July 2012
65 posts
This Week's Most Popular Stories
In case you weren’t obsessively refreshing mentalfloss.com all week, here’s what you missed.
1. Every Item Buried Inside Nickelodeon’s 1992 Time Capsule * 2. 10 Flight Attendant Secrets * 3. Do You Own The Space Above Your House? * 4. What Do Olympians Eat? 5 Crazy Training Diets * 5. The Early Jobs of 24 Famous Writers * 6. 6 Summer Camps for Exceedingly Wealthy Children * 7....
June 2012
63 posts
When Cats Look at Pictures of Cats...
…do they know they’re looking at pictures of cats?
(via Slate)
Why Did People Used to Wear Powdered Wigs?
The peruke’s story begins like many others—with syphilis.
In 1988, George H.W. Bush's campaign considered...
As lasting as the Bush legacy turned out to be, Bush Sr.’s 1988 election didn’t always seem so rosy. At one point Bush was 18 points behind, and campaign chairman James Baker (later Secretary of State) knew they needed a shot in the arm. “We were way behind. Honestly, [Clint Eastwood] was suggested in not an altogether unserious – Well, he was a mayor. He was a Republican mayor.”
Indeed, one of...
10 Themed Bathrooms for Video Game Enthusiasts
More here.
We Have This Thing Called The Amazing Fact...
I think you’ll like it.
10 Flight Attendant Secrets
Heather Poole has worked for a major airline for more than 15 years. We begged her to reveal 10 workplace secrets.
The Early Jobs of 24 Famous Writers
How did famous writers make ends meet before their big breaks?
Quiz: Video Game Manual or Religious Cult...
Can you separate the passages appearing in manuals for bestselling video games from the ramblings of the delusional and/or power-mad?
Take the Quiz: Video Game Manual or Religious Cult Literature?
Do You Own The Space Above Your House?
How far up do property rights go?
Every Item Inside Nickelodeon's 1992 Time Capsule
In 1992, Nickelodeon got together with the Kids World Council (also known as “minors who were allowed to call in and vote”) to decide what was most important to kids at the time. Then they assembled those items, put them in a big orange time capsule, and buried it in front of Nickelodeon Studios in Universal Studios. Here’s a list of everything inside.
The Earliest LOLCats and Other 19th-Century Animal...
People have been dressing up their pets and taking pictures of them for over a century. Lots more here.
6 Summer Camps for Exceedingly Wealthy Children
For many, summer camp means a week sleeping in a cabin that doubles as a sweat lodge, spider-infested communal showers, and swimming in a scummy pond. But if you have lots and lots of money, you have options.
1. International Riding Camp $14,700 for 10 weeks (includes both riding trips); $8,500 for one week in Russia
Polo has often been called “The Sport of Kings.” At these prices, you’d...
5 News Stories That Sound Like Horror Movie Plots
1. Last Phone Calls
In September of 2008, a Metrolink commuter train running through Chatsworth, CA collided head-on with a freight train, killing 25 people and injuring 135 others.
One of the passengers onboard was Charles Peck, a Delta Airlines employee from Salt Lake City on his way to an interview at Los Angeles’ Van Nuys Airport. Peck had his hopes staked on the job, as his fiancee, Andrea...
11 Authors Who Hated the Movie Versions of Their...
1. Disney’s Mary Poppins might be a cherished childhood memory for a lot of us, but for author P.L. Travers, it was a complete slap in the face. Despite having script approval, Travers’ edits were largely disregarded. Travers loathed the movie’s animated sequences and was perturbed that Mary Poppins’ strict side was downplayed. After some heated meetings, Travers reluctantly approved. She would...
Risqué Photos From the Late-1800s
More here.
10 Snack Foods Originally Sold as Medicine
There was a time when you could have subsisted on graham crackers, Moxie, and Goo-Goo Clusters and called it a healthy diet.
More: 10 Snack Foods Originally Sold as Medicine
Why Do Spammers Always Say They're Nigerian?
A new paper claims obvious spam email is used to weed out all but the most gullible people online.
(via Slate)
Was There Really an Earl Grey?
Yes.
The Most Expensive Beers in the World
In the USA, Pabst Blue Ribbon is one of the cheapest beers you can buy. But in China, it is the Mercedes Benz of Beers. At $44 per bottle, Chinese PBR costs 44 times more than what’s sold stateside. That’s because it’s not the same blue-collar swill. PBR 1884 is made from German caramel malts, is aged in uncharred American whiskey barrels, and even comes in a fancy glass bottle. Masterbrewer...
Using Sex Toys to Grow Tomatoes
Tomatoes image via Shutterstock
Everything you always wanted to know about greenhouse tomatoes (but were afraid to ask).
More: Sex Toys for Winter Tomatoes
Who Said It: Zapp Brannigan or Donald Trump?
In honor of Futurama’s return tonight, can you tell who said what?
Take the Quiz: Zapp Brannigan or Donald Trump?
Why Are Poland Spring Bottles So Crinkly?
Slate explains.
Also: how great a word is “crinkly”?
What Is the Heat Index?
© BRIAN SNYDER/Reuters/Corbis
While the notion of humidity making days feel warmer is painfully apparent to anyone who’s ever been outside on a soupy day, our current system owes a big debt to Robert G. Steadman, an academic textile researcher. In a 1979 research paper called, “An Assessment of Sultriness, Parts I and II,” Steadman laid out the basic factors that would affect how hot a person...
