Hmmm...this one is the latest submission taken by Sam in lab the other day.
Hint: This evokes about a 0.95 VTrain reaction from Vicky, but Scott likes it.
Please send any guesses to Colin (ccerretani@berkeley.edu)
ANSWER: BANANA-FLAVORED LAFFY TAFFY. The Laffy Taffy also came with 2 jokes on the wrapper:
J1: Why didn't the duck cross the grill?
J2: What does a chicken and a band have in common?
A1: He didn't want to be a roast duck. A2: They both have drum sticks! I personally think that these are maybe some of the worst jokes I have ever heard. Not to mention that it seems that the Laffy Taffy joke-writers seem to be really hungry or something. Why are they obsessed with killing and eating poultry?
After a long departure, the Radke lab has decided to bring back the mystery photo ... the following was obtained recently in the lab:
Mmmmm ... leg hair ... let's hope it is one of the guys in the lab ...
Here is a new game. Try to guess the mystery people/places/things in the photo. This will be updated as time allows. Currently there are no prizes for the right guess, but that may change in the future. Who or what are they? Are they spies, aliens, right wing conspirators? It's hard to say.
It took long enough, but here are the responses. Mary wrote, "Where did you get this picture? My only guess is that it is an old picture of a past lab member. When are you gonna tell us?" Okay, it took me a long time to give the answers to this one, but I was waiting for a new mystery photo, which is still not here. Matthew Cowie guessed, "Ben Reynolds" Wrong! Erik wrote, "Man looking at Gavin's back". Close. Our former lab pal Christian Johansson wrote in, "RadLab's own Running Man, it can be noone else but Gavin! He's the only one I can think of participating in a running competition and the shoes look familiar." Very good. I don't know what Erik was thinking guessing the guy behind Gavin. Who cares who that is? Someone with an email address of Year 6 at the Esk State School in Queensland, Australia guessed, "New Zealands leader" Hmmm. Sean Scollin submitted a blank entry. And finally Anuj guessed, "Who can run like that in Radlab except Gavin. He is running and not falling feet first into a fiery abyss!" Luckily no one was actually falling feet first into an abyss in the previous picture. I got the picture courtesy of Gavin himself, who isn't quite yet a former lab member as of January 2002.
Dylan Morris guessed "Freer the chonchlippy". Isn't it nice for Erik to know what his friend thinks of him? A last minute verbal guess by Gavin and Mary was Mark, but that is wrong. Anuj correctly guessed, "It's the Big-Kiwi at the Radke Lab party". This is a slightly doctored picture of Ben's feet from the holiday party. We handed him the digital camera and off he went to shoot random things, including his feet.
This was a tough one. Tim Myers guessed, "The bottom part is Vasily Kalinin?" Nope. Tim White (whoever he is) guessed "Ted Kazinski". Not quite. That was a very impressive guess since this guy is somewhat scary looking. Anuj guessed, "he is an alien spy from andromeda trying to steal radke lab secrets to save life in his galaxy." I can't imagine what secrets we have. Umm, proteins can stabilize thin films which is key to the foam on a cappuccino? I doubt it. This is someone from radlab, but not our radlab. If you go to the site: http://www.radlab.com and follow some links around, you eventually find this mystery photo.
Anuj could not wait patiently for the answer to appear hear, so he was given the hint that the person was asked to pose with their arms crossed. He thought it might be him but he wasn't sure. Mark's parents guessed, "a flashback to 1967 at peoples park note girl with flowers and polka dot jeans. it was in ancient times before the americas cup became new zealands cup". I don't think the ground at People's Park ever looked this clean. Gavin guessed, "It's Professor Anuj in one of those wacky "Where's Waldo (in this case Anuj)" scenes. Except he isn't hidden very well... More importantly, I think we need a hand check for the kid on the right. (ya, I know its supposed to be the ballerina girls jump, but it could easily be mistaken for something else!!! I'll let you decide what. Personally, I think it might be the beginning of a rain shower. What did you think I was going to say, you sicko?!? )" It is a Where's Waldo scene, but it's not Anuj. The striped shirt was actually worn by this person. Hez guessed, "Hey, Who's pretending to me? There can only ONE themightyhez, or goddess, ok maybe it can confusing...like i'd say anything that rude...men with big hands need big gloves! anywho, this picture is also obvious -it's anuj! the real hez" Sorry about the last guess with Javit, I don't know who was using Hez's computer and sent the e-mail. It is still not Anuj in the picture. The first guess submitted on the day that this was posted was correct. Riham guessed, "Theo" and that's absolutely right. I did ask Theo to pose for the picture and I don't think realized its purpose.
