Windows 7 price break for students

For UK students:  (those of you with a .ac.uk email address)

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/education/studentoffer/

For US students w/ a .edu email address

http://win741.com/

Subjects Guides Available for download

Get the full SG, not the first 4 chapters, I have uploaded the following available for full download:

60 Introduction to Information Systems
http://60infosys.blogspot.com/2009/10/subject-guide-for-60-information.html

75 HR Management
http://75hrmgmt.blogspot.com/2009/10/subject-guide.html

79 Social Psychology
http://sociopsych.blogspot.com/2009/10/subject-guide.html

107 Intro to Business and Management
http://107mgmt.blogspot.com/2009/10/subject-guide.html

Ex President's Suicide Note

Roh Moo hyun's suicide note

 (I am) indebted to too many people.

Many have suffered too much because of me.

The pain that will come is unfathomable.

The rest of (my) life would only burden others.

(I) cannot do anything due to bad health.

(I) cannot read nor write.

Do not grieve too much.

Aren't life and death a piece of nature?

Do not feel sorry.

Do not blame anyone.

It is fate.

Cremate (me).

And just leave a very small stone slab near home.

(I) have thought (about it) for a long time.

(Saved on his home computer file at 5:44 a.m. Saturday. File titled, "Many have suffered too much because of me.")

Top News from my country South Korea

Ex-President Roh dead: Yonhap

Former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun died Saturday after falling into a ravine while climbing a mountain, Yonhap News reported.

He suffered serious head wounds and was immediately taken into a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Yonhap said.

Police are investigating whether Roh committed suicide, the report said.

Last month, the former president was summoned by the prosecution and grilled over his family’s alleged involvement in the snowballing bribery scandal.

Top Business Schools in America

World University Ranking, taken from this page:

http://scholarization.blogspot.com/2009/05/top-business-schools-in-america.html

1. Tuck, Dartmouth
Established in 1900, the Tuck Business School, which belongs to the Dartmouth College based in New Hampshire, is the world’s oldest business school. It is also the first institution to offer an MBA program. Tuck is one of the six Ivy League business schools and for many years has been consistently ranked among the country’s best business schools.

Tuck offers only 1 degree program, that is the prestigious full time MBA program, together with a range of executive education programs. Tuck business graduates are hired by top employers including McKinsey & Co., Bain, Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.

2. Stanford University
Located about 40 miles away from San Francisco city, Stanford holds its reputation years after years as a highly respected private university. It is also commonly termed as The Farm by the local folks, students and teaching staff mainly due to its history of being first built in a horse farm.

Prominent landmarks such as Stanford Mausoleum, Angel of Grief, Hoover Tower, Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Memorial Church and so on make up the whole campus of the university, spanning across more than 8,000 acres of land size.

3. Harvard University
Founded in the 17th century, Harvard University is an independent tertiary institution based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. It is also one of the Ivy League members. During the 19th century, Harvard underwent a massive transformation from a traditional college into providing a modern and contemporary academic programs.

The university has a well-known library which to date has collected a massive number of 15 million volumes, making it the largest library in the academic world. At the moment, Harvard houses more than 18,000 students, who are enrolled in both undergraduate and graduate programs.

4. Darden, Virginia
The Darden Graduate School of Business Administration is the associate college of University of Virginia. Darden appears to be regularly ranked among the top business schools by many international magazines, news and global reports.

The institution is well known to provide a strong general management teaching experience. The 2-year MBA course offered by Darden is mainly implemented through case-based teaching methods, which is similar to the teaching methodology used in many prominent law schools.

5. Wharton, Pennsylvania
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania offers MBA (Masters in Business Administration), Bachelor of Science, PhD, Diploma and several other courses. Wharton ranks as one of the America’s best business schools for the past decade, and competes with the likes of Harvard and Stanford as its rivals.

Major subjects offered include Business and Policy, Accounting, Entrepreneurial Management, Finance, Health Care, Human Resource & Organizational Management, Risk Management, Business Ethics, Marketing, Multinational Management, Information System, Real Estate, Retailing, Statistics and many others.

6. Columbia
The Columbia Business School or its abbreviation CBS is owned by the Columbia University of New York, and is known as one of the most selective schools in the world. To date the school has produced 13 Nobel Prize winners in the field of economics such as Joseph Stiglitz, Edmund Phelps and Robert Mundell.

Columbia also belongs to the Ivy League clan. Its students come from more than 50 countries worldwide, speaking more than 40 diverse languages. Courses offered, among others, are Corporate Finance, Managerial Statistics, Leadership, Managerial Economics, Marketing Strategy, Operations Management and so on.

7. Chicago
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business is known with its short name Chicago CBS. Apart from its main campus in Illinois, United States, it also has representative campuses in London and Singapore. It has a unique MBA program which allows the students to spend their studies either in Chicago, London or Singapore campus.

Chicago CBS is known for its reputation offering world class business programs, particularly in the field of economics, finance, quantitative marketing and accounting. It offers full time, part time (weekend or evening classes), as well as executive MBA programs.

8. Yale
The Yale School of Management provides a best-in-class platform for education and research in myriad of business fields such as economics, leadership, operations management, entrepreneurship, marketing, organizational development and so on. Because of its reputable status, the admission process is naturally very competitive.

Many of Yale’s top graduates went on to become the country’s Presidents, Ministers and CEOs for top multinational corporations. Yale School of Management is based in Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, United States.

9. Kellogg, Northwestern
Another business school with base in Illinois, the Kellogg School of Management offers full time, part time and executive programs. Business Week, US News & World Report, as well as The Economist Intelligence Unit all have ranked Kellogg in the top position of US business school rank.

Apart from offering courses on its own, Kellogg also collaborates with a number of international institutions, such as from Hong Kong, China, India, Canada, Germany and Thailand in granting the MBA and PhD dissertation to its students.

10. Johnson, Cornell
The S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management is part of the Cornell University, with its main campus located in Ithaca. The school not only offers business program from business students and graduates, but also those with science background and technical degrees. Technical graduates can undergo an accelerated MBA program that lasts for 12 months.

Additionally, Johnson partners with international institutions and schools from Europe, Asia and Latin America to offer MBA exchange programs. Top employers have ranked Johson’s Career Management Center as one of the best in the United States, which was published in Business Week.

TESTS!!!

Good luck to everybody, hope everybody passed, and for those of us that may have to re-sit some exams, let's strategize on how to pass on the re-sit:

For example:

02 - Intro to Econ: Memorize most of the models, especially these:

   a) LRAC/SRAC

   b) Short Run/Long Run Cost Function

   c) All the IS/LM models

   d) Consumer demand

   e) PPF

   f) Labour Supply

   g) Consumer choice

   h) Elasticity Formula/Model

Plagiarism

From VLE

Test Prep

Video from VLE

We are with you!

From the LSE External Students Blog

http://externalstudy.wordpress.com/2009/05/01/we-are-with-you/

May and June are examination months for all External students. I am thinking about you at this time and hope that you will do well in the examinations.  I thought that it would be useful to remind you of some of the examination preparation suggestions made in Strategies for success.

1. Answer the question set: Remember that an examination is a test; it is a test of your command of the subject area. It is not an opportunity for you to let the Examiner know all you know about the subject. Therefore you should answer the questions specifically and directly.
2. Read the instructions: Make sure that you answer the correct number of questions and read carefully to ensure you answer all the subparts of questions which are divided in this way.
3. Put yourself in the Examiner’s place: Do not think that Examiners are there to fail you! They are there to grade your work and to report to the University of London on your ability to tackle the examination paper. They cannot see you and have no information about you. Therefore, you should use this opportunity to impress them not only with your knowledge but also by demonstrating your abilities to analyse the question and to answer it directly.  You should look at the unit information sheets to ensure that you have prepared enough to demonstrate the skills indicated in the learning outcomes.
4. Plan your time: Make sure that you plan enough time to answer all the questions that are required, and do not spend too much time on the questions that you are very happy about, leaving out those you feel are more difficult. Examiners are only able to award marks as they are listed on the examination paper -  they cannot add extra marks. Also remember that it is easier to get the first marks in any question, rather than the last few marks, so do make sure you at least attempt the required number.
5. Relax! It can sometimes be difficult to start writing in an examination hall. If you find yourself struggling, relax, rub your ears and move your feet, lower your shoulders and tell yourself that you have studied all year and therefore you should be able to pass. In short, relax and enjoy the experience.
6. Afterwards: After an examination you may feel disappointed because you think that you haven’t told the Examiners all you know and feel like you have not demonstrated your true ability. Remember that you are not supposed to be telling the Examiner everything that you know, but selecting the appropriate material to answer the question!

