What Is It? game 211



Once again, it's time for our collaboration with the always amusing What Is It? Blog! Do you know what the object in this picture is? You can win even if you don't know!

Place your guess in the comment section below. One guess per comment, please, though you can enter as many as you'd like. Post no URLs or weblinks, as doing so will forfeit your entry. Two winners: the first correct guess and the funniest (albeit ultimately wrong) guess will each win a T-shirt from the NeatoShop.

Please write your T-shirt selection alongside your guess. If you don't include a selection, you forfeit the prize, okay? May we suggest the Science T-Shirt, Funny T-Shirt and Artist-Designed T-Shirts?

Check out the What Is It? Blog for more pictures of the details of this mystery thing. Good luck!

Update: the pictured item is a meat cleaver with an attached combination tool, which is for sale at eBay. The first person to identify it was Michael S. Gatlin, who wins a t-shirt for his efforts! Chuck Farkley came up with the funniest answer:

Chicken
Pablo Picasso
1934

mixed media with cleaver

So Chuck wins a t-shirt from the NeatoShop, too! Thanks to everyone who played this week. See the answers to all this week's mystery items at the What Is It? blog.

Comments (52)

Newest 5
Newest 5 Comments

Terrible to see the property status of an individual, especially one killed to be on display. Would we accept that if he were a human, a dog or a dolphin? Most of us would scorn at it.

This is the discrepancy caused by speciesism and my hope is that in 250 years we'll look back in the same way that we not look back at slavery, nazism, sexism etc - we'll be horrified how we could pay money to have someone killed to be put in a glass jar, at a time when the world could use that money for doing lots and lots more good.
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@EdwardSanc: all kinds of dead animals are put on display - ever heard of taxidermy? Similarly all kinds of animals are killed. It's a fairly important step in the production of meat.

As for humans, look up Gunther von Hagens and plastination. While no humans are killed specifically to be put on display, he uses real dead people in his art. Most cultures in the world are fascinated with life, and are often just as fascinated with death. It's why art like this exists.

Fish are caught and killed in their millions, and the people who do it make money, and their profits and taxes do 'lots and lots of good'. My point? A shark is a fish. It's a big one, yes, but still a species of fish. Why should we give a big fish any more (or less) respect than a small one? Why do we eat cows but not dogs or dolphins? There simply is no good reason. Presumably dogs are tasty (I wouldn't know), but we all choose to be 'speciesist' to some degree, and rather than scorn it the majority (every non-veggie in the world) accepts that certain animals are treated differently.

Next time you use an insect spray, be sure to think about your speciesism against insects. Don't they have a right to life too? Or if you think it's okay to kill them, do you also eat insects as part of your daily diet?

I think my rant is over, but the words 'double standards' spring to mind, or even 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'.
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Why bother repairing or restoring them? Aren't certain pieces and schools transient by nature? Restoring them completely defeats the purpose of the work. I say let them rot and move on. These works are a product of our society and reflect that. They are disposable art from disposable artists.
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