It's a good thing I haven't moved around too much,

because I've picked up a piece of bad local grammar everywhere I've ever lived.

Chicago: "I'm going to the store.  Wanna go with?"  This is so ubiquitous that Illinois grammar nazis do not bother to correct it.  I had no idea it was problematic until I moved to Kansas.
South Carolina: "I might could do that."  It sounds terrible, but adds extra ambivalence, which I like.
Missouri: The other day someone told me that the song "Life Ain't Always Beautiful" is a great song, if grammatically incorrect.  Several long seconds went by before I figured out the problem.
Kansas:  As far as I can tell, the only grammar problem Kansans have is their tendency to correct other people's grammar.

Something no one knows

As I listen to the pundits discuss the latest dust-up in Israel, it occurs to me that no one seems to know this:

The newly created United Nations approved the Partition Plan for Palestine (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181) on November 29, 1947, which sought to divide the country into two states—one Arab and one Jewish. Jerusalem was to be designated an international city—a corpus separatum—administered by the UN.

The Jewish community accepted the plan, but the Arab League and Arab Higher Committee rejected it.
...
On May 14, 1948, the day before the expiration of the British Mandate, the Jewish Agency proclaimed independence, naming the country Israel. The following day, the armies of five Arab countries—Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq—attacked Israel, launching the 1948 Arab–Israeli War;
...
After a year of fighting, a ceasefire was declared and temporary borders, known as the Green Line, were established. Jordan annexed what became known as the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip.

So, land was designated for a Palestinian state from the very beginning, but what land the Arab countries didn't lose in a war with a day-old nation, they annexed to themselves.
 
Here's something I didn't know:

Following World War I, the League of Nations granted Great Britain the Mandate for Palestine and the responsibility for establishing "the Jewish national home" within it.

^{I've often heard and believed this piece of conventional wisdom: "Arabs have to suffer a Jewish state in their midst, just because Europeans murdered all those Jews."  I'm sure the Holocaust gave the movement more urgency, but a Jewish homeland was a goal of the international community long before anyone ever heard of Hitler.}

There is no rain in the forecast...

and yet, it's raining.

This in no way shakes my confidence in the ability of scientists to predict the weather 100 years in the future.

Running Makes Me Hungry.

That's the only possible explanation for why I am dutifully putting in the miles and losing no weight.  I shaved 3 minutes off my best time today but I'm still fat.  Arrrgh.  I guess if it wasn't for all the running I could be gaining weight.  Horrors!  I shall try to keep at it, but my body is not providing me with any motivation.

Update:  Shaved another 1:30 off my time.

Talk Nerdy To Me, Baby

I am a Library School drop-out, so this made me quietly chuckle: