Non- Rugby Related Chat. Please note that this forum is moderated. If you wish to make comments for the club's attention please do so in Fans Forum and not this one.
Captain Fitzroy took the Beagle round the globe with a certain C.Darwin on it. When he came back he went to the Admiralty and started the very first weather forecasting service in the world. Initially for mariners it began to be published in newspapers and eventually became the Met office - weather girls and all the stuff we have now.
They may work for the Met Office, but they aren't all meteorologists. Some of them are presenters. I see that Des has been removed from the BBC East Midlands page. No surprise there then.
The was an excrutiating exchange this morning when the "weather girl" came out with the phrase "a 50% chance of showers".
Adrian Chiles expressed my thoughts entirely when he asked: "What's that supposed to mean? Does it mean that there is a 50% chance that there will be a shower at some point during the day? Or does it mean that at every point in the day there is a 50 percent chance it will be raining?"
Clearly unable to deal with this primary school mathematics she huffed and puffed and muttered and then said very helpfully: "Well some times it's a 10% chance of showers which is less likely and sometimes it's a 90% chance of showers which is more likely but today it's a 50% chance of showers, so it's about 50/50 really."
Mr Chiles gave up at the point, presumably reflecting upon how he ever came to give up a decent R5 job to work with these clueless TV women.
Kicks and scrums and ruck and roll.....Is all my brain and body need!
DCat wrote:They may work for the Met Office, but they aren't all meteorologists. Some of them are presenters. I see that Des has been removed from the BBC East Midlands page. No surprise there then.
True. However I was merely pointing out the evolution from the good Captain Fitzroy's day. He was a good chap severely knocked in his faith by Darwin and criticised and mocked for his attempt to forecast the weather. He was governor of New Zealand for 2 years but it was his attempt at forecasting the weather in particular by using barometers and establishing weather stations to observe and report that makes him a hero. The fishing fleet owners hated him because the fishermen wouldn't go out if storms were predicted and the owners claimed they were losing money. He spent all of his own fortune (£6000) on public projects (about 40 - 50 grand today) and not on himself. Fitzroy suffered from depression and committed suicide. He deserves to be better known and naming a sea area after him was a good start. Put him in the dinner party thread!!!
