April 1, 2008

• Happy April Fools Day!

  Top 10 April Fools pranks of all time

  #1: The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest

   In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. Huge numbers of viewers were taken in. Many called the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."
  (heh, might grow something... green. I've actually heard of this one before.)

  #2: Sidd Finch

   In its April 1985 edition, Sports Illustrated published a story about a new rookie pitcher who planned to play for the Mets. His name was Sidd Finch, and he could reportedly throw a baseball at 168 mph with pinpoint accuracy. This was 65 mph faster than the previous record. Surprisingly, Sidd Finch had never even played the game before. Instead, he had mastered the "art of the pitch" in a Tibetan monastery under the guidance of the "great poet-saint Lama Milaraspa." Mets fans celebrated their teams' amazing luck at having found such a gifted player, and Sports Illustrated was flooded with requests for more information. But in reality this legendary player only existed in the imagination of the author of the article, George Plimpton.
  (Not sure why this one made the top ten, but then I'm not really into baseball.)

  #3: Instant Color TV

   In 1962 there was only one tv channel in Sweden, and it broadcast in black and white. The station's technical expert, Kjell Stensson, appeared on the news to announce that, thanks to a new technology, viewers could convert their existing sets to display color reception. All they had to do was pull a nylon stocking over their tv screen. Stensson proceeded to demonstrate the process. Thousands of people were taken in. Regular color broadcasts only commenced in Sweden on April 1, 1970.
  (People... are very gullible.)

  #4: The Taco Liberty Bell

  In 1996 the Taco Bell Corporation announced that it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke. The best line of the day came when White House press secretary Mike McCurry was asked about the sale. Thinking on his feet, he responded that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold. It would now be known as the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.
  (This is the only one that made me laugh out loud.)

  #5: San Serriffe

   In 1977 the British newspaper The Guardian published a special seven-page supplement devoted to San Serriffe, a small republic located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several semi-colon-shaped islands. A series of articles affectionately described the geography and culture of this obscure nation. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology. The success of this hoax is widely credited with launching the enthusiasm for April Foolery that gripped the British tabloids in subsequent decades.
  (I like to think I would have caught this one right away. I did recognize most of the terms. I thought this was the next funniest prank after #4.)

  #6: Nixon for President

  In 1992 National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation program announced that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." Accompanying this announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech. Listeners responded viscerally to the announcement, flooding the show with calls expressing shock and outrage. Only during the second half of the show did the host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement was a practical joke. Nixon's voice was impersonated by comedian Rich Little. 
  (You know, I bet they could get away with this prank again, with Nixon or various other former presidents.)

  #7: Alabama Changes the Value of Pi

  The April 1998 issue of the New Mexicans for Science and Reason newsletter contained an article claiming that the Alabama state legislature had voted to change the value of the mathematical constant pi from 3.14159 to the 'Biblical value' of 3.0. Before long the article had made its way onto the internet, and then it rapidly made its way around the world, forwarded by people in their email. It only became apparent how far the article had spread when the Alabama legislature began receiving hundreds of calls from people protesting the legislation. The original article, which was intended as a parody of legislative attempts to circumscribe the teaching of evolution, was written by a physicist named Mark Boslough.
  (I can see this happening actually, and not as a prank... just because 3 is easier to remember for most people than 3.14 or 3.14159. Yeah... I am not much impressed by my fellow human beings.)

  #8: The Left-Handed Whopper

  In 1998 Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today announcing the introduction of a new item to their menu: a "Left-Handed Whopper" specially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans. According to the advertisement, the new whopper included the same ingredients as the original Whopper (lettuce, tomato, hamburger patty, etc.), but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees for the benefit of their left-handed customers. The following day Burger King issued a follow-up release revealing that although the Left-Handed Whopper was a hoax, thousands of customers had gone into restaurants to request the new sandwich. Simultaneously, according to the press release, "many others requested their own 'right handed' version."
  (This is just... sad.)

