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.

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!

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

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

Why would anyone want to let their hair freeze into frosty stiffness? Maybe for a cash prize, or some internet points. You could win $2000 in the Takhini Hot Springs Hair Freezing Contest. Entries will be accepted until March 8.

To enter the contest, visit the Takhini Hot Springs any day during the winter when the temperature is below -20°C. We are located twenty minutes north of Whitehorse, Yukon. Upon arrival, purchase a regular admission to the hot springs and provide a signed photo release form to one of our staff members, letting them know that you would like to participate in the hair freezing contest. Once you have entered the hot springs and perfected your frozen hairdo, ring the wireless doorbell and wait for our staff to come take your photo. After your soak make sure to come back to the lobby to upload your photo to the contest site and share your image with your friends! For every person that enters the contest, our sponsor, Nongshim Noodles will donate 5 packs of instant noodles to the Whitehorse Food Bank!

Incidentally, -20 means four degrees below zero Fahrenheit. But since this is a hot springs, the rest of your body will be warm enough (we think). If you can't make it to the Yukon in time, you can go to the website, see those who have entered already, and vote for the People's Choice Award. Winners in other categories will be selected by the hot springs judges. If you do want to enter, the website has instructions, rules, and tips for making your hair freeze nicely. -via Everlasting Blort

Alexander Graham Bell received a patent for the telephone in 1876, and the first automated call-switching system was introduced only 16 years later in 1892. While the phone itself was adopted rapidly, automatic switching was so slow to catch on that human telephone operators handled most calls for decades afterward. Bell Telephone wanted to keep their technology easy for the user- just pick up the phone and tell the lady what you wanted. And operators were almost always women, who were found to be more polite, more proficient, and cheaper to hire than men.

An operator did more than simply connect a customer to his or her desired number, however. In the early decades of the industry, telephone companies regarded their business less as a utility and more as a personal service. The telephone operator was central to this idea, acting as an early version of an intelligent assistant with voice recognition capabilities. She got to know her 50 to 100 assigned customers by name and knew their needs. If a party didn't answer, she would try to find him or her around town. If that didn't succeed, she took a message and called the party again later to pass the message along. She made wake-up calls and gave the time, weather, and sports scores. During crimes in progress or medical emergencies, a subscriber needed only to pick up the handset and the operator would summon the police or doctors.

Unlike other modern technologies, automatic telephone switching happened first in small towns and rural areas, then spread slowly to cities. Meanwhile, millions of women made a meager living keeping us connected. Read how that happened at Econ Focus. -via Damn Interesting  

(Image credit: National Archives)

Photographer Ari Seth Cohen has presented his photos of fashionistas aging gracefully at his blog Advanced Style for more than ten years. More recently, he collected photographs and stories from older couples into the book Advanced Love. 

And just where did he find so many amazing partners? “[By] scouting the streets like I always do,” he says, “but this time around I had submissions from Facebook and Instagram as well. I was also able to finally include many of the partners of women I had already photographed.” When it came time to ask about something as personal as love, he says he was pleasantly surprised to hear so “many of the couples speak about their sex lives and the struggles they face. They were all very open and honest about the fact that long lasting relationships take a lot of work. “

Get a taste of the book with a few wonderful stories and even more pictures at Messy Nessy Chic.

The word “calorie” is usually related to things such as diet and nutrition, the usual things that we think of whenever we hear of the word. But, it isn’t just a tool for the public understanding of nutrition. Historian Nick Cullather writes that for over a century, the calorie is used in the public understanding of labor relations and foreign policies as well.

For government officials, the utility of the calorie was immediately clear. It could help with efficient management of nutrition for prisons, schools, and armies. Extending Frederick Taylor’s time and motion studies, calorie counts could determine the most efficient ways of feeding an industrial workforce—an idea that workers and their unions resisted, recognizing it as a way to justify low wages.

The calorie also let scientists compare the diets of different nations. Journalists enthused about the possibilities that quantified nutrition might offer for changing the eating habits of Asians in particular. As the Review of Reviews asked, “what can we expect either of physical or moral vigor from communities who live on the physical plane of millions in the Orient?”

More about this over at JSTOR Daily.

(Image Credit: stevepb/ Pixabay)