I’ve always found April Fools’ Day to be pretty lame. Sure, I laugh when my kids play an April Fools’ Day joke on me, but that’s my job as a Dad. A day devoted to grown men and women deciding to be an amateur comedian for a day, though? I’ll pass.
Especially with social media these days, April Fools’ Day has become painful. At least two or three bands that I follow via social media announced this April 1 that their lead singer “was leaving the band.” Seriously? Yeah, sure he/she is. *sigh*
Every once and awhile, though, I’m pleasantly surprised. Something I actually loved this year (and I’m sure you’ll love when you have a moment to check it out if you haven’t already) is Google’s integration of the Atari classic Pac-Man into its maps application. Upon its discovery, the Internet was set ablaze with articles praising Google’s “prank,” and on the best areas in the U.S. to now play Pac-Man via Google Maps. You could almost feel the productivity getting sucked out of workplaces across the country.
Check it out for yourself, before it is too late. Just go to maps.google.com, type in an area with a lot of streets (New York City is a great place to start), then click the Pac-Man box in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Just be ready to kiss a nice chunk of time goodbye.
Thank you, Google, for making this April Fools’ Day bearable.
