Yesterday was April Fool’s Day. And yes, I fell prey to Paul Bogush’s tweet about Twitter accounts being charged for from August, and my clever daughter who had the foresight to purchase fake scratchies, that when scratched, said we’d won $10,000. My son ran around the house in a state of frenzied excitement anticipating all manner of things he could buy, until faced with the realisation that it was all an April Fool’s Day joke.
It made me think of one of the first uses of mass media to pull off a great April Fool’s Day prank. Above is the original video of the Panorama program’s Spaghetti tree segment, that led to thousands of British viewers phoning the BBC asking how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. Their reply, ‘Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best’. (You’ll have to visit the link to the video on YouTube – they’ve disabled embedding. Thanks Darcy Moore for alerting me to this. : ) )
It’s Good Friday today. Enjoy a Hot Cross Bun or two and spend some quality time with family and friends. The weekend ahead will see me working on presentations for the ACEC Conference, adding my thoughts to Students 2.0 and hosting family for Easter celebrations on Sunday. Sounds a tad busy really!
Lucacept - intercepting the Web 
Hi Jenny, your post about this clip prompted me to comment. I have used this clip a few time as an introduction to website evaluation/ bogus websites lessons. Many of the students at our school come from come from farming backgrounds……but they’ve been caught every time…..even when I’ve given a clue about the date!! One year we couldn’t resist & staff draped spaghetti from one of the trees in the playground. Clips like these can be incredibly useful resources for teaching a variety of messages!
Ohhh! I just read my comment- there are a few repeated words etc! Trying to do too many things at once- sorry!
You’re right, they can. What’s great is that they are entertaining in the process of providing relevant instruction.
I feel sorry for your poor son, Jenny. That would have been a massive disappointment. Good luck with everything you have to do by next week; I’m looking forward to seeing you at the conference. Happy Easter, and I hope you and your family have a great day.
He took it with good humour Tania. Thank goodness! I hope you have a lovely Easter with your family too. : )