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Old school time-delay hacking pranks are still the coolest ones, IMHO ...

City looks for answers after zombie alert sent to residents
Officials say they still don’t know who sent a “zombie alert” to residents of a Florida city following a power outage.

Lake Worth spokesman Ben Kerr says an independent investigation is underway to determine who was behind the message sent to some 7,880 customers during a 27-minute power outage Sunday.

During the city’s own investigation, Kerr says officials determined that no current or former employees edited the pre-prepared message to include the warning of a zombie invasion. He tells the Palm Beach Post that “no one was fired for it.”

Kerr said a hacking issue came up during Hurricane Irma last September. But that issue was dealt with quickly. He added that officials thought they got to all the messages, “but it turns out there was one hiding in the system.”


SOURCE: https://apnews.com/2df11387e7c84e73...-answers-after-zombie-alert-sent-to-residents
 
aprank.jpg
 
In the episode, Baron Cohen invents the "Israeli anti-terrorism expert" Col Erran Morad, and convinces Mr Spencer to:

  • Bare his buttocks and chase Baron Cohen shouting "USA!" Mr Spencer is told terrorists do not want to be touched by other men's buttocks because they are afraid of homosexuality
  • Shout the "n-word" loudly and repeatedly to attract attention and ward off a kidnapper. Baron Cohen then says: "Are you crazy? The 'n-word' is noonie! Not this word. This word is disgusting"
  • Impersonate a Chinese tourist while placing a selfie-stick under the garment of a burqa-clad person to take a picture to ensure the person is not a terrorist (Mr Spencer backed legislation in 2016 to ban Muslim women from wearing burqas in public)

Warning : Bad language, pixellated buttocks.


https://boingboing.net/2018/07/23/republican-lawmaker-screams-ra.html

The politician, Jason Spencer, has now resigned.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44949504
 
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How does he manage to get them to go along with it?
 
Just watched the first episode. Apparently Bernie Sanders isn't stupid, so I may have been too swift to judge.

Unless he is no longer a politician. In which case my original point stands.

Art dealers seem to be pretty on it though. And fairly open.
 
Whether 'hoax' or 'prank', the authorities decided to call this one 'unintentional' ...

Texas police: Reported alligator was remote-controlled head
A Texas police department said reports of an alligator in local waters were an "unintentional hoax" involving a remote-controlled gator head.

The New Braunfels Police Department responded in a Facebook post to photos and videos that emerged on social media and appeared to show an alligator swimming in the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers.

"A remote-controlled alligator head was used to create photos and videos that you may have seen on Facebook and other social media sites," the department said.

Police said it appeared to have been an "unintentional hoax" on the part of the owner of the novelty remote-controlled item, "but still may have caused some alarm."

... And here's a photo. I suppose the antenna was a dead giveaway ...

TX-Remote-Gator-Head.jpg

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/0...s-remote-controlled-head/3791533648192/?sl=12
 
And here's a photo. I suppose the antenna was a dead giveaway ...
I wonder if there are any allegations that the operator was an alligator, relaxing in a deckchair on the riverbank?

Now that I know it is a model, I feel it's very 'wakeless'....or am I being unfair?
 
These students took a proactive approach to expanding visual diversity in McDonalds interior decor ...

Student's fake poster hangs at McDonald's for months
A Texas student who noticed a blank wall at his local McDonald's made a fake advertisement and hung it in the eatery -- where it went unnoticed for months.

The University of Houston student, identified only as Jevh M., said he wanted to boost Asian representation in the advertisement posters hanging at the McDonald's in Pearland, so he and a friend put themselves in a fake poster highlighting the eatery's fries.

Jevh posted a video to YouTube showing how he and his friends used a McDonald's uniform they found at a thrift shop to disguise themselves as employees to hang the poster on the blank wall.

The student posted a photo to Twitter showing the poster still hanging inside the store 51 days after the prank began.

It was unclear whether McDonald's knew the poster's origins or if the eatery would allow it to remain.

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/0...-at-McDonalds-for-months/6051536072988/?sl=10

YOUTUBE VIDEO:
 
These students took a proactive approach to expanding visual diversity in McDonalds interior decor

Many years ago - in the days when teachers carried chalk - I was with a group kept waiting for a very long time in a vegetarian bistro. We were seated in the window and had access to the blackboard listing "Specials of the Day!"

Suffice it to say that by the time we did get served, the board featured some very surprising items. A friend who lived close by assured me that my additions to the menu went undisturbed for weeks.

I always wonder how many orders they had for roast suckling babe, stoat liver and kitten rissoles before the penny dropped. :evillaugh:
 
It helps if you've seen the film or read the Stephen King book Misery .. I reckon this woman did this for her actor portfolio .. :cool: .. that cockadoodie clerk!

 
Mentioned in another thread was the phenomenon of prank callers phoning up businesses pretending to be official (e.g. the police, or the boss) and getting the staff and even customers to do weird stuff for their gratification. Here's a story mentioned in FT 371:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...-prank-anonymous-caller-charity-a7757946.html

Two customers in Poundworld lick the feet of the staff, on instruction from a phone call, in the hope of winning a prize. This is not an isolated case, either.
 
Alan Abel is still alive, too.

Not any more.

Alan Abel, a professional hoaxer who for more than half a century gleefully hoodwinked the American public — not least of all by making himself the subject of an earnest news obituary in The New York Times in 1980 — apparently actually did die, on Friday, at his home in Southbury, Conn. He was 94.

His daughter, Jenny Abel, said the cause was complications of cancer and heart failure.


https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/17/obituaries/alan-abel-dies.html
 
Very sorry to hear that, he was a genius in his way, and about a million times more inventive than any internet prankster we get these days. He had a philosophy!
 
These students took a proactive approach to expanding visual diversity in McDonalds interior decor ...
SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/0...-at-McDonalds-for-months/6051536072988/?sl=10
]

Update on this story (see post #647) ...

McDonald's pays Texas students $25,000 for viral poster prank
McDonald's paid $25,000 to two Texas college students who hung a fake poster of themselves in the eatery for months.

Jevh Maravilla and Christian Toledo appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where DeGeneres informed them McDonald's had offered to pay them each $25,000 and feature them in an ad campaign.

"McDonald's loves customers like you and they are committed to diversity and want to represent all their customers so they're going to feature you in a marketing campaign," DeGeneres told the pair. ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/0...0-for-viral-poster-prank/9181537489251/?sl=13
 
Legendary stuff :cool: .. I don't want to live in a world where boisterous 'chavs' can't brighten up a service industry wage slave's job ... and I work in the service industry so am probably meant to be triggered by this shocking lack of respect *yawn* ..

This is what's called the 'I swear you work here?' challenge and seems to be limited to just two mates doing this so far as of three days ago but I'm expecting copycats in the viral style of 'fast food freestyle'. And probably a few I told you it would all end in tears moments ..


11 years ago .. still makes me smile though

 
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