Jimmy Kimmel's April Fools prank for fans

Mother's Day gift

Mother's Day will be around the corner before you know it! Don't get caught scrambling to get a gift. If your mother lives in another state, check out my "Miss You!" mugs that I can customize for any two states. You can give mom the set or keep one for yourself. Check out my Etsy page here.

Cast of "Orange is the New Black" cover a classic Christmas song

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Homeless man gets his Thanksgiving wish

Less than two weeks ago, NewsChannel 3 shared the story of a homeless man staying at a Norfolk mission who posted his request online for a family to take him in for Thanksgiving.

And this Thanksgiving, Neal Shytles got exactly what he was looking for – a family to spend the day with.

After his story went viral, Neal was overwhelmed by how many people nationwide who reached out to him.

It was Ashley McLemore and her husband Cory, a military couple in Newport News, that reached out to Neal first. And Neal accepted their offer.

They picked Neal up from the Union Mission on Thanksgiving morning and took him back to their house to spend the day with them.

“He is a wonderful person who is selfless and I’m so blessed that he’s going to be part of our family,” Ashley says.

Neal seemed to fit right in with the rest of of the McLemore family, exchanging stories and sharing a warm Thanksgiving Day meal with all the trimmings.

He even got to carve the turkey!

But what Neal didn’t expect was that Cory’s coworkers also wanted to help him.

“They have actually donated $400 directly to you. And this was done in two days. They did everything they could to help you out,” said Cory.

The gift broke Neal down to tears.

“You didn’t have to do this. I just wanted a meal,” Neal says.

Now the Union Mission in Norfolk, where Neal has spent the last year and a half, is getting much needed donations because Neal had the courage to reach out.

“I hope people learn that the homeless are not what sometimes you picture the homeless to be,” Neal says. “I could sit there and just cry because people are doing so much for the homeless now.”

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NPR April Fool's prank shows that no one reads the articles they comment on

Remember those obnoxious tests you took in elementary school that tested how well you followed directions? You'd be asked to read all the directions carefully before starting the test, and if you did, the directions would tell you not to take the test at all. If you didn't, you'd answer all the questions until you got to the end and were told you failed the test, because you didn't read the directions first. It was basically to find out if you were terrible with instructions or if you would've fared really well in 1930s Germany.

Earlier this week, NPR conducted a brilliant version of that test for April Fools’ Day. Except instead of trying to trip up third-graders with ADD, the joke was on their online readers who comment on articles without reading the story itself.

Basically, here’s what went down: Last Monday, NPR posted a link to a story on their Facebook page to a story with the headline, “Why Doesn’t America Read Anymore?”



Although the story looked legit, with art and a sub-hed and everything, if you actually clicked on the link, this is what popped up:




Clever, right? Because people do comment on stories without actually having read them all the time!

If you’ve ever spent at least two seconds perusing an Internet comments section, you can probably guess what happened next. That’s right: Most NPR readers are those terrible third graders who failed the test. The original Facebook thread got more than 1,500 comments, mostly from people who clearly hadn’t even clicked on the article.












I believe the term for what you just did, Ryan Balas, is "epic fail."

So what can we learn from this? Either that NPR and other media outlets should do away with Internet comments sections altogether, or we should get rid of the articles and just replace them with comments sections. What say you, Daily Dot readers? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments, if you hadn’t already.

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The best April Fool's pranks ever

Wisconsin Capital Collapses – 1933
The Madison Capital-Times’ 1933 April Fools’ edition included a doctored photo of the Wisconsin state capital in ruins. The accompanying story claimed that the building was felled by a serious of unusual explosions caused by hot gas produced by the “verbose debates” in the chambers. Readers weren’t amused by the trick, but Washington, D.C., had to be relieved it was merely a hoax. If such explosions were possible, there would be nary a building left standing in the District.

The Spaghetti Tree – 1957

Switzerland is known for banks and chocolate, not spaghetti, right? Tell that to the millions who fell victim to a BBC April Fools’ report touting the bumper harvests from Swiss spaghetti trees. The report, which ran three minutes, even led some to ask how they could have a spaghetti tree of their own. The Beeb’s response? Put a strand of spaghetti in tomato sauce and “hope for the best.”

