“Lethal injection” isn’t a marketing term or a cute nickname. The intent of the injection is to execute someone. So why bother with the alcohol swab and sterile needle? Are they really worried about the condemned getting an infection?

Well, yes.

We’ve all seen movies where someone is about to be executed, and then, at the last possible second, the governor calls and either delays or commutes the sentence. Things like that happen in real life, too.

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Peel banana. Place peel on ground. Insert comic moment.

Banana peel slips remain a source of human fascination and schadenfreude. From the classic watch-what-I-did-to-my-brother to the scientific analysis of peel quality, check out these fine videos demonstrating the art of falling on your butt because of a banana.

Revenge of the Unpeeled People

For all those outraged at the injustices done to humanity by those slips of banana, here is proof that justice exists.

Bananas: Busted

The MythBusters analyze the science behind the slippery nature of banana skin. (more…)

The man who has provided us with some of the best quips of all time is also one of the most misquoted men of all time. I guess that’s the problem with being as clever as Mark Twain – when someone hears a great witticism and has no one to attribute it to, they just assume it was Mr. Clemens. On what would have been his 175th birthday, here are 10 quotes Mark Twain likely never uttered, despite popular belief.

1. “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” It has also been attributed to Agatha Christie. Neither source can be verified.
He DID say: “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.”

2. “It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt.”

He DID say: “[He] was endowed with a stupidity which by the least little stretch would go around the globe four times and tie.”

3. “Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.”

He DID say: “When a Library expels a book of mine and leaves an unexpurgated Bible lying around where unprotected youth and age can get hold of it, the deep unconscious irony of it delights me and doesn’t anger me.”

4. “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.”

He DID say: “I reverently believe that the Maker who made us all makes everything in New England but the weather. I don’t know who makes that, but I think it must be raw apprentices in the weather-clerk’s factory who experiment and learn how, in New England, for board and clothes, and then are promoted to make weather for countries that require a good article, and will take their custom elsewhere if they don’t get it.”

5. “I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” This was actually written by Blaise Pascal.

He DID say: “We write frankly and fearlessly but then we “modify” before we print.”
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We had a lot of fun giving away daily neatorama prizes this month! We hope you continue to enjoy this new aspect of the game. Thanks for being active on the Facebook page. Head over there to find out if you’re a random winner, as we just announced that. Meantime, congrats to our first place winner Cara Vu, one-half of Team Vu, who won the Hunt twice before:

I’m honored and ecstatic to have won HDYK this month! This month I unfortunately had to go it alone, since Kim is actually in Malawi right now on a project for the international development consulting firm he works for. But Kim participated in spirit, of course, and I’m sure he’ll be excited that team Vu has garnered another HDYK win, haha (though of course this is not nearly as exciting as being in Malawi). As for me, I’m currently in my freshman year at UPenn, enjoying learning new things, meeting new people, exploring Philadelphia, and procrastinating on my homework and studying by doing HDYK puzzles. Thanks again for this month’s awesome trivia hunt, and see you next month!

Final Answer

Apple and Cider

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This is sort of a trick question, as they technically didn’t wear “helmets,” but leather “flight caps” that covered the head and ears. These kept the pilots from getting too cold or going deaf while flying with their cockpit canopies open, which they sometimes did to get a better view when taking off, landing, or looking for landmarks.

Even if the kamikazes had access to the helmets of modern aviation, though, wearing them wouldn’t be a pointless endeavor on a mission to crash their planes into American warships. If you’re familiar with aviation or even gravity, you know that a pilot’s helmet is not going to do much good in most crashes. A plane meeting another solid object abruptly normally results in death, no matter what the pilot has on his or her head. What a helmet, or even a softer leather flight cap, is good for is protecting a pilot’s head from getting knocked by the cockpit canopy during high-speed, mid-air maneuvering, like the kind you have to do to avoid gunfire while nosediving into a ship.

Couple this with the fact that kamikazes sometimes had to abort their missions before the explosive finale due to turbulence, weather or visibility issues, and the pilots’ protective headgear becomes much more apparent as an aid to help them complete their mission, not necessarily survive it.

