I'm on a rant..

WTF... Once again, the Press has to sensationalize a routine Nor'Eastern Blizzard into a colossal Armageddon like disaster, as if the world will implode.

Been there done that... 18" of the white stuff, shoveled like last year, and the year before.. etc.. etc. I admit, somewhere in one of those piles in my front yard is my arse buried from shoveling, but really.. Storm of the Century??? Come'on man. It's 18 freakin' inches.. we got more last year.. and the year before.. Buffalo got 7 feet dumped on them in one night. They're still alive.. but now they have Rex Ryan. Oh well...

New words the Press has made up for typical North Atlantic weather I've seen since birth.
Super Storm - a freakin' Hurricane... we get them.. we get them often... we get our arses kicked.
Nor'Easter - a decent storm.. strong winds, lots of rain - usually happens in November - January then March - April. Trees fall because the ground is usually saturated, otherwise it's just a normal storm. No news to report.
Polar Vortex - WTF?? Jeeze, it's just cold air. The Jet Stream drops a little. It's not like Canada has imploded and is pulling in the Tri-State area with it. It's winter.. it gets cold.. real cold.. wow.. rocket science.
Storm of the Century - it's a blizzard.. that's all.. a blizzard... we get them every year. Jeeze... it lasts 1 day, usually sunny the next...followed by the dreaded Polar Vortx. No power lost.. nothing. Just a lot of blowing snow. Been gettin' 'em for Centuries.
El Nino - Some crazy arsed phenomenon that happens in Mexico... has nothing to do with us here in the NE... it gets hot and humid every summer. Been that way for ages.. why we have to name it after a small child, I have no idea.
La Nina - His sister.. I don't know.. girls get pissed when they're not included. WTF.. now we have La Nina.. my sisters name is Nina.. she drove many a man to drink... I get it..
Dog Days of Summer - Huh?? This is the last few weeks of Summer that is usually hot as hell. If I was a dog, I'd shave myself and sit in a fountain for weeks. Nothing dog about it. A dog is man's best friend.. not three weeks of 100% Humidity, 95 Deg and Hazy. So hot you can't sweat or cool off. So hot that I toss my wife out of the bed and sleep with the Air Conditioner by my side. Why place a black mark like that on a fun, furry friend?? What the hell is wrong with these people??
Indian Summer - Non-Politically correct description for an extended summer, usually lasts into late October. By then you are hating summer as it screws up Halloween. Can't wear a cool costume if you're dripping with sweat. What is has to do with the American Indian, I don't know, but I imaging since we can't call the Washington Redskins, the Redskins, I assume the Indian Summers will end soon as well.

And there are more I missed for sure..

Heh, I hear Bahstun is getting slammed though!

LOL



LOL!!!

Hahahahaha!!! Mmuahahahahahaaa!!!
Wonderful rant, OvS - I hope a weight is off yer heart now!

Our private TV channels are following more and more that American way of kooky news reports.
I stopped watching them. Hell, what low-evel IQ do they think we have?
They are breeding mutant couch potatoes who wouldn't even wink if a gasoline truck would run
right into their house - they'd try to become part of the show and get interviewed!

News media = a business designed to make money by sensationalizing everything.
Remember that and you will understand everything they do.
Why I don't watch it.

Uhm ... as someone with a masters degree in climatology, dare I point out that 'Polar Vortex', does have have a genuine meaning in climate studies to describe fairly continual circulation patterns around the poles. It is, however, just the sort of term the press likes to abuse and misuse when they get hold of it ... which is also annoying.

Agreed, Duke. Loved it, OvS, and 100% agreed. Olham, I apologize on behalf of all intelligent Americans (and me, too!) for inflicting the mind-numbing garbage that is 99.98% of American TV, on those that we call "friends".

It's like this in almost all facets of American discourse, and it makes me sick. Everything is sure to cause apocalyptic consequences; Party "A"'s proposal will end freedom as we know it; Party "B" will bankrupt the country, and there is not intelligent conversation to be had.

If a man is guilty of the slightest mishap, he is black at heart, the incarnation of Satan himself; if someone says "be careful" to an old lady as she is about to cross the street, they're ready to give them a gold medal for heroism, and treat them as though they'd swam her from the sinking Titanic all the way to New York harbor on their back.

It's a shameless grab to get your attention (and money) everywhere you turn, and if not that, they'd rather be safe and predict too much (and grab viewers), than under-predict and get blamed for killing women and children.

