I had this really epic picture to share with you. I got it from someone who lives in northern Minnesota, and it showed his outdoor thermometer at 8:00 a.m. this morning. The thermometer goes down to -40° F., and it basically had no mercury visible.

Unfortunately, although I could open it on my computer at work, it won’t open for me at home. So you’ll have to be content with my renowned descriptive skills, to get the sense of the thing.

Here’s a story from Norway, about a kid who found himself facing four hungry wolves, and fought back with a ruthless application of pop culture:

“I was afraid they would attack me,” Walter told the Norwegian tabloid VG, describing the incident, which took place on Monday. But he didn’t let his fear show. Remembering his parents’ advice, Walter pulled the earphones out of his mobile phone, turned the volume all the way up and blasted heavy metal music over its miniature speakers. At the same time, he yelled as loud as he could while flailing his arms about wildly to scare off the pack of wild animals.

(Someone commented on a radio show this morning that the band whose music he was playing, Creed, is a Christian heavy metal band. Their Wikipedia page says they’re not an explicitly Christian group, though their music carries some Christian themes.)

Sadly, the boy’s ordeal is far from over, I fear. Having subjected wolves to the cruelty of Heavy Metal music, he can now expect attacks from animal rights activists that’ll make him wistful for the courtesy and compassion of the wolf.