# any idea what this could be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335 "2014-05-27T01:27:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335/21 "2014-05-27T17:12:52Z")
> [@baileygrrrl](#): > > they sent an officer over to have a look. He said he thought it was some home made tool and took it away to dispose of it. Hmm. Damn. Was probably worth a lot of money, then. šŸ˜› ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335/22 "2014-05-27T17:16:16Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Iā€™m frankly a little amused that the overwhelming consensus is that itā€™s a bomb or dangerous. Thatā€™s because the terrorists have won! ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335/23 "2014-05-27T17:24:38Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Iā€™m frankly a little amused that the overwhelming consensus is that itā€™s a bomb or dangerous. I think that the overwhelming consensus actually is that thereā€™s a _chance_ itā€™s a bomb or dangerous. Even if itā€™s an extremely tiny chance, which is my opinion, no reason to risk life and limb over it. Iā€™d probably call the cops, and very likely feel a bit embarrassed when it turns out to be a proctologists instrument or whatever. But Iā€™d still feel it was the choice at the time. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335/24 "2014-05-27T17:35:45Z")
My guess was that it was a discarded bottle which had been used in the ā€œshake and bakeā€ method of cooking meth. Thatā€™s a big problem around here. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335/25 "2014-05-27T18:50:35Z")
I bet itā€™s a bomb and most likely dangerous. I would get out of the house and call the bomb dogs to come out and take it away before it explodesā€¦ ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2014, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335/26 "2014-05-27T22:46:57Z")
Looked like a waste of electrical tape to me. ---
**Author:** ![busterpickle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335/27 "2014-05-28T01:17:36Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > I think **Mangetout** is very close. A better set of pictures would have helped greatly. There is barely enough resolution to make the basics out, and a couple of more angles would help work out the possible functions. > > But, a few possible (hard to fully make out) things strike me. The ends of at least two of the cylinders look like they terminate in a screw fitting - one that looks a lot like a screw coaxial fitting rather than a water/fluid fitting. The other ends look like open cylinders, and whilst again might be pipe, look a lot to me like very low loss hard line coaxial cable shields. > > The next clue is that there are three tied together, and one has the remains of some poly rope solidly tied to it. This looks a lot like the end of a bundle of three distribution quality coaxial cables that have been dragged somewhere, and this end cut off allowing the cables to be properly terminated in the final equipment. The screw terminations were probably used to test the cable (probably with a TDR) to ensure there were no issues, before the cables were finally installed. > > Hard to judge the size, but maybe something like QR-860 coaxial cable. If there has been activity from a cable Internet company nearby this maybe a bit of waste. The bleaching and degradation of the poly rope suggests that it has been lying in the sun for some time. Bingo. Way back when I used to make such things to drag coax and LAN cables through building conduit to protect the cable. ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335/28 "2014-05-28T01:25:29Z")
Iā€™m glad it turned out to be nothing, but if it were me I would definitely had called the cops to check it out. I would know that the odds are it was harmless, but the odds would have had to be a whole lot better before Iā€™d risk my life finding out. Thereā€™s some crazy people out there. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335/29 "2014-05-28T13:07:24Z")
> [@MrKnowItAll](#): > > I would know that the odds are it was harmless, but the odds would have had to be a whole lot better before Iā€™d risk my life finding out. Thereā€™s some crazy people out there. And itā€™s not like there was even a small chance of some kind of potential reward. The odds of danger were tiny, but the odds of it being something worth looking into were even smaller. I could see risking the tiny odds of it being dangerous if there were comparable odds of say, it being full of diamonds. But to fuck with this thing would be to risk the tiny odds of it being dangerous with the near certain hope that itā€™s random harmless garbage. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335/30 "2014-05-28T15:01:05Z")
> [@PlainJain](#): > > Geocache? > > Iā€™m frankly a little amused that the overwhelming consensus is that itā€™s a bomb or dangerous. > [@MrKnowItAll](#): > > Iā€™m glad it turned out to be nothing, but if it were me I would definitely had called the cops to check it out. I would know that the odds are it was harmless, but the odds would have had to be a whole lot better before Iā€™d risk my life finding out. Thereā€™s some crazy people out there. My decision-making rule for situations like this is to ask, ā€œWhat are the consequences of a miscalculation?ā€ By this rule, calling the police was the correct thing to do. This rule has served me well in many situations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-idea-what-this-could-be/689335.md?page=1)