A Snowfall Becomes a Blizzard

It's snowing in the East, and a storm that was expected to be no big deal at first is now expected to come close to blizzard conditions. If it only dumps eighteen feet of snow on New Jersey, though, that won't be so big a deal compared to the storm of January 7, 1996 - a real blizzard - which dumped a little over twice that amount on the state.

How did a supersized snowstorm become known as a "blizzard?" The origin of the word is, believe it or not, unknown.

Meanwhile, the sitcom remains, as a television genre, an endangered species. John Goodman's latest sitcom, "Center of the Universe," never lived up to its title; CBS pulled it without warning thiis week. While not officially canceled, it likely won't be back. Also, NBC probably won't be committed to its new sitcom "Committed" much longer, as it started out badly in the ratings and got progressively worse. No surprise, considering the incoherent promos that didn't give viewers an idea of what it's about. I should watch it, while it's still on - maybe I'll find out! :-D