HOW-TO

Do-It-Yourself Molded Pumpkins

Those of you who have been around the mental_floss blog for a while know I grow pumpkins in my garden. Last spring I wrote about how gardeners are using molds to grow vegetables in odd shapes, and I said I was going to try that myself. Well, I

Salsa Time!

In August, it's hard to find time to sit down and research some fascinating subject for you because I'm knee deep in tomatoes. Everyday I head to the garden with a five-gallon bucket and fill it up. Sometimes twice a day. I also grow peppers, so that mean

How to Bind a Book at Home

In this video, actress/musician/writer Catherine Taormina demonstrates how to print and bind a book at home. The first step is to print a series of four-page signatures consisting of standard printer paper folded in half. Next, you sew each signature al

Memorize the Presidents With This Song

Folky troubadour Jonathan Coulton has recorded "Washy Ad Jeffy," a mnemonic device/folk song that helps you remember the order of all the US presidents. By nicknaming the presidents with differing numbers of syllables (like "Jeffy" for Jefferson or "Ad"

Hillbilly Recycling

Over the past couple of decades, recycling has become the right thing to do. It is both fashionable and responsible to reduce our consumption and waste. In areas where there is less cash for consumer goods, recycling has always been a way of life. Raised

6 Ways to Decorate Easter Eggs

Decorating eggs is a custom that dates back before what we know as Easter was ever celebrated. Eggs are a symbol of spring, renewal, and fertility for many cultures. And sometimes they are works of art. 1. Pysanky Eggs Pysanky eggs are an example of Ukra

How You Put Yourself To Sleep

I think we all have nights where sleep won't come -- despite flipping the pillow and persistent rolling over, it just doesn't happen. What do you do when this happens? Personally, I've developed only one good way to get to sleep: audiobooks. Now, I lo

DIY Halloween Decorations

I've put together a collection of decoration ideas for your Halloween party, haunted house, or to welcome trick-or-treaters. Sometimes a simple but clever idea can make a great impression, but the elaborate props you put your heart into will be remembered

How To: Wrestle an Alligator

YOU WILL NEED 1 Alligator, un-sedated and unbowed 1 Person, just a little bit crazy 1 Rope, preferably strong Do: Check the Classifieds In 2000, members of the Seminole tribe near Hollywood, Florida put an ad in a local paper. They were looking for a ne

How To: Cause an International Crisis

YOU WILL NEED ---A perilous (and paranoid) diplomatic climate ---Weapons of mass destruction ---Human error First: Don't Read Your Mail That way, you can remain blissfully uninformed about important events that you (and your staff) are likely to misinter

How To: Host A Roman Bacchanalia

Bring the Wife While not exactly paragons of female equality, the Romans also certainly weren't at the bottom of the patriarchy pole either (that spot probably goes to the Greeks, who believed that ladies shouldn't be seen or heard and basically kept them

How To: Train A Cat

YOU WILL NEED To Give Your Cat Some Good Role Models, Such As"¦ --Humphrey, the cat who launched a political scandal Named the Prime Minister's Official Mouser in 1988, former stray Humphrey quickly became a fixture at 10 Downing Street, overseeing fel

How To: Fuel Your Car With Thanksgiving Leftovers

Question: What's greasy, grimy, and surprisingly useful? Answer: Turkey guts"¦and a lot of other stuff, too. It just depends on how you process it. If you're reading this, you're probably hip to the concept that Americans (and pretty much everybody else

How To: Not Buy Land In the Yukon

Step 1: Use a Cereal Company as Your Realtor Back in the Golden Days of Radio, the Quaker Oats Company sponsored a program called "The Challenge of the Yukon." Essentially the sort of story that Dudley Do-Right would later be created to mock, "Challenge"

How To: Change Your Child's DNA

When Willie Nelson admonished mamas everywhere to not let their babies grow up to be cowboys, he had no idea how accurate his assessment of a mother's power really was. Turns out, moms have a lot of control over what their babies become, both before and a

How To: Convince Others To Do Your Bidding

Method #1: By Remote Control It's every despot's dream: Tiny electrodes, implanted into the brains of your subjects, compelling them to follow your command. Priceless. Of course, the technology has more "ethical" applications as well. Currently, scientis

How To: Get Detained By Airport Security

Dangerous Item: Comedians Don't Bring "˜Em To: Myanmar The citizens of this country just want to avoid trouble—the kind that starts with a capital "T" and that rhymes with "C" and that stands for "comedy." Once known as Burma, Myanmar has a long

How To: Win a Duel

First: Get Embroiled in a Love Triangle Lord Edward Bruce loved Venetia Stanley. So did Edward Sackville, Earl of Dorset. This being 1613, the disagreement quickly turned to impassioned slapping, which was, of course, an invitation to duel to the death. S

How To: Build a "Dynasty"

YOU WILL NEED Leadership skills Innovative ideas Worshipful subjects Descendants to carry on your

How To: Be Misquoted

Like George Washington "I cannot tell a lie." Except, of course, for that one. We've all heard the story about how young George Washington was bad enough to chop down a neighbor's cherry tree, but not bad (or, perhaps, smart) enough to lie about it"¦but

How To: Change Your Name

Because the Government's Making You Naming your baby Brooklynn, America, or Lindsee might be acceptable (if mockable) in the good ol' US of A, but don't try a stunt like that in Denmark. Of all the European laws regulating baby names, Denmark's are the st

How To: Be An Astronaut

Take Your Aspirin Here's the secret they don't tell you about space travel: It hurts. Spacesickness is common, particularly for first-timers and anybody who launches into a bunch of fancy spins or soaring across the station before they've had time to get

How To: Get A New Word In the Dictionary

GOOD NEWS: It's Possible New words pop up in the dictionary all the time, thanks to a handy—and almost maniacally extensive—editorial system. If you want your word to make into the big books, you'll need to get it past the gate-keepers. Step

How To: Thwart A Bio-Terrorist Attack

YOU WILL NEED Some Llamas Step 1: Recognize the Awesomeness That is the Llama Push those vile stereotypes out of your mind. Llamas are more than just South America's walking sweater. For one thing, they jump—many reaching Jordan-like heights of as

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