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Mental Floss
HU GUANGYAO/Xinhua/Landov Dixville Notch, NH, is a tiny unincorporated township of about 75 residents situated at the foot of the scenic White Mountains and home to The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel. But the village's claim to fame is the legendary midnight
Adrienne Crezo|
Various people had their hands on it, but the credit for the bulk of the pledge goes to Francis Julius Bellamy, a Baptist minister from New York.
Matt Soniak|
The cover story for the new issue of mental_floss magazine is The Most Important Questions of 2012. To tide you over until you get your hands on a copy, here are 25 very short answers to very big questions. 1. How do South Koreans get kids to stop
Ethan Trex|
Yesterday reader Nyghtbeauty asked, "What’s so special about 'the cat’s pajamas'?" We decided to find
Matt Soniak|
Here are 13 cartoons that have been deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the National Film Preservation Board.
Rob Lammle|
You’re on the weight bench. 18. 19. 20! You couldn’t lift that barbell again if someone had a gun to your head. Your arms and your chest are sizzling with a dull burn. Your muscles are fatigued, and as you try to put the bar back, your arms give out.
Matt Soniak|
Stephanie and her curious two-year-old want to know why we sometimes say “Holy Mackerel!” Unfortunately, the answer is about as clear as the tomato sauce Brits like to douse the fish
Stacy Conradt|
Reader Michael Lefebvre asked us on Twitter: "What is the origin of Pink
Matt Soniak|
Image credit: JONATHAN ERNST/Reuters/Landov In every debate this campaign season, Mitt Romney has been hammered by his Republican rivals for essentially teaching companies how to ship jobs overseas during his days at Bain. Romney almost always responds
Matt Soniak|
A few years ago, the Swiss ball migrated from the gym to the office en masse. Swarms of desk jockeys rolled them into their cubicles, convinced that sitting for eight straight hours on a rubber ball counted as "exercise" and provided them with a subtle ab
Matt Soniak|
The circling thing is a relic of domestic dogs' wild past, a bit of hard-wired behavior that hasn't been bred out yet. Biologists and dog experts say that it might just be a strange quirk for domestic pooches, but for wild dogs and wolves, circling before
Matt Soniak|
Here's a little-known fact: January 4 is National Trivia Day! Let's celebrate with some of our favorite facts, pulled from our Amazing Fact Generator and the @mental_floss Twitter
Jason English|
Over 50 fires gutted cars in Los Angeles this past weekend. While most of the damage was limited to vehicles, some of the flames caused destruction to adjacent property, including to a home that once belonged to Jim Morrison. LA has not experienced this m
Meghan Holohan|
Is texting while driving total insanity or just one more inevitable tide of modern life? (Spoiler alert: It's total insanity.) But was the radio met with similar opposition when it was first introduced to the
Bill DeMain|
Walter Gregg and his young son were working on a project in their garden shed in Mars Bluff, South Carolina, when the backyard was hit with a nuclear bomb. What? You don’t recall the time a nuke almost took out the South? It happened on March 11, 1958,
Stacy Conradt|
They’re not the most beautiful songs, or the most musically important. In fact, a few could literally drive you nuts. But the following tunes have made a difference somehow.
the mag|
Elvis Presley was known for his generosity, but he didn’t just stop at free show tickets or 500% tips at restaurants. One of Elvis’ favorite ways to show his appreciation was to drop a cool $11k (we’re talking the ‘60s and ‘70s here, so don’t laugh) on a
Stacy Conradt|
David J. Peterson is one of many conlangers: people who invent languages. His most recent work is the Dothraki tongue shown in HBO's "Game of Thrones"; the spoken language had to be invented for TV because it's rendered in English in the "Song of Ice an
Chris Higgins|
© Bettmann/CORBIS On November 18, 2009, one of the most important artistic partnerships of the century ended when Jeanne-Claude, of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, passed away. During the couple’s 45 years of collaboration, they completed 20 gargantuan works
Leah Welborn|
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" has been on repeat in shopping malls since Thanksgiving, but that doesn't mean it's the only popular song Brenda Lee ever recorded. Here's a quick primer on the artists responsible for five of the 10 most-broadcast holi
Kara Kovalchik|
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