1 At quarter after midnight it's about 8 degrees above zero here in the semi-tropical paradise of Minnesota. We're keeping it cool to try to discourage the anti-ICE activity, of course.

Speaking of ice, I attended the funeral of an old musician friend of mine this afternoon and we started to get some snow by the time I got to the church. When I came out there was some ice on my windshield which I should have scraped off before I drove home. It didn't look too bad, though, so I got the defroster roaring and started home -- which was a bad idea, as it didn't start to clear until I got pretty close to home; but that worst of it was before I encountered any serious traffic, and by the time I hit the real stuff things were clear.

2 My, eight degrees is positively balmy for you guys up in the land of polar bears and igloos. What was it in "frostbite falls" I wonder?  
You were lucky Dana. That could have been very bad indeed. We've all done it in cold weather but it's not a good idea.
When I was a teenager I had an orange 1968 Volkswagon hippie bus. No heat to speak of and only one windshield wiper. Man that was dangerous to drive in winter weather!  I remember driving while looking out a patvh of clear windshield about an inch and a half in diameter - all that the "defrosters" could manage.
But I lovec that oldpile of junk anyway; if something fell off of it I didn't care. It was meant for abuse. I was sad to see it go.
Oh, it had a "if this van is rockin' don't bother knockin'" bumper sticker too. If I had a date I would borrowed my father's car because a girl's parents wouldn't have been too keen on that! Oh, and it had no radio. I wired up an old eight track player and put it in the glove compartmet. I was at a party once and my friend asked me to take his friend home. I never met the guy before. Long story short the eight track caught the dashboard on fire and I casually said "hey would you mind putting that out". That guy was rather eager to get out of the van; I can't imagine why.