Skip to main content

Special April Fools' Edition: Did You Fall For It?

In this episode: Special April Fools' Edition: Did You Fall For It? (And a Little Baseball Nonsense)

Welcome, fellow baseball aficionados and purveyors of the peculiar, to a very special, dare we say unpredictable, issue of On the Fly! Today, the air is thick with . . . well, probably just regular air, but a specific mischievous something is buzzing around. Can you feel it? Does that tingling sensation make you double-check your shoelaces and suspiciously eye any unusual packages? Yes, dear readers, it’s April 1st!

A day steeped in mystery, shrouded in playful deception, and frankly, a day where you shouldn't believe anything you read (except maybe this . . .maybe). But before we descend into a whirlwind of whimsical falsehoods (don’t worry, we’ll mostly keep it light!), let’s take a quick, slightly wobbly, historical flight through the origins of this most unreliable of holidays.

Whispers from the annals suggest a few intriguing possibilities for why we dedicate this particular day to harmless (and sometimes not-so-harmless) trickery. Like a persistent headwind, one popular theory points back to the 16th century and the grand calendar switcheroo. Imagine a world where the New Year used to kick off around the spring equinox, roughly April 1st. Then, BAM! The Gregorian calendar swoops in, declaring January 1st the new official party starter. Those slow on the uptake, or perhaps stubbornly clinging to tradition, who continued their New Year festivities on April 1st? They became the original "April fools," targets of gentle (and maybe not-so-gentle) mockery. Picture it: confused revelers still popping their (now very stale) champagne while everyone else was already nursing their January 2nd hangovers!

Another intriguing notion, like a long-lost flight manifest, hints at connections to ancient spring festivals. Think Roman shenanigans with Hilaria, a celebration with costumes and playful jesting. Could our modern-day pranks be a distant echo of these ancient revelries, a continuation of the springtime spirit of lighthearted chaos? Perhaps! Like a lost sock in the dryer of history, the truth remains elusive.

But enough with the historical haze! Let's get down to why you clicked on this special edition: the promised baseball nonsense! And trust us, it’s about to get . . . elevated.

We recently overheard a rather peculiar tale from the dugout (don’t ask how we got there; it involves a very convincing disguise and a misplaced bucket of popcorn). Apparently, one particularly enthusiastic player showed up to today’s game with a rather unusual piece of equipment. Can you guess what it was? Hold onto your hats, folks, because the answer might leave you reaching for the sky!

Why did the baseball player bring a ladder to the game on April 1st?

 . . . Because he heard the starting pitcher hurled some high pitches!

(Dramatic pause for laughter, or at least a polite chuckle)

Okay, okay, we know. It’s not exactly a grand slam of comedy, but hey, it’s April Fools’ Day! Did you expect Shakespearean wit from a blog about whatever comes to mind?

So, as you navigate the rest of your day, dear readers, remember the spirit of April 1st. Be vigilant, be playful, and most importantly, don’t take everything you hear (or read!) at face value. Especially if someone offers you a free flight to . . . well, anywhere today. Just double-check the paperwork, maybe triple-check. And if you see a baseball player carrying a ladder, just smile knowingly. You’re in on the joke.

Fly safe and happy (slightly suspicious) on April Fools' Day!

Disclaimer: No actual information was harmed (or significantly altered) in making this blog post. Any resemblance to actual flight plans, aircraft malfunctions, or believable news is purely coincidental, probably. 😉

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular of All Time

When Fear Becomes the Default

In this special episode, When Fear Becomes the Default. Early Sunday morning, I was cycling past a small veterans’ pocket park in San Marcos. The air was still, the streets nearly empty. On one corner stood a young woman, alone, holding a hand-painted sign that read: “Be ANGRY. ICE agents are murdering people.” I pedaled past, but the words stayed with me. I knew the context—the footage and headlines from Minneapolis the day before, already ricocheting through the country and hardening opinions. Even in the quiet of the ride, the noise followed. Two miles later, I stopped at a red light. A black car with dark windows pulled up inches from my bike. My heart jumped. My first instinct wasn’t neighbor —it was threat . I found myself bracing, scanning, and wondering if the person inside was angry, armed, or looking for trouble. Then the door opened. A well-dressed young woman stepped out, walked to the trunk, and pulled out a sign that read “Open House.” She turned, smiled brightly, and sa...
2 comments
Read more

Boy on a Beam

In this special bonus episode, Boy on a Beam. In a world long ago, when the days moved quite slow, Before buzzes and beeps and the fast things we know, A boy sat quite still on a very fine day, Just staring at nothing . . . and thinking away. No tablets! No gadgets! No screens shining bright! No earbuds stuck in from morning till night. No lists, no charts, and no chores to be done. He just sat there thinking—that's quiet-time fun! His name was Young Albert. He sat in his chair, Thinking of things that weren’t really there. “Suppose,” said Young Albert, with eyes open wide, “I ran super fast with my arms by my side! Suppose I ran faster than anyone knew, And caught up to sunshine that zoomed past me—too! If I hopped on its back for a light-speedy ride, What secrets would I find tucked away deep inside?” “Would stars look like sprinkles, all shiny and small? Would UP feel like sideways? Would BIG feel like Tall?” He giggled and wondered and thought, and he dreamed, Till his head fel...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sweden Called . . . They Said No.

Have you ever wondered about  the Nobel Prize? Let's look at Where Genius Meets “Wait—Where’s My Medal?” Every October, the Nobel Prizes are announced, and humanity pauses to celebrate the "greatest benefit to mankind." And every year, like clockwork, a specific type of person appears online to complain—at length—that they were robbed. (Well, maybe this year more than most.) The Origin: A Legacy of Guilt The prize exists because Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor, had a crisis of conscience. Nobel held 355 patents, but he was most famous for inventing dynamite. When a French newspaper mistakenly published his obituary, calling him the " Merchant of Death, " he decided to buy a better legacy. In his 1895 will, he left the bulk of his massive fortune to establish five prizes (Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Peace). Because he was Swedish, he entrusted the selection to Swedish institutions, such as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The only outlier...
1 comment
Read more

On the Fly–Taking Flight

In this special 500th episode,  On the Fly  is moving to a new home. Here’s why—and what’s staying the same. For a very long time (since April 2012),  On the Fly  has lived on  Blogger . Blogger has been a reliable host—dependable, quiet, and never complaining when I arrived late with another half-baked idea, a guitar riff, or a story that needed a little air. It faithfully archived my thoughts, my music, and more than a decade of curiosity. But the internet has changed. It’s louder now. Flashier. More insistent. Every thought is nudged to perform. Every sentence wants to be optimized, monetized, or interrupted by something that really wants your attention right this second. I’ve been craving the opposite. So today, On the Fly is moving to Substack . If you’ve been with me for a while, you know my quiet obsession: the A rt of Seeing . I’m interested in the moments we rush past—the Aversion Trap, the discipline hidden inside a guitarist’s daily practice, t...
Post a Comment
Read more