Do-It-Yourself Color TV – 1962
Color television wasn’t widespread until 1966, but some Swedes armed with nylon stockings tried to get it four years earlier. They fell victim to a hoax by Sweden’s Sveriges Television, which trotted out a “technical expert” to explain on-air — in thoroughly technical terms — how a thinly stretched nylon screen in front of a television would bend light’s wavelengths and produce a color image. The thousands who tried it learned quickly that there was no such trick — and were out a pair of stockings to boot.

Planetary Alignment – 1976

The British media have a unique affinity for pulling April Fools’ pranks, matched only by the British public’s unique ability to fall for them. On April 1, 1976, BBC Radio 2 astronomer Sir Patrick Moore gave listeners some bunk about how, at 9:47 a.m., Pluto and Jupiter would align in such a way as to temporarily reduce Earth’s gravity. Moore told listeners to jump at exactly that time to experience the once-in-a-lifetime effect. At 9:48, callers flooded the lines, eager to describe how they had briefly floated. News that Moore had played them no doubt brought everyone crashing back to earth.

Sidd Finch – 1985

A fastball that cracks 165 m.p.h. A devoted student of “yogic mastery.” A name like “Hayden Siddhartha Finch.” A baseball player like that has to be too good to be true — and he was. Sidd (for short) was merely the figment of Sports Illustrated writer George Plimpton’s imagination. That was enough to get him a 1985 article in the magazine. Mets coach Mel Stottlemyre got in on the ruse, posing for a photo talking to “Sidd,” who was actually an art teacher masquerading as the fake baseball player.

Richard Nixon for President – 1992

“I never did anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.”

Certainly not the makings of a great campaign slogan, but it’s the memorable line from Richard Nixon’s ill-fated 1992 campaign for President. Never mind that Nixon himself wasn’t involved — comedian and Nixon impressionist Rich Little and NPR’s John Hockenberry teamed up to pull off the prank on the radio network’s Talk of the Nation program. Befuddled listeners called in to let “Nixon” know just how certain they were that they didn’t want to give him the chance to, um, not do anything wrong again.


The Taco Liberty Bell – 1996

Freedom doesn’t ring as sweet when Taco Bell is footing the bill. America was outraged when the fast-food chain took out a full-page ad in six major newspapers, claiming it had purchased the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. But no worries — they planned to leave it on display. The prank’s real victims were hapless National Park Services employees manning the phones at the Liberty Bell. Unaware of the media blitz, they spent their April Fools’ Day reassuring Americans that no, their national monument hadn’t been sold off to the highest bidder.

The Left-Handed Whopper – 1998

Burger King cooked up a whopper of a different sort in 1998, but that didn’t mean fast-food customers were any less willing to swallow it. In a full-page ad in USA Today, Burger King announced a solution for the 1.4 million left-handed customers visiting their restaurants every day: the Left-Handed Whopper. Burger King said all the condiments were rotated 180° to suit the left-handed burger connoisseur. Southpaws eagerly tried to order the burger the next day, but they had to wait in line behind right-handed folks equally caught up with making sure they got the correct Whopper. The thought that a burger is basically, you know, a circle apparently never crossed their minds.

Alabama Redefines Pi – 1998

Scientists aren’t exactly friendly toward Alabama’s efforts to push intelligent design in schools, but one hit below the belt when he published an article in the April 1998 issue of New Mexicans for Science and Reason suggesting that the Alabama legislature was tampering with the mathematical constant pi. The article, penned by physicist Mark Boslough writing under the pseudonym April Holiday, suggested Alabama was redefining pi as 3.0 instead of 3.14 to keep it closer to the “biblical value.” State legislators were swamped by angry callers beseeching them to leave pi alone.

Gmail Paper – 2007
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“You click. We stack. You get.”

Google has long encouraged users of its Gmail service to archive, rather than delete, their e-mail. But paper archives too? That was the idea behind the 2007 launch of Gmail Paper, which promised to provide on-demand printed copies of e-mails for users. The massive costs of printing and shipping would be offset by advertisements on the back of each sheet, printed in “red, bold, 36-pt. Helvetica.”

The hoax website lives on today. But paper lovers beware — there’s still no word on how Google planned to handle the Viagra ads and Nigerian e-mail scams that would undoubtedly clutter every shipment.

Highchair for Dogs – 2011

This video uploaded by IKEA Australia unveils the IKEA HUNDSTOL, a highchair for dogs with a hole in the back for tails and water plus built-in bowls for water and food.

