[Rhodes22-list] NOAA weather privatized?

[Steve Alm]

Ed, yes, the story was just on tonight's news.  (Good timing, Mark)
Have you sent your letter?
Slim

On 5/19/05 5:35 PM, "ed kroposki" <ekroposki at charter.net> wrote:

> Slim,
> What this really means is that they want to charge you or your
> credit card for a weather report to go sailing.  No more free NOAA.  No more
> free tornado warnings.  If you want Tornado warnings you will have to pay a
> subscription fee!  It is all very simple.
> 
> Ed K
> Greenville, SC, USA
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Steve Alm
> Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 3:25 PM
> To: Rhodes
> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] NOAA weather privatized?
> 
> Hmmm...I'm a little sorry I asked, although I know you're just trying to
> help.  8-)  So what does all that mean for the likes of me?  Does it mean
> better, clearer wx web sites?  What tools does this give me?
> Sorry so dumb,
> Slim
> 
> On 5/19/05 1:17 PM, "Mark Kaynor" <mkaynor at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Slim,
>> 
>> Hoo boy. Another one that's a bit tricky to explain w/ out speaking Geek.
>> Like they say, it's all Geek to me....
>> 
>> XML stands for Extensible Markup Language - it's a markup language (kind
> of,
>> but not really like HTML), that's primarily used to describe and contain
>> data for publishing on the WWW. Unlike HTML, however, which uses
> predefined
>> tags, the programmer defines XML tags, making it very powerful for
> handling
>> data - like weather or Amazon or eBay, or insurance info, etc. I know that
>> sounds a bit obtuse, so I did a quick Google search and came up w/ this
> site
>> which probably says it a bit better:
>> http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_whatis.asp
>> 
>> And here: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/beyond/xml/article.php/3473531
>> 
>> Mark
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
>> [mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of Steve Alm
>> Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 2:03 PM
>> To: Rhodes
>> Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] NOAA weather privatized?
>> 
>> Mark,
>> 
>> What is an XML interface?
>> 
>> Slim
>> 
>> On 5/19/05 8:00 AM, "Mark Kaynor" <mkaynor at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Folks,
>>> 
>>> I've been hearing about this for a couple of weeks and thought I'd
>>> pass it along.
>>> 
>>> Mark
>>> 
>>> The National Weather Service recently began publishing weather data to
>>> the public via an easy to access XML interface. Previously NOAA
>>> released data in an arcane and complicated format created over 40 years
>> ago.
>>> 
>>> This is a great boon for everyone, as the XML feeds allow for
>>> integration of weather data into personal homepages & computer
>>> applications, and makes it easier for scientists, meteorology students
>>> and people interested in the weather to use industry-standard tools to
>> access weather data.
>>> 
>>> Well, its not great for everyone, particularly companies like
>>> Accuweather, who make their money reselling weather data to the public
> and
>> media outlets.
>>> Apparently they managed to lobby Senator Santorum of Pennsylvania to
>>> introduce a bill, S.786.1, which would prevent the National Weather
>>> Service from competing with for-pay weather companies. The language of
>>> the bill is very broad and if passed may jeopardize the XML Data Feed,
>>> the NOAA website, and even NOAA weather radio.
>>> 
>>> The following link makes sending a letter to your senators easy -
>>> please take the time to do so if you want NOAA to be able to continue
>>> to provide free services (the ones we already pay for with our taxes).
>>> 
>>> https://secure.eff.org/site/Advocacy?JServSessionIdr003=uio7mzb8p1.app
>>> 8a&pag
>>> e=UserAction&cmd=display&id=123
>>> 
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