Otaku rule the world

Japan's next PM is related to a samurai. AND an anime fan!

Sayonara, Shinzo Abe

You do not get more connected than Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Taro Aso, a leading candidate to be the next prime minister of Japan. He is the grandson of one prime minister -- Shigeru Yoshida, who negotiated the peace treaty ending World War II -- and the son-in-law of another, Zenko Suzuki. His father was close to Kakuei Tanaka, Japan's most powerful postwar prime minister, and his younger sister is married to the first cousin of Emperor Akihito.

And to top it all off, he is the great-great grandson of Okubo Toshimichi, one of the most fascinating figures in modern Japanese history. Okubo was a key leader of Japan's Meiji Reformation, which ended the 240-year rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and ushered in a period of rapid government-directed modernization. For industrial policy fans, the Meiji Reformation sets the gold standard.

Sticky

So, anybody else remember Pixy Stix? The building landlord just gave all the tenants these boxes full of crappy candy (not quite sure what's up with this, as they've never before expressed any opinion one way or another on our tenancy, as long as we pay the rent). We've been grabbing the odd jujube when we go by (if we go out the other exit, we have to pass a bowl of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, which is clearly the more evil option). But then we spotted the Pixy Stix and kind of freaked out. We mean, they're basically pretty-colored sugar you just huff directly into your brain. But, Pixy Stix! The tradition at our place of lower learning was not to pour the powder directly into your mouth, but rather to spill it on your hand, and then lick it off, thus producing a slightly candy-dyed, slightly gooey palm. Ah, dextrose!

Why god invented the newsstand

Our favorite New Zealanders made the cover of Harp mag!

Doesn't look like the article is online, but we were forced to pick up the mag for the dreamy Bret & Jemaine pix anyways.

Paleontology, cool!

The career meme:

1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com/.
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top ten results

1. Environmental Consultant
2. Oceanographer
3. Electrical Engineering Tech
4. Electronics Engineering Tech
5. Paleontologist
6. Hydrologist / Hydrogeologist
7. Biomedical Engineer
8. Agricultural Engineer
9. Computer Engineer
10. Agronomist

What's with all the flippin' engineers? We already married a engineer, are friends with a engineer, and were sired by a engineer. And aren't an electrical engineering tech and an electronics engineering tech basically the same thing?

Also, we don't know what the heck an agronomist is, we think they made that one up.***

Best of the rest:

13. Elevator Installer and Repairer
21. Pet Groomer
22. Criminologist
37. Race Car Mechanic

How about we combine the last two and be a Race Car mechanic who also solves crimes? Kinda like Speed Racer only our voice would sometimes match our lips.


***Hello! Joke! Tell me what it is = get banned from Tikistitch FOR EVAR.