Topics

46

General Discussion / Kevin Martin vs. NOAA/NWS

« on: June 23, 2011, 08:20:17 AM »

Those who live in Southern California, please be advised of Kevin Martin and his so-called weather groups, the SoCal Weather Authority and The Weather Space. Earlier this month, the National Weather Service has issued a Public Information Statement, stating they and their respected divisions have no connection with Kevin Martin and his products/statements whatsoever, regardless of formatting.

NWS, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration has no association with the Southern
California Weather Authority or with Mr. Kevin Martin or any other
staff of the Southern California Weather Authority.  Weather
forecast and warning products developed and distributed by Mr.
Martin or the Southern California Weather Authority may have
formatting or contain content that could visually be confused with
that of the National Weather Service.  Regardless of formatting or
content, Mr. Martin’s weather products have no connection with nor
are they the products of the National Weather Service.

NWS is the sole official voice of the U.S. Government for warnings
of hazardous weather, including tornadoes, hurricanes, winter
storms, floods and others.  NWS encourages the media and others to
distribute NWS warnings and other hazardous weather products
widely to aid public safety. 

NWS also respects the rights of individuals, companies, and other
organizations to produce weather information of their own and to
use NWS information to help them do so, including those who choose
to produce weather information regarding weather hazards; however,
it is important to distinguish official products that are produced
and issued by the National Weather Service from weather
information produced by others that is NOT produced by NWS.  It is
especially important to avoid any confusion between NWS warnings
and those that might be produced by others. 

For more information regarding terms of use of NWS information,
see http://www.weather.gov/disclaimer.php

If you have comments or questions regarding this public
information statement, please contact:

  NWS Communications Office
  nws.communications.office@noaa.gov

Link to Public Information Statement.

47

General Discussion / Code Amber News Services website Gone

« on: June 23, 2011, 08:07:43 AM »

Those who regularly go to CodeAmber.org for the latest AMBER Alerts, y'all may have to turn to other sources. The Code Amber News Services website is gone and their domain is up for sale. This renders any desktop or website gadgets useless.  

48

Local Forecast / Jazz Songs That Should Air on TWC's LOT8s

« on: May 10, 2011, 06:40:49 PM »

I've decided to start a topic on jazz songs that should air on The Weather Channel's Local on the 8s.

To start off, Joshua Redman (best known for "Courage (Asymmetric Aria)" among a few others formed a jazz group named James Farm, and their recently released self-titled album has some great tracks. Go to the link and listen.

http://www.jamesfarmmusic.com

My top tracks for TWC's playlists are "Coax", "Polliwog", "1981", and "Unravel".

_______________________________________________________________

If y'all have any favorite jazz instrumental tracks that should be on TWC's playlist if it wasn't already, go ahead and list them.

49

WeatherSTAR Tech Support / Warning Crawl Glitches on #22105

« on: April 15, 2011, 10:09:56 PM »

Hi STAR Team. I got a couple issues regarding the warning crawl on IS #22105. On Sunday Night/Monday Morning's severe weather outbreak in North Texas, when the scroll was showing Severe Thunderstorm and Tornado Warnings, the letter Y was missing. To give you a couple examples (the underscores are the blanks where the missing 'characters' were:

"THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A... TORNADO WARNING FOR...DALLAS COUNT_ IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS...KAUFMAN COUNT_ IN NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS UNTIL 245 AM..."

And yesterday when several Severe Thunderstorm Warnings were issued, the Y is back, but the number 1 was missing.

"THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...COLLIN COUNTY...DALLAS COUNTY...DENTON COUNTY...FANNIN COUNTY...GRAYSON COUNTY...AND TARRANT COUNTY...UNTIL ___5 PM..." (skipping ahead to arrival times) "...THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...SHERMAN, DENTON, AND SAGINAW AT _025 PM...PLANO AND GRAPEVINE AT _030 PM...IRVING, FARMERS BRANCH, PLANO, MCKINNEY, AND BONHAM AT _055 PM...GARLAND, DALLAS, AND UNIVERSITY PARK AT ___0 PM."