The YouTube Collection – 2012

YouTube announced it was putting every video ever uploaded onto DVDs, which would initially be delivered in 175 trucks — pack mule for users who live in rural areas. To make a comment, users would have to complete a paper form and mail it to the video creator directly.

Military Working Cats – 2013

The U.S. Army announced it was enlisting cats to reduce military spending. Thenews release said “a young, healthy cat can jump over eight feet in a single bound so if an enemy approaches a cat, the cat will be able to jump on him and either disable him, or claw him to death if he fails to stop resisting capture.”

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Five things not to do on social media on April Fool's Day

Flickr/Lovecatz

Tomorrow is April Fool’s Day. Once a pleasant and happy day full of goofy newspaper articles and maybe the occasional whoopie cushion, social media has turned it into a world-spanning 24-hour crappy open mic night. So, if you’re going to play a prank on social media, for the love of God, don’t do any of the following.


Don’t Announce You’re Pregnant, Even If You Really Are Pregnant
Tomorrow is the worst day of the year to announce an actual pregnancy, because every uncreative, dimwitted couple on your Wall will be announcing the same thing. The only time I’ve ever seen this gag work was when an entire family was in on it, and the “pregnancy” announcement was just the start of a very long, elaborate bit that unfolded throughout the entire day. By the end of it, the “father” had narrowly escaped to Canada and the “mother’s” family had posted an event they invited everyone to for hunting him down.

Don’t Encourage Bullies
April Fool’s Day has always been a day that brings out the total jackass in some people, and social media has just made that worse. Crushing some poor sucker’s hopes and dreams just isn’t funny, and encouraging the jerk who inevitably posts a video of somebody doing this is even worse. If you need a yardstick for something being awful instead of funny, people breaking down crying is a good one.

Unless it’s children. The tears of children are always hilarious.

Don’t Assume Your Friends Are Idiots
Sure, right, we’ll click the link leading to a site where you have to squint closely at the image to see the “hidden secret.” Because we’re all in high school, and we all have IQs of thirty or lower. It’s not a prank if we can see it coming, and will post Goatse on your Wall for your trouble. Speaking of which…

Don’t Use A Rickroll or Goatse
Again, this is less a matter of taste, albeit Goatse is eternally tasteless, and more about creativity. If you’re going to trick people into watching something terrible, there are endless options for that. Really, just punch in “10 hours” into YouTube: You’ll have plenty of options. Just don’t crib from Paul Rudd.

Don’t Half-Ass It
This is probably the most annoying thing: People just write an obviously fake status and post it. Back it up: Choose a link for your claim that seems credible, for example, or spend a few minutes with Photoshop to create a convincing picture. Remember, nobody likes anything half-assed, so if you have to go, go full-assed this April Fool’s Day. Or wear assless chaps. It’s what I do.

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Family's viral Christmas card

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Seven enduring lessons from "It's A Wonderful Life"

1. Your life has purpose
"Each man's life touches so many other lives, and when he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?" says the angel Clarence to George Bailey. One of the obvious points of the film is that, without George around, so many things would have been different. We learn that Bedford Falls, for example, would have been Pottersville. Of course, Zuzu and the other children would never have been born.

But the impact would have stretched far beyond this small town. "George saved his brother's life that day," says the angel Joseph, recalling when George's brother Harry fell through the ice of a frozen pond. Years later, Harry would become a war hero, saving the lives of others. The point is, we have no idea how significantly our lives affect others.

But that's only part of the reason to value your life. Aside from serving others, our lives should be viewed as a gift. As the angel Franklin notes, "At exactly 10:45 p.m. tonight, Earth time, that man will be seriously thinking of throwing away God's greatest gift."

2. Keeping up with the Joneses is for saps
This message is subtly sprinkled throughout the film. But the final example, writes Bob Welch in his book 52 Little Lessons from It's a Wonderful Life, comes when George's son announces that the neighbors have a new car. "Well, what's the matter with our car?" George snaps. "Isn't it good enough for you?"

George's ambition to be more than he is creates a lot of his problems, and is the cause of much restlessness and unhappiness. This is not to say that we shouldn't strive to better ourselves, but that maturity requires finding a balance. Learning to fully appreciate the blessings we have is a daily struggle for most of us, but most of today's pop culture only reinforces consumerism and naked ambition.

