Reverend Hahn forwarded the "Fire Rainbow" picture taken in late February on the
northern border of Idaho and Washington states.
Fire Rainbow (circumhorizontal arc) --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_rainbow
Also see http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/firerainbow.asp
The phenomenon is quite rare because the ice crystals must be aligned horizontally to refract the high sun.

Reverend Hahn fills in many Sunday while our Sugar Hill Community Church searches for a new pastor. His sermons are always interesting with great examples and entertaining quotations. He's been a pastor or invited speaker in nearly 200 churches over his long and varied career. Crossing Franconia Notch is always a worry this time of year, but he and his wife Irene do  this in all seasons so we can hear his inspiring messages in our small church. We're happy whenever we get more than 20 worshipers on a given Sunday. But were a close knit bunch in our sweaters and snow boots.

 

It's the season cabin fever.
There's just been too much winter in New Hampshire --- http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?s=7940256

It's moving in from second to first in terms of total snowfall since 1900 in New Hampshire. Strangely most blizzards have been followed by thawing and thick ice. Hence we don't have ten feet on the ground. At the moment there's less than a foot of snow left after the heavy rains on Saturday followed by very high winds and some snow yesterday. Wind gusts here reached 40 mph and well over 100 mph on Mt. Washington on March 9.

Temp Wind Gust W. Chill

-2.7°F

270° (W), 105.2 mph

111.6 mph

-43.7°F

I'm still waiting for a backordered part for my new Sears Craftsman snow thrower that's been on the fritz all winter, but it doesn't matter much now. I fell on the ice a couple weeks ago and broke three ribs. I couldn't handle the snow thrower at the moment. But Sears promises to have my machine fixed for the Fourth of July. My ribs should be healed by then.

The picture below show's the dreariness of it all after we had some new snow this week end.

But my fat friend seems to be surviving nicely on our wild cranberry bush (perhaps the berries are fermented by now). I'm not even sure what type of bird this is, but he and his mates seem to be our most active cranberry eaters. Sometimes he looks at me as if he's trying to figure out what I'm doing at daylight this time of year pecking away at my computer. Pathetic isn't it! Maybe I should join him in getting high on winter cranberries.

 

 

Tidbits on March 10, 2008
Bob Jensen

For earlier editions of Tidbits go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/TidbitsDirectory.htm
For earlier editions of New Bookmarks go to http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookurl.htm 

Click here to search Bob Jensen's web site if you have key words to enter --- Search Site.
For example if you want to know what Jensen documents have the term "Enron" enter the phrase Jensen AND Enron. Another search engine that covers Trinity and other universities is at http://www.searchedu.com/.


Bob Jensen's past presentations and lectures --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations   


Bob Jensen's Threads --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/threads.htm

Bob Jensen's Home Page is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/

CPA Examination --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cpa_examination


On May 14, 2006 I retired from Trinity University after a long and wonderful career as an accounting professor in four universities. I was generously granted "Emeritus" status by the Trustees of Trinity University. My wife and I now live in a cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm

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

Global Incident Map --- http://www.globalincidentmap.com/home.php

Set up free conference calls at http://www.freeconference.com/
Also see http://www.yackpack.com/uc/   

Free Online Tutorials in Multiple Disciplines --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob2.htm#Tutorials

Google Maps Street View --- http://maps.google.com/help/maps/streetview/

World Clock --- http://www.peterussell.com/Odds/WorldClock.php

Tips on computer and networking security --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce/000start.htm

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




Online Video, Slide Shows, and Audio
In the past I've provided links to various types of music and video available free on the Web. 
I created a page that summarizes those various links --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm

Accounting professor Joyce Berg (University of Iowa) describes how to buy and sell presidential candidates in an electronics market ---
http://feedroom.businessweek.com/index.jsp?fr_story=a3127ad1b0fd6bf20892e609c463863db3d8d1d3

"Top 10 Amazing Chemistry Videos," by Aaron Rowe, Wired Science, March 2, 2008 --- http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/03/top-10-amazing.html

Science Videos --- http://www.scivee.tv/

Evolution of Normal Fault Systems During Progressive Deformation [Quick Time Video] http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/structure/activities/6662.html

The Virtual Body --- http://www.medtropolis.com/vbody.asp

The Future is Digital (with video) --- http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/FIDArchive.html

Autism and Amanda Baggs --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Baggs
"The Truth About Autism: Scientists Reconsider What They Think They Know," by David Wolman, Wired Magazine, February 25, 2008 ---
http://www.wired.com/medtech/health/magazine/16-03/ff_autism

It's not just YouTube. It's HBO. While NBC didn't fare so well bringing a web series to the boob tube, HBO is hoping to have better luck hawking their content to the web. The premium cable channel has created a signature channel on YouTube which will air highlights from shows like, Entourage, The Wire, Flight of the Conchords, and Extras, along with full length episodes of In Treatment and the documentary Habla y Habla, which takes an in-depth look at what it's like to be a Latino in the U.S.
Sonia Zjawinski, Wired News, February 27, 2008 --- http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/02/hbo-uploads-vid.html


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

Patriotic Melodies --- http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/patriotic/patriotic-home.html

Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes has a smiling, generous air about him—even when he's been pulled into a radio studio, after dark, to get bounced back and forth between a Steinway and an inquisitive host. Hear Leif Ove Andsnes play Grieg in the WGBH studio --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19238898
He frequently sang with Maria Callas

Italian Tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano Dies at 86 --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87869165

Tammy Hall on Piano Jazz --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87812521

Piano Jazz --- http://www.npr.org/programs/pianojazz/

Swan Lake With Frogs (Outstanding Performance) --- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOqxSaW05p4

Dirt Roads (Midi) --- http://famguardian.org/Subjects/FamilyIssues/Articles/DirtRoads/DirtRoads.htm

Barry Manilow --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Manilow

Bob Jensen listens to music free online (and no commercials) --- http://www.slacker.com/ 


Photographs and Art

From the University of Pittsburgh With Amazing Resolution and Interactive Controls
Birds of America (435 birds mounted online) --- http://digital.library.pitt.edu/a/audubon/

American Geographical Society Digital Photo Archive --- http://www.uwm.edu/Libraries/digilib/agsphoto/index.html

Helen Keller and her famous teacher Anne Sullivan in 1888 --- http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8V7HKH81&show_article=1&image=large

The Moon’s Craggiest Stretch Comes Into Focus --- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/science/28MOONW.html

The Virtual Body --- http://www.medtropolis.com/vbody.asp

Fire Rainbow (circumhorizontal arc) --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_rainbow
The phenomenon is quite rare because the ice crystals must be aligned horizontally to refract the high sun.

Textile Exchange --- http://www.teonline.com/

Microsoft's Shiny New Toy Photosynth is an application that's still a work in progress.
It is dazzling, but what is it for?

Jeffrey McIntyre, MIT's Technology Review, March/April 2008 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/20203/?nlid=915&a=f
Watch Photosynth stitch photos together
View the images and see how it works

Jensen Comment
It struck me that if a company's financial report could be visualized in a photograph then Photosynth might be used to stitch various financial reports together.

