The Hostage Situation is Obviously About Me

Hello, people of the internet! I've been told a couple of times to restart this thing, so here I am!

I have successfully avoided being a hostage in the whole Binghamton escapade, which is quite the accomplishment considering that there were 41 hostages, of which 13 are now dead plus the hostage-taker, who killed himself. In the way that most tragedies happen, there is a hero in the form of a receptionist who was shot and played dead until she could call 911 from under a desk.

There are a few things I've learned from this tragedy, none of which have anything to do with my appreciation of life and its ephemeral nature:

1. Binghamton radio type people are very very stupid. The guy who was interviewed on All Things Considered is my least favorite guy on Binghamton radio, because he sounds like he's trying to be a radio announcer from the '40s and failing. Just talk like a normal person, for heaven's sakes! Anyway, the woman on ATC was trying to ask him things about what exactly had happened, assuming he would know more than the national news sources, and all he could talk about was that it was a tragedy and it rained. He gave her little useful information and no direct answers to her questions. You can listen to the story here, but I don't recommend it if you're looking for informative radio. And speaking of informative radio, apparently there is none in Binghamton, NY! Despite the fact that WSKG had a reporter at the scene all day long, they quoted national news sources and the AP for their updates! Why would you do that if you have a guy on the scene? Unless, that is, your guy at the scene IS A TOTALLY INEFFECTIVE HUMAN BEING WHO WILL THEN MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE CRAP ON NATIONAL RADIO? *sigh*
2. If there's ever a disaster on Front St., no one can get anything done! I81 was backed up past downtown so I had to take country roads to get to the highway and I had to cancel a guitar lesson! Such a shame, given that I spent so much time baking my payment the night before!
3. The ways that people say things are totally dumb and often misleading. Governor Patterson says that this guy killed "12 or 13 people"...12 OR 13? Which is it, and can you please explain? Or maybe use an intelligent way of saying that, like "as many as 13" or "at least 12?" Or when referring to the condition of the injured, the news said that they "ranged in age from 20 to 50 and in condition from stable to critical," which tells us nothing at all. HOLY CRAP JUST COMMUNICATE ALREADY.
4. We totally need a new system of identifying how healthy people are after they've been injured. Perhaps, "You're maybe not gonna quite die before tomorrow but no promises," or "You probably will be okay maybe but we're not ruling out a bear attack," or "I certainly hope you're dead by morning," or "Pretty seriously in danger of maybe dying a little bit in a week." This "serious," "critical," "stable" thing is starting to get on my nerves!

Finally, I've learned that when a tragedy affects a lot of people mostly I judge them by how they affect me? That being said, if somebody I knew died then I'd be real sad, so I guess I can sympathize with people who are scared and sad a little. I just wish that the people who brought us this news could be a little less monkey-time about their reports. Also I have a sneaking suspiscion that if we continue to keep people alive whom mother nature would have destroyed via survival of the fittest, people are going to keep getting crazier and less effective and more "let's shoot a lot of things including but not limited to people," but I think that's another blog.

Argh.