Combos Facts:

• Combos was the most mentioned and most loved pizza-flavored snack in a recent Slice.com poll.
• Combos will celebrate its official 40th anniversary in 2011.
• Combos has been an “Official Partner of NASCAR” since 2002 and is currently the “Official cheese-filled snack of NASCAR”
• Combos is also a partner of Joe Gibbs Racing and Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Combos® car, a Toyota Camry
• Kyle Busch has won two Sprint Cup races in the Combos car (Dover in 2008 and Richmond, VA, in 2009) and two Nationwide races in the Combos car (Phoenix and Dover, both in 2010).
• Combos is a supporter of Habitat for Humanity. The company is donating $100,000 to Habitat in 2010 as well as supporting home builds across the U.S. with both volunteers and funding.
• Current flavors for Combos include: Cheddar Cheese Pretzel; Cheddar Cheese Cracker; Nacho Cheese Pretzel; Zesty Salsa Tortilla; Jalapeño Cheddar Tortilla and of course Pizzeria Pretzel and Pepperoni Pizza Cracker.
• Discontinued flavors of Combos include: Mustard Pretzel; Peanut Butter Pretzel; Peanut Butter Cracker; Bacon, Egg and Cheese Cracker; and Cheeseburger Cracker.
• In 2008, the Cheeseburger Cracker variation was manufactured as an exclusive, limited edition promotion for Walmart. Then they vanished, until now. Mars Snackfood US. LLC., reported that Cheeseburger Cracker Combos will be back in Wal-Mart stores this summer.

From “Ode to Combos” by Pizzalicious Lauren, published July 21, 2010 at SeriousEats.com.

A winter storm that pummeled New York City for two days broke a monthly record for snowfall in Central Park that stood for 114 years, according to the National Weather Service.

The storm killed at least three people, knocked out power to more than 700,000 electrical customers across the U.S. Northeast and grounded thousands of flights from regional airports. As the city digs out, forecasters are already watching another storm that may hit the U.S. East Coast next week.

“This is stuff that doesn’t happen too often, maybe a couple of times a century,” said Jeffrey Tongue, a weather service meteorologist in Upton, New York.

Manhattan’s Central Park received 36.9 inches (93.7 centimeters) as of yesterday, the most ever for a single month, the weather service said. The previous record for February was 27.9 inches in 1934, and the mark for a single month was 30.5 inches in March 1896.

Almost 21 inches blanketed the city during the storm, which began at about 8 a.m. on Feb. 25. The record for a single snowstorm was set Feb. 11-12, 2006, when 26.9 inches fell.

From “NYC Snow Storm Sets Record, Stops Flights, Cuts Power” by Brian K. Sullivan, published February 27, 2010 at BusinessWeek.

For all New Yorkers, here is a reminder of important Sanitation rules you must follow, plus a few common-sense suggestions to make your winter safe and more enjoyable:

Sidewalk Safety

Whether you’re the owner, tenant, occupant or the person in charge of any lot or building, you must clear the snow and/or ice from your sidewalk within four (4) hours after the snow has stopped falling or by 11 a.m. if the snow stopped falling after 9 p.m. the night before.

If the snow becomes frozen and too hard to remove, you may spread sand, sawdust or another similarly suitable traction material within the same time limits.

As you clear your sidewalk, keep in mind: YOU MUST NOT THROW SNOW INTO THE STREET.  It’s against the law and it forces Sanitation to re-plow your street. Also, never cover fire hydrants with snow – this could interfere with emergency firefighting efforts.

Failure to comply with the law may result in fines ranging from $100 to $350.

Snow Shoveling Suggestions

If your doctor has told you not to shovel snow, don’t do it; ask for help.

If you’re in good health and your neighbor is disabled or elderly, become a “snow angel” and give a helping hand!

Protect your heart and your back. Don’t drink alcohol, smoke or eat a large meal before you start shoveling. When you shovel your sidewalk or driveway, wear warm layers of clothing, drink water and take frequent breaks.

Most important: Stop shoveling when you feel you’ve had enough!

By John J. Doherty, Commissioner of Sanitation, February 9, 2010

Five weeks to start your 2010 off on a greener foot:

Week One: Green Your Energy Usage
One of the best and easiest things you can do to reduce your personal carbon emissions is to sign up for a renewable energy program with your utility. A few minutes of your time and a few cents more per kilowatt-hour can seriously reduce your personal carbon footprint. The difference between your carbon emissions from your city or state’s normal energy mix and all renewable energy varies from place to place, but rest assured that switching to 100% renewable energy is a big improvement from the national stat of about 7%.

The US Department of Energy’s Green Power Network has a listing for programs available in every state.

Sign up for electronic billing and you’ve saved 37 pounds of carbon emissions over the year on top of going carbon neutral on your electricity.

