Beware the 1st of April!

Subject: Beware the 1st of April!
From: bbc
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 08:45 PM

As they say--"Once fooled, shame on you; twice fooled, shame on me." For the Mudcatters who've been around for more than a year, this will be reminder enough. For our newer members, anyone care to fill them in?

one who may not check the forum on the 1st (last year almost gave me heart failure!)

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 08:48 PM

He's already said he's not gonna do anything this year. Unless of course he's trying to throw us off the scent...

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Mbo
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 08:49 PM

That's the joke, don't you get it! Saying he's doing nothing IS the trick! I feel something more sinister down deep...

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 09:00 PM

Well, he did promise his mom he wouldn't, live on Mudcat Radio, but like bbc, I am gun shy. Oooooo...and I get to post the Thoguht for the day that day..Hmmmmm, let's see...what shall I *pull*.**BG**

Newbies beware...it was heart-stopping, serious scarey, bone-chilling, ominous sh** last year!

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Max
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 09:14 PM

Don't worry, it won't hurt that bad.

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Helen
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 10:15 PM

So, Max, you *do* have something planned but it won't hurt as bad as last year??? Is this what your cryptic message means?

Helen

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: rangeroger
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 10:19 PM

I don't see how it could be any worse than the "crash" last week. I almost went into withdrawal.
I distinctly heard the sound of an approaching insanevac,coming to cart me off to the Neil Young Center.
rr

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: MMario
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 10:27 PM

actually, last year Max posted a closing notice. Panic ensued. Major panic.

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: TheMuse
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 10:37 PM

Awwwww, come on, give me a hint!! What the heck happened last year?

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: MMario
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 10:45 PM

look up. look UP!

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: TheMuse
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 10:49 PM

Sorry, :-)))

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: MMario
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 10:53 PM

'sokay

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Iodine
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 10:54 PM

are we a bit paranoid in here??????

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: MMario
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 10:57 PM

iodine, you had to have lived through it. Most of this is joking around, but it DID start a panic last year.

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: GUEST, Bob Zoggledosh
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 11:30 PM

When is it this year?

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: ddw
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 11:34 PM

Saturday, in most places....

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: alison
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 11:40 PM

Here's what Max did Mudcat is closing it's doors

now before you all panic.... it was a joke.....

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Mar 00 - 11:45 PM

.......tsk...being the cynical type, I never believed him for a moment last year. It was just not the way a 'real' closing message would have been done....but then I barely belive it when you tell me the sun will rise tomorrow.

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: bbc
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 02:00 AM

Thanks for the link, alison. It was interesting to read through it again. It's a little hard to explain now how some of us felt then. One good result (I think!) was the Mudcat Resources site, which is just about to have its 1st birthday & already has more than 8,000 visits. When kat mentioned an emergency email list, David got to work & had a site constructed in less than an hour, just for love of his Mudcatting mom. That was neat. Max' joke caused many of us to realize what Mudcat meant to us & what we meant to each other. That never hurts, either, or at least not much.

my best to you all,

bbc

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Crowhugger
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 02:47 AM

Not that I'm paranoid, but I don't want to feel the kind of fear and loss so many of you went through last year.

So, before trick time (hindsight is 20/20 vision, isn't it?):

-when a site no longer exists you get a screenful of nothing with some little message at the top about Error 404.

-how can Max, or anyone, create a thread from jail awaiting arraignment or whatever they call it down there?

-if any authority were kind enough to allow a few days of a closing sign to be available, would it be a thread? Not likely.

Wait a second, what am I saying, "how can anyone...from jail"? There's gotta be sand, which is silica which goes (I guess) into silicon...file the spoon just right for some iron (do computers need that?)...lead solder on the copper pipes...

Max, please play nice this year.

Thanks for the warning, all. We with PTSD now know enough not to check in until the 2nd, just to be safe. And we also have the less safe options of doubling the meds and checking in anyhow. Around here April Fool's expires at noon on the 1st. Saves a lot of late night crowding at emergency wards for heart symptoms, I s'pose.

So, Max, ya gonna tell us you won the lottery? Got pregnant? Guess I'll find out on the 2nd.

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: bbc
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 07:03 AM

Don't forget which time zone Max is in--U.S. Eastern Standard Time.

bbc

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: GUEST
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 07:19 AM

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: The Beanster
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 07:23 AM

Oops. Pardon me for appearing without my cookie (above). Max, does this have anything to do with Browns Mills, New Jersey or the "lost" Mars probe?

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 10:17 AM

hmmm.... I may have an idea....

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 10:27 AM

Actually, that's Grovers Mills, New Jersey, not to be confused with Grover's Corners, New Hampshire, which is a different kind of time warp. In Grovers Mills, NJ, there is a historical marker attesting to the event which never occurred, which didn't happen there on October 31, 1939. But the New Jersey site is on the far side of Philadelphia from Max (near Princeton Junction, NJ).

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Jeri
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 10:35 AM

Beanster, do you mean Grover's Mill?

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen. We are ecstatic to announce that Mudcat is now being operated by NMPA, otherwise known as the "Nasty Martian Political Agency." We are finished screwing around with your little database, and have decided to go straight for your creative impulses. We will endeavor to subtly control your minds until you do nothing but discuss information without emotion. We will decimate any feeling of community fostered by the sharing of feelings and opinions not related to actual facts. We have appointed individuals to ensure this plan is implemented. Currently, they may be identified by the appearance of their posts. The Martian to English translator invariably converts the writing to odd fonts and font sizes, but we're working to overcome this. It should be noted that if they fail to supress non-factual discussion, they have been directed to disrupt communication by focusing attention on themselves.