Divesh guessed, "it's interesting that all the four balls are different (i assume that the question mark is also a juggled item). in fact, two of the items do not even remotely look like a ball - rather a rubik's cube. my guess - javit juggling a ball, a question mark, and two rubik's cubes." Yeah, Divesh got the answer. They aren't Rubik's cubes, though and the question mark is not a ball. Mary guessed, "I can't guess since I have already seen the photo, but tell Mr. Wednesday I said hello and be sure to tell him I know how old he is within +/- six months." Just for the record Javit's high school graduation date is listed on his resume. Hez guessed, "That's gotta be Javit. No-one else has hands that big. And you know what they say about people with big hands" Umm, and what is it they say about big hands? Gavin guessed, "That's gotta' be crazy jugglin' Javit! He's the only one in our lab with any coordination... err... I take that back... It can't be me because I have no coordination! Although I'm not sure of the picture's setting." Everyone got that it was Javit. The picture's setting is the winter Holiday party 1999. Mark's parents guessed, "the question mark is covering the face of another shadowy american character juggling their resources while scheming how to achieve the impossible...the americas cup is still new zealands cup" Finally, someone didn't know who it was.
Niki submitted the first guess of "the person on the right is definitely gavin. hmmm...maybe the person on the left is jolene?" Sigh. She figured out who the person from the Radke lab was and she was on the right track in thinking that the other person was in Gavin's class, but it was not Jolene. Mark's parents guessed, "bill gates or perhaps jim clark conspiring with c radke on methods to get back the americas cup undoubtedly a lost cause..... the americas cup is still new zealands cup" Hmm. I don't think any of them came around Berkeley lately. And it is still the America's Cup, the cup is just being a tourist for a short while. Gavin had an inkling that it might be him, "That profile on the right kind of looks like mine. And by process of elimination (if that is me), the only time people are snappin' pictures of me is at parties. And the only party where the light wasn't so good was at Jolene and Phyllis's barbarella shin-dig. The person on the left looks like they have a fro' so I'll guess Luan because he showed up with the crazy hair. The only problem is that Luan is shorter than me... Hmm... Anyway this is all dependent on the assumption that that is indeed me on the right." It is you Gavin, it is you, but it was not at the Barbarella party, so it is not Luan. Mark was very off in guessing, "I'd say it has to be Divesh with an african tribeswoman that he picked up after drinking too much at the Chem Eng Keg. And I'd say it was was taken on the worlds grainiest camera too! My god!" It's not Divesh and does he even know any African tribeswomen? If there are questions about the camera and/or lighting, they should be taken up with Mary who took the picture at an impromptu first semester after finals party . The person on the left is Wei Liu who usually is not so misidentified.
Mark guessed, "Its Janets drunken score from Friday night. And here I was thinking that she wasn't that type of girl!" Like he knows everything about Janet. Niki guessed, "is this some kind of sick april fool's joke?" No, it's not an April Fool joke. Mark's parents guessed, "thats easy an automatic warning device that sends out signals indicating that someone who doesnt believe in playing silly games on their computer is approaching" I like that idea, but no, it doesn't quite work that way. Anuj guessed, "This is the 'device' Janet brought to the lab to fulfill her 'construction worker fantasy'" Umm and what fantasy would that be? Mark's parents guessed again that, "This is Kenny from 'Southpark' sitting on a 'Warning Sign' in the middle of 'Kiwi's' office looking into the hole that goes all the way to 'Kiwiland'.He is admiring the beautiful scenery of snow-capped mountains, brilliant blue blue lakes, golden and russet autumn leaves and warm sunshine. However he becomes very envious when he sees that the 'Americas Cup' is still 'New Zealands Cup'. So he decides he will go home and build himself a ladder to reach the bottom of the hole!!" The light does sort of look like Kenny. And then Niki got irritated and finally guessed, "this is an old picture and needs to be changed." Okay, okay, it's changed. The real story behind this? I don't think anyone knows or is still alive to tell the tale.
Hez guessed "that must be anuj after skiing down the slope - the snow ball head was a dead giveaway." Considering that Anuj injured himself, that was a good guess, but no. Anuj, after some prompting guessed, "Viking." Yes of course that is who it is. Gavin was astute enough to guess that the one on the left was Calvin. And Niki also pointed out that it was Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes comic strip fame. Niki also said that is was Christian falling over. Yes it is Christian, but he is not falling over.
