I told you so!

Yes!!! I've been telling people a story about the time it was MAD cold in Minnesota and I went outside in minus 60 degrees windchill (with all exposed skin covered) with a glass of hot water and tossed it up in the air. The water totally vaporized instantly and it looked like I had just pulled a Harlem Globetrotters fake bucket of water trick (only with a cup of magic disappearing dust). So when I saw this over at Boing Boing, I was thrilled! Now all you doubters and all you people who looked at me like I was not only crazy for telling the story but certifiably insane for going outside in that weather, watch this video below! She should have used a bucket though, not a wimpy little spray bottle.

Random shots

Here are some shots from my holiday travels.

-10 degrees is really not that bad

I was feeling a little nervous about spending a couple weeks in weather hovering +/- 15 degrees of zero. In truth, I'm not really scared for the experience because it's an annual thing, but it's fun to make a big deal out of it. Anyway, it was shortly after doing so for a 4,715,395 time when I learned about Oymyakon, a town of 800 people in Siberia. If you go to Oymyakon, you are pretty much guaranteed to be cold. It's the coldest place on earth, holding the record with a measured temp of -72 degrees Celsius. I did the conversion, that equals about -97 degrees Fahrenheit. Wicked.

What's even more loopy is that the name of the town means "non-freezing water." Not sure if that's because the cold drove the town namer insane or because there are local hot springs in the area. I'm going with a combo, because whether or not there are or were hot springs, anyone who actually lives in that town has lost it.

If anyone finds out about Oymyakon, I'm going to have to temper my "woe is me tale." Until then, here's to the frozen tundra.

[from here via boing boing]

winter

my dad just sent me some pics from home, this is xmas to me.