Resistance is futile...you will be assimilated."

Er...whoops - wrong aliens...

We are Jeri
The third clique. (Go ahead, create your own - it's easy and fun to be plural!)

Please note the above message was accidentally posted in the wrong thread earlier. We can only blame this on the Martian plot, as the combined IQ scores of our clique would never have allowed for such a silly mistake.

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: vindelis
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 11:01 AM

Praise

Has it anything to do with 'Deja Vu?'

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: GUEST,Praise at work with BAD computer
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 12:26 PM

Vindelis, not sure what you meam, but maybe....

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: GUEST,kathcart
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 01:28 PM

Now I have to come to work on a Saturday!

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: vindelis
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 01:48 PM

Ever heard of Les Barker?

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 02:13 PM

Deja Vu, a rhyme!

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 03:06 PM

Sorry, v, my hearing is real bad today... maybe it will be clearer later....

~S~

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 03:23 PM

Deja Vu...A Rhyme
It is impossible to experience deja vu for the first time
I reckon the first time deja vu 'appens is the second
Deja vu...A Rhyme
It is impossible to experience deja vu for the first time
I reckon the first time deja vu 'appens is the second
I started with Verse Two
Verse One will stay unlistened because the first time you say "deja vu" it isn't....etc.

as written & spoken by Les Barker

It really is pretty funny the first couple of times, Praise.

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: The Beanster
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 08:51 PM

Charlie and Jeri--yes, I do mean Grover's Mills!--thanx for pointing that out. And yes, I know right where it is, actually, as I grew up in a neighboring town to where Max is today (Chadds Ford, PA). And again, thanks Charlie for enlightening me--I thought the Orson Wells thing took place on April 1st. But I do know that Houdini died on Oct. 31st--not that that's at all relevant! hahahaha And Jeri, funny website--how did you find that??!

Gotta go now, there's a pod in the basement wearing my face...

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Jeri
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 10:41 PM

No I didn't Guest. To be pedantic, I just messed up by posting in the wrong one. I found it amusing that TTCN did the exact same thing right after I did, and then chose to follow up my mis-placed post.

Beanster...uh, Beanster - is that really you? I did a search at Alta Vista for "orson welles" and "war of the worlds." Now, does anyone else have that double album from 197-something with a rock version of "War of the Worlds?"

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: GUEST, Another conscience....
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 11:02 PM

Oh, you mean Jeff Wayne's?

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Jeri
Date: 31 Mar 00 - 11:16 PM

That's the one. I would have looked at the album, but it's in a box in the basement.

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Helen
Date: 01 Apr 00 - 06:07 AM

Jeri,

I have the album of the radio show of War of the Worlds, and I think my hubby has the Rick Wakeman rock opera version. Double act.

Helen

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: GUEST,hollowfox
Date: 01 Apr 00 - 09:56 AM

Amazing, isn't it, that its easier to find something by using a planet-wide computer setup, than to get it from another room in your house?

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Jeri
Date: 01 Apr 00 - 10:24 AM

Not amazing if you could see the boxes in my basement...

So - Jeff Wayne did the rock-opera treatment of "War of the Worlds." I have (in another BITB) Rick Wakeman's "Journey to the Center of the Earth." Don't know if he did "WotW" too. Must have been a phase I was going through.

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Mbo
Date: 01 Apr 00 - 07:06 PM

YES! Rick wakeman used to be involved with The Move and Wizzard, some of my favorite bands right now! One day I gotta sing you "The Ben Crawley Steel Company" don't worry--it would fit right in with the folk/blues theme of Mudcat!

--Mbo

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Biskit
Date: 01 Apr 00 - 07:23 PM

Howdydoody an' April fools day ya'll just checkin' in from ol' virginy,...X's&O's to all. -Biskit-

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: bbc
Date: 01 Apr 00 - 10:17 PM

Well, now I'm wondering about April 2nd & the rest of the year. Max, are you out there?

love you,

bbc

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Helen
Date: 01 Apr 00 - 10:56 PM

Jeri,

I'm not sure now whether it *is* Rick Wakeman's WotW. I'll have to find out.

Helen

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: GUEST, Another conscience....
Date: 01 Apr 00 - 11:06 PM

I think, Helen the consensus of opinion leans towards 'Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds'

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Max
Date: 03 Apr 00 - 11:41 PM

See, that wasn't bad at all was it?

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 04:20 AM

But what's with the auction newsflashes, have they been hijacked by the flamers or was that something I missed by not being here on the 1st?
RtS

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Duane D.
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 11:01 PM

OK, Max, what do you mean by that posting? Are you a flamer in disguise or possibly TTCM?

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Max
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 12:41 AM

No, I am not a flamer. You can always bank on that. I remember an old episode of M.A.S.H. that the big joke was that there was no joke... the gag was the anticipation of nothing to come... besides, everyone knows that you can't pull and April Fools joke 2 years in a row. (hint, hint)

Subject: RE: Beware the 1st of April!
From: Duane D.
Date: 05 Apr 00 - 01:06 AM

I also remember another episode of M.A.S.H. where the practical jokester was in the middle perpetrating pranks against two sides, causing others to be blamed. Remember that one? It could have been a really involved plot, had you played the parts of all parties involved, for the entertainment of us all. Oh well, there's always next year.......