April 1, 2006 was an April Fools' Day falling on a Saturday.
On television
* Adult Swim (U.S.): Aired "Aprils Fool" versions of Fullmetal Alchemist and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG in which fart noises were heard throughout the episode. (The Ghost in the Shell episode aired later that night without the fart sounds)
* NBC (U.S.): Aired The More You Know-style public service announcements done by cast members of The Office in character. An example by Dwight Schrute:
*:"Black bears weigh between 2 and 500 lbs and have gigantic genitals. Brown bears weigh between 300 and over a thousand pounds. Black bears rub up and hug you and cuddle you. Brown bears run at you. When attacked by a bear, simply lie still on the ground and cover your face and head with your hands. When the bear's finished batting you around and mauling you, contact the U.S. Forest Service."
* Newsround (BBC, UK): Presenter Jake Humphrey announced that David Beckham would not be playing in the 2006 World Cup as his parents are Scottish.
* Dagsrevyen (NRK, Norway): The news program Dagsrevyen announced in a reporting that the Norwegian Parliament had agreed to introduce a mandatory fee to send and receive e-mails, on same level as SMS.
* Veronica (The Netherlands): Said it would air Mission: Impossible III. It turned out to be just the trailer.
In sport
* T-Mobile (UK): Told BRMB and Heart 100.7 (Birmingham and Midlands) that they will be sponsoring a premiership team from the Midlands, and that the sponsorship will include a pink away shirt for the sponsored team.
On the radio
* 2-Ten FM (UK): Reported that an elephant was causing traffic problems on the M4 motorway.
* 702 ABC Sydney (Australia): Weekend presenter Simon Marnie conducted the last hour of his show from a Collins class submarine in Sydney Harbour that departed from the Australian National Maritime Museum. The submarine docked to pick up passengers including fellow presenter Tony Eastley and a lucky 702 Sydney listener. The program ended when the submarine was submerged and attacked by a sea monster.
* All Things Considered (NPR, U.S.): Aired a piece about the "Positive Opera Company" on Cape Cod. Its impresario wants to rewrite the world's great tragic operas to give them all a happy ending.
* CHNO-FM (Sudbury, Ontario, Canada): Ran commercials stating that the government of Ontario was switching to Double Daylight Saving Time to keep up with new American regulations.
* East Coast Radio (Ireland): Micheal Harrington announced that Bray was to become part of County Dublin. This let to many texts of anger from people living in Bray but also jokes and jeers from people in towns further South like Arklow, Wicklow and Greystones.
* The Edge (New Zealand): Claimed that New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark had banned cellphones to people under 16.
* Online retailer geeks.com advertised a "GeekThing" combination cell-phone/PDA/MP3 player/recorder/GPS/Universal remote/hologram projector. here and here
* Heart 106.2 (UK): Usually a "Time Tunnel" feature in the mornings, playing songs from the same year and inviting listeners to call in and guess the year. On April 1, the DJ played songs from different years, causing confusion amongst listeners phoning in.
* Magic 105.4 FM (UK): Played Christmas songs all morning.
* Quirks and Quarks (CBC Radio, Canada): Bob McDonald interviewed a zoologist who had discovered a Vietnamese dog-like animal whose metabolism could cure global warming, and then ate the sole specimen because he was hungry.[http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/05-06/apr01.html#5]
* QMR.fm (Internet): James Freir started his show by pretending to be fellow presenter Adam Croft, with whom he has a long-running on-air 'rivalry'.
* Radio Sport (New Zealand): Show host Phil Gifford and Doug Golightly claimed that rugby league star Stacey Jones was going to play rugby union for Northland upon the expiry of his French rugby league contract. They added that he had also received a special dispensation from Les Catalans to join the Auckland Blues squad for the last six matches of the Super 14 season. This was perpetuated by Jones' close friend Peter Leitch appearing on the show 'furious' about his personal conversation with the hosts being put on air.
* RTÉ 2fm (Ireland): On his show, Michael Cahill announced that the government were to introduce tolls on Northbound on O'Connell Street in Dublin and on Patrick Street in Cork.
* Today Programme (BBC Radio 4, UK): Announced that its UK Theme (which really had been scheduled for scrapping) was to be replaced with a European Union theme.
* Triple J (Australia): Morning hosts claimed that, to celebrate 'Urban month' the station was going to be changing the entire month's play list to only feature hip hop, much to the complaint of many listeners calling in. Triple J played non-stop hip hop until noon and had many promos already set up to play for the upcoming month, increasing the joke's credibility.
* WBRU (Providence, Rhode Island, USA): On March 29, announced that they were being bought out, and would cease operations by 5 p.m. March 31. Soon after WBRU went off the air, Buddy FM, a parody of the Jack FM radio format, began broadcasting random pop and techno music along with occasional pre-recorded station bumps until a mock takeover was staged by WBRU DJs at 12:16 p.m. on April 1. The prank continued in some form until roughly 4:09 p.m. April 1.
