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14 Facts About Where’s Waldo?
With Where’s Waldo? celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2017, we’re taking a look at 14 facts about the striped and bespectacled world traveler you might not have known.
5 Elements of a Great Joke
Louis C.K.’s material might often seem off-the-cuff, but the truth is that he has it down to a science. Take a look at how a joke from the acclaimed comedian is constructed—and how these five elements amount to a great joke.
Scottish soldier Gregor MacGregor claimed he was made the leader of a country in Latin America which did not exist and then proceeded to earn himself a fortune by selling land and government bonds of said fictitious country to wealthy British and French investors. 00
The Hidden Room Behind Mount Rushmore
There’s a massive room hiding behind Abraham Lincoln in Mount Rushmore. What’s inside may never be seen by human eyes again.
NASA Astronaut Owen Garriott successfully pranked flight controllers by playing a recording of his wife whilst on SkyLab. There were no women on board the space station and was used to make it look like there was a stowaway. 00
One of cinema’s greatest guilty pleasures, Cocktail starred Tom Cruise as Brian Flanagan, a young man who unexpectedly achieves some fame as a “flair bartender” in New York City along with his mentor, Doug Coughlin (Bryan Brown). Brian eventually takes his bottle-flipping skills down to Jamaica, where he falls for Jordan (Elisabeth Shue), a vacationing artist. Here are some facts about the Tom Cruise staple, in accordance with Coughlin’s Law.
Yes, Cocktail was originally a novel; it was written by Heywood Gould, and based on the dozen years he spent bartending to supplement his income as a writer. Whereas Tom Cruise’s Brian Flanagan is in his twenties, Gould’s protagonist was described as a “38-year-old weirdo in a field jacket with greasy, graying hair hanging over his collar, his blue eyes streaked like the red sky at morning.” As Gould told the Chicago Tribune, “I was in my late 30s, and I was drinking pretty good, and I was starting to feel like I was missing the boat. The character in the book is an older guy who has been around and starting to feel that he’s pretty washed-up.” Disney and Gould—who adapted his book for the screen—fought over making Brian Flanagan younger, with Gould eventually relenting.
The script went through a couple of different studios, and dozens of iterations. According to Gould, “there must have been 40 drafts of the screenplay before we went into production. It was originally with Universal. They put it in turnaround because I wasn’t making the character likable enough. And then Disney picked it up, and I went through the same process with them. I would fight them at every turn, and there was a huge battle over making the lead younger, which I eventually did.”
Bryan Brown explained that when Cruise came on board, the movie “had to change. The studio made the changes to protect the star and it became a much slighter movie because of it.”
Kelly Lynch, who played Kerry Coughlin, was much more forthright about how Gould’s vision for the story changed under Disney, telling The A.V. Club:
“[Cocktail] was actually a really complicated story about the ’80s and power and money, and it was really re-edited where they completely lost my character’s backstory—her low self-esteem, who her father was, why she was this person that she was—but it was obviously a really successful movie, if not as good as it could’ve been. It was written by the guy who wrote Fort Apache The Bronx, and it was a much darker movie, but Disney took it, reshot about a third of it, and turned it into flipping the bottles and this and that.”
Recounting the kind of story that only happens in Hollywood, Gould told the Chicago Tribune about one of his early meetings with Disney heads Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg. “Someone mentioned that this might be a good vehicle for Tom Cruise,” Gould recalled. “Eisner says, ‘He’ll never do this, don’t waste your time, he can’t play this part.’ And then Katzenberg says, ‘Well, he’s really interested in doing it,’ and without skipping a beat Eisner says, ‘He’s perfect for it, a perfect fit!’ That’s the movie business: I hate him, I love him; I love him, I hate him!”
Director Roger Donaldson specifically wanted Bryan Brown to audition for the role of Doug. Brown flew from Sydney to New York and, almost immediately after his 20-plus-hour flight, was sitting in front of Donaldson. “He did the audition and he was dead tired and it was dreadful,” Donaldson said. “After he did it I was like, ‘Bryan, do yourself a favor—we’ve got to do it again tomorrow.’ And he said, ‘No, no, I’m catching a plane back tonight.’ I couldn’t persuade him to stay and do it again, so I didn’t show anybody the audition.” Instead, Donaldson told the producers and studio to watch Brown’s performance in F/X (1986); clearly, they liked what they saw.
Los Angeles TGI Friday’s bartender John Bandy was hired to train Cruise and Brown after he served a woman who worked for Disney who was on the lookout for a bartender for Cocktail. Bandy trained the two stars in the bottle-flipping routines, and Gould took Cruise and Brown to his friend’s bar to show them the tricks they used to do. Donaldson claimed they used real bottles—and yes, they did break a few.
