(Mental Floss) -- Even in the midst of the Civil War, there was still one thing the North and South shared -- a serious addiction to caffeine. Confederate troops were less likely to get a cup of coffee. In that respect, the Union clearly had an advantage. Not only did the North have more than two-thirds of the population and control most of the heavy industry, railroads, and financial reserves in the country, it hoarded supplies of the highly addictive little bean, leaving the Confederacy to wage its own war against java deprivation. Coffee: It's what's for breakfast, lunch and dinner Throughout the Civil War, coffee was as prevalent on the battlefields as it is in offices today. In fact, the Union army was fueled by the stuff to the point that, if there was no time to boil water, the Boys in Blue would chew on whole beans as they marched. And at night, Union campsites were dotted with tiny fires, each boiling a pot of coffee like a million miniature Starbucks. Beyond caffeine cravings, Union troops loved their coffee because it was, literally, the best thing on the menu. Before the advent of helpful (and tasty!) artificial preservatives, a marching soldier's rations were neither varied nor particularly appetizing. Typically, they consisted of salted meat, unleavened bread (accurately christened "hardtack"), and a little sugar and salt. It didn't help that Union supply chains were riddled with corrupt food contractors who charged the government top dollar for rotten, stale, and insect-ridden foodstuffs. Coffee, however, was almost always fresh because it was delivered in whole-bean form -- making it difficult for even the most dishonest supplier to skimp on quality. Not that they didn't try, of course. In fact, officials began requesting coffee as whole beans after some crooked contractors tried to up their per-pound profits by slipping sand and dirt into packages of ground coffee. In 1861, hoping to cut down on the time soldiers spent roasting and grinding beans, the army switched to a concentrated proto-instant coffee. The new concoction, called "essence of coffee," was made by boiling prepared coffee, milk, and sugar into a thick gloop, which soldiers then reconstituted by mixing it with water. The product reportedly tasted every bit as bad as you'd imagine, and thanks to the corrupt dairymen who sold the army spoiled milk, it also tended to cause diarrhea. Needless to say, the Union army was soon back on the bean. Southern discomfort Noxious as essence of coffee was, Confederate soldiers would have gladly downed a cup or two. But, because of a Union naval blockade, coffee (along with weapons, machinery, medicine, and other vital materials) was in short supply in the South. Before the war, a pound of beans would have set you back around 20 cents in Yankee dough. Once pre-war stockpiles ran out, however, the same amount was running as high as $60 in Confederate money. (Despite the undervalued currency, that was still a lot.) There was some coffee that made it into the Confederacy -- usually carried by steam-powered blockade-runner ships. But, for the most part, Southerners had to rely on coffee substitutes, including various forms of roasted corn, rye, okra seeds, sweet potatoes, acorns, and peanuts. Unfortunately, all these imitations lacked potency, tasted awful, and upset the bowels. The only slightly better alternative was tea made from the leaves of the native yaupon shrub. The good news was that it contained caffeine; the bad news was that it was incredibly difficult to digest. Luckily, there was one surefire way for Southern folk to get their coffee -- by making peace with the Union. Soldiers on the front lines often called informal truces so Rebels could swap tobacco for Yankee coffee and then dash back to their camps before they were reported missing. E-mail to a friend For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com

Question: What did the suppliers sometimes ground into the beans?

Question: What was a hot commodity in the civil war

Question: What was a commodity in the Civil War?

Question: When did the Union troops have coffee?

Question: What Union troops had it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

Answer: sand and dirt

Answer: coffee.

Answer: coffee

Answer: breakfast, lunch and dinner

Answer: Coffee:

Summary:
Coffee was a hot commodity in the Civil War .
Union troops had it for breakfast, lunch, dinner .
Suppliers sometime ground dirt into beans .
Blockade kept coffee had to get for Confederate troops .


(Mental Floss) -- Everyone goes through a rebellious phase. And, if you're lucky, you'll be able to look back on those years and laugh. If you're less lucky, you spent those years on a reality show, so for the rest of time, millions of strangers can look back on them and laugh instead.

In modern times, cats frolic among the ruins of ancient Rome.

But, hey, it could be worse. You could be responsible for the fall of Western Civilization, just like Justa Grata Honoria, the Roman princess whose wild ways and (literally) naked ambition set off a chain reaction that culminated in the destruction of the Roman Empire.

Barely regal

Smart, conniving, and ruthless, Honoria possessed all the attributes befitting a Roman emperor, except for that pesky Y chromosome.

As a young girl, she watched as her dimwitted six-year-old brother, Valentinian III, was crowned emperor of the Western Roman Empire, while she was set aside to await a suitable marriage.

Hardly content to lead a quiet and chaste life, Honoria rebelled with aplomb, sleeping her way through the royal court while still in her teens.

Although her after-hours habits caused quite the scandal, they failed to satiate her need for attention and power, so Honoria set her eyes on the throne. Employing her ample charms, she seduced her brother's royal chamberlain, Eugenius, and together, they plotted to murder Valentinian and seize power.

But, alas, their scheme was soon exposed. Eugenius was executed, and Honoria was sent to a convent in Constantinople.

Life as a nun was a fate worse than death for Honoria, but even that couldn't quell her ambition. She spent her years at the nunnery plotting one escape attempt after another.

Finally, out of sheer desperation, she turned to sources outside the empire. Her savior would have to be powerful enough to defy Valentinian and risk open war with Rome. Only one man fit that description: Attila, king of the Huns.

Attila the hubby

Honoria got the barbarian's attention with a mutually beneficial proposal: If Attila would rescue her, she would marry him, and he would get half of the Western Empire as her dowry.

Of course, Honoria was in no position to rightfully offer any portion of the Roman Empire. But she was betting that after marrying her, Attila would conquer the whole Empire, and she'd become queen to boot.

Attila had secretly been planning a move against Rome for years, and Honoria's letter gave him the perfect opportunity to strike. Wasting no time, he told Valentinian that he planned to marry Honoria, and demanded the dowry he'd been promised.

Naturally, Valentinian refused, and Attila used his status as a "wronged husband" to invade Roman territory in 451 C.E. The Hun armies quickly swept through the Empire, destroying everything in their path, and eventually they arrived in Rome. Like all the other cities before it, Rome would also have been annihilated were it not for the famine and disease that devastated the Huns during the invasion.

Rome survived Attila's assault with the unlikely help of another nomadic enemy tribe, the Visigoths, but the Western Empire never recovered. Within a generation, the armies of the Goths, Franks, and Huns had overrun the area.

The Princess bride

Ultimately, Honoria became neither Roman empress nor a Hun queen. Attila never rescued her, and she was eventually sent back to Rome and left to her brother's justice.

Not wanting to cause a scandal by having her executed, and unwilling to send her back into exile where she could scheme again, Valentinian settled on a suitable third option.

After years of struggle, Honoria finally suffered the fate she had been dreading all along: She was married off to an elderly Roman senator, and the rest of her life went unrecorded by history. E-mail to a friend

For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com

Question: What did he fail to do?

Question: Who plotted to kill the emperor of the Roman Empire?

Question: Who plotted to kill the emperor?

Question: Who did she offer to marry?

Question: what was plan b?

Question: Which fate did she suffer?

Question: Who did Justa Grata Honoria offer to marry?

Question: Who did Justa Grata Honoria plot to kill?

Question: Who did Honoria offer to marry?

Question: who is attila the hun?

Question: What fate did she suffer?

Question: What was that fate?

Question: What did Justa Grata Honoria plan to do?

Question: Who lost that war?

Question: What was the first plot?

Question: what happened after that?

Question: Who plotted to kill her emperor?

Answer: murder Valentinian and seize power.

Answer: Attila

Answer: Eugenius,

Answer: Attila, king of the Huns.

Answer: used his status as a "wronged husband"

Answer: was married off to an elderly Roman senator,

Answer: Attila

Answer: Valentinian

Answer: Attila

Answer: king of the

Answer: was married off to an elderly Roman senator,

Answer: Life as a nun

Answer: murder Valentinian and seize power.

Answer: Rome

Answer: Employing her ample charms, she seduced her brother's royal chamberlain, Eugenius, and together, they plotted to murder Valentinian and seize power.

Answer: She was married off to an elderly Roman senator,

Answer: Honoria

Summary:
Justa Grata Honoria plotted to kill her emperor of Roman Empire .
When first plot failed, she offered to marry Attila the Hun .
He failed to annihilate Rome, or marry her .
She then suffered the fate she dreaded .


(Mental Floss) -- Fantasy football drafts are firing up, and workplace productivity will soon grind to a halt as half the office spends half the day managing their rosters in an attempt to get the next Steve Slaton off the waiver wire. Just because you're not a football fan doesn't mean you have to be left out of the fantasy mania, though. There are all sorts of alternative fantasy leagues you can join. Why not try one of these? Pick your breed of dog, then allocate your "funds" to help train and groom it into a champion on Showdog.com. Fantasy music league If you spend more time listening to the radio than watching sports, the Fantasy Music League might be right up your alley. In this league your job is to compile a roster that has more real-life chart movement and album sales than other owners' "labels." You shell out a certain salary to sign the acts you think have the most promise, and if they out-earn your competitors, you'll earn the fantasy world's equivalent of a Grammy. The label that's at the top of the standings for this season, Jenny Baird Records, boasts a roster that includes Fall Out Boy, Daughtry, Justin Timberlake and Fergie. Fantasy dog shows If fantasy leagues come any more adorable than this, we don't want to see them. Showdog.com allows you to enter a virtual simulation dog show league. You pick your breed of dog, then allocate your "funds" to help train and groom it into a champion. Your simulated dog can take on other owners' pooches in a dog-eat-dog competition to help ascertain the best way to breed a champion show dog. All of the glory, none of the fetch! Mental Floss: America's most lavish dog spas Fantasy water skiing Water skiing is great fun, but it takes some practice before you can do it well. Why not skip all of those embarrassing spills and noses full of water by just joining a fantasy skiing league instead? Pick your professional skiers, then get points according to how many buoys your slalom skiers pass, how many points your tricksters pile up, and how far your jumpers soar. Never again will you and your buddies just have to argue in vain about which one of you is really the most hardcore water skiing fan! Fantasy pro wrestling Like the violence of football but wish you had a fantasy league that stuck to a script? Try fantasy pro wrestling. Web-based E-wrestling federations allow you to draft a stable of grapplers and then receive points for their performance in the ring and appearances on broadcasts. (We're guessing the Undertaker is the fantasy wrestling equivalent of Peyton Manning: maybe not the top guy every year, but you know you're going to get consistently solid production out of him.)Mental Floss: Where are they now? WWF superstars Fantasy bass fishing The only thing more exciting than watching someone else fish is beating your friends at predicting who will get the nicest bass in their livewell! ESPN.com offers a Fantasy Fishing Challenge that allows angling fans to create a team of their favorite pro anglers while working under the constraint of a $100 salary cap. Each angler has a set "salary" that he earns, and when you sign one to your team they score you points according to their performances in the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings. Fantasy Congress Just because you prefer C-SPAN to ESPN doesn't mean you can't find a way to waste several hours on a fantasy league each week. Try out Fantasy Congress. Although the game's Web site is currently down, FantasyCongress.com launched in 2006 to allow politics junkies to draft their favorite legislators and then rack up points according to how their Congressmen's proposed legislation fared, how often they voted, and their willingness to cross party lines to up their "Maverick Score." Fantasy eating Do you watch the Nathan's hot dog eating contest each Fourth of July and find yourself feeling pangs of jealousy because you can't match the competitors' gluttony? Now you can life vicariously through them! Krystal

Question:
What can the wrestler site do?
The website allows you to do what?
what is showdog.com?

