Bold Medias Publishing For Advertising Please Call (604) 454 - 1387 www.tidbitsvancouver.com“I Love that little paper!”

Want to run your own business?Publish a paper in your area, and become

a part of the family.

1.866.859.0609www.tidbitscanada.com

Make a difference in your community today.

Falkland • Armstrong • Coldstream • Falkland • Lavington • Lumby • Silver Star • Spallumcheen • Vernon •

250-542-5661 | www.coldstreammeadows.com9104 Mackie Drive, Coldstream BC

Now until June 20, save $100* o� your

monthly rent at The Terraces!

* o�er valid only on a one year lease

SPRING SPECIAL!

March 27 - April 2, 2015 Issue 00215

TIDBITS® CELEBRATES APRIL FOOLSby Janet Spencer

This week we’ll be celebrating April Fools Day. Come along with Tidbits as we play some pranks!

THE ORIGIN OF APRIL FOOLS

• No one is really sure how April Fools Day came about. The traditional explanation is that it started in 1582 when Pope Gregory XIII ordered that the Gregorian calendar replace the old Julian calendar, which moved the fi st day of the new year to January 1st instead of April 1st. Tho e who still celebrated the new year on April 1st were ridiculed as fools. Theproblem with this explanation is that April Fools Day was already being celebrated when the calendars were switched over.

• Joseph Boskin, a professor of history at Boston University, explained that April Fools began during the reign of Constantine, when a group of court jesters told the Roman emperor that they could run the empire better than he could. Constantine allowed a jester to be king for one day. The jester passed an edict calling for absurdity on that day, and the custom became an annual event. The Associated Press ran this story in many newspapers in 1983. The e was only one catch: Boskin made the whole thing up. It took a couple of weeks for the AP to realize that they’d been victims of an April Fools joke themselves.

(Turn page for more foolery)

New!

Page 2 TidbitsVernon.com Cosita Publishing For Advertising Call (250) 832-3361APRIL FOOLERY

• Robert Benchley invited his friend Frank Case to dinner at his house. Frank was the manager of the Algonquin Hotel at the time. When he was shown to the bathroom, Frank was dismayed to see that all the towels, as well as the soap, came from his hotel. At dinner, the silverware, plates, and napkins also bore the stamp of the Algonquin. Benchley had secretly arranged to “borrow” a truck load of Algonquin property for the evening.

• James Thurber’s mother was a practical joker. One day she was to meet an old friend that she hadn’t seen in thirty years. By prearrangement, Mrs. Thurber was to wear a red rose so her friend could recognize her at the train station. Mrs. Thurber arrived early, and spotted a very old woman sleeping on a bench. She quietly pinned the rose on the slumbering form and enjoyed the scene when her friend showed up, looked at the sleeping woman incredulously, and woke her up saying, “Why, Mame Thurber, how are you? You’re looking just fine!

• Author Kathleen Norris once saw in a store window that her friend Frank Sullivan was coming up behind her. She whirled about suddenly and cried at the top of her lungs, “Not one penny more! You and your family have had all the money you’ll ever get out of me! You’ve bled me white!” A crowd started to gather. Her voice grew louder. “You’ve spent it all on drink rather than on your sick wife! I’ve given you everything I have— and still you hound me for more!” Sullivan fl d.

• At the Walt Disney studios, one artist boasted without ceasing about his new custom-built car and insisted everyone come out to admire it. Later, while he was working, his cohorts dismantled a wheelbarrow and reassembled it in his back seat, then fill d it with water. It took the guy two hours just to dip the water out without wetting his fineupholstery.

• Newspaper humorist John Medbury and his wife liked to throw extraordinary dinner parties. At one, half of the invitations said the dinner was to be very formal, and half said dress was to be informal. Half the guests showed up wearing tuxes and gowns and the other half arrived wearing t-shirts and shorts.

• Ben Franklin once entered an inn and found every seat next to the fi e already occupied. He asked the innkeeper if he had

any oysters, and the reply was yes. “Take a bucket of them out to the stable and feed them to my horse,” Franklin said. Everyone seated at the fi e went out to see a horse eat oysters. When they came back in to say the horse refused to eat oysters, they found Ben seated at the prime position next to the flames. “Then bring the oysters in here and roast them for my supper!” he said.

