Home-made weather station

I have always been interested in tracking our local weather and have a rain gauge at home. I keep track of the rain and record it in a database. I now have about 2 years worth of information. But now I want more. I want to be able to track daily temperatures, wind speed, etc. Now, there are commercial products (Eagle, Inteltronics, Oregon Scientific, Weathershop) available, full weather stations that you can use at home, that will give you all of the above mentioned plus much more, all connected to your pc, with software which will even allow you to do forecasts! But they are a bit expensive, so I wanted to know if it was possible to manufacture your own weather station. It obviously won’t log results in a database on your pc, but I thought it might be fun to do.
I found a couple of sites that explains how to do this. The one that explains it the best, is this one . They have a detailed explanation with several ways of creating each item. The other has a PDF download. The best part is that it can be a family task, it’s that easy to do. This is what you will want to measure:
DIY Weather Station:
1. Temperature (Thermometer)
2. Rainfall (Rain gauge)
3. Air Pressure (Barometer)
4. Humidity (Hygrometer
5. Wind Speed (Anemometer) (and wind direction)
6. Hours of sunshine in a day (Sun-shine recorder - See p9 of the PDF) (and cloud cover)
Click on the links above to get and in depth how-to on each item. In addition to that, you will want to add visual observations to your recordings. For examples of a template for weather recording, go to here and here.
I am thinking of starting a weather blog / site, but I will post an update later.

Popular myths

I have always found this subject interesting, believing some myths, while doubting most others. The thing with myths is, that they sound so damn believable, but deep down, you do doubt their validity. That is why I like Mythbusters. There is a whole list of all the myths they have ever tested on one of the fan sites. Out of the almost 200 myths, I have chosen 12 most well known or popular ones to feature here. Stuff that you always wondered about, but were never sure. Here goes:

1. It is more fuel efficient to drive with your windows down than with the AC on. I’m sure you have heard this one before. Its busted!
2. A car will explode when shot through the gas tank.This is a favourite in Hollywood, but not true! They blasted this car’s gas tank, about four guys blazing away – no luck! Busted!
3. Using a cell phone while pumping gas causes an explosion. This is said to be caused by static sparks not cell phones, so not true. Busted!
4. A cigarette can light a pool of gas on fire. One of my favourites. Almost all action movies has one of these scenes. They tried dropping and rolling it in gasoline, but could not get it done, so its plausible but not doable. Plausible.
5. A Daddy long-leg spider has the most potent venom of any spider. I have believed this for a very long time myself, but its jaws actually can pierce your skin and its not deadly, just mildly irritant. Busted!
6. The sound of a duck's quack does not echo. I never really believed this one, but not true any way. Busted!
7. A person can survive a freefalling elevator by jumping. Your downwards momentum will simply kill you anyway, if you jump of not. Busted!
8. A person can jump from an airplane and use an inflatable life raft to land. This is also a favourite because its used in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom – can’t be done in real though! Busted!
9. A lit match will remove flatulence odour. My grandparents used to have a box of matches in the loo for this – never thought twice about it! Busted!
10. Urinating on an electric fence can cause electrocution. No comment! Confirmed.
11. A person can be electrocuted while talking on the phone during a storm. I must admit, I never thought this is possible. Confirmed.
12. The suction of a sinking ship pulls a person under water. The survivors of the Titanic said getting away from the suction of the sinking ship was what saved them. Busted! This I found very interesting. They tested this on a 9 ton boat. they sank it twice and it did not create a vortex that pulled them down.

And you thought most of them were true! There are many more of those, go and check it out. Let me know of any myths that you have heard of or urban legends you found interesting.