The Excitement of 70,000 Swifties Can Shake the Earth (economist.com) 46
The Economist reports: "Shake, shake, shake, shake," Taylor Swift sings from the stage of Lumen Field in Seattle at 10.35 in the evening on July 22nd. The fans respond, enthusiastically; the stadium duly shakes; a nearby seismometer takes note. To pop aficionados "Shake it off" is an empowering up-tempo anthem played at 160 beats per minute. To the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, which is designed to monitor earthquakes, it is a 2.6 hertz signal in which the amplitude of the acceleration was as large as one centimetre per second, per second.
The well-situated seismometer first came to public attention in January 2011, when it recorded the response of fans of the Seattle Seahawks, an American football team, to a magnificent touchdown by Marshawn Lynch, a running back known as "Beast Mode." The "Beast Quake" went down in local sporting history. When Ms Swift came to town for two nights of her Eras tour, Jacqueline Caplan-Auerbach, a geology professor at Western Washington University, used the opportunity to learn more about how events in the stadium shake its surroundings. On December 11th she presented some of her conclusions at the American Geophysical Union's autumn meeting in San Francisco.
[...] Dr Caplan-Auerbach wanted to see whether such resonant amplification might also be at play elsewhere, and to distinguish between the effect of the music itself and the audience's response. Her concert-night data showed two distinct sets of signals, one in higher frequencies (30-80hz), one in lower frequencies (1-8hz). The higher-frequency signals were present during the sound check, when the band were on stage but the stadium empty, and absent during the concerts' "surprise songs," played without the band by Ms Swift alone. The lower frequencies were absent when the audience had yet to arrive. Clearly those higher frequencies were from the music itself.
The well-situated seismometer first came to public attention in January 2011, when it recorded the response of fans of the Seattle Seahawks, an American football team, to a magnificent touchdown by Marshawn Lynch, a running back known as "Beast Mode." The "Beast Quake" went down in local sporting history. When Ms Swift came to town for two nights of her Eras tour, Jacqueline Caplan-Auerbach, a geology professor at Western Washington University, used the opportunity to learn more about how events in the stadium shake its surroundings. On December 11th she presented some of her conclusions at the American Geophysical Union's autumn meeting in San Francisco.
[...] Dr Caplan-Auerbach wanted to see whether such resonant amplification might also be at play elsewhere, and to distinguish between the effect of the music itself and the audience's response. Her concert-night data showed two distinct sets of signals, one in higher frequencies (30-80hz), one in lower frequencies (1-8hz). The higher-frequency signals were present during the sound check, when the band were on stage but the stadium empty, and absent during the concerts' "surprise songs," played without the band by Ms Swift alone. The lower frequencies were absent when the audience had yet to arrive. Clearly those higher frequencies were from the music itself.
Try Wacken. (Score:3)
A million and a half metal heads moshing and thrashing about will make swifties look like a flea fart.
Re:Try Wacken. (Score:5, Funny)
Only if they're actually coordinated to the music. Not all mosh pits look like the crowd bouncing in that Alien Ant Farm music video cover of Smooth Criminal.
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That's not metal. That is pop music. Learn the difference.
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Which was bigger? (Score:2)
Swifties are fucking insane, but Beast Quake was a fucking insane run.
The summary does say and the article is pay walled.
2 things (Score:2)
Also,
The "Beast Quake [youtube.com]" went down in local sporting history
I take issue with. I am not a Seattle fan and knew what that play was. A lot of football fan prolly would as well.
Re:Which was bigger? (Score:4, Interesting)
Swift broke the Beast Quake record. And then another concert not too long after broke that record again.
Thing to consider with concerts vs Football is that concerts have a shitton more people because people are also on the field itself, and I'm sure the stands have seismic reduction due to this being an earthquake prone region to begin with, something less likely to exist on a flat field on the ground.
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You also have to take into consideration the body mass of your typical swiftie outweighs even your average football fan.
I know the obesity epidemic is bad, but now you're suggesting a stadium full of 13-year old linebacker girls gone beast mode in all the wrong ways pushing 200+ pounds.
Maybe I need to better understand what a "typical" Swiftie is. I'm wrong about age, or I'm delusional about obesity.
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But were either of them bigger than the great Madness 'Quake of '92?
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Fat Americans jumping causes seismic readings.
Says the fat American behind the keyboard.
HEY! I am in front of it.
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Fat Americans jumping causes seismic readings.
Bullshit "scientists" purporting to use seismic measurement devices legitimately.
Which complaint do you think is more valid here...any taxpayer funding seismic budgets would really like to know...
Texas Aggies have done this for decades. (Score:2)
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Gig 'em!
This message was posted from College Station, TX by a former student (though still a 2%er), Class of '06.
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And nobody wants to know why you know that, really.
Paywall (Score:3)
Non-paywalled link to TFA [archive.org]
This is London Calling (Score:2)
Magnitude 4.5 quake from a concert: https://www.independent.co.uk/... [independent.co.uk]
My favorite Weekly World News tabloid story was about Chinese villages orchestrating jumps to bring destruction to America. Thankfully, they keep getting thwarted by a group of dedicated fat guys in Jersey carrying out "well-timed counter-jumps"
San Andreas Fault (Score:1)
swifties VS seismometers (Score:1)
Not only can it shake the earth, thousands of people stomping/jumping in rhythm, inside a building, could conceivably provide enough energy to actually bring down the building.
Swifites beware!
AC/DC Riverplate (Score:2)
Seismic Swiftie (Score:3)
I was there the second night and wasn't at all surprised that the show was seismic. I assume the big seismograph peaks coincided with 22 and Shake It Off. Lumen Field was really bouncing around.
...laura
July 22th ?!? (Score:2)
10.35 (Score:2)
For those wondering, 10.35 converted from metric time to standard is 10:58.
The original Switfy, Tom Swift, says hold my beer (Score:2)
Anyone remember a great leap downwards? (Score:2)
Which I can't find online, so don't tell me that nothing's ever forgotten on the 'Net.
Around '99 or so, someone writing in, was it Nature? noted that the Chinese had the ultimate weapon: they could build 6' high platforms, have all billion-plus Chinese climb up, and jump off, all at the same time. When they landed, there would be a mild earthquake in China, but the waves would go around the world, and meet in the US.....