Long time no lurk.

The old Buchan weather data site which we reinstated some time ago in
memory of my mother has, we think, come to the end of its usefulness
and it will be taken down at the end of the month.
I know some people here linked to it so it seemed appropriate to inform
of this decision.

There is now a new, non-scientific site - a sort of news blog - which
has current weather information on it.

It is at (standard link) http://nfn.opcop.org.uk and (secure link)
https://nfn.anamedas.org.uk

On the home page, there is a weather panel at the top right. A key to
the symbols may, if needed, be obtained by clicking on the panel.

The details are updated from time to time during the day and they
reflect the weather, not a forecast of the weather.
Global temps are in the 'Briefs' section under 'Climate Change'.

The site has a Twitter feed @FreeNfn which is even more recent than the
web site so has almost no followers although that is not a priority.

I see there are some new names here, as well as older ones. Perhaps
Usenet is not yet dead.


On topic: winter has ended and not one single flake of snow here,
unless one fell while we were asleep and vanished before we regained
consciousness.

Regards,

Asha.

On Sunday, March 1, 2020 at 1:09:24 PM UTC, Asha Santon wrote:
Long time no lurk.

The old Buchan weather data site which we reinstated some time ago in
memory of my mother has, we think, come to the end of its usefulness
and it will be taken down at the end of the month.
I know some people here linked to it so it seemed appropriate to inform
of this decision.

There is now a new, non-scientific site - a sort of news blog - which
has current weather information on it.

It is at (standard link) http://nfn.opcop.org.uk and (secure link)
https://nfn.anamedas.org.uk

On the home page, there is a weather panel at the top right. A key to
the symbols may, if needed, be obtained by clicking on the panel.

The details are updated from time to time during the day and they
reflect the weather, not a forecast of the weather.
Global temps are in the 'Briefs' section under 'Climate Change'.

The site has a Twitter feed @FreeNfn which is even more recent than the
web site so has almost no followers although that is not a priority.

I see there are some new names here, as well as older ones. Perhaps
Usenet is not yet dead.


On topic: winter has ended and not one single flake of snow here,
unless one fell while we were asleep and vanished before we regained
consciousness.

Regards,

Asha.

In Briefings
I love the way Capital Punishment is followed by Climate Change.
Brilliant!

Len
Wembury
SW Devon

On Sunday, 1 March 2020 19:42:48 UTC, wrote:
On Sunday, March 1, 2020 at 1:09:24 PM UTC, Asha Santon wrote:
Long time no lurk.

The old Buchan weather data site which we reinstated some time ago in
memory of my mother has, we think, come to the end of its usefulness
and it will be taken down at the end of the month.
I know some people here linked to it so it seemed appropriate to inform
of this decision.

There is now a new, non-scientific site - a sort of news blog - which
has current weather information on it.

It is at (standard link) http://nfn.opcop.org.uk and (secure link)
https://nfn.anamedas.org.uk

On the home page, there is a weather panel at the top right. A key to
the symbols may, if needed, be obtained by clicking on the panel.

The details are updated from time to time during the day and they
reflect the weather, not a forecast of the weather.
Global temps are in the 'Briefs' section under 'Climate Change'.

The site has a Twitter feed @FreeNfn which is even more recent than the
web site so has almost no followers although that is not a priority.

I see there are some new names here, as well as older ones. Perhaps
Usenet is not yet dead.


On topic: winter has ended and not one single flake of snow here,
unless one fell while we were asleep and vanished before we regained
consciousness.

Regards,

Asha.

In Briefings
I love the way Capital Punishment is followed by Climate Change.
Brilliant!

Len
Wembury
SW Devon

Actually she has it the wrong way around. Capital punishment should always follow Glowballs. No need for trials. Just do it. And make Dawlish watch and wait.

On 2020-03-01 19:42:46 +0000, said:

On Sunday, March 1, 2020 at 1:09:24 PM UTC, Asha Santon wrote:

There is now a new, non-scientific site - a sort of news blog - which
has current weather information on it.

It is at (standard link) http://nfn.opcop.org.uk and (secure link)
https://nfn.anamedas.org.uk

On the home page, there is a weather panel at the top right. A key to
the symbols may, if needed, be obtained by clicking on the panel.

The details are updated from time to time during the day and they
reflect the weather, not a forecast of the weather.
Global temps are in the 'Briefs' section under 'Climate Change'.

The site has a Twitter feed @FreeNfn which is even more recent than the
web site so has almost no followers although that is not a priority.


Regards,

Asha.

In Briefings
I love the way Capital Punishment is followed by Climate Change.
Brilliant!

