|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Dmitry Yentsov
April 1 is April Fool's Day in our country and April Fool's Day in the West. And this means that you will again fall for some naive stupid prank and, at least, you yourself will try to play a joke on someone. In general, I woke up - wait for a dirty trick all day. Most of the jokes are very innocent and kind. But there are also major “divorces”, and such that they are almost on the verge of a heart attack. And this is despite the fact that we are all subconsciously waiting for jokes on this day, that is, we are mentally prepared.
Flying penguins made a lot of noise in 2008
I'll give you a personal example. A few years ago, for some reason, it slipped out of my head that today is April 1st. I went to the dentist, and at the most inopportune moment a call to mobile phone: "Hello! Dmitry Vladimirovich?- "Yes"- "You are disturbed from the military registration and enlistment office...". The male voice on the other end of the tube was rude, the tone insistent, convincingly introduced himself as a colonel - do not dig in. Naturally, I got worried right away. Firstly, there is absolutely no reason for me to call people from the military registration and enlistment office - I have already freed myself from military duty. Second, I was in the dentist's chair and talking was, well, downright uncomfortable. But during the monologue from the other end of the tube, I learned (the whole spectrum of Russian profanity was used to heighten the effect) that I am obliged to serve, I evade and they can put me in jail for this, and that tomorrow the police will come for me. In general, I broke straight from the doctor to restore justice. But it turned out that it was actually a friend who called, that I was already the third "loose" who today fell for this divorce and an adult uncle unknown to me acted as the "colonel". Like, since April 1, my friend.
But my history pales before the practical jokes that have gone down in the annals of world history. We present them in chronological order.
Handy spaghetti tree
No one has yet managed to outdo joke of French soldiers during World War I. It happened on April Fool's Day 1915. A French plane flew over the camp of German soldiers and dropped a bomb. The Germans rushed into the loose, but the bomb did not explode. When the frightened soldiers approached her, it was written: "From April 1!".
April 1 1957 in English television program "Panorama" it was shown documentary about the fact that a miracle plant grows in the south of Switzerland - spaghetti tree. The local people just walk around and pluck spaghetti. All this was supported by a very convincing, but, of course, staged video sequence. For a long time, BBC employees explained to excited viewers where such trees can be obtained.
Swedish color television
In general, journalists are still experts in grandiose hoaxes. It is now that the media is not shy about publishing fake "scrap" news on April Fool's Day, and before it caused a sensation. This includes the coolest "divorce" of almost the entire population of Sweden. By April 1st 1962 there was only one television channel in Sweden, and that was in black and white. So, in one of the programs they said that scientists have found a way to make a television image color on black and white TVs. After listing an incomprehensible technical scheme, they explained that nylon stockings put on the screen could give the effect of color. But in order for the image to appear accurately in color, the head must be held at a certain angle ... As a result, even today you can find Swedes who remember how their grandparents rushed around the shops in search of nylon stockings. And color television in this country did appear - after 4 years.
Big plausible article about a non-existent state
The editors of the famous English edition of the Guardian, apparently, also decided to keep up on April 1 1972 already on seven pages issued a "scientific" article about the non-existent republic of San Seriff, located in the dense island zone of the Indian Ocean. Like, this is almost the most exotic paradise on earth. Naturally, a considerable number of Britons decided to spend their next holidays there, but ...
April Fool's Day 1972 can be called the coolest in history. Because apart from the pseudo-state at the same time Found the Loch Ness Monster. Moreover, not just found, but pulled ashore and even explored. The fault was an employee of the Yorkshire Zoo, who decided to have some fun. Knowing that his colleagues were going on an expedition to Loch Ness, he had previously thrown into the water the carcass of an elephant seal (a type of seal), which had died at the zoo a few days ago. It should be noted that elephant seals are not found in these places and the people almost never saw them at all, which played an important role in the “joke”. The carcass then surfaced 300 meters from the shore and immediately made a splash among the local population. While the zoo staff was catching her, the news of this spread throughout Britain. The fact that the creature did not at all look like the classic image of the Loch Ness monster scared anyone, on the contrary, it was immediately dubbed the “Son of Nessie.” The scientists got it, loaded it into a truck and headed to their zoo to “explore”. But, as soon as they left, the locals realized that no one could just pick up their landmark and began to ring the bells. I had to involve the police, who eventually stopped the car and demanded that local experts immediately examine the find. Even prominent scientists had to be called in, who immediately opened their eyes to everyone - this is not a monster at all. A day later, the merry fellow confessed everything.
