Ask Lemmy

Hmm. I have an original copy of the Space Child's Mother Goose, and a gun cabinet my dad turned into a shelf cabinet, and a collar necklace from the 1940s from Tunisia. I think that's about it. Unfortunately tossed the shirt I bought from Kurt Cobain when Nirvana came down here in I think 1990? 1989? From their little white van. I had no idea they would get famous!

A Lutheran book of Lithurgy written in Lithuanian and printed in Tilsit (Now Sovetsk, Kaliningrad) in 1914.

I had a subscription to Raspberry Pi Magazine when the Pi Zero was released. They celebrated by including a Pi Zero with the magazine in a little plastic bag glued to the cover.

I think it's so fun to have lived through the moment in history when a full computer became so commonplace they could give one out free with a magazine.

I got no idea what exactly it is besides some sort of decorative mask thing that I got from my Grandpa's house after his partner passed and their house had to be sold. No idea on backstory or anything.

I have some computer memory I'm still learning the the right terms to describe. It's a criss-cross of wires with spinning ferro magnetic beads. I also know it's not only volatile (the information gone on power down) but destructive (information gone on read). It's about the foot print of an index card, with a ton of connections on every side, maybe 1.5-2cm thick.

Neat little bit of how it used to be.

I have a kaleidoscope for the blind.

One of only 150 or 250 made (I forget which). The artist (Reinhold Marxhausen) got Alzheimer's in his final years, and is probably dead now. It looks like a metal blob, but the inside is hollow and it has are springs that vibrate and make tones to the slightest touch and heat change. Just shake it and hold it to your ear. It makes different and unique sounds depending on who is holding it, the weather, the air temperature, and so on.

I got it from a kaleidoscope collector, who sold it to me because the small handmade box it came in was damaged in shipping, and it wasn't worth as much without the box. I keep it in a handmade suede bag.

Edit: I made an Imgur post about it: https://imgur.com/gallery/kaleidoscope-blind-Ab8Xz

Signed copy of “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” by Ian Fleming. Not really worth much. Maybe $60? But as kinda a James Bond fan I think it’s cool.

I have a container of spring water that was left to me by the shaman that collected it

Can't think of anything too outrageous. I have a 24U server rack in my garage which fits with mm perfection under the stairs.

A round wall plaque of Mao Zedong. My Dad found it buried in a garden he was working on here in the UK. It was in great shape. No idea if it's Chinese or a copy.

I have a coprolith.

It's part of my bathroom's decoration.

I've got a small volcanic rock from Mt Vesuvius, a Polaroid Land camera 95A from the late 40s or 50s, and I built a magic mirror (which isn't that obscure, but lots of people find it fascinating).

I'm currently building a Guzheng out of wood from the cherry tree I used to hang out in as a kid that got destroyed in a fire with only part of the trunk remaining. Maybe only 4/10 interesting but if this were a fantasy setting that's at least a +2 magic instrument right there for the backstory its got.

i have a replica PDP-11 that i built from a kit. i think it's very cool looking.

i also have the first version of the espruino. it's a tiny microcontroller (a computer on a chip) that can only run javascript (the thing you build websites with). and not modern javascript either, the wonky 2010 kind. it's completely useless.

I went to the Ghibli museum and watched a short while I was there. The ticket to the short was a film strip from one of the movies. I have it framed.

A pre-prohibition bottle of creme de menthe shaped like a giraffe.

It's a bit higher proof than creme de menthe typically made today, not that you should drink it because it probably has dangerous chemicals coloring it green.

1998 sun micro system graphics workstation with complete driver set and user Manuel’s, original monitor and keyboard

I have a bottle of gin I distilled myself using botanicals that only grow in Patagonia.
And a set of early modern period plate armor.

Some of my favorites are sailmaking tools, like the lignum vitae seam rubber, or the ebony fid. Even the rest of the ditty bag is fun—the sailor's palm, the tarred marline, the triangular-shank hand needles, et cetera.