Earthquakes, tornadoes, heavy rain and now my roof is leaking
As I write this, the MidSouth remains under a tornado watch and I think I heard a tornado warning issued for part of North Mississippi earlier this afternoon. My lovely and talented bride and I had just left the Collierville area when the heavy rain hit. One of the nice things about driving an older vehicle is that people in the new, expensive cars generally get out of your way, especially in bad weather. We got home and turned on the Weather Channel to get the particulars about the storm. I went on-line to check out the local radar and then went upstairs to change out of wet clothes. That's when I discovered a leak in the upstairs area. It brings new meaning to the phrase "When it rains, it pours". In two different places it turns out. Wind damage coupled with an older roof means it's time to call the experts.
While dealing with the leak and listening to the Weather Channel, I'm reminded by Mr. TV Announcer that "A deadly secret lies beneath Memphis! It's called the New Madrid zone and a powerful earthquake is expected from it!" It's part of TWC's continuing series "It Could Happen Tomorrow". The video promo I found on-line at www.weather.com told how the big one would be felt from Louisiana to Canada. I kept expecting to hear how the New Madrid fault produced the biggest quake the U-S had ever experienced and how it made the Mississippi River flow backwards. Mr. Announcer never mentioned that part.
It reminded me of the frenzy caused back in December 1990 by climatologist Dr. Iben Browning. He predicted tidal loading would trigger an earthquake along the New Madrid fault. It seems to me that somehow the numbers 1234567890 came into play. The quake was supposed to hit on the 12th month with the dates either the 3rd&4th around 5:00 to 6:00 or 7:00 to 8:00 in 1990. I know the numbers figured in somehow.
Media types from all over the country descended on New Madrid. Missouri and WREG even sent a crew up there to spend the night. The only things that happened was that folks around New Madrid made a boat-load of money from those "out-of-towners". Pardon my cliche, but the locals laughed all the way to the bank. It's all about marketing.
And speaking of marketing. When I was helping my wife set up an exhibit at the Bartlett Chamber Business Expo this morning, I saw where somebody who was hawking air filters or something of that sort had as a prominent part of that display, a TV set with a large sign on it. That sign said something to the effect of " As tested by Andy Wise on Does It Work Thursday". Apparently they planned to show the video of Andy's report on their product. It must have worked.
I remember when Andy started that segment down on the river. It was promoted heavily and was heavily watched and soon there were imitators in the market. After a couple of years, someone high up the food chain decided that since it wasn't broke, it needed to be fixed. "I think the announcement went something like "we set the standard and had a good run with it. Now that everyone else is doing it, we're going to move on to something else."
I guess the success others had with it made someone reconsider because I'm told that "Does it work Thursday" is back in rotation.
I guess a lesson was learned there. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Now, if I can just get Andy to come over and reroof my house. We can call it, "Does it work 2006 through 2016."
While dealing with the leak and listening to the Weather Channel, I'm reminded by Mr. TV Announcer that "A deadly secret lies beneath Memphis! It's called the New Madrid zone and a powerful earthquake is expected from it!" It's part of TWC's continuing series "It Could Happen Tomorrow". The video promo I found on-line at www.weather.com told how the big one would be felt from Louisiana to Canada. I kept expecting to hear how the New Madrid fault produced the biggest quake the U-S had ever experienced and how it made the Mississippi River flow backwards. Mr. Announcer never mentioned that part.
It reminded me of the frenzy caused back in December 1990 by climatologist Dr. Iben Browning. He predicted tidal loading would trigger an earthquake along the New Madrid fault. It seems to me that somehow the numbers 1234567890 came into play. The quake was supposed to hit on the 12th month with the dates either the 3rd&4th around 5:00 to 6:00 or 7:00 to 8:00 in 1990. I know the numbers figured in somehow.
Media types from all over the country descended on New Madrid. Missouri and WREG even sent a crew up there to spend the night. The only things that happened was that folks around New Madrid made a boat-load of money from those "out-of-towners". Pardon my cliche, but the locals laughed all the way to the bank. It's all about marketing.
And speaking of marketing. When I was helping my wife set up an exhibit at the Bartlett Chamber Business Expo this morning, I saw where somebody who was hawking air filters or something of that sort had as a prominent part of that display, a TV set with a large sign on it. That sign said something to the effect of " As tested by Andy Wise on Does It Work Thursday". Apparently they planned to show the video of Andy's report on their product. It must have worked.
I remember when Andy started that segment down on the river. It was promoted heavily and was heavily watched and soon there were imitators in the market. After a couple of years, someone high up the food chain decided that since it wasn't broke, it needed to be fixed. "I think the announcement went something like "we set the standard and had a good run with it. Now that everyone else is doing it, we're going to move on to something else."
I guess the success others had with it made someone reconsider because I'm told that "Does it work Thursday" is back in rotation.
I guess a lesson was learned there. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Now, if I can just get Andy to come over and reroof my house. We can call it, "Does it work 2006 through 2016."
posted by Joe Larkins at 3:34 PM
3 Comments:
I see those "as tested by Andy Wise" signs all the time. I have to admit, there are many times when I would like to buy a new product but am wary because I don't know if it'll work. Those are usually such specialized products, though, that they wouldn't garner much interest from the general viewing public. After all, how many people want to know if a crown molding jig works on a miter saw??? Good luck with the roof!
Spoken like a woman after my own heart. I have found that too many times on woodworking and carpentry tools that they don't measure up to the hype. Yah, somebody needs to test those speciality tools. Somebody with TV experience. I wonder........
I remember Iben Browning's 1990 earthquake day... I was still in school at the time -- and, I think, 5 people showed up that day.
(The big one's still coming, but obviously, that wasn't it.)
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