Help me find fun facts.

May 14, 2009 11:16 AM

What are some good blogs for surprising/absurd/historically interesting facts?

I'm looking for sites with especially cool trivia (not standard pub quiz kinds of things), the kinds of fun facts that blow your mind or seem too absurd to be true and make you want to share them with all your friends.

posted by EnormousTalkingOnion to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

http://www.futilitycloset.com/
posted by martinrebas at 11:24 AM on May 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

http://www.damninteresting.com
posted by cashman at 11:32 AM on May 14, 2009

Some of my favorite history blogs have moments of whimsy, but they might be too heavy overall for what you want. Still:

Boston 1775

Civil War Memory

Vast Public Indifference (If you find 17th and 18th century New England headstones humorous--and who doesn't really?)

Got Medieval?

And sometimes, Edge of the American West.
posted by LarryC at 11:33 AM on May 14, 2009 [1 favorite]

Harper's Index is good for this, but requires a subscription to the magazine to access.

ah, You can browse it via the web. Eg. Harper's Index on Japan.
posted by toroi at 11:34 AM on May 14, 2009

Not necessarily little factoids, but Strange Maps often features a lot of neat historical (and geographical, obviously) information.
posted by LolaGeek at 11:51 AM on May 14, 2009

Strange Maps
posted by kirkaracha at 11:52 AM on May 14, 2009

Yeah, Harper's Index is great! (I'm already a Harper's subscriber mostly just for that)
posted by UsernameFilter at 12:00 PM on May 14, 2009

Try cracked.com, and mentalfloss.com .
posted by Citrus at 12:06 PM on May 14, 2009

Seconding mentalfloss.com.
posted by emilyd22222 at 3:13 PM on May 14, 2009

Seconding futility closet; consistently excellently interesting.

Also, The Weird Encyclopedia. (Maybe NSFW)
posted by carsonb at 3:26 PM on May 14, 2009

Neatorama
posted by deezil at 3:38 PM on May 14, 2009

The Straight Dope, here's an interesting question about chastity belts for men
posted by moonshine at 4:59 PM on May 14, 2009

This may push the limits of what you are looking for, but Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant webcomic is 99% of the time filled with history hilarity. (In easily digestible illustrations!) The something-of-an-offshoot history_time Livejournal account also has fun history every now and again.
posted by isnotchicago at 6:40 PM on May 14, 2009

I came here just to recommend Mentalfloss but I see I've been beaten to the punch. Thirding that.

Also:
Boing Boing
OMG Lists
Oddee
posted by Ziggy500 at 8:30 AM on May 22, 2009