Sarah Palin, and the ECB, fail the Turing Test!

Steven Pinker declared in June this year, at a memorable lecture at the LSE in London, "humans are easily fooled". This was no more apparent than this weekend, when America's hottest hockey mom was convinced she was speaking with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy:

In an over-the-top accent, one half of a notorious Quebec comedy duo claims to be the president of France as he describes sex with his famous wife, the joy of killing animals and Hustler magazine’s latest Sarah Palin porno spoof.

At the other end of the line? An oblivious Sarah Palin.

The Masked Avengers, a radio pairing notorious for prank calls to celebrities and heads of state, notched its latest victory Saturday when it released a recording of a six-minute call with Palin, who thought she was talking with Nicolas Sarkozy.

Throughout the call, which was making the rounds in U.S. political circles by day’s end Saturday, Palin and the pranksters discuss politics, pundits, and the perils of going hunting with Vice-President Dick Cheney.

“We have such great respect for you, John McCain and I, we love you,” Palin gushes, evidently unaware she’s speaking to an infamous Quebec comedian named Marc-Antoine Audette.

At one point, Palin even comes close to confirming her intention to one day run for president, when Audette slyly remarks he can see her taking over the big desk in the Oval office.

“Maybe in eight years,” she replies with a nervous chuckle.

Over the course of the interview, Palin doesn’t seem to realize she’s being tricked until Audette comes clean near the end of the call.

From: Canadian Press.


Me thinks Palin went slightly over the top too, with her "we love you" :-)


And in another prank, Sir Allen Stanford's West Indian superstars duped the ECB Eleven into believing that they could become dollar millionaires in a sensational winner-takes-it-all, $20million dollar cricket match. This was England's preparation for their upcoming Indian tour, oh dear!

Links to articles:

Tony Cozier.
Telegraph.
Guardian.
Independent


In ECB's attempt to out-IPL the Indians, they may just have assisted Stanford in his dream to revitalise West Indian cricket. Let's hope so, cricket can only be better for a strong West Indian team.