Mental Floss

Weekend Links: States That Need to Watch Their Language

Roma Panganiban — Sat, 25 May 2013 18:01:06 GMT

Ohio is the most foul-mouthed state in the union; Washington is the least. My home state of New Jersey ranks third in coarse language, but I’ll try to keep it toned down around here.
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After over a year and thousands of images collected by the MESSENGER probe, scientists have created a composite that shows Mercury from all 360 degrees around.
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The annual Chelsea flower show, for the first time in its 100-year history, allowed its green-thumbed garden competitors to include gnomes this year. These 10 garden gnomes from around the world are probably quite pleased to hear it.
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Contemporary and classical works of art collide in painter Cesar Santos’s latest body of work, entitled “Syncretism,” which features such incongruities as Nefertiti holding a Whirlypop and the Mona Lisa in a red knit beanie.
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We excuse a lot of things kids say because they’re cute, but as the first episode of Matt Clarke’s “Convos With My 2 Year Old” series proves by having a grown man speak the words of a toddler, our precious babes are actually kind of jerks sometimes.
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Ben Franklin was a famously prolific inventor, but not all of his ideas paid off. Case in point: these “practical” uses for balloons, including the creation of a floating icebox and helping foot messengers run faster.
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Amazon’s new ‘Kindle Words’ program attempts to monetize fanfiction, with the company buying licenses to whole franchises in order to turn a profit on any works fans create based on their characters. We’ll see how that one works out.
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These ingenious solutions to your most pressing first-world problems ensure that you’ll never have to suffer the injustice of unpopped microwave popcorn, brain freeze, lost lens caps, or overripe bananas again.

Every "Arrested Development" Chicken Dance

Chris Higgins — Sat, 25 May 2013 09:15:00 GMT

If you're an Arrested Development fan, you're familiar with the chicken dance, a recurring gag in which each character displays a uniquely styled "you're a chicken" dance. Part of the fun of the gag is the slow reveal over three seasons that many characters have their own chicken dances, you just haven't seen them yet. As we count down the seconds for new AD episodes tomorrow (!!!), here's a three-minute recap of every chicken dance we've seen so far.

Oh, and there's a whole Arrested Development wiki page devoted to the topic.

Trivia note -- May 14 was National Dance Like a Chicken Day. Ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-ca-CAW!

World War I Centennial: Gay Spy Scandal Rocks Vienna

Erik Sass — Sat, 25 May 2013 02:37:34 GMT

The First World War was an unprecedented catastrophe that killed millions and set the continent of Europe on the path to further calamity two decades later. But it didn’t come out of nowhere. With the centennial of the outbreak of hostilities coming up in 2014, Erik Sass will be looking back at the lead-up to the war, when seemingly minor moments of friction accumulated until the situation was ready to explode. He'll be covering those events 100 years after they occurred. This is the 70th installment in the series.

May 25, 1913: Gay Spy Scandal Rocks Vienna

In late May 1913, Vienna was gripped by revelations of a spy scandal that shook the Austrian military to its very foundations. Lurid headlines splashed across every newspaper told of a sordid intrigue at the heart of the Dual Monarchy: on May 25, 1913 the former head of Austrian military espionage, Colonel Alfred Redl (above), had shot himself after being uncovered as a Russian spy and – almost more shocking, if that were possible – a homosexual.

Redl was unusual all around: the son of a poor railway clerk in the eastern Austrian province of Galicia (now Ukraine), his brilliant intellect propelled him into the top ranks of the army, usually an aristocratic preserve, where he served as chief of counter-intelligence from 1903-1907, then head of all intelligence operations from 1907-1912. In a conservative institution he embraced modern, innovative techniques like telephone and wireless eavesdropping, hidden cameras and recording devices, and dusting for fingerprints.

But Redl had more secrets than anyone could have guessed: in an era when homosexuality was a deviant crime punishable with prison time or worse, Redl’s double life was a huge liability that left him vulnerable to blackmail. During a visit to Russia to polish his Russian in 1889, Russian intelligence discovered his secret via a woman Redl employed as his “beard,” then supplied Redl with a series of young lovers to further incriminate him. Beginning in 1902 the Russians threatened to uncover Redl while also offering him huge sums of money for top secret information. The combination of carrot and stick was enough to convince Redl to turn traitor.

As head of counter-intelligence, Redl won recognition for his cutting-edge methods and amazing success rooting out Russian agents: in 1905 he was awarded the Military Service Cross and Military Service Medal, and in 1911 he was awarded a medal signifying the “Expression of Supreme Satisfaction” by Emperor Franz Josef himself. Meanwhile behind closed doors he led a flamboyant, rather bizarre secret life with his lover, a handsome Czech cavalry officer named Stefan Hromadka who became involved with Redl at age 14. In public Redl introduced Hromadka as his “nephew” and showered him with gifts; in private they attended extravagant parties (read: orgies) with other members of Vienna’s underground homosexual subculture.

The whole time Redl was also selling valuable information to the Russians, including the identities of Austrian agents in Russia, blueprints for Austrian fortifications, and secret codes. He also set up an intelligence-sharing partnership with Austria-Hungary’s ally Germany, which enabled him to sell German secrets to the Russians too. In his crowning betrayal Redl sold Austria-Hungary’s plans for wartime mobilization – then found himself in charge of the search for the culprit when the leak was discovered. To relieve Redl of the burden of searching for himself, the Russians set up several dupes whom Redl duly discovered in 1904, helping secure his advancement to chief of the entire intelligence service three years later. In 1913 Redl was promoted again, to chief of staff of the Eighth Army Corps based in Prague, where he continued spying for the Russians.

By the Letter

Ironically Redl was finally caught thanks to one of his own innovations. In early April 1913 Redl’s successor as head of counter-intelligence – his protégé, Maximilian Ronge – was alerted to several suspicious letters by his German counterpart, Major Walter Nikolai, through the intelligence-sharing channel created by Redl. The letters had been mailed anonymously to a certain Nikon Nizetas, care of the Vienna post office, but were later returned unclaimed and intercepted by German intelligence. One letter contained a large sum of money and references to espionage cover addresses in Vienna, Paris and Geneva, so Ronge decided to flag the name and see if anything else turned up.

Ronge’s diligence paid off: on May 9, 1913, another letter containing cash addressed to Nikon Nizetas was delivered to the Vienna post office. When a mysterious man turned up to claim the envelope on May 24, detectives tailed him to a nearby hotel, where they observed him unobtrusively and identified him as none other than Alfred Redl, just arrived from Prague.

The detectives immediately informed the chief-of-staff of the Austrian army, Conrad von Hötzendorf, who nearly had a nervous breakdown on learning the news. Seized by panic, Conrad’s only thought was ridding the army of the traitor right away: four senior officers were dispatched to give Redl one last chance to spare himself (and the army) the embarrassment of a trial. The officers confronted Redl in his hotel room just after midnight on May 25, and he immediately confessed: “I know why you are here. I am guilty. I want only to judge myself.” One officer put a pistol on the table and they filed out to wait in the street. A few minutes later, around 1 a.m., a gunshot rang out and the officers returned to find Redl’s blood-spattered body next to a note which read: “Passion and levity have destroyed me. Pray for me. I pay with my life for my sins. Alfred…” The following day, Sunday May 26, the press reported Redl’s suicide, supposedly resulting from “mental overexertion.” Redl was gone and the public was none the wiser – or so the officers thought. In fact a strange set of coincidences was about to blow the cover-up wide open.

