When a few pixels go out on your 65″ TV that’s still under warranty, the warranty should cover that, right? That was the dispute between Currys, a UK electronics store sort of like Best Buy, their customer, and an alleged insect, now deceased and stuck in the TV’s screen somehow. [More]
acts of god
How Cancer, A Tornado, And American Airlines Took Away Our Honeymoon
By 10.14.11
Roxanne and her husband got married last year, and had to delay their honeymoon until April due to her illness. They spent the night before their rescheduled trip huddled in a hotel bathtub near the airport. It was clear that the universe did not want them to vacation in Cabo San Lucas. An American Airlines rep put their rescheduled tickets on hold, and they had until February 2012 to use them for another trip. Or so they thought. [More]
Comcast Says Lightning Caused Emergency Alert System To Show QVC
By 8.8.09
Remember Jim? His Comcast cable box randomly responded to the emergency alert system (EAS) by tuning in to QVC. According to a source inside Comcast, rogue lightning strikes set off the EAS, even though there wasn’t an emergency. Two things happen when the EAS activates: the cable box switches to a local channel, and Comcast replaces the local programming with an alert. In Jim’s case, the box switched to the emergency channel—which happened to be QVC—but since there wasn’t an emergency, there was no special broadcast. So what can you do next time your cable box independently declares an emergency?
Lightning Strike Causes JetBlue Flight To Arrive 20 Minutes Early
By 6.1.07
The JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 was heading from Rochester to John F. Kennedy International Airport when the lightning hit it, causing a smell similar to that of an electrical fire to enter the passenger cabin, company spokesman Bryan Baldwin said. There was no fire or smoke, he said.
Because it was potentially on fire, the flight got to skip ahead of other scheduled flights and arrived 20 minutes early. Hooray? —MEGHANN MARCO
