --- Click Here

Watch And Ward by Henry James --- Click Here

Bartleby, The Scrivener by Herman Melville --- Click Here

Tom Sawyer Detective by Mark Twain --- Click Here

"Tanzania Travels" Blog Honored  (African Health Issues) --- http://blogs.webmd.com/tanzania-travel/

Wisdom Quotes --- http://www.wisdomquotes.com/

The Necronomicon of Alhazred, (literally: "Book of Dead Names") is not, as is popularly believed, a grimoire, or sorcerer's spell-book. It was conceived as a history, and hence "a book of things now dead and gone". An alternative derivation of the word Necronomicon gives as its meaning "the book of the customs of the dead", but again this is consistent with the book's original conception as a history, not as a work of necromancy ---
http://www.digital-brilliance.com/necron/necron.htm#What

People who boasted that they had made a revolution have always seen the next day that they had no idea what they were doing, that the revolution made did not in the least resemble the one they would have liked to make.
Friedrich Engels --- Click Here

In the free market, those that made bad credit decisions must be allowed to pay the price, and only by paying dearly can lessons truly be learned. Borrowers who were unwitting and took on too much debt must learn that there are consequences for their actions. Homebuilders that built too many homes or overpaid for land need to face the consequences. Wall Street firms that provided credit to all of these activities with too much laxity must also pay a price. This is all part of a healthy correction. All of these players reaped benefits during the housing boom that preceded the current crisis. Certain homeowners were able to temporarily live above their means. Homebuilder and bank profits have been exorbitant, and shareholders and executives of these companies have profited mightily in the boom. To not permit losses now would be a direct violation of the free-market ideals at the foundation of our economy.
Ethan Penner, "Fannie, Freddie and the Housing Bust," The Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2007; Page A11 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118723188037699335.html?mod=opinion&ojcontent=otep 

Far from being victims of Nazism, Aly argues, the majority of Germans were indirect war profiteers. Requisitioned Jewish property, resources stolen from the conquered, and punitive taxes levied on local businesses insulated citizens from shortages and allowed the regime to create a “racist-totalitarian welfare state.” The German home front, Aly claims, suffered less privation than its English and American counterparts. To understand Hitler’s popularity, Aly proposes, “it is necessary to focus on the socialist aspect of National Socialism.” While underemphasized by modern historians, this socialism was stressed in many contemporaneous accounts of fascism, especially by libertarian thinkers. F.A. Hayek famously dedicated The Road to Serfdom to “the socialists of all parties”—that is, Labourites, Bolsheviks, and National Socialists. “It was the union of the anti-capitalist forces of the right and the left, the fusion of radical and conservative socialism,” Hayek wrote, “which drove out from Germany everything that was liberal.” Ludwig von Mises agreed, arguing in 1944 that “both Russia and Germany are right in calling their systems socialist.”
Michael C. Moynihan, "Hitler's Handouts:  Inside the Nazis' welfare state," Reason Magazine, August/September 2007 --- http://www.reason.com/news/show/120941.html 

The State Children's Health Insurance Program bill passed by the House of Representatives protects Medicare by reducing outlandish overpayments to private plans that threaten the future of the entire Medicare program ("The Schip Revelation," Review & Outlook, Aug. 9). What little benefit some beneficiaries gain from these plans comes at the expense of the vast majority of people with Medicare and with a price tag of $150 billion.
"SCHIP Shoulders Children's Health-Care in U.S.," The Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2007; Page A11 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118731987268500669.html?mod=todays_us_opinion

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.
Edgar Allan Poe --- Click Here

So far this year the Democratic House has approved spending bills that include some 6,500 earmarks, not quite keeping pace with the Republicans' record of nearly 16,000 in 2005 but more than twice the whole-year total of a decade ago. Far from shaming legislators into fiscal restraint, the Times reports, "the new transparency has raised the value of earmarks as a measure of members' clout" and "intensified competition for projects by letting each member see exactly how many everyone else is receiving." Congressional shamelessness likewise may undermine the goals of the new Senate ban on anonymous holds. A hold occurs when a senator refuses to let a bill or nomination proceed by unanimous consent, thereby requiring the measure's supporters to muster 60 votes to allow consideration of the measure.
Jacob Sullum, "Honest and Open Thievery:  The limits of Congress's ethics reforms," Reason Magazine, August 15, 2007 --- http://www.reason.com/news/show/121947.html

Obama is walking the same tightrope. He recently said he would talk with the world's rogue-state leaders without preconditions. But then he caused a furor by declaring that as president he would order raids on terrorist sanctuaries in Pakistan if there were "actionable intelligence" on their whereabouts and if the Islamabad regime didn't do the job itself. Democratic candidate John Edwards made a similar pledge last week in an interview with U.S. News—to go after Osama bin Laden "wherever he was." Edwards has been one of the most dovish presidential candidates, at least on Iraq, but he knows he can't afford to be seen as wobbly on defense . . . Actually, the party's problem goes back more than 30 years. Historians say congressional Democrats dug themselves into a deep hole when they forced the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam and cut off money to the Saigon government in its struggle against the Communists. Republicans argue that since then the Democrats have shied away from using military force and have appeared impotent. President Jimmy Carter hurt the party's image further; he seemed naive about the intentions of the Soviet Union and was unable to win freedom for U.S. hostages in Iran in the final year of his presidency. Kevin Madden, spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, says too many Democratic leaders are "liberal, antiwar internationalists" who aren't willing to "make the tough decisions required to make the country safe." That's a common view in the GOP—and a note that will be struck repeatedly in next year's general-election campaign.
Kenneth T. Walsh, "The Dems' Security Insecurity - New efforts to counter the GOP lead on national defense,"  U.S. News & World Report, August 19, 2007 --- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1883675/posts
Jensen Question
After President Obama and Vice-President Edwards get the last remaining G.I. out of Iraq and commence sending the the U.S. Army into Pakistan, where would you move to if you were the leader of al-Qaeda? No kidding --- Iraq? Will Obama and Edwards re-invade Iraq?