"Sensation" from Loch Ness
On the same day in 1985 the well-known American sports publication Sports Illustrated published an article about a certain a young man who can throw a baseball at a fantastic speed of 168 miles per hour(that's more than 270 km/h), and the best baseball players at that time could throw at a speed of "only" 103 miles per hour. And they added that the guy is on trial for the New York Mets. A flurry of letters and calls about the guy hit the editorial office, and on April 15, the editorial office had to admit that this whole story was fiction.
Americans pecked at an incredible baseball player
March 31 1989 Londoners saw a real UFO. Moreover, it did not try to hide at all, moreover, it landed on the outskirts of the city. When the police arrived, they saw that it was not an alien ship at all, but a balloon made under a UFO, and it was controlled by none other than Richard Branson, a well-known prankster and head of the record company Virgin Records. True, the weather prevented the millionaire from completing his plan - landing on April 1 in Hyde Park.
Pseudo UFO over London
April 1 1992 of the year one of the US radio stations stated that the ex-president Richard Nixon(the same one who discredited himself with listening devices at the headquarters of his competitor in 1974) decided to run again for this post. As evidence, the radio station played Nixon's audio address on the matter. But the shocked Americans were then calmed down - a parodist spoke in the voice of Nixon.
AT 1998 the Guinnes brewing company joked loudly. She issued a press release that she had entered into a cooperation agreement with the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. And by condition and for a whole year GMT is renamed Guinness time. Few believed in this joke, but not the well-known newspaper the Financial Times. Representatives of the brewery had to explain that it was an April Fool's joke.
The BBC has already been mentioned above, but in 2008 she pulled off a successful prank again: she showed a TV report about flying penguins. Allegedly, there are such people in Antarctica, but they prefer to spend the winter in South America. Naturally, all this was accompanied by convincing shots of birds soaring in the rays of the sun.
Why are we all about Western "divorces". In Russia, they also know how to joke loudly. Especially with the advent of glasnost and perestroika.
Yes, in 1988 The Izvestia newspaper published an article stating that in Moscow football "Spartak" can go to Diego Maradona himself. And that the amount of his "purchase" is equal to 6 million dollars. Surprisingly, it was not our people who fell for this most of all, but foreigners. Some Western media even wrote news about this, with reference to Izvestia. The publication then had to make excuses that this was an April Fool's joke.
But, perhaps, the loudest cheered on April 1 1992 newspaper "Moskovskaya Pravda". Not only did it come out with the date of March 32, it also changed its name for one day - “Moscow Lies”. And devoted the main material new Moscow metro. They say that in the capital of our country they plan to launch an alternative metro in order to understand which is better - the old or the new. Well, what do you want, competition is the engine of capitalism that was just advancing then. Naturally, no one “fell for it,” but the people laughed heartily.
April 1st is the best day of the year to prank someone. Moreover, world history knows cases of such successful or large-scale draws that "Your whole back is white" in comparison with them - mosquito bite. Let's take a look at the top 10 of them. We do not undertake to judge which ones are better - we have placed them in chronological order:
april fools bomb
Excellent played during the First World War by French soldiers - German. On April 1, 1915, a French army plane flew over a German military camp, dropping a bomb on it. The scattered German soldiers waited a long time for it to explode, but when they finally decided to approach it, they saw the inscription "From April 1!".
