Back in 2007, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a terrific article for The New Yorker on the history of I.Q. At its core, Gladwell’s article is a book review, covering James Flynn’s What Is Intelligence? Gladwell discusses a series of surprising facts about I.Q., and explains long-held debates about differences in I.Q. among populations (the most famous being the brouhaha over The Bell Curve). The salient facts are: 1. I.Q. scores are frequently normed. In general, the entire population taking the test tends to get better at the test over time — this is called the Flynn effect, and on average we’re getting 0.3 points better per year. To account for the Flynn effect, periodically the I.Q. tests are renormalized such that the median score remains at 100. This means that someone who scores a 100 on a new test has tested better than someone who got a 100 on the old test.

Why does this matter? Well, I’ll let Gladwell delve into the details, but the core issue is that you can’t easily compare scores over spans of time because the tests and their scores have been changing. Where it gets really weird is when you look into the classification of low scores (specifically, who is retarded) and you correct for norming over time. As Gladwell writes:

…the Flynn effect puts the average I.Q.s of the schoolchildren of 1900 at around 70, which is to suggest, bizarrely, that a century ago the United States was populated largely by people who today would be considered mentally retarded.

Now, clearly this was not the case. So what exactly does the Flynn effect mean?

2. I.Q. tests measure culturally specific cognition, not core intelligence. Although I’ve heard this argument for years (and agreed with it on principle), I’ve never heard a succinct explanation of specifically what’s going on in the tests. In what specific way is I.Q. a test of cultural characteristics? Here’s what Gladwell writes (in part):

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I live in Los Angeles, confronted by homelessness daily. I’m lucky to never have experienced it myself, but I don’t know anyone in this city who’s never looked at a homeless person and thought to themselves, if just fleetingly, what would my life be like if I were homeless? Would I be able to handle it?

There are resources available on the internet which can help. A great one is the Survival Guide to Homelessness, an absolutely fascinating how-to guide written by a gentleman who was homeless for several years in his twenties, and lived to write about it. His writing is engrossing and his advice is practical, and I’ve reprinted a selection of my favorite passages below, though I recommend reading the whole blog from start to finish (it’ll take you an hour or so, tops).

To put you in the mindset, I recently rediscovered most of my favorite documentary ever, 1984’s Streetwise, on YouTube — here are the first eight minutes. It’s a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, about homeless kids in Seattle, with a few NSFW words. (Skip the first minute, it’s just credits.)

Homelessness happens

The best preparation for homelessness is knowing that you could be, and looking at the resources around you with that in mind.

How secure are you really? How many paychecks could you go without before the rent, the mortgage, the credit card, and the car are not being paid? If you said two, you are doing better than most. If you would be immediately using whatever consumer credit you have available, you’re like most of us. Like storms, earthquakes, and car accidents, homelessness happens. It happens to decent, hardworking people. It happens because our lives are a system, and when part of that system fails the whole thing can come crashing down.
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The Justice League has been around in comics, cartoons and even a television movie for years with a rotating cast of superheroes. But can you remember the founding members? In this quiz, we’re simply asking you to name the seven original members of the Justice League of America that debuted in 1960. We’re looking for superhero identities only, so no alter egos necessary.

Take the Quiz: Justice League

On January 26, a woman in Bellflower, California, gave birth to octuplets – six boys and two girls. This bunch of babies is only the second set of live-born octuplets in the U.S. In celebration of Xeroxed siblings everywhere, this week’s TVHolic salutes multiples (and their media-savvy parents).

From NICU to SAG

Some star-struck parents of prematurely born twins are able to cash in on their early-bird babies by allowing them to appear in TV shows or films as a newborn. Unless it’s a reality medical series, most childbirth scenes in television and films are make-believe. Child labor laws vary from state to state, but in California, where the majority of those productions are made, a baby has to be at least 15 days old in order to get a work permit. Of course, most full-term babies have lost that “newborn” look after two weeks – their eyes are wide open, they’ve gained some weight, and their heads have begun to round out. So casting directors seek out “professional preemies” – babies born before their scheduled due date (twins preferred, in order to skirt around that 20-minutes-max camera time rule) but who are healthy enough to be brought to the studio. The law counts the actual date of birth, not the expected date, so, for example, a baby born after only seven months’ gestation is still going to look tiny and fragile and appropriately “newborn” at the age of fifteen days. The law forbids smearing makeup on newborns, so cream cheese and jam are used to give them that authentic “fresh out of the uterus” look.

Being a “Happy Baby” Pays Off

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We’re back with another 5-day trivia hunt!

Again, the rules: Every remaining day this week, I’ll be presenting a specific challenge. Your job: come up with the answers and hold onto them! Why? Because on Monday, next week, you’ll need them to solve a short puzzle. The first person to email in the correct answers and successfully show how you arrived at them (thus the title: How Did You Know?) wins a choice of any TWO t-shirts and book from our store. In addition to the above, we’ll be awarding a t-shirt to one random winner who has all the correct answers. So even if you’re not the first one with the right answers, there’s still a chance to wind up a winner on HDYK?

And remember, we’re also giving away a really big, sa-weeet prize to any winning contestant who can defend the title three months in a row. Katie Richie and Stacy Vallely are our current champions. You can read about them here.

As with previous How Did You Know? posts, comments have been turned off, but I definitely encourage you to work in teams like our present champions did. Write your friends, send around each daily challenge, conspire, work together, whatever it takes to make sure you’re armed with the right answers going into next Monday’s puzzle. (Questions? drop us an e-mail at: TriviaHunt@Gmail.com)

If you missed Day 1’s challenge, you can find that right over here. Day 2 can be found this-a-way.

