Traditional media; radio, magazines and other have a time honored tradition of periodically responding to viewer/reader mail.

Since this is a blog, you can just leave a message, and unless it involves casinos or \/|46R4, there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll get back to pretty quickly.

But there is another communication channel by which people reach out to this site for wisdom. So this week let’s open up the search term log and respond to some of the actual searches that, sadly, turned up nothing on the Chrome Cow.

The names, and questions are made up to protect the innocent, the search terms are underlined.

Q. Dear Chromey, some of my friends and I were talking the other night about some of the deep philosophical questions, what is the sound of one hand clapping, that sort of thing. Then Travis dropped this bomb: what are the RGB values of Chrome? We went through almost two pans of brownies, and no one could come up with an answer. Then Steve asked if we’d ever really looked at our hands, I mean really looked…wow..the creases look just like little roads. Ok…gotta go man. Mind Blown in Madison

Dear Blown,

These questions are commonly called Zen Koans. They are designed to clear the mind of preconceived notions and habits of thinking. If a scoop of ice cream falls on the pavement and there is no one there to lick it, does it have a taste? That is an ice cream koan.

But to the heart of your question. What are the RGB values of chrome? Well, let’s think about this. Chrome is a mirror-like surface. And asking what the RGB values for a mirror are is essentially asking what color is a mirror?

Try this thought experiment. You are in a room, painted completely red. You are dressed from head to foot in a red jumpsuit, wearing red shoes, socks and gloves. Your head is completely covered in a red ski mask. Now look in the mirror. What color is the mirror?

That’s right. The mirror is reflecting its environment, and the mirror is red.

So there’s your answer. The RGB value of a mirror, and by extension chrome, is 255/0/0.

Thanks for searching the Chrome Cow! See you next week!