What is it with the BBC?
It has reported two tragedies today: In the first “A 12-year-old boy has suffered serious head injuries after falling 200ft (61m) in the Lake District in Cumbria.” and in the second “ A woman was killed when she accidentally stepped off an East Sussex cliff while walking with her husband. She fell 300ft (91m) from a spot near the Belle Tout lighthouse on the clifftop near Eastbourne at about 15:00 BST on Saturday.”
So – was it exactly 200ft the boy fell and exactly 300ft the woman fell?
No, of course not. But someone in the Beeb thought that it was exactly 61m and 91m that they fell.The figures given in feet are to let the reader know the scale of the falls. They are not an exact measurement; They are estimates There is no need to convert the falls as 61m and 91m. Try 60m and 90m please?
This happens with every BBC report of falls . Sort it!
That's the problem with new money.
ReplyDeleteOf course the next thing will be health and safety and the nanny state bringing in some bloody daft regulation regarding walking.
As terribly sad as these things are, accidents do happen.
It is life.
I feel bad for their families.
Anyway, I have drifted off topic again sorry.
Yes. Indeed.
DeleteThe top of every hill should have notices warning of the risk of nosebleeds and dizzy spells.
I'm surprised that the Beeb are still allowed to sell stories in Imperial measures. Is Auntie not constrained by the same laws as the grocers and their apostrophes?
ReplyDeleteIt's a good job that these poor victims only fell and didn't bounce, as the Beeb could then have been accused of dumbing-up-and-down :-)
Is this because it's only the old people who read their website? They still don't get metres and kilograms. Yoof's will be getting it from FB & twitter, innit. Wots an apostrophe anyway?
DeleteA 12-year-old boy has suffered serious head injuries after falling 200ft (61m) in the Lake District in Cumbria.
ReplyDeleteAs opposed to the Lake District in... where?
Perhaps this is meant to be read by Americans? You know - the Lake District - near Paris.
DeleteShusht. You'll be giving Ryanair an idea
DeleteRyanair got there years ago, OM! I've spent longer travelling from their airports to the destination city than getting to that airport from my home.
DeleteShould read: about 200 feet (60m) to make clear the approximate nature of the figure stated with metric equivalent rounded to nearest convenient number.
ReplyDeleteQuite right Jon.
DeleteI think we should besiege the BBC with letters signed "Disgusted, Binchester"
Annoying, but not as annoying as the BBC's favourite pieces of linguistic nonsense:
ReplyDelete"That's as long as a football field!"
"That's as high as five double-decker buses!"
or: "That's as heavy as eight African elephants!"
I am unaware of SI units for football fields (length), double-decker buses (height), or African elephants (weight). This is bad enough, but it gets worse when they just use these nonsense units without the real ones.
Ooh, David!
DeleteI shall have to look out for these now.
Their reporters have also started using "I am standing outside of this, that or the other building."
That drives me insane!
Just for fun:
Deletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_units_of_measurement#Wales
http://www.simonkelk.co.uk/sizeofwales.html
Size Of Wales
DeleteExcellent stuff!
I can see the Beeb are definitely fans of simonkelk's site!
DeleteSoon be the Olympics Al, then all manner of Beebisms will abound.
ReplyDeleteOohh Beebism, a new word :)
What ever happened to "Colemanballs?"
DeleteGood point!
DeleteDon't get me started on the BBC, Alan. They are sucking scum who ought to be killed by being force-fed birds eggs so that the hatchling chicks, in desperation, stab at the stomach walls with their pointy little beaks.
ReplyDeleteApart from that everything's fine.
Ooh!
DeleteWe'd better not get you started on the BBC then, Peter.
I'm glad everything's fine in your world.
:-)
The best Colemanballs ever was when, during a boring 10000 metre heat, the crowd suddenly let out a roar.
ReplyDeleteDear old David Coleman said "and that gasp you heard from the crowd was directed at the shot putt circle, where the Norwegian, Jarlsberger, has just pulled out a big one".
!!
Delete:-)
Did you know that the BBC has an annual operating budget three and a half times the GNP of the Faroe Islands?
ReplyDeleteAnd that it employs more people than the Slovenian navy ?
That every day the Media City canteen makes enough hotpot to fill 4 Olympic size swimming pools ?
And that it'e annual golf coverage shows as many holes as it takes to fill the Albert Hall ?
Now, now, OM.
DeleteYou can't fool me, you know.
I make it that the BBC has an annual operating budget nearer ten times the GNP of the Faroe Islands.
And... no one could possibly eat that amount of hotpot. Though I do know that Lord Elpus would have a decent stab at it. You should see that man trough!
:-)
The best bit of the Beeb is that sea music they play just before the shipping forecast. I like to imagine I'm on a trawler far out on a roling winter sea sea, fighting off the romantic approaches of the drunken red-bearded skipper who smells of fish and wants me to polish his hook.
ReplyDeleteBut they should make the SF more like the rest of the news. "Faroe's 980 rising as fast as bread dough in front of a warm fire; quite good, really. occasional rain, a bit like an ordinary shower on "cold", not a power shower...."
I think you should write to "Feedback" and suggest this. It would brighten up bed-time.
DeleteHumphrey Weightman says:
ReplyDeletePace yr recent BBC thread, if you want a wonderfully bizarre unit, look no further than a Smoot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot
I lived around Boston for ten years. And yes, I have seen the Smoot markings. You can configure Google Earth to display distances in Smoots if you so choose.
Now, how about a TGO route-sheet giving Smoots in addition to km?
I think the unit for the Challenge would have to be "Ksmoots", or the numbers would get too large for the already crowded route-sheets.
DeletePerfectly acceptable for ascents, though...