NBC has decided in a rather bold move recently to begin writing articles in the vein of The Onion, the popular US comedy spoof newspaper. The big difference: NBC does a little more research to make theirs funny. Not only does the research appear to improve the quality of their articles, it even makes them factual.

Jedi facing discrimination at Tesco's in the UK

Really? In England? Not say. . . Wales, the country that you're actually talking about that isn't part of England?

Oh right, I forgot. The fourth most popular religion in Wales is ritual sheep shagging.

Which is also the other three.

Custard, have you ever thought about taking this brand of indignation you do so well on the road?

It's funny that you guys see places like Wales, Scotland etc as different countries
But the article was ok in this instance because in that sentence it was just talking about the perceived popularity of Jedism in general and giving an example of how popular it was in a specific place where it is apparently very popular. It wasn't mixing up England with Wales. Not there anyway.

This article isn't really that great. See, NBC isn't even taking this article seriously. They act like someone who can't lie at all trying to prank you. You can just tell that they're making it up.

The Onion, on the other hand, actually writes in a way that gives you the impression they're 100% serious about it, even if they're talking about the most rediculous things.


Also, the Onion's funny.

Well of course a heathen foreigner like yourself wouldn't understand how it works. It's like the states in the US. Entirely different countries that happen to speak the same language, and share the same landmass and president. It's like one big geological coincidence.

Plus, they'd probably slaughter the lot of us if we didn't pretend anyway.

Jedis keep getting lumped in with "other" so that's the 4th most popular religion. That includes Sheep Husbandry. (I believe that's the proper name for sheep shagging)

Wales, England and Scotland are three nationalites brought together by the Act of Union around the time James VI of Scotland became James I of Britain or was it England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland under George in the 18th Century? That's how the British flag became such a mish-mosh of crosses and things. (Union Jack? the crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, St Patrick, Saint John, Paul, George and Ringo)

Anyway some king had Parliament pass a law and it became one nation when it used to be three, four, or whatever. I miss South Saxons, Anglia and Rhaegd.

Thank god I have you around to tell me the history of my own country. It's not like I learned every word of this when I was five or anything.

All that is nothing more than a formality. Wales, England, Scotland and (Northern) Ireland are separate parts of the same nation.

My point is, when you're collecting statistics relevant to Wales, you don't look at England instead and assume they're the same statistics. How would you react if this took place in Maine and the article said it was the fourth most-popular religion in Florida? It's the same principle.