APRIL FOOLS!!!!

Education, Entertainment, History, Humor 7 Minutes

April Fools’ Day—celebrated on April 1 each year—has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, though the exact origins remain a mystery. April Fools’ Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools’ Day prank. The embrace of April Fools’ Day jokes by the media and major brands has ensured the unofficial holiday’s long life.

Some historians speculate that April Fools’ Day dates back to 1582, when France switched from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar, as called for by the Council of Trent in 1563. In the Julian Calendar, as in the Hindu calendar, the new year began with the spring equinox around April 1.

Roman Julian Calendar
Gregorian Calendar

People who were slow to get the news or failed to recognize that the start of the new year had moved to January 1 and continued to celebrate it during the last week of March through April 1 became the butt of jokes and hoaxes and were called “April fools.” These pranks included having paper fish placed on their backs and being referred to as “poisson d’avril” (April fish), said to symbolize a young, easily caught fish and a gullible person.

Hilaria in Ancient Rome

Historians have also linked April Fools’ Day to festivals such as Hilaria (Latin for joyful), which was celebrated in ancient Rome at the end of March by followers of the cult of Cybele. It involved people dressing up in disguises and mocking fellow citizens and even magistrates and was said to be inspired by the Egyptian legend of Isis, Osiris and Seth.

Vernal Equinox and April Fools’

There’s also speculation that April Fools’ Day was tied to the vernal equinox, or first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when Mother Nature fooled people with changing, unpredictable weather.

Gowk Day was a day of wild goose chases, pranks and set ups in Scotland for generations, starting with “hunting the gowk,” in which people were sent on phony errands (gowk is a word for cuckoo bird, a symbol for fool) and followed by Tailie Day, which involved pranks played on people’s derrieres, such as pinning fake tails or “kick me” signs on them.

The Gowk Day custom derives in part from young people being led from wood to wood to track the newly arrived Spring cuckoos, with the “hunt the gowk” always staged too early for the birds to be found. The traditional prank was to ask someone to deliver a sealed message requesting help of some sort.

When the note was opened on delivery, the nature of the errand was revealed. “Dinna laugh, dinna smile, hunt the gowk another mile,” was the message. The daft missions further evolved with reports of people being sent to the butcher for items such as a gill of pigeon milk. It is believed Gowk’s Day was marked in Scotland from at least 1700.

Accounts detail how it was usually the early milk boy or girl who would usher in Gowk month by falsely warning passers by that ‘yer lace is lowse’ or “ye’ve let something fa” More elaborate jokes were perpetrated by the older school children and apprentice boys. In the Western Isles, gowk cakes, made from milk, eggs and fruit, were eaten on April 1.

April Fools’ Day Pranks

In modern times, people have gone to great lengths to create elaborate April Fools’ Day hoaxes. Newspapers, radio and TV stations and websites have participated in the April 1 tradition of reporting outrageous fictional claims that have fooled their audiences.

1856: The Tower of London hosts a lion washing extravaganza

In the days leading up to April 1, 1856, London residents received an official-looking invitation printed on Tower of London stationery and bearing a crimson wax seal. Signed “Herbert de Grassen,” supposedly a “senior warden” at the popular tourist attraction and prison, the leaflet offered admission to “view the annual ceremony of washing the lions” on April 1.

Such an event could have indeed taken place two decades earlier, but the Tower’s famous menagerie—which for 600 years featured bears, leopards, lions and other dangerous beasts—had closed in 1835. Nevertheless, a certain number of would-be spectators showed up for the display, only to learn they’d fallen prey to an April Fools’ hoax.

