39 CommentsFull disclosure: Your correspondent, Carolyn Ruvkun, lives on John Jay 11. Though she did not participate in the project described below, she is inclined to defend her floor mates and their shenanigans.
On Sunday afternoon, a few badass residents of John Jay decided to construct a string-and-cup telephone between rooms on opposites sides of the floor. Why? “Why not?” answers one of the masterminds, “I guess we did it to prove to ourselves we could.” The project leaders wrapped a few yards of string around a cup and taped pennies securely inside it. This added weight gave the cup momentum to swing through the air. The dynamic duo enlisted eager floor residents along the inside of the hallway to help out. Rather than swing the cup haphazardly to the desired room, they methodically guided the cup to its final destination through neighboring windows. A few Ruggles residents even gathered to cheer on the enthusiastic freshmen.
“We chose to do something so insignificant,” admits one of the participants, “there’s really no point except that we wanted to finish it.” Another coordinator credits his “seven-year-old tendencies, general lack of maturity and fondness for large scale projects.”
Does this makeshift telephone device really work? Bwog asked physics professor John Parsons. Here’s what he had to say: “When the first person speaks into the cup at their end, the sound waves from their voice travel through the air and cause the bottom of the cup to vibrate back and forth, matching the air vibrations corresponding to the sound waves. For a typical human voice, the frequency of the vibrations is in the range of 100-300 vibrations/second. If the string is held taut, then the vibrating bottom of the cup pulls back and forth on the string, transmitting the vibration along the string from one end to the other. At the other end of the string, this vibration of the string causes the bottom of the second cup to vibrate, thereby creating sound waves in the second cup, such that the person listening there ‘hears’ the voice of the person at the other end.” In short, yes, the string and cup telephone works.
And to those who still doubt whether this is a productive use of time, think back to when you watched those whippersnappers from Disney Channel and ZOOM do all those awesome science projects. We know you always wanted to try them too, so props to the kids of John Jay for realizing childhood dreams.
Photos by Elyse DeWitt
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39 Comments
@Hmmmmm..... Obviously new laser plasma imaging, digitally pioneered for black ops in Afghanistan. Useful in video, photography and other top secret imaging applications. In this instance, the technician has created the illusion of hovering in space. I am sure there are much better uses for it than what the photographer has used it for here.
@HAAS Biznasty I just ran those photos through a photo-smart C++ program I just coded. It turns out, they’re not really photographs at all…
Some genius must have spliced together images using some digital wizardy similar to, but far more complex, than photoshop Xl professional.
The readings are off the charts. Those photos must be doctored… only explaination for their mastery.
@Anonymous they’re taken from the ends of john jay. the photographer just zoomed in, hence the “impossible angles”
@no way! i watched them being taken! elyse is just really good.
@nah, i used to work in a photoshop, these look like some of our worst productions. definitely shopped.
@Anonymous photos were taken from my room, saw them with my own eyes. or you can come to 11 and witness the magic of our telephone line
@A. Bell *
AnonymousPosted from campus · 21 April 2010 at 1:37 AM · Reply · Track
How are they impossible? They were clearly taken from inside people’s rooms on the ends of a John Jay floor
Watson, come here, I need you!
@If UWP makes you prematurely gray and stressed then you’re in for a brutal 4 years.
@Anonymous I wish I had the time and the energy and the motivation to do something fun but as pointless as this… Dear life, what happened to being young and whimsical? Why is it that stuff like UWriting makes me prematurely gray and stressed? Do I just care too much about the wrong things?
@Anonymous yes
@A. Bell The idea intrigues me, but the impossible angles of those photographs….astounding!
@Anonymous How are they impossible? They were clearly taken from inside people’s rooms on the ends of a John Jay floor
@Anonymous your mom is impossible
@to jj10er if you cut my string i will cut your jugular and watch you bleed all over john jay
@ROFL LMAONADE!
@HAAS Biznasty Those pictures are awesome
@uninformed JJ11 resident Haha, I was trying to figure out what that was this morning as I was brushing my teeth!
@teamwork! JJ11 has the greatest RA of all time. Also, excellent teamwork!!
@Oh snap This is TOO BADASS. And kid on JJ ten: Grow up and learn to have fun! I doubt you are looking out your window all day.
@Anonymous um, I’m on jj ten and your string is annoying as hell – it keeps bobbing up and down right in the middle of my window. i’ve been nice enough to resist cutting it but please remove it. thank you.
@you must be debbie downer!
@you must be negative nancy!
@you must be lame
@you must be a dick
@Anonymous instant A’s in Frontiers for the lot of them.
@at least for me zoom was on PBS, not on Disney Channel
@jj12 the pictures clearly show that this is indeed jj11–the white stone strip above the windows seen in the first two pictures is in between jj11 and jj12.
@I heard it was actually JJ13 that made this
@bill nye cute but certainly not BADASS
@JJ13 1996/7 They could have walked this across the ledge on JJ13.
ReCAPTCHA = hank abridge
hank was our RA
the ledge on 13 is a bridge
@too easy.
@the maker indeed, but what’s the fun in that?
@hey ONE of the makers!
@one of the makers this is true, i suppose
@resident of JJ11 and this is why i love you guys!! <3
@JJ11 resident I’m going to miss this floor and all its shenanigans next semester.
also reCAPTCHA = “or safety”
coincidence? I THINK NOT!
@Former JJ11 Resident Kudos on keeping the JJ11 tradition of badass-ery alive!
@JJ11 resident 06/07 HOOAH!!!!!
@Hooah What? What is it? How can I help you?