President Bush announced details of the No Vacation Plan in a White House news conference last night. The presidential directive instructs the nation's schools to begin year-round schedules effective immediately, which means that no student will have summer vacation this year — or ever again. A council of educational experts and school committee chairs persuaded President Bush that the elimination of summer vacations is the only way to ensure that American youngsters reach acceptable levels of education by the time they reach graduation.

Demonstrations began outside the White House this morning when a group of concerned-looking elementary students used chalk to write messages of protest on sidewalks surrounding the building. The President is remaining defiant even in the face of such powerful opposition. He says he is considering extending the NVP, forcing students to attend school on Saturdays as well, at least "until we can beat the Japanese in algebra."

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If you believed this story, you're not the first person to get tripped up on April Fools' Day. People have been playing practical jokes on each other during the first day of April for hundreds of years.

It all began with fish. Back in 16th-century France, people celebrated the New Year from late March to early April, coinciding with the vernal equinox. When Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian calendar in 1582, the New Year's celebration was switched to January 1.

Some people continued celebrating the New Year on April 1; either they hadn't heard about the new date, or they just refused to honor it. These people became known as April fools. Their fellow citizens would tease them by yelling "poisson d'Avril!" which means "April fish." This phrase was appropriate considering that at that time of year, the Sun was in the zodiac sign of Pisces, the fish. The habit of teasing and playing pranks on April 1 caught on, and it eventually spread to England and the United States.

Others tell it differently though, saying that April Fools' Day evolved from the festival of Cerelia, an ancient Roman feast that celebrated the myth of Proserpina. According to this legend, the Roman god Pluto kidnapped Proserpina while she was picking flowers. Her mother, Ceres, began searching for her, but because her mission was doomed, her search became known as the "fool's errand." Sending people on a "fool's errand" is a popular April Fools' Day trick.

• Write your own myth describing how April Fools' Day began.
• Has anyone ever played an April Fools joke on you? Was it a good prank or a mean-spirited one?
• Read about some good-natured tricks that families and little kids can play on April Fools' Day.

Probably the most impressive jokes of all are the ones that are played on the general public. In 1996, fast-food company Taco Bell tricked thousands of people with their full-page ad in The New York Times. The ad explained that the company had purchased the famous Liberty Bell:

This piece of "news" caused a big public outcry. The prank worked because it was plausible. Taco Bell and the Liberty Bell seemed like a good fit, even if it was weird for a corporation to be allowed to buy a national artifact. Also, America's corporate culture is growing — if the Sugar Bowl can become the Nokia Sugar Bowl, then is it such a great leap to imagine that national monuments could be named for corporations? So went the argument of those who fell for the ad — and there were thousands of them. It all added up to a great publicity stunt for Taco Bell. As a result of all the coverage on national TV networks, radio, and newspapers, Taco Bell restaurants sold $0.5 million more food that day and $0.6 million more the next day than typically expected.

• Read more about the publicity the Taco Bell ad generated in this account from the PR company that dreamed up the ad, Paine PR. You can also watch a video clip which shows some of the TV coverage the ad got.
• Invent your own public prank and write a convincing news story about it.

Believing that the Liberty Bell has been bought by a fast-food company is one thing. But would you be fooled if you heard an astronomer on the radio saying that you would be temporarily weightless? That's what happened in Britain in 1967. Renowned astronomer Patrick Moore talked on national radio about a rare planetary alignment which would cause Earth's gravity to temporarily lessen. Picture it: you're sleeping in your bed, and everything in your room — including you — suddenly starts floating, only to crash down to Earth when gravity gets back online. Hundreds of people believed this far-fetched story, and worse yet, they phoned the radio station afterwards claiming to have experienced the weightless sensation.

• Is it reasonable to believe that the sky is becoming "less blue"? What factors do you think might cause the color of the sky to vary?

Scientific jokes like these are popular. Some science periodicals bury an April Fools story amid their regular articles — Discover magazine, for example, did this from 1994 to 1998. The magazine's 1997 April Fools' Day story focused on a 50,000-year-old tuba made from a mastodon tusk; the year before, they wrote an article about amazing ice-drilling creatures living in Antarctica.

• Try writing an authentic April Fools' Day article based on a real scientific principle. You can get inspiration from Discover's past April Fools articles.
• National Public Radio fooled some listeners this April Fools' Day! Read "Federally Funded Flea Dips for Fluffy?"
• Did you get a message on your answering machine from G.R. Raffe, L.E. Font, or Penny Guinn? Don't call back. Read "April Fools' calls for L.E. Font, et al., a zoo tradition" from MSNBC.com.