I love Peeps. I don’t want them right out of the box, though. I prefer to cut a small slit in the box, then let them sit around for a few days getting a little bit crunchy. That’s right: stale Peeps. One of life’s little pleasures. But you don’t have to have a serious sugar jones to appreciate the value of a Peep. Check out these 10 ways you can make use of the sugar-coated, marshmallow chicks.

1. Peeps aren’t just for Easter… but you probably already knew that. There are apparently some people out there that don’t realize that Peeps come in more shapes than chicks and bunnies, because Just Born, the company that makes them, has recently adopted the slogan “Peeps: Always in Season.” And they are, pretty much. You can get them in Halloween shapes, Christmas shapes, Valentine’s Shapes and even Fourth of July shapes. I think they’re missing the boat on shamrock Peeps, myself.

2. The Peep-making process is almost totally automated now, but there was a day when each shape was formed by hand. From start to finish, it took 27 hours to make a Peep when they were first introduced to the public in 1953; these days you can have a fresh ‘mallow in your hot little hand in six minutes flat.

3. Peeps aren’t just for eating. They’re for crafts and experiments as well.

4. According to Just Born’s research, my love of stale Peeps isn’t very normal. Only 17 percent of people polled liked crunchy Peeps; the other 83 percent take theirs fresh out of the box. To which I say: Have you ever tried it? Give (stale) Peeps a chance. (more…)

As long as you can find the right DVD, television and film’s fake colleges are always in session. How well do you know your fictitious colleges? Take the quiz to find out your grade.

Take the Quiz: Fictional Colleges

Note: Readers commenting under today’s Friday Happy Hour post brought up an age old question: “Is blood blue when it’s inside the veins?” Matt Soniak kindly put together this response.

Why do veins look blue? One answer you’re likely to hear is that veins look blue because the blood inside actually is blue, because it’s deoxygenated. If you wonder why you’ve never seen blue blood before, someone might tell you that’s because when you bleed, the blood is oxygenated upon contact with air, and immediately turns red.

First things first: Our blood is not blue. It is always red.¹ Even when it’s deoxygenated. Even in the absence of oxygen in a vacuum. (Remember, when you get blood drawn at your doctor’s office, they use a vacutainer, which is essentially a vacuum in a tube. The tube is attached to the needle in your arm, exposing the inside of the vein to the vacuum and drawing the blood out.)

How red it is varies. (more…)

Premiering Sunday (March 21) at 8pm on the Discovery Channel in the US: Life, a new documentary miniseries from the producers of Planet Earth. Set your DVRs now!

Back in 2006, we were treated to Planet Earth, a BBC/Discovery Channel coproduction which was the most expensive nature documentary series ever commissioned by the BBC, and the first shot in full HD. It was a groundbreaking series, and for good reason — four years of hard filming brought us spectacular photography and compelling narratives, making every one of its eleven episodes memorable. Now, four years later, the team is back with Life, a series that promises more of the same — and boy, does it deliver. It took 70 camerapeople in 50 countries to shoot this thing. Here’s the trailer:

Now, let me back up for a minute and talk about how documentary reviewing works, at least for me as a blogger. Media outlets (in my case, PBS and several science-related cable channels) send me their upcoming schedules, and I pick out shows that might interest the mental_floss audience. I ask for “screeners” (generally hand-burned DVDs, often not the final versions of the shows) which then arrive in the mail with a brief info packet, or a link to some website with PR info. I watch the DVD, and if I think it’s good, I write about it. To be honest, a lot of the time the material isn’t good enough to write about, and that’s that. On those happy occasions when the material is good, I write it up right here.

