Wikipedia:April Fool's Main Page/Did You Know
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April Fool's Main Page |
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| Current Discussion Home * Featured Article * Featured Picture On This Day * In The News * Did You Know |
| 2008 Main Page (start) * Main Page (end) Featured Article * Featured Picture Did You Know |
| 2007 Main Page Featured Article * Featured Picture Did You Know |
| 2006 Main Page layout |
| 2005 Main Page layout |
Please use this page for discussions surrounding the creation of a "Did You Know" items for April Fool's day 2009
Areas of work needed to complete the front page are:
- Wikipedia:April Fool's Main Page/Featured Article
- Wikipedia:April Fool's Main Page/Today's Featured Picture
- Wikipedia:April Fool's Main Page/On This Day
- Wikipedia:April Fool's Main Page/In The News
- Wikipedia:April Fool's Main Page/Did You Know
Ground rules for this activity along with a list of participants may be found on the Main talk page.
Contents |
[edit] The Mission
This section should focus on some trivia that can be presented in a manner that is unbelievable to the reader. See the mock-up for proposed entries.
[edit] Action Items
- We need to find half a dozen weird/funny/unlikely facts.
- Ideally these should come from new articles or expanded stubs - so we should consider where we're getting these facts from - do we need to write new articles and put them into article space shortly before April 1st? Do we need to expand stubs? What?
[edit] Another idea
I have an idea for at least one set. Let's spoof ourselves. Let's put up some genuine new articles that are otherwise OK (sourced, lengthwise etc.) but use blindingly obvious and unsurprising hook facts: "...that BODY OF WATER will make you wet if you touch it", "...that PERSON is still dead after 150 years?", "...that REALLY COMPLICATED MATH CONCEPT cannot be done by most elementary school students", "...that INSECT SPECIES (pictured) is butt-ugly?" You get the idea. Daniel Case (talk) 13:43, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Candidates from 2008
Suggestions and ideas carried from the 2008 discussion.
- ...that in 1946, the Walt Disney Company produced an animated film entitled The Story of Menstruation?
- ...that a plan by Denmark's Road Safety Council to hire topless models to hold speed limit signs backfired as cars slowed to the point of causing severe traffic congestion?
- Something about Cockroach Racing (article requested).
- Something about Finger Jousting (article requested).
An article that, if expanded fivefold, would a great April Fool's DYK:
- ...that the Turritopsis nutricula, a type of jellyfish, is immortal? ♠TomasBat 22:05, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
[edit] Candidates
List below any stubs or redlinks to unusual topics that have the potential to be expanded/created for April 1, 2009, preferably with an example hook or explanation of why they're unusual.
- Been working on the Penn family some. This could be an odd or funny hook—these are all different guys. If no one writes up the first John Penn before next April Fool's, I'll do it.
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- ...that the death of John Penn led to the rise of John Penn and John Penn, but they were soon undermined by the likes of John Penn? —Kevin Myers 16:43, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
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- At one point I suggested linking a non-article page, such a disambiguation page. This would be almost the same thing. Gimmetrow 03:06, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
- The article Sun Tzu (mathematician) could be expanded fivefold. People would easilly mistake it with the famous military strategist Sun Tzu who wrote the book "The Art of War", and henceforth take it as an April Fool's joke.
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- ...that Sun Tzu had as his main interests astronomy and mathematics, being author of the text Sun Tzu's Calculation Classic? ♠TomasBat 21:23, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
- I was looking at the main April 1 article. On that day in 1944 (unless this itself is an April Fool joke), some bombers got lost and bombed the wrong city. Oops. Ha ha. Okay, not really funny, but might be appropriate if we made an article out of it.Matchups 01:55, 6 April 2008 (UTC)
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- Apparently it was a common problem in those days without GPS. See Bombings of Switzerland in World War II for other examples, which includes the one on April 1st. And this is just within Switzerland, which meant bombing not only the wrong city but the wrong country! --Itub (talk) 15:17, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
- ... that Wikipedia now has information about everything? written by Hoi polloi (talk · contribs)
- OK, it's a joke entry and a self-reference, but it's also perfectly accurate. Alternatives could include 'but useful information about nothing'. Modest Genius talk 23:36, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
- I just stumbled upon the Boston Molasses Disaster and thought it was a hoax at first. I can't think of a good hook right now, but it seems like something you could work with. - TheMightyQuill (talk) 22:07, 3 May 2008 (UTC)
- It was created in 2001, so it's out of the running. I don't think it would qualify for fivefold expansion either. bibliomaniac15 Do I have your trust? 03:05, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
- ... that in Switzerland, bears in heraldry had to be painted with bright red penises? --BorgQueen (talk) 15:29, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
- If only expanded x5 or more, it might be a reasonable candidate. Btw, are we allowed to use the word penis on Main Page? If not, we could replace it with phalluses or something similar. --BorgQueen (talk) 15:29, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
- Actually, it needs to either have a 5x expansion after April 1 of the previous year or to have been created since that date, so the article is eligible for the 2009 AFMP DYK if it is not a stub. I don't know if there's a precedent about what word to use for the penis. Very interesting hook! Royalbroil 19:15, 8 June 2008 (UTC)
