New Bookmarks
Year 2003 Quarter 1:  January 1-March 31 Additions to Bob Jensen's Bookmarks
Bob Jensen at Trinity University

We're moving to the mountains on June 15, 2003 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm  
Update:  I added some winter scenes from our front window.  One of them is shown below.

 

FOR SALE:  Our nice San Antonio home
details (with pictures) at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen\house\HouseForSale.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.
This search engine may get you some hits from other professors at Trinity University included with Bob Jensen's documents, but this may be to your benefit.

For date and time, try The Aggie Digital Clock --- http://yugop.com/ver3/stuff/03/fla.html
Time anywhere in the world http://www.worldtimeserver.com/ 

Bob Jensen's Dance Card
Some of My Planned Workshops and Presentations --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/resume.htm#Presentations 

Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Language Other Goodies --- http://dictionary.reference.com/ 

Hline.jpg (568 bytes)

Choose a Date Below for Additions to the Bookmarks File

March 31, 2003         March 15, 2003     

February 28, 2003     February 12, 2003  

January 31, 2003       January 15, 2003    

   

 

March 31, 2003

 Bob Jensen's New Bookmarks on March 31, 2003
Bob Jensen at Trinity University
 

I am not the anti-business activist Robert W. Jensen from the University of Texas.  I have been getting some hate mail messages to a Bob Jensen that should have been routed to a Robert W. Jensen in the Department of Journalism at the University of Texas --- http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/home.htm 
I am Robert E. Jensen, a professor of accounting at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX.


Quotes of the Week

Why does the United States always want to take more land?
When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying that, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."
Forwarded by Barbara Hessel

History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
Abba Eban.

The great nations have always acted like gangsters, and the small nations like prostitutes.
Stanley Kubrick

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares to forgive an injury.
E.H. Chapin

The idea that people could use computers to amplify thought and communication, as tools for intellectual work and social activity, was not an invention of the mainstream computer industry or orthodox computer science, nor even homebrew computerists; their work was rooted in older, equally eccentric, equally visionary, work. You can't really guess where mind-amplifying technology is going unless you understand where it came from.
Tools for Thought by Howard Rheingold (a free book) --- http://www.rheingold.com/texts/tft/8.html 

Share what you know, it's like throwing stars into the night sky.
Mitch Albom, author of Tuesdays with Morrie

In the first week on the Web, the OCW site received more than 13 million visits from users, about 52 percent from outside of the United States. The OCW team also processed more than 2,000 e-mails in those first days, more than 75 percent of them supportive of the project. The remaining 25 percent were a mix of technical questions, inquiries about specific course offerings, and questions about content. Less than 2 percent of those e-mails were negative.
Anne H. Margulies (See below for her article on MIT's OpenCourseWare project)

The books that help you most are those which make you think the most. The hardest way of learning is that of easy reading; but a great book that comes from a great thinker is a ship of thought, deep freighted with truth and beauty.
Theodore Parker as quoted by Mark Shapiro --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-03-14-03.htm 

True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but the refusal to acquire it.
Karl Popper

If You Want to Be a Writer--Be a Reader
Tina Blue --- http://tinablue.homestead.com/writerisreader.html 

Traditional training puts the emphasis on what someone does to employees; employees are regarded as passive recipients of ideas and information.  Learning, on the other hand, implies that employees actively participate in expanding their own skills. Moreover, with growing frequency, employees are learning from one another in a structured measurable way.  Learning needs to be continuous. Organizations face continual change of products, services, processes, markets, and competition, as well as technology. Since every one in the organization is caught up in change, everyone must participate in a learner centered environment. A learner centered environment is one in which when change is contemplated, when performance indicators decline or generally when things must improve ­ training is immediately recognized as a key component.
Ken Kell, "Achieving Measured Success through Competency Based Learning," June 1999 --- http://snurl.com/KenKell 
Bob Jensen's threads on competency-based education and training are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/competency.htm 

Its performance is the envy of executives and engineers around the world ... For techno-evangelists, Google is a marvel of Web brilliance ... For Wall Street, it may be the IPO that changes everything ( again ) ... But Google is also a case study in savvy management -- a company filled with cutting-edge ideas, rigorous accountability, and relentless attention to detail ... Here's a search for the growth secrets of one of the world's most exciting young companies -- a company from which every company can learn.
Keith H. Hammonds --- http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/69/google.html 
Bob Jensen's threads on searching are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm 

Last spring federal officials released the results of the 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress. In U.S. history only eleven percent of high school seniors qualified as "proficient" or "advanced." Nearly sixty percent failed to score at the "basic" level.
Mark Shapiro --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-03-20-03.htm 

A Case for Writing (rather than purchasing) Options
The Money Tree by Ronald Groenke and Wade Keller. Now I must confess, the reason I started this is because the authors are subscribers to the newsletter, but it has turned out to be a interesting look at selling calls on stocks that you already own. It is written as a novel, yet is full of financial strategies and terms. I am still not 100% convinced that opportunity costs are completely considered but definitely worth the time! I will let you know more when I finish it.
From Jim Mahar, TheFinanceProfessor on March 24, 2002.  See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967412811/finpapers/104-9378365-5272442 

The Social Security Board of Trustees has declared that the Social Security program is not sustainable over the long term. The 2003 Social Security Trustees Report does extend the projected solvency of the trust funds by one year.
From the AccountingWeb  http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97323 

In the 2003 Annual Report to Congress, the Trustees announced:

From Jim Mahar, TheFinanceProfessor on March 24, 2003

As many of you saw, St. Bonaventure went through some hard times in recent weeks. A player on the men’s basketball team was found to be ineligible and the team had to forfeit its games in the Atlantic 10. To make matters worse, the University president had signed off allowing him to play. Then in a moment of much pain, the team quit and decided to forfeit their last two games. Quickly Bonaventure went to the top story in ESPN and other sports networks.

While that made news, what has not made nearly as much news is the Bonaventure response to this story. The president resigned, the basketball coach, and assistant basketball coach, and the AD were placed on administrative leave. However, more than that, was the amazing speed at which the Bonaventure “community” came together and began working to make sure the same thing never happens again. It was actually quite inspiring. So to the many who wrote when the news was happening, thank you for your concern, but Bonaventure will survive and the basketball team will emerge stronger, at least better rounded, than ever.


The Perilous Fight:  Then and Now

From PBS:  The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color --- http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/ 
(Includes the Battlefield, Psychology of War, The Home Front, Social Aspects, WW II Timeline, etc.)

Letters bring comfort to fighting men even as they witness unimaginable atrocities that forever change them. The war not only affects the mental state of those involved, but also changes the way that wars are fought and introduces the world's most frightening psychological weapon, the atomic bomb.

Live Weblog messages (at least while he lives) from a U.S. soldier headed for IRAQ
L.T. SMASH LIVE FROM THE SANDBOX

Due to the overwhelming traffic this site is receiving, we have decided to relocate it to another server. The address for the new site is http://www.lt-smash.US. Please update your bookmarks. We hope to forward lt-smash.COM to the new server at a future date. We apologize for any incovenience this may cause.

For other Weblogs by soldiers, see http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB104854599843896800,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fmarketplace%5Fhs 
"Web Logs Tell War Stories, Unfiltered and in Real Time," The Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2003

Curiously, unlike the military, traditional media outlets have been trying to quash their personnel's blogging efforts. Kevin Sites, a CNN correspondent in northern Iraq, had been posting photographs, short accounts and audio reports on his Web log until CNN pressured him to stop. 
For more information write to Matthew Rose at matthew.rose@wsj.com and Christopher Cooper at christopher.cooper@wsj.com

From the Scout Report

A Minute Longer: A Soldier's Tale --- http://www.rooba.net/will/

Forbes.com: Best War Blogs http://www.forbes.com/2003/03/20/cx_ah_0320warblogs.html

Let Slip the Blogs of War http://www.ojr.org/ojr/workplace/1017770789.php

The Home Front: Dispatches of Ernie Pyle http://www.private-art.com/scrapbook/pyle/gallery.html

Frontline: The War Behind Closed Doors --- http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/ 

Reuters To Stream War Video News and financial data giant adds frontline footage from Iraq to its recently revamped Web site. http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2117191 
I guess from an academic side the theory might be to make financial markets more efficient in reacting to war news.

Ann-Maragret's Spontaneous Tribute to Vietnam Vets --- 

The Tall Texan's Website (including the music) --- http://www.talltexian.com/ 

With mounting civilian fatalities in Iraq, a unique website is drawing thousands of hits and increased media attention. The site, Iraq Body Count, keeps a running total of civilian deaths (actually unauthenticated reports of deaths) in the Iraq war --- http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,58241,00.html  
One problem when military personnel fight disguised as civilians is the partitioning of actual civilians from the total population.  There is also an immense data interpretation problem when the Iraq military protects itself behind civilians or even kills civilians who run away.  The Iraq Body Count tries to keep track of reported deaths, but attributing cause in particular instances is a dubious effort.

Hi Andy,

Erika really fears any war.  She was a small child when she was a war refuge. She tells me that in those days she never heard of The Marshall Plan or the U.S. Constabulary.  She was just too young.

What she remembers is the kindness of the U.S. GIs. When she was very tiny, she recalls begging by the U.S. army bases in Munich. In those days there were separate bases for black soldiers and white soldiers. She has fond memories of being given food and clothing at both types of bases, but she also recalls that the black soldiers seemed to be a bit more generous. She was told that a black soldier who taught her how to chew bubble gum rather than swallow it was a huge soldier who said his name was Martin Luther King (Sr.). However, his name was never verified.  She like to think it really was him.

Erika would have answered this herself, but she does not yet do email.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: FRIENDS [mailto:friends@usd308.com]  
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 11:53 AM 
To: Jensen, Robert Subject: Erika's experiences in WWII

We are doing a project for History Day on the U.S. Constabulary. These were the men that carried out the Marshall plan in Germany after WWII. We read Erika's letter about her aunt and familly in WWII. Would Erika have time to answer a few questions?

1. Were you or your family helped by the Constabulary men to rebuild your home or business? 2. Do you know young people(then) who were involved in the youth groups started by the Constabulary? 3. What are your feelings about the Marshall Plan and how it helped Germany to rebuild? Sincerely, 
Andy Clark

Part of Erika's story can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/erika/xmas00.htm 




My March 31, 2003 updates on the accounting and finance scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud033103.htm
(The above document also includes updates on tax frauds, scams, identity theft, and similar updates.)

Bob Jensen gets "behind" on Andersen poetry ---  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud033103.htm

FASB Project Schedules --- http://www.fasb.org/project/index.shtml 

From KPMG:  Revisiting Stock-Option Accounting --- http://www.fei.org/download/KPMGMarch03_6.pdf 
Bob Jensen's threads on this issue are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory/sfas123/jensen01.htm 

New
Fraudulent Dealer Tricks:  An Interactive DHTML Illustration ---  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudDealerTricks.htm 
This includes a summary of ten unethical tricks of the trade by automobile dealers.

How FAS 133 Cost Sears $270 Million
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm#Sears
 




March 13, 2003 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU

Thought Bob and others may be intrigued about this link (to a Chinese mirror site for one of Bob's Web documents):

http://home.kimo.com.tw/pastudy/pais/cyber/e-book.htm  

Richard Campbell

The above Chinese mirror site was taken from http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ebooks.htm 


Wow Sharing Professor of the Week is Jim Mahar 

I highly recommend TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 


Goodbye to my two most prized American Accounting Association journals.
Wow Bummer of the Week ---- I vote NO!

There were so many long threads on this one that I transferred the material to a new document at 
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/AAAjournals.htm
 


Your every keystroke may be being logged and you do not even know it!

March 31, 2003 message from Jim McKinney [jim@MCKINNEYCPA.COM

The most recent issue of PC Magazine (April 22,2003) has an interesting article regarding spyware. I downloaded some shareware that was recommended and found several pieces of spyware running on my machine including one that logs my keystrokes. My son who has downloaded music sharing software found over forty running on his. Sorry I do not have a link to the article. The software that PC Magazine recommended was at http://www.spybot.safer-networking.de/   

Jim McKinney 
Howard University


Wow Risk and Capital Management Site of the Week --- A Great Newsletter and Case Studies for Education and Practice

This is what Professor Jim Mahar says about ERisk in the March 24, 2003 edition of TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 

Erisk.com. I simply love the site. I know it has been site of the week before, but it is so good, it earned it again. Try it, you’ll love the case studies and the newsletter! http://www.erisk.com

The ERisk Report is great, but it is rather expensive at $149 per year.  However, rather delayed summaries are free at http://www.erisk.com/Research/ERiskReport/report_Jul2002.asp#one 

ERisk --- http://www.erisk.com/ 

ERisk is the leading provider of strategic solutions for risk and capital management. We deliver a unique combination of world-class analytics for risk-based capital, strategic risk management expertise, risk transfer advice and risk information.

You can find out more about our products and services in the Overview section. On this page, you can find out more about the people and ideas that power our company.

The ERisk Report --- http://www.erisk.com/about/about_company.asp?ct=n#report 

The ERisk Report is a concise monthly briefing for senior financial executives. Every month, contributors from ERisk's team of risk management experts address today's most pressing issues in strategic risk and capital management. Sign up today for your personal copy of this cutting-edge publication!

Vol 1.6: Measuring the return on risk management; leveraging the economic benefits of risk management

Vol 1.5: Putting the real value on customer relationships; rolling out risk management

Vol 1.4: Making risk more transparent; fed takes pulse of economic capital practices

Vol 1.3: Credit scoring: robots versus humans; James Lam's three lessons from Enron

Vol 1.2: Weathering credit losses; regulators line up behind economic capital

Vol 1.1: Revamping your credit ratings system; measuring bank profitability

The ERisk Portal --- http://www.erisk.com/portal/home.asp 
Resources for Enterprise Risk Management

ERisk today continues to successfully develop and install its analytics at client sites, conduct high-value consulting engagements, offer unbiased advice on risk transfer alternatives, and attract thousands of readers to the ERisk portal.

Bob Jensen's related sites are as follows:

Financial Instruments Derivatives and Risk Management --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 

Bob Jensen's Threads on Return on Business Valuation, Business Combinations, 
Investment (ROI), and Pro Forma Financial Reporting --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm 

Accounting for Electronic Commerce, Including Controversies on Business Valuation, ROI, and Revenue Reporting --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm 

Accounting Theory --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory.htm 


It's freezing in Stanford University!

PROVOST ANNOUNCES SALARY FREEZE: 
In a Feb. 26 letter to employees, Provost John Etchemendy said the projected $25 million budget shortfall for 2003-04 led to the "difficult decision" to freeze faculty and staff salaries for next year. The expected savings of up to $8 million will help avoid more extensive layoffs, he told the Faculty Senate March 6, adding that feedback since the notice went out has been overwhelmingly supportive. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/report/news/2003/march5/salary-35.html 


British Columbia's History of Education Web site http://www.mala.bc.ca/homeroom/ 

Bob Jensen's education bookmarks are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm 


Wow Education Technology of the Week

From Syllabus News on March 25, 2003

New Products: SCORM Simulation Tool for eLearning Market

A simulation software company released what it called the first SCORM- compliant simulation software designed for the eLearning market. eHelp Corp. markets RoboHelp, a Flash-based simulation application that enables trainers to create simulations with quizzing and scoring capabilities. The simulations can be integrated with a learning management system, viewed on a Web site or intranet, burned on a CD, e- mailed to an end user or integrated into a Help system. RoboDemo can record the use of any application or on-screen activity, and creates a movie in Flash format with visible and audible mouse clicks. Simulations can be easily enhanced by adding rollover and transparent text captions and images, audio, interactive text fields and click boxes, eLearning-specific features like quizzing, scoring and branching, hyperlinks, and special effects.


CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) 

Ohio State University's Department of Athletics is using a CRM package from ForeSee Results as a tool for what it calls "online customer satisfaction management." The system helps isolate market factors that will most influence user satisfaction and loyalty, which helps OSU make high-impact, cost-effective content and design decisions. The software helps predict how satisfaction levels with various Web site elements will affect future behaviors such as the likelihood to purchase again or return to the site. It also provides real-time data on what Web site visitors are looking for so changes can take place almost immediately. The system incorporates the methodology of the University of Michigan's American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Bob Jensen's threads on authoring software are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 

Bob Jensen's threads on resources are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm#Resources 


Wow Aid for Student Writing and Research

McGraw-Hill Higher Education Launches Innovative Catalyst Writing and Research Tool Available in Handheld Format Companion to "A Writer's Resource" text also available Online and on CD-ROM --- http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/19060.html 

McGraw-Hill Higher Education, a leading provider of electronic and print learning solutions, today unveiled Catalyst: A Tool for Writing and Research, a unique technology-based tool that enhances students' composition and research skills.

Catalyst is thoroughly integrated with "A Writer's Resource," the leading student-centered text designed as a resource for achieving excellence in writing and learning. This powerful teaching and learning solution includes resources in Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) downloadable format, online, and on CD-ROM, including tools for learning, research, writing, and editing.

"Catalyst utilizes today's technologies to access proven writing, research and composition resources," said Ed Stanford, president of McGraw-Hill Higher Education. "With Catalyst, students now have instant support at their fingertips for writing assignments in composition class and all other subjects."

Major features of Catalyst include:

Catalyst is available free of charge with every copy of "A Writer's Resource" for online and/or PDA use. It may also be purchased separately on CD-ROM, which includes access to all online material, including the download for PDAs.

To view the online brochure for Catalyst, visit http://www.mhhe.com/wmg/catalyst. Catalyst will also be featured in an ongoing demonstration at the McGraw-Hill Higher Education exhibit at the 54th Annual Conference on College Composition and Communication, held at the Hilton Hotel in New York on March 20-22.

McGraw-Hill Higher Education is a leading global provider of educational materials and professional information targeted at the higher education market. It is part of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, a global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in financial services, education and business-to-business information through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's and BusinessWeek. Founded in 1888, the Corporation has more than 350 offices in 33 countries. Sales in 2002 were $4.8 billion. Additional information is available at www.mcgraw-hill.com.

Bob Jensen's threads on resources are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm#Resources 


Wow Technology of the Week

Looking for a new notebook? You'd be remiss if you didn't at least consider one of the new tablet PCs. Now that they've been on the market for a few months, they've matured—sort of. We've put nine systems—the best of the bunch—through some pretty intensive testing and even lived with them day and night. So what did we find? Well, for certain tasks they're great; for others ... Let's just say they're not for everyone. Still, these are all far more useful than past doomed tablet efforts, including the Eo, Gridpad and Momenta. And if you've got one, we've compiled 50 of our favorite tablet tips gleaned from our extensive testing.
"What's New Now," by Jim Louderback, Ziff Davis on March 25, 2003


Some Winners and Losers to Date in Online MBA Programs

"Universities Exporting M.B.A. Programs via the Internet," by Otto Pohl, The New York Times, March 26, 2003 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/26/nyregion/26MBA.html 

LONDON — If Jeremy Hallett had his way, he would be sitting on a leafy university campus in the United States with plenty of time to contemplate the theories of business.

Instead, he spends hectic lunch hours and long evenings in his office cubicle here, earning his M.B.A.

"It's not a perfect world," he says with a shrug.

Driven by the mantra of globalization and enabled by Internet-based technologies, M.B.A. programs in the United States are expanding rapidly into new markets overseas. The schools are looking for full-time, on-campus students seeking an international M.B.A. degree as well as part-timers like Mr. Hallett, who want to learn from afar while they continue working.

Some of the universities are virtual, offering American degrees via the Internet. Mr. Hallett, a London-based senior vice president at Thomson Financial, is earning his M.B.A. from Cardean University, a newly created entity that exists only in cyberspace and markets a course package created by other institutions, including Stanford, Columbia and the University of Chicago.

For Mr. Hallett, it was the availability of these prestigious schools on his computer screen that persuaded him to enroll. "These schools are recognized around the world," he said. "This degree will be truly international."

The M.B.A. is an American creation. More than 100,000 students are enrolled in M.B.A. programs in the United States, and now tens of thousands more are enrolled overseas. Even the threat of global recession has not diminished its popularity, as unemployed workers sharpen their job skills.

The biggest growth opportunity today for American online universities is inside the United States, but the schools are also looking to carry the prestige of American education overseas.

"We're serving a global market," said Andrew Rosenfield, the founder and chairman of Cardean University. A third of Cardean's students are outside the United States, and he expects the proportion to grow significantly over time.

"The United States certainly has no monopoly on running successful businesses," he says, adding that business students have to get their training somewhere.

Traditional campus-based programs are looking to train them as well. Columbia formed a partnership with the London Business School, and the Stern School of Business at New York University recently inaugurated the Trium M.B.A. degree with the London School of Economics and H.E.C. Paris. Thunderbird, an M.B.A. program in Arizona that bills itself as the oldest international M.B.A. program in the world, established its own satellite campus in France last fall.

These programs are designed to appeal to executives who want globally recognized names on their résumés.

Lawrence Naested, an American Express executive in London, is enrolled in the Trium program, studying in places like Hong Kong, Paris, Brazil, and New York. "This is far and away superior to a traditional M.B.A. program," he says. "Mixing with different backgrounds and nationalities far outweighs spending a year in a book."

Even schools that are very careful about diluting their brand names are looking for new growth opportunities. The Harvard Business School is keeping its campus-based education sacrosanct while offering noncredit Harvard-branded education to managers who can tap into a database for answers to specific questions. Instead of teaching what may be needed one day, they offer continuous assistance to managers confronted with real-life situations.

"We're moving from just-in-case education to just-in-time education," says Jonathon D. Levy, vice-president of online learning solutions at Harvard Business School Publishing, a subsidiary of the Harvard Business School.

This wealth of new business models centered on education has caught the eye of investors. "Very solid returns, solid profits, and good cash flow," says Richard Close, a vice president of SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, summing up why he feels for-profit post-secondary education is a great investment opportunity. "Online, you can leverage that success even more."

Most of the online universities are hoping to emulate the success of the University of Phoenix, whose growth is one of the most remarkable stories in for-profit academia. The university, with 140,000 students, has become the largest university in the country in terms of enrollment. About 60,000 of those students attend classes online and 4,000 are overseas. The stock of Apollo Group, which owns the university, has kept pace, rising 500 percent since January 2000.

There have also been plenty of failures. Many online programs founded during the Internet boom did little but hemorrhage money. Pensare, an online M.B.A. company using Duke courses, has been scrapped. Quisic, an online program developed with the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, was closed.last year, and SUNY Buffalo had an online M.B.A. program that lasted only 18 months.

Administrators of campus-based programs believe the failure of many online programs highlights the importance of extensive classroom time and personal interaction. And while few of those involved with online degrees dispute the superiority of full-time, face-to-face learning, they point to the much larger market of those who would like an education but cannot quit their jobs or travel to a campus.

Unlike elite campus-based programs, which offer exclusivity along with the degree, the online programs accept anyone with a good credit history and a reasonable likelihood of finishing the program. The online programs are expensive — Cardean's M.B.A. costs $24,000 — but that is still much less than a program like Trium, which costs $92,000.

The success of the American M.B.A. overseas already has some foreign schools marketing themselves as alternatives. "We reflect an Anglo-American way of doing business," says Mark Fenton-O'Creevy, the director of the British Open University Business School master's program.

Continued in the article.

Bob Jensen's distance education threads are listed at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 


Betraying the College Dream: How Disconnected K-12 and Postsecondary Education Systems Undermine Student Aspirations [.pdf] http://www.stanford.edu/group/bridgeproject/betrayingthecollegedream.pdf 


MIT OpenCourseWare (Open Knowledge Initiative OKI and DSpace) Shares Lessons from Pilot Project.

"Open Access to World-Class Knowledge," by Anne H. Margulies, Syllabus, March 2003, pp. 16-18 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7360 

A student in Johannesburg, South Africa. An educator in Wiesbaden, Germany. Ethiopian refugees trying to finish an engineering education cut short by civil war. These are just a few of the people who have tapped the potential of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's OpenCourseWare (OCW) project, a two-year-old effort to make available original course materials from all five of MIT's schools to students around the world.

Started by an MIT faculty committee charged with providing guidance on how MIT should position itself in the distance and eLearning environment, the OCW project supports the university's interest in contributing to the "shared intellectual commons" in higher education. "OpenCourseWare combines two things: traditional openness and outreach, and the democratizing influence of American education, with the ability of the Web to make vast amounts of information instantly available," says MIT President Charles M. Vest.

On Sept. 30, 2002, the pilot site of OCW was launched. It offers users the opportunity to see and use course materials from 50 MIT subjects, representing 20 individual academic disciplines and MIT's schools of Architecture, Science, Engineering, the Sloan School of Management, and the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

In the first week on the Web, the OCW site received more than 13 million visits from users, about 52 percent from outside of the United States. The OCW team also processed more than 2,000 e-mails in those first days, more than 75 percent of them supportive of the project. The remaining 25 percent were a mix of technical questions, inquiries about specific course offerings, and questions about content. Less than 2 percent of those e-mails were negative.

Govert van Drimmelen, a university student in Johannesburg, South Africa, found the video lectures of MIT Professor Gil Strang, in Course 18.06: Linear Algebra, compelling. "I have watched some of the video lectures from mathematics course 18.06. The lectures are wonderful and having these available over the Internet from South Africa is a great privilege," Van Drimmelen wrote the OCW team by e-mail. "Please continue with this excellent project and accept my sincere thanks for the efforts. Making the quality education of MIT more broadly available will be a valued contribution to global education."

Dorothee Gaile, an educator and trainer of teachers in Wiesbaden, Germany, wrote that as OCW continued to add more subjects, it would become a remarkable resource for educators around the world. "As a teacher of English at both high school and University of Applied Science level in Germany, I very much appreciate having free access to the tremendous amount of knowledge MIT is currently putting on the Web. Congratulations on this idea and a warm thank you."

And Timothy Choe, a volunteer with an organization called Project Detour in Africa, immediately recognized OCW's potential in developing countries: "I recently spent time with a group of Ethiopian refugees, living in Kenya, who will benefit greatly from this initiative. They are students in Project Detour, an effort initiated to encourage their continuing education while living in a country where they are not granted access to the educational system. Many are Ethiopian-trained engineers, whose academic pursuits were cut short by political turmoil. Just thought you might appreciate another example of how this initiative will benefit the world's community of knowledge seekers."

In people like these, OCW found its intended audience—educators from around the world who can adapt the course materials and learning objects embedded in online lecture notes into their own pedagogy, and self-learners who will be able to draw on the materials for self-study or supplementary use.

"I read about your initiative in the NY Times online and have to say this is one of the most exciting applications of the Internet to date," wrote Charles Bello. Based in Nigeria, Bello is the Web master for www.clickafrique.com, an African Web portal. "I look forward to taking advantage of this opportunity to ‘take a dip' in MIT's enormous reservoir of human intellect."

Building a Sustainable Platform
For the pilot phase, the pages were built using what Cecilia d'Oliveira, OCW's Technology Director, calls "brute-force HTML." Using Web content editors such as Macromedia Inc.'s DreamWeaver, a team of programmers from MIT and consulting firm Sapient Corp. built and designed the first 32 subjects. Over the course of summer 2002, templates were developed, sign-off was secured from faculty, and the site was prepared for the pilot release.

With course materials from 18 more subjects added to the site in December 2002, the total number of HTML pages supporting the initial 50 subjects rose to more than 2,000, together with more than 10,000 supporting files including PDFs of lecture notes, images, and video simulations.

The production model used for the pilot is not scalable for what by 2007 is estimated to be more than 2,000 individual MIT subjects published. Indeed, the OCW goals are not going to be achieved overnight: An aggressive timeline calls for about 500 subjects to be published by September 2003, and then 500 each year there after until the course materials from virtually all of MIT's subjects—undergraduate and graduate—are available to the world.

This first year of the OCW pilot is called the "Discover/ Build" mode, where the focus is on developing the technology, process, and organization to sustain OCW over the long term as an organization. Over the course of the next two years, the team hopes to be able to provide the entire curriculum track for certain MIT subject areas.

The project will take a big leap forward in April 2003 with the implementation of a content management system, which will manage the Web pages and embed learning objects. The content management system will also:

Tracking copyright status will be vital to the long-term success of OCW. During the pilot phase, we assembled a "SWAT team" of attorneys, graphic artists, researchers, and photo image specialists who were charged with obtaining copyright and intellectual property clearances for all the charts, quotes, images, and other items that were embedded in the lecture notes that MIT professors had been using for years.

It was an arduous process, but it has paid off. There has not been a single copyright or intellectual property infringement claim filed against OCW. The copyright permissions process was slow and labor-intensive, but I am confident we have developed a strong set of alternative strategies for acquisition of copyrighted content as the project moves toward publishing hundreds of courses in the coming years.

Reaction at Home
The faculty experience with OCW has been positive. Many professors who were once skeptics are now ready to participate. The project is particularly useful for courses involving intersecting disciplines. For example, while faculty often do not have time to explore the research of peers who might be right down the hall, one faculty member, Paul Sclavounos, has been contacted by another researcher at MIT who wants to explore cross-disciplinary work.

Where did that professor discover Sclavounos' work? On the site for Sclavounos' ocean engineering subject, Course 13.022: Surface Waves and their Interaction With Floating Bodies.

"This initiative is particularly valuable for courses covering emerging new areas of knowledge, as well as intersecting disciplines," says Jonathan A. King, an MIT professor of molecular biology. "Having spent many years developing a course on protein folding that served the needs of biochemists, chemists, chemical engineers, and computational biologists, I am delighted that this work will be made available to a far broader audience."

Shigeru Miyagawa, an MIT professor of linguistics, serves on the OCW Faculty Advisory Board and has two subjects on the current site: Course 24.946: Linguistic Theory and the Japanese Language and CMS.930/21F.034: Media, Education, and the Marketplace, a cross-listed course that explores a broad range of issues on new media and learning.

"OCW reflects the idea that, as scholars and teachers, we wish to share freely the knowledge we generate through our research and teaching," Miyagawa explains. "While MIT may be better known for our research, with OCW, we wish to showcase the quality of our teaching."

The OCW team hopes this will be the first of many open courseware initiatives. "This is about something bigger than MIT," states president Vest. "I hope other universities will see us as educational leaders in this arena, and we very much hope that OpenCourseWare will draw other universities to do the same. We would be delighted if—over time—we have a World Wide Web of knowledge that raises the quality of learning—and ultimately, the quality of life—around the globe."

MIT OpenCourseWare --- http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html 
Find individual course listings on the following MIT OCW Department pages, or view a complete course list.
  Aeronautics & Astronautics
  Anthropology NEW
  Biology
  Chemical Engineering
  Chemistry
  Civil & Environmental Engineering
  Comparative Media Studies NEW
  Earth, Atmospheric, & Planetary Sciences
  Economics
  Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
  Engineering Systems Division
  History NEW
  Linguistics & Philosophy
  Literature NEW
  Materials Science & Engineering NEW
  Mathematics
  Mechanical Engineering
  Nuclear Engineering NEW
  Ocean Engineering
  Physics
  Political Science
  Sloan School of Management
  Urban Studies & Planning

Bob Jensen's threads on free sharing of courseware from MIT, Stanford, and other colleges and universities are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI 


The AT&T Learning Network Community Guide http://www.att.com/communityguide/index.html 

Welcome to the AT&T Learning Network Community Guide. AT&T developed this Guide as part of its ongoing effort to help communities take advantage of the many benefits of information technology. As part of that effort, AT&T funded a variety of organizations to develop public community access centers for community members who do not have other means to connect to the Internet. This Guide is intended to be a companion document for those centers and other technology access centers around the country. Whether you’re involved in running a community access center or you’re a community member interested in learning the uses and benefits of the Internet, this Guide will help get you started. If you’re a community member looking for ways to begin planning your own access center, you’ll find tips on how to “kickstart” that effort.

Community access centers take many forms and take place in many sites within the community where people gather to communicate with and learn from one another. You may find Internet access points in a library, a church or a senior citizen-center. Perhaps your children attend a summer camp that has an area where they can learn about and use these technology resources. Many organizations, like the NAACP and the National Urban League, provide many types of services for community members and are now branching out to bring the reach of the Internet to their centers as well. The point is that there are many organizations, many types of centers and many opportunities to “get connected”— often from places that may have seemed unlikely in the past.

 Bob Jensen's threads on online education and training alternatives are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 


Question
How does an "archive" differ from a "journal" in some contexts?

Answer
Philosophy of Science (Emerging) Archive ---  http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/ 

Although this topic is not nearly as popular in courses and in research publications as it was several decades ago, it is nice having an archive available. Actually this is a preprint archive which makes it more focused upon emerging studies.  

A journal publishes material that has passed scrutiny by referees and has been edited by the editorial staff to bring it to the journal standards. The archive does not referee postings and does not edit them. The archive merely filters minimally to assure relevance to philosophy of science.


The first accredited competency-based and online university in the United States is Western Governors University (WGU) --- http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/index.html 

As noted in The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 21, 2003, Page A34, WGU is opening an online college that allows teachers to earn compentency-based certificates online.  There are also business and IT undergraduate degrees as well as various other certification programs.

A noteworthy competency-based program in accountancy is the Chartered Accountancy School of Business (CA) covering the Western Provinces and Northern Territories in Canada --- http://www.casb.com/ 
This is a two-year post-graduate program between the undergraduate accounting degree and the uniform CA examination.  All CASB students take online "modules" while being employed full time in firms and/or government.

The CA School of Business gives you graduate style business education combining practical business experience with an innovative approach to learning. As a student you will learn the business basics that underpin the CA designation in an individually paced environment.

CASB's unique focus is on building the skills you will require to become an effective CA. It isn't about memorizing arcane details or cramming for exams. It's about being able to do what you need to do to be successful in the business world.

Our program follows the business life cycle from start-up to IPO so you learn about issues facing companies of all sizes and develop skills in managing the transitions that accompany business success and growth. The first module focuses on a small business. In the second, the business incorporates. In the third, you learn about mergers, acquisitions and international operations. Then you're introduced to controllership and the world of non-profits. Finally, you'll explore strategic management issues and take a company public.

Each module uses ten-weeks of on-line materials and an interactive workshop to build skills in research, analysis, problem solving, interpretation, forecasting, leadership, and innovation. Modules build competencies in organizational effectiveness, control and risk management; finance; performance measurement; taxation; information technology, including e-Business; and assurance. Students then choose one of these competencies for modules 7 and 8.

CASB will help you develop and apply practical business tools. And you'll get to put your new skills to work right away. While at CASB, you complete 36 months of paid work experience in an approved training office where you will put your CASB knowledge to use with a wide variety of different client companies. The modules take 24 months to complete and are studied while working. This allows for breaks for work or personal reasons.

CASB graduates are business-ready CAs, equipped with skills and experience relevant to today's global business environment.

Want to learn more? Meet a CA Student or take the Steps to Becoming a CA.

Bob Jensen's threads on competency-based education and training are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/competency.htm 


Thank Goodness!  Distance Education Students Shy Away From Diploma Mills

From Syllabus News on March 21, 2003

Value Tops in Survey of Distance Grad School Prospects

In a recent survey, one-third of a group of prospective graduate students said "reputation of program" would be the most important factor to them in choosing a distance learning grad school program. The Distance Graduate School survey was conducted by the University of Texas TeleCampus, the support center for online degrees within the UT System, and GradSchools.com. More than 11,500 students participated. The survey sponsors said the results showed that students shy away from "degree mills" and consider content and program value more important than delivery method. The finding was further supported by the fact that 19 percent of the respondents said a "high degree of interactivity between professors and students" was their most important criteria for choosing a distance graduate school. Affordability ranked as the third most important criteria in selecting a graduate program.


New Products: Assessment Tool Eases Remote Test-Taking

Testing and assessment software supplier Questionmark released Perception to Go (P2G), which enables remote test takers to synchronize from their PCs to their Web servers. Test takers can pull down new assessments scheduled by an administrator, disconnect from the network and then answer questions, receive feedback offline, and merge results back to their Web servers when they reconnect. Many universities already deliver examinations via the Internet. The synchronization module will enable users to download data in advance, only going back online to upload results, which will reduce the load on the Web server. The company says the tool will enable schools to conduct large assessments without having to run servers that would lie idle at other times, saving on transmission costs, and eliminating network latency that might affect the timing of high-stakes exams.


"XML in Higher Education," by Frank Coyle, Syllabus, March 2003, pp. 22-25 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7361 

 SMIL (prnounced "smile"): Multimedia Rides the XML Wave

SMIL (pronounced "smile") is an acronym for Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language, an XML-based dialect for describing the layout and synchronization of multimedia applications.

For educators, SMIL opens the door to sophisticated multimedia development. With minimal effort, SMIL makes it possible for authors to:

As illustrated in the figure below, individual multimedia components can be stored either on a user's PC or delivered from a Web server. SMIL presentations may play in a browser with a SMIL plug-in or in a standalone player such as RealOne or QuickTime that reside on consumer devices and are independent of browsers. Because SMIL documents are text files, SMIL files can be customized on a server manually with a text editor or by using a script, such as AppleScript or PERL, or through the use of XML transformation tools such as XSLT. What's exciting for the aspiring multimedia author is that anything that can generate text can create a SMIL document.

Continued in the article.

Bob Jensen's threads on XML and SMIL are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm#TimelineXML/SMIL 


Hello Katarzyna,

You message has two parts. One is whether there are inherent biases is using student behavior as a surrogate for behavior of persons in "real life" such as business decision makers. The other aspect of your message concerns the safety and well being of students in research studies.

The Surrogate Issue I have an old document on this issue entitled "Do students respond in the same manner as professionals in behavioral experiments?" http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/cultures/student1.htm 

The Safety and Liability Issue Universities in the United States are very sensitive about research that can lead to lawsuits. The U.S. is the most litigious nation in the world. Parties are quick to sue for damages, and students can be damaged by some types of research. One of the best examples, is the well-known research study of Phil Zimbardo at Stanford University --- http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/august22/prison2-822.html 

Virtually all universities in the U.S. now have policies that no research can be undertaken using human subjects prior to that research being approved by a committee of experts on the dangers of research to human subjects. I think that similar safeguards are also placed upon animal studies in general.

An example of the process is provided by the University of Minnesota --- http://www.irb.umn.edu/ 

I hope this helps.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: KJPM@gmx.de [mailto:KJPM@gmx.de]  
Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2003 9:59 AM 
To: Jensen, Robert Subject: students as subjects

Dear Sir, 
I am a students from frankfurt, studying economics. For my university I have to write about the use of students as subjects in different researches. I have to find out the advantages and the disadvantages of the use of students. Searching in the internet I found your webside and I was wondering if you could give me some advice in references to this topic. Do you know some qualified papers? Sorry for my bad englisch. 

Best regards 
Katarzyna Walkiewicz


FindWhat.com Launches ROI Tool AdAnalyzer helps marketers calculate post-click sales from paid-search programs. http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/2114531 

Bob Jensen's ROI threads are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm 


Blackboard Versus WebCT

**********************************
The WebCT site has the following PR document --- http://www.webct.com/service/ViewContent?contentID=15301032 

Ithaca College switches to WebCT to power Web-based learning

Institution replaces Blackboard to get better customer service, flexible education alternatives


LYNNFIELD, Mass., March 17, 2003 - Ithaca College, a private institution with an enrollment of 6,200 students in upstate New York, has selected the WebCT Campus Edition course management system as the foundation of its e-learning program going forward. Citing WebCT's superior flexibility, service and professionalism, the school is switching from the Blackboard course management system it has used for three years.

"As we were getting ready to take our online learning offerings to the next level, we knew we had to make a switch to a true partner," said David Weil, Ithaca's associate director of academic computing and client services. "WebCT's technology provides us with the flexibility and quality that we need, and in our experience, their people are the most professional and responsive in the industry."

Ithaca faculty members, who are consulted on all major e-learning decisions, ratified the switch after a hands-on introduction to WebCT Campus Edition. Unlike competing systems, WebCT lets faculty present content to students when, where and how they choose, and it provides superior content management and assessment features.

Approximately 550 Ithaca College courses feature online components, including most of the courses in the School of Business. Physical therapy students also use Web-based learning extensively during their clinical experience in their junior and senior years. WebCT is helping Ithaca deploy all of its online courses on WebCT Campus Edition, which will go live this fall.

"Ithaca College is typical of a lot of new customers we're encountering," said Carol Vallone, WebCT president and CEO. "They're committed to advancing their e-learning programs but feel alone in that endeavor or restricted by their technology. The entire WebCT team is behind Ithaca College and is deeply invested in its e-learning success."

 Ithaca College
A comprehensive college that since its founding in 1892 has recognized the value of combining theory and performance, Ithaca provides a rigorous education blending liberal arts and professional programs of study. Ithaca College strives to become the standard of excellence for residential comprehensive colleges, fostering intellect, creativity, and character in an active, student-centered learning community. Ithaca offers over 100 degree programs through its five schools - Business, Communications, Health Sciences and Human Performance, Humanities and Sciences, and Music - and its Division of Interdisciplinary Studies.

About WebCT
WebCT is the world's leading provider of integrated e-learning systems for higher education. Over 2,600 colleges and universities in over 80 countries worldwide are using WebCT's products and services to transform the educational experience of their students. Consortia in 24 American states, four Canadian provinces, two Australian territories, the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and the Consortium of Distance Education have licensed WebCT for their member institutions, making it the de facto standard in higher education. For more information, please visit www.webct.com
.

 ********************************

University of Missouri Comparison of BlackBoard and WebCT Course Management Platforms --- http://etatmo.missouri.edu/courses/resources/comparison.htm 

BlackBoard and WebCT are two different course management platforms that each offer distinct advantages. Together, they complement each other; while BlackBoard offers less customization than WebCT, many faculty members have found Blackboard to be an easier-to-learn platform.

On the other hand, WebCT’s higher level of complexity affords it more sophistication for “power users” who need additional features. Whether faculty need a simple, easy-to-learn interface or need more sophisticated tools, one of these two platforms should suit most circumstances. Designed to help faculty choose the system that better suits his or her needs, the chart below highlights the main similarities and differences between the two platforms.

Note the comparison table at http://etatmo.missouri.edu/courses/resources/comparison.htm  

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

An older document that provides some comparison links is at http://www.westga.edu/~distance/webct/facultymanual/whywebct.htm 

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

March 18, 2003 reply by Ganesh M. Pandit [profgmp@hotmail.com

I have used both WebCT and Blackboard. WebCT is filled with several features that are useful; but at the same time it is step-driven where you have go through one step at a time which can be very annoying, especially if you are in a hurry. It is powerful, yet at times very cumbersome to use.

Blackboard may not have as many features as WebCT does; but it is somewhat easier to use as compared to WebCT.

Ganesh M. Pandit

March 18, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

Bob, 

I have not personally experienced WebCT. However, JMU did an extensive test of both WebCT and Blackboard, and to make a long story short, we now use Blackboard exclusively, and everyone who participated in the comparison felt it was a no-brainer choice.

The technical support people especially felt that Blackboard offered superior vendor service, was more attentive to requests for upgraded features, and offers better response time on problems and questions.

The faculty, however, reported that Blackboard was much more robust, intuitive, extremely easy to learn (both for faculty and for students), and contained more useful features, served up in quicker time.

Some drawbacks to Blackboard that I have discovered, based on the way I personally use it:

The on-line gradebook spreadsheet view takes a LONG time to serve up from the server. But everything else is quick-as-a-wink response time.

Setting up student groups can take a long time if you have 30 groups of 3 or 4 students each. It is a “checklist” approach for each group, rather than a drag-and-drop operation which would go faster.

Posting PDF files, PowerPoint slides, and other specialized content takes a little more effort than the import-then-drag-and-drop-to-link approach used by FrontPage. But nevertheless, unless you do multiple uploads per class day, it is not exceptionally time-consuming. And I have no idea how WebCT does it, but I can’t imagine it would be so much better as to overcome the other factors.

Blackboard interfaces with our registrar’s PeopleSoft registration system seamlessly. Every semester, my entire class appears magically, complete with email addresses, in my Blackboard courses. It is password protected, with flexible access for guests, so you can post copyrighted materials. I used the communication features extensively from home while the university was closed due to snow. My students love it. I love it. The huge majority of the faculty here (that use it) love it.

WebCT got a lukewarm response here from faculty and students. Tech support gave it a thumbs down.

This comparison took place about a year ago. Since then, we’ve upgraded Blackboard twice, and each upgrade has gone off without a hitch… no retraining, no loss of data, no problems at all.

Hope this helps.
David R. Fordham
PBGH Faculty Fellow
James Madison University

March 18, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

Bob, 

if the goal is distance learning, consider a product called "CENTRA".

We use both Blackboard and Centra here at JMU.

Blackboard is a "student resources" tool. Blackboard allows posting of material, links, group communication, forums, quick email, announcements, on-line exams, grade posting, etc. and allows students to quickly (and safely!) submit electronic submissions/spreadsheets/documents to the professor in a way far superior than email attachments.

Centra is what we use for "real-time synchronous" class meetings on-line, and even "replay later" asynchronous class presentations and responses. It is where the on-line courses meet.

These are two every different products, for very different purposes.

WebCT sounds like it may be trying to blend the two purposes. However, when WebCT was reviewed here, it was marketed as a competitor to Blackboard, and at the time, it lost. I have no idea how it would fare if it were competing with Centra.

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University

The Centra home page is at http://www.centra.com/ 

March 18, 2003 reply from Robert C. Holmes [rcholmesgcc@HOTMAIL.COM

No experience with Blackboard but I am continually frustrated with the inability to do any kind of formatting in e-mail, quiz questions and other areas of WebCT. How do you discuss Journal Entries if you can't even put a tab in your answer?

Robert C. Holmes

May 17, 2003 reply from Vidya Ananthanarayanan vidya@trinity.edu 

With reference to customization, WebCT ships with a library of icons, banners, and symbols that can be used to create the look and feel of the course. BB does something similar but it only applies to the buttons on the navigation panel. WebCT also allows designers to change page background colors, set font specifications and the like for basic customizability. The tech-savvy designer can create their own images and upload those to the site. So there's a range of sophistication available based on the designers comfort and familiarity.

Hope this helps.

Vidya

 

Bob Jensen's threads on the history of course authoring and course management systems can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 

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


The Irascible Professor, March 14, 2003 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-03-14-03.htm 

Commentary of the Day - March 14, 2003: I Don't Know HOW to Read This Book! Guest commentary by Tina Blue.

Over the past few years, I have found that more and more students in my freshman-sophomore English classes at the University of Kansas are completely unable to keep up with their college reading assignments.

I quit teaching "Introduction to Fiction" five years ago because the students could not handle the course readings, even though I had reduced the reading list by about 30 percent. I switched to teaching "Introduction to Poetry." At least in that class I can read each poem aloud to them before we begin to discuss it. Obviously I can't read a 500-page novel out loud at the beginning of every class period.

In my English 101 class I now spend a fair amount of time teaching my students how to read their textbooks. One semester a young man, almost in tears, held up his thick geology textbook and said, "My professor doesn't even lecture on what's in the book. He lectures on other stuff and expects us to read the book on our own. But I don't even know HOW to read this book!"

A lot of them tell me they never read their textbooks in high school or middle school, because they didn't have to. They could usually get A's or B's without doing the readings. Their teachers went over the textbook material in lectures, passed out lecture notes and study guides for tests, and gave easy extra-credit assignments to help them raise their grades if they still did badly on exams.

Continued in the article.

Tina Blue is a lecturer in English at the University of Kansas. She also publishes the Teacher, Teacher web page --- http://www.teacherblue.homestead.com/index.html 


Question"
What is the Stonewall Rebellion?"

Answer
See the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Encyclopedia http://www.glbtq.com/ 
(Includes biographical, literature, art, and photograph items.)  There also is a discussion forum.

Bob Jensen's glossary bookmarks are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#08051Glossaries 


Women of Our Time http://www.npg.si.edu/cexh/woot/index.htm 

Girl Power http://www.girlpower.gov/ 


Sharing Professor of the Week --- Tina Blue --- http://www.teacherblue.homestead.com/index.html  

"For Poets--and Readers of Poetry," by Tina Blue --- http://tinablue.homestead.com/articleindex.html 

An introduction to the elements of poetry and to the techniques of poetic interpretation, for those who love to read and write poetry, but who sometimes find it intimidating or hard to understand.


March 9, 2003 message from Gerald Trites [gtrites@stfx.ca

Hi Bob,

Here's a link that might interest you. It's www.cica.ca/itac . This is a "redirected" link for the Information Technology Advisory Committee of the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, which has been set up to facilitate access to the Committee's work. The Committee studies various issues related to the impact of technology on the profession, and accordingly has issued studies, white papers and other documents on IT controls, Web Reporting, XBRL, etc. Several of the documents are available for free download from this site.

In your new location, won't you have satellite TV? We live out in the "boonies", where there is no cable, but have access to a satellite service provided by Bell Canada, which includes pretty much everything cable companies offer, including high speed internet. They just launched a second satellite and now are going to offer video on demand as well. There are over 200 channels.

Jerry

Gerald Trites, FCA Professor of Accounting and Information Systems St Francis Xavier University Antigonish, Nova Scotia Tel. 902-867-5410, Fax 902-867-3352, Study 902-386-2832, Cell 902-867-0977 Website - http://www.stfx.ca/people/gtrites 

Bob Jensen's threads on electronic commerce accounting are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm 

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


From Syllabus News on March 18, 2003

Faculty Best Practices: What are Colleagues Doing?

Discuss key issues and hot topics with the experts and your colleagues in the Syllabus Forums at www.syllabus.com/forum . David Brown of Wake Forest University leads a forum on faculty best practices and how to use technology to improve teaching and learning. How are you using asynchronous discussions? What tips do you have for others? Weigh in with your thoughts and questions and see what solutions your colleagues might have.

http://info.101com.com/default.asp?id=529 


From Syllabus News on March 14, 2003

eCollege, Houghton Mifflin Strike Content Sharing Accord

Course management system developer eCollege formed a partnership with publisher Houghton Mifflin Inc. to provide eCollege's customers access to Houghton Mifflin's online supplements for introductory courses in business, humanities, mathematics, science, social science, student success, and world languages. The titles will be available via the eCollege AU+ course management system, and will enable faculty to use the platform’s self-authoring and course development tools to improve their online courses. "It's important that faculty members have access to the kind of resources they need to best engage and challenge their students, and we believe the Houghton Mifflin content can ideally support them in this effort," said Oakleigh Thorne, chairman and CEO of eCollege.

Bob Jensen's threads on the history of course authoring systems can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 


LEARNING SYSTEMS -- Syracuse University has adopted Blackboard Learning System for campuswide use in supporting face-to-face classes. This spring, in the final phase of a pilot program before going to the enterprise, Syracuse has 100 faculty teaching 153 courses to more than 3,000 students using Blackboard. The school said it is making the move because of Blackboard’s ability to scale from 3,000 to 18,000 users, as well as its support of open standards and its ability to integrate with its PeopleSoft student information system.

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


March 19, 2003 message from Mark McConkey [mark@u101.com

I came across your site while searching for education links. We'd like to invite you to add U 101 College Search to your collection of links at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm  (or anywhere else that you thought suitable). U 101 is a directory of over 3000 college, community college and university websites in the US and Canada, organized by state/province.

Here's the information:

TITLE: U 101 College Search URL: http://U101.com/  (please note that we prefer to omit the www. bit) Description: Directory of college, community college, and university websites in the US and Canada. Lists over 3000 schools by state or province.

If you prefer, feel free to link to any page within the site, as well.

We'd be honored if you considered our website as a useful link for your visitors!

Regards from Manitoba, Canada,

Mark McConkey
Assistant to the Editor
mark@u101.com 

Bob Jensen's bookmarks on this topic are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#DirectoriesGeneral 


A Women's Entrepreneur Site from the U.S. Government --- http://www.women-21.gov/index2.asp 

The growth of women entrepreneurs is one of the most remarkable features of the American economy as more and more women launch businesses as their path to professional success. This website offers you key resources, targeted information, registration for online programs, and networking opportunities to help build the rewarding career you deserve

From The Wall Street Journal Accounting Educators' Review on March 21, 2003

TITLE: Entrepreneurs' Biggest Problems-- And How They Solve Them 
REPORTER: Paulette Thomas 
DATE: Mar 17, 2003 
PAGE: R1, 3 
LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB104749882695232600,00.html  
TOPICS: Entrepreneurship

SUMMARY: A special report on small business is offered addressing many of the issues facing entrepreneurs, particularly small business entrepreneurs. The lead article by Thomas lists the essentials ingredients for success.

QUESTIONS: 
1.) Discuss how important a clear strategy is to the entrepreneur. Relate it to the article by Bialik about product options. What does flexibility mean in this context? Relate it to the other article offered by Thomas.

2.) Give examples of the effects of having an unrealistic view. How does a realistic view impact the related article by Bailey?

3.) What does the author suggest one should do where ethical behavior is concerned? What does Thomas mean by a robust network and why is this important?

4.) Is a global perspective always appropriate? Argue that it is. Argue that it might not be. How is an ability to deal with technology important? What does Thomas mean when she says passion is a necessary component for the successful small business person?

Reviewed By: Judy Beckman, University of Rhode Island 
Reviewed By: Benson Wier, Virginia Commonwealth University 
Reviewed By: Kimberly Dunn, Florida Atlantic University

--- RELATED ARTICLES --- TITLE: How Do You Make Adjustments When Your Market Dries Up? REPORTER: Paulette Thomas PAGE: R8 ISSUE: Mar 17, 2003 LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB104749839851198500,00.html

TITLE: How Do You Survive In a Market Where Size Matters? REPORTER: Jeff Bailey PAGE: R7 ISSUE: Mar 17, 2003 LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB104749860044888100,00.html 

TITLE: How Do You Narrow Your Product Options? REPORTER: Carl Bialik PAGE: R3 ISSUE: Mar 17, 2003 LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB104749959790502600,00.html 

TITLE: How Do You Sell a Pricey Product In a Thrifty Market? REPORTER: Jennifer Saranow PAGE: R6 ISSUE: Mar 17, 2003 LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB104749811820326100,00.html 

Bob Jensen's helpers for small business are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#SmallBusiness 


PLANNING IN UNCERTAIN TIMES: GRANT THORNTON/FERF SURVEY 
The December issue of Private Net featured a summary of Grant Thornton's Fall 2002 "Survey of Middle-Market Business Leaders" (go to "Charting a Course in Uncertain Times" http://www.fei.org/newsletters/privatenet/pnet1202.cfm ). The survey results reflected the priority CEOs place upon identifying and fine-tuning the value their companies provide to customers and evaluating and using customer profitability analysis. Grant Thornton and FERF wanted to find out how some CFOs are supporting these priorities, and asked CFOs and other senior financial executives for their perspectives on these topics.


Question
What is really unique about the State of Kansas tax system?

Answer
Kansas requires that illegal drugs traded in Kansas have a tax stamp --- http://www.ksrevenue.org/faqs-abcdrugtax.htm 

Analogy
Urban centers having problems with dog walkers who fail to carry pooper scoopers should require that each pile left outdoors should have a tax stamp.  It would be easier to prosecute for tax evasion than littering.


New Technology and Manufacturing Processes --- http://www.psc.edu/science/newtech.html 


Which Is Better: TurboTax or TaxCut? --- http://www.thestreet.com/_tscs/funds/taxes/1359496.html#restofstory 
This article is two years old, but it is still somewhat informative.
A more recent Year 2003 comparison is at http://www.thestreet.com/_tscs/funds/beverlygoodman/10067709.html 

Also see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,810950,00.asp 

March 20, 2003 reply from from a tax expert --- John Stancil [jstancil@PEOPLEPC.COM

I find it unfortunate that the article did not mention what I consider to be the best of the bunch of the low cost tax prep programs. TaxAct by 2nd Story Software is an excellent program. I have used the preparer's edition for 3-4 years and have used the standard edition in my tax classes for 3 years. I have never had a software related problem. The consumer version is free to $19.95 including a state module. The preparer's version is about $100. TaxCut and TurboTax will not allow use by paid preparers in the consumer version. The profession version of TurboTax is very expensive.

Some of you may recall a company from years back by the name of Parson's Technology. This company sold good software at downright inexpensive prices. They had a number of different products. One of these products was Parson's Tax Edge for $19.95. This was a great little program, and it could be used by paid preparers. Intuit (of TurboTax fame) bought out Parsons, who subsequently sold it to Broderbund Software. As a part of the deal, Broderbund was prohibited from marketing a tax prep program. TurboTax replaced PTE and a great program died.

The people who founded 2nd Story Software and developed TaxAct are some of the people who were involved with PTE at Parsons. They have incorporated into the TaxAct software many of the good features of PTE.

John Stancil

March 20 reply from ROBERTS, Debra [dlr@NEI.org

I have used both. Turbotax has an advantage. (all in all) both products are very good. I like the interview and the audit checks on turbo tax a little better. cost is not a significant difference, particularly if you have many clients. It is not really a big deal. I would prefer better performance, greateer flexibility and ease of use (including the interview.)

Hi Dan,

Here are some related links on the copyright controversy in this year's TurboTax. At issue is C-Dilla software, commonly known as spyware, which Intuit installed to stop illegal copying of TurboTax:

The TurboTax activation page --- http://www1.turbotaxsupport.com/default.asp?platform=1&formName=&pd=&fs=&ver=&sku=&id=&DocID=815 

CNET threads --- http://www.cnet.com/software/0-3227903-1218-20714499.html?tag=dir 

I reported on this problem in the January 31 edition of New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book03q1.htm#013103 

The main problem was that users who started putting information into TurboTax for the Year 2002 return had to complete the job on the same computer and could not transfer the file to another computer such as the case when somebody begins the file on a home computer and then wants to transfer it to a business office computer or vice versa. The controversy had nothing to do with the quality of the software itself. What Intuit failed to anticipate is how angry users became over this effort to halt TurboTax software piracy.

Bob Jensen

Original Message----- 
From: Dan Stone [mailto:dstone@UKY.EDU]  
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 5:33 AM 
Subject: turbotax vs. taxcut Importance: High

A systems guy's perspective….. Turbotax includes some clunky (and offensive to some) copyright protection this year. Taxcut does not. There was a recent article on this in the WSJ - I apologize I can't find the reference this morning (and have to take my daughter to school!). I bought Turbotax because I wanted to see the nature of the copyright protection that they are using but this does make installation harder and limits your use to a single computer. You'll find no such problems with Taxcut. Kudos to anyone who can find the cite in WSJ about all of this. 

Cheers, 
Dan Stone

May 21, 2003 message from Paul Krause [Paul@PAULKRAUSE.COM

I can report from a sample of one that the C-Dilla ‘feature’ apparently has been disabled. I installed TurboTax on one computer (on March 5) and completed a good portion of the return, when the machine got so cranky I decided to get the new laptop I always wanted.

Installed TurboTax on the new laptop, copied over the working return file, printed and electronically filed with no problems whatsoever.

Paul Krause
Chico, CA


Hi Mike,

Good to hear from you on the AECM. We hope to tap your expertise more often.

Actually I'm a simple soul with a simple income. I just go down to the computer store here in San Antonio and buy the $19 version of TurboTax each January. It's cheap and very user friendly with a rather good review of your taxes before you submit the tax return to the great black hole in Washington.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Mike Groomer [mailto:groomer@INDIANA.EDU
 Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 7:36 AM 
To: AECM@LISTSERV.LOYOLA.EDU  
Subject: Re: turbotax vs. taxcut

Dan and Bob,

Thanks for your discussion of the two tax programs. Regarding TurboTax, I agree and have experienced that the TurboTax printing use on one machine is an inconvenience. Even more of an aggravation is the rebate process that Intuit places on most of its products (TurboTax, QuickBooks and Quicken). "Just sell me the product at the net price and don't have me chase around cutting off the flaps in the box and facilitating the rebate process". (;- I guess they figure that some people won't undertake the rebate process and they can collect the full freight. But in the case of QuickBooks, the rebate is substantial. I have used TurboTax for a number of years and will give serious consideration to moving to the competing product next year.

Hope all is well. Mike

March 21 reply from James Borden [james.borden@VILLANOVA.EDU

Here is a January 30 column by Walter Mossberg in the WSJ comparing TurboTax and TaxCut (no subscription needed to WSJ).

http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/ptech-20030130.html 

Jim Borden 
Villanova University

The best place to start in the U.S. for tax help is the great site at http://www.irs.gov/ 

Bob Jensen's tax links are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#010304Taxation 


Reaching crisis proportions!  Wait until mortgage rates roar back.
What is probably the biggest thing making your home too expensive to keep and too expensive to sell?  

"A Tax Upon Your House," by Shawn Tully,, Fortune, March 31, 2003, pp. 132-139 --- http://www.fortune.com/fortune/realestate/articles/0,15114,433155,00.html 

On a sweltering summer day in 1861, Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson met a fierce Union charge with a pulverizing counterpunch that sent a blue tide of troops, sans weapons, fleeing over a grassy ridge in northern Virginia. The escape route of the first Battle of Bull Run passes the modest colonial-style house of state senator Ken Cuccinelli, a Civil War buff so ardent he ponders how Jackson obtained the legendary lemons he sucked in battle. Now Cuccinelli thinks his property is under siege again, not from marauding Rebs or Yanks, but from soaring property taxes. Outrage over the fiscal bayonets aimed at his home and hearth helped push Cuccinelli into politics as an antitax crusader. "I have Stonewall's fervor," he muses. "I hope I have his troop support."

It seems as though nothing can stop the majestic upward march of housing prices--not the feeble economy, not the looming war with Iraq. But homeowner beware! The frothy market masks a big, creeping problem for the 77 million families who've benefited from swelling prices and bank on more of the same. From New York City, where property taxes just jumped 18.5% in a single year, to tony Los Angeles suburbs, where the tax bill often triples when houses change hands--from sprawling cities to sleepy hamlets--property taxes are rising relentlessly. This powerful, largely overlooked trend could turn the housing miracle as sour as Stonewall's lemons.

 
Ken Cuccinelli: Fairfax County, Virginia
A colonial-style house near the site of the Battle of Bull Run.
Property tax
2000 2003
$2,560 $4,400
Percent increase: 72%

Property taxes are as American as Main Street. They're the levies that fund your local services, from schools to police to parks. Why are property taxes, a.k.a. real estate taxes, jumping? The answer is simple--and scary. In this strange economy, home prices are thriving while almost everything else is hurting. All other sources of revenue, from state aid to sales tax receipts, are flat or falling. But the pressure to keep spending ratcheting upward is enormous. So local governments are heaping more and more of the burden, indeed, their entire budget increases--which, by the way, are big--on the one strong pillar left standing: America's houses. That means this revolution in municipal finance is targeting your ranch or saltbox.

The rub is that the people who own those pillars and porches aren't seeing their incomes grow anywhere near as fast as their tax bills. "In this weak economy, taxes are rising far faster than people's ability to pay them," says Lewis Goodkin, a Miami-based real estate consultant. The danger: People will sell their houses because they can no longer afford the monthly charges, or pay less for a new abode because taxes are so high. Either way, rising property taxes could prove the weight that tips the seesaw, sending prices on a downward slope.

It isn't happening yet, for a fundamental reason--bargain interest rates. Homeowners pay less than 6% on a 30-year mortgage, the best deal in 40 years. For many Americans, interest payments have fallen even more than property taxes have risen. Hence, the total cost of carrying their house, the holy grail for any homeowner, is often actually falling. But let's look forward. The housing market faces two substantial negatives. First, after gaining almost 20% in value in the past three years, America's houses are extremely expensive. They resemble stocks whose P/Es stand far above their historic averages. From those lofty heights, they have little room for strong appreciation and are extremely vulnerable to more bad news--job losses, say, or worse, rising interest rates.

Second, the rates supporting those sterling prices are already so low that they're unlikely to fall much further. In fact, they're more likely to rise as the economy rebounds. Then, watch out! If that happens, the combination of higher taxes and ballooning interest payments will cause a big increase in the cost of owning a home. "So far, the effect of higher property taxes is getting washed out by falling rates," says Mark Zandi, a housing expert at http://www.economy.com/default.asp . "But without the counterbalancing effect of low rates, the power of taxes to drive down property values will become very apparent, very quickly."

Property taxes are no sideshow. The numbers are big--so big that, believe it or not, real estate taxes now rival mortgage payments as the largest expense for homeowners. Last year Americans paid $265 billion in interest on their houses. The bill for property taxes was $205 billion, according to a study of IRS records by Economy.com. So for every dollar homeowners pay in mortgage interest, they send 77 cents to the town tax office, compared with 61 cents in 1988. What's especially disturbing is the powerful pattern of increases. Since 1995 property taxes nationwide have jumped 48%, 30 percentage points more than inflation.

The rampage is happening because property taxes are tied not to homeowners' incomes but to the market prices of their houses. The levies are calculated by applying the town's tax rate to the home's "assessed value," a figure based on the municipality's appraisal of what similar homes are selling for. So if towns hold tax rates at the same level, the tax bills rise at the same pace that houses are gaining in value.

That's precisely what's happening. Towns and cities--which desperately need the money--are bagging a huge windfall from the hot real estate market without facing the political heat of raising tax rates. "It's nirvana for politicians," marvels David Brunori, a municipal-government specialist at George Washington University. "Tax rates stay the same, and the politicians keep getting more money every year. They're never subject to the charge that they 'raised taxes.' " What matters, however, isn't the fuzzy rhetoric but the actual increase in dollars homeowners are paying. Pick cases from across the country, and you'll see that the numbers are shocking.

Continued in the article.


Carl Hubbard forwarded this to help me with my looming problem of high speed access from a remote mountain home.
"A way out of the broadband wilderness," by Paul Rubens, BBC News, March 17, 2003 --- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2856321.stm 

The Holy Grail for web users is an internet connection where pages load almost instantly. For those in rural areas, beyond the reach of standard broadband services, do satellite-based packages deliver what's promised on the tin? Where I live in rural Buckinghamshire there is no chance of getting a fast broadband internet connection using my phone line. My local exchange is not equipped to offer BT's ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) service, which offers an always-on connection and download speeds up to 10 times faster than a normal modem, and is unlikely to do so for years to come.

Like millions of others in the broadband wilderness, the only way I can possibly get fast internet access is by using a satellite-based service, but as the dish, receiver and transmitter required cost thousands of pounds, I resigned myself to the fact that living in the country meant the broadband revolution was going to pass me by.

Working away from the office may bring its own frustrations The irony is that it is precisely those who live outside large towns or cities that need broadband access the most; those who work from home or run a business from a nearby office, and overcome their physical isolation by using the internet.

But now low-cost satellite internet services are springing up, offering broadband speeds for prices broadly similar to ADSL. All that's needed is a small, cheap dish - in some areas an existing satellite television dish can be used without interfering with television reception - and an inexpensive receiver.

There's no need to buy an expensive transmitter because the new services are "one way"; you still need to connect to the internet using a modem to send e-mails or requests for webpages and downloads, but everything coming from the internet is sent to your computer by satellite - e-mails, webpages and downloads are beamed back at speeds as high or higher than ADSL.

Initial excitement

My choices are to connect with Hampshire-based Silvermead for about £195 in equipment and set-up charges plus £24 a month, or Warrington-based SCS Broadband's Jetstream service, which costs about £230 to install and monthly payments of about £36. Both are broadly in line with standard ADSL rates of £25 to £30 a month.

The dream is pages that load fast Once up and running with Silvermead, my download speeds are initially astonishing - a program which would take the best part of an hour to get using a modem can be downloaded in minutes.

So no more envying my ADSL-equipped friends? Sadly not - the first disappointment is that surfing the web is not noticeably faster. Due to latency - the half second or so lag while data is sent up to the satellite and back down - only graphics-intensive web pages or those with multimedia content seem to appear any quicker.

But at least there are the superfast download speeds to enjoy? Only true up to a point, because operating a satellite is expensive and satellites have limited capacity. There's simply no way to offer a satellite broadband service to a large number of people at a price comparable with ADSL without imposing severe limits on the amount of internet traffic that can be received.

JUST HOW LOW CAN IT GO? Data speed can slow as follows: Silvermead: not normally below 256k but may go almost modem speed (64 kbps) SCS Broadband: about three times modem speed (128kbps) While most ADSL customers can receive thousands of megabytes of data at high speeds every day, these satellite broadband services can only guarantee users fast download speeds for about 75 megabytes a day (Silvermead), or 500 megabytes a month (SCS Broadband). After these quotas have been used up, data speeds may slow considerably.

Stephen Craggs, Silvermead's managing director, says slowdowns are unavoidable. "If a user tried to download an 800 megabyte movie it would affect the whole network, so instead of flying though it would slow after a while and take a little longer."

Only option

But Tom Law, a computer networking expert who has tried Silvermead's package, says the slowdowns, if too extreme, completely defeat the purpose of a broadband service.

I experienced speeds at times far lower than a modem connection - that's not acceptable

Tom Law, Silvermead user "People who want broadband expect to be able to download massive amounts of data at high speeds, but after about 75mb of data a day, which I used up rather quickly, I experienced speeds at times far lower than a modem connection. That's not acceptable. Any satellite service offered at a cost comparable to ADSL will always have to have throttling, but if speeds were guaranteed never to drop below 128k, they would still be worthwhile."

For the moment, this is the only way for people like me to get broadband internet access, and while it falls far short of ADSL, it does offer a limited amount of downloading or graphics intensive web browsing at high speeds which were previously unimaginable. It's not ADSL, but it's a start.

In the meantime I'll continue to dream of ADSL coming to my exchange, and look on with envy at those broadband customers of cable operator NTL who are up in arms because they are restricted to downloading 1,000 megabytes a day. I should be so lucky!

Send us your comments:

I cannot get broadband since my house is too far from the exchange and BT have expressed no interest in this problem. Cable internet is out of the question because my street isn't covered, and I can't even enjoy free-to-view digital TV - wrong postcode, apparently. Where is this technological black hole - the Outer Hebrides? Snowdonia? No. Brentwood, 25 minutes from central London. On a main "A" road, no less. Keith Griffiths, Essex, UK

One isn't allowed simple access "just the facts", one has to take the whole bite offered, the webpage complete with unwanted puffery. We need another dimension to be on offer from sites as a first offering. If the facts satisfy the inquiry, then one could click on the fuller version. It's the websites that need to become limited, not the subscribers' access. The solution looks like a two-stage offering: a bare bones bit, then a clickable full course. Joseph H Broyles, US

Continued in the article.


GENETICS STUDY OF BIPOLAR DISORDER MAY HELP PREDICT DISEASE IN KIDS: Parents who have bipolar disorder have good reason to worry that their children's mood swings may be more than adolescent irritability: Up to 24 percent of children of bipolar parents develop the disorder, and about one in four displays some other type of mood disorder. A study of the genetic underpinnings of early onset bipolar disorder may eventually help predict which children of parents with the disease are likely to develop it, allowing earlier, more effective treatment. http://mednews.stanford.edu/news_releases_html/2003/marchrelease/bipolarkids.html 


Todd Boyle's A PETITION for deregulation of financial reporting --- http://www.gldialtone.com/financialDeregulation.htm 

We petition the AICPA, SEC, and Congress of the USA to change the laws governing financial disclosure and reporting by publicly listed companies as follows:

A. REMOVAL OF BARRIERS BLOCKING ACCESS TO INFORMATION.

Insiders should not have better information than stockholders.

1. WEB ACCESS:  publicly listed companies should be required to maintain interactive, electronic interfaces available to the public providing all of today's required interim and annual financial statements and SEC reports.  This website should be required to provide drilldown into details whenever such details or links exist, to support a reported fact. This website should provide appropriate navigation, search, and query tools.

2. MACHINE READABLE:  Information should be published through machine-readable interfaces, as well as human-readable interfaces.  Electronic interfaces (i.e. functions, methods, APIs) should provide all of the drilldown, navigation, search and query capability required under the law (1) above.

3. STANDARDS-BASED TECHNOLOGY:  interfaces should be compliant with vendor-neutral standards for protocols, syntax, and semantics.  To qualify as a "Standard" under this law, would require minimum levels of transparency, vendor-neutrality, and governance of the Standards Organization that publishes the technology standard. 

4. GREATER DETAIL IN DISCLOSURE:  the scope of information required should be expanded to include breakdowns of the numbers reported in audited financial statements into reasonable and meaningful details. Each of those meaningful breakdowns should be further decomposed to disclose individual transactions larger than a material threshhold such as $10,000. 

5. GREATER TIMELINESS OF DISCLOSURE: the scope of information should, furthermore, be expanded to include *all* completed transaction data (including unaudited information) available in the accounting and information systems of the company more than 24 hours old. Transaction data includes orders, invoices, etc. together with any details of the surrounding contract or terms of trade necessary for understanding the transaction entry.

6. LEVELS OF ACCESS:  the level of detail to be provided in these new disclosures should be proportionate to the percentage of ownership plus long term debt held by the requestor of information, and should reach 100 percent of accounting detail for every holder of greater than 3% of the company or $1 million in equity+long term debt, whichever is less.

7. ACCOUNTABILITY:  this proposal would require new categories of interim, unaudited accounting information. New standards should be established to provide reasonable but not excessive, reliability and accountability for this new, interim, unaudited accounting information.


B.  DIGITAL EVIDENCE OF MATERIAL CONTRACTS BY PUBLICLY LISTED COMPANIES

1. DIGITAL SIGNATURE BY BOTH PARTIES:  No sale, purchase or other transaction or contract involving any publicly listed company should be enforceable by the courts in the U.S. or its states, unless that contract is digitally signed by both parties to the contract and if material, maintained for inspection by Owners within the disclosure system in (B) above.

2. MATERIALITY: This provision should apply to contracts, sales, trades etc above a material threshhold such as  $10,000. 

This provision would require agreement upon minimum standards for electronic trade and settlement. The costs of  implementation would be recovered by reductions in downstream bookkeeping, accounting, and settlement that follow from decisions to buy or sell.  Everything after that point determined by contract, would become increasingly automated after any standard is established, benefiting individuals and small companies as well as Enterprise.



C. DEREGULATION OF THE ACCOUNTING INDUSTRY (ENDING OF PROTECTED MONOPOLY)

Government regulation of an information industry is futile.

The public accounting industry has continually grown less competitive, more inefficient, and more costly since the 1930s when mandatory audits began. The industry has effectively maintained barriers to entry or competition, and effectively dictated the kinds of information included in financial reports in a self-serving manner.  In 1930s local data did not exist and CPAs added an enormous additional value.  Today, local information is abundant, and CPAs only limit and modulate the disclosure of that data. 

The entire regulatory burden and reporting standards applied to the largest companies (Big GAAP) is applied to every small CPA and business in the country, and enforced by state regulators. This is an economic injustice to smaller businesses and individuals.

All of these phenomena are relics of an earlier age. Financial information is just like any other information, and government involvement in the information process is destructive and counterproductive.  

1. Licensing requirements for CPAs should be removed. 

2. Owners and investors should freely choose, within a free market, their financial information provider based on objective quality, reputation, and the quality and methodology they apply to financial reports.  Providers highly skilled in data management would be allowed to publish financial statements. 

3. Definitions of terms used in financial statements (GAAP) should be determined solely by Owners and investors, as a matter of contract with their reporting providers or with officers and management. Government enforcement of GAAP terminology promulgated by private, unelected groups of CPAs, should end. Alternative definitions of GAAP should be encouraged, and Owners and investors should take responsibility for understanding them.

4. Software agents and robots should be granted equal rights to the provision of audit and accounting services as human CPAs. Discrimination against robots or software agent audits, failure of management to provide requested information or other obstruction of their function should be prohibited.


Todd Boyle CPA
23 jan 2002 updated 3 Feb 2003

 

In November 1999, the IASC Staff published a discussion paper, Business Reporting on the Internet. The discussion paper was authored by four academics, two from a university in Singapore, one from the UK and one from the USA. http://www.iasc.org.uk/cmt/   Although this paper, and all papers by Accountancy standards bodies and regulators, argued for stronger codes of conduct, it provides an encyclopedic report on the abuses within today's false reporting system.

In January 2000, the US Financial Accounting Standards Board published a steering committee report that addresses issues similar to those covered in the IASC study. The FASB report is available on line: Electronic Distribution of Business Reporting Information (PDF version 302kb). http://accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/fasb/brrp/brrp1.pdf

The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants has published a similar study, and the Auditing & Assurance Standards Board of the Australian Accounting Research Foundation has published an auditing guidance statement on the subject, but these are not available on line.


In the late 18th century the words of an American lawyer, Patrick Henry, helped persuade Congress to pass legislation protecting the public's right to know. "The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."

Bob Jensen's threads on proposed reforms are at  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudProposedReforms.htm 


March 21, 2003 message from Kate Sharp [Kate.Sharp@bristol.ac.uk

Dear Bob,

I am writing to let you know about an extensive new resource that is available on the Biz/ed Web site and was hoping that you could promote it via your mailing list or on your site. The materials, written by Duncan Williamson, are related specifically to ratio analysis so should prove interesting to your audience. I have included further details about the resource below.

Thanks in anticipation,

Kate.

Biz/ed is pleased to introduce a new feature on financial ratios.

Students often find ratio analysis a boring topic, tending to learn them by rote, with little experience of applying them to real-world situations.

Our new section leads learners through the theory of financial ratios.

· Students are encouraged to develop and test their understanding with a series of activities based on real business data. 
· Skills can be honed by accessing data from the profit and loss accounts and balance sheets of 33 business organisations. 
· Two full years of data have been gathered to allow comparisons to be made within the firm, across their industry and over the economy as a whole. · Featured organisations include: easyJet, Vodafone, BAA (British Airports Authority), Sainsbury's and Carphone Warehouse. 
· This resource and the companies used should be of interest to students of Accounting, AVCE, AS/A2, Nuffield and HND Business, as well as some programmes in Leisure and Recreation and Travel and Tourism. · Updated annually, the database will grow into a major resource of financial data.

Go to: http://www.bized.ac.uk/compfact/ratios/ to visit the new section and http://www.bized.ac.uk/cgi-bin/ratios/ratiodata.pl  to check out the database.

-Kate Sharp Biz/ed Service Manager, 
SWAD Europe and SWARA Project Manager 
University of Bristol, 8-10, Berkeley Square, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 1HH 
Tel: 0117 9287189 Fax: 0117 9287112

http://www.bized.ac.uk       http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/Europe/ 

Kate.Sharp@bristol.ac.uk 


Cowboy Photographer: Erwin E. Smith --- http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/ 


Detroit Publishing Company Online Exhibit: Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village --- http://www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/dpc/ 


Dittrick Medical History Center --- http://www.cwru.edu/artsci/dittrick/home.htm 


John Donne (metaphysics, poetry, philosophy) --- http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/ 

Civil Rights Oral History Interviews: Spokane, Washington [Real Player] http://www.wsulibs.wsu.edu/holland/masc/xcivilrights.html 

Bob Jensen's threads on art and history museums are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#History 


And the Oscar Goes to... Online Advertisers There's nothing like a high-profile event to get online marketers thinking creatively. http://www.clickz.com/media/media_buy/article.php/2117931 

Bob Jensen's marketing and advertising bookmarks are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#Marketing 


"Hackers evolve from pranksters into profiteers," by Jon Swartz USA TODAY, March 16, 2003 --- http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/computersecurity/2003-03-16-hacking_x.htm 

SAN FRANCISCO — Computer identity theft has long been a fast-growing cybercrime. But increasingly, hackers are seeking profit rather than just fun.

Complaints of Internet-related identity theft tripled to 1,000 last year, says the Federal Trade Commission. While that still accounts for a only fraction of the 160,000 nationwide reports of identity theft, the growth is alarming as more consumers put credit card and other financial data online

"It's the perfect crime of the information age," says Rich Stana, of the General Accounting Office. "The Internet gives identity thieves multiple opportunities to steal personal identifiers and gain access to financial data."

The biggest break-ins came last month, when computer intruders accessed more than 10 million Visa, MasterCard and American Express credit card account numbers from the computer system of a third-party payment company. No theft occurred.

Also last month, a computer-science student allegedly hacked a University of Texas database and swiped the Social Security numbers of more than 55,000 students, employees and former students, county prosecutors said. Authorities last week charged Christopher Andrew Phillips, 20, with unlawful access to a protected computer and unlawful use of a means of identification. Phillips told officials he had no intention of using the information to harm anyone, according to court papers.

But in two other high-profile cases, hackers did use the information to access funds:

The two men, an unemployed computer software developer and a businessman, allegedly got the passwords by using software to determine what keystrokes a previous PC user used. They allegedly snooped on about 100 computers at 13 Tokyo-area cybercafes last year. The software was downloaded from the Internet.

Such ID thefts have prompted financial institutions to fortify their computer systems with millions of dollars in security software and shore up computer security among employees, security experts say.

The Justice Department, meanwhile, is encouraging banks that are victims of computer crimes to be more forthcoming with details to aid authorities in the arrest and prosecution of hackers.

Continued in the article.

Bob Jensen's threads on identity theft are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#IdentityTheft 


Dangers of toting that barge and lifting that bale!

"Fears Mount Over Dangers Of Hoisting Heavy Weights," by Kevin Helliker, The Wall Street Journal, March 13, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB104749793770323300,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fpersonaljnl%5Fhs 

As a fitness trainer and health fanatic, Michael Logan knew that weight lifting could strengthen his bones and protect his heart.

What he didn't know was that it could be lethal. Mr. Logan had a bulge in his primary artery, the aorta. Knowledge of that bulge, or aneurysm, would have prompted doctors to allow only light-weight lifting. But like the vast majority of people with aneurysms, Mr. Logan didn't know he had one.

So he continued heavy-weight lifting -- until an aortic aneurysm killed him last June at age 46. "It's very surprising that something he did for his health might have hurt him," says Mike Logan, the late Chicago trainer's son.

In a nation obsessed with looks and fitness, weight lifting is the latest workout craze. Recent studies have shown that lifting can lower blood pressure, combat diabetes and strengthen bones. Bookstore shelves are teeming with new fitness tomes touting weight lifting. Over the three years ended in 2001, participation in weight lifting in the U.S. has risen 12% -- while aerobic exercise declined 2%, according to American.

Now, however, a small but growing number of researchers are raising concerns about the safety of lifting heavy weights. Such lifting can trigger strokes and aneurysms, and perhaps even cause a highly fatal arterial disease called dissection, believe doctors at prominent health centers such as Yale University School of Medicine and the Stanford University Medical Center.

Aneurysms alone kill 32,000 Americans a year, making them as big a killer as prostate cancer, and a more common killer than brain cancer or AIDS. Especially vulnerable to aneurysm and other arterial conditions are senior citizens -- a group that has been urged to take advantage of the bone-strengthening effects of weight lifting.

Aneurysm experts express little concern about moderate to light-weight lifting. Some define light as an amount that can be lifted 60 times, in four sets of 15. A leading aneurysm research and surgeon, John Elefteriades of the Yale University School of Medicine, recommends that people over 40 years old bench-press no more than half their body weight. Equally important is breathing regularly during exercise to minimize spikes in blood pressure.

Aneurysms aren't the only concern for heavy-weight lifters. Vascular experts say it can induce stroke, as well as dissection, in which the inner lining of the aortic artery separates from the outer walls.

Continued in the article.


Top Online Brokers, Barron's, March 10, 2003, Page 24
STAR POWER

Our first-ever 4-1/2-star rating goes to optionsXpress, with seven other brokers getting strong four-star scores.  Check also the scores in categories most important to you.

Broker Trade
Execution
Ease of
Use
Range of
Offerings
Research
Amenities
Reports and
Customer
Access
Costs Weighted
Total
Star
Rating
optionsXpress 4.8 4.3 4.5 4.6 4.1 4.0 26.5 ****1/2
TradeStation 5.0 4.0 3.9 4.5 4.0 4.5 25.9 ****
Terra Nova 4.8 3.8 3.8 3.8 4.6 4.0 25.2 ****
Ameritrade Apex 4.0 4.5 3.7 4.6 4.1 3.3 24.6 ****
Wall St.*E 4.5 3.0 4.8 3.4 4.2 4.5 24.3 ****
Wall St. Access 3.7 4.5 4.8 3.9 3.3 3.0 23.5 ****
SieberNet 3.8 4.2 3.6 4.1 4.2 3.0 23.4 ****
CyBerTrader 4.7 4.0 2.5 4.2 3.9 3.5 23.2 ****
E*Trade (Power) 3.4 3.0 4.2 4.2 4.3 3.1 22.6 ***1/2
Harrisdirect 3.6 3.5 4.5 4.4 3.7 1.9 22.5 ***1/2
Fidelity 3.4 3.5 4.3 3.7 4.4 2.0 22.3 ***1/2
Charles Schwab 3.4 3.7 4.1 4.4 4.2 0.4 21.9 ***1/2
Scottrade 3.8 3.8 3.5 3.7 3.2 4.0 21.8 ***1/2
E*Trade (Standard) 2.5 4.0 4.0 4.2 4.4 1.6 21.6 ***1/2
Interactive Brokers 4.3 3.7 3.0 2.7 3.3 4.9 21.4 ***1/2
Preferred Trade 4.8 3.7 3.4 2.4 3.1 3.9 21.3 ***1/2
myTrack 4.0 3.5 3.2 3.6 3.5 3.0 21.2 ***1/2
MB Trading 4.3 3.6 3.3 2.7 3.5 3.5 21.1 ***1/2
TD Waterhouse 3.0 3.0 4.6 3.4 3.7 3.1 20.9 ***1/2
Brown & Co. 2.7 2.5 3.3 2.6 2.6 5.0 17.5 ***
Brokerage America 1.7 3.5 3.1 3.0 2.6 5.0 17.5 ***
JB Oxford 3.1 2.5 3.5 2.0 2.7 3.4 17.0 ***
Vanguard 2.7 3.1 2.8 2.4 3.3 1.4 16.5 **1/2
Merrill Lynch Direct 2.2 2.7 3.0 3.8 3.0 0.7 16.4 **1/2
American Express 2.9 3.7 2.3 3.0 1.8 2.2 16.0 **1/2
Strong Funds 1.4 3.6 2.5 3.1 2.7 2.8 15.7 **
Firstrade 2.2 2.5 2.6 2.5 2.5 3.8 15.4 **
Quick & Reilly 2.2 2.4 3.3 3.2 2.4 1.3 15.3 **

 

Two of Bob Jensen's document for helping investors are as follows:

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm 

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fees.htm 


Small Business Helpers from the Journal of Accountancy, March 2003, Page 23 --- 

Survival Tips
home3.americanexpress.com/smallbusiness/tool/security/protect.asp
This page of the American Express Web site offers small business owners articles such as “Protect Your Business: Stop Fraud Before It Starts,” as well as quizzes on security risk including “Are You Vulnerable to Fraud and Theft?” Other resources provide guidance on running a small business with tips on creating effective financial controls and guarding intellectual property.

Resources for Entrepreneurs
www.sbaer.uca.edu
For CPAs looking to start their own business or expand the services they currently offer, the Small Business Advancement National Center page of the University of Central Arkansas Web site features sections such as Counseling and Consulting, Research and Dissemination, Strategic Alliances, and Training and Education. The center also provides a free e-mail newsletter and links to information on effective Web marketing.

Advice from the Advisor
www.isquare.com
The Small Business Advisor’s Web site offers CPA firm owners a free electronic newsletter that gives Internet tips and tricks, and marketing, sales and software assistance. Visitors can read up on legal issues and starting or selling a business. The site also includes a section on tax advice and answers to frequently asked questions.

Government Links for Businesses
www.business.gov
The U.S. Business Advisor’s goal is to “make the relationship between business and government more productive.” It helps do that by “providing one-stop access to federal government information, services and transactions” on its Web site. Links to government Web pages also offer input on business development, financial assistance, international trade, taxes and workplace issues.

Small Business Links
www.bizmove.com
CPAs who wish to enhance their existing Web presence will want to surf this Web site—“the small business knowledge base.” A free subscription to its e-zine, BizTips, includes a download of the e-book 101 Tips and Strategies to Small Business Success. Users also can link to applications for free government grants and business plan templates.

Online Business Information
smallbusiness.yahoo.com
This section of Yahoo includes links to assist small business owners in finding online resources for creating a Web presence and managing and promoting their businesses. CPAs also can link to articles on business incorporation and financing, such as “How Attention to Safety Can Boost Your Profits” and “Is It Better to Lease or Buy Equipment?” This site also offers information on business, marketing and planning a Web strategy.

EP Phone (From) Home
www.en-parent.com
For entrepreneurial parents (EPs) working from home, this Web site aims to help “EPs make a living and a life.” The site features topical articles such as “Six Ways to Work-Family Balance” and “The Top Ten FAQs About Starting a Business.” It also includes links to administrative, entrepreneurial and home business Web sites.

Bob Jensen's small business links are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#SmallBusiness 


THE MP3 ADVENTURE, The Wall Street Journal, March 14, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/page/0,,2_1001,00.html 

In a five-part series, Jason Fry recounted his foray into the world of digital music. Plus, see an animated overview of Jason's project.


Update on Financial Instruments Derivatives in Risk Management and Accounting

Question:  How should Southwest Airlines account for these derivatives?
"Trying to Make Fuel Prices Less of a Wartime Gamble," by Daniel Altman, The New York Times, March 23, 2003 --- http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/business/yourmoney/23HEDG.html 

Now that the war in Iraq has begun, oil prices could go $10 a barrel higher — or lower — by this time next month. How can a company that uses a lot of oil or its byproducts protect itself?

Because the risks run in both directions, businesses in several industries face a complex task: guarding against a price spike while staying open to the benefits of falling prices.

The companies' methods run the gamut. Some have been actively hedging, using complex financial instruments, while others have preferred to manage fuel inventories or pass along costs to consumers.

Last September, Southwest Airlines decided to prepare for the possibility of war in the Persian Gulf. The company bought financial derivatives to ensure that it would never pay much more than 70 cents a gallon for jet fuel — the equivalent of a bit more than $23 for a barrel of crude oil, compared with the price of $28.80 today — for its fuel supply this quarter. More than 75 percent of its fuel needs for the remainder of 2003 and all of 2004 are similarly protected, and some of its hedges extend all the way to 2008.

Southwest's hedges mostly take the form of common but sophisticated derivatives called collars and swaps, said Gary C. Kelly, the airline's chief financial officer. In the near term, about two-thirds of the derivatives are based on prices for heating oil, which follow rates for jet fuel more closely than those for crude oil.

The cost of price protection amounts to about 1 or 2 cents for each gallon of jet fuel, Mr. Kelly said. With jet fuel being traded for more than $1 a gallon lately, he added, "it's obviously a very substantial saving."

Southwest, though, may be the exception rather than the rule.

"It varies tremendously from firm to firm," said Edward N. Krapels, an expert on risk management at Energy Security Analysis, a research firm in Wakefield, Mass. "In the airline industry, you'll find some who are quite aggressive hedgers, and others who are not."

Mr. Krapels said some companies might have become wary of hedging after buying derivatives to protect themselves, only to find that oil prices would fall. In the Persian Gulf war of 1991, for example, the sudden drop in prices that accompanied the build-up of coalition forces and their early victories took many companies by surprise.

As a result, Mr. Krapels explained, "most large consumers are underhedged, with some very significant exceptions." He added, "The impact of an oil price increase on these guys will be very significant."

Companies that routinely engage in hedging tend to be in the middle of the petroleum supply chain, said Neal L. Wolkoff, the chief operating officer of the New York Mercantile Exchange, where energy derivatives are traded. "The greatest participation tends not to be from the ultimate consumer," he said. "It's more either merchants and refiners or integrated oil companies."

The Valero Energy Corporation, a top refiner, contracts in advance for cargoes of oil from China, Russia and other countries. The company uses simple mechanisms to guarantee oil prices into the near future. Because of the uncertainty about oil prices in the next few months, Valero has tried to insure itself in case market rates fall below those in its long-term contracts.

"We are concerned that prices are going to fall off after this whole Iraqi thing is resolved, so any extra barrels we have, we hedge them," said Gene Edwards, Valero's senior vice president for supply and trading.

 
ATHER than buying options to sell oil at fixed prices, as protection against prices falling, Valero sells future contracts for oil. For example, it might buy oil at $35 a barrel today and promise to sell oil at $32 a barrel next month. If the price of oil next month falls below $32, then Valero can buy oil from the market and sell it at a profit.

Mr. Edwards said that investment banks often approach Valero with more complicated derivatives, but that the futures generally offer a less expensive solution.

In addition to buying and selling futures, Valero has been engaging in a more tangible form of hedging — limiting its own stocks of oil so it can take advantage of prices if they fall. "You try to keep inventories low, because you don't want to be sitting on extra barrels," Mr. Edwards said.

That kind of activity has kept volume on the New York Mercantile Exchange near normal levels, Mr. Wolkoff said. "A lot of companies are, in effect, hedging through their physical business," he said. "That means there appears to be a reticence to hold inventory. That's one way of hedging, simply by reducing your exposure."

Some companies that use a lot of fuel have an even simpler way of dealing with high and low prices. The Roadway Corporation, the trucking-line operator, passes along the high cost of fuel to customers through a surcharge. Each week, the company updates the surcharge automatically, using the Energy Department's diesel price index.

"It makes fuel a pass-through for us," said John M. Hyre, a spokesman for Roadway. "We don't benefit by it, and we're not negatively impacted by it. We do have concern for the impact that rising fuel costs have on our customers, though."

The company can benefit, however, when fuel prices drop steeply. "If we encounter good pricing, we will work on getting long-term contracts under that good pricing," Mr. Hyre said.

If the war in Iraq does not go as the Pentagon has planned, any sudden spike in oil prices could have the harshest effects on some people who have little use for petroleum products, except on the drive to work. Hedge-fund managers and other speculators who sell financial protection to companies like Valero could be at risk, Mr. Krapels said.

"If the war goes badly, and the oil price goes significantly higher than it is today, how well can the people who took the short side of that bet withstand it?" he asked. "There could be some very big credit exposures." 

How FAS 133 Cost Sears $270 Million
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm#Sears
 

The dangers of derivatives abuse and the excessive amounts of derivatives now in the markets --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#DerivativesFraud 

Bob Jensen's tutorials (including audio and video) derivatives, FAS 133, and IAS 39 are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 


Stock Options
If the FASB and the IASB require expensing of stock options when vested rather than exercised, it will have really adverse effects on the bottom lines of some companies who rely heavily upon employee stock options for compensation.  This is why the U.S. House and Senate are already gearing up for a fight with the FASB and possibly SEC due to heavy lobbying pressures.  In the March 31, 2003 issue of Barron's on Page 28, the following sample impacts are provided:

Adjusting Earnings for Options

 »Earnings of major tech companies are well below reported levels when adjusted for option grants to employees. Options will become a big issue next year when companies likely will be forced to record them as an expense. Some companies, like Microsoft, are reducing option grants, helping shareholders.

Company Microsoft Intel IBM Cisco Oracle Applied
Materials
EMC Hewlett-Packard Texas
Instruments
Recent Stock Price $25.04 17.58 81.45 13.5 11.36 13.5 7.16 16.44 17.75
2002 Earnings* $0.92 0.51 3.95 0.39 0.41 0.19 -0.05 0.79 0.22
Option-adjusted'02 Profits* $0.71 0.34 3.28 0.19 0.33 0 -0.22 0.48 -0.01
2002 P/E Ratio 27.2 34.5 20.6 34.6 27.7 67.5 NM 20.8 80.7
2002 Option-adjusted P/E 35.3 51.7 24.8 71.1 34.4 NM NM 34.3 NM
2002 Options Grant (mil) 82 174 60 282 63 9 52 66 37
Options Grant Relative to Shares Outstanding 0.8% 2.6 3.5 3.8 1.2 0.5 2.4 2.2 2.1
Options Issuance Trend ä ä ã ä ä ä ä ã ã
*2002 Fiscal Year.    NM-Not meaningful.                                                                                                  Sources: Company reports; Thomson/Baseline

 

Note that adjustments for many more companies are available in the "Core Earnings" revisions from Standard and Poors at http://www2.standardandpoors.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=sp/Page/PressSpecialCoveragePg&b=5&r=1&s=3&ig=1026841911315 
I also created the shorter URL --- http://snurl.com/CoreEarnings 

In response to growing concern about companies earnings reports, Standard & Poor’s has introduced a new methodology called “Standard & Poor’s Core Earnings.” The ultimate goal is to lead investors and analysts to a consensus on earnings calculations, and bring more transparency and consistency to earnings analysis and forecasts.

Bob Jensen's threads on these this controversy can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory/sfas123/jensen01.htm 


March 30 message from Ira Kawaller

Hi Bob,

I’m using a new product called the AccuCard Service to keep my address book up-to-date. I would appreciate it if you would take a moment to review your contact information and make corrections if necessary.

Ira

The CardScan.net service is at https://www.cardscan.net 


Another coffin nail for the Efficient Market Hypothesis

From Jim Mahar, TheFinanceProfessor on March 24, 2003

It is always interesting to see what happened when two theories clash. For instance, I am largely a backer of the EMH (efficient market hypothesis) which would suggest that mutual fund managers can not do better than that the index and that overall all fund managers are about as good as any other. However, more than I believe EMH, I am sure that incentives are critical and that if you pay people to do something, it usually will happen. So it was with great anticipation that I read the forthcoming article by Elton, Gruber, and Blake in the Journal of Finance (JF). The authors study whether mutual funds where managers have an incentive pay system do better than those without. And they find that yes incentives do seem to lead to better performance. (Prediction, within the year, many more mutual funds will change their incentive structure, as of now less than 2% of funds reward their mangers with incentive pay plans. http://www.afajof.org/Pdf/forthcoming/april23.pdf

Another chink in the EMH hypothesis. A paper by Coval, Hishleifer, and Shumway finds that a significant proportion of investors did beat the market for the 1990 to 1996. Moreover, the top 10% did so by am amazing 15 basis points per DAY! (There are 100 basis points per percent). READ IT! http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=364000

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/business/1830496


A rights issue is a way a firm can raise new money. Typically the firm gives rights (think of them as coupons) to existing shareholders. The rights (coupons) give the holder the right to purchase new shares at a discount. Typically these rights can be sold if the investor does not want to invest more money in the firm. This week’s French Telecom provides a good example. The firm is hoping to raise 15 b Euro. In order to do so, they are offering new shares via a rights issue at a greater than 25% discount to the previous closing stock price.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,4501-622099,00.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2880159.stm


Is the US market overvalued? (See the next story for the perspective of others). That is what Reinker and Tower try to determine by comparing expected returns for US firms with those of other nations. Their finding, which rests on the Gordon dividend growth model, suggests that it is and that international investments may earn higher returns going forward. Of course, this is no guarantee, but it is an interesting paper none-the-less.

http://www.econ.duke.edu/Papers/Other/Tower/Equity_Returns.pdf


Poor returns in stocks, low interest rates, and overly optimistic expectations have created problems for many retirees who are finding that they may not have enough money to maintain their desired lifestyle. Two solutions: gong back to work, and reverse mortgages.

http://www.nytimes.com/business/retirement/?8isc

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/18/business/retirement/18KILB.html

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/030324/bizrates_retirees_1.html

 


It's tempting to jump in the market now in anticipation that stock prices will soar if and when the U.S. and Iraq stop shooting at each other.
Think again.  Maybe TIAA isn't such a bad thing these days!

While they may have missed out on the biggest weekday rally in 20 years, both Bill Gross (the head of Pimco’s total return fund) and Warren Buffett spoke recently on the investment environment and each believes that prices of US stocks are still too high. . http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/030316/finance_gross_1.html 

One reason why Buffett may be such a good investor is that many people copy his stock picks. So since you may want to as well, here they are: http://www.forbes.com/2003/03/17/cz_mm_0317sf.html 

The best investment advice I can give is to not seek investment advice from Bob Jensen.  However, you may be interested in Buffett's portfolio.

His eagerly awaited year-end reports are available at http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2002pdf.pdf 


Bureau of Economic Analysis --- http://www.bea.gov/

Banking and interest rate data:  Econmagic.com --- http://www.economagic.com/

Bob Jensen's bookmarks to economic statistics --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#EconStatistics 

United States Gross Domestic Product (GDP) --- http://www.forecasts.org/gdp.htm 


"Study Questions Net Sales Tax Payoff," by Brian Krebs, The Washington Post,  March 13, 2003 --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21580-2003Mar13.html 

States battling historic budget deficits can expect to collect far less money from Internet sales taxes than previously estimated, according to the first major study in 18 months on potential revenues from taxing e-commerce.