Is this glitch a national issue or is it with the STAR itself? Thanks for looking into this issue.

Local WX ID: 22105
Provider: Time Warner Cable
Headend Location: Grapevine (even though I live in Irving)
TWC Channel: 37

50

General Discussion / "Tonight (I'm Lovin' Me)" / Charlie Sheen Parody

« on: March 09, 2011, 10:53:58 PM »

Still following up on former "Two and a Half Men" actor Charlie Sheen's constant Train Wreck? Here's something you'll like. If you're tired of hearing about his meltdowns, well....I'm still gonna share it.

Earlier today while I was getting my daily walks in, I was listening to my radio and this hillarious parody comes up. I've tried desperately to keep my laughter in, but to no avail.  This "WINNING" parody is entitled "Tonight (I'm Lovin' Me)" [spoofing Enrique Iglesias's "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)"] put together by Billy the Kidd (yes, that's his real DJ name) of KHKS 106.1 Kiss FM. (Listener Discretion is Advised)

http://www.1061kissfm.com/mediaplayer/?action=ondemand&item=20935941

51

Everything Else TWC / The Weather Channel makes an appearance on "America's Funniest Home Videos"

« on: January 31, 2011, 02:44:19 PM »

Last night when I was watching "America's Funniest Home Videos", I saw a clip where TWC's LOT8s was paused for the jr. weather girl to do her forecasting skills. Unfortunately, she had to go potty at the last second. LOL!!! Oddly enough the video was originally for TWC as their promotion to showcase the jr. meteorologists. But due to the hillarity of nature calling, the video was sent to AFV instead.

Link to Article about Last Night's Clip.

If I can find the video, I'll post it in this topic.

52

WeatherSTAR Tech Support / #26822 Cuing Issues

« on: September 29, 2010, 12:49:25 PM »

Hi TWC STAR Team, I'm visiting a friend's house and while watching TWC there, I've noticed that IntelliStar #26822 is cuing a few seconds late. At first, I thought it's a typical problem like on my original IS, but after seeing a Sherman Williams commercial, the next commercial began and the local card pops up a few seconds too late. Could you please look into this? Thanks for your time and consideration.

Local WX ID: 26822
Headend: Verizon FiOS (Dallas/Ft. Worth)

53

TWC and your Cable Company / Time Warner Cable vs. WFAA-TV/Belo Corp.

« on: September 15, 2010, 06:40:45 AM »

The battle for low cable costs wages on. Time Warner Cable's agreement with WFAA-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth is soon to expire on September 25th. If no agreement is made by that date, all Time Warner Cable viewers will lose WFAA-TV and anywhere else stations that maybe owned by Belo Corp.

http://www.wfaa.com/on-tv/promotions/twc

WFAA nearly blacked-out their services from Charter Communications almost 2 years ago, not to mention that it's a little complicated for some North Texas residents to pick up WFAA-TV over the air since the DTV switch-over on June 12, 2009, so switching won't help.

54

General Discussion / Dumpster Diving...Literally

« on: August 04, 2010, 01:19:38 PM »

Every year with the budget deficit and corruption in the City of Dallas (particularly in the Oak Cliff suburb), it's slim-pickings when it comes to swimming pools. So when desperate times call for desperate measures, 2 neighbors leased a giant 20 ft. dumpster (mainly used for construction, demolition, etc.) for 2 months, sanded the sides, lined with bilboard tarp and washed it down with bleach and water.

DALLAS, Texas — It's slim pickings when it comes to finding a public swimming pool in Oak Cliff, so a Dumpster will have to do.

"Everybody thinks this is really weird," conceded Marianna Griggs, who leased the king-size trash container to create a refreshing respite.

Griggs and her neighbor Zac Lytle wanted a pool, and figured they could make one. Their invention is making news for sure. The Oak Cliff Advocate captured video of the 20-foot Dumpster being transformed.

Yesterday, City officials were concerned that this unique invention could harbor mosquitos, since there is no pumping system to circulate the water. They will be making a visit because they're interested in taking a look at their setup to make a determination. I'd say it's much better than those "kiddie pools".

Link to full story.

