Arresting writing

[rbgarr]

From a biography of Francis Beaufort:

http://i13.tinypic.com/6kh36nk.jpg

[Hwyl]

You mean he ought to be arrested for writing like that. I don't agree, it's inconsistent, but I support the first amendment.

By the way, have people figured "out things like magnetic variation and how the the tides work(ed) sic."

[Bruce Hooke]

The sticklers for good English may have problems with the writing style :D , but it certainly looks like a story I'd enjoy reading. Is this quote from Defining the Wind : The Beaufort Scale, and How a 19th-Century Admiral Turned Science into Poetry or from another book about Beaufort?

Right now I am reading a related book: America Discovered, A Historical Atlas of Exploration. It is amazing how confused they were at times about what was where in North America! One interesting twist was the idea that the outer banks of North Carolina were a thin barrier between the Atlantic and an open sailing route to the far east!

[Ron Williamson]

Defining the Wind.
I'm just past that point.
R

[MiddleAgesMan]

Assuming the question about magnetic variation was serious I'll take a stab at it.

The earth is magnetic because of the huge mass of molten ferrous lava in the core. Since it is molten it flows--very slowly.

The poles have reversed at least once long ago because of the movement of the core material. A recent article in the NYT offered the opinions of several researchers who believe it is likely to happen again within the next hundred years.