Thursday, April 28, 2011

Facebook - Photo Tagging Safety

One of the most popular features on Facebook is "photo-tagging" but it's also an easy way for companies to "send advertisements" by tagging their products with your name & your friends. Hopefully these tips will help you to avoid that from happening and also show you how to protect your privacy and your friends...

The privacy settings on Facebook allow you to limit who sees photos tagged with your name, and you can even prevent your name from showing up in your friends' photo-tag suggestions. But you can't opt-out of photo-tagging completely, and you can't stop third-party applications from tagging your friends' names on photos on your wall once you've accidentally given the apps access.

It's important to be careful and to make sure your privacy settings are “secure” so that you don't inadvertently allow advertisers and/or spammers to see your profile and get to your friends to spread their advertisements via your Facebook wall, for all your friends to see! across Facebook

How it's done: When you click the link to the photo album, thinking you're about to see a photo album of your cousins wedding or your friends birthday party, instead, it's something like a photo album full of the amenities at some hotel or the latest menu specials from a local restaurant chain and they are tagged with many names of people who don't appear in the picture but have simply been “tagged”. When you first see it, if you don’t see your cousin or friend – don’t go any further, because if you do click on the photo to find out more and go too far, you might just be agreeing to give the application access to your account and your friends on Facebook will begin to receive notices that you’ve been tagged in a photo – and the unfortunate cycle has begun!!

Hopefully we’ve warned you in time, but if not it’s easy to remedy-just remove the application from accessing your profile by:

  • >Immediately remove any contents (posts, photos etc) that the “company/spammer” has posted on your Facebook wall about the phony event
  • Now, go to your Account Settings in the upper right side of your screen
  • When the drop-down menu appears, click/choose Privacy Settings
  • On the bottom right side of the Privacy Settings Page, click/choose the Apps & websites link
  • Now choose "Edit your settings."
  • On the App page, next to "Apps you use," select "edit settings"
  • Now you will see the third-party apps that have access to your Facebook profile. Delete any applications you don’t want and try to check this setting regularly to protect yourself and your friends
  • Apologize to your friends who might have been tagged by this company and remind them to do the same thing to protect "your name" - together, if we are all diligent about our privacy settings, we can help to minimize these problems....

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

PowerPoint Tips: Slide Background choices

Adding color to the background of your slides makes them more interesting. Simple is better so step back and review your presentation and think twice before using “wild colors” that detract from your slides.. Doing this in earlier versions of PP (2000-2003) is a little different from the newer PP 2007-2010, so we've given you notes for both...

To add color to your slide backgrounds:

If you have PP 2000 OR 2003:
  • Select "Format" - "Background".
  • A "Background" dialog box appears and you can left click on the pull-down menu to choose from one of a few selected colors, "More Colors", or "Fill Effects"
More Colors
  • If you choose "More Colors" it opens a dialog box with several tabs which shows you different standard colors or you can choose “custom colors” which shows you the color prism and the colors RGB values if you are trying to match a specific shade of a color
  • When you are done, click "OK" to close the dialog box.
Fill Effects – This option opens another dialog box with several tabs for different fill types:
  • Gradient – One – two and preset multicolor gradient fills and there are different fill type, colors, transparency, shading styles, and variants.
  • Texture – There are a variety of textures, or click "Other Texture" to import a texture graphic of your own
  • Pattern – There are different pre-made patterns and you can adjust the pattern foreground and background colors
  • Picture – This allows you to select your own photo for your presentation background
  • When you are done, click "OK" to close the dialog box.
Apply your Changes:
When you are happy with your changes, decide if you want the background graphic to appear on printed slides (doing so increases print time and requires more toner/ink), but if not – you can check "Omit background graphics from master".
Then click "Apply" to apply the changes to the current slide only, or "Apply to All" to apply the changes to all slides.

