Let's Bury Power Lines. No Let's Don't.

After the December ice storm in Richardson, when whole neighborhoods were without power for hours or even days, one lonely person on Facebook repeatedly posted a status update along the lines of "Let's bury our power lines." He was quickly dismissed with answers along the lines of "It's too expensive."

Well, now that it's the southeast and east coast who are dealing with an ice storm, the question is resurfacing there. After the jump, the pros and cons.

S2L77: Innsbruck and Salzburg

From 1977 05 04 Austria

With the XXII Olympic Winter Games going on in Sochi, it's a nice coincidence that the next waypoint to revisit from my 1977 route from Singapore to London happens to be Innsbruck, site of the XII Olympic Winter Games in 1976. The Olympics were over by the time I got there, but the spirit remained. I also visited Salzburg. Good places. Good times.

More photos after the jump.

Stefani Carter's Terrible Accident

First a confession. When I reported on the District 112 candidate forum, I buried the lede. No, that's not it. I missed the story altogether. Yeah, I showed why I am not getting paid for this.

I never mentioned Stefani Carter's opening remarks where she informed the forum audience that she had recently suffered a "terrible accident" that triggered a "moment of truth when you feel like your life could end." Turning to retired Captain Sam Brown, who actually did suffer exactly that, Carter said "I know that our colleague here, Sam Brown, understands that." In 2008, in Afghanistan, an IED blew up near Brown, burning much of his body. To this day Brown bears disfiguring scars on his face and head (and elsewhere, less visibly). Then Carter moved on, sounding extremely conservative and ambitious, pretty much like she has always sounded, pre-life-altering event.

I may have missed the story, but professional journalists Tim Rogers of D Magazine and then Tom Benning of The Dallas Morning News didn't. After the jump, catching you all up on what I should have caught.

Review: The Flaw of Averages

Amazon

From The Flaw of Averages, by Sam Savage:

Just as a handle helps you grasp something with your hand, I define a Mindle (first syllable rhymes with 'mind') as the analogous concept for the mind. In this section I will present five fundamental Mindles for grasping various aspects of uncertainty. Although you may have been exposed to these concepts in the past, they were likely cloaked in Steam Era anachronisms such as VARIANCE or STANDARD DEVIATION."

After the jump, my review.

All Is Lost (2013)

IMDB

All Is Lost (2013): Lone sailor faces death. Gutsy minimalist script. Redford shows grit, not much else. More plodding than exciting. B-