1957: Spaghetti grows on trees

Leave it to the Brits to concoct one of history’s most memorable April Fools’ Day pranks. On April 1, 1957, the BBC aired a segment in which a Swiss farming family harvested long strands of pasta from their spaghetti trees. In England at that time, spaghetti was still an exotic delicacy with mysterious origins, so many viewers bought the report hook, line and sinker. Some even called in to ask how to grow spaghetti trees of their own. The BBC reportedly suggested, “Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”

1962: Swedish televisions don pantyhose

On April 1, 1962, a supposed technical expert for Sweden’s one and only television channel made an exciting announcement. By stretching out a pair of nylon stockings and taping it over their screens, he reported, viewers could watch the usual black-and-white broadcast in stunning color. Television owners rushed to implement the astonishingly simple hack, only to be disappointed when the hose did nothing but obscure the picture. Regular color programming would eventually debut in Sweden on April 1, 1970.

1972: The Loch Ness Monster surfaces

Very few April Fools’ Days go by without some Nessie-related hoax, but in 1972 a widely published photograph convinced many that Loch Ness’ elusive dweller had finally made an appearance—sadly, dead rather than alive. It turned out that a prankster from Yorkshire’s Flamingo Park Zoo had dumped the body of a bull elephant seal in the lake. He had only intended to play a joke on his coworkers, but the “news” quickly went viral.

1976: Gravity takes a hiatus

On April 1, 1976, the BBC pulled off yet another of its many April Fools’ Day pranks. Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore told listeners that at 9:47 a.m. that day, the temporary alignment of Pluto and Jupiter would cause a reduction in Earth’s gravity, allowing people to briefly levitate. Sure enough, at 9:48, hundreds of enthralled callers flooded the lines with reports that they had floated in the air.

1992: Richard Nixon makes a comeback

National Public Radio’s “Talk of the Nation” program reported that former-President Richard Nixon had declared his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. Accompanying the announcement were audio clips of Nixon delivering his candidacy speech and declaring “I never did anything wrong, and I won’t do it again.”

Harvard professor Laurence Tribe and Newsweek reporter Howard Fineman then came on the air to offer their analysis of Nixon’s decision and its possible impact on the 1992 presidential race. A clip from Torrie Clarke, press secretary of the Bush-Quayle campaign, was also played in which she said, “We are stunned and think it’s an obvious attempt by Nixon to upstage our foreign policy announcement today.”

Listeners reacted emotionally to the announcement, flooding NPR with calls expressing shock and outrage. Only during the second half of the program did host John Hockenberry reveal that the announcement had been an April Fool’s Day joke. Comedian Rich Little had impersonated Nixon’s voice.

1998: Lefties get their own burger

In a full-page advertisement in USA Today, Burger King unveiled a new menu item specifically engineered for southpaws: the Left-Handed Whopper. According to the fast food chain, the burger’s condiments were rotated 180 degrees to better suit the 1.4 million lefties who patronized its restaurants. Thousands of customers requested the new burger, swallowing an April Fools’ Day whopper as they ordered their Whopper.

2000: People Google with their minds

Now famous for its annual hoaxes, Google played its first April Fools’ Day prank in 2000. Visitors to the search engine’s website learned about a new “MentalPlex” technology that supposedly read people’s minds, thereby bypassing the need to type in a query. Google has orchestrated an increasing number of elaborate ruses in the years since, announcing such products and features as Google Nose, Gmail Motion and PigeonRank.

2013: Uncle Sam Wants Kitties

The U.S. Army jumped on the hoax bandwagon in 2013, when it sent out a seemingly official press release announcing the latest additions to the U.S. Armed Forces. Claiming that drafting cats to serve their country would cut down on military spending, officials went on to say that it was time these feckless felines got to work.

As Sgt. 1st Class Tyler Radmall wisely stated, “Not only will the Army have a more cost-effective working animal, but we will be doing our part in getting them off of the streets and finding them employment.” But while Army brass seemed bullish on the idea, they did note that the K-9 units weren’t taking too kindly to the new recruits, resulting in more than a little fighting like cats and dogs.

Of course, I can’t possibly let this day pass without acknowledging the birthday of my sweet girl! Happy Birthday, Heather Brianna!!!

