Does anyone know how much it cost to develop

[Commendatori]

that five-color terror warning system that a.) no one remembers, b.) screws with the heads of the colorblind, c.) screws the blind overall?

Also, was any feasibility study done on just having a simple 1-5 scale?

These are not rhetorical questions - I would really like to know if anyone has the answers to these.

[Sirveri]

1. I suspect

and this is pure unsubstantiated speculation, that they based it off of the DefCon system.

[Commendatori]

2. Yes, but not for free

The DefCon system is more understandable, easier to memorize, and was already in place. This couldn't have been done without a multi-million dollar research grant and all sorts of other waste from the "fiscally conservative" party.

[salvorhardin]

3. Yeah, I never understood that

DefCon was there. Almost everybody knew about it, and it was easily understandable. I can only guess is that they needed some bogus system that operated independently of DefCon so that the proper amount of anxiety could be injected into the public consciousness no matter what the actual threat level was. Besides, as we all know now, NORAD was ordered to stand down at precisely the one time it would have done any good (not saying that NORAD is a waste of money otherwise).

[phoebe]

4. color plays an important part in the human psyche...

this website is as good a place as any to start. http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:Is-MLf2Kmu4J:psychology.about.com/library/weekly/aa031501a.htm+color+%2B+effect+on+humans&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

pick a color and see what researchers have to say about it..