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please identify a mystery object... — Parallax Forums

please identify a mystery object...

tommytommy Posts: 84
edited 2007-08-25 19:31 in General Discussion
- well, this is the sandbox.
-- and we are a curious bunch.

-- on my way home in the dark ( by bicycle ) I spotted a blue light in the grass, just off the road of a pretty busy highway...· I have no idea what it used to be at one time, but guess that the two little batteries that power the blue light must be rechargable...

attachment.php?attachmentid=47851

--·the thing is 'apart' in the photo - the·left and right piece were inside the grey 'housing' when I found it.· The grey housing is 2½ inches long.· any ideas ?

-- thanks

tommy
gizmo.JPG
600 x 200 - 16K

Comments

  • Mike GreenMike Green Posts: 23,101
    edited 2007-06-22 04:02
    The part on the right looks like an ordinary blue LED and batteries. Maybe it's part of a toy with a blue light.
  • metron9metron9 Posts: 1,100
    edited 2007-06-22 15:17
    It is a weapon of mass destruction?

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    Think Inside the box first and if that doesn't work..
    Re-arrange what's inside the box then...
    Think outside the BOX!
  • Dennis FerronDennis Ferron Posts: 480
    edited 2007-06-24 07:33
    Looks like a phaser to me.
  • CCraigCCraig Posts: 163
    edited 2007-06-24 14:39
    I saw one of those. It was on the wall, in the pawn shop, in 'Men In Black'.
  • tommytommy Posts: 84
    edited 2007-06-25 00:06
    originator's reply...



    well, okay.· no one knows.· thank you for all of the funny answers...

    -- It was probably a "car-part" - (it was found just off the road) -

    -- maybe·one of those·"blue LEDs" sometimes spotted just inside the windshield of a kid's hot car.· Perhaps indicating that an alarm is set or just for the 'whuffo' factor· (¿ Whuffo you got that cool blue light ?)

    -- it was broken, and disposed of in the American fashion (out the window).· It was lit when I found it in the grass in the dark, though...·· it wasn't thoroughly, finally·broken.

    -- and the next time I hear one of those "talking-singing birthday cards"·chirping away in the dumpster outside my apartment·--- I'm NOT going to dig it out.

    (sigh).· thanks for the input.
    tommy

    "curiouser and curiouser", cried Alice...
  • PJAllenPJAllen Banned Posts: 5,065
    edited 2007-06-25 01:29
    You were sincere?·

    I thought you were having us on, tommy -- like it was some sort of Area-51 artefact (i.e. that Foo-Fighters spaceman pistol) that·you'd whumped up on a lark.
  • metron9metron9 Posts: 1,100
    edited 2007-06-25 04:12
    Perhaps some better pictures of it as the picture is kind of like those space ship photos you see where you just can't quite make out exactly what it is. My first thought was it was a dental UV light for curing fillings. If it is, don't look at the light. Another possibility is a timing light for autos. Can't tell if the thing on the back of it is a wire or anything about its molecular structure. We also don't know is there is any radiation being emitted other than the blueish light we see. It is not obvious what it's power source is as well. Is it powered by positron's or some sort of carbon based material? Are there any markings that might give us a clue to it's origin? Perhaps hieroglyphics or patterns from some ancient form of communication. Is the output of the blue light a constant beam or is it modulated? Perhaps it is some sort of communicator one would use to signal a mother ship? Let's get it to the lab and run some tests, Rodney is going to be back from P47 with a new Zetron particle multiplexer that should give us a clue to how old an artifact it may be, I don't think standard carbon dating will do us any good since we don't really know if it is even from our time dimension. That being said, I don't know if we will ever really know where it came from but if we can get it working we may be able to determine what it may have been used for.

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Think Inside the box first and if that doesn't work..
    Re-arrange what's inside the box then...
    Think outside the BOX!
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2007-06-26 11:48
    I suspect that it is a whatchamacallit.

    These are standard issue to Girls-in-Black, better known as GIB.

    Like Men in Black, they too serve the earthly alien community, but you see them disguised as Starbuck's employees.· Starbuck's is really a 'front' for branch offices of intergalactic administration.

    IMHO, they could do a better job of hiding their true mission.


