Synesthesia is a condition in which people experience one sense as a different sense, as in perceiving music as colors or scents, or being able to taste art. Bernadette Sheridan has grapheme-color synesthesia, meaning she translates text as colors, especially the letters that make up names.

When I meet new people, I forget their name immediately. Don’t get me wrong, I hear the name, but my mind is distracted. In my head, I am counting the number of letters in the name, and visualizing the colors of each letter.

Your name may be Emily, but to me, you’re a bright, sunny swath of five letters with an “E” and an “I.” When I meet you again later, I may think your name is Emily or Jille or Ellie. Those three names “look” remarkably similar to someone who operates as I do — they all have five letters, they all include the letters “i,” “l,” and “e.”

Sheridan created a generator to show people what their name looks like to her. Enter your (or any) name into the generator here to see it rendered in colors. Sheridan cautions that the colors she sees are her individual translation, and would not be the same for another synesthete. Read more about her colors and the visualization project at Medium. -via Mental Floss

The father of our country excelled in leading an army and in presidenting, but he felt most at home at his farm, Mount Vernon. There he distilled whiskey, managed slaves, and built odd privies. He also experimented with ways to help his new country get started on the right foot, such as breeding mules.   

General George Washington, hero of the American Revolution, was world famous in the 1780s, which was exactly the clout he needed to get what he was really after: Spanish ass.

The best donkeys in the world came from Spain, but because of their equine superiority, the Spanish monarchy made them illegal to export without royal exemption, a source of great frustration to Washington. Mules—a cross between a male donkey and a female horse—could do an equivalent amount of work as horses with less food and water, and Washington was convinced they were the future of American farming.

Washington name-dropped, pulled strings, and used other diplomatic methods to procure sires for his American mules. And then there was the problem with getting them to America, and then getting them to mate. Read about Washington and his "Jacks" at Smithsonian.

(Image credit: PYellott)

Every day millions of husbands are left unattended in Target parking lots. We are now starting a Husbands of Target movement to band together. Join us, we have beef jerky.

Fire up the old excavator because it's time for the bowling league to meet. Bolt a couple car seats onto a piece of sheet metal, such as an old car hood, then swing for the pins. That's how the good people of Chase, Michigan get in their winter fun.

What I can't figure out from the video is how the release mechanism works. How is the strap released under control?

-via Geekologie

While we've seen some extreme winter storms over the past few years, you may have noticed that winter is shorter than it was, say, 20 years ago. Where I live, daffodils bloom and irises sprout normally in March, but this year both plants sprouted in January, which is concerning. According to the USA National Phenology Network, leaves and flowers across the South have appeared earlier than in the last 39 years, with some areas reporting the earliest blooms ever recorded.

The Weather Company forecasted February would see above-average temperatures in the Southeast this year, and the plants are already reacting. Reports from citizen scientists are already confirming the model’s predictions. [research scientist Theresa] Crimmins said. And the Southeast isn’t alone: Spring also arrived early in parts of the West, including Portland and Seattle. What’s troubling about all this is that—hello!—we’re still in winter, man. That means temperatures could still drop, which could devastate any plants that have already flowered.

“For the most part, if flower buds and open flowers are hit with a heavy frost, that’s it for them,” Crimmins said. “They could be injured to the point where they won’t fruit and they won’t put on subsequent flowers.”

A killing frost after bloom could spell disaster for fruit crops, like when 80% of the Georgia peach crop failed in 2017. A disrupted cycle has implications for birds and insects as well. Read about the early spring stats at Earther.

(Image credit: National Phenology Network)

Howie the dog is just sitting, oblivious to the cat beside him. You can plainly see Ruta the cat thinking about what she'd like to do to that dog, but making the final decision takes her just long enough to make a great video. -via Laughing Squid

The sixth (and probably last) Terminator movie was called Terminator: Dark Fate. It hit theaters last fall and quickly faded away, and now Screen Junkies is here to explain why. The series that had an intriguing idea about time travel in the first film and awesome action in the second film sputtered out in movies 3, 4, and 5. You'd think that in a universe where any mistake can be erased with yet more time travel, the stories would be a bit more varied. But Terminator: Dark Fate is mainly a compilation of recreations of the bits we liked in the earlier movies amid a ton of violence.

What does "politics" smell like? You guessed it. And now you can bring that scent right into your own home (but please, not the office). Kentucky for Kentucky (previously at Neatorama) is offering a politics scented candle made with genuine dehydrated Kentucky horse droppings.

