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Monday, November 7. 2011

"This is only a test... (we hope!)"

Have you heard about this?

Nationwide Emergency Alert System Test Scheduled for Nov. 9

In brief, it's the old "This is a test of the emergency broadcast system" routine for radio & TV, albeit on a nationwide scale for the first time. The big dif is that the usual test lasts for a minute, whereas this is going to last for more than three.

Since I don't own a TV or have a radio handy, my only question is whether or not those loud emergency sirens are going to light off. We have a Coast Guard station not far from here and I presume they have one. After four articles, all I could come up with was this:

The test does not affect any planned tests of local outdoor warning siren systems or 911 callback systems.

Which doesn't really answer the question, in the sense that they could be planning on testing the sirens at the same time. You would think they'd want to, given the opportunity. But if they do light off those suckers, imagine the people who are unaware of the test and think it's just another 1-minute drill. And then it keeps going... and going. What a surprise when they suddenly conclude that there actually is a nuclear missile on the way.

Of course, if the Russians have planned their missile attack to coincide with the test (an insidiously clever plot, to be sure) and there really is a nuclear missile headed your way, simply do as we did in our school drills back in the 60's and crawl under your desk.

You'll be just fine.

Posted by Dr. Mercury in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 09:00 | Comments (45) | Trackbacks (0)

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Whew, good to know about. I'll have to stream Rush that day, unless they take over the intertubes too.

#1 rhhardin (Link) on 2011-11-07 10:43 (Reply)

They have been announcing this on NOAA NWS stations for two solid weeks - good lord.

You know, if one were a conspiracy theorist, which I am not, one could posit that this is a test for the eventual declaration of Marshall Law by the Obama Administration when the OWS crowd starts to get out of control. President for Life (or The Duration) might just appeal to Obama.

#2 Tom Francis on 2011-11-07 10:51 (Reply)

I've heard nothing about the sirens and I have one that rattles the windows on the first Wed of the month. It's is the run, run for your life, nuclear plant warning signal.

That thing goes off without warning and we'll not see people looking the sky but testing out those evac routes.

#3 JKB on 2011-11-07 11:17 (Reply)

A related story: When I was about fifteen, an ambulance went screaming down the street, the first one I ever heard using the European eeee-woooo type of siren. For the mid-60's, it sounded more like an alien space ship than anything else.

People ran out of the stores looking up.

#4 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-07 12:18 (Reply)

It would be nice if they'd just quit crying wolf and have a nice emergency.

#5 Jewel (Link) on 2011-11-07 12:36 (Reply)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5a92SdEhh94

Glenn Beck holds forth on the test.

#6 buddy larsen on 2011-11-07 13:52 (Reply)

Buddy -

BTW, can you please copy & paste the example embedding template into your reply so I can see what it looks like? As I noted before, although the template line doesn't go anywhere, it still links the word, and I remain curious about the problem on your end. (The computer one, not the, uh, other one) And, at very least, you could just put a (url) in front of the link and an (/url) after it (using square brackets rather than parentheses) so people can click on it. How many go to the bother of cutting & pasting a link into a fresh browser, 1 in 25?

Dear Glenn:

1. Only a few stations are part of the EBS. I would have thought you'd have known that, given a collective experience of over 100 years.

2. The ability for a tyrannical government to "take over" radio stations has been in place for a long time. I'm sure you knew that, too.

3. Who the hell's even going to notice? Who's watching TV or listening to the radio from 11 to 2 in the middle of the day? Buncha housewives watching soaps and factory workers with a radio playing in the background?

4. The reason we do this, Glenn, is to TEST out the SYSTEM in case there's a real EMERGENCY and important information needs to be BROADCAST to the public. Note the carefully-couched key words, Glenn.

5. The reason we're testing this in the middle of the day, Glenn, rather than at midnight, is because (1) a bunch of people will be needed to monitor things and people tend to work better in what are often called "working hours", and (2) in theory the loud sirens should also be employed so as to test the parts, and for some reason things like that just sound much louder and scarier at midnight.

6. It would stand to reason that a number of people in the EBS system wouldn't know exactly what's going to be displayed on the TV screen. That's just a departmental decision.

