This Is How You Can Avoid Getting a Ton of Static Shocks This Winter

There’s nothing like a random static shock to give you a shock during your day. Static shocks become even more common in the dry, winter air. But you don’t have to resign yourself to a life of randomly being zapped by your clothes/door knobs/car door.

Lifehacker reports that there are a few ways to prevent static shock. The shock is the result of static electricity, or the build-up of electric charge on the surface of an object. Objects become charged when electrons move from one insulator to another. When a charged object touches a conductor, such as a piece of metal, the charge discharges, causing the shock.

Rubber, for example, is an insulator, and so are wool and nylon. If you walk on a wool or nylon carpet with rubber soles, your body builds an electric charge. Then, when you touch a piece of metal like a doorknob, the charge discharges and you experience a shock.

Photo Credit: Pixabay

These shocks are more common in winter because dry air is also an insulator. Also, you’re more likely to wear wool in the winter, and wool is a common offender!

To avoid these shocks, you simply need to avoid that insulator-on-insulator contact. If you have wool or nylon carpets, avoid wearing rubber-soled shoes or slippers inside. Opt for leather or cotton instead. And if you’re wearing a wool sweater, be aware that sitting on certain types of fabrics will create static in your body. There are antistatic sprays that can help.

Photo Credit: iStock

Another way to avoid static in the house is to use a humidifier, which makes the air less dry and therefore lowers the amount of static in the house.

Lastly, to avoid getting shocked by the car door, try holding onto the metal frame until you’re out of the seat completely. Or, touch the car door with your keys.

BAM! Shock-free living.

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Cuffing Season Is Here…Let’s Check out Some Tweets About It

Are you aware of “cuffing season“? It’s when people who are usually single or unattached get into a relationship during those long, cold, gray months of fall and winter.

Who doesn’t want someone to snuggle with someone by a fire when it’s freezing outside, right?

Enjoy these cuffing season tweets and keep warm out there!

1. It’s gonna be cold!

2. Getting into a bad relationship?

3. It’s worth it, right?

4. There you go!

5. “I need a place to crash…”

6. I thought the same thing.

7. The more you know.

8. Here comes the storm.

9. A sad reminder.

10. You know you’re gonna do it…

11. He’s not having it.

12. Here come the fireworks.

13. Who can resist?

14. We have a winner!

15. She knows what she wants.

Are you one of these folks? Are you a cuffer?

Share you stories in the comments!

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Record Cold Temperatures Don’t Mean Climate Change Isn’t Taking Place

It’s cold outside! Really cold!

We aren’t even into December yet, but much of the country has already seen frigid temperatures and huge snowstorms this fall.

So, predictably, some climate change deniers and skeptics have rushed out (as they are wont to do) and cried from the rooftops that global warming and climate change don’t really exist. Just look at this cold, snowy weather we’re having…right?

WRONG. These short-term bouts of unusually cold weather don’t really have any effect on long-term temperature averages. Let’s look at the reasons why.

 

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If you’ll recall, a polar vortex developed in early 2019 and then split apart, sending a swath of cold air to the Great Lakes region. Amy Butler, an atmospheric scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, explained it this way, “Like a rock in a stream—in this case, the jet stream—[the polar vortex lobe] helped keep the jet stream pushed southward, which encourages cold air to be transported from Canada and the Arctic into mid-latitudes.”

The split polar vortex and other factors combined to create these cold conditions in early 2019, and some experts believed that the cold temperatures wouldn’t last long. And although the frigid conditions were uncomfortable and seemed to last a long time, the average monthly temperatures last December and January were actually above average for that time of year.

 

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In other words, random cold spells will always take place and weather is chaotic, but that does not mean that climate change isn’t occurring right now as we speak. Zachary Labe, a climate scientist at the University of California, Irvine, said, “The weather frequently changes from day-to-day or even hour-to-hour, while changes in our climate occur in the long-term, such as over 30 year periods. Therefore, we cannot say that one cold outbreak or weather event is evidence for or against climate change.”

And people tend to remember exceptional (read: cold) weather events rather than the normal, average days. But the fact is that winters have been warming. Over the past year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recorded 11,404 daily record lows across the globe. But the organization also recorded 21,907 new record HIGH temperatures.

 

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Bob Henson, meteorologist with Weather Underground, said, “That ratio [of record highs to lows] has been getting bigger over the past few decades. Cold doesn’t go away, it’s just less frequent.”