Bob Jensen's threads on visualization of multivariate data are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.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

The 2008 Statistical Abstract --- http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
Other statistics sources --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm#EconStatistics

University of Rochester shares its Abraham Lincoln letters online --- http://www.library.rochester.edu/index.cfm?page=379
Also see http://www.technologyreview.com/Wire/20364/?nlid=912

Muse India --- http://www.museindia.com/

The Future is Digital (with video) --- http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/FIDArchive.html

From the Scout Report on February 29, 2008

Concerned about the education of young people, the Common Core organization releases the results of a recent survey Teens losing touch with historical references http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-02-26-teens-history_N.htm 

History Surveys Stumps U.S. Teens --- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/26/education/27history.html?_r=1&oref=slogin 

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy http://www.bartleby.com/59/

Bill Moyers Journal: Interview with Susan Jacoby http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/02152008/watch2.html 

Digital History http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/ 

19th Century Textbooks http://digital.library.pitt.edu/nietz/





 
When Richard Brodhead (now the president of Duke University) was dean of Yale College in 2004, he put it this way in a commencement address: “By a conservative estimate, the things members of the class of 2004 collectively learned in Yale courses that you have already forgotten is probably equal to the sum of human knowledge gained since the early Renaissance.” He added: “Such inevitable forgetting is not a scandal in education, because the original act of learning taught something more deeply valuable and left a deeper trace: trained deep habits of mind that survived the specific content that was originally attached to them and can then be put to a different use”.
Bernard Fryshman, "Content Control — This Time From Friends," Inside Higher Ed, March 6, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/03/06/fryshman
Jensen Comment
This rings especially true about my two years of learning Russian and reading a lot of Pushkin (and not Pravda) as an undergraduate. I remember my Russian teacher better than I remember the Russian language.

The request is familiar to American ears: "Bring them home." But in Iraq, where I've just met with American and Iraqi leaders, the phrase carries a different meaning. It does not refer to the departure of U.S. troops, but to the return of the millions of innocent Iraqis who have been driven out of their homes and, in many cases, out of the country.  As for the question of whether the surge is working, I can only state what I witnessed: U.N. staff and those of non-governmental organizations seem to feel they have the right set of circumstances to attempt to scale up their programs. And when I asked the troops if they wanted to go home as soon as possible, they said that they miss home but feel invested in Iraq. They have lost many friends and want to be a part of the humanitarian progress they now feel is possible. It seems to me that now is the moment to address the humanitarian side of this situation. Without the right support, we could miss an opportunity to do some of the good we always stated we intended to do.
Angelina Jolie (Actress Angelina Jolie recently visited Iraq in her role as a "goodwill ambassador" for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. In a Washington Post op-ed, Jolie urges a continued U.S. presence in Iraq for humanitarian reasons), "Staying to Help in Iraq," The Washington Post, February 28, 2008 --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/27/AR2008022702217.html

It's quite a contrast with the attitude of Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama, who said last summer that even preventing genocide was not a sufficient reason for a continuing presence in Iraq. What does it say about the Democratic Party that it seems poised to nominate someone who, on the most pressing concern of the day, is less morally serious than a Hollywood starlet (and official U.N. Ambassador)?
Wall Street Journal Editors, "Best of the Web Today," March 1, 2008

Long-range rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli cities the past few days were manufactured in and imported from Iran, according to Israeli security officials speaking to WND. In a major escalation, Hamas the past few days has been firing long range Grad rockets at the strategic Israeli port city of Ashkelon, home to some 125,000 Israelis about 11 miles from Gaza. Ashkelon houses a major electrical plant that powers most of the Gaza Strip.
Aaron Klein, "Iranian rockets slam Israel," WorldNetDaily, March ,, 2008 --- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57868

Iran wants Iraq all to itself (especially since Iraq is now producing more oil than when Saddam ruled Iraq)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, heading home from Iraq after a two-day visit, again touted the closer relations between Iraq and Iran and reiterated his criticism of the United States. "We believe that the forces which crossed oceans and thousands of kilometers to come to this region, should leave this region and hand over the affairs to the people's and government of this region," Ahmadinejad said. Ahmadinejad's visit follows trips to Iran last year by top officials of Iraq's Shiite-led government, who have been fostering a closer relationship with predominantly Shiite Iran since the Saddam Hussein regime was toppled. His visit was greeted warmly by Iraq's Shiite Muslim leadership, who have had longtime links with Iran that predate the overthrow of Hussein. At the same time, many Sunni Muslims in Iraq dislike the Iranian regime and have demonstrated against his visit.
"Iran's president says foreigners must leave Iraq," CNN, March 3, 2008 --- http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/03/iraq.iran/index.html
Jensen Comment
When Iran gets control of all Iraq's oil reserves, Iran will no longer be a "foreigner" in Iraq. But will the Sunni's simply roll over and play dead or will they go back to to terrorist tactics? Can Iran really protect the the Shiite-led government from vicious terror? That's a real dilemma the next U.S. President and the next leaders of the House and Senate must face up to if they race to pull the U.S.-led "surge" out of Iraq. When asked about the this problem, Obama and Clinton deflect the question by pointing the so-called Bush errors of taking out Saddam. That's history at this point. The question that no matter how we got into Iraq, should we surrender the oil and all non-Sunni factions to Iran? How much will our pull out help Ahmadinejad's declared purpose of erasing all Jews from the Middle East? Will World War III commence if the U.S. stands aside and lets the Middle East to explode into a civil war? Isn't it strange how we look back at Saddam's rule as the good old days of vicious suppression of Iran and its Shiite-allies in Iraq?

Believe it or not, it's the New York Times. Even more astonishing is this sentence, lower in the piece: "For that reason, the American liberation tasted sweetest to the Shiites, who for the first time were able to worship freely." The "American liberation"? Wow, we're pretty sure that's a New York Times stylebook no-no.
James Taranto, "The Limits of Fanaticism," The Wall Street Journal, March 4, 2008

Most books about poverty are downright depressing. The figures—1 billion people live on less than $1 a day, according to the U.N. Development Program—are depressing. The complexity of the problem—poverty is connected to poor health is connected to lack of clean drinking water is connected to lack of education—is daunting. And spend any time at, say, the Web site of the World Bank, the organization that's "Working for a World Free of Poverty," according to its tagline, and you start to sense a disconnect between the experts' fancy "comprehensive development frameworks" and poverty-mapping techniques, and the daily needs. But one new book on the subject, Out of Poverty: What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail by Paul Polak, offers optimism. Optimism not just for those fighting poverty and those fighting to get out of it, but for any company interested in a basically untapped 1 billion-person market. That optimism is based on the author's real-world experience as the founder of International Development Enterprises (IDE), a nonprofit organization that develops and/or markets products such as treadle pumps and drip irrigation systems that have already helped 17 million people lift themselves out of poverty.
Jessie Scanlon, "Giving the Poor a Means to Work," Business Week, February 22, 2008 ---
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/feb2008/id20080222_960476.htm?link_position=link14

The death Wednesday (Feb. 27) of William F. Buckley Jr., founder of National Review and a key player in intellectual debate, prompted discussion in some circles of his role in higher education. Buckley’s career was launched with God and Man at Yale, a critique of his alma mater, and his magazine devoted considerable critical attention to higher education. In a symposium on Buckley published on his magazine’s Web site, William J. Bennett, the former education secretary, credited Buckley with having “made” many conservative scholars’ careers by publishing them and giving them a broader audience. The magazine’s Phi Beta Cons blog reminded readers of one of Buckley’s most famous quips: that he would “sooner be governed by the first two thousand people in the Boston telephone directory than by the two thousand members of the faculty of Harvard University.” A critical look at the impact of Buckley’s writing on higher education can be found on the blog College Freedom, where God and Man at Yale is explored as a tool for attacking professors and their academic freedom.
Inside Higher Ed, February 28, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/02/28/qt
Also see http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/28/business/media/28buckley.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

