Neatorama and mental_floss: Show Off Your Smarts and Win a Free T-Shirt!

Posted by Alex in Mentalfloss on December 5, 2007 at 2:07 am


Get out your thinking cap and get ready to win free stuff because this week Neatorama and mental_floss are teaming up to challenge you to SHOW OFF YOUR SMARTS!

Each day we’ll throw out a topic and all you have to do is come up with the smartest, funniest, most interesting fact related to it.  Simply enter your fact in the comment below and if yours get chosen, you’ll win a brand new prize from the mental_floss store (along with endless bragging rights!). One fact per comment, but you can enter as many facts as you’d like.

Today’s topic: Be the Scrooge of the Holiday Party! Share a Debbie Downer fact that’s totally fascinating but won’t make you any friends at the holiday party.

Here are two examples to get your brain going:

»It’s estimated that more than 100,000 people die from bedsores each year.
»Ever day, about a cup of your own snot goes down the back of your throat into your stomach.

Today’s prize: The great "Pluto: Revolve in Peace" T-shirt.

And even if you don’t have a winning fact, mental_floss is giving Neatorama readers a special discount in the mental_floss store. This week only, visit mentalfloss.com/store and get 15% off anything in the store by entering "neatorama" into the coupon code.

Good luck, guys!


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COMMENT

117 comments to "Neatorama and mental_floss: Show Off Your Smarts and Win a Free T-Shirt!"

  1. Ryan
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:24 am

    Unfortunately for some, you lose a day of your life every time you reach sexual climax. Not coincidentally, this is the reason women live longer than men.

  2. Mark
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:29 am

    4,400,000/1 LEFT-HANDED PEOPLE KILLED USING A RIGHT-HANDED PRODUCT.

    MORE than 2,500 left-handed people are killed every year around the world from using equipment meant for right-handed people. The right-handed power saw is the most deadly item.

  3. Gellner
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:31 am

    37% of Neatorama readers don't care whether the statistics presented here are accurate.

  4. Cameron
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:43 am

    In 3 Billion years our Sun will have become so hot, it will boil the oceans and kill all life on Earth. Happy Holidays!

  5. Drea
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:46 am

    When you wet the bed, first it is warm then it gets cold.

  6. Chris
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:46 am

    If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

  7. Chris
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:49 am

    On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year

  8. Saint Splattergut
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:51 am

    Everytime an ancient flasher flashes his dangly wrinkled goods gets mowed down by a truck, God creates a rainbow.

  9. Drea
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:55 am

    Number of different familial relationships for which Hallmark makes cards: 105

    So wish your step-uncle-in law a very Merry Christmas!

  10. Pj
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:56 am

    Multiply the number of people you've slept with by the number of people they've slept with, by the number of people they have slept with, etc. Pretty sure there's more than one person popping you're cherry when you lose you're virginity. Boo! You Whore!

  11. Cris
    December 5th, 2007 at 3:21 am

    10 Minutes of Staring at Boobs Daily Prolongs Man's Life by 5 Years

  12. T1T4N
    December 5th, 2007 at 3:59 am

    Ever day, about a cup of your own snot goes down the back of your throat into your stomach.

    you spelt every wrong.

  13. Aaron
    December 5th, 2007 at 4:17 am

    In 2000, the Harlem Globetrotters named Pope John Paul II an honorary member.

  14. Knitterman
    December 5th, 2007 at 4:19 am

    seriously overweight girls reach menses, on average, about 2-3 years before their normal-weight counterparts.

  15. Sandman
    December 5th, 2007 at 4:21 am

    If a tooth gets really rotten, a pus-filled hole, or abscess, can form underneath it. Sometimes germs from this abscess attack the gums and form a gumboil. If this bursts, the mouth fills with vile-tasting pus.

  16. Jonn
    December 5th, 2007 at 4:38 am

    Approximately 1/3 the weight of your feces comes from the cell bodies of bacteria living inside you. Mean daily stool weight is 349±131g in humans, meaning that each year you defecate 127 kilograms of feces. Of that 127 kilos, 42 kilograms are solely the bacteria that died, living inside of you.

    If that much bacteria comes out, how much is growing in your body?

  17. Leslie
    December 5th, 2007 at 4:51 am

    Most hospitals make money by selling the umbilical cords cut from women who give birth. They are reused in vein transplant surgery.

  18. marchino
    December 5th, 2007 at 5:33 am

    Statistics are reliable at 75%.

