Yesterday we had a big storm. It only lasted for 20 minutes, but when it was done, our street was littered with tree branches, and a giant tree had been uprooted and was resting on our neighbor's house. Apparently, much of the area saw similar problems, and I found the response of the local ABC affiliate to be a little absurd. For the remained of the evening, they had an information bar scrolling across the bottom of their programs. Among the messages about power outages and weather updates suggesting that viewers email their photos and videos of the storm to the station.

Let me get this straight. They want ME to send the news to THEM? What? Isn't this precisely the OPPOSITE of what's supposed to happen? What's the rationale here? Yeah, ahh, we're really swamped right now covering high gas prices and the presidential election that doesn't take place for five months, so if you don't mind, would you do our jobs for us?

Yeah, no problem, and I'll also come down and wipe your butts for you after use the restroom.