DDC XXXIV: The Original Home Of The DISDads!!!

[Jack Kerouac]

No used ones available?

You must be old, like me. Used books are no longer best practice. Rentals are the new scam. Many of them are still over $100, but they are cheaper than used and they save you the hassle of selling it back for some old lady’s loose change.

 

[pkondz]

You must be old, like me. Used books are no longer best practice. Rentals are the new scam. Many of them are still over $100, but they are cheaper than used and they save you the hassle of selling it back for some old lady’s loose change.

What's really ridiculous is education should be free. But colleges/universities are money making machines.
Ain't no such thing as a free lunch, I guess.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

I just spent $300 on a text book for my son's college math class. Such a scam.

Well, yes and no...
Yes it's a scam, but it's neither new nor recent.
The average price of the books I had to buy back in the day was around $80.
Adjusted for inflation, that's $296.79 as of this year (and that came out of my pocket, as no way my folks were able to put anything toward that bill).

I paid $300 for my first car.

.
I paid only $200 for my first one. That's about $750 today (which gives you an idea of just how "good" a condition that first one was in). Of course I then immediately ended up paying $350 for the transmission rebuild, another $150 for tires and a wheel, $275 once the exhaust system fell out of it, and another $150 to re-rebuild the exhaust after a State Trooper succeeded in blowing out the backs of the new mufflers (true story, that last one). So, we're lookin' at over $1,100 for the first one in less then a year (better then $4000 today) that had to be done out of my pocket on $2.35 an hour (which is $8.72 now).

Starting out is never easy.

Hey, all you northeastern dads, North Carolina to Nova Scotia. This is hurricane Lee, it’s heading towards Florida and it’s forecast to mis Florida and come up the coast. This storm is expected to be a Cat 5.

The forecasted track is the only thing good about it from the point of view of those of us down this-a-way.
But tracks change, so we'll keep an eye on it. Now up in New England and in the Maritimes, all y'all need to watch it a bit more closely (and hope that it slows down even more the predicted once it turns north.

You must be old, like me

Old...
Do believe we've already established that you're still a bit of a pup.

And do enjoy that while you can, cause it really does keep speeding up as the days pass.

 

[declansdad]

I just spent $300 on a text book for my son's college math class. Such a scam.

Biggest ripoff in education.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I paid $300 for my first car.

I would much rather have bought him a car than a book he'll use for 3 months and then never open again.

Hey, all you northeastern dads, North Carolina to Nova Scotia. This is hurricane Lee, it’s heading towards Florida and it’s forecast to mis Florida and come up the coast. This storm is expected to be a Cat 5.
Don’t know how much you guys watch for hurricanes but this one is getting, and forecasted to be a big one. Keep an eye on it!!

Seems like this one will stay out to sea. But like Rob said, you never know.

Okay... now ya gotta share. Should be some doozies.

Oh, man. How do I choose?

One of my favorites involved a public workshop down at our beach resort area. The major highway there is Route 1, but the county let land use run amok so there is a lot of development on either side of highway and all of the entrances to side streets, restaurants, shopping center, etc. causes traffic to jam up in the summer.

At one workshop, a concerned citizen suggested we re-build the highway and make it a depressed freeway. Just dig down, make Route 1 a freeway below ground level, and then we could build a nice "town square" above with a series of bridges connecting all of the shops, restaurants, etc. Sounds lovely!

You are in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Elevation: 1.

Ever been to Venice?

They figure that you'll pay $1 for an informative page of information. There's just 300 pages, so...

No used ones available?

No...there's a lot of competition for any used books, as you might expect. Somehow there are just never enough to go around.

You must be old, like me. Used books are no longer best practice. Rentals are the new scam. Many of them are still over $100, but they are cheaper than used and they save you the hassle of selling it back for some old lady’s loose change.

Many of the students find a way to fight back by sharing pdf documents of the required books that they...uh...researched and found on the internet. Some of the professors are cool and even share how to find those resources.

But a few are sticklers like this one. Makes you wonder if they get kickbacks.

What's really ridiculous is education should be free. But colleges/universities are money making machines.

I....yeah. Don't get me started on colleges and their costs.

Well, yes and no...
Yes it's a scam, but it's neither new nor recent.
The average price of the books I had to buy back in the day was around $80.
Adjusted for inflation, that's $296.79 as of this year (and that came out of my pocket, as no way my folks were able to put anything toward that bill).

Yeah, I went through the same thing. I might have paid $120 for the book, but after using it for 3 months I could always sell it back to the bookstore in "used" condition for like $11.72.

Biggest ripoff in education.

 

[Disney Commando]

Has anyone been watching the Dis stock it opened at $80 and change today down from $188 less than 2 yrs ago. No wonder why all the nickel and diming is going on

 

[Maroonag1]

Ain't no such thing as a free lunch, I guess.

Def not, I pay $50 a week for my daughters lunch at highschool, and she just gets a basic entre and tea. I have her blocked from getting snacks or premium drinks.

would much rather have bought him a car than a book he'll use for 3 months and then never open again.