If you have PP 2007 or 2010:
As with earlier versions, backgrounds can be applied to individual slides or to all the slides in a presentation - choices in 2007 & 2010 are located on the Design Ribbon. To access the Design Ribbon:
  • Click on the Design Tab and you will see the Design ribbon options & features
  • Hover your mouse over any of the design themes shown
  • The design is reflected immediately on your slide
  • Click the design theme when you find one that suits your needs
To change the Background on an individual slide:
  • Click on the background button on the right end of the Design ribbon
  • This opens the Format Background dialog box
  • If you want to apply your choice to all the slides in your presentation, once you make your choice, be sure to choose the “Apply to All” button at the bottom of the dialog box
Like earlier versions - you now have choices of colors and effects, but the newer versions have more choices in easy – such as the Gradient Fill now has multiple choices to play with:
  • Linear - the gradient colors flow in lines which can be from preset angles or a precise angle on the slide
  • Radial - colors flow in a circular fashion from your choice of five different directions
  • Rectangular - colors flow in a rectangular fashion from your choice of five different directions
  • Path - colors flow from the center out to form a rectangle
  • Shade from title - colors flow from the title out to form a rectangle
Be careful using Background Textures: they can be very busy and make text difficult to read, which can detract from your message. If you do use a textured background, choose a subtle design and be sure to choose a text color that will stand out from the background.

A great feature in the new PowerPoint 2007 & 2010 is DESIGN & COLOR THEMES
  • This changes not only the backgrounds but totally coordinate the colors, font styles and sizes used for a total look… These are similar to the design templates which were available in earlier versions of Power Point.
What I like, is that when you are choosing a design theme in the new PP 2007 & 2010, you will immediately see the effect on your slides, so you can decide before making your decision final…

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Have a wonderful Easter holiday

Just a quick note to wish you and your families a blessed and enjoyable Easter holiday.. Cherie Houston

Thought you might enjoy a little trivia about Easter, which as we know is considered the holiest of days for all Christians, commemorating the Resurrection of Jesus after his Crucifixion. Like the origin of this celebration, the precise date of Easter Sunday too has been a matter of contention. However, there is a general acceptance of the proposition offered by 8th-century English scholar St. Bede, according to which, Easter owes its origin to the old Teutonic mythology

Just like Passover which is dependent on the phases of the moon and has different dates each year, Easter is also a movable feast and doesn’t fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars but Easter always falls between March 22 and April 25. This year “2011” Christians around the world will celebrate Easter today, on Sunday, April 24th..

Here are some interesting Easter trivia facts you may not have known:

  • Easter is known by different names across the world. Some of them are: English - Easter, French - Paques, Spanish - Pascua, Italian - Pasqua, Albanian - Pashke, German - Ostern, Greek - Pascha, Norway - Paaske, Holland - Pasen and Swedish - Pask
  • The name Easter owes its origin from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes hare and egg.
  • Apart from English and German, the name of 'Easter' has been derived from Pesach, the Hebrew name of Passover festival
  • According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest Easter egg made till date, was just over 25-ft high and was made of chocolate and marshmallow. Weighing at 8,968 lbs., the egg was supported by an internal steel frame
  • The Easter Lilly symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus because the shell represents the tomb of Jesus and the flower that blooms represents life after death.
  • The maiden chocolate eggs recipes were made in Europe in the nineteenth century.
  • Vegreville, Canada is the site of the largest Easter egg in the world.
  • Pysanka is a specific term used for the practice of Easter egg painting.
  • Most children (74%) eat the ears of their chocolate bunny first. 13% eat the feet first, and 10% eat the tails first.
  • In 1878 U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife Lucy officially opened the White House grounds to the children of the area for egg rolling on Easter Monday. The event has been held on the South Lawn ever since, except during World War I and World War II.
  • The initial baskets of Easter were given the appearance of bird's nests.
  • By tradition, it was obligatory (or at least lucky) for churchgoers to wear some bright new piece of clothing - at least an Easter bonnet, if not a complete new outfit
  • From the very early times, egg has been considered to be the most important symbol of rebirth
  • Hot cross buns, made by European monks, are counted amongst the earliest Easter treats. They were given to the poor people, during the month of Lent.
  • Red jellybeans qualify as the most favorite food stuff for kids on Easter

Saturday, April 23, 2011

PowerPoint Tip: Stop the Black Screen at the End

Typically when we watch any slide show made with PowerPoint, it ends with a “black screen that shows a message at the top: “End of slide show-click to exit”.

If you don’t want to see this screen, just stop it from happening by changing a setting. Note thought, that this setting only applies to the PowerPoint software running on your computer. It is not a setting that is saved with the slide show presentation file itself.

So if you create a slide show presentation and take it to another computer, you’ll want to change this setting again on that computer.