• Sportswriter Bill Hanna was walking down the street when he ran into fellow reporter Bill Phelon. Hanna remarked on how nice it was to run into his old friend, but mentioned he was looking ill. Th y parted company. Hanna walked a half a block farther when Phelon again approached him with surprise, saying how long it had been

since they’d seen each other and how ill Hanna was looking. “But I just ran into you a moment ago,” cried Hanna. “Impossible!” replied Phelon and wandered off. A block further, here came Phelon, rushing to Hanna to pump his hand and mention how ill he was looking. “Please tell me you just saw me a few minutes ago!” hollered Hanna, which of course was denied by Phelon. Hanna hailed a taxi and took himself to the hospital.

• On April Fools’ Day shortly before Mt. St. Helens erupted, a Massachusetts TV producer thought it would be funny to air the report that a local non-volcanic ski mountain was also erupting. Police were swamped with calls. The station apologized for the prank and the producer was fi ed.

For Advertising Call (250) 832-3361 TidbitsVernon.com Cosita Publishing Page 3PERFECT PRANKS

• A newspaper called “The Realist” once printed a prominently placed correction in its paper reading, “Our thanks to Jean Raymond for pointing out an error in last month’s issue in the article on ways to diffe entiate between mushrooms and toadstools. The two headings unfortunately got transposed. The heading ‘Edible Mushrooms’ should have read ‘Poisonous Toadstools’ and the heading ‘Poisonous Toadstools’ should have read ‘Edible Mushrooms.’ We apologize to our readers for any confusion this may have caused.”

• A new plaque was to be unveiled at City Hall in St. George, British Columbia. Photographer Peter Duffy was to cover the event, which bored him. To liven things up, he snuck to the scene early and taped a large poster of a nude over the veiled plaque. When it was unveiled, the crowd was stunned, the mayor was apoplectic, and the photographer was fi ed.

• When it comes to college pranks, Caltech holds all honors. One night students went into the faculty parking lot and painted over all the parking stripes as well as the names designating ownership of each space. Thenthey repainted them, making each space just a little larger, carefully arranged to totally erase the private parking space of an unpopular administrator.

• When Caltech freshman Chuck Conner left for a weekend, his dorm mates plastered over the door to his room and even moved a light fi ture to the blank wall. When he returned and asked his friends what happened to his room, they all pretended not to recognize him.

Page 4 TidbitsVernon.com Cosita Publishing For Advertising Call (250) 832-3361

• College students irritated with Dean William Bush Baer at New York University submitted his obituary to the New York Times and it was run on May 9, 1942. Baer arrived at work the next day to find the flags at half-staff and the choir singing dirges in the chapel. A retraction was in the paper the following day.

NOTEWORTHY INVENTIONSSOREN SORENSEN ADAMS

• Soren Sorenson Adams was born in Denmark in 1879. When he was four years old, his family came to America and settled in New Jersey, where he went by the name of Sam Adams. In 1904, Adams got a job working for a company that produced dyes.

• It was well known among the employees that a certain deep blue dye would cause uncontrollable sneezing when inhaled, and this was the source of much consternation for the owners of the company, and much amusement for the employees. Adams figured out how to extract the sneeze-inducing derivative from the dye, called dianisidine. When he tested the powder out by blowing it into the faces of a marching band during a parade, it disrupted their performance. He distributed small vials of the powder to his friends, and the demand was so large that he quit his job and went into business marketing his sneezing powder, which he called “Cachoo.”

• In his fi st year, he sold 150,000 bottles of Cachoo. But when demand tapered off, Adams turned his attention to other tricks, gadgets, and gags.

• Perhaps his greatest invention was the joy buzzer. This tiny mechanical device emits a loud vibrating buzz when two people shake hands, startling the unsuspecting victim.

PERFECT PRANKS (continued):

(Continued next page)

Adams traveled all the way to Dresden, Germany, to find a tool and die maker who designed parts small enough so that the buzzer could easily fit in the palm of a hand. The instant success of the joy buzzer allowed Adams to build a factory and hire a staff.

• From there, it was onward and upward as he invented tricks, jokes, and pranks: the squirting fl wer, the dribble glass, the fake-fly-in-an-ice-cube, the snake in a nut can, itching powder, and the stink bomb. (cont’d)

• Adams was a clever inventor and a shrewd businessman, which allowed his company to thrive, even during the Great Depression. He became known as the father of the novelty prank. His products, wrapped in colorful cartoonish packaging, were available in fi e-and-dime department stores nationwide, and were sold from ads in the back of comic books. He expanded into simple pocket-sized magic tricks, including the ball-and-vase, the magic coin box, and the three shell game. Trick decks of cards were a popular item.

