Topic - Mental Floss

Scott Neumyerfiled under: animation, tv Image credit: Warner Bros.This past May, Rob Lammle told you more than you ever wanted to know about Animaniacs. Now, we’re back to tell you even more about Yakko, Wakko, Dot, and the rest of the animated crew. The show's remaining episodes hit DVD tomorrow in Animaniacs: Volume 4, so we sat down with Animaniacs creator Tom Ruegger and the voice of Yakko, Pinky, and many others, Rob Paulsen, to behind-the-scenes details about the show’s final episodes. ...

Chris Higginsfiled under: bizarro, inventions, video Image credit: YouTubeDonald Scruggs is a mechanical engineer and inventor. His most bizarre invention has come to be known as "the screw-in coffin." It's a casket shaped like a gigantic screw, with the idea being that it goes into the ground easier -- and uses cemetery space more efficiently by burying people (or pets) vertically. "It definitely is not for everybody," says Scruggs. Agreed. Here's a short video by PBS explaining the inventio...

Allison Keenefiled under: Links Image credit: DisneyIf you haven't see the Disney short "Paperman," get thee to it! Lovely animation (CG made to look hand drawn) and a cute story. * Very informative regarding the rise of the nerds: A Brief History Of Nerds In Pop Culture (the comments are absolutely worth reading. And according to their diagram, I am apparently a geek). * For Occupy Conan, some very talented fans sent in recreated clips from the show that were edited together to form an episo...

Chris Higginsfiled under: holidays, humor, video Image credit: C. G. P. GreySpoiler alert: Punxsutawney Phil predicts an early spring, having failed to observe his shadow outside his burrow in Gobbler's Knob. And thus, writers worldwide in the US have an obvious topic to cover today! Rejoice! Judging from the downright balmy 50-degree weather in Portland, Oregon, I suspect Phil is onto something. But where did this pseudo-holiday/tourist attraction come from? And is Punxsutawney Phil the only...

Miss Kathleenfiled under: Links, literature Image credit: ThinkStockIt's awards season, and there may not be fancy dresses and television coverage, but the ALA's awards for children's literature always get librarians talking! See what won the Newbery, Caldecott, and more. * Lance Armstrong is the new James Frey! * Remember The Giver? You know you read it and loved it. (If you haven't read it, do so! It totally holds up as an adult read.) So, a movie—awesome, or awful? * Don't click through, j...

Mark Arminiofiled under: Late Movies, video Image credit: YoutubeIt's Thursday, it's late, it's time once again for the game that's sweeping the nation: GUESS THE THEME! All the clips below, in this case songs, have something in common. Leave your best guesses in the comments. Paul Simon - "You Can Call Me Al" George Thorogood & The Destroyers - "Bad To The Bone" Beck - "New Pollution" Rolling Stones - "Brown Sugar" Dave Matthews Band - "Ants Marching" WHAT PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT 25 of the ...

Chris Higginsfiled under: movies, pop-culture Image credit: Ricky Gervais/TwitterAfter the smash success of the The Muppets in 2011, a new Muppets film is in the works. Having saved their dusty theater in the 2011 film, the Muppets will team up with Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Ray Liotta, and Ty Burrell to take their show on the road for The Muppets... Again! in 2014. And yes, Bret McKenzie is coming back to write bonza songs. The plot? Entertainment Weekly reports: "The Muppet repertory company...

Miss Cellania It's been almost two years since I've done a roundup of periodic tables (and six years since I posted the first one). Oh, you know the periodic table of elements; you may have even studied it. But these are different. Creative minds use the basic template to classify all sorts of things that aren't elements, and the ones that do contain real elements have a twist. 1. Twitter There are 114 named elements in the periodic table now, and every one of them is being used by someone on...

Erin McCarthyfiled under: entertainment, music, science Image credit: YoutubeWhen University of Southern California researchers Michael Proctor, Shrikanth Narayanan and Krishna Nayak wanted to know what beatboxing looked like from inside the vocal tract, they decided to do something no one had ever done before: Put a performer in a real-time Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine and have him do his thing. While lying on his back in the MRI, the 27-year-old performer from Los Angeles demons...

