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The short answer is that Marx didn't really know (or did not write much about) how communist society would be (the scope of his opus is enormous and he died with a lot of it unfinished). That was the first reason why different interpretations of socialism and communism appeared later: Marxist authors tried to fill in the blanks, usually with less scholarly sources and methods, resulting in various deviations, of which the most widely known are social-democracy (the "Programme of Gotha"), Leninism, Trostkyism, Stalinism, Maoism and Eurocommunism (selected by yours truly, as the ones which I hear of most frequently, but there are many others).However, the long answer is interesting as an attempt to understand how Marx envisioned the possible outcomes of the revolution. The answer below is based on the following works by Karl Marx, as available at Marxists.org:Critique of the Gotha Programme (what communism is not)Manifesto of the Communist Party (the bulk of the answer)Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (the key to the conclusion)Let me begin with Marx's assessment of the most probable template for the socialist government, after the triumph of the revolution or the seizing of power by a truly revolutionary party (*):Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.Abolition of all rights of inheritance.Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State;the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production.Let's comment on these measures, which are the ones that a dictatorship of the proletariat would adopt.This is what is commonly understood as collectivisation of real estate property. Since agriculture produced food for the population, it cannot be run exclusively on an economic basis (for profit), but has to be set up as a service to the common good. Conclusion: the communist state would have all agricultural land incorporated into units like the kibbutzim of Israel or the former kolkhoz and sovkhoz farms of the USSR.Such tax would have no reason to exist if every worker earned the same wages ("iron pan" policy of the Chinese revolution). Conclusion: we would still have different wages for different professions, but a progressive income tax (taxing the rich more) would ensure that the wealth gap between the people working in better-paid jobs and those working in the lesser-paid ones would not grow (or at least it would not grow too fast). Conclusion 2: this is inherently unstable, as it would not preclude that people would have successive generations of a same family working in well-paid jobs. The alternative would be to implement a heavily meritocratic system, granting free quality education and opening all career options to the sons of the poor. This policy was indeed implemented in the Soviet Union, allowing the sons of farm workers the possibility of becoming astronauts, politicians, scientists etc. Conclusion 3: meritocracy is actually a Communist policy (mindfuck!).This is intended as barrier to accumulation of wealth among members of a same family. This prohibition applies mostly to ownership of houses and urban real estate in general (Marx's world-view was quite limited in the scope of private property because, in his time, there weren't many different types of things one could own). However I suspect that it would not apply to movable goods, like jewellery, sound money, books, clothes, furniture etc. However, since the right to inheritance would not exist, inheritance would be either illegal or, in the best case, informal. Considering the case of the Soviet Union as the closest a country ever came to fully implement Marx's views, I suspect people would still bequeath things to their children, but they would do that informally and there would no recourse to the law to solve the issue or, if any, such recourse would not be mandatory and would involve heavy fees. Conclusion: to live off the wealth earned by your parents would not be possible, but to keep on living at their house would be. For most kinds of small property, the only real change would be informality (less state > mindfuck! again).This makes sense when you consider that, in the aftermath of a revolution, everyone who has emigrated is probably a rebel or a friend of rebels (and everyone who disagrees with the outcome of the revolution is a rebel). To confiscate the property of the rebels is intended to reduce their ability to use their wealth to corrupt the system or to rally people around themselves. To confiscate the property of the emigrant is intended to prevent things like a) selling his property rights to a foreigner b) controlling a part of the economy (even a small one) from abroad c) keeping that property out of use. Conclusion: After the intermediate state, this policy would impose a severe punishment for emigration (you leave the country, you are left without a penny) and would allow for expropriation of all who rebel against the state. Creepy!Since bankers are the most powerful of the bourgeois, Marx thought that abolishing private banks would be a step towards preventing the resurgence of the bourgeois state.Means of communication (in Marx's times these were only newspapers, but the man had a lot of foresight) make for excellent propaganda tools. It makes sense to deny their property to possible enemies of the state. In the aftermath of a revolution, probably every bourgeois is an enemy of the state. By means of transportation Marx probably meant railways, tramways and shipping, but probably not highways, as these didn't really exist. Their control would be necessary in the process of economic reorganisation and to provide revenue for the state. Conclusion: Marx probably predicted that propaganda would be a big thing in the future.This is the development clause of socialism. The state will not idly own the property it takes from the bourgeois, it must actively work to expand on it. Not only in terms of productivity, but also in terms of actual expansion (goodbye Aral Sea). Conclusion: the drive for progress is present in communism too.Have you heard "of all according to their ability, to all according to their needs"? This is the practical result. Everyone is required to work. Working is a civic duty ("Comrade Joseph Brodsky, unfortunately, writing poetry is not considered as 'working' according to the manual"). Everyone has to work because everyone gets something in return (a job, a salary, free healthcare, free education, free state-owned television channels, free jails, free police, free cosmonaut program... er...). While, in broad terms, this does not sound so harsh, things get a bit creepy when you reach the second part of the item: "industrial armies, especially to agriculture". That means: you, young man, may be required to cut sugar-cane during your spring break (or whenever sugar-cane is cut, because I am thoroughly ignorant of most agricultural matters), or to join a group of volunteers to clear a marsh or to give a boost to the production of a local tractor factory because there is a great order to be billed. Conclusion: Most people don't mind the idea that all should work to earn a living, but very few are happy with the prospect that the state might choose for you which work to do sometimes.This item is actually a mixed bag. The first proposal is to create a better synergy between agriculture and industry (not that bad, that's actually what most countries do: you plant tomatoes only if you have a sauce factory to use them or enough people to eat them). The second, however, treads on creepy territory. A "more equable distribution of the populace over the country" is what the Khmer Rouge tried to do, with known results. Trying to apply this part of Marx's vision would probably throw a country back to the XVIII century. Conclusion: Either the communist state would find a better way to abolish the divide between town and country or the communist society will be as a pastoral society, reminiscent of the days immediately before the industrial age. Hint: with modern technology and efficient transportation, it is possible.This is perhaps the most universally acclaimed communist ideal (Marx was perhaps the first important author to openly defend free education for all). He even envisioned technical schools ("Combination of education and industrial production").Marx goes on to say that after the final dissolution of class distinctions, with "all production concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole