7 April Fools' Day pranks (2015 edition)

A few of this year's spoof April Fool's Day stories...

Last week I featured a spoof story involving a petty politician, and this week the internet was full of spoof stories, as Wednesday was April Fool's Day. Here are some of the April Fool's Day pranks that various companies, organisations and websites posted on the internet...

1) CATNAV

"Anything dogs can do, cats can do better..."

First up is an interesting new scheme launched by the Royal National Institute Of Blind People ... CATNAV! RNIB help many blind and partially sighted people with their trained guide dogs, and they now plan to expand by training cats to act as 'guide cats'.

An early pilot of the scheme suggests that CATNAV will be ideal for any blind or partially sighted people who want to climb trees or hide under cars.

RNIB introduces CATNAV

2) Could this be the most exciting game of the year...?

House Plant Simulator: "An action packed adrenaline ride."

Fans of original computer games will love the ground-breaking 'House Plant Smulator' where you get to experience life as a house plant! The sales page reads, "Fulfil your dreams of being a plant. Watch the world go by as you soak up the sun." Sounds like an action-packed adrenaline-pumping roller-coaster of excitement!

However, a clue to the authenticity of the game comes in the promotional blurb, which states, "Coming 1st April! You'd be a fool to miss it!"

House Plant Simulator by BundleStars

3) Bouncy Aisles

Bouncy aisles... Both fun and practical!

With some April Fool's Day pranks you can't help wishing they were true, and this next prank from Tesco is one such example.

Starting from Friday, Tesco will be introducing 'bouncy aisles', which should help short shoppers reach 'those pesky products on the top shelves'.

The official Tesco announcement claims a full roll-out of bouncy aisles is scheduled for the UK over the next 12 months, so look forward to bouncy aisles coming soon to a Tesco near you!

Tesco tweet announces bouncy floors

4) Cool images from around the Solar System

The Giant Turtle Of Ganymede ... or is it?

Some spoofs stretch beyond Earth, such as one story highlighting unusually shaped rock formations from around the Solar System. Each rock formation resembles an object from Earth, such as the Giant Turtle Of Ganymede pictured to the right.

Other rock formations found on planets and moons include rocks resembling mermaids, giant paw prints, love hearts and Martian 'graffiti', but sadly all of the photos are actually fake.

You can check out the all of the images at the link below:
Five rock formations from around the Solar System which resemble objects on Earth

5) Watch online as your PC is repaired...

Always treat computers with care ... just like Birchenall Howden.

This next April Fool prank had me chuckling away and highlights that a sense of humour can be a great way to promote your company.

It's a prank by a PC repair company called Birchenall Howden who recently installed five live cams so that customers can monitor their technicians as they fix their computers. The cams show their technicians conscientiously working away and taking great care as they repair people's computers ... or do they?

You can check out the 'camera feeds' at the link below, and I found cameras one and five particularly amusing:
Live technician monitoring

6) Push a sprout with your snout!

Brussels sprouts.
Ideal for pushing up a mountain with your nose.

Macmillan Cancer Support have come up with a creative way of raising money this year ... the Sprout Snout Challenge! As the name suggests, the challenge is looking for fit and determined mountaineers to raise money by pushing a brussels sprout up a mountain with their nose.

According to the Macmillan website, this new fundraising idea was inspired by Stuart Kettell, who last year 'pushed a brussels sprout to the summit of Mount Snowdon with his nose,' and offers fundraisers the unique opportunity to 'put your money where your nose is'.

Any extreme mountaineerers can find out more at the link below:
Push a sprout with your snout

7) A classic April Fool's Day prank from the past...

Reduced gravity on Earth caused by planetary alignment.

Strictly speaking, this final April Fool's Day prank is a bit out of place, as it took place in 1976, not 2015, but I found it amusing so I thought I'd include it anyway...

Back in 1976, astronomer Patrick Moore informed Radio 2 listeners that at exactly 9.47am Pluto would pass behind Jupiter causing Earth’s gravity to be ‘reduced’. Of course it was a hoax, but amazingly hundreds of people started phoning in saying they had noticed the change and one caller even claimed that she and her friends had floated around the room!

They must have felt really foolish when they later learned it was all a joke and of course Earth won't experience the reduced gravity phenomenon until 2017, specifically at 9:47am on 6th April 2017.

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As a final note, one of the most apparently obvious April Fool's Day pranks I ever experienced was a memo several years ago which was sent around the Finance Department at the local council where I worked. The memo was circulated on 1st April and announced that going forward the Finance Department would henceforth be known as 'Customer And Operational Services' ... or 'CAOS' for short. Some might say that 'chaos' was an accurate way of describing the Finance Department, but being 1st April I automatically assumed it was a joke. However, surprisingly it turned out that the memo was genuine!

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You can find a few April Fool's Day pranks from previous years at the links below:
7 April Fools' Day pranks (2014 edition)
7 April Fool's Day pranks (2013 edition)

If you fancy yourself as an expert at separating fact from fiction, then check out Charles Fudgemuffin's trivia themed book, 'True Or False: A Light-Hearted Collection Of 100 Facts And Bluffs'.