Identify this:

[Weevil]

It looks like a lot of plastic. What is the reason those used-up empty bleach containers can't be one or two large containers?

 

[Archibald Nixon]

Now I have no idea what you're talking about.

Newpage image bump:

 

[Archibald Nixon]

The blue tubes come out of them. There is a reason they are distributed like that.

Ah --sorry. Yes, there is a reason. They're actually metal (the "containers",) because the heat involved would eventually melt or deteriorate any plastic, and this is something designed to be used every day, for hours at a time.

There are only a handful of similar such devices in the US and the world --most cities have them. This one's in New York City. A friend of mine works with it, and sent me a bunch of pics from earlier this year, which I'll post once someone gets it.

 

[Weevil]

A fancy compressor?

 

[Archibald Nixon]

Okay, two hints:

1. It's of German design & manufacture. A top company in the field.

2. One thing about those blue hoses that (it only just occurred to me) may be misleading: they're sheaths --that is, they're not hollow tubes that air or liquid passes through. It's more like shielding.

 

[FBI parte due]

Some kind of light display, then?

PERHAPS EVEN a planetarium?

 

[Conchaga]

BMW or Mercedes?

 

[FBI parte due]

What do you think the chances are of people being able to puzzle out exactly which planetarium it is?

I'm kind of stuck in between things at the moment (my laptop died recently and I'll be traveling back East for the holidays tomorrow), so it may be a few days before I can come through with something genuinely interesting.

 

[Archibald Nixon]

Some kind of light display, then?

PERHAPS EVEN a planetarium?

Introducing a Zeiss IX @ the American Museum of Natural History's Rose Center, aka the Hayden Planetarium. Most major planetariums use these guys for their star machines, but RC's is unique in that their planetarium is actually an 80' sphere suspended on stilts, and this apparatus is housed in a covered pit under the floor. It's raised/lowered (through what my buddy calls the "Cthulhu Door"*) before or even during a show, to great effect. Sadly, it's not used that much these days, as the place mostly runs CGI-type shows projected through LCD projectors --they're pretty cool, but the you just can't get the sharpness of a clear, starry night with current digital-projection technology. With the Zeiss, however...I swear you'd think you were out in a North Dakota field on a perfectly clear night.

*Weevil will appreciate this the most: the door (about 8'x12') slides diagonally in & out of the floor.

:techman:

 

[Archibald Nixon]

It's a laser... but I don't know what kind.

Part of the same system, but hardly used at all anymore. That sphere's a bit larger than a basketball, & the whole thing telescopes up.

 

[Archibald Nixon]

I'm kind of stuck in between things at the moment (my laptop died recently and I'll be traveling back East for the holidays tomorrow), so it may be a few days before I can come through with something genuinely interesting.

Any takers? I'll put up something tomorrow if no-one has anything.

 

[Archibald Nixon]

This should be pretty easy:

 

[missmanners]

mmmm a bordello?


mm

 

[Dr. Death]

Miss Manners bedroom?

Wild Child's "playroom"?

 

[Weevil]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_Room

If that's correct, I offer a similarly easy one:

 

[Archibald Nixon]

Bedbugs. It HAS to be bedbugs, because they are currently threatening my marriage.

 

[FBI parte due]

Water bear?

 

[Weevil]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_bear

Tardigrades are polyextremophiles and are able to survive in extreme environments that would kill almost any other animal. Some can survive temperatures of -273°C, close to absolute zero, temperatures as high as 151 °C (303 °F), 1,000 times more radiation than other animals such as humans, almost a century without water, and even the vacuum of space.

In September 2007, tardigrades were taken into low Earth orbit on the FOTON-M3 mission and for 10 days were exposed to the vacuum of space. After they were returned to Earth, it was discovered that many of them survived and laid eggs that hatched normally, making these the only animals shown to be able to survive the vacuum of space.

They should be taught how to troll.

 

[FBI parte due]

Fuuuuuck. ✗

 

[FBI parte due]

OK, so I'm still coming down from the acid and mostly choosing this by means of the fact that it looks really pretty, so feel free to veto this or something.

Author is fine, you don't have to identify the specific tract (I'd have no way of checking).