In newspapers, magazines, and websites
*Daily Mail (UK): Announced that the door at Number 10 Downing Street that had been black for 270 years had been painted red by Tony Blair .
*Daily Record (Scotland): Published an article stating that the Royal Mint were planning to scrap the 10 pence piece as it was claimed to be the nation's least favourite coin. This was actually an attack on the tabloid's rival The Sun, which itself cost 10 pence.
*Many alternative cartoonists, including Matt Bors, Ted Rall, and Stephanie McMillian, supported George W. Bush and his policies
*The Daily Pennsylvanian released an April Fools edition on April 4, 2006. Top stories include a claim that Penn President Amy Gutmann announced her resignation in favor of becoming Harvard president.
*The Economist claimed that a company called GeneDupe, owned by a Paolo Fril, plans to genetically engineer pet dragons as well as Gryphons and various other mythological creatures. . This story actually leaked out on March 31, 2006, due to the need to issue press releases on the day before publication. Five years earlier, the Economist published a story about the same company allegedly genetically engineering fish with real gold in their skin.
*Electronic Gaming Monthly claimed that the new iGame, an Apple portable gaming device, is being released. It also claimed that iTunes was to have an iGame section for buying games for the new device.
*GameFAQs announced that it is permanently shut down due by the court orders of the ACAA (Anti-Cheating Association of America), parodying the MPAA and its
*Google announced the launch of Google Romance.
* In a story by Olaf Priol, The Guardian discovers that Coldplay's front man Chris Martin plans to do what he can to get people to vote for David Cameron's Conservative Party.
*The Homestar Runner website is flipped upside-down.
*The Independent explored Sylvia Plath's forgotten affair with Chuck Berry, along with various other unlikely celebrity pairings.
*The Justice at Brandeis University released an April Fools' edition on April 4. The editorial condemned University President Jehuda Reinharz for telling The Aristocrats joke to the university's board of trustees. Top news stories included a claim that leading donor Carl Shapiro was not a Jew and was in fact from Cossack and Gypsy stock.
*Lazerzero.com announced they would be changing their name and URL to furfags.com. This was announced to be a hoax the next day - however, the users actually liked the fake name, and the admin officially adopted the name on May 1st.
*New Zealand's Otago Daily Times claimed that a sponsorship and advertising deal had been done between the Mitre 10 chain of hardware stores and the New Zealand Department of Conservation over the Otago Royal Albatross colony . The DoC would get funds to protect the birds, and in return the adult birds would be dyed in the chain's corporate colour, orange.
*Science News found a new work by Euclid.
*The Straits Times in Singapore published an article with the headline "Visitors going ape over Zoo's new primate exhibit", claiming that Singapore Zoo is set to extend its primate family with "a pair of the highly intelligent apes Simia mina - close relatives of gorillas and chimpanzees which have been documented communicating vocally, using tools and even walking upright". However, this is "stirring up a controversy" as the "Simia mina are in an enclosure not much bigger than the bedroom of an HDB flat, and will be kept there till April 31".
*The Sun published an article about a penguin found on the River Thames. The article had a comment from Lil Faroop, an anagram of April Fool.
*The Taipei Times in Taiwan claims to have blown the cover of a secret weapons program utilizing betel nut extract, employing "an aerosol-dispersal device to shower enemy positions with red betel-nut juice, leaving enemy personnel feeling slightly ill, while possessing them with an uncontrollable desire to sing at a KTV."
* The Tiger Pep Band at DePauw University again modified its Web site to appear in the school colors of arch-rival school Wabash College, and presented false news coverage purporting that the Wabash band had an unusually long 24-hour sober spell, playing on the stereotype that students at the all-men's college are constantly inebriated.
* The online retailer ThinkGeek offered for sale various fake products such as a grow your own 1-up mushroom kit, a caffeine inhaler, wireless extension cords, the iZilla Media Monster, and a USB desktop tanning center. One product, the Screened Sphorb, included a full paragraph of inscrutable descriptive text, plus a photo that only showed "Loading Quicktime 360° view". (ThinkGeek's tagline: "Stuff for the Smart Masses" has the "M" crossed out to say, "Stuff for the Smart Asses".)
*The webmasters of MuggleNet (Emerson Spartz) and The Leaky Cauldron (Melissa Anelli) temporarily shut down their sites to redirect to one called The Leaky Mug. The site claimed that the two webmasters were to marry.
*The homepage of Stick Figure Death Theatre was changed to that of 'San Francisco Dance Troupe'. Clicking any links would redirect you back to the real website.
* Estonian newspaper Postimees published more than 5 fake news stories. One of their stories was about another major newspaper going out of business. Postimees arranged a contest where readers could find the fake news and e-mail them. Many readers thought that the contest was fake even though it was true.