In preperation for your examinations please also take time to visit the ‘Supporting your studies’ area of the VLE and take advice from Educational Developer Neil Mclean, who gives revision tips and advice on the most effective ways to prepare for examinations here, and gives advice on what the marker is looking for when answering essay examination questions, whilst also discussing what plagiarism is and why it is problematic, here.  

I am fully behind you and send very best wishes from myself and the team here for a good performance this May and June.

 

Rosemary Gosling

Director, LSE External Study

VLE Updates

09/04/09

Unit 21 - 'A Grain of Sand' video available. See under chapters 3 &4.

07/04/09

Unit 04b - Chapter 3 & 4 sample exam solutions available.

06/04/09

Unit 04b - Chapter 2 sample exam solutions available.

27/03/09

Unit 141 - Test your understanding self quizzes uploaded for chapters 10 & 11.

25/03/09

Unit 65 - Introduction video available.

24/03/09

Unit 05a - Sample examination video tutorials avaialble.

23/03/09

Unit 05a  - Chapter 5 video tutorials available. 

16/03/09

Unit 141 - Test your understanding self quizzes uploaded for chapters 7-9.

09/03/09

Unit 02 - Video of study weekend lecture now available.

06/03/09

Unit 141 - Test your understanding self quizzes uploaded for chapters 2-6.

04/03/09

Introduction videos uploaded for units 60, 159 and 165.

Exam preperation video uploaded to 'supporting your studies' area.

03/03/09

Unit 141- Study weekend handouts available.

25/02/09

Plagiarism video and study weekend study skills notes uploaded to 'supporting your studies' area.

23/02/09

Introduction videos uploaded for units 04a & 04b, 62, 84 and 162.

20/02/09

Study weekend handouts uploaded for units 23, 84, 92, 140 and 143.

19/02/09

Units 127 & 05b - Video of study weekend sessions now available.

03/02/09

Unit 04a - End of chapter sample exam solutions available.

02/02/09

Unit 05a - Video tutorials available for chapters 2-4.

LSEpublicevents

Prince Turki bin Faisal Al-Saud of Saudi Arabia will speak at LSE next month, http://tiny.cc/YFp95

Gmail: Send Text Messages for Free!

Only works on US numbers, bummer

Flat World Knowledge: Open College Textbooks

They are now open, if you're interested here's the link:
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com

Our Story

A New Approach to College Textbooks. Finally.

We preserve the best of the old - books by leading experts, rigorously reviewed and developed to the highest standards. Then we flip it all on its head.

Our books are free online. We offer convenient, low-cost choices for students – softcovers for under $30, audio books and chapters, self-print options, and more. Our books are open for instructors to modify and make their own (for their own course - not for anybody else's). Our books are the hub of a social learning network where students learn from the book and each other.

Flat World Knowledge. Because great minds are evenly distributed. Great textbooks are not. Until Now.

Flat World Knowledge Is ...

expand all | collapse all

Free Textbooks. Online. Anytime. Anywhere.

Our books might feel like your current book – for a minute. They are written by leading experts and are peer-reviewed, edited, and highly developed. They are supported by test banks, .ppt notes, instructor manuals, print desk copies, and knowledgeable service representatives. There the similarity ends.

