Mountain Music (beautiful Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss) --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15937551

 

In April 2007, wind shears in these mountains took off half the shingles of my relatively new roof and uprooted
countless trees in the White Mountain National Forest. Roofers temporarily covered our roof and commenced to put
on new architectural shingles in June. The above picture shows Mike putting on new lead flashing around a chimney before nailing down new shingles. We're still waiting to repair our dining room ceiling . It was leak-damaged by water in this Nor'easter.

Mostly I show you pictures of these mountains on sunny days. Actually while I'm sitting at my computer,
I prefer to watch the storm clouds move across the mountains. Sometimes they are dark, fast moving,
and ominous overhead. At other times it can be a nice day on our hill when we are looking down at
clouds in the valley where, sometimes, it is even raining under those clouds on villages along the
rivers --- like Franconia down below on the Gale River and Littleton on the Connecticut River and
Ammonoosuc (Wild) River.

The pictures below were taken mostly from behind my windows and at different times. Sometimes
the camera flash and raindrops reflect on the glass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stormy Weather
Fred Astaire once called this performance "the greatest dance number ever filmed."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBb9hTyLjfM

Stormy Weather
As only Ella could sing it --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teXOPAFMOp0

Stormy Weather
Lena Horne's Rendition --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUd8V7G8t0c

 

Tidbits on November 15, 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/

You can read about Erika's surgeries and see her pictures at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Erika2007.htm
Personal pictures are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/PictureHistory/
Some personal videos are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/EdTech/Video/Personal/ 

Bob Jensen's blogs and various threads on many topics --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
       (Also scroll down to the table at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ )

Set up free conference calls at http://www.freeconference.com/  

If you want to help our badly injured troops, please check out
Valour-IT: Voice-Activated Laptops for Our Injured Troops  --- http://www.valour-it.blogspot.com/

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

VIDEO -- Now Playing on WSJ.com Al-Zawahiri's Version of Islam Editorial page writer Bret Stephens speaks to Dr. Tawfik Hamid, an Islamic scholar, about his experience with Ayman al-Zawahiri, an influential al-Qaeda leader.
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/8_0004.html?bcpid=86195573&bclid=212338097&bctid=1305005070

B-29 Model Airplane --- http://users.skynet.be/fa926657/files/B29.wmv

From UC Berkeley --- Scroll down at http://www.youtube.com/profile_play_list?user=ucberkeley

FORA.tv (video and podcasts) brings together content from the Hoover Institution, the Global Philanthropy Forum, the World Affairs Council, the American Jewish Committee, and dozens of other organizations --- http://www.fora.tv/

"The Viral Video Hall of Fame" From crooning politicians to a grocery store manager who can crush windpipes with his mind, these are the greatest hits of the YouTube Age," PC World via The Washington Post, November 12, 2007 --- Click Here

The Trippiest Optical Illusions on the 'Net --- http://www.switched.com/2007/10/15/the-trippiest-optical-illusions-on-the-net/

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

"After two hours, I looked at my watch," a reviewer of Wagnerian opera is said to have written. "I found that 17 minutes had gone by."
As quoted in PhysOrg, November 12, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news114010680.html

Mountain Music (beautiful Alpine Symphony by Richard Strauss) --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15937551

Mahler's First Symphony (full concert) --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16013157

Nickel Creek Farewell Concert (Hear the Full Concert) --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15731658

Near the end of Miles Davis' career, he gave young Wallace Roney the gift of a trumpet. That blue horn — yes, silvery blue — has engaged in a lot of serious music-making, first with Davis and now with Roney as a solo act.
Hear a Full Concert by Wallace Roney at the Kennedy Center Jazz Club --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15863011

Pepe Romero and the Art of the Spanish Guitar --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15203122

Bill Bojangles Robinson (I Can't Give You Anything But Love)--- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmcpGe1j-W0

Stormy Weather
Fred Astaire once called this performance "the greatest dance number ever filmed."...Tap Nicholas Brothers Fayard Harold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBb9hTyLjfM

Stormy Weather
As only Ella could sing it --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teXOPAFMOp0

A Tribute to the Incredible Gilda Radner --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scSpb6Q949o

Britney Spears singing Everytime on Saturday Night Live --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMccA6IxDdM
I want them to play Britney Spears at my funeral. This way I won't feel so bad about being dead, and everyone there will know there is something worse than Death.
Gary Numan

Stompin' Tom Connors - Sudbury Saturday Night (Live 2005) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw7rzpvDvS0

 

Country Music Legend Hank Thompson Dies:  Hear the NPR Announcement on November 8, 2007 --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16112454
Read about Hank here --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hank_Thompson_%28music%29

Piano Tutorial #20 Wild Side of Life Honky Tonk Angels --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoV-wKbqJzA
Kitty Wells - It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe3ysK0zfGc
k.d. lang - Honky Tonk Angels Medley --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Cq50myLZs
Honky Tonk Angel (Elvis) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKlqSYEXPe4

Photographs and Art

NASA Space Walk Pictures forwarded by Lynn --- http://www.texasjim.com/NASApix/NASA pix.htm

Beautiful Winter Photographs and Music (PowerPoint Show) --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/Debussy.pps

Léman Lake Switzerland Ice Storm Photographs --- http://www.hoax-slayer.com/ice-storm-photos.shtml

West Coast Lightning and Storm Photographs --- http://electricskies.com.au/index.html?contents.html&banner.html&Galleries/WCoast/WCoastP3.htm 

Strom in Western Kansas --- http://backingwinds.blogspot.com/2006/05/may-26th-chase.html

Van Gogh (PowerPoint Show) --- --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp/DutchVanGogh.pps 

Animal pictures (PowerPoint Show) --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/temp//AnimalPictures.pps

Edward Hopper Gallery - 138 items --- Click Here
Also see "Edward Hopper's Land of the Loner" --- http://chronicle.com/subscribe/login?url=/weekly/v54/i11/11b01601.htm

Joseph Cornell: Navigating The Imagination --- http://www.pem.org/cornell/

From the University of Wisconsin
Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture: Image and Text Collections ---
 http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/DLDecArts/

 

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

Bentham Open Access --- http://www.bentham.org/open/
Bentham Publishers recently launched over 200 peer-reviewed open access journals (heavy on science, engineering, and medicine)

Hemingway Archives --- http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Hemingway+Archive/

The Legend Of Scotland by Lewis Carroll --- Click Here

The Door In The Wall by  Herbert G. Wells --- Click Here

Boston Public Library
100 Most Influential Books of the Century Booklists for Adults ---
http://www.bpl.org/research/AdultBooklists/influential.htm