* A Canadian newspaper, the Hamilton Spectator reported that the local Baptist Church was about to install Pokie Machines.
* On the US version of the Finnish-based virtual community Habbo Hotel, the hotel staff announced the release of a new piece of rare furniture, the Holocrab (as a companion to Holoboy and Hologirl, which actually exist as rares). Eager furni catalogue shoppers as well as skeptics searched the catalogue for the new rare, only finding in the rare menu at the bottom of the catalogue list the message "April Fools!" (In the sale of an actual rare, the "Rares" menu is found near the top of the list of catalogue menus.)
* YTMND announces that the site has been purhcased by eBaum's World.
* Blizzard Entertainment announces a new playable race in their upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft, "The Burning Crusade." A long anticipated announcement of the alliance race was finally announced. Willow Wisps would start in Mount Hyjal, they would have no displayable features, and had a long list of pointless racial traits.
* The MMORPG Runescape made claims that the game world would be taken over by cabbages.
* OGAE Malta reported that a new "Eurovision Pyramid Arena" was to be set up in Gozo, Malta's sister island. The Maltese Eurovision club, OGAE Malta came up with this "April's Fool!" following the wish of many local fans that Malta should have its appropriate venue for the eventual Eurovision Song Contest to be held locally! Eurovision Pyramid Arena,
April Fools' Day pranks gone awry
*Five teenage girls, aged between 16-17, created 17 question mark boxes from Super Mario Brothers with info gleaned from website Qwantz.com and placed them in public places around the town of Ravenna, Ohio as a joke. One box was noticed by a concerned citizen, who reported the "suspicious package" to local authorities. Haz-mat Units and a Bomb Squad were called out to investigate, but were cleared of not having anything dangerous in them. One of the girls turned herself in. Authorities plan to press criminal charges, which some have viewed as too harsh.
Events mistaken as April Fools' Day hoaxes
Genuine events that had been interpreted as April Fools' Day hoaxes included:
* Anime News Network staff cites in a forum posting that the site has refrained from making April Fools articles, citing the possibility that such articles by the site would do more harm than good.
*Bob Ross Inc. announced a Bob Ross video game .
*De Telegraaf, a newspaper in The Netherlands, opens with a shocking headline: Loads of the Queen Beatrix's private correspondence got lost and has been published on Limewire, a popular file-sharing program. Later it was revealed that this was not a hoax, but a real leak in the Dutch Ministry of Defence.
*Ogrish reports a bizarre baby born in Nepal (note: these links contain images of the child's body) The baby, who appeared to have anencephaly, died shortly after birth. This was reported on a major Nepal news site on March 29th.
*Radio 538 awarded a select group of listeners who would come with their bags packed to a train station in Rotterdam, a major city in the Netherlands, with a weekend trip to a yet-to-be-revealed destination. Only three people showed up at the event.
*In the United Kingdom, people will not be able to renew their television licence from the Post Office, as the BBC has given the contract from the Royal Mail to PayPoint. Plus, television licence savings stamps will be scrapped. (Statement was given on the 31 March, but some may have heard on the 1 April)
*Several UK newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph , reported on the Dorset Naga, a chilli pepper grown in Dorset, England and claimed to be the world's hottest at 876,000 Scoville units.
*The Simpsons Movie was confirmed in many newsites and papers. Also the trailer was paired with Ice Age: The Meltdown.
*Sarah Lane of G4's announced her marriage to co-host Brendan Moran and will be leaving the show.
*F-Secure announced a new software bundle with the Moomin characters as its mascots.
On television
* Adult Swim (U.S.): Aired "Aprils Fool" versions of Fullmetal Alchemist and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG in which fart noises were heard throughout the episode. (The Ghost in the Shell episode aired later that night without the fart sounds)
* NBC (U.S.): Aired The More You Know-style public service announcements done by cast members of The Office in character. An example by Dwight Schrute:
*:"Black bears weigh between 2 and 500 lbs and have gigantic genitals. Brown bears weigh between 300 and over a thousand pounds. Black bears rub up and hug you and cuddle you. Brown bears run at you. When attacked by a bear, simply lie still on the ground and cover your face and head with your hands. When the bear's finished batting you around and mauling you, contact the U.S. Forest Service."
* Newsround (BBC, UK): Presenter Jake Humphrey announced that David Beckham would not be playing in the 2006 World Cup as his parents are Scottish.
* Dagsrevyen (NRK, Norway): The news program Dagsrevyen announced in a reporting that the Norwegian Parliament had agreed to introduce a mandatory fee to send and receive e-mails, on same level as SMS.
* Veronica (The Netherlands): Said it would air Mission: Impossible III. It turned out to be just the trailer.
In sport
* T-Mobile (UK): Told BRMB and Heart 100.7 (Birmingham and Midlands) that they will be sponsoring a premiership team from the Midlands, and that the sponsorship will include a pink away shirt for the sponsored team.
