Seen yesterday in Columbus, OH; seems fragile to leave uncovered on a truck. A: Pipe pigs. For inspecting pipelines.

Is this gold inside my activated carbon undercounter water filter?! A: Looks like it’s probably copper-zinc, used in filters to filter heavy metals.

What is this piece of seemingly old tech? Found in a pile at a university. A: That’s a very old wearable computer

A: Here we have a 1950’s Standard “Sanistand” Female urinal. Strangely enough, these weren’t terribly popular, but Standard did make them between the mid-1950’s up through the early 1960’s.

Plastic-like, circular object (3 cm), made of “cells” (as in beehives) distributed around 4 concentric rings. Found on several beaches, Sardinia (Italy) A: Looks like a biofilm used to treat waste water

I know it’s a fireplace, but why does it have three sections? A: One side is for storing firewood, the other is probably a cook stove.

A: It is for punching holes in leather or similar things. Like, for a belt.

What is this rolling tool? Wooden handle with a spool of metal disc’s. Each disc has the same pattern of notches. A: It’s a check roller/ wood graining tool

What is this stuff growing out of the nail holes in my ceiling? A: That’s termite frass. You’ve got bad termites and you’ll want to deal with it asap.

What is the architectural name of this thing bracing an arch? A: Corbels are load bearing.

What is this stuff building up on my AC radiator fins. I can’t find what it is, but it doesn’t seem to be the metal itself corroding, and it is kinda like compressed cornstarch. A: Dust and dander. Your filter is not enough.

What is this little metal thing? We have a tin of these collected many years ago. They all have “Made in England” engraved on the side. A: Definitely looks like a Christmas card peg to me, with a little hook to hang off a string. We had plastic ones when I was younger.

It’s a shipping container for a General Electric CF34 Turbofan Engine, commonly fitted to Embraer and Bombardier Jets. A: They are markers for wires.

Truck with camera or LiDAR sensor, any idea what it’s for? A: That’s a Rivian pickup and definitely a LiDAR for some autonomous driving tests. Thanks for sharing.

A: For making butter.

A: It was holding down tubes for a pneumatic traffic counter.

Some kind of a big stone with various geometric carvings. It was found in the middle of a forest next to a ruined brick gate. Any ideas? A: If you pull the image up full size it’s easy to see it’s a perfect rounded rectangle and divided right down the middle. It’s “poofy” like a stuffed cushion. Then once you zoom in it’s easy to see the fabric pattern.

This is a flat bottom flask. It has 6 individual Chambers, appears to be one bit of glass that has been blown out, not multiple parts attached together. Roughly a litre in volume, has been in the science department where I work for over 30 years and no one knows what it is. A: This is a flat bottom flask. It has 6 individual Chambers, appears to be one bit of glass that has been blown out, not multiple parts attached together. Roughly a litre in volume, has been in the science department where I work for over 30 years and no one knows what it is.

Does anyone know what this thing is on the back of my oven? Even the technician who put it in didn’t know. A: Looks like it’s just the data plate. I’m guessing it’s installed like that so you can get the important info without pulling it all the way out away from the wall

One side is for storing firewood, the other is probably a cook stove. A: It’s a shipping container for a General Electric CF34 Turbofan Engine, commonly fitted to Embraer and Bombardier Jets.