HB at 3 months
HB dearly loved hats of all kinds!
After a night of sleeping on the beach in VA Beach
HB in the Gulf of Mexico
Christmas 2014
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Published by NebraskaFilly

Army veteran (1976-1979), retired with entirely too much time on my hands

Published

194 thoughts on “APRIL FOOLS!!!!”

  1. “If You Don’t Click This Link You’re Gay”
    LIFE · Mar 31, 2023 · BabylonBee.com

    “Congratulations! You did it! By clicking on this link, you have officially proven that you’re not gay! All those other people who didn’t click the link are gay. And lame. HA! Sucks to be them!

    But you’re different, friend. You’re heterosexual and based. You only click links of the opposite sex, which this is. Feel free to print out a copy of this article to show everyone how not gay you are.

    Way to go! Today is the first day of the rest of your un-gay life.”

    Like

  2. “The James O’Keefe Effect: Citizen Journalist Uncovers More Damning Democrat Money Laundering Evidence”
    by JD Rucker April 1, 2023 in The Liberty Daily, Videos

    EXCERPT: “History may prove that James O’Keefe getting ousted from Project Veritas, the company that he founded, was the best thing to happen to both O’Keefe and the nation. Now with his new organization, O’Keefe Media Group (playfully dubbed “OMG”), he is already making waves while Project Veritas hemorrhages donors.

    His latest investigation is looking into highly potential political contribution laundering through Democrat-affiliated donations portal Act Blue. In his first video, he followed leads to Maryland where he discovered elderly Democrat donors who seem to be oblivious to their names and addresses being used to make thousands of donations to Democrats.

    The video above is the second video, this time with a citizen journalist from Wisconsin who heeded O’Keefe’s call for more people to step out and take action. A detective with Brightline Investigations for Election Watch found more elderly people in Wisconsin who appear to be the proxies through which money is being laundered to Democrat candidates and leftist causes. In some cases, donations were made under the names and addresses of these people multiple times per day for years.

    What the videos do not explain is what all this likely means. We are not part of the investigation and have not verified the information, nor do we have inside information about what’s going on. With that said, it’s very obvious. Someone located these people through public records, noting that they were donating through Act Blue multiple times. One lady said she donated around once per month. Another gentleman said he may have donated 800 times over the last seven years. FEC records indicate he donated 8,000 times.

    A group of people is coordinating to make difficult-to-track small donations in the names of these elderly people. They use anonymous forms of payment such as Visa gift cards, plug in the names and addresses of the elderly people who are likely not checking the FEC records regularly if at all, and spreading these donations out to multiple candidates and organizations.”

    https://discern.tv/the-james-okeefe-effect-citizen-journalist-uncovers-more-damning-democrat-money-laundering-evidence/

    Liked by 1 person

  3. “Belvidere’s Apollo Theatre roof collapses, 1 killed and 28 injured as storms rock Chicago area”
    By FOX 32 Digital Staff Published March 31, 2023 8:43PM Illinois FOX 32 Chicago

    EXCERPT: “CHICAGO – The roof of the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere, Illinois collapsed Friday night as severe weather swept through the Chicago area, killing one person and injuring dozens of others.

    According to reports, a concert was going on at the theater when the roof collapsed. More than 20 ambulances were reportedly called to the scene. Reports were calling the incident a “mass casualty event.” One person was killed, and 28 others were injured – five people were in serious condition.

    Video from the scene shows people pulling debris off the venue floor to check if anyone was trapped underneath. Video also shows individuals being taken out of the venue on stretchers and loaded into ambulances.”

    https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/belvidere-apollo-theatre-roof-collapse

    Liked by 1 person

  4. “Factory explosion survivor, on fire, fell into chocolate vat”
    By Associated Press
    April 1, 2023 1:41am Updated

    (Patricia Borges, a survivor of the R.M. Palmer Co. factory explosion, revealed she was on fire before falling into a vat of chocolate.”

