The Vuvuzela Controversy: Part II - Calls to Ban It!

I find myself shaking my head in utter amazement today. Why? Well the biggest Soccer World Cup 2010 story surrounds the Vuvuzela. Not the game, analysis of performance or the antics of the players. Nope, its about the thousands of fans that are blowing the Vuvuzela in the World cup stadiums and the noise that is generated. A debate has now erupted where some are suggesting that the Vuvuzela should be banned.

At the outset this is an African World Cup! Africa is culturally very different to any other continent that has hosted the World Cup before. It should be expected that Africa will add its unique stamp on the event. Sepp Blatter acknowledges this on his twitter feed,"To answer all your message (regarding) the vuvuzelas. I have always said that Africa has a different rhythm, a different sound."

The Vuvuzela has become part of the Africa soccer culture over the past 15 years or so. Other parts of the world have their own unique noisy traditions ranging from whistles, to rattles to full bands. Certainly soccer is not the only sport with noisy traditions. Watch any cricket match on the Indian sub-continent and the din will amaze you.

According to Wikipedia the vuvuzela (English pronunciation: /vuːvuːˈzeɪlə/), sometimes called a "lepatata" (its Setswana name), is a blowing horn approximately 1m in length made out of coloured plastic. It is commonly blown by fans at football matches in South Africa.[1] The instrument requires some lip and lung strength to blow and emits a loud monotone (B♭3).[2] Vuvuzelas have been controversial.[3] They have been associated with noise-induced permanent hearing loss,[4] cited as a possible safety risk when spectators cannot hear evacuation announcements,[5] and potentially spread colds and flu viruses on a greater scale than coughing or shouting.[6]Commentators have described the sound as "annoying" and compared it with "a stampede of noisy elephants,"[7] and "a giant hive full of very angry bees."

To hear one go to http://www.spitorswallow.co.za/blowme.php

So who is complaining? Some players are complaining that they can't communicate on the pitch. Ronaldo said, "It is difficult for anyone on the pitch to concentrate. A lot of players don't like them." Messi added,"It is impossible to communicate, it's like being deaf." Commentators are complaining that they can't speak without the noise drowning out their commentary. Of course don't exclude the complaints from some English fans.

I would suggest that the Vuvuzela is here to stay judging by the number of visitors buying and blowing them. Apparently 15 000 have been sold in Britain already! The opposite picture shows young Manchester United fans with their Vuvuzela. I agree with Danny Jordaan, organising committee’s chief executive, "This will be the noisiest World Cup ever.”

As an after thought there are two things that concern me about the Vuvuzela. The first is the noise created, measured up to 127 decibels is louder than a passenger jet. Prolonged exposure to noise over 85 decibels could result in temporary tinnitus or worse permanent hearing damage. Reusable earplugs will protect peoples ears. The second is where the spit goes. You might notice that when the Vuvuzela dangled towards the ground after a lot of blowing that a stream of saliva drips from the end. If the Vuvuzela is shaken or waved in the crowd then there is a possibility that the saliva will be distributed onto everyone in close proximity! Ehew!

The Vuvuzela Controversy!

Cartoon Credit and recognition: Jeremy Nell (http://jeremynell.com/)

Johannesburg - South Africa's vuvuzela, the trumpet that will be a fixture at Soccer World Cup matches, is the loudest of all fan instruments and can cause permanent hearing loss, a global hearing foundation said on Monday.

Soccer governing body FIFA has okayed the plastic trumpet for the tournament, which starts on Friday, after organisers did tests at a match at Johannesburg's 95 000-seater Soccer City due to worries the din could drown out emergency announcements.

While normally reserved for local games, the vuvuzela can now also be heard at warm-up matches and practice sessions ahead of the tournament, even those not involving Bafana Bafana.

The Hear the World Foundation - an initiative formed by Swiss hearing products group Phonak to raise awareness about hearing loss - said tests showed it produced a dangerously loud sound, far out-blasting a chainsaw.

The tests, conducted late last month in a sound-proof studio, found the vuvuzela emitted 127 decibels, more than the air horn - 123.5 decibels - and the Brazil's samba drums.

A referee's whistle was fourth while the cowbell, a favourite in Switzerland and Austria, trailed at 114.9 decibels.

"To put it in perspective, when a sound is increased by ten decibels our ears perceive it as being twice as loud, so we would consider the vuvuzela to be more than double the volume of the cowbell," audiologist Robert Beiny said in a statement.

Hear the World said extended exposure to 85 decibels risked permanent hearing loss and urged fans to use protection, such as ear plugs and ear muffs.

The vuvuzela can be heard across South Africa as football fever grows ahead of the June 11-July 11 tournament, from airports to shopping centres, but at stadiums tens of thousands of people will blow the trumpet, such like constant car hooters in a traffic jam.

