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We’ve got a favor to ask, and a t-shirt to offer.
Could you complete our quick and painless mental_floss web survey? Nine easy questions. Zero trick questions.
To add a little incentive, we’ll give a free t-shirt to the 1st person, 50th person and 250th person to complete the survey and sign up for our newsletter (question #8 – that’s how we’ll know you filled out the newsletter). If you already subscribe to the newsletter or don’t want to, we’ll also give a t-shirt to the best random (true) fact left in the comments. Just do us a favor and fill out the survey first.
*And if you don’t like those odds, you can also simply buy yourself any t-shirt you’d like in our store.
Comments (72)
Comment
Easiest survey ever!
posted by PM Toone on 9-12-2007 at 7:38 am
Not so random fact: Lloyd Carr will not coach Michigan next year. …ok, so many that’s not really a fact, but it most probably will become a fact if Michigan continues on its suckfest.
posted by Lindsay D on 9-12-2007 at 7:41 am
Fact: I don’t possess spellchecking skills.
posted by Lindsay D on 9-12-2007 at 7:42 am
Okay, so I filled out your survey, and the question asks if you subscribe to the newsletter, so I said yes, then the next one says if no, and you want to, enter your email, so I didn’t because I already do subscribe, and so I wonder if I’m number one, or 50 or 250, how will you know who I am so I can have my tee shirt?? You didn’t get to know me at all with the info I put in. But here I am just in case you want to give me a shirt anyway…. thanks.
posted by Cindy on 9-12-2007 at 7:45 am
I already subscribe to the newsletter and spend way too much work time here but..here is my random fact (3 years of university towards a B.S. degree in Nursing which I did not finish and here is one of the facts that is CEMENTED in my brain)
The stalk of the pituitary gland is called the infundibulum
I have no idea why I remember this
posted by JaneM on 9-12-2007 at 7:50 am
See Cindy at #4 above - me too.
(Thanks for saving me a lot of keystrokes, Cindy.)
posted by Betsy on 9-12-2007 at 8:07 am
You guys are my fourth survey in as many weeks, and by far the easiest/quickest/least complex (which is not as insulting as it might first sound, I swear).
Random Fact: There’s a little place in your fingertips called The Matrix. It’s the root of your fingernail.
posted by Melissa G on 9-12-2007 at 8:11 am
Being a car freak, my obscure trivia is car related.
When John DeLorean started the car company that bore his name, his original plan was to build a fleet of 100 cars and drive them for a full year so all the bugs could be worked out before the car was ever released to the public. However, due to continuous budget cuts, that fleet was eventually whittled down to two, one of which crashed and was totaled in a matter of weeks. Ultimately, this almost complete lack of testing resulted in a tepid performer that was plagued with quality issues. The result was the company began floundering due to slow sales, and ultimately led to John Z. being busted in a cocaine sting.
posted by Anthony on 9-12-2007 at 8:16 am
Fact: Colgate toothpaste would have a pretty hard time marketing their product in spanish speaking countries, as its name translates to “go hang yourself”.
posted by Rebecca on 9-12-2007 at 8:24 am
Most of my random facts are ones I learned from mental_floss. No fair.
How about:
Austrian rock star Falco, famous for the 80’s hit “Rock Me Amadeus”, was himself recognized as a musical prodigy. The famous song, however, was inspired not by any musical kinship he had with the great composer, but by the movie Amadeus, released in 1984.
posted by Bill T. on 9-12-2007 at 8:40 am
Fact: The Rubik’s Cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 different positions. One of them is “the solution”.
posted by Emily on 9-12-2007 at 8:46 am
In Bahrain, a male gynecologist can only examine a woman’s private parts through a mirror.
posted by That one chick on 9-12-2007 at 8:46 am
Random fact:
A tenth-century Grand Vizier of Persia, Abdul Kassem Ismael, never left home without his personal library of over 100,000 volumes. It reportedly required 400 camels to achieve this feat, all of whom were trained to follow in alphabetical order so that the Vizier’s catalogue remained intact.
