What a thing: the strangest finds. Issue 146
We regularly come across things that are not immediately recognizable. All these incomprehensible things excite the imagination and torment with doubts, but here, as always, experts from the network come to the rescue, who easily and quickly solve all riddles.
I offer you 16 photo questions with evidence and explanations to brighten up with curious knowledge 5 minutes of your precious time. 
Sometimes our attention and thoughts are completely captured by some strange thing that can be found not only in unusual places, but even at home. Of course, this applies only to the inquisitive minds that clafoutis do not feed, let them know something interesting or deal with something difficult. So greedy for material knowledge over 2.3 million people in the "What is this thing" community on Reddit, and Trust me, it's never boring there. Community members just for the sake of fun trying to figure out tricky finds, photos sent to them by other users.
Question: “I bought new Nike shoes. Inside the box there was this little plastic bag filled with air, and something like tiny multicolored microplastics. There is a hole at the top length approximately 2.5 cm" 
Answer:
"I think that's exactly what you said. microplastic particles. Probably to show how Nike helps to clean up our planet. An eyelet is needed to carry the bag on shoes or as a keychain.
“Really brilliant. You cannot be fined for improper disposal or being labeled a pollution leader microplastics, if you do not pollute the territory of the company, but sending junk to customers as a marketing gimmick, just, so they can throw it in the trash." , one user remarked.
Users also wrote that some manufacturers show in this way what they make the sole of. Nike sells finely chopped rubber from the soles of sneakers for creation of a covering for sports grounds from them. Looks like Also.
Q: What is that black rubber thing attached to the drawstring inside my new ski jacket? 
Answer:
"It's a phone holder" 
Question: “I saw this in the toilet, where there are taps, a drain and a dryer” 
Answer:
"This is for the ritual foot washing before prayer in Islam."
The author of the photo wrote that he saw this in the building for events and meetings on the campus of his college.
“There are several Muslim student organizations on campus,” he wrote.
A prerequisite before performing prayer (prayer in Islam) is the performance of taharat (ritual ablution) leading a person from a state of ritual impurity.
Question: “10 cm, made of plastic, pointed on one side. Received as a gift for the New Year. What it is?" 
Answer:
“This is a device for spreading pages in sides while reading. The sharp end enters the spine, and the thumb in hole so that you can easily read the book, holding it with one hand" 
Question: "This" gate "on the Niagara River, behind which they have nothing. I assumed it was part of the docks or something sort of, but I can't think of what it might be for" 
Answer:
Under the city there are underground tunnels, along which carries water from the river to the power plant. These gates are for blocking the water supply" 
Question: "Found in a safe in a dead man's house: 11 identical stacks of thin strips of black paper wrapped polyethylene film and coated with white powder. Dimensions of each strip approx. 16 cm x 6.5 cm, each stack approx. 5 cm high. Otherwise the safe was empty" 
Answer:
"It's for the black scam."
In the US, there is a so-called "fraud"food with black money." Fraudsters tell people that they have packages of stolen money from the bank, in which black paint exploded during the theft, but they do not have enough money to buy "special chemicals" to clean them. Criminals offer to invest in the purchase of chemicals for the promise of a share of theft. Particularly naive people get in touch and ask to show evidence of the existence of this money, then the scammers invite them to yourself to show "black money". To be sure, a scammer takes a pre-prepared bill, usually covered with glue and stained with iodine, and washes it with a "special chemical solution", which consists of vitamin C tablets dissolved in water. After that the scoundrel reports that these were either the last remnants of the "chemical", or “accidentally” spills it right in front of a person. After this show gullible people sometimes part with money.
“This ‘money’ looks exactly the same as it does in the search results. Thank you very much!"
, — wrote the author of the photo. Only now it is not clear, either the deceased man he himself fell for a scam, or bred others with the help of this “money”.
Question: “About 60 cm long numbers from 1 to 10 on both sides. Photographed in a restaurant 
Answer:
"This is to alert the waiters, the flashing numbers indicate that the order with that number is ready to be served."
Question: “Container that opens to the side. Digging in the search engine did not give anything " 
Answer:
“This is a container for keeping fresh herbs in the fridge.” 
Herbs are placed stems down in a white bowl, and on the bottom The container is filled with water, which keeps the greens fresh. If you look at the photo, you will see that the lid of the container does not open at base to keep water from spilling out.
Question: “I saw these metal (strings?) in store that were glued to anything from shampoo bottles to face cream. Some products have them, others don't. What is this like that?" 
Answer:
“These are anti-theft tags. The alarm at the exit from the store will beep if you take out this label before deactivation.
"Once I put one of these in the inside of friend's shoes. He made the store alarms go off around 2 months before I figured out what was going on , — one of the users shared his story.
As commentators wrote, in the United States on the market of stolen supermarkets of things, hygiene products are in great demand, therefore, sellers have to put labels on such, it would seem, things of little value. On the other hand, it is not clear what prevents a thief from tearing this label directly in the store.
Question: "Some kind of construction device with yellow basis. Not sure if it goes to the ground. Publishes melodic buzzing sounds at regular intervals with rising pitch" 
Answer:
"This is an SL-RAT device for testing pipe fouling/clogging using acoustic waves" 
The device looks like a square dumbbell with yellow a rectangle in the middle that just serves to hold devices above the manhole, when one of the parts of the device lowered down. To check the contamination of the pipes, you will need several such devices, one of which will be the source of the signal, and the other - receiver. One worker lowers the acoustic signal source into manhole while another does the same with the receiver, lowering it into another hatch of one pipe. Then they turn on the devices receiving data on the contamination of pipes in the form of numbers, where 0 is the full blockage.
Question: “I found it in the kitchen in a drawer with all sorts of things. Heavy, solid brass" 
Answer:
"It's a dialer for dialing on landline telephones. You insert the ball in the correct number on the phone dial instead of your fingertip and use it to disk rotation" 
Question: "A light metal object with a chain, connecting its two parts. Both sides are identical and unidentified signs. Marked for commissionnom store as a "mystery item"" 
Answer:
“This is a handle that is attached by a chain to a part, on which the doorbell bell is attached in turn” 
Pulling on the handle will move the bell to the side, causing the tongue to beat against its inner sides.
Question: “Made of clay/terracotta, fits in the palm of your hand. It came with something I bought but can't remember what it was." 
Answer:
"This is a terracotta washer that attaches to the back of the brown sugar container lid." 
These terracotta pieces can be of different shapes and sizes, and they are intended to ensure that sugar (and other products) do not damp, as terracotta absorbs moisture.
Brown sugar is sugar that has not had all of its molasses (in fact, most of the brown sugar that is sold, made by adding molasses back to fully refined white sugar).
Question: "This thing was in a perfume gift set, but I have no idea what it is. It feels like it's made of clay or something like that, but there is no description in the box for what it is need to. Is it just some kind of bauble?” 
Answer:
“This is a perfume diffuser. You can spray perfume on him and he will absorb it and then slowly release the fragrance into the air.”
Some people put these things in closets or drawers with linen so that the clothes acquire the scent of their favorite perfume.
Question: “A black plastic gadget with a large silver button and a battery without inscriptions. I don't want to press, I found it at home" 
Answer:
"This is the backlight control panel. a mirror that attaches to the rear seat headrest in the car to you could see your kids in their car seats turned back to windshield" 
Question: "What is this coiled sheet of metal attached to a piece of wood?" 
Answer:
"It's a bookcase" 
The more books on the stand, the more you need unwind a metal spiral that will tend to wrap itself backwards, thus holding the books in an upright position.
