iMonk | April 2007

San Jose, California — Sunday, April 1st

April fool...

Whew! It's good to (finally!) catch up with my weblog backlog... to be up-to-date... to publish today's blog today! After an intense week of effort, I feel like I have gone back to the future!

Oh! Look what day it is! When we were kids, my siblings and I used to love playing April Fools' jokes on each other on this day. We weren't very creative — our jokes were usually of the "Mom is calling you" variety! — but it was a fun day (when we remembered it).

In some countries, like South Africa, April Fools' jokes are only played before midday, so if we remembered too late and tried to play a practical joke on our siblings or friends in the afternoon, they would deride us: "It's after twelve o'clock, so you're the bigger fool!"

April Fool hoaxes are widely celebrated on the Internet. Remember when Google announced their new MentalPlex search technology — complete with a FAQ and illustrations for correct usage — that could supposedly read your mind to determine what you wanted to search for (no typing necessary!) on April 1st, 2000?

By the way — can you spot the April Fool joke on this page?

Tags: Humor

San Jose, California — Saturday, April 7th

A waste of time?

Looking at the number of times that the fake error page was requested from the iMonk web server, it seems that at least twenty readers discovered the April Fools' Day prank (click on the 2008 Archive link in the top-right menu :) [Updated: Click here]

Congratulations to those who discovered the hoax, "better luck next time" to those who were frustrated — and apologies to those who thought it was a useless waste of time!

Although seemingly frivolous, the idea behind this joke was to hint at the value of time, and the importance of living in the present...

To show that there are no shortcuts to the future; that our progress depends on what we do today:

Forget the past that sleeps and ne'er
The future dream at all,
But act in time that are with thee
And progress thee shall call.

—Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur

To emphasize that the future is now; that our present actions create our future environment:

Trust no Future, however pleasant.
Let the dead Past bury its dead.
Act — act in the living Present,
Heart within, and God overhead.

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

And to remind us that "the future" is today:

Today is only yesterday's tomorrow.

—Uriah Heep

As Mark Twain dryly observed: "April 1st is the day upon which we are reminded of what we are on the other three-hundred and sixty-four" :)

Tags: Humor

URL: http://www.imonk.net/07/april1.html
Layout by iMonk — April 7th, 2007.