It’s almost April Fool’s Day (do you know how you’re celebrating?), so let this serve as a friendly reminder that tomorrow you should take everything you hear, read, and even see with a grain of salt. Plenty of people take advantage of this so-called “holiday” as an excuse to propagate lies and play seemingly harmless “jokes” on their friends. So be cautious, and don’t believe everything you’re told, and you should make it through the day unscathed.

But just because everyone else out there is trying to dupe you doesn’t mean we are! No, today we’re all about facts, about integrity, about undeniable truthiness. Today we bring you a bizarre entry from the files of Damn Interesting—a story that’s just too weird not to be true.

In 1962, in the small village of Kashasha, Tanganyika (modern Tanzania), a group of students at a boarding school began to snicker following some remark or event that is now lost to history. For reasons unknown, the laughter was abnormally infectious, and soon the greater part of the student body was incapacitated with the contagious convulsions. In an effort to quell the inexplicable outbreak, administrators closed the school and sent the giggling students home, but this allowed the epidemic to spread. Parents, siblings, and neighbors were reduced to wriggling, vocalizing masses, and the Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic rapidly propagated to thousands of people, including other schools, workplaces, and a neighboring village. Over time the sporadic, recurring lapses into laughter began to cause abdominal pain, fainting, respiratory problems, rashes, and uncontrollable weeping in some individuals. Reports vary regarding the duration of the epidemic—spanning anywhere from 6 to 18 months—but over time it naturally faded. Most historians and scientists attribute the bizarre incident to mass hysteria. The nation had won its independence from Britain only months prior, and the transition may have produced unusually high levels of stress among the citizenry.

We implore you, dear readers, to take this message to heart, and try not to pull any pranks this April Fool’s Day that result in months of uncontrollable laughter for thousands of people. It may be funny to you, but it’s not funny to…okay, yeah, it’s funny.

To learn more about the curious phenomenon of laughter, check out the article Humoring the Gelotologists on DamnInteresting.com. And for more strange-but-true stories, pick up a copy of Alien Hand Syndrome by Alan Bellows.

—Avery, who—hey, look! “Gullible” is written on the ceiling!

Books are known to have (or at least promise) the solution to any number of life’s myriad problems. But it’s rare that a book goes so far beyond the promise of its title. And The Girls’ Guide to Rocking is this week’s example, proving that yes, it IS possible for a book to teach you how to start a band, book gigs, and get rolling to rock stardom. Not only that, it’s a true show of value added when you learn that same book can also…rid you of unwanted hair (what?!)…and help you chop your potatoes into perfectly shaped French fries. Bold claims, for sure, and I can only speak for my copy –which happens to be a wiz at getting stains out of anything. (Oh, and I’m currently recording my first hit single.)

In the form of a late night infomercial, here’s the secret to getting your fries right from smart and irreverent The Girls’ Guide to Rocking author Jessica Hopper.

The Girls’ Guide to Rocking ft. Josh of Flosstradamus from Alan Del Rio Ortiz on Vimeo.

My perfectionism stepped boldly out into the limelight these past two weekends. You see, I was busy constructing the aptly named “tote-ally awesome tote bag” from Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp, because, as you may have noticed, this month is National Craft Month. As it turns out, I am not really a burgeoning fashion designer (sob!). Being an excellent seamstress is apparently not a genetic trait waiting to be manifested at the mere sight of a needle and thread. But, despite my utter lack of experience, and any negative monologue I might have had, I now have proof that a perfectly functional and adorable tote bag can be made (very easily, I might add) with a few cuts, snips, and perhaps a stray stitch here and there. Now, I know my grandmother would have ripped out every seam until each one was perfectly straight, and I defintitely had the urge (still do, actually) to undo all of my hard work and start again until every stitch was exactly in line, every millimeter flawless. But I do not have five years to make this tote bag. It does not need to be perfect. Tim Gunn is not going to stop me on the street and scold me because the handle is a little wider over here than it is over there. This bag just needs to hold things. So, I set about to make the cutest bag I could, that, while still functional and sturdy, was allowed to have some awkward stitching.

