World’s Strangest

You’d have to look far and wide to find a child who doesn’t like elephants! An animal so big, so extreme, and which comes with a nose that can do things was destined to be a pop culture favorite. Here are some the “biggest” elephant characters, past and present. 10. Elmer Elmer the Patchwork Elephant is the [...]

Everyone knows about the famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest. It may be one of the most well-hyped, but it’s hardly the only eating competition out there. In fact, there’s probably an eating competition for just about any food you can think of. Here are the best performances from 10 of them. 1. 4.99 [...]

One thing I learned watching the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street DVD: Oscar the Grouch was originally orange. Consider that your useless fact of the day. [Actually, our own Stacy Conradt discussed Oscar's color switch last year. For more Muppet tidbits, check out "The Stories Behind 20 Muppet Favorites."]

Did you know that in Switzerland people ring in the new year by dropping a dollop of cream on the floor? Or how about how Armenians bake special bread with “good luck” and “best wishes” stamped into it? We thought you didn’t. So in honor of 2010, here are 10 unusual traditions observed by different [...]

This year I posted a bunch of Sesame Street videos. YouTube is a wonderful thing, and what’s better is that the folks at Sesame Street post tons of clips online, and don’t seem to file many rights complaints against others who post clips. For your convenience, I’ve collected the best of this year’s Sesame Street [...]

Before we slip too far into December, let’s recap what happened last month. In case you missed a day or two here or there, these are the top 10 stories originally posted in November: 1. The Late Movies: Dogs Welcoming Returning Soldiers by Jason English To commemorate Veterans Day, I posted a bunch of videos featuring overjoyed dogs [...]

You may love Sesame Street, but how well do you know the Sesame Street characters? In Today’s Lunchtime Quiz at mental_floss, you are challenged to match the Muppet with a picture of the person who provides its voice. There is no option to select Jim Henson or Frank Oz, so this is more difficult than [...]

Most people blame tryptophan, but that’s not really the main culprit. So why do people have such a hard time staying awake after Thanksgiving dinner? And what is tryptophan, anyway? Tryptophan is an amino acid that the body uses in the processes of making vitamin B3 and serotonin, a neurotransmitter that helps regulate sleep. It can’t [...]

The two-minute warning comes up at the end of each half in every NFL football game. Most fans take it for granted, but why does the NFL stop the clock with two minutes or so left in each half? Is it just so the NFL can sneak an extra commercial break into the action? Here’s [...]

Popular belief holds that the average American gains somewhere between 5 and 10 pounds over the holiday season (Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day). A few studies over the last decade, though, have found that we’re not nearly as gluttonous as we think we are. After weighing 94 graduate and undergraduate students at the University of Oklahoma [...]