Instead of $100 plus, our books are FREE online. We don't even require registration! Students enter the URL they're given by their instructor and start reading. It's that easy. No tricks. No popup ads. No "a premium subscription is needed for that". In fact, our free online books go beyond what standard print editions provide with integrated audio, video, and interactive features, powerful search capabilities, and more..

Even better – include the book where the rest of your course is! If you are an instructor using an Course/Learning Management System (like Blackboard, Angel, etc.) you will be able to integrate our book (and our instructor supplements) directly into your LMS (beginning March 09). Yep. Still free.

It is what it is. Just great books, by great authors, at a great price – zero. But we are NOT an eBook publisher... Don't want to read online? Don't. Read "Convenient Choices" below to learn about the convenient and affordable choices we offer students.

Convenient Choices. Instructors adopt the book. Students choose the format.

Some will read online. Some won't. Some want print books. Some don't. We're not smart enough to figure it out. So we won't. Now there's a novel idea. Let instructors adopt the best book for their class. Let students adopt the best format and price for them.

Kayo doesn't read books online. She orders the black and white softcover for about $29 bucks. It shows up in a few days. Too bland for her friend Sam - he orders the color edition for $59. Not Sharon. She commutes everyday, so nothing but the audio book on her iPod will do. Then there's Chaz. He's indecisive. He decides, well, not to decide. He'll order the self-print .pdf chapters when he needs them for $1.99 per chapter. Cool. And don't forget Tessa. She never has enough time. She'll cut to the chase with our mp3 study guides, mobile flash cards, and online practice quizzes with feedback. That's convenient. That's choices. That's Flat World Knowledge.

Open Textbooks. It's your course. Now make it your book. Your call.

Use our books “off-the-shelf”. After all, they're crafted to meet market needs. But when was the last time you thought of yourself as “the market?” We thought so. So go nuts. Use our “build-a-book” platform. Drag-and-drop chapters into a new table of contents that suits your syllabus. Don't cover the last chapter? Trash it with a click. Beginning Summer 09, you will be able to edit Flat World open textbooks down to the sentence level. Replace our example with one of yours. Add a paragraph on your pet research topic. When you're done, click “adopt” and we'll give you a special URL for your students. If they buy a print version, it'll be of your unique book. Thank you print-on-demand technology! And thank you, Creative Commons. That's our open license that allows you to do everything above and more, without any special permissions.

There's another benefit of our open textbooks - no more being forced to switch to new editions. Ever. Whether you make changes or use our book as is, with Flat World Knowledge, you move to new editions when you have time and when you see merit. Not when we do. Now that's sweet.

Social Learning. It happens already. We just make it easier.

Our books are social learning tools. It is 11:30 p.m. A student in Florida is reading online. She doesn't understand something. She clicks “Q&A” to see if that question has been asked and answered already. Yes? Great. No? She posts her question. It is 11:47. An answer arrives from California. Thanks. Social learning at work. Students will be able to chat live with other readers, take and share digital notes, set up study groups, and even find partners for cross border projects. They are part of a global community of learners. Or not. Their call.

A Smarter Way to Do Business. So what’s the catch?

Natalie Del Conte read my email :D Woo Hoo

At the 3:40 mark she says, "Joon from South Korea" :D :D :D



Here's the original email, it was edited of course:

Dear Natalie,

I live in South Korea, and there's no way in hell I'll pay for streaming radio, there are so many free alternatives, for example, if I want to listen to Class Rock, I'll go to 95.5 KLOS FM (Los Angeles) or if I'm in the mood for sports, I'll go to ESPN Radio, or if I want top 40 I'll go to 92.3 NOW FM (New York), why can't businesses just follow the Johnson & Johnson business model? They buy companies that produce products they're not good at and leave them alone, if it ain't broke, don't fix it philosophy!!!

This is the reason that piracy is so rampant in Asia and other parts of the world!!! Lack of availability!!! I don't want to wait a year to so to watch this season's Heroes (OK, I hate heroes), Family Guy or the Simpsons or Crayon Shinchan (Japan), the more country ip blocking sites do, the more these companies are encouraging copyright piracy!!!

