# What are these... things? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 11, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481 "2006-01-11T14:16:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/1 "2006-01-11T14:16:11Z")
I was on holiday for the last two weeks and a bit and as we drove down from Brisbane to Sydney - a long, torturous 12-hour-drive but never mind that for now - we passed a section of highway with [these things](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/csharpmajor/untitled.png) on the median strip, excuse the crappy picture. There were clusters of them every couple hundred metres or so about the height of a person I think (though it was hard to tell) and with an angled end and some wire things sticking out the top looking kind of like tall, skinny sticks of dynamite. They intrigue me. What the hell are they? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/2 "2006-01-11T14:24:34Z")
They could well be plastic tubes designed to stop sapling trees from being bark-stripped or otherwise damaged by animals. In this case, the wire things would be branches. [http://www.fortetub.com/microperfored.htm](http://www.fortetub.com/microperfored.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/3 "2006-01-11T14:25:47Z")
Better picture here: [http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/nursery/whyplant.aspx](http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/forestry/nursery/whyplant.aspx) ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/4 "2006-01-11T15:22:04Z")
No, no, they’re very, very narrow. I doubt you could fit a tree into one. I’m not sure if you could wrap your hands around one but you’d definitely be able to do it with your arms. And the wire things, whatever they were, were not branches. I’d never seen them before :\ ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/5 "2006-01-11T15:32:06Z")
> [@FlyingRamenMonster](#): > > No, no, they’re very, very narrow. I doubt you could fit a tree into one. I’m not sure if you could wrap your hands around one but you’d definitely be able to do it with your arms. And the wire things, whatever they were, were not branches. I’d never seen them before :\ They’re satellite transponders. 🙂 Seriously, my friends have four identical vent pipes arranged in a square on the roof of their house, and they convinced a visitor that they were satellite transponders… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/6 "2006-01-11T15:39:27Z")
I’m a little confused: > [@FlyingRamenMonster](#): > > No, no, they’re very, very narrow. I doubt you could fit a tree into one. OK… so they’re narrow… > [@](#): > > I’m not sure if you could wrap your hands around one but you’d definitely be able to do it with your arms. …And now you’re describing something much _ **wider** _ than the tubes I linked to - the tree protection tubes are less than four inches in diameter - they’re for protecting saplings. > [@](#): > > And the wire things, whatever they were, were not branches. I’d never seen them before :\ Could they not have been bare twigs? What made you conclude they were wires? ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/7 "2006-01-11T16:06:19Z")
Two possibilities come to mind. 1) They are vent pipes for underground gas pipeline(s). 2) They are fiber-optic plenum access points. BTW, that is a truly remarkable illustration. Bad, but remarkable. ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/8 "2006-01-11T17:03:02Z")
> [@Danalan](#): > > BTW, that is a truly remarkable illustration. Bad, but remarkable. Reminds me of [This](http://www.beatmuseum.org/pollock/bluepoles.html) I have no clue what those things are. Red Poles with spiky bits? ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/9 "2006-01-11T17:10:30Z")
Were they in an exact square pattern? If so, maybe they’re going to be putting up billboards or signs of some sort, and the tubes are protecting the top ends of the bolts set in cement, and the wires sticking out are power lines? ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/10 "2006-01-11T17:11:45Z")
> [@Danalan](#): > > BTW, that is a truly remarkable illustration. Bad, but remarkable. Funniest thing I’ve read in days. Thanks. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/11 "2006-01-11T17:25:50Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I’m a little confused:OK… so they’re narrow…And now you’re describing something much _ **wider** _ than the tubes I linked to - the tree protection tubes are less than four inches in diameter - they’re for protecting saplings. > > Could they not have been bare twigs? What made you conclude they were wires? Well, it was kind of hard to tell how big they were really, being several metres away in a moving car and all, but they were a lot taller than they were wide and just didn’t seem sapling-_proportioned_ the way your tubes did. Plus the wires were _white_. And hanging out in a way that did not suggest branches, just sort of… flopping over the side in a bunch. > [@Danalan](#): > > Two possibilities come to mind. 1) They are vent pipes for underground gas pipeline(s). 2) They are fiber-optic plenum access points. What you say? Plenum access points? Do underground gas pipelines need wires hanging out? (I’m not sure if they were wires, strings, ropes? Can’t really think of a word for it.) > [@](#): > > BTW, that is a truly remarkable illustration. Bad, but remarkable. Uh, is that good or bad? 😃 > [@Ethilrist](#): > > Were they in an exact square pattern? If so, maybe they’re going to be putting up billboards or signs of some sort, and the tubes are protecting the top ends of the bolts set in cement, and the wires sticking out are power lines? No, there were more of them than that, I just got lazy 😛 They _were_ arranged neatly in a grid sort of pattern but I dunno if that’s because they needed to be like that or because it’s just the tidier thing to do. The picture on the right is pretty much what they looked like, by the way. Except probably thinner. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/12 "2006-01-11T23:06:31Z")
They could be the ends of unpopulated cable conduits; the white things hanging out could be cords for pulling cables through after installation. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2006, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/13 "2006-01-11T23:14:50Z")
The results of some sort of weird “beautifying the Pacific Highway with modern sculpture” program? The RTA does some very strange things. 🙂 Seriously though, my brother-in-law works at the RTA. I’ll see if he knows. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/14 "2006-01-14T15:14:17Z")
A teeeeeny little bump, just to show I’m still interested :3 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things/339481/15 "2006-01-14T23:32:36Z")
My brother-in-law did not know, but he’s going to ask around within the RTA.