rowyn

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Seriously, why are they doing this to themselves?

Lut and I use both the DVD and streaming services for Netflix. The de-bundling and accompanying price hike annoyed me, but it's still cheaper than cable or buying/renting DVDs (which is generally more expensive for a much worse selection everywhere else.

So I'd resigned myself to continuing to pay for both.

... and now they want to make the service harder to use.

Right now, let's say I want to watch "Castle". I go to Netflix's site, log in, search for Castle, and see that seasons 1&2 aren't available on Instant Watch, so I add them to my DVD queue. Then I search for "Sons of Anarchy", see that it's available for both, and add it to my instant queue and watch an episode.

Under the new 'let's make them into totally different services' plan, I go to Netflix, login, search for Castle, see it's not there, go to Qwikster, login, search for Castle, add it to the queue, go back to Netflix, search for the next thing, etc.

Browsing will also be more annoying -- DVD selection has always been larger than Instant Watch, so I'm supposed to go to Qwikster to browse, then back to Netflix to search for whatever I found on Qwikster and see if it's on Netflix? Except that IIRC, Netflix is planning for Instant Watch to have its own exclusive content, so it'll be more like 'browse both sites but 95% of content on Netflix will be identical to Qwikster.'

Granted, it's not walking uphill both ways in the snow, but as far as I can tell Netflix is spending a fortune rebranding Qwikster and separating the websites, for the privilege of making the customer experience identical or worse in every respect.

Why would they do this? I read the whole letter and I do not understand. The only way this would make sense is if they'd decided they couldn't make money on the DVD business at any price point, but that they're too scared of the backlash to shut it down outright. Are they hoping that the Qwikster service will die and they can use its death as leverage to get more content for Netflix/Instant Watch? I just can't figure out why anyone would go to so much trouble and expense to deliver an inferior version of their existing service. x.x

Edit: I was reading the WSJ's comments section, and several people speculated that Netflix plans to sell their DVD unit to some other company. So spinning off Qwikster would be prepatory to that. Which does make some sense from a business perspective, and I guess having it as a separate company would make it easier to market? It still seems like they're driving customers away at a time when they'd want to make the business look attractive to a corporate buyer, though. Maybe Blockbuster or whomever won't touch it while it's still integrated, feeling that they need to see the hit a segregated site takes first.

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Still fundraising and not available yet, but Zombies, Run! has got to be the best idea for an exercise game that I've heard. Hee! (Link from haikujaguar)

I headed off from work with my nose buried in my Android, reading email as I started walking home. After I finished the email, I opened up a file to poke at writing delight_in_wt's next entry. I wrapped up her last arc and haven't really figured out what I'm doing with her next.

I'd better think of something, I thought. Enjoying the fresh air and scenery on my walk home works fine, but when I'm exercising in the basement I'll need something to take my mind off the tedium.

Right. And I really can't skip the exercise bike tonight because I drove to work, so no exercise to-and-from work from walking for today.

...

Wait. If I drove to work, why am I walking home?

...

I walked back to work, got in the car, and drove home.

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Me: AHHHH I need to stop playing Civ5 for a while. I'll go for a walk and get some exercise. Oh wait, all my clean jeans are still in the dryer in the basement, because I didn't bring them upstairs when they finished drying. Last weekend. Maybe I'll just wear a skirt ...
Also me: Wait. You are going to wear a skirt, even though it's less comfortable than jeans for walking, on a two-mile walk. That you are doing to get exercise. Because you are too lazy to go to the basement?
Me: ... when you put it like that, it sounds silly.
Also Me: There's a reason for that.
Me: *gets the laundry out of the basement*

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45 words

free online typing test

I was kind of curious about this. I know 45 wpm is unremarkable, but I have to note that I was taking the test on my PHONE. O:)

I'll have to take it at a computer some time to see how my speed compares at a full keyboard.

(I feel obliged to point out that this test doesn't take into account the most annoying things about typing on this model of keypad: typing numbers, or -- much worse! -- html tags. Also, a lot of the words were only 4 characters, so the character speed rate is probably a better measure -- mine was 243, which is more like 40 wpm by the general standard.)

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[Poll #1763592][Poll #1763593]
If you answered 'no' to either question, I would be very happy to hear your reasons.

I know that these scenarios are ridiculous; I am not 100% convinced about pretty much anything in my life. But I am curious if anyone finds the non-economic reasons for these things (and ones certainly exist!) to be compelling even in the absence of economic benefit. I tend to look at reasons like "high taxes on the rich are akin to stealing and therefore wrong" or "the rich benefit most from social order and therefore should pay more" as less 'sufficient justification by themselves' than as an explanation of why one system or the other would be better from a total economic perspective. I am curious whether or not others feel the same way.

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This weekend, I:

* Wrote @2 Delight entries
* Watched the original film version of The Three Musketeers with Lut
* Cleaned the kitchen. (This sounds like so little. But my kitchen is actually clean. Basically. It took me about four hours.)
* Picked up yard trash so Lut could mow the yard on the riding mower
* weedwhacked the numerous chunks of yard the riding mower can't reach
* played two games of Sanctum with Lut
* washed three loads of laundry
* made my mother's spaghetti sauce
* baked a chocolate cake from a recipe mrw42 emailed me (I think buttermilk may be the secret ingrediant in tasty frosting, but I need more experimenting to be sure)

... so I didn't get a lot done on the usual things I track (ie, writing and drawing). But I feel very productive anyway.

I still want to get the living room to look presentable. Somehow.

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I woke at around 3:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I went to the bathroom, had a drink, and lay back down to daydream about the various things that I normally usee to get to sleep. But it didn't work. I out of bed again at 5AM, went to the bathroom again, and lay down again.

About 20 minutes later, I started awake from a nightmare in which ... I'd been unable to sleep.

At least I'd finally drifted off.

I woke up several more times from odd dreams, and finally woke to daylight. I checked the time: fifteen minutes before I normally leave for work. x.x

So I medicined Ash, fed the cats, packed lunch, skipped breakfast, dressed, and left for work almost on time.

I suspect it's gonna be a long day.

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