EX-Z3
ƒ/2.6
5.8 mm
1/8

What is this, or what do you want it to be?

In a weak attempt to make a more difficult puzzle, I have combined two found objects that happened to be next to each other, but are rarely combined. Strangely, one of the objects is directly responsible for a marriage that took place last summer.

37 responses to “What’s That? (17)”

  1. One object (in the center) appears to be a wiring terminal block for telephones. The other (surrounding) looks like the inside of an air duct?

  2. For the phone wires I’ll echo Rocketeer (Hi there!)
    But I don’t see an air duct. Rather a "cache" for a chair’s back element, with sliders to keep it in place 😀

    No idea about the first names of the married ones, yet…

  3. Go Rocketeer! You got one of them, and in less than 30 minutes. The wiring terminal block is actually the backside of an Ethernet patch panel, but they look identical.

    (I am going to go take some rocket photos for you).

    But it’s not an air duct. I embedded a bit more smoke & mirrors in this puzzle….

  4. Perhaps OldCola is on to something. I see what you see now in the chair back element, but perhaps instead of a chair back that would go inside, perhaps it’s a conduit for keeping wires dressed in a neat and orderly fashion?

  5. Hey, is the Ethernet patch responsible for the marriage? These new romantics. Internet does wonders. Aaaaah… *sigh* =)

    EDIT: I agree about the wire dressing…

  6. …but are rarely combined.
    That’s why I didn’t proposed wires holders…

    And about romantic Internet this story. Nothing to do with the puzzle.

  7. Alienette: Yes. The Ethernet patch panel is the culprit. But not in the way you might think.

    It was a photo with the patch panel that did the trick. A girlfriend, who goes by the name Piglet, was having a tough time finding a decent date on Match.com. Lacking a digital camera, I could see her problem. So I took some photos of her to use online, but I suggested some nice geek themes: pose with the Patch Panel; hold some rockets; ride the rocking sheep like a mechanical bull. Seemed more fetching to me…. Gotta pick the right lure when you go fishing. =)

    So, four months later, she gets engaged and married. Over dinner, the groom admits that the reason they connected is the patch panel photo. He works for Cisco! He found the photo and shared it with his co-workers, saying “How perfect is this? Is she too good to be true?” He said that this photo (visible here on Orkut) was the reason he called. And what a happy ending….

  8. I looooooove it! That´s a wonderful story and a more wonderful happy ending. I re-like it!

    Thanks for sharing. Seems you have good perception for love themes… cyber love at least! Welldone, J, well done! 0-)

    Alienette

  9. this is of course the takeoff shoot from Battlestar galactica, except it’s blocked by the Borg mothership.

  10. WOW. Fantastic creative interp!

  11. Hey ! is there a PowerBook involved in this photo? YOUR powerBook maybe?
    And a connected camera?

  12. That is such an awesome story! I even imagined it like a montage scene. lol

    It’s a great thing you did in the name of love and cables, Steve. 😀

  13. yes, brilliant ruse!

    hmmm…. did we get the outside object yet? perhaps a rack for holding papers or files?

  14. Mirrors! We’re looking at multiple reflections in mirrors!

  15. I would like to ask Mr Puzzle if the ethernet panel isn´t in fact a photograph of a panel???

    Here´s my recipe to make this picture (17):

    Materials:
    1 photo of an ehternet panel
    1 hermetic plastic box with strips
    1 small digital camera with timer
    1 person willing to do all this.

    Procedure:
    1- Bring the person to do it 😉
    2- Open the box
    3- Put the image of the ethernet photo standing on one side looking to the midle of the box.
    4- Set the camera timer ON
    5- set the flash OFF
    5- Put fast the camera standing on the other side of the box pointing to the ethernet picture.
    6- close the box
    7- wait 10 seconds…

    and VOILA! You have a wonderful Puzzle17 just baked!

    0-)

  16. Whoa! Rocketeer comes back with a strong observation (cueing off an embedded clue). So…. what would that be?

    OldCola: well… I gotta say that almost all of the photos I have posted on Flickr meet your description… Yes, it took a camera and a Mac to get this photo online… But I think it’s a bit too general to count as THE answer…. 😉

    Alieness: just saw your post…. I think I would hurt myself if I tried that….

