Vote for the Sexiest Geeks of 2007. Strangely, no one from mental_floss has been submitted yet.
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2007: The Year in Review. A look back at the events of the year, in Jib Jab’s trademark animation style.
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A collection of tips, actually links to full articles, on how to start getting up early in the morning. But don’t stay up too late reading them!
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At the Heart of Attraction Lies Confusion: Choice Blindness. People can come up with reasons for the choices they make, and even for choices they don’t make!
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Hotel Mauna Kea, a song about the observatory in Hawaii. It’s clever, and really draws my sympathy for the poor folks who must make their living stargazing in paradise.
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The 10 Best Rollercoasters on Earth. Just imagine, someone had to ride all these and more in order to rank them.
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Ten “trials of the century”. Each deserves the title in its own way.

As we near year’s end, we’re re-posting a few heavily commented-upon posts from earlier in 2007. Here’s one of our favorites, from September. This post also inspired my all-time favorite negative comment (#12).

I’ve never been in a great public restroom. I was under the impression they were all basically disgusting, with varying levels of nastiness.

Apparently, I’ve been going in all the wrong places.

Cintas, a company that sells corporate restroom supplies, has been naming America’s Best Restrooms since 2001. This year’s winner: Jungle Jim’s International Market in Fairfield, Ohio.

Considering my grocery store does not have public restrooms, I’m impressed. And that’s just the outside.

Here’s the America’s Best Restroom write-up: “Jungle Jim’s International Market is approximately 300,000 square feet of shopping ingenuity - it has Amish food, a cheese shoppe, garden center, international cuisine, cooking classes and eight aisles of pet supplies to name a few. And in the heart of it all, you’ll find that Jungle Jim’s famous restrooms stop shoppers dead in their tacks. Talk about bathroom humor — the entrance doors are actual port-o-lets. Unsuspecting shoppers patiently wait their turn until they see three or four people exiting. Upon opening the door they discover a gigantic, modern restroom within. Truly a luxurious port-o-potty - Jungle Jim’s style!”

Here are some other bathrooms you’d be lucky to find across the country.
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The SFGate recently crowned “subprime” the 2007 Word of the Year, over “surge” and the terms “carbon footprint” and “wide stance.” Merriam-Webster, as we reported, picked the interjection “w00t” and the new Oxford American Dictionary chose “locavore.” And on January 4th the American Dialect Society will vote for their pick of ‘07; among the finalists: “astronaut diaper,” “bacn,” “earmarxist” and “smeet.” Also a bunch of other more sexist, racist, and otherwise offensive terms (though definitely circulating throughout the year) I was surprised slash annoyed to see. If any of those are picked, it’ll make for a pretty incendiary or at least really awkward press release.

For me, the word of the year is similarly wrought from circumstances–in this case, casting work. “Favored nations” would have to be my vote for the 2007 Word/Term of the/my Year. I had no idea what it meant until casting for a particular show whose producers knew we wouldn’t get anyone on board unless all the talent’s paychecks were identical; simply blurting “favored nations” meant there would be no equivocating.

Would love to hear your nominations, whether culled from a year of work lingo, inside jokes, or elsewhere…

2008 is nearly upon us, which means we’ll again have to pay attention when filling out forms, writing checks, and referencing dates. A pain, yes, but there’s at least one good thing about 2008 before it even begins: it’s the 50th anniversary of the year 1958.

And what’s so special about 1958? Why, it was the year that Explorer I, the first U.S. satellite, reached space. It was the year that Ian Fleming published Dr. No. It was the year the first Grammy Awards were presented. It was the year that baseball moved to California, as the Giants and Dodgers headed west. It was the year the first Pizza Hut opened. The Boeing 707 went into service. The American Express Card made its debut. Elvis Presley entered the military. The ruckus behind the TV game show “Twenty-One” was revealed.

We could go on and on, but that would defeat the purpose of this weekend’s Genius Challenge. And that’s for you to come up with the oddest, coolest, most anniversary-worthy event that occurred back in 1958. If we’re going to celebrate the New Year, we need to know what we’re celebrating. So offer your submissions by commenting to this post.