Bill DeMainfiled under: Music History Image credit: Getty Images“Heroes” Written by David Bowie and Brian Eno (1977) Performed by David Bowie The Music In the summer of 1977, David Bowie was living in Berlin and working on a new album. One evening, he saw his producer Tony Visconti sitting on a bench near the Berlin Wall with a young German woman. “Tony was married at the time,” Bowie recalled, “I think the marriage was in the last few months, and it was very touching because I could see that...

The Weekfiled under: environment, Animals, cats, birds Image credit: ThinkStockBy Chris Gayomali/The Week The internet loves cats. And why not? They're cute, endlessly entertaining and, unlike dogs, don't require constant attention. But what do cats do when they're not curling up in your lap? According to biologists, they're off killing other animals — billions of 'em. Scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service estimate that each year, app...

Chris Higginsfiled under: entertainment, writing Image credit: YouTubeTonight, let's sit back and enjoy some brief interviews with Neil Gaiman. I'm doing a bit of research on Gaiman, collecting quotations -- anybody got favorites? Leave me a comment. On Writing Gaiman offers advice for young writers, while being interviewed on The Nerdist podcast. Some nice person has set his words to music ("La View En Rose") and clips of various writers writing in movies. My favorite part? After telling wri...

Kara Kovalchikfiled under: entertainment, Lists, music, myths Image credit: wfnk.comOn January 25, Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner passed away at the age of 69 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Bonner was the lead singer for super soul group the Ohio Players, who had two number one pop hits: “Fire” and “Love Rollercoaster.” The latter song was the subject of a bizarre urban legend, which has inspired us to debunk it and several rumors about other popular songs that have somehow managed to get pass...

Rob Lammlefiled under: entertainment, pop-culture, tech, technology Image credit: MobyGames.comMost video games have clear goals: rescue the princess, defeat the enemy, earn the most points. But in the long-running Sim franchises, the goals are much less tangible. Instead of saving the world, you’re often creating it from scratch. With a new SimCity coming to stores soon, it seems like a good time to look back at the history of these world-changing, world-building games. Bungeling Beginnings ...

Erin McCarthyfiled under: entertainment, celebrities, movies, tech Image credit: Criterion Collection YoutubeWhen Criterion restores movies, the company prefers to work from the best possible source material—typically, the original negative. But in the case of Alfred Hitchcock's 1934 film The Man Who Knew Too Much, the original negative was missing. Looking for the next best option led Criterion's restorers to a 35mm nitrate print, but it had lots of scratches, so they opted to hold out for s...

Chris Higginsfiled under: computers, history Image credit: YouTubeOn January 26, 1983, a spreadsheet program called Lotus 1-2-3 burst onto the personal computing scene. Facing a horde of competitors including VisiCalc (the original Apple II "killer app"), Multiplan (from Microsoft), Supercalc (running on CP/M) and Context MBA, 1-2-3 was an upstart, but it had an edge: it was fast. Before we dig in deeper, here's a clip from Triumph of the Nerds showing Lotus 1-2-3 as the IBM PC's first killer...

Bryan Duganfiled under: gadgets, astronomy, Lists, science Image credit: NASASince the Russians put Sputnik in orbit in 1957, a heavy amount of space junk, from old satellites to nuts and bolts, has clogged up the orbit around Earth; as of February 2011, there were 10 million pieces of man-made debris in space, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. This puts us in real danger of something scientists call the Kessler Syndrome: Low Earth orbit becomes so crowded with artifical satellites and ...

Mark Mancinifiled under: history, tech, technology, war Image credit: Getty ImagesWhen I hear the word “submarine,” I think of something out of The Hunt For Red October. Yet sub-surface warfare predates the Cold War by over a century. In fact, the first conflict to put military submarines in action was the Revolutionary War, and it was the American Civil War which saw the world’s first spurt of successful submarine combat. Underwater Revolution In 1775, Connecticut resident and Yale Universit...

