Storm Drops More Than 2 Feet of Snow on Northeast

A behemoth storm packing hurricane-force wind gusts and blizzard conditions swept through the Northeast overnight, where more than 650,000 homes and businesses in the densely populated region lost power, roads were impassable and New Englanders awoke Saturday to more than 2 feet of snow.

More than 38 inches of snow fell in Milford in central Connecticut, and an 82-mph wind gust was recorded in nearby Westport. Areas of southeastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire notched at least 2 feet — with more falling. Airlines scratched more than 5,300 flights through Saturday, and the three major airports serving New York City as well as Boston's Logan Airport closed.

Flooding was also a concern along the coast, and the possibility led to the evacuation of two neighborhoods in Quincy, Mass., said Fire Deputy Gary Smith. But it did not appear to create major problems in New York and New Jersey, states hit hardest during last October's Superstorm Sandy.

Snow piled up so high in some places Saturday that people couldn't open their doors to get outside. Streets were mostly deserted throughout New England save for plow crews and a few hardy souls walking dogs or venturing out to take pictures. In Boston's Financial District, the only sound was an army of snowblowers clearing sidewalks. Streets in many places were inaccessible.

Blizzard Shuts Down Parts of Connecticut, Massachusetts Watch Video

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Monster Blizzard: Northeast Braces for 2 plus Feet of Snow Watch Video

Some of the worst of the storm appeared to hit Connecticut, where all roads were ordered closed Saturday. The snow made travel nearly impossible even for emergency responders who found themselves stuck on highways all night. In the shoreline community of Fairfield, police and firefighters could not come in to work, so the overnight shift was staying on duty, said First Selectman Michael Tetreau.

"It's a real challenge out there," Tetreau said. "The roads are not passable at this point. We are asking everyone to stay home and stay safe."

In the Hartford suburb of South Windsor, residents used snowblowers to clear driveways that ended in huge snow drifts, with the roads still clogged with roughly 2 feet of undisturbed snow. Some cars were buried to the point they were nearly invisible. Snow had stopped falling, but the swirling wind was blowing fine, powdery snow from trees and rooftops.

Several state police cars were also stuck in deep snow in Maine, where stranded drivers were warned to expect long waits for tow trucks or other assistance.

Road conditions were awful in New Hampshire, said Jim Pierce, who works for the state transportation department and plows driveways in Concord and surrounding towns as a side business. He started plowing about 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

"It takes quite a bit to push this back," he said. "It's fluffy, but there's a lot of it."

Even the U.S. Postal Service closed post offices and suspended mail delivery Saturday in New England.

The wind-whipped snowstorm mercifully arrived at the start of a weekend, which meant fewer cars on the road and extra time for sanitation crews to clear the mess before commuters in the New York-to-Boston region of roughly 25 million people have to go back to work. But halfway through what had been a mild winter across the Northeast, it also could mean a weekend cooped up indoors.

A little more than 11 inches fell in New York City, where carpenter Kevin Byrne was using a scraper to dig out his car Saturday and was relieved the storm hadn't hit the city more strongly. He said he'd taken his shovel out of his car and left it at home.

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Life savings: Inside London's brain bank

New Scientist visits the lab where brains are sliced in search of the underlying mechanisms of multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's

FOR 12 years, the man in front of me lived with Parkinson's: he had a stammer; he dragged his left foot. At 79, his mental faculties were slowing - but strangely, he didn't have the tremors we normally associate with the disease.

When I say he is in front of me, what I mean to say is that his central nervous system - his brain and spinal column - is laid out before me. I am in a dissection room at the Division of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London.

Neuropathologist Steve Gentleman rotates the man's brain in his gloved hands. With a scalpel he removes the olfactory bulb at the base - sometimes this is smaller in Parkinson's patients, and if it is, they lose their sense of smell. Gentleman points out a slight thickening in the cranial carotid artery, one of the main blood supplies to the brain. "A bit of atherosclerotic build-up, to be expected in a man of this age."

Next, Gentleman locates a couple of bits of tissue under the brain called the mammillary bodies. Using them as a kind of grid reference, he slices the brain in two with what resembles a large bread knife. It opens like a walnut.

