Oh April Fools’ Day. What other day makes it acceptable to fake a pregnancy or tell your parents you dropped out of college without being considered completely psychotic? It’s the calendar’s way of telling you not to take life so seriously. April Fools’ has been around for ages. In fact, the origins hail from the Roman festival of Hilaria and the Medieval Feast of Fools. Probably the most solid origin of April Fools’ can be found in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales from 1392. According to Wikipedia, his “Nun’s Priest Tale” is “set Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two. Modern scholars believe that there is a copying error in the extant manuscripts and that Chaucer actually wrote, Syn March was gon. Thus the passage originally meant 32 days after April, i.e. May 2, the anniversary of the engagement of King Richard II of England to Anne of Bohemia, which took place in 1381. Readers apparently misunderstood this line to mean “March 32″, i.e. April 1.”

Although April Fools’ isn’t really a national holiday (as in we would still have class if it were tomorrow), it’s widely celebrated throughout the world. In France and Italy, it’s common to stick a paper fish on someone’s back and yell “April fish!” The internet is known to get creative on April Fools’ Day so I’ve rounded up some of my favorite pranks from today, which Google totally owned by the way…

What are your favorite pranks from today? Did you prank anyone? If so, what did you do?

Caitlin is a senior at the University of Alabama who has an obsession with cupcakes, coffee, and Harry Potter. She always has random fun facts on reserve and aspires to be a professional blogger, social media bug, and/or James Franco’s assistant. Follow her fabulous life @caitlincorsetti. You’re welcome!

There’s nothing I enjoy more than some good old fashion practical jokes. Remember when Lindsay Lohan wasn’t a hott mess, and she played those cute little twins in The Parent Trap? She pulled off some of the greatest pranks ever. Since it’s April Fools, we decided to pull together some of our own prank ideas. Some are rather harmless, but others are downright unforgivable. If you’re looking to have some fun but need some inspiration, these will definitely get the wheels turning.

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Which of these would you try?! Which ones would you add to our list?

If you happen to be a celebrity (I mean, it’s a possibility), you should probably watch your back. Why? Because on March 29th, Punk’d is back on MTV. Ashton Kutcher is still the executive producer of the show, but he has handed over the hosting responsibilities to young celebrities like Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and Kellan Lutz. And there’s a long list of celebs who will be made into fools on national TV – Taylor Swift, Zac Efron, Lauren Conrad, Snooki, and more.

Is Punk’d still going to be funny? Have they run out of tricks? Only time will tell. But to celebrate the return of the prank show, we’ve rounded up the 12 best Punk’ds of all time. Check it out.

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Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

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This week we hit up the West Coast as we examine the two hottest schools in Los Angeles- the University of Southern California and the University of California- Los Angeles. Amidst the beautiful SoCal climate and a city rife with movie sets and superstars, private USC and public UCLA compete to find out which is most elite in the City of Angels.

1. Superior Sport

USC – The Trojans are known as “the football school” and have been awarded the NCAA national title in football eleven times, including back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004.  They are perennially ranked in the Top 10 football programs in the BCS by ESPN, USA Today, and other publications. And Trojans have taken home the Heisman Trophy seven times.
UCLA - Meanwhile, the Bruins are known as powerhouses in basketball–also earning eleven NCAA titles. Seven of these championships were won consecutively, from 1967-1973.  UCLA is also the all-time leader in total NCAA national titles across all sports.

Meanwhile, the Lexus Gauntlet is an annual all-sports competition between the two schools sponsored by Lexus. Points are awarded for every victory (particularly in head-to-head match ups)  in NCAA-sanctioned competitions, with the school with the most points declared as the winner. (There is also a separate Lexus Gauntlet awarded to the winner of the Stanford-Berkeley rivalry.)  In the eight years of Lexus Gauntlet tradition, USC has walked away with five titles.

Three credits to: TIE.  The two schools pulled a draw in NCAA titles in their respective predominant sport.  On the one hand, the Lexus Gauntlet record gives the Trojans the edge, but UCLA also has the most NCAA titles of any school. Too close to call!!

2. Terrific Traditions

USC – Trojans can’t withhold their affections for Traveler, the magnificent white horse ridden by a student in full Greek armor at every football game, and Tommy Trojan, the iconic statue of the school’s mascot found on campus. But Songfest, an annual talent show in which frats & sororities compete against one another to benefit the charity TroyCamp, is a highlight of the social calendar. When it comes to hatin’ on their crosstown rivals, some USC students once set loose thousands of crickets on the UCLA campus.
UCLA - Like the Trojans, UCLA also has its own child-oriented charity called UniCamp.  Students donning blue and gold love exhibiting card stunts (flashing the university logo, for instance) at basketball games and occasionally dousing Tommy Trojan with UCLA-colored paint.