Colin Perkinsfiled under: Links, afternoon-links Image credit: ThinkStockRobots Get No Love Actual science has determined that human beings have very little compassion for robot torture. I wonder if they’d be bothered by water(mother)boarding. * Supervillain Singalong io9 has compiled a list of the 26 best supervillain songs of all time, and it is wonderful. * You Are Hereby Banished Unless that’s not entirely legal. * Just One More Zombie Thing: Teddy Bears UndeadTeds are so cool/cuddly/cree...

Erin McCarthyfiled under: astronomy, history, space, video Image credit: StoryCorpsTwenty-seven years ago today, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven people on board—including physicist Ronald E. McNair, who was the second African American to enter space. StoryCorps—an oral history project that records and archives stories from people around the country—sat down with McNair's brother, Carl, to remember him. From that conversation came the animated ...

Chris Higginsfiled under: video, weird Image credit: YouTubeYann Frisch is a French sleight-of-hand artist best known for a routine called Baltass (a portmanteaux of the French words for "ball" and "cup," balle and tasse), in which he elevates the old cups-and-balls trick into a serious art form. This is true performance art -- aside from the astonishing dexterity required to perform this routine, it evokes surprise, laughter, and even empathy for the frustrated conjurer. In the routine, Fris...

Chris Higginsfiled under: video Image credit: YouTubeFayard and Harold Nicholas were a fantastic set of flash-dancers who performed as the Nicholas Brothers. Born seven years apart, the brothers performed for decades on stage and screen, later teaching dance to Michael and Janet Jackson, among many others. In the performance below from Stormy Weather, many of their trademark moves are on display -- jumping down stairs into splits, sliding up from splits without using hands, and gleefully jump...

Allison Keenefiled under: Links Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesHaunting photos from Chicago's freezing fire. * Graphic designers get some snarky revenge by illustrating client feedback. Brilliant. I used to work as a proofreader for a creative department, and this really makes me laugh, because yes, these sound true from my experience. * How a key works, thanks to one perfect animated GIF. Mesmerizing. I had no idea! * I'm a little late on this one, but even if you've seen it before, t...

Allison Keenefiled under: Links Image credit: inadream.deviantart.comThe Starks of Winterfell are always warning us Winter Is Coming, but I'm still grumpy about it. Buzzfeed gives us quite a few reasons to embrace the cold weather, though. * From Alexis, a thoughtful article about the world's 'poorest' president. Uruguay's president lives on a "ramshackle" farm and gives away much of his pay. He definitely cannot be accused of forgetting the 99%! * Inspiration: one kid wrote, animated and dir...

Chris Higginsfiled under: tv, tvholic, video Image credit: YouTubeIn 1978, magician illusionist David Copperfield burst onto the scene with an impressively corny-but-endearing TV special shot for CBS. The special included extended bits with Orson Welles, Bernadette Peters, Sherman Hemsley, Valerie Bertinelli, and Cindy Williams (as "The Great Cindini"). It's a wild ride, because it's a combination of good fun, great acting, and pure essence of the 70s. The 48-minute extravaganza is rife with ...

Erin McCarthy Image credit: Discovery ChannelBigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster are cool and all, but in Dr. Edie Widder’s opinion, there’s no animal more appropriate for science fiction than the real life giant squid. “You couldn’t ask for a better alien,” she says. “An animal with multiple arms and two long tentacles, the most enormous eyes, three hearts that pump blue blood, suckers with serrated edges, and a beak that slices flesh. And it happens to be real!” A featured creature in mytholo...

It's Thursday, it's late, it's time once again for the game that's sweeping the nation: GUESS THE THEME! All the clips below, in this case songs, have something in common. Leave your best guesses in the comments. Joan Jett - "Bad Reputation" James Taylor - "Fire & Rain" Jimmy Buffett - "Come Monday" No Doubt - "Don't Speak" Deep Purple - "Smoke On The Water" January 24, 2013 - 12:29am WHAT PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT 19 Old-Timey Slang Terms to Bolster Your Vocabulary Every Item in Nickelodeon's...