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    "Everything in the world is purchased by labour; and our passions are the only causes of labor." -- David·Hume (1711-76)········
    ···················· Tropically,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan
  • BeanBean Posts: 8,129
    edited 2007-06-26 14:26
    Kramer, you are close. But I believe it is actually a thingamajig. Easily confused with the whatchamacallit and the thingamabob, and used for the same purpose I think. [noparse];)[/noparse]

    Bean.

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    “The United States is a nation of laws -· poorly written and randomly enforced.” - Frank Zappa

    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    www.hittconsulting.com
    ·
  • bambinobambino Posts: 789
    edited 2007-06-26 16:12
    I'll take "Busted novelty cigarette lighter" for a 1000 chuck!
  • quispqixquispqix Posts: 64
    edited 2007-06-27 08:26
    It is not a can of Tuna Fish! But I think it is a flashlight.

    http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/301463/2586272/0/1155299247/Finger_light_ring_light_LED_flashlight.jpg

    http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/301463/3868617/0/1182875344/Finger_light_ring_light_LED_flashlight.jpg

    Scientific analysis reveals,...

    gizmo5.JPG

    gizmo6.JPG

    23268067.jpg

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    Drink Milk!
    skype me: quispqix
    echolink: 184783 KC0LGV

    Post Edited (quispqix) : 6/27/2007 8:48:13 AM GMT
  • DuctapemasterDuctapemaster Posts: 90
    edited 2007-07-02 19:31
    It's definitely a broken butane lighter. The black part on the left side of the pic is a piezo sparker used to ignite the butane. Most lighters coming out today (that aren't at the $0.99 store) have a led light built in the bottom so thats where the light comes into play.

    The only reason I know all this is because I used to/still am a pyro...

    Oh, and keep that blue LED...they're still expensive to buy, so it might save you some $$$

    -Dan
  • bambinobambino Posts: 789
    edited 2007-07-05 18:24
    I am not a pyro, just a die hard smoker with one in my pocket at the moment.
    And Ductapemaster is absolutly correct about the LED. A very easy score when Radio shack is closed. And some have lasers and LEDs on the same lighter. Now if they could only put in the knife, fork, spoon, and fish scaler!
  • John BondJohn Bond Posts: 369
    edited 2007-07-06 11:57
    Guys - you missed the Press release on this device, It's just a broken calculator.

    NEW YORK: A public school teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy
    International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in
    possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule and a calculator.

    At a morning press conference, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he
    believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He did
    not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with carrying weapons
    of math instruction.

    "Al-gebra is a problem for us," Gonzales said. "They desire solutions by
    means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of
    absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x ' and 'y' and refer to
    themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common
    denominator of the axis of medieval with co-ordinates in every country. As the
    Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say: 'There are three sides to every
    triangle'."

    When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had
    wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us
    more fingers and toes."

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  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2007-07-06 14:37
    True story.
    I just returned from Tokyo [noparse][[/noparse]about June 19th]. At the security check, they wouldn't let me board until I gave up a tube of wasabi and a small bottle of soy sauce.

    Nevertheless, I would rather arrive alive.

    The GIB of Taiwan keep me happy with grande lattes.

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    "Everything in the world is purchased by labour; and our passions are the only causes of labor." -- David·Hume (1711-76)········
    ···················· Tropically,····· G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse]·黃鶴 ]·in Taiwan
  • John BondJohn Bond Posts: 369
    edited 2007-07-09 07:56
    Wikipedia entry on Wasabi

    …its root is used as a spice and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard than the capsaicin in a chili pepper, producing vapors that irritate the nasal passages more than the tongue…

    I’m amazed the authorities didn’t lock you up. Crimes of the palette such as real wasabi are inadmissible in the civilized world. If you’d attempted that in the States, you’d have been sent away for taste reeducation.

    Besides which, isn’t there an easier way to become a suicide bomber than using your mouth!!!

    (I’m really just jealous, I enjoy a good Wasabi&#8230[noparse];)[/noparse]

    John Bond

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  • johnnyairplanejohnnyairplane Posts: 25
    edited 2007-08-25 19:31
    According to Star Fleets enema command,
    THAT is a:

    Grade A, class 1 Hog-snort frippy dang! - dang - you found one!

    Look at any checkout isle of any dollar store, C-store or 'junk shop' - you'll find
    a wide assortment of these doo-dads, whickma-jiggers and sniffleboogers.

    Sure it wasn't a LED Throwie?

    John
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