What Recession? Economist Launches Theme Park

First and most importantly, be aware of the date

(NEWSER) - Welcome to April 1, “the day when every office jokester and petty prankster thinks up some gags at your expense that they think will be hilarious,” writes Brian Moylan on Gawker . “Well, not this year, jackass.” Moylan offers a foolproof five-step plan to make yourself, well, foolproof:

1. Know the date: You’re most likely to fall for an April Fools Day prank when you don’t realize it’s April Fools Day. But “not this time around. If you're reading this, you have been informed. Use that to your advantage.”

'Now you can control Gmail with your body,' says April 1 announcement

(NEWSER) - Google proudly unveiled Gmail Motion today—today, of course, being April 1. The new application "uses your computer's built-in webcam and Google's patented spatial tracking technology to detect your movements and translate them into meaningful characters and commands," Google claims, offering a helpful guide to the necessary gestures. To open an email, for instance, act as if you are opening an envelope. To send an email? Just lick an imaginary stamp and place it down. (Watch the video for a demo of the "ergonomic" movements.) More»

New England, upstate New York could get a foot

(NEWSER) - Mother Nature is planning an April Fool’s joke on the Northeast: Just as spring was beginning to bloom, a snowstorm is on its way, the AP reports. It’s expected to arrive tonight and continue into the morning, pounding some areas—including New England, eastern New York, and northwestern New Jersey—with up to a foot of snow. (None is expected in New York City.) To add insult to injury, Los Angeles is experiencing a heat wave with near-record temperatures in the 80s and 90s, Los Angeles Times notes. More»

'Other white meat' producers not amused by spoof

(NEWSER) - "The other white meat" is a registered slogan belonging to the National Pork Board and the trade group won't put up with unicorn meat sellers using it. The board sent a 12-page cease-and-desist letter to ThinkGeek over its use of the slogan for the canned unicorn meat it offered for sale April 1. More»

Pace, volume of new media requires explanatory outlets

(NEWSER) - In an environment where newspapers, newsweeklies, and TV news are losing market share like sinking ships, NPR and the Economist are thriving. Why? Well, posits Ezra Klein, the explosion of Internet news threw small-pond big fish into the ocean. Those who couldn’t keep up turned to opinion, creating a veritable whirlwind of new content—and the need for someone to parse it. Enter public radio and the British journal. More»