If you have PowerPoint 2000-2003:

  • Choose Tools |Options.
  • Choose the View tab.
  • Uncheck the box for the option End with black slide.

If you have PowerPoint 2007 or 2010:

  • Click on the Office button in 2007 and File button in 2010.
  • Choose the PowerPoint Options button (at the bottom of the window).
  • Choose Advanced from the left side of the next panel.
  • On the right side find the Slide Show section.
  • Uncheck the box for the option End with black slide.

So remember, if you make this change it's on your computer only - if you take the slide show to another computer, you would have to change the setting on that computer also..

Thursday, April 21, 2011

What is OCR Software?

Typically when we “scan” something into our computer – whether it is a photo or a document, the end results is a “digital picture” of whatever we scanned. But, OCR software (OCR stands for Optical Character Recognition) allows us to EDIT what we have scanned.

Simply “scan” your document into your computer and the OCR software converts it to an "editable file" that can be edited in most word processing and spreadsheet software programs. What types of documents can you scan? Basically any printed material –such as notes, letters, documents, spreadsheets, magazine or newspaper articles, books etc.

The quality of the OCR conversion process will largely depend on the quality of the scanned image and the clarity of the characters of that image.

Today – many of the printers for the home market, especially “all-in-one” multi function printers and “photosmart” printers include OCR software capabilities included with the software or you can visit the manufacturer’s website and download it for free.

So your current printer maybe OCR ready- not sure? Once again, go to the manufacturer’s website – put in your model # and it will give you the specifics on if the OCR software is available, if so how to download and use the OCR software.

OCR software is a real timesaver so we don't have to retype documents to be able to edit them. OCR software is also available as “freeware” and for purchase if it doesn’t come with your printer…

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Excel – Counting “X’s” in a Column

A question that comes up quite often with respect to Excel spreadsheets – is how to create a formula that will add up/count the number of cells in a column containing "X’s":


If you have a specific column or columns, that you have put an X in and want to count the total # of X’s in a specific column, for example for attendance or other criteria, the formula you would enter in the “total cell” is noted below. Be sure however to enter the correct column & line ID’s…


Example – In your excel spreadsheet – Column C, you have put several X’s in Rows 1 thru 28, and want to now count the # of X’s in Column C, the correct formula that would be noted in the total cell C29 would be:

=COUNTIF(C1:C28,"X")

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Facebook - Privacy for Photo Albums

A question raised quite often about FACEBOOK is how to set privacy settings for photos and photo albums that you put on your FACEBOOK account.. Again remember that in your Account Tab, there is a help button to answer this and many other questions about using FACEBOOK

HOW TO EDIT THE PRIVACY SETTINGS FOR YOUR PHOTO ALBUMS in FACEBOOK? It’s important to edit the privacy settings for your photo albums, especially when there are photos of children-changing the settings is easy:

  1. Go to the photo album.
  2. Select the "Edit Album Info" button in the lower left side of the screen.
  3. On the "Edit Info" tab, select the "Privacy" drop-down menu to customize the privacy settings for your album.
  4. Your choices will be: Everyone; Friends of Friends; Friends only and Customize
  5. Customize option allows you to be very specific: naming those you want to see the album or even block certain people from seeing the album or choosing that only you can see the photo

Remember-only the owner of an album can adjust the album privacy. This may affect the visibility of photos you are tagged in when your friends look at them. Also, if you share a high resolution photo or album with someone, that user will be able to download those photos.

You can also access privacy settings for photo albums by doing the following:

  1. Click on the "Account" menu and select "Privacy Settings" from the drop down menu.
  2. Click "Customize settings."
  3. Choose "Edit album privacy for existing photos." Alternatively, you can click the "Album Privacy" link on the "Photos" tab of your profile next to your albums.

Friday, April 15, 2011

What is a smartphone?

We are all hearing the phrase “smartphone” – but how is a “smartphone” different from a cell phone?

Typical cell phones allows us to make and receive telephone calls; text messages and to take, send and receive photos and videos…

Smartphones offer greater functionality than regular cell phones, so that you can...
  • use a full “qwerty” keyboards for easier typing
  • have access to the Internet to access your email, Facebook and Twitter accounts
  • work with all your Office documents, such as word & excel,
  • sync data with personal and business computers
  • send & receive instant messages
  • play music
  • show streaming video
  • edit photos
  • get driving directions from the GPS
  • play countless games and
  • work with hundreds of other “applications referred to as “apps”
All of this is in addition to making phone calls of course.. And many of the smartphones have touch screens..

