After having had a few days to consider this year's crop of April Fool's Day hoaxes, I've picked a personal favorite, which would be NPR's news story about the
"portable zip codes" program. This program, inspired by the new FCC ruling that lets you take your phone number with you when you move, would supposedly allow people to take their zip code with them when they move. I like the story because, unlike most of the hoaxes this year, it's actually semi-believable. Absurd, of course, but somehow believable.
The prize for the most successful hoax, in terms of how many people actually fell for it, would seem to go to a story in Norway's Aftenposten about a
supposed plan by government health authorities to plant electronic id chips under patient's skin in order to better monitor their medical needs. Apparently thousands fell for it, and I can see why because it doesn't sound that far-fetched to me, even knowing that it's a joke.
Finally, the prize for the absolute worst April Fool's joke goes to this guy who called up his ex-wife and told her to come over, then
strung himself up with a harness so that when she arrived she thought he had hung himself, prompting her to immediately call 911. No wonder she divorced him.
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