Answer: draft a stable of grapplers and then receive points for their performance in the ring and appearances on broadcasts.

Answer: Pick your breed of dog, then allocate your "funds"

Answer: a virtual simulation dog show league.

Summary:
Showdog.com allows you to enter a virtual simulation dog show league .
Web-based E-wrestling federations allow you to draft a stable of grapplers .
Krystal Square Off offers fantasy eating leagues for four to seven teams .


(Mental Floss) -- For most of us, college donations entail little more than occasionally dropping a small check in the mail after receiving repeated pleas for cash from our alma maters. Some people, though, tend to be a bit more individualistic with their generosity.

Let's take a look at some of the quirkier donations schools have received:

1. Bequest puts jocks on the ropes

In 1907, fledgling Swarthmore College received a bequest that was estimated to be worth somewhere between $1 and $3 million. If the school wanted the cash, though, it would have to stop participating in intercollegiate sports. Swarthmore badly needed the cash -- its entire endowment was only in the $1 million range -- but in the end, the school turned down the gift and the sports survived.

2. Ivy League has to produce homemakers

When former Massachusetts Attorney General A.E. Pillsbury gave Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia $25,000 apiece in his 1931 will, he had a catch in mind: the schools had to use the bequests to combat the feminist movement that had "already begun to impair the family as the basis of civilization and its advance."

Pillsbury envisioned the schools creating a lectureship that could help keep women in the home.

3. Auburn goes to the dogs

When Miss Eleanor Elizabeth Ritchey, granddaughter of the founder of the Quaker State Oil Refining Company, died in 1968, she left Auburn University a generous gift of $2.5 million.

She also gave the school something a bit more unusual: the responsibility for 150 dogs. Ritchey, who owned a ranch in Florida and loved to adopt homeless dogs, made the large cash donation contingent on the school finding good homes for all 150 of her dogs. The cash was then earmarked for veterinary research.

Mental Floss: Videos: Dogs welcoming home soldiers

4. Bryn Mawr goes on the clock

Did Bryn Mawr need any new clocks in 1957? It didn't matter. They were getting one. Philadelphia physician Florence Chapman Child left the school $50,000 in her will if they would also agree to take her 150-year-old grandfather clock. The doctor stipulated that the school's administrators had to "install it in an appropriate place, keep it in proper condition and repair, make no changes in the fundamental appearance, and are not to have it electrified."

5. Donor wants flowers in perpetuity

For years, Indiana University offered a scholarship with a strange condition: the recipient was supposed to drive from Bloomington to Indianapolis once a year to put flowers on the donor's grave. The school gradually decided it was a bit much to ask a student to take a roadtrip to a stranger's headstone, though, so for 20 years it didn't enforce the requirement.

Eventually the donor's attorney found out that the flowers weren't being placed, but instead of being indignant he worked with the school to remove the clause from the bequest.

6. Colleges find a fountainhead of cash

In 2008, Marshall University received a $1 million gift to establish the BB&T Center for the Advancement of American Capitalism. The catch was that the school had to agree to teach Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" as part of its curriculum. BB&T executives said the requirement was designed to spark debate on the ethical underpinnings of capitalism.

This wasn't the first time BB&T had made this sort of gift, either. In 2005, it gave the University of North Carolina Charlotte another million big ones to make "Atlas Shrugged" required reading for its students.

7. Small potatoes lead to big cash

In 1950, the government had a surplus of potatoes and started looking for ways to get rid of the excess tubers. The Department of Agriculture decided to give the potatoes to Hiwassee College, a small Methodist school in eastern Tennessee. College president D.R. Youell told the government that he didn't want its charity, though.

A short time later, the school received a $10,000 donation with a note praising the institution for taking a stand against "the dangerous trends toward socialism in our Government."

Mental Floss: 7

Question: What is the largest donation that a college has passed up because of conditions?

Question: What does the donor's scholarship require?

Question: Who could have had $3million to cut its sports program?

Answer: between $1 and $3 million.

Answer: the recipient was supposed to drive from Bloomington to Indianapolis once a year to put flowers on the

Answer: Swarthmore College

Summary:
Some colleges have received or turned down donations with strange strings attached .
Heiress leaves $2.5 million to school that must find homes for her 150 dogs .
Donor's scholarships requires students to place flowers on his grave .
Swarthmore College could have received up to $3 million if it cut sports program .


(Mental Floss) -- From the moment Justice David Souter announced he'd be stepping down, Washington has been gearing up for a confirmation fight. But as Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Judge Sonia Sotomayor yesterday, "Unless you have a complete meltdown, you are going to get confirmed." Robert Bork is not the only nominee who did not make it to the Supreme Court. Let's take a look back at eight nominees who didn't make it to the bench, at least on their first try. 1. Robert Bork In our time, the most famous rejected nominee is Robert H. Bork, a legal scholar and U.S. Court of Appeals judge with a long paper trail of conservative opinions. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Bork could have tilted the Court decisively to the right. As a known quantity, he was an easy target for liberal opponents, who organized a campaign against him. He was rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee after 12 days of hearings. Mental Floss: Washington's struggle to find a chief justice 2. Alexander Wolcott "Oh degraded Country! How humiliating to the friends of moral virtue -- of religion and of all that is dear to the lover of his Country!" the New-York Gazette Advertiser wailed in 1811 over President James Madison's nomination of customs inspector Alexander Wolcott. Wolcott's strong enforcement of the controversial embargoes against Great Britain and France cost him support in the Senate and in the press. The Senate turned him down by a 9-24 vote, the widest rejection in Supreme Court history. 3. Roger Taney Roger B. Taney (pronounced tawny) is largely remembered as the chief justice who handed down the Dred Scott decision in 1857. With his sepulchral countenance, Taney is inextricably linked to the grim ruling that all blacks -- slaves as well as free -- were not and could never become citizens of the United States. But when President Andrew Jackson nominated him in 1835 as associate justice, opposition Whigs were still smarting from Taney's removal of government deposits from the Second Bank of the United States while he was a recess-appointed Secretary of the Treasury. The Senate voted to indefinitely postpone the nomination. However, after Chief Justice John Marshall died in 1836, Jackson sent Taney's name up again. He was confirmed, this time as chief justice. 4. Ebenezer Hoar You might think the Senate just couldn't stomach elevating to the highest court in the land a man with the name Ebenezer Hoar, but it seems the senators were offended by something other than aesthetics. As President Ulysses S. Grant's attorney general, Hoar had insisted on rewarding merit rather than political loyalty, thus blocking a well-trod route for patronage. So when Grant nominated Hoar to the Court in 1869, miffed Republican senators gave the virtuous Hoar thumbs down. Mental Floss: What was Marbury v. Madison? Who were Roe and Wade? 5 and 6. Wheeler Hazard Peckham and William B. Hornblower A senator has the right to reject a court nomination simply because the nominee is from the senator's home state. Upon this invocation of "senatorial courtesy" rests the demise of Wheeler Hazard Peckham and William B. Hornblower. Both men were nominated by President Grover Cleveland. Both nominees were New Yorkers, and New York Sen. David Hill invoked senatorial courtesy to squelch their nominations in 1894. (Peckham's brother, Rufus Wheeler Peckham, became a justice in 1896.) 7. Harriet Miers Some nominees withdrew themselves from consideration before they could be rejected. Such was the case of Harriet Miers, whom President George W. Bush nominated in 2005, but withdrew under criticism that she was unqualified. Mental Floss: Why there's a Mohammed statue at the Supreme Court? 8. Douglas Ginsburg Another withdrawal was that of Douglas Ginsburg (not related to current justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg), the conservative, former pot-smoking federal appellate judge who is a footnote in the Bork saga. After Bork was Borked, Reagan eyed the more moderate Anthony Kennedy for the seat. But Sen. Jesse Helms (R-

Question: Who degraded the country?

Question: How many nominees failed to get a seat?

Question: how many people have failed to get a seat

Question: Who else was rejected

Question: Who was rejected through home state courtesy?

Question: Who got a thumbs down?

Question: Who claimed Alexander Wolcott's nomination degraded the country?

Question: What number of Supreme court nominees have failed to get a seat on the high bench?

Answer: Alexander Wolcott

Answer: eight

Answer: eight

Answer: Ebenezer Hoar

Answer: Robert H. Bork,

Answer: Ebenezer Hoar

Answer: New-York Gazette Advertiser

Answer: eight

Summary:
A total of eight Supreme Court nominees have failed to get a seat on the high bench .
Ebenezer Hoar got a thumbs down after blocking a well-trod route for patronage .
Wheeler Peckham and William B. Hornblower rejected through home state courtesy .
Newspaper claimed Alexander Wolcott's nomination degraded the country .