Denied a chance to interrogate Redl, Ronge was understandably curious to find out as much as he could about his mentor’s career of high treason, and ordered investigators to break into his apartment in Prague. As it was Sunday all the locksmiths in Prague were closed, so the officers waylaid an expert locksmith they happened to know and hustled him into a car, telling him he had a secret, important task – breaking into Redl’s apartment. That’s when the evidence of “deviancy” started to come out: the investigators were stupefied to find the spymaster’s quarters full of pink leather whips, cosmetics, and pornographic photographs, framed in snakeskin, of Redl, Hromadka, and other men (including fellow officers), sometimes dressed in women’s clothing.

Still, Redl’s private life might have gone to the grave with him as well – if only the investigators had picked a different locksmith. As it turned out, their choice, one Hans Wagner, missed an amateur league soccer match as a result of his unexpected tour of duty that Sunday. His team lost the match and the team’s captain, a journalist named Egon Erwin Kisch (above), furiously demanded an explanation for his absence. Wagner told Kisch what he had seen and the latter, remembering the news of Redl’s suicide, soon put two and two together.

The story made Kisch’s career, and probably ended quite a few others: it would be hard to over-state the impact of the scandal, which irreparably damaged public confidence in the army, long viewed as the most functional part of a dysfunctional empire. Indeed, the details of Redl’s personal life are enough to leave a modern observer wondering how he got as far as he did without being detected: even before the revelation of his homosexuality, the extravagant presents Redl purchased for his “nephew” – including a custom Daimler that cost more than his annual salary, purebred horses, diamond rings, and a luxury apartment – probably should have raised suspicions (Hromadka himself, who apparently knew nothing of Redl’s spying, was found guilty of “unnatural prostitution,” dishonorably discharged, and sentenced to three months of hard labor).

The public was right to fear for the empire’s security. The Russians had passed the mobilization plans they bought from Redl on to the Serbs, giving them a preview of the Austro-Hungarian plan of campaign in the Balkans. Consequently the small kingdom’s general staff were able to anticipate their enemy’s moves in 1914 and deliver a humiliating defeat to Austria-Hungary in the opening days of the Great War.

See the previous installment or all entries.

The Late Movies: Touching Moments in Baseball History

Erica Palan — Sat, 25 May 2013 02:00:35 GMT

While baseball is known as America's pastime, it's not just the athletes that make history on the field. Ballparks have been the scene of many touching, moving moments, both big and small, in our nation's history. Here, six baseball moments that will pull at your heartstrings. Get your tissues now.

Lou Gehrig's Farewell Speech

After learning of Gehrig's terrible illness, the Yankees allowed him to come back for an appreciation day that was, by all accounts, extremely emotional.

Liza Minnelli singing "New York, New York" after 9/11

The best part of this? The chorus line of police officers and firefighters.

7th-Inning Stretch "High Hopes" Tribute to Harry Kalas

After the death of the beloved Phillies announcer, fans joined together to sing his signature song.

Kid Throws Back Dad's Foul Ball

We laugh because we're glad it wasn't our kid.

Batboy Reacts Triumphantly

Teddy Kremer, a 30-year-old honorary batboy for the Cincinnati Reds with Down syndrome, loves it when third baseman Todd Frazier hits a home run.

Neil Diamond singing "Sweet Caroline" after Boston Marathon bombing

After April's Boston Marathon bombing, Diamond flew to the city to sing his song, which the Red Sox have been playing for more than a decade.

The Missing Links: Red Carpet Quackers

Colin Perkins — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:30:06 GMT

The Odd March of the Peabody Ducks

The Peabody Hotel has five permanent residents that get the red carpet treatment every single day. And they’re ducks.

Happy Birthday, Robert Zimmerman

You probably know him better as Bob Dylan. Here’s an interactive map of his many geography-based songs.

I Know It Was You, Buster

The Bluth and the Corleone families are both involved in criminal enterprise and are taken over by a son named Michael. So it stands to reason that they’d get a brilliant mashup like this.

Springfield, Florida

Take a look at a preview image of the new Simpsons theme park opening this summer.

Science Explains: How to Stop Being A Jerk

Of course, if you’re a jerk you’ll probably just make fun of this study and anyone that buys into it. There’s the rub.