So it was a big surprise when I got the Life press kit. Normally a press kit for a documentary is a DVD (sometimes two, if it’s a two-parter) with a handmade label, and a few photocopied sheets of press info. Everything is stamped with “for press review only,” has no commercial value, and so on. But the Life press kit is basically a gigantic coffee-table book with an embedded video playing device — yes, a video screen inside the book, with speakers — and screeners available both in DVD and Blu-ray. (See video of the kit here.) As soon as I saw the kit, I was suspicious: the kit was so elaborate that I thought either a) the film isn’t that great, so it needs massive PR help; or b) the film is SUPER GREAT and Discovery is so psyched about it that they went a little nuts on the PR front. I’m pleased to announce that it’s the latter — actually watching five hours of the show (including some on Blu-ray), it is absolutely spectacular, and very much in the vein of Planet Earth. This is, hands-down, the best nature documentary you’re going to see this year. It appears that the press kit is a further reflection of the focus on new technology and obsession with quality that went into the making of Life, like Planet Earth before it.

The Good News

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You know Martha Stewart as the crafts-and-cooking guru who has dominated print and broadcast media. You know her as the stockowner who ran into a bit of trouble with the feds. Today, let’s look at five things you might not know about Stewart.

1. She Was a Model and a Stockbroker

From the time she was in high school through her days at Barnard College, Stewart had a relatively successful modeling career. She did some in-store work for Bonwit Teller, and she later did TV spots for Clairol and Tareyton Cigarettes. Her biggest exposure came in 1961, when Glamour magazine named her one of America’s “Ten Best-Dressed College Girls.” The modeling career ended when she married Yale law student Andrew Stewart in 1963.

In 1967 Stewart went back to work, but this time she took on Wall Street rather than the runway. According to a 2001 Vanity Fair feature, Stewart used her modeling experience to her advantage once she became a stockbroker, even going so far as to wear hot pants to meetings. She eventually became one of the only female brokers at Perlberg, Monness, Williams and Sidel, but she left in 1973 to spend more time with her daughter.

Another odd fact about Stewart’s time as a broker: one of her fellow brokers was an up-and-coming actor named Brian Dennehy.

2. She Keeps Her Horses In the Dark

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Every Friday, I post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, whatever you want. Very casual. On to this week’s topics of discussion…

1. When I was in middle school, a teacher told us a wild story about Jesse Owens and the 1936 Olympics. Owens, he said, was struggling with the long jump. In practice, he repeatedly faulted by stepping over the line. Hitler witnessed this, we were told, and put down his coat on the white line, forcing Owens to take off before it. The trick worked. Four gold medals later—including one in the long jump—and Owens had become a legend. All thanks to the Führer.

I don’t know whether our teacher was joking, confused or flat out lying. (I later learned Owens did credit German competitor Luz Long for helping him during qualifying.) Nothing else happened that year to make me think the teacher was nutty or racist (or both). What’s the craziest (false) thing a teacher ever taught you? How long did you believe it?

2. We seem to get an awful lot of wrong number calls. This morning, Meals on Wheels left a very urgent message regarding food delivery—”If I don’t hear from you by 8:30, I’ll assume you don’t need your meal today.” (I called back and set her straight.) On several occasions, we’ve had a hospital give detailed instructions to an elderly patient who doesn’t live here. Have you had any strange encounters with people calling someone else?

3. Not counting the place you call home, what’s your favorite city? Your favorite country?

4. What’s one website or podcast we should be reading or listening to?

Have a great weekend!

[See all the previous Friday Happy Hour transcripts.]

What’s the best film acquisition format — film or digital? The battle over this question has been raging for at least a decade now, and while digitally-made blockbusters like Avatar might seem to have finally put the question to rest, there are plenty of filmmakers out there who refuse to give up on film. Take Spike Jonze, for example, whose effects-heavy film Where the Wild Things Are was shot on film, then transferred to digital for the FX work and back to film again, because Jonze loves the way film looks.

A clever series of videos summarizes the debate as if it were a marriage — a rocky one undergoing counseling. If you want to learn a few things about digital vs. film, and have a few laughs while you do, check out Mr. Pixel and Mrs. Grain.

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Novelist Jane Austen was a church-going English woman born in 1775. Professional wrestler “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is a womanizing American born nearly 200 years later. But they have a homophone in common! And perhaps more… see if you can tell who said each of these quotes.

Give the quiz a whirl now.