Estimates vary, but up to 780 people were killed by East German border guards for trying to flee to the West during the Cold War. Yet Saturday's revelation of an official 1973 order that Stasi secret-police agents "stop or liquidate" anyone trying to escape the socialist paradise has stunned Germany. The story preoccupies the media and politicians alike. Granted, the order is unique in its explicit inhumanity. "Do not hesitate to use your firearm, not even when the border is breached in the company of women and children, which the traitors have often used to their advantage," the document reads. Like other totalitarian regimes, East Germany's apparatchiks usually referred to state-sanctioned murder in more ambiguous terms.
"Shoot to Kill," The Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2007; Page A12 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118729864318700120.html?mod=todays_us_opinion

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, established during the 1979 Iranian revolution, has evolved into a powerful and influential organization that is believed to have custody over most or all of Iran's chemical, biological and radiological weapons, Anthony H. Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies says in a study to be published in late September. The force has some 125,000 men, and has exported thousands of rockets to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon and shipped arms to various Palestinian movements, including the Palestinian Authority, Cordesman writes in ``Iran's Military Forces and Warfighting Capabilities.'' Some 5,000 of the group are assigned to unconventional warfare missions as well as special Quds, or Jerusalem, forces for operations overseas. They support the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza and on the West Bank and Shiites in Iraq and Afghanistan, said Cordesman, a former director of intelligence assessments at the Pentagon.
Barry Schweid, "Analyst: Iranian Force Gaining Power," The Guardian, August 17, 2007 --- http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6855519,00.html

As Iran flexes its military and political muscle, its talk of revolution worries neighbors. The notion that the Imam Mahdi, the 12th Shia imam, will reappear in the world to carry the Islamic Revolution beyond Iran's borders, worries Iran's neighbors.
Mike Shuster, NPR, August 20, 2007 --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12841320

Journalism is publishing what someone doesn't want us to know; the rest is propaganda.
Horacio Verbitsky --- Click Here

The New York Times has to work very hard to make the performance of the economy during the past few years look bad. This morning, David Cay Johnston did his part.
Tom Blummer, "NYT Twists Data: Makes Great Personal Income News Appear Awful (UPDATE: Reporter Responds)," NewsBusters, August 21, 2007 --- http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2007/08/21/new-york-times-twists-data-make-great-personal-income-news-appear-awful 

There was no manger, Christ is not the Messiah, and the crucifixion never happened. A forthcoming (BBC) ITV documentary will portray Jesus as Muslims see him. With the Koran as a main source and drawing on interviews with scholars and historians, the Muslim Jesus explores how Islam honors Christ as a prophet (as is Osama Bin Laden) but not as the son of God. …
Tom Gross, "Muslim Jesus” to get primetime billing on British TV," National Review, August 19, 2007 --- Click Here
Jensen Comment
BBC, on the other hand, would never have the courage these days to air a documentary or other show critical of Muslim extremists. To do so would be most unwise  in the U.K. Fortunately it is still possible to be critical of extremists of all religions and sects in the United States (see below).

CNN Explores Religious Fundamentalism:  Christiane Amanpour's work on the documentary series "God's Warriors" took her directly to intersections of extreme religious and secular thinking. She watched, fascinated, as demonstrators in San Francisco accused teenagers in the fundamentalist Christian group BattleCry of intolerance in a clash of two cultures that will probably never understand each other. Understanding is what Amanpour is trying to promote in "God's Warriors," which takes up six prime-time hours on CNN this week. The series on religious fundamentalism among Christians, Muslims and Jews airs in three parts, . . .
David Bauder, Associated Press, August 19, 2007 --- http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070819/D8R475UG0.html

YouTube is the latest propaganda vehicle for Hizb ut-Tahrir, a hardline Islamic group which has been banned in Europe, China and most of the Middle East — but not Australia. The group has posted a series of professionally produced videos, which call for all countries with a majority Muslim population to be run under Sharia law.
"Extremists unleash YouTube propaganda," Ninemsn, August 20, 2007 --- http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=287543

The view we show of life to ourselves, and to whatever lost young men are watching, is not broad and inspiriting. It is limited and dispiriting. It is every man for himself. We make it too easy for those who want to hate us to hate us. We make ourselves look bad in our media, which helps future jihadists think that they must, by hating us, be good. They hit their figurative garbage bin lids on the ground, and smirk, and promise to make a racket, and then more than a racket, a boom.
Peggy Noonan, "Hatred Begins at Home:  The NYPD looks at what turns young Westerners into jihadis," The Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2007 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/pnoonan/?id=110010480 

The attacks of 9/11 generated a tide of commentary on the origins and aims of anti-Western jihadism. Lately, however, events have shifted attention to another, more long-standing feature of the Muslim world, raising the question of whether Islamic militancy against the West is now of lesser geopolitical significance than a stark, increasingly salient divide within Islam itself. This is the ancient divide between the numerically dominant Sunnis and a Shiite minority that is finally coming into its own.
Gal Luft and Anne Korin, "Islam's Divide—and Us," Commentary Magazine, July/August 2007 --- http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.html?id=10900 

In war, as in famine and pestilence, one finds the earthly basis for visions of hell. Wartime agony is immemorial, but the 20th century brought the military arts of inflicting suffering and death to diabolical perfection. For many in World War II, terror and death rained from the skies: one did not have to be a soldier in order to suffer like one. The bombers carried the war to civilian populations, and the names of cities ravaged by air attack—London, Hamburg, Dresden, Tokyo, Hiroshima, Nagasaki—figure as largely in the history of the war as the sites of monumental battles. Indeed, apart from the Holocaust, it is principally the great bombing episodes that give World War II its horrific blazing signature.
Algis Valiunas, "Fire from the Sky, Commentary Magazine, July/August 2007 --- http://www.commentarymagazine.com/cm/main/viewArticle.html?id=10902

