Thursday, September 04, 2008

Emergency Services

So, I'm watching Ferguson last week. Photobucket
I'm half asleep, when suddenly BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR only louder. And longer.

WTF

It almost knocked me off the couch. It was that stupid emergency broadcast alert. You know, the one "If this had been an actual emergency, you would have been told...blah, blah, blah.

Ok, what is the purpose of this friggin thing?

I live pretty close to Ground Zero in NYC. It's probably about 40 miles by car, and maybe half that by air.

September 11, 2001, I had friggin military helicopters flying over my house, that's how close I am. TV stations were knocked off the air, roads were closed, and railroads etc stopped running. And the stupid friggin emergency alert system didn't kick in. The Pentagon was attacked, planes were crashing everywhere, and my friends and neighbors were being killed.

I can assure you wholeheartedly, if that alarm ever does go off, I'm just going to sit in the corner and mess myself.

Photobucket

One of my humor blogging buddies, ettarose, has suffered tremendously as she lost all her feeds. She's like the Bo Peep of the blogging world. If you could find it in your heart to sign up for her blog by clicking below, you'll bring a smile to a fine young lady's face. A feed is a terrible thing to waste. Consider it your good deed of the day. And it is completely tax deductible. (ed. note: Do not take tax advice from an internet moron like Crochety. A feed has no value other than the self esteem raising value to the blogger. So, in a way, you are saving a life. That's a lot of really good karma.)


HUMOR BLOGGERS DOT COM

They always sign up for feeds at:
http://www.humorbloggers.com

14 comments:

Chat Blanc said...

your post appeared ever so magically in my Google Feed Reader so I had to come over right away and spread the goodnews---Crotchety's feed works perfectly!! Subscribe today! :)

AND, this is NOT a test. So get clicking people!

Da Old Man said...

@ Chat: Thank you so much. It does seem to be working right now. I'm so happy.

A New Yorker said...

SO with ya on the emergency broadcast crap! And anyone who doubts you on that it did not happen that day I can attest to it. I was working at a television station and it NEVER happened so stop waking us up!

Da Old Man said...

@ lauren: I can't imagine what would set that thing off.

HawgWyld said...

Here in Arkansas, the tornado sirens go off for a test every Wednesday at noon. Scares the right hell out of people who aren't from here.

Visit The Natural State Hawg!

Rubba said...

I heard Band Aid was gettin' back together to raise money and awareness of this problem. . .

'Spect "Feed the Feeds" to hit records store 'round crimmus time. . :-)

***This PSA brought to you by the EBS . . . This concludes this PSA of the EBS***

Bradley said...

I find the picture you posted much more frightening than ever hearing the Emergency Broadcast System. I don't watch television at all so I'm surprised to hear they still do that.

Unknown said...

That emergency broadcast system sound is one of the worst sounds I've ever heard.

It's so loud, you'd never hear the emergency message after the beeping stops. We're all deaf 10 minutes thereafter.

Da Old Man said...

@ The Hawg: Fortunately we don't have those (tornadoes are pretty rare here) plus in most of our cities, they would be drowned out by police sirens anyway.

@ Rubba: That would be so wonderful. Our poor feeds are malnourished.

@ Bradley: You're not missing much. Well, except for Redneck Weddings which may be the greatest show ever.

@ Jenn: What? I can't hear you. One was on a little while ago. Best part, when the signal goes on, it messes with the mute function of the TV. I have mine set to go to closed captioning if muted. So, when the test is on, I put the TV to mute until it's over. I noticed the closed captioning doesn't function at all. So, they should change the message. "If this was an actual emergency, all the deaf people are going to die."

Bill said...

Where I live in Canada, if the siren goes off, it will mean an accident at the nuclear plant. I'll be that guy in the diaper.

Subscribed today, you're too good to miss!

Kirsten said...

I guess I'll have to subscribe to this reader. I'm happy to help make the world a better place! Just call me Angelina. (But, the better looking one!)

Da Old Man said...

@ Bill: Yeah, I have a feeling, lots of us will have those diaper filling moments.

@ Kirsten: First person I think of trying to make the world a better place is you. Angelina is just a publicity whore.

Unknown said...

Ok i subscribed. I didn't know that we were doing this. I need to stop in more often, just been busy lately.

Anonymous said...

Well said.