The Jamaica exteriors were shot on location, where it was cold, and Cruise got sick. When he and Shue had to shoot a love scene at a jungle waterfall, it wasn’t pleasant. “It’s not quite as romantic as it looks,” Cruise told Rolling Stone. “It was more like ‘Jesus, let’s get this shot and get out of here.’ Actually, in certain shots you’ll see that my lips are purple and, literally, my whole body’s shaking.”
Three-time Oscar winner Maurice Jarre (Lawrence of Arabia) was Cocktail‘s original composer, but the producers didn’t think his score “fit in” with the story. They particularly didn’t like one cue, so they called in J. Peter Robinson to fix it. Donaldson liked what Robinson did so much, that he asked the composer to take over and do the rest of the work. “All this was happening on a Friday,” Robinson said. “I was starting another film on the following Monday and told Roger that I was going to be unavailable. ‘We’re print-mastering on Monday, mate!!’ Roger said. So from that point on I stayed up writing the score and delivered it on Monday morning at around five in the morning.”
While it was The Beach Boys, by then minus Brian Wilson, that recorded the song which brought the group back into the spotlight, “Kokomo” was penned by John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas; Scott McKenzie, who wrote “San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)”; producer Terry Melcher, Doris Day’s son; and Mike Love. Phillips wrote the verses, Love wrote the chorus, and Melcher penned the bridge. The specific instructions were to write a song for the part when Brian goes from a bartender in New York to Jamaica. Off of that, Love came up with the “Aruba, Jamaica …” part.
Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” hit number one thanks to its inclusion on the Cocktail soundtrack. The director heard the song on the radio one day while driving to the set. “I heard it and thought it would be perfect for the film,” he said. “And suddenly it was everywhere. Sorry about that.”
To conclude his two-star review, Roger Ebert wrote, “The more you think about what really happens in Cocktail, the more you realize how empty and fabricated it really is.” Richard Corliss of TIME said it was “a bottle of rotgut in a Dom Perignon box.”
In 1992, even Tom Cruise admitted that the movie “was not a crowning jewel” in his career. And Heywood Gould wasn’t pleased with it at first either. “I was accused of betraying my own work, which is stupid,” Gould said. “So I was pretty devastated. I literally couldn’t get out of bed for a day. The good thing about that experience is that it toughened me up. It was like basic training. This movie got killed, and then after that I was OK with getting killed—I got killed a few more times since then, but it hasn’t bothered me.”
January 23, 2017 – 10:00am
The kitchen is a great place to apply the principles you learned in school in real life. Ever wonder how you can keep a day-old cake from drying out? Or how to slice your bagel for optimal cream cheese coverage? Some of the hungriest minds in the fields of math and science have got your back.
Leftover birthday cake should be one of life’s greatest pleasures, but instead it becomes vulnerable to moisture-zapping air the moment you slice into it. Fortunately, this problem can be avoided with some simple geometry. In the video above, mathematician Alex Bellos outlines an alternative cake-cutting method he found in a 1906 issue of Nature magazine written by Sir Francis Galton. Rather than eating away at a round cake one wedge at a time, he suggests cutting one big sliver spanning the cake’s diameter. The center cut means that instead of having a giant exposed area that will dry out two future slices of cake at once, one rubber band can be used to hold the pieces together, exposing none of the soft interior to the air. This keeps the interior nice and moist until the cake is ready to be sliced into again (although it should be noted—rubberbanding a frosted cake rather than the fondant-covered ones shown in the video could get really messy really fast).
As long as ketchup has been packaged in glass bottles, diners have struggled to set it free. If you’ve ever been the victim of a flash ketchup flood after minutes of fruitless shaking, you can blame physics. Ketchup is a non-Newtonian fluid, which in this case means it behaves like a solid sometimes (like when it refuses to leave its bottle) and like a liquid other times (when it all comes pouring out at once).
According to Heinz’s team of scientists, ketchup is meant to flow at 147.84 feet per hour, so hitting the bottle with full force isn’t your best bet. Anthony Stickland of the University of Melbourne’s School of Engineering instead recommends doing the majority of the work while the cap’s still secure. On the University’s website he instructs readers to “briefly invoke your inner paint shaker” and evenly distribute the solid particles throughout the bottle. Next, with the cap still on, flip the container upside down and thrust the contents towards the neck. After that you’re ready to get the ketchup on your plate: Remove the cap and use one hand to aim the bottle at the plate at a 45 degree angle while gently tapping the bottom with the other, tapping harder and harder until you find the correct strength for that particular ketchup. If you still can’t get the hang of it after all that, perhaps a plastic squeeze bottle is more your style.