Earlier this summer, Sheehan sold Camp Casey to Los Angeles radio host and actress Bree Walker, who wants to continue using it as a base for protests against Bush administration policies. Last week, the only full-time residents to be found there were Canadian-born Carl Rising-Moore, 61, an easygoing Vietnam veteran turned antiwar protester, and his dog, Sunny. Rising-Moore says that many people drop by the camp to visit, including veterans haunted by the horrors of war. Rising-Moore, who has studied the nonviolent protest tactics of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., says he tries to preach the power of nonviolence.
Michael A. Fletcher. "Keeping a Lonely Vigil at Camp Casey," The Washington Post, August 20, 2007, Page A3 --- Click Here

Ron Mallia wants to build eight apartments and condominiums on an empty parking lot next to his Mission District auto shop and rent some of the apartments to his mechanics. ..."They don't want any development at all in the Mission because any development makes the area better. ... They don't want that because they believe that by improving the area, the cost of housing might go up," said Mallia, who has owned gas stations and car repair shops in the Mission for 25 years.
Robert Selna, "Anti-gentrification forces stymie housing development," San Francisco Chronicle, August 21, 2007 ---
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/21/BAFARK1GE.DTL
Jensen Comment
San Francisco town leaders are unlike most any town leaders in the world.  Is the preference for ugly and uninhabited? This is not green space!

The Atlanta Humane Society said they are receiving donations from across the country -- and you’ll never guess what people are sending. More than a dozen Michael Vick jerseys have been sent to AHS, and they are putting them to good use (cleaning the floors of kennels).
WSBTV Atlanta, August 17, 2007 --- http://www.wsbtv.com/news/13918614/detail.html
Jensen Comment
I don't think you will see too many Michael Vick jerseys tacked to the walls in the offices of financial planners. Most certainly Michael Vick will not be inducted into the Financial Planning Hall of Fame. Then again, he's almost a shoe in for the Financial Planning Hall of Shame.

Search Hacks (learn to search like the geeks search) --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Hacks

"Please Do Not Use These Programs for Illegal Purposes:  Powerful new tools let you search for free software and music, zoom in on landmarks and buildings, and add comments to news stories," by Steve Bass, PC World via The Washington Post, August 21, 2007 --- Click Here

I don't know what Google was thinking when it allowed Google Hacks to be posted on the Google Code site. But it's a sure bet most people won't abide by the "Please do not use this program for illegal uses" disclaimer you'll find on thedownload site.

Google Hacks is a front-end GUI you can use as a stand-alone app or as a browser toolbar. It performs searches you can already do--if you know the syntax. For instance, if I wanted to search for Dave Brubeck, I could pop the following into Google's search field:

But it's obviously a heck of a lot easier to type into Google Hacks and choose the music category.

Google Hacks lets you search in any one of 12 categories--music, applications, video, books, lyrics, and others. But there's a catch. The searches are indexes--Web site directories that haven't been protected. Translation: You have to sort through lists of files and some, if not most, could be unrelated to what you're searching for.

At the same time, you might hit the jackpot--loads of files with just the content you're looking for. The showstopper is that the content belongs to someone else who doesn't know how to hide it from prying eyes. (And yes, I know, that person may have downloaded the music illegally as well.)

BTW, credit for this masterpiece goes to Jason Stallings, the author of Google Hacks. Jason doesn't work for Google, but his program was released using Google'sfree code hosting service. You can find more of Jason's code onhis Web site.

Dig This:Microsoft's entryinto the mobile phone arena is sure to give Apple a run for the money--and promises to take the nerd world by storm.

Microsoft's Photosynth is awesome--and addictive. You can travel to Rome, zoom in on St. Peter's Basilica, and see details--and I mean close, close up--that I guarantee will amaze you. (The hardware requirements are stringent--more in a sec.) Don't believe me? Watch this7-minute demonstration.

But wait a minute: Unless you have a heavy-duty PC--you need Windows XP and the hardware needs to be Vista ready--save your time. You just won't be able to use Photosynth. (My wife's out of luck; she's been playing with Photosynth on my machine.) If you have the system requirements, you'll also need to download a small ActiveX plug-in available at the Photosynth site.

Photosynthis now up and running. (My friend Bill Webb has a good write-up about it.)

Continued in article

Question
How do you decide on a small car (with half the gas mileage and over twice the death risk for your family) relative to a SUV? This is one of those rock versus hard place decisions, although more and more people are willing to risk higher death risks with current fuel and car prices.

From the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
All small cars have driver deaths per million vehicles of 108 versus 70 for midsize cars, 67 for large cars, and 55 for SUVs. No mention is made for the ever-popular light trucks, but these probably are as good or better than SUVs in terms of driver death rates.

"People buy small cars even though they can be deadly," by James R. Healey, USA Today, August 20, 2007, Page 1B ---
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-08-19-small-cars_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip 

Americans are buying more small cars to cut fuel costs, and that might kill them. As a group, occupants of small cars are more likely to die in crashes than those in bigger, heavier vehicles are, according to data from the government, the insurance industry and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)

The newest small vehicles, of course, meet today's strict safety standards and can be laden with the latest safety hardware, such as stability control and side air bags. They are safer than ever. And differing designs mean some small cars are safer than average. But even the safest are governed by the laws of physics, which rule in favor of bigger, heavier vehicles, even in single-vehicle crashes.

Lund was on an NAS panel that examined potential safety impacts and other consequences of stricter fuel-economy regulations. The panel's report, published in 2002, noted that there are safe, cost-effective ways to boost mileage, but cutting the size and weight of vehicles is not one of them. Years of statistics show that small cars "are involved in more collisions than larger vehicles," and "Small vehicles have higher fatality rates than larger ones," the NAS report said.