(Mental Floss) -- Have you ever been watching television and thought, "Wow, this soap opera is so good it could cause the downfall of a corrupt communist regime," or even, "I bet one day this show is going to send the first woman into space"? Well, maybe you're not giving the boob tube enough credit. Popular television shows have influenced politics in the United States and around the world. While others are busy blaming television for all of society's downfalls, we think it's time someone stood up for ye olde idiot box. After all, these 10 television shows didn't just entertain, they helped convince the world to get with the program. 1. "DALLAS" The Show that Overthrew a Dictator (Well, kind of.) "Dallas" was one of the most popular TV shows in history -- and nowhere was it more talked about than in Nicolae Ceausescu's communist Romania. How did the soap opera get past Romanian censors? With help from "Dallas" leading man, J.R. Ewing, of course. Because J.R. was portrayed as a despicable oil baron, Ceausescu's government presumably decided the show must be anti-capitalist. Whatever the reasoning, "Dallas" became a runaway hit when it arrived in Romania in 1979. A series about wealthy, beautiful people (evil or not) was an inspiration to Romania's poor and dejected masses. Eventually, the government decided such Western television was a bad influence, and "Dallas" was taken off the air in 1981. But by then, it was too late. The fantasies of Western life lived on in the imaginations of Romanians, and in 1989, Ceausescu was overthrown during a public uprising. Not incidentally, the actor who played J.R., Larry Hagman, visited Romania some years later and was treated as a hero. In an interview following the experience, Hagman said, "People from Bucharest came up to me in the street with tears in their eyes saying, 'J.R. saved our country.' " 2. "SEE IT NOW" The Show that Ended McCarthyism If you know your 1950s history (or if you saw the movie "Good Night, and Good Luck"), you know the impact crusading journalist Edward R. Murrow had on American politics. His vehicle for galvanizing change? The current affairs show, "See It Now," which premiered in 1951. Well known as a World War II radio correspondent, Murrow wasn't a fan of television initially. He wanted to go beyond the talking-head discussions and newsreels that filled most nightly news shows at the time. So when he finally decided to move forward with "See It Now," he did so on his own terms. The show's debut episode featured television's first live coast-to-coast transmission, which included a split-screen of the Brooklyn Bridge on one side and the Golden Gate on the other. Murrow also broke new ground by airing a day in the lives of Korean War soldiers. Of course, the show's most influential role was in exposing Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist fear campaign and opening Americans' eyes to the many lives and careers it was ruining. Thanks in part to fallout from Murrow's broadcast on March 9, 1954, the U.S. Senate reprimanded McCarthy for abusing his power, and McCarthyism came to an abrupt end. Murrow wasn't afraid to take on rogue senators, and later, he proved he wasn't scared to take on Big Tobacco, either. Two episodes of "See It Now" explored the link between cigarettes and cancer -- a brave move, considering television depended heavily on tobacco sponsorships at the time. But perhaps Murrow had a personal interest in the story. A three-pack-a-day smoker who regularly appeared on camera with a cigarette in hand, Murrow died of lung cancer in 1965. 3. "GENERAL ELECTRIC THEATER" The Show that Turned Ronald Reagan into a Republican In the early 1950s, film actor Ronald Reagan was at a low point in his career. So when Taft Schreiber, of

Question: Which show gave Romanians a view of a better life?

Question: What actor played J.R. Ewing?

Question: What  gave poor Romanians a view of a better life?

Question: Where is Larry Hagman treated as a hero?

Question: Who was  greeted as hero in the country?

Answer: "Dallas"

Answer: Larry Hagman,

Answer: "DALLAS"

Answer: Romania

Answer: J.R., Larry Hagman,

Summary:
"Dallas" gave poor Romanians a view of a better life .
J.R. Ewing actor Larry Hagman greeted as hero in the country .
Hubert Humphrey blamed comic for election loss .


(Mental Floss) -- Have you ever wondered about the origins and namesakes of our favorite spreads, sauces, and dressings? Here are a few stories that you can use to regale your friends the next time you chow down. Peppers were imported from the Mexican state of Tabasco to make spicy Tabasco sauce, giving the condiment its name. 1. Thousand Island Dressing Is the delicious dressing that gives a Reuben its tanginess named after an actual chain of islands? You bet it is. The Thousand Islands are an archipelago that sits in the Saint Lawrence River on the U.S.-Canada border, and there are actually 1,793 of them, some of which are so small that they contain nothing more than a single home. So why is the dressing named after an archipelago? No one's quite sure. Some people claim that early film star and vaudevillian May Irwin, who summered on the Thousand Islands, named it, while others contend that George Boldt, the famed proprietor of the Waldorf-Astoria, gave the dressing its name because of his own summer place in the region. No matter who named it, it's tough to beat on a sandwich. 2. Ranch Dressing Yep, the beloved dressing and dipping sauce actually got its start on a real ranch. When Steve and Gayle Henson opened a dude ranch in California in 1954, they had an ace up their sleeves: a delicious dressing that Steve had concocted while the couple was living in Alaska. The couple did a nice business at their Hidden Valley Ranch, but guests were always flipping out over just how tasty Steve's dressing was. Eventually, the Hensons started bottling the stuff, and the popularity grew so quickly that they had to hire a twelve-man crew just to help mix up each batch. Steve's culinary creativity turned out to be lucrative; in 1972 Clorox forked over $8 million for the recipe. Mental Floss: Foods named after people 3. A1 Steak Sauce According to the brand's Web site, A1 has been around for quite a while. Henderson William Brand worked as the personal chef for King George IV from 1824 to 1831, and at some point during this employment mixed up a new sauce for the king to use on his beef. George IV allegedly took one bite of Brand's creation and declared that it was "A1." Brand then left the king's employ in order to go peddle his new sauce. 4. Tabasco Sauce Tabasco sauce is perhaps the most famous of all hot sauces, but where did it get its name? When Edmund McIlhenny, a former banker, invented the sauce in Louisiana in 1868, he didn't have a huge supply of chili peppers at his disposal. To keep cooking, he imported peppers from the Mexican state of Tabasco and slapped the region's name on his bottles. Mental Floss: The origins of salt, pepper and other popular spices 5. Heinz 57 Legend has it that Heinz 57 takes its name from H.J. Heinz's company formerly marketing 57 products at once, and except for the number, the story holds up. Heinz's Web site tells a story that Henry John Heinz was riding a train when he saw a billboard advertising 21 varieties of shoes. He so liked the idea he wanted to try it with his own condiment company. Thus, he started touting Heinz's 57 varieties. There was only one catch: Heinz marketed well over 60 products at the time. So where did the 57 come from? Heinz thought the number was lucky. Five was Heinz's lucky number, and seven was his wife's. He mashed the charmed digits together, got 57, and never looked back. 6. Tartar Sauce Fish's best friend is named after an alternate spelling of the word "Tatar," which was how Western Europeans once referred to almost anyone of Mongolian or Turkic descent. Many of these Tatars/Tartars ran roughshod over Europe in the time of Genghis Khan, but they knew how to cook. One of the dishes they left behind, beef tartare, came back into fashion in 19th-century France. These helpings of

Question: Thousand Island dressing is named after which islands?

Question: What is dressing named after?

Question: who imported peppers from the Mexican state of Tabasco?

Question: Tabasco Sauce's name derives from where?

Question: What was imported from Tabasco?

Answer: an archipelago that sits in the Saint Lawrence River on the U.S.-Canada border,

Answer: an actual chain of islands?

Answer: Edmund McIlhenny,

Answer: the Mexican state of

Answer: Peppers

Summary:
Thousand Island dressing is named after 1,793 islands in the Saint Lawrence River .
Tabasco's founder imported peppers from the Mexican state of Tabasco .
Hollandaise isn't actually Dutch; it's one of the most well known French sauces .


(Mental Floss) -- In his victory speech on Tuesday night, Barack Obama promised his daughters Sasha and Malia that they'd get to bring a new puppy with them to the White House in January. President Bush's dog Barney, left, plays in 2001 with Spot, the offspring of George H.W. Bush's dog Millie. It's a good thing Obama said "Yes, we can" to the girls' request to getting a dog; for all of his charm, ability, and oratorical flair, he could never be our nation's chief executive without a White House pet. Counting Obama, the country has had 44 Presidents, and only two of them -- Chester A. Arthur and Franklin Pierce -- left no record of having pets. Like Obama himself, the family pooch will have some big shoes to fill. Previous White House pets have set the bar pretty high. iReport.com: What pet would you want if you lived in the White House? Here are a few of our favorites:  Watch Obama on "mutts like me" » 1. Billy: Calvin Coolidge's pygmy hippopotamus Calvin Coolidge may have been known for his reticence, but he showed little of his trademark reserve when it came to acquiring pets. After taking over the presidency upon the death of Warren G. Harding, Coolidge assembled a menagerie that would rival most zoos' collections. He had six dogs, a bobcat, a goose, a donkey, a cat, two lion cubs, an antelope, and a wallaby. The main attraction in his personal zoo, though, was Billy, a pygmy hippopotamus.  Watch new baby pygmy hippo » Billy was born in Liberia, but was captured at a young age. He came into the possession of tire mogul Harvey Firestone, who gave Billy to President Coolidge as a gift, possibly because Firestone didn't want to feed the critter. (Even a pygmy hippo is still quite rotund; Billy was six feet long and weighed upwards of 600 pounds.) Coolidge donated Billy to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Because there were only a handful of pygmy hippos in the U.S. at the time, Billy quickly went to work as a stud, an endeavor at which he found some success. He sired 23 little hippos, and many of the pygmy hippos you see in American zoos today are his offspring. Mental Floss: 7 crafty zoo escapes 2. The White House gators Herbert Hoover wanted to put a chicken in every pot, a car in every garage, and ... a gator in the Oval Office? It's true. Hoover owned a slew of dogs, but those weren't his only pets. His second son, Allan Henry Hoover, owned a pair of gators that were occasionally allowed to wander around the White House grounds. Sound crazy? Blame John Quincy Adams for setting the precedent. The sixth president also had a pet gator. His was a gift from the Marquis de Lafayette; it lived in a bathroom in the East Room of the White House. According to some reports, he enjoyed using the gator to scare his guests. 3. Fala: FDR's traveling companion What do you get the Depression-conquering president who has everything? A lapdog. In 1940 Franklin Roosevelt received a Scottish Terrier puppy named Big Boy as an early Christmas gift from a family friend. FDR immediately realized that Big Boy was no name for a presidential companion and rechristened the pooch Murray the Outlaw of Falahill, after a Scottish ancestor. For the sake of simplicity, though, he called his new pal Fala. After that, Fala became FDR's inseparable companion and traveled everywhere the President went. The dog "gave" $1 a day to the war effort, generosity that earned him the rank of honorary private in the Army. Each morning when FDR's breakfast tray came in, it included a bone for Fala. Fala also made a famous appearance in one of his master's speeches. When FDR was decrying personal attacks from his political opponents, he jokingly said that it was okay to mock him,

Question:
What did Obama promise the girls?
What did Barack Obama promise the girls

Answer: that they'd get to bring a new puppy with them to the White House

Answer: they'd get to bring a new puppy with them to the White House in January.

