Re: T&T: Free weather info ending?
UK people have had to pay for weather information for twenty years.
You might want to get the deal over the warm beer straightened out at
the same time. <g> I am curious how they charge you [for weather
information]
First of all, I've been in a lot of pubs in the UK and I don't know
where this "British drink warm beer" thing came from. Most beer is
served at what I've heard called "cellar temperature," which is anything
but warm. Granted, it's not ice cold, which is the only way most
American beer is tolerable (the cold masks the cow urine taste), but
I've never had a "warm" Guinness from the tap in 15 years of visiting
pubs all over the UK. Every beer I've had there has been served cold,
just not ice cold.
Second, I'm curious about this "you have to pay for weather information"
thing. I just typed "UK weather" into Google and got 42,900,000 hits.
The first one, http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ has all sorts of weather
forecasts on it including marine weather forecasts. No charge. A
government site is http://www.met-office.gov.uk/ . Check out the coastal
forecasts for marine weather info. No charge.
So I don't know who Maggie Thatcher was sending the bill to for weather
information, but it wasn't to anyone using the internet. In fact, based
on what I saw on the met-office site, their marine weather information
is organized and displayed in a more user-friendly form that what I've
seen from NOAA.
We've been using the met-office site to check the weather forecasts
prior to our narrowboat cruises in the UK starting in 1990 and I've
never seen anything stating I had to pay for the information. Unlike
the London Times, who puts their whole newspaper on the web free of
charge for people in the UK (who can buy the actual paper if they want
to) but who puts most of the paper behind a you-pay-for-it firewall for
the rest of world, who can't buy the actual paper even if they were
willing to. At least they don't put Jeremy Clarkson's Sunday car review
column behind the firewall--- that would be really disappointing.
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington
Uk Coastguard continue to transmit weather forecasts at set times, as do
local port operators. Met Office send five day forecasts by fax to
subscribers. Out side of set hours information is obtained from "premium
rate" phone servers presumably of the type your senator is hoping to favour.
The BBC local radio stations newspapers etc., all now have to pay for the
use of met office weather information so the costs are included in the
product or licence fee. Prior to Mrs Thatchers privatisation of previously
free services the public could phone their local met office, usually at the
airport for a current weather report and forecast free of charge, now you
get a premium phone line giving a recorded message with information for the
whole country that takes ages before it comes to your bit, all this at #1 a
minute ($1 82). Also most land based weather forecasts are for land areas,
coastal waters forecasts by local radio stations and newspapers are useually
12 hours out of date. Your warm beer comments I endorse wholheartedly, you
might also mention one of our greatest blessings in the Shipping Forecast is
the delectable Charlotte Green.
From: "Faure, Marin" marin.faure@boeing.com
To: "trawler list" trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com
Subject: Re: T&T: Free weather info ending?
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 17:18:36 -0700
UK people have had to pay for weather information for twenty years.
You might want to get the deal over the warm beer straightened out at
the same time. <g> I am curious how they charge you [for weather
information]
First of all, I've been in a lot of pubs in the UK and I don't know
where this "British drink warm beer" thing came from. Most beer is
served at what I've heard called "cellar temperature," which is anything
but warm. Granted, it's not ice cold, which is the only way most
American beer is tolerable (the cold masks the cow urine taste), but
I've never had a "warm" Guinness from the tap in 15 years of visiting
pubs all over the UK. Every beer I've had there has been served cold,
just not ice cold.
Second, I'm curious about this "you have to pay for weather information"
thing. I just typed "UK weather" into Google and got 42,900,000 hits.
The first one, http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ has all sorts of weather
forecasts on it including marine weather forecasts. No charge. A
government site is http://www.met-office.gov.uk/ . Check out the coastal
forecasts for marine weather info. No charge.
So I don't know who Maggie Thatcher was sending the bill to for weather
information, but it wasn't to anyone using the internet. In fact, based
on what I saw on the met-office site, their marine weather information
is organized and displayed in a more user-friendly form that what I've
seen from NOAA.
