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New “from the shadows” DIY Lightsabers

New “from the shadows” DIY Lightsabers

Saber Big
New episode of from the shadows is released! In anticipation of the release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith, the From The Shadows Crew took a trip to the “Star Wars Line” in Hollywood. There FTS met up with Aaron Mosny Master Sabersmith of Saberology.com. Following in the tradition of the Jedi and the Lightsaber, Aaron has created the “Perfect Dueling Weapon” utilizing forms including Kendo, Kenjitsu, Iaido, Chinese Broadsword, and European fencing. Unlike shanai, boken, or fencing foils, this weapons design could be used for almost any martial form. Link.

OK to Take Photos on NYC Subways

OK to Take Photos on NYC Subways

Images-12 A proposal to ban photography on the city’s subways to deter surveillance by terrorists has been nixed by police and transit officials. Charles Seaton, a spokesman for NYC Transit, the division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority that runs the subways, the buses and the Staten Island Railway, confirmed to the Daily News that the photo ban has been scrapped. Here’s a story from last year when this all started. And here are 200 photos sent to the NYCTA Link.

Closed Captioning in Reverse

Closed Captioning in Reverse

Images-11
A broken VCR finds some audio (would be interesting to repeat this). The Simpsons as read by WGBH. WFMU’s Station Manager Ken discovers an extra audio track on the Simpsons that describes the visuals for blind people. He even provides a 21 MB, 23 minute MP3 of a recent episode that is surprisingly listenable…Are podcasts of TV show audio tracks next? Will we be listening to Family Guy and the Daily Show during our commutes? [via | via] Link.

The Phoney Controller

The Phoney Controller

Pcopen
Built as a one-man-band musical instrument- The Phoney Controller consists of a telephone housing, four Force Sensing Resistors (FSRs), an Analog Devices ADXL202 two-dimensional accelerometer, a BASIC Stamp II (BSII) microcontroller, a stupid “on-off” switch, and a cool LED! I am essentially using the BSII as a MIDI sequencer. All sounds at this point have to be generated from an external MIDI synthesizer. The FSRs and the 2D accelerometer are used to control various aspects of the sequencer. Link.