It is commonplace to say that Bill Buckley brought American conservatism into the mainstream. That's not quite how I see it. To me he came along in the middle of the last century and reminded demoralized American conservatism that it existed. That it was real, that it was in fact a majority political entity, and that it was inherently mainstream. This was after the serious drubbing inflicted by Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal and the rise of modern liberalism. Modern liberalism at that point was a real something, a palpable movement formed by FDR and continued by others. Opposing it was . . . what exactly? Robert Taft? The ghost of Calvin Coolidge? Buckley said in effect, Well, there's something known as American conservatism, though it does not even call itself that. It's been calling itself "voting Republican" or "not liking the New Deal." But it is a very American approach to life, and it has to do with knowing that the government is not your master, that America is good, that freedom is good and must be defended, and communism is very, very bad. He explained, remoralized, brought together those who saw it as he did, and began the process whereby American conservatism came to know itself again. And he did it primarily through a magazine, which he with no modesty decided was going to be the central and most important organ of resurgent conservatism. National Review would be highly literate, philosophical, witty, of the moment, with an élan, a teasing quality that made you feel you didn't just get a subscription, you joined something. You entered a world of thought.
Peggy Noonan, "May We Not Lose His Kind," The Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2008; Page W16 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120423170697200693.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
 

Though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view.
William F. Buckley, Jr., Up from Liberalism (1959)

The attempted assassination of Sukarno last week had all the earmarks of a CIA operation. Everyone in the room was killed except Sukarno.
William F. Buckley, Jr., National Review, 1957

I am obliged to confess I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than in a society governed by the two thousand faculty members of Harvard University.
William F. Buckley, Jr., 1963 statement, as quoted in The Quote Verifier : Who Said What, Where, and When (2006) by Ralph Keyes, p. 82

Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.
William F. Buckley, Jr., The Cynic's Lexicon : A Dictionary of Amoral Advice (1984) by Jonathon Green, p. 34

The cost of the drug war is many times more painful, in all its manifestations, than would be the licensing of drugs combined with intensive education of non-users and intensive education designed to warn those who experiment with drugs.
William F. Buckley, Jr.,  Address to the New York Bar Association (Summer 1995); published in "The War On Drugs Is Lost" in National Review Vol. 48, No. 2 (12 February 1996)

Those who suffer from the abuse of drugs have themselves to blame for it. This does not mean that society is absolved from active concern for their plight. It does mean that their plight is subordinate to the plight of those citizens who do not experiment with drugs but whose life, liberty, and property are substantially affected by the illegalization of the drugs sought after by the minority.
William F. Buckley, Jr.,  Address to the New York Bar Association (Summer 1995); published in "The War On Drugs Is Lost" in National Review Vol. 48, No. 2 (12 February 1996)

One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed. ... Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000 Americans. The great human reserves that call for civil life haven't proved strong enough. No doubt they are latently there, but they have not been able to contend against the ice men who move about in the shadows with bombs and grenades and pistols.
William F. Buckley, Jr.,  "It Didn't Work" in National Review Onlin e(2006-02-24)

The Iraqis we hear about are first indignant, and then infuriated, that Americans aren't on the scene to protect them and to punish the aggressors. And so they join the clothing merchant who says that everything is the fault of the Americans.
William F. Buckley, Jr.,  "It Didn't Work" in National Review Onlin e(2006-02-24)

I get satisfaction of three kinds. One is creating something, one is being paid for it and one is the feeling that I haven’t just been sitting on my ass all afternoon.
William F. Buckley, Jr.,  As quoted in The Book of Positive Quotations (2007) by John Cook

Selected Videos of William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925-2008)  --- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Buckley%2C_Jr.

With all the talk about how Mr. McCain needs to unify his party, lost has been the question of whether some people will let him. Washington Republicans know he's their best shot at retaining the White House. Yet many remain ambivalent about him -- not because they question his conservatism, but out of resentment that he may get in the way of their earmarks. This has resulted in a behind-the-scenes brawl, as spend-happy Republicans resist efforts by wiser heads to fall in behind Mr. McCain's anti-earmark message. At best, the spenders risk an embarrassing pummeling by their own nominee that could hurt them in their own re-election campaigns. At worst, they could undercut one of Mr. McCain's more persuasive messages. They shouldn't count on Mr. McCain cutting them slack. He's always reveled in publicly humiliating pork-barrelers, including those in his party, and seems gleeful at the prospect of using his new podium to continue his crusade. He has no reason to back down now. Unorthodox as he's been on some conservative issues, on earmarks Mr. McCain has the full backing of an American public.
Kimberly Strassel, "Earmark Nation," The Wall Street Journal, March 7, 2008; Page A14 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120485472308918409.html?mod=djemEditorialPage
Jensen Comment
It shows you how corrupt politics is in Washington when our elected representatives will cross over party lines just to get at the best hog farmer who will not put them on an earmarking diet.

Ohio, Indiana and Michigan are losing auto jobs, but many of these "runaway plants" are not fleeing to China, Mexico or India. They've moved to more business-friendly U.S. states, including Texas. GM recently announced plans for a new plant to build hybrid cars. Guess where? Near Dallas. In 2006 the Lone Star State exported $5.5 billion of cars and trucks to Mexico and $2.4 billion worth to Canada. Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, a Democrat who supports Mrs. Clinton, blames his state's problems on President Bush. But Ohio's economy has been struggling for years, and most of its wounds are self-inflicted. Ohio now ranks 47th out of 50 in economic competitiveness, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council. Ohio politicians deplore plant closings even as they impose the third highest corporate income tax in the country (10.5%) and the sixth highest personal income tax (8.87%). A common joke is that Ohio lays out the red carpet for companies -- when they leave the state. By contrast, Texas has no income tax, a huge competitive advantage.
"Texas v. Ohio," The Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2008; Page A16 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120450306595906431.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Over the weekend, Chicago lifted itself to the top of a tax dishonor roll: The city's cumulative sales-tax rate is now the steepest of any major metropolitan area in America, at 10.25%. That blows past the former valedictorian, Memphis (9.25%), as well as New Orleans (9%), Denver (8.6%), and even New York and Los Angeles. Congratulations . . . Not so coincidentally, the $426 million that the county optimistically expects to collect each year will also fund somewhere between 700 or 800 new patronage jobs, and maybe more, which were lobbied for by the public-employees unions. A scathing report from a federal court monitor, released Friday, depicts rampant abuse in county hiring practices. Laurence Msall, president of the nonpartisan Chicago Civic Federation, argues that the county already spends its $3 billion budget irresponsibly, pointing to more than $100 million in possible reforms. Mr. Msall notes dryly that the county is "not only refusing to tighten its belt, it's acting as if it doesn't have to wear a belt." Then again, it'd be business as unusual if patronage were somehow extracted from Chicago's machine politics. Too bad for the city's actual businesses and residents.
"Second City No More," The Wall Street Journal,  March 5, 2008; Page A16 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120467859057311951.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Football legend Red Grange loved to tell the story about the time he visited Calvin Coolidge at the White House.As the tale goes, when an aide made the introductions by saying, “Mr. President, this is Red Grange of the Chicago Bears,” Coolidge replied, “Great! I love circus acts.”True story? Political folklore? What we do know, and we’ll know it forever, is that President Bush really did stand at a podium on the South Lawn yesterday and speak these words: “I’m sorry (baseball star)  Manny Ramirez isn’t here. I guess his grandmother died again.”
Steve Buckley, Boston Herald, February 28, 2008 --- Click Here

