"What Are These Medal Things On The Corner Of These Stairs And What Is Their Purpose?"
Answer: "Corner dust guards. They make it easier to sweep dust out of the corners."
"Iron Cone On Either Side Of A Gate Outside The Entry To A Building In Bath England"
Answer: "It's a snuffer. A visitor to your house would use it to put out their torch."
"Old Ruler. I Don’t Know How It Is Used Or What Does It Measure"
Answer: "Slide rule, logarithmic calculating device. These put humans on the moon."
"Object Found While Hiking Off-Road In Bosnia. Notice The Spikes Near The End! Wondering What It Is"
Answer: "DON'T GO HIKING IN BOSNIA IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE ARE YOU GOING. it is full of unmarked mine fields."
"Small Elephant Filled With Water Left At Flat After Party. Debating With Flatmates Over What It’s Purpose Could Be"
Answer: "It's a melted reusable ice cube"
"Sunset Pic I Took From Jfk Airport. Could These Shadows Be The Manhattan Skyline?"
Answer: "I live near Mt. Rainier and this happens too, only at dawn. The mountain casts its shadow on the underside of the clouds. This is just as impressive as that."
"Found On The Dashboard Of An Old Gmc. A Lucite Like Material, With Ridges"
Answer: "It's a traffic light viewer. Traffic lights back in the day were mounted on the same side you stopped on which sometimes made it difficult to see the light if you were first in line, this helped reflect the light from above so you could tell when the light changed."
"Random-Ish Straight But Not Paralel Lines Next To My Office Building… What’s Happening Here?"
Answer: "You probably live in the UK, where planning authorities often require developers to do "evaluation trial trenching" to make sure there are no important archaeological artifacts that might be destroyed by excavation. If the trial trenches turn up anything interesting, a more serious archaeological dig may be required before building can begin."
"4m High Funnel With 3 Outlets Near A Playground And A Beer Garden In Germany"
Answer: "It's a three-way basketball hoop (Balltrichter mit drei Ausgängen). You can score, but you don't know who gets the ball next. My kids school just got one. The kids love it."
"Brass Or Copper Like Thing In Bathroom Door Handle"
Answer: "Copper kills bacteria and germs."
"What Is This Growth On My Mugs After I Microwave Them?"
Answer: "Ceramicist here. So clay bodies are porous, depending on the material. Porcelain is dense, and earthware and stoneware is less. Either way liquids can move through fired clay. Glaze that goes on the outside can look solid, but can have hundreds of tiny cracks and holes. When you microwave liquids or just let them sit in a ceramic vessel they can seep through and crystallize in the cracks and holes. This usually only happens with hand made or cheap ceramics."
"Found At A Used Book Store. All Parts Rotate And The Markings/Months Makes Me Think It Could Be For Mapping?"
Answer: "An astrolabe, the ancient times GPS. Used usually for navigation, also for time measure and other science uses. I got one similar as a keyring."
"What Is This Hatch I've Seen On The Outside Of Houses In The UK?"
Answer: "It's a boot scraper, for getting the mud off your shoes before going in. They are pretty common."
"Sliding Tray With Holes On Both Sides Of This Sofa"
Answer: "Tray table. It has another piece to it. It’s a tray with matching pegs. Tray goes on top and the pegs slide in. They fit together so the tray sits tightly. Then you take the tray back to the kitchen and put the sliding part back so it’s not in the way."
"Blue Glass Thing Found At Goodwill. About 5 Inches High With A Hole In Top"
Answer: "That is a whale oil lamp. Hand blown glass. Very odd blue color. Not cheap !"
"This Little Hole Appeared In My Parents' Bedroom"
Answer: "Was a kid. Shot my parent’s window with a bb gun once and got grounded for a month. Hole was exactly this."
"A Scissors Like Device I Bought Years Ago On Flee Market"
Answer: "It’s a vintage umbilical clamp. That’s why it’s shaped like a stork! Eventually this style did evolve into several types of embroidery scissors that the midwives would use while awaiting labor."
"What Is This Thing Used For? A Book With Black Blank Pages Alternating With Thin Translucent Pages"
Answer: "Photo-Album. You stick paper photos on the black pages. The transparent pages are for protection."
"What Are These Sets Of Seven Dimples On Styrofoam?"
Answer: "While many plastic objects have little marks on them where the liquid plastic is injected into the mold, expanded polystyrene objects ("Styrofoam") aren't made this way. Instead, small granules of plastic are pre-treated with steam in a large hopper, which causes them to expand into little foam pellets. These foam pellets are poured into the mold, and then additional steam is injected in, causing the pellets to swell even more until they completely fill the mold. The little seven-dot marks are steam injection points."
"What Is This Big Round Well-Type Thing In The Middle Of The Women’s Restroom? It’s In An Older Bathroom And It Doesn’t Seem To Have Any Water Running To Or From It… Just A Big Cylinder With A Drain In It"
Answer: "It's a sink. For washing your hands. You step on the ring to start the water."
"Found A Large Metallic Cylinder On The Beach Of Husavik, Iceland. What Is This?"
Answer: "Solved! We asked around and it turns out that these are submarine detectors, nothing to worry about, no explosive inside!"
"What Is This Drain In Front Of The Door Of This House? Living In Snowborne Areas, I Never Saw A Drain Like That Anywhere. Anyone Know The Purpose?"
Answer: "To kick snow off your shoes."
"What Is This Thing? Several Surgical Instruments Were Found Nearby, But It Might Be Not Related To Them At All"
Answer: "It looks like it was a primitive tool used in the past to assist in birth. Yeouch. A bit of further googling tells me they were used to reduce the size of a babies head if it was too big to deliver, by drainage of the cerebrospinal fluid. Known as destructive delivery. Generally (I hope) for cases where the fetus is already non-living. Frightful."
"What Is This Silver Metal Thing With Narrow Bridge And Spoon Like End?"
Answer: "Ear cleaners, use them to scoop wax more common in eastern countries. Might be confused for a drug utensil by American police as they imagine people snorting the tiniest cocaine hit ever."
"These Bakery Window Decorations From Kiki's Delivery Service"
Answer: "Knäckebröd. The movie's aesthetics is heavily inspired by a trip Miyazaki took to Sweden. Yes just to clarify its a Swedish/Scandinavian hard bread."
"What Is This Large Vessel I Found In The Basement Of An Old Psychiatric Hospital?"
Answer: "Looks like a great big autoclave."
"This Piece Of Brass And Possibly Lead Is Embedded In A Piece Of Planed Wood. It Has Been Sitting On A Shelf For Years And I Have No Idea What It May Have Been"
Answer: "That's a bullet. Someone shot it into a tree and cut it in half. The rough part of the wood is the bullet path."
"What Is Using This Little Wooden House In My Garden?"
Answer: "It's for any of the solitary bees, like mason bees."
"I Found This Odd Set Of Disposable Cutlery (?) In A New Flat I Just Moved Into"
Answer: "Yes, definitely cake or clay modeling."
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Pretty sure you are wrong.... the black/blue pages in those are thin. photo looks more like an album.
Better... er... what? That would depend on the specific function of the slide rule. I used these in an engineering drawing office early 70's
#56... That is what is left after removing a metal screen that was painted at one time
came with firearm accesories... Probably a wick for old gun.
But the two things can look more or less identical.