{"id":12615,"date":"2022-08-18T15:20:05","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T15:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/"},"modified":"2022-08-18T15:20:06","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T15:20:06","slug":"janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/","title":{"rendered":"Janet Jackson\u2019s \u2018Rhythm Nation\u2019 apparently vibed too hard for some laptops"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/8\/17\/23310033\/janet-jackson-rhythm-nation-laptop-crash-windows-xp-hard-drives<\/a>
\n
<\/br><\/code><\/p>\n

\n

While it\u2019s normal for friends to judge our music tastes and take away your aux privileges, our devices usually won\u2019t complain about our listening habits (even if we ask them to repeatedly play a song that most humans would find insufferable<\/a>). However, according to a story shared<\/a> by Microsoft principal software engineer Raymond Chen on his blog The Old New Thing<\/em>, some Windows XP-era laptops did end up taking exception to the music video<\/a> for Janet Jackson\u2019s \u201cRhythm Nation\u201d because it contained a sound that crashed their hard drives.<\/p>\n

According to Chen, an unnamed \u201cmajor computer manufacturer\u201d discovered that some of their computers were crashing when trying to play the song and that playing the song on one laptop could even crash another computer nearby that was just minding its own business. The manufacturer also discovered that the issue cropped up on other companies\u2019 laptops as well.<\/p>\n

Chen says the company eventually discovered that the song had a sound in it that resonated<\/a> with a specific model of laptop hard drive. In other words, it was like a less destructive version of when someone plays a specific sound to shatter a wine glass<\/a> \u2014 the sound waves the computer\u2019s speakers made while playing the song would make its hard drive vibrate, crashing the computer. According to the story, the manufacturer figured out a simple, if inelegant, fix for the issue: making it so their computers simply wouldn\u2019t play that specific frequency.<\/p>\n

The story is, unfortunately, relatively light on specifics. Chen doesn\u2019t say which laptops or hard drives were affected, and there isn\u2019t any video of a laptop actually crashing while playing the song. Still, it\u2019s a fun anecdote about the exceedingly strange things that physics can do to our computers and the process of nailing down what seems to be a completely random bug.<\/p>\n

While I can imagine that troubleshooting this issue must\u2019ve been some special sort of nightmare, it\u2019s no secret that hard drives are extraordinarily susceptible to vibrations of all types. Chen links to a video from 2008<\/a> that shows data center engineers disrupting hard drives by screaming at them, and in 2017, security researcher Alfredo Ortega demonstrated<\/a> a program that purposefully crashes hard drives by playing a sound at their resonant frequency. The program even warns that it could physically damage the drive \u2014 resonance frequencies can actually be extremely destructive in the wrong circumstances. They\u2019ve helped lead to suspension bridges collapsing<\/a>, and the Stuxnet virus<\/a> reportedly tried to take advantage of them to destroy centrifuges<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Ortega and other security researchers have also demonstrated how hard drives can be used as rudimentary microphones to spy on people\u2019s conversations, thanks to the fact that they react to sounds. One of the examples<\/a> included in a talk demonstrating the effect involved playing an Iron Maiden song<\/a> at a hard drive and seeing if Shazam could identify it. The experiment apparently worked, though the presenter doesn\u2019t mention whether it crashed the drive. <\/p>\n

PS: unfortunately, it doesn\u2019t seem like Pawe\u0142 Zadro\u017cniak, the person who creates music using old computer parts<\/a>, including hard drives, has covered \u201cRhythm Nation.\u201d But Zadro\u017cniak definitely should now because the irony would be delightful.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


<\/br><\/code><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2022\/8\/17\/23310033\/janet-jackson-rhythm-nation-laptop-crash-windows-xp-hard-drives<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: While it\u2019s normal for friends to judge our music tastes and take away your aux privileges, our devices usually won\u2019t complain about our listening habits (even if we ask them to repeatedly play a song that most humans would find insufferable). However, according to a story shared by Microsoft principal software engineer Raymond Chen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,8],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-12615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft","category-technology","tag-microsoft"],"yoast_head":"\nJanet Jackson\u2019s \u2018Rhythm Nation\u2019 apparently vibed too hard for some laptops - Science and Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Janet Jackson\u2019s \u2018Rhythm Nation\u2019 apparently vibed too hard for some laptops - Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Source: While it\u2019s normal for friends to judge our music tastes and take away your aux privileges, our devices usually won\u2019t complain about our listening habits (even if we ask them to repeatedly play a song that most humans would find insufferable). However, according to a story shared by Microsoft principal software engineer Raymond Chen […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Science and Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-18T15:20:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-18T15:20:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops_62fe58a5f1385.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/\",\"name\":\"Janet Jackson\u2019s \u2018Rhythm Nation\u2019 apparently vibed too hard for some laptops - Science and Nerds\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops_62fe58a5f1385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-18T15:20:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-18T15:20:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea2991abeb2b9ab04b32790dff28360e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops_62fe58a5f1385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops_62fe58a5f1385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":628},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Janet Jackson\u2019s \u2018Rhythm Nation\u2019 apparently vibed too hard for some laptops\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/\",\"name\":\"Science and Nerds\",\"description\":\"My WordPress Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea2991abeb2b9ab04b32790dff28360e\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e6e14fc6691445ef2b2c0a3a6c43882?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e6e14fc6691445ef2b2c0a3a6c43882?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Janet Jackson\u2019s \u2018Rhythm Nation\u2019 apparently vibed too hard for some laptops - Science and Nerds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Janet Jackson\u2019s \u2018Rhythm Nation\u2019 apparently vibed too hard for some laptops - Science and Nerds","og_description":"Source: While it\u2019s normal for friends to judge our music tastes and take away your aux privileges, our devices usually won\u2019t complain about our listening habits (even if we ask them to repeatedly play a song that most humans would find insufferable). However, according to a story shared by Microsoft principal software engineer Raymond Chen […]","og_url":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/","og_site_name":"Science and Nerds","article_published_time":"2022-08-18T15:20:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-18T15:20:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops_62fe58a5f1385.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/","url":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/","name":"Janet Jackson\u2019s \u2018Rhythm Nation\u2019 apparently vibed too hard for some laptops - Science and Nerds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops_62fe58a5f1385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1","datePublished":"2022-08-18T15:20:05+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-18T15:20:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea2991abeb2b9ab04b32790dff28360e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops_62fe58a5f1385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops_62fe58a5f1385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1","width":1200,"height":628},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/2022\/08\/18\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Janet Jackson\u2019s \u2018Rhythm Nation\u2019 apparently vibed too hard for some laptops"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/","name":"Science and Nerds","description":"My WordPress Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ea2991abeb2b9ab04b32790dff28360e","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e6e14fc6691445ef2b2c0a3a6c43882?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7e6e14fc6691445ef2b2c0a3a6c43882?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/janet-jacksons-rhythm-nation-apparently-vibed-too-hard-for-some-laptops_62fe58a5f1385.jpeg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12615"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12615"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12615\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12617,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12615\/revisions\/12617"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceandnerds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}