On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 4:36 PM, [email protected] <[email protected]>wrote:
> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 3:34 PM, John Duncan Yoyo > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Having worked in laboratories all my life I can tell you calibration is a > > big issue. > > I immediately thought of a calibration problem when I saw that very > improbable reading on the thermometer the reporter was using. I dunno > why she didn't think of that as well, but then again, she was out in > the field and maybe, just maybe, she thought that reading was correct. > Someone at the TV station, at least the weather person, surely must > have realized that something was probably wrong. After all, that > reading was 16 degrees off from what the TV station was displaying > on-screen, adjacent to their logo, as being the current temperature. > > That apparent inaccurate reading did, however, conform to the > hyperventilating she was engaged in at the moment. She had just > finished interviewing a motorist, trying her best to elicit admissions > from him that he was facing a terribly challenging task on the > roadways given all the snow. But he was not going along, insisting > instead that even his Mustang, hardly a snow car, would have no > problems getting him home in a reasonable amount of time, and that the > roads looked pretty good to him. And with that, she whips out the > digital thermometer and gets the 16 degree reading and accompanies > that with exclamations about the perils of ice. Final tally for the > TV viewers? She wins the argument and the poor guy might die trying > to get home. Go figure. > > Well she is a reporter and doesn't need to be the brightest bulb on the strip. I would not expect to see much in the way of liquid water or slush on the ground if she had anything resembling an accurate reading. -- John Duncan Yoyo -------------------------------o) ************************************************************************* ** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy ** ** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ ** *************************************************************************
