::CRYSTAL BALL::

Few optical tricks thoroughly puzzle me. Usually, I can figure out -- or at least hypothesize about -- how fancy displays work. Last night, I was trumped.

In the corner window of Spike at Mockingbird Station, there's a glass sphere, about two feet in diameter. Appearing on its surface (specifically, around its equator) are the names of the bar's new "Spike Dine" offerings: CHILEAN SEA BASS, FILET MIGNON, and CREVETTE LINGUINI. The words scroll across in red/yellow/green composite light; they look projected, but when I lean in closely, there's no discernable projecting device and no obviously reflective surface for projections to bounce off of. They can't be spinning LEDs; the words look too etherial for that. When there are no words, I see a black stalk capped by a disk in the center of the sphere. I am nonplussed.

Go; look for yourself. Be fascinated. Let me know if you figure it out.