RÓISÍN INGLErounds up 10 of the most outlandish April 1st stories. But which ones are actually true?
1 Unicorn remains
Headland Archaeology Ireland published its latest unicorn photo (above) on its Facebook page. “The morphology in the frontal bone protuberance indicates a male adult specimen close to five years of age . . . The specimen was buried with a high degree of care suggestive of a ritual context.”
2 Ronaldo sale
The London Independentreported that the Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo had agreed to "act like a patriot" and be sold to Spain for €160 million, to help reduce his country's national debt. The striker's fee would barely dent the €12 billion owed by his country, but it is felt bond markets would take the move as a symbol of Portugal's determination to tackle its crisis.
3 Cry baby
Tennis star David Ferrer was booed after hitting a ball towards a crying baby who was distracting him, according to the Daily Mail. The Spaniard’s lob, which missed the baby boy and his father, came in a quarter-final in Miami.
4 Smoothie operators
In a week when the head barman at Leinster House retired, RTÉ reported deputies would have to go elsewhere for alcohol as the Dáil watering hole was being turned into a juice and smoothie bar. “How do you like them apples?” said one TD. “Just because some prunes decided it’s no longer healthy to have a few.”
5 Earth moves
The Guardianreported yesterday that an earthquake had shaken Blackpool in England. Measuring 2.2 on the Richter scale, it toppled traffic lights and cracked a railway bridge. A police spokesman said: "We started to get calls at around 3.35am . . . Staff here felt the building move."
6 Tweeting pen
Australian pen company Artline caused a stir online with yesterday’s launch of its Mighty Tweeter 140, a pen that tweets messages as you write with it: “How often have you thought of an awesome tweet when you haven’t had a phone nearby or an internet connection?”
7 Drunk in charge
According to the Examineryesterday, history was made when a criminal prosecution was dismissed because a PediCycle scooter ridden by a drink-driving suspect was considered to be a "mechanically assisted" rather than a "mechanically propelled' vehicle. Kilkenny District Court Judge William Harnett held that the vehicle, which looks like a scooter but has pedals, was not propelled and that no offence had been committed. The defendant had been charged with driving a mechanically propelled vehicle under the influence of alcohol.
8 Planet of the apps
A Sunexclusive yesterday told of an experiment in which five apes at a wildlife park were given iPads – with surprising results. The gorillas quickly learned to turn the screens on and off, and seemed fascinated by the visuals.
9 Digital bodies
The New Scientisttold readers about Sparsh, a new product that allows people to store data in their bodies without cyborg modification. "Sparsh enables the user to transfer media from one digital device to their body and pass it on to the other digital device by simple touch gestures," it claimed. Just like magic.
10 Space virgin
Richard Branson announced on Twitter that he had bought Pluto and would reinstate it as a planet. This would, he said, “herald a new age in space tourism”.
1 False 2 False 3 True 4 False 5 True 6 False 7 True 8 False 9 False 10 False
