Shame on all versions of Niume

What n7axw said.

Sad to say, this is the picture I'm getting in my head:

Baron Green Mountain looked up from the map table over the heads of his staff at the sight of a disturbance at the door. The man pushing his way through was an officious looking Pasqualite from the caduceus on his tunic, but was dressed in the uniform of a Captain.

"What can I do for you, Captain," he said dryly.

"You can shut down both your artillery and your mortars until you get adequate hearing protection for your men," the Captain replied testily. The constant shelling has got to have a bad long term effect on their hearing. This issue goes far beyond my status as a Captain, sir! As a Pasqualite, I must insist that you shut it down immediately!"

Green Mountain stared at the Captain in disbelief. "I thank you for your concerns, and suggest that you draft a detailed letter to your superiors and to Master Houseman, the man whose company manufactures most of the artillery we use. I'll see that it is given a priority dispatch!"

"Nevertheless, we seem to be well over 500 miles deep into enemy territory, and our supply situation, while adequate for the moment, could easily change in the near future."

"And so, because our lives may very well depend on the artillery and mortars you so glibly want me to shut down, I will have to decline your demand. And now, I will thank you to take your officious, buraucratic person out of my sight, and to keep it out of my sight from now until Judgement Day! Do I make myself clear, or or do you need me to publish it as a regulation?"

Hmmm.... I think this sums up my feelings on the matter...

This can only be an issue if Pasqual identifies it as such. Since Pasqual's rules were written even before gun powder was around, I find it highly unlikely rules against exposure to loud noises would have made the final cut. In a muscle/water/wind-powered world loud noises are not gonna be all that common.

This might also be considered as new and dangerous knowledge.

We really need snippets!!!

EdThomas wrote:This can only be an issue if Pasqual identifies it as such. Since Pasqual's rules were written even before gun powder was around, I find it highly unlikely rules against exposure to loud noises would have made the final cut. In a muscle/water/wind-powered world loud noises are not gonna be all that common.

This might also be considered as new and dangerous knowledge.

We really need snippets!!!

Given how desperate we seem to be for something to talk about, snippets would provide welcome relief...

Don

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I would have thought that minor details like hearing protection would be taken care of by characters "off screen" as it were. Do we really need to spend more words in an already overbloated story line on every little bit of fluff and detail of what Charis and the Church are doing?

Ooh, I know! Let's spend an ENTIRE CHAPTER detailing how a plumber character that we've never seen before and will never see again fixes broken farm machinery on some farm no one in-universe or out cares about.

Oh, wait, this is about innovations that should be done, right? How about an entire chapter about baseball players bitching about how the new fangled "iron" baseball bat mad possibly by the new industrial processes doesn't handle like traditional wooden ones?

Laenole wrote:Rereading the series I was struck by the lack of concern with a hearing safety.

Stuffing cotton balls or fingers in your ears is totally inadequate protection against any loud noise. Cotton wads provide only 7 decibels (dB) of noise protection which is good against rustling leaves which is 10 dB. The scale is logarithmic. Conversational speech is around 50 dB. Anything above 90 requires protection if experienced for long enough. A belt sander at 103 if used for more than 7.5 minutes can damage hearing. By the time you get to 120 dB (up close to an ambulance siren) you will experience pain and the immediate chance of damage. A firecracker is 150 dB.

While the age old practice of covering your ears, turning away, and opening your mouth can help a crew firing their guns it is not adequate protection, especially in an unit.

Artillery crews at least should be issued suitable ear protection, especially the ironclad crews. Niume should know better.

"All that glitters is not gold"
Laenole

If they are wearing ear defenders, how are they going to receive their orders? By letter? By messenger? They won't be able to hear them.
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Peter2 wrote:If they are wearing ear defenders, how are they going to receive their orders? By letter? By messenger? They won't be able to hear them.
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IF they go deaf, even temporarily, from the artillery they won't be able to hear orders even when the cannon aren't firing.

Hearing protection is a low priority, but will evolve naturally now that Merlin has started gunners thinking about it. I suspect Waxed Cotton earplugs or some variant is up next.

There's no way she can do much about the noise problem. While she knows the danger the locals do not--this is knowledge she can't introduce and therefore can't use.

Whatever she can do easily for the comfort of the users (cotton balls) is fine, she can't address the hidden danger.

Weird Harold wrote:

Peter2 wrote:If they are wearing ear defenders, how are they going to receive their orders? By letter? By messenger? They won't be able to hear them.
.

IF they go deaf, even temporarily, from the artillery they won't be able to hear orders even when the cannon aren't firing.

Hearing protection is a low priority, but will evolve naturally now that Merlin has started gunners thinking about it. I suspect Waxed Cotton earplugs or some variant is up next.

I thought they were already using waxed cotton as far back as BGV's initial artillery test?

BrightSoul wrote:I thought they were already using waxed cotton as far back as BGV's initial artillery test?

I thought it was just cotton fluff. Whatever they're using now, it will evolve into more and more effective hearing protection over time. There's no way Merlin or Nimue can rush developments.

Hmmm...

Never spent any time on a firing line, hearing protection in place?

I'm no doubt only the first of 80 or 90 to assure you it's a non-issue - commands are quite audible.

Peter2 wrote:
If they are wearing ear defenders, how are they going to receive their orders? By letter? By messenger? They won't be able to hear them.
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