'Strange' plastic tube with orangish liquid in leaves people baffled but it has a very handy use
The confused finder took to Reddit 's popular 'What Is This Thing' forum posting a photo of the mysterious item.
They shared a photo of a small plastic cylinder with an orange stopper.
In the caption, they admitted they were completely stumped by what appeared to be a random piece of debris found floating around their home.
'So I found this little plastic tube filled with an orangish looking liquid in my living room,' they wrote in the Reddit Post.
'Not sure really what it could have come from and can't find anything that really matches it from looking online.'
The post quickly reached hundreds of users on Reddit with many offering up their reactions and some solving the mystery.
Internet sleuths quickly revealed the object's surprising everyday use.
The observant users immediately recognized the object as something millions of people once used daily - a fountain pen ink cartridge.
One user commented: 'It's a fountain pen ink cartridge.'
Another clarified it was 'a standard international cartridge' commonly used by numerous pen manufacturers.
The revelation sparked a wave of nostalgia from older Reddit users who remembered using similar pens decades ago.
'When I was in elementary school that's the kind of pens we had to use, ball point pens weren't invented yet,' recalled one commenter. 'This was early 60's, and when they leaked it was a mess.'
Another user said: 'I used to use them in the 90's, Schaeffer maybe?' referring to the popular pen manufacturer.
This is just the latest mystery solved on the Subreddit page.
Last month, a sofa owner shared that he spent years questioning what the bendy part of his couch is for - before learning the strange feature actually has a simple explanation.
The Reddit user, Necessary-Comedian78, shared an image of his sofa on the popular r/whatisthisthing forum, sparking an online debate after questioning the 'mysterious folding mechanism'.
'What's the function of this folding thing in the back of my couch?' the confused owner wrote alongside a photo of the furniture item.
'I've had this couch for years and for the life of me can't figure out what it's intended for.'
They added: 'It's very uncomfortable if I put the cushions back when it's folded because they don't have enough support.'
The post quickly went viral, with hundreds of users rushing to solve the mystery that had been troubling the homeowner for years.
The real reason behind the mysterious folding mechanism turns out to serve a practical purpose that many furniture owners remain completely unaware of.
A sofa owner has spent years perplexed by a bendy feature of his couch - before learning the odd feature actually has a simple explanation
Many users highlighted the design function allows furniture manufacturers to create larger pieces that can still get through standard doorways.
'It's just to make the back flush with the arms - the cushions should sit flush as well if you put them on the seats - so it's more compact for shipping and storage,' explained one commenter.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BreakingNews.ie
4 hours ago
- BreakingNews.ie
‘Grandma won't be able to pay for it anymore': Library book from 1943 returned
A library book has been returned nearly 82 years after it was borrowed from a library in Texas. The book – Your Child, His Family, And Friends by marriage and family counsellor Frances Bruce Strain – came with a letter noting that 'Grandma won't be able to pay for it anymore'. Advertisement It was checked out in July 1943 and returned this June by a person in Oregon, the San Antonio Public Library said. 'After the recent death of my father, I inherited a few boxes of books he left behind,' the person wrote in a letter that was shared by the library on Instagram and signed with the initials P.A.A.G. The book was a guide for parents on helping their children navigate personal relationships. It was checked out when the person's father was 11 years old. Advertisement 'The book must have been borrowed by my Grandmother, Maria del Socorro Aldrete Flores (Cortez),' the person wrote. 'In that year, she transferred to Mexico City to work at the US Embassy. She must have taken the book with her, and some 82 years later, it ended up in my possession.' The book had received write-ups in various newspapers at the time. The Cincinnati Enquirer described it in June 1943 as a 'complete guidebook to the personal relationships of the child with his family and the outside world'. Advertisement The New York Times noted a month later that Strain was a psychologist and mother of two who was 'best known for her wise, sensitive, but unsentimental presentation of sex education'. The person who returned the book wrote in the letter: 'I hope there is no late fee for it because Grandma won't be able to pay for it anymore.' The library said in a news release that it eliminated overdue fines in 2021. The inside cover of the book was stamped with the warning that the fine for overdue books was three cents a day. Advertisement Not accounting for inflation, the penalty would amount to nearly 900 dollars (£663). Three cents in July 1943 amounts to 56 cents (41p) in today's money, according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics' Inflation Calculator. That would add up to more than 16,000 dollars (£11,800). The library noted that the book is in 'good condition'. Advertisement It will be on display in the city's central library throughout August. It will then be donated to the Friends of San Antonio Public Library and sold to benefit the library. Eight decades may seem like a long time for an overdue library book, but it is nowhere near the record. Guinness World Records says the most overdue library book was returned to Sidney Sussex College at the University of Cambridge in 1956. It was borrowed in 1668, some 288 years earlier. No fine was extracted.