  19. chris
    December 5th, 2007 at 5:59 am

    Abraham Lincoln's mother died when she drank the milk of a cow that grazed on poisonous snakeroot.

  20. didjital
    December 5th, 2007 at 5:59 am

    We're currently in the worst extinction event the planet has ever seen, and some experts say one-half of all species of life will be extinct in 100 years.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_mass_extinction

    Bah humbug indeed.

  21. chris
    December 5th, 2007 at 5:59 am

    1 out of 350,000 Americans get electrocuted in their life

  22. chris
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:00 am

    The leading cause of deaths for children between the ages of 1 and 4 are motor vehicle crashes

  23. chris
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:02 am

    Over 1,600 people in North America have been victims of trunk entrapment (being locked inside of a car trunk).

  24. chris
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:03 am

    Since 1978, at least 37 people have died as a result of shaking vending machines, in an attempt to get free merchandise

  25. Leslie
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:09 am

    Somewhere, someplace, someone is starving to death at this very moment.

  26. chris
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:09 am

    McDonalds uses beef extract to flavor their french fries

  27. chris
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:15 am

    Polar bears can't be seen with infrared vision

  28. Leslie
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:15 am

    In one year alone, approximately 4,300 child molesters in 15 states were released from imprisonment.

  29. Chris
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:19 am

    On Christmas Eve in 2001, the Bethlehem Hotel had 208 of its 210 rooms free.

  30. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:19 am

    It doesn't matter how healthy, smart, and happy you are- you'll still die :)

  31. Lasse
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:20 am

    Did you know that it is possible with a bit of training, to inhale air through your anus and to let it out again in form of a fart?

  32. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:35 am

    Average temperatures in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia have risen at twice the global average, according to the multinational Arctic Climate Impact Assessment report compiled between 2000 and 2004.

  33. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:38 am

    80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.

  34. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:39 am

    58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.

  35. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:41 am

    Only 32% of the U.S. population has ever been in a bookstore.

  36. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:41 am

    People with low self-esteem are less inclined than those with high self-esteem to break a negative mood.

  37. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:42 am

    Depression appears to create the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Those who have the greatest number of depression symptoms carrying the greatest risk.

    ..this is making me depressed.

  38. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:43 am

    Stress early in life may create lifelong depression vulnerability. Animal studies show that maternal deprivation can permanently alter production of a nerve cell factor that regulates neuronal growth.

    :'(

  39. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:51 am

    Over the past 35 years the youth suicide rate has tripled.

  40. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 7:13 am

    Kids all over the world are now failing their solar system projects.

  41. Mark
    December 5th, 2007 at 7:16 am

    Jefferson Barracks is the site of the first successful parachute jump from an airplane. Whay do we not know the site of the first unsuccessful jump from an airplane?

  42. Keeter
    December 5th, 2007 at 7:24 am

    If a sperm was the size of a sperm whale, it would travel at Mach 15 (size and speed being relative, of course).

  43. Dan
    December 5th, 2007 at 7:27 am

    Ethanol: Sorry Africa, you may be hungry, but Timmy has got to go to soccer practice.

  44. David Brumley
    December 5th, 2007 at 7:30 am

    Christmas trees were the items first ignited in an estimated average of 210 reported U.S. home structure fires per year in 2002-2005. These fires caused an average of 24 civilian deaths, 27 civilian injuries, and $13.3 million in direct property damage per year. These statistics include both real and artificial trees.
    Merry Christmas.

  45. John O'Meara
    December 5th, 2007 at 8:04 am

    Neptune was discovered by applying the laws of gravity to Uranus' orbit and realizing that another, unseen mass was affecting said orbit. They looked where this unseen mass was, and whammo, they found Neptune. A similar calculation was made for Neptune's orbit, and Percival Lowell, acting on these calculations, spent many years and a considerable fortune to build an observatory just to find this missing planet. Lowell died before finding it. It turns out the calculations were wrong.

    Nevertheless, using a different technique, Clive Tombaugh found Pluto at Lowell's observatory (which is still in use today).

  46. Karen
    December 5th, 2007 at 8:12 am

    The average bed is home to about 1.5 million dust mites. (Incidentally, it is thought that making your bed up nice and neat allows the dust mites to flourish in their warm, dark lair; whereas leaving your bedding flapped open wide makes them die of exposure -- the only argument against making my bed I need.)

