We Don't Need No Stinking Badges!

Happy Anniversaries!
#1. On March 31, 1854, 日米和親条約 (the Convention of Kanagawa or "America-Japan Treaty of Amity and Friendship") was concluded between Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy and the Tokugawa shogunate. (His distant relative ended up playing Chandler on Friends.)

#2. On March 31, 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces invade Christmas Island, then a British possession. (Note: not Easter Island which would have been appropriate for this weekend.)

#3. On March 31, 1949 – The Dominion of Newfoundland joins the Canadian Confederation and becomes the 10th Province of Canada. (40 years later, they all moved to Peel Region and ended up on my Welfare caseload.)

#4. On March 31, 1970 – Nine terrorists from the Japanese Red Army hijack Japan Airlines Flight 351 at Tokyo International Airport, wielding samurai swords and carrying a bomb. (Btw, John Belushi was not among them.)

#5. On March 31, 2006, MyTwoYenWorth begins its humble journey into the blogoverse!

So 4 years ago, I began my blathering and since then I've managed to post almost daily and have accumulated almost 1500 musings. Some are amusing, some are abusing, some are a-cruising for a-bruising! The link in #5 depicts me wearing glasses. By an odd coincidink, I went for an eye checkup today and made a spectacle of myself. My optimistic optician is an old student from my Soma days and a huge Star Trek fan. In appreciation of the freebie checkup, I presented him with a Badge of Honour, a Star Trek Pin courtesy of Furuta! (Besides, I couldn't think of anything else to commemorate my anniversaire.)

Here are the 20 pins, (be sure to click on this and other pics to make them Doomsday Machine-sized) in all their glory!






























One doesn't accumulate a full set of these badges without amassing a whack of doubles and triples, so in honour of today's prestigious milestone and in order to verify this post's title, I shall hereby present badges to my loyal readership. That's right, I am starting another CONTEST. If you make a pithy comment on this post, you shall earn a badge. If you become a follower, you shall earn a badge. If you already are a follower, offer up a link to this post and you shall receive a badge. Supplies are limited, so act fast!!
(NOTE: it may take a while for me to honour my promise because I am a lazy SOB. Furthermore, I have already made 3 promises of mailing out some goodies that I have yet to act upon. I have the day off tomorrow, so I'll try to get on that post haste!)