A few of the spoof stories and pranks found on the web on April Fools' Day.
Last year I rounded up some of the best online pranks played by various websites on April Fool's Day and as you'd expect there were plenty of spoofs this year as well, so here are a few of my favourites...
1) Scientists baffled by square eggs
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| Traditional 'egg' shaped eggs could become a thing of the past according to 'April Fuller'. |
However, eagle eyed viewers may be able to spot a couple of 'April Fool' clues in the promotional video, such as square eggs being available in shops from April 1st, and also a more subtle clue is the name of the Hammond Eggs spokeswoman ... April Fuller.
You can watch the full video at the following link:
2) Samsung, Toshiba and HTC all release smart gloves
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| Get ready for the next generation of 'Smart Gloves'. |
It just goes to show that in this age of increasing obsession with scientific patents and stories of technology companies suing each other seemingly every other week, we do genuinely live in a very creative world where totally unconnected scientists and designers can independently come up with the same ideas.
You can find out more about the smart gloves from Samsung, Toshiba and HTC at the following links:
Toshiba DiGiT
HTC Gluuv
Or at least you could ... if you'd got here in 2014 when the article was first written! If you're reading this in 2023 or later though, then unfortunately Samsung, Toshiba and HTC have all taken their pranks down from their websites.
3) Mona Lisa wore the world's first pair of contact lenses
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| A close up of Mona Lisa's eye which clearly shows she was wearing contact lenses. #NotReally |
It has to be said though, that his evidence appears somewhat flimsy, as his findings are basically built on the fact that he claims that when you look at the painting you can see faint lines around Mona Lisa's irises.
Despite the obviousness of this April Fools' Day bluff, one person actually claimed in the website comments that it couldn't be an April Fool as he had heard of Arvo Heft before and therefore it must be a genuine story!
If you want to read the full article then once again you should have got here in 2014 when I first published this article, because as you've probably guessed, the story has since been taken down, so you'll just have to trust me that I'm not making it up.
4) Tidal power delivered to your home by wifi
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| Safety data for tidal wifi transmission zone. |
The latest story focused on an Australian alternative energy company who look set to revolutionise the energy market with the promise of free tidal energy for life delivered to your home by 'wifi'. The company responsible also boasted of the impressive safety record that 93% of people living within the tidal wifi transmission zone received no negative health effects whatsoever!
You can read the full article at the link below:
Tidal power produces free 'wifi' energy for life
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| A shark in the River Tyne is about as likely as a camel at the North Pole. (Or a penguin in the desert.) |
5) Shark spotted in River Tyne
My local radio station, Metro radio, created a sneaky video which appears to show a shark swimming in the River Tyne. For the benefit of anyone from outside the UK, the idea of sharks in the River Tyne is about as likely as a camel being spotted at the North Pole, but despite the timing of the video, i.e. posting it on April Fools' Day, there were still people taken in by the video.
One person commented, "That's no April Fool. We regularly have seals and salmon in the Tyne, and sharks have been caught at the mouth of the river, following them and feeding on them. That's real enough."
Judge for yourself how real it is by viewing the video at the following link:
Shark spotted in the River Tyne
6) And the Player Of The Month is...
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| March wasn't a vintage month for Newcastle. |
For the benefit of any non-Newcastle fans, I should perhaps point out that goalkeeper Rob Elliot only played in one of Newcastle's five games in March, and that was our match away to Southampton ... where we conceded four goals! To be fair, Rob did have a really good game against Southampton, but for a goalkeeper to play only one game and concede four goals, and then be nominated for player of the month - on April 1st - did seem very suspicious. It does, however, sum up how poor the rest of the squad have been since Cabaye was sold.
7) Subliminal Ways To Influence Book Review Ratings
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| The University of Central Newcastle. |
To summarise the story, when authors included heat sensitive words such as 'sizzling' or 'sweltering' in the opening and closing chapters of their book, it was scientifically proven to have a positive subliminal effect on the reader, causing them to give the book a higher rating.
In response to the story I received a reply on twitter suggesting that another way to improve your book ratings is to "...not believe advice from someone named Charles Fudgemuffin." Wise words indeed.
You can find the full story at the following link:
Subliminal ways to affect book review ratings
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On a final note, here's a sneaky tip for anyone who fancies an easy relaxing day at work next year on April 1st. Whenever you get an email asking you to do a job, just ignore the request and simply reply, "Ha, ha! You nearly got me there until I remembered the date!" Then if they later complain that you didn't do what they asked, you can pretend that you mistakenly thought it was a joke request for April Fools' Day.
If you're looking for even more pranks and tomfoolery, then check out the following blog posts:
Daft office pranks (part 1)
Daft office pranks (part 2)
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