If he ever opens it the first time.

 

[dvczerfs]

I would much rather have bought him a car than a book he'll use for 3 months and then never open again.


Seems like this one will stay out to sea. But like Rob said, you never know.


Oh, man. How do I choose?

One of my favorites involved a public workshop down at our beach resort area. The major highway there is Route 1, but the county let land use run amok so there is a lot of development on either side of highway and all of the entrances to side streets, restaurants, shopping center, etc. causes traffic to jam up in the summer.

At one workshop, a concerned citizen suggested we re-build the highway and make it a depressed freeway. Just dig down, make Route 1 a freeway below ground level, and then we could build a nice "town square" above with a series of bridges connecting all of the shops, restaurants, etc. Sounds lovely!

You are in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Elevation: 1.

Ever been to Venice?

No...there's a lot of competition for any used books, as you might expect. Somehow there are just never enough to go around.


Many of the students find a way to fight back by sharing pdf documents of the required books that they...uh...researched and found on the internet. Some of the professors are cool and even share how to find those resources.

But a few are sticklers like this one. Makes you wonder if they get kickbacks.


I....yeah. Don't get me started on colleges and their costs.


Yeah, I went through the same thing. I might have paid $120 for the book, but after using it for 3 months I could always sell it back to the bookstore in "used" condition for like $11.72.

I didn’t know they still used books. I figured they were just sent a link. Lol

 

[dvczerfs]

Def not, I pay $50 a week for my daughters lunch at highschool, and she just gets a basic entre and tea. I have her blocked from getting snacks or premium drinks.


If he ever opens it the first time.

$50 a week??? WOW! I haven’t been in school for over 40 years but I remember we use to buy a weekly lunch ticket, it was $2.50 a week. Lol.
Now you have to remember, we didnt have copy machines etc. like we do today but we had a young entrepreneur in our school that was able to duplicate the lunch tickets. He would sell them for $1.50 and you were able to stick the extra buck in your pocket. Lol. ( 6th grade )

 

[pkondz]

Oh, man. How do I choose?

One of my favorites involved a public workshop down at our beach resort area. The major highway there is Route 1, but the county let land use run amok so there is a lot of development on either side of highway and all of the entrances to side streets, restaurants, shopping center, etc. causes traffic to jam up in the summer.

At one workshop, a concerned citizen suggested we re-build the highway and make it a depressed freeway. Just dig down, make Route 1 a freeway below ground level, and then we could build a nice "town square" above with a series of bridges connecting all of the shops, restaurants, etc. Sounds lovely!

You are in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Elevation: 1.

Ever been to Venice?

Oy...
Funny how sometimes the most earnest suggestions are the least possible/practical.

But a few are sticklers like this one. Makes you wonder if they get kickbacks.

I love it when the profs insist you get a book... that they wrote themselves.

I....yeah. Don't get me started on colleges and their costs.

Shan't.
Good thing you don't have too many kids...

Has anyone been watching the Dis stock it opened at $80 and change today down from $188 less than 2 yrs ago. No wonder why all the nickel and diming is going on

Good time to buy, maybe?

Def not, I pay $50 a week for my daughters lunch at highschool, and she just gets a basic entre and tea. I have her blocked from getting snacks or premium drinks.

Now you have to remember, we didnt have copy machines etc. like we do today but we had a young entrepreneur in our school that was able to duplicate the lunch tickets. He would sell them for $1.50 and you were able to stick the extra buck in your pocket. Lol. ( 6th grade )

Now there's a young man who either is a CEO now or in jail.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

I love it when the profs insist you get a book... that they wrote themselves

My dad had a professor that would pull out the book he wrote during lectures and read it, since he claimed he couldn’t say it any better than he wrote it.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

So I had asked you all to keep my wife in your thoughts and prayers a couple of weeks ago. She still doesn't want me sharing things in public forums, but I can tell you we had a very positive meeting with the doctor this week and we're very optimistic that she will be ok. She's got a road ahead of her in terms of treatment but so far the news is as positive as it can be. Thanks for thinking of her.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

Good time to buy, maybe?

A better time to buy, yes. A good time to buy? That’s a toughie… it appears Iger has built a Frankenstein company that only he seems to be able to understand and control (kind of reminds me of the old Jack Welch GE that would eventually be broken apart). Just too many parts that any future CEO will come from one of the parts without much experience with the others (e.g. Bob Paycheck). It’s getting to the point that the sum of the parts may be worth more separately. But who is the buyer of the parts excluding the parks and the IP? Apple could nearly buy a control position of DIS with their cash reserves,but outside of the IP, what would they do with it?

 

[Maroonag1]

So I had asked you all to keep my wife in your thoughts and prayers a couple of weeks ago. She still doesn't want me sharing things in public forums, but I can tell you we had a very positive meeting with the doctor this week and we're very optimistic that she will be ok. She's got a road ahead of her in terms of treatment but so far the news is as positive as it can be. Thanks for thinking of her.

Continued prayers for a successful treatment.

