Hi, I'm John Green. Welcome to Mental Floss. It's time for another Life Hacks video. These are my most favorite so I'm going to start with a cupcake so that I can celebrate. We're going to cut it in half, and the internet tells me if I make a cupcake sandwich, it will be delicious. And it is! That's a pass. A solid life hack. The first of many that I am going to test for you today.

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I am now going to attempt to make an ice cream sandwich by destroying this thing of ice cream. So far I feel that it's perhaps inadequately frozen. Let me submit that while technically a pass, there is an easier and less expensive way to acquire an ice cream sandwich called buying an ice cream sandwich.

Here's a life hack that will actually change your life. How do you open a banana? Oh no, I can't open it. What, oh, you open a banana this way. Kumbaya - I don't know why I'm singing that. Anyway, that's the easy way to open a banana. Pass.

There's a lot of seeds in here, but supposedly if you submerge the halved fruit in water, all the seeds will come out. Except no, because there's a floating seed and a lot of the pith is - Fail.

I've also read that if you're making an omelette, it's easier to use a pizza cutter to slice up your meats than to use a knife. And look at that, it truly is! Pass.

Speaking of omelettes, I've heard that old eggs float and new eggs sink. Old eggs - pretty sinky. New eggs - also sinky. 

But maybe you don't want to eat eggs, maybe you just want to dye them because, you know, that's what our consumption culture has come to. Why not try using Kool Aid instead of traditional dye. Gonna wanna stir it up, and then your eggs are ready to dye. Or are they? We're going to find out. 

Second life hack, I've heard that putting the eggs inside of a whisk allows you to, you know, retrieve them easily when you're dyeing them. So, double life hack time. And wait 60 seconds. [John singing] Double pass! 

Plus, with traditional egg dye, you can't do this. Delicious. 

Now this is super hard butter, you can't spread it on toast. But, maybe you could grate it onto toast? I mean, it kind of works. There's some butter. Pass.

I have a computer. I also have a post it note. But can this post it note clean this computer key board? You know, it did remove some dirt. I'm going to say marginal pass. 

So if you're like me and you run between five and ten miles per day, shut up, I totally, totally do that. Anyways, sometimes you get your headphones tangled. But I have read, if you just grab a point in the middle and shake vigorously, they will become untangled. Yeah, no. That's just not the case. I really want this one to be true, so I'm going to try again. Oh God! Nope, still no, still no. But I did almost die. 

But apparently an empty tape container can be a good storage system for non-tangled headphones. Sort of. You know what's a fantastic storage system for non-tangled headphones? A drawer somewhere. 

Well, it wouldn't be a life hacks video if we didn't try to amplify the sound from a phone using college kid alcohol cups. And in this case, a toilet paper roll as well. So let's try it out. [Kumbaya plays.] That is significantly louder! Pass! 

Do you need a fancy iPhone holder? Not if you have Legos, at least according to the internet. Oh, pass!

I've also read that you can use one of these beverage holders as a stand for your iPad so you can watch movies comfortably. First off, it's not the right size. Also definitely doesn't work vertically. If I just wedge it in there... No. We're going to try with an iPad Mini because we're not giving up on this stupid life hack. No. Fail.

Now, if you have one of the last glass ketchup bottles on Earth, I have read that sticking a straw in will speed the flow. We actually have chili sauce instead of ketchup, but it's functionally the same. Could be faster.

Now a meat life hack. Supposedly you can just twist the bones around to make it easier to eat. No. Did I not do it right? I mean, just eat the f ing chicken.

Okay, let's say you have to paint a board. Why? Because you're making a life hack video. I have read on the internet that you can paint, paint, paint and then if you want to make sure that your brush is clean, just use the rubber band that you put around the paint container, and you have a much nicer brushing experience. There we go. You know, I have to say - pass. 

But let's say you have the paint job of the roller variety, then maybe put down some aluminum foil underneath your little roller pan thing so that when you're all done, instead of having a dirty pan, you can just fold it up. It works pretty well. Clean hands, clean roller thingy, pass. 

Now you might remember from earlier that we have a half painted board, but we need to put a nail in that board now. Why? Well because Meredith told me to. So according to the Internet, you can use this comb to hold the nail, no you can't. Does the comb hold the nail? And not - aww! Nope. Yeah, let's see how long this takes. And done. Fail.

I've also been told that hand sanitizer can remove Sharpie from clothing. I happen to know that hand sanitizer can remove Sharpie from your face, but I don't know about clothing yet. I would say, if anything, it's become somewhat darker. 

Two new batteries, two old batteries. Supposedly the new batteries will only bounce once and the old batteries will bounce more than once. Ready? Not much of a bounce at all. Fairly significant bounce actually, pass. 

When cutting bread with a hilariously dull knife, apparently it is easier to do when upside down because this side is softer. Oh, good Lord. Okay, I have a sense of how hard that was. Very. Now, let's find out how hard it is on this side. Maybe equal or possibly less. Fail. 

Meredith just told me, "I don't know how, but this is supposed to be a bottle opener." So we're going to give it a try. The moment of glory, the moment of truth. Fail. 

If you slice the top off of your bag of peas, you can then use the top as a tie for your bag of peas. You know what, if my life depended on it, pass. But I'm probably going to spend 17 cents on an actual tie. 

All right, speaking of frozen food, let's take this to the kitchen. 

Now I'm going to open the freezer where Mark has prepared some life hack experiments for me including chocolate covered strawberries from an ice cube tray. All right, let's see. Oh! Nope, um, fail. 

And now we're going to try the Lime-A-Rita popsicle. Meredith, what is a Lime-A-Rita? Is it like a Margarita? Apparently it's like a Bud Light, but like a popsicle. How did I get so lucky? Oh, I mean, technically pass but at what cost?

Maybe that disgusting popsicle would taste better with some limes, and according to the Internet, microwaving these 2 limes for 30 seconds will make them juicer. But are they juicer than real limes? Let's measure juiciness. They are exactly as juicy as real limes.

And lastly, we're going to test whether keeping ice cream in a zip lock bag keeps the ice cream soft. You know what, this is pretty soft ice cream. Yeah, it's good! But, for purposes of science, and so I can maximize the amount of ice cream I eat today, I have to test it against ice cream that hasn't been in a zip lock bag and that's when you discover that it's just as soft and delicious either way, thanks to our fantastic freezer.

Now we know from a previous life hacks video that Doritos make excellent kindling. But apparently, so do toilet paper rolls that contain dryer lint. Oh, oh, look at that. I'm going to say, aside from the worrisome odor, that's a complete pass.

Thanks for watching Mental Floss here on YouTube, which is made with the help of all of these nice people. Every week, we endeavor to answer one of your mind blowing questions but now, we answer those questions in a separate show hosted by my friend, Craig WheezyWaiter, so check that out. Thanks again for watching, and as we say in my hometown, "Don't forget a real bottle opener because a coat hanger will not work." (DFTBA!) 

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