Reality test?

So here's an interesting take on history:

"Syria responded that Israel was the one precipitating a third world war, saying that 'If we examine the matter, we will find that Israel was behind the eruption of both World War I and World II.'"

Do you think we should tell them..?...nah.

Perhaps it's also worth noting that the Arabs seem to think our government is located in Tel Aviv...

Sadeghi called on the United Nations to step up pressure on Tel Aviv to open up its nuclear facilities for inspection, mirroring the same kind of pressure his nation had been placed under by the international community.

Or did he mean that we should open up all the nuclear facilities we have in Tel Aviv ?

Indian-Americans discover Wales!

Apart from being generally odd, this headline from CNN has another interesting story hidden in it:

Boy finds Welsh mountains, wins $25K

The winner of the US National Geographic Bee (yes, the one we've all been following) is from Moline, Illinois. His name is Bonny Jain which didn't ring any bells with me...but then you see this:

He was joined by his father Rohit, his mother Beena, and his 5-year-old sister, Riya Jain.

Which made me think they might be of subcontinental extraction. That's fine, but then see who the runners-up were:

Neeraj Sirdeshmukh, 14, from Nashua, New Hampshire, came in second. He won a $15,000 college scholarship. Third-place contestant, Yeshwanth Kandimalla, 13, of Marietta, Georgia, won a $10,000 college scholarship.

They're all Indians! My colleagues tell me that the Indians are the "new Jews" in the US, so I shouldn't be surprised, still, even when Jews were the "new Jews" did we really win 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in national competitions?

Or maybe Indians have a natural affinity for geography? But no:

Although Bonny plans to celebrate his victory by having "a huge party," he also needs to prepare for his third appearance in the national spelling bee, which starts May 31.

Argh! They're taking over! Neither spelling or geography are free of their influence. If they get quilting too, they'll have all the bees down...then they might move onto the cees...

Where will it all end?

Nanny State Watch #1

I think I'll start a new feature on this 'ere blog, I'm sure many others do it but this caught my eye today:

From the BBC: Concern over 'bigger Mac' burger.

Do British MPs really have nothing better to do than debate Burger sizes?