The Stories and Novels By Derek Ward
I’ll have the regular anime recommendations out later this month, but I kinda wanted to put this out there. Because fifty years ago, this debuted:
I would come to know it as:
My recommendation is Space Battleship Yamato 2199 (sometimes listed as Starblazers 2199). This is a damn good reimagining of the original series.
And now we’re getting another installment.
This week’s going to be heavy with Volokh Conspiracy / Reason links due to the handing down of some major Supreme Court decisions. I might make a roundup of the court post later this week or next after I’ve had some time to digest as well as to listen to more knowledgeable folks. But, let’s go ahead and get started.
First, more on Rahimi’s impact on Bruen.
An article looking at Florida’s response to citrus canker and the people who suffered.
Baltimore is using a cell phone hacking service again.
From the local news station, but widely carried, many nations’ Olympics teams – including the US – are bringing their own AC’s to Paris. Because the Frenchies decreed AC was bad and against their carbon goals.
WSJ (paywall warning) has a story about how delivery drivers got their wages raised by government fiat, and now they have less orders to deliver.
Sora News is reporting that a reboot of Ranma 1/2 is in the works. I’m kinda curious because this was one of the series that got me into anime as anime – and not a Saturday-morning cartoon.
Since June is famous for its weddings, I decided to do a super-sized of romance. These are a bit older, but are some of my favorites in the genre.
Crunchyroll is bringing BOCCHI! THE ROCK movie to theaters. If they have a dubbed version, I might convince The Wife to go. She might sympathize with the main character.
Then, the rumors of Civ 7 were confirmed. It looks like August of next year I’ll have a new Civ system to learn. Lots of rumors about what’s going to be kept from earlier Civ games and what new stuff is going to be in it.
I don’t have really enough links to do a Monday Links post. So, I’m going back in time to present a handful of cartoon series that shaped my love of anime and storytelling.
This is the first one I really remember. I even had a birthday cake with the main villain on it. It wouldn’t be until I was an adult that I learned how “kiddified” they made it to play on American television.
This next one gave me an intro to a series with a long story arc. Plus, I would sing the theme song ad nauseum.
Then of course, was the penultimate influence on my early childhood in terms of anime and storytelling.
I’m going to give this one an honorable mention, as I think it had more influence on my tastes, but I really didn’t realize it at the time.
I’m also giving these two as honorable mentions for cementing my love of anime, but not to the degree as the others.
This week is light and mostly Reason. So, let’s get started with those.
The DEA is looking to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. Let’s get this out of the way. I’m not a fan of marijuana. I don’t like the smell, and I don’t like the culture surrounding it. That doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge it has some medical benefits. Or, that more importantly, that adults should be able to imbibe substances that they choose.
DeSantis is all about banning lab-grown beef. Don’t let his right-wing culture war schtick fool you as to why he signed legislation. Beef cattle are big business in Florida. It’s where we get the slang “crackers” from. Scratch a right-wing populist, find a protectionist.
A think piece on how D&D flourished because of few copyright protections. I really didn’t get into any of the D&D “worlds” when I played. We mostly just used the rules and creatures and played in our own worlds. It was fun coming up with our own. Although, I will recommend Ptolus if you want a great setting for a fantasy game.
A man in Illinois who specializes in filing paperwork is being told by the state he needs a PI’s license. Occupational licensing is a fucking racket.
California decided to ban diesel locomotives. What’s the worst that could happen?
Florida police and sheriffs departments spent thousands on training banned in other states.
Now, on to other stories.
The Verge has a story on the FCC fining the big telecoms over sharing location data without consent.
From War Is Boring, we have an article on the new “Doomsday Plane” for the USAF.
From The War Zone is an article that the Poles are naming their F-35’s the “Husarz”. Husarz. Hussars. Winged Hussars. That is the best combination of historical callback and Dad-joke.
For our light item, here’s a 1942-style web-based game for Space Battleship Yamato.
Reason links first:
Another reminder that cops have no duty to protect you.
Gasp, politicians helped killed the Amazon / iRobot deal. Can I tell you how much this annoyed me?
The Supreme Court is taking a look at another case of the ATF’s flexible rule making. This one involving so-called ghost guns. Or as we refer to them, unfinished parts.
FCC is bringing back net neutrality. Because we have to solve a problem that has never happened.
And the FTC is banning non-compete agreements, even though that may be beyond their powers. Okay, I can understand non-competes where you could bring trade secrets to a competitor. I can also understand wanting to stop non-competes being blanket issued on all employment contracts including fast food workers. Still think this should have been passed by Congress, not the FTC.
Colorado told HOA’s they can’t ban home businesses.
Now, on to the Ground News aggregations:
A quarter of adults over 50 say they don’t expect to retire.
The feds don’t think Putin ordered Navalny’s death. Okay, fine. But I’m good with using the felony murder rule.
Ukraine pulled its new-to-them Abrams tanks after losing some to drones. We are seeing the rules of warfare change on the fields of Ukraine and in the streets of Gaza. I doubt that tanks have been supplanted, but they will have to learn how to survive.
A company wants to build submersible superyachts. It reminded me of a wild-eyed scheme that The Brother and I once had to turn old Soviet Typhoon-class boomers into luxury cruise ships. You know, because they already had a pool built into them.
Now on to some other stories:
One of the local stations reports that the last big owner of Clearwater properties not tied to the Church of Scientology has sold out to someone with ties to Scientology. Clearwater is pretty much the company town for the Church.
John Richardson reports that Marion Hammer’s contract with the NRA has been quietly canceled. I’m kind of unsympathetic to someone who helped loot the organization that I dutifully paid into for many, many years.
The Verge has an article on Home Assistant. Ward Manor currently runs the Echo ecosystem for its smart home needs because they’re relatively cheap and easy to use. I’m not against switching to something that would work just as well without getting Amazon’s ads and curated articles pumped in.
Time for light items.
For ten grand, you too can have a robot dog with a flamethrower.
Space Battleship Yamato is celebrating its 50-year anniversary with new sequels.
The Quintessential Quintuplets are coming out with a new movie.
I decided to forgo Monday Links because I don’t have a lot. Day job meant not a lot of fishing for articles. But a couple came in surrounding Macross. Can I state just how enthused I am that most of it is coming to Disney+?
First from the Zimmerit blog, an article on the development of the original Veritech/Valkyrie mecha designs.
Next is a video from Secret Galaxies on the Macross Saga. Not the storyline, but the shenanigans behind the scene.
And just for fun, here’s a Forbes article on the above video. h/t Friend James.
