"WHERE The Heck Does Jim Cantore Has His Knees???" Topic

That's what my wife asked me today when she heard Jim Cantore (The Weather Channel) repeat over and over that he was standing in "knee-deep water" when, in fact, everyone watching could see it was barely above his ankles.

QUESTION
So, in your wargaming world and wanderings, what was the most blatantly obvious exaggeration you've ever heard (by an opposing player, a vendor, etc), even though everyone else around could easily see it was not remotely anything like that?

Dan

I've seen a person or two who have made interesting
measurements on the wargaming table

There is the old joke that I convinced my wife what nine inches looked like but I can't afford the DawgHouse so I will let it go…

Poor Jim has been in too many hurricanes, I think he might be a bit addled!

DisasterWargamer: "I've seen a person or two who have made interesting
measurements on the wargaming table"

I had a fella try to convince me that he had rolled all sixes, while the dice were still sitting right there untouched, and everyone could see that he hadn't. One was a five. Close but no cigar.

Dan

Also it's good to see that I'm not the only one who notices the exaggerations on TWC, and finds it very hard to take them seriously anymore:

link

Dan

On the one hand, everybody on television wants to be watched, mostly for ratings/audience share/etc which all boil down to MONEY. The more they can hype anything--from hurricanes to politics, and the ever profitable Kardashians--the more people will watch. Further, there is drama in watching (however slowly and with mind-numbing repetition) the progress of a potential disaster on live TV.

Okay, they have every right to make money and hold the fascination of those at home eating snacks while watching people lose their homes, businesses, and lives with all the rapt attention of Romans watching the drama of life and death in the Colosseum.

But I think that probably since Katrina there is also an air of CYA about the proceedings. By hyping an approaching storm they do help warn people, but once it arrives who in the immediate vicinity can even see the coverage? With the power out, who cares if some fool stands in horizontal rain telling them the water is rising? The ones most affected will never see it. No, that sort of coverage is for the rest of us.

How long does anyone think it will be before some moron--and any number of gleeful jackal attorneys--will one-day sue NOAA or the National Weather Service for not "ADEQUATELY" warning someone of just how dangerous a hurricane can be? What has that moron to lose? The attorneys will take the suit on spec, get their names mentioned on air and in the press, and maybe actually get some money in addition to the notoriety.

For the networks, by covering every detail ad infinitum, they protect themselves from becoming correspondents in the same case, or indeed the subject themselves.

As public intelligence seems to sink lower and lower, there is at least the notion that we have to be told EVERYTHING because we can't be trusted to know or understand anything unless we are spoon fed, transfused with non-stop commentary by intravenous drip.

So, there.

TVAG

"(…) she heard Jim Cantore (The Weather Channel) repeat over and over that he was standing in "knee-deep water" when, in fact, everyone watching could see it was barely above his ankles."

If I was watching that on my old TV, that would be true, as the lower screen of the picture is compressed, making it look like people have short, stumpy legs. ;-) (But oddly, when watching stuff on tape or DVD, the picture is fine.)

My daughter showed me a clip with on of their weather dudes braced against the high winds and telling us how bad it was. Looked good until a couple of teens strolled about 15 feet behind him in a normal walk. Hilarious

Lol. I seem to recall that clip.

Dan

Hey…. it's TV. They are actors.

If you wade into the ocean, just covering your shoes, TECHNICALLY you are standing in water that's miles deep – After all, it's all one piece. So he might have been right.