What To Do (And Not To Do) During The Polar Vortex

How are you faring, polar friends? That wicked cold front sweeping across a good section of North America right now has people doing all manner of crazy things, like throwing boiling water around and sticking their tongues to poles to see what will happen.

And did you know it's colder here right now than on Mars?

An article in Today claims Chicago, dubbed “Chi-Beria,” is seeing its all-time lowest of the low high temperatures at -11. Meanwhile, Lake Michigan is steaming like a cuppa.

If you're cabin feverish and cooped up inside trying to entertain bored kids, you may want to dazzle them by taking a leaf out of this mom's book.

According to an article in Distractify, Washington mom Angela Kelly thought it would be fun to blow some bubbles with her seven-year-old son. The results are at once beautiful and kind of magical—the crystalline spheres look more like ornaments you'd hang from a Christmas tree than bubbles.

As temperatures dwindle to record lows—and the list of grown ups being scalded by the water-in-the-air trick grows—please exercise caution when playing outdoors. And if you really must play with boiling water, watch the clip below in which a Canuck gets it right.

Please cover your heads and double up your mittens. Repeat after me: frostbite isn't cool or funny.