April Foolishness

It used to be cute when I was a kid. Everybody wanted to think up great April Fools Jokes. Mostly there were about as amusing as, "You're ugly. April Fools!" Since then I've learned both that some others do it very well, and I don't.

Discover Magazine for years had a tradition in their April issue of inserting a story that was completely bogus. One year it was about the discovery of a new particle called the "Bigun", accompanied by a picture of what looked like a bowling ball shattering its way through a TV screen. Some folks got them. Some didn't. I know this because both kinds wrote letters to the editor. In fact, it was those letters that tipped me off to the fact that that highly peculiar story I read a few months back was in fact a joke. I started looking for them after that, and clearly remember one issue where I couldn't decide which of two articles was faked. Turns out that was they year none of them were, with them having yielded to pressure against doing April Fools articles. More the fool me.

MPR had fun yesterday on a few of its programs with five-minute spoofs. My favorite was about a new multi-CD collection of their advertising announcements from the last 40 years. You know how they do it: "This program was brought to you by support from _________" followed by a line of bragging commentary written by the supporter. The spoof started by commemorating the voice guy and his unique style, and then listed some "memorable" ads. My favorite was about some guy named Bernard Madoff, offering to watch over your investments so you didn't have to.

I did come up with one terrible idea for an April Fools joke. I called up Friend and shared it with her. She's still being stalked, and reported that now PSB even has family members sitting in the vehicle at the usual places watching her as she goes about her business. I suggested a neon-colored squirt gun, filled with water, and pulling up to a stop next to PSB's vehicle, rolling down the window, and shooting! We both agreed it was the worst idea ever, especially since Friend owns two water pistols, both of which look like the real thing.