Colin,
The media is more hype whenever there's a natural event. The non-issue earthquake up here north of Boston made the news for a full day. Gee. People were running out in the streets in downtown Boston because a building shook. I think they used to shake more when the old subway ran under Devonshire Street than they did with the tremor! I was home that day, and my dog was scratching himself at the same time... Lol.
After awhile, this became just another news story when they could no longer find enough ants to interview on the sidewalk. By then, the people, man on the street, interviews have become mundane so the news outlets have to find someone else to interview, so they started on the ants, birds, a cat, then a small dog!
With the hurricane/tropical storm heading our way, like any big storm, the news has everyone in a panic. People have stripped the supermarket shelves of perishable goods. Why if we do lose the lights, their food will spoil!
Well to be serious, though this could be a big storm, and yes there are areas being hit badly by it, but in reality the news is so starved for constant information, they'll dig at anything and hype it up as far as they can until no one listens, or another tidbit floats up from the bottom of the news barrel.
This is why I spend my time listening to music, playing the piano and using Trainz. It beats getting beaten over the head by the same dribble over and over by the news networks.
John
I cannot disagree with a thing you have said. When the earthquake hit, I was on my train home from visiting family in Seattle, so I didn't hear about the earthquake until I arrived at Thirtieth Street Station in Philadelphia. Now I thought that the fact there had been an earthquake in the Philadelphia area was surreal. But when the report came on the radio in my car driving home, they said that people were jumping out of office buildings downtown like it was 1929! Well, when I got home I looked further into what had happened, and it turned out that people were not jumping out of office buildings during the earthquake, and that the earthquake itself was little more than a rumble for most people. Its unbelievable how the media jumps at the smallest thing out of the ordinary and turns it into a Godzilla-like monster. I'm telling you one day the big one really is going to come and nobody will heed the warning because they've been screwed by the news countless times before.
And that is also why I also enjoy playing the piano, Trainz, and listening to music, and also doing other things like composing , spending time with my family and my girlfriend, railfanning, etc., Why stress yourself out watching the same thing all day that you could listen to once at night? My father has done it for as long as I can remember and i still don't understand it. Oh well, what are you gonna do?
Best Regards,
Colin