Professor Elam

Interesting Music Scores

Monday January  18 2016

Theme Good Bad Ugly

BBC Orchestra Performs G B U

Bond Theme

 

 

Prof Elam at the Social Mood Conference

Friday January 22, 2016

I am speaking at the Social Mood Conference in April in Atlanta.

I will be hosting a breakfast seminar on Getting the Wod Out on Socionomics.

And here is an article featured on the Socionomist Site.   

In the article I examine one day's Wall Street Journal and explain what is happening from a socionomic view point.

 

BBC Does James Bond Themes

Thursday Jan 21 2016

 

Just too cool

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4jdUhxOz0M

Billions on Showtime

Monday Jan 18, 2016

The new Showtime Series Billions   

features a battle of wills between a billionaire Hedge Fund Manager and the US Atty General for the Southern district of New York.

Click the link for the factual background and you can watch the premier episode. I did and wondered if all the sophisticated talk about trading would

put off the average viewer. But I believe our students can learn form this program particularly if they follow up and investigate what the characters are discussing. For example,

what is a block trade?

In the first show an attorney from the SEC wants the Atty General to prosecute and insider trading case. But the Atty General has had like 81 straight successful prosecutions. He gets to pick and choose the cases he pursues. So unless it is just a slam dunk can't miss, he will not prosecute. I saw this as a Bankruptcy Trustee. One might get the impression watching most tv and movies that

all these Federal employees are ready to jump into action at the slightest suggestion of trouble. It is just the opposite, it is CYA time all the time and unless they are assured of success nothing happens. Recall Coleen Rowley's comments about no one at the FBI connecting the dots of student at flight schools only wanting to learn to take off in a plane....

Sunday Nights on showtime at 9 PM CST

My Big Fat Greek Wedding II

Weekend Jan 17 2016

I loved the first one , this looks like fun as well, coming in March

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGHoDScUow8

TV Series Match the Mood

Weekend January 17, 2016

From a social mood perspective, a tv show or movie needs to match the mood of the public, that is why the public pays to see the show.

House of Lies 

begins its fifth season, Here is  description direct from the official site.

In the board rooms, barrooms and bedrooms of the power elite, corruption is business as usual and everyone's out for themselves first. Nothing is sacred in this scathing, irreverent satire of corporate America today. Outrageous, subversive and wildly funny,

The show began a year after the bull market resumed following the Financial Collapse of 2008-09. And so corruption and an anything goes attitude mirrored the corruption in stunts like Jon Corzine's MF Global which collapsed in 2011.  MF Global was the first ever brokerage collapse in which investors could not obtain their money. Corzine never was charged.

Now Houses of Lies will be filming in Cuba a first for  a tv series. Indeed that is appropriate as the House of Castro benefits from a reversal of US Policy.

The next financial meltdown has already begun. It will be interesting to see of the show can survive what is sure to another backlash against a second Wall Street meltdown.

As the Dow approached new highs last year, it must have seemed perfectly logical to build on the success of House of Lies with yes, Billions

Here is the official plot outline

Emmy and Golden Globe winners Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis star in a complex drama about power politics in the world of New York high finance.

Well who will need Showtime when such a drama will be playing out every day on CNBC and Fox Business?

I am not kidding, check out this worry list from Peak Prosperity

Oil in the $20’s (!!)
Copper under $2
Baltic Dry Shipping Index at the lowest ever at 383 and down ~50% in the past year.
Wal-Mart closing 269 stores, 154 in the US.
Business inventories to sales at new cycle highs
U.S. freight volume falls for first time in almost three years
US retail sales fall 0.1% in December
Empire State index weakens to recession lows.
South African rand hits new all-time lows in 2016
Brazil’s Real Falls Sharply Against Dollar
Brazil Unemployment Rate Rises to 9%
Canadian Dollar Hits 13 Year Low Against US Dollar
U.S. Energy Junk Bond Spreads At Record Width
Nigeria’s Currency Plummets On Open Market
Mexico’s Peso Hits New All-Time Low
Chinese Stocks Enter Bear Market (again)
European Stocks Enter Bear Market

Again it will be interesting to see if this series can endure while the real thing is playing out on Wall Street and in everyone's 401K.

 

 

Record Drone Display at Night, Really Cool

Wed Jan 13 2016

 Check out the record setting drone display by Intel

this is amazing, it would be interesting to see another you tube on all the prep necessary to make this happen. 