Perfect for family gatherings, comment sections, séances, and unprompted conversations in line at the convenience store. Created by candle connoisseur Kathy Werking just in time for primary season.

Order yours now, because they are scrambling to make more due to the candle's popularity. And remember, no matter what politics smells like, you can't change it if you avoid it.

Name a gamer mom who can learn how to play a game in one day, and then beat other veteran players on her first tournament. Pamela Director has learned Pokemon TCG in one day, and then placed top 8 in her first local tournament. Pamela even defeated her daughter, Caroline,  who taught her how to play the game. Now that’s a wonder mom! 

image via Twitter

The South Korean film that made huge noise in the film industry all over the world just bagged its well-deserved Oscar win. Parasite won four Oscars, including the biggest award in the famed ceremony. It is the first foreign-language film (and to only have English subtitles) to win the major prize. A well deserved win for such a cinematic masterpiece!

Feeling short on energon? Having trouble transforming for action? Researchers at the University of Naples (Italy, not Florida) found that zapping penises with specific sound waves while providing pharmaceutical supplements was more effective at providing erections than the drug treatments alone. The Daily Mail reports:

Overall, the combined approach of tadalafil and LiESWT at 2,400 pulses gave 'significant advantage' compared to those who only had tadalafil, the researchers said.   

Writing in the Asian Journal of Andrology, the authors shockwave therapy is believed to stimulate pathways that encourage growth factors.

A growth factor is a natural substance in the body which helps with healing and cell growth.

This, Dr Verze and colleagues said, may regenerate nerve fibres and blood vessels in the penis, improving blood flow.

-via Dave Barry | Image: Hasbro

It is not surprising to see studies having hundreds or thousands of participants. After all, we don’t want to hastily conclude our studies. We want our findings to be empirical. But there is a growing number of researchers around the globe who now take a singular approach to subjects such as pain and nutrition, and other highly personal health issues.

 ...meaningful, scientifically valid insights don’t always have to come from studies of large groups.

A study of one person — also called an N of 1 trial — can uncover subtle, important results that would be lost in a large-scale study, says geneticist Nicholas Schork of the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix. The results, he says, can be combined to provide insights for the population at large. But with N of 1 studies, the individual matters above all. “People differ at fundamental levels,” says Schork, who discussed the potential of N of 1 studies in a 2017 issue of the Annual Review of Nutrition. And the only way to understand individuals is to study them.

[...]

… when they’re done properly … one-person studies can have all of the statistical power and scientific rigor of studies involving hundreds or thousands of people.

More about this over at Undark.

(Image Credit: Peggy_Marco/ Pixabay)

The first Sims game has received critical acclaim ever since its release on February 4, 2000. Despite its rather simple game mechanics of basically helping your Sims live through their lives until they die, you could find yourself playing the game for hours from morning to evening.

One of the things unique in the Sims is the language that they use, which is called Simlish. This language was developed by the game’s creators over 20 years ago, and it took them six months to create the aforementioned language.

More details about how the language was formed, over at The Verge.

(Video Credit: TheSims3EAmusic/ YouTube)

Gibson’s Gourmet Burgers and Ribs  is a restaurant in Cape Town that serves a variety of milkshakes. With over 207 in their menu, it’s no wonder that they achieved the world record for ‘most variety of milkshakes commercially available’. The restaurant offers vegan, fat-free, and alcoholic beverages, as Reuters details: 

“When we initially opened up the restaurant, we had about 40 milkshakes. Because they were so popular, it became 100, 150 then 200, then 207. So it happened over a period of five years,” said co-owner Ian Halfon.

“We’ve always sold a lot of milkshakes, and we’ve always come up with cutting-edge flavours,” he added.

Mainly served in a standard 330 millilitre glass reminiscent of the American soda shop era of the 1930s, the double-thick cold beverages are also garnished with a variety of toppings depending on the order.

image via Gibson’s Gourmet Burgers and Ribs 

Have you ever binged Netflix shows until 5am because the episodes just keep on coming? Well worry no more as the streaming platform now allows you to turn off their autoplay feature. In Netflix’ continuing campaign to make their platform more user-friendly, you can now turn off autoplay by simply signing into your account and unchecking the box for autoplay previews in the manage profiles menu. 

(via Popsugar)

image via wikimedia commons