tag > Music
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The evolution of Interfaces
To those that believe the future of Human-Computer-Interfaces is mainly a text box with which we prompt magical A.I's, consider how interfaces like musical instruments engage all our senses/modalities and train our entire brain/body. Let's not loose this richness but build on it.
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"Rhythm is actually time lived" - Mihai Nadin
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Janet Jackson had the power to crash laptop computers - by Raymond Chen (Microsoft)
A colleague of mine shared a story from Windows XP product support. A major computer manufacturer discovered that playing the music video for Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” would crash certain models of laptops. I would not have wanted to be in the laboratory that they must have set up to investigate this problem. Not an artistic judgement.
One discovery during the investigation is that playing the music video also crashed some of their competitors’ laptops. And then they discovered something extremely weird: Playing the music video on one laptop caused a laptop sitting nearby to crash, even though that other laptop wasn’t playing the video! What’s going on?
It turns out that the song contained one of the natural resonant frequencies for the model of 5400 rpm laptop hard drives that they and other manufacturers used. The manufacturer worked around the problem by adding a custom filter in the audio pipeline that detected and removed the offending frequencies during audio playback.
And I’m sure they put a digital version of a “Do not remove” sticker on that audio filter. (Though I’m worried that in the many years since the workaround was added, nobody remembers why it’s there. Hopefully, their laptops are not still carrying this audio filter to protect against damage to a model of hard drive they are no longer using.)
And of course, no story about natural resonant frequencies can pass without a reference to the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940.
Related: If you are so inclined, research the history of Janet Jackson and the MK Ultra Mindcontrol networks using not your favorite search engine. Starter keywords: "One of Janet Jackson’s alters, she called Strawberry. - The other alter personality living inside her is Damita Jo".
Related: Electro-mechanical oscilator & Tesla's Earthquake Machine
Nikola Tesla revealed that an earthquake which drew police and ambulances to the region of his laboratory at 48 E. Houston St., New York, in 1898, was the result of a little machine he was experimenting with at the time which “you could put in your overcoat pocket”:
“I was experimenting with vibrations. I had one of my machines going and I wanted to see if I could get it in tune with the vibration of the building. I put it up notch after notch. There was a peculiar cracking sound. I asked my assistants where did the sound come from. They did not know. I put the machine up a few more notches. There was a louder cracking sound. I knew I was approaching the vibration of the steel building. I pushed the machine a little higher. “Suddenly all the heavy machinery in the place was flying around. I grabbed a hammer and broke the machine. The building would have been about our ears in another few minutes. Outside in the street there was pandemonium. The police and ambulances arrived. I told my assistants to say nothing. We told the police it must have been an earthquake. That’s all they ever knew about it.”
Some shrewd reporter asked Dr. Tesla at this point what he would need to destroy the Empire State Building and the doctor replied:
“Vibration will do anything. It would only be necessary to step up the vibrations of the machine to fit the natural vibration of the building and the building would come crashing down. That’s why soldiers break step crossing a bridge.
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Learning about almost anything from first principles, means learning about how (sound) waves work
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Vladimir Gavreau an pioneering researcher in the field of Infrasound.
"In developing a military weapon, scientists intend to revert to a policeman's whistle form, perhaps as big as eighteen feet across, mount it on a truck and blow it with a fan turned by a small airplane engine. This weapon, they say, will give forth an all-destroying 10,000 acoustic watts. It could kill a man five miles away. There is one snag: at present, the machine is as dangerous to its operators as to the enemy. The team is working on a way to focus it. Various systems of baffles have been tried, but the most promising method appears to be propagation of a different and complementary sound a wave length backward from the machine. This changes the frequency of airwave length moving in that direction, thus protecting anyone to the rear. There is, of course, a much simpler means of protection: turn the machine on from a safe distance. This summary of Professor Vladimir Gavreau's experiments with infrasound is based on the Sunday Times article.[2] A much more comprehensive article has appeared in an American periodical, The National Enquirer, Vol.42, No. 27, March 10, 1968. Professor Gavreau's discovery has been patented, and anybody can obtain the plans and full description from the French patent office upon payment of two francs."
Related: The sonic doom of Vladimir Gavreau - The Sonic Weapon of Vladimir Gavreau - Acoustic Trauma : Bioeffects of Sound - Infrasound linked to spooky effects
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Scientists Say You Can Cancel the Noise but Keep Your Window Open - Researchers in Singapore developed a system that’s sort of like noise-canceling headphones for your whole apartment (paper)
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Forget "intelligence" or "sentience", there is something far more mysterious and puzzling at work here. If you really want to attach a label, "love" or "music" come to mind, yet totally miss the mark. Enjoy "it"!
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Misophonia (dislike of sound) is an adverse response to sound no matter what volume the sound is.
