Readers may recall that I love a good April Fools story, such as the one I did about Low Flow Fire Hydrants in my town in the name of “sustainability”. It worked so well that I had even suckered in a city council member with the story.
I had planned an elaborate April Fool’s posting this year. The object of such was California’s overzealous edicts on environmentalism foisted on the public by agencies such as CARB. My subject was the twisty bulb, and the movement to replace filament bulbs. My target was the most famous filament bulb ever, the one in the firehouse in Livermore, CA which has been burning for over a century, dubbed “The Centennial Bulb”
Here’s what my April Fools prank was going to be.
I had planned to write a column about how an NGO had sprung up called “No Light Bulb Left Behind” whose mission was total replacement of all incandescent bulbs in California with the slogan “Helping California make the switch to energy efficiency”. I even registered a domain name to give legitimacy to the prank: nolightbulbleftbehind.org
The plan was to make up this website with convincing environmental slogans and twisty bulb imagery in the style of “feel good environmentalism” that we’ve seen time and again.
The other part was to make up a funny press release and post it on that website where they supposedly convinced the City of Livermore to retire the “centennial bulb” and replace it with a twisty bulb to show that it was “time to retire the old ways”, then write about it here at WUWT in the style of “can you believe this?”. I figured a number of people would believe this and actually applaud the idea, because even crazier things are being done in California today in the name of sustainability and environmentalism; CARB’s carbon trading program for example.
But after Gleick’s dastardly deception in the name of environmentalism followed by his self immolation for “the cause” I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t bring myself to make up even this small prank for the purpose of entertaining everyone. All my well laid April Fools plans went into the bit-bucket.
So that’s why I have no April Fools story. I’m sorry. (Apparently though Stefan Rahmstorf at RealClimate has no such compunctions about making up some science though.)
I’m back traveling again today, and moderation will be sporadic. I’m treating a number of my moderation staff and contributors to a nice dinner tonight. For those of you moderating in far away lands, and on the other side of the USA, you have my sincerest thanks and best wishes. Your presence will be sorely missed, and I hope to be able to make it up to you someday.
Here’s one for ya:
Eric Sharp: Michigan surrenders to global warming
http://www.freep.com/article/20120401/SPORTS10/204010530/Eric-Sharp-Michigan-surrenders-to-global-warming
Ah well … at least there’s a good one over at The Register with Apple holding the patent on the rectangle … http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/04/01/apple_patent/
“Readers may recall that I love a good April Fools story, such as the one I did about Low Flow Fire Hydrants in my town in the name of “sustainability”. It worked so well that I had even suckered in a city council member with the story.”
Wait.
That was a joke?
I hate this time of the year.
Curiously enough, the Google Ad I see is for Bulborama (not Bulbobama) the “Long Life Light Bulb Superstore.”
Please excuse this copy of a comment on the Open thread:
The Heartland Institute announces a new plan for keeping their documents private. In the future, they will send only hardcopy to their board members printed on a new printer they acquired today
http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/looflirpa/shrinter.shtml
I hope you and the moderators and contributors have a fabulous dinner and well-deserved fun.
I am still smarting over being taken in by your low flow fire hydrants story. That was a classic and still merits a chuckle! Your abandoned scheme likewise would have raised ire and appreciation in equal measure. Thanks for sharing.
What’s the state of play with the self-confessed con-artist (Gleick)?
Hasn’t he be charged yet?
If not, why not?
A rather heavy handed April fool post at Real Climate –
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2012/04/wrong-sign-paradox-finally-resolved/#more-11329
I must admit the title made me think they had produced a “trick” to explain Tillander…..
Here in Portugal, people are starting to reuse “petrol lamps”. Not an April fool though!
http://ecotretas.blogspot.pt/2012/03/candeeiros-petroleo.html
(in Portuguese)
Arthur Dent says:
April 1, 2012 at 10:16 am
“A rather heavy handed April fool post at Real Climate – ”
Rahmstorf must play it very obvious lest it gets confused with his regular publications.
Ecotretas says:
April 1, 2012 at 10:35 am
“Here in Portugal, people are starting to reuse “petrol lamps”. Not an April fool though!
http://ecotretas.blogspot.pt/2012/03/candeeiros-petroleo.html
(in Portuguese)”
I hear whale blubber is a renewable resource.
It must be hard for RealClimate regulars on April Fool’s Day. I mean: how does that site top all the other bullshit that is spouted over the other 364 days? Whatever they do, it’ll be lapped up by the faithful. And those savvy readers on the lookout for a seasonal gag won’t know which story is the culprit. It’s ripe for faux pas: “Oh, I’m sorry Kenny. You were being serious when you said the missing heat was hidden in the oceans and is storing up for an apocalyptic enormous hot sea-guff? My bad.”