Barack Obama has ratcheted up his attacks on NAFTA, but a senior member of his campaign team told a Canadian official not to take his criticisms seriously, CTV News has learned. Both Obama and Hillary Clinton have been critical of the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement over the course of the Democratic primaries, saying that the deal has cost U.S. workers' jobs.  Within the last month, a top staff member for Obama's campaign telephoned Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the United States, and warned him that Obama would speak out against NAFTA, according to Canadian sources. The staff member reassured Wilson that the criticisms would only be campaign rhetoric, and should not be taken at face value.
"Obama staffer gave warning of NAFTA rhetoric," CTV, February 27, 2008 --- Click Here
Obama facts and unfair innuendos --- http://www.freedomsenemies.com/_more/obama.htm

If he rides the wave all the way to the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama could do himself a huge favor by picking a prominent New Yorker to round out a dream ticket. No, not Hillary Clinton. Think about this: Vice President of the United States Michael Bloomberg. Between McCain's resurgence and Obama's rise, the stars failed to align for a Bloomberg third-party run, as he himself said last night. But 2008 could still deliver an election that breaks all molds. That's because Bloomberg is uniquely positioned to complement Obama's strengths and compensate for his weaknesses. Here's how: --- By giving Obama instant economic credibility.
Josh Greenman, "Barack Obama's dream ticket: Mike Bloomberg for vice president," New York Daily News, February 26, 2008 ---
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/02/28/2008-02-28_barack_obamas_dream_ticket_mike_bloomber.html
 

She torched her home with her family inside to get the insurance money, avoid foreclosure and be with a new boyfriend, authorities said.Sheryl Christman waits in the jury box in Judge Dennis Kolenda's court for her sentencing Monday afternoon. But that was not enough to make Sheryl Christman see any jail time for the potential 20-year felony . . . In December, Christman pleaded no contest to the arson. Christman said she did not expect the fire to spread so quickly. She torched mattresses in the attached garage and expected it to "go up the wall" at most. Instead, the blaze consumed the garage, spread to the attic and heavy smoke could be seen 10 miles away from the home, located near 68th Street and Kalamazoo Avenue.
John S. Hausman
, "Woman gets no jail time for GR arson," Muskegan Chronicle, Februiary 27, 2008 --- http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/

Meanwhile, from an infinity of online sources, heads are being filled with data, information, and images, from all manner of sources — responsible, sensible, loony, exploitative, and malevolent. Fencing off children from much of this stuff has become a major parental concern, as well as a hopeless task, given children’s zest for the forbidden and preternatural facility at the keyboard.
Dan Greenberg, "We've Got a Monster on the Loose: It's Called the Internet," Chronicle of Higher Education, February 27, 2008 ---
http://chronicle.com/review/brainstorm/index.php?id=247

Senior members of the military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah organization were caught today in the process of carrying out a terrorist attack, WND has learned. All five terrorists involved in the incident, members of Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, were on a new list of gunmen granted amnesty in October by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as a stated gesture to help bolster Abbas. The terrorists were given amnesty on condition they disarm, refrain from attacks and spend three months in PA detention facilities and another three months confined to Nablus, the northern West Bank city in which they reside. But today the pardoned terrorists engaged in a firefight with the Israel Defense Forces in Taal, a village outside Nablus, where they were supposed to be confined to PA facilities.
Aaron Klein, WorldNetDaily, February 27, 2008 --- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57466  

ElBaradei (U.N. head of nuclear inspections) has taken a break from his usual scolding of the West to tell the Iranians that they need to start opening their military facilities to snap inspections. At the moment, the Iranians only allow inspections at two facilities, despite intelligence and evidence that the Iranians conduct military research on nuclear weapons at other places. Specifically, the Iranians have never given any satisfactory response about their “Green Salt” project. They also have blocked access to Parchin, where some suspect that the Iranians perform most of their military efforts on nuclear technology.In fact, it’s instructive to look at both Green Salt and Parchin in light of the NIE. The New York Times mentions neither, but both arose as issues during the period of time when the latest NIE asserts that Iran had stopped pursuing nuclear weapons. In 2005, two years after the supposed cessation, the US started making intelligence public about Green Salt, which is a mid-state between uranium ore and useful fissile material. The next year, Iran finally released information it had deliberately hidden from the IAEA on their processing, but refused to provide any further explanation.Parchin’s involvement in the nuclear program came to light in 2003. The IAEA conducted a preliminary inspection at Parchin, but Iran refused access in 2005 to any further inspections. The facility reportedly hides a large underground R&D laboratory dedicated to nuclear-weapons development. However, last November, a series of mysterious explosions there occurred, leaving many wondering exactly what happened and what might be left.
"World: Maybe that NIE was wrong after all," Hot Air, March 3, 2008 --- http://hotair.com/archives/2008/03/03/world-maybe-that-nie-was-wrong-after-all/

The attacks by the janjaweed, the fearsome Arab militias that came three weeks ago, accompanied by government bombers and followed by the Sudanese Army, were a return to the tactics that terrorized Darfur in the early, bloodiest stages of the conflict. Such brutal, three-pronged attacks of this scale — involving close coordination of air power, army troops and Arab militias in areas where rebel troops have been — have rarely been seen in the past few years, when the violence became more episodic and fractured. But they resemble the kinds of campaigns that first captured the world’s attention and prompted the Bush administration to call the violence in Darfur genocide.
Lydia Polgreen, "Scorched-Earth Strategy Returns to Darfur," The New York Times, March 2, 2008 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/world/africa/02darfur.html

Another sensible Roberts Court ruling, another uproar. "The Supreme Court's decision strips consumers of the rights they've had for decades," seethed the always-seething Congressman, Henry Waxman. To decipher: The Court last week restored a measure of rationality to the way government regulates medicine, while foiling a tort bar plot to rewrite federal statutes via state lawsuits. The decision resolved a high-profile 1996 suit against Medtronic, a major medical device maker. A man's balloon catheter ruptured during an angioplasty, and his lawyers argued that its design was faulty and its labeling inadequate. The Court disagreed, ruling in Riegel v. Medtronic that federal power under the Constitution's Commerce Clause is to be broadly interpreted. In this case it pre-empted state product liability laws for devices, like Medtronic's catheter, that had undergone the Food and Drug Administration's most rigorous "Class III" approval process.
"Medical Double Jeopardy," The Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2008, Page A8 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120432817128404103.html?mod=todays_us_opinion 

There was a time, and it was pre-Al Gore, when buying organic meant eggs and tomatoes, Whole Foods and farmer's markets. But in the past two years, the word has seeped out of the supermarket and into the home store, into the vacation industry, into the Wal-Mart. Almost three-quarters of the U.S. population buys organic products at least occasionally; between 2005 and 2006 the sale of organic non-food items increased 26 percent, from $744 million to $938 million, according to the Organic Trade Association. Green is the new black, carbon is the new kryptonite, blah blah blah. The privileged eco-friendly American realized long ago that SUVs were Death Stars; now we see that our gas-only Lexus is one, too. Best replace it with a 2008 LS 600 hybrid for $104,000 (it actually gets fewer miles per gallon than some traditional makes, but, see, it is a hybrid). Accessorize the interior with an organic Sherpa car seat cover for only $119.99. Consuming until you're squeaky green. It feels so good. It looks so good. It feels so good to look so good, which is why conspicuousness is key.
Monica Hesse, Greed in the Name of Green:  To Worshipers of Consumption: Spending Won't Save the Earth," The Washington Post, March 5, 2008 --- Click Here

In January, French educators were alarmed by reports of a rise in student prostitution as a means of paying for college. Now similar concerns are being raised in Australia. The Age reported Sunday that 40 percent of the female sex workers in Melbourne’s brothels are enrolled in the city’s universities. The general manager of Melbourne’s largest brothel told the newspaper that university students often were his best employees because “they’re career oriented and know exactly what they want to get out of the job.” He added that when the students aren’t with clients, “we allow them to get out their laptops and study in a spare room.”
Inside Higher Ed, March 3, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/03/03/qt

U.S. prostitution can be understood in the context of the cultural normalization of prostitution as a glamorous and wealth-producing “job” for girls who lack emotional support, education, and employment opportunities. The sexual exploitation of children and women in prostitution is often indistinguishable from incest, intimate partner violence, and rape.
Melissa Farley (2006) Prostitution, Trafficking, and Cultural Amnesia: What We Must Not Know in Order To Keep the Business of Sexual Exploitation Running Smoothly," Yale Journal of Law and Feminism, Volume 18, 2006, pp.109-144.

