April Fool's & the Web: 2004

Well with today being April Fool's Day, it has become a tradition that some major websites pulls April Fool's Day pranks on their readers. Here were some of the better ones I managed to find this year...

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Google

Google may have actually pulled off two gags, but we're still not sure on their idea of GMail -- web-based mail with a Gig of storage space. Even though the press release was dated April 1st, the story broke on major news services the night before. And Google is based in California in the Pacific timezone. Besides, I've actually heard some legitimate reasons why they might be able to pull this off...

Google's Hosting Job on the Moon, however, is one of the better pranks. Not satisifed with just one short blurb or page, Google rambles on for page after page (sometimes even coherently) on the pluses and positive aspects of such a research and hosting facility on our moon. Some of my favorite quotes include:

"This unique opportunity is available only to highly-qualified individuals who are willing to relocate for an extended period of time, are in top physical condition and are capable of surviving with limited access to such modern conveniences as soy low-fat lattes, The Sopranos and a steady supply of oxygen."...

"What happens to PageRank in the proximity of a black hole? Is there distortion that might result in link relevancy reduction or popularity warping? Could this somehow be harnessed to generate more dates for engineers? "...

"Through a partnership with an as yet unnamed hamburger chain, Luna/X engineers will be able to simulate a lunar work environment by ingesting tasteless freeze-dried nutritional byproducts while coding in noisy, crowded quarters suitably lacking any trace of atmosphere."

Good stuff. Google is clearly out of their minds, and that's why we love them.

ThinkGeek

ThinkGeek gets the Cruel & Unusual Award for this year courtesey of its gags.

Not only do they display new products such as the PC HabiCase and the PC EZ Bake Oven, they also managed to put up a banner ad stating that Half-Life 2, Doom 3, and Halo 2 are all now shipping. EVIL! Some gamers somewhere are going to be very, very ticked when they realize what's happened...

HockeyTradeRumors.com

This one is my personal favorite.

HTR is frequented (and basically dominated) by a bunch of Toronto Maple Leafs zealots, and the rest of the community there has no love for them. Which is exactly why this one is funny.

One of the moderators, lint07, posted an article stating that Leafs' starting goalie Ed Belfour would miss the first round of the playoffs due to injury, and that backup Trevor Kidd (who all Leafs fans seem to unanimously wish would go away or fall off a cliff or something) would be named the starter.

Funny, funny stuff, especially the initial reactions and comments by irate Leafs fans as they contemplate whether to throw themselves into Lake Ontario or not. Couldn't happen to a nicer group of people... ;-)

LiveJournal

The people at LiveJournal are clearly warped in strange ways anyhow, which is why theri April Fool's prank is unsurprising, yet I have to admit it's pretty good without being too disruptive.

Everyone woke up this morning to find that a user by the name of "lj_serialadder" had added them to their Friends list, whose interests include "Being Annoying", and "Serial Adding". LJ's prank would have been funnier had they kept one other change form last night. LJ had changed the fields "Friend" and "Friend of" to "Stalked" and "Stalked by", but I see now today that they've changed them back already. Nonetheless, a creative prank that fits the LJ community.

Slashdot

Slashdot is well-known for posting prank stories all day long, and it looks like they've kept that tradition up, though it's not as 100% clear which ones are all the fakes this year as it has been in past years.

Some of the more-obvious ones today include asking about naming their first-born child "leetspeak" ("leetsp34k") names, homebrewed open-source missle defense system designs, and Homemade Subliminal CD's. I like the one about the UK trying to tax Linux and all GPL software best though.

Blizzard: Worlds of Warcraft

Blizzard put up a blurb on their Worlds of Warcraft website stating that the Two-Headed Ogre would now be playable by players in the MMORPG, with each head being controlled by a different player. Again this is another evil and cruel one that will tick off many clueless players and fans once they realize it's an Arpil Fool's joke.

[kuro5hin

k5, who in the past has done some particularly-cruel April Fool's Day pranks themselves, this year opted NOT to do any it appears, which both surprises and disappoints me. I would have expected rusty to have come up with something like he's done in the past. Sorry, but I guess it's more proof positive that kuro5hin has totally lost its sense of humor and is simply now a haven for socially-challenged politico-nazis with nothing better to do than argue international policy they know nothing about, all day long.

UltimateGuitar.com

UltimateGuitar.com has a nice article up on how Metallica's Kirk Hammett is contemplating leaving Metallica and joining Guns 'n Roses. It includes the quote, attributed to Kirk, stating:

"I don't like what we did on our latest studio album (St. Anger)".

He also includes references to Lars whining during its production about how nobody can ever hear his drums and that he wanted them to come out much louder on the tracks.

Funny stuff. There's really not much else to say there -- you either get it or you don't, sorry...

NukeFreeZone

And lastly, this isn't a "major' site (sorry kat, heh), I only added this because it's proof that I know too many weird people. So I guess I should have seen this post equating the Scots (as in from Scotland) to Nazis (as in the Hitler kind) coming. You can figure this out because of the MacNazi gif he has that says Scotland's flag equals the flag of Nazi Germany.

Tang, you officially have too much time on your hands...


That's all for now guys. I know I probably missed some (indeed, I know of some right now that I chose not to include), but this wasn't meant to be an exhaustive list, but a summary of some of them I've seen for your enjoyment.


-- Primis.

This is not related to topic content on the existing sight. However, I thought I would commend the Detroit Tigers for their seven-nil victory over Toronto on opening day. Congradulations Detroit! I am a bit of a cinic about many things, but let us hope this is a good sign of the forethcoming season. Way to go Mr Trammel and crew!
-David Siwik

OFFTOPIC -1!!!

;-)

But no, seriously, I was surprised to see them control that game that way. It should be a sign that they're no longer pushovers this season, though their pitching staff has a long ways to go yet still.

-- Primis.

I also am going to venture off topic and ask Rik why we have not heard his yearly predictions for the NHL playoffs. I keep reading that its going to be the Red Wings vs. the Leafs in the finals, but would like the resident expert's opinion.

p.s. Go Tigers! 2-0 to start the season, especially on the road.

-----
Paul

I also am going to venture off topic and ask Rik why we have not heard his yearly predictions for the NHL playoffs.


Because Rik has been doing 20-billion things at once lately, heh. ;-)

I suppose I'll do a writeup here later today on predicting the playoffs... stay tuned.

-- Primis.