A Loud Noise Shut Down European Exchanges
What do your grandmother, little dogs, and the stock market all have in common? You should make an effort to shield children from loud noises that can annoy them. 2018 saw the discovery that the computers in charge of the European markets are sensitive to loud whistles, and when faced with them, they can and will shut down.
The fire alarm at a Swedish data center was the root of the issue. The stock exchanges for seven different nations, including Denmark, Finland, and some of Iceland's servers, were shut down due to the stock suppression system's excessive noise, which also harmed the servers. The markets were down for a number of hours while they flew new servers in and made repairs.
It has to do with vibrations, in case you're interested in the science. The servers' hard drives were shaken so badly by the noise that it disrupted their alignment and rendered them read-write inoperable. Hard drives can be damaged by noises up to 110 decibels, and the fire system was producing 130 decibels of noise.
