Where've You Bin?


I’m not sure that the wheelie bin is a universally recognised unit of measurement, despite what the people at BBC News seem to think.



The problem with using a bin to illustrate the scale of a jellyfish is they vary in size. I’m referring to the bin here and not the jellyfish, though the same applies to both.  

It depends on the type we’re talking about: industrial or household. It’s all a question of perspective; what’s big to one is tiny to another.

(I’m still talking about bins.)

I assume the trash can comparison is meant to stun us into silence. This didn’t work. If anything, it leaves us with more questions than answers. Telling us the size of the jellyfish in metric or imperial would have been clearer and still impressive.

I’ve just noticed that the line about bins is in inverted commas. So, the fault doesn’t lie with the BBC, but with the person they’re quoting. Whoever made this statement should have at least supplied a picture of their own bin for reference.

You'd still need something next to it for scale. A jellyfish, perhaps?

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