University of Michigan Internet Public Library --- http://www.ipl.org.ar/ref/QUE/FARQ/bestsellerFARQ.html

Logos Free Books --- http://www.logosfreebooks.org/ 

University of Adelaide Library’s collection of Web books --- http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/

Find over 500 biographies of the most important writers --- http://litweb.net/

Internet Book List --- http://www.iblist.com/list.php?type=book&key=A&by=genre&genre=4

The Internet Classics Archives from MIT --- http://classics.mit.edu/

The Free Library --- http://www.thefreelibrary.com/

Eye on Europe: prints, books & multiples / 1960 to now --- http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2006/eyeoneurope/

That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history.
Aldous Huxley --- Click Here

The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any.
Katharine Whitehorn

One thing's for sure, in the war between freedom and fear, our side is going to have better t-shirts.
Dave Winer

When you hear "ecosystem" instead say "egosystem" and see if it still works.
Dave Winer

I want them to play Britney Spears at my funeral. This way I won't feel so bad about being dead, and everyone there will know there is something worse than Death.
Gary Numan

Why don't you turn on your toys and watch them play with each other.
Mother to Young Boy, The Wall Street Journal Cartoon, November 13, 2007

Surfer Todd Endris needed a miracle. The shark — a monster great white that came out of nowhere — had hit him three times, peeling the skin off his back and mauling his right leg to the bone. That’s when a pod of bottlenose dolphins intervened, forming a protective ring around Endris, allowing him to get to shore, where quick first aid provided by a friend saved his life. “Truly a miracle,” Endris told TODAY’s Natalie Morales on Thursday.
Mike Celizic, "Dolphins save surfer from becoming shark’s bait," MSNBC, November 8, 2007 --- http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21689083/?GT1=10547
You can read aboutbottlenose dolphins at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottlenose_Dolphin

Pass the smelling salts; someone in Brussels has discovered the Laffer Curve. Peter Mandelson, the EU Trade Commissioner and erstwhile British Labour minister, crossed over to the supply side during a speech at the European Parliament on Monday. Explaining why trade liberalization would benefit poor countries, Mr. Mandelson addressed developing nations' claims that they might lose government revenues if they reduced tariff levels. "The evidence," Mr. Mandelson said, "is that when tariffs come down, tariff revenue tends to go up." Arthur Laffer couldn't have said it better himself. When you tax something you tend to get less of it, and a tariff is just a tax on imports. Lower tariffs, and you'll probably get more imports -- and taking a smaller portion of a bigger pie often is better than taking a larger hunk of a tinier pie.
"The Mandelson Curve," The Wall Street Journal, November 9, 2007 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119456220037387152.html

The big world of classical physics mostly seems sensible: waves are waves and particles are particles, and the moon rises whether anyone watches or not. The tiny quantum world is different: particles are waves (and vice versa), and quantum systems remain in a state of multiple possibilities until they are measured -- which amounts to an intrusion by an observer from the big world -- and forced to choose: the exact position or momentum of an electron, say. On what scale do the quantum world and the classical world begin to cross into each other? How big does an "observer" have to be? It's a long-argued question of fundamental scientific interest and practical importance as well, with significant implications for attempts to build solid-state quantum computers.
"The world's smallest double slit experiment," PhysOrg, November 9, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news113822439.html

In the latest example of potentially harmful Chinese-made products, rubber hair bands have been found in local markets and beauty salons in Dongguan and Guangzhou cities in southern Guangdong province, China Daily newspaper said. "These cheap and colourful rubber bands and hair ties sell well ... threatening the health of local people," it said. Despite being recycled, the hair bands could still contain bacteria and viruses, it said. "People could be infected with AIDS, (genital) warts or other diseases if they hold the rubber bands or strings in their mouths while waving their hair into plaits or buns," the paper quoted a local dermatologist who gave only his surname, Dong, as saying . . .
Yahoo News, November 12, 2007 --- http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071113/hl_afp/chinahealthcondomsoffbeat_071113034834
Jensen Comment
It was quite a stretccch to come up with this Tidbit. It must be very macho to show up at the recycling center weekly with a trash can filled only with your own used condoms.  Celebrity-sourced  hair bands supposedly will be in great demand.

Starbucks, the Onion once reported, "continued its rapid expansion Tuesday, opening its newest location in the men's room of an existing Starbucks." In real life, it hasn't come to that--yet. But Starbucks has seemingly caffeinated the U.S. and the world. There are now 10,000 stores spread across North America (more than 170 in Manhattan alone) and an additional 4,000 in more than 40 countries, stretching from Bahrain to Brazil. Starbucks stores have become a retail icon, a daily habit and a late-night punchline. "The only way the oil companies could make more money," Jay Leno quipped a couple of years ago, "would be if they were drilling for oil and struck Starbucks coffee." In "Starbucked," Taylor Clark sets out to explain such scorching success. He offers, along the way, an entertaining, instructive and refreshingly even-handed account of the company's life so far.
Mathew Rees, "The Fresh-Roasted Smell of Success How Starbucks has become part of American culture," The Wall Street Journal, November 7, 2007 --- http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110010831

This pacifistic stance appeals to the left wing of the democratic electorate, which may have some influence on the outcome of democratic primaries, but which is far less likely to determine the outcome of the general election. Most Americans -- Democrats, Republicans, independents or undecided -- want a president who will be strong, as well as smart, on national security, and who will do everything in his or her lawful power to prevent further acts of terrorism. Hundreds of thousands of Americans may watch Michael Moore's movies or cheer Cindy Sheehan's demonstrations, but tens of millions want the Moores and Sheehans of our nation as far away as possible from influencing national security policy. That is why Rudy Giuliani seems to be doing surprisingly well among many segments of the electorate, ranging from centrist Democrats to Republicans and even some on the religious right.
Alan Dershowitz, "Democrats and Waterboarding," The Wall Street Journal, November 7, 2007; Page A23 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119439827396084663.html
Jensen Comment
When I spent a year in a think tank with Alan, he was a Jewish Democrat.


"The Path of Respectful Engagement," by Pat Hostetter Martin, Inside Higher Ed, November 9, 2007 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/11/09/martin

To be sure, there are numerous issues between Iran and the United States that deserve very serious scrutiny. No one is served by naiveté or ignoring those concerns. One of our Indonesian Muslim students raised concerns about Mennonites interacting with Iranian officials in this e-mail message to me:

“I’m writing this e-mail just to ‘remind’ the Mennonites to be careful in building networks and relationships with the Iranian government. Who takes benefit from this ‘peacebuilding project’: Iranians, Mennonites, Muslims, the United States? I am afraid there is a ‘hidden agenda’ behind the meeting.

“They just use the Mennonites to send their ‘peaceful message’ to the American public, while at the same time they produce uranium, discriminate against non-Shi’ite communities and non-Muslims, massacre members of the Baha’i faith, and so on and so forth.

“Last, but not least, hopefully what I was thinking does not happen. Hopefully, by the Mennonites’ intervention, justice and peace will greet Iran, like in the Harrison Ford movie ‘Witness.’”

We in the peacebuilding field cannot know whether eventually “justice and peace will greet Iran,” just as we cannot know whether eventually the United States will choose the path of equitable peace in the world instead of military and economic dominance. But we are certain that to transform conflict and lay the groundwork for a better future, one must treat others the way – yes, to borrow from our holy book (but not the only book to say this) – one would want to be treated. In our conflict transformation program, we teach our students to move toward differences of opinion without fear, dealing with it open-heartedly, rather than trying to suppress or avoid conflict. Iran’s president undoubtedly has his own agenda for promoting exchanges with American colleges and academics, but our agenda is to promote respectful talking and listening, knowing that none of us has a corner on the truth and that each of us views matters through a particular lens. The more effort we make to peer through the lens of the “other,” the less likely we will end up in violent conflict.

Seeking to “practice what I preach,” I was one of about 120 people from a dozen religious groups and institutions who met with Ahmadinejad two days after his speech at Columbia University. Requested by Iranian officials, the meeting was organized by the relief and service agencies of the Mennonites and Quakers, but included Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Christian university leaders, and many others.

During the two-hour session, Ahmadinejad addressed the audience for 20 minutes. Five panel members, selected for their range of perspectives, responded to his speech and asked their own questions. The dialogue covered the differences many of us have with Ahmadinejad, but it was conducted with respect and civility on all sides.

I believe this model is a better one for encouraging positive change – on both sides – than verbal attacks. I agree with the petition circulated by Columbia students, which was signed by 660 people online as of this week, in which the petitioners expressed distress that “inflammatory words were delivered at a time when dialogue with Iran is of the utmost importance in an effort to forestall war.”

One petitioner who identified herself as Alena, class of 2009, in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia, wrote: “As someone who grew up in the U.S. State Department world, I was often exposed to how difficult it was for my father to dialogue with leaders with whom he deeply disagreed. However, it was always his imperative to treat others with human dignity and respect and that U.S. Foreign Policy is best served by always having a platform for dialogue. There is always room for decorum and respect – even if you are faced with your worst enemy.”

We in the academic world must always be open to dialogue, which means respectfully listening as well as frankly speaking in a civil manner. I often disagree with positions that President Bush takes, but I would never presume to change his views and behavior through refusing to speak to him or insulting him.

Instead of limiting our choices to, on one hand, treating Ahmadinejad hatefully or, on the other hand, inviting him to speak without rebuttal in the interests of academic freedom, we advocate a third way: respectful, but active, engagement with those with whom one disagrees. This is what Martin Luther King did and wrote about in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” It’s what Gandhi did in India with the British. And it is what Nelson Mandela did with the leaders of the South African regime that jailed him for 27 years.

We advocate this third way both for intellectual and spiritual growth, as well as for combating injustice and achieving peace. Nothing is ever gained by pouring fuel onto a simmering fire.

Pat Hostetter Martin, who holds a masters degree in conflict transformation, is one of the administrators of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, in Harrisonburg, Va., and director of its 13-year-old Summer Peacebuilding Institute.

A 13-year-old junior high school student was given two days of detention after school officials spotted her hugging friends after school last Friday. Megan Coulter, an eighth-grade student at Mascoutah Middle School, was hugging her friends goodbye after school Friday when vice principal, Randy Blakely, saw her and told her she would receive two after-school detentions. Blakely had previously warned Coulter that she was in violation of the school's policy on public displays of affection after she was seen hugging a student at a football game. The school's policy says that "displays of affection should not occur on the campus at any time."
Mascoutah Middle School, November 8, 2007 --- http://mascoutah.il.schoolwebpages.com/education/school/school.php?sectionid=5871
Jensen Comment
I found it amusing that this school also bills itself as the "Home of the Braves."
Can these children bravely hug each other in church?
In California male and female school children can share the same bathrooms and locker rooms. The California law permits hugging or other displays of affection.

NCLB = No Child Left Behind Law
A September 2007 Thomas B. Fordham Institute report found NCLB's assessment system "slipshod" and characterized by "standards that are discrepant state to state, subject to subject, and grade to grade." For example, third graders scoring at the sixth percentile on Colorado's state reading test are rated proficient. In South Carolina the third grade proficiency cut-off is the sixtieth percentile.
Peter Berger, "Some Will Be Left Behind," The Irascible Professor, November 10, 2007 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-11-10-07.htm

Have schools in the U.K. stopped teaching about Holocaust?
Mixed Answer:  See http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/holocaust.asp

The war being waged by the quasi-establishment and quasi-government Left in Britain against the nation's own traditions, values, identity and, perhaps most of all, religion, has been escalated and its battle-lines redefined with a report by a leading Labour Party-aligned think-tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research, recommending that Christmas, which cannot be obliterated, should be down-graded to promote multiculturalism. Now, the Institute is not some unimportant relic of communist days clinging to existence in a squalid slum attic. On the contrary, it has very close links with the government. The report was commissioned when Nick Pearce, now head of public policy in the Prime Minister's Office, was its director. He was described in an interview on the Australian Broadcasting Commission's "Sunday Profile" recently as "One of the leading policy-makers in Great Britain." . . .  The same day that news of the report leaked out, there was news of another pedagogical flowering of multicultural understanding: a school had compelled teachers dress up as Asians for a day to celebrate a Muslim festival. Children at the school were also told to don Muslim garb even though most are Christians. . . The report also proposes an end to "sectarian" religious education -- it is hard to know what this means, or whether it is proposed to go as far as actually banning Christian schools, but it seems likely that it at least means that government support for religious schools would be banned (despite the fact that, apart from anything else, many religious schools provide a far better, and now physically safer, education than many of Britain's ghastly sink-comprehensives).
Hal G.P. Colebatch, "Britain's Escalating War on Christianity," The American Spectator, November 8, 2007 ---
http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12285
Jensen Comment
Since Christian children and teachers were required to "don Muslim garb" to "celebrate a Muslim festival," it would seem counterbalancing to require Muslim children to wear crosses on Good Friday. That would be a fearsome requirement that, I'm certain, will never happen since there are so many militant extremists in the United Kingdom.

(Meanwhile)
Tony Blair will convert to Roman Catholicism within weeks when he is received into the church by the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, according to the Catholic magazine the Tablet.There has been speculation for months that the former prime minister would be received into the church following his resignation from office. A report by the magazine's editor, Catherine Pepinster, says the ceremony will take place during a private mass in the cardinal's official residence behind Westminster Cathedral in Victoria, London.Mr Blair, now a Middle East peace envoy, was baptised as an Anglican but has been known to be interested...
Stephen Bates, Guardian, November 9, 2007 --- http://politics.guardian.co.uk/tonyblair/story/0,,2208165,00.html

The University of Maine is backtracking on a classroom teacher's suggestion that students would get extra credit for burning a flag, or a copy of the U.S. Constitution . . . "Leftists seek sanctuary in the ivory tower of higher education where they can feel free to impose their liberal moonbattery on hapless college students. The less control they have over the country, the tighter their grip over academia becomes. And nothing runs more rampant on college campuses than anti-Americanism." "Perhaps the most telling quote from Professor Grosswiler was this one: 'If they don't tolerate thought that they hate, they don't believe in the First Amendment,'" the editorial said. "So not tolerating a professor asking students to burn the United States flag is equal to not believing in free speech? Your tax dollars at work, folks."
"University vetoes extra credit for flag-burning," WorldNetDaily, November 8, 2007 --- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58553
Bob Jensen's threads on political correctness and free speech are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#PoliticalCorrectness

The Chinese government announced late Saturday that it had confirmed the presence of poison on toy beads exported around the world, while in the United States, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said that seven more children had been sickened. The Chinese government’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine also identified the factory that manufactured the beads, the Wangqi Product Factory in the southeastern Chinese city of Shenzhen, and said the factory’s export license had been suspended.
Keith Bradshire, "China Confirms Poison Was on Toy Beads," The New York Times, November 11, 2007 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/world/asia/11china.html?_r=2&ref=business&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Modern farm bills are really about buying votes.Perhaps it's beneath the dignity of Members of Congress to shop at a grocery store, but if they did they'd know that food prices are rising faster than at anytime in 17 years. Milk now costs $3 a gallon in many states. Eggs, oranges, peas, tomatoes and rice are selling at or near all-time highs. The biggest winners have been corn producers, as corn prices have doubled in two years -- thanks in part to new mandates for ethanol. All of this is translating into the best gains in farm wealth in decades. Total farm income is expected to leap by 44% to $73 billion this year, according to the USDA. The average income of full-time farmers hit $81,420 last year, with large corporate farms earning in the millions of dollars. Meanwhile, farmland prices in the past five years have increased by $200 billion a year, or an average asset gain of $100,000 per year per full-time farmer.
"The No Farmer Left Behind Act,," The Wall Street Journal, November 14, 2007; Page A16 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119500379205092116.html

But controversial they were. Finally, another guest, a man I had long admired, an incisive thinker and a political moderate, cleared his throat, and asked if he could interject. I welcomed his intervention, confident that he would ease the tension by lending his authority in support of the sole claim that I was defending, namely, that Bush hatred subverted sound thinking. He cleared his throat for a second time. Then, with all eyes on him, and measuring every word, he proclaimed, "I . . . hate . . . the . . . way . . . Bush . . . talks." And so, I told my Princeton audience, in the context of a Bush hatred and a corollary contempt for conservatism so virulent that it had addled the minds of many of our leading progressive intellectuals, Prof. Starr deserved special recognition for keeping his head in his analysis of liberalism and progressivism. Then I got on with my prepared remarks.
Peter Berkowitz, "The Insanity of Bush Hatred," The Wall Street Journal,  November 14, 2007; Page A17 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119500487725192231.html 

Hating the president is almost as old as the republic itself. The people, or various factions among them, have indulged in Clinton hatred, Reagan hatred, Nixon hatred, LBJ hatred, FDR hatred, Lincoln hatred, and John Adams hatred, to mention only the more extravagant hatreds that we Americans have conceived for our presidents.

But Bush hatred is different. It's not that this time members of the intellectual class have been swept away by passion and become votaries of anger and loathing. Alas, intellectuals have always been prone to employ their learning and fine words to whip up resentment and demonize the competition. Bush hatred, however, is distinguished by the pride intellectuals have taken in their hatred, openly endorsing it as a virtue and enthusiastically proclaiming that their hatred is not only a rational response to the president and his administration but a mark of good moral hygiene.

Continued in article

Studs Terkel, whose new book Touch and Go: A Memoir (The New Press) appears just a few months after his 95th birthday, has often been called an oral historian for his collections of interviews with “ordinary people,” to use a term he despises for its implicit condescension. I take it from a look through JSTOR that some of the oral historians in academe dispute that label. They have their methods, while Terkel has his . . . Studs Terkel is one of the greatest products of the Popular Front era. He shared its yearnings, but transcended its limitations; for Terkel could hear except that “the people” have, in fact, many voices. What he took from the history and the organizations he himself passed through — how he absorbed influences, and broke with them, and transformed them — merits a book. It is a story worth telling. But this late in the day, some other author will probably need to tell it.
Scott McLeMee, "Talking to Himself, Inside Higher Ed, November 14, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/11/14/mclemee

Last month, the National Academy of Sciences reported on the impact of ethanol production on water supplies. A University of Iowa professor chaired the report committee, so Big Corn might have hoped for a home-court advantage. But NAS reported that, "in some areas of the country, water resources are already significantly stressed . . . Increased biofuels production will likely add pressure to the water management challenges the nation already faces as biofuels drive changing agricultural practices, increased corn production, and growth in the number of biorefineries." When ethanol is criticized by scientists at Iowa's two largest state universities, you have to wonder who is for it.
"Ethanol Backlash," The Wall Street Journal, November 12, 2007; Page A16 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119482533176389532.html

"The Health Cost Myth," by John R. Graham, The Wall Street Journal,  November 13, 2007; Page A25 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119492465851790988.html

But what about the share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spent on health care, a metric of health system performance and value that some consider definitive? The United States leads the pack in this regard, spending far more on health than other countries. Surely this puts the U.S. at a competitive disadvantage, doesn't it?

No: It's the other way around. America's high productivity gives us the ability to spend more on health care, especially the latest treatments and technologies, than other developed nations that labor under forms of socialized health care.

Robert L. Ohsfeldt and John R. Schneider of the American Enterprise Institute have determined that health spending increases at a constant rate of about 8% for every $1,000 increase in GDP per capita. For example, if GDP rises from $30,000 per capita to $31,000, health spending increases by $232. But if GDP per capita rises from $40,000 to $41,000, health spending increases by $500.

Thus, because Americans earn so much more than people in other countries, it naturally follows that we spend more on health care.

Consider four countries whose health-care systems are often held up as admirable alternatives: Canada, Germany, France and Great Britain. Certainly, the U.S. spends significantly more on health care than those countries do, but these nations also earn significantly less income per person.

Look at it this way: Even after paying for our health care, Americans have far more money left over than their neighbors to spend on other goods and services. It works out to about $8,000 more than the average German or Frenchman, and about $4,000 more than the average Canadian or Briton.

Of course, averages obscure many harsh realities and hide the fact that many Americans are unable to afford health care.

To improve the state of American health care and lighten the burden on business and workers, policy leaders should push for portability of health benefits, transparent pricing for health services, tort reform and more competition among both insurers and providers.

Crusaders for "universal" health care allege that America's unique lack of government-mandated coverage is a handicap to the nation's competitiveness. Given America's superior economic performance, however, it is a uniqueness we should not rush to abandon.

VIDEO -- Now Playing on WSJ.com Al-Zawahiri's Version of Islam Editorial page writer Bret Stephens speaks to Dr. Tawfik Hamid, an Islamic scholar, about his experience with Ayman al-Zawahiri, an influential al-Qaeda leader.
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/8_0004.html?bcpid=86195573&bclid=212338097&bctid=1305005070


Scholarship in the Digital Age:  An Interview With Christine Borgman
It’s hard to meet academics these days whose work hasn’t been changed by the Internet. But even if everyone knows that the world of scholarship has changed, it’s not always clear just how or the way those evolutions fit into the broad history of scholarship. Christine L. Borgman sets out to do just that in Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure and the Internet, just published by MIT Press. Borgman, a presidential chair in information studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, responded to e-mail questions about her book.
Scott Jaschik, "‘Scholarship in the Digital Age’,"Inside Higher Ed, November 14, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/11/14/borgman

One learning child. One connected child. One laptop at a time.
The mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. Between November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During this time, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution ---
http://www.laptopgiving.org/
This link was forwarded by Aaron Konstam

November 12, 2007 reply from Aaron Delwiche [aaron.delwiche@trinity.edu]
Regarding a comment that developing nation children want desperately to get into MySpace and Facebook.

The opportunity to participate in social networking environments such as MySpace and Facebook is important for people who are otherwise excluded from participation in the global information economy. We laugh about these social networking sites -- often because of the funny and silly things that people use them for -- but on-line social networks are tangible manifestations of privilege and connectedness. Currently, these networks function as exclusionary "lunch counters" at which only certain types of people are allowed to take a seat.

Initiatives like the $100 laptop are not a miracle solution, but they at least make it possible for a new generation of youth to start plugging into conversational networks from which they were formerly excluded. So, yes, exactly. We should support the laptop giving program mentioned by Aaron K. because there just aren't enough children from developing nations on MySpace. :)

Aaron

One learning child. One connected child. One laptop at a time.
The mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege. Between November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the United States and Canada. During this time, you can donate the revolutionary XO laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in your life in recognition of your contribution ---
http://www.laptopgiving.org/
This link was forwarded by Aaron Konstam

November 12, 2007 reply from Aaron Delwiche [aaron.delwiche@trinity.edu]
Regarding a comment that developing nation children want desperately to get into MySpace and Facebook.

The opportunity to participate in social networking environments such as MySpace and Facebook is important for people who are otherwise excluded from participation in the global information economy. We laugh about these social networking sites -- often because of the funny and silly things that people use them for -- but on-line social networks are tangible manifestations of privilege and connectedness. Currently, these networks function as exclusionary "lunch counters" at which only certain types of people are allowed to take a seat.

Initiatives like the $100 laptop are not a miracle solution, but they at least make it possible for a new generation of youth to start plugging into conversational networks from which they were formerly excluded. So, yes, exactly. We should support the laptop giving program mentioned by Aaron K. because there just aren't enough children from developing nations on MySpace. :)

Aaron

November 14, 2007 reply from Bob Jensen

The easiest way for your children to learn about money is for you not to have any.
 Katharine Whitehorn
Possibly the easiest way to make children to want to learn is not to have any scholarly education opportunity whatsoever.

Certainly education and worldwide communications can be a bad thing for preserving ancient cultures and isolated religions/superstitions. But people who do go deep into Africa or other parts of the world discover that there is usually tremendous enthusiasm for learning --- sometimes learning anything. This makes isolated tribes extremely vulnerable to biased and/or incompetent teachers and learning materials.

In fact computers may be a way of overcoming questionable teaching such as teaching from overly zealous missionaries who are strong on doctrine and shallow on scholarship. 

Certainly there are risks of bad scholarship such as when any person goes to Wikipedia. But there is a tremendous amount of great scholarship available in Wikipedia and other scholarly databases accessed via computers.

Knowledge wants to be shared and will find cracks in the barrier walls of any type in society. The MIT experiment (along with the ensuing effort by Intel) to open these cracks a bit wider with cheap computers will have a whole lot of direct and indirect (i.e., externalities) that are good and bad. As educators we know we have to take chances, even those of us who frequently go to Wikipedia.

*******************************************

BH: My last question : How would you define the ideal digital society in a few words?

MJ: Equality of communication. Equality of information. Environmentally sustainable design. Low cost and high quality. Technology guided by the needs of people and not by trade and governments. Finally education technologies should be accessible to all.
Interview with Mary Joyce by Ben Heine --- http://snipurl.com/mjdigitalsociety

Bob Jensen

Electronic Wall Street Journal Will Soon Be Free
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch said Tuesday he intends to make access to The Wall Street Journal's Web site free, dropping subscription fees in exchange for anticipated ad revenue. "We are studying it and we expect to make that free, and instead of having 1 million (subscribers), having at least 10 million to 15 million in every corner of the earth," Murdoch said. News Corp. has agreed to acquire Dow Jones & Co. for about $5 billion, and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. A special shareholders meeting is scheduled for Dec. 13 in New York.
PhysOrg, November 13, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news114174612.html

Question
How can you cut the cost of your students' textbooks in half and customize them for your own course at the same time?

On Wednesday, the Arizona community college announced a partnership with Pearson Custom Publishing to allow Rio Salado professors to piece together single individualized textbooks from multiple sources. The result, in what could be the first institution-wide initiative of its kind, will be a savings to students of up to 50 percent, the college estimates, as well as a savings of time to faculty, who often find themselves revising course materials to keep pace with continuously updated editions.
Andy Guess, Inside Higher Ed, November 15, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/11/15/textbooks
 

Question 1
What's "time dialation?"
Hint:  It's based on Einstein's theory of relativity?

Question 2
Is John Travolta ceteris paribus getting better financing or worse financing deals than John Madden (football commentator who refuses to fly)?

Answer --- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_dialation

"It's a century late, but Einstein's still right on time," PhysOrg, November 12, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news114010680.html

"After two hours, I looked at my watch," a reviewer of Wagnerian opera is said to have written. "I found that 17 minutes had gone by."

In 1905, Albert Einstein wrote his own treatise on the relativity of time, famously theorising that time speeds up or slows down according to how fast an object is moving in relation to another object.

Thus, according to his hypothesis, a clock which is in motion ticks more slowly than an identical clock which is at rest -- a phenomenon that Einstein called time dilation.

In a study published on Sunday, the most accurate experiment yet into time dilation has proven the great German physicist to be bang on target.

An international team of researchers used a particle accelerator to whizz two beams of atoms around a doughnut-shaped course to represent Einstein's faster-moving clocks.

They then timed the beams using high-precision laser spectroscopy and found that, compared with the outside world, time for these atomic travellers did indeed slow down.

"We were able to determine the effect more precisely than ever before," said lead researcher Gerald Gwinner of the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada.

"We found the observed effect to be in complete agreement."

The experiments, said Gwinner, confirm the technology aboard US military satellites that provide the signals for the Global Positioning System (GPS) -- the "satnav" network that is used as a navigational aid around the world.

Continued in article

Jensen Comment
By extrapolation, we can then assume that some interest rates contractually states at, say, 11.368% per annum really vary for fast moving investors compared with stick-in-the-muds. Question 2 Is John Travolta ceteris paribus getting better financing or worse financing deals than John Madden (football commentator who refuses to fly)?
Hint:
Time moves somewhat slower for high flying John Travolta (a pilot).

It would seem that airline crews are getting a heck of a deal on their mortgages!

Dental School Alleged Cheating at Loma Linda University, New York University, and UCLA
The American Dental Association is investigating allegations of possible cheating by students at four dental schools on an exam that leads to licensure for dentists, the Los Angeles Times reported. The probe involves students at Loma Linda University, New York University, the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Southern California.
Inside Higher Ed, November 14, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/11/14/qt

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

Buzzword Bingo

Before reading this module, read about Buzzword Bingo at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buzzword_bingo
David Albrecht pointed out that the testimonials at this Wikipedia site are hilarious!

From the Unknown Professor of finance who writes the Financial Rounds Blog (October 8, 2007 ) --- http://financialrounds.blogspot.com/

A while back, I came across the game called "Buzzword Bingo." For those who aren't familiar with it, in the game of BB you get a Bingo card filled with common business buzzwords. You take it to a meeting, and when you hear an overused buzzword, you mark it off on the card. That way, what had been an irritating, overused phrase becomes something you get excited hearing.

I'm convinced there's a niche market for an academic version of BuzzWord Bingo that can be played at faculty meetings (particularly in committee meetings). Here's a sampling of things I'd put in the various squares:
  1. A senior faculty member brings up the same sore point that he's been harping on for the last 10 years. It has nothing to do with the issue at hand.
  2. A spirited discussion breaks out about changing ONE word on a document that (at most) two people will ever read. The discussion goes around and around for an hour or more.
  3. The word "Rubric" (our new word du jour) is used. And I always thought Rubric was the character Steve Martin Played in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
  4. Someone (usually the guy in #1) complains about how things have changed (i.e. students are so much worse, they used to have a 5/5/ load, it was much harder to publish in top journals, etc...) since they they were starting out.
Any suggestions for other entries? I'll add them in as they come (with credit, of course).
These were added later on.
  1. Don't forget the ever-exciting "Let me give a little institutional background" guy. He is worth 20 dead minutes in every gathering. (also from Cynical Prof)
  2. Someone frets about how any disagreement will reflect badly upon the program / department / institution's 'mission. Bonus points for being in a very secular setting or campus while muttering about the same. (HT: Ancarett)
  3. The tired old hand who tells everyone that whatever's decided doesn't matter because nobody has any real power here, anyway. (HT: Ancarett)
     
  4. #s 11-16 are complimnets of Mike Munger: When I was at [name of previous job university], we always....[what they did].
     
  5. I hear that in [name of department], they just got [n new positions, a budget increase, new space]. Why don't you get that for US?
     
  6. The "snatch defeat from the jaws of victory" guy. Committee chair reads proposal, clear that everyone agrees, if you voted now. But the Snatcher prepared a talk, and by golly he's going to give it. Starts by talking about how 25 years ago he proposed something like this (not MUCH like it, though), and was turned down. So, it's really time that anyone opposed then explains how they could have been so stupid. 7 or 8 people raise hands to respond. Vote is finally taken, an hour later, and it's 15-9. The 9 people, who were ready to support the proposal, end up sabotaging it because they are so angry at the Snatcher. After meeting, Snatcher congratulates self on "victory", since vote was positive.
  7. The by-laws guy. Either we are doing something not in the by-laws, or the by-laws need to be revised to reflect what we are doing.
     
  8. They guy who starts out with, "I'm going to support this, but..." and then runs down the proposal, or candidate, for ten minutes. Finishes with, "But I'm going to go along, and vote yes."
     
  9. The Dean's mouthpiece. "I don't think the Dean is going to like that. We need to think strategically!" This same person is perhaps the least strategic, and most politically inept, person in department.
  10. #s 17 & 18 are from Mike Barry: At our faculty meetings, there's always at least one blatant suckup. The dean will start the meeting off and the suckup will loudly thank the dean for all of his support (in something that made the suckup's job easier).
     
  11. We also have a social issues person. We could be talking about something like upgrade cycles for our computers and she'll somehow try to weave in a socially responsible angle. There are always a few faculty who, as soon as their hands go up, the rest of us groan. Of course, we have students like that!
  12. David Tufte contributed #s 19-23: The guy who insists that everything has an ethical angle that is in conflict with how we should present ourselves to stakeholders.
  13. The person who is secretary or otherwise in charge of documents who doesn't seem to be able to use Word, PDF or e-mail properly (usually you see this one on campus-wide committees
  14. The person who makes copies for the committee, but never makes enough - as if they had to type them all by hand.
     
  15. The former administrator who views the committee as a forum to perpetuate the views and continue the actions that got his butt booted out of the previous position.
     
  16. The student representative who never shows up for meetings.
  17. #s 24-25 are compliments of David Hammes: There's the "Oh, so what you're saying " or "Let me see if I understand you" guy who restates everyone's previous comments (oft times incorrectly), thereby dragging the meeting out even longer.
  18. The guy who "debates" himself out loud, changing his position with every comment he makes (kind of like Colin "Bomber" Harris

November 7, 2007 reply from Bob Jensen (you can add comments directly to entries in the Financial Rounds blog).

  1. "A senior faculty member brings up the same sore point that he's been harping on for the last 10 years. It has nothing to do with the issue at hand."

    Never rise to speak till you have something to say; and when you have said it, cease.
    Witherspoon

    Sell crazy someplace else, we're all stocked up here.
    Jack Nicholson, As Good As it Gets

    If novelty was the essential ingredient of modern art, then repetition is the hallmark of postmodern craft.
    Joel Achenbach

    Don't confuse arrogance with chronic correctness.
    Steve Williams

    Ben, I threw food at you to make you shut up. It hasn't worked. If you don't shut up, I want my food back.
    Dale Newfield

    Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.
    Leo Tolstoy

     
  2. "A spirited discussion breaks out about changing ONE word on a document that (at most) two people will ever read. The discussion goes around and around for an hour or more."

    There's no sense in being precise when you don't even know what you're talking about.
    John Von Neumann

    Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.
    Mark Twain

    The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.
    James Nicoll

    Don't pay attention to a word the press says     (or a committee writes). Wrap yesterday's fish in whatever they say tomorrow.
    Jack Welch

    I think you should rework that statement. A much more useful version is: "From now on, anyone gets smacked.
    Kristiina Wilson

     
  3. "Someone (usually the guy in #1) complains about how things have changed (i.e. students are so much worse, they used to have a 5/5/ load, it was much harder to publish in top journals, etc...) since they they were starting out."

    I found myself making pissy comments about all their pissy comments. It was pretty dumb.
    Kristiina Wilson

    I'd like to make a motion that we face reality.
    Bob Newhart

    Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
    Mark Twain

    The very ink with which all history is written is merely fluid prejudice.
    Mark Twain

     
  4. If you say Rubric again I'm going to puke.
    Dave Winer
     
  5. Here we have a game (read that Committee) that combines the charm of a Pentagon briefing with the excitement of double- entry bookkeeping.
    Cecil Adams
     
  6. If you can't convince them, confuse them.
    Harry S. Truman
     
  7. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office (and faculty committees).
    Aesop
     
  8. I'm the misfit of the committee, and I think they need me like a beauty pageant needs a Nosferatu.
    Jordan Wolbrum
     
  9. The confusion of a committee member is measured by the length of his memos.
    New York Times, January 20, 1981
     
  10. Haven't you heard our committee motto - 'United we sort of come apart at the seams, but Welded we stick together pretty well' ? -
    tabron@brandeis.bitnet
     
  11. Academics get paid for being clever, not for being right.
    Donald Norman
     
  12. The woman of my dreams makes a motion to adjourn.
    Doug Tygar

November 8, 2008 reply from Unknown Professor [unknownprofessor@hotmail.com]

Bob:

Thanks for putting it out there. I think there;'s a merket for this. At least it'll make faculty meeting more interesting.

The Unknown Professor http://financialrounds.blogspot.com 
"Back away slowly from the article with your hands up and your mind open, and with luck nobody gets hurt"

November 8, 2007 reply from David Fordham, James Madison University [fordhadr@JMU.EDU]

Bob, you can easily adapt a version of buzzword bingo for application to faculty meetings. I combined ideas from several folks and put one together way back in 2003. It is, of course, appropriately named "BS Bingo". It can be found at:

http://cob.jmu.edu/fordham/bsbingo2.htm 

Enjoy.

David Fordham
James Madison University

November 8, 2007 reply from Ed Scribner [escribne@NMSU.EDU]

Bob,

The Unknown Professor of Finance may not realize there have been versions of academic buzzword bingo on the web for some ten years.  Some do not use a word as kind and acceptable as “Bingo.”  For faculty meetings here we simply update the cards for new buzzwords as they come along.

David,

Now that I see the one you put together, I realize that's the one we've been using!!! I had forgotten about that.

Ed
New Mexico State University

 

 

Question
How can your cell phone receive calls from other telephones in your household and vice versa?

"Extending Cellphones' Reach With VTech System, Calls Are Channeled To Home Handset," Katherine Boehret, The Wall Street Journal, November 7, 2007; Page D8 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119439465387884550.html

It's fair to say that cellphones can induce laziness. They enable effortless directory assistance, mobile Web access and the ever-important luxury of calling someone in the next room so you don't need to get up. But this laziness can be reversed in an instant: Just misplace your cellphone at home, hear it ring and note how quickly you move -- running, climbing stairs or flipping couch cushions -- to find the phone before a caller hangs up.

VTech Communications wants to put an end to this mad phone dash with its new $150 Expandable Cordless Phone System with Bluetooth, the LS5145. This device synchronizes with your cellphone and redirects incoming cell calls to ring wherever the VTech phones are placed in the house. It works with your landline and up to two Bluetooth-linked cellphones, and can be expanded using additional handsets that cost $80 each.

. . .

Bluetooth technology isn't incapable of transmitting data: My BlackBerry Curve even tried to transfer its contacts to the 5145, but couldn't. VTech chose to use headset Bluetooth synchronization on the 5145 rather than hands-free synchronization. Hands-free is the same technology used in most Bluetooth-equipped cars; it provides more access to the Bluetooth device, such as phone-book integration.

I also missed other features on my cellphone when it wasn't by my side, such as text messaging and voice mail. Incoming text messages were sent to my cellphone unbeknownst to me since I wasn't near it, and when I didn't answer incoming calls through the VTech, I had no way of knowing if the caller left a voice mail on my cellphone.

The 5145 includes a base station and primary phone; the 5105 additional handset includes a small stand just big enough to hold it upright. I set up the base station near where I drop my work bag after coming home each night. After the initial pairing during setup, phones automatically link to the VTech, meaning I never had to take my cellphone out of my bag.

Continued in article

 

Certificates for Distance Education Teachers and Related Matters on Asynchronous Learning

November 10, 2007 message from Denise Nitterhouse (Condor) [dnitterh@CONDOR.DEPAUL.EDU]

Has anyone taken an excellent online Certificate program you can recommend for learning how to design, develop and teach asynchronous online Accounting, MIS and other business courses? I prefer a time-structured course with a lot of peer as well as instructor interaction (not a self-paced one where interaction is primarily with an instructor or TA).

After hours of searching & reading, I found the alternatives overwhelming, and quality impossible to determine, so I'm turning to you for personal experiences & recommendations. Reply either to the list or to me individually, as you think most appropriate. Thanks!!

Denise Nitterhouse, MBA, DBASchool of Accountancy & Management Information Systems
DePaul University
dnitterh@condor.depaul.edu
 http://condor.depaul.edu/~dnitterh/

 

November 10. 2007 reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Denise,

In the beginning God created distance education without specifying that distance education has to eliminate synchronous learning. My best example of this is a distance education course on international accounting designed and delivered by Sharon Lightner at San Diego State University. Students met at the same time in six (sometimes five) nations at the same time and could see/hear each other as well as their instructors and invited standard-setting experts also present in the widely separated classrooms. You can read more about Sharon's herculean effort at C:\Webjen\000aaa\lightner\255light.htm

Since the invention of the Web in 1989, major universities have been putting masters and doctoral programs into place in the discipline of education technology. I suspect Depaul probably offers such degree programs, and most certainly these are available at the University of Illinois.

One of my best examples of a very serious comparison of asynchronous and synchronous learning in controlled experimentation was the generously-funded SCALE program at the University of Illinois --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm#Illinois
Dan Stone (when he was still at Illinois) put together a CPE workshop module for me some years back for an American Accounting Association annual meeting. Dan has since moved to the University of Kentucky --- http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/000cpe/00start.htm

Having said this, we know that in practice over 99% of the distance education training and education courses do eliminate most of the traditional synchronized learning components.

First I will discuss your question about "certificates." Actually you may be more interested in online teaching certificates or e-learning certificates since "certificates" worth their salt in "asynchronous learning" per se are probably few and far between. I would begin your investigation with the Sloan-C site --- http://www.aln.org/workshop/index.asp

Take advantage of incredible savings on workshops by becoming a Sloan-C College Pass Member.

By becoming a Sloan-C College Pass member, you can enroll your faculty and staff in 2007 Sloan-C workshops for less than the price of a book! College Pass is a cost effective way to give your staff and faculty access to the full range of Sloan-C online workshops.

Sloan-C Online Teaching Certificate Now Available

After considerable development, Sloan-C is announcing the Online Teaching Certificate. Find out how you or your faculty and colleagues can receive a certificate from the leader in online education.

Sloan-C 2007 Online Workshop Listing

Following is a preliminary list of planned workshops for 2007. These plans are tentative and subject to change, there are also many workshops currently in the process of being added to this list. The majority of Sloan-C workshops, including workshops that are not yet listed here, are planned to be offered in the Sloan-C College Pass™, however we reserve the right to produce workshops for special purposes that are not included. For workshops not included in the College Pass, we will note in the workshop description when the workshops are listed on the home workshop page. Sloan-C College Pass™ does not cover additional fees that might apply with Sloan-C Certificates or Certification.


Jensen Comment
However, in general I view "certificates" as far less important than narrowing that part of asynchronous learning that you want to study. Alternatives range from learning theory itself to assessment theory to techie/geek distance education software and hardware.

As you indicate, it's pretty easy to be overwhelmed by distance education topics alone. Note that distance education, like on-campus traditional courses, is heavily asynchronous (such as when students learn from a textbook as well as attend lectures). Even when synchronous lectures and case analysis classes are replaced by asynchronous alternatives, there may be synchronous components such as chat rooms and Meebo. You can learn more about these alternatives at the following sites:

 

If you're looking for veterans who've taught accounting asynchronously for years (even for resident on campus students) with amazing enthusiasm, skill, and bootstrapping innovation I recommend Tony Catanach (financial and managerial) from Villanova, Amy Dunbar (tax) from the University of Connecticut, and Norm Nemrow (basic accounting) from Brigham Young University. If you want a great veteran of with experience in designing, funding, tweaking, administering, and delivering a complete asynchronous distance education masters program, there's probably none better than Don Carter who instigated the Chartered Accountancy School of Business for all of Western Canada. Last year Don won the Chartered Accountants Outstanding Educator Award. All these outstanding teachers have become experts on asynchronous learning, because they've bootstrapped themselves up from the bloody trenches. Don faced, and still faces many skeptics of the luddite variety, but this CASB venture into asychronous learning has been successful. The primary complaint is that it's too tough. Case closed!

 

Note in particular the Sloan-C link --- http://www.aln.org/

Our Mission:
The purpose of the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C) is to help learning organizations continually improve quality, scale, and breadth of their online programs, according to their own distinctive missions, so that education will become a part of everyday life, accessible and affordable for anyone, anywhere, at any time, in a wide variety of disciplines.

Created with funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Sloan-C encourages the collaborative sharing of knowledge and effective practices to improve online education in learning effectiveness, access, affordability for learners and providers, and student and faculty satisfaction. Find out more…

What We Do
Sloan-C maintains a catalog of degree and certificate programs offered by a wide range of regionally accredited member institutions, consortia, and industry partners; provides speakers and consultants to help institutions learn about online methodologies; hosts conferences and workshops to help implement and improve online programs; publishes the Sloan-C View, the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN), and annual volumes of applied research studies; and conducts research, annual surveys on online learning and forums to inform academic, government and private sector audiences. Sloan-C also offers an awards program and an effective practices database and wiki for members to share the lessons they have learned.

Academic Continuity – New Website:

Visit Sloan-C’s academic continuity website and view a report on a recent workshop focused on the issue of academic continuity and emergency management.

Join Sloan-C:

Sloan-C provides two levels of membership; the Sloan-C Free Membership provides access to web-based resources along with discounts on workshops and publications. The Sloan-C Premium Membership provides even greater access to the newest thinking in online learning.

 

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e-Learning --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web-based_training#E-Learning_2.0