Chris Higginsfiled under: computers, history, video Image credit: YouTubeOn January 24, 1984, Apple introduced the Macintosh. Wearing a suit and snappy bow tie, Steve Jobs sped through his introductory speech, rattling off specs and taking every opportunity to stick it to the IBM PC. "It eats [Intel] 8088s for breakfast," Jobs said of the Mac's Motorola 68000 CPU. "We're storing over 400 k-bytes of information on one side of a disk that can be put in your pocket," he said of the 3.5" floppy d...

Kathleen Elisefiled under: Lists, pop-culture, tv Image credit: X-Files WikiOver the years, a number of TV series have removed specific episodes from their rerun schedules. These episodes have been deemed too creepy, too racist, or too offensive to repeat. Some eventually return to the airwaves, while others may be serving a lifetime ban. Here is a short list of episodes that have been pulled from the rotation. 1. Seinfeld, “The Puerto Rican Day” Controversy: Flag burning, negative portrayal ...

Lucas Reillyfiled under: books, history, literature, video Image credit: Getty ImagesIf you’re a fan of James Joyce, take a second to thank Sylvia Beach. An American expatriate living in Paris, Beach owned the bookshop Shakespeare and Company, which published Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922. She also convinced the author to record passages of two of his most famous books. Ulysses: Aeolus (1924) In 1924, at Beach's prodding, Joyce made a recording of his modernist monsterpiece Ulysses—the only in exis...

Chris Higginsfiled under: video, video-games Image credit: YouTubeIn late 2011, Andrew Gardikis set a record for a "speed run" on Super Mario Bros. -- this means he played through the entire game as quickly as possible (yes, he used the warp tubes). For that 2011 run, Gardikis calculated his time at 4:58.898, or just under five minutes (he's calculating down to the frame level). Then on January 14, 2013, Gardikis published a new video, in which he broke his old record by 0.1 seconds. In the n...

Kara Kovalchik Image credit: ThinkStockJust who do we blame for that ditty that every would-be pianist picks out when they find an unsuspecting keyboard? The song we’re referring to is “Heart and Soul,” and don’t tell us that you’ve never played either the top or bottom section with someone at least once in your life. The melody was composed by Hoagy Carmichael, who’d penned such classics as “Stardust” and “Georgia on My Mind.” Two years later, first-time collaborator Frank Loesser added the ...

Chris Higginsfiled under: video Image credit: YouTubeAfter an extremely brief pause for the inauguration and some celebration, the United States Debt Limit is back in the news. Yet again, a Washington showdown looms in which Congress battles the President over...what? Something about money, clearly. But are we talking about a Fiscal Cliff, a Debtpocalypse, or a Taxmageddon here? Actually, it's just a detail of fiscal policy that makes for great TV. In this brief (and admirably nonpartisan) vi...

Chris Higginsfiled under: music, music-history, video Image credit: YouTubeIn 1984, Irish rockers U2 released The Unforgettable Fire, an album featuring two prominent tributes to Martin Luther King, Jr. The songs were called "MLK" and "Pride (in the Name of Love)." Those songs earned singer Bono the King Center's "Salute to Greatness Award" in 2004. As we celebrate King's life today, let's look back at these songs. First up, "MLK." An odd bit of historical trivia: "MLK" was supposed to be the...

The Weekfiled under: celebrities, Lists, movies, pop-culture Image credit: YoutubeBy Scott Meslow If last weekend's number one movie, Mama — in which two adopted children are beset by a malevolent creature they call Mama — sounds familiar, it may be because you first encountered the film in its original three-minute short form when it was released in 2008. (Watch the original short version of Mama below.) On the strength of the three-minute version, Guillermo del Toro (of Pan's Labyrinth fame...

