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Mental Floss
Although it will once again be overshadowed by March Madness, this year's National Invitation Tournament gets rolling tonight. You might not realize it, but the NIT wasn't always an afterthought. Let's take a look at how the New York tourney was eclips
Ethan Trex|
Wikipedia is home to a lot of odd things, including ... lists!
Chris Higgins|
You'd expect famous people to know other famous people. But maybe not these famous people.
Bill DeMain|
Last week a 900-year-old heart that allegedly belonged to St. Laurence O'Toole was stolen from a cathedral in Dublin. Although Rev. Dermot Dunne pointed out that the heart is “valueless” to others, the thief seems to have targeted the relic specifically,
Kathy Benjamin|
Point-blank is the range at which a given weapon/ammunition combination can be fired at the center or vital area of a given target and hit it without the shooter having to adjust the elevation of the weapon to account for the effect of gravity on the proj
Matt Soniak|
Nope. The last immigrant to come through Ellis Island was Arne Peterssen, a 48-year-old merchant seaman from Narvik, Norway.
Matt Soniak|
Installment #7: In The War in the Air, published in 1908, H.G. Wells imagined a terrifying new form of aerial warfare, with cities turned into infernos by bombs dropped from the sky. The protagonist “had seen airships flying low and swift over darkened an
Erik Sass|
Some authors write books because they have a way with words. Others write books mostly to spite another author.
Stacy Conradt|
On February 5, 1945, with World War II in its last desperate months, a German train made its way to the city of Linz. Suddenly, Allied planes swooped in, dropping bombs and derailing it. As the train’s cargo—mail bound for several northern Austrian towns—
Matt Soniak|
You handy guide to some of the different pizzas you'll come across in your foodie travels, from Chicago deep dish to the famous Margherita.
David K. Israel|
There are over a million described species of insects, and even more when you count the arthropod class they belong to -but more are being discovered every day. And the variety of these bugs is astounding. Here are seven species that caught my attention l
Miss Cellania|
Reader Bill wrote in to ask, “Why does the sound of running water make me want to pee—and sometimes
Matt Soniak|
Women have made great strides toward equality over the past century. But when it comes to marriage proposals, it’s still typically the men doing the asking ... unless it's February 29th.
Kathy Benjamin|
by Robert Love The founder of Anusara yoga recently stepped down amid accusations of sexual impropriety with his students. But America's first yoga scandal dates back to America's first yogi. Here's the story of "the Great
the mag|
Even Edgar Allan Poe, master of eerie twists and turns, would have been mystified by this mind-boggling coincidence created in part by one of his stories. But let's start from the beginning. In 1838, Poe's only novel was published - The Narrative of Arth
Stacy Conradt|
The man who achieved television immortality as Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy was born in Burlington, Iowa, on February 26, 1887.
Eddie Deezen|
© Chris Hoffmann/dpa/Corbis / © Jeff Albertson/CORBIS In February 1969, Johnny Cash had a party at his house in Hendersonville, TN. As the evening went on, the party turned into a guitar pull, with some of Johnny's friends trying out their latest songs.
Bill DeMain|
Every year we hear about who got "snubbed" by the Academy, but what about the reverse?
Matthew Hickman|
Any musician would tell you that instruments are expensive. Yet, the fame of these artists didn't prevent these robberies.
Jason Plautz|
• Parsley's popularity dates back to antiquity, where the herb was an integral part of life for both the Greeks and Romans. It was used in prized crowns for races, and given as a strengthening feed to Homeric chariot horses.  • Though parsley was consid
Allison Keene|
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