Posts tagged Pranks at Switched

Posts with tag pranks

How World Leaders Call Each Other

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 18th 2008 at 11:36AM

Some seemed to think it was embarrassing when Sarah Palin was fooled into believing that a Canadian radio shock jock was French president Nicolas Sarkozy shortly before election day. Many people (including some commenters on this site) defended Palin, asking how she could have known (ignoring the obvious clues such as the request to hunt wolves from a helicopter).

Do you ever wonder how someone like the President gets in touch with other world leaders? Let's say the President of the United States wants to speak to Nicolas Sarkozy. The normal procedure involves aides or White House operators calling assistants or operators for Sarkozy. An appointment for the leaders to speak is established. Aides to Sarkozy will call back the White House to confirm the appointment, and then patch the leaders through to each other at the appropriate time. It's not exactly speed-dial.

Continue reading How World Leaders Call Each Other

Fake NY Times Site Declares End of Iraq War

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Nov 14th 2008 at 11:14AM

Those political pranksters, The Yes Men, are at it again in a stunt that, regardless of your ideology, you must admit is impressive. The "operation," six months in the planning, involved six printing presses and thousands of volunteers across the nation who handed out 1.2 million copies of a 14-page mock issue of the New York Times.

Commuters exiting trains in New York and in other cities were confused, and some fooled, when they were handed a free copy of the New York Times with a headline proclaiming the end of the Iraq war. For those who weren't lucky enough to get their hands on a paper copy, you can still check out the July 4th, 2009 dated issue online at www.NYTimes-se.com. The site is an almost perfect replication of the NY Times Web site, and it's filled with dozens of articles imagining a future liberal utopia (or nightmare, depending on your perspective).

Though the stunt is a little reminiscent of hippie-era freak out the establishment antics (which, in retrospect, we're sure many see as the acting out of juvenile idealists), we're still taken aback by the scale and attention to detail. [From: Boing Boing, Wired, and Fake NY Times]

Send 'X-Ray Messages' to Airport Security With These Steel Plates

by Lee Bains, posted Oct 13th 2008 at 2:53PM

There are certain people and institutions you should never really mess with: 911 operators, your government's computer systems, and T.S.A. security personnel. Apparently, nobody informed designer Evan Roth of the latter.

Probably the kind of guy that wonders, "Just what would that cop do if I reached out for his pistol all of a sudden?," Roth has laser-cut "hilarious" messages and images into stainless steel plates so that trouble-making airline passengers can play a little prank when security folks X-ray their baggage, Asylum reports.

While Roth's stock designs include "Nothing to see here," "Mind your own business" and an image of Osama Bin Laden, the plates are fully customizable. Although these plates are clearly intended for artistic, rather than practical, use, we're certain there will be some airborne jokester unable to resist zipping one of these bad boys into his backpack. For that guy's customized plate, may we recommend the more straightforward "Arrest me, please." [From: Asylum]

Court Orders Prankster Teens to Post YouTube Apology

by Tim Stevens, posted Jun 10th 2008 at 10:29AM

We've reported on some rather stupid things posted to YouTube, such as footage of people breaking the law then flaunting it online. Postings of beatings and theft are disturbingly common, and so, too, are "fire in the hole" videos, in which camcorder-armed teens with nothing better to do order drinks at fast-food drive-throughs, then throw them back through the window before speeding off (and then post the video on YouTube). Two Florida teens were recently caught doing said act, an, in an welcome twist, were required to post an apology video to YouTube as part of their sentence.

The unnamed teens threw drinks at Taco Bell worker Jessica Ceponis at a franchise location in Merritt Island, Florida. When Ceponis learned a video of the incident was posted online, she used MySpace to track down the perpetrators. After pretending to be their friends she figured out their identities, she called the police, and had the teens arrested.

The teens were each charged with two counts of battery and one count of criminal mischief, and, as punishment, were required to post the apology video (which they edited themselves). They are also serving 100 hours of community service, paying $30 cleaning fees to the restaurant, and personally writing apology letters to to Ceponis. Will this put a stop to these sorts of videos? Probably not, but we're pretty sure these two pranksters at least won't be doing it again. [Source: YouTube, via USA Today]

Zap Impolite Cell Callers

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Apr 13th 2007 at 2:30PM

Fists are one way to stop someone from rudely gabbing on his cell phone in public. But if assault ain't your thing, you might consider the equally illegal JAM1000 from Spycatcher. This wonderful little gizmo kills nearly all cell phone chatter within a 50-foot radius.

Is some teenage girl ruining a movie for you? Are you done listening to the guy you're sharing an elevator with sweet talk his mistress? Does that business woman have no respect for the fact that you're currently at a funeral? Zap them all! Just be careful not to gloat so openly since, after all, it's against the law in most places to even own a cell phone jammer.

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