55

TWC and your Cable Company / Time Warner Cable vs. Disney

« on: July 27, 2010, 10:43:55 PM »

Here we go again!! This time, Time Warner Cable is pitting itself against Disney regarding carriage fees. If no agreement is made, all Disney-owned networks such as Disney Channel, ABC Family, ESPN, etc. will be dropped on September 2nd. All ABC affiliates that are not owned & operated by Disney (like Belo-owned WFAA-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth, TX) are not affected unless other broadcasting companies are in a dispute with Time Warner Cable as well.

This wasn't Time Warner's first dispute with Disney: a decade ago, ABC network O&O stations in NYC & LA were unavailable to TWC subscribers for 19 hours because TWC couldn't agree with Disney on whether or not they should add specialty channels like ESPN Classic and SOAPnet.

http://rolloverorgettough.com/

I'm sure Time Warner will reach a "zero-hour" deal like they always did ever since I can remember.

56

Local Forecast / LOT8s Artists/Groups Seen Elsewhere

« on: May 25, 2010, 11:50:12 PM »

I don't know if a topic like this is posted yet, but I'm gonna start it anyway.

Where else did you see your favorite LOT8s artists/groups? They can be on TV or at a live concert.

If my memory serves me correctly, I've seen:

 - David Benoit on the season 2 finale episode of Animal Planet's "Housecat Housecall".
 - Joshua Redman on a Ken Burns' Jazz Documentary.
 - Dave Brubeck on the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon.

That's pretty much it so far.

57

Everything Else TWC / weather.com Mentioned on TruTV's 'Dumb As A Blog' website.

« on: February 10, 2010, 02:51:22 PM »

I was checking TruTV's Dumb As A Blog website for some stupid crimes, and I have made a discovery: The Weather Channel's weather.com has been headlined...and not in a positive way either. Here's an excerpt of the story:

Today in "Stupid Website News" the Weather Channel.com seems to think that some of its readers are unclear about the definition of the word "place." This makes a certain amount of sense. People who are so stupid that you can actually pee on their leg and tell them that it's raining need to know the weather too, after all.

The only nitpick is that the writer said "The Weather Channel.com" instead of weather.com. Oh well.

Link to Story "What Is This 'Place' You Speak Of?".

58

Everything Else TWC / Animated Icons on weather.com's Local Page

« on: January 17, 2010, 02:41:52 PM »

I don't know if anybody here has tried weather.com's revamped local page, but on the Current Conditions tab...or should I say "Today" tab, the giant web CC icons are animated! I've noticed it this morning as I was checking the conditions for this morning. I saw the fading gray streaks across the fog icon.

But don't take my word for it, click on the following link and go from 1 to 47.

http://f.imwx.com/web/common/wxicons/130/1.swf

The only icons that aren't animated (and I wish they would): are Dust/Smoke, Haze, Windy, and Sunny.

59

General Discussion / Riding a Light Rail Car in Skivvies

« on: January 11, 2010, 09:02:18 PM »

It's Sunday afternoon and North Texas barely gotten through a hard freeze. A group of 70 people (mostly in their 20s) in Downtown Dallas hopped on the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Light Rail northbound to Downtown Garland. As the train took off, so did their pants. You've read right. Those 70 people participated in what was called a "nationwide event". Why did they do it? One of the 2 dudes who organized the event said he "didn't have anything better to do" that day.

Why don't they just go to Church? Do community service? Play basketball? Jump in a freezing pool or lake and start a Polar Bear club of their own? Read a book? Something.

Anyways, it was quite a trip, but not without a hefty price. One of the riders who witnessed the event (with her pants very much on) called DART Police. Going public in your undies IS considered disorderly conduct after all.

Full story and Video courtesy of DallasNews.com

60

TWC and your Cable Company / ATTN: All Time Warner Cable Subscribers

« on: November 27, 2009, 07:27:09 PM »

It seems the staff of Time Warner Cable has had it with networks raising rates, especially after last year when they've avoided a near Viacom blackout. So they've put together a site called "Roll Over or Get Tough".

http://www.rolloverorgettough.com

Let's face it: Cable shouldn't be a luxury item.