"I called Joe," Stewart remembers, "and asked if he wanted to come to spring training with me. I said, 'The Mets have this pitcher they picked up. They got him pitching in secret, under a big tarp. He has a 168 mile an hour fastball and he plays the French horn and went to Harvard and he was raised in Tibet by Buddhist monks and he pitches with one foot bare and one foot in a boot. And guess what?
You're going to be him.'" [more inside]
posted by zarq
on Apr 1, 2013 -
23 comments
The editors of two college newspapers have stepped down after they released April Fool's Day editions that were not well-received by their respective campuses. Abby Spudich resigned as editor of the University of Missouri's
Maneater (renamed the
Carpeteater and filled with "highly offensive, sexist and crude" content for April Fool's) after writing an
apology letter, and Chelsea Diana of the
Boston University Daily Free Press was forced to resign after overseeing an ill-conceived April Fool's edition called the
Disney Free Press, which included satirical articles about
rape, prostitution and
drug use. She also wrote an
apology, as did the paper's
board of directors.
posted by Clustercuss
on Apr 11, 2012 -
85 comments
Some physicists celebrate April Fools Day by posting spurious papers to the
arXiv preprint server.
Non-detection of the Tooth Fairy at Optical Wavelengths
We report a non-detection, to a limiting magnitude of V = 18.4, of the elusive entity commonly described as the Tooth Fairy. We review various physical models and conclude that follow-up observations must precede an interpretation of our result.
[more inside]
posted by alby
on Apr 3, 2012 -
16 comments
A GRAVE JOKE ON UNDERTAKERS — Some malicious wag at Providence, R.I. has been playing a grave practical joke on the undertakers there, by summoning them over the telephone to bring freezers, candlesticks and coffin for persons alleged to be dead. In each case the denouement was highly farcical, and the reputed corpses are now hunting in a lively manner for that telephonist.
Paul Collins uncovers
the birth of the prank call.
[more inside]
posted by Horace Rumpole
on Nov 6, 2011 -
28 comments
April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 274 days remaining until the end of the year. April 1 is most notable in the Western world for being
April Fools'
Day.
[more inside]
posted by jbickers
on Mar 31, 2009 -
42 comments
"Google TiSP (BETA) is a fully functional, end-to-end system that provides in-home wireless access by connecting your commode-based TiSP wireless router to one of thousands of TiSP Access Nodes via fiber-optic cable strung through your local municipal sewage lines." The free version offers 10x the speed of a normal DSL.
Press release and
FAQ (with features and prices).
posted by Memo
on Mar 31, 2007 -
29 comments
In the study of mythology,
folklore and religion,
a trickster is a god,
goddess,
spirit,
human hero or anthropomorphic animal who plays pranks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and norms of behaviour.
Tricksters come in
all forms, from
all cultures. Notable examples include
Br'er Rabbit,
Odysseus,
Eshu,
Raven, and
Loki; most or all of whom you are likely familiar with.
posted by Eideteker
on Apr 29, 2006 -
31 comments
The Endless Wait Is Over! After 15 years, Guns N’ Roses will finally release its nearly mythical album,
Chinese Democracy. Chuck Klosterman has the exclusive first review of the new record, which features a 14 minute "rap-rock anthem" called "Pound You (Good)," several songs that "make thinly veiled references to the architect who designed Rose's backyard topiary garden," and attacks on the media, including "the editors of
Vanity Fair, MTV personality Sway, numerous teenage bloggers, and the city hall reporter for the
Cincinnati Enquirer (who, curiously, has never written about pop music)." Rock on, Axl Rose. Rock on.
posted by pardonyou?
on Mar 31, 2006 -
39 comments
The Scotsman's contribution to April Fool's yesterday was a satirical bit on Political Correctness: "European bureaucrats will push forward legislation today to force the Scottish Executive to change place-names that offend or discriminate on the grounds of race and gender. The commissioners in Brussels have demanded 'race and gender-sensitive' names found for towns such as Motherwell, Blackburn, Helensburgh, Fort William, Campbeltown, Peterhead, Lewis and Fraserburgh be changed."
posted by jenleigh
on Apr 2, 2005 -
16 comments
As a brief distraction from all the death and destruction, let's head over to the museum of hoaxes, where we'll find the top 100 April Fool's day pranks of all time.