"Straight away I can see that the ventricles are very wide," says Gentleman, who has dissected around 1000 brains in his career. "It is consistent with the long progression of the disease."

In the laboratories around us is a small but valuable bank into which about 900 people have made a deposit - one might say the ultimate deposit. The UK Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson's Tissue Bank contains more than 100,000 individual samples of frozen brain tissue. Some 9000 people have pledged to donate their central nervous systems when they die. The bodies are returned to families for funerals; even an open casket funeral is possible as the brain and spinal cord are removed from the back.

Neuroscientists from around the world apply to the bank for samples, and if successful, they only have to pay for postage. "There's a growing demand, as animal models aren't mirroring the diseases too well," says David Dexter, director of the bank.

Parkinson's disease affects 1 in 1000 people, and in the over-60s, 1 in 100. Multiple sclerosis on the other hand is more likely in younger adults, affecting between 2 and 150 people per 100,000. Both are debilitating neurodegenerative disorders. Drugs can treat the symptoms but in both cases the underlying trigger is unknown. Damage to the insulating cell sheaths in MS cannot be halted or reversed, nor can the death of dopamine-producing cells that are a hallmark of Parkinson's. "The holy grail is to develop neuroprotection," says Dexter.

That is what Dexter is working towards. In his latest publication, he and colleagues examined brain bank tissue and found that the X chromosome is less active in the brains of people with neurological disorders (Frontiers in Neuroscience, doi.org/j8p). Dexter also wants to look at links between epigenetic factors and disease. These chemical modifications of DNA play an important part in controlling how genes are expressed. From donated brain tissue, Dexter has found that part of the epigenetic modification system can inhibit the tightening of the coils of DNA. This seems to protect against Parkinson's.

"As we live longer, more and more of us are going to be affected," Dexter says. "If you look at the 'normal' brains that come into the bank, about 15 per cent actually aren't normal - they've got early stages of a neurodegenerative disease."

Thirty minutes or so later, Gentleman has finished the dissection. Brain tissue is spread out over the table in neat 10 millimetre slices, like some kind of macabre deli counter. "The convolutions of the brain are like fingerprints - no two are the same," he says. "These were individuals. I still see it as a privilege to dissect them. But I have to have a practical disconnect, and I still have no idea how a pile of fat - a lot of lipid membranes - can represent a person."

This article appeared in print under the headline "Your brain in their hands"

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DPM Teo issues correction to footnote in Population White Paper

SINGAPORE - Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Friday issued a corrigendum to the Population White Paper in Parliament to delete a segment of a footnote that classified nursing as a low-skilled job.

Mr Teo said, in the Notice of Corrigendum, that he intends to delete the part of Footnote 12 on Page 40 of the White Paper, which said: "Certain low-skilled jobs like personal services, retail, and nursing are hard to offshore. They will still be needed even as the economy upgrades."

"This classification of low-skilled jobs is not correct. I would like to apologise to those whose professions have been unintentionally misrepresented," said Mr Teo.

He said he was alerted to the matter by "our friends in the nursing profession and unions".

Adding that he has the "greatest respect" for the nursing profession, the DPM said it is a "noble and caring profession, which all of us and our loved ones depend on and appreciate".

- TODAY/ir

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Get a Kobo Mini e-reader for $59.99

The Kobo Mini has a pocket-friendly form factor and a touchscreen.

(Credit:
Best Buy)

Tablets are great and all, but if you're mostly into reading, it's hard to beat an e-reader. Eye-friendly screens, ultra-light designs, amazing battery life -- the perks go on and on.

And let's not forget price. Amazon's entry-level
Kindle is now down to $69. But here's an even more wallet-friendly option: Best Buy has the Kobo Mini e-reader for $59.99 shipped (plus sales tax). That's for the white model; the black one literally sold out while I was writing this post.

So that's only a $10 difference, right? And when you factor in sales tax, you're saving almost nothing. But consider this: the Kobo Mini has a touchscreen, whereas the $69 Kindle does not. It's a slightly smaller screen, too (5 inches), meaning it's a bit easier to pocket. And at 4.7 ounces, it's the lightest e-reader currently available.