nation", then the political character of the state would disappear. This, of course, means a single party state. Just like the founding fathers of the USA (who were wary or parties), Marx thinks that different parties are merely tools to organise the power of one class to oppress the others. If we have no classes any more, then we have no parties. This happens because the proletariat, in the aftermath of the triumph of a truly communist revolution, will pursue the ideal of abolishing all classes and all class privileges. So, without any classes left, the proletariat will have abolished its own supremacy. So, the absolute rule (dictatorship of the proletariat) will naturally dissolve after the remnants of class struggle are forgotten.In Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Marx tries to sum up his ideas about the process in shorter form:III. Proletarian Revolution — Solution of the contradictions. The proletariat seizes the public power, and by means of this transforms the socialized means of production, slipping from the hands of the bourgeoisie,into public property. By this act, the proletariat frees the means of production from the character of capital they have thus far borne, and gives their socialized character complete freedom to work itself out. Socialized production upon a predetermined plan becomes henceforth possible. The development of production makes the existence of different classes of society thenceforth an anachronism. In proportion as anarchy in social production vanishes,the political authority of the State dies out. Man, at last the master of his own form of social organization, becomes at the same time the lord over Nature, his own master — free.Combining all of this with my (fitful) knowledge of how life in the Soviet Union was organised and assuming that we are trying to foresee what would have happened if all stages of all policies of communist revolution were implemented right to the end, I believe that living in a communist state would be more or less like this (if everything works as expected in the previous stages):Wherever (and to whoever) you are born, you receive free healthcare from birth and are well-nourished because there is no shortage of food and your family can provide for you.You go to school from 4 to 17 years of age. School is all-day long, you learn normal school subjects, but also practical chores (like gardening, cooking, mechanics, electricity, driving etc.). When you finish school you are probably prepared to live on your own (whatever your sex, because education is thoroughly equal for both).You are not required to work full-time while in school, but working is actually part of the curriculum. You probably spend your holidays working at factories, cleaning fields, harvesting or shepherding.You don't go to any church (they're now museums, or have been converted for civil use as theatres or libraries, when not torn-down).You have sexual education at school, probably even with graphic material and scale clay models. When you reach puberty, you know all there is to know about the crying game. But if you are a girl and stupid enough to still get pregnant, you will probably get an abortion at the local clinic (and a thorough scolding, perhaps followed by some weeks of harvest work to sweat out the hormones).There are libraries, dance schools, theatres, music shows, balls etc. Culture life is thriving (though a little too squared up).Though you are only required to wear a uniform when you are at school, probably you dress like everyone else, as clothes are mass-produced and models are few. On a lighter note: they are dirt-cheap and nobody has to appear dishevelled.When you finish high school you have been already evaluated as a talent in some area. If you agree with the assessment you have an open road ahead of you to pursue that career. If you are believed to be an engineer (or if the country is in shortage of engineers) you will go to a University, but if you are deemed to be a street-sweeper, then, well, all work is honourable and everyone earns enough to have a decent living. Don't cry, son...However, there are still places where you can study on your own, if you think that you can build jets instead of merely sweeping streets. You have libraries, technical schools and minor colleges with night classes. Good luck, show them they were wrong about you. But, meanwhile, sweep the streets clean or you'll be called lazy, a leech, free-loader or even an enemy of the people.You can marry any time you wish. This includes "never". But both your parents still want grandsons and someone will probably remind you that you have a duty towards the future generations, which starts by fathering some members for them.If you are a boy, you it won't seem strange to date a girl who shoots a rifle better than you or even one who's been a real bad-ass in war. Your marriage will probably be based on mutual consensus (you don't even conceive the idea that you should give orders to your spouse, or her to you). If you don't get on well, you can divorce easily. The children, if any, will either be with the mother or sent to a state orphanage. But in both cases you (both) will be able to visit them.If you are a girl you are probably used to be tasked with things that would otherwise be boys' jobs. You probably have friends who work as mechanics, bricklayers or army snipers. But most of you still prefer social work or typically female jobs.You are used to seeing police everywhere, because it is actually composed of two different corps: actual uniformed police agents, and plainclothes police agents who are recruited among the population. Every block has at least two or three such covert police. If they see something wrong, they quietly report to the local police station.You are used to have friends who work with very different things. The guys who hang around the same bar as you include an army parachutist, a farmer, a civil engineer, a nurse, a street-sweeper, a policeman, a bureaucrat, a musician, a philosopher and a kindergarten teacher. You all have some common ground to talk about because you have all been to the same school system and share a lot of basic education. Perhaps the street-sweeper has a better handwriting than you.If the world is still mostly unfriendly to communism, you have probably spent some years in the Red Army, concurrently with school and the university. It is an advisable career if you enjoy the idea of killing people for a living and don't mind tattoos.You don't earn a lot of money (whatever your work), but that's not a concern because there isn't much you need to buy. A lot of the basics you get for free from the local distribution centre (that includes the controlled medicines you need for your kidney problem and the special milk your younger daughter needs), a lot of the things you use (including your car) have been inherited from your father and you don't think they are obsolete for that. Everyone uses things until they can no longer be kept going. One of your friends has a car that was produced 60 years ago. He has recently replaced its engine with a new model and changed its livery.As a consequence of the previous, you actually have very little to spend your money on. Since you can't pile it up and there's no point in doing that, you probably will use it for partying or tourism.Partying is OK: lots of booze, food and women. Like everywhere else. People dress modestly, but are probably quite as daring after they undress.Tourism is a problem: it is expensive and you must be careful not to appear to be an emigrant. You either go when you are still living with your parents or after you have grown up kids to take care of things for you when you are abroad. Assuming that the entire world is communist now, you can travel most freely. However, most of the tourism everyone does involves flying to the other side of the country to harvest some crop there.You have probably cheated on your wife a couple of times in the last years and she has cheated on you too. You both know and are okay with that.You have a lot of free time. After working hours, especially in weekdays, you don't really have much to do after you have finished your studies (especially if you work in menial jobs). But there's the library, the cinema, the theatre, and the parties! Every now and then you are called to army drafts or communal work. But there are parties there too!You don't have debts. You live in a house that was designated for you by the state (or was designated to your father or grandfather and they have bequeathed the right until you). Consumerism is something you studied in History books, if at all. Most of what you need can be bought in instalments before delivery or built with a little help of your friends. A lot of things you might have paid someone to do, you actually know how to (like fixing electricity installation or solving plumbing leaks). The notion of "credit" is alien to you. You have what you need, and the rest you only have if you pay for it. No money, no show.If you ever become ill, you only have to go to the local clinic or hospital (with your identity card) and demand treatment. You may be treated by a doctor who was once your classmate).You often buy goods by the dozen or the gross. You are still taking pencils from that large box your father got you when you entered first grade. After 30 years you still have a few dozen to spare. You have six or seven identical trousers. Most products are featureless and bland (the pencils are all yellow outside, trousers come in four or five colours, there is only one brand of bicycle...)You take part in the local councils ("soviet") for either your neighbourhood or your professional guild. You were once the deputy for the K-500 block at the city council, your wife travels to the capital once a week to attend the meetings of the central council of seamstresses and she may be elected to the supreme soviet someday. Elections are indirect beyond the first level: you vote for your council, but it is the council which votes for higher levels.If everything has worked as expected, the Supreme Council (Supreme Soviet) is the ultimate level of power. It names the executive committee ("presidium") and the main posts of the government: President, Secretary-General, Minister of Interior, Minister of Exterior etc. You can, in theory, become the President if you wish. The current president worked as bricklayer until 30.However, the state is shrinking and is only a shell of its former self. Most things are decided at the local level. The only reason the state still exists is that some things require a broader planning (like transportation, foreign policy and defence).When you get older you will leave your house to one of your children and go to a retirement home with some of your favourite books and gadgets. If you get on well, they will visit you often. While you are still in good shape, you will visit them too.After you die you will be probably be interred in a temporary grave and then your bones will be piled at an ossuary. A permanent grave is only to celebrate great heroes of the people.Conclusions:Although usually described as an utopia, communism as envisioned by Marx and the main theorists of Marxism would not be really utopian. Life in that communist state could be creepy sometimes, or simply bleak. But, if communism had succeeded in building an "utopia" like this, I guess that many people would like to live in it.FOOTNOTE(*) This is not what you have requested, but it is central to understanding the core of the answer. As you may have noticed, each of these measures results in a desired outcome for the post-dictatorship ideal.

I don’t just mean to toot my own horn here, but my wife and I had a great wedding. Like… epic great.I’ve had friends who two years later, still tell us that our wedding was one of the best, most fun weddings they’d ever attended, and absolutely insist that it’s not just because they’re our friends and are supposed to tell us that. A few who have gotten married after us have asked for leftover materials/designs or ideas. It really was a fantastic wedding.Before I even get started explaining this, I have to start with this disclaimer:My wife planned and executed almost everything. I was studying for the bar exam. I can take very, very little credit for how awesome our wedding was.We did ours for about $10,000 USD with an enormous family and friend group.This was most of the people we invited with a handful who had ducked out quick. As you can see, this was not a small affair.The biggest thing, the most important thing for us, was for our friends and family, our personal community, to have a wonderful time. It was meant to be relaxed and enjoyable. With that guiding principle in mind, the rest of the wedding came together really well.There were a few very, very smart things we did that not only cut down on costs, but made the guest experience the best we could make it.We had a morning wedding with an early reception. The ceremony was morning, but not crazy early: 10 am. Early enough to still be cool out with nice light, but just the right time for people to get up at a decent time, have some breakfast, and get to the venue without having to rush. Our reception was immediately afterwards and was a brunch.This also saved a ton on alcohol costs. Even my family aren’t big day drinkers. We had essentially an open bar with various beer/cider and wine options, mimosas, and a bottle of Crown Royal hidden under the table for a few select relatives. We didn’t come close to using everything we ordered.In fact, when I ordered all the alcohol, everyone fought me on how much we’d need, and what types. We ended up returning two-thirds of what we purchased and still had enough for our second reception (more on that later) and after that and giving away another dozen bottles, still had three bottles of red wine and six bottles of white wine that we ended up taking home and drinking almost until our first anniversary.The only thing we ran out of was the only thing that I thought we needed a second case of: moscato wine. People drinking during the day and at a brunch want sweet things.We also brought in a few student bartenders from a local school. I think two people for four hours cost us less than $100.We only had one venue where we did all of it. We literally walked out of the church sanctuary into the reception. Nobody had to go anywhere. This helps the guests in a couple of ways.First, it reduces the downtime between the ceremony and reception. That time is often in the U.S. when the bridal party will have the pictures taken, and in the Midwest is traditionally when the bridal party will also go bar-hopping. We didn’t do either; we did the pictures beforehand and just didn’t do the bar-hopping.Second, people only have to find one location. We conveniently made it very close to the hotels (about 1/2 a mile).Additionally, it helped us out a lot because it was easier to set up and take down, being that we had all the materials in one location and didn’t have to split our setup time.Additionally additionally, we saved a ton of money on the venue because our venue was also the church. I think the whole thing cost us $800, for the service, the ministers, a couple of church musicians, and the reception. The only caveat was we had to be out entirely by 4 pm before confession started.We made a lot of our decorations rather than buying them, and a lot of people lent us things. This one belongs to our crafty family, not us. My father-in-law made all of our centerpieces from polyurethaned tree slices he cut, sanded, and finished himself. Same with the cake stand. My wife’s relatives own a knitting shop and one has an art degree. That cousin made us a bunch of wall-flower bouquets out of book pages. We still have them. We did an amazing amount with cheap materials like burlap and a bit of ribbon.We also used a lot of things we already had in the family.My family loves cribbage; wherever two or more Krugers are gathered, there is cribbage. Everyone in my family just brought a cribbage board for almost every table. Cost: $0, and everyone loved it.My dad had refurbished and repainted some old family milk cans a few years before. We used those as flower holders in a bunch of places. Cost: $0, and everyone commented on how it made it feel like a barn wedding without the barn and how awesome that was.The knitting shop relatives for years had taught customers how to do basic knitting by having them knit little triangles, which they had glued into ribbon to create colorful knit bunting. That was awesome and people loved it. Cost: $0, and people asked us where we got it so they could get some for their homes.My father-in-law took the centerpiece tree slices and has been making them into new cribbage boards. We got one of the first ones and we love it.One of my wife’s uncles is a potter. He made custom ceramic wine glasses and beer steins for the wedding party for party gifts. We tried