OSU Loses: Now Will The Evil Empire Keep Baylor From A Big 12 Championship?

Edit: It's 3-3 at halftime. First team not to freeze to death wins.

Edit: I never dreamed I'd see it . . .

Final edit:

Above The Fold

Warmer Days Taking You Into The Weekend

Tweet from WFAA TV (@wfaachannel8)

	WFAA TV (@wfaachannel8)
12/6/13, 1:05 PM Canopy collapses on boats at Pier 121 Marina at Lewisville Lake bit.ly/IWbzo8 #wfaaice pic.twitter.com/D1ALE1VAp8

Ice Day Reading: I Despise This Guy

From the Texas Monthly. Here.

Attendance Warning

I'm not sure why Cowboys Stadium was chosen as the venue tonight of the double header of Kentucky vs. Baylor in men's and women's basketball.  (There was a Tip Off Showcase earlier this year at American Airlines Center involving the three games of Oklahoma/Alabama, TCU/SMU, and Baylor/Colorado where the stands were virtually empty.)  Cowboys Stadium, on the best of days, would be an empty barn tonight. Throw in bad weather, and it'll be comical. But, per Stubhub, you can get a ticket for $11.  From there, you can probably wander to the best seat in the house. Good luck, we're all counting on you.

Random Friday Morning Thoughts

• A night spent with sleet/freezing rain crashing against the windows facing the north is one of the strangest things I've seen.
• It's not supposed to get above freezing today but it looks like there's a chance for some sun this afternoon. That could clear things up a little bit. 
• A quarter of a million customers without power in North Texas? And a customer can equal a family. It could get cold inside pretty quickly. 
• I posted a tweet from Paris Hilton yesterday in wake of Nelson Mandela's death which read, "Your 'Have A Dream Speech' was so inspiring."  I took it down when I found out it was fake. 
• The amazing lights on the Omni Hotel in Dallas transformed into a South African flag last night. That can't be done on the fly, can it?
• Crazy footage of an underground fire in downtown Dallas with flames leaping out. No one seems overly concerned with 15 foot flames leaping into the air by a hotel. 
• There's a new managing partner of the massive law firm of Baker and Botts in Houston. I may be wrong, but doesn't he have Decatur ties? I do know that I graduated law school with him -- I'm guessing he's doing a little better than I am. 
• Spent the pre-dawn minutes cleaning off the trampoline of ice since it looked like it would collapse. What a beating. Had to take a hammer to break it up. And those chunks were heavy.
• Wise Countian Michelle Perry had one of her ice photos make it on to Fox 4 this morning.
• We bought an electrical train to go around the Christmas tree. It started up by itself this morning. Hello, Ghosts of Christmas Present. 
• The unemployment rate falls to 7.0% this morning. Wordkyle in three, two, . . . 
• I watched The Football Life documentary on the Cowboys offensive line in the 1990s called The Great Wall of Dallas -- a nickname that never existed. The show reminded me of a saying I heard once: "Qualities that make someone a great football player are also qualities that should eventually be outgrown."
• I ended up watching two of the three hour live performance of The Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood last night on NBC. Not bad. (Then I learned that Captain Von Tropp was a big vampire player in True Blood). I kept waiting for some major flub but it never happened. 
• Watching people stuck in traffic on Fox 4 this morning is a guilty (and I do mean guilty) pleasure.
• I made myself instant hot chocolate this morning. The Fifth Grader In The House was afraid I didn't know what I was doing.
• In case we make it to the Baylor game, Mrs. LL bought me a sweater to wear underneath my jacket or other layers. It was burnt orange. She registered shock when I pointed it out  - "It was the closest thing to gold I could find!" Either she is color blind or something wicked this way come. 

Talk About A Winter Storm Warning

Johnny Manziel turns 21 at midnight. God help us all. pic.twitter.com/VK4Tj2Jcw1
— LostLettermen.com (@LostLettermen) December 5, 2013

Panic From The National Weather Service In Fort Worth

Freezing rain and sleet starting to accumulate on cars in SW Wise Co. #icestorm #txwx pic.twitter.com/viJkq3imfS
— NWS Fort Worth (@NWSFortWorth) December 5, 2013

Well, That Was Deleted Fast

Posted moments after it was announced that the Florida State QB would not be charged.

The News, The Law, And Tragedy

A tragic story. A guy blows through a red light on a Dallas street while drunk and kills the other driver, his passenger (after she was in a coma for 400 days), and the unborn child of the passenger.

He pled guilty to "three counts" of Intoxication Manslaughter. Three? Yep. Texas criminal law states that an "individual" is "a human being who is alive, including an unborn child at every stage of gestation from fertilization until birth."  So he caused three deaths in the eyes of the Texas Penal Code.

He agreed to a plea bargain of 15 years.

The story read: For all three deaths, Price will serve 15 years. The maximum he could have received was 20. He pled guilty to three counts of intoxication manslaughter as part of a plea deal agreed upon by each family involved. 

Now a portion of that is inaccurate. The maximum he could have received for each death is 20 years (a very real possibility because of these horrific facts.) But then it would be up to the judge to decide if he wanted to stack the sentences or run them concurrently.  There is nothing procedurally the Defendant could do to keep that decision out of the hands of a judge.