The study, conducted by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), said that the amount of uncollected taxes on e-commerce would be $3.2 billion by 2006, far lower than the $45 billion projected in an often-cited 2001 study by two University of Tennessee professors.

DMA President Robert Wientzen said the new study shows there will be "no pot of gold" for states trying to change the nation's tax laws to make it easier to collect Internet sales taxes.

The DMA is an industry group that represents the nation's largest mail-order catalog companies, which are subject to the same tax rules as online sellers. It was joined today by other opponents of mandatory online sales taxes, including auction giant eBay, travel site Orbitz and the Information Technology Association of America.

The report comes as three-dozen states are planning to simplify their sales tax systems in a bid to convince Congress to make tax collection mandatory on all Internet sales. Online merchants now are required to charge sales taxes only if the buyer lives in a state where the seller maintains a physical location, such as a store or warehouse.

The states have long complained that growing e-commerce sales would steal business from "bricks-and-mortar" stores where sales taxes are already collected in 45 states. Supporters of taxing all Internet sales have used the University of Tennessee study's $45 billion figure as a key point in their argument.

Both studies likely will be cited in arguments for and against collecting Internet sales taxes, and the groups backing them already maintain that the other has fundamental flaws.

Continued in the article


Jazz music and slide show --- http://www.rondavisson.com/ 


PictoPlasma for Children (Animation, Art, Design) --- http://www.pictoplasma.com/ 


What are the odds that smokers will get cancer?  These may be surprising.
This an other information can be found at the Sloan-Kettering site at http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/44.cfm 


Gravely Gorgeous from the Cornell University Art Museum (Art History, grotesque architectural ornaments) --- http://cidc.library.cornell.edu/adw/gravely.html 


Ben's Guide to U.S. Government for Kids (Education, Children) --- http://bensguide.gpo.gov/ 


Spare Me!
Weight Watchers Recipe Cards, Circa 1974 --- http://www.poundy.com/wwcards.html 


For Father to Know Best (Divorce, Parenting, Legal Information) --- www.fathersworld.com 


Erwin E. Smith (1886-1947) (Cowboy History) --- http://www.cartermuseum.org/collections/smith/


Clothing designer Benetton plans to weave radio frequency ID chips into its garment tags. While Benetton is poised to save money by tracking the clothes with RFID, it could also mean a loss of customers' privacy --- http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,58006,00.html 


Forwarded by Debbie Bowling:  Where's the beef?
"Barbecue Fumes Adding to Haze," iwon News, March 18, 2003 --- http://news1.iwon.com/odd/article/id/310311|oddlyenough|03-18-2003::09:04|reuters.html 

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texans like to say that they live and breathe barbecue -- which may be one of the reasons why the air is so bad in Houston, the state's so-called barbecue capital. According to a study from scientists at Rice University in the city, microscopic bits of polyunsaturated fatty acids released into the atmosphere from cooking meat on backyard barbecues are helping to foul the air in Houston.

The city at times registers levels that rank it as one of the more polluted U.S. urban areas in terms of air quality.

Matthew Fraser, an assistant professor in civil and environmental engineering at Rice who led the study, said he was measuring eight different sources of organic particulate matter in the atmosphere, coming from items such as burning gasoline.

"Meat turned out to be a somewhat important source of the atmospheric fine particles in the urban area in Houston," Fraser said.

Fraser said the percentage of particles in the atmosphere from cooking meat as a part of the overall level of airborne pollutants was in the single digits.

Continued in the article.


Better Get U.S. Homland Security to Go Undercover on This One
A Princeton University researcher has discovered a secret about microbes the science world overlooked. Bacteria are communicating with each other -- and plotting against us.
'Bacteria Whisper," Wired Magazine, April 2003 --- http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.04/quorum.html 


Congress cracks down on P2P porn --- http://news.com.com/2100-1028-992371.html?tag=fd_top 

The U.S. Congress is targeting peer-to-peer networks again--and this time politicians aren't fretting over music and software piracy.

A pair of government reports scheduled to be released at a hearing on Thursday warn that file-swapping networks are exploding with pornography--much of which is legal, and some of which is not.

Searching for words such as "preteen," "underage" and "incest" on the Kazaa network resulted in a slew of images that qualify as child pornography, the General Accounting Office said in a 37-page report, one of two obtained by CNET News.com. The second report, prepared by staff from the House Government Reform Committee, concluded that current blocking technology has "no, or limited, ability to block access to pornography via file-sharing programs."


EDUCAUSE Review
MARCH/APRIL 2003
Volume 38, Number 2

FEATURES

"Poised between Two Worlds: The University as Monastery and

Marketplace"
by NANCY CANTOR and STEVEN SCHOMBERG
Technology has an optimal role to play in stimulating vibrant exchange and keeping the university poised between the traditional monastery world of careful reflection and the modern marketplace world of dynamic give-and-take. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0320.pdf

"Delivering Value by Preserving Values: An Interview withDouglas Van Houweling"
"We need to always remember and question the core values that have sustained us in higher education and discover how those values can be applied in new ways to help us continue to advance society, to add value." http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0321.pdf

"Expanding the Concept of Literacy"
by ELIZABETH DALEY
Those who are truly literate in the twenty-first century will be fluent in the language of multimedia: students today need to be taught to write for the screen and analyze multimedia just as much as, if not more than, they need to be taught to write and analyze any specific genre in text. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0322.pdf

BOOK EXCERPT

"Getting beyond Budget Dust to Sustainable Models for Funding Information Technology"
by DAVID L. SMALLEN and JACK MCCREDIE
From Polley A. McClure, ed., "Organizing and Managing Information Resources on Your Campus" http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0323.pdf

DEPARTMENTS

techwatch
Information Technology in the News http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0324.pdf

Leadership
"Childhood's End?"
by RICHARD N. KATZ http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0325.pdf

E-Content
"Librarians and Publishers as Collaborators and Competitors"
by RICHARD E. LUCIER http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0326.pdf

New Horizons

"Digital Asset Management Systems"
by JAMES L. HILTON http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0327.pdf

policy@edu
"Looking to Spectrum for Network Utopia"
by DEWAYNE HENDRICKS http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0328.pdf

Viewpoints
"Putting Another 'E' in ERP?"

by JOHN D. LAWSON http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0329.pdf

Homepage
"The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace"
by MARK A. LUKER http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm03210.pdf

 




A picture from the past!

In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If we break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


by John McCrae

Why does the United States always want to take more land?
When in England at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying that, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return."
Forwarded by Barbara Hessel


And to return the favor for U.S. aid such as the Marshall Plan and for help in liberating France, the French are now providing free pretzels for President Bush --- http://www.bretzelforbush.com/ 
This is a French Website that bemoans the fact that President Bush did not die when he choked on a pretzel in January 2002.


From PBS:  The Perilous Fight: America's World War II in Color --- http://www.pbs.org/perilousfight/ 
(Includes the Battlefield, Psychology of War, The Home Front, Social Aspects, WW II Timeline, etc.)


Battle Hymn of the Republic:  Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory 


The Navy Hymn

Eternal Father, strong to save
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave
Who bids the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep
Oh, hear us when we cry to thee
For those in peril on the sea!


Forwarded by Cindy Lara

This is an emotional, yet memorable site --- http://getthenews.net/911/  
cl 


Forwarded by Auntie Bev
(The  fortieth sounded familiar.)

THE CLASS REUNION

Every ten years, as summertime nears, An announcement arrives in the mail, A reunion is planned; it'll be really grand; Make plans to attend without fail.

I'll never forget the first time we met; We tried so hard to impress. We drove fancy cars, smoked big cigars, And wore our most elegant dress.

It was quite an affair; the whole class was there. It was held at a fancy hotel. We wined, and we dined, and we acted refined, And everyone thought it was swell.

The men all conversed about who had been first To achieve great fortune and fame. Meanwhile, their spouses described their fine houses And how beautiful their children became.

The homecoming queen, who once had been lean, Now weighed in at one-ninety-six. The jocks who were there had all lost their hair, And the cheerleaders could no longer do kicks.

No one had heard about the class nerd Who'd guided a spacecraft to the moon; Or poor little Jane, who's always been plain; She married a shipping tycoon.

The boy we'd decreed "most apt to succeed" Was serving ten years in the pen, While the one voted "least" now was a priest; Just shows you can be wrong now and then.

They awarded a prize to one of the guys Who seemed to have aged the least. Another was given to the grad who had driven The farthest to attend the feast.

They took a class picture, a curious mixture Of beehives, crew cuts and wide ties. Tall, short, or skinny, the style was the mini; You never saw so many thighs.

At our next get-together, no one cared whether They impressed their classmates or not. The mood was informal, a whole lot more normal; By this time we'd all gone to pot.

It was held out-of-doors, at the lake shores; We ate hamburgers, coleslaw, and beans. Then most of us lay around in the shade, In our comfortable T-shirts and jeans.

By the fortieth year, it was abundantly clear, We were definitely over the hill. Those who weren't dead had to crawl out of bed, And be home in time for their pill.

And now I can't wait; they've set the date; Our fiftieth is coming, I'm told. It should be a ball, they've rented a hall At the Shady Rest Home for the old.

Repairs have been made on my hearing aid; My pacemaker's been turned up on high. My wheelchair is oiled, and my teeth have been boiled; And I've bought a new wig and glass eye.

I'm feeling quite hearty, and I'm ready to party I'm gonna dance 'til dawn's early light. It'll be lots of fun; But I just hope that there's one Other person who can make it that night.

Author Unknown


Forwarded by Dick Haar

Man tells his doctor he’s unable to do all the things around the house that he used to do. After the exam, he says, “Now, doc, I can take it. Tell me in plain English what the hell’s wrong with me.”

“In layman’s terms, you’re lazy,” says the doctor.

“OK. Now give me a medical term, so I can tell my wife


Forwarded by Bob Overn

The Pentagon recently unveiled its new super computer to the top brass. This fantastic device, capable of making bazillions of decisions in split nanoseconds, is designed to solve all military problems with the greatest of ease. 

To test its capabilities, the brass poses a tactical problem to it and then asks for a decision, "Attack or Retreat?"

The computer hums a bit, blinks a myriad of lights and answers, "Yes."

The brass, somewhat confused by this answer, replies, "Yes what?"

The computer instantly replies, "Yes, sir!"


Forwarded by Tony Digiovanni

These three Texans go down to Mexico one night, get drunk, and wake up in jail only to find out that they are to be executed in the morning, though none of them can remember what they did the night before.

The first one is strapped in the electric chair and is asked if he has any last words. He says, "I am from the Baylor school of divinity and I believe in the almighty power of God to intervene on behalf of the innocent." They throw the switch and nothing happens, so they figure God must not want this guy to die and they let him go.

The second one is strapped in and gives his last words, "I am from the University of Texas School of Law and I believe in the power of justice to intervene on the part of the innocent." They throw the switch and again nothing happens. They figure that the law is on this guy's side, so they let him go too.

The last one is strapped in and says, "Well, I'm a Texas Aggie Electrical Engineer, and I'll tell you right now you ain't gonna electrocute nobody if you don't connect them two wires."


Forwarded by Bob Overn

A man appears before the Pearly Gates. "Have you ever done anything of particular merit?" St. Peter asks.

"Well, I can think of one thing," the man offers.

"Once I came upon a gang of high-testosterone bikers who were threatening a young woman. I directed them to leave her alone, but they wouldn't listen. So I approached the largest and most heavily tattooed biker. I smacked him on the head, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring and threw it on the ground, then told him, 'Leave her alone now or you'll answer to me.'"

St. Peter was impressed. "When did this happen?"

"A couple of minutes ago."


Forwarded by Bob Overn

My mom is a less than fastidious housekeeper.

One evening my dad returned home from work, walked into the kitchen and teased her, "You know, dear, I can write my name in the dust on the mantel."

Mom turned to him and sweetly replied, "Yes, darling, I know. That's why I married a college graduate."


Forwarded by Team Carper

You Think A Gallon Of Gas Is Expensive
 
These comparisons makes one think, and puts things in perspective.

Diet Snapple (16 oz) $1.29 ............ $10.32 per gallon
Lipton Ice Tea (16 oz) $1.19 ......... $9.52 per gallon
Gatorade (20 oz) $1.59 ..................$10.17 per gallon
Ocean Spray (16 oz) $1.25 ............$10.00 per gallon
Brake Fluid (12 oz) $3.15 ..............$33.60 per gallon
Vick's Nyquil (6 oz) $8.35 .............$178.13 per gallon
Pepto Bismol (4 oz) $3.85 ............ $123.20 per gallon
Whiteout (7 oz) $1.39 ................... $25.42 per gallon
Scope (1.5 oz) $0.99 . ...................$84.48 per gallon
This is the REAL KICKER..............
Evian water (9 oz) $1.49 ............... $21.19 per gallon.
$21.19 FOR WATER! ....and the buyers don't even know the source.
So, the next time you're at the pump, be glad your car doesn't run on
water, Scope, or Whiteout; or Nyquil; or Pepto Bismol; or Water!

Forwarded by Auntie Bev

Notice to people who visit my home. 

1. The dog lives here...you don't.

2. If you don't want dog hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture.

3. Yes, he has some disgusting habits. So do I and so do you. What's your point?

4. OF COURSE he smells like a dog.

5. It's his nature to try to sniff your crotch. Please feel free to sniff his.

6. I like him a lot better than I like most people.

7. To you he's a dog. To me he's an adopted son, who is short, hairy, walks on all fours, doesn't speak clearly, and hates cats. I have no problem with any of these things.

8. Dogs are better than kids: they eat less, don't ask for money all the time, are easier to train, usually come when called, never drive your car, don't hang out with drug using friends, don't smoke or drink, don't worry about whether they have the latest fashions, don't wear your clothes, don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and if they get pregnant you can sell the pups.


Forwarded by Team Carper

Grandmothers

What is a grandmother? ( taken from papers written by a class of 8 year olds)

A grandmother is a lady who has no little children of her own. She likes other people's.

A grandfather is a man grandmother.

Grandmothers don't have to do anything except be there when we come to see them.

They are so old they shouldn't play hard or run.

It is good if they drive us to the store and have lots of quarters for us.

When they take us for walks, they slow down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars.

They show us and talk to us about the color of the flowers and also don't step on "cracks."

They don't say, "Hurry up."

Usually grandmothers are fat, but not too fat to tie your shoes.

They wear glasses and funny underwear.

They can take their teeth and gums out.

Grandmothers don't have to be smart. They have to answer questions like "Why isn't God married?" and "How come dogs chase cats?".

When they read to us, they don't skip. They don't mind if we ask for the same story over again.

Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don't have television, because they are the only grown ups who like to spend time with us.

They know we should have snack-time before bedtime and they say prayers with us every time, and kiss us even when we've acted bad.


Forwarded by Don Ramsey

Cards offering used textbooks for sale are posted on the college notice board at the beginning of each semester. 

One read: "Introduction to Psychology, $8, never used." The card was signed, "Must sell." 

The next day a note had been added: "Good price. Are you sure it's never been used?" Signed, "Prospective buyer." 

Below in a different hand was: "Positive!" Signed, "Professor who graded his exam."


The Tall Texan's Website (including a Funnybone site) --- http://www.talltexian.com/ 


The Mother of All Inspection Teams

How in the name of the United Nations does anyone expect men to find Saddam's stash? We all know that men have a blind spot when it comes to finding things.

Maybe this is why auditing firms now hire more women than men. These firms are also winning awards for being the most "parent-friendly" of professions. There are reasons mothers make especially good auditors. Bob Overn forwarded the following reasons:

For crying' out loud! Men can't find the dirty clothes hamper. Men can't find the jar of jelly until it falls out of the cupboard and splatters on the floor.... and these are the people we have sent into Iraq to search for hidden weapons of mass destruction?

I keep wondering why groups of mothers weren't sent in. Mothers can sniff out secrets quicker than a drug dog can find a gram of dope.

Mothers can find gin bottles that dads have stashed in the attic beneath the rafters. They can sniff out a diary two rooms and one floor away. They can tell when the lid of a cookie jar has been disturbed and notice when a quarter inch slice has been shaved off a chocolate cake. A mother can smell alcohol on your breath before you get your key in the front door and can smell cigarette smoke from a block away. By examining laundry, a mother knows more about their kids than Sherlock Holmes. And if a mother wants an answer to question, she can read an offender's eyes quicker than a homicide detective.

So... considering the value a mother could bring to an inspection team, why are we sending a bunch of old men who will rely on electronic equipment to scout out hidden threats?

My mother would walk in with a wooden soup spoon in one hand, grab Saddam by the ear, give it a good twist and snap, "Young man, do you have any weapons of mass destruction?" And God help him if he tried to lie to her. She'd march him down the street to some secret bunker and shove his nose into a nuclear bomb and say, "Uh, huh, and what do you call this, mister?" Whap!

Thump! Whap! Whap! Whap! And she'd lay some stripes across his bare bottom with that soup spoon, then march him home in front of the whole of Baghdad. He'd not only come clean and apologize for lying about it, he'd cut every lawn in Baghdad for free for the whole damn summer. Inspectors my a%$... You want the job done? Call my mother.


God, hold our troops in your loving hands. 
Protect them as they protect us. 
Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. 
Amen. 

Sherri Jaeger


And let's bow our heads for the people on all sides who suffered gravely so that others may live!  Let's hope that, in the future,  money spent on weapons of destruction (including those of the U.S. weapons) will instead be spent upon creating a better life for all species sharing this planet.




And that's the way it was on March 31, 2003 with a little help from my friends.

 

I highly recommend TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 

 

In March 2000, Forbes named AccountantsWorld.com as the Best Website on the Web --- http://accountantsworld.com/.
Some top accountancy links --- http://accountantsworld.com/category.asp?id=Accounting

 

For accounting news, I prefer AccountingWeb at http://www.accountingweb.com/ 
I also like SmartPros at http://www.smartpros.com/ 

 

Another leading accounting site is AccountingEducation.com at http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

 

Paul Pacter maintains the best international accounting standards and news Website at http://www.iasplus.com/

The Finance Professor --- http://www.financeprofessor.com/about/aboutFP.html 

 

How stuff works --- http://www.howstuffworks.com/ 

 

Bob Jensen's video helpers for MS Excel, MS Access, and other helper videos are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/ 
Accompanying documentation can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/default1.htm and http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 

 

Click on www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp for a complete list of interviews with established leaders, creative thinkers and education technology experts in higher education from around the country.

 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu  

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March 15, 2003 

 Bob Jensen's New Bookmarks on March 15, 2003
Bob Jensen at Trinity University
 

In 1876, my grandparents (Julius and Regina Jensen) donated a corner of their farm so that nearby Norwegian immigrants could build the Blakjer Church and a cemetery --- http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/iowa/cemeteries/blakjerlutherancem.htm 
Bob mentions this church in his story about growing up --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/max01.htm 
In the Year 2002, the church was moved from the country to a city park in Lone Rock --- http://www.lonerockiowa.com/attractions.html 
The cemetery is still out on our old farm.


Quotes of the Week

Final grades are where the University of Georgia football players want to look
In order to discover what courses they took.

Jay Leno, NBC Television, March 14, 2003

Few things I have done in the past year have created as much discussion as my recent editorial on fighting terrorism using financial theory and things we learned from the US Civil War. If you haven’t read it, please do. 
http://www.financeprofessor.com/editorials/terrorismfeb132003.html
 

All greatness is achieved while performing outside of your comfort zone.
Greg Arnold

CEOs and investment bankers of today never took this to heart!
Give up money, give up fame, give up science, give up the earth itself…rather than do an immoral act.

Thomas Jefferson

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.
Joseph Addison

A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows keener with constant use.
Washington Irving

Melancholy is the happiness of being sad.
Victor Hugo

Leadership is doing what is right when no one is watching.
George Van Valkenburg

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
Henry Kissinger

The Earth belongs to its owners, but the landscape belongs to those who know how to appreciate it.
Upton Sinclair

Ownership is a trap: what we think we own in fact owns us.
Alphonse Karr

This may be taking full disclosure a bit too far! You have to read at least some of this 8K filing from Expediators International. They tell you what they think, why, and why they may be wrong. And in a funny matter to boot. Some parts are hilarious! Definitely the most entertaining SEC filing I have ever seen! http://biz.yahoo.com/e/030220/expd8-k.html  
http://www.edgar-online.com/brand/yahoo/search/?sym=EXPD
 

From a March 3, 2003 message from FinanceProfessor [FinanceProfessor@lb.bcentral.com

March 10, 2003 reply from Cindy Peck [cjpeck@ANDERSON.EDU

Thanks for the heads up on the filing by Expediators Intl. I once asked a class of non-accountants how to reduce currency fluctuation risk for a liability in a foreign currency and a student said to just pay it. I note that Expediators mentions that it follows this strategy.

Cindy Peck

Ok, but come on? A JF (Journal of Finance) article? If your friends invest in the stock market, you are more likely to do so as well. That is the finding of a new paper by Harrison Hong, Jeffrey D. Kubik and Jeremy C. Stein . To which I can only ask one question: “Are you going to jump off a cliff if your friends do?” http://www.afajof.org/Pdf/forthcoming/Social-jf-revision.pdf 
From a March 3, 2003 message from FinanceProfessor [FinanceProfessor@lb.bcentral.com

And in this corner, Alan Greenspan. The Fed Chairman spoke out against the President’s tax cut and stimulus plan by saying the economy was doing ok and would likely get better in the near future, and thus the stimulus plan is not needed and the tax cuts may increase the already rapidly expanding deficit. White House economic adviser Glenn Hubbard however, then went public and stressed that Greenspan was entitled to his opinion and the White House has complete faith in him. (of course, this acknowledgement came a week after the original comments, but….) http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/12/1044927662341.html  http://reuters.com/financeNewsArticle.jhtml?type=economicNews&storyID=2294321 
Speaking of Hubbard, almost immediately after endorsing Greenspan he decided to resign. (Have I read too many fiction books?) http://www.dailytelegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2003/02/28/cnbush28.xml&sSheet=/money/2003/02/28/ixfrontcity.html 
Greenspan maybe right, the US economy is growing faster than most had thought. In fact, the 4th quarter GDP was again revised upwards. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2781833.stm 

From a March 3, 2003 message from FinanceProfessor [FinanceProfessor@lb.bcentral.com

Ok, quick! Name the largest trading partner of the US. If you said Canada, you are in the know! And on top of that they are one of, if not the largest!, exporter of oil and natural gas to the US. (I did not know Oil…in fact I question it, but that is what the article says.) http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?id=%7B4CCBA46E-A144-4E12-84C2-57C6C83444B2%7D 
From a March 3, 2003 message from FinanceProfessor [FinanceProfessor@lb.bcentral.com

Damned Americans, I hate the bastards.
Carolyn Parrish, Member of Parliament, Canada (the largest trading partner of the U.S.)
Parrish later apologized for her remark but has not resigned as an MP.
Minister Jean Chretien's communications director resigned after using the term "moron" to refer to U.S. President George W. Bush.

I am reminded of the young coed who came to her professor's office pleading for help because she had done poorly on the first exam. She pleaded that she desperately needed to pass the course and was willing to do anything to accomplish this goal. The professor said, "Anything?" She replied in as sexy a voice as she could muster, "Anything." He replied, "Then I suggest you study."
As forwarded by stating he could not recall the author, John Rodi, El Camino College 
Paul Poliski wrote:
John: I believe that's from "The Eiger Sanction", starring Clint Eastwood, where he's an art teacher by day, assassin by night (apparently the first "Chuck Barris"-like movie...)

A newly discovered flaw in a critical piece of Internet infrastructure software could put more than half the Internet’s e-mail servers at risk, researchers say. The flaw exists in Sendmail, a program that sorts and delivers most e-mail. A single message sent at a flawed e-mail server could allow an attacker to take control of the server, read its contents and use it to organize a massive denial of service attack. But officials are hopeful that a month’s work of secret efforts to shore up defenses against the flaw — which included informing top federal offices and foreign governments — will minimize its impact.
MSNBC on March 3, 2003 --- http://www.msnbc.com/news/880094.asp 

Flagship institutions -- those universities such as Pennsylvania State University, the University of North Carolina, the University of Washington, and the University of California that are in the same league as some of the best private universities -- have responded to the decline in state support by becoming more and more like the elite private universities. They have spun off expensive operations such as teaching hospitals, they have boosted development campaigns to levels unheard of for public institutions a few decades ago, and they have raised tuition levels again and again. Most of these flagship public institutions now receive roughly a third of their operating budgets from state funds, but some receive much less. For example, the $300 million that Penn State receives from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania accounts for only 13% of the total Penn State budget.
Mark Shapiro, March 7, 2003 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-03-07-03.htm


Erika and I are moving on June 10, 2003 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm 




A draft of my March 31, 2003 updates on the accounting and finance scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud033103.htm
(The above document also includes updates on tax frauds, scams, identity theft, and similar updates.)

Bob Jensen gets "behind" on Andersen poetry ---  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud033103.htm

FASB Project Schedules --- http://www.fasb.org/project/index.shtml 




The controversy over teaching/learning reading continues on --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-02-27-03.htm 


Latest News
NetNewsWire Lite --- http://ranchero.com/netnewswire/ 
(This is not free, but it can be customized to suit your interests.)

Bob Jensen's threads on news sources can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#news 


March 5, 2003 message from B. Loveless [info@careeradvantage.org

Dear Professor Jensen,

I would like to know if it would be possible to place a link on your website linking to my websites, www.community-college.org  and www.university-directory.org . Both are free non-profit websites that provide visitors with a current and comprehensive directory of community colleges and universities throughout the United States. Updates to these websites are made on a regular basis to ensure site visitors the most current and accurate directory of community colleges and universities in their respective geographies. If it would be at all possible to place a link from your website to community-college.org and university-directory.org it would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Becton Loveless

http://www.community-college.org 
http://www.university-directory.org 

I placed these links in the following documents:

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Directories 

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 


Wow Technology of the Week:  Neuroeconomics 

"Looking Inside the Brains of the Stingy," by Virginia Postrel, The New York Times, February 27, 2003 ---  http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/27/business/27SCEN.html 

Here's a game economists play: Player 1 has $10 and can give any dollar amount to Player 2. Player 2 can either accept or reject it. If Player 2 accepts, they both keep the money. If Player 2 rejects it, neither player gets anything.

What should the players do? Arguably, Player 2 should accept whatever is offered, since some money is better than none. Player 1 should thus offer as little as possible: $1. That strategy is the standard game-theory equilibrium.

But that's not necessarily what happens when real people play this "ultimatum game" in laboratory settings with real money on the line. Faced with low-ball offers, many Player 2's reject them. And many Player 1's make more generous offers, often nearly half the money.

"About half the subjects that we observed played according to the way the game theory said people should play, and about half didn't," said Kevin McCabe, an economist and director of the Behavioral and Neuroeconomics Laboratory at George Mason University.

The Player 1's who do not follow the presumably rational strategy often wind up better off. Even without communicating with fellow players, they are able to cooperate for mutual benefit.

Why do people react differently to the same situation? And why do so many people give up money to punish anonymous cheapskates?

Experimental economists have mapped out these anomalies and tested how much they affect economic interactions. Now a new field, called neuroeconomics, is using the tools of neuroscience to find the underlying biological mechanisms that lead people to act, or not act, according to economic theory.

In neuroeconomics, volunteers go through exercises developed by experimental economists studying trust or risk. Instead of simply observing subjects' behavior, however, researchers use imaging technologies, like M.R.I.'s, to see which brain areas are active during the experiment.

Researchers at Princeton, for instance, have found that receiving low-ball offers stimulates the part of the brain associated with disgust. "They can predict with good reliability, from looking at the brain, what a person will do," said Colin F. Camerer, an economist at the California Institute of Technology. "People whose brains are showing lots of disgust will reject offers."

Professor Camerer says looking inside the brain's "black box" is like looking inside a company. Traditionally, economists treated a company as a largely automatic "production function" that turns labor, capital and resources into output. Over the last several decades, however, many economists have turned their attention to understanding companies' internal workings. Most prominently, "agency theory" examines how companies can be governed to encourage employees (the "agents") to pursue the goals of the owners, rather than their personal agendas.

This research hasn't replaced the production-function approach, but it has enriched economists' understanding of company behavior. Neuroeconomists want to do something similar for how individuals make economic choices.

"Neuroeconomics could be to consumer theory what agency theory is to the production-function approach," Professor Camerer said.

Continued in the Article.


Sharing Accounting Professor of the Week --- Ronald R. Tidd [Ron@RRTIDD.COM] at Central Washington University

Introduction to WebQuests --- http://www.rrtidd.com/WebQuests/Index.htm 

WebQuests- A Brief Description

WebQuests (as developed by Dodge and March) are an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the Internet. WebQuests are not “treasure hunts” in which learners are set loose on the Internet without a clear task in mind or a list of relevant references to start with. Their main goal is to improve learners’ ability to use information, not find information. There are two types of WebQuests:

Short-term WebQuests require no more than three class periods to complete and are designed to help learners acquire and integrate knowledge.

Long-term WebQuests take several weeks to complete and are designed to help learners analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information.

Standard WebQuests consist of five standard components that learners must work with in a sequential process:

Introduction- Introduces learners to the exercise, including the Big Question to be addressed.

Task- Describes what the end result of the exercise will be.

Process- Describes the steps that learners must take to complete the exercise.

Evaluation- Describes how learners' performance will be assessed.

Conclusion- Summarizes what learners will have accomplished after completing the exercise.

I have adapted these steps to reflect the schema commonly used by accounting professionals to organize their research:

Facts- Introduces learners to the subject of the exercise.

Issues- Describes the targeted outcomes of the exercise.

Authorities- Identifies the web-based resources to be used to complete the exercise.

Conclusion- Elicits learner responses to questions about the resources.

I (Ron Tidd) have and continue to develop WebQuests for the following courses:


One of the fastest growing segments of the communication industry is the area of Instant Messaging, where people can set up "buddy lists" on their computer and have real time text conversations with friends or colleagues. The problem until now has been how to capture the corporate benefits of Instant Messaging without spending the resources to ensure the security of the communication. Enter Microsoft. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97256 

You can listen to Amy Dunbar discuss the use of instant messaging in her distance education tax courses at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/002cpe/02start.htm#2002 


From Syllabus News on March 4, 2003

Online School Awards Dual Canadian-U.S. eMBAs

Canada’s Lansbridge University, one of the first completely online commercial universities, is launching an executive Master of Business Administration program that will award graduates dual eMBA degrees from Landsbridge and the Nashville, Tenn.-based American Graduate School of Management (AGSM). The eMBA program is designed for managers with at least five years of full-time work experience, including at least two years at a management level. The degree program requires about 18 to 20 hours of study per week, and typically takes two-and-a-half years to complete. AGSM was co-founded in 2000 by Lamar Alexander, a U.S. Senator, former U.S. secretary of education, and former president of the University of Tennessee.

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education alternatives are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 


February 28, 2003 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu

STUDENT CITATION BEHAVIOR

A recently-released report of a study conducted at Cornell University, "Effect of the Web on Undergraduate Citation Behavior," indicated that students in the study "generally used fewer and fewer scholarly materials in their library research in the past six years," relying more on websites as research resources. Often faculty find that the links that students cite are "broken," making it impossible to verify the resource. The study pointed out that faculty, in cooperation with library staff, can reverse the trend by providing students with guidelines on the types of scholarly materials that they should use in their research.

The report was published in PORTAL: LIBRARIES AND THE ACADEMY, vol. 3, No 1, January 2003, and is available online to subscribers at http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/portal_libraries_and_the_academy/v003/3.1davis.html 

A summarizing article in THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION is freely available at http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003020601t.htm 


THE NEXT MAJOR WAVE OF CHANGE IN U.S. HIGHER EDUCATION

In "The Next Great Wave in American Higher Education" (PLANNING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, vol. 31, no. 2, 2002-03, pp. 52-59), James Ottavio Castagnera, Associate Vide President for Academic Affairs at Rider University, predicts that the Internet and new media forms will soon cause major changes. "When the shakeout is complete, higher education will not be populated exclusively by e-educators. Nor will the landscape of higher education boast only the largest and wealthiest bricks-and-mortar institutions." Some of the results of the wave that Castagnera believes will occur include partnerships between nonprofit and for-profit institutions, colleges merging to pool resources, and U.S. universities forming international institutional relationships.

The article is available online at http://www.scup.org/phe.htm  under the "Read" links. The direct URL is http://207.75.158.201/PHE/FMPro?-db=PubData.fp5&-lay=VP&-format=read_inner.htm&-error=error.htm&ID=PUB-KzAByWxQ4q4YzKvabn&-Find 

Planning for Higher Education is published quarterly by the Society for College and University Planning (SCUP). For more information, go to http://www.scup.org/phe.htm 

SCUP, established in 1965, is an association "focused on the promotion, advancement, and application of effective planning in higher education." For more information, contact Society for College and University Planning, 311 Maynard Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48104-2211 USA; tel: 734-998-7832; fax: 734-998-6532; email: info@scup.org ; Web: http://www.scup.org/ 


LEARNING COMMUNITIES

The theme of the January 2003 issue of SIDEBARS is Learning Communities. Articles and resources cover a wide range of communities of online learners, from informally-organized groups to formal networks of educational institutions. The issue is available at no cost on the Web at http://online.bcit.ca/sidebars/index.htm 

SideBars is distributed by email and on the Web and is published by the Learning Resources Unit of the British Columbia Institute of Technology 
[ http://www.lru.bcit.ca/ ] to provide "useful information and news items for instructors, course developers, educational technologists and anyone else who has an interest in distributed learning in its various manifestations." For more information, contact the editors at email:
sidebars@listserv.bcit.ca . Subscription information: http://online.bcit.ca/sidebars/subcribe.html 


The latest issue of CITE (vol. 2, issue 4, 2003) contains the text of Alfred Bork's lecture, "Interactive Learning," which he presented in 1978 as the American Association of Physics Teachers' Millikan Lecture. In "Interactive Learning: Twenty Years Later" Bork reviews his earlier predictions and reviews the current role of computer in schools today. You can read both the original lecture [ http://www.citejournal.org/vol2/iss4/seminal/article1.cfm ] and his current reflections 
[ http://www.citejournal.org/vol2/iss4/seminal/article2.cfm  ] online.

CITE (Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education) [ISSN: 1528-5804] is a free, online publication of the Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE). It was established as an electronic counterpart of the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education and funded by a U.S. Department of Education Preparing Tomorrow's Teachers to Use Technology (PT3) catalyst grant. For more information, contact: Lynn Bell, Managing Editor of CITE, c/o Center for Technology and Teacher Education, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia, 1912 Thomson Road, PO Box 400279, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4279 USA; email: publisher@citejournal.org ; Web: http://www.citejournal.org/ 


"Director MX Versus Flash," by Michael Kay, Webmonkey, January 28, 2003 ---  http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/03/03/index1a.html 

Director, which hit the scene way back in 1988, was always considered the ultimate multimedia authoring tool. Then the Web came along and Shockwave, a format that translated Director projects for the Web, was born. It was pretty wowie in its day (circa 1995), but the size of Shockwave files, along with the browser plugin users needed to see them, really slowed Shockwave down. Enter Flash's SWF format, which was designed solely for the Web so it was faster and easier to use than Shockwave. And the rest is history: Flash is everywhere, and whipper-snapper Web developers are all, "Shockwave who?"

But Shockwave has its uses.

Flash may be better than ever these days, but you can still outgrow it. Say you need better video performance, or you want to create a game or educational tool that uses a joy stick. Or maybe you're looking for the depth of 3D animation. When it comes to interactive projects in the non-Web world (yes, it's true, there is life outside the Web) — such as CD-ROM games, educational materials, reference books, and presentations — sometimes Flash just isn't enough. If you're tackling a big-league, off-Web project, or a particularly intricate website, then perhaps it's time to take another look at Macromedia's Director MX.

To be honest, the last time I paid any serious attention to Director was a good few releases ago. So when I siddled up to the latest version, I brought my old prejudices with me: that it was no longer a serious player, that Flash had passed it by long ago. But Director MX changed my mind.

Director has supported Flash vector content for awhile now, which helps performance, and Director 8.5 introduced real 3D support. Version MX, however, takes multimedia development to a whole new level. With even better Flash integration and a host of new features, Director MX is now the most powerful general interactive tool out there. And when it comes to non-Web projects with fewer file-size limitations, such as a kiosk or CD-ROM, Director is even more compelling.

Shold every Flash developer and Web designer run out and purchase Director MX today? At US$1,199 a pop, I'm not saying that. But if budget allows, and your next project has graduated past the abilities of Flash, Director MX could be the answer. In the pages that follow, I'll go over some of the issues you might want to consider as you contemplate taking the Director plunge

Continued in the article.

Bob Jensen's document on the history of course authoring technologies can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 


I found this interesting from Syllabus News on February 28, 2003:

Web-Based B2B Textbook Supplier Sales Skyrocket

The Thomson Corp. said sales of college textbooks through its business-to-business Web site, Service Plus, has grown from $10 million to more than $104 million in three years, an increase of almost 1,000 percent. The service provides U.S. college bookstores with round-the-clock online account management tools, title research capabilities and a powerful ordering function. The Web site is designed to handle basic customer inquiries, such as pricing and availability, freeing customer service representatives to handle more complex customer requests. Live chat with a customer service representative is also available. Approximately 36 percent of stores' pricing and availability inquiries were answered through the site in 2002. During the busiest ordering period in 2002 more than 10,500 online order-status inquiries were received.

Bob Jensen's threads on electronic commerce can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm 


This includes the academic job market around the world. 
The Internet's largest job listing site sends an e-mail to its users warning about the possibility of identity theft from fake help-wanted ads posted online --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57852,00.html 

The job sites generally advise users not to give out their social security, credit card or bank account numbers, not to disclose personal information that isn't related to work such as their marital status, and to be particularly careful of prospective employers from outside the country.

Bob Jensen's threads on identity theft are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#IdentityTheft 


Hi XXXXX,

Pardon my delay in answering. I have been in Canada all week and am returning to Canada next week on a consulting trip.

I will answer your questions on several levels.

First there is the level of interaction that can be greatly enhanced with distance education relative to face-to-face communications. I have written about this at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#Motivations  
If you want a workshop from one of the best in the business, I suggest that you contact Amy Dunbar at the University of Connecticut. She teaches out of her home using a highly effective and labor intensive Instant Messaging pedagogy. You can read about Amy and listen to a module she did in one of my workshops by going to http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/002cpe/02start.htm#2002 

Also see http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book01q4.htm#Dunbar 

The University of Maryland's masters of accountancy program is built upon an Instant Messaging pedagogy. Contact Bruce Lubich [blubich@UMUC.EDU

At another level we can discuss trends in hardware and software for better learning. I am a big time advocate of Camtasia --- http://www.techsmith.com/products/studio/default.asp  
My tutorials on Camtasia are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/Tutorials/ 

At another level, you can focus upon learning with special reference to metacognition and the BAM --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm  
For this type of workshop I recommend Tony Catanach from Villaova.

At another level, you can focus on asynchronous learning --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm 

Hope this helps.

Bob

-----Original Message----- 
From:  XXXXX
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 2:39 PM 
To: Jensen, Robert Subject: Re: Nice house, et al.

Hi Bob:

When I last contacted you, I asked if you might be willing to serve as an expert panel member to help me identify educational technologies. I'm at the point now where I need expert guidance.

Given your experience, and I've only been following your work since 1994, so I may have missed something, I wonder what you might think would characterize a highly malleable technology that supports education?

By malleable, I mean something that has many potential uses, perhaps as yet largely unexplored. My best example so far is Excel, and it's pretty lame as an example, being so mundane, but it is a huge technical package that spans usage from statistics, to accounting, to finance, to databases, to production optimization.

I'm curious, given the time you've spent on the topic, what other technologies that support education might be characterized as "malleable?"

Thanks for any help you can provide

XXXXX


From Syllabus News on February 28, 2003:

Online Provider Grows Curriculum to 1,700 Courses

RedVector.com Inc. said its library surpassed 1,700 online courses, double the number of courses it offered 12 months ago. The company works with international subject matter experts to develop online courses for continuing education, certification, and licensing exam preparation. The company specializes in online education for professionals in the engineering, architectural, construction, land surveying, interior design, building inspection, and landscape architecture industries. Its library includes courses on a wide range of subjects from toxic mold to wetlands to project management. The company recently expanded to include areas devoted to online certification courses and online licensing exam prep courses.

You can read the following at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

One of the fastest growing online training and education sites is RedVector.com --- http://www.redvector.com/default.asp 

RedVector.com (www.RedVector.com) is the global leader in online education for professionals in the engineering, architectural, interior design, construction, land surveying, building inspection and landscape architecture industries. The web site course library includes over 1,700 online courses including continuing education courses, certification courses and licensing exam prep courses, authored by more than 200 exclusive subject matter experts. Courses are designed to meet state board and professional organization requirements. RedVector.com attracts over 500,000 unique visitors from 50 states and 20 countries. The company has been featured on CNN, WallStreetReporter.com and in hundreds of trade magazines, newspapers and industry journals. RedVector.com’s top-rated client services department employs a bilingual staff of full time Account Managers dedicated to helping customers seven (7) days a week.

RedVector.com’s distinct clientele includes individual licensees, as well as Corporations. A few of RedVector.com’s most recent corporate partners include; PBS&J University, URS Corp, The Shaw Group Inc., Earth Tech, TECO Energy, O’Neal, Inc., EDG Inc., Fluor Corporation, The Ren Group, TBE Group, CH2MHill and SSOE, Inc. RedVector handles the full implementation of these programs including setup, tracking reports and scheduled invoicing.

RedVector.com's strong relationships with numerous international professional organizations and universities are also a big draw. Its list of partnerships and affiliations include Indiana State University, Clemson University, Valencia Community College, the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the Institute of Engineers of Ireland (IEI), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC), the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), the International Interior Design Association (IIDA), the American Institute of Constructors (AIC), the National Drilling Association (NDA), the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) and Professional Surveyor Magazine. RedVector.com also has an agreement with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

RedVector.com offers numerous FREE client services designed to benefit our customers and add to their learning experience:

RedVector.com's Mission is to provide our customers with the ability to manage their own time by offering quality online education, backed by a commitment to superior customer service.

RedVector.com's Vision is to become the leading Internet resource internationally for online education, information and communication, the essential tools our clients need to be successful in the business world.

Contact:
Brent A. Craven
President and Chief Operating Officer
Two Urban Centre
4890 West Kennedy Boulevard
Suite 530
Tampa, FL 33609
TOLL FREE 1-866-546-1212
Fax: 813-286-7992
International Phone: 001-813-207-0012
International Fax: 001-813-286-7992
Contact Mr. Craven

The LRN Center's business model is to provide legal and ethics training courses online to corporations, law firms, and other organizations who generally pay for employees to take courses in law and ethics.  For example, Dow Chemical contracted with LRN to train 50,000 employees.  LRN has similar contracts with many other corporations around the world.  I learned about the LRN Center from W. Michael Hoffman, the Director of the Bentley College Center for Ethics.  Dr. Hoffman writes course modules for LRN in the field of ethics.  After the recent corporate scandals, LRN's prospects for the future are very bright indeed.

LRN Legal Compliance and Ethics Center (LCEC)™ --- http://www.lrn.com/ 

LRN Legal Compliance and Ethics Center (LCEC)™ is the Web-based system that sets the standard for workplace ethics, legal and compliance education. With innovative technology, a powerful learning management system and a curriculum of more than 140 courses, LCEC offers your enterprise a complete workforce education solution.

Backed by a global network of 1,700 legal experts, LRN®, The Legal Knowledge Company™ offers an integrated legal knowledge management system that encompasses Expert Legal Research and Analysis, LRN KnowledgeBank®, proactive law services and much more. See how LRN is redefining the practice of law with innovation, efficiency and unparalleled expertise.

LRN® , The Legal Knowledge Company TM has been the country's leading purveyor of expert legal knowledge since 1994, with products that include sophisticated legal research and analysis for lawyers, databases of legal memoranda and other materials for corporate law departments and law firms, Web-based ethics and legal compliance education for corporate employees, ethics and compliance consulting, and proactive law services.

The LRN mission is to bring expertise and innovation to the creation, management and dissemination of knowledge that helps make a critical difference to businesses, lawyers and their clients. To accomplish this, LRN has built itself on a firm foundation of expertise. We feature a network of more than 1,700 of the world's finest legal minds, organized into more than 3,000 substantive areas of the law and expertly managed by our own team of highly experienced lawyers. Together, our research network and management team bring expertise to every step in the creation, capture and distribution of legal knowledge products. Our services include:

Successful companies all over the world have grasped the power of LRN's expert-driven approach and used it to their advantage. Contact us to learn about how we can put our resources to work to meet your company's business challenges.

UNext also seems to be adopting the online business training model in a big way.  One of the first major contracts obtained by UNext was a contract to educate and train over 90,000 employees of General Motors Corporation.  You can read more about what is happening at UNext at http://www.unext.com/ 

Thomson Enterprise Learning Takes Cardean University to Large Businesses Worldwide

Exclusive Agreement with Thomson Brings Cardean University's Award-Winning Online Courses and M.B.A. to Large Businesses

American Marketing Association Partners with Cardean University

Special Offer Provides Professional Business Education Online to 38,000 Members

I had two speakers from UNext in my Atlanta workshop last year.  You can listen to their presentation and view their PowerPoint show at  http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/001cpe/01start.htm 

 

Bob Jensen's threads on online training and education alternatives can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm


March 10, 2003 message from Barbara Scofield [scofield_b@UTPB.EDU

I have used the trial subscription to www.turnitin.com and was pleased with the report provided.

I understand that each document submitted is added to their database, so it should provide student-to-student checks as well as a check against other sources.

Barbara W. Scofield, PhD, CPA
Coordinator of Graduate Business Studies
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin
4901 E. University
Odessa, TX 79762

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

 


Investor Relations Website Design, February 18, 2003 --- http://useit.com/alertbox/20030218.html 
The Nielsen Norman group, conducted a research study to assess user response to information on corporate Web sites.

Investor Relations Website Design

Summary:
Individual investors are intimidated by overly complex IR sites and need simple summaries of financial data. Both individual and professional investors want the company's own story and investment vision.

Investor relations (IR) is one of the "Big Four" standard components of a corporate website (along with public relations, employment, and "About Us"). In the modern world, investors assume that they can go to www.company.com  to research a current or potential investment.

While companies must provide IR information to attract and retain investors, they must also be realistic about the types of content and features that users need most. Simplicity and a coherent story about the company are better than drowning users in incomprehensible data.

For more in-depth study of IR website design, I recommend the work of Gerald Trites --- http://www.stfx.ca/people/gtrites/ 
Jerry will share some of the material he developed for our two most recent workshops on this topic.


March 2, 2003 message from Saeed Roohani [sroohani@COX.NET

Results of the Third XBRL International Academic Competition 2002-2003

Congratulations to following teams and many thanks to judges of this year Competition.

Application Development (Undergraduate Team)
Prize winner

Title: South America Unified Market (SAUM)
Universidad Nacional de Rosario (UNR)
ARGENTINA

Team members:
Daniel Jose Diaz, Javier Rubianes, and Luciano Repetto
Advisor:Professor Jose Luis Pellegrini
 
You may view the project at:
http://www32.brinkster.com/xbrl2003/
user:  SAUM
password :  xbrl2003

Application Development (Graduate Team)
Honorable Mention

Title: InvestWise: Where investment forecasts are just a click away!
Bowling Green State University
USA

Team Members:
Ilya Kruglov (team leader), Faye Lim, Derek Diller, Brenda Wilson, and Sherry Niese
 
Faculty Advisors: Dr. Patricia Essex and Dr. Andreas I. Nicolaou

You may view the project at:
http://personal.bgsu.edu/~ilyak/xbrl
password is xbrl

Application Development (Graduate Team)
Honorable Mention

Title: XRL Reference Tool: US/IAS Correspondence
Emporia State University
USA

Team members:
Melissa Reynolds, Rebecca Chapman, Angela Teter, Bob Reeves, and Jeremy Luby

Faculty Advisors: Dr. Zane Swanson, Dr. Nitham Hindi, Dr. William Remington, and Mr. Adam Benson

You may view the project at:
http://www.adambenson.net
password: hornet
username: xbrl

Sites may not be visible at all times

Please see web.bryant.edu/xbrl  for projects related to the first and second year of the competition.

Saeed Roohani

Bob Jensen's threads on XBRL are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm#XBRLextended 


Question:
When does a hedge become a speculation? 
 

Answer:
There are essentially two answers.  Answer 1 is that a speculation arises when the hedge is not perfectly effective in covering that which is hedged such as the current value (fair alue hedge) of the hedged item or the hedged cash flow (cash flow hedge).  Testing for hedge ineffectiveness under FAS 133 and IAS 39 rules is very difficult for auditors.  Answer 2 is that a speculation arises when unsuspected credit risk arises from the settlements themselves such as when dealers who brokered hedge derivatives cannot back the defaults all parties contracted under the derivatives themselves.  Hedges may no longer be hedges!  Answer 2 is even more problematic in this particular down economy.

There is a lot of complaining around the world about need for and technicalities of the U.S. FAS 133 and the international IAS 39 standards on Accounting for Financial Instruments Derivatives and Hedging Activities.  But recent scandals adding to the pile of enormous scandals in derivatives over the past two decades suggest an increased  need for more stringent rather than weakened standards for accounting for derivatives.  The main problem lies in valuation of these derivatives coupled with the possibility that what is a safe hedge is really a risky speculation.  A case in point is Newmont Mining Corporation's Yandal Project in Australia as reported by Steve Maich in "Newmont's Hedge Book Bites Back," on  Page IN1 of the March 4, 2003 edition of Canada's Financial Post --- http://www.financialpost.com/ 

Even by the gold industry's relatively aggressive standards, Yandal's derivatives exposure is stunning.  The unit has 3.4 million ounces of gold committed through hedging contracts that had a market value of negative US$288-million at the end of 2002.

That would be a problem for any major producer, but the situation is particularly dire for Yandal because the development's total proven and provable gold reserves are just 2.1 million ounces.  In other words, the project has, through its hedging contracts, committed to sell 60% more gold than it actually has in the ground.

Making matters worse, the mine's counterparties can require Yandal to settle the contracts in cash, before they come due.  In all, about 2.8 million ounces are subject to these cash termination agreements by 2005, which could cost the company US$223.7-million at current market prices.

With insufficient gold to meet its obligations, and just US$58-million in cash to make up the difference, bankruptcy may be the only option available to Yandal, analysts said.

Comparing Yandal's reserves to its hedging liabilities "suggests that the Yandal assets may be worth more dead than alive," CIBC World Markets analyst Barry Cooper said in a report to clients.

All this is raising even bigger questions about the impact that the Yandal situation might have on the industry's other major hedgers.  Companies such as Canada's Barrick Gold Corp. and Placer Dome Ltd. have lagged the sector's strong rally of the past year, largely because many investors and analysts distrust the companies' derivative portfolios.

One thing that is not stressed hard enough in FAS 133 is the credit risk of the dealers themselves.  The FAS 133 standard and its international IAS 39 counterpart implicitly assume that when speculating or hedging with derivatives, the dealers who broker these contracts are highly credit worthy.  For example, in the case of interest rate swaps it is assumed that the dealer that brokers the swap will stand behind the swapping party and counterparty default risks.  There are now some doubts about this in the present weak economy.

"Derivatives Market a 'Time Bomb':  Buffet," Financial Post, March 4, 2003, Page IN1 --- http://www.financialpost.com/ 
Berkshire chairman warns of risks in shareholder letter --- http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html 
(The above link is not yet updated for the Year 2002 forthcoming annual Shareholder Letter.)

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett calls derivative contracts "financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that while now latent are potentially lethal," according to excerpts from his forthcoming annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway Inc. shareholders.

Mr. Buffett, whose company is now seeking to divest of derivatives business tied to its General Re purchase, also worries that substantial credit risk has become concentrated "in the hands of relatively few derivatives dealers."

"Divided on Derivatives Greenspan:  Buffett at Odds on Risks of the Financial Instruments," by John M. Berry, The Washington Post, March 6, 2003, Page E01 --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48287-2003Mar5.html 

The use of derivatives has grown exponentially in recent years. The total value of all unregulated derivatives is estimated to be $127 trillion -- up from $3 trillion 1990. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. is the world's largest derivatives trader, with contracts on its books totaling more than $27 trillion. Most of those contracts are designed to offset each other, so the actual amount of bank capital at risk is supposed to be a small fraction of that amount.

Previous efforts to increase federal oversight of the derivatives market have failed, including one during the Clinton administration when the industry, with support from Greenspan and other regulators, beat back an effort by Brooksley Born, the chief futures contracts' regulator. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has introduced a bill to regulate energy derivatives because of her belief that Enron used them to manipulate prices during the California energy crisis, but no immediate congressional action is expected.

Randall Dodd, director of the Derivatives Study Center, a Washington think tank, said both Buffett and Greenspan are right -- unregulated derivatives are essential tools, but also potentially very risky. Dodd believes more oversight is needed to reduce that inherent risk.

"It's a double-edged sword," he said. "Derivatives are extremely useful for risk management, but they also create a host of new risks that expose the entire economy to potential financial market disruptions."

Buffett has no problem with simpler derivatives, such as futures contracts in commodities that are traded on organized exchanges, which are regulated. For instance, a farmer growing corn can protect himself against a drop in prices before he sells his crop by buying a futures contract that would pay off if the price fell. In essence, derivatives are used to spread the risk of loss to someone else who is willing to take it on -- at a price.

Buffett's concern about more complex derivatives has increased since Berkshire Hathaway purchased General Re Corp., a reinsurance company, with a subsidiary that is a derivatives dealer. Buffett and his partner, Charles T. Munger, judged that business "to be too dangerous."

Because many of the subsidiary's derivatives involve long-term commitments, "it will be a great many years before we are totally out of this operation," Buffett wrote in the letter, which was excerpted on the Fortune magazine Web site. The full text of the letter will be available on Berkshire Hathaway's Web site on Saturday. "In fact, the reinsurance and derivatives businesses are similar: Like Hell, both are easy to enter and almost impossible to exit."

One derivatives expert said several of General Re's contracts probably involved credit risk swaps with lenders in which General Re had agreed to pay off a loan if a borrower -- perhaps a telecommunications company -- were to default. In testimony last year, Greenspan singled out the case of telecom companies, which had defaulted on a significant portion of about $1 trillion in loans. The defaults, the Fed chairman said, had strained financial markets, but because much of the risk had been "swapped" to others -- such as insurance companies, hedge funds and pension funds -- the defaults did not cause a wave of financial-institution bankruptcies.

"Many people argue that derivatives reduce systemic problems, in that participants who can't bear certain risks are able to transfer them to stronger hands," Buffett acknowledged. "These people believe that derivatives act to stabilize the economy, facilitate trade and eliminate bumps for individual participants. And, on a micro level, what they say is often true. Indeed, at Berkshire, I sometimes engage in large-scale derivatives transactions in order to facilitate certain investment strategies."

But then Buffett added: "The macro picture is dangerous and getting more so. Large amounts of risk, particularly credit risk, have become concentrated in the hands of relatively few derivatives dealers, who in addition trade extensively with one another. The troubles of one could quickly infect the others. On top of that, these dealers are owed huge amounts by nondealer counterparties," some of whom are linked in such a way that many of them could run into problems simultaneously and set off a cascade of defaults.

March 7, 2003 message from Risk Waters Group [RiskWaters@lb.bcentral.com

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, today once again defended the use of derivatives as hedging tools, especially credit derivatives. His comments come in the wake of Warren Buffett's criticism of derivatives as "time bombs" and Peter Carr - recipient of Risk's 2003 quant of the year award this week - saying that in a [hypothetical] argument between quants convinced of the infallibility of their models and derivatives sceptics such as Buffett, he would probably side with Buffett.

But Greenspan, speaking at the Banque de France's symposium on monetary policy, economic cycle and financial dynamics in Paris, said derivatives have become indispensable risk management tools for many of the largest corporations. He said the marriage of derivatives and securitisation techniques in the form of synthetic collateralised debt obligations has broadened the range of investors willing to provide credit protection by pooling and unbundling credit risk through the creation of securities that best fit their preferences for risk and return.

This probably explains why credit derivatives employees reap the highest salaries, with an Asian-based managing director in synthetic structuring at a bulge-bracket firm earning an average basic plus bonus of £1.35 million last year. These were the findings of a first-of-its-kind survey conducted by City of London executive search company Napier Scott. The survey found that most managing directors working in credit derivatives at the top investment banks earn more than £1 million, with synthetic structurers commanding the highest salary levels. Asia-based staff earn 12-15% more than their US counterparts, with UK-based staff not far behind their Asia-based counterparts. Even credit derivatives associates with one or two years' experience earn in excess of £150,000 a year on average at a tier-1 bank.

In more people news, Merrill Lynch has hired four ex-Goldman Sachs bankers for its corporate risk management group focused on Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Roberto Centeno was hired as a director with responsibility for Iberia. Andrea Anselmetti and Luca Pietrangeli, both directors, and Ernesto Mercadente, an associate, will focus on expanding the corporate risk management and foreign exchange business in the Italian region. The corporate risk management group focuses on providing advice and execution for corporate clients, covering all risk management issues, including foreign exchange, interest rate risk and credit risk. All four will report to Patrick Bauné, co-head of Merrill Lynch's global foreign exchange issuer client group, and Damian Chunilal, head of the EMEA issuer client group, and are expected to join within the next two weeks. Merrill also hired Scott Giardina as a director in credit derivatives trading, based in London. He will report to Jon Pliner, managing director of credit trading EMEA, and Neil Walker, managing director of structured credit trading, EMEA. Giardina also joins from Goldman Sachs.

Christopher Jeffery
Editor, RiskNews

www.risknews.net
cjeffery@riskwaters.com

 

You can read more about credit risk and credit derivatives at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/speakers/133glosf.htm#C-Terms 

Bob Jensen's threads on derivatives scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#DerivativesFraud 

Bob Jensen's helpers, tutorials, glossary, and instructional cases for FAS 133 and IAS 39 are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 


I frequently make jokes about drinking.  But these two items are not funny!

From Syllabus News on February 25, 2003

Students Spend More Time Inebriated than in Class

More than three-quarters of the 27,900 college students who took a recent online alcohol prevention course indicated that they regularly drink enough alcohol to be under the influence more hours per week than they average in the classroom. The online course, AlcoholEdu, from Outside The Classroom, also found that 78 percent of the students indicated they consumed an average of 9.72 drinks per week during the previous two weeks. That's enough to register discernible blood alcohol content levels for an average of more than 18 hours per week per student -- more than the roughly 15 hours per week spent in class by most college students. Other findings: 23.7 percent said that at least once in the previous two weeks they had attended a class with a hangover; and 18.4 percent said they had experienced memory impairment at some point while they had been drinking at least once in the previous two weeks.

For more information visit: http://www.outsidetheclassroom.com/ 

For comparison purposes (18 hours per week drinking versus six hours per week studying), I call your attention to the following item in my February 12, 2003 edition of New Bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/book03q1.htm#021203 

And high school seniors are increasingly abandoning education for more experience.
A record low of 34.9% of college freshmen report having spent more than six hours per week on homework during their senior year in high school.
Mark Shapiro --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-31-03.htm  (See Below)

The Lake Wobegon Effect --- The Lowest Grade is Now Higher Than the Average Grade
Grade Inflation Trends Among Entering College Students --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-31-03.htm 

The Lake Wobegon Effect - All Our High School Graduates are "Above Average" --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-31-03.htm 

Especially note the graph!!!!


Question:
What accounting office was named  Illinois's Father Friendly Company of the Year:

Answer:
Deloitte & Touche's Chicago office was named Father Friendly Company of the Year by the Illinois Fatherhood Association (IFA) ---  http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97185 

This is remarkable since public accountants have to travel more than most other professionals, and they work tend to average more than 40 hours per week on the job during the busy seasons.


The New Military Industrial Complex To arm for digital-age war, the Pentagon has turned to a new generation of defense contractors. The hardware is impressive. It's also deadly --- http://www.business2.com/articles/mag/0,1640,47023,00.html 


The Seven Deadly Habits of Highly Ineffective Executives, Part 2 The blockbuster management primer, updated for today's grimmer economy (with tongue firmly in cheek and apologies to Stephen R. Covey). http://www.clickz.com/crm/crm_strat/article.php/1587761 


The Cervantes Project (art, art history) --- http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/cervantes/ 


Bob Jensen's response to a question about derivatives in Enron.

Apart from Enron, you may want your class to note the really big financial derivatives instrument scandals documented at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#DerivativesFraud

 

There are two interesting aspects of derivatives in the Enron case.  The first is the heavy use of derivatives (mostly energy futures contracts) in its vast wheeling and dealing in energy trading when the energy market was deregulated.  In the 1990s, Enron made fortunes from its political pipelines. Our beloved Texas Senator Phil Gramm became an Enron pimp (behind the scenes like most pimps).  His wife (Wendy) was in a government position to pave the way for deregulation.  The big political prize was the deregulation of energy pricing (gas and electricity) and deregulation of energy futures trading. There are places where political markers held by Enron were called in big time for billions of dollars.  You can read more about this timeline of energy futures trading events above at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#Farm 

 

The second interesting aspect of derivatives in the Enron case is the use of put options by a “related party.”

What you see below is an actual footnote from Enron’s Year 2000 Ann ual Report.  Note the mention of “put options” with a “related party” who was Enron’s CFO, Andy Fastow.

Do the related party disclosures in the footnote below add value to you when analyzing risk?  Does this tell you that Enron's CFO made over $30 million from his limited partnership that entered into derivatives for Enron?

Footnote 16 from the Year 2000 Enron Ann ual Report  
http://www.enron.com/corp/investors/annuals/2000/ar2000.pdf
 

16.  RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

In 2000 and 1999, Enron entered into transactions with limited partnerships (the Related Party) whose general partner's managing member is a senior office of Enron.  The limited partners of the Related Party are unrelated to Enron.  Management believes that the terms of the transactions with the Related Party were reasonable compared to those which could have been negotiated with unrelated third parties.

In 2000, Enron entered into transactions with the Related Party to hedge certain merchant investments and other assets.  As part of the transactions, Enron (i) contributed to newly-formed entities (the Entities) assets valued at approximately $1.2 billion, including $150 million in Enron notes payable, 3.7 million restricted shares of outstanding Enron common stock and the right to receive up to 18.0 million shares of outstanding Enron common stock in March 2003 (subject to certain conditions) and (ii) transferred to the Entities assets valued at approximately $309 million, including a $50 million note payable and an investment in an entity that indirectly holds warrants convertible into common stock of an Enron equity method investee.  In return, Enron received economic interests in the Entities, $309 million in notes receivable, of which $259 million is recorded at Enron's carryover basis of zero, and a special distribution from the Entities in the form of $1.2 billion in notes receivable, subject to changes in the principal for amounts payable by Enron in connection with the execution of additional derivative instruments.  Cash in these Entities of $172.6 million is invested in Enron demand notes.  In addition, Enron paid $123 million to purchase share-settled options from the Entities on 21.7 million shares of Enron common stock.  The Entities paid Enron $10.7 million to terminate the share-settled options on 14.6 million shares of Enron common stock outstanding.  In late 2000, Enron entered into share-settled collar arrangements with the Entities on 15.4 million shares of Enron common stock.  Such arrangements will be accounted for as equity transactions when settled.

In 2000, Enron entered in derivative transactions with the Entities with a combined notional amount of approximately $2.1 billion to hedge certain merchant investments and other assets.  Enron's notes receivable balance was reduced by $36 million as a result of premiums owed on derivative transactions.  Enron recognized revenues of approximately $500 million related to the subsequent change in the market value of these derivatives, which offset market value changes of certain merchant investments and price risk management activities.  In addition, Enron recognized $44.5 million and $14.1 million of interest income and interest expense, respectively, on the notes receivable from and payable to the Entities.

In 1999, Enron entered into a series of transactions involving a third party and the Related Party.  The effect of the transactions was (i) Enron and the third party amended certain forward contracts to purchase shares of Enron common stock, resulting in Enron having forward contracts to purchase Enron common shares at the market price on that day, (ii) the Related Party received 6.8 million shares of Enron common stock subject to certain restrictions and (iii) Enron received a note receivable, which was repaid in December 1999, and certain financial instruments hedging an investment held by Enron.  Enron recorded the assets received and equity issued at estimated fair value.  In connection with the transactions, the Related Party agreed that the senior officer of Enron would have no pecuniary interest in such Enron common shares and would be restricted from voting on matters related to such shares.  In 2000, Enron and the Related Party entered into an agreement to terminate certain financial instruments that had been entered into during 1999.  In connection with this agreement, Enron received approximately 3.1 million shares of Enron common stock held by the Related Party.  A put option, which was originally entered into in the first quarter of 2000 and gave the Related Party the right to sell shares of Enron common stock to Enron at a strike price of $71.31 per share, was terminated under this agreement.  In return, Enron paid approximately $26.8 million to the Related Party.

In 2000, Enron sold a portion of its dark fiber inventory to the Related Party in exchange for $30 million cash and a $70 million note receivable that was subsequently repaid.  Enron recognized gross margin of $67 million on the sale.

In 2000, the Related Party acquired, through securitizations, approximately $35 million of merchant investments from Enron.  In addition, Enron and the Related Party formed partnerships in which Enron contributed cash and assets and the Related Party contributed $17.5 million in cash.  Subsequently, Enron sold a portion of its interest in the partnership through securitizations.  See Note 3.  Also Enron contributed a put option to a trust in which the Related Party and Whitewing hold equity and debt interests.  At December 31, 2000 , the fair value of the put option was a $36 million loss to Enron.

In 1999, the Related Party acquired approximately $371 million of merchant assets and investments and other assets from Enron.  Enron recognized pre-tax gains of approximately $16 million related to these transactions.  The Related Party also entered into an agreement to acquire Enron's interests in an unconsolidated equity affiliate for approximately $34 million.


Hi David,

One of Andersen's big knowledge bases was the ARM! You can discover where it went later on in this message. I think other knowledge bases and training courses have been sold off or are still being used in St Charles. The last thing I heard from Art Wyatt (when I shared a platform with him in October courtesy of Virginia Tech) was that Andersen is still running the St Charles training facility under contract (with the principal client being Accenture for reasons that are probably obvious). Some of Andersen's executive partners are now running the show in St Charles, for a while least.

I copied the following from http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm  

Arthur Andersen's Accounting Research Manager (after a free 30-day trial, the cost is over $2,000 per year for a single user) --- http://www.arm.arthurandersen.com  Academic pricing is not mentioned at the Web site, but some universities might possibly negotiate lower pricing. Accounting Research ManagerTM is a comprehensive financial reporting knowledgebase that provides materials designed to help solve your most pressings issues. Continually updated, it is the most timely, complete, interpretive resource for your financial reporting needs.

January 22, 2003 message from Cynthia Arias [cynthia.arias@aspenpublishers.com

Hello Bob -

I previously worked with Arthur Andersen on the Accounting Research Manager product, and transitioned to Aspen Publishers who acquired the product and operations from the firm. I noticed on your site, you have a reference to Accounting Research Manager, which we greatly appreciate, however, may we request a change in name to refer to the product as Aspen Publishers' Accounting Research Manager? with a link to www.arm.aspenpublishers.com ?

I appreciate your input! Thank you so much for your help. 

Cindy Arias
GAAP. International GAAP. Knowledge Gap?
Accounting Research Manager. Your financial reporting solution.
www.arm.aspenpublishers.com 

February 27, 2003 message from David Fordham

-----Original Message----- From: David R. Fordham [mailto:fordhadr@JMU.EDU] Sent: Thursday, February 27, 2003 8:29 AM To: AECM@LISTSERV.LOYOLA.EDU Subject: Where are the archives?

With the liquidation of Andersen's offices, furniture and other assets, I have to ask the question, where are the archives going?

Andersen (and all audit firms) are great repositories of information. Much of this information is going to be very, very useful to future auditors, --both in terms of performing audits on former Andersen clients, as well as in advancing the field of accounting and auditing at large. (Future accounting and auditing researchers may find this information collection to be of incalculable value.)

So where is this information going to be stored, catalogued, and retrieved?

Imagine this: a hospital patient dies under suspicious circumstances. The relatives sue the hospital, and the hospital goes out of business. As part of the liquidation, all of the patient records are ... (?) destroyed? Discarded? For all patients!?!

Regardless of whether the patient died from hospital negligence or from murder by a jilted lover, I can't imagine the hospital's records (of all its patients) simply being put in the trash bin. But that may be what's happening at Andersen as I write this.

I would think that academics should be in the forefront of the clamor to preserve information, even if solely for the altruistic purpose of posterity. Many useful discoveries have been made by historians poring over old data. Indeed, data mining was taught in my Ph.D. program as a legitimate pursuit, even if for little more than entertainment value. Sure, privacy and confidentiality may lock up the data for 90 years, like the census records. But at least the data isn't gone forever.

The call for preservation of knowledge should be even more raucous if others among the "final four" go belly-up under the satanic assaults from lawyers. I would think that historians would gag if they knew the extent of the knowledge contained in the audit firms' files and which will be gone forever if someone doesn't act soon...

Perhaps my thinking is clouded. (Hey, what if the weather bureau threw out their records?)

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University

February 27, 2003 reply from Davidson, Dee (Dawn) [dgd@MARSHALL.USC.EDU

Hi Bob and Others Regarding ARM: We had tried to get that resource last year and are trying again now in our search for AICPA Issue Papers.

Here are the results of my search for the AICPA Issues Papers. Basically, they're not readily available in a searchable format. I telephoned and emailed 5 people at AICPA, including the Accounting Standards board director Dan Noll. The AICPA librarian Susan Bolmer responded and said there are only 2 places where Issues Papers can be found, and one of those is the ARM and the other is the AICAP library which is now housed at Univ of Miss.

I contacted the librarian at Univ of Miss. She answered: Only AICPA members and other universities are able to use the resources. We have a copy charge of $10 to 20 (depending on the length of the material copied) and a fax fee of $5.

I'm now following up with Aspen Publishers about getting a 30-day trial package of Accounting Research Manager. At $2900 per user, I want to be sure the full content of the papers is included before we buy (we probably won't). However, last year I was denied a 30-day trial while it was still owned by A Andersen. They didn't allow any academic use, for faculty or students, even for 30 days and denied us the right to purchase the product for faculty use only.

It's interesting that the Issues Papers are part of the GAAP hierarchy, but are not easily accessible even for AICPA members' use.

CPA's are required to make GAAP decisions. Is it o.k. that they can't find resources that are referenced in the GAAP hierarchy? How can we teach students about doing GAAP research and making decisions with information in Issues Papers? How are you all teaching this?

dee davidson 
Accounting Systems Specialist 
Marshall School of Business 
Leventhal School of Accounting 
University of Southern California 213.740.5018
dee.davidson@marshall.usc.edu 


How to find a home for sale --- http://www.realtor.com/default.asp?hm=on&poe=realtor 


Coffin Nails: The Tobacco Controversy in the 19th Century (Health, History) --- http://tobacco.harpweek.com/ 


Locks, Docks and Beyond (History, Geography, Transportation, Business) --- http://www.locksdocks.com/ 


Black Facts Online (History, Literature, Art History, Culture, Sociology) ---  http://www.blackfacts.com/ 


"Tablet PCs: An Overnight Sensation After just three months, it's quickly becoming clear that the new technology is gaining wider acceptance than even Microsoft expected," Business Week Online, February 26, 2003 --- http://snurl.com/Tablets 

When Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled Windows XP Tablet PC Edition in November, 2002, he predicted that in five years, tablet PCs will be the most popular type of personal computer. Author Amy Tan and actor Rob Lowe raved about how the tablet gets their creative juices flowing: Lowe reads and marks up movie scripts on his tablet, and Tan draws pictures and jots down ideas for her novels. But analysts remained unconvinced. Market researcher Gartner forecasted in November that by the end of 2004, only a measly 3% of all notebooks purchased will be tablet PCs.

After just three months, though, analysts are reworking their estimates -- higher. While new numbers should be released in the next several weeks, the anecdotal evidence speaks clearly. Tablets -- full-powered computers built inside portable touch-sensitive screens that can be scribbled on with a digital pen -- are flying off the shelves. Best Buy (BBY ), which has been selling Toshiba's Portégé 3500 tablet through its Web site since November, is sold out, says Kevin Winneroski, the retailer's director for mobile computers.

In the next month, Best Buy will start offering tablets from several other manufacturers as well. And it also plans to start selling the Toshiba model at its brick-and-mortar stores, Winneroski says. In December, Toshiba had to ramp up its tablet production by 35% after a month's supply disappeared in two weeks.

NO-CLICK NOTE-TAKING. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ ), whose $1,699 Compaq Tablet PC TC1000 is one of the lower-price tablets now available, has exhausted its demo packs as corporations flock to evaluate the product, says Ted Clark, vice-president for tablet PCs and handhelds. HP just received an order for 1,000 tablets, he says.

While it will likely take a year to two for the tablets to enter the mainstream, it's already obvious that Gates & Co. has scored a hit. Users love the ability tablets offer to take notes, make sketches, and circle and underline text with a digital pen. They're a noiseless alternative to clicking on a keyboard during meetings or lectures. And, unlike paper notes, the electronic files can't be as easily lost.

Continued in the article.


Egypt Daily.com (Arabic news, travel guides) --- http://www.egyptdaily.com/ 


MasterCard, Visa, American Express and the banks that issue credit cards don't do enough to protect merchants and consumers from the perils of fraud, reports analyst firm Gartner --- http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,57823,00.html 

The credit card industry focuses too much on reducing its own fraud costs and not enough on protecting consumers.

That's the central claim in a new report from research firm Gartner that slams credit card companies for failing to notify consumers when credit card records are compromised by malicious hackers.

The report notes that while credit card companies' "zero-liability" policies protect card holders from paying for unauthorized or fraudulent charges, they do not protect consumers from identity theft and the credit report hell that can follow.

Avivah Litan, Gartner vice president and the report's co-author, said when security breaches happen, banks that issue credit cards seldom notify consumers.

"The issuers claim they don't really know if a card was compromised after a merchant or transaction processing firm reports a problem, so they wait to see whether a consumer reports fraud against his or her card," Litan said.

"Of course the fact that closing potentially compromised accounts and providing consumers with new cards costs the issuer about $35 per card is also a factor here. So the card issuers take a calculated risk that compromised cards won't be used fraudulently."

On Feb. 18, Visa, MasterCard and American Express confirmed that a malicious hacker had gotten access to 8 million credit card records through Data Processors International, a company that processes credit card transactions for mail order and online businesses.

The credit card companies quickly issued statements saying none of the stolen card-holder information was used fraudulently, and that all card-issuing banks had been alerted to the problem.

According to Litan, the card issuers have tagged the accounts believed to have been compromised in the theft, and will watch them for a period of time, typically three to six months, for possible fraudulent use.

"Based on a standard margin of error, I wouldn't be surprised to see 5 percent of those stolen cards compromised even while they are on the watch list," Litan said. "The only way to ensure that the cards will never be fraudulently used is to issue new cards to all 8 million users."

Consumer rights groups agreed that credit card companies should notify card holders about potential problems, and should at least offer the option of replacement cards if account records have been illegally accessed.

"Credit card issuers and other creditors should be required to let customers know immediately if they believe that their account information has been compromised," said Susan Grant, director of the National Fraud Information Center. "As it is now, it's hard for consumers to know exactly how security breaches happen or assess whether the companies who have their information have taken adequate steps to safeguard it."

"Credit card companies have a rocky road ahead of them," said Linda Sherry of Consumer Action in San Francisco. "Consumers are getting increasingly worried and angry about how their personal information is being used and protected. I wouldn't be surprised to see the federal government step in soon."

Continued in the article.

The Gartner Report is at http://www3.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=113282 

Event

On 18 February 2003, Visa, MasterCard and American Express confirmed that a computer hacker had recently accessed 8 million credit card records, including 2.2 million MasterCard accounts and 3.4 million Visa accounts. The hacker targeted Data Processors International, a merchant processor that mainly processes catalog and other card-not-present transactions. The card associations began to notify their member institutions in early February 2003. The card companies said that none of the information accessed was used fraudulently and that all card issuing banks were alerted. But fraud could potentially occur later on using these compromised records.


First Take

Although zero-liability policies protect card holders from paying for unauthorized or fraudulent charges, they do not protect consumers from identity theft and credit report nightmares that can follow. Seven percent of online adult consumers surveyed by Gartner in September 2002 reported being victimized by credit card fraud, and 1 percent reported having their identity stolen. However, since stolen credit card data makes stealing identities easy, Gartner believes identity theft will affect substantially more than 1 percent of this population. The credit card industry has focused too much on reducing its fraud costs and not enough on protecting consumer information.

Up to now, no one had much incentive to address the problem. Card issuers seldom notify consumers about hacking incidents they learn about through merchants or processors. The issuers claim they don't really know if a card was compromised, so they wait to see whether a consumer reports fraud against the card. Giving consumers replacement cards costs the issuer about $35 each. When fraud occurs in a physical store, the issuer bears the cost, but the merchant bears the cost of fraud for Internet, telephone and mail orders. If the present case follows typical patterns, the card associations will probably fine the processor whose site was hacked or possibly just issue a stiff warning.

However, rising levels of identity theft and consumer anger will lead to onerous legislation unless credit card companies move aggressively. Indeed, a recent California law (SB 1386) will require any company that sells to California citizens (just about every online merchant) to notify consumers. Accordingly, Gartner recommends:

  • Card companies should enforce requirements that all online credit card databases use encryption or other methods to ensure they aren't compromised.
  • Card companies should improve the vulnerability scanning of their online merchants and processors to find weaknesses before attackers do.
  • Card issuers should immediately inform consumers when their card information has been compromised so that they can try to protect themselves against identity theft by notifying credit bureaus and monitoring their own credit reports to catch problems early.

Analytical Sources: Avivah Litan and John Pescatore, Gartner Research

Recommended Reading and Related Research

(You may need to sign in or be a Gartner client to access all of this content.)

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


Library Porn Filter Law Hits High Court --- http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/2084861 

Court Nixes Child Net Porn Law --- http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,57956,00.html 


AncientMexico.com (History, Anthropology, Archaeology, Mexico) --- http://www.ancientmexico.com/ 


Online Etymology Dictionary (Science) http://www.etymonline.com/ 


"AN OPEN-SOURCE OPENING FOR APPLE 
With Microsoft buying Virtual PC, which lets Macs run Windows wares, Apple's independence may well rest with programs such as Bochs," Business Week Online, February 26, 2003 --- http://snurl.com/v3i 


Spy Tools --- http://locate-unlisted-phone-numbers.com/ 
(I really don't know how legitimate this outfit really and make no endorsements of its services)

Find and Trace:

Unlisted Numbers

Cell Phone Numbers & Codes

E-mail Addresses

Protect Privacy:

Anonymous Surfing

Anonymous E-mail

Erase Your Tracks

Monitor Your PC

See the Pictures Your Kids, Mate or Employees Viewed Days, Weeks or Months Ago

See the Web Sites They Visit While Your Not Around

Find Hidden and Alternate Screen Names People May be Using to "Play" Online

The Best Spyware Stopper --- http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20941.html

After years of worrying about viruses and trojans, users have a new nemesis: spyware. This term refers to any program that distributes information from a user's computer without that user's knowledge.

To be sure, most of this software is more annoying than harmful. However, as Jamie Garrison, co-owner of Aluria Software, which produces the spyware stopper, put it, "Some spyware can ruin your life. It's that invasive."

So, what can a user do to avoid the onslaught of underhanded tracking programs?


The Spyware Menace

Garrison said the most pressing issue related to spyware is that people do not take it seriously enough. Part of the problem is awareness. Many people are only now finding out about spyware. "Few users are aware that everything they do on the Net or even while not connected to the Internet can be tracked," Ken Lloyd, lead developer at Aluria, told NewsFactor.

After all, spyware can range from a stealthy program that runs in the background, transmitting your surfing habits to a company for marketing purposes, to keylogging software installed by a spouse to monitor communications.

"Well over 85 percent of people have spyware on their computer," Lloyd said.

Programs That Fight It

Gartner analyst Richard Stiennon told NewsFactor that while antivirus products from companies like McAfee and Symantec (Nasdaq: SYMC)  can be used to detect spyware, the user is also an important ingredient in stopping spyware. He or she must recognize spyware programs -- and know enough to remove them -- when they are detected.

Of course, most users do not know much about spyware. Stiennon recommended that users get a desktop firewall program that blocks unwanted outgoing connections. Then, even if spyware is running, it will be unable to connect to a server  to transmit information.

One personal firewall, ZoneAlarm, can make sure spyware cannot communicate with the outside world. According to Fred Felman, vice president of marketing at Zone Labs, ZoneAlarm "shuts down Internet connectivity instead of losing control of the system" when an unauthorized application tries to send information from a user's PC. Felman told NewsFactor that ZoneAlarm allows users to specify which programs are allowed to send and receive data over the network. Users even can restrict programs to certain ports or domains.

And in addition to antivirus vendors and personal firewalls, a number of companies like Aluria make spyware detection and removal software.

Arms Race

Even when a person recognizes spyware on his or her computer, removing it may be tricky business. According to Garrison, some spyware manages to "embed" itself into the software Windows uses to provide TCP/IP (Internet networking) services. She said that removing such spyware "actually removes your Internet connection. It's fixable, but it's a real pain."

This makes sense, considering that malware authors are always trying to stay one step ahead of users and spyware stoppers. The latest rash of annoyware consists of programs that send pop-ups to instant messaging  programs like MSN Messenger. Even more irritating, many of those pop-ups simply inform users that they are vulnerable to unwanted messages.

And it gets worse: Stiennon said that programs being sold to block this plague of IM pop-ups are scams, too. "Just go into the admin functions in the control panel [and do it yourself]," he said, noting that the program vendors are taking advantage of people who do not know they can turn off the function by themselves.

The Perils of Free

In fact, according to Garrison, most spyware is installed by users voluntarily, even if they do not know it. She blames free products like Grokster and Kazaa  for piggybacking spyware onto users' computers, though she noted that it is all disclosed in the fine print. "Here's the really dirty part of it. Let's say you go out and download a free program. It's almost certainly going to have spyware.... Very rarely does spyware get on your computer without your consent."

So, what is the solution? "Stop using free products... Don't download it if it's free."

Lloyd agreed. "The latest trend for software companies is to give their software away for free. By doing this they bundle ad software within it. They usually tell the customer in the EULA (end user license agreement) ... that some additional ad-tracking software will be installed, but they bury it so deep that the average person has no idea.

Continued in the article.

 


The Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval --- http://ciir.cs.umass.edu/ 

The Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval, a National Science Foundation-created S/IUCRC Center, is one of the leading information retrieval research labs in the world. The CIIR develops tools that provide effective and efficient access to large, heterogeneous, distributed, text and multimedia databases.

CIIR accomplishments include significant research advances in the areas of distributed information retrieval, information filtering, topic detection, multimedia indexing and retrieval, document image processing, terabyte collections, data mining, summarization, resource discovery, interfaces and visualization, and cross-lingual information retrieval.

The Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval continues to support the emerging information infrastructure for the next century, both through research and technology transfer. The goal of the CIIR is to develop tools that provide effective and efficient access to large, heterogeneous, distributed, text and multimedia databases.


"SIMPLY ACCOUNTING: SIMPLY A BETTER BUY 
Intuit QuickBooks is brimming with financial planning features, but the lower-priced Simply Accounting is a worthy rival," Business Week Online, February 26, 2003 --- http://snurl.com/SimplyAccounting 


Lost Labor (American History, Business, Labor) --- http://www.lostlabor.com/ 


Baseball Library (History, Recreation, Athletics, Sports) --- http://www.pubdim.net/baseballlibrary/ 


Run the USA.com (Travel, Health) --- http://www.runtheusa.com/ 

Vagabonding (Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Africa.) --- http://www.vagabonding.com/ 

Bob Jensen's travel bookmarks are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#Travel 


March 1, 2003 message from James L. Morrison [morrison@unc.edu

INSIDE THE TECHNOLOGY SOURCE

Editor James Morrison interviews Carole Barone, vice president of EDUCAUSE and director of the National Learning Infrastructure Initiative, about her vision for creating new, technology-infused learning environments to meet the challenges that face educators. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1046 )

As higher education institutions respond to the technology revolution, the importance of realistic planning becomes paramount for long-term success. James Penrod, chief information officer at the University of Memphis, discusses the role of the CIO within higher education and provides a valuable road map for educational leaders formulating technology initiatives on their campuses. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1030 )

Leslie Hitch (Northeastern University) and Pamela MacBrayne (Collegis) acknowledge the positive effects of IT initiatives on teaching and learning. They argue, however, that complementary support services receive inadequate attention. Hitch and MacBrayne propose the ultimate support resource: a central call center where the staff would maintain automated services and respond to individual queries with highly personalized assistance 24/7/365. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1016 )

Bob Moul, an SCT executive, calls for an end to IT infrastructures dominated by disparate, non-integrated systems. He argues that applications that support course registration, tuition payment, access to grades and records, student services, and online learning should be designed so that data received in one area will be updated automatically in all other areas. While acknowledging the potential problems of a unified digital campus, Moul touts its advantages: reduced student inconvenience, reduced administrative labor, and a better institution-constituent relationship. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1058 )

Holly Blackford, assistant professor of English at Rutgers, describes the problems she encountered while teaching an online children’s literature class within a continuing education program. Blackford comments on the challenges unique to online humanities courses and proposes ways to promote greater communication, collaboration, and continuity in the e-learning process. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=971 )

Phillip Clark and Laurence Shatkin, independent consultants, comment on the growing need for programs that help professionals measure their current skills as assets and make strategic decisions about how to expand their competencies. Higher education would be a valuable vehicle for lifelong learning, the authors argue, if its resources included a comprehensive online database of specific learning tools, job skills, and course offerings all described by a common language of competency standards. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1064 )

The early planning stages of online instruction are crucial. Diane Chapman (North Carolina State University) and Todd Nicolet (UNC-Chapel Hill) describe the "project approach" to course development: a formal, team-based operation that makes use of consistent standards, trackable processes, standardized tools, and structured communication to facilitate technology initiatives. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1027 )

In his spotlight site review, Stephen Downes introduces Technology Source readers to elearnspace: a Web site designed to support the innovative use of information technology in online instruction, particularly at the grassroots level. (See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=2002 )

 




Don't You Wish We Were All Tater People? --- http://www.talltexian.com/TallTexiansThisnThat/id27.htm 


Auntie Bev forwarded this musical warning about the dangers of drinking beer --- http://members.aol.com/matt999h/beer.htm 


Ole and Lena joke forwarded by my Norwegian relative, Barb Hessel.

To those in North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and for that matter the rest of the country, I must report the sad news that Ole was SHOT. He was up by the Canadian border on his 4-wheeler cutting some trees, when some rangers looking for terrorists spotted him. According to the news reports, using a loudspeaker, they shouted to him, "Who are you and what are you doing?" 

Ole shouted back, "OLE..... BIN LOGGIN'!" 

Ole is survived by his wife, Lena and Lena's good friend, Lars.


A new take on Medicare fraud.  Forwarded by Auntie Bev.

  A Florida couple, both age 78, went to a sex therapist's office. The doctor asked, "What can I do for you?"

  The man said, "We are not sure we are doing things right. Will you watch us have sex?"

  The doctor looked puzzled, but agreed. When the couple finished, the doctor said, "There's nothing wrong with the way you have sex," and charged them $50.

  This happened several weeks in a row. The couple would make an appointment, have sex with no problems, pay the doctor, and then leave.

  Finally the doctor asked, "Just exactly what are you trying to find ut?"

The old man said, "We're not trying to find out anything.  She's married and we can't go to her house. I'm married and we can't go to my house.

 The Holiday Inn charges $90. This Hilton charges $108.

 We do it here for $50, and I get $43 back from Medicare.


Forwarded by Dr. Digiovani

Two men crashed in their private plane on a South Pacific Island.

Both survived. One of the men brushed himself off and then proceeded to run all over the island to see if they had any chance of survival. When he returned, he rushed up to the other man and screamed, "This island is uninhabited, there is no food, there is no water. We are going to die!"

The other man leaned back against the fuselage of the wrecked plane, folded his arms and responded, "No we're not. I make over $250,000 per week."

The first man grabbed his friend and shook him. "Listen, we are on an uninhabited island. There is no food, no water. We are going to die!"

The other man, unruffled, again responded. "No I make over $250,000 per week."

Mystified, the first man, taken aback with such an answer again repeated, "For the last time, I'm telling you we ARE doomed ! There is NO one else on this island. There is No food. There is NO water. We are, I repeat, we are going to die a slow death."

Still unfazed, the first man looked the other in the eyes and said, "Do not make me say this again. I make over $250,000 per week.--- I tithe. 
MY PASTOR WILL FIND US!"


Forwarded by Dr. Digiovani

A woman's husband died and left her $20,000.   After the funeral, she tells her closest friend that there is no money left. 

 The friend says, "How can that be?   You told me he had $20,000  just days before he died.

The widow says, "Well, the funeral cost me $6,000.   And of course, I  had to make the obligatory donation to the church, so that was another $2,000.  The rest went to the memorial stone,"

The friend says, "$12,000 for the memorial stone?   How big was it?"

The widow says, "Three carats."


Forwarded by Dr. Digiovani

A little child in church for the first time watched as the ushers passed the offering plates. When they neared the pew where he sat, the youngster piped up so that everyone could hear: "Don't pay for me Daddy, I'm under five."

A little boy was attending his first wedding. After the service, his cousin asked him, "How many women can a man marry?" "Sixteen," the boy responded. His cousin was amazed that he had an answer so quickly. "How do you know that?" "Easy," the little boy said. "All you have to do is add it up, like the Bishop said: 4 better, 4 worse, 4 richer, 4 poorer."

After a church service on Sunday morning, a young boy suddenly announced to his mother, "Mom, I've decided to become a minister when I grow up." "That's okay with us, but what made you decide that?"Well," said the little boy, "I have to go to church on Sunday anyway, and I figure it will be more fun to stand up and yell, than to sit and listen."

A 6-year-old was overheard reciting the Lord's Prayer at a church service: "And forgive us our trash passes, as we forgive those who passed trash against us."

A boy was watching his father, a pastor, write a sermon. "How do you know what to say?" he asked. "Why, God tells me," the father replied.  "Oh, then why do you keep crossing things out?"

After the christening of his baby brother in church, little Johnny sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car. His father asked him three times what was wrong. Finally, the boy replied, "That priest said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I want to stay with you guys!"

Terri asked her Sunday School class to draw pictures of their favorite Bible stories. She was puzzled by Kyle's picture, which showed four people on an airplane, so she asked him which story it was meant to represent. "The flight to Egypt," said Kyle. "I see ... And that must be Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus," Ms. Terri said. "But who's the fourth person?" "Oh, that's Pontius - the Pilot.

The Sunday School Teacher asks, "Now, Johnny, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?" "No sir," little Johnny replies, "I don't have to. My Mom is a good cook."

A college drama group presented a play in which one character would stand on a trap door and announce, "I descend into hell!" A stagehand below would then pull a rope, the trapdoor would open, and the character would plunge through. The play was well received. One day the actor playing the part became ill, and another actor who was quite overweight took his place. When the new actor announced, "I descend into hell!" the stagehand pulled the rope, and the actor began his plunge, but became hopelessly stuck. No amount of tugging on the rope could make him descend. One student in the balcony jumped up and yelled: "Hallelujah! Hell is full!"

Pastor Dave Charlton tells us, "After a worship service at First Baptist Church in Newcastle, Kentucky, a mother with a fidgety seven-year old boy told how she finally got her son to sit still and be quiet. About halfway through the sermon, she leaned over and whispered, "if you don't be quiet, Pastor Charlton is going to lose his place and will have to start his sermon all over again!' It worked."

A little girl was sitting on her grandfather's lap as he read her a bedtime story. From time to time, she would take her eyes off the book and reach up to touch his wrinkled cheek. She was alternately stroking her own cheek, then his again. Finally she spoke up, "Grandpa, did God make you?">"Yes, sweetheart," he answered, "God made me a long time ago." "Oh," she paused, "Grandpa, did God make me too?" "Yes, indeed, honey," he said, "God made you just a little while ago." Feeling their respective faces again, she observed, "God's getting better at it, isn't he?"

May the Lord keep you in the shadow of His wing.


Forwarded by Debbie Bowling

If you have one of these, you may need help understanding
the commands. The TEXAS EDITION may be recognized by the unique opening screen. It reads: WINDERS 2000, with a background picture of Willie Nelson superimposed on a bottle of Jack Daniels.

Please also note:

The Recycle Bin is labeled "Outhouse"
My Computer is called "This Dern Contraption"
Dial Up Networking is called "Good Ol' Boys"
Control Panel is known as "The Dashboard"
Hard Drive is referred to as "4-Wheel Drive"
Floppies are "Them little ol' plastic thangs"
Instead of an error message, "Duct Tape" pops up

Tiperiter.....................a word processing program
Colerin' Book........... .a graphics program
Cyferin' Mersheen......calculator
Outhouse Paper.........notepad
Inner-net.................. .Microsoft explorer 5.0
Pitchers......................a graphics viewer


Forwarded by Debbie Bowling

Brain Cramps
Can you say DUH!?


Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?

Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,"
Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss
USA contest.

``````````````````````````````````
"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids
all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
Mariah Carey

````````````
"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life,"
Brooke Shields, during an interview to become Spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.

`````````````````````````````````````````````````
"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body,"
Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.
`````````````````````````````````````````````

"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in
the country,"
Mayor Marion Barry, Washington, DC.
`````````````````````````````
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the President."
Hillary Clinton commenting on the release of subpoenaed documents.
````````````````````````````````````````````````````

"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it,"

A congressional candidate in Texas.
````````````````````````````
"I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them.
There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."
John Wayne
```````````
"Half this game is ninety percent mental."
Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark
``````````````````````````````````
"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in
our air and water that are doing it."
Al Gore, Vice President
```````````````````
"I love California. I practically grew up in Phoenix."
Dan Quayle

``````````
" It's no exaggeration to say that the undecideds could go one way or
another"
George Bush, US President
``````````````````````

"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"
Lee Iacocca
```````````
"I was provided with additional input that was radically different from the
truth. I assisted in furthering that version."

Colonel Oliver North, from his Iran-Contra testimony.
`````````````````````````````````````````
"The word "genius" isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like
Norman Einstein."

Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback &sports analyst.

````````````````````````````````````````````
"We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of
people."
Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor.
`````````````````````````````````
"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure."
Bill Clinton, President
``````````````````

"We are ready for an unforeseen event that may or may not occur."
Al Gore, VP
``````````
"Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas."
Keppel Enderbery
```````````````
"Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 1992 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances."
Department of Social Services,
Greenville, South Carolina
````````````````````````````````````````````

"If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they
go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the
next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record."
Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman
````````````````````````


The Biggest Liars in New Zealand

An Australian ventriloquist visiting New Zealand walks into a small town and sees a local sitting on his porch patting his dog.

Ventriloquist: "Hey, good looking dog, mate. Mind if I speak to him?"

New Zealander: "The dog doesn't talk, you stupid Aussie."

Ventriloquist: "Hey dog, how's it going old mate?"

Dog: "Doin' all right."

The New Zealander is shocked!

Ventriloquist: "Is this Kiwi your owner?"

Dog: "Yep."

Ventriloquist: "How does he treat you?"

Dog: "Real good. He walks me twice a day, feeds me great food, and takes me to the lake once a week to play."

The New Zealander can't believe his ears!

Ventriloquist: "Mind if I talk to your horse?"

New Zealander: "The horse doesn't talk."

Ventriloquist: "Hey horse, how's it going?"

Horse: "No worries."

The New Zealander's mouth is agape.

Ventriloquist: "Is this your owner?"

Horse: "Yep."

Ventriloquist: "How's he treat you?"

Horse: "Pretty good, thanks for asking. He rides me regularly, brushes me down often, and keeps me in the barn to protect me from the elements."

The New Zealander is TOTALLY amazed!

Ventriloquist: "Mind if I talk to your sheep?"

New Zealander: "The sheep's a liar."


Forwarded by Auntie Bev

In April, Maya Angelou was interviewed by Oprah... on her 70+ birthday.

Maya really is a marvel who has led quite an interesting and exciting life. Oprah asked her what she thought of growing older. And, there on television, she said it was "exciting."

Regarding body changes, she said there were many, occurring everyday...like her breasts. They seem to be in a race to see which will reach her waist, first. The audience laughed so hard they cried.

She is such a simple and honest woman...with so much wisdom in her words. Because of that, I share this....

By Maya Angelou

When I was in my younger days, I weighed a few pounds less, I needn't hold my tummy in to wear a belted dress. But now that I am older, I've set my body free;

There's the comfort of elastic where once my waist would be. Inventor of those high-heeled shoes my feet have not forgiven; I have to wear a nine now, but used to wear a seven.

And how about those pantyhose -- they're sized by weight, you see, So how come when I put them on the crotch is at my knee?

I need to wear these glasses as the print's been getting smaller; And it wasn't very long ago I know that I was taller.

Though my hair has turned to gray and my skin no longer fits, On the inside, I'm the same old me, it's the outside's changed a bit.

But, on a positive note... I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.

I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a "life."

I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back.

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.


Hint:  "Phault" rhymes with "Fault."

Heard on Southwest Airlines just after a very hard landing. The flight attendant came on the intercom and said "That was quite a bump and I know what y'all are thinking, but I'm here to tell you that it wasn't the Airlines' fault, it wasn't the pilot's fault, it wasn't the flight attendant's fault, it was the asphalt. 


She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde...

She thought a quarterback was a refund. 
She thought General Motors was in the army. 
She thought Meow Mix was a CD for cats. 
She thought Boyz II Men was a day care center. 
At the bottom of an application where it says "sign here," she wrote "Sagittarius.".

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde...

She took the ruler to bed to see how long she slept.
She sent me a fax with a stamp on it. 
She thought Eartha Kitt was a set of garden tools. 
She thought TuPac Shakur was a Jewish holiday. 
Under "education" on her job application, she put "Hooked On Phonics".

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde...

She tripped over a cordless phone. 
She spent 20 minutes looking at the orange juice can because it said, "Concentrate". 
She told me to meet her at the corner of "WALK" and "DON'T WALK." 
She asked for a price check at the Dollar Store. S
he tried to put M&M's in alphabetical order.

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde...

She studied for a blood test. 
She thought she needed a token to get on "Soul Train." 
She sold the car for gas money. 
When she missed the 44 bus, she took the 22 bus twice instead. 
When she went to the airport and saw a sign that said, "Airport Left," she turned around and went home.

She Was Soooooooooooooo Blonde...

When she heard that 90% of all crimes occur around the home, she moved. 
She thinks Taco Bell is the Mexican phone company. 
She thought if she spoke her mind, she'd be speechless. 
She thought that she could not use her AM radio in the evening. 
She had a shirt that said "TGIF," which she thought stood for "This Goes In Front" .


Forwarded by Bob Overn

Two tourist groups, one made up of all blondes and one of all brunettes, charter a double-decker bus for a weekend in Vegas. The brunettes ride on the first level of the bus and the blondes ride on the top level.

The brunettes down below are whooping it up and having a great time when one of them realizes she doesn't hear anything form the blondes upstairs. She decides to go up and investigate.

When the brunette reaches the top, she finds all the blondes frozen in fear, staring straight ahead at the road and clutching the seats in front of them.

The brunette says, "What's going on up here? We're having a great time downstairs!"

One of the blondes says, "Yeah, but you've got a driver!"


Forwarded by an old guy named Denny Beresford

Some people who receive this message won't understand a word of it. Others will be able to explain and laugh at every little detail.  The only difference between NOT understanding and understanding EVERYTHING  is your age.  You decide "how old you really are" 

Enjoy or be forever lost!!!!

 ******************************************************
 My Dad was cleaning out my grandmother's house and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of
 holes in it. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea.  She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to "sprinkle" clothes with because we didn't have steam irons.
 Man, I am old.
 ******************************************************
 OLDER THAN DIRT
 How Many Do You Remember??

 Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
 Ignition switches on the dashboard.
 Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
 Real ice boxes [Ask your Mom about that].
 Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
 Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
 Using hand signal for cars without turn signals.

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

 Older Than Dirt Quiz. Count all the ones that you remember,
 NOT the ones you were told about! And NO fudging! Ratings at the bottom.

 01.. Blackjack chewing gum
 02. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
 03. Candy cigarettes
 04. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottle
 05. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes
 06.  Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
 07.  Party lines
 08.  Newsreels before the movie
 09.  P.F.  Flyers
 10. Butch wax
 11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix Capital 4-4374 (CA4-  4374 or 744-4374)
 12.  Peashooters
 13.  Howdy Doody
 14.  45 RPM records
 15.  S&H Green Stamps
 16.  Hi-fi's
 17.  Metal ice trays with lever
 18.  Mimeograph paper
 19.  Blue flashbulb
 20.  Packards
 21.   Roller skate keys
 22.  Cork popguns
 23.  Drive-ins
 24. Studebakers
 25.  Wash tub wringers.

 If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
 If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
 If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age
 If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!


Forwarded by Dick Haar

You know the world is going crazy when... 
the best rapper is a white guy, 
the best golfer is a black guy, and 
Germany doesn't want to go to war.


Quotations Forwarded by Auntie Bev

"France has neither winter nor summer nor morals. Apart from these drawbacks it is a fine country. France has usually been governed by prostitutes." ---Mark Twain

"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me." --- General George S. Patton

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." --Norman Schwartzkopf

"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it." ---- Marge Simpson

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure" ---Jacques Chirac, President of France
"As far as France is concerned, you're right." ---Rush Limbaugh,

"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee." --- Regis Philbin

"The French are a smallish, monkey-looking bunch and not dressed any better, on average, than the citizens of Baltimore. True, you can sit outside in Paris and drink little cups of coffee, but why this is more stylish than sitting inside and drinking large glasses of whiskey I don't know." --- P.J O'Rourke (1989)

You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who was still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it." ---John McCain, U.S. Senator from Arizona

"You know why the French don't want to bomb Saddam Hussein? Because he hates America, he loves mistresses and wears a beret. He IS French, people." --Conan O'Brien

"I don't know why people are surprised that France won't help us get Saddam out of Iraq. After all, France wouldn't help us get the Germans out of France!" ---Jay Leno

"The last time the French asked for 'more proof' it came marching into Paris under a German flag." --David Letterman

Q. How many Frenchmen does it take to change a light bulb? A. One. He holds the bulb and all of Europe revolves around him.

Next time there's a war in Europe, the loser has to keep France.


But on the other side of the coin we read the following:

The Jackson Progressive --- http://www.jacksonprogressive.com/ 

Viva La France

2/21/2003 -- The French may be uppity; they may be exasperating; they may seem perverse; worst of all, at least in the eyes of the court-appointed Bush administration, they refuse to follow orders. We think the French are right. The French and the Germans have injected sanity into the Security Council debates and may have provided the breathing space for the movement against the war to gain some real traction. Click here.

The Monist Library of Philosophy --- http://monist.buffalo.edu/ToC/library_contents.html 

Many current developments in American academic life - multiculturalism, `political correctness', the growth of critical theory, rhetoric and hermeneutics, the crisis of scholarship in many humanities departments - have been closely associated with, and indeed in part inspired by, the ideas of European philosophers such as Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard, and others. In Europe itself, in contrast, the influence of these philosophers is restricted to a small coterie, and their ideas have certainly contributed to none of the wide-raging social and institutional changes we are currently witnessing in some corners of American academia.

Upstream --- http://www.mugu.com/cgi-bin/Upstream/Issues/education/eur-phil-aq-rev.html 

Now, as Willard writes, social causation is a slippery topic. But few readers of Academic Questions will dispute his claim that the chief fact about higher education in late twentieth-century America is that the university is no longer organized about the pursuit of knowledge but, on the student side, merely the granting of certificates. Nor was it always thus. A quotation from the French philosopher, Lyotard, taken from his report to the Conseil des Universites de Quebec, supports Willard's claim that for faculty what now counts is no longer knowledge that generates a consensus among those competent to make such judgments, but, rather, novelty that generates discourse. Willard defines knowing as to think of things as they really are and not as they appear to be and to do so on an appropriate basis of thought or experience. Universities today are concerned with something called "research": "[T] he way things have developed it often seems you could have research going on . . . without involving knowledge at all. . . . Truth sounds like dogmatism. It threatens self-expression, which is perhaps the primary right and value in contemporary America" (5, emphasis in original).


And no matter how we side in the current crisis of whether to go to war over weapons of mass destruction, the leaders of our most powerful nations are demonstrating bold leadership in the face of devastating political and cultural opposition.  It would be far more politically astute for President Bush and Prime Minister Blair to call off their willingness to spill blood at this juncture in an effort to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction.  It would be far more politically astute for Jacques Cirac and his Chinese and Russian counterparts to compromise in a genuine effort to halt the pending war than to stand on principle that makes the U.N. impotent in preventing the war.  Each side is polarized on the key issue of what will prevent the most ultimate spilling of blood.  This makes this a most dangerous juncture in the course of history and the future of life on earth.  What is clear is that we are fighting each other rather than fighting the real problems of life on earth.  It is a sad day on March 15, 2003.  There are no jokes in this matter.




And that's the way it was on March 15, 2003 with a little help from my friends.

 

I highly recommend TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 

 

In March 2000, Forbes named AccountantsWorld.com as the Best Website on the Web --- http://accountantsworld.com/.
Some top accountancy links --- http://accountantsworld.com/category.asp?id=Accounting

 

For accounting news, I prefer AccountingWeb at http://www.accountingweb.com/ 
I also like SmartPros at http://www.smartpros.com/ 

 

Another leading accounting site is AccountingEducation.com at http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

 

Paul Pacter maintains the best international accounting standards and news Website at http://www.iasplus.com/

 

The Finance Professor --- http://www.financeprofessor.com/about/aboutFP.html 

 

How stuff works --- http://www.howstuffworks.com/ 

 

Bob Jensen's video helpers for MS Excel, MS Access, and other helper videos are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/ 
Accompanying documentation can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/default1.htm and http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 

 

Click on www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp for a complete list of interviews with established leaders, creative thinkers and education technology experts in higher education from around the country.

 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu  

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February 28, 2003

 Bob Jensen's New Bookmarks on February 28, 2003
Bob Jensen at Trinity University
 


Quotes of the Week

I like the road of any kind, 
for they intrigue me still.
I wonder what's around the bend,
or just beyond the hill.

Rachel Harnett (Age 95), Tucumcari Literary Review, Los Angeles

Every man is proud of what he does well; and no man is proud of what he does not do well. With the former, his heart is in his work; and he will do twice as much of it with less fatigue. The latter performs a little imperfectly, looks at it in disgust, turns from it, and imagines himself exceedingly tired. The little he has done, comes to nothing, for want of finishing.
 From the September 30, 1859 Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society.
Forwarded by Damian Gadal

A spate of recent hack attacks on America Online --- which hackers say are a regular thing --- underscores the popular online service's feeble security. It's a detail AOL's 35 million users don't hear much about 
Christopher Null, Wired News, February 21, 2003 --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57753,00.html 

Happiness is a marvelous thing: the more you give, the more you are left with.
Blaise Pascal

If you find offense where none was intended, you are a fool. If you find offense where offense was intended, you are a fool.
Spencer Kimball (as forwarded by David Fordham)

The big difference between sex for money and sex for free is sex for money costs less.
Brendan Francis

Ignorance is closer to the truth than a priori knowledge.
Diderot Denis

Europe's military muscle has grown soft in part because so much money is spent on pay and benefits that there isn't enough left for the technology, weapons and other gear that modern forces need.
Phillip Shiskin, The Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045087925290850423,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fpageone%5Fhs 

In the David Fincher suspense movie, The Game, Michael Douglas undergoes a terrifying series of life-or-death adventures that may, or may not, be staged by a Wink Back-like company called Consumer Recreation Services. As projects like Supafly and L3 grow in number, the existential doubt that was at the heart of that movie—is this real or is this immersive media?—is likely to become increasingly commonplace. The next time you see a strange street sign in your neighborhood, it might just be a prop in someone else's entertainment, and the next Google search results page you pull down might contain a link to a node in the L3 universe. That's the thing about games without frontiers. You never really know when you're playing.
Steven Johnson, "Geeks Without Borders" --- http://slate.msn.com/id/2078579/ 

Television is the first truly democratic culture - the first culture available to everybody and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want.
Clive Barnes

Rich Kids Have Affirmative Action
Most universities acknowledge favoring alumni kids. But to attract new donors, colleges are also bending admissions standards to make space for children who hail from rich or influential families without ties to the institutions.
Daniel Golden, The Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045691857478139943,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fpageone%5Fhs 

The Eastern U.S. may be digging out from the worst snowstorm in years, but up in Alaska people are out playing golf. In the Last Frontier State, it's the winter that wasn't.
The Wall Street Journal, February
20, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045693581405195343,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fmarketplace%5Fhs 
But if you plan to go up to Alaska for a game of golf, take a flash light with extra batteries.

It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.
Charles Dickens

My son tells me about a nightmare he had: There is an announcement that we have to protect ourselves by duct taping ourselves into a safe room in our home because of the release of biological agents into the atmosphere. We're moving quickly, collecting our cats, hamsters, food, savings bonds, and water. As directed, I turn off the central air and heat and put a note on our front door stating there are people taped inside. My husband and son carefully tape over the vents and windows in our chosen room. We're safe. We seal ourselves in. We were prepared. We will survive. Then my son takes his paperback copy of A Tale of Two Cities from his back pocket to continue reading and realizes he forgot to bring his highlighters before we taped ourselves in.
Felice Prager --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-02-21-03.htm 

DARWIN MAY HAVE BEEN ALL WRONG ABOUT SEX: 
Researchers and theorists in the evolution of sexual behavior have begun to challenge Darwin's theory of sexual selection. At the 2003 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, researchers presented papers on topics from the multiple, social roles of gender to fish that change sex.
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/report/news/2003/february19/aaassocialselection219.html 

A Czech distraught over financial losses in the notorious Nigerian 419 e-mail scam kills a diplomat at the Nigerian Embassy in Prague --- http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57760,00.html 
Bob Jensen's threads on the Nigerian-style frauds can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#ThingsToKnow 


Erika and I are moving on June 10, 2003 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm 

Once again I remind folks that the activist "Bob Jensen" at the University of Texas in Austin is a different person than the "Bob Jensen" at Trinity University in San Antonio --- http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=6055 




A draft of my February 28, 2003 updates on the accounting and finance scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud022803.htm
(The above document also includes updates on tax frauds, scams, identity theft, and similar updates.)

Demand for Public Accountants Is Rising, Experts Say --- http://www.smartpros.com/x37056.xml 

STARTING SALARIES FOR ACCOUNTING GRADS UP ON LAST YEAR --- http://accountingeducation.com/news/news3788.html

Public Accounting Report has published its annual ranking of America's Top 100 Accounting Firms, and it's no surprise that Andersen, last year's number five ranked firm, is no longer on the list. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/95611

  1. PricewaterhouseCoopers: $8,056.5 million
  2. Deloitte & Touche: $6,130 million
  3. Ernst & Young: $4,485 million
  4. KPMG: $3,171 million
  5. Grant Thornton: $432.5 million
  6. BDO Seidman: $353 million
  7. BKD: $210.9 million
  8. Crowe, Chizek & Co.: $204.7 million
  9. McGladrey & Pullen: $203 million
  10. Moss Adams: $163 million

"Second Six: Ready to Step Up?" CFO.com --- http://www.cfo.com/specialreport/0,5487,564||A,00.html 

As contributing editor Ed Zwirn reveals in his article ''The Second Six: Ready to Step Up?'', the demise of Andersen and the advent of Sarbanes-Oxley have not been an unqualified blessing for those firms that remain. And in ''Same Straw, Smaller Back,'' Zwirn notes how new regulatory burdens that fall heavily on smaller companies (the usual Group B clients) may persuade many of them to go private.

Amex hit by card break-in, too  Discover also likely victim; 8 million accounts placed at risk --- http://www.msnbc.com/news/874307.asp 

The reviews of Intuit's TurboTax 2002 are in and users are giving the perennially popular income tax software two thumbs down. At issue is C-Dilla software, commonly known as spyware, which Intuit installed to stop illegal copying of TurboTax. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97136 

LANDMARK GOVERNMENT REPORTING MODEL ISSUED IN CANADA 
The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants' (CICA) Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) has released a new Government Reporting Model that will see federal, provincial and territorial governments move to a full accrual system of accounting and a more comprehensive set of financial statements that places less emphasis on the annual surplus or deficit number ---  http://accountingeducation.com/news/news3755.html 

AICPA PUBLISHES CRITICAL GUIDANCE FOR LITIGATION AND BUSINESS VALUATION SPECIALISTS 
The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has announced two new publications for CPAs who provide business valuation and litigation services: Valuation Toolkit for Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 141 and SFAS No. 142 and Special Report 02-01, Litigation Services and Applicable Professional Standards (AICPA Product Code No. 055297) ---  http://accountingeducation.com/news/news3739.html 

The New Hampshire Society of CPAs has a rather nice service providing abstracts of articles of interest to accountants --- http://www.nhscpa.org/May2002News/enews.htm 

OTHER USA NEWS AT ACCOUNTINGEDUCATION.COM --- http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 




Click on the top of the photo of a cup of coffee to hear some great wake up music 
http://www.castlemountains.net/flashmar/A_Cup_Of_Joy.swf 

Stunning Photo of Jet Breaking the Sound Barrier 
http://rense.com/general8/boom.htm 

Playing with Time (Incredible Animation) --- http://www.playingwithtime.org/

Playing With Time is an exciting, new project that looks at how the world around you is changing over many different time periods. The project consists of two major parts: this web site and a traveling museum exhibit. The site is being developed by Red Hill Studios. The exhibit is a collaboration between Red Hill and the Science Museum of Minnesota. Here at the Playing With Time web site, unseen worlds of change will be revealed. You will see time sped up and slowed down, and behold the beauty of change. Time will be in your hands to witness, replay, and even create. You never know... you might not look at things quite the same way again.

PhotoLondon (Art History, Photographs) --- http://www.photolondon.org.uk/ 

London's libraries, museums and archives possess a treasure house of modern and historic photographs of London. The photoLondon website exists to highlight and promote these collections. The site also provides background information on photography in London. The five important public collections named to the right founded this site (view their pages by clicking on an individual name or select the Photo Gallery.) We have begun to include details of many more London libraries, museums and archives on the site. Click on the Associate Members link to view contact details, collection information and in some cases, a sample image. The latest additions to the site are Michael Pritchard's 'Directory of London photographers 1841-1908' and the photoLondon Survey of London's public collections of photographs. Click on the links to the left to view these valuable resources.


US News Education Rankings and Guides --- http://www.usnews.com/usnews/rankguide/rghome.htm 

America's Best Colleges --- http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php 

Best Graduate Schools 2003
Use our rankings, articles, and interactive tools to compare programs in business, law, engineering, medicine, education, and more.

Best Values 2003
Get the most for your money at these great schools with great prices.

US News listing of online (eLearning, E-Learning) accredited graduate programs --- http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/elearning/directory/gradonline.htm 

Online business degree programs:
      Regionally and professionally accredited
      Regionally accredited only

Online education degree programs:
      Regionally accredited only

Online engineering degree programs:
      Regionally accredited only

Online library science degree programs (Web exclusive!):
      Regionally and professionally accredited
      Regionally accredited only

Online public health degree programs (Web exclusive!):
      Regionally and professionally accredited
      Regionally accredited only 


How you can shorten virtually any URL!

Suppose you have such a long URL to place in an email message that it really messes up the looks of the message.

In addition the recipient may not be able to click on the text-wrapped link and have it work properly.

So what's a poor guy to do who wants to send you a long URL such as the one shown below? http://online.wsj.com/login?URI=%2Farticle%2F0%2C%2CSB1026084613164978760%2C00.html%3Fmod%3Dhome_whats_news_us 

Instead of pasting in such a long URL, I can simply paste in the following short URL shown below"

http://snurl.com/WSJbob 

Both links lead to the same WSJ site, but one is short and neat. The other one is long and cluttered.

So how did I get the shortened version?

  1. I copied the long URL to my computer's clipboard. 
  2. Then I navigated to the SnipURL site at http://snipurl.com/index.php  
  3. I pasted the long URL into the box in the above site. 
  4. I then got the short URL --- http://snurl.com/WSJbob 
  5. I copied it to the clipboard.
  6. I pasted it into this document.

Now I can paste the short URL into any email message or any Web document instead of having to use the long URL. For me, the primary advantage will be to use it in email messages where the long URL will wrap into more than one line of text.

When adding links to "Sharing Accounting Professors" below, I found that Professor Hanna at the University of Chicago has an extremely long URL.
http://gsbportal.uchicago.edu/portal/gateway/gateway.asp?GID=202&CID=202&URL=http%3A%2F%2Fgsbwebapp%2Euchicago%2Eedu%2Ffsp%2Fgadget%2Ffaculty%5Fdsc%2Ecgi%3Fweb%5Falias%3Djdouglas%252Ehanna 
However, when I put it into the SnipURl box, I received a message that a shortened link had already been created by someone else.  That shortened link was reported to me at http://snurl.com/Hanna 
Hence, someone else beat me to finding a shorter link to Professor Hanna's home page.

The downside as far as I can tell arises if the SnipURL server goes out of existence when the long URL link is not yet a broken link. The short link will then be broken and the long link will not be recorded in your document. Hence, I think this is mostly useful for short-term email messages rather than long-term documents at your Web site.

Thank you Jerry Turner for telling me about the useful SnipURL site at http://snipurl.com/index.php 

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Jerry L. Turner [mailto:jturner1@memphis.edu]  
Sent: Monday, February 24, 2003 12:08 PM 
To: Jensen, Robert 
Subject: Snurl

Bob: You've probably run across this before, but it is a neat little site to cut those long URLs down so they don't wrap in emails.

http://snipurl.com/index.php 

Might be useful on the AECM. I use it frequently for my classes and it works very well.

Jerry T.

Jerry L. Turner, Ph.D., CPA, CIA 
Assistant Professor School of Accountancy 
ogelman College of Business and Economics 
The University of Memphis 
Memphis, TN 38152 


Download.com is a great helper site (especially for MP3 audio conversions) --- http://download.com.com/2001-20-0.html?legacy=cnet 

MP3 & Audio
MP3 Search, CD Burners, Players, New releases...

Internet
Tools, WebFerret, Chat, Browsers, New releases...

Games
Action, Strategy, Casino, Arcade, New releases...

Business
E-mail, Taxes, Finance, New releases...

Mobile
Palm OS, Pocket PC, Cell phone, New releases...
Multimedia & Design
Video, Image Editing, Animation, New releases...

Web Developer
HTML Editors, Site Management, New releases...

Software Developer
Tools & Editors, Java, ActiveX, New releases...

Utilities & Drivers
Drivers, Antivirus, File Compression, New releases...

Home & Desktop
Screensavers, Wallpaper, Themes, New releases...

Downloads for  Windows  |  Mac  |  Linux  |  Palm  &  Handhelds

 


Selected Quotations (with permission) from a Message Sent by Amy Dunbar Following Her Participation in the AAA's New Faculty Consortium

 The New Faculty Consortium was great! My slides are at  www.sba.uconn.edu/users/adunbar/nfc/dunbar.ppt  . You popped  up several times during the presentation. I sent the link to  the new faculty because I did some work on course loads by  doing a survey of the new faculty who attended (N = 72). I  also discussed the low research productivity of the people  who earned their PhDs in 1989, my year (Demski's 2000  Accounting Horizons paper)

. . . .

During the presentation, I  showed how I used technology, including showing a couple of  student videos. All in all, I think the session went well.  I know I had an incredibly good time. The New Faculty  Consortium was well organized, thanks to EY and the AAA NFC  committee. All the presenters were incredible. Have you ever  seen Charles Lee present? Oh, my gosh! Incredible. Mark  Nelson did the close, and he was spectacular. To  be around such talented people is so uplifting and energizing.

You can listen to Amy Dunbar at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/002cpe/02start.htm#2002 


Question
How can old guys like me stay hip?

Answer:
Study the
Hipster Handbook at http://www.hipsterhandbook.com/ 

Hipster - One who possesses tastes, social attitudes, and opinions deemed cool by the cool. (Note: it is no longer recommended that one use the term "cool"; a Hipster would instead say "deck.") The Hipster walks among the masses in daily life but is not a part of them and shuns or reduces to kitsch anything held dear by the mainstream. A Hipster ideally possesses no more than 2% body fat.

Jensen will never make it down to that 2% body fat. And he likes too many mainstream things. (Sigh!)


How can petroleum industry accounting be improved?  Some ideas from PwC --- http://www.pwc.com/images/gx/eng/about/ind/petro/drilling_deeper.pdf 

Bob Jensen's threads on valuation are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm 
Especially note http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm#References 


February 15, 2003 message from Carol King [caking@TEMPLE.EDU

Respondus has exam software for Blackboard, WebCt and others. I am just now trying it out --- http://www.respondus.com/ 

Carol King z
Temple University

Bob Jensen's threads on examination helpers and assessments are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#Examinations 


Forwarded by Aaron Konstam on February 25, 2003

WESTERN GOVERNORS UNIVERSITY, a virtual institution, was granted regional accreditation on Tuesday by a group of four accrediting agencies. Officials at the university believe this will legitimize distance education and competency-based education in the eyes of other institutions. --> SEE http://chronicle.com/free/2003/02/2003022601t.htm 

The WGU home page is at http://www.wgu.edu 

WGU has had a long and hard struggle getting accreditation because it is so non-traditional.  The most important thing to note is that WGU is competency based and non-traditional even though major colleges and universities are providing the learning materials --- http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/academics/understanding.html 

Unlike traditional universities that are typically credit-based, WGU is a competency-based institution. Competencies are nothing more than skills or knowledge identified by professionals in a particular field as being essential for mastery of that field.

The benefit of this competency-based system is that it makes it possible for you -- if you are already knowledgeable about a particular subject -- to make progress toward completing a WGU degree even if you lack college experience. WGU recognizes that you may have gained skills and knowledge on the job, through years of life experience, or by taking a course on a particular subject. This competency-based system does not use credits in awarding degrees. Instead, students demonstrate their knowledge or skills through assessments.

However, if you have completed college coursework at another institution, you may have your transcripts evaluated and may be able to have some associate-level domains cleared. Please use the links on this page to learn more about WGU's competency-based education for postsecondary degrees.

Bob Jensen's threads on distance training and education alternatives are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 


Is it any surprise why some of our students strive to be accepted into a fraternity?

"Lots of CEOs are Fraternity Brothers," San Antonio Express News, February 27, 2003, Page 2E.

If you want to be a chief executive or politician when you grow up, consider joining a fraternity in college.

Forty-two percent of U.S. senators and 40% of Spreme Court Justices belonged to a frat.  So did a quarter of the CEOs of the biggest companies in America, including billionaire Warren Buffett, Wal-Mart Stores founder Sam Walton and Sanford Weill, the Citigroup leader.

When I was in a fraternity, it was considered very bad taste to call a fraternity a "frat."  This is akin to calling San Francisco the dreaded nickname "Frisco."  In both cases, using those nicknames immediately classifies you as a lowlife.


The very sad February 26, 2003 message from Fathom

Dear Fathom member,

We're sorry to announce that Fathom will be ceasing business operations at the end of March. We do appreciate the support we've received from you and from our partner institutions since we launched the site in November 2000.

As of March 3, Fathom will no longer take enrollments in online courses, and we will modify the look of the site to reflect that change. We encourage you to make use of the free content on Fathom through the end of March, and to contact Fathom Customer Support should you have any questions or problems with the site. After March 31, we will post on wwww.fathom.com any plans at that time to archive the wealth of free content on Fathom for online research and other educational purposes.

We are deeply grateful to the countless experts who have contributed articles, interviews, lectures, and more for the benefit of lifelong learners worldwide. Fathom's distinguished consortium of 14 educational, cultural, and research institutions will be exploring new ways to collaborate and develop online learning materials, and we hope that you will look to these institutions for other educational opportunities in the future.

If you are currently enrolled in an online course or free seminar with Fathom, you will receive a follow-up message with details on how to continue accessing your course(s). You may also receive a survey asking if you would like to be connected with any of Fathom's partners in the future if you have indicated such an interest in past communications with us. Rest assured that we will always honor our Privacy Policy and will not share your information without your explicit consent.

We appreciate your support of Fathom and wish you all the best.

Sincerely, The Fathom Team

* Columbia University 
* The London School of Economics and Political Science 
* Cambridge University Press * The British Library 
* The New York Public Library 
* The University of Chicago 
* University of Michigan 
* American Film Institute 
* RAND 
* Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 
* Victoria and Albert Museum 
* Science Museum 
* The Natural History Museum 
* The British Museum

I doubt that the Fathom site will continue as I view it today at http://www.fathom.com/ 

One of the really neat ideas that never came about at Fathom were the ideas about "knowledge trails" --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm 
The idea was to track knowledge over interdisciplinary trails so that compartmentalized knowledge bases are interlinked.  How sad it is that this grand idea could not be fulfilled by Fathom.

My hat is off to all developers of Fathom.  They had grand ideas ahead of their time!!!!!


"Project-Based Learning: a Primer," by Gwen Solomon, Technology and Learning, January 2003 --- http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2003/01/project.html 

When students are challenged to get to work solving real-life problems, the whole world becomes a classroom. Here we offer a guide for getting started.

Walk into team teachers Mike Smith and David Ross's interdisciplinary classroom at Napa New Technology High School in California and you will see students at work-writing in online journals, doing research on the Internet, meeting in groups to plan and create Web sites and digital media presentations, and evaluating their peers for collaboration and presentation skills. This setting and these types of activities have a name and a purpose. It's called project-based learning, and it's designed to engage students and empower them with responsibility for their own education in ways unheard of in traditional classrooms.

What is Project-Based Learning?

In project-based learning, students work in groups to solve challenging problems that are authentic, curriculum-based, and often interdisciplinary. Learners decide how to approach a problem and what activities to pursue. They gather information from a variety of sources and synthesize, analyze, and derive knowledge from it. Their learning is inherently valuable because it's connected to something real and involves adult skills such as collaboration and reflection. At the end, students demonstrate their newly acquired knowledge and are judged by how much they've learned and how well they communicate it. Throughout this process, the teacher's role is to guide and advise, rather than to direct and manage, student work.

Continued at http://www.techlearning.com/db_area/archives/TL/2003/01/project.html  


Learners do no need as much reality built into simulations as is commonly believed.
How Much Reality Does Simulation Need?  by Phillip D. Long, Syllabus, February 2003, Page 6 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7255 

Today's students are immersed in a world of images that draw them into multi-sensory experiences. These are often provided by various entertainment genres, from video games (individual or multi-user) to movies. Young people and old find the engagement compelling, which has lead to the burgeoning gaming industry and laments from the English faculty about the deterioration of linear narrative.

Developments in computer graphics have brought a new realism to video games, movies, and simulations. Blending reality with a suspension of physical constraints made possible by computer simulation has given rise to characters such as Spiderman, who swings by a thread through the canyons of Manhattan. We perceive that experience unfolding as "real." Now, while we certainly remember these scenes from the cinema, if the same computational power were applied to learning would the impact be as powerful?

Chris Dede at Harvard has been studying the impact of adding multi-sensory perceptual information to aid students struggling to understand complex scientific models. He and his colleagues have built virtual environments such as NewtonWorld and MaxwellWorld to test how they affect learning. Providing experiences that leverage human pattern recognition capabilities in three-dimensional space (e.g., shifting among various frames-of-reference and points-of-view) also extends the perceptual nature of visualization.

Their work has concentrated on middle school students who have not scored well on standardized tests of scientific understanding. Among the questions they are investigating is what the motivational impact that graphical multi-user simulation environments have on learning. These environments include some or all of the following characteristics: 3-D representations; multiple perspectives and frames-of-reference; multi-modal interface; simultaneous visual, auditory, and haptic feedback; and interactive experiences unavailable in the real world such as seeing through objects, flying like Superman, and teleporting.

What have they found? With careful design, the characteristics of multi-dimensional virtual environments can interact to create a deep sense of motivation and concentration, thus helping students to master complex, abstract material.

This might suggest that the more realistic the virtual environment becomes the better the learning. Maybe. Of course, these technology-infused approaches to learning are the modern day version of John Dewey's assertion that students learn by doing. Translated into today's computer-enhanced learning environment, the rich perceptual cues and multi-modal feedback (e.g., visual, auditory, and haptic) that are provided to students in virtual environments enable an easier transfer of simulation-based training to real-world skills (Dede, C., Salzman, M.C.; Loftin, R. B.; and Sprague, D., 1999).

Continued at http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7255  

Bob Jensen's threads on visualization of data are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpVisual/000DataVisualization.htm 


"Principles for Building Success in Online Education, by Jacqueline Moloney and Steven Tello, Syllabus, February 2003, pp. 15-17 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7252 

As higher education adminstrators, we faced numerous challenges beginning in 1996 when we launched our online efforts at UMass-Lowell. Which courses or programs to migrate, what faculty to involve, and which platform to use are just a few of the many complex decisions that institutions must confront in building online programs. To help others, we've created a rubric that covers five strategic areas of decision making:

A set of four operating principles that evolved with the success of our program exist as important guides:

Principles in Action
Consistent with the principles above, UMass-Lowell's online education program started very small, with a handful of pioneering faculty. Like many public universities, we were trying to identify new markets that could bring needed revenues to the campus and expand access to our programs. Therefore, the online program was initiated through the Division of Continuing, Corporate and Distance Education (CCDE) to address those campus needs. As a self-supporting organization, CCDE was to identify strategies that would generate sufficient revenues to cover program development and delivery costs. Working through decisions by employing the principles previously outlined, we were able to overcome the obstacles that often inhibit the growth of online education.

The online program at UMass-Lowell now offers six full degree programs and enrolls approximately 6,000 per year. It is one of the largest online programs in New England and is a major contributor to UMassOnline, the University of Massachusetts system-wide effort to provide online education. The program at Lowell is entirely self-supporting and returns significant revenues to the campus that seed continuous growth. Below, we examine some of our formative decisions in the five strategic areas, and consider the operating principles that guided our choices.

Selection of Courses and Programs
Continued at http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7252  

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


Good versus Bad Web Page Designs in Universities --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm#WebPageDesign


February 19, 2003 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU

Smartdraw - http://www.smartdraw.com/   - is an excellent choice for auditing and AIS classes. The trial is 30 days - long enough for students to use and learn the basics of flowcharting. I have a Flash animated tutorial on document flowcharting at:

www.VirtualPublishing.NET/flash.htm 

Richard J. Campbell

February 20 reply from George Durler [Durlerge@ESUMAIL.EMPORIA.EDU

I used SmartDraw in the past but I like a product called Chartist from Novagraph is much better.

Chartist is also available for a 30 day free evaluation at http://www.novagraph.com/ 

George

Dr. M. George Durler 
Assistant Professor of Accounting 
Campus Box 57 Emporia State University 
1200 N. Commercial Emporia, KS  66801

durlerge@emporia.edu
 
http://www.emporia.edu/~durlerge/
 

Note from Bob Jensen:  Professor Durler has a nice links page at http://www.emporia.edu/~durlerge/links.htm 


February 20, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

I have had excellent luck with plain old Word. I'm mildly surprised there are flowcharting packages still out there, although I applaud the stamina and courage of MS competition.

Some might not be aware that Word comes with a full palette of flowcharting tools, including a few that are too technical even for us AIS geeks.

To get to the flowcharting capability in Word, move your mouse into a blank area in the menu bar at the top of your window. Right click to get a list of toolbars. Click on "Drawing". That will put a drawing toolbar in your window. On the drawing toolbar, click on the "Autoshapes" drop-down arrow, and select "Flowchart".

To create a flowchart, click a shape on the Flowchart Autoshapes toolbox, then go to your document and in the drawing area, drag your mouse across the area where you want the symbol to be.

You can right-click on the drawing area to resize it. Once you place a symbol on your flowchart, right-click the symbol and select "format autoshape". You can color them, change the line weight and color, and even add fill effects such as shadowing and textures, etc.

The XP version of Word has 28 flowchart symbols, whereas my old green plastic IBM template has only 21!

By using other shapes on the Autoshapes menu you can add professional-looking arrows, call-out boxes, pillows and clouds for comments, stars, banners, special lines, etc. You can group shapes, move them to the front or back to let them overlap, and do all sorts of other magic.

All of this comes standard with Word. I used to have my students use the free sample from Visio, but now, I just show them how to get started in Word, and they do the rest. Flowcharting used to take up two or three days of my systems class, including samples, etc. a dozen years ago. Now it takes up about fifteen minutes, including a walk-through. And the quality of the student submissions and assignments has gone way up, too.

I give my students a reference page of what the symbols mean and how to use them. See:

http://cob2.jmu.edu/fordham/flowchart.pdf 

There are all kinds of "Easter Eggs" like this hidden in modern MS Office packages that can save time and money.

(Yes, I know that SmartDraw and Visio are much more powerful than Word drawing. But for my purposes, Word can handle most of what my students need to do...)

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University

February 20, 2003 reply from Roberta (Bobbi) Jones [roajones@CALPOLY.EDU

All, Word is OK but it doesn't have "connectors". I use Excel or PowerPoint, both of which have "connectors" that move and change as you shift around the outher symbols. Everything that is available in Word is available in the other two programs as well. 

Cheers, 

Bj

February 20, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

My version of Word DOES have connectors. They are on a different toolset than the flowcharting symbols, but still on the Autoshapes toolbar and just a click away. They stay connected as I move the symbols around on the page, just as they do in Excel and PowerPoint.

In fact, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word flowcharting seems to work identically, at least in the XP versions. I can’t tell any difference. If these products follow the typical “office” protocol, they are all three probably using the same underlying “kernel” code to do their drawing, including flowcharting. Just a guess…

David R. Fordham
PBGH Faculty Fellow
James Madison University

February 20, 2003 reply from Barbara Scofield [scofield_b@UTPB.EDU

My favorite flowcharting software is rfflow ( www.rff.com ) and the advantage of creating the charts on an underlying grid, having labels formatted at the same time as shapes, and moving items with all of the arrows remaining attached is a great timesaver. Plus it has an option that generates html /gif pages for immediate linkage to my website.

There is a free trial.

Barbara W. Scofield, PhD, CPA 
Coordinator of Graduate Business Studies 
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin 
4901 E. University Odessa, TX 79762

Bob Jensen's brief summary of technology resources for faculty can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm#Resources 


"Consolidation In The Accounting Software Industy: Two Perspectives," by Scott H. Cytron, AccountingSoftware.com --- http://www.as411.com/AcctSoftware.nsf/00/TIS22003246 

Bob Jensen's links to accounting software are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#Software 


February 19, 2003 message from Paul Polinski [pwp3@PO.CWRU.EDU

I recently came across a link to an online article of some interest. Its title, "Why Nerds Aren't Popular," only touches the surface of the article's content. It advances an interesting socio-economic argument surrounding "nerds" and popularity, but also presents a critical view of how school systems contribute to the current equilibrium. Implications for addressing the current trend of bad study habits aren't directly addressed, but flow indirectly from the article. Here's the link:

http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html 

Paul Polinski (a self-selecting studier - sounds better than "nerd")
Assistant Professor
Case Western Reserve University

February 20, 2003 reply from J. S. Gangolly [gangolly@CSC.ALBANY.EDU

If the objective is to draw pretty pictures, anything would do, even paintbrush or paintshop pro or visio. There are many problems with this approach:

- lack of uniformity and ad-hocness of symbols

- lack of semantics of symbols

- lack of facility for integration with systems development

While using simplistic tools is ok for class projects, good documentation is facilitated by standard ways of modeling systems.

It is precisely to alleviate the above deficiencies that standards were developed for diagramming. Some diagramming standards are:

- Federal Information Processing Standard for Functional Modeling,

derived from the Structured Analysis and Design Technique (SADT)

http://www.uwp.edu/academic/mis/baldwin/idef.htm

- Object Management Data Group Standard for Objects.

http://www.odmg.org/

- Object Management Group Standard Uniform Modeling Language (UML)

http://www.omg.org/uml/

These standards have made uniformity of representations possible, and made it possible to decument systems parsimoniously by rich semantics of the diagramming objects.

CASE tools based on such standards include:

Rational Rose

http://www.rational.com/index.jsp?SMSESSION=NO

Together Control Center http://industry.java.sun.com/solutions/products/by_product/0,2348,all-3730-99,00.html

For a list of tools, see http://www.cs.queensu.ca/Software-Engineering/tools.html

While one can draw models any way one wants, if they are to be used in communications (say, between members of audit or systems development teams) and in construction of software, it is important to pick tools that are standardised.

Jagdish

Jagdish S. Gangolly, 
Associate Professor (j.gangolly@albany.edu)  
Accounting & Law and Management Science & Information Systems 
State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY 12222.


IS ERP DEAD? (February 13, 2003)

"The IT industry likes to play a ghoulish parlor game every few quarters or so, pounding nails into the coffin of a languishing software or hardware category and casting it into oblivion."

So the current debate within the enterprise software industry seems to be focused on whether or not ERP is dead. The answer unfortunately is not that clear. If you talk to David Schmaier, Siebel executive vice president of products, he claims ERP is dead and will be dead for at least the next five years. On the other hand if you speak with CEO Larry Ellison of Oracle he will tell you that Mr. Schmaier's comments are rediculous. The following article explores this topic from many sides and perspectives and the author even admits that while the answer is probably somewhere in between time will only tell for sure.

See http://www.as411.com/AcctSoftware.nsf/nlv/02122003?Edit&4 

So the current debate within the enterprise software industry seems to be focused on whether or not ERP is dead. The answer unfortunately is not that clear. If you talk to David Schmaier, Siebel executive vice president of products, he claims ERP is dead and will be dead for at least the next five years. On the other hand if you speak with CEO Larry Ellison of Oracle he will tell you that Mr. Schmaier's comments are rediculous. The following article explores this topic from many sides and perspectives and the author even admits that while the answer is probably somewhere in between time will only tell for sure.

Note that I think it’s ridiculous to spell ridiculous as rediculous.

Bob Jensen

February 13, 2003 reply from Gerald Trites [gtrites@STFX.CA

Bob,

It depends a lot on what we mean by "dead". and from whose perspective. From the perspective of the many large companies who use ERP, it is very alive and they need a lot of people who understand how to run and use these systems. From the viewpoint of the vendors who wish to sell more installations, it has leveled out, because as the article points out, the market has been sold out. That hardly means it is "dead" - quite the contrary. It just means that sales of new systems will not rise for quite a while - a unique definition of "dead". From the viewpoint of other enterprise systems' vendors, such as Seibel, who of course focus largely on CRM, it's been less relevant for years, but dead seems a significant overstatement.

The article exhibits superficial journalism at its lowest by using headlines of this type.

A system that has been installed and is operational by over 90 % of the large companies in the world can hardly be described as "dead"

Jerry Trites

February 13, 2002 reply from dee.davidson@marshall.usc.edu  

I agree with Jerry and Jagdish. Although Best of Breed may be more optimal for specific processes, until all the kinks are worked out of integrating disparate systems, we'll have ERP as the best solution for the total enterprise. Anyone who has gone through an ERP implementation knows the pain. Try multiplying that pain by all the individual systems than the enterprise would need, then complicate it by linking them all. And, it's not as if CRM hasn't had its share of implementation failures.

Here are a couple more articles on the subject of ERP's status. The first one was published in October by searchCIO from a Harvard Business School study discussing the ROI that can be derived from ERP systems long after the implementation. ERP's payoffs and pitfalls By Harvard Business School, special to SearchCIO.com 23 Oct 2002, HBS Working Knowledge http://searchcio.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid19_gci858624,00.html 

This second one is based on a Forrester Research study that says ERP hasn't realized much of its potential ROI because the users are still not fully able to work with the software. One interesting comment in this article is ""Most software companies have little incentive to make their applications more intuitive, because their training programs are an important source of revenue..." This is true of all packages, ERP or CRM. Business apps get bad marks in usability By Alorie Gilbert Staff Writer, CNET News.com January 14, 2003, 5:00 PM PT

Business applications from major software makers are often difficult for the average office worker to use, costing companies millions of dollars and compromising many corporate software projects, according to a new study. http://news.com.com/2100-1017-980648.html?tag=fd_top 

We should continue to expose accounting students to ERP. It's what they'll find in the business world for quite some time. Even Peachtree Complete Accounting now has ERP capability (on a small scale) with AR, AP, Inventory, and GL fully integrated.

dee davidson 
Accounting Systems Specialist 
Marshall School of Business 
Leventhal School of Accounting 
University of Southern California 213.740.5018 

dee.davidson@marshall.usc.edu
 

February 13, 2003 reply from Ted Weston [Ted.Weston@business.colostate.edu

The question of whether or not ERP is dead is the wrong question.  ERP from five years ago is not the same as ERP today.  ERP II (with apologies to MRP II) is really all about integrated extended enterprise systems.  This includes CRM (front end) and SCM (back end) with what we originally called ERP -- back office systems including acctg, inventory, product data management, etc.

Today, web services are becoming part of ERP II because of the focus on enterprise application integration (EAI).  In addition to web services, which necessarily include B2B and B2C, ERP II includes all the change management and process issues that lie beneath an implementation.  And don’t forget project management – a very cursory review of studies like Chaos (Standish Group) suggests strongly that many of these early (ERP I) and later (ERP II) projects failed or nearly failed because of non-technical issues including people, politics, change management, and organizational issues.

The right question is possibly how can we implement front and back office systems in a shorter time, and that contain the flexibility, adaptability, and responsiveness to react to changes in the business model.  And we must begin to move in the direction that it is the process-based power users of ERP II who can implement process changes independent of the IT Department.

ERP II has barely been born!

F.C. 'Ted' Weston, Jr., Professor
Computer Information Systems Department
College of Business
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
Ph: (970) 491-6518
Fax: (970) 491-5205
email: tweston@lamar.colostate.edu 
http://www.biz.colostate.edu/faculty/tedw

Bob Jensen's threads on ERP are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245glosap.htm 


Wow Technology of the Week  

Marking another advance in online music, Rhapsody, a new legal service from the big record labels, lets customers burn songs onto a CD for just 49 cents apiece. Walt Mossberg gives it a test burn.
Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045099144780634703,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fmarketplace%5Fhs 

Bob Jensen's threads on file sharing and POP technology can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/napster.htm 


Question
What is Hybrid Distance Learning

Answer:
"Putting a Faculty on Distance Education Programs, by William H. Riffee, Syllabus, February 2003, Page 13

 

At a Glance: Hybrid Distance Learning

  • Hybrid Distance Learning: A distance learning program using both electronic delivery and local facilitators or mentors to coach, counsel, and support students

  • Ideal Student/Facilitator Ratio: Approximately 12:1

  • Facilitator Traits: Teaching skills, clinical experience, time availability, compatible philosophy

  • Facilitator Training: Training at host university, shadowing current faculty member, telephone conferences, annual training updates

  • Compensation: Level based on current salary for such a professional in the region where they are located

  • Quote: "Traditionally, distance education has been developed as stand-alone Web-based programs with little interaction between faculty and students other than through electronic means. The University of Florida has found that the addition of the facilitator/mentor faculty has brought a new dimension to distance-based programs, one that has improved overall quality. The additional academic experiences available to our distance education students have put a now-familiar face on our distance education programs."—Bill Riffee

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


Ed Scribner reminded us about this article written about a decade ago.
"Using Internet Know-How to Plan How Students Will Know,"  by Judi Harris, May 1993 in "Mining the Internet" column, The Computing Teacher, May 1993 --- http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/mining/May93-TCT.html 

Recently, I've sorted through my many files of Internet-based activity ideas, and have found that they can be classified into 15 structural categories. I will present the categories here, with sample project descriptions for each. I do this hoping that reading about these activity types will help you to plan effective telecomputing explorations for your students that are fully integrated into their curricularly-based courses of study.

Bob Jensen's "The 21st Century Pedagogy Alternatives and Tricks/Tools of the Trade+ --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/thetools.htm  


From Syllabus News on February 18, 2003

Blackboard to Integrate Nuventive Electronic Portfolios

Course management company Blackboard Inc. and Nuventive, which provides assessment and portfolio solutions for higher education, agreed to integrate Nuventive’s iWebfolio electronic portfolio software with the Blackboard Learning System. Nuventive's iWebfolio is an electronic portfolio that gives students and faculty and staff the ability to store, organize, and display personal "learning" evidence to faculty, admissions offices, and employers through the creation of any number of portfolio views. Portfolios can contain work samples, learning goals, personal reflections, educational and professional accomplishments, in a variety of formats including text and multimedia. Users will be able to share course-related documents with instructors, study group members, and organization members.

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

Collegis Posts Record Revenues Despite Belt Tightening

Higher education electronic services firm Collegis said it tallied record revenues in 2002, posting $95 million in revenues, up 35 percent from one year ago. This growth comes in the face of a slow economy, a flurry of state budget cuts to higher education, and shrinking endowments at many of the nation's private colleges and universities. The company, which signed new agreements with 36 clients in 2002, said it was the best sales year in the company’s history. "What we're seeing is the willingness among colleges and universities to get creative with course offerings to meet the needs of a changing work force," said Tom Huber, Collegis CEO and president. "There also exists a trend toward outsource technology management to free themselves of the complexities of providing technology services on their own."

DISTANCE LEARNING--
The African Virtual University (AVU), a "university beyond borders " extending higher education to under-served sub-Saharan Africa, picked WebCT Campus Edition course management system for its distance learning platform. With WebCT, the AVU will begin migrating its satellite-based distance learning programs to the Web, making them more convenient, cost-effective, and pervasive.

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education training and education alternatives are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 


Forwarded by Ed Scribner[escribne@NMSU.EDU] on February 17, 2003
"Red Herring founder unveils 'super-blog' for business geeks," by David Kirkpatrick, FORTUNE.COM Wednesday, February 12, 2003 (and reproduced by CNN.com) --- http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/02/12/fortune.ff.super.blog/index.html 

Tony Perkins gets points for prescience. He invented the technology business magazine when he founded Upside in 1988. He refined the model further in launching Red Herring in 1993. A boatload of imitators followed. Then in November 1999 he, along with his brother Michael, published the book on the last great technology wave—The Internet Bubble: Inside the Overvalued World of High-Tech Stocks—And What You Need to Know to Avoid the Coming Shakeout. How's that for timing?

So Perkins is something of a bellwether for technology journalism. Now, with his two-week-old AlwaysOn Network, he's trying to take it to the next generation. AlwaysOn aims to completely rethink technology and business publishing. (Here a necessary disclosure: Tony's a good friend of mine. But in this case our friendship just gives me a good view of the significance of his project.)

"The impact of the Internet on the media business will be in forcing it to become more participatory," says Perkins. So this time he has completely foregone print—the company is only online. And he sees in the burgeoning blogging movement, in which everyone has a voice, the seeds of the next media revolution: "The bloggers have shown us the value of truly participatory media sites, so we're just going to bundle it up and polish it and commercialize it."

AlwaysOn is almost entirely the creation of its members, who express their opinions in a variety of pre-defined topic areas, including "The Wireless Device Boom," "Security in a Hacker's World," "The Real-Time Economy," and "Entertainment Goes Online." There are three categories of bloggers on the site: ordinary members, who after two weeks already number 5,500; about 100 volunteer "correspondents;" and industry celebrities, who Perkins will interview periodically. He merely asks these people to talk about their strongest opinions of the moment. He's already posted comments from Michael Dell, John Doerr, and venture capitalist Tim Draper. (Doerr's screed against expensing stock options elicited 15 posts, mostly disagreeing with him.)

"This is the eBay-ization of media," says Perkins. "We've created the arena, like eBay did. We organize the world, then invite members to come in and play." He calls the site a "super-blog," comparing it to Slashdot.org, a phenomenally successful site for serious technophiles that now claims over two million members. "While Slashdot is for techie geeks, AlwaysOn is for business geeks," he says. He will impose editorial order by continuing to fine-tune topic areas, recruiting appropriate bloggers, and contributing heavily himself.

Continued in the article.


Mobile weblogging, or moblogging, is the latest trend in the world of blogs. New software allows users to update their weblogs remotely with cell phones and other handheld devices --- http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,57431,00.html 

The meteoric rise of weblogging is one of the most unexpected technology stories of the past year, and much like the commentary that populates these ever-changing digital diaries, the story of blogging keeps evolving.

One recent trend is "moblogging," or mobile weblogging. New tools like Manywhere Moblogger, Wapblog and FoneBlog allow bloggers to post information about the minutiae of their lives from anywhere, not just from a PC.

The newest of these tools, Kablog, lets users update their weblogs remotely with cell phones and other handheld devices like wireless PDAs.

Kablog works on any device running Java 2 Platform Micro Edition, or J2ME, a version of Java for mobile devices. Those devices include cell phones running the Symbian operating system, many Sprint PCS phones, the Blackberry from RIM, and many Palm handhelds running OS 3.5, such as Handspring's Treo.

Todd Courtois, creator of Kablog, offers the program for free as shareware and says that word-of-mouth has already generated several thousand downloads in the short time it has been available.

What distinguishes Kablog from other moblogging software is that it does not use e-mail or text messaging for updating weblogs. Other programs such as FoneBlog enable users to e-mail posts from a cell phone or PDA to a server, which uploads the entry onto a site. Kablog lets those who use Movable Type as their weblogging software log directly onto their sites for updating.

Continued in the article.

Bob Jensen's threads on Weblogs and blogs are at http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#Weblog 


February 16, 2003 message from Gerald Trites [gtrites@STFX.CA

The Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants has a publication "Information Technology Control Guidelines" which was published in 1999. The book is quite large and there has been some talk about a possible decision support system that might be developed, loaded with the ITCG guidelines, placed on a CD and used in the field for assistance in analyzing system controls for particular systems/companies and developing recommendation letters. I would think the preferred approach would be to find a suitable shell and then build the system around it. In the course of my research of a good system, I came across VP-Expert which at one time was highly recommended, but it is DOS based and appears to be out of date. There is a variety of others. Does anyone have knowledge of a good DS shell that might be useful for this application and that would run on current Windows platforms? It should have run-time capability so the CD can run on its own.

Any advice you might have would be most appreciated.

Gerald Trites, FCA 
Professor of Accounting and Information Systems 
St Francis Xavier University Antigonish, 
Nova Scotia Tel.  
Website -
http://www.stfx.ca/people/gtrites 

The CICA home page is at http://www.cica.ca/ 


Get Online to Manage Your Heart Disease, Lung Disease or Diabetes! ---  http://healthyliving.stanford.edu  

The Stanford School of Medicine is inviting people to take part in a free 6 week online program and study for people with heart disease, lung disease, or type II diabetes. It will be a 6-week, small group, interactive workshop on the Internet. You must be a resident of the United States to participate.


A Distance Education Partnership Between the University of Akron and Kent State University
"Schools collaborate to create Online Learning," Syllabus, February 2003, pp. 21-33 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7259 

Two of Ohio's largest universities are teaming to create a collaborative online learning system that will dramatically expand their teaching and research opportunities, while reducing information technology costs. A 20-minute drive apart, these universities have combined enrollments of 60,000, with more than 400 programs and 1,400 faculty members. The University of Akron (UA) and Kent State University (KSU) are using WebCT's academic enterprise system, WebCT Vista, to create a "shared services model" for online learning. This model for online learning will allow the two universities to share technology, course content, research, and faculty, which could ultimately serve other Ohio universities and the K-12 community.

Especially beneficial for large, multi-institution deployments, WebCT Vista is an eLearning platform that includes a broad range of course development and delivery, content management, and learning information management capabilities. These are all supported by an extensible, enterprise-class architecture. WebCT Vista gives institutions of higher education first-time access to aggregate student learning data at the institutional level, extending the capacity for colleges and universities to access and strategically leverage learning information beyond an individual classroom.

Stretching Resources Currently, UA and KSU are in the process of Web-enhancing classroom courses that they have in common with interactive exercises, threaded discussion groups, chats, and virtual-classroom activities. The universities also hope to create pure distance learning courses, in which all activities take place over the Internet. The intent is to improve education and research, and to stretch scarce resources. Dr. Rosemary DuMont, Associate VP of Academic Technology Services for KSU, explains, "UA and KSU began this initiative because of concern about student success. Both universities are extremely student-focused. WebCT Vista provides research data for making decisions in the future regarding student retention." Over the next five years, UA and KSU could predictably save over one million dollars in software and hardware costs. The long-term goal is for UA and KSU to become a national eLearning provider by taking the shared services model to Internet2, a high-performance network that connects 200 universities. This could generate additional revenue and prestige for both universities.

Mike Giannone, Communications Officer at UA, says, "We will be able to develop an eLearning curriculum for any given program by splitting, rather than duplicating the effort. This collaboration will broaden students' exposure to programs they might otherwise miss, while exposing faculty to research and best practices from an expanded group of peers. It offers students at both schools more choices in the classes they take, and where and how they will take them. The two universities will also share grants, content, and the ability to analyze a combined pool of learning data collected by WebCT Vista." Dr. Paul L. Gaston, provost of KSU, exclaims, "We are excited to be able to offer an even broader range of educational opportunities to our students through this collaboration! We already share academic programs, so sharing online resources is a natural next step."

Collaborative Teaching and Research Shared services between UA and KSU are the brain child of Dr. Thomas Gaylord, Vice President and Chief Information Officer at UA. His vision initially created the project and continues to drive it. Dr. Gaylord explains, "The greatest paradigm shift for education is occurring now—it is a wonderful enlightenment. It is time to re-define what our students are; what our faculties are; what constitutes accredibility, and so forth. Partnerships are the ‘right' thing to do. For example, why do numerous individual universities produce Algebra I online … when collaboration makes sense? The University of Akron and Kent State University will have educational advantages over other universities in the region with probably the single, most important educational technology tool for enhancing their long-range instructional vitalities in the coming years." Because of the strategic impact of eLearning on both institutions, UA President, Dr. Luis M. Proenza and KSU President, Dr. Carol A. Cartwright, came together, with Dr. Gaylord, Dr. DuMont, and others, to drive this collaboration. Under the direction of Dr. Gaylord and Dr. DuMont, the two universities have installed a new high-speed fiber optic line, "GigaMAN," to connect their information technology systems and act as a bridge for collaborative teaching and research. Dr. Terry L Hickey, Senior Vice President and Provost at UA, explains, "In addition to partnering with Kent State, we eventually envision offering a shared resource for other northeastern Ohio schools as well as the private sector

Continued at http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7259

Bob Jensen's threads on distance education partnerships can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm 


Porn 101:  A New Take on Show and Tell at the Collegiate Level
We just aren't all that show and tell innovative in classroom accounting research, although there is a 1996 American Accounting Association innovation award winning classroom activity in cost accounting that involves playing with Legos --- http://www.cob.tamucc.edu/ATABestPrac2K/drama-simulations.htm 

Virtually all universities require that any research involving human subjects be cleared by some administrative process that usually entails getting pre-approval from a committee of experts on behavioral experiments.  I merely wanted to note this is passing.

I've been casually aware of Porn 101 research for a brief time.  Items have appeared in some newspapers and academic journals over the past few years.  But in March 2003 it will really be "out in the open" so to speak.  Porn 101 classroom research has now entered the oldsters' main stream with the publication of "Porn 101:  Yep that's Penthouse on the Syllabus" by Tucker Carlson in The Reader's Digest, March 2003. pp. 31-33 --- http://www.rd.com/splash.jhtml 

*************************
They're not the flash cards you remember from school.  One recent fall semester, students in a class at the University of California, Berkeley, took photographs of their own genitals, shuffled the pictures in a box, and challenged one another to match faces to body parts.  The idea, explained freshman Christy Kovacs, "was for everyone to get to know each other."

By conventional standards, the students in Berkeley's Male Sexuality course already knew each other pretty well.  During class, which counted as credit toward graduation, they listened to a lecture from a porn actress, as well as an expert on sex toys.  They took a trip to a gay strip club, where their instructor had sex onstage.  At the end of the semester, they staged an orgy.

If you haven't been enrolled in college during the past five years, you might consider what happened at Berkeley to be mere pornography.

But you would be only half right.  In modern academia, sharing your sex life with your classmates isn't porn.  It's Porn Studies, a form of serious, cutting-edge scholarly research.  Just ask Richard Burt, professor of English at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.  Professor Burt is the author of the 318-page volume, Unspeakable ShaXXXspeares: Queer Theory and American Kiddie Culture, and perhaps the best known defender of pornography as an object of academic research.  And Burt doesn't just talk about his area of study.  He lives it.  His personal website has helpful links to adult sites, as well as seminude pictures of his wife.

A couple of years ago in The Los Angeles Times, Burt wrote one of the first public defenses of porn studies, arguing that X-rated films are in fact literary tools.  In order to comprehend Shakespeare, he contended, it's not enough simply to read what Shakespeare wrote.  You have to see the movie too.

As Burt put it: "How can we understand Shakespeare's reverberation in our culture without examining his appearance in popular media like TV sitcoms, advertisements, films like Porky's 2 and, dare I say it, even hard-core pornographic films like A Midsummer Night's Cream?"

Regular folks--especially parents--may have trouble understanding the connection between skin flicks and Macbeth.  To some academics, it's perfectly clear.  Which explains why students at MIT watched Deep Throat in class.  And why young scholars at Arizona State University screened Buttman of Budapest at the request of their professor.  (Students at Berkeley, meanwhile, had to make do with a lecture by Carol Queen, author of the less critically acclaimed Carol Queen's Guide to Vibrators.)

It's all part of porn studies.  As is Exploring Cybersexualities, a class offered a few semester ago by San Francisco State University that gave students tips on finding porn on the Web.  According to a reporter who visited the class, instructor Mary Madden said to her students, "Let's look for naked pictures of Britney Spears--is she old enough yet?  I think she might be 16, so we better not do that."  To which her teaching assistant added, "How about women and dogs?"

When porn studies majors aren't viewing porn, they're making it.  A couple of years ago, undergraduates in a women's studies course at Wesleyan were required to produce their own pornography.  Some videotaped themselves masturbating, while others acted with partners.

At Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., "porn scholars" took a more active approach.  Students attended an erotic-dance course from college lecturer Susan Scotto.  Scotto, a former stripper herself, accompanied several students to a local strip club, where they made their debut onstage.  "They're going to do it anyway," she explained.  "I thought at least I can teach them to do it right."  Asked for his opinion of the course, Mount Holyoke's dean of faculty replied that stripping "seems to build self-esteem."

Continued in the article.
*************************

The home page of Professor Richard Burt, a 1995 Fulbright Scholar, is at http://www.naughtyprofessor.com/titlepage.html 
There are links to some of his scholarly works and lectures at various universities.  However, it appears that he has removed the semi-nude photos of his wife, links to adult sites,  and the links to feedback messages.  Then again, maybe I just did not navigate deep enough at his site.  I did find pictures of his infant son.
Professor Burt's  book entitled Author of UNSPEAKABLE SHAXXXSPEARES can be purchased at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312226853/ref%3Ded%5Foe%5Fp/002-8190976-4846465 
He also has a book entitled Shakespeare After Mass Media http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312294549/qid%3D1004847781/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F0%5F1/002-8190976-4846465 
Also note his DVD videos and reviews.
Design Note:  At the bottom of each page in Professor Burt's site, there is a neat audio pause control that should be used on all HTML pages that have background audio.

The University of Massachusetts course page for one of Professor Burt's courses is at http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~everaft/howard.html 
He does not tolerate plagiarism.  I could not find a home page for the UC Berkeley course mentioned above.

Some Related Links and References

Porn 101:  Eroticism, Pornography, and the First Amendment, edited by James Elias, Veronica Diehl Elias, Vern L. Bullough, Gwen Brewer, Jeffrey J. Douglas and Will Jarvis (Amherst, New York: Prometheus Books, 1999).
A review and commentary is provided at http://www.section12.com/users/debrahyde/porn101.htm 
Other books and reviews --- http://www.mwsexual.com/readingroom/recommended-books.htm 

Porn Library - Pornography Research Directory --- http://www.porn-library.com/porn_research.htm 

Bibliography of Anti-Censorship --- http://www.thefileroom.org/FileRoom/documents/Bibliography.html 

Child Pornography and the U.S. Supreme Court --- http://archive.aclu.org/court/ashcroft2.pdf 
Note that this Supreme Court ruling cites the Elias et al book for studies of reactions of children to pornography.

Sex and Bondage 101 --- http://www.iwf.org/pubs/twq/su98b.shtml 

Writing Porn For Fun and Profit! --- The Bi-Weekly E-Letter --- http://www.katyterrega.com/backissues/newslettervII-17.html 
(Note the Writers' Resources Section.)

Porn 101: The Perversion of America's Colleges --- http://www.steveaiken.net/pornagraphyinclassrooms.htm 

Daily Usenet Reports --- http://nntp.kreonet.re.kr/log/2002.06/news-notice.2002.06.02-03.00.01.html 

The Mount Holyoke dancing course taught by stripper Susan Scotto was reported in the February 18, 2000 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education.
A controversial legal discussion of stripping is provided at http://iupjournals.org/nwsa/nws14-2.html 


"Berkeley Male Sexuality Class Reinstated: Students Watched Class Instructor Have Sex," by Sara Russo, Accuracy in Academia --- http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2002/march_2002_1.html 

A course at UC-Berkeley dedicated to the study of "Male Sexuality" was suspended and then reinstated after it was revealed that the class's student instructors had organized trips to strip clubs and "sex exchanges," held class parties that turned into orgies, and engaged in sex in front of students.

"There was an orgy at one of the parties," Christy Kovacs, a freshman student at Berkeley explained to the campus newspaper, The Daily Californian, which broke the story of the course's exploits. "And after we went to a strip club, at the party, people took pictures of their genitalia." The anonymous Polaroid photos were then placed in a box and students and class instructors played a game attempting to match the photos with the person whose genitals were featured. Course instructors claim that the party was organized to help students taking the class meet one another, and that no one was pressured to take the Polaroid photos which they label a "party game."

"The purpose of the party was for everyone to get to know each other in an outside environment," Kovacs said. "The main point of them was to meet people from other sections." Students and instructors in the course have hastened to state that the party, which was held at the home of one of the course's student instructors, was not mandatory, though they admit that the photograph-taking and group sex took place.

A second questionable incident occurred when several course instructors accompanied a group of students when they visited a gay strip club as research for their final project for the class. While at the strip club, they watched one of their instructors undress and have sex onstage.

Student instructors for the "Male Sexuality" class were adamant in defense of the course's content. In a letter to the Daily Cal, Drew Navarro, a "facilitator for the Male Sexuality class for the last five semesters," insisted that he and the course's other instructors had done nothing wrong. "The Daily Cal horribly mischaracterized the truth," course instructor Ian Bach told Campus Report.

"Along with icebreakers done in class, we also arrange parties outside of class," Navarro explained in a statement he sent to Campus Report. "At these parties we play games that would go under the category of icebreakers. We call one 'porn pictionary' and another, 'porn password.'"

"I liken them to playing 'spin the bottle' or 'truth or dare,'" Navarro stated in a letter to the Daily Cal. "It is not fair to blame the class because some students played games in the bedroom at a party. It would be the same as blaming the forestry department for students getting arrested for protesting the destruction of a forest."

Navarro also objected to being called an "instructor" for the course, preferring instead the term "facilitator" or "coordinator." "We leave the instruction to the guest speakers, who are experts in their field, along with some UC faculty members," he claimed. Guest speakers this past term included lesbian sex-toy shop owner Carol Queen, S&M expert and self-declared "sadist" Cleo Du Bois, and female-to-male transsexual, James Green.

Despite the defenses the course's instructors have given on paper, they failed to show up to a February 15 meeting with faculty members and administrators, and the University suspended the course indefinitely. "It will remain suspended pending the review of the allegations that appeared in the student newspaper," campus spokeswoman Janet Gilmore told Campus Report. Gilmore refused to address the charges issued against the course's student coordinators, or whether the University might be at fault for allowing the course to proceed. "I'm not going to get into the particulars of it," she said. "We are investigating what occurred and once that's done I can talk to you further, but I'm not going to get into all the particulars."

Continued at http://www.academia.org/campus_reports/2002/march_2002_1.html  

Also see http://www.dazereader.com/berkeleycourse.htm 


Pennsylvania's attorney general is fighting child pornography on the Internet by forcing ISPs to prevent users from seeing it. But not everyone agrees the plan will work, and some say it may do more harm than good --- http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57804,00.html 


U.S Senate passes new child porn bill --- http://dc.internet.com/news/article.php/1598551 

The U.S. Senate Monday (February 25, 2003) afternoon passed a new child pornography bill designed to overcome the Supreme Court objections that struck down a previous effort by Congress to ban computer-generated child pornography images. The House has yet to pass companion or similar legislation.

In April of last year, the court ruled that Congress' 1996 law banning virtual child pornography was a violation of free speech rights. The 6-3 decision striking down the law was written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who said the statute was too broad and was unconstitutional. The high court rejected arguments by the Department of Justice that virtual child pornography was directly related to child sexual abuse. The Court said the First Amendment protects pornographers that produce images that only appear to have children engaging in sexual acts.

The new legislation, sponsored by Orrin Hatch (R.-Utah) and Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.), hopes to avoid the court objections by not defining computer-generated images as obscene and, instead, prohibits the pandering or solicitation of anything represented to be obscene child pornography.

The bill, which passed on an 84-0 vote, requires the government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that person charged with producing or distributing child pornography intended others to believe the product was obscene child pornography, which is not protected by the First Amendment. Persons accused under the new law would have to prove that real children were not used in the production of the material.

The bill also creates a new crime for the use of child pornography by pedophiles to entice minors to engage in sexual activity.

Continued in the article.


From the Risk Waters Group on February 21, 2003

Meanwhile, credit default swap spreads tightened this week due to a strong upswing in synthetic collateralised debt obligation issuance and a limited number of bond issues. The combination of these factors meant the high correlation between credit default swap spreads and equity prices seen earlier this year has been significantly reduced. The cost of protection on ThyssenKrupp widened by up to 150bp in trading this morning, following its downgrade to junk by rating agency Standard and Poor's. The downgrade prompted renewed fears about the pension liabilities faced by Thyssen and 11 other corporates named in an S&P report at the start of February. Other European corporates on the S&P creditwatch list due to pension liability concerns include French steelmaker Arcelor, UK supermarket Sainsbury and French manufacturer Michelin. The cost of Arcelor five-year senior credit protection widened from 120bp-mid to 160bp-mid, from 70bp-mid to 80bp-mid for Sainsbury and from 85bp-mid to 115bp-mid for Michelin

In the regulated market, the world's derivatives exchanges saw a 37% increase in trade volume last year, up 1.61 billion contracts, according to the Futures Industry Association (FIA). The FIA, which collected data from 56 exchanges, said growth in options trading was particularly strong, rising 47%, or 1.22 billion contracts, to 3.8 billion contracts last year. The strongest growth came from equity index derivatives, with global turnover increasing 86% to 2.79 billion. Growth in the trading of exchange-traded futures and options on individual stocks was more muted, however, rising 7% to 1.3 billion contracts globally. The global exchange-traded interest rate derivatives market grew 13% last year, to trade 1.39 billion contracts, said the FIA. In the US, interest rate futures volumes increased 22% to 419 million contracts, while options activity on interest rate futures rose 27% to 160 billion contracts.


February 21, 2003 message from David Raggay [draggay@TSTT.NET.TT

Bribery Will Only Get You So Far...

A professor was giving a big test one day to his students. He handed out all of the tests and went back to his desk to wait. Once the test was over the students all handed the tests back in. The professor noticed that one of the students had attached a $100 bill to his test with a note saying "A dollar per point."

The next day the professor handed the graded tests back out. The student got back his test and $64 change....

David

David Raggay B.Sc.,M.Sc., 
Chartered Accountant, Lecturer, 
Department of Management Studies, 
University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad, West Indies.
draggay@fss.uwi.tt 

See http://www.ahajokes.com/bribe2.html 

February 21, 2003 reply from Barry Rice [BRice@LOYOLA.EDU

This reminds me of the time a student tried to bribe me for a passing grade. TRUE STORY!

This was in the early 70s before I got to Loyola. The student put two $20 bills in an envelope with a thank-you card which was turned in with the final exam. The card explained how important it was to pass the course. Obviously, I did not accept the attempted bribe and flunked the student. My dean advised me that in returning the money I should mail it using Return Receipt Requested, which I did.

Over the next 25 or so years, when I had an opportunity to address bribery in class, I always told my students this story and told them that if they wanted to bribe me, my starting price was $1,000,000 because I would sell my sole for nothing less. Fortunately no one else ever tried a bribe with money or other favors. I also recall one former colleague of many years ago who was offered a carnal bribe.

I'm curious if others on this list have ever had students try to bribe you for a grade.

Barry Rice Director, 
Instructional Services 
Emeritus Accounting Professor 
Loyola College in Maryland 

February 23, 2003 reply from Eric Press [epress@SBM.TEMPLE.EDU

Barry,

Your request for bribe data most likely can only yield a truncated distribution. How many takers of monetary, carnal, or other gift bribes are going to pipe up, saying "It was fun, and worth it"? Incidentally, to estimate the incidence of unsavory or shameful outcomes, I was taught that you ask subjects to flip a coin. You lie on your response if it's a head; tell the truth if it's a tale. This way, a researcher could approximate a rate.

Eric Press, Ph.D., C.P.A 
Associate Professor of Accounting Fox School of Business 
Temple University Philadelphia, PA 19122

February 24, 2003  reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Eric,

Did you really mean to spell tail as "tale?" I think it is a better message spelled as "tale."

Bribes in sex are more apt to be accepted than bribes of money in the U.S. (I have no citations for this hypothesis, but I suspect there are more documented sanctions of faculty for accepting sexual favors in exchange for grades vis-à-vis monetary bribes.)

Some interesting links on this thread:

This link is especially interesting. When is a bribe a bribe? Teaching a workable definition of bribery --- http://www.utdallas.edu/dept/ta/tabook/college_teaching.htm 

College Teaching --- http://www.utdallas.edu/dept/ta/tabook/college_teaching.htm 

There are reports that bribery is almost a way of life in education in current and former communist nations --- http://andrsn.stanford.edu/Other/redmaf.html 

The education system in Bangladesh is highly corrupt --- http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan004887.pdf 

The ETS investigation, which covered more than 40 countries, showed security breaches occurring only in China, Taiwan and Korea --- http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,54459,00.html

AN EDUCATION IN CORRUPTION One of the hardest things about doing business in Asia, at least for Lisa Bergson, is that bribery can be a way of life Business Week, June 27, 2002 http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2002/sb20020627_7107.htm?c=bwfrontierjul2&n=link1&t= 

The most corrupt nations --- http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20020829/UCORROQ/ 

Bob Jensen

February 24, 2003 message from glan@UWINDSOR.CA 

Hi Bob,

The first article on teaching and ethics you cited should be recommended reading to all new faculty (and older ones who need a refresher). The article deals with some gray areas and situations that could be construed to be bribery or morally unfair.

I find the story of the professor offering better grades for free dinner (mentioned in a previous posting) to be akin to bribery. (The only humour is from the point of the student who could say that he/she got a better grade because he/she bought the "starving" prof a pizza and beer).

Sometimes, however, some of students will bring little gifts to the prof, especially at the end of the semester. Is it bribery to accept them? ( I rarely get them now- I've always made it clear to the student that this was not necessary and would only accept it after the student had insisted. However, it could be a little flattering to be offered these little gifts).

China is a country of controversies. Many people work hard for relatively small sum of money and the service (whether in the restaurant, department stores, hospital or from the shoe-shiners...) is usually wonderful. For example, one has usually three or four waiters at each dining table and there is no need to provide tips-- they embarrassed the servers. Yet, I am told that at "the higher level "to get things done you need to have connection and often provide a gift in the current more materialistic society. Many people get by on so little, yet there are approximately two hundred million users of cell-phones in China. Perhaps, if the standard of living gets to higher, then the Singaporeans of Chinese descent will have an easier time tapping the vast Chinese market for profits!

For people with salaries in Western countries, there are still many bargains to be had. Clothes, for example, are a fifth or less of the price I normally pay in Canada and I intend to bring back a suitcase of clothes! However, I refuse to haggle on prices with the market vendors (unless I think the price is really exorbitant) because the prices look low when I convert into Canadian dollars.

Coming back to bribery in education , my personal attitude is to develop an atmosphere that discourages attempts for bribery (and along the same line for humour at the expense of those most vulnerable).

George Lan


The AACSB homepage is at  http://www.aacsb.edu/ 

Standards for Accreditation --- http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/business/BusinessStandards2000.pdf 

Proposed Standards for Business Accreditation --- http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/brc/proposedstandards.pdf 

First Working Draft of New Standards for Accounting Accreditation --- http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/accounting/DraftAcctgStds10-01-02.pdf 

eNEWSLINE is a newsletter of the AACSB --- http://www.aacsb.edu/publications/enewsline/ 

BizEd is a publication of the AACSB --- http://www.aacsb.edu/publications/bized/default.asp 

Business anchor Maria Bartiromo closely watches the corporate world to learn what makes the markets move – and she encourages business students to sift through massive amounts of information to arrive at core truths --- 
http://www.aacsb.edu/images/covers/jan03p18-21.pdf
 

That Dilbert guy --- http://www.aacsb.edu/publications/bized/p16-21.pdf 


Forwarded by Vadim Ponomarenko

The TRUE Stella Awards -- 2002 Winners

Unlike the FAKE cases that have been highly circulated online for the last several years (see http://www.StellaAwards.com/bogus.html for details), the following cases have been researched from public sources and are confirmed TRUE by the ONLY legitimate source for the Stella Awards: www.StellaAwards.com . To confirm this copy is legitimate, see http://www.StellaAwards.com/2002.html

#7: Attorney Philip Shafer of Ashland, Ohio, flew on Delta Airlines from New Orleans to Cincinnati and was given a seat, he says, next to a fat man. "He was a huge man," Shafer says. "He and I [were] literally and figuratively married from the right kneecap to the shoulder for two hours." He therefore "suffered embarrassment, severe discomfort, mental anguish and severe emotional distress," he claims in a lawsuit against the airline. Shafer figures this embarrassment, discomfort, mental anguish and emotional distress could be cured by a $9,500 payment from Delta. If Shafer isn't careful, that might be dwarfed by the divorce settlement his "huge" (seat)mate might demand.

#6: "The Godfather of Soul" James Brown has a "grudge" against his daughters Deanna Brown Thomas and Yamma Brown Lumar, they allege. They say Brown "vowed to the media that his daughters will never get a dime from him" and "James Brown has kept his word." So they have done what any kid would do when cut off from their rich daddy's bank account: they sued him for more than $1 million, claiming that they are owed royalties on 25 of his songs which, they say, they helped him write even though, at the time, they were children. For instance, when Brown's 1976 hit "Get Up Offa That Thing" was a chart-topper, the girls were aged 3 and 6. It's enough to make Brown switch to the Blues.

#5: Utah prison inmate Robert Paul Rice, serving 1-15 years on multiple felonies, sued the Utah Department of Corrections claiming the prison was not letting him practice his religion: "Druidic Vampire". Rice claimed that to do that, he must be allowed sexual access to a "vampress". In addition, the prison isn't supplying his specific "vampiric dietary needs" (yes: blood). Records show that Rice registered as a Catholic when he was imprisoned in 2000. "Without any question we do not have conjugal visits in Utah," said a prison spokesman when the suit was thrown out. Which just goes to prove prison life sucks.

#4: Every time you visit your doctor, you're told the same old things: eat less, exercise more, stop smoking. Do you listen? Neither did Kathleen Ann McCormick. The obese, cigarette-smoking woman from Wilkes-Barre, Penn., had high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a family history of coronary artery disease. Yet doctors at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center "did not do enough" to convince her to work to improve her own health. Unsurprisingly, she had a heart attack which, she says in a federal lawsuit, left her a "cardiac invalid". In addition to eight doctors, she's suing their employer -- the U.S. government -- demanding a minimum of $1 million in compensation.

#3: In 1997 Bob Craft, then 39, of Hot Springs, Montana, changed his name to Jack Ass. Now, he says that MTV's TV show and movie "Jackass" was "plagiarized" from him, infringes his trademarks and copyrights, and that this has demeaned, denigrated and damaged his public image. No attorney would take the case, so he has filed suit on his own against MTV's corporate parent, demanding $50 million in damages. If nothing else, Jack Ass has proved he chose his name well.

#2: Hazel Norton of Rolling Fork, Miss., read there was a class action suit against the drug Propulsid, which her doctor had prescribed to her for a digestive disorder. Despite admitting that "I didn't get hurt by Propulsid," Norton thought "I might get a couple of thousand dollars" by joining the lawsuit. When her doctor was named in the suit, he quit his Mississippi practice -- where he was serving the poor. He left with his wife, a pediatrician and internist. That left only two doctors practicing at the local hospital. So while Norton wasn't harmed by the drug, all her neighbors now get to suffer from drastically reduced access to medical care because of her greed.

AND THE WINNER of the 2002 True Stella Awards: sisters Janice Bird, Dayle Bird Edgmon and Kim Bird Moran sued their mother's doctors and a hospital after Janice accompanied her mother, Nita Bird, to a minor medical procedure. When something went wrong, Janice and Dayle witnessed doctors rushing their mother to emergency surgery. Rather that suing for malpractice, the lawsuit claimed "negligent infliction of emotional distress" -- not for causing distress to their mother, but for causing distress to THEM for having to SEE the doctors rushing to help their mother. The case was fought all the way to the California Supreme Court, which finally ruled against the women. Which is a good thing, since if they had prevailed doctors and hospitals would have had no choice but to keep YOU from being anywhere near your family members during medical procedures just in case something goes wrong. In their greed, the Bird sisters risked everyone's right to have family members with them in emergencies.

TO CONFIRM THE VALIDITY OF THESE CASES, get more information on the True Stella Awards, or sign up for a free e-mail subscription to new cases as they are issued, see http://www.StellaAwards.com/2002.html 


Drucker Has Harsh Words For IT The 93-year-old business theorist says corporate IT hasn't come close to delivering the benefits businesses are looking for.  Perhaps his argument could be extended to managerial accounting. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo/y/eKpa0BcUEY0V20BsLY0Az 

"A Harsh Assessment Of IT From Peter Drucker ," by Tony Kontzer, Information Week, Feb. 12, 2003

Time finally is catching up with Peter Drucker. The famed business theorist, now 93, was slated to participate in an extended Q&A session at a Delphi Group conference in San Diego on Tuesday, but his failing health forced Delphi to conduct the session remotely, with Drucker having recorded voice responses to questions submitted beforehand by conference attendees. Despite the less-intimate format, Drucker's perspectives still carried weight with the audience. He shared the notion that corporate IT hasn't come close to delivering the benefits companies have been looking for. "Information technology is beginning to supply the information we need for business decisions," Drucker said. "It provides nothing of use about the outside [business] environment." Where IT has been most helpful, he said, is in supporting internal operational decisions.

Joseph Langhauser, an engineering group manager at General Motors attending the conference, said he's experienced that first hand. IT tools, he says, have proliferated faster than the company can capitalize on them. "We don't need any more IT," Langhauser says. "We need to figure out the business processes we have."

Drucker also reiterated his longstanding stance that knowledge management is a misnomer, because knowledge simply isn't something that can be managed. Nicolas Gorjestani, The World Bank's chief knowledge and learning officer for the Africa region, agrees, saying The World Bank dropped the term knowledge management years ago. Says Gorjestani, "I don't know what I know until I need to know it."


Question
Why is the University of Pennsylvania's "Executive Doctorate" program so controversial?

Answer

    Mark Shapiro's answer is at http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-02-15-03.htm 


February `4, 2003 message from Robert J. Kühne 

With the academic recruitment season in full swing, we want to remind you of AcademicCareers.com.

Academic Careers Online is the ultimate global academic job site for teaching, post doc, endowed chairs, administrative and senior management opportunities at (community) colleges, universities and research institutes.

Applicants can without charge search current job openings, submit resumes and request e-mail alerts when matching job opportunities are listed. Employers can post a job listing for one month for US$125, or for up to three full months for $175. This includes e-mail alerts and an Employer Profile.

To review our site, search or post jobs, visit www.AcademicCareers.com  and click "Applicants enter here" or "Employers enter here." It is very easy and efficient.

Request: Please forward this message to your dean/department head, search chairs, and your doctoral candidates and other colleagues looking for a new career opportunity in academia or with research institutes.

Thank you and I hope you are having a productive semester.

Sincerely, 

Robert J. Kühne, Ph.D. 
Academic Careers Online
Info@AcademicCareers.com  


February 19, 2003 message from E. Scribner [escribne@NMSU.EDU

Steven Zucker's commentary at http://www.ams.org/notices/200303/commentary.pdf  would seem to apply to studying accounting, which is a fairly "rigorous" discipline. He lays out some suggestions to freshmen for taking charge of their learning process. 

Ed Scribner 
New Mexico State University 
Las Cruces, NM, USA


Last year was a record breaker for bankruptcy filings. There were a total of 1,577,651 bankruptcies in 2002, an increase of 5.7 percent over the previous year, according to data released by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.   
Federal Reserve data shows that consumer debt reached an all-time high of $1.7 trillion in 2002.
http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97180
  (data taken from http://www.bankruptcydata.com/Research/15_Largest.htm )

The largest bankruptcy in history was Worldcom, Inc.  Our faithful friend Dennis Beresford has his work cut out on the new Board of Directors at Worldcom! 

The Largest Bankruptcies 1980 - Present
(December 27, 2002) You'll note changes have occurred in the list.  According to New Generation Research policy, to remain consistent with company database protocol at the end of each year the database is audited carefully and thoroughly   The media and other outlets may report asset figures from petitions or other sources.   NGR policy is to use the most recent annual report prior to filing for Chapter 11.   
It is our aim to provide the most accurate and resourceful corporate bankruptcy data as possible. Please contact us if you have questions regarding our protocol and data.  We are here to help. )

Company
(click for more info)
Bankruptcy Date Total Assets 
Pre-Bankruptcy

Filing Court District

Worldcom, Inc. 07/21/02 $103,914,000,000 NY-S
Enron Corp.* 12/2/01 $63,392,000,000 NY-S
Conseco, Inc. 12/18/02 $61,392,000,000   IL-N
Texaco, Inc. 4/12/1987 $35,892,000,000 NY-S
Financial Corp. of America 9/9/1988 $33,864,000,000 CA-C
Global Crossing Ltd. 1/28/2002 $30,185,000,000 NY-S
UAL Corp. 12/9/2002 $25,197,000,000 IL-N
Adelphia Communications 6/25/2002 $21,499,000,000 NY-S
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. 4/6/2001 $21,470,000,000 CA-N
MCorp 3/31/1989 $20,228,000,000 TX-S
First Executive Corp. 5/13/1991 $15,193,000,000 CA-C
Gibraltar Financial Corp. 2/8/1990 $15,011,000,000 CA-C
Kmart Corp. 1/22/2002 $14,600,000,000 IL-N
FINOVA Group, Inc., (The) 3/7/2001 $14,050,000,000 DE
HomeFed Corp. 10/22/1992 $13,885,000,000 CA-S
Southeast Banking Corporation 9/20/1991 $13,390,000,000 FL-S
NTL, Inc. 5/8/2002 $13,003,000,000 NY-S
Reliance Group Holdings, Inc. 6/12/2001 $12,598,000,000 NY-S
Imperial Corp. of America 2/28/1990 $12,263,000,000 CA-S
Federal-Mogul Corp. 10/1/2001 $10,150,000,000 DE
First City Bancorp.of Texas 10/31/1992 $9,943,000,000 TX-N
First Capital Holdings 5/30/1991 $9,675,000,000 CA-C
Baldwin-United 9/26/1983 $9,383,000,000 OH-S

* The Enron assets were taken from the 10-Q filed on 11/19/2001.  The company has announced that the financials were under review at the time of filing for Chapter 11.

Source: BankruptcyData.com
New Generation Research, Inc. Boston, MA
(617) 573-9557

 


Question:
What is XM Radio?

Answer:
Stallite radio such as XM Radio will soon give traditional AM and FM radio stations daunting competition. Most General Motors cars will soon be equipped with XM receivers. In addition, dealers will be able to install XM receivers in other makes of cars.  XM Radio is featured in a Barron's cover story on February 17, 2003.

You can read the following at http://www.xmradio.com/ 

It's easy to get XM in your new car, right at the dealership. For the 2003 model year, many vehicles are now available with XM as a manufacturer–supported option, including 25 models from GM. Select one of the brands below for more information. We're adding new models all the time so be sure to keep checking back. If you don't see your desired model, ask your dealer about how to add XM to any radio.

One big idea can change everything. And XM Satellite Radio is one big idea: Radio to the Power of X. America's most popular satellite radio service gives you the power to choose what you want to hear - wherever and whenever you want it. XM offers 70 music channels - more than any other satellite radio service. Plus 30 channels of news, talk, sports and entertainment. 100 basic channels in all, for a low $9.99 monthly subscription. And now, XM is the first satellite radio service to offer a premium channel for an additional monthly fee.

It's our passionate commitment to program quality that will give you more of the listening you enjoy most, including many commercial-free channels. XM's radios for the car and home offer you freedom - from static, from distortion, from that frustrating feeling when you drive out of range in the middle of an exclusive interview or a new song you've been waiting to hear.

So if you're a music devotee, a sports fanatic or a news hound, come share our passion for the new power of radio. Join us in a listening partnership as we capture the soundtrack of your imagination. Our job is to push radio beyond traditional limits and win you as a fan. Your job? To sit back, listen, and open yourself to the excitement of radio as you've never heard it before.

Oh Goodie
Sexy Stories and Surprises --- http://www.xmradio.com/programming/channel_page.jsp?ch=205 

Based on Playboy TV's hit show Night Calls, join your hosts, Juli and Tiffany, for a romp on the wild side. Hear stories, get advice and join their special guests for some playful adult fun.

During select hours you'll even be able to call-in live. Don't be shy - these experts are always open to getting a few helpful hints for themselves.

For a limited time, a one-time transaction fee of $4.99 will be waived for current subscribers who wish to add our Playboy Radio premium channel.

Monthly premium service charge of $2.99 required. Only account holders may activate this channel.

So what's a better "Oh Goodie?"
Educational programming!  For example, investors might one day tune into investing tutorials as well as commentaries on different investing alternatives and risks.  There may be poetry readings and tutorials about writing poetry.  Old and new novels might be read and analyzed.  Eventually, continuing education courses may even be delivered over commercial-free radio by paying monthly service charges.

Jensen Added Note:
What's the downside to having all this commercial-free music and other programming?

Commercial-cluttered traditional radio stations and even donation-supported PBS and campus radio stations will have to scramble to compete.  Classical music lovers may prefer a larger variety of classical music choices on satellite radio and Internet radio.  Country music fans may prefer to listen to bluegrass even if they're driving across Utah rather than Kentucky.  I think you probably get the point that XM radio will probably have a much better growth market than Internet radio.  Internet radio has much less potential in moving vehicles, hotel rooms, and other places where hooking up a computer is too much bother.

However, Internet radio recently got a huge boost --- http://www.saveinternetradio.org/ 

In a stunning victory for webcasting, both the Senate and the House of Representatives unanimously passed a revised version of H.R. 5469 late last night that clears the way for copyright owners to offer webcasters a percentage-of-revenues royalty rate, essentially allowing the parties to mutually agree to override the CARP decision of last spring.

The Senate passed the bill at 10:32PM ET and the House passed it at 2:44AM. It now goes to President Bush for his signature.

The bill was actively supported by virtually all players on both sides of the debate this year, including the record industry, artist representatives, large webcasters, small webcasters, college radio representatives, and religious broadcasters.

In what was viewed as a surprise by some observers, the legislative staff in the office of retiring Sen. Jesse Helms (R-NC) (pictured) apparently played an active and valuable role in crafting what the parties concluded was a much better piece of legislation than the one Helms blocked at the last moment late last month
(here).

President Bush signed H.R. 5469 just before Christmas in 2002.

For an example of streaming media, see http://www.streamingmediaworld.com/ 

Also see "Web Streaming" at http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#Web5 

February 19, 2003 reply from Peter Kenyon [pbk1@HUMBOLDT.EDU

I've been using XM Satellite Radio Inc financial statements in class. They tell an interesting story about start-up costs and revenue. You might check them out at EdgarScan or your favorite source.

Dr. Peter B. Kenyon 
Humboldt State University School of Business & Economics 
1 Harpst Street Arcata, CA 95521 USA 

http://www.humboldt.edu/~pbk1/ 


I joined Street Smart to Protect My Identity

John Walsh is one of my heroes in life.  America's Most Wanted is best known for its television show, but AMW also has a very interesting Website at http://www.amwweb.com/ 
Special topics include the following:

    Missing Children
    Amazing Captures
    Show Archives
    Unsolved Cases
    Local Crime Info
    Law Enforcement Links

To enter the full site, you must submit your email address and first name.  At the bottom of that main page you will find links to local news stories about crime.

At the top of the full site's main page, you will find a link called "Protect Your Identity."  That will lead you to the Street Smart page at http://www.consumerinfosystems.com/home.asp 
Street Smart services include the following:

Biannual copies of your credit report;
As a StreetSmart member you will automatically receive biannual copies of your credit report. Your credit report refers to a consumer credit file designed to give lenders a picture of your credit history. Credit reports are generally the most important piece of information used to determine your credit worthiness and the interest rates you receive. Dispute forms and credit report revisions; StreetSmart provides you the appropriate forms needed to change mistakes which may be found on your credit report. StreetSmart shall also ensure that once members have disputed an inaccuracy on their report that they shall automatically receive an updated report showing the proper changes have been made.

Watch Program;
StreetSmart is the first service in America to provide its members Automatic notification of the establishment of new accounts in their name. Anytime a new account is opened in your name and reported to the nations largest credit-reporting agency, Trans Union, StreetSmart shall automatically notify you of the change. This service is revolutionary in helping consumers catch identity theft occurrences and mistakes as they happen.

Address change notification;
Utilizing the watch program Streetsmart shall notify you of any address changes reported on your credit file to Trans Union. This service will help prevent identity thieves from rerouting your current accounts to an unknown addresses in an attempt to utilize your credit without your knowledge.

Social security records search;
As a StreetSmart member you will be provided the proper forms to receive a copy of your social security earnings statement. This statement will provide you a complete overview of your life’s work history. This history will allow you to ensure that your earnings have been reported properly and also to ensure that you are the only person working under your social security number.

Medical records search;
StreetSmart provides you the needed information to request the proper forms necessary to receive a copy of your medical information report. Most insurance companies utilize this report to determine your insurance rates and eligibility.

Credit card registration;
Your membership entitles you to register your credit cards with StreetSmart. Our credit card registration program considerably reduces your time and effort making calls and relaying information to card issuers in the event of an emergency.

Security Labels;
As a StreetSmart member you will receive security labels to warn thieves that your credit cards are registered with StreetSmart.

Household Inventory, document and valuables registration;
Streetsmart members may register copies of any important documents (i.e. wills, deeds, insurance policies, titles, etc.) and the serial numbers of any valuable possessions (i.e. televisions, VCRs, cameras, etc.). This service could prove to be invaluable in the event of an emergency or disaster.

Collectively, StreetSmart is perhaps the most comprehensive way to stay informed of your personal information and protect your good name.

StreetSmart is committed to you and to the ever-changing needs of the consumer. Rest assured that all of us at StreetSmart are vowed to continually improve the services and benefits, which StreetSmart provides to its members.

There is a free trial membership for 30 days.  I wish the credit reports were more frequent, but I still consider joining Street Smart to be a smart move.

Bob Jensen's threads on identity theft are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#IdentityTheft 


February 17, 2003 message from Business Ethics [BizEthics@lb.bcentral.com

What Does the
Social Bottom Line Look Like?

If business success is about more than the financial bottom line, what does the social bottom line look like? How can business report these new numbers? Answering these questions is the ongoing task of the Global Reporting Initiative, a multi-stakeholder consultative group involving social investors, activists, labor, and accounting professionals which is developing tangible new indicators for social reporting. Working within a project called SPI-Finance 2002, the group recently released key social performance indicators for financial institutions, such as banks, asset managers, and insurance firms.

A key insight of the GRI process thus far is that one size does not fit all, with social performance indicators. There are core indicators recommended for all industries, but supplemental indicators differ from industry to industry with manufacturing, for example, reporting on different social indicators than a bank. Banking indicators monitor things like success in improving access to financial services for disadvantaged populations, and for small businesses. For investment banking, there are indicators focused on human rights and debt to developing countries. Other indicators focus internally, on employee satisfaction or senior management pay. Reporting institutions are also encouraged to disclose bonuses that have sustainability elements such as a bonus for environmental performance.

The new financial indicators are being pilot tested by ten financial institutions, including Deutsche Bank AG, Credit Suisse Group, Development Bank of South Africa, and Swiss Re.

To see the 2002 version of the overall GRI Guidelines go to www.globalreporting.org/GRIGuidelines/2002/gri_2002_guidelines.pdf. For the finance sector reporting supplement, see www.spifinance.com. For more information contact Mark Brownlie at the Global Reporting Initiative, brownlie@globalreporting.org.


Sharing Accounting Professors of the Week
I am currently finding home pages of leading accounting researchers to find what materials they share for free at Web sites.  It is pretty darn hard to find top accounting researchers who share anything at all.  There are some that share a little bit.  Beginning in February 2003, I have been showing a few links piecemeal as they are discovered by me or my graduate assistants.  Thus far, my remarks hold true at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/AAAaward_files/AAAaward02.htm 
(However, there were some omissions from the database that we have nearly fixed up for a revised summary.)

Terry Shevlin at the University of Washington shares his current working papers and lecture notes at http://faculty.washington.edu/shevlin/indexold.html 
Terry shares more than most top rated researchers in accounting.

David Burgstahler at the University of Washington --- http://faculty.washington.edu/dburg/ 
There is a link to one working paper entitled "Earnings management to avoid losses and earnings decreases: Are analysts fooled?" --- http://faculty.washington.edu/dburg/papers/bed183.pdf 

Brian Bushee at Wharton provides quite a number of working papers and downloads of published papers --- http://credit.wharton.upenn.edu/faculty/bushee/ 

Tony Catanach at Villanova provides some helpful documents on the revolutionary Business Activity Model (BAM) and Business Planning Model (BPM) pedagogy for teaching accounting.--- http://www19.homepage.villanova.edu/anthony.catanach/ 

Ken Cavalluzzo at Georgetown University provides a number of free working papers --- http://msb.georgetown.edu/faculty/cavalluk/ 

Denton Collins at the University of Houston provides some course note slides and problem solutions --- http://www.cba.uh.edu/~dcollins/ 

Patricia M. Dechow at the University of Michigan shares some working papers and links --- http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/dechow/ 

J. Douglas Hanna at the University of Chicago provides some free working papers --- Click Here --- http://snurl.com/Hanna 

Michael Peters at the University of Maryland shares one working paper entitled "How Auditors Price Business Risk: A Framework and Experiment" --- http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/accounting/mpeters/ 

Morton Pincus at the University of Iowa shares several working papers at http://www.biz.uiowa.edu/faculty/mpincus/ 

David E. Platt at the University of Texas shares a slide show entitled “Managing for Growth and Profitability: Financial Management for Business Leaders” at http://www.bus.utexas.edu/department/accounting/faculty_staff/platt/ 

Jeffrey Power at St Mary's University in Halifax --- http://www.stmarys.ca/academic/commerce/accounting/jpower.htm 
Jeffrey shares some free accounting cases at http://www.stmarys.ca/partners/aci/case-study1.htm 

Joe Quinn at Salsbury University shares some lecture notes at http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~jdquinn/ 

Gerald Zimmerman at the University of Rochester shares some of his published papers at http://www.simon.rochester.edu/fac/zimmerma/index.htm 


A Coveted BobWeb is Bestowed Upon David Fordham at James Madison University

Bob,

David Fordham's flowcharting document that he shared on AECM today

http://cob2.jmu.edu/fordham/flowchart.pdf 

is quite extensive and well done. I vote for David for a BobWeb Sharing Professor of the Week Award if you think that's appropriate.

Ed Scribner 
NMSU


Centre for Environmental Accounting Research --- http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/accounting/csear/ 
(But noise pollution is another matter.  I didn't see any way to turn off the music that has a delayed start.)

The Centre for Social and Environmental Accounting Research was established in 1991 as networking institution which gathers and disseminates information about the practice and theory of social and environmental accounting and reporting. CSEAR provides a mechanism for academics and practitioners to make contact and support each other. It currently has over 300 members in over 30 countries.

The Centre publishes a biannual journal, Social and Environmental Accounting (distributed free to members), maintains a specialist library of materials, provides a database of academics and practitioners around the world, undertakes research in its own right, organises research schools and conferences and welcomes visitors by arrangement.

This website is designed to help members and non-members to develop their interest and work in the field and contains the sorts of material for which we receive the most frequent requests. If, after browsing the website and reading the appropriate material you still have queries, please do not hesitate to contact us


The McGraw-Hill Irwin helper page for the award winning book called Financial Statement Analysis and Security Valuation by Stephen H. Penman --- http://www.mhhe.com/business/accounting/penman/ 


Databases and Publications on Business Facts
Hoovers --- http://www.hoovers.com/ 


Paul Adams sets up a server to download and host email so both new email and sorted, sordid past email are accessible from any machine, any time. And you can too! --- http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/03/04/index3a.html 

A year or so ago, I decided I had had enough. The old method of checking email with a POP client at home, and stopping in to use Mail2Web or another public, on-the-road interface just wasn't doing it for me. I wanted a central repository for all my email, accessible easily from anywhere. After a perusal of the services that were available, I reached the conclusion that the amount of storage space and the functionality I desired would incur too high monthly cost. I took matters into my own hands.

