Had to steal this from the ol' FutureCulture e-list:

It started out innocently enough.

I began to think at parties now and then to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker.

I began to think alone - "to relax," I told myself - but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"

Things weren't going so great at home either. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's.

I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called me in. He said, "Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job." This gave me a lot to think about.

I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..."

"I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently, and she began to cry.

I'd had enough. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche, with a PBS station on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors...they didn't open. The library was closed!

To this day, I believe that a higher power was looking out for me that night.

As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Caddyshack." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.

I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.

Now that makes you think, doesn't it?

The Motely Fool talks about Disney killing off it's line of Disney Stores. As you suspect, I have a comment or two.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why the Disney Co can't make The Disney Stores work. I don't think it has anything to do with over extending, at least on a nationwide basis. Certain local markets may have been over saturated. But that should be corrected market by market. Don't be afraid to close or 're-target' a store that is under performing...

Under-performing... that's one of the keys. I think the late 90's early 00's pressure to produce a 20 percent profit in every division has been the real killer for TDS. In consumer products, this has resulted in the shift to online catalogs and low end stores (target, walmart) being allowed to sell more of the high profit items (t-shirts, plush, school items) taking these profitable items away from TDS (and even worse, perhaps, defusing the 'magic' of TDS) and the product lines that don't produce 20% profit consistantly were just too much of a risk and were cut (mainly the more expensive to produce adult clothing, watches, collectibles, etc..).

Now, rather than going back to a product mix that worked, although at less than the optimal 20%, they're closing stores.

I try to give the Veeps at the Consumer Products division the benefit of the doubt. Surely they've run the numbers on the feasibility of changing the product mix back to what it was. Maybe opened a few trial stores. Offer a few new products that would excite consumers... but I don't think that they have. I don't think they're willing to take the effort it takes to be 'excellent' again.

You can trace many of the companies current woes back to the fact that they've fallen off the path of the 'search for excellence'. Instead they're on the path to make 20% profit in every division even if they have to cut to do so.

This isn't a black and white situation, some cuts are necessary to eliminate programs that didn't work, red tape, excess supply, etc.. But when your cuts affect the core brand (in this case 'the Disney magic' (or the reputation of having the 'magic')) then you're going the wrong direction even if you're meeting the profit directive. In the long run (like after the 3-5 year market correction we're in now) if no one trust the brand*, then all those cost saving cuts were for nothing as it will cost you ten times as much to build the brand back up.

So back to the Disney Stores. They've seriously mucked up the brand by all their penny pinching and product dilution (ie, the $4.99 t-shirts at Target and the $9.99 snow globes at hallmark). What was the brand -- "A Disney Themepark/Experience In Your Store". What is the brand they representing now? -- "A pre-teen princess store with the Disney Label". Which one interests you more.

My solution: Phase out as much of the target/wallmart/hallmark product licenses as possible. Revitalize the product mix at the store as soon as possible. Bring back many of the old items, some new 'tech' items (like hte Pal Mickey), and some synergy items. Also open up terminals in each store for online catalog shopping. Check each market for over saturation. (Can you get from one store to another in less than 25 minutes would be a good test.) Target one store in each market to highlight collectibles AND (this is important) housewares.

Finally, I'd like to see a few of Ken's 'Disneytowns' built. I think they'd work well in other touristy destinations. Places that already have high foot traffic (Las Vegas, San Antonio, The Seattle wharf). The important aspect of any new Disneystore or Disneytown would be synergy with existing product/brand and with upcoming product. These places should be meccas for Disneyfans to get an extended preview of the next Disney film, see a model of the latest themepark attraction, test market new food products, etc).

The Disney Store is still a 'killer concept' and to pass it off to a 'buyer' who is not invested in the overall success of all Disney products would be a failure anyway.

* let's not even talk about how they've lost the 8-10 year old boy market and have completely given up on the 11-14 year old boy market. Without Pixar they'd have lost them all. Reruns of 'The Apple Dumpling Gang' on Hallmark channel isn't going to bring them back either.

Cory Doctorow, author of "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom", has a few good suggestions for Disney. Any of which might inspire a turnaround.