April Fools Prank Roundup

It's that eye-rolling time of year again when would-be comedians around the web invoke dry chuckles from their viewers by posting fake announcements on their websites. Here's the best that I've found on various science, skeptical, and atheist websites:

Deep-Sea News covers the story about deep-sea squid invading the Mississippi river due to hurricanes causing an increase in water salinity.

In episode 88 of The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, Dr. Novella pranked his team of skeptical rogues during the Science or Fiction segment by claiming that Chinese scientists have devised a way to process Panda feces into edible wafers to help curb their country's hunger problems.

Dr. Joan Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge gives us the real truth about semi-conductors.

Respectful Insolence shares a mailing list gag about chiropractic treatments fighting global warming

Parallel Divergence has a great post recounting an April Fool's story from the past involving lotto tickets and an extremely pissed off mom.

NoBeliefs.com has changed its name to Christianity Now, leaving us with this little gem:

Announcement: I know a lot of you freethinkers have been loyal to NoBeliefs.com but we're in for a big change. NoBeliefs.com has been bought out by Christianity NOW. Starting today, the articles and news items will be replaced by Chrisitan oriented subjects. The author of NoBeliefs.com has also converted to Christianity and has given his life to Jesus. He will help to transfer this site into God's good plan and to prepare for the Final Days. Hallelujah!

The Discover Institute revealed that the much-maligned Dr. Egnor was actually an invented personality created to take "gullible Darwinists" for a ride. There is speculation that this is simply their way of safely distancing themselves from the increasingly bizarre Egnor. Will we ever know the truth? Who cares?

[Update: It turns out that this April Fool's announcement was itself an April Fool's prank perpetrated by The Panda's Thumb. Nice one!]

Tetrapod Zoology gives us a couple of posts about rhinogradentians... small rodent-like mammals that walk around on their noses.

That's about all I can handle. For more (not necessarily science/skepticism/religion related) April Fools goodness, check out The Museum of Hoaxes Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes page. Also, as per usual, SlashDot has been pretty much rendered un-readable for the entire day, if you're into this kind of thing.

Posted by Rudis in Skepticism
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Rudis is an amateur skeptic with an interest in science, and you absolutely should not believe anything he says. Do the research for yourself, apply some critical thinking skills, and come to your own conclusions. But you should definitely read his comic.