Friggin' Severe Weather Shelter & EAS

I feel safe at work. I'm sitting in a severe weather shelter just in case fire and brimstone were to fall from the sky. I guess people aren't messing around since those storms in Missouri.

Update: Poor folks who worked that evening had to spend more time in the severe weather shelter. In all it was almost 3 hours of time hiding while riding out the storm. I guess it's not so bad. There were 14 confirmed tornados in Indiana in Wednesday.

In a related note, Comcrap pisses me off. Every time a friggin warning was issued, it change the channel to the EAS warning. How f'n annoying.... especially since I was already watching the weather. In this case, it's the government, not Comcrap that did this. According to the FCC, the Emergency Alert System, is a required "feature".

"The EAS is a national public warning system that requires broadcasters, cable television systems, wireless cable systems, satellite digital audio radio service (SDARS) providers, and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) providers to provide the communications capability to the President to address the American public during a national emergency. The system also may be used by state and local authorities to deliver important emergency information, such as AMBER alerts and weather information targeted to specific areas."

What a load of crap. I don't mind getting the warning messages. I guess my beef is with the way Comcrap implemented this. Due to their "superior technology" they force a channel change to the EAS message until it's over. My Media Center PC does force EAS but it simply pops up a message and gives a scrolling banner. You can close it (except for the banner). Painful but not totally idiotic. Well, I guess I'll quit whining and wait for the the next Amber alert somewhere in my state or, better yet, for the President to address the next national emergency.