• In 1930, a Toronto rubber company offe ed Adams the rights to something they had invented: the Razz Cushion, now known as the Whoopie Cushion. Adams turned it down, deeming it “too vulgar” but quickly saw his error when it earned over $50,000 the fi st year it was on the market. He devised his own version of the gag and added it to his line-up.

• Another of his more successful inventions was the exploding cigar. Exploding cigars became a slapstick comedy staple employed

(Continued next page)

For Advertising Call (250) 832-3361 TidbitsVernon.com Cosita Publishing Page 5

THC Dispensary

TOP QUALITYMedication at an Affordable Price!

• Herb • Extracts• Edibles• Oil• Tinctures

www.blackcrowherbals.com2808A 48th Ave, Vernon • 250-545-4599 (across from The Bay)

SIGN UP IN PERSON OR ONLINE

We honour all

other dispensary cards!

M E D I C A L M A R I J U A N A

Free Local Delivery

Black CrowHerbal

Solutions

Now Open7 Days a Week!

by everyone from Groucho Marx, to the Looney Tunes animated characters, to the Joker in the Batman comics.

• Sam Adams claimed to have devised over 600 diffe ent items, and patented about 40 of them, making him the definiti e king of professional pranksters. His original sneezing powder was eventually outlawed over health concerns. Sam Adams actively managed his company right up to his death in 1963 at the age 84.

• The company he founded, now under new management, still sells many of Adams’ inventions, as well as items such as fake vomit, plastic dog poop, and gum that turns your teeth black.

• Sam Adams would be proud to know that, just like snowflakes, no two pieces of fake vomit are the same.

HILARIOUS HUGH TROY• Hugh Troy was born in Ithica, NY in 1906.

After graduating from Cornell, he became a successful illustrator of kid’s books. He was a captain during WWII and lived in Washington D.C. until his death in 1964. Today he is remembered for his practical jokes.

• Hugh Troy learned the art of pranking at a very early age and practiced on his grandmother. He wrote a letter to Sears and requested a corset, three yards of stovepipe, a teething ring, and two pounds of nails, then signed her name. When the package arrived

SOREN SORENSEN ADAMS (continued):

Page 6 TidbitsVernon.com Cosita Publishing For Advertising Call (250) 832-3361

Springtime Dangers---

DEAR PAW’S CORNER: Yesterday, I took my dog “Chip” for a walk without his booties or sweater, because we fi ally had a day that was somewhat

warm. However, when he ran over to a melting snow pile beside the sidewalk, he cut his front paw on a

piece of metal that was jutting out of the snow. He’s doing OK after an emergency trip to the vet. Can you warn readers that even if winter is ending, there are still dangers out there for pets? -- Gavin, via email

DEAR GAVIN: Absolutely! I’m glad Chip is doing OK, and hope he recovers quickly. Early spring presents

a whole new set of hazards for pets outdoors, so they should never be unsupervised -- even in a fenced

yard.Debris that surfaces from under melting snow,

such as Chip encountered, is one hazard. Pets also may try to chew on or ingest debris. Snow piles,

particularly plow piles, often have tempting garbage interspersed throughout.

New plant growth is another danger: Winter winds and weather can bring seedlings from a variety

of plants into your yard. Some can be poisonous to pets. Keep dogs and cats away from weeds or sprouting plants and remove unfamiliar or unwanted plants before they take deeper root.

In colder climates, keep booties on your dog even if the temperature is above freezing. The g ound

beneath the sidewalk may still be frozen, and that can damage their paw pads.

I don’t want to make owners paranoid. Enjoy the nicer weather with your pet, but stay practical about

their health and safety as the season changes.Send your questions or tips to ask@pawscorner.com.

(c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.

addressed to Grandma, she exclaimed over their mistake and sent the package back with the letter explaining the error— a letter that was promptly intercepted by Hugh and replaced with another letter that said she needed quilt wadding, a hot water bottle, and two pounds of soft steel rivets. Thiswent on ad infini um.

• When the Museum of Modern Art sponsored an exhibition of Van Gogh’s art, Troy made a replica of an ear out of chipped beef and mounted it in a blue velvet display case in the museum. A card identifi d it as the ear Van Gogh cut off. The exhibit drew more viewers than any other painting on display.

• When he found a park bench for sale, he bought it. It was an exact duplicate of the benches in Central Park. He and a friend would take the bench to the park, and as soon as they saw a cop coming, they would proceed to carry the bench away— and would promptly be arrested. The bill of sale would then be produced and Troy would indignantly demand to be set free. He was arrested several times before the city police caught on.

• When a theater owner got on his nerves, Troy got even by smuggling a jar full of moths into the next showing. When released, the moths headed directly to the light of the projector, making it impossible for moviegoers to view the picture.

