550 replies to this topic

[Hotel Mike]

No. The freighter, Good Wish, was already berthed when the noises started. I'm pretty sure it came from that ship. When I heard the first sequence, I thought they were doing a fire drill. But it's strange that it was repeated several times.

[LJ]

^Someone else on Facebook said that--short blasts followed by a long blast. A near miss I guess?

Well 6 or more short blasts followed by a long blast means abandon ship, but I doubt that was it.

[Mike K.]

I think seven short blasts followed by a long blast indicates a fire drill/real fire. If the blasts were repeated the sailors were likely conducting drills.

[VicHockeyFan]

Fairly loud night last night, sirens from 2am-4am.

[sebberry]

Thankfully I was asleep by then.

The Carole James supporters are outside holding up signs "Honk for Carole". So much for a quiet breakfast.

[sebberry]

http://focusonline.ca/?q=node%2F555

Too many decibels, too few quiet moments

Airplanes, leaf blowers, whipper snippers, chainsaws, automobiles and a host of other sources of noise are creating a growing din in our daily lives. The cacophony is creating health risks and, increasingly, quiet refuge is getting hard to find.

[...]

Completely unbiased author, of course...

[aastra]

I find it very curious that transit buses are not mentioned in that article at all. And yet those darned Ogden Point buses are mentioned.

[sebberry]

I wonder if the author uses one of these?



I think some people just won't be happy unless they live either on a private island or in an isolation chamber.

[aastra]

Indeed, there are some people who are never satisfied no matter how quiet their space happens to be. Even in super-quiet environments I've heard people complain about the sound of others breathing, keystrokes, lights, birds, insects... For anyone who has sound-related anxieties, I'd suggest that unnaturally quiet spaces may be exacerbating the problem. The quieter a space is, the easier it is to isolate a particular sound and fixate upon it.

I think debates & complaints about sound pollution tend to get muddled because of this.

[Mike K.]

I can't concentrate when I hear music playing, even at low volume. It just messes with my head and I have a hard time penning anything that requires the smallest bit of thought. I never understood how my friends could possibly do their homework while listening to music.

Bass also drives me batty if I'm not within the environment that's playing the music

[kenjh]

I love the sound of a big diesel motor ..the clatter of the small diesel's ..my old Harley has valve train noise ..and my old truck tran's has a whine in 3rd gear..I enjoy the sound of the Jake Brake on the hills ..and the quiet of my 740 bemmer at illegal speeds..the damm robin on my deck at 5am ....drives me nut's..

[VicHockeyFan]

Forgot to post this news item last week...

Ambulance service to reduce number of ‘lights and siren’ responses

http://www.theprovin...7777/story.html

[VicHockeyFan]

http://www.timescolo...lowers-1.976670

 

Oak Bay looking at banning leaf blowers.  I love how their bylaws only permit residents to use blowers from 8am/9am onwards, but their own municipal employees can use them from 6am.

[rjag]

Yup and any ban will also exempt municipal employees use of them.
Jack Knox said it right when he said "governing Victorians through regulation since 1880!" I guess this can apply to our illustrious council of Oak Bay "We're not happy till you're not happy!"

[Mike K.]

Has anyone noticed ambulances only running their sirens in short bursts when they need to clear out traffic or pedestrians? I've never seen this before but I noticed it twice in the past week.

There was that policy proposed to cut down on siren noise but I don't know if what I saw was a result of that.

[Bingo]

If you have an annoying next door neighbour, then that is the person you can count on to start up the gas mower or the leaf blower just as you sit down to dinner on your patio.

 

Doesn't anyone rake up the leaves any more, or do the just blow them out onto the road and wait for the next wind to carry them away?

 

 

[sebberry]

I have a neighbour I'd trade for a leaf blower any day of the week.

 

The guys power washing bus stops usually come around to do the ones near my place at 11:00PM onwards and whip out their gas powered pressure washers.  That's getting a bit rude.  I emailed the company doing the maintenance and the problem was cured for a while but it's back to late at night. 

 

 

Mike, the ambulance service re-coded many of their calls so that many calls are no longer lights and sirens.  Perhaps the paramedics working on the patient have a different feeling about what's an appropriate response back to the hospital. 

[Mike K.]

I'm fairly certain that they were responding to, not from, the emergency. I've seen this exact lights/sirens policy in other cities and it makes so much more sense than having sirens blasting away for no good reason.

 

I've seen police do this when they're trying to move towards a scene without alerting the perps but this was the first time I've seen local ambulances do this.

[concorde]

The guys power washing bus stops usually come around to do the ones near my place at 11:00PM onwards and whip out their gas powered pressure washers.  That's getting a bit rude.  I emailed the company doing the maintenance and the problem was cured for a while but it's back to late at night. 

I would email them again and tell them its against city noise bylaws.  The next time they do it you will call the city and they can issue fines

 

As for Oak Bay banning leaf blowers, give me a break, whats next ban gas lawn mowers after all there are cordless and corded lawnmowers available.  Oh, and I live in Oak Bay

[G-Man]

I wish the whole CRD would ban leaf blowers. Not sure why anyone would need to use one.