Review: The Sleepwalkers

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From The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914, by Christopher Clark:

The European continent was at peace on the morning of Sunday 28 June 1914, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Chotek arrived at Sarajevo railway station. Thirty-seven days later, it was at war. The conflict that began that summer mobilized 65 million troops, claimed three empires, 20 million military and civilian deaths, and 21 million wounded. The horrors of Europe's twentieth century were born of this catastrophe."

It's impossible to overestimate the importance of World War I. It's also impossible to wrap your head around how the five Great Powers allowed themselves to march into a disastrous war that all could see coming, yet none could find a way out of. No one had an exit strategy for the escalating July crisis. Christopher Clark writes the definitive account of how the crisis led to war. After the jump, my review.

OTBR: A Bug in the New Mexico Desert

Latitude: N 34° 35.712
Longitude: W 106° 49.950

A child on a road trip with his family asks, "Where are we?" and the father answers, "Let's check the map. We're off the blue roads [the Interstate Highways marked in blue on the road atlas]. We're off the red roads [the US and state highways]. We're off the black roads [the county highways]. I think we're off the map altogether." It was always my dream to be off the map altogether.

After the jump, a few of the random places (and I mean random literally) that I visited vicariously last month that are "off the blue roads".

POTD: Cambodian Commute

From 2015 03 20 Tonle Sap Lake

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the waterway northwest of Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. It was taken in a floating village. Boats are the only means of transportation.

Multi-Use is not Mixed-Use

We've been through this before, but it's kinda my pet peeve, so here we go again. Steve Brown, real estate editor of The Dallas Morning News, breaks this news:

The new shopping center in the works at Richardson’s $1.5 billion CityLine development is getting a second phase. Developers of the project at the northeast corner of Plano and Renner roads have filed plans with the City of Richardson to add more than 20,000 square feet to the retail center which is already under construction. It's part of the 186-acre mixed-use development that includes State Farm Insurance's 4-story regional office campus.

Source: Steve Brown.

POTD: Floating Banana Trees

From 2015 03 20 Tonle Sap Lake

Today's photo-of-the-day is from the waterway northwest of Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia. It was taken in a floating village. Not only the houses are built on bamboo rafts, even the gardens are. This photo shows floating banana trees. Good times.