L. Marcus

I thought this would be an Internet hoax, but evidently it isn't: the creator of the immensely popular Dragonball series of manga and anime, Akira Toriyama, has passed away at the age of 68.
 
Even if the name is not familiar, gamers would have to have been living under very large rocks to be completely ignorant of Dragonball. Starting as a comical riff on the classic novel Journey to the West, it featured a strong but naive boy named Son Goku who is enlisted by a girl scientist to track down seven magical orbs which, when brought together, would summon the godlike dragon Shenron to grant the user one unconditional wish. Along the way, they encounter a string of eccentric characters and powerful adversaries like the totalitarian Red Ribbon Army, as well as a lecherous martial arts instructor who teaches Goku devastating techniques, which had him growing unimaginably powerful.
 
Fats forward thirty years. Goku has grown up, married, and sired a son, all the while remaining a big, lovable oaf. But then he learns the secret of his own past -- not only is he not really human, but he was actually sent to Earth as an infant to destroy the planet on behalf of the might Saiyan Empire. This is something Goku unconditionally rejects, choosing to protect instead of destroy and love instead of hate. This puts him in conflict with many ever-more-powerful adversaries, including the Saiyan general Vegeta who would become his great rival. A riff on a novel about the rise of Buddhism in Eastern Asia switched into a riff on the Superman mythos, spawning some of the most spectacular super-brawls ever drawn and animated.
 
Ironically, Toriyama was asked to write Dragonball because his previous series, the wacky comedy Dr. Slump, had gotten too weird in the eyes of his publisher. 
 
But his influence did not stop with manga and anime. He also had a role in the creation of such significant video games as the Dragon Quest franchise, Blue Dragon, and more. But it is Dragonball, and its enormous impact on global popular culture, that was his crowning achievement.

"Infinite accumulation of wealth" is not a problem unique to capitalism. As Acemoglu and Robinson note in How Nations Fail, there's evidence that from the moment human societies began generating surpluses, there've been ruling classes to expropriate that surplus and use it to entrench their position. Brutal extraction of wealth from the many for the benefit of a few has been the rule across ages and continents. The only exceptions are hunter/gatherer societies so small and/or poor as to have no significant division of labor.
 
A contrary process is possible: Enough of the population has enough wealth (and therefore power) to resist the rulers' desire to extract ever-larger shares of the society's total wealth and power, and indeed share out more wealth and power more broadly, is possible. It's happened in modern centuries. At every step, though, the ruling class resists -- and sometimes succeeds in reversing the outward division of wealth and power, and restores the vicious cycle of wealth concentration, leading to greater concentration of power, which is used to extract and concentrate wealth still further.
 
I'll argue that capitalism is in many ways a social and moral improvement on what came before, in that it requires a large population of customers. The ruling class of the super-rich need to grant the masses at least enough wealth to buy the products of their own labor, or the money machine stops spinning. It's possible that the super-rich decide they don't care, and they'd rather get bigger shares of a smaller pie, which is why the rest of us have to keep pushing for a more distributive, less extractive, ecponomy and political system.
 
It may be that some other system can be devised that generates even more wealth than capitalism and spreads it more equitably. We don't have it yet.
 
Dean Shomshak

What star sign is he ?
Capricorn.
Capricorn, eh ? What are they like ?
He is the son of God, our Messiah.
King of the Jews.
And that's Capricorn, is it ?
No, no, that's just him.
Oh, I was going to say, otherwise there'd be a lot of them.
 
 People of Jewusalum,
Wome... is your fwiend!
To pwove our fwiendship, we will welease one of our wong-doers! Who shall I welease?
 
Welease Woger !
Welease Woger !, Welease Woger !
Vewy well, I shall... Welease... Woger !
 
Uh, we haven't got a "Woger", sir.
Pontius Pilate: Oh, okay. We have no "Woger' !

Well what about "Wodewick" then ?
Welease Wodewick !, Welease Wodewick
Vewy well! I shall welease... Wodewick !
 
Sir, there's no "Wodewick".
Who is this "Wodewick" you speak of ?
He's a wobber !
And a wapist !
And a pick-pocket !
 
 I will not have my fwiends widiculed by the common soldiewy. - - Anybody else feel like a little... giggle... when I mention my fwiend... Biggus...
 ... Dickus?
What about you ? Do you find it... wisible... when I say the name... 'Biggus'...
... Dickus ?
He has a wife, you know. You know what she's called ? She's called... 'Incontinentia'... Incontinentia Buttocks

Okay! *rapidly dopplering wilhelm scream*

I'll have to figure out how to watch this. Sanada played the lead in one of my favourite movies: Tasogare Seibei (The Twilight Samurai), a jidai geki about the life and tribulations of a low-ranking samurai in the tail end of the Edo period.