11 TV Shows and Moments That Are Lost Forever
While a lot of TV history is safe for an eternity of reruns, these shows are either partly or completely missing.
Jerome I. Rodale’s death on The Dick Cavett Show (1971)
This episode is part of television folklore, but unless you were in the live audience that night, you probably haven’t seen it. Rodale, head of a multimillion-dollar publishing empire and one of the very first promoters of...
Quiz: Super PAC or Old School Nintendo Game?
Take the quiz.
Why Do People Feel Phantom Cellphone Vibrations?
Matt Soniak looks into another one of life’s big questions.
Fun With Copyright Traps!
These people, places and things exist only on paper, solely to thwart would-be info burglars.
More: 10 Hoax Definitions, Paper Towns and Other Things That Don’t Exist
5 Tips for the War of 1812 Bicentennial Party...
Today marks the bicentennial of the start of the War of 1812. Here are a few tips for throwing a 200th birthday party.
Dad-Related Facts for Your Father's Day Picnic
Happy Father’s Day! Here are some conversation starters you can use around the grill today.
1. Halsey Taylor invented the drinking fountain as a tribute to his father, who succumbed to typhoid fever after drinking from a contaminated public water supply in 1896. 2. George Washington, the celebrated Father of Our Country, had no children of his own. Researchers believe that childhood...
Happy Bloomsday!
Happy Bloomsday!! If you’re not a James Joyce aficionado (or if you don’t celebrate obscure holidays), June 16 is the day all of the events in Joyce’s Ulysses take place. The name comes from Leopold Bloom, the main character in the novel. To honor Bloomsday and James Joyce, here are a few fun facts about one of Ireland’s (and the world’s) most beloved authors.
Why June 16? The answer is...
Famous Novelists on Symbolism in Their Work and...
It was 1963, and 16-year-old Bruce McAllister was sick of symbol-hunting in English class. Rather than quarrel with his teacher, he went straight to the source: McAllister mailed a crude, four-question survey to 150 novelists, asking if they intentionally planted symbolism in their work. Seventy-five authors responded. Here’s what they had to say.
How Aunt Jemima Changed U.S. Trademark Law
A 1915 case set a precedent known as the “Aunt Jemima Doctrine.”
Why Do Most Snooze Buttons Only Give You Nine More...
Sandy Wood tackles another one of life’s big questions.
14 Classic Distractions for the Internet Newcomer
In case you’re new to this whole Internet thing…
On this date in 1954, President Eisenhower signed...
Four Years Before Women Had the Right to Vote,...
While women had not achieved suffrage across the U.S. yet, there were no laws barring them from holding office in the Capitol.
5 Great Things With Unexpected Downsides
Happy couple image via Shutterstock
Every cloud has a silver lining. We hate to rain on your parade, but it seems the opposite is also true. Here are five allegedly good things that aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
What’s That Red Stuff Airplanes Pour on Wildfires?
MARIO ANZUONI/Reuters/Landov
Part water. Part other stuff.
Rejected Designs for the Great Seal of the United...
After they’d completed their work on the Declaration of Independence, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin were chosen by the Continental Congress to form a committee and submit a seal design for approval.
Above is Adams’ version. See what Franklin and Jefferson came up with, plus more rejected designs, here.
What’s the Difference Between ( ), [ ], { } and <...
Matt Soniak explains.
Fictional Bears and Whether They'd Kill You
We’ve ranked our favorite fictional bears by your likelihood of surviving an unplanned run-in with them.
11 Wars People Forgot to Actually End
Thanks to lost paperwork, diplomatic technicalities, or just plain forgetting they had declared war in the first place, many countries remained in a state of war long after the actual fighting had stopped.
1. Roman Republic vs. Carthaginian Republic – 2,134 years
After two Punic wars, Rome decided they needed one more pass at Carthage. So in 149 BC, after rousing speeches in the Senate with...
Seventy years ago today, Anne Frank received a...
Quirky Code Names for Apple Products
Apple uses secret internal code names for many of its products before they’re released. Over the years, they’ve come up with some pretty weird ones — including one that led to multiple lawsuits.
More: 11 Quirky Code Names for Apple Products
11 Languages Spoken by 11 People or Fewer
Vladimir Korostyshevskiy / Shutterstock.com
On the 11th of every month, we post a boatload of ’11 lists’ throughout the day. Next up: 11 Languages Spoken by 11 People or Fewer.
The Grill on the Left Runs on a 5.7-liter V-8 HEMI...
The one on the right (sadly) does not shoot food bullets.
More: 11 Cool, Creative and Totally Crazy Barbecue Grills
'E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial' was released 30...
In addition to being a box office smash, E.T. (the alien) was a finalist for TIME’s 1982 “Man of the Year.”
11 Things You Didn’t Know About America’s...
Funding secret agencies tends to involve sleight of hand. Before the National Security Agency was acknowledged as an actual organization, it was listed in budgets as the Bureau of Ships.
More: 11 Things You Didn’t Know About America’s Intelligence Agencies
Geeky Wedding Dresses
More: 11 Great Geek Wedding Dresses