Len
Wembury
SW Devon

Kind of you to visit and comment. Thank you.

That page has been updated as it was getting untidy, as has the Honours
page (to remove the nasty 'table' element) which was insufficiently
responsive.

Regards,

Asha.

On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 2:13:06 PM UTC, Asha Santon wrote:
On 2020-03-01 19:42:46 +0000,

On Sunday, March 1, 2020 at 1:09:24 PM UTC, Asha Santon wrote:

There is now a new, non-scientific site - a sort of news blog - which
has current weather information on it.

It is at (standard link) http://nfn.opcop.org.uk and (secure link)
https://nfn.anamedas.org.uk

On the home page, there is a weather panel at the top right. A key to
the symbols may, if needed, be obtained by clicking on the panel.

The details are updated from time to time during the day and they
reflect the weather, not a forecast of the weather.
Global temps are in the 'Briefs' section under 'Climate Change'.

The site has a Twitter feed @FreeNfn which is even more recent than the
web site so has almost no followers although that is not a priority.


Regards,

Asha.

In Briefings
I love the way Capital Punishment is followed by Climate Change.
Brilliant!

Len
Wembury
SW Devon

Kind of you to visit and comment. Thank you.

That page has been updated as it was getting untidy, as has the Honours
page (to remove the nasty 'table' element) which was insufficiently
responsive.

Regards,

Asha.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I like your website but just a few more comments.

If you want to report Weather then Place, and Time of day would be informative.
I know you are in Scotland but it is a big area.

kmh, you mean km/h.
Does anyone use km/h for speed in Scotland?
mph or knots is better.

Your weather category/symbol for Mainly dry is amusing.
What does it represent?
To me it looks like a sheet of toilet paper.
:-)

regards

Len

On 2020-03-02 17:50:09 +0000, said:


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I like your website but just a few more comments.

Why thank you. We nearly like it. I will deal with your points in turn.
I do not wish to appear dismissive or anything less than happy so some
lengthy explanations follow.


If you want to report Weather then Place, and Time of day would be
informative.

The time of day is always 'now'. The site is updated randomly but
regularly by someone somewhere and usually more often than the weather
changes. As for place ...

I know you are in Scotland but it is a big area.

It is and on reading your comments, I checked the 'About' page and it
does indeed just say Scotland on it.
At a convenient point thereafter, I lightly strangled the writer of
that page and it should be clarified this evening although I haven't
had time to check. Thank you for noticing - we didn't.


kmh, you mean km/h.

Umm no, we don't. Everyone we know both here and on mainland Europe
uses kmh. We did check on that and it seems there is no standard
abbreviation with several in use. Some news outlets use kph but we
don't like that.

Does anyone use km/h for speed in Scotland?

Two things there.
Aside of friends and family, almost none of our website visitors are in
Scotland and most are not in the UK.
When we were at school (cue violins) maths topics were taught in metric
(aside of bases such as hex etc). Geography topics were taught
primarily in metric with miles and stuff mentioned only in passing.

mph or knots is better.

Only if you know instinctively what they mean.
None of us are into sailing or whatever so knots are things tied in
string, not speeds :-)
Mph is meaningless to us. For road use, the speed limit is just a
number and as long as we drive under that number on the dial, no
flashing blue lights. Distances on sign posts, we mentally recalculate
so they have meaning.
For wind speeds, we have no idea what 10mph feels like until we convert
it into kmh.


Your weather category/symbol for Mainly dry is amusing.

I very much agree with you on that. It may even be silly.

What does it represent?

On our screens, it appears as a horizontal white line with something
hanging on it.
It represents washing - the sign of a mainly dry day.

To me it looks like a sheet of toilet paper.

It did to me a week or so ago. The first version of it had a shorter
white line so it was less obvious.
Perhaps the line needs to be a bit thicker - don't want it to break :-)

Thanks again - your comments are appreciated.

Asha.

On 02/03/2020 20:02, Asha Santon wrote:
On 2020-03-02 17:50:09 +0000, said:


-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I like your website but just a few more comments.

Why thank you. We nearly like it. I will deal with your points in turn.
I do not wish to appear dismissive or anything less than happy so some
lengthy explanations follow.


If you want to report Weather then Place, and Time of dayÂ* would be
informative.

The time of day is always 'now'. The site is updated randomly but
regularly by someone somewhere and usually more often than the weather
changes. As for place ...

I know you are in Scotland but it is a big area.

It is and on reading your comments, I checked the 'About' page and it
does indeed just say Scotland on it.
At a convenient point thereafter, I lightly strangled the writer of that
page and it should be clarified this evening although I haven't had time
to check. Thank you for noticing - we didn't.


kmh, you mean km/h.