On the radio
* 2-Ten FM (UK): Reported that an elephant was causing traffic problems on the M4 motorway.
* 702 ABC Sydney (Australia): Weekend presenter Simon Marnie conducted the last hour of his show from a Collins class submarine in Sydney Harbour that departed from the Australian National Maritime Museum. The submarine docked to pick up passengers including fellow presenter Tony Eastley and a lucky 702 Sydney listener. The program ended when the submarine was submerged and attacked by a sea monster.
* All Things Considered (NPR, U.S.): Aired a piece about the "Positive Opera Company" on Cape Cod. Its impresario wants to rewrite the world's great tragic operas to give them all a happy ending.
* CHNO-FM (Sudbury, Ontario, Canada): Ran commercials stating that the government of Ontario was switching to Double Daylight Saving Time to keep up with new American regulations.
* East Coast Radio (Ireland): Micheal Harrington announced that Bray was to become part of County Dublin. This let to many texts of anger from people living in Bray but also jokes and jeers from people in towns further South like Arklow, Wicklow and Greystones.
* The Edge (New Zealand): Claimed that New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark had banned cellphones to people under 16.
* Online retailer geeks.com advertised a "GeekThing" combination cell-phone/PDA/MP3 player/recorder/GPS/Universal remote/hologram projector. here and here
* Heart 106.2 (UK): Usually a "Time Tunnel" feature in the mornings, playing songs from the same year and inviting listeners to call in and guess the year. On April 1, the DJ played songs from different years, causing confusion amongst listeners phoning in.
* Magic 105.4 FM (UK): Played Christmas songs all morning.
* Quirks and Quarks (CBC Radio, Canada): Bob McDonald interviewed a zoologist who had discovered a Vietnamese dog-like animal whose metabolism could cure global warming, and then ate the sole specimen because he was hungry.[http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/05-06/apr01.html#5]
* QMR.fm (Internet): James Freir started his show by pretending to be fellow presenter Adam Croft, with whom he has a long-running on-air 'rivalry'.
* Radio Sport (New Zealand): Show host Phil Gifford and Doug Golightly claimed that rugby league star Stacey Jones was going to play rugby union for Northland upon the expiry of his French rugby league contract. They added that he had also received a special dispensation from Les Catalans to join the Auckland Blues squad for the last six matches of the Super 14 season. This was perpetuated by Jones' close friend Peter Leitch appearing on the show 'furious' about his personal conversation with the hosts being put on air.
* RTÉ 2fm (Ireland): On his show, Michael Cahill announced that the government were to introduce tolls on Northbound on O'Connell Street in Dublin and on Patrick Street in Cork.
* Today Programme (BBC Radio 4, UK): Announced that its UK Theme (which really had been scheduled for scrapping) was to be replaced with a European Union theme.
* Triple J (Australia): Morning hosts claimed that, to celebrate 'Urban month' the station was going to be changing the entire month's play list to only feature hip hop, much to the complaint of many listeners calling in. Triple J played non-stop hip hop until noon and had many promos already set up to play for the upcoming month, increasing the joke's credibility.
* WBRU (Providence, Rhode Island, USA): On March 29, announced that they were being bought out, and would cease operations by 5 p.m. March 31. Soon after WBRU went off the air, Buddy FM, a parody of the Jack FM radio format, began broadcasting random pop and techno music along with occasional pre-recorded station bumps until a mock takeover was staged by WBRU DJs at 12:16 p.m. on April 1. The prank continued in some form until roughly 4:09 p.m. April 1.
In newspapers, magazines, and websites
*Daily Mail (UK): Announced that the door at Number 10 Downing Street that had been black for 270 years had been painted red by Tony Blair .
*Daily Record (Scotland): Published an article stating that the Royal Mint were planning to scrap the 10 pence piece as it was claimed to be the nation's least favourite coin. This was actually an attack on the tabloid's rival The Sun, which itself cost 10 pence.
*Many alternative cartoonists, including Matt Bors, Ted Rall, and Stephanie McMillian, supported George W. Bush and his policies
*The Daily Pennsylvanian released an April Fools edition on April 4, 2006. Top stories include a claim that Penn President Amy Gutmann announced her resignation in favor of becoming Harvard president.
*The Economist claimed that a company called GeneDupe, owned by a Paolo Fril, plans to genetically engineer pet dragons as well as Gryphons and various other mythological creatures. . This story actually leaked out on March 31, 2006, due to the need to issue press releases on the day before publication. Five years earlier, the Economist published a story about the same company allegedly genetically engineering fish with real gold in their skin.
*Electronic Gaming Monthly claimed that the new iGame, an Apple portable gaming device, is being released. It also claimed that iTunes was to have an iGame section for buying games for the new device.
