World’s Strangest

The authors of an article in Focus magazine, a BBC publication, took a look at statistics in 35 countries to rank those nations according to their tendency towards the seven deadly sins. Australia was found to be the most “sin-prone” nation, with the US coming in second. Canada, Finland, and Spain rounded out the most [...]

Photo: Carsten Peter, Speleoresearch & Films A geological wonder of immense proportions and intense beauty can be found in the Chihuahuan Desert of Mexico… 1000+ feet below the surface. Mentioned on Neatorama before for the photographic wowness, the Cueva de los Cristales - the Giant Crystal Cave – is also one of the most deadly environments [...]

42-year-old Roberto Carrillo didn’t want to be in jail for New Years Eve. He tried to escape the cell in Valle Hermoso, Mexico by squeezing through a gap he saw where the roof met a wall of bars, but there wasn’t enough room. He became stuck hanging upside-down and had to be rescued by laughing [...]

Diver Anatoly Beloshchin shot this footage in an underwater cavern at Cenote Angelita, Mexico. The illusion of a river is most commonly attributed to a layer of hydrogen sulfide. (YouTube Link)

One of my favorite scenes from John Green’s wonderful novel Paper Towns is when the character Radar doesn’t want to invite a girl over to his house because he’s embarrassed by his parents. More specifically, he’s embarrassed by their enormous collection of Black Santa figurines, with Black Santas crammed onto every windowsill and bookshelf in [...]

Every former U.S. president has been honored with a statue in the United States, some more than others. A handful of the 43 men who have held the nation’s highest office have also been honored with statues abroad. Here are a few examples, including some that may surprise you. 1. George W. Bush—Albania Bush will always [...]

Imagine being on the archaeological dig of a lifetime, searching for dinosaur bones or ancient Egyptian treasures, when you finally find something embedded in centuries-old rock or sealed in a tomb that you know hasn’t been opened in thousands of years. But it’s not a bone or a gem – it’s… a Game Boy? How [...]

When mental_floss asked me to write about my experience with The National Sports Daily—one of the biggest swings (and subsequently one of the biggest misses) in the history of American sports journalism—I took an inventory from my days there as the Chicago Bureau Chief and later as the Detroit columnist. • I have a book signed [...]

Both Christmas and National Poinsettia Day (December 12) are coming up soon, which brings up some interesting questions you may never have considered before. For example, why is a flower indigenous to Mexico commonly recognized as an international symbol of Christmas? Or why is it so darn hard to keep your poinsettias alive and blooming [...]

There are obscure holidays, and then there are really obscure holidays. I used to think Canadian Boxing Day and Three Kings’ Day were weird; in reality, there are so many holidays stuffed into our calendar that you could spend the whole year observing them and still miss a few. Here are a few of my [...]