Messages

31

General Weather Chat / Re: What's the weather in your area?

« on: February 15, 2013, 11:17:28 PM »

34 degrees with light now. 

It was 40 degrees just a half hour ago and raining. It dropped 6 degrees in a matter of minutes and the rain changed over to snow.

If this is part of that wannabe Nor'easter that a few of the models were forecasting for the weekend, I'm surprised I'm seeing any precip from it at all.

32

General Discussion / Re: Meteorite Slams into Russia

« on: February 15, 2013, 02:06:25 PM »

At first I thought for sure it was a hoax. A big meteorite impact that just happens to coincide with a big scary asteroid? I hadn't gone to sleep yet when it happened, and that sure didn't make sleep easier.

It was obviously too small to be the asteroid they've been tracking, but then I started wondering if it had broken up in Earth's gravity like Shoemaker Levy did, and we were going to be looking at a wave of impacts all day.

Or at the very least, the asteroid had a small satellite we didn't know about.

But everyone's saying it has nothing to do with the big one. The timing is way too weird.

33

Programming and Graphics / Re: Three new shows coming March 2013

« on: February 14, 2013, 07:57:14 PM »

Look at these beautiful icebergs.  Go get'em "Iceberg Hunters".  It's a shame that people will destroy mother natures creations all for the all mighty dollar. 

It's not exactly a new thing though. I'm pretty sure harvesting ice bergs for water is a pretty old concept.

34

Local Forecast / Re: Russ Freeman/The Rippingtons

« on: February 14, 2013, 04:44:06 PM »

As a kid, I thought Earthbound was the coolest LF song ever. That was when I started to get an idea of when different LF flavors would run. I wanted to record 2 minutes worth of that song.

35

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: February 14, 2013, 02:01:04 AM »

It's like they were collaborating in a room all together saying, "Hmm I wonder what can make this somewhat bad display look cooler? Hey, how about Len flares? Len flares make any design look cooler."

They hired J.J. Abrams as a creative adviser.

36

Everything Else TWC / Re: General TWC Discussion

« on: February 13, 2013, 06:20:44 PM »

Media companies are doing this type of thing all the time. Evidently they feel the need to show off with graphics such as this. I get the feeling that companies think that simply compositing a forecaster on top of a 2D map makes the station seem somehow dated, like they're trapped in a pre-2000 way of doing things. That such a setup is the more efficient way to convey the information is irrelevant.  "Ooh, look how high tech we are. We have a virtual set (or in some cases, a 30-foot wide plasmascreen) and can show you our map from any angle. We can also give you 3D representations of the storms and fly under them, pan around, and enhance them with really cool RGB truecolor animated icons. Say what? Hard to read? But... look how high tech we are!"

37

Winter Weather / Re: Blizzard for New England 2013

« on: February 12, 2013, 05:14:26 AM »

You know as much as people criticize over TWC naming winter storms, its actually working. I watched several major newscasts on CNN, ABC, and various other shows on other networks following the event. All of them mentioned "nemo" when referring to the storm. The Weather Channel has been able to influence other networks and millions of people into using the name. Even if you don't agree with the decision you have to admit how successful it has been in terms of marketing.

Marketing doesn't exactly work though if everyday folks don't know who is giving the name to storms. Unless a little copyright TWC logo appears on screen every time someone from another media outlet uses the names (or they have to pay a royalty every time they say it).

Why aren't people in an uproar about Tor:Con? Thats a proprietary system used by The Weather Channel to give a threat level to severe events. It specifically circumvents the forecasts put out by the SPC/NOAA in favor for their own.

Heh. I actually rolled my eyes when I first saw Tor:Con. And I have a much worse opinion about it than I do about storm naming (which is more or less a mixed bag of precipitation). Maybe I'm wrong about this, but it seemed like they were trying to capitalize on the shock value of Defcon. Defcon is a very serious matter, tied in with the threat of Earth being turned into a fireball.

Why it has gotten less flak than storm naming, I don't know. Maybe people are just fed up with EVERYTHING in the realm of human consciousness being a marketing scheme.

38

Programming and Graphics / Re: Three new shows coming March 2013

« on: February 10, 2013, 11:21:29 PM »

So, TWC would like to not only forecast weather but control it or at least collaborate with people who wish to control it.  That's what I gather from the description of "Hacking The Planet."  This reminds me a lot of cloud-seeding a few years back.

I wonder if they'd actually go into addressing the personal impact that this would have on a lot of people.

Frankly, the prospect of humans having control over the weather has always scared me. And I'm not which one scares me more. The potential disastrous backlash that nature might dish out, or being forced to live in a world where every day the forecast is the same: 70 degrees, and sunny, with rain showers overnight.

The majority population's definition of preferred weather is excessively boring. I'd go out of my flipping mind.

39

Winter Weather / Re: Blizzard for New England 2013

« on: February 10, 2013, 10:34:36 PM »

They're apparently catching just a little backlash over naming winter storms and particularly over this one being named Nemo.  No matter where the name came from, most people now seem to think of a Disney movie when they hear the name.  Furthermore, it seems as though the criteria for naming a winter storm is up for grabs.  Some people even think that other types of weather events will begin to be named following this logic.

They've been getting nitpicked over the storm-naming thing ever since it was first announced.

People are starting to get fed up with media sensationalism in general, no matter what it is. Ever since the buyout, and before the storm-naming, the amount of fear-mongering and hype surrounding even the potential of severe weather, went through the roof. I remember "OMG SNOWPOCALYPSE" and it was still a week before the storm was due (which of course did practically nothing to anyone).

