Hi-speed Photography

Things breaking, caught on hi-speed:

(click any of these to view larger size)

1961 Geek Prank - CalTech at the Rose Bowl

Here's a little nerd history that you might not know about.

On January 2, 1961 at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, the Minnesota Golden Gophers played the Washington Huskies in the Rose Bowl. The half-time show consisted of a flip card routine -- a large group of people flipping over colored cards to spell out inane phrases ("Go Team!", etc). This was performed by Washington.

The cheerleaders would signal the group, and they'd all flip over the card for the next picture they were supposed to present.

On the 12th phase, it all went horribly wrong. The 12th picture was supposed to be a husky, Washington's mascot. Instead, the group flipped over a beaver.

Round 13 was supposed to be the word "HUSKIES". Instead, it was reversed, "SEIKSUH".

Round 14... was this:


(click for large)

Credit goes to the "Fiendish Fourteen", who devised the plan as retribution for CalTech's underrepresentation at the Rose Bowl.

Geeky License Plates

Ancient Computer Ads

I'm feeling kind of nostalgic tonight for some reason, so I dug up some old computer ads from the dark ages -- back when computers were for fat stinky neckbearded nerds in coffee-stained white shirts.

Enjoy!



Apple II



ISC -- 128x128 resolution in 8 colors! OMG the POWER!



Radio Shack TRS-80 -- if you remember this, you really are old school.

Monkey and Dog - Inseparable Friends

I just got this photo sent to me, of a dog and a monkey who became friends after a flood ravaged the village the dog lived in, and he ran off into the woods. After a while, he emerged with a new best friend.



UPDATE: confirmed! There is a video! watch it here

Pedal-powered Roller Coaster

It is the Skycycle at Washuzan Highland Park in Okayama, Japan. Completely pedal-powered.

The hottest peppers in the world

Pepper "hotness" is measured in Scoville Heat Units (SHU). For a comparison, pepper spray (the stuff you spray on an attacker, not in him) is measured at 2,000,000 - 5,300,000 SHU. A plain old bell pepper is measured at 0 SHU. Tabasco Sauce is 2500-5000 SHU. Hopefully that gives you a sense of scale.

Here are the hottest peppers in the world:


Naga Jolokia (naga morich, bhut jolokia) 1,040,000 SHU


Dorset Naga (Capsicum chinense) 970,000 SHU


Red Savina (Capsicum chinense Jacquin) 577,000 SHU

People who look like their dogs

A clever ad campaign:

It pays to be rich

Rather than list out who all these are, see how many of these ugly but rich men you recognize while standing next to their disproportionately beautiful wives.