to pay him and he refused; I make sure to help him with cutting wood and stuff around his cabin.We had lawn games outside, lent to us or even made by several family members. My in-laws found a bocce ball set for $5 somewhere, and made a croquet set out of various bits of wood lying around their property. Same with a bags set and I think someone even had a jump rope for the kids.Various relatives had a bunch of hanging string Christmas lights when we put them all together. Looked awesome. Cost nothing.What decorations we did buy, we typically bought at thrift stores, garage sales, or farmer’s markets.We got an insane amount of flowers for less than $200 at a farmer’s market. In fact, there was a miscommunication between us and the farmer, and so we got literally ten times what we thought we were ordering. We couldn’t find enough places to put all the flowers.My in-laws love to go garage saling. We got a whole bunch of jars with rope attached to them for $10 at a garage sale from someone who had used them at their weddings. We got a pile of shepherd’s hooks for $20 somewhere. We got a bunch of little chalkboard easels for super cheap. My in-laws constantly buy old deer antlers at garage sales; we used a lot of what they had, and they bought probably another dozen at various sales.We got three dozen glass milk bottles for $20 at a thrift store that we used for flower holders.Family also donated a lot of personal talents and foods. One aunt loves making pies and has won numerous county and state fair awards. Rather than buying an expensive wedding cake, she made a bunch of pies. Other relatives made their own pastry specialties to go with it. My brother-in-law donated a donut wall because a Dunkin’ Donuts opened nearby shortly beforehand.We borrowed a sound system and did the music ourselves. We could have spent a couple thousand hiring a DJ, but we didn’t feel it was worth it. By having a brunch reception, by 2–3 pm, people were ready to just go, actually. My family and friends aren’t the “dance all night” kind of crowd. My parents were music teachers, so we borrowed a couple of speakers, portable PA/amp system, and a couple of handheld microphones from the school. I hooked up a spare laptop, built a playlist, and just let it go. I built in some dead spaces to give me time to get up and pause it for speeches.In retrospect, it would have been nice to have maybe some family member or good friend act as an MC, rather than doing it myself, because I underestimated how much time everyone wants to spend just talking to you as the groom.My wife made her own dress and the guys didn’t rent suits or tuxes.My wife’s mom is a pretty good seamstress and she couldn’t find a dress she liked in a price range we could afford. By scavenging materials from various shops, my wife and her mom made a fantastic wedding dress for quite little.Note from my wife: This was a great way to make her mom feel included and still keep her distracted from trying to do and control everything else.The bridesmaids were just given a color and told to find something they liked.The groomsmen were told to just wear charcoal dress pants and a white dress shirt; part of their groomsman gifts were the socks, ties, and personalized tie clips (along with some various distilled spirits that they liked).We didn’t care how much they matched as long as they were close-ish. Everyone commented on how relaxed that made them feel, not just as party members, but our families and friends. It didn’t feel stiff or formal, it felt more like a gathering of community. Exactly what we wanted.We didn’t go nuts on rings. Mine is sterling silver and it cost $75. You’d never tell the difference between it and a white gold band that would cost ten times as much. My wife intended to buy one thin gold band on Etsy for $50 and the lady sent her a smooth one and a hammered gold one and told her to keep the other one. She wears them both with her engagement ring in the middle. We figure if we ever want to trade up someday when we have more money, we can. (I doubt we ever will.)We got a great deal on our photographer. My sister is very good friends with a couple that did wedding photography and who liked traveling to the location where we got married. They gave us a good deal and did a fantastic job. We would have paid double for even the cheapest local photographer. This one was mostly just connections and luck.We didn’t go nuts on programs. I drafted up the service programs in Word and printed them at Office Depot. I had a discount card through my law fraternity that brought the cost down almost absurdly, so I splurged for nicer paper, but even if I didn’t have that, I could have printed up enough programs for the approximately 200 people we had there for less than $50. We did it for $15 and the store folded them for me with a machine. People don’t save them. Don’t go crazy.We had a second reception a few weeks later. We couldn’t afford to invite everyone we wanted to. We just didn’t have enough venue space or caterer capacity. I’m very close with my extended family and some friends, but we had to figure out how to cut the guest list literally in more than half from the initial “write down everyone you can think of.” It was my dad who really came up with a fantastic idea: have a second reception later.This worked largely because most of my family and friends were in Southeast Wisconsin and we got married in the Twin Cities. That’s a long drive. But, most of my extended family was getting together for a big family camping weekend two weeks later over Labor Day. That way, we can invite everyone we were on the fence about, plus a bunch more people that would probably have declined because of the drive and hotel costs.We were able to rent a pavilion tent and do a pork roast for almost absurdly cheap. Like, less than $1,000 cheap. Part of this was that I had a family member with a rotisserie trailer capable of doing a whole pig and another with the equipment to carve it all up and put it into stainless bins. We potlucked the rest. Various family members brought it whatever salads and specialties they wanted. (My family loves doing this.)We probably got to celebrate with another 150 people this way. My wife got to wear her dress again. It was great.Now, we’re really lucky to have such handy and willing family members. Not everyone has that. This wedding could have easily cost us twice as much if not for our families and willingness to donate their time, energy, talents, and materials. We are insanely lucky to have that.So, I really want to recognize that you may or may not be able to pull off the amazeballs wedding that we had on our budget with our sized guest list if you didn’t have that.What did we spend money on? We listened to all of our friends and family, and we learned one very important principle: People generally only remember 1–2 really big things. Pick one, maybe two things that you really want people to remember and go all out on those.For us, we picked the food and the invitations. We didn’t intend to make the table IDs into a memorable thing, but people really loved those, as well.About three-quarters of our budget went to the caterer. We chose one that locally sourced everything and we advertised that. People really appreciated it. Also, the caterer comped us ceramic plates and silverware instead of compostable stuff because we were willing to shamelessly plug them and order some extra coffee. So, if you’re ever in the Twin Cities, go stop by Common Roots Cafe.We also spent a bunch on the invitations. The actual printing wasn’t that much, but we hired a friend of mine from undergrad who does custom design and branding work, and we paid her every penny of what she asked for.She did an amazing job. She basically designed us a family logo and font. She got us custom made stamp we could use from that, and with 1–2 rounds of revision, made some of the most beautiful custom invitations I’ve ever seen. Also: shameless plug for her: Inkwell Trading Company. It’s clear that these were not made from some template or font. These were hand-done, with love. It’s been 2 1/2 years and I still love them; we have one framed in our living room. Worth every penny.For table IDs, we didn’t just do “table 1, table 2…” Instead, we named our tables with our favorite authors, and people found a popsicle stick fan thing with quotes about love and/or marriage from those authors to find their tables. People loved it. A lot of people took those quotes home. We thought it