The GMAIL...OOPS Button

Hey guys, ever realize you sent an email and wanted to undo an email? Check out this video w/ Natalie Del Conte


Watch CBS Videos Online

Foreclosures spur home sales in metro Detroit

http://www.freep.com/article/20090310/BUSINESS06/903100341/1019/BUSINESS/Foreclosures+spur+home+sales+in+metro+Detroit

Foreclosures spur home sales in metro Detroit

Median sales prices plummet

Foreclosures continued to dominate area single-family home and condominium sales in February, pushing total sales up 16.5% and crushing median sales prices, according to new figures released Monday.

It's a familiar story in the metro Detroit housing market, where median sales prices plummeted 49.4% to $43,000 in February.

Realcomp, a multiple listing service in Farmington Hills, reported that 4,182 homes and condos sold during February in metro Detroit, up from 3,591 sold in February 2008.

Of the 4,182 sales, 56%, or 2,353, were foreclosures, according to Realcomp. Realcomp compiles sales figures reported by Realtor members in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Livingston counties and parts of St. Clair County.

Median sales prices were down 42.6% in Detroit to $5,737; down 23.3% in Livingston County to $172,000; down 44.6% in Macomb County to $115,000; down 46% in Oakland County to $144,000; down 32% in St. Clair area to $97,000, and down 43.9% in Wayne County to $28,500.

The downward trajectory of prices has Reginald Perryman, president of the Detroit Association of Realtors, hoping we're at the bottom of the curve with an uptick just around the corner.

"Actually, it is at the bottom," Perryman said. "What we are seeing is multiple offers on these properties. And the days on the market for those properties are a lot shorter."

Realcomp said the average days a metro Detroit property is on the market has declined by nearly three weeks to 103 days from 121 days.

And while investors have accounted for a lot of the activity in Detroit, Perryman said more owner-occupants are buying now. "They are paying cash so they can live in a house with no debt. The low prices make it possible," he said.

Pending sales for the metro area were up 24.8% in February to 6,670 from 5,343 in February 2008. And inventory has fallen 22.3% to 52,361 houses and condos on the market from 67,405 a year ago.

Contact GRETA GUEST at gguest@freepress.com.

Future of Capitalism

Please check out the articles HERE

I have also posted them HERE

In order to access some of these articles, you have to register (free), by clicking HERE

Future of Capitalism: 50 people who will frame the debate

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7f6f08da-0d7d-11de-8914-0000779fd2ac,dwp_uuid=ae1104cc-f82e-11dd-aae8-000077b07658.html

The credit crisis has placed the global financial system under almost unprecedented strain.

Tackling the many problems and charting a course through them to a new world order is a daunting challenge. It will require impressive political leadership and vision as well as concerted international cooperation.

Networks and institutions will matter as much as individuals.

In this graphic we explore the experiences and systems that connect the 50 people likely to be most influential in shaping the world debate.

The Group of Thirty for example, a nonprofit group founded in 1978 that comprises leading financiers, academics and officials and aims to “deepen understanding of international economic and financial issues”, is one interesting connection between these players.

Use the control panel to divide the leaders by age, nationality and network. Mouse over the photos for profiles.

You can read the rest of the series, including Lionel Barber’s overview of the fifty to watch, on our Future of Capitalism page.

Racism is Alive and Well in The US Midwest

Keeping whites and colors separate: The "U-Washee"

IF this is not one of the most racist things you've ever seen, come here and say it to my face so I can punch you in the mouth.

Here's the article along w/ pictures, click HERE or the article title above

Loaded: Can YouTube Stop The Muziic?

To download Muziic, click HERE

UoL External now on Twitter

University of London has created three Twitter accounts (I use Digsby to keep up to date on their news), the links to their accounts are the following:

First, sign up for Twitter by clicking HERE and to follow just click on the account you want to follow:

1. LondonU News has all the latest news and info...

2. LondonU their main account

3. Londonexternal not much here yet

4. Twitter Group: Students of the UoL External System