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Jazz Up Your Vocabulary With Mental Floss’s 2025 Word Nerd Desk Calendar

Our 2025 word-a-day calendar covers old-timey slang terms, fascinating phrase origins, and more.

Mental Floss’s ‘The Curious Compendium of Wonderful Words’ Features Fun Slang, Strange Phrase Origins, and More

Sure, all books are filled with words—but not quite like this.

Tompkins Harrison Matteson's 1853 painting Examination of a Witch, which depicts the 17th-century investigation of Mary Fisher in New England.

Catalonia Is Posthumously Pardoning More Than 700 Victims of Its Witch Trials

Europe’s witch trials spanned several hundred years and claimed thousands of innocent lives. Catalonia is making symbolic amends.

California Twins Were Just Born in Different Years

Alfredo Antonio Trujillo was one of the last babies born in 2021, and his twin sister Aylin was born 15 minutes later in 2022.

The document on display at Sotheby's in New York City nearlier this fall.

A Rare, Original Print of the U.S. Constitution Just Sold for a Record-Breaking $43 Million

A precious copy of the U.S. Constitution fetched roughly $23 million more than its estimated value at auction.

Christchurch's wizard, Ian Brackenbury Channell, in 2012.

After More Than Two Decades on the Payroll, Christchurch, New Zealand Is Laying off Official City Wizard

“It makes no difference. I will still keep going. They will have to kill me to stop me.”—the soon-to-be former city wizard of Christchurch, New Zealand, Ian Brackenbury Channell.

Josephine Baker Will Be the First Black Woman Buried in Paris’s Panthéon

Paris’s Panthéon houses graves for just five women. Josephine Baker—star, spy, and civil rights activist—is about to become the sixth.

Poolmageddon: How the Current Chlorine Shortage Could Impact Your Summer Plans

A chlorine factory fire and changing lifestyles during the pandemic are contributing to a nationwide chlorine shortage this summer.

That face you make when Netflix asks for a verification code.

If you’ve been sneakily using your ex-girlfriend’s stepmother’s Netflix account, the jig could soon be up.

A new scout receiving her Eagle Scout neckerchief at a regional ceremony in Tacoma, Washington.

Almost 1000 Young Women Just Became the First Female Eagle Scouts in Boy Scout History

Only about 6 percent of all scouts ever become Eagle Scouts—the Boy Scouts’s highest rank. These young women went above and beyond to earn it.

Harriet Tubman photographed by Benjamin Powelson in the late 1860s.

The White House Is Reinstating Plans to Replace Andrew Jackson With Harriet Tubman on $20 Bills

The plan to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Harriet Tubman was announced in 2016, but it’s been delayed for a while.

A still from A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).

PBS Will Air A Charlie Brown Christmas, Saving the Holiday Season

Apple TV+ now owns the rights to the 'Peanuts' specials, but they’re letting PBS temporarily take the reins.

No word yet on whether Amy Adams will be a member of the task force.

The Federal Government Is Organizing a Task Force to Examine UFO Sightings—Because Aliens

The Navy keeps spotting UFOs along the coast, and the Department of Defense wants to get to the bottom of it.

Tenino, Washington, Is Loaning Residents Wooden Money to Boost Its Economy

Printing its own wooden currency is a way for Tenino, Washington, to support residents while keeping cash within its local economy.

This woman doesn't work for us, but she sure is happy about our Webby Award nomination!

Mental Floss Is Up for a Webby Award—Here’s How to Help Us Win!

We’re thrilled to be included in the best weird general website category, which is basically our greatest dream come true.

Toys “R” Us Is Officially Back in Business

A year and a half after Toys “R” Us closed its doors, the toy titan is back with a smaller, cooler type of store.

Dennis Rogers, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

POW/MIA Military Flag Will Now Fly Permanently at Key Federal Sites Across the Country

Legislation passed this week requires the flag to be flown at the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon, and more.

Microsoft Japan Says Four-Day Work Week Experiment Led to a 40 Percent Increase in Productivity

The initiative was to encourage work-life balance for overworked employees in the wake of low birth rates and population decline.

A New Detail About Voldemort’s Horcruxes Has Just Been Revealed

Voldemort looks increasingly shabby as the last Harry Potter movie progresses, and Wizarding World just explained why.

You Can Buy an Extinct Volcano in Devon, England, for $60,000

People buy private islands, so why not buy a volcano? Posbury Clump, a 250-million-year-old inactive volcano located in Devon, England, could be yours for the seemingly reasonable price of $60,0000.

Reality Bites: A Humongous Tick That Chases Its Prey Has Been Found in the Netherlands

The non-native species doesn't wait for stationary hosts. It actively pursues them, scuttling over the ground to secure a blood meal.

The infamous asylum on Blackwell's Island that Nellie Bly infiltrated in the late 1880s.

A Nellie Bly Memorial Is Being Planned for New York City’s Roosevelt Island

Here’s what we know so far about the memorial for investigative journalist Nellie Bly, famed for her infiltration of a women’s asylum in the late 1880s.

LEGO Will Display This Thrilling New Avengers: Endgame Set at San Diego Comic-Con

LEGO will show off its new 'Avengers: Endgame'-inspired set at San Diego Comic-Con, and you can buy it yourself this November.

tatyana_tomsickova/iStock via Getty Images

Pennsylvania Schools Are Considering Replacing Snow Days With Work From Home Days for Students

Warming temperatures aren’t the only thing rendering snow days obsolete. Pennsylvania lawmakers are taking a cue from the business world and turning snow days into work from home days for their students.