~A Bitter Swallow~

I think I thought-vomited in my brain a little bit...

Thought-Vomit

My brain is constantly mumbling and muttering to itself. Sometimes it screams. Sometimes what it has to say is interesting enough to make note of, or is adamant enough that it must come out. I'll put that stuff here. :)
Monday, March 31, 2008

April Fool's!




Ahh... the 1st of April. A day for whoppee cushions and fake pregnancy tests...The day when all the pranksters come out of hiding and go hog wild with tricks (no treats on this day!).

Call me a humbug.. but I am not really crazy about this day. The innocent pranks are ok with me, but it seems that more and more the pranks become ruder, harder, and not-so-funny-at-all.. Never-the-less.. there are many out there who still celebrate pulling one over on people in a decent fashion, and it is to these people that I dedicate this post.
At first, I thought about talking about how April Fool's day originated, but upon searching, became bored. I figured if I got bored in the first few minutes of looking it up, that there was no way I could get anyone else interested in an entire post on it! If you are interested.. go google it. I, on the other hand, decided instead to stick with some good old fashioned pranks that made headlines.



I found a website that lists the top 100 April Fool's Day pranks of all time. There were some pretty good ones on there: http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/ like these:
#8: The Left-Handed WhopperIn 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."
#10: Planetary Alignment Decreases GravityIn 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
#84: Viagra for Hamsters In 2000 The Independent reported that Florida researchers had developed a Viagra-like pill to treat sexually frustrated pets, including hamsters. Veterinarians were said to have greeted the news with derision, but the article pointed out that there are few things as sad as a pet suffering from feelings of sexual inadequacy, noting that "It's not unknown for a guinea pig to sit in its cage thinking, 'I haven't had sex for months. Am I so unattractive?'." Owners were instructed to simply grind the pills up and sprinkle them in the pet's food. Laying some newspaper down on the floor once the pills began to take effect was also advised. The pills were to be marketed under the brand name Feralmone.
and
#67: Life Discovered on JupiterIn 1996 AOL subscribers who logged onto the service were greeted by a news flash announcing that a "Government source reveals signs of life on Jupiter." The claim was backed up by statements from a planetary biologist and an assertion by Ted Leonsis, AOL's president, that his company was in possession of documents proving that the government was hiding the existence of life on the massive planet. The story quickly generated over 1,300 messages on AOL. A spokesman for the company later explained that the hoax had been intended as a tribute to Orson Welles's 1938 Halloween broadcast of the War of the Worlds.


At http://www.thefoolsday.com/ and http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/minisite/april-fools-pranks-main-ms/ there are all kinds of ideas for pratical jokes to play- like rearranging someones filing cabinet, or hard-boiling an egg the night before and put it back in with the uncooked eggs.


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