Smartphones are actually mini-computers with an OS-Operating system (such as the BlackBerry OS; Palm OS or Windows Mobile OS); Smartphones have internet access so that you can download countless applications, including GPS systems, you can link to your social networking & email accounts; many smartphones give you the ability to not only take photos but edit them; you can view, update & edit Office documents and they can be synchronized with your computer for all the updates you make, as well as synchronizing your address book, calendar and tasks list quickly and easily – similar to what a PDA used to do – only faster and more easily… And of course the applications allow you access, via the internet, to hundreds of games, music, video and other sites…

This, like all other computer related technology, is changing almost daily so no doubt, as soon as you buy a new “smartphone” it’s going to be outdated and topped with a newer version with more bells & whistles… leaving us all to wonder where it will end…

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Computer Maintenance Tips

Just about everything needs to be “maintained” on a regular basis to stay “healthy” including our computers… Here are a few simple things to do, to be sure that your computer lives a long healthy and happy life and stays out of the “computer hospital”…



  1. First and foremost, make sure you back-up your computer system and data on a regular basis. This is critical in case your system ever crashes or is infected with a major virus… Whether you back-up manually or automatically, whether you use a 3rd party (such as carbonite.com or mozy.com) or you back-up to a DVD, CD, flash drive, portable hard drive or external hard drive, making sure your system is totally backed up is one of the most important maintenance steps to ensure that you don’t lose valuable information including your data, photos, videos, music etc.

  2. Make sure your computer is up-to-date on it’s “shots” which means making sure that your computer is protected with anti-virus & spyware software. And just as important, you want to be sure this software is “current” meaning you must accept and allowing the updates for your anti-virus, adware, spyware and malware program on a regular basis. It’s also highly recommended that you protect your privacy by using a firewall… Together, all of these help to protect your computer, the information on it as well as your personal information.

  3. Updates are important not only for your anti-virus, but also for your operating system – application programs and drivers for your peripheral hardware, such as your scanner, printer and other hardware…

  4. Know the specifics about all your equipment and programs – it helps to create a list of your equipment including mfg, model #’s, serial numbers, when they were purchased, and other important data, such as cartridge #’s; specifics about your digital cameras, camcorders, cell/smart phones and programs – and in one place along with the receipts, so that you can quickly and easily access the information when you are talking to a technical support person. It also helps to keep the basic information for all on a small card in your wallet, that you can refer to when you are shopping or asking for technical advice

  5. Protect your computer (and all electronics in your home) from “power surges and drops”.. Use a surge suppressor, which contain technology that prevent excess amounts of electricity from entering your computer – Computers especially, are highly sensitive to electrical fluctuations a surge protector that help “even out” power spikes… So whether you have a desktop or laptop, you need surge protection…If you have a home office, you may want to consider also using a UPS (uninterrupted power supply) which often times has a built in surge suppressor/protector.

  6. For those of you who carry around laptops, notebooks or netbooks – portable devices should be carried in “protective/padded cases” and if you are leaving your desktop for a long period of time, consider covering it when it is off and not being used……

  7. Ventilation is important. It’s never a good idea to cover the back of a desktop – the vents & fans - with anything that could prevent airflow. Some people, often those with pets or live in areas that tend to be dusty, thinks it’s beneficial to protect their computers and stop animal hair, dander & dust from entering their fans & vents, by covering them with pantyhose, cheesecloth etc., but they only cause more problems by preventing proper ventilation.. Laptops, notebooks and netbooks should be raised slightly from the surface-many new ones have small feet built in, or just add little Velcro furniture tabs under each corner, or use a small rack like those used in kitchen cabinets...

  8. For many years when your system began to run slowly the first recommendation made was to “clean out your cookies and temporary internet files” – although this isn’t as important now that the computer hard drives are so large, but there are still advantages to cleaning them out periodically..…

  9. Before you just hit the power button, be sure you have properly and completely closed all programs. Shutting down your operating system properly will ensure that you don’t corrupt any of your files, making them inaccessible in the future…

  10. Find a good technical support person that you trust – so that when you aren’t sure – you can call them. The last thing we want to do is touch something that could void our warranty or further damage our system…

Monday, April 11, 2011

How to fix a list with numbers in WORD

Often when we create multiple lists in a word document, and choose to number the multiple lists (versus using bullets) Word sometimes get confused and will use “continued numbers” versus starting each list with a new series of numbers and/or letters.

