A long time ago, two Canadian computer scientists published a paper where they had written a 1-page Lisp program that got a passing grade on the British Columbia written driver's exam. It relied on the fact that in those days, all questions on the exam that started with “Must...” had the answer “yes”, questions starting with “May...” had the answer “no”, any question containing “pedestrian” was answered with “stop, the pedestrian has the right of way”, and a few others. “Immediately notify the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles” was the default answer.
As I say, this program passed the exam, and the result was presented at a Canadian AI conference. They've changed the exam since then.
By the way, when I did my exam (long before this experiment), the person in front of me failed.
For those outside the UK who are unfamiliar, the shipping forecast is the most British thing possible. A concise forecast that reads as pure poetry, and before it, Sailing By:
A concise forecast that reads as pure poetry, and before it, Sailing By
Followed by the National Anthem to end the day's broadcast!
It's really relaxing drifting off to sleep to the gentle tones of the forecast, but countered somewhat by the need afterwards to stand up in bed as the anthem is played.
I can imagine a few scruffy fisherman and a salty old seadog of a Captain ploughing out into the North Sea just after midnight on a thumpety-thumpety old boat, rocking and reeling, listening to this forecast, and then standing to "God save The Queen" each contemplating whether they will be able to return home at the end of the day.
It must have been literally half my life I fell asleep to Robin Lustig on The World Tonight followed by Book at Bedtime, Today in Parliament then Sailing By and the Shipping Forecast. A habit I picked up from my mother, this same sequence of programs (I've left out a few, I know) was broadcast every weeknight from 10pm on Radio 4 since seemingly the dawn of the time until I left the UK. I'm actually surprised I can fall asleep without hearing the Shipping Forecast now!
This has just given me the epiphany that if the BBC is ever put out to grass, which does now seem to be in the offing, then the preservation of the shipping forecast at least, would be only a few weather APIs and some speech synthesis away.
The "strict" definition used here is not strict enough. Presumably it is based on the prose description in the linked Wikipedia page, which omits one crucial fact about the area forecasts: each area is included exactly once, and always in the same order (approximately clockwise starting from 'Viking' in the North East). Culturally speaking, it's an important part of the poetry that groups such as "Forth, Tyne, Dogger, German Bite" always appear in the same order, though the rhythm/groupings can be broken up differently depending on the weather patterns.
I'm still not happy that they renamed Finistere to FitzRoy, and that was 20 years ago now.
Faeroes, Wight, and FitzRoy. East hurricane force 12 to violent storm 11. Heavy snow. Poor, becoming good. Severe icing.
Sole and Forties. East 2 to hurricane force 12, becoming cyclonic northeast severe gale 9 later. Wintry showers. Very poor, becoming poor. Severe icing.
Excellent. Although the real shipping forecast is full of helpful forecasts like 'Moderate to good, occasionally very poor', which does seem to cover all the possibilities.
Is there any source that has all(or at least 1000+) of the historic shipping forecasts? I have an old tool to do probabilistic parsing that I would like to try on this.
What a brilliant idea! I had heard that people find listening to the shipping forecast very relaxing, but I didn't realise they had such a strict format
Now for a version for "professional idiot" Les Barker's Shipping Forecast variations. As well as video of Les reciting it, you can find a version read by Brian Perkins in his normal delivery.
Edit: The Perkins version is video G9QumF93PpY on youtube^Wan invidious instance. Check out more of Barker's stuff while you're at it.
This is my got to fall sleep radio. It the most British thing, it is actually (only really used it one) useful if you go sailing.
My partner complained last night I was snooring whilst this was too loud on my headphones, but I think of the map, the weather in that place - and off to sleep I got.
As I say, this program passed the exam, and the result was presented at a Canadian AI conference. They've changed the exam since then.
By the way, when I did my exam (long before this experiment), the person in front of me failed.