Summary:
Barack Obama promised puppy for girls; past presidential pets have been strange .
What the heck? First lady Abigail Adams had a dog named Satan .
President Harding's dog gave "interviews" and had a seat at Cabinet meetings .
Original name of FDR's dog: Big Boy; President Grant had fighting gamecocks .


(Mental Floss) -- In the words of Vice President John Nance Garner, the vice presidency "isn't worth a pitcher of warm piss." Vice President Aaron Burr is best known for shooting and killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel in 1804. That may be true, but the characters who've held the job are definitely worth a few good pages of trivia. Join mental_floss in toasting seven backup plans that made this country great. 1. Chester Arthur: James Garfield's V.P. Chester Arthur took office under the thickest cloud of suspicion. As a lieutenant in Senator Roscoe Conkling's political machine, Arthur held one of the most lucrative positions in government: collector for the port of New York. For seven years, Arthur raked in approximately $40,000 annually (about $700,000 today), running a corrupt spoils system for thousands of payroll employees. With so much money and power, Arthur developed an affinity for fancy clothes and earned the nickname "the Gentleman Boss." But his luck didn't last. President Rutherford Hayes eventually stepped in and fired him from the post. Even with the kickback scandal and claims that he'd been born in Canada (which should've disqualified him for the vice presidency), Arthur still managed to get elected on James Garfield's 1880 ticket. After Garfield passed away 199 days into his presidency, Arthur didn't hesitate to sign the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act. Much to the chagrin of Conkling, the Act revamped civil service by effectively killing the same patronage system that made Arthur very, very rich. In cleaning up civil service, Arthur also cleaned up his reputation, and he exited the White House a hero. 2. Henry Wallace: Franklin Roosevelt's second V.P. Henry Wallace was a dedicated devotee of Eastern mysticism. While serving as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture in the 1930s, he allegedly sent his guru to Mongolia under the pretense of collecting grasses that could withstand drought. In reality, Wallace was diverting funds to help his guru hunt for evidence that Christ had visited Asia. But it wasn't Wallace's spiritual beliefs that landed him America's No. 2 job. Wallace was a big Franklin Roosevelt fan and supported his entire platform, which is why Roosevelt handpicked him as his third-term running mate in 1940. Wallace wasn't popular with the Democratic Party, but when Roosevelt made it clear he wouldn't run without him, the party acquiesced. As vice president, Wallace made many international goodwill trips. Most famously, he traveled to the Soviet Union, where he experienced a political transformation that resulted in him becoming an avowed Soviet apologist. His communist leanings did nothing for his image, especially once he became secretary of commerce under President Truman. In 1948, Wallace unsuccessfully ran for president on the Progressive Party ticket, espousing views that sounded shockingly Marxist. He even described corporations as "midget Hitlers" attempting to crush the labor class. But nobody can say Wallace didn't know how to own up to his mistakes. In 1952, he recanted his support of the Soviet Union in a magazine article called "Where I was Wrong." By then, however, his political career was over. Wallace spent the rest of his life conducting agricultural experiments on his farm in New York. 3. William Rufus de Vane King: Franklin Pierce's V.P. William R. King was sworn into office in Cuba, becoming the only executive officer to take the oath on foreign soil. King had gone to Cuba to recuperate from tuberculosis and severe alcoholism, but it didn't work. He died in 1853 after being vice president for just 25 days. That might not be the most memorable thing about King, though. It's widely rumored that the former V.P. was homosexual. Further still, he's suspected of being James Buchanan's lover. Neither King nor Buchanan ever married, and they lived together in Washington for 15 years before Buchanan became president. Of course, King's predilection for wearing scarves and wigs only fanned the rumors. President Andrew Jackson used to call him "Miss Nancy," and Aaron Brown, a fellow Southern Democrat,

Question:
What was Chester Arthur job?
Where did Chester Arthur work?

Answer: Arthur still managed to get elected on James Garfield's 1880 ticket. After Garfield passed away 199 days into his presidency, Arthur didn't hesitate to sign the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act.

Answer: New York.

Summary:
Chester Arthur maintained lucrative employment as the collector for port of NY .
Andrew Johnson took his 1865 vice-presidential oath drunk and belligerent as hell .
Aaron Burr tried to conspire with Napoleon to conquer Florida, but failed .
Both Aaron Burr and John Breckenridge were charged with treason .


(Mental Floss) -- It's Nobel Prize announcement week, and if you had Carol W. Greider, Elizabeth Blackburn, or Jack Szostak in your office pool, you're off to a good start (the trio will share this year's Nobel Prize in Medicine). As we await news of the rest of the winners, here are some stories about past Nobel laureates. Nobel Prize winners receive a medal and a cash award. 1. Robert Lucas, winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on the theory of "rational expectations," split his $1 million prize with his ex-wife. If there were a Nobel Prize for Foresight or Timing, she should be nominated, based on a clause in their divorce settlement from seven years earlier: "Wife shall receive 50 percent of any Nobel Prize." The clause expired on October 31, 1995. Had Lucas won any year after, he would have kept the whole million. 2. Physicist Lise Meitner, whose work helped lead to the discovery of nuclear fission, was reportedly nominated for the Nobel Prize 13 times without ever winning (though nominations are kept secret, so we don't know for sure). This makes her the Dynasty of the Nobel Prize scene -- that show was nominated for 24 Emmy Awards but never won. Other analogies we'd accept: The Color Purple (11 Oscar nominations in 1985, no wins), the Buffalo Bills or Minnesota Vikings (4 Super Bowl losses each without a victory) and William Jennings Bryan (three-time Democratic nominee for President, losing twice to McKinley and once to Taft.) 3. People who refused the prize: • Le Duc Tho was awarded the 1973 Nobel Peace Prize with Henry Kissinger for their roles in brokering a Vietnam cease fire at the Paris Peace Accords. Citing the absence of actual peace in Vietnam, Tho declined to accept. • Jean Paul Sartre waved off the 1964 Nobel Prize in Literature. His explanation: "It is not the same thing if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre or if I sign Jean-Paul Sartre, Nobel Prize winner. A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution, even if it takes place in the most honorable form." • Afraid of Soviet retribution if he traveled to Stockholm to claim his prize, Boris Pasternak declined to accept the 1958 Prize in Literature, which he'd earned for Doctor Zhivago. The Academy refused his refusal. "This refusal, of course, in no way alters the validity of the award. There remains only for the Academy, however, to announce with regret that the presentation of the Prize cannot take place." Yevgeny Pasternak accepted the prize on behalf of his deceased father in 1989. • Swedish poet Erik Axel Karlfeldt won for Literature in 1918. He did not accept because he was Secretary of the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize. He was given the award posthumously in 1931. This was allowed because the nomination was made before Karlfeldt died -- no candidate may be proposed after death. Mental Floss: 10 technologies we stole from the animal kingdom 4. In 2007, 90-year-old professor Leonid Hurwicz became the oldest person to ever win (one-third of the Prize in Economics); at 87, writer Doris Lessing became the oldest woman (Literature). 5. DNA expert Kary Mullis -- 1993 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry -- was scheduled to be a defense witness in O.J. Simpson's murder trial. However, Simpson's lawyer Barry Scheck felt the prosecution's DNA case was already essentially destroyed, and he didn't want Mullis' personal life to distract jurors (he'd expressed an affinity for LSD.) 6. Nobel Laureates you must know: Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Elie Wiesel, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, Jimmy Carter, Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, Samuel Beckett, Pierre & Marie Curie, Max Planck and Albert Einstein. 7. Big names who

Question: To whom did some Nobel prize winners have to give money to

Question: Who was nominated for the Nobel Prize 13 times?

Answer: ex-wife.

Answer: Physicist Lise Meitner,

Summary:
More than one Nobel winner had to share or give prize money to ex-wife .
Marie Curie was urged not to collect her second Nobel because of affair .
Three U.S. presidents have won the Nobel prize .
Lise Meitner  was reportedly nominated for the Nobel Prize 13 times, but never won .


