Friday, April 1, 2011

April Fool's Day

Recycle the cat?  You wouldn't?
Today is April Fool's day, a traditional day of jokes and pranks, ranging from simple jokes to elaborate and convoluted stories.   As a fan of NPR's "All Things Considered" my husband related this story to me back in 2005.  I think it even had him going for a minute because this is usually a serious news show.  The story that day was on the danger of exploding maple trees and they reported that the decrease in the consumption of maple syrup was a contributing factor in the increase in exploding maple trees.  Since less syrup was being made and fewer trees were being tapped for their sap, the pressure of the rising sap would build to the point the tree could no longer support it and would explode.

The story goes on to tell about a rival company in Samoa that was cutting up used maple furniture, and boiling it down to make a cheap knock-off called "table syrup".   

You can hear the live broadcast here.

I guess this just goes to show that if you hear an incredible story today, remember it's April Fool's day and take it with a grain of salt.


14 comments:

  1. I totally forgot it was April Fool's Day until I hear someone on the radio this morning talking about famous pranks - like selling only "left-handed Whoppers" at a Burger King drive thru and totally stumping people - lol!

    I'll be watching my maple trees very closely, Linda :)

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  2. Happy April Fool's day! I'm not going to believe anything I hear/read today!

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  3. I love that. "Table syrup." Awesome. Did you hear the one they did today about the new surgery you can have to make you see in 3D so you don't have to wear those giant 3D glasses? They can really make anything sound official and believable! I was onto them, but my boss wasn't. We had a good laugh about it.

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  4. Talon- I actually read about the Whoppers when I was looking up info for my post. Seems like I vaguely remember that.

    meleah rebeccah- Good for you!

    Kathy- Hubby's the NPR fan, so I'll have to ask him if he heard today's story. They can make those sound so real, and then you think about it...

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  5. Hi Linda .. that obviously is some story .. and when we get taken for granted because briefly our guard is down! Oh it irritates me sometimes .. then I start laughing ..

    Spaghetti Tree - heard that one .. see my blog (not today) .. cheers Hilary

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  6. That is hilarious! I hadn't heard about that one. :-)

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  7. I love All Things Considered and that's a fabulous tale for the day.

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  8. Hilary- We have to laugh or we end up taking ourselves way too seriously.

    junebug- Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

    Jayne- Hubby does too, and I laughed when he told me the story.

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  9. funny syrup tale-and love the recycled cat shot!!

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  10. I love practical jokes and actually am not crazy about April Fool's because then everybody is expecting me to do something - even when I don't!

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  11. Great one...

    Happy April Fool's Day!

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  12. Exploding maple trees. what will be next? Limes that shoot at people like bullets, due to less margarita consumption? Corn cobs that hurl themselves like daggers at passersby, as movie-going becomes less and less? :)

    xoox

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  13. Kathe W.- Yeah, I can't imagine what that would taste like. Yuck! Sophie likes to hop into the recycle boxes, or any boxes.

    Nicky- I've never been much of a jokester, but still I appreciate the humor of a good (safe) prank.

    Brahm- Thanks, you too.

    Jannie- Yes, exploding maple trees would be quite the phenomenon, as would out of control limes, corn cobs. I'll be on the lookout for wild produce.

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  14. My April Fool's Day wasn't a joke. My site went down and I couldn't get it back up!!! I finally had to find a new host server, but it took days.

    I'm not a big fan of April 1st anymore:~)

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