IIA Scholarship

Monday January 11, 2016

I am excited to announce the launch of Internal Auditor magazine’s scholarship program. Six US$1,000, essay-based scholarships are available throughout 2016 for undergraduate and graduate students around the world. The most informative and thought-provoking essay for each scholarship, as judged by The IIA's Publications Advisory Committee, will be published on InternalAuditor.org, along with reference and backlinks to the university the winning student currently attends.

I ask you share this opportunity with your students by posting these scholarships on your university website and scholarship board. Please reference the scholarship rules and eligibility requirements for specific eligibility information for the scholarship opportunities.

Please email me at [email protected] with any questions you may have regarding the program.

I look forward to reading your students’ responses and highlighting their achievements!

Regards,

Anne Millage
Editorial Director and Editor in Chief, Internal Auditor Magazine
The Institute of Internal Auditors

https://iaonline.theiia.org/scholarships?spMailingID=12574869&spUserID=NjI1NDk4ODQ1NjES1&spJobID=663310795&spReportId=NjYzMzEwNzk1S0

IIa Schgol

We Attend the 2015 Blue Santa Luncheon

Weekend Dec 13, 2015

The Blue Santa Luncheon is a joint project of the SA CPA Society and the SA Police Dept to distribute toys to kids that would otherwise go without for Christmas. The event is a huge success held at the Oak Hill CC each December. CPA firms buy tables for the event.  Students participate in the effort to gather toys. 

I was a guest of Susan Hough, Marketing Manager for Price Waterhouse. Pec is re opening an office in San Antonio after an absence. The location is 200 Concord Plaza Suite 920.  Just to remind that is also the location of the Whataburger offices right off 281 and Jones   Maltsberger. 

We spotted several friends of TAMUSA Accounting Dept like a member of our Advisory Committee, Josh Wagner. 

Josh is a senior auditor with Padgett Stratemann.  

 

Here is a shot of the entire Pwc group with Blue Santa himself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Susan Hough was the SA Manager of Resource Global Professionals. Her success in marketing financial services to large firms  in SA brought her to the attention of Pwc. 

Here is an up close and personal shot of Susan. Learn more about Susan in our Sept 2013 interview with her. 

I hope to update that interview with news of what she has planned to market Pwc. We should be posting that when school resumes in January, 2016. 

Internship Opportunity

Wed January 6, 2016

Greetings from the South Central Climate Science Center!

We are pleased to announce that we will be offering a summer undergraduate internship opportunity in 2016 for students of underrepresented minorities interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (for example, agricultural science, economics, environmental engineering). Interns will be involved in hands-on activities related to climate research that will allow them to see the direct impacts of climate variability and change on the West Texas Southern High Plains, prairie and forest ecosystems and tribal cultures in Oklahoma, and the bayous, delta and coastline of Louisiana. Internship participants will travel across the South Central United States to visit university campuses and field locations and interact with faculty conducting cutting edge research.

The internship will take place from Sunday, May 22, 2016 to Saturday, June 11, 2016. Interns will spend one week with Louisiana State University, one week with the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University, and one week with Texas Tech University. All meals, lodging and travel will be provided during the three week period. In addition, interns will receive a $200/week stipend for the duration of the program. The program will not cover local travel between the participant's home to their closest airport, personal equipment (clothing, cameras, etc.), or other personal expenses.

Samples of the 2014 and 2015 itineraries are available:
http://www.southcentralclimate.org/content/documents/2014CSCUndergrad.pdf
http://www.southcentralclimate.org/content/documents/2015CSCUndergrad.pdf
A video about the internship produced by participants in the 2014 experience is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShN9yawAWAs

Applicants must reside in and be traveling from Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, or Texas. The deadline to apply is 5:00 PM Central Time on Monday, February 29, 2016.
For full eligibility requirements and to access the application form, please see: https://goo.gl/S18sCA

The South Central Climate Science Center is committed to encouraging diversity in the sciences. Please encourage your scientifically minded students to apply for this unique opportunity to experience climate research hands-on.

Established in 2012 by the Department of Interior, the South Central Climate Science Center provides decision makers with the science, tools, and information they need to address the impacts of climate variability and change on their areas of responsibility. The Center supports big thinking, including multi-institutional and stakeholder-driven approaches to climate variability, change, impacts, mitigation, and adaptation research.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.