The Coffee Table Book of Coffee Tables

If reading on a smartphone, hold phone sideways - landscape view 

"The Fire" is the 84th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld and the 20th episode of the fifth season. It originally aired on May 5, 1994, on NBC. This was the final episode to be written by Larry Charles. In this episode, Elaine's coworker Toby annoys her with her enthusiasm and ruins one of Jerry's shows with well-meaning heckling, Kramer becomes a hero while saving Toby's severed pinky toe, and George exposes his own cowardice when he discovers a fire at a children's birthday party.

This is the first time Kramer is at Pendant Publishing discussing his idea of a coffee table book about coffee tables with Elaine and her hyper enthusiastic co-worker Toby, whom Elaine can not stand. It is Toby who takes it upon herself to get Kramer's book published. 

OK, so if you are not a Seinfeld fan, or never saw the episodes about Kramer's book, the above makes no sense. We'll come back to this.

I run the Distance Learning Association. Which over the last 20 or so years, became DIGITAL Learning. But in 2024 it is really just DIGITAL LIVING. All things "Cloud" have changed the way that we all live, learn, work and play - on a global basis. 

While growing up, I would hear from friends, relatives and people who had my best interests at heart "Tommy, you gotta get a good education" as education was connected to quality of life. Born in 1960 I grew up in Cedar Grove, New Jersey and had the benefit of an amazing public education. Leonard R. Parks Elementary School was less than a mile from the house, and I would walk to and from school twice a day (going home for lunch, then back to school). 

Then we moved to Boca Raton, Florida for 7th - 10th grade. And to private Essex Catholic High School in Newark, NJ to finish up High School, and to get me ready for PURDUE (study Biomedical Engineering) and RUTGERS (School of Business). It seems that it was always connected to and about... education.

YESTERDAY, from my home in Boonton Township, NJ I hosted a Zoom meeting with someone that I met on LinkedIn:

Hello Thomas,

Greetings! MENA Newswire is revolutionizing news distribution across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe with our cloud-native platform. We merge advanced AI and machine learning with top-tier SEO practices and Google webmaster guidelines to optimize content impact. Post-publication, we provide detailed analytics and data. Our network reaches over 4,000 premier websites across the EMEA region, redefining how news is distributed and consumed.

We distribute press releases in 29 languages, including major global languages like Arabic, English, French, and Chinese, along with key regional languages such as Hebrew, Turkish, Persian, Swahili, Hindi, Korean, Japanese, Urdu, and Pashto. Our platform also supports six principal European languages: French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and English. We're eager to collaborate with international companies looking to amplify their footprint in the EMEA region. If this opportunity resonates with your strategic goals, please let us know your interest or connect us with the right contact in your organization. Thank you for considering this exciting possibility.

Where are you going with this Tom?

MENA reaches hundreds of millions of people who are NOT living in North America. It became clear yesterday that even in 2024, if families can afford it, they will (still) send their children to the USA or Canada for education. 

Physically sending them - their most precious thing in the world - they will try to find a way to send their children to the USA for their education. Because they want the best for them - they want to give their children the best chances for the highest possible quality of life. And in 2024, the 'perception' is that you still need to PHYSICALLY go to school. To be on a campus. 

This is false.

You can 'physically' go to Harvard and live in the Northeastern Part of the USA for a few years. Princeton, Yale, all of the Ivy League schools all now have ONLINE courses. PURDUE and RUTGERS have AMAZING online courses. The perception is that a quality education requires a student to be physically present is just simply no longer the case. The microsite NYDLA.org/Harvard has been live for many years, and thousands of students have received a degree from Harvard without ever stepping foot in Massachusetts. 

Paper Books, the true original 'distance learning' technology have morphed into Audible.com - which has become my favorite way to consume books. When I listen to a book read by the author, it feels like I am in their lecture, and they are talking directly to ME. YouTube can also be amazing to learn things, many times for FREE. 

Kramer's Coffee Table Book about Coffee Tables is not really a book - and it is not really a coffee table. But it says that it is, so... And that is what makes it funny. The episode about doing "the opposite" now makes perfect sense to me. 

If you want to visit the USA or North America - fantastic. I think that New York City is truly the best city in the world. I live 30 miles West of NYC in the "New York Megalopolis" which is home to the 55M+ living from Maine to Virginia - it is amazing for so many reasons. But for education, you don't need to LIVE there. You should not have to make the sacrifice of sending your children to live in another country - for a quality education. (true for work as well.... you can WORK from anywhere in the world....but that is a blog for another Sunday...)

It's 2024. We are democratizing education on a global basis via disruptive technology. And, you can watch all 9 seasons of Seinfeld on Netflix, YouTube, Sling TV,  Apple TV, Google Play, Fandango at Home, and of course, Amazon Prime. No need to buy the 9 seasons of Seinfeld on CD or DVD, right? 

That is so 90s.... 

www.JoinNYDLA.org (free or paid)