Every US smartphone, television and radio received an alert on Wednesday at 2:18pm ET as part of a nationwide test for an emergency alert system.
Unfortunately for three members of the Amish community, the alert also involved a powerful alarm sound that outed them for having modern devices - which go against their beliefs.
Well I set mine to airplane mode then turned off wifi and mine didn't go off ..... neither did my smart tv or tablet... When they start paying my bills then then can take over my shit until then Fuck Off.
ReplyDeleteJD
Same here.
DeleteMaybe Apple should come up with an Amish mode where incoming messages sound like cow moos.
DeleteCuld you imagine the surprises inside prisons?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteirontomflint
I don't get the amish and their shunning of technology. They are not shunning technology...just NEW tech. So, all invention up to say about 1850 are acceptable, but nothing after that. Why not just shun ALL tech and live like cavemen? I mean, looms are tech, the buggy is tech, glasses are tech, nails and hammers, and so on. They accept that. They just got together and said okay...all tech after 1850 is bad...but before 1850, it's good to go.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's just the technology, but also has something to do with the power source along with the sin of being prideful of your possessions. I've seen them on bicycles, scooters and roller blades, and none of that existed before your time frame.
DeleteAll that is just a scientific wild-ass guess - I don't know any more about their religion than most outsiders do.
I lived Plain for awhile. In short, one strives for simplicity, and avoids any tech that would pull apart the community. Using old farm practices ensure that the community comes together for planting, harvesting, homemaking, barn raising etc. Clothing is plain so no attention is drawn to self, and eliminates fads and envy. All is run by agreement with local bishops. Kids given more leeway w regards to toys etc.
DeleteAnd depending on what ordun one belongs to, some tech is allowed for work purposes. Knew an Amish who was a big-time Belgium horse breeder. He had a computer to do on-line sales of sperm and stuff.
DeleteOthers had power tools in their woodworking businesses.
Again, it's depending on what your local leader says.
They don't just shun new tech. Each new technology is considered, in light of it's cost and benfit, especially the perceived spiritual cost, also the cost of being dependant upon "the english". Each community is different and has different standards.
DeleteMy older daughter's a teacher and several of the students hadn't heard about the test. They were surprised when the alarms started going off in class. They're allowed to have phones, but only if they're turned off during class time. The teachers collected the phones and made the students go to the office to pick them up at the end of the day.
ReplyDeleteThat morning I put my phone in a blocker bag and let it go. Never did get an "alert".
ReplyDeleteThat is a good thing to know for future "tests"! Thanks!
Deleteirontomflint
First I shut my phone off. Then I put my phone in a plastic bag and then wrapped in in 2 lays oaf aluminum foil. No alert got to it.
DeleteI was at an Amish farm that the owner's church prohibed rubber tires. All of the farm equipment was fitted with metal treaded rims including the Bobcat.
ReplyDeleteWhere I live we have "steel wheel Amish" and "rubber wheel Amish". Two different sects.
DeleteLancaster County (PA) is the puppy mill capital of the Eastern U.S., mostly run by the Amish.
ReplyDeleteDid that alarm go off on phones that were turned off? I was out at that time and (needless to say) my tracking device wasn't with me. Later that day or the next I found a "missed call" message on the cellphone.
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean it screeched at an empty apartment on its own?
Just curious.
Well I don't know if it would show up as a missed call or not.. Rumors were flying before the test that the government could turn on your phones and all kinds of crap so.... did it leave you a message ?
DeleteTurning on airplane mode and turning off my wifi seems to have canceled access to my electronics but. ... I got no notifications of any kind.
JD
20 years ago, I was working for a contractor. The customer wanted some Amish cabinets in the new house we were building. So I got to drive 90 minutes to pick up a Amish cabinet maker, take him to the job site then drive him back. Late fall, getting cold, but the windows on the truck were rolled down because his sect apparently didn't believe in soap and baths. The back roads around the community were covered in Amish using roller blades, grown men. No cell phones back then, but the community had a phone on the outside wall of the school house. The house may not have had electricity, but this guy had a wood shop that would be the envy of most small wood production shops. Fully powered, and every sawdust making machine you could imagine: Saws, lathes, shapers, planers, presses, full pneumatics. Very close to a million dollar shop.
ReplyDeleteI never got the alert. Neither did the gal working for me. If and when Yellowstone blows it'll take me by surprise.
ReplyDelete