7. Maybe it's just me, but I'm pretty sure all of those terrible things going on around the world can hold off being even more terrible for a quick three minutes.

Glenn, see someone about that condition of yours. Remember your "Mid-Life Crisis Tour" around the US, when you actually went through your own mid-life crisis at the time and went from being a casual on-air guy in sweaters to wearing business suits? Remember that? That's when it started. Check the medical records and starting using the medication you used before going on that tour.

Thanks in advance for taking my good advice,
Doc

#6.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-07 14:23 (Reply)

Apparently, this is the first time EVAH that broadcasters have no choice nor control over the test --the program will bypass all controls --other than the control a station could have in just taking itself off the air.

#7 buddy larsen on 2011-11-07 13:58 (Reply)

Say, have you met my good friend, Tom? He's real into conspiracy theories. He says Obama is behind this and will be using the OWSies as an excuse for him and his jackbooted thugs to take control of every aspect of our lives, starting with the media on Wednesday. Of course, just how taking over the TV and radio would have any affect on our actual lives has yet to be determined, but I'm sure it'll be awful when it's time for the football game and all we get on every channel are government propagandists.

Did you see 'V For Vendetta'? According to Master Conspiracist Tom, it all starts Thursday. I was thinking of bringing a picnic basket. You?

#7.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-07 14:33 (Reply)

This might be a useful addition to the conversation:

http://twowheeledmadwoman.blogspot.com/2011/10/national-eas-again.html

#8 Mike James on 2011-11-07 14:25 (Reply)

Excellent contribution, Mike.

QUOTE:

At the most invasive, EAS hardware can include an "interrupt box" that grabs the audio going to the transmitter. That's all the control it's got; the station could beat it with a patch cord or, at worst, a pair of side-cutters.

But it hasn't even got that much control; the devices can be operated in "automatic" or "manual." Most are kept in manual because in automatic, when they get an alert for their area or a relayable test, they do just "take over," no matter what might be on the air, even commercials. This is not what you would call acceptable, if those commercials paid your salary, and unless the station is low-budget or had ijits at the controls (hey, they work cheap!), it's better to run the EAS box in manual; then when tests or alerts come in, only the d00d in the control room hears them and, at the end of that commercial or hot hit tune, he or she pushes the magic "manual forward" button to play it on the air.

I sure hope Master Conspiracist Tom Francis (not to mention Junior Conspiracist First Rank Buddy Larsen) isn't heartbroken. I was really pulling for you, guys!

#8.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-07 14:40 (Reply)

Go ahead laugh - you'll see.

#8.1.1 Tom Francis on 2011-11-07 19:27 (Reply)

Merc, have you heard the one about this group of pols who took over the most culture-aware country in the whole world? They say it happened in the 1930s, in Germany, and that after they got to a certain point, they started wearing black uniforms with skull accessories in silver and they flew a broken-cross red and black flag and they set up an entire new industry that captured people and herded them together and gassed them to death? And that it took a five-year maximum effort by the whole rest of the world to make them stop doing all that? And 60,000,000 people got kilt? I know, it sounds crazy, but i swear i hear about it a lot --a lot of folks believe it's true! But not me --i'm no fool!

===

...thanks for link tip --prob must be on my end --the computer, i mean. I do the [-url]xxxxx[/-url] without the two dashes almost every time i toss a link in. Once out of ten it works --the other nine i get the red letters and can retry til the cows come home with no change.

#9 buddy larsen on 2011-11-07 15:57 (Reply)

Oh, are you talking about that "Hitler" guy? What a wimp. Only knocked off 6 million Jews. Hell, Mussolini knocked off 7 million Chechs and Poles, and king of the heap would have to be Hirohito, who rubbed out 13 million Chinese. Made the Eurotrash look like pikers, he did.

Anyway, as I said, I don't own a TV or have a portable radio, so I'm afraid I'm going to miss out on the upcoming government takeover. Will you send me a postcard, let me know how you're doing in the 'psychological internment' camp' you'll be living in? It sounds like hell.

And okay, I won't bug you about the embedded links thing again. As one of our most long-time commenters, and certainly one with a fresh, vibrant viewpoint (even if the children do have to be rushed out of the room first), I care that you shine your very best. But at least do the (url) thing, slacker.