The question is, how are we defining our worth these days? It's a Wonderful Life leaves us with a clear message about that. "Dear George, remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings. Love, Clarence."

3. Bad guys don't always get punished
"In many movies, the final scene shows the bad guy being led away in handcuffs," writes Wes McAdams, a pastor from Texas. "It makes us feel good, knowing that justice has been served. Not so in It's A Wonderful Life." In fact, nothing bad happens to the villain.

"I love how George Bailey runs past Potter's window and yells, 'Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!' and that's the last scene in which we see him," adds McAdams.

In an era when things tended to be resolved before the "The End" sign appeared on the screen, "It's a Wonderful Life deserves credit for not solving every problem with the tinkling of a bell,"adds Mark Spearman.

Welch also notes that in the 1940s, "the Motion Picture Production Code definitely stipulated that criminals must be punished for their crimes," and the case has been made that Mr. Potter might have been guilty of larceny. During a Q&A in 1968, Welch recalls, Capra was asked about why Potter wasn't punished. "[O]ur main interest was what happened to George Bailey. This Lionel Barrymore (the actor who played Potter) character was too crusty, too old, too happy with what he was doing to change. So we just left him as he was."

It would have been easy to turn Potter into a sort of redeemed Ebenezer Scrooge who had seen the error of his ways. But in addition to avoiding a predictably sappy trope, Capra also reminded us that sometimes bad people get away with doing bad things.

4. Don't hire someone just because they are family
This is more of a practical maxim, but with all the touch-feely lessons in the film, it's important to cull some not-so-obvious and not-so-pleasant realities as well. "Uncle Billy, the brother of George's father, nearly ruined the business," recalls Julie Rains. "He drank on the job and didn't seem to be a productive employee even in the best of times. George could have hired a better employee or given him lesser responsibilities, somehow finding a way to show generosity in a way that didn't compromise the business."

5. Appreciate how blessed you already are
During his tirade, George tells Mary, "Everything's wrong!" But after his experience with Clarence, his whole perspective changes. This, explains Welch, is "because the stuff that does matter — family, friends, and faith — has now risen to such pre-eminence in his life that the rest doesn't really matter." Thus, he says things like, "Oh, look at this wonderful old drafty house, Mary! Mary!"

6. How to deliver a good toast
Okay, this one isn't so deep, but it is an important skill. In one scene, George and Mary deliver this toast to a new homeowner: "Bread, that this house may never know hunger. Salt, that life may always have flavor. And wine, that joy and prosperity may reign forever." So often we drone on during these moments. But simpler really is better (and often more eloquent). "It reflects a sentiment woven throughout the story, that things of true worth are not measured in dollars, but in the currency of friendship and family, and the good karma one puts out into the world," writesMark Spearman.

7. Marry the right person
George's mother tells him that Mary is the "kind who will help you find your answers." She was right under his nose all along, of course. But once they do get married, she sticks with him through thick and thin.

Romance is merely one of the themes in this film — not the dominant theme as it is in Love Actually— and yet the romance between Mary and George is deeper and more palpable. I would argue this is because real romantic love transcends the superficial "love at first sight" baloney Hollywood is selling us. For more on that, see my post on why rom-coms are arguably worse than porn.

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How to say "Merry Christmas" in 24 different languages

Where does your Christmas tree come from?

Nearly 30 million Christmas trees are sold in the U.S. each year, and while they appear in our homes only briefly, growing them is a full-time, year-round task.

Large-scale Christmas tree farms like Oregon's Noble Mountain Tree Farm are massive operations that employ thousands of workers.

They're designed to be efficient, and they rely on both old-fashioned human labor and modern technology.

While trees are planted and tended by hand at Noble Mountain, the harvesting process involves helicopters flown by skilled pilots whose speed and precision recently took the Internet by storm in a viral video.

How to grow a modern Christmas treeNoble Tree is one of the world’s largest suppliers of Christmas trees, with 6 million trees planted on more than 5,000 acres. The farm grows a variety of trees, including Douglas firs, noble firs and Scotch pines.

Trees are planted by different methods at Noble Tree, depending on the terrain. On hills, workers plant individual seedlings by hand, while a simple planting machine is used on level ground.

Every tree is shaped by hand annually. Douglas firs are sheared by specially trained workers to achieve their classic shape while noble firs have their branches cultured so the trees will fill out.

