iPad and iPhone thefts are up by 44% from last year, but what if the Transit Gods want to make your day and bestow an iPad upon you, to make up for the fact that your goddamn MetroCard de-magnetized for the third time in a week? Alas, that would actually be the work of teenagers, who have got to stop ruining everything for everyone.
Video: Empty iPad Box On Subway Gets Snatched Up For Laffs
[Update] BBC Successfully Trolls April Fools' Day
Google may have gotten the jump start on April Fools' Day yesterday with their (actually quite fun) 8-Bit Google Maps for Nintendo, but BBC had the last laugh. Eschewing all subtly or regard for the sanctity of "mocking and harassing the ignorant, the stubborn, and the curmudgeonly," Redditors noticed that BBC instead slapped together the above deadpan news bulletin. THIS is how you do April Fools' Day, Russell Simmons.
Video: Google Maps "Now Available" In 8-Bit Nintendo Style
It seems Google has fired the first April Fools Day shot early by introducing their latest product: Google Maps in 8-Bit for Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). For those who want a "sneak peak" at the game before it hits stores, you can click the "Quest" box in the top right corner of Google Maps for a trial. Watch an intro video below, and check out some screen shots above.
Video: Gullible People Unite! The History Of April Fools' Day
The stupidest non-religious annual tradition is almost upon us: tomorrow is April Fools' Day, and some of you will likely be pranked by your absolutely hilarious relatives, co-workers and acquaintances. For anyone who loves regaling people at parties with stories about how gullible they are, we recommend unplugging your computer, avoiding all calls, and coming up with better small talk topics for the future. For everyone else, we recommend you EDUCATE yourself with this informative history video below. Unless of course this video is some sort of early prank itself...
Betty White's Prank Show Spotted In Park Slope
Betty White's team of senior pranksters have been spotted in Park Slope. The 90-year-old actress has a new show called Off Their Rockers, which is basically Punk'd but with White instead of Ashton Kutcher. FIPS noticed that in a recent episode of the hidden-camera prank show (which airs on NBC) takes place in Park Slope! Even though it's mostly filmed in Los Angeles.
Photos: Caltech Prank Club Blankets The Astor Place Cube
People must really worry that the Alamo (aka the Astor Place Cube) gets cold at night! In October Olek went and knitbombed the giant moveable sculpture and then this morning a reader sent in the above photos of the "companion cube" that appeared on it last night. As EV Grieve notes, the coverlet seems to be courtesy of Caltech's prank club (which is pretty much what it sounds like).
Man Brings Fake "Bomb" Into Bay Ridge Police Station
A strange scene unfolded yesterday morning at the 68th Precinct stationhouse in Bay Ridge, where a 40-year-old man allegedly walked in and yelled, “I have a bomb!" The Post likens the incident to "the set-up for a really tasteless joke" (the Post editors would know!) but to us it sounds more like the set-up for a really stupid movie, starring Adam Sandler as a fake bomb fetishist who falls hard for a foxy divorced bomb squad detective (played by Reese Witherspoon). At any rate, police "whisked" fake bomb threatener Steven Angelides outside and ordered him to place the "bomb," which was inside a bag, on the street.
Pranksters Demand $10,000 In Cupcakes For Lost Bear
Some merry pranksters are having fun in Cobble Hill at the expense of a traumatized two-year-old and his parents. The Brooklyn Paper this week reports on the sad story of a tot's lost teddy and the "kidnappers" who are demanding payment in the form of $10,000 worth of gluten and peanut-free cupcakes.
Five More April Fools Day Hijinks For The Road
Oh what a merry time we had today on this first of April, taking full advantage of the fooles and concocting hilarious gags that will fuel months of mass emails from Grandpa. We know you cannot get enough of these hijinks, so here are five more spoofs that are funnier than a suburban dad in a church parking lot.
Today, The Guggenheim Got Painted Red (And Other Things That Didn't Happen)
We're almost through April Fools Day and so far there's no sign of a In-N-Out Burger moving to town. But there's plenty of pranking happening out there today, from the Guggenheim to Improv Everywhere. Click through for some of the better ones.
UES Doorman Gives Man 'Ski Trip' to the Hospital
An Upper East Side man is suing the owners of his building for $10 million after his doorman allegedly left him with severe injuries following "a seriously misguided effort to be social." 55-year-old Glenn Reit had just gotten back from a ski vacation when he crossed paths with doorman Fred Rosario, who excitedly told him to sit down and "close his eyes and pretend he was skiing," an always ominous request. Rosario's ski fantasy for Reit turned out to be less Bode Miller and more Sonny Bono when the doorman began laughing and yelled, "You've hit a tree!" and according to the suit, "planted a forceful karate chop on the back of the plaintiff's neck," that has left Reit "substantially disabled." Reit claims the chop cost him $7,000 in medical bills from "a herniated disc, vertigo, neck pain, blurry vision and a concussion." Rosario denies any karate chop and describes his interaction with Reit as being more like an Atomic Sit-Up, where the tree was simply played by a slap to Reit's forehead.
Brooklyn Man Pranks 911 Saying 'Cop Shot'
A 20-year-old in Park Slope was picked up by police and arrested for making a false report after placing four prank calls to 911 last week. What was the hilarious line that he was trying to get cops to believe? That one of their fellow officers had been shot in the head, even giving the badge number of the "wounded" officer. Police would go to each of the locations where the supposed shootings was, only to find nothing, and contact the officer, who was all right. Investigators ultimately recognized the voice of Daquan Gardner, who was arrested for a similar call in 2007. Just two weeks ago, Gardner had been arrested for smoking marijuana at Sixth Avenue and Fourth Street, the same area he was placing the calls from on a street pay phone. An investigator told the Post, "He got locked up, he was mad at the police and he was trying to cause trouble." One of the calls last week was placed just hours before Officer Omar Edwards was fatally shot in East Harlem.
Yankees Go From Looking to Celebrating Like Stooges
We're not sure if it's the team's late game heroics or AJ Burnett becoming the Bronx's Cream Pie Bandit, but all of a sudden the Yankees became really fun to watch this weekend. Today's hero was Johnny Damon, hitting a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th to bring the forty-four thousand-plus inside Yankee Stadium to their feet. That marked the third game in a row the team has ended the game with a walk-off hit, the first time the Bombers have had that happen since 1972. But what might be just as exciting is what has happened after all three of the game-winning hits: the hero of the day has been surprised by pitcher AJ Burnett with a shaving whipped cream pie right in the face. When was the last time the Bronx saw such spontaneity and playfulness among the reputation they've built for being a team of business-like professionals throughout the last two decades? Burnett brings the tradition from his days on the Blue Jays and before the season told a YES Network reporter, "I'm gonna mess with them all the time whether they're having a good day or a bad day. I just can't wait to pie somebody."


