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In 2002, the Beijing Evening News believed The Onion that “Congress Threatens To Leave D.C. Unless New Capitol Is Built.” Thanks to the gaffe, their circulation of 1.25 million people thought that, like an unhappy sports team, Congress was threatening to leave the District of Columbia unless a new, improved Capitol building was built.

The Onion‘s article included the mocked-up blueprint for the proposed new building and fake quotes from then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert like, “The hard reality is, [the Capitol building is] no longer suitable for a world-class legislative branch. The sight lines are bad, there aren’t enough concession stands or bathrooms, and the parking is miserable.”

When informed that the article was a spoof, the editor of the newspaper was surprised, telling Reuters that the reporter who covered the story was “pretty reliable.” The editor also said he would have to check to make sure the story was false, but if it was he was “sure there would be some form of correction.”

Read More: 6 Times The Onion Had Certain People Completely Fooled

Photo credit: Jonathan Hanson

Robert Provine has made staggering advances in the field of laugh science. For instance, he’s actually proved that laughter is contagious.

Consider the case of the “laugh epidemic” that swept through what’s now Tanzania in 1962. In the small town of Kashasha, three girls started giggling. Soon, the snickers rippled outward to 95 students, lasting for hours before dying down, then erupting again—for three months straight.

The school closed down, briefly reopened, then shut down again after the laugh bug reinfected 57 students. Within ten days, laugh attacks plagued 217 kids in the nearby town of Nshamba, then 48 more in Bukoba. It continued to spread, closing 14 schools and afflicting about 1,000 people, before quarantines were put in place. A year and a half passed before this laughathon tailed off.

Read More: In the Lab With the World’s Leading Laugh Scientist

Even before the Food Network, people were making fun of television chefs. More accurately—the Muppets were making fun of television chefs. The Swedish Chef has grown to be a beloved Muppet. Here is some of his best work.

Watch: Best of the Swedish Chef

The Washington Post recently announced the winners of its sixth annual Peeps Show diorama contest. This year’s finalists were heavy on politics, but over six years, many of the best entries depict scenes from our favorite movies.

Read More: Hollywood Peeps: 15 Oscar-Winning Films in Marshmallow

While duels between women were not as common, they were not unheard of. In 1792, Lady Almeria Braddock and a Mrs. Elphinstone fought what came to be known as “the petticoat duel.”

Mrs. Elphinstone made a social call to Lady Almeria’s house and while there paid her ladyship a very backhanded compliment, saying:

“You have been a very beautiful woman. You have a good… face even now but you must acknowledge that the lilies and roses are somewhat faded. Forty years ago, I am told, a young fellow could hardly gaze upon you with impunity.”

When Braddock insisted she was not even 30 years old, Mrs. Elphinstone retorted by saying her age was officially recorded as sixty-one. Enraged by this (probably accurate) accusation, the Lady challenged Elphinstone to a duel.

The two met in Hyde Park. They first shot with pistols at ten paces, but when no bullet hit its mark, ignoring the pleas of their friends to stop, they continued dueling with swords. Elphinstone eventually took a small injury to the arm and the ladies curtsied to each other and considered their honor restored.

Read More: 5 Silly Reasons People Decided to Duel

For example: This plush toy uterus.

More: 8 Seemingly Harmless Toys That Were Recalled

Test your knowledge of classic PC Adventure and Role Playing Games in this quiz.

Syrian golden hamsters are—to put it mildly—the drunken uncles of the rodent world. In the wild, these hard-partying hamsters spend their summers gathering and storing fruit as a survival measure. By winter, when they need to break into the stash, the fruit has fermented. Over time, the Syrian hamsters’ appetite for alcohol only increases. Today, when given the choice between booze and water, these cuddly alcoholics choose the hard stuff every time.

Wilder still, the critters are impervious to hamster-ball DUIs. Because so much of their natural diet involves alcohol, Syrian hamsters have evolved to sport cartoonishly large livers that are nearly five times normal size (in relation to their other body parts). As a result, these hamsters rarely get sloshed.

While this biological quirk is great news for anyone who’s thinking of marketing cocktails to rodents, it’s even better for scientists. Researchers always need test subjects for alcohol studies, and Syrian golden hamsters are the perfect tipplers for any lab.

This article originally appeared in the March-April issue of mental_floss magazine. Get a free issue here!

Say what you will about the Cold War, but at least it gave us some great movie villains. How well do you remember the Soviet adversaries in these movies?

Take the Quiz: Movies Where Russians Were the Bad Guys

Today is National Stuff That Was Popular When You Were a Kid Day! We’ll be running quizzes all day straight out of our writers’ childhoods. Hillary Buckholtz of I’m Remembering wants to test your knowledge of Beanie Babies.

Take the Quiz: Name That Beanie Baby

Are you planning to celebrate National Stuff That Was Popular When You Were a Kid Day on Monday?

I understand if you’re not, as it’s a new holiday that we’re inventing. Reader Virginia Scott suggested it in our Make Up Your Own Holiday contest. (Monday is also National Make Up Your Own Holiday Day.)

We’ll be celebrating on mentalfloss.com throughout that day. I’ve asked a dozen mental_floss regulars of various ages with various interests to put together a quiz about something they loved growing up. If you plan to celebrate, let us know how. Get in on the ground floor while fake holiday traditions are being established.

Starting in May, Michigan State will offer a course called “Surviving the Coming Zombie Apocalypse: Catastrophes and Human Behavior.”

Phone Booth Cramming was a late-1950s fad, but the practice of people-packing went to much stranger places. Here is a photo history of cramming people into things.

Everyone’s talking about the Etch A Sketch today. Here’s a bit of the toy’s history, plus a look at how it works.

Check out some vivid pictures of Ireland from the late-19th century.

Sign image via Shutterstock

Read More: How 5 Super-Rich Places Got Such Fancy Names

Here are a bunch of old clips featuring everyone’s favorite neighbor, including the time he prevented the Senate from cutting his funding and a trip to the crayon factory.

Cake image via Shutterstock

Here are some things science says will make you less likely to get divorced.