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Mental Floss
While it's not as easy for authors to become famous at a young age as it is for pop singers, it's still not unheard of for barely legal authors to find fame, success, and even fortune. Here are 23 authors who manager to achieve fame—though not always posi
Andréa Fernandes|
Johnny Weissmuller made it famous. Carol Burnett made it funny. But the origin of Hollywood’s iconic jungle cry is shrouded in
Bill DeMain|
A few days ago, photos of Prince Harry cavorting naked with a blonde hit the web. While the prince has had his share of controversy in the past, including attending a party in a Nazi uniform and getting caught smoking weed, he has a long way to go to catc
Kathy Benjamin|
There are probably blackout periods you can’t remember at all from your childhood, and the memories you do have are likely hazy and garbled. Although pretty much everyone experiences this phenomenon known as childhood amnesia, its causes are still somewha
Julia Davis|
The heart is the most important muscle in the body, so it seems like something of a marketing ploy by the folks at Bayer to suggest that something so simple as a humble aspirin tablet can be of any use when this life-sustaining organ goes into epic fail m
Kara Kovalchik|
Installment #32: In the early years of the 20th century, the United States, a burgeoning industrial power, looked to protect its booming overseas commerce with a powerful navy. Naval spending jumped from $55 million in 1900 to $139 million by 1910, and by
Erik Sass|
At some point in the last few thousand years, someone in India or Southeast Asia decided to try catching one of the wild fowl than ran through the jungles and roosted up in the trees. We don’t know exactly what that person was intending, but the bird prob
Matt Soniak|
If you’re looking for an excuse to host an impromptu Monday get-together, why not throw a birthday bash for America's last bearded president? Today happens to be Benjamin Harrison’s 179th. Here are 11 party-planning tips that’ll help you set the scene for
Julia Davis|
There’s a reason it’s called Death Valley. This vast expanse of the Mojave Desert gets less than 2 inches of rain per year, the daytime temperatures can reach upwards of 120 degrees, and the landscape is so salt-laden and windswept that it’s nearly imposs
Brian McMahon|
The media is often criticized for showing violent and disturbing imagery. Movies, TV, video games, tabletop RPGs, comic books, and various other things have all gone through periods where they're blamed for exposing children to dark and unsettling things.
M Asher Cantrell|
This week, Nintendo released "New" Super Mario Bros. 2. But "Old" Super Mario Bros. 2 isn't what you think it is. Here's the odd story of how Nintendo crammed Mario into places he was never meant to be. Super Mario Bros. 1
Chris Higgins|
Franklin statue image via Shutterstock In the 1750s and 60s, Great Britain and France waged war in North America for colonial domination of the continent. Known as the French and Indian War, this American theater was just one part of the larger Seven Yea
Matt Soniak|
Scientists have found that the seven deadly sins aren't all bad. Consider this your official permission to give in to
Judy Dutton|
Installment #31: After the Russian and French general staffs met in Paris in July 1912, French Prime Minister Raymond Poincaré (above, at right) followed up with a trip of his own to St. Petersburg, where he met Tsar Nicholas II and Russian foreign minist
Erik Sass|
As I continue flipping through my copy of the Dictionary of American Slang (1967), it seems like every page has a new term for "drunk." We've discussed "on a toot" (a drunken spree) and "the zings" (a hangover), but here are some new old words to try out
Jason English|
Hollywood always makes bank robberies look so easy (with some notable exceptions). You do a little planning, throw on a Richard Nixon mask, you’re in and out in a few minutes and then you can live the rest of your life in luxury in some tropical paradise
Matt Soniak|
George Herman "Babe" Ruth was, in pretty much everyone's opinion, the most popular and beloved baseball player of all time. Ruth played 22 years in the major leagues, hitting 714 home runs, winning seven World Series, and becoming baseball's greatest leg
Eddie Deezen|
Happy cabbage: A sizable amount of money to be spent on self-satisfying things.
Jason English|
As more and more Americans embrace email and other communication technologies, the U.S. Postal Service has absorbed the hit. The agency lost an estimated $10 billion in 2011 and expects to top that this year, leaving many analysts to wonder how long it ca
Ethan Trex|
Religion teaches its followers lessons through parables about kindness and love and doing the right thing. But if all that fails, there’s always the threat of a scary monster to drive the point home. 1.
M Asher Cantrell|
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