Of course, no craft project is complete without an initial mini-crisis of equipment. Sewing machines draw thread from above and below the fabric, and as soon as I started to feed material through the machine (a spellbinding moment of OMG, I’M SEWING), I noticed that the lower thread was actually producing big loops where tight, concise stitches should be. Urgh! My sewing machine does not have a tension adjustment for the lower thread. And if you’ve ever tried to read the manual of a sewing machine, you’ll know that no one really edits those things, so it took a bit of floundering to figure out what exactly would correct the problem.

However, once my accomplice* and I figured out how to waggle the bottom thread into the magical, invisible tension spring, the tote bag started to come together. I attached one side of fabric to the other (right sides together!). I ironed interfacing onto the lining to add sturdiness. (I learned never again to use the steam function on my iron because it is, in fact, broken, and will leak water all over your feet as well as the thing you were trying to flatten.) Corners were clipped, seams were pressed, a handle was attached, and voila! The polka dots you see on the outside of the bag are complemented by clusters of artful cartoon-ish trees on the lining. I imagine that those trees are waving happily at me, begging to use them to carry home a manuscript, or basking peacefully in an eternal sunshine, without judging that one spot where I kind of had to start over because the zigzags began to clamber off the fabric, or because I zoomed over the edge a little too quickly, a bit eager with the foot pedal.

In related news, I am definitely going to procure a rotary cutter and some more patience before I embark on any projects that actually need to be well-made, and um, at least, almost perfect.

* So, the cutest part of this story is that my boyfriend’s mom, a woman famous for making several wedding dresses for friends and family, and, perhaps most notably, a five-year-old’s dwarf costume complete with fabric ears and long robes, came over to help me finagle my new machine and just for general fun purposes. I’m thankful for her expertise!

When I was a freshman in college I got the idea for what I thought would be the best April Fool’s Day prank ever. I was daydreaming somewhere (in class…?) when it occurred me that I could effectively trap someone in his or her dorm room, using nothing more than a roll of duct tape. I could just attach a bunch of strips of tape across the door frame, and then when the victim inside opened the door he or she would see nothing but a sticky gray wall. Comedy gold!

I’m not sure what it says about me that entrapment is my idea of a joke, but I was in good company because my friends agreed that the idea was a funny one. It didn’t take long to decide that our friend Annie would be the perfect target: Her reaction would be priceless, and she had burned us all so many times with her own pranks that we were eager for some revenge. In the wee hours of the morning of April 1, my accomplices and I gathered outside of Annie’s room with our supplies—i.e. one roll of duct tape. But here’s the thing about college freshmen: They often don’t have much foresight. So although we were good about keeping our voices down (I hiss-whispered every directive), we didn’t anticipate the ear-splitting SCREEEEE of the tape as we peeled it off the roll. It only took a few duct tape screeches for Annie to be roused from her slumber and open the door. What she saw was not, as I had hoped, a frustrating yet hilarious sticky gray wall, but a few lame strips of tape across her door and us, her bleary-eyed friends, huddled in the hallway in our pajamas.

So yeah, we were definitely the fools in this situation. But you don’t have to be! Courtesy of Sam Bartlett, hysterically funny author of The Best of Stuntology, here is a list of much better, much more satisfying pranks to help you pull off an April Fool’s Day that will live in infamy.

• Pre-sliced Banana: I unpeeled a banana once and watched it fall to the floor in four distinct cylindrical pieces. I was a victim of the mysterious pre-sliced banana stunt. To do this maneuver you need only a banana and a large pin. You insert the pin at various points along the banana and at each spot, wiggle it back and forth in one plane. This process separates the banana into sections while leaving the peel essentially intact. It is important to have a victim for your banana soon after you make your incisions, because the banana will fuse back together before long. The beauty of this stunt is that when someone opens a banana and it tumbles in pieces to the floor, they do not suspect foul play. Why would anyone tamper with a banana? How would anyone tamper with a banana? So they stare at the banana and just don’t know what to make of it.

