(no subject)

[rivka]

[Poll #1162737]

Obviously I am home from SBM. And very tired. My talk went quite well and I heard some other good ones, but in general the conference content wasn't as good as in previous years. (I don't think it's just my germ-ridden state that made it seem that way, because Steve thought so too.)

Seriously: doesn't it occur to anyone that maybe people who are stuck in an airport at 4:19am would like to, perhaps, sleep? What is the matter with people?!

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

And earplugs or isolating-earphones only do so much, especially if you're worried about missing announcements.

(I particularly hate airport tv because I loathe news programming, but regardless.)

Hope you can rest up and feel better.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

I particularly hate airport tv because I loathe news programming

Meeeee toooooooo.

These are the stories I remember encountering before I left the concourse altogether:

1. The two-year-old boy in Texas whose aunt weighs a thousand pounds and she claims that she crushed him by accident and the cops claim it was deliberate murder.

2. The woman who got thrown off the plane for breastfeeding. One female anchor takes the position that what's the big deal, because it's not like anyone could see anything anyway. The other female anchor, unfortunately, goes on at length about how a child who is "almost two years old" doesn't get any nutritional benefit from breastmilk, so obviously the mother is only using the tit out of a lack of child-entertaining skills, and should have the book thrown at her.

3. How shocking it is that Barack Obama's pastor doesn't think that African-Americans have it peachy-keen.

And that was when, really, it didn't matter how clogged my ears were and how poorly I was hearing - I had to get out of the departure lounge before I slit my wrists with a stray carpet staple.

[chargirlgenius.livejournal.com]

I'm shocked that you got what kinda sorta almost passes for news. We have the TV on at work on CNN, Fox, HN, whatever, and no matter what station it is, it's usually all Britney, all the time. Except on the slow Britney day, of course, I looked up and twice in a row there were fascinating Paris Hilton stories. I don't think I could have lived without knowing exactly how many MySpace friends she has.

[kate_nepveu]

There are times when only Internet abbreviations are sufficient to convey my reaction. Thus, "my eyes roll forever":

@@4EVA!!

[ailbhe]

What if you had your three-year-old with you? I don't let Linnea watch broadcast news because it's fucking TRAUMATIC. She's STILL periodically upset by what she caught on radio news about Maddy McCann and that was a YEAR ago.

[brooksmoses]

That reaction is not limited to three-year-olds, I wish to note.

Though the intervening years have given me a bit more of an ability to shut out the news broadcasts so as to avoid that reaction.

[ailbhe]

I find that being able to lock my window myself has helped a lot with my fears of abduction. But Linnea is afraid that someone will get in the window and take her and Emer away. And I won't be able to "matect" her because the nasty people won't let me, apparently.

But yes, broadly speaking, I also find broadcast news upsetting, and avoid it when I can. Stories about children, in particular, make me cry or feel sick.

[kateyule.livejournal.com]

Sorry, some particles of my being are busy hating other things. Otherwise I'm with you all the way.

This is a job for TV-B-GONE! (www.tvbgone.com) Seriously! I used to have one for use in the gym locker room. Funny thing: ever since the management velcro'd a TV remote to the wall for customer use, the televisions in there are almost always blissfully dead.

[rampling.livejournal.com]

I was also gonna recommend the TV-B-GONE. Perfect for situations where NO ONE IS WATCHING anyway!

[deyo.livejournal.com]

Alas, I have discovered that TV-B-GONE doesn't always work. TVs in public areas often have their IR ports disabled.

On the other hand, a pair of wire cutters to the signal cable is often effective.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

And when CNN is running a Princess Diana retrospective on nonstop repeat while you wait for a flight six hours delayed...

Good thing the TSA took away my toys.

[brooksmoses]

I wonder if the TV programming is paid for through some arrangement that they will show the channels with advertising 24/7 in return for not having to pay for the TVs, or somesuch. It doesn't seem unlikely, in this day and age of "monetizable resources" instead of "customers".

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I get birdseed a ways from here and usually stop at a nice Italian/Greek restaurant on the way home. I did that yesterday and they not only had two flat-screens on the walls, but the music was still up!

[naomikritzer]

I have heard rumors that some universal remotes can be used on airport TVs. Usually the suggestion is that you see what else is available (maybe Buffy is on?) but at 4 a.m. OMG turn it OFF.

[tracicle.livejournal.com]

I can't help but think your survey is somewhat biased...

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Surely Dr. Rivka, PhD, is aware of the subtleties of research instruments....

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you've got to worry about the quality of what they're funding at NIH these days, don't you? ;-)

[sistercoyote.livejournal.com]

It doesn't even have to be 4 a.m. for me to feel that way about the TVs. Fortunately, neither of the two airports I fly from/to have the damn things.

Of course, to be fair, one of the two has slot machines instead, but I'm usually flying out before they're turned on and returning after they've been turned off. So they're not much of a bother.

[ranunculus.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I was able to successfully sleep through slot machines once....

CNN on the other hand should be taken out with the nearest wire snips.

[--merry--.livejournal.com]

May I suggest TV-B-Gone? http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/755e/

[papersky.livejournal.com]

Airports are very hard to like at the best of times.

I hear there's a device that turns off other people's TVs. It would be very useful.

There is a night ferry between Hollyhead and Dun Laoghaire which leaves at 11pm (unless it's late, and it's often late) and takes two hours for the crossing. There is nowhere you can sit on that boat that's out of sight and hearing of a TV. The TVs play constant ads and "infomercials". Furthermore, whether you are going from Britain to Ireland or from Ireland to Britain, the boat takes whichever currency you do not have.

One night, on that boat, very tired, it occurred to me that this was the ferry across the Styx, where all the coins you have are the wrong ones.

[redbird]

There is such a device. adrian_turtle got me one, a while ago. The only time I've actually used it was in the radiologist's office (waiting for a mammogram), where they were playing some really dreadful local cable news channel, and there were three or four other people in the waiting room, all reading.

After a few minutes, one of the staff members, sitting in their glass-walled area, asked what had happened. I said something like "it's okay, nobody was watching." (If anyone had been actively watching, I assume they would have asked for it to be turned on.) They left it alone, and a few minutes later the late-shift technician showed up, and took two of us in. The other woman was in the exam room immediately, and I was in a nice corner, with a well-behaved child, comfy seats, and no television.

[zanawake.livejournal.com]

In public places, I sometimes turn down the volume on loud television sets, or push the 'off' button. Sometimes one can unplug them if the buttons are inaccessible. Not often enough, however.