was going to be a cute, quirky thing, but people still comment on it two years later. We tried to put people at tables with authors we thought they’d like; for example, we put my law school friends at the Ruth Bader Ginsburg table, and my wife’s MBA friends at the David Allen Whyte table. All it cost us was some time and craft materials, maybe $50 worth of stuff.What is it not worth spending too much on, in our experience?Alcohol. You don’t have to have a dry wedding, but I’ve had friends where the open bar tab alone was more than our entire wedding cost. They had 12 year Scotch and keg after keg of craft beer and $20–40 bottles of wine. Look, if that’s your thing, that’s fine and all. But think about it this way: you’re spending massive amounts of cash on something that will make it harder for your guests to remember everything.We bought some nicer craft beer in bottles, but mostly had a case or two of some local cheaper beer from Grain Belt, and a case of Bud and Miller Lite for those who wanted it. We bought cases of decent, but not super high-end wine that worked out to I think $8 a bottle on average. We got some inexpensive champagne for the mimosas. The booze tab ran us about $350 after we returned 2/3rds of the initial $1,000 purchase.Cake. Wedding cakes are insanely marked up. If you don’t want to crowd-source it like we did, or don’t have the family and friends who would do something like that, just get a sheet cake. We have some friends who spent $2,500 on a cake. That’s just… bonkers to me.Venue. We originally considered some various farms and barn places, and some hotel ballrooms. I think $3,000 was the cheapest bid we looked at. The church didn’t charge us anything extra since we were already in the space for the morning. It was a no-brainer. If where you’re getting married has a nice space and it doesn’t cost much extra, use it.Rings. This is personally dependent. Some people want to have really elaborate wedding rings. Some people absolutely insist on gold. Gold is usually plated with rhodium because it’s soft, but it will scratch and ding over the years. I got sterling silver and it’s held up just as well as any gold ring my friends have at a fraction of the cost. Same with stones — diamonds are an insane racket. If you’re going to have a band with stones, I’d get something less expensive.Music. I’ve been to some great weddings with live bands and DJ’s. If that’s your jam, go with it. If you want your guests to remember the New Orleans style jazz band, that might be worth it for you. If you’re the dance until 2am crowd, maybe you do want a DJ with lights and stuff.But if you’re on a budget, this would be one of the things I’d get rid of. Rent some sound equipment and hook up an iPod. By using VLC and a network remote from my phone, I was actually able to control the music from anywhere in the venue myself.Clothes. A tux or suit rental is usually $100–200. A wedding dress can easily run into a sizable fraction of our entire budget or more.If you’re a guy, use a suit you already have. If you don’t own one, you can often find a good one at a thrift store for $30 or less. Get it dry cleaned, pressed, and tailored if you need to. You’ll still be out less than renting one, and now you’ll have a good suit.Most people don’t have the resources or talents to make their own wedding dresses. But you don’t have to go crazy here to have a really beautiful one. You can buy secondhand dresses for much, much cheaper, or buy a dress that is not specifically a wedding dress. There are bridal consignment shops that allow for rentals. You’d be amazed at what you can get off of Etsy or even Amazon.Personalized favors with your wedding on it. Seriously, nobody will save these. You will pay exorbitant fees to put your wedding name on it and nobody will want them. Maybe, maybe personalized M&Ms or candies. But honestly, you don’t need to even personalize those. Not worth the cost.What is it worth it to shell out for?A good caterer. Just because someone is expensive doesn’t necessarily mean they’re good. But a good caterer is probably going to set you back. Ask around, get reviews, talk to people who have actually hired them, and go in for tastings. Good caterers will be happy to sit down and give you tasting. (Also, that was worth so many free date nights when we were engaged.)Space for guests. If you want a small affair, that’s totally up to you. We have a massive family and large friend group. But even if you’re inviting 20 people to a low-key affair, have a venue that’s twice as large as you think it needs to be. People want to get up and move around and won’t stay put. If they’re packed in, it won’t be comfortable.Also, people generate significant heat. Make sure the venue’s HVAC system is up to the task. This is something I never considered until we were at a friend’s reception and it got stifling hot even though the place had an air conditioning system.Child-friendliness. Even if it’s a small affair, please be conscious of people with small kids. We went to a wedding this summer that we were explicitly told not to bring our 7 month old son and frankly, we weren’t even sure if we were going to go at that point. Unless you know for sure that nobody is going to have little ones, just be prepared for kids running around and pulling at decorations and plan accordingly. If a baby cries, it will not ruin your day.Non-monetary considerations:There’s some things to consider that can make a good wedding into a fantastic wedding (for both the guests and you) that don’t have anything to do with cost.A logistics master. I did this for my youngest sister’s wedding. It was my job to keep things on schedule, round up guests for pictures, etc. I ran ahead to the venue and made sure everything arrived on time, got set up, etc. I transferred flowers and equipment and the like. This freed up the bridal party to just enjoy the day stress free.When it got to my wedding, I thought, hey, I can do that myself! That was a bad plan. I should have had a friend minding that part. Balls came very close to being dropped and it was stressful to be the groom and handle that bit.You don’t have to hire a wedding planner, but have someone whose job is just handle those things.Someone or something keeping the parents distracted, but involved. I didn’t appreciate this until I got married. As long as you’ve been thinking about your wedding, your parents have been thinking about it longer. You have no idea. They will make it into the wedding that they always wanted if you are not careful.My mother-in-law was kept busy for months working on the dress. My father was kept distracted working on the sound system and a few other decorative things.If you cut them out, they’ll feel resentful, but find some aspect where they can, with limited parameters, live out some part of their dream for the wedding and feel appreciated and contributing, without taking over.The time of day, and year. Honestly, I know some people really love the idea of sunrise or sunset or evening weddings. It’s unique and all.You have to keep in mind: this wedding isn’t for you. It’s for your guests. They are not going to love getting up and getting out to the edge of a lake at the ass crack of dawn. I’m sorry. The light may be beautiful. But it’s just not fun for the guests.A winter wedding can be beautiful and a way to save money on a venue. But if it’s icy and freezing, it may be a difficult or even impossible drive for some guests, and your wedding won’t be particularly memorable for the right reasons if Grandma slips and falls and breaks her hip there.How long and engaging is the ceremony? It doesn’t have to be five minutes with the justice of the peace, but as an old priest used to tell me about his homilies: “The brain can only withstand what the butt can endure.” A half-hour to 45 minutes is plenty if it’s enjoyable. You don’t have to have your second cousin’s mother’s former roommate reading a piece of original poetry she wrote for the ceremony in Sanskrit while being accompanied by sitar and theramin. Songs people can sing and know are nice.Keep the venue and lodging nearby to each other. People will underestimate the time to get anywhere. The closer the places are together, the less that can go wrong with that.Also, don’t book insanely expensive hotels. You can find something better than a Motel 6, but it doesn’t need to be the Four Seasons.Assume at least one thing will go wrong. The more moving parts you have, the more likely something will go wrong. But just assume that at least one thing will. Be okay with that. Just try to make sure that whatever can go wrong is very small.All in all, how much does a good wedding cost? As much or as little as you want it to. Just think about what will make for a great guest experience, what you want them to remember, and how you can maximize the fun for your guests. They’re what count.Some pictures of our awesome wedding:Table decorationsThese incredible invites. Note the logo stamp. That’s custom designed. Thanks, Becka!Donut wall from my brother-in-lawShot of the venueA toast to you, dear readers, with those custom ceramics I mentioned.