Using an old Pentium box I had lying around, I tried out a few different configurations and possibilities, and eventually wound up with the system I wanted. Now, with that machine (which I named Potto) as a mail drop, I can access my email — all my email through history — from anywhere, using any mail client I like. There is also a handy Web interface for checking email from public terminals like the Apple store. And I even hacked together a hybrid interface so I can call up and have a Stephen-Hawking-a-like read me my email over the phone! But that's another story, and shall be told another time.

What follows is the story of how I changed my email life, and the email lives of several friends, by hosting my own email, and theirs, at home. In a broom closet! And how you can do the same.


February 20, 2003 message from Wiley Publishing

Dear Professor Jensen,

Wiley's Business Extra Selehttp://ct program provides you with a simple, integrated, online custom publishing process that allows you to combine content from Wiley’s leading business publications with copyright cleared content from such respected sources as INSEAD, Fortune, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Ivey and Harvard Business School cases, and much more!

It's easy to use yet robust
In just a few simple steps you can help your students make the connection between the concepts you teach in your class and their real-world applications:
  • Choose a pre-selected CoursePack that has already been correlated to one of Wiley’s leading business titles, or customize your own by selecting content from the millions of journal articles, cases, readings, newspapers, and other respected publications in the Business Extra Select database
  • Determine if you also want to add any of your own materials, links, or notes to your CoursePack; or have Wiley get copyright clearance on other content you want to use
  • Decide if you want your students to purchase a printed CoursePack, access it online, or a combination of both
  • Order your CoursePack packaged with a Wiley textbook, as a stand-alone item, or single custom published volume containing both your textbook content and Business Extra Select materials

Learn more!
For more information, and to experience the power and flexibility of Wiley’s Business Extra Select program, view our online demo at www.wiley.com/college/bxs

You may also contact your Wiley representative for more information at www.wiley.com/college/rep

Find out how easy it can be to bring a world of business content into your classroom by registering for the Business Extra Select database today!

Sincerely,

The Business Extra Select Team


Mountain pictures from around the world --- http://www.montagnes.org/english.html 
Also see http://www.climbingdutchman.com/ 

What are the highest mountains in the world?

Top 10 Mountains of the world

Rank

Mountain

Height

Location

1. Mount Everest 8,848m (29,028ft) Nepal
2. Qogir (K2) 8,611m (28,250ft) India (Kashmir)
3. Kangchenjunga 8,598m (28,208ft) Nepal
4. Makalu I 8,481m (27,824ft) Nepal
5. Dhaulagiri 8,172m (26,810ft) Nepal
6. Manaslu I 8,156m (26,760ft) Nepal
7. Cho Oyu 8,189m (26,750ft) Nepal
8. Nanga Parbat 8,126m (26,660ft) India  (Kashmir)
9. Annapurna I 8,078m (26,504ft) Nepal
10. Gasherbrum 8,068m (26,470ft) India Kashmir

Mountain Peaks in the United States Higher Than 14,400 Feet

Name State Height
(ft.)
Mt. McKinley Alaska 20,320
Mt. St. Elias Alaska 18,008
Mt. Foraker Alaska 17,400
Mt. Bona Alaska 16,500
Mt. Blackburn Alaska 16,390
Mt. Sanford Alaska 16,237
Mt. Vancouver Alaska 15,979
South Buttress Alaska 15,885
Mt. Churchill Alaska 15,638
Mt. Fairweather Alaska 15,300
Mt. Hubbard Alaska 14,950
Mt. Bear Alaska 14,831
East Buttress Alaska 14,730
Mt. Hunter Alaska 14,573
Browne Tower Alaska 14,530
Mt. Alverstone Alaska 14,500
Mt. Whitney Calif. 14,4941
University Peak Alaska 14,470
Mt. Elbert Colo. 14,433
Mt. Massive Colo. 14,421
Mt. Harvard Colo. 14,420
Mt. Rainier Wash. 14,410

New England Mountains --- http://www.billwood.com/travel/newengland/ 

Retirement in New England --- http://www.seniors-place.com/retirementhavens/AdirNewEnglandWest.html 

New England Travel --- http://www.virginholidays.com/ski/breakout.html?url=http://www.virginholidays.com/ski/resorts/newengland.html 

Hiking in New England --- http://hiking.alpinezone.com/ 

New England Books --- http://www.nesales.com/newengbk.htm 

New England Skiing --- http://skiing.alpinezone.com/ 

Visiting the Jensen's in New England (for friends of Bob and Erika) --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm 


From the Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF) on February 19, 2003

Partnerships Have Big Payoff for Fast-Growth Companies
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) says that the sharing of resources boosts profit opportunities, innovation and revenues. PwC interviewed CEOs of 411 product and service companies identified in the media (such as Forbes, Fortune, and Inc. magazines) as the fastest growing (in revenues) U.S. businesses over the last five years. PwC labels these companies "Trendsetters."

Over the past three years, more than half (56%) of these "Trendsetters" have participated in multiple partnerships with outsiders. Of these partnerships, 37% were formed to improve existing product lines and 29% were formed to develop new ones.

"Trendsetter" CEOs cite three major benefits of partnering:

Partnering takes many forms, but there are three primary ways to partner:

Somewhat surprising, "Trendsetter" CEOs attribute nearly a quarter of their current revenue (23%) to products or services developed in partnership with others. Over the next three years, 70% expect to receive even more revenue through partnerships.

There are, however, some risks to partnering. A total of 13% of companies involved in partnering reported losses to their partners, including:

On the plus side, only 4% rated their loss as very or somewhat serious, and only 1% of those reporting losses said they expect to do less partnering over the next three years.

This article was taken from the August 26, 2002, issue of PwC's "Trendsetter Barometer".

For other issues of PwC's "Trendsetter Barometer" --- http://barometersurveys.com/production/barsurv.nsf/vwNewsDocsTrendsetter?OpenView 


How many first issues of magazines can you recall?  (History, Media, Communication)

See Premiere Issue --- http://www.01issue.com/ 
(When I try this site, the images are missing on the first page.  However, if you click on the blank icons you can get to the meat of this site.)


Advertising History (trousers) Drokk.com --- http://www.drokk.com/ 


Excel Tip: 
Navigating Numerous Sheets in Your Workbook http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97003 

Bob Jensen's Excel tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm#Excel 


Why Analog Is Cool Again --- http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.03/start.html?pg=8 

Weird as it sounds, the road to smaller, cheaper, more energy-efficient consumer electronics may be paved with analog technology. These circuits are built from the same components as their digital counterparts but suck 90 percent less battery power. The difference? In an analog device, each transistor acts like a dial, with a wide range of readings that depend on the sinuous fluctuation of voltage, current, amplitude, and frequency. Digital circuits, on the other hand, use the same transistors as simple on-off toggle switches. Analog transistors capture far more information, so you need fewer of them.


"Match.com, AT&T Wireless Try Location-Based Dating," by  Jennifer Saranow, The Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045090513323858543,00.html?mod=technology%5Fmain%5Fwhats%5Fnews 

USA Interactive's Match.com and AT&T Wireless Services Inc. announced a service that allows singles to message anonymously with others in their immediate area via cellphone text messages, becoming the first online dating service to go mobile.

"Match Mobile," priced at $4.99 a month for an introductory period, is the latest salvo in the competitive online dating industry. Last month, Yahoo Inc. unveiled 30-second voice and video clips for users of its Yahoo Personals, and other add-ons, such as instant messaging, have become common at many dating sites.

For AT&T Wireless, of Redmond, Wash., the deal is another way to encourage customers to use its mMode text-messaging service, in which subscribers use the keys on their dial pads to write short notes. Recently, AT&T Wireless has asked users to participate in a pregame Super Bowl poll as well as vote for their favorite performers on the "American Idol" show on News Corp.'s Fox television network.

To set up the Match Mobile service, users answer a series of questions about their looks, personality and likes and dislikes. Unlike the more extensive online profiles, there are only 10 questions and each comes with a drop-down menu of choices, including "I'll tell you later."

"It's not text-heavy," said Kevin Nakao, director of consumer offers at AT&T Wireless. "Users just pick from choices to create a basic profile that gives folks a sense of who they are." Match.com members can also transfer their existing profile information from the Web site or via their phones.

The system matches users according to their profiles and, for now, zip codes, and the matched users can then message each other. By the end of the month, Match.com said, the service will be enhanced with location-based technology, which will match users based on the approximate geographical location of their cellphones.

Mr. Nakao said the location technology is based on the carriers' experience setting up e911 -- an emergency system mandated by the Federal Communications Commission that allows emergency calls from cellphones to be pinpointed geographically.

Continued in the article.

The Internet has changed the way single people date, by making it easier to find mates with similar interests and backgrounds. But it also has changed the way married people have affairs.
The Wall Street Journal, February 12, 2003 --- 
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043249883402213384,00.html?mod=e%2Dcommerce%5Fprimary%5Fhs
 


Where are the parking lots around the world?
Parking Spots --- http://dubster.com/cars/ 

Bob Jensen's links to travel sites are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#Travel 


Some analysts say SBC's plan to purchase the nation's No. 2 pay-television company is the wrong move at the wrong time, as the telecom giant struggles to lift its bottom line amid steep revenue losses --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57647,00.html 


The Web Is Finally Catching Profits --- 
Soon, more than 100 Net companies could be in the black
Business Week, February 17, 2003 --- http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_07/b3820081_mz063.htm 


State tax collectors are getting aggressive about billing smokers for taxes on online tobacco purchases. New Jersey asked one cigar buyer to fork over more than 50 percent of his purchase price in taxes --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57657,00.html 


From power tools to electric guitars, a host of modern-day gadgets have pumped up the volume on our daily lives -- so much so that hearing disorders are on the rise. But some anti-noise activists are fighting back --- http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,57564,00.html 


Nanotechnology backlash feared as ethics think-tank calls for caution
Big trouble for tiny technology," By Nick Farrell, VNUNET --- http://www.vnunet.com/News/1138782 

Nanotechnology, the science of building systems at a molecular level, could be hit by the same backlash that has dogged genetically modified crops, according to a medical ethics think-tank.

A study by the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, Canada, published in the UK journal Nanotechnology, has warned that the science of the very small could be derailed if the ethical, environmental, economic, legal and social implications of it do not catch up with its technical developments.

Innovations in nanotechnology include single-molecule transistors, an enzyme-powered bio-molecular motor with nickel propellers, and a tiny carrier able to travel from the blood to the brain to deliver tumour-fighting chemicals.

The report said that although the emerging knowledge has the power to revolutionise society, its power to exploit the potential of extremely small-scale systems is outrunning our capacity to digest its implications.

It cautioned that without more thought for ethics there could be calls for a ban on nanotechnology developments.

Bob Jensen's threads on nanotechnology can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ubiquit.htm 


February 18, 2003 message from Debbie Bowling

Here's a new type of Mouse I saw on line this morning.

http://www.rocketmouse.com/index_b5.html 

ddb


As the original Mosaic Internet browser celebrates its 10th anniversary, co-creator Marc Andreessen talks about where Internet navigation is headed --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57661,00.html 

Microsoft is betting heavily on Windows Server 2003 and its beefed-up services to protect market share and fend off Linux. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo/y/eKsQ0BcUEY04e0BscH0AB 


Pyra Labs, the tiny company of Web developers who pioneered blogging, is the latest addition in Google's expansion from search to publishing. Word of the acquisition first appeared on a blog before Google's official announcement --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57705,00.html 

Bob Jensen's threads on Weblogs and Blogs can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#Weblog 


February 14, 2003 Exclusive: A Chat with Bill Gates --- http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,889423,00.asp 

MM: What's WFS?

BG: It's the Windows File System. The new Windows file system is much, much, more than a file system. It's not just a database, and it's not just a file system. It's a new thing.

So, anyway, Tablet PC and SPOT—I love those. These are special projects of mine because they bring in some new concepts—new approaches that I am very excited about. Xbox Live has also been very neat to work on.

But the biggest thing has been building this one standard way of doing the plumbing that I've described. The centralized architectural approach I've described is something that requires an R&D budget on the scale of Microsoft's. It requires thinking about transactions, messaging, databases, the Office software suite, and management plumbing. The new architecture requires that you have all those things lined up.

Workflow, security, and even just keeping software up to date have been so hard to do well because there isn't one architecture to tie all those things together. People in computer science might look at the architecture I've described and say, "Isn't it very ambitious to take on these new protocols, a new messaging layer, managed code, new schemas, and then go to build everything around these?"

The answer to that is yes, it is ambitious, but even if you just gave me the challenge of building management software so that it's really good, or the challenge of doing e-commerce well, I would make all these architectural moves I've described. You need self-description, scalability, and auditability to do e-commerce well, for example.

Bob Jensen's Technology Glossary is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245gloss.htm 


After a Texas Southern University employee was accused of improving grades for 31 students, school officials fired two workers and suspended a third in their investigation of the scheme --- http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/apwire/story.cfm?xla=apwire&xlb=1&xlc=952009 


"Geeks Without Borders," by Steven Johnson, Slate, February 17, 2003 --- http://slate.msn.com/id/2078579/ 

San Francisco's North Beach has a long history of eccentric street culture, but if you find yourself in the neighborhood this Saturday, you are likely to witness a new twist: small groups of people clustering together to read text off of cell-phone screens, then embarking on some kind of oddball group activity—retrieving a suitcase that's been hidden atop a tree, persuading strangers to try on insane outfits—and then huddling together again to peer at their cell phones. This strange behavior is part of something called the Go Game, the creation of a company called Wink Back, Inc. (The next public game is scheduled for Feb. 22.) The game's creators scatter clues and tools across the city, and then wirelessly transmit a series of challenges to the teams as they prowl the streets. One challenge might ask the team to locate a package lurking underneath "a piece of federal property"—which turns out to be a mailbox—and report back the cross streets once the package has been discovered. Another might send players off looking for a specific date inscribed on a "vaguely homoerotic statue." Other challenges look like street theater: Find a goodwill store and dress up in costumes that "represent opposites." Once each challenge has been completed, the game's puppetmasters beam down a new one. It's urban Survivor with cell phones

And now for something that seems completely different: Visit the Web site for the law firm of Landau, Luckman, and Lake, along with this informative tour of New River University. Both seem like reputable outfits, but in fact they are fake sites, created as launching pads for an online scavenger hunt that goes by the name L3. About a month ago, an e-mail with the cryptic message, "Jake needs help!!!" alongside links to the two sites appeared in a handful of inboxes (selected because their owners had participated in similar online quests in the past). Since then, investigators have scoured the Web for clues that make sense of the unfolding mystery. So far, it's involved secret messages hidden in the source code of a Geocities Web page, a Yahoo! profile for landau_luckman_lake, and a series of files concealed in digital images using the steganography encryption technique allegedly used by Bin Laden's minions. Like the challenges of the Go Game, L3 unfolds as a series of "tests": Players break various codes and ciphers, then send their solutions back to the e-mail address of a fictitious lawyer named Stephen Lake, who sends a confirmation note if the answer is correct.

L3 takes place in virtual space, while the Go Game unfolds on actual city streets. But they share a common denominator: the widening of the game environment. Most forms of entertainment are defined by their edges: the outline of the Monopoly board or the dimensions of a movie screen. To enter the world of the game or the story, you enter a confined space, set off from the real world. Play-space doesn't overlap with ordinary space. But Go and L3 don't play by those rules. Go colonizes an entire city for its playing field; L3 colonizes the entire Web. These are games without frontiers.

Continued at http://slate.msn.com/id/2078579/ 


Accounting student question:
Explain how the early retirement of debt in 2003 improved the earnings of Qwest?

"Qwest Swung to 4th-Period Net On Assets Sale; Sales Fell 11%," by Dennis K. Berman, The Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045656642996979783,00.html?mod=technology_main_whats_news 

Local phone carrier Qwest Communications International Inc. swung to a profit in the fourth quarter, in part because of proceeds from the sale of some directory assets. Although the Denver firm said its core businesses were stabilizing, revenue fell 11%.

The company reported net income of $2.74 billion, or $1.61 a share, compared with a loss of $645 million, or 39 cents a share, for the year-earlier quarter. The latest results included a $2.75 billion gain from the sale of some of the company's yellow-pages assets, as well as a $1.06 billion gain from the early retirement of debt. Qwest's revenue was $3.7 billion, down from $4.17 billion a year earlier.

Bob Jensen's accounting theory documents are linked at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/theory.htm 


The U.S. government releases an online security plan to protect computer networks from damaging attacks like the Slammer virus. Privacy advocates fear the plan may foster Big Brother-type surveillance online; others say it's mere toothless cheerleading --- http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57695,00.html 


I'm more free to speak my mind in San Antonio than Barry Rice is in Baltimore.

Imagine a world where software reviews are illegal. Imagine a world where it's illegal to even criticize a program you don't like. Well you don't have to imagine — it's the law in Virginia and Maryland --- http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,890836,00.asp 


"The Seven Deadly Habits of Highly Ineffective Executives," Arthur O'Connor, Internet.com, February 13, 2003 --- http://www.clickz.com/crm/crm_strat/article.php/1583271 


Finland Beats Out the U.S. In World Technology Survey
The Wall Street Journal, February 20, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045684422539477863,00.html?mod=technology%5Fmain%5Fwhats%5Fnews 

The 335-page Global Information Technology Report by the World Economic Forum, the World Bank and the French-based international business school Insead used 64 criteria, ranging from the use of technology by individuals, governments and businesses to regulations and infrastructure.

The report, released Wednesday, aims to help governments make technology policies that will help them compete in the global economy.

The countries that scored best were those where government and business leaders were most flexible, said Bruno Lanvin of the World Bank. The U.S. slipped to second after ranking No. 1 last year.

Filling out the top 10 were Singapore, Sweden, Iceland, Canada, Britain, Denmark, Taiwan and Germany.

The study was limited to 82 countries because of the lack of necessary data for other nations, the authors said.


Clear Channel's big, stinking deregulation mess 
The sorry state of the radio industry today is sabotaging FCC chairman Michael Powell's plans to let media conglomerates run wild --- http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2003/02/19/clear_channel_deregulation/index.html?x 

Clear Channel Communications, the radio and concert conglomerate so many people love to hate, has a new batch of disgruntled critics to deal with. But this time it's not the musicians who claim that the entertainment giant plays hardball and locks acts off the airwaves, or the broadcast rivals who allege the company leverages its unmatched size to drive competitors out of business, or even the former employees who insist the company's rampant cost-cutting style has gutted American radio.

Nope -- now the heat is coming from other media company executives and Beltway lobbyists. They are dismayed that Clear Channel is doing what many might have thought impossible. In an era when Republicans control the government and big business generally gets what it wants, Clear Channel is making deregulation look bad.

Executives at television, cable and newspaper companies want the government to lift ownership caps that limit the number of properties their companies can own. They've been envious of radio ever since the 1996 Telecommunications Act singled out radio for sweeping ownership deregulation. Passage of the Telecom Act paved the way for Clear Channel to expand from 40 stations to 1,225, and in the process, exert unprecedented control over the industry.

Today, broadcast, cable and newspaper giants like Viacom, Comcast and Gannett want a chance to expand their empires and enjoy the same large-scale efficiencies that Clear Channel has profited from. But they're frustrated. After years of intensive lobbying and with a Federal Communications Commission chairman, Michael Powell, who is widely considered to be thoroughly pro-deregulation, the havoc wrought upon radio by Clear Channel is unexpectedly offering ample proof of what can go wrong with media deregulation. Radio's current mess is having a significant impact on the debate over media concentration, and may even force Powell to water down his long-awaited ownership recommendations.

This is not how it was supposed to work

Continued in the article


Mold infestations are dangerous to buildings and people. A new do-it-yourself kit lets you test your home or office for the presence of the dreaded fungi --- http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57335,00.html 

Reply from XXXXX

Hi Dr. Jensen:

In the "for what it's worth" category, I would recommend this kit, sight unseen. I did sell my last house but the sale was delayed for a year while the mold found during the final inspection was remediated. The initial buyer walked away when the inspector found a small patch of mold in the air-conditioning duct. The insurance company paid $800 for the initial mold test, and later paid more than $22,000 for the remediation, teardown and build-back of a small patch of stachybotrys mold.

It was stressful, our family was displaced for 67 days and nights during the construction, and worse, the homeowners insurance went up drastically while dropping mold coverage. (well, to be honest, we could have kept the coverage but paid double for it. not practical.) We also ended up paying at least $2,000 in deductibles and other costs that were not planned expenses. Not to mention the emotional stress of dealing with a series of contractors and subcontractors who took their time and inflated expenses because they knew State Farm was picking up the tab -- well, most of the tab.

During one of the inspections -- when only the inspector and I were present -- I asked him, "So how bad is this mold compared to other homes you've inspected?" His response was : "Not too bad. A good bottle of Clorox could have killed it. If this had been discovered six months ago, I wouldn't have even reported it. But with the big Farmers insurance case (the $32 million award that's never been paid because of the appeals process) we now have to report EVERY little patch of mold, or we can lose our license."

Ultimately, we sold our house (September 2002) but had to disclose the mold remediation to every serious buyer. Most walked away. Finally, one woman loved the house so much, she didn't care. But then, she had serious trouble finding an insurance carrier because the house had been "black-balled" on the insurance carrier market.

Thus, my advice is: Buy the kit and look for the mold. If you find it, invest in a bottle of bleach.

Good luck.


On February 20, 2003 in The Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg answers questions about recovering deleted e-mail, deciphering wireless terminology and converting music files --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045694680421107543,00.html?mod=technology%5Fcolumns%5Ffeatured%5Flsc 


How to Wipe the Slate Clean

Walt Mossberg answers questions about permanently erasing files, cats and computers, and backing up large folders.
The Wall Street Journal, February 13, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1045092536162720823,00.html?mod=technology%5Ffeatured%5Fstories%5Fhs 




 


Forwarded by Dr. D.

Why God Created Menapause

With all the new technology regarding fertility, a 65 year-old woman gave birth to a baby. When she was discharged from the hospital and went home, her relatives came to visit.

"May we see the new baby?" one asked.

Not yet," said the 65 year-old mother, "Soon."

Thirty minutes had passed, and another relative asked, "May we see the new baby now?"

"Not yet," said the mother.

After another few minutes had elapsed, they asked again, "May we see the baby now?"

"No," replied the mother.

Growing very impatient, they asked, "Well, when CAN we see the baby?"

"WHEN IT CRIES," she told them.

"WHEN IT CRIES??" they demanded. "Why do we have to wait until it CRIES??"

"BECAUSE, I forgot where I put it..."


"Remember When" Forwarded by Auntie Bev

All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?

Nobody owned a purebred dog?

You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, all for free, every time? And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot?

Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?

It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?

They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed . . . and they did?

When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car... to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady?

No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?

Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a ..." and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?

Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?

And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today?

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home? Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.

Send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Laurel and Hardy, Howdy Dowdy and the Peanut Gallery, the Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows, Nellie Bell, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk Sky King, Captain Video (don't forget the decoder ring)

As well as summers filled with bike rides, baseball games, Hula Hoops, bowling, visits to the pool, and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar that temporarily stained our tongues bright red, purple, orange, etc...

Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that"?

I am sharing this with you today because it ended with a double dog dare to pass it on. To remember what a double dog dare is, read on. And remember that the perfect age is somewhere between old enough to know better and too young to care.

How many of these do you remember?

Candy cigarettes

Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside

Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles

Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes

Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum

Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers

Newsreels before the movie

P.F. Fliers

Telephone numbers with a word prefix....(Raymond 4-601).

Party lines

Peashooters

Howdy Dowdy

45 RPM records

Green Stamps

Hi-Fi's

Metal ice cubes trays with levers

Mimeograph paper

Beanie and Cecil

Roller-skate keys

Cork pop guns

Drive ins

Studebakers

Washtub wringers

The Fuller Brush Man

Reel-To-Reel tape recorders

Tinkertoys

Erector Sets

The Fort Apache Play Set

Lincoln Logs

15 cent McDonald hamburgers

5 cent packs of baseball cards - with that awful pink slab of bubble gum

Penny candy

35 cent a gallon gasoline

Jiffy Pop popcorn

Do you remember a time when...

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"?

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!"?

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?

Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening?

 


Trivia True/False Test forwarded by Auntie Bev

True or False???

Decide whether true or false after reading each line, then scroll down
for answer at the end. Read the complete list first.

--Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning.

--Alfred Hitchcock didn't have a bellybutton.

--A pack-a-day smoker will lose approximately two teeth every 10 years.

--People do not get sick from cold weather; it's from being indoors a lot more.

--When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop, even your heart.

--Only seven percent of the population are lefties.

--40 people are sent to the hospital for dog bites every minute.

--Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until they are 2-
6 years old.

--The average person over 50 will have spent five years waiting in lines.

--The toothbrush was invented in 1498.

--The average housefly lives for one month.

--40,000 Americans are injured by toilets each year.

--A coat hanger is 44 inches long when straightened.

--The average computer user blinks seven times a minute.

--Your feet are bigger in the afternoon than the rest of the day.

--Most of us have eaten a spider in our sleep.

--The REAL reason ostriches stick their head in the sand is to search for water.

--The only two animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.

--John Travolta turned down the starring roles in "An Officer and a Gentleman" and "Tootsie."

--Michael Jackson owns the rights to the South Carolina State anthem.

--In most television commercials advertising milk, a mixture of white paint and a little thinner is used in place of the milk.

--Prince Charles and Prince William never travel on the same airplane just in case there is a crash.

--The first Harley Davidson motorcycle built in 1903 used a tomato can for a carburetor.

--Most hospitals make money by selling the umbilical cords cut from women who give birth. They are reused in vein transplant surgery..

--Humphrey Bogart was related to Princess Diana. They were seventh cousins.

--If coloring weren't added to Coca-Cola, it would be green.

(scroll down for answers)

 

 

 

 

All are claimed to be true, but I won't vouch for any of them.

 


Forwarded by Auntie Bev

A little old lady told a friend of mine the other day that all she ever wanted to have in life was four animals. My friend, who has a large dog and a big heart for strays said, "Oh really, what kind of animals do you want?"

The little old lady said, "A mink on my back, a Jaguar in the garage, a tiger in bed, and a jackass to pay for all of it!!!"


Important Research
Surely you remember your first kiss, but you might not recall whether you and your sweetie locked lips with heads leaning to the right or left. A new study reports that kissers tilt right twice as often --- http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57660,00.html 

But what I can't figure out is that if one person leans right, the other must lean to the left.  Hence how can there be a difference in frequency between right and left unless the person loves kissing himself or herself in the mirror.


Forwarded by Barbara Hessel

For those who appreciate the humorous possibilities of the English language...

The Washington Post publishes a yearly contest in which readers are asked to supply alternate meanings for various words. The following were some of this year's winning entries:

1. Coffee (n.), a person who is coughed upon.

2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.

3. Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.

4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.

5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.

6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightie.

7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.

8. Gargoyle (n.), an olive-flavored mouthwash.

9. Flatulence (n.) the emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.

10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.

11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.

12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified demeanor assumed by a proctologist immediately before he examines you.

13. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddish expressions.

14. Circumvent (n.), the opening in the front of boxer shorts.

15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), The belief that, when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck there.

16. Pokemon (n), A Jamaican proctologist


Forwarded by Auntie Bev

I make no claims that all of these are true.  Some I know are true.

There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

There are more chickens than people in the world.

There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."

There is a word in the English language with only one vowel, which occurs five times: "indivisibility."

There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables.  (What ??)

Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

Women blink nearly twice as much as men.


Forwarded by Tony

 "If life was fair, Elvis would be alive and all  the impersonators would be dead."
Johnny Carson.  

"Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching  us geography." 
Paul Rodriguez.  

"My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but  they turned sixty, and that's the law."
Jerry Seinfeld.  

"Advice for the day: If you have a lot of tension and you get a headache, do what it says on the aspirin bottle: "Take  two aspirin" and "Keep away from children".  

Finally, one of the all-time best quotes: In a  recent interview, General Norman Schwartzkopf was asked if he didn't  think there was room for forgiveness toward the people  who have harbored and abetted the terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11  attacks on America. His answer was a classic; Schwartzkopf said, "I  believe  that forgiving them is God's function. Our job is simply to arrange the  meeting."


Forwarded by The Happy Lady

An old man was sitting on a bench at the mall. A young man walked up to the bench and sat down. He had spiked hair in all different colors: green, red, orange, blue and yellow. The old man just stared. Every time the young man looked, the old man was staring. 

The young man finally said sarcastically, "What's the matter old timer, never done anything wild in your life?" 

Without batting an eye, the old man replied, "Got drunk once and had sex with a parrot. I was just wondering if you were my son."


Forwarded by Dick Haar

Frank Lingua, president and CEO of Dissembling Associates, is the nation's leading purveyor of buzzwords, catch phrases and clichés for people too busy to speak in plain English.

Business Finance contributing editor Dan Danbom interviewed Lingua in his New York City office.

Danbom: Is being a cliché expert a full-time job?

Lingua: Bottom line is I have a full plate 24/7.

Danbom: Is it hard to keep up with the seemingly endless supply of clichés that spew from business?

Lingua: Some days, I don't have the bandwidth. It's like drinking from a fire hydrant.

Danbom: So it's difficult?

Lingua: Harder than nailing Jell-O to the wall.

Danbom: Where do most clichés come from?

Lingua: Stakeholders push the envelope until it's outside the box.

Danbom: How do you track them once they've been coined?

Lingua: It's like herding cats.

Danbom: Can you predict whether a phrase is going to become a cliché?

Lingua: Yes. I skate to where the puck's going to be. Because if you aren't the lead dog, you're not providing a customer-centric proactive solution.

Danbom: Give us a new buzzword that we'll be hearing ad nauseam.

Lingua: "Enronitis" could be a next-generation player.

Danbom: Do people understand your role as a cliché expert?

Lingua: No, they can't get their arms around that. But they aren't incented to..

Danbom: How do people know you're a cliché expert?

Lingua: I walk the walk and talk the talk.

Danbom: Did incomprehensibility come naturally to you?

Lingua: I wasn't wired that way, but it became mission-critical as I strategically focused on my go-forward plan.

Danbom: What did you do to develop this talent?

Lingua: It's not rocket science. It's not brain surgery. When you drill down to the granular level, it's just basic blocking and tackling.

Danbom: How do you know if you're successful in your work?

Lingua: At the end of the day, it's all about robust, world-class language solutions.

Danbom: How do you stay ahead of others in the buzzword industry?

Lingua: Net-net, my value proposition is based on maximizing synergies and being first to market with a leveraged, value-added deliverable. That's the opportunity space on a level playing field.

Danbom: Does everyone in business eventually devolve into the sort of mindless drivel you spout?

Lingua: If you walk like a duck and talk like a duck, you're a duck. They all drink the Kool-Aid.

Danbom: Do you read "Dilbert" in the newspaper?

Lingua: My knowledge base is deselective of fiber media.

Danbom: Does that mean "no"?

Lingua: Negative.

Danbom: DOES THAT MEAN "NO"?

Lingua: Let's take your issues offline.

Danbom: NO, WE ARE NOT GOING TO TAKE MY "ISSUES" OFFLINE.

Lingua: You have a result-driven mind-set that isn't a strategic fit with my game plan.

Danbom: I WANT TO PUSH YOUR FACE IN.

Lingua: Your call is very important to me.

Danbom: How can you live with yourself?

Lingua: I eat my own dog food. My vision is to monetize scalable supply chains.

Danbom: When are you going to quit this?

Lingua: I may eventually exit the business to pursue other career opportunities.

Danbom: I hate you.

Lingua: Take it and run with it.


Forwarded by Auntie Bev

Question : What is the height of globalization?

Answer : Princess Diana's death

Question : How come?

Answer : An English princess with an Egyptian boyfriend crashes in a French tunnel, driving a German car with a Dutch engine, driven by a Belgian who was high on Scottish whiskey, followed closely by Italian Paparazzi, on Japanese motorcycles, treated by an American doctor, using Brazilian medicines!

And this is sent to you by an American, using Bill Gates' technology which he got from the Japanese. And you are probably reading this on one of the IBM clones that use Philippine-made chips, and Korean made monitors, assembled by Bangladeshi workers in a Singapore plant, transported by lorries driven by Indians, hijacked by Indonesians and finally sold to you by the Chinese!

That's Globalization!!!

February 13, 2003 reply from Dr. Jagdish Pathak/Odette School of Business/University of Windsor [jagdish@UWINDSOR.CA

Hello Dr Jensen

This concoction of globalization would have been a real good piece, if it had not carried a bitter after taste (......driven by Indians and hijacked by Indonesians....).

February 13, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

One thing that Globalization has done is foster a greater understanding and appreciation for different cultures, beyond the stereotypes generally held by the uninformed. This greater understanding and appreciation actually enables a shared humor between those who are well informed. The well-informed can understand and appreciate the humor *specifically because* they recognize the joke to be a false stereotype. The hijacking Indonesians, the thieving Chinese, the love of the Scotch for liquor, the clueless French, -- all are indeed narrow stereotypes which anyone (and today, most everyone) recognizes as humorously limited puns and NOT actual representations. It is the juxtaposition of the known-false stereotype with the known-and-recognized truth that makes the humor in the first place.

I like humor. And stereotypical humor among the well-informed is one of the most effective tools of the humor trade.

I myself come from the deep South. I could easily be offended by the humorous stereotypes of hillbilly southerners, Florida crackers, Georgia wah-hoo's, and similar puns. But I'm not, because I know the joke teller and the audience both know better. They are not putting me down, they are sharing humor.

To me, this expanded knowledge of other cultures is one of the ways in which globalization has been beneficial to us all.

Offense only enters into the equation when the communicator does not know any better, and has adopted a stereotype as his/her only knowledge of a particular culture or society or people.

For example, if someone from, say, the hinterlands of Siberia whose background could not have informed him of what Floridians and southern Georgians are really like, were to be very serious in accusing me and my fellow crackers of being members of the Ku Klux Klan, I probably would be somewhat indignant and would try to set the record straight. But if someone were to tell a joke about whether "when a cracker couple get a divorce, are they still brother and sister?", well, I would not take offense because the stereotype was put forth for the sake of humor, and not to describe my people's characteristics.

Humor is an essential part of human existence. The ideas of hijacking Indonesians, absent-minded professors, dull accountants, ultra-corrupt Congressmen, and rude Americans are all ways of enjoying life between those who know better. Globalization helps us enjoy the humor because we can tell the difference between pun-ny stereotypes and a group's actual characteristics. The contrast is what the psychologists are studying as humor.

"Look out for Number One. ...And don't step in the Number Two, either."

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University

February 13, 2003 reply from Bob Jensen

And my poor grandparents Ole and Lena are always getting the worst of it --- http://oaks.nvg.org/se6ra2.html 


Forwarded by Eugenie Beck

Why We Love Children

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child... The winner was a four year-old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."

*************************** 
Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family... One little boy in the picture had a different color hair than the other family members. One child suggested that he was adopted. A little girl said, "I know all about adoptions because I was adopted." "What does it mean to be adopted?" asked another child. "It means," said the girl, "that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy."

*************************** 
A four-year-old was at the pediatrician for a check up. As the doctor looked down her ears with an otoscope, he asked, "Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?" The little girl stayed silent. Next, the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked, "Do you think I'll find the Cookie Monster down there?" Again, the little girl was silent. Then the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heartbeat, he asked, "Do you think I'll hear Barney in there?" "Oh, no!" the little girl replied. "Jesus is in my heart. Barney's on my underpants! ! ! "

************************** 
As I was driving home from work one day, I stopped to watch a local Little League baseball game that was being played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, I asked one of the boys what the score was. "We're behind 14 to nothing," he answered with a smile. "Really," I said. "I have to say you don't look very discouraged." "Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. "Why should we be discouraged? We haven't been up to bat yet." 
************************** 
Whenever I'm disappointed with my spot in life, I stop and think about little Jamie Scott. Jamie was trying out for a part in a school play. His mother told me that he'd set his heart on being in it, though she feared he would not be chosen. On the day the parts were awarded, I went with her to collect him after school. Jamie rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement. "Guess what Mom," he shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to me: "I've been chosen to clap and cheer." [Sounds like there was a wise teacher involved to me! - G]

************************* 
An Eye Witness Account from New York City, on a cold day in December some years ago: A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on the roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?" "I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boy's reply. The lady took him by the hand and went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel. By this time the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes. She tied up the remaining pairs of socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?" As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears in his eyes, answered the question with these words: "Are you God's Wife?"


Forwarded by Robert Holmes

Two Swedes were talking over a cup of coffee when one complained that a family of skunks was living under his house. He asked his friend how to get rid of them. The friend said "Put some lutefisk under the house and they will be gone in two days." 

A few days later the Swedes were together and the one asked the other about the skunks. His friend replied, "You were right, I put the lutefisk under my house and the skunks were gone the next day. Now how do I get rid of the Norwegians?"


Forwarded by Bob Overn

This is the answering machine message the Pacific Palisades High School (California) staff voted to record on their school telephone answering system.

Too bad they can't actually use it. This came about because the school implemented a policy requiring students' parents to be responsible for their children's absences and missing homework. The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children's failing grades changed to passing grades even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough school work to pass their classes.

This was voted unanimously by the office staff as the actual answering machine message for the school:

"Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of Pacific

Palisades High School. In order to assist you in connecting the right staff

member, please listen to all your options before making a selection:

To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1

To make excuses for why your child did not do his work - Press 2

To complain about what we do - Press 3

To swear at staff members - Press 4

To ask why you didn't get information that was already enclosed in your

newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5

If you want us to raise your child - Press 6

If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone - Press 7

To request another teacher for the third time this year - Press 8

To complain about bus transportation - Press 9

To complain about school lunches - Press 0

If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his or her own behavior, class work, homework, and that it's not the teacher's fault for your children's lack of effort, hang up and have a nice day!


Forwarded by Bob Overn

I was having trouble with my computer. So I called Rick the computer guy, to come over. Rick clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem. He gave me a bill for a minimum service call. As he was walking away, I called after him, "So, what was wrong?"

He replied, "It was an ID ten T error." (Sure Sounds Like Me ! ! )

I didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired: "An ID ten T error? What's that ... in case I need to fix it again?"

The computer guy grinned.... "Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before?"

"No," I replied.

"Write it down," he said, "and I think you'll figure it out."

So I wrote out ...... I D 1 0 T


Forwarded by a Auntie Bev (She actually does not drink all that much beer.)

Chicken Soup for the Beer Drinking Soul .. .
Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
--Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy

I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day. --Frank Sinatra

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with fools. --Ernest Hemingway

A woman drove me to drink and I didn't even have the decency to thank her --W.C. Fields

When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading. --HennyYoungman

24 hours in a day, 24 beers in a case. Coincidence? --Stephen Wright

When we drink, we get drunk. When we get drunk, we fall asleep. When we fall asleep, we commit no sin. When we commit no sin, we go to heaven. Sooooo, let's all get drunk and go to heaven! -- Brian O'Rourke

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. --Benjamin Franklin

Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza. --Dave Barry

Beer: Helping ugly people have sex since 1862! --unknown Remember "I" before "E", except in Budweiser. --unknown To some its a six-pack, to me it's a Support Group --unknown

The problem with some people is that when they aren't drunk, they're sober. -- William Butler Yeats

Time is never wasted when you're wasted all the time. -- Catherine Zandonella

Reality is an illusion that occurs due to lack of alcohol. -- Anonymous

What contemptible scoundrel has stolen the cork to my lunch? -- Tee Mans

Life is a waste of time, time is a waste of life, so get wasted all of the time and have the time of your life. -- Michelle Mastrolacasa

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a Frontal lobotomy. -- Tom Waits

You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. -- Frank Zappa

Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me. -- Winston Churchill

If you ever reach total enlightenment while drinking beer, I bet it makes beer shoot out your nose. -- Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy

The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind. -- Humphrey Bogart

Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world. -- Kaiser Wilhelm

You know you're drunk when you fall off the floor. -- Anonymous

You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on. -- Dean Martin

Beer - Because one doesn't solve the world's problems over white wine. -- unknown


Forwarded by Dick Haar

In Japan, they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with Haiku poetry messages. They're used to communicate a timeless message, often achieving a wistful, yearning and powerful insight through extreme brevity. Here are 16 actual error messages from Japan:
--------------------------------------------
The Web site you seek Cannot be located, but Countless more exist.
--------------------------------------------
Chaos reigns within. Reflect, repent, and reboot. Order shall return.
-----------------------------------------------
Program aborting: Close all that you have worked on. You ask far too much.
-----------------------------------------------
Windows NT crashed. I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your screams.
--------------------------------------------------
Yesterday it worked. Today it is not working. Windows is like that.
---------------------------------------------------
Your file was so big. It might be very useful. But now it is gone.
-------------------------------------------
Stay the patient course. Of little worth is your ire. The network is down.
---------------------------------------------------
A crash reduces Your expensive computer To a simple stone.
--------------------------------------------------
Three things are certain: Death, taxes and lost data. Guess which has  occurred.
---------------------------------------------------
You step in the stream, But the water has moved on. This page is not here.
---------------------------------------------------
Out of memory. We wish to hold the whole sky, But we never will.
------------------------------------------------
Having been erased, The document you're seeking Must now be retyped.
---------------------------------------------------
Serious error. All shortcuts have disappeared. Screen. Mind. Both are  blank.

Ah Choo!  Forwarded by Tony

Life is short. Enjoy it!

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better to paint a picture or write a letter, bake a cake or plant a seed, ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time, with rivers to swim and mountains to climb, music to hear and books to read, friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there with the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair, a flutter of snow, a shower of rain. This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind, old age will come and it's not kind. And when you go - and go you must - you, yourself will make more dust!

It's not what you gather, but what you scatter that tells what kind of life you have lived.


Not advised for children
Silly multimedia cartoons --- http://www.toilette-humor.com/index.html 

Some of these have rather sophisticated software.  For example, write your name into the one at http://www.toilet-humor.net/dancer.html 


Too Little Too Late for Bob Jensen

Scientists at the California Institute of Technology discover a common genetic mutation in people who live longer than 100 years. The finding could help advance ways to counteract the ravages of aging --- http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,57669,00.html 


What is the most common name chosen for pleasure boats (according to Page 33 of The Reader's Digest, March 2003)

Second Wind!




And that's the way it was on February 28, 2003 with a little help from my friends.

 

I highly recommend TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 

 

In March 2000, Forbes named AccountantsWorld.com as the Best Website on the Web --- http://accountantsworld.com/.
Some top accountancy links --- http://accountantsworld.com/category.asp?id=Accounting

 

For accounting news, I prefer AccountingWeb at http://www.accountingweb.com/ 
I also like SmartPros at http://www.smartpros.com/ 

 

Another leading accounting site is AccountingEducation.com at http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

 

Paul Pacter maintains the best international accounting standards and news Website at http://www.iasplus.com/

 

The Finance Professor --- http://www.financeprofessor.com/about/aboutFP.html 

 

How stuff works --- http://www.howstuffworks.com/ 

 

Bob Jensen's video helpers for MS Excel, MS Access, and other helper videos are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/ 
Accompanying documentation can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/default1.htm and http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 

 

Click on www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp for a complete list of interviews with established leaders, creative thinkers and education technology experts in higher education from around the country.

 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu  

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February 12, 2003

 


New Paper by Huang and Jensen
”Testing and Accounting for Hedge Ineffectiveness Under FAS 133, by Angela L.J. Huang and  Robert E. Jensen, Derivatives Report, February 2003, pp. 1-10.  http://www.riahome.com/estore/detail.asp?ID=TDVN
Derivatives Report is directed mainly at technical analysts and costs $310 a year for 12 monthly issues.  However, I have made the related Excel workbook available for free as file 133case3DR.xls at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/0000KPMG/ 
Bob Jensen's documents on hedge accounting are linked at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 

Quotes of the Week

Want a Harvard diploma?  How about a University of Virginia transcript.  For a few hundred dollars you can have either one---Or any other phony college document you fancy.  All you have t o do is go to a Web site called www.BackAlleyPress.com  
whose office is in China.

Andrea Foster, The Chronicle of Higher Education, February 7, 2003, Page A25.
Bob Jensen's threads on academic fraud are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#DiplomaMill 

More Students Favor Careers in Business
Junior Achievement Poll --- http://www.smartpros.com/x36917.xml 

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
Author Unknown (but don't you love her/him)

The enormous North Korean ground army is like the atheist in a coffin --- all dressed up with nowhere to go.

The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet it.
Dan Parker

Some things are looking up.
Fashion designers and editors have declared super-short miniskirts and figure-hugging pencil skirts the big fashion news for women this spring.
"Skirts Head Back to Stores, But Will Women Buy Them?" The Wall Street Journal, February 4, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1044313260574235384,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fmarketplace%5Fhs 

Other things are not looking up (at least not in the library)
Education is when you read the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't.

Pete Seeger as quoted by Mark Shapiro at http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-24-03.htm 

And high school seniors are increasingly abandoning education for more experience.
A record low of 34.9% of college freshmen report having spent more than six hours per week on homework during their senior year in high school.
Mark Shapiro --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-31-03.htm  (See Below)

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service records show that the federal government has approved nearly 300 student visas over the past five years for people who said they planned to attend the LASC English Language School. The approvals came with little or no INS follow-up to determine whether the students actually showed up for classes.
See Below (forwarded by Debbie Bowling)

The scope of the Maryland case is unprecedented nationally, said Diane Waryold, executive director of Duke University's Center for Academic Integrity ( www.academicintegrity.org ). It is also a sign that students might have a technological edge on their older professors. "It's a generational issue," Ms. Waryold said. "It's safe to say our students are far more sophisticated."
The Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043957323239614504,00.html?mod=technology%5Fmain%5Fwhats%5Fnews 

On most campuses, over 75% of students admit to some cheating.
Quoted from the research of Donald L. McCabe of RutgersUniversity (founder and first president of CAI) --- See below

And in reality we discover the following at http://msnbc.com/news/866152.asp?0cv=CB20 
Little inside the LASC English Language School, nestled in a glass-and-metal high-rise in L.A.’s Koreatown, hints of a place of learning. It touts itself as “world famous,” but there are no books or college brochures. On a recent weekday afternoon the school held just one student, though its owner says classes are taught three times a day, five days a week. There were no teachers in the school’s five classrooms, only a woman who doubles as the receptionist and the school’s assistant director.

And we say to the INS:
It is no use saying, "We are doing our best." You have got to succeed in doing what is necessary
.
Sir Winston Churchill

I really do feel that genuine translation of text requires understanding of the text, and understanding requires having lived in the world and dealt with the physical world and is not just a question of manipulating words.
Douglas Hofstadter

One thing I have become convinced of since joining Treasury is the importance of acting even without a legislative mandate," she said. "We don't always need laws to tell us the difference between right and wrong or to tell us what we ought to do.
Pam Olson as quoted in the LA Times and forwarded by Dee Davidson

The poet is like this monarch of the clouds riding the storm above the marksman's range; 
exiled on the ground, hooted and jeered, 
he cannot walk because of his great wings

Charles Baudelaire

Speaking of poetry, I accidentally stumbled upon this poem by Tony Hoagland.  I like the way this guy writes!
It seems especially appropriate in the context of the Columbia Shuttle Disaster.

Jet by Tony Hoagland in 1998 --- http://www.poets.org/poems/poems.cfm?prmID=1352 
Sometimes I wish I were still out 
on the back porch, drinking jet fuel 
with the boys, getting louder and louder 
as the empty cans drop out of our paws 
like booster rockets falling back to Earth

and we soar up into the summer stars. 
Summer. The big sky river rushes overhead, 
bearing asteroids and mist, blind fish 
and old space suits with skeletons inside. 
On Earth, men celebrate their hairiness,

and it is good, a way of letting life 
out of the box, uncapping the bottle 
to let the effervescence gush 
through the narrow, usually constricted neck.

And now the crickets plug in their appliances 
in unison, and then the fireflies flash 
dots and dashes in the grass, like punctuation 
for the labyrinthine, untrue tales of sex 
someone is telling in the dark, though

no one really hears. We gaze into the night 
as if remembering the bright unbroken planet 
we once came from, 
to which we will never 
be permitted to return. 
We are amazed how hurt we are. 
We would give anything for what we have.

 

Feeling cynical?

 If you aren’t now, you will by the time you finish the new Bebchuk and Fried paper on executive compensation.  They paint a fairly gloomy picture of managers exerting their power to “extract rents and to camouflage the extent of their rent extraction.”  Rather than designed to solve agency cost problems, the paper makes the case that executive pay can by an agency cost in and of itself.  Let’s hope things aren’t this bad. 
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=364220

They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings.
Steal a little and they throw you in jail,
Steal a lot and they make you king.
There's only one step down from here, baby,
It's called the land of permanent bliss.
What's a sweetheart like you doin' in a dump like this?

Lyrics of a Bob Dylan song forwarded by Damian Gadal [DGADAL@CI.SANTA-BARBARA.CA.US

The 8th Ernst & Young Global Fraud Survey, "Fraud: The Unmanaged Risk," based on a survey of 400 CEOs in more than 30 countries, reveals that, despite attempts to improve corporate governance in the wake of recent financial scandals, more than half of the companies interviewed had suffered a significant fraud in the last two years. Moreover, some 85% of the worst frauds were by insiders on the payroll. When asked what keeps them up at night, participants were significantly more concerned about asset misappropriation than any other kind of fraud. --- http://www.ey.com/global/download.nsf/South_Africa/Jan03_8th_Global_Fraud_Survey/$file/8th%20Global%20Survey.pdf

About our President --- http://www.angelrays.com/mb/pres/bush.html  

Shuttle Tribute --- http://www.debsfunpages.com/shuttle.htm 

Defend America Website --- http://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html 

God Bless America --- http://www.dayspring.com/movies/webmovies/america.html  

Before We Say Goodbye (forwarded by Debbie Bowling) --- http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,77712,00.html 

It's the soldier not the reporter who gives you the freedom of the press. 
It's the soldier not the poet who gives you the freedom of speech. 
It's the soldier not the campus organizer who allows you to demonstrate. 
It's the soldier who salutes the flag, serves the flag, whose coffin is draped with the flag that allows the protester to burn the flag!!!

Author Unknown


Are Bob and Erika nuts? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm 

Egads!  I may have to read books and write letters!
There go my hopes in the mountains since there is no Internet cable or DSL service in my new house in the White Mountains.
DirecTV Broadband poised to dismantle its high-speed satellite Internet service, consumers are losing one of the last alternatives to the increasingly dominant telephone and cable giants --- http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57483,00.html 

February 3, 2003 Reply from John Roberts [roberts_j@POPMAIL.FIRN.EDU

DirecTV is only ending its DSL service. It is still providing its DirectWay satellite internet access. Check out the details at http://directv.direcway.com/  I would check into it before I had DirecTV television service installed as I believe the internet access requires a special antenna that can also be used for the DirecTV TV channels, but I don't think the normal multi-satellite dish for TV channels will work for internet. At least that is my understanding. Maybe all is not lost!!!

When you sign up for home and long distance telephone service, be certain to check on whether DSL is available.  For example, if your local phone service is SBA, and you decide to make your long distance carrier MCI, Sprint, At&T or some other long distance carrier that does not offer DSL service to your home, then you are out of luck.  See Page B1 of The Wall Street Journal on January 30 for an article entitled "New Phone Twist:  Switch Local Service and Lose Your DSL."  Of course it won't matter for our new home in the White Mountains since the local phone service does not offer DSL.  My advice is to stick with a company like SBC that offers DSL, but then make that 10-10-811-1-(area code and number) option from VarTec.  See http://www.vartec.com/ .  There are similar options but I like VarTec using the 10-10-811 option (fifty cents minimum for up to five minutes).  Of course if you switch fully to VarTec for local service, you may lose your DSL option for a high speed Internet connection.




A draft (to date) of my February 28, 2003 updates on the accounting and finance scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud022803.htm

They call and offer a “free” service, such as a no-cost Web site or Internet yellow pages listing. They trick you into saying “yes” — to just about anything. Sometimes, they don’t even bother calling. And suddenly, there’s an extra $30 charge on your phone bill. It’s an old scam, known as “cramming,” but there appears to be a fresh epidemic of it. The company at the center of the accusations, ILD Teleservices, says it’s an innocent third-party billing firm. But either way, scores of consumers are hopping mad about $30, $50, even $80 charges that are peppering phone bills all around the country. 
http://www.msnbc.com/news/861995.asp?0si=-
 

Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?
Author Unknown (but isn't it so true!)

FASB: New Guidance for Stock Option Accounting 
Overview from Watson Wyatt --- http://www.watsonwyatt.com/us/pubs/hrfinance/showarticle.asp?ArticleID=10908 
FEI Response --- http://www.fei.org/download/FEI_IMA_FAS123.pdf 

The long-awaited timetable for the launch of the new CPA exam was made available this week, with the announcement that the new computerized CPA exam will begin April 5, 2004. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97103 

CCH Outlines SEC Rules and Outstanding Reform Issues --- http://www.smartpros.com/x36916.xml 

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) was established in late 1997 with the mission of developing globally applicable guidelines for reporting on the economic, environmental, and social performance, initially for corporations and eventually for any business, governmental, or non-governmental organisation (NGO). Convened by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the GRI incorporates the active participation of corporations, NGOs, accountancy organisations, business associations, and other stakeholders from around the world business plan --- http://www.globalreporting.org/ 

Do you think it is irresponsible for financial planners/advisors to give any advice to clients that uses a product (such as 529 plans) for a use other than it is intended? Just because you can get away with something does not mean you should. Forget about the ethics involved, the repercussions from the IRS when they feel like individuals are taking advantage of them should be deterrent enough.
Keith Delaney, The Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043694081118655384,00.html?mod=DAT 

Compare 529 Plans

Is a 529 account the right college-savings plan for you? These two sites can aid in your decision-making:

 Barron's grades the state-sponsored plans based on expenses and tax benefits.
 
 SavingForCollege.com ranks most state 529 plans by investment performance in the fourth quarter of 2002.
 

More College-Planning Tools

 Use this worksheet to tell you how much you need to be saving for college, based on how much you've already saved, the rate you expect your savings to grow and how quickly you expect college costs to rise.
 
 This financial-aid estimator can help you figure out how much you will be expected to pay for college expenses.



Hi Don,

I loved the poem by Gerard Hopkins.  Thanks!

In her notes compiled in 1979, Professor Linda Plunkett of the College of Charleston S.C., calls accounting the "oldest profession"; in fact, since prehistoric times families had to account for food and clothing to face the cold seasons. Later, as man began to trade, we established the concept of value and developed a monetary system. Evidence of accounting records can be found in the Babylonian Empire (4500 B.C.), in pharaohs' Egypt and in the Code of Hammurabi (2250 B.C.). Eventually, with the advent of taxation, record keeping became a necessity for governments to sustain social orders.
James deSantis, A BRIEF HISTORY OF ACCOUNTING: FROM PREHISTORY TO THE INFORMATION AGE --- http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/historyAcc/ResearchPaperFin.htm 

In praise of double entry bookkeeping, accounting educators may be interested in the following quotation from http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/theory01.htm 

Origins of Double Entry Accounting are Unknown

1300s A.D. crusades opened the Middle East and Mediterranean trade routes Venice and Genoa became venture trading centers for commerce 1296 A.D. Fini Ledgers in Florence 
1340 City of Massri Treasurers Accounts are in Double Entry form. 
1458 Luca Pacioli's Summa de Arithmetica Geometria Proportionalita (A Review of Arithmetic, Geometry and Proportions)

The following is a controversial quotation from http://www.cbs.dk/staff/hkacc/BOOK-ART.doc 

************************************ 
"The power of double-entry bookkeeping has been praised by many notable authors throughout history. In Wilhelm Meister, Goethe states, "What advantage does he derive from the system of bookkeeping by double-entry! It is among the finest inventions of the human mind"... Werner Sombart, a German economic historian, says, "... double-entry bookkeeping is borne of the same spirit as the system of Galileo and Newton" and "Capitalism without double-entry bookkeeping is simply inconceivable. They hold together as form and matter. And one may indeed doubt whether capitalism has procured in double-entry bookkeeping a tool which activates its forces, or whether double-entry bookkeeping has first given rise to capitalism out of its own (rational and systematic) spirit".

If, for a moment, one considers the credibility crisis of practical accounting, it would be quite impossible to dismiss the following paradox: the conflict between the enthusiastic praise of the system's strength on the one hand, and on the other, the many financial failures in the real world. How can such a powerful system, even when applied meticulously, still result in disasters? Although it is hardly necessary to argue more in favour of double-entry book-keeping, I still want to underline the two qualities of the system which I find are valid explanations of the system's very important and world-wide role in financial development for five centuries.

The Logic of Double-Entry Bookkeeping, 
by Henning Kirkegaard 
Department of Financial & Management Accounting 
Copenhagen Business School 
Howitzvej 60 
************************************

Nobody I know holds the mathematical wonderment of double entry and historical cost accounting more in awe than Yuji Ijiri.  For example, see Theory of Accounting Measurement, by Yuji Ijiri (Sarasota:  American Accounting Association Studies in Accounting Research No. 10, 1975).  He also extended the concept to triple-entry bookkeeping in (Sarasota:  Triple-Entry Bookkeeping and Income Momentum
American Accounting Association Studies in Accounting Research No. 18, 1982).
http://accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/aaa/market/studar.htm
 

Also see the following: 

Bob Jensen

February 10, 2003 message from Don Ramsey

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ramsey, Donald [mailto:dramsey@UDC.EDU]  
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2003 8:37 PM 
Subject: Pied Beauty

Re: Obsessive double-entryness, here is how the real world looks:

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things, 
For skies of couple-color as a brinded cow, 
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim; 
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls, finches' wings; 

Landscape plotted and pieced, fold, fallow and plough, 
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim. 
All things counter, original, spare, strange, 
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?) 

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim. 
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change; 
Praise him.

-- Gerard Manley Hopkins

Expecting anyone to put the real world into a mold from which it never came is a tall order. Double entry may not be perfect, but until something better comes along, let's not break the mold quite yet. That could cause chaos in the stock market ......

Donald D. Ramsey, CPA, Associate Professor of Accounting, School of Business and Public Administration, University of the District of Columbia, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20008. Department of Accounting, Finance, and Economics, Room 404A, Building 52 (Connecticut and Yuma St.)

Bob Jensen's February 21 reply to Craig Avery

Hi Craig,

Leave it to an English major to ponder such dappled questions.

My off-the-wall reply would be to compare the balance sheet of the merchant of Venice in 1482 with the balance sheet of General Electric in 2002. Simple transactions and stable currency simplified a balance sheet's snapshot of debits and credits. Contracts themselves were about as close to black and white as possible in 1482. 

In the Year 2002, General Electric engaged in countless contracts that are no longer black and white. Currencies in its world markets are often highly unstable. Many of its "dappled" contracts are financial instruments derivatives having historical costs of zero that soon turn into valuable assets or enormous liabilities in millions of dollars almost overnight. Compensation contracts entail "dappled" options where it is not clear whether the contracting is with the company itself or a bypass to shareholders themselves.

General Electric's balance sheet in 2002 is a dappled mess of different bases of measurement ranging from cash counts, historical cost allocations, price-level adjustments of some foreign transactions, entry (replacement) values, exit (liquidation) values, discounted cash flows, and missing variables. And investors are supposed to find this dappled balance sheet interesting, a thing of beauty like the " brinded cow."   

Managers of corporations are agents whose personal interests may conflict so badly with the interest of shareholders that we sometimes archaically view as "owners" of the business. The distinction between creditors and shareholders is "dappled" with embedded clauses that leave nothing black and white. Companies have cross-interests in ownership and debt such as in SPEs where it is often not clear who is bearing what risks (as in Enron's thousands of SPEs).

The "dappled" intangibles such as human capital that we do not debit and credit in the journals and include in the balance sheet may have far greater current value that all of the items we meticulously debit and credit and audit.

And there is the dappled aspect of time. The CEO of a really stable company called Montana Power could sell off all the hard assets in a matter of months before shareholders had a clue as to what was happening at Montana Power.

I think what Don was trying to tell us is that the contracts we account for over the past 600 years have evolved from black and white clauses to complex dapplings that challenge us in many exciting ways. If all the contracts remained black and white, accountancy would never be included in a university's curriculum and all accounting today would be performed by computers. What makes accounting a challenging profession is the complexity of the dappling of the financial world.

I am forever grateful for the dapplings in accountancy, because these made my life an interesting professional challenge.

Your other questions are too deep for my simple mind rooted in the teachings of W. S. (Work Sheet) Shroyer who stuck pretty much to black and white --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/AAAaward_files/AAAaward02.htm 

"Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)  
Do you get that impression when you read the latest balance sheet of General Electric this year?

Thanks,

Bob

-----Original Message----- 
From: Craig Avery [mailto:macrael@EARTHLINK.NET
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2003 8:08 PM 
Subject: Re: Pied Beauty--thoughts from a nonaccountant

To this English major, this sounds interesting--appreciate the dappled, and from it develop a system or method to accept dappled as input and translate (conform?) it into--what?

Take dappled to mean chaos theory. Do you suggest that dappled is a description of complex business transactions that the accountant makes sense of in some way? Should accountants learn a new way to account for business transactions that grow from dappled (unbelievably complex) business activities? But what are actual business transactions, difficult as they may be to account for, but complex--but nondappled--constructions of accounting firms to conform to GAAP and meet some defined client goal? (Maybe dappled means the

Define dappled accounting please. Complex? Chaotic? Nonpredictive? Nonaccountable? Does dappled derive from an information systems model? Does dappled require a nonaccounting method of description (like poetry or philosophy)? Does dappled have a nonpredictable component?

To a nonaccountant who has spent many years thinking about accounting, dappled seems to be an aesthetic that needs a theory, as randomness wanted chaos theory.

Unrelated comment: Seems like accounting has become like war--taught as a system of thought and behavior that is changed by the fog of war (or the client).

Craig Avery

February 12, 2003 reply from Don Ramsey

 Here is a quotation from Colin Powell that may be instructive:

Part I: Use the formula P=40 to 70, in which P stands for the probability of success and the numbers indicate the percentage of information acquired.

 Part II: Once the information is in the 40 to 70 range, go with your gut.

See www.blaisdell.com/powell

 Donald D. Ramsey, CPA,
Associate Professor of Accounting, School of Business and Public Administration,
University of the District of  Columbia, 4200 Connecticut Avenue, N. W., Washington, D. C. 20008.
Department of Accounting, Finance, and Economics, Room 404A, Building 52 (Connecticut and Yuma St.)


Are you looking for some clever effects to add to your Web pages?  Or are you just a download junkie addicted to freebies?

Here are over 12,000,000 free downloads --- http://www.incredimail.com/english/splash.html 

But remember all those disadvantaged people in the White Mountains who only have dial up modems before you add any slow-loading clever effects.


Wow Mortgage Helper Site of the Week

At Stanford University many years ago, I had a classmate named Randy Johnson.  Randy has had great success with two best-selling mortgage books.  He also maintains a very helpful helper site on mortgages --- http://www.loan-wolf.com/ 

You can get information lots of places on the Internet. This is the place you can get WISDOM. Learn how to analyze and evaluate that information. You'll discover unique tips, tricks, and strategies which have helped over 15,000 people save millions of dollars. I can help you too if you want to get the lowest cost mortgage of anyone on your block, saving you thousands of dollars over what your less well educated neighbors pay.

Bob Jensen's financial helper bookmarks are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#Finance 

Bob Jensen's links to financial helpers can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fees.htm 


Wow Education Technology of the Week

From Syllabus News on February 4, 2003

CSU Sacramento to Create Massive Lecture Video Vault

California State University at Sacramento is making available to students a video archive of courses. Using Screening Room, a “video-asset management” system from Convera, Inc. students will be able to view a course within minutes after a lecture is given, no matter where the student is located. The system also allows students to rapidly search the archive for lectures, as well as perform key-word searches to obtain references to their areas of interest. Prior to using the technology, courses were videotaped and tapes were made available to students to view on campus when their schedules allowed. But students had to manually search through tapes to find specific content.


Wow Graphics of the Week 

Molecular Expressions --- http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/index.html 

View the Milky Way at 10 million light years from the Earth. Then move through space towards the Earth in successive orders of magnitude until you reach a tall oak tree just outside the buildings of the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida. After that, begin to move from the actual size of a leaf into a microscopic world that reveals leaf cell walls, the cell nucleus, chromatin, DNA and finally, into the subatomic universe of electrons and protons.


And the winners are ____ ?

The Eduventures 100: Leading Businesses Transforming the Education Economy January 2003 --- http://www.eduventures.com/research/industry_research_resources/ev100_2003.cfm 

The Eduventures 100: Leading Businesses Transforming the Education Economy is the second edition of Eduventures' annual, in-depth study of leading companies within the pre-K-12, postsecondary, and corporate training markets.

As with the inaugural edition of this report, profiled companies represent a broad array of businesses - early stage e-learning ventures, subsidiaries and divisions of larger education and high tech companies, established education players, strategic investors, and global consulting firms - that will shape the evolution of learning and education products and services delivered to institutions, corporations, governments, and individuals.

For each company selected for The Eduventures 100, Eduventures has compiled a profile that includes the following details:

Brief narrative describing the business and factors meriting its inclusion; Key issues impacting the future performance of the business; List of notable partners and leading competitors; Financial highlights, including venture capital details for private companies; and Names of leading executives and company contact information.

In addition, Eduventures has developed a brief look at the past, present, and future experiences of companies formerly and/or currently recognized as Eduventures 100 selections.

The Eduventures homepage is at http://www.eduventures.com/ 


Get Online to Manage Your Heart Disease, Lung Disease or Diabetes! ---  http://healthyliving.stanford.edu  

The Stanford School of Medicine is inviting people to take part in a free 6 week online program and study for people with heart disease, lung disease, or type II diabetes. It will be a 6-week, small group, interactive workshop on the Internet. You must be a resident of the United States to participate.


Army University is an online university that was originally organized around 20 respected colleges and universities under an original $500 million grant to the consulting division of PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).  That division has now become IBM Business Consulting Services, Inc. and 12 new colleges have been added --- http://www.adec.edu/earmyu/IBMExpandseArmyU1.html All U.S. soldiers are eligible for free training and education certification and degree programs.  

The number of colleges and universities participating in eArmyU will increase to 32, in 19 states, during 2003.  The academic institutions will offer more than 3,000 courses and more than 150 academic degree programs, tripling the degree programs since eArmyU’s inception.  eArmyU has delivered educational opportunities online to more than 30,500 enlisted soldiers since the program began in January 2001 and will enroll approximately 80,000 soldiers by 2005 at military installations around the world. The program is accessed at www.earmyu.com .

“eArmyU is helping our enlisted force to pursue higher education online while they serve their country,” said Lt. Col. Anthony Jimenez, eArmyU Program Director for the Army. “With this expansion of academic offerings, we are taking the program to a new level.” 

IBM Business Consulting Services identified colleges and universities to provide online degree programs for enlisted soldiers through a competitive process.  In concert with U.S. Army needs, the company recommended schools based on their ability to address the higher education goals and interests of soldier-students, meet the program’s technological and administrative requirements, and optimize value to the Army.   

The demand for education through eArmyU is astounding, and we built the online program so that it can meet not only a growing enrollment, but also demands for different kinds of courses,” said Jill Kidwell, IBM Business Consulting Services partner. “We are helping the Army supply higher education quickly and efficiently using the e-learning techniques pioneered in this program.”

Twelve new undergraduate and graduate schools and at least 68 additional degree programs will be phased into eArmyU over the next six to nine months. All eArmyU schools must adhere to requirements and be approved for membership in Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges for credit transferability among eArmyU schools.  IBM Business Consulting Services anticipates adding more targeted degree programs and schools over time to meet the Army’s goals. 

The newest eArmyU schools include:

            Atlantic Cape Community College, Mays Landing, N.J.

            Coastline Community College, Fountain Valley, Calif.

            Grambling State University, Grambling, La.

Hampton University, Hampton, Va.

Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.

            Jefferson Community College, Watertown, N.Y.

            Pierce College, Lakewood, Wash.

            Southern Christian University, Montgomery, Ala.

            Southwestern College, Wichita, Kans.

            University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Ala.

            University of California Los Angeles Extension, Los Angeles, Calif.

            University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, Md.

The new additions to the program join 20 colleges and universities already participating which also competed for continuation in eArmyU:

Anne Arundel Community College, Arnold, Md.

Baker College, Flint, Mich.

Central Texas College, Killeen, Texas

Cochise College, Sierra Vista, Ariz.

            Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla.

            Excelsior College, Albany, N.Y.

     Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville, N.C.

            Franklin University, Columbus, Ohio

Lansing Community College, Lansing, Mich.

            Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

            North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, N.C.

            Pennsylvania State University World Campus, University Park, Pa.

Rio Salado Community College, Tempe, Ariz.

            Saint Joseph's College of Maine, Standish, Maine

            Saint Leo College, Tampa, Fla.

            State University of New York, Empire State College, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

            Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, N.J.

            Troy State University, Columbus, Ga.

            University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas

University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas

About IBM Business Consulting Services

With more than 60,000 consultant and professional staff in more than 160 countries globally, IBM Business Consulting Services is the world’s largest consulting services organization.  IBM Business Consulting Services provides clients with business process and industry expertise, a deep understanding of technology solutions that address specific industry issues, and the ability to design, build and run those solutions in a way that delivers bottom-line business value.

The Army University Access Online homepage is at http://www.adec.edu/earmyu/index.html 

Bob Jensen's threads on distance training and education alternatives are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 


Open University is centered in the U.K. and is one of the largest, if not the largest, universities in the world --- http://www.open.ac.uk/ 
It has many onsite and online programs.

It attempted some years ago to break into the North American market with several partnerships with colleges in the U.S. and Canada.  That venture known as U.S. Open University failed.  However, Open University is now betting on some new partnership with New School University --- http://www3.open.ac.uk/media/news-releases/index.asp#896 

The Open University (OU) has announced a strategic alliance with New School University, New York, to collaborate on distance and online learning education programmes. The first course Managing Finance and Information is being planned for March this year, based on a module from the Open University Business School’s Professional Certificate in Management.

The New School University homepage is at http://www.newschool.edu/ 


From Syllabus News on February 11, 2003

eCollege Says Revenues, Earnings Rising

Course management system provider eCollege said revenues for the fourth quarter of 2002 were $6.3 million, up from $5.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2001. With that, the company reported that revenue for the year increased 19 percent to $23.7 million, from $19.8 million in 2001. For 2002, the Company's pre-tax earnings improved to a negative $251 thousand compared to a negative $7.7 million for 2001. The company also reported that for the 2002 fall term, the total number of student enrollments was 157,000 compared to 96,000 for the 2001 fall term. About 80,000 of the enrollments represented distance students, up from 58,000 distance students in the fall term last year. The number of distance courses rose to 4,900, a 27 percent increase over fall 2001.

The eCollege homepage is at http://www.ecollege.com/ 

Bob Jensen's history of course authoring and management systems can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 


In state colleges, is quantity (read that access) or quality more important?  This is serious question in most states at the moment, especially California.

See http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-02-06-03.htm 


Apple's entry into the browser market is both sleek and unique. But is Safari the Mac user's best bet on the Web? 
"Surfin' Safari," by Michael Calore, Webmonkey, January 8, 2003 --- http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/03/02/index3a.html 

Those kooky minds over at Apple, I tell ya.

Apparently, they are not content with producing the industry's most celebrated hardware, the sleekest operating system, and the sexiest portable audio device since the boombox. Now, Apple Computer is setting its sights on the crowded browser market.

At the Macworld 2003 conference (which took place the week of January 6th, 2003), Apple head honcho Steve Jobs announced the development of a lightweight Web browser that's especially tailored for Apple's Jaguar operating system.

The new browser, named Safari, is available for download as a public beta from Apple's website. Our expectations are especially high on this one, partly because we've been handed a brand new standards-compliant browser based on an open-source engine. But we're really wringing our hands in anticipation because it's Apple, and Apple has consistently produced some fantastic software — iTunes, iMovie, and the whole OS X family of server and desktop work environments rank among the best — so its take on the seemingly perfected arena of the Web browser is a welcome and exciting event.

At the heart of Safari is the KHTML engine. Originally developed for the KDE Konqueror browser, Apple selected the open-source rendering engine for its speed, its compliance with current standards, and its relatively small code base. Also Safari's JavaScript handler, called JavaScriptCore, is based on Konqueror's KJS engine. Apple isn't just scamming open-source technology by building it into Safari, it's continuing to contribute to the community by tracking the development of the browser engine alongside the KDE development team.

Apple's commitment to the open-source movement is praised by many, decried by some. But if it means more engineers working on the improvement of Web browsers, making them better and more consistent, then why knock it? It should also be noted that many of the members of Apple's Safari development team have past experience with open-source browser technology: Don Melton, the Safari Engineering Manager, was one of the key people on the first Mozilla team, and David Hyatt, also on the Safari development team and from the Mozilla crew, was one of the originators of Chimera, an open-source browser for OS X.

Eager to try out the first public beta, I downloaded Safari, installed it on my 600MHz iBook (OS X 10.2 or later is required), and used it to complete a series of tasks. I wanted to see if Safari could handle the usual day-to-day stuff: browse my favorite news sites, pay my credit card bill, and update my weblog. I also played with all of the fancy features and gave the controls a few tweaks to see what the range of capabilities were.

So let's take Safari on a ride, shall we? 

Continued at http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/03/02/index3a.html 

Mike's bottom line conclusion:

The general assumption of those in the pundit business is that Safari is intended as a replacement for the sluggish and standards-defiant Internet Explorer for the Macintosh. And it does serve as an excellent alternative. But is it the best candidate for the job? No.

In my opinion, the best browser for Mac OS X, or at least the most promising one, is Chimera. Also in the beta stage (release 0.6 as of this writing), Chimera is part of the Mozilla open-source browser project, so it runs on the Gecko engine. It's a lovely piece of software for many of the same reasons as Safari: it's fast and lightweight, it loads pages properly, and the major plugins work correctly.

I inserted the above update under Web Browsers at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245gloss.htm 

But Internet Explorer will win the day for reasons pointed out below, i.e., Internet Explorer will read XBRL!


Wow Technology News of the Week (forwarded by Neil Hannon)

From Accounting Today, Volume 17 No. 3 Feb 10-23 2003

Software Coup for XBRL:  Microsoft Adds it to Office

"XBRL ......, could get the biggest marketing boost of its four-year life when Microsoft Corp. releases a new version of its Office desktop software suite with new XBRL import and export capabilities."

"Office 11 will not be XBRL-specific, but instead will work with all codes, including XBRL, that are built off the XML programming framework."

"In XBRL's case, Office 11's spreadsheet tool, Excel, will be able to accept data in XBRL format, or work with non-XBRL data to output spreadsheets that are XBRL-formatted."

February 5, 2003 reply from Dee (Dawn) Davidson [dgd@MARSHALL.USC.EDU]

Neal Hannon's article on EDGAR's use of XBRL is now reprinted in AccountantsWorld. Nice Job, Neal! Transparent reporting is part of management's fiduciary responsibility, and it's the best protection against the loss of shareholder confidence. Transparency is composed of two main tenants: (1) clear, straightforward financial reporting and (2) making the financial data quickly and easily available to all interested parties. Though XBRL can't address the condition of underlying financial information, it can have a major impact on the delivery of this information to the financial community.

Starting this month, the U.S. investor community will receive a major boost to financial data accessibility. EDGAR Analyst LLC, a joint venture of EDGAR-Online and UBmatrix Corporation, is making a financial database filled with 75 data elements derived from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) filings of all companies since 1994 available in a digital format. In addition, EDGAR Analyst is promising to make available newly filed SEC 10-Q and 10-K information within 48 hours of the material being posted on the SEC's EDGAR system.

http://www.accountantsworld.com/news/currnewsyb.asp?q1=36429683 

dee davidson 
Accounting Systems Specialist 
Marshall School of Business Leventhal School of Accounting
 University of Southern California 
dee.davidson@marshall.usc.edu

Bob Jensen's threads on XBRL are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm#TimelineXBRL 


Sharing Professor of the Week --- Terrance A. Brooks, The Information School, University of Washington
Watch this: Web services --- http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/TB0211.html 

What's a Web service? 
The gist: Web services offer value-added information or information processing on the Web. The implication: Share your expertise with the Web community. The opportunity: You can publish both your information and information processing procedures for others to leverage in their programs. An example: Agencies in your community might want to list your library hours on their Web sites. Their Web sites consume the Web service giving your library hours. If you change your hours, all the attendant Web sites automatically reflect the changes.

Suppose you're writing a computer program and you need a subroutine, a method or a procedure. You could write your own, but suppose the very procedure you need already exists on the Web compiled and ready to use. Being economical, you write your program so that it utilizes the distant procedure. You would be using a Web service.

Note the similarity of this model to active Web content based on legacy CGI (Common Gateway Interface) or ASP (Active Server Pages) technologies. Typically they accepted user input and responded with HTML (Hypertext Markup Language). Web services extend this model to the programming realm of application-to-application sharing. My application can use a procedure you wrote and make available on your server. Users of my program would be oblivious to the provenance of the operations occurring before them.

Historically, the desktop and the Web have been two different environments. Web services blur that distinction as desktop applications and Web applications can now share data and functionality. This is not an absolutely original concept: many Windows desktop applications right now will update themselves by automatically seeking new procedures and contents from the Web. You are required to OK the download, thus it doesn't occur invisibly in the background. Web services extend this sharing model two ways: (1) All of us can create Web services and bind them in our programs, and (2) The integration of program and Web service occurs silently in the background.

Key idea: Web services let applications share data and invoke capabilities of other applications.

Speculation: Is this the beginning of the Semantic Web? The vision of a Semantic Web suggests a distributed network of meaning. Web services would be a fundamental building block of such a vision because they provide the distant semantic functionality.

Continued at  http://informationr.net/ir/8-1/TB0211.html  


Sharing Accounting Professors of the Week

Stanford's Graduate School of Business offers some free video downloads from http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/alumni/lifelonglearning/inside/ 
One includes the following:
Sports Business Management
Winter Quarter 2002
Introduction by Professor George Foster
Lecturer Steve Young (former San Francisco 49er All Pro Quarterback) 

Greg Burbage at the Sacramento City College --- http://www.scc.losrios.edu/~burbagg/ 
Lots of good links and shared course notes in financial and managerial accounting.)
Good links to certification exam sites.

Brian Ballau at Auburn shares some working papers --- http://www.business.auburn.edu/~bballou/ 

Linda Bamber (Editor of The Accounting Review) shares some cases --- http://www.terry.uga.edu/people/lbamber/ 

Mary Barth at Stanford provides downloads for some research papers --- http://gobi.stanford.edu/facultybios/bio.asp?ID=16 

Joseph Magliolo at SMU shares quite a lot of course materials --- http://faculty.cox.smu.edu/jmagliolo.html 

Michael Maher at UC Davis shares quite a few excellent links --- http://faculty.gsm.ucdavis.edu/~mwmaher/ 

Steve Matsunaga at Oregon shares a couple of working papers and some course notes --- http://lcb1.uoregon.edu/stevem/ 

Ruth Ann McEwen at Suffolk University shares some course materials and research papers --- http://www.ruthannmcewen.com/ 


Aids to being a professional accountant

Jugglezine:  Not-So-Great-Expectations --- http://www.jugglezine.com/ 
About balancing work and life.

Bob Jensen's threads on being a professional are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fees.htm 


I thought the following message from Milt Cohen might be of interest as we think about pedagogy and course content ala my previous message about BAM versus Pincus versus Cases versus lecture/drill.

I have added some of these thoughts in a new Appendix Six at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm#Appendix6  
The above link also contains a recent message form Jim Borden at Villanova.

Bob O. Link (a new name given to Bob Jensen by David Fordham)

-----Original Message----- 
From: Milt Cohen, Accounting Instructor [mailto:uncmlt@JUNO.COM]  
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 9:54 PM 

A thought for the bright minded on this web site, after watching an H & R Block TV commercial where they boast about getting more refunds for taxpayers when they review their prior year's tax forms, do you think that if they find that the taxpayer OWES money for a prior year and......... if the taxpayer says, "hell no, I won't pay" ............are they obligated to report the short pay (tax owed) to the IRS?

Interesting letter in the current Journal of Accountancy , Feb. 2003 issue on pages 11 and 12, a professor of Accounting at Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colorado, writes about how poorly the current text book used in his college classes do not provide explanation as to how transactions (of businesses) get recorded into the books and records of a business. And that the emphasis is on financial statement analysis. I can't help recalling how I (and my classmates) slaved over work problems in accounting classes in the 1950s. And how I emphasis (in my classes) the bookkeeping procedures. It's hard to realize that college Accounting classes ignore the bookkeeping phase of the profession. Without a bookkeeper, there is no basis for financial statement analysis.

Just a couple of thoughts.

 


Some Ethics Study Sites

The Wikipedia page on ethics --- http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics 

Case Study Links --- http://www.csulb.edu/library/subj/business/case_studies.html 

Center for Study of Ethics in the Professions --- http://www.ids.ac.uk/eldis/hot/ethicsguide2.htm 

LegalEthics.com --- http://www.legalethics.com/   (this cite is directed at the law profession)

Business Ethics magazine --- http://www.business-ethics.com/web-ethi.htm 

Centre for Applied Ethics --- http://www.ethics.ubc.ca/resources/wsotw.html 

eldis --- http://www.ids.ac.uk/eldis/hot/ethicsguide2.htm 

Ethics Case Studies (Chowan College) --- http://www.chowan.edu/acadp/ethics/studies.htm 

Virtual Ethics http://itrs.scu.edu/mcalkins/spring00/proposition209/perspectives.html  (at the philosophy studies level)

Center for Business Ethics (University of St. Thomas) --- http://www.stthom.edu/cbes/ 

Bob Jensen's Bookmarks on Ethics Study  --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Ethics 


Accounting History


Drive-Ins (American History) --- http://www.drive-ins.com/ 
A lot of marriages were "conceived" in drive-ins.  And many of us accidentally dragged off one speaker dangling from its yanked out cord.


Centropa (Jewish history and photographs) --- http://www.centropa.org/ 


All Info-About Poetry http://poetry.allinfo-about.com/ 
Includes helpers for writing poetry.

VOCABULARY OF ALLITERATION (aid to writing poems)  http://www.xs4all.nl/~in/Poet/VocAll.htm

Bob Jensen's poetry bookmarks --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#History 


January 31, 2003 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu

THE TEACH ACT AND DISTANCE EDUCATION

The Technology, Education, and Copyright Harmonization Act (TEACH) was signed into law (P.L. 107-273) on November 2, 2002, as part of the Department of Justice Authorization bill, H.R. 2215. According to the American Library Association, "The TEACH Act is a clear signal that Congress recognizes the importance of distance education, the significance of digital media, and the need to resolve copyright clashes." The act attempts to extend to distance education some of the same rights that on-site classes have enjoyed. For more information on TEACH, see the following resources:

"New Copyright Law for Distance Education: The Meaning and Importance

of the TEACH Act"

American Library Association's TEACH website http://www.ala.org/washoff/teach.html

"The TEACH Toolkit: An Online Resource for Understanding Copyright and

Distance Education"

Website created by North Carolina State University Libraries, NCSU

Office of Legal Affairs, et al. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/scc/legislative/teachkit/index.html

"The TEACH Act Finally Becomes Law" by Georgia Harper, University of

Texas System Office of General Counsel http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/teachact.htm

Chart comparing the old Section 110(2) and the new Section 110(2) by

Lolly Gasaway, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School

of Law

http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/TEACH.htm

Text of the Act http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/pl107-273.html


Before I download a free day trial of Glance, I would like to know if anybody out there has tried this product (other than Andy Burnett who seems to think it's great).  I suspect Jim Borden has tried it.  He tries everything before I even hear about it.

Bob

January 29, 2003 message from Andy Burnett [andy.burnett@knowledgeassociates.com

Hi Bob,

I have been experimenting with a new technology recently which I think you might like. The product is called Glance and you can find it at http://www.glance.net 

Basically, Glance is a 'screen broadcasting' tool, similar to Netmeeting or Lotus Sametime. The clever part about it is that Glance have built a java browser applet which you use to watch the broadcaster's screen. This means that practically anyone can be a receiver. They don't need to download any additional software (a big turn off in most corporations), and, because Glance provide the server, it will work through most firewalls (which is where NetMeeting falls down). I use it with small classes, coupled with a conference call. It gives me total flexibility in terms of what tools I want to use etc (anything my machine can run) and the conference call makes the sessions very interactive.

Although you can download the client and try it for free, if you want me to demo it just drop me a line

Rgds 
Andy Burnett 
Director of Innovation 
Knowledge Associates Ltd Cambridge UK
T +44 1223 421834

You can read the following at http://www.glance.net/site/services.asp?name=srvgi.xml 

A Personal Communication Tool Glance provides a one-click service that enables you to show your computer screen -- live -- to anyone you choose over the web. Instantly. Reliably. Simply. By combining the two business tools you use most - your phone and your PC - Glance helps you show people exactly what you're talking about. Click here to sign up for your FREE TRIAL!

Simple to Use Glance works the way you work best: simply, informally, and conversationally. Just click your Glance icon and ask your guest to visit your personal Glance web page. Within moments, your guest sees your live computer screen. No scheduling. No training. No kidding!

The Perfect Choice Think Glance whenever you need to show someone your computer screen. Glance is perfect for:

Sales pitches Software demos Presentations Status and design reviews Asking "what if" Editing, creating, designing with others Reach Anyone Glance brings your live screen to anyone, anywhere -- in the next building or across the sea -- even through corporate firewalls. Since all your guest needs is a way to surf the web, Glance is perfect for enhancing any on-the-fly phone call. With Glance, you can "show and tell" conversationally - without the hassle of emailing attachments, faxing, overnight shipping or learning complicated collaboration tools.


Question
What is illusory causation?

Answer
Videotaping of all police interrogations has often been held up as a way to ensure the rights of the accused by deterring coercion. Unfortunately, new research shows why videotaping may fall short of these goals --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043967818831405504,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fmarketplace%5Fhs 
"Videocameras, Too, Can Lie, Or at Least Create Prejudice," by Sharon Begley, The Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2003

The confessions, playing over and over on the Sony Trinitron monitors, riveted the jury. "We got her on the ground. Everybody started hitting her and stuff." ... "Everybody stomping and everything." ... "I grabbed one arm, some other kid grabbed her legs and stuff." During deliberations, the jurors watched one of the confessions five times.

Such is the power of video: The young men whose confessions in the notorious 1989 Central Park jogger attack were recorded on tape were all found guilty. Little wonder, then, that when the convictions were overturned last fall (a decision that remains controversial even though DNA evidence backs up the confession of a man serving time for another crime), a harsh spotlight again shone on the problem of false confessions.

Many advocates for the rights of the accused, and even some prosecutors, have concluded that the solution is to videotape all police interrogations (not only the confession), to deter coercion and let jurors see with their own eyes whether an admission seems planted, involuntary, fabricated or otherwise false.

It seems like an obvious fix. Unfortunately, new research growing out of a long-established quirk in how people assign causation to events they witness suggests that videotaping as usually practiced today -- with the camera trained directly on the suspect -- may also fall short. Says psychology professor G. Daniel Lassiter of Ohio University in Athens, "How people evaluate videotaped confessions can be significantly affected by seemingly inconsequential things, like camera perspective."

The root of the problem lies in something called illusory causation. Almost three decades of research in both lab and real-world settings shows that when people witness an interaction, they tend to attribute causality to events or individuals that are more noticeable. When people see two individuals chatting, for instance, and if they have a better angle on Mr. A than Mr. B, they conclude that Mr. A shaped the tone and direction of the conversation and caused Mr. B to respond as he did.

"We decided to see whether illusory causation can prejudice how people evaluate certain types of legal evidence," says Prof. Lassiter. "Since your literal point of view can affect your judgment of causality, we decided to focus on camera perspective in videotaped confessions."

He ran 15 experiments. In the first bunch, he played short (up to 30-minute) tapes of interrogations and confessions for volunteers drawn from the university's psychology students. The tapes showed either mock sessions scripted by the scientists, or re-enactments based on police transcripts. In the second series, only nonstudent, jury-eligible adults participated (psychologists are finally taking to heart the criticism that experiments using college kids might not generalize to the rest of humanity).

In all cases, the volunteers saw taped interrogations and confessions. The variable was camera angle. In half of the trials, the camera focused on the suspect alone; in others, on the detective, too.

Young or middle-age, male or female, student or not, watching only brief confessions or entire trials, all volunteers reacted the same way. "They judged videotaped confessions recorded with the camera focused on the suspect as more voluntary than videos focused equally on the suspect and interrogator, even when the content was identical," says Prof. Lassiter, who reports the findings in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science.

The results were the same for confessions of manslaughter, rape, burglary, drug trafficking and shoplifting. They were the same even when volunteers were told to note the prejudicial effect of camera angle.

When the camera focused directly on the suspect alone, volunteers were also more likely to judge him guilty. "In one instance, the simple change from an equal-focus confession to a suspect-focus confession doubled the 'conviction' rate," says Prof. Lassiter.

Just as in other instances of illusory causation, seeing someone full-on, and alone, makes people judge him as behaving according to his own volition.

The issue is more than academic. Minnesota and Alaska require that interrogations and confessions be videotaped. San Diego and Denver do so with some crimes, Chicago and Philadelphia tape only the final confession. Ever more jurisdictions are adopting video to varying extent.

Continued in the article


The Best Free Registration in Education Technology
(Please note the fabulous Table of Contents)

TechKnowLogia --- http://www.techknowlogia.org/ 

TechKnowLogia is an international online journal that provides policy makers, strategists, practitioners and technologists at the local, national and global levels with a strategic forum to:

Explore the vital role of different information technologies (print, audio, visual and digital) in the development of human and knowledge capital;
Share policies, strategies, experiences and tools in harnessing technologies for knowledge dissemination, effective learning, and efficient education services;
Review the latest systems and products of technologies of today, and peek into the world of tomorrow; and
Exchange information about resources, knowledge networks and centers of expertise.

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


Two Great Free Sites for Researchers

From the University of Maryland Libraries --- http://www.lib.umd.edu/ENGIN/TechReports/Virtual-TechReports.html 

The Virtual Technical Reports Center

EPrints, Preprints,  & Technical Reports on the Web

Welcome to the Virtual Technical Reports Center! The Institutions listed here provide either full-text reports, or searchable extended abstracts of their technical reports on the World Wide Web.  This site  contains links to technical reports, preprints, reprints, dissertations, theses, and research reports of all kinds.  Some metasites are  listed by subject categories, as well as by institution.  This site will be updated monthly. Please email the author, Gloria Lyles Chawla, gc9@umail.umd.edu,with suggestions for additional links.

Also see Ask Oxford http://www.askoxford.com/ 
(Especially note the "Ask the Experts" service.)


February 5,, 2003 message from James Borden [james.borden@villanova.edu

Bob,

I thought you might be interested in another curriculum innovation that is taking place at Villanova, once again involving Tony Catanach, along with Noah Barsky. Noah is one of our young professors at Villanova who is an outstanding teacher, and has been committed to developing the Business Planning Model (BPM) approach to teaching Management Accounting for some time now. If you have any questions about the paper, feel free to contact Noah at noah.barsky@villanova.edu 

Thank you for continuing to support the BAM approach to teaching Intermediate as well!

Jim

Note that Noah has a PDF file that he will probably send to you if you request it from him.

You can read more about BAM at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm 


Education is when you read (study) the fine print. Experience is what you get if you don't.
Pete Seeger as quoted by Mark Shapiro at http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-24-03.htm 

And high school seniors are increasingly abandoning education for more experience.
A record low of 34.9% of college freshmen report having spent more than six hours per week on homework during their senior year in high school.
Mark Shapiro --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-31-03.htm  (See Below)

The Lake Wobegon Effect --- The Lowest Grade is Now Higher Than the Average Grade
Grade Inflation Trends Among Entering College Students --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-31-03.htm 

The Lake Wobegon Effect - All Our High School Graduates are "Above Average" --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-31-03.htm 

Especially note the graph!!!!

Reply from Bill Stone

Dear Bob, 

I don't recall who said this but it has always stuck in my mind as very pertinent to my own high school education: " I learned more on the way to school than I ever did after I got there." 

Warm regards, 

Bill Stone


Faculty are reluctant to take action against suspected cheaters. In a 1999 survey of over 1,000 faculty on 21 campuses, one-third of those who were aware of student cheating in their course in the last two years, did nothing to address it. Students suggest that cheating is higher in courses where it is well known that faculty members are likely to ignore cheating.
Quoted from the research of Donald L. McCabe of Rutgers University (founder and first president of CAI) --- See below

Academic honor codes effectively reduce cheating. Surveys conducted in 1990, 1995, and 1999, involving over 12,000 students on 48 different campuses, demonstrate the impact of honor codes and student involvement in the control of academic dishonesty. Serious test cheating on campuses with honor codes is typically 1/3 to 1/2 lower than the level on campuses that do not have honor codes. The level of serious cheating on written assignments is 1/4 to 1/3 lower.
Quoted from the research of Donald L. McCabe of Rutgers University (founder and first president of CAI) --- See below

The Center for Academic Integrity (CAI) --- http://www.academicintegrity.org/ 

The Center for Academic Integrity is affiliated with the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. We gratefully acknowledge their financial and programmatic assistance, as well as funding from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation.

CAI is a consortium of over 225 institutions who share with peers and colleagues the Center’s collective experience, expertise, and creative energy.

Benefits of membership include:

Research --- http://www.academicintegrity.org/cai_research.asp 

Research projects conducted by Donald L. McCabe of Rutgers University (founder and first president of CAI), have had disturbing, provocative, and challenging results, among them the following:

Read about the honor codes of many colleges and universities --- http://www.academicintegrity.org/samp_honor_codes.asp 

February 1, 2003 reply from Linda Kidwell [lak@NIAGARA.EDU

For those interested in honor codes and accounting students, you may be interested in my article:

L. Kidwell. “Student Honor Codes as a Tool for Teaching Professional Ethics.” Journal of Business Ethics, v 29nos. 1 – 2, January 2001: 45 – 49.

In the article, I discuss a group project I have done in my auditing class several times. Our university does not have an honor code, and I have had auditing students draft an honor code for us. I know some don't take it seriously, but most do, and many have had profound discussions with their fellow students across the university. My intention has been to have students examine their beliefs about honesty and integrity in their current profession, as students, in the hope they will carry the lessons learned to their future profession as accountants. I believe it was Aristotle who said that ethical behavior can be learned by practice.

I suppose I was motivated to study the subject after my culture shock of going from being an undergrad at Smith College, which had a strong honor culture when I was there, to a large state university for my Ph.D., where cheating was rampant and there was mutual suspicion between students and professors in undergraduate courses.

I have been a real hard-nose about academic integrity, and I find the students respect me for it. The toughest part has been knowing how to handle it when students come to me to report their distress over other professors who do not have the same standards.

For those interested in academic integrity as a research area, I would love to hear from you. I can also say that Don McCabe, the predominant researcher in this area, is a wonderfully accessible person.

Linda Kidwell 
Niagara University

January 31, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

Regarding strategies for reducing "cheating"...

Here at James Madison, we professors retain the prerogative and freedom to determine our own grading scheme. As long as the professor communicates effectively at the start of the course what the grading scheme will be, and then adheres to it fairly without showing partiality or unfairness to individuals, then the grade flies and the student has no basis for appeal.

Thus, I simply put in my syllabus, in writing and verbally explained (indeed, emphasized) on the first day of class, that "any student suspected of cheating on an exam will receive a grade of 'F' for the course. If the evidence is strong enough, the case might additionally be referred to the university Honor Council as an Honor Code violation."

I explain the difference between "suspected" and "convicted", and explain that I am the sole determinant of "suspicion" in this context. I emphasize that this is a grading criteria, not a university process. The grade of "F" is my grade assignment under the course criteria, and thus will not be subject to appeal unless it meets the grade appeal requirements, one of which is that "the professor deviates from the grading criteria stated in the syllabus"!

I explain that under the Honor Code, the student is allowed a hearing, a chance to "beat the system" under technicalities, a chance to hope that I can't "prove beyond some level of doubt". I explain that in contrast, the grading criteria is not subject to that process. The grade of "F" will simply be the grade they earned in the course under my grading criteria.

I then explain some "prohibited" behaviors which will raise suspicion of cheating.

(For example, my exams are always over when the student leaves the room, period. I admonish them to take care of their biological necessities before beginning an exam. I explain that text-programmable calculators might be suspect. I explain that using a cell phone or PDA might be suspect. And a whole lotta more stuff, too.)

This "fear of God" speech has done the trick for me. Prior to adopting this strategy, I had an average of one cheating situation every year. Since adopting this approach, even though I'm watching like a hawk, I've not yet had cause to suspect a student of cheating. I'm not saying it isn't still happening, just that I am no longer detecting it even given a heightened state of awareness and vigilance on my part.

I don't know what would happen if I did assign an "F" and the student tried to appeal based on unfounded suspicion. But fortunately, an ounce of prevention has headed off a pound or two of cure...

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University

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


"Student Cheating Goes High Tech," The Accounting Web, January 30, 2003 --- http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=97073&u=8288eE57&m=4465 

A December article in the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that two Columbia University undergraduate students had been arrested earlier that month for using high-tech transmitters and walkie-talkies to cheat on the Graduate Record Examination. Authorities believe the students were going to sell the stolen test questions to other students.

So does this mean that American students condone cheating? Probably not, according to a study published last winter in the Journal of Economic Education. The study tested the tolerance for cheating of nearly 900 students from four countries. The researchers concluded that Russian students showed the greatest tolerance to cheating followed by Israeli and then Dutch students with American students coming in last.

The cross-country research study is reported at http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/pdffiles/spring02/magnus.pdf 


Education Innovation of the Week (Improved Interaction in Electronic Books)
From Syllabus News on January 31, 2003

E-TEXTBOOKS – Atomic Dog Publishing, which develops electronic college textbooks, released version 3.0 of its online learning software, MyBackpack. The latest version is targeted at assisting instructors with features that allow them to edit, delete, and renew their courses; annotate and create custom content to be inserted directly into their textbooks; and track student performance in real-time. New features would also enable students to customize their textbook learning environment. Enhanced navigation features include an intuitive Flash-based toolbar which allows searches by figure, word, or phrase and a button to access study guides from any point in the text.

The Atomic Dog homepage is at http://www.atomicdogpublishing.com/home.asp 

Bob Jensen's threads on electronic books are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ebooks.htm 

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


One of my good friends for Canada has a good new book technology and business.  There is also free Zorba music if you go to http://www.zorba.ca/ 

Zorba Publications Inc

Books on e-Business and other topics

President and Principal Author: Gerald D Trites, CA*CISA, FCA

LATEST PUBLICATION

Mobile Business - A Wireless World, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, Toronto, 2003

PREVIOUS BOOKS

E-Business, a Canadian Perspective, Prentice Hall Ltd, Toronto, January, 2002.

Collaborative Business – Beyond e-Business, CICA, Toronto, December, 2001.

Enterprise Resource Planning – Implementation and Management, CICA, Toronto, November, 2000.

Strategic Internet Commerce, CICA, Toronto, November, 1999.

The Impact of Technology on Financial and Business Reporting, CICA, Toronto, October, 1999.

The Canadian Accountants' Guide to the Internet, Carswell, Toronto, 3rd edition 1999.

Audit of the Small Business, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, Toronto, 1994

Jerry's homepage is at http://iago.stfx.ca/people/gtrites/ 


February 11, 2003 message from Elliot Kamlet SUNY Account [ekamlet@BINGHAMTON.EDU

From Ellen Goodman's Column February 11, 2003

ICHAEL DINI doesn't exactly fit the profile of an antireligious bigot. For one thing, the Texas Tech biology professor spent 14 years in a Roman Catholic order of teaching brothers.

If he's bigoted against anything, it's probably against the current wave of grade inflation or perhaps ''recommendation inflation.'' In any case, Dini's Web page lays out strict criteria for any student who wants his recommendation to graduate school in science.

First of all, he says, you have to earn an A in his class. Second, he adds, ''I should know you fairly well.'' And third, you need to ''truthfully and forthrightly affirm a scientific answer'' to the question: ''How do you think the human species originated?''

See the rest of the article at

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/037/oped/Creationists_evolving_argument+.shtml 

Elliot Kamlet 
Binghamton University


Forwarded by Neil Hannon on February 3, 2003

The American Bar Association has a proposal , which will be discussed this week at it's Seattle meeting, that attempts to define the practice of law and consequently, would prohibit nonlawyers from many activities that they currently perform. This could affect tax accountants among others (real estate agents, investment bankers, business planners, etc.). The link to a NY Times article is at http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/03/national/03LAW.html?th. The link to the ABA draft is at http://www.abanet.org/cpr/model_def_definition.html.

