Thundersnow!: The D.C. snow hole is, officially, kaput. A storm rolling through the region this evening is forecast to deliver between 4-8 inches of snow in the city, and more in the suburbs, with snow piling up 1-2 inches per hour at times. Thunder and lightning may accompany the snow, which apparently means the end of the world in certain cultures. Namely, those cultures in charge of the federal government, local school systems and colleges, and just about anything else scheduled for tonight, which all pretty much shut down. The U.S. will get right back to winning the future—as long as it can wait until the roads are plowed. -2

Always Low Prices (And Civil War Graves): 147 years ago, Union troops under Ulysses S. Grant first faced off against Confederate soldiers commanded by Robert E. Lee in the Battle of the Wilderness, near Orange, Va. Which means, naturally, that Orange, Va., seemed like a pretty good place to sell a lot of mass-produced imported consumer goods. That was the plan, at least, until today, when Wal-Mart Stores Inc. backed off an unpopular crusade to build a store on land used in the battle. Opponents of Walmarts here in the District take note: Fort Stevens isn't far away from the Ward 4 location. +1

Ladyhawk: If most businesses were trying to capture an animal on the loose in their establishment, they'd call an exterminator. The Library of Congress had access to more powerful tools, and so it came to pass that the Fish and Wildlife Service helped track down a hawk living in the Main Reading Room after several days. The hawk, named Jefferson by the librarians, was emaciated and dehydrated, but otherwise unharmed. Which means, apparently, that there is not a mouse infestation at the Library of Congress. +1

Pre-Planned, Spontaneous Official Fun: Last winter's blizzards started a new tradition in the District—snowball fights organized by Twitter and Facebook, for any myopic little twits with good arms. (And for D.C. cops with arms, period.) The tradition returns tonight: "The Official Dupont Circle Snowball Fight" is up and running. Organizers advise bringing protective gear, not throwing ice, and not hitting moving vehicles. We advise that if you need instructions on how to attend a snowball fight, you probably shouldn't go. +3

Yesterday's Needle rating: 43 Today's score: +3 Today's Needle rating: 46

The Ice of the Inner Loop: Take one part rush hour, one part severe cold snap, one part aging infrastructure, mix gently, and what do you get? Chaos. A water main burst near Central Avenue early this morning, leaving several lanes of the Beltway under water—which, in the delightful Arctic cold that descended on the region this weekend, quickly turned icy. By mid-afternoon, the highway had only partially reopened, and 400,000 people in Prince George's County were under orders to boil tap water before drinking it. 55 more days until spring! -3

Hawking Books: The Library of Congress has more than 33 million books in its collection. But apparently, not a single one of them deals with ornithology. Officials at the library have been unable to convince a hawk to leave its new perch there since last week, resorting instead to putting up nets to keep the bird from swooping down and attacking researchers as they work in the Main Reading Room. (If new Republican members of Congress have their way, of course, the library will probably just declare the bird a national security threat and shoot it.) +1

Heighters Gonna Height: The view of Union Station from the north of the iconic train station is a tough one to capture—in no small part because looking at it from the north involves standing on train tracks. That hasn't stopped preservationists from arguing against a new mixed-use development that would sit above the rails, on the grounds that it violates the spirit (if maybe not the letter) of the Height Act, the 100-year-old law that's mostly now used as a weapon against interesting blueprints. The obvious punch line for this item would be, "Don't ever change, D.C.," but thanks to laws like the Height Act, it already can't. -2

At Eastern Motors, Your Government Job's Your Credit: Getting around D.C. isn't always easy: There's traffic, parking's expensive, gas costs a lot, the Metro rarely works right. Fortunately, next time you're dealing with inconvenient transportation logistics, you can take solace in the knowledge that a share of your tax dollars are paying for nearly $2,000-a-month SUV leases for both Mayor Vince Gray and D.C. Council Chairman Kwame Brown. After all, the city's budget deficit is only $600 million; why shouldn't our top two elected officials ride in style? -4

Friday's Needle rating: 50 Today's score: -8 Today's Needle rating: 42

David Schroer had already accepted an offer to become the Congressional Research Service’s terrorism specialist when he revealed plans to begin the new post as Diane Schroer. Library officials swiftly rescinded their offer. Schroer teamed up with the American Civil Liberties Union and filed a sex discrimination lawsuit in 2005. A federal judge in Washington awarded Schroer $491,190 earlier this year. On Tuesday, the Department of Justice let the deadline pass for appealing the decision.

"Howdy, folks! (Sorry, my Wyoming roots are showing.)  The Library of Congress finally has its own official Twitter feed.  You can follow us here: http://twitter.com/librarycongress

'Library of Congress' was too long as a user name, so in the spirit of Twitter itself, we’ve been truncated.

As I’ve been alluding for some time, we are on the cusp of many more forays into the Web 2.0, and I hope to bring more announcements soon (most likely weeks, not months).  We are going to be pushing some incredible content out to the world in new ways and in new spaces — just a smattering of the millions and millions of digital resources we have online, of course, but presented with the fantastic interactivity of these new Web tools."

Kind of funny that they couldn't use their full name for their account.

Surprised to learn that an institution as fundamentally square as the LoC would screen something as inherently controversial as a Zappa flick? (Four of them, actually.) Norman Middleton says, Don't be.

A senior producer at the Library of Congress and the host of the Frank Zappa Mini-Film Festival, Middleton begins his defense of the film schedule–which includes obscenity-laden classics like Uncle Meat, The Amazing Mr. Bickford, Does Humor Belong in Music?, and Motels–by clarifying that Zappa is not obscene–"he's diverse."

Turns out the diversity schtick is useful for more than just pandering. According to Middleton, the LoC's big-tent curatorial philosophy is the "one reason the rock and roll film series exists. Because there's practically no other way to present that kind of music at the Library of Congress."

But is the LoC's tent big enough for the larger- and grosser-than-life Zappa?

"Frank Zappa was a serious musician, and was considered so by most people. I was impressed  by his political stance on censorship. And some serious orchestra's [such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra and others] have performed his music. But his films are a different kind of animal. He uses his sense of humor and his wry sense of life in these movies, and he also expands his artistic vision."

But what about all the man-humping? And Zappa's dirty, dirty mouth?

Middleton admits he had to watch Uncle Meat twice before committing to a screening. "It was a little wild, kind of obscene in the stricter since. So I had to watch it again to make sure I wanted to program it. To let the audience absorb the film as they will."

Check out Washington City Paper's City Lights write-up of Uncle Meat. "And," Middelton reminds, "don't forget your rubber chicken."