In math, a möbius strip is a twisting, continuous plane that has one surface and one edge. The shape has a handful of practical uses in the real world, like achieving optimal bagel-to-schmear ratio. Research professor and mathematical sculptor George Hart came up with this ingenious application several years ago. To produce the perfect cut, he makes four separate incisions into a bagel after first marking the key points with a food-safe marker for guidance. The final result pulls apart into two separate halves linked together like a chain. In addition to the impressive presentation, the möbius bagel offers more surface area for spreading. Now you can get more cream cheese on your bagel without slathering it on in gobs.
Dunking biscuits in tea is a popular British pastime, but it comes at a price: a mug full of sad, soggy crumbs. Scientists at the University of Bristol in England offered a solution to this problem in the late 1990s in the form of a mathematical formula. Instead of turning the cookie sideways, the researchers recommend dipping it into the tea broad-size first. Once the bottom surface is sufficiently moist, dunkers should flip the biscuit 180 degrees to allow the dry side to support the wet one. Apparently the snack is worth the effort: According to the study, biscuits are up to 10 times more flavorful dunked than dry.
Slicing a pizza into wedges works well enough at first, but there will inevitably be at least one person who wants only cheesy goodness and tosses the crust, while another person just can’t get enough crust. In 2016, researchers at the University of Liverpool proposed a brilliant alternative: dividing the pie into manageable, equal-sized pieces according to the monohedral disc tiling formula.
The basic design produces 12 slices. To start, the server slices the pie end-to-end along a curving path. They do this three times to create six, claw-shaped slices, then they cut each slice in half at an angle to make the full 12. Instead of floppy, skinny slivers, diners have their pick of funky-shaped pieces from any part of the pizza. In their study [PDF], researchers demonstrate how this concept can be taken even further. As long as the shapes have an odd number of sides, the monohedral disc tiling method can theoretically go on forever (though the authors specify that nine-sided slices are where things start to get impractical. You may want to spring for a second pie at that point).
Many people have their own ideas of what constitutes an excellent grilled cheese, but the Royal Society of Chemistry’s recipe is based on science. In 2013, they teamed up with the British Cheese Board to devise a formula for the optimal cheese on toast. Society science executive Ruth Neale said in a press release:
“As the result of tests we carried out in our Chemistry Centre kitchen, we found that the perfect slice can be made by melting 50 grams of sliced hard cheese, such as cheddar, on a slice of white bread, 10 millimeters thick, under the grill. The cheese on toast should sit at a distance of 18 centimeters from the heat source […] and needs to cook for four minutes to achieve the perfect consistency and taste.”
The full equation, which includes variables for bread thickness and cheese mass, is available on the Royal Society of Chemistry’s website.
Whipping up a meal based on complex algorithms can be exhausting. If you plan to reward yourself with a glass of post-dinner bubbly, just make sure to serve it the correct way. According to scientists from the University of Reims in France, that means pouring champagne into a tilted glass the same way you’d pour a pint of beer. Those effervescent CO2 bubbles that make champagne so pleasant to drink are also clamoring to escape into the atmosphere the moment you pop the cork. Their study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry suggests pouring your beverage at an angle to retain as many bubbles as possible. This method is less turbulent than pouring liquid into an upright glass, thus giving the carbon dioxide less opportunity to break free. To maximize the amount of bubbles per glass, the researchers also recommend chilling the champagne before serving.
January 23, 2017 – 8:00am
| Questions: | 5 |
| Available: | Always |
| Pass rate: | 75 % |
| Backwards navigation: | Forbidden |
5 Questions: “Hand”writing
Monday, January 23, 2017 – 01:45
In 1989, Stephen King was interviewed by Thomas Smith of the Public Radio Book Show. In the chat, King reflects on the differences between childhood thought process and adult ones, and explains what he sees as misconceptions about childhood. At the top, he explains that what he does for a living isn’t all that different from child’s play. Here’s a nice sample from the beginning:
I was taking a walk one day and I happened to spot a little girl on the corner of my street, she was about five years old. She was sitting in the dirt at the edge of the road talking to herself or to invisible friends and drawing in the dirt with a stick and I thought, you know if I did that, somebody would come along and say, “There’s a grown man sitting in the dirt, talking to himself—to people who aren’t there—and drawing with a stick!” Which is very close to what I do for a living. What people pay me to do.
Take five minutes and enjoy this animated interview:
For a full transcript and snippets of animation, check out this Blank on Blank page. It also features a nice section at the bottom about King’s Twitter presence.