Trees that grow spaghetti
On the same day, but already in 1957, the English television program "Panorama" on the BBC showed a documentary about a miracle plant - a spaghetti tree that grows in southern Switzerland. The locals just come up and rip the spaghetti off him. The journalists' story was supported by a convincing (but, of course, fake) video sequence. Calls from viewers who wanted to know where you can buy seedlings of such trees, there were an unimaginable number.
Color TV (Swedish mode)
Sweden remembered April 1, 1962 for a long time: on this day, in one of the programs of the only television channel at that time (broadcasting only in black and white), it was said that scientists had found a way to make black and white TVs show a color image. Enumerating incomprehensible details of the technical schemes, the "specialists" explained that the effect of color can be achieved with the help of nylon stockings stretched over the screen. Moreover, the image will be visible in color only if the head is held at a certain angle ... And today you can still meet Swedes who remember their grandparents who ran around the shops in search of nylon stockings. But the Swedes were still able to see the color image - however, 4 years later, when color television appeared.
Non-existent paradise state in the Indian Ocean
In the famous English edition of The Guardian, apparently, big jokers also worked. On April 1, 1972, a "scientific" article about the non-existent Republic of San Seriff was given as many as seven pages. Supposedly located in one of the archipelagos in the Indian Ocean, it is almost the most exotic paradise on the planet. The reaction of the British was unequivocal: all those who called the editorial office wanted to spend their next vacation there.
baseball april fools
In 1985, the popular American sports magazine Sports Illustrated published an article about a young man who could throw a baseball at an incredible speed of 168 miles per hour (a little over 270 km/h), while maximum speed, with which professional baseball players did this, reached only 103 miles / hour. Also, the article stated that he was on trial with the New York Mets. After the flurry of calls and letters that hit the editorial office, I soon had to admit that it was just an April Fool's joke.
"False" transition of Maradona in the Moscow "Spartak"
They also liked to joke in the Izvestia newspaper. So, on April 1, 1988, a note was published on the pages of the publication about the transition to the Moscow football team "Spartak" of Diego Maradona himself. The amount of his transfer was also mentioned - $ 6 million. What is most interesting is that foreigners believed the joke more than our people: in some Western media, similar news began to appear with reference to the Izvestia newspaper. Later, the editors had to explain that it was a hoax.
UFO over the capital of Great Britain
In 1989, on the last day of March, many Londoners could observe a real unidentified flying object over the city, which did not even try to hide, but, on the contrary, after some time landed in the vicinity. A police patrol that arrived at the scene stated that this was not a UFO at all, but an ordinary balloon, however, made to look like an alien ship. "Behind the wheel" of an unusual vehicle was Richard Branson - the head of the record label "Virgin Records", known for numerous jokes and practical jokes. According to him, he planned to land in Hyde Park just on April 1st, but weather conditions prevented his plan.
False launch of an alternative metro in Moscow
Moskovskaya Pravda made a great joke on April 1 in 1992: on that day the newspaper came out with the date "March 32" under the changed name "Moskovskaya Pravda". The main article of the circulation was an article about the new Moscow alternative subway, which is allegedly planned to be launched in order to determine which is better - new or old. Of course, no one believed the joke, but the readers of the newspaper laughed heartily.
Greenwich Mean Time "renamed" to Guinness time 
The Guinness brewing company also distinguished itself with its April Fool's joke in 1998. A press release appeared in the media, which said that the company and the Royal Observatory in Greenwich entered into a cooperation agreement, according to which Greenwich Time was renamed Guinness Time. The well-known newspaper "The Financial Times" was among those few who believed the joke. Representatives of the brewing company were forced to admit that it was an April Fool's hoax.
flying penguins
On April 1, 2008, the BBC aired a television story about flying penguins. Convincing shots of penguins soaring above the ground were accompanied by a story that they live in Antarctica, but fly to South America for the winter.
(according to prm.ru)
Beloved woman can be played by giving her a twist, moreover, in the literal sense. Buy a beautiful box, like those in which rings or earrings are given, put a zest in it and present it to your beloved with the words "Every woman should have this."
