Happy AFD + history of hoaxes + 10 pranks you can do at home/school/office. Read on!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! To get into the holiday spirit check out The Museum of Hoaxes' "Top 100 April Fool's Hoaxes of All Time" for a humorous history lesson. Find it at http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/aprilfool/

Last April Fool's Day BostonSOS took to the streets to protest protesting. Not any particular protest- just protesting in general. For a recap of how that went (including photos, video, and a transcript of how we converted a non-believer) check out https://bostonsos.org/protesting

Here are 10 of our favorite pranks (in no particular order) that you can do at home or the office:

1. Tie fishing line to a few items on someone's desk. Run the fishing line behind and under the desk to their chair. When the person pulls the chair out the items on the desk will go flying towards the wall!

2. You know that spray nozzle hose that's part of your kitchen sink? Point it in the direction where people stand when turning on the water and put a rubber band (preferably similar in color to the nozzle) around the spray trigger. The next person to use the sink will get a harmless spritzing. On a related note- do something similar to your showerhead (push down the toggle for shower vs. bath mode and direct the showerhead to spray the person when they turn on the water)

3. On a small piece of paper write "April Fools". Tape this to the underside of an optical mouse to block the red light.

4. Do not use this one (or any of these for that matter) for evil! Before your spouse/significant other/roommate gets home remove the doorknob from the bathroom door and reinstall it backwards- so the lock is on the outside (this is easier than you might think). Turn the lock to auto-lock when the door is closed. After they get home and do their business wait till they call for help. Let them out! Don't be a jerk! But before you do slide a note under the door that says "APRIL FOOLS". Don't forget to change it back immediately or you might find yourself in an unfortunate situation of your own devices.

5. Change the mouse cursor speed settings to their lowest speed and acceleration settings.

6. Bring a couple dozen paper cups each filled with water to someone's desk. It will take time to set up- but just as much time for the victim to remove. If you're particularly impish, use a stapler to staple the top lips of all of them together.

7. Put a paperclip on the scanbed of a copy machine. Make 20 or so copies. Take the copies of the paperclip and put them back into the papertray so that the next 20 copies have a mysterious paperclip on them.

8. Turn on your spouse's/partner's/whoever's car windshield wipers and set the radio dial to blaring. Watch as they turn on the car the next morning. Turn on the blinkers too if they don't operate with the key out of the ignition. Bonus: Attach an April Fools note to one of the wiper blades.

9. Glue all the eggs in a carton to the carton itself. Alternatively- hard boil all the eggs and put them back in the carton.

10. There's no denying it; Some parts of Boston don't have the tastiest tap water. Play this up by putting some non-toxic children's bath dye pellets behind a faucet's aerator for red, yellow, or green water.

Happy Holiday!
James Cobalt
Executive Director
The Societies of Spontaneity Inc.