Disorder in the Court

People often cite the McDonald’s hot coffee case as the grand example of frivilous lawsuits. Well, these are much better examples to use going forward.

You’ll Flip For This

Check out the world record for most backflips on a pogo stick.

15 Curious Facts We Learned From 1987 Topps Baseball Cards

Jason English — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:04:34 GMT

The backs of 1987 Topps baseball cards contained a fun feature: amazing facts about the players! Or in many cases, declarative statements regarding their hobbies ("Candy Maldonado finds traveling an enjoyable experience.") You learned where players went to high school, what other sports they like, and the names of their children. But some cards shared more. Here are some of the more insightful, curious, or downright crazy things we learned about the professional baseball players of 1987:

1. Howard Johnson, New York Mets

2. Moose Haas, Oakland A's

3. Ozzie Smith, St. Louis Cardinals

4. Sid Fernandez, New York Mets

5. Jim Traber, Baltimore Orioles

[Wait, what? Why hasn't there been a 30 for 30 on this?]

6. Carney Lansford, Oakland A's

7. Mickey Brantley, Seattle Mariners

8. Daryl Boston, Chicago White Sox

9. R.J. Reynolds, Pittsburgh Pirates

10. Joaquin Andujar, Oakland A's

11. Keith Moreland, Chicago Cubs

12. Charlie Kerfeld, Houston Astros

13. Kevin Mitchell, New York Mets

14. Bill Caudill, Toronto Blue Jays

15. Aurelio Lopez, Houston Astros

Any time we talk about baseball cards I feel compelled to plug Dave Jamieson's wonderful book Mint Condition: How Baseball Cards Became a National Obsession. Dave described the 1987 Topps cards like this: "At age eight, I fell in love with the most unusual offering of the decade. That year, the Topps designers chose to frame player photos with a distinctive wood-grain trim. It didn't resemble anything that sprouted in the natural world—it was more like the faux wood siding on your mother's Plymouth station wagon, or the flimsy wood-effect paneling on the walls of your neighbor's basement...[But] if you suffered from severe cartophilia, as I did, then you simply had to have it."

6 Beachy Facts to Take to the Shore

the mag — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:33:49 GMT

Heading for the coast this weekend? Be the talk of the sand dunes with these facts.

The Saved by the Bell Sports Quiz

Brett Savage — Fri, 24 May 2013 15:09:00 GMT

From wheelchair basketball to Running Zack, many of the best Saved by the Bell episodes revolved around sports and games. How well do you remember the athletic exploits of the Bayside gang?

What Was Your Last Great Surprise?

Jason English — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:12:03 GMT

On Fridays, we post a series of unrelated questions meant to spark conversation in the comments. Answer one, answer all, respond to someone else’s reply, ask a completely unrelated question to the group. Whatever you want! On to this week’s topics of discussion…

1. Let's get some positivity flowing. What was your last great surprise?

2. If you were on The Price Is Right and could play any game for big prizes, what would you choose? I'd probably say Plinko so I could regale people with the story of the time I played Plinko, but my mini golf training has all been building to Hole in One (Or Two).

3. I'm stealing this question from that retirement planning commercial: how old is the oldest person you know?

4. It's a holiday weekend, and I'm sure plenty of you will stop by a bookstore or library or electronic book downloading warehouse. So let's share some recommendations. What's the last good book you read?

5. And now I'll throw it open to the group. Got a question for your fellow _flossers? Ask it here. Have a great long weekend!

Want to suggest a question for a future Friday Happy Hour? Let's discuss it on Twitter (@EnglishJason).

Brain Game: Fun with Flags, Episode 4

Sandy Wood — Fri, 24 May 2013 14:06:35 GMT

Good luck with today's Free-for-All Friday challenge at the mentalfloss.com Brain Game.

Which is the only U.S. state with a green flag?

Here is the ANSWER.

ANSWER: Washington.

Thanks for playing. I'll be back next week with a new Monday Math Square. Have a great weekend!