Be careful: if a girl has been waiting for jewelry from you for a long time, or even more so a marriage proposal, such a joke can seriously upset her. In this case, you should definitely prepare a second box with a real gift.
A good, albeit rather difficult, option to implement can be a “home restaurant”. Offer your family a menu with fun dishes: ax porridge, chewed paper lump casserole, etc. For fun, it’s worth preparing several dishes that actually look like food on the menu, but in fact turn out to be quite edible. Another, simpler version of this joke is to invite loved ones to a restaurant and first ask the waiter to serve the “special” menu you have prepared. It will be especially funny if the employee of the institution starts to praise the dishes you invented.
Original April Fool's jokes for colleagues
If your superiors favor pranks, decorate the doors of most office spaces with funny signs on April 1st. For example, on the door of the toilet you can fix a sheet with the inscription "Conference Room", and on the door of the smoking room - "Meeting Room".
You can use not only inscriptions, but also funny drawings. If you are not very good at drawing, just print suitable images on the printer.
In the morning or at lunchtime, you can "work" a little on your colleagues' computers. Optical mice can be sealed with electrical tape from below, or you can change the cursor speed and button assignments in the settings. Moreover, the mouse and keyboard can be replaced with "analogues" made of cardboard - this is harmless and very funny. You can also carefully paste over the monitor with stickers, after writing short funny jokes on each of them.
If there are many employees in the same office, and each of them uses a wireless mouse, seize the moment and swap all the mice. At the same time, it is advisable to do everything discreetly so that no one suspects you. Then you can be perplexed on an equal basis with everyone else and even participate in “fixing problems”.
There is a magazine called "Chemistry and Life". In that distant era, when the Internet did not exist, it was its replacement. Not, honestly, a popular science magazine, even with all sorts of incomprehensible formulas, but better than Crocodile. There were guest reviews (“Letters from Readers” with cool answers), creatives (such as Absurdopedia), news feeds, photo booth covers, and finally, foreign fiction was constantly published. I can’t resist, I will quote the Decree of the Bureau of the Brezhnev Republican Committee of the CPSU in Moscow dated July 27, 1985 “On unprincipled and apolitical manifestations in the journal Chemistry and Life”.
“... the editorial board and the editorial board of the journal "Chemistry and Life" (party group leader comrade Stanzo V.V., editor-in-chief comrade Petryanov-Sokolov I.V.) allow serious perversions in the ideological content and artistic design of this publication. The materials published in the journal are cut off from the life of the country, do not reflect major events in the life of the party and the state, suggest to the reader that science exists outside of politics. None of the decisions of the Plenums of the Central Committee of the CPSU, sessions of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, none of the decisions of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR were reflected on the pages of the journal. The highest socialist ideas and thoughts on the pages of the magazine are often clothed in buffoonish images and look like an evil mockery of our reality.
But what the heck this fucked up editorial team excels at is the April Fools' pranks. If even highbrows were bought - one doctor of medical sciences copied April Fool's joke into his quite serious book - so what can I say about me.
In short, spring ... twenty years ago, it is clear that April, a new issue of the magazine came. I read the magazine, put a credit to the authors, found the April joke on the surface, thank you, pasmialso, I turn the last page and quietly ahueva. I do not remember the details, but in general the following. On the back cover, a keypad is drawn, with numbers (like a phone), a speaker and the text: “Domestic, fucking, scientists represent new development based on defense production conversion. Of course, this is just fun, but it demonstrates new possibilities in science. This is an afftamatic horoscope. In order to find out your personal horoscope for today, poking your finger into the keys, type your date of birth and today's date, and press the "Start" key. You will hear your individual horoscope, bred to fuck the country's best horoscopists for the day"
I glanced at the magazine in disbelief. No, astrology is nonsense, I have known this since the age of five, but how not to check the device? And I started typing, carefully following the instructions, gently poking my finger into the drawn keys. Pressed enter. You now understand what followed. No, no one sent me, no one even congratulated me on the first of April. Nothing followed. I reasonably thought that maybe I made a mistake in typing, the wrong date format is there, yes, yes. After a couple of minutes of typing repetitions, I thought that something was going wrong. And then I saw that some note was written at the bottom in small letters. When I read it, I thought, “Yeah! There it is!” The following was written there. “If the page isn't responding, it's likely the magazine was stored in high humidity, and the circuitry embedded in the fucking page shorted from the moisture. Try ironing through the fabric. Or the magazine has been in the dark for a long time, and the solar battery is dead. Lay the magazine cover up in a sunny spot."
