Life is not the same today as it was yesterday. A quick scan of the news headlines reveals that the Dow posted record losses, Ed McMahon is being sued (again!), and the Detroit Lions didn't lose. (Okay, it was their bye week.) It's singlehandedly up to me, your humble research editor and quizmaster, to keep mental_floss afloat in this sea of confusion and dismay. And you know what that means: a T-shirt sale! Actually, we're offering a sale on everything in our store. Just key in the coupon code... READ ON

Okay, I didn't really earn a letter at State. I lettered in high school, but only in journalism. The coaches wouldn't let me play football after the eighth grade, when I broke my arm in two places and sprained my wrist while bulldogging. (If you don't know what that is, well, suffice to say that it's a great way to break an arm.) Anyhoo... "Ohio" is spelled using three different letters of the alphabet (H, I, and O) while "Indiana" uses four (A, D, I, and N). The name of which U.S. state is... READ ON

"Kings and queens and guillotines," as Stephen Tyler of Aerosmith once sang. Here's today's Brain Game: The king was off signing a treaty when his wife, the queen, gave birth. A messenger arrived with the news that she'd given birth to twin boys, and the king was ecstatic. But upon his return to the kingdom, he put his messenger to death after learning that he had a new daughter instead. What went wrong? HERE is the solution. THE ANSWER: The messenger had mistakenly told the... READ ON

Where's my thumbdrive? Okay, that's not a Brain Game. It's just a question that I felt like posing, particularly since I can't find mine. Luckily, there's nothing on it that I haven't backed up (and nothing that I wouldn't show my wife). I just hope it's not at the bottom of the washing machine. But speaking of major clothes-related appliances... Half asleep and not looking, Jerry reached in the clothes dryer to grab a pair of socks. Inside the dryer are his 12 black socks, ... READ ON