And flash burns, which can be pretty nasty.
The terror of the Emergency Broadcast System (and other warnings)
- Thread starter 23skidoo
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And flash burns, which can be pretty nasty.
No, but we did have freaky test card girls playing noughts-and-crosses. Frankly, I think that image has scarred me even more than the EBS has scarred 23skidoo...
Then you would have lived long enough to enjoy the continuous vomiting, skin falling off and hair falling out that results from terminal radiation sickness!
It is possible to be in the path of an overpressure wave without being exposed to lethal radiation. Not necessarily likely, but possible. That's why I mentioned the gamma rays.
The only time I was ever freaked by the EBS was a few years back when I lived in the Albany, NY, area. Major storms were passing through the area and the EBS warned that a funnel cloud had formed over the airport about five miles from my house. No basement. Yippee.
A while later we found out that a tornado hit a area a several miles Northeast of my house. Thankfully there were no serious injuries, but a lot of damaged properties including some working farms.
A while later we found out that a tornado hit a area a several miles Northeast of my house. Thankfully there were no serious injuries, but a lot of damaged properties including some working farms.
They do this all the time here in Vegas, for flash floods. Here's an example from Oregon:
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llmsl68EOFY&feature=related[/yt]
On one hand, that voice and the clinical description of the death and destruction that's heading your way is absolutely terrifying. On the other hand, I think it's kind of cool. I actually rewound live TV to watch it a second time. The really scary stuff starts at about 1:10.
I don't know, there's just something fascinatingly scary about it for me. The voice reminds me a little of the Tenth Planet Cybermen.
But I'll admit, I'm old enough that my first thought when I hear that is "we're getting nuked."
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llmsl68EOFY&feature=related[/yt]
On one hand, that voice and the clinical description of the death and destruction that's heading your way is absolutely terrifying. On the other hand, I think it's kind of cool. I actually rewound live TV to watch it a second time. The really scary stuff starts at about 1:10.
I don't know, there's just something fascinatingly scary about it for me. The voice reminds me a little of the Tenth Planet Cybermen.
But I'll admit, I'm old enough that my first thought when I hear that is "we're getting nuked."
No, but we did have freaky test card girls playing noughts-and-crosses. Frankly, I think that image has scarred me even more than the EBS has scarred 23skidoo...
It's even freakier when combined with a speaking clock:
"Enjoy the test card."
Those of us of a certain age will remember when every AM radio dial had the Civil Defense logo at the 640 and 1240-kilohertz CONELRAD frequencies. We were supposed to stay tuned to those channels for emergency instructions in the event of . . .
I remember having random “drop drills” in school, but we figured they were more for earthquake preparedness than surviving a nuclear exchange. As my ninth-grade science teacher dryly quipped: “If we were under atomic attack, I sincerely doubt that crawling under these tables would prevent us from becoming well-roasted hunks of beef.”
I remember having random “drop drills” in school, but we figured they were more for earthquake preparedness than surviving a nuclear exchange. As my ninth-grade science teacher dryly quipped: “If we were under atomic attack, I sincerely doubt that crawling under these tables would prevent us from becoming well-roasted hunks of beef.”
That’s what you limeys call ticktacktoe, isn’t it?
I wasn't born yet to experience the joy of preparing for the nukes to fall. But I did hear the EBS test a few times on the radio and see it on the tv.
I guess they use it for weather now or for when the zombies/robots/bears attack. The noise did freak me out as a kid though. It's just loud and horrible.
I guess they use it for weather now or for when the zombies/robots/bears attack. The noise did freak me out as a kid though. It's just loud and horrible.
You think that's bad? Try having a freaking Thunderbolt right outside your house. That happened one place where I lived. We had a really mean-sounding dual-tone one, too, kind of like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_SaR-91P98
(Skip to 1:26.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_SaR-91P98
(Skip to 1:26.)
Born in '75. I only remember one "duck and cover" drill, which I think I thought was a fire drill until they brought us all into the gym and had us stand against the walls...and then I was left wondering exactly what that was supposed to protect us from.
My most haunting memory related to this is an episode of the Ray Bradbury Theater, I think, where a woman finds a watch that has the ability to freeze time. Two nuclear protestors come to her home and she utterly humiliates them.
A couple of days later she gets home and the EBS is on and everyone's panicking. She steps outside and there's a bomb frozen in the sky over her town. End episode, one of the most chilling visuals stuck in my head.
My most haunting memory related to this is an episode of the Ray Bradbury Theater, I think, where a woman finds a watch that has the ability to freeze time. Two nuclear protestors come to her home and she utterly humiliates them.
A couple of days later she gets home and the EBS is on and everyone's panicking. She steps outside and there's a bomb frozen in the sky over her town. End episode, one of the most chilling visuals stuck in my head.
^ That was the 80's Twilight Zone ("A Little Peace and Quiet"), not Ray Bradbury Theatre.
If they take down the sirens how are you supposed to know it's Noon?
Oddly enough, we never had duck-and-cover drills when I was a kid in the 60s, but those EBS tests were omnipresent. One time, around 1971, my Uncle Mike came home in a panic because of an EBS warning he heard on his car radio, but it turned out to be a false alarm.
No, but we did have freaky test card girls playing noughts-and-crosses. Frankly, I think that image has scarred me even more than the EBS has scarred 23skidoo...
It's even freakier when combined with a speaking clock:
"Enjoy the test card."
That announcer is a cheeky fucker.
That’s what you limeys call ticktacktoe, isn’t it?
Yes. It's a strange game; the only winning move is not to play...
No, but we did have freaky test card girls playing noughts-and-crosses. Frankly, I think that image has scarred me even more than the EBS has scarred 23skidoo...
It's even freakier when combined with a speaking clock:
"Enjoy the test card."
That announcer is a cheeky fucker.
Good old Test Card F! (or is it J? Actually, on second look, it IS Test Card J.)
Incidentally, that's actually the first time I'd seen that test card accompanied with a female speaking clock, presumably added to try and freak out the most hardened of souls in the small hours of the night.Incidentally, here's a site with loads of the BBC test cards, including earlier versions of Test Card F, one of which actually manages to outdo Carole Hersee in the "creepy little girl" stakes. You'll know it when you see it.
http://www.meldrum.co.uk/mhp/testcard/bbc_test.html
Incidentally, here's a site with loads of the BBC test cards, including earlier versions of Test Card F, one of which actually manages to outdo Carole Hersee in the "creepy little girl" stakes. You'll know it when you see it.
I'm not surprised to read the "this was never broadcast" bit in parentheses... too right, the BBC would be paying for half the nation's heart attacks!
A site devoted to test cards. I love the internet...
"Not necessarily likely..." with all the radioactive materials/fallout after the demolition? All the material in that mushroom cloud is going to be settling down onto every pile of rubble, road or plant for hundreds of miles. If you aren't contaminated on the way to a fallout shelter you'll be in cramped quarters for at least two weeks eating fifty year old crackers and/or spam (if anything). Once you leave the shelter you'll still have to worry about any potential food or water supplies being contaminated and it might be months before public utilities like water and power being restored. Between crowding in shelters and poor sanitation afterwards I'd be surprised if there aren't a couple of deadly epidemics.
And don’t forget the post-atomic mindless albino cannibalistic mutants roaming around.
Incidentally, here's a site with loads of the BBC test cards, including earlier versions of Test Card F, one of which actually manages to outdo Carole Hersee in the "creepy little girl" stakes. You'll know it when you see it.
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