    EXCERPT: “A woman pulled alive from the rubble of a Pennsylvania chocolate factory after an explosion that killed seven co-workers says flames had engulfed the building, and her arm, when the floor gave way beneath her. That might have been the end, if she hadn’t fallen into a vat of liquid chocolate. The dark liquid extinguished her blazing arm, but Patricia Borges wound up breaking her collarbone and both of her heels.

    She would spend the next nine hours screaming for help and waiting for rescue as firefighters battled the inferno and choppers thumped overhead at the R.M. Palmer Co. factory. “When I began to burn, I thought it was the end for me,” Borges, 50, told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview from her hospital bed in West Reading, Pennsylvania, just minutes from the chocolate factory where she worked as a machine operator.

    Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board interviewed Borges on Friday, according to her family. The March 24 blast at R.M. Palmer killed seven of Borges’s co-workers and injured 10. Federal, state and local investigations are underway. A cause has not been determined, but the federal transportation safety agency has characterized it as a natural gas explosion. “Everything’s on the table at this point because we’re still not done with the investigation. To say it’s one way or another, I would not say that at this point,” Beohm said.

    The West Reading, Penn. chocolate explosion killed 7 on March 24, 2023. Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board interviewed Borges on Friday, according to her family. The March 24 blast at R.M. Palmer killed seven of Borges’s co-workers and injured 10. Federal, state and local investigations are underway.”

    https://nypost.com/2023/04/01/pennsylvania-factory-explosion-survivor-on-fire-fell-into-chocolate-vat/

    Liked by 2 people

  5. interesting theory

    Eric
    April 1, 2023 11:46 am

    Notice how we are losing all of these Black Hawks in “accidents”?

    How much you want to be these servicemen and women are dying in the Ukraine and it’s being made to look like it is happening here?

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Smart men here…..

    “The Unconstrained Vision — Are we suffering from an epidemic of childishness?”
    By JOHN LEAKE
    EXCERPT: “A few years ago my older brother told me a story he’d read (alas, he can no longer remember where) about an author who’d been part of the Resistance during the German occupation of France during World War II. Years later, he bumped into a comrade he’d not seen in the interim, and was surprised to see the man had become a Roman Catholic parish priest. They talked about his priestly occupation, which involved a great deal of listening to the men and women of the parish, and attending to their sorrows, frustrations, and sins.

    “So what have you learned about people?” the writer asked the priest. “That they are surprisingly unhappy, and that there are very few grown-ups in the world,” the priest replied. I thought of this the other day as I was listening to an interview of the author and economist, Thomas Sowell, who spoke about what he described as two different visions—the “Constrained” and the “Unconstrained.”

    The “Constrained” vision sees that nature (including human nature) and the material world impose inherent limitations on our condition. The problems of the world are not entirely a result of someone or some group being at fault. Many things—like the unequal distribution of health, vigor, and ability—are an intrinsic part of life. Through hard work and sacrifice, we can improve our lot within these constraints, but we can’t abolish these constraints altogether.

    The “Unconstrained” vision presupposes that the only reason why everyone doesn’t have everything they want is because they are deprived by corrupt institutions and selfish rulers.

    It seems to me that the “Constrained” vision is that held by reasonable grownups. Growing up is learning to recognize that we can’t always have everything and be everything we want, but must always act within certain constraints. We must accept that we are mortal—that all of the technology and injections in the world cannot fulfill our fantasies of being invulnerable, younger, richer, better looking, immortal, or a different sex.

    The “Unconstrained” vision strikes me as that instinctively held by children. A child who throws a tantrum when his mother doesn’t give him what he wants is unconsciously in the grip of it.

    As I have remarked in earlier columns, I suspect our reliance on unconstrained debt to maintain our standard of living (instead of increasing productivity) is a primary cause of our epidemic of childishness. On top of this is the enormous security and convenience of modern life, which most of us now take for granted. It almost never occurs to us—when we open the tap for clean water, flip a switch for lights or heat or AC, or flush the toilet—that a huge amount of work and ingenuity went into creating and building this infrastructure.

