Rare, Red Sprite Bursts Near Amarillo

Per Digg  – Sprites are large, flickering discharges triggered by the discharges of positive lightening between an underlying thundercloud and the ground. They are also very cool looking.

Scott McPartland – Extreme Weather Photography (YouTube) – I managed to capture on video several vivid “Red Sprite” bursts, from a cluster of supercell thunderstorms putting out near constant lightning near Amarillo, TX. I was positioned about 20 miles to the south of the storms, near the town of Tulia, TX, looking off to the northeast. This definitely ranks up there with one of the best lightning storms I have ever seen. A more extended video can be viewed via the annotation link at the end of this video.

This video has been reviewed by several meteorologists at various NWS offices, as well as the Storm Prediction Center, and deemed to be 100% legitimate Red Sprites.

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Bag of Randomness for Friday, June 3, 2016

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  • I’ve never watched a Steph Curry game so I thought I’d turn on the NBA Finals last night. Of all things that left an impression, it was coach Steve Kerr breaking his clipboard by stabbing it with a marker. Well, maybe it was just his fist.
  • We had GeedingManor appraised yesterday. When the appraiser didn’t arrive 40-minutes past his scheduled time, I called him. He apologized and stated he double-booked the appointment and went to the other house first and would be over in half an hour, but arrived an hour later. I understand mistakes happen, but I was bothered that he couldn’t at least call and state he would be late, either time. He also stated he did an appraisal for another house in the neighborhood with the same floorplan so he wasn’t going to do any measurements upstairs. I’m not sure how I feel about that. I’ve been to other houses in the neighborhood with the same floorplan, but they aren’t exactly the same, they actually do differ.
  • LBJ, after the presidency, with what I would consider a mullet.
  • Imgur – I love how a large number of these students, and some teachers, wore the same shirt for their yearbook photos.
  • The leaders of the Big XII sure were acting quirky the last couple of days, but as I’ve said, there are few things more corrupt than college sports and the NCAA. Add to that, Baylor won’t release freshmen players out of their national letters of intent, which would be the right thing to do. Things aren’t done in the best interest of students, they are done for money and bragging rights.
  • However, if there is any humor to regarding Baylor not letting those freshmen out of their national letters of intent, it turns out Baylor didn’t file one of them with the Big XII which means he can sign elsewhere.
  • I had no idea the Rangers, of all MLB clubs, hosted the first interleague game.
  • Texas leads nation in teacher-student sexual assaults and relationships – Former U.S. Department of Education Chief of Staff Terry Abbott, now of the Houston public relations firm Drive West Communications, cited research in 2014 showing Alabama with the highest per capita rate, but Texas, at 116 accusations and convictions, leads the United States in such cases. To put it in perspective, Pennsylvania comes in second with 45 cases.
  • Dirk Nowitzki recreates the Rougned Odor punch… with Rougned Odor
  • I saw a neighbor walk the runway on the news last night- Photos: See Cowboys wives, girlfriends down the catwalk at charity fashion show
  • Prayer and religious belief in the US at an all-time low, study claims – The decline in religious commitment was most pronounced among men, Whites, and those in the Midwest, Northeast, and West, and was nearly absent among Black Americans and small in the South. It appears that groups with relatively high social power are less likely to see themselves as having a significant need for religion or God in recent years.
  • They start and end it with an RGIII quote from his Heisman acceptance speech – Letter to the Board, Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni & Friends of Baylor from Survivors of Sexual Assault – Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5
  • FiveThirtyEight – The Sun Is Always Shining In Modern Christian Pop – I took a look at the last five years of Billboard’s year-end top 50 Christian songs to see whether Christian pop is unrelentingly cheerful. I looked at pairs of concepts across the entire collection of lyrics (life and death, grace and sin, etc.) and calculated the ratio of positive to negative words.
  • Father attacks daughter’s killer in court – That was one heck of a leap that father made at the murderer.
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Bag of Randomness for Thursday, June 2, 2016

