“It was the first of April. The night, as I said before, was dark; there was not a star to be seen; and a drizzling rain, falling at intervals, rendered us very uncomfortable. But my chief anxiety was concerning the balloon, which, in spite of the varnish with which it was defended, began to grow rather heavy with the moisture; the powder also was liable to damage. I therefore kept my three duns working with great diligence, pounding down ice around the central cask, and stirring the acid in the others. They did not cease, however, importuning me with questions as to what I intended to do with all this apparatus, and expressed much dissatisfaction at the terrible labor I made them undergo. They could not perceive (so they said) what good was likely to result from their getting wet to the skin, merely to take a part in such horrible incantations. I began to get uneasy, and worked away with all my might, for I verily believe the idiots supposed that I had entered into a compact with the Devil, and that, in short, what I was now doing was nothing better than it should be. I was, therefore, in great fear of their leaving me altogether. I contrived, however, to pacify them by promises of payment of all scores in full, as soon as I could bring the present business to a termination. To these speeches they gave, of course, their own interpretation; fancying, no doubt, that at all events I should come into possession of vast quantities of ready money; and provided I paid them all I owed, and a trifle more, in consideration of their services, I dare say they cared very little what became of either my soul or my carcass.
Edgar Allen Poe, “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfall”
How strange and typical of Poe that immediately after a conclusion that turns all that has gone before into a jape at our expense, he should proclaim the superior plausibility of his method. If the Moon is not the world of wonder and mystery that Poe first suggests, but only a joke, then the superior plausibility of his method can have no point.
Was his plausibility serious, or was it a joke? Poe will have it both ways, and must have it both ways. As far as his immediate audience is concerned, it’s a joke. Neither he nor they dare to brave the World Beyond the Hill long enough to encounter its transcendence. But, inasmuch as Poe is talking to later writers of SF like Jules Verne, he is completely serious. His appendix is an arrow pointing to the most innovative aspect of “Hans Pfall” – plausible argument that can carry us to a transcendent realm – even though he himself isn’t up to facing that mystery. But then, it has not been unusual in the development of SF for serious methods and arguments to be embodied in very unserious vehicles.
Alexei and Cory Panshin, The World Beyond the Hill
Well, he became a woman,
then a man, then a dog,
then a sheep, then a man,
then a god.
the Frogs, “April Fools”
What happens on April Fool’s Day is anyone’s guess.
The program could delete all of the files on a person’s computer, use zombie PCs — those controlled by a master — to overwhelm and shut down Web sites or monitor a person’s keyboard strokes to collect private information like passwords or bank account information, experts said.
More likely, though, said DeBolt, the virus may try to get computer users to buy fake software or spend money on other phony products.
Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity (1976)British astronomer Patrick Moore announced on BBC Radio 2 that at exactly 9:47 a.m. the planet Pluto would pass behind the planet Jupiter, and that this alignment of the planets would result in a stronger gravitational pull from Jupiter, counteracting the Earth’s own gravity and making people momentarily weigh less. He told listeners that they could experience this phenomenon for themselves by jumping in the air at 9:47. If they did so, he said, they would experience a strange floating sensation. When 9:47 a.m. arrived, BBC2 began to receive hundreds of calls from listeners who claimed that they had felt the sensation. One woman claimed that she had been seated around a table with eleven friends, and that all of them, including the table, had begun to float around the room. Another caller complained that she had risen from the ground so rapidly that she had hit her head on the ceiling.
If the mention of “eleven friends” didn’t do the trick, recall that, even in Oceania, 4 + 7 = 11.
Beware of, or participate in, balloon hoaxes, among others, and, as always, cuídate!