(no subject)
According to an email I just received, there is a possibility of bad weather this afternoon. This scares me. Not because weather scares me, but because Kansas City weather people scare me. But I won't write about that, because if I ranted in my journal every time a member of the KC media annoyed me, you'd all delete me in about four hours.[1]
But to make things worse, Time Warner has recently made some changes to their cable system that freak me out. Somehow, they have found a way to patch emergency signals directly through to the DVR no matter what I am watching. So even if I'm watching something I recorded weeks ago, I will still get the little "This is a test" message scrolling at the bottom, and the audio signal pops in to tell me whatever they want to tell me. I don't really have a problem with that, it's actually kind of cool. Now. After the third time I see it, it will likely annoy me. But for now, it just seems cool.
The only problem is, they still haven't worked out all the kinks. The only time I've heard it, the audio track they used came through all slowed down. When you slow down a man's voice like that, it gets pretty weird. I wish I'd been able to record it and post it. But suffice it to say, it's a good thing he started with "This is a test of the emergency broadcast system". Because if he'd said there was a tornado coming, I'd probably still be cowering in the basement. In fact, his voice would not have sounded the least bit out of place if he'd started with "I am the Angel of Death. You have been judged unworthy. Prepare your soul."
Which, don't get me wrong, he didn't. I'm just saying, scary voice to have popping up on your TV, especially when you're watching something you know you recorded a week ago. :)
[1] Okay, I can't help it. The latest KC contribution to news reporting is the use of visual aids. Over the weekend, they had a story about some guys who broke into an auto parts place and beat an employee with an ax until he told them where the money was, stole a few thousands dollars in cash and then stole a truck and drove away in it. The truck even had an ID number that police could use to identify it. I can think of a couple of items in interest in this story. The fact that a guy got beat with an ax is kind of interesting. Stealing thousands of dollars is pretty good. Stealing a truck is good. The possibility of viewers being able to identify the truck is good. Heck, I even long for the good old days (which I hated at the time) where the reporter insists on standing in front of a closed auto parts story while he reports it.
But that's not how the story was reported this time. It started with "This is a set of keys." Because in the KC version, the thieves didn't steal a truck, they stole a set of keys and "used them to drive away in a truck." This allowed the reporter to read the story while jingling a set of keys in front of the camera. And to think I used to be exaggerating when I said the KC media treated us all like 4 month olds.
But to make things worse, Time Warner has recently made some changes to their cable system that freak me out. Somehow, they have found a way to patch emergency signals directly through to the DVR no matter what I am watching. So even if I'm watching something I recorded weeks ago, I will still get the little "This is a test" message scrolling at the bottom, and the audio signal pops in to tell me whatever they want to tell me. I don't really have a problem with that, it's actually kind of cool. Now. After the third time I see it, it will likely annoy me. But for now, it just seems cool.
The only problem is, they still haven't worked out all the kinks. The only time I've heard it, the audio track they used came through all slowed down. When you slow down a man's voice like that, it gets pretty weird. I wish I'd been able to record it and post it. But suffice it to say, it's a good thing he started with "This is a test of the emergency broadcast system". Because if he'd said there was a tornado coming, I'd probably still be cowering in the basement. In fact, his voice would not have sounded the least bit out of place if he'd started with "I am the Angel of Death. You have been judged unworthy. Prepare your soul."
Which, don't get me wrong, he didn't. I'm just saying, scary voice to have popping up on your TV, especially when you're watching something you know you recorded a week ago. :)
[1] Okay, I can't help it. The latest KC contribution to news reporting is the use of visual aids. Over the weekend, they had a story about some guys who broke into an auto parts place and beat an employee with an ax until he told them where the money was, stole a few thousands dollars in cash and then stole a truck and drove away in it. The truck even had an ID number that police could use to identify it. I can think of a couple of items in interest in this story. The fact that a guy got beat with an ax is kind of interesting. Stealing thousands of dollars is pretty good. Stealing a truck is good. The possibility of viewers being able to identify the truck is good. Heck, I even long for the good old days (which I hated at the time) where the reporter insists on standing in front of a closed auto parts story while he reports it.
But that's not how the story was reported this time. It started with "This is a set of keys." Because in the KC version, the thieves didn't steal a truck, they stole a set of keys and "used them to drive away in a truck." This allowed the reporter to read the story while jingling a set of keys in front of the camera. And to think I used to be exaggerating when I said the KC media treated us all like 4 month olds.