    Since the USA was founded, its people have done an extraordinary job of overcoming so many of the limitations imposed upon us by nature and our mortality, thereby creating the most secure, prosperous, and free country in history. Now we appear to be victims of the success our forefathers bequeathed to us. We want MORE, we want it NOW, we want the STATE to provide it, and when we don’t get EVERYTHING we want, we BLAME others for it instead of examining and improving ourselves.”

    https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/the-unconstrained-vision

    Liked by 1 person

  12. WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (hope it’s not an April fools joke…)

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Dersch’s opinion on Bragg. i’m bringing the whole thing because it has some interesting points. felony was committed in releasing that the GJ voted to indict…
    whole opinion
    If Alvin Bragg is looking for a felony in the case he has brought against former President Donald Trump he may want to look in the mirror, in his office or at his grand jury.

    Legal scholar and famed attorney Alan Dershowitz said, in an interview and in an op-ed, that whoever leaked the sealed indictment is the person guilty of the only felony, in his opinion, in this case.,

    “It is likely that a serious felony has been committed right under District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s nose and he is not investigating it. Under New York law, it is a felony to leak confidential grand jury information, such as whether the jurors voted to indict. The protection of secrecy is as applicable to President Trump as it is to anyone else,” the attorney said in an op-ed for The New York Sun.

    “We know that the information was disclosed while the indictment itself remains sealed and before any official announcement was made or charges brought. It is unlikely that the leak came from the Trump team, which seemed genuinely surprised,” he said.

    “The most likely, though uncertain, scenario is that a person in Mr. Bragg’s office or a grand juror unlawfully leaked the sealed information. That would be a class E felony, subject to imprisonment.

    “It is possible of course that an investigation is underway, but it seems more likely that Mr. Bragg is too busy making up a crime against the man he promised in his campaign to get than investigating a real crime that took place on his watch,” he said.

    Dershowitz said that it appears Bragg’s theory is that the former president should have disclosed why he paid for a non-disclosure agreement to adult film star Stormy Daniels which would defeat the purpose to the non-disclosure agreement.

    “Why would Mr. Trump pay the money in the first place if he had to publicly disclose the embarrassing reason? Furthermore, no one in history has ever been indicted for listing ‘legal expenses’ for setting a potentially embarrassing payment of hush money,” he said.

    “Thus, even the misdemeanor allegation involving false entries is unprecedented and represents selective prosecution. It is also almost certainly barred by the two-year statute of limitations. In order to elevate this bookkeeping case into a felony, Mr. Bragg must also prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the reason Trump made the false entry — if he himself did it — was solely as a campaign contribution to help him win his election,” he said.

    What that means is that even if only part of the reason he made the payment was to protect his family from scrutiny or to protect his business interests there is no crime.

    And if someone in Bragg’s office, or Bragg himself leaked the indictment they could face as many as five years in prison.

    “If somebody on the grand jury, prosecutor or grand juror, leaked the fact that there was a vote to indict, that is a one – five year class E felony under New York,” he said on Fox News.

    “Bragg now has a prima facia case that a crime has been committed right in his building, but as far as I know he’s not investigating it” he said.

    “We don’t know who did the leak. It is conceivable it could have been done by somebody in the Trump administration but I doubt it because they seem to have been taken by great surprise so the most likely source of the leak is someone from within Bragg’s office or within the grand jury. That’s where the focus ought to be,” he said.

    Prior to the indictment being leaked Dershowitz said that he believed Bragg could be disbarred for his case against Trump.

    He appeared on the Fox News show “Sunday Morning Futures” with host Maria Bartiromo when he said that having Michael Cohen as a witness could damage the district attorney, Mediaite reported.
    Advertisement

    “I don’t think an indictment can actually come forward now after the comments made by [Robert] Costello,” the attorney said.

    He said that “he has proved that the main witness is going to be a perjuring liar on the witness stand, and that puts the district attorney in a terrible position.”