The Independent
6 hours ago
- The Independent
Parts of Manhattan covered in black smoke after apartment fire leads to massive emergency response
The New York City Fire Department is responding to a roof fire at a seven-story Upper East Side apartment building on East 95th Street in Manhattan. Over 100 personnel are on site for the blaze that was reported around 10 a.m. on Friday
Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
CIA's Ark of the Covenant quest revived as new revelations point to hidden location of biblical 'super weapon'
The CIA may have used psychic powers to locate the Ark of the Covenant, one of history's most legendary artifacts. This millennia-old biblical chest, described in the Bible as gold-covered and containing the Ten Commandments, vanished centuries ago, sparking generations of speculation and quests to uncover its whereabouts. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna has reignited interest in the sacred relic by spotlighting declassified 1988 CIA documents that allegedly used psychic 'remote viewing' to track it. 'The CIA allegedly located the Ark of the Covenant,' Luna said on the Joe Rogan Experience, calling it an ' Indiana Jones moment.' The documents detail Remote Viewer No. 032, trained to perceive distant objects through psychic means, being given coordinates to observe an unidentified target. The viewer's notes reportedly described a 'container of wood, gold, and silver' adorned with seraphim, hidden in a 'dark and wet' underground site in a Middle Eastern region with 'mosque domes' and Arabic-speaking locals in white robes. 'These files were part of the CIA's Project Sun Streak, a Cold War-era program exploring psychic phenomena for intelligence gathering,' the documents state, which were released in 2000. The files resurfaced in a March 2025 Daily Mail article. 'We don't know how far it went. I definitely have questions, but this wouldn't be the first time a government searched for something, especially since some theorize that the Ark of the Covenant possessed powers akin to a superweapon,' Luna said. She added that she plans to continue the search personally: 'I was like, I need to pay for this myself. So we're not using taxpayer dollars, but just go check it out.' Rogan's mix of fascination and skepticism amplified the conversation's impact. 'It's wild stuff. If it's legitimate, it's wild stuff,' he said. He questioned whether the viewer's sketches resembled the relic in the 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark. 'If I tell you to go draw me the Ark, you know what it looks like?' Rogan asked, probing the validity of the psychic's vision. Luna, undeterred, emphasized the documents' intrigue. 'I feel like I'm describing an Indiana Jones movie, but this is actually from the CIA,' she said. Some historians believe the Ark was originally kept inside the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the ancient Temple of Jerusalem, before it disappeared during the Babylonian sack of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Legends also suggest it was taken to Ethiopia, where it may reside in the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion. British researcher Graham Hancock claims the Ark is guarded there, with some guardians reportedly suffering cataracts, possibly from 'radiation poisoning.' Luna, who consulted an Ethiopian Orthodox pastor, noted his 'very optimistic' perspective. The resurfaced CIA document claims that the Ark of the Covenant has been found, and it may lie somewhere in the Middle East Evidence that the chest existed has yet to be found, but the CIA document claims it was located in 1988. The remote viewer described it as a coffin-shaped object, 'a container with another container inside… fashioned of wood, gold, and silver, decorated with a six-winged angel.' The viewer reported the site was somewhere in the Middle East, with locals speaking Arabic, and that the container was protected by entities, only to be opened by authorized individuals. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and other intelligence agencies, including the CIA, employed individuals alleged to have paranormal abilities to gather intelligence on 'distant events.' Project Sun Streak used psychics, called remote viewers, to observe targets using only coordinates. CIA historian Nicholas Dujmovic notes that the program, discontinued in 1995, produced no physical evidence. A December 5, 1988, training exercise illustrates the approach. The psychic projected their consciousness to search for the Ark, recording observations along the way. They described mosque-like buildings and 'individuals clothed in virtually all white,' with black hair and dark eyes. 'One figure I homed in on wore a moustache,' they noted. The target was hidden underground in a dark, wet location. 'Its purpose is to bring people together. It involves ceremony, memory, homage, and resurrection. There is an aspect of spirituality, information, lessons, and historical knowledge far beyond what we now know.' Attempts to open the container without authorization would result in destruction by unknown powers, the notes warned. The report includes sketches and scrawled notes: a domed building resembling a mosque, eight mummies lined up, a wheel, and a winged creature labeled a 'seraphim.' It also lists ominous words like 'death,' 'forbidden,' 'protected,' 'scared,' 'destroyed,' 'pain,' and 'anguish.' Luna added that guardians of the Ark would have to undergo a special process to be considered for the honor. 'From a biblical perspective, no one would be able to access it anyway because it would be protected,' she said. 'That's what the Bible says. That's it, it cannot be opened until the time is deemed correct.'
