| Wednesday, 6-Jun-2007 20:13 |
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Think About It Thursday #66 -- THE SOLUTION IS HERE!
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Uh-oh! No ding-ding-ding this week. At least, not exactly. But I'm in a giving mood, and I'm going to be handing out a grand prize to the closest guesser. Ready for the breakdown? Read on!
Richard's onto this electrical thing, telling us that these are water meter or electricity meter dials; something along the electric lines, so to speak. And while these aren't dials, they are definitely of an electrical nature. (By the way, the microwave over transmogrifier came from a ka-put kitchen appliance. It was still oozing atom-smashing energy as I moved it around and fotographed it. I felt all warm inside, and then I went sterile.)
Juli, formerly known as Hollywood Jules (maybe), harkened back to her youth, when she tried to break into the movie biz, running errands, being a scene slate slapper, and, (rumor has it,) occasionally "fluffing." How many numerals are on a scene slate? I have never considered that before. Hmmm! (So then I Googled it, and see only analog scene slates in the results. The question remains unanswered!)
Juli, for her second round, guessed this was a house number sign. Is it uber-geek, or ultra-cool? I think it's a swell idea, but it'd have to be a lot larger.
Wednesday Bratz: I ask the questions, you guess the answers. But, yes, I noticed that. I kinda wish it would encourage more participation. And I also wish that I would be a regular updater. DOH!
The Bratz, for their second round, gave an appropriately tech answer. Made me think of those other cool '80s Cold-War era movies, like Red Dawn. I had forgotten the WOPR acronym, but you're a whiz with this stuff.
Rajiv stopped by and offered that this is a bar sign. I assume that means like a neon sign over a bar, with one of the letters always blinking and flickering, like it's supposed to if it's a cool old bar.
Wade, deer slayer, good to see you're okay, buddy! LEDs and old appliances are so yesterday. But not as yesterday as this thing. Nice guess. That magnatron came from the space shuttle or something....
Jennifer S. was here with an answer that was sorta kinda not quite almost definitive. But she's correct that the numbers change, but they aren't neon and it's not a sign. And then, of course, she correctly pointed out that I'm way tardy again.
JP and Beavis seem to have the same IP address this week. What are the chances of THAT happening? As the official Thursday Admin, I will seek a court-ordered cease and desist order against Beavis if he continues to impersonate actual contestants.
Richard, on his second visit, actually guessed it exactly correctly! Wow!
Uh, not really. Sorry, dude. But I liked how didn't have a clue and used that as a basis for your guess anyway. 
The answer is that this is part of an old (old!) piece of test equipment. It is the display from a Hewlett-Packard counter, and the old vacuum tube displays are called "Nixie tubes."
I'm awarding the grand prize this week to Richard, who used the words "electrical" (it is) and "meter" (like maybe it's a count-o-meter) and who was first in with any guess at all. Cheers, mate!
Another techie-type of clue for this week's techie puzzler. I'm gonna give a two-part prize this week. Guess what is the entire contraption from which this puzzler has been taken - that's one half. Guess what these things are called specifically - that's the second half. Be the first to correctly answer both parts, and take home the official Grand Prize!
As usual, take a very thoughtful look at this "Huh?" clue and tell us in the comments section below what you think it is. Good luck, chums! 
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