  47. sparge
    December 5th, 2007 at 8:34 am

    If you collected all the sweat secreted from people's crotches in one year and made it into a single swimming lane, you could swim to the moon and back!

  48. amy
    December 5th, 2007 at 8:42 am

    one in every 5 people have a sexual disease. what are you doing tonight?

  49. Andy
    December 5th, 2007 at 8:45 am

    I'm sleeping with your wife. Merry Christmas!

  50. Q
    December 5th, 2007 at 8:58 am

    Not every fact has to be something disgustingly gross or horrific or deeply depressing. Aren't there any happy nice factoids?

  51. Veronica
    December 5th, 2007 at 9:05 am

    So I heard the scallops and bacon are good. Did you know the item most choked on in America is a toothpick?

  52. Rasmaestro
    December 5th, 2007 at 9:08 am

    Watch out for freebies!
    A regular bowl of peanuts a your local pub will typically show traces of 11-12 different urine types.

  53. Tempscire
    December 5th, 2007 at 9:08 am

    On a cell-to-cell comparison basis, you're more bacterial colony than human.

  54. Veronica
    December 5th, 2007 at 9:12 am

    Oh geez, I saw a fly on that shrimp you just ate. Did you know that after eating, a housefly regurgitates its food and eats again?

  55. k
    December 5th, 2007 at 9:16 am

    Q: They said "share a Debbie Downer fact that’s totally fascinating but won’t make you any friends at the holiday party."

  56. Dave
    December 5th, 2007 at 9:17 am

    Ever day, 4.5924 per cent of all blog entries contain at least one grammatical error.

  57. JoeD
    December 5th, 2007 at 9:39 am

    On New Year's Eve, 1998, vomit vigilantes (called the "Clean Teams") were dispatched throughout New York City's Grand Central Station. They were supposed to thrust a throw-up bag under the chin of anyone who seemed to be ready to throw up.

  58. Shervin
    December 5th, 2007 at 10:17 am

    On average, 12 newborns will be given to the wrong parents daily. You might want to double check.

  59. amanderpanderer
    December 5th, 2007 at 10:19 am

    Congratulations on your engagement! I was just reading this article about how diamonds have helped fund devastating civil wars in Africa, destroying the lives of millions. Apparently, profits from conflict diamonds, worth billions of dollars, are used by warlords and rebels to buy arms. But, I'm sure your ring is conflict free.

  60. Sam
    December 5th, 2007 at 10:23 am

    A lot of people have cancer and AIDS but just don't know it yet!

  61. Beth
    December 5th, 2007 at 10:26 am

    I see you're wrapping some Christmas presents, huh.

    No really, they look alright. I mean there's some creases where there shouldn't be. And that rip on the corner is giving a little peek at what's inside. But seriously, they look okay...if you're going for that kind of thing.

    How would I do it better? It's all in the paper prep really: http://bp3.blogger.com/_3hp8bbBoBKc/R1WIySEPV2I/AAAAAAAAAn0/UtcDMmmBWY k/s1600-h/wrapping.bmp

  62. Emperor
    December 5th, 2007 at 10:30 am

    King Froto III of Denmark was said to have been gored to death by a were-cow.

  63. Patrick
    December 5th, 2007 at 10:59 am

    The longest recorded projectile vomiting is 27 feet

  64. Patrick
    December 5th, 2007 at 10:59 am

    Step outside and smell the roses. On a daily average you will inhale 1 liter of others anal gasses.

  65. Patrick
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:00 am

    Need to use the bathroom? When a person pees, a small deposit of urine enters the mouth through the saliva glands.

  66. Patrick
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:01 am

    We all like a man who gives a nice firm hand shake. However, you might want to think twice before returning the firm grip. Annually you will shake hands with 6 men who have recently masturbated and did not wash their hands.

  67. Patrick
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:02 am

    When we sleep we are the most relaxed and at peace. Who would've thought that while you are snoozing you were inhaling bugs! In a years time, most humans will consume 14 insects while in their sleep.

  68. Melody
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:04 am

    The closer the death of a spouse occurs to Christmas, the higher the chance that the other spouse will die before the holidays.

  69. nick
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:09 am

    my dog just died. she was a good dog. i loved her alot.

  70. Amanda8
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:11 am

    60 million people will starve to death this year - 60 million people could be adequately fed by the grain saved if Americans reduced their intake of meat by 10 percent.