(Mental Floss) -- It's hard to walk down the aisle of a liquor store without running across a bottle bearing someone's name. A costumed reveler at a Captain Morgan party celebrates the rum named after the 17th century privateer. We put them in our cocktails, but how well do we know them? Here's some biographical detail on the men behind your favorite tipples: 1. Captain Morgan The Captain wasn't always just the choice of sorority girls looking to blend spiced rum with Diet Coke; in the 17th century he was a feared privateer. Not only did the Welsh pirate marry his own cousin, he ran risky missions for the governor of Jamaica, including capturing some Spanish prisoners in Cuba and sacking Port-au-Prince in Haiti. He then plundered the Cuban coast before holding for ransom the entire city of Portobelo, Panama. He later looted and burned Panama City, but his pillaging career came to an end when Spain and England signed a peace treaty in 1671. Instead of getting in trouble for his high-seas antics, Morgan received knighthood and became the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. Mental Floss: 5 drinking stories that put yours to shame 2. Johnnie Walker Walker, the name behind the world's most popular brand of Scotch whisky, was born in 1805 in Ayrshire, Scotland. When his father died in 1819, Johnnie inherited a trust of a little over 400 pounds, which the trustees invested in a grocery store. Walker became a very successful grocer in the town of Kilmarnock and even sold a whisky, Walker's Kilmarnock Whisky. Johnnie's son Alexander was the one who actually turned the family into famous whisky men, though. Alexander had spent time in Glasgow learning how to blend teas, but he eventually returned to Kilmarnock to take over the grocery from his father. Alexander turned his blending expertise to whisky, and came up with "Old Highland Whisky," which later became Johnnie Walker Black Label. 3. Jack Daniel Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel of Tennessee whiskey fame was the descendant of Welsh settlers who came to the United States in the early 19th century. He was born in 1846 or 1850 and was one of 13 children. By 1866 he was distilling whiskey in Lynchburg, Tennessee. Unfortunately for the distiller, he had a bit of a temper. One morning in 1911 Daniel showed up for work early and couldn't get his safe open. He flew off the handle and kicked the offending strongbox. The kick was so ferocious that Daniel injured his toe, which then became infected. The infection soon became the blood poisoning that killed the whiskey mogul. Curious about why your bottle of J.D. also has Lem Motlow listed as the distillery's proprietor? Daniel's own busy life of distilling and safe-kicking kept him from ever finding a wife and siring an heir, so in 1907 he gave the distillery to his beloved nephew Lem Motlow, who had come to work for him as a bookkeeper. Mental Floss: The many myths of Jack Daniel 4. Jose Cuervo In 1758, Jose Antonio de Cuervo received a land grant from the King of Spain to start an agave farm in the Jalisco region of Mexico. Jose used his agave plants to make mescal, a popular Mexican liquor. In 1795, King Carlos IV gave the land grant to Cuervo's descendant Jose Maria Guadalupe de Cuervo. Carlos IV also granted the Cuervo family the first license to commercially make tequila, so they built a larger factory on the existing land. The family started packaging their wares in individual bottles in 1880, and in 1900 the booze started going by the brand name Jose Cuervo. The brand is still under the leadership of the original Jose Cuervo's family; current boss Juan-Domingo Beckmann is the sixth generation of Cuervo ancestors to run the company. 5. Jim Beam Jim Beam, the namesake of the world's best-selling bourbon whiskey, didn't actually start the distillery that now bears his name. His great-grandfather Jacob Beam opened the distillery

Question:
What did Jack Daniel lose to?
When was the real Jack Daniel born?
Who did Captain Morgan marry?
What country did Capt. Morgan plunder?

Answer: blood poisoning

Answer: 1846 or 1850

Answer: his own cousin,

Answer: Cuban

Summary:
Capt. Morgan married his own cousin, plundered Cuba and won a knighthood .
Jack Daniel died after losing a fight with a ... safe?
Which best-selling bourbon whiskey was originally called "Old Tub?"
Gin-maker Tanqueray descended from three-generations of clergymen .


(Mental Floss) -- Most people limit their gambling to March Madness pools or the occasional trip to Vegas. Celebrities, of course, tend to do everything on a grander scale. Let's take a look at some famous people and the high-profile bets on which they cashed in or lost big.

1. Truman defeats Dewey, Jimmy the Greek defeats Vegas

Everyone remembers the "Dewey Defeats Truman" headline from the 1948 presidential election, but Harry Truman wasn't the only big winner that night.

Legendary gambler Jimmy the Greek had bet $10,000 on Truman at steep 17:1 odds. His logic? His research showed that female voters weren't too keen on candidates with facial hair, which didn't bode well for the mustachioed Dewey.

2. Phil Mickelson has a nice 2001

PGA golfer Phil Mickelson had a hot hand during 2001. Fans might remember that two longshots won titles that year: the Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl, and the Arizona Diamondbacks knocked off the New York Yankees in a classic World Series.

Mickelson was part of betting groups that had picked both squads. Their $20,000 bet on the 28-to-1 Ravens yielded a cool $560,000, and they hit again with $20K on the 38-to-1 Diamondbacks. And to think people used to say Mickelson couldn't get a big win.

3. Getting into the White House is tougher than free throws

Last July, NBA star Shaquille O'Neal and a member of his entourage had a fiery debate about whether or not Shaq could just drop by the White House unannounced and be welcomed with open arms. After much back-and-forth, Shaq decided he'd give it a try. If he couldn't get past the gate, he would do 1,000 pushups. If he made it inside, his buddy would have to do the pushups.

Unfortunately for Shaq, even the Big Aristotle needs an appointment to see the President. When O'Neal walked up to the gate, the Secret Service politely but firmly turned him away. He later told the Washington Post's Dan Steinberg that he was working off his debt in increments of 20 to 30 pushups.

Mental Floss: Great photos found in presidential libraries

4. Paul Ehrlich's population bomb doesn't go off

Even celebrity scientists have tried their hands at high profile gambling. Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich is famous for his grim predictions concerning overpopulation; he famously predicted in 1968 that 20 percent of the world's population would starve to death before 1985.

As you might expect, these claims were somewhat controversial. When Ehrlich commented in 1980 that he would make an even money bet that England would not exist in the year 2000, economist Julian L. Simon had heard enough. Simon decided to book an unusual bet of his own with Ehrlich.

Since Ehrlich's underlying Malthusian argument involved the depletion of natural resources, Simon made this challenge: Ehrlich could name whatever natural resource he wanted, buy $1,000 worth of it, and pick a time frame.

If at the end of the time frame the commodities were worth more than the initial $1,000, Simon would pay Ehrlich the difference. If they were worth less than $1,000, Ehrlich would fork the difference over to Simon. If Ehrlich's predictions about dwindling natural resources came to pass, the prices of commodities would skyrocket and Simon would be out a lot of cash.

Ehrlich was game. He spread his $1,000 evenly among chrome, copper, nickel, tin, and tungsten and told Simon to wait 10 years. Although the world's population shot up by 800 million people in the intervening decade, the metals' prices crashed. When the bet ended in 1990, Ehrlich had to cut Simon a check for $576.07.

5. Ringo says don't bet on a Beatles reunion

By 1974, legions of fans were clamoring for a Beatles reunion, but Ringo Starr was having none of it. The drummer told London reporters that he had bet a thousand pounds that the Beatles wouldn't play together that year, and that he would be happy to throw a thousand quid down on the group never playing together again.

Mental

Question: What did Jimmy the Greek do when Harry Truman won the White House?

Question: In which year did Ringo Starr put his money down against the Beatles reuniting?

Question: Who puts his money down in 1974 against the Beatles reuniting?

Answer: defeats Vegas

Answer: 1974,

Answer: Ringo Starr

Summary:
When Harry Truman won the White House, Jimmy the Greek hit the jackpot .
Ringo Starr put his money down in 1974 against the Beatles reuniting .
Arnold Palmer gambled to pay off his wife's engagement ring .


(Mental Floss) -- Over the centuries, people have had some very good reasons to dress up like a member of the opposite sex. After record-setting Olympics athlete Stella Walsh died in 1980, it was revealed that she had indeed been a man. And I'm not talking about people who live this way out of personal preference, or those who dress up for theater and entertainment. Here are just five examples. 1. Cross-dressing to join the army Until recently, women have rarely been allowed to serve as soldiers. So what was a gal to do if she wanted to serve her country? Naturally, disguise herself as a man and join the troops. At least 400 Civil War soldiers were women in drag. These included Union Army soldier "Frank Thompson" (also known as Sarah Edmonds), whose small frame and feminine mannerisms (rather than causing suspicion) made her an ideal spy, as she could spy on the Confederates disguised as... a woman! She wasn't the first woman to don a male disguise and join the army, though. During the Revolutionary War, women fought as men on both sides. Hannah Snell, for example, joined the British army to find her husband, who had walked out on her to enlist. Once her true sex was discovered (thanks to a pesky groin injury), she became a national celebrity in Britain, and made a post-war career of performing in bars as the "Female Warrior." Mental Floss: The Confederacy's plan to conquer Latin America 2. Cross-dressing to keep a royal family together With all the power play that went on in the court, the French royal family would go to great lengths to avoid sibling rivalry. In one of the more extreme cases, Philippe I, Duke of Orleans (1640-1701), was raised as a girl to discourage him from any political or military aspirations. This would make things easier for his brother, the future King Louis XIV. Philippe wore dresses and make-up, enjoyed traditionally feminine pursuits, and was even encouraged towards homosexuality. A girly man he might have been, but he married twice and even had a mistress. When necessary, he could even lead an army into battle. (This is the nation, after all, that gave us that famous cross-dresser Joan of Arc.) A brave commander, he would go into battle wearing high heels, plenty of jewelry and a long, perfumed wig. One of his wives claimed that Philippe's biggest fear when going into battle was not bullets, but the possibility of looking a mess. He avoided gunpowder (with the black smoke stains) and didn't wear a hat, to avoid ruining his hair. Mental Floss: 11 weird & wonderful wedding rings 3. Cross-dressing to win Olympic glory Dressing in drag has been part of the Olympics (on and off) since ancient times, when women were banned from the bulk of the Games. The Greek historian Pausanias of Damascus said that if a spectator was uncovered as a woman in male disguise, she was duly escorted off the premises... and thrown off a cliff. In later Games, the athletes started performing naked, and the crowd was also ordered to disrobe. It has been suggested that this was to ensure that they were all men. In the modern Olympics, there has been less disrobing -- and not much cross-dressing, either. Gender tests have been normal procedure since 1966 (for athletes, not spectators), so they couldn't really get away with it. Before that time, one of the strangest -- and most controversial -- cases was Polish sprinter Stanislawa Walasiewicz (aka Stella Walsh), who set 11 world records in her career, winning the 100-meter Olympic finals in 1932 with what one official described as "long man-like strides." After she died in 1980, however, it was revealed that she had indeed been a man. So had he deliberately set out to fool everyone all that

Question: Who were women in drag?

Question: Who won Olympic medals?

Question: What number of U.S. Civil War soldiers were women in drag?

Question: What were at least 400 soldiers?

Answer: At least 400 Civil War soldiers

Answer: Stella Walsh

Answer: At least 400

Answer: Civil War

Summary:
Cross-dressers have: Spied, joined armies, won Olympic medals, been royalty .
At least 400 U.S. Civil War soldiers were women in drag .
Spy disguised himself as woman to seduce attache in French Foreign Service .
Hindu women in Jodhpur, India, "go wild," dressing as men once each year .


(Mental Floss) -- Owning a professional sports franchise is my dream job. (I'm willing to relocate.) Of course, I could never afford my own team. There's a better chance I'll miraculously develop an unhittable slider, or learn to punt.