The winner will receive a T-shirt of his or her choice from the mental_floss store. As always, please include the style and size of T-shirt you’d like along with your entry. We must approve comments before they appear, so don’t worry if your entry doesn’t show up right away. We’ll get to it as soon as we can. We’ll vote on a winner Monday, and if we’re conscious on Tuesday, we’ll post the winner. If not, we’ll post it Wednesday, and you’ll know that we spent the morning of January 1 toasting the fact that 2008 is the 50th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo by having a glass of champagne and spinning around wildly in our swivel chairs.

Good luck!

(Cleanup, aisle three.)

As we near year’s end, I’m re-posting a few heavily-commented-upon posts from earlier in the year. Here’s one of my favorites!

I’ve been mildly obsessed with the novels of Nevil Shute for the past three years, and have finally completed my collection of his books — 25 volumes in all, including an autobiography. I still have two books left to read, and they’re lined up at the end of my Shute Shelf. The unread books are both old editions from the 50’s, and have that pleasant library/grandma’s attic smell to them.

This is not the first time I’ve read every book by a given author — I had a Michael Crichton phase in high school, followed by an Arthur C. Clarke phase (I didn’t read everything, but close). Prior to high school, I’m pretty sure I read everything Cynthia Voigt ever wrote. After college I discovered and devoured Neal Stephenson’s work (including the Stephen Bury books).

Anyway, it took me years to track down all the Nevil Shute volumes, and I feel a certain completist satisfaction in seeing them all together on a shelf. When I finish the last one, I’m considering going back and reading them over, chronologically (I hear you get bonus nerd points for doing that). Shute’s books are pretty similar in their details: there’s generally some sort of challenge that necessitates a long journey, a lot of technical material concerning airplanes and boats, and some sort of wartime romance. Despite this similarity of theme (or perhaps because of it), I still enjoy each volume, and reading so much by a single author has taught me something about writing — I can see him experimenting with technique, and I can see his style evolve over time. I’m even considering going to a meetup sponsored by the Nevil Shute Norway Foundation — thus solidifying my status as a superfan.

Anyway, all this got me thinking: which authors have inspired you to read all their work? And yeah, I suppose J.K. Rowling counts.

Note: check out the 212 comments on the original post!

As we near year’s end, we’re re-posting a few heavily commented-upon posts from earlier in 2007. Here’s one of our favorites, from October.

I took a course last semester called “Research Methods and Theory.” It was as exciting as it sounds. I would much rather have been taking one of these 12 classes. From pop culture to maple syrup, these aren’t your average lectures.

1. The Horror Film in Context (Bowdoin)

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Some of these not-so-secret admirers could sell their own jerseys in stadium stores. Some should be locked up. (And one is.)

1. Bobby Murcer’s Biggest Fan

Our first story has a fairy-tale middle and a horrible ending. In August of ‘77, Bobby Murcer of the Cubs promised to hit a home run for terminally ill fan Scott Crull. That night, Murcer hit two of them. Pretty amazing, especially when you consider Murcer only hit nine homers the whole next season. But that’s not why Crull – a 12-year-old from Calumet City, Illinois, with bone cancer – makes this list.

Broadcasting the game nationally on ABC, Keith Jackson told the country how Murcer had fulfilled the dying boy’s last wish. Eyes watered, spines tingled. There was only one problem – nobody had ever told the boy he was dying. His parents were horrified. Three weeks later, Crull passed away.

2. The Good Luck Charmers

Every sport has its own strange traditions. I’d argue hockey’s “throwing an octopus on the ice for good luck” is the weirdest. Tossing the eight-tentacled cephalopod was the brainchild of Detroit storeowners Pete & Jerry Cusimano. The date: April 15, 1952. The logic: one tentacle for each of the eight victories it took to win the Stanley Cup. Later that spring, most likely fueled by the good luck octopus, the Red Wings won the title. PETA has objected to this practice, which continues to this day. The Red Wings mascot is not a Red Wing, but Al the Octopus.