Two disclaimers:1 - Despite my following reasoning, I don’t even believe ‘democracy’ is a fundamental end-all and be-all of what it means to be an optimal social primate. And as an American, I am looking at the word as representing the current Multi-national, neo-liberal, zero-sum trends.2 - Despite having American citizenship, I have lived over half my life in Japan … 36 years and counting, and with a permanent visa, this is probably a terminal relationship.On my answer —Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time — Winston ChurchillQuite a catchy tune … but I have no idea whether democracy is the worst, or better, or just another experiment in how to manage social primates that have bred to populations of herding / swarming size.I just see democracy as one of many tools for sustainability of the species … and if lucky, perhaps even a higher quality of life.But as any other tool, democracy can be used and misused, depending on one’s inclination and perspective. For example, anyone who has been marginalized as a minority will likely be aware of the dangers of tyranny of the majority.I don’t have the time or scope for exploring the implications of John Rawls’ original position on morality here. It leads down one heck of a rabbit hole. But I would like to make a plug for Michael J. Sandel’s definition of ‘corruption’ as — any time ‘lower level’ values displace ‘higher level’ ideals.Certainly this is a provisional social construct. But I think most of us would agree that ‘everyone has their price’ is an easy to understand euphemism for how Michael Sandel is defining corruption.For my short answer … Yes.Just follow the money — https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/27/fake-news-inquiry-data-misuse-deomcracy-at-risk-mps-conclude?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=282232&subid=10308016&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2It is not just democracy that is under threat.Family values and its institutions … adoption, weddings, birthdays, or funerals … are all under threat of being devoured by capitalism. It doesn’t take much triangulating to see the relationship between the misuse of corporate human capital in Japan Inc.’s ‘democracy’ to see the devastating effects on demographics … a falling population, but gutting the countryside for further concentration of power and opportunity in the Tokyo area.In pre-reformation Europe, the Catholic church similarly grew rich and therefore corrupt, partially due to selling special dispensations (those express train prayers to heaven) to the robber barons of that era.But here, in present day Japan, depending on the amount of donation offered to a priest performing burial rituals お布施, the deceased is given a new ‘spiritual’ name (kaimyou - Dharma name) that is ranked and correlated with the amount of money donated.I’d call that culturally sanctioned blackmail, but I guess we Americans do the same with weddings and funerals … the more money one has, the more lavish the ceremony is expected to be. I guess it comes with the package of what it means to be a social primate.But how much is ‘enough’? Where does one draw the line if it comes at the expense of others?This jives well with Sandel’s home run definition of corruption.Capitalism is devouring science.Common sense determines that neither scientific fact nor theory have been subject to the values of democracy, though lord knows it is not through lack of trying.I will leave it to the likes of Neil DeGrasse Tyson to point out the incompatibly of democracy with science in many of his excellent documentaries …or an even more scientifically capable contemporary, Steven Pinker …… but the good professors (institutionally sanctioned) are NOT making similar documentaries about how capitalism is devouring science.‘Publish or Perish’ — is NOT a scientific heuristics.It is an economic model, and an ultimately self-destructive one at that.In fact, they, among others (yeah, you too Michio) are making a tidy little sum riding off those gigs. It’s just too bad that the likes of Karl Popper or Thomas Kuhn are not so photogenic. Karl had much to say about what happens when science becomes subservient to capitalistic agendas in the Nazi form of Nationalism.And I think there is quite a bit much more than being ‘politically correct’ at stake when the whole scientific domain is being questioned as gender influenced … How Masculine and Feminine Traits Influence Science.For some examples of how capitalism is devouring of science, I modestly suggest reading Naomi Klein regarding Project MKUltra. Or Noam Chomsky on the M.I.T. - D.A.R.P.A. connection. Or for that matter Google’s true origin partly lies in CIA and NSA research grants for mass surveillance, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Agra.As I am making this edit, today’s news alone (Thursday, July 24, 2018 spells it out … Monsanto-on-trial … again.And to bring it closer to home (in Japan) … a copy of July 27-28th news … https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/27/national/crime-legal/japanese-prosecutors-raid-jaxa-facilities-connection-second-education-ministry-bribes-case/#.W1xSNygVSHoAnd to make sure the article is not ‘lost’ … another source, JapanToday.Prosecutors raid space agency over bureaucrat's bribery caseJuly 28 — 06:55 am JST TOKYOProsecutors on Friday raided locations linked to the space agency after they arrested a senior education ministry official earlier on a bribery charge in the second graft scandal to hit the ministry in a month.Kazuaki Kawabata, 57-year-old former director general for international affairs at the education ministry, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of receiving bribes in the form of being wined and dined by a consulting firm executive in return for providing a favor to his firm.Prosecutors suspect former consulting firm executive Koji Taniguchi, 47, already arrested and indicted for alleged complicity in another bribery scandal involving a different senior education ministry official, provided 1.4 million yen ($12,600) worth of meals and drinks to Kawabata between 2015 and 2017.Kawabata was on loan at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at the time and was in a position to evaluate the agency's business contracts.Kawabata allegedly helped Taniguchi invite astronaut Satoshi Furukawa to an event at Tokyo Medical University in November 2016 among other favors he offered him, according to sources close to the matter.Furukawa was allegedly asked by the former chairman of the university's board of regents, Masahiko Usui, about whether the astronaut could take part in the event, they said.Taniguchi bribed Kawabata by wining and dining him more than 10 times, the sources said, adding that Kawabata and Taniguchi have denied the allegations.Other sources said the education ministry bureaucrat is also suspected of receiving taxi vouchers from the consulting firm executive.Earlier in the month, another education ministry bureaucrat, Futoshi Sano, 59, and the former official of Tokyo Medical University were indicted for bribery.Sano, former director general of the ministry's science and technology bureau, allegedly helped the university get selected for the ministry's funding program in return for securing the enrollment of his son at the school.Taniguchi is suspected of bringing Sano and Usui together.The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology was preparing to set up a third-party committee to investigate the suspected bribery involving Sano, but the minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said the plan will be postponed in the wake of Kawabata's arrest.