In case you’re not familiar with the Turnip, it’s a whimsical Google search, wherein I type a random phrase and we see what kind of interesting pages “turn-up.” As always with this feature, the _floss is not responsible for accuracy. If you know one of the below statements/links to be untrue, by all means, let the world know in the comments below.

Today I typed “the only person ever” into Google, unearthing the following:

Turnip #1

The only person ever to receive a nobel prize in both chemistry and physics [was] Marie Curie (1867-1934), who received a Nobel in Physics in 1903 and in Chemistry in 1911.

Turnip #2

The only person ever to score 100 points in the NBA [was] Wilt Chamberlain.

Turnip #3

Kirk Jones – the only person ever to survive an unprotected trip over Niagara Falls

Turnip #4

Two – the number of nominations Barry Fitzgerald received in 1944 for his performance in Going My Way – he was nominated as both Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, the only person ever to have been nominated twice for the same role. He won Best Supporting Actor, but lost the Best Actor race to castmate Bing Crosby. The Academy subsequently changed its rules to prevent double nominations.

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Back in 1933, the first issue of Time Magazine featured Joseph G. Cannon, the retired Speaker of the House. You shouldn’t be expected to know this. But perhaps you’ll do better with some of these magazines. Can you figure out who was pictured on the inaugural cover?

Take the Quiz: Who Was on Issue #1?

I know I’m not alone when I say that I have always wanted to have a secret passageway in my house. I’m sure many of you _flossers probably feel the same way—even Moby has install one in his house (he showed it off on Cribs).

If you’re one of the many people who fantasizes about these awesome hiding places, then you’ll certainly enjoy this post on TheChive featuring a number of cool hidden passages. Some reveal storage spaces, others have passageways, one is just hiding a beer fridge. The bottom line is that all of them are fascinating. Have you ever stumbled upon a hidden passageway? Where did it lead?

Trying to improve upon classic comic and cartoon characters is like messing with Mother Nature. Still, there’s nothing wrong with re-imagining a character from a different point of view. Tools like Photoshop make it easier than ever to give texture and shadow to plain line drawings, so converting our favorite cartoon characters into a more realistic style is too tempting to pass up. This is sometimes called “un-tooning.”

Artist Tim O’Brien drew his more worldly version of Charlie Brown and named it Chuck Brown. This was created for a show called “Monsters”.

Movie makeup effects artist Rick Baker designed Popeye as a real, as in really scary, person. Kinda makes you wonder what he’d do with Olive Oyl!

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Here is today’s Brain Game; please say hello to Spinner.

Spinner has four appointments scheduled for different times and days next week; one Monday, one Tuesday, one Friday, and one Saturday. The times-of-day of these four appointments are (in no particular order) 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 9 a.m., and noon. Based on the following three clues, try to determine the day of the week and time of day for each of the four appointments on Spinner’s schedule. Good luck!

1. Monday’s appointment is scheduled to occur on the half-hour.

2. Tuesday’s appointment is scheduled for the morning.

3. Saturday’s appointment is scheduled exactly 1.5 hours earlier in the day than Friday’s appointment.

The 7 Most Amazing One-Take Video Clips. Some of these would still be amazing even if they had been edited.
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Extreme pain and stress can actually impair a person’s ability to tell the truth. Just in case ineffectiveness is more important than inhumanity in deciding whether to sanction torture.
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Where the Wild Things Ought To Be. Artists of all kinds put Max and his monster friends in other worlds. (via Super Punch)
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Doctors Are Giving Heroin to Heroin Addicts. The program works to help them get it together for a post-addiction life.
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30 Dumb Inventions. Yeah, the cigarette umbrella is dumb, but the rocket belt is to die for!
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100 Greatest Viral Videos in 4 Minutes. Were there really 100? It was only three-and-a-half minutes. I recognized all but two.
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Richard Nixon and 12 Other Celebrity Quakers. Including Cassius Coolidge, whom you don’t know but will never forget after you read this article.

Some of these are parodies, and some are for real — see if you can tell the difference!

Cleveland

Excerpts from this homemade ad were featured in Michael Moore’s new movie Capitalism: A Love Story.

I like the “second attempt” more:

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Everyone knows The Mickey Mouse Club of the early ‘90s was full of people who would go on to become big stars – Britney, Justin, Christina, Keri Russell, J.C. Chasez and Ryan Gosling, namely. But what about those other Mouseketeers? In case you’ve been wondering, I’ve got 10 answers for you.

1. Rhona Bennett was on MMC for four years before going on to become the self-titled Miss R&B. She had a recurring role on The Jamie Foxx Show, but what most excited me was that she was a member of another ‘90s staple, En Vogue, from 2003-2008. When original member Dawn Robinson came back in 2008, Rhona was given the boot.

2. Matt Morris may have served as a Mouseketeer for just a few years, but his co-stars remembered him. He wrote five songs with Christina Aguilera for her Stripped album, including “Can’t Hold Us Down.” Likewise, he co-wrote “(Another Song) All Over Again” from Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds album, and J.T. returned the favor by writing a song for the disc Morris released in 2004. He’s currently signed to Timberlake’s label, Tennman Records.

3. Tate Lynche was a MMCer from 1993 until the show was canceled in 1995, but if you’re a fan of American Idol you’ve seen him since then: he made it to the semi-finals of season three (the one Fantasia Barrino ended up winning). He went by the name Marque Lynche and apparently didn’t impress Paula, Randy and Simon the way he impressed the Disney Channel, because he was part of the first round of semi-final eliminations. But you can see vintage Lynche here – and check out little J.T. and Ryan Gosling!
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Sure, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But how much do you really know about all those sugary-sweet cereals that have kept kids awake and hyper at school (at least until lunch)? Grab your bowl and see how well you do!

Take the Quiz: Spoon Candy

Here’s something that happened. In the early twentieth century, a popular piece of art for the fashionable French home was L’Inconnue de la Seine (translation: “the unknown woman of the Seine”), a completely creepy death-mask (pictured at left) of a young woman whose body had been pulled from the Seine River in Paris, sometime in the 1870s or 1880s. As the (somewhat questionable) story goes, a pathologist at the morgue found the unknown woman’s face enchanting, so he made a death mask, a plaster casting of her face. The resulting cast was widely reproduced and became both a popular objet d’art, as well as extremely influential to writers, artists, and indeed young girls who attempted to replicate her (dead) looks. And you thought your friends were goth in high school….

Having said all that, there are some questions as to the real origin of the mask (whether its source was indeed a dead woman or if it was a life mask from an unknown living woman who never spoke up), but let’s just stick with the standard story and see how creepy it gets, shall we? As Wikipedia explains (emphasis added):

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