Comments on: Comments on 9457

Post number 9457

tweebiscuit — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 18:21:54 -0800

Microsoft is hoarding child prodigies in order to breed the next Bill. You heard me.

By: skallas

skallas — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 18:31:46 -0800

Help me out here I can't decide if Rupert is an andriod or a clone. I'm leaning toward clone.

By: zempf

zempf — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 18:32:16 -0800

Hmm.. "published April 1-7, 1999."

By: chrisege

chrisege — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 18:42:43 -0800

read the "corrections" section, that's the best part.

By: tomorama

tomorama — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 18:44:07 -0800

Hrm. I just read through that entire article, then I get down to the "corrections" paragraph which basically says "none of that stuff was true." So I guess there is no Rupert?

By: Ptrin

Ptrin — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 18:49:10 -0800

Lol, that was wonderful. You knew something was amiss... there was just enough impetous to read the corrections. I love it.

By: designflea

designflea — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 18:57:30 -0800

my favorite part... Rupert set about to solve the problem. Working with the remnants of an old biofeedback machine discarded by a local drug store, he rewired the TV remote to pick up commands directly from Grandma's brain. old biofeedback machine discarded by the drugstore? excellent.

By: Kevs

Kevs — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 19:14:12 -0800

I remember when this first came out (on 1 April 99). Pretty much every web board I visited then was talking about it, since there was no "corrections" until the next week. Really well-written fluke. It had me duped.

By: suprfli

suprfli — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 19:17:04 -0800

whenever i start reading an article like this i immediately scroll to the end to look for the "this certainly seems like it may be true but it isn't" or some other bullshit to let you know that the entire article was a joke. it saves me a lot of time instead of reading 4 pages of fictitious shit.

By: whatnotever

whatnotever — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 20:03:17 -0800

Yeah, that was *good*. I didn't like the bit about "6 year old descrambles HBO with clipping shears, speaker wire." *That* was really too unbelievable. You really can't do that much with clipping shears and speaker wire... I'm sorry.

By: ook

ook — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 21:03:05 -0800

Ok, I'm ashamed of myself: it wasn't until they started talking about TR that I figured out it was a satire. Which means I completely bought the idea that Microsoft had a black budget genius-breeding program going. No skepticism about that at all. Now if Apple had this sort of program going, it wouldn't be no damn eight-year-old buying telephone cable from Radio Shack; it'd be some superfly babe who designs laser lightshows for the raves she goes to with Steve. And (while I'm at it) if it were linux I guess it'd be the result of some mass cloning experiment to which every programmer in the world contributed a little tiny bit of genetic material. And it would be uglier than sin. But it would be a master of kung-fu. ok that's enough i'm going home now

By: caraig

caraig — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 21:17:34 -0800

my favorite: Rupert began once-a-month tutorials with renowned investor and Gates confidant Warren Buffett. According to those sources, Rupert has already taught Buffett a great deal.

By: Max's Daddy

Max's Daddy — Thu, 02 Aug 2001 22:16:34 -0800

While the author was writing this great hoak... was he watching a Pretender episode on TV or... an old A-Team episode or Maguyver?

By: canoeguide

canoeguide — Fri, 03 Aug 2001 01:50:02 -0800

tsk tsk...that's "MacGyver"

By: mecran01

mecran01 — Fri, 03 Aug 2001 04:37:00 -0800

I hear they've expanded the Manchuria program and renamed it M.I.T.

By: matteo

matteo — Fri, 03 Aug 2001 05:34:02 -0800

Funny story, but the coolest April fools prank of the last 25 years, I'm sorry, has been created by George Plimpton . "The curious Case of Sidd Finch", (Sidd as in Siddharta), the greatest baseball pitcher ever: first published in Sports Illustrated, then in book form. Here you can read the original magazine story

By: tweebiscuit

tweebiscuit — Fri, 03 Aug 2001 06:35:13 -0800

Matteo -- you're right. What a frickin' awesome story.

By: the bob

the bob — Fri, 03 Aug 2001 07:07:33 -0800

That Sidd Finch story cracks me up every time! I really like the parts where the document Sidd Sighting, especially the crap flinging contest.

By: youhas

youhas — Fri, 03 Aug 2001 10:39:54 -0800

I love the Sidd Finch story! It's out of print, but there's usually a copy or two floating around eBay on any given week.

By: matteo

matteo — Fri, 03 Aug 2001 12:25:24 -0800

Too bad it's out of print. But "The Best of Plimpton " is still available. Sidd's story on it. And in Plimpton's afterword there's a great anecdote: he writes that so many people actually didn't believe the story was a hoax, and keep asking him about Finch and his whereabouts. Plimpton always tells them that the guy is living in London, reading and meditating and playing his horn. Plimpton also explains that he does have Sidd's secret number, and when he tries to call there's usually no answer. But sometimes it's busy

By: whuppy

whuppy — Wed, 22 Aug 2001 06:28:05 -0800

The Sidd Finch story got me hook, line, and sinker. I thought it was the swimsuit issue.