Monday, June 12, 2006
Don't trust anyone over 8,000 Hz
Even though this--in a way--casts me as the enemy, I love it. I'm a fan of bad technology used against itself, or against those who were originally using it to try to hinder or censor. Like when my friend, Michael, used the 'parental block' function on his Cable box to block out the Lifetime channel. High-larious. No more crack babies, no more all-victims-all-the-time themed shows staring Judith Light. Simply Marvelous. His wife disagreed.
In more recent, and slightly wider spread news than Michael's living room, Some Welsh folks concocted an anti Teenager device. Essentially they counted on the fact that Adults tend to loose hearing in the highest registers, and so they made a very annoying sound that only kids could hear. The theory was that this would prevent loitering by yobs, chavs, and other UK underclass kids.
Well, some damned kids took that technology and made cell phone ring tones out of it that only the youthful could hear. Some adults can hear it, but like about 4% or so. And there isn't a magic line in the sand that you magically cross and can't hear it. How eerie if you were listening to it when you were 20 years old and 364 days, then at midnight BAM! The silence would be deafening. But, most adults will suffer from this. I know thanks to that loud rock and roll music, my hearing is not so great in the first place. and I got tinitis, so maybe I did hear the ring tone and just didn't know it.
The practical upshot: in classrooms, and places where cell phones are banned, or at least must be turned off, the kids can text message to their hearts content. While the adults blithely yammer on about the Magna Carta or some shit.
In a fit of irony, and no small amount of greedy opportunistic capitalism, the original company that made the young-on' repellent is now selling the OFFICIAL ring-tone.
So now the true test of your hipness: predictably, I'm taking "can you hear this damn thing." I assure you there is audio there. if you look at it with audio analyzing software little waveforms and bumping things subtly happen, which gives you a visual cue, even if you can't hear it.
So, if you're curious, click right here: I want to know if I'm young and cool or old and not cool.
In more recent, and slightly wider spread news than Michael's living room, Some Welsh folks concocted an anti Teenager device. Essentially they counted on the fact that Adults tend to loose hearing in the highest registers, and so they made a very annoying sound that only kids could hear. The theory was that this would prevent loitering by yobs, chavs, and other UK underclass kids.
Well, some damned kids took that technology and made cell phone ring tones out of it that only the youthful could hear. Some adults can hear it, but like about 4% or so. And there isn't a magic line in the sand that you magically cross and can't hear it. How eerie if you were listening to it when you were 20 years old and 364 days, then at midnight BAM! The silence would be deafening. But, most adults will suffer from this. I know thanks to that loud rock and roll music, my hearing is not so great in the first place. and I got tinitis, so maybe I did hear the ring tone and just didn't know it.
The practical upshot: in classrooms, and places where cell phones are banned, or at least must be turned off, the kids can text message to their hearts content. While the adults blithely yammer on about the Magna Carta or some shit.
In a fit of irony, and no small amount of greedy opportunistic capitalism, the original company that made the young-on' repellent is now selling the OFFICIAL ring-tone.
So now the true test of your hipness: predictably, I'm taking "can you hear this damn thing." I assure you there is audio there. if you look at it with audio analyzing software little waveforms and bumping things subtly happen, which gives you a visual cue, even if you can't hear it.
So, if you're curious, click right here: I want to know if I'm young and cool or old and not cool.