 

[dvczerfs]

A better time to buy, yes. A good time to buy? That’s a toughie… it appears Iger has built a Frankenstein company that only he seems to be able to understand and control (kind of reminds me of the old Jack Welch GE that would eventually be broken apart). Just too many parts that any future CEO will come from one of the parts without much experience with the others (e.g. Bob Paycheck). It’s getting to the point that the sum of the parts may be worth more separately. But who is the buyer of the parts excluding the parks and the IP? Apple could nearly buy a control position of DIS with their cash reserves,but outside of the IP, what would they do with it?

Excellent ! I couldn’t imagine, being in charge of a huge multi media corporation, all completely different businesses. Having the expertise to be able to control and drive each one. The way people get their news and entertainment has drastically changed over the last ten years. Iger has lopped off the branches that, really, what are they worth. It’s like selling floppy discs in 2023. Even if you would get them cheap, what would you do with them?
I never worked for corporate America until two years ago, I never understood why they need so many layers, I understand it now. Just the portions I see and get involved in never fails to amaze me what it takes and how necessary all those layers are to keep things moving. Just one park alone, one aspect out of the entire huge wheel is a city. A living, breathing, expensive City to run and operate. I walk through the test track building with my bottom jaw on the ground. People have no idea what it takes, buildings, machinery, personnel,support,lagistics that goes into a few minutes of a weeeeeeee attraction. Which is just one very small part of a huge theme park which is a small part of many huge theme parks.
The chains of commands that branch down and out. It’s just more than I could wrap my head around.
That theory seems to be the most popular way of thinking at this point and from what has been done, looks like this is the only way to move forward.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

Excellent ! I couldn’t imagine, being in charge of a huge multi media corporation, all completely different businesses. Having the expertise to be able to control and drive each one. The way people get their news and entertainment has drastically changed over the last ten years. Iger has lopped off the branches that, really, what are they worth. It’s like selling floppy discs in 2023. Even if you would get them cheap, what would you do with them?
I never worked for corporate America until two years ago, I never understood why they need so many layers, I understand it now. Just the portions I see and get involved in never fails to amaze me what it takes and how necessary all those layers are to keep things moving. Just one park alone, one aspect out of the entire huge wheel is a city. A living, breathing, expensive City to run and operate. I walk through the test track building with my bottom jaw on the ground. People have no idea what it takes, buildings, machinery, personnel,support,lagistics that goes into a few minutes of a weeeeeeee attraction. Which is just one very small part of a huge theme park which is a small part of many huge theme parks.
The chains of commands that branch down and out. It’s just more than I could wrap my head around.
That theory seems to be the most popular way of thinking at this point and from what has been done, looks like this is the only way to move forward.

My perspective is probably the mainstream view. And based on interviews with Iger, I imagine he is thinking the same thing.

As a visitor to WDW, I’m in awe of the product. Every ride is amazing. Every CM is amazing. The entire product is mind-blowing. With the average employee (sorry @dvczerfs; I know you’re not average, but CMs appear to be above average to begin with, and without you providing more specifics on pixie dust, you are now an above average person/average CM) being in awe too, I guess this is the way forward. Break it up…

But really, you’re great @dvczerfs

 

[pkondz]

My dad had a professor that would pull out the book he wrote during lectures and read it, since he claimed he couldn’t say it any better than he wrote it.

Well, he would know...

So I had asked you all to keep my wife in your thoughts and prayers a couple of weeks ago. She still doesn't want me sharing things in public forums, but I can tell you we had a very positive meeting with the doctor this week and we're very optimistic that she will be ok. She's got a road ahead of her in terms of treatment but so far the news is as positive as it can be. Thanks for thinking of her.

A better time to buy, yes. A good time to buy? That’s a toughie… it appears Iger has built a Frankenstein company that only he seems to be able to understand and control (kind of reminds me of the old Jack Welch GE that would eventually be broken apart). Just too many parts that any future CEO will come from one of the parts without much experience with the others (e.g. Bob Paycheck). It’s getting to the point that the sum of the parts may be worth more separately. But who is the buyer of the parts excluding the parks and the IP? Apple could nearly buy a control position of DIS with their cash reserves,but outside of the IP, what would they do with it?

I decided to put an order in for 10 shares... as long as it doesn't go up more than $1.00 or so before the markets reopen.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

Hope it works out for you.

My wife has some shares in her Roth and our boys have a few shares each. The reasons I don’t buy more are I’m generally a value investor and specifically a dividend growth investor.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

So I had asked you all to keep my wife in your thoughts and prayers a couple of weeks ago. She still doesn't want me sharing things in public forums, but I can tell you we had a very positive meeting with the doctor this week and we're very optimistic that she will be ok. She's got a road ahead of her in terms of treatment but so far the news is as positive as it can be. Thanks for thinking of her.

Yeah, that's not good.
But "as positive as it can be" certainly helps.
May strength be with you, and may the folks in charge of that treatment component of this be the best you've ever encountered.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

May God be with you, your wife, and the doctors. Blessings all around. If there is anything you need, let me know. I’d be happy to send meals via gift cards.