*GameFAQs announced that it is permanently shut down due by the court orders of the ACAA (Anti-Cheating Association of America), parodying the MPAA and its
*Google announced the launch of Google Romance.
* In a story by Olaf Priol, The Guardian discovers that Coldplay's front man Chris Martin plans to do what he can to get people to vote for David Cameron's Conservative Party.
*The Homestar Runner website is flipped upside-down.
*The Independent explored Sylvia Plath's forgotten affair with Chuck Berry, along with various other unlikely celebrity pairings.
*The Justice at Brandeis University released an April Fools' edition on April 4. The editorial condemned University President Jehuda Reinharz for telling The Aristocrats joke to the university's board of trustees. Top news stories included a claim that leading donor Carl Shapiro was not a Jew and was in fact from Cossack and Gypsy stock.
*Lazerzero.com announced they would be changing their name and URL to furfags.com. This was announced to be a hoax the next day - however, the users actually liked the fake name, and the admin officially adopted the name on May 1st.
*New Zealand's Otago Daily Times claimed that a sponsorship and advertising deal had been done between the Mitre 10 chain of hardware stores and the New Zealand Department of Conservation over the Otago Royal Albatross colony . The DoC would get funds to protect the birds, and in return the adult birds would be dyed in the chain's corporate colour, orange.
*Science News found a new work by Euclid.
*The Straits Times in Singapore published an article with the headline "Visitors going ape over Zoo's new primate exhibit", claiming that Singapore Zoo is set to extend its primate family with "a pair of the highly intelligent apes Simia mina - close relatives of gorillas and chimpanzees which have been documented communicating vocally, using tools and even walking upright". However, this is "stirring up a controversy" as the "Simia mina are in an enclosure not much bigger than the bedroom of an HDB flat, and will be kept there till April 31".
*The Sun published an article about a penguin found on the River Thames. The article had a comment from Lil Faroop, an anagram of April Fool.
*The Taipei Times in Taiwan claims to have blown the cover of a secret weapons program utilizing betel nut extract, employing "an aerosol-dispersal device to shower enemy positions with red betel-nut juice, leaving enemy personnel feeling slightly ill, while possessing them with an uncontrollable desire to sing at a KTV."
* The Tiger Pep Band at DePauw University again modified its Web site to appear in the school colors of arch-rival school Wabash College, and presented false news coverage purporting that the Wabash band had an unusually long 24-hour sober spell, playing on the stereotype that students at the all-men's college are constantly inebriated.
* The online retailer ThinkGeek offered for sale various fake products such as a grow your own 1-up mushroom kit, a caffeine inhaler, wireless extension cords, the iZilla Media Monster, and a USB desktop tanning center. One product, the Screened Sphorb, included a full paragraph of inscrutable descriptive text, plus a photo that only showed "Loading Quicktime 360° view". (ThinkGeek's tagline: "Stuff for the Smart Masses" has the "M" crossed out to say, "Stuff for the Smart Asses".)
*The webmasters of MuggleNet (Emerson Spartz) and The Leaky Cauldron (Melissa Anelli) temporarily shut down their sites to redirect to one called The Leaky Mug. The site claimed that the two webmasters were to marry.
*The homepage of Stick Figure Death Theatre was changed to that of 'San Francisco Dance Troupe'. Clicking any links would redirect you back to the real website.
* Estonian newspaper Postimees published more than 5 fake news stories. One of their stories was about another major newspaper going out of business. Postimees arranged a contest where readers could find the fake news and e-mail them. Many readers thought that the contest was fake even though it was true.
* A Canadian newspaper, the Hamilton Spectator reported that the local Baptist Church was about to install Pokie Machines.
* On the US version of the Finnish-based virtual community Habbo Hotel, the hotel staff announced the release of a new piece of rare furniture, the Holocrab (as a companion to Holoboy and Hologirl, which actually exist as rares). Eager furni catalogue shoppers as well as skeptics searched the catalogue for the new rare, only finding in the rare menu at the bottom of the catalogue list the message "April Fools!" (In the sale of an actual rare, the "Rares" menu is found near the top of the list of catalogue menus.)
* YTMND announces that the site has been purhcased by eBaum's World.
* Blizzard Entertainment announces a new playable race in their upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft, "The Burning Crusade." A long anticipated announcement of the alliance race was finally announced. Willow Wisps would start in Mount Hyjal, they would have no displayable features, and had a long list of pointless racial traits.
* The MMORPG Runescape made claims that the game world would be taken over by cabbages.