© KYODONo mistake, ‘greed-is-good’ capitalism is devouring science, not driving it.Education, since the dawn of the industrial revolution, has been in danger of being devoured.For one semester, even while I was an Associate Professor at Jissen Women’s College, I took a leave of absence and attended open-classes as a student at a rival institution, Showa Women’s College. Among the courses I took, one was taught by a professor and employee of the central Ministry of Education (For about 7 years, I also used to be one of 2 or 3 native English speaking informants as textbook proofreaders and cultural advisors for the Ministry 平成17年4月文部科学省教科用図書検定調査審議会専門委員（平成23年3月迄). His course was about the history of Public Education in Japan.The Japanese public education system is based on England’s Victorian era education, which in turn was based on the structure and heuristics of two other institutions at that time … the penal system and the military. A liberal arts education was largely reserved for the elite ruling class.That’s a pretty grim hint as to the traditional ways in which large populations are ‘managed’ through capitalist values.Tied up with education, racial equality is in danger of being devoured … DeVos Doesn’t Believe that Promoting Racial Diversity in Schools Is a Worthwhile Cause.That military thing of ‘corruption’ through replacing one value with a lower value can be found in the outsourcing of the U.S. government’s accountability in warfare. Blackwater Protection was and still is, a convenient excuse for the U.S. government’s plausible deniability. But I guess the ancient Roman army did the same thing with ‘barbarian’ mercenaries long before capitalism was a gleam in Adam Smith’s eye.And as hinted earlier, the penal system — in private, for-profit hands?For the CEOs … the more inmates, the merrier. And throw away the keys. There is no financial incentive for rehabilitation.As for U.S. Public Health policy? Outside of the U.S., the laughing stock of the ‘developed’ world. Inside, a crying shame.That alone is enough to make me question the distinction between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ as an arrogant conceit. A more accurate distinction between countries might better be found along a sliding scale of institutionally sanctioned, legalized corruption.Personal health care costs account for the single greatest cause of family bankruptcy in the U.S. On the the other hand, a cozy little group of insurance company executives and Big-Pharma CEOs can afford another private jet or island retreat.For the personally ambitious, there is big money to be made off of sickness, infirmity, and death.And those ‘closed-door’ international trade talks are closed for good reason.For example, one of the conditions of the TPP was that medical products banned in the U.S. could be used in countries with less economic leverage, and any claims from citizens of those countries regarding health or environmental degradation will not be subject to that country’s laws or judicial system. The multi-national corporation will have the right to regulate, judge, and penalize themselves … as they wish, or not, and citizens of those economically marginalized countries, democratic or not, will have no say in the matter.Even elected politicians are not privy to all of the information in those closed-door trade talks.Anyone here old enough to remember Perestroika or Glasnost?Evidently, ‘what’s good for the goose is good for the gander’ does not apply to Capitalist management.It just goes on and on.One. Horror. Show. After. Another.I would say the loss of ‘democracy’ to the corruption of money should be among the least of our worries.Yanis is brilliant, full stop.Spot-on analysis.And compared to reading Piketty’s massive tome, a lot easier to listen to.Besides, I think his barber is doing a great job.I am just weighing in because of his observations from about 1:10 of the YouTube video above — when he explains how the Chinese economic system may be more humane than the U.S. counterparts. The local governments may allow somewhat more freedom than the national government, and individuals may be arguably just as free to follow, ignore, or game the system as their American counterparts.This is the same in Japan, For now.But as we are seeing in the U.S. now, the authoritarian dynamics could change overnight, and I assume the same could be said for China.Japanese scientists are worried about the same thing — Japanese scientists call for boycott of military research. But that is already old news. Japan is well under way in following the U.S.’s model of tax funded research at M.I.T. being funneled into Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.I think it was only three or four years ago, that Tokyo University was bringing out damage control PR in denying they were involved in military related research. Things have changed in a very short time. … Scientists and defense research | The Japan Times——————————————In any country, the socially progressive left will always be less united than the right. It's like trying to herd cats ... or order a jazz musician to follow a note for note transcription of a military marching band score.IMHO, the above observation points to something fundamentally contradictory about human nature.As a social primate, we do pretty well in small communities with empathy-driven morality. Of course even small groups can be led by bullies, and many a spouse has suffered at the hand of their 'beloved'.But when we become herding primates, probably anything larger than Dunbar’s Number, and guided by a rule-driven morality (or algorithm), it is just a matter of time before we become self-destructive swarming primates ... that 'Tower of Babel' thingy.I guess part of it is because large populations necessarily become hierarchically institutionalized, and therefore dependent on a rule-driven (legal/logical based - not empathy based) morality.But when empathy is no longer the basis for morality, the 'Dark Triad' personality types are most able to take advantage of the inevitable gap between empathy and rules ... the narcissists, machiavellian opportunists, and psychopaths among us.You know … your boss.(kudos to Alan Louis)Altruists become relegated to fools ... Diogenes carrying a lantern in the daylight, looking for an honest man.Diogenes … my hero, the template for ‘pro-social trolling’ … and the capitalist in me is wondering if I can get a copyright on that phrasing ;-)Compared to more egalitarian communities which are small enough for us to acknowledge and recognize each other as unique individuals, large populations and accompanying institutions simply provide too many niche opportunities for those dark-triad types to rise to the top.It might be useful to think of the ratio of dark-triads to altruists in a hierarchy as similar to the increase of surface area to volume of any structure as it increases in size.This surface area to volume ration, as biologists understand, is a salient variable which limits the size of living things.Surface Area to Volume Ratio - OBEN Science 7EAnd to extend the metaphor, as the surface area of hierarchies expand in proportion to the volume of its limited natural resources (can’t outsource costs and losses forever ya know), those dark-triad vampires, also proportionally increase to the point that those behavior traits become the dominant culture of the institution.Hmmm … the capitalist in me wondering if I should coin the above observation in the domain of social sciences as ‘Martin’s Law’. Or in the spirit of open source … ‘more like guidelines’.No matter what 'fool-proof' system is in place, those dark-triad types will suck the human capital dry, siphoning all resources into their own gated communities, until inevitably, 'too big to fail', fails, like a dinosaur collapsing under its own weight.'Housing loan crisis', 'Lehman Shock', the Great Wall Street crash of the ‘20’s ... a stinkweed by any other name would smell as rank. Alas, were it just restricted to smell.2012, what we ‘learned’ — Fukushima reactor meltdown was a man-made disaster, says official report.As a former Comparative Culture teacher, I should say a bit about how Japan Inc. parses ‘human error’ and ‘man-made’ disasters. Imagine a wide range of meanings ranging from an ‘honest mistake’ at one extreme, and getting caught doing what hierarchical social primates are primed to do … ‘gaming the system for personal advantage’ at the other extreme.Those two terms conveniently cover the gamut.Well hey, it’s the Fourth of July, 2018, and following good pedagogic practice, let’s see if, indeed we ‘learned’ anything.Just 3 stories today is enough to say it all …1 — Nuclear watchdog OKs restart of aging Ibaraki nuclear plant hit by tsunamiPhoto: REUTERS file(Read it while it’s ‘hot’ folks, to aid our short collective memories, Japan Today will typically delete the article from its archives in a week or so, so I have it copy-pasted for any future readers interested, assuming there is a future.)Yours truly, as an English teacher at the Tokai Mura nuclear power plant - before.And after?Can’t really say. Like the weather and earthquakes, that will be up to the Watchdog Committee’s official stamp of approval.2 — Japan oks ambitious nuke energy target plutonium reuse plan — Japan on Tuesday approved an energy plan that sets ambitious targets for nuclear energy use and sustains a struggling program for spent-fuel recycling despite setbacks after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.