From _A History of Reading_ by Steven Roger Fischer, p. 156. Makes me appreciate my PalmPilot and the Plucker app from Project Gutenberg:
www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Help_on_Bibliographic_Record_Page#Plucker
posted by Roger on 9-12-2007 at 9:02 am
Random fact
the word “wall” in Tagolog is “ding ding”
posted by Jen Smith on 9-12-2007 at 9:09 am
Your last survey question was a little hard to answer for someone who reads your content via RSS feed.
posted by Celeste on 9-12-2007 at 9:24 am
always been my favorite fact, worlds largest rodent…… capybara
posted by caseyb on 9-12-2007 at 9:26 am
Random fact: In biology, turgor pressure or turgidity is the pressure of the cell contents against the cell wall, in plant cells, determined by the water content of the vacuole, resulting from osmotic pressure. i.e. the hydrostatic pressure produced by a solution in a space divided by a semipermeable membrane due to a differential in the concentration of solute. Turgid plant cells contain more water than flaccid cells and exert a greater osmotic pressure on its cell walls.
posted by Debi on 9-12-2007 at 9:29 am
Since the tomato is technically a fruit, a more appropriate name for the Campbell drink V8 would be F1V7.
posted by Janix on 9-12-2007 at 9:37 am
random fact: the word random’s origins involve great speed (running) and therefor an element of haphazardness.
posted by tara on 9-12-2007 at 9:42 am
The dot over the letters i and j is often called a tittle. I have no idea why I know this.
posted by natlynn on 9-12-2007 at 9:47 am
I agree with Celeste- I read the blog through an RSS reader.
Random Fact: The reason we wear rings on our ring fingers is because ancient Egyptians believed a vein ran from there directly to the heart.
posted by Meghan on 9-12-2007 at 9:48 am
The last words of Albert Einstein are unknown; the nurse attending his deathbed didn’t understand German.
posted by natlynn on 9-12-2007 at 9:52 am
The most expensive coffee in the world is Kopi Luwat, made from beans collected from the scat of asian civets. They eat the perfectly ripe berries then excrete the beans, which are then collected and roasted. It can cost upwards of $600 a pound. (Can you imagine putting that on your resume? Civet Poo Collector)
And in addition to civet-poo coffee, there’s also weasel-poo coffee and barking deer-poo coffee.
So the next time you want to tell someone you don’t like to “eat sh-t,” you can serve them this coffee instead.
posted by Jenny on 9-12-2007 at 9:52 am
If you feel a sneeze coming on, you can press your finger to your philtrum to suppress it. The philtrum is the vertical groove in your upper lip.
posted by Andy on 9-12-2007 at 9:58 am
Random fact: There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet.
This came from randomfacts.org. I don’t deserve a t-shirt, because I couldn’t come up with a cool random fact all on my own.
posted by Leisa on 9-12-2007 at 10:15 am
The word “nerd” was first coined by Dr. Seuss in “If I ran the Zoo”
oh man i love fun facts!
posted by Laurel on 9-12-2007 at 10:18 am
Leonard Nimoy derived Mr. Spock’s Vulcan “salute” from a gesture performed by Orthodox rabbis when doing blessings.
P.S. He’s my cousin (REALLY!), but I didn’t learn this from him. ;-)
posted by Karen on 9-12-2007 at 10:19 am
There are only 4 countries in the world with one syllable in their names .. Chad, France, Greece and Spain.
Stole it from a trivia contest.
posted by DW on 9-12-2007 at 10:22 am
Ditto from above on the last question…I also read the blogs on an RSS feed.
For random facts, two from the theatre world:
The phrase “break a leg” comes from the military, where it describes bending a knee to bow. Thus, when you tell an actor to break a leg, you are telling them to have a performance worthy of taking a bow for.
Also, stages are traditionally kept continuously lit by a single light bulb on stage. This is called a Ghost List. Practically, this keeps anyone who enters from accidentally falling off the stage and becoming a ghost, but also superstitiously keeps ghosts out of the theatre. At the high school I directed at, we did not have a ghost light. Despite being built the year I started, and no one dying there, we had a ghost move in before I left three years later.
posted by Ifferjenn on 9-12-2007 at 10:24 am
Random fact: Canada is known as the second-largest country in the world BUT if you include land area only, the USA is actually larger, taking that second spot.
posted by Liz on 9-12-2007 at 10:28 am
Random fact: Michael Landon, star of popular Christian-themed TV shows as Little House on the Prairie and Highway to Heaven, was, in fact, Jewish.
posted by Jill on 9-12-2007 at 10:52 am
“Spheno Palatine Gangleoneuralgia” is the scientific term for an ice cream headache.
The scientific term for nose-picking is rhinotillexonamia.
posted by Shannon on 9-12-2007 at 10:56 am
Random, and can’t remember why I know it:
A callipygian is a person with shapley buttocks.
posted by Patrick on 9-12-2007 at 11:05 am
My random fact, which I very much believe….
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
posted by Kami on 9-12-2007 at 11:11 am
Thanks Jason E. for your answer to my querry about entering contest. So here’s my true fact…
There are no known snakes that live in Alaska. On VERY rare occasions a garter snake might get washed down river from Canada, but if that DID happen it would most likely be in the southeastern panhandle, like in the Tongass National Forest area of Alaska.
There are frogs, toads, salamanders, and turtles in Alaska though, and yes…there’s even such a creature as the ice worm. Ice worms have been found on top of glaciers and are very dark in color and you’d be able to fit about 2-3 of them on your fingernail.
Apparently, and I can’t confirm this for sure, Pepsi is pretty hard to find in Alaska as well. Coincidence…I think not…
posted by Cindy on 9-12-2007 at 11:11 am
The natives of Pohnpei (Micronesia) believe that their island was created with the help of a supernatural octopus named Lidakika.
posted by hc on 9-12-2007 at 11:15 am
Kamikaze actually means “divine wind”, or wind sent by God.
It is named after the typhoons the miraculously saved Japan from overwhelming invasions on two occasions. In 1274, Kublai Khan sent a huge force to conquer Japan. Just as they were about to attack, a typhoon sunk the Mongolian force.
Making a second effort Kublai Khan sent an even bigger Armata in two stages in 1281. Just as the samurai we depleted from turning back the first wave, a typhoon again thwarted the aggressors.
The suicide bombers were named in honor of the wind that had saved Japan in the past.
posted by n2y2 on 9-12-2007 at 11:16 am
I have (probably) managed to put the Rubik’s Cube in all but one of its 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 different positions without breaking it apart and putting it back together.
(Thank you Emily for helping me feel like less of an idiot!)
posted by Anita on 9-12-2007 at 11:21 am
Rats lack the physical ability to vomit. Therefore, when they are used in analog studies of the human eating disorder bulimia, they must purge by excessive exercise instead of throwing up.
posted by Mandy on 9-12-2007 at 11:26 am
14.7% of Italian prostitutes have university degrees.
posted by bre on 9-12-2007 at 11:39 am
Fact: My husband wrote Scepter of Goth…
posted by Peachy on 9-12-2007 at 11:44 am
Laurel:
Ted Geisel also created the word Grinch. Which was unfortunate for David and Bob Grinch of Ridgefield, New Jersey. After all of the teasing they took, the brothers wrote to Dr. Seuss to request a name change for the book’s protagonist.
Charles Dickens received similar complaints after penning Ebenezer Scrooge.
posted by n2y2 on 9-12-2007 at 11:45 am
All of my uncles, living and deceased, are named Bob (there are 5)
Oh, you wanted a random fact other people might care about?
When Anthony Burgess’ A Clockwork Orange was printed in the US, publishers left out the final chapter, supposedly because Americans would not believe such a character as the protagonist could change.
posted by cousin on 9-12-2007 at 12:16 pm
Considered to be the ultimate 2nd place finisher, Charles Evans Hughes, was born in my home town.
A graduate of Columbia law school, he was admitted to the bar in 1884 and practiced law in New York City, where he advanced rapidly in his profession. He served (1905) as counsel for a committee of the New York state legislature investigating gas companies and, as counsel (1905–6) for another state investigating committee, achieved national prominence for his exposure of corrupt practices of insurance companies in New York. This led to his election (1906) as Republican governor of New York. In this post (1907–10), Hughes brought about the establishment of the public service commission, the passage of various insurance-law reforms, and the enactment of much labor legislation. He resigned the governorship after President Taft appointed him (1910) Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, but left the Court in 1916 to run for President on the Republican ticket.