I also like that it has a removable back cover you can swap for a sold-separately color one. Points for style.

As with other e-readers, you can browse and buy books right on the device (assuming there's a Wi-Fi connection available). You can also stock it with EPUB and Adobe DRM books. That said, you're locked into Kobo's store for bestsellers and the like; the lack of access to an Amazon or Barnes & Noble-caliber bookstore may be a turnoff for some readers.

Indeed, I realize the Kobo Mini is a hard sell. I probably wouldn't buy one myself, though that's largely because I'm pretty vested in Amazon's e-book ecosystem already. But for $59.99, this could make a great gift for someone who doesn't yet own an e-reader.

In any case, check out CNET's review of the Kobo Mini, then hit the comments to let me know what you think. Would you choose this over a non-touchscreen, ad-laden Kindle?

Bonus deal: Game time! For a limited time, Steam has the action-RPG-FPS Borderlands (PC) for $4.99. I've been waiting on this one; the game normally sells for $20. Alternately, get Borderlands Game of the Year Edition for $7.49, which I wish I'd seen before grabbing the other one. You can also score Borderlands 2 for $29.99, a sizable discount -- though it'll no doubt be even cheaper in a few months.

Bonus deal No. 2: Speaking of games, today only, and while supplies last, JustDeals has the refurbished Sony PlayStation 3 Slim 160GB game console for $199.99, plus $5 for shipping. I have growing fondness for the
PS3, which doubles as a Blu-ray player and doesn't charge extra for things like online gaming and Netflix streaming.

Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers.

Curious about what exactly The Cheapskate does and how it works? Read our FAQ.

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Asteroid to Make Closest Flyby in History

Talk about too close for comfort. In a rare cosmic encounter, an asteroid will barnstorm Earth next week, missing our planet by a mere 17,200 miles (27,700 kilometers).

Designated 2012 DA14, the space rock is approximately 150 feet (45 meters) across, and astronomers are certain it will zip harmlessly past our planet on February 15—but not before making history. It will pass within the orbits of many communications satellites, making it the closest flyby on record. (Read about one of the largest asteroids to fly by Earth.)

"This is indeed a remarkably close approach for an asteroid this size," said Paul Chodas, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Near Earth Object (NEO) program office in Pasadena, California.

"We estimate that an asteroid of this size passes this close to the Earth only once every few decades."

The giant rock—half a football field wide—was first spotted by observers at the La Sagra Observatory in southern Spain a year ago, soon after it had just finished making a much more distant pass of the Earth at 2.6 million miles (4.3 million kilometers) away.

This time around however, on February15 at 2:24 pm EST, the asteroid will be passing uncomfortably close—ten times closer than the orbit of the moon—flying over the eastern Indian Ocean near Sumatra (map). (Watch: "Moon 101.")

Future Impact?

Chodas and his team have been keeping a close eye on the cosmic intruder, and orbital calculations of its trajectory show that there is no chance for impact.

But the researchers have not yet ruled out future chances of a collision. This is because asteroids of this size are too faint to be detected until they come quite close to the Earth, said Chodas.

"There is still a tiny chance that it might hit us on some future passage by the Earth; for example there is [a] 1-in-200,000 chance that it could hit us in the year 2080," he said.

"But even that tiny chance will probably go away within the week, as the asteroid's orbit gets tracked with greater and greater accuracy and we can eliminate that possibility."

Earth collision with an object of this size is expected to occur every 1,200 years on average, said Donald Yeomans, NEO program manager, at a NASA news conference this week.

DA14 has been getting closer and closer to Earth for quite a while—but this is the asteroid's closest approach in the past hundred years. And it probably won't get this close again for at least another century, added Yeomans.

While no Earth impact is possible next week, DA14 will pass 5,000 miles inside the ring of orbiting geosynchronous weather and communications satellites; so all eyes are watching the space rock's exact trajectory. (Learn about the history of satellites.)

"It's highly unlikely they will be threatened, but NASA is working with satellite providers, making them aware of the asteroid's pass," said Yeomans.

Packing a Punch

Experts say an impact from an object this size would have the explosive power of a few megatons of TNT, causing localized destruction—similar to what occurred in Siberia in 1908.

In what's known as the "Tunguska event," an asteroid is thought to have created an airburst explosion which flattened about 750 square miles (1,200 square kilometers) of a remote forested region in what is now northern Russia (map).

In comparison, an impact from an asteroid with a diameter of about half a mile (one kilometer) could temporarily change global climate and kill millions of people if it hit a populated area.

Timothy Spahr, director of the Minor Planet Center at Cambridge, Massachusetts, said that while small objects like DA14 could hit Earth once a millennia or so, the largest and most destructive impacts have already been catalogued.

"Objects of the size that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs have all been discovered," said Spahr. (Learn about what really happened to the dinosaurs.)

A survey of nearly 9,500 near-Earth objects half a mile (one kilometer) in diameter is nearly complete. Asteroid hunters expect to complete nearly half of a survey of asteroids several hundred feet in diameter in the coming years.

"With the existing assets we have, discovering asteroids rapidly and routinely, I continue to expect the world to be safe from impacts in the future," added Spahr.

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Door-to-Door Search for Suspected Cop Killer

More than 100 police officers were going door-to-door and searching for new tracks in the snow in hopes of catching suspected cop-killer Christopher Dorner overnight in Big Bear Lake, Calif., before he strikes again, as laid out in his rambling online manifesto.

Police late Thursday night alerted the residents near Big Bear Lake that Dorner was still on the loose after finding his truck burning earlier in the day.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said authorities can't say for certain that he's not in the area. More than half of the 400 homes in the area had been searched by police as of late Thursday. Police traveled in two-man teams.

Bachman urged people in the area not to answer the door, unless they know the person or see a law enforcement officer in uniform.

After discovering Dorner's burning truck near a Bear Mountain ski resort, police discovered tracks in the snow leading away from the vehicle. The truck has been taken to the San Bernardino County Sheriffs' crime lab.

Read More About Chris Dorner's Allegations Against the LAPD

Bachman would not comment on Dorner's motive for leaving the car or its contents, citing the ongoing investigation. Police are not aware of Dorner's having any ties to others in the area.

Chris Dorner: Ex-LA Cop Wanted in Killing Spree Watch Video

Los Angeles Manhunt: Ex-Cop Christopher Dorner Sought for Killing Spree Watch Video

She added that the search in the area would continue as long as the weather cooperates. About three choppers were being used overnight, but weather conditions were deteriorating, according to Bachman.

"He could be anywhere at this point," said San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon, who is expected to address the media later this morning.

Dorner, 33, a former Los Angeles police officer and Navy reservist, is suspected of killing one police officer and injured two others Thursday morning in Riverside, Calif. He was also accused of killing two civilians Sunday. And he allegedly released an angry "manifesto" airing grievances against police and warning of coming violence toward cops.

In the manifesto Dorner published online, he threatened at least 12 people by name, along with their families.
"Your lack of ethics and conspiring to wrong a just individual are over. Suppressing the truth will leave to deadly consequences for you and your family," Dorner wrote in his manifesto.

One passage from the manifesto read, "I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD uniform whether on or off duty."

"I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own," it read. "I'm terminating yours."

Hours after the extensive manhunt dragged police to Big Bear Lake, CNN's Anderson Cooper said Dorner had sent him a package at his New York office that arrived Feb. 1, although Cooper said he never knew about the package until Thursday. It contained a DVD of court testimony, with a Post-It note signed by Dorner claiming, "I never lied! Here is my vindication."

PHOTOS: Former LAPD Officer Suspected in Shootings

It also contained a keepsake coin bearing the name of former Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton that came wrapped in duct tape, Cooper said. The duct tape bore the note, "Thanks, but no thanks Will Bratton."

Bratton told Cooper on his program, "Anderson Cooper 360," that he believed he gave Dorner the coin as he was headed overseas for the Navy, Bratton's practice when officers got deployed abroad. Though a picture has surfaced of Bratton, in uniform, and Dorner, in fatigues, shaking hands, Bratton told Cooper he didn't recall Dorner or the meeting.

