On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 16:50:09 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:


"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
.. .
On Wed, 01 Jun 2005 11:23:13 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:


wrote in message
egroups.com...
I know that aspects of this have been posted previously, but I thought
I would provide an update I saw in today's newspapers and a release by
the Associated Press.

According to several articles in the news, "Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.,
the U.S. Senate's third-ranking Republican, stirred up a growing storm
with a bill introduced on April 14 that would restrict the availability
of weather information provided now by the National Weather Service for
free to the general public. Among the products removed from public
access would be weather data and radar through the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration's Web sites. Though Santorum claims the NWS
would compete unfairly with such commercial sites as AccuWeather and
the Weather Channel, both for-profit services use basic data provided
by the NWS as well as other information from other sources and
repackage it for target markets."

According to a release by the Associated Press, "Two days before Sen.
Rick Santorum introduced a bill that critics say would restrict the
National Weather Service, his political action committee received a
$2,000 donation from the chief executive of AccuWeather Inc., a leading
provider of weather data."

If you use NOAA weather information to plan sailing events, you might
want to contact the senators from your state.

If you use NOAA weather information to plan *any* day out on the water,
then
you know what it's like to be frustrated by inaccurate forecasting. NOAA
sucks.

Just a tad of hyperbole there me thinks. Up around here, they are
pretty good. And if you are used to an area, you know damn well when
the wind is from the SW 10-15 you'd best stay the hell out of Fisher's
Island Sound. :)

But that wasn't the point of the discussion - the use of publicly paid
for data to be used exclusively by private interests and all the
attendant complications and implications for the future was the
discussion.

I think publicly-paid-for-data should be available equally to *all* at no
charge...and that includes private companies. Afterall, they pay taxes too.

I agree, but you need to look beyond being fair. There hasn't been,
in this discussion, any argument against sharing the data. The
problem is what use that data is being put to and just how it will
affect the functionality of the NWS.

The discussion pretty much detailed what and where the problems might
lay with this proposal.

Read through the thread - it's pretty interesting even if I say so
myself. :)

Later,

Tom