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That's R-O-G-U-E, spell it right, you heathens!
>> Heretics,
monsters.
[wilting] >> Blasphemers!
>> You know, I'm thinking about being lost in the woods,
but nowadays just being lost in general,
how often does that happen?
>> More than you would think.
It's like, when my signal goes out
and I'm like at the mall or downtown or something
in the city I've lived in for 20 years.
>> You mean emotionally lost.
Unless you can get that Candy Crush,
it's like why am I still alive?
Take me, Lord!
[deep synthetic rumble]
[electrical pop] [gentle vinyl static]
[rising chime]
All right, Murphy, remember we did the bug out bag?
>> Yeah.
>> I was told that out of everything in there,
the single most important thing
if you're lost in the woods...
signal mirror.
>> Signal mirror?
I would have thought shotgun.
>> Or food.
>> Or food!
>> None of those are going to get you back home.
They're going to make it a little bit more comfortable
until you get eaten by a bear.
If you are lost in the woods
and you can assume people are looking for you,
there's nothing more valuable
than the ability to signal to all
these planes flying overhead.
>> You can use one of these signal mirrors,
which the US Air Force Survival Handbook
describes as the most underappreciated tool in their kit.
>> Okay, here's what I never understood,
I figured a mirror is a mirror.
Oh look, yes, you make the little dot
show up on your hand and everything's fine,
but to aim it, you got this little hole in the middle,
you got these little sentinels all around it,
and it took us a bit of doing
to figure out why and how it worked.
>> Now of course, you've got to have sun to do this, right?
It's got to be daylight.
Doesn't work nearly as well with cloud cover,
but you can use the finder, the aim finder.
What do they call it?
The aiming hole!
That's what they call it!
I didn't make that up.
>> Try this, hold your hand out flat.
I'm going to give just a perfect reflection.
Now I'm looking straight through the hole,
and when I have it exactly centered,
I'm looking at the reflection and there's no glow.
If it starts to get off-center--
>> JASON: Then it starts to glow in those circles around the aim finder.
>> Those sentinels scream, so if you have it
exactly lined up, you'll be able to see it,
and if you get slightly off, then these guys say,
"Hey, you're too far off to this side,
"or you're too far off to this side,
or you're too far off to this side."
But where it really matters is
when you don't have a frame of reference.
When you're looking up at the sky,
it's like, well, how do I know where I'm aimed?
For example, you can see that there's an airplane flying.
If I wanted to aim for it,
I would have to use only the sentinels,
so the sentinel tells me I'm too far
down and to the left, right?
So, if what I wanted to do is get at that--
oh look, you can see it! You can see it up in the trees there!
>> JASON: Yep, I see it.
>> BRIAN: So, the sentinels are telling me
it's down and to the right, and so I would go just--
somebody is very annoyed in first class right now.
>> And it's important that you have
that level of accuracy and precision
with aiming because you're really going to be doing this
for someone who is miles away,
like out of earshot, right?
Because some of these reflections can go
for several miles to get someone's attention.
>> Well, before we try going several miles,
I just want to see if we can get it across the pond
and we only have a little bit of daylight left.
Do you want to signal or be signaled?
>> I'll be signaled, you signal. >> Okay, great.
I'll go where the sun is, and you go where it's not.
>> Okay.
[walkie-talkie chirp]
>> All right, so we're what,
half a football field away from each other?
This is 150 feet or so?
>> Uh yeah, that's about right.
Somewhere between 150 and 200, I would say.
>> All right, so in this case I'm looking right at you,
so I'm going to say it's not much of a rescue operation
and I'm not having to use any of the special features.
I'm just going to put a spotlight on you.
Do you see any big flash just yet?
>> Oh yeah, definitely.
It is unmistakable.
>> All right, buckle up.
>> Ah!
[Brian laughing]
>> Was it like looking into the sun?
>> Very much akin to that.
It was terrible.
>> You're a passing plane and I'm just trying to get your attention,
and so I'm like ♪ do-do-do-do-diddle-da ♪
Is that going to get?
>> That would get it.
The traditional emergency request message
is usually three quick flashes.
>> Oh yeah, that's the S-O-S, right?
>> Well, you can do S-O-S and that's totally acceptable,
but just three quick flashes is enough.
>> Holy cow, do you remember when we did
the lens finder to look for secret spy stuff?
>> Oh yeah, it's kind of like that.
Super low-fi, right?
>> Yeah, so just an array of LED lights
and looking through it.
Boy it really does just pop.
The lenses on the--oh my god!
Look at the lenses on the cameras!
>> JASON: Oh wow, yeah.
It just blinks.
>> BRIAN: That's brilliant.
You will not believe how bright
the camera flashes back at me when I do this.
[astonished] Wow!
In the interest of science adjacency,
now we have to do a distance test, right?
>> JASON: Well, we are scientists,
so let's run that experiment.
[whoosh]
[wind]
>> Dude, the Wizard's Tower.
>> One of the best views in all of central Texas.
You can see it from miles around.
>> I already scouted the area around,
I found one spot that's a mile away
as the crow flies, and I found another spot
that's four miles away.
Pretty sure we could do a mile.
I want to see if we can hit four miles. >> Okay.
>> You down? >> Yeah, you're going to be on the away team?
>> Yeah, I'll do the away team.
You head upstairs, and then I guess what--
oh, we'll use the walkie-talkies. >> Yeah.
>> So, I figure we'll park in the gas station and...
and as long as we get a good sunshiny spot.