When the NAS report was published, small-car sales were 13.7% of the new-vehicle market, and dropping. Today, they have climbed to 15.4%.

High fuel prices, which topped $3 a gallon earlier this year for the third-consecutive year and now average about $2.75, have whipped up interest in fuel-saving small cars.

"With the price of gasoline, it's a fuel-economy thing," says Robin Dey, 56, a nurse in Santa Barbara, Calif., who is shopping for a Honda Civic small car for her daughter in college and drives a Volkswagen New Beetle herself. She says prices got to $3.89 a gallon in her area before they began declining.

"Small cars are more economical, which is important to me because I do a lot of home health care and a lot of driving," she says, running up nearly 100,000 miles on her 2001 Beetle.

Continued in article (with data graphs)

Jensen Comment
Decisions such as this depend a great deal on the type of driving intended for the car and many factors other than death risks. For example, I drive less than 4,000 miles per year which greatly lowers my probability of an accident relative to drivers who practically live in their cars. I also drive very few miles at night. I could, in theory, chance a small car but it would not save me much money since I use so little fuel.

And there is the moose/deer risk up here. A woman who lived less than 10 miles from us was killed in broad daylight when she hit a moose on August 20. A heavy car greatly improves the odds, ceteris paribus, of living when hitting moose and deer. It is much less common to hit a bear, although they're nocturnal, black, and hard to see at night. We've see bears in the road on occasion, but we do not hear as much about bear-car collisions relative to moose and deer. Incidentally, the moose risk varies greatly with the time of year. In the winter, moose conserve on energy by standing like statues 24/7 in the woods and seldom venture near highways. In other times of the year, the moose are on the move.

 I live in deep snow country in a rural environment where the all-wheel drive dealers nearby only offer SUV sales and service. I want an all-wheel drive vehicle in the winter since this greatly improves my chances of not getting stuck in deep snow.

The point is that factors to consider by me when buying a car (I never buy a new car) differ greatly from things other people must consider for their life styles and locales. Risk of death is one factor to consider along with fuel economy.

Bob Jensen has been receiving messages from a Halliburton whistle blower

Sadly Persons Blowing the Whistle Do So at Their Own Peril
"Whistleblowers on Fraud Facing Penalties," by Deborah Hastings, Forbes, August 24, 2007 --- http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/08/24/ap4052736.html

One after another, the men and women who have stepped forward to report corruption in the massive effort to rebuild Iraq have been vilified, fired and demoted.

Or worse.

For daring to report illegal arms sales, Navy veteran Donald Vance says he was imprisoned by the American military in a security compound outside Baghdad and subjected to harsh interrogation methods.

There were times, huddled on the floor in solitary confinement with that head-banging music blaring dawn to dusk and interrogators yelling the same questions over and over, that Vance began to wish he had just kept his mouth shut.

He had thought he was doing a good and noble thing when he started telling the FBI about the guns and the land mines and the rocket-launchers - all of them being sold for cash, no receipts necessary, he said. He told a federal agent the buyers were Iraqi insurgents, American soldiers, State Department workers, and Iraqi embassy and ministry employees.

The seller, he claimed, was the Iraqi-owned company he worked for, Shield Group Security Co.

"It was a Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) for guns," he says. "It was all illegal and everyone knew it."

So Vance says he blew the whistle, supplying photos and documents and other intelligence to an FBI agent in his hometown of Chicago because he didn't know whom to trust in Iraq.

For his trouble, he says, he got 97 days in Camp Cropper, an American military prison outside Baghdad that once held Saddam Hussein, and he was classified a security detainee.

Also held was colleague Nathan Ertel, who helped Vance gather evidence documenting the sales, according to a federal lawsuit both have filed in Chicago, alleging they were illegally imprisoned and subjected to physical and mental interrogation tactics "reserved for terrorists and so-called enemy combatants."

Corruption has long plagued Iraq reconstruction. Hundreds of projects may never be finished, including repairs to the country's oil pipelines and electricity system. Congress gave more than $30 billion to rebuild Iraq, and at least $8.8 billion of it has disappeared, according to a government reconstruction audit.

Despite this staggering mess, there are no noble outcomes for those who have blown the whistle, according to a review of such cases by The Associated Press.

"If you do it, you will be destroyed," said William Weaver, professor of political science at the University of Texas-El Paso and senior advisor to the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition.

"Reconstruction is so rife with corruption. Sometimes people ask me, `Should I do this?' And my answer is no. If they're married, they'll lose their family. They will lose their jobs. They will lose everything," Weaver said.

They have been fired or demoted, shunned by colleagues, and denied government support in whistleblower lawsuits filed against contracting firms.

"The only way we can find out what is going on is for someone to come forward and let us know," said Beth Daley of the Project on Government Oversight, an independent, nonprofit group that investigates corruption. "But when they do, the weight of the government comes down on them. The message is, 'Don't blow the whistle or we'll make your life hell.'

"It's heartbreaking," Daley said. "There is an even greater need for whistleblowers now. But they are made into public martyrs. It's a disgrace. Their lives get ruined."

Continued in article

Shut Up Even in the Case of Terrorist Suspicions
"If you see something suspicious, 'Shut up'," Las Vegas Review-Journal, July 24, 2007 --- http://www.lvrj.com/opinion/8677417.html 

Bob Jensen has been receiving messages from a Halliburton whistle blower --- at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#WhistleBlowing 

Bob Jensen's threads on whistle blowing are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudConclusion.htm#WhistleBlowing

"How This Year’s Frosh Will Make You Feel Older," by Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, August 21, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/21/mindset

The class of 2011 is arriving at campuses all over — and inspiring plenty of professors to wonder why the new students seem younger every year. For a decade, Beloit College has been helping out with its annual Mindset List of gentle reminders of what new students grew up with and what they never experienced.

