Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2015 November 23

= November 23 =

Metal loops sticking out of walls
Recently, walking past a building in London, I noticed that it had small metal loops or rings sticking out of the exterior wall at regular intervals at about head height. They had little plastic tags on them, which recorded the dates on which they were inspected. You can sort of see them in this Streetview image: https://goo.gl/maps/umRshhV9Gbp. I also noticed similar rings on another building nearby, but those did not have the tags. Does anyone know what these are, and what they do? --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 10:50, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
 * It's difficult to be sure from the photo, but these are probably for attaching PPE lanyards/ropes and Safety harnesses to allow personnel to work on the outside of the building. Such attachments (in the UK, and presumably elsewhere) have to be regularly inspected to ensure they will still bear the required force without pulling out of the walls, and may not be used if the last inspection tag has passed its expiry date. In our office we have some on the inside load-bearing wall pillars, to allow personnel to attach and then climb out of the windows for whatever reason necessary. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 185.74.232.130 (talk) 15:05, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
 * I thought about the possibility that they might be for hanging ropes etc on, but these are at head height, so seems unlikely to be for hanging anything *down* from. Suppose there is something else at the top of the building (I couldn't see any on the wall, but it might be on the roof or something), would they also need something like this near the ground, say for stabilisation? --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 15:26, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Lower braces for scaffolding maybe? -- Jayron 32 15:46, 23 November 2015 (UTC)


 * There weren't remnants of blood and traces of human flesh on the walls and ground, were there? --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  17:57, 23 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Agree with Jayron, most likely fixings for scaffold. See here []--Ykraps (talk) 20:06, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Okay that looks like that's it, thanks both! --PalaceGuard008 (Talk) 20:49, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Australia/Currie
While handling a time-zone problem at WP:VPT, I randomly picked Australia/Currie as my time zone temporarily. How did Currie, population 750, become the namesake of its own tz database area? Nothing at Australia/Currie explains anything; King Island (Tasmania) and Currie, Tasmania don't mention anything about the island changing time zones or jurisdictions, and Daylight saving time in Australia and Time in Australia only mention Currie in a list, rather than explaining why King Island would have had its own time zone or its own daylight saving time rules, separate from those of the rest of the state — especially given that the state's small size and the "mainland's" proximity to King Island would make it particularly odd for the island not to be on the same time as Circular Head. Nyttend (talk) 21:11, 23 November 2015 (UTC)


 * Just a thought, but the locals might actually want to differentiate themselves from the larger group, and this is a token way of doing so. StuRat (talk) 21:36, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
 * See this document, from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. King Island (unlike the rest of Tasmania) did not use Daylight Saving Time between 1967 and 1971, hence the separate time zone. Tevildo (talk) 22:39, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
 * This is also a useful source for the history of time zones in Australia. Tevildo (talk) 22:41, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Hmm, no, I don't think the locals have anything to do with it - this is about the authors of the Tz database. The database attempts to define every area of the globe which has ever had a different time to neighbouring areas (where ever is defined as at least since 1970). According to this history of time zones in Australia, King Island did not adopt daylight savings at the same time as the rest of Tasmania, although this history implies it now has. - Cucumber Mike (talk) 22:45, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
 * According to Page 29 of Cucumber Mike's second document (excellent find, incidentally), "the main amendment [to the bill introducing DST to Tasmania] being that King Island was to be excluded from the scheme because its economy was more closely tied to the mainland". Tevildo (talk) 22:50, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Which mainland did that refer to? From King I's perspective, I'd have thought Tasmania was the mainland.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  23:07, 23 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Presumably the larger landmass to its north. -- Jayron 32 04:52, 24 November 2015 (UTC)