Wikipedia:April Fool's Main Page/Did You Know/Archive 2008

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Please use this page for discussions surrounding the creation of a "Did You Know" items for April Fool's day 2008

Areas of work needed to complete the front page are:

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

  1. We need to find half a dozen weird/funny/unlikely facts.
  2. 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?
  • I volunteer to participate, or lead if necessary, absent someone else that wants to lead more strongly than I do, the DYK effort. I see this as actually one of the easier efforts. I am fine with bending the 5 day rule as needed, but if late entries turn up that are in guideline, even better. Funniest/bizarrest will be my guide if I'm in charge of this, not strict adherence to 5 day... ++Lar: t/c 17:49, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
  • Ideally we should have two dozens, so it can cycle four times as how normal DYK works. - Mailer Diablo 06:25, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

[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)

Good idea! Another thought is to mix them in with good/real pranks. Royalbroil 03:50, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

On that line...


[edit] Candidates

List below any stubs or redlinks to unusual topics that have the potential to be expanded/created for April 1, 2008, preferably with an example hook or explanation of why they're unusual.

Too short. The minimum is 1,500 characters. howcheng {chat} 04:06, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
  • ...that in a deadly eleven minute attack on 26 August 1944, HMS Britomart (pictured), Hussar, Salamander and Jason were all sunk or heavily damaged...by RAF aircraft? - self noms, Britomart written today and if people like it I'll write up the others too. Benea (talk) 13:06, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
    • My first reaction is "that's sad", not "that's funny". You could suggest it for normal DYK. Royalbroil 14:03, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
That was my only concern. It has all the elements of gobsmacking disbelief, and a 'huh? But how!' reaction, but is a bit dark for a light hearted April Fool's day jape. The Germans had a worse incident earlier in the war when a naval task force spent several hours running around, shooting at own planes, depth charging everything in sight and eventually writing off two destroyers, without a single enemy unit being anywhere near the action. It'd be hilarious if it wasn't so tragic. Ah, the pity of war. Benea (talk) 20:04, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
alt (for april 1)?...that Samuel Johnson started one of the first English dictionaries but Daniel Juslenius had finished a Finnish one, first? by Leopea nom Victuallers (talk) 19:21, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
If saved for that, wouldn't something along the lines of "...that in 1745, a Finnish Fennoman finally finished the first formal Finnish dictionary?" be better? (What a shame it wasn't a thesaurus!) GeeJo (t)⁄(c) • 20:11, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
Or "founding Fennoman", if you dislike the repetition of Finnish, even with different links. GeeJo (t)⁄(c) • 20:29, 11 March 2008 (UTC)</
Nothing odd about the article but the hook may be of interest and it is new Victuallers (talk) 12:46, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
Article already ran in DYK. Royalbroil 17:30, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
  • Article not eligible: it existed in 2006, had no expansion in the past year. Royalbroil 05:12, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
  • ...that Mary Tofts convinced doctors she had given birth to at least sixteen rabbits in 1726? (not new, just cool) Awadewit | talk 01:25, 7 February 2008 (UTC)
  • The article has to be new during the past year before April Fool's day. Too bad, it's an interesting hook! Royalbroil 03:22, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
  • ...that if you have an incurable disease, you can be frozen through a process titled Cryonic Freezing, in the hopes that humans in the future can defrost you then cure you?(note: I can't believe there is no article on Cryonic freezing services! somebody should create one!)

--Princess Janay (talk) 21:00, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

  • The article's name is Cryonics which is not elgible for DYK. Any article on companies that provide cryonics services would be quickly deleted since it would be promotional. Royalbroil 03:22, 13 February 2008 (UTC)
  • Something about Cockroach Racing (article requested). Royalbroil 21:55, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
  • Something about Finger Jousting (article requested). Royalbroil 21:55, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
  • ...that Halley's Comet is on sale for $650,000? bibliomaniac15 02:30, 12 March 2008 (UTC) Note: It's quite short, but this is essentially all the information on the internet that I can find. I have, however, saved it from speedy deletion and expanded it greatly.
  • ...that the intellectual television panel game QI sometimes uses Wikipedia in its research? ISD (talk) 08:41, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
    • Article was well beyond stub status on April Fool's Day 2007. I don't think the hook is funny or interesting. Lots of things use Wikipedia for research. Royalbroil 12:47, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
  • I'm slightly confused by what's said at Template talk:Did you know under Articles to be featured on April Fool's Day, but I've left this nomination under that heading over there... should it be here? Xn4 14:01, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
  • ...that, when they tap into autism as a theme, you know they've run out of ideas for Autism: The Musical|musicals? Expanded 5x on March 27th by KuredWallbet (talk) 23:24, 27 March 2008 (UTC) Nevermind. There doesn't seem to be a good April fools hook for this. KuredWallbet (talk) 14:09, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
  • There's probably a better April 1st hook to be used, feel free to rewrite it. KuredWallbet (talk) 23:24, 27 March 2008 (UTC)
  • I'm confused by the hook. Could it the reworded? Royalbroil 18:55, 29 March 2008 (UTC)
  • ...that Anthony Blair was hanged before a crowd of thousands for murdering his stepdaughter? -- self-nom by Biruitorul (talk) 17:04, 28 March 2008 (UTC) (Maybe this is a bit obscure; any chance we could call him "Tony" if it appears on the Main Page?)
Only if you believe we should give WP:BLP a rest one day year. :-)--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 17:18, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
Do elaborate. It's a fact that Anthony Blair was hanged for murder, and while I could find no record of his having a nickname, it's a near-certainty that someone at some point called him "Tony", given that that is the only common nickname for Anthony. (As an aside, it's very difficult to prove libel against a public figure in the US, where Wikipedia's servers are located, but in no way am I suggesting we libel Tony Blair - the two individuals are entirely different, separated by well over a century's time, and share no more than a name.) Biruitorul (talk) 17:45, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
I don't dispute any of that; however, giving our readers the impression--albeit jokingly and momentarily (until they click on the link)--that Tony Blair is a condemned murderer may not be the sort of benign April Fool's joke we're looking for. If "Anthony Blair" were something funny like a walrus-wrangler or a competitive eater, I think we could make a better case for this.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 17:56, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
I respectfully disagree (after all no one's been hanged in Britain since 1964 and the thing is pretty obviously a joke, given people would have heard something about Tony Blair being hanged if that were really the case) and have invited a second opinion just to put me at ease; meanwhile, let me ask: do you see BLP issues just with "Tony Blair" or also with "Anthony Blair"? Biruitorul (talk) 18:13, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
No, of course there are no BLP issues with referring to the dead figure as "Anthony Blair," but then the "joke" would be mostly lost, IMO.--The Fat Man Who Never Came Back (talk) 18:20, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
OK, fair enough. Biruitorul (talk) 19:06, 28 March 2008 (UTC)
ALT TAG

