Gary Larson is a huge hero of mine. We begged and begged his handlers to ask him to draw a mental_floss cover for us, and though he refused, the Far Works group agreed to let us run a bio on him, and they were happy to fact check it for us. (Apparently, most of the other major bios on him on the web are filled with inaccuracies, including the piece I really loved from salon.) In any case, I figured there'd be a few of you out there who might enjoy this delicious work by Kelly Ferguson. Just in case you're... READ ON

With the holidays just a few months away, we're introducing a new feature where we sift through 6 years of print archives and give you a smattering of the best of the _floss. If you dig what you see, subscribe here. Today, we're presenting Eric Furman's piece on a disturbing South Asian terrorist organization, and how the group has welcomed women into the fold. Crouching Tigresses Why women are lining up to become part of Sri Lanka's biggest terrorist organization By Eric Furman Terrorist... READ ON

Another installment from our new book In the Beginning. Enjoy! A Few Newspapers and Magazines Sure we know all about the birds and bees. But periodically, we like to explore where the rest of the buzz is coming from. The New York Times Founded in 1851, the Times made serious history just 20 years later: In 1871, its muckraking brought down the famous Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall. (The term "muckraking" hadn't actually been coined at the time, however; it was an early-1900s phenomenon.)... READ ON

With just 5 days to go until mental_floss's new book In the Beginning releases, we're handing you another fantastic origin story. Today's post goes out to all the shower stall singers and closet crooners out there. Enjoy! Karaoke (b. 1970) Given how many horrendous karaoke performances we've been subjected to, we weren't at all surprised to learn that the guy who invented the karaoke machine can't sing, can't read music, and plays the keyboards about as well as your average... READ ON