# Got something cool that only true aficionados recognize? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 8, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091 "2015-02-08T03:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/21 "2015-02-08T17:39:32Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > As soon as I played that clip I knew I’d heard that sound somewhere else…it’s in the theme music for [Taxi](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1QJ8ijnNxM). By the way, the first comment I saw on that “Taxi” video made me smile (and might have caused a bit of dust to get in my eye 🙂 > [@greatestgift99 on YouTube](#): > > I remember watching this with my grandma…jus the light from the tv and her fan in the background. seemed like all was right in the world! I miss those times \<3 ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/22 "2015-02-08T17:43:21Z")
I live next to some railroad tracks. Erected on my property, and next to the tracks, (no fences) is my ancient (1912) operational semaphore signal. To the vast number of the populace it’s just a signal next to the tracks. But a railfan will know that there aren’t more than than a handful of these things in the U.S. outside of museums. During the summer travel season I occasionally get visitors asking for permission to see it up close. Then I operate the thing and it blows their socks off. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/23 "2015-02-08T17:46:13Z")
> [@ASGuy](#): > > I live next to some railroad tracks. Erected on my property, and next to the tracks, (no fences) is my ancient (1912) operational semaphore signal. To the vast number of the populace it’s just a signal next to the tracks. But a railfan will know that there aren’t more than than a handful of these things in the U.S. outside of museums. During the summer travel season I occasionally get visitors asking for permission to see it up close. Then I operate the thing and it blows their socks off. And they’re more impressed when you send the 5:15 to Wichita off to Missoura. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/24 "2015-02-08T18:18:59Z")
Avast! I’ve got the whole run of EC Segar’s Thimble Theater comic strip in 6 large hardbound books. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/25 "2015-02-08T18:26:00Z")
> [@asguy](#): > > i live next to some railroad tracks. Erected on my property, and next to the tracks, (no fences) is my ancient (1912) operational semaphore signal. To the vast number of the populace it’s just a signal next to the tracks. But a railfan will know that there aren’t more than than a handful of these things in the u.s. Outside of museums. During the summer travel season i occasionally get visitors asking for permission to see it up close. Then i operate the thing and it blows their socks off. poidh 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/26 "2015-02-08T18:52:10Z")
A lot of amusement park ride parts like the grip bars from “Hangman” and several coaster brakes from West View Park. “Geee-- those boat oars look kinda big and heavy to me”. ---
**Author:** ![Glass\_Joe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ccd318/32.png) [@Glass\_Joe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glass_Joe)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/27 "2015-02-08T19:10:07Z")
I have a few custom pool cues and cases. My most valuable would be by Ernie Gutierrez who builds Ginacues. He’s been building since the 60’s and probably makes, on average, way less then 100 cues a year. Outside of the small collector hobby, he would be all but unknown. Here’s one example of the type of things he does. [http://cuezilla.com/cue-54-ginacue/](http://cuezilla.com/cue-54-ginacue/) I’m also on the wait list of a couple other top builders, one of which is over 10 years long. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/28 "2015-02-08T19:42:50Z")
When I was into collecting shit, I bought Lilliput Lane cottages whenever I traveled to London. At one time I had [Schloss Neuschwanstein](http://thumbs4.picclick.com/d/l400/pict/151523391151_/Lilliput-Lane-Neuschwanstein-Castle-Schloss-Neuschwanstein.jpg), which now sells for about $500. Should have held onto it, I guess. I sold most of them on ebay and gave others to my daughter. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/29 "2015-02-08T19:55:32Z")
I collect old medical books, and also have an Amazon account on which I sell all kinds of things. I found an 1892 book by Dr. Osler at the tail end of a rummage sale, when they were selling things for $5 a box, and found out recently that this book, which is in very poor condition, is worth at least $1,000. :eek: 🆒 I actually don’t even care if anyone buys it; I just think it’s cool that I have one. Among other things, it has an 18-page chapter on typhoid fever, and about the same amount of space devoted to cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, mostly because not only did very few people live long enough at that time to get those diseases, not much could be done about it if they did. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/30 "2015-02-08T20:27:34Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Question for the Trinitite owners… > > Is this something that is recognizable by another Trinitite fan? In other words, if **Amateur Barbarian** were visiting **beowulff** ’s flat would s/he instantly say “Wow, I see you have a piece of Trinitite there” > > * * * > > Is the spotlight bulb pressurized? I used to be a projectionist, and I would be lying if I said I did not tremble in fear when I changed the xenon projection bulbs—those things had high pressure gas in them and exploded like hand grenades. Every once in a while one would explode during a show and I would find dents and gouges in the inside walls of the affected lamp house. Trinitite isn’t obviously recognizable, but it’s distinctive enough that if I saw a piece, I’d ask if that’s what it was… As for the bulb - it’s _way_ older than xenon-arc technology! It’s probably 1960’s vintage, and I’m sure that it’s either vacuum or inert-gas filled. It has tungsten “sand” inside that can be swirled around to remove envelope blackening. I decided to take it down, clean the dust off of it and take a [photo](http://cl.ly/image/3V2M290C180A). The coin is a 1972 $1 piece for scale. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/31 "2015-02-08T20:35:33Z")