#9.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-07 16:15 (Reply)

Ahh...at the bottom of the sarchasm li totes, strewn with abandon --

Doc, trust me, these people --this admin --is different --than any we have ever had before. The only chance we have to finesse what it has in mind is to try to figure out enough of what it is doing to publicize and hope thereby to shut down a few of its attack lines. It withdrew cap n trade, for example, because folks were screaming about the bulldozing thru of stimulouse & obamacarrion.

===

--and Merc, not trying to gull ya, i DO try (to repeat my previous cormerant) to use the hyperlink. 90% of the time, moro less, I get the red letters. And try again. and get scarlet letters again. And again, and so forth, until i dee leet the [url] and the [/url] in which event it will post.

I've tried it over and over and over, a hundred times and more, over the years.

If there is a slacker in the neighborhood, maybe it's whomever wrote the program and now proudly insists that it works fine but for the idiots who try to use it by following the instructions to the letter.

Never admit it has a bug (a bug in my case tantamount to, say, a nice new car perfect except for it's missing its interior and exterior).

:-(

#9.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-07 23:08 (Reply)

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In reply to [ Top level ]#1: rhhardin on 2011-11-07 10:43 #2: Tom Francis on 2011-11-07 10:51 #3: JKB on 2011-11-07 11:17 #4: Dr. Mercury on 2011-11-07 12:18 #5: Jewel on 2011-11-07 12:36 #6: buddy larsen on 2011-11-07 13:52 #6.1: Dr. Mercury on 2011-11-07 14:23 #7: buddy larsen on 2011-11-07 13:58 #7.1: Dr. Mercury on 2011-11-07 14:33 #8: Mike James on 2011-11-07 14:25 #8.1: Dr. Mercury on 2011-11-07 14:40 #8.1.1: Tom Francis on 2011-11-07 19:27 #9: buddy larsen on 2011-11-07 15:57 #9.1: Dr. Mercury on 2011-11-07 16:15 #9.1.1: buddy larsen on 2011-11-07 23:08
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===

Merc, that's a copy/paste of the screen i had just had up (boy, we're really giving recursive thinking a workout here).

#10 buddy larsen on 2011-11-07 23:36 (Reply)

Long ago, in Hawaii, the NWS office had a radio link to the civil defense for hurricanes and such. A few years go by till once the power was off and it is discovered that when they installed it, they forgot the connect the back up batteries.

Is the President visiting Mount Thunder? Reverse the rolls and you might be on to something.

#11 JKB on 2011-11-08 00:32 (Reply)

That film makes me wonder, what if you had obsessive/compulsive disorder and amnesia at the same time?

There's something you've just GOT to keep doing, but since you can't remember what it is, of course you can't keep doing it.

At that point, are you cured?

Or, another example, these two guys are following orders. But one of them has begun to wonder if those orders might have been premised on something other than the current situation:

http://www.cartoons.ac.uk/record/82157

+++

Just think, if the director had --during Frederick March's rebuttal of Burt Lancaster's accusation --kept the voice going in voice-over as the face faded into, and then back out of, five or ten seconds of the May Day parade in Red Square, the entire movie would have flipped politically end over end.

But having ignored any peroration on what Lancaster was so upset about, the film opines that the only enemy worth screen time is Burt Lancaster and the Lancastrian forces. In the War of the Knows-is. What March knows is the American system, what Lancaster knows is the Soviet system.

Lincoln faced the same situation, where Constitution demanded Habeas Corpus in a situation where HC might kill the Constitution that demands it. Lincoln resolved in the Lancaster manner, suspending the writ and explaining that it was his belief that the Founders had not intended the Constitution to be a suicide pact.