After a couple of minutes, I enthusiastically ran a heated iron over the gauze with which I covered the cover. After the procedure, there was no reaction to dialing the fucking number. Well, yoptyt, now I knew what to do. On the windowsill, for a couple of hours and went, I think I'll take a walk. Halfway out of the room, a terrible thought in its reality came to me. I returned, turned the magazine over and sadly stated that the number on the cover was 4. For several minutes, I aloud, preferring non-parliamentary expressions, told into the void everything that I think about the magazine, its editorial staff, mad Russian scientists, conversion, electrical engineering, Pavel Globe, April and his brains. And the most annoying thing is that initially, after all, I knew that the April issue, and even found a joke. Stopudov, they are bitches, they made it easy to detect on purpose.
Justifying my chicken brains, I will inform you that there was literally not a single person out of fifty snouts to whom I threw the magazine, who would not start clawing with visible interest. One turned out to be so enthusiastic that even after they explained to him about April 1 on his fingers, he did not want to come to terms with the thought that he had broken off with the horoscope for today.
Trying to prank someone on April 1st is as hopeless as searching for "Twist of Fate" on the May 9th TV show. The feeling of incredulity in a person on the first of April is exacerbated to the limit. Therefore, isolated examples of deceptions that were believed in are worthy, if intransigence, then at least careful study.
1 Temporary difficulties
On April 1, 1980, the BBC announced that Big Ben's clock would be converted from mechanical to electronic to keep up with progress. (For some reason, it didn’t occur to them to lie that from now on a giant cuckoo would protrude from the dial, although we think that it would be more fun.)
While the channel's London office was taking calls from outraged viewers, the Japan Air Force, echoing the news of Big Ben's fate, added that obsolete arrows would be sold to the first four listeners who called the studio.
The first to break into the studio was a Japanese sailor, who sent his application to the company's teletype in Morse code.
2 Good mine
By an amusing coincidence, on April 1, 2003, at the same time that the Iraqi ambassador to Russia, Abbas Khalaf, was giving a press conference in Moscow, on the other side of the globe, coalition troops were moving into Iraq. Without losing his presence of mind, Khalaf began his speech with a joke.
Smiling, he showed the reporters a sheet of paper and read out a Reuters emergency report: “As a result of a mistake, America has launched a nuclear attack on the British armed forces. Seven people were killed." reigned in the hall deathly silence, which could only be destroyed by the joyful cry of Khalaf: “Since the first of April!”
3 false jaws
On Dumb Day 1981, the Herald News informed readers that 2,000 freshwater sharks would be released into three Michigan lakes as part of a biological experiment. Scientists are going to find out if predators will survive in the cold climate of Michigan. For this good cause, according to the newspapers, the government has already allocated one and a half million dollars.
“It is likely that we will soon witness a sharp decline in the fish population,” the representative of the National Association of Biologists noted in the article, “as the average shark eats 10 kilograms of fish per day.”
The innocent National Biologists Association suffered the most in this story, which received several dozen parcels of dead fish during the week.
4 Ears are the mirror of the soul
In 1994, on April Fool's Day, National Public Radio (USA) reported that several giant companies (in particular, Pepsi was mentioned) acted as a united front in another action aimed at attracting young consumers. It was promised that anyone who tattooed their ears with the symbol of the corporation would receive a lifetime 10 percent discount on the products of the chosen company.
The next day, when it was announced on the air that the past message was a prank, there were several calls from the owners of tattoo parlors, saying that the youth reacted very positively to such a crazy offer.
