Why is it that a birthday that ends with a zero is a big deal? We put a lot of emphasis on multi-digit numbers, in multiples of 10, ending with zero. Is that because they are easier to count on 10 fingers?
There are numbers that are psychologically, legally or financially significant in our lives. At 10, you become double digits. At 13, you become a teenager. That’s a big deal until you turn 18. At 21, you get all your legal rights. Then, there’s a long gap until you reach the age for senior citizen discounts. Some of these numbers have statistical logic for their importance, but it might seem numbers and thresholds in weather don’t.
Alan Sealls is Chief Meteorologist at NBC 15 in Mobile. He has more than a dozen Emmy awards, along with multiple Lagniappe Nappie awards for best meteorologist. Alan went viral on YouTube for coverage of Hurricane Irma, in 2017. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in meteorology from Cornell, and from FSU, respectively. Alan is a Past President of the National Weather Association, and a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. He teaches weather broadcasting at the University of South Alabama, and writes the Weather Things column for Lagniappe Newspaper. Before Mobile, Alan worked in Milwaukee, and Chicago.
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The Alabama House has sent a bill to the Senate that would increase the cut off on lodging, sales and use tax rebates on films from $20 million to $50 million. The incentives have brought film companies flocking to the state and have resulting in movies, such as "About My Father" and others to film on location in Mobile and Baldwin counties.
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(1) comment
I shared your story about Odd Numbers on my facebook page. Thanks for the interesting numbers. Troy Reed Hamilton, Alabama
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