National Emergency Test

[drpaladin]

On Wednesday October 4th, there will be a test of the emergency warning system encompassing TV, radio, and cell phones.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-US/news/us/massive-emergency-alert-test-scheduled-to-hit-your-phone-on-wednesday-heres-what-to-know/ar-AA1hw2ZT?ocid=sapphireappshare

[JamesSavik]

So... is that when the coup starts, or when the Russians nuke us? Maybe they just use the 5G towers and microwave us all like popcorn.

These sorts of things make paranoid people... pensive.

Edited October 2, 2023 by JamesSavik
derp

[Zombie]

Until the 1990s in the UK they used to fire up the old WWII sirens every few months - about 7,000 of ‘em - to put the frighteners on the local populations
Now they just send a text message 
Not quite the same… 

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/history/14477826.last-cold-war-sirens/

[wildone]

We had those towers, but mainly around the two army bases in the city. Guess if you lived near the base and in the military, you were expected to come running and you couldn't say you didn't know  

I think they had them at CFB Cold Lake Air Force  base too. When they went off, moving anywhere on or off the base was challenging.

Let's hope they let all the Hawaiians know unlike a few years ago with the inbound missile attack! Those people are justifiably pensive  

Hope everything works as planned, and if not, they might know what to do for the future.

[drpaladin]

The damn thing just went off a little while ago. The phone alert was early.

[drpaladin]

It's cut my damn cable box off.

[Valkyrie]

6 hours ago, drpaladin said:

The damn thing just went off a little while ago. The phone alert was early.

Yup.  Scared the bejesus out of me   

6 hours ago, drpaladin said:

It's cut my damn cable box off.

Same here.  I was watching a recorded program on my DVR while I was doing paperwork, and it shut it off. The TV one scared me more than the phone!  

[Krista]

I was out and about at work, so all I got was the phone alert. And I just pressed okay and went about my business. We did have a nurse come back to the office laughing, because her devices all ran the alert and the client's television went off. She had forgotten all about it and until she read the text along with the alert thought all hell had broke loose. Her poor client is over eighty years old and restricted to a walker, I couldn't imagine what that looked like in that house at the time. And, I did come up on car accident around that time, and wondered if the alert caused it, but it was a minor accident and first responders were already showing up. 

[TalonRider]

My phone went off without a scare. Ten minutes later, the alarm went off on the TV. It didn't bother me as Comcast does alert testing once a week in my area. They also do a monthly alert.

 

[drpaladin]

4 minutes ago, TalonRider said:

My phone went off without a scare. Ten minutes later, the alarm went off on the TV. It didn't bother me as Comcast does alert testing once a week in my area. They also do a monthly alert.

 

It's required of cable providers. It also seems required to do it when you really want to hear what they're saying on TV.

[TalonRider]

Here, they do usually in during the two o'clock hour.

[Bill W]

I didn't know this was going to happen, so when the alert on my cell phone went off, it used the same series of tones that it uses to alert us that to an Amber alert, so I thought meant there was another missing child until I checked the screen.  When the TV alert went off it interfered with a very important part of the program I was watching and pissed me off, but at least they didn't do it on Saturday during one of the college football games.   

 

[Ron]

I was in Boston’s Public Garden sitting and chatting with a friend when the alarm went off. I knew it was going to happen but he didn’t and it startled him. Not too far away is a multiplex movie theater. I can certainly imagine the disruption of everyone’s phones going off during the showing but does the movie get interrupted at the pivotal moment?!

[drpaladin]

3 hours ago, Bill W said:

I didn't know this was going to happen, so when the alert on my cell phone went off, it used the same series of tones that it uses to alert us that to an Amber alert, so I thought meant there was another missing child until I checked the screen.  When the TV alert went off it interfered with a very important part of the program I was watching and pissed me off, but at least they didn't do it on Saturday during one of the college football games.   

 

I've never been able to figure out how they decide where to distribute Amber Alerts. Most of the ones I get are out of Georgia and I'm a long way from Georgia.

[drpaladin]

4 minutes ago, Ron said:

I was in Boston’s Public Garden sitting and chatting with a friend when the alarm went off. I knew it was going to happen but he didn’t and it startled him. Not too far away is a multiplex movie theater. I can certainly imagine the disruption of everyone’s phones going off during the showing but does the movie get interrupted at the pivotal moment?!

Cinemas aren't in the act.

[Bill W]

6 hours ago, drpaladin said:

I've never been able to figure out how they decide where to distribute Amber Alerts. Most of the ones I get are out of Georgia and I'm a long way from Georgia.

With parental abductions, the parents are  typically divorced and that might be where the other parents lives currently and they expect he'll return, or you might be along the route that parent might take to return home.  The alert doesn't just go out to the state where the child is abducted. 

[drpaladin]

11 minutes ago, Bill W said:

With parental abductions, the parents are  typically divorced and that might be where the other parents lives currently and they expect he'll return, or you might be along the route that parent might take to return home.  The alert doesn't just go out to the state where the child is abducted. 

All of them are headed this way? I find it unlikely. They all have GA tags when they have vehicle descriptions. In contrast, I have never once heard an alert from MS.

[Bill W]

2 hours ago, drpaladin said:

All of them are headed this way? I find it unlikely. They all have GA tags when they have vehicle descriptions. In contrast, I have never once heard an alert from MS.

There are a lot of alerts throughout GA, and the abductor may be fleeing with the child to stay with friends or extended family in MS.  They supposedly send the alert to anyplace where the abductor might possibly go.   

[drpaladin]

5 minutes ago, Bill W said:

There are a lot of alerts throughout GA, and the abductor may be fleeing with the child to stay with friends or extended family in MS.  They supposedly send the alert to anyplace where the abductor might possibly go.   

Or they're like the guy at our EMA, too lazy to pick the right alert areas and just hits the ALL button.

[wildone]

11 hours ago, Ron said:

I can certainly imagine the disruption of everyone’s phones going off during the showing but does the movie get interrupted at the pivotal moment?!

Doesn't everybody turn off their phone at the movies as to not disturb their fellow movie goers?  

 

 

[Zombie]

18 hours ago, wildone said:

Doesn't everybody turn off their phone at the movies as to not disturb their fellow movie goers?  

good point - same at any live theatre or music gig  (at the Black Sabbath Ballet recently, theatre staff walked down every isle carrying notices to switch off phones - I’d forgotten to turn mine off  )

Older family members once told me that during WWII if they were watching a good film/movie at the cinema and the sirens went off many just stayed in their seats and continued watching the film  

[ReaderPaul]

On 10/5/2023 at 8:58 PM, wildone said:

Doesn't everybody turn off their phone at the movies as to not disturb their fellow movie goers?  

 

I put mine on "vibrate only."  With two members of my family having major medical issues, I have to be aware.