That's why one reads so often in Civil War history of Lincoln's adversaries (whether Confederate, Copperhead, Borderer, or Passivist) calling him a 'tyrant'. In those days, the word was less associated with totalism and dictatorism, and more with a simple usurper who has over-reached his mandate.

during his soliloqouy into five or ten seconds of the May Day military parade in Moscow, then faded back in to Frederick March concluding his rebuttal of Burt Lancaster's accusationinserted fifteen seconds of footage

#11.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-08 07:11 (Reply)

...oops --meant to delete that last part --couldn't spell soliloquoy so mashed the whole para frag downward --then forgot it was there --sorry --

#11.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-08 07:16 (Reply)

"couldn't spell soliloquoy"

Still can't, just to note. :) Why don't you use Firefox with it's built-in spell-checker? If it underlines a mixspeled word, you click on it with the right mouse button and it'll let you select the correct spelling from a list of similarly-spelled words.

Or, in lieu of that, go dig up ieSpell for Internet Exploder. It doesn't check it in real-time (it puts a button on the tool bar) but at least it's easier than hauling out a dictionary.

#11.1.1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-08 07:21 (Reply)

Oh if only i HAD a dictionery! No i have to saddle the mule & ride over t'Spooky Holler and muck stalls afore the Parson Weems will let me lookit hisn

#11.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-08 10:57 (Reply)

Oh if only i HAD a dictionery!

Fixed that for you. :)

#11.1.1.1.1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-08 11:36 (Reply)

Merc, if you're sleuthing that bug, note the #10 --what i copied was the text of the rejected message --but what pasted was not what i had copied --in the paste, that is to say in comment #10, the stupid code decided (in an act of not-unexpected perversity) to function.

#12 buddy larsen on 2011-11-08 11:13 (Reply)

"the stupid code decided (in an act of not-unexpected perversity) to function."

I hate it when that happens. As far as it changing the pasted text, it's supposed to if it sees a snippet of actual code. That's why I've been using parentheses for my examples. If I said "Try using to start bold text and to stop it", well, you see the problem. In the editor, the example code reads just fine as I type it, but it'll actually be used as code when published.

"If there is a slacker in the neighborhood, maybe it's whomever wrote the program and now proudly insists that it works fine but for the idiots idiot who tries to use it by following the instructions to the letter."

Fixed that for you. No one else has ever complained about it. Here's "following the instructions to the letter":

text

That's a direct paste from the instructions. Hey, baby, can I text you? The template is the same used by all PHP-based blog sites, nobody 'wrote' it.

#12.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-08 11:34 (Reply)

No one else has ever complained about it

Merc, had i never seen other complaints, i'd never have brought up the topic. But others have complained. At least two. I marked the memory, recall the thought, "well, good, it snot just me".

#12.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-08 12:21 (Reply)

I seem to be surrounded by literalists lately.

No one else has complained about it to me.

#12.1.1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-08 13:09 (Reply)

well, there ya go. We have distinguished a distinction.

Anyhoo, you've been helpful and --as any enthusiasm at all is rare when reaching WAY down into the computer-challenged community --for that deserve a clarion thanks from down here amidst the grumble of what must sound unfortunately like that hyena of the vices, ingratitude.

I'll probably continue to complain from time to time, as my mind continues to calve slabs of IQ.

#12.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-08 14:58 (Reply)

"as my mind continues to calve slabs of IQ."

Well, ice shelves have the same problem, and they seem to make it through, so don't worry about it. If the pain persists, take two frozen aspirins and call me in the morning.

(They don't call him "Dr." for nuthin'!)

#12.1.1.1.1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-08 15:14 (Reply)

By golly, you were right!

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=2288

(uhh, the xxxx config was declined by Spamic the Red)

#12.1.1.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-08 15:27 (Reply)

The Larsen Ice Shelf was named after YOU?

So, you're the one causing global warming, is that it?

Thanks for screwing everything up.

#12.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-08 17:02 (Reply)

well i had a unhappy childhood and am just getting even

#12.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-08 22:02 (Reply)

Ah, well, that's different. The need for revenge is a natural human trait, so if destroying the world is what it takes, well, I'm all for it. As I always say, "People first, quaint esoteric notions like 'the world' second."

So, today's the day! If I were the Russkies, I'd be very excited. The Russians are a patient people, so in 20,000 years when things cool down, this place should be a real gold mine for them. Maybe we should use Google Translator to make little notes to leave around, like "Enjoy!" and "I really had fun in this country, hope you do, too!" Be neighborly, in other words. It seems like the least we can do. Nobody likes a poor loser.

