David K. Israel

Joined: Nov 21, 2012

David was one of the founding bloggers of mentalfloss.com. He's also an author, multi-media journalist, composer, teacher and film maker. David's first novel, Behind Everyman, was put out by Random House in 2005. He is also the founder and CEO of the crowdsourced webcomics, Twaggies, which has been called "Favstar meets SouthPark." David's writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, as well as numerous magazines. At the age of 23, after undergrad studies, David was hired as an editor to work on Leonard Bernstein's music. He helped publish definitive editions of classics such as West Side Story and On the Town. If you're interested in knowing more and have nothing but time on your hands, you can put yourself to sleep reading his exceedingly long bio: www.davidisrael.net. You can also follow him on Twitter @resila.

7 Ways People Woke Up Before Alarm Clocks

The Origins of 10 Nicknames

What’s the Difference Between Scotch, Whiskey, and Bourbon?

Do Fire Stations Ever Catch Fire?

5 Composers Murdered by the Nazis

Theresienstadt concentration camp was an oddity, even by Nazi standards.

5 Film Transitions Worth Knowing

You see them every day, on TV shows, the news, and in movies, but how well do you know the most oft-used film transitions?

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International, Andrew Miller, Flickr // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The 10 Largest Airports in the World As Seen From Above

I’ve always loved flying, especially the approach to a new airport from above - the joy of discovering the runway and terminal design for the first time, etc. Below you’ll find interesting aerial photos of the 10 largest airports in the world—largest defi

Time is Money

(This post was originally published on September 20th, 2011. I had no idea what kind of response I'd get from the _floss community since it was sort of off-brand, but this comment from loripop not only made my 2011, it made my entire 6-year, 2000+ posts f

5 Legendary Keyboards (and the Songs They Made Famous)

[This post was originally published on August 4th, 2008] These days, there's no distinguishing one keyboard from the next because all they really do is act as computer trigger devices. But in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and even the early 90s, keyboards and their

6 Wordsmiths Who Couldn't Spell

This month marks my 6-year anniversary blogging for mental_floss. It also marks mentalfloss.com's 6-year anniversary in the blogosphere. To celebrate the more than 2,000 daily posts, I'll be republishing some of my favorite posts from these last half-doze

10 Cool Bridges from Around the World

1. The Moses Bridge, Netherlands Designed by architecture group RO & AD, The Moses Bridge is constructed out of Accoya wood, a hi-tech wood that is supposedly harder and more durable than some of the best tropical woods. It is treated with a nontoxic anti

9 Memorable Images from the '90s

Finally, today we move into the ‘90s. If you missed previous posts this week, the ‘60s can be found here, the ‘70s here, and the ‘80s down yonder. For me, the ‘90s were pretty exciting times--college, my first job in the Big Apple, The New York Times swit

11 Memorable Images from the 1970s

If I were forced to pick one decade to live in forever, I’d pick the ‘70s. While the times were full of upheaval, long gas lines, nuclear meltdowns and ugly wars, it was really the last decade before consumerism/commercialism started accosting us at every

Why Don't Cars Come with Ashtrays Anymore?

The other night, I was having a heated discussion with an acquaintance, who happens to be a smoker. I argued that I didn't mind if he smoked in his car, but I did mind if he held the cigarette out the window, and flicked the ashes in the wind, which somet

What Kind of Pinner Are You? The 8 Types on Pinterest

Many moons ago, I posted What Kind of Friend are YOU? The 13 Types on Facebook. Now that everyone and their grandmother has opened a Pinterest account, I thought it timely to do the equivalent for the new-ish social sharing site. A) The Bookmarker This

12 Strange, Yet Beautiful Fruits & Vegetables

Here's a fun roundup of odd fruits and veggies. If you have any experience eating any of them, we're all ears! The comments are open below...