DagwoodIII

Reminds me of an old story.

The King asks his grandson what a king’s job is?

The lad says that a king’s job is to make good decisions. The King says no, a king’s job is to make terrible choices.

He goes on. Anyone can make a good decision, because those are usually pretty obvious. When the choice isn’t obvious, it gets ‘kicked upstairs.’ The cop hands the choice to a judge, who kicks it to the appellate court, and so on. Eventually the King has to choose between two equally bad options.

One of the funniest internet arguments I ever had was with a guy who swore that One Punch Man was more popular then Superman. Not stronger or a better hero, he thought the bald guy was more well-known and beloved than Clark Kent.

Is there context I’m missing?

And tobacco came before opium.

I wish I could remember the name of the novel I read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_aircraft_carriers_of_Japan

Japanese submarine aircraft carriers.

This sounds like something out of a Captain America comic, circa 1943.

You can’t.

You can provide them with information, but people will do whatever they want to.

Ask anyone in the healthcare profession. They’ll tell you stories of people who are using oxygen tanks and still smoking; or addicts who have overdosed a dozen times and kept on using; or alcoholics who have had liver transplants and kept on drinking.

“Against stupidity, the gods themselves, contend in vain.”

To paraphrase “A Canticle For Leibowitz”

Humans like to think they are a race of rational tool makers, actually we’re a race of impassioned after dinner speakers.

Arguing about religion and politics is what we do best

Realistically, the world could have had Star Trek style post scarcity as early as 1950.

Well, Gaul was taken over by the Romans and Britania was invaded by, well, everybody, so I guess that’s true.

You could argue that most pre-agricultural societies were ‘true communism.’

Silly me!

https://bookshop.org/beta-search?keywords=brzrkr&bkshp-astro=t

Bookshop.org is the ethical alternative to Amazon

[off topic?]

BRZRKR by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt. Immortal warrior fighting evil in the modern world.

At one point he’s talking to a scientist and says that it’s hard for him to remember everything that’s happened over thousands and thousands of years, but he remembers learning calculus a dozen times.

British agents would encourage secession talk with Southerners. They hoped that a split would make the US less powerful. Kind of backfired, because the war left the Union much stronger.

[off topic?]

Pretty good movie.

Quest For Fire.

https://youtu.be/2pcGGKtPpSE

Blame Reagan.

A big part of deregulating banks back in the 1980s was shifting away from expensive manufacturing to cheap financial services. Instead of investing in bringing US factories back, Reagan’s polices sent the actual work overseas and left management here.