Today we’re playing Name That Location. In the puzzle on the next page, the names of seven U.S. locations (cities, villages, towns, etc.) are camouflaged. Each location is home to a major astronomical observatory. The letters of each answer are in order from left to right. You just have to clear away the unneeded letters in the row in order to see the correct words.

Hint: Names of states do not appear in the puzzle, only cities, etc. (e.g. If the name of the location were Tuscan, Arizona, only the word Tuscan would appear in the puzzle.)

See you back for your fourth challenge tomorrow…

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Here’s a look at the early days of some popular newspapers and magazines. We’ll save the story of the humble dormitory origins of mental_floss for another time.

The New York Times

Founded in 1851, the Times made serious history just 20 years later: In 1871, its muckraking brought down the famous Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall. (The term “muckraking” hadn’t actually been coined at the time, however; it was an early-1900s phenomenon.) Bought by Adolph Ochs in 1896, it was soon given its famous slogan “All the News that’s Fit to Print,” which was more than just a boast: it was also a jab at its rivals’ infamous “yellow journalism.” The Times moved into new digs on 42nd Street in 1904, giving its name to the surrounding area, which is of course known today as Times Square.

The Washington Post

Like the Times, the Post—one of the city’s most venerable non-government institutions—produced high-end copy right from its founding in 1877. Unlike the Times, it needed some extra help to increase circulation. In 1889, in a bid to get people excited about reading the paper, the Post management commissioned a theme song. The resulting tune, named simply “The Washington Post,” is often heard by oblivious spectators at patriotic parades: It’s the work of John Philip Sousa.

Time and Newsweek

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I was at the drug store buying toothpaste yesterday, and the variety available just astounded me. I remember when there were basically three choices: mint paste, red gel, or green gel. Then they started swirling the gel with the paste, and there was no turning back. Whitening is fine. But purple toothpaste with sparkles? C’mon…

Anyway, today’s Brain Game: By changing one letter at a time, and leaving all others in their place, change the word “TOOTH” into the word “PASTE” using a bridge of English words. I couldn’t do better than six steps. How about you?

[On Monday, I asked for your best photos with celebrities, and I've been obsessively checking the flossypics@gmail.com inbox ever since. Submissions include presidents, vice presidents, former candidates, other disgraced politicians, movie stars, geek legends, Super Bowl champions, various talk show hosts and so much more. I'll post some of our favorites on Friday. Keep them coming!]

Last month, our own Chris Weber sent me this picture of himself posing with the infamous Rod Blagojevich in front of Wrigley Field. I’ve been looking for an excuse to post it ever since, and I hope Chris (or the governor) doesn’t mind if we use the photo as the jumping-off point for today’s book giveaway. The prize is a good one—FBI 100 Years: An Unofficial History, and the challenge is a little different.

We want you to send us your best photo-taken-with-a-celebrity, be it a controversial politician, former child star, Olympic hero or reclusive author. Doesn’t matter why they’re famous, or how you convinced them to pose with you. Email your photos to flossypics@gmail.com. We’ll post some of the more enjoyable submissions on Friday, so you have time to do your scanning.

Most of the world seems to think that America invented obesity sometime in the last century, but the truth is, fat has always been a part of life (witness Hatshepsut, one of the great ancient Egyptian queens who reigned in the 15th century BC—despite her svelte sarcophagus, modern archeologists believe that she was pretty obese and may have suffered from diabetes).

So it stands to reason that dieting has been around just as long.

Some historians credit William the Conqueror with starting the first fad diet. Having grown too fat to ride his horse, William went on a liquid diet in 1087—or, rather, a liquor diet, since all he did was drink booze. The story might be apocryphal—William, still fat, actually died after falling from his horse and there was no word on whether he was drunk at the time—but it’s a good one, and it sets the tone for the next 1000+ years of dieting. Throughout history, people have been looking for some kind of magic that will allow one to eat and live as one pleases, but still look emaciatedly gorgeous. And they’ve come up with some pretty dubious theories that somehow took hold in the public consciousness and became fads. Here are a few of our favorites.

Location, Location, Location

“The Causes and Effects of Corpulence” was a treatise penned in 1727 by one Thomas Short, in which he observed that larger people were more likely to live near swampy areas. His advice? Fat people should move to more arid climes.

Improbable Side Effects

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If Sunday’s Super Bowl is like most of the previous 42, it will be forgettable unless you consider the Terrible Towel a fashion accessory or are one of the few and, at long last, proud Cardinals fans. While there was a dude who walked around in a dress, even yesterday’s Media Day was rather tame. At least there’s still hope that the commercials will be good. Here’s a look back at some of the colorful characters and memorable ads from the previous three Super Bowls held in Tampa Bay. Perhaps they’ll jog your memory of the actual games.

2001: Super Bowl XXXV

The game was a dud – the Baltimore Ravens routed the New York Giants 34-7 to win their first Super Bowl – but the week leading up to the game was rife with uncharacteristically serious storylines. Ray Lewis, the leader of the Ravens’ dominating defense, was grilled by reporters about his alleged involvement in a murder the previous year, while Giants quarterback Kerry Collins opened up about his battle with alcoholism. Tony Siragusa, who was a bazillion times funnier as a player than he is as a sideline reporter, ensured the week wasn’t completely devoid of comic relief.

Media Day Notes: Siragusa, who misses a beat in answering questions about as often as he misses a meal, was asked what he’d be doing if he weren’t a football player. “A stripper,” replied the 340-pound defensive tackle, who was also asked if he needed a shoehorn to put on his helmet. (No, just a little grease.) The Giants’ Michael Strahan wasn’t spared the inanity. A reporter asked him if he had ever met actress and fellow gap-toothed icon Lauren Hutton. Strahan said he met her once and thanked her for making the gap in vogue.

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