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Every State Ranked by How Miserable Its Winters Are

It’s predicted to be a loooooong, cold, crazy winter from late 2019 into the early months of 2020.

This article ranks all 50 states in terms of how bad, or, let’s just go ahead and say miserable, their winters are. These rankings come from Thrillist and take into account temperatures, weather patterns, how bad the roads are during the winter, and even the success of each state’s winter sports teams.

Let’s take a look at the rankings, starting with the least miserable. Number 50 probably won’t be a huge surprise….

50. Hawaii

 

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49. Arizona

48. California

47. Colorado

 

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46. Florida

45. New Mexico

44. Louisiana

43. Texas

42. Georgia

 

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41. Alabama

40. South Carolina

39. Mississippi

38. North Carolina

 

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37. Nevada

36. Tennessee

35. Utah

 

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34. Arkansas

33. Oklahoma

32. Virginia

 

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31. Maryland

30. Kentucky

29. West Virginia

28. Missouri

 

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27. Kansas

26. Delaware

25. Nebraska

24. New Jersey

23. Pennsylvania

 

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22. Vermont

21. Rhode Island

20. New York

 

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19. Connecticut

18. Washington

17. Oregon

16. Indiana

 

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15. New Hampshire

14. Ohio

13. Illinois

12. Wyoming

 

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11. Iowa

10. Massachusetts

9. Montana

8. Idaho

 

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7. Wisconsin

6. South Dakota

5. Maine

4. North Dakota

 

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3. Alaska

2. Michigan

1. Minnesota

 

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Those poor folks in Minnesota…

Stay warm out there this winter!

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Take a Break and Enjoy These 10 Interesting Facts

Workin’ 9 to 5…or later. No matter what your work schedule entails, sometimes you just need a break.

Am I right or am I right?

Yes, I’m right.

That’s why you need to take a short break, push your work to the side, and enjoy these 10 facts. That way, you’ll at least feel like you did something productive with your day.

Start your break…NOW!

1. Sweden in Japan!

Photo Credit: did you know?

Source

2. Life inside the crater.

Photo Credit: did you know?

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3. Are you a punny person?

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4. Smooth move, Bill…

Photo Credit: did you know?

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5. This might help out this winter.

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6. She nailed it!

Photo Credit: did you know?

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7. Sounds like paradise.

Photo Credit: did you know?

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8. Just a little late…

Photo Credit: did you know?

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9. That’s a cool fact.

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Source

10. All kinds of keys.

Photo Credit: did you know?

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Okay, you had your fun…now it’s time to get back to work! Now!

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The Farmer’s Almanac Has Released Its 2020 Winter Predictions, and It’s Looking Pretty Brutal

Ready for a “polar coaster” this winter? Yeah, I don’t think I am, either. But we all better get prepared because that’s what the Farmer’s Almanac is predicting for the winter of 2020, along with a lot of snow and “frigid” and “freezing” temperatures. Great…

The editor of the Farmer’s Almanac, Peter Geiger, said, “Our extended forecast is calling for yet another freezing, frigid, and frosty winter for two-thirds of the country.” Last year’s prediction from the Almanac called for a long winter with a lot of snow and that turned out to be right on the money.

This year, the forecast says that people who live east of the Rocky Mountains all the way to the Appalachians will endure a particularly brutal winter with below-average temperatures and above-normal precipitation. The East Coast is also likely to see a mix of rain, sleet, and snow.

Folks who live in the western-third of the United States can expect a normal, mild winter with average temperatures and precipitation. The coldest temperatures of the year are predicted to occur in late January, affecting millions of Americans across the Northern Plains all the way to the Great Lakes. In other words, it’s going to be a long, cold winter.

Of course, we all know that weather predictions are never 100% accurate and there might be some wiggle room here, but it seems like this will be a pretty good indication of what the winter of 2020 will look like.

It might be time to move to California…

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A Guy Trapped in the Snow for 5 Days Survived on Taco Sauce Packets

Jeremy Taylor is a lucky man…and he has taco sauce to thank for it. The Oregon man and his dog were trapped for nearly five days after his Toyota 4Runner got stuck in the snow on a forest service road.