* OGAE Malta reported that a new "Eurovision Pyramid Arena" was to be set up in Gozo, Malta's sister island. The Maltese Eurovision club, OGAE Malta came up with this "April's Fool!" following the wish of many local fans that Malta should have its appropriate venue for the eventual Eurovision Song Contest to be held locally! Eurovision Pyramid Arena,
April Fools' Day pranks gone awry
*Five teenage girls, aged between 16-17, created 17 question mark boxes from Super Mario Brothers with info gleaned from website Qwantz.com and placed them in public places around the town of Ravenna, Ohio as a joke. One box was noticed by a concerned citizen, who reported the "suspicious package" to local authorities. Haz-mat Units and a Bomb Squad were called out to investigate, but were cleared of not having anything dangerous in them. One of the girls turned herself in. Authorities plan to press criminal charges, which some have viewed as too harsh.
Events mistaken as April Fools' Day hoaxes
Genuine events that had been interpreted as April Fools' Day hoaxes included:
* Anime News Network staff cites in a forum posting that the site has refrained from making April Fools articles, citing the possibility that such articles by the site would do more harm than good.
*Bob Ross Inc. announced a Bob Ross video game .
*De Telegraaf, a newspaper in The Netherlands, opens with a shocking headline: Loads of the Queen Beatrix's private correspondence got lost and has been published on Limewire, a popular file-sharing program. Later it was revealed that this was not a hoax, but a real leak in the Dutch Ministry of Defence.
*Ogrish reports a bizarre baby born in Nepal (note: these links contain images of the child's body) The baby, who appeared to have anencephaly, died shortly after birth. This was reported on a major Nepal news site on March 29th.
*Radio 538 awarded a select group of listeners who would come with their bags packed to a train station in Rotterdam, a major city in the Netherlands, with a weekend trip to a yet-to-be-revealed destination. Only three people showed up at the event.
*In the United Kingdom, people will not be able to renew their television licence from the Post Office, as the BBC has given the contract from the Royal Mail to PayPoint. Plus, television licence savings stamps will be scrapped. (Statement was given on the 31 March, but some may have heard on the 1 April)
*Several UK newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph , reported on the Dorset Naga, a chilli pepper grown in Dorset, England and claimed to be the world's hottest at 876,000 Scoville units.
*The Simpsons Movie was confirmed in many newsites and papers. Also the trailer was paired with Ice Age: The Meltdown.
*Sarah Lane of G4's announced her marriage to co-host Brendan Moran and will be leaving the show.
*F-Secure announced a new software bundle with the Moomin characters as its mascots.
Hidious In Strength (aka Hideous In Strength) was an early experimental solo project of John Zewizz. The solo project began around 1982 while Zewizz was working on keyboard tracks for Sleep Chamber, although there was outside participation on the live cassette Az Recorded Live. Most of the project's material was released on limited edition cassettes through Inner-X Musick. While the musical style could be considered , often the recordings would involve the more ambient and atmospheric styles of music; it is not known whether this was by design or due to the fact that much of the music was synthesizer experimentation. Hidious In Strength music was often a combination of synthesizer experimentation, tapes, and "found" vocals from the TV.
Live
Hidious In Strength only performed live a handful of times. All performances featured John Zewizz with occasional help from Malcom Smith or Eugene Difransico. Most of the shows were performed at colleges or at John's Innersleeve Gallery. The recording of one show, recorded at Dunns in Peabody, MA, was released under the title Az Recorded Live. According to John this performance was not received well: "It featured me and Eugene Difrancisco. The difficult thing with this style of music is that it does not go over well in bars. It seems to provoke chaos and violence. I guess that's because of the lack of vocals and a beat. It only took this one show to realize that this was not "bar" music — only art shows and college gigs."
A final live performance was scheduled at WZBC-FM featuring Zewizz and Jonathan Briley. This live on air performance was cancelled when a rain storm threatened the transportation of equipment.
Hidious In Strength/Mahcanik
The final Hidious In Strength release was to be titled The Mahcanik, however, the name of the band was left off the cassette. Over the years this has caused much confusion, even leading people to believe that there was a band called "Mahcanik". According to Zewizz, The Mahcanik was the last Hidious In Strength release: "I didn't even title it as a Hidious In Strength release. I was done with Hidious."
Discography
Except where noted, all releases were available only as a cassette release.
* Soundtrack To Forever (1982)
* Line Of Souls (1982)
* Industrial Suffocation (1983)
* Nun With A Gun (1983)
* Az Recorded Live (1983)
* Stranger Days (1984)
* Eyes See To This (1984)
* Slow & Painful Sex (1984)
* Nun With A Gun/Gut Grip (7" Single) (1984)
* Cold Dark Tales A Smell Of Death (1985)
* Within Wires (1985)
* The Mahcanik (1985)
Live
Hidious In Strength only performed live a handful of times. All performances featured John Zewizz with occasional help from Malcom Smith or Eugene Difransico. Most of the shows were performed at colleges or at John's Innersleeve Gallery. The recording of one show, recorded at Dunns in Peabody, MA, was released under the title Az Recorded Live. According to John this performance was not received well: "It featured me and Eugene Difrancisco. The difficult thing with this style of music is that it does not go over well in bars. It seems to provoke chaos and violence. I guess that's because of the lack of vocals and a beat. It only took this one show to realize that this was not "bar" music — only art shows and college gigs."