@DirkH says : I hear whale blubber is a renewable resource….
Wouldn´t it be better if they use excess fat extracted from environmentalists? It would fight obesity too (which is on the same liberal list of goals to be attained). 🙂
Gosh-darn, Anthony, it would’ve been great! I, for one, definitely would have fallen for it because as you said, nothing is too weird for those people. Not only would’ve a lot of people bought it, but you would have had numpties lining up for memebership. I don’t see any connection with such a prank to Gleick. Gleick stole and most likely forged for a type of a gain. He certainly wasn’t going to yell out, “April Fools!” after his shtik. I thinkyour prank would have been a grat teaching moment about how gullible we have become. Hang on to the URL and pull it next year; we’re all getting older and will have forgotten about this article anyway!
Your point is understood and is well taken. Worth sitting out this year. Can’t wait to read Rahmstorf’s latest creation in the meantime.
But seriously, there was plenty of earth day fodder from last night!
I look fwd to 01 APR 2013, however.
Kurt in Switzerland
Kim2000,
That’s pretty funny. I like: “When they get to about 8 feet they prefer bigger prey, something about the size of a pig or a dog or a small child.” Then he went even crazier after that. The guy’s pushing the credulity envelope with such stuf, but I bet many people still bought it right until he gives the game away in the end. Good find for a good laugh and congrats on your new website.
<DirkH says:
April 1, 2012 at 10:41 am
I hear whale blubber is a renewable resource.
ROFLMAO! It sure is. Seal blubber is too, and many species are not endangered and some can be “ranched” in a way. Especially those cute, tear-eyed baby Harp Seals with the beautiful fur…another sustainable resource. Feed those with dolphins killed by tuna nets and the occasional Panda for dietary variety. Perfect way to make the Greenies insane and distracted with rage. Maybe they’ll forget about the Polar Bears and CAGW.
You are a class act, Sir Anthony!
The funniest high profile April Fool’s joke I happened to hear while innocently driving along ~4/1/04 was Sean Hannity declaring on his radio show that he’d seen the light and had become a Liberal*. He played it totally straight for as long as I listened and there were many Liberals calling in to thank and congratulate him. Word of the good news must have been getting around. Meanwhile, Hannity was hilarious. He repeated all the usual Liberal memes perfectly and showed absolutely no sign of it being a joke.
*a Liberal as opposed to a Classical Liberal
When one of my incandescent spotlights in our family room went out about seven years ago, I thought I’d try replacing both spotlights with CFLs. I hate those CFLs. Although CFL’s have probably improved a lot since then, these CFLs take a LONNNGGG time to reach maximum brightness and one of them is noticeably brighter than the other. I don’t use them often enough to get my large stepladder out to replace them (I still have incandescent replacement bulbs in the drawer). Maybe someday, they’ll be worth something. (Sigh)
1) You can not apologize, for not trying to make fools of others.
2) I don’t believe a word of your story.
3) I will regret this comment in the morning 🙂
Sorry Anthony, an April fools gag is probably a waste of time anyway at the moment. It would be completely lost in amongst all the Rio run up material.
If it wasn’t for CARB, we’d still have 2nd and 3rd stage smog alerts in the Los Angeles Basin, something that hasn’t occurred for over 15 years now. Anyone who remembers those days has no desire to bring them back. The massive improvements in air quality are directly due to automobile emissions restrictions instituted by CARB.
That’s not to say that every regulation they promulgate is perfect, but unrestrained capitalism is certainly not the answer.
Tell me you look forward to not being able to run 60 feet without stopping to catch your breath and I’ll invent a time machine so you can travel back to the 70’s and 80’s and experience it yourself.
Anthony, let’s not waste a good website name and registration and turn it into a site that honors the trusty old incandescent bulb. How about personal stories of the bulb — heroic, humorous, illustrative, inspiring? And photos too. There’s plenty of imagination among the WUWT readership and, who knows, may we could just save the thing from the recycle bin of history. Or at least give it the honor due it’s longevity. Sure, there are sites on the history of the light bulb such as http://www.bulbs.com/resources/history.aspx, but this one would be more universal and fun.
Leon B.
‘off track’
Are you L.B. from LCHS ’65 ?
JimH.
My favorite of all time is still the Sofa King ad. It sounded completely legit, too… Sofa King Warehouse! Our prices are Sofa King good!