Why Do We Tan?

Matt Soniak — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:30:07 GMT

Sit out in the sun too long and ultraviolet radiation from sunlight penetrates your skin and cells, damaging their RNA and DNA. This is bad news, as DNA provides our bodies with all the genetic instructions they need to develop, survive and go about their business, and this kind of DNA damage can lead to skin cancer. To protect you from this, your body helpfully tans, darkening the the skin with a pigment called melanin that reduces UV penetration into cells.

UV radiation stimulates the darkening of existing melanin and spurs increased melanogenesis, the production of new melanin. Cells called melanocytes generate the pigment and push it out of the cell, where it darkens the skin and absorbs and transforms absorbed UV energy into heat.

Melanogenesis results in a delayed tan that only becomes visible several hours after UV exposure and lasts longer than the tanning caused by darkening of existing melanin. Over time, a tan fades as darkened skin layers are pushed upward by new cells with less melanin, and are eventually scaled off.

Why do we get sunburn?

While we might say someone with sunburn was out “baking” too long or got “fried,” sunburns are different from the burn one might get from, say, touching a hot stove. That’s a thermal burn caused by the heat of the stove. While the sun does give off heat, a sunburn is caused by ultraviolet-B radiation.

When someone’s exposure to UV radiation exceeds their body’s ability to protect the skin with tanning, the radiation causes damage to DNA, like we talked about above. This prompts the body to try and fix things. Bloodflow to the capillary bed of the dermis (the second outermost layer of skin) increases so cells can repair the damage, which results in warmth and redness of the skin. Inflammatory immune cells also flock to the damaged tissue, causing us to perceive pain and, hopefully, consider staying out of the sun for a while. Eventually, the damaged skin cells die, and the burned skin starts to peel.

The Weird Week in Review

Miss Cellania — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:18:57 GMT

Bandit Came Back

Drusilla's Park is a zoo in East Sussex, England. On April 26th, there was a breakout when two raccoons escaped into the surrounding neighborhood. Turpin was found in another area of the park a week later and returned to her enclosure. But her sister Bandit remained at large until she suddenly was seen back in her enclosure when a zookeeper made an evening nose count. She had returned on her own! Bandit's identity was confirmed by a scan of her embedded microchip. She apparently found that the grass was not greener on the other side of the fence.

Teenager Hacks House Arrest Sentence

An unnamed 16-year-old boy was sentenced to a juvenile curfew for conspiracy to commit burglary in Gloucester, England. He was fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet so his movements could be monitored. But when the security company set up the monitor—over the phone—he had an idea to get around the business of staying in his home.

The teenager was asked over the phone by an official from G4S to walk around the perimeter of his home so they could map the curfew zone they had to monitor.

But the quick-thinking lad decided to give himself a lot more freedom – by running as fast as he could down the road and back.

His speedy dash meant that the G4S official inadvertently gave him a much bigger area to roam around during his curfew hours.

Normally a criminal who is electronically tagged has to stay indoors or in the immediate garden area of his home during curfew hours.

The 16 year-old's ploy meant he could still venture down the road without triggering the tag.

The scheme was only uncovered about five weeks later, when the delinquent's landlady reported him not in the home. The security company had not received any alarms from the anklet bracelet, so they investigated and found out what he'd done to increase his restricted area.

Caught by the Ghost Cam

A woman in Tasmania pled guilty to five counts of sex with a minor after she was caught in the act with her boyfriend's 16-year-old son. She explained that she mistakenly thought 16 was the age of consent. But the real kicker is how they were caught. The boy's father had set up a camera to catch suspected "paranormal activity" in the home, and left it on all the next day while he was at work. When he reviewed the recording, he saw his partner kissing and cuddling his son. So instead of paranormal activity, the camera caught normal, but illegal, activity.

