Transmissions from Italian aliens

Las Naranjas · Sun 13/02/2005 08:02:33

I just set up the missus' laptop in her campus accomodation. However, when we plug in the speakers, they start speaking Italian at us. The sound doesn't come out the laptop speaker, nor does it happen with the headphones. If we unplug the network cable, it stops. The sound is conceivably SBS radio, but why is it coming through the network, and through a computer tht is off, and why only with these speakers? It happens if we plug them in the microphone port too. Whacky.

TheYak · Sun 13/02/2005 10:25:12

A number of signals come across strongly enough to affect speaker magnets, regardless of whether or not the device is powered. I'm not pretending to know the answer to your quandry but relating my own observations. We use hand-held radios at work and it's a little unnerving that they cause the alarm clock/radio to blast static. Even more so, it's strange that one particular radio causes the alarm to blare its beep-beep-beep alarm tone. I'm nearly guaranteed reproductive damage - 1 more victory for evolution.

Ali · Sun 13/02/2005 10:36:29

My computer speakers have picked up taxi drivers' radios before. Or maybe taxi driving aliens' radios...

Darth Mandarb · Sun 13/02/2005 13:01:56

I used to set my cellphone on top of my speakers in my room ...

When the phone would receive a call, just before it started ringing, my speakers would make sounds from Donkey Kong ... it was the darndest thing.

HillBilly · Sun 13/02/2005 13:13:29

In my old house, my speakers would suddenly start to speak(um...). It was really creepy when the house was really quiet, and suddenly "AH ACHMED THRE FI NO CADA LIPA!!" bursted from my computer.

Well, or something like that. I'm guessing terrorists.

BOYD1981 · Sun 13/02/2005 13:40:06

long coiled cables that are connected to any kind of audio source will pick up radio signals.

LGM · Sun 13/02/2005 19:34:45

So if your intestines were made from copper, your mouth would spout out old Bob Marley tunes.

DGMacphee · Sun 13/02/2005 19:50:31

Italian aliens once landed in my backyard. It was terrible. They anal probed me, concreted my lawn and flew away.

edmundito · Sun 13/02/2005 20:08:10

You should record the sounds and put them in a gallery.... It'll be artsy.

I know when I'm going to receieve a call/text message on my cell phone because the signal interferes with my speakers and they start making a really funny noise. It's kind of annoying when I'm talking to someone and some apparatus with speakers does the same exact thing and I have to explain to them that my cellphone is cursed with a spell.

Haddas · Sun 13/02/2005 20:34:38

*buuuUZZZZZ* *tuttut-turuttut-turuttut-turuttut* BEEP-BEEP! BEEP-BEEP!

Meowster · Mon 14/02/2005 01:05:34

Once (and this is the complete 100% truth) my cellular phone rang and it set off a fart machine.

LGM · Mon 14/02/2005 01:45:16

You just blamed it on the machine. We all know it was really you.

Gilbert · Wed 16/02/2005 01:14:47

Trust me, your speakers are magical, just keep them and they'll be life savers!

Esseb · Wed 16/02/2005 01:18:47

Quote from: netmonkey on Sun 13/02/2005 20:08:10
I know when I'm going to receieve a call/text message on my cell phone because the signal interferes with my speakers and they start making a really funny noise. It's kind of annoying when I'm talking to someone and some apparatus with speakers does the same exact thing and I have to explain to them that my cellphone is cursed with a spell.

You have to explain it to people? Is this phenomenon not known by everyone in the US? Inconceivable.

BerserkerTails · Wed 16/02/2005 02:27:30

Definitely too good to pass up this photo op.

Las Naranjas · Thu 17/02/2005 09:04:21

I got different speakers for it, and it no longer picks up the radio [which I verified by comparing the language being spoken with SBS radio guide].

Those particular speakers must have been bizaarely tuned to a particular radio station, and were just waiting to be connected to a arial made from a university network.

What fun.