7 best web pranks of all time

[Anima]

Pigeon-Powered Internet?

To make sure that individuals and institutions all over the world can communicate over the Internet, lots of very smart computer engineers develop and promote Internet standards. But the fine people involved with the Internet Engineering Task Force are a puckish bunch. And, every April 1 since 1989, they've published at least one tongue-in-cheek document.

"There is a long and storied tradition of the people who put together Internet standards having a little bit of fun," Kaminsky said of the documents known as the April 1 RFCs (or Request for Comments).

One of their most notorious April Fool's publications, he said, was a proposal outlining how Internet data could be carried by well-trained pigeons.

The plan was so popular that, in 2001, a group of programmers in Bergen, Norway, actually put the pigeon-powered Internet to work. They sent carrier pigeons bearing packets of data across a roughly 3-mile region.

"It was a very, very slow Internet connection," Kaminksy deadpanned.

The World Wide Web leaves a lot of room for amusement, he said. And as the pigeon proposal shows, if you can do something ridiculous (as long as it doesn't hurt anyone), there's little reason not to.

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/AheadoftheCurve/story?id=7193603&page=1

 

[AgentDrazenPetrovic]

if goatse isn't on the list, it isn't a list.

 

[Paxil]

Sports Illustrated did one on a pitcher named Sid Finch. It is my all-time favorite. I figured it out... but my friend called me on the phone to rave about it... so some people bought it. It is a classic. Hell... if I remember it after all these years... it must have made an impact.

http://www.strongmemories.com/toppage8.htm

 

[PapaG]

Sports Illustrated did one on a pitcher named Sid Finch. It is my all-time favorite. I figured it out... but my friend called me on the phone to rave about it... so some people bought it. It is a classic. Hell... if I remember it after all these years... it must have made an impact.

http://www.strongmemories.com/toppage8.htm

A classic hoax. I remember it as well.

He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yoga -- and his future in baseball

Sports Illustrated

The Curious Case of Sidd Finch

He's a pitcher, part yogi and part recluse. Impressively liberated from our opulent life-style, Sidd's deciding about yoga -- and his future in baseball

Issue date: April 1, 1985

By George Plimpton

 

[Paxil]

Some photos of Sidd Finch that were never published

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/gallery/featured/GAL1127329/1/index.htm?bcnn=yes