Three Credits to: USC, for the campus-rockin Songfest.

3. Hottest (LA) Hood

USC - Located in University Park, USC is adjacent to the Los Angeles Coliseum and sits on Figueroa Street, which connects the school to the Staples Center and historic Chinatown.
UCLA - The Bruins are located in the Westwood Village section of Los Angeles, a wealthy and scenic section of town that is home to several vintage movie theaters and stretches of beautiful homes.  Oh, and the Playboy Mansion is just a hop, skip, and jump away!

Three credits to:  UCLA - who doesn’t want to party with Hef?

4. Ass-kicking Alumni

USC –  Neil Armstrong, Will Ferrell, Whitney Port
UCLA – Lo Bosworth, Francis Ford Coppola, James Franco

Three credits to: Let’s see…Whitney is SO much cooler than Lo on The Hills, and while Will Ferrell can make me pee my pants, I’d rather have James Franco in them. It’s another close one, but I’m going to have to go with UCLA because others have walked on the moon, but only FFC could have directed the masterpiece The Godfather with such genius.

5. Acceptance Rate Agony

USC- 22% of over 35,000 applicants were accepted for the class of 2012.
UCLA-  22.7% for the university with the largest number of applicants in the United States (over 55,000!)

Three credits to:  USC…by a nose!!

And the diploma goes to: …its a TIE! Seriously, its too close to call who wins this rivalry. Both schools boast terrific academics, athletics, and high-profile alumni–how can you choose? For all of you Angelenos out there, what do you think?

Believe me, you will regret it if you don’t at least attempt something. Can’t come up with anything clever? Try these bad boys on for size…

iPhone Application Hit your friends where it hurts: their iPhones. Anyone who has one will agree that their phone embodies all that is awesome in this world. Lucky for you, Apple has easy to access applications that will put the fear of god into iPhone lovers everywhere. If the “cracked” application or “iFart mobile” don’t suit your fancy, try making your own.

Naked Hunks Mug This is a magical mug. You see, when you put hot liquid in the “Naked Hunks Mug” his itty-bitty banana hammock disappears. Really, its a treat for everyone involved.

Sneaky Art You don’t have to have a mansion to appreciate the hilariousness of Rory McInnes’s prank. “He painted the giant genitalia on the newly-finished flat roof of his parents’ million-pound mansion… but the imposing member remained a closely-guarded secret for a whole year before it was ‘discovered’ by a helicopter pilot flying over the area.” So, maybe you don’t have a mansion or a can of spray paint laying around, but think on a smaller scale… the side of a dorm building and some chalk, the roof of a car and some shoe polish? Let your imagination run wild.

Jello Stapler You can than thank the writers of The Office for this one. If you haven’t seen the clip of Jim hiding Michael’s stapler in a giant mold of Jello, you need to watch it immediately.

Auto Correct This prank is best performed on a roommate or a really friendly co-worker. Simply hop on the computer this person uses for assignments, and open any word processor with auto-correct capabilities. Then, set their boss’s name, their name, professor’s name, or random words (the possibilities are endless) to  be auto-corrected into  “loser” or “skank”… again, the opportunities are endless. Just be sure to keep a list of what you changed.

“Win” the Lottery Fake scratch off tickets are a classic prank that will crush the dreams of everyone around you.

Facebook Hack This prank needs a little preparation. You will either need to be in posession of the victim’s username and password, or you will have to wait until they conveniantly leave their computer open to an attack. Believe me, your super slueth skills will pay off. Once logged in, enjoy coming up with a clever status change, change profile pictures, start relationships… go nuts.

Cory Matthews is, and forever will be, my dream man.

Mom, can I please go to Camp Rock this summer?!

Help make “Another Stakeout” become another cult hit

Of course Mariah Carey has a 3,000 sq. ft. lingerie closet

Would you hook up with the Office Casanova?

…Because Hayden Pannetierre says it’s wrong…

This is why I’m afraid to try pranks

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This video makes me really homesick

Learn to play Ysketball

Now that fall semester is truly underway, we know that you’re all getting your party routines down and your alcohol tolerances up. But it’s a sad college reality that everyone has those nights once in a while where they wake up in a strange place, next to a strange person…probably covered in Sharpie.

No one likes being the first to pass out…but everyone loves documenting the poor fool who couldn’t make it past 12.

Check this video out and take notes…you should never have to scrub permanent marker off your ass on a Saturday morning. It’s just pathetic.