I'm not being funny or anything, but you would imagine they would have settled for a decent middle order before even thinking about the god type stuff.
Location: An old flying boat station on Moreton Bay
Age: 73
Posts: 293
Quote:
Originally Posted by Al R
you would imagine they would have settled for a decent middle order before even thinking about the god type stuff.
Settle! This guy thinks a cricket is related to the cicada and the locust, both of which respond to mini-seasons here in Oz.
The stuff being reported has been around for a while now. Problem is, there are so many disparate Aboriginal language groups that the mini seasons can't be given nationally consistent names. In any event, as you go further south, so the seasons move towards temperate and Europeanish.
Up tin's way the Europeans do two seasons - Wet & Dry, and the locals count 8 or so.
Interesting stuff actually, but possibly not for JB
"unhook" itself from the "arbitrary" four seasons it inherited from Brit??? The seasons are not arbitary,they are coupled with events Astronomical,equinoxes solstices and such. Silly Billy's
Not so fast there, Mr D... When your country extends from 50 S or so to close enough to the equator, your seasonal variation is probably much better described in local terms rather than the 3-monthly old standards. Take far north Queensland for example - 'summer', ie Dec-Feb inclusive, runs through rainy, dryer, rainy again, maybe cyclones. 6-monthly 'wet and dry' seasons don't fit the bill, nor do the old 4 standards. So rolling eyes right back at ya!
One has to have a datum Mr Arm,one simply cannot run a world on when some colonial wishes to go surfing or fire up a barbie it would be illogical and unscientific,ergo we look to astronomy and the unchanging heavens for our fixed points.
Mister D - In that case, then, could you please explain (to use a famous redhead pollies term), why the seasons in Oz start officially on the 1st of the month - and not on the actual equinoxes/solstices - as in the U.S.?? Is this just another case of a peculiarly odd Anglo Saxon eccentricity??
Methinks Mr Entwhistle has been sniffing or smoking some of the more hallucogenic plants in his RBG's. Everyone complains about the seasons being out of kilter all the time, anyway - it was all those A-bombs, ya know .....
I think the confusion arose Mr Track because the early ere,settlers(one uses that term in its loosest sense) were not supplied with calendars as it was thought they would just mark off the days thus defacing same.
One has to have a datum Mr Arm,one simply cannot run a world on when some colonial wishes to go surfing or fire up a barbie it would be illogical and unscientific,ergo we look to astronomy and the unchanging heavens for our fixed points.
With respect, Mr. Draper, some other distinctions than calendar time may be relevant in regard to seasons.
Is it better, on the sea or in the air, to navigate on the basis of where one should be or where one actually is - per independent observations, etc? Normally anyone seriously interested in the outcome would favour the reality over the specification, non e verro?
As machines grow wiser at modeling the movement and temperature and moisture content of the atmosphere, lands and seas, the information about what is happening and what will happen next grows in detail and precision. In recent years one has marveled at widely disseminated forecasts for parts of the US and Canada, where animated sequential displays will show detailed and often quite complex patterns of forecast cloud, rainfall, winds, etc, - given a week in advance - that turn out accurate to a few miles and a few minutes a week later. Not all turn out right, but a surprising fraction do during periods when they are properly hitting their stride.
One would suggest the actual seasons are a product of concepts similar to the "degree-days" used in serious farming to forecast fruit ripening and bugs molting, so the peasants may labour timely. In effect, the calendar seasons reserve a general time-slot, while currents, atmosphere and solar phenomena control the actual results in a slightly different manner each time 'round.
Mind you Australia's winters can be harsher than many imagine eg
And in Queensland -
Quote:
IDQ1005005 NORTH TROPICAL COAST AND TABLELANDS DISTRICT Fine. A sunny day. Light to moderate SE winds with an afternoon sea breeze. Outlook for Monday ... Fine. Outlook for Tuesday ... Fine.
IDQ1005006 CAIRNS Fine. A sunny day. Light to moderate SE winds and an afternoon sea breeze. MIN 17 MAX 29 UV Alert - 9:10 am to 3:40 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 10 [Very High] Outlook for Monday ... Fine.
IDQ1005008 TOWNSVILLE Fine. Mostly light winds and a moderate N to NE sea breeze in the afternoon. MIN 14 MAX 28 UV Alert - 9:10 am to 3:20 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 9 [Very High] Outlook for Monday ... Fine.
While Britain's summers are invariably tranquil and balmy - from Metoffice UK -
Quote:
Tonight:
Wet and windy weather across Northern Ireland will spread across Scotland, northern England and Wales. Rain will become heavy across Northern Ireland and southwest Scotland. Elsewhere staying dry and fine. Sunday:
Rain across Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, northern England and the far southwest. The rain will be heavy at times, especially across Northern Ireland and western Scotland.
Ever since this here Global Warming stuff has started, here we have been having cooler summers, warmer winters and by God we are even having real springs and falls now.
Go figure.
I like what they say up in Montana, "We have nine months of winter and three months of road work."
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