Wir alle dürften schon ein oder siebzehnhundert Mal die innere oder ausgesprochene Frage gestellt haben: „What Is This Thing?“. Genau diesen Titel trägt der entsprechende Subreddit den mittlerweile über 950.000 Leute abonniert haben, die wissbegierig sind, oder schlicht dabei helfen wollen, Unbekanntes zu dechiffrieren. So geschehen bei all diesen Dingen, die Leute irgendwo gefunden haben und nicht direkt einordnen konnten. Von interessant über skurril bis wirklich ekelhaft ist so ziemlich alles dabei. Wieder was gelernt!
„If you have something and you don’t know what it is, this is the place for you to search for an answer.“
Hier ein paar interessante Beispiele. Oben: „Found This White Fuzzy Thing In My Basement, Mother Freaked Out. What Is This Thing?“ – Antwort: „Spiders infected with fungus look like this.“
2. „What Is The Point Of Such A Device?“
„Answer: USB charging condom. This way you can plug your phone into a random USB port and be sure that no data is exchanged. Only the power pins are passed through to the phone. Also called a sync stop.“
3. „Anyone Know What Those Round Impressions Are Called, And What Are They For?“
„Answer: Old windows were made of glass spun out into flatness. That’s the center of the spin. New windows are made of glass floated on a pool of molten tin, which makes very flat panes without any annoying bullseyes. EDIT: this is also the source of the myth that glass is a liquid and flows over time. See the center pane of your picture? Someone took the time to get a „good“ pane for the center of the window, without any bullseye – put your best pane in that spot, obviously. But the glass is still of uneven thickness, getting thicker closer to the bullseye. So people look at panes like that, with thicker glass in one part, and decide that „hey, the glass must have started off perfectly flat and flowed over time“. But no. The glass flowed when it was molten (1500 degrees C!) and does not flow at room temperature.“
4. „This Sticker On The Inside Cover Of A Second-Hand Bible. Pretty Sure It Depicts A Partridge And A Fig Tree, Both Of Which Have Biblical Connections But No Idea What It Means“
„Answer: No Bush/Quail. 1992 election sticker.“
5. „What Are These Things And What Are They Doing?“
„Answer: They’re European red slugs. And they’re doing it.“
6. „My Girlfriend Found These In Her Dinner? Are They Seeds?“
„Answer: Pretty good picture of insect eggs.“
7. „Researching Plantation Houses In The 1700’s. What Is The Thing Hanging From The Ceiling In This Dining Room?“
„Answer: Very early ceiling fan. The rope at the top would be pulled to create the back and forth motion to fan the air and keep flies away from the table during a meal.“
8. „Bathroom Coat Hangers That Can Move Up Or Down. Why Would You Want Them Downward?“
„Answer: We call them anti-ligature. If the rest of the items in the room aren’t also anti-ligature (door knobs, door hinges, tp dispenser, etc) then it doesn’t make much sense to have it there. If everything else IS, then you’re in a room designed for individuals that are a suicide risk.“
9. „My Sister Found This When Cleaning Out A Fish. This Was In The Mouth And There Was A Smaller One In The Stomach. Anyone Know What It Is?“
„Answer: Tongue eating parasite (cymothoa exigua). Truly harrowing. Eats the fish’s tongue and then takes the place of the fish’s tongue.“
10. „Heathrow Airport. Looks Like It Hasn’t Moved In Ages. What Is This Thing?“
„Answer: For fire training, for the airport fire brigade.“
11. „I Found This Thing In My Food. It Was Just Stuck To A Piece Of Meat; It Wasn’t Lodged Into It Or Anything. Anyone Know What It Is?““
„Answer: Cattle/pig microchip for meat traceability.“
12. „Found This Kayaking In The Mississippi River Yesterday, I Think It’s Some Kind Of Exact Fungus But I’ve Never Seen This In My Life. What Is This Thing?“
„Answer: Bryozoa (also known as the Polyzoa, Ectoprocta or commonly as moss animals) colony.“
Ihr möchtet mehr Unbekanntes erläutert bekommen? Kein Problem – hier hatte ich schon einmal einen Sammelbeitrag zu diesem Subreddit.
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