NFL team owner Robert Kraft got his start in the paper business.

You obviously must be exceedingly wealthy to become an owner.

Did you ever wonder how all these people made all that money?

I sure hope you did, because we went and did all this research.

Here's a list of nine billionaire owners and how they built their fortunes.

1. Rich DeVos, Orlando Magic (NBA)

In 1959, DeVos and high school friend Jay Van Andel started selling all-purpose cleaner.

Their business grew to become Amway, which now brings in $6 billion each year under the ominous-sounding Alticor name.

Whether you see Amway as an empowering direct sales company or a something resembling a cult, it sure was good to DeVos.

Forbes estimates his wealth at $3.5 billion, making the paltry $85 million he spent on the Magic in 1991 a minor investment.

2. Robert L. Johnson, Charlotte Bobcats (NBA)

Lower on my list of dream jobs is running a cable network that caters to urban youth.

So I'm all kinds of envious of Robert L., who founded BET and sold it to Viacom for $3 billion in 2001.

His fortune was depleted by an expensive divorce, but Johnson's estimated net worth is still $1.1 billion.

His resume is full of firsts  BET was the first African-American owned company traded on the NYSE.

He was the first African-American billionaire in the U.S. And, in 2002, he became the first African-American majority owner of a professional sports franchise.

3. Robert Kraft, New England Patriots (NFL)

I'd never given it much thought, but I'd always assumed Kraft bought the Patriots with big cheese money he'd inherited.

But Kraft got his start in the paper business. His wife, Myra, is the daughter of Massachusetts philanthropist Jacob Hiatt.

After Kraft finished Harvard Business School, he went to work with his father-in-law's packaging company.

In 1972, Kraft founded International Forest Products, which is now part of the Kraft Group -- a diversified collection of companies ranging from Gillette Stadium to the New England Revolution (Major League Soccer) to Carmel Container Systems (Israel's largest packaging plant).

Kraft is seen as a savior in New England -- before he bought the team in 1994, the Pats seemed destined for relocation to St. Louis. Plus he's made them really, really good, winning three Super Bowls this decade.

Another reason I'm so keen on owning a team is the access to foreign heads of state.

In 2005, Kraft met Vladimir Putin, who walked off with one of Kraft's Super Bowl rings.

Kraft now claims it was a gift, but that might just be what you say when a Russian leader steals your jewelry. Mental Floss: How ex-presidents and prime ministers make ends meet

4. Hiroshi Yamauchi, Seattle Mariners (MLB)

Despite America's strong resistance to Japanese ownership -- and despite his admitted lack of interest in baseball -- Hiroshi Yamauchi became majority owner of the Seattle Mariners in 1992.

Yamauchi is the man credited with transforming Nintendo from playing-card company to video game giant.

His 55-year tenure saw incredible growth. But that doesn't mean there weren't a few bumps along the way. Forays into instant rice, taxi service and short-stay hotels (also known as "love hotels") did not pan out.

5. Jerry Jones, Dallas Cowboys (NFL)

Jerry Jones built an oil empire in the early 1970s, striking gas in the first thirteen wells he drilled. His father had given him a head start; Pat Jones sold the Modern Security Life Insurance Company for millions.

An undersized guard, Jones was captain of

Question: What did Putin walk off with?

Question: Who found talented engineers for the aerospace industry and what did Russia's Putin walk off with?

Question: What ring did Putin get?

Answer: one of Kraft's Super Bowl rings.

Answer: one of Kraft's Super Bowl rings.

Answer: who walked off with one of Kraft's Super Bowl

Summary:
The NFL's Malcolm Glazer got started as an owner of Florida trailer parks .
The Cleveland Cavaliers head was a pizza deliveryman and TV reporter .
Baltimore Ravens chief found talented engineers for the aerospace industry .
Russia's Putin walked off with NFL owner Robert Kraft's Super Bowl ring .


(Mental Floss) -- People have been eating pickles ever since the Mesopotamians started making them way back in 2400 B.C.E. Here are some even more important things you should know about them. Pickles have gotten credit for health and beauty and winning football games. 1. In the Pacific Islands, natives pickle their foods in holes in the ground lined with banana leaves, and use them as food reserves in case of storms. The pickles are so valuable that they've become part of the courting process, helping a man prove he'll be able to provide for a woman. In Fiji, guys can't get a girl without first showing her parents his pickle pits. 2. Cleopatra claimed pickles made her beautiful. (We guess it had more to do with her genes.) 3. The majority of pickle factories in America ferment their pickles in outdoor vats without lids (leaving them subject to insects and bird droppings). But there's a reason. According to food scientists, the sun's direct rays prevent yeast and mold from growing in the brine. Mental Floss: 8 disastrous product names 4. In the Delta region of Mississippi, Kool-Aid pickles have become ridiculously popular with kids. The recipe's simple: take some dill pickles, cut them in half, and then soak them in super strong Kool-Aid for more than a week. According to the New York Times, the sweet vinegar snacks are known to sell out at fairs and delicatessens, and generally go for $.50 to a $1. 5. Not everyone loves a sweet pickle. In America, dill pickles are twice as popular as the sweet variety. 6. The Department of Agriculture estimates that the average American eats 8.5 lbs of pickles a year. 7. When the Philadelphia Eagles thrashed the Dallas Cowboys in sweltering heat in September 2000, many of the players attributed their win to one thing: guzzling down immense quantities of ice-cold pickle juice. Mental Floss: 31 unbelievable high school mascots 8. If it weren't for pickles, Christopher Columbus might never have "discovered" America. In his famous 1492 voyage, Columbus rationed pickles to his sailors to keep them from getting scurvy. He even grew cucumbers during a pit stop in Haiti to restock for the rest of the voyage. 9. Speaking of people who get credit for discovering America, when he wasn't drawing maps and trying to steal Columbus' thunder, Amerigo Vespucci was a well-known pickle-merchant. 10. Napoleon was also a big fan of pickle power. In fact, he put up the equivalent of $250,000 as a prize to whoever could figure out the best way to pickle and preserve foods for his troops. 11. During the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, H. J. Heinz used pick-shaped pins to lure customers to his out of the way booth. By the end of the fair, he'd given out lots of free food, and over 1,000,000 pickle pins. 12. Berrien Springs, Michigan, has dubbed itself the Christmas Pickle Capital of the World. In early December, they host a parade, led by the Grand Dillmeister, who tosses out fresh pickles to parade watchers. Mental Floss: Curious, bizarre and storied state symbols For more mental_floss articles, visit mentalfloss.com

Question: Which sports team claimed pickle juice helped them win?

Question: What does the average American eat?

Question: What southern state treat was in the article?

Question: What are pickles soaked in?

Question: How much pickles do Americans eat?

Question: The average american eats how many pickles a year?

Answer: Philadelphia Eagles

Answer: 8.5 lbs of pickles a year.

Answer: Kool-Aid pickles

Answer: super strong Kool-Aid

Answer: a year.

Answer: 8.5 lbs

Summary:
Average American eats 8.5 lbs of pickles a year, according to Dept. of Agriculture .
Southern state treat: Dill pickles soaked for week in Kool-Aid .
Philly Eagles players said pickle juice helped them beat Dallas Cowboys in 2000 .
Christopher Columbus and Napoleon were fans of pickle power .


(Mental Floss) -- President-Elect Obama's mother-in-law will be moving to Washington with the first family, at least temporarily, his transition team has confirmed. Marian Robinson will be the latest in a line of presidential in-laws who, for good or ill, lived under the same roof as the president.

President Dwight Eisenhower and his mother-in-law, Elivera  Doud, pose for pictures with some of the grandchildren.

Here are four stories that confirm the old truism: While America can choose its president, the president can't choose his in-laws.

1. Ulysses S. Grant and 'The Colonel'

You would think that the Civil War was settled at Appomattox, and no question of its outcome would have been raised in the White House of Ulysses S. Grant, who, after all, was the general who won the war.

But you would be wrong, because living with Ulysses and Julia Grant was the president's father-in-law. Colonel Frederick Dent (his rank seems to have been self-selected) was an unreconstructed Confederate, a St. Louis businessman and slaveholder who, when his daughter Julia went to the Executive Mansion early in 1869, decided to relocate there as well.

The Colonel didn't hesitate to make himself at home. When his daughter received guests, he sat in a chair just behind her, offering anyone within earshot unsolicited advice. Political and business figures alike got a dose of the Colonel's mind as they waited to meet with President Grant.

When the president's father, Jesse Grant, came from Kentucky on one of his regular visits to Washington, the White House turned into a Civil War reenactment. According to "First Families: The Impact of the White House on Their Lives", by Bonnie Angelo, Jesse Grant preferred to stay in a hotel rather than sleep under the same roof as the Colonel.

And when the two old partisans found themselves unavoidably sitting around the same table in the White House, they avoided direct negotiations by using Julia and her young son, named for the president's father, as intermediaries, Betty Boyd Caroli writes in "First Ladies": "In the presence of the elder Grant, Frederick Dent would instruct Julia to 'take better care of that old gentleman [Jesse Grant]. He is feeble and deaf as a post and yet you permit him to wander all over Washington alone.' And Grant replied [to his grandson and namesake], 'Did you hear him? I hope I shall not live to become as old and infirm as your Grandfather Dent.'" Mental Floss: 5 feisty first daughters

The Colonel remained in the White House -- irascible and unrepentant -- until his death, at age 88, in 1873.

2. Harry S Truman and the Mother-in-Law from Heck

Harry Truman and Bess Wallace met as children. He was a farm boy; she was the well-heeled granddaughter of Independence, Missouri's Flour King. When they married in 1919, Truman was a struggling haberdasher, and Bess's mother, Madge Wallace, thought Bess had made a colossal social faux pas. Until she died in 1952, Madge Wallace never changed her mind about Harry Truman. Her Bess had married way below her station.

Madge had plenty of opportunities to let her son-in-law know it. The newlyweds moved into the Wallace mansion in Independence, and the three lived together under the same roof until the end of Madge's life.

When Harry Truman was elected senator, "Mother Wallace," as Truman judiciously called her, moved with her daughter and son-in-law to Washington. In the family's apartment, she shared a bedroom with the Trumans' daughter, Margaret. And when Truman became president, she moved with them into the White House, where she cast her cold eye on the new commander-in-chief.

