What Is It? Blog

What Is It?

What Is It? is a place for engineers to test their knowledge (and sense of humor). Each week (or month, or...) the CR4 team will post an unidentified picture of an object, tool, animal, something. We're looking for your best (or funniest) guesses at what it might be in the comments.

Yes, we take [appropriate] submissions. Send them to cr4admin@ieeeglobalspec.com.

Previous in Blog: What is it? for July 5   Next in Blog: What is It? for July 19
Close
Close
Close
36 comments
Rate Comments: Nested

What is It? for July 12

Posted July 12, 2015 12:00 AM
Pathfinder Tags: what is it

What is it?

Share your guess in the comments below!

Thanks to CR4 member Dan A for sharing this image.

Reply

Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.

"Almost" Good Answers:

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, vote them!
Guru

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: by the beach in Florida
Posts: 33392
Good Answers: 1817
#1

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 12:59 AM

Several stones that have been bound together with molten lava...

__________________
All living things seek to control their own destiny....this is the purpose of life
Reply
Guru
Popular Science - Biology - New Member Hobbies - Musician - New Member APIX Pilot Plant Design Project - Member - New Member Hobbies - CNC - New Member Fans of Old Computers - ZX-81 - New Member

Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: Centurion, South Africa
Posts: 3921
Good Answers: 97
#2

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 4:26 AM

The GMO fruit of a stone age plant.

__________________
Never do today what you can put of until tomorrow - Student motto
Reply
Guru
Hobbies - CNC - New Member Hobbies - DIY Welding - New Member Engineering Fields - Electromechanical Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 23647
Good Answers: 420
#3

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 6:11 AM

Some type of fungus.

__________________
“ When people get what they want, they are often surprised when they get what they deserve " - James Wood
Reply
Guru
Hobbies - CNC - New Member Hobbies - DIY Welding - New Member Engineering Fields - Electromechanical Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 23647
Good Answers: 420
#6
In reply to #3

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 9:20 AM

Looks very similar to corn smut.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corn_smut

And I guess it's quite tastey, for most parts are edible.

__________________
“ When people get what they want, they are often surprised when they get what they deserve " - James Wood
Reply
Guru

Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: England & Ireland
Posts: 1063
Good Answers: 61
#4

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 6:50 AM

Fungus amongst us.

Reply
Guru

Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 42355
Good Answers: 1693
#5

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 8:25 AM

Petrified dinosaur poop.

Reply
Guru

Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Out of your mind! Not in sight!
Posts: 4424
Good Answers: 108
#8
In reply to #5

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 10:41 AM

you sure its not a meteorite . . .

__________________
Common Sense Dictates
Reply
Power-User
Engineering Fields - Control Engineering - Control Engineering Technical Fields - Education - Industrial Training Engineering Fields - Manufacturing Engineering - Manufacturing Training Engineering Fields - Electrical Engineering - Electrical engineering Training Engineering Fields - Instrumentation Engineering - Instrumentation Engineering United States - Member - New Member Engineering Fields - Energy Engineering - Become part of the larger group, change your world.

Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Posts: 266
Good Answers: 1
#7

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 9:28 AM

A pile "Run off" from a plastic extruder set on a rock under a tree to confuse us.

__________________
AB PLC Training onsite, On-Line, training software and more. BIN95.com
Reply
Guru

Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 42355
Good Answers: 1693
#9

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 11:48 AM

A monster from the movie, "The Thing".

Reply Score 1 for Good Answer
Associate

Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 38
Good Answers: 7
#15
In reply to #9

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 12:52 AM

Lyn, so far you are the closest. Well done.

Reply
Guru

Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 42355
Good Answers: 1693
#16
In reply to #15

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 1:28 AM

Thanks, but no cigar? Drat!

Now what? Sleep.

Reply
Guru

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Haverhill, MA
Posts: 1149
Good Answers: 151
#10

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 12:58 PM

If you look closely you can see all sorts of things, like a puppy's face, and someones bare butt.

__________________
The older I am, the better I used to be
Reply
Guru

Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Earth - I think.
Posts: 2143
Good Answers: 165
#11

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 1:36 PM

Neolithic 'Stargate dial home device'.

__________________
TANSTAAFL (If you don't know what that means, Google it - yourself)
Reply
Guru
Engineering Fields - Electrical Engineering - Been there, done that. Engineering Fields - Control Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Long Island NY
Posts: 15601
Good Answers: 981
#12

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 10:19 PM

This looks to me like H. R. Giger's unfinished sculpture.

