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30 year ago, you never know :) http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/...

Hopefully, they all told truth about their age...

Assuming they were telling the truth, it would mean that people in that village actually age at a much faster rate than non-residents. One man from that village was 122 years old in 1971, and three year later, he was already 134! So yes, you die much older there, but your clock is going to be ticking really fast down there. Better hurry!

Human overclocking! That's what this project is all about!

Hopefully, they all told truth about their age...

Assuming they were telling the truth, it would mean that people in that village actually age at a much faster rate than non-residents. One man from that village was 122 years old in 1971, and three year later, he was already 134! So yes, you die much older there, but your clock is going to be ticking really fast down there. Better hurry!

Hopefully, they all told truth about their age and their age was double-checked, triple-checked, and quadruple-checked in different ways before they were selected for this study.

Timed release or whatever it's called. And the motorcycle part is just it: Motorcycles were forbidden there, but in none of her pictures was the motorcycle actually shown within the Chernobyl Zone of Alienation, which was probably one of the first clues people had that the story of her taking a motorcycle through there alone was bogus. Second clue was when a Chernobyl travel-guide told she'd been on their tour group.
Now you might suggest its a conspiracy of them trying to cover up letting her in against rules, but Elena wrote on the site in response "I am being accused that it was more poetry in this story then reality. I partly accept this accusation, it still was more reality then poetry and it is why this site has millions of people visiting each month from the day when I put it online and I think I have right to say that people love it". If you go to the KiddOfSpeed website, you'll find a disclaimer from the person providing the hosting, "Regardless of what is true, this site has certainly made people think more about Chernobyl and this tragic disaster."
So it would seem the people with "vested interests" to accuse her of making up things include both herself and the person currently hosting the site.
Tours of the are have been available since 2002, and her website appeared in 2004. Wikipedia cites mainly Slashdot has having made the site famous. The site has ofcourse been changed numerous times since then with new pictures etc. Also Mary Mycio (who MAY have a vested interest in it) alleges many of the pictures are from books and different timeperiods.
So in short, yes Elena's KiddOfSpeed story was fantasy. The images were of Chernobyl, but staged and not what they purpoted to be. As it relates to THIS story, the "solitary woman on unauthorized exploration of forbidden area" has a chance of being a fantasy. Looking cursorily over the site it's hard to imagine those pics being from a public tour, though the lack of actual rocket engines on site makes it a remote possibility.

You use 5.1 on while listening on a phone? Did you replace the factory keypad with a wooden one?

That's right. Remember "Arm the Homeless" and the reaction to it?

At least up to jumbo sizes, but then they fall over in a heap on the floor.

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/top/experiments/

An AC with a good memory brings up this reference:

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Hoaxipedia/Instant_Color_TV/

Now that you mention it, I remember that one too, because I knew people who thought it sounded like a good thing to do!

But it wasn't the thing I was talking about -- the one I referenced actually explained what was going on (it was something akin the the spinning disk trick some other replies have mentioned) and why it fooled your eyes into "seeing colour".

Do you also sign your card or is "check id" in lieu of your signature? If it's the latter, you're in the wrong:

http://consumerist.com/2008/07/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-your-credit-card.html

The signature is not there to prove it's your card; it's your acknowledgement that you agree to the terms and conditions of the card.

See also http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/comments/creditcard.html

It's also a complete hoax
Pity - it was / is well written.

She's a fraud. The whole thing never happened. It was just wishful thinking on her part because she wanted to write poetry. The narrative was right, but the facts were wrong. "Apparently she didn't go around alone on a motorcycle. She went in a car with her husband and a friend. Elena defends herself, admitting that much of her story was 'more poetry' than reality." It just baffles me how someone can take some cool photos and then ruin the entire thing by lying about it. It's like going to the White House to meet the President, and then you make up a tale about how you went to the bathroom, opened the wrong door, and stumbled into the Situation Room. Your story is already way cool, why the F lie about it? The REALLY sad part is all the people who rushed forward to defend this fraud.

There's an interesting write up here.

    It doesn't fully back what he was saying, but does suggest that the media did play up the response to the show more than actually happened. Oh, imagine that. :)

    What he says seems to come from the Wikipedia article, which cite this book and this book. Both books were published over 60 years after the events happened. Actual evidence shows that people did evacuate, or at least gather in Gover's Mill. There were many calls placed in to the police, radio stations, etc...

