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Motion Simulator for Home Theater
Dalvenjah FoxFire writes "D-Box, a Canadian speaker company, has designed a system called the Odyssee consisting of four motor-driven actuators that go under your couch and a controller box with a CD-ROM drive for the control files. The controller reads the Dolby Digital bitstream from your DVD player, and plays back synchronized motion effects designed by the company. For about $20,000, you too can add motion simulation to your home theater. They have a list on their site of the movies they've encoded, including The Matrix, Drunken Master, Star Wars Episode I, and more, though it also has an 'audio driven' mode which will work with any source."
Christopher Reeve is trying to raise money for research that could help people walk and breathe on their own again. (If you go to the link, you can send a e-card to Chris Reeve and an anonymous donor will donate a dollar to in your name to Reeve's Foundation, which will, in turn, give that money out as research grants. It's Snopes approved.)
My point isn't to be simplistic and say that every dollar you own should be given away to charitable causes -- obviously, it takes a saint to live that way. But $20 grand for a motion simulator for your HOME theater? Seems like distorted priorities to me.
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.