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Parcel sensor knows your delivery has been dropped

Paul Marks, chief technology correspondent

(Image: C.WisHisSoc/Everett/Rex)

When I was a Christmas postman, many years ago, some of the bored guys in the sorting office's loading bay liked to play a boisterous game of "catch" when parcels marked "video recorder" and "fragile" arrived. How they guffawed when one landed in the bottom of a skip with a sickening crunch, ruining somebody's Christmas.

I was reminded of those days when a bargain iPod dock, bought online, arrived recently - dead to the world. Was it dead out of the factory gate? Or had the parcel suffered some physical abuse in transit? Now a British invention company called Cambridge Consultants has developed a sticky radio tag that will spill the beans on dodgy delivery firms.

Called DropTag, the gadget combines a battery, a low-energy Bluetooth transmitter, an accelerometer and a memory chip. Stuck on a parcel as it leaves an e-commerce warehouse, it logs any g-forces above a set risky shock level that it experiences. The idea is that when the courier puts it in your hands, you turn on Bluetooth on a smartphone running a DropTag app and scan it before you sign for it.

A readout then shows what's happened to the parcel in transit, with the option of a graph that shows you if the box has been mistreated - and when. If it has clearly been beaten up, you don't sign and refuse delivery. The $2 tag will run on a coin battery for "many weeks", the inventors say, and there may be incentives for the parcel deliverer to reuse it after scanning. DropTag comes from Cambridge Consultants' wireless group, which last year unveiled a Bluetooth-powered automatic gear changer for a bike.

At the moment DropTag is a solution in search of a user. British patents are already filed, but Cambridge Consultants hopes a major delivery chain or e-commerce firm will buy into the tech at the massive Hannover Messe tech fair in Germany in April.

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S'pore the single largest foreign investor in Iskandar Malaysia

SINGAPORE: Global Capital & Development (GCD), the lead investor of Medini in Iskandar Malaysia's Nusajaya development zone, says the region has attracted some S$2 billion in investments from Singapore since 2006.

GCD says investment from Singapore in Iskandar Malaysia is set to soar; Singapore is already the single largest foreign investor in the region.

Link (THM) Holdings, a Singapore developer, is the latest firm to invest in Iskandar Malaysia; it announced on Wednesday that it purchased a 5.9-hectare land site from GCD.

Link said that it will build mixed properties on the site, which is worth S$1 billion in gross development value. The project is expected to be completed in three phases over a period of five years.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Mr Keith Martin, who is Chief Executive Officer of GCD, said: "Link (THM) Holdings' development of Media Village @ Medini Iskandar is a catalyst for further business, lifestyle and living activity in Medini. Together with cornerstone investors and existing developments, GCD foresees a significant value increase in the prices of commercial and residential properties in the area."

Mr Martin added that GCD will continue to partner with quality investors to transform Medini into a destination city of global significance.

The company's next focus will be to further engage business park operators on opportunities to fund a SME business park for a wide range of business sectors and services.

Mr Martin said there is clear demand, particularly from Singapore companies, to seek affordable support space in Medini.

- CNA/jc

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Sprint CEO: No changes in smartphone pricing expected

Enjoy that unlimited data plan.

(Credit:
CNET)

Sprint Nextel won't be abandoning its unlimited data plan or current pricing structure any time soon.

The company isn't considering any changes to its current offering, CEO Dan Hesse said during a conference call with investors today.

"We always reserve the right to make changes, but we are not anticipating any," Hesse said.

Over the past few years, Sprint has stuck to the unlimited smartphone data plan even as larger rivals such as AT&T and Verizon Wireless moved to plans with limits and family-style data bundles. Hesse considers the unlimited offering to be Sprint's way of standing apart from the pack.

More recently, T-Mobile has encroached on Sprint's turf by offering an unlimited data of its own, including one that doesn't require a contract.

Both carriers lag behind AT&T and Verizon on major financial metrics such as customer growth, revenue, profitability, and earnings, and feel the pressure to offer more to win over customers.

While Sprint offers an unlimited data plan, it's hampered by a slow roll-out of its 4G LTE network and a delay in the progress of its Network Vision plan to upgrade its infrastructure. Hesse conceded that Sprint faced delays in 2012 with its upgrade, and he and his team vowed to catch up to this rivals.

