CDC joins investigation into 'sonic attacks' in China, Cuba against U.S. personnel

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/11/cdc-joins-investigation-into.html

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I have a feeling these injuries are a result of counter-surveillance tools the US is using at these embassies. Which is to say that no amount of investigation will get to the bottom of it.

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There has been some informal research done that backs up your feeling, it could conceivably be the result of interference between multiple ultrasonic devices.

I’m not totally convinced though, since it seems like the intensity of ultrasound in the room would have to be quite high, over 155 db according to the Canadian gubmint, to hurt anyone.

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I have fallback theories, in case my first one doesn’t play out:

  1. The Russians are behind it. If so, they successfully erased a lot of progress in our relations with Cuba, which I think they would find desirable.
  2. These people are actually fine and this is mass hysteria.
  3. Aliens.
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I came here to posit the Russia theory as well. Just as relations with Cuba were thawing, they suddenly appear to be attacking our diplomats and their families? Handy!

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Hmph. It couldn’t be that hard to make a little box that continuously logs ultrasonic, magnetic, microwave levels, etc, inside the embassy.

Until there’s something that can be detected and measured, they might as well put dreamcatchers on all the windows.

many of the afflicted were in their homes or in hotel rooms when they heard intense, high-⁠pitched sounds shortly before falling ill.

Make a bunch of them to carry around. (For extra $$$$$$$$, I could put it in a tricorder case.)

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multiple sources , heterodyning , constructive interference ? maybe intentional , maybe not , just everyone beaming and counter beaming ??

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That was one hell of an elaborate rickroll.

These sonic interactions remind me of a sound piece I created years ago. Here are nine tones roughly in the Fibonacci sequence (they are 100, 200, 300, 500, 800, 1300, 21000, 34000, 55000 Hz) mixed together in stereo and in mono in a way that makes some strange interference patterns (works best with headphones).

These tones were not meant as a sonic attack, but as an attempt to hear what the universe might sound like if you held it up to your ear like a seashell. Then just weirdness follows that…

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My reaction to this story would be “oh OK, I guess someone poisoned embassy staff for some reason”. But this bizarre “sonic weapon” theory keeps being taken seriously, and that makes me think it must be some kind of mass psychosis, because that’s some straight-up conspiracy theorist logic.

And when I think about what it must be like to work for the current US State Department while surrounded by an unfriendly foreign country, it feels sadly plausible that the people in those embassies are going slightly collectively insane.

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What? No references to “the brown noise”? I am disappoint

image

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Well, I have yet to see any indication that they brought all bodies to orgasm simultaneously, or used their wheels, so perhaps US government personal haven’t received appropriate training in identifying and responding to sonic attack.

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We should start a pool.
Is “Alien Brain Parasite” already taken?

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Oh, oh [jumps exited up and down] I’ve got another one:

All the electronic surveillance devices, counter-surveillance devices and EM-insulation and whatnot inside the embassies actually turn some of their rooms into very powerful orgone chambers.
And the whitebread employees just can’t handle the vibes of their own suppressed raw sexuality.

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Wilhelm Reich was ahead of his time, plus orgone accumulators were used to sharpen razor blades in addition to super-sexy stuff, so there’s that…

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After years of useless investigation, diplomatic finger pointing and counter surveillance shenanigans they discover the toner for their laser printers is poisonous or something …

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They should also check the rainfall for unusual patterns, just to be sure.

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and the meters are over in the red…

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Well certainly there is no good reason to think the Cubans were behind it

  1. why would the Cubans want to jeapordize US relations when they were finally improving?
  2. why would the Cubans attack Canada too (since Canadians were also seriously harmed)
  3. why (and how) would they be doing this exact same thing in China??

Conceivably China could be involved (given the China episodes) but it is not clear why they would be involved in Cuban-Canadian relations at all. Russia, on the other hand, is known to be working hard to destablize existing diplomatic relations…

So, yeah, my money’s on Russia. Although I also tend to think that this has less to do with a weapon but rather is a side-effect of something else.

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This sounds suspiciously like a plot a certain Number One would come up with…

SPECTRE is quite diabolical.

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