    USA, USA, USA!!! =)

  71. pete
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:12 am

    In the mood for fast food? An average person will consume 12 pubic hairs in their fast food annually.

  72. Corvus
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:15 am

    Up to one third of the world's population has Toxoplasmosis (~22.5% of Americans), an infection caused by the parasitic protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. Toxoplasma encysts in muscle and brain tissue- the latter is important, because recent studies have shown that Toxoplasmosis has definent effects on the behavior of host animals, possibly including humans. In (alarmist) summation: one third of the world's population, while they may think themselves to be self-determinant, is actually under the command and control of a brain parasite. Explains a lot, doesn't it?

  73. pete
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:16 am

    Like peanut butter sandwiches? One pound of peanut butter typically can contain up to 150 bug fragments and 5 rodent hairs.

  74. Susan
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:31 am

    There is about a gram (a quarter the size of a small peanut)of feces in every pair of dirty underwear, which then swishes around to get on all the clothes washed with them. Just think about how many pairs of underwear you wash in a single load.

  75. Mr Pudifoot
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:36 am

    Juggling is the only polite way to play with your balls in public.

  76. emptyminded
    December 5th, 2007 at 12:11 pm

    I hope Santa brings you what you want this year. I didn't ask for it, but Santa brought me Acute Myloid Leukemia.

  77. Lu Allen
    December 5th, 2007 at 12:42 pm

    At a wedding reception u have a 1/100 chance of getting a cold sore from one of the guests.

    or

    During an hour or swimming at a public pool u will ingest 1/12 urine!

    From: http://www.angelfire.com/apes2/spankycow82/Absolutely%20Disgusting%20U seless%20Facts.htm

  78. Tina
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:04 pm

    Do you believe in the after-life? It has been documented that the human body loses approx. 21 grams after death...how much do you think YOUR soul weighs?

  79. kunal
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:10 pm

    Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse and went to a theater to hide. Boothe shot Lincoln in a theater and went to a warehouse to hide.

  80. neato
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:28 pm

    Attila The Hun died from a nosebleed on his wedding night.

  81. orion
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:29 pm

    All the evil man has heaped on the world has been brought about through his attempts to deny what he is: a meat-puppet trapped in a fleshy-tomb, transcended by the miraculous and the horrific, a god-snack.

  82. Mandie
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:30 pm

    here's a downer fact:

    A "downer" is a farm animal that is too sick or injured to stand and walk. They're routinely abused and oftentimes killed by other animals, but they're still certified by the USDA. Pass the ham, please :)

  83. Vonskippy
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:30 pm

    95% of the so called "facts" listed here are 100% bull.

  84. neato
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:35 pm

    Parrots can't eat chocolate because it's toxic to them.

  85. Eva
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:38 pm

    Your body actually contains TEN TIMES more bacterial cells than human cells. This means you are basically more bacteria than human, and even forty of our genes are bacterial in origin!

    Right now, the average adult has over five hundred different species living in his intestines alone, and I would rather spend the holidays alone with my millions of teeming personal bacterial cells than just about any bacteria-laden 'human' in my extended family.

  86. Eva
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:39 pm

    And just in case anyone calls 'bull' on my facts, here is my source:

    http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=strange-but-true-humans-carry-more -bacterial-cells-than-human-ones&sc=WR_20071204

  87. DrJones
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:41 pm

    *scratching crotch area* Man this herpes is killin me!

  88. DrJones
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:43 pm

    Question: do our "Debbie Downers" have to be facts, or just something awkward that will achieve friendlessness?

  89. Adam
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:44 pm

    A Blue Whale's penis is 12 feet long with a three foot diameter at the base. I remember hearing this on a National Geographic Special sometime in the late 70's or early 80's - I was just a little kid at the time. I ran out and grabbed the tape measure to see how big that really was and thought "Dang! That runs almost the length of our living room!" As a guy I went to high school with said when I relayed this fact to him years later - "Whoa. I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that thing."

  90. Clutch
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:47 pm

    Fact: you're all going to die.

  91. PancakeMan
    December 5th, 2007 at 1:53 pm

    Oh, what a lovely Christmas tree! I see that you have an angel on top, how sweet!

    You know, the Spanish Inquisitors made use of a torture device called the "Judas Chair", where the subject would be made to sit on a pointed pyramid until they were slowly impaled through the anus.

    OOoo, is that eggnog?

