Wow, only scored a 23 on this, well within the the "Stuck in the last century" category. I guess that's either a sign of hope or rather disappointing, depending on how you look at things.

Talking cats.... amazing...

http://www.mojoflix.com/Video/Can-cats-talk.html

Unrelatedly but in its own way, quite amusing... for those of us who love cats unconditionally, anyway... good kitty!

I just got this itch to write something funny and not having anything to do with science. Think I should send it into the Onion? :)

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The Meiji Restoration

The Meiji Restoration occurred in the summer of 2005. From May until mid-July, the Meiji Restaurant and Party Room in West Bloomfield, OH was closed for renovations. The place was a complete shambles in June, but when it re-opened, how business improved. "Well worth the investment," said Wen-Sun Chu, owner of the restaurant and 10-year resident. "Never underestimate the power of some oak vaneer in the bathrooms or a few new statues. I mean, since we re-opened, our bar business and tripled, and we've been raking it in!"

The Boxer Rebellion

The Boxer Rebellion is still being discussed in Thailand among Muay Thai Kickboxing enthusiasts and practitioners.

In late August, 2004, the Bangkok All-National Team went on an exhibition tour to Panama. In an effort to save on lodging fees, and being not very familiar with Thai customs, their contract road-manager, Gelfani Stephan, a well-meaning but culturally unindoctrinated sports team manager from Jamaica, initially paid to lodge three teammates to a room at the Panama City Hilton for the exhibition event week.

Contrary to popular conception, the Thai people are generally very conservative in habit and demeanor, and the lodging of three to a room exceeded the Thai threshhold of acceptable privacy compromise, when no emergency was present. So together with three of his teammates, the team captain went to see him and insisted that the manager pony up the extra cash for more rooms, so that at most there would be two to a room. Embarrassed as well as slightly intimidated by the presence of four men each of whom could conceivably kill him with just one of their feet, he quickly opened up the big wallet and rented out several more rooms.

The rest of the week's activities proceeded without incident.

The Tokugawa Era

Despite his popularity and the fact that he needn't have done so until required by law, Mr. Jenshi Tokugawa, beloved Design Section chief at the Zentenshu Washing Machine Company in Nara Prefecture, Japan, retired in 2005 in order to "spend some time with the wife and so on." Heartbroken employees of the section all agreed that indeed, his leaving was the end of an era. Said Hiroshi Tanaka, a senior engineer, "Mr. Tokugawa was great, always a gentleman and always very wise. He was also not stingy with the entertainment money. He used to take us out every Friday it seemed. Nothing like it's been since he left. Our new manager, he doesn't take us out more than once a month, if that."

While the Japanese are slow in general to make comparisons for the sake of saving face or avoiding conflict, it seems even the new chief agrees. "I am no Tokugawa, that is for sure," said Mr. Genkusa Oouchi, Tokugawa's successor. "I readily admit it. I just don't like all that going out stuff and I am not as good with people. Really, I would rather got back to accounting, but please, don't mention that to my boss. This is Japan, you see. We have to do what we are told here in the company."