Quick-witted readers would have noticed that 'Polo Flair' was an anagram for 'April Fool.' Unfortunately the boy and his ingenious program didn't exist. One journalist even wanted to know if the boy would be willing to appear on TV, despite the fact that he was camera shy. Numerous journalists and computer specialists contacted the Straits Times, seeking more information about the boy genius and his Y2K cure. They anticipated achieving revenues of $50 million by the end of the year. His family and a technology consulting group were reportedly forming a joint venture named 'Polo Flair' in order to commercialize the discovery. The camera-shy C student had supposedly devised the program in twenty-nine minutes while solving an algebra problem for his homework. In 1999 the Singapore Straits Times reported that a 17-year-old high school student had one-upped all the major software corporations of the world by creating a small computer program that would easily solve the Y2K bug. But in the spirit of capitalism, the second system would be built to promote "the interests of competition." Of course, there was nothing wrong with the city's current subway. Apparently plans had been finalized to build a new Moscow subway system. In 1992 the Moskovskaya Pravda announced that the winds of capitalism transforming Russia would bring further changes for the residents of Moscow. But in fact, the announcement was the work of students who had hacked into the school's central server and replaced the school's real web page with a phony one. The fact that the announcement appeared on MIT's homepage added official credibility to it. The press release explained that the university was to be dismantled and transported to Orlando where new schools would be added to the campus including the School of Imagineering, the Scrooge McDuck School of Management, and the Donald Duck Department of Linguistics. A photograph of the university's famous dome outfitted with a pair of mouse ears accompanied the news. On Apthe homepage of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced some startling news: the prestigious university was to be sold to Walt Disney Co. In the space where the Tower used to stand, a 35,000 seat stadium would be built for use during the 1992 Olympic Games. The international symbol of French culture would then be reconstructed in the new Euro Disney theme park going up east of Paris. The Parisien stunned French citizens in 1986 when it reported that an agreement had been signed to dismantle the Eiffle Tower. The joke was that Pepsi had recently unveiled its newly designed cans. Virgin warned that consumers should therefore avoid purchasing all blue cans. When the cola passed its sell-by date, the liquid would react with the metal in the can, turning the can itself bright blue. In 1996 Virgin Cola announced that in the interest of consumer safety it had integrated a new technology into its cans. To this question, the BBC diplomatically replied that they should "place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best." Huge numbers of viewers were taken in, and many called up wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti trees. It accompanied this announcement with footage of Swiss peasants pulling strands of spaghetti down from trees. In 1957 the respected BBC news show Panorama announced that thanks to a very mild winter and the virtual elimination of the dreaded spaghetti weevil, Swiss farmers were enjoying a bumper spaghetti crop.
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