Dan
Always looking for helpers is the advice Mr. Rogers gave.
Well, sometimes internet comments are there to help. I know. It sounds far-fetched. Especially now.
When people need help discovering what a random object is, however, look to the comments, and you might find the answer.
People of Reddit asked the internet “What is this thing?” and the helpful people of the world answered:
1. My dog brought this home, doesn’t really do anything except light up when turned on.
Answer: remote control for — you guessed it — a sex toy.
2. Friend found at a Goodwill. Tool belt of some kind. Does anyone know the specific use?
Answer: A fishing pole holder.
3. Found while turning garden this spring in the Appalachian foothills of East Tennessee. What is this thing?
Answer: Knapped flint knife, like a Boy Scout project and not, I repeat, not part of some satanic ritual.
4. I local music shop is offering free strings to anyone who can tell them what this is. Not even the owner knows what it is. Help a brother out?
Answer: A rope wrench for splicing and making rope.
5. Small round “shelf” in old mail box?
Answer: It’s used as a space to leave change for postal workers for additional postage.
6. Found in an unfinished basement of an old home. Looks like a coin but it’s hollow and opens up.
Answer: A coin lighter with the cool lighter part missing so it just looks like a weird hollow coin.
7. Found this building while I was hiking in west Kerry, Ireland.
Answer: A water tower used to refill steam engines back when a rail line ran there.
8. Found Underground in Edmonton, Alberta. Made of metal bits encased in an acrylic like substance. Smooth flat bottom.
Answer: Orgonite. A device (?) used to harness the power of Orgone, an energy or universal life force that somebody probably just made up. Anyway, it’s that.
9.Found this crater/hole while randomly scrolling around google maps. Located in Mali, Africa. Any ideas?
Answer: It’s a mountain in the desert, not a crater. Weird!
10. What is this piece of playground equipment for? Seems like it must have a function other than to just lay on it.
Answer: it’s a space for children in wheelchairs to access the playground space so they don’t feel left out. Beautiful.
11. Small plastic cylinder on side of gas pump card reader (Cut open, nothing inside)
Answer: It prevents fraudsters from putting a “skimmer” on the machine. If they have to spend time removing a small piece of plastic, they will likely be caught on camera. I’m now researching what else you can do with skimmers.
12.What are these weird weights that showed up in my hotel room while I was out?
Answer: fishing weights for deep sea fishing, and not, as I suspected, kettlebells for gnomes.
13. Thing with wheels I found in the woods
Answer: he skeletal remains of a Volkswagen Beetle. RIP, little guy.
14. Strange ceramic jar, What is this? Only has side opening
Answer: A stoneware bed warmer for when a hot water bottle doesn’t feel enough like a steam engine under your sheets.
15. Found in a Coinstar return slot. Looks like some type of key in the shape of a gun.
Answer: First, they thought it was a gun-shaped keychain on Etsy, but then… it turned out to be a key for a steering wheel lock.
16. Hole in the bathroom wall on the door side? Our apartment was built in the 1930s
Answer: Hole for a chimney, and not a “bat entrance” though I’m sure it’s both.
17. Found these in my grandma’s old jewelry box. Tried googling W.S.P. Co. but no link to whatever these are. They’re pretty solid and somewhat heavy.
Answer: Screw machine punches for making different kinds of screws.
18.Black square thing on the door with white in the middle and what seems to be data chips on the top on the door? Don’t recall this being there yesterday. Any ideas?
Answer: Mounting plate for a Ring camera. Stay safe out there.
19. Found in a cemetery while geocaching. The doll was wrapped in the paper which was wrapped in the cloth cross and bound with twine. Overall very creepy.
Answer: if it looked creepy, that’s because it is. It’s a doll and note used for “witchcraft” in Mexico and it was used to curse a person. Spooky.
20. What is this thing? Found it as a kid and have never known what it is. Slightly heavier than it looks. Says US 4 inch on one side that also has an “L” in a diamond, the other side has some mark I can’t make out. The triangle is 4 inches from base to tip.
Answer: An “earth anchor” or “arrowhead anchor” for things like phone cables and other things that go into the ground. Cue the music: “Earth Anchor, earth anchor… will you be mine?”
21. What is this drill hammer thing
Answer: A splitter, used for cutting window glass. I always rely on my numerous diamond rings for this task.
22. “Poured a glass of water last night from the tap left it under the light on the nightstand, next morning I found this floating in it… What could it be ?! Yikes !”
Answer: It’s a bacteria colony.
23. Found Inside The White Of An Egg. Are These More, Future Eggs That Unfortunately Got Inside Another Egg? Did The Chicken Lose All Future Eggs? A Parasite?
Answered by u/MoonShadowArt: Could be calcium “beads” or “nodules” that make up the shell. Basically a birth defect in this particular egg.
Answered by u/fluffspeed: I looked up “chicken white egg balls” and found something similar.
24.”I’m waiting for the bank to open and they have this card facing the street. What is it used for?”
Answered by u/peebs1284:
Former bank employee here. It’s definitely a safety signal.
We switched ours quarterly and it is to let other employees know that it is all clear to open. Typically, we had two employees “open” the branch while the rest waited in the parking lot or across the street for “all clear.” The openers go in, turn off alarm, search the building, and check everything, then they set the signal.
Answered by u/canihaveasquash:
I used to work for this bank and it is 100% a safety protocol. You have a safe card to display and any other card from the pack is a sign to call the police. The safe card changes on a regular basis, and if you work in that branch you know your safe card. It’s not the only safety measure, for example, we also had that we would walk to a certain point and back yo indicate it was safe, but it’s a key one.
A previous bank I worked in used a safety name that was unisex, so if someone greeted you at the door to let you in and said “oh morning ‘Alex’ can you grab some milk for us before you come in” you knew there was an issue and to call for help.
25.
Answered by u/lacus-rattus:
I think that’s a vape pen, dude.
26.
Answered by u/99999999999999999989:
Damn, that looks a lot like a rattlesnake rattle.
In what part of the world do you live? It looks small, so possibly a juvenile snake. But geez, caution is definitely advised.
Response from OP u/sal25:
…Riverside county in Southern California. Rattlesnakes are found in the wild here I believe, but I never heard of anyone having one in their home!
Answered by u/99999999999999999989:
You have now. Definitely call an exterminator.
Answered by u/shadow_squirrel:
It is 100% [a] rattlesnake rattler. What’s interesting is that it’s actually [broken]. So at one point, it was most likely longer than that. It came off a pretty decent-sized rattlesnake.
Source: Am from Mississippi. See rattlesnakes everywhere all the time.
Update from the OP u/sal25:
…It was just the rattlesnake rattle that my dad brought from a recent trip to Mexico…
Solved! Just texted my sister about it, and apparently my dad brought it over from Mexico as a souvenir or something. LOL.