German "heatball" wheeze outwits EU light bulb ban

[formercia]

German "heatball" wheeze outwits EU light bulb ban
Reuters


– Fri Oct 15, 2:02 pm ET

BERLIN (Reuters) – A German entrepreneur is bypassing a European Union ban on light bulbs of more than 60 watts by marketing his own brand as mini heaters.

Siegfried Rotthaeuser and his brother-in-law have come up with a legal way of importing and distributing 75 and 100 watt light bulbs -- by producing them in China, importing them as "small heating devices" and selling them as "heatballs."

--snip--

Rotthaeuser studied EU legislation and realized that because the inefficient old bulbs produce more warmth than light -- he calculated heat makes up 95 percent of their output, and light just 5 percent -- they could be sold legally as heaters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101015/od_nm/us_germany_heatballs

Where there's a Law, there's a Loophole.

[drm604]

1. And for every one he sells he's donating 30 cents to "saving the rainforest".

He claims that that's a better way to protect the environment than selling CFLs "which contain toxic mercury".

Yea, he really cares about the environment. :sarcasm:

[drm604]

2. Anyone know what "wheeze" means in this context?

Presumably it's some kind of derogatory term.

[Speck Tater]

3. Google to the rescue...

See def #2. British slang -- a trick, idea, or plan (esp in the phrase good wheeze)

wheeze
vb
1. (Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Physiology) to breathe or utter (something) with a rasping or whistling sound
2. (intr) to make or move with a noise suggestive of wheezy breathing
n
1. a husky, rasping, or whistling sound or breathing
2. Brit slang a trick, idea, or plan (esp in the phrase good wheeze)
3. Informal a hackneyed joke or anecdote

wheezer n
wheezy adj
wheezily adv
wheeziness n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. It is a cunning plan, as any fule kno

His favorite expletive—"Chiz!"—is subtly designed to sow distrust, and he is sly in his whispering campaign about the masters' carryings *on, although he wonders: "i ask you wot could any GURL see in a master?"

However, it must be admitted that Molesworth has some qualities potentially fatal to the revolutionary: a tendency to daydream (he sees himself as an armored knight refusing mercy to a kneeling headmaster) and a touch of defeatism. On the subject of how to get out of divinity instruction, for instance. Molesworth says: "You could try being let down into the class dressed as an angel. You then sa to the master Lo who are these cherubim and seraphim who are continually crying. He repli Form 3 B. You then sa Lo they are not angles but angels with the xception of peason who hav a face like a baboon. You must dismiss them and the master oba." But after this fine start, the plotter adds dispiritedly: "On the other hand he may sa Lo molesworth 200 lines. It is quite a good wheeze but probably would not work."

*A chiz is a swiz or swindle as any fule kno. —n. molesworth.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,820294,00.html