3. The John 3:16 Guy

Also known as “Rainbow Man,” the born-again Rollen Stewart and his John 3:16 signs were fixtures at major events in the 1970s and 80s. He brought his message to the World Series, Super Bowl, Olympics, and World Cup. He was outside Buckingham Palace when Di & Charles wed; he went to see the Pope in Alaska. But he was more religious fanatic than sports fan. According to the LA Times, Stewart planned to assassinate President Bush and candidate Clinton in 1992. And he’s now serving three life sentences for holding a maid hostage at a Los Angeles Hyatt, also in 1992.

By the way, chapter three, verse sixteen of the Gospel of John says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This is also printed on cups at the In-N-Out Burger.
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• If you’re looking for something to do today, and you’re smart and easy to work with, you could apply to be a mental_floss intern. The deadline is December 31st.

• “Ten Groundbreaking Jewish Comedians,” an article from a past issue of mental_floss magazine, is currently running on CNN.com.

• Our own Miss Cellania was recently featured on ABC News, discussing the year’s best viral videos.

• According to Alexa, mentalfloss.com is the fifth most popular website in their ‘Magazines & E-zines’ category, behind only Time, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report and The Atlantic. Just in case they’re wrong, or it comes out that Mangesh has been drinking performance-enhancing coffee, I took a screen shot.

• And finally, toward the end of next month, we’ll be launching our first Facebook trivia application. Look for updates here on the blog, or join the ‘I Read Mental Floss’ group.

There are all kinds of urban legends and uninformed speculations about the peculiar phenomenon of sleepwalking, and whether or not somnambulists should be woken up whilst engaging in those vespertinal semi-conscious perambulations. This blogger has even heard — in the context of campfire stories and internet rumors — that waking someone from a sleepwalk can kill them. In fact, according to Scientific American, the opposite is true: sleepwalks can often be dangerous in and of themselves, and it’s best to wake walkers and soothingly lead them back to bed, however jarring it is for them. (Kids are at especially high risk for somnambulism, so keep an eye on your 11- and 12-year-olds’ sleeping habits.) Much scarier than being woken from a sleepwalk, however, is what sleepwalkers can do to themselves or others without knowing it: (more…)

Christmas Cards Arrive from Dead Man

Chet Fitch was known for his sense of humor. He died in October at age 88, but 34 of his friends received Christmas cards from him with the return address “Heaven.” It came out that Fitch had planned the after-death Christmas cards beginning twenty years ago by arranging for his barber to do the mailing.

Squirrels Use “Snake Perfume” to Fool Predators

California ground squirrels and rock squirrels chew on discarded rattlesnake skin, then smear it on their fur. The result is that they smell like rattlesnake instead of squirrels, which may protect them from snake attack. The study was published in the journal Animal Behavior.

Woman Stays in Wal*Mart for Three Days

Police said a 70-year-old woman spent three days inside the Wal*Mart store in Lilburn, Georgia sleeping, shopping and eating at a fast-food outlet. When asked what she was doing, she replied, “Shopping.” The unidentified woman was escorted home after making her purchases.

We Interrupt This Program….

Anchor Ravi Baichwal was on-air live during the 10PM newscast Sunday at channel 7 in Chicago, when a minivan crashed through the studio wall! The interruption became the news as it happened. The driver, 25-year-old Gerald Richardson, said he “wanted to be on the news.”

Man Spent Christmas Eve Trapped Upside Down in Septic Tank

77-year-old Robert Schoff was just trying to clear a clog in his septic tank when he took a tumble and fell in head first. He became stuck with his feet in the air for an hour before his wife came to look for him. She couldn’t get him out and called emergency personnel, who succeeded in pulling him out.

“I thought it was the end of my life,” he reflects. “Thank God my wife saw me. I don’t think I could have stood staying in there much more.”

“It was the worst Christmas Eve I’ve ever had.”

Spiderman Joins the UN

Spiderman has a new mission: to improve the image of the United Nations. The UN will team with Marvel Comics to produce a comic book in which superheroes such as Spidey help peacekeepers battle evildoers in a fictional war-torn country.

UFO Debate Invades Japanese Politicians’ Space

A debate over flying saucers has kept Japanese politicians occupied for much of this week. An opposition leader demanded the government confirm the existence of unidentified flying objects. Several government officials gave differing answers, which tied up legislative business and kept the news outlets busy.