One Born Every Year

Right next to the meatball bush

I like to think in somewhat nontraditional ways. Just to be different. "Outside the box" doers not describe my way of cogitating simply because there are so many others who think like that. I look for something "Just a bit outside," as Bob Ueker intoned in one of his more famous cameo movie roles. Thus, the first of April really doesn't hold any special meaning for me.
The whole tradition of playing on folks' gullibility is said by Boston University professor Joseph Boskin to have been instituted during the reign of King constantine, he of the Roman Empire. It is said that his jesters made the comment that they could do as well at ruling as he could, so he made one of them king for a day (in addition to getting various Maytag appliances,,,if you don't get that, you're too young). And the tradition of April Fool's day continues throughout history with some notable big-time tricks being played.
In 1957, the stodgy BBC ran a story on April first claiming that the spaghetti crop in Switzerland would be in early that year. The corresponding photo at the top was more than enough to have hundreds of people calling to find out where they, too, could get such trees.
In 1976, a would-be astronomer predicted that on that date because of the alignment of Pluto and Jupiter, earth's gravity would be slightly lessened at 9:47 a.m. He posited that at that moment, if people were to leap into the air, they would float for a few seconds. There is no actual count of how many tried this, but supposedly a LOT did.
We can always count on the illustrators of comic strips to do their part, like the time the Mom from Family Circus had a pointy hairdo as if she were in Dilbert. Sadly, though, cartoonists switch every year so the novelty has worn off somewhat.
Then, of course, there's radio, a medium perfect for such hijinks. WOMA in Algoma, Wisconsin had a late-night DJ back in the 80s who pretended to be giving away fabulous prizes all over town for the first person to find the spot. Of course, there were no fabulous prizes, but a phone call from an adjoining studio always provided proof of an actual winner. All fun and games, of course, until someone in frustration drove to the station and demanded to know why he had just missed winning ALL evening! oops.
In 1998 WXRT in Chicago put out the announcement that it had been bought by Playboy and would soon have the call letters XXXRT and be known as "True Adult Radio." Remember, this is before HowardStern became available to all of us on a regular basis in ALL mediums. Needless to say, the phone banks at both the station and at Playboy blew fuses...and kept Hugh awake at night, probably.
Also that year on April first, Burger King introduced their newest taste sensation: the left-handed Whopper which featured the same ingredients rotated 180 degrees on the bun. Again. orders were numerous, and some customers even began ordering right-handed burgers. Go figure.
And finally, in 1976, Steves Wozniak and Jobs pioneered Apple Corp. Who knew?
As I said, I don't try to fool people on April 1st, but I have to admit, the ploy is incredibly successful on March Fool's Day, July Fool's Day and, well, you get the idea.
BTW: your shoelace is untied.