To understand so much of American life these days, you simply have to follow the money. It's nauseating.

Oh, it seems to me that our private channels follow American TV by their own choice - not your fault.
The USA are always the big example.
Fortunately, some of our channels show other sides of America, which are more worth exploring.

Thank you, but what gets me is how little choice the consumer seems to have, both in your country and mine. Our cable bills fund this commercial-laden junk. We have to pay for 100 channels of garbage just to get at the few that actually have something worth watching - if you can even find it to know that it's being televised. The "noise level" is just too high - or maybe I should say, it's like trying to find choice seashells while a tsumami of flotsam and debris is rushing by.

And I'd rather be WOFF'ing, anyway - I don't have time enough for a flight or a quick TV program, either!

I can deal with the 7 feet of snow, but not Rex Ryan.
The Bills have enough troubles

My employer was expecting the worst, and took major steps to mitigate the damage if it came to that. The potential is/was there to inflict a great deal of pain and inconvenience to major population centers.

Sorry you're getting "spun up" over this...as Douglas Adams wrote in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...Don't Panic!

You have to realize that there's a vast difference between American News and European News. In Europe, the news is designed to inform; in America it's to entertain. If you counted the number of words spoken in a half hour newscast (including the commercials) you'd barely have enough to fill two full-length columns on the front page of a big city newspaper. This handful of words is scrambled up in dramatic music and pulsating, flashy computerized graphics and read to you (off a Tele-Prompter) by two attractive people. Always a man and a woman. He says one or two sentences, then she says, then he. These are not journalists. They have not investigated and written the stories. They are actors. I call them 'The-Pretty-People-Who-Read-You-The-Headlines". Everything is reported with breathless intensity. Every event stands on the tipping point of disaster. The more important a story is, the closer it's placed to the end of the broadcast so you have to watch 28 minutes of garbage to get 2 minutes of what you may be interested in. Were it otherwise, you might turn it off, or, worse yet, change the channel. American TV News is almost indistinguishable from Game Shows. When the Malaysian Airliner disappeared, CNN became the laughing stock of TV News as they kept the story alive and at the forefront of their reporting, only to have to conclude (every evening) that there wasn't any new developments, in fact, nobody knew anything at all. But stay tuned, more on this at 11:00! (Cue Music!)

The European media are simply more plausible liars.

Well speaking of "pretty people" I do see the origin of the phrase "Fox News Hot"!
Except that's got nothing to do with the purpose of the news.
They will take one current news topic, sensationalize it for days and, when ratings drop slightly, switch the latest hot button issue and repeats endlessly.
It pains me to say this, as it was one of the founding battle cries of this country, but mass media - and I define that broadly - is going to be the ruin of the country. Sometimes I wonder if "free speech" is worth the decay it causes. Bet though the Founding Fathers never could have foreseen this circus. They would have thought the American people were too smart for such obvious stupidity but I guess they were wrong.
But it is just a symptom of a lot of other issues that I could fill pages with. The entitlement society, and the number of dregs it supports, is prime example #1. Don't get me going...I come here to relax.

It is called the "twenty-four hour news cycle". The "talking heads" have to stand out in the freezing cold snow storm to impress us with their bravery to earn their pay.

OlPaint

Eh...I'm just grumpy.
I am on a "business trip" all week and can't play WOFF till the weekend. I am usually too busy anyway to get much stick time in during the week but it's at least nice to have the possible option! Makes me feel better.
And with "free speech" it's all the way or not at all....unfortunately.

OVS, I am totally with you on this. I was just remarking to a friend at work today that in the Sixties we had what were called rain showers, remember? Now if there is a drop forecast it's called a storm! EEEEGADS!!!! They make big deal about a tenth of an inch. The bestest forecast is the Hawaii forecast, little mention of sun or rain, mainly it's about the surf.

to all of the above. Don't even get me started!!!

Man, I'm telling ya.

Screenshots! That's what we need!
Screenshots always cheer everyone up.
How bout it Dev's? How bout a couple from the secret "Every aircraft and squadron from 1914-18" patch?

LOL! Well at least I can sleep better knowing it's not just me that feels this way... LOL!

Yes, I know there is truly such a thing as a Polar Vortex, but does the general public need to use the term... we sound stupid trying to be smart.

And now back to WOFFing...