Dear Liza,
Years ago, during one of University Park’s magazine drive fundraisers, we subscribed to a magazine called Mental Floss. We loved the smart, funny articles and illustrations, and we kept receiving it until it went out of print in 2017.
Here’s a little history of the magazine, as found via a Google search. Mental Floss was launched as a print magazine in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2001, by then-Duke University students William Pearson and Mangesh Hattikudur. The pair wanted a magazine that was fun, interesting in the way that their favorite professors’ lectures were.
The magazine grew rapidly, becoming enormously popular. Pearson and Hattikudur sold it to other folks in 2012, but have continued their success-via-fun/smart with a podcast called Part Time Genius. Besides the online e-zine, there are also games, t-shirts, and books available.
This past Christmas, Auntie Bridgett gave me a “Fact a Day” Trivia calendar, and I have been enjoying it so much. Sometimes, days will go by when I forget to look at it, and then I get to pull a bunch all at once and have several good chuckles.
Today’s pull included an explanation of how the Unabomber got his name (because he targeted UNiversities and Airlines) and that H.A. Rey and his wife Margaret, authors of the “Curious George” children’s books, escaped occupied Paris in 1940 on bicycles, taking their precious first manuscript with them.
And what will I learn tomorrow?
Love,
Grandma Judy
Dear Liza 