The laws of physics, especially thermodynamics, guarantees that at some time in the future, there will be no life. The Universe is winding down, and there is no hope to eternally preserve humanity, or even single-celled life.
Old CRT monitors have old flyback transformers, which emit an audible (for some at least) sound in the frequency that they are running. The horizontal sweep frequency on low resolution modes can be in the upper range of human hearing. Nothing magnetic about it, just plain old sound and some people having slightly better high frequency hearing in their youth.
Don't worry, that annoying sound will go away once you're in your twenties, or you've gone to a few rock concerts.
Measurements of galactic movement are based on the fact that all other galaxies have a redshift, i.e. they are moving away from us and the doppler effect has shifted their light frequency toward the red end of the spectrum.
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by
Soulskill
from the stay-a-while-and-listen dept.
During an earnings call this afternoon, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime revealed the company's goals for testing and releasing the much-anticipated new chapter in the Diablo series.
"[Morhaime said], 'On the Diablo 3 front, I'm pleased to report that we began internal, company-wide testing last week. The game is looking great and we are currently targeting a Q3 launch for external beta testing. The development team is working hard to try to launch Diablo 3 this year, but I want to be clear. We do not have an official release date or window yet.' Details on the external beta are currently extremely limited, so we don't know the scope of how many testers will be involved or what the beta will include. It's hard to imagine that anything could match the gargantuan beta for StarCraft 2, but Blizzard has said that Diablo 3 will have plenty of online functionality, and that sort of functionality needs plenty of testers to succeed."
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by
timothy
from the and-we're-here-to-help-you dept.
theodp writes "The Hill reports that the Obama administration has floated a transportation authorization bill that would require the study and implementation of a plan to tax automobile drivers based on how many miles they drive. The plan is a part of the administration's 'Transportation Opportunities Act,' and calls for spending $200 million to implement a new Surface Transportation Revenue Alternatives Office tasked with creating a 'study framework that defines the functionality of a mileage-based user fee system and other systems.' The office would be required to consider four factors — the capability of states to enforce payment, the reliability of technology, administrative costs, and 'user acceptance' — in field trials slated to begin within four years at unspecified sites. Forbes suggests the so-called vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax should be called the Rube Goldberg Gas Tax, because while its objective is the same as the gas tax, the way it collects revenue is extremely complex, costly and cumbersome." The disclaimers are thick on the ground, though; note, this is an "early draft," not pending legislation.