5 TASS is authorized to destroy
On the morning of April 1, 1982, the Connecticut Gazette and Connecticut Compass newspapers (published, you might guess, in the state of Connecticut) unanimously reported to readers that they were being bought by TASS, the main Soviet news agency. Readers amazed by the commies' intrigues were informed that the purchase of these newspapers was the first expansion of the Soviet media giant beyond the Iron Curtain.
In passing, it was also mentioned that immediately after the purchase of the Compass newspaper, both of its publishers died in a hunting accident, accidentally shooting each other in the back of the head with "Soviet army rifles." A new publisher with a typically Russian name, Vidonch Kissov, promised that the newspapers would be "red through and through." Newspaper editorial offices were flooded with calls of condolence over the ridiculous deaths of publishers and threats to cancel subscriptions.
6 Get a homeless grenade
In 1999, the Phoenix New Times, in an article "Give Peace a Chance," described the new charity. Instead of simply providing food to the homeless with ikrov, she was going to give out weapons to the homeless. The organization was called so - Arm the Homeless ("Let's arm the homeless"). For greater reliability, a website and a hot telephone line were created.
A week later, the editors summed up the results. Among those deceived were several television and radio channels that repeated the news, the police, who tried to contact the founders of the organization, and one homeless man, who came to the editorial office for a free gun.
7 Artist from the word "no"
In 1988, a lavish evening was held in New York in memory of the artist Nat Tate, who you probably know. Yes, that's right, this is the same painter who drowned himself after destroying 99% of his works. At a party by myself David Bowie read excerpts from William Boyd's submitted biography of Tate. Critics, drinking cocktails, recalled the oddities from the life of an eccentric genius.
The next day, it turned out that Tate had never existed. Boyd invented it, and of all those present, only Bowie and the publisher of the book knew the truth.
8 Physicists lie
Physicists claim to have discovered a new particle so often that an article published in the April 1996 issue of Discover magazine surprised few. At that time, scientists reported on the location of the bigon particle. Bigon, they assured, exists only for millionths of a second, but during its short-term materialization, it acquires the size of a bowling ball (it was only a matter of size - the presence of holes for fingers was not reported). The particle was discovered by accident when it materialized and blew up the computer of physicist Albert Mankiw.
9 Lenin and the seven dwarfs
On April 1, 1995, the Irish Times wrote an editorial that Disney was negotiating with Russia to buy Lenin's mummy. The body from the mausoleum is allegedly going to be transferred to Eurodisneyland, where it will be subjected to "full Disney processing." It was assumed that the body would be stored under a stroboscope, and excerpts from President Reagan's famous speech about the "evil empire" would be played in the background. T-shirts with the image of the leader were planned to be sold in the neighborhood. All this was to attract countless crowds of visitors to the park and increase profits to unprecedented heights.
The result of the joke was a short-term controversy in Russian-language emigrant publications. The liberals proposed to leave the mausoleum empty so that it "symbolized the emptiness of the entire communist system of power", the radical nationalists believed that it should be turned into a memorial monument to Nicholas II.
10 Penalty for drunk driving
We do not know in what state you are reading this text. Perhaps in the same (three pints of beer) in which we write it. If this is a normal occurrence for you, then an article from the April 1994 issue of PC Computing magazine would thrill your whole being. In the polemical material, the editors asked whether the new draft law "Prohibiting the use of the Internet while intoxicated" was legitimate.
The main focus of the article was on the sinister plans of the FBI, which was going to use the law to listen to the phones of citizens who were seen using the Internet while drinking. The bill itself was numbered 010494 (that is, April 1, 1994) and signed "Lirpa Sluf" (April Fools backwards).
After the publication, Congress received so many calls from sober netizens that Senator Edward Kennedy was forced to officially deny the existence of such a bill.
11 Mother Earth
After Thomas Edison invented the gramophone in 1877, not only his wife, but the rest of America believed that his genius had no limits. So when, in 1878, the Graphic newspaper announced that Edison had made an apparatus that turns the earth into a high-calorie meal and thanks to which the problem of hunger can be forgotten, many people willingly believed.