Umm no, we don't. Everyone we know both here and on mainland Europe uses
kmh. We did check on that and it seems there is no standard abbreviation
with several in use. Some news outlets use kph but we don't like that.

Does anyone use km/h for speed in Scotland?

Two things there.
Aside of friends and family, almost none of our website visitors are in
Scotland and most are not in the UK.
When we were at school (cue violins) maths topics were taught in metric
(aside of bases such as hex etc). Geography topics were taught primarily
in metric with miles and stuff mentioned only in passing.

mph or knots is better.

Only if you know instinctively what they mean.
None of us are into sailing or whatever so knots are things tied in
string, not speeds :-)
Mph is meaningless to us. For road use, the speed limit is just a number
and as long as we drive under that number on the dial, no flashing blue
lights. Distances on sign posts, we mentally recalculate so they have
meaning.
For wind speeds, we have no idea what 10mph feels like until we convert
it into kmh.


Your weather category/symbol for Mainly dry is amusing.

I very much agree with you on that. It may even be silly.

What does it represent?

On our screens, it appears as a horizontal white line with something
hanging on it.
It represents washing - the sign of a mainly dry day.

To me it looks like a sheet of toilet paper.

It did to me a week or so ago. The first version of it had a shorter
white line so it was less obvious.
Perhaps the line needs to be a bit thicker - don't want it to break :-)

Thanks again - your comments are appreciated.

Asha.

Just a couple of comments. Wikipedia says you can use km/h (the SI
symbol) or abbreviations kph, kmph, or km/hr) See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilometres_per_hour.

With regard to wind speed units, Len is probably thinking of aviation
weather reports (METARs), where knots for speed and feet for cloud
height are used, even by the French. But the synoptic observation code
(SYNOP), which is used to exchange current weather information globally
has a code fragment which says whether m/s or kts are used. Hence the
French report in m/s and the British in kts.

But it's your website, so you get to choose the units (and their
abbreviations) you want.

Your comment about flags being able to be flown upside down, is
incorrect. More can be flown upside down than not. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galler...gn_state_flags

Flying a state flag upside down is a statement that the ship so doing is
in trouble. What a French ship would do in this circumstance is
something I've never found out.

Hope this helps.

On 2020-03-02 17:50:09 +0000, said:

On Monday, March 2, 2020 at 2:13:06 PM UTC, Asha Santon wrote:
On 2020-03-01 19:42:46 +0000,

On Sunday, March 1, 2020 at 1:09:24 PM UTC, Asha Santon wrote:

There is now a new, non-scientific site - a sort of news blog - which
has current weather information on it.

It is at (standard link) http://nfn.opcop.org.uk and (secure link)
https://nfn.anamedas.org.uk

On the home page, there is a weather panel at the top right. A key to
the symbols may, if needed, be obtained by clicking on the panel.

The details are updated from time to time during the day and they
reflect the weather, not a forecast of the weather.
Global temps are in the 'Briefs' section under 'Climate Change'.

The site has a Twitter feed @FreeNfn which is even more recent than the
web site so has almost no followers although that is not a priority.


Regards,

Asha.

In Briefings
I love the way Capital Punishment is followed by Climate Change.
Brilliant!

Len
Wembury
SW Devon

Kind of you to visit and comment. Thank you.

That page has been updated as it was getting untidy, as has the Honours
page (to remove the nasty 'table' element) which was insufficiently
responsive.

Regards,

Asha.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------


Your weather category/symbol for Mainly dry is amusing.
What does it represent?
To me it looks like a sheet of toilet paper.
:-)

The Mainly Dry symbol has been given the attention it deserved but had
not received and an updated version is onscreen as I type.

We hope that you like it, given that you inspired the upgrade.

Thanks again.

Regards,

Asha

On 2020-03-02 22:03:53 +0000, Metman2012 said:

Your comment about flags being able to be flown upside down, is
incorrect. More can be flown upside down than not. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galler...gn_state_flags

Flying a state flag upside down is a statement that the ship so doing
is in trouble. What a French ship would do in this circumstance is
something I've never found out.

Hope this helps.

It did indeed, thank you.
It took me a few moments to find that comment which has been online
since the last week of December without being noticed, it seems.
Given the sentence was borderline gibberish anyway, it has been recast
to make it more interesting and, with thanks, more accurate. I uploaded
it to the server this morning.

I imagine a French ship would do what others do, broadcast a distress
message or launch the equivalent flare. Any bad actors present would be
wise to the flag ruse anyway. FWIW one grandparent was in the Navy and
would be 101 today had he not died before I was born.

Regards,

Asha.