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  • I remember these having an adhesive patch on the back that would never stick to the television. It was always a bit of a challenge to reach your arm around the back of the TV to grab that thing and make the switch.
  • I’m surprised the Cincinnati Zoo gorilla story is still in the news.
  • My father was from Cincinnati and would occasionally ask me to spell it, and I’d get it wrong every time either adding or missing an “n” or “t”.
  • Last night while watching the weather segment on the evening news, I learned there’s a Bono, Texas. However, it’s a ghost town.
  • This mother is really happy to see Donald Trump.
  • PGA Golf tournament leaving Trump’s Doral course for Mexico
  • King Tutankhamun’s dagger blade made from meteorite, study confirms‏ – I wonder if they saw the meteor fall from the sky and consider it a gift from the gods and then retrieved the meteorite to make the blade.
  • It’s an interactive chart, but I don’t think you can break it down by show, and there are details posted beneath it – All the TV character deaths of 2015-’16, in one chart – About 56 percent of deaths were male characters, and 44 percent women. 26 percent of characters were shot; 16 percent were stabbed; 9 percent killed themselves (including for the greater good). The other minor categories for causes of death included supernatural causes, illness, explosions, poisoning, suffocation, and beating.
  • GIF – Just a man playfully wrestling with tigers
  • Regarding the Texas courthouse documentary I mentioned yesterday, here’s the trailer which features, well, briefly shows, the courthouses of Wise and Parker counties. And here’s a four-minute segment from the man that edited the documentary.
  • I received an email pondering why I haven’t made mention of LiberallyLean’s return to blogging. Quite simply, I was remiss in doing so.
  • CBS News – UCLA shooting: Students react on social media – The shooting was in one of the engineering buildings, and I thought it was interesting how engineering students went about barricading or locking doors.
  • CBS News – First U.S. penis transplant recipient released from hospital – Once again, the patient is photographed with a thumbs up and sporting a grin. And once again, I can’t blame the guy.
  • Yahoo Sports‏ – Some Baylor supporters struggling to cope with fallout from latest scandal –  “I feel bad for any victims or whatever,“
  • Sports Illustrated – Report: Seven Baylor signees request release in wake of scandal – Baylor has a 30-day deadline to respond to the request by each recruit. A university may grant a complete release or no release. Baylor will also determine whether or not to lift a recruiting ban that disallows any contact between a coach from other schools and the players.
  • DallasNews.com – Baylor signee’s dad has scathing words for school as son requests release from letter of intent
  • ESPN – Kenneth Starr stepping down as Baylor chancellor – Kenneth Starr is resigning as chancellor at Baylor in the wake of a huge shakeup at the university, but he will continue to teach in the law school, the former school president told ESPN’s Joe Schad on Wednesday. Starr said in an interview with Outside the Lines that he was resigning effective immediately “as a matter of conscience.”
    • Because rivalries make people do all sorts of things, part of me thinks this was always planned but only did the transition from president to chancellor and then resignation as a way to discredit Chip Brown, a writer for Horns Digest, who broke the new that Starr was going to be fired as president.
    • I’m so surprised he gave ‘Outside the Lines’ the first interview, but perhaps this is his first step towards transparency.
    • If I’m connected with Baylor, I’m not sure if I’d still want him affiliated with the university. At least the woman I live with feels that way.
    • In the interview, Starr stressed these assaults happened off campus. That may be the case, but they are still his students whose reports were overlooked. He also stated several times that he was “behind the veil of ignorance”.
    • To my surprise, this wasn’t mentioned on our local CBS affiliate’s evening newscast or the ‘CBS Evening News’.
    • I found out yesterday that Starr is the father of two daughters, which makes his lack of actions even more surprising. His denying of not knowing of other allegations before 2015 doesn’t add up when you look at victim testimony and interaction with him, but I’m sure there are those that don’t the victims’ statements.
    • “as a matter of conscience” – Playing armchair PR guy, I think I would have phrased it different, something along the lines of “putting the university first” or “do what’s best for Baylor”. Many are stating that if he had a conscience, he’d still have a job and the student safety issue wouldn’t have gotten out of hand.
  • Benjamin L. Corey – Was Jesus A Pacifist? – The way Christian pacifists use the word however, is not to argue for passivity in the face of evil, but is a commitment to fighting evil and oppression exclusively using nonviolent means. (Which is why today’s Christian pacifists are nonviolent, but very confrontational.)
    • As I’ve stated before, I don’t always support all of Corey’s thoughts, and I’m not stating I do or do not in this case. Actually, that can be applied to just about everything I post. But I do think it’s an interesting read and something that might provide thought and discussion either here, with friends or family, or with the one you worship.
  • You may not want to click on the article because the synthetic dog may give you nightmares – SynDaver Labs’ synthetic dogs could revolutionize vet school‏ – SynDaver Labs says this synthetic canine will help veterinarian students learn surgical techniques that otherwise would be practiced on shelter dogs. The company says it hopes the prototype will help end animal testing. “It bleeds, it breathes, it can even die,” said veterinarian David Danielson.
  • Hey, mistakes happen – South Carolina Grandfather “very sorry” after accidentally picking up wrong grandchild at school
  • Maybe it was the fine print – New York man spent five months in jail, not knowing his bail was $2
  • BYU student believes she drank professor’s urine for extra credit – A student drank what she thought was her professor’s urine as part of a lesson on kidney function. The student got extra credit for slugging back a small vial. Professor Jason Hansen teaches the class. He posted a note to his students three days after it happened. It reads in part: “Please rest assured that it was not really urine but rather food coloring and diluted vinegar.”
  • Delta thinks they have a solution towards long security wait lines – The airline touts it as a “parallel process” in which people and their baggage are moving separately though security. So instead of waiting in a single line for all the people in front of you to pass through baggage and body screening before your turn, you’re able to go at your own (likely faster) pace. You load your carry-on luggage and shoes into a bin, then push it forward onto a conveyor belt and proceed through body-screening along with your belongings—no need to wait with your bags until right when you push them into the screener. What’s more, empty bins are routed to the front of the line via a conveyor belt, which means staff don’t have to cart bins around (potentially making people wait for empty bins to be replenished). The idea is that there’s constant movement throughout the entire security checkpoint process for people, baggage, and bins.
  • Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys Welcome First Child Together – I’m a loyal viewer of ‘The Americans’ on FX and had no idea these costars, who are married on the show, were in a relationship. One of my friends (and I still think loyal reader) officiated a wedding in which she was either the maid of honor or bridesmaid and got to dance with her. With him traveling from Texas to NYC for the wedding, I wonder if she brought up the time she lived in Coppell.
  • For you fellow fans of ‘The Americans’, here’s an idea to add to the story – Stan’s son knocks up Paige.
  • Uptown Funk you up, Uptown Funk you up
    Uptown Funk you up, Uptown Funk you up
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