    “If he uses Cohen as a witness, he could actually lose his bar license. It’s unethical to put a witness on the stand who you know is lying, and he has to know that Cohen will be lying. Or he tries the case without Cohen, which would be very difficult, or he does the right thing: he drops the case,” he said.

    https://conservativebrief.com/grand-72134/

    Liked by 1 person

  14. fetterman did an interview since being released from mental ward…not good.
    entire article
    John Fetterman has finally been released from the hospital after suffering from a reported bout of severe depression. The Pennsylvania senator has long been at the center of controversy surrounding his ailing health, largely centering on the massive stroke he had prior to the 2022 election.

    Since then, Fetterman has deteriorated in ways that would have led to immediate calls for his resignation were he not a member of the Democratic Party. He can’t speak properly, he can’t understand others properly, and he relies on a closed captioning device to communicate.

    It’s good to be a Democrat, though, and the press has been rushing to cover for him since day one. That continued on Friday with an interview with CBS News that did nothing but raise a multitude of questions.

    Six weeks after entering Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for inpatient treatment for depression, Sen. @JohnFetterman shares his struggle with depression, his health, and more in an intimate interview with Jane Pauley this “Sunday Morning.” pic.twitter.com/3o2926I48B

    — CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) March 31, 2023

    For starters, is this guy a US senator or not? I’m not trying to downplay his condition. Quite the contrary, but the Senate is not a place to battle depression, much less serious health issues that leave one unable to communicate. The question at hand isn’t how brave Fetterman supposedly is. It’s whether he can do his job, and he obviously can’t. That should be the top issue for every single person who interviews him. Instead, they lavish him with praise while helping him hide his actual condition. It’s dystopian.

    Past that, a lot of people noticed where Fetterman’s eyes were going during the interview. Not only is reading the questions on some kind of monitor just off-screen (which CBS News is careful to not show), but he’s pretty clearly also reading his answers. His eyes stay glued to the screen the entire time, with only passing glances at the interviewer herself.

    There were also eleven different editing cuts in the 45-second clip that CBS News released. Let me say that again. There were eleven cuts in under a minute.

    https://t.co/3C9BSgoKxb pic.twitter.com/xqoPzW7rid

    — Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 1, 2023

    Those edits weren’t just made for promotional purposes. They were cuts all made during a single question. Why? Because Fetterman takes time to read his monitor and often loses his train of thought. CBS News, instead of being honest with its audience, is trying to hide that fact.

    Does that sound like something an honest press would do? If this were a Republican, would they be bending over backward to cover up just how bad things are? We all know the answer to that. Fetterman is not fit to be a US senator. It was easy for anyone to see during the campaign, and he’s even worse off now. Truly, there is nothing the Democratic Party won’t do to hold onto power.

    https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/04/01/fetterman-does-first-post-depression-interview-and-raises-a-multitude-of-questions-n724780

    Liked by 1 person

      1. the power has flickered more than a dozen times in the last 30 minutes. every time it flickers, I gotta fix the clocks and all the appliances that have clocks…lol…
        been running around and soon as i finish…another flicker…LOL
        getting my exercise for sure
        hubby said looking at the radar on his phone, it’s both north and south of us

        Liked by 1 person

  17. Liked by 1 person

  18. “The deep state attack on Robert Malone includes *fabricated tweets* — The attack is a lot bigger than Peter and Ginger Breggin. Use Discernment.”
    Meryl Nass
    2 min ago

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “From Robert himself replying to my question about the tweet below: “this is a fake that has been constructed and then circulated. Look at the date. I was not using Twitter at that time.”