So instead of each list having it's own independent set of numbers and/or letters, the numbers or letters from the previous list continue with the next new list we create: for example, one list contains items numbered 1-4 or a-e, and then your next independent list starts may start numbering at 5 instead of restarting at 1, or letter f instead of a)

When this happens and you want different numbering for each new list:

  1. just right-click inside the second list and choose "Restart Numbering" from the pop-up action menu that appears OR
  2. at the end of your first list, go to the your toolbar or ribbon and "turn off" the numbering command

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Sorting Data in Excel

Excel makes it very easy to sort data that is entered in multiple columns, by using the SORT buttons (A-Z or Z-A)… So be sure when you are entering your data, to put information in as many individual columns as possible – In my opinion you can never have too many columns to sort data with..

Make sure before you give the command to SORT that you have highlighted the active sheet, so that all information in the columns and rows will then “move” when the information is sorted…

Excel Sort Data by One Column:

  • Select all the cells in the list
  • Choose Data>Sort
  • When the Sort Dialog Box opens, be sure to check off that your list has a “header row” so you will see the data – not the column ID letter
  • From the Sort by dropdown, select the column you want to sort. Note: If the dropdown is showing Column letters instead of headings, change the setting for My list has, from No header row to Header row.
  • Select to sort in Ascending or Descending order

Excel Sort Data by multiple Columns:

Such as when we are entering data for our contacts to prepare a mailing list – we might want to sort by Last Name, First Name and then Spouses Name which are in 3 three columns. So we will sort it all at once, but giving different levels 1 would be Last Name; 2 would be First Name and then last the Spouses Name…starting with the most important sort.

  • Select all the cells in the list.
  • Choose Data>Sort
  • When the Sort Dialog Box opens, be sure to check off that your list has a “header row” so you will see the data – not the column ID letter
  • From the Sort by dropdown, select Last Name.
  • From the Then by dropdown, select First Name.
  • From the Then by dropdown, select Spouses Name.
  • Click OK

Note about Excel 2007 and 2010

  • The SORT BUTTON is on the HOME TAB to the far right in the Editing quadron and also in the DATA TAB in the Sort & Filter quadron
  • When the Sort Dialog Box Opens you will see one SORT field, but you can add as many levels for sorting as you would like.…

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Configuring iTunes for Music Downloads

Before you can start downloading and/or converting songs in your iTunes library, you need to select an audio format to convert to: To do this:

  1. Be sure you your iTunes library/account open
  2. Click edit (from the main menu at the top of screen) and then click preferences.
  3. Select the advanced tab and then the importing tab.
  4. Click on the import using drop-down menu and select an audio format (such as mp3 which is my personal favorite to use in most free movie making and other project software or wav).
  5. To change bitrate settings, use the settings drop-down menu .
  6. Click the OK button to finish.
Note-many of the songs we purchase today are downloaded in mp4 or another format and are often too large to be used in some project software, such as Picasa's movie making; Windows Movie Maker, Power Point and some mp3 players - so personally I always download all music to my computer using the mp3 format, so I can use it just about anywhere anytime...

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Picasa "free download" for Digital Photo Editing

PICASA** (a Google product) is a FREE award-winning software used for working with photos, on your PC, from emails, disk, CD-Rom and digital cameras. It works on PC’s and MAC’s and can be downloaded in just minutes from the Picasa or Google website.. Note that Picasa's newest version #3, can only be used with Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7. If you are using an older “Operating System” such as Windows 98, 2000, ME, then you will continue to use Picasa Version 2

Picasa helps you find and organize all your pictures – once it is on your computer and you start/open the program it will scan your hard drive to find and automatically organize all your pictures.

PICASA FINDS THE FOLLOWING IMAGE AND MOVIE FILE TYPES:

  • Image file types: JPG, GIF, TIF, PSD, PNG, BMP, RAW (including NEF and CRW). GIF and PNG files are not scanned by default, but you can enable them in the options dialog.
  • Movie file types: MPG, AVI, ASF, WMV, and MOV.
Try it today - not only is this an easy to use "photo editing program to brighten, crop, change colors to sepia and/or black & white and lots of other great editing tools, but you can create slide shows, save your slide shows easily to gift cd's & dvd's, order photos from various vendors, post complete photo albums on line using Picasa Web Albums - that can be then added to your BLOG, turn your photos into movies including text slides and music, label your photo's with the newest Picasa name Tags and GeoTagging and much much more - and Picasa has a wonderful tutorial help section to make it easy to learn the program and again, it's all FREE..