• Fun with Funnels: You’ll need a quarter, a funnel, and a pitcher of water (which you’ll keep hidden until the right moment). You tell someone, who looks like they wouldn’t mind getting a little wet, that you have a coordination stunt. Have them put the funnel into their pants, with the wide opening sticking out the top. Then have them tilt back their head and put a quarter on their forehead. The object is to count to three and then try to get the quarter from their forehead into the funnel. Let them try this a few times before you empty the pitcher of water into their pants.

• Medicine Cabinet Stunt: You’re having a big party. Take down the medicine cabinet you have on your bathroom wall. Remove all the medicine. Fill the entire cabinet with marbles. Latch it shut. Put it back on the wall. Everyone at your party will hear the explosion of marbles when the nosy punk is caught trespassing in your private pharmacological turf.

• Foam Surprise: Wait for someone to go to the bathroom. Once they are in place and the door is locked, fill a medium-size padded envelope with shaving foam (as much as you can get into the envelope). Slide the open mouth of the envelope under the door. Place a flat board on top of the envelope. Stand back, then jump on it. Result: A huge, fast-moving cloud of foam will cover the subject, leaving—if you are lucky—a clearly defined outline of said subject on the wall.

• Doctor’s Office Stunt: Go in for a check-up with a tennis ball hidden somewhere on your person. When the doctor goes to take a pulse on your wrist, have the tennis ball in your armpit. Squeeze the ball and the pressure will cut off the blood flow in that big artery that goes down your arm. Your pulse will stop, and the doctor will be confused. (On a cautionary note, you’ll want to be able to show the tennis ball to the doctor before he injects some drug directly into your heart, or brings out those zapper things and starts yelling “Clear!” at the top of his lungs.)

—Avery, whose favorite holiday is April Fool’s Day.

Author Suzy Becker recently received this lovely letter from a mom in Austin, Texas, whose daughter is making the world a better place! Go check out Ella’s charity page–she’s well on her way to her goal of $5,000. And read the letter below for an inspiring and adorable story of how one little girl can make a big difference.

Good morning Suzy,

I happened upon your book by chance in BookPeople in Austin, Texas and knew immediately after reading the back cover that this was a book for my daughter. She’s one of those heady little people that hears about a problem and immediately gets serious and says, “Mom, what can we do to help?” She’s been jumping around through the book but was very struck by your presentation of the global water crisis. At first, she had a hard time getting her mind around the fact that people in other parts of the world couldn’t just turn on their faucets to get clean water. That’s when we went to the internet to get more information and discovered charity: water.  We watched a couple of the videos and she loved the idea of having a birthday campaign. Without hesitation she decided that she was going to give up her 8^th birthday to raise money for charity: water and is asking that people donate $8 to her campaign rather than give her gifts (http://mycharitywater.org/ellagrace). In just three weeks, she’s raised more than $1700 and she has still has 60 days left in her campaign. We have a lot planned-a fundraiser/skating party, a bake sale, a craft fair. Her goal is to raise $5000 which will build one well and bring water to 250 for 20 years. Her dad and I are committed to doing all we can to get her there. In some ways that has been the greatest gift your book has given us.

We’ve always told Ella and our other kids that they could do anything but honestly, whenever Ella would say she wanted help out with Haiti or the Gulf Oil spill we would nod and smile and do nothing. Your book reminded us that kids can do anything and everything with a little support. Thank you for providing such an excellent resource for kids and parents. Keep doing what you do!

Best,

Maureen McGinn

No, thankfully no one’s been pregnant for 500 weeks… it’s just that we still have that special glow over the success of What to Expect When You’re Expecting. The book has spent more than 500 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list!

Speaking of pregnancy, remember when we mentioned to you that there’s something in the water here at Workman? As it turns out, the office water cooler is still living up to its reputation–check out this new crop of positively radiant mamas-to-be! That’s one bump for every 100 weeks of What to Expect best-sellerdom. (Yeah, we totally planned it that way.)