Some foreign players complained at last year's Confederation Cup about the din, and Thailand manager Bryan Robson that he was unable to communicate with his players during a friendly against South Africa.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter has defended it, though, saying it as as much a part of local soccer as bongo drums and chanting in other countries.

South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parriera wants even more noise to help inspire the world's lowly 83rd-ranked Bafana Bafana through its tough Group A matches against Mexico (June 11), and former champions Uruguay (June 16) and France (June 22).

The study found that it was not only trumpets, drums and horns that can hurt your ears, two excited supporters cheering a goal on either side of you can produce 121.6 decibels, also drowning out a chainsaw at just 100 decibels.

Article Credit and Recognition:

Over is Right, Under is Wrong!

I've added this article to add a little fun to my blog, although I do wonder how much conflict could have been avoided if the loo paper had been hung the right way! Enjoy.

Credit and Author recognition: http://currentconfig.com.

As part of our ongoing effort here at Current Configuration to make your life not only better, but also 10% more crunchy, we’re offering you this first instalment of what will be an ongoing series of Essential Life Lessons. Kicking off this series will be a critical but even-handed examination of a common misunderstanding that occurs in a realm of many misunderstandings: the bathroom.

Put simply, there is a right way to hang the toilet paper, and a wrong way. Read on to determine the status of your own roll.

Toilet paper has a natural curve, a way of being that lends itself to certain orientations on the toilet paper spool.* If handled with skill and knowledge, it can provide an abundance of both sanitation and comfort, quilted together in each square of pillowy ply. If handled with clumsy ignorance, or worse, carelessness, it will beset the user with pain, filth, and frustration. Don’t let it end this way, with you curled on the tile floor of the stall, weeping in frustration, covered in wasted papier de toilette. To convince you, we’ve created some diagrams, harnessing the power of SCIENCE, to demonstrate the natural benefits of the over hanging method. First, we examine the optimal viewing benefits of the over hanging method.

Below are examples of the helpful and fruitful over-hung method on the left and the annoying and detrimental under-hung method on the right.


Notice the dramatic difference in the amount of visible toilet paper. Ironically, it is the over-hung toilet paper that has both the most visible free sheetage and the least amount of sheetage free from the roll to do it. Now, this may not seem like a big deal on its own, but in these extra sheets lies your undoing. Observe.

We here at Current Configuration, for the purposes of ease and expediency, do the one-handed tear (okay, really, it’s just me, but bear with me, er, us). The one-handed tear is a quick maneuver that takes advantage of the perforated squares, allowing your bundle of toilet paper to be liberated with one quick swipe of the arm. This is the foundation of bathroom ease, the cottony bedrock on which enjoyment rests in the restrooms of many nations.

The one-handed tear relies on a quick and forceful motion directed either away from or towards the tear-er. The forces applied in this motion are great and, like the atom, are not to be trifled with. The natural curve of the over-hung method allows the roll to stand fast after a one-handed tear, but the under-hung method creates a calamitous tendency in the roll. This tendency can only lead to this:

Wasted paper, frustration, the destruction of our forests. While we realize that it is possible to execute a one-handed tear on an under-hung roll, this is a game of sanitary Russian roulette. You are bound to lose eventually, and there is no re-rolling an unwound toilet paper roll. The results will only cause you grief. Don’t let this happen to you. Restroom attendants, janitors, maids, facilities crews, and responsible toiletowners take note: Don’t use the under-hung method for your toilet paper rolls. It leads to the destruction of our precious resources and the pillars of civilization as we know it!

*Does that thing have a proper name?

Link to the Authors original article: http://currentconfig.com/2005/02/22/essential-life-lesson-1-over-is-right-under-is-wrong)

Life has different value depending on where it lives!

I've been watching Sky news for the past few days where the main story has been then Cumbria Killing Spree. It is a tragedy and the loss of 12 lives is deplorable and extremely sad. what is equally sad is that Sky News has run the story, as their main news report, for longer than 72 hours now, underlining the the extent and magnitude of this tragedy, however there is no mention of the 114 plus lives lost in the fire in Bangladesh or the countless lives lost dailyin Africa due to war, Aids, malnutrition. Is this because a life in Britian is worth more than a life in Balgedesh or Africa? I understand that this is a British TV network and this story is on their doorstep and that events of this nature are rare in the UK however in reality the sad fact is that a life in Britian, and all 1st world countries, is worth more than one in the devloping or 3rd world. A life is precious and should carry the same value regardless of where that life lives. Maybe we as human beings need to work towards the creation of a world where every life has the same value and where we are appalled in the same manner and extent. Where our call to action is universally the same and where we strive to ensure that the tradegy is not repeated has the same commitment.

[Picture top: Flowers for slain victims of Cumbria shootings. Picture bottom: House Of Commons observing 2 minutes silence for victims of shootings.]