And the story is silent as to whether there was a "deadly weapon" finding as part of the plea bargain. If there is, he would have to serve at least half of the sentence. If not, the parole laws would allow him get out much sooner. (But, based upon experience, the parole board might keep him in there for well over half of the sentence even without a deadly weapon finding. It's hard to predict. Horrible facts and family members constantly dogging the parole board can lead to a longer incarceration.)

Presidential Dog Knocks Down Little Girl

Originally I had thought that this was Bo (from Boyd) and was prepared to say, "Take him to Tater Junction and he's fine. Put him in some high tone setting and he busts up a little girl. You can take the dog out of the country, but not the country out of the dog."

Then the whole thing was ruined when I found out that this wasn't Bo but their new dog Sunny.  A Wise County dog can be with the First Family for five years without causing a single incident but this new mutt causes chaos right away?  This country is messed up!

Random Thursday Morning Thoughts

• Exclusive News Flash: It's cold!!!
• High school playoff football games are in a bad way. If icy rain starts falling this afternoon you can't play tonight -- you simply can't have those buses on the roads -- and tomorrow sounds out of the question. With another round of bad weather coming in Saturday, we've got scheduling chaos. Chaos, I tell you!
• I'd cancel that Children’s Medical Center Holiday Parade in Dallas on Saturday.
• In a press release, DPS said, " "In preparation for this winter storm, the governor has activated the Texas Military Forces".  Didn't even know Texas had an army. 
• It drives me nuts when any government agency or media outlets provides "tips" for handling the newest Arctic Blast. I can sum all of them up: "Don't be an idiot."
• The DA in Tallahassee will hold a press conference today to announce whether charges will be filed against Florida State quarterback and Heisman favorite Jameis Winston. Can you say media ho? I've never heard of a DA holding a press conference to say charges will be filed. Instead, you simply arrest the guy. There is a 99% chance the announcement will be that charges will not be filed -- an announcement that could have been handled through a press release. 
• If I can get to the Baylor game, I will. Mrs. LL has proclaimed she'll go to. It would be a heck of a beating and a heck of a memory. 
• 81 comments blasting Richie Whitt for charging $5 a month to have access to his blog. 
• CNN is airing a documentary tonight on the wrongfully imprisoned Michael Morton. 
• Bob Sturm of The Ticket is in Guatemala this week for an annual pilgrimage where he and a group of men go to visit and bring supplies to orphanages. Makes me feel fairly worthless. But always inspiring. 
• With all the fantastic GPS systems built into smart phones now, that Garmin GPS company has to be in trouble, right? 
• I don't have a strong opinion on global warming, but I always shake my head at those who think four days of extremely cold weather conclusively proves it doesn't exist. (And you didn't hear much from those knuckleheads during that unbearable summer heat a couple of years back.) 
• So far the Elf on the Shelf has been fishing in the sink (with those gold fish food thingys), swung from a suspended trapeze, flown a suspended paper airplane, and gotten into the candy bowl (complete with empty wrappers around and chocolate on its mouth.)
• Saw a report the other day that Twitter was for kids and Facebook is now for adults. Could not disagree more. 
• I'd never get upset over a public school having only a "Winter Party" instead of a "Christmas Party". I would be upset if I was Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu and my kid was required to attend a government sponsored "Christmas Party". 
• Read the Update item entitled: "SUSPECT LEADS INVESTIGATORS TO BODY". Uh, an "anvil"? 

Above The Fold

At 3:12 PM, It Became Official: Iceageddon

The National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm Warning for Wise County and other parts of North Texas beginning at noon tomorrow until 6:00 p.m. Friday. (The area in pink is part of the warning as it will exist at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow and covers more counties including the metroplex and beyond.)

Of course, they did that for the weekend before Thanksgiving but then backed off.

But this time is different. Because it just is. We may not survive.

Edit: Dang it, I deleted a comment accidentally which inquired about "Good luck, we're all counting on you". Answer: It's an Airplane reference.

Old Guy Kicks Arizona State Bro In The Face

Hey, I'm against violence. But I'm gonna presume that college kid did something to deserve this kick to the chin by a senior citizen.

And talk about perfect execution. It's like something right out of Kill Bill.

They Don't Even Need The Public To Arrest Now

More.

Channeling Harold Taft: Why This Graphic Cannot Be Correct

Staying Cold Into Next Week... pic.twitter.com/E0GAC5FrP5
— WFAA TV (@wfaachannel8) December 4, 2013

Ok, we all should know how a "daily high" and a "daily low" works. It's all based on midnight to midnight. So sometimes you'll hear a brain dead radio weatherman say, for example, that the "high tomorrow will be 65 with a low of 28." But when you walk out of the house the next morning you are hit with 40 degrees and blue northern. However, the weatherman was technically correct: At midnight it had been 65. That was, in fact, the day's high. What he didn't tell you was that the temperatures would plummet after midnight until it reaches 28 at 11:59 p.m.

So let's look at this graphic. On Thursday at 11:59 p.m., we know from the graphic that the temperature is predicted to be somewhere between 39-40.  But on Friday, which begins at midnight + 1 second after Thursday, the range is 30-28.