Most people have one or a few things they know a lot about. Be it a hobby, a specific brand of trivia knowledge, or just a lot of random facts. Every person carries a wealth of knowledge!
When all that wealth comes together, they're capable of great things, like identifying mystery objects and solving internet obscurities like these!
The numerals are Eastern Arabic numerals, which makes sense given where the watch is from!
This is a bottle holder but a very specifically shaped one, likely meant to hold bottles of Snake Juice or any other similarly shaped container!
Of course, your first thought might be some sort of lightbulb — as was mine — but apparently, we're both way off base.
It's a fire extinguisher with a sort of grenade mechanic; chuck it at the fire and let the contents put it out!
Called plastic bio filters, they're often used in aquariums to, you guessed it, filter the water. As to why they've been washing ashore? It's likely a shipment of them ruptured, causing them to spill into the water.
The reason water didn't kill it is due to it probably being a security tag from a local retail store.
They're designed to take a real beating before turning off, though here it seemed to already be too late.
Less of an object and more of a happening, but still something to be identified all the same.
That being said, it's just limescale, but a whole lot of it.
It's a floating duck house! A little shelter built for ducks and other waterfowl to escape from predators such as snapping turtles.
A specific-looking tool for a specific job, this is a wire strainer, built to maintain tension on fencing wire.
I thought it looked like a drying rack, and that's kind of true! You're meant to hang gloves and washcloths on it, both for storage and drying purposes.
It's a water meter key! So probably not too useful on a personal level — especially if it's older — but still an interesting find.
Someone in the comments had been to this mystery pyramid before and explained that it's a defunct bombing range for the U.S. military. Brightly colored pyramids were used as visual references by pilots.
I remember when these were being advertised across the internet some two years ago. It goes in between the seat of a car and the center console, stopping items from falling into that crevice.
After some investigation, not dangerous at all, and not even the fault of the manufacturer! Many pointed out that it looked like a gel pill capsule, after which the poster did confirm he takes fish oil pills.
He either went to wash it down with his drink and it fell out or dropped in, but either way it dissolved and looked totally different later on, causing him to think it was something else entirely.
From top to bottom, these are a darning ball, glove darner, and a darning mushroom. If you don't know what darning is, it's a sewing technique for repairing holes and wear!
They're actually holding it upside down for this picture. When it's right-side up, that curved rod on the bottom held a plastic tinted film, as it's an auto sun visor frame for vintage Polaroid cameras!
It does look pretty ominous if you're unsure of its origins, but it's super common! This is a trail camera, likely installed to check wildlife numbers and interactions.
Firstly, your coworker sounds cool as hell. Secondly, it is related to the Freemasons. This is a "jewel" that a junior warden of a Masonic lodge would wear.
What looks like the world's tiniest wrench is...well, kind of that. Someone said it looked like a wrench ring, one that might have broken off anywhere down the line from the farm to the table.
Tong-looking is right, and they are used in a similar fashion, but for something more specific. It's called a crimper, used to imprint designs and patterns while cake decorating!
Now for the scariest thing on the list, this. It's not some horrid alien monster though, it's just a cluster of goose barnacles with both an egg sac and some random feather stuck to it.
And as they soon learned, these are grain storage spaces called hórreos. As for why they're elevated, that design decision was apparently made to keep pesky rodents from eating away at the grain stocks.
And if it seems like rats and other tricky critters would be able to scale that, they thought of that too. That's why there's slate at the base of the hórreo.
Although it was heavy with a magnetic bottom, its overall rigidity made it hard to figure out its purpose.
And as it turns out, that's because it's not complete. This is part of the store's security tag remover that fell into the bag after the unit apparently fell apart without anyone noticing.
And the good news is that if they ever want to make their own rugs, they've brought themselves one step closer to doing it.
That's because this is a punch needle used for tufting rugs, which is a process that makes them soft and fluffy.
Since this happened without explanation, they were concerned that this was some unusual means to spy on them.
However, they soon found relief in the reality that this is an occupancy sensor that automatically turns off the lights when it doesn't detect anyone in the room to save money.
And it's a testament to the impressive knowledge of r/whatisthisthing users that this was identified since you're not likely to see people using them much anymore.
This was apparently compatible with old CAD drafting programs. It was supposed to work with a grid mousepad and each of those buttons toggled a different drawing setting.
Because once users were made aware that they live in south Florida and that this happened at 6:30 pm, they were able to match this image up with a ballistic missile test that had been launched nearby from a Trident submarine.
I guess that's the only context where this wouldn't be an ominous sight, then.
To first address what this is, we're looking at a Dzi bead. They have unknown origins, but are typically found in Central Asia — particularly Tibet — and are often used in spiritually protective amulets and traditional medicine.
So why is the uploader so lucky to know all this? Well, it turns out that Dzi beads that look very similar to this one have sold for up to $700.
However, the fact that it was pointed toward their house turned out to be purely coincidental.
It turns out that this is a solar panel and those are generally supposed to be pointed south when you're in the northern hemisphere.
