Driving Away Teens With High Frequency Noise 1035
ars writes "The New York Times is reporting on a device called the Mosquito invented by Howard Stapleton designed to drive teens away by emitting a high frequency noise at 75db. Apparently most older people can not hear the sounds, but teens can not stand it. Reports are that it works quite well, but some older people can hear it too. He found the prefect irritating sound by experimenting on his children."
FP (Score:5, Funny)
What's was wrong with... (Score:5, Funny)
I need this for my stores! (Score:5, Funny)
1. Hide a few dozen of these in the mall shops
2. ???
3. Profit!!!
Protractor holes (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:5, Funny)
I beg to differ (Score:3, Funny)
Hey, man! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I need this for my stores! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:5, Funny)
Reminds me of a guy I knew... (Score:5, Funny)
Everytime a low-rider came next to his car at a stop light thumping away, he opened his windows and cranked some good ol' Italian opera out to screw with them. He told me he never could quite drown them out, but quite a few did turn down their stereos to try and figure out what the crazy old man next to them was doing...
TTC (Score:5, Funny)
The only thing to watch out for now would be gangs that listen to classical music. Care for a bit of Ludwig Van?
Re:Hey, man! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:1, Funny)
Alternative Hypothesis (Score:5, Funny)
So maybe his kids are just nasty.
Re:I hope it doesn't get widely deployed (Score:3, Funny)
Can I revoke my membership to society?
One for the elderly (Score:5, Funny)
Let's face it, this is revenge (Score:2, Funny)
Revenge is a dish best served at high frequencies.
Re:I hope it doesn't get widely deployed (Score:5, Funny)
This *is* discrimination. If the guys are annoying, call the cops on the fuckers. Don't take it out on everyone who just happen to be the same age. It's no better than racism.
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:this country is strange (Score:5, Funny)
They don't buy enough CDs or go to enough movies.
Re:Right (Score:2, Funny)
Re:One for the elderly (Score:5, Funny)
They do have such a sound. Wayne Newton or Celine Dion. Attracts the moldy oldies like flies, guaranteed to repel everyone who isn't half-senile.
Of course, Vegas latched onto them for just that reason. See the following:
Re:Protractor holes (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yet another way for parents to avoid... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:TVs (Score:3, Funny)
They still come in, they just don't sit next to me.
Re:Hey, man! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Yet another way for parents to avoid... (Score:2, Funny)
hell, it's an idea though....
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Home Made Version (Score:5, Funny)
I try not to do that anymore because the neighbors complain.
Re:Wonderful (Score:1, Funny)
Looking at your posting history, that seems to have changed. You certainly aren't now, unless you're about sixteen of course.
Re:Protractor holes (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Far more effective... (Score:5, Funny)
Motivation?! (Score:3, Funny)
I didn't considered *that* when I decided I shall have no children...
Two can play at that game: (Score:5, Funny)
RS
Strange that the frequency... (Score:1, Funny)
Laugh people - its funny.
Re:Can you hear me... Can you hear me now... (Score:5, Funny)
I think you may have mixed up your measurements. The 75dB referred to in TFA is the noise level. The 75dB in your linked page is the level of hearing loss - that is, the threshold at which the person can hear a sound of that pitch.
The standard TWA for industrial noise is 85dB for 8 hours, so it's unlikely this device would cause any problems.
In fact, many years ago, I used to make little devices with two 555 CMOS chips (or one 556), a photocell and a hearing aid speaker coil. They'd put out this high-pitched heterodyning whine that sounded a lot like a mosquito circling. The trick was to hide one in a dark area like a cupboard or under furniture so when someone opened the cupboard, or let light under the furniture, the photocell would cut the noise. There was no way they could locate it by sound, and you could fit the whole thing in a matchbox. As far as I'm aware, we never sent anyone deaf. Insane perhaps, but they could definitely still hear...
That's nothing... (Score:2, Funny)
Funniest thing I ever did was steal every telephone (minus no more than 10) on the second floor of my middle school on April Fools Day. The phones snapped into a bracket on the wall, so just unplug the cord and pull them out, and POW! you're in business. Sad thing, I walked around with them for two classes until someone asked me what the heck I was doing.
Hey, what are you doing?
Oh, nothing much. You?
Looks around Where's my telephone?
Gestures at stack of telephones Second one from the bottom.
Why did you take all the phones?
Why didn't you take the phones? I shouldn't be the one who has to.
...and all I had to do was put them back! Which took the rest of the hour.
Re:TTC (Score:3, Funny)
That East Coast classical is weak shit. I only blast J-$trau$$, Big Daddy Brahmzz & the Eastside Quartet, and The Notorious M.O.Z. in my ride.
Rest in peace, 2-Bach.
Re:this country is strange (Score:2, Funny)
Resonant frequencies... (Score:4, Funny)
Not that we abused this or anything...
Re:Protractor holes (Score:2, Funny)
We sat behind desks in the middle of the classroom surrounded by 'lab benches' which had gas taps for the bunsen burners. Let out a (preferably stinky and somewhat silent) fart, then tell the teacher that you could 'smell something funny, and maybe one of the gas taps is leaking'.
The teacher comes over and gives the air a real good sniff, while we laugh under our breath... ahhh fart jokes they will never die...
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:3, Funny)
In Korea, only old people...
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:4, Funny)
Wear a bloody apron, wave a cleaver instead of a cane. Growl "Ah, fresh meat!"
