April 1, 2004 was an April Fool's Day. Hoaxes for this year included:
- In a tradition dating back to at least 1978 (RFC 748), the IETF issues RFC 3751, Omniscience Protocol Requirements, written by Scott Bradner, the Secretary and VP of Standards for the Internet Society. See April 1st RFC.
- The Guardian newspaper reported that Peter Mandelson was frontrunner to become the BBC's new chairman.[1] (http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1183684,00.html)
- CBBC's Newsround website claims the planets of the Solar system will be renamed after characters from The Lord of the Rings - Earth will be named Gandalf. [2] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/sci_tech/newsid_3587000/3587189.stm)
- Both The Independent [3] (http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=507170) and The Today Programme [4] (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/reports/arts/archers_20040401.shtml) claimed Brian Eno had crafted an electronic remix of the theme tune of the radio soap opera The Archers to replace the theme that had been used for over 50 years.
- An advert by BMW claimed new 'SHEF technology' would allow car drivers to cook their evening meals whilst driving home.[5] (http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1183684,00.html)
- The Sun reported that British Police were fitting hawks with speed cameras to catch lawbreaking motorists.[6] (http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004150977,,00.html)
- The Daily Mail included photographs purporting to be the Queen gambling on horse racing amongst her subjects at a local Bookmaker.[7] (http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1183684,00.html)
- Google announced to start interviewing candidates for their new lunar hosting and research center (http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html). An email to the address listed returns an autoreply (http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=102591&cid=8740668).
- The Electronic Frontier Foundation announced that it was merging with the United States Department of Justice, with Attorney General John Ashcroft taking a new job in the office supplies department. They also announced that the recently retired MPAA head Jack Valenti would be joining their board of directors.
- Blizzard announced that World of Warcraft would be adding Two-Headed Ogres as a playable race [8] (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/races/two-headed-ogre.shtml). Also, they announced the addition of a new neutral hero for Warcraft III: the Goblin Tinker [9] (http://www.battle.net/war3/neutral/goblintinker.shtml). Meanwhile Mythic Entertainment, makers of Dark Age of Camelot announced a new expansion with a new player race of tiny tiny Spriggans [10] (http://www.camelotherald.com/rots/).
- Freshmeat partners with Babelfish to enable (very poor) translations into over 52 languages [11] (http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/1142/). The front page was also translated in rot13.
- The Toronto Star reports that joggers in the city are upset at a new speed limit of 10 km/h in city parks; the limit is to reduce noise disruption during the sensitive mating season of the local black squirrel population. [12] (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1080774613973&call_pageid=970599119419)
- The neopaganism Internet forum WiccaUK was informed that spaghetti was invented by witches in the Middle Ages.[13] (http://forums.wiccauk.com/showthread.php?t=8540)
- National Public Radio's news program All Things Considered announces that the United States Postal Service, as part of its "Go Postal" program, is launching a "National Portable Zip Codes Program," which will allow individuals to keep their old zip codes if they move within the United States. [14] (http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1805651)
- Howard Stern's daily radio program was introduced by Tom Chiusano, the general manager of WXRK (which hosts the program), announcing that Viacom was pulling the plug on the show because of "the weight of the government pressure and its effects on our corporation." During the next hour, a mock replacement show with two different DJs ensued, and listeners from across the country called to complain. [15] (http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4648090/)
- The Motley Fool investment site announced that Hormel Foods Corporation planned to sue the United States government over the CAN-SPAM anti-spam law. [16] (http://www.fool.com/features/2004/h040331.htm?source=mppromo)
- Pro Wrestling Torch reports Vince McMahon will form a women's ice hockey league with some unusual rules. [17] (http://www.pwtorch.com/artman/publish/article_7753.shtml)
- A Singapore tabloid reported that a billboard outside the Singapore History Museum was vandalized with the phrase "Casino Coming Here". Singapore has strict laws forbiding vandalism, and in 1994 an American teenager, Michael P. Fay, received four strokes of cane because of vandalism. And recently the Singapore government was proposing to set up a casino in the country.[18] (http://www.todayonline.com/index_home.htm)
- The owner of DeadJournal announced that LiveJournal will take over operation of his site. [19] (http://www.deadjournal.com/community/new_shit/34659.html)
- The author of The Best Page in the Universe temporarily changed around the website to a parody of newbies.
- Australian Broadband Community website Whirlpool announced that Telstra was going to "kill off" its cable service in favour of its ADSL service. [20] (http://whirlpool.net.au/article.cfm?id=1256&show=all)
Genuine events that had been interpreted as April Fools included:
See also
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