A final live performance was scheduled at WZBC-FM featuring Zewizz and Jonathan Briley. This live on air performance was cancelled when a rain storm threatened the transportation of equipment.
Hidious In Strength/Mahcanik
The final Hidious In Strength release was to be titled The Mahcanik, however, the name of the band was left off the cassette. Over the years this has caused much confusion, even leading people to believe that there was a band called "Mahcanik". According to Zewizz, The Mahcanik was the last Hidious In Strength release: "I didn't even title it as a Hidious In Strength release. I was done with Hidious."
Discography
Except where noted, all releases were available only as a cassette release.
* Soundtrack To Forever (1982)
* Line Of Souls (1982)
* Industrial Suffocation (1983)
* Nun With A Gun (1983)
* Az Recorded Live (1983)
* Stranger Days (1984)
* Eyes See To This (1984)
* Slow & Painful Sex (1984)
* Nun With A Gun/Gut Grip (7" Single) (1984)
* Cold Dark Tales A Smell Of Death (1985)
* Within Wires (1985)
* The Mahcanik (1985)
P2PR stands for Peer-2-Peer-Relations. It was first coined on David Cushman's Faster Future blog between the author and his community when trying to redefine the practice of PR (public relations) within social media.
The term has come to be a common reference for the evolution of, and not to be confused with, online pr. Generally the practice of PR professionals whether an agency or in-house resource.
The term was further defined by Jamie Burke on a posting in a Ning Community setup specifically to further P2PR discussion as highlighted below:
Including;
a) the use of social media to communicate with your consumer on an individual, group or mass level for the purpose of PR activity.
b) It can include the assessment and management of relations within peer-to-peer environments
Services Include:
-Viral Marketing (not just video)
-Community Outreach / Influencer Outreach (bloggers / group admins)
-Branded Channels / Groups (Facebook, Myspace, Bebo etc.)
-Community Toolkits (so communities can make themselves)
-Online Brand Audit
-Social Media Reputation Management
-Social Media Optimization (Making things sharable)
-SMO Press Release
-SMO Media Press Centre
The term has come to be a common reference for the evolution of, and not to be confused with, online pr. Generally the practice of PR professionals whether an agency or in-house resource.
The term was further defined by Jamie Burke on a posting in a Ning Community setup specifically to further P2PR discussion as highlighted below:
Including;
a) the use of social media to communicate with your consumer on an individual, group or mass level for the purpose of PR activity.
b) It can include the assessment and management of relations within peer-to-peer environments
Services Include:
-Viral Marketing (not just video)
-Community Outreach / Influencer Outreach (bloggers / group admins)
-Branded Channels / Groups (Facebook, Myspace, Bebo etc.)
-Community Toolkits (so communities can make themselves)
-Online Brand Audit
-Social Media Reputation Management
-Social Media Optimization (Making things sharable)
-SMO Press Release
-SMO Media Press Centre
The Moon Can Blow Me was neither a critical nor a popular success. It seems to have been written originally as the final chorus number for the 1923 musical flop, That Was No Lady. The Gershwins were able to recycle some of the songs in later shows, but among those shelved were You Can't Unscramble Scrambled Eggs (eventually proposed for Girl Crazy, 1930), When it's Cactus Time in Arizona (also a candidate for Girl Crazy) and The Moon Can Blow Me. The doomed musical is optimistically featured in the cover for the 1924 songsheet but is gone from the 1926 reissue.
However apparently Astaire liked it, and can be heard singing the song in a bootleg recording as late as the early 1960s, accompanied by an unknown guitarist whose obscurity is richly deserved. The sound quality indicates the stage was somewhere near the kitchen door and the microphone may have been concealed in a cistern in the men's lavatory. The late date can be inferred from some of the changes, which refer more to the Coltrane revival than to the original 1920s Broadway style.
The historical importance of the song lies chiefly in its marking the date when George categorically refused to let Ira write the lyrics first ever again. The difficulties George encountered are highlighted in the bridge, from which he returns only by a miracle. Some musicologists, notably Eisenstein, maintain that he never did return but simply started the song again. It is rumored that Gershwin took nearly three hours to complete the setting of his brother's torrential outpourings, over ten times what he spent on other songs, and as a result managed to complete only 17 songs that day, a shortfall which led to heated arguments with his agent and his landlady. The recriminations between the brothers were so severe that after 1923 there is no photographic record of Ira being permitted to sit on George's lap.
The song resurfaced occasionally despite the brother's long battle to suppress it. Among the artists to record it are Doris Day, Sarah Vaughn, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and William Shatner.