Lawyers went after tax accountants in the 1920's and 1930's for tax work using the argument that it was the illegal practice of law, but the cases died down without any clear cut resolution. It appears that this is the ABA's response to multidisciplinary practices. If this passes in Seattle it will go to the full meeting in August and then I suppose, the ABA will lobby the states to adopt this definition. Neither the FCC or the Justice Department is in favor of this. I suppose that, under this proposal, tax accountants could prepare tax returns (Circular 230 - an adjudicative body under (d)(3) of the proposal-allows this) but could not give tax advice

((c)(1) under the proposal) unless we fall under a limited license? This would also affect real estate closings. I lived in the south for a long time prior to coming to Connecticut and closings were done at the office of a title company and I never saw the attorney's) involved. It was easier to close than it is in Connecticut (as well as less expensive). Do you think that the attorneys want to make sure that they get the premiums from the title insurance policy? Patricia Nodoushani

Dr. Patricia Nodoushani
nodoushan@mail.hartford.edu 
University of Hartford (860) 768-4346


What's new in accounting standards? --- http://www.smartpros.com/x36926.xml 


How to Randomly Choose Students in Class and Flash Their Pictures on the Screen

Hi Dee and Walter

My random student picture and presentation Excel spreadsheet is the random1302.xls file at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/Random/ 

Click the button go generate the "Random Number" of a workstation.

Click on the workstation number to move to the picture of the person at that workstation.

Click on the picture of the person to return to the random number generator.

I think Barry Rice had another way of randomizing students to call upon.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Nanyang Polytechnic [mailto:WOON_Hin_Keng@NYP.GOV.SG]  
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 9:39 PM 
To: AECM@LISTSERV.LOYOLA.EDU Subject: 
Re: Photo Random Selector Technology

Hi Dee,

If memory serves, Bob Jensen had a program like that running in Excel - using a random number generator with the student's digital photo already embedded in the worksheet. When you refresh the page by clicking on a button, you get a different student photo displayed. You can probably get it from his website.

Cheers Walter

January 30, 2003 reply from George Wright [geo@LOYOLA.EDU

If you look at http://www.evergreen.loyola.edu/~geo/pix, you'll find three Java routines that provide a graphic user interface to:

1. Select a subdirectory containing either .gifs or .jpgs. No database is involved. The program will find all images in the given subdirectory. 2. Choose whether or not a file name is to be used a label. If you name a file ``John Smith.jpg,'' the photo will be displayed with the label ``John Smith.'' 3. Choose whether the photo is to be displayed actual size or stretched to fit the (adjustable) GUI window. 4. Choose whether the photos are to be sampled without replacement (each photo is displayed only once) or with replacement (photos may be reselected during a session).

(Your browser will probably mangle the filenames to fit the 8.3 filename format, but your local java guru will be able to tell you what the filenames should be.)

Photos are selected at random by an instance of Java's random number generator. To quote from the Java documentation: ``An instance of this class is used to generate a stream of pseudorandom numbers. The class uses a 48-bit seed, which is modified using a linear congruential formula. (See Donald Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 2, Section 3.2.1.)''

Also included in the link is a DOS .bat file which will invoke the routine, assuming the classes have been compiled into a package resident somewhere known to the CLASSPATH environmental variable. A lot o' jargon there, but your friendly local Java guru should be able to set things up for you.

Geo


World Mysteries --- http://www.world-mysteries.com/

World-Mysteries.com is a non-profit organization. Explore with us lost civilizations, ancient ruins, sacred writings, unexplained artifacts, and science mysteries. Introduced are "alternative theories", subject experts, books, and resources on the Internet.

This web site is evolving. More subjects will be available soon and the existing content is constantly being refined and updated...


Speaking of Mysteries
Question

Who will stick it out and who will drop out of a distance education course?

Answer
See http://www.usdla.org/html/journal/JAN03_Issue/article06.html  (Includes a Literature Review)

Hypotheses

This study had two hypotheses:

  1. Locus of control, as measured by the Rotter's Locus of Control scale, is a significant predictor of academic persistence.

  2. Locus of control scores increase, moved toward internality, over the course of a semester for students enrolled in web-based instruction.

Bob Jensen's threads on dropouts can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm#DropOuts 


Update on MIT's Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI) and DSpace Initiative

THE SELF-MANAGING LIBRARY Software prevents scholarly schisms The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Hewlett-Packard have implemented a new, Web-accessible system for storing, indexing, and disseminating the university's intellectual property. DSpace is an electronic, open source platform for storage and retrieval that lets MIT maintain its own virtual library of digitally rendered material. http://news.intelligententerprise.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eKcK0EWPTi0C3p0Bp8Z0At 

Bob Jensen's threads on OKI and DSpace are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI 


I'm normally all for technology that takes the drudgery out of work.  But in my viewpoint, Thomson ISI is in the gray zone.  But I guess it's all right as long as faculty can use it for their own writing.  It almost seems like you can give the "content search" a topic and pop out a great deal of the paper.

Do you think this automatic template for research writing improves or inhibits learning how to do it the hard way?
You can read about ThomsonISI ResearchSoft at http://www.isiresearchsoft.com/ 

From Syllabus News on January 31, 2003

RESEARCH TOOLS – Thomson ISI ResearchSoft, a producer of bibliographic management software, unveiled WriteNote, a Web-based research and writing tool for the undergraduate market. WriteNote, sold as an annual, site-wide subscription to institutions, is designed to help students conduct their research and write papers. The system provides students access to library resources (e.g., Gale, WilsonWeb) where they search for content, and capture references into their folders. Students can also annotate and save Web pages. 

WriteNote also offers the same Cite While You Write feature that creates a paper with properly formatted citations as the desktop products-EndNote, ProCite, and Reference Manager.


A troubled young man's downward spiral before committing suicide is chronicled in posts to an online message board whose participants give him suggestions about how to kill himself. Is the website responsible for his death? --- http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57480,00.html 


Accounting Policy Disclosure Requirements 
If some of you have links to some great illustrations, please share them with us.

"SURVEY: FORTUNE 100 CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES DISCLOSURE 23 INDUSTRIES 65 COMPANIES," by  Linda C. Quinn, Ottilie L. Jarmel, and  Claire E. Horgan, Shearman and Sterling, 2002 --- http://www.realcorporatelawyer.com/Features/Shearman&Sterling-Fortune_100_Critical_Accounting_Policies.pdf 

Illustration from Proctor and Gamble 2002 Annual Report --- http://www.pg.com/annualreports/2002/financial/review6.html 
Recall the P&G is one of the derivative financial instruments scandal cases from the early 1990s that contributed somewhat to the urgency to adopt the controversial FAS 133 --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#DerivativesFraud 

Financial Statement Disclosure Requirements about Application of Critical Accounting Policies --- http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/33-8098.htm 

A letter written to the SEC by Marc E. Lackritz, President of the Securities Industry Association (SIA), to the SEC contains a helpful "Annex A" (which I guess is a term used in place of Appendix A) entitled "Summary of Disclosure Practices of Financial Institutions." --- http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/s71602/mlackritz1.htm 

The following summary includes disclosure requirements of the Commission and the FASB, as well as disclosure recommendations made in the following reports: Report of the Working Group on Public Disclosure (chaired by Walter V. Shipley) (January 11, 2001); Final Report to Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Committee on the Global Financial System of the G-10 Central Banks, International Association of Insurance Supervisors and International Organization of Securities Commissions, Multidisciplinary Working Group on Enhanced Disclosure (chaired by Peter Fisher) (April 26, 2001); and Recommendations for Public Disclosure of Trading and Derivatives Activities of Banks and Securities Firms, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and Technical Committee of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) (October 1999). While we believe this summary reflects a growing consensus on risk disclosures for financial institutions, not all of our member institutions are currently providing all of the disclosures set forth below.

I found this to be a very condensed and helpful summary, although it would be greatly improved with more specific references and definitions of acronyms.  If and when I find time, I will add these to the listing.  

You may also find Mr. Lackritz's editorial arguments regarding required versus recommended disclosures quite interesting.

The homepage of the SIA is at http://www.sia.com/ 

A brief bio of Mr. Lackritz can be found at http://www.sia.com/press/pdf/MELBIO.pdf 

A condensed summary is provided by White and Case ---  http://www.whitecase.com/memo_recent_sec_disclosure_accounting_policies_may_2002.pdf 
A PwC document is also helpful for background reading --- http://www.pwcglobal.com/Extweb/NewCoAtWork.nsf/docid/F4CCF6332DA367C285256C6B0067CDB8 

Proposed Rule:
Disclosure in Management's Discussion and Analysis about the Application of Critical Accounting Policies


Securities and Exchange Commission

17 CFR Parts 228, 229 and 249

[Release Nos. 33-8098; 34-45907
International Series Release No. 1258
File No. S7-16-02]
RIN 3235-AI44

Summary: As an initial step in improving the transparency of companies' financial disclosure, the Commission is proposing disclosure requirements that would enhance investors' understanding of the application of companies' critical accounting policies. The proposals would encompass disclosure in two areas: accounting estimates a company makes in applying its accounting policies and the initial adoption by a company of an accounting policy that has a material impact on its financial presentation. Under the first part of the proposals, a company would have to identify the accounting estimates reflected in its financial statements that required it to make assumptions about matters that were highly uncertain at the time of estimation. Disclosure about those estimates would then be required if different estimates that the company reasonably could have used in the current period, or changes in the accounting estimate that are reasonably likely to occur from period to period, would have a material impact on the presentation of the company's financial condition, changes in financial condition or results of operations. A company's disclosure about these critical accounting estimates would include a discussion of: the methodology and assumptions underlying them; the effect the accounting estimates have on the company's financial presentation; and the effect of changes in the estimates. Under the second part of the proposals, a company that has initially adopted an accounting policy with a material impact would have to disclose information that includes: what gave rise to the initial adoption; the impact of the adoption; the accounting principle adopted and method of applying it; and the choices it had among accounting principles. Companies would place all of the new disclosure in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" section (commonly referred to as "MD&A") of their annual reports, registration statements and proxy and information statements. In addition, in the MD&A section of their quarterly reports, U.S. companies would have to update the information regarding their critical accounting estimates to disclose material changes


February 7, 2003 message from J. Randall Woolridge [globaltrading@psu.edu

Penn State's Smeal College of Business and the Financial Trading System (FTS) invite your graduate and undergraduate business students to take part in the Global Trading Competition (GTC), an online contest designed to test students' knowledge of financial markets in a real-time, real-world trading environment. As an added bonus, the top trader in the GTC wins $5,000, with the second- and third-place traders taking home $1,000 and $500, respectively.

The GTC is not a stock-picking contest. The competition calls on students to analyze case situations involving fixed-income securities, equities, and/or options and futures, and then make markets and trade securities over a fixed trading period. The cases test students' skills in valuation of securities, identifying and taking advantage of arbitrage opportunities, and managing the risk position of their portfolios.

The GTC will be run through the Internet-based FTS platform, the same technology employed by cutting-edge business education programs around the world.

Please help us get the word out about the Global Trading Competition. Feel free to forward this e-mail to your students and encourage them to visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/traderoom/contest.html  for more information and to register for the competition.

Sincerely,

J. Randall Woolridge 
Director of the Smeal College Trading Room 
The Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Smeal Endowed Fellow 
The Pennsylvania State University


A program that provided cash to train new teachers in technology will likely get the ax in President Bush's proposed budget. It's a disappointing end for those who say it's been an unqualified success --- http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,57583,00.html 


The first direct evidence that stem cells injected into an injured heart do take on some of the workload is published --- http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993367 


The Massachusetts Society of CPAs has launched its newest student recruitment initiative, CPATrack.com. This comprehensive Web site targeting both high school and college students is designed as a place for students to explore accounting education and career opportunities. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97127 

The CPA Track Website is at http://www.cpatrack.com/ 
Note that students may post resumes at this site and join a student forum.

Bob Jensen's bookmarks on accountancy careers can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#careers


Online dating services are among the few successful businesses left over from dot-com madness. Now wireless carriers are hoping to parlay the concept into the mobile-phone arena --- http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,57394,00.html 


A website that generated phony CNN news stories has been ordered to close by the network giant. The site was only up for a week, but during that time it created more than its share of trouble and controversy --- http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57506,00.html 

Phony stories about the death of musician Dave Matthews, or the Olsen twins attending local universities, for example, appeared in a number of local newspapers, as well as regional radio and TV news reports.

The rumors were so widely believed; several universities issued statements denying the Olsen twins would be attending their institutions. And Dave Matthews, who reportedly died of a drug overdose, denied the story on the band's official website.

Police contacted the fake news site after teachers and the parents of students complained about libelous stories generated by the site.

The site's creators think this is the reason CNN shut them down and that copyright infringement was merely an excuse. A CNN spokeswoman said the company didn't comment on legal issues.

"(CNN) probably wouldn't have really cared but since there were pretty much millions of people that were fooled by this, they had to act," said Eric Smith, one of the site's creators.

Fake stories were generated the site's visitors, who filled out a form with the story's headline and text. After hitting a button, the site created a convincing facsimile that included CNN's logos as well as live links and banner ads.

The stories' URLs also appeared to originate from the CNN website, though they contained a telltale '@' symbol, a common spoofing trick.

Smith said that although the fake stories looked identical to stories from CNN's website, the content was so absurd that they resembled parodies. Most were littered with spelling mistakes and bad grammar.

"People are just very gullible," he said.

Indeed. Several newspapers and TV news shows reported that the Olsen twins, Mary-Kate and Ashley of TV and video fame, would be attending the local university. About 30 different versions of the story were generated, involving the University of Dayton, Miami University, the University of Cincinnati and Penn State, among others.

Some of the institutions received so many calls from reporters and students, they issued statements of denial.

"Despite what you may have heard, the Olsen twins -- Mary-Kate and Ashley -- are not coming to Miami University this fall," said a press release from Miami University.

"Though untrue, we welcome their applications," said the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Meanwhile, the Dave Matthews Band website posted "a reminder about hoax stories," after news of the singer's fatal overdose lit up newsgroups.

Continued at http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57506,00.html 

Fed up with hackers, a flood of spam and lousy connections, Italian Roman Catholics have launched a search for a patron saint of the Internet. And they hope their online poll will yield a holy Web protector by Easter --- http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/01/31/internet.saint/index.html 
(I think this is a real CNN document.)


I hope Ralph does not mind that I am sharing his latest message.  Ralph Estes is one of our better-known public interest accounting activists.

Bob,

It gave me great pleasure to look and read about your Nirvana in New Hampshire. Dreams can come true.

This inspires me to attach a photo of the Alice Paul, our new 34 foot trawler. (Explanation of the strange file name: my wife -- Martha Burk, of Augusta National Golf Club fame -- got tired of the broker's butt sticking out of the door, so she edited it out and renamed the file.) Sooner or later, we expect to at least get up the Hudson and canals to the St. Lawrence, possibly through the lakes and down the Mississippi and back up the east coast, and certainly south from here to Florida and probably the Bahamas. And who knows, maybe the full Indies chain. But not transoceanic - can't carry enough fuel.

In the meantime, look for my work at www.augustadiscriminates.org , to be followed by a continuing corporate campaign to induce fuller disclosure on matters of equity, diversity, health and safety, environmental effects -- but you know the litany.

Warmest regards -- warmer probably than the mean temperature in New Hampshire for 11 months of the year.

-- Ralph Estes, 
Stakeholder Alliance ( www.stakeholderalliance.org )

 


Update Columns from Walter S. Mossberg, Technology Editor for The Wall Street Journal

1/30/03 Tax Program Develops An Insulting Approach WSJ
1/30/03 Wi-Fi by Any Other Name... Just May Not Be Compatible WSJ
1/29/03 Self-Feeding Scanner Gets Put to the Test WSJ
1/23/03 Kind Words for Apple Ignite Long-Running Culture Clash WSJ
1/23/03 Now, XM Satellite Radio Has Gear to Match Programming WSJ
1/23/03 How to Get a Palm Program; An Overzealous Sales Push WSJ
1/22/03 The Keyboard and Mouse, Now in Unplugged Bundles WSJ
1/16/03 Is It Better to Respond to Spam, Or Never to Write Back at All? WSJ
1/16/03 Smallest PowerBook Has Style, Size, Price to Make Apple Shine WSJ
1/15/03 Is That an iPod In Your Pocket?

If you are interested in a scanner that will automatically feed in your old photographs and turn them into computer files without your having to manually feed each picture into the scanner, read the following favorable review by Walt Mossberg:
"Self-Feeding Scanner Gets Put to the Test," The Wall Street Journal, January 29, 2003, Page D3 --- Click Here 

The automatic feeder holds a stack of up to 24 3x5-inch or 4x6-inch prints -- in other words, the kind of snapshots people commonly get from photo finishers.

We set the 5500c up on a computer with Windows XP, though it's compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems. Setup was simple and took only about 20 minutes, thanks to the step-by-step instructions included in H-P's software.

. . .

It took about eight minutes for the feeder to scan all 24 prints, and they came out fine. This feeder is a smart innovation that solves a real problem, and does so well. It is also the first scanner with an automatic photo feeder to be introduced to the consumer market.

By contrast, our test of scanning slides and negatives was disappointing. With the transparent-materials adapter installed, the scanner reads a strip of negatives or set of three slides at one shot. Amazingly, however, H-P failed to develop software that automatically separates the slides and negatives into separate images on the PC -- a task that should be trivial considering the obvious borders around the images. So they come out as single, dark files displaying all of the slides and negatives squished together.

This forces you into the tedious process of manually cropping each image of a slide or negative out of its set. Once you do this, each image lightens up and you can tweak it with editing software. But this requirement stands at odds with the overall mission of the 5500c, which is to automate scanning.

The H-P Photo and Imaging software that comes with the product is nothing to write home about either. We suggest that you rely instead on a good third-party editing program, or one of the new photo-organizing programs like Lifescape's Picasa (www.picasa.net), which includes better editing tools.

The bottom line: If you get a nondefective unit, the H-P Scanjet 5500c is a good product for scanning large numbers of snapshots quickly. But if you have more than a few slides or negatives, H-P isn't doing much for you with this scanner .


While the other airlines are dropping their special deals and tripling their fares, you really should keep track of some of the tremendous deals listed in email messages from Southwest Airlines. Please pass this great news on to your friends. To subscribe to Southwest Airlines Click 'n Save E-mail Updates, visit: http://www.southwest.com/email/emailSubscribe.html 


Dial 1-877-512-4526 
Swiffer will mail you a coupon for a free Swiffer wet jet mop --- http://www.homemadesimple.com/swiffer/caenglish/jet_forget.shtml 
This does not appear to be a gimmick.  It worked beautifully for me because my home phone number is not unlisted.  Give them your home phone number and Swiffer instantly finds your name and address for free shipping of this coupon.  The woman you think you are talking to is really a computer.  
Thank you Auntie Bev.

Of course there is no guarantee that you will not get some additional telemarketing calls for other products, but we get so many of those calls that a few more might as well get zapped by our zapper from Radio Shack --- http://www.startribune.com/stories/789/3596268.html 


Are there any gift certificates that can be purchased for someone you think could use this service? 
http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57444,00.html
 

On the alt.suicide.holiday website, suicide isn't taboo -- it's "a choice." The site advises suicidal users how to end their lives and has been linked to at least 10 deaths. Relatives say the forum encourages people to kill themselves --- 


Are you EduTaining badly?

Judge for yourself on the "sick" link forwarded by Ed Scribner --- teaching philosophy from http://hibp.ecse.rpi.edu/~connor/two.html.

My advice to new faculty is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm 


Request for My Friends to Help Me With a Small Experiment

Forget it.  My experiment failed.

This is a favor that I am addressing to accounting educators, students, and practitioners.  Scholars from other disciplines may be indirectly interested in conducting similar experiments in their own specialties.

This experiment was inspired by the many messages I received from around the world after I announced my intention to retire about a year from now.  Some messages read "how can your contributions to academe be continued after you've retired?" or more simply "who will replace you?."  

What I do for the public at large seems to be of some value to both friends and strangers around the globe?  My friend and colleague Phil Cooley calls me a Beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) swimming in a sea of information.  I think he means that as a compliment, although I would prefer to be called a Sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus).  All professors in the academy are whales gathering up and digesting pieces of information like whales gathering up Krill.  And all professors store this information, classify it, analyze it, and broadcast it to students and colleagues.  

If all professors are whales in a sea of information, what makes me somewhat unique in the eyes of Phil Cooley?  I think Phil was thinking more in terms of my activism in swimming about in a wide sea of information followed by prolific broadcasting on various discussion groups and storing thousands of threads in an electronic library that are sought out by hundreds of people each day from all over the world.  I broadcast over various discussion groups, and most notably I broadcast daily on the world's only active listserv for accounting educators called the AECM.  

My public library is on two servers at Trinity University.  Information Technology Services (ITS) on campus generously provides me virtually unlimited space on a Web server where I store thousands of threads that are mostly in text format.  My good friends in the Department of Computer Science provide me with virtually unlimited space to serve up my multimedia files such as Camtasia video and MP3 audio.  On both of these Web servers, my files are freely available to anybody in the world.  The links to my public library servers are as follows:

But what makes "what I do" somewhat unique relative to other whales in the academy?  I think my uniqueness is due to my early activism in sharing.  What makes me unique is that both my broadcasting and my library contributions to academe are more collaborative than those of many other whales in the sea.  People from all over the world who, for one reason or another, are hesitant to send a message out to discussion groups contact me to comment on their thoughts and then broadcast the message for them.  In that sense I've become accounting education's "Dear Abbie" whale.   I'm an information whale that gets hand fed by many scholars.

People from all over the world also send me modules and request that I place their modules in my library that is served up to the world.  This is generally because they appreciate my library and want to help me improve what is available in that library.  Of course much of what is in my public library is my own work.  But in some cases I have merely been a "middle man" in classifying and storing information provided by other persons from many nations.  Users go to my classification table and then work their way down to documents of interest.  Often they do word searches to find what they are seeking on a given topic such as education technology, distance education,  electronic commerce, accounting theory, fraud, helpers for educators, helpers for accountants, helpers for researchers, bookmarks, archives of my New Bookmarks newsletter,  technology glossaries, FAS 133 overviews and cases, etc.

So what is going to be lost when I retire?  In terms of broadcasting, I suspect very little will be lost.  Those lurkers who are hesitant to broadcast because I am available will eventually commence broadcast on their own.  Active broadcasters in our discussion groups will become more active to fill in for me when I'm gone.  

What is My Proposed Experiment?
What will be lost when I retire are my services in maintaining active and collaborative public libraries on the two Trinity University Web servers.  This leads me to my proposed experiment.  Virtually all of us have private libraries in hard copy and on our PCs, Web servers, Blackboard servers, WebCT servers, etc.  What is needed is a public and centralized library somewhat like I have been providing on my ITS Web server at Trinity University.  In a sense that library need not contain many documents at all as long as it provides a centralized service for linking to scattered documents around the world.  However, it does help to store as much information as possible in case those links become broken.

My proposed experiment entails eliminating me as a collaborative library "middle man" or should I say "middle whale?"  It also entails finding another Web server since Trinity University cannot become a host for serving up documents from strangers all over the world.  I spent a goodly part of yesterday seeding some documents on a public server and now I am requesting that interested friends and strangers add to and edit those documents.   I'm also asking you folks to create new documents and knowledge classification schemes.  In other words, my experiment is an effort to see if people who use my public libraries can maintain these libraries collaboratively when I am gone.

Essentially what I have done is to seed several documents linked to my new "Accounting Education" document in Wikipedia at http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_Education 
Alternately you can click your way to this page from the Wikipedia home page by clicking on "Business and industry" first and then "Accounting" and then the new link that I added for "Accounting Education."

My experiment is a request that persons from anywhere in the world attempt to improve my seeds that are intended to be helper documents for accounting educators and researchers.  Simply go to any of the documents (pages) that I added to Wikipedia and either modify those documents or add new classification terms and documents in the area of accounting education.  

I apologize that my seed documents really aren't all that great.  I only spent part of yesterday on these seeds.  I'm hoping that you will add the good stuff.

I provide some instructions below on how to help me with this experiment.

How to Carry Out My Experiment in Wikipedia --- http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page 

For some reason the generous hosts of Wikipedia are providing a free public library that others can use without paying a fee and without having to endure advertising and pop up banners.  Anybody in the world can add modules to documents or add entire documents to Wikipedia in order to share these items with the world.  Anybody can create new knowledge classification schemes in Wikipedia and then invite others to add modules within these classifications.

Adding modules to Wikipedia is extremely easy and can be done from virtually any browser without having to download the document into other software.  All you need to do is click on "Edit this page" and add your stuff or delete nonsense left by someone else.  Then click on "Save page" to store the revised page in Wikipedia.

Adding a new classification term and/or a new document to Wikipedia is extremely easy.  Suppose that you want to add a module called "Accounting Ethics in Education" as both a new classification term and a new document.  

  1. Go to my starting document at http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_Education  

  2. Click on "Edit this page" near the bottom of the document.

  3. Somewhere in the document type in [[Accounting Ethics in Education]] or replace the topic in one of the items called "Add a New Page Here" if one is available.

  4. Click on "Save page" and wait for the revised page to appear in your browser.

  5. Click on your new link to a new document page for Accounting Ethics in Education.  

  6. Click on "Edit this page" in your new document and add the module to seed this new topic for other collaborators.

  7. Click on "Save page" after you have added your module.

I think it is best to use many short documents than it is to use fewer very long documents.

There are drawbacks to Wikipedia.  It is only a text server and will not import your graphics and other multimedia files.  When you want to serve up graphics, multimedia, PDF files, PowerPoint files, etc., simply add the links in Wikipedia so users can find where you are serving those files from some other server in the world.

Another drawback is that you cannot paste an HTML document into a Wikipedia page and have it look like it did in your HTML editor.  Wikipedia requires that you fix it up with some of its simple scripting.  For example, if you want the header "Ethics Cases" to appear in a larger sized font, type == Ethics Cases == using equal signs on each side.  If you want "Case 01" to be bold faced, type '''Case 01''' as a script for bold face.  

At this point in time I have not investigated all the scripting alternatives in Wikipedia.  Those that I have used I've learned by looking at the scripting when I clicked on "Edit this page" for an existing page.

If you put an "http://external link" in the document, the link will automatically become hot when you save the page. 

If you want to link to another document in Wilipedia, simply enclose the document's name in double brackets.  For example, suppose that you want to add a link to my page called "Accounting Education" in Wikipedia.  Simply type [[Accounting Education]].  If there is already a page with that name, you have now linked to it.  If there is no page with that name, Wikipedia will bring up a blank page so that you can create a new page in that name.

Warnings About Using Wikipedia

Wikipedia is about as fluid a server as I have ever witnessed in my life.  Anybody can add or subtract anything to documents.  The bad news is that some people may add nonsense or repulsive text.  Even worse, they might delete some of the helpful text placed there by somebody else.

In order to overcome these problems, users should frequently download and store Wikepedia documents that they want to preserve.  Then if some nut case intentionally or unintentionally messes up a document on the Wikipedia server, a good scholar who has preserved that page on his or her own computer can simply replace the messed up page with the good page so that Wikipedia users are saved from nut cases.  Also, backup documents can be saved even if Wikipedia itself goes off line.

I did back up all the pages that I added as seeds at http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_Education  

I will download all of your good revised pages in this experiment. Don’t be afraid to delete any of my nonsense!

I encourage others to download the revised pages frequently.

I encourage others from all disciplines to run similar experiments to see if Wikipedia can become a collaborative scholars library.  If Wikipedia should cease operations, all the good folks can pool their backed up Wikipedia documents on some other public server if such a server can be found somewhere in the world.  

My worry is that Wikipedia may one day die from its own success.  If more and more of us keep adding more and more long documents, we may soon require more server capacity than can possibly be provided by Wikipedia.  

But in the meantime, let's experiment to see if Bob Jensen can be replaced as a middle whale by not having any middle man or woman at all.  Scholars can collaborate more efficiently without middle whales in the Wikipedia public library/encyclopedia.


Forget Wikipedia!  My experiment failed!

My experiment failed. The link to my Wikipedia Accounting Education pages appears to have been removed by Wikipedia because my contributions are too much like publishing. So much for my effort to have readers replace me as a middle man (whale).

See the Wikipedia message on my page at http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_Education 

Wikipedia is not interested in hosting my attempts to provide threads on Accounting Education. Unfortunately, things that appear to be added pass through a Wikipedia gatekeeper such that if you spend serious time creating a new page for Wikipedia it will easily become a waste of time.

I am giving up on Wikipedia at http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page 

I will continue to look for a reliable host server like Wikipedia, but this appears not to be as easy as I thought it would be. John Howland sent me some suggestions for going wiki on a Trinity University server. I do like the wiki software, but I no longer care much for Wikipedia.

Bob Jensen


February 5, 2003 reply from J. S. Gangolly [gangolly@CSC.ALBANY.EDU

I have been a user of wickipedia (though only parts of it relating to mathematics and statistics) for sometime. While I have not exactly been profoundly influenced by it, I must confess my admiration for the philosophy underlying the efforts. Should such an effort materialise in accounting (and I sincerely hope it will), I would vote for naming it BobBot.

There is another effort, though narrow, that is based on sounder foundations. I am referring to the Principia Cybernetica Project (PCP) based partly on the dissertation of Cliff Joslyn's dissertation at SUNY Binghamton, the work of Francis Heylighen in Belgium, and founded by Valentin Turchin of CUNY. You can find the results of their efforts at

http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/NUTSHELL.html

Getting back to open source, I find it difficult to understand the perceived poor quality of open source. I have been an avid user of many open source tools (TeX, LaTeX, emacs, g++, libg++, linux, apache tomcat, jakarta,...) for a long time, and I have never come across commercial tools that come close to the quality of these free tools.

It is true that these tools are not as "user friendly" or "idiot-proof", and it is also true that you do not get an 800 number to call in case needed. However, I have found an army of good samaritans over the internet always eager to help when you are in need. Also I have preferred using their help rather than having to be a ping-pong ball between telebots and listening to recorded music on those 800 numbers.

I even know of Microsoft employees who are stealth users of such tools.

Jagdish S. Gangolly, 
Associate Professor ( j.gangolly@albany.edu
Accounting & Law and Management Science & Information Systems 
State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY 12222.
Phone: (518) 442-4949 Fax: (707) 897-0601

URL: http://www.albany.edu/acc/gangolly


Reply from a Professor of Computer Science at Trinity University

I see you have discovered wiki systems. Last spring the CS Junior design problem was to research wiki systems and to design "better" wiki systems. Six teams of designers addressed wiki design problems and produced new working wiki systems which address this problem. (the problem that nut cases can mess up a document)

One thing you might do is to negotiate with the University that your status as a distinguished Professor emiritis include maintaining an improved wiki system which would be seeded with your database and occasionally administered by you (remotely) where ever you are. The wiki could include features for logging transactions and un-doing changes which are considered to be disasterous to the integrity of the db. You could automatically be notified when someone damages the db allowing you to decide whether or not you want to un-do the changes. The cost of doing this would be rather minimal (a single inexpensive server machine) which runs mostly unattended. CS could do the sysadmin for the machine. The University would derive national recognition for maintaining the database.

John Howland


Some of you may be interested in Wiki scripting since it can be done from a browser such as Internet Explorer. Recall that I was looking into Wiki for my failed Wikimedia experiment where Wikimedia thought I was making my submissions too much like publishing (i.e., my submissions were much too long for encyclopedia modules).

At present my pages still reside on another Wiki server at http://www.seedwiki.com/page.cfm?doc=accountingeducation&wikiid=1442&wpid=  
However, on this server my formatting scripts do not work like they did in Wikipedia.

The message below is from a student a Computer Science major at Trinity University. 

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Lioi, Patrick 
Sent: Thursday, February 06, 2003 2:21 PM 
To: Jensen, Robert Subject: RE: Wiki

Dr. Jensen,

The original Wiki can be found here: http://c2.com/cgi/wik i. The history of its development can be found here: http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?WikiHistory .

In a nutshell, they are web pages built by those who visit the site. www.everything2.com is a wiki-like site that acts as a pop-culture repository. The main benefit is that the maintainers of the site don't have to have a large staff of writers.

It has been immitated countless times over, and whenever someone comes out with a new programming language, it's sort of a given that someone will take up the challenge to implement a wiki with it. The software is almost always free, and I would actually be surprised to find one that actually costs anything. Of course, that's assuming that you're already paying for a server to run it on.

Since HTML can pose a high learning curve for most people, and because allowing users to enter plain HTML can pose some security risks, wikis generally have their own text formatting rules ( http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TextFormattingRules ). Still, learning these rules can be about as difficult as learning the basics of HTML, but at least it limits what a devious user can enter.

Wikis are generally unrestricted. Users can post anything they want, edit other users' entries, delete whole pages, create new pages, et cetera. Often, there will be an administrator who keeps tabs on these changes, and can fix problems caused by malicious users.

Last year, all of the juniors in the CS department were split into groups with the task of creating a "Better Wiki". Each team came up with a list of improvements and implemented a prototype. My team focused on three main features: user-friendly rollbacks, simpler linking, and a customizable user interface. The "rollbacks" were basically an "undo" feature, so that the whole history of any page could be remembered, and the admin could roll the page back to an earlier part of its history (ie. to a point before someone erased it). Wikis assume that AnyWordsStuckTogether form a link to a page with the same name, and we felt that this was hard to read, so we allowed more intuitive page naming and linking. We also allowed users to change the general look-and-feel of the wiki, since most have pretty simple layouts.

We initially wanted a full-featured WYSIWYG (word-processor-like) editor for text, to avoid the learning curve issues of wiki text rules and HTML, but there are some problems with that. WYSIWYG is only really successful when you demand that users access your page with Internet Explorer 5.5 and up. We can thank the standards committees for being behind the times on that one. It will likely be several years before cross-browser WYSIWYG becomes mainstream.

We decided to go with straight HTML for entries, focusing on the rollback feature. I have not come accross a wiki that used a sophisticated editor.

One of the other teams, lead by Will Lybrand (my business partner), implemented their own wiki-like plaintext formatting rules, with surprisingly good results. I consider his to be superior, but there's still the issue of having to deal with plaintext editing.

If you have any more questions, I'd be pleased to help. May I ask what got you interested in the subject? Perhaps there is a solution other than wiki.

- Patrick Lioi


Following up on my last Wiki message, you might be interested in a very nice message that I received from Kenneth Tyler who runs the Wiki server where Wikipedia sent my test documents --- http://www.seedwiki.com/page.cfm?doc=accountingeducation&wikiid=1442&wpid= 

Although I can get free space from the kindly Mr. Tyler, I doubt that it will be enough free space for a guy like me who never was good at being concise.

I am still looking into the possibility that Trinity University will become my Wiki service after I have put my head in the clouds in the White Mountains.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kenneth Tyler [mailto:ken@seedwiki.com]  
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 3:09 PM 
To: Jensen, Robert 
Subject: Re: SeedWiki --- http://www.seedwiki.com 

Robert,

SeedWiki is free for non-commercial use. It has been up for several years now and I plan to keep it up in the forseeable future. The text in a Wiki can be downloaded and saved at any time as a precaution (although seedwiki is backed up daily, downloading it personally just gives you access to the text in all the wiki pages, say if you wanted to import them into Access or just have a copy for safekeeping).

Some features (password protection for whole wikis, ability to upload images to the server, etc.) are only available for commercial accounts. These start at $10 month and run up to $500 month depending on what additional services the account wants. However, as you can see by looking at other wikis on seedwiki ("fishwiki" is a good example) a beautiful and extensive site can be built using only the free features. Still, it might be in the future that the accounting wiki got popular enough people would want to move it to its own domain name and have the ability to add other, related wikis in the same "space". This would mean setting up an account with its own SQL Server and its own version of the SeedWiki engine. Such an "independent" account, where the account itself is a seperate site from SeedWiki and can spawn its own child wikis would start at $75 month. I'm not saying that you would want to do this, just that it would be possible if it became desirable in the future.

At some point in the future I may have to restrict the ability to start new free wikis (the database for seedwiki takes about 600 megs of space) but any existing wikis will not be affected by this.

Let me know if I have not answered your questions or if you need any other information.

Kenneth Tyler


Wikipedia (I wrote this module prior to my bad experience with adding pages at Wikipedia)
For reasons mentioned above, I will never spend any time making contributions to Wikipedia.

"Not Your Father's Encyclopedia," by Kendra Mayfield, Wired News, January 28, 2003 --- http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57364,00.html 

One of the Web's first open-source encyclopedias has reached a milestone, just two years since its inception.

Last week, the English-language version of Wikipedia, a free multilingual encyclopedia created entirely by volunteers on the Internet, published its 100,000th article. More than 37,000 articles populate the non-English editions.

Unlike traditional encyclopedias, which are written and edited by professionals, Wikipedia is the result of work by thousands of volunteers. Anyone can contribute an article -- or edit an existing one -- at any time.

The site runs on Wiki software, a collaborative application that allows users to collectively author Web documents without having to register first.

"People from very diverse backgrounds can agree on what can be in an encyclopedia article, even if they can't agree on something else," said Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales.

Wikipedia topics range from Internet terms, such as spamming and trolling, to more mundane subjects, such as unicycling.

Each page on the site contains an "Edit this page" link, which users can click on to edit, reposition and revise passages created by other writers. Once a user has made an edit, those changes are posted immediately.

Users can also view older versions of a page, discuss the page, view links on a page or see related changes. These options allow contributors to constantly refine and comment upon entries.

All articles are covered by the Free Software Foundation's GNU Free Documentation License, which allows anyone to reuse the entries for any purpose, including commercially, as long as they preserve that same right to others and provide proper credit to Wikipedia. This open-content license ensures that Wikipedia's content will always remain free.

"It's a guarantee to contributors that their work is non-proprietary," Wales said. "It's not something that any one person or organization can take and restrict in any way. It really encourages people to contribute."

The project employs a Neutral Point of View policy, which encourages contributors to write articles without bias, represent all views fairly and to attribute controversial opinions, rather than stating them as fact.

"This makes it possible for political and philosophical foes to work together, often with excellent results," agreed Larry Sanger, co-founder and former chief organizer of Wikipedia.

But since neutrality is hard to maintain, "it's understandable if a sizeable number of articles have noticeable biases," said Sanger, who is also editor in chief of the free online, peer-reviewed encyclopedia Nupedia.

Ensuring accuracy is also difficult. A core group of regular contributors help monitor the site's recent changes page to quickly correct any errors and ensure that entries aren't vandalized.

Continued at  http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57364,00.html 

The Wikipeda homepage is at http://www.wikipedia.org/ 

Wikipedia is a multilingual project to create a complete and accurate open content encyclopedia. We started on January 15, 2001 and are already working on 101702 articles in the English version. Visit the help page and experiment in the sandbox to learn how you can edit any article right now.

Note that Wikipedia also has news documents and biographies of people currently in the news.

Wikipedia has a short document about the history of accounting --- http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting 

There is also a document (with great links) on accounting reform --- http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accounting_reform 
Note that anybody can edit this page and add new things to improve the page.

Accounting reform is change to accounting rules that goes beyond the enforcement of standard accounting practices and the elimination of "creative accounting". It is advocated by those who consider the present standards and practices of the profession wholly inadequate to the task of measuring and reporting the activity, success, and failure of modern enterprise, including government. "Accounting", says Baruch Lev, a notable proponent of such reform, "is about accountability". He notes that the present regime of accounting rules dates back about 500 years to Renaissance Italian practices.

Any comprehensive scheme of accounting reform is a major professional and academic enterprise; Typically it requires examination of the role of each of the fundamental factors of production, an analysis of capital indicating how many types there are and how each supports each factor of a production process.

Limited reforms within professional management circles have led in the past to activity-based costing, executive value added, regret and risk measures. A comprehensive scheme that would affect, for instance, the United Nations standards for national accounts, the rules of the Bank for International Settlements, or listing requirements on the major stock exchanges, would have to defend any change against critics that advocated lesser reforms - making it extraordinarily difficult to achieve simultaneous consent.

Marilyn Waring, who deeply criticized the UN account system for systematically under-valuing the social and economic contributions of women, stated also that she had to read literally an entire room full of books in order even to understand the standards applied today. It seems unlikely that most advocates of reform have the stamina to do so, nor the background required to debate each issue with economists or accountants that build their careers on the detailed extension and improvement of standards that already exist. Most critics considered reform prospects bleak.

The critique from ecological economics was even more fundamental, claiming that most means of measuring well-being indicated that the developed nations were in a state of "uneconomic growth" through the 1980s and 1990s, due mostly to failures of measurement, most or all of which could be tracked back to the practice of using the Gross National Product as a means of making money supply decisions. This is perhaps the most obvious and widely-held critique of current national accounting and economic growth reporting systems - the creators of the GNP and GDP measures themselves advise against its use as a single measure of economic growth - but politicians and press typically do so without caveat nor apology.

Not only do most businesses raise capital based on numbers derived from current standards, here are extensive lobbying efforts by the accounting industry to keep those standards roughly as they are: complex, loopholed, and unable to be applied or audited easily by laymen.

Heads of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission since the 1980s have consistently complained that this lobbying makes it impossible for them to apply meaningful reform, even in the wake of accounting scandals, e.g. that which felled Arthur Anderson in 2002.

Robert Costanza, Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and others who advocate a consistent global system for valuing natural capital, note that failures in this area are particularly grim: promoting extinction, loss of biodiversity, climate change and destructive weather for the sake of such "growth". John McMurtry characterized this as "the cancer stage of capitalism".

What makes "economic sense" under current standards, they argue, is in fact leading to ecological catastrophe, social conflict, and economic chaos.

Notable advocates of accounting reform:

See also: standard accounting practices, activity-based costing, executive value added, regret and risk

January 28, 2003
Hello John,

Actually one of the terrific advantages of Wikipedia is that anyone can instantly revise and add to the document right from the browser. You don't even have to download the document into an HTML editor such as FrontPage.

After reading your question about Abe Briloff, I instantly added a couple paragraphs about Abe to Wikipedia. See http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_accounting 

In a way, this ability to revise the contributions of somebody else is a two-way sword. It is great that the document can be added to and improved instantly. But it is a danger that the changes are not reviewed or censored. I could have just as well added something dumb such as a claim the troubles of the accountancy profession would disappear if only the credits went on the left instead of the right.

But when you think about, it is possible for wise people to instantly delete dumb claims such as the one illustrated above.

I guess my main criticism is that there seems to be no running account of what was revised. So many leading practicing accountants so despise Abe Briloff that one of them might soon delete the two paragraphs that I just added to See http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_accounting 

Bob Jensen

From: Corless, John [mailto:corlessj@CSUS.EDU
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 2:46 PM 
To: AECM@LISTSERV.LOYOLA.EDU  
Subject: Re: Wikipedia: Where You Can Author and Edit Whenever You Like

Why is Abe Briloff not on the list of advocates for accounting reform?

John Corless 
Professor of Accountancy 
CSU-Sacramento Sacramento CA 95819-6088 

Bob Jensen's bookmarks for encyclopedias are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#08051Glossaries 

Recall that I am never going to contribute anything to Wikipedia again for reasons mentioned in my failed experiment note above.


WebPage Translator --- http://alphaomega.software.free.fr/webpagetranslator/Web%20Page%20Translator.html 

You want to navigate on foreign web pages in your own language? You want the translation to be done in real time while you navigate in a single click? You want to translate Chinese, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian or Spanish?
Then Web Page Translator is what you need!

Features:
- It is an Altavista, FreeTranslation, Google, Reverso, Systran and T-Mail translation services wrapper which asks them to translate the web page you indicate.
- You can select the language in which the web pages are originaly written.
- You can select the language in which you want the web pages to be translated.
- You can enter the web page URL to translate or drop it in the window.
- The translation service used will translate the web pages on which you navigate in real time as you navigate.
- There is an inline help to guide you through the interface.
- It remembers window last position at launch.
- It takes very little memory, CPU and disk space.
- It doesn't need any installation nor configuration, which makes it very easy to use.
- It is compatible with Extended Software Updater.
Read the whole documentation for more details...


InnerX Browser (includes spell checker and language translation) http://www.innerx.net/ 


Wow Sharing Faculty of the Week

Question:
Where can I check to see if MIT has some open share course materials in my discipline?

Answer:  
Go to MITOPENCOURSEWARE --- http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html 

Unfortunately, there is not yet anything in accounting or business.  But there are economics materials, and new listings being put up frequently.

Find individual course listings on the following MIT OCW Department pages, or view a complete course list.
  Aeronautics & Astronautics
  Anthropology NEW
  Biology
  Chemical Engineering
  Chemistry
  Civil & Environmental
Engineering
  Comparative Media Studies NEW
  Earth, Atmospheric, &
Planetary Sciences
  Economics
  Electrical Engineering &
Computer Science
  Engineering Systems Division
  History NEW
  Linguistics & Philosophy
  Literature NEW
  Materials Science &
Engineering
NEW
  Mathematics
  Mechanical Engineering
  Nuclear Engineering NEW
  Ocean Engineering
  Physics
  Political Science
  Sloan School of Management
  Urban Studies & Planning

Bob Jensen's threads on the Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI) are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI 


Cheating With Cell Phones at the University of Maryland: 
"First-time offenders at Maryland generally receive a failing grade for the course with a marker on their transcripts indicating that cheating was involved, but additional offenses can merit suspension or expulsion."

"U-Md. Says Students Use Phones to Cheat Text Messaging Delivers Test Answers," by Amy Argetsinger, The Washington Post, January 25, 2003 --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A40227-2003Jan24.html 

The University of Maryland is investigating 12 students for allegedly using their cell phones to dial up all the right answers during fall exams.

The students are accused of using the "text messaging" functions on their phones or pagers to receive silent messages from friends who had access to answer keys for the tests, campus officials said yesterday.

It is the latest wrinkle in the continuing struggle between technology and academic integrity. Though quick to jump on the Web and embrace the laptop, schools across the country have been confronted with the problem of students using those very tools to plagiarize essays from the Internet. At Maryland, as at many other colleges, faculty members were stunned a few years ago to discover that some students were using the same high-end calculators required for many advanced math tests to retrieve stored information during exams.

But the use of cell phones "was a new one for us," said John Zacker, the university's director of student discipline.

The accusations prompted university administrators to send a memo to faculty members yesterday advising them to monitor the use of cell phones and other electronic devices during exams.

The incident also highlights an apparent generation gap in technology savvy on campus. While students by and large expressed no surprise that cell phones could be used for illicit purposes, Zacker said it simply had not occurred to most faculty.

Zacker said the accused students are suspected of exploiting a common practice at College Park, in which professors post answer keys outside their offices after giving an exam so that students can immediately calculate how they did.

Some professors, he said, have gotten in the habit of posting the keys while students are still taking the exam, assured that students would not be able to see the answers until they had turned in their tests and left the proctored classroom.

It is unclear exactly how the accused students may have cheated, Zacker said. But preliminary investigations suggest that they may have arranged to have friends outside the classroom consult the keys and call in the answers.

In some cases, professors had posted answer keys on their Web sites, and officials believe that students may have used cell phones equipped with Web browsers to look up the answers themselves, while still in the exam room.

The memo, from Provost William W. Destler, also advised faculty not to post answer keys until well after an exam is completed.

Zacker would not say which professors or departments had reported the recent accusations or whether all 12 cases came from the same course.

The University of Maryland has worked to bolster a culture of academic integrity in recent years, including the institution of a new honor pledge that students are urged to sign on their work. The student-run Honor Council will rule on the cases in coming weeks. First-time offenders at Maryland generally receive a failing grade for the course with a marker on their transcripts indicating that cheating was involved, but additional offenses can merit suspension or expulsion.

Donald L. McCabe, a professor at Rutgers University who has studied academic dishonesty, said he had heard of other instances of students across the country using a cell phone to cheat.

Though technology has made it easier for students to cheat -- and possibly harder for professors to detect it -- McCabe does not believe that it has tempted more students to cheat. However, he said it may have increased "the frequency with which cheaters cheat."

"Ten years ago, you'd hear about students using hand signals or tapping with pencils on their desk," he said. "Things like this are displacing that. You don't have more cheaters, just more ways to cheat."

Also see "University Snares Students Using Cellphones to Cheat," The Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043957323239614504,00.html?mod=technology%5Fmain%5Fwhats%5Fnews 

Also see http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,57484,00.html 

"Tolerance of Cheating: An Analysis Across Countries" --- http://www.indiana.edu/~econed/pdffiles/spring02/magnus.pdf 

Wrist-Device Cheating

This is getting ridiculous.  In addition to banning cell phones during examinations, should we ban wrist watches?

Karen Waldron reminded me of Fossil's PDA --- http://www.edgereview.com/ataglance.cfm?Category=handheld&ID=337 
Students can store crib notes and read them from a wrist watch.

And don't forget that there are cell phones that can be worn on the wrist just like a watch --- http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,19264,00.html 

Bob Jensen's threads on cheating can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/plagiarism.htm#CellPhone 


From C-SPAM
Booknotes (with audio and video) http://www.booknotes.org 

Booknotes
C-SPAN's signature author interview program, has served as a forum for books about history, politics and public affairs for a dozen years. C-SPAN's unedited, commercial-free format, allows for an in-depth discussion with an author distinct from other author interview programs.

The format is simple: one author, one book, one hour. For a full hour every Sunday night, fifty-two weeks a year, an author discusses their recently-released work of non-fiction. Beyond the book's subject matter, authors are also queried about the writing process, about how and why they came to write their book and their own lives and influences. Authors may appear on Booknotes only once in their writing career.

The host of the program since its inception is C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb. With over 630 author interviews since 1989 consisting of heads of state, war correspondents, biographers, scholars, generals and peacemakers, Lamb's Booknotes provides a variety of perspectives for its viewers. Guests have included Colin Powell, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Neil Sheehan, Martin Gilbert, Jean Strouse, Betty Friedan, and Henry Louis Gates.

Mr. Lamb is also the author of three collections of Booknotes interviews, the latest of which is Booknotes: Stories from American History.

Writers and journalist have had this to say about the Booknotes program:

In a USA Today article, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam called the program "wonderful," adding it "connects serious writers in a highly-civilized way to serious readers out there."

The Los Angeles Times called the program "unique," stating "Long before Oprah discovered reading and the mass market for books, Brian Lamb was serving up a special kind of journalism that lets writers talk - and talk and talk - with little or no interruption."

C-SPAN, the political network of record, was created in 1979 by America's cable companies as a public service. C-SPAN is currently available in 82 million households, C-SPAN2 in 65 million households, and C-SPAN3 in nearly 4 million households nationwide. For more information about C-SPAN, visit our web site at c-span.org.

Hi Ed,

There is no magic bullet for all students in all circumstances. However, online education is more effective than most faculty realize. However, it is also the most "costly" in terms of faculty if it is done right.

I recommend that you look at the following three documents.

Assessment of Education Technologies http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/assess.htm 

Working Paper 265 on Metacognition Metacognitive Concerns in Designs and Evaluations of Computer Aided Education and Training: Are We Misleading Ourselves About Measures of Success? http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm 

Working Paper 255 on Asynchronous Learning Networks Using Asynchronous Network Courses to Bridge Gaps in the Teeth of a University Curriculum With Imported Gold: Bridgework May Be Optimally Effective Only by Incurring High Labor Expenses http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm 

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ed XXXXX
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 2:27 PM 
To: Jensen, Robert Subject: online finance course

Hi Professor Jensen, 

I work for IBM as a certified Online Teaching and Learning Specialist. However, I am currently working on my thesis for my Masters of Science in Education with a Specialization in Online Teaching and Learning from (University XXXXX). I got your name from Dr. David Spiceland as someone who might be able to help me. I am currently in the process of developing an online finance course for my thesis and was wondering if you had or know of any research that applies directly to the development, delivery and student satisfaction of online accounting/finance courses. Basically, I'm looking to see if accounting/finance students prefer online learning opposed to the traditional face-2-face.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time.

Regards,

Ed XXXXX


"U. of Wisconsin Will Develop Online Advanced-Placement (AP) Courses for High-School Student," by Dan Carnevale, The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 19, 2002 --- http://chronicle.com/free/2002/11/2002111901t.htm 

The University of Wisconsin at Madison plans to develop online advanced-placement courses for Wisconsin high-school students. The online format is meant to help rural and inner-city students who go to high schools that do not provide advanced-placement courses.

The courses should be available next fall. Between now and then, the university will create the online versions of the courses and train high-school teachers to administer them.

Earlier this month, the Center on Education and Work in the university's School of Education began working with Wisconsin school districts to create an organization called the Wisconsin Advanced Placement Distance Learning Consortium. Next fall, the organization plans to provide 50 online sections of 12 different advanced-placement courses, enrolling a total of 500 to 700 high-school students.

About a quarter of the state's public high schools do not offer advanced-placement courses, said Wendy L. Way, acting director of the Center on Education and Work. Others only provide one or two of the 35 courses for which advanced-placement tests are available through the College Board.

Continued at - http://chronicle.com/free/2002/11/2002111901t.htm  


January 26, 2003 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU

I have a new tutorial on process costing at:

www.VirtualPublishing.NET/ma03a.htm 

I have found process costing a difficult topics for students to pick up and a difficult one to teach. Thus this tutorial - instructions are in pdf format, and the tutorial consists of Flash movies. Sorry about the audio hum - I need to correct that later.

Richard Campbell


The new economy, through the eyes of two industry analysts who have long warned of the dangers of excessive capital spending and of the threats to the new networks from traditional powerbases
How the Telcos Failed the Soccer Ball Test --- http://www.americasnetwork.com/americasnetwork/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=44047 


Garry Kasparov has already lost a big-time chess tournament to a computer. Now he says he's entering his second match with a vengeance, and plans to carry the entire human race on his back --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57388,00.html 


The Institute of Internal Auditors now has an accounting educator edition online --- http://www.theiia.org/newsletter/index.cfm?iid=77 
The January 2003 edition has articles on some special programs at the University of Texas and elsewhere.  


FAS 141 and the Question of Value By PricewaterhouseCoopers CFOdirect Network Newsdesk, January 16, 2003 --- http://www.cfodirect.com/cfopublic.nsf/vContentPrint/CA13B226B214A04085256CB000512D34?OpenDocument 

Just as early reactions to FAS 142 seemed to have overlooked the complexities in reviewing and testing goodwill for impairment, so too have reactions to complying with the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Statement No. 141 – Business Combinations.

Adopted and issued at the same time as Statement No. 142 in the summer of 2001, the headline news about FAS 141 was the elimination of the Pooling-of-Interest accounting method in mergers and acquisitions. Going forward from June 30, 2001, all acquisitions are to be accounted for using one method only – Purchase Accounting.

This change is significant and one particular aspect of it – the identification and measurement of intangible assets outside of goodwill – seems to be somewhat under-appreciated.

Stephen C. Gerard, Managing Director at Standard & Poor's Corporate Value Consulting, says that there is "general conceptual understanding of Statement 141 by corporate management and finance teams. But the real impact will not be felt until the next deal is done." And that deal in FAS 141 parlance will be a "purchase" since "poolings" are no longer recognized.

Consistent M&A Accounting

The FASB, in issuing Statement No. 141, concluded that "virtually all business combinations are acquisitions and, thus, all business combinations should be accounted for in the same way that other asset acquisitions are accounted for – based on the values exchanged."

In defining how business combinations are to be accounted for, FAS 141 supersedes parts of APB Opinion No. 16. That Opinion allowed companies involved in a merger or acquisition to use either pooling-of-interest or purchase accounting. The choice hinged on whether the deal met 12 specified criteria. If so, pooling-of-interest was required.

Over time, "pooling" became the accounting method of choice, especially in "mega-deal" transactions. That, in the words of the FASB, resulted in "…similar business combinations being accounted for using different methods that produced dramatically different financial statement results."

FAS 141 seeks to level that playing field and improve M&A financial reporting by:

When announcing FAS 141, the FASB wrote: "This Statement requires those (intangible assets) be recognized as assets apart from goodwill if they meet one of two criteria – the contractual-legal criterion or the separability criterion."

Unchanged by the new rule are the fundamentals of purchase accounting and the purchase price allocation methodology for measuring goodwill: that is, goodwill represents the amount remaining after allocating the purchase price to the fair market values of the acquired assets, including recognized intangibles, and assumed liabilities at the date of the acquisition.

"What has changed," says Steve Gerard, "is the rigor companies must apply in determining what assets to break out of goodwill and separately recognize and amortize."

Thus, in an unheralded way, FAS 141 introduces a process of identifying and placing value on intangible assets that could prove to be a new experience for many in corporate finance, as well as a costly and time-consuming exercise. Nonetheless, an exercise critical to compliance with the new rule.

Continued at  http://www.cfodirect.com/cfopublic.nsf/vContentPrint/CA13B226B214A04085256CB000512D34?OpenDocument  

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


From The Wall Street Journal Accounting Educators' Review on January 24, 2003

TITLE: New SEC Definition May Cloud 'Audit Fees' 
REPORTER: Jonathan Weil and Michael Rapoport 
DATE: Jan 22, 2003 
PAGE: C1 
LINK: http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043198839807732824,00.html  
TOPICS: Accounting, Assurance Services, Audit Quality, Auditing, Auditing Services, Auditor Independence, Consulting, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Securities and Exchange Commission

SUMMARY: The SEC adopted a rule in November of 2000 that requires companies to disclose audit and non-audit fees paid to auditors. The SEC is re-examining the definition of audit services and may allow fees for audit related services to be included in audit fees. Questions focus on the importance of fee disclosure on auditor independence.

QUESTIONS: 
1.) Why are companies required to disclose audit and non-audit fees paid to auditors?

2.) Why is it important to distinguish between fees paid to auditors for audit services and other fees paid to auditors? Do fees paid to auditors for audit services compromise independence in appearance? Do fees paid to auditors for consulting services compromise independence in appearance? Support your answers.

3.) What are attestation services? Should attestation services be included in audit fees? Support your answer.

4.) Is there a difference in the disclosure of fees paid for tax services and fees paid for consulting services? Does providing consulting services to an audit client and providing tax services to an audit client have the same impact on independence in appearance? Support your answers.

5.) One could argue that any fees paid by the client to the auditor compromises auditor independence. In addition to fee disclosures, how can the profession improve independence in appearance as it relates to payment for services rendered by the auditor?

Reviewed By: Judy Beckman, University of Rhode Island 
Reviewed By: Benson Wier, Virginia Commonwealth University 
Reviewed By: Kimberly Dunn, Florida Atlantic University

Bob Jensen's threads on fees and professionalism are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fees.htm 


From the Risk Waters Group on January 31, 2003

The backers of 'Project Red', a credit derivatives reference entity database (Red) set up by top dealers Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to remove basis risk in credit trading, have conditionally agreed to sell the service to UK credit risk data company Mark-it Partners. The deal, signed on January 27 at JP Morgan's 270 Park Avenue offices in New York, means Mark-it will enter a period of exclusive negotiations with Project Red's backers to create an open, 'for profit' public utility for credit reference information aimed at bringing integrity and confidence to the credit derivatives market. This follows the failure by the trio to bring in other credit derivatives dealers to support Red, which was officially unveiled in March last year.


January 30, 2003 message from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

One of the fundamental principles we teach in our beginning accounting courses is the concept of "accountability".

We explain that a major need for accounting was initiated from the separation of ownership from management, and the need for humans to have to account for their action. Without accountability, you are asking for trouble, and eventually, you will get it.

Much of the abuse of the judicial system which I have witnessed firsthand has stemmed from the fact that juries today do not feel accountable to anyone. The juries I have served on have been specifically instructed by the judge to *disregard* any implications or ramifications or consequences of our actions. We have been told by the legal system to ignore something which we all know, for a certainty, will exist, and to abdicate the responsibility we have as citizens to consider whether what we are doing will make life better or worse for those who come after us.

We are being asked to suspend our good judgment and common sense in order to render a binary decision when often the problem is not a binary problem.

The entire process is a comical exercise in bad decision making and modeling, but one which sadly can have grave consequences for the poor people who have to live in our society. That it works when it does seems like a miracle to me, having studied decision structure, decision making, and decision science.

When you add bad decision modeling to a complete lack of accountability, how can you act surprised when you get a bad decision?

And the anonymity with which jurors can serve shields them from any accountability to the public via the media for their actions (not that the media do a good job in *their* accountability to the public,

either...)

When you deliberately eliminate accountability, regardless of the platitudinal idealism for doing so, you have to expect to get bad decisions, at least once in a while. I've served on one jury where the entire atmosphere was pervaded by an attitude of the "the quicker we get this over with, the quicker we can go home."

Unfortunately, I have not seen any serious discussion about legal reform which involves juror accountability. There is some sort of perverse idea that each case should be decided on its own merits, when history has shown that cases are not individual isolations, but broad components of a holistic synergistic organism. Until someone wakes up and connects with reality, this isolation-emphasizing hallucination will continue to dominate, and we should all do like I do, just sigh and accept the comical, humorous, and often tragic shenanigans of our legal system.

Explanatory Note For those who would take me literally: Often, by assuming an extreme point of view, one can stimulate thought and introspection not otherwise elicitable...

David R. Fordham
PBGH Faculty Fellow
James Madison University


United States Early Radio History --- http://www.ipass.net/~whitetho/index.html 


More than a million Americans suffer each year from wounds that simply will not heal. It isn't a pretty picture, but a new kind of smart bandage could offer a solution (Health, Medicine) --- http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,57234,00.html 


PUT THOSE GLASSES AWAY FOR GOOD Promising new techniques could restore your youthful vision http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2003/tc20030122_5351.htm?c=bwtechjan28&n=link1&t=email 


After more than 20 years, scientists have found a connection between a chemical substance and survival times of those who suffer from certain cancers and liver damage --- http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,57421,00.html 


Animated History of the U.S. (Great, but it takes a while to load) --- http://www.animatedatlas.com/movie.html 


Picturing Business in America (History, Photography) ---  http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/journal/index.htm 

Glamorlux (History from the 1920-1950, Literature, Posters, Art, PinUp Girls)--- http://www.glamorlux.com/ 


Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman http://www.metmuseum.org/special/Leonardo_Master_Draftsman/draftsman_splash.htm 


A Republican Web site even Bush-bashers can love --- http://slate.msn.com/id/2077553/ 


Eye on Books (included photographs and audio) --- http://www.eyeonbooks.com/ 
Read and listen to reviews of top books --- separate the wheat from the chaff.

Bob Jensen's threads on electronic books are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ebooks.htm 


Fats Waller Forever Digital Exhibit --- http://newarkwww.rutgers.edu/ijs/fw/fatsmain.htm 


A new Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit on the life of Leonardo da Vinci reveals much about the man and his work, along with at least one remarkable insight: He considered himself "unlettered." (Art History) --- http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57401,00.html 


The Devil's Dictionary (humorous and scholarly at the same time) ---  http://www.thedevilsdictionary.com/ 


Bestselling Fiction in America http://www.lib.virginia.edu/speccol/exhibits/rave_reviews/ 


Not my thing (rock music)
Denim and Leather --- http://www.sundin.net/denim/ 


ArabNet --- http://www.arab.net/ 


Cloned cows produce higher protein milk --- http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/scitech/SciTechRepublish_770350.htm 


Dial M for Murder  (I don't recommend carrying these phones in your trouser pockets)

"French police seize guns disguised as mobile phones," by John Lettice, The Register, February 10, 2003 --- http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/59/29258.html 

Rouen police have seized two 'mobile phone' guns in a drugs-related raid in Elbeuf, Seine-Maritime, reports Agence-France Presse. The devices, which can fire four .22 bullets in the approximate direction of a victim, appear to be the ones of mysterious Eastern European origin which turn up every now and again.

These are just about passable these days as not very attractive or state of the art handsets, as used by poor people (one really would expect drug dealers to have more of a sense of style). Except they're heavier, thanks to the four barrels and bullets. Except they've got a strange cocking lever on the bottom (er, would you believe it's a clockwork phone, M le gendarme?) Except it's got four holes in the top, doesn't light up or work (as a phone, that is), and possibly has an odd whiff about it, if it's been used recently.

The good folks at ABC news have an old schematic of it here, while there's a video of it in action here. Aside from the style question, which The Register feels confident will protect us from the London locals until you can get an Uzi in a P800, one puzzles over the utility of such devices in Elbeuf, Seine-Maritime. According to the local tourist office the area is heavily forested, so French hunting-shooting culture and legislation being what it is, locals could as well have proper guns that hit things.

You can find out how difficult that is in France here.


Apple Bumps Up Power Mac Line The Power Mac G4 now offers two 1.42GHz PowerPC chips and enhanced FireWire and 802.11g; the company also added a 20-inch LCD panel --- http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,848993,00.asp 


eBay Launches B2B Site eBay Business marketplace brings together all of its business-related listings at one address --- http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,849126,00.asp 

First Drops Of Rain Begin To Fall On Innovation Drought It's easy to conclude there's been no innovation while the economy has been on its back. It's true to some extent, but entrepreneurs have continued to ply their trade, and there are new signs of life among venture capitalists and those they fund. http://update.internetweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eKW60Bdl6n0V30Bq1w0AP 

Bob Jensen's threads on electronic commerce are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm 


IBM targets Microsoft with latest portal --- http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=7192 


Crossing the Boundaries of Cross-Media Creative We know cross-media works, but what's the best way to marry TV and the Internet? http://www.clickz.com/media/media_buy/article.php/1576291 


Public Records and Missing Persons Search  --- http://searchenginez.com/public_records.html 

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


Sex.com case heralds end of Internet - NSI
By Kieren McCarthy
The Register, March 2, 2003 --- http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29152.html 

Network Solutions - the Internet's biggest domain name registrar and the owner of the .com domain - has heralded the end of the Internet in court filings to the Californian Supreme Court.

It warns that if a forthcoming decision by the court goes the wrong way it "would cripple the Internet and jeopardize the national economic benefit for e-commerce". It would also "threaten all Internet registrars' survival".

The astonishing revelations feature in a 14-page submission sent to the Supreme Court on 23 January and regard the on-going legal dispute with Gary Kremen, owner of the domain Sex.com.

What is this decision that threatens to wipe out the Internet in one fell swoop? It is whether Network Solutions (NSI) can be held accountable for wrongly handing over ownership of the extremely lucrative Sex.com domain to a Michael Cohen after he sent a faked fax to the company's headquarters - in 1995.

The fax claimed Mr Kremen had been fired from the company listed as the owner of the domain and that that owner, Online Classifieds (OCI), was handing over ownership of the domain to a Michael Cohen. It was signed by a Sharon Dimmick, the apparent president of OCI, and gave final authorisation of the move to, er, Michael Cohen.

Unfortunately, NSI didn't attempt to check whether this information was true, didn't contact Mr Kremen and duly signed over the domain rights to Mr Cohen. After a five-year court battle, Mr Kremen won back the domain in April 2001 and was rewarded $65 million in compensation from Mr Cohen. Mr Cohen promptly moved his assets offshore, left the country and remains at large.

The issue of whether NSI can be held accountable remains outstanding however. If it loses, it faces a $100 million claim. Not underestimating its own importance, this claim would put the entire Internet at risk, the NSI says.


Continued at - http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/29152.html  

Once online retailers start offering gratis delivery, taking it away could cause an uproar among shoppers. But is keeping those customers worth the millions it costs businesses? --- http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,57433,00.html 


2002 Census of Governments --- http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/gc021x1.pdf 


"Some Web publishers are finally beginning to shake off a longstanding slump, as ad sales appear to have stabilized and cost cuts have strengthened bottom lines," The Wall Street Journal, January 31, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043952238195753064,00.html?mod=technology_main_whats_news 


There go my hopes in the mountains since there is no Internet cable or DSL service in my new house in the White Mountains.

DirecTV Broadband poised to dismantle its high-speed Internet service, consumers are losing one of the last alternatives to the increasingly dominant telephone and cable giants --- http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57483,00.html 


Hi Dan,

I think you need to be more specific as to what you mean by "using a computer to collect data."

Back in the 1960s, all computing was done on main frame computers using IBM punch cards. There are various levels of viewing how data are put into those computers.

Level 1 --- Clerical Key Punching

In the 1960s there were various main frame programs for processing punch card data.  Statistical programs began with simple regression programs.  The UCLA Medical School developed a rather sophisticated SPSS suite of programs for more complicated statistical analyses such as ANOVA, principal component analysis, factor analysis, discriminant analysis, and cluster analysis.  SimsScript developed simulation programs for punch card systems and main frames.

When collecting data for the above main frame programs and other programs, it really did not matter much whether respondents filled out pencil forms or punched the IBM cards.  The actual punching of the cards at Level 1 to put into a computer was so clerical that only typing skills were required.

At Berkeley, Bill Bruns (Accounting Review, 1965) and Tom Dyckman (JAR, 1964) conducted experiments using students to investigate whether choice of a particular accounting alternative altered decisions.  Jensen's similar experimentations at Stanford (JAR, 1966) differed mainly by the use of financial analysts rather than students.  In all cases, it really did not matter if the experimental subjects filled out a coding form or punched the cards directly.  In my own study, clerical keypunch operators punched most of the cards for SPSS.  Respondents filled in a questionnaire.  

Level 2 --- Computer Coding

At Level 2, students or other experimental subjects were required to write code for FORTRAN, ALGOL, APL, COBOL, or some other program to run on a main frame computer.  Although punching the IBM cards was a clerical task, the writing of the code entailed both skills and clever thinking.  There are probably some studies (perhaps in the data processing or computer science journals) that focused upon code writing skills or the code itself.  However, I doubt that these studies are of much interest to accountants.

Level 3 --- Systems Design

At Level 3, students or other experimental subjects were required design components of accounting information systems and possibly code these components into data processing programs.  Level 3 studies are more of interest in accounting than Level 2 studies, because the focus is on some rather interesting issues such as internal controls, backup systems, inter-system compatibility, etc.

You might check out a paper by Michael Person in The Accounting Review in 1965.  Its title is "Elementary Accounting With a Systems Approach."  My point is that the interest lies in the study of the systems design and operation.

Level 4 --- The Dawn of Microcomputing

Collecting data on computers might become a bit more interesting at the dawn of microcomputing.  One paper of possible interest was written by Marshall Romney in The Journal of Accounting Education in 1983.  Its title is "The Use of Microcomputers In Accounting Education."  I am sure that are many other interesting research studies of microcomputing.

Level 5 --- Computer/Respondent Interaction

Even today, some distinction should probably be placed upon whether data collection on computers is really just a clerical thing versus whether the subject's interaction with the computer itself is an integral part of the outcome of the research.  The most interesting examples here are probably the artificial intelligence studies where both humans and the computer are jointly making decisions.  The current match between Kasparov and Big Blue is an example of this type of thing.  The public tends to think that this is literally a match between a human being and an AI computer.  In reality, Big Blue is a combination of interacting humans and a machine pitted against a lone human grand master chess player.  It is of considerable interest to learn more about how the Big Blue "team" interacts.  There data collection is of great interest, especially earlier data collection for "training" the computer to "think."

Early studies of this include Malcom and Rowe (California Management Review, 1961), March and Simon (Organizations, John Wiley, 1958), Simon (Journal of Economics, 1955), and Simon (Models of Man, John Wiley, 1957).  One of my favorite study designs in AI was the Carnegie-Mellon thesis of Jeff Clarkson entitled Portfolio Selection:  A Simulation of Trust Investment (Prentice-Hall, 1962).  For a time, this was my favorite accounting and financial research study until Clarkson was later accused of seriously fabricating some of the data.  I still love the design of that study.  Although it is an AI study of financial decision making, the study is also interesting in that differences in accounting choices were apparently not considered important by an actual trust investor of a large bank.  But in retrospect, we cannot trust Clarkson's findings.  Sigh!

An interesting early classic was Andy Stedry's thesis at Carnegie-Mellon entitled Budget Control and Cost Behavior that was published in 1960 by Prentice-Hall.  Subjects in that experiment filled water bottles and results were analyzed on a main frame computer.  Later in life, Andy was run over by a truck in Manhattan, but I guess that bit of trivia has no bearing on your query.

 

Please let us know if you discover anything interesting.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Dan Stone [mailto:dstone@UKY.EDU]  
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 9:56 AM 
To: AECM@LISTSERV.LOYOLA.EDU Subject: ? Importance: High

Hi all,

Can anyone give me a citation (or if not, a guess) as to which was the first experiment published in an accounting journal that used a computer to collect data from participants? I'm guessing that this would be a paper published in AR or JAR in the late 1960s but would appreciate your help on this question.

FYI, Bob Jensen published among the first experiments in accounting in JAR (Vol 4, No. 2, 1966, pp. 224-238).

Thanks!

Dan Stone,  
Univ. of Kentucky, 

February 12, 2003 reply from Dan Stone

HI all,

Thanks to all who responded to my earlier question. Thanks to Bob J for asking me clarify my question.

My (clarified) question addressed to the list was:

What was the first accounting research study to use a computer to collect data from participants. That is, what was the first accounting research study which used an interactive computer-based system to collect data from participants?

Three sources suggest that the answer to this question is:

Vasarhelyi, M. (1977). "Man-Machine Planning Systems: A Cognitive Style Examination Of Interactive Decision Making." Journal of Accounting Research 15(1 (Spring)): 138-153.

The three sources are:

1. my research
2. an email msg from Miklos Vasarhelyi
3. a published literature review: (Swieringa, R. J. and K. E. Weick (1982). "An Assessment of Laboratory Experiments In Accounting." Journal Of Accounting Research 20(Supplement): 56-101.)

And I have a follow-up question. Can you pls email citations to any published papers in accounting journals that use the Web or electronic mail to solicit participation, or collect data, from participants?

As b4, I will share results with the list.

Thanks!

Dan S.

February 12 Reply from Bob Jensen

Let me once again ask for clarification Dan.

In your second question at the bottom of your message, it is best to distinguish the Internet from the Web in your question. The Internet existed for 20 years before the Web and was somewhat actively used for such purposes as email, FTP, and Telnet long before the World Wide Web (The Web) was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 and first used by 50 physicists in 1990. For a brief overview, look under World Wide Web at http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#W-Terms 

I suspect that various accounting studies were published before 1989 in which researchers used email and/or FTP to collect data from respondents on distant computers. They may have even accessed respondent computers interactively before 1989 using remote login protocols --- http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#Remote2 

Hence your question should probably be split into a specific request for publications after 1990 that report on research that actually collected data via the true WWW versus publications that report on research prior to 1990 that used the Internet. In the latter case, it would be especially interesting to know if this data collection was by email, FTP, or remote login.

Bob

 


Feds Look Into New Attacks On Record Producers Nettled file swappers again are laying siege to the Recording Industry Association of America's Web site. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eKat0BcUEY0V20Bq2Z0Ac 

The Web site for the U.S. recording industry's trade group, the Recording Industry Association of America ( www.riaa.org ), is under siege again from an apparent denial-of-service attack that has left the site largely unavailable since Jan. 24.

An RIAA spokesperson says the FBI and the Secret Service are investigating the source of the attack. "It's pathetic [that] those who want free music don't believe in free speech," he said late Tuesday afternoon.

The RIAA's Web site has been a popular target for hackers. Since July, the site has been the target of defacements and multiple denial-of-service attacks. "Technicians are working to make sure the press and public will have access to information about the RIAA," the spokesman says.

Bob Jensen's P2P threads are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/napster.htm 


Swedish scientists offer cell-phone users food for thought in a study that found that exposing young rats to the same radiation emitted by popular mobile handsets damaged the rodents' brains --- http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,57488,00.html 

The Swedish study included three groups of rats that were exposed for two hours to various GSM phones at different levels of radiation. The study found a link between electromagnetic frequency exposure and a leakage in albumin -- a protein in human tissue -- through the blood-brain barrier. The researchers also noticed that the neuron damage the rats suffered increased in response to the amount of EMF exposure.

The authors of the study acknowledged that their test sample was small, but that "the combined results are highly significant and exhibit a clear dose-response relation."

Such a hole in the brain could prove life-threatening because it would mean that almost anything circulating in the blood -- including toxic pollutants -- could enter the brain, said Dr. Tom Goehl, editor-in-chief of Environmental Health Perspectives.

"Again this is in adolescent rodents," Goehl said. "It's pretty much hard to jump to humans. But it may be a warning signal that this is something to look at."


The Macintosh and Windows camps appear to have reached a détente. While Apple stokes the embers with its "Switch" advertising campaign, users have climbed out of their foxholes to shake hands --- http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,57280,00.html 


Windows Could Include Sun Java By June But Microsoft is busy trying to overturn a court ruling forcing that move. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo/y/eKgq0BcUEY0V20BrY20Af 


Manage Downloads (including a utility for pausing and resuming downloads).
Fresh Download 5.3 http://www.freshdevices.com/freshdown.html 


February 11, 2003 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU

Below is a link to an article I wrote for the Columbus (OH) Dispatch newspaper on the above topic:

www.VirtualPublishing.NET/flash.htm 

It has links to Flash animations supporting the article, as well as the print version in pdf format.

Richard Campbell

Bob Jensen's threads on computer and networking security can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce/000start.htm 


Internet users are mystified by a tricky browser add-on that installs itself without permission and defies attempts to remove it. Some are calling the program the most insidious thing on the Web --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57467,00.html 


Can Palm hand-helds beat Microsoft's Pocket PCs at their own game by doing a better job of handling Office documents?

"Office Documents Look Better On Palms Than on Pocket PCs," Walter Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal, February 6, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1044494203826430413,00.html?mod=technology%5Fcolumns%5Ffeatured%5Flsc 

One advantage Pocket PC hand-held devices are supposed to hold over the Palm variety is that, because their software is designed by Microsoft, they can view, create and edit Microsoft Office documents, while Palms can't. But this isn't exactly true. Most Palm models, as well as the Sony Clie PDAs based on Palm's operating system, come with an add-on program that allows them to work with Office documents.

I've been testing this program, Documents To Go from DataViz, and comparing it to the Pocket Word and Pocket Excel programs that come with Pocket PC hand-helds from companies like Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Dell.

My surprising conclusion is that, in many respects, Documents To Go does better with Office documents than Microsoft's own PDA programs.

Documents To Go comes in several versions. The Standard edition, which comes with the Clies, handles Microsoft Word and Excel files only. The Professional edition, bundled with most Palm models, adds support for Microsoft PowerPoint files. There's also a Premium version, with extra features, that sells for $69.95, or $29.95 as an upgrade from lesser versions.

When you buy a Palm or Sony hand-held, Documents To Go isn't preloaded. You have to install it from the CD-ROM that comes in the box. It takes up as much as two megabytes of memory, or RAM, which can be a lot on some Palm models. By contrast, Pocket Word and Excel come preinstalled on Pocket PCs in a way that reduces their memory usage.

Documents To Go installed easily on two Palm-based PDAs I tested, a Palm Tungsten T, which comes with the program, and a Handspring Treo 300, which doesn't. For comparison, I used a T-Mobile Pocket PC. I only tested features available in the Professional edition.

One big difference between Documents To Go Professional and the Pocket PC software is that the former handles PowerPoint files. Surprisingly, the Microsoft software doesn't. If you buy a Pocket PC and want to work with PowerPoint files, you have to pay for a third-party add-on program or pick a Pocket PC model that includes one. Another difference: Documents To Go works on both Windows and Macintosh computers, while Microsoft's software is Windows only.

Documents To Go creates a window on your PC into which you can drag any Office documents you want to use on your PDA. To transfer documents and synchronize any changes you make in them, you just push the Hot Sync button on your Palm cradle or cable, as usual.

The Pocket PC software creates a special folder on your PC into which you drag any Office documents you wish to transfer and synchronize. The synchronization is automatic and doesn't require the push of a button, but I found it flakier and less reliable than Palm's synchronization.

Continued in the article.


Yahoo! Tests Expanded Paid Listings 
The portal's newfound emphasis on search leads it to experiment with paid listings partner Overture. - Yahoo! Launches 'Operation Bachelor' 
http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/1580051
 


End of an Era: Dell to Phase Out Floppy Drives
http://woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=C9595132-76FE-4F94-8419-26BE4EC64390 

February 7, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

Regarding the disappearance of 3.5-inch floppy drives from modern microcomputers:

The real tragedy to eliminating the floppy drive is the loss of a *universal* and reliable exchange medium.

Sure, ZIP disks store a lot more data than a floppy. But my experience has been that they are very, very unreliable. (About 20% of the Zip disks I've purchased have gone "bad" before I was through using them: click-death syndrome. I've got a stack of bad ones here in my drawer. I can count the number of floppies that have gone bad in my lifetime on two hands with a few fingers left over.) And although Zip Drives are popular, they are far from universal. I cannot count on there being one on any given computer that I come across. In fact, the new Dell that the university bought me last fall didn't have a Zip on it! (I quickly put one on it so I could exchange data from my laptop and home computers.)

There are other exchange media, but they aren't universal either, and the ones that the manufacturers want to force us to use aren't convenient or fast or cheap. Even CD-RW's aren't as cheap or fast or convenient as floppies. The time it takes to save onto one is ridiculous, even on a 48x drive. And they aren't robust: you have to take the time to put them into a case for transport. There's no quick way of labelling them, and rewriting on them on a different computer is iffy at best. Once you write one, consider it done, over, finished. That's okay for archival purposes, but oh what a waste for "transfer" purposes.

With the advent of the "memory stick" type of media. I would like to see a de-facto standard evolve with these things. If anything has the capacity of truly meeting the function of a floppy, it is these things.

They store 32, 64, or even more megabytes practically instantaneously, are mindless to operate, seem fairly robust, and although not yet cheap, have the potential to become so if produced en masse.

My camera uses a smart card, and my wife got me a couple of "readers" for our computers at home which look, to the computer, just like a disk drive. You pop one of these smart media cards into the slot and less than a second later, you are exploring your new "disk drive". The read/write operation is *fast*, the usage is convenient and easy. But again, there isn't a universal standard. Yet.

There are many versions of the portable memory cards. I recently saw a multi-format memory stick reader which could accommodate memory sticks, smart cards, and several similar media forms. Fast and convenient. Easy to use. Robust. But again, not yet universal!

There is a real, REAL, need for some way of universally, conveniently, quickly, exchanging data between non-networked computers. If the floppy is going the way of the punch card, what will be meeting this need?

Smart people don't throw out an essential piece of equipment until they've found a suitable replacement. To my way of thinking, there isn't yet a suitable replacement for the function served by a floppy drive.

Thus, this is a step backwards.

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University


"E-Tailers' Sales Tax Surprise," by Cynthia Webb, Technews.com, February 6, 2003 --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A35186-2003Feb6.html 

The Wild West ways of the Internet are quickly fading. Gone are many sites that offer free content or that ship products to buyers at a loss. And as the Internet matures, the inevitable rules and regulations are emerging to chip away at the freedom consumers once had to shop online uninhibited by state borders and tax laws.

Sales taxes have not traditionally been levied on online purchases for buyers who live in a different state than the e-tailer they shop from. But a collective push by states to get retailers to start levying sales taxes for online purchases is gaining momentum. Several mega-retailers, including Marshall Fields, Mervyn's, Target, Toys R Us and Wal-Mart, jumped on the bandwagon this week to voluntarily tack sales taxes on to purchases from buyers who live in any state that has a sales tax law in place. 

These retailers may be party to a deal quietly brokered with most states, but it's not clear since the lawyer who says he negotiated the deal won't name the retailers involved. Both Wal-Mart and Toys R Us told washingtonpost.com that they decided to charge sales tax for online purchases so customers could return or exchange items bought online at their physical stores. But the retailers apparently got something more substantial from the states, according to washingtonpost.com. In return for collecting the taxes, "38 states and the District of Columbia agreed to absolve the retailers from any liability for taxes not previously collected on Internet sales." Three states (Arizona, California and South Carolina) do not intend to join the deal, while four others are still considering it.

"The agreement is expected to give states a new source of revenue to battle historic budget deficits. It also is a victory for state and local governments that want to simplify their tax systems to accommodate e-commerce and level the playing field between online and main street merchants," writes washingtonpost.com of the change. The new sales tax converts must please the Streamlined Sales Tax Project, a state-led group pushing to simplify sales tax laws to.

Under pressure from state lawmakers, more large chain retailers are adding sales tax to Web purchases. But pure online merchants are reluctant to jump on the tax wagon --- http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,57616,00.html 


What Slowdown? Business-Intelligence Vendors Report Sales Growth Business Objects, Crystal Decisions, and Ascential all report solid gains. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eKcP0BcUEY0V20Bq8m0AT 


As the electrical grid spreads and wires close in on squirrels' natural habitats, the number of power outages caused by electrocuted critters continues to grow. Despite utilities' best efforts to ward off varmints, it's a war and the squirrels are winning.
The Wall Street Journal, Februrary 4, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1044309659373124584,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fpageone%5Fhs 


Survey of Internet Users
Counting on the Internet --- http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/PIP_Expectations.pdf 


The Gentleman's Page (Etiquette, History, Culture)  http://www.lahacal.org/gentleman/ 

The Lively Arts History Association presents the Gentleman's Page: a resource for those who wish to look and act like; or perhaps better understand, the 19th Century American man. It is intended to help costumers, theatrical performers, museum docents, reenactors and anyone with an interest in the life of 19th Century America.




TricksWithHats (including juggling) http://www.trickswithhats.org/


Stress test (some of the answers may surprise you)--- http://employees.ford.com/js/stress/html/brand.htm 


Story told by the pastor of St. Andrews Methodist Church on Sunday, February 2, 2003

The bride was really nervous and was afraid she would stumble walking down the aisle in her wedding gown. In an attempt to calm her down, her father asked her to first keep her eyes pointed down the aisle.  When she reached the front she should focus on the alter.  When she turned, she should then look straight at the groom.

When she walked with her father toward the front of the church, the members of the congregation overheard the bride repeatedly mumbling: 

"Aisle, Alter, Him"  

"Aisle Alter, Him"

"Aisle Alter, Him"

. . .

What the minister did not say on Sunday was the following quote from Oscar Wilde:
"Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is  the same."
 


Forwarded by The Happy Lady

You know you are living in the year 2003 when: 

A. Your reason for not staying in touch with some members of your family is because they do not have e- mail.

B. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.

C. Your grandmother asks you to send her a JPEG file of your newborn so she can create a screen saver.

D. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home.

E. Every commercial on television has a web site address at the bottom of the screen.

F. You buy a computer and 3 months later it's out of date and sells for half the price you paid.

G. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go get it.

H. Using real money, instead of credit or debit, to make a purchase would be a hassle and take planning.

I. You just tried to enter your password on the microwave.

J. You consider second-day air delivery painfully slow.

K. Your dining room table is now your flat filing cabinet.

L. Your idea of being organized is multiple-colored Post-it notes.

M. You hear most of your jokes via e-mail instead of in person.

N. You get an extra phone line so you can get phone calls.

O. You disconnect from the Internet and get this awful feeling, as if you just pulled the plug on a loved one.

P. You get up in the morning and go online before getting your coffee.

Q. You wake up at 2 AM to go to the bathroom and check your e-mail and Bob Jensen’s home page on your way back to bed.

R. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. :)

S. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

T. Even worse; you know exactly who you are going to forward this to!


Traffic Accident Reports (Hilarious) --- http://www.eakles.com/traffic_accident.htm 
Also note the other great links in the bottom table!


Smoking kills.  If  you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life.
Brooke Shields


Forwarded by Tony

Brenda, may I come in?" he asks. "I've somethin'to tell ya."

"Of course you can come in, you're always welcome, Tim. But where's my husband?"

"That's what I'm here to be tellin' ya, Brenda. There was an accident down at the Guinness brewery..."

"Oh, God no!" cries Brenda. "Please don't tell me.."

"I must, Brenda. Your husband Shamus is dead and gone. I'm sorry."

Finally, she looked up at Tim. "How did it happen, Tim?"

"It was terrible, Brenda. He fell into a vat of Guinness Stout and drowned."

"Oh my dear Jesus! But you must tell me true Tim. Did he at least go quickly?"

"Well, no Brenda... no. Fact is, he got out three times to pee."


ISUE4U
License plate seen on a lawyer's car.


Forwarded by Dick Haar
(I have a hard time believing that a first grader provided the last entry).

A first grade teacher collected well known proverbs. She gave each child in her class the first half of a proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb. It's hard to believe these were actually done by first graders. Their insight may surprise you. While reading these keep in mind that these are first graders... "6" year-olds, because the last one is classic!

Better to be safe than.............punch a 5th grader.

Strike while the..................bug is close.

 It's always darkest before........Daylight Saving Time.

Never underestimate the power of.............termites. 

You can lead a horse to water but.............how? 

Don't bite the hand that.................looks dirty.

No news is...................impossible. 

A miss is as good as a.........................Mr. 

You can't teach an old dog new................math.

If you lie down with dogs, you'll.....stink in the morning. 

Love all, trust.............................me. 

The pen is mightier than the.................pigs.

An idle mind is.................the best way to relax. 

Where there's smoke there's.................pollution. 

Happy the bride who.............gets all the presents.

A penny saved is................not much. 

Two's company, three's.............the Musketeers. 

Don't put off till tomorrow what..................you put on to go to bed.

Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and.....you have to blow your nose.

There are none so blind as..........Stevie Wonder. 

Children should be seen and not....spanked or grounded.

If at first you don't succeed........get new batteries. 

You get out of something only what you...see in the picture on the box. 

When the blind leadeth the blind....get out of the way.

And the favorite:
better late than..........................pregnant!


Forwarded by Dick Haar

A Republican and a Democrat were walking down the street when they came to a homeless person. The Republican gave the homeless person his business card and told him to come to his business for a job. He then took twenty dollars out of his pocket and gave it to the homeless person.

The Democrat was very impressed, and when they came to another homeless person, he decided to help. He walked over to the homeless person and gave him directions to the welfare office. He then reached into the Republican's pocket and got out twenty dollars. He kept 19 for administrative fees and gave the homeless person one.

Now you understand that there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats.


Forwarded by Tony

Mouse Problem

Three pastors met and were talking over conditions at their churches.

The first pastor said, "You know, since summer started, I've been having trouble with mice in my church. I've tried everything----noise, spray, cats--nothing seems to scare them away."

The second pastor said, "Yeah, my church too. There are hundreds living in the basement of the church. I've set traps and even called an expert to get rid of them but nothing has worked so far."

The third pastor said, "I had the same problem, so I baptized all mine and made them members of the church... haven't seen one since.


From the Reader's Digest, February 2003, Page 132

Kauffman's Paradox
The less important you are to the corporation, the more your tardiness or absence is noticed.

The Salary Axiom
The pay raise is just large enough to increase your taxes, just small enough to have no effect on your take-home pay.

Miller's Law of Insurance
An insurance policy covers everything except what happens.

Isaac's Strange Rule of Staleness
Any food that starts out hard will soften when stale.  Any food that starts out soft will harden when stale.

Lampner's Law of Employment
When leaving work late, you will go unnoticed.  When leaving work early, you will meet your boss in the parking lot.


Forwarded by Dr D.

Two Jewish sisters-in-law (Ruth and Golda) meet on the street. Ruth says to Golda, "Such news I got for you, Golda! My Irving is finally getting married. He tells me he is engaged to this wonderful Jewish girl, but he thinks the poor darling may have some strange illness called herpes.

After offering congratulations, Golda says to Ruth, "So, Ruthie, do you have any idea what is this herpes, and can our Irving catch it?"

Ruth answers "God forbid! But his Papa and I are just so happy to hear about his engagement. You know how we've all worried about him. It's past time he's settled with a nice girl. As far as the herpes goes, who knows?

"Well," Golda says, "I have a very fine medical dictionary, you know, Ruthie. I'll just run home right now and look it up and call you."

So, Golda goes home, looks it up, and calls Ruth excitedly, "Ruth! Ruth! Thank goodness, I found it. Not to worry, Ruthie! It says herpes is a disease of the gentiles!


Forwarded by Auntie Bev

An Israeli Doctor says "medicine in my country is so advanced that we can take a kidney out of one man and have him looking for work in 6 weeks".

A German Doctor says "That is nothing, we can take a lung out of one person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in 4 weeks.

A Russian Doctor says "In my country, medicine is so advanced that we can take half a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have them both looking for work in 2 weeks.

Not to be outdone, the Texas Doctor says, you guys are way behind. We recently took a man without a brain out of Texas, put him in the White House for 4 years and in 2 years, half the country is looking for work. ". .


Forwarded by Dr. D.

A man takes his wife to the State Fair and one of the exhibits is that of breeding bulls. They come up to the first pen and there is a sign that says, "This Bull mated 50 times last year."

The wife pokes her husband in the ribs and says, "He mated 50 times last year."

They walked a little further and see another pen with a sign that says, "This Bull mated 120 times last year." The wife hits her husband and says, "That's more than twice a week! You could learn a lot from him."

They walk further and a third pen has a Bull with a sign saying, "This Bull mated 365 times last year." The wife gets really excited and says, "That's once a day. You could REALLY learn something from this one."

The husband looks at her and says, "Go up and ask him if it was with the same cow."

After nine surgeries and six years of therapy, the husband is now able to talk. It is hoped that someday he will walk again.


Forwarded by Bob Overn

A man who lived in a block of apartments thought it was raining and put his head out the window to check. As he did so, a glass eye fell into his hand. He looked up to see where it came from just in time to notice a young woman looking down.

"Is this yours?" he asked.

She said, "Yes, could you bring it up?" and the man agreed. On his arrival she was profuse in her thanks and offered the man a drink.

Because she was very attractive, he agreed. Shortly afterward she said,

"I'm about to have dinner--there's plenty. Would you like to join me?"

He readily accepted her offer and both enjoyed a lovely meal. As the evening was drawing to a close the lady said, "I've had a marvelous evening. Would you like to stay the night?" The man hesitated then said,

"Do you act like this with every man you meet?"

"No," she replied. "Only those who catch my eye."


Married Life forwarded by Dick Haar

Getting married is very much like going to a continental restaurant with friends. You order what you want, then when you see what the other fellow has, you wish you had ordered that.

At the cocktail party, one woman said to another, "Aren't you wearing your wedding ring on the wrong finger?" The other replied, "Yes I am, I married the wrong man."

Man is incomplete until he is married. Then he is really finished.

Then there was a man who said, "I never knew what real happiness was until I got married; and then it was too late.

When a newly married man looks happy, we know why. But when a ten-year married man looks happy - we wonder why.

When a man opens the door of his car for his wife, you can be sure of one thing: either the car is new or the wife.


Forwarded by The Happy Lady

A plane is on its way to Houston when a blonde in Economy Class gets up and moves to the First Class section and sits down. The flight attendant watches her do this and asks to see her ticket. She then tells the blonde that she paid for Economy and that she will have to sit in the back. The blonde replies "I'm blonde, I'm beautiful, I'm going to Houston and I'm staying right here!" The flight attendant goes into the cockpit and tells the copilot that there is a blonde bimbo sitting in First Class that belongs in Economy and won't move back to her seat. The copilot goes back to the blonde and tries to explain that because she only paid for Economy she will have to leave and return to her seat. The blonde replies, "I'm blonde, I'm beautiful I'm going to Houston and I'm staying right here!" The copilot tells the pilot that he probably should have the police waiting when they land to arrest this blonde woman who won't listen to reason. The pilot says "You say she's blonde? I'll handle this. I'm married to a blonde. I speak blonde." He goes back to the blonde, whispers in her ear, and she says "Oh, I'm Sorry, " and she gets up and moves back to her seat in the Economy section. The flight attendant and copilot are amazed and asked him what he said to make her move without any fuss. "I told her First Class isn't going to Houston."


Hilarious Road Signs --- http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/dah18/america/ 


A Saying on An Ugly Guy's T-Shirt
Drink 'til you want me.


Forwarded by The Happy Lady

On a Septic Tank Truck sign:  "We're #1 in the #2 business."

Beside a Proctologist's office door:  "To expedite your visit please back in."

On a Plumber's truck:  "We repair what your husband fixed."

Bob Jensen's Office:  "I never make big misteaks."

Bob Jensen's Office:  "Of course going on and on about accounting can't compare with accounting itself."

On a Plumber's truck:  "Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber."

 On a Plastic Surgeon's Office door:  "Hello. Can we pick your nose?"

At a Towing company:  "We don't charge an arm and a leg. We want tows."

 On an Electrician's truck:  "Let us remove your shorts."

On a Maternity Room door:  "Pushy. Pushy. Pushy."

At an Optometrist's Office:  "If you don't see what you're looking for, you've come to the right place."

On a Taxidermist's window:  "We really know our stuff."

In a Podiatrist's office:  "Time wounds all heels."

On a Fence:  "Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive."

 At a Car Dealership:  "The best way to get back on your feet - miss a car payment."

 Outside a Muffler Shop:  "No appointment necessary. We'll hear you coming."

 In a Veterinarian's waiting room:  "Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"

 At the Electric Company:  "We would be delighted if you send in your payment.   However, if you don't, you will be."

 In a Restaurant window:  "Don't stand there and be hungry, Come on in and get fed up."

In the front yard of a Funeral Home:  "Drive carefully. We'll wait."

At a Propane Filling Station:  "Tank heaven for little grills."

And don't forget the sign at a Chicago Radiator Shop:  "Best place in town to take a leak."


Forwarded by Dick Haar

History of France

- Gallic Wars - Lost. In a war whose ending foreshadows the next 2000 years of French history, France is conquered by of all things, an Italian.

- Hundred Years War - Mostly lost, saved at last by female schizophrenic who inadvertently creates The First Rule of French Warfare; "France's armies are victorious only when not led by a Frenchman."

- Italian Wars - Lost. France becomes the first and only country to ever lose two wars when fighting Italians.

- Wars of Religion - France goes 0-5-4 against the Huguenots

- Thirty Years War - France is technically not a participant, but manages to get invaded anyway. Claims a tie on the basis that eventually the other participants started ignoring her.

- War of Devolution - Tied. Frenchmen take to wearing red flowerpots as chapeaux.

- The Dutch War - Tied

- War of the Augsburg League/King William's War/French and Indian War Lost, but claimed as a tie. Three ties in a row induces deluded Frogophiles the world over to label the period as the height of French military power.

- War of the Spanish Succession - Lost. The War also gave the French their first taste of a Marlborough, which they have loved every since.

- American Revolution - In a move that will become quite familiar to future Americans, France claims a win even though the English colonists saw far more action. This is later known as "de Gaulle Syndrome", and leads to the Second Rule of French Warfare; "France only wins when America does most of the fighting."

- French Revolution - Won, primarily due the fact that the opponent was also French.

- The Napoleonic Wars - Lost. Temporary victories (remember the First Rule!) Due to leadership of a Corsican, who ended up being no match for a British footwear designer.

- The Franco-Prussian War - Lost. Germany first plays the role of drunk Frat boy to France's ugly girl home alone on a Saturday night.

- World War I - Tied and on the way to losing, France is saved by the United States. Thousands of French women find out what it's like to not only sleep with a winner, but one who doesn't call her "Fraulein." Sadly, widespread use of condoms by American forces forestalls any improvement in the French bloodline.

- World War II - Lost. Conquered French liberated by the United States and Britain just as they finish learning the Horst Wessel Song.

- War in Indochina - Lost. French forces plead sickness, take to bed with the Dien Bien Flu

- Algerian Rebellion - Lost. Loss marks the first defeat of a western army by a Non-Turkic Muslim force since the Crusades, and produces the First Rule of Muslim Warfare; "We can always beat the French." This rule is identical to the First Rules of the Italians, Russians, Germans, English, Dutch, Spanish, Vietnamese and Esquimaux.

- War on Terrorism - France, keeping in mind its recent history, surrenders to Germans and Muslims just to be safe. Attempts to surrender to Vietnamese ambassador fail after he takes refuge in a McDonald's.


Forwarded by Bob Overn

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

He reminded the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers, "Those who can: do. Those who can't: teach."

To corroborate, he said to another guest, "You're a teacher, Susan," he said. "Be honest. What do you make?"

Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness, replied, "You want to know what I make?"

"I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could. I can make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face if the student did not do his or her very best."

"I can make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence."

"I can make parents tremble in fear when I call home."

"You want to know what I make?"

"I make kids wonder."

"I make them question."

"I make them criticize."

"I make them apologize and mean it."

"I make them write."

"I make them read, read, read."

"I make them spell "definitely & beautiful" over and over again, until they will never misspell either one of those words again."

"I make them show all their work in math and hide it all on their final drafts in English."

"I elevate them to experience music and art and the joy in performance, so their lives are rich, full of kindness and culture, and they take pride in themselves and their accomplishments."

"I make them understand that if you have the brains, then follow your heart...and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you pay them no attention."

"You want to know what I make?"

"I make a difference.  What do you make?"

PS from Bob Jensen
