> > This is a REAL, ATCUALLY HAPPENED conversation over radio between a US navy ship and Canadian authorities. It happened on the 10.10.95 off the coast of Newfoundland.
> >
>
> Heh. This tale has to be a joke, probably something poached from an old issue of Reader's Digest or so. There are two details which suggest the story's apocryphal nature:
>
> 1) Lighthouse beacons in the Maritimes have been completely automated for decades.
>
> 2) The alleged event happened "off the coast of Newfoundland." To a Canadian, "Newfie jokes" always signal a Really Bad Joke that mockingly invokes the dumb-as-dirt cliché.
>
>
> All the analysis aside, I think it's still quite funny even if it is an old joke. It's interesting to watch the evolution of humour in action, given the constant melding of older and newer concepts and cautionary tales.

Well, gosh, it has to be two seperate incidents. One was 15 degrees and the other one was 20.
True or not, it's funny.
Howard