# If You're Reporting The News To Me 'Live' From The Middle Of A Hurricane - Blow This! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 16, 2004, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651 "2004-09-16T06:03:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2004, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651/21 "2004-09-17T02:46:49Z")
**Hypno-Toad** , just wanted to say I’ve been reading your postshere ant there, and like them. You’re a _Futurama_, aren’t you? _All hail the Hypno-Toad!_ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651/22 "2004-09-17T03:24:03Z")
Is it okay if I post from the middle of a hurricane? “Hey, guys, it’s really windy, and I think I’m out of canned tuna…” ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651/23 "2004-09-19T04:46:45Z")
Why, thank you Baker. You made my day. Not Really All That Bright, (That’s a heck of a name. Can I call you “Not?”) I like the remark about the canned tuna. Maybe if they had reports on how to make a cold can of beefaroni taste good, we wouldn’t get so annoyed. Since I got power back pretty quickly, I needed up-to-date information on how to entertain three refugees for five days. I just thought of something. While he’s talking about the wind, the reporter could hold up a sign saying, “The folks listening to this on radio suck. We hate them and are plotting their death.” Hmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651/24 "2004-09-19T09:02:14Z")
Weather Porn. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651/25 "2004-09-19T13:05:18Z")
I don’t know why, but something about hurricanes seems to completely unhinge TV news guys, from the smallest local stringer to the biggest foot anchorpersons. “Tropical depression Xenia is currently just off the Azores. If it becomes a hurricane, survives all the way across the Atlantic, wipes out Haiti, turns, and goes right up the Florida coast, heads back out to sea to gather strength, and then hits New York City and then up the coast to Boston, could become THE GREATEST DISASTER OF ALL TIME!!!” Sheesh. Cut back on the coffee, whydontcha? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651/26 "2004-09-19T15:36:29Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > When I’m in the middle of a class 4 hurricane, All. other. news. is. boring. Did Clinton survive his surgery? I didn’t care. I was wondering, “Will Hypno-Toad survive this day?” How many died in Iraq was secondary to how many might die in my apartment. So I think what I posted earlier stands, and stands well. > > I agree with the OP about the ridiculousness of standing out in the wind to show us the same view as our window. And I agree that the reporting is redundant. Music and entertainment might actually help the peace of mind of folks caught up in something they can’t do anything about. But if they’re gonna report some news, I can see why they would focus on the storm that’s tearing the state a new inlet. I think I can see why Hypno is not getting my point. Where are you from Hypno? Were you actually in one of the hurricanes? I was pretty much referring to my experience with Frances. Charley was a Cat 4 that hit fast and was gone fast, round the clock coverage was fine, all the news was fast-breaking. It was basically 24 hours and then they went back to regular programming with specials on storm recovery. But Frances was a Cat 1 that took a leisurely stroll across the state at about 5 miles per hour. It took about 3 days just for the storm to cross the state. It was a tropical storm by the time it reached my side of the state. They started the round the clock coverage just before it came ashore on the west coast and continued it until it had gone into the Gulf and then back up the panhandle. In this case around the clock coverage was overkill, nothing new happened, people were still without power, trees were still blown down, homes were still flooded. The newscasters repeated themselves ad infinitum. Tells us something new or go back to regular programming. Ivan who just passed was a Cat 4 that also hit fast and traveled fast. Again round the clock coverage is fine for a storm that intense and fast-moving. But once the danger is passed or after a certain period of time as in the case of Frances, newscasters need to give us a break from their gloom and doom. So you can have your round the clock news coverage for those fast moving Cat 4’s and 5’s, but if it’s a Cat 1 using a walker, they’d better find something else to report to fill the time. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651/27 "2004-09-20T06:13:06Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Not Really All That Bright, (That’s a heck of a name. Can I call you “Not?”) No. You can call me **Really** , though. Everyone else does. > [@](#): > > I like the remark about the canned tuna. Maybe if they had reports on how to make a cold can of beefaroni taste good, we wouldn’t get so annoyed. Have you tried removing it from the can first? If not, at least remove the label. Paper is really chewy. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651/28 "2004-09-20T06:15:38Z")
The second part of that post should have looked like this: > [@](#): > > I like the remark about the canned tuna. Maybe if they had reports on how to make a cold can of beefaroni taste good, we wouldn’t get so annoyed. Have you tried removing it from the can first? If not, at least remove the label. Paper is really chewy. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651/29 "2004-09-20T14:28:36Z")
Tiramisu, I’m down in Lee County on the Gulf Coast. I sat through Charley and part of Frances. I understand that Frances really raked you guys over the coals while Charley was in and out of here in an afternoon. I think the tv stations don’t want to be perceived as insensitive or cavalier by running an episode of “Survivor” while the audience huddles in a closet. So they bore us to death instead. Also, I think the “Brave reporter risking his life to bring us future stock footage” thing has become the tradition. If one small-town hack is doing it, why aren’t the others? I think what the real phenomenon may be is the lengths a Dan Rather Wannabe will go to in order to get some more air time. To me that only makes it worse. They’re not just foolish, they’re vain too. Or they just have more ambition than sense. Really, Can wrappers do have the full RDA of fiber but my doctor advised me to get off my can and cut down on my aluminum intake. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-reporting-the-news-to-me-live-from-the-middle-of-a-hurricane-blow-this/264651.md?page=1)