Missing the point…

Disney made an announcement this afternoon about vacation packages, for trips beginning in January, 2024.

And the bloggers seemed to have focused on the wrong things.

Disney said that the dining plan would be returning. Everyone was looking forward to the return of a free plan. But Disney didn't say "free dining," just a tiered plan. Perhaps it will wind up being included in the vacation package, but I'm sure it will be relatively expensive. But people will, ahem, eat it up. Assuming it's included in some way.

One thing Disney is particularly adept at is selling something to the paying public and telling them how great it is. Even if it is actually not a cost effective thing - because it's all about how you position it.

The second part was something that actually made me chuckle. "Disney is doing away with the reservation system" …. The fine print part was "for date based tickets; other tickets will still have to make a reservation"

If you are buying a vacation package, and have dates to visit. And you select your park (which is a component of the booking). Then you are, in effect reserving a date. Even if you don't call it a reservation.

And for annual pass holders, you still need to help them plan so you still need a reservation. But I'd wager they'll change the name from reservation to something else so they can say that did away with reservations.

Strange feelings

My 30 day displacement period passed, and nothing came up. Some "possibilities" for future employment are out there. But nothing specific.

I returned my work computer, my badge, and any other items I had.

And unceremoniously 5pm came on Friday. And I was done.

I am now effectively unemployed. It's a little scary and oddly relieving.

The ship has sailed without me.

Be careful what you read…

I do keep up with Disney news. 

And it's always amusing how the writers are in it for clicks using totally misleading headlines. 

To wit, there was an article about how fans are complaining that the Indiana Jones stunt show has become woke. 

The author points to a Reddit post, which says that someone was disappointed that the stunt show stopped with the over-the-top violence. Guns aren't shown "killing" anyone and the mechanic doesn't get cut by the airplane propellor. The poster says it's a sad loss and not authentic to the movie (that came out over 40 years ago!). He does say it's a sign of the times. He doesn't decry it as a political thing. He doesn't mention woke. I didn't read the comments, but I'm sure someone did. Just not him. 

And yet the author of the article claims it's woke. Which gets him clicks (including mine, I suppose). 

Then there was another article that says Disney is cutting ties with Dewayne Johnson because of a kidnapping charge. 

Scroll. Read. Scroll. Read. 

The lawsuit in question is someone from many years ago who was involved in the WWE who claims she and her children were held against their will. The statements in the claim are wild and seem a little off. And she is suing for $3 billion, which is attention grabbing to be sure. 

Celebrities frequently get sued for all manner of things. This is no different. I mean there could be truth to it, but it fails some of the "sniff test" and that alone wouldn't be enough to make a movie studio steer clear. 

What else do they have? Well, it's that there was a comment that Disney made during Johnny Depps trial that maybe they could replace depp with  "the rock" in future pirates movies. 

But they negotiated with Depp after the trial and he looks likely to return as Jack sparrow - so that means that they're dropping Johnson! Right!

🤦🏼‍♂️

What am I missing here?

The attached article is titled “The 4th Largest Cable TV Company is Considering Outsourcing Its TV Service In New Markets”

That sounds kind of weird, right?

Apparently the cable company has been losing customers to cord cutting at a quick rate, so they are offering new customers YouTube tv instead of traditional cable. 

The whole point of going to YouTube tv (or any other streaming service) is that you “cut the cord” … yes you still need a cable in order to have wifi in your house, from which you can stream, but the point is that you buy wifi and that’s it, then you pay a subscription to YouTube. 

So why would anyone pay the cable company for the service? Surely they have to make money on it, so the cost would be higher than going directly to YouTube. 

I can’t imagine they could “bundle it” with anything that would be cost effective, or cheaper than doing it yourself. 

It kind of makes no sense. But they think it will make them more money. 

The only thing I can think of is that they’ll charge more for internet only, and less for wifi + YouTube + phone. 

Maybe internet only would cost $100 for a low bandwidth option, and the combo would cost $90 (and I know that number is much too low).  I guess that might be a way?

Seems strange to me…

https://cordcuttersnews.com/the-4th-largest-cable-tv-company-is-reportedly-considering-shutting-down-its-tv-service-outsourcing-it/

Picard….yeah I thought it sucked (spoiler)

The last episode of Picard was available so I watched it.

Oh look, the senior citizens of Star fleet take the old enterprise and manage to save the day one last time!

It had more fan service than ever, it was nostalgic. And yet it was too trite and simple. Totally predictable and unremarkable.

No plot twists. No surprises. No help from any other species. Just the borg queen took Jack and plans to annihilate all … humans? Star fleet? Every life form? That wasn't quite clear.

And your intrepid crew puts their lives at risk … but manage to come through as always and destroy the borg. Again!

Here's to hoping they are done with the next generation crew. I love 'em, but that's enough.

And may discovery, strange new worlds, or what comes next be more enjoyable.

Hypocrisy. As always

So the wife of the guy who wrote the anti drag show law essentially violates the law with some "charity event" that has some innuendo and suggestive attire.

But don't bother these people with facts! Drag show=bad because it's about other people. My wife's show=good because I am the entitled white person.

https://www.businessinsider.com/florida-republicans-wifes-charity-event-flout-anti-drag-law-2023-4

Local TV Stations Are Driving Up The Cost of streaming

A few years back, there was a service that allowed you to stream local tv stations via an app, called localcast (I think that was the name). It was "free" but to cover costs they asked for donations, and would interrupt the stream to ask you for that donation.

They got sued and had to cease operations because "free over the air tv" means it has to be free.

So be it.

And as I'm reading the article below, I'm thinking "hold on a second"… streaming service costs are rising because of the increasing carriage costs of providing local tv channels via this service?! Whaaaa?

What it amounts to is this: in order for a streamer to add a local channel, they pay a rights fee to the local channel. And they pass that on to the consumer.

…And that way everyone wins. Well. The local stations do.

So if I understand this correctly, the problem with localcast was simply that they were not passing along any money to the local stations. Full stop. Everything else was noise.

It's always. ALWAYS. About money.

https://cordcuttersnews.com/local-tv-stations-are-driving-up-the-cost-of-fubo-directv-youtube-tv-hulu-more/


Short. Sweet. To the point. That's the beauty Dave's iPhone.