US Open Tennis 1972: Evonne Goolagong, Stan Smith, Billie-Jean King +more

US Open Tennis 1972, a set on Flickr.Mr and Mrs PND are off to the US Open tomorrow. Here is the archive set from 1972 when PND Senior went to see some of the greatest players ever: Ashe, Laver, Evert, Smith. I've only been twice before (and the second time we were rained out). The first time in 1996 was fun...

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MediaWeek (V5, N35) Retail Bookstore Results: BN, Smiths, BAM, Dymocks (Aust) Strategy + More

Barnes And Noble reported their first quarter results which were mixed (Press Release)First quarter consolidated revenues increased 2.5% to $1.5 billion as compared to the prior year. First quarter consolidated earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was $4 million as compared to a loss of $24 million a year ago. The consolidated first quarter net loss declined 28%...

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Goolagong at Kooyong 1976

Evonne Goolagong Kooyong 1976Through family friends we had members tickets to Kooyong and at the 75, 76 and 77 championships I was able spend many full days there.  On this day, for some reason I don't recall, Moms PND and I got to sit court side and someone let me use their 35mm camera.  They came...

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Changes in Educational Publishing: The Textbook in the 21st Century

A repost from July 13, 2006.  A still relevant post regarding the evolution of the textbook.  As I have mentioned before, I believe educational publishing - particularly in College - to be an industry ripe with opportunity and therefore very interesting. Challenges obviously exist but educational publishers have an opportunity, facilitated by the internet, to build a virtuous circle connecting...

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NACS Study: A Comprehensive Analysis on Textbooks and Course Materials, 2012

An annual study from the National Association of College Stores on student attitudes and perceptions. Highlights outlined in their press release include (NACS):Students estimate spending $655 (down from $667) on required course materials within the past twelve months. An average of 57% is spent at the college store either in store or online.Prior to the start of the term, the majority of students...

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MediaWeek (V5, N34): Copyright, Digital Public Library, Colleges & Big Data + More

University of California at Berkeley professor Dr. Pamela Samuelson in The Chronicle from a few weeks ago on Copyright reform and the creation of a comprehensive digital library (Chron):The failure of the Google Book settlement, however, has not killed the dream of a comprehensive digital library accessible to the public. Indeed, it has inspired an alternative that would avoid the risks of monopoly...

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Ducks to Market, Hong Kong 1972

Central Market, Hong Kong June 1972These ducks/geese seem drugged to me in the manner in which they are submissively sitting on the sidewalk.  They are quietly sitting outside the Hong Kong central market (which I think is still there) and they'll probably be sold live to customers inside the market. ...

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Will a (B)Million Dollar Question and Lots of Money Spell the End for Collecting Agencies?

Some say that New Jersey is the most politicized state in the nation because the ratio of elected officials to state citizens is one of the highest in the land. Rest assured this post isn’t a bash about participatory democracy but, in thinking about this. I realized two things. Firstly, there are many elected officials whose job and function I am convinced the electorate knows nothing about (e.g.,...

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ALA: Info Report on eBooks for Libraries

A short information report on eBooks in libraries has been produced by the Digital Content & Libraries Working Group of the American Library Association (ALA).  Working in close collaboration with ALA’s president and executive director, the group has focused on influencing the largest (“Big 6”) trade publishers to sell ebooks to libraries on reasonable terms. Here is a sample from the report...

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MediaWeek (V5, N33 ) The Cost of Higher Education in the US - Chronicle, Economist, Bain + More

The problem with the cost of education in the US (Economist):A crisis in higher education has been brewing for years. Universities have been spending like students in a bar who think a Rockefeller will pick up the tab. In the past two years the University of Chicago has built a spiffy new library (where the books are cleverly retrieved by robots), a new arts centre and a ten-storey hospital building....

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Bullet Train and White Patent Leather Japan 1972

When we heard PND Senior had been on a bullet train we were very excited although as kids we really had no idea what a bullet train was and were really only reflecting the excitement of the parents.  Nevertheless, as you see from this image the engine seems to have genuine character like a bear with a big...

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Paying For It: Tax Payers Provide Profit Educators with 86% of Revenue

Last week the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee looking into 'for profit' education released a scathing report into the business practices of many of the brand name education companies operating in the US.  Much of the negative business reporting has been presented over the past several years but this report is a complete catalog of an environment wholly driven by...

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MediaWeek (V5, N32): Team GB, Big Data on Campus, Libraries and eBooks, Amazon Daily Delivery + More

First the important stuff:  TEAM GB!From Andy Murray's gold to the men's lightweight four landing a dramatic silver, here are Britain's medal winners of the Games.And this: Britain's medal winners are a portrait of the United Kingdom as a whole rather than of London and the south-east Economist Big data on Campus (NYTimes):This is college life, quantified. Data mining hinges on one reality...

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Best & Co, Fifth Avenue 1968

Fifth Avenue and 51st - August 1968Close watchers (and there are several) will know there have been several images from this roll taken while my parents were visiting in 1968.  My father took in some summer classes at Cornell - where he also met the guy that hired him for his next job - and then met my mother...

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Amazon The Monopoly

Re-post from March 28,2008 Trouble at Mill. Manufacturing of old had it that the mill owner owned the means of production and the mill workers toiled within an inch of their lives, lived in company barracks, spent scrip at the company store and if they had anything left they banked at the company bank. Amazon is a latter day mill owner. The company is attempting to tie their client/POD publishers...

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