If we ask that question to CEO Robert Gannon of Montana Power his honest answer should be "I made a mess of things for all the citizens of Montana."  Gannon allowed himself to be seduced by investment bankers from Goldman Sachs to sell off all the solid assets (e.g., a hydro power dam) for pie in the sky so Goldman Sachs could earn $20 million in sales commissions and Gannon could become a multi zillionaire.  The February 9, 2003 airing of Sixty Minutes of this scandal is one of the most sickening things I've learned about in this saga of recent corporate scandals.  http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/06/60minutes/main539719.shtml 

Bob Jensen's threads on Goldman Sachs-type frauds and Partnoy's insider book (Fiasco) are discussed at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#DerivativesFraud 

The Montana Power fraud should just be another chapter in Partnoy's book.


Professors should get tattoo payments in proportion to the number of students they stand in front of in class.

A London ad agency is giving new meaning to "low-brow" by renting space on people's foreheads, using human billboards to build brands. 
"In Your Face Marketing: Ad Agency Rents Foreheads," The Wall Street Journal, February 11, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1044926160742865583,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fmarketplace%5Fhs 

Women's fashions have a leg up on this advertising trend. They can put a company's logo on each knee.

Men can be heads up if they have bald heads to work with. I wonder if the ad agency will pay more for an over-the-top Bud Lite can complete with a pull tab. Just think, brain surgeons may even charge less due to easy access through a pull tab


Forwarded by Barbara Hessel

A CHEROKEE PARABLE

A Cherokee grandfather and his grandson are discussing life, when the grandfather says, "A fight is going on inside me. It is a fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil -- he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good -- he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

This same fight is going on inside you, my grandson, and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather,

"Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee grandfather simply replied, "The one you feed."


Forwarded by My Best Friend (aside from Erika that is)

In kindergarten your idea of a good friend was the person who let you have the red crayon when all that was left was the ugly black one.

In first grade your idea of a good friend was the person who went to the bathroom with you and held your hand as you walked through the scary halls.

In second grade your idea of a good friend was the person who helped you stand up to the class bully.

In third grade your idea of a good friend was the person who shared their lunch with you when you forgot yours on the bus.

In fourth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who was willing to switch square dancing partners in gym so you wouldn't have to be stuck do-si-do-ing with Nasty Nick or Smelly Susan.

In fifth grade your idea of a friend was the person who saved a seat on the back of the bus for you.

In sixth grade your idea of a friend was the person who went up to Nick or Susan, your new crush, and asked them to dance with you, so that if they said no you wouldn't have to be embarrassed.

In seventh grade your idea of a friend was the person who let you copy the social studies homework from the night before that you had.

In eighth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who helped you pack up your stuffed animals and old baseball but didn't laugh at you when you finished and broke out into tears.

In ninth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who would go to a party thrown by a senior so you wouldn't wind up being the only freshman there.

In tenth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who changed their schedule so you would have someone to sit with at lunch.

In eleventh grade your idea of a good friend was the person who gave you rides in their new car, convinced your parents that you shouldn't be grounded, consoled you when you broke up with Nick or Susan, and found you a date to the prom.

In twelfth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who helped you pick out a college/university, assured you that you would get into that college/university, helped you deal with your parents who were having a hard time adjusting to the idea of letting you go...

At graduation your idea of a good friend was the person who was crying on the inside but managed the biggest smile one could give as they congratulated you.

The summer after twelfth grade your idea of a good friend was the person who helped you clean up the bottles from that party, helped you sneak out of the house when you just couldn't deal with your parents, assured you that now that you and Nick or you and Susan were back together, you could make it through anything, helped you pack up for university and just silently hugged you as you looked through blurry eyes at 18 years of memories you were leaving behind, and finally on those last days of childhood, went out of their way to give you reassurance that you would make it in college as well as you had these past 18 years, and most importantly sent you off to college knowing you were loved.

Now, your idea of a good friend is still the person who gives you the better of the two choices, holds your hand when you're scared, helps you fight off those who try to take advantage of you, thinks of you at times when you are not there, reminds you of what you have forgotten, helps you put the past behind you but understands when you need to hold on to it a little longer, stays with you so that

you have confidence, goes out of their way to make time for you, helps you clear up your mistakes, helps you deal with pressure from others, smiles for you when they are sad, helps you become a better person, and most importantly loves you!

Thank you for being a friend. No matter where we go or who we become, never forget who helped us get there.

There's never a wrong time to pick up a phone or send a message telling your friends how much you miss them or how much you love them.

You know who you are, pass it on to someone who you want to remind.

So send this to all your friends and maybe those who aren't but just watch and see who sends it back.

If you love someone, tell them. Remember always to say what you mean.

Never be afraid to express yourself. Take this opportunity to tell someone what they mean to you. Seize the day and have no regrets.

Most importantly, stay close to your friends and family, for they have helped make you the person that you are today and are what it's all about anyway. Pass this along to your friends. Let it make a difference in your day and theirs.

The difference between expressing love and having regrets is that the regrets may stay around forever.

G'day Mate!  For my Internet mates ---  http://www.angelfire.com/on2/KanesAtlanta/page5c.html 




 

And that's the way it was on February 12, 2003 with a little help from my friends.

 

I highly recommend TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 

 

In March 2000, Forbes named AccountantsWorld.com as the Best Website on the Web --- http://accountantsworld.com/.
Some top accountancy links --- http://accountantsworld.com/category.asp?id=Accounting

 

For accounting news, I prefer AccountingWeb at http://www.accountingweb.com/ 
I also like SmartPros at http://www.smartpros.com/ 

 

Another leading accounting site is AccountingEducation.com at http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

 

Paul Pacter maintains the best international accounting standards and news Website at http://www.iasplus.com/

 

The Finance Professor --- http://www.financeprofessor.com/about/aboutFP.html 

 

How stuff works --- http://www.howstuffworks.com/ 

 

Bob Jensen's video helpers for MS Excel, MS Access, and other helper videos are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/ 
Accompanying documentation can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/default1.htm and http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 

 

Click on www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp for a complete list of interviews with established leaders, creative thinkers and education technology experts in higher education from around the country.

 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu  

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January 31, 2003

 Bob Jensen's New Bookmarks on January 31, 2003
Bob Jensen at Trinity University
 


Quotes of the Week

Simply Overwhelmed by the Volume
Thank you for copying me on your mail. We have, as you note, stopped updating this, and did so last year. We were simply overwhelmed by the volume of work needed to keep up to date with the status of the ever-growing number of cases involved, and, in some cases, dealing with the companies' lawyers. We have removed the article from the active part of the site, and will append a note to it to the effect that we have stopped updating it.
Paul Maidment, Executive Editor, Forbes & Editor, Forbes.com
Mr. Maidment is referring to the Forbes' abandoned effort to maintain a "tracker" of corporate scandals --- http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/07/25/accountingtracker.html 

The federal agency that insures the pensions of some 44 million Americans has been pounded by a succession of big corporate bankruptcies and has burned through its entire $8 billion surplus in one year. The agency, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, provides protection to retirees in case of a failure, much as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation protects depositors when a bank fails. Though it can continue to make its current payments, the agency is expected to disclose a deficit of $1 billion to $2 billion at the end of this month. Its soundness is likely to deteriorate further in the coming months, as more bankrupt companies find themselves unable to fulfill their promises to tens of thousands of present and future retirees. US Airways, United Airlines and Kmart are among the companies struggling to emerge from bankruptcy protection under the weight of large underfunded pension plans.
Mary Williams Walsh, January 25, 2003
The homepage of the PBGC is at http://www.pbgc.gov/

It's no longer such a bad thing to be called a "bone head."
Autopsies on four dead women have shown for the first time that stem cells in bone marrow can develop into brain cells, not just blood and bone cells as previously thought.
NewScientist.com --- http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993286 

Any way you look at it, the audit business cannot continue much longer as it is. If years of "clean" audits are no guarantee that billions of dollars of previously reported profits are, in fact, illusory, then what value does an audit actually provide? Congress and the SEC are vigorously investigating this, but there is a grave danger that they may be focusing on the wrong problem.
David Maister --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud013103.htm 

This year, the Internal Revenue Service will allow teachers and other educators to deduct out-of-pocket expenses of up to $250 from their 2002 income taxes, provided they work at least 900 hours. And, perhaps best of all, educators don't have to itemize to get the tax break.
From SmartPros on January 15, 2002 --- http://www.smartpros.com/x36709.xml 
Note that deductions must be for legitimate purposes and have documented receipts.  My friends online reminded me that college teachers are not entitled to these deductions.  They are only available for K-12 teachers.

Asked if there is a feeling by some CPAs that "the big firms have tarnished the whole profession," Mr. Ezzell replied, "Among CPAs in firms that don't do public-company audits there has been a real sense of concern that the firms that do public-company audits, that individuals in those firms, have not lived up to the standards of this profession. It has been very visible, and it hurts. It hurts us all."
In an interview with Business Week, William Ezzell, chairman of the American Institute of CPAs --- http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=96990

Feeling cynical?

 If you aren’t (cynical) now, you will by the time you finish the new Bebchuk and Fried paper on executive compensation.  They paint a fairly gloomy picture of managers exerting their power to “extract rents and to camouflage the extent of their rent extraction.”  Rather than designed to solve agency cost problems, the paper makes the case that executive pay can by an agency cost in and of itself.  Let’s hope things aren’t this bad. 
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=364220

They say that patriotism is the last refuge
To which a scoundrel clings.
Steal a little and they throw you in jail,
Steal a lot and they make you king.
There's only one step down from here, baby,
It's called the land of permanent bliss.
What's a sweetheart like you doin' in a dump like this?

Lyrics of a Bob Dylan song forwarded by Damian Gadal [DGADAL@CI.SANTA-BARBARA.CA.US

Tourism is traveling very far in search of the desire to return home.  (Definitely the case for Bob and Erika)
George Elgozy

To make a gift of culture is to make a gift of thirst. The rest is a consequence.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

It takes your enemy and your friend, working together, to hurt you to the heart: the one to slander you and the other to get the news to you.
Mark Twain

Happiness isn't something you experience; it's something you remember.
Oscar Levant

One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.
Oscar Wilde

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
F. P. Jones

The Mount Washington Observatory reoccupied the summit in 1932 through the enthusiasm of a group of individuals who recognized the value of a scientific facility at that demanding location. In April of 1934, observers measured a wind gust of 231 mph, which remains a world record for a surface station. In spite of the hardships imposed by their environment, observers regularly monitored weather under the auspices of the U.S. Weather Bureau, and conducted landmark research in short-wave radio propagation, ice physics and the constitution of clouds. 
 http://www.mountwashington.org/visitor/index.html  

But if there's that much force in a 50 mile per hour wind, how strong is a 100 mile per hour wind? We might presume twice as strong, but here is where this invisible challenger packs a surprise. Recalling the basic formula from physics, F = ma , we realize that the force of the wind, as compared to its speed, roughly speaking, increases exponentially. We're oversimplifying it a bit, but for rough-and-ready field purposes, we can estimate that if one wind is two times the speed of another, then its force is two squared, or four times, as great as the force of the lesser wind. A wind ten times as fast as another is ten squared, or one hundred, times more forceful than the lesser wind. Thus a one hundred mile per hour wind is four times as forceful as a fifty mile per hour wind. A fifty mile per hour wind is enough to make headway difficult; a one hundred mile per hour wind will require a hiker to stop in his or her tracks, to struggle, aided by a ski pole or ice axe, to maintain balance and to stay in one place. Progress is virtually impossible. 
http://www.mountwashington.org/visitor/wind.html
 

Forwarded by Dr. Bernards

*I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
Will Rogers

*If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free.
P.J. O'Rourke

*If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal. If you want government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative. If you want government to intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want government to intervene anywhere, you're an extremist. 
Joseph Sobran, Editor of the National Review (1995)

*In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.
Voltaire (1764)

*Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. 
Pericles (430 B.C.)

*No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session.
Mark Twain (1866)

*Talk is cheap-except when Congress does it. 
Author Unknown

*The government is like a baby's alimentary canal, with a happy appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other. 
Ronald Reagan

*The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery. 
Winston Churchill

*The only difference between a tax man and a taxidermist is that the taxidermist leaves the skin.
Mark Twain

*The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. 
Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)

*There is no distinctly native American criminal class save Congress. 
Mark Twain

*There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.
P.J. O'Rourke (1993)

*What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.
Edward Langley, Artist 1928-1995

*When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators. 
Author Unknown

*Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. 
Mark Twain

*We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
Winston Churchill

*A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.
George Bernard Shaw

*A liberal is someone who feels a great debt to his fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with your money.
G. Gordon Liddy

*Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.
James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

*Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries. 
Douglas Casey, Classmate of W.J.Clinton at Georgetown U. (1992)

*Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
P.J. O'Rourke, Civil Libertarian

*Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. 
Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)

*Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. 
 Ronald Reagan (1986)


Are Bob and Erika nuts? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/NHcottage/NHcottage.htm 




My January 31, 2003 updates on the accounting and finance scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud013103.htm

If you are preparing for the upcoming 2003 CPA Exam, go to http://www.cpa-exam.org/cpa/computer.html 

New AICPA Antifraud & Corporate Responsibility Resource Center (includes fraud by topic) --- http://www.aicpa.org/antifraud/ 

Some of the biggest challenges facing business today are re-establishing confidence among investors, promoting ethics and integrity in the workplace, and establishing clarity in reporting procedures. This resource center will give you the tools and information you need to combat fraud — whatever your role in the business community.

Thus, in an unheralded way, FAS 141 introduces a process of identifying and placing value on intangible assets that could prove to be a new experience for many in corporate finance, as well as a costly and time-consuming exercise. Nonetheless, an exercise critical to compliance with the new rule.
FAS 141 and the Question of Value By PricewaterhouseCoopers CFOdirect Network Newsdesk, January 16, 2003 --- http://www.cfodirect.com/cfopublic.nsf/vContentPrint/CA13B226B214A04085256CB000512D34?OpenDocument 
Bob Jensen's threads on intangibles and valuation can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/theory01.htm 

The U.S. Department of Justice Cybercrime Website --- http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/ 

 
Computer Crime (e.g., hacking): Policy · Cases · Guidance · Laws · Documents
Intellectual Property Crime: Policy · Cases · Guidance · Laws · Economic Espionage · Documents
Cybercrime Documents: Press Releases · Speeches · Testimony · Letters · Reports · Manuals

Internet Consumer Fraud Continues to Rise --- http://www.ftc.gov/ 
Annual FTC report says 47 percent of non-identity theft complaints were Internet-related in 2002. http://ecommerce.internet.com/news/news/article/0,,10375_1573071,00.html 

Identity theft complaints nearly doubled in 2002 as the fast-growing crime tops the government's list of consumer frauds --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57359,00.html

The number of identity theft complaints rose from about 86,000 in 2001 to about 162,000 last year, the Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday. The figures come from a government database of 380,000 fraud complaints collected by the FTC, the FBI and scores of law enforcement and consumer groups.

Fraud Facts and Prevention Tips --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#ThingsToKnow 

How you can protect yourself --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#ThingsToKnow

Forbes Magazine promises to keep a corporate scandal listing up to date with media revelations of auditing, finance, and business frauds 
The Corporate Scandal Sheet --- http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/07/25/accountingtracker.html 

Deloitte's practical guidelines to transparent financial reporting --- http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/DTIQ3.pdf
This is the third in a series of publications from Deloitte & Touche on how to improve financial reporting and auditing.

The Controversy over Accounting for Securitizations and Loan Guarantees --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/theory01.htm#Securitizations 

There are plenty of changes to the tax law this year. Every taxpayer is affected in some way by the new rules that affect individuals. Here is a summary of the major changes to the income tax laws that affect individual taxpayers on their 2002 tax returns. 
http://www.accountingweb.com/item/97040
  (Paid Subscription Required)  
Here are just a few of the leading highlights:

The IRS wants taxpayers to file their returns electronically this year, and it's making a big effort to convince them of the benefits. But many accountants remain skeptical --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57274,00.html 

There are many free listings of major tax law changes.  The IRS has a great site at http://www.irs.gov/ 
For more summaries, I suggest that you enter "changes to income tax laws" in the exact phrase line at http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en 

January 25, 2003 message from E&Y's Thought Center --- thoughtcenter.webcast@ey.com 

UPCOMING EVENT! 
Re-Booting the Telecom Industry A webcast focused on interviews with leading CEOs in the telecom and related technology (TMT) industries. Tuesday, February 11th, 1-2 p.m. Eastern Time; 6-7 p.m. GMT Register at http://www.ey.com/webcast?mfac 

Whether you are a buyer or seller of telecommunications, you won't want to miss this next webcast where our panel will discuss: = The collective views of 86 CEOs on what most concerns them about surviving in their businesses = What CEOs need to do to regain financial stability and trust = A CEO checklist to sustain profitable growth, even in this time of uncertainty = The impact on technology companies who supply the telecom industry

Featured Panelists: Steve Almassy, Global Vice Chair, Ernst & Young Technology, Communications, and Entertainment Gregg Sutherland, Executive Advisor to Ernst & Young

Today's environment is a challenging one for CEOs in the telecom and technology (TMT) industries. It is a period of "industry re-boot," or strategic re-examination and business restructuring, and CEOs are struggling to keep their vision of the "connected society" alive, despite high debt levels and financial instability. The latest study conducted by Ernst & Young and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, entitled Industry Re-Boot: Choosing Your Path to Profitable Growth identifies significant opportunities for companies, but they need to be willing to make some difficult choices, and refocus their energies on the right business models and approach to the market.




Sixteen-year-old Adnan Osmani seems like a typical teen boy interested in computers. But the ultrafast Web browser he created has some MIT and Intel tech researchers drooling. Others are more than a bit skeptical --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57393,00.html 


Net makes child porn ridiculously easy to find. But most people don't know that viewing such images online -- even once -- is illegal. The witch hunts that result do little to stamp out child abuse, or to trap the real predators in our midst --- http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57397,00.html 

Producers and distributors of child pornography, and other child abusers, should be subject to the harshest of penalties. That's an easy call.

The situation is much cloudier when it comes to punishing people who are only in possession of (or have simply viewed) child porn as defined under current law, especially in the case of first-time offenders.

Before the advent of the Internet, only people seriously driven to obtain these disreputable materials were likely to do so. They typically had to meet with shady characters in back alleys or participate in secretive, underground photo-mailing clubs.

The Internet changed everything. It's been a dream come true for the distributors of such garbage and for predators who could target children through chat rooms and similar venues.

Yet the Net has also made it possible for individuals who would never have come into contact with child porn in a non-Internet world to be sucked in with only a few mouse clicks.

The ability for mildly curious or bull-headedly thoughtless Internet users to easily view this material online represents a qualitative change in the picture.

Most people don't realize that child porn is one of the few forms of data available on the Internet that can turn you into an instant criminal through the simple act of viewing particular websites in your own home -- even just one time.

So people with no criminal background and no accusations of improper contact with children are being led off in handcuffs in increasing numbers, facing serious criminal charges for Web browsing. In some cases, they also face the specter of being hounded as registered sex offenders for the rest of their lives, thanks to the Internet.

Lost in this circus is a serious debate about proportionality, and a recognition that humans are, after all, imperfect animals subject to a range of failings, particularly when technology that's enticing enters the mix.

The witch hunts that have ballooned beyond legitimate child pornography investigations are also part of the problem.

Authorities have interrogated mothers after innocent naked photos of their toddlers in bathtubs were reported by film processors. Retroactive criminalization of very old photographs (reportedly a key element in Reubens' case) and continued attempts to criminalize even artificially created images that didn't involve actual children add explosives to the minefield.

Research isn't viewed as an excuse. Townshend claimed that his access to child porn sites was to further work on his autobiography relating to his own abuse as a child. The irony that The Who's classic rock opera Tommy revolves around an abused boy has not been lost on observers.

Whether or not one chooses to believe Townshend, the fact remains that laudable efforts to stamp out the scourge of child abuse, combined with the trivial ease of access to child pornography online, have created a situation in which the punishment for an entire class of first-offense child-porn viewers no longer fits the crime.

Protecting children from genuine abuse should be one of societies' top priorities, but we shouldn't be swatting flies with nuclear bombs.

The criminals who prey on our children must be isolated and punished severely. On the other hand, first-time Internet offenders whose only crime is being seduced or suckered into viewing child porn on the Web -- which makes it so very easy -- should be subject to significantly less harsh and less permanently punitive consequences.

Simple fairness and justice demand no less.


Free Dictionary and Thesaurus Lookup (You may want to add this link to your Browser Favorites/Bookmarks)
I find it slow and limited as to terms, but you can enter a word and get a free dictionary definition (with audio pronunciation) or thesaurus listing of synonyms at http://www.m-w.com/home.htm 
You can also get a free browser dictionary link for Web pages --- http://www.m-w.com/promos/button/button.htm   

The free dictionary from Merriam-Webster is quick and easy to install and use.  And there are no dedicated keystroke overrides.  However, to be honest with you, I prefer to type or paste in the word at http://www.m-w.com/promos/button/button.htm

For difficult terms or phrases, I sometimes have better luck at http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en 

Bob Jensen's bookmarks to dictionaries, glossaries, and encyclopedias are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#08051Glossaries 


Google and the 'Democratic' Enterprise By Sean Doherty 
A recent brouhaha over search inaccuracies at Google may have some organizations reconsidering the contextually aware and relevance-savvy search appliance. http://update.networkcomputing.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eKUI0BboXO0qh0BqIN0An 


Question:  
What is NACElink and why is it important to college students and faculty as wells as employers?

Answer:

NACElink is the result of an alliance between two nonprofit associations—the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) and DirectEmployers Association, Inc.—and an initial collaborating group of career centers. NACElink was launched in August 2002 with 27 schools from across the country involved in the initial development and testing.

During the 2002-2003 academic year, additional schools from the diverse NACE membership of 1,800 colleges and universities will have the opportunity to use the NACElink system and discover its benefits.

The NACElink System

NACElink currently offers a job posting and resume data base component. An interview scheduling component is in beta testing and will be released in 2003.

The NACElink homepage is at http://www.nacelink.com/ 

Bob Jensen's threads on careers in accountancy can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#careers 


Penn State offers a fully online MBA Program --- http://www.worldcampus.psu.edu/pub/imba/welcome/index.html 

The iMBA is Penn State's online MBA program, designed especially for you--a professional ready for an MBA but wishing not to give up your job, move your family, or leave your friends. Increase your marketability, gain a competitive edge, put your career on the fast track, and put a Penn State MBA on your résumé by acquiring a quality education at your convenience

Bob Jensen's thread about online training and education programs can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 


Sharing Professors of the Week

Paul Allen's Project Finance --- http://members.aol.com/AllenWeb/infosite.htm 

"This site is dedicated to the profession of project management and project finance and the surrounding disciplines that should be applied to be very successful. The express purpose of this website is to impart knowledge to those who truly seek it." - Paul Allen

Sharing Accounting Information Systems Professor of the Week
Stacy Kovar from Kansas State University --- http://info.cba.ksu.edu/skovar/ 

Stephen W. Liddle at Brigham Young University shares some information systems documents from the Object-oriented Systems Modeling Laboratory --- http://marriottschool.byu.edu/emp/employee.cfm?emp=swl3 

Accounting for Global Enterprises (International Accounting) Sharing Professor
Elizabeth Dreike Almer from Portland State University --- http://www.sba.pdx.edu/faculty/elizabetha/eahome.html 
Click on "Additional Course Information"

Tax Research Sharing Professor of the Week
Benjamin C. Ayers from the University of Georgia --- http://www.terry.uga.edu/people/bayers/ 

Tax Research Sharing Professor of the Week
Ernest R. Larkins from Georgia State University --- http://www.gsu.edu/~accerl/home/ 

Financial Accounting Sharing Professor of the Week
Anwer Ahmed from Syracuse University --- http://sominfo.syr.edu/facstaff/asahmed/ 

Claire Kamm Latham from Washington State University shares some lecture outlines on various courses including Contemporary Accounting Problems and Internal Control ---  http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/fac/latham/home.html 

Eli Amir at Tel Aviv Unversity shares some research papers at http://www.recanati.tau.ac.il/faculty/amir_eli.htm 

Stephen Lim from the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia shares some working papers at http://www.business.uts.edu.au/accounting/staff/staff.php?name=Lim 

Although many of the University of Rochester business faculty research papers must be purchased from the Social Science Research Network, 
Andrew J. Leone makes some of his available free online at  --- http://www.simon.rochester.edu/fac/Leone/research.htm 

The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania shares some of its business research papers --- http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/ 

The Johnson School of Management at Cornell University makes some business research working papers available --- http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/publications/workingpapers/ 


Idea for a Student Project:  Have you students dream up and design and deliver possible Schmoozing 101 courses.

Now you can get courses in money management and basket weaving at Smith College
Schmoozing 101 lightens course load," CNN.com, January 23, 2003 --- http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/01/23/lite.courses.ap/index.html 
Thank you Debbie Bowling for the link to this article.

NORTHAMPTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Smith College professor George Robinson worked the classroom, trying to convince students he was psychic by offering details about their lives -- including names of family members and descriptions of childhood neighborhoods.

Some were mesmerized, others uncomfortable -- but all were agreed that "Paranormal Phenomena" wasn't just another class at Smith College. In fact, it's one of 59 noncredit courses that Smith offers to bridge the three-week gap between the end of the holidays and the start of the spring semester.

Like some other, mostly private schools -- including Oberlin College in Ohio and Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, -- Smith offers noncredit, nonmandatory courses in January called interterm classes.

Paid for by student fees, the goal of the courses is to give students a chance to learn something -- often unusual -- without the pressure of the normal classload.

"It's school without the school. It gives you independence to do whatever you want. Plus, you get to explore all these great things," said senior Lynn Peck, a student turned instructor for the interterm "Introduction to Fencing."

Other offerings include money management and an honest-to-goodness class in basket-weaving.

Continued at http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/01/23/lite.courses.ap/index.html 


The secrets of history's greatest speakers. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761563512/accountingweb 

Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Practical Secrets of History's Greatest Speakers
by James C. Humes


The Next Big Thing:  Grid Computing

Corporations are starting to salivate over grid computing's potential for massive storage and processing power. Its creators -- tech and science geeks -- look forward to a new era --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57231,00.html 

For years, connecting university and research-center supercomputers so they could share resources simply wasn't feasible. New standards are changing that and opening the door to new research possibilities --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57265,00.html 

Bob Jensen's threads on grid computing are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm 


LINC: Learning International Networks Consortium at MIT --- http://ken.mit.edu/DevShell/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=254&portalID=32 

LINC is an MIT-managed project starting its activities in the year 2003. The purpose of LINC is to help facilitate the implementation of world class tertiary education in developing countries, leveraging Internet, television and radio technologies. A youth-oriented population demographic, often with two thirds or more of the population being less than 25 years old often characterizes developing countries.

The fraction of young people who receive some form of tertiary education is often less than 4 per cent in contrast to numbers greater than 40 per cent in developed countries. In a global economy that increasingly rewards those with skills honed for the ‘knowledge industries,’ developing countries will be left further behind unless their youth receive quality higher level education. Investment in such an effort is required not only for social fairness and justice but also for world peace.

LINC will become the premier association of professionals and practitioners whose primary concern is quality tertiary e-learning in developing countries. It is a community of active scholars and doers. Membership in LINC is open to individuals and institutions. LINC will be supported financially by membership dues and donations from foundations, private companies and governmental institutions. LINC is not another educational content provider though it is probable that LINC institutional members will be content providers to other LINC members, both institutions and individual members.

Initially LINC will support the following activities:

·          An annual international symposium on best practices in e-learning;


·          Publications, including a magazine reporting case studies and a refereed journal reporting on LINC-relevant research;


·          A collaborative interactive web site that will support those who are focusing on LINC-related activities;


·          Starter R&D projects in developing countries aimed at new initiatives such as alternative pedagogical models in e-learning;


·          Provision of technical assistance in ‘training the trainers,’ who will serve as initial key e-learning personnel in a country.


·          Involvement of college and university students studying in developed countries in internships on e-learning in developing countries.


·          Creation of collaborative educational web sites to which all LINC members can contribute and from which all can access contributed materials.


·          Identifying and encouraging foundations, private firms and governmental institutions that may want to scale up one or more LINC-supported starter projects to significant size.


·          Facilitating the matching of expert resources to the e-learning needs of any particular LINC member.

 


The SUNY online program enrollments are up 34% --- http://sln.suny.edu/ 

The online SUNY Degree programs are at http://sln.suny.edu/sln/public/original.nsf/504ca249c786e20f85256284006da7ab/bdfaee3e96b7b4d28525675f0057a75d?OpenDocument 

Note that SUNY offers a Masters of Accounting Program online.

Some other online Masters of Accounting Programs are listed at http://www.online-masters-degrees-programs.org/masters-of-accounting.htm 

Others are listed at http://www.masters-degrees-online-programs.com/ 

Programs for Masters of Accounting and Masters of Taxation are listed at http://www.itss.fau.edu/programs.htm 

January 28, 2003 reply from Bruce Lubich [blubich@UMUC.EDU

Hi Bob,

At University of Maryland University College, we offer three accounting oriented, fully online Masters degrees.

The first is the Masters of Science in Management with specialization in Accounting. This program is designed for those who want to get the CPA or who need hours to keep the CPA active. The focus is on greater breadth and depth than the undergraduate courses. More information is available on the degree website at http://info.umuc.edu/acct-fin/student/msm-acct/acct-track.htm

The second degree is the Masters of Science in Accounting and Financial Management. This degree is designed for students who want to concentrate more specifically in the finance and accounting fields. Students develop more specialized skills and depth in both disciplines. For more information, please visit the website: http://info.umuc.edu/acct-fin/student/msaf/

Finally, we also offer a Masters of Science in Accounting and Information Technology. This program is designed for students who want to concentrate their studies on accounting with an information technology emphasis. Students develop competencies in both areas so they can work closely with the IT people. More information on this degree is available on the website: http://info.umuc.edu/acct-fin/student/msat/

The coursework for all of these degrees is available online through a proprietary program.

For information on other degrees and courses offered online through University of Maryland University College, please go to www.umuc.edu and click on Graduate in the left column.

If anyone has questions, please feel free to email me.

Bruce H. Lubich
Graduate Accounting Program Director

January 28, 2003 reply from Peter French [pjfrench@CELESTIAL.COM.AU

A note of caution for those looking at Foreign Masters Degrees

In Australia, New Zealand and UK, you will find what appear to be suitable offerings in the fields under consideration. However these may NOT be what people from the US are seeking, as degrees may be commonly named/described but quite different in both content and level.

Traditionally we leave High School and immediately embark on our professional education. There is no initial 'intermediate type' generalised undergraduate degree as in the US. Unless it is a liberal arts type degree, it is essentially 75% core [resembling what you do in your masters degree] and 25 % elective, but at post Y12 level. In for example, Accounting, Engineering, and Law, our students exit from their undergraduate degrees as professionals for direct entry into the professional accredited programs such as CPA etc. So most qualified accountants, engineers and lawyers are simply BCom/BEc/BBus, BCom/BA LLB, BEng, and until recently those like myself with e.g. an MAcc have done heavy advanced post graduate study which is not dissimilar to the core competencies of your PhD degrees. Consequently it is still not uncommon to find senior academics and Deans with an excellent publications records, masters degrees, but without doctorates.

However, there is a growing band of 'new masters' degrees coming on to the market that serve the requirements of overseas students and those wishing to change careers. These degree bear the 'masters' title, but are essentially undergraduate units repackaged for graduates of other disciplines, and therefore you may note that persons cannot enrol where they have an undergraduate degree in the same discipline - simply they would be doing the same work again!

So there are the old style Masters where the entry is an undergraduate degree in the same discipline plus some years of professional practice, and then there are the new style Masters which are 'post graduate' in that the entrants to these repackaged undergraduate degrees and already graduates in another unrelated discipline. My MEd is also 'old style' as it required a 4 years post graduate BEd for entry, whereas some present MEd offerings are essentially teaching degrees.

I apologise for the apparent confusion, but that is life. Our universities are funded by the Federal Government and are fully accredited in US parlance so the problems of sorting out true from degreemill is nothing like the problem in the US. However, they are now required to raises half of their operating revenue from fee paying students [locals don't pay for undergraduate education or research masters degrees, or doctorate], and so the global student is being sought with new degree offerings. I have advised many foreign [including US students and professionals] in this area, and generally the 'new masters' is what you are looking for. I would be happy to personally and gratuitously advise any who are looking at an Australian degree.

Peter French
MAcc MEd BEd CMA
Melbourne, Australia

Bob Jensen's thread about online training and education programs can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 


Online Training

Oracle Business Suite http://www.netledger.com/portal/products_1.jsp?product=osbs&promocode=O_Google_IMP 

LRN Legal Compliance and Ethics Center (LCEC)™ --- http://www.lrn.com/ 

Bloomberg University --- http://www.bloomberguniversity.com/index.jsp?cookieProbe=true 

Bloomberg University exists to provide you with the best financial and investing information possible through its expanding list of online courses.

From picking funds for a 401(k) program to saving up for a first home, the choices facing the public can be daunting. Our goal at Bloomberg University is to provide you with a solid foundation of knowledge and empower you to make the right decisions in your financial life.

Bloomberg University is a natural extension of Bloomberg.com. After taking the courses on our site, we hope you will continue to turn to Bloomberg.com as you implement your investment strategies, whether it's to research a new stock or to find the best funds for your retirement portfolio.

Learning Tree International (Global Information Technology Training)
This company is featured in a full page article in Barrons, January 20, 2003, Page 27.

Learning Tree International is a world leader in hands-on training for IT Professionals. Over 1.3 million course participants from 18,000+ companies have enhanced their IT skills through intensive hands-on exercises led by expert instructors with real-world experience. Courses are presented at Learning Tree Education Centers and other locations throughout the world, as well as on-site at client facilities. Choose from over 150 courses in today's hottest technologies, including Windows XP, 2000, .NET, Java, XML, Oracle9i and 8i, UNIX and IT Management, along with 42 Professional Certification Programs

Bob Jensen's threads on online training and education alternatives can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 


January 28, 2003 message from Roselyn E. Morris [rm13@business.swt.edu

The AAA Teaching and Curriculum Section is pleased to announce that the

Winter 2003 edition of The Accounting Educator, the Section Newsletter,

is available on the T&C web site at:

http://raw.rutgers.edu/raw/aaa/tccomm/newsletters/index.htm

Note from Bob Jensen
There is a rather nice "Have You Seen" section this time at http://raw.rutgers.edu/raw/aaa/tccomm/newsletters/Winter03/item04.htm 


I added the following links to my threads on visualization of multidimensional data --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpVisual/000DataVisualization.htm 

Books and Seminars of Edward R. Tufte --- http://www.edwardtufte.com/1635855389/tufte/ 

Also see http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/bib/nf/t/tufte.htm


Open Content/Open Source Sites Allow You to Add and Edit Content and Share

Aaron Konstam mentioned the following open source link --- http://www.wikipedia.org/ 

Wikipedia is a multilingual project to create a complete and accurate open content encyclopedia. We started on 15 January 2001 and are already working on 99391 articles in the English version. Visit the help page and experiment in the sandbox to learn how you can edit any article right now 

Philosophy, Mathematics, Natural Science

Astronomy and astrophysics - Biology - Chemistry - Earth science - Mathematics - Philosophy - Physics - Statistics

Applied Arts and Sciences

Agriculture - Architecture - Business and industry - Communication - Computer science - Education - Engineering - Family and consumer science - Health science - Law - Library and information science - Public affairs - Technology - Transport

Social Sciences

Anthropology - Archaeology - Economics - Geography - History - History of science and technology - Language - Linguistics - Political science - Psychology - Sociology

Culture

Classics - Cooking - Dance - Entertainment - Film - Games - Handicraft - Hobbies - Literature - Music - Opera - Painting - Recreation - Religion - Sculpture - Sports - Theater - Tourism - Visual arts and design

Other Category Schemes

About our category schemes - Library of Congress catalog - Dewey Decimal System - Wikipedia arranged by topic - Historical timeline - Calendar - Reference tables - Biographies - Current events

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


Savant Syndrome is One of the Most Mysterious Phenomena in the Universe

The Discovery Channel recently aired a delightful documentary on several savants.  I have a difficult time navigating the Discovery Channel's Website.  However, every now and then I will try to feed you a few inspirational links on savants.  One of fascinating take aways from the documentary was the fact that savants tend to have a marvelous and inexplicable memory.  They can be creative in such feats as composing music and even poetry in some rare instances.  However, they tend not to be able to conceptualize or see the forest apart from each tree in the forest.

The following links were not included in the television show.

What is savant syndrome? --- http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/faq.cfm 

Savant Syndrome is a rare, but spectacular, condition in which persons with various developmental disorders, including autistic disorder, have astonishing islands of ability, brilliance or talent that stand in stark, markedly incongruous contrast to overall limitations. The condition can be congenital (genetic or inborn), or can be acquired later in childhood, or even in adults. The savant skills co-exist with, or are superimposed upon, various developmental disabilities including autistic disorder, or other conditions such as mental retardation or brain injury or disease that occurs before (pre-natal) during (peri-natal) or after birth (post-natal), or even later in childhood or adult life. The extraordinary skills are always linked with prodigious memory of a special type — exceedingly deep but very, very narrow.

An Introduction and Listing of Some Great Examples --- http://groups.msn.com/TheAutismHomePage/savantsyndrome.msnw 

Leslie Lemke: An Inspirational Performance --- http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/lemke.cfm 

Leslie was intrigued with music and rhythm as a child. Once he was found under the bed strumming the springs in a wondrous tune. He also had a remarkable memory and would often repeat verbatim, intonations and all, a whole day's conversation he had overheard from whomever he might be visiting. Leslie played and sang often, but mostly the simple tunes May sang or popular songs from the radio. May wasn't into classical music.

But one evening when Leslie was about age 14, Joe and May watched, and Leslie listened, to a television Sunday Night Movie. In the early morning hours May heard music. She thought Joe had left the television on. She went to turn it off and there was Leslie, playing flawlessly from beginning to end, having heard it but once, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, which was the theme song for that movie. God's miracle, May said, came into full bloom that night.

. . .

Walter Cronkite used that story for his CBS Evening News program that December. He introduced the segment with, "This is a season that celebrates a miracle, and this story belongs to the season. It's the story of a young man, a piano, and a miracle." Other programs, including Donahue, That's Incredible, and Oprah hosted May and Leslie. The 60 Minutes program aired in October of 1983. Morley Safer considers it one of his favorite 10 stories, and Leslie was part of the 25th Anniversary edition of that show in 1993.

Leslie has given concerts throughout the United States. In 1984 he gave a command performance by invitation for the Crown Prince and Princess in Norway and also has been on tour in Japan. Today he continues to give concerts but, just as often, plays for free at a school, a nursing home, a prison, or a church.

Are you capable of multiplying 147,631,789 by 23,674 in your head, instantly? --- http://www.autismtoday.com/articles/Inner_Savant.htm 

Savant Syndrome: What's New? --- http://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/savant/whatsnew.cfm 


A spam-filter provider's list of the top 10 "most annoying" junk e-mails in 2002 -- sent en masse to news outlets -- seems to be nothing more than another unsolicited message crowding the inbox --- http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57329,00.html 

So when a Northern California company broadcast an unsolicited mass mailing to the press on Tuesday with the subject line "ANTI-SPAM LEADER SURFCONTROL CITES TOP 10 MOST ANNOYING SPAM IN 2002," it was, well, a tad annoying.

For one thing, because typing in all-caps amounts to offline shouting, it has become a favorite tactic of spam-meisters, along with misspellings and exclamation points.

Indeed, most filtering systems intercept messages with subject lines in all capitals and reroute them to a junk folder. Thus, an e-mail recently sent to Wired News' inbox with the teaser "BREAK THROUGH WALLS WITH YOUR COCK!" was automatically diverted to the digital dustbin.

Nevertheless, the company's spam spam was delivered, in part because it was distributed by a trusted source, PR Newswire, which forwards press releases to media outlets.

The sender was a company called SurfControl.

This is how the company describes itself on its website: "SurfControl plc (London:SRF, Nasdaq Europe:SRFC), the world's Number One Web and e-mail filtering company, is the only company in the security market offering a total content security solution that combines Web and e-mail filtering technology with the industry's largest, most accurate and relevant content database and adaptive reasoning tools to automate content recognition."

Jargon-free translation: We make e-mail spam filters.

What was SurfControl's reasoning behind the all caps subject line?

"It wasn't a conscious effort on our part to put the subject line in all caps," said SurfControl spokeswoman Christina Frey, who defended the move as "standard" for press releases.

The company's TOP 10 MOST ANNOYING SPAM IN 2002 included subject lines that ranged from the Nigerian "Urgent and Confidential" hoax to "XXX Your Free Adult Sites Password."

Spam gurus expressed skepticism about the list.

"Well, how do you judge 'annoyance' in spam? If I were to pick the top 10 most annoying to me, it probably wouldn't be those 10," said Bill Yerazunis, who built the respected spam filter CRM114.

Frey offered some clarification.

Turns out the methodology behind the "10 MOST ANNOYING SPAM IN 2002" wasn't measuring spam recipients' heart rate response or Tourette's-like outbursts when advertisements for barnyard whores maxed out their e-mail inboxes.

Rather, the TOP 10 MOST ANNOYING SPAM IN 2002 was actually the most recurring spam seized by SurfControl's filters in 2002. (Frey couldn't say how many instances of each message the company's filters had nipped.)

Paul Graham, organizer of a recent MIT spam conference, said the company seems to have missed a few.

"Their top 10 list seems to have been greatly affected by their hopes of getting it picked up by the press," Graham said. "There were plenty of spams with unprintable subject lines that were both more prevalent and more annoying than the ones they list here."

In other words, the TOP 10 MOST ANNOYING SPAM IN 2002 list was, essentially, spam.


Bravo to this University of Texas Graduate --- http://www.smartpros.com/x36771.xml 

John McGinnis, an auditor at a Big Four accounting firm in Houston, scored four grades of 99 -- the highest score possible -- in the two-day, four-part CPA licensing examination, according to the Texas Board of Public Accountancy, the state agency that administers the test.

He is scheduled to receive the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants Gold Medal.


This Makes Me Really Sad

Although the Fathom Website does not seem to act like anything is wrong, it is reported on Page A30 of the January 17, 2003 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education that "After Losing Millions, Columbia University Will Close Online-Learning Venture."  That learning venture was called Fathom --- http://www.fathom.com/ 

Fathom seemed to have most of the crucial ingredients for an online training and education venture.  The positives included the following:

And now we must speculate where Fathom's business model failed and why it continued to hemorrhage cash in spite of doing so many great things in the design of its business model.  Part of the problem may have been timing combined with a world that seems more connected online than is really the case when trying to match adult learners with online opportunities.  Fathom is not the only failed for-profit online education ventures that have failed.  Prominent failures include the ventures listed at the following quotation from the Chronicle article cited above:

"I think Fathom was a great experiment," said James L. Hilton, associate provost for academic information and instructional technology affairs at Michigan.  "The problems that Fathom was trying to address--how to connect with lifelong learners, how to provide authenticated information--are an important challenge...I wish that the national economics could have supported a longer experiment."

Ann G. Kirschner, president and chief executive officer of Fathom, said the flagging economy had put pressure on the venture.  In May, the Columbia University Senate recommended cutting back on the institution's investment in Fathom, although the university reportedly had already cut back.

In 2001, Columbia gave Fathom $14.9 million, while the venture earned $700,000 from fees from other institutions and sales revenue.

"The reality is, we're in tough economic times," Ms. Kirschner said.  "No institution, particularly the ones involved in the Fathom consortium, wants to do anything without the highest academic quality."

She added: "Fathom was an expensive vehicle for innovation.  In tough economic times, it's natural that our investor would look for ways to reduce that investment."

"I think we're going out on a high," Ms. Kirschner said.  "We've outlasted nearly everybody."

Indeed, for-profit online-learning ventures already have closed at New York University, Temple University, and the University of Maryland University College.

It is important to note that the failures of the online ventures mentioned above do not imply that many other somewhat similar ventures have failed.  Some ventures like UNext are still in business because of large training and education contracts with industry.  Some like Army University and IRS University are thriving because government has contracted to pay the course costs delivered from major universities.  

Who's Succeeding in Online Education?
The most successful online programs at this point in time seem to be embedded in large university systems that have huge onsite extension programs as well as online alternatives.  Two noteworthy systems in this regard are the enormous University of Wisconsin and the University of Texas extension programs.  Under the leadership of Jack Wilson, UMass Online has thrived with hundreds of online courses.  I think Open University is the largest public university in the world. Open University has online as well as onsite programs. The University of Phoenix continues to be the largest private university in the world in terms of student enrollments.

Success of online courses in some way is more noteworthy in terms of the hundreds of thousands of online students enrolled in courses delivered by developing countries like India and Indonesia.  See the recent United Nations report at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001284/128463e.pdf 

There seems to be a sufficient level of success for some prestige universities like Harvard and MIT to make plans for greatly expanding its online training and education programs.  See http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=6388  

Bob Jensen's threads on online learning can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/0000start.htm 
Especially note the many alternatives listed at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/crossborder.htm 

You can listen to the MP3 audio of Mike Kirschenheiter from Columbia University discussing Fathom at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/001cpe/01start.htm 

January 17, 2003 reply from Bruce Lubich [blubich@UMUC.EDU
(Note that Dr. Lubich is the
Graduate Program Director in Accounting at University of Maryland University College.)

I would add University of Maryland University College to the list of successful, diverse, and growing online education programs. Please feel free to check out the website at www.umuc.edu

Bruce Lubich

January 17, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

James Madison University is enjoying great success with our on-line "InfoSec MBA" program. It is so successful (both learning as well as monetarily) that we are expanding it to cover additional cohorts. It is tiny compared to the programs being discussed (we limit a cohort to 25 students, and we have three staggered cohorts running at any given time, expanding to five or six next year). But it is a cash cow for the College even though it is relatively expensive to run. Maybe inflatable rafts do better than supertankers in these uncharted waters right now...

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University

January 17, 2003 reply from J. S. Gangolly [gangolly@CSC.ALBANY.EDU

Bob,

I too am saddened. However, as you suggest, some programs seem to be surviving (not sure if thriving). One of the earliest online education programs that seems to have survived rather very well is the SUNY Learning Network, which was initially funded by the Sloan Foundation. You can find information about the outfit at

http://sln.suny.edu/sln/public/original.nsf 

Many campuses in the SUNY system do use this. The model seems to be working. It is my understanding that any course offered by any campus in the SUNY system can also be offered through SLN. The department offering a course through SLN is charged a fee (I am told, fairly modest).

This may be a viable model, where the network provides the infrastructure that faculty can use to deliver online education. I don't think they have an explicit "business model" or strategy. The administration provides the infrastructure, and lets the faculty determine how to deliver it. The SLN is slowly evolving, and I am getting more and more confident that it will succeed in the long run.

I have not used SLN, but chat with colleagues who have used it in the past is encouraging me to offer some of my graduate courses online through them, of course, provided the administration in the department and the school will let me (and I am confident they will).

You can not run an education enterprise like a business. The fault of Fathom, like Unext and Cardean, I think is this ridiculous notion that "business" aspects of education predominate. It also confirms my suspicion (have known it for a long time when it comes to IT) that marks of "high quality" and prestige can not substitute for deep faculty involvement and initiative. A dean at my university, exasperated at the independence of the faculty, is fond of saying that "managing" faculty is like herding cats. I say, thank goodness we have a hand at determining our own fate.

It is my feeling that online education will succeed only when the administration provides a good infrastructure, provides technical support, gets out of the way of the faculty, and lets the faculty use it as they see fit.

I would be interesting in knowing if the other systems that seem to have survived well also have similar attributes.

Jagdish


Technology and Learning Innovation of the Week:  Presedia For Training, Education, and Presentations (it's not cheap)

Presedia:  A new product from Macromedia --- http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/presedia/ 
The above website links an audio overview from Macromedia.

Bob Jensen's threads on courseware software can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/290wp/290wp.htm 


NYU and the Village: An Urban University in Bohemia (Literature, Libraries, Education, Art, Photography, History, New York City, Greenwich Village)  http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/collections/exhibits/bobst/washsq/index.html 

Welcome to the crossroads of modernity and culture; a place where artists and scholars have been meeting for well over a century: New York University and Greenwich Village. Here you will meet some of the great minds that helped give our country its unique cultural identity. You will also be able to view the evolution of a place that has witnessed change and offers a unique perspective of the forces that have shaped NYU and the world at large.

Vintage Vegas (History, Photography) --- http://www.crecon.com/vintagevegas/ 


Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies (Art, History)  http://www.princeton.edu/~artspol/ 

The Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies was created to improve the clarity, accuracy and sophistication of discourse about the nation's artistic and cultural life. Its programs and activities are designed to create an infrastructure of well-trained scholars who have access to regularly collected information about cultural organizations, activities and providers and who produce timely research and analysis on key topics in arts and cultural policy.


Even if you don't golf, get some free birthday or XMAS presents prior to February 28, 2003 from Nike.
According to Norm Meonske at Kent State, you can get free golf balls (including free shipping) from the following site:

http://nikegolf.nike.com/nikegolf/register/ssoffer.jsp 


"Calendar Spreads, Outright Futures Positions, and Risk," by Ira G. Kawaller, Paul D. Koch, and Ludan Liu,  The Journal of Alternative Investments, Winter 2002 --- http://www.kawaller.com/pdf/JAI.pdf 

A futures calendar spread is constructed by simultaneously buying and selling two futures contracts with a common underlying instrument but different expiration dates—for instance, buying a December S&P 500 futures contract and selling a September S&P 500 contract. While spreads are generally considered to be less risky than outright futures positions, it is important to recognize that market participants typically trade a larger number of spreads than outrights. Presumably, such traders are attempting to achieve greater returns with similar risk, or similar returns with less risk. Depending on the relative sizes of the positions and the performance of the spreads vis-a ` -vis the outright, the goal of achieving similar returns or risk may or may not be realized.

We propose one way to determine the “appropriate” number of calendar spreads to trade relative to (or instead of) a single outright is to equalize the values-at-risk (VaR) of the two positions. If we assume that daily price changes in a single outright and a single calendar spread are both normally distributed, then the ratio of their respective standard deviations represents the multiple of spreads that offers a comparable VaR to a single outright, ex ante. We call this multiple the ex ante VaR-adjusted spread position. The ratio of standard deviations is appropriate to determine this multiple, however, only if the underlying distributions are normal. Because this assumption may not be valid, it is not clear which strategy would generate better ex post performance in terms of risk and return, or which would experience a return distribution more desirable properties.


Feeling Cynical?

A Canadian travel agent (I have to make several trips to Canada in March) informed me that over the weekend American Airlines and most other major carriers tripled their discounted ticket prices last weekend.  I’m not sure if this covers all routes, but she said the enormous price jump caught travel agents in North America completely off guard.  You may want to take this into consideration if you are planning on flying this spring.   She rerouted me on America West for two trips (Vancouver and Calgary), and thereby reduced the ticket prices from $1,700 to $600 approximately.

The January 22, 2003  FinanceProfessor Newsletter has some exceptional links that are probably of interest to faculty and students in most any discipline.

Feeling cynical? 
If you aren’t now, you will by the time you finish the new Bebchuk and Fried paper on executive compensation.  They paint a fairly gloomy picture of managers exerting their power to “extract rents and to camouflage the extent of their rent extraction.”  Rather than designed to solve agency cost problems, the paper makes the case that executive pay can by an agency cost in and of itself.  Let’s hope things aren’t this bad. 

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=364220

If Kmart’s stores had been nearly as busy as their management has been, the bankrupt company’s problems would be solved.  But the activity remains concentrated at headquarters as the troubled retailer announced over 300 more store closings and named a new CEO.  However, many are pondering if even these changes will be enough to turn the fortunes of the firm and allow it to compete against the Wal-Mart juggernaut.  (Trivia: Olean, NY now has a store and San Antonio, Texas does not!) http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/030114/retail_kmart_14.html

http://www.freep.com/money/business/kside15_20030115.htm

Revise your notes on this one.  Microsoft has decided to begin paying dividends. However, Slate questions whether the dividend is meaningful as it is for only 16 cents a share and a small portion of their over $47 billion cash on hand.  Two reasons that Microsoft and other tech firms are reluctant to pay dividends is that most of their employee (read executive) stock options are not dividend protected and hence paying dividends would lower their option value and secondly due to the so-called option overhang, a end of buyback programs would lead to stock dilution.  

http://slate.msn.com/id/2077122/  

http://slate.msn.com/id/2076731/

Jung and Shiller have an interesting paper that looks at Samuelson’s dictum: that is that the market is more efficient pricing individual stocks than getting the overall price level (i.e. the market) correct.  In English it means that while we can price stocks relative to one another reasonably well, we can not price the overall market as well.  

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=348180

The Washington Post draws into question how well the Nasdaq and the NYSE will be willing and able to follow through with all of their “tough talk” designed to improve corporate governance.  Will they actually delist firms for not having enough outside board members?  Only time will tell, but given their track records, it is far from guaranteed.  That said, things may be different this time and both markets are adamant that they mean business this time.  (Interesting fact: in last two years the Nasdaq has delisted 670 firms including “about 100 for corporate governance issues” the NYSE on the other hand has yet to delist anyone for corporate governance issues, but this may be in part due to their policy of reaching out to firms to alter the governance issue before it comes to a head.  (or not, remember Enron was a NYSE firm.) 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19050-2003Jan20.html

In one of the least widely reported stories I have stumbled upon, Wilber Ross is purchasing the assets of steel operations that have gone bankrupt and is potentially in the position to make a lot of money. How? By purchasing the assets of the firms and leaving the so-called legacy costs (example pension and heath-care costs) out. It is a great example of several important topics that are often hard to demonstrate in class: how a. bankruptcy changes the rules of the game, b. why it is sometimes better to purchase assets rather than the whole firm, and c. that inadvertently government policies can impact more than intended. In this case, Ross is relying on the government (read tax payers) to pick up the legacy costs. Which is not a condemnation for without the bail-outs, it is unlikely that any of the deals would get done. However, his reliance on tariffs is troubling. (This one will reach text books!) 

http://slate.msn.com/id/2077087/ 

When text books are written about merger deals that have done poorly, the Time Warner-AOL deal will likely top the list. This past week CNBC aired a documentary on the deal. Like an unauthorized biography, the show was harsh on both parties, and in doing show showed many of the things that can go wrong. Notably, the stock deal occurred near the peak of the internet bubble, allowing AOL to pay for the deal with what some are calling “funny money.” Moreover, the woes have not stopped since the deal occurred as the combined firm has faced much managerial in-fighting and accounting mark-downs. The most recent mark-down was for yet another $10 billion. Of course the firm was back in the news this past week as Steve Case resigned and the board selected Dick Parsons as the new CEO. (BTW I would like a copy of the show, if anyone knows where I can get one, please let me know.)

http://www.msnbc.com/news/856912.asp

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/technology/stories/010903dnbusheist.5f3b8.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/14/business/media/14AOL.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2651821.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2666983.stm


The Tax Prep Battle Begins Online sites are staking out their positions as the income tax filing season gets underway; the Internet is increasingly a battlefield where companies like H &R Block and Intuit compete for the hearts, minds and wallets of taxpayers. http://ecommerce.internet.com/news/news/article/0,,10375_1572351,00.html 

It's getting to be that time of year, and once again tax preparation icon H&R Block is teaming up with Microsoft in an effort to one-up the competition, especially competition from Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU), whose TurboTax product dominates the software market for self-preparers.

There are lots of other players in the online tax game, though, and increasingly, the Internet is where the tax battle is played out.

Kansas City-based H&R Block and Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) said today they are joining forces to offer a variety of financial resources via the the MSN Tax Center. Such deals are relatively common; Intuit has a similar deal with Yahoo!

And the Internal Revenue Service itself is embracing the concept of Internet filing and has struck a deal with an alliance of tax preparers and software publishers (the Free File Alliance, which includes both H&R Block and Intuit) that it says will allow more than 60 percent of Americans to file their tax returns electronically without charge.

Why is the IRS making such a big effort on electronic filing?

"I think it's a supply-side push if you will -- it's the IRS realizing they are just drowning in paperwork and doing what they can to cut down on it," said Ross S. Rubin, senior analyst for global access and technology at eMarketer. "In addition, it makes it easier to provide an audit trail. Over time, getting the data in digital form allows the IRS to do a better job of pattern recognition, trying to find clues that might tip off an audit."

The IRS has a goal of getting 80 percent of individual federal returns electronically by 2007, but it has a long way to go. The Free File program launched by the IRS provides links from the irs.gov site to 17 commercial tax preparers or software companies

This is the fourth year of the Microsoft/H&R Block collaboration and, as they put it, the Tax Center site "combines insightful commentary, analysis and powerful tools and services from CNBC on MSN Money together with the expertise of online tax preparation and filing from H&R Block..."

Consumers can use H&R Block's online tax programs to prepare and file their taxes. Will you have to pay to file? The best way to find out is to use the "Free File Wizard," a simple questionnaire on the IRS Web site. From there, taxpayers can link to any of the companies in the alliance.

"H&R Block is committed to providing a tax solution for all consumers -- whether they prepare and file in our office, on their desktop or on the Web," says David Byers, chief marketing officer for H&R Block. "By continuing this successful alliance with (Microsoft) we're able to provide our wide range of filing solutions in a place where consumers already are managing their complete financial picture."

Intuit, meanwhile, also a Free File Alliance partner, is donating its online product, TurboTax for the Web, for free to every taxpayer with an adjusted gross income under $27,000 as well as those who qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Block will offer free federal online tax preparation and e-filing to taxpayers whose adjusted gross income is $28,000 or less. It also has a deal with America Online.

And of course, there's lots of other online competition, including TaxACT.com, TaxBrain.com, Yahoo's Tax Center, CompleteTax , among others.

Interestingly, one consumer watchdog group says that when it comes to free tax filing services, there's always a catch.

"Free File could be the loss leader for commercial tax preparers," Jean Ann Fox of the Consumer Federation of America has been quoted as saying.

Continued at http://ecommerce.internet.com/news/news/article/0,,10375_1572351,00.html 

January 23, 2003 reply from Craig Polhemus [Joedpo@AOL.COM

Just a warning to those who use TurboTax and who don't receive InfoWorld updates -- you've got to use only ONE computer to start and finish your taxes this year, and it leaves Macrovision software running in background even when you're not using TurboTax. Personally, I've got 3 computers that I switch among frequently (XP desktop, XP notebook, Mac notebook) and that's really not enough as it is -- kind of the way Jan Williams is with cars.

Anyway, here's the InfoWorld column in question. ("Don't Pass This Along" is the headline of Ed Foster's 1/17-1/21 Gripe Line column complaining about Intuit's policy, by the way, not an admonition against sharing his column -- it's available free if you sign up online.)

Craig

January 23, 2003 reply from Dee (Dawn) Davidson [dgd@MARSHALL.USC.EDU

Thank you Craig and Bob, for that piece. 

I have used Turbo Tax for the last 8 years and have several times needed to bring the old years forward on a new machine, then re-open them to find and print critical data. After all, isn't that what being "paperless" is all about? I wonder if you would have the same problem if you used the on-line version from Intuit's web site, which is also available to all Vanguard account holders? I haven't loaded my CD's yet (1 for fed and 1 for state), but I'll think seriously now before I do.

As seen in What's New Now from Ziff Davis

Warning to any company with a loyal following: your customers can turn on you in a minute! Intuit found that out the hard way this week when it tweaked TurboTax and limited users' flexibility. A revolt broke out on the discussion boards at both PC Magazine and ExtremeTech, and eventually forced Intuit to change its tune—at least a bit. Find out what they did, and read all about the hubbub that ensued!

http://eletters1.ziffdavis.com/cgi-bin10/flo?y=hTf80CIyMm0HX60tj50A4 


Knowing Poe (Literature) --- http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/default_flash.asp 
Includes primary source documents such as letters as well as a video version of the Raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore —
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door —
"'Tis some visiter," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
      Only this and nothing more."

Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December;
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow; — vainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow — sorrow for the lost Lenore —
For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore —
      Nameless here for evermore.

And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me — filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,
"'Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door —
Some late visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door; —
      This it is and nothing more."

Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,
"Sir," said I, "or Madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;
But the fact is I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,
And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,
That I scarce was sure I heard you " — here I opened wide the door; ——
      Darkness there and nothing more.

Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!" —
      Merely this and nothing more.

Back into the chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,
Soon again I heard a tapping somewhat louder than before.
"Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;
Let me see, then, what thereat is, and this mystery explore —
Let my heart be still a moment and this mystery explore;—
      'Tis the wind and nothing more!"

Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter,
In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore;
Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he;
But, with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door —
Perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door —
      Perched, and sat, and nothing more.


Continued at http://knowingpoe.thinkport.org/library/theraven_astin.asp 


And speaking of that Raven above, see the following with respect to SAT testing:
"Before Taking the SAT, Read These Few Tips," by June Kronholz, The Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2003 --- http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1043272827148432064,00.html?mod=todays%5Fus%5Fmarketplace%5Fhs 

Kaplan Inc., the test-prep company, insists that the test has changed subtly over the past decade. It says there are more questions on probability, the reading passages are longer and harder, and questions are less about content (who did what in that last paragraph?), and more about logic (why does that raven keep cackling "Nevermore"?).


Free color deficiency eye test --- http://www.liquidgeneration.com/sabotage/vision_sabotage.asp 


From Syllabus News on January 17, 2003

Stanford Business School Joins Exec Ed Program

Stanford University's Graduate School of Business said it would collaborate with high-tech industry association AeA to expand its offering of high-tech executive education programs. AeA and Stanford's School of Engineering have partnered on a two-week education program for technology executives through the AeA/Stanford Executive Institute for the past 28 years. The addition of the business school to the partnership is expected to result in a new catalog of educational events and services. The curriculum of the Executive Institute is designed to give senior-level management industry-specific management and leadership skills.

For more information, visit http://www.aeanet.org/stanford 


DeVry Expands Online Degree Program Offerings

Chicago-based DeVry University received approval to expand the number of degree programs offered online. The university, which offers degree programs in business, technology and management, currently offers three undergraduate and all seven graduate programs online. The approval allows the school to offer five additional undergraduate programs via distance learning. DeVry University has been offering online programs since 1998, starting with its Keller Graduate School of Management master's degree programs. "DeVry has always offered degree programs which meet the needs of working adult learners," said Ronald L. Taylor, president and co-chief executive officer of DeVry Inc., the parent company of DeVry University. "Online delivery of these additional degree programs offers students the accessibility and flexibility they demand."

For more information visit http://www.devry.edu 


Calif. Art Institute Offers BA in Video Game Design

The Art Institute of California - San Diego is offering new bachelor's degree program in Game Art & Design, designed to train new computer artists “who combine artistic and digital skills with a fervent passion for creating -- and playing -- the next generation of video games.” The city turns out to be a hub of video gaming entrepreneurship, with the presence of Midway Home Entertainment, Presto Studios, Dragon's Lair LLC, Rockstar San Diego, Rapid Eye Entertainment, and DFC Intelligence. Students in the program will start out by studying color theory, drawing, sculpture and other art fundamentals. The program then adds courses in 3D modeling, animation, texturing, scripting, storytelling, storyboarding and other aspects of character design and game level design.

For more information, visit: http://www.artinstitutes.edu 

Syllabus Radio: Log on and Listen! http://www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp


From Syllabus News on January 21, 2003

UWV Tests Hand Geometry Reader for Campus Security

The University of West Virginia is testing a biometric hand geometry reader at one of its residence halls that will allow students to gain access with a simple hand scan. After further testing, the system will be installed at the school’s recreation center. The system was put together by Diebold Inc., which makes identification and security systems for banks, hospitals and government agencies. With the system, students enter a five-digit identification number and then place their hand in the reader. The scanner takes more than 90 measurements of the hand in terms of length, width, thickness and surface area in the span of one second. If the hand is authenticated the door unlocks. UWV worked with Diebold in 1995 to create a smart card program enabling students to make purchases at retail outlets around the university.

From Syllabus News on January 24, 2003

COURSE MANAGEMENT – Michigan State University has adopted Angel, an open enterprise course management system, as its online course management solution. Angel is a Web-based, enterprise course management system that can manage course material for distance learners. The platform was developed by CyberLearning Labs Inc., which grew out of Indiana University's Advanced Research and Technology Institute after ANGEL was developed by faculty at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.


Genetic Purefication
Against Their Will: North Carolina's Sterilization Program  --- http://againsttheirwill.journalnow.com/ 


January 14, 2003 message from Chandra,Akhilesh [ac10@UAKRON.EDU

The George W. Daverio School of Accountancy (at the University of Akron) announces its First Symposium on Information Systems Risk, Security, & Assurance (on Friday, February 28, 2003, 7:45 AM - 5:00PM; Crowne Plaza Hotel, Akron, OH). The purpose of the symposium is to provide a forum for examining information systems threats, risks, and approaches that organizations can use to make their information resources more secure. We have an enthusiastic group of presenters from IBM, FBI, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Kennesaw State University. Attendees will receive eight hours of CPE credit (seven CLE).

More information about the program is available at http://www2.uakron.edu/ima/OutlineFeb28.pdf .

Who should attend:

This symposium is designed for anyone practicing or interested in information systems risk and security. It is especially geared towards financial professionals who supervise information systems departments, CIOs, CITP's, assurance service providers such as auditors in CPA firms who wish to learn more about information systems security, Information Systems Auditors, Internal Auditors, Attorneys, college professors who teach information systems, and members of professional organizations such as the AICPA, OSCPA , IIA, IMA, ICFE, and ISACA.

Hope to see you at the Symposium. Thanks.

A. Chandra


2002 FULL-TIME MBA RANKINGS & PROFILES Dig into new profiles for the 88 B-schools in BusinessWeek's 2002 Rankings, as well as 220 other full-time MBA programs, to determine which is the right one for you. (Free registration required) http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/02/index.html?c=bwmbajan14&n=link4&t=email 

1 Northwestern (Kellogg)
2 Chicago
3 Harvard
4 Stanford
5 Pennsylvania (Wharton)
6 MIT (Sloan)
7 Columbia
8 Michigan
9 Duke (Fuqua)
10 Dartmouth (Tuck)
11 Cornell (Johnson)
12 Virginia (Darden)
13 UC Berkeley (Haas)
14 Yale
15 NYU (Stern)
  
16 UCLA (Anderson)
17 USC (Marshall)
18 UNC (Kenan-Flagler)
19 Carnegie Mellon
20 Indiana (Kelley)
21 Texas (McCombs)
22 Emory (Goizueta)
23 Michigan State
24 Washington (Olin)
25 Maryland (Smith)
26 Purdue (Krannert)
27 Rochester (Simon)
28 Vanderbilt (Owen)
29 Notre Dame (Mendoza)
30 Georgetown (McDonough

Business Week's free ROI Calculator of expected return on your investment in an MBA degree --- http://bwnt.businessweek.com/roi/enter.asp 


The IRS wants to make sure that you have all the information you need to file your taxes, so they have added a few resources to assist the process. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/96946 

New IRS Resources


The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has provided the accounting world with a New Year's gift. Beginning this week, all documents issued by IFAC and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) are now available for immediate download at no charge. Visitors must simply fill out a one-time registration to gain access to the documents. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/96952 

The IFAC homepage is at http://www.ifac.org/ 


 

Fee-Based Accounting Knowledge Vortals for Most Developed Nations and International Standards 
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#Standards
 
Arthur Andersen's Accounting Research Manager (after a free 30-day trial, the cost is over $2,000 per year for a single user) --- http://www.arm.arthurandersen.com 
Academic pricing is not mentioned at the Web site, but some universities might possibly negotiate lower pricing.

Accounting Research ManagerTM is a comprehensive financial reporting knowledgebase that provides materials designed to help solve your most pressings issues. Continually updated, it is the most timely, complete, interpretive resource for your financial reporting needs.

January 22, 2003 message from Cynthia Arias [cynthia.arias@aspenpublishers.com

Hello Bob -

I previously worked with Arthur Andersen on the Accounting Research Manager product, and transitioned to Aspen Publishers who acquired the product and operations from the firm. I noticed on your site, you have a reference to Accounting Research Manager, which we greatly appreciate, however, may we request a change in name to refer to the product as Aspen Publishers' Accounting Research Manager? with a link to www.arm.aspenpublishers.com?

I appreciate your input! Thank you so much for your help. Cindy Arias

GAAP. International GAAP. Knowledge Gap?

Accounting Research Manager. Your financial reporting solution. www.arm.aspenpublishers.com

PwC's Comperio Accounting Research Manager ($1,400 in the U.S. and considerably cheaper in other nations, but the comprehensive version covering all territories is $3,340)

Comperio is the most comprehensive on-line library of financial reporting and assurance literature in the world. Over 1,500 financial executives from around the world use Comperio on a daily basis. Comperio content includes AICPA, DIG, EITF, FASB, IAS, ISB and the SEC as well as pronouncements and standards from Australia, Belgium, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

With Comperio, the answers you need are always available - right now, right at your fingertips. There is no software to install - just go to the Comperio website and start researching!

The entire online library can be immediately accessed by browsing a pronouncement or topic directly, or by searching the entire database for key words, topics or terms.

Visit the Comperio product information site at http://www.pwcglobal.com/comperio . You will find the necessary forms to order Comperio today or to request a 30-day free trial.

January 22, 2003 message from Dee (Dawn) Davidson [dgd@MARSHALL.USC.EDU

Hi Bob

We should note that both Aspen Publishers and Comperio have the quoted pricing for members (like Professors), but require the same price/separate licenses for (each or multiple) student access. To get the data bases on a CD at a more palatable cost, separately FARS and AICPA have academic versions with prices very appropriately adjusted for multiple student or network access. IASB also has a CD with their database. We have all three data bases now on our network for a cost significantly lower than we could have acquired Comperio for even a few students. Although Comperio is available for a free 30 day trial, we didn't think it was "nice" to send 200 hundred students annually to that offer and it would be difficult to get all the research work done in 30 days of a semester. Also, IASB is included in the AICPA software, which we didn't know when we purchased IASB's separate database. All three are in FOLIO, are network compatible, very straightforward for student use. Our remote users are accessing the products through Citrix Terminal Server.

The AICPA academic license information is available at http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/cpaltr/may2000/supps/edu8.htm 

FARS academic license information is available from Cathy Zhang at Wiley (212) 850-6402.

IASB license information is located at http://www.iasb.org.uk/shop/publications.asp?s=1143726&sc={E6D487DC-F7A8-4FB2-97F5-809AD3CD358C}&CAT=3&n=2002 

Free International Auditing Standards
All documents issued by IFAC and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) are now available for immediate download at no charge. Visitors must simply fill out a one-time registration to gain access to the documents. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/96952 

 

January 27, 2003 reply from Glen L. Gray [vcact00f@CSUN.EDU

It seems to be a little known fact that educators who are also AICPA members can download documents (e.g., professional standards, etc.) for free from the http://www.cpa2biz.com/default.htm. The process is a little strange to say the least, but it works. You subscribe to reSource and if you are already classified as an educactor (from when you paid your dues), you are charged $0. But you still have to go to checkout and put in a credit card number--and you will be charged $0.


All About Women Business Owners 
The AICPA Personal Financial Planning Newsletter notes that in the last five years, the number of women-owned businesses increased by 14% nationwide, double the rate of all companies; employment increased by 30%, which is 1 1/2 times the U.S. rate, and sales grew by 40%, as much as all other companies. That's according to the Center for Women's Business Research. To read more statistics on women-owned firms and their owners, go to http://www.nfwbo.org/key.html 

The newsletter also notes the following:
The Inside Story on Women Clients
Over the past decade, women have come to make up half the workforce, and yet they typically get little financial advice on the money they earn. In fact, however, nine out of ten women will be responsible for their own finances at some point, according to Women's CFO. To read more insights and misconceptions go to http://www.womenscfo.com/financial_findings.htm 


Free management and business law reports from the Alexander Hamilton Institute, Inc.(AHI) 
  http://www.ahipubs.com/reports/index.html 

Now it's easy to get the free AHI special reports that have been used by over 100,000 managers all across the United States to improve their operations and stay on the right side of employment law.
1. Mark the box next to the report(s) you would like to receive.
2. Select the format you would like to receive them in. You can choose electronic downloads in either PDF or ASCII text formats.
3. Click on submit.

 HR Audit provides a step-by-step guide for systematically reviewing all aspects of human resources within your company, and ensuring that all government regulations and company policies are being followed. Plus you get a sample HR audit checklist to help you identify potential problems, pinpoint areas that need improvement, and address compliance issues.

 Preparing For Performance Appraisal Interviews provides a step-by-step guide for conducting appraisal interviews successfully and legally, plus includes a form you can use to rate your PA interview technique.

 Whistleblowing: A New Perspective On An Old Issue covers all the hot topics making headlines today by delineating what the courts are saying about whistleblowing cases, how federal and state regulations (like the new Sarbanes-Oxley Act) affect the way you deal with WB, and what practical steps you can take to make sure your company doesn't get hit with a whistleblower dilemma.

 Nixing Negativity In The Workplace gives you a blueprint for recharging your workplace with positive and productive attitudes by laying out negativity red flags to beware of, explaining practical do's and don'ts to incorporate in your management techniques, and even pinpointing legal problems that may attach themselves to negative attitudes.

 Controlling Rising Health Care Costs taps HR and benefits pros for their advice on handling the burgeoning benefits burden.

 Mandatory Arbitration revisits the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in a mandatory arbitration dispute, addresses some of the many issues muddying the arbitration waters, and provides important points employers need to know about when implementing mandatory arbitration agreements.

 State Reference Immunity Laws summarizes what states do and do not allow when it comes to giving references.

 Myths And Mistakes: Snaking Your Way Through COBRA Notification And Record-Keeping Traps probes beyond the usual questions involving this administratively-burdensome law and pinpoints key areas that can jump up and bite you on your bottom line when you wrestle with the complexities of COBRA coverage.

 Employers Use Waivers For Legal Protection lays the groundwork for
you to create your own legally-defensible waiver agreements, including the
nuts and bolts of the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA),
practical tips for drawing up waiver provisions, and even a sample agreement
and general release form that you can use as the basis for your own
custom-tailored document.

 Bullying: A Serious Workplace Problem provides tips and tactics for preventing bullies from tyrannizing your workplace and beating up on your bottom line.

 Documentation For Successful PAs explains the legal and practical importance of documenting every step of your appraisal process. Plus you get a two-page model performance appraisal form to conduct legal and effective performance appraisals.

 State Discrimination Record-Keeping Requirements enables you to stay on the legal side of any documentation mandates from your state, and offers you a courtroom glimpse at how some employers have suffered because they didn't have such key information.

 Termination Pay: What And When To Pay Terminating Employees provides you with a state-by-state summary of vacation pay upon termination, plus a chart summarizing each state's final pay laws.

 Your Blueprint For Avoiding Discipline Disasters gives you a discipline training toolkit that will help you prevent costly and time-consuming lawsuits alleging discriminatory disciplinary decisions. Test your discipline knowledge with a quick quiz, read up on some real-life discipline-related lawsuits, and print up a copy of a sample Employee Warning Notice Form that you can put to use at your organization.

 Q & A On The FMLA: The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) continues to confuse even the saviest of employers, thanks to the often-conflicting messages given by the courts and Department of Labor. This Free Report aims to clear up some of that confusion by addressing the issues that seem to cause the most consternation.

 State Personnel File Access Laws provides you with a state-by-state summary of the statutes under which employees are allowed to inspect their personnel files.

 A Legal Eye On Internal Investigations uncovers often-overlooked areas of workplace complaint investigations, including race and disability harassment. Then it offers four basic steps every investigation should contain to be legal; and an investigation checklist...all based on advice from a long-time specialist in helping organizations find legally compliant solutions to their employment practice concerns.

 Personal Workforce Strategies For Managers gives you helpful suggestions and effective techniques for knocking down the stumbling blocks that can get in the way of every manager's road to career success. Find out how to: manage your time more effectively, delegate projects successfully, conduct better meetings, and get along with "difficult" co-workers and subordinates.

 Workplace Etiquette explains where to draw the line in situations where a manager's seemingly innocent remarks can cause lawsuits from offended employees. It will also teach you how poor workplace "manners" can lower employee morale and cause negative impressions among customers, clients, and potential future employees.

 Discipline Interviews: The Right To Representation warns you about the latest NLRB decision that drastically changes the ground rules for how private sector managers conduct employee discipline meetings, and offers legal guidelines and practical questions to keep you from falling into lawsuit traps.

 Navigating The Legal Minefield Of Recruiting, Interviewing, And Hiring identifies legal and practical pitfalls in the hiring/interviewing process, and offers expert guidance on how to make sure you and your company don't accidentally stumble into court.

 Major Employee Leave Laws: Meeting Federal Requirements summarizes your legal obligations under the major federal leave laws, including the ADA, FMLA, and PDA. This report provides you with a behind-the-bench look into actual court cases to help you and your company deal with complex leave issues and stay on the right side of federal leave laws.

 Know Your Notification Obligations gives you a quick review of the most important notification and certification requirements under key federal laws, including COBRA, FMLA, ERISA, etc. You'll find what you need to hand out, what you need to retain, how you need to file, and more legal communication mandates.

 Top Tips For Avoiding Performance Appraisal Mistakes helps you stay out of subjective territory during a critical evaluation review; enables you to create your own action checklist for appraising your appraisal process; and even gives you a workshop Q&A to point you toward consistently successful performance evaluations.

 Conducting An Employment Law Audit takes you step-by-step through the auditing process to find your company's vulnerable spots and turn them into lawsuit-proof policies and procedures. You'll learn which areas need to be audited and how to go about this task. You'll get a listing of over 75 questions which need to be answered in order to ensure your company's protection against employee lawsuits.

 Troubleshooting FLSA Hot Spots pinpoints many of the most legally vulnerable payroll practices that slap managers in the face today. Among the wage and hour topics covered are "exempt versus non-exempt employees," "calculating regular rates of pay," and "correctly counting hours worked." This report gives easy-to-understand examples and summaries of actual court cases to give you a better understanding of potential pay pitfalls and to keep you and your company on the right side of the IRS and the courts.

 Paid Time Off Programs: Controlling Absenteeism explores the cutting edge of controlling employee absences and leave with ease. Do away with the administrative headaches associated with calculating workers' sick, vacation, and personal time off with this personnel management innovation. The report will show you how Paid Time Off (PTO) "banks" can save you time and money while reducing your legal liability and giving your employees an incentive to stay with the company longer, to boot. Finishes with a sample PTO policy perusal showing you exactly how to start offering "Paid Time Off." You'll wonder why you ever endured the hassle of a traditional absence system to begin with.

 Records: Identifying Vulnerable Spots protects your company from vulnerable record-keeping mishaps with: a case-by-case account of legal record-keeping requirements; 10 steps you should take to avoid record-keeping liability; eight areas that you should never collect information on; plus a record-keeping policy which all your managers must follow in order to prevent legal firestorms.


January 19, 2003 message from Lawrence Gordon [LGordon@rhsmith.umd.edu

Dear Bob:

The Journal of Accounting and Public Policy has initiated a new sub-section called "Accounting and Information Assurance Letters." The sub-section publishes short papers (not to exceed 6 printed pages, or approximately 2400 words) that link timely accounting (broadly defined) and information assurance issues to public policy and/or corporate governance. Papers submitted to this subsection of the journal will be reviewed within four weeks of receipt and revisions will be limited to one. Papers accepted for this subsection will be published within four months of acceptance.

We believe that this new section of the journal will help define the relationship between accounting and information assurance, and would be especially pleased to publish papers on this topic from members of the journal's Editorial Board. Accordingly, if you are working on research papers that seem to fit the new section of the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy ,we hope you will consider submitting it to the journal. More information about the new section can be found at: http://www.elsevier.com/inca/publications/store/5/0/5/7/2/1/ . We also hope you will bring this new section of the journal to the attention of your colleagues.

Sincerely,

Larry and Marty

Lawrence A. Gordon, Ph.D. Ernst & Young Alumni Professor of Managerial Accounting and Information Assurance Director, Ph.D. Program The Robert H. Smith School of Business University of Maryland - College Park College Park, Maryland 20742 Phone: (301) 405-2255 Fax: (301) 314-9611 E-mail:lgordon@rhsmith.umd.edu       http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/accounting/lgordon/ 

Martin P. Loeb Professor of Accounting and Information Assurance Deloitte & Touche Faculty Fellow The Robert H. Smith School of Business University of Maryland, College Park College Park, MD 20742-1815 e-mail: mloeb@rhsmith.umd.edu  phone: 301-405-2209 fax: 301-405-0359


January 23, 2003 message from Scott Bonacker, CPA [scottbonacker@MOCCPA.COM]

If any clients come within a handsbreadth of healthcare or healthcare coverage they are likely affected by HIPAA. To help find out if they are, here is a decision tree:

http://www.cms.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/support/tools/decisionsupport/default.asp


A January 14, 2003 Book Recommendation from The AccountingWeb

Book Recommendation: The Power of Ethical Management, by Norman Vincent Peale Kenneth H. Blanchard

Ethics in business is the most urgent problem facing America today. Now two of the best-selling authors of our time, Kenneth Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale, join forces to meet this crisis head-on in this vitally important new book. The Power of Ethical Management proves you don't have to cheat to win. It shows today's managers how to bring integrity back to the workplace. It gives hard-hitting, practical, ethical strategies that build profits, productivity, and long-term success. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0688070620/accountingweb 


Picturing Business in America --- http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/journal/index.htm 

You’ve probably seen them. Maybe you’ve wondered about them. First invented in 1979, The Wall Street Journal’s distinctive portrait heads, known as “hedcuts” or “dot-drawings” have attained the status of an American icon, readily identifiable with one of the country’s best-known business publications.

In the spring of 2001, The Wall Street Journal donated a group of hedcuts, representing some of the United States’s foremost business leaders of recent years, to the National Portrait Gallery. These portrait drawings, based on photographs, attest to The Journal’s interest in the “primacy of the individual in both political and social systems.” Dedicated to preserving American history by collecting portraits of women and men who have significantly influenced our culture, the National Portrait Gallery welcomes this gift, which helps to chronicle the history of business in our nation.

This on-line exhibition explores the development, the technique, and the implications of these illustrations. It also explores the biographies of a number of individuals whose unique contributions to American business and culture The Journal has reported during the past quarter-century.


Hi Yvonne,

For what it is worth, my advice to new faculty is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm 

One thing to remember is that the employers of our students (especially the public accounting firms) are very unhappy with our lecture/drill pedagogy at the introductory and intermediate levels. They believe that such pedagogy turns away top students, especially creative and conceptualizing students. Employers  believe that lecture/drill pedagogy attracts savant-like memorizers who can recite their lessons book and verse but have few creative talents and poor prospects for becoming leaders. The large accounting firms believed this so strongly that they donated several million dollars to the American Accounting Association for the purpose of motivating new pedagogy experimentation. This led to the Accounting Change Commission (AECC) and the mixed-outcome experiments that followed. See http://accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/aaa/facdev/aecc.htm 

The easiest pedagogy for faculty is lecturing, and it is appealing to busy faculty who do not have time for students outside the classroom. When lecturing to large classes it is even easier because you don't have to get to know the students and have a great excuse for using multiple choice examinations and graduate student teaching assistants. I always remember an economics professor at Michigan State University who said that when teaching basic economics it did not matter whether he had a live class of 300 students or a televised class of 3,000 students. His full-time teaching load was three hours per week in front of a TV camera. He was a very good lecturer and truly loved his three-hour per week job!

Lecturing appeals to faculty because it often leads to the highest teaching evaluations.  Students love faculty who spoon feed and make learning seem easy.  It's much easier when mom or dad spoon the pudding out of the jar than when you have to hold your own spoon and/or find your own jar.

An opposite but very effective pedagogy is the AECC (University of Virginia) BAM Pedagogy that entails live classrooms with no lectures. BAM instructors think it is more important for students to learn on their own instead of sitting through spoon-fed learning lectures. I think it takes a special kind of teacher to pull off the astoundingly successful BAM pedagogy. Interestingly, it is often some of our best lecturers who decided to stop lecturing because they experimented with the BAM and found it to be far more effective for long-term memory. The top BAM enthusiasts are Tony Catanach at Villanova University and David Croll at the University of Virginia. Note, however, that most BAM applications have been at the intermediate accounting level. I have my doubts (and I think BAM instructors will agree) that BAM will probably fail at the introductory level. You can read about the BAM pedagogy at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm 

At the introductory level we have what I like to call the Pincus (User Approach) Pedagogy. Karen Pincus is now at the University of Arkansas, but at the time that her first learning experiments were conducted, she taught basic accounting at the University of Southern California. The Pincus Pedagogy is a little like both the BAM and the case method pedagogies. However, instead of having prepared learning cases, the Pincus Pedagogy sends students to on-site field visitations where they observe on-site operations and are then assigned tasks to creatively suggest ways of improving existing accounting, internal control, and information systems. Like the BAM, the Pincus Pedagogy avoids lecturing and classroom drill. Therein lies the controversy. Students and faculty in subsequent courses often complain that the Pincus Pedagogy students do not know the fundamental prerequisites of basic accounting needed for intermediate and advanced-level accounting courses.  Two possible links of interest on the controversial Pincus Pedagogy are as follows:  

Where the Pincus Pedagogy and the BAM Pedagogy differ lies in subject matter itself and stress on creativity. The BAM focuses on traditional subject matter that is found in such textbooks as intermediate accounting textbooks. The BAM Pedagogy simply requires that students learn any way they want to learn on their own since students remember best what they learned by themselves. The Pincus Pedagogy does not focus on much of the debit and credit "rules" found in most traditional textbooks. Students are required to be more creative at the expense of memorizing the "rules."

The Pincus Pedagogy is motivated by the belief that traditional lecturing/drill pedagogy at the basic accounting and tax levels discourages the best and more-creative students to pursue careers in the accountancy profession. The BAM pedagogy is motivated more by the belief that lecturing is a poor pedagogy for long-term memory of technical details. What is interesting is that the leading proponents of getting away from the lecture/drill pedagogy (i.e., Karen Pincus and Anthony Catenach) were previously two of the very best lecturers in accountancy. If you have ever heard either of them lecture, I think you would agree that you wish all your lecturers had been only half as good. I am certain that both of these exceptional teachers would agree that lecturing is easier than any other alternatives. However, they do not feel that lecturing is the best alternative for top students.

Between lecturing and the BAM Pedagogy, we have case method teaching. Case method teaching is a little like lecturing and a little like the BAM with some instructors providing answers in case wrap ups versus some instructors forcing students to provide all the answers. Master case teachers at Harvard University seldom provide answers even in case wrap ups, and often the cases do not have any known answer-book-type solutions. The best Harvard cases have alternative solutions with success being based upon discovering and defending an alternative solution. Students sometimes interactively discover solutions that the case writers never envisioned. I generally find case teaching difficult at the undergraduate level if students do not yet have the tools and maturity to contribute to case discussions. Interestingly, it may be somewhat easier to use the BAM at the undergraduate level than Harvard-type cases. The reason is that BAM instructors are often dealing with more rule-based subject matter such as intermediate accounting or tax rather than conceptual subject matter such as strategic decision making, business valuation, and financial risk analysis.

The hardest pedagogy today is probably a Socratic pedagogy online with instant messaging communications where an instructor who's on call about 60 hours per week from his or her home. The online instructor monitors the chats and team communications between students in the course at most any time of day or night. Amy Dunbar can tell you about this tedious pedagogy since she's using it for tax courses and will be providing a workshop that tells about how to do it and how not to do it. The next scheduled workshop precedes the AAA Annual Meetings on August 1, 2003 in Hawaii. You can also hear Dr. Dunbar and view her PowerPoint show from a previous workshop at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/002cpe/02start.htm#2002 

In conclusion, always remember that there is no optimal pedagogy in all circumstances. All learning is circumstantial based upon such key ingredients as student maturity, student motivation, instructor talent, instructor dedication, instructor time, library resources, technology resources, and many other factors that come to bear at each moment in time. And do keep in mind that how you teach may determine what students you keep as majors and what you turn away. 

I tend to agree with the accountancy firms that contend that traditional lecturing probably turns away many of the top students who might otherwise major in accountancy. 

At the same time, I tend to agree with students who contend that they took accounting courses to learn accounting rather than economics, computer engineering, and behavioral science.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: Lou&Bonnie [mailto:gyp1@EARTHLINK.NET]  
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2003 5:03 PM

I am a beginning accounting instructor (part-time) at a local community college. I am applying for a full-time faculty position, but am having trouble with a question. Methodology in accounting--what works best for a diversified group of individuals. Some students work with accounting, but on a computer and have no understanding of what the information they are entering really means to some individuals who have no accounting experience whatsoever. What is the best methodology to use, lecture, overhead, classroom participation? I am not sure and I would like your feedback. Thank you in advance for your help. 

Yvonne


February 5,, 2003 message from James Borden [james.borden@villanova.edu

Bob,

I thought you might be interested in another curriculum innovation that is taking place at Villanova, once again involving Tony Catanach, along with Noah Barsky. Noah is one of our young professors at Villanova who is an outstanding teacher, and has been committed to developing the Business Planning Model (BPM) approach to teaching Management Accounting for some time now. If you have any questions about the paper, feel free to contact Noah at noah.barsky@villanova.edu 

Thank you for continuing to support the BAM approach to teaching Intermediate as well!

Jim

Note that Noah has a PDF file that he will probably send to you if you request it from him.

You can read more about BAM at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/265wp.htm 


January 20, 2003 reply from Thomas C. Omer [omer@UIC.EDU

Don’t forget about Project Discovery going on at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana

Thomas C. Omer Associate Professor 
Department of Accounting University of Illinois At Chicago 
The Art of Discovery: Finding the forest in spite of the trees.

Thanks for reminding me Tom. A good link for Project Discovery is at http://accounting.rutgers.edu/raw/aaa/facdev/aeccuind.htm 


January 17, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

I'll add an endorsement to Bob's advice to new teachers. His page should be required reading for Ph.D.s.

And I'll add one more tidbit.

Most educators overlook the distinction between "lectures" and "demonstrations".

There is probably no need for any true "lecture" in the field of accounting at the college level, even though it is still the dominant paradigm at most institutions.

However, there is still a great need for "live demonstrations", **especially** at the introductory level.

Accounting is a complex process. Introductory students in ANY field learn more about complex processes from demonstrations than probably any other method.

Then, they move on and learn more from "practicing" the process, once they've learned the steps and concepts of the process. And for intermediate and advanced students, practice is the best place to "discover" the nuances and details.

While "Discovery" is probably the best learning method of all, it is frequently very difficult to "discover" a complex process correctly from its beginning, on your own. Thus, a quick demonstration can often be of immense value at the introductory level. It's an efficient way of communicating sequences, relationships, and dynamics, all of which are present in accounting processes.

Bottom line: You can (and should) probably eliminate "lectures" from your classes. You should not entirely eliminate "demonstrations" from your classes.

Unfortunately, most education-improvement reform literature does not draw the distinction: anytime the teacher is doing the talking in front of a class, using blackboard and chalk or PowerPoint, they label it "lecture" and suggest you don't do it! This is, in my view, oversimplification, and very bad advice.

Your teaching will change a whole lot (for the better!) once you realize that students only need demonstrations of processes. You will eliminate a lot of material you used to "lecture" on. This will make room for all kinds of other things that will improve your teaching over the old "lecture" method: discussions, Socratic dialogs, cases and dilemmas, even some entertainment here and there.

Plus, the "lectures" you retain will change character. Take your cue from Mr. Wizard or Bill Nye the Science Guy, who appear to "lecture" (it's about the only thing you can do in front of a camera!), but whose entire program is pretty much devoted to demonstration. Good demonstrations do more than just demonstrate, they also motivate! Most lectures don't!

Another two pennies from the verbose one...

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University

January 16, 2003 message from Peter French [pjfrench@CELESTIAL.COM.AU

I found this source http://www.thomson.com/swcp/gita.html  and also Duncan Williamson has some very good basic material on his sites http://duncanwil.co.uk/index.htm  ; http://www.duncanwil.co.uk/objacc.html  ;

Don't forget the world lecture hall at http://www.utexas.edu/world/lecture/  ;

This reminds me of how I learned ... the 'real learning' in the workplace...

I remember my first true life consolidation - 130 companies in 1967. We filled a wall with butchers paper and had 'callers', 'writers' and 'adders' who called out the information to others who wrote out the entries and others who did the adding. I was 25 and quite scared. The Finance Director knew this and told me [1] to stick with 'T' accounts to be sure I was making the right entry - just stick the ones you are sure in and don't even think about the other entry - it must 'balance' it out; [2] just because we are dealing with 130 companies and several hundreds of millions of dollars don't lose sight of the fact that really it is no different from the corner store. I have never forgotten the simplistic approach. He said - if the numbers scare you, decimalise them to 100,000's in your mind - it helps ... and it did. He often used to say the Dr/Cr entries out aloud

I entered teaching aged 48 after having been in industry and practice for nearly 30 years. Whether i am teaching introductory accounting, partnership formation/dissolution, consolidations, asset revaluation, tax affect accounting, I simply write up the same basic entries on the white board each session - I never use an overhead for this, I always write it up and say it out aloud, and most copy/follow me - and then recap and get on with the lesson. I always take time out to 'flow chart' what we are doing so that they never loose sight of the real picture ... this simple system works, and have never let my students down.

There have been several movements away form rote learning in all levels of education - often with disastrous consequences. It has its place and I am very proud to rely on it. This works and when it isn't broken, I am not about to try to fix it.

Good luck - it is the greatest responsibility in the world, and gives the greatest job satisfaction. It is worth every hour and every grey hair. To realise that you have enabled someone to change their lives, made a dream come true, eclipses every successful takeover battle or tax fight that I won i have ever had.

Good luck - may it be to you what is has been to me.

Peter French

January 17, 2003 reply from Michael O'Neil, CPA Adjunct Prof. Weber [Marine8105@AOL.COM

I am currently teaching high school students, some of whom will hopefully go on to college. Parents expect you to teach the children, which really amounts to lecturing, or going over the text material. When you do this they do not read the textbook, nor do they know how to use the textbook to answer homework questions. If you don't lecture then the parents will blame you for "not" teaching their children the material.

I agree that discovery is the best type of learning, and the most fun. I teach geometry and accounting/consumer finance. Geometry leans itself to discovery, but to do so you need certain materials. At our level (high school) we are also dealing several other issues you don't have at the college level. In my accounting classes I teach the debit/credit, etc. and then have them do a lot of work using two different accounting programs. When they make errors I have them discover the error and correct it. They probably know very little about posting, and the formatting of financial statements although we covered it. Before we used the programs we did a lot of pencil work.

Even when I taught accounting at the college and junior college level I found students were reluctant to, and not well prepared to, use their textbooks. Nor were they inclined to DO their homework.

I am sure that many of you have noticed a drop off in quality of students in the last years. I wish I could tell you that I see that it will change, but I do not see any effort in that direction. Education reminds me of a hot air balloon being piloted by people who lease the balloon and have no idea how to land it. They are just flying around enjoying the view. If we think in terms of bankruptcy education is ready for Chapter 11.

Mike ONeil

January 17, 2003 reply from Chuck Pier [texcap@HOTMAIL.COM

While not in accounting, I would like to share some information on my wife's experience with online education. She has a background (10 years) as a public school teacher and decided to get her graduate degree in library science. Since I was about to finish my doctoral studies and we knew we would be moving she wanted to find a program that would allow her to move away and not lose too many hours in the transfer process. What she found was the online program at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton. Through this program she will be able to complete a 36 hour American Library Association accredited Master's degree in Library Science and only spend a total of 9 days on campus. The 9 days are split into a one day session and 2 four day sessions, which can be combined into 1 five and 1 four day session. Other than these 9 days the entire course is conducted over the internet. The vast majority is asynchronous, but there are some parts conducted in a synchronous manner.

She has completed about 3/4 of the program and is currently in Denton for her last on campus session. While I often worry about the quality of online programs, after seeing how much work and time she is required to put in, I don't think I should worry as much. I can honestly say that I feel she is getting a better, more thorough education than most traditional programs. I know at a minimum she has covered a lot more material.

All in all her experience has been positive and this program fit her needs. I think the MLS program at UNT has been very successful to date and appears to be growing quite rapidly. It may serve as a role model for programs in other areas.

Chuck Pier

Charles A. Pier 
Assistant Professor Department of Accounting 
Walker College of Business 
Appalachian State University 
Boone, NC 28608 email:
pierca@appstate.edu  828-262-6189

I have heard some faculty argue that asynchronous Internet courses just do not mesh with Trinity's on-campus mission. The Scale Experiments at the University of Illinois indicate that many students learn better and prefer online courses even if they are full-time, resident students. The University of North Texas is finding out the same thing. There may be some interest in what our competition may be in the future even for full-time, on-campus students at private as well as public colleges and universities.
On January 17, 2003, Ed Scribner forwarded this article from The Dallas Morning News

Students Who Live on Campus Choosing Internet Courses Syndicated From: The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS - Jennifer Pressly could have walked to a nearby lecture hall for her U.S. history class and sat among 125 students a few mornings a week.

But the 19-year-old freshman at the University of North Texas preferred rolling out of bed and attending class in pajamas at her dorm-room desk. Sometimes she would wait until Saturday afternoon.

The teen from Rockwall, Texas, took her first college history class online this fall semester. She never met her professor and knew only one of her 125 classmates: her roommate.

"I take convenience over lectures," she said. "I think I would be bored to death if I took it in lecture."

She's part of a controversial trend that has surprised many university officials across the country. Given a choice, many traditional college students living on campus pick an online course. Most universities began offering courses via the Internet in the late 1990s to reach a different audience - older students who commute to campus and are juggling a job and family duties.

During the last year, UNT began offering an online option for six of its highest-enrollment courses that are typically taught in a lecture hall with 100 to 500 students. The online classes, partly offered as a way to free up classroom space in the growing school, filled up before pre-registration ended, UNT officials said. At UNT, 2,877 of the about 23,000 undergraduates are taking at least one course online.

Nationwide, colleges are reporting similar experiences, said Sally Johnstone, director of WCET, a Boulder, Colo., cooperative of state higher education boards and universities that researches distance education. Kansas State University, in a student survey last spring, discovered that 80 percent of its online students were full-time and 20 percent were part-time, the opposite of the college's expectations, Johnstone said.

"Why pretend these kids want to be in a class all the time? They don't, but kids don't come to campus to sit in their dorm rooms and do things online exclusively," she said. "We're in a transition, and it's a complex one."

The UT Telecampus, a part of the University of Texas System that serves 15 universities and research facilities, began offering online undergraduate classes in state-required courses two years ago. Its studies show that 80 percent of the 2,260 online students live on campus, and the rest commute.

Because they are restricted to 30 students each, the UT System's online classes are touted as a more intimate alternative to lecture classes, said Darcy Hardy, director of the UT Telecampus.

"The freshman-sophomore students are extremely Internet-savvy and understand more about online options and availability than we could have ever imagined," Hardy said.