"We're working hard to make up for the delays encountered in 2012," said Steve Elfman, head of network operations for Sprint.

Sprint has 8,000 sites "on air," or running, while it is either preparing for, or in the middle of, upgrading more than 19,500 additional sites, Elfman said.

Sprint's 4G LTE network is in 58 cities with 170 expected to get the faster service in the coming months.

Still, Sprint has gotten knocked for its slower deployment, which has favored smaller cities rather than the larger metropolitan areas such as New York or San Francisco, which CNET reported may not get 4G until March. Hesse admitted Sprint was at a disadvantage when compared with AT&T and Verizon. Even T-Mobile has touted a nationwide 4G network. While it uses a different kind of technology, it's a boast that Sprint can no longer make because it has abandoned the older 4G WiMax network.

Sprint is expected to cover 200 million people with 4G LTE by the end of the year, although Elfman warned that may slip to the beginning of 2014.

Because of the disadvantage, Hesse said he doesn't believe Sprint can raise its prices. He wouldn't consider a price change until the company was in a stronger network position, which he believes will come in the second half.

Sprint, meanwhile, also expects to spur growth through stronger
tablet sales. The company recently got the
iPad, but hasn't had a chance to properly market the product. Hesse said Sprint hasn't had a chance to create marketing materials that meet with Apple's standards, but that promoting the iPad would be a focus of this year. He noted that tablets represent a good portion of AT&T and Verizon's customer growth, and that Sprint could see similar growth from the area.

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Severed Heads Were Sacrifices in Ancient Mexico

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of more than 150 skulls from an ancient shrine in central Mexico—evidence of one of the largest mass sacrifices of humans in pre-Hispanic Mesoamerica.

The skulls, many facing east, lay beneath a crude, slightly elevated mound of crushed stone on what was once an artificial island in a vast shallow lake, now completely dry.

"The site is barely a bump on the horizon in the middle of nowhere," said lead archaeologist Christopher Morehart, of Georgia State University. And that was baffling. Previous evidence of such sacrifices came from grand pyramids in large ceremonial centers.

The discovery suggests that the site—near the town of Xaltocan (named after the ancient lake)—played a significant role in the political turmoil during the period between the years 650 and 800. The great city of Teotihuacan, only nine miles (15 kilometers) away, had suddenly begun to collapse, and the power it once exerted over the region was slipping away. Many experts believe this turn of events was triggered by a massive drought.

What followed was a time of  "political, cultural, and demographic change," according to Morehart, a National Geographic research grantee. As people left Teotihuacan and moved to the surrounding areas, new communities formed and new leaders competed for power. "There's a good chance that the sacrifices are related to these competitions," Morehart said.

The sacrificed individuals could even have been war captives—often the case in Mesoamerican cultures. The site itself was probably not a battlefield, though. It was a sacred space that was specially prepared for rituals.

The people who lived in this area appear to have performed elaborately choreographed rituals at the shrine before the fall of Teotihuacan, but they didn't include human sacrifice. Because of its water-bound location and the presence of freshwater springs nearby, the shrine was likely the site of ceremonies that petitioned gods associated with rain and fertility. Artifacts uncovered include clay images of Tlaloc, a rain god.

The rituals began to include sacrifices, though, as power struggles gripped the parched region. Morehart and his colleagues from the National University of Mexico believe that victims were first killed and dismembered. The body parts may then have been thrown into the lake, while the heads were carefully arranged and buried. Incense was burned during this ceremony, along with the resinous wood of pine trees. Flowers added their own perfume to the fragrant smoke, and foods such as ritually burned maize were presented as additional offerings.

Over the following centuries, new peoples arrived in the area and political power ebbed and shifted, yet the sacred nature of the site persisted. Morehart and his team found evidence for rituals here during both the Aztec and colonial periods, and they even came across a recent offering.

"As we were digging we found a black plastic bag. Inside was a hardboiled egg, a black candle, and some photos of people," he said. "It's a fascinating example of continued ritual activity in a place despite dramatic changes in social, political, and cultural contexts."

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