Also, I am 100 percent positive something like this device would affect me in my old age (curse my high-frequency hearing)
Are you sure it's not right? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:One for the elderly (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Right (Score:5, Funny)
I might be misunderstanding your post. It sounds like you claiming the "greed is good" era (80's) was similar to the "flower power" era (60's)? If so, were you actually alive to participate in either of them?
"Ever met a teenager?" - I kept two of them until they grew into adults, the last one without female assistance. I released them both into the wild at age 18-19. They both lead usefull lives and have been sucessfull in finding a mate. I am now waiting to see if they breed.
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Far more effective... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Right (Score:5, Funny)
Glad you're a biologist - most of the computer geeks here wouldn't get past the design document.
The Anecdote of the Facist Sub (Score:2, Funny)
I took alot of "Office" courses in high school, and (being the computer geek that I am) was the go-to guy for all of those classes. So, one day we get this sub-from-hell. No speaking during class. Noone was allowed to help anyone out. Business-as-WTF?!?!!
We didn't believe she meant it. People asked me questions, I continued to answer them. She eventually snapped at me, "Shut Up. I don't care if you have friends here. Now your only friend is your computer." So, I started having a conversation with the monitor... I told it how to enable the outline view in Word 2000, how to disable clippy... Needless to say, she didn't appreciate my humor. Before I could really piss her off, the period ended.
Later that week I'm in a similar class and she shows up again. At this point I know the score, but noone else in the class does. *Of course* they all start asking me questions. The sub prompty writes "NO TALKING" across the whiteboard. Soon after, she decides she is going to appoint a "class helper". So, she chooses someone from the room (seemingly at random; I believe she was avoiding me intentionally).
The dude she chose had no clue how to use the program. He did the logical thing, and asked me. She got pissed--I shit you not, beet-red pissed. And this is where the *real* fun began.
See, she went from being a thorn-on-my-side to a royal-pain-in-the-ass. To alleviate some of the pressure, I asked why she didn't let me help everyone out. I was obviously the most qualified person to do so. She tells me to stuff it... The class laughs... I proceed to belittle her ability to manage the class.
She asks my name, then threatens to call security. The class giggles some more.
See, the very concept of this substitute calling security to remove me from a classroom was so alien to them... I'm sure many of you know the drill. (Generally) Quiet, geeky kid, 100 lbs at most, non-violent, straight-edge. etc etc.
At this point, it has ceased to be entertaining. I walk out of the classroom, and go to the department office. I explain the situation to the Department Head. Then the Head and I walk calmly back to the classroom, where the Head asks the sub to leave the classroom.
She was fired the next day.
High Frequency vs Low Frequency... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:I hope it doesn't get widely deployed (Score:3, Funny)
I'm going to take this inventor to court for discrimination against the abled.
Re:Resonant frequencies... (Score:4, Funny)
I did a short stint as a Maths teacher. The hardest part was trying to remember I was on the other side now (I was trouble at school). We had some construction work going on at the school and there was some sort of crane-mounted pile driving going on so that every five seconds or so, the entire classroom would shake and rattle. Just in one perfect lull in the general chaos that was the bottom year 11 maths set, one kid calls out to another: "'Ere, Darren! Yer mama's coming!"
I have never had to try so hard not to laugh in my life.
Re:Hey, man! (Score:5, Funny)
And don't even get me started on that vicious gang of "keep left" signs.
High Frequency Country Music (Score:3, Funny)
I saw the same effect at a local mcDonalds a few years back in downtown Seattle. They started to play country music on the outside speakers and you wouldn't believe how fast some of the seedier teen traffic cleared out... To across the street, but hey, it worked
Re:Can you hear me... Can you hear me now... (Score:3, Funny)
Bless you. Being insane is just plain boring if you can't hear the voices.
Re:One for the elderly (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Greed is Good (Score:2, Funny)
Life imitates The Far Side (Score:3, Funny)
(Man in labcoat stands on front porch next to a goofy-looking contraption as a couple of slackers with cigarettes run away covering their ears) Responding to the outcry of the neighborhood, Dr. Norman Finkhouser worked by night for months to perfect his invention: the Teen-B-Gone 5000.
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Far more effective... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hey, man! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Hey, man! (Score:3, Funny)
Grandma hates it when I do that.
Re:I hope it doesn't get widely deployed (Score:3, Funny)
If someone were to invent the Retard-O-Prod that jabs everyone with an IQ of less than X, the inventor would be hailed as a conquering hero.
If you give me a working Retard-O-Prod (with variable IQ tolerance dial; crank that baby UP!), I will give you a cool $1,000,000 cash.
Keep one by the doorway to your house to drive away solicitors! Put one at the entrance to your finer discriminating stores! Sorry, Billy, you must be at least this smart to shop here. I won't even bother getting into the obvious possibilities (putting them in voting booths, the DMV, et cetera).
If you can make a wearable version, that would be even better. That way, I wouldn't constantly feel the need to shout YOU ARE ALL IDIOTS everywhere I go. I'll let the Retard-O-Prod do the shouting for me. ^_^ We can call it the iProd!
Of course, considering the number of annoyingly foolish conversations I've heard among alleged 'geniuses', we'd really need to turn it up to 140 or 150...
If you ask me, there's too much discrimination based on race, gender, religion, age, et cetera, and NOT ENOUGH discrimination against stupidity.
Re:Far more effective... (Score:3, Funny)
Use of John Tesh is against the Geneva Accords. I'd take Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings's work over his any day.
Re:f**k in peace (Score:2, Funny)
Re:One for the elderly (Score:3, Funny)
I wouldn't go that far, but instead of an annoying noise maker can't this guy just play opera at the teens to make them run off?
The perfect gift! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:What's was wrong with... (Score:3, Funny)