    The "frequent interruptions" were 3. One at the beginning, one in the middle, and one at the end. I have listened to the show, and that's how I recall it, but one of these days I'll sit down and listen again. Maybe in a couple years with my daughter, when she's old enough to believe. :)

I remember years ago reading Wikipedia articles that were written by experts in the relevant field. Much of their work was destroyed as people went through asking for citations to third-party sources--and since most of the relevant citations would have to come from print material only available at large university libraries, rather than seek out original sources various contributors eventually whittled those articles down to nothing.

That's a real dilemma though. Do you accept on faith that un-cited information from an anonymous source because it looks right ? Complete nonsense can be made to sound good. Or do you accept only a more limited set of information for which you can at least validate the sources so you have a fighting chance ? The only optimal solution would be to offer both with the article with citations being the preferred one but that adds unwanted complexity and cost.

Personally I think your expert friends should have just linked their sources from the get-go. Linking is what the web was built on in the first place for pete's sake.

That reminds me of the russian two-headed dog. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/top/experiments// One wonders if science really has to go there to prove itself.

IIRC, NTFS is a descendent of something called HPFS, which is what IBM developed for OS/2.

If I remember correctly, HPFS was designed by Gordon Letwin, who was a Microsoft employee.

Actually I would have gone with a funny mod vs insightful.. I believe he was referencing this: http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/4309/

Yeah, well, my $500 stereo knobs make my stereo potentiometers absorb them and turn them into Pat Benatar tunes.

I'm in hell :(

While most viewers got the joke, a large number didn't. Police and fire emergency phone lines were overwhelmed by panicked callers.

A day later, the news director was fired.

I just read the current top post on his blog. Impressive as these construction projects may be, the America 2.0 analogy is empty. I'll not be buying the bridge.

Even National Geographic fell for it hook, line and sinker. LOL.

That nobody has mentioned the Museum of Hoaxes, which documents all these and more. Much, much more.

One of the greatest April's Fool jokes of all time must be the one Swedish state television ran in 1962: Place a nylon stocking over your black and white TV screen and get color reception! http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Hoaxipedia/Instant_Color_TV/

He wouldn't be the first person to fake his own death.

Andy Kaufman is a recent one I can think of.

Here's a quick list of some psuedocides. Obviously, it is not very complete though, since Andy Kaufman isn't listed... But I guess this kind of crap really happens. Perhaps, bored with living the life of a millionaire, Mr. Fossett decided to do something exciting, like "die". ;)

Oh, come on, we all have seen the 1978 Microsoft photo.

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/welcome_to_detroit/

As long as they don't all jump at the same time. There was a threat that only the Weekly World News reported that the Chinese wanted to shift the orbit of the earth. Unfortunately, I can't find their full story online, but you can imagine the potential such an effort would have, if properly coordinated.

so my noodles don't have genes? :(

Yes, they do - they're vegetables: they grow in trees, and are harvested in places like Switzerland

The first note already was a surprise. It seemed as if analog was even more analog. That little edge on middle and high notes, that glare, was completely gone now. Overall the sound was warmer, more rounded and fuller of color.

indoors you could dunk it in vegatable oil: http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/09/1657251 http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/comments/3153/P20/

Having the 'leetest rig' just makes you top of a very small pile.

One of the most famous April Fool's day jokes was when the "New Mexicans for Science and Reason" printed an article claiming that Alabama had legislated the value of pi to "the biblical number of 3.0" (scroll down to #7). I can't believe the Indiana bill was real. It was prolly an I grad that testified for the 3.2 side, Hail Purdue!

Too true. The guy responsible had nothing on the stuff college folks do.

In 1722 a series of letters appeared in the New-England Courant written by a middle-aged widow named 'Silence Dogood'. The letters poked fun at various aspects of life in colonial America, such as the drunkenness of locals and the fashion for hoop petticoats.

Silence was particularly fond of ridiculing Harvard. She complained that it had been ruined by corruption and elitism, and that most of its students learned nothing there except how to be conceited.

This was the first of many of Benjamin Franklin's hoaxes.

So I'm guessing some of the founding fathers of our nation and at least this Signer of the Declaration of Independence would have this guys back. ;-)

http://www.pbs.org/benfranklin/pop_dogood.htm
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/dogood.html

I saw this a few months ago: The Top 20 Most Bizarre Experiments of All Time.

Although it's on a website called Museum of Hoaxes, I know for sure at least some (if not all) of these are true. Students learn about Milgram's obedience experiments in Psychology 101 (check out the videos on YouTube).