    Can you see how important it is to destroy this man? DISCERNMENT is the word. If something smells fishy, it probably is. This didn’t sound anything like the reasoned person we have all listened to. It sounded exactly like a smear. Hopefully we can all soon work together for our common liberation and spend our energies fruitfully. If someone feeds you hogwash, I recommend you stop listening to them. — Meryl”

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Liked by 1 person

  21. Liked by 1 person

  23. “Biden Smothered In Lincoln Bedroom With Scalia’s Pillow”

    “A Salute to the Manhattan D.A., and the republic for which he stands:”



    “Head Nitwit Prosecuting Baldwin Bails Out Of Case”

    Liked by 1 person

  24. saw an interesting theory…the rinos are endorsing and pushing rhonda knowing he will lose to Trump…thereby making him a loser–so they can install another Bush in 2028

    Liked by 1 person

      1. it makes sense…unless REALPOTUS would somehow endorse him after his next term…that would be a game changer…but i don’t see it happening

        Liked by 1 person

    1. we decided from now on if we leave a big tip for someone–which we do occasionally–we are going to ask the server when her/his birthday is. then tell them oh, we won’t see you then, so here’s a birthday gift. not a tip. it’s a birthday gift and she or he doesn’t need to report gifts from friends.

      Liked by 1 person

  27. Issue: April 1, 2023
    “Ukraine leads request for social media platforms to censor “disinformation” — Wants more action.”
    By Christina Maas
    Posted 2:36 pm

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ ReclaimTheNet: “Ukraine has spearheaded a collective call to action, joining forces with seven other Central and Eastern European nations to combat “disinformation” on social media platforms. In an open letter, the prime ministers of these nations urge prominent tech companies, such as Meta, to implement effective measures that curb the spread of misleading content and foreign interference, which threatens peace, stability, and democracy.

    The letter, signed by the leaders of Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, alleges a danger of disinformation campaigns aimed at destabilizing their countries and undermining the European Union’s support for Ukraine amidst Russia’s aggression.

    Tech giants are implored to remain vigilant and avoid inadvertently advancing hostile goals. Specific steps recommended in the letter include refusing payments from sanctioned individuals, increasing algorithmic transparency, and adjusting algorithms to prioritize accuracy over user engagement.

    Furthermore, the leaders insist that platforms dedicate adequate resources to content “moderation” and address the growing challenges posed by deep fakes and AI-generated disinformation. In response, Meta has stated that it has expanded its fact-checking capabilities in Eastern Europe and implemented measures to combat alleged misinformation related to the conflict in Ukraine.

    The company has also restricted access to Russian state-controlled media and added labels to related posts, informing users of the source before they click or share.”

    Liked by 1 person

  28. “Designed and built by annunzio lagomarsini, this flying house is located in castelnuovo magra, in italy. a retired builder himself, lagomarsini worked for many years in his family-owned building company, learning about construction, structures and engineering. in 1977 he decided to apply all his knowledge into a flying house which took him seven years to build and which he then inhabited with his wife. ‘I kept building until I saw the sea,’ said annunzio lagomarsini. ‘then I stopped. if 22 meters in height weren’t enough, I would have gone even higher.’

    https://www.designboom.com/architecture/flying-house-italy-annunzio-lagomarsini-03-18-2021/

    Liked by 1 person

  29. “It probably took him all afternoon to fill out that ticket… A police officer issuing a woman a ticket for wearing a bikini on an ltaIian beach, 1957…”

    “The Cosquer cave is a Palaeolithic decorated cave, located in France, that contains numerous cave drawings dating back as far as 27,000 years BP. The cave has more than 200 parietal figures and is also the only decorated cave whose entrance opens under the sea. I would like to sit at his place…”

    “I would have put a tank on it… Just a family that painted its garage doors to confuse people…”

    “Asperatus clouds over the city of Mena (USA, Arkansas, March 30, 2023).”

    Liked by 2 people

      1. I missed that one. Wow that is amazing!!!!!! I had no idea you could keep them over winter….Hmmmm need to find more room at this rate.

        Liked by 2 people

        1. They are only blooming because they get at least 6+ hours of sun a day in the south window. The ones in the pots will be planted outside later this spring, and I’ll just keep trimming and bringing the hanging planter in for the winter. In the summer, it will hang on the black metal hook near where I am putting the other plants.

          Liked by 2 people

  42. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Liked by 1 person

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