In advance of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, here’s our three-minute guide to the most exciting two minutes in sports.

© Steve Boyle/Corbis

1. The first Kentucky Derby was run in 1875. It was the brainchild of Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., who wanted to create an American answer to England’s Epsom Derby.
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2. Clark’s name wasn’t just a fanciful tribute; he was the grandson of William Clark of Lewis-and-Clark fame.
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3. Thirteen of the inaugural field’s 15 jockeys were African American.
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4. In fact, black jockeys won 15 of the first 28 runnings of the Derby, including the first one. Around the turn of the century, racism crept into the sport, and no black jockey has won the Derby since 1902.
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Good luck with today’s mentalfloss.com Brain Game Free-for-all Friday challenge:

Examine the 4 pro baseball game scores that follow,
then figure out the score of the 5th game:

Chicago 1, New York 0
Philadelphia 5, Miami 2
Cleveland 2, Baltimore 0
Los Angeles 3, Kansas City 2

Seattle ?, Oakland ?

Let’s finish the Just Desserts theme for this week’s collection of 5 Questions quizzes with a nice piece of Fruit

The Brangelina twins and People Magazine share the record for the largest monetary transaction ($14 million) for celebrity baby photos.
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May the 4th be with you! Begin your Star Wars Day with this run down of six things that look like the Death Star.
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The more you know: iPod chargers can open beer bottles.
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What does YKK mean? Meet the mysterious Japanese company behind the world’s best zippers.
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At 113 feet, Nemo 33 in Belgium is the deepest indoor diving pool on the planet.
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The USC Trojans remember Junior Seau. Rest in peace.
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During a rare interview at a university in Madrid, hip hop artist MF Doom explains that Geedorah, one of his “characters,” is a 300-foot reptilian villain.
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During his show in Newark this week, Bruce Springsteen paid tribute to The Band’s late drummer Levon Helm with his bittersweet cover of “The Weight.”
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In Ghostbusters merchandising news, the new Slimer plush toy is absolutely adorable until it makes the most heinous sounds imaginable.

Margaret Mitchell at the Gone With The Wind movie premiere party in Atlanta. © Bettmann/CORBIS, 1939

On this date 75 years ago, Gone with the Wind won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. We pay homage today with some facts about the classic book.

1. It was boredom that caused 25-year-old Margaret Mitchell to write 63 of the most beloved chapters in literary history. Mitchell was a journalist for the Atlanta Journal Sunday Magazine when she took a leave to recover from “a series of injuries,” according to the Margaret Mitchell House, including a recurring ankle injury. When the ankle proved slow to heal this time, she decided to occupy herself by writing.

2. Though Mitchell spent the next decade working on characters and plot development, almost no one knew she was writing a book. She went to extreme lengths to hide her work from friends and family, including hurriedly throwing a rug over pages scattered on her living room floor once when company showed up unexpectedly.

3. Despite spending 10 years of her life working on the tome, Mitchell didn’t really have much intention of publishing it. When a “friend” heard that she was considering writing a book (though in fact, it had been written), she said something to the effect of, “Imagine, you writing a book!” Annoyed, Mitchell took her massive manuscript to a Macmillan editor the next day. She later regretted the act and sent the editor a telegram saying, “Have changed my mind. Send manuscript back.”

4. You know her as Scarlett now, but for years, the heroine of Gone with the Wind was called Pansy. It probably would have stayed that way had the publisher not requested a name change. “We could call her ‘Garbage O’Hara’ for all I care,” Mitchell wrote to her friend and the book’s associate editor, “I just want to finish this damn thing.”

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Welcome once again to the game that’s sweeping the nation: GUESS THE THEME! All the clips below have something in common. Leave your best guesses in the comments.

The Beach Boys – Wouldn’t It Be Nice (more…)

The 1940s Produced the Greatest Generation – Of Squirrel Outfitters – the World Has Ever Seen
This gallery depicting Mrs. Mark Bullis and her snazzily-dressed squirrel, Tommy Tucker, is pretty awesome.
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E-Books Are Cool and All, But Can You Make a Super Cool Safe out of Them?
The answer is no, you can not. And everyone needs one of these.
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What Can iPads Teach Your Toddlers?
Is your preschooler actually learning anything from those educational iPad apps?
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“They could result in the devastation of world agriculture, severe disruption of food supplies, and mass starvation. These effects could be sufficiently severe to threaten the fabric of civilization.”
No, that quote isn’t about the Kardashians. That’s a description of the damage that could be wrought by a Super Volcano like the one conveniently situated under Yellowstone Park.

Luckily, that volcano might not be quite as dangerous as previously thought. Oh, it’s still unbelievably, terrifyingly dangerous. Just 12% less so than previously thought.
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Finally I’ll Understand Some of the Things That Smart People Talk About at Parties
Although, to be honest, it would have to be a party that none my actual friends attended, because we don’t discuss complex concepts. We usually just talk about Storage Wars.
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The World Can Be a Lawless, Chaotic Place
Thankfully, Good has taken it upon themselves to create a set of rules for telling a joke, watching sports, sending work emails and many more common everyday tasks that people manage to screw up.
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Banning College Football?
In the light of the death of Junior Seau, even the most rabid of gridiron fanatics (myself included) should at least examine the validity of Malcolm Gladwell’s arguments.
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Al Gore Didn’t Invent the Internet, But He’s Now in Its Hall of Fame
Along with Craig (of List fame) and the guy responsible for you receiving all those pleas for money from deposed foreign kings.

Who would you nominate to go into the Internet Hall of Fame? Throw your ideas in the comments below. And, for God’s sake, please keep them PG.

by Aaron Bala

Ever since the 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act, packaged food has been required to list its ingredients in descending order by weight. In this quiz, we’ll give you a common household ingredient. You have to figure out for which food it is the main/first ingredient on the nutrition label (excluding water as the first ingredient in some cases).

Take the Quiz: What’s the Main Ingredient?

Trent Richardson with the BCS trophy. © Tyler Kaufman/Icon SMI/Corbis

Carleton Tinker, the father of Alabama long snapper Carson Tinker, accidentally shattered the Crimson Tide’s 2012 BCS championship trophy last month. Tinker can take comfort in the fact that he wasn’t the first person to break the crystal football, which is one of nine other examples of accidentally damaged trophies.

1. Terrible First Impression

Florida recruit Orson Charles was touring the Gators’ football stadium in 2008 and accidentally knocked the 2006 BCS championship trophy – a Waterford crystal football – off its pedestal. “If you were outside the stadium, it was so loud, I think you would’ve heard it shatter,” Charles told the Tampa Tribune. “I just stood there with this baby look and said, ‘Sorry.’” Florida assistant coach John Hevesy jokingly told Charles that he had to commit to the Gators, but the highly touted tight end went to Georgia instead. Charles was a fourth-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals in this year’s NFL Draft.

2. One Shining Moment, One Broken Trophy

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If you remember nothing else from this article, remember that Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 13th. Go ahead and buy the card now. Once that’s taken care of, here are 17 much wackier holidays to keep it fun this month.

Hugging image via Shutterstock

May 3: Hug Your Cat Day
Not to be confused with Hug Somebody Else’s Cat Day. (Some celebrate Hug Your Cat Day on June 4th. Feel free to celebrate both.)

May 4: Star Wars Day
May the fourth be with you.

May 5: Cinco de Mayo
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