"Why would Harry run against that nice Mr. Dewey?" she wondered aloud, as Truman was fighting for his political life in the 1948 presidential race, according to "First Mothers

Question: Whose mother-in-law  scandalized by his firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur?

Question: Where did the in-laws move into?

Question: What did Truman's mother-in-law do?

Question: What did Eisenhower and his mother in law have?

Answer: Madge Wallace,

Answer: Washington

Answer: pose for pictures with some of the grandchildren.

Answer: pictures with some of the grandchildren.

Summary:
Several U.S. presidents had in-laws move into White House with them .
Pres. Truman's mother-in-law scandalized by his firing of Gen. Douglas MacArthur .
Pres. Eisenhower and his mother-in-law had "mutual admiration society"
President Grant's father-in-law gave his opinion freely at the White House .


(Mental Floss) -- Since the dawn of time, people have found nifty ways to clean up after the bathroom act. The most common solution was simply to grab what was at hand: coconuts, shells, snow, moss, hay, leaves, grass, corncobs, sheep's wool -- and, later, thanks to the printing press -- newspapers, magazines, and pages of books. The average American uses 57 squares a day and 50 pounds of toilet paper per year. The ancient Greeks used clay and stone; the Romans, sponges and salt water. But the idea of a commercial product designed solely to wipe one's bum? That started about 150 years ago, right here in the U.S.A. In less than a century, Uncle Sam's marketing genius turned something disposable into something indispensable. Toilet paper gets on a roll The first products designed specifically to wipe one's nethers were aloe-infused sheets of manila hemp dispensed from Kleenex-like boxes. They were invented in 1857 by a New York entrepreneur named Joseph Gayetty, who claimed his sheets prevented hemorrhoids. Gayetty was so proud of his therapeutic bathroom paper that he had his name printed on each sheet. But his success was limited. Americans soon grew accustomed to wiping with the Sears Roebuck catalog, and they saw no need to spend money on something that came in the mail for free. Toilet paper took its next leap forward in 1890, when two brothers named Clarence and E. Irvin Scott popularized the concept of toilet paper on a roll. The Scotts' brand became more successful than Gayetty's medicated wipes, in part because they built a steady trade selling toilet paper to hotels and drugstores. But it was still an uphill battle to get the public to openly buy the product, largely because Americans remained embarrassed by bodily functions. In fact, the Scott brothers were so ashamed of the nature of their work that they didn't take proper credit for their innovation until 1902. "No one wanted to ask for it by name," says Dave Praeger, author of "Poop Culture: How America Is Shaped by Its Grossest National Product." "It was so taboo that you couldn't even talk about the product." By 1930, the German paper company Hakle began using the tag line, "Ask for a roll of Hakle and you won't have to say toilet paper!" As time passed, toilet tissues slowly became an American staple. But widespread acceptance of the product didn't officially occur until a new technology demanded it. At the end of the 19th century, more and more homes were being built with sit-down flush toilets tied to indoor plumbing systems. And because people required a product that could be flushed away with minimal damage to the pipes, corncobs and moss no longer cut it. In no time, toilet paper ads boasted that the product was recommended by both doctors and plumbers. Mental Floss: 5 times drug companies promised too much Strength of going soft In the early 1900s, toilet paper was still being marketed as a medicinal item. But in 1928, the Hoberg Paper Company tried a different tack. On the advice of its ad men, the company introduced a brand called Charmin and fitted the product with a feminine logo that depicted a beautiful woman. The genius of the campaign was that by evincing softness and femininity, the company could avoid talking about toilet paper's actual purpose. Charmin was enormously successful, and the tactic helped the brand survive the Great Depression. (It also helped that, in 1932, Charmin began marketing economy-size packs of four rolls.) Decades later, the dainty ladies were replaced with babies and bear cubs -- advertising vehicles that still stock the aisles today. By the 1970s, America could no longer conceive of life without toilet paper. Case in point: In December 1973, Tonight Show host Johnny Carson joked about a toilet paper shortage during his opening monologue. But America didn't laugh. Instead, TV watchers across the country ran out to their local grocery stores and bought up as much of the stuff as they could. Also

Question:
What did a U.S. man design in 1857?
U.S. buys what?
Who joked about toilet paper shortages?
Ancient Greeks used?
What did the Greeks use clay for?

Answer: aloe-infused sheets of manila hemp

Answer: Toilet paper

Answer: Johnny Carson

Answer: clay and stone;

Answer: to wipe one's bum?

Summary:
Ancient Greeks used clay,stone; Romans, sponges and salt water as toilet paper .
U.S. man designs aloe-infused sheets of manila hemp  in 1857 .
Johnny Carson joked about toilet paper shortage, people bought out stores .
U.S. buys $6 billion of toilet tissue annually -- more than any other nation .


(Mental Floss) -- Starting a legitimate business is hard, boring work. There's paperwork to fill out, employees to hire, and all sorts of other drudgery, not to mention the biggest hurdle of all: providing a product or service for which customers are willing to pay. President Ulysses S. Grant foiled a gold scam. In all likelihood, it would be much easier to just stumble upon some clever scam to line your pockets. Or so it would seem. As many aspiring scam artists quickly learn, when a business scam fails, it tends to fail in rather grand fashion. Just ask any of these four teams of not-so-smooth operators. A corny sea story Xenothemis and Hegestratos may not have been the world's first white-collar criminals, but they were certainly noteworthy for their incompetence. In 360 B.C., the pair stumbled upon what seemed like a killer plan to make some quick cash. Shipping was extremely risky at the time, and boats went down at sea with alarming frequency. To exploit this uncertainty, Xenothemis and Hegestratos devised a plan in which they would receive a cash advance to ship a load of corn from Syracuse to Athens. Due to the dangers associated with shipping, the buyer would take on full risk if the shipment didn't make it to Athens, so if the boat sank Xenothemis and Hegestratos could keep their cash. Instead of loading the ship with expensive corn, the conniving pair made a plan to sail an empty ship out to sea for a few days, then sink it and escape in lifeboats. Since the boat itself was insured, this plot seemed airtight, and the potential profit was great. Unfortunately, though, the boat's other passengers allegedly caught wind of the scheme during the attempting scuttling of the ship. These passengers were understandably a bit peeved at Hegestratos' attempts to drown them for his own financial gain. Hegestratos panicked and jumped overboard, at which point he drowned. Unable to sink the ship by himself, Xenothemis had to sail on to the port, at which point the buyer, Protos, wanted to know why his shipload of corn was empty. A legal battle followed, and although the verdict has been lost by history, it's safe to say that the late Hegestratos regretted the scam. When Friday went black Despite his prowess as a general, Ulysses S. Grant's presidency didn't go so smoothly. Ones of its most notable scandals occurred in 1869, when a group of speculators upended the U.S gold market. The plan started when financier James Fisk and robber baron Jay Gould formed a group of speculators with the goal of cornering the gold market, which would give the group the ability to manipulate the price. Of course, one can only corner the market if there's a fixed quantity of gold available. Otherwise, the government could just sell large quantities of gold, and the cornering effort would be an expensive failure. In an effort to avoid this fate, Gould and Fisk brought President Grant's brother-in-law Abel Corbin into their fold. Using Corbin's influence to get an audience with the President, the pair would argue to Grant that selling gold was a terrible idea that the government should avoid at all costs. The wily pair also used their influence at the White House to secure a position as assistant treasurer of the United States for Daniel Butterfield, who would warn them if the government started to sell gold. With their connections in place, Fisk and Gould started buying up gold in September 1869, quickly driving the price of gold up by around 30 percent. Once Grant and his advisors got wise to the situation, though, the government quickly sold off $4 million in gold to break the corner, effectively killing the inflated prices on September 24. As investors scrambled to get rid of their overpriced gold, the price plummeted sharply, and many involved in the scam lost huge amounts of money. Fisk and Gould managed to avoid big losses due to their connections in the treasury, but what would be known as Black Friday didn't earn them a huge windfall

Question: What did President Grant do?

Question: Who foiled a gold speculation scam?

Question: what was the scam created by president grant?

Question: What scam was common in 360B.C?

Answer: foiled a gold scam.

Answer: President Ulysses S. Grant

Answer: gold

Answer: Xenothemis and Hegestratos devised a plan in which they would receive a cash advance to ship a load of corn from Syracuse to Athens. Due to the dangers associated with shipping, the buyer would take on full risk if the shipment didn't make it to Athens, so if the boat sank Xenothemis and Hegestratos could keep their cash.

Summary:
When a business scam fails, it tends to fail in rather grand fashion .
360 B.C. scam: Sink ship and collect insurance on goods .
President Grant foiled a gold speculation scam .
Moving company founder goes to prison for bait-and-switch pricing .