__________________
"Don't disturb my circles." translation of Archimedes last words
Reply
Power-User

Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Sydney . Australia
Posts: 418
Good Answers: 35
#13

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 10:30 PM

sorry guys

we had a blockage in the soylent green machine during testing.

and honestly we thought that guy was dead when he went in the shute.

who would have thought he could climb out and walk around in the bush like that ?

Reply
Power-User

Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 476
Good Answers: 32
#14

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/12/2015 10:54 PM

A Triffid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids

__________________
johny451
Reply
Power-User

Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 188
Good Answers: 1
#17

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 2:16 AM

Looks like the skin that an insect 'sheds' on a regular basis

Reply
Guru

Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 1056
Good Answers: 88
#18

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 6:12 AM

It's a Pandaum Chernobylis. S.M.

__________________
Life is complex. It has a real part and an imaginary part.
Reply
Guru
Hobbies - DIY Welding - New Member Hobbies - Target Shooting - New Member Engineering Fields - Civil Engineering - New Member United States - Member - New Member

Join Date: May 2009
Location: Red Hook, New York (Mid-Hudson River Valley)
Posts: 4362
Good Answers: 179
#19

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 7:12 AM

It's an Alien Pod...

__________________
"Veni, Vidi, Vici"; hendiatris attributed to Gaius Julius Caesar, 47 B.C.
Reply
Guru

Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Where the sun sets on OZ
Posts: 1381
Good Answers: 28
#20

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 8:14 AM

A random heap of Expandit foam drizzled with Epirez pouring epoxy. Clothed with denim and rotated to see the underside.

T o make A model of Yoda, or my first born, not sure which.

__________________
Where's the KaBoom? There should be a KaBoom!
Reply
Associate

Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Detroit Metro Area
Posts: 30
#21

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 8:24 AM

It's not a tumor!!

Or it could be a tumor on the back of a Gorilla's head...

__________________
You can lead a horse to water...
Reply
Guru
Engineering Fields - Electrical Engineering - Been there, done that. Engineering Fields - Control Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Long Island NY
Posts: 15601
Good Answers: 981
#22

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 9:23 AM

A can of insulation foam was ruptured in a back pack.

__________________
"Don't disturb my circles." translation of Archimedes last words
Reply Score 1 for Good Answer
Associate

Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 38
Good Answers: 7
#30
In reply to #22

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 6:04 PM

GA from Redfred and Unredundant.

It is a partial view of a Kinetic Sculpture done with Poly-foam and fur from the late 60's and titled "The Unmask".

It was displayed in an art museum where one of the open doorways to the next room was blocked off with a full length half-silvered mirror.(Acts like a mirror on one side, and a window on the other side.) A curtained booth was placed on the reflective side, and the UNMASK components were hung up on the walls of the booth with a drawing showing how to put them on your body.

  1. Note the hands where your fingernails stuck out.
  2. And the welding glass disks glued into an old eyeglasses frame so your could see, but your eyes would not be visible.
  3. and the rear view of the head piece, of dyed Poly-foam, which was intended to resemble Cow Pies.
  4. There is a Seal fur ring around where your face protrudes both for comfort and for visual effect.
  5. There is also a Seal Fur woman's Cape which closes in the front and has two vertical slots for your arms to extend thru, which was the body.

Visitors to the exhibit would individually go into the small curtained booth, see the instructions on the wall, put on the parts of the sculpture, and then turn and look into the mirror.

They would start dramatizing being a disgusting monster. usually for some minutes. Then they would hang up the sculpture parts, leave the booth, and continue looking at the other museum exhibits.

When they arrived at the remaining opening to the next room, they would see a large number of folding chairs set up at the far end, with people watching the other side of the half silvered mirror, and laughing at the spontaneous dramatizations they were observing.

At first they might feel embarrassed, as they had been UNMASKED, but then they would sit down and enjoy the show.

So well done on the guesses of Poly-foam.

Dan

Reply
Guru

Join Date: Oct 2008
Posts: 42355
Good Answers: 1693
#31
In reply to #30

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 6:23 PM

Very interesting. Good job.

Reply
Associate

Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 38
Good Answers: 7
#32
In reply to #31

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 9:17 PM

Thanks Lyn,

It was a fun create.

The public seemed to enjoy it as well.

Dan

Reply
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member United Kingdom - Member - New Member

Join Date: May 2007
Location: Harlow England
Posts: 16512
Good Answers: 670
#33
In reply to #30

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/14/2015 4:15 AM

Excellent...