First episode of Shogun, the FX remake of the '80s miniseries based on the book by James Clavell.  I never read the book, and I only dimly remember the Richard Chamberlain miniseries, but so far this iteration is really good.  From what I recall, the last miniseries was almost entirely from Blackthorne's POV.  This one shows a lot more of what's going on among the nobles, which is perfect for Game of Thrones fans who are literate enough for subtitles.  Also I remember that in the first miniseries, Toranaga was basically a bad guy, whereas in this version his story is much more nuanced.  It's a nice change for Hiroyuki Sanada, who in most U.S. productions has been cast as a bad guy.
 
I'm able to get to FX on demand through my Spectrum cable subscription, but it might also be available on Hulu or something.

Computer: is there a spare beryllium sphere on board? 

What. The. {BLEEP}?!
 
GOP bill would require teachers to register as sex offenders if they support trans students
 

Hm.  It seems you can start a business ostensibly for "Biohazard cleanup" but not simply for "Biohazard".  How limiting.
 
EDIT: Similarly, you can have "Cosmetologist" but not "Cosmologist".
and "Debris Cleanup" but not "Debris Creation".
Not simply "Demolition".
You can have "Dog Food", but that probably is manufacturing or selling that, not being it.
You can have "Emu Raising" but not "Emo Raising".
"Escort Service" and "Exotic Dancer" are explicitly permitted.
Woo!  "Explosives User (Blaster)" is allowed!
"Liquidation" probably does not mean turning your enemies into a slurry.
"Mad Bomber" and "Mad Scientist" are not on the allowed list.
"Magician" is allowed, but "Mercenary" is not.  "Motor Vehicle Wrecker" is allowed.  "Necromancer" is nowhere to be found.
"Neighborhood Watch" is there but not "Neighborhood Witch".
Nothing starting with "Nuclear" is on the allowed list.
"Peep Show" is allowed, as is "Pest Inspector".  I wonder what the overlap is among those.
"Physicist" is not on the allowed list, but "Astronomer" is.  Fascinating.
You cannot have "Arsonist", but I suppose "Pyrotechnics Operator" (which is allowed) is an appropriate stand-in for that.
"Shatterer of Worlds" is not allowed.
I wonder what "Social Worker, Uncertified" is supposed to be.
Huh.  Had no idea there was enough demand for them to list "Tank Renovating".
"Telegram Stripper" is on the allowed list.
No "Torturemaster".
No "Wizard", but maybe they throw those in with "Magician".
 
 
 
 

I'll just go "Aargh aargh aargh!" pre-emptively, shall I?

You find Yosemite Sam, extatic that he's finally got that gold.

All Things Considered tells me that in late February, Horsetail Falls in Yosemite Park sometimes catches the light of the setting sun to glow like golden fire: the Fire Fall. Here's the story:
 
https://www.npr.org/2024/02/29/1234996308/the-fickle-golden-magic-of-the-yosemite-fire-fall
 
Here's an image:
 

 
It happens only a few minutes, weather conditions permitting.
 
What happens if you step into the Fire Fall? Gain super-powers? Transport to another world? Release a powerful spirit? Something beyond getting wet, as it is obviously an intensely magical event.
 
Dean Shomshak

Late this day (Leap Day) in 1992, my wife proposed to me.
 
My response was to get up, go to my dresser drawer, and hand it to her: I had already bought the ring.
 
(In what women have always derided as a Dumb Guy Thing, I was waiting to ensure that I'd have funding -- i.e., a job -- for the next academic year.)

"Ahhh....  Nothing like a nice shower right after work to warm the bones; gets out all the aches and pains....   You know, I could _really_ use a drink of water...  Oh, no!  I just remembered!  I left my glass of water downstairs in the kitchen when I let the dog out!
 
"Wait a minute!  I have a shower wand!  I can turn the water all the way to cold and use the wand like a fountain!"  Said the guy whose next few actions would prove that this was undeniably his dumbest idea of his entire life......
 
 

Whoah! When did Doonesbury get all political?

Whoah! When did Doonesbury get all political?

I knew there were reasons I liked crocodiles.

"Rules for thee but never me"

To my mind, the cruelty is a by-product of the conservative or reactionary mind-set: the need for a clear social hierarchy. Kissing upwards and kicking downwards, if you will.

Aa-aaw! And I was gonna treat him like a piñata.