  #9: Hotheaded Naked Ice Borers

  In its April 1995 issue Discover Magazine announced that the highly respected wildlife biologist Dr. Aprile Pazzo had discovered a new species in Antarctica: the hotheaded naked ice borer. These fascinating creatures had bony plates on their heads that, fed by numerous blood vessels, could become burning hot, allowing the animals to bore through ice at high speeds. They used this ability to hunt penguins, melting the ice beneath the penguins and causing them to sink downwards into the resulting slush where the hotheads consumed them. After much research, Dr. Pazzo theorized that the hotheads might have been responsible for the mysterious disappearance of noted Antarctic explorer Philippe Poisson in 1837. "To the ice borers, he would have looked like a penguin," the article quoted her as saying. Discover received more mail in response to this article than they had received for any other article in their history.
  (This one I actually remember! hah)

  #10: Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity

  In 1976 the British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at 9:47 AM a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to occur that listeners could experience in their very own homes. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would counteract and lessen the Earth's own gravity. Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment that this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 AM arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported that she and her eleven friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.
  (This one sounds familiar too, but I would have only been two at the time, so I can't be remembering it. I have a feeling that this prank has been played since 1976.)

  from Top 100 April Fools Day Hoaxes of all time... check their site for the other top 90 heh

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  April

  The name of this month comes from the Latin word aperire, "to open." This is appropriate for a month of blossoming flowers dedicated to Aphrodite. The Anglo-Saxon name for this month is Eastermonath and to the Franks it was Ostarmanoth, the month of Eostre the goddess of Spring and origin of Easter. The Asatru and many other Pagans simply call it Ostara. The Irish word for April is Aibrean or an Giblean, while the end of April is known as Seachtain an t-Sionnaich, end of the winds.

  The first Full Moon of this month is called Seed of Planting Moon, Budding Tree Moon, Egg Moon, or Growing Moon. Tribes in coastal areas refered to this as the Fish moon when Shad would come upstream to spawn. It is also referred to as Pink Moon for wild ground phlox, one of the earliest and widespread flowers of the spring, Full Sprouting or Green Grass Moon, Planter or Planting Moon, and Hare Moon, names it shares with May’s Moon. It also shares the name, Wind Moon, with March. April's moon is also the Paschal Full Moon, the first full moon of the spring season. 

  On April 20th, the zodiac turns from Aries to Taurus. The sweat pea is the flower for April children. Aries is the diamond, though on some older lists, sapphire is the stone for the month of April. The birthstone for Taurus is the emerald. Aries also lays claim to amethyst, carnelian, garnet, fire agate, pink tourmaline, and topaz, while aquamarine, lapis lazuli, kunzite, rose quartz, and sapphire are associated with Taurus.

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  April 1ST

  The tradition behind April Fool's Day is uncertain. Though sometimes linked to a tradition of releasing insane people for one day a year for the amusement of "normal" folk, it is also considered sacred to Loki, the Norse trickster god, and it is acceptable to play tricks on people till noon. The day may even have evolved from the festival of Cerelia. An ancient Roman feast, it celebrated the story of Proserpina. Due to the hopelessness of Ceres' quest to find her daughter, it has been called a "fool's errand."

  Some believe the celebration of April Fool's Day began many years ago in France. It may even relate back to the ancient festivals held on the vernal Equinox, March 21st. This was the beginning of the new year according to the pre-Gregorian calendar. In France when the Gregorian calendar was changed by Charles IX in 1564, the beginning of the new year was changed and celebrated on January first. Those people who still celebrated the day on the first of April were then known as April Fools.

  Prior to the change of the date it was customary to give gifts on the first day of the year. When the date was changed, people began sending mock gifts to other people on April, making them April fools. In Scotland, the custom was known as "hunting the gowk," (the cuckoo, a term of contempt), and April-fools were "April-gowks." In France, a person who resisted in changing the date of the new year was victimized by pranksters who played practical jokes on him. This person became a poisson d'avril, an April Fish. The French traditionally celebrated by placing dead fish on the backs of friends, though today, real fish have been replaced with sticky, fish-shaped paper cut-outs that children try to sneak onto the back of their friends' shirts. Candy shops and bakeries also offer fish-shaped sweets for the holiday. Some believe the origin lies in the weather of the vernal equinox which seems to fool all of mankind. In many countries however, April Fools' Day is not celebrated on the first of April. In Mexico, Fools' Day falls on the 28th of December, and in ancient Rome, the day was celebrated on the 25th of March. They observe the day on the 31st of March in India.

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  The festival of Veneralia or Festum Verneris honors Venus "Goddess of Beauty, Mother of Love, Queen of Laugher, Mistress of the Grapes." This is a time for women to seek good relations with men. During the, married women invoked the goddesses Concordia, Venus, and Fortuna. The jewelry and decorations of Venus was removed from her statue. The figure was washed, dried, and the golden necklaces restored. Offerings of roses and other flowers, myrtle and incense were given. English folklore says myrtle won't grow unless planted by a woman.

  Fortuna Virilis is also held today in honor of Fortuna. Today was a festival of good luck honoring the goddess Fortuna, Lady Luck, to whom all gamblers pray whether they know it or not.

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  This is the 17th day of Pachons according to the Egyptian calendar. It is a day scared to Hathor.

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