Good to encourage the inner child in us all... too often lost or suppressed

Del

__________________
health warning: These posts may contain traces of nut.
Reply
Guru

Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Large hole formally occupied by furry woodland creature.
Posts: 3385
Good Answers: 97
#35
In reply to #30

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/14/2015 9:22 AM

Intriguing!

There was a small head high one-way mirror/window set into the fire stairway door of a department store. As the reflective side faced the jewelry department, women would try on jewelry in front of it, never suspecting three easily entertained idiots making weird faces at them.

There is also an old joke about a chicken, a one-way mirror and an observation room.

__________________
CRTL-Z
Reply
Guru
Hobbies - CNC - New Member Hobbies - DIY Welding - New Member Engineering Fields - Electromechanical Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 23647
Good Answers: 420
#36
In reply to #35

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/14/2015 11:01 AM

When I was 18, there was an estabishment that served beverages and had dances on the weekend....

They had a 78-84" high x 48" wide mirror that was framed in.... Looked like a doorway to a back room. I was going to check it out, and a fellow in front of me thought the same..BAM!..... Wow, I can see how that can start a brawl.

__________________
“ When people get what they want, they are often surprised when they get what they deserve " - James Wood
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
Guru
Hobbies - Musician - New Member

Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 523
Good Answers: 17
#23

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 11:20 AM

It's a melted turtle. I blame global warming. And G.W. Bush. And B.H. Obama.

Reply
Guru

Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Large hole formally occupied by furry woodland creature.
Posts: 3385
Good Answers: 97
#24

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 1:29 PM

Conglomerate Rock Festival?

Failed attempt to package an octopus with expanding foam?

Contents of a crockpot full of pheasant stew after a month on the back porch?

A combination of flotsam and jetsam?

__________________
CRTL-Z
Reply Score 1 for Good Answer
Guru
Hobbies - Fishing - Old Salt Hobbies - CNC - New Member United States - US - Statue of Liberty - New Member

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Rosedale, Maryland USA
Posts: 5197
Good Answers: 266
#25

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 2:46 PM

Polyureathane foam that was used to fill a void in a tree. And some type of fungus that has it in it's grip.

__________________
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty, pristine body but rather to come sliding in sideways, all used up and exclaiming, "Wow, what a ride!"
Reply
Guru
Technical Fields - Project Managers & Project Engineers - New Member

Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Texas.Baytown
Posts: 697
Good Answers: 26
#26

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 2:47 PM

My ex wife (on a good day)

__________________
If you want to know how well a broom works you do not ask the guy selling the broom or the guy who designed the broom, you ask the guy using the broom.
Reply Score 1 for Good Answer
Power-User

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Brampton, ON, Canada
Posts: 218
Good Answers: 3
#27
In reply to #26

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 3:02 PM

Hey, I think I might be married to your ex-wife!!!!

Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
Power-User

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Brampton, ON, Canada
Posts: 218
Good Answers: 3
#28
In reply to #27

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 3:06 PM

Just kidding!

Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Safety - ESD - New Member Hobbies - Fishing - New Member

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Near Frankfurt am Main, Germany. 50.390866N, 8.884827E
Posts: 17996
Good Answers: 200
#29
In reply to #28

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/13/2015 4:51 PM

I know, you are NOT married to her, just living in sin maybe?

__________________
"What others say about you reveals more about them, than it does you." Anon.
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
Guru

Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Where the sun sets on OZ
Posts: 1381
Good Answers: 28
#34
In reply to #27

Re: What is It? for July 12

07/14/2015 4:52 AM

That must make me/us bigamist/s.

__________________
Where's the KaBoom? There should be a KaBoom!
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
Reply to Blog Entry 36 comments

"Almost" Good Answers:

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, vote them!
Copy to Clipboard

Users who posted comments:

Andy Germany (1); BIN95 (1); CaptMoosie (1); Dan A (3); Data Management (1); energyconversion (1); gringogreg (1); Hendrik (1); IdeaSmith (1); Jacko the Aus (1); JIMRAT (2); Johny451 (1); Kilowatt0 (1); lyn (4); Nothing is Impossible (1); ozzb (1); phoenix911 (3); Poison (2); redfred (2); reward54 (1); SimpleMind (1); SolarEagle (1); texasron (1); Unredundant (2); user-deleted-1105 (1)

Previous in Blog: What is it? for July 5   Next in Blog: What is It? for July 19

Advertisement