We've been using the met-office site to check the weather forecasts
prior to our narrowboat cruises in the UK starting in 1990 and I've
never seen anything stating I had to pay for the information. Unlike
the London Times, who puts their whole newspaper on the web free of
charge for people in the UK (who can buy the actual paper if they want
to) but who puts most of the paper behind a you-pay-for-it firewall for
the rest of world, who can't buy the actual paper even if they were
willing to. At least they don't put Jeremy Clarkson's Sunday car review
column behind the firewall--- that would be really disappointing.
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington
http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering
To unsubscribe send email to
trawlers-and-trawlering-request@lists.samurai.com with the word
UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message.
Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World
Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
Uk Coastguard continue to transmit weather forecasts at set times, as do
local port operators. Met Office send five day forecasts by fax to
subscribers. Out side of set hours information is obtained from "premium
rate" phone servers presumably of the type your senator is hoping to favour.
The BBC local radio stations newspapers etc., all now have to pay for the
use of met office weather information so the costs are included in the
product or licence fee. Prior to Mrs Thatchers privatisation of previously
free services the public could phone their local met office, usually at the
airport for a current weather report and forecast free of charge, now you
get a premium phone line giving a recorded message with information for the
whole country that takes ages before it comes to your bit, all this at #1 a
minute ($1 82). Also most land based weather forecasts are for land areas,
coastal waters forecasts by local radio stations and newspapers are useually
12 hours out of date. Your warm beer comments I endorse wholheartedly, you
might also mention one of our greatest blessings in the Shipping Forecast is
the delectable Charlotte Green.
From: "Faure, Marin" marin.faure@boeing.com
To: "trawler list" trawlers-and-trawlering@lists.samurai.com
Subject: Re: T&T: Free weather info ending?
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 17:18:36 -0700
UK people have had to pay for weather information for twenty years.
You might want to get the deal over the warm beer straightened out at
the same time. <g> I am curious how they charge you [for weather
information]
First of all, I've been in a lot of pubs in the UK and I don't know
where this "British drink warm beer" thing came from. Most beer is
served at what I've heard called "cellar temperature," which is anything
but warm. Granted, it's not ice cold, which is the only way most
American beer is tolerable (the cold masks the cow urine taste), but
I've never had a "warm" Guinness from the tap in 15 years of visiting
pubs all over the UK. Every beer I've had there has been served cold,
just not ice cold.
Second, I'm curious about this "you have to pay for weather information"
thing. I just typed "UK weather" into Google and got 42,900,000 hits.
The first one, http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ has all sorts of weather
forecasts on it including marine weather forecasts. No charge. A
government site is http://www.met-office.gov.uk/ . Check out the coastal
forecasts for marine weather info. No charge.
So I don't know who Maggie Thatcher was sending the bill to for weather
information, but it wasn't to anyone using the internet. In fact, based
on what I saw on the met-office site, their marine weather information
is organized and displayed in a more user-friendly form that what I've
seen from NOAA.
We've been using the met-office site to check the weather forecasts
prior to our narrowboat cruises in the UK starting in 1990 and I've
never seen anything stating I had to pay for the information. Unlike
the London Times, who puts their whole newspaper on the web free of
charge for people in the UK (who can buy the actual paper if they want
to) but who puts most of the paper behind a you-pay-for-it firewall for
the rest of world, who can't buy the actual paper even if they were
willing to. At least they don't put Jeremy Clarkson's Sunday car review
column behind the firewall--- that would be really disappointing.
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington
http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering
To unsubscribe send email to
trawlers-and-trawlering-request@lists.samurai.com with the word
UNSUBSCRIBE and nothing else in the subject or body of the message.
Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World
Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
It's fast, it's easy and it's free. Get MSN Messenger 7.0 today!
http://messenger.msn.co.uk