The list is the creation of Tom McBride, Beloit’s Keefer Professor of the Humanities, and Ron Nief, the public affairs director. The 2007 list is being released today. The complete list, along with past years’ lists, may be found here. Some highlights from this year’s list follow:

The Mindset for the Class of 2011

• What Berlin wall?
• They never “rolled down” a car window.
• They have grown up with bottled water.
• Nelson Mandela has always been free and a force in South Africa.
• Pete Rose has never played baseball.
• Russia has always had a multi-party political system.
• No one has ever been able to sit down comfortably to a meal of “liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
• Wal-Mart has always been a larger retailer than Sears and has always employed more workers than GM.
• When all else fails, the Prozac defense has always been a possibility.
• They grew up in Wayne’s World.
• U2 has always been more than a spy plane.
• Fox has always been a major network.
• Women’s studies majors have always been offered on campus.
• Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.
• They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.
• China has always been more interested in making money than in reeducation.
• The space program has never really caught their attention except in disasters.
• They’re always texting 1 n other.
• They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom.
• Avatars have nothing to do with Hindu deities.
• The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.

Jensen Comment
And their grandparents mentioned somebody named Elvis.

Question
Where are the most beautiful college campuses in the United States?
Where are the happiest students?
Where are the most politically correct colleges?
What are the 2008 top-ranked party and or jock or weirdo schools in the United States?
Hint: Chico and North Texas State have fallen from grace.

The No. 1 ranking colleges do not want is Princeton Review’s annual designation in its college guide of the top party school. This year’s winner is West Virginia University, followed by the University of Mississippi, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Florida, and the University of Georgia. While Princeton Review’s guide is not known for the quality of its social science research (student surveys are the key tool), it does win points for creative categories — particularly in playing off of student’s studious or not-so-studious reputations, and their politics. Clemson University is named the top jock school. Eugene Lang College of New School University is named the place that educates “dodgeball targets.” Hampshire College topped Bard College for the coveted “Birkenstock-wearing, tree-hugging, clove-smoking vegetarians” award. Macalester College was deemed most accepting of gay students while Hampden-Sydney won for “alternative lifestyles not an alternative.” Another tradition about these rankings is for the top party school’s president to question the ranking. Mike Garrison, president elect at West Virginia, issued this statement: “I’ve talked to thousands of our students over the weekend and during the first day of classes, and their concerns are with their education, with their futures, and with the great year we have ahead at WVU. I’m focused on the way this university changes people’s lives, the research that we do, and the service we provide to the state of West Virginia. This is a special place, and the whole state is proud of it.”
Inside Higher Ed, August 21, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/21/qt

Jensen Comment
There are many other categories at the Princeton Review site --- http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankings.asp

Check out the categories!
Academics Professors Get High Marks Class Discussions Encouraged More Lists Demographics Diverse Student Population Gay Community Accepted More Lists Parties Major Frat and Sorority Scene Party Schools More Lists Schools by Type Jock Schools Dodgeball Targets More Lists	Politics Most Politically Active Election? What Election? More Lists Quality of Life Happiest Students Most Beautiful Campus More Lists Extracurricular Students Pack the Stadiums Best College Radio Station More Lists Social Great College Towns More to Do on Campus More Lists

Question
Guess which parents most strongly object to grade inflation?
Hint: It's not the parents of the top students
Parents Say Schools Game System, Let Kids Graduate Without Skills

The Bredemeyers represent a new voice in special education: parents disappointed not because their children are failing, but because they're passing without learning. These families complain that schools give their children an easy academic ride through regular-education classes, undermining a new era of higher expectations for the 14% of U.S. students who are in special education. Years ago, schools assumed that students with disabilities would lag behind their non-disabled peers. They often were taught in separate buildings and left out of standardized testing. But a combination of two federal laws, adopted a quarter-century apart, have made it national policy to hold almost all children with disabilities to the same academic standards as other students.
John Hechinger and Daniel Golden, "Extra Help:  When Special Education Goes Too Easy on Students," The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2007, Page A1 ---  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118763976794303235.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

Bob Jensen's threads on grade inflation are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Assess.htm#GradeInflation

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

"Jane Austen, Yadda, Yadda, Yadda," by Devoney Looser, Inside Higher Ed, August 21, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/08/21/looser

“I started Pride and Prejudice last week,” he told me. “It’s one of those books I know I should have read, but I couldn’t get past the first few chapters.”

“Really,” I replied, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah, I just lost interest,” he went on. “I kept thinking to myself, ‘Oh, brother. I think I know where this is going.’”

Was this disarming honesty or throwing down the gauntlet? Was I being called out? Whatever it was, I shifted nervously as I listened to the rest of his monologue: “My theory is that the novel can be pretty much summed up as Elizabeth and Darcy meet, Elizabeth and Darcy hate each other, Elizabeth and Darcy fall in love, yadda, yadda, yadda.”

Reader, I stared at him blankly. Of course, I spent hours afterward constructing witty, cynical comebacks, such as “Yeah, I know what you mean. I have that response to episodes of VH1’s ‘Behind the Music’ and to reading the Bible.” But in the moment, all I managed to spit out was something clichéd and professorial resembling, “Hmm. That’s interesting. I think maybe it takes a few readings of Austen to really appreciate her fiction’s depth, humor, and irony.”

That’s also my stock answer to traditional-aged undergraduates on the first day of class — 20-year-olds who confess that they’ve signed up for a literature class on Austen and her contemporaries because they absolutely love (or absolutely hate) her fiction — or maybe just the film adaptations. Or Colin Firth or Keira Knightley or Clueless. The Austen-haters often claim to be taking the course because they want to understand what in the world is the big deal. A few of them end up seeing it by the end of the semester, a few more don’t, and that’s fine. But the yadda-yadda-yadda employee was a well-read, middle-aged guy with no sophomore excuse for being sophomoric. My gut reaction to his confession registered somewhere between crestfallen and incensed.