The election was one of the closest presidential contests in American history, Woodrow Wilson defeating Hughes by an electoral vote of 277 to 254 and a popular vote of 9,129,606 to 8,538,221. The vote of California, which went to Wilson by less than 4,000 votes largely because of the disaffection of Hiram Johnson, decided the election. Hughes again devoted himself to his law practice. In 1921, President Warren Harding appointed him Secretary of State. He continued in this office under President Coolidge. Hughes prepared plans for the limitation of naval armaments at the Washington Conference (see naval conferences), directed negotiations for several important foreign treaties, and vastly increased the prestige of the U.S. Dept. of State. He was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (1926–30) and a judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice (1928–30).
This was taken from infoplease.
posted by gus on 9-12-2007 at 12:48 pm
McDonald’s trains more people in a year than the Army, though the training is a little easier.
Making a fart sound with your lips is called a Bilabial Fricative (sp?). Stole that one from George Carlin.
Lindsay D, you are correct. Can’t wait for this season to be over.
posted by Dusty on 9-12-2007 at 12:49 pm
The reason why beer came in a six pack is because that’s what distributors thought the average American housewife could carry.
posted by Jackie L on 9-12-2007 at 12:56 pm
Random fact: Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first US president whose name contains all the letters from the word “criminal.” The second was William Jefferson Clinton.
I cheated. I googled random fact. I’m very tired today.
posted by Karen on 9-12-2007 at 1:11 pm
Cake mixes require you to add an egg and oil because when they were first developed, housewives didn’t feel their cakes were “homemade” enough when they only added water.
(from a very interesting “biography” of Betty Crocker I read a few years ago–interesting because she was never a real person)
Apparently nowadays we don’t care about things being “homemade”–Betty Crocker makes just-add-water microwavable cakes (which are actually pretty tasty!).
posted by Kristen on 9-12-2007 at 1:29 pm
Dusty - oh I can wait for the season to be over - my team (Go Hawkeyes!) have not only won both their first two games, but have also not yet allowed any touchdowns to be scored against them. And Kami - read The Big Over easy by Jasper Fforde and you will find out exactly how Humpty Dumpty fell off that wall.
posted by Lindsay D on 9-12-2007 at 1:46 pm
The average song is about 3 and a half minutes long. This is because the first records could only hold about that much music on each side before needing to be turned over. Songs that needed to be stopped and turned over in the middle quickly fell out of fashion, and composers began creating music that would fit on the new recording format. Even though it’s no longer necessary, with the advent first of long playing records, now cds and mp3s, the average song length is still between 3 and 4 minutes long.
posted by Jen on 9-12-2007 at 2:03 pm
The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.
posted by Lindsey on 9-12-2007 at 2:21 pm
I have some random trivia about trivia. It’s self-relating, and thus sexy.
Trivia comes from the Latin trivium, tri- meaning “three” and via meaning “road.” These “crossroads” would, likely, be places where people met up and discussed vulgar, or trivial, subjects.
Recently there has been some debate whether or not this was the first use of the word, but etymologists are an odd sort so who knows?
posted by Norm on 9-12-2007 at 2:31 pm
Jason - You are the hottest guy on the net!
posted by Anonymous on 9-12-2007 at 2:39 pm
Fact: The magic word ‘Abracadabra’ was originally intended for the specific purpose of curing hay fever!
posted by Kellie on 9-12-2007 at 4:12 pm
The ancient Greeks fenced off spots that had been struck by lightning so that men would not tread on ground touched by the gods.
posted by Rachel on 9-12-2007 at 5:32 pm
Random facts, hey? Well, smarty pants, when something is too expensive we say, “pay through the nose?” Give up?
(I like this because it shows the true character of the Anglo-Saxon Race.)
In England in he 6th through the 9th centuries, Denmark owned the middle one third of the country. Being Vikings, the penalty for not paying your taxes was having your nose sliced in two down the middle. It left a huge purple blob scar for the rest of your life. And when people saw such an unfortunate coming down the road, the usual comment was, “Well, he paid his taxes through the nose.”
I really hope you weren’t eaing lunch while reading this!
posted by Charles Downey on 9-12-2007 at 5:51 pm
The Falkland Islands, off the coast of Argentina, is rich with oil but not so rich with trees. To make up for their lack of wood they use what they DO have plenty of to keep their fires going: Penguins! That’s right. Coincidentally, the thick fat that keeps those penguins so warm during those cold nights also burns like a Menorah during the Jewish Revolt. How would Morgan Freeman narrate that?
