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Comment Re:Cool (Score 1) 9

From watching other "singing Tesla coil" videos, my understanding is that the music is actually played by the Tesla coil. Think of how what appears to be a single lightning bolt typically has ~20 strokes back and forth between the ground and the sky. In similar fashion, they've set up the coil so that it's actually discharging hundreds of times per second but to us (and to the video recording equipment) appears to be on continuously. Each discharge makes a little snapping sound and in aggregate you get something like a square wave playing music.

Television

Submission + - Battlestar Galactica DVD Movie In the Works?

Philias writes: "Although Battlestar Galactica has been going down in ratings and has yet to get picked up for another season, the sales of its DVDs has got Universal thinking of a Direct-To-Video Movie. GeekMonthly.com is reporting that plans are afoot for a film that will bridge the gap between Galactica and the new spinoff 'Caprica'. The film would be shot in March during the usual hiatus between seasons. The big dif between this and the mini-series and other seasons would be that this would be sold on DVD before being aired on the SciFi channel. More info at GeekMonthly.com"
User Journal

Journal Journal: Cities in the Clouds

As long as we are dreaming big dreams about colonies on the moon and Saturn's moon Titan, how about making a cloud city into reality? Not on Earth, of course, but floating high among the cloud tops of the outer gas giants such as Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, where there is no solid ground to st

It's funny.  Laugh.

Submission + - Israeli Army Says D&Ders Are Delusional

silentounce writes: "A blog over at Wired reports on an old article from 2005. Apparently, the Israeli military is discriminatory of D&Ders. Being a gamer can exclued you from certain positions and hurt your career. Even though it's old news, it's still quite amusing.

From the article:
'"These people have a tendency to be influenced by external factors which could cloud their judgment," a military official says. "They may be detached from reality or have a weak personality — elements which lower a person's security clearance, allowing them to serve in the army, but not in sensitive positions."'
Also, 'exposing soldiers who play the game could result in the soldiers being sent to a military psychologist or even being kicked out of the army.'

So, if you're an Israeli, and want to avoid military service, I've got a PBEM game you can join."
Wii

Submission + - Do all next-gen games HAVE to be 3D?

sudnshok writes: Last week, an article was posted where an EA executive discussed the high cost involved with next-gen game development. While I agree that sports games do benefit from a high-resolution 3D environment, do all games have to be developed that way? Why can't game companies develop 2D games for these systems? I would assume the development cost would be much lower. As a gamer who grew up on the NES, I'd love to see a new 2D side-scrolling installment of Castlevania or Zelda. I'm curious if other gamers would buy 2D games for next-gen systems.
Handhelds

Submission + - Palm Assumes Control of Palm OS (again)

Findinian writes: Looks like we may finally see a new release of the Palm OS. I had all but given up hope. Here's the URL from Mytreo.net, http://mytreo.net/archives/2006/12/palm-assumes-co ntrol-of-palm-os-garnet.html#more. The original press release from Palm is at: http://investors.palm.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?Releas eID=221399. I hope the new Palm OS will be worth the wait.
Science

Even The Blind Get Deja Vu 165

zentropa writes "Cosmos magazine is reporting that even the blind experience deja vu — backing the idea that it is caused by misfires in the brain's temporal lobe. They quote a British study where a blind man feels like he has 'already seen' some unfamiliar situations. 'Hearing and touch and smell often seem to intermingle in the déjà vu experiences,' said the study subject, whose name has not been made public. 'It is almost like photographic memory, without sight obviously... as if I was encountering a mini-recording in my head, but trying to think "Where have I come across that before?"'"
Politics

German Minister Seeks Jail Time For FPS Players 383

GamePolitics has the somewhat unbelievable news that German Minister of the Interior Gunther Beckstein is seeking jail time for violent game developers, publishers, and players. MSNBC has further coverage of the issue, which has pro gamers in Germany quite worried. From the article: "The draft law, a reaction to a school shooting that shook German public opinion last month, will come before the upper house of parliament next year. But it is already sending shockwaves through the 2m-strong German online gaming community. 'We have among the most drastic censorship rules for games,' said Frank Sliwka, head of the Deutsche E-Sport Bund, an umbrella federation for German online gaming teams. 'Now we are being labelled as a breeding ground for unstable, dysfunctional and violent youngsters.'"
SuSE

Submission + - OpenSuse 10.2 is Out

jopet writes: "The OpenSUSE project has released OpenSUSE 10.2 today. It comes with kernel 2.6.18.2, glibc 2.5, gcc 4.1.3 and X.org based on version 7.2RC2. It can be downloaded on either 6 CDs or one DVD."

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