Important issues

[venta]

I have two questions. And I expect you, my minions, to answer them correctly for me. Is that OK?

Does this logo look familiar to anyone:



To me, it looks as if it's a warning that something could be loud - 89dB or higher. It's not like dB is some other unit, because there's the logo for an audio speaker right next to it. So it must surely be deciBels.

Except... this sticker was photographed on my wheelie bin.

I conferred with wimble about this, and it seems that his wheelie bin has exactly the same sticker. Further more, so does his compressor - even down to it being 89 dB rather than any other number.

Compressors make a noise, I admit. I have very little concept of how loud 89 dB is, but Wimble assures me it's "about as loud as standing over the road from a pneumatic drill". That is to say, pretty loud. Considerably louder than the noise made by a home compressor.

Despite careful attention for several days, I've heard not so much as a peep out of my wheelie bin. It's really a very quiet bit of garden furniture. Does anyone know why it comes furnished with a volume warning ? Is it more of a cautionary note the user ? Should I be careful not to throw away anything which might be too loud for the bin ?

On entering The Station Inn (né Tap and Spile) in Whitby, I noticed the following on the wall:



Being a curious sort, I went over to peer at it. Apologies for the awful photo, the reflective glass made it really difficult to get a reasonable picture. If you can't tell, the "clue" is For a polar bear, worse than being left-pawed (2, 6). If you can't see correctly, the top rightmost letter is a Q.

Now, this isn't quite laid out like a crossword - in that the stray letters filled in appear to be, well, stray and not party to already filled-in words. Am I just being dim ? Is there an obviously crossword-like solution ? Or is it just nailed to the wall to confuse potential drinkers into buying another few pints while they ponder ?

Thank you. You know how I rely on you.

Comments

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Maybe it disintegrates at above 89dB?

The polar bear thing seems strange, as presumably the last letter would be a u. Hmm... although I guess it could be QED or similar.

I will tell you for free though that all (or almost all) polar bears are indeed left-pawed, knowledge I probably got from a pub quiz some time.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

It's not the Q, it's the lack of two-letter-words ending in Z that's getting me.

[marjory.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean. I decided that the left-pawed middle word must be 'sinister', but that totally screws up everxthing else and now it's stuck in my head...

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

If it's (2,6) it's an anagram of sinister that goes into two words.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Hmm, then the down clue would probably have to be "iz".

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

Or NZ, as an abbreviation of New Zealand.

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

Ah - but that would give us 'Ni' or 'Ne' as the first word in the main clue.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, I'd ruled that out already. Although "ne" might be the first word of a Latin phrase or "ni" of a French, the rest didn't work.

[ar-gemlad.livejournal.com]

In Sister, that well known polar bear beat combo.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I think I'm warming towards my theory of its being insoluble/nonsensical and merely intended to provide a pub talking point.

At least, until addedentry or verlaine come along and solve it for me :)

[hughe.livejournal.com]

probably Oz, as in wizzard of, or australia.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that works. I guess crosswords != Scrabble :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I keep making that mistake :)

[marjory.livejournal.com]

You are not alone!

Just to give you further worries for my sanity, everything on the label is a Health & Safety legal thing. The CE means that the bin conforms to EU Standards. The LWA thing (I think) means that the bin has been judged fit to hold waste to be taken to tips etc. which conform to the Land Withdrawal Act (which I think means no hazardous chemicals or nukey stuff in case you had planned to dispose of a bit of plutonium). The decibel-rating, I am reasonably sure, is how much noise the bin has been recorded as making when dragged, as noise levels/pollution are a standard bit of an H&S rating these days. Some government body picked out your bin and some poor sod with an engineering degree plus likely had the thrilling job of testing your bin so that the manufacturers could stick a label on it in view of the day when quieter bins which can take anything are required by Brussels... Hurrah!

Um... I'll get me coat...

[secretrebel.livejournal.com]

I was about to suggest the decibel rating signified 'noise when dragged' because although ours is silent much of the time it does indeed have noise-making capacity when in motion.

But it looks as if marjory has all the answers you could ever wish to know. ;)

[marjory.livejournal.com]

I'm really just too exciting for wordzzzzzz...

[davefish.livejournal.com]

And if you are really interested, then you could ask under the freedom of information act...

[venta.livejournal.com]

So... how loud is 89dB, anyway ? Is it some kind of level beyond which you have to wear ear protection, and thus everything which makes "less than 90" is rated 89 ?

I just tried to read up on Wikipedia about decibels, but it turns out that as well as logarithmic, they're complicated in all sorts of ways I don't understand. So I still have no idea how many decibels is "bloody loud".

[marjory.livejournal.com]

There is a virtual exhibition here complete with activities and decibel ratings. It's kinds fun...

(I asked myself the same question)

[marjory.livejournal.com]

Ooh! It looks like you could drag your wheelie bin around for about 7 or 8 hours before it would damage your hearing!

Don't do that, tempting though it is.

[onebyone.livejournal.com]

Who cares how much noise the bin makes when dragged? It's a wheelie bin. It's bloody well got wheels. Assuming venta's is the same as mine, most of the noise when you're moving it is made by the stuff you run over, crash into and/or knock down.

I'm not claiming you're therefore wrong. Just that it's a stupid thing to have to measure, and that the government body responsible wants a slap.

[condign.livejournal.com]

It was, in fact, a standard developed by the Department of Wanting A Good Slapping.

[stegzy.livejournal.com]

Erm...that same sticker (or something very very similar) appears on my wheelie bin too. I thought 89L meant 89 litres and the db meant dust bin.

[floralaetifica.livejournal.com]

Another discussion on the subject of decibels and bins at http://www.iosh.co.uk/index.cfm?go=discussion.view&forum=1&thread=27092&page=241.

[mister-jack.livejournal.com]

Alegedly it is the noise the bin makes while being dragged when empty. Apparently it is as required by EEC directive 4486524/brcd/126(i)476

[marjory.livejournal.com]

Hang on! Your mate has his own compressor?