Stacy Conradt

Joined: Nov 21, 2012

Stacy Conradt has been contributing to Mental Floss since 2008. As an avid board game lover, she is especially fond of her work on Split Decision and Mixed Nuts. In her spare time (ha) she likes to run badly and visit roadside attractions that make most people cringe. She never met an Abe Lincoln tribute she didn't love. If you have one to suggest, let her know at twitter.com/stacy_writes.

At least one critic panned Dustin Hoffman’s performance in ‘The Graduate.’

10 Pop Culture Classics That Originally Got Bad Reviews

1985 Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream commercial.

7 of the Most Bizarre Discontinued Ben & Jerry’s Flavors

Baltimore, Maryland had a brief stint as capital.

9 Places That Have Served as the Capital of the United States

Nelson Mandela, Jerry Springer, and John Cleese have at least one thing in common.

30 Famous People With Law Degrees

Colored photograph of Violet Jessop, survivor of the Titanic.

The Unsinkable Violet Jessop

If you survived multiple shipwrecks, including the 'Titanic,' you might start wondering if you were the angel of death—or Violet Constance Jessop.

The Hershey Company and the RMS 'Titanic' share a surprising link.

How the 'Titanic' Almost Sank Hershey

Milton S. Hershey almost traveled on the RMS 'Titanic.' Fortunately for chocolate lovers, he didn't.

Royal Museums Greenwich, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

10 Things You May Not Know About the "Unsinkable" Titanic

Spoiler alert: An "unsinkable" ship can still sink. Read on for more facts about what happened on the 'Titanic,' from its famous passengers to its last menu.

Presidents Day vs. President’s Day vs. Presidents’ Day: Which One Is It?

The apostrophe in Presidents Day—or President's Day or Presidents's Day—is all over the place ... or nowhere to be found at all.

101 Things We Learned in 2024

Let’s celebrate another year in the books with a look back at how our knowledge grew over the past 12 months.

‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’ was the first poem to names Santa’s reindeer.

The Mysterious Origins of the World’s Most Famous Christmas Poem

Clement Clarke Moore is widely believed to be the author of “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” But the Livingston family of New York begs to differ.

Don't believe everything you've been told about lightning.

Wild Misconceptions About Weather

From the color of snow to the shape of rainbows, weather breeds a lot of misconceptions.

14 Archaic Christmas Carol Words, Explained

Know what you’re talking about when you sing “troll the ancient Yuletide carol.”

See that crispy texture? That’s the Maillard Reaction.

Why Do We Cook So Many Foods at 350 Degrees?

There’s science behind that seemingly random number.

Peter Billingsley in A Christmas Story (1983).

12 Festive Facts About ‘A Christmas Story’

The holiday classic—which could have starred Jack Nicholson as The Old Man Parker—has cemented its legacy as a Christmas classic.

This scene depicts several Christmas traditions with long histories.

The Origins of 12 Christmas Traditions

From expecting Santa to fill socks with gifts to eating cake that looks like tree bark, some holiday traditions are downright odd. But we can explain!

35 Celebrities Who Served in the Military

You probably didn’t know about a few of these celebrity veterans who served the red, white, and blue.