Week Two: Pledge to Use Public Transport, Walk or Bike
You’ve no doubt gotten the message that using your own two feet or a bicycle is probably the best way to get around, in terms of carbon emissions…And using public transportation or carpooling is a far better way to go than sitting by your lonesome in your car.

So walk the talk and use one of these at least one more day a week next year. World Offset estimates that doing this just one day a week will reduce your carbon emissions by nearly 1000 pounds over the course of the year.

Week Three: Reduce or Eliminate Your Consumption of Meat
In terms of carbon emissions, knocking meat off your menu is a significant step you can take to green your lifestyle. Switch to an all vegetarian diet and you can rest assured that your personal carbon emissions are about 2.52 tons less than your carnivorous neighbors. Just setting aside one day a week as a meat-free day would avoid emitting about 720 pounds of carbon emissions over the year.

Don’t know where to start? Check out these great vegetarian recipes.

Week Four: Eat More Local Food
By now you’ve probably heard the term ‘locavore’, and have probably heard about the benefits of eating more locally-sourced food. But what you may not realize is how much resolving to eat more local food can reduce your carbon footprint.

If you resolve to eat just one meal each week comprised of only locally sourced ingredients  you could avoid 666 pounds of emissions each time.

Even if the full impact of this one isn’t felt for a couple of months, start thinking like a locavore: How many food miles got racked up for my meal to get here? Is it in season? Is there a local alternative I could buy? Investigate joining a Community Supported Agriculture Co-op for next summer.

Week Five: Make Your Home More Energy Efficient
By replacing some of the energy sucking items in your house with their more energy sipping alternatives, and engaging in some energy frugality you can make an additional reduction in your personal carbon footprint.

Replacing 4 incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescents will avoid 400 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions over the course of the year. Unplugging your computer will knock off another 250 pounds of emissions being sucked out by vampire power next year. Setting your thermostat two degrees cooler in the winter and two degrees warmer in the summer (ditching the AC all together would be even better) will save 1000 pounds of carbon emissions next year. Air drying half of your laundry next year will save about 725 pounds of emissions.

Add these all up, and combined with these other resolutions, and you’re really starting to get someplace.

From “5 Green Resolutions To Make Now to Be Ready for 2010″ by Matt McDermott, published December 16, 2009 at Planet Green.

In August, T-Mobile got serious about paperless billing. It started charging a $1.50 monthly fee on all accounts that continued to receive a paper bill. The company sends out 16.5 million invoices each month, but the accelerated rate of signups in August made it possible to imagine converting the entire customer base to paperless in only 15 months — and fully realize the potential annual savings of 10.8 million pounds of paper, equivalent to 13,500 trees.

From “What if People Don’t Take the Bait to Go Paperless?” by Randall Stross, published September 19, 2009 at The New York Times.

Garbage collection has had an interesting history in New York City from swine roaming the streets as the first street sweepers, to white coated men who swept the street in the 19th century into the 20th century, to incinerators and transfer stations of present day and a host of recycling attempts. Early on in NYC’s sanitation history, garbage was transported to the piers of lower Manhattan, piled high into big barges and then brought out to sea and dumped. This practice went on for decades.

From The New York Public Library

Love this place! My boss has been eating here for 23 years and they know him by name. The pizza is fresh and made on site (you can watch them in the window). The actual place is very small with standing room counters to eat from. There is a display of fresh slices from margarita, pasta, grandma to bbq chicken that will be warmed to your liking. All great! Nice thin crust and good sauce to cheese ratio.

Pricing is a bit high but the quality is worth it. The atmosphere is hectic and if you go in during the lunch hour its best if you know what you want a head of time. When my boyfriend comes to visit this is the first place he wants to go.

From Lauren B. reviews on Yelp.com.

More than 100 million people in the U.S. alone drink coffee every day.

From The National Coffee Drinking Trends Study, 2004

The wet start to May will continue in the Northeast over the next several days.

Both New York City and Philadelphia have recorded measurable rain each day through the first five days of May.

One wave will ride through tonight spreading rain from the Mid-Atlantic to New England. Rain will continue with this wave over New England Wednesday.

Another wave will push into the Mid-Atlantic later Wednesday and spread northward through the Northeast Wednesday Night into Thursday.

Rain totals of an inch or more are expected over portions of the region over the next several days.
More rain is possible with a front coming through Friday.

High temperatures Wednesday will range from the 50s in Northern New England to the 60s and 70s through the Mid-Atlantic.

From “Wet weather for much of the country” by Chris Dolce, Lead Meteorologist of The Weather Channel.

According to a recent joint survey conducted by information management research firm the Ponemon Institute and software security developer Symantec, nearly 60 percent of people, who had recently left or lost their jobs, admitted to taking confidential company information. Of the nearly 950 people surveyed, 53 percent said they downloaded the information, which ranged from client contact lists to employer records, onto a CD or DVD, while 42 percent admitted to transferring the information to a USB drive.

From “The impact of layoffs on business security” by Joel Griffin, published April 20, 2009 at Security Info Watch.