-Cory
posted by Cory on 9-12-2007 at 6:01 pm
Technically, Honolulu is the world’s largest city. 72% of it is underwater.
posted by Pointy-Hatted Geek on 9-12-2007 at 6:31 pm
Rain contains vitamin B12.
R.
posted by RandomEsq on 9-12-2007 at 6:43 pm
The “elbow pit”, or inside of the elbow, is the cubital fossa. Thanks to my grandson Julian’s questioning, I learned this random fact.
posted by Barbara on 9-12-2007 at 8:04 pm
So, I think the capybara person should win. Not because it’s the most random fact, but because capybaras (capybare?) are just that fantastic. Gigantic guinea pigs!
posted by Liz on 9-12-2007 at 8:19 pm
Random Fact:
78% of statistics are made up.
posted by Aimee D on 9-12-2007 at 9:06 pm
Love this site, so seriously.
Random Fact:
Many skeptics involved in commenting on the skeletons of “hobbits” on Flores say that hominids of that small of stature could never be intelligent enough to be considered human, yet they completely ignore the primordial dwarf population. Primordial dwarves are perfectly normally proportioned, just about half the size of non-dwarves, and have completely normal brain functioning. Something is lacking in these scientists’ research….
posted by Milica on 9-12-2007 at 10:58 pm
The phrase “If you can’t stand the heat, you better get out of the kitchen” was popularized by former president Harry S. Truman.
posted by Kevin A on 9-13-2007 at 12:45 am
Sir Issac Newton’s dog’s name was Diamond. Lost a game of Trivial Pursuit because I didn’t know it.
posted by Robert Connell on 9-13-2007 at 7:29 am
Wow, thanks - a one-page survey is a rare thing these days.
Best fact I have is that there are 2 (two) species of brachiopod known to live in the seas today. This is interesting only because fossilized brachiopods can be found alongside fossilized trilobites, among other not-so-recently extinct critters.
posted by Scott on 9-13-2007 at 8:04 am
Random and Generally Amusing Fact:
“Pumpernickel” (you know, the bread) has its etymology in the German for “Devil’s fart.” ‘Pumpern’ being the German for, well, “fart,” and “Nickel” being a common German expression for a goblin or devil. So the next time you bite into your next Pumpernickeled sandwich (assuming you still have the courage), just remember that you’re consuming evil flatulence.
posted by Andy on 9-13-2007 at 9:39 am
My Random Fact: The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the weight of all the books that would occupy the building.
posted by Kelli K. on 9-13-2007 at 12:41 pm
Random Fact:
The only fruit with the seeds on the outside?
Strawberries
posted by Kaberi on 9-13-2007 at 3:50 pm
Aww! If I’d read this post instead of clicking the email link, I’d have signed up for the newsletter again. Perhaps there should have been a separate survey for the newsletter types, with its own pool for a shirt (and possibly more shirts?).
Anyway, my random fact for the day:
Electric scooters (an environmentally-friendly mode of transport) use the same type of connector for their recharge ports that professional microphones use to send audio signals, called XLR. The scooters, however, reverse the polarity of the pins (pin 1 hot, 2 cold, 3 ground instead of pin 1 ground, 2 cold, 3 hot) and are soldered onto normal electrical cords instead of audio cable.
Visit the website linked to my name for more information about electric scooters.
posted by sfs on 9-13-2007 at 5:53 pm
Random Fact: I am the 71st person to respond on this subject! Random Fact: Remember, my name is “John Brown”. Theres “John Brown’s” raid on “harpers Ferry”. The son sang by Lincolns soldiers about to go into battle, thinking thet were about to loose, “John Brown’s body lies a molding in the grave”.Random Fact: There are only 2 remaining “Liberty Ships from ww2, one is the “USS John W Brown”.Random Fact: Theres also a “General John Brown in Iraq.Random Fact: Thens theres the old nursery ryme “John Brown had 10 little indians”. Random Fact: counting this random fact, I have left 6 random facts!
posted by John Brown on 9-15-2007 at 10:28 am
roflmao@John Brown
Random Fact #72:
I’m a descendent of John Brown…
Seriously, lol. My mother’s side of the family.
posted by Milica on 9-15-2007 at 10:30 pm