(Mental Floss) -- Students, we know you may not be all that ecstatic about seeing your teachers -- and the homework they assign -- as the school year starts up. Pay attention in class, though; you never know what hidden talents your teachers might have. Just look at all of these famous former teachers: After teaching and performing music, Gene Simmons is now starring in his own reality show, "Family Jewels." Gene Simmons: The tongue-flicking bassist of Kiss taught sixth grade in Harlem before he became the world's most famous bass-playing demon. Simmons later revealed in interviews that his superiors canned him for replacing the works of Shakespeare with Spiderman comics, which he thought the students were more likely to actually read. Alexander Graham Bell: The telephone pioneer got his start teaching Visible Speech at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes. He developed a bond with a student named Mabel Hubbard, and when she was 19 the two married. Sting: Before he became a star with The Police, Sting taught English, music, and soccer at St. Catherine's Convent School. Sting later said of working at a convent school, "I was the only man on the faculty. In fact, I was the only teacher not in a habit." Mental Floss: How 10 celebrities picked their stage names Robert Frost: Like King, Frost worked as a teacher to supplement the income from his fledgling literary career. Frost worked as both a farmer and teacher at the Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire. His students called him "the Hen Man" because the poet was afraid of chickens, and Frost allegedly had trouble remembering to milk the school's cows on time. Lyndon Johnson: The future president got his start as a principal at the Mexican-American Welhausen School in Cotulla, Texas. He later finished his teaching degree and landed gigs teaching public speaking at Pearsall High School in Pearsall Texas and Sam Houston High in Houston. The debate team he coached at Sam Houston lost the Texas state championship by a single point; Johnson supposedly had to vomit backstage before he could bring himself to congratulate the winners. Art Garfunkel: We can't speak for Paul Simon, but at least half of Simon and Garfunkel was really, really good at math. Garfunkel nearly earned a doctorate in the subject and was teaching math at the Litchfield Preparatory School in Connecticut when "Bridge Over Troubled Water" soared to the top of the charts. John Adams: The second president of the United States spent a few years working as a schoolteacher in Worcester, Massachusetts. Teaching didn't suit Adams, who thought his students were nothing more than a "large number of little runtlings, just capable of lisping A, B, C, and troubling the master." He eventually gave up the job to go to law school. Mr. T: It was hard for Chicago students to be fools when it came to gym class in the mid-1970s. You'd pay attention if Mr. T told you to do jumping jacks, wouldn't you? Sylvester Stallone: Did you know you were watching a matchup of tough-guy teachers when Stallone and Mr. T battled in "Rocky III?"  When Sly was attending the American College in Switzerland during the 1960s, he worked as a gym teacher to earn extra spending money. Mental Floss: Sly Stallone pudding and other unique celebrity products J.K. Rowling: The Harry Potter author worked as an English teacher in Portugal as she plotted out the early adventures of her young wizards. Andy Griffith: Before he was a sheriff, before he was Matlock, Andy Griffith was a teacher. After graduating from the University of North Carolina, Griffith taught English at Goldsboro High School. Billy Crystal: The comedian worked as a junior high substitute teacher on Long Island while he waited for his career to take off. Among the classes he subbed for: girls' gym, which must have been a great source of material. Kris Kristofferson: The country star was a Rhodes Scholar who studied literature at Oxford before joining the Army and rising to the rank of captain

Question: Which stars were teachers first?

Question: What did the famous people try to do first?

Question: What was Garfunkel's occupation at the time "Bridge Over Troubled Water" became a hit?

Question: What subject did J.K. Rowling teach?

Question: What did Johnson do?

Question: Who was teaching when they became famous?

Question: What was Garfunkel teaching?

Answer: Gene Simmons:

Answer: teaching

Answer: teaching math

Answer: English

Answer: got his start as a principal at the Mexican-American Welhausen School in Cotulla, Texas.

Answer: Gene Simmons

Answer: math

Summary:
Some people who became famous, tried their hand at teaching first .
President Lyndon Johnson taught public speaking, coached debate team .
Art Garfunkel was teaching math when "Bridge Over Troubled Water" became a hit .
Authors Stephen King and J.K. Rowling and singer Sting all taught English .


(Mental Floss) -- Sure, you know these five creatures as stinging, biting merchants of death. But isn't it time we put aside our differences and embraced the positive? A creepy crawler from this guy's family could save your brain from cancer some day. 1. Poison dart frogs: The heart-healthy choice It could kill you: You know an animal is bad news when its sweat was once considered a state-of-the-art military technology. Meet the poison dart frog, which secretes a highly dangerous neurotoxin, called batrachotoxin, through its pores. In fact, various Latin American tribes used to collect the stuff (carefully) to poison the tips of their arrows for hunting and warfare. Interestingly, however, the frogs don't produce their own toxin. They get it from eating insects that most likely pick up the poison from the plants they consume. The same frogs, if raised in a laboratory rather than the rain forest, aren't poisonous at all. But it just might cure you: Before batrachotoxin stops your heart, it speeds it up. Consequently, medical experts believe it might be possible to tweak elements of the frog's toxin to bring patients out of cardiac arrest and potentially save lives. And because it also deadens nerve endings, batrachotoxin has potential as an ingredient in anesthetics.  Watch how gator blood may be become super drug » Studies into other uses of the toxin are still in the early stages, but the frog's medical benefits bolster the argument for preserving the rainforest. Most scientists believe we've only just begun to grasp the pharmaceutical possibilities of some of the world's rarest and deadliest creatures. 2. Scorpions: Leading the battle against brain cancer It could kill you: For the most part, scorpions use their toxins to capture prey, ward off competitors during mating season, and defend themselves against larger predators. Unfortunately, humans count as larger predators. A sting by some species can leave you with any number of potentially deadly conditions, including heart and lung failure. But it just might cure you: Medical researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have discovered a new use for scorpion venom -- cancer medication. Each year, some 9,000 Americans are diagnosed with malignant glioma, a form of brain cancer that kills about half its victims within a year of diagnosis. Glioma cells work a lot like cockroach muscle cells. And while that fact is pretty disgusting, it also got UAB researchers thinking about the giant Israeli scorpion, whose venom is harmless to humans but deadly to its cockroach prey. Doctors found that when they injected a drug derived from the venom of giant Israeli scorpions into cancer-infected human brains, the poison destroyed the glioma cells and left surrounding, healthy cells alone. The treatment is still in the early stages of development, but researchers remain optimistic. 3. Cone shell snails: Little creatures tackling big pain It could kill you: Thanks to their unique colors and intricate patterns, cone shells look like they'd make great beach souvenirs. But watch your fingers; they're actually home to one of the world's deadliest creatures. Cone shell snails come equipped with an extendable "arm" -- complete with a sharp, venomous tooth -- that they use to immobilize and kill prey. And while the venom certainly helps the slow-moving hunters from going hungry, it can also paralyze, or even kill, victims. The good news: Death by cone shell is completely painless. But it just might cure you: Cone shell venom, called conotoxin, has incredible potential as a painkiller, with one added bonus: Unlike many current anesthetics, conotoxin isn't addictive. In 2005, Ireland-based Elan Pharmaceuticals became the first company to market a drug made from the venom. Called Prialt, the drug is pumped into the fluid around a patient's spine to relieve chronic pain and is believed to be up to 1,000 times more powerful than morphine. Meanwhile, at the University of Melbourne, a research team headed by Professor Bruce Livett is currently developing another conotoxin-based painkiller called

Question: What deadly creature can help brain cancer patients?

Question: What do scientists hope can save humans?

Answer: Scorpions:

Answer: A creepy crawler

Summary:
Scientists hope deadly creatures can save humans .
Gila monster venom stimulates insulin production in humans .
Snake venom lead to treatment for millions with high blood pressure .
Scorpions may help patients survive brain cancer .


(Mental Floss) -- The legend of Jack Daniel reaches all the way back to the moment he was born. Unfortunately, nobody knows exactly when that was. Jack Daniel believed the more memorable his image, the more memorable his whiskey. Some records show that Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel came into the world on September 5, 1846. His tombstone, however, says 1850. Strange, because his mother died in 1847. All of this might not normally matter, but Jack's birth date is important to his overall legend, which proudly proclaims him "the boy distiller." So perhaps it's best we begin when Jack was first introduced to whiskey, which we know was early in life. Leaving home at a young age, Jack struck out on his own with nothing more than a handful of items valued at $9. He ended up at the home of Dan Call, a preacher at a nearby Lutheran church and the owner of a general store. There, Reverend Call also happened to sell whiskey that he distilled himself. Jack quickly became determined to learn the craft. In fact, many storytellers claim the boy wonder bought the still from Call and began pursuing the business full-time at the ripe age of 16. If that legend is true, then Jack began selling his own Tennessee whiskey only three years later; the famous black labels on the company bottles proudly pronounce, "Established and Registered in 1866." In reality, no documents support that myth. Jack may have been a teenage moonshiner, but he didn't register his business with the federal government until 1875. And by then, Jack would have been the more booze-appropriate age of 29. The maker makes his mark Whatever legends exist, one thing is certain: Jack Daniel had a brilliant mind for marketing. Even as a youngster, Jack understood that if people remembered him, they would remember his whiskey. To that end, he decked himself out in a formal knee-length coat, a vest, a tie, and a wide-brim planter's hat, and was never caught out of "uniform" again. Jack also established the Jack Daniel's Silver Cornet Band -- a 10-member outfit solely devoted to promoting his whiskey across the countryside. With uniforms and instruments from the Sears & Roebuck catalog and a specially designed wagon for traveling, Jack made sure the band played every saloon opening, Fourth of July celebration, and political rally around. But perhaps Jack's most brilliant decision concerned how to present his whiskey. From the beginning, Jack had been one of the first sellers to stencil his distillery name on his whiskey jugs. Next, he upgraded to round, custom-embossed bottles. But when a glass salesman showed him a prototype square bottle in 1895, Jack realized he'd stumbled upon something unique. The new bottles not only stood out from the crowd, but also had a shape that would prevent them from rolling around and breaking during transport. In addition, the square look reinforced the idea that Jack was a square dealer who put honest work and high standards first. Whatever effort Jack Daniel put into his marketing, he never let quality slip. In 1904, the distiller decided on a whim to enter his whiskey in the taste competition at the St. Louis World's Fair. It came as little surprise when he won. Lucky No. 7 Perhaps Jack's greatest coup was the name he gave his high-quality product -- Old No. 7. Naturally, nobody seems to know why. The official historian at the Jack Daniel Distillery today says it's the most oft-asked question on factory tours. As you might imagine, many theories have been advanced. Jack had seven girlfriends. Jack believed the number seven was lucky. Jack was honoring a merchant friend who owned seven stores that distributed Jack's liquor. Jack misplaced a batch of whiskey for seven years and, upon finding it, labeled it "Old No. 7." None of these stories, however, makes as much sense as the less-than-sexy explanation from Jack

Question: Who died from complications of gangrene from an injury to his foot?

Question: What was Daniel's "uniform" made of?

Question: What was Daniel's uniform?

Question: When was Daniel born?

Question: Who knows exactly when Jack Daniel was born?

Answer: Jack Daniel

Answer: formal knee-length coat, a vest, a tie, and a wide-brim planter's hat,

Answer: formal knee-length coat, a vest, a tie, and a wide-brim planter's hat,

Answer: September 5, 1846.

Answer: nobody knows exactly when that was.

Summary:
To this day, nobody knows exactly when Jack Daniel was born .
Daniel's "uniform": formal knee-length coat, vest, tie, and a wide-brim planter's hat .
Origin of "No. 7": Daniel was assigned a district tax assessment number of 7 .
Daniel died from complications of gangrene from an injury to his foot .