Cold Shoulder, a phone prank

"One of the simplest forms of reality hacking is the good old-fashioned phone prank. Using the telephone can be a very cheap, convenient, and creative way to shake the torpor out of your average drone."

You might be thinking "prank calls? Really? Like the Jerky Boys or Crank Yankers?" There's a bit more nuance than that. Or at least more fun in this instance, where Carla Sinclair calls Alcor, the fine folks who froze Ted Williams head in 2002, and in what they describe as one of their finest hours, "in December 1987, when 83-year-old Dora Kent was suspended," when they preserved her head "before she deanimated." So asking to have her arms preserved is less a jerky move, and more of something worth a conversation, I think.

In the years since, there have been plenty of goofy, punny calls by Bart on The Simpsons, but also groups who gather to make or celebrate real calls that are more in the realm of unhappy mutants, making people angry for laffs. You can hide who and where you are with free services like Google Voice, for good and for ill. Make 'em laugh, or tweak some noses, but don't be a jerk about it.

Normals, Unhappy Mutants and Happy Mutants

What is a happy mutant? Simply put, one who is fond of new ideas and high weirdness, with a DIY sensibility to make their own fun with the power of their brain; not to be confused with Normals and Unhappy Mutants:

Sea-Monkeys, a real man-modified miracle of nature!
(note: link includes embedded auto-playing video)

• Normal (neophobic sixpackus), folks concerned about "fitting in" and stability. But give 'em a good shock and behold! Mutation!
• Unhappy Mutant (neophilic pessimisticus), seek new experiences of a dark sort, miserable folks who reinforce their miserable attitudes. If they crash and burn, they might swing back and become 'born again normals'.
• Happy Mutant (neophilic optimisticus), also seek out new experiences but of the opposite end of the spectrum, desiring novelty of the gleeful sort. But without sufficient infusions of new, their grey goo could turn dull and normal.

Further examples of these different classes of creatures:

Stuff They Like

Happy Mutant	Normal	Unhappy Mutant
Brazil	Sleepless in Seattle	Faces of Death
bOING bOING	People	ANSWER Me!
They Might be Giants	Janet Jackson	GG Allin
The Happy Mutant Handbook	The Bridges of Madison County	Apocalypse Culture
Silly Putty	Golf balls	Nunchakus
Basil Wolverton	Leroy Neiman	Joe Coleman
Church of the SubGenius	Church of Elvis	Church of Satan
Sea Monkey	Irish Setter	Scorpion
Twister	Checkers	Russian Roulette
Archie McPhee	Lillian Vernon	Amok
"Why Be Normal?"	"I'm with Stupid"	"Charlie Don't Surf"
Pranks	White Collar Crime	Scams

How have these examples of Happy Mutant hijinks aged? In 1996, when this review of the Happy Mutant Handbook was written, the review might have seemed like some zesty breadcrumbs on an exciting trail into a great unknown, with the Handbook itself serving as a collection of teaser trailers for the even larger mysteries of the wider, weirder world out there. But with the ever-expanding internet, as seen in the links above, more of this kooky kind of novelty is just a click away!

Some of this is still fresh, with Brazil retaining it's place as a cult classic, while some have ebbed and flowed, like the comeback of They Might Be Giants as a "nerd-rock institution." According to the current overview on Wikipedia, bOING bOING had a maximum circulation of 17,500 copies, then transitioned from zine to website in 1995, dropping the zine all together in 1996, and it has grown and changed since then. The Church of the SubGenius also lives on, like an endless supply of sea monkeys, which oddly aren't available from Archie McPhee, the thriving internet store of weird and wonderful items.