Our good friend Jimmie P Rogers— of LoL Shield fame, amongst many of us who love Arduino and LEDs —has a brand new tattoo of the resistor color code: Black, Brown, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Gray, White. I’m pretty sure that Jimmy himself has known this color code since he was in diapers, but now he has an always-present chart that he can use as a visual aid while teaching electronics. And at five inches across, it doubles as a ruler (albeit one that will grow less accurate with age).
So, that’s pretty neat. But two things bring this above and beyond the “usual” coolness of a geek tattoo. First, Jimmie designed it in Processing, and second, as an open source tattoo, you can download the source code on his web site.
And for those of us who may be a little less committed: Our own favorite mnemonic for the resistor color code is “Black Beetles Running On Your Garden Bring Very Good Weather.”
That’s sure not the mnemonic I learned. It is far more politically correct though… :-) Cool tat!
what about a resistor with the value corresponding to its skin resistance.
I always thought “Bad Boys Rape our young girls, but Violet gives willingly (so get it while you can)” was kind of kinky. Also, it has to do with Legend of the Red Dragon, one of the greatest door games ever! (And yes, I am a girl, so don’t blame me for political incorrectness.) It’s just that the garden thing might get misfiled in memory as being some kind of folklore! (Which I suppose it is….come to think of it…)
That’s already the bowdlerized version, you know. Frankly, I think that it’s better for everyone if the mnemonics that we teach are free of racism and rape.
I learned a different one.
bad boys ruin our young girls because patty goes wide.
No racism or rape but a healthy does of responcibility.