(But praise the lord we have government officials and Watchdog Committees!)3 — Senior education ministry official arrested over bribery — Tokyo prosecutors on Wednesday arrested a high-ranking Japan education ministry official on a bribery charge, suspecting he granted a research subsidy to a medical school in exchange for admitting his child as a student.Oops.Might as well add another few for good measure …(edit July 7, point 4, because of the relevance to points 1 and 2)4 — 5.9-magnitude quake felt in Tokyo, no tsunami warning. I felt that one. ALL of Tokyo felt it … and for close to 30 seconds.Mother nature couldn’t give a f.f. for the government’s official approval of where and when the next temblor will be permitted. But money-driven authoritarianism and mother nature have never been on good speaking terms, much less happily wedded.5 — Fukuoka's 'guest teachers' of English outstay their welcome. — After 36 year years of studying and teaching here, I found out the hard way that Japanese work contracts are not worth the paper they are written on. And this is not restricted to lay-teachers … Cautionary tale: Bern on how no protections against harassment in Japan’s universities targets NJ regardless of Japan savviness and skill levelHaving worked in American and Japanese Universities, high schools, and volunteered at kindergartens, I know a little bit about education. Now, having resigned in protest from a tenured Associate Professor position (qualifications here … Steven Martin, I am forced to pick up odd jobs at universities, but not as a professor — though still desperately trying to hang on to my identity as an educator, following its best, subversive to authority, liberal arts tradition. Now working for a subcontractor, likely similar to those mentioned above in the Fukuoka article.I have a contract here before me, that I will not sign. It makes no mention of accountability to the students who educators should be serving.Educational content and pedagogy have been boiled down to little more than economic constraints and opportunities. Just like any other business, everything is based on the bottom-line.Now with falling demographics and numbers of Japanese students to draw on, the overabundance of ‘educational institutes’ are forced to accept anyone who can breathe, and now an increasing number of the young and restless from China and Southeast Asia. This makes for some interesting cross-cultural possibilities.But it is an extra pedagogical burden on those who speak only Japanese and English, and these outsourcing companies are choosing teachers whose main qualification is ‘they look foreign, speak English, and are desperate enough for money to just sign on the dotted line and follow orders’.I try to make do.Here is a sketch done in my English class last week, by a speaker who maybe can say ‘Hello, how are you today?’ — yet she could visualize and understand Plato’s Allegory of the Cave better than most American counterparts. Bright girl.The ‘most recent comment’ under the following YouTube link describes how I got their attention last week, kept it, built on it .., and enjoyed a blast from the past.As bad as my situation is, still can’t pay the rent, it could be worse.6 — Japan’s open to foreign workers. Just don’t call them immigrants … The latest LDP plan is to open the door to 500,000 low-skilled, kkk workers (no not Jeff Sessions and company), the 3k jobs are kienai, kitsui, and kikken (dirty, hard, and dangerous) — jobs that anyone tries to avoid, but dirt-poor immigrants see as opportunity. There are just two teensy-weensy conditions to the special 5 year visas (10 years if language skills are up to snuff).• There is no legal path beyond the expiration date of that visa allowing for immigration or naturalization. When that visa expires, the worker has no choice. They MUST return to their native country.• If the 5 year or 10 year worker has a spouse or kids, even those immediate family members will not be allowed into Japan. All human needs will be taken care of by the Japanese company they work for.‘Special work visas’? I would call that a legal euphemism for ‘human trafficking’.It appears that Japan Inc. is hell bent on using hidden labor to build the infrastructure catering to the wealthy visitors who come to ‘do’ Japan. Not so different from Qatar, the UAE, and other oil rich sultanates.(edit) Today’s morning headline in Japan Today … https://japantoday.com/category/national/japan-firms-used-foreign-trainees-at-fukushima-cleanup-reportsI have saved the above to hard disc because as per policy, that website typically deletes its articles a week or two after posting it. No wonder we fail to learn from history … we are not allowed to even make a collective memory. So for anyone who wants the details of the article above (which are few — even the guilty companies were not named), I have saved the article to hard disc. And again, that title …4 firms made foreign trainees do Fukushima decontamination workYokoso (welcome to) Japan … tourists and ‘trainees’ alike.Japan’s 4th of July headlines is one for the record books … to hell in a hand basket. A big one.————————————So class, what have we learned since that 2012 official government report?Hmm. Something about a dead parrot?More like a whole menagerie — George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' in a nutshell.Credit: Carl Glover via FlickrJust a guess, but those 'dark triad' types probably make up between 1 and 5 percent of any population.But even among the remaining, more typical, members of ours species, Hannah Arendt .... and then later the behavioral psychologists Solomon Asch (conformity experiment), Stanley Milgram (experiment in obedience), and Philip Zimbardo (the malleability of identity in the Stanford Prison experiment) pointed out how easily even the average Joe Blow's behavior can be manipulated with relatively light touches of authoritarianism.Noam Chomsky in 'Manufacturing Consent', and later later Naomi Klein in 'The Shock Doctrine', shows us some blueprints. Antony Loewenstein is showing how this is playing out down under with Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe.And William Blum shows us some of the gut-ugly details in Killing Hope.A couple of yeas ago, Stephen Hawking wrote an editorial for The Guardian saying This is the most dangerous time for our planet ... implying we will either make it to Mars and exploit its resources, or destroy ourselves in a final malthusian meltdown over the remaining resources on earth.An increasing number of STEM specialists believe we may have already passed a species-ending tipping point.Chomsky, in his 2010 Chapel Hill speech, 'Human intelligence and the environment’ began that speech with a couple of paragraphs referring to the debate between Carl Sagan and Ernst Mayr regarding the probability of intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos. Predictably, and sensibly, Sagan argued for the probability, on statistical chance alone.But Mayr gave a surprisingly sensible counter-argument from an evolutionary biologist's point of view. The biological record indicates an average of about 100,000 years for the shelf life of an apex (dominant) species ... and we are at about that point.Mayr said that while there is probably life out there, it is not likely to have a human-like intelligence. He went on to further imply that human intelligence is not the apex of evolution — it is merely one of many tools for the survival of a social primate.But worse, he suspects human intelligence is more likely a fatal mutation. An evolutionary spandrel at best.The more I observe of our swarming, self-destructive nature, the more I tend to agree with Mayr.