Continued in article

Questions
Why do information technology and computer science careers attract so few women (29%)?
Why are veterinary medicine graduates 89% women in some of the leading universities?

"With Labor Crunch in IT on the Horizon, Why Are Careers Failing to Lure Women?" by Ben Worthen, The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2007; Page B5 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118765128825503463.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace

While women hold 51% of all professional positions in the work force, they only made up 26% of IT pros in 2006, down from 29% in 2004, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology. Only 13% of corporate officers at Fortune 500 tech companies are women. And Jenny Slade, communications director for the NCWIT, tells the Business Technology Blog that women who do pursue IT careers tend to leave them at a higher rate than men.

"Women feel discrimination in IT," Ms. Slade says. Indeed, a recent survey of nearly 2,000 female IT workers by Women in Technology International found that 48% say that their views aren't as acknowledged or welcomed as those of their male colleagues, and 44% say that they have fewer opportunities to participate in or lead large initiatives. Consequently, women feel they need to leave IT in order to advance, says Ms. Slade. Over time this becomes self-perpetuating: Women say that one of the main reasons they leave IT is that there aren't other women in the field, says Ms. Slade. It isn't just a workplace-dynamics issue. Women are also losing interest in computer science long before they choose a profession. Women only received 21% of computer science undergraduate degrees in 2006, compared with 37% in 1985, says the NCWIT. The number of incoming freshmen women choosing to major in computer science dropped by 70% between 2000 and 2005. And teenage girls seem less interested in computer science than they are in other scientific fields. Only 12% of the finalists in the 2005 Intel Science and Engineering Fair, a national competition for high-school students, were girls, compared with 54% of the finalists in biochemistry. Similarly, only 15% of the high-school students taking the advanced-placement computer science test in 2006 were girls, compared with 48% of the students who took the AP calculus test.

Schools of veterinary medicine are increasingly struggling to recruit male students. The Boston Globe reported that women made up 89 percent of last year’s new vet students at Tufts University and that at Michigan State University and the University of California at Davis, women make up 88 percent and 81 percent, respectively, of incoming students.
Inside Higher Ed, August 22, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/08/22/qt

Women now make up more than 60 percent of all accountants and auditors in the United States, according to the Clarion-Ledger. That is an estimated 843,000 women in the accounting and auditing work force.
AccountingWeb, "Number of Female Accountants Increasing," June 2, 2006 ---
http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=102218

"Why Most Web Sites Receive Failing Grades," by Ben Worthen, The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2007; Page B5 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118765128825503463.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace 

Why Most Web Sites Receive Failing Grades

Ninety-seven percent of the 1,000-plus corporate Web sites that Forrester Research Inc. has evaluated received failing grades. Companies with bad Web sites are turning off customers and leaving money on the table. And usually, Harley Manning, a Forrester vice president, says it's due to common mistakes that can be broken down into four categories.

1. Value. The first mistake that companies make when they're designing a Web site is copying features from competitors. Bells and whistles are worthless if they don't help a customer. Mr. Manning says that too few companies take the time to sit down with customers and find out what they're using a Web site for and what information would make a site more helpful. A good example of a site that does this well is Fidelity.com, the Web site for Fidelity Investments Inc. There isn't a lot of extraneous information that investors don't need, and information that investors want, such as ratings from Morningstar Inc., are easy to find.

2. Navigation. Companies often opt for cute menus instead of clear menus. For example, Merrill Lynch & Co.'s site for individual investors has four menu items, including one called BULLSEYE. That happens to be the name of Merrill Lynch's newsletter, which contains all sorts of useful information. "But nobody knows that," Mr. Manning tells this Blog. A Merrill Lynch spokesman declined to comment.

3. Presentation. Web sites need to be easy to read and understand. Yet the majority of companies still feel compelled to fit as much information into as small a place as possible. "Automotive companies are the worst," Mr. Manning tells us. The text on their sites is almost always too small, as if they're afraid that customers won't scroll down to see more of the page. People will, provided they're given visual cues. Mr. Manning cites New York Times Co.'s Web site, nytimes.com, as a site that's easy to read. Also, avoid unclear icons. Several of the icons on the booking page for the Hilton hotel in Times Square are a good example of what not to do. A Hilton Hotels Corp. spokeswoman says that Forrester conducted a review of Hilton's site and rated its use of icons "acceptable" and that the company is "constantly evaluating its overall site design."

4. Trust. People are concerned about online privacy and security. Calling attention to your company's privacy policy can actually help sales, Mr. Manning says. Also, a site's speed matters, but not in the way you might expect. Customers don't sense that a site is slow. Instead they conclude that the content isn't interesting and that it's less secure.

Mr. Manning says that there's no perfect Web site on the Internet. Forced to choose one, he picks Adobe.com, the Web site for Adobe Systems Inc., which he says is easy to read and full of useful information. More generally, it's easy to improve a site. And Mr. Manning says that doing so is a no-brainer. "Many of these sites get millions of visitors a year," he says. "If you can change your conversion rate just a little you can get a huge payoff."

Jensen Comment
In my opinion most colleges and universities have terrible Web sites, although professors within those systems sometimes, not often, have outstanding sites. The test of a site first and foremost should be content that is easily accessed. Much interesting content has now moved from open sharing Web servers to non-sharing Blackboard, WebCT, and other password protected servers. Exceptions are noted at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

Question
What new online people finders are making it easier to find the whereabouts of people in your past?
Hint:  One of the sites has very large and pointed ears.

