Toyota will announce a global recall of its 2010 Prius hybrid vehicles after admitting brake problems, a source says.

..and pancreas cancer? REUTERS reports on a new study with links..

NY MAG reports
Full story here

...and I agree: A horrible year for Superbowl commercials

WINTER STORM WATCHES AND WARNINGS POSTED AROUND NATION -- NEW WINTER STORM SET TO STRIKE BLIZZARD-HIT AREAS

...New Orleans defeats the favored Colts to win the Superbowl

SAINTS MARCHING: ONWARD TO SUPERBOWL VICTORY?

Winter Olympics officials will not permit a change in venune even though snow has to be imported, warm temperatures are ruining snow chances on Cypress Mountain, and warm weather is going to stay right through opening night, according to weather forecasters ..

AFP reports,

""We are not relocating any events," said Tim Gayda, the vice-president of organising committee VANOC, responding to the problems caused by the warmest January on record, a legacy of El Nino, a periodic warming feature over the Pacific Ocean "

If they want a last minute switch, a major blizzard just blasted Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Baltimore -- with another one bringing fresh powder this upcoming Tuesday and Wednesday .. Cypress Mountain?? .. try the Appalachian trail in 2010!

FBI WANTS SERVICE PROVIDERS TO KEEP TABS ON WEBSITES CUSTOMERS VISIT

FBI WANTS THE RECORDS KEPT FOR 2 YEARS..

Verizon's Vice President: "if you were do to deep packet inspection to see all the URLs, you would arguably violate the Wiretap Act"

*Flashback October 2001: FBI Seeking to Wiretap Internet

An explosion at a Connecticut power plant near Hartford has caused "mass casualties," authorities say

ANOTHER MASSIVE WINTER STORM POISED TO HIT SAME AREAS THE BLIZZARD OF 2010 JUST BURIED!
Accuweather forecaster Henry Margusity explains:

"The places where things get interesting is across eastern PA, NJ and southern New England Wednesday. Where the storms hits the coast and bombs out, places like Philly, New York City and Long island could once again see well over a foot of snow. Why you ask? As the storm develops, it pulls the arctic air into it and thus the snow ratios go from 12:1 to 30:1. With liquid amounts of an inch shown on the operational models, that would equate to 18-24 inches of snow in the big cities once again. While NYC missed the last storm, this could be the big one for them."

It was an intense storm for millions of people along the East Coast--the Blizzard of 2010 began with questions over where it would hit by ended with the noises of shovels scraping icy roads and snow blowers using gas to plow out of the 1 to 2 feet of snow that hit the Mid-Atlantic and parts of Pennsylvania (me included, but not two feet, there's still time)..

And there are hints that another major storm could hit the same areas this week coming--making the Northeast the better contender for the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics, which begin Friday..

A snowstorm gives time to people to think, be together, watch a movie, live simply.. I did, my wife and I watched some movies. Of course, JENNIFER'S BODY was our latest Netflix film, and boy did it suck... Megan Fox or not, the movie was absolutely atrocious--of course they tried to make it that way, I hope. We also tried to snow tube yesterday in a tire, that didn't go well.. A broken sled we found didn't work great, either.. Maybe real snow tubing at a ski resort would have been better.

x x x

The Sunday Morning Sidewalk, covered with snow..

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In other news, still trying to figure out what to do with Google and the lack of Google services about to hit me personally.. the blog world a bit on fire with anger over Google sudden stoppage of its FTP services coming in March.. .5% of bloggers supposedly affected. This website will have to make major changes in the way it's written, uploaded, and updated.. Google is promising to make things easier and better.. though they want the content on their own servers as opposed to uploading it to the ones owned by the blogger himself or herself..
Google seems to want it all.. Maybe it's easier for the NSA to go through records when everything is housed on its own server. I simply don't want to pay an additional fee to blog with Typepad, and really don't have time to energy to set up Wordpress.. Maybe Tumblr here I come...?

UNFORGETTABLE

...the next storm, potentially for the same region..

Henry Margusity from Accuweather explains..

It seems the operational models are going towards another major blizzard along Mid-Atlantic Wednesday. While I have not had the chance to really study the situation due to the current storm, I will give you what I do know...

1. Looks like this one will be a much colder storm as the poler vortex dumps right into the East.
2. Storm should bomb out at poler vortex catches up with the southern stream system.
3. GFS has blizzard with snow ratios of 20:1 to 30:1 from BWI to Boston.
4. New Euro has 995 mb low off of Atlantic city NJ Wed AM. That would mean heavy snow for areas from Maryland to new England.
5. DGEX model has the blizzard from NE PA into New England with NYC getting smacked. JMA goes along with the DGEX model.. so all operational models are going for a major storm Wednesday...
6. Also, wide swath of wind blown snow of 3-6 inches will start in Kansas and move east through Illinois and Ohio to PA before we get the bomb developing along the coast.

The Blizzard of 2010

Up to three feet of snow in Washington D.C. .. Philadelphia crippled.. Virginia covered.. Pennsylvania digging out..

The blizzard of 2010 reminding us that blizzards still happen--and sometimes in a massive way..

It's historic.. It's completely halting everything in the nation's capital.. And it's one of the strongest storms in years to hit this part of the nation..