To download it, go to their website: www.picasa.com

Sunday, April 3, 2011

April Greetings from MCC Hodel Library

April Greetings from the Hodel Library on the Lake Havasu Campus of Mohave Community College!


The weather is beginning to turn warm and lovely, so it’s a perfect time to take your reading outside. Come to the Library and check out a Danielle Steel or a Ken Follett to read on the patio.


For those of you who are getting ready to head north, remember that you can still use the Library’s online databases from wherever you are. Through our website, Mohave.edu/library , you have access to fantastic databases such as Heritage Quest, Consumer Health Complete, the Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center and more. You can also use our databases to look at articles from journals such as Consumer Reports, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, PC World, U.S. News and World Reports, etc. The best part – it’s all FREE!


Please give us a call at 928-505-3311 to ask for more information or you can email me at wbirkhead@mohave.edu.


Thanks, Wendi Birkhead, Campus Librarian

Hodel Library - Lake Havasu City Campus

Mohave Community College - 1977 W. Acoma Blvd - Lake Havasu City, AZ 86403

Tel 928-505-3311; Fax 928-453-8335; Toll Free: 1.866.664.2832

Friday, April 1, 2011

Happy April 1st

Today is April 1st – for some it’s cause for celebration & dreams, because it is opening day for America's favorite pastime - Baseball so time to cheer on our favorite ball teams and dream of winning a world series – and of course, we also think of April 1st as April Fool’s Day. So we thought we’d try to find where & why this “holiday” originated…

I checked out countless sites and the one that made the most sense was the following which I found on this website- so enjoy....

www.april-fools.us/history-april-fools.htm

The history of April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day is uncertain, but the current thinking is that it began around 1582 in France with the reform of the calendar under Charles IX. The Gregorian Calendar was introduced, and New Year's Day was moved from March 25 - April 1 (new year's week) to January 1.

Communication traveled slowly in those days and some people were only informed of the change several years later. Still others, who were more rebellious refused to acknowledge the change and continued to celebrate on the last day of the former celebration, April 1.

These people were labeled "fools" by the general populace, were subject to ridicule and sent on "fool errands," sent invitations to nonexistent parties and had other practical jokes played upon them. The butts of these pranks became known as a "poisson d'avril" or "April fish" because a young naive fish is easily caught. In addition, one common practice was to hook a paper fish on the back of someone as a joke.

This harassment evolved over time and a custom of prank-playing continue on the first day of April. This tradition eventually spread elsewhere like to Britain and Scotland in the 18th century and was introduced to the American colonies by the English and the French.

This tradition eventually spread elsewhere like to Britain and Scotland in the 18th century and was introduced to the American colonies by the English and the French. Because of this spread to other countries, April Fool's Day has taken on an international flavor with each country celebrating the holiday in its own way:

  • In Scotland, April Fool's Day is devoted to spoofs involving the buttocks and as such is called Taily Day. The butts of these jokes are known as April 'Gowk', another name for cuckoo bird. The origins of the "Kick Me" sign can be traced back to the Scottish observance.
  • In England, jokes are played only in the morning. Fools are called 'gobs' or 'gobby' and the victim of a joke is called a 'noodle.' It was considered back luck to play a practical joke on someone after noon.
  • In Rome, the holiday is known as Festival of Hilaria, celebrating the resurrection of the god Attis, is on March 25 and is also referred to as "Roman Laughing Day."
  • In Portugal, April Fool's Day falls on the Sunday and Monday before lent. In this celebration, many people throw flour at their friends.
  • In India, The Huli Festival is celebrated on March 31 when people play jokes on one another and smear colors on one another celebrating the arrival of Spring.

So, no matter where you happen to be in the world on April 1, don't be surprised if April fools fall playfully upon you and if not, start cheering for the Arizona Cardinals and their winning the World Series as they begin that quest today playing the Colorado Rockies in Colorado at 1:05pmm......check out their website..

www.arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com