From The Archive

The Language Isaac Newton Invented

All generations that came after Isaac Newton would benefit from his innovations, but none of them would ever speak his universal language.

Bates Motel Recap, Episode 8: A Boy and His Dog

10 Remarkable Teachers for National Teacher Day

May 7 marks National Teacher Day, part of a weeklong celebration for educators who work tirelessly to make certain we can still function in the event the Internet happens to break.

15 Less-than-Inspirational Quotes from a Book of Moral Advice

Sometimes what we need, in our age of relentlessly positive inspirational quote sharing, is a refreshingly discouraging breath of stale air. So here are 15 anti-inspirational quotes from John Ploughman's talk: Plain Advice for Plain People.

The Wonderful Chaos of The Exquisite Corpse Project

Imagine that you were given five random pages from the middle of a film screenplay to read. Then, imagine you were tasked with writing the next 15 pages of that screenplay. How would you know what to write—what to have the characters say or how to have th

What is the Origin of the Phrase "Come Out of the Closet"?

This week, NBA center Jason Collins announced he was gay in a cover story for Sports Illustrated. In other words, he "came out of the closet." This expression for revealing one's homosexuality seems natural. Being in the closet implies hiding from the out

6 Movies That Were Almost Other Movies

With the number of remakes, reboots, and re-imagined movies coming out of Hollywood lately, the industry seems intent on taking everything old and making it new again. And while that's hardly just a recent trend, you might be surprised at some of the film

8 Symbols That We Turned Into Words

The symbols we use also have names: dollar sign, treble clef, asterisk, etc. But sometimes the name for a symbol takes on a different sort of meaning.

Bates Motel Recap, Episode 7: "The Man in Number 9"

This week on Bates Motel: Dead deputies, dead dogs and dead dreams. Ah, idyllic White Pine Bay. Having fun! Wish you were here!

8 Tattoos of M.C. Escher Art

11 Spam Comments That Look Like Drunk Thesauruses (And Why)

Nothing is certain but death, taxes, and spam comments on your blog. One way to avoid repeating the same comment over and over without having to write thousands of different original comments is to replace the words in one comment with various synonyms.

11 People Who Bring the Muppets to Life

The Muppets have experienced a changing of the guard over the years. As the Muppeteers who gave life to the iconic felt and foam creations have passed away or moved on in show biz, the personalities of every Muppet have been carefully handed down to perfo

Bill DeMain Remembers George Jones

It's Trailer Thursday!

7 Words Brought to You by British Colonialism

Words we use every day in modern English owe their inclusion in dictionaries to a British army officer picking up a few slang words from the cotton traders in Bangalore, street food vendors in the Caribbean, or the Boer warriors two fought against Britons

5 Surprising Uses for Stilts

Most people think of stilts as something for circuses and kiddie parties, but they’ve been used in a number of strange ways since ancient times. In fact, stilts have a long, proud history of weirdness that continues today.

7 Ways We Could Tell That AP Tweet Was Fake

On Tuesday the twitter feed of the Associated Press was hacked, and a fake tweet about President Obama being injured in an explosion at the White House was sent out. Any eagle-eyed editor, however, could tell from the form of the tweet that something was

Bates Motel Recap, Episode Six: The Truth

Lots of stuff starting to unravel on Bates this week—including at least one plot line I figured would be in play for the whole season. Let’s get to it.

The Pig Latins of 11 Other Languages

Rules of language games in other languages may vary, but here are some general guidelines for fun in 11 different languages.

5 Pairs of Countries That Americans Confuse

There are some place names that just sound so similar, we'll keep mixing them up no matter how little they have to do with each other.

8 Inspiring Stories About Runners

Because we could all use an extra dose of humanity this week, here are eight other feel-good stories about runners.

8 More Surprising Things Banned by the BBC

The BBC takes its role as an arbiter of taste, morals, ethics, and standards very seriously—so it doesn’t show just anything. But what the BBC decides to ban or not allow is, well, sometimes a little weird.

Trailer Thursdays: Aliens, Devil DJs and a 12-Step Program

Juliette Eisner, co-director of Lil Bub & Friendz

We spoke with "Lil Bub & Friendz" co-director Juliette Eisner about meeting BUB, how she found her experts, and why she thinks the internet loves cats.

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