A few weeks later, under pressure from the inventor's lawyers, the newspaper had to issue a retraction. In addition to the endless visitors who overcame Edison, thieves entered his residence several times, trying to steal the miracle device and, probably, feed the whole world.
12 Crying Bolshevik
And again about Ilyich. In 1995, the city radio of the Italian city of Cavriago reported that a monument to Lenin was tearing up. Prior to this, such little-explained phenomena were associated in the baptized world mainly with the images of the Virgin Mary. (Perhaps the idol was crying because he remembered his distant native Luhansk. The monument was removed from this city during the Second World War by Italian soldiers at the direction of Mussolini, a great admirer of Lenin.)
For several hours, the crowd, praying in Italian, swirled around the monument to the leader of the world revolution, hoping to see the tears on the bronze cheeks, until the radio operators hung up, admitting that it was a hoax.
13 Dirty hint
A very long time ago, or rather, in 1997, when the Internet was a novelty even for you, a few of its users received an e-mail message that the authors asked to be forwarded to everyone they knew. The letter informed that from March 31 to April 2, the World Wide Web will be closed for cleaning.
The procedure was required to remove unnecessary sites, empty local networks and electronic trash that slows down the Internet. All this was supposed to be done by "five powerful multilingual robots Toshiba ML-2274, developed by Japanese engineers." At this time, users were advised to disconnect all equipment from the Internet.
Network historians believe that the warning letter originated in the depths of computer networks at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
14 pi during chu
In the April 1998 issue of New Mexicans for Science and Reason, readers were informed that the University of Alabama had voted to change pi from 3.14159... to the more convenient 3.0. Soon the news leaked to the Internet and spread around the world.
It became clear that the joke had gotten out of hand when the number of calls to the University of Alabama demanding the repeal of the order reached three hundred a day. A notice posted on the university's website explaining that the pi material was a parody of the introduction of laws prohibiting the teaching of the theory of evolution in schools, could not get the same distribution on the Web as the article itself.
15 Machine fuss
In 1991, the London Times announced that in order to combat traffic congestion, the Department for Transport Policy had decided to double the size of the London Ring Road, turning it into a one-way highway. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays it was supposed to move clockwise, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays - against. The output movement was going to be left unchanged. The next morning, the mailbox of the press service of the parliament was filled with letters of protest.
16 One left
In 1998, Burger King ran an ad in USA Today announcing the release of a left-handed sandwich specially designed for the 32 million Americans with poor language skills. right hand. The new sandwich, the advertisement promised, included the same ingredients as the regular one, but all of them were rotated 180 degrees for the convenience of left-handed people.
The next day, Burger King reported in the same newspaper that hundreds of customers had come to the restaurant to try the new sandwich. There were also many who demanded the old, right-handed version.
17 Pluto is our friend
In 1976, the British astronomer Patrick Moore, speaking on the morning air of the BBC 2 radio station, informed the listeners who did not understand anything while awake that at 9.47 a unique astronomical phenomenon would occur that everyone could experience for themselves. The planet Pluto, the prominent scientist explained, should pass behind Jupiter, which will give rise to a gravitational anomaly. If you jump at 9.47, then the person will feel an easy flight.
As early as 9:48, BBC2 began receiving hundreds of calls from listeners claiming to have experienced the promised sensation of flying. And one of the listeners said that she and eleven of her friends took off from their chairs and flew around the room a little.
18 "Spartak is a champion!
One shepherd boy often shouted “Wolves! Wolves! never lied about it. And when he saw the hallucination and yelled, "Tyrannosaurs!" Everyone believed him. It is this old parable that comes to mind in connection with the hoax arranged in 1988 by the Izvestia newspaper. The press organ reported that Diego Maradona agreed to move to Spartak Moscow for a fee of $6 million.
On the same day, the Associated Press spread the word around the world. The venerable agency did not suspect colleagues of deceit: this was the first case April fool's drawing in the history of the Soviet press. The outburst of humor was attributed to the costs of Gorbachev's glasnost.