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Top/experiments/P0 This site details some more crazy experiments culled from the same book.

I couldn't get to it that way, but you can from here: http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalin k/downloading_communism/

Reminds me of that spoof RIAA poster when you pirate mp3s you're downloading communism.

I also heard a story about the CEO of Virgin Atlantic (charles bronson?? ...)

His name's (Sir) Richard Branson, and he really is known for being down-to-earth and game for a laugh. I wouldn't call him an actor, but he has appeared in Friends (he sold Joey the hat while they were in London). He's had cameos in a couple of other things, such as the last Bond film.

In one Candid Camera style show, they played tricks on him by dressing up people he knows really well so that he wouldn't recognise them, and then putting him in strange situations. They had his sister and a couple of others as trespassers, camping on his land, and he was really nice and polite about it; they had Phil Collins in a wig as a taxi driver, taking him through London and jabbering on about this and that. They did something with Peter Gabriel too, but I don't recall what it was.

Richard has a good sense of humour (note: not "humor" as he's English). He had a hot air balloon, rigged with lights that would flash on to make it look like it was turning, and wanted to play an April fools' prank with it. It didn't quite work out as he expected, but still had a noticable effect!

-- Steve

...occasional good macro or animal shot...

I am really asleep at the wheel today. I failed to provide the necessary link.

The Museum of Hoaxes actually lists quite a few more ugly April Fools Jokes:

Worst April Fools
http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/worstaprilfools.html

Australian electronics businessman and philanthropist, Dick Smith, trying to solve Australia's water shortage with an iceberg....http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/iceberg.h tml

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/

In addition to the fact that European spaghetti dates to 300 BC, there's also controversy over whether Marco Polo ever went to China at all. Polo's famous book about his travels never mentioned any Chinese place names, the Chinese style of writing, chopsticks, or woodblock printing. The Chinese bureaucrats never recorded his presence, despite recording the presence of other Westerners who had been to China (Polo was not the first Westerner in China, but he was the first to write a book about it). Many modern scholars think that Polo perhaps ended up in the Middle East, and wrote the book about China based on third-hand knowledge he heard from Persians or Arabs there.

Well, there was the Didgeridoo cloning article, but that was more an isolated prank than an inaccuracy.

And let's not forget that's a tradition that many fine institutions share, including, the BBC, NPR, the Guardian, and Discover. And really, I think those pranks reinforce a lesson that people too often forget about both Wikipedia and other sources: You should never trust a single source for anything that matters.

I love Wikipedia, and I think it's a great starting point for learning about topics. It has a basic overview on almost anything you care to name, and most articles have links and references to get you deeper in. But people who get upset about Wikipedia having mistakes and distortions never impress me. Whenever I pick up a general-interest publication that covers something I'm expert in, I can spot plenty of mistakes and distortions. But that's fine as long as they're not both egregious and intentional. Expecting perfection, especially in the written word, is a mug's game.

Not very convincing when you link to a free-energy crank site.
On the other hand, are there decent alternatives to the Big bang theory these days? All I can remember from college are the steady state and oscillating ones.
For that matter, this news doesn't disprove the theory either. AFAIK other factors like the distribution of stellar matter are still suggestive of a Big Bang.

Why is it when a litany of Sony's crimes against consumers is listed, David Manning almost never gets mentioned?
  http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/manning.html
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/4741 259.stm

fake reviews, poor quality products, high prices, proprietory formats, anti-resale patents, destructive DRM; Just how the hell does Sony still have fans? Is apathy really that powerful?

The thing stayed up for more than a year.

I'm not familiar with this particular article, but dubious articles that survive for a long time generally do so because they are nearly unused: they get little traffic and aren't linked from anywhere. Wikipedia article quality is usually a function of eyeballs, so you can take comfort that few people see a bad article, even if it's up for a while.

But if you're going to rule out a source because there's an obvious joke in it, you may have to cut your media diet substantially. Both the BBC and The Guardian published great hoaxes with a straight face, as many others have.

The thing stayed up for more than a year.

I'm not familiar with this particular article, but dubious articles that survive for a long time generally do so because they are nearly unused: they get little traffic and aren't linked from anywhere. Wikipedia article quality is usually a function of eyeballs, so you can take comfort that few people see a bad article, even if it's up for a while.

But if you're going to rule out a source because there's an obvious joke in it, you may have to cut your media diet substantially. Both the BBC and The Guardian published great hoaxes with a straight face, as many others have.