"Searching for Humans:  Various websites are trying to make it easier to find friends and colleagues online," by Erica Naone, MIT's Technology Review, August 20, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19270/ 

Jaideep Singh, cofounder of the new people-search engine Spock, says he wants to build a profile for every person in the world. To do this, he plans to combine the power of search algorithms with online social networks. Singh says he got the idea for Spock while looking for people with specific areas of expertise among his contacts in Microsoft Outlook. Although he has two or three thousand people listed, he could only find people he was already thinking about. Spock is designed to solve that problem by allowing users to search for tags--such as "saxophonist" or "venture capitalist"--and then view a list of people associated with those tags. Singh could have manually entered tags for each of his contacts into Microsoft Outlook, but capturing every interest of each particular individual would be time-consuming. Spock uses a combination of human and machine intelligence to automatically come up with the tags: search algorithms identify possible tags, and users can vote on their relevance or add new tags. Registered users can add private tags to another person's profile to organize their contacts based on information that they don't want to share. For example, a contentious associate might be privately labeled as such. The social-network component of the website introduces an element of crowd commentary into the search process. George W. Bush is tagged "miserable failure," with a vote of 87 to 31 in favor of the tag's relevance as of this writing. Users aren't allowed to vote anonymously, and the tag links to the profiles of people who voted. Singh hopes social networks will also help with one of the main problems in people search: teaching the system to recognize that two separate entries refer to a single person--a problem called entity resolution. For example, a single person might have a MySpace page, a Linked In profile, and a write-up on a company website. Steven Whang, an entity-resolution researcher at Stanford University, says that there are several aspects to the problem: getting the system to compare two entries and decide whether they are related, merging related entries without repetition, and comparing information from a myriad of possible sources online. Finally, Whang says, there is a risk of merging two entries that should not be merged, as in the case of a name like Robin, which is used by both men and women. Many of the people-search engines try to get around these problems by encouraging people to claim and manage their own profiles, although Whang notes that this is a labor-intensive approach. Although there are many sites where people could claim their profiles, Singh says he thinks one engine will eventually dominate, and people will make the effort to claim profiles there. Bryan Burdick, chief operating officer of the business-search site Zoominfo, says that 10,000 people a week claim their profiles on Zoom, in spite of having to provide their credit-card numbers to do so. Singh has also introduced the Spock Challenge, a competition to design a better entity-resolution algorithm. He says that 1,400 researchers have already downloaded the data set, and they will compete for a $50,000 prize, which will be awarded in November. Continued in article

Jensen Comment
More people finders and other specialized search engines are linked at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm#SpecializedSearchEngines

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

Good Writing Versus Gobbledygook, Drivel, and Tripe

How to Publish in Top Journals, Edited by Kwan Choi, March 7, 2002 --- http://www.roie.org/how.htm

Mike Kearl's guide to writing a research paper --- http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/methods.html#rp

Adelberg, A. H. and J. R. Razek, (1984), "The cloze procedure: A methodology for determining the understandability of accounting textbooks.," The Accounting Review (January): 109-122  --- http://maaw.info/TheAccountingReview.htm Click on the "Non USF User Link"

The Plain English Campaign monitors good and bad language usage. They give out the Golden Bull Awards -- awards for "the worst examples of written tripe" -- to people who offend their sense of plainspokenness, as well as several other awards for clear language usage. This year, they gave out seven Golden Bulls and 20 awards for clear language. One of this year's seven Golden Bull recipients is Australian writer and academician Germaine Greer. She won for a recent arts column in The Guardian (London), in which she said, "The first attribute of the art object is that it creates a discontinuity between itself and the unsynthesized manifold."
"Gobbledygook, Drivel, and Tripe," by Erik Deckers, The Irascible Professor, July 10, 2007 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-07-10-07.htm

He whose words are more abundant than his data, to what is he like? To a tree whose branches are abundant but whose roots are few, and the wind comes and overturns it, as it is written, For he shall be like the tamarisk in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. But he whose data is more abundant than his words, to what is he like? To a tree whose branches are few but whose roots are many, so that even if all the words in the world come and blow against it, it cannot be stirred from its place, as it is written, He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not becareful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Eleazar ben Azariah, as quoted on Page 7 of "Aphorisms on Writing, Speaking, and Listening,"  by Eric Rasmusen, September 11, 2006 --- http://www.rasmusen.org/GI/reader/writing.pdf

Another dealer announced in a cheeky e-mail the creation of a new structured product: a Constant Obligation Leveraged Originated Structured Oscillating Money Bridged Asset Guarantee, or COLOStOMyBAG. One trader noted on the product – a parody of the increasingly bizarre acronyms that have become commonplace in the world of structured finance – “It’s basically full of shit.”
David Oakley, "Traders turn to black humour,"  Financial Times, August 17, 2007 --- http://www.ft.com/cms/s/7314e77e-4d05-11dc-a51d-0000779fd2ac.html

Bob Jensen's helpers for writers --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries

Some college presidents aren't so honest when rating colleges (including their own) for the U.S. News Rankings of Colleges
Editors at U.S. News acknowledge anecdotal evidence that some colleges try to affect the rankings, but they insist it is not widespread. The editors say they have added myriad safeguards over the years from specific definitions of what counts as an application to adding questions that can sniff out fudging. Some colleges used to drop athletes’ SAT scores from their computation of incoming students’ scores in order to increase their averages and make their institutions look more selective, Mr. Kelly said. In response, U.S. News helped to create common definitions with organizations like the College Board so that data reporting would be standardized and harder to fudge. Still, critics say that the magazine, which does not verify information submitted by the colleges, bears some responsibility for the litany of tactics that colleges employ.
Alan Finder, "College Ratings Race Roars On Despite Concerns," The New York Times, August 17, 2007 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/education/17rankings.html

Bob Jensen's threads on college rankings controversies are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#BusinessSchoolRankings

Hurricane Tracking Program --- http://www.hcfcd.org/hurricanetracker.html

Bob Jensen's bookmarks for weather and travel related sites are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Travel

Valuation Resources

August 22, 2007 message from Jerry Peters [jerry.peters@yahoo.com]

Dr. Jensen

Your webpage http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm includes an index of resources available at ValuationResources.Com under the heading  "Valuation Resources For Business Appraisers --- http://www.valuationresources.com/"  This index has been signficantly updated since you listed it on your site--for example, the number of specific industries covered has expanded from over 200 then to almost 400 now--and we encourage you to include the latest index on your webpage. You will find the latest index at http://www.valuationresources.com/

Thank you for your assistance in this matter. We appreciate your link to our site.

