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Mental Floss
If you like beer, and like it in large quantities, this might be a familiar scenario: You sit down at the bar, get a beer and drink it. You drink another one. Maybe a third. Things have gone well up to this point, but now you have to pee. So you go. Once
Matt Soniak|
From Bambiraptor to Gluteus Minimus.
Miss Cellania|
Twenty years ago, Reebok introduced us to "Dan and Dave." Once American sports fans moved beyond their game of word association -- "Who?" -- the two men involved became part of one of the most memorable marketing campaigns in history despite a letdown of
Bud Shaw|
You’ll need more than a map and a shovel to find these cultural gems. But trust us, it will be worth the effort.
Ethan Trex|
Eye floaters—or 'muscae volitantes,' Latin for 'hovering flies'—are those tiny, oddly shaped objects that sometimes appear in your vision, most often when you’re looking at the sky on a sunny day.
Matt Soniak|
In 1999, Karen Herman interviewed Fred Rogers for the Archive of American Television. The resulting nine-part (roughly four-and-a-half hour) interview spans the career of the man we've come to know as Mister Rogers. Throughout, Rogers conveys the same g
Chris Higgins|
Olympic history books are filled with stories of amazing individual performances and team achievements. But from poorly conceived competitions to spectators attacking the judges, a lot of crazy stuff has happened in the Summer Olympics. 1. Killing Animal
Orrin Konheim|
Editor's Note: This is the fourth installment of Bill DeMain's new(ish) column, where he explores the real historical events that inspired various songs. "Music History" appears twice a month—unless we can convince Bill that twice a month is not sufficien
Bill DeMain|
The Oxford Dictionary Online is a warehouse of over 600,000 words. Despite this large arsenal, we continue to coin, clip, and blend new words into existence.
Lucas Reilly|
The pyramid was supposed to serve as a lightning rod, and since Frishmuth had already done some plating work for the monument, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers called on him to fashion the topper as well.
Matt Soniak|
Because there are three different dead guys who regularly vie for credit for discovering oxygen, we’ve staged a little friendly competition to establish which of these great men deserves the title of the O-master. In evaluating the contenders, we’ll look
Julia Davis|
Turbo B and Penny Ford, featured performers on "The Power" On July 5, 2011, the 39-story "Techno-Mart" mall in Seoul, South Korea shook for ten minutes, causing a two-day evacuation and an investigation. The cause of the tremors? Seismic experts conclu
Chris Higgins|
The AVE Mizar was no Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Matt Soniak|
He was the quintessential cowboy, the all-American American, the symbol for "macho" all over the world. He starred in more than 170 films in an unparalleled almost 50 year career in movies. He was, of course, the one and only John Wayne, the "Duke" himsel
Eddie Deezen|
To bring the Olympic spirit to developing nations in the late 1990s, the Olympic Committee allowed a small number of “wild card” athletes to join the Games. But because they didn’t have to go through any qualifying rounds to compete, not all of the conten
Ethan Trex|
We're taking a look back at the fine art competitions that originated in ancient Greece and were revived as part of the modern Olympics from 1912 to
Scott Allen|
Olympic opening ceremonies have been known to include their own little quirks, disasters, and political flaps. Here are some of the most interesting.
Ethan Trex|
Some countries compete to get the highest number, but these twenty-one other countries have just one medal.
Jason Plautz|
Ambrose Bierce was a celebrated journalist, storyteller and, above all, cynic. Bierce had a barbed wit, and he often used it to kick American culture square in the teeth. In 1911, he published The Devil’s Dictionary, a partial lexicon that sardonically re
Lucas Reilly|
Lots of places claim to be the world capital of something -- animals, fruits, vegetables, consumer goods, other odds and ends. But sometimes, that something is really, really strange. 1. Pearsonville, California: Hubcap Capital of the
M Asher Cantrell|
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