On one cruel day in the summer of 1995, some 7,000 people, men and young boys, were herded out of the town of Srebrenica by General Ratko Mladic, of the Bosnian Serb army, and executed in cold blood. When it fell to the Serbs, the town was flying the flag of the United Nations, it was a "safe area," patrolled by Dutch troops. But the peacekeepers had simply handed it over to the Serbs and made their way to safety. Srebrenica shamed Bill Clinton who had tried his best, over 30 long, bloody months, to stay out of the war for Yugoslavia. (Here he was true to the policy of his predecessor, George H.W. Bush, who along with his advisors, believed that America had no dog in that Balkan fight, as the inimitable James Baker so famously put it.) After Srebrenica, appeasement of the Serbs came to a swift end, and America would give the Muslims of Bosnia a chance at some normalcy. America was now in the Balkans, the Muslim children of the Ottoman Empire had become wards of the Pax Americana. And so a Balkan mantra would come to pass: "The Yugoslav crisis began in Kosovo, and it will end in Kosovo." It was on the outskirts of Pristina, Kosovo's principal city, on June 28, 1989, that Slobodan Milosevic, the arsonist who lit the fuse of Yugoslavia's wars, recast himself from a communist party hack into a great nationalist avenger. It was a day fraught with symbolism: the anniversary of what the Serbs take to be the central drama and epic of their history, their defeat in 1389 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks, on the Field of Blackbirds. In their self-pitying epic, fate had been cruel to the Serbs -- their capital, Belgrade was destroyed 40 times, their holy lands in Kosovo lost to the infidels, overwhelmed by the Albanians. Kosovo may indeed have been the cradle of the Serbian Church: But in the 1980s and 1990s, the Serbs were deserting Kosovo by the day, and by the time it descended into mayhem, they accounted for less than 10% percent of the province's population.
 Fouad Ajami, "On Kosovo's Fields," The Wall Street Journal, February 29, 2008; Page A17

In the case of “Chicago 10 (2007 movie),” the perspective is shallow as well as narrow. Events are not simply yanked out of the past and detached from their contemporary global significance. They are shown without concern for long-term causes or effects. Incidents and images are presented without any reference at all to a larger narrative in which they might have some meaning. No effort is made to discuss the effects of the Chicago protests and the conspiracy trial in American politics. And that really takes some doing.When we talk about the “culture war” now, the expression is usually just a very tired metaphor. But what happened outside the Democratic convention was an early battle in it, and a very literal one.The turmoil gave many people a sense that the whole country was hurtling towards a much greater showdown. That prospect has dimmed for the protesters who marched in the streets, then, but it never really did for the “silent majority,” as the winner of the presidential campaign later that year put it.
Scott McLemee, "The Whole World Was Watching," Inside Higher Ed, March 5, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2008/03/05/mclemee

In a solar thermal plant, mirrors concentrate sunlight onto some type of fluid that is used, in turn, to boil water for a steam turbine. Over the past year, developers of solar thermal technology such as Abengoa, Ausra, and Solel Solar Systems have picked up tens of millions of dollars in financing and power contracts from major utilities such as Pacific Gas and Electric and Florida Power and Light. By 2013, projects in development in just the United States and Spain promise to add just under 6,000 megawatts of solar thermal power generation to the barely 100 megawatts installed worldwide last year, says Cambridge, MA, consultancy Emerging Energy Research.
Peter Fairley, MIT's Technology Review, February 29, 2008 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20356/?nlid=906

"The MSA: Segregation Not Integration," by Robert Spencer, FrontPageMagazine.com, Friday, February 29, 2008 ---
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=3D713728-A526-456D-9356-C1A6A380FF80

Muslim students at Australian universities have demanded that class schedules be changed to work around their prayer times, and that male and female students be provided with separate cafeterias and recreational areas.

This is in line with similar initiatives in the United States, where the Muslim Students Association carries, on the “Muslim Accommodations Task Force” page of its website, pdfs of pamphlets entitled “How to Achieve Islamic Holidays on Campus,” “How to Establish a Prayer Room on Campus,” and “How to Achieve Halal Food on Campus.”

The MSA directs Muslim students to present these demands in the context of multiculturalism and civil rights. “Most campuses,” explains the publication on getting recognition of Islamic holy “include respecting diversity as a part of their mission statement. They consider enrollment of diverse students an asset to the community, as they enhance the classroom learning experience and enrich student life. Try to find these statements specific to your campus, and explain that recognition of Islamic holidays would serve as a practical example of upholding these ideals.”

Such recognition would also serve to right wrongs done to Muslims on campus: “If any cases of bias against Muslims took place on campus in the recent past, present the proposal as an opportunity to foster cooperation and increase understanding.” It would be a simple matter of civil rights: “Additionally, if special holiday recognition is being offered to other faith communities (Jewish, Catholic, Protestant), Muslims have strong grounds to make a petition for equal consideration of their holiday requirements.”

It’s ironic that such calls for equal consideration would be made in service of an agenda that is so interested in being separate: the calls for separate eating and exercise facilities are a strange discordant note in a movement that claims for itself the mantle of the American civil rights movements. By the MSA’s lights, the Muslim Rosa Parks would insist on sitting in a separate place on the bus, and Muslim students would demand the right not to have to eat at infidel lunch counters.

This is one of the primary reasons, but by no means the only reason, why the increasingly shrill demands in Western countries for accommodation of Muslim practices are not the latest manifestation of the push for equal rights for minorities, notwithstanding the posturings and protestations of Muslim leaders. Demanding a place at the table is not the same thing as demanding a separate table of one’s own. In the civil rights movement, black Americans were working for full inclusion in the larger secular democratic culture, not trying to carve out their own enclave within it. If anything, they had that already, and that was the problem: if the Supreme Court could conclude in Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka that “in the field of public education, the doctrine of separate but equal has no place,” because “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” then they are still unequal.

And just as they were deemed unequal in 1954 because they abetted cultural attitudes that exalted one group as superior to the other, so also today: the demands of Muslim groups for separate facilities are in the service of a supremacist ideology that emanates from the Qur’anic assertions that Muslims are the “best of people” (3:110) while unbelievers are the “vilest of created beings” (98:6). Unbelievers are unclean (9:28) – which leads to the conclusion, reasonable to the pious, that Muslims should be chary of contact with them. Every Western capitulation made to demands for Muslim accommodation only feeds these supremacist notions, and works directly against the actual goals of the civil rights movement, which were equal justice and equal rights for all.

What’s more, the MSA, the chief proponent of the growing Muslim accommodations movement in the United States, was listed as a “friend” of the Muslim Brotherhood in the infamous 1992 memorandum which spoke of the “grand Jihad” aimed at “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” The victory of Allah’s religion over other religions is a Qur’anic imperative: “And fight them until persecution is no more, and religion is all for Allah” (8:39), and it is an inherently supremacist imperative, in which non-Muslims pay a special tax from which Muslims are exempt, the jizya, “with willing submission and feel themselves subdued” (9:29).

