So I thought about posting an April’s Fool Day joke on aliens and strangers today. I had a few ideas, none of which I’ll divulge — lest I not be able to use them later. But I’m just unwilling to waste a prank on April 1st. I can at times be a bit of a practical jokester; I really enjoy it….
mongoose: a small carnivorous animal with a long body and tail and grizzled coat; eats snakes, chickens, goldfish crackers, and white missionaries
[Photo: In February, at our East Africa Missionary Men's retreat in Kenya, a few of us lured a wild mongoose into the living room of one of the houses at Rondo Retreat Center. From there we steered it, the largest mongoose in the Kakamega Rainforest, into the bedroom of a sleeping missionary. Then we locked the door. We had quite the laugh when Caleb woke up to a snarling snake-killer in his trash can. (The picture above is of the actual mongoose on the night of our stunt. If you look closely, you can see a few goldfish on the floor between the animal and the chair.)]
So I do enjoy pranks and jokes, I do. But I don’t think of them as profitable on this one day of the year. A good prank takes a great deal of thought and energy (and a lot of cheese goldfish crackers if it involves luring a mongoose). And people just catch on too quickly on April 1st. They’re expecting it. It’s the one day of the year I would never want to do a prank.
But I do want to participate in some way on this mischievous day. So I’ve decided to provide you with some reading on the subject. Hope you enjoy. Happy April Fool’s Day!
Origins of April Fools’ Day — According to Snopes
It’s possible it all began with some French peasants who would try to convince one another April 1 was the first day of the new year. But that’s just one theory. Personally, any story that involves Frenchmen being duped sounds believable to me. You know, scientists have actually proven that the French have inferior brain function to the rest of us?
Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time
My vote for number one: (#7) Alabama legislature passes law to change the value of pi to 3.0.
Honorable mention: Any prank in which the French are shown to be gullible.
50 Easy April Fool’s Day Pranks To Play On Your Friends
#10 - ”Pour vegetable oil on the exhaust of someone’s car so it will smoke when started up.” Seriously?! Is that good for the car? Why don’t we just light the car on fire? Or sell it to someone?
I did like #5, though – “Tape magnets to the bottom of a cup, put it on the roof of your car and drive around.”
www.aprilfools.com
There’s a lot of good stuff on this site. And what else would we expect from the site with the holiday’s namesake?
Top 10 Worst April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time
In the year 2000, Romanians read in the national newspaper that several prisoners were being released from prison. 60 family members went to the prison and waited (probably in the rain) for their loved ones, only to find out this was all a practical joke. Really?! Someone thought that was a good idea?!
African April Fool’s Day Hoaxes
I didn’t know it was celebrated here.
The Best Prank I’ve Ever Seen in Person
I would never have believed this was possible if I’d not seen it myself! And while it is truly funny in print, it was much funnier even in person.
