• Shadowedcross
    link
    fedilink
    395 months ago

    They’ve actually all been planted by time travelers just to fuck with people.

    • Pope-King Joe
      link
      fedilink
      English
      85 months ago

      This is why I couldn’t have a time machine. I’d go back in time and fuck with people. Leave a modern day Bic pen deep in a cave in New Zealand, or a randomly shaped object with no clear use made from something like titanium in a forest in the middle of Brazil.

    • @threethan@reddthat.com
      link
      fedilink
      25 months ago

      This is, by far, the most compelling theory I’ve seen.

      Given that those things were so common, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the other uses people have theorized could have happened too.

    • StametsOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      105 months ago

      This isn’t even a joke, I have an O5 ID card in my wallet. Fun little thing to pull out in moments like this lol

        • StametsOP
          link
          fedilink
          125 months ago

          God this thing has gotten so beaten up lately. Clearly not the best quality lol that or I’m the longest serving O5.

            • StametsOP
              link
              fedilink
              English
              15 months ago

              There was a dude at a store a few months back who was wearing a hoodie with the Foundation logo on it. After making the purchase when putting the card away I saw the ID and pulled it out. Said “Keep up the good work and we’ll see about those incentives.” I’ve never seen a person look both confused and ecstatic at the same time before lol

  • @JeSuisUnHombre@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    95 months ago

    Actual guess after hearing that they’re found with money. Used it to check size of coins for valuation? Sort of like how some coin counters with?

  • djsoren19
    link
    fedilink
    English
    115 months ago

    Looks like a bigass thundercube to me. Don’t wanna fiddle with them too much, they might get krangled.

  • MeatPilot
    link
    fedilink
    English
    185 months ago

    Obviously it’s a key that needs to be inserted into an ancient titan robot to power it back up.

    • @FooBarrington@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      145 months ago

      What an utterly ridiculous notion. Obviously it’s a magical battery that, once charged, can be inserted into an ancient titan robot to power it back up.

  • sp3ctr4l
    link
    fedilink
    English
    5
    edit-2
    5 months ago

    Here’s my contribution to the ‘what the fuck are these things’ guesses:

    Its a customizable, weighted D12.

    You stick the coins into the slots, then do some kind of gambling involving dice rolls.

    Part of the game is that as coins are added or removed, the weighting changes.

    Hell, it could be that you take turns tossing the thing till its full of coins, thrower has to fill the hollow upward facing hole, as a way of anteing up, then just toss it again untill its empty, thrower takes out the upward facing coin, everyone takes a drink when it lands with a hollow slot face up.

    The educated, literate people probably wouldn’t bother to write down the exact details of a low class gambling game, when literacy is rare and scrolls/books are expensive.

    The things have reportedly often been found in cabinets and drawers alongside coins.

    They vary in size… maybe some of the rather large ones could be commissioned as not a practical gambling die, but as an exxageratedly large one, as a trophy or ornament, like modern mall ninja swords or funko pops or something.

    Possibly they could also serve a practical purpose for normal people and coin minters to check that their coins are properly sized.

    Any… Roman numismatists here that can sanity check this, in terms of coin sizes?

    • @PugJesus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      135 months ago

      The educated, literate people probably wouldn’t bother to write down the exact details of a low class gambling game, when literacy is rare and scrolls/books are expensive.

      Interesting enough, the Roman Emperor Claudius, who was an enthusiastic dicer, wrote a book on gaming/gambling. It’s been lost to time, unfortunately.

      Literacy is a funny question in regards to the Roman Empire, as is the price of scrolls/books. There’s limited evidence that scrolls and books were actually cheaper in the Roman Empire than in the 15th century AD, just before and in-the-early-days-of moveable type, and that urban literacy was fairly widespread. The big problem is that the vast majority of ancient writing simply has not survived the ages.

      I’m not well-informed about the dodecahedrons or the theories surrounding them, but I’m inclined to find your explanation, while interesting, probably a bit too complex. Especially considering that coins were often slightly irregular in shape, as the mass-produced neat, perfect circles that we’re used to are a result of modern milled coinage

  • NSRXN
    link
    fedilink
    25 months ago

    it’s an oil lamp.

    use discs with or without holes to adjust brightness.