I want to send you $50. Because you deserve $50!

Unfortunately, the economics of a give-all-our-readers-$50 promotion concerned our accounting department.

So let’s try this: I’m going to give $50 to someone who buys (or has already bought) our new game, Split Decision. All you have to do is buy the game and send me a picture of you posing with it. We’ll award $50 to the person who takes the most interesting photo, plus give out free t-shirts to a few runners-up. We might post some of your photos here on the blog, too.

Send those pics to splitdecision@mentalfloss.com. Winners will be announced a week from today, so go get your copy of Split Decision!

The game, pictured above at Powell’s in Portland, is also available at most Borders and Books-A-Million stores, at Marbles in Chicago, and of course through the mental_floss store.

This minimalist thing is taking over the internet! Hot on the heels of last week’s Minimalist Hereos post comes Minimalist Villians: (more…)

YouTube phenoms Pomplamoose have released a Christmas album — but it’s not for sale. The only way to get the album is to donate a book to the Richmond Book Drive. The deal is this: you buy a book for kids in Richmond, California public schools, and Pomplamoose gives you their Christmas album. (To be clear, it’s a 5-song EP, but still.) They explain the details in the video below, after performing one of the songs.

If you’re participating, may I recommend buying Looking For Alaska or Paper Towns by John Green, former mental_floss blogger? Both are on the list of books requested by the Richmond public schools. But the best part is, the book choice is very broad — there are many, many pages of books on the list — another favorite of mine is I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. (I recommend switching to the “compact” view on Amazon to see more books on one page.) Here are some more details on the program, from the Pomplamoose’s mouth:

A little bit about the schools receiving books: -Lovonya DeJean Middle School — averaged 26% proficient or advanced on English language arts state tests in 2009-2010 school year (State avg. for grades served = 55%) -Leadership Public Schools – Richmond – averaged 26% proficient or advanced on English language arts state tests in 2009-2010 school year (State avg. for grades served = 47%) -Kennedy High School — averaged 21% proficient or advanced on English language arts state tests in 2009-2010 school year (State avg. for grades served = 47%) -Richmond High – averaged 20% proficient or advanced on English language arts state tests in 2009-2010 school year (State avg. for grades served = 47%)

There are Richmond Book Drive Ambassadors at each of the school sites who will work diligently to ensure that the books are cared for and used as effectively as possible to inculcate a love of reading among Richmond’s terrific young people.

This isn’t the first time Pomplamoose have organized a holiday giving drive. Last year, fans gave 138 goats, 166 ducks, and 107 chickens, plus various supplies to World Vision in order to get a single MP3. This year, on offer are 5 MP3s. Worth a book? I think so.

(Note: you can also donate used books, but you don’t get a free album for that.)

My mom just returned from a semester at sea (life-long-learner program). The other night she showed us her photos. Good stuff. The most interesting one to me was this Coca-Cola Crateman she spotted in Cape Town. It got me wondering about the artist. So I started researching. And while I didn’t find out who created him, I did discover a lot about the Crateman craze.

Yes, Crateman has been alive for a long time in Australia. Sometimes he’s riding a bike, sometimes he’s chilling on the façade of a building. Is it a new kind of graffiti? He has been turning up around Melbourne for several years now. There’s a Crateman Web site, made by a fan, and a YouTube slideshow. So who is creating these Crateman? No one seems to know, exactly. (If you do, please drop a comment below!) Online, I read that they were created by “the mysterious Sam, Jerome, Ed and Gab” and that is all.

Meantime, we can enjoy a bunch of photos, some courtesy of my mom, others I got off the Cratemen site.

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Earlier this year, the classic bank robbery movie Dog Day Afternoon celebrated its 35th anniversary. Let’s see how well you remember the exploits of Sonny (Al Pacino) and Sal (John Cazale) in their ill-fated holdup attempt.

Take the Quiz: Dog Day Afternoon