January 22, 2017 – 12:00pm
As a recurring feature, we share some amazing Amazon deals we’ve turned up. These items were the ones that were the most popular with our readers this week, and they’re still available.
Mental Floss has affiliate relationships with certain retailers (including Amazon) and may receive a small percentage of any sale. But we only get commission on items you buy and don’t return, so we’re only happy if you’re happy. Good luck deal hunting!
Samsung 32GB 80MB/s EVO Select Micro SDHC Memory Card (MB-ME32DA/AM) for $9.99 (list price $14.46)
Snap Circuits Extreme SC-750 Electronics Discovery Kit for $87.99
LEGO Star Wars First Order Battle Pack 75132 for $8.99 (list price $12.99)
LEGO Large Creative Box 10697 for $73.00 (list price $187.99)
LEGO Classic Large Creative Brick Box 10698 for $47.99 (list price $59.99)
Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Film Camera (Black) for $58.92
Fujifilm Instax Groovy Camera Case – Black for $10.29 (list price $19.99)
Presto Bacon Microwave Cooker, Black for $11.39 (list price $14.99)
RTIC 30 oz. Tumbler for $14.10
Farberware Poly Cutting Board 12-Inch by 18-Inch, White for $9.97 (list price $13.50)
Magic Bullet Blender, Small, Silver, 11 Piece Set for $29.99 (list price $49.99)
Barbuzzo Lab Shots (Set of 4), Clear for $13.96 (list price $19.95)
AmazonBasics 3-Piece Baking Sheet Set for $11.29 (list price $15.29)
Presto 04820 PopLite Hot Air Popper for $23.49 (list price $29.99)
DeLonghi Double Walled Thermo Espresso Glasses, Set of 2 for $12.69 (list price $14.95)
Hamilton Beach 25476 Breakfast Electric Sandwich Maker, Red for $24.00 (list price $29.99)
Lodge SCRBRSH Scrub Brush, 10-Inch for $4.99 (list price $8.51)
Lodge L8SK3 Cast Iron Skillet, Pre-Seasoned, 10.25-inch for $12.74 (list price $15.92)
ChefLand 8-Piece Stainless Steel Measuring Cups and Measuring Spoon Set for $5.38 (list price $9.95)
Tovolo Collapsible Microwave Cover for $7.99 (list price $9.99)
Hamilton Beach 40865 Glass Electric Kettle, 1.7-Liter for $26.99 (list price $28.76)
Marquis by Waterford Markham Hiball Collins Glasses, Set of 4 for $39.95 (list price $100.00)
Star Wars Lightsaber Spatula for $14.99 (list price $19.99)
Brita Standard Replacement Water Filter for Pitchers, 3 Count for $14.88 (list price $15.97)
The Sushi Bazooka | All in 1 Sushi Making Machine for $7.00 (list price $7.19)
Simply Calphalon 12-Inch Nonstick Omelette Fry Pan with Lid for $41.12 (list price $75.00)
AmazonBasics Heather Jersey Sheet Set – Queen, Light Gray for $37.99 (list price $42.99)
Hefty Drawstring Trash Can Liner Bags – 33 Gallon – 48 Count for $12.72 (list price $15.59)
PyroPet Candles Kisa Candle, Pink for $33.99 (list price $40.00)
O-Cedar Power Corner Large Angle Broom for $15.99 (list price $19.99)
BestOffice Infrared Touchless Stainless Steel Trash Can, 13.2-Gallon for $39.99 (list price $49.99)
Hoover FH50150 Carpet Basics Power Scrub Deluxe Carpet Cleaner for $125.41 (list price $219.99)
Glad Tall Kitchen Drawstring Trash Bags, 13 Gallon, 90 Count for $10.33 (list price $12.74)
Simmons Curv 3-inch Flat Gel Memory Foam Mattress Topper – Queen for $109.99 (list price $129.99)
1byone 400ML Powerful Thermo-electric Dehumidifier, White for $32.99 (list price $56.99)
Classic Brands 12 Inch Cool Gel Memory Foam Mattress, Queen for $309.95 (list price $355.56)
Eddie Bauer 200607 Herringbone Cotton Blanket, Full/Queen, Bone for $33.26 (list price $50.00)
Simpli Home Acadian Ladder Shelf Bookcase, Black for $112.58 (list price $167.45)
Colgate Wisp Portable Mini-Brush Max Fresh, Peppermint, 24 Count for $3.59 (list price $7.99)
Dove Men+Care Body Wash, Aqua Impact 18 oz for $3.72 (list price $6.49)