The other nice thing is both of these locations
[diagetic walking noise bleeds in] are north of the tower, so at this time of day
we should almost be doing a straight
back reflection to the tower.
Yeah, I'm going to step out, take a look.
[car door shuts] [walkie-talkie chirps]
>> BRIAN: All right, so I got the first location.
I got a direct line of sight to the tower,
so I think we're good.
>> All right, we're ready to go.
>> So here's what we'll do.
You scan the horizon and see if you're able
to tell where I am, because I haven't even told you
what direction I am and see if you're able to find my--
I'm just going to try to give you those three flashes.
>> All right, sounds good.
Just so you know, I'm looking in the direction
of the Hindu temple, but I will keep scanning
all around the entire, wow, 180 degrees of the tower.
>> All right, starting now I'm using the signal mirror.
♪ [smooth jazz-infused beat] ♪
>> I think I see you.
♪♪
I think I see you at the 10 o'clock
above the Hindu temple.
I'm almost positive.
>> BRIAN: All right, here it's on right now.
I'm going to take it away now.
>> Copy that.
That could not have been more easy.
I found you in seconds.
>> Holy cow!
Do you want to try from the farther distance?
>> JASON: I think we have to.
Is that you flashing it again?
>> Yeah, that's me.
In fact, let me see if I can do the distress signal
of three short flashes, like
flash, flash, flash.
>> It's not quite smooth, but it does look deliberate.
♪♪
All right, that's good.
You're getting more precise.
There are still some flickers in there,
but you're getting really much better at it.
>> Yeah, so the trick was once I got it positioned right,
I just nodded my head.
I pushed it up against my head,
so I wasn't using the fine motor control of my hands,
but instead just using my head as a pivot.
>> That's fascinating because it started to look way better.
You could definitely see that it seemed like
someone was trying to send me a message,
rather than just random flashes.
>> Well cool, we'll go to the far distance one.
Man, this one's going to be four times as far away,
so I really hope it works.
We'll see.
>> If it's even remotely as easy as this was,
I'm really confident.
We're standing by.
>> All right.
>> So from where I'm standing,
Brian was at about my 10 o'clock
just over the Hindu temple.
Over here at my 12 o'clock, that is the city skyline
that you can see in the distance.
There's a little bit of smog and it's far enough away
that it's looking pretty fuzzy.
I'm anticipating if he's following that road,
that he's going to be appearing
somewhere in my 11 o'clock range, like right up here.
But in order to get a good view of the tower,
he's going to need to be high up on one of these hills,
but his precision is going to have to be
much more fine from that distance.
So, I'm wondering how difficult it's going to be
just to even hit the tower.
I think it's slightly shorter for you
to take the left-hand turn up here.
All right, so we just walked in to position
and I cannot express just how
far away the Wizard Tower looks.
I can recognize its distinctive shape,
but that's about it.
So we are just under four miles away.
The good news is that there's a mailbox
that I can prop to try to get a nice
direct line of sight with some precision.
>> If I need to take my shirt off
to give you a brighter target, just say the word.
>> Ha!
All right, I'm going to set down the walkie-talkie,
but tell me if and when you see it, all right?
>> Copy that.
Scanning the horizon now.
♪ [upbeat chillhop music] ♪
[giddy laughter]
I was right!
11 o'clock.
There it is.
All right, this is base. I see you.
Repeat, I see you.
>> You've got to be freaking kidding me.
For reals?
Here, I'm going to try to do the three flashes.
♪ [subdued breakdown of same song] ♪
♪♪ [bugs and ambient noise from both locations]
>> It is definitely someone trying to send a message.
It's not three flashes.
It's a series of staccato pulses,
erratic, but definitely deliberate.
>> Dude, that is phenomenal!
Four freaking miles away!
All right, I'm going to try to give you
the longest, smoothest pulse I can.
♪♪ [diagetic noise]
[chirp]
>> It's still a flickering burst,
but it is much more sustained.
It doesn't look like you're directly on us,
but it is flashing and brighter
more continuously than before.
And I can't stress how unmistakable
and remarkable it is from up here.
>> Dude, I'm calling it.
Legend tested.
This stuff is powerful and will save your life.
>> Mission accomplished, come on back to base.
>> Roger that.
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>> JASON: Did we get some responses?
>> Did we ever. >> Really?
>> We got an avalanche.
I asked, in general, what would you most like
to see added to the website,
because it's easy to do with Squarespace.
What do you think the number one answer was?
>> Dancing baby gif?
>> What do you think the number two?
[laughter] >> Okay,
a forum?
>> Yes! Yes!
>> Really‽
>> 100 percent! Now we get to figure out how to add forums in there.
We're going to have a clubhouse where everybody
can see the new video and discuss it.
Right now everything's a little bit quiet
because we're building the HQ
over at Modern Rogue Headquarters. >> Yes.
>> They are pouring the slab tomorrow.
>> But we need our digital HQ.
>> We're building everything a piece at a time
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>> Code rogue! >> We need that.
>> Yeah, Mr. President we have a code rogue.
Oh my god, they're make a Squarespace website!
>> They're making a website!
Yes they are, well go about your business.
Click. >> Thank you.
>> Also, why are they British in the White House?
[posh] Code Rogue!
-- CC BY REV -- ** MODIFIED BY BIZARRE MAGIC **
>> BRIAN: All right, so we just stopped at the new location
and I am walking into view
where I can see on the horizon, wait--
Now! I have a clear line of sight to the Wizard Academy.
Also, that was a total lie
because I started talking too early,
but there are no cameras on me.