141. All Bite, No Bark
Gap-fill exercise
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A New York City entrepreneur is seeking investors
his “No Bark” startup. With enough investment money,
Cobb says, he will be able to discover
melodies that, when played, will instantly quiet barking
. Because dogs hear sound frequencies that humans cannot
, the melodies will be unheard by humans.
“There’s
huge market for this service,” Cobb declared. “There’s
30 million dogs in this country, probably 2
right here in the city. And what do
dogs love to do more than anything? Bark,
’s what! And what do people hate more than
? Barking dogs, that’s what!”
Cobb says that he
to India to study how snake charmers control
deadly cobra with music. He figured that if
could use music to prevent a deadly cobra
striking out at humans, he could use the
music to prevent a dog from barking. So
learned how to play the pungi, the snake
’s flute. And he learned many of the same
that the snake charmers played.
He returned to
York, where he practiced the tunes on his
. At first, his dog simply barked along with
music. After hours of modifying tunes, Cobb discovered
that actually caused his dog to stop barking.
was jubilant. He had discovered a melody that
shut dogs up. He would be rich beyond
wildest dreams! Unfortunately, the melody worked on his
, but not on his neighbor’s dog. Nor on
other dogs in the neighborhood.
Cobb figures that
will help him find the right melodies at
right frequencies to shut up any dog on
. “My dream, of course,” he said, “is to
one melody that will shut up a whole
of barking dogs. That might rank right up
with the discovery of penicillin!”
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