So I was watching PBS this afternoon when there's a commercial, in which a middle-aged Japanese man, well-dressed is solemnly intoning, "It is only half an inch long, but it can unlock the secrets of the universe. This is what I do."

Well, he was a physicist, talking about Einstein's famous equation. Sigh. Still, it's not very encouraging, and it hardly helps that Lostin points out that Japanese condoms he finds rather small.