It was 18 degrees below zero in the Twin Cities on Thursday as people left their homes for school or work on the coldest morning in five years. Gov. Tim Pawlenty will give his State of the State address at noon to whoever manages to drag his or her frozen butt into the House Chamber at the State Capitol. You can watch it live here on streaming video from The UpTake, read prognostications in the dailies about what T-Paw will say or won’t say about cutting the budget, and get Paul Demko’s report on the speech here as soon as the governor’s actually given it.

But you read it here first: Ladies and gentlemen, the state of the state is … cold. Photographer’s note: In the minute and a half I spent outside in downtown Minneapolis to take the photo above, two bicyclists flashed past and I walked by a third bike that had recently been parked. The riders on the frozen slush were too fast for my frostbitten shutter finger, but here’s a shout out anyway to Minnesota’s hardy two-wheeled commuters and other winter bicyclists. May your frozen eyelashes part painlessly, may your paths be clear of car doors and may the yapping of snow dogs not worry your helmeted heads.