Dog is Rescued While Rescuing a Kitten

An animal control officer in Anderson, South Carolina, responded to a call about a barking dog. When Michelle Smith went to investigate, she found a tiny Shih Tzu- mix barking in a ravine. Smith climbed down the embankment, which she says the dog could have easily climbed out of herself, and found out why the dog was there. She was nursing a tiny kitten! The animal shelter director said the 5-year-old dog likely started producing milk because of a surge of hormones when she found the kitten. The dog is obviously a pet, and the shelter is hoping the owner will come forward and take the kitten, too. See a video of the two.

Tourists Rescued After Dining on Iceberg

Sunday afternoon, four American tourists in Iceland decided to picnic on an ice floe in the Fjallsárlón glacial lagoon. But that was not a great idea, as they discovered when the ice they were sitting on started floating away! Páll Sigurður Vignisson, a member of the rescue crew, said a sudden gust of wind had pushed the ice about ten meters away from the shore. One of the tourists was able to jump back before the ice drifted too far, and called emergency services. Vignisson said, "When we arrived it was quite comical to see them sitting on chairs and with a table on an iceberg ... Yes the dinner was over." The moral of the story: dining on iceberg may be hazardous; try romaine instead.

Inflated Hedgehog

A hedgehog in Bude, Cornwall, England, was taken to the vet because he was so big and round that he couldn't walk or curl up. Veterinary staff were puzzled, because the huge hedgehog was of normal weight. An x-ray (which you have to see) revealed that the animal was, indeed, inflated. Veterinary surgeon Adam Revitt said he had never seen a case of "balloon syndrome" before. It occurs when bacteria get into a wound and create gas that lifts the skin from the animal. Revitt used a syringe to slowly deflate the hedgehog over about five minutes. The animal is now on antibiotics and is recovering nicely.

Morning Cup of Links: Stephen King Sneak Peek

Miss Cellania — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:00:55 GMT

Who dares enter the Funhouse of Fear? Read an excerpt from Stephen King's new novel Joyland.
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33 Unwritten Rules Everyone Needs To Follow. Oh, sure, you do, but I bet you know someone else who needs this list.
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Watch Two Grown Men Reenact A Conversation Between A Father And His Two-Year-Old Daughter. What is thoroughly adorable when a little girls says it turns extremely creepy when Daddy takes the part.
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20 Highbrow Books to Read on the Beach This Summer. More memorable than bodice-rippers, but still short enough to finish in your spare vacation time.
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Some longtime residents of Moore, Oklahoma, have lost two or even more houses to tornadoes. They talk about starting the process of recovery all over again.
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Rare photos of the Statue of Liberty being built in 1883. Just think of all the man-hours of labor that went into such a project.
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More people in America die from suicide than from traffic accidents these days. The rising rate of suicide is a cry for help from society as well as individuals.
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How a Ghost Army of American artists helped defeat Hitler. A new documentary tells how distraction and subterfuge contributed to the Allied victory.
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7 Horrifying Aircraft Landings (in which no one died). All accompanied by a world-class sigh of relief.

5 Questions: Burger Time

Kara Kovalchik — Fri, 24 May 2013 08:30:14 GMT

20 Hidden Jokes in Arrested Development

Rudie Obias — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:15:03 GMT

The short-lived comedy Arrested Development will return May 26 with 15 new episodes on Netflix. Here are jokes from the first three seasons that you might have missed.

Trailer Thursday: The Hangover III, Epic, Before Midnight and Fast 6

Stacy Conradt — Fri, 24 May 2013 03:00:48 GMT

Welcome to Trailer Thursday, where we help you decide what to do with your Friday night (and when to stay home). Here’s what’s coming out tomorrow.

Fast & Furious 6

I haven't seen these movies since the first one and it would appear that the plot lines have gotten quite complicated, so I'm going to let IMDB tell you about this one: "Hobbs has Dom and Brian reassemble their crew in order to take down a mastermind who commands an organization of mercenary drivers across 12 countries. Payment? Full pardons for them all."