Last month acclaimed meditation teacher Sharon Salzberg conducted a 28-Day Meditation Challenge that followed the program set out in her new book, Real Happiness. Among the participants, Keith Villanevva, a New York City firefighter. Above is a photo of the book in Keith’s firetruck. Keith also blogged during the challenge. Here are a few excerpts:

…It has been brutal weather these past few weeks in NYC. A lot of us firefighters are being over worked due to the city’s low budget. So even though we were running around all day and night for 24 hours I managed to squeeze in a meditation session while we sat at a manhole fire for 3 hours.

…The breath is like the emergency eject button in a fighter plane. It gets us out of trouble and brings us back to earth. Thank goodness for the breath. We always have it with us wherever we go.

…The mind is like an anxious dog. When you let go of the leash it tends to run around like crazy checking out everything in sight and getting into trouble. Once you notice it, you whistle to get its attention so that it can come back to you and behave.

…Another great thing is that Sharon right away teaches you to have compassion for yourself while trying to meditate. She shows you right away that it’s ok and perfectly fine to start over again and again and again. I love that. There is no need to beat yourself up while trying to do something that is meant to help you. This is what Real Happiness is about. Going with the flow without judging yourself and allowing yourself to experience the experience. This is the way we achieve self inquiry. Meditation is the true path to the “Self”.

Thank you, Keith, and everyone else who participated in the challenge.

March is National Craft Month, and to celebrate, we here at Workman are featuring projects from some of our many fun crafting books. Today, we’re doing things a little differently and showing off a (Beautiful Oops) craft fail from Papertoy Monsters by Brian Castleforte.

Recently, I sat down with a friend and a copy of Papertoy Monsters. I hadn’t made a monster since the pre-publication folding party in our office a few months back, but needless to say, I have a couple hundred Papertoy Monsters under my belt and was feeling pretty confident. So I started with Scorpion Robot (labeled “advanced”).

And this is how he turned out:

Note the poor folding, wonky leg, and overall significant left lean.

As you can see, mine went slightly . . . awry. My friend, with no papertoy-making experience, had better luck with Wingy Wingy (labeled, it should be noted, “Intermediate”):

Thanks, friend, for showing me up.

But, I have decided to look at it this way: Scorpion Robot is much more fierce and intimidating with all of his quirks. Who’s ever thought to themselves, That monster is so perfect he’s scary!?

Scorpion Robot is now proudly displayed on my shelves next to a copy of the error-approving Beautiful Oops by Barney Salzberg. Because, okay, maybe he’s not beautiful, but he’s still pretty awesome, flaws and all.

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Check out the Papertoy Monsters blog to meet more of the monsters in the book, and Barney’s blog to see more of his gorgeous “oops art.”

Welcome to Inside the Author’s Studio, where we give you a peek into the minds of your favorite Workman authors.

Today we hang out with Kathryn and Ross Petras, the hilarious sister-and-brother team behind tons of calendars and books, including The 365 Stupidest Things Ever Said Calendar.

Recent book you loved/learned from:
Ross: Tintin au Tibet, etc.—I’m enjoying rereading all my childhood books in French, and am learning how to  sound like a boy reporter in French.
Kathryn: I’m rereading John D. MacDonald’s (slightly cheesy!) Travis McGee corpus.  Have learned how to be a good beach bum circa the early ’60s.

Favorite bookstore:
Ross: Strand Bookstore—mounds of cheap books!
Kathryn: None.  Although I am often dragged to Strand by Ross.

Hidden talent:
We’re going to say each others hidden talents: Kathy is an amazing baker—her low-sugar fruit pies are truly unbelievable and should be declared national treasures.  Ross has an enviable knack for making up hysterical yet childish limericks–let’s just say Mozart comes to mind.  Why?  Don’t ask.

Bookmark, dog-ear, or virtuality?:
Ross: Dog-ear
Kathryn: Bookmark (always a free Strand bookmark!)

