NBC broadcasts the nightly news live every day at 6:30 p.m., but the live flagship new program didn’t stop some genius from conducting a fire alarm eight seconds into Brian Williams’s newscast. Williams handles it like a true pro, but it’s still sad to watch — like Michael Jordan in a Wizards uniform, or a polar bear on a melting iceberg.

C’mon, NBC: set your fire drills during the Hoda/Kathie Lee hour of “Today” — nobody likes hearing them talk, and they’ll turn it into a drinking game.

More video below, via The Daily What and The Set.

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Oh my God. Everybody stop what you’re doing and watch this right now.  It’s an early ’90s report from Tom Brokaw about this newfangled thingamajig called the Internet, and there are some absolute gems here:

• Brokaw: …a look at a part of the computer world that we’ve all been hearing a good deal about but many of us still don’t understand: It’s called “the Internet.” [Note: I swear he stops JUST short of using air quotes]
• Voiceover: A dazzling array of information, documents, animation, sounds, even moving pictures — piped to your computer screen through something called the Internet.
• Bill Gates (wearing a toned-down Cosby sweater): It’s very hip to be on the Internet right now.

Okay, yes, I realize that it’s short-sighted to look at this and laugh, as there was a time in our lives when all of this was very new and confusing.  I mean, I occasionally checked “e-mail” in college on a black-and-green screen, so it’s not like we’ve unearthed the first papyrus scrolls about unleavened bread.  Although if you could get those in .pdf form and email them to me, that would be great.

[The Daily Tube / Ezra Klein / Andrew Sullivan]