Cool Pic Archive #10

Here is Melanie modeling the 80 GB iPod that I won from the Broadcom Next -Generation IT Survey. The BCM2722 video chip is known to be in the iPods. Thanks to Broadcom for this nice $350 prize!

This distorted 3-D version of the Earth reveals the relative force of gravity at the surface. Measurements made by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite.

Our company mailroom is filled with these catalogs. Every day, the recycle and trash bins are filled with them. Passé? Update: I saw 10 unopened Newark catalogs in the recycle bin today - a very common sight.

Here is one unfortunate victim of the rash of iPod-wearing music fans who have been struck by lightning. Jason Bunch was mowing the lawn when the next thing he knew, he was in bed with burns all over his face, vomiting and bleeding from his ears. Maybe Apple could exploit this as a self-recharging battery feature.

Here is the "Simpsonized" version of me (Kirt Blattenberger). To see what you would look like in the Simpson world, click here to upload your photo and be Simpsonized yourself.

Models of Babbage's Difference Engine have been built out of materials ranging from Legos to popsicle sticks. Here is one built from metal Meccano (Erector Set) components.

Light playing on water drops, dust or ice crystals in the atmosphere produces a host of visual spectacles - rainbows, halos, glories, coronas and many more. Find out where to see them and how they form.

Boonton has introduced a power meter that consists of a sensor, USB cable, and software - that's it! Cool concept.

This might look like a turbojet engine, but it is really a mercury delay line memory assembly that was used in the UNIVAC 1 digital computer circa 1951.

Whether you are paranoid or just cautious, these RFID-safe wallets are for you. Combine this with your tinfoil hat for total security.

Crafty Geometry - Mathematicians are knitting and crocheting to visualize complex surfaces. Here is a Lorenz manifold, crocheted by Hinke Osinga. Eighty-five hours and 25,511 crochet stitches.

January 2006 image of the famed Area 51. All activity is halted and hidden when satellites pass overhead. Offices are windowless and personnel not involved in the outside project are locked in their offices.

These lumps of glass are created when lightning strikes sandy ground can preserve information about ancient climate, new research indicates. Not quite the artistic quality of the "Sweet Home Alabama" pieces.

The world's longest man made spark, from SIBNIIE High Voltage (HV) test facility in Siberia.

Now THIS is a battery backup UPS! The Golden Valley Electric Association's BESS consists of 13,760 battery cells and supplies 27 MW of power for 15 minutes to Anchorage during power failures.

Here is an LED flashlight that will make you sick - on purpose. This is the "LED Incapacitator," which its inventors hope law enforcement will use for crowd control and hostage situations.