See it if:

• You think it's a good weekend for an action flick. It's not doing too bad on Rotten Tomatoes - 76 percent fresh. Also, does the Rock's contract state that he is legally required to be in all action movies now?

The Hangover Part III

The guys aren't doing a bachelor party this time, but they manage to get into trouble anyway. Are you surprised?

See it if:
• You want a movie different than the first two Hangovers. And maybe not in a good way. Richard Roeper says the film is "so different from the first two, I'm not even sure it's supposed to be a comedy."

• You thought the second movie really suffered from the lack of Heather Graham.

Before Midnight

The third installment of the Before Sunrise movies. Jesse and Celine aren't doing a brief walk around a big city this time, but they manage to be charming and in love anyway. Are you surprised?

See it if:
• You loved Before Sunrise and Before Sunset and have been waiting to see what happened with Jesse and Celine since 2004.

• You put a lot of stock into reviews. It's 98 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, people!

Epic

A teenage girl discovers a hidden world of miniature warriors who are fighting an epic battle against evil-doers called the Boggans.

See it if:
• You're a fan of the characters from the William Joyce book The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs. But just the characters - the plot has been quite retooled.

• I mean, Christoph Waltz. Come on. ALSO: Aziz Ansari, Judah Friedlander, Steven Tyler and Beyonce. If that's not an interesting cast, I don't know what is.

The Late Movies: Guess the Theme 102

Mark Arminio — Fri, 24 May 2013 02:47:29 GMT

It's Thursday, it's late, it's time once again for the game that's sweeping the nation: GUESS THE THEME! All the clips below—in this case, songs—have something in common. Leave your best guesses in the comments.

The Missing Links: Why Did the Chicken Cross the Line?

Colin Perkins — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:40:37 GMT

From Tasty to Tasteless

How did fried chicken become a horrible racial stereotype?

For the Very Obscene Grammar Nerd

If you are an English language nut that enjoys comedy with really NSFW language, then you’ll like The Lonely Island’s new song about the semicolon.

An All You Can Watch Buffet

Film buffs and people with too much free time take note: MoviePass is the thing for you.

The Thrill of Victory & the Agony of Defeat

Depending on your opinion of sports, these pics either illustrate why sports are great or why they’re terrible.

The Story of A Longshot Moneymaker

Poker people will really enjoy this oral history of the 2003 World Series of Poker.

Incredible Photos of a Melting Ice Hotel

Erin McCarthy — Thu, 23 May 2013 17:00:52 GMT

Every year, Lapland erects a hotel made of ice in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. And every year, when the weather turns warmer, the IceHotel melts back into where it originated: the Torne River.

Using Your New Commodore 64 (in 1982)

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:07:22 GMT

In past weeks, I've brought you lots of retro videos about computers, but this one is a little different. Here we have a full two-hour video explaining in near-excruciating depth the inner workings of the Commodore 64. If you actually sit through this video, Jim Butterfield shows a variety of programming techniques and even explains what the primary chips on the motherboard do. If you had just purchased a Commodore 64 in 1982 and sat down to watch this video, it would give you a surprisingly thorough grounding in how to use the computer, including plenty of programming principles. On the other hand, I'm really glad we don't have to deal with this stuff today.

I really don't think you'll want to watch the whole thing, unless you're preparing for time travel back to 1982. Here are a few fun places to jump in:

1:00 - Unboxing. Yep, computer users have been doing this for decades.

9:53 - What's Inside Your Commodore 64? Butterfield cracks the case and explains the major components.

49:32 - Storing Data! An explanation of how to store data on a floppy disk or tape.

1:19:30 - How to Use CP/M. CP/M was one of many operating systems you could run on the C64. This was a common way to use a home computer in 1982, y'all.

1:40:16 - Music. How to use the C64's Sound Interface Device (SID) to create basic music.

1:50:12 - Games. Butterfield shows off the gaming capabilities of the C64. (At 1:51:40 we see "Benji Discovery"...a game with "a high educational content.")

