What's your April Fool's Quotient?

A. A court jester boasted to Roman Emperor Constantine that any fool could rule better than he could. Constantine decided to let him and his fellow fools give it a try.

B. The start of France's calendar year was changed from late March to January in the 1500s. Those who kept the old date were "April fools."

C. Printers of holiday cards invented it in the 1950s as a way to sell holiday cards between Easter and Mother's Day. While goofy "April Fool's" cards never caught on, pulling pranks on April 1 did.

21. In the 1850s, Napoleon III of France had dinner plates made from a substance that, at the time, was more precious than gold. They were made of:

A. Rhodium

B. Aluminum

C. Bakelite

Here are three stories. At least one of them is true, one is false, and one of them has been circulated as true - but it's false, too. Which is which?

When trade between China and the fledgling United States began to boom in the 1800s, it became fashionable to have your dinner settings custom-made in China. People would send drawings of the designs they wanted to the Orient by sailing ship. Chinese artisans would meticulously duplicate the designs in porcelain. (Porcelain, along with silk and tea, were precious trade goods in China. Tea plants, silkworms, and the secret of making strong, light porcelain were carefully guarded.) Most customers were pleased with the results. On rare occasions a plate designer forgot that the platemakers did not speak or read English. They would draw their plates but then, instead of coloring them, they would indicate the colors they wanted by writing "blue" or "red" or "white" on the design itself. Back would come beautifully made plates. But instead of being colored as directed, the words "blue," "red," or "white" were carefully written on the plates - in perfect imitation of the designer's handwriting. Most of these delightful "mistakes" were immediately thrown away, of course.

An enterprising student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the 1970s was majoring in psychology. He had learned a thing or two about "operant conditioning," used to train animals, and decided to put some of his learning to use. He had an internship in Boston (MIT is in nearby Cambridge) that kept him in the area that summer. Every day after work he would take the bus to Harvard Stadium. He carried with him a whistle, a yellow piece of cloth, and a sack of bird food. Harvard Stadium is a haven for pigeons, which roost in its cavernous recesses. The student would walk onto the field, give a little toot on the whistle, throw the cloth into the air, and then scatter birdseed on the ground. He did this faithfully all summer.

Fast-forward to Harvard's first at-home football game that fall. All was well until one of the game officials spotted a penalty. The referee blew his whistle, threw his yellow flag in the air... and had to duck as hundreds, if not thousands, of pigeons descended onto the field.

One of the workers who helped build Charles Lindbergh's plane, the Spirit of St. Louis, was inspired by the aviator's solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927. So inspired that he vowed to fly across the Atlantic someday, too. He became a pilot and bought his own plane. Since he was also an airplane mechanic, he began to modify his plane for transatlantic flight. Federal regulators would not certify his plane to fly the Atlantic, though - only for cross-country flights.

Page: 1 | 2 | 3