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9 Really Cool Aquariums

A well-designed and maintained aquarium is a treat for the eye, a conversation piece, and a satisfying hobby. Some are much more than... READ ON

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No Photoshop Necessary: a (fake) fire hydrant grows in Hollywood

The latest in our ongoing feature, No Photoshop Necessary, takes you deep into the great, hilarious city of Los Angeles again, where it seems dogs are more a nuisance than man's best friend. This entire grassy pooping/peeing zone is no bigger than a few squares of sidewalk pavement in actuality. And, yes, that's Beverly Hills in the... READ ON

5 Questions: Just a Little Trivia

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Reusable water bottles

Even though I have a Brita in my home, I still find myself buying too much bottled water. Would this change if I committed to a reusable beverage container? Why not--I'm already Brita groupie. The LA Times has the story on the recent surge of bottled water manufacturers goading each other into going green: The company that makes Brita water filters teamed up Monday with Nalgene, a manufacturer of reusable beverage containers, to launch the FilterForGood campaign, aimed at weaning people off throwaway... READ ON

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Why You Shouldn't Invest in Forever Stamps

When the USPS introduced Forever Stamps -- First Class stamps that are valid forever, regardless of future rate increases -- my friends immediately had a clever idea: invest in them. Sitting around at a cocktail party, we talked it over -- judging from recent postal rate increases, it sure seemed like buying Forever Stamps and reselling them in the future (when surely the postal rates will involve selling your organs) would be a great investment opportunity. While we didn't bother to actually research... READ ON

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How To: Die Laughing

YOU WILL NEED A Sense of Humor Poor... READ ON

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Happy blog-day to me

It's been a year this week since I started blogging for mental_floss, and to commemorate such an auspicious anniversary, I thought I'd take a page from David's book, Google the phrase "the average blogger," and see how I stack up. According to Google, "the average blog is read by one person." Who is this person?? (Kidding.) In all seriousness, I can say with some certainty that the _floss has at least two loyal readers -- unless our "commenters" are all one guy, deeply schizophrenic and with... READ ON

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7 Underhanded Sports Tactics (Including how to knock out a deaf guy)

As Chris Connolly found out, cheating is unimaginative, brutish, and plain crass. Underhandedness, on the under hand, requires a certain moustache-twirling panache—a boldness that beguiles us, no matter what the rulebooks say! Here's to 7 of the Greatest Underhanded Sports Tacticians of All-Time. 1. The Real McCoy: Giving New Meaning to Hitting Below the... READ ON

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The First Time News Was Fit To Print, V

Walkman July 7,... READ ON

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Who flew before the Wright Brothers?

Orville and Wilbur Wright are generally credited with being the first in flight. Whether that's true depends on your definition of "flight". If you mean controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, then that's what they are known for, but even that may not be quite true, since controlled and sustained are not black-or-white terms. There were plenty of aviation pioneers working on flying in the nineteenth century; after all, we had automobiles and balloons and... READ ON