The lyrics survive in a 1979 issue of The Real Real Book, but this version appears to have been transcribed in part from the Coltrane recording and in part from the bootleg restaurant vocals.
While the details of The Moon Can Blow Me have been lost forever, what remains is a testament to the remarkable oeuvre of the Gershwins., and The Moon Can Blow Me. The doomed musical is optimistically featured in the cover for the 1924 songsheet but is gone from the 1926 reissue.
However apparently Astaire liked it, and can be heard singing the song in a bootleg recording as late as the early 1960s, accompanied by an unknown guitarist whose obscurity is richly deserved. The sound quality indicates the stage was somewhere near the kitchen door and the microphone may have been concealed in a cistern in the men's lavatory. The late date can be inferred from some of the changes, which refer more to the Coltrane revival than to the original 1920s Broadway style.
The historical importance of the song lies chiefly in its marking the date when George categorically refused to let Ira write the lyrics first ever again. The difficulties George encountered are highlighted in the bridge, from which he returns only by a miracle. Some musicologists, notably Eisenstein, maintain that he never did return but simply started the song again. It is rumored that Gershwin took nearly three hours to complete the setting of his brother's torrential outpourings, over ten times what he spent on other songs, and as a result managed to complete only 17 songs that day, a shortfall which led to heated arguments with his agent and his landlady. The recriminations between the brothers were so severe that after 1923 there is no photographic record of Ira being permitted to sit on George's lap.
The song resurfaced occasionally despite the brothers' long battle to suppress it. Among the artists to record it are Doris Day, Sarah Vaughn, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and William Shatner.
The lyrics survive in a 1979 issue of The Real Real Book, but this version appears to have been transcribed in part from the Coltrane recording and in part from the bootleg restaurant vocals.
While the details of The Moon Can Blow Me have been lost forever, what remains is a testament to the remarkable oeuvre of the Gershwins.
However apparently Astaire liked it, and can be heard singing the song in a bootleg recording as late as the early 1960s, accompanied by an unknown guitarist whose obscurity is richly deserved. The sound quality indicates the stage was somewhere near the kitchen door and the microphone may have been concealed in a cistern in the men's lavatory. The late date can be inferred from some of the changes, which refer more to the Coltrane revival than to the original 1920s Broadway style.
The historical importance of the song lies chiefly in its marking the date when George categorically refused to let Ira write the lyrics first ever again. The difficulties George encountered are highlighted in the bridge, from which he returns only by a miracle. Some musicologists, notably Eisenstein, maintain that he never did return but simply started the song again. It is rumored that Gershwin took nearly three hours to complete the setting of his brother's torrential outpourings, over ten times what he spent on other songs, and as a result managed to complete only 17 songs that day, a shortfall which led to heated arguments with his agent and his landlady. The recriminations between the brothers were so severe that after 1923 there is no photographic record of Ira being permitted to sit on George's lap.
The song resurfaced occasionally despite the brother's long battle to suppress it. Among the artists to record it are Doris Day, Sarah Vaughn, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and William Shatner.
The lyrics survive in a 1979 issue of The Real Real Book, but this version appears to have been transcribed in part from the Coltrane recording and in part from the bootleg restaurant vocals.
While the details of The Moon Can Blow Me have been lost forever, what remains is a testament to the remarkable oeuvre of the Gershwins., and The Moon Can Blow Me. The doomed musical is optimistically featured in the cover for the 1924 songsheet but is gone from the 1926 reissue.
However apparently Astaire liked it, and can be heard singing the song in a bootleg recording as late as the early 1960s, accompanied by an unknown guitarist whose obscurity is richly deserved. The sound quality indicates the stage was somewhere near the kitchen door and the microphone may have been concealed in a cistern in the men's lavatory. The late date can be inferred from some of the changes, which refer more to the Coltrane revival than to the original 1920s Broadway style.
The historical importance of the song lies chiefly in its marking the date when George categorically refused to let Ira write the lyrics first ever again. The difficulties George encountered are highlighted in the bridge, from which he returns only by a miracle. Some musicologists, notably Eisenstein, maintain that he never did return but simply started the song again. It is rumored that Gershwin took nearly three hours to complete the setting of his brother's torrential outpourings, over ten times what he spent on other songs, and as a result managed to complete only 17 songs that day, a shortfall which led to heated arguments with his agent and his landlady. The recriminations between the brothers were so severe that after 1923 there is no photographic record of Ira being permitted to sit on George's lap.
The song resurfaced occasionally despite the brothers' long battle to suppress it. Among the artists to record it are Doris Day, Sarah Vaughn, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and William Shatner.
The lyrics survive in a 1979 issue of The Real Real Book, but this version appears to have been transcribed in part from the Coltrane recording and in part from the bootleg restaurant vocals.
While the details of The Moon Can Blow Me have been lost forever, what remains is a testament to the remarkable oeuvre of the Gershwins.