Jerry Peters, CPA, ASA, ABV
Valuation Resources, LLC
P.O. Box 5325
Evansville, Indiana 47716
Ph. 812-459-7742
jerry.peters@yahoo.com

Two valuation links of possible interest"

Bob Jensen's site mentioned above --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm

Bob Jensen's PowerPoint file on Fair Value Accounting --- see the 10FairValue.ppt file at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/Calgary/CD/FairValue/

Questions
How can you protect your work in progress and finished works on your computer?
Why are some of these alternatives problematic for your college and/or your employer?

Answer
One popular solution is to save the data on an external CD, DVD, or hard/flash drive. To prevent theft loss, however, backups should be kept in a very secure place and/or have multiple backups in different places. I generally store important files on a backup computer and on CDs. I also store files on hard drives in my university's system. My university, in turn, backs up all files in the system, so chances of losing files are minimal.

It is generally not a good idea to store files on a Web server unless you don't mind if Web crawlers read your files. Most universities provide faculty and students with space on both Web servers and password-protected servers. And universities continuously back up both kinds of servers. The problem is that it's a pain in the tail to constantly back up updated files. But it's important! Fire, theft, and lost computers and flash drives are risks, but there's an even greater risk that you will screw up a file, inadvertently delete a file, or have a computer crash that makes it necessary to seek out your latest backup

"Gone With Two Flashes" by Risa P. Gorelick, Inside Higher Ed, August 20, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/08/20/gorelick 

But then it happened — in a flash, so to speak — and I couldn’t have been more wrong. I returned home from a night at my boyfriend’s place and noticed a light left on and an interior door left open. At first, I didn’t think much of it. I turned off the light and shut the door. Then there were some items knocked over in the bathroom that I picked up and wondered for a minute how it happened, but didn’t really stop to think too long about it. Instead, I returned some phone calls, made some strong coffee, and then decided it was time to get to some writing done. I walked into my home office to turn on my computer and stopped short.

Where’s my laptop??? While it was a functioning laptop, I hardly ever unplugged it from the wall and the DSL modem — I used it mostly as a desktop, as it was much newer and faster than my dissertation desktop that runs at a dinosaur’s pace. I had sent an e-mail right before leaving the night before, so I know it was there on my desk when I left. But it wasn’t there now. And I stood there dumbfounded.

I grabbed the phone but wasn’t sure who to call. I finally managed to remember 911 and got a dispatcher, to whom I told what had happened. The dispatcher connected me to the local police, who asked a number of questions and then wanted to know if I was in the house. “Yes, I’m in the house,” I said— “Should I not be?” I was told I may wish to wait outside for the police to arrive. Given that I’d been in there an hour, if someone was still in the house, I think I would have noticed. Still, I opened up my front door and waited in front of my house for a few minutes until they got there. The two officers went through my house and thought it was odd that someone would come in only to take a laptop that was two years old. My two back-up flash drives were also missing as was the power supply to the laptop. But the person(s) who took my computer were kind to leave me the DSL and printer connections and the other items in my office.

I told the cops that I am an academic and that all of my research was on the computer and flash drives. They asked if someone in the office was “out to get me” or if I had a disgruntled co-worker or student. I had finished teaching two summer classes the week before and all of the students had passed, so I didn’t think a student would attempt to rob me. And if a colleague really wanted to get me, s/he would have his/her chance as I was up for my fourth-year tenure review in a few weeks. As one of two compositionists in my department, I doubt any of my colleagues would want to sabotage my research or career. They’re mostly concerned that I publish in blind peer-reviewed journals.

Upon further examination of my house, the robber(s) stole my checkbook, cash, traveler’s cheques, some small electronics, a majority of my jewelry and watches — and a pillow case off of my bed to put the loot in as they left. What they didn’t take, they returned to the drawers and closets, so I guess I’m fortunate that I had relatively thoughtful and neat robbers. The police haven’t been very helpful, but I’ve learned that there had been more than 20 robberies in my neighborhood in the previous week or so. The police also told me that fewer than 13 percent of robbery victims ever get any items recovered. While I was devastated that my grandmother’s jewelry was gone, I was sickened that my scholarly research had disappeared without a trace.

In the sleepless weeks following the robbery, I have met more of my neighbors than I had in the previous three years of living here. Some are nice; some seem rather odd; all are scared about becoming the next victim of a burglary. My passport, Social Security card, and birth certificate are locked in a safety deposit box at a nearby bank, which means I can’t decide on a moment’s notice to grab a flight to Paris, but I can live with that. I’ve also had an alarm system installed and no longer think of opening up a window to let in some fresh air. I haven’t been able to sleep more than two or three hours a night—even after the alarm system was installed. I feel violated and angry, and wonder how much therapy it will take before I am able to sleep through the night at home.

It’s hard to go back to the drawing board, so to speak, and start working on the book project and revisions again — as much of what I did is gone and would have to be started anew. Looming deadlines float over my clouded head.

Perhaps those professors who put their dissertations in the freezer were on to something, though the police said that most thieves look in freezers and refrigera