What is this?

[skyfaller]

I'd like your help with figuring out what the objects in these pictures are, because I am puzzled by them.

What is this inflated ball thing? Taken in 30th Street Station in Philly, while waiting for the R3 back to Swarthmore.

What are these circles on the ground? This was taken out of the window of my plane from San Francisco to Newark as we flew over the midwest.

What is this insect? Taken in Mertz 2nd South's men's room.

If you can explain to me what any these things are, you win a hug! Or a Gmail account, or any token prize you might find useful.

Comments

[rose_garden.livejournal.com]

What is an electric fly-swatter?

[philthecow.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure the circles are irrigation circles...

http://llk.media.mit.edu/projects/circles/flying.html (http://llk.media.mit.edu/projects/circles/flying.html)

I'll take a hug.

[sinsofthedove.livejournal.com]

The inflated balls, I'm pretty sure, are meant to frighten pigeons by looking like giant menacing things with eyes and tails. Notice the resemblance to owls? They don't work very well, though.

[arctangent.livejournal.com]

I believe that your third image is a moth fly (http://www.pestproducts.com/mothfly.htm), also known as a drain fly or sewer fly. They hang out a lot in bathrooms, breeding in clogged or sluggish drains and feeding on the slime and fungus and crap in there. They are, as you note, really friggin' nasty looking, though unlikely to actually transmit disease (any more than the other vectors of transmission you get in a dirty bathroom). They're actually flies, not moths -- their name comes from the fact that they have those big nasty wings.

[lenley.livejournal.com]

i don't get it... it seems to be that you knew what the things were...