Quantum: a discrete change in state so small that it took some of the most brilliant people of the 20th century to notice it at all.
If it is anything like the current system it will sound every time a child gets lost in Toys-R-Us or it starts raining and the station wants to go into Weather Emergency Mode. (It is odd how weather emergencies take place during normal program times but are nearly never important enough to interrupt a commercial. If a commercial is bumped, you know it is time to take cover.)
They've even started calling my home phone for Amber Alerts for a missing child.
We now have this at the university where I work.
“A suspicious person has been reported near...”
“Please report any suspicious people to...” (the university police are union and are all out there writing tickets)
“We believe the suspicious person MAY have left the university; however, we will continue to keep you informed” (great...I don’t work on that campus anyway)
“blah”
“blah”
“blah”
The university is not interested in protecting students, or faculty, or visitors, but rather in protecting themselves (that is the administrators).
This is what happens when the lawyers convince the administration (of which we have too many already) to be petrified of lawsuits.
Anyway, getting 3-4-5 messages each time this happens is a royal pain in the *ss.