Pranks. Japes. Hacks. They all amount to the same thing: pulling a funny fast one.

Today’s site celebrates all of ‘em. It’s called Pranks: a competition (From Hermes to bonsai kittens).

The site (actually a single page at a much bigger site) is from normally staid economist.com. Hey, it’s good to know these number crunchers can appreciate the beauty of a good prank!

How old is the jape? Well, the Greek god Hermes was known as a prankster. He played his first when just a day old, stealing a herd of cattle belonging to his brother, Apollo, and driving them into a cave backwards to suggest that they had left instead of entered.

Read about some of the most classic pranks ever played. For instance, how about the day that British college students managed to hoist an Austin Seven van on top of Cambridge University’s Senate House building? The stunning engineering feat was admired by most: the dean of the college from which the prank was launched sent the mastermind a case of champagne.

Abby Hoffman was a notorious japester, as well. Read about the day he brought stock trading at the New York Stock Exchange to a halt while traders scrambled to pick up dollar bills.

[Continue reading Pranks: A Competition]

[tags]pranks: a competition,abby hoffman,hermes,bonsai kittens,jape,prankster,loki[/tags]