Book you are most ashamed never to have read:
Ross: I love the classics but have never finished the Odyssey. I’m not really ashamed of that, though—it’s just that I want it to be alive; the  parts I read are my favorites in literature, and somehow I feel if I finish it won’t be alive.  (I’ve seen the end in film, though.)
Kathryn: So many including a lot of Shakespeare, a smattering of Dickens, Jane Austen, etc.  And I have a horrible talent for sounding like I’ve read all the biggies, even though I haven’t.  (Don’t tell anyone.)

Most frequent form of writerly procrastination:
Ross: Go to a book store to buy a book, or look online to buy a book.
Kathryn: Anything and everything.  I’ll be at the computer and suddenly have a burning desire, nay, a NEED to prune my herbs.  Or cut my fingernails.  Or dust something.  Anything to get away from writing.

Favorite childhood book:
We’re ashamed to admit it but it would have to be British children’s author Enid Blyton’s books—including all of the Five Find-Outers series, the Adventure series (we especially loved River of Adventure),  the Adventurous Four, the ones with Prince Paul and Nora… etc.

Alternate ambition (i.e. If you weren’t a writer, you’d be…):
Ross: An expert philologist of ancient papyri  who gets to go on archeological digs to translate new documents as they’re discovered.
Kathryn: The second banana (the funny friend of the cute leading lady) on a sitcom.

Your perfect meal:
Ross: Oysters at this great French bistro.
Kathryn: Lamb in some form.

Big dream:
Winning Megamillions.   But recently we’ve been debating if it actually would be easier to win, say, 10 million instead of 100 million—avoiding the problems of whom to donate to, etc.  It is a dilemma.

Super power of choice:
Ross: Super Mind like Doctor Strange.
Kathryn: Flying.

You have a rawther unique working process. Please describe.
We’re like twins; usually we finish each other’s thoughts; so when we talk it sounds like code; we either sit next to each other on the computer or sit and talk via Skype; we have childish brother and sister arguments that ultimately end up with each of us switching to the other side (which, of course, spawns yet another debate…). We have a lot of fun!

Who’s funnier, Kathryn or Ross?
Take the fifth.

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Kathryn and Ross Petras are the authors of numerous books, including, most recently, Dance First, Think Later, a book of inspirational (and not stupid!) quotes. You can follow them on Twitter @TeamStupidest, and visit their website Stupidest.com.

Do you have the luck of the Irish? Or are you as ill-fated as someone who broke a mirror while walking under a ladder as black cat crossed his path?

Whatever your fortune, everyone could use a little more luck. The idea of superstitions and lucky charms has been around for ages. In fact, the concept of wearing jewelry has its origins in good-luck charms! You probably know that it’s good luck to find a penny (heads-side up, of course, and extra points if it’s from the year you were born) and bad luck to step on a crack in the sidewalk (please, spare your mother’s back!). But did you know that pulling your pocket inside out will reverse bad luck? And that lighting a pink candle will make you lucky in love?

Check out these lesser-known luck-related tidbits from The Good Luck Book, and who knows—you might get lucky!

• Seeing three butterflies fluttering together is a good omen.
• If your shoes squeak, that’s good luck. If you kick off your shoes and they land on their soles, that’s also good luck.
• If you get up on the left (wrong) side of the bed, put your right sock and shoe on first to ward off bad luck.
• According to old English tradition, it’s good luck to find a peapod with only one pea inside.
• The Pennsylvania Dutch say it’s good luck to kiss in the middle of a covered bridge, and also to burn your baby’s first diaper. (No word on whether one leads to the other.)
• You’ll be lucky if you put on an article of clothing wrong-side out. But you have to do this accidentally, and once you have, you must wear it that way all day.

And perhaps most important of all:

“When you have good luck in anything, you ought to be glad. Indeed, if you are not glad, you are not really lucky.”
—Henry Van Dyke, Fisherman’s Luck

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—Avery, who in sixth grade worshiped at the altar of a lucky plastic pig. She can’t explain it.