Taylor said he fell asleep in the car the first night and woke up the next day only to realize that more snow had fallen during the night. He and his dog tried to walk to safety, but Taylor said the deep snow made it impossible and they returned to the vehicle.

Photo Credit: Facebook

The Sheriff’s Office released a missing person report asking for help in locating Taylor.

Photo Credit: Facebook

Taylor said he periodically started his car to keep warm and that he ate taco sauce packets from Taco Bell that he found in the vehicle.

Finally, after almost five agonizing days spent snowbound in his vehicle, a snowmobiler found Taylor and called 911. The Sheriff’s Office arrived and found that Taylor and his dog, Ally, were both in good condition but were very hungry.

Photo Credit: Facebook

Taylor let all his friends and family know that he was okay.

Photo Credit: Facebook

And he added this comment…

Photo Credit: Facebook

Stay off those back roads, Jeremy!

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Calves Protect Their Ears from Frostbite with Muffs, and It’s Pretty Adorable

A lot of cattle ranches exist in states where winter comes early and stays well into the spring, meaning that many calves will be born while there’s still snow on the ground and temperatures are dangerously low.

According to Dr. W. Dee Whittier, calves are particularly susceptible to the cold, and the frostbite that can happen as a result.

“Newborn calves are most at risk because they are wet and because they have a large surface area in relation to their total body mass. Calves are not fully capable of maintaining temperature the first several hours of life. Newborn calves have a circulatory system that is less able to respond to cold changes as compared to more mature animals.”

Posted by Triple P Farm on Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Farmers know that losing cattle – especially brand new ones – isn’t kind, nor is it profitable.

Enter the earmuffs for calves trend, as useful as it is cute as it is ridiculous.

Posted by Triple P Farm on Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Thanks to @ThisFarmingMan_, we now have these pictures for posterity, and around 200k people online have already become obsessed.

Probably best not to look at any of these before you go out to grill a burger or a steak, though. They’re just too darn adorable to be dinner!

Or maybe you don’t care.

Probably depends on the steak.

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This IKEA Store Is Opening Its Doors to Give Stray Dogs a Warm Place to Sleep

As Old Man Winter tightens his icy grip around the world, one IKEA store in Italy has decided to go above and beyond in considering the plight of our furry friends during this time.

The store, located in Catania, Italy, has been letting stray dogs relax and sleep in the warm comfort of the store, giving them a crucial chance to survive winter by avoiding frigid overnight temperatures.

Photo Credit: Instagram,gscalone82

An IKEA customer who happened upon a group of dogs snoozing near a living room display said, “My reaction was pure amazement. It’s not a common thing.”

The dogs are also fed at the store, and some have even been adopted by IKEA customers who just couldn’t resist those adorable puppy dog eyes.

Photo Credit: Instagram,dakot.photo

Another customer said, “I felt a feeling of deep tenderness and great happiness in seeing dogs crouched in the exhibition space at the entrance of the IKEA. If all the stores that had the space would make a place of refuge for strays, I would be really happy.”

Here’s a couple more photos because you know you need this.

Photo Credit: Instagram,noahromley

Does that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, or what?

The post This IKEA Store Is Opening Its Doors to Give Stray Dogs a Warm Place to Sleep appeared first on UberFacts.

This Vending Machine in Indiana Gives Out Clothes and Blankets to the Homeless

Homelessness is a serious problem in this country. It’s the kind of thing that could easily happen to anyone. Having spent some time volunteering with this population, I can tell you that their stories have impressed a simple truth onto me: anyone, and I mean anyone is only a few really bad days away from being homeless.

That’s why this vending machine in Muncie, Indiana dispenses clothes, socks, and blankets for free to help homeless people stay warm during the frigid winter months is such an incredible idea!

Photo Credit: Unsplash, Matt Collamer

The machine was set up outside a fire station to serve the estimated 200 homeless people who live in Delaware County, Indiana. People must first register with Bridges Community Services in Muncie before they can use the service. They are then given tokens to put into the machines to receive the goods.

Photo Credit: Facebook, Country 106.7

All of the items were donated by the community, and Bridges Community Services is still accepting donations. So if you’d like to help out, get in touch with them HERE.

A similar vending machine opened earlier this year in Nottingham, England, stocked with food, clothes, and toiletries, to assist the homeless population in that city.

Photo Credit: Facebook, Action Hunger

Help out if you can, and hopefully other cities will follow Muncie’s example.

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