ROGUE3000 PICTURE PAGE
PHOTO OF THE DAY WEDNESDAY JAN. 25
VULTURES VULTCHING/
ROGUE3000
The Motel I stayed either had a lot of dead bodies, or the restaurant didn't
properly cover their garbage . I'm hoping for the latter as I see the turkey
vultures perching on the light standards as I come out of my room.
IN THE NEWS
A proposed law in South Africa would theoretically punish anyone who makes a prediction about severe weather or air pollution with heavy fines or jail time if they did not first receive written permission from the government-funded South African Weather Service.
As written, the South African Weather Service Amendment Bill would affect not just TV weathermen and online weather sites but also community-based weather services. First offenses would be punished with a fine or up to 5 million rand (about $630,000) or five years in jail. The fines and jail time would be doubled for subsequent offenses.
According to South Africa's Daily News, one of the community-based weather organizations that would be affected by the bill is the SA Weather and Disaster Observation Service which blogs, tweets and otherwise reports on real-time weather observations from the public. SAWDOS recently provided warnings on three big storms, "possibly reducing losses and damage" in the process, the Daily News reported.
SAWDOS founder Johan Terblanche told the Daily News that the bill could be the end of his weather service and others like it.
"As the amendment bill now reads, nobody will be able to issue any warning of approaching severe weather." He also said that asking for permission before reporting on the weather would not provide a timely and effective news service: "Experience has taught us that to get permission from any institution takes time — that is if you can get hold of the designated person."
The Daily News first reported on the South
African Weather Service Amendment Bill on Jan. 11, inspiring a wide range of
public outcry. By the morning of Jan. 13, the South African Department of
Environmental Affairs said it was willing to reconsider the bill if it had
"unintended negative consequences." An unnamed SAWS spokesperson praised the
public for its vocal disapproval of the bill: "One of the important lessons from
this is that active public participation is fundamental to good
law-making."
SEMPER UBI SUB UBI
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