Hoaxsters Get German Media to Report Fake Attack on US

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.”

'Victim' blames ex for threats, gets 1-year sentence

(NEWSER) - It turns out, you can go to jail for threatening yourself—just call the cops and try to pin it on your ex-boyfriend and his sister-in-law. Jeanne Manunga, a 25-year-old California woman, has been sentenced to a year in jail for sending herself threatening text messages from a prepaid cell phone she bought in the sister-in-law’s name, Wired reports. More»

Blogger, tech site both manage to punk the paper

(NEWSER) - The New York Times got punked—twice!—on April Fools’ Day, and the World Wide Web is having quite a laugh about it. First, the paper fell for a New York personal injury attorney who claimed to have been appointed “official White House law blogger,” going so far as to write it up (and then later retract it) in a City Room post, Gawker notes. More»

Big Ben going digital? Switzerland harvesting spaghetti?

(NEWSER) - As you prepare whatever April Fools' Day prank you have in mind for your loved ones, take a look back at 12 classic jokes, courtesy of the Daily Beast :

• Swiss spaghetti harvest: In 1957, the BBC aired a serious-sounding report on Switzerland’s bumper crop of pasta; hundreds fell for it and wanted to grow their own.
• Sidd Finch: In 1985, George Plimpton dreamed up a “part yogi” pitcher who could throw a 168mph fastball, then featured him in Sports Illustrated.
• Alabama changes Pi: A 1998 article claimed the state legislature changed the value from 3.14 to 3, because its “traditional Biblical value” is 3.
• The Whopper for lefties: Burger King announced in 1998 it was releasing left-handed Whoppers—the same sandwich, with the condiments rotated 180 degrees.
• MentalPlex: Google’s first annual hoax, in 2000, claimed to let users telepathically project searches instead of typing them in.

(NEWSER) - If ex-Justice Department hand John Yoo thought he could fade into obscurity after writing infamous memos justifying the government’s use of torture and warrantless wiretapping, he was wrong. An Australian comedian crashed his class at Chapman University School of Law in California last week, dressed up like a detainee from the Abu Ghraib photos, Wired reports. More»