A message spread throughout the internet announcing that the internet would be shut down for cleaning for 24 hours from March 31st until April 2nd. This cleaning was said to be necessary to clear out the "electronic flotsam and jetsam" that had accumulated in the network. Dead e-mail and inactive ftp, www, and gopher sites would be purged. The cleaning would be done by "five very powerful Japanese-built multi-lingual Internet-crawling robots (Toshiba ML-2274) situated around the world." During this period, users were warned to disconnect all devices from the internet. The message supposedly originated from the "Interconnected Network Maintenance Staff, Main Branch, Massachusetts Institute of Technology." This joke was an updated version of an old joke that used to be told about the phone system. For many years, gullible phone customers had been warned that the phone systems would be cleaned on April Fool's Day. They were cautioned to place plastic bags over the ends of the phone to catch the dust that might be blown out of the phone lines during this period.
Comic strip fans opened their papers on April 1, 1997 and discovered their favorite strips looked different. Not only that, but in many cases characters popped up in other strips out of place. The reason for the chaos was the Great Comics Switcheroonie. Forty-six comic-strip artists conspired to pen each other's strips for the day. For instance, Scott Adams of
Dilbert took over
Family Circus by Bil Keane, where he added his brand of corporate satire to the family-themed strip by having the mother tell her kid to "work cuter, not harder." Garfield and his owner visited the world of Blondie, where Garfield promptly ate one of Dagwood's sandwiches. And the character Nancy popped up in the Foxtrot comic strip wearing a Darth Vader outfit.
The stunt was masterminded by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott, creators of the
Baby Blues comic strip. When asked why he participated, Scott Adams noted, "You don't get that many chances to tunnel under the fence."
The
Independent reported on its front page that Labour Party member Tony Blair, who was campaigning to become prime minister, had offered former Conservative prime minister Baroness Thatcher a position as ambassador to Washington if she would endorse his candidacy in the general election and Labour were to win. It also said that Thatcher had expressed her admiration for Blair's "disciplined determination." The story was picked up by wire services and consequently reported as fact by the Australian Broadcasting Company, forcing it to subsequently issue a retraction. In reality, Thatcher had described Blair as a "boneless wonder."
BMW announced a new feature for its automobiles that would cause animals to move out of the path of the car. Dubbed WAIL for "Wildlife, Acoustic, Information, Link," the device emitted a high-pitched sound wave inaudible to human ears, but audible to animals. The sound wave sent animals scurrying away from the oncoming car, saving them from possible injury. In the ad a small hedgehog was shown running away from the road as a BMW 7 Series sweeped past. A related web site explained that it was no longer just Dr. Doolittle who communicated with animals.
NPR's
All Things Considered interviewed Reed Summers, winner of the previous year's Mouth Sounds competition in Bellevue, Illinois. Summers explained that "mouth sounders" use their mouth, tongue, teeth, lips, and vocal chords to create a variety of sounds. In the studio he demonstrated the sound of an angry cockatoo, a goose, a train, and Bach's Toccata. Summers attributed his skill to the fact that he didn't speak until he reached the age of 10.
