From The Archive

11 Time Traveler Urban Legends That Pretty Much Debunk Themselves

Despite photographic evidence and eyewitness accounts, these tales of time travel were too good to be true.

Betty White's Sweet Two-and-a-Half Hour Interview

The Archive of American Television is a goldmine. Last week I came across their four-and-a-half-hour interview with Mister Rogers; this week let's take a look at their similarly ultra-in-depth interview with Betty White. This is a five-part sit-down wit

10 Scandalous VP Stories Worth a Warm Bucket of Spit

This morning Mitt Romney tapped Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. John Nance Garner, FDR's first vice president, either said the VP position wasn't worth "a warm pitcher of piss" or "a warm bucket of spit." Whatever body fluid and recep

19 Presidential Jokes for Presidential Joke Day

We often think of American presidents as butts of jokes, the muses for mockery, and the subjects of satire. But every once in a while, our commanders-in-chief (or their speechwriters) come up with a few witty wisecracks of their own. Saturday is President

5 Fictional Countries Where the U.S. Army is Trained to Fight

To help prepare soldiers for the overwhelming nature of invading a country where the language is unknown and the culture is mostly alien, the U.S. Army invents fully realized countries, from international dynamics to currency.

The Lasting Gifts of the Civilian Conservation Corps

In 1933, America was in the depths of the Great Depression. Unemployment stood at around 25%. As soon as he took office, President Franklin Roosevelt pushed for an employment program called the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). He ran a similar program a

7 Schools Where Streaking Is An Organized Sport

At some schools, stripping down is a serious sport. Here are seven colleges that place streaking on par with other organized athletic endeavors. 1. Hamilton College Hamilton College’s varsity streaking team, Streak to Win, is dedicated to destroying the

15 My Little Pony Mashups

If you want to create something that will appeal to internet surfers, keep this in mind: the essence of comedy is the juxtaposition of opposites, or at least somewhat unrelated things. When you combine the pleasantness of something cute with the excitemen

The Olympic Swimmer Who'd Never Been in an Olympic-Size Pool

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

Chinese Product Placement in The Big Bang Theory

by Yiping Yang/Latitude

RIP Sherman Hemsley: 6 Stories About The Jeffersons

Actor Sherman Hemsley has passed away at the age of 74. Raised by a single mom in Philadelphia, the diminutive actor dropped out of high school in order to join the Air Force. After serving four years, he took a job with the U.S. Postal Service during the

Who Ensures That "No Animals Were Harmed in the Making of This Film"?

Rest easy, Air Bud fans. The AHA outlines their standards of animal care in their “Guidelines for the Safe Use of Animals in Filmed Media.”

Remembering the Aurora Twelve

Friday morning, we awoke to the horrific news of a shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Seventy people were shot; ten died at the scene and two more died soon afterward from their injuries. In the days after a mass murder, we try to make sense

25 Fictional Characters Posing With mental_floss

You've already seen celebrities posing with Mental Floss at the Motor City Comic Con, but have you ever wondered whether your favorite fictional characters would enjoy the magazine? Thanks to the San Diego Comic Con, we were able to find out that, whether

Harriet Tubman's Perfect Record

How did Harriet Tubman lead so many slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad? With careful planning, plenty of luck, and a little opium.

10 More Odd and Unusual Boating Events

Just a couple of days ago, we had 10 Strange and Wonderful Boat Races. Readers suggested other boat races, hinting that a list of ten was not enough. So here are ten more events in which you can enjoy some awesome and unusual boating, floating, and racing

Where Do Seedless Watermelons Come From?

When a run-of-the-mill watermelon and a souped-up frankenmelon love each other very much, they come together and make a baby seedless wundermelon.Seedless watermelons are a lot like mules – sterile hybrids formed by crossing genetically incompatible paren

Facts About Every Student From the 30th Story of Wayside School

Louis Sachar's Sideways Stories From Wayside School series is still a favorite of elementary-age kids, 34 years after the first book hit the shelves. Each of the three books features 30 chapters -- one for each floor of the Wayside School building -- and

8 Useful Tattoos for Practical Ink Enthusiasts

Tattoos have their fair share of downsides: the pain, the cost, and the disapproving glares from elderly family members. But if you select the right design, there can also be sweet functional benefits to getting inked. Here are some ingenious uses for tat

11 Tips for Growing the World's Longest Mustache

Image credit: Guinness World Records While an everyday ‘stache might gain you a cult following or a cameo on Reno 911, a truly magnificent mustache could catapult you into the Guinness Book of World Records. Here are eleven tips to help you grow the wor

11 Famous TV Theme Songs That Secretly Have Lyrics

Chances are, you've been humming these classic TV theme songs for years. Now you can get their lyrics stuck in your head, too.

Vancouver Public Library, Flickr // No known copyright restrictions

11 Defunct Drugstore Chains

What was your neighborhood corner drugstore Back In The Day, and is it still around?

5 Disorders Caused by the Internet, TV, Magazines and Movies

Blame the media!

A Brief History of the Wife Carrying World Championships

EPA/MARKKU OJALA/LANDOV It’s probably the most painstaking, heart wrenching, and stress inducing test of dedication a marriage can face. But the reward at the end is pretty sweet. At the annual Wife Carrying World Championships in Sonkajärvi, Finland, m

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