2:00:00 - Computer Chronicles segment. An exploration of the Ghostbusters game, beginning with questions about whether computer gaming is a passing fad.

Enjoy this relic of computing history, and keep an eye out for vintage Commodore ads between the segments.

Why Are There Two Pronunciations for 'G'?

Arika Okrent — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:03:20 GMT

At the Webby Awards on Tuesday, Steve Wilhite, creator of the Graphics Interchange Format, asserted his authority in the controversial matter of the proper pronunciation of GIF. His five word acceptance speech for a lifetime achievement award was unambiguous and forceful : "It's pronounced 'JIF,' not 'GIF.'" Proponents of the soft-g cheered, while those in the hard-g camp rejected Wilhite's authority, saying that they will continue to damn well say it as they please.

On phonetic grounds, a case can be made for either pronunciation. In English, words beginning with 'g' can have a soft (giraffe) or hard (give) pronunciation, and therein lies the problem. Why are there two g's? And are there any rules governing which one is correct?

We should be glad there are only two alternatives. When the 'g' was first used to write Old English, it stood for four different sounds: a hard g, a soft g, a 'y' sound as in "yes," and a sort of soft gargle we no longer use in English (a voiced velar fricative).

During the Middle English period, we borrowed a lot from French, which used 'g' for a hard g before back vowels (a, o, u) and a soft g before front vowels (i, e). We started to use 'g' in the French way, while another letter (the insular g) took over spelling for the other sounds, before they disappeared or turned into other things.

So we have two g's because French had two g's. Are the rules governing which pronunciation to use the same as the French ones? Not quite. Much of English vocabulary comes from French, but not all of it, and that's where it gets complicated for 'g.' But there are some rules to go by:

1. Hard g before a consonant (glad, great)

2. Hard g before a back vowel (go, garden, gum)

3. Hard g at the end of a word (big, frog, leg)

4. Hard g if it's a Hebrew name (Gideon, Giliad)

5. Hard g before a front vowel in most words of Germanic origin (gift, get, gild)

6. Soft g for a word of Greek origin that starts with gy- (gymnasium, gymnastics, gyroscope). However! There is an exception to this rule for 'gynecology' and other 'gyn-' words.

7. Soft g before a front vowel if the word has a Romance origin (geography, giant, ginger, general)

So where does GIF fit in?

As a word with a g before a front vowel, there are four possible rules (4-7 above) that could apply: hard g if the word origin is Hebrew or Germanic, soft g if it's Greek or Romance. But, alas, GIF is rootless! An etymological golem built from spare parts! And so we are left in a lawless tundra, with no code to live by.

And this is when we start to attack each other.

Some look to the soft g Romans for guidance and some to the hard g Visigoths. Others may side with the hard g Maccabee army or the soft g Greek army. Whoever conquers the land of GIF will be rewarded with plentiful natural reserves of kittens and celebrities. Unfortunately, the prospects don't look good for peace.

10 Houses Built Around Trees

Virginia C McGuire — Thu, 23 May 2013 15:00:11 GMT

Some might say that tree houses are just for kids, but the architects of these innovative homes might beg to differ.

Escalators Were Once the Height of Entertainment

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:28:20 GMT

12 Exceptionally Long or Extremely Special Words

Kevin Kampwirth — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:00:15 GMT

Antidisestablishmentarianism is still regarded as the longest non-medical, non-coined, nontechnical word in the English language, yet it keeps some robust company. Here are 11 examples of some of the longest words by category.

Brain Game: Teeming with Teams

Sandy Wood — Thu, 23 May 2013 13:44:47 GMT

Today's mentalfloss.com Brain Game Think Thursday challenge tests your knowledge of Major League Baseball. Good luck:

Which is the only MLB division that contains
THREE teams from the same U.S. state?

Here is the ANSWER.

ANSWER:

The NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST, which includes the L.A. Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and San Francisco Giants.

Thanks for playing! Tomorrow, it's Free-for-All Friday.