#12.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-09 03:28 (Reply)

Google Translator is great idea --put a sign on the toilet, "pull lever to wash potatos"

#12.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-09 10:37 (Reply)

...that should have been ''memory'' --not IQ --of that, some shavings maybe but slabs hardly.

#12.1.1.1.1.2 buddy larsen on 2011-11-08 15:20 (Reply)

But seriously, Merc, take a scan.

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/06/New-START-Potemkin-Village-Verification

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17518

===

hyperlink? tried this comment a dozen times. Irk the Red lettered every one.

#13 buddy larsen on 2011-11-09 11:17 (Reply)

"But seriously, Merc, take a scan."

Okay, I did, and it was quite revealing.

"The Obama Administration is the only U.S. government since the Reagan Administration that has..."

So, in other words, all those times Obama has compared himself to Reagan, he was right?

What a blog post this is going to make! Thanks!

"tried this comment a dozen times. Irk the Red lettered every one."

I imagine it's my fault, when I wrote the webmaster and instructed him "Just automatically reject any comment from someone who doesn't use capital letters for his name. I just hate that e.e. cummings crap!" Too late to change it now, I guess. Coding only has a 30-day period where it can be altered, then the entire drive is coated with epoxy resin to protect it from viruses. Just do the (url) thing and fuggedaboutit.

#13.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-09 11:27 (Reply)

not ee cummings, just gnarled old oilfield hands that hit two keys allatime asmnuyweasuy.

http://thespiritoftruth.blogspot.com/2009/05/russias-secret-war-plans.html

===

Just do the (url) thing and fuggedaboutit

MERC! If i did that, you'd never know it, because ...it would not post.

That's the whole point!

Epoxy resin --make those viruses varnish!

#13.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-09 13:15 (Reply)

"If i did that, you'd never know it, because ...it would not post."

You did it just the other day. I wasn't referring to embedding the link, just making it active by putting a (url) in front of it and a (/url) after it. That makes it clickonable. As I said the other day, how many people are going to bother doing a cut & paste? Not I, usually.

"Epoxy resin --make those viruses varnish!"

Then do it to your nagging wife, whether you lacquer or not!

#14 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-09 13:22 (Reply)

LOL --for the great ly terrible pun i'll forgive the crazy-making fact that what you are recommending i do as the EZ fallback way of making a clicky link, is PREcisELy what i have been trying to TeLL you ALL this whole thread is the method that works about one try out of ten --or just often enough to convince you that the other 9 non-clickies are artifacts of sloth.

Either i can't write clearly, or you are having a series of small strokes.

I'll send a jpg of a screen grab to HQ , you can see what i've been trine & trine ta say.

Czech your email tomorry midmorning, subject line "Helping Poor Ole Doc Merc Comprehend"

#14.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-10 00:28 (Reply)

Don't bother. I thought the only problem was with embedding. If it's not working (or is being rejected) with just the (url) routine, there's nothing I can do or suggest.

#14.1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-10 03:59 (Reply)

"I...I have spent...my entire life...fortune...abandoned all I held dear, oh Guru, in a search...for you...to tell me 'What is the Meaning of Life'...and now finally at long long last...we are together...I lay aged, exhausted, dying on the floor of your cave...high on a Himilayan mountaintop...and you answer my question with 'Life is a RIVER' ?"

>>"Okay okay, Pilgrim, 'Life is not a River', then."

#14.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-10 05:28 (Reply)

"Awright, awright, break up the existential crap. Nothin' to see, folks, move along, move along."

- Doc Murky trying to thwart the first #OCCUPYMAGGIES rally.

#14.1.1.1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-10 05:43 (Reply)

''Pyre to the People!''

#14.1.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-10 11:46 (Reply)

"WE WANT PEACE!! WE WANT PEACE!!"

(holding up Mercedes symbol)

#14.1.1.1.1.1.1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2011-11-10 11:49 (Reply)

...at the end of the demonstration, Father Coughflim the auto-annointed guardian angel of produce workers, held a prayer service, "Lettuce Spray," he began....

#14.1.1.1.1.1.1.1 buddy larsen on 2011-11-12 04:08 (Reply)

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Monday, November 7. 2011

"This is only a test... (we hope!)"