Blog Notes-July 2009

The Law of Forced Efficiency: This law says that, 'There is never enough time to do everything, but there is always enough time to do the most important thing.'

Recent Changes

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Data

1. Namelists http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/names_files.html with extensive lists of last names and separate male/female first names.
2. Kevin's Wordlist page http://wordlist.sourceforge.net/

Log

1. Mindmapping Learning Mind Mapping Linkfest
2. Online resources for buying textbooks continue to expand. Rentals are even possible! Search engine for textbooks puts everything in one place. I suspect that they earn commissions from the sites linked.
3. I love creative methods of representing data and the map that I found of the percentage of residents as a particular religion is fascinating, particularly of the church that is part of my family heritage: Reformed. Douglas County, South Dakota (in the town of Armour) where I grew up is one of the very, very few counties in the United States where more than 50% of the population is Reformed. Historically, this also represents Dutch heritage which is also visible on the map in northwestern Iowa, Michigan, New York, and Washington. Lutheran, historically German, Norwegian, and other Scandanavian heritages, are heavily represented in WI, MN, ND, SD, IA, and NE. Other denomination maps are available at the American Ethnic Geography course at Valparasio University.
   • The course website has other mapping tools, including a map gallery of ethnic groups - so you can check out where the population is primarily Dutch, Norwegian, etc.
4. Using the Web from a public access point, i.e. wireless out in the open. First, there are several possibilities for how to accomplish this.
   • Connect via a secure network only. The only problem with this "solution" is that it only works on the web with https sites. Not a good solution for email access through Outlook which isn't secure.
   • Use a virtual private network (VPN). Possible geeky choices are:
     • LogMeIn Hamachi
     • OpenVPN
     • Somewhat less geeky is the ad supported VPN HotSpot Shield, or
     • iPig iOpus Private Internet Gateway (iPIG) Using powerful 256-bit AES encryption technology, the iOpus Private Internet Gateway (iPIG) creates a secure "tunnel" that protects your inbound and outbound communications (Email, Web, IM, VOIP, calls, FTP, etc.) at any Wi-Fi hotspot or wired network. Good description of any VPN! Limited to 10MB of free traffic, but a server version is available for use.
   • From the paid version of Windows Secrets, an article Connect Safely Over Open WiFi from 12-11-2008.

AICPA Core Competency Framework for Entry into the Accounting Profession (The Framework)

The Core Competency Framework is available as a resource for educators to use in development of accounting curricula. An objective of the framework is to prepare students for careers as CPA's.

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