From The Archive

5 Things You Didn't Know About Charles Lindbergh

Charles Lindbergh was born 109 years ago today. In honor of the famed aviator’s birthday, let’s hop onto five things you might not know about The Lone Eagle.1. He Was Time’s First Man of the

The Quick 10: 10 Versions of Corporate Monopoly (the board game, not the business tactic)

You can find just about any version of Monopoly you want these days - in fact, you can even buy a blank and make your own. Most sports teams seem to have gotten in on the never-ending game, and even pop culture icons like the Beatles, Mario, and the Mupp

How Do TV Sweeps Periods Work?

Television’s February sweeps period started Thursday and runs through March 2, so brace yourself for a slew of guest stars, wedding episodes, and other attention-grabbers.

How the Cardinal Directions Got Their Names

While we were wading through the origins of the names of the U.S. states last fall, reader Brit asked me where the North in North Carolina and North Dakota came from. We’re happy to oblige.

Own the Road: A Brief History of the Adopt-a-Highway Program

In the decades since the Adopt-a-Highway program was launched in 1985, it has helped keep America’s highways clean, saved taxpayers money, sparked a handful of free-speech battles, and even been featured on an episode of 'Seinfeld.' Here’s a brief history

Predicting the Future (or at Least Predicting Where Naked People Are)

In his article in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Daryl Bem recalls a scene from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass between Alice and the White Queen. Alice complains that “one cannot believe impossible things,” and the White Quee

The Rise and Fall of Pablo Escobar

In the 1980s, Pablo Escobar's Medellin Cartel was spending $2,500 a month on rubber bands just to hold all their cash.

The Quick 10: 10 Unusual Super Bowl Side Bets

I’m really only interested in football games when a) it's the Iowa State Cyclones or b) I’m participating in the physical_floss Fantasy Football league, getting embarrassed by Jason Plautz two years in a row. But I’m still interested in the Super Bowl as

The Quick 9: 9 Awkward Places to Get Served

Getting served with divorce papers or lawsuits is never fun, but let's face it - opening your front door and accepting an envelope is a lot less embarrassing than dealing with someone running out and handing you a sheaf of paper in front of your adoring f

Attention Anyone Willing To Do Me a Favor...

To all loyal _flossers (and also new people who just happened to stumble upon this post): I don't ask you for much,* but today I need to ask a

Dietribes: Artichokes? Thistle Be Good!

• The artichoke's history dates back to antiquity. Mythology has it that when Zeus spotted Cynara, a beautiful young mortal, he transformed her into a goddess. Homesick, Cynara sneaked back into the mortal world. When Zeus discovered her deception, he tu

Wearing the Other Team's Colors Can Cost You Your Job

© Mark Cowan/Icon SMI/Corbis You’ve probably already heard the story of Chicagoland car dealer John Stone’s abrupt dismissal from his job on Monday. Stone celebrated the Green Bay Packers’ victory over the Chicago Bears in Sunday’s NFC Championship Game

The Quick 10: 10 Last Suppers

We've talked about famous last words before, but how about famous last foods? Some of these soon-to-be-deceased got to choose and others had no idea they were about to munch their last morsels. See what they swallowed, then think about what you'd pick i

The Origins of the Terrible Towel and the Lambeau Leap

Super Bowl XLV will take place on Sunday, February 6th. It would take far too long to detail the long, storied history of both teams. So, in the interest of brevity – and to avoid the Super Bowl overdose that is surely on the way – let’s just take a look

How (and Why) Are Black and White Films Colorized?

Anyone who spent time flipping channels and watching movies on cable during the 1980s and early 1990s probably remembers screening a few colorized films. The films, which had originally been shot in black-and-white, didn’t look quite the same as “real” c

What Else Does the Sergeant at Arms Do?

The Sergeant at Arms is perhaps most famous for being the guy at the State of the Union Address who shouts “Mister (or Madam) Speaker, the President of the United States!” But what does the Sergeant at Arms do the rest of the year?

6 Critics Turned Artists

It's been said that those who can, do; those who can’t, teach; and those who can neither do nor teach become critics. But many critics were originally involved in the fields they now review. And there are some on the other side of the coin as well—people

The Quick 10: People With Fake Middle Initials

Maybe fake isn't exactly correct - some of the people on this list really have initials for middle names, they just don't mean anything. But others have made them up entirely. Read on to see what I mean. 1. Harry S. Truman. His parents were trying to p

Watch What You Tweet: 4 Twitter Lawsuits

With over 95 million messages sent via Twitter every day, you might be asking yourself, “Is anybody out there?” Say the wrong thing, though, and you might find out exactly who's listening – when you receive a subpoena. Here are four real Twitter-related

The Quick 10: The Insurance Policies on 10 Famous Body Parts

While most of us insure rather mundane things – lives, houses, cars – there’s a certain populace who make livings based on very specific body parts and need financial protection in case the ability to earn that living is ever taken away. Hey, you’d proba

James Ellroy's LA: City of Demons

James Ellroy, author of L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia has a new show premiering tonight (Wednesday, January 19) at 10pm Eastern on Investigation Discovery. It's called "James Ellroy's LA: City of Demons." It focuses on true crime in Los Angeles

The Quick 10: 10 Unusual War Weapons

Think fighting wars is all about grenades and tanks? Think again. It takes some serious innovation to win wars – here are a mere handful of those ideas, although some of them were bombs in more than one way. 1. Major Martin, AKA Operation Mincemeat. How

They Buy Gold: A Brief History of Pawn Shops

You see them littering strip malls, and you know they allegedly pay top dollar for scrap gold. How well do you know the history and nuances of your local pawn shops, though? Let’s take a look behind the pawnbroker’s

Not-So-Famous Firsts: The Civil Rights Movement

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, let's take a look at a few not-so-famous firsts in the American Civil Rights Movement. Get on the

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