Comments:Ten April Fool's pranks of 2009
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I like this one Pigeon Internet Protocol :) --Yuriybrisk (talk) 11:27, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
From: "GMWatch " <gmwatch-weekly@gmwatch.eu> Subject: Prof. Detritus and the G20 Date: 06/04/2009
1.What they said about Prof. Detritus and the G20
2.GM may be on the agenda at the G20 summit
NOTE: The media this year once again followed in the fine tradition of the BBC's spoof documentary on the spaghetti harvest in Ticino, by pumping out a host of entirely bogus stories on April 1.
And in case anyone's still in the slightest doubt, the Times article by "Mark Handerson" (GM may be on the agenda at the G20 summit) that GMWatch circulated on the morning of April 1, and also posted onto its website, was also an April Fool.
Although the bogus article was authored by us, some others joined in the joke by posting the piece on their websites too, while others presumably took it at face value. Bioportfolio, for instance - a site that claims its "Serving the needs of the biotech industry", posted a truly extraordinary number of links to the piece. svRks
And even Sky News has posted links to an article quoting our April Fool's piece, including links claiming to provide greater "depth" on Prof. Pingo Detritus, the bogus expert that we quoted. (Sky News - Pingo Detritus In Depth) InDepth/topic/Pingo_Detritus
Someone even went to the trouble of checking with the GM-adoring science correspondent of the Times, Mark Henderson (sic) that he hadn't written our piece. Mr Henderson confirmed, "It was an April Fool, nothing to do with me or The Times. The tinyurl goes to GM Watch, which isn't surprising really - they're not my biggest fans. It would be flattering if it were funny!" Hu7G0
Below are all the other comments we came across or were sent. But first here are two very telling quotes from GM supporters that one commentator posted together with our article:
"This journal champions biotech research, so we are not downbeat on its prospects to, one day, generate products that will heal, fuel and feed the world. That is, nevertheless, an outrageous act of faith bordering on the religious. And the fact is that biotech approaches must be used in the context of other technical and nontechnological solutions. Thus, reason dictates that proponents should be very careful about overhyping what biotech can do now and overpromising what it can do in the future ... it is time that the industry and its lobby organizations learnt that pushing one-dimensional hype about biotech solutions is counterproductive... Pushing biotech as the 'solution' to the world's problems is doing more harm than good."
Editorial, Nature Biotechnology 26, 837 fbae.org
"The cynic in me thinks that they're just using the current food crisis and the fuel crisis as a springboard to push GM crops back on to the public agenda', says Professor Denis Murphy, head of biotechnology at the University of Glamorgan in Wales. 'I understand why they're doing it, but the danger is that if they're making these claims about GM crops solving the problem of drought or feeding the world, that's bullsh**.'" spiked-online
whereas a few countries celebrate jokes only until noon such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Africa. edit
Wrong. Many canadians joke all day long for the day, It's commonly known that the "ending at noon" thing is a MYTH here.
Canada
WRONG its not a myth - i live here. It ends at midday.