Wikipedia:April Fools' Main Page/Did You Know/Archive 2010

Please use this page for "Did You Know" suggestions for April Fool's day 2010. General discussions should go to the talk page.

Related pages include:

Also, Category:Wikipedia Did you know special events

Rules

Items should present some trivia that can be presented in a manner that is possibly unbelievable to the reader. The normal written and unwritten rules for Did You Know (DYK) are followed with one exception: For April Fool's Day only, DYK articles are allowed to be taken from the year prior to April Fool's Day, as long as they have not previously featured on DYK. The normal "5 day" rule for expansion and nominating is not followed. This exception started in 2006 and has been utilized since.

Ground rules for this activity along with a list of participants may be found at Wikipedia talk:April Fool's Main Page.

Non-eligible Candidates

Loew's Cemetery

"... that there are seven people buried in the middle of a parking lot in New Brunswick, New Jersey?"

Seems good hook but does this have 1500 chars of real text ... ie. ignoring bullets, lists, refs, titles etc? Victuallers (talk) 14:08, 13 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

no. —innotata 20:43, 23 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

~~Correct me if I'm wrong but when I used Dr. J's prose size counter, the article reads 1587 B (271 words) "readable prose size" --TitanOne (talk) 14:33, 24 March 2010 (UTC)~~[reply]

Missed that the article has been there for a long time. --TitanOne (talk) 14:37, 24 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

If an article just barely meets the standards, reviewers can throw the article out if they feel it is too short. This one isn't eligible anyhow. —innotata 15:46, 24 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Procopio Cutò

I created an article 18 May 2009 that has had ALT9 approved at Template talk:Did you know. I would like it to be the first one in the queue for 1 April 2010 - as an April Fools joke. I believe it would get much attention and exposure with many hits. Clicking on the links tells the true story. Below is the hook line.

~~... that Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli (pictured) opened a French brasserie in 1686 that was permitted by King Louis XIV?~~ --Doug Coldwell ^talk 23:56, 23 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
- (I know I commented at T:TDYK itself, but will come here as well) – I'm baffled by this one, especially as everyone else seems to get it. What's the joke here? – iridescent 15:58, 24 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

mmmmm......interesting! Perhaps it is not as risque as I thought. In that case, perhaps I should withdraw it from here and let it go at DYK as it has already been approved. I would just as soon run it now, if it would not be objectionable to most "everyone", since "everyone" would get the hook line immediately. The joke is that brasserie looks a lot like brassiere, and most Americans would think "brasserie" is "brassiere." I would think anyway, however I could be mistaken. Do you think I should withdraw this from the April Fool's submission, since you (and most "everyone") would obviously understand that Louis XIV of France gave a business license to Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli to operate his cafe-restaurant. Can I withdraw this submission?--Doug Coldwell ^talk 18:21, 24 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can always withdraw a nomination, but I'm with Irr here, I didn't see the humor, and having it explained still doesn't do anything for me.---I'm Spartacus! ^{NO! I'm Spartacus!} 18:35, 24 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Great! I withdraw the submission. My mistake. --Doug Coldwell ^talk 18:38, 24 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

For the record, I understood the hook immediately and I enjoyed the humor! Royal broil 02:38, 26 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It might be an American/European thing. Here in England where every other restaurant is called "___ Brasserie" but "brassiere" isn't a term in common use, if anything the word is more likely to be misread the other way. – iridescent 17:45, 28 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Talk:Ernie_Wasson

... that Ernie Wasson, the 1,000,000th article on the German Wikipedia, is written in English?

Well it would be ... when its on the English Wikipedia... does this work? Victuallers (talk) 17:53, 17 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nominated page is well below the minimum size of 1500 characters of prose and the hook facts lacks a citation to a reliable source. Additionally, the nominated page is not located in the article namespace. In effect this nomination appears to be trying to intentionally misdirect unsuspecting readers to non-encyclopedic content instead of following the traditional April 1 practice of providing truthful statements that appear to be false. --Allen3 ^talk 14:27, 18 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That wasn't my intention at all. THe subject page was intended to be "Ernie Wasson" but I realised that when you got there there was no evidence that it was the 1,000,000th article. For that you have to look at the talk page .... never mind - same conclusion. This doesn't work. Thanks for feedback Victuallers (talk) 17:46, 18 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why not just move the bold to the link to the article? Ucucha 17:54, 18 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Jesus Green

