Published by Mark Evans
To follow-up to my previous posting about osCommerce and the BSD Licence I will now try and answer some of the misconceptions around the new CLA (Contributor License Agreement) which was added as part of the osCommerce 3.x release. I will also aim to make this into an official FAQ document when time allows…
CLUE 1:
“went to short dogs house,
they was watching Yo MTV
RAPS”
Yo MTV RAPS first aired:
Aug 6th 1988
CLUE 2:
Ice Cubes single “today was a good day” released on:
Feb 23 1993
CLUE 3:
”The Lakers beat the Super
Sonics”
Dates between Yo MTV Raps air date AUGUST 6 1988 and the release of the single FEBRUARY 23 1993 where the Lakers beat the Super Sonics:
Nov 11 1988 114-103
Nov 30 1988 110-106
Apr 4 1989 115-97
Apr 23 1989 121-117
Jan 17 1990 100-90
Feb 28 1990 112-107
Mar 25 1990 116-94
Apr 17 1990 102-101
Jan 18 1991 105-96
Mar 24 1991 113-96
Apr 21 1991 103-100
Jan 20 1992 116-110
CLUE 4:
Dates of those Laker wins over SuperSonics where it was a clear day with no Smog:
Nov 30 1988
Apr 4 1989
Jan 18 1991
Jan 20 1992
CLUE 5:
“Got a beep from Kim, and
she can fuck all night”
beepers weren’t adopted by mobile phone companies until the 1990s. Dates left where mobile beepers were availible to public:
Jan 18 1991
Jan 20 1992
CLUE 6:
Ice Cube starred in the film “Boyz in the hood” that released late Summer of 1991, but was being filmed mid-late 1990 early 1991 and Ice Cube was busy on set filming the movie Jan 18 1991 too busy to be lounging around the streets with no plans. Ladies and Gentlemen..The ONLY day where:
Yo MTV Raps was on air
It was a clear and smogless day
Beepers were commercially sold
Lakers beat the SuperSonics
and Ice Cube had no events to attend was…
JANUARY 20 1992
National Good Day Day-Donovan
Shirin Neshat’s “Patriots” series in the exhibition “The Book of Kings.”
This week’s Modern Art Notes Podcast features Iranian-American artist Shirin Neshat, who joins me to discuss the art she’s made in response to Iran’s Green Revolution and to the Arab Spring. An exhibition of that new work, titled “The Book of Kings,” is on view at New York’s Barbara Gladstone Gallery through February 11.
To subscribe to The Modern Art Notes Podcast via iTunes, click here. To download this week’s program or to stream it, click here. To subscribe to The MAN Podcast’s RSS feed, click here. To see images of the art discussed during this week’s show,visit Modern Art Notes.
Image: “The Book of Kings.” January 13 – February 11. Installation View: Gladstone Gallery, New York Photo: David Regen. Copyright Shirin Neshat. Courtesy Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.
====
MG Siegler in his latest TechCrunch article posits that although Apple’s new iBooks strategy is admirable in its effort to fix problems in public high schools, that it’s not realistic and that their market strategy should revolve around colleges and college textbooks.
On the surface, which seems logical enough, his argument is sound. But It ignores the one, HUGE driving force in education: money.
Nearly all high schools are public, or receive public funding in one way or another and help to satisfy the law which states that students of high school age must attend school. Textbooks are merely a means of teaching these students topics which help these schools qualify for their funding.
That’s basically the business model for most high schools in the US. Teach what the state and federal governments mandate to receive funding. Universities do not work that way. Even so called “public universities”. These are institutions that operate on revenues, which come from donations, returns from investments, tuition, and from selling products. That last item is particularly important when applied to the university bookstores.
Bookstores are profit centers for universities. Big ones. As tablets (by tablets, I really mean iPads) have come out over the last few years startups have emerged to help university students get their hands on digital textbooks. And it’s exciting. We can look at the the progress they are making and feel like the education world is progressing. But it isn’t. Kno, one of the most prominent digital textbook sellers, still only offers a very small percentage of textbooks required for university classes. And many textbooks still require the purchase of a physical book to qualify for the digital version. This is because students are currently not the customers of textbook publishers. University bookstores are. And by removing the university bookstore middle man, you evaporate millions of dollars in revenue for each university. And they know this. And are fighting hard for the publishers to maintain the current model.
Here’s where Apple’s brilliant strategy comes in. They know the power of amazing devices in markets. They know the strength of the consumer’s collective voice. They watched as the nation coalesced behind their $.99 solution for music, which ended up cutting the size of the music industry in half. The new iBook textbooks are being marketed in a way that circumvents the university bookstore. Brilliant. Go right to the student in high school. Make them a true believer. Give them an amazing textbook experience starting in 9th grade. By the time these students hit university in 4 more years they aren’t going to know how to not use an iPad while studying. The iPad will be synonymous with learning, and that’s when education shifts. If textbook publishers continue to exclude students from their market strategy students will take matters in their own hands. Things will get crazy. And that’s when industries get disrupted. When the end user is fed up and frustrated and motivated to make a difference. And college students have always been the most adept protestors and rioters.
Apple, by going high school first, is applying the heat to university textbook publishers and bookstores. They are saying “Fine. If you won’t work with us, then we’ll empower a generation to change your industry for you.”
And they will.
To MG’s point, the high school strategy is still tricky. We are dealing with young teenagers here and PUBLIC schools, which means there isn’t a lot of cash to go around. But they’ll figure it out. The iPad is only on its second generation and my mom, a 9th grade history teacher, already has one, courtesy of her school. Students are next. Then on to the revolution.
=====
