Despite of a number of TV news shows debunking it as a very elaborate April Fool’s Day hoax, why do some people still believe in the existence of spaghetti trees?
By: Ringo Bones
I first saw the topic being discussed first hand in a 1980s era Ripley’s Believe it or Not when it was still hosted by Jack Palance, what fascinates me about spaghetti trees is that despite of a number of TV shows explaining to the public that they are just a product of an elaborate April Fool’s Day joke / hoax – there are some folks who still believe that spaghetti trees are for real. Given that the exact origin of spaghetti can’t be easily traced because it is inextricably intertwined during the Silk-Road era trading between Arab merchants and China, this confusion might be, in-part, fuelling the legend of the spaghetti tree.
Historically, the origin of the spaghetti tree was traced back to an April Fool’s broadcast by a rather still-reputable till this day news show by the BBC called Panorama back in 1957. The first of April “parody” news broadcast – probably the equivalent of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart or the Colbert Report of its day – have aired footage of Swiss farmers pulling spaghetti strands from trees on the BBC news show Panorama. Given that BBC’s Panorama is still a very reputable news program till this day, viewers immediately called the station demanding to know how they could grow their own spaghetti trees.
With sympathy to the victims of the hoax, the spaghetti tree hoax eventually gained “notoriety” as one of the top five best April Fool’s Day hoaxes / jokes of all time. Surprisingly, there has been no word yet on the existence of macaroni, fettuccini, or even of corkscrew pasta. Given that the spaghetti tree was supposedly said to originate from Switzerland, chocolate-sapped trees would have been more apt.
Showing posts with label April Fool's Day Hoaxes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label April Fool's Day Hoaxes. Show all posts
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
April Fool’s Color TV, Anyone?
Supposedly an extremely low-cost video tweak to convert a black and white TV set to a color TV set, is this almost-free video tweak nothing more than an “April Fool Color” tweak?
By: Ringo Bones
Imagine - back in 1962 - finding out afterwards that an almost-free video tweak to convert your existing black and white TV set to color turns out to be nothing more than an elaborately contrived April Fool’s Day joke. To the consolation of this particular hoax’s / prank’s victims, this particular April Fool’s Day joke managed to make it to the Top 5 best April Fool’s Day pranks in history according to museumofhoaxes.com. But how come something obviously “fool-hardy” managed to fool thousands already familiar with late 1950s home entertainment technology? Unfortunately, the science of optics conspired to provide the “twisted logic” behind the prank.
The origin of this prank begins in April 1, 1962 when a Swedish TV station’s technical expert went on the news to demonstrate how viewers could convert their existing black and white TV transmissions into color – by simply pulling a nylon stocking over their TV screens. Hundreds of thousands followed suit, hoping for magic and a bit of color in their lives. Many swear on the bit of color part, but can the intended result truly be called full-color or just fool-color?
The nylon stocking being pulled over the black and white TV screen to produce “color” works on an optical principle similar to a diffraction grating – i.e. the nylon stocking’s finely-ridged weave pattern uses structure alone to “open up” the spectrum and places white light’s various wavelengths on display. The “rainbow-effect” produced by vinyl LP and CD surfaces works on a similar principle. Conspiring to the “fool color” / false color effect is the existing 600 or so scan lines of your typical black and white cathode ray tube display interacting with the nylon stocking’s fine mesh to produce a “Color TV” fit for April Fool’s Day.
By: Ringo Bones
Imagine - back in 1962 - finding out afterwards that an almost-free video tweak to convert your existing black and white TV set to color turns out to be nothing more than an elaborately contrived April Fool’s Day joke. To the consolation of this particular hoax’s / prank’s victims, this particular April Fool’s Day joke managed to make it to the Top 5 best April Fool’s Day pranks in history according to museumofhoaxes.com. But how come something obviously “fool-hardy” managed to fool thousands already familiar with late 1950s home entertainment technology? Unfortunately, the science of optics conspired to provide the “twisted logic” behind the prank.
The origin of this prank begins in April 1, 1962 when a Swedish TV station’s technical expert went on the news to demonstrate how viewers could convert their existing black and white TV transmissions into color – by simply pulling a nylon stocking over their TV screens. Hundreds of thousands followed suit, hoping for magic and a bit of color in their lives. Many swear on the bit of color part, but can the intended result truly be called full-color or just fool-color?
The nylon stocking being pulled over the black and white TV screen to produce “color” works on an optical principle similar to a diffraction grating – i.e. the nylon stocking’s finely-ridged weave pattern uses structure alone to “open up” the spectrum and places white light’s various wavelengths on display. The “rainbow-effect” produced by vinyl LP and CD surfaces works on a similar principle. Conspiring to the “fool color” / false color effect is the existing 600 or so scan lines of your typical black and white cathode ray tube display interacting with the nylon stocking’s fine mesh to produce a “Color TV” fit for April Fool’s Day.
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