He'll get those tighty whities tidy

A contraption for drying fishing line, made in the early 1900s by Abercrombie & Fitch, recently sold for nearly $600 at an antiques action.

The buyer was an 18-year-old Abercrombie & Fitch model, who will use the thing for drying his underwear.

Not funny: Only about 15 percent of laughter is the result of someone making a joke, scientists say.

That's down from about 21 percent six months ago. The decline was attributed to Jay Leno's return to “The Tonight Show,” and is the biggest drop in joke-caused laughter since 1983, when “Mama's Family” debuted on NBC.

Joke could be on you: Planning an April Fools gag at the office today? Better think twice. Pulling a workplace prank might stigmatize you as an unproductive time-waster and will be no laughing matter during the next round of layoffs and furloughs, boss-types say in a new survey.

Instead, conduct your pranks during your personal time, such as sneaking a few moments at lunch to sign up your outspokenly heterosexual brother-in-law for the new Abercrombie & Fitch catalog.

— Mark Carlson, Herald staff