I have to fess up that I've never been much of April Fools' prankster. My son suggested that on April 1 I announce the end of my weekly column. Gasp! Just the thought of it! Urgh! Nope, I can't even pretend to quit. But April foolery is all around us (including on the Net), so keep your sense of humor about you, and be careful out there!
"Until the 16th century, the new year was celebrated at the advent of spring, near April 1st. In 1584, when the Gregorian calendar was introduced, King Charles IX of France ruled that New Year's Day be moved to January 1st. Some of Charles' subjects refused to adopt the new calendar, and continued to observe the new year around April 1st. Naturally, these individuals were the butt of many jokes and taunting, and earned the name "Poisson d'Avril" (April Fish) because at that time of year the sun was in the zodiac sign of Pisces, the fish."
"Hello. We at Blue Mountain Sweepstakes would like to congratulate you on being our million dollar grand prize winner!" Although I don't think they'll actually fool anyone, these April Fools e-cards are fun and very simple to send. If you haven't yet familiarized yourself with BlueMountain.com's huge selection of animated electronic greetings for all occasions (uh oh � I totally missed National Pig Day on March 1), then today is as good a day as any to jump into the electronic greeting card frenzy.
"Hey, isn't that Dogbert sitting next to Mommy in Family Circus ? Sure enough, the canine has replaced Barfy. But only for the day. Remember: it's the Great April Fool's Day Comics Switcheroonie." A fun look at how forty-six of the nation's top syndicated cartoonists played a prank on all of us by drawing each other's newspaper strips on April 1, 1997.
The following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Celebrate! April Fools' Day |
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