  92. danielo
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:04 pm

    Occasionally, milk spoils INSIDE a woman's breast. The solution is to let very hot water from a shower loosen the hard milk deposit, and squeeze it out like toothpaste.

  93. Cori
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:27 pm

    The holiday season is also the season in which the most suicides occur.

    Happy Holidays!

  94. Diamond
    December 5th, 2007 at 2:54 pm

    By the way and by the end of this year, over 25,000 US service men and women (military peoples) will have committed suicide.

  95. Arielle
    December 5th, 2007 at 3:25 pm

    There are enough nuclear warheads to kill everyone on earth 30 times over.

  96. Jeff
    December 5th, 2007 at 3:31 pm

    Unfortunately for billions of other people, I was the fastest sperm.

  97. DrJones
    December 5th, 2007 at 3:52 pm

    No one likes you!

  98. Zen Blue
    December 5th, 2007 at 3:53 pm

    Nice mistletoe... Did you know that the average person unknowingly swallows an average of 4 spiders per year in their sleep?

  99. Hans
    December 5th, 2007 at 4:13 pm

    Death rates in emergency rooms sky rocket in July as this is when 1st year residents start their rotations.

  100. lorin sniktaw
    December 5th, 2007 at 5:33 pm

    Wanna fly? It takes approximately 5.9 seconds to reach the ground from the observatory floor of the Empire State building!

  101. ChrisW
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:47 pm

    We have a lot more bacteria in our bodies than cells. The bacteria are much smaller than cells, but they still add up to about 2 liters of our volume.

  102. ChrisW
    December 5th, 2007 at 6:54 pm

    Sorry Eva ,
    I didn't see your post #85. I tried to search for "bacteria", but didn't do it right. Maybe the bacteria made me do it wrong.

  103. Poops McGee
    December 5th, 2007 at 7:01 pm

    Four sunken nuclear submarines sit at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. One, a Russian sub resting in deep water off of Bermuda, holds 16 live nuclear warheads. Scientists and oceanographers are unsure what the impact of the escaping plutonium will have, but warn that corrosion could create the proper chemical environment for a massive nuclear chain reaction.

  104. Lauren
    December 5th, 2007 at 7:02 pm

    Y'know, that punch you're drinking looks like it has been spiked with my cat's urine.

  105. Moleculo
    December 5th, 2007 at 7:02 pm

    If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die.

  106. ChrisW
    December 5th, 2007 at 7:20 pm

    The President of the United States can't pronounce "nuclear".

  107. neato
    December 5th, 2007 at 8:59 pm

    ChrisW Says: "The President of the United States can’t pronounce 'nuclear'."

    Related trivia: It's OK for democrats like Jimmy Carter to pronounce it "newkewlar", but not for Republicans.

  108. Nicholas
    December 5th, 2007 at 10:42 pm

    George W. Bush has been President for 7 years and has 1 more to go. And he has been able to push back almost 50 years of legislative progression in that small amount of time.

  109. xpargas
    December 5th, 2007 at 11:08 pm

    for every pound of food you eat .05 percent of it is feces and insect parts

  110. Dan Smith
    December 6th, 2007 at 2:01 am

    Jesus wasn't born on Christmas.

  111. e6c
    December 6th, 2007 at 2:39 am

    Face it, at some point your parent were having sex and thanks to drugs like Viagra, they might be having sex right now.

  112. Benjamin Clyne
    December 6th, 2007 at 3:24 am

    Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS it turns out is just a need for people to explain why babies are dying when everyone knows that it's really just infants being killed by depressed mothers and cold cats looking for a warm place to sleep.

    Why have you stopped eating?

  113. j. wyers
    December 6th, 2007 at 3:22 pm

    On average, you will die.

  114. ChrisE
    December 6th, 2007 at 3:37 pm

    I'm sterile!

  115. j-bone
    December 6th, 2007 at 6:13 pm

    Over the past 6500 years or so, the average generation was a bit less than 20 years.

    This gives you about a googol (1 with 100 zeros) living, direct ancestors at a time when the Earth's population was under 140 million. (2 to the 333rd power)

    Think about how much inbreeding it took to get you here today....

  116. peach
    December 6th, 2007 at 7:28 pm

    no. 84 Neato --It's a good thing there aren't many chocolate bar trees in the jungles with the parrots.

  117. pridesax
    December 7th, 2007 at 6:24 pm

    The average person ingests 8-10 spiders in a lifetime.


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