CeraVe Moisturizing Facial Lotion PM, 3 Ounce for $6.11 (list price $13.99)
Q-tips Cotton Swabs, 2000 count for $9.94 after on-screen coupon (list price $14.89)
Buena Skin Triple Vitamin C Serum Anti Aging Antioxidant – 1oz for $18.99 (list price $39.95)
Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips, Charcoal, 6 Count for $5.62 (list price $6.99)
Eparon 40-piece Gel Pen Set with 40 Unique Colors! for $7.99 (list price $19.99)
Singer 1304 Start Free Arm Sewing Machine with 6 Built-In Stitches for $74.49 (list price $86.99)
Avery Ready Index Table of Contents Dividers, Black/White, 12-Tab Set (11140) for $1.52
Artist’s Choice Sketch Pad ,75 sheets, Pack of 2 for $12.99 (list price $39.99)
Staedtler Lumocolor Correctable Pens (305FWP4) for $11.97 (list price $17.40)
Gaiam Balance Ball Chair, Blue for $63.98 (list price $79.98)
Prismacolor Premier Water-Soluble Colored Pencils, 36-Count for $36.98 (list price $59.99)
Darice 80-Piece Deluxe Art Set for $14.00 (list price $39.99)
Mountain House Just In Case…Classic Assortment Emergency Food Bucket for $73.63 (list price $79.99)
AAA 85 Piece Commuter First Aid Kit for $13.18 (list price $19.99)
Calf Compression Sleeves (Pair) L/XL Black $9.95 (list price $29.99)
Mountain House 14 Day Emergency Food Supply for $221.36 (list price $275.00)
Timbuk2 Classic Messenger Bag, Black, Medium for $69.99 (list price $99.00)
Yeti Stainless Steel Tumbler, 30 Oz for $22.80 (list price $69.95)
Flexible Flyer Steel Saucer Sled for $29.99 (list price $39.99)
Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Bottle with 3.0 Sport Cap for $15.74 (list price $20.95)
Landmann 28345 Big Sky Stars and Moons Firepit, Black for $81.00 (list price $95.80)
Callaway Chrome Soft 2016 Golf Balls, White for $36.99 (list price $39.99)
Blue Buffalo BLUE Wilderness Trail Treat Biscuits – Turkey – 10oz for $5.49 (list price $7.99)
Quik Chair Folding Quad Camp Chair – Moss Green for $11.69 (list price $14.99)
Kelty Trail Ridge 6 Tent for $234.22 (list price $399.95)
Igloo Playmate Elite Cooler for $13.19 (list price $39.95)
Artlii Fun Projector Mini Home Theater Support 1080P Projector for $45.99 (list price $99.99)
TeckNet 2.4G Nano Wireless Mouse, 5 Buttons (M002) for $8.99 (list price $19.99)
3M Gold Privacy Filter for Widescreen Laptop 14.0″ (GPF14.0W9) for $31.36 (list price $88.95)
Dell Computer Ultrasharp U2415 24.0-Inch Screen LED Monitor for $239.00 (list price $399.99)
Eton Mini Compact AM/FM/Shortwave Radio, Black (NGWMINIB) for $30.60 (list price $44.99)
Microsoft Designer Bluetooth Mouse for $17.99 (list price $29.95)
Anker Ultra Slim 4-Port USB 3.0 Data Hub for $9.99 (list price $19.99)
DEWALT DC970K-2 18-Volt Compact Drill/Driver Kit for $89.00 (list price $99.00)
TEKTON 30812 Double-Faced Soft Mallet, 35 mm for $7.78 (list price $11.95)
Meguiar’s Supreme Shine Microfiber Cloths (Pack of 3) for $5.97 (list price $10.09)
Stanley 45-912 8 Inch X 12 Inch Steel Carpenter’s Square for $2.99 (list price $8.92)
IRWIN VISE-GRIP Wire Stripper/Cutter/Crimper, 7″, 2078317 for $11.99 (list price $16.61)
CH Hanson 03040 Magnetic Stud Finder for $10.24 (list price $12.99)
Rain-X 600001 Windshield Repair Kit for $10.97 (list price $13.99)
Black & Decker 15557 Drill Bit Set, 10-Piece for $4.91 (list price $7.59)
Kidde FA110 Multi Purpose Fire Extinguisher 1A10BC, 1 Pack for $19.98 (list price $42.99)
DEWALT DW2166 45-Piece Screwdriving Set with Tough Case for $9.55 (list price $41.80)
Stanley Tr110 Heavy Duty Steel Stapler for $12.45 (list price $22.90)
Meguiar’s G13616 Quik Interior Detailer Cleaner – 16 oz. for $4.97 (list price $7.59)
January 22, 2017 – 11:00am
