Funk Babblings

OK, I think I'm giving in the the idea that it just might be too dangerous to drive 140 miles across Ohio tonight. And since I feel safer driving on the freeway than around the malls in this weather, finishing my shopping is going to get interesting.

The snow today was nice though, until it turned into freezing rain during our walk to the corner store.

And what's up with this storm coming from the south? Mississippi has something to answer for here, I think.


In other news, yesterday I got my zip code locator program done (basically), so that someone can type their zip code and find the nearest addresses in the database. Of course, there's a level of inaccuracy due to the size of zip codes, another level of inaccuracy due to using the Census Bureau's free-but-not-quite-ZIP ZCTA database, and yet another level of inaccuracy due to the program's assumption that longitude and latitude are flat-earth coordinates. I found a useful explanation of how to find accurate distances on the globe, but ended up deciding that within the limits of the continental U.S., a form-imposed 200-mile limit for "nearest" locations, and the already-vague locations given by the ZCTA database, the flat earth assumption wouldn't further distort things too badly.