An article that, if expanded fivefold, would a great April Fool's DYK:

A fact from Oscar (cat) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on July 30, 2007. Sorries!! --293.xx.xxx.xx (talk) 07:49, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
Good catch, 293...! Royalbroil 13:59, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
  • Over the 1500 character limit, but no references and truthfulness of article questioned.--293.xx.xxx.xx (talk) 20:47, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
Hook is uncited. The Sun article is 404, FOX News doesn't talk about the government action, and the other is a blog. howcheng {chat} 04:53, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Comments

Oh. It sounded funny and unbelievable when I first read it in my schoolbook. Maybe we should vote on a Did You Know from the list. All entries should be sent in by February 20th,and we'll vote on the 21st.--Princess Janay (talk) 13:26, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Um, we always wait until April Fool's Day and run all suggestions. We'll be lucky to get enough suggestions this year. We need around 10-15. Technically they are supposed to be written the previous 5 days, but we historically have waved that "criteria" to include anything new from the past year. We also accept anything near stub limits (around 2000 characters or less) that has been expanded fivefold. The key right now is to think of interesting topics and prepare non-stubs on them. You may put them in a user sandbox if you want. Royalbroil 00:50, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

So I see 8 checks next to articles for a go.....so are we gonna do a couple of spurts, or are we gonna interlace them with legit DYK nods? --293.xx.xxx.xx (talk) 13:24, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

My thought was to interlace with legit DYK nods if we don't have enough. Would someone please check Alien abduction insurance since I wrote much of that nom. Royalbroil 04:12, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Proposal

The hook below has been moved from DYK suggestions... I think the hook needs rewording Victuallers (talk) 15:50, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

FYI, Art competitions at the Olympic Games is a former featured article from 2004. It may be surprising that not all medals were awarded. It looks like in 1928, for instance, no gold or silver medals were given in the music categories. Other interesting facts:

Also, Wils won the medal for the design of the stadium used in the very same Olympics. Gimmetrow 05:19, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, I was away on the weekend and just found this discussion thread now. I created the set of individual "Art competitions at the 19xx Summer Olympics" articles last week, and would certainly like to see any of them mentioned in DYK. I chose the 1928 one because it had a couple of images (although I see one was originally mis-tagged and is now disputed fair-use), so that's the one I expanded to >1500 chars of prose. I'd be happy to expand any of the others if a better candidate for a DYK hook is chosen. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 17:46, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Please expand some. Maybe more of them could be featured in separate updates. Royalbroil 03:25, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
I've added a sentence to the 1948 article that pushes it over the 1500 character minimum (lead plus prose later on the page). It's another wierd but true fact—one artist won two medals for two entries in the same "event", which is pretty much impossible in the sporting events now. I can't find a reference (yet) that directly states this fact, so I'm not sure it can be used in the hook, but there may be other "hookable" items in the article. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 05:42, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
The one obvious hook for the 1948 list might be "...that art competitions at the 1948 Summer Olympics were the last time they were part of the Olympic program because professional artists had competed?" — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 05:48, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
Might make it a little more misleading: "... that after the 1948 Summer Olympics awarded both a silver and a bronze medal to the same person in the same event, the event became an exhibition?" Can anything be done with 1912? It's probably one of the more notable facts that the IOC founder won a category, and it's curious that he did not enter merely under a pseudonym, but under a pseudonym duo. Gimmetrow 06:00, 1 April 2008 (UTC)
I won't be able to work on expanding the 1912 article for about 10 hours, but if anybody else wants to work on it, the hook for Baron de Coubertin is interesting. — Andrwsc (talk · contribs) 06:35, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] and

  • Hot chocolate effect is just over a year old and a survivor of a speedy delete Victuallers (talk) 16:36, 30 March 2008 (UTC)
  • ...that : f = \frac{v}{\lambda} is the maths of the Hot Chocolate Effect?
    • "Maths" is definitely not the word that Americans would use in that sentence. Does the word "formula" make sense for international usage? Length is okay, but it was started on March 25, 2007 which technically makes just over a year. Usually the rules are bent to say that it must be new or expanded since the previous April Fool's Day. Show they be bent a small amount more? My thought is no, what does everyone else think? Royalbroil 04:40, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Just stumbled across this one

Maybe it's too late, and it needs an inline citation (fixed), but:

Never mind. In my excitement, I failed to notice that the article was created in 2005. Oops. Jauerbackdude?/dude. 16:28, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Results

There were two sets of hooks that ran, each for approximately 12 hours.

[edit] Set 1

Final wording (diff)

24 Hours of LeMons car crushing

[edit] Set 2

Final wording (diff)

Jupiter