*...that Jesus Ditch runs through Jesus Green? Nom. by --TitanOne (talk) 12:03, 19 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

- Totally missing the joke here, unless you think the word "Jesus" is inherently funny—virtually all of central Cambridge is built on land owned (or formerly owned) by the former theological colleges which now constitute the University and is named after one religious figure or other. (If you think "Jesus Ditch" is funny, God's House would have you in hysterics.) It's not even accurate except in the most technical sense; while Jesus Ditch is technically all within Jesus Green and hence runs through it, it forms the southern boundary of the Green (the land south of it is Jesus Close). – iride scent 21:49, 21 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Retracting, what was I thinking?!?! --TitanOne (talk) 13:23, 23 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Edible Book Festival

... that today Edible Book Day will be celebrated across the world?

Created by Redtigerxyz (talk). Nominated by Redtigerxyz (talk) at 12:59, 18 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This may be better for On this day.--Found5dollar (talk) 14:04, 18 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Copied there (in Wikipedia:April_Fool's_Main_Page/On_This_Day#2010). Please improve the writeup. --A More Perfect Onion (talk) 15:45, 18 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Edward Nicolls

... that when Edward Nicolls took command of HMS Ascension, the "small Sloop" became a Marines garrison island?

Created by Innotata (talk). Self nom at 22:15, 24 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

But Ascension Island isn't a ship. The Royal Navy calls almost all its shore establishments HMS something-or-other (HMS Mercury, HMS Tamar, HMS Cambridge, HMS Mosquito…), an old tradition dating back to when sailors were garrisoned on retired ships moored alongside the buildings in which they worked; that doesn't mean the buildings are actually ships. – iride scent 23:18, 24 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I intended to use sloop, or some descriptive term, and to include more information about Ascension's official status. I'll do that tomorrow. —innotata 00:21, 25 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've started at this. This not being quite unique is not enough to exclude it. —innotata 00:40, 25 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Made a quote.

I've moved this to the main queue with a different hook. —innotata 16:14, 26 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Riverview Psychiatric Center

... that the Riverview Psychiatric Center recruits volunteers? Bearian (talk) 01:07, 26 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I don't get this ... don't most hospitals encourage volunteers? Victuallers (talk) 12:41, 18 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing about this in the article, either. —innotata 15:34, 24 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's there now, but, like Victuallers, I'm not seeing any humour here- most hospitals need some volunteers. Bradjamesbrown (talk) 01:48, 29 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Is it possible that Bearian is trying to impart the (false) message "Riverview is recruiting volunteer lunatics" when it's really recruiting volunteer staff? If so, it's tortured and not particularly politically correct. If you have to ask whether it's funny and why - then it's a failed effort. I don't think we can use this one. SteveBaker (talk) 01:54, 29 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry folks, my bad humor. Bearian (talk) 17:39, 29 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I got the joke right away, but I guess if other people are missing it, it may not be appropriate. Gatoclass (talk) 01:44, 30 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Psychoville

... that I know what you did! - Created by Dajsharp, expanded from stub by ISD (talk) 13:30, 20 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Haha, I'm good with it and everything checks out.--Giants27 (c|s) 02:21, 23 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well you don't really, do you? The hook seems less whimsical than outright false. Much better would be something like ...that among the residents of Ravenhill Hospital were a panto dwarf, a one-handed children's entertainer and a blind millionare who collected stuffed toy animals? Lampman (talk) 22:19, 14 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Lampman about the hook. ChildofMidnight (talk) 02:27, 2 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The hook is a reference to a blackmail letter that all five of the main characters are given which contains the message "I know what you did". Also, Mr. Jelly, the one-handed clown, was NOT a resident of Ravenhill. ISD (talk) 16:42, 11 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I have to argue as well that this hook does not meet the rules here; it may be a reference, but you do not in fact "know what I did". Repeating the line of a show is not even a fact in the first place, nor is this misleading but true. It's more of a forum fan signature than a hook. かんぱい！ Scapler (talk) 21:40, 20 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

2010 Georgian news report hoax

Moved to T:TDYK. Hardly suitable for April 1. Materialscientist (talk) 23:46, 29 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]