Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2011/01/21/beeb_london_eye/

Beeb gets the measure of the London Eye

Equals 1,190.48 KiloJubs of phone directories

By Lester Haines

Posted in Bootnotes, 21st January 2011 12:12 GMT

Regular readers will know that the Vulture Central Weights and Measures Soviet, which a few years back set the maximum velocity of a sheep in a vacuum and quantified a raft of new benchmarks including the jub and the linguine, has been keeping a close eye on the BBC's own efforts to measure our world.

In August last year, we were delighted to report that Auntie had adopted one our favoured units - the Olympic-size swimming pool - having earlier used the distance between the ground and the International Space Station as a gauge of the height of stacked dollar coins.

Well, the Corporation continues to push the envelope, and was able this week to determine that the 7,000 tonnes of paper a year BT will save by shrinking telephone directories is equivalent to "slightly more than three times the total weight of the wheel and capsules of the London Eye".

To put this in proper perspective, we'd like to add that the saving equals a staggering 1,190.48 KiloJubs of paper, and BT's planet-hugging strategy will save pine forest covering 4,813 MilliWales from the chop. ®

Bootnote

Ta very much to Paul Jackson for the weighty tip-off.