"A Symphony In Splinters"

April 5, 2005

Speaking of the license news organizations (TMC included, see piece about Rich Tehrani joining the president's cabinet) are allowed to take on April 1st, I've just found the crowning achievement.�Even better than�Yahoo UK's story about changing all the "racist and sexist place names" in the UK (at least...I hope it was a joke: see for yourself: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050401/17/ffg2g.html) is a piece presented by National Public Radio (NPR) on Friday during its program "All Things Considered."

Though labelled an April Fool's joke now, the piece was presented as dead serious. The gist of it was that, due to the popularity of Atkins dieting, the world demand for maple syrup from Vermont producers is at an all-time low. According to the story, untapped maple trees are dangerous...they have a tendency to explode, resulting in injuries and deaths, including decapitations. (It's worth tuning in just for the sound effects of exploding maple trees.)

Also listen for the dialogue translation from bogus Samoan at the end. You can listen to the original story here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4571982

TES

Related Tags: story, maple, piece