We’ve added some fun new stuff to the mental_floss store, including disappearing mugs, pet toys and sippy cups. If you see something you absolutely need, buy it today and get 15% off your order. Just enter the code springtime before checkout. Happy browsing!

* Offer valid until Wednesday, March 24, at 11:59pm Eastern Time. Discount can be applied to everything except subscriptions, package deals and outlet store items.

Cold Man Gets Into Bed With Stranger

An unidentified man in South Washington, Pennsylvania felt someone get into bed with him Wednesday morning. He assumed it was his girlfriend, but when he called her name, a male voice replied, “No it’s not.” The man jumped out of bed and grabbed a baseball bat while calling 911. Police came and arrested 33-year-old Michael Karanja Kamau. There were indications that Kamau had forced his way into the apartment. Kamau told police that he went inside the apartment because he was cold.

Man Wins Millions the Day After Divorce

The divorce case of Kevin Halstead Chorley, Lancashire, England was finalized on Friday. On Saturday, he bought a lottery ticket that paid off more than £2 million! If the divorce had taken any longer, he would be obliged to share half with his wife. However, Chorley and his new partner, along with another person who shared in the ticket, will be able to keep the money. Chorley’s former wife is not bothered by the turn of events.

Ex-wife Helen said: “We are the best of friends. In fact, we get on better now than when we were married.

“It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke. I wish him all the luck in the world – he deserves it.”

Celebrating a Clean Drug Test Leads to Overdose

Michael Edwin Berg of Plant City, Florida underwent a court-ordered drug screening last September and passed as clean. He wanted to celebrate, so he and friends began the party at Berg’s home, then to a bar where he obtained a bottle of morphine. The party moved to another home, where the 23-year-old Berg took the morphine and they all passed out around 3AM. Around 4:30 PM, friends called paramedics, who found him dead. Berg’s friend, 23-year-old Daniel Aleman, was arrested this week on charges of third-degree murder and delivery of morphine in the case.

Hacker Remotely Disables Over 100 Cars

A car dealership in Austin, Texas installs a device in cars that allows them to disable the vehicle, or make the horn blow, if a customer is overdue on car payments. The system was hacked last month and over 100 drivers found their cars would not start. Some had to disconnect the battery to stop the horn from blowing. Police arrested 20-year-old Omar Ramos-Lopez in connection with the prank. The company had recently terminated Ramos-Lopez’ employment, and investigators say he got into the system using another employee’s account. He was charged with computer intrusion.

Boy Left Behind at His Birthday Party

An unnamed boy in Warren, Michigan celebrated his third birthday Saturday with a party at pizza restaurant Caesarland. Then his parents left separately without him. The manager noticed the child at about 9PM and called police. The boy was placed in foster care. Both parents say they thought the boy was either with the other parent or with his grandmother. They realized he was missing on Sunday, but did not call police. It was Monday before they called the restaurant to ask about the child! Macomb County Prosecutor’s plans to file neglect and abandonment charges.

Surfing Alpaca

Surfing instructor Domingo Pianezzi of Lima, Peru, has has accomplished something no one else on record has done -he taught an alpaca to surf! His alpaca named Pisco wears a life jacket while surfing with Pianezzi, as alpacas are not natural swimmers.

The surfing teacher said: “I’ve surfed with a dog, a parrot, a hamster and a cat, but when I was at a competition in Australia I saw people surfing with kangaroos and koalas.

Pisco is seen on video hanging, er, hooves.

Premature Report of Death -Twice

77-year-old Theresa Fraser of Garden of Eden, Nova Scotia found her pension check had not been deposited in December. With a few phone calls, she found the Canadian government thought she had died when another woman with the same name passed away. Someone didn’t check the social security numbers. Fraser thought the matter was resolved when her check arrived in January. Then last week, Fraser received a letter from Canada Revenue asking for the return of the money they sent in January! The letter was addressed to “the estate of the late Theresa Fraser” with her proper social security number. Fraser again called the revenue office to straighten the matter out, but she is afraid it may happen yet again.