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.

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

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?

7 Ways People Woke Up, Pre-Alarm Clock

You couldn't hit the snooze button on these wake-up calls.

10 Sculptures Made From Books

Artist Brian Dettmer has made a career out of turning old media into fascinating sculptures.

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

What's the Nerdiest Thing You've Ever Done?

[Originally published January 9, 2008] I was clicking through our archives recently and discovered something pretty impressive: almost every blogger on this site, including yours truly, has written about geeks and nerds at one point or another.Some highl

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

The Apple Puzzle

With only four cuts, you can turn any apple into a cool (albeit nerdy) puzzle. When I was growing up, my grandfather used to mesmerize us kids with this "trick." It made eating fruit more fun than eating junk food. I took a few minutes yesterday to record

Largest Boulder Ever Transported in Modern Times Arrives in LA

As previously reported on this blog, Los Angeles has recently entered the Guinness Book for largest boulder ever transported in modern times. A 340-ton, 21 1/2-foot-high granite boulder recently travelled to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art at night,

12 Geeky Fire Hydrants

You may recall my post last month about geeky trashcans where I talked about painting the local fire hydrant when I was a kid to look like Uncle Sam during the bicentennial. So apparently I wasn't alone in the painting of the fire hydrant business. Here,

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