The voices in my head don't think they're imaginary - January 22nd, 2008

Weird. So it's 6:25 AM, the house is quiet and I'm working on junk, and suddenly from the other room, I hear the Emergency Broadcasting System alert (bzt! bzt! bzt!). I freeze and panic a little, because that damn signal always makes me think it's going to be followed by "news or official information," probably involving bombers.

But no. This was just the alert sound, followed by the sound of commercials jabbering over the merits of Hydroxycut and other fraudulent weight-loss nostrums.

This all struck me as rather odd. However, my Google-fu remains strong, and I have discovered that since the late '90s, most consumer electronic items have been programmed to turn themselves on if the EBS alert is broadcast. Oh ... kay. Fair enough, I guess. But then why didn't they play the usual message that they used to play after a test EBS signal, "...if this had been an actual emergency if would have been followed by ..."?

Or is this just a ploy by Comcast to turn my TV on at a certain time so that sales of Hydroxycut will skyrocket? I can see how that would make an awesome value-add to anyone's advertising package ...

... I got a men's double-breasted Calvin Klein cashmere-wool peacoat (toasty!), a pair of men's Ecco loafers in size 11 (like walking on a cloud!) and a lovely gentleman's belt with exchangable gold/silver buckles. Note that the coat was bought at Ross (!) and the shoes and belt were bought at Nordstrom Rack (!!) so while these gifts were comparatively profligate for this Value Village household, let's just say we didn't pay retail.

My reinvention as a drag king continues apace.