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Failures Mark First National Test of Emergency Alert System

Posted by timothy on from the did-not-interrupt-youtube-either dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The first full-scale test of the National Emergency Alert System failed on Tuesday at 2 PM. Some radio and television networks did not air any alert, while the performance of others was inconsistent. 'Some DirectTV customers reported hearing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" play during the test. Some Comcast subscribers saw their cable boxes turn to QVC before the alert, while Time Warner Cable customers in New York did not see any alert at all.'" If you were tuned to any American broadcaster at the time, did the alert system reach you?

8 of 451 comments (clear)

  1. Government failure? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Those words never go together. I am shocked.

  2. All I saw during the test was... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    goatse.cx

  3. Oblig by 2names · · Score: 5, Funny

    I did not hear a test, but I did see a black cat walk by, then the same cat walked by again.

    --
    "I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
  4. Re:Spotty by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 5, Funny

    No, the government is just being selective about who they save in the event of a catastrophe. Apparently, they believe that we will need NPR listeners in the post-apocalyptic world. Alt Rock and R&B listeners, they think they can do without.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  5. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by DikSeaCup · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because there's a fiscal penalty for failure when it's found!

    --
    I talk about stuff.
  6. Dentist by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was at the Dentists and one of my fillings started broardcasting the alert.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  7. Terrible news by uncanny · · Score: 5, Funny

    Some DirectTV customers reported hearing Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" play during the test.

    The terrorists have won

  8. Re:Um... That is why it is called a "TEST" by EdIII · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think the geeks would be better off relying on their own form of warning system

    Yeahhhhhhh..... maybe not.

    I remember the Internet on 9/11. It went basically this way:

    1) IT people talking/screaming with other IT people relating information as it was happening. Information got *slightly* altered from one "hop" to the other.
    2) Mailing Lists and IRC channels on fire with reports about everything from aliens, aliens raping people, mad cow disease attack, the Russians invading on the East Coast, ICBM launch confirmed by a friend at an undisclosed military location, etc.
    3) Screams of, "But I have not gotten laid yet! It's NOT fair!"
    4) Fuck it. Meet me in Everquest. We're taking those bastards down before we die.

    The "Enemy" could not have created a better disinformation system if they tried.

    Facebook? Twitter? ... Farmville? It would be an even more glorious cluster fuck if it happened twice.