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Finally, an answer!

When I was a kid with a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), sometimes my games wouldn't load. But I, like all kids, knew the secret: take out the game cartridge, blow on the contacts, and put it back in. And it seemed to work. (When it failed, I'd ju

Chris Higgins

Some of America's best-known game show hosts are actually Canadian -- including Alex Trebek, Monty Hall, and Alan Thicke. But in Canada, the game show landscape has featured plenty of painfully weird ways to win a few bucks (sorry, Loonies). Here's a ru

Chris Higgins


In 1999, Karen Herman interviewed Fred Rogers for the Archive of American Television. The resulting nine-part (roughly four-and-a-half hour) interview spans the career of the man we've come to know as Mister Rogers. Throughout, Rogers conveys the same g

Chris Higgins




Super-hero comics have provided some brilliant cliffhangers over the decades. Choosing 10 of the best, most significant cliffhangers is a tough job, so let's narrow it down to the "Big Two" comic book companies, Marvel and DC Comics. Between them, they ha

Mark Juddery


Apple Challenge To Conventional Computer Design

Apple uses secret internal code names for many of its products before they're released. Over the years, they've come up with some really weird ones—including one that led to multiple lawsuits.

Chris Higgins
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I know I’m only about a decade late, but I recently, finally, watched the entire run of The Sopranos. Tony and his crew get their hands into plenty of different moneymaking schemes, but throughout the series one character or another (Tony, Richie Aprile,

Matt Soniak
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Van Halen is back! Featuring David Lee Roth and three Van Halens, the band has reunited for a North American tour, and their new record was released just three days ago. So I thought I'd take a look back at the band's infamous early-1980s tour rider*, t

Chris Higgins




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Here's a little-known fact: January 4 is National Trivia Day! Let's celebrate with some of our favorite facts, pulled from our Amazing Fact Generator and the @mental_floss Twitter

Jason English




David J. Peterson is one of many conlangers: people who invent languages. His most recent work is the Dothraki tongue shown in HBO's "Game of Thrones"; the spoken language had to be invented for TV because it's rendered in English in the "Song of Ice an

Chris Higgins

To make your Monday complete, I present you with a variety of videos featuring animals playing video games, along with analysis of whether they are good at the games. BEHOLD: 1. Real Lizard Eats Virtual Ants A bearded dragon plays "Ant Smasher," an A

Chris Higgins
Hulton Archive/Getty Images

By the 1963 Christmas season, The Beatles were already the biggest musical stars in the history of British entertainment. Which makes their live "The Beatles Christmas Shows" of 1963 and 1964 even more bizarre.

Eddie Deezen


English actress Jenny Hanley shows off her Frisbee skills in 1971.

On January 23, 1957, the Wham-O toy company began producing their first Frisbees. But the flying plaything's history goes back even 20 years earlier, to a couple of bored teenagers.

Stacy Conradt






Ben Hider/Getty Images

From chasing down a robber to carrying the Olympic torch, Alex Trebek was just as impressive in real life as he was on the small screen.

Stacy Conradt