Instead of capitulating to Muslim demands for separate facilities, university administrators and public officials ought to question those making the demands about their overall goals, and about the incongruity of claiming that creation of their own enclave is a matter of equality of rights for all.

But when will we have university administrators and public officials with that kind of courage and foresight?

Jensen Comment
If Christian's demanded footbaths, special daily time for praying, and segregated cafeterias for religious/cultural purposes the ACLU will sue any school that gives special considerations to Christians. But it's doubtful that that ACLU and the liberal press will come down as hard on schools that cave in to Muslim demands.

The problem with giving special consideration to different religions and cultures in our schools is that it is unconstitutional and even repulsive to give special consideration to only one or two religions and cultures apart from all religions and cultures. This is perhaps why the ACLU has fought so hard against Christianity since the Christianity has had some special privileges built into schools since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620. And the ACLU has won in almost every instance for the last 60 years. Now what will the ACLU do when faced nose to nose with Muslim demands for schools and other public facilities like prisons, small town jails, airports and government buildings? Should boys and girls have separate dining facilities or should only Muslim boys and Muslim girls have separate dining facilities in K-12 schools?. Should there be segregated classrooms? If the ACLU concedes to one religion and culture, why not others? Should Federal laws be passed granting homeschooling funds and privileges nationwide for only Muslims?

In fairness, the majority of Muslims in the United States are not making unrealistic demands or pushing too hard for the ACLU to become their advocates for religious privileges in public facilities and services. But it will be interesting to see how the ACLU reacts when and if the time comes like is happening today in Australia, Canada, and Europe.




Economic Stimulus Payments Information Center
Starting in May, the Treasury will begin sending economic stimulus payments to more than 130 million households. To receive a payment, taxpayers must have a valid Social Security number, $3,000 of income and file a 2007 federal tax return. IRS will take care of the rest. Eligible taxpayers will receive between $300 to $600 if single or $600 to $1,200 if married filing jointly. Millions of retires, disabled veterans and low-wage earners who usually are exempt from filing a tax return must do so this year in order to receive a stimulus payment. But there are more details to know about. Find out more here and visit this page regularly for the latest updates.
From the IRS:  Economic Stimulus Payments Information Center --- http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=177937,00.html
Jensen Comment
Although I think this is a horrible Keynesian tinkering with the economy by a deficit-bound government that cannot afford this election-year give away, there are some important things to know about the latest economic stimulus program. For example, not everyone or every family is eligible for a check. For those who don't normally file, a tax return (Form 1040A) must be filed on or before April 15, 2008 to get a check

Taxpayers in my viewpoint should opt for the electronic payments option to avoid mix ups or theft in mail delivery. Also beware of scam artists who phone or write claiming to be from the IRS. The IRS anticipates an explosion of scams trying to get at your stimulus payment. The good news from a business standpoint is that the scam artists will spend the money. The bad news is that it’s your money that might get scammed.

Index --- http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=177937,00.html
|The Basics | Scenarios | Frequently Asked Questions Social Security | Veterans Benefits | Low Income |
| Scam Alert News Releases, Audio, Fact Sheets and Legal Guidance |

March 6, 2008 reply from Linda A Kidwell [lkidwell@UWYO.EDU]

Because many senior citizens living on social security do not normally file tax returns at this point, our students are doing a special VITA session at the local senior center. The event is being widely publicized. The point is to get them to file those returns so they will get those payments. You might consider recommending it to your VITA volunteers too!

Linda

Jensen Comment
If Congress wants to help low income elderly and other poor souls why should I get a bigger stimulus-check than they get? Why should virtually all taxpayers get a rebate that the government plain and simple cannot afford?

There are better ways to help elderly such as broader coverage of Medicaid, although it bothers me that fraud is so rampant in the Medicaid system. The heirs have carefully scammed years ahead to siphon off the savings and properties of their parents so that Medicaid gets stuck with the bill and the heirs go on cruises.

Actually the amounts of money received by recipients are so small that they do virtually nothing ease each person’s burdens. And if the truth is known the amount of stimulus to the economy is a joke (except may for Wal-Mart that doesn’t really need it all that bad).


Ed Scribner (Accounting Professor from New Mexico State University) sent be the souvenir below showing my picture (Ha Ha).

 

But along these "Fortune" lines I would have to call the following March 3 message from Denny Beresford an understatement. In spite of giving away billions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Charitable Foundation, Warren Buffet's portfolio, according to Forbes Magazine, jumped from $52 billion (Rank 2 in the World in March 2007) to$62 billion (Rank 1 in the World in March 2008).

Warren Buffett's always interesting annual letter to shareholders for2007 is now available at ---
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2007ltr.pdf
Denny

Humanities departments may take hope in the fact that Warren Buffet has a Bachelor of Arts undergraduate degree (Nebraska) and rose to become the most respected and wealthy (self-made) businessman in the world. He also has a M.S. degree in Economics (Columbia). I have serious reservations about the new thrust for corporations and large professional firms in accounting and law to "script" (read that alter the curriculum) in schools as described below in spite of their best intentions. Think of Warren Buffet majoring in liberal arts at Nebraska.

"High Schools Add Classes Scripted by Corporations Lockheed, Intel Fund Engineering Courses; Creating a Work Force," by Anne Marie Chaker, The Wall Street Journal, March 6, 2008; Page A1 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120476410964115117.html?mod=todays_us_page_one

In a recent class at Abraham Clark High School in Roselle, N.J., business teacher Barbara Govahn distributed glossy classroom materials that invited students to think about what they want to be when they grow up. Eighteen career paths were profiled, including a writer, a magician, a town mayor -- and five employees from accounting giant Deloitte LLP.

"Consider a career you may never have imagined," the book suggests. "Working as a professional auditor."

The curriculum, provided free to the public school by a nonprofit arm of Deloitte, aims to persuade students to join the company's ranks. One 18-year-old senior in Ms. Govahn's class, Hipolito Rivera, says the company-sponsored lesson drove home how professionals in all fields need accountants. "They make it sound pretty good," he says.

Deloitte and other corporations are reaching out to classrooms -- drafting curricula while also conveying the benefits of working for the sponsor companies. Hoping to create a pipeline of workers far into the future, these corporations furnish free lesson plans and may also underwrite classroom materials, computers or training seminars for teachers.

The programs represent a new dimension of the business world's influence in public schools. Companies such as McDonald's Corp. and Yum Brands Inc.'s Pizza Hut have long attempted to use school promotions to turn students into customers. The latest initiatives would turn them into employees.

Companies that employ engineers, fearful of a coming labor shortage, are at the movement's forefront. Lockheed Martin Corp. began funding engineering courses two years ago at schools near its aircraft testing and development site in Palmdale, Calif., saying it hopes to replenish its local work force. Starting in 2004, British engine-maker Rolls-Royce PLC has helped fund high-school courses in topics such as engine propulsion. Intel Corp. supports curricula in school districts where engineering concepts are taught as early as the elementary level.

Schools, for their part, have embraced corporate support as state education funding has remained flat for a decade and declining housing values now threaten to eat into property-tax revenues. Teachers, meanwhile, often welcome the lesson plans, classroom equipment and the corporate-sponsored professional development sessions.

But however well-intentioned, such corporate input may blur the line between pure academics and a commercial agenda, critics say. "When you have a corporation or any special interest offering an incentive, you are distorting the educational purpose of the schools," says Alex Molnar, an education-policy professor at Arizona State University who directs the school's Commercialism in Education Research Unit.

Schools Should Decide

The hiring priorities of a company or industry, Mr. Molnar says, can change quickly. On the other hand, he says, schools should provide a broad and consistent foundation of knowledge and skills. Deciding what to teach is "first and foremost, a series of choices," he says. Historically, those choices have been made by school officials and professional educators, based on the interests of their community's children, not on the shifting needs of industry.

Nonetheless, many school officials are receptive. Tamika Bauknight, the Roselle district's director of curriculum and instruction, concedes that corporate self-interest is at work in the curriculum provided by Deloitte, whose career-choice materials include profiles of the company's chairman of the board and an audit manager. But she believes students benefit. "If through the curriculum they consider becoming an accountant and thinking about Deloitte," she says, "that isn't a bad thing."

Businesses have sought to shape public-school lessons before, but past initiatives focused more on teaching trades. In the early 20th century, companies fostered industrial education in high schools to feed their factory needs. More recently, Cisco Systems Inc. has offered information-technology certification to students who learn computer-networking skills. Now, by contrast, companies are seeking to start training students for professions that often require university degrees.

Robotics for Middle Schoolers

One of corporate-sponsored curricula's largest conduits into U.S. classrooms is Project Lead the Way, a nonprofit organization based in Clifton Park, N.Y., that develops engineering coursework used in more than 2,000 schools nationwide. For high schools, it offers eight full-year engineering courses, including digital electronics and civil engineering. It also provides five 10-week units for middle schools on topics such as robotics.

Project Lead the Way was formed 10 years ago with an initial $1.5 million grant from a foundation run by Richard Liebich, chief executive of a tool-manufacturing company based in Orchard Park, N.Y. Mr. Liebich said he could never find enough engineers to hire, and envisioned an entity that could help by creating engineering courses for pre-college students. The group's curriculum is technical, with no textbooks. Open-ended questions and problems encourage students to be creative, the organization says.

Project Lead the Way says its courses are offered as electives, and aren't meant to supplant core subjects typically taught in school.

"What these companies bring is contemporary expertise that can sometimes be insulated in a purely academic environment," says Niel Tebbano, Lead the Way's vice president of operations. With a traditional, theoretical approach to math or sciences, he says, "you get the young people asking, 'Why do I need to learn this?'" The lack of real-world application for this knowledge, he says, "has been the albatross around public education's neck."

The group concedes that companies may contribute to the nonprofit to ensure their own interests are reflected in lessons. The National Fluid Power Association, an industry trade group based in Milwaukee, Wis., paid the group $100,000 to hire fluid-power experts to ensure that concepts on hydraulics and pneumatics would be incorporated into the courses.

In another case, a senior engineer in the Indianapolis-based unit of engine maker Rolls-Royce, which had been funding Project Lead the Way courses in a handful of local schools, noticed what he considered a lack of material on propulsion. So he helped write a new lesson for the project's aerospace course. Now, the class has an optional six-day "Introduction to Propulsion" unit that includes a PowerPoint presentation on a gas turbine engine "by kind permission of Rolls Royce."

That same aerospace course is scheduled for revision again, and this time Lockheed Martin is contributing $146,000 to have a say in the new version. A presentation shown to company executives outlining Lockheed's educational efforts specifies that "increasing general interest in math and science for all students" is "not our goal." Nudging students toward Lockheed, the presentation says, is.

Lockheed is bracing for a worker shortage. The company estimates that about half of its science- and engineering-based work force will be retiring in the next decade or so. Meanwhile, interest in engineering as a career is declining among U.S. students. In a 2007 survey of more than 270,000 college freshmen conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, 7.5% said they intended to major in engineering -- the lowest level since the 1970s. National-security restrictions preclude the Bethesda, Md., company and other major defense contractors from outsourcing many jobs overseas.

"We're already within the window of criticality to get tomorrow's engineers in the classroom today," says Jim Knotts, director of corporate citizenship for Lockheed. "We want to address a national need to develop the next generation of engineers -- but with some affinity toward Lockheed Martin."

Lockheed is particularly eager to refresh the engineer pool at its giant facility in Palmdale, Calif. Here, at the southern edge of the Mojave Desert, the company works alongside aerospace giants Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman Corp., designing aircraft and testing them near an Air Force facility known as Plant 42. Luring workers to this flat, parched area is a challenge, Lockheed and local officials concede. So the company, working with local schools, is hoping to develop its own talent.

Since the 2005-06 school year, Lockheed has provided $45,000 to fund Project Lead the Way's engineering courses at three high schools in the local Antelope Valley Union High School District. The company's contribution pays for materials and supplies for at least three yearlong courses at each school.

David Vierra, superintendent of the Antelope Valley Union district near Palmdale, welcomes the corporate presence to an area that relies on engineers to feed its economy. Young workers with family ties there may be more likely to put down roots. "We're trying to develop a home-grown engineer," he says.

Continued in article

Jensen Comments
I know there are pros and cons in all of this, and I definitely have some close humanities colleagues who will literally hit the ceiling when they read about corporate scripting of curricula. Actually the term "corporate” is that C-word in their vocabulary. I hope that backers of corporate scripting of curricula will find a more diplomatic way of bringing the entrenched “liberal arts” faculty in on this initiative.


Question
What are the longer-term advantages of a career-oriented major (e.g., a professional program) versus an academic-oriented major (e.g., a liberal arts major)?

"Employment and the Undergraduate Degree," by Elia Powers, Inside Higher Ed, March 5, 2008 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/03/05/jobs

During a period of economic uncertainty, it’s not much fun seeing data from generally more prosperous times. A new report from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics takes a look at employment trends over a 10-year span starting in 1993, and the outlook was positive for college graduates. It took time for some to find a job with “career potential,” the report notes, but most had done so by 2003.
The path differed somewhat, particularly in the early career years, for students depending on their focus. Those with “career oriented” majors appeared to become more established in the workforce earlier than did their counterparts with “academic” majors, according to the report.

. . .

“The image is if you major in an academic subject you’ll be flipping burgers all your life,” Humphreys said. “This report doesn’t show that. It does show that [students with career-oriented majors] get into their career track more quickly, but suggests that in a few years, there’s not a big difference in job satisfaction.”

Humphreys added that while the NCES data is important and relevant, it’s also somewhat dated. The business environment is “changing faster than ever,” Humphreys said, and business leaders are telling the group that it’s most important that students have a broad set of transferable skills.

AAC&U’s survey of 300 employers, conducted last year, showed that new hires had the skills needed for entry-level work but often lacked the background needed to take on advanced assignments. (That report didn’t differentiate among majors.)

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


Update on Second Life Virtual Worlds in Accounting, Finance, and Business

March 8, 2008 message from Steven Hornik [shornik@BUS.UCF.EDU]

I just wanted to pass these along for those interested in using Virtual Worlds.  The first three articles are related to business school uses of Second Life that appeared in the Financial Times earlier this week.  Followed by a link to a story about Deloitte's involvement with a virtual world to help teens learn business.  Finally, I've provided links to my blog in which I briefly discuss the announcement and release yesterday by Second Life of a new viewer in which Web pages can be brought in-world and thus shared - its static right now but gives a glimpse of what is coming down the road. And one describing students using Second Life for completing financial accounting HW assignments.