19 The smell is the smell
In 1965, the British television channel BBC introduced the latest invention - Smellovision. Now it was possible to transfer smells from the studio to any home TV. Instead of conveying the smell of the presenters sweating under the spotlights, as an example, they cut onions and brewed coffee in the studio.
Although the smell from the screen resembled onion and coffee in much the same way as this page of the site (dare, feel free to smell it!), A considerable number of easily suggestible viewers called the studio and confirmed that the “smell vision” worked.
20 Small business
On April 1, 1984, the Florida newspaper Orlando Sentinel reported on a cute creature with the long name "Tasmanian quasi-walrus", which many residents of the state have already adopted as a pet. Animal length of ten centimeters outwardly resembled a dwarf walrus, meowed like a cat, and habits resembled a hamster.
But the main option of the animal was its diet: it ate the scourge of Florida - cockroaches. “One quasi-walrus is enough to completely clear the house of cockroaches,” the newspapermen promised.
In the photographs accompanying the article, meanwhile, a rare rodent-naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber), taken at a special angle, really resembled a walrus with its fangs. Calls asking where to buy a quasi-walrus have been coming to the editorial office for several months.
21 Tire vulcanization
In 1974, residents of the city of Sitka (Alaska) rushed around their apartments in a panic, stuffing documents and money into their pockets. For a long time, it would seem, the extinct volcano Eidzhkambe, located next to the town, began to emit thick smoke. For several hours, with their heads up, the townspeople stood on the street and prayed to the gods that the eruption would bypass them. Finally, rescuers called from the mainland calmed the inhabitants, as they found out that hundreds of car tires were burning in the volcano's crater.
The fire was started by a local prankster, Porky Bicar, who, in preparation for the prank, had been collecting old tires for several months. According to our records, old Porky is now collecting sticks of dynamite to simulate an earthquake.
22 Native police protect themselves
On April Fool's Day, 1959, the Kokomo, Indiana police press service announced that, in order to save money from the municipal treasury, police officers would not be on duty from six in the evening until six in the morning. Instead, the station will have an answering machine recording citizens' calls. “Most of the calls will no longer be relevant by morning, so the police will not be able to leave on these signals, which will save a lot of money,” the statement said.
Recognizing some inconvenience regarding the calls of those who are threatened with murder, the press service assured that the duty officers would call hospitals and morgues in the morning. “If the victims of the crimes are not found, it will become clear that nothing terrible happened overnight.”
In the week following the hoax, police reported almost 30 percent more offense than usual.
23 Pro running
On April 1, 1981, the London Daily Mail asked readers to help find missing runner Kimo Nakaimi. A Japanese athlete who took part in the traditional London Marathon, due to a translator's error, decided that he should run not 26 miles, but 26 days.
The newspaper wrote that the Japanese was lost somewhere among the boundless England and was still running somewhere, not wanting to give up and leave the race. Several people who called the editorial office on the same day reported that they saw a runner who looked like a Japanese, but could not catch up with him.
24 Unbelievable, but a pact!
In 1996, ITAR-TASS told the world that domestic parliamentarians were seriously discussing the renewal of the Warsaw Pact. The panic that seized the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, whose news agencies believed the duck, settled down only a few hours later, when ITAR-TASS, writhing with laughter, explained that it was just a joke.
25 Wrong wasps
In 1949, the New Zealand radio host of station 1ZB warned listeners in an excited voice that a swarm of wild wasps was approaching Auckland, the country's largest city. The swarm is at least a mile wide. To protect yourself from the winged threat, according to the presenter, you just had to behave like an idiot: you had to throw out all the sugar from the apartment, and before leaving the house, tuck in your pants.
We don’t know how a fearless you would have behaved in such a situation, but many Aucklanders obediently tucked in their pant legs and got rid of sweets. The incident had far-reaching consequences. For almost 60 years, on the eve of the first of April, all New Zealand radio stations receive a government memorandum asking them to refrain from pranks.