From The Archive

The Quick 10: Proper Names With Punctuation

Happy Punctuation Day! To help my fellow word nerds celebrate, today’s Q10 focuses on people and places with strange punctuation in their names. Perhaps I’ll start going by St@cy Conradt… 1. Named after the Charles Kingsley book by the same name, Westw

5 Things You Didn't Know About Dave Brubeck

Legendary jazz musician Dave Brubeck may be approaching his 90th birthday, but he still occasionally sits down at his piano for a crowd. Let's take a look at five things you might not know about the Kennedy Center Honoree, jazz standards composer, and lea

What's in a Name?

These names have probably all ended up in your shopping cart at some point, but how well do you know their origins? Let's take a look at the names behind some of our favorite groceries.

Phony Philatelists: Four Stories of Stamp Forgers

Ever since the first postage stamp was issued by Great Britain in 1840, there have been stamp collectors. And for almost as long, there have been stamp forgers. Some create counterfeit stamps to get around paying the fee for mail delivery, while others se

The Quick 10: 10 Failed Assassination Attempts

Today happens to be the anniversary of the day Sara Jane Moore tried to take President Ford out in 1975, so we're revisiting an old post on assassinations. Had it not been for the quick thinking of the guy next to Moore, Nelson Rockefeller would have been

Dietribes: Raspberries

• First thing's first: a raspberry is a bramble, or any plant belonging to the fierce-sounding genus Rubus. Raspberries are cousins with other bramble fruits, including blackberries. Also part of the diverse family Rosaceae are roses, strawberries, appl

7 Little-Known Muppets

Sure, you know the Swedish Chef, Kermit, Miss Piggy and Beaker. Who doesn’t? But what about some of the more obscure Muppets? Let’s take a closer look at seven of those with a little (okay a lot of) assistance from the awesomely amazing MuppetWiki. 1.

History of the U.S.: Rum Punch

Rum wasn’t invented in America, but it proved so popular in the colonies that it should qualify as an all- American

10 People Who Did It Anyway

The news that quadruple amputee Philippe Croizon swam the English Channel over the weekend reminded me of so many people I've written about, that I had to look in my files and bring you another inspirational list of people who are labeled as disabled in o

The Surprising Voices Behind Cartoon Characters

Last week we asked you to give us a few of your favorite surprising identities behind cartoon voiceovers. After checking out your terrific comments, we present a few voiceover artists you might not have suspected. Brad Garrett as Hulk Hogan When the then

10 LEGO Sets That You Can Help Make Happen

15 Sweet Facts About Kool-Aid

History of the U.S.: The Not-so-microwave

The same year that saw the invention of the atomic bomb also gave the world another hot device: the microwave oven. The principle behind microwave cooking was discovered by Percy Spencer, an engineer who worked for defense contractor Raytheon. After notic

Strange Objects Under the Sea

Kristian von Homsleth is a Danish artist who aims to sink a giant, metal, star-shaped sculpture – that will have at its center a cylinder filled with (donated) human blood and hair – in the Marianas Trench toward the end of this year. Hornsleth – who cons

Dance, Dance Revolution

Bad news for men who shuffle their feet on the dance floor—such dance moves are not sexy. It might seem that taking the conservative route will help lure a lady, but researchers found that women prefer men who dance flamboyantly and move their necks, head

The Quick 10: 10 Altered Images

It’s all over the news this week – Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram decided to do a little Photoshopping on what should have been a rather benign picture. But it’s far from the first time a picture has been doctored for political reasons. Here are 10 of them

The Quick 10: 10 First Magazine Covers

Some magazines have been around so long, we tend to forget there was a time when they were just fledgling start-ups. Check out who appeared on the first covers of these 10 popular magazines still going strong today – some of them are rather surprising.

How Did the States in the USA Get Their Names? (Part IV)

Reader Adam from Fairfax, Virginia, wrote in to ask, “How did the US states get their names?” This week, we’re tackling the origins and meaning of the names 10 states at a time. Here’s New Mexico through South Carolina. (Be sure to also check out Monday’

History of the U.S.: Matthew Perry Causes Chaos in Japan

Matthew Perry - the Commodore, not the Friend, caused a bit of a ruckus when he visited Japan in 1853. Prior to that, Japan's seclusion laws kept them pretty much sealed off from the rest of the world. Perry had instructions from President Millard Fillmo

Soda Pop Stop: 500 Flavors in One Store

Galco's Soda Pop Stop is a specialty store in Los Angeles that sells almost exclusively soda pop -- though there's also some candy and a deli counter tucked away in the back. I visited the store a few years ago, and came away with a variety of odd, excit

How 13 More Great American Cities Got Their Names

A few weeks ago we took a look at how 17 great American cities got their names. Since we could never cram every city's story into a single post, let's take a look at a second round of city name origins

How Did the States in the USA Get Their Names? (Part III)

Reader Adam from Fairfax, Virginia, wrote in to ask, "How did the US states get their names?" This week, we're tackling the origins and meaning of the names 10 states at a time. Here's Massachusetts through New Jersey. (Be sure to also check out Monday's

How Did the States in the USA Get Their Names? (Part II)

Reader Adam from Fairfax, Virginia, wrote in to ask, "How did the US states get their names?" This week, we're tackling the origins and meaning of the names 10 states at a time. Here's Hawaii through Maryland. (Be sure to also check out yesterday's post

History of the U.S.: The Republic of Madawaska

Our History of the World book was so popular, we decided to narrow it down a bit and concentrate on the U.S. The Mental Floss History of the United States hits bookshelves near you on October 5th, and until then, we thought we'd share some of our favorit

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