Jellyfish Sprite

Red sprites or the tentacle-like spurts of red lightning in the sky during a storm are sometimes referred to as Jellyfish Sprite (because of their shape). There are also some that are vertical columns of red light and those are called carrot sprites.

They are ultra fast electricity traveling through the atmosphere towards space and are extremely rare (they last a tenth of a second). They can also be seen from space.

The picture above was captured on Mt. Locke in Texas (July 2nd, 2020) by Stephen Hummel.

Antwerp Diamond Heist of 2003

Dubbed “the heist of the century,” the Antwerp Diamon Heist remains unsolved to this day. The heist involved the taking of loose diamonds, gold, and other jewelry valued at more than $100 million. It is considered the largest diamond heist in history.

It was housed in a vault considered to be one of the safest vaults in the world which had numerous secturity mechanisms.

• Lock with over 100 million combinations
• Infared heat detectors
• A seismic sensor
• Doppler radar
• The diamond center itself had a security force

A man named Leonardo Notarbartolo (man suspected of doing this) had rented a sparsely furnished office for approximately $700 per month in the diamond centre three years prior to the robbery which gave him 24hr access to the vault. He posed as an Italian diamond merchant in order to gain creditbility.

After the robbery Leonardo and his crew stole the security footage so no one really knows how they pulled this off or who the rest of Leonardo’s team was. 123/160 safety deposit boxes (which were made of steel and copper and had both a key and combination lock) were forced open. This is what the diamon center’s vault looked like after the robbery.

(via daily timewaster: The airship Le Jaune by the LeBaudy brothers glides by the Eiffel Tower in 1903)

1978 cover art by Bruce Pennington for ‘The Heaven Makers,’ by Frank Herbert