Niki guessed that "gee...is it stacey and tim dressed as santa and mrs. claus? hmmmm...." Yes, okay that is it. I guess it was too easy. Hez also guessed that it was Stacey and Tim. And finally, Tim guessed "I have no idea who that good looking Santa Claus is standing next to Stacey" Ha Ha, very funny Tim.
This picture was much loved by all. Tim Myers guessed, "Obviously this is Clay carving Tim's world famous turkey, at the no longer existent Radke Holiday Party at Tim's house." He then forwarded the e-mail to Clay, who said, "OK guys, what have you done now?" Us? The innocent Rad lab do anything? No, never! We still had the Radke Holiday party, but not at Tim's. And the boot was no where to be found. Heather guessed, "It's our beloved leader - that is to say clay, not luis no matter what he thinks." Niki guessed, "hmmmmm....is it joey of 'friends' fame? oh no! it's our fearless leader dr. clayton j. radke!!!! the turkey is looking a little shady my friend...." Leave it to the vegetarian to comment on the turkey. Mark guessed, "It's the patron saint of Thanksgiving, St Radke. Has anyone counted how many pictures of Clay with turkeys there are on the picture board?" Hmm, I'll count. Currently there are only five of them, that's not too many. Anuj guessed, "It's a complete give away, it's a turkey of course" I am not sure then if the turkey is a turkey or if Clay is also a turkey. I'll let Clay take that one up with Anuj. And Mark Payne's parents guessed, "This is President Clinton's favourite turkey, Harold, giving thanks that the stuffing on the plate is not his!!" That could be it.
Niki guessed that it was Divesh sleeping. Gavin surmised that it was Divesh sleeping at his desk. That's the right person, but not what he is doing. Anuj guessed that, "The demons from hell sliced off divesh's head, packed it in a box and mailed it to radlab." Uh, no. Divesh answered, "it is not me. and i am not on the scanner." Well, if he were the type of person that always lied, then he would be correct. It is Divesh on the scanner. It was one of those silly days where several of us realized that no body parts had yet been scanned on our scanner.
This generated the most answers of the pictures so far. Anuj was the first in correctly guessing that it was David. Also Tim Myers recognized David this time. Gavin guessed "fuzzy picture, so I'll guess it is David dressed as a frog (for Halloween of course) that just got run over by a car (hence the tire tread across him)." No, that's not quite the costume, but close. Hez guessed it was David, but wondered, "what's with the outfit?" It was near Halloween weekend so David was dressed as a shepherd for a virtual costume. Mary guessed that it was the "sheik of the land of the knobby trees." That sounds like a possibility. Gavin later added, "The leaves have been removed by Janet physically, and not on Corel draw." Sadly, no, the trees lost the leaves themselves, though having control over the seasons sounds like it could be fun.
There were no correct guesses submitted. The shoe was found under a desk one day, with no apparent owner and no mate. Anuj guessed that it was Stacey Winter's shoe. Niki guessed that it was " the mystery shoe in front of the mystery castle", which is a true statement, but not informative. Mark Payne's parents guessed that the castle was, "a crib built as a weekend retreat for overworked Radke group members." While I wish that was true, sadly, it isn't. The castle is the Chambord in Loire Valley in France, with the picture coming from www.castles.org. We also had a Cinderella search in the lab. Anuj fit the shoe quite well, which was amusing, and it looked like the right size for Mark, but he didn't try it on. In the end, Christie Galitsky claimed ownership of the shoe, having left it in the lab and presumed it permanently lost.
There were two correct answers submitted by e-mail. The hand belongs to Mark Payne and the correct guess (twice) was submitted by his parents, as "A kiwi with it's claws drawn ready for attack" but they had also seen the original picture (on the right). The key to guessing it was the Mochi ice cream, which is a Japanese specialty, often found in Hawaii. The background image is Mauna Loa, though not the best picture of it.
Just as I was beginning to despair and thought I would have to change the picture without a successful guess, former RadLabber Rebeccah Anderson came and saved the day with the correct guess of David and Heather. Also submitted was the incorrect Ed Yeh and Heather guess by Tim Myers, who apparently has been gone for so long that people from the lab are starting to blur together. Thanks also to Jack in the Box for that special something that made this come out just right. And for those who want to see the original picture, it is in the photo album here. And when I asked people, several current Radders (?) said they knew, it was obvious, so they didn't guess.
It's Divesh (wearing shorts!) and Heather (wearing a dress!). This was successfully guessed by two people, Niki, who had just seen them the previous day, and Mark Payne's parents, who got it after he told them who was in the picture. Also submitted was, "The one on the left is Elvis, isn't it?"