Monday links

Roundup of April Fool's Day links.

Blood Transfusion History.

Do these people not watch movies? Scientists Are Teaching AI-Powered Robots to Reproduce, Evolve.

The etymologies of all 50 state’s names.

Drunken online shopping is big business — especially for Amazon.

The Surprising Story of the First Use of Ether in Surgery.

ICYMI, most recent links are here, and include the results of playing music to cheese as it ages, the origin of the phrase "red herring",  the unnoticed meteor that exploded over Earth on December 18, 2018, and, for William Shatner's birthday, a Star Trek/Monty Python mashup.

Roundup of April Fool's Day links

There will definitely be some overlap in these collections of pranks and hoaxes (for example, no list would be complete without Burger King’s 1998 full page ad for the Left-handed Whopper or the BBC’s excellent 1957 Spaghetti Tree hoax), but there is a lot of different stuff, as well, at each of the links. Feel free to add more in the comments!

The Origin of April Fool’s Day.

Awesome April Fool's Day Pranks Your Kids Will Totally Fall For.

More prank ideas.

6 People Who Went to Great Lengths for their Pranks.

How To Easily Create A Realistic Looking Head In A Jar.

The 14 Greatest Hoaxes of All Time and Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time.

Fake death reports, disaster warnings, and hangings - The Top 10 Worst April Fool's Day Hoaxes Ever. Personal favorite: 

Saddam Hussein and his sons may have been ruthless, power-hungry dictators, but that didn't stop them from trying to give the people of Iraq a good chuckle every April Fool's Day. On April 1, 1998 the Babil newspaper, owned by Hussein's son Uday, informed its readers that President Clinton had decided to lift sanctions against Iraq, only to admit later that it was just joking. One can imagine the knee-slapping guffaws when readers realized how they'd been taken for a ride.  

The laughs continued in 1999 when Uday mischievously announced that the monthly food rations would be supplemented to include bananas, Pepsi, and chocolate. Again, just a joke. At this point, the Husseins appear to have run out of material, because in 2000 they recycled the sanction-lifting gag, and in 2001 trotted out the ration-supplement crowd-pleaser one more time. 

Ambrose Bierce on April Fool's day from the Devil's Dictionary:

April Fool, n. The March fool with another month added to his folly.

Friday links

March 22nd is William Shatner's birthday: here he is in 1978 'singing' Rocket Man, plus a Star Trek/Monty Python mashup. Related: a 1968 memo to Gene Roddenberry re Shatner's disappearing wigs from Star Trek set.

Scientists Played Music to Cheese as It Aged. Hip-Hop Produced the Funkiest Flavor.

A meteor exploded over Earth with 10 times the energy of Hiroshima's atomic bomb. Nobody saw or was even aware of the fireball that exploded above the Bering Sea on December 18, 2018 -- until now.

Man accidentally shoots himself after throwing gun at cockroach to kill it.

Where Did the Phrase 'Red Herring' Come From?

ICYMI, Monday's links are here, and include making ice cream 2,000 years ago, how sound effects are made in movies (and in old-time radio), when women started wearing makeup, and the test NASA gave potential astronauts in 1958.

It's William Shatner's birthday: here he is in 1978 'singing' 'Rocket Man', plus a Star Trek/Monty Python mashup

William Shatner (wiki) was born in Canada on March 22, 1931 - he is definitely not the man you think he is at home.

The Star Trek/Monty Python mashup:



Related:

1968 memo to Gene Roddenberry re Shatner's disappearing wigs from Star Trek set.

1968 memo to Gene Roddenberry re Shatner's disappearing wigs from Star Trek set, bonus Monty Python

Fellow Star Trek fans will appreciate this - the UCLA Library Special Collections Blog has this 1968 Desilu Productions Inc. memo from show producer Robert Justman to show creator Gene Roddenberry which documents the high value of wigs and hair pieces used on the show to the show’s actors. Where did they go? And, were they ever returned?

Zoomable image here.

Another Gene Roddenberry post I saw recently is this, from The Oatmeal: It's Going To Be OK. I highly recommend it.

Bonus: Star Trek meets Monty Python:

Related posts:

This mashup of Star Trek with Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" is excellent.

Doing the Math: How Many Tribbles Were Aboard the Enterprise?

Video - Which Is Nerdier: Star Wars Or Star Trek?