Difference between revisions 11759776 and 11775713 on enwiki

'''[[April 1]] [[2004]]''' was an [[April Fool's Day]] that fell on a [[Thursday]]. Hoaxes for this year included:

*In [[April 1st RFC|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.[http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1183684,00.html]
*[[CBBC]]'s ''Newsround'' website claims the [[planet]]s of the [[Solar system]] will be renamed after characters from ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' - [[Earth]] will be named [[Gandalf]]. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/sci_tech/newsid_3587000/3587189.stm]
*Both [[The Independent]] [http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/media/story.jsp?story=507170] and [[The Today Programme]] [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.[http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1183684,00.html]
*[[The Sun]] reported that [[British Police]] were fitting [[hawk]]s with [[speed cameras]] to catch lawbreaking motorists.[http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004150977,,00.html]
*The [[Daily Mail]] included photographs purporting to be the [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen]] gambling on [[horse racing]] amongst her subjects at a local [[Bookmaker]].[http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1183684,00.html]
*[[Google]] announced to start interviewing candidates for their new [http://www.google.com/jobs/lunar_job.html lunar hosting and research center]. An email to the address listed returns an [http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=102591&cid=8740668 autoreply].
*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 [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 [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 [http://www.camelotherald.com/rots/].
*[[Freshmeat]] partners with [[Babelfish]] to enable (very poor) translations into over 52 languages [http://freshmeat.net/articles/view/1142/]. The front page was also translated in [[rot13]].
*The [[Toronto Star]] reports that [[jogger]]s in the city are upset at a new speed limit of 10 km/h in city [[park]]s; the limit is to reduce noise disruption during the sensitive mating season of the local black [[squirrel]] population. [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 [[witch]]es in the [[Middle Ages]].[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. [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. [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.  [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. [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 [[United States|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.[http://www.todayonline.com/index_home.htm]
* The owner of [[DeadJournal]] announced that [[LiveJournal]] will take over operation of his site. [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 [[newbie]]s.
* Australian Broadband Community website [[Whirlpool_(web site)|Whirlpool]] announced that Telstra was going to "kill off" its cable service in favour of its ADSL service. [http://whirlpool.net.au/article.cfm?id=1256&show=all]

Genuine events that had been interpreted as April Fools included:

*The [[National Archives (UK)]] revealed that during the [[Cold War]], there were British plans to use [[chicken]]s to regulate the temperature in a [[nuclear bomb]].[http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1183684,00.html]
*[[The Guardian]] revealed that the [[1954]] [[Football World Cup| 1954|1954 World Cup]]  -winning [[Germany national football team|German]]y team]] may have been given performance-enhancing injections.[http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1183266,00.html]
*The [[Associated Press]] reported that [[Google]] would launch an [http://gmail.google.com/ e-mail service] with 1 GB of storage for each user. [http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/gmail.html]
*[[The Register]] [http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/36707.html], [[Web Hosting Industry News]] [http://thewhir.com/features/subdomain.cfm] and [[Slashdot]] [http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/03/30/0240215] report that [[Ideaflood, Inc.]] has filed a [[patent]] on the idea of user [[subdomain]]s and is now attempting to collect royalties from various websites.

==See also==
* [[Wikipedia:Not another page of bad jokes and other deleted nonsense/April Fools 2004]]
* [[Wikipedia:Bad jokes and other deleted nonsense#April_Fools.27|more Wikipedia entries from April 1 2004]]

== External link ==
* [http://www.urgo.org/aprilfools.html A long list of supposed 2004 April Fool's]

[[Category:April Fool's Day]]

[[ja:4月1日 (2004年)]]