1) Russian hacking services
The award for the most unexpected April Fool's Day prank had to go to the Russian Foreign Ministry who posted their apparently updated answering machine message on their facebook page. The message advises callers:
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| As unbelievable as it seems, facebook deleted the link, but you can still read the transcript. |
For legal purposes, they add:
"Please note that all calls are recorded for quality improvement and training purposes."
You can listen to the prank answering machine message below:
Update: Sadly, in an extremely uncharacteristic move ** shifty eyes**, facebook have now deleted the prank answering machine message, so unfortunately you can't listen to it anymore. I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word for it!
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| "Ha, ha! You've done all that training for nothing! The race is canceled!" "Well actually, it's not for nothing. Our training has still brought us many health benefits, with or without the race!" |
2) 5K run gets cancelled
The award for the most obvious April Fool of the year has to go to the 5K fun run held at Sunriver Resort.
Thousands of runners turned up on Saturday morning only for the organiser to announce, only moments before the race was due to start, "I have to apologise. We are going to have to cancel this race today."
Nobody fell for it, however, most likely due to the fact that the race was named the 'April Fools’ Day 5K Dash', which was kind of a giveaway.
3) A weather forecast that can't go wrong.
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| "Here is yesterday's weather..." |
Judging by the reliability of most weather forecasters, they'll probably still get it wrong.
4) Google for cats and dogs!
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| Here's one cat who is already taking advantage of Google's new cat-friendly services. |
Felines will be pleased to learn that a world of fishbowls, birds and milk are now just a whisker away. Fur real. While canines can surf topics such as bones, balls and frisbees to their heart's content. Let the tail-wagging commence!
'I'm Feeling Woof' and 'I'm Feeling Meow'
5) The world's first 9 screen laptop!
Canadian computer website, Newegg, proudly announced the release of Project Megga ... the world's first laptop to feature 9 screens! To quote the website:"That's nine screens!
Which is eight more than your dumpster peasant laptop.
But not 10 screens.
That's too many "
Yeah, a ten screen laptop would just be ridiculous!
The Project Megga laptop is rather pricey, at $29,999.00. However, if you act quick you can take advantage of a special promotion offering a generous discount of $1. Wow! That equates to a massive 0.00003% reduction, and means you pay only $29,998.00!
Project Megga 9 screen laptop.
6) Clean your screen with the click of a button!
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| The latest way to clean your computer. "With a cloth?" "No, with software." |
The 'screen cleaning' software uses a pioneering new technique which uses electromagnetic pulses and rapid frequency changes to trigger specially co-ordinated colour changes, resulting in the dispersal of accumulated grime. To describe it in more everyday terms, a kaleidoscope of colourful imagery is shown on your computer screen and the resulting frequency emissions disperse dust and dirt from your screen.
Try the software for yourself, and give your computer screen an 'electronic wash' at the link below:
Screen cleaning software
7) Skunk Lock Organic
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| The inspiration for the latest bike lock. |
Do you want a cool new way to protect your bicycle from potential thieves? Are you unsatisfied with traditional bike locks?
Then why not get a 'Skunk Lock Organic', the cool new way to protect your bike by attaching a real skunk filled with stinky gas to spray on any potential bike thieves!
Update: Sadly, yahoo have removed their story describing the Skunk Lock, so I can no longer link to it. You'll therefore just have to take my word for it that the Skunk Lock Organic was a real prank.
. . . . . . . .
To round things off, here's a piece of wisdom regarding April Fools' Day which is worth remembering:
"For some people, April 1st is the only day of the year when they critically evaluate things they find on the internet before accepting them as true."
The ironic thing is that the people reading this nodding their heads thinking, "Yes, that's right," will be the very ones who never check stories and instead simply believe the stories they want to believe, and disbelieve the stories that tell them uncomfortable truths.
To add to the irony, those same people will again be nodding their heads at my follow-up point!
And to add to the irony, those same people ... anyway, you get the point by now.
Never believe a story just because you want it to be true. Always verify stories by checking for sources to back up claims. And likewise, never disbelieve a story just because it's not what you want to hear. Very often in life the truth is the very opposite of what we want to hear, but that doesn't stop it from being the truth.
Here's another quote famously said by R2D2 during his appearance on the 3rd season of Dancing With The Stars [citation needed]:
"It's easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled."
I can confirm the accuracy of this quote. Back in my younger days I loved playing pranks and there were occasions at work when I would play tricks on people and even after I had explained to them that it was a joke, they would still remain convinced the prank was real.
Nobody likes to admit they've been fooled, but it happens to us all at times. So if you're the type of person who believes you have never been fooled, that means you are in fact the biggest fool of all.
You can check out April Fools' Day pranks from previous years below:
April Fools' Day pranks (2016 edition)
April Fools' Day pranks (2015 edition)
Excellent piece of work and really like your work. Will be back for reading more stuff.
ReplyDeleteNice article. Keep it up.
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