“What’s the difference between Sarah Palin and Barack Obama?”
“One is a well turned-out, good-looking, and let’s be honest, pretty sexy piece of eye-candy.
“The other kills her own food.”
— The Times (London, that is) shares a jokeDear Simon and Schuster,
Why is the Kindle edition of a 15-year-old Banks novel selling for $15.99? Why is the trade paperback of it selling for $21.59? And, why, for the love of all that’s Culture, is it currently #9 in Star Trek adaptations?
Mind you, I think $9.99 is a bit high for the other Culture novels, but Look To Windward doesn’t stand out as being worth 60% more than the rest. And it’s not like you let Amazon set the price.
The Bear Necessities
Every copy I found of the song from The Jungle Book had embedding disabled, so please imagine this playing in the background as you appreciate the bearly-clad Hikari Agarie below the fold. Not Safe For Mowgli.
Butter rationing in modern Japan
Reading the JustHungry food blog, I discovered that there’s a serious shortage of butter in Japan. The author and commenters speculate on reasons why, but fail to mention the one I thought was obvious: import tariffs. After all, New Zealand is practically made of butter, and it’s a major trading partner.
Sure enough, dairy is a protected industry, and there’s a 35% tariff on imported butter.
Ribbon Studies Group
Young Gangan has released their latest research paper on the stabilizing effects of looped ribbons on a dynamic system, with the support of Doctor Nekomu Otogi, NSFW.
More Monster Girls
Okayado’s Daily Life with Monster Girls isn’t the only recent entry in the genre. While his own series 12 Beast is more of a “high school student travels to fantasy world” story, Youkai Shoujo and Hitomi-sensei’s School Infirmary are closer to the mark.
This is not necessarily a good thing, but I’ll keep an eye on them.
"Hey, kids! Let's twist the knife!"
Gakkou Gurashi episode 8 dashes hopes, for both the audience and the characters. This clashes horribly with the fan-service, and since they’re promising even more service next week, the story is sure to be a gut-ripper.
Bright Summer Daze
With events ranging from the disheartening to the awful this week, and the promise of more to come, I felt the need to cleanse my palate with something bright and uplifting.
…and NSFW if you don’t work in a bikini factory.