Financial Times Articles:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/42855396-e8c3-11dc-913a-0000779fd2ac.html
--From first steps to flight - an avatar's journey

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5689e7bc-e8c3-11dc-913a-0000779fd2ac.html
-- A Second Life for classrooms with vision

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2f81e8e4-e8c4-11dc-913a-0000779fd2ac.html
--Students take a leap into the virtual world


Deloitte uses Virtual World to Teach Teens About Business

http://snipr.com/21a4z  [publications_mediapost_com]

Web on a Prim (almost there):

http://www.mydebitcredit.com/2008/03/07/second-lifes-web-on-a-prim-is-getting-closer/
SL HW assignments:
http://www.mydebitcredit.com/2008/02/29/91-avatars/

_____________________________
Dr. Steven Hornik
University of Central Florida
Dixon School of Accounting
407-823-5739
Second Life: Robins Hermano

http://mydebitcredit.com
yahoo ID: shornik
 

Bob Jensen's threads on Second Life are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#SecondLife


Question
When will the presidential candidates tackle the real economic crisis facing the United States?

It's the Dollar, Stupid

If the reality of a collapsing dollar and foreign exchange turmoil starts to bite consumers where they keep their pocketbooks -- for example, if the U.S. finds it necessary to raise interest rates to entice foreigners to buy the government bonds that finance our deficit -- the affects of currency misalignment could quickly move from the realm of dry treatises to the hyperactive world of live, televised political debate. Media consultants may grow apoplectic at the thought of having to reduce seemingly complex options into clever sound bites: Does the candidate advocate a new global monetary order linked to a universally-recognized reserve asset as a mechanism to guard against tinkering by self-serving governments? ("Gold: Money We Can Believe In.") Or is it possible to defend the existing, do-your-own-thing approach to currency relations, which undermines stable trade and capital flows at the expense of global prosperity? Meanwhile, foreign-exchange market specialists earn big profits by gambling -- some $3 trillion daily -- on where currencies might go next. It's time the candidates devote less time on the minutiae of configuring the next economic stimulus package, or renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement. They should be thinking about how they will confront the imminent global currency crisis.
Judy Shelton, "It's the Dollar, Stupid," The Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2008; Page A17 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120468065700512153.html?mod=djemEditorialPage


"The Mess of Mandated Markets:  New federal biofuel standards passed last year will distort the development of innovative technologies," by David Rotman, MIT's Technology Review, March/April 2008 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20226/?nlid=921

Few things prompt Washington policymakers to forget their professed belief in the efficiency of free markets faster than $100-a-barrel oil prices--or even the threat of them. In one of the most notable recent examples, as the price of crude oil edged toward the $100 mark late last year, the U.S. Congress passed, and President Bush quickly signed, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

Among its various provisions, the energy bill prescribes a minimum amount of biofuel that gasoline suppliers must use in their products each year through 2022. The new mandates, which significantly expand the Renewable Fuels Standard of 2005, would more than double the 2007 market for corn-derived ethanol, to 15 billion gallons, by 2015. At the same time, the bill ensures the creation of a new market for cellulosic biofuels made from such sources as prairie grass, wood chips, and agricultural waste. The standards call for the production of 500 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel by 2012, one billion gallons by 2013, and 16 billion gallons by 2022.

Not surprisingly, the ethanol industry is very happy. The Biotechnology Industry Organization, a Washington-based trade association whose members include both large manufacturers and startup companies developing new cellulosic technologies, suggests that "this moment in the history of transportation fuels development can be compared to the transition from whale oil to kerosene to light American homes in the 1850s." The new push for biofuels, the trade association continues, is "larger than the Apollo project or the Manhattan project" and will require the construction of 300 biofuel plants, each with a capacity of 100 million gallons, at a cost of up to $100 billion.

In short, the federal government has legislated the growth of a sizable industry. The often stated aim of the biofuel standards is to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and dependence on foreign oil. And biofuels, particularly cellulosic ones, could arguably play a significant role in achieving both those goals (see "The Price of Biofuels," January/­February 2008). But quite apart from the value of ethanol and other biofuels, the creation of markets by federal law raises fundamental questions about the best way to implement a national energy policy. Can legislated markets survive economic conditions and policy priori­ties that change over the long term? And what role should the government play in promoting specific technologies?

Mandated consumption levels break the "one-to-one link" between market demand and the adoption of a technology, says Harry de Gorter, an associate professor of applied economics and management at Cornell University: "As an economist, I don't like it. Economists like to let the markets determine what [technology] has the best chances." The new biofuel mandates are "betting on a particular technology," he says. "It is almost impossible to predict the best technology. It is almost inevitable that [mandates] will generate inefficiencies." While de Gorter acknowledges that some economists might justify mandated markets as a way to promote a desired social policy, he questions the strategy's effectiveness. "Historically, there are no good examples of it working in alternative energy," he says.

One reason economists tend to be wary of mandated consumption levels is that they can have unintended consequences for related markets. Producing 15 billion gallons of conventional ethanol will require farmers to grow far more corn than they now do. And even with the increased harvest, biofuel production will consume around 45 percent of the U.S. corn crop, compared with 22 percent in 2007. The effects on the agricultural sector will be various and complex.

 


Livescribe, the pen that records audio while you take notes --- http://www.livescribe.com/smartpen/videos.html

Notes on the Smart Pen
The smart pen that Wired Campus flagged back in May was unveiled last week at a technology conference in Palm Springs, Calif. The company behind it, LiveScribe, has been aggressively marketing the device to college students with the slogan "Never miss a word." It's basically a combination recording machine and camera. Users take notes while a minirecorder, embedded in the pen, records whatever is being said. Later, to clarify the written notes, the user can touch the pen to a specific passage and listen to a recording of the instructor speaking those words. A tiny camera links what is being written to what is being recorded. In a takeoff on television commercials for pharmaceuticals, the smart-pen advertisement below features a student who suffers from "restless mind syndrome." The pen is offered as a panacea. Livescribe has set up a Facebook page to push the pen, and offers to pay college students to promote the device on their campuses. It's also advertised on the Web site ThePalestra, where Andy Van Schaack, a senior lecturer at Vanderbilt University, who is an adviser to LiveScribe, is seen praising the pen. Will the pen, which sells for about $200, take off with college students? Will it be used as a crutch for students who are too tired or distracted to listen to their professors?
Andrea L. Foster, "Notes on the Smart Pen," Chronicle of Higher Education, February 5, 2008 ---
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=2719&utm_source=wc&utm_medium=en

See a video at http://assistivetek.blogspot.com/2008/01/livescribe-pulse-smartpen-to-ship-in.html

But during exams and case discussions in class be careful what scratch “paper” students are using with the Smart Pen--- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19892/?nlid=749&a=f

Bob Jensen's threads on gadgets are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob4.htm#Technology

March 8, 2008 reply from David Albrecht [albrecht@PROFALBRECHT.COM]

I’m repeating myself here, but if you allow students to have smart pens during examinations and case discussion, be careful what they’re using for scratch “paper” with those pens - Bob Jensen

Bob, if you can repeat yourself, then I'll take the liberty to repeat myself.

Professors in the classroom who hold themselves out as a repository of knowledge and who dedicate themselves to transferring this knowledge to their students have been beta-maxed by the Internet and various high-tech devices.

Decades of research into how humans learn has led to a revolution in the collegiate classroom, a revolution that has largely failed to reach accounting classrooms, I might add. Instead of fearing the use of smart pens on exams and communication devices during exams, I think we should embrace their use.

In my opinion, I think that modern college students have adapted to the knowledge-is-everywhere environment and have become quite skilled in locating knowledge and regurgitating it (more adept than we ever were). Where we as professors go wrong is that we force students to take tests in unrealistic environments. Not only is a pen and paper test unrealistic