Online education advocates say professors can reach students better online than in lecture classes because of the frequent use of e-mail and online discussion groups. Those who oppose the idea say they worry that undergraduates will miss out on the debate, depth and interaction of traditional classroom instruction.

UNT, like most colleges, is still trying to figure out the effect on its budget. The professorial salary costs are the same, but an online course takes more money to develop. The online students, however, free up classroom space and eliminate the need for so many new buildings in growing universities. The price to enroll is typically the same for students, whether they go to a classroom or sit at their computer.

Mike Campbell, a history professor at UNT for 36 years, does not want to teach an online class, nor does he approve of offering undergraduate history via the Internet.

"People shouldn't be sitting in the dorms doing this rather than walking over here," he said. "That is based on a misunderstanding of what matters in history."

In his class of 125, he asks students rhetorical questions they answer en masse to be sure they're paying attention, he said. He goes beyond the textbook, discussing such topics as the moral and legal issues surrounding slavery.

He said he compares the online classes to the correspondence courses he hated but had to teach when he came to UNT in 1966. Both methods are too impersonal, he said, recalling how he mailed assignments and tests to correspondence students.

UNT professors who teach online say the courses are interactive, unlike correspondence courses.

Matt Pearcy has lectured 125 students for three hours at a time.

"You'd try to be entertaining," he said. "You have students who get bored after 45 minutes, no matter what you're doing. They're filling out notes, doing their to-do list, reading their newspaper in front of you."

In his online U.S. history class at UNT, students get two weeks to finish each lesson. They read text, complete click-and-drag exercises, like one that matches terms with historical figures, and take quizzes. They participate in online discussions and group projects, using e-mail to communicate.

"Hands-down, I believe this is a more effective way to teach," said Pearcy, who is based in St. Paul, Minn. "In this setting, they go to the class when they're ready to learn. They're interacting, so they're paying attention."

Pressly said she liked the hands-on work in the online class. She could do crossword puzzles to reinforce her history lessons. Or she could click an icon and see what Galileo saw through his telescope in the 17th century.

"I took more interest in this class than the other ones," she said.

The class, though, required her to be more disciplined, she said, and that added stress. Two weeks in a row, she waited till 11:57 p.m. Sunday - three minutes before the deadline - to turn in her assignment.

Online courses aren't for everybody.

"The thing about sitting in my dorm, there's so much to distract me," said Trevor Shive, a 20-year-old freshman at UNT. "There's the Internet. There's TV. There's radio."

He said students on campus should take classes in the real, not virtual, world.

"They've got legs; they can walk to class," he said.

Continued in the article at http://www.dallasnews.com/ 


January 17, 2003 response from John L. Rodi [jrodi@IX.NETCOM.COM

I would have added one additional element. Today I think too many of us tend to teach accounting the way you teach drivers education. Get in the car turn on the key and off you go. If something goes wrong with the car you a sunk since you nothing conceptually. Furthermore, it makes you a victim of those who do. Conceptual accounting education teaches you to respond to choices, that is not only how to drive but what to drive. Thanks for the wonderful analogy.

John Rodi 
El Camino College

January 21 reply from 

On the subject of technology and teaching accounting, I wonder how many of you are in the SAP University Alliance and using it for accounting classes. I just teach advanced financial accounting, and have not found a use for it there. However, I have often felt that there is a place for it in intro financial, in managerial and in AIS. On the latter, there is at least one good text book containing SAP exercises and problems.

Although there are over 400 universities in the world in the program, one of the areas where use is lowest is accounting courses. The limitation appears to be related to a combination of the learning curve for professors, together with an uncertainty as to how it can be used to effectively teach conceptual material or otherwise fit into curricula.

Gerald Trites, FCA 
Professor of Accounting and Information Systems 
St Francis Xavier University 
Antigonish, Nova Scotia 
Website
- http://www.stfx.ca/people/gtrites 

The SAP University Alliance homepage is at http://www.sap.com/usa/company/ua/ 

In today's fast-paced, technically advanced society, universities must master the latest technologies, not only to achieve their own business objectives cost-effectively but also to prepare the next generation of business leaders. To meet the demands for quality teaching, advanced curriculum, and more technically sophisticated graduates, your university is constantly searching for innovative ways of acquiring the latest information technology while adhering to tight budgetary controls.

SAP can help. A world leader in the development of business software, SAP is making its market-leading, client/server-based enterprise software, the R/3® System, available to the higher education community. Through our SAP University Alliance Program, we are proud to offer you the world's most popular software of its kind for today's businesses. SAP also provides setup, follow-up consulting, and R/3 training for faculty - all at our expense. The SAP R/3 System gives you the most advanced software capabilities used by businesses of all sizes and in all industries around the world.

There are many ways a university can benefit from an educational alliance with SAP. By partnering with SAP and implementing the R/3 System, your university can:


Bob Jensen's threads on asynchronous versus synchronous learning are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm 
Note in particular the research outcomes of The Scale Experiment at the University of Illinois --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/255wp.htm#Illinois 

Once again, my advice to new faculty is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm 


January 21, 2003 reply from Paul Williams [williamsp@COMFS1.COM.NCSU.EDU

Jagdish, et al,

Wonderfully said. The Daily Chronicle of Higher Education has a very relevant article today by Peter Monaghan ( http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i20/20a01201.htm ) about the plight of economics ("Taking on 'Rational Man': dissident economists fight for a niche in the discipline") that begins with the sentence "How do you start a fire under a huge wet blanket?" The same can be said for accounting, which has been suckered into understanding itself as a purely imaginary activity through the language of neo-classical (now new-classical) economics. Jagdish observations are spot on. The Post-Autistic Economic Review referred to in the article may be found at http://www.paecon.net . Subscriptions are free.

PFW

On 18 Jan 03, at 17:00, J. S. Gangolly wrote:

I do not believe any one professor will teach accounting without the   concepts. the use of computers will in fact enhance the chance and   give more time for students to understand the concepts rather than   spend long hours on figuring out where is the difference between   the debit and credit totals on the financial statements came from,   or post repeated journal entries that follow the same theory and   commit mistakes as students do that.... (I know that you can commit   mistakes when using the computer, but these mistakes will be found   quicker, or worst to happen we could blame the computer if we are   disparate) I guess we need to remember always that accounting was   the first business function to be computerized with the basic   accounting machine. So now we have the opportunity to graduate   students who were taught and trained to be accountants.  

I have been reading the postings on concepts, procedures,... Let me as  usual play the devil's advocate once again.   Accounting, like law, is a language. An in depth understanding of any  language requires knowledge of all its aspects: lexicon, syntax,  lexical semantics, semantics, as well as pragmatics (spoken languages,  in addition, require knowledge of phonetics). Like law, accounting is  rich in its lexicon. However, in many ways, unlike law, accounting is  rather simple in its syntax, and rather poor in terms of semantics.  Accounting is also quite primitive compared with the law in the  importance attached to reasoning. That we should define most concepts  by citing examples or clear explication with a laundry list of  exceptions rather than clear explication of lexical semantics attests  to this argument.  

What is lacking in accounting, as I have stated in much of my work,  is the utter lack of a hermeneutic tradition that clarifies the  semantics of concepts, procedures, principles, and in general  reasoning about all of these entities. In the legal discipline, such a  hermeneutic tradition in the nature of exegesis of text forms the  bedrock on which the discipline itself is built and the legal  education is practiced. We, on the other hand are pretending to be  numbers people, ignoring that numbers take on meaning only in the  context of the surrounding text and the standards.   This lacuna makes accounting that much less interesting from the point  of the students as well as teachers. When I taught intro courses, I  found that the best students did not find accounting interesting  enough because of lack of analytical thinking (except in a trivial  double-entry sense) and hermeneutics in the above sense. Now I find  that most of my better students exit the profession for the same  reason: not because of its hard-ness or their failure to advance, but  simply because they simply do not find it intellectually challenging.   Many years ago, when I took an accounting course (it used to be called  Book-keeping & Commercial Arithmetic), it was taught the way law is  taught in a law school, and I found it fascinating, even though then I  was an outsider, an actuarial student.   I do hope we find a way to harness the richness of our language in all  its aspects and glory rather than concentrate just on the lexicon and  the syntax, both of which are rather quite uninteresting in the  absence of the rest of the aspects.  

Jagdish S. Gangolly,
Associate Professor ( j.gangolly@albany.edu
Accounting & Law and Management Science & Information Systems
State  University of New York at Albany,
Albany, NY 12222.
URL: http://www.albany.edu/acc/gangolly


365 Days (Great Free Audio and Video Downloads of Top Musicians of Today and Yesterday) http://www.otisfodder.com/365days.html 

For the entire year of 2003 (January 1st to December 31st) this page will feature one mp3 file (every day) to download. The content will be focused on musical pieces, but will also include spoken word. Listeners of the incredibly strange and outsider realm take note, for this is the majority of material that will be made available.

Obscure and out-of-print recordings will be the primary focus, although once in a while there may be a change. The year 2003 is a normal year, with 365 days in total, which comes out to 365 songs that will be made available. Carefully hand-picked pieces I might add. Some days may leave you begging for more and others may leave you cursing my name. Regardless the bottom line of this is to share with you all.

Note:  This is more than an entertainment download site.  It includes many informative items, including a module on satanic messages in modern rock music.  The site also features links to other free video and audio downloads.


A Photo a Day (Geography, Cultures, Photography) --- http://www.aphotoaday.org/ 
You can have the photos emailed each day.

A Day in the Life (Photography, Culture) http://www.adayinthelife.org/ 
A new photograph every day of the week and a new nation every week.


Book Recommendation from the AccountingWeb on January 21, 2003

Book Recommendation: Excel Charts, by John Walkenbach 

This book is intended for intermediate to advanced users who want to master Excel's charting feature. The book starts with the basics of chart making, and ends up with extensive coverage of creating charts with VBA. In the process, you'll find hundreds of useful examples, and learn insider tips and techniques that will enable you to make Excel do things you may not have thought possible. More than 150 example workbooks, an electronic (PDF) version of the book; a gallery of more than 250 charts (in the form of GIF files); four add-ins written by the author and "Bonus material" are included. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764517643/accountingweb 

Bob Jensen's tips on Excel are available at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm#Excel 


From the Smithsonian (Art, History)  Includes Audio!
Eye Contact (Modern American Portrait Drawings from the National Portrait Gallery)
http://www.npg.si.edu/cexh/eye/index.html


Fortune Magazine's Listing of the Top 100 Companies to Work For --- http://www.fortune.com/fortune/bestcompanies 
You may also read the listing in hard copy in Fortune, January 20, 2003, pp. 128-152.
Only Ernst & Young (Rank 68) and Deloitte and Touche (Rank 79) made the list among the Big 4 accounting giants.  The only other accounting firm in the Top 100 was Plante & Moran (Rank 11).


The $2.25 billion e-rate fund has helped connect thousands of U.S. schools and libraries to the Net. The fund is also subject to widespread fraud, abuse and "honest" accounting mistakes --- http://www.wired.com/news/school/0,1383,57172,00.html 


Eldercare
Helping a client who is caring for another opens up many opportunities not only for deepening your relationship with the caregiver but also for connecting with members of the extended family and friends. http://www.accountingweb.com/item/96989 

Bob Jensen's threads on professional services are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fees.htm 


A search firm in Denmark, caught in a legal tug-of-war over so-called deep linking, is turning to a file-sharing system in an attempt to avoid further confrontations --- http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,57230,00.html 

Bob Jensen's P2p threads are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/napster.htm 


The Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science http://www.csiss.org/ 

The CSIS recognizes the growing significance of space, spatiality, location, and place in social science research. It seeks to develop unrestricted access to tools and perspectives that will advance the spatial analytic capabilities of researchers throughout the social sciences. CSISS is funded by the National Science Foundation under its program of support for infrastructure in the social and behavioral sciences.


Critics fear consumers may be shortchanged by an agreement between the technology and recording industries over the future of digital copyright policy.
"Downside to Digital Rights Pact," by Katie Dean, Wired News, Janaury 15, 2002 ---  http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57211,00.html 

A new agreement between the technology and recording industries -- touted as a boon for consumers and businesses -- is not as rosy as it sounds, say some digital rights groups.

On Tuesday, the Business Software Alliance, Computer Systems Policy Project and the Recording Industry Association of America pledged to follow a set of principles that address digital content issues like piracy and copy protection while rejecting government technology mandates.

"It's sort of a guidebook for how we all want to act in the public policy arena," said Hilary Rosen, CEO of the RIAA.

The agreement calls for technology and record companies to promote consumer awareness about Internet usage and digital copying issues. It also pledges support for technical measures that limit the illegal distribution of copyrighted material and opposes government-imposed technical mandates.

The agreement "minimizes the distracting public rhetoric and needless legislative battles," she said. "Our industries need to work together for the consumer to benefit and for our respective businesses to grow."

"There will be continued investment in new products and new music delivery methods," she said. "Consumers' interest in music is served if the investment in creativity can be protected."

But some digital rights groups said the agreement attempts leave the public without much input on crucial issues about digital content rights.

"It is not good news for the consumer," said Wendy Seltzer, staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

"They are trying to take the legislative process out of the legislature and put it in the hands of a few industry groups," Seltzer said. "There's a lot of public debate that has to go on and we do need Congress to step in and undo the mess that has been created by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."

Continued at http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,57211,00.html 

Also see http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,57205,00.html 

In using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as an excuse to sue third parties that dare to make inexpensive consumables, tech equipment makers also cheat consumers. It's reminiscent of the telcos' fight for dominance in the '50s --- http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,57268,00.html 

Bob Jensen's threads on the DMCA are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm#Copyright 


The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (American History) ---  http://www.hsp.org/index.html 

National Postal Museum http://www.si.edu/postal/ 

The National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial http://www.lewisandclark200.org/ 

From the University of Chicago Library (History, Antropology, Geography) --- 
Ancient Near East and the Mediterranean World http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/dl/proj/neh2/ 

The Official Leonard Bernstein Site (Music, History)  http://www.leonardbernstein.com/ 

Bob Jensen's threads on history and museums can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#History 


The Supreme Court rules that the 20-year extension on copyrights included in a 1998 law is not unconstitutional. It's a big win for media corporations --- http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,57220,00.html 

Also see http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,830856,00.asp 

The result of the ruling is that works copyrighted by creators are extended until 70 years after the death of the creator, which protects heirs of the creators. Corporations who own copyrighted works have most of their copyrights protected for 95 years. The ruling is already being referred to as "the Eldred decision" because Eric Eldred, who owns a public Web library, had challenged the decision by Congress to uphold copyright extension.


eBay sued for online slander --- http://www.news24.com/News24/Technology/0,6119,2-13_1311319,00.html 

A Los Angeles man who says he was libelled in eBay's "feedback" section of its website has sued the online auction house for refusing to remove statements he says damaged his reputation.

Analysts say the case, sparked by an online sale of vintage Hollywood magazines, cuts to the heart of what makes eBay work: the power of buyers and sellers to keep an eye on each other.

Robert Grace, publisher of a Los Angeles legal newspaper, sued eBay and Hollywood memorabilia dealer Tim Neeley this week in a California Superior Court after the website refused to remove negative comments Neeley made after selling Grace six vintage entertainment magazines.

According to the lawsuit, Neeley said Grace "should be banned from eBay", and was "dishonest all the way" for alleging in the online forum that the magazines he bought had arrived late and in a worse condition than advertised.

In his lawsuit, Grace demands $2.5 million in punitive damages from eBay and $100 000 from Neeley.

A spokesperson for eBay said the company would not comment on pending litigation. Neeley said Grace started the battle of words by complaining in eBay's signature feedback section about the condition of the "Radio TV Digest" magazines he bought. The magazines dated from the 1940s and 1950s, he said


PBS: GlobalTribe (Cultures, Geography, Sociology) --- http://www.pbs.org/kcet/globaltribe/index.html 


Life Interrupted --- http://www.lifeinterrupted.org/ 
About two little-known Japanese internment camps in Arkansas.


They built the Internet, they invented e-mail -- and now it may be up to them to save both from crumbling under the weight of spam. Hackers head to MIT on Friday for the first conference on junk e-mail filtering --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57190,00.html 


As We Say in Texas --- Yah! Yhoo!
Yahoo! Posts Profits on Marketing, Fees Growth Marketing revenues were up 31 percent, listing and fees rose 120 percent, as the turnaround continues at the portal giant. http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/1570551 

The Internet retailer earns a small profit for its latest quarter and says it plans to continue cutting prices --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57374,00.html 


IBM's Lotus Software division will unveil two initiatives at its Lotusphere conference next week that enable developers to embed Domino components as Web services in other applications --- http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,835041,00.asp 


Spammer Exposes Customer Data A seller of pirated Norton software, who inundates the Net with spam touting his cheap prices, leaves open a back door to buyers' personal information -- and officials say it happens all the time. - Special Report: Frauds, Scams and the Flimflam-Man --- http://ecommerce.internet.com/news/news/article/0,,10375_1569901,00.html   

One of the Web sites operated by this particular spammer is called salesscape.com, and links related to the site showed hundreds of customer orders in .txt files.

The exposed data includes what item was purchased, customer names, street addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses, but apparently not credit card numbers.

Sites like this are often totally unsecured, which is a good reason not to do business with them, said a spokesman for Symantec.

And for anyone wondering why spammers do what they do, the sheer number of customer orders for this one spammer alone tells the story.

There is lots of money to be made, which accounts for why an estimated 76 billion spam e-mails will be sent worldwide in 2003, at an average cost to the spammers of 0.00032 cents per message, according to figures from eMarketer.

One of the recent spam e-mails touting this software sales site came from "first_response005@yahoo.com" and advertised Norton SystemWorks 2003 Software Suite -Professional Edition.

The e-mail touted "Five Feature-Packed Utilities...For One Great Price... A $300-Plus Combined Retail Value... YOURS for Only $39.99!" That software package normally sells for about $70 or less on Amazon.com. It includes Norton AntiVirus 2003, Norton Ghost 2003, GoBack 3 Personal Edition, Norton Utilities 2003 and Norton CleanSweep 2003.

Clicking on the link in the e-mail takes one to www.salesscape.com, which may be shut down by now, but which earlier listed the software package and linked to an order page that requests payment, either by clicking on a button or by snail mail to "G.A. Moore - PO Box 19803 - Baltimore, MD 21225."

A whois check on the site shows it is registered to Maryland Internet Marketing, with the administrative contact being one George Moore Jr., 300 Twin Oaks Road, Linthicum, Md. 21090. There was no answer when a reporter called the phone number listed.

Another spam touting this same offer took us to a site called computerssystems.com that appeared to be identical.

The order form instructs potential customers to enter their addresses and a credit card number, then push a "send" button or print the form out and mail it. It also says that the software comes with no retail packaging and the "manuals are built into the programs." Customers are also given an opportunity to buy Roxio EZ CD Creator for another $29.99.

A Symantec spokesman said that "one of the key indicators of pirated software is the fact that retail packaging is not included."

Continued at http://ecommerce.internet.com/news/news/article/0,,10375_1569901,00.html 

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

Bob Jensen's threads on security are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce/000start.htm 


Share and Snare (Pornography)
The online pornography industry is the antithesis of how the entertainment business is operating these days: It likes the idea of sharing files --- http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,57348,00.html 


Security Flaw Exposes AOL Accounts 
Millions of AOL e-mail accounts were jeopardized this week due to a serious flaw in the company's Web-based mail system --- http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,840980,00.asp 


A new application for multivariate data analysis
The centerpiece of the government's new plan to scrutinize travelers is a sophisticated computer algorithm that takes data from a panoply of sources to sniff out potential terrorists. Privacy advocates fear the program's "fuzzy logic" could backfire --- http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,57354,00.html 


SAP BRIDGES THE COMPUTING DIVIDE 
In a "plug-and-play" strategy, the software maker's new products will work with both Microsoft's .Net and Sun's Java standards http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2003/tc20030117_2344.htm?c=bwtechjan22&n=link3&t=email 


STANFORD UNIVERSITY TAKES STAND ON ANTI-TERROR LAWS
The Faculty Senate unanimously passed a resolution warning against the unintended effects of the USA Patriot Act and related anti-terror legislation passed in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Faculty expressed concerns about the laws' potential impact on academic and intellectual freedom, weighed against the government's legitimate concerns in combating terrorism. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/january15/resolution-115.html 


NetShred X --- http://www.mireth.com/pub/nxme.html 

How private is your web browsing?

Your web browser stores copies of the images and text that you see in the "cache" folder on your hard disk, as well as a list of the sites that you have visited in a history file and information about files you have downloaded. Anyone with access to your computer can look through these files and see what information you have accessed on the web (e.g. personal financial information, web site passwords, other private information). Also, when you delete or junk an email message, the message text is not deleted from the email folder until you empty it. Anyone can recover and read the mail you have thrown away. Do you really want anyone with access to your computer to have access to information that you consider private?

And throwing these files in the trash will not remove the file contents from the hard disk – it just removes the file name from the directory, leaving the data intact and vulnerable. What you threw away can be recovered. Is this a risk you’d like to avoid?

NetShred is an internet privacy utility that securely deletes files you created when using the Internet - browser cache, browser history files, download cache, email trash and junk mail. It supports several web browsers and email applications (IE, Safari, Omniweb, Opera, iCab, Eudora, Apple Mail) and runs automatically when you quit from your browser or email application.

NetShred – the Internet privacy utility.

Bob Jensen's threads on network security are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce/000start.htm#SpecialSection 


Speaking Secrets of the Masters --- http://cathcart.com/prodspeak.html 

The secrets of history's greatest speakers. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761563512/accountingweb 
Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln: 21 Practical Secrets of History's Greatest Speakers


Is your computer protected from the Slammer Worm?

Ziff Davis Media led the world in covering Slammer's nasty scourge. First, in the early hours of the attack, ZD posted a news story detailing exactly what was going on and what it meant. All weekend, and this week, ZD continued to provide details on protecting yourself and cleaning your systems, along with tantalizing clues on who might be responsible for this scourge and how it works. ZD also posted a lament from a security expert about how this attack could have been avoided

January 27, 2003 message from Richard Campbell

From the Steve Gibson web site - www.grc.com 

You may quickly and easily check your system: It is unlikely that typical personal computer users will be vulnerable to this worm's infection attempts, so you probably have nothing to worry about. Most personal computers are not running Microsoft's "SQL Server", so there is no point of entry for this infection.

To quickly verify that your system is not running Microsoft's SQL Server, and therefore can not be infected by Sapphire/Slammer worm probes, enter the following command in an "MS-DOS Prompt" window:

netstat -an | find "1434" This DOS command line checks for the presence of any process "listening" on your computer's port 1434. Your system might be vulnerable only if some lines containing "1434" are printed to the screen when this command is entered. Otherwise, your computer can not be infected by this new worm.

(Note: The vertical bar "|" character is often located above the keyboard's "\" character.)

History of the Slammer Worm --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57412,00.html 

Future of the Slammer Worm (it will be back) --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,57409,00.html 


The Reality of Race 
There's hardly any difference in the DNA of human races. That doesn't mean, argues sociologist Troy Duster, that genomics research can ignore the concept.
by Sally Lehrman, Scientific American, February 2003 --- http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0002A353-C027-1E1C-8B3B809EC588EEDF&catID=2 

PEOPLES FROM FAR-FLUNG LANDS ARE GENETICALLY SIMILAR
Scientists have long recognized that, despite physical differences, all human populations are genetically similar. But new research concludes that populations from different parts of the world share even more genetic similarities than previously thought. Meanwhile, even tiny differences in DNA can help identify geographic ancestry of individuals - which could give doctors a useful tool for diagnosing genetic disorders. http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/report/news/2003/january8/genetics-18.html 


SHRINKING HOUSEHOLDS THREATEN BIODIVERSITY
A new study in the journal Nature, co-authored by Stanford ecologist Gretchen Daily, concludes that the average household size is shrinking worldwide, leading to more houses with fewer people living in them. Instead of permitting "some breathing room for biodiversity," slowing population growth is fueling a housing boom and urban sprawl that threatens the survival of plants and animals in dozens of countries including the United States. http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/january15/households-115.html 


In the 13th century, the Venetians built a warship a day to battle Turkey at sea. Today, the Pentagon can barely crank out a new fighter plane in 10 years. Experts blame red tape -- and corruption -- in the military industrial complex --- http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,57250,00.html 


Your print copy of EDUCAUSE Review, Volume 38, Number 1, will be mailed soon. The Table of Contents below gives you a peek at the articles in this issue. The full issue is online at <http://www.educause.edu/pub/er/erm03/erm031.asp>.

Why IT Matters to Higher Education
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2003, Volume 38, Number 1

FEATURES

"Higher Education Alert: The Information Railroad Is Coming" by WM. A. WULF

The "information railroad" will cause major changes not only in the execution of the mission of colleges and universities-in the ways that higher education is manufactured, distributed, and delivered-but also in the perception of the mission itself. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0310.pdf

"Beyond Bandwidth..." by JAMES D. BRUCE

What are the implications and possibilities for colleges and universities as higher education goes "beyond bandwidth"-beyond the computing speed, innovative applications, and technological capabilities deployed globally today? http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0311.pdf

"The New Computing Revisited" by KENNETH C. GREEN

A review of a mid-1980s article on the "New Computing" reflects on those IT planning and instructional questions that continue to confront campuses today, on how these issues have evolved, and on the additional IT challenges that have emerged over the years. http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0312.pdf

BOOK EXCERPT

"Disruption in Education" by CLAYTON M. CHRISTENSEN, SALLY AARON, and WILLIAM CLARK
from Maureen Devlin, Richard Larson, and Joel Meyerson, eds.,

"The Internet and the University: Forum 2001" http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0313.pdf

DEPARTMENTS

techwatch
Information Technology in the News http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0314.pdf

Leadership
"The Legacy of Diane Balestri" by SUSAN PERRY and MARTIN RINGLE http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0315.pdf

E-Content
"Digital Archiving: What Is Involved?" by DALE FLECKER http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0316.pdf

New Horizons
"Digital Certificates: Coming of Age" by JUDITH V. BOETTCHER, ROBERT BRENTRUP, and JOHN DOUGLASS http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0317.pdf

policy@edu
"Same Issues, Different Packaging" by GARRET SERN and WENDY WIGEN http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0318.pdf

Viewpoints
"Firewalls: Friend or Foe?" by TERRY GRAY http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0319.pdf

Homepage
"IT Data Collection and Assessment" by BRIAN L. HAWKINS http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm03110.pdf


What Do You Say To Flat-Earthers? Half of adults don't know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun. There's an effort building to help make the U.S. science-literate. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eKT60BcUEY0V20BqNg0A3 

By the way, there are a number of "Flat Earth Society" Websites.  For example, see http://dir.yahoo.com/Science/Alternative/Flat_Earth_Society/ 




It's rumored that Alfred Hitchcock did not have one, but I don't know how that would be possible without plastic surgery.
More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Belly Buttons
Navel Maniac --- http://users.swing.be/navels/ 


BELOIT COLLEGE RELEASES THE CLASS OF 2006 "MINDSET LIST" --- http://www.beloit.edu/~pubaff/releases/mindset_2006.html 

1. A Southerner has always been President of the United States.

2. Richard Burton, Ricky Nelson and Truman Capote have always been dead.

3. South Africa's official policy of apartheid has not existed during their lifetime.

4. Cars have always had eye-level rear stop lights, CD players, and air bags.

5. We have always been able to choose our long distance carriers.

6. Weather reports have always been available 24-hours a day on television.

7. The "evil empire" has moved from Moscow to a setting in some distant galaxy.

8. "Big Brother" is merely a television show.

9. Cyberspace has always existed.

10. Bruce Springsteen's new hit, Born in the USA, could have been played to celebrate their birth.

11. Barbie has always had a job.

12. Telephone bills have always been totally incomprehensible.

13. Prom dresses have always come in basic black.

14. A "Hair Band" is some sort of fashion accessory.

15. George Foreman has always been a barbecue grill salesman.

16. Afghanistan has always been a front page story.

17. There has always been an heir to the heir to the British throne.

18. They have no recollection of Connie Chung or Geraldo Rivera as serious journalists.

19. Peter Jennings, Dan Rather, and Tom Brokaw have always anchored the evening news.

20. China has always been a market-based reforming regime.

21. The United States has always been trying to put nuclear waste in Nevada.

22. The U.S. and the Soviets have always been partners in space.

23. Mrs. Fields' cookies and Swatch watches have always been favorites.

24. Nicholas Cage, Daryll Hannah, Eddie Murphy, and John Malkovich made their first major film impressions the year they were born.

25. The GM Saturn has always been on the road.

26. The "Fab Four" are not a male rock group, but four women enjoying "Sex and the City."

27. Fox has always been a television network choice.

28. Males do not carry a handkerchief in a back pocket.

29. This generation has never wanted to "be a Pepper too."

30. Ozzy's lifestyle has nothing to do with the Nelson family.

31. Women have always had tattoos.

32. Vanessa Williams and Madonna are aging singers.

33. Perrier has always come in flavors.

34. Cherry Coke has always come in cans.

35. A "hotline" is a consumer service rather than a phone used to avoid accidental nuclear war.

36. The drug "ecstasy" has always been around.

37. Genetic testing and DNA screening have always been available.

38. Electronic filing of federal income taxes has always been an option.

39. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has always been available to doctors.

40. Trivial Pursuit may have been played by their parents the night before they were born.

41. The U.S. has always maintained that it has a "clear right to use force against terrorism."

42. The drinking age has always been 21 throughout the country.

43. Women have always been members of the Jaycees.

44. The center of chic has shifted from Studio 54 to Liza's living room, live!

45. Julian Lennon had his only hit the year they were born.

46. Sylvan Learning Centers have always been an after-school option.

47. Hip-hop and rap have always been popular musical forms.

48. They grew up in minivans.

49. Scientists have always recognized the impact of acid rain.

50. The Coen Brothers have always been making films.


And in 1984, perhaps it was "Too Soon to Tell"...


Question forwarded by Tony

The following facts relate to what organization in the U.S.?

29 have been accused of spousal abuse
7 have been arrested for fraud
19 have been accused of writing bad checks
117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
3 have done time for assault
71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
8 have been arrested for shoplifting
21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year 

 

Can you guess which organization this is? Give up yet?







It's the 535 members of the United States Congress.


Hey folks from the 1950s.  Do you remember these (lyrics of a great Statler Brothers tune)? --- http://www.mamarocks.com/do_you_remember.htm  

Do You Remember These?

Saturday Morning serials - Chapters One thru fifteen Fly Paper, Penny Loafers, and Lucky Strike Green Flat Tops, sock hops, Studebaker, "Pepsi, please"...

Ah, do you remember these?

Cigar Bands on your hands - Your Daddy's socks rolled down... Sticks, no plugs and Aviator caps, with flaps that button down Movie stars on Dixie Cup tops and knickers to your knees...

Ah, do you remember these?

The hit Parade, Grape Tru-aide, The Sadie Hawkins Dance.... Peddle Pushers, Duck Tail hair, and Peggin' your pants... Howdy Doody...Tootie fruitie...The seam up the back of her hose.....

Ah, do you remember those?

James Dean, he was "Keen", Sunday Movies were Taboo.... The senior Prom, Judy's Mom, Rock 'n Roll was New... Cracker Jack Prize...stars in your eyes..."Ask Daddy for the Keys"...

Ah, do you remember these?

The Boogie Man, Lemonade stand and taking your Tonsils out... Indian Burn and Wait Your Turn and four foul Balls...You're Out! Cigarette Loads and Secret Codes and saving Lucky Stars

Can you remember back that far?

To Boat Neck shirts and fender skirts and Crinoline Petticoats... Mums the Word and Dirty Bird and Double Root Beer float... Moon hubcaps and Loud heel Taps and "he's a Real Gone Cat"

Ah, do you remember that?

Dancing Close, Little Moron Jokes and "Cooties" in her hair... Captain Midnight, Ovaltine, and The Whip at the County fair Charles Atlas Course, Roy Rogers horse, and "Only the Shadow Knows"...

Ah, do you remember those?

Gables Charms, "froggin" your arm, Loud Mufflers, Pitching Woo... Going steady, Veronica and Betty, White Bucks and Blue Suede Shoes Knock, Knock Jokes......... Who's There? Dewey Dewey Who? Dewey......Remember These.........Yes we do!

Oh Do We?.....Do We Remember These!!!

"Do You Remember These" The Statler Brothers 

Written by: D. Reid - H. Reid - L. Lee


Things you can learn from a dog --- the last one may be especially important for auditors

And here is the last one that is very important to put in training and education courses for auditors:


More things you can learn from a dog.

A wealthy man decided to go on a safari in Africa. He took his faithful dog along for company. One day the dog starts chasing butterflies and before long the dog discovers that he is lost.

So, wandering about he notices a leopard heading rapidly in his direction with the obvious intention of having lunch.

The dog thinks, "Oh boy, I'm in deep stuff now."

Then he noticed some bones lying nearby on the ground and immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the leopard is about to leap, the dog exclaims loudly, "Lordy, that was one delicious leopard. I wonder if there are any more around here?"

Hearing this the leopard halts his attack in mid stride, and slinks away into the trees. "Whew," says the leopard. "That was close. That dog nearly had me."

Meanwhile, a monkey who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the leopard. So off he goes.

But the dog sees him heading off after the leopard and figures that something is amiss.

The monkey soon catches up with the leopard, spills the beans about the dog's ruse and strikes a deal for himself with the leopard.

The leopard is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Hop on my back monkey, and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine."

Now the dog sees the leopard coming with the monkey on his back, and thinks, "Oh boy, it looks like I've really had it now."

But instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to the leopard and the monkey and pretends that he hasn't seen them. And just when they get close enough to hear him, the dog says, "Where the hell is that monkey? I sent him off an hour ago to get me another leopard and he's still not back."


The Happy Lady is watching your every move --- http://users.chartertn.net/tonytemplin/FBI_eyes/index.html 


Forwarded by Bob Overn

One afternoon, a wealthy lawyer was riding in the back of his limousine when he saw two men eating grass by the road side.

He ordered his driver to stop and he got out to investigate.

"Why are you eating grass?" he asked one man.

"We don't have any money for food," the poor man replied.

"Oh, come along with me then," instructed the lawyer.

"But, sir, I have a wife and two children!"

"Bring them along!" replied the lawyer. He turned to the other man and said, "Come with us."

"But sir, I have a wife and six children!" the second man answered.

"Bring them as well!" answered the lawyer as he headed for his limo.

They all climbed into the car, which was no easy task, even for a car as large as the limo. Once underway, one of the poor fellows says, "Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you."

The lawyer replied, "No problem, the grass at my home is almost a foot tall.


Forwarded by an accounting professor from the University of Georgia

Albert Einstein goes to a cocktail party. He walks up to the first person he sees and says, "I'm Albert Einstein - what's your IQ?" The man replies that his IQ is 245.

Albert says, "That's great. You and I can talk about the theory of relativity, quantum physics, etc. and we'll have a fine conversation."

He then goes over to a woman standing nearby, introduces himself, and asks for her IQ. She replies, "150."

Albert says, "Terrific. You and I can talk about the state of the economy and the national political scene. It should be a very interesting conversation."

After that he happens to run into one of the waiters working at the party and Albert introduces himself and asks the same question. The waiter says, "60." Not missing a beat, Mr. Einstein says, "How 'bout them Dawgs?"


Forwarded by Bob Overn

A little old woman, calling the hospital, said, "Hello, darling, I'd like to talk with the person who gives the information regarding your patients. I want to know if the patient is getting better, or doing like expected, or is getting worse.

The voice on the other end of the line said, "What is the patient's name and room number?"

She said, "Yes, darling! she's Sarah Romano, in Room 302."

He said, "Oh, yes. Mrs. Romano is doing very well. In fact, she's had two full meals, her blood pressure is fine, her blood work just came back as normal, she's going to be taken off the heart monitor in a couple of hours and if she continues this improvement, Dr. Cohen is going to send her home Tuesday at twelve o' clock."

The woman said, "Thank God! That's wonderful! Oh! that's fantastic, darling!... That's wonderful news!"

The man on the phone said, "From your enthusiasm, I take it you must be a close family member or a very close friend!"

She said, "I'm Sarah Romano in 302! My doctor doesn't tell me zip!


Forwarded by Bob Overn

Guy sees a sign in front of a house: "Talking Dog for Sale." He rings the bell and the owner tells him the dog is in the back yard.

The guy goes into the back yard and sees a mutt sitting there. "You talk?" he asks.

"Yep, that's me," the mutt replies. "So, what's your story?"

The old hound looks up and says, "Well, I discovered my gift pretty young and I wanted to help the government, so I told the CIA about my talent, and in no time they had me jetting from country to country, sitting in rooms with spies and world leaders, because no one figured a dog would be eavesdropping. I was one of their most valuable spies eight years running. I couldn't tell you how many wars I helped prevent. "But, the jetting around really tired me out, and I knew I wasn't getting any younger and I wanted to settle down. So I signed up for a job at the airport to do some undercover security work, mostly wandering near suspicious characters and listening in. I uncovered some incredible dealings there ... and was awarded a batch of medals. "Had a wife, a mess of puppies, and now I'm just retired."

The guy is amazed. He goes into the house and asks the owner what he wants for the dog.

"Ten bucks and he's yours," the owner says. "

But this dog is amazing!" the guy exclaims. "Why on earth are you selling him and why so cheap?"

"He's such a liar," the owner says, "He's always bragging about things that ain't true.


Forwarded by Bob Overn

There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra than Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2020, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections but no recollection what to do with them.


Forwarded by Barbara

THE PERFECT DRESS

The wedding day was fast approaching. Everything was ready, and nothing could dampen Jennifer's ex- citement, not even her parents' nasty divorce.

Sheila, her mother, finally found the PERFECT dress to wear and would be the best dressed mother of the bride EVER!

A week later, Jennifer was horrified to learn her new young stepmother, Barbie, had purchased the same dress. She asked Barbie to exchange the dress, but Barbie refused, "Absolutely not! I'm going to wear this dress; I'll look like a million in it!"

Jennifer told her mother, who graciously replied, "Never mind, dear. I'll get another dress. After all, it's YOUR special day."

Two weeks later, another dress was finally found. When they stopped for lunch, Jennifer asked her mother, "What are you going to do with the first dress? Maybe you should return it. You don't have any place to wear it."

Sheila grinned and replied, "Of course, I do, dear! I'm wearing it to the rehearsal dinner!"


Forwarded by Dr. Wolff

LIFE'S LIST---

The most destructive habit........................  ........ Worry

The greatest joy .......................................    .......Giving

The greatest loss..............................     ......Self-respect

The most satisfying work.........................Helping Others

The ugliest personality trait...........   ...............Selfishness

The most endangered species........... Dedicated Leaders

Our greatest natural resource... Our Youth &Our Elderly

The greatest "shot in the arm".................Encouragement

The greatest problem to overcome......................... Fear

The most effective sleeping pill................. Peace of mind

The most crippling failure disease.......................Excuses

The most powerful force in life...............................Love

The most dangerous outcast............................A Gossip

The worlds most incredible computer..............The Brain

The worst thing to be without............................. ..Hope

The deadliest weapon................................  The Tongue

The two most power-filled words....................... "I can"

The greatest asset..........................................     ...Faith

The most worthless emotion.............................Self-pity

The most beautiful attire.................................. A Smile

The most prized possession..............................Integrity

The most powerful channel of communication.... Prayer

The most contagious spirit.......................... Enthusiasm


Forwarded by John Rodi  (I think farmers tend to be on the same accounting system)

A student gave me a story once that I generally tell at the beginning of all my accounting classes. I will share it with you.

An immigrant arrives in the United States and works very hard saving his money and eventually opens a restaurant. He has three children and they all attend college. His oldest son becomes a doctor, his daughter an attorney and his youngest son becomes an accountant.

After graduating the young accountant returns home and visits his father’s restaurant. He asks his father about his accounting system. The father explains that he has two empty cigar boxes, one on each side of the cash register. When he receives an invoice from a vendor he places it in the box on the left side of the register. When paying the invoice he removes the money from the cash register and places the paid invoice in the box on the right side of the register.

The son is astounded and says, “But dad how do you figure out your net profit?”

The father thinks for a moment and replies, “When I came to this country all I owned was the pair of pants and the shirt that I was wearing. Today, I own this restaurant free and clear, a very large house in the country alongside of a lake. I also own a boat all of which is paid for. In addition I have a condominium here in town that is paid for and my car and your mother’s car are paid for. I paid for all of your education and the education of your sister and brother. The way I figure it is you add all of that up, deduct the pants and you have the net profit!”


Forwarded by Vidya
Funny Road Signs (Photographs) --- http://www.serathilion.com/signs.htm 


Forwarded by The Happy Lady

10. God worried that Adam would be lost  in the Garden of Eden,  because he wouldn't ask for directions.  

09. God knew that, someday, Adam would need someone to hand him the TV remote. 
      (Parenthetically, it has been noted that men  don't want to see what's ON TV.  They want to see WHAT ELSE is on.)  

08. God knew that Adam would never  make a doctor's appointment.  

07. God knew that, when Adam's fig leaf wore out,  he would never buy a new one for himself.  

06. God knew that Adam would not remember  to take out the garbage.  

05. God wanted man to be fruitful and multiply.  But, He knew Adam would never be able to handle labor pains and childbirth. 

04. As "keeper of the garden",  Adam would need help in finding his tools.  

03. Adam needed someone to blame  for the Apple Incident and for anything else that was really his fault.  

02. As the Bible says,  "It is not good for man to be alone."  

01. And the No. 1 reason of all  

Tada, drum roll, fanfare, etc.]  
God stepped back, looked at Adam, and declared,  "I can do better than that."


Forwarded by Barbara Hessell

1. Only in America......can a pizza get to your house faster than an ambulance.

2. Only in America......are there handicap parking places in front of a skating rink.

3. Only in America......do drugstores make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store to get their prescriptions while healthy people can buy cigarettes at the front.

4. Only in America......do people order double cheeseburgers, large fries, and a diet coke.

5. Only in America......do banks leave both doors open and then chain the pens to the counters.

6. Only in America......do we leave cars worth thousands of dollars in the driveway and put our useless junk in the garage.

7. Only in America......do we use answering machines to screen calls and then have call waiting so we won't miss a call from someone we didn't want to talk to in the first place.

8. Only in America......do we buy hot dogs in packages of ten and buns in packages of eight.

9. Only in America......do we use the word 'politics' to describe the process so well: 'Poli' in Latin meaning 'many' and 'tics' meaning 'bloodsucking creatures'.

10. Only in America......do they have drive-up ATM machine s with Braille lettering.


EVER WONDER...?

Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?

Why don't you ever see the headline "Psychic Wins Lottery"?

Why is "abbreviated" such a long word?

Why is it that doctors call what they do "practice"?

Why is it that to stop Windows 98, you have to click on "Start"?

Why is lemon juice made with artificial flavor, and dishwashing liquid made with real lemons?

Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Why isn't there mouse-flavored cat food?

When dog food is new and improved tasting, who tests it?

Why didn't Noah swat those two mosquitoes?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

You know that indestructible black box that is used on airplanes? Why don't they make the whole plane out of that stuff?

Why don't sheep shrink when it rains?

Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?

If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?

If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?


Forwarded by Robert Bowers

The story goes that some time ago a man punished his 5 year old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive  gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became  even more upset when the child pasted the gold paper so as to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

 Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."

The father was embarrassed by his earlier over reaction, but his anger flared again when he found the box was empty. He spoke to her in a harsh manner, "Don't you know, young lady, when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package?"

 The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was full."

 The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his little girl, and he begged her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger.

 An accident took the life of the child only a short time later and it is told that the father kept that gold box by his bed for all the years of his life.

 Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems he would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

 In a very real sense, each of us, as human beings, have been given a golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.


Forwarded by Dr. Digiovanni

Texans Aren't as Dumb as They Look

From the state where drinking and driving is considered a sport, comes a true story from Texas. Recently a routine police patrol parked outside a local neighborhood bar. Late in the evening the officer noticed a man leaving the bar so intoxicated that he could barely walk. The man stumbled around the parking lot for a few minutes with the officer quietly observing.

After what seemed an eternity and trying his keys on five different vehicles, the man managed to find his own car which he fell into. He was there for a few minutes as a number of other patrons left the bar and drove off. Finally he started the car, switched the wipers on and off (it was a dry night), flicked the hazard flasher on and off, tooted the horn and then switched on the lights. He moved the vehicle forward a few inches, reversed a little and then remained stationary for a few more minutes as more patrons left in their vehicles. At last he pulled out of the parking lot and started to drive slowly down the street.

The police officer, having patiently waited all this time, now started up his patrol car, put on the flashing lights, promptly pulled the man over and carried out a breathalyzer test. To his amazement the breathalyzer indicated no evidence of the man having consumed alcohol at all! Dumbfounded, the officer said "I'll have to ask you to accompany me to the Police station. This breathalyzer equipment must be broken."

"I doubt it," said the man, "tonight I'm the designated decoy."


Forwarded by Dick Haar

This old guy comes into a pharmacy and asks for a vial of Cyanide.
The pharmacist, trying to keep a professional posture, asked what he wanted it for.
He answered, "I want to kill my wife."
"I'm sorry Sir," the pharmacist replied, "but you will have to understand under such circumstances I can't sell you any Cyanide."
The guy reaches into his wallet and produces a photo of his wife.
The pharmacist blushes and replies, "I am sorry Sir, I didn't realize you had a prescription."


This is a sweeter way to end this edition of New Bookmarks:  
Candy Critic --- http://www.candycritic.org/




 

And that's the way it was on January 31, 2003 with a little help from my friends.

 

I highly recommend TheFinanceProfessor (an absolutely fabulous and totally free newsletter from a very smart finance professor) --- www.FinanceProfessor.com 

 

In March 2000, Forbes named AccountantsWorld.com as the Best Website on the Web --- http://accountantsworld.com/.
Some top accountancy links --- http://accountantsworld.com/category.asp?id=Accounting

 

For accounting news, I prefer AccountingWeb at http://www.accountingweb.com/ 

 

Another leading accounting site is AccountingEducation.com at http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

 

Paul Pacter maintains the best international accounting standards and news Website at http://www.iasplus.com/

 

The Finance Professor --- http://www.financeprofessor.com/about/aboutFP.html 

 

How stuff works --- http://www.howstuffworks.com/ 

 

Bob Jensen's video helpers for MS Excel, MS Access, and other helper videos are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/ 
Accompanying documentation can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/default1.htm and http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 

 

Click on www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp for a complete list of interviews with established leaders, creative thinkers and education technology experts in higher education from around the country.

 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu  

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January 15, 2003

Quotes of the Week

My Favorite Whistle Blower Hero Who's Heads and Shoulders Above Time Magazine's Trio of Women of the Year
Cindy Ossias not only risked her job, she risked her law license to ever work again as an attorney. She also blew the whistle at the risk of going to jail.  Unlike the Time Magazine Women of the Year, Cindy Ossias knew there was no hope in blowing the whistle to her boss. Her boss was the big crook when she blew the whistle on him and the large home owner insurance companies operating in the State of California.
Bob Jensen ---  http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud013103.htm 

Email is the preferred communication method for managers when corresponding with employees, according to a survey of executives conducted by temporary staffing firm Accountemps.  (email is even preferred to face-to-face communication.)
SmartPros, January 1, 2003 --- http://www.smartpros.com/x36557.xml 

I am Cyrus. King of the world. When I entered Babylon... I did not allow anyone to terrorise the land... I kept in view the needs of Babylon and all its sanctuaries to promote their well-being... I put an end to their misfortune. From The First Charter of the Rights of Nations.
Cyrus, The Great, 539 B.C. Founder of The First Persian Empire.  As quoted at http://www.iranchamber.com/ 

It is because humanity didn't know where it was going that it managed to find its path.
Oscar Wilde

It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make their experiments on journalists and politicians.
Henrik Ibsen (today we would probably add CEOs to the list)

We have the power to do any damn fool thing we want to, and we seem to do it about every ten minutes.
J. William Fulbright, U.S. Senator (1945-1974) speaking about the Senate.  As quoted by Mark Shapiro.

Only the curious will learn and only the resolute overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient.
Eugene S. Wilson as quoted by Mark Shapiro --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-04-03.htm 

According to a September 27, 2002 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Jeffrey Brainard, the level of pork-barrel spending on academic projects reached $1.837 billion in the 2002-2003 federal budget. This represents a 9.2% increase over the previous fiscal year, and a 500% increase since 1989. The $1.837 billion figure refers to Congressional "earmarks", or direct grants of federal funds to academic institutions across the country, as opposed to federal funds for research and educational projects that are granted through the normal, competitive process of peer-review.
Mark Shapiro --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-12-29-02.htm 

It is perfectly monstrous the way people go about, nowadays, saying things behind one's back that are absolutely and entirely true.
Oscar Wilde

New Year's Resolutions from JimMahar@FinanceProfessor.com 

These are designed to be useful for all.

01. I will take an honest account of my spending habits, my net worth, and my 
      investment goals. 
02. I will let the power of compounding work for me and not against me by investing 
      more and  by paying off high interest debt (especially credit card debt which I will 
      entirely pay off  during as soon as possible). 
03. I will set up a savings and investment plan and stick to it (hint: the best way to do 
      this is with an automatic withdrawal program). 
04. I will spend less than I want to and save more than I think I need to. 
05. I will remember that there is “no free lunch” and if something looks too good to 
       be true, it probably is. 
06. I will diversify my investments to reduce risk. 
07. I will not get caught up in daily market volatility but will keep my eyes on my 
      long term goals. 
08. I will remember that there is more to life than money. 
09. I will invest not only in stocks and bonds but also in myself, my family, and 
      my community. 
10. I will remember that money is never worth losing one’s family, one’s friends, 
      or one’s health over. 
11. I will be generous with my time and money. 
12. I will be thankful for what I have and not jealous of what others have. 
13. I will remember that the most valuable asset that anyone can have is a 
      good reputation.

Also see Smart Tips on How to Organize Finances at http://www.smartpros.com/x36568.xml 

New Year's Resolutions for Auditors from The Accounting Web --- http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=96920 

For auditors

Lesson in Life Forwarded by Auntie Bev

A few years ago, at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash.

At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with a relish to run the race to the finish and win. All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry.

The other eight heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back.

Then they all turned around and went back......every one of them.

One girl with Down's Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better." Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line. Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are still telling the story.

Why? Because deep down we know this one thing: What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course.

If you pass this on, we may be able to change our hearts as well as someone else's...............

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle"

It's good to slowly come to the realisation that you understand nothing.
Maurice Maeterlinck

Remembrance of dot-com idiocy past At least Enron and WorldCom went down because of greed. But as James Ledbetter's "Starving to Death on $200 Million a Year" reveals, the Industry Standard pissed away a fortune out of mere carelessness.
Andrew Leonard, Salon.com ---  http://www.salon.com/tech/books/2003/01/10/industry_standard/index.html  

When choosing between two evils I always like to take the one I've never tried before.
Mae West

TIMING IS EVERYTHING in humor, but the jokes told by a few former Enron executives on a recently surfaced videotape border on bad taste in light of the events of the past year.
Home Video Uncovered by the Houston Chronicle, December 19, 2002
Skits for Enron ex-executive funny then, but full of irony now --- http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1703624 
(The above link includes a "See it Now" link to download the video itself which played well for me.)
Question:  How does former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling define HFV?

The tape, made for the January 1997 going-away party for former Enron President Rich Kinder, features nearly 30 minutes of absurd skits, songs and testimonials by company executives and prominent Houstonians. The collection is all meant in good fun, but some of the comments are ironic in the current climate of corporate scandal.

In one skit, former administrative executive Peggy Menchaca plays the part of Kinder as he receives a budget report from then-President Jeff Skilling, who plays himself, and financial planning executive Tod Lindholm. When the pretend Kinder expresses doubt that Skilling can pull off 600 percent revenue growth for the coming year, Skilling reveals how it will be done.

"We're going to move from mark-to-market accounting to something I call HFV, or hypothetical future value accounting," Skilling jokes as he reads from a script. "If we do that, we can add a kazillion dollars to the bottom line."

Richard Causey, the former chief accounting officer who was embroiled in many of the business deals named in the indictments of other Enron executives, makes an unfortunate joke later on the tape.

"I've been on the job for a week managing earnings, and it's easier than I thought it would be," Causey says, referring to a practice that is frowned upon by securities regulators. "I can't even count fast enough with the earnings rolling in."

Texas' political elite also take part in the tribute, with then-Gov. George W. Bush pleading with Kinder: "Don't leave Texas. You're too good a man."

Former President George Bush also offers a send-off to Kinder, thanking him for helping his son reach the Governor's Mansion.

"You have been fantastic to the Bush family," he says. "I don't think anybody did more than you did to support George."

Note:  Jim Borden showed me that it is possible to download and save this video using Camtasia.  Thank you Jim.  It is not a perfect capture, but it gets the job done.

Humor forwarded on December 21, 2002 by Miklos A. Vasarhelyi [miklosv@andromeda.rutgers.edu]

The corporate scandals are getting bigger and bigger. In a speech on Wall Street, President Bush spoke out on corporate responsibility, and he warned executives not to cook the books. Afterwards, Martha Stewart said the correct term was to saute the books.
Conan O'Brien

Martha Stewart denied allegations that she had been given inside information to sell 4,000 shares of a stock in a biotech firm about to go under. Stewart then showed her audience how to make a festive, quick-burning yule log out of freshly-shredded financial documents.
Dennis Miller

In New York the other day, there was a pro-Martha Stewart rally. Only four people showed up ... and three of them were made out of crepe paper!
Conan O'Brien

When reached for comment on the charges, Martha didn't say much, (only) that a subpoena should be served with a nice appetizer.
Conan O'Brien

NBC is making a movie about Martha Stewart that will cover the recent stock scandal. They are thinking of calling it 'The Road To Extradition."
Conan O'Brien

Things are not looking good for Martha Stewart. Her stock was down 23 percent yesterday. Wow, that dropped quicker than Dick Cheney after a double-cheeseburger.
Jay Leno

Tom Ridge announced a new color-coded alarm system. ... Green means everything's okay. Red means we're in extreme danger. And champagne-fuschia means we're being attacked by Martha Stewart.
Conan O'Brien

Bob Jensen's threads on accounting scandal humor are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#Humor 




WHAT MAKES AMERICAN CAPITALISM SURVIVE? --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud123102.htm  

Will public accounting external audit services survive?  What are the alternatives to financial assurance by public accounting firms?  See my  wrap up of the Year 2002 scandals, including a summary of the largest lawsuits against accounting firms, can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud

The Washington Post put together a terrific Corporate Scandal Primer that includes reviews and pictures of the "players," "articles,", and an "overview" of each major accounting and finance scandal of the Year 2002 --- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/scandals/primer/index.html 

Bob Jensen's preliminary draft of the January 31, 2003 updates on the accounting and finance scandals can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud013103.htm

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants has issued a toolkit to aid auditors understand and apply SAS standards when auditing fair value measurements and disclosures relating to business combinations, goodwill, and certain impairment situations --- http://www.aicpa.org/members/div/auditstd/fasb123002.asp 

The FASB has released Statement No. 148. 
FAS 148 improves disclosures for stock-based compensation and provides alternative transition methods for companies that switch to the fair value method of accounting for stock options --- http://www.fasb.org/news/nr123102.shtml
The transition guidance and annual disclosure provisions of Statement 148 are effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2002, with earlier application permitted in certain circumstances.  Fair value accounting is still optional (until the FASB finally makes up its mind on stock options.)

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to provide local school boards with a new curriculum option next year: investor education for high school students --- http://www.smartpros.com/x36450.xml
I wonder if there will be any accounting in the curriculum?

Warnings and New Year's Resolutions forwarded by Glen Gray --- http://bjcweb.com/may02-smilepop-soapbox2.swf 




Ask A Linguist http://linguistlist.org/~ask-ling/ 

Ask-A-Linguist is a service provided by The LINGUIST List, an Internet network for professional linguists. Although the list itself is restricted to messages relating to linguistic research, many LINGUIST List members are interested in language-related questions of all kinds; and a number of these have volunteered to staff this page. Ask-A-Linguist is designed to be a place where anyone interested in language or linguistics can ask a question and get the response of a panel of professional linguists.

Frequently Asked Questions:

365 Days (Great Free Audio and Video Downloads of Top Musicians of Today and Yesterday) http://www.otisfodder.com/365days.html 

For the entire year of 2003 (January 1st to December 31st) this page will feature one mp3 file (every day) to download. The content will be focused on musical pieces, but will also include spoken word. Listeners of the incredibly strange and outsider realm take note, for this is the majority of material that will be made available.

Obscure and out-of-print recordings will be the primary focus, although once in a while there may be a change. The year 2003 is a normal year, with 365 days in total, which comes out to 365 songs that will be made available. Carefully hand-picked pieces I might add. Some days may leave you begging for more and others may leave you cursing my name. Regardless the bottom line of this is to share with you all.

Note:  This is more than an entertainment download site.  It includes many informative items, including a module on satanic messages in modern rock music.  The site also features links to other free video and audio downloads.


How to Capture Streaming Audio and Video

In the above site, you can download the multimedia files because they are downloadable files.  It is not possible to download streaming audio/video files like we download such things as MPEG and MP3 files.  I asked my friends on the AECM to indicate how I could obtain a copy of the scandalous Enron Home Movie that can be viewed as streaming video from the Houston Chronicle --- See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud013103.htm 

Todd Boyle told me to get a Mac computer.  He says the Mac can capture streaming video.  For PC users, I received the following answer from Jim Borden who successfully captured the Enron Home Movie using Camtasia.  My Camtasia tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm (including my tutorial on how to run Camtasia).

Bob,
 
Hopefully you've had a chance to download the video, and it is working for you.
 
In terms of how I was able to record the video, I found the following help file from http://www.geek.com/discus/messages/321/1256.html that gave some advice, as follows:
 
"Hey everyone, don't get all mad at Real Player for being so shitty as it is. Do what I did--GET EVEN!!! First off, I found this nice and nifty little plugin for Winamp that enables it to play Real files. If anyone is interested in it, go to http://wwwpop.hypermart.net/plugin/download.html to download it. Then, make Winamp the default player for all Real media types. And no, you can't totally uninstall Real Player from your system. The plug-in uses the basic core elements of Real Player to play Real Media files.
I am not done yet! I have found some ways to convert Real media to better standard formats. For Real Video, I have found a neat little program that directly converts Real Video files to .avi. It is called TINRA(This Is Not Real Anymore). It can be found on this site-- http://guiguy.wminds.com/downloads/tinragui/down.html. The only problem with that is that the output .avi file has the audio and the video portions out of sync. That can many times be fixed, though, using VirtualDub. Another way to convert Real video to .avi is to use Camtasia. Camtasia can be found at http://www.techsmith.com. The only thing I don't like about that program is that the only way you can record the audio portion of the Real video file is to use a microphone. That can be bypassed, though, by just simply running a jack wire between the speaker jack and the microphone jack. The sound still isn't the best but it is better than sticking the microphone up to the speaker. A better way to bypass the microphone altogether is to use the Sound Blaster Live video card if you have one or can fork over $150 for one. The Sound Blaster Live video card places an input into the Recording section of the Windows Volume Control called "What You Hear" that maps the audio internally in the sound card to the microphone. This allows direct recording of audio generated by applications simply by enabling audio recording in Snagit or Camtasia. Check your sound card. Some sound cards may also have a mixer control that allows you to map the audio to the microphone input.
Now with the Real Audio. The two ways I have found that make it possible to convert Real Audio to .mp3 or .wav are Streambox Ripper(versions 2.009 or older) or Jet-Audio Extension. Both of them work real well, in my opinion.
With all of those tools to avert the crappiness of Real Player, my Real Player is tucked away nice and snug into my Program Files folder, only to be used once in a blue moon to adjust some settings. Please email me any other ways that someone can successfully put Real Player in its place. Have fun! "
 
I have a Santa Cruz sound card, and was able to change one of its settings, and just like that, I was able to capture the audio using Camtasa. I had also tried HyperCam from http://www.hyperionics.com/, and was having the same problem; I could capture the video but not the audio. Once I got the sound working in Camtasia, I have not gone back and tried HyperCam to see if I could record the sound and video from the streaming Enron movie.

Understanding bandwidth is really quite simple, and it is necessary to have a fundamental grasp of what bandwidth is if you are creating streaming media files such as WMV, ASF or CAMV etc. --- http://www.techsmith.com/products/camtasia/fow/bandwidth.asp 

The purpose of this document is to provide an easy to understand, general explanation of what bandwidth means, and how it relates to video production of screen recordings and content delivery. It is not a technical dissertation, and will therefore, for reasons of simplicity of explanation, use approximation and rounding in most calculations.

Bob Jensen's summary of these and other resources can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/newfaculty.htm#Resources 


WebLog Expert Lite http://www.weblogexpert.com/ 
Bob Jensen's links to statistics about Website use are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob4.htm#WebData 
Bob Jensen's threads on Weblogs and Blogs --- http://www.trinity.edu/~rjensen/245glosf.htm#Weblog


Wow New Product of the Week

Microsoft chairman and chief software engineer Bill Gates attempts to wow -- and woo -- his audience at the Consumer Electronics Show with a smart wristwatch designed by Fossil --- http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,57116,00.html 


Wow Topic for the Beginning of Year 2003
I have a modest working draft of a document on data visualization featured in this first edition of New Bookmarks in the Year 2003 ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpVisual/000DataVisualization.htm 


Wow Financial Reporting Topic for the Year 2003
XBRL Year 2002 Review and Outlook for Year 2003 --- http://www.xbrl.org/resourcecenter/whitepapers.asp?sid=21 

I created a video tutorial for XBRL.  You can download the xbrldemos.wmv file from the following path 
http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/windowsmedia/
 

XBRL --- http://www.aicpa.org/xbrl/aberkeley_intrview.asp 
Bob Jensen's XBRL threads are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/XBRLandOLAP.htm#TimelineXBRL 
Note that the above document contains my tutorial for running the Microsoft/Nasdaq/PwC great demos.  Stanley Zarowin also provides a tutorial on how to run these demos in "A Napster for Financial Data," Journal of Accountancy, January 2003, pp. 66-70 --- http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/jan2003/spec_zar.htm 


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
IN THE NOT-TOO-DISTANT FUTURE, you may be able, with just a few mouse clicks, to access any public company’s financial reports in extraordinary detail and for any period. In addition, you may be able to perform an array of instant analyses of those data.

THE UNDERLYING TECHNOLOGY is available now—XBRL (Extensible Business Reporting Language). All that’s missing is a standardized protocol to implement it—and the first steps for creating such a system have just been taken by Nasdaq, Microsoft and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

THESE ORGANIZATIONS HAVE JUST LAUNCHED a test project designed to explore whether the concept is feasible, practical and sought by financial professionals, investors and regulators.

THE OBVIOUS WINNERS from such a system will be financial planners and individual investors, who will have at their fingertips a huge amount of verifiable and easy-to-analyze financial information.

COMPANIES ALSO WILL GAIN: They will appear more forthright in providing financial information to stakeholders and have an easier time conducting internal data analyses.

XBRL-FORMATTED DATA WILL ENHANCE lender relations with companies seeking credit; banks no longer will be inundated with reams of paper financial reports.

ACCOUNTANTS MAY BE ABLE TO MOVE XBRL forward by prodding their accounting software vendors to include it in their applications.

STANLEY ZAROWIN is a senior editor on the JofA. Mr. Zarowin is an employee of the AICPA, and his views, as expressed in this article, do not necessarily reflect the views of the Institute. Official positions are determined through certain specific committee procedures, due process and deliberation.

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


Question:
What is prospect theory and why does it imply that the market is not always efficient?

Answer:
"Nobel Winner: Investors Can't Beat Market,"  by Hope Yen, MySanAntonio.com, January 1, 2003 --- http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=apwire&xlb=20&xlc=909410 

At a time when a shaky economy and stock market continue to defy predictions, many economists are turning to psychologist Daniel Kahneman for answers.

The Princeton professor is known for research showing how quirks in human behavior, such as a tendency to be overconfident or avoid risk, lead to investor decision-making that doesn't always bring the best, or most logical, outcomes.

That's no surprise to many investors who plunged into tech stocks in the late 1990s, only to be burned over the last three years.

Kahneman's theories challenged the fundamental economic principle that markets and consumers act rationally, leading to his becoming the first psychologist to win the Nobel prize in economics, sharing the award this past year with Vernon Smith of George Mason University.

Kahneman's research, conducted with colleague Amos Tversky, who died in 1996, spawned a new field called behavioral economics, and their 1979 paper on "prospect theory" is one of the most widely cited in economics.

Prospect theory argued that people's degree of pleasure depends more on their own subjective experience rather than objective reality, as the rational model of economics held.

A shopper, for example, might drive across town to buy a $10 calculator instead of a $15 one, but forgo the same trip to purchase a $125 jacket for $5 less, illogically believing the greater percentage saved on the calculator makes the trip more worthwhile.

Prospect theory led to "loss aversion," which explained why investors clung to losing stocks rather than sell. Investors were more likely to sell stock they purchased at $50 a share if it rose to $70 and seemed overvalued; but if they bought the same stock at $90 and it fell to $70, they were disinclined to sell, even if shares still seemed overvalued.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Kahneman discussed the pitfalls of trying to beat the stock market, why he's worried about privatizing Social Security and other issues.

AP: In what ways do your theories explain the stock market downturn of the past three years?

Kahneman: Prospect theory helps explain biases of beliefs like "optimistic overconfidence" that people believe they can do what they in fact cannot do. When you have a situation where everybody believes they are above average, the markets are going to behave in a funny way.

And that was happening to a lot of people at the same time two to three years ago. There was a sense we were living in a new world. That always happens in bubbles. Bubbles tend to convince people this is something fundamentally new.

AP: Would you say the corporate accounting scandals contributed to the market bubble?

Kahneman: You'd expect in every bubble there would be a lot of crooks. It's hard to tell, I don't think the bubble itself was caused by the crooks. Things were happening, there was a readiness and willingness to believe in things, and then there were people who were taking advantage of them.

I'm not sure anybody can say somebody caused the bubble to occur or caused it to burst. Lots of people knew it was a bubble when it was going on. That's what we call "delusion of control." And that is recurrent. People are surprised the bubbles collapse so quickly. They think prices will go down gently, and that will give them the hint and time to get out.

The psychology there is quite interesting. People have a lot of difficulty figuring out they are just like everybody else, and what they see, everybody else can see. And making allowances for the fact that you're one of many people looking at the same time.

AP: How do you think investors will behave in 2003?

Kahneman: What you're finding at the moment is this individual is very pessimistic and very cautious. The question you are raising is what will change this individual's mind? The problem with those changes are sort of self-referential. If the market starts rising, that rise in some sense expresses a better mood, but it also causes a lot of people to become more optimistic. I don't think anyone can really put his finger on it. I'm quite skeptical about the power of psychology to predict the market currently.

AP: In what areas of investing do you see behavioral economics having the most significant impact?

Kahneman: I could imagine where psychology is quite relevant is in the whole domain of advising individuals about retirement and savings. Policy questions that arise, for example, in the context of privatization. How is the privatization of Social Security to be done, if it is to be done at all? How much freedom should individuals have to play with their own savings?

These are difficult philosophical questions. But there are also psychological issues. The question of how rational people are going to be, are they going to be sufficiently risk-taking, are they going to be too risk-taking, are they going to be playing with the bubble, are they going to churn their accounts (buy and sell stocks frequently). There I would see a role for psychology, because that involves individual behavior.

AP: It sounds like you're wary of proposals to privatize Social Security.

Kahneman: I would certainly urge considerable caution in doing any privatization. My guess is at the moment, unless real precaution is taken, the people who are going to do very well with privatization are not necessarily the individual investors. There certainly will be an industry (of investor advising) growing around privatization, and I'm quite confident that industry will do well.

There are enough for a lot of red flags, that if privatization is to be done, it should be done with a considerable number of safeguards to prevent people from really damaging their portfolios.

AP: What general advice can you offer to investors, given their shortsightedness and lack of complete information about the market?

Kahneman: It's clear from the research of individual investors, the main mistake people make is they churn their accounts too much. They just do too much. And so, the advice to be diversified and not do too much is standard advice that people do not spontaneously follow.

But not taking that advice is costly. And how costly, this has been demonstrated in recent years ... and Internet trading has clearly made things worse in the sense of giving people the ability to do more without making them necessarily smarter about what they are doing.

AP: So investors shouldn't delude themselves about beating the market?

Kahneman: They're just not going to do it. It's just not going to happen.

AP: Do you see behavioral economics eventually supplanting the rational model?

Kahneman: I don't see the rational model being overturned. People haven't worked out completely how to do behavioral economics. This is definitely a minority movement. We are not taking over. But it's a minority movement that is growing and it has become respectable in the last few years. It's clearly going to grow faster.

 

Wow Bummer of the Week --- CAPM

"Do We Need CAPM for Capital Budgeting?" by Ravi Jagannathan and Iwan Meier, Financial Management, Winter 2002, pp. 5-27.  Only FMA members can download the article from http://www.fma.org/ 

ABSTRACT
A key input to the capital budgeting process is the cost of capital. Financial managers most often use the CAPM to estimate the cost of capital for which they need to know the market risk premium. Textbooks advocate using the historical value for the US equity premium as the market risk premium. The CAPM as a model has been seriously challenged in the academic literature. In addition, recent research indicates that the true market risk premium might have been as low as half the historical US equity premium during the last two decades. If business finance courses have been teaching the use of the wrong model along with wrong inputs for 20 years, why has no one complained? We provide an answer to this puzzle.

CONCLUSION
The capital budgeting process plays an important role in most corporations. The textbook approach to capital budgeting involves computing the net present value of projects using the cost of capital as the discount rate and choosing the projects that maximize firm value. The predominant approach to estimating the cost of capital is to use the CAPM. The CAPM itself has been challenged in the recent academic literature. In addition, there is disagreement about what is a reasonable value for the market risk premium, a key input to the CAPM. The academic consensus is that the historical average market risk premium may overstate the true market risk premium by as much as a factor of two. This raises the question why managers report in surveys that they use the CAPM and do not complain about its shortcomings. 

In this paper, we provide an explanation that assumes that managerial and organizational capital is rationed by firms. Managers of such firms cannot take every positive NPV project that comes along. It would sometimes be optimal to wait for a better investment opportunity to show up. Using results from the real options literature, we show that by using a hurdle rate that is higher than the cost of capital along with traditional NPV calculations, a manager can take into account the value of the option to wait. The opportunity cost of managerial talent that is in short supply and the type of project opportunities the firm faces determine the hurdle premium (i.e., the difference between the hurdle rate and the project cost of capital.) 

Our explanation is consistent with the rather wide range of hurdle rates used within a company and the lack of correlation between betas and hurdle rates in the cross section reported in Poterba and Summers (1995). Errors in the estimation of the cost of capital are unlikely to be critical for firms with substantial real option component. Other reasons that would justify the use of a discount rate that is higher than the cost of capital have been put forward in the corporate finance literature (see e.g., Stein, 2001). They rely on agency costs and asymmetric information between shareholders and financial decision makers. The presence of these other explanations only strengthens our argument regarding as why accurate determination of the cost of capital may not be critical for project selection. Further research is needed to assess the relative importance of the various hypotheses that have been advanced to explain why managers may use a discount rate far higher than the cost of capital.


Note:  Nearly all of the Nobel Prize winners in Economics have made presentations in a special lecture series sponsored by Trinity University --- http://www.trinity.edu/departments/economics/nobel.html 


AICPA Video on the Top Ten Technologies for the Year 2002 --- http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/cpaltr/apr2001/supps/edu4.htm 
Also see http://www.cpa2biz.com/ResourceCenters/Information+Technology/Top+10+Techs/default.htm 
The Excel spreadsheet is at http://www.cpa2biz.com/ResourceCenters/Information+Technology/Top+10+Techs/Top+Technologies+for+2002/Top+Technologies+for+2002.htm 


Wow Tax Practice for 2002

Deloitte's tax practice was ranked No. 1 in Euromoney's 2002 World's Leading Tax Adviser Survey. The firm took top honors in both the worldwide and U.S. national standings ---  http://www.accountingweb.com/item/96910 


American Council on Education http://www.acenet.edu/ 

ACE, the major coordinating body for all the nation's higher education institutions, seeks to provide leadership and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and to influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives.


I hope that the freezer does not stay cool by repeatedly yelling out;  NO! NO! NO! . . .
With funding from Ben & Jerry's and the U.S. Navy, Penn State researchers are developing a refrigerator that keeps food cold using sound waves instead of the fluorocarbons that damage the ozone layer and increase global warming --- http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,57063,00.html 


Read this before you buy on eBay
Last year, one woman sold almost $1 million worth of Apple computers on online auction sites -- without delivering the goods. Most Web auctions are fraud-free, experts say, but it never hurts to protect yourself --- http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,57153,00.html 

Bob Jensen's advice about frauds is given at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#ThingsToKnow 


What is happening in selected industries?
Valuation Resources --- http://www.valuationresources.com/IndustryReport.htm 
This is a helpful Website for researchers and practitioners.

Industry Resources Reports

Industry Resources Reports list resources available from trade associations, industry publications, and research firms which address subjects such as industry overview, issues, trends, and outlook, financial benchmarking, compensation surveys, and valuation resources.

Each entry in a category contains the name of the source organization, the name of the particular resource, a hyperlink to the source organization website, a brief description of the resource, and a description of any information that is provided free online. The user can check the website or contact the source organization for additional information and product pricing. In some cases, the resource may not be available on the website but can be obtained by calling the source organization using the phone number provided on the website.

One of the many industries covered is SIC 8721 Accounting, Auditing, and Bookkeeping Services  
http://www.valuationresources.com/Reports/SIC8721AccountingAuditingandBookkeepingServices.htm
   

Accounting Services
http://industryprofiles.1stresearch.com/
Each industry profile includes industry overview, key questions, trends and developments, threats and challenges, opportunities, news and media information, financial information, and web site links. Sample report available; individual industry profiles can be purchased online. Also available on subscription basis.

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor
Occupational Outlook Handbook - Accountants & Auditors
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=occupational+outlook+handbook
This site describes the nature of the industry, working conditions, employment, occupations in the industry, training and advancement, earnings and benefits, employment outlook, and lists of organizations that can provide additional information. Available free online.

Industry Growth Outlook Report
http://www.integrainformation.com
Report provides 5 years of historical and forecast industry revenue growth information. Also includes historical and forecast macroeconomic indicators. Covers over 900 SIC codes. Individual reports can be purchased online.

Marketing Research Profile
http://www.bizminer.com/index.asp?aid=78

Profiles provide market research by industry segment on a national and local level for 250 metropolitan areas. Includes market volume and number of firms, sales trends, sales per employee, staffing and employment trends, startup activity, failures rates, and new branch development. Available for all SIC codes. Individual reports can be purchased online.

More Information
Other resources which cover a wide variety of industries are available at http://valuationresources.com/IndustryOutlook.htm.

Bob Jensen's bookmarks covering related issues can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob.htm 


Free Shipping Boosts Holiday Sales 
Early figures show online sales are expected to be up more than 17% from the 2001 holiday season. 
http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eKHr0BcUEY0V20BpOT0AX
 


"A Wired IRS Embraces the Net," by Beth Cox, InternetNews.com, January 3, 2002 --- http://www.internetnews.com/fina-news/article.php/1563661 

Let's see, you're barely over that holiday hangover when what to your wondering eyes does appear but an envelope from the Internal Revenue Service, kicking off the filing season.

But this year more than ever the IRS - dare we call it the e-IRS - has expanded its free, online filing options, and is even touting reduced tax rates, more deductions and fewer forms to file.

Last year, a record 47 million tax returns were filed through IRS e-file, and the agency hopes to bring that to about 54 million this year.

"This is the first year where you can do almost everything online at IRS.gov," IRS spokeswoman Nancy Mathis was quoted as saying.

That's in part because the IRS has struck a deal with an alliance of tax preparers and software publishers (the Free File Alliance) that it says will allow more than 60 percent of Americans to file their tax returns electronically without charge.

The tax collection agency likes to get a head start on April 15 and already has begun mailing out 38 million tax packages and 25 million electronic-filing brochures.

This year's filing season is expected to see about 132 million returns filed, including 54 million filed electronically.

Among the key changes being introduced for the 2003 filing season is a provision to let taxpayers check on the status of their refund by visiting the "Where's My Refund" section on www.IRS.gov. And if that sounds a little like the "Where's my stuff" links on Amazon.com, well, nothing succeeds like success.

The government says that for the first time, more than 60 percent of all taxpayers will be able to prepare and electronically file tax returns for free on the Internet. The IRS Free File program, offered through private-sector partners, will be available beginning in mid-January at the IRS site.

"The IRS.gov Web site already is one of the busiest in the world," said IRS Acting Commissioner Bob Wenzel. "We urge taxpayers to give it a try this year. They will find it helpful and easy to use."

According to the IRS, the average online filing fee is $12.50. Under the terms of the agreement between the government and the Free File Alliance, tax preparers and other filing services that are members of the alliance must provide free online filing services to a portion of their customers. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean free tax return software or preparation services. Only free filing services are assured, but many companies apparently will work to aid lower-income filers.

Intuit's TurboTax, for instance, which dominates the software market for self-preparers, reportedly plans free service for returns with adjusted gross income under $27,000, or slightly higher if the return claims a credit available to low-income workers.

The more companies offering free online filings, the less inclined the IRS will be not to compete with alliance members by offering its own service. In fact, the alliance delays for at least three years any move by the IRS to permit free, direct tax filing from its own Web site.

Each company in the alliance is allowed to set its own eligibility criteria. Officials declined to say how many firms had joined the consortium so far; more details are expected in mid-January. 


Who Had the Worst User Experience? Big brands, big boo-boos. Lessons learned from user experience shortcomings at Amazon, NBC, and Sony. http://www.clickz.com/crm/crm_strat/article.php/1566251 
Jack Aaronson provides three examples of companies that failed to deliver a good user experience during the holiday season. They failed through a lack of the basic abilities to do thorough design, implementation, quality assurance, and intradepartment communication.


Forefield Case Study: When Traffic Is the Goal Heidi examines how one company used increased site traffic to keep current customers and gain new ones. http://www.clickz.com/em_mkt/case_studies/article.php/1566201 


What a great way to keep your credit card number and/or identity from being stolen --- http://www.citibank.com/us/cards/cardserv/shopping/van.htm 

Virtual Account Numbers

It's the safe way to shop online.

Put your fears to rest by shopping online without revealing your credit card number—to anyone. Instead, Virtual Account Numbers gives you the power to use a substitute number in place of your real credit card number when you make a purchase.

  • Added protection—use a new number for each online transaction to prevent unauthorized charges.
  • Easy to use—generate a virtual account number in just one click.
  • Track purchases—purchases made with Virtual Account Numbers will appear on your monthly statement, just like any other transaction.
And best of all, it’s FREE! See how easy it is, then sign-on or register at citicards.com to get started!

Online bill paying doubles --- http://www.smartpros.com/x36566.xml 

January 7, 2003 reply from David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU

Bob, this is an on-going joke in the Information Security arena. It is being billed as a way to “keep your … identity from being stolen”, when in fact, it is merely adding a couple of layers (and fairly weak ones at that) to the security procedure collection.

To steal your identity, the criminal now needs only steal your Citi log-on id and password.

True, using your Citi logon and password instead of a credit card number makes it a little harder for an interceptor to decrypt the data stream going over the public internet. Logons and passwords use the entire alphabet and other characters while credit card numbers use only ten numerical characters. But then, logons and passwords use special packet identifiers making them easier to spot (sniff, intercept) than numbers imbedded in a complicated web form when traveling across the Internet.

I guess this approach does prevent a criminal from “lurking” (eavesdropping, packet sniffing, lots of other names) on a vendor’s internet connection path, and requires him/her to lurk on the Citi’s path, which usually is slightly (but not significantly) more secure than run-of-the-mill ISP connections used by most vendors. So I guess you can say that it does add a little bit to security.

But anyone paranoid about identity theft should still be aware that it is still possible to capture your Citi login and password (so the criminal can get a virtual credit card number by posing as you!), *almost, but not quite* as easily as they can your credit card number. I feel the ad is misleading, like saying that “auditors prevent fraud”. Plus, I wonder how hard it is to get hold of the right person to “cancel” your Citi login once you discover it has been stolen? I don’t deal with Citi anymore because it is impossible to get in touch with them, they change their 1-800 numbers more often than some congressmen change their underwear. In fact, the 1-800 number printed on the back of my last Citi credit card was a non-working number less than four months after I received the card!

David R. Fordham
PBGH Faculty Fellow
James Madison University

Bob Jensen's threads on related topics can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm#ThingsToKnow 


January 2, 2003 message from Roger Debreceny (rogerd@netbox.com

An article in the New York Times, January 2, 2002:   "Professors Vie With Web for Class's Attention"

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/02/technology/02WIRE.html?todaysheadlines 

Which discusses the impact of laptops and WiFi on lectures. I can vouch for the impact of Instant Messaging and WiFi .. At the recent XBRL International meeting in Tokyo, all meeting rooms were supported with a temporary WiFi network. Seemed that just about everyone at the meeting was sporting a WiFi adaptor in their laptops and were connected to one or more IM groups. When you made your presentation you knew people were commenting in real time! And we're not talking pimply undergraduates!

January 2, 2003 reply from Dennis Beresford [dberesfo@TERRY.UGA.EDU

This is an interesting article. We've had similar debates as to whether students should be able to use their laptops in class. Since our MBA program requires students to have a laptop computer, it seems contradictory to tell them they can't operate it in class. I use Blackboard in my financial accounting MBA class and the students can print out my slides in advance or they can follow along with the slides using their laptops. As one of the commentators in the NYT article said, if my classroom discussion isn't lively and interesting enough to keep the students from emailing or surfing the web, then I'm not doing a very good job.

The thing that bothers me the most in the classroom is having students carry on long conversations with their seat mates. That also disturbs other students who want to pay attention. At the beginning of each semester, I warn students about this and I tell them that I'll ask them to leave if this become too much of a problem. And I've actually done this a few times so I guess the word is out that I'm serious about it. With the common use of laptops in the classroom, I find that the truly bored student (I hope their aren't too many) can silently decide to do something he/she thinks is more interesting or productive without disturbing me or the rest of the class nearly as much.

As a somewhat related matter, two years ago I switched from closed book to open book exams for the MBA financial accounting class. I now tell students that they can use their textbook, the slides in Blackboard via their laptop, their notes, copies of past exams, calculators, etc. The only prohibition is talking to other students during the exam. Since I started doing this, the overall scores on exams are essentially unchanged. However, I've noticed that more students have a problem finishing the exams on time - I assume they think they can rely on these various crutches to look up answers during the exam rather than learning the material in advance.

Denny Beresford 
University of Georgia


Wow Dilemma of the Week --- Accessible Web Pages for Special Needs Students
Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)  http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm 

On August 14, 2002 at the American Accounting Association Annual Meetings, I organized by annual workshop focused on Technology in Education.  One of the speakers I invited was Susan Spencer.  Her topic was the dilemma of preparing online course materials in compliance with Section 508 of the ADA for special needs students.  You can listen to Susan's presentation by downloading the MP3 audio file from http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/002cpe/02start.htm#2002 

A very helpful summary article on this topic was recently published.
"Accessible Web Pages:  Advice for Educators, Margaret M. Thombs, Syllabus, January 2003, pp. 26-28 --- http://www.syllabus.com/article.asp?id=7095 

While educators have embraced the responsibility of providing equal access to educational resources to all students, Internet technology presents new challenges in this area. Students who have vision or hearing problems, who have difficulties with motor control, or who face other challenges, such as learning disabilities or language barriers, may find the Web difficult or impossible to explore. Educators who use the Internet in their instruction or who create their own Web pages need to be aware of the laws governing universal access to technology. Once familiar with these guidelines, teachers need the skills that will enable them to ascertain whether or not the Web pages they use are accessible. They also need to be able to make certain the Web pages they create meet the same criteria.

Rules and Guidelines
Section 255 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act requires that telecommunication services and products are accessible. Section 508, the 1998 amendment of the Rehabilitation Act, (www.section508.gov/) requires that federal agencies make their electronic and information technology accessible to all people, including those with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, designed to protect the rights of citizens with disabilities, included a provision for access to telecommunications. An independent federal agency, the Access Board (www.access-board.gov/), was created to oversee and ensure accessibility and a set of guidelines was developed to assist with compliance. Although these laws specifically address the responsibilities of federal agencies, educators need to consider the responsibility that they have to educate all students and make every effort to provide technology that is accessible.

Gaining Insight
An important first step for educators is to gain some insight into the ways that people with different challenges experience the Internet. WebAIM (www.Webaim.org), an organization devoted to "expanding the Web's potential for people with disabilities," has a number of excellent resources. An online video explaining some of the pertinent issues can be seen at www.Webaim.org/info/asdvideo/. What's more, simulation tools are available that allow a user to experience the Web just as users with vision problems, such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, or cataracts (www.Webaim.org/simulations/lowvision). Another has a screen-reader tool designed for individuals with little or no vision (www.Webaim.org/simulations/screenreader). A link is provided to yet another tool (www.vischeck.com/vischeck/ vischeckURL.php) that simulates the effects of color blindness. The frustration users experience using the Web under these conditions are an excellent motivating force for designing Web pages with accessibility in mind.

Determining Compliance
A number of online tools are available that help the user determine the level of accessibility for existing Web pages. One such tool, called Bobby, allows users to test single Web pages online for compliance with either the Section 508 guidelines or the guidelines established by the Web Accessibility Initiative (www.w3.org/wai/). This tool can be helpful for educators who are using Internet sites in their curriculum and want to determine the level of compliance. To test a Web page using Bobby, go to http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp, enter the URL of the Web page, choose the type of guidelines, and click the submit button. A report will be produced that rates the level of compliance and details the problems and possible issues with the page. A downloadable version of Bobby can be purchased that permits the testing of entire Web sites.

Most solutions necessitate some familiarity with and access to the HTML code. Many teachers who create classroom Web pages do so with WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) tools that do not display the code. Fortunately, there are some good tutorials available online that can assist Web developers. One such site is provided by WebAIM and is found at www.Webaim.org/howto/. Tutorials are available on a wide range of topics and software products, including Microsoft FrontPage and the Macromedia products Dreamweaver and Flash. Other tutorials cover captioning, keyboard accessibility, PDF files, PowerPoint, and JavaScript. Another useful tool is the Bobby compliance report, which provides samples of correct HTML syntax for any areas that are determined to be problematic.

Placing conformance logos on your Web page is also a good way to raise awareness of accessibility issues and encourage other educators to comply with the guidelines. Pages that pass the Bobby compliance test are entitled to display the appropriate Bobby logo. If the report states "Bobby Approved," a link is provided to an icon guidelines page that contains downloadable icons and HTML code that can be used to display those icons. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) permits the use of its logos on Web pages provided the creators of those pages verify compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG1-Conformance). The content providers are responsible for determining their pages comply with the guidelines.

As educators, we need to be dedicated to providing the best experiences we can for all of our students. When it comes to technology, a strong commitment to accessibility must be our goal. The tools and assistance we need are readily available. The rest is up to us.

The Section 508 Checklist is provided by P. Bonham at http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist 

You can run a Bobby Scan from http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp 

So where is the dilemma?  

The dilemma boils down to the enormous cost, talent, and effort needed for compliance with the Section 508 checklist.  Even lawmakers who passed the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) recognized that swift enforcement of the law could bring the economy and its institutions to a halt. Section 508 is especially troublesome for educators, because if they are not allowed to experiment with and utilize the vast powers of education technologies before they can fully comply with Section 508, then they will deprive the majority of their students with learning tools and materials.  For example, should all students be deprived of a course Website if instructor's low resources and skills do not make it feasible to fully comply with Section 508?  Should all students be deprived of video or audio if the instructor's resources do not make it feasible to provide alternative formats in text?

In addition Section 508 may clash with THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1998 (DMCA) --- http://www.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/dmca.pdf .  Copyright holders of video productions, for example, are militant about not allowing their screen plays and scripts to be digitized.  One can argue that when the instructor's Webpage simply links to another site that has the video or audio, then the instructor is not accountable under the Section 508 for any Website over which he or she has no control or responsibility.  However, if the instructor makes the linked video a requirement in a course, then Section 508 comes to play as if the multimedia material is at the instructor's Website.  The spirit of Section 508 implies that special needs students should not be deprived of equal opportunities for a high grade in the course.  There are, of course, special solutions in special circumstances.  

I do not want to belabor the negatives of Section 508 since I am a strong advocate for making instructional materials, including Webpage materials, accessible to special needs learners.  I'm really proud of the blind woman who became a Chartered Accountant in Toronto and the popular musician who has been deaf since birth.  

The letter and spirit of the ADA in general is not to instantly conform or to deprive the majority of persons of products and services because of the ADA.  The letter and spirit of the ADA is to make concerted and steady progress toward compliance.  Failure to do so is against the law.  Fortunately technologies such as closed captioning are rapidly being developed for making compliance less costly and more easy than ever before.


Wow Sharing Site of the Week --- The Way Education and Research Sharing Should Be At All Colleges and Universities
Progress on the Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI)

DSpace from MIT --- http://www.dspace.org/ 

Welcome to DSpace, a newly developed digital repository created to capture, distribute and preserve the intellectual output of MIT.

As a joint project of MIT Libraries and the Hewlett-Packard Company, DSpace provides stable long-term storage needed to house the digital products of MIT faculty and researchers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bob Jensen's threads on the OKI are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI 


Disappointing Sharing Site of the Week:  OpenEAI from The University of Illinois 
Perhaps some of my friends at the University of Illinois will see that the password requirement is corrected.

From Syllabus News on January 3, 2002

U. Illinois Collaborates on Open Software Initiative

The University of Illinois and the OpenEAI Software Foundation said they would form the OpenEAI Project, an open source initiative to develop standards-based Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) technologies. The Project will explore the principles of EIA and present its findings in the form of OpenEAI methodology, software and documentation. "The OpenEAI methodology and work products have the potential to drastically reduce the costs and time involved in integrating systems at the University of Illinois," said Richard Mendola, associate vice-president for administrative information technology services at the University of Illinois. The Project will focus on six areas: OpenEAI methodology, application foundation APIs, message object API, message definitions, messaging infrastructure applications, and deployment and administration.

For more information, you can supposedly visit: http://www.OpenEAI.org 
However, when I try to find more about this open-sharing site at the University of Illinois, I find that I need a password to enter the site.  So much for open sharing.


New voice-activated software makes computing much easier for quadriplegics. And the price is right, too.
"No Touch Typing for the Disabled," by Paulo Rebêlo, Wired News, December 25, 2002 --- http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,55539,00.html 

In Brazil, physically disabled individuals may no longer need to buy expensive software to operate computers and surf the Web, thanks to a free application developed by programmers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

By downloading a program called Motrix, disabled people can read, write and interact with their computers using an embedded voice-recognition system. Motrix allows the user to perform nearly all computerized tasks, including playing games, and Motrix may be integrated with home automation services.

was created especially for quadriplegics, who number about 200,000 in Brazil, according to the most recent census.

Since quadriplegics cannot operate a computer without assistance, voice-recognition alternatives make life a bit easier, but they are usually quite expensive.

"Motrix changes this situation because it's free and doesn't have to be imported from another country," José Antônio dos Santos Borges, Motrix's main programmer, said.

The system was developed by the Electronic Computation Nucleus, or NCE, a group of technicians and engineers who have been creating adaptable software at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro since 1994.

Motrix is a revised version of Dosvox, which is known worldwide as one of the best adaptable software programs for the visually impaired.

Launched in 1993, Dosvox uses a low-cost voice synthesizer that evolved from a text editor created by Marcelo Pimentel Pinheiro, a blind computer

Continued at http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,55539,00.html  

Bob Jensen's threads on aids for special needs learners can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob2.htm#Classrooms 


December 30, 2002 message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu

JOURNAL BOYCOTT GROUP ANNOUNCES ITS NEW PUBLIC JOURNALS

A group of scholars who had urged a boycott of expensive scientific journals have formed the Public Library of Science. PLoS is a non-profit organization of scientists "committed to making the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource." PLoS announced that they will publish two new online scholarly journals -- PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE BIOLOGY and PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE MEDICINE -- in the second half of 2003. The PLoS journals will be "controlled and run by scientists, and will retain all of the important features of scientific journals, including rigorous peer-review and high editorial and production standards, but will employ a new publishing model that will allow PLoS to make all published works immediately available online, with no charges for access or restrictions on subsequent redistribution or use." 

For more information, see the PLoS website at http://www.publiclibraryofscience.org/ 


SYLLABUS RADIO

Syllabus magazine has launched Syllabus Radio, a feature that allows you to listen to education technology experts from around the country. Current selections include:

"Guiding Principles for Building Success in Online Education" -- Steven F. Tello and Jacqueline Moloney, University of Massachusetts-Lowell

"Hybrid Courses: From Pilot to Program" -- Alicia Russell, Director, Educational Technology Center, Northeastern University

"Putting a Faculty Face on Distance Education: The Role of the Facilitator" -- William H. Riffee, University of Florida

"Using Technology to Create Collaborative Workspaces" -- Michael Giordano, Manager, Instructional Development Center, University of New Hampshire

"Smart Use of Smart Classrooms" -- James Kulich, Elmhurst College

To hear these and other interviews, go to http://www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp 


NEW STUDIES ON ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS AND DISTANCE LEARNING

The EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR) announced the publications of two new comprehensive research studies, one on enterprise systems (ERP) and the other on distance learning.

"The Promise and Performance of Enterprise Systems" by Robert B. Kvavik of the University of Minnesota and senior fellow of ECAR; Richard N. Katz, EDUCAUSE vice president and ECAR director; and ECAR associates

The publication "incorporates nearly 500 college and university survey responses, and over 100 interviews with ERP suppliers and leaders. The study evaluates why institutions invested heavily to renew systems between 1997 and 2002, what affected the outcomes of these projects, implementers' levels of satisfaction, the role these systems will play in future campus IT architectures, and how they will enhance institutional performance."

You can download the summary of key findings (in PDF format) from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ecar_so/ers/ers0204/EKF0204.pdf 


December 29 message from Richard Campbell [campbell@RIO.EDU

See the link below for a scored simulation on "Creating an Account in Peachtree Accounting".

http://www.VirtualPublishing.NET/sim2/pchsim4.htm 

Additional instructions: After you enter text into the text boxes, you need to hit the "Enter" key.

This is a trivial example in that I give away the answers, but you can see the value in allowing testing of more real experiences, and you can get an idea of what the new CPA exam format may be. Also there are interesting research possibilities here.

Richard Campbell

Comment from Bob Jensen:  
Navigation is pretty straight forward in Richard's simulation.  However, you must hit the "Enter" key when you type in a number or text  so that the simulation moves forward.  An advantage of the simulation is the interactive pause/start feature that allows learners to type in data.  A disadvantage relative to Camtasia is the technical skill and development time required for complex Flash animations relative to simply taking Camtasia video of a succession of screen images.  Both Flash and Camtasia allow for audio imput.  My Camtasia tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 


A Special Report from the United Nations on Global Distance Education 

This December 2002 the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Division of Higher Education published a report: "Open And Distance Learning: Trends, Policy And Strategy Consideration." The paper's objective is "to review open and distance learning in the context of present challenges and opportunities, examine relevant concepts and contributions, outline current global and regional trends, suggest policy and strategy considerations, and identify UNESCO's initiatives in open and distance learning, including its role in capacity-building and international co-operation." --- http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001284/128463e.pdf 

Note especially the astounding growth in the number of students enrolled in online training and education courses in developing companies.  These numbers are discussed in Part IV of the UNESCO report.  Many of the numbers are for 1995 or earlier, and we can only speculate the numbers have increased in the last eight years.  For example, in Indonesia  enrollments were reported at 350,000 in 700 distance education courses.  

You can read the following introduction in the report at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001284/128463e.pdf 

As a force contributing to social and economic development, open and distance learning is fast becoming an accepted and indispensable part of the main- stream of educational systems in both developed and developing countries, with particular emphasis for the latter. This growth has been stimulated in part by the interest among educators and trainers in the use of new, Internet- based and multimedia technologies, and also by the recognition that traditional ways of organizing education need to be reinforced by innovative methods, if the fundamental right of all people to learning is to be realized. 

The globalization of distance education provides many opportunities for developing countries for the realization of their education system-wide goals. Two main factors have led to an explosion of interest in distance learning: the growing need for continual skills upgrading and retraining; and the techno- logical advances that have made it possible to teach more and more subjects at a distance. 

As Member States and their governments become more aware of the potential of open and distance learning, it is essential for their educational planning that the opportunities offered by new technologies be realistically examined within the framework of national development plans in general and educational policies in particular. 

Faced with new training demands and new competitive challenges, many institutions need to undertake profound changes in terms of governance, organizational structure and modes of operation. More and more traditional universities are rapidly transforming themselves from single mode to dual mode universities, recognizing the importance of distance education in providing students with the best and most up-to-date educational resources available in addition to the traditional teaching methods that they receive. The increasing number of open universities being established across the world is highly indicative of this trend. 

The Division of Higher Education is proposing an updated version of its document, Open and Distance Learning: Prospects and Policy Considerations, published in 1997. The present paper aims to review open and distance learning in the context of present challenges and opportunities, describe relevant

FOREWORD  3

CONTENTS  5

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  7

Challenges and opportunities  7

Concept and contributions   8

Present trends in open and distance learning  10

Internet and Web-based education  11

Economics of open and distance learning   11

UNESCO™s initiatives in open and distance learning   13

I.INTRODUCTION   15

II.CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES  17

Global changes, and challenges to education   17

The potential of open and distance learning  19

III.THE CONCEPT OF OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING  22

Introduction   22

Components of all distance learning systems  25

Major contributions of open and distance learning  28

General education   28

Teacher education   29

Vocational and continuing education  31

Non-formal education   33

Higher education   35

The role of open and distance learning in educational innovation   36

IV.PRESENT TRENDS IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING   40

Global trends  40

Regional trends  42

Africa   42

Arab States   46

Asia and the Pacific  47

South Pacific   53

Europe  53

Latin America and the Caribbean  57

North America  61

V.INTERNET USAGE AND WEB-BASED EDUCATION  64

Setting the global context  64

Web-based learning   65

Creating a new educational platform  66

Individualized learning and teaching   67

Group learning and teaching via the Internet  68

Collaborative activities   68

The institutional impact of Internet-technologies  69

VI.ECONOMICS OF OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING  70

The cost-efficiency of open and distance learning   70

Factors affecting the cost of open and distance learning  73

Who pays? 79

Qualitative considerations  80

VII.UNESCO ’S INITIATIVES IN OPEN AND DISTANCE

LEARNING  83

Setting the international context: open and distance education from the lifelong learning perspective   83

Basic education for all. 84

Adult education  85

Renewing and diversifying education systems  86

Teacher training  87

Higher education 87

Capacity-building for open and distance learning  89

International co-operation  89

BIBLIOGRAPHY  91

 

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


Distance Education Book of the Week

Web Portals and Higher Education: Technologies to Make IT Personal
ID No. PUB5006 
Category Publications From the EDUCAUSE Office 
Author Richard N. Katz 
Organization EDUCAUSE Year 2002 
Subject Terms Enterprise Portals 
Price $18.00


Congratulations to National University

From Syllabus News on January 3, 2003

National University, the second largest private university in California, won an award for performance excellence from the California Council for Excellence (CCE). The school became the first university-level participant to win the Council's Eureka award, the highest honor offered in the program. CCE's mission is to help California organizations achieve world-class service and products through the principles of the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award. "The mere process of applying for (the award) has benefited National University by providing staff and faculty the opportunity to assess themselves in a comprehensive manner," said Dr. Jerry C. Lee, chancellor of the University.