I have a baseball from Imperial Japan. I think that’s pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/32 "2015-02-08T20:37:26Z")
I have a Randall #14 and a Chris Reeve Sebenza. If those names mean nothing to you, then you wouldn’t appreciate them even if I said here what they are. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/33 "2015-02-08T21:08:26Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I have a Randall #14 and a Chris Reeve Sebenza. If those names mean nothing to you, then you wouldn’t appreciate them even if I said here what they are. I have a Gerber Paul and a Boker Ceramic…oh, and a Winchester 1920…😉 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/34 "2015-02-08T21:24:54Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Trinitite isn’t obviously recognizable, but it’s distinctive enough that if I saw a piece, I’d ask if that’s what it was… Pretty much. Nothing else looks quite like it, although I guess you could polish a piece of aerated lava rock and claim it was a piece. Combining my “cool stuff” list - I’d love to have the piece of trinitite that Heinlein got from the site ca. 1947 (and kept in a lead-lined box, because it was still mildly radioactive then). I know who has it. Also who has a set of books he once owned… and refuses to talk to me about buying them even though they’d never miss them. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![InsomniaMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ad7895/32.png) [@InsomniaMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InsomniaMama)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/35 "2015-02-09T03:38:17Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > I have a red solo cup that Weird Al drank out of on June 3, 2002. :o Oh, yeah? Well, I have a fairly nice serving bowl that Echo and the Bunnymen ate potato salad out of, around 1988. Can’t remember the exact date, but it was in Urbana. I don’t think we’re doing this right … ---
**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:** [February 9, 2015, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/36 "2015-02-09T06:20:56Z")
Various Odd-ball motorcycles. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/37 "2015-02-09T07:32:54Z")
I have a rock in my yard with all three [aluminosilicates](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminosilicate). These are the classic example of what metamorphic petrologists call index minerals. They have identical chemical compositions but depending on the temperature and pressure conditions in which they cooled they form one of three distinct looking minerals. This rock cooled pretty much right at the triple point on the phase chart, though, so it has all three of them! ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/38 "2015-02-09T07:43:05Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > I’d look at that advertisement and say “neat mic” but I’m sure there are one or two enthusiasts who would zero right in on it. > > I like nice watches because these days they fly right below the radar, and I can enjoy them without feeling like a poser. I don’t have a Piaget, but I do wear a SS Rolex Submariner, so often copied that nobody even notices it, and often a [Omega Speedmaster Pro](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Speedmaster) “Moon Watch”, and nobody around me has a clue that it was the first watch worn on the moon. The mic is not what the enthusiasts would notice. It Al Schmitt, winner of 21 Grammys and his autograph thanking me. The first question is always, “How do you know Al?” I have a handful (armful?) of watches that no one in the States knows, an IWC, my Breitling Chronomat (still my favorite), a Baume & Mercier, and a Rado, plus a few miscellaneous cheaper ones. Japanese are much more into watches. Wearing the Piaget gets some really wide eyes. I have to admit, I got it on a very special (and legitimate) deal. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/39 "2015-02-09T13:00:49Z")
**TokyoBayer** , I’d definitely recognize your watches and possibly ask you about them. 🆒 > [@Gatopescado](#): > > Various Odd-ball motorcycles. One of my friends spent a summer rebuilding an old Triumph with his father-in-law. I remember the day he showed it off to me, pointing out all of the different bits and pieces he had to find online, telling me about its 6-volt positive ground ignition, and other interesting stuff. I recalled how a Harley rider once told me that nothing but a Harley Davidson can park next to other Harleys…_unless_ it’s something cool like a Triumph or an Indian. But I wouldn’t have recognized my friend’s Triumph as anything other than “a motorcycle.” I’m sure most motorcycle folks would have recognized it. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091/40 "2015-02-09T13:46:21Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > **TokyoBayer** > > I recalled how a Harley rider once told me that nothing but a Harley Davidson can park next to other Harleys…_unless_ it’s something cool like a Triumph or an Indian. Harley people are just full of bons mots like that. They have to have something to keep them amused while their bikes are sitting there, leaking oil. Those of us who have other brands are too busy having fun riding to worry about things like what is parked next to us. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-something-cool-that-only-true-aficionados-recognize/712091.md?page=3)