  17. Steve, I suspected that!

    I was speaking about that kind of use!

  18. It sounds worse than it is. I only cut 3 of my 22 fingers… Not that much… 0-P

    Rocketeer: you go, man! I can´t help you coz I am a mirror-blinded alien. |-) Gotta go now… good luck!

  19. Puzzleman, you said: "I embedded a bit more "smoke & mirrors"…"

    Rocketeer says, then, that this has to do with mirrors… (that I can´t see). Does your smokes & mirrors clue, actually have to do with this?

  20. no… think about the opposite of fires on land, like, say, a submarine…. But it might help to know that a vampire would not have a problem with these mirrors…..

    OldCola: Nice link! Your method is quite clever…. mine was quite childish….

  21. ok… so I have no chances here… I´ll try to save some apples, then…

  22. If it isn’t mirrors, it’s a camera aimed at the screen of your laptop. Very similar in appearance to mirrors lined up to infinity.

  23. There are embedded mirrors… Don’t let the chromatic flickr alieness confuse you….

    The vampire point was not to deny the mirrors, but to provide a new clue….

    (as for your conjecture, check out PepsiVieux’s view on that)

  24. snify snify…
    i didn´t mean it…
    buahhhh! 0´-(

    Now.

    If you put a mirror in front of another mirror and "align" the infinite repetitions one of the two reflects on the other, and capture it with the cam? uh?

    (just read that rocketeer suggested this too)

  25. You are correct that there are two mirrors…. but vampires are scared of their own reflection, so a "hall of mirrors" effect would wig them out… =)

  26. What mirrors are not mirrors enough to prevnet vampires from flying away?

    you bewilder me, puzzleman.

  27. Ah, yes, therein lies the puzzle for a bold face adventurer…

    How can you look into two mirrors and not see your reflection?

  28. Perhaps the setup is as such:
    1 camera attached to a computer with a monitor displaying the image captured by the camera
    2 mirrors, one small and one larger
    The small mirror is at a 45 degree angle to the larger mirror, which is parallel to the monitor.

    Monitor| / |larger mirror

    camera ^

    Is this how it is set up, Jurvetson?

  29. ooh… You have once again added something fundamental to the correct answer…. but there is no computer or monitor involved with taking this shot…. You are a master of numerology….

  30. "How can you look into two mirrors and not see your reflection?"

    If they are perpendicular to each other. They say…

  31. are the mirrors facing each other, at an angle maybe?

  32. I´m immersed in an artificial alien dream. Can´t think now. C u tomorrow, my dear friends. |-)

  33. I know… the mirrors are embedded at a 45 degree angle inside a periscope. You are viewing the ethernet patch panel through a periscope.

  34. Bingo Rocketeer!! And you should get double credit for nailing both parts of this puzzle. It’s great to have a new talent in puzzlespace.

    It is a plastic periscope on the ground viewing the patch panel 2 feet above the ground.

    /
    |
    /

    Light comes in through the red ribbed sides, creating the hall of mirrors illusion.

    Hopefully, the bold text (from me, not the aliens) makes sense now. The 45 degree mirror, embedded in the plastic casing makes it impossible to see your own reflection in the mirror (just like the "folded telescopes" inside binoculars).

    I seem to alternate between "easy" and "hard" puzzles (judged purely by time to solution).

    Special credit to TroyWorks for the best creative interp.

  35. Hey CONGRATULATIONS!!! I´ve just arrived home from renewing my passport. Now THAT was a hard puzzle in realtime.

    Great and tough puzzle indeed, J. The cool thing is that rocketeer guessed BOTH parts of it.

    (note to the GT, Guessing Team: we should put an eye in this kid… he promises to be an outstanding guesser) 0-)

    A periscope… really, J, I´d have never guessed it, no matter boldface, italics, banner size fonts…

    LOL! |-)

    Now Drinks for everybody! the house pays!! Yeah…!


    ..
    .

    Steve… hey steve, don´t run away like that… Pst!! hey!

  36. Inside the HAL9000!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *