"The race is not always to the
richest," The Economist, December 6, 2007 ---
http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10251324
SPOOKED by the effects of globalisation on their
low-skilled citizens, rich countries have been pouring money and political
energy into education. In the United States, it has been proclaimed that no
child will be left behind. Whether this programme, launched by George Bush
in 2002, has raised standards will be a big issue in the 2008 presidential
election. Next year Britain will introduce ambitious new qualifications,
combining academic and vocational study. For the industrial countries of the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), average
spending on primary and secondary schooling rose by almost two-fifths in
real terms between 1995 and 2004.
Oddly, this has had little measurable effect. The
latest report from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment
shows average attainment staying largely flat. This tome, just published,
compares the reading, mathematical and scientific progress of 400,000
15-year-olds in the 30 OECD countries and 27 others, covering 87% of the
world economy. Its predecessors in 2000 and 2003 focused on reading and
maths respectively. This time science took centre stage.
At the top are some old stars: Finland as usual did
best for all-round excellence, followed by South Korea (which did best in
reading) and Hong Kong; Canada and Taiwan were strong but slightly patchier,
followed by Australia and Japan. At the bottom, Mexico, still the weakest
performer in the OECD, showed gains in maths; Chile did best in Latin
America.
There is bad news for the United States: average
performance was poor by world standards. Its schools serve strong students
only moderately well, and do downright poorly with the large numbers of weak
students. A quarter of 15-year-olds do not even reach basic levels of
scientific competence (against an OECD average of a fifth). According to
Andreas Schleicher, the OECD's head of education research, Americans are
only now realising the scale of the task they face. Some individual states
would welcome a separate assessment.
. . .
Letting schools run themselves seems to boost a
country's position in this high-stakes international tournament: giving
school principals the power to control budgets, set incentives and decide
whom to hire and how much to pay them. Publishing school results helps, too.
More important than either, though, are high-quality teachers: a common
factor among all the best performers is that teachers are drawn from the top
ranks of graduates.
Another common theme is that rising educational
tides seem to lift all boats. In general—the United States and Britain may
be exceptions—countries do well either by children of all abilities, or by
none. Those where many do well are also those where few fall behind. A new
feature in this year's study is an attempt to work out how differences
between schools, as opposed to differences within them, determine
performance (see chart). Variation between schools is big in Germany (to be
expected, as most schools select children on ground of ability). But results
also vary in some countries (like Japan) with nominally comprehensive
systems. In top-performing Finland, by contrast, the differences between
schools are nearly trivial.
Continued in
article
"Let's Get Back to Education in Education," by
Rick Fowler, The Irascible Professor, December 11, 2007 ---
http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-12-11-07.htm
Education gurus have advocated
and public schools have incorporated many new trends aimed at increasing the
rankings of U. S. students in many standardized tests given in countries
around the world. From the ideas of writing gurus
Glasser and Collins, to portfolios to state
guidelines; from literature-based to whole language reading programs; from
mapping to thematic approach, from weighted grades to tracking.
However, many if not most of these "cutting edge" programs and quick fixes
for educators and education too often end up on the cutting room floor.
These "recipes for success" have cost public schools literally millions of
dollars since my first day as an English teacher almost 30 years ago.
Too often "keeping up with the
Joneses" is taking precedent over the real problem of maintaining adequate
basic education. Case in point, President Bush and many other politicians
seem to believe that the No Child Left Behind act is of utmost
importance in improving the performance of our students. Yet I liken his
reasoning to an analogy recently posted on the web:
No Child Left Behind: The
football version
1. All teams must make the
state playoffs, and all will win the championship by the year 2014. If
a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until
they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable.
2. All kids will be expected
to have the same football skills at the same time and in the same
conditions. No exceptions will be made for interest in football, a
desire to perform athletically, or genetic abilities or disabilities.
ALL KIDS WILL PLAY FOOTBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL.
3. Talented players will be
asked to work out on their own without instruction.
This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time
with the athletes who aren’t interested in football, have limited
athletic ability or whose parents don't like football.
4. Games will be played year
round, but statistics will only be kept in the 4th.,
8th and 11th games.
5. This will create a New
Age of sports where every school is expected to have the same level of
talent and all teams will reach the same minimal goals. If no
child get ahead, then no child will be left
behind.
I cringe
every time I read about a new educational savior or new educational tool
which is introduced supposedly to bring the United States back to
respectability in the global markets of learning. I also think parents and
taxpayers would cringe if they knew of the cost of bringing this expert or
plan into the district, explaining its merits, and then failing
to implement the program because of money restraints or because staff will
not buy into it.
What is the matter with
traditional methods? I realize that the computer has been an asset in the
classroom. Yet, it also has led to the near demise of the personal letter,
to little or no proofreading, and to a myriad of excuses on deadline day.
Kids are sometimes aghast when I ask them to hand in their rough drafts
hand-written and in ink. I sometimes require research
papers with the title page, body and works cited that must be completed on
notebook paper in ink, and either printed or written by hand. By the looks
on their faces it's as if I had assigned the complete memorization of
Hamlet's soliloquy,
Antony's
funeral speech and Shylock's dissertation at the trial to be due in an hour.
. . .
We need to have a
complete turnabout as far as knowing what's best for the students in our
public schools. Without this change of thought, the implications are indeed
frightening.
Continued in the article
-
-
-
-
Tidbits on December 14, 2007
Bob Jensen
Videos From Bob Jensen's Personal
Camera (the pictures are clear but some of them lost a bit in the video) ---
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/EdTech/Video/Personal/
The Tidbits.wmv video is narrated.
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/
CPA
Examination ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpa_examination
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
Roles of Listservs and Blogs ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm
Free Internet FM Radio (choose the type of music
you want to listen to without commercials) ---
http://www.slacker.com/
Set up free conference calls at
http://www.freeconference.com/
Also see
http://www.yackpack.com/uc/
World Clock ---
http://www.peterussell.com/Odds/WorldClock.php
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/
New Blogs (at least new to me)
Rate Your Students (be prepared for four letter words and worse
silliness) ---
http://rateyourstudents.blogspot.com/
Perhaps this to counter RateMyProfessor ---
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/index.jsp
There is also a Professors Strike Back (largely silly videos) site at
http://www.mtvu.com/professors_strike_back/
Other blogs ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm#Blogs
Google's blog search tool is at
http://blogsearch.google.com/
(For example, search "Student Examination" at the above Google site)
(Accountants may want to search for "Accounting" at the above Google site)
(More serious accountants may want to search "FAS 133" or "IAS 39" at the
above Google site.)
Roles of Listservs and Blogs ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListservRoles.htm
Bob Jensen's blogs and various threads on many topics ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm
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
Forwarded by Team Carper
Beautiful America's Fifty States ---
http://oldbluewebdesigns.com/mybeautifulamerica.htm
Oceanus (video and pictures) ---
http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/index.do
NOVA: Pocahontas Revealed (from PBS) ---
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pocahontas/
Forwarded by Tom in Alaska
Perfect Man and Woman (you must hit the continue buttons when they pop
up) ---
CLICK HERE
Baby Boomers (Animation with music) ---
Click Here
"Organic Chemistry for the YouTube Generation," PhysOrg,
December 6, 2007 ---
http://physorg.com/news116181206.html
Video Link ---
http://www.scivee.tv/node/3005
Freakonomics Being Documentary-ized ---
http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/12/07/indie-spotlight-freakonomics-being-documentary-ized/
Joe Paterno Acceptance Speech (College Football Hall of Fame)
---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vhw_4SLDF0
Form National Geographic (U23D movie trailer) ---
http://www.u23dmovie.com/
It’s one thing to imagine what Rome looked
like in ancient times. It’s another thing to wander around a virtual-reality
simulation of ancient Rome learning about buildings as you go by clicking on
them. Sorin A. Matei, an associate professor of communication at Purdue
University, is experimenting with various ways to blend databases with digital
maps or 3-D models. I put together
a short video report.
Jeffrey R. Young. Chronicle of Higher Education, December 7, 2007 ---
Click Here
Jensen Comment
I really liked this video illustration of virtual reality (which by now is a
rather old but still computer-intensive technology). You may have to be a
Chronicle subscriber to view this excellent video.
Ethel Merman & Martha Raye ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wKj59poDVc
God's Comics ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjywoElfISI
Mae West ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mae_West
W.C. Fields ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WC_Fields
Free music downloads ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm
While working on the computer, Bob Jensen mostly
listens to (free and without commercials) ---
http://www.slacker.com/
Songza Search for a song or band and play the
selection free --- http://songza.com/
Also try Jango ---
http://www.jango.com/?r=342376581
Free Internet FM Radio (choose the type of music
you want to listen to) ---
http://www.slacker.com/
Although Slacker is free on your computer, Slacker also has players that will
download FM radio via wireless connections.
Walter S. Mossberg provides a review in "Slacker Digital Player Handles the
Drudgery For Busy Music Fans," The Wall Street Journal, December 6,
2007; Page B1---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119690438969515264.html
New from Jesse ---
http://www.jessiesweb.com/
Forwarded by Team Carper
Beautiful America's Fifty States ---
http://oldbluewebdesigns.com/mybeautifulamerica.htm
Dave Brubeck at the 50th Monterey Jazz Festival
(entire concert) ---
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16437373
Great Big Band and Jazz
Combo Trumpet
Players
Maynard Ferguson ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard_Ferguson
List of Other Trumpeters ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_trumpeters
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
Internet FAQ Archives ---
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/
A Glossary of Literary Criticism ---
http://www.sil.org/~radneyr/humanities/litcrit/gloss.htm
From UC Davis University
British Women Romantic Poets (1789 - 1832) ---
http://digital.lib.ucdavis.edu/projects/bwrp/
From Dartmouth College
Poems 1645 ---
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~milton/reading_room/contents/
Sonnet Central ---
http://www.sonnets.org/
Random poems penned by Barbara Fletcher ---
http://www.barbarafletcher.com/
The Archive of Misheard Lyrics ---
http://www.kissthisguy.com/
From the University of Wisconsin
Beowulf: A New Translation for Oral Delivery ---
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/Literature/subcollections/RinglBeowulfAbout.shtml
The
translation is intended for "oral delivery," that is, to be read
or recited aloud. Accordingly this work includes an audio stream
in which the translator provides a reading of his version of the
poem. This reading is meant to model metrical and rhetorical
features of the translation, not to lay down the law about how
it should be "performed." It can be
listened to uninterruptedly from start to finish--which
takes about three hours--or it can be accessed at the beginning
of any of the
forty-three sections into which it is divided
(and which correspond to the numbered
sections of the surviving manuscript).
Rare Book Room ---
http://www.rarebookroom.org/
Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America ---
http://www.abaa.org/books/abaa/index.html
Other Rare Book Sources ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm#RareBooks
Best Books of 2007 ---
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10249833
The trouble with the gene pool is that there's no
lifeguard.
As seen on the bottom of email messages from Paula.
Other possible endings: "no deep end," "no filter," "no disinfectant," and "no
skimmer."
Christmas is cancelled! Apparently you told Santa
you were good this year. He died laughing.
Forwarded by Paula
When I'm good I'm very good. But when I'm bad I'm
better.
Mae West in I'm No Angel ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I'm_No_Angel
Where does the violet tint end and the orange tint
begin? Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does
the first blending enter into the other. So with sanity and insanity.
Herman Melville as quoted by Mark
Shapiro at
http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-12-05-07.htm
Fifty Percent of Japanese Bestsellers Typed On a
Cellphone ---
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/12/fifty-percent-o.html
When suicides are dredged from the Seine, it is
said, the lovers and the debtors are easy to tell apart: the lovers have
paint under their nails, from trying to claw their way back to the bridge at the
last moment, whereas the debtors sink like stones.
Bagehot, "Off With Their Heads," The Economist, December 1, 2007, Page
72.
Harvard Needs More Hippies
Some Harvard
University alumni from the protest-era 1960s are concerned by the lack of
protests today, and have written to President Drew Faust to express worry about
“widespread apathy and political indifference” and to ask whether the university
is not recruiting enough politically engaged students or encouraging such
engagement,
The Boston Globe reported. An editorial in
The Harvard Crimson suggested that the alumni are too quick to equate
student engagement with the use of tear gas. “We are doing just fine on our
own,” the editorial concludes.
Inside Higher Ed, December 10, 2007
---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/12/10/qt
But this rise in (food)
prices is also the self-inflicted result of America's
reckless ethanol subsidies. This year biofuels will take a third of America's
(record) maize harvest. That affects food markets directly:
fill up an SUV's fuel tank with ethanol and you have used
enough maize to feed a person for a year. And it
affects them indirectly, as farmers switch to maize from other crops. The 30m
tonnes of extra maize going to ethanol this year amounts to half the fall in the
world's overall grain stocks.
"The End of Cheap Food," The Economist,
December 8, 2007, Page 11.
Higher incomes in India and China have made hundreds
of millions of people rich enough to afford meat and other foods. In 1985 the
average Chinese consumer ate 20kg (44lb) of meat a year; now he eats more than
50kg. China's appetite for meat may be nearing satiation, but other countries
are following behind: in developing countries as a whole, consumption of cereals
has been flat since 1980, but demand for meat has doubled. Not surprisingly,
farmers are switching, too: they now feed about 200m-250m more tonnes of grain
to their animals than they did 20 years ago. That increase alone accounts for a
significant share of the world's total cereals crop. Calorie for calorie, you
need more grain if you eat it transformed into meat than if you eat it as bread:
it takes three kilograms of cereals to produce a kilo of pork, eight for a kilo
of beef. So a shift in diet is multiplied many times over in the grain markets.
Since the late 1980s an inexorable annual increase of 1-2% in the demand for
feed grains has ratcheted up the overall demand for cereals and pushed up prices
. . . Ethanol is the dominant reason for this year's increase in grain prices.
It accounts for the rise in the price of maize because the federal government
has in practice waded into the market to mop up about one-third of America's
corn harvest. A big expansion of the ethanol programme in 2005 explains why
maize prices started rising in the first place.
"Cheap No More," The Economist, December 6, 2007 ---
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10250420
Intelligence vs. Politics
Israel has "incriminating" information Iran has
continued its nuclear weapons program, a senior Israeli security official told
WND, directly contradicting last week's U.S. intelligence report stating Tehran
suspended its ambition in 2003. "The Iranians continue their push for nuclear
weapons in specific ways, including the acquisition and development of
missiles," said a senior Israeli security official who has access to classified
Israeli defense material and intelligence reports on Iran. "Iran hides its
nuclear weapons program but it continues nonetheless," he told WND, indicating
the U.S. estimate may have been "politically motivated." The security official
said Israel possesses "incriminating" information that Iran continues its
purported drive to obtain nuclear weapons.
Aaron Klein, "Israel: Forget U.S.
intel,: Iran nukes at full speed Official cites 'incriminating
information,' rips American report as 'politically charged'," WorldNetDaily,
December 9, 2007 ---
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59120
We wish we could be as sanguine, both about the
quality of U.S. intelligence and its implications for U.S. diplomacy. For years,
senior Administration officials, including Condoleezza Rice, have stressed to us
how little the government knows about what goes on inside Iran. In 2005, the
bipartisan Robb-Silberman report underscored that "Across the board, the
Intelligence Community knows disturbingly little about the nuclear programs of
many of the world's most dangerous actors." And as our liberal friends used to
remind us, you can never trust the CIA. (Only
later did they figure out the agency was usually on their side.)
"'High Confidence' Games: The CIA's flip-flop on Iran is hardly
reassuring," The Wall Street Journal, December 5, 2007 ---
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010946
The three authors of a National Intelligence
Estimate seen as undermining the Bush administration's efforts to keep Iran from
creating a nuclear weapon are all "hyper-partisan anti-Bush officials," the Wall
Street Journal reported yesterday in an editorial, citing an unidentified
intelligence source. "As recently as 2005, the consensus estimate of our spooks
was that 'Iran currently is determined to develop nuclear weapons' and do so
'despite its international obligations and international pressure.' This was a
'high confidence' judgment. The new NIE says Iran abandoned its nuclear program
in 2003 'in response to increasing international scrutiny.' This too is a 'high
confidence' conclusion. One of the two conclusions is wrong, and casts
considerable doubt on the entire process by which these 'estimates' — the
consensus of 16 intelligence bureaucracies — are conducted and accorded gospel
status," the newspaper said. "Our own 'confidence' is not heightened by the fact
that the NIE's main authors include three former State Department officials with
previous reputations as 'hyper-partisan anti-Bush officials,' according to an
intelligence source. They are Tom Fingar, formerly of the State Department's
Bureau of Intelligence and Research; Vann Van Diepen, the National Intelligence
Officer for WMD; and Kenneth Brill, the former U.S. ambassador to the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Greg Pierce, "Hyper-partisan,"
Washington Times, December 6, 2007 ---
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071206/NATION03/112060086/1008
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Wednesday used a
four-letter expletive to dismiss the opposition victory in Sunday's referendum
and pledged to press forward with plans to approve constitutional changes that
would expand his power in one of the world's leading oil producing-countries.
Chávez's remarks, made on television programs broadcast in Venezuela, represent
a sharp turn from his magnanimous comments Monday after voters narrowly blocked
69 constitutional changes in a national vote. It was the opposition's first
electoral victory since Chávez first won office in a landslide election in 1998.
Juan Forero, "Chávez Turns Bitter
Over His Defeat in Referendum: Foes of Amending Charter Have 'Nothing to
Celebrate'," The Washington Post, December 6, 2007 ---
Click Here
The president's drive to turn the armed forces into
a tool of his socialist project aroused the weighty opposition of General Raúl
Isaías Baduel, who stepped down as defence minister in July and who is a hero to
the chavista grassroots for his role in restoring Mr Chávez after the 2002 coup.
Installed in a sleek glass office block in Caracas, General Baduel, a man as
serene as the president is intemperate, has spent the past few weeks telling
Venezuelans that the proposed reform amounted to another coup. On top of that,
many chavista politicians were unenthusiastic, since the reform would have let
Mr Chávez run indefinitely for president but banned re-election for other posts.
The chavista movement suffered “a top-to-bottom split, from state governors down
to the grassroots”, said Ismael García, the leader of Podemos.
"The wind goes out of the revolution," The Economist,
December 6, 2007 ---
http://www.economist.com/world/la/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10251226
Although in some ways they threaten democracy, the
likes of Mr. Chavez (Venezuela) and Mr. Morales (Bolivia) may well have ended up
broadening it, since they represent groups who have previously felt excluded.
Their mistake lies in clinging to an old-fashioned socialism, involving the
centralisation of political power and state control of the economy. Most
Venezuelans - and most Latin Americans - clearly have no enthusiasm for this. It
was not so much Mr. Chavez who was defeated in the referendum, as his bankrupt
philosophy. That is good news for Latin America, and especially for its poor.
"The Beginning of the End for Hugo Chavez," The
Economist, December 8, 2007, Page 12.
Also see "Rejecting Hugo" WSJ video at
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/8_0004.html?bcpid=86195573&bclid=212338097&bctid=1338248568
When Abstention is a Vote Against
This is a preposterous claim, and no one is doing a
better job of disproving it than Mr. Chávez himself. In the week since the vote,
he has done nothing to conceal his appetite for vengeance and his determination
to satisfy it. He has twice crudely referred to the opposition victory as
excrement and he has even insulted his followers,
who he says were "lazy and cowardly" for not turning out in greater numbers at
the polls . . . Mr. Chávez denies that the military
pressured him into accepting defeat. But he has not denied that he went to Fort
Tiuna and met with the high military command. Mr. Lugo-Galicia reports that the
president told the officers that until 100% of the votes were counted he would
not recognize his defeat. "Tension is growing," Mr. Lugo-Galicia writes of that
moment. The fort "is ordered closed and soldiers confined to their barracks. A
general stands up, and after expressing respect for the commander in chief,
warns that the Armed Forces will not go out to repress the population." If
tallying the votes were to take four days, the general warns, there would be
mayhem and "this country will not bear such days of agitation."
Mary Anastasia O'Grady, "Showdown at Fort Tiuna," The Wall Street Journal,
December 10, 2007; Page A18 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119724579402718787.html
Consider for example a bill which Congresswoman
Sheila Jackson Lee has introduced in the Congress. That bill, H.R. 750, includes
an amnesty for millions of illegals which is far broader than previous ones. She
would allow illegal aliens who have been convicted of crimes of violence and
sentenced to up to five years in prison to apply for amnesty (past amnesties
have limited eligibility to criminals who have been sentenced ‘only’ up to one
year’s imprisonment). Her bill would specifically allow states to prohibit state
and local police from cooperating with federal government enforcement on
immigration law. It would also repeal the current provision in federal law
(Section 287g) which allows the Attorney General to enter into agreements with
states and localities which deputizes their police to enforce immigration law.
Peter Gadiel, "Are You Ready for a
‘Violent Illegal Alien Criminal Empowerment Act’?" Family Security Matters,
December 6, 2007 ---
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/homeland.php?id=1385809 Jensen Question
How would you like to be a citizen who got five years without a chance of
amnesty versus the illegal who also got five years for an identical crime and
received amnesty? What an insult to crime victims when crimes are forgiven more
for those entering this country illegally! These are not United Nations parking
ticket crimes. These are crimes of violence. Sheila Jackson Lee is an African
American Congress Woman who represents all but crime victims in the 18th Congressional District in
Houston's inner city ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheila_Jackson_Lee
Germany's interior ministers announced Friday that
they consider Scientology to be unconstitutional. They have asked the country's
domestic intelligence agency to prepare a dossier on the organization's
activities with a view to ban it next year.
Spiegel, December 7, 2007 ---
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0%2C1518%2C522052%2C00.html
Pretending bad loans aren't bad loans fixes nothing.
Given the amazingly complex world of high finance—full of derivatives, hedges,
and tranches—Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson last week hit upon a stunningly
simple plan to fix the nation's subprime mortgage mess: Lie. And don't just lie,
but get everybody together and agree to lie, thereby making the lie become
truth. The fiction Paulson and the major banks are promoting is that extending
the low "teaser rates" initially offered to many subprime borrowers
fundamentally will help them and—here is a big lie—transform them from bad loans
to good. Put another way, if the problem of bad subprime mortgages was caused by
delusion over lending risk, this latest solution enshrines delusion as the
defining characteristic of the American banker—backed by a facile enabler in
Uncle Sam and his trillions, of course.
Jeff Taylor, Reason Magazine, December 6, 2007
---
http://www.reason.com/news/show/123782.html
"Dissecting the Bailout Plan: Why put the foundations of our economy at
risk to help so few people?" by Alan Reynolds, The Wall Street Journal,
December 10 2007 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119724608592918778.html
The only way to rescue our plug-hungry planet from
catastrophic global warming is to embrace nuclear power,
and fast. That's the argument of
Gwyneth Cravens, a
novelist, journalist and former nuke protester.
Her new book,
Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy,
is a passionate plea to understand, instead of fear,
atomic power. In her book, Cravens is guided Dante-like
through the entire life cycle of nuclear power -- from
mining to production to waste disposal -- by one of the
world's foremost experts on risk assessment and nuclear
waste.
John Borland,
"Former 'No Nukes' Protester: Stop Worrying and Love
Nuclear Power," Wired News, December 7, 2007 ---
http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2007/12/nuclear_qa
Another thing Professor Dershowitz revealed tells us
much about former President Jimmy Carter. It seems that when Carter appeared at
Brandeis to plug his book Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid, he pledged to answer
any questions that students e-mailed him afterward. Many took him up on the
offer, and Carter did answer every question... except one. That one was this:
Did you advise Yasser Arafat to reject the peace offer Israel made at Camp
David, at the end of Clinton's term? According to Professor Dershowitz, some 15
students e-mailed that question, and they were the only students not to be
answered.
Alan Dershowitz at the Hudson
Institute, December 8, 2007 ---
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives2/2007/12/019221.php
Jensen Comment
In fairness, the phrase "to plug his book" has overtones that are inappropriate.
Carter at first did not want to accept the invitation to face students in
America's main Jewish university since his book is highly critical of Israel.
But there was media pressure to accept the invitation and Brandeis promised a
polite audience. Refusing the invitation would've seemed cowardly. Carter did
not accept to plug his book.
The guns of war have fallen silent for Hollywood.
Studio executives, who could once count on Americans filling theaters for just
about any war movie they produced, are finding this year's war flicks to be a
bunch of duds. "Lions for Lambs," Robert Redford's case against the war in
Afghanistan, is a flop. It stars Mr. Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise and
may not make back its $35 million price tag. Brian De Palma's "Redacted" played
to empty seats. Even "The War," Ken Burns's much-anticipated World War II
documentary that aired on PBS in September, met a less-than-explosive reception.
But Americans haven't lost their taste for war footage. They've just found a
better place to see the type of war film they actually enjoy watching. Some of
the hottest videos on YouTube are of actual battles that have taken place in
Afghanistan and Iraq. This is footage that often hasn't made its way onto the
nightly news or CNN--although some of it has--but it's largely unadulterated
film that shows American soldiers in action, bringing the full weight of
American military might to bear against the enemy. And in most of these films,
it's clear who the enemy is.
Brendan Miniter, "Not According to
Script Hollywood gets shown up by pro-war YouTube videos and a didactic antiwar
cat," The Wall Street Journal, December 7, 2007 ---
http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/bminiter/?id=110010956
Some of the are amateur
productions and others are professionally produced, such as two films that
have drawn about 700,000 viewers each: "Insurgent
Snipers vs. U.S. Marines," put together by the History Channel, and "Iraq
Marine Battle Fallujah." In the latter, U.S. Marines are seen assaulting
Fallujah. The film, just 4 1/2 minutes, plays to the tune of Dire Straits'
1985 hit "Brothers in Arms," and is a better tribute to the men who fight
the nation's wars that anything Hollywood has put out since John Wayne's
1968 film "The Green Berets."
Another film, this one billing itself as "Iraq
War (The Great Footage Ever!)," was posted in February and has already
drawn more than 1.3 million viewers. It runs a little less than 10 minutes
and features shots of U.S. military attack aircraft and U.S. Marines in
Iraq. The Marines, who fill the final half of the film, are shown kicking in
doors, burning photographs of Saddam Hussein, and blasting insurgents with
seemingly every weapon in the U.S. arsenal. It's raw, upfront military
aggression targeted at bad guys, interspersed with lighter moments of
kicking soccer balls around with Iraqi children and training Iraqi soldiers.
It too is compelling video.
Yet another film winning attention--"Battle
on Haifa Street, Baghdad, Iraq"--was posted nine months ago and has been
seen by more than 1.8 million viewers. In nearly three minutes of combat
footage, viewers can watch a battle scene play out where American and Iraqi
soldiers attack and appear to kill insurgents in urban Baghdad. Another
short film--"U.S.
Marines in Iraq Real Footage Warning Graphic"--plays to American rock
music, runs just five minutes. It is an adrenaline rush all the way through
and has been seen by some 1.1 million people.
"Rx for Health Care: Pain Health care is ultimately a
political issue of making choices: The present politics aims to hide the
costs and skew the choices," by Robert J. Samuelson, Newsweek Magazine,
December 10, 2007 ---
http://www.newsweek.com/id/73284
We need to have a
candid debate about health care in 2008,
but the odds are against it. The fact
that covering the 47 million uninsured
already looms as the centerpiece of this
debate is a warning sign that it won't
be serious. We're told that the
uninsured are our biggest health-care
problem, but they aren't. Runaway health
spending is. Although politicians pay
lip service to that, what they really
enjoy is increasing spending. The Bush
administration created a new
Medicare
drug benefit, congressional Democrats
urge more coverage for children, and now
there are the uninsured.
It's understandable, because expanding
benefits is so much easier and more
politically rewarding than trying to
control them. Everyone believes in
adequate health care; people should have
it when they need it. Politicians cater
to these beliefs. But the intellectual
and even moral laziness of this approach
results in an invisible abdication of
political responsibility. We are letting
the unchecked rise in health spending
automatically determine national
priorities. Consider some facts:
-
Health spending already totals more
than $2 trillion annually, about 16
percent of national income (gross
domestic product). By 2030, it could
easily exceed 25 percent—one dollar
out of four—projects the
Congressional Budget Office. Higher
health spending is the main force
expanding the federal budget
There's a massive transfer of income from young to old. Americans 65 and older now represent about an eighth of the population and about a third of all health spending. By 2030, their population share will be about a fifth, and they could account for nearly half of health spending, finds a study by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Under present law, the 19- to 64-year-old population would pay most of those costs.
- Neither the government nor the private sector has succeeded in controlling health spending. From 1970 to 2005, average spending per Medicare beneficiary rose 8.9 percent a year; spending for Americans with private health insurance rose 9.8 percent annually over the same period (the figures cover similar health services). The small difference may reflect cost shifting. When Medicare imposes prices controls, doctors and hospitals increase prices for privately insured patients.
Questions
arise.
How
much
will
health
spending
increase
taxes,
depress
take-home
pay
and
crowd
out
other
government
spending—on
schools,
roads,
parks,
defense,
the
environment?
Is
the
growing
intergenerational
transfer
fair
and
sensible?
But
our
national
policy
toward
these
issues
is:
don't
ask,
don't
tell.
. . .
Don't hold your breath. These proposals
would inflict "pain," and candidates who
embraced them would invite political
ruin. Most Americans do not want to face
the difficult political, economic and
moral issues posed by unchecked health
spending. There's a consensus for
evasion that most politicians echo. The
impulse is to blame some unpopular
villain (drug companies, insurance
companies) and to focus on a simpler
problem—say, the uninsured. In some
ways, this is less serious than it
seems. About 40 percent of the uncovered
are young (18–34); most are healthy and
don't need much care.
But for all the uninsured, the cost of
coverage is a major obstacle; that's
still the nub of the matter. Health care
is ultimately a political issue of
making choices. The present politics of
health care aims to camouflage the costs
and skew the choices. Until we alter the
politics—by exposing ourselves to the
system's real costs—our debates will
lead to dead ends.
It is obvious to anyone that the patient is ill. But
the physicians agree on little else: not the underlying cause, certainly not the
appropriate course of treatment and least of all which among them is best
qualified to administer it. As they argue, the patient just gets sicker. Health
care, along with the economy in general, immigration and the whole alarming
nexus of war, terror and security is, according to pretty much every poll, one
of the issues that American voters consider most important. And next year, in
both the primaries and the general election, it will have particular resonance.
Iraq may even fade as an election subject, if the number of Americans killed in
action continues to decline as a result of the “surge” of troops into the area
around Baghdad. Meanwhile, uncertainties about the economy tend to feed through
into a preoccupation with health care. A majority of Americans (around 54% last
year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a Washington, DC, think-tank)
get their tax-exempt health insurance through their employers, so losing a job
often means losing cover. Even for those who remain in work, tightening market
conditions are forcing employers to downgrade the insurance they offer . . .
Voters think cost is a bigger problem than coverage. But none of the Republicans
is stressing health to the same extent as the Democrats are. Maybe that is why
our poll shows almost twice as many people prefer the Democrats on the issue.
"Arguing over the cure," The Economist, December 6, 2007 ---
http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10254622
"Mormon in America," by Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal,
December 8, 2007 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119706422040017530.html
It is called his JFK speech, but in many
ways JFK had it easier than Mr. Romney does now. The Catholic Church was the
single biggest Christian denomination in America, representing 30% of the
population (Mormons: 2%, six million). Americans who had never met a
Catholic in 1920 had by 1960 fought side by side with them in World War II
and sat with them in college under the GI bill. JFK had always signaled that
he held his faith lightly, not with furrow-browed earnestness. He had one
great question to answer: Would he let the Vatican control him? As if. And
although some would vote against him because he was Catholic, some would
vote for him for the same reason, and they lived in the cities and suburbs
of the industrial states.
Mr. Romney gave the speech Thursday
morning. How did he do?
Very, very well. He made himself some
history. The words he said will likely have a real and positive impact on
his fortunes. The speech's main and immediate achievement is that foes of
his faith will now have to defend their thinking, in public. But what can
they say to counter his high-minded arguments? "Mormons have cooties"?
Romney reintroduced himself to a
distracted country -- Who is that handsome man saying those nice things? --
while defending principles we all, actually, hold close, and hold high.
His text was warmly cool. It covered a lot
of ground briskly, in less than 25 minutes. His approach was calm, logical,
with an emphasis on clarity. It wasn't blowhardy, and it wasn't fancy. The
only groaner was, "We do not insist on a single strain of religion --
rather, we welcome our nation's symphony of faith." It is a great tragedy
that there is no replacement for that signal phrase of the 1980s, "Gag me
with a spoon."
Beyond that, the speech was marked by the
simplicity that accompanies intellectual confidence.
At the start, Mr. Romney was nervous and
rushed, his voice less full than usual. He settled down during the second
applause, halfway though the text -- "No candidate should become the
spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president he will need the
prayers of the people of all faiths." From that moment he was himself.
He started with a full JFK: "I am an
American running for president. I do not define my candidacy by my religion.
A person should not be elected because of his faith, nor should he be
rejected because of his faith." No "authorities of my church" or any church,
will "ever exert influence" on presidential decisions. "Their authority is
theirs," within the province of the church, and it ends "where the affairs
of the nation begin." "I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain
duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law." He pledged to
serve "no one religion, no one group, no one cause, and no one interest." He
will not disavow his religion. "My faith is the faith of my fathers. I will
be true to them and to my beliefs."
Bracingly: "Some believe that such a
confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it."
Whatever our faith, the things we value -- equality, obligation, commitment
to liberty -- unite us. In a passage his advisers debated over until the
night before the speech, Mr. Romney declared: "I believe that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind." He made the call. Why? I asked
the aide. "Because it's what he thinks."
At the end, he told a story he had
inserted just before Thanksgiving. During the dark days of the First
Continental Congress in Philadelphia, someone suggested the delegates pray.
But there were objections: They all held different faiths. "Then Sam Adams
rose, and said he would hear a prayer from anyone of piety and good
character, as long as they were a patriot. And so together they prayed." At
this point in Mr. Romney's speech, the roused audience stood and applauded,
and the candidate looked moved.
There was one significant mistake in the
speech. I do not know why Romney did not include nonbelievers in his moving
portrait of the great American family. We were founded by believing
Christians, but soon enough Jeremiah Johnson, and the old proud agnostic
mountain men, and the village atheist, and the Brahmin doubter, were there,
and they too are part of us, part of this wonderful thing we have. Why did
Mr. Romney not do the obvious thing and include them? My guess: It would
have been reported, and some idiots would have seen it and been offended
that this Romney character likes to laud atheists. And he would have lost
the idiot vote.
My feeling is we've bowed too far to the
idiots. This is true in politics, journalism, and just about everything
else.
While Mitt Romney's speech on his Mormon faith this
morning played to evangelicals by describing the role way his religion should
play in public policy, it was unlikely to sway social conservative voters uneasy
with his socially liberal background. The speech was meant to address fears that
he would take policy cues from Mormon church leaders, and that his religion is a
cult that is unacceptable to Christian conservative voters.
But many social conservative voters are less concerned
with the specifics of the former Massachusetts governor's religious creed than
his sympathetic record on abortion rights.
Daniel Nasaw, The Guardian,
December 6, 2007 ---
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections08/mittromney/story/0,,2223448,00.html
Jensen Comment
Romney claims he has the
same stance on abortion as the GOP hero Ronald Reagan. How can jihad, taxation,
health care, environment, and employment matter when we've Planned Parenthood at
stake? Political analysts repeatedly tell us that candidates at the extremes on
some issues have nearly a zero chance of becoming president of the U.S. at this
time. Republicans who back an obsessed anti-abortion candidate might as well
give the election to the Democratic Party. Democrats who back an obsessed
pacifist might as well give the election to the Republican Party. If the
evangelical favorite Mike Huckabee wins the GOP nomination, the chances 2008
Democratic Party victory will soar. Most of the other leading GOP candidates are
realists who truly want the GOP to win rather view a sinking GOP ship as a moral
victory against Planned Parenthood. The only chance Mike Huckabee would have in
saving the GOP sinking vessel would be to have a true pacifist like Dennis
Kucinich on the Democratic Party ticket. Things do not look at all well for
Kucinich or GOP
Cruise next year.
For each word you get right, FreeRice will donate 20 grains of rice to the
U.N. to fight world hunger ---
http://freerice.com/
Nearly 200 million grains of rice have been donated to date.
“What if just knowing what a word meant could help
feed hungry people around the world? Well, at FreeRice it does . . . the
totals have grown exponentially.”
The Washington Post
Web game provides rice for hungry . . . FreeRice
went online in early October and has now raised 1 billion grains of rice [by
November 9].
BBC News
“Addictive, yes. But . . . each correct answer
results in the donation of rice to help feed the hungry around the globe.
Perhaps that qualifies the game as a good addiction . . . one with redeeming
qualities, something that’s, oh, didactic and edifying.”
Kansas City Star
“People from all walks of life and from around the
globe have written in to express their appreciation for the game . . .
Secretaries admit to playing it during boring business meetings.”
Christian Science Monitor
Every grain of rice is essential in the fight
against hunger . . . FreeRice really hits home how the Web can be harnessed
to raise awareness and funds for the world’s number one emergency.
UN World Food Program
Paygo: Nancy Pelosi's Fraud
"Democrats are committed to ending years of
irresponsible budget policies that have produced historic deficits. Instead of
compiling trillions of dollars of debt onto our children and grandchildren, we
will restore pay-as-you-go budget discipline," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, December
12, 2006. Well, as Emily Littela, the half-witted Gilder Radner character on
Saturday Night Live, would have put it: "Never mind." Last week Congressional
Democrats formally renounced their ballyhooed budget pledge to offset any new
tax cuts with other tax increases or spending cuts. We're delighted to see this
false promise go, but there's a larger lesson in this failure for the tax and
spending battles of 2008. Senate Democrats gave up on "paygo," as it's called,
when they realized they lacked the votes to offset the $50.6 billion cost of
protecting more than 20 million middle-class taxpayers from getting whacked by
the Alternative Minimum Tax this year. They've spent the year floating all kinds
of tax increases to make up the difference. But in the end they passed an AMT
relief bill without a penny to pay for it. Paygo is now pay gone.
"The Paygo Farce: Democrats admit it was all a big confidence game,"
The Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2007 ---
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110010970
Jensen Comment
In fairness, the problem was almost as bad with the GOP-led Congress under
George W. Bush. Bush will go down as the biggest spendthrift president in
history until (if?) the Democrats win the presidency in 2008. Then the bottom
will fall out of any hope for a balanced budget.
Bob Jensen's fraud updates are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
Whoppi's down on estate taxation
During a discussion of Republican Presidential
candidates on ABC's "The View," which the comedian co-hosts, Ms. Goldberg said,
"I'd like somebody to get rid of the death tax. That's what I want. I don't want
to get taxed just because I died." The studio audience started applauding, but
she wasn't done. "I just don't think it's right," she continued. "If I give
something to my kid, I already paid the tax. Why should I have to pay it again
because I died?" . . . Back in 2001, before President Bush signed estate tax
reform into law, the death duty topped off at 55% on estates worth more than $3
million. Today the top federal rate is 45% with an exemption of $2 million, and
under current law the rate falls to zero in 2010. In 2011, however, the death
tax is resurrected, with the top rate restored to 55% and the exemption set at
$1 million
"Death and Whoopi's Taxes," The Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2007;
Page A18 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119724552641918749.html
Jensen Comment
Sorry Whoppi, a lot of rich folks do not pay any tax on income until they day
due to the many (legal) tax avoidance schemes built into the tax code by their
lobbyists. Death is the only way to tax this income. Of course assets passed
from more than one generation may be double taxed with estate taxation. I think
estate taxes are socially beneficial and recommend raising the bar to 95%. Let
the heirs make their own way in life like most of us had to make our way. Of
course the children may still get a huge break before death with gifts and
expensive educations.
Leading Democrats Do Not Seem to Agree on Corporate Tax Rates
If you watch the constant stream of political advertisements in New Hampshire
these days, all Democratic Party presidential candidates want to tax
corporations harder but old Charlie, who really wields the power, thinks
otherwise.
From The Wall Street Journal Accounting Weekly Review on December 6,
2007
Review & Outlook: Corporate Tax War
The
Awll Street Journal
by WSJ Opinion Page Editors
Dec 04, 2007
Page: A20
Click here to view the full article on WSJ.com ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119673397691112663.html?mod=djem_jiewr_ac
TOPICS: Accounting,
Personal Taxation, Tax Laws, Taxation
SUMMARY: This
Fall, House Democrat Charlie Rangel proposed "...to cut the
U.S. corporate income tax] rate to 30.5% from 35%." This WSJ
opinion page article argues that, " As a new study makes
clear, such a reduction would give a lift to the U.S.
economy when it really needs it...[and concludes that] if
America is going to remain the developed world's leading job
creator and economic engine, corporate tax rates are going
to have to fall -- and by more than even Mr. Rangel has
suggested."
CLASSROOM
APPLICATION: Use this article to integrate political and
economic issues into tax policy discussion.
QUESTIONS:
1.) What entity prepared this report assessing the
association between corporate income tax rates and economic
performance? Why does this entity undertake such analyses?
2.) What measures were used to identify the relationships
between corporate tax rates and economic health? In your
answer, be sure to define statutory income tax rates and
effective income rates and to identify specific measures of
economic health.
3.) Summarize the main points of the discussion. With what
political party typical supports this viewpoint?
4.) Is it surprising to you that a Democrat proposes to cut
the corporate income tax rate? Explain your answer.
5.) How do personal income taxes also contribute to the
issues discussed in this article?
6.) This opinion page piece clearly presents just one side
of the debate on raising or lowering income tax rates.
Identify one counter-argument to those presented in the
piece.
Reviewed By: Judy Beckman, University of Rhode Island
RELATED
ARTICLES:
Democrats' Tax Measure Could Delay Energy Bill
by John J. Fialka
Dec 05, 2007
Page: A5
|
"Corporate Tax War," The Wall Street Journal, December 4, 2007; Page
A20
Word is that the Bush Administration will soon
propose a cut in the U.S. corporate income tax, following House Democrat
Charlie Rangel's proposal this fall to cut the rate to 30.5% from 35%. As a
new study makes clear, such a reduction would give a lift to the U.S.
economy when it really needs it.
The study, from the National Bureau of Economic
Research, looked at corporate taxes in 85 countries from 1996 to 2005.
Economists from the World Bank and Harvard University calculated the
effective business tax rate for each country, because some nations have so
many tax loopholes that the rate paid by companies can be one-half to
one-third the statutory tax rate. The study found that corporate taxes have
a statistically significant negative effect on economic performance.
High business taxes were found to reduce a nation's
domestic capital investment, the amount of foreign investment into that
country, and its overall growth in GDP. The authors conclude that "corporate
taxation reduces the return on capital and thus discourages investment" and
"reduces the cash flow of the firm" in such a way as to reduce the after-tax
capital available for reinvestment.
The researchers also found that high corporate
levies reduce entrepreneurship, which drives new industries and job growth.
In many nations the corporate tax rate is paid both by large corporations
and small businesses. In the U.S., small businesses are often organized
under Subchapter S of the tax code and thus pay the personal income tax
rate. However the tax is imposed, the study found, "a 10 percentage point
rise in a nation's effective corporate tax rate causes a decline in the
number of firms by 1.8 per 100 people (the average is 5 per 100
population)."
The clear implication is that raising the U.S.
personal income tax rates would also stunt small business entrepreneurship.
Yet this is precisely what all of the Democratic Presidential candidates,
and even Mr. Rangel, propose. In Mr. Rangel's case, the benefits of his cut
in the corporate tax for big business to 30% would be offset by the damage
he'd do by raising the top marginal tax rate on individuals and small
businesses to as high as 44%. The NBER research suggests this could
discourage hundreds of thousands of small businesses from being formed in
the next few years.
This study supports research earlier this year by
economist Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute, which found
that high business taxes also result in lower wages for workers. The higher
rate means less capital investment in making workers productive, which
translates into smaller pay checks.
What American CEOs understand, but most in the
media and political class so far refuse to acknowledge, is that the U.S. is
far behind the rest of the world in reducing corporate tax rates. The U.S.
corporate income tax rate is the world's second highest after Japan's among
developed nations. Even Mr. Rangel's proposed reduction would leave the U.S.
well above the OECD average of 25%. In recent years, Germany, France, the
United Kingdom, Vietnam, Poland and Singapore, among many other nations,
have either cut or proposed to cut their business tax rates. These lower
rates are attracting more investment and capital, and they pose a threat to
America's economic competitiveness if Washington fails to act.
The NBER study is a reminder of how out-of-touch
America's current political debate is with global economic trends. American
politicians are proposing new barriers to trade, as well as new obstacles to
capital formation, even as the rest of the world is welcoming more of both.
The study is also a reminder that because workers don't see a tax does not
mean that they don't feel its impact. If America is going to remain the
developed world's leading job creator and economic engine, corporate tax
rates are going to have to fall -- and by more than even Mr. Rangel has
suggested.
You can read much more about corporate taxes at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Income_Tax
"The (Tax) War Between the States," by Arthur Laffer and Stephen
Moore, The Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2007; Page A19 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119724619828518802.html
A record eight million Americans moved from one
state to another last year. Where is everyone going, and why? The answer has
little to do with climate: California has arguably the nicest climate of any
state in the nation -- yet in this decade more Americans have left the
Golden State than entered it. Migration patterns instead reveal which states
have the most dynamic and desirable economies, and which are "has-been"
states. The winners in this contest for the most valuable resource on the
globe -- human capital -- are generally the states with the lowest tax,
spending and regulatory burdens. The biggest losers are almost all
congregated in the Northeast and Midwest. Liberals contend that tax rates,
regulations, forced union laws and runaway government spending don't matter
when it comes to creating jobs, high incomes and a higher quality of life.
People tell us otherwise by voting with their feet.
The American Legislative Exchange Council has just
released a study we've done that presents a 2007 Economic Competitiveness
Rating of the 50 states, based on 16 economic policy variables, including
taxes, regulation, right to work, the legal system, educational freedom and
government debt. Over the past decade, the 10 states with the highest taxes
and spending, and the most intrusive regulations, have half the population
and job growth, and one-third slower growth in incomes, than the 10 most
economically free states. In 2006 alone 1,500 people each day moved to the
states with the highest economic competitiveness from the states with the
lowest competitiveness.
Total State Tax Burdens
Tax Foundation Data ---
http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/9.html
State-by-State Rankings in 2007 ---
http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/9.html
When it comes to rankings with respect to per capita total taxation, there
are more disputes as to what taxes to include and exclude. One listing of such
taxes and results state by state as of January 2007 is at
http://www.retirementliving.com/RLtaxes.html
States are listed alphabetically
in three sections:
Alabama-Iowa,
Kansas-New Mexico,
New York-Wyoming
Many people planning to retire use the presence or
absence of a state income tax as a litmus test for a retirement
destination. This is a serious miscalculation since higher sales and
property taxes can more than offset the lack of a state income tax. The lack
of a state income tax doesn’t necessarily ensure a low total tax burden.
States raise revenue in many ways including
sales taxes, excise taxes, license taxes, income taxes, intangible taxes,
property taxes, estate taxes and inheritance taxes. Depending on where you
live, you may end up paying all of them or just a few.
This section of our Web site provides you with
information on state income taxes, sales and fuel taxes, taxes on retirement
income, property taxes and inheritance and estate taxes. as well as sales
and fuel taxes. It is intended to give you some insight into which states
may offer a lower cost of living. To check out the state where you want to
retire, just select from the state menu above.
State Sales Tax
All states except Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire and
Oregon, collect sales taxes. Some have a single rate throughout the state
though most permit local additions to the base tax rate. Those states with a
single rate include Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont,
Virginia, and West Virginia.
States with the highest sales tax are:
California (7.25%), Mississippi (7.0%), New Jersey (7.0%), Tennessee (7.0%),
Rhode Island (7.0%), Minnesota (6.5%), Nevada (6.5%), and Washington
(6.5%). Many cities and counties have the option of imposing an additional
local option sales tax. For instance, in Tennessee some cities add as much
as 2.75%. Nevada's sales tax varies by county and can be as high as 7.75%.
Most states exempt prescription drugs from
sales taxes. Some also exempt food and clothing purchases and a few also
exempt non-prescription drugs.
Fuel Tax
Every state collects excise taxes on gasoline, diesel fuel and gasohol. The
figures shown for each state reflect only the amounts controlled by the
states and do not include additional taxes imposed on motor
carriers. However, they do include other taxes paid at the pump by
consumers. Where applicable they include sales taxes, gross receipts taxes,
oil inspection fees, underground storage tank fees and other miscellaneous
environmental fees. They do not include the federal excise tax which is 18.4
cents for gasoline and 24.4 cents for diesel fuel.
Nine states permit cities or counties to impose
a local tax on fuel. Taxes in some states can also vary based on the
wholesale price which is adjusted quarterly.
Cigarette Tax
Several states are continuing to raise excise taxes on cigarettes and other
tobacco products in order to increase revenue. The rates shown do not
include the federal cigarette tax of 39 cents a pack. Chicago is the most
expensive place to buy cigarettes. When you add the city tax, the Cook
County tax and the state tax, the total is $3.66 per pack. Evanston and
Cicero (Illinois) also have city and Cook county taxes. The top five states
with the highest state tax on cigarettes are: New Jersey ($2.58), Rhode
Island ($2.46), Washington ($2.025), tied for fourth place are Arizona,
Maine, Michigan ($2.00), and fifth is Alaska ($1.80). Counties and cities
may impose an additional tax ranging from 1 cent to $2.00 on a pack of
cigarettes. About 82% of what consumers pay for a pack of cigarettes
(average cost $4.26 - including statewide sales taxes but not local
cigarette or sales taxes) ends up going to the government in taxes and other
payments rather than for the cigarettes.
Personal Income Tax
A total of 41 states impose income taxes. New Hampshire and Tennessee
apply it only to income from interest and dividends. Seven states (Alaska,
Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming) do not tax
personal income. Of the 41 with a broad-based income tax, 35 base the taxes
on federal returns, typically taking a portion of what you pay the IRS or
using your federal adjusted gross income or taxable income as the starting
point.
Personal Exemptions and Standard Deductions
Most states specify amounts for taxpayers and each of their
dependents that can be used as an offset in determining taxable income. Most
also specify the amounts that persons 65 or older can deduct.
Medical/Dental
Deductions
Most states treat health care expenses as having already been deducted from
federal returns. Two states (North Dakota and Oregon) allow full deductions
while Indiana does not permit itemized deductions on state taxes.
Federal Income Tax Deduction
Only 12 of the 41 states with broad-based income
taxes permit taxpayers to deduct federal income taxes. This is an advantage
if you are deciding between two states with similar rate structures but only
one allows you to deduct. The latter would give you a lower effective tax
rate.
Retirement Income Taxes
Under federal law, taxpayers may
be required to include a portion of their Social Security benefits in their
taxable adjusted gross income (AGI). Most states begin the calculation of
state personal income tax liability with federal AGI, or federal taxable
income. In those states, the portion of Social Security benefits subject to
personal income tax is subject to state personal income tax unless state law
allows taxpayers to subtract the federally taxed portion of their benefits
from their federal AGI in the computation of their state AGI.
Many states exclude Social Security retirement
benefits from state income taxes. The District of Columbia and 26 states
with income taxes provide a full exclusion for Social Security benefits --
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho,
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma,
Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia.
The remaining 15 states with broad-based income
taxes tax Social Security to some extent:
- Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska,
North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia tax Social
Security income to the extent it is taxed by the federal government.
- Connecticut, Iowa, Montana and Wisconsin
tax Social Security income above an income floor. Iowa will gradually
phase out its Social Security tax levy from 2008 through 2014.
Wisconsin will fully exclude Social Security beginning in tax year 2008.
- Colorado, New Mexico and Utah require that
federally untaxed Social Security benefits be added back to federal AGI
to calculate the base against which their broad age-determined income
exclusions apply.
States are prohibited from taxing benefits of
U.S. military retirees if they exempt the pensions of state and local
government retirees. Most states that impose an income tax exempt at least
part of pension income from taxable income. Different types of pension
income (private, military, federal civil service, and state or local
government) are often treated differently for tax purposes.
States are generally free from federal control
in deciding how to tax pensions, but some limits apply. State tax policy
cannot discriminate against federal civil service pensions. Ten states
exclude all federal, state and local pension income from taxation. These
include Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts,
Michigan, Mississippi, New York and Pennsylvania. Among these 10 states,
only Kansas taxes any Social Security income, but only to the extent it is
subject to federal taxation. These 10 states differ on the taxation of
retirement income from private-sector sources. Kansas and Massachusetts do
not exclude any private-sector retirement income, but most of the others
allow a fairly broad exclusion. Pennsylvania allows a full exclusion.
Alabama excludes income from defined benefit plans. Hawaii excludes income
from contributory plans. Illinois and Mississippi exclude income from
qualified retirement plans. Louisiana, Michigan and New York cap the
private-sector exclusion at $6,000, $34,920 and $20,000, respectively.
Five states (California, Connecticut, Nebraska,
Rhode Island, and Vermont) allow no exemptions or tax credits for pension
and other retirement income that is counted in federal adjusted gross
income. Most in-state government pensions are taxed the same as
out-of-state government pensions. However, Arizona, Idaho, Kansas,
Louisiana, New York, and Oklahoma provide greater tax relief plans than they
do for out-of-state government pension plans. The District of Columbia also
provides greater tax relief for DC government pensions than for state
government pensions.
Three states (New Jersey, Massachusetts, and
Pennsylvania) do not allow IRA contributions to be deducted from taxable
income. Of the three, only Pennsylvania does not tax IRA earnings of
taxpayers age 59 ½ years or older, since earnings are treated like pension
income, which is tax exempt.
Retired Military Pay
Some states provide special tax benefits to military retirees. Others
simply follow the federal tax rules. The states that do not tax retired
military pay are: Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas,
Kentucky*, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi*, Missouri*,
Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina*, Oregon*,
Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wisconsin and
Wyoming.
(*With conditions)
Property Taxes
Taxes on land and the buildings on it are the biggest source of revenue for
local governments. They are not imposed by states but by the tens of
thousands of cities, townships, counties, school districts and other
assessing jurisdictions.
The state's role is to specify the maximum rate
on the market value of the property, or a percentage of it, as the legal
standard for the local assessors to follow. The local assessor determines
the value to be taxed. You can't escape property taxes in any state. But
you can find significantly low rates in certain parts of the country.
Most states give residents over a certain age a
break on their property taxes. With some taxes, you'll need a relatively
low income to qualify. Forty states provide either property tax credits or
homestead exemptions that limit the value of assessed property subject to
tax.
There may be other tax breaks available,
depending on where you live. All 50 states offer some type of property tax
relief program, such as freezes that will lock in the assessed value of your
property once you reach a certain age, or deferral of taxes until the
homeowner moves or dies. They ultimately have to be paid. In addition,
counties and municipalities often have their own property tax relief plans.
Retirees with low incomes and high housing
costs may face property tax bills that are higher than they can manage.
Some states target property tax relief to those homeowners bearing the
greatest burden. Property tax reform that takes into account a homeowner's
ability to pay, such as a so-called "property tax circuit breaker," can
better protect low-income homeowners from rising property taxes that
accompany rising property values. Targeted property tax relief avoids sharp
reductions in funding for locally provided public services and inequities
based solely on date of purchase.
- A property tax circuit breaker prevents
property taxes from "overloading" a taxpayer. Under a typical circuit
breaker, the state sets a maximum percentage of income that an eligible
family can be expected to pay in property taxes. If property taxes
exceed this limit, the state then provides a rebate or credit to the
taxpayer.
- Currently, of the 31 states and the
District of Columbia with circuit breakers for homeowners, only six and
the District of Columbia permit all households to participate in the
program without regard to age.
Other property tax relief strategies that may be
used to target property tax relief include homestead exemptions which exempt
a certain amount of a home's value from taxation, credits to rebate a
certain percentage of taxes paid, and deferral programs to allow low-income
elderly homeowners to defer payment of property taxes until property is
sold.
Property Tax Swaps
More and more states are cutting property taxes in exchange for increases in
sales or other taxes. Idaho, New Jersey, South Carolina and Texas took this
step in 2006. In New Jersey the state increased the sales tax by 1 cent
with half of it designated for property tax relief in 2006 and possibly the
full amount in future years. Voters in Idaho also approved a 1 cent sales
tax increase that reduces property taxes by $260 million. South Carolina's
Republican governor, Mark Sanford, signed a measure that promises to cut
average property taxes by 60% and makes up the revenue by increasing the
sales tax by 1 cent. The revenue will be used to support the Homestead
Exemption Fund. In Texas the state lowered property taxes by increasing the
taxes on cigarettes and some business activity.
Best and Worst States: Based on
data from the 2002 census, the following five states have the lowest local
property taxes per capita/year. They are Arkansas ($191), Alabama ($285),
Kentucky ($376), New Mexico ($380), and Oklahoma ($425). The states with the
highest local property taxes per capita/year are: New Jersey ($1,871),
Connecticut ($1,733), New York ($1,402), and Rhode Island ($1,369).
For more information about property taxes in
all states,
click here.
Inheritance and Estate
Taxes
An inheritance tax is an assessment made on the portion of an estate
received by an individual. It differs from an estate tax which is a tax
levied on an entire estate before it is distributed to individuals. It is
strictly a state tax. Eleven states still collect an inheritance tax. They
are: Connecticut, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Nebraska, New
Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Connecticut will be phased out
after 2005. In all states, transfers of assets to a spouse are exempt from
the tax. In some states, transfers to children and close relatives are also
exempt.
As for estate taxes, the Economic Growth and
Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) phases out the federal estate
tax that culminates in full repeal in 2010. On a much faster track, the
legislation repeals over four years -- 2002 through 2005 -- the federal
estate tax credit to which state estate taxes are tied. In most states,
estate and inheritance taxes are designed in such a way that states face
either a full or partial loss of estate tax revenues as this credit is
phased out. States can avert this loss of revenue by "decoupling."
Decoupling means protecting the relevant parts of their tax code from the
changes in the federal tax code, in most cases by remaining linked to
federal law as it existed prior to the change.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia
have retained their estate taxes after the federal changes. Of these, 15
states -- Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New
Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont,
Virginia, and Wisconsin -- and the District of Columbia decoupled from the
federal changes. Two states -- Nebraska and Washington -- retained their tax
by enacting similar but separate estate taxes.
Of these, 12 states acted to decouple from
the federal changes. Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey,
Rhode Island, and Vermont enacted legislation linking their estate taxes to
the federal estate tax as in effect before the 2001 tax bill. Minnesota,
which passes a tax conformity package each year, explicitly elected not to
change its estate tax to conform to the federal changes. North Carolina
elected to decouple at least through 2005, and Wisconsin has decoupled
through 2007. Nebraska decoupled by creating a separate state estate tax on
estates that exceed $1 million based on the federal law before the 2001
changes. In 2005, Washington enacted a separate tax with a somewhat
different rate structure that applies to estates that exceed $2 million
after the state's original decoupling was nullified in court.
In addition, five states and the District of
Columbia will remain decoupled unless they take legislative action. In five
states -- Kansas, New York, Ohio, Oregon, and Virginia -- and the District
of Columbia, estate tax laws are written in such a way that the state will
not conform to the federal changes unless it takes legislative action.
Tax Burden By State
If all other things are equal, a state with a lower tax burden is a more
attractive place to retire than a state with a higher one. To get a true
sense of which state is less expensive, you need to look at state and local
tax burdens. Only then do the low tax states stand out.
Taxes that are included in the state and
local tax burden are as follows:
*Property Taxes (represents an average;
individual property taxes vary by locality)
*Sales and Gross Receipts (different taxing entities may add to the state
sales tax)
*Selective Sales Taxes (alcoholic beverages, amusements, insurance premiums,
motor fuels, parimutuels, public utilities, tobacco products, and others)
*Licenses (alcoholic beverages, amusements, corporation, hunting and
fishing, motor vehicles, motor vehicle operators, public utilities,
occupation and business) *Other Taxes (individual income, corporation net
income, death and gift, documentary and stock transfer, severance, and
others)
The data presented on the linked page that
follows shows states ranked by tax burden as a percentage of income. The
taxes include those paid by individuals AND businesses to state and local
governments. Businesses are included because they usually pass their tax
costs on to consumers.
The top five states where the tax burden as a
percent of income is the highest are: Vermont (14.1%), Maine (14.0%), New
York (13.8%), Rhode Island (12.7%), and Ohio (12.4%). The United States
average is 11.06%. The District of Columbia is 12.5%.
The five states with the lowest tax burden as
a percent of income are: Alaska (6.6%) 50th, New Hampshire (8.0%) 49th,
Tennessee (8.5%) 48th, Delaware (8.8%) 47th, and Alabama (8.8%) 46th.
Alaska has the lowest tax burden because it levies significant severance
taxes on oil extracted from the state - taxes that are included in the price
of oil sold thereby enabling Alaska to collect taxes that are paid by
consumers across the country. As a result, the state sends checks to all
residents at tax time.
Other states that export a significant
fraction of their severance tax burdens are Texas and New Mexico. States
that "import" the largest portions of those taxes are California,
Pennsylvania and New York.
Since 2000, five states have experienced
double-digit drops in their tax burden rankings. New Mexico has dropped 29
places, Idaho 23 places, and Utah 19 places. Georgia and North Dakota have
dropped 15 and 10 places, respectively. New jersey has seen the highest
increase since 2000, jumping from 24th place to 10th place. Arkansas and
Indiana have both risen 10 places.
The data supporting the tax burden figures
comes from the U.S. Department of Commerce's Census Bureau and the Bureau of
Economic Analysis. It is the most authoritative source of income and total
tax collection data. Its projections of the tax burden for 2007 come from
data as yet unpublished.
To view a table showing the effective state
and local tax burdens as a percentage of income, the tax burden per capita,
and income per capita,
click here. The table does not reflect the tax advantages available to
seniors in many states and municipalities that reduce their property taxes
and/or personal income taxes.
Sources:
* Individual state tax and revenue departments
* State Tax Handbook (2007); published by CCH Inc.
* Federation of Tax Administrators
* The Tax Foundation
* National Conference of State Legislatures
* U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis
Updated: January 2007
Tax Foundation Data ---
http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/9.html
Rankings in 2007 ---
http://www.taxfoundation.org/research/topic/9.html
Denmark is the home of "flexicurity," the catchy
name given to a system that pays ample unemployment and welfare benefits but,
unusually in Europe, imposes almost no restrictions on hiring and firing by
employers. The mixture has served Denmark well, and its economy barreled ahead
in 2006 by 3.5 percent, one of the best performances in western Europe. The
country is effectively at full employment. But success has given rise to an
anxious search for talent among Danish companies, and focused attention on
émigrés like Sorensen. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development, which is based in Paris, projects that Denmark's growth rate will
fall to an annual rate of slightly more than 1 percent for the five years
beginning in 2009, reflecting a dwindling supply of a vital input for any
economy: labor. The problem, employers and economists believe, has a lot to do
with the 63 percent marginal tax rate paid by top earners in Denmark - a level
that hits anyone making more than 360,000 Danish kroner, or about $70,000. That
same tax rate underpins such effective income redistribution that Denmark is the
most nearly equal society in the world, in that wealth is more evenly spread
than anywhere else.
Carter Dougherty, "High income taxes
in Denmark worsen a labor shortage," International Herald Tribune,
December 5, 2007 ---
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/05/business/labor.php
From the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
"The Anatomy of Financial Crises: Understanding Their Causes and Consequences,"
Knowledge@Wharton, December 6, 2007 ---
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1856
This is a great summary of the history of financial crises.
To understand the most recent financial crises, see the video (animation)
---
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c2c12708-6d10-11dc-ab19-0000779fd2ac.html
Before reading this module, please go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LinkedIn
The New LinkedIn Platform Shows Facebook How It's Done
A social network showdown is coming. LinkedIn, which
aims to track your business and professional connections, has rolled out a new
developer platform and already the majority of the web press is comparing
LinkedIn's efforts Facebook's platform. It's a fair comparison, but there's one
key difference between the two — LinkedIn's platform is actually useful. Where
Facebook’s platform provides a proprietary programming language for developers
to build applications that run inside the site (so you can send you friends a
fresh pair of virtual diapers or whatever), LinkedIn has created a platform in
the sense of what the word used to mean — a way of mixing, mashing, repurposing
and sharing your data. Think Flickr, not Facebook. The LinkedIn platform, known
as the LinkedIn Intelligent Application Platform, consists of two parts, a way
for developers to build application that run inside your LinkedIn account (via
OpenSocial) and the far more useful and interesting part — ways to pull your
LinkedIn data out and use it elsewhere . . . As an example of the second half of
LinkedIn’s new platform, the company has announced a partnership with
Business Week
which will see LinkedIn data pulled into the Business Week
site. For instance, if you land on a Business Week article about IBM, the site
will then look at your LinkedIn profile (assuming you’ve given it permission to
do so) and highlight the people you know at IBM. Call it six degrees of Business
Week, but it does something Facebook has yet to do — it connects your data with
the larger web.With Beacon having recently
blown up
in Facebook’s face — something that’s become a
trend for the site,
violate privacy,
weather user backlash, violate privacy,
weather user backlash, violate privacy, weather
user backlash — LinkedIn’s new platform couldn’t come at a better time. Frankly,
it reminds us of the good old days when the data you stored on websites was
actually yours and you could pull it out and do interesting things with it.
Scott Gilbertson, Wired News, December 10, 2007 ---
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/12/the-new-linkedi.html
The LinkedIn homepage is at
https://www.linkedin.com/?trk=linkedin1&gclid=CKX8nJqHnpACFSUMIgod43-Sqw
Relative to Facebook, LinkedIn has better technology in terms of span and virus
risks.
Despite the opportunity to grow from its college
campus roots, into a hipper more organic version of LinkedIn, there are a number
of reasons why Facebook is unlikely to ever replace my own use of the
“professional” networking site — not least of which is the usability chaos that
has been created by the Facebook platform. (Also add
the lack of data export.). By allowing all and any
third-party developers to create Facebook applications, the site has become a
playground for all sorts of useless, but arguably fun, features, and well as a
few useful ones. The problem is the spammy or viral nature in which these
applications replicate themselves onto someone’s Facebook profile. At the
weekend I visited a friend’s Facebook profile to leave a happy birthday message
on their wall. Five minutes later, and I was still trying to fathom which “wall”
to leave it on, as they’d installed multiple third-party “walls”. Worse still,
if I picked any wall except the default one (which I couldn’t find), I was
required to add that application to my own profile first, or at least give it
permission to access my data, before I could leave a message. The same process
is required to interact with almost any third-party application — you must
install it first or accept its terms and conditions.
Steve O'Hear, "Facebook vs LinkedIn (round three)," ZDnet, October 15,
2007 ---
http://blogs.zdnet.com/social/?p=334
December 10, 2007 --- Richard Campbell
[campbell@RIO.EDU]
Bob and others:
Linkedin has been an unwitting accomplice in some
very elaborate phishing schemes. By revealing professional titles, interests
other personal data, scammers have been able to craft some very elaborate
phishing schemes aimed at senior-level company executives.
Richard J. Campbell
School of Business
218 N. College Ave.
University of Rio Grande
Rio Grande, OH 45674
Voice:740-245-7288
http://faculty.rio.edu/campbell
Economics definition of an externality (or non-convexity for the
mathematically inclined) ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Externality
Question
What is an externality of the current writers' strike in Hollywood?
Answer
There will be a resulting baby boom across the U.S. next year. The reason is the
shutting off of late-night talk shows on television. No kidding, there are
generally localized baby booms following power outages.
Linking Research and Teaching in History: Case Studies ---
http://www.hca.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/case_Studies/snas/index.php
Linking Research and Teaching in History For
academic historians the link between research and teaching is regarded as an
integral part of the provision of a high-quality history education: vital to
teachers and students and to the ongoing health of the discipline.
These resources have been compiled as part of a
Higher Education Academy project on linking teaching and research in the
disciplines. The project's aim is to provide case-studies of existing
practice alongside a review essay considering the nature of the
research-teaching relationship in each discipline. Whilst the resources are
intended in the first instance for new members of academic staff, they will
be of interest to anyone who wishes to reflect on the research-teaching
nexus in History and the ways in which academic historians have translated
this in the context of their teaching.
Our Subject Centre is very keen to build upon this
collection of case-studies. We would welcome further contributions so that
we can create a resource for our community that reflects the importance of
this topic and the wealth of experience that historians have in linking
their research and teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Jensen Comment
The above site may be of interest to the accounting academy for a number of
reasons:
- Accountancy doctoral programs over the past three decades have virtually
dropped all research methodologies other than social science methodologies (Click
Here). The above case studies lend insight to how research methodologies
from the humanities could give greater breadth to accounting doctoral
studies. This could serve at least two purposes. First, it might attract
more accountants into doctoral programs, especially those that have little
aptitude for and interest in studying four years of accountics (advanced
mathematics, econometrics, statistics, and psychometrics). Second, Second it
might allow doctoral to expose doctoral students to instructors, mentors,
and advisors who have specialties in something other than accountics.
- There's a gray zone between research methods and research techniques.
Accounting researchers in general should learn more about the techniques of
history and other humanities researchers ---
http://www.hca.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/case_Studies/snas/lloyd-jones.doc
- There is presently an expectations/readership gap between academic
research papers in leading accounting research journals and the profession
of accountancy and students studying to enter that profession. Perhaps some
of the case studies in the site mentioned above can be extended to show the
links between academic accounting research and practice. In a limited way,
the AICPA has already undertaken such an effort.
April 14, 2007 message from Ron Huefner
[rhuefner@acsu.buffalo.edu]
The Journal of Accountancy (AICPA) has
begun a new series of articles to review accounting research papers and
explain them to practitioners. The April issue has an article on "Mining
Auditing Research."
It summarizes about a dozen research articles,
mostly from The Accounting Review, but also including articles from JAR,
CAR, AOS, and the European Accounting Review.
The link for this article is: <http://aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/apr2007/boltlee.htm>
This may be useful in bringing research
findings into classes
Ron
- The Higher Education Academy site mentioned above may inspire students
and faculty to have a greater appreciation how important history is to
knowledge and future research in virtually all disciplines of study.
Technology is perhaps helping history more than most disciplines. A problem
with history is that there's so much of it in our libraries, information
databases, and knowledge bases. Another problem is that history is so
compartmentalized by dates, cultures, topic areas, etc. Technology enables
researchers/scholars to more efficiently mine these stored bases of
information and knowledge. Efforts by Google and Microsoft to digitize
millions of collegiate and public library works will help bring history
together. See
http://books.google.com/advanced_book_search
Also note the "Reflective Log Case Study" at
http://www.hca.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/case_Studies/snas/drummond.doc
Bob Jensen's threads on accounting theory are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Theory.htm
Internet FAQ Archives ---
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/
How Internet Stuff Works ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob4.htm#Web
Question
Why do some of our very top college graduates in the nation fail to achieve
greatness in their chosen professions like public accounting and law?
Answer
I think some of the answers below can be extrapolated into other professions. I
especially like the answer of Bob Boyles below. Success in life is a function of
being in an environment for excellence, where interactive externalities like
colleagues and resources and serendipity play enormous roles. I also like Dan
Jenkin's answer. Soaring to the top in college is not exactly like soaring to
the top in real life. Professors like me, however, are somewhat different since
we've had very few adventures in the real world.
"Heisman Is No Key to NFL Glory: Why do so few winners make it in
the pros?" by Allen Berra, The Wall Street Journal, December 6, 2007
---
http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110010951
University of Florida sophomore quarterback Tim
Tebow is the odds-on favorite to win the 2007 Heisman Trophy this Saturday
as the nation's outstanding college football player. Since the colleges
serve as a farm system for the National Football League and Mr. Tebow is the
best player in college, he should be a cinch to make it in the pros, right?
Not according to history. In the modern era of the
NFL, only a handful of Heisman Trophy winners have enjoyed genuine success
in the pro ranks. Consider the following:
• In the past half-century, scarcely one in
five Heisman winners has become a major pro-football star. Of the past
50, only four--O.J. Simpson, Earl Campbell, Marcus Allen and Barry
Sanders--have gone on to be voted the NFL Most Valuable Player by the
Associated Press.
• Only seven of the past 50 Heisman Trophy
winners--Roger Staubach, Mike Garrett, Jim Plunkett, Tony Dorsett,
George Rogers, Marcus Allen and Desmond Howard--have been starters on
Super Bowl-winning teams.
• Three of the past seven Heisman
winners--Chris Weinke (2000), Eric Crouch (2001) and Jason White
(2003)--are no longer even playing with the NFL. Last year's winner,
Troy Smith, who won by the widest margin of any player in Heisman
history, is on the roster of the Baltimore Ravens this season but has
not yet thrown a pass.
• The last Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback
to win a Super Bowl ring was Jim Plunkett in 1981, playing for the
Oakland Raiders.
Some feel the reason Heisman winners seldom make it
in the pros is simple: The voters didn't pick the best player in the first
place. For instance, Jim Brown, by consensus the greatest running back in
NFL history, was a three-time league MVP but didn't win the Heisman in
college. Neither did such all-time greats as Johnny Unitas, Fran Tarkenton,
Walter Payton, Lawrence Taylor, John Elway, Joe Montana and Peyton Manning.
Michael David Smith of Pro Football Prospectus
thinks that the failure of most Heisman winners to make it in the pros can
be attributed to some basic differences between the college and pro games.
"In college football, there's so many different schemes, from the option to
the run and shoot, that an incomplete football player can thrive in the
right college system. The right college offense can hide a player's flaws,
but in the NFL those flaws will be exposed."
Bill Walsh, a college coach for Stanford University
and the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL, felt it was often a question of
maturity. "Joe Montana won four Super Bowls for us," he told me in a 2003
interview, four years before his death, "but I don't know that he was really
the best quarterback in the country coming out of college. I thought he had
the potential to become the best."
But many top college players, including some recent
Heisman winners, don't have the luck to be drafted by teams that can give
them a fair chance to develop. "Football," says Bob Boyles, author of "Fifty
Years of College Football," "is the ultimate team-oriented game where a
quarterback can't become a star passer without receivers streaking into the
open and catching the ball while unsung linemen mount great pass
protection."
An example, says Mr. Boyles, is Matt Leinart, the
University of Southern California's 2004 Heisman winner, who was considered
a can't-miss prospect when he was drafted by Arizona. The difference in the
talent level between the USC Trojans and the Arizona Cardinals must have
come as a shock to Mr. Leinart. In college he was surrounded by All-American
caliber linemen and playing the same backfield with such pro prospects as
running backs LenDale White (now with the Tennessee Titans) and Reggie Bush
(himself a Heisman winner, now with the New Orleans Saints). At Arizona, Mr.
Leinart's supporting cast has been far less imposing; quarterbacking for the
Cardinals, Mr. Boyles notes, Mr. Leinart "is sometimes hit more times in a
single game than he was in an entire season at Southern Cal." (This season
he has been on the injured reserve list since Oct. 10.)
Reggie Bush is experiencing a similar fate with the
New Orleans Saints. In 2005, at USC, Mr. Bush had what is regarded as one of
the most remarkable seasons in college football history, averaging 8.9 yards
per carry. So far in two years with the Saints he has averaged just 3.7.
(After 12 games, the Saints are just 5-7.)
Then there are some Heisman winners who perform
well despite the teams they're drafted onto but don't get the recognition
they deserve. Mr. Walsh noted that Tim Brown, the 1987 Trophy winner,
"played 16 years for a Raiders team which only won a dozen games more than
they lost. Yet he's second on the all-time list for receiving yards. If he'd
have been lucky enough to be drafted by a team with great passers like Joe
Montana and Steve Young, who's to say he couldn't have surpassed Jerry Rice
[the all-time leader]?" For some students of the college game, though, the
question of why Heisman winners don't have much success in the pros is
beside the point. Let's give the final word to legendary college-football
writer Dan Jenkins, who says: "The Heisman shouldn't have anything to do
with the NFL. It should be awarded strictly on a guy's performance as a
collegian. It's not like a player should have to justify his Heisman by
becoming a pro star."
December 9 added comments by Bob Jensen
I have an added thought on this with respect to some of the top faculty
prospects from accountancy doctoral programs. Over the course of my 40 years
as an accounting professor in four universities, I’ve encountered a number
of “Heisman-type” PhD graduates who failed in the “Accounting Research NFL.”
After being hired at some of the highest starting salaries in academe and
receiving research incentives such as reduced teaching loads, summer
research stipends, research expense stipends, and other benefits, some of
these Heismans just frittered their research life away. Several come
explicitly to mind. One was a former undergraduate student who went on to
become one of Stanford’s top doctoral graduates with exceptional mathematics
abilities. Three others were some of best Stanford graduates that I got to
know when I returned to the Stanford campus for two years in a think tank.
And there have been others whom thesis supervisors have privately complained
about to me over the years. There have also been some who were my colleagues
on the faculty.
In some cases, I’m convinced that the tenure system has been
dysfunctional. I know of personal instances where the graduate wrote an
excellent thesis that by itself was the source of a few publications in top
accounting research journals. These assistant professors got just enough of
a publication record (mostly on the basis of their one bit of thesis
research) to get tenure and promotion to assistant professorships. The poop!
They became lifetime associate professors or maybe, later in life, took on
administration jobs to help get them promoted to full professorships. But
their publication records after getting tenure remained dismal. Or, in some
cases, a benevolent hotshot researcher gave them a small job in a joint
research effort that got their names on occasional papers for which their
contributions were marginal. In several instances, the benevolent hotshot
researchers were friends who actually felt sorry for the Heisman failures
and were just trying to help them get promoted to associate or full
professor ranks.
For the most part these promising Heisman winners who wiggled out of
research effort (other than maybe pretense) have let their employers and
their colleagues down. They’re sometimes performing only teaching duties
that low-paid adjuncts could do as well or better.
In several instances, these Heisman failures became rather wealthy
because senior authors gave them opportunities to work on successful
textbook revisions. Revision of textbooks can be hard work and very time
consuming. But it’s generally not the same pressured effort of trying to
conduct research worthy of publication in top journals. And they’re
exceptional research skills are being wasted.
This begs the question of what these Heisman “failures” did with their
time that perhaps would have been better spent on research. One instance
that I can think of became a really outstanding “open door” teacher of
intermediate accounting. This person’s success at educating students is
noteworthy and probably should not be faulted other than that his
exceptional research skills are being wasted. But his professional time is
not being wasted.
Interestingly, two of the Heisman failures became obsessed both with
marathon running and nurturing their children. They should get Heisman
trophies for their efforts in both of these endeavors and the sixty hours or
more each week devoted to these successful activities. But in the meantime
the universities that pay them full salaries are getting short-shrifted.
One of my Heisman failures went on to become a rather good teacher in a
prestigious European MBA program. He truly enjoys the continental life and
is making a worthy professional contribution. But his publication record is
a zero, and his exceptional research skills are being wasted.
Another one of these Heisman failures devotes almost all of his time
outside of class to his music and his hobbies connected with music. He is
quite good at what he now does, but once again his noteworthy accounting
research skills are being wasted. Another one buys and sells antiques.
Another one became a part-time farmer.
As far as Heisman accounting research failures go, I blame the tenure
system more than anything else. Unlike real world occupations, the tenure
system affords some Heisman winners the opportunity to pursue personal
interests to excess without fear of being fired, demoted, or even having
salaries cut. Inflation may take its toll over the course of thirty or more
years, but inflation losses can be made up with spousal income,
inheritances/investment income, hobby income (including antique dealing and
farming), and textbook royalties.
How many tenured faculty do you know who are now “beating the system?”
Bob Jensen
December 9, 2007 reply from Henry Collier
[henrycollier@aapt.net.au]
Rather than openly disagree with you in your
excellent forum, I’ll take this opportunity to raise a few issues with your
posting included below. In re the football analogy, perhaps few top
university footballers succeed in the professional ranks because of the
general overall quality of the players. As one moves through the system,
from ‘kiddie’ leagues to schools, to university, and eventually to
professional teams the pyramid effects take shape. There are fewer openings
and chances for players to succeed as they climb the pyramid. Only the best
of the best appear to get ‘hired’ into the pros. As you and others have
noted, the overall quality of players is far better in fewer teams in the
pros. Football is, after all, a team sport and one single standout player
cannot, by himself, create a winner. Also given that the supposedly BEST
college players are assigned / drafted to the ‘worst’ teams may well have
something to do with the top players lack of success … the old ‘it’s
difficult to soar with eagles when one is surrounded by turkeys’ may obtain
here.
All that aside, and probably irrelevant to what I’m
about to write about the ‘quality’ of graduates, is the question of what
role does ‘accounting research’ play in universities, the ‘real world’
(whatever that is) and / or the profession of accounting. There appears to
be a notable lack of affect or effect of accounting research on accounting
practice. It would also seem to me that if we had something to contribute as
researchers, then the profession and the regulators would fall all over
themselves in following the guidelines and the theories established through
research.
I’m of the long held view that universities exist
to educate students. Now that can take many forms … one idea that I like is
that universities generate human capital for the future. I do return to the
1968 BKV paper discussing the ideas of predictive ability for accounting.
Seems to me that we haven’t been very good at doing that … although there is
some limited support for the complex mathematical finance models predicting
share prices. Again, all that said, is that what accounting is supposed to
do for the world? I don’t think so. Surely we have to consider both
stewardship and predictive ability / forecasting in our disciplines. I’m not
so sure that we’re very good at either …
It’s not clear to me that teaching and service to
the students has much value in the university. Maybe it’s driven by the
sciences models of empirical research. I’m not completely convinced that our
accounting research or our accounting education has much to do with how a
decision maker might USE accounting information. It seems to me that we
spend a considerable amount of time teaching rules and ways to conform to
GAAP or IFRS rather then discussing and evaluating what affects these
different sets of rules have on the DM process.
Our professoriate seems to want to do things at the
top of Bloom’s (or Gagne’s) taxonomy … we want to have our students analyse,
synthesize and evaluate (and perhaps be creative) without bothering with
knowledge, comprehension and application. Sure, maybe I’m arguing against my
self here, but I think that I recognize the inconsistency of trying to
evaluate ‘stuff’ without having any foundation for evaluation. Most of the
time, again IMO, we ignore the fundamental assumptions of accounting … the
principles if you will … in our evaluations. Some of the 1920’s and 1930’s
accounting ‘theoriests’ of the time did recognize that the assumptions that
were made about accounting and external reporting were critical to how f/s
could be used for DM … it would seem to me that we currently ignore these
caveats of assumptions in principles and do convenient work-arounds to
ignore the problems of these assumptions.
Most of the professoriate knows very little about
the processes of education. And with today’s move in accounting PhD
programs, many of the new graduates appear to know precious little about
accounting, reporting, or how the ‘common folk’ might use any accounting
information for decision making beyond applications for share trading and
speculation in the markets.
I suspect that much of what passes for ‘accounting
research’ doesn’t actually have much (or even worse anything) to do with the
art/sciences of accounting. With the intransitivity in accounting measures
and the inconsistencies in financial reporting (let alone the choices in
reporting) we may be trying to do too much without having any clear
framework of what it is that we’re on about. (Which you may say is a flaw in
this note).
There are many in our chosen profession who believe
that the benefits to be derived from doing research are considerably less
than the benefits. I am firmly convinced that Australian universities are
now spending more money controlling and administering commerce research than
they are spending actually DOING research. UOW takes roughly 1/3 off the top
of any grants … and the reporting process is onerous and completely out of
control. Once the university gets the cash, it’s theirs … and they don’t
want to let it go either. UOW, and the Australian university system has a
very complex system of administering research … every time you turn around,
there is another administrator demanding another piece of paper, another
report, another reconciliation … and they all suck up HUGE amounts of
resources. They contribute absolutely nothing to the processes and do little
to create a climate where ‘researchers’ can devote time and energy to
pushing the envelope. I am of the view that if they simply went down the
list and sacked 2 out of 3 on the administration list, we’d all be better
off .. maybe 3 our of 4 would have better outcomes. But then it’s probably
an understatement to say the it’s fortunate that we don’t get all the
administration we pay for.
That’s part of the reason that I stepped out when I
could. I still do more of what I want to do, and with far less hassle.
Sorry for the rambling, but as I have said for many
years, I wrote a long note because I’m too conflicted to write a short one …
All the best to you and yours … I wish you the best
for the holidays and hope that you find peace and contentment in your life
and in your retirement. I want to thank you for putting all these things
together for us … you make me think and your posts challenge me in so many
ways.
Henry
Does a loon
appear on a Loonie coin? ---
http://www.snopes.com/business/money/loonie.asp
Also see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loonie
How many nations have dollar bills? ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar_Bill
History of the shrinking U.S. dollar bill
---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_one-dollar_bill
I'm fascinating by the following research, because it illustrates how torn
we become when comparing our nurturing learning (i.e., learn from our
environment) versus our higher-ordered reasoning skills.
"Humans Appear Hardwired To Learn By 'Over-Imitation'," Science
Daily, December 6, 2007 ---
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071205102433.htm
Learning by imitation occurs from the simplest
preverbal communication to the most complex adult expertise. It is the basis
for much of our success as a species, but the benefits are less clear in
instances of "over-imitation," where children copy behavior that is not
needed, Lyons said.
It has been theorized that children over-imitate
just to fit in, or out of habit. The Yale team found in this study that
children follow the adults' steps faithfully to the point where they
actually change their mind about how an object functions.
The study included three-to-five-year-old children
who engaged in a series of exercises. In one exercise, the children could
see a dinosaur toy through a clear plastic box. The researcher used a
sequence of irrelevant and relevant actions to retrieve the toy, such as
tapping the lid of the jar with a feather before unscrewing the lid.
The children then were asked which actions were
silly and which were not. They were praised when they pinpointed the actions
that had no value in retrieving the toy. The idea was to teach the children
that the adult was unreliable and that they should ignore his unnecessary
actions.
Later the children watched adults retrieve a toy
turtle from a box using needless steps. When asked to do the task
themselves, the children over-imitated, despite their prior training to
ignore irrelevant actions by the adults.
"What of all of this means," Lyons said, "is that
children's ability to imitate can actually lead to confusion when they see
an adult doing something in a disorganized or inefficient way. Watching an
adult doing something wrong can make it much harder for kids to do it
right."
Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences:
online publication week of December 3, 2007 (doi/10.1073/pnas.0704452104)
Yahoo spruces up Flickr photo-sharing service with free editing program
Yahoo Inc. is touching up its popular online
photo-sharing service, Flickr, with free editing tools aimed at the growing
number of shutterbugs who want to doctor their digital pictures. The editing
software, expected to be introduced late Tuesday in a partnership with Picnik
Inc., represents Yahoo's latest attempt to broaden Flickr's appeal as the
Sunnyvale-based company closes its older Yahoo Photos service. ''We think this
is going to be very attractive to mainstream users who aren't necessarily great
photographers,'' said Kakul Srivastava, Flickr's senior director of product
management.
MIT's Technology Review, December 4, 2007 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/Wire/19821/?nlid=734
"Web 2.0 Winners and Losers," Wired News, September 20, 2006 ---
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,71810-0.html?tw=wn_index_2
A few weeks ago, I implored readers of the
Monkey Bites blog to sumbit their votes for the best and worst Web 2.0
sites out there.
I asked them to build a list of their own
can't-live-without-it and oh-please-make-it-stop destinations. After
tallying up the votes from our readers, I posted the people's choice
list on Monkey Bites blog. With their picks in mind, I set out to build
my own roster.
There are plenty of good ideas in the Web 2.0
world, and an even greater number of bad ones. In the interest of
brevity, I've chosen five sites from each category. The web services
industry certainly has more than five winners and five losers, so we've
only highlighted the exemplars.
I visited the very top of the iceberg and
descended all the way down into the depths of suckitude to compile this
list. Enjoy the results.
First, the Winners.
Flickr A picture is worth 1,000 tags.
I've known for a long time that if you want to
demonstrate what tagging is all about to somebody who's new to Web 2.0,
just send them to Flickr.
The photo-sharing site has the best application of semantic
categorization on the web. This is because they ask a question that
invites creativity: What words would you use to describe a photo? The
setup also makes searching the site a breeze.
Other things Flickr gets right: enhancing the
community through pools, clusters and groups; options to preserve rights
through Creative Commons; free and pro accounts; the open API. Odeo
Listen up.
When podcasting arrived, everyone wanted in on
the game. All you needed to get started was a microphone, some audio
editing software, a web server, knowledge of peak limiting, compression,
EQ techniques ... Ouch. Then Odeo breezed in and de-mystified the
podcast.
Odeo allows users to record and share audio
using simple, browser-based tools. A browser with Flash installed, an
internet connection and a microphone are all you need to start
podcasting. The site has tools for sharing and managing audio feeds, an
extensive podcast directory and a contact manager that facilitates
sharing audio between friends. The company even offers a component that
gives mobile users the ability to record a podcast from their mobile
phone. Writely Who needs MS Word?
The big, groundbreaking idea behind Web 2.0 is
that the web should and will take over application hosting duties from
the desktop. In other words, all of your documents, contacts, lists,
e-mails and -- most importantly -- your office productivity tools live
on the internet. They're all available no matter where you are or whose
computer you're using.
Writely is a word processor that runs in the
browser. It offers everything you'd expect from a word processor,
including spell check, extensive formatting capability and support for
dropping in images. Writely also makes it easy to collaborate with
others. Your colleagues can log in and edit a document you started.
Users can also collaborate over e-mail, and then publish the results to
a blog when they're done. And, yep, it's free. del.icio.us Where'd I put
that link?
Without del.icio.us, I'd be drowning in a
morass of bookmark clutter. Seriously, drowning. Every article I've
saved for later, every YouTube video I've earmarked for repeat viewing,
every cache of free MP3s, every (ahem) NSFW page I come across. It all
gets posted to del.icio.us. It's truly a lifesaver.
Del.icio.us takes a while to catch on with some
people (what is "social bookmark sharing" anyway?) but once they get the
hang of it, they're hooked. One-click posting from the browser bookmark
bar, the ability to peek at what your friends are reading and the crazy
stuff you find by running tag searches all add up to a truly useful web
app. Not to mention the API that gives you RSS feeds, blog posting
functionality and import/export capability between del.icio.us and your
browser. I'll never lose a webpage again.
NetVibes Start here.
Remember start pages? Those portal-riffic pages
that displayed local weather, news, daily horoscopes and sports scores
were last seen in vast numbers circa 1999. But with the explosion of RSS
and Ajax, a smarter breed of start page has emerged -- and the king of
the hill is NetVibes. The Parisian company has created an aggregation
tool that lets each user create a personalized page that pulls news
feeds and data from web services into modular boxes. The boxes update
automatically, and their display options are totally customizable.
Continued in article
I have a rather sadly neglected set of links to online purchasing of
vehicles ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#080513Automobiles%20and%20Trucks
Adrie Boerefijn in The Netherlands sent me a link to a site for purchasing
buses online ---
http://www.used-buses.net/bustypes/
Robotic Gifts for the Busy Accounting Professor
What useful extensions can you think of? (do tax returns,
ERP
all over you, shovel your snow, mow your grass, play bridge, etc.)
No kidding, students might line up for your office hours if you have one of
these things answering their questions.
Could this be named "Second
Spouse" or "Third
Life?"
Can't you just
visualize these things carrying in a heavy piano from a moving van!
This may be your new golf or tennis partner.
I think I better quit here before I get into real trouble
"Affordable no-assembly humanoid robot on sale ahead of holidays delivers
laughs," MIT's Technology Review, December 8, 2007 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/Wire/19826/?nlid=734
Relatively affordable at $300, i-Sobot has 17
motors, can recognize spoken words and be controlled remotely, making the
walking, somersaulting, karate-chopping robot as close to a humanoid as toys
get.
And it has a key feature any human would love:
There's no assembly required.
Robots that look like people are now available from
Kondo Kagaku Co., Kyosho Corp. and others.
But they cost $1,000 or more and usually require
grueling hours of piecing together motors, metal frames and wiring and then
painting. And they must be programmed with a computer -- an endeavor so
delicate it's hard to get the machines to walk straight without falling over
their own feet.
Continued in article
"Japan researchers unveil housework robot," PhysOrg, November
27, 2007 ---
http://physorg.com/news115375902.html
Japanese researchers on Tuesday unveiled a new
humanoid robot designed to lend a hand with housework, particularly the
rapidly growing number of elderly people in the Asian country.
The 147-centimetre (four-foot-10) robot, pure white
save for blue eyes and red arm joints, put its skills on display by helping
an elderly person get out of bed and preparing breakfast.
While communicating with the person, the
111-kilogramme (244-pound) robot picked up tomato sauce from the
refrigerator with four fingers and carried it with a piece of bread on a
plate to the dining table.
With sensors and flexible joints, the robot is able
to absorb potential shocks in case it bumps into users.
The robot was developed by Tokyo's elite Waseda
University and named Twendy-One, an acronym derived from Waseda Engineering
Designed Symbiont.
"In our super-ageing society, both strength and
delicacy are required" for robots, Professor Shigeki Sugano said in
presenting the humanoid. "Twendy-One is the first robot that can meet those
conditions."
The professor said his team aims to sell the robot
in 2015.
Japanese are famed for longevity, with more than
30,000 people aged at least 100 years old, a trend attributed to a healthy
cuisine and active lifestyle.
But the longevity is also presenting a headache as
the country has one of the lowest birthrates, raising fears of a future
demographic crisis as a smaller pool of workers supports a mass of elderly.
How to be a Good Wife Robot ---
http://www.snopes.com/language/document/goodwife.asp
Virtual worlds are being put to serious real-world uses—and are starting
to encounter some real-world problems
With the popularity of virtual worlds such as Second
Life and games such as “World of Warcraft” and “Sims Online”, companies,
academics, health-care providers and the military are evaluating virtual
environments for use in training, management and collaboration. Superficially,
such uses look a lot like playing a video game. “The thing that distinguishes
them from games is the outcome,” says Mr Wortley. Rather than catering to
virtual thrill-seekers, the aim is to find new ways for people to learn or work
together. Blitz Games, for example, the firm behind “Karaoke Revolution” and
other games, has applied its technology in a rather more serious field: the
development of a medical-triage simulator. The idea is to use it to train
paramedics, doctors and firefighters in prioritising care immediately after a
disaster. “We are simulating the scene of an explosion on a high street,” says
Mary Matthews of Blitz's TruSim division. Players observe the virtual patients
and gauge their respiration, pallor, bleeding and level of distress; then they
use this information to determine which of them is in greatest need, all against
the clock. Each player's performance is scored according to an industry-recognised
training protocol. Real-life exercises could achieve the same objective, but the
simulated environment cuts costs and improves access . . . With such large sums
at stake, it is not surprising that other unpleasant aspects of real life are
starting to appear in virtual worlds too. In May two players were banned from
Second Life for depicting sexual activity between an adult and a child. Eros, a
company that sells sex-related add-ons in Second Life, filed a lawsuit in July
against an inhabitant of the virtual world for selling unauthorised copies of
its SexGen bed, which facilitates sex between in-game characters. “When you have
a community that is an extension of Newark, eventually you will have the ills of
Newark going on,” says Edward Castronova, a virtual-worlds expert at Indiana
University. Some people think the very nature of virtual worlds can inspire bad
behaviour. Such environments provide “anonymity along with a lack of social
recourse,” notes Gus Tai, a venture capitalist at at Trinity Ventures in
California's Silicon Valley.
"Getting Serious," The Economist, December 6, 2007 --
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10202591
Canadian Professor Peter J. Ludlow's Second Life in Virtual Worlds as "Urizenus"
First read about Second Life at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Life
Then read about Second Life at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#SecondLife
"The Second Life of Peter J. Ludlow: A philosophy professor challenges the
rules of virtual worlds with his alter ego, a muckraking journalist," by Andrea
L. Foster, Chronicle of Higher Education, December 7, 2007---
Click Here
He leads an audacious life, but only online. As the
digital character Urizenus, he muckrakes in virtual worlds and describes as
dictatorial the companies that run them. His reporting can be read in the
brassy, tabloid-style Web newspaper he founded, the Second Life Herald.
Offline, Mr. Ludlow is a mild-mannered linguist and
a tenured professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto. Also in
reality, he has just celebrated the release of a book that chronicles his
journalistic adventures in The Sims Online and Second Life, a pair of
digital environments inhabited by lots of characters, or avatars. The book
is called The Second Life Herald: The Virtual Tabloid That Witnessed the
Dawn of the Metaverse (MIT Press). He wrote the book with Mark Wallace, a
freelance journalist.
It's not easy juggling two such different lives, so
Urizenus, also known as Uri, is easing up on his exploits to allow Mr.
Ludlow to concentrate on writing a linguistics book.
But although his lives are separate, they are in
fact related. Uri dissects virtual worlds like a political philosopher. And
while digital venues are often stereotyped as mindless entertainment for
nerds who sit in front of computer screens slaying monsters, Mr. Ludlow is
among a growing number of scholars who see virtuality as something to study.
He delves into issues of sovereignty in cyberspace, arguing that game
enthusiasts should wrest control of virtual worlds from game companies. He
also paints an unflattering portrait of colleges in Second Life. (See
article, Page A26.)
"Digital campuses are drab, and Second Life is a dubious venue for online
instruction: That's the message from Peter J. Ludlow, a professor of philosophy
at the University of Toronto, to colleges with campuses in the virtual world
Second Life," by Andrea L. Foster, Chronicle of Higher Education,
December 7, 2007 ---
Click Here
Digital campuses are drab, and Second Life is a
dubious venue for online instruction. That's the message from Peter J.
Ludlow, a professor of philosophy at the University of Toronto, to colleges
with campuses in the virtual world Second Life.
It's a scathing assessment from a scholar who is
ordinarily an enthusiast of virtual environments, who founded a Web-based
tabloid newspaper about Second Life, and has just come out with a book about
his journalistic escapades in this make-believe world, where digital
characters, or avatars, walk, fly, chat online, and talk through the voices
of their human operators.
Colleges worldwide are establishing their presence
in Second Life to advertise their programs, conduct online classes or
conferences, and do research. At least 170 such campuses can be found there,
says an article in the most recent issue of the International Journal of
Social Sciences.
But the virtual campuses he has seen, says Mr.
Ludlow, lack imagination because they duplicate real institutions.
"Is that what you've got if you could start over,
and you're not constrained by the laws of physics, and you could build
whatever you want to enhance learning?" he asks. "What kind of message are
you sending when you say, 'If I could create the ideal learning environment,
I would duplicate Building 7 and go to work?'"
Colleges should be promoting originality, he says.
For example, they should create digital buildings that are architecturally
unusual.
Looks aren't the only problem. Mr. Ludlow tried to
teach a freshman seminar in Second Life on issues arising in multiplayer
online worlds. He and his students were represented by avatars. But it
wasn't successful, he says, because avatars don't communicate as richly as
people do.
"When I'm teaching in a classroom, I can read the
body language of students," says the philosopher. "I can tell if it's too
warm. I can tell if they're tired. I can tell if they're looking quizzical
because they don't understand. I don't get any of that feedback when I'm
trying to address students online."
Continued in article
December 6, 2007 reply from Steven Hornik
[shornik@BUS.UCF.EDU]
Bob, how do you do it? How do you keep up with all
of this? Anyway here's a scoop that maybe Bob hasn't read yet. The Economist
has a short article on virtual worlds, including Second Life. The
interesting part for us as accountants, and perhaps and answer that David
posed a few weeks ago as to how to leverage these virtual environments.
Here's a link to the article:
http://snipr.com/1uvha
And here is one of the pieces I found interesting
(sorry I don't know how to do different colors like Bob does)
"The same technology can also be used to simulate
the more mundane environment of an office. PIXELearning, a British company
based in Coventry, has developed a simulator for a big international
accounting firm in order to train interns who are fresh out of university.
The role-playing simulator lets them develop their skills by interacting,
for example, with a difficult client who is being aggressive on pricing.
This is invaluable, says Kevin Corti, PIXELearning's boss, because it allows
them to make mistakes before being unleashed on a client. Similarly, a big
American bank is using PIXELearning's simulator for “diversity and
inclusion” training."
_____________________________
Dr. Steven Hornik
University of Central Florida
College of Business Administration (407) 823-5739
Virtual Environments, Virtual Worlds, and Applications ---
http://www.aee.odu.edu/special_pages/VECourses/contact.php
Bob Jensen's threads on Second Life are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#SecondLife
"E-books, slow to catch on in mainstream, are
a hit in niches," MIT's Technology Review, December 4, 2007 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/Wire/19820/?nlid=734
For a decade now, publishers have been hoping to
wean readers off books and move them to electronic versions, which are much
cheaper to produce and distribute.
It just hasn't happened, even with the support of
an electronics giant like Sony, which put out a dedicated e-book reader last
year. Amazon.com Inc. recently followed up with its own reader.
But if you look away from the mainstream publishing
industry, e-books are already a success in a few niches, where they are
giving rise to new ways of doing business. The standout example is
role-playing games, but buyers of college textbooks and even romance novels
are warming to e-books.
Witness Gareth-Michael Skarka, a representative of
one of our newest professions: the e-book publisher. ''E-book publishers''
that reformat printed books into electronic formats have been around for a
while, but Skarka commissions, edits and sells books that overwhelmingly
never see print, and would never have existed if it weren't for electronic
publishing.
''Most of our customers are fairly comfortable with
the electronic format,'' said Skarka. He pulls in around $50,000 a year in
sales, enough to make a living of it in Lawrence, Kan., where he is based.
The 156 e-books in Portable Document Format, or
PDF, sold by Skarka's Adamant Entertainment aren't exactly highbrow
literature. With titles like ''Slavers of Mars,'' and ''One Million Magic
Items,'' they're aimed at people who play role-playing games -- the most
famous of which would be ''Dungeons & Dragons.'' Skarka's prices are mostly
less than $10, but the e-books aren't hugely cheaper than printed books,
because most of the PDFs are short.
Role-players buy lots of books, which contain rules
for their games or expand on the imaginary worlds in which they are set.
It's fiction, but it's more like reference material than the kind of long
narratives you'd find in novels. Industry insiders see that as a big reason
PDFs work for role-players.
''In general, it's not the 300-page prose novels
that people want to read on the screen,'' said Steve Wieck, who co-founded
one of the most successful publishers of role-playing games, Atlanta-based
White Wolf Inc., in the early 90s.
Wieck started noticing that a lot of White Wolf's
releases would be scanned by fans and pirated online. Following a ''can't
beat 'em -- join 'em'' strategy, he and his brother started DriveThruRPG.com
in 2004 to sell PDFs, gathering books from many publishers, including
Adamant Entertainment.
Wieck and Skarka estimate that e-book sales make up
10 percent of the $25 million in annual RPG sales. DriveThruRPG alone does
$2 million in business annually. By comparison, the Association of American
publishers put 2006 e-book sales at $54 million, 0.02 percent of total book
sales of $24.2 billion.
Marc Zuckerman, a role-player in Rockville Centre,
N.Y., bought his first e-book six months ago, even though he already has, or
at least may have, a print copy of the book. His copy of the superhero game
''Villains and Vigilantes'' got lost in a move. Originally published in
1982, it's long out of print but available on DriveThruRPG.
''It's really nifty to be able to walk into a
gaming session and plug in my laptop and everything is there, as opposed to
lugging 40 books,'' Zuckerman said.
Bob Jensen's threads on electronic books are
at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Ebooks.htm
How to compare two MS Word documents
For free
alternatives check out
http://snipurl.com/comparedocs
There is also a
commercial alternative with a “free trial” whatever that means ---
http://www.workshare.com/go/compare-word-files.aspx
Human Resource Calculators (cost of employee turnover, productivity losses,
relocation losses, etc.) ---
http://www.hrworld.com/calculators/badhire/
The home page for human resource management is at
http://www.hrworld.com/
Bob Jensen's links to calculators ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#080512Calculators
Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos announced the launch of an
e-book device called Kindle. It weighs 10.3 ounces, costs $399 and can be used
without a computer, offering instead a free, high-speed wireless data network
from Sprint. Users can download books in less than 60 seconds, as well as
newspapers, magazines and blogs (for a fee). The device uses an eye-friendly
screen and lets readers increase the type size as needed. Will it be a hit, even
though most other e-book efforts have been unsuccessful? We asked marketing
professor Peter Fader, Don Huesman, senior director of information technology,
and management professor Dan Raff to give us their reviews.
University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, Knowledge@Wharton, December 2007 ---
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm;jsessionid=a830205f4372372944c1?articleid=1851
Bob Jensen's threads on eBooks are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Ebooks.htm
Rise in Buyouts and/or
Partnering Between For-Profit and Not-for-Profit Educational
Institutions
The past several years have seen a crop
of such acquisitions. Most recently, Bridgepoint Education
purchased the Colorado School of Professional Psychiatry,
weeks after
a private equity firm announced its pending purchase of Touro
College’s distance education division.
Those developments follow a string of
for-profit entities seeking to boost their online learning
operations by acquiring or partnering with private colleges.
Given that backdrop, the first question at a session devoted to
the practice at the
Career College Association Investment Conference
in Washington on Friday was simple: Do
such “transactions” between for-profit and nonprofit educational
entities reveal a growing trend? . . .
Of course, when a nonprofit converts, it
can no longer rely on donations and must begin paying employment
and real estate taxes. But beyond those structural changes are
challenges that arise in the new management structure. Often,
the for-profit company will find the potential for regional
accreditation an attractive consequence of purchasing a college
or academic unit. The accreditation process, however, often
mandates that 51 percent of board members be financially
independent of the educational institution, Palmer said. “Most
investors can’t imagine putting [in] millions of dollars ... and
having a board of trustees that they don’t control,” he said.
Still, despite the difficulties and cultural differences between
the nonprofits and for-profits, Palmer expressed a sentiment
that elicited some agreement at the meeting, but probably not
elsewhere in higher education. “We don’t say that we’re much
different from a nonprofit,” he said.
Andy Guess, Inside Higher Ed, December 10, 2007
---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/12/10/forprofit
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education
controversies are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
"On College Costs, Be Careful What You Wish
For," by William G. Durden, Inside Higher Ed, December 10, 2007 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/12/10/durden
The latest blood sport in American public policy
appears to be the unmasking of the purported link between containing the
cost of higher education and rigorous fiscal accountability. Stringent
accountability is forwarded by critics of American higher education not only
to know better “precisely what they are getting” (the assumption being that
the public isn’t getting much for its investment), but also to contain
escalating college costs and the price passed on to students, their families
and the American taxpayer.
Extravagant spending once revealed, so goes the
argument, will cause universities on the basis of public outcry to lower
costs and pass less of the financial burden on to students, state
legislatures and the federal government. All well and good in theory. But
this causal connection has yet to be proven. This expectation assumes there
is a viable business model in higher education that restrains costs,
advances minimal tuition increases and continues to produce all of the
components of an undergraduate educational experience to which American
society has become accustomed — and, in fact, demands. Such is not the case.
Current higher education business models are
grounded in students’ and the public’s expectations of a comprehensive
educational experience and the continual generation of new knowledge—both of
which depend on rising revenues. There are, however, two existing business
models that could be more widely introduced to appease those critics who
perceive rising tuitions as arbitrary and a poor return on investment.
Nonprofit colleges and universities could adopt,
for example, the business model of the rapidly proliferating for-profit
universities. Colleges and universities could go totally online — no
buildings or accompanying campuses. Athletics would be eliminated as would
student life. Gone would be those pesky sources of purported extravagance in
American higher education.
There would also be no expectation of original
research by faculty or students — ironically the essential source of content
for the for-profits to use in instruction. The course of study would be
narrowed to include only those subjects that are more applied than those in
a liberal arts curriculum and match more closely specific occupational needs
— business, nursing, social work, health technology, information technology,
and so on. The curriculum would eliminate those courses without immediate
applicability to the workforce — English literature, poetry, art and art
history, music, dance and theater. There would be no need to engage in
“silly” research that deviates from what “someone” has determined a priori
as essential topics of inquiry for a productive life. There would be no
reason to invest in costly scientific equipment or the laboratories in which
to house it.
Numerous for-profit universities have taken these
steps. This model is most appealing to busy adults who are both working and
trying to advance themselves through education in the most convenient way
possible. It fulfills an important “in-time” professional need. For-profits
compete with other for-profits and non-profits solely on the competitive
basis of tuition and still accomplish their mission fully. Their business
model works because they forgo all the “extras” delineated above that
non-profits must support through a combination of tuition, public support,
private fundraising and cost efficiencies.
But can American higher education — indeed, can
America as an enterprising, entrepreneurial nation — afford to have all its
colleges and universities so defined? Is the for-profit business model more
widely acceptable to the American public — especially for the undergraduate
education of its 18-21 year olds? Wouldn’t some valuable defining elements
of a distinctively American higher education — a global market asset — be
lost in this brutal confrontation between cost and accountability?
Would we as a nation accept no college sports?
Would we accept the total absence of our effort, albeit sometimes
frustrating (and understandably highly inefficient) to advance students in
the practice of citizenship within a 24/7 residential community? Would we
accept the total absence of student life — fraternities and sororities, club
life and other extracurricular activities? Would our “consumer-students”
accept residence halls, student centers and science complexes that were
lacking in contemporary amenities and instrumentation?
Would we as a nation accept a curriculum that
offered only those courses that translated directly to current workforce
needs and neglected the arts and humanities — defiantly unaccountable
courses of study? Would we accept a college or university that restricted
its faculty from engaging in research, thereby keeping them one step removed
from what they teach in the classroom?
I think not. To do so would completely undermine
the global market distinction that has come to define American higher
education. It is no coincidence that countries such as Germany and Britain
are currently seeking ways to “Americanize” their universities. As central
governments cut their considerable subsidies, they are finding it necessary
to increase tuition — and along with it, the types of “amenities” that 21st
century students demand. They are coming to rapidly understand that the
American college experience in its totality creates an emotional identity
among the student body, an identity that translates into a lifelong sense of
ownership and a willingness to “give back” to their alma mater. This is an
extremely powerful source of support for American higher education and it is
necessary component of our business model. Why would we jeopardize this?
If higher education institutions wanted to contain
escalating costs and price, they could also look to a second business model
that would, in essence, put a “cap” on new knowledge. When American
universities were first founded, the course of study was an unchanging
corpus of knowledge that was judged finite and comprehensible in its
totality. This position was inherited from our European predecessors and
practiced there for centuries. In the words of Anthony T. Kronman in his
recent book, Education’s End, “The classicist view of antiquity was
essentially static. It paid little or no attention to its historical
development ….[M]eaning and value of that world …[ resided] … in a set of
timeless forms, transparent to the intellect and permanently available as
standards of judgment….” Indeed, such a static view of knowledge and its the
accompanying “business model” kept cost — and tuition — down by ignoring
that pesky cost driver, new knowledge.
Continued in article
Accountants Call It
Cost-Profit-Volume Analysis That Works Best When There Are Huge Fixed Costs
Relative to Variable Costs
It also depends heavily on price elasticity of demand!
Newfoundland, Labrador, and Prince Edward Island are
cutting tuition rates substantially at their universities, hoping to lure
students from Ontario, The Ottawa Citizen reported.
Inside Higher Ed, December 11, 2007 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/12/11/qt
Bob Jensen's threads on accountability in higher
education are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm#Accountability
How to proceed if you suspect your work has
be plagiarized
I recently received an inquiry from a
Canadian requesting how to proceed when a publication is suspected of being
plagiarized.
My reply is shown below:
Hi XXXXX,
I’m afraid I
can’t be of much help here. The first thing is to detect the differences.
You might paste the two documents (e.g., suspicious chapters) into MS Word
and then compare them word-for-word.
Under the TOOLS pull-down menu is a
selection “Compare and Merge Documents”.
Open the first document.
Under Tools, select Compare and Merge
Documents
You will get a window to let you find the
second document
When you open it, you should have the
second document on the screen with the differences highlighted in
red.
Note that
“plagiarism” and “copyright infringement” are not synonyms ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_infringement
This is a pretty good module on how to proceed if copyright infringement is
suspected.
If serious
plagiarism and/or copyright infringement is detected, I think it is
necessary to officially inform the publisher (not necessarily the author) of
copyright violations. If the publisher withdraws the item from the market
(including recalls of inventories in book stores), then I doubt if there is
a lawsuit. If the publisher withdraws the item from the Web server (or other
server) then I doubt if there is a lawsuit.
If the publisher
resists, then you must contact experienced Canadian (I assume) copyright
attorneys. An attorney should be able to get the attention of the publisher.
If not, the attorney(s) can advise you how to proceed from there.
Note that
plagiarism does not have to be word-for-word copying to be plagiarism.
Wikipedia has a
pretty good module on this at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plagiarism
You might find the “Examples” section helpful.
I assume that
you suspect copying without proper citation.
If there is citation there can still be a problem with unreasonably long
quotations. I’m guilty of this at my Website, but in all these many years
only two authors have complained to me. I immediately removed the quotations
and the authors were quite nice about it.
The quoted or
properly cited item does not necessarily have to be long if the item in
question is central to the entire document or recording. This is a common
problem in video and audio re-distribution even with proper citation. In the
U.S., the DMCA generally allows 30 second bites, but anything beyond that is
fair game for lawsuits.
I don’t think
Canada has the “Fair Use” safe harbor of the U.S. DMCA. But Fair Use is not
generally interpreted properly in academe. You can read more about Fair Use
at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm#Copyright
Also see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use
Bob Jensen’s
threads on cheating are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Plagiarism.htm
Beyond that
it’s pretty much a question for experienced attorneys.
Bob Jensen
Colleges Adopt Tough Approach to Copyright Violations," by Andrea L.
Foster, Chronicle of Higher Education, December 6, 2007 ---
Politicians and the entertainment industry complain
that colleges are not doing enough to stop students from swapping music and
movie files online in violation of copyright law. But a recent survey by
Elliot Kendall, a network administrator at Brandeis University, shows that
colleges are being strict with these students. His findings, based on
responses from 80 colleges, show that most of them cut off students’ network
or Internet access after receiving complaints from the entertainment
industry that students have violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Other findings from the survey show the following:
°Most colleges penalize students after only one complaint of infringement.
°Most colleges have tried to educate students about infringement. More
than a third of colleges said their copyright infringement policies were
relatively effective in stopping infringement.
In a related survey, Mr. Kendall asked colleges
about their bandwidth policies. Most of them said they use packet-shaping
software to detect which students are hogging too much bandwidth and to stop
the behavior. Students typically use a lot of bandwidth when sharing music
and movie files online.
Class Size Matters, But the Importance of
This Factor is Highly Variable
My purpose in this essay is not to defend large
classes. My purpose is to demonstrate that a decision to offer large classes or
to avoid them requires a much larger set of commitments that are rarely
discussed. You’d think that large universities would be heavily invested in
finding new ways to teach large numbers of students while increasing student
learning, but they’re not. You’d think that the current demands of higher
education would have driven substantial research into methods of increasing
learning while increasing class size, but it has not. What is needed is for
those schools and communities that would benefit from the results of such
research to fund it and to encourage it. The research may or may not be
fruitful, but like any research we cannot know this before we begin. If we are
to serve tomorrow’s college students by producing better and better graduates,
if we are to charge tuition increases that perpetually exceed inflation, and if
we are to continue the noble cause of expanding the circle of those who attend
college, that serious research needs to begin now.
Daniel W. Barwick, "Does Class Size Matter?" Inside Higher Ed, December
6, 2007 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/12/06/barwick
Daniel W. Barwick is an associate professor of philosophy at the State
University of New York College of Technology at Alfred.
Jensen Comment
Classes can be too large and too small for certain types of teaching. For
example, when teaching via case method where students are asked to develop
solutions "out loud" (possibly in synchronous online chat rooms), classes of
over 600 students would be ludicrous even though such class sizes were used for
lectures in my daughter's first-year chemistry classes at the University of
Texas. Similarly, case method teaching to a class of one or two students is also
absurd. It is not uncommon in the Harvard Law School and the Harvard Business
School to have classes of over 60 students. In my opinion this is excessive for
case method teaching since if every student is given air time in class, some
students may get less than one minute.
Bob Jensen's threads on higher education controversies are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HigherEdControversies.htm
Education Tutorials
How helpful is Wikipedia to scholarship?
Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, told educators
last year that students shouldn't cite his sprawling Web site: "For God's sake,
you’re in college," he said. "Don’t cite the encyclopedia.” It's a safe bet that
most professors agreed with that assessment. But according to BBC News, Mr.
Wales has now modified his message. He told attendees at a London IT conference
this week that he doesn't object to Wikipedia citations, although he admitted
that scholars would "probably be better off doing their own research." From the
BBC report, it's hard to tell how gung-ho Mr. Wales is about Wikipedia's
academic value. But the online encyclopedia's efforts to improve the quality of
its articles might be starting to pay dividends: A German magazine recently
compared 50 Wikipedia articles with similar pieces in Brockhaus, a commercial
encyclopedia. According to the study, the Wikipedia articles were generally more
informative.
Brock Read, Chronicle of Higher Education, December 7, 2007 ---
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2598&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en
Bob Jensen's threads on Wikipedia are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm#KnowledgeBases
Bob Jensen's threads on how scholars search the Web are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Searchh.htm#Scholars
Bob Jensen's threads on general education tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#EducationResearch
Engineering, Science, and Medicine Tutorials
McGill Life Sciences Library: Resources for Teaching and Learning ---
http://www.health.library.mcgill.ca/research/infoskills/learning.cfm
National Human Genome Research Institute ---
http://www.genome.gov/
Context Rich Problems Online Archives (physics) ---
http://groups.physics.umn.edu/physed/Research/CRP/on-lineArchive/ola.html
"Organic Chemistry for the YouTube Generation," PhysOrg, December 6,
2007 ---
http://physorg.com/news116181206.html
Video Link ---
http://www.scivee.tv/node/3005
177 UC Berkeley Video Courses (free) ---
http://www.jimmyr.com/free_education.php
Other free video courses ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Oceanus (video and pictures) ---
http://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/index.do
Interactives: Garbage (landfills etc.) ---
http://www.learner.org/interactives/garbage/intro.html
Bob Jensen’s threads on science, engineering, and medicine
tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Science
Social Science and Economics Tutorials
Center for Civic Education ---
http://www.civiced.org/
Tony Tinker forwarded this Video Link
Credit squeeze explained ---
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c2c12708-6d10-11dc-ab19-0000779fd2ac.html
Bob Jensen's mortgage advice ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudReporting.htm#MortgageAdvice
Subprime Mortgages: A Primer
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are demanding answers
from regulators and lenders about subprime mortgages. Many worry that
rising mortgage defaults and lender failures could hurt America's
overall banking system. Already, the subprime crisis has been blamed for
steep declines in the stock market. But just what is a subprime loan —
and why should you care? Here, a primer:
"Subprime Mortgages: A Primer," NPR, March 23, 2007 ---
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9085408
Also see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub-prime_mortgage
Bob Jensen's threads on Economics, Anthropology, Social Sciences, and
Philosophy tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Social
Math Tutorials
Venn Diagrams ---
http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/3/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=1555
Teaching Math: A Video Library ---
http://www.learner.org/resources/series34.html
Functions Grapher ---
http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/3/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=404
Famous Curves Index ---
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Curves/Curves.html
Geometry ---
http://mathworld.wolfram.com/topics/Geometry.html
Exercises in Math Readiness ---
http://math.usask.ca/mrc-cgi-bin/emr/first_page.cgi
Creating Mathlets with Open Source Tools ---
http://mathdl.maa.org/mathDL/4/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=1574
History in College Algebra ---
http://mathdl.maa.org/convergence/1/convergence/1/?pa=content&sa=viewDocument&nodeId=1629
Algebasics ---
http://www.algebasics.com/
xyAlgebra ---
http://www.xyalgebra.org/
Tools for Understanding (Math) ---
http://www2.ups.edu/community/tofu/home.htm
Bob Jensen's threads on free online mathematics tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics
Music Tutorials
Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music ---
http://www.enotes.com/music-encyclopedia/
Bob Jensen's links to music tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Music
History Tutorials
Linking Research and Teaching in History: Case Studies ---
http://www.hca.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/case_Studies/snas/index.php
Linking Research and Teaching in History For
academic historians the link between research and teaching is regarded as an
integral part of the provision of a high-quality history education: vital to
teachers and students and to the ongoing health of the discipline.
These resources have been compiled as part of a
Higher Education Academy project on linking teaching and research in the
disciplines. The project's aim is to provide case-studies of existing
practice alongside a review essay considering the nature of the
research-teaching relationship in each discipline. Whilst the resources are
intended in the first instance for new members of academic staff, they will
be of interest to anyone who wishes to reflect on the research-teaching
nexus in History and the ways in which academic historians have translated
this in the context of their teaching.
Our Subject Centre is very keen to build upon this
collection of case-studies. We would welcome further contributions so that
we can create a resource for our community that reflects the importance of
this topic and the wealth of experience that historians have in linking
their research and teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
From the University of Wisconsin
Beowulf: A New Translation for Oral Delivery ---
http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/Literature/subcollections/RinglBeowulfAbout.shtml
The
translation is intended for "oral delivery," that is, to be read
or recited aloud. Accordingly this work includes an audio stream
in which the translator provides a reading of his version of the
poem. This reading is meant to model metrical and rhetorical
features of the translation, not to lay down the law about how
it should be "performed." It can be
listened to uninterruptedly from start to finish--which
takes about three hours--or it can be accessed at the beginning
of any of the
forty-three sections into which it is divided
(and which correspond to the numbered
sections of the surviving manuscript).
Scottish Natural Heritage Information Service ---
http://www.snh.org.uk/snhi/
Mapping The Pacific Coast ---
http://www.mappingthepacificcoast.com/
Bob Jensen's threads on history tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#History
Also see
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm
Language Tutorials
Modern Language Association Language map ---
http://www.mla.org/resources/census_main
Language Translation Software ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm#ForeignLanguage
Various modern language and literature helpers
are linked at
http://www.trinity.edu/departments/modern_languages/index.html
"Overcoming Language Anxiety," by Andy Guess,
Inside Higher Ed, June 29, 2007 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/06/29/language
Free Language Learning Helpers (With Audio) ---
http://www.vocabulix.com
Learn Spanish ---
http://www.spanishprograms.com/
Bob Jensen's links to language tutorials are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Languages
Writing Tutorials
Writing Forward (writing tips) ---
http://www.writingforward.com/writing-tips-tricks/the-22-best-writing-tips-ever
Best Books of 2007 ---
http://www.economist.com/books/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10249833
Bob Jensen's helpers for writers are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Dictionaries
From the Scout Report on December 7, 2007
CCleaner 2.02.527 ---
http://www.ccleaner.com/
The road to a smoothly running computer can be
paved with unused files and all types of extraneous items. This version of
CCleaner can help users with such matters, as it cleans up temporary files,
recycled items, log files, and other such pesky items. This version is
compatible with computers running Windows 95 and newer.
Photo Organizer 2.34b ---
http://po.shaftnet.org/
Photo Organizer 2.34b goes above and beyond the
call of photo gallery duty by offering users the opportunity to not only
store their images, but to also create detailed annotations for each image.
The program is capable of handling thousands of images and users can also
print, tag, export, and search images as they wish. This version is
compatible with computers running Windows 98 and newer.
From The Washington Post on December 8, 2007
What percent of U.S. tweens own
a mobile phone?
A.
15 percent
B.
25 percent
C.
35 percent
D.
55 percent
Jensen
Comment
In Finland, the land of mobiles, it's nearly 100%.
Many Finlanders have one for each ear.
From The Washington Post on December 6, 2007
Nokia's headquarters
are in which Finnish city?
A.
Helsinki
B.
Vantaa
C.
Oulu
D.
Espoo
Updates from WebMD ---
http://www.webmd.com/
From the Scout Report on December 7, 2007
Study shows that honey can help a child's cough
Honey 'is better for children's coughs'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/04/ncough104.xml
Study: Honey better than drugs for kids' coughs
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5348425.html
Honey Gives Kids Sweet Relief From Coughs
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/ColdFlu/story?id=3947988&page=1
National Honey Board: Recipes
http://www.honey.com/consumers/recipes/recipes.asp
Guide to Bee-Friendly Gardens
http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/index.html
Humanity to Honey-bees
http://books.google.com/books?id=pefYHVqs7TAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=honey&as_brr=1&ie=ISO-8859-1
Israeli study says regular mobile use increases tumor risk
Regular use of mobile telephones increases the risk of
developing tumours, a new scientific study by Israeli researchers and published
in the American Journal of Epidemiology revealed on Friday. An extract of the
report seen by Israel's Yedoit Aharonot newspaper put the risk of developing a
parotid gland tumour nearly 50 percent higher for frequent mobile phone users --
more than 22 hours a month. The risk was still higher if users clamped the phone
to the same ear, did not use hands-free devices or were in rural areas.
"Analysis restricted to regular users or to conditions that may yield higher
levels of exposure (eg heavy use in rural areas) showed consistently elevated
risks," said an abstract of the report in the US journal made available to AFP.
The study included 402 benign and 58 malignant incident cases of parotid gland
tumour diagnosed in Israel at age 18 years or more, in 2001-2003.
PhysOrg, December 7, 2007 ---
http://physorg.com/news116235712.html
Even in healthy elderly, brain systems become less coordinated
Some brain systems become less coordinated with age
even in the absence of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from
Harvard University. The results help to explain why advanced age is often
accompanied by a loss of mental agility, even in an otherwise healthy
individual. The study, published in the Dec. 6 issue of Neuron, was led by
Jessica Andrews-Hanna, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology in
the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard, with Justin Vincent, a graduate
student in the Department of Psychology, and Randy Buckner, Harvard professor of
psychology and an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “This
research helps us to understand how and why our minds change as we get older,
and why some individuals remain sharp into their 90s, while others’ mental
abilities decline as they age,” says Andrews-Hanna. “One of the reasons for loss
of mental ability may be that these systems in the brain are no longer in sync
with one another.” Previous studies have focused on the specific structures and
functions within the brain, and how their deterioration might lead to decreased
cognitive abilities. However, this study examined the way that large-scale brain
systems that support higher-level cognition correlate and communicate across the
brain, and found that in older adults these systems are not in sync. In
particular, widely separated systems from the front to the back of the brain
were less correlated.
PhysOrg, December 7, 2007 ---
http://physorg.com/news116249985.html
Chem Lab: The Downside of Getting High on Nitrous Oxide
In November 2003, the Taiwanese man's sense of touch
became so faint that he could barely handle chopsticks. Even worse: he felt
sensations similar to electrical shocks in his neck and legs. At Taipei Veterans
General Hospital, Chia-Yi Lin, Kwong-Kum Liao, and their colleagues examined
their patient with an MRI scan. Part of his spinal column had degenerated. That
was no surprise since laughing gas interferes with the production of myelin, a
fatty coating that surrounds nerves and helps them send signals. In the January
2007 issue of Clinical Toxicology, Lin and Liao
explained
that the gas inactivates vitamin B12 and the junkie
was already running low on that nutrient. Daily doses of the gas for ten years
worsened his dietary deficiency, leading to the severe neurological damage. At
the end of their correspondence, the doctors did not say what became of their
patient, but they made it clear that he was not alone.
Aaron Rowe, Wired News, December 9, 2007 ---
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/12/chem-lab-the-do.html
Research reveals secrets of alcohol's effect on brain cells
Alcohol triggers the activation of a variety of genes
that can influence the health and activity of brain cells, and new research from
Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City sheds light on how that process
occurs. The findings, published in the Nov. 21 issue of The Journal of
Neuroscience, may also edge scientists closer to understanding alcohol-linked
disorders such as the brain damage associated with chronic alcoholism, and the
abnormal brain development seen in the fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS). "If you are
going to understand the biological effects of alcohol on genes within cells, you
have to understand the molecular machinery driving the transcription, or
activation, of the genes in question. That's what we believe we have done here,"
says the study's senior author Dr. Neil L. Harrison, professor of pharmacology
and pharmacology in anesthesiology at Weill Cornell. In research conducted in
cell cultures and in mouse neurons in vivo, his team found that alcohol
stimulates a ubiquitous, stress-linked biochemical cascade -- called the heat
shock pathway -- to send a molecule called heat shock factor 1 (HSF1) into the
neuron's nucleus. HSF1 then stimulates the transcription of many of the genes
known to be activated by alcohol.
PhysOrg, December 7, 2007 ---
http://physorg.com/news116256425.html
A Camera to Help Dementia Patients: Let's See, Did I or Didn't I?
When Mrs. B was admitted to the hospital in March 2002,
her doctors diagnosed limbic encephalitis, a brain infection that left her
autobiographical memory in tatters. As a result, she can only recall around 2
percent of events that happened the previous week, and she often forgets who
people are. But a simple device called
SenseCam, a small digital camera developed by
Microsoft Research, in Cambridge, U.K., dramatically improved her memory: she
could recall 80 percent of events six weeks after they happened, according to
the results of a recent study. A specialized camera regularly takes pictures to aid
with memory. "Not only does SenseCam allow people to recall memories while they
are looking at the images, which in itself is wonderful, but after an initial
period of consolidation, it appears to lead to long-term retention of memories
over many months, without the need to view the images repeatedly," says Emma
Berry, a neuropsychologist who works as a consultant to Microsoft.
James Butcher, MIT's Technology
Review, December 10, 2007 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19840/?nlid=740&a=f
Jensen Comment
This might help absent minded professors in any age group. Let's see. Did I have
lunch? What did I eat? Did I drive or take the bus to work?
But then there are just some things about
daily life that we just don’t want to remember.
Positive Prevention: HIV Prevention with people living with HIV ---
http://www.aidsalliance.org/graphics/secretariat/publications/Positive_prevention.pdf
75 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena
--- http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/
Link forwarded by Auntie Bev
Five Best Books About Dogs
"Man's Best Friend: These works about dogs are a treat," by Stanley
Coren, The Wall Street Journal, December 8, 2007 ---
http://www.opinionjournal.com/weekend/fivebest/?id=110010966
1. "For the Love of a Dog" by Patricia B.
McConnell (Ballantine, 2006).
Patricia McConnell has a doctorate in zoology, but
this work about dog behavior is hardly a dry textbook. "For the Love of a
Dog" is about emotions, the emotions of dogs and of the people who interact
with them. She presents plenty of personal stories, especially about her
sheep-herding border collie, Luke ("I love Luke so much it almost hurts"),
weaving the anecdotes into a discussion of how dogs view the world and what
guides their behavior. "Without language as a bridge," McConnell writes, we
can't "ever know what it is like to be a dog; some argue we shouldn't even
try. But many of us try to understand the mental lives of our dogs every
day, and we're not going to give up just because the task is difficult." She
believes that dogs have all of the basic emotions--anger, happiness, fear,
love--but finds that more complex emotions, such as guilt or grief, are
harder to discern.
2. "If Only They Could Speak" by Nicholas H.
Dodman (Norton, 2002).
Nicholas Dodman has written several excellent books
about pets with problems ("Dogs Behaving Badly," "The Cat Who Cried for
Help"), but this may be the best of all. It is a collection of stories about
dogs--and some cats--that were treated at the animal behavior clinic Dodman
founded at Tufts University. He depicts familiar pet problems (dominance,
separation anxiety, aggression) but also documents their effects on the
human-canine bond. In the chapter "The Two Dogs of Mrs. Spinelli," a dog
owner's favoritism toward her poodle has provoked her German shepherd to
viciously attack the other dog. Dodman convinces Mrs. Spinelli that peace
will not reign until the shepherd is acknowledged as top dog (a little
Prozac--for the shepherd--helps, too). Although not every case ends happily,
all are instructive.
3. "If Dogs Could Talk" by Vilmos Csányi (North
Point, 2005). Vilmos Csányi, a Hungarian trained as a behavioral
biologist, explores how closely the thinking and learning patterns of dogs
mimic those of humans. "Individual dog stories or anecdotes must be handled
with considerable care when we want scientific proof," he writes--a
refreshing caveat in an often speculative genre. The experiments he
describes in "If Dogs Could Talk" include one that involves a dog watching a
tasty morsel being hidden out of his reach and then, when his owner arrives,
using a variety of signals--running from the owner to the hiding place and
back again, or simply glancing back and forth--to get help obtaining the
treat. Humans understand these signals, Csányi notes, "just as easily as
dogs understand the signals of humans."
4. "Bones Would Rain From the Sky" by Suzanne
Clothier (Warner, 2002).
If you feel that you can justify reading a book
about dogs only when it offers practical training advice, the book for you
is Suzanne Clothier's "Bones Would Rain From the Sky" (as in what would
happen "if a dog's prayers were answered"). But this isn't a manual with a
bulleted list of 10 easy steps to a better dog. Rather it is a guide to
improving the communication between humans and dogs--which facilitates
training. Clothier challenges us to think deeply about the differences
between canine and human "cultures," noting: "No mother dog ever told her
puppies: 'You just wait until your father gets home' or 'We'll discuss that
later.' " Dogs work in only one time frame: Now!
5. "Always Faithful" by William Putney (Free
Press, 2001).
In "Always Faithful," William Putney recounts his
experience as a young veterinarian serving in the Marines during World War
II, when he was directed to train dogs and their handlers for the bloody
campaign to liberate Guam in 1944. The dogs, most of them Doberman
pinschers, were former pets on wartime loan to the military. They proved so
effective--delivering messages, serving as sentries and leading troops
through thick jungle, where they detected mines and tripwires--that they
would become famed as "Devil Dogs." Putney details the dogs' bravery and
intelligence, and he describes the relationship between the dogs and the
Marines--who were initially skeptical of canine help but came to respect the
dogs and mourn the many who died in combat. The book ends with a fascinating
account of Putney's successful campaign to have these dogs repatriated to
their original families at the end of the war.
Dr. Coren, a psychology professor at the University of British
Columbia, is the author of several books on dogs, including "Why Does My Dog
Act That Way?" (Free Press), just out in paperback.
Denny Beresford, who owns two Golden Retrievers, likes this one:
Marley & Me Illustrated Edition : Life and Love with the
World's Worst Dog by
John Grogan ---
Click Here
Also see
Bad Dog, Marley! by John
Grogan, Richard Cowdrey (Illustrator) , Richard Cowdrey (Illustrator) ---
Click Here
Forwarded by Moe
THE GOLDEN PHONE.
A man in Topeka , Kansas decided to write a book about Churches around the
country. He started by flying to San Francisco and started working east from
there.
Going to a very large church, he began taking photographs and making notes.
He spotted a golden telephone on the vestibule wall and was intrigued with a
sign, which read 'Calls: $10,000 a minute.'
Seeking out the pastor he asked about the phone and the sign. The pastor
answered that this golden phone is, in fact, a direct line to heaven and if he
pays the price he can talk directly to God.
The man thanked the pastor and continued on his way. As he continued to visit
churches in Seattle , Dallas, St. Louis, Chicago, Milwaukee, and around the
United States, he found more phones, with the same sign, and the same answer
from each pastor.
Finally, he arrived in Massachusetts. Upon entering a church in Boston, MA ..
........Behold - he saw the usual golden telephone.
But THIS time, the sign read "Calls: .35 cents."
Fascinated, he asked to talk to the pastor, "Reverend, I have been in cities
all across the country and in each church I have found this golden telephone and
have been told it is a direct line to Heaven and that I could talk to God, but
in the other churches the cost was $10,000 a minute. Your sign reads only .35
cents a call. Why? Why?"
The pastor, smiling benignly, replied :
"Son, you're in Boston, Massachusetts now, home of the Boston Red Sox, the
Patriots, Celtics, Bruins and Boston College ! "
You're in God's Country, It's a local call.
( American by Birth - A BOSTON SPORT FAN by the grace of GOD ! )
Forwarded by Dick Haar
An interview with an 80-year-old woman
The local news station was interviewing an 80-year-old lady because she had
just gotten married -- for the fourth time.
The interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like
to be marrying again at 80, and then about her new husband's occupation.
"He's a funeral director," she answered.
"Interesting," the newsman thought.
He then asked her if she wouldn't mind telling him a little about her first
three husbands and what they did for a living.
She paused for a few moments, needing time to reflect on all those years.
After a short time, a smile came to her face and she answered proudly,
explaining that she¢d first married a banker when she was in her early 20's,
then a circus ringmaster when in her 40's, later on a preacher when in her 60's,
and now in her 80's, a funeral director.
The interviewer looked at her, quite astonished, and asked why she had
married four men with such diverse careers.
She smiled and explained, "I married one for the money, two for the show,
three to get ready, and four to go."
Forwarded by Gene and Joan
REMEMBER THIS AT CHRISTMAS TIME
According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female
reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers
at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December. Female
reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring.
Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's
reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.
We should've known... ONLY women would be able to drag a fat man in a red
velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost.
I knew it!!!
Forwarded by Moe
I took my granddad to the mall the other day to buy some new shoes. We
decided to grab a bite at the food court.
I noticed he was watching a teenager sitting next to him. The teenager had
spiked hair in all different colors: green, red,
orange, and blue. My granddad kept staring at him. The teenager would look and
find him staring every time. When the
teenager had enough, he sarcastically asked, "What's the matter old man,
never done anything wild in your life? "
Knowing my Granddad, I quickly swallowed my food so that I would not choke on
his response; knowing he would have a
good one. And in classic style he did not bat an eye in his response.
"Got drunk once and screwed a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my
son."
Computer Stupidity ---
http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/cs_abuse.shtml
And you think you've got a deviated septum!
The Pug Factory ---
http://files.meetup.com/126468/pug factory.jpg
Tidbits Archives ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter ---
Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron"
enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and
other universities is at
http://www.searchedu.com/
World Clock ---
http://www.peterussell.com/Odds/WorldClock.php
Facts about the earth in real time --- http://www.worldometers.info/
Interesting Online Clock
and Calendar
---
http://home.tiscali.nl/annejan/swf/timeline.swf
Time by Time Zones ---
http://timeticker.com/
Projected Population Growth (it's out of control) ---
http://geography.about.com/od/obtainpopulationdata/a/worldpopulation.htm
Also see
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/P/Populations.html
Facts about population growth (video) ---
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U
Projected U.S. Population Growth ---
http://www.carryingcapacity.org/projections75.html
Real time meter of the U.S. cost of the war in Iraq ---
http://www.costofwar.com/
Enter you zip code to get Census Bureau comparisons ---
http://zipskinny.com/
Sure wish there'd be a little good news today.
Three Finance Blogs
Jim Mahar's FinanceProfessor Blog ---
http://financeprofessorblog.blogspot.com/
FinancialRounds Blog ---
http://financialrounds.blogspot.com/
Karen Alpert's FinancialMusings (Australia) ---
http://financemusings.blogspot.com/
Some Accounting Blogs
Paul Pacter's IAS Plus (International
Accounting) ---
http://www.iasplus.com/index.htm
International Association of Accountants News ---
http://www.aia.org.uk/
AccountingEducation.com and Double Entries ---
http://www.accountingeducation.com/
Gerald Trite's eBusiness and
XBRL Blogs ---
http://www.zorba.ca/
AccountingWeb ---
http://www.accountingweb.com/
SmartPros ---
http://www.smartpros.com/
Bob Jensen's Sort-of Blogs ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/JensenBlogs.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called New
Bookmarks ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called
Tidbits ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
Current and past editions of my newsletter called Fraud
Updates ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm
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
Shared Open Courseware
(OCW) from Around the World: OKI, MIT, Rice, Berkeley, Yale, and Other Sharing
Universities ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI
Free Textbooks and Cases ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm#Textbooks
Free Mathematics and Statistics Tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#050421Mathematics
Free Science and Medicine Tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Science
Free Social Science and Philosophy Tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Social
Free Education Discipline Tutorials ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm
Teaching Materials (especially
video) from PBS
Teacher Source: Arts and
Literature ---
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/arts_lit.htm
Teacher Source: Health & Fitness
---
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/health.htm
Teacher Source: Math ---
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/math.htm
Teacher Source: Science ---
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/sci_tech.htm
Teacher Source: PreK2 ---
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/prek2.htm
Teacher Source: Library Media ---
http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/library.htm
Free Education and
Research Videos from Harvard University ---
http://athome.harvard.edu/archive/archive.asp
VYOM eBooks Directory ---
http://www.vyomebooks.com/
From Princeton Online
The Incredible Art Department ---
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/
Online Mathematics Textbooks ---
http://www.math.gatech.edu/~cain/textbooks/onlinebooks.html
National Library of Virtual Manipulatives ---
http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/doc/intro.jsp
Moodle ---
http://moodle.org/
The word moodle is an acronym for "modular
object-oriented dynamic learning environment", which is quite a mouthful.
The Scout Report stated the following about Moodle 1.7. It is a
tremendously helpful opens-source e-learning platform. With Moodle,
educators can create a wide range of online courses with features that
include forums, quizzes, blogs, wikis, chat rooms, and surveys. On the
Moodle website, visitors can also learn about other features and read about
recent updates to the program. This application is compatible with computers
running Windows 98 and newer or Mac OS X and newer.
Some of Bob Jensen's Tutorials
Accountancy Discussion ListServs:
For an elaboration on the reasons you should join a
ListServ (usually for free) go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
AECM (Educators)
http://pacioli.loyola.edu/aecm/
AECM is an email Listserv list which
provides a forum for discussions of all hardware and software
which can be useful in any way for accounting education at the
college/university level. Hardware includes all platforms and
peripherals. Software includes spreadsheets, practice sets,
multimedia authoring and presentation packages, data base
programs, tax packages, World Wide Web applications, etc
Roles of a ListServ ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ListServRoles.htm
|
CPAS-L (Practitioners)
http://pacioli.loyola.edu/cpas-l/
CPAS-L provides a forum for discussions of
all aspects of the practice of accounting. It provides an
unmoderated environment where issues, questions, comments,
ideas, etc. related to accounting can be freely discussed.
Members are welcome to take an active role by posting to CPAS-L
or an inactive role by just monitoring the list. You qualify for
a free subscription if you are either a CPA or a professional
accountant in public accounting, private industry, government or
education. Others will be denied access. |
Yahoo
(Practitioners)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xyztalk
This forum is for CPAs to discuss the activities of the AICPA.
This can be anything from the CPA2BIZ portal to the XYZ
initiative or anything else that relates to the AICPA. |
AccountantsWorld
http://accountantsworld.com/forums/default.asp?scope=1
This site hosts various discussion groups on such topics as
accounting software, consulting, financial planning, fixed
assets, payroll, human resources, profit on the Internet, and
taxation. |
Business Valuation
Group
BusValGroup-subscribe@topica.com
This discussion group is headed by Randy Schostag
[RSchostag@BUSVALGROUP.COM] |
Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob)
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
190 Sunset Hill Road
Sugar Hill, NH 03586
Phone: 603-823-8482
Email:
rjensen@trinity.edu