this post was submitted on 04 Feb 2025
62 points (94.3% liked)

What is this thing?

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Currently in CHALLENGE mode: If you've got something obscure knocking about, post a picture, and let's see how we do. Please prefix such posts with "CHALLENGE:" so we know we've got a fighting chance.

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[–] klugerama@lemmy.world 37 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Not glass, but hardened resin. Used to track littoral currents and drift. Has metal so it can be found later with a metal detector.

[–] oce@jlai.lu 15 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

A tracer pebble, interesting. But they seem to be rather made of the same pebble they are supposed to trace. https://southerncoastalgroup-scopac.org.uk/tracer-pebble-studies/

[–] GuyDudeman@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago

Fascinating!

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 8 points 15 hours ago

Winner. 2 hours!

[–] davidgro@lemmy.world 33 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

A highly secured USD $2.75

"Break glass in case of emergency."

[–] edgemaster72@lemmy.world 21 points 21 hours ago

An ancient baby spring preserved in amber

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 16 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Jeez I can't last longer than 10 minutes.

Either I'm spamming or "providing content"

Last one for a while.

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 10 points 21 hours ago

10 minutes!! I did it!

[–] GuyDudeman@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Can you give us a banana for scale?

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Y'all are too good. I made this one harder on purpose.

About 3 inches long. Fits in your palm.

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 0 points 6 hours ago

Wait. It's my wife's husband!

[–] RamblingPanda@lemmynsfw.com 8 points 19 hours ago

A water cooled amber. For obvious reasons.

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 4 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

Wild guess: Not glass at all, but actually a bar of glycerin soap with... something embedded inside it.

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago

I actually like this answer the best. Good guess based on image.

I was misleading. Not glass but resin.

[–] AbidingOhmsLaw@lemmy.ml 3 points 19 hours ago

I like this answer, you can see it’s on a formica counter with the edge of a self rimming sink to the left.

[–] badcommandorfilename@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago

I wonder if it's a kind of stir-bar, put it in a container and oscillate a magnetic field outside to move the contents around.

[–] oce@jlai.lu 2 points 21 hours ago

A scifi movie prop for a prehistoric alien artifact conserved in amber.

[–] ObviouslyNotBanana@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

~~What is the scale of this thing?~~

edit: had to find out what it was, so I will not make guesses. See someone else has discussed scale already.

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

3 inches long

[–] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 2 points 21 hours ago

It's a glass egg
...thing

[–] nettle@mander.xyz 1 points 18 hours ago

Lookd like its next to a sink, methinks soap

[–] tyler@programming.dev 1 points 19 hours ago

What is the size? Looks like a can inside, if it’s large. If it’s small it looks like a threaded rod, or grub screw or something like that.

A battery holder?

[–] baines@lemmy.cafe 1 points 20 hours ago

hand warmer

[–] But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world -1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)
[–] ccunning@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

Definitely more of a suppository than a plug