mental_floss's conglomeration of magazine, blog and store is a knowledge junkie's paradise. And mental_floss knows it, which is probably why they made "where knowledge junkies get their fix" their tag line.

I love it. I have been reading the mental_floss magazine since I was in high school. It gives me hope that you can pick up a magazine with information fit only for trivia junkies at Walgreen's and the local supermarket. There are still nerds in this world, and they aren't completely whiled away in their hovels!

If you haven't read mental_floss, you should. The magazine publishes insider guides to places you can travel, top ten lists of things that you didn't know you wanted to know and stories from history, business and the arts. You feel smarter each time you read it.

Don't take my word for it. You can get a slice of what the magazine offers on their blog, which is updated many times each day. If you're super spastic and check the blog many times a day, you'll know when things get posted. Morning Cup of Links is the first thing on the blog and offers to various interesting blogs throughout the interwebs. The Quick 10, a random list (today it's 10 alternate titles for Toy Story), is next. You can guess when the Lunchtime Quiz and the 5 PM quiz (yesterday's was Awkward Family Photos: White House Edition) are posted.  

One of the best things about mental_floss is the store that is affiliated with the magazine. I always ask for things from the store for my birthday or Christmas.

For example, for my birthday this year my mom bought me a purple t-shirt that said "I'm an English major. You do the math." Har, har. I think the shirts are really cute, but I'm too insecure to reveal my priorities to people I've never met in t-shirt form. She also got me a recently-released book called The Book: Only the Greatest Lists in the History of Listory. The book has a huge number of well-researched lists on topics from sports to food to animals--for example, did you know that Billy Bob Thornton is afraid of antiques?

The best thing for the literature enthusiast in the store is a game called Lit W!t. Featuring cards about Shakespeare, the Bible, quotations, titles and author biography, the game will help you stump your friends with literary trivia that they never wanted to know.

I sound like a mental_floss salesperson, but I really like it. It's a great idea to find a present for that trivia junkie in your life this holiday season.