Good luck with your own respective hoaxing.
posted by jonz
on Mar 31, 2003 -
5 comments
Remember everyone tomorrow, April 1st, is Make Fun of Dick and Lynne Cheney day, (because
Neal Pollack said so). If you run any kind of website or publication and have the power to mock, belittle or poke fun at the second family, it's your patriotic duty to do so.
posted by alan
on Mar 31, 2003 -
18 comments
MIT webpage modified for April Fool's Day. We've seen the Google Pigeon page, and EBay, and even our beloved Mefi (can I say that I actually like this look better?). Have we got a thread which is collecting web page AFD jokes? I didn't see one. If not, perhaps this could serve as a start?
posted by jokeefe
on Apr 1, 2002 -
10 comments
According to this editorial, April Fools hoaxes violate a fundamental trust between readers and the media and undermine the mission they're supposed to serve. Though opinion polls have never put "The Media" high on anyone's list of favorite organizations, I probably have to disagree in that April Fools hoaxes actually do
more to help the media by revealing their sense of humor and giving them a touch of the everyman.
posted by tiny pea
on Apr 1, 2002 -
30 comments
On Martha Stewart Living this morning, Martha showed how to make the perfect glass of water, how to peel a grape, and how to add a decorative touch to cereal boxes. I was almost sucked in. Nice work Martha, who knew she could laugh at herself? What other April Fool's Day pranks and pages have you found?
posted by jasonshellen
on Apr 1, 2002 -
17 comments
PrayStation . Year Zero "For those who don't know. Every year for the past 4 years April fools day has always been when I tear down my current website - and replace it with praystation year 0 - my very first posting to the domain. Enjoy it or hate it."
Don't miss this link. It's only up for one day only.
posted by Brilliantcrank
on Mar 31, 2002 -
0 comments
You've got Blogs! AOL buys into homegrown media. April Fools Day starts with a bang in the UK. Determined to get linked by many a weblog, they put out a story about AOL purchasing popular weblogs.
In related news, MetaFilter was said to be signing a merger agreement with Kuro5hin to pool content between the two sites.
posted by wackybrit
on Mar 31, 2002 -
14 comments
Are You Ready For April Fool's Day? Better read the
Museum of Hoaxes's March Newsletter to find out. Certain
pranks are already in progress, while
other recent hoaxes - of which at least one was seriously discussed here on MetaFilter - remain fresh in our minds. Real aficionados and sleuths, of course, will head straight for the
hoax websites pages, where some seem too good - or too awful -
not to be true. In Southern Europe, April Fool's Day is known as
Liars' Day and everyone is entitled - nay, compelled! - to invent at least one big
whopper. Any ideas?
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Mar 30, 2002 -
35 comments
Government GPS surveillance through your digital camera. A DOJ project to go after pedophiles and obscenity-mongers by regulating digital still and motion cameras is slated to be introduced in Congress:
A DOJ project code-named "Indecent Images" plans to implant technologies developed to automatically recognize hard-core Internet sex images into the next generation of cameras. An II-compliant camera will refuse to take illegal photographs or videos, and could even quietly tip off law enforcement to illicit behavior. . .
The II draft says that "any variant" of digital still or video camera must include a GPS device and a transmitter that is compatible with U.S. pager networks. When a child pornographer takes an illegal photo, the camera recognizes it and transmits an encrypted message containing the image, the date, and the location to the local police -- who would then raid the home and save the child from continued erotic exploitation.
They've
got to be kidding. I'm not endorsing exploiting kids, natch, but I can't believe this this kind of surveillance is even being contemplated. . .
Then again, remembering Ashcroft's beady little eyes. . . (via
J. Orlin Grabbe)
posted by aflakete
on Apr 2, 2001 -
26 comments
Happy April Fool's Day! I just stumbled across my first
prank page of the season. How about you?
posted by jjg
on Apr 1, 2001 -
28 comments
