April Fools’ Day Defense Kit

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It’s April 1, the day the internets choke out self-spoofs and linkbait a-plenty, putting egg on more than one well-deserving blogger mug — and I have to say, even though he was hurtfully rude to me last time I saw him in a local bar, Nick Douglas has a fine post on Valleywag aptly titled, I HATE IT HERE: I hate April Fool’s Day on the Internet.
But aside from some Fucked Company fun, please do arm yourself with Snopes, and save me more semi-annual well-meaning emails about cell phone telemarketers.
But better yet, Slate has a fantastic writeup by Jack Schafer, The April Fools’ Day Defense Kit. It’s exhaustive, and in it he especially warns us about the media and interwebs, snip:

If they pranked before, they’ll prank again. In addition to the British press and NPR, the weekly chain formerly known as New Times Inc. (now Village Voice Media) loves to hoax its readers. Google has established a reputation for silly hoaxes with pages hyping its Google MentalPlex and PigeonRank technologies. It once posted openings for its Googlelunaplex office on the moon and introduced a smart-drink called GoogleGulp!

Link.
Also — don’t miss the Laughing Squid writeup about today’s launch of pranks.com.

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