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April Fool's Day: history, pranks, and viral videos from 1911

Posted: Apr 1, 2011 9:45 AM by David Sherman
Updated: Apr 1, 2011 9:57 AM

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April Fool's Day is here and the Internet is great place for pranks - and to learn about the origins of this gag-filled day.

First, check out what InfoPlease.com has to say about the origins of April Fool's Day. One theory includes Pope Gregory XIII and the changing of the calendar in the year 1582. The Wikipedia entry on April Fool's Day includes more possibilities.

Tips for celebrating the day and clever tricks to pull on friends and colleagues are flooding the web.

Columnist Mark W. Smith at the Detroit Free Press has a list of April Fool's Day tricks for tech lovers. When someone walks away from their desk, hop on their computer and try some of the sneaky pranks that he outlines.

Mashable offers a list of "10 Office Pranks Perfect For Aprils Fool's Day," ranging from vintage classics to more up-to-date tricks like pretend speech recognition technology.

Google has earned a reputation for April Fool's Day gags, too (PigeonRank, anyone?). This year's prank: GMail Motion, which offers users of the popular web-based email service the option to control their email via body motion, similar to current video game systems such as Microsoft Kinect.

And YouTube is getting in on the April Fool's Day action this year: they've posted a video of the "Top 5 Viral Pictures of 1911" - traveling back 100 years to bring you the earliest known version of viral videos. Among the highlights: early incarnations of the Rickroll and Keyboard Cat memes.

Finally, don't forget to check out the Top 100 April Fool's Day hoaxes of all time, as presented by the Museum of Hoaxes.

What are some of the fun April Fool's Day pranks you've pulled on your friends or have had done to you?

Let us know by commenting below or visiting our Facebook page.

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