I seem to be in quite a pickle (or sauerkraut may be a better word). The last time I played Runescape was during the April Fool’s event. When I logged out I was still holding onto a cabbage. Well, today (April 3) I logged back in and still have a cabbage. Obviously I can’t store it or sell it. And I’m fairly certain that if I remove it, the cabbage will disappear all together. It does look like I can still chuck it to other players, but of course I don’t want to try that. And for all I know chucking it will cause it to disappear also. Of course, having a cabbage in both my hands means I am very limited combat wise. I really can only use magic and I hate magic. But yet there is a morbid curiosity in my brain that wants to know exactly how long one of these April Fool’s cabbages can be kept “alive”. Then again, Jagex in a few days might make it go away without any action by me. So I am caught between a rock and a hard place. Do I limit my actions actions for a few days or do I just chuck it to another player and hope that it lives on through other people? Of course, if Jagex doesn’t spontaneously remove these April Fool’s cabbages then they will become untradeable rares. No real value but there will be that all important “cool” factor that seems to impress newbs and makes the rest of us roll our eyes.

In semi-related news: The GEC got a bunch of hits on Wednesday because of the listing for the Magic Dragon Kiteshield. Of course that was an April Fool’s joke and there is no Magic Dragon Kiteshield that gives farming and fishing stat bonuses and is a drop by beating up Olivia the Draynor Village seed stall girl. But I will leave the item listing in the GEC as a historic footnote to the GEC itself.

Finally, I am sad to say that the price of Strange Fruit has taken a down turn. I am hoping this is only a hiccup and that Strange Fruit will stabilize at around 3500gp and start creeping back up at a much slower pace. In any case I am the proud to say that I currently have made over two million gp in profit from the fruits.

In blog news: Now this blog is also iPhone compatible. Also, because this blogs free server is just simply too unreliable I will be moving this blog over to the GEC site. I am hoping that link redirections will be seamless and my readers should have no significant transition problems.

Okay, the cabbage April Fool’s event is cute. Not nearly as cute as my idea for a Runescape Rickroll, but it is cute. Oh well, maybe next year. Anyway, for those of you who haven’t seen it yet there are free roaming cabbages floating around Runescape. A good place to go is Lumbridge castle to see and play with them. You should have accept aid turned on and both hands empty. Then you can play catch with the cabbages. There are also kick and tap options available but I’m not sure what those do yet. I only looked around for a few minutes. I am also not sure if there is more to the April Fool’s event but if I see anything else I’ll report it here.

By the way, if you are looking for more April Fools day related events on the web check out April Fool’s Day On The Web for a list of this years and other past years. The upside down YouTube is also pretty funny.

In other related news: I didn’t get off my butt to do anything for April Fool’s concerning my blog or the GEC. So there are no jokes here, sorry. Maybe next year.  I am also working on a blog post about the new Magic Dragon Kite Shield wieldable only by Rangers with mage combat level 90 or higher that was introduced in last weeks update.  I personally am dissappointed because my character Absenm is a combat warrior and I won’t be able to utilized it considerable stat bonuses (+37 fishing and +15 farming).  But atleast it is tradeable on the GE for just 5 gp so it may prove to be a good investment item. Other restrictions are that it can only be wielded while also wielding a two handed iron longsword. It is a rare drop after barehanded fighting Olivia the seed stall girl in Draynor Village.

I’ve been so bogged down in writing the Grand Exchange Central’s database scripts and page codes lately that I haven’t had much of a chance to really play the game. So this weekend I purposely sat down and told myself to play and enjoy the game for fun sake. That of course let me to see a few funny sights, finish a couple annoying quests (like Shield of Avvay and Heroes)  and come up with a suggestion for a Jagex April Fools prank.

I can’t have a stupid idea without sharing it, so here it is. I think that on April 1, 2009 the people at Jagex should toss in a Rickroll. Maybe right in the middle of Varrock square. Before I go on I probably should mention a couple of things for those few people who are oblivious to the greater workings of the Internet.

First, over the past fifteen years April Fools Day has become the most universally accepted holiday on the Internet. April Fools Day is a holiday that everyone can enjoy because there are no religious or political drawbacks. And it is not geocentric; every place on Earth has fools and pranksters. It is a safe holiday to observe on websites. And most major websites take part.

Second, a Rickroll is an Internet phenomenon that is closing in on its last days. But it still has a little life left. Basically anything can be a Rickroll as long as it involves the song, “Never gonna give you up” by Rick Astley appearing in a place where it would normally not appear.  Hearing the song on Lite-FM WSLP is not a Rickroll. Having the video pop up on a congressional website (which it did) is a Rickroll. Rickrolls originally started out as misleading links to the Astley YouTube video, but have expanded out to include pretty much anything that involves the song.

Now on to my idea. I think that on April 1^st for a few hours there should be a little Rick Astley like NPC wondering around Varrock square singing the lyrics to “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Or if there is a copyright concern then change the lyrics slightly. You can’t say that some little dude like the one to the above right wouldn’t be a hilarious April Fools prank. Plus, maybe as a side bonus he could give out tan tench coats as a nontradeable holiday item.

As a side note: The GEC is coming along nicely. It now contains over 500 items, has parts lists on many individual items, and has the ability to store up to 60 days worth of data for each item (the official GE website only displays a months worth). There are now several Runedexes that place items into categories and many more tools to come in the very near future. I have added all the headwear I can find and will be starting on footware this week (it takes a lot of time to initially enter in new items).