Energy conservation, or responsible power use, or green energy, or whatever, is something we can all support, provided we aren't an oil company executive or a high-ranking administration official with ties to such companies.

Sometimes, however, we need to be reminded of our theoretical commitment to this vague and ethereal cause via a massive public display of darkness.

That's what the French got - at least the ones in the immediate vicinity of the Eiffel Tower - when the tower symbolically ...