blizzard alert from the met office

"There is a high risk of a severe weather event affecting parts of Scotland and the northern half of England. Snow spreading from the west on Wednesday evening will become persistent and heavy at times by the early hours of Thursday morning, eventually clearing away eastwards from England by Thursday afternoon and from most of Scotland by the evening. On low lying ground there is the potential for 2 to 5 cm of snow to accumulate, while on ground above about 150 metres accumulations of 10 to 20 cm are expected, with blizzard conditions and considerable drifting in strong winds."

this JUST CRACKS ME UP.

OMG WHERE IS THE SNOW SHOVEL??!

can I just quote Bill Bryson here:

"...two inches of snow cannot possibly constitute a blizzard and...six
inches of snow is not a drift.  A blizzard... is when you can't get your
front door open.  Drifts are things that make you lose your car till
spring."

it will cause traffic chaos anyway.  One of the reasons I like Scotland is that we actually do get snow every now and then.  Even if the accumulations are rarely more than (in the immortal words of Calvin) "ONE. LOUSY. HALF. INCH."

CNN Tribute to Heroes--a message from Yohannes Gebregiorgis

Dear Friends of Ethiopia Reads,   Over Thanksgiving weekend, millions of people tuned into the inspiring CNN Tribute to Heroes special, which highlighted my work with Ethiopia Reads as well as that of nine other amazing, dedicated visionaries around the world.   For those of you who watched, thank you. I hope you enjoyed seeing footage of our libraries in action, and the smiles on the faces of children who have come to love the books and stories introduced to them by Ethiopia Reads.   Though I was deeply honored to be nominated a "Hero" by CNN, the greatest reward is watching young people bloom into readers.   This year, Ethiopia Reads opened our 20th school library for children. We published our eighth bi-lingual children's book.   We connected approximately 100,000 Ethiopian children with books.   In a country of 40 million children, where nearly half the population is illiterate, there's plenty yet to do. In 2009, we'll expand our rural programs by bringing donkey mobile libraries to more villages and towns. We'll publish more books, train more librarians, and plant libraries at the rate of one per month.   We will continue to grow and serve with your support. With your help, we will brighten Ethiopia's future.   Please visit our web site to learn more, get involved and make a donation.   On behalf of myself and Board President Jane Kurtz, thank you for making a difference in the lives of Ethiopian children, one book at a time.      Akbariyachihu (Respectfully yours), Yohannes