Odds ‘n Sods:

G.G. flagged this: Five days later 435,000 still remain without power in Connecticut

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When seconds count, the police are only 30 minutes away (in downtown Detroit):  DDOT Drivers Refuse To Work: ‘They’re Scared For Their Lives’. Thanks to Todd G. for the link.

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Just a few preps would have meant the difference between life and death: Couple Found Dead Two Hours Before Power Restored. (Thanks to C.Z. for the link.)

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Largest Sunspot in Years Observed on the Sun. (Thanks to Bret S. for the link.) And speaking of outer space events: Quarter-mile-wide asteroid coming close to Earth. One troubling quote: “The asteroid stretches a quarter-mile across. Smaller objects come close all the time, Yeomans noted, but nothing this big will have ventured so close since 1976. And nothing this large will again until 2028.” Troubling, because that only accounts for known (cataloged and tracked) asteroids. There are often big, uncataloged ones that escape attention until after they have passed by Earth.