DB Gradyfiled under: history, Lists Image credit: Getty ImagesEvery four years, the United States of America continues the Great Experiment and inaugurates a president. Music is an important part in the occasion and festivities. To that end, here are some of the songs you’ll hear on Inauguration Day and other state ceremonies. 1. "Ruffles and Flourishes" You’ll recognize “Ruffles and Flourishes” as the fanfare performed immediately before “Hail to the Chief.” The drums play the ruffles; the b...

Chris Higginsfiled under: science, video Image credit: YouTubeIs it possible to get better at playing the piano by simply thinking about playing the piano? Oddly, the answer is yes. (Now, it's better in the long run to actually play the piano -- and that "thinking" activity must be very focused and directed -- but still, that's crazy, right?) It turns out that this phenomenon is actually quite common: by exercising the brain, humans can improve coordination skills (and even strength) in physi...

Chris Higginsfiled under: animation, video, weird Image credit: YouTubeSteamboat Willie was the official debut of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and frankly I never paid much attention to it until now. So what actually happens in this classic short film? Mickey Mouse tortures a series of animals, synchronized with wacky music. Yeah, there's some stuff about Mickey's conflict with Captain Pete and his relationship with Minnie, but what jumps out here is that Mickey is serially trapping and torturing...

Colin Perkinsfiled under: art, Links, afternoon-links, movies Image credit: YoutubePay Attention, Peter Jackson The Hobbit gets the How It Should Have Ended treatment. * It's the Thought That Counts According to this, you don't have to ever actually do stuff. Just think about it and your brain can't tell the difference. * Remember Your 20s? Of course you do. And there's a perfectly good reason why you do. * Her Eyes Follow You Around the... Universe The Mona Lisa is being beamed to the moon w...

Mark Arminio Image credit: Getty ImagesIt's Thursday, it's late, it's time once again for the game that's sweeping the nation: GUESS THE THEME! All the clips below, in this case TV shows, have something in common. Leave your best guesses in the comments. Step By Step Hangin' With Mr. Cooper Grey's Anatomy ER Parks and Recreation Home Improvement January 17, 2013 - 10:45am WHAT PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT 31 Acronyms and Initials All Spelled Out How Did the Duck Hunt Gun Work? Every Item in Nicke...

Chris Higginsfiled under: books Image credit: YouTubeHow do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice. But how do you sell it out? By writing touching novels, hosting educational internet shows, singing geeky songs, and constantly building a fanbase for half a decade. (In other words: yeah, practice.) On Tuesday, Mental Floss contributors John and Hank Green performed at Carnegie Hall -- and they sold every seat. The event was called An Evening of Awesome, a reference to the brot...

Sydney Beveridgefiled under: pop-culture Image credit: Getty ImagesBetty White is celebrating her 91st birthday today. Eight decades ago as a little (Golden) girl, she made her radio debut. Later, a collaboration with a radio disc jockey would help launch her into television stardom. Here's a look back at the highlights of her radio career, with some clips provided to us by the Old Time Radio Catalog. Early Radio Debut Betty White's earliest radio work found online is from an early 1930s dram...

Chris Higginsfiled under: advertising, bizarro, toys, tv Image credit: YoutubeRemember when Mr. Potato Head was just an actual, edible potato with stuff you'd stick into him? And "Captain Action" promised to be any superhero you wanted could afford the clothes for? Here are some vintage toy commercials to bring back all your toy longings of yore. Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head So the Potato Heads used to be literal potatoes. Warning: if you're young, this might scare the hell out of you. Captain Ac...

Lucas Reillyfiled under: Animals, cats, books, celebrities Sometimes you just want to be a kid again. These literary luminaries quietly tried their hands at writing children’s stories. (Caution: spoilers!) 1. James Joyce James Joyce wrote some of the most influential—and impenetrable—literature of the 20th century. When he wasn’t doing that, he wrote about cats. In 1936, Joyce mailed two stories to his grandson, Stephen. The tales would later be published as children’s books: The Cat and the ...