After reading all the entries for the April Fools contest (zero to be exact), I decided to scour for amusing pranks myself and found the “Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Times.” Tales ranging from spaghetti trees to “Taco liberty Bell,” from free car giveaways to the relocation of Eiffel Tower were just a few in this long interesting read. Head over to Museum of Hoaxes and check it out. Now on with the news:
* (NEC Birmingham) The crowned supreme champion of the Crufts Show is being accused of having a face-lift. In case you are wondering, yes, the Crufts Show is a dog show and the champion, Danny, is a Pekingese. People never cease to amaze me for what they would do to win something…. [Ananova.com]
* (Carlsbad, NM) Marcus Brandon Bechtol took a ’94 Oldsmobile for a test drive from a dealership in Jackson, TN. Nothing usual I guess, except he liked the car so much, that he kept driving. 17 days and 900 miles later, police arrested him in New Mexico outside a church and recovered the car. Come on, he was only trying to make sure that he wasn’t buying a lemon. [Knoxville News Sentinel]
* (Bellevue, WA) Someone stole more than 300 pairs of panties from a Victoria’s Secret in Bellevue Square. Apparently, the employees found 4 tables, including one right next to the cash register cleared of the silky merchandise. I fail to see how someone can just waltz into a store and start taking large quantity of items off the table without anyone seeing it. Better check the employees’ underwear collections…. [Seattle Times]
* Some European restaurants are halting sales of Coca-Cola, Marlboro and other U.S. foods and products. Some of the restaurants are reported to be banning the goods in protest of the war while others are doing so in retaliation of French products. Some are even threatening to stop accepting American Express. Good grief! In other news, French’s Mustard has proclaimed, “there is nothing more American than French’s Mustard,” and, “the only thing French about French’s Mustard is the name!” You know, I can see where this is all headed, in a few years, we are going to see headlines such as “FBI reports Ethnic Food Fights on the rise!” [LA Times]
* (Oslo, Norway) Nina Mehlum Groenland was sick of living with her dad, so she decided to give him away, literally. Groenland placed an ad on the internet stating, “giving away my daddy to a good-nature lady in Trondheim… I’m sick of him… Furniture included.” Although there were no takers, the father found a “sense of renewed interest from several nice women.” If my daughter did that to me, I would kick her butt… right after I remember where I left my cane…. [Pulse24.com]
* (Lafayette, CO) George Doughty had a problem that many of us have had: his computer was constantly crashing on him. Doughty, however, did something about it, he shot it four times in his own Sportsman’s Bar and Restaurant and has a court appearance for endangering his customers’ lives. Careful there, George, the computers’ right activists will be protesting soon. [ABC7 Chicago]