"It takes extensive training for an individual to acquire the necessary experience to be able to look at a tree and proceed successfully with proper removal of branches," according to the Noble Tree website.

Workers also do frequent "top work" on the trees, cutting poorly formed tops and leaving the buds they think will form better ones.

It takes six to 10 years for a crop of trees to mature, and when they're ready for harvest, farm operators aim to get trees to consumers within hours of cutting them. This is where helicopters come into play.

At Noble Tree, helicopters lift freshly cut trees in loads of 20 and transport them to the farm's multiple staging areas. The trees are processed and loaded onto trucks or refrigerated vans, depending on the distance the trees must travel.

How green is that Christmas tree?There’s long been a debate over whether real trees or fake ones are the more eco-friendly holiday choice, but plastic trees aside, can large-scale tree farming be sustainable?

The 1 million acres of Christmas trees growing in the United States produce enough oxygen for 18 million people per day, according to the Pacific Northwest Christmas Tree Association. And for every tree harvested, an estimated three new seedlings are planted.

Although tree-farming practices vary, it's in the grower's best interest to follow some sustainable practices. Trees need good soil to grow, so at Noble Tree water bars and cover crops are used to minimize soil erosion and runoff.

It's also common practice to rotate crops to allow soil to rest and to grind up stumps from old tree crops to add nutrients back to the soil.

Still, large-scale Christmas tree farming isn't entirely green. Fertilizers and pesticides are often used, and transporting trees by truck and helicopter is hardly eco-friendly.

If you want a more sustainably sourced tree, look for ones certified organic by the USDA or for a Certified Naturally Grown tree, which meets similar requirements. These trees are grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, and they employ sustainable methods like composting and erosion control.

LocalHarvest.org can help you find an organic Christmas tree farm near you.

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Surviving your office holiday party: A guide for introverts

The holiday season — with the crowded shopping, the long list of parties, the relentless merriment — seems like it was created with extroverts in mind.

Introverts, however, can find all that cheerful mingling a bit exhausting. It's not that introverts hate talking to people — they just prefer talking to people they know, and often enjoy one-on-one conversation over group settings. They also tend to loathe small talk, and often bypass niceties in favor of deep, thought-provoking topics. At parties, that can make others feel weird.

While most of the time introverts can avoid holiday stress by simply staying home, the office holiday party is a different story. They kind of have to show up, participate in the annoying small talk, and even pretend to enjoy hearing about Trish's snow-shoveling strategy, or how Jim just never developed a taste for chocolate.

If just the thought gets your heart racing, here's a quick office party survival strategy:

Lock and load a couple stories and questions beforehand
Though there's a common misconception that introverts have poor social skills, in reality they can be just as charming and witty as extroverts — they just tend to direct their charm at one person at a time.

Make those conversations count. Refresh your memory for stories that involve some of your colleagues. Also take a moment to remember details about their personal lives — like their kids and hobbies. That way, if a conversation veers into awkward pauses, you'll have a few life boats ready to go.

Put the deep stuff in writing
People often use the holiday party as an opportunity to get tipsy and give heartfelt thank yous to members of the team. Some introverts may feel too awkward to do this at a party.

If that's you, try not to leave the thank you unsaid. Instead, write an email or a short note on a Christmas card. It's easier, and the recipient will know it's not just the wine talking.

Fill your hands
Social awkwardness has a way of settling around the hand region. At the holiday party, resist the urge to pull out your phone to check the weather or Instagram or play a round of Quiz Up — that can come across as aloof. Instead, fill your hands with drinks or cookies.

Grab some coattails
Introverts are often drawn toward extroverts, and vice versa. If you have an extroverted office buddy, take the coattails approach, and tag along while she circulates. You won't have to think about where to go next, and she'll take care of breaking the ice. All you'll need to do is stand there, nibbling on cookies, with your pre-loaded questions and stories ready to go.

Take breaks
Introverts love alone-time — it's how they recharge their "batteries." If you run out of steam early on, don't feel weird about taking breaks — bathroom breaks, smoking breaks, e-cig breaks — whatever it takes to get away for a second. I'm also a fan of "texting" breaks, where you really just play a little Candy Crush and zone out for a sec. Though again, try not to spend the entire night on your phone.

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Rashida Jones, Carrie Underwood, and Jimmy Fallon sing a holiday medley