State of the Discussion

That is very interesting anecdata. My perspective on the park is minimal. We did it twice when I was a kid but our version involved ferrying back and forth from my dad's high school buddy's house where you slept on the floor in a sleeping bag. Fun was of course had but it wasn't the immersive experience they designed the place to be.

That said, a couple years ago we decided to forego our normal OBX trip due to the pending arrival of our little guy. Just seemed crazy to do it with a newborn. As a consolation prize for my oldest we did a long weekend at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. Now obviously this was not at the level one would expect of Disney but it delivered that slightly hokey Americana thing, same kind of vibe you're describing with the sing along, and damned if kids didn't still eat it up. My son (5 and a half at the time) was in heaven. We have a picture of him from that trip sleeping with the most serene look of happiness on his face I have ever seen. This is consistent with similar experiences at various other little camp grounds and things like that we've done that were clearly ripping off Disney whenever they went live in the 70s-90s.

All of which is to say there is still juice in those old formulas. I was never invested enough to feel that sense of betrayal you get from other people about Disney but it's hard to look at them without asking 'wtf are you people doing?'

When you are a US researcher writing a proposal to study coral reef bleaching on a global scale, you collaborate with some Australian group because of the Great Barrier Reef.

When you are a US researcher doing climate change modeling and need to improve how you handle atmosphere/ocean interfaces in that part of the world, you collaborate with some Australian group.

When you are a US radio astronomer with a project that requires certain continuous observations, you collaborate with the Australians who build and operate world-class telescopes from a unique global position.

When you are a US researcher in toxicology looking at venom chemistry that leads in certain directions, you collaborate with some Australian experts on the poisonous species Down Under.

When you are a US battery chemistry researcher and the work leads you into certain reactions and the best group on that is in Adelaide, you collaborate with them (if you can get them interested).

The US federal government funds an incredible array of R&D topics. If you want to argue that the federal government should confine itself to the D, and only go outside the US when there's no other choice, say that.

The story, sadly, doesn't go into what was being funded.

I think I could be talked into "it's important to fund Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability", though.

This is a good way to put it; the Disney creative types kinda hate the Disney vibe.

Its funny, we were visiting my folks in FL and took an impromptu trip to Disney. We've been going to Fort Wilderness since 1973, and the new 'Cabins' are really nice for families. Anyhow, we went to the nightly Campfire where you roast marshmallows, sing songs, do the hokey pokey, and then watch a Disney movie. Pretty much the same thing since 1973.

The 'singer' is really a sort of stand-up act with corny G-rated jokes plus a few insiders for the Moms/Dads... actual Chip and Dale in costumes come up as props (my kids have no idea who Chip and Dale are). And everyone sings Country Roads and a bunch of other Americana. My 10yo boy laughed at the jokes, groaned at the puns, sang the songs and then did the big group hokey pokey (with Chip and Dale).

As I say, completely on-brand Disney lightly humorous Americana.

Then the Disney Movie started: Long Live Evil music video

Sure, the movie (Descendants 2) is a dreadful 'Saved by the Bell' quality tween drama, but dreadful cringe it is. Desperate to be cool and failing at every step. We left after act 1 (as did everyone else), but the drop off from 200 people dancing the hokey pokey with a 50yo guitar playing comedian? Couldn't be more clear when witnessed in person.

Anyhow, my 17yo daughter went to see Snow White last night with her friend because they like princesses and are a little ironic tuned; her friend is 'really' conservative (which, given us is, well, remarkable) so I'll get the 17yo conservative girl princess take when she gets back from work.

Worst CGI evah pic.twitter.com/X64KImLc9p

— Marchmaine (@Marchmaine) March 12, 2025

Don't worry about it. We all said a lot of things back there in that thread. The important thing is that we now have this review and can move on with our lives.

https://youtu.be/dzk0yH9Achw?si=cBJy_E3hzy1DHt98

Being governed by idiots is the style of the time but America's long tradition of anit-intellectualism isn't helping here. Our far right is a lot more suspicious of book learning than other far rights.

Given the whole "deficit" thing, I think it's easy to make the argument that "not using it at all" is a real option that isn't a bad one.

I am looking at this from the perspective of United States citizens. What good does this do to the people of the United States? Will the money be re-invested in American universities? Of course not. Nor will it be used for anything else.

There are ways to do these things with tact. I might be even prone to agree with you that maybe America shouldn't be funding universities in developed democracies. Just turning off the money spigot suddenly and without warning is not the way to do it though. Even from a pure realpolitik standpoint it is incredibly bad because it makes us look like a big villain.

I am fine with us not funding Australian universities, yes.

Honestly, learning that we were funding them to the point where ceasing to fund them caused a government emergency was confusing.

I mean, if you asked me "how much funding of Australian universities do you think we're doing?" I would have asked for clarification on whether "work study" counts as funding because I think that it'd be appropriate, barely, for an American student getting work study money.

Not this much money. Not enough money to have the PM call an emergency meeting.

Here's a headline that'll get your noggin joggin': Prime Minister urged to call 'emergency meeting' after Trump administration cuts funding to seven Australian universities

We're funding seven Australian universities to the point where ceasing to fund them is causing an emergency.

Why in the hell are we funding seven Australian universities to the point where ceasing to fund them causes an emergency?!?

Part of the problem is the Chinese are bad actors and can be trusted to lie if the truth would make them look bad. No, not just "lie", shout down, use intense political pressure for others to lie, and so on.

I'm fascinated on why Japanese parents have a higher freak out threshold compared to parents in basically every other developed democracy, including ones from the same Confucian world view, on the amount of sex and violence they can deal with in kid's entertainment compared to everybody else.

So apparently in his letter from an ICE jail, Mr. Khalil states that Biden and Trump were equally bad on Palestine. He might not be a terrorist but dear Lord is this representative of the stupidity in the pro-Palestinian movement. They have been following the same strategy since my grandparents were kids during the mandate period. Like literally massive uprising or spectacular terrorism violence and when that doesn't work, stubbornly insist on their full demands being met despite not winning any battles. Then insist that anybody who doesn't agree with them fully or insists on working from the basic reality that Israel exists, is not going to stop existing, and showed repeated determination to fight for it's existence, plus that 45% of all Jews live there, are just as bad as the worst of their enemies. It's the do the same thing and hope for a different result again and again.

There is real evidence. There just isn't real proof.

The fact that the conversations were not just disagreed with but SHUT DOWN is one of the things that needs to be discussed.

And we're getting closer to actually talking about it. I suppose that that's progress.