TWC got further flak for it because the tried & true institutes of weather have been wanting no part of it. Coming up with a proper system for what snow storms are deserving of names is also very difficult because what makes a memorable winter storm is so much more ambiguous than a Hurricane. What is called major snow for one location is laughable for another. And then there's the ice storm element to consider, and the type of snow. A foot of snow at 20 degrees is a big inconvenience. Drop that same amount of snow when the temperature is 34 degrees and you've got major power outages and roads blocked for possibly days.

Hurricanes though... severe winds are severe winds no matter where you live. The same goes for flooding. It also helps that they always have a well-defined eye, and therefore a specific location where you can always get an accurate reading on the maximum wind speed.

Personally, I always wanted winter storms to get proper naming. But even as an impulsive little kid, I never thought it would happen like this. I saw it as more of a "wait and see" method, which was typically what TWC did back in the day. Some major storms had TWC bringing out special editions of winter weather reports. But when I REALLY knew that a storm had earned itself a name, was when TWC created custom graphics for it and gave it a generic title such as "Superstorm 93" (shameless plug).

40

Winter Weather / Re: Blizzard for New England 2013

« on: February 09, 2013, 05:17:05 PM »

Well according to weather.com's name list, Nemo is "a Greek boy's name meaning 'from the valley,' means 'nobody' in Latin."  But yeah, honestly, when i hear about Nemo, I'm going to think about a clownfish who got taken by divers and had an adventure.

Most of TWC's names for these winter storms are okay because they're names of gods and goddesses, etc.  The only weird one is "Q": the Broadway Express subway line in NYC.  Really?!?

The name Nemo is almost a paradox, but that also makes it very intriguing. Nightwish wrote a song entitled Nemo, which seems to be about lacking an identity.


http://www.ee.columbia.edu/~nemo/nemo.html
Nemo is an Oromo word meaning "The Man". Wow, you say... But wait. In Latin, the same word means "Nobody"! In Homer's Odyssey, when Ulysses blinds the Cyclops, the Cyclops asks him: "Who are you?", to which Ulysses replies (in the Latin translation): "Nemo." When the Cyclops was later asked by his father Neptune: "Who did this to you?", he answers "Nobody did it."

So, if you were to call someone Nemo, you could be calling him or her a nobody. You could also be saying "you da man."

As for the clown fish... don't give Disney any more power than they already have. Finding Nemo was ripped off a children's book whose author was given no credit. They're already trying to literally trademark the name Snow White, even though it's public domain. Let's not start whining, "You can't call a storm Nemo" just because Disney used the name for something. The name is much older. And if anything, Disney probably named their famous clown fish after Captain Nemo, who had amazing adventures "20000 Leagues Under the Sea."

41

Winter Weather / Re: Blizzard for New England 2013

« on: February 06, 2013, 10:16:49 PM »

I hope this thing actually brings some real snow to north Jersey. I've got this icky feeling that all the snow will hit Boston and we'll get a light dusting here. Except for the eerily early one, everything has been far north or far south.

42

Programming and Graphics / Re: Three new shows coming March 2013

« on: February 01, 2013, 01:12:42 PM »

If they're going this route, I have a great idea for them.  How about if they do a "profession" show about meteorologists?  It could be a show where you would get to see real OCM's do their thing.  Maybe it could even be live.  So, you would actually get to see the meteorologists do their job providing weather updates for weather that is going on as you watch.  That would be the perfect reality show! 

You don't even need a TV show for that part.  Some local TV stations have shown what it's like to be on camera and work as a meteorologist.  Furthermore, there were special brief segments in the older days of TWC when they showed what happened behind the scenes.  I'd argue the more interesting meteorology jobs for TV are the ones where people are doing the real work of putting up instruments, collecting data, and actually doing research to advance this field rather than put on a show to give us eye candy.

Someone didn't pick up on the sarcastic irony. 

43

Programming and Graphics / Re: Three new shows coming March 2013

« on: January 31, 2013, 06:38:57 PM »

Loaded? Wow that's a new low.

Every time a new 'profession' reality show springs up it's hard not to laugh.

The fact that we have TV shows (and their numbers are growing) that ask you to sit on your couch and watch someone do their job, ranks #1 in my personal "You know the job market is utter crap when..." list.

44

Programming and Graphics / Re: Three new shows coming March 2013

« on: January 31, 2013, 03:11:11 PM »

Who the hell comes up with these names?

To say that reality TV has made consumers dumber is far too lenient. It's done the same thing to execs.

45

Local Forecast / Re: General LF Discussion

« on: January 30, 2013, 08:54:58 PM »

IMO TWC should have just switched to all instrumentals during the coverage of the severe weather, like they did with Isaac and Sandy. Vocal music, to me, is just not appropriate during coverage of potentially life-threatening weather events such as the hurricanes or the recent severe weather outbreak.

*scratches 'Rock You Like a Hurricane' off the playlist*

Same here.

IMO TWC should have just switched to all instrumentals during the coverage of the severe weather, like they did with Isaac and Sandy. Vocal music, to me, is just not appropriate during coverage of potentially life-threatening weather events such as the hurricanes or the recent severe weather outbreak.

I never cared much for the vocals anyhow. Aesthetically, it feels like scratching a chalk board when the LF speaker is talking over another voice. And whenever it's been mainstream music, something that I had already heard a million times overplayed on the radio, I just wanted to tear my hair out.