• Troy served in WWII and mounted his own protest against the amount of paperwork by sending daily reports to the Pentagon consisting of the number of flies caught on the mess hall flypaper. Soon the Pentagon was wondering why all the other units weren’t sending in their flypaper reports, too.

• Once a cherry tree on the Cornell campus miraculously bore apples with a little help from this wonderful joker.

HUGH TROY (cont’d):

• His most successful college stunt was when he borrowed a trash can from a friend. The trash can had been formed from a rhinoceros foot, and with it, Troy made rhino tracks across the snowy campus and onto the ice-covered reservoir where they ended abruptly at a large hole in the ice. When zoologists confi med that the tracks were those of a rhino, reports started fl oding in from all over the city by people who claimed that their drinking water tasted of rhinoceros.

• When his imagination was triggered by a seminar on ghost writing, Troy placed an ad in a local newspaper reading, “Too busy to paint? Call on the Ghost Artists! We paint it - you sign it! Why not give an exhibition?” He got hundreds of responses.

• In 1932, Hugh Troy saved extra copies of the newspaper that announced in giant headlines, “Roosevelt Elected!” Th ee years later he turned a few inebriated heads when he nonchalantly rode the subways reading this paper on New Year’s Eve.

• Troy dressed as a worker and removed all of the light bulbs from the halls of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel without being questioned.

• Troy once swiped a religious sign proclaiming, “Jesus Saves.” He erected it the following day in front of the Ithaca Savings Bank.

Wanted: Purchasing old Canadian & American

coin collections & accumulations.

Old gold & sterling! Private, Prompt &

confide tial. 250-548-3670

(Shuswap)

For Advertising Call (250) 832-3361 TidbitsVernon.com Cosita Publishing Page 7

Locally Grown 100% Pure Apple Juice 4 SALE - 5L for $10 Come to 6872 Lear-mouth Road Laving-ton or call 250-306-0864. Drop off to Vernon areas may be possible.

Multi-task ladder $80, 25’ aluminum lad-der with wheel’s for walls.$50, Black and Decker adjustable work table $50 Call Art at 250-542-6915 (Vernon)

Scrap metal. Come and get it for free. In-cludes an old Skidoo, I can email you pix. Call Mike at 250-832-3361

by Samantha Weaver* You probably won’t be surprised to learn that when author (and noted wit) Oscar Wilde arrived in the United States in 1882, he told the customs officers, “I have nothing to declare except my genius.”

* A pregnant goldfish is called a twit.

* If you’re planning a summer vacation in Maine this year, you might want to keep in mind that in that state, it’s against the law to tickle a woman under the chin with a feather duster.

* Despite the fact that 95 percent of the world uses the metric system of measurement, we in the United States still stubbornly cling to the archaic units of measurement derived from the old British Imperial system. This hodgepodge ranges from the mile (originally the distance a Roman soldier could march in 1,000 double steps) to the foot (originally the length of Emperor Charlemagne’s foot, later “standardized” to the length of 35 barleycorns laid end to end) to a yard (the distance between King Henry I’s nose to his extended fingertips) to an inch (the length from the tip to the first joint of a man’s thumb).

* Brazil nuts do come from Brazil, but they’re not technically nuts; they’re seeds.

* When you think of the band ZZ Top, you probably think of long beards -- that’s become a sort of signature for them. The drummer, though, is beardless -- and his name is Frank Beard.

* A ground squirrel typically has a heartbeat of around 300 beats per minute. During hibernation, though, that drops dramatically -- to only three or four beats per minute.

Thought for the Day: “Those who will not reason are bigots, those who cannot are fools, and those who dare not are slaves.” -- Lord Byron(c) 2015 King Features Synd., Inc.

14’ Mirrorcraft Boat 2012 with trailer (& spare tire) & loader guides. Bimini Top, Scotty Rod Holders, Hummingbird Fish Finder + 30 horse,

electric start Tohatsu Motor. All barely used,

like new. Asking $11,500 Call

Ron (250) 832-2855 (Salmon Arm)

ISO of alfalfa grass mix hay.

Salmon Arm to Armstrong area.

Please call (250) 803-3443 or email scgoat-

farm@hotmail.com with available and

price.

Come and hear the Gospel Message

Each Sunday through March at 3:30 pm

In the Shubert Center3505-30th Ave.

VernonOnly the Bible shared

simply and freely.Everyone Welcome

No collection

Page 8 TidbitsVernon.com Cosita Publishing For Advertising Call (250) 832-3361