Attention all hands

[Randi]

The science team is finding it very helpful to compare weather readings between ships.

If you meet a US Navy (USS), US Coast Guard/Revenue Service (USCGC, USRS, USRM), or US Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) ship, please transcribe the name of the ship.
Use the Event Input Wizard with Type Ship. The Subtype can be left blank.

If you see the same ship for a period of several days, you may, optionally, transcribe it's first appearance and then omit it until it disappears and reappears.

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Please transcribe, and post in the Discussion topic, any mentions of adjustments to or replacements of weather instruments.
You do not need to worry about oceanographic instruments.
Use the Event Input Wizard with Type Other and Subtype Instruments.
See Examining Logbook Pages from the Albatross Ship for Aug 23, 1899 - Oct 30, 1900.

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Link to PRINT of Project Updates topic from old forum.

[Michael]

Hanibal discovered that some versions of the spreadsheet have a bug when data is saved (Write Data Button is clicked or the Do Next Page macro Alt-U is called).

If this happens to you, all the versions of the spreadsheets have been fixed and uploaded to their usual places.

[Hanibal94]

More details: If you have no Location saved when you save data, it will fail (no XML file will be created) and an error message will popup.
Since there are legitimate cases for not saving a Location (Events overflow onto another page), this is bad.

Kudos to Michael for fixing it so quickly after being informed!

[Michael]

Hanibal, Joan and Michael have decided to do a new game of Shipopoly, and you're all invited! Shipopoly is the Old Weather version of Monopoly and it features various incidents found in the Old Weather log books. We play online, using the forum personal message system to announce our moves.

You can find the topic here, in the new forum: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=488

The board and rules are the same as before. Hanibal is the Game Master, and he will be using his little program to keep track of people's positions and double-check turns, just like in past games.

Please let me know if you would like to participate, and if so, which token you would like to have (Ship, Dog and Captain's Hat are already taken). Hanibal, Joan and Michael are playing, so we need at least one more person.

Feel free to tell anyone else you think might be interested, too - we can have up to 8 players.

Thanks,


Hanibal94

[Michael]

See the question at the end.

Gordon, Randi and I are making a few changes to the spreadsheet, which will be upgraded to Version 3.3. Gordon is working on a way to speed up the response of the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet gets slow when a crooked image is rotated so it will line up with the grid. He is also looking at having a decimal automatically added to the distance values. I.e. 123 will be converted to 12.3. He's not a fan of entering decimals.

I have added a verification module. It will check the data in a few columns looking for typos or values out of range etc. I.e. temperatures that go:

34 35 366 36 37

or directions like NExW etc.

The check will be automatic and run just before a save. If something needs fixing, a box will appear on the screen and you will be able to correct any errors while the box is displayed. When you close the box, the save will take place. There will also be a new button so you can run the verification check whenever you like. If you have Advisory Prompts set to Yes, and if everything is OK, you will get a message saying so. If your Advisory Prompts are set to No or Beep, and everything is OK, there will be no message.

The error rate due to typos is very small, so most of the time you will not even be aware that the verification macro is running, unless you have the Advisory Prompts set to Yes.

We are looking at the buttons on the side and with the addition of a new button, Verify Data, and we are wondering:

Does anyone ever use the Clear Events Button???

If so, we will leave it on the spreadsheet, but otherwise we will remove it and the Verify Data will take its place.

We have lots of days of testing and code writing, so be patient. It will come...

[Hanibal94]

I never use that button, so I'm OK with it being removed.

Thanks for the news on upcoming features! They sure sound great.

[sleepyowl]

BTW just a comment on transcribing other US ships. Although it has been mentioned that it's ok to just mention the ship's name, I think it might be useful to mention the context, such as whether the ship is moored right next to your own, or if it is in SOPA it is actually possible to be some distance away. In Singapore the island is small and we have a very dense weather sensor network - our weather sensors spaced just a few km apart can have different readings for temperature (about 2 deg C), wind and especially rainfall; so if another ship is moored right next to yours, you can expect the weather readings to be very similar. But if it is some distance away you can expect them to differ somewhat. Also when a ship's crew is transferred to another ship, I suspect that occasionally some of those ships might actually not be in the vicinity, but elsewhere in the country. It might be easier for the scientists to figure all this out if the context is mentioned.

The science team is finding it very helpful to compare weather readings between ships.

If you meet a US Navy (USS), US Coast Guard/Revenue Service (USCGC, USRS, USRM), or US Coast and Geodetic Survey (USC&GS) ship, please transcribe the name of the ship.
Use the Event Input Wizard with Type Ship. The Subtype can be left blank.

If you see the same ship for a period of several days, you may, optionally, transcribe it's first appearance and then omit it until it disappears and reappears.

---

Please transcribe, and post in the Discussion topic, any mentions of adjustments to or replacements of weather instruments.
You do not need to worry about oceanographic instruments.
Use the Event Input Wizard with Type Other and Subtype Instruments.
See Examining Logbook Pages from the Albatross Ship for Aug 23, 1899 - Oct 30, 1900.

---

Link to PRINT of Project Updates topic from old forum.

[Michael]

Good point. As small difference in location can mean a big difference in some elements.

Here's the difference in wind for several Victoria stations:

Code: Select all

Victoria Gonzales 		16:00 PST 	SE   28 gust 43
Victoria Harbour 		16:00 PST 	ESE  27 gust 40
Victoria Int'l Airport 		16:00 PST 	SE   19 gust 30
Victoria, University of 	16:00 PST 	ESE   3
My house			16:00 PST	ESE   6 gust 17

The pressures and temperatures were very similar.

[Randi]

That is very true, and if you are willing to include the extra details that would be great.
However, in most cases the information will not be used, so I hesitate to ask people to put in too much effort.
As long as the science team knows there was a ship in the general vicinity they can check the log for more detail (or ask us to do so) if the information is needed.

[sleepyowl]

OK noted

That is very true, and if you are willing to include the extra details that would be great.
However, in most cases the information will not be used, so I hesitate to ask people to put in too much effort.
As long as the science team knows there was a ship in the general vicinity they can check the log for more detail (or ask us to do so) if the information is needed.

[Hanibal94]

I've gotten into the habit of including at least some context, for example:

USS Bear left
USS Bear arrived
HMS Shearwater sighted bearing ENE, 3 miles distant

(When in port, the Manning seems to only mention ships when they arrive/leave, or if e.g. the commanding officer visits)

[Randi]

Great!

[wendolk]

I've been looking at the lists of the US Navy ships available - I can't tell if there are any years in green - available - or not - how green is the green? Thanks

[Michael]

Burton Island has some green months. Green means you need to enter only the weather data.

[Randi]

Michael's comments apply to the trackers and the status pages, and now only Burton Island has green days.
Burton Island is currently our only ship with typed logs.
For handwritten logs, Atalanta 1944 and 1945 are available, and Haida will be available soon.

In Current ships, green means that all or part the year is available for transcription.

[wendolk]

Thanks, but ugh - I can't really tell the difference between the green and grey - is there someplace that lists the years available for each ship? The eyes are not what they used to be

[Hanibal94]

Every ship has a Progress tracker, which you can find in the first post of each discussion topic, e.g. viewtopic.php?p=972#p972 -> Look for "Transcription status" at the very bottom of the post.

There, you can see at a glance which months are reserved, available and done.
Here's the one for the Burton Island: https://sites.google.com/view/owfaq/shi ... and-status

[Randi]

Typed: May to December of 1948 are available for Burton Island.
Handwritten: 1944 and 1945 are available for Atalanta.

[wendolk]

Thanks for the help!

[Randi]

Good to have you back!