April Fools!!

I love a good practical joke. As long it's not in any way mean-spirited and no one gets hurt, then bring it on!! And, I say that as both an occasional perpetrator of pranks & as the one being pranked.

There's a fine tradition of the British press pranking on April 1st. Probably the most well-known example is from the 1980s when they reported that Big Ben was going digital. Classic!! (and amazing to me how many ppl fell for it.)

This year's Guardian report of how the paper will cease paper publication & go entirely to Twitter feeds is pretty good. I particularly like the effort to retrofit the major historic events to the format (e.g. the start of WWII would become "OMG Hitler invades Poland, allies declare war see tinyurl.com/b5x6e for more") . Not to be outdone, the Telegraph reports on how swimming fish could be the key to generating electricity.

Except for the famous full-page ad that said that Taco Bell had bought the rights to the Liberty Bell, I can't remember the American press ever joining in on the fun (and does that really qualify since it was an ad, not an article?).... Until now, as this was in today's Washington Post.

Even the usually-stodgy Economist has gotten into the game: "As part of a strategy designed to broaden the revenue base, leverage content over new platforms and promote The Economist brand to a young and dynamic audience, The Economist Group is delighted to announce the development of a public-entertainment facility that combines the magic of a theme park with the excitement of macroeconomics..." I can't wait for Econoland to open!!

How bout you? Seen any good ones today to add to the list?