For more information, visit: http://www.calexcellence.org 


January 1, 2003 message from BusinessWeek MBA Insider [MBA_Insider@newsletters.businessweek.com

A CHAT WITH CHICAGO'S ADMISSIONS AND FINANCIAL AID DIRECTOR Don Martin and second-year student Scott Anderson discuss what makes the school special -- and what makes applicants stand out

Q: Scott, what has stood out the most for you about the Chicago program that you didn't expect coming in? Anderson: Definitely the spirit of community, and I found this on a variety of levels. First, but in no particular order, in social aspects -- it's almost hard to go out alone in the city, as there will be a group of 10 GSB people who want to go out. Second, in classes, I found that the groups were not as competitive as I expected -- it seems like most people enjoy sharing new ways to solve problems.

Finally, with the job search, especially for me, with a non-business background, I found classmates very helpful in sharing their contacts with me as well as offering candid advice on how I could better "market" myself.

Q: With more companies reluctant to issue visas to international students, will the percentage of international students drop? How will the GSB attract a diverse group of students with a global perspective? Martin: I'm now in my 10th year at the GSB, and during that time have seen various fluctuations in the recruiting process. [For example,] some companies do not recruit in a given year or others visit fewer schools in a given year.

But one thing has remained constant: We do place our graduates in very high percentages every year, and those percentages include both U.S. citizens and international students. We have not seen any change in this statistic in the past two years, and I don't anticipate major changes in the years ahead. In other words, I don't anticipate a percentage drop in our international-student enrollment.

FOR THE FULL VERSION, VISIT: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/dec2002/bs20021210_5580.htm 


VIDEO ABOUT DOINGS AT DARDEN 
Darden Dean Robert Harris discusses his return to University of Virginia and his first two years at the helm. http://businessweek.feedroom.com/index.jsp?fr_story=ece8f4b919c8047c08c29595a11d7f9e46a2e4aa 


Where Are They Now?  In particular, note the commentary on the demise of ABC costing and outlook for its possible recovery.
From corporate raiders to earnings management to activity-based costing, the following article take a look at some of finance's greatest downfalls.
David M. Katz, CFO.com January 05, 2003 --- 

Like the old soldiers in the barracks song quoted by General Douglas MacArthur in his farewell speech, most old ideas in corporate finance never seem to die. But unlike old warriors, many notions have a way of hanging around way past their prime.

Indeed, very little of what made news on the finance pages in the past two decades or so has completely faded away. That’s what we’ve found in the – very unofficial – survey of concepts, theories, and folks of finance past we offer here. In fact, previous luminaries like the swashbuckling ‘80s corporate raider T. Boone Pickens and Mitchell Kapor, the software maven who developed the ill-fated Lotus 1-2-3, have recently sported renewed claims on the spotlight.

To be sure, some of the ideas we’ve looked at, like covariance and financial engineering, are still riding high. A few, of course, are destined to stay on the scrap heap: To have a Big Eight rule the accounting roost seems clearly passé, while “first-mover advantage” went out of fashion when the bubble economy burst.

So where are these notions now? To help guide you through the thicket, we’ve provided a stellar rating system. If you see a gold star at the top of the image accompanying each story, the idea is still peaking. Ideas with a silver star in the middle are percolating along just fine, while a concept with a bronze star at the bottom means you won’t likely be hearing too much about it outside of trivia compilations.

T. Boone and the Raiders

Covariance

Lotus 1-2-3

Financial Engineering

First-Mover Advantage

The Big Eight

Activity-Based Costing (ABC)

Earnings Management
 

Activity-Based Costing (ABC)
In recent years, ABC has lost ground in the metric wars. But it may be set for a resurgence.
David M. Katz, CFO.com December 31, 2002 --- http://www.cfo.com/Article?article=8516 

In the late 1980s, it was hard to imagine that the din over activity-based costing would ever die down. Just a few years earlier, Harvard Professor Robert Kaplan, along with others, had published their first papers on the new metric, touching off a rush of excitement in corporate conference rooms.

Kaplan's idea was downright revolutionary. In its broadest terms, ABC involves identifying cost drivers and assigning them to specific activities –rather than attributing overhead, for instance, to the entire organization. Kaplan and fellow ABC-backers asserted that many corporations didn't have a clue as to the true profitability of their products, or the best mix of products. Why? Because, managers at these companies didn't really know what resources (activities) went into producing their goods.

A lightning bolt. But by the mid-1990s, ABC started losing ground to flashier metrics, things like economic value added (EVA) and the balanced scorecard (another Kaplan creation). Even Kaplan admitted ABC had lost its luster. "ABC has stagnated over the last five to seven years," he said in 1998.

Activity-based costing did get a bit of a bump-up during the new economy. At the time, many corporate managers found themselves knee-deep in expensive customer relationship management (CRM) initiatives such as overnight delivery and 360-degree customer service. The problem: These managers were having a real tough time telling if those expensive projects were actually doing anything. To be sure, the rollouts tended to increase customer satisfaction, and with it, customer loyalty.

But often those boosts were accompanied by "declining profits, especially when the increased services are not accompanied by increases in prices or order volumes," wrote Kaplan and his Harvard colleague V.G. Narayanan, in a May 2001 white paper.

ABC offered executives therapy for those uncontrollable customer-delighting urges. By using a costing system based on precise activities, companies could customize their prices to account for service sweeteners, Kaplan and Narayanan argued.

What's more, ABC fit neatly into the marketing plans of software vendors and consultants looking to make the costing method part of grander, enterprise-wide installations. But such ambitions quickly lost traction as the economy foundered.

When the Age of the Customer morphed into the Age of the Accounting Scandal, complex internal data gathering and reporting suddenly seemed less appealing. These days, it's hard to convince an accountant to keep two sets of books for an entire organization, says Michael Paris, president of Paris Consulting, a company that advises manufacturers on their operations. "I think the idea of overlaying a second set of costing systems has gone away."

This is not to say that ABC has completely vanished. Lots of consultancies still offer activity-based costing and activity based management services. In addition, scores of application vendors -- particularly makers of ERP systems -- now offer ABC tools and modules as part of their software offerings.

Moreover, Uncle Sam seems to like ABC -- the U.S. Marine Corps. is an advocate of ABC. In the private sector, ABC is still found in business-intelligence software applications and in assorted one-off projects that tend to fall well short of 24-hour, total systems.

In fact, some observers contend that ABC will come back in vogue -- if the recession continues. During an economic downturn, they note, companies tend to focus their resources on existing customers, rather than seeking out new ones. ABC is excellent at helping separate profitable customers from money-losers. In addition, ABC can help companies figure out ways to raise profits without raising prices -- crucial in a period of low-inflation.

 


I really need to study this tutorial!  Some things I've done correctly, especially by avoiding pictures and other slow loading features that some authors use too much of in web documents.  But what I need to do is eliminate older documents and improve the site navigation.  Where can I find the time?

"Site Optimization Tutorial Overview," by Jason Cook, Webmonkey --- http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/design/site_building/tutorials/tutorial2.html 

We're all tired of waiting for Web pages to download, aren't we? To make sure that visitors to your site don't get frustrated, we rounded up some in-house experts to help you make your pages faster 'n greased lightning.

Pictures are worth a thousand words — especially on the Web, where pages of text can download in the time it takes for a single image to load. Your images may be sub-zero cool, but if they're too plump, few people will stick around long enough to see them. Jason Cook digs into tricks and optimizations to speed up your GIF, JPG, and PNG downloads.

Once you've learned the basics of shrinking your images, Jason will walk you through the advantages of using CSS for your page layout. And, if you're one of those people who insists on using tables (please don't view source right now), Jason will offer you a few choice hints on how to get those tables slim and streamlined.

After you've removed the bloat from your layout code and your images, Jason will drop some knowledge about cutting needless elements from your pages. Hint: Start with all those links.

The series concludes with wise words from Paul Boutin, who has spent many a long day trying to make websites faster. He reveals how to come up with bench marks for speed and how to test your site using nothing but a stopwatch and a pencil. 

For the tutorial, go to  http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/design/site_building/tutorials/tutorial2.html 


Question:  
What is Macromedia's "Contribute?"

Answer:  
A simple-to-use Webpage development package reviewed at http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/02/45/index4a.html 


Freedom: A History of US http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/ 


Birthplace of American Forestry [.pdf] http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/archives/forestry/index.html 


Online charity work fits your schedule and extends your reach, say wired nonprofits.

"Web Opens World to Digital Volunteers," by Michelle Madigan, PCWorld.com, December 27, 2002 --- http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,108190,00.asp 

If volunteering is on your list of New Year's resolutions but your time is short, cyberservice may be the answer. Just ask Laurie Moy, who now runs an international nonprofit organization. Her service started with an interest in international issues and an Internet connection.

Moy, now the executive director of Pearls of Africa, an organization that serves people with disabilities in Uganda, became an online volunteer three years ago. The Internet makes volunteering easier than ever: You don't have to move across the globe to make a difference, Moy says.

Fit Your Schedule

She discovered the opportunity through NetAid.org, which connects people with organizations focused on fighting poverty. The site lists volunteer jobs that can be done from your own PC and often on your own time.

"People are engaging in communities internationally" through the Internet, says Bea Bezmalinovic, head of NetAid.org's online volunteering program. "Ten years ago this would not have been possible."

Bezmalinovic says that while the time people have to volunteer is declining, virtual volunteering offers a way for people to adapt volunteering to their schedules. As access to the Internet expands, more people are signing up.

Pearls of Africa is run entirely by online volunteers who research and develop programs, solicit donations, and run a children's resource library in Uganda geared toward disabilities. Moy traveled to Uganda in November 2001 with the United Nations to open the library.

"I never dreamed it would have taken me this far," Moy says. "I log on and I have e-mail from all corners of the globe and we are working on one path together."

Virtual Volunteers

World Computer Exchange, based in Massachusetts, relies on virtual volunteers in its mission to bring computers to schools in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Since it was founded in October 1999, the organization has helped 676 schools and almost 256,000 students go online, says Tim Anderson, president and founder.

"The schools we're connecting to the Internet would not be able to bridge the digital divide for ten years," Anderson says.

His 100 volunteers, whom he recruits through NetAid, help gather and test computers to ship them to the schools. Volunteers in the various countries also offer technical support.

Virtual volunteering is growing within the United States. VolunteerMatch, which links volunteers with more than 23,000 organizations offering about 40,000 volunteer opportunities, is helping that cause, says Jason Willett, director of communications. Since 1998, nearly one million people signed up for an opportunity through VolunteerMatch.

Online Mentors

One of these groups is NetMentors, which offers online career development for teenagers. It serves as a virtual career counselor with expertise on 70 different careers. With about 800 mentors, the group has counseled 1000 students entirely through its Web site.

"We encourage people to do traditional mentoring, but if that is not an option, we offer another way," says James Green, executive director. "This way has time and geographic advantages." Using technology, NetMentors is a vehicle for students to get in contact with individuals they wouldn't normally have access to.

Amye Love, an elementary schoolteacher and a NetMentor volunteer for the past three years, can participate from anywhere at anytime. In less than one hour each week, she helps several students make career choices by answering questions on what it takes to be an educator.

"Kids today rely so much on their computers," Love says. "It's an interesting technique that will take off."


It's been said that newspapers write the first draft of history, but now there are blogs. These days, online scribes often get the news before it's fit to print --- http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,56978,00.html 

Bob Jensen's threads on Weblogs and Blogs can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245gloss.htm 


From the Risk Waters Group on January 10, 2003

This week, European derivatives exchange Eurex said it plans to launch a US exchange that will compete directly with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Eurex said it is in advanced talks with regulators and market participants to prepare for a January 2004 launch, when an alliance the exchange currently has with the CBOT formally ends. Earlier this week Eurex dismissed rumours that it is accelerating its strategy to expand in the US. The exchange plans to offer the full range of derivatives on US interest rates, indexes and equities that its customers can currently access through its a/c/e (Alliance/CBOT/Eurex) electronic trading platform, which was launched in August 2000 specifically to market CBOT products. Co-operation between the CBOT and Eurex began in October 1999. The a/c/e initiative was designed to give European customers access to CBOT products while providing the Chicago exchange with an electronic trading capability. But in July Eurex acquired full ownership of the electronic trading platform, effectively ending the three-year partnership agreement that saw the European exchange publicly criticise its Chicago partner for failing to invest in the electronic trading system.


National Archives Learning Curve: Cold War (History, War) --- http://learningcurve.pro.gov.uk/coldwar/ 
This site is a great resource for provocative questions about conflict management and alternative scenarios.


Thank you John Donahue for calling my attention to the following interesting essay that features Dan Wegner, a former Trinity University psychology professor who is now at Harvard University.  I don't think we can go so far as to say we're not responsible for our actions, but this is a very interesting essay.  I think I will buy the book.

"More Than Good Intentions: Holding Fast to Faith in Free Will," by John Horgan, The New York Times, December 31, 2002 http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/31/science/31ESSA.html 

. . . ouple of books I've been reading lately have left me brooding over the possibility that free will is as much a myth as divine justice.

The chief offender is "The Illusion of Conscious Will," by Dr. Daniel M. Wegner, a psychologist at Harvard. What makes Dr. Wegner's critique more effective than others I've read over the years is that it is less philosophical than empirical, drawing heavily upon recent research in cognitive science and neurology.

Dr. Wegner also carries out his vivisection of free will with a disturbing cheerfulness, like a neurosurgeon joking as he cuts a patient's brain.

We think of will as a force, but actually, Dr. Wegner says, it is a feeling — "merely a feeling," as he puts it — of control over our actions. I think, "I'm going to get up now," and when I do a moment later, I credit that feeling with having been the instigating cause. But as we all know, correlation does not equal causation.

When neurologists make patients' limbs jerk by electrically zapping certain regions of their brains, the patients often insist they meant to move that arm, and they even invent reasons why. Neurologists call these erroneous, post hoc explanations confabulations, but Dr. Wegner prefers the catchier "intention inventions." He suggests that whenever we explain our acts as the outcome of our conscious choice, we are engaging in intention invention, because our actions actually stem from countless causes of which we are completely unaware.

He cites experiments in which subjects pushed a button whenever they chose while noting the time of their decision as displayed on a clock. The subjects took 0.2 seconds on average to push the button after they decided to do so. But an electroencephalograph monitoring their brain waves revealed that the subjects' brains generated a spike of brain activity 0.3 seconds before they decided to push the button.

The meaning of these widely debated findings, Dr. Wegner says, is that our conscious willing is an afterthought, which "kicks in at some point after the brain has already started preparing for the action."

Other research has indicated that the neural circuits underlying our conscious sensations of intention are distinct from the circuits that actually make our muscles move. This disconnect may explain why we so often fail to carry out our most adamant decisions. This morning, I may resolve to drink only one cup of coffee instead of two, or to take a long run through the woods. But I may do neither of these things (and chances are I won't).

Sometimes our intentions seem to be self-thwarting. The more I tell myself to go back to sleep instead of obsessing over free will, the wider awake I feel. Dr. Wegner attributes these situations to "ironic processes of mental control." Edgar Allan Poe's phrase "the imp of the perverse" even more vividly evokes that mischievous other we sense lurking within us.

Brain disorders can exacerbate experiences of this kind. Schizophrenics perceive their very thoughts as coming from malevolent external sources. Those who have lasting damage to the corpus callosum, a neural cable that transmits signals between the brain's hemispheres, may be afflicted with alien-hand syndrome.

They may end up, Dr. Wegner says, like Dr. Strangelove, whose left hand frantically tried to keep his right from jutting out in Nazi salutes.


From Syllabus News on January 7, 2003

The University of Miami said it would open the M. Anthony Burns Center for Advanced Supply Chain Management in collaboration with Ryder System Inc., and IBM Corp. The Center will conduct research and provide executive education programs in supply chain management -- the process of managing the efficient flows of goods, information, funds, and work among trading partners worldwide. In addition, Ryder and IBM will provide expertise in supply chain management. The University will seek additional corporate sponsorships to help support the new initiative. IBM will offer its intellectual capital through curriculum development strategies and a presence on The Center's board. The inaugural seminar program of the Center is scheduled for January 22-24, 2003 at the Conference Center of the Americas in the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Fla.

For more information, visit: http://www.miami.edu/CASCM 

 


The annual Codie Awards were announced on December 11, 2002 --- http://www.siia.net/codies2003/finalists.asp 
These are coveted awards for new hardware and software development.  Like the Academy Awards, there are many categories and nominees.  The Codies are awarded in a ceremony much like the Academy Award ceremony.  The Codie Award Ceremony is generally replayed on PBS television on the Computer Chronicles show --- http://www.computerchronicles.org/index.asp 


From PBS Television

Freedom: A History of U.S. --- http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/ 

Kofi Annan: Center of the United Nations Storm --- http://www.pbs.org/wnet/un/ 


Bill's Antique Christmas Light Site --- http://www.oldchristmaslights.com/ 


Phi Beta Kappa Online --- http://www.pbk.org/ 

Beta Gamma Sigma Online --- http://www.betagammasigma.org/ 


Economist Ezra Solomon Dies at 82 
Ezra Solomon, who played a major role in the current approach to teaching finance and served as an economic advisor to President Nixon, has died at his Stanford University campus home. http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/headlines/obit_solomon.shtml 


A Special Letter on Ethics and Ethics Education from the Dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business
With company after company caught in ethical scandals over the last 18 months, Dean Robert L. Joss reflects on how ethics is taught at the GSB, how the School can develop a strong culture of ethical behavior, and how it can convince students of the link between ethical behavior and long-term success as a leader. http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/fromthedean 

There is a limit to what we, as a school, can do. If managers are part of a society in which the guiding philosophy is I can do whatever I can get away with or If it isn't against the law, it is okay; and if the law isn't absolutely and expressly clear, I'm allowed to try to get away with it, then discussions about ethical analysis in the classroom aren't going to be very effective. In the end, the motivation to behave ethically has to come from the individual; simple admonitions to behave ethically are not going to do the job. And here, I believe, Stanford Business School and schools of management in general can and should do more:

  1. We should develop a strong culture of ethical behavior in all aspects of life, because this sort of thing carries over. We-and we here means the entire community, including students-should enforce the norm that sliding through with ethically questionable behavior is not at all okay. Both in terms of prospective behavior, and in terms of behavior here at the School, the signal must be sent that our community and society will deal harshly with those who violate ethical norms.
  2. We should educate our students about the consequences of unethical behavior for those who are caught. Maureen McNichols, Marriner S. Eccles Professor of Public and Private Management, tells the story of how, in the executive education classroom, she has made an impact on participants by showing them videos of Chainsaw Al Dunlop "before" and "after." She tells how one participant in particular told her he was going home to quit his job in which he was being pressed to cut ethical corners, because he didn't want to end up like "that." Such cautionary tales are good support for the general sense that society won't tolerate unethical behavior.
  3. We can and should do more to convince students of the link between ethical behavior and long-term success as a leader. As we ramp up our efforts to help our students to learn leadership along with management, the importance of ethical behavior is sure to play a major role.
  4. We can and should do more to raise faculty member awareness of what each professor teaches, so that the different pieces of the "ethics curriculum" fit better and reinforce one another. For just this reason, we recently devoted the better part of an all-day, off-site faculty meeting to issues connected to ethics and ethical behavior.
  5. We can and should spotlight topical issues of the day. As already noted, the faculty has crafted three different cases about Enron, one of which was the first case the first-year students saw here. Atholl McBean Professor of Accounting Mary Barth, Joan E. Horngren Professor of Accounting Bill Beaver, and Maureen McNichols, together with three members of the Stanford Law School faculty, will be offering a special elective course this spring dealing with issues connected to financial reports that are brought up by recent events. Professor McNichols also is planning a new executive education program that will deal with issues of corporate governance and boards of directors. And we hope, later in the year, to have a one-day workshop on issues of ethics and ethics education.
  6. We can and should invite to campus distinguished speakers and role models who can address more explicitly how ethics shapes their leadership agendas every day, or how they came to grips with particular important ethical questions. To some extent, we use the View from the Top speaker series in this way, but we are exploring a supplement to this.

This is a big job. It is as important as anything else we do here. We think we are on the right path, but we can and will do better.


A lack of consensus on the way that new viruses are named has led to confusion among anti-virus companies and may have resulted in some users being unsure whether they were protected against the latest variant of the Yaha worm --- http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,806537,00.asp 


Security cameras are getting smart and scary --- http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/news/local/4883623.htm 


New Ideas from Todd Boyle
Accounting Hypercubes on the Internet --- http://www.gldialtone.com/hypercub.htm 

Transaction systems are gradually, and very cautiously, being interconnected via the internet. In 2002 the country is busy rolling out bill presentment and payment, integration to online storefronts, web-based business services, and all manner of B2B and supply chain connections.

Clearly, in the future, our transaction infrastructure will be better evolved both in internal information management, and its communications. It will become effortless for individuals and small companies, to remit funds, send invoices, order goods, etc. with browsers or network devices.

The emergence of internet payments technologies and high-powered accounting hosts on the internet has been sudden. It may take a decade or more for large numbers of individuals to wake up to the potentials. Some of the most explosive potentials are already possible, today.

The online payments and accounting infrastructure enables individuals, for the first time, the creation of partnership accounting systems that are capable of operating mostly automatically, with feedback to the participants in real time.

These would enable individuals (or companies) to participate in collaborative ventures of arbitrary complexity by enabling allocations of revenue they helped to generate, or in allocations of costs or cost pools from which they have drawn resources by their activities.  There is nothing preventing this from being realized. 

Millions of people are familiar with, shared calendars such as  Yahoo Calendars on internet. Many are aware of other collaboration platforms like Groove, or services like E-room or Intranets.com or open source communities/portals, which enable shared discussion and files as well as calendars. (There are hundreds of project and collaboration websites equally as good for particular needs.) 

Now, imagine these with a powerful accounting hypercube beneath, where you could view every cent of every transaction of the venture, and the way it was allocated to members. Imagine these with realtime facilities that give you the power, every day, to control and limit your exposure.

Todd wrote the following in a December 26, 2002 email message:

The idea of a ricardian server with an efficient XML/X interface may contain the seeds of a general ledger for publicly listed corporations, as well as individuals and small business. http://www.google.com/search?q=ricardian+contract

The AFCE http://www.cfenet.com/faq.asp says, fraud is costing US compaines $400 billion/year thats 6% of gross revenue.

The Enron/worldcom phenomena, and sarbanes/oxley point to huge reporting deficiencies and a broad public reaction of being fed up with insiders exploitation and info-asymmetry. A huge new expenditure is being made and as a CPA, I am astounded at the growth of requirements on auditors! The cost of audits will grow so rapidly as to create demand for self-authenticated transaction infrastructures. The idea of ricardian servers with efficient APIs brings that 1000-to-1 savings often touted for digital cash in the past.

To paraphrase Hettinga, we are at the point of requiring an "auditing panopticon" to maintain our present accounting infrastructures, because current transaction technology requires the identification and apprehension of people who lie about a book- entry in a database somewhere instead of failing potentially fraudulent transactions before they execute.

It's well understood today that the "Login" concept of authentication and accountability is hopelessly inadequate for financial accounting. Wayner's book and many others, have explained this better than I could http://www.google.com/search?q=translucent+databases

Consider also the failure of PKI, here is a quick review for anybody already familiar with the idea of 'certificates'. http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/II/HKPKI02.ppt

"Conclusions: Digital Signatures based on X.509v3

certificates are near-valueless" http://www.counterpane.com/pki-risks.html

Todd also has some radical proposals for public access to what is now considered private insider information --- http://www.gldialtone.com/financialDeregulation.htm 


"Irreverent Commentary on the State of Education in America Today," by Dr. Mark H. Shapiro, January 4, 2003 --- http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-04-03.htm 

A few years back Vermont's Department of Education engineered a seismic leap in students' grammar skills.  The department's method was simple. In 1993 students whose writing showed "patterns of errors" received 2.0 points on a four-point scale.  The following year the state revised its scoring rubric.  Students whose writing showed the same "patterns of errors" now received 3.0 points on a four-point scale.  When statewide scores -- not surprisingly -- went up, the department proudly reported a "significant improvement" in grammar skills.

No kidding.

Unfortunately, nothing really improves when you artificially redefine success.

At school academic standards have always defined success.  Some students exceeded the standards, many met them, and others fell short.  If you consistently fell short of the minimum standards, you didn't get a diploma. You didn't get credit for learning enough because, in fact, you hadn't learned enough.

Continued at http://irascibleprofessor.com/comments-01-04-03.htm 

Dr. Sahpiro concludes as follows:

When these kids do attend classes, they generally receive one-on-one and small group instruction. In one program seven faculty members teach forty students. How do you justify lavishing such a disproportionate share of school resources on kids who've often made the least effort themselves?  If only my regular students had it so good.

One principal describes his alternative program as an "option for kids who don't like the strict rules" and "large classes of high school."  Show me a kid who does.  Then there's the "adventure education director" another district plans to hire.  Adventure education sends kids on outdoor activities, everything from "trust building" games and climbing on ropes to camping and white water rafting.  The superintendent maintains that this program will "serve a need that we hadn't accepted as a real need in the past."

Rafting?  A real need?

Politicians and experts are desperate to keep kids in school.  But diplomas aren't supposed to be about adventure or having a part time job.  Keeping kids in school doesn't do any good if the only way you can do it is to stop teaching them anything meaningful.  We need to accept the hard truth that having standards means some kids won't meet them.

Retaining a student because he doesn't know enough isn't what makes him a dropout.  Not knowing enough is what makes him a dropout.  Moving him along regardless of how little he knows doesn't help. It just makes him a dropout with a diploma.


"2002: The Tech Good, Bad and Ugly," eWeek, December 23, 2002 --- http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,6071,800592,00.asp 

ANALYST: Cameron Sturdevant

MOST IMPRESSIVE: 
With Version 2003, Microsoft SMS overcame its shortcomings. In previous versions, SMS' software metering scheme was needlessly hobbling, and it lacked checkpoint restart to support incremental distribution of software packages. Version 2003 delivered all that and more, allowing SMS to earn the title (after many, many years) of desktop management system.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: 
The rush by the federal government to collect personal data so that domestic spying can resume on a level not seen since the FBI's COINTELPROs started in the late '50s. Personal privacy—and the ability to keep our private lives just that—are disappearing at about the same rate as the ozone layer. Customer privacy for everyone needs to be brought back as an expectation in the online world.

MOST USEFUL: 
Altiris' Client Management Suite, the newly spun-off LANDesk and bread-and-butter products like them. These are the quiet IT workhorse products that make getting new PCs ready for use a breeze. These products also make short work of recycling computer assets.

SLIPPING OFF THE RADAR: 
The Distributed Management Task Force, much to my chagrin. The standards body certainly is not going away, but it has fallen victim to the IT budget crunch and the fact that most desktop management systems are good enough to get by without the standards work under way at the DMTF.

YEAR'S BIGGEST TECH STORY: 
The failure of the oft-predicted tech recovery to materialize. Although Web services, the Microsoft antitrust proceedings, falling chip prices and new productivity tools all made a stir this year, the biggest technology story was the incredible shrinking job market.

WHAT TO WATCH IN 2003: 
NetForensics, eSecurity, Intellitactics and Tivoli, among others, provide a means to process reams of network traffic information to pinpoint how and where security problems are likely affecting network performance or compromising data integrity. In addition, watch for significant advances in VOIP.

LEVEL OF PRESCIENCE LAST YEAR: Last year, I said IT managers should beware of vendors attempting to sell products by exploiting fears caused by the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. They did, and corporate IT still needs to stay focused on bottom-line productivity. Don't confuse government spending on security with a useful trend in corporate IT.


In an unusual turn, three products out of the 10 to receive the Wired News 2002 Vaporware Award also appeared on last year's list. Tech-hungry readers wonder: Why can't these developers get it together? --- http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57023,00.html 

10. Silicon Film's Electronic Film System: For the third year in a row, Silicon Film Technologies makes the list for failing to deliver its long-promised "digital film" system, which turns film cameras into digital ones.

09. The new Amiga: Earlier this year, fans of the Amiga were in a tizzy about the prospect of a revival of the comatose platform: Both new machines and a new operating system were promised. Suffice it to say, neither are readily available.

08. Ubi Soft's Shadowbane: An ambitious online role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic world, Shadowbane has been in development so long, readers said, it is now referred to as "Shadowwait." (Although the game has been in beta for a couple of years, it qualifies as vaporware because it hasn't hit store shelves as a shrink-wrapped product.)

07. QuarkXPress for Macintosh OS X: Quark's page-layout system, QuarkXPress, is probably the most eagerly anticipated application awaiting conversion to Apple's new operating system, Mac OS X. Wisely, Quark hasn't committed to a release date, but, as readers noted, the OS X version has seemed just around the corner for the last couple of years. Clearly, many graphics enthusiasts thought it would appear in 2002. Alas, it did not.

06.  NVidia's GeForce FX graphics card: NVidia claims its new GeForce FX card will usher in a "new era" of "cinematic computing." If it ever gets to market, that is.

05. Infogrames' Master of Orion 3: Master of Orion 3, known as MOO3, is the long-awaited update of the popular space-strategy game.

04. Oqo's Ultra-Personal Computer: Last spring, Oqo promised its "ultra-personal computer" -- a pumped-up PDA that runs Windows XP -- by the end of the year.

03. Team Fortress 2: Brotherhood of Arms: Valve's Team Fortress 2 is a team-based, online action game from the creators of Half-Life that also made last year's vaporware list. It will be released "shortly," Valve promises.

02. Mac and Linux clients for Neverwinter Nights: Bioware's Neverwinter Nights is a huge online Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game set in a medieval fantasy world. Bioware promised Mac and Linux clients when the game was released in the summer, but according to readers, they are still waiting for them.

01. Duke Nukem Forever: 3D Realms' first-person shooter is the first title to win the No. 1 spot in the Vaporware Awards two years in a row. The game is so hazy it received almost as many votes as all the other vaporware nominations put together. First announced in 1997, the game has now been five years in the making. So long, in fact, 3D Realms makes jokes about it on its website. It's routinely referred to as "Duke Nukem Whenever" or "Duke Nukem If Ever."


Mac users are keeping the home fires burning thanks to some small but interesting announcements from Apple and some intriguing speculation about what the Mac maker has up its sleeve for 2003. Read Matthew Rothenberg's column --- http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,6071,798207,00.asp 


Business Week Cover Story
THE BEST & WORST MANAGERS OF THE YEAR
If ever there was a year to examine how managers succeed--and fail--it was 2002 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_02/b3815001.htm?c=bwinsiderjan3&n=link1&t=email


Federal judges want the California Supreme Court to consider a dispute between the owner of a porn site and the company that erroneously transferred its Internet domain to a con man --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,57065,00.html 


BLUE GENE: IBM'S DREAM MACHINE 
Now in the making, Big Blue's hottest supercomputer ever will advance the state of the art and tackle some thorny problems http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2002/tc20021226_1984.htm?c=bwtechdec31&n=link2&t=email 



Choosing the Right College: The Whole Truth about America's Top Schools. --- http://www.educationreview.homestead.com/2002RightCollege.html 

Introduction by William J. Bennett. 
Researched and written by the staff of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), 
Winfield J.C. Myers, Editor 
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, pp. 796, 2001 
Suggested Retail Price, $26.00

This is the college guide for which we have all been waiting.  It not only gives facts it gives judgments.  The judgments are balanced, insightful, and well expressed; and the facts are not to be found elsewhere.  Whereas most college guides clobber the reader with dry statistics about number of books in the library and percentage of alumni who give, Choosing the Right College offers on-the-scene reports from respected professors and perceptive students.  The only real way to know about a college is from someone who has been there, who has taught or attended the classes, who has absorbed the campus atmosphere.
          
          Imagine a college guide that is actually interesting to read!  Choosing the Right College consists of gracefully written essays, brought to life by faculty and student comments, on more than 100 well-known colleges and universities, large and small, from across the country.  One does not read the book straight through, from Amherst to Yale.  Like a book about faraway places, you follow your curiosity wherever it leads. 

          I started with Oberlin.  Here is a sampler of what I learned.  Oberlin was founded in the 1830's to train Christian missionaries.  "Political correctness is the religion today, and it is not so much debated as instilled."  Oberlin's Experimental College (EXCO) is entirely student-run.  Courses can be taught by professors or students, and have included "Football Appreciation", taught on Sunday afternoon by members of the football team, and "Essential Films of the '80s" featuring Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  Like most colleges, it has some outstanding professors.  And it has a first-class conservatory of music.  A professor describes the PC activists as "ideological and aggressive."  "The pockets of political conservatives and evangelical Christians on campus  use the hostility to their beliefs as a source of self-strengthening and challenge, a student says."  

          Next, Duke:  "Course descriptions at Duke are amazingly honest, and a conscientious student can avoid most of the politicized classes."  More than 40 percent of Duke students study abroad.  Although there is the equivalent of a minor in Marxism at Duke, one professor reports, "The steam has gone out of the Marxists" since the collapse of the evil empire.  "Rarely does a week at Duke pass without a task force report on racism, a panel on gender issues, a rally against sweatshops, and the like."  The Women's Studies introductory course features such readings as "Loving Another Woman" and "If Men Could Menstruate."  Duke was ranked by Mother Jones magazine in 1998 as the number-1 activist school in the world.

          For many colleges, the story is mixed but the advice is the same.  Find the excellent professors and structure a program around them.  In fact, this guide actually names names.  For the University of Texas at Austin, about 30 excellent professors are named, including such stars as Joseph Horn in psychology, Daniel Bonevac in philosophy, and Marvin Olasky in journalism.

          Several of the colleges, including UT-Austin and the University of Wisconsin, have special or honors programs that give students a coherent, rigorous education in the liberal arts.  At  Madison, it is the Integrated Liberal Studies program.  Austin boasts two first-rate alternatives.  The Plan II Honors Program, "available to select students," is "the jewel" of UT's undergraduate education, with year long sequences in world literature, world history, philosophy, logic, government, science, mathematics, and social science, as well as a first-year tutorial and a senior thesis."

          The comments by professors give flavor and insight.  The worst thing about UT is "its aspiration to become a second Berkeley."  "Austin is wild, interesting, diverse, unique."  "(T)he 'distinguished speaker' program should be renamed the 'retired liberal Democrat politicos' program."  "As I go around the country, I think the Eastern schools are so much worse, primarily because they have a higher concentration of radical faculty.  At UT, you can still teach your material."

          A slice of life at the University of Michigan:  "Every few months, the student says, these groups 'organize a "Day of Action" in defense of affirmative action.  Each time, about twenty students show up until fire alarms mysteriously go off around campus.  Instantly, hundreds of students flood out of the buildings onto the center of campus, unwittingly becoming part of the protest."

          The guide contains insightful essays on all the best-known Texas colleges.  You learn that, among locals, the University of Dallas "is best known as an alternative parking lot for Cowboys games."  But the college offers "an impressive, rigorous curriculum, employs excellent faculty, shapes its students to be serious, committed, and responsible, and, in short, represents the best in Catholic higher education."  It was the first school accredited by the American Academy for Liberal Education.  There is discomfort in some quarters with the new president's attitude to orthodox Catholicism.  Suburban Irving "has precious little to recommend it, least of all natural beauty."  The university has a "pile of bricks architectural style."

          Baylor is the world's largest Baptist university.  Freshmen are required to take two semesters of religion and two semester of Chapel Forum, whose featured speakers have included Margaret Thatcher.  The courses are sane.  For social science, students take "American Constitutional Development," and two semesters of world history.  Even business students have a hefty load of liberal arts requirements. 

          Rice has a "near-complete lack of core requirements."  But, "in terms of academic rigor and realistic grading, Rice has defied the national trend toward artificially buttressing a student's self-esteem."  "With a student body of lifelong over-achievers, academic egos often take a bruising."  The college offers "easily accessible professors and small class sizes" and "Rice is about as apolitical as college campuses come." 

          At Texas A&M, the core program "isn't particularly demanding."  You can take "Sociology of Sport" for your social science requirement and science fiction for humanities.  The college boasts the largest College Republican chapter in the country.  And Young Conservatives of Texas, described as CR "with an edge," has sponsored "Straight Marriage Pride Week" and "Second Amendment Day."  Student life is summed up in the heading "Lots of Yelling."

          As Bill Bennett says in his excellent introduction, this guide talks about "the good, the bad, and the ugly in higher education."  At the vast majority of colleges, core requirements fail to ensure a coherent, rigorous education grounded in, as Matthew Arnold hoped, "the best that has been thought and said."  Silly courses abound that reveal more about professors' politics, personal interests, and sex lives than about ideas of enduring significance.  And the political atmosphere is almost always one-sided and often, as one student says, "unbelievably intolerant."

          In such an atmosphere, the student needs not only a guide to selecting a school, but a survival manual.  As Robert Royal says in a prefatory essay on the importance of the humanities, "If you want an education  today it will require work  and vigilance."  

          Choosing the Right College begins to meet that need as well by helping students recognize the bad courses, identify the best professors, find the strongest programs, and discover intellectual comrades-in-arms on campus.     
 
 

 

Is This Progress: A Review of James Duderstadt's A University for the 21st Century by: George Leef --- http://www.educationreview.homestead.com/2002Duderstadt.html 
 
A University for the 21st Century
by James J. Duderstadt
University of Michigan Press, 368 pp.,2000
Suggested Retail Price $47.50

Since departing his post as President of the University of Michigan (owing to his unpopular battle against allowing the athletic tail to wag the educational dog, he is now President Emeritus), James Duderstadt has had time for some serious writing.  His Intercollegiate Athletics and the American University (also published by University of Michigan Press), gives us his eminently sensible thoughts on the troubles caused by the sports mania that afflicts many institutions of higher education in the U.S and is well worth reading for its iconoclastic view.  On the other hand, A University for the 21st Century is definitely not iconoclastic.  In it, Duderstadt offers a look at the modern American university that chiefly defends the status quo.  It too is a book worth reading, but don't expect a lot of sharp analysis and live-wire ideas for change.

          Higher education in the United States has grown enormously since the end of World War II.  We now devote vastly more resources to everything from community colleges to research universities than at any time in our history, and also more than any other nation.  Prior to World War II, less than ten percent of high school graduates enrolled in college; now about two-thirds of them do.  That growth has fueled prodigious government subsidies and a widespread assumption that a college degree is the key to success in life.  The higher education establishment has worked hard to secure the former and encourage the latter.
But is it beneficial?  Is the nation getting its money's worth for the higher ed explosion?  We now hear some economists casting doubt on the value of our march toward college degrees for everyone.  In Who's Not Working and Why, Frederic Pryor and David Schaffer observe that more and more college graduates are now ending up in what used to be regarded as "high school" jobs because of their low levels of cognitive skills.  There is good reason to believe that we have gone well past the point of diminishing returns on college education, but that is a thought that is heretical among the nation's higher education leaders.  It may even be unthinkable.  Readers of A University for the 21st Century won't encounter it.

          What they do encounter is the standard defense of ever-expanding higher ed spending  that it drives the economy by ensuring a flow of new technologies and smart young workers to keep us prosperous.  Duderstadt attributes America's great economic growth in the last half-century to the fact that we now have so many more people with college educations and contends that as we move into a "new economy" based on information, higher education will become even more important.  "(K)nowledge is not available to all.  It can be absorbed and applied only by the educated mind.  Hence, schools in general and universities in particular will play an increasingly important role as our society enters this new age," he writes.
This line of argument is the trump card that educationists play repeatedly and from such repetition most people  themselves included  believe it to be true.  But are we really entering a new economic era calling for a fundamental shift from the kinds of work that could be done by individuals with a high school diploma to "knowledge workers" who supposedly cannot handle the job without additional years of study in college?  According to the U.S. Department of Labor most of the fastest growing jobs over the next decade will be in occupations that have always been done by individuals with little formal education  truck drivers, cashiers and the like.  The demand for trainable workers with meager educational credentials is not fading away.  In fact, in some occupations where no more than a high school diploma is regarded as sufficient, employers today face shortages, auto mechanics for example. 

          When we hear it said that a college education is becoming more important than ever, that mainly reflects the fact that employers increasingly are using the bachelors degree as a screening device.  That is to say, it's not that the work is so demanding that a person with a decent high school education could not learn to do it, but that with so many college-educated people in the labor force now, employers can discriminate on the basis of credentials and not go to the trouble of evaluating "mere" high school graduates.  The alleged need for more schooling in college arguably reflects nothing other than the ineffectiveness of most of our K-12 schooling.  Duderstadt's premise that the "new economy" demands more education is mistaken.

          If Duderstadt overstates the importance of formal education, at least he has a good grip on reality when it comes to revenues and costs.  Unlike some higher ed leaders, he does not rant about the decline in governmental support that has occurred over the last twenty years or so. Duderstadt notes that, on average, students and families today have to pay a somewhat higher percentage of the cost of a college education than in the past, but also that college is still heavily subsidized by federal, state, and private funds.  He neither applauds this as a step toward fiscal sanity (as I do) nor denounces it as a betrayal of the future, as some higher education partisans do.  College and university heads will simply have to deal with the fact that they can't expect revenues to cover all of their great spending plans. That means controlling costs and operating more efficiently. "Today's university is like a conglomerate corporation," Duderstadt writes, and sees that as part of the cost problem. "There is substantial cost and general overhead associated with centralized bureaucratic policies and procedures of any large, complex organization like the modern university....The fact that the allocation decisions are made at one level, while the needs are assessed at another creates the strong possibility of misallocation, inefficiencies, and a greater-than-optimal supply of space."

          That is quite right, and our author offers some sound advice on how to get costs in line with revenue.  One example is contracting out for needed services rather than providing them with higher-cost university personnel.  Such cost cutting will entail unpleasant battles with the university employees who have been doing the work  e.g., housekeepers.  He also suggests that universities get out of activities that "do not meet real customer needs."  Universities have become like overextended businesses (Enron comes immediately to mind) trying to do many things besides educating.  Duderstadt is right in advising some streamlining.

          Hard headedness on cost is the book's strongest point.  A weak one is Duderstadt's lack of concern over the curriculum.  Many observers have written with alarm about the erosion of the college curriculum.  Instead of taking mostly sequential courses that are important to a well-rounded education, at many schools today students can graduate with a grab-bag of courses that fulfill the "distribution requirements, but constitute only a pile of credits rather than an education.  Duderstadt, however, isn't bothered. "(C)urriculum wars may be largely beside the point," he writes.  "When alumni are asked what they really value in their college education, they almost never mention the curriculum or the subject matter of their courses, which fades rapidly after finals and graduation.  Instead they remember the groups they joined, the teachers and students they met, the friendships they made.  These memories of learning communities may be far closer to the real value of a college education...."  That assertion may be true, although I suspect that the poll Duderstadt refers to would show that some alumni place a high value on the content of their studies. And he overlooks the possibility that many grads think little of the substance of their college education precisely because it was a disorganized jumble of academic fluff.
But even if most of what students later recall as beneficial are the personal contacts, it does not follow that the curriculum is "beside the point."  The personal contacts will take place whether students take serious, demanding courses, or fill up their transcripts with courses in basket weaving and rock music, so why not provide the former? 

          While Duderstadt is indifferent on the state of the curriculum, he is passionate on the need for "diversity."  Defending higher ed's crusade for the perfectly diverse student body, curriculum, faculty and so on is one of his chief goals in the book, but it falls flat on its face.
First, he argues that we need diversity in the curriculum for the good of the economy.  Duderstadt makes the jaded observation that the world is becoming more "globalized" and concludes that our universities would not be serving us well if they did not equip students with a "multicultural" knowledge base. "Understanding cultures other than our own has become necessary, not only for personal enrichment and good citizenship, but for our very survival as a nation," he writes. 

          Remember that Duderstadt thinks that the "curriculum wars" are much ado about nothing. Students forget it all anyway.  But evidently that's not the case with their multicultural studies.  We can do without Shakespeare, American History, and Chemistry, but we've just got to make sure students take courses like African Cultures.

          This "it's good for business" argument is a tremendous non sequitur.  Americans who deal with individuals from other countries (which, for all the talk about globalization, is still a very small percentage of us) learn what we need to about them in order to effect the desired transactions.  If an American businessman wants to trade with a firm in, say, Morocco, he may find it advantageous to learn something about Moroccan culture and customs. If so, he will learn what he needs to, as traders always have.  To compel millions of American students to sit through courses on other cultures so as to enable them to deal with "globalization" is ridiculous. Here Duderstadt demonstrates one of the most common beliefs among educators  that if something isn't taught in a course at an organized, accredited school, it won't be learned at all.  There are, however, many other places to learn things, and people have strong incentives to invest in whatever knowledge and skills benefit them.  Americans would learn what they need to about other cultures even if every "multicultural" course were dropped from the catalogue.

Continued at http://www.educationreview.homestead.com/2002Duderstadt.html 

 

A Review of Maureen Stout's The Feel-Good Curriculum: The Dumbing Down of America's Kids in the Name of Self-Esteem By: Marianne Jennings --- http://www.educationreview.homestead.com/2002DumbingDown.html 

Marianne Jennings is a Professor in the Department of Business at Arizona State University.

The Feel-Good Curriculum: The Dumbing Down of America's Kids in the Name of Self-Esteem 
by Maureen Stout Perseus, 
313 pp., 2000 
Suggested Retail Price, $16.00

 

 
 

Stolba's review of textbooks used in Women's Studies programs across the country reveals errors of fact, errors of interpretation, and sins of omission.

 
Christine Stolba is a senior fellow at the Independent Women's Forum, which can be found online at www.iwf.org .  She is  coauthor of Women's Figures: An Illustrated Guide to the Economic Progress of Women in America (1999) and The Feminist Dilemma: When Success Is Not Enough (2001).  Ms. Stolba holds a Ph.D. in History from Emory University.

"Lying in A Room of One's Own: How Women's Studies Textbooks Miseducate Students,"  by: Christine Stolba --- http://www.educationreview.homestead.com/2002WomensStudies.html 

SYLLABI SURVEYED
 
Syllabi from introductory Women's Studies courses (or similar courses) were examined from the following schools:
Allegheny College
Boston University
Central Oregon Community College
Clemson University
College of Charleston
Colorado College
Dartmouth
Gettysburg College
Iowa State University
Kenyon College
Lexington Community College
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
New Mexico State University
Oberlin College
San Diego State University
Syracuse University
Tulane University
Union College
University of Arizona
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Connecticut
University of Maine, Farmington
University of Maryland, College Park
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
University of Michigan
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
University of Rhode Island
University of Wisconsin, Madison
Vassar College
Virginia Tech
George Will devoted an entire column to this study, and Rush Limbaugh read from it on his radio show. Christine Stolba appeared as a guest on FOX’s O’Reilly Factor, as well as on numerous radio stations across the nation—including the Laura Ingraham Show—and was the subject of lengthy pieces in publications such as the Washington Times, Reason, and National Review Online --- http://www.iwf.org/pubs/exfemina/June2002e.shtml 
 
" Women’s studies responds to review of texts" by Jen Strawn, The Post from Ohio University, May 31, 2002 --- http://thepost.baker.ohiou.edu/archives3/may02/053102/n13.html 

Students spend hours taking notes in class and reading textbooks on a daily basis, but could the facts presented in these books mislead students, or even present false information? Christine Stolba, author of Lying in a Room of One’s Own: How Women's Studies Textbooks Miseducate Students said they might be.

In her review of five women’s studies textbooks Stolba found several errors. For example, information in the books she reviewed contained factual errors such as publishing debatable or incorrect data as factual knowledge.

“The books also committed errors in interpretations because they would present evidence, but they were only telling part of the story,” Stolba said. “Among specific topic areas mentioned in these texts they silenced outlooks that were more conservative.”

However, professors in the Women’s Studies department at Ohio University feel that while some textbooks may contain such errors, their program does not mislead students. Women’s Studies faculty member Christie Launius said the textbook required for her class, not reviewed by Stolba, offers multiple sides to many issues.

“Certainly, when choosing a textbook I am interested in finding one that offers a range of viewpoints,” Launius said. “I guess the problem is that these books do offer a feminist perspective. If you don’t agree with the feminist perspective on issues such as work and family, of course you’re going to have a problem with them. It’s a loaded issue from the get-go.”

Stolba said the problem with many women’s studies textbooks is that the feminist perspective often is based in ideology and not scholastic knowledge. Scholastic knowledge and not ideology is key to a liberal arts education, she said.

“Women’s studies have not created scholarship,” Stolba said. “They had the opportunity, and they squandered it by being too invested in their ideology.”

Director of Women’s Studies at OU, Susan Burgess, said the program has created scholarship. The American Association of Colleges placed women’s studies within the top 10 disciplines that further a liberal education.

“There are over 600 plus programs at universities across the country,” Burgess said. “I don’t know why someone would say that it is not academic.”

Stolba said instructors could combat biases in textbooks by assigning reading assignments written by critics of women’s studies.

Launius said she encourages the students to provide the alternative perspectives. Through discussion, students are challenged to examine the book in a critical manner.

“I’m not asking for students to agree with the analysis in the book. I want them to engage in it,” she said. “What I want the class to do is take the book’s analysis seriously, chew it over, and see what they think of it.”

The textbook offers one of the many viewpoints examined in class discussions, Launius said. She said in her class it is important to respect all students’ opinions, even though they may disagree with what the text presents.

“My end goal isn’t to convert all my students into feminists,” Launius said. “My goal is to help students become more knowledgeable of the feminist analysis on the institutions that shape women’s lives.”

Also see the following related links:
 

George Will ---  http://216.239.33.100/search?q=cache:ldx8oUyCQvEC:www.rhfinc.org.au/docs/FemHij.pdf+Lying+Room+%22Christine+Stolba%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 

http://www.shethinks.org/articles/an00163.cfm 

http://www.liberator.net/articles/SacksGlenn/NewStudy.html 

 

News item forwarded on December 19, 2002 by Tracey Sutherland [tracey@aaahq.org

UA WALTON COLLEGE DEAN HONORED BY AICPA http://raw.rutgers.edu/raw/aaa/newsarc/doylewilliams.htm 

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) has awarded the Gold Medal for Distinguished Service to Doyle Z. Williams, Dean, Sam M. Walton College of Business, University of Arkansas. The medal, which is AICPA's highest award, was presented to Williams October 22, 2002 at the annual meeting of the AICPA in Maui, Hawaii. Olivia F. Kirtley, former chair of the AICPA and vice president of Vermont American Corporation, also received the award.


January 2, 2003 message from Andrew Lymer [A.LYMER@bham.ac.uk

ECAIS'2003 - Sevilla, Spain: 31st March - 1st April, 2003

We are pleased to announce the keynote speaker and workshops for the forthcoming event :

Keynote Speaker - Professor Dan Stone, University of Kentucky, USA Title: The Accounting Systems Conundrum and the Forces of Change

Workshop 1: Advancing Curriculum Change In Technology

Professor Phil Reckers, Arizona State University, USA

Workshop 2 : Issues in Continuous Auditing and Assurance

Professors Miklos Vasarhelyi, Rutgers University USA, Arnie Wright, Boston College, USA & Sally Wright, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA

As in previous years, these workshops will be free of charge for all delegates and will be operated in sequence so that they can both be attended during the conference.

For full details on each of these sessions visit our website at http://accountingeducation.com/subsites/ecais/2003/mainsessions2003.cfm 


From Cornell University (Food, Recipes, Gastronomy, History, Rare Books) --- 
Not by Bread Alone --- http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/food/ 

The Menu Collection --- http://pubindex.lapl.org/pages/ele_nei/menus-elenei.htm 


Wow Sharing Professor of the Week

New from finance professor Jim Mahar at  http://www.financeprofessor.com/ 

Over the past week, FinanceProfessor.com has gone through some fairly major design and content changes. I hope the changes make the site more useful and easier to use.

I took into consideration many of the suggestions I received last month. Warning: the changes are not done, so PLEASE be patient. :-)

Some of the changes include: 

* An Islamic Finance Page 
* A Franciscan Finance Page 
* Daily Business News from the New York Times 
* A free currency converter 
* A new mail system (I have had hundreds of complaints about Bcentral) and a new yahoo “group” that can serve as a message board (moderated) and chat room. (I plan on having regular chats whose text will be saved). 
* placing the “fun links” down further to streamline use.

Check the “new” site out and offer any advice you think would be helpful.

Also for the spring I plan on placing 5 minute audio summaries of each of my classes online. Stay tuned.


A really clever and dangerous scam discovered by David R. Fordham [fordhadr@JMU.EDU]  (December 30, 2002)

My 16-year-old son has a "subordinate" AOL account (e.g., secondary screen name under my wife's account) and thus AOL does not bill him. He has no credit card on file at AOL. Thus, he was surprised when he got an email from the "billing department" of AOL, telling him that they needed a NEW credit card number to keep his account active, and for him to click on the "Click HERE" link in the email.

Smelling a rat, he right-clicked the link, and discovered the link would take him to the following URL:

http://www.geocities.com/billinginfo02/billing.txt 

Notice that the URL is at GEOCITIES, not AOL.

After coming to get me to take a look over his shoulder (being an infosec-kinda guy that I am), together we clicked the link. Three things happened of note:

First, we got a professional looking dialog box explaining that AOL needed a new credit card number, full name, and other personal information in order to "keep our account open", but more interesting:

Second, we noticed that while we were watching the dialog box, something ELSE was apparently downloading onto our computer. And third:

We couldn't close the browser window.

Since the download was proceeding slowly, we clicked OK on the dialog box, and that's when we received the most professional-looking scam page that I've ever seen. The page uses AOL's real logo, even right down to their copyright notice at the bottom. It asks for all the personal information in a professional-looking AOL-lookalike screen!

It should be noticed that my wife, who really DOES pay the bill for our AOL account, has not yet received any notification from AOL about them needing a new credit card number!

We immediately notified AOL's security department, and so far, all we've heard back from them is that they do NOT need a new credit card number, and they will investigate.

This happened Friday night. As of Monday morning, the scam screen is still up. I tried it from my office computer which is behind all kinds of firewalls and runs all kinds of protective software. Nothing malicious seems to be coming down the pipe, so some of you might want to take a quick look and see one of the best-done scams I've ever seen. I would not tarry too long at the site, however, on the chance that it is trying to trace IP addresses or perform some other mischief.

If you are not fully confident in your security systems, however, I recommend against going there. I don't know what the threat really is, but figured that some risk-takers out there might enjoy looking at a really-good, well-done scam page.

This reminds me of the story about the 1800's preacher who was preaching hellfire and brimstone, and one of the ladies in the balcony got so worked up she almost fainted, and fell over the balcony. Fortunately, she got caught on the chandelier, but there she hung, with her dress open at the bottom, showing her petticoat. The preacher, appreciating her plight, immediately announced that any man who looked up at Sister Patricia would be instantly struck blind. One man on the main floor turned to his companion and said, "She's hot. I think I'm going to risk one eye."

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University

December 31. 2002 reply from Barry Rice [brice@LOYOLA.EDU

It's gone! A 15-minute response time on Yahoo's part "ain't" bad.

The fact that this page exists irritated me so much that I called Yahoo to report the violation of their GeoCities usage policies. I was put on hold for about one minute while the person checked. When she came back, she said "Sir, I will have this page removed". There is no obvious way to report such things on their Web site - or at least I didn't find it.

Between this call and Ron Ingram's reporting it to the FBI, it will be interesting to see how long it takes it to disappear.

Barry Rice 
Director, Instructional Services Emeritus Accounting Professor 
Loyola College in Maryland 410-617-2478

Bob Jensen's threads on scams and frauds can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud.htm 


News item forwarded on December 23, 2002 at the request of  Thomas Calderon [tcalder@uakron.edu

Dear Bob:
 I would be very grateful if you include the following item in your next bookmarks. The George W. Daverio School of Accountancy at The University of Akron announces its first Symposium on Information Systems Risk, Security, & Assurance. (Friday, February 28, 2003, 7:45 AM - 5:00PM; Crowne Plaza Hotel, Akron, OH). The purpose of the symposium is to provide a forum for examining information systems threats, risks, and approaches that organizations can use to make their information resources more secure. We have an enthusiastic group of presenters from IBM, FBI, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Kennesaw State University. Attendees will receive eight hours of CPE credit (seven CLE). The attached document contains the program outline, session abstracts, and speaker bios. The document is also available at http://www2.uakron.edu/ima/OutlineFeb28.pdf .

Who should attend: This symposium is designed for anyone practicing or interested in information systems risk and security. It is especially geared towards financial professionals who supervise information systems departments, CIOs, CITP's, assurance service providers such as auditors in CPA firms who wish to learn more about information systems security, Information Systems Auditors, Internal Auditors, Attorneys, college professors who teach information systems, and members of professional organizations such as the AICPA, OSCPA , IIA, IMA, and ISACA.

I wish you a wonderful holiday season.

Thomas


Best Books of the Year 2002:  The New York Times Editors' Choice 

The New York Times's editors have chosen the best books of the year from those reviewed since the 2001 Holiday Books issue. The 2002 best books include three novels, a biography, a memoir, a history and a journalist's salute to astronomy and its addicts.

Click here to find your next best book: http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/books/review/1208books-edchoice.html?rd=hcmcp?p=0458q$0458ok4C77$012000mn6L4n6GD 


For the first time you can easily access, for free, The New York Times archive of travel articles. From Austria to Wales, we've organized our travel content by destination and combined it with great information from Fodors for a unique perspective on your next trip --- 
http://www.nytimes.com/top/features/travel/destinations/index.html?rd=hcmcp?p=0458mW0458ok4C77$012000mn6L 


Ghost Town Gallery (History, Art, Photography) --- http://www.ghosttowngallery.com/ 


Forwarded on December 19, 2002 by J. S. Gangolly [gangolly@CSC.ALBANY.EDU

ACADEMICS PUSH FOR FREE, ONLINE ACCESS TO JOURNALS 
Since the advent of the Internet, many academics have complained about the practice of charging for online access to scientific journals, as is done by many high-profile publications, including Science and Nature. Now, a $9 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation will support a new organization that will publish two new online journals, one on biology and the other on medicine, that will be entirely free. The Public Library of Science will be led by Dr. Harold E. Varmus, a Nobel laureate in medicine and president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Varmus, one of the critics of charging for online access to scientific articles, said, "The written record is the lifeblood of science." Dr. Donald Kennedy, the editor of Science, defended the subscriptions, however, noting that the publication's standards and costs are high. He said that the number of downloads of articles relative to the subscription fee indicates that each article is being accessed for just a few cents each. New York Times, 17 December 2002 (registration req'd)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/17/science/17JOUR.html 


December 2002
The U.S. Copyright Office asked for public comment on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and it got it. Critics worry about everything from losing great art to restricting blind people's access to information --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,56963,00.html 

The responses are available at http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2003/comments/index.html 

Also see http://news.com.com/2100-1023-978497.html?tag=fd_lede1_hed 

Bob Jensen's threads on the dreadful DMCA are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/theworry.htm#Copyright 

The decision to acquit a Russian coding firm of piracy charges will make it more difficult for the government to prosecute such cases under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, some experts say --- http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,56898,00.html 


It is not possible to download streaming audio/video files like we download such things as MPEG and MP3 files.  I asked my friends on the AECM to indicate how I could obtain a copy of the scandalous Enron Home Movie that can be viewed as streaming video from the Houston Chronicle --- See http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fraud013103.htm 

Todd Boyle told me to get a Mac computer.  He says the Mac can capture streaming video.  For PC users, I received the following answer from Jim Borden who successfully captured the Enron Home Movie using Camtasia.  My Camtasia tutorials are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm (including my tutorial on how to run Camtasia).

Bob,
 
Hopefully you've had a chance to download the video, and it is working for you.
 
In terms of how I was able to record the video, I found the following help file from http://www.geek.com/discus/messages/321/1256.html that gave some advice, as follows:
 
"Hey everyone, don't get all mad at Real Player for being so shitty as it is. Do what I did--GET EVEN!!! First off, I found this nice and nifty little plugin for Winamp that enables it to play Real files. If anyone is interested in it, go to http://wwwpop.hypermart.net/plugin/download.html to download it. Then, make Winamp the default player for all Real media types. And no, you can't totally uninstall Real Player from your system. The plug-in uses the basic core elements of Real Player to play Real Media files.
I am not done yet! I have found some ways to convert Real media to better standard formats. For Real Video, I have found a neat little program that directly converts Real Video files to .avi. It is called TINRA(This Is Not Real Anymore). It can be found on this site-- http://guiguy.wminds.com/downloads/tinragui/down.html. The only problem with that is that the output .avi file has the audio and the video portions out of sync. That can many times be fixed, though, using VirtualDub. Another way to convert Real video to .avi is to use Camtasia. Camtasia can be found at http://www.techsmith.com. The only thing I don't like about that program is that the only way you can record the audio portion of the Real video file is to use a microphone. That can be bypassed, though, by just simply running a jack wire between the speaker jack and the microphone jack. The sound still isn't the best but it is better than sticking the microphone up to the speaker. A better way to bypass the microphone altogether is to use the Sound Blaster Live video card if you have one or can fork over $150 for one. The Sound Blaster Live video card places an input into the Recording section of the Windows Volume Control called "What You Hear" that maps the audio internally in the sound card to the microphone. This allows direct recording of audio generated by applications simply by enabling audio recording in Snagit or Camtasia. Check your sound card. Some sound cards may also have a mixer control that allows you to map the audio to the microphone input.
Now with the Real Audio. The two ways I have found that make it possible to convert Real Audio to .mp3 or .wav are Streambox Ripper(versions 2.009 or older) or Jet-Audio Extension. Both of them work real well, in my opinion.
With all of those tools to avert the crappiness of Real Player, my Real Player is tucked away nice and snug into my Program Files folder, only to be used once in a blue moon to adjust some settings. Please email me any other ways that someone can successfully put Real Player in its place. Have fun! "
 
I have a Santa Cruz sound card, and was able to change one of its settings, and just like that, I was able to capture the audio using Camtasa. I had also tried HyperCam from http://www.hyperionics.com/, and was having the same problem; I could capture the video but not the audio. Once I got the sound working in Camtasia, I have not gone back and tried HyperCam to see if I could record the sound and video from the streaming Enron movie.

From Syllabus News on December 20, 2002

Kansas State Builds Course-Management Application

Kansas State University has launched K-State Online, a course management application that will provide its students Web-access to live and recorded lectures, multimedia presentations, homework assignments, tests, and virtual office hours. The system, which was built on the BEA WebLogic Enterprise Platform, is being used by three-quarters of the student body this semester. "We know it's seen as a valuable resource by instructors because so many of them are using it even without a mandate from the university,” said . Rob Caffey, KSU’s director of information systems for the Division of Continuing Education. KSU has 340 professors now using the application for about 1,000 courses, which includes more than 100 professors who are teaching distance courses.

For more information, visit: http://online.ksu.edu 


 CSU Internet Admission Applications Up 50 Percent

California State University said the number of admissions applications it received via the Internet increased 47.5 percent during the 2-month fall enrollment period of October 1 through November 30, 2002. "Students are sending a loud and clear message that they prefer the convenience and flexibility of learning about CSU and applying to its campuses online," said Allison Jones, the CSU's assistant vice chancellor for student academic support. CSU worked with the Xap Corp. to design and host the admissions application, which is called CSUMentor. On November 30, the busiest day of the enrollment period, CSUMentor received 25,359 applications; more than 2,000 applications were submitted during a single hour.

For more information, visit: http://www.csumentor.edu 


NEW AACSB DRAFT ACCOUNTING ACCREDITATION STANDARDS ---  http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/standards.asp


December 27, 2002 message from Dan Stone [dstone@UKY.EDU

"CAN ANYBODY THROUGH MORE LIGHT ON THIS ISSUE OF DOMAIN (or subdomain) OF AIS research & IS research?"

In brief -- IS research largely leaves uninvestigated a critical set of research issues related to accounting systems applications and their controls (see editorials on this topic in the "Journal of Information Systems" and "Advances in Accounting Information Systems"). In addition, AIS research has taken the lead in investigating the role of accounting information in market-based reactions to changing technologies and systems (e.g., see Baruch Lev's recent book). Finally, many MIS researchers claim that accounting information is irrelevant in the "new economy". AIS researchers have taken the lead in exploring the issues around such claims.

In my opinion the issue of what is and is not MIS vs. AIS research is uninteresting. To continue with more uninteresting questions .... how is financial accounting research different from economics and finance research? And..... How is tax research different from economics research? Frankly, I don't care about the answers to these questions. Piet Hein (a Danish poet, http://www.ctaz.com/~dmn1/hein.htm ) defines man as the animal who draws lines that he himself then stumbles over. (Disciplinary) lines should be necessary, useful and relevant. I don't' believe that these questions lead to necessary, useful, relevant lines.

In my opinion, the relevant questions are: "Is this useful inquiry about an important problem?" and "Is there a critical mass of high-quality researchers who are committed to investigating these important issues?" Now these are lines worth stumbling over!

Best,

Dan Stone 
Editor - Journal of Information Systems 
Gatton Endowed Chair -- University of Kentucky


December 20, 2002 message from the Risk Waters Group [RiskWaters@lb.bcentral.com

Derivatives notionals held by US commercial banks increased by $3.1 trillion in the third quarter of 2002, to $53.2 trillion, the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) said in its quarterly report. But the OCC also reported that earnings attributable to the trading of cash instruments and derivatives activities decreased by $1 billion in the three-month period, to $2.4 billion. Normally, a significant increase in notionals would translate into a stronger revenue picture, said Kathryn Dick, the OCC's deputy comptroller for risk evaluation. But financial market volatility in the third quarter dampened the revenue picture for some bank dealers.


New Hotels for Global Nomads --- http://ndm.si.edu/exhibitions/ 

Bob Jensen's hotel guides are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm#hotels 

Other travel helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob3.htm 


This is a very educational site.
Behind the Media Superficiality of Iran (History, Culture)
IranChamber.com --- http://www.iranchamber.com/ 


In South Korea, about 70 percent of households have high-speed connections that many homemakers use to shop and invest, while Internet café denizens drive the market for online games --- http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,56525,00.html 


Pro Forma Update

"AICPA COMMENTS ON SEC'S PROPOSED RULE ON CONDITIONS FOR NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES," Double Entries, December 20, 2002 --- http://accountingeducation.com/news/news3598.html 

The comment letter is available at http://www.aicpa.org/download/sarbanes/Pro-Forma-121302.pdf 


Free videos on Boston's new underground roads --- http://www.ecs.umass.edu/hpl/BigDigVideos.htm 


Update on Derivative Financial Instruments and FAS 133

Letters to the Editor
An Eye on Derivatives
The New York Times
March 10, 2002

To the Editor:

Re: "Contracts So Complex They Imperil the System", NY Times, February 24, 2002

To characterize derivatives as not being transparent is a mistake. Derivatives are transparent. They are carried on the balance sheet at their market value, and changes in value are explicitly recorded in financial statements. If derivatives are used in special purpose vehicles or by subsidiaries, however, they won t be apparent at the consolidated statement level. This lack of transparency is not a function of the derivative. Rather, it s a function of the consolidation process.

Ira Kawaller --- http://www.kawaller.com/pdf/Times.pdf 

Bob Jensen's threads on FAS 133 are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/caseans/000index.htm 


iSync From Apple Corporation Beats Microsoft to the Market
January 6, 2002 message from AppDevTrends@101communications-news.com 

Basically, the iSync platform adds mobile phones to Apple's digital hub strategy. It works with the Mac OS X Jaguar Address Book and iCal (Apple's calendar program) to synchronize contacts and calendars among Bluetooth-enabled mobile phones, PalmOS devices, Apple's iPod portable digital music player and other Macs using Apple's .Mac service. With iSync 1.0, users can sync their Jaguar Address Book with the new .Mac Address Book, making it possible to access contacts while using .Mac Web Mail from virtually any computer, the company said in a statement. iSync 1.0 also includes a feature that allows for regularly scheduled Mac-to-Mac synchronization.

For the rest of the story, please go to http://www.adtmag.com/article.asp?id=7132 

 


December 30, 2002 message from malcolm@docnet4u.com 

Hello Professor Jensen,
I notice that your website has a number of PDFs available for download and you offer your visitors the convenience of easy access to Adobe's Acrobat Reader to view the PDFs. Like many people, I don't like reading large documents on screens. I download them and print them, but that can be quite a hassle with slow networks and slow printers.

The company I work for lets you offer your visitors the convenience of a printed copy of your PDF documents without that hassle. It is very simple for you to do this. I am sure your visitors will appreciate it.

All you have to do is add the following HTML to any web page that has links to pdf files.

<a href='http://docnet4u.com/page'>
<img src='http://docnet4u.com/button'
alt='click here to get a printed copy of PDFs on this page'></a>

You can try it by clicking http://docnet4u.com/page/www.trinity.edu/rjensen/acct5341/speakers/133glosf.htm.

Please don't be alarmed that we are stealing your content. We only print your PDF when someone visits your site and asks us to print it. We are just making it more convenient for your visitors to do what they can do already.

If you would like to protect the PDFs on your site, we have a simple-to-use copyright protection mechanism you might be interested in.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.
Malcolm
DocNet Technical Support
malcolm@docnet4u.com


Personal Financial Planning Sites Recommended in the Journal of Accountancy, January 2003 --- http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/jan2003/news_web.htm 

Understand Where the Money Goes
www.investoreducation.org
The Alliance for Investor Education Web site gives investors as well as brokers and CPAs in personal financial planning information on bonds, futures, mutual funds and stocks, and online calculators and quizzes.

E-School’s in Session
www.investing.rutgers.edu
For beginners “with small dollar amounts to invest at any one time,” this free home-study course, Investing for Your Future, has lesson plans on how to find money to work with by reducing expenses, access online resources and avoid fraud. There are review questions for each section and a glossary of investment terms.

For the Educated Investor
www.investorprotection.org
Investment brokers and novice and seasoned investors can find answers for questions such as “How do I resolve disputes with a financial professional?” and “How do I spot and avoid scams?” at the Investor Protection Trust site. Users also can link to state securities agencies’ sites and others with investment resources. Visitors can preview an antifraud video, “Investment Scams: What Con Artists Don’t Want You to Know,” for free in RealPlayer format.

A Socially Conscious Site
www.bluemarbleinv.com
Blue Marble Investments (BMI) devotes a section of its site to information on making socially responsible investment choices. Visitors can read articles such as “Tax Free Investments” and find information on college savings plans. Users also can register for a free e-mail newsletter as well as access online financial calculators.

Protect Your Investment
www.sipc.org
Investors should do their homework when choosing a brokerage firm. The Securities Investor Protection Corp. site, created by Congress in 1970, offers advice on how to screen brokerage firms before investors commit to one. The Avoiding Investment Fraud section includes links to sites such as the National Fraud Information Center (www.fraud.org) and the Securities Industry Association (www.sia.com). Users also can take the online investor survival quiz to gauge their preparedness in times of fiscal crisis.

The REIT Stuff
www.investinreits.com
For CPAs who dole out investment advice and individual investors, this site offers information on real estate investment trusts (REITs) in its lengthy frequently asked questions section. Topics include “How does a company qualify to be a REIT?” “How are REITs different from limited partnerships?” and “What real estate fundamentals should one consider before investing?”

GENERAL INTEREST SITES

Whom Do You Trust?
www.web-miner.com/busethics.htm
A hot topic in business is professional ethics—for CPAs and anybody else entrusted with making financial decisions for their clients. Sharon Stoerger, MBA, has compiled this Web site for the study of business ethics that includes links to articles such as “Business Schools Add Ethics in Wake of Corporate Scandals” as well as links to case studies, online publications, professional organizations and associations.

Be There When the Kids Are
www.workathomeparents.com
Stacey Perez, a work-at-home mother of two, hopes her site will inspire other parents to opt for her choice. She provides a free e-mail newsletter and links to inspirational stories on the work-at-home experience, articles with home-business-marketing tips and information on homeschooling.

“Wherever You’re Going, Start Here”
www.btonline.com
The Business Traveler Web site wants you to arrive at your destination well informed, offering links to international airports from A through Z, as well as Trip Manager, its own system for booking flights, hotel rooms and car rentals. You also can subscribe to its weekly e-mail newsletter. The site’s city guide links to detailed articles about North American cities with information on getting around and hotel and restaurant reviews.

Take a Tip From an Expert
www.homeofficelife.com
Lisa Kanarek, author of books such as 101 Home Office Success Secrets and Everything’s Organized, imparts her wisdom on topics including customer service, marketing your home-based business, public relations and making the most of technology at this Web site. Kanarek also offers archived home office tips as well as a resource section with links to small-business-support sites.

A Very Specific Search Engine
www.business.com
This site forgoes the frills of usual search engine home pages—ads, comics, horoscopes and news headlines—and gets right to the point, offering users business topics to browse. These include accounting, advertising and marketing, computers and software, financial services, government and trade, human resources, small business and telecommunications.

 

Bob Jensen's threads on accounting practice, consultation, and financial planning are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/fees.htm 

Bob Jensen's Threads on Return on Business Valuation, Business Combinations, 
Investment (ROI), and Pro Forma Financial Reporting --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm 

e-Commerce and e-Business Helpers for Accountants --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ecommerce.htm

Bob Jensen's helpers for small businesses are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/bookbob1.htm#SmallBusiness 

Accounting Professional Site Links 
The CPA Team http://www.cpateam.com/  

An E-ssential Site --- http://www.el.com/
CPAs, financial analysts, small business owners, and tax professionals not only can find links to many Web sites in their fields here, but also can use Essential Link’s home page to access online calculators, clocks, e-mail services, encyclopedias and dictionaries. Users can find links to online news, newspaper and television network Web sites in the Headlines area, as well as links to Internet search engines.

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


Check Your Latest Phone Bill to See What You Are Really Paying for Long Distance

The January 13, 2003 issue of Newsweek on Page 69 points out that long distance rates for major carriers like AT&T, MCI, and Sprint went up almost 20% to as much as $.35 per minute for daytime calls.  There are options for $0.05-$0.07 per minute for an added monthly fixed fee of $5.95-$8.95.   However there are other options that a better and cheaper.

There are many other options.  You can compare long distance rates and deals at http://www.lowermybills.com/tld/index.jsp?sourceid=seogoo8klt1a0222 

Long Distance Rate and Wireless Rate Comparisons --- http://www.lowermybills.com/tld/index.jsp?sourceid=seogoo8kld1a0222 
(But watch for the lies mentioned below and constantly changing deals!)

IDT Rate Comparison Center --- http://www.idt.net/products/ld/compare.asp 

In the October 30, 2002 edition of New Bookmarks, I mentioned the following article.  "America's Worst Phone Service, And Some Unexpected Options," by Jane Spencer, The Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2002, pp. D1-D2 --- Click Here 
Thumbs Up: Best in Long Distance

Thumbs Down:  Because They Lie About the Long Distance Deals and Service

Double Thumbs Down:  Avoid at All Costs as a Long Distance Service

Thumbs Up:  Best in Wireless Phone Service

Thumbs Down:  Because They Lie About Wireless Deals and Coverage

Double Thumbs Down:  The Really Big Liars

January 11, 2003 reply from Carter, William [wkc2z@forbes2.comm.virginia.edu

Bob, there's a talk-radio program that keeps up with the latest, cheapest long-distance rates. last time i looked--3 or 4 months ago--there were companies offering 2.9 and 3.9 cents per minute. the URL is www.clarkhoward.com 

bill carter 
univ. of virginia

January 11, 2003 reply from David Albrecht [albrecht@PROFALBRECHT.COM

My wife and I have been using Sam's Club pre-paid cards for quite a while. We pay 3.47 cents per minute within the US or within our state, day or night, weekday or weekend.

David Albrecht

January 11. 2003 reply from Bill Herrmann [Bherrman@spoonrivercollege.edu

If you have Broadband (not wired DSL) at home you might look at www.vonage.com 

Bill Herrmann


Here comes a newer version of Windows.
Windows Server 2003 Debut Set San Francisco can expect a crowd on April 24. That's the date and place Microsoft has chosen to launch the next major upgrade to its operating system, Windows Server 2003. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eKM10BcUEY0V20BppF0Aq 


The Worm Turns -- And Attacks It could be a tough year for those trying to keep their computers safe: Four new Windows worms are on the loose. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eKM10BcUEY0V20BppJ0Au 


Redefined Supply Relationships Businesses of all sizes, from global companies to small specialty manufacturers, are trying to redefine their relationships with their suppliers to lower costs, raise quality, increase speed, and reduce risk. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=eKM10BcUEY0V20BppE0Ap 


The Nutrition Source: Knowledge for Healthy Eating (Diet)  http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/ 


The University of Wisconsin Center for Women's Health and Women's Health Research (Medicine, Science) ---  http://www.womenshealth.wisc.edu/ 


Poverty and Suffering in London

Charles Booth Online Archive ---  http://booth.lse.ac.uk/ 

The Charles Booth Online Archive is a searchable resource giving access to archive material from the Booth collections of the British Library of Political and Economic Science (the Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science) and the University of London Library.

The archives of the British Library of Political and Economic Science contain the original records from Booth's survey into life and labour in London, dating from 1886-1903. The archives of the University of London Library contain Booth family papers from 1799 to 1967.


Each of My Desktop Computers Was a Mess Until I Tracked Into Disk Clean Up and Defrag!
Thank you "Technology Q&A" in the Journal of Accountancy, January 2003, Page 97 --- http://www.aicpa.org/pubs/jofa/jan2003/tech_qa.htm 
I have two computers on my desk at Trinity University.  Neither the old computer using Windows NT nor the new computer using Windows XP has the same obvious reminders to run Disk Clean Up and Defrag like I used to get using Windows 95/98 machines.  Thanks to the Technology Q&A in the Journal of Accountancy, I will now run these again and again.

Question:
What happened to one of my favorite Windows utilities—ScanDisk? Before I upgraded to Windows 2000 I used ScanDisk all the time to check and repair any problems it found on my hard disk. But it seems Microsoft left it out of Win 2000.

Answer:
Yes, Microsoft replaced it with a new utility that’s just as good as ScanDisk. However—and this may be hard to believe—it has no name, and for reasons known only to Microsoft, it’s hidden. It’s not even listed in the Help index.

There are two ways to launch it: Either click on the My Computer icon on the desktop and right-click on C:\ (or whatever your hard drive is labeled) or go to Explorer and right-click on C:\. Then click on Properties, which brings up a Local Disk (C:) Properties screen and click on the Tools tab (see screenshot below).

You now have three options: You can click on Check Now, which will perform the tasks formerly performed by ScanDisk; you can click on Backup Now, which, as the name implies, backs up files; or you can click on Defragment Now, which will defrag the files on the disk and, as a result, speed up your computer.  (When I clicked on Check Now to run ScanDisc, a window popped up saying that I must reboot in order to automatically run ScanDisc.  I did this and it worked great!)

Microsoft also hid the functions that replace ScanDisk in XP, but you can access them the same way; however, Microsoft omitted the Backup Now option for some reason.

While I have your attention about checking the health of your hard disk, Windows 2000 and XP also contain Disk Cleanup, a function that tells you which files, such as accumulated temporary files, you can safely erase. While Microsoft doesn’t quite hide the function, it makes it difficult to find.

There are two ways to access it. Either right-click on C:\ and this time go to the General tab to see the Disk Cleanup button just below middle of the screen, or left-click on Start (the button that starts the shutdown process for Windows; pretty intuitive, eh?) and go to All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and, presto, Disk Cleanup.

Q. The clock in my computer is always losing time. Is there a way to fix it? A. First, check the internal battery. If it’s OK you can download a file from the Web that will adjust the computer’s clock every time you go online. I’ll tell you more about that later. If you have Windows 2000 or later, Windows can be set to automatically adjust the clock’s time for you. Every time you connect to the Internet, it will search out the exact time and reset your clock. To program Windows to do that, just right-click on the time in the systems tray and go to Date and Time Properties and click on the Internet Time tab, placing a check in Automatically synchronize with an Internet time server (see screenshot at right).

If you have an older version of Windows, you can still get your clock to run on time. There are a bunch of free applications that link to the Bureau of Standards atomic clock in Boulder, Colorado, and, with a click or two, will adjust your computer’s internal clock. To get connected, go to http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp/software/index.html .


Please Warn Your Journal Editors

Your journal editors may not know when their blind reviews are not blind! The editors of our top three accounting research journals were not aware of the following danger. Then again, most referees were probably not aware of the opportunities.

Bob Jensen

-----Original Message----- 
From: David R. Fordham [mailto:fordhadr@JMU.EDU]  
Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 9:32 AM 
To: AECM@LISTSERV.LOYOLA.EDU 
Subject: "In-sight"ful Blind Reviews...

A situation recently arose, one which I think might be of major concern to some "researchers and publishers" on this list.

It has to do with possible "compromised integrity" of the blind review process. And it likely is common and might become more common.

I will not mention any names or titles, since I don't believe the effect was intentional, and indeed, I don't even have any evidence that a compromise actually did occur, only that it COULD occur, with little knowledge by the parties involved.

As technology catches on, more and more journal editors (and publishers) are accepting manuscripts electronically. It is common to see submission guidelines that direct manuscripts to be submitted as a Word file.

The editors and publishers then in some (perhaps many?) cases, simply forward the electronic file on to the "supposedly-blind" reviewers, secure in the knowledge that the author's name does not appear in the text of the manuscript.

Ahhh, but there is a catch.

Saavy users of technology are aware that Word (and many other word-processing software) affixes to each file something called "properties". One of these properties is the "Author" of the file.

In most cases, the "author" of a word-processing file defaults to the "owner" or "licensee" name which is entered at the time the word processing software is installed. In my particular case, at the time I installed Word on my computer, I entered the licensee as "David R. Fordham", and this name now appears as the default "Author" in the properties section of all my Word files which I create on this machine.

The properties survive attachment to email messages, even forwarding, and replying.

Thus, I suspect that many editors and publishers are forwarding, for "blind" review, electronic manuscripts whose "properties" can actually identify the author.

Even in those cases where a tech-support department mass-installs software, it is likely that manuscripts can at least be identified with originating institutions and/or departments, if not the individual author.

That is, unless the author himself/herself is also saavy enough to change the properties of his/her manuscript before submitting it to the editor!

I have mentioned this now to three editors whose guidelines directed electronic submission. None of the three were aware of the properties situation, and all three admitted they had simply been forwarding the files to their reviewers.

In my particular case, being a professor of systems and information security, I had taken the precaution of changing the properties on the manuscripts I had submitted, so I have no evidence that any breach of integrity has actually occurred. But the surprise with which the editors reacted when I advised them of the problem leads me to believe that the opportunity exists for someone to overcome the "blindness" of the review process. Editors appear to be unaware that they are sending out the identity of the authors to the reviewers.

Readers of this list who are reviewers should resist the urge to go into the manuscripts which they now are reviewing to "test" my assertion! Please use your personal morals and integrity and don't compromise the process for those poor authors whose papers you are reviewing. But you might want to contact the editor for whom you work, and ask him/her about the situation, to ensure that (s)he is changing the properties on those files before (s)he forwards future manuscripts to you!

If you are an editor, please be aware of this situation, and begin changing the properties on the manuscript files before you forward them to reviewers.

And if you are an author, you might want to change the properties on your manuscripts yourself (like I do) before you submit them to the editor or publishers!

And even if you are not an editor, author, or reviewer, you should be aware of the properties situation. I have often used file properties (mainly of spreadsheets) to catch dishonesty in student assignments, or to exonerate the innocent. Using the properties in this manner is not foolproof, it is simply one more piece of evidence which must be used with judgment and care. But since so many people are unaware of its existence, those who are aware can sometimes gain the advantage.

One more example of where knowledge is power.

David R. Fordham 
PBGH Faculty Fellow 
James Madison University


Integrity in Scientific Research: Creating an Environment That Promotes Responsible Conduct --- http://www.nap.edu/books/0309084792/html/ 


January 2, 2003 message from James L. Morrison [morrison@unc.edu

Below is a description of the January/February 2003 issue of The Technology Source, a free, refereed, e-journal published as a public service by the Michigan Virtual University at http://ts.mivu.org

Please forward this announcement to colleagues who are interested in using information technology tools more effectively in their work. Also, please encourage your organizational librarians to add The Technology Source to their e-journal collections.

As always, we seek illuminating articles that will assist educators as they face the challenge of using information technology tools in teaching and in managing educational organizations. Please review our call for manuscripts at http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=call and send me a note if you would like to contribute such an article.

Many thanks, and best wishes for a Happy New Year!

Jim

James L. Morrison
Editor-in-Chief
The Technology Source
http://ts.mivu.org
Home Page: http://horizon.unc.edu

INSIDE THE TECHNOLOGY SOURCE

Technology Source editor James L. Morrison interviews Frank Newman, director of The Futures Project at Brown University, to find out why many observers point to this year as a watershed moment for the incorporation of educational technology tools. See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1003

In the issue's second interview, Parker Rossman, the author of three book-length volumes concerning the future of higher education (all available free of charge on his website), provides his vision of the future. See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1041

Good-quality online course management systems are not hard to find, but they can be hard to pay for. In response to the need for tools that are both cost-efficient and sophisticated, Athabasca University has developed the Bazaar Online Conference System. Susan Hesemeier, Mawuli Kuivi, and Mike Sosteric describe the capabilities of this open source learning management system. See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1037

In our second tools article, Derek Keats describes the Knowledge Environment for Web-based Learning (KEWL), a fully operational content delivery and learning management system now available, source code and all. See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1021

With the emergence of open source systems like Bazaar and KEWL, you may wonder how they will affect the future of proprietary course management systems. If so, you will want to read Jonathan Finklestein’s interview with Matthew Pittinsky, chairman and co-founder of Blackboard, where they discuss the mission and future prospects of established course management systems. See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1039

New technologies have offered great advances to educators hoping to reach previously isolated populations abroad. Yet what about those whose educational efforts have been thwarted not by geography or politics, but by physical disability? Janna Siegel Robertson and James Wallace Harris explore how Web developers can make the information conveyed through their graphics, tables, color, and forms available to those with visual or motor impairments. See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1008

Online learning is causing a buzz in K-12 education as well as in higher education. Stevan Kalmon writes that Colorado alone has twenty virtual high school programs that take advantage of economies of scale through adopting common technology, content, and standards in order to provide high school courses to half the state's school districts. See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1010

Corporate universities have utilized increasingly sophisticated, customized forms of online communication to market their courses. Verne Morland illustrates how NCR University uses automated translation software to personalize newsletters for its global audience, an innovation useful for any educational organization. See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1023

Increasing the frequency of tests is often cited as a means of promoting greater student success, yet this has traditionally involved a sacrifice of class time. Darrell Butler describes and evaluates the use of a proctored, computer-based testing (PCBT) facility as a way to overcome this dilemma at Ball State University. See http://ts.mivu.org/default.asp?show=article&id=1013




Say what?
Stop Alien Abductions --- http://www.stopabductions.com/ 


Some of these are real, but a few are probably tongue-in-cheek. I liked Shelby Metcalf’s advice!

Shelby Metcalf, basketball coach at Texas A&M, recounting what he told a player who received four F's and one D:
"Son, looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject."
~ ~ ~

Chicago Cubs outfielder Andre Dawson on being a role model:
"I wan' all dem kids to do what I do, to look up to me. I wan' all the kids to copulate me."
~ ~ ~
New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming season:
"I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first."
~ ~ ~
And, upon hearing Joe Jacobi of the 'Skins say:
"I'd run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl,"
Matt Millen of the Raiders said: "To win, I'd run over Joe's Mom, too."
~ ~ ~
Torrin Polk,
University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John Jenkins:
"He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings."
~ ~ ~
Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann, 1996:
"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
~ ~ ~
Senior basketball player at the University
of Pittsburgh:
"I'm going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes." (now that is beautiful)
~ ~ ~
Bill Peterson, a Florida
State football coach:
"You guys line up alphabetically by height." And, "You guys pair up in groups of three, then line up in a circle."
~ ~ ~
Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson hooking up again with promoter Don King:
"Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not
Princeton ."
~ ~ ~
Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a color photo of himself above his locker:
"That's so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still find my clothes."
~ ~ ~
Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regime of heavyweight Andrew Golota:
"He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock
in the morning regardless of what time it is."
~ ~ ~
Chuck Nevitt,
North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice:
"My sister's expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an aunt." (I wonder if his IQ ever hit room temperature in January)
~ ~ ~
Frank Layden, Utah Jazz president, on a former player:
"I told him, 'Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?' He said, 'Coach, I don't know and I don't care.'"
~ ~ ~
 Amarillo
High School and Oiler coach Bum Phillips when asked by Bob Costas why he takes his wife on all the road trips, Phillips responded:
"Because she is too damn ugly to kiss good-bye."


Texas A&M reports that last year 4,153,237 people got married. 
Shouldn't that be an even number?


Forwarded by Dick Haar

01.) Only a true Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption, and that you don't "HAVE" them, -- you "PITCH" them.

02.) Only a true Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc. make up "a mess."

03.) Only a true Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."

04.) Only a true Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is - as in: "Going to town, be back directly."

05.) All true Southerners, even babies, know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl on the middle of the table.

06.) All true Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.

07.) Only a true Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad. (If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin'!)

08.) Only true Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and "a right far piece." They also know that "just down the road" can be 1 mile or 20.

09.) Only a true Southerner both knows and understands the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.

10.) No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.

11.) A true Southerner knows that "fixin'" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.

12.) Only a true Southerner knows that the term "booger" can be a resident of the nose, a descriptive, as in "that ol' booger," or something that jumps out at you in the dark and scares you senseless.

13.) Only true Southerners make friends while standing in lines. We don't do "queues", we do "lines," and when we're "in line," we talk to everybody!

14.) Put 100 true Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.

15.) True Southerners never refer to one person as "y'all."

16.) True Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.

17.) Every true Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that redeye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.

18.) When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin' .. ," you know you are in the presence of a genuine Southerner!

19.) Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it - we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.

20.) And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway. You just say, "Bless her heart" and go your own way.


Now we know what keeps The Happy Lady happy --- http://www.pettitt.fsnet.co.uk/Joke%2048.htm 


Forwarded by Dr. B

The Images of Mother
04 YEARS OF AGE ~ My Mommy can do anything!
08 YEARS OF AGE ~ My Mom knows a lot! A whole lot!    
12 YEARS OF AGE ~ My Mother doesn't really know quite everything.
14 YEARS OF AGE ~ Naturally, Mother doesn't know that, either.
16 YEARS OF AGE ~ Mother? She's hopelessly old-fashioned.
18 YEARS OF AGE ~ That old woman? She's way out of date!
25 YEARS OF AGE ~ Well, she might know a little bit about it.
35 YEARS OF AGE ~ Before we decide, let's get Mom's opinion.
45 YEARS OF AGE ~ Wonder what Mom would have thought about it?
65 YEARS OF AGE ~ Wish I could talk it over with Mom.


Holiday Tips Forwarded by Dr. D

1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it's rare. In fact, it's even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can't find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-aholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention.


Forwarded by Dr. and Mrs C.

SOMETHING TO OFFEND NEARLY EVERYONE!

Q: Where does an Irish family go on vacation? 
A: A different bar.

Q: What do you call it when an Italian has one arm shorter than the other? 
A: A speech impediment.

Q: Why do Driver Education classes in redneck schools use the car only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays? 
A: Because on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the sex Ed. class uses it.

Q: What's the difference between a Southern zoo and a Northern zoo? 
A: The Southern zoo has a description of the animal on the front of the cage along with the recipe.

Q: How do you get a sweet little 80-year-old lady to say the "F" word? 
A: Get another sweet little 80-year-old lady to yell "BINGO."

Q: What's the difference between a Northern fairytale and a Southern fairytale? 
A: A Northern fairytale begins "Once upon a time." A Southern fairytale begins, "Y'all jes ain't gonna believe one."


Forwarded by Dr. D

YES, I'M A SENIOR CITIZEN!

I'm the life of the party...... even if it lasts until 8 p.m.
I'm very good at opening childproof caps... with a hammer.
I'm usually interested in going home before I get to where I am going.
I'm awake many hours before my body allows me to get up.
I'm smiling all the time because I can't hear a thing you're saying.
I'm very good at telling stories; over and over and over and over...
I'm aware that other people's grandchildren are not nearly as cute as mine.
I'm so cared for -- long term care, eye care, private care, dental care.
I'm not really grouchy,

I just don't like traffic, waiting, crowds, lawyers, loud music, unruly kids, Toyota commercials, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, barking dogs, politicians and a few other things I can't seem to remember right now.

I'm sure everything I can't find is in a safe secure place, somewhere.

I'm wrinkled, saggy, lumpy, and that's just my left leg.

I'm having trouble remembering simple words like.......

I'm beginning to realizing that aging is not for wimps.

I'm sure they are making adults much younger these days, and when did they let kids become policemen?

I'm wondering, if you're only as old as you feel, how could I be alive at 150?

And, how can my kids be older than I feel sometimes?

I'm a walking storeroom of facts..... I've just lost the key to the storeroom door.
Yes, I'm a SENIOR CITIZEN and I think I am having the time of my life!

Now if I could only remember who sent this to me, I wouldn't send it back to
him.


Forwarded by Dr. B

A man bought a donkey from a preacher. The preacher told the man that this donkey had been trained in a very unique way, (being the donkey of a preacher). The only way to make the donkey go, is to say, "Hallelujah!"

The only way to make the donkey stop, is to say, "Amen!"

The man was pleased with his purchase and immediately got on the animal to try out the preacher's instructions.

"Hallelujah!" shouted the man. The donkey began to trot. "Amen!" shouted the man. The donkey stopped immediately.

"This is great!" said the man. With a "Hallelujah", he rode off very proud of his new purchase.

The man traveled for a long time through some mountains. Soon he was heading towards a cliff. He could not remember the word to make the donkey stop.

"Stop," said the man. "Halt!" he cried. The donkey just kept going.

"Oh, no...

'Bible...Church!...Please Stop!!," shouted the man. The donkey just began to trot faster. He was getting closer and closer to the cliff edge.

Finally, in desperation, the man said a prayer..."Please, dear Lord.  Please make this donkey stop before I go off the end of this mountain, In Jesus name, AMEN."

The donkey came to an abrupt stop just one step from the edge of the cliff.

"HALLELUJAH!", shouted the man.

Note from Bob Jensen:  And this may be the problem of brinksmanship in Iraq.  Beware if yelling out halleluja.


Fifties Nostolgia --- http://members.accessus.net/~tmcdonld/lighthse/foot127.htm 


Forwarded by Dr. D

The Post Office just recalled their latest stamps. They had pictures of lawyers on them and people couldn't figure out which side to spit on.

How can a pregnant woman tell that she's carrying a future lawyer? She has an uncontrollable craving for baloney.

How does an attorney sleep? First he lies on one side and then he lies on the other.

How many lawyer jokes are there? Only three. The rest are all true stories.

How many lawyers does it take to change a light bulb? How many can you afford?

How many lawyers does it take to screw in a light bulb? Three. One to climb the ladder, one to shake it, and one to sue the ladder company.

If a lawyer and an IRS agent were both drowning, and you could save only one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper first?

What did the lawyer name his daughter? Sue.

What do you call a lawyer gone bad? Senator.

What do you call a lawyer with an IQ of 50? Your Honor.

What do you throw to a drowning lawyer? His partners.

What does a lawyer use for birth control? His personality.

What happens when you cross a pig with a lawyer? Nothing. There are some things a pig just won't do.

What's the difference between a lawyer and a vulture? The lawyer gets frequent flyer miles.

Why does California have the most lawyers in the country while New Jersey has the most toxic waste sites? New Jersey got first choice.

What do you get if you cross a crooked lawyer with a crooked politician? Chelsea Clinton


January 2, 2003 message from Robert Bowers [M.Robert.Bowers@WHARTON.UPENN.EDU

After reading this, I decided to have a beer.

Philosophy Of Life

 A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him.

 When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks about 2" in diameter.  He then asked the students if the jar was full.

 They agreed that it was.

 So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

 He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

 Then the professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.  Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

 "Now," said the professor, "I want you to recognize that this is your life. The rocks are the important things - your family, your spouse, your health, your children - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else--the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks."
  
 "The same goes for your life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.  Play with your children.  Take time to get medical checkups.   Take your partner out dancing.  There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal. Take care of the rocks first - the things that really matter.  Set your priorities. The rest
 is just sand."

 But then... A young male student stood up and asked the class if they were sure that the jar was truly full. All the students and the professor agreed that it was indeed full.

 When they had all agreed, he reached into his backpack and pulled out a can of beer. Popping it open, he poured the contents into the already "full" jar. Of course the beer filled the remaining spaces within the jar making the jar truly full.

 Which proves that no matter how full your life is, there is always room for a beer.
 --
 "Don't spend your precious time asking 'Why isn't the world a better place?'  It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is 'How can I make it better?'
  To that there is an answer."        

Leo Buscaglia 


Forwarded by Auntie Bev

Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery.

A pessimist's blood type is always b-negative.

Practice safe eating - always use condiments.

A Freudian slip is when you say one thing but mean your mother.

Shotgun wedding: A case of wife or death.

I used to work in a blanket factory, but it folded.

If electricity comes from electrons... does that mean that morality comes from morons?

A hangover is the wrath of grapes.

Corduroy pillows are making headlines.

Is a book on voyeurism a peeping tome?

Dancing cheek-to-cheek is really a form of floor play.

Banning the bra was a big flop.

Sea captains don't like crew cuts.

Does the name Pavlov ring a bell?

A successful diet is the triumph of mind over platter.
For an improved diet, go to The Nutrition Source: Knowledge for Healthy Eating http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.

Without geometry, life is pointless.

When you dream in color, it's a pigment of your imagination.

Reading whilst sunbathing makes you well-red.

When two egotists meet, it's an I for an I.


Forwarded by The Happy Lady

The doctor told me "Physical exercise is good for you." I know that I should do it, but my body is out of shape, so I have worked out this easy daily program I can do right at work:

Monday: 
Beat around the bush. Jump to conclusions. Climb the walls. Wade through paperwork.

Tuesday: 
Drag my heels. Push my luck. Make mountains out of mole hills. Hit the nail on the head.

Wednesday: 
Bend over backwards. Jump on the band wagon. Balance the books. Run around in circles.

Thursday: 
Toot my own horn. Climb the ladder of success. Pull out the stops. Add fuel to the fire.

Friday: 
Open a can of worms. Put my foot in my mouth. Start the ball rolling. Go over the edge.

Saturday: 
Pick up the pieces.

Whew! What a workout!


Forwarded by Dr. Wolff

Hopes for Your 2003

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, your cardiologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your psychiatrist, your gynecologist, your plumber, your air-conditioning repair guy, and the IRS, especially the IRS. 

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise. 

May you find a way to travel from anywhere to anywhere in season in less than an hour, and when you get there may you find a parking space. 

May you wake up on Jan. 1, finding that the world has not come to an end, the lights work, the water faucets flow, and the sky has not fallen. 

May you be awestruck by God's sense of humor as you wrestle with the idea that a professional wrestler became governor of a great state and an actor became President. 

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them. 

May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues. 

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, and may your checkbook and your budget balance and may they include generous amounts for charity. 

May you remember to say "I love you" at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parents, your friends; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your tennis instructor. 

May we live as God intended, in a world at peace and the awareness of His love in every sunset, every flower's unfolding petals, every baby's smile, every lover's kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart.


The Museum of Hoaxes http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/ 


Forwarded by Barbara and Bill Hessel

RETARDED GRANDPARENTS (Retirement in the eyes of a child)

After Christmas, a teacher asked her young pupils how they spent their holiday away from school. One child wrote the following:

We always used to spend the holidays with Grandma and Grandpa. They used to live in a big brick house but Grandpa got retarded and they moved to Arizona. Now they live in a tin box and have rocks painted green to look like grass. They ride around on their bicycles and wear name tags because they don't know who they are anymore. 

They go to a building called a wrecked center, but they must have got it fixed because it is all okay now. They play games and do exercises there, but they don't do them very well. There is a swimming pool too, but in it, they all jump up and down with hats on, while they talk to each other. I guess they don't know how to swim. At their gate, there is a doll house with a little old man sitting in it. He watches all day so nobody can escape. 

Sometimes they sneak out. They go cruising in their golf carts. Nobody there cooks, they just eat out. And, they eat the same thing every night---early birds. Some of the people can't get out past the man in the doll house. The ones who do get out, bring food back to the wrecked center and call it pot luck. My Grandma says that Grandpa worked all his life to earn his retardment and says I should work hard so I can be retarded someday too. When I earn my retardment, I want to be the man in the doll house. Then I will let people out so they can visit their grandchildren.




 

And that's the way it was on January 15, 2003 with a little help from my friends.

 

In March 2000, Forbes named AccountantsWorld.com as the Best Website on the Web --- http://accountantsworld.com/.
Some top accountancy links --- http://accountantsworld.com/category.asp?id=Accounting

 

For accounting news, I prefer AccountingWeb at http://www.accountingweb.com/ 

 

Another leading accounting site is AccountingEducation.com at http://www.accountingeducation.com/ 

 

Paul Pacter maintains the best international accounting standards and news Website at http://www.iasplus.com/

 

The Finance Professor --- http://www.financeprofessor.com/about/aboutFP.html 

 

How stuff works --- http://www.howstuffworks.com/ 

 

Bob Jensen's video helpers for MS Excel, MS Access, and other helper videos are at http://www.cs.trinity.edu/~rjensen/video/ 
Accompanying documentation can be found at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/default1.htm and http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/HelpersVideos.htm 

 

Click on www.syllabus.com/radio/index.asp for a complete list of interviews with established leaders, creative thinkers and education technology experts in higher education from around the country.

 

Professor Robert E. Jensen (Bob) http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen
Jesse H. Jones Distinguished Professor of Business Administration
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212-7200
Voice: 210-999-7347 Fax: 210-999-8134  Email:  rjensen@trinity.edu  

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