Weather and Climate

Climate is what on an average we may expect, weather is what we actually get.

-Andrew John Herbertson

I had originally seen this quote attributed to Mark Twain, but when I looked for where he said it, found a more complicated history. Quote Investigator has a deep dive on the topic. Maybe at some point quotes should enter the domain of public consciousness. Not to take away from Herbertson’s wonderful explanation, but how long does it take for an idea to just be all of the world’s and not just one person’s?

To the body and mind which have been cramped by noxious work or company, nature is medicinal and restores their tone.

from Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson

People have advising others to get off social media for literally over 150 years.

As I was exploring ideas for the project, one of the first things that I really got into was the BBC’s Shipping Forecast.

I was reminded about it recently reading a wonderful longform conversation between Gavin Bryars and Ethan Iverson:

In England, we have something like that — no longer on the main channels — called The Shipping Forecast whereby five minutes before the main news you have a detailed account of the weather conditions at different stations, all the way around the British Isles from the extreme north, between Britain, Scotland and Norway, all the way round up to Iceland, one by one after another and the same language is used throughout: “wind variable”; “visibility moderate.” There are certain expressions that refer to quite precise numerical values. For most people, it’s quite abstract, it’s a sound that they know but probably don’t understand.

I’m kind of jealous that we don’t have anything like this in America. The diversity of our country’s people and places  is wonderful, but we don’t have national shared moments like this. I also love the idea that people listen to it for comfort but not understanding. It’s more than a little bit of an inspiration for what I’m hoping to do with my piece.

You can’t embed the most recent editions of the Shipping Forecast, but you can listen to it here.