Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with identification

Can you help identify this ceramic cat?

Balonious Assault — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:01:04 -0800

LongShotFilter: Can you help identify this ceramic cat? It came in a set of four. Two were broken years ago, and a friend of mine is trying to complete the set for a Very Special Christmas Gift. There are no markings on the remaining two cats to indicate a manufacturer, or anything else that might be a clue. The other remaining cat has the same markings -- white face, belly, paws & tail, and black everywhere else -- and is in a sitting position. If anyone can track them down it's the amazing AskMe community. Thanks!

Identify this iron stove

zamboni — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:29:12 -0800

Identify this iron stove. Australia, probably 1970s. I'd like to know the make and manufacturer of the iron stove that Clifton Pugh is resting his feet on in the above photograph.

I'm sure about the songs from under the sand.

ricochet biscuit — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:23:44 -0800

Again with the "identify this short story." Science fiction story I read at least ten years ago, in which the consciousness -- but not the body -- of a twentieth/twenty-first-century man is revived far into the future by -- I think -- aliens (or possibly our distant descendants). Told if not in the first person then at least from the point of view of the revived consciousness. They interview him for research purposes but he proves difficult or antagonistic or something, so they eventually just shut his sensory inputs off and leave him to go mad. By the end he is hallucinating that he is on a beach while songs are being chanted to him from beneath the green sands.

Frog Music

mtstover — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:44:33 -0800

What is the French song and band posted on the background of this page? I must download now!

What were these bugs that we called "bloodsuckers"?

ErWenn — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:40:41 -0800

There is this insect/arachnid I remember from my childhood in Las Vegas. It had a body about the size of a raisin, only it was quite flat. They were red with black spots (larger than ladybugs, but flatter), and the kids in the neighborhood called them "bloodsuckers" for some reason. (I have no idea if they bit or not.) I don't remember them flying, but I could be wrong about that. What insects were they? Scientific name or common name is fine, anything I can use to find out more info.

Breathing holes from a giant undersea Cthulhu

shammack — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:09:58 -0800

What is this thing that we found on the beach? We saw several of these things in the sand during low tide in Panacea, Florida. My wife poked at one and it fell apart. What is it?

What is this tune?

[@I][:+:][@I] — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:40:23 -0800

What is this tune? [little snip from a french movie]. Thanks in advance.

Name this plant/suggest similar ones

melissasaurus — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 14:00:24 -0800

What kind of tree/plant is this? Someone dug out and stole this little tree from in front of my building. I'd like to replace it with the same or something similar.

Any ideas on what it is?

Any ideas on other plants that don't take up too much space (probably about a 2ft radius for the plant), survive year-round in NYC, in partial shade, and are generally safe for dogs (i.e. no poisonous berries)?

Thanks!

What style of armchair did I buy?

angels in the architecture — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:08:35 -0800

What style of armchair did I buy? Also, what are some good books/websites for answering this kind of question? I bought a chair the other day at a thrift store, and I'm trying to identify its style/period. Pictures here and here--the chair is actually much brighter in reality, a loud marigold yellow.

I'm thinking it must be a mishmash of styles from the '70s or '80s, based on the color alone, although it's in pretty good shape except for some fading so it may newer than that. So, my secondary question is, what are some good reference materials (online or off) for answering this kind of question? Is there something like A Field Guide to American Houses, but for furniture?

What kind of sunglasses are these?

gummo — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:09:51 -0800

What kind of sunglasses are these? Pic (screencap is of Billy Connolly in the trailer for Boondock Saints 2)

Vintage Cognac, or Old Bottle of Booze?

qwip — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 09:01:59 -0800

Do you know vintage cognac? My Father-in-law was handed down a bottle of, assumably, nice cognac. It was given to his father as a gift from his company in the 1930s. It's been sitting in the basket it was packaged in for years and years and we'd really like to have more information about it. It's a bottle of "Cognac Napoleon, Grande Fine Champagne, Reserve". Pictures of the front label, the mark on the bottle's neck, and the back label. The only identifying info is the name "Reserve of L. Favert & Co." and "Imported by The Creevy Trading Cy" of Chicago on the back.

The back also says "Over 60 years old, bottled in 1910".

I've google as much as I can and the only thing that comes up looking remotely like this, is Cognac Napoleon Grande Champagne 1811 Reserve , and it's not that ( seen here halfway down the page).

Any insights or leads to what this bottle is and, perhaps, what it is worth, would be appreciated. Don't know if we should keep it as a nice heirloom or drink it as a nice cognac.

What ever happened to Mike Jackson's nose?

kitty teeth — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:37:31 -0800

Help identify this song! My boyfriend downloaded this song sometime in the 1990s. We've tried googling the lyrics, but nothing turns up. Does anyone know anything about this little ditty?

What is this disturbing large larvae in the pond outside?

internet!Hannah — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:34:40 -0800

What is this strange larvae in the puddle outside my dorm? So there's this large puddle outside my dorm by the bike racks that's usually there the majority of the semester, due to the amount of rain we get. Think small vernal pool. Usually it's home to mosquito larvae, mass concentrations of toad tadpoles (excellent for pranking dormmates with fishtanks--last year we convinced one guy his guppies had had ugly babies, and he didn't figure it out until they spouted legs) and waterbugs. However, this year there's something strange living in there that I don't recognize.

From above, they look very much like minnows, a good inch long and that grey color, which is what made me notice them, as I was trying to figure out how fish would get into a temporary pond. However, on close inspection they are typical larvae shape, no fins, and instead of a head they have sort of a weird short tentacle-y mouthpart, almost cthulu-esque. A bit freaky, really, which is why I didn't pull one out for a picture or closer inspection. They swim sort of like minnows would, though, and not with the jerky movements that mosquito larvae have.

So, any ideas what the hell has moved in by the dorm? Some sort of leech thing? Strange water-beetle larvae? Elder-god grandchildren? Swine flu? This is central Texas, and having grown up a tomboy, I'm familiar with most pond-life, but this one is a new one to me. Any help is appreciated, googling variants of "puddle" and "larvae" bring up only endless pages on mosquitoes.

"Half of X is pointless, we just don't know which half". Can you identify the quote?

handee — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 04:12:36 -0800

Can you help me find the origins of a poorly remembered quote? I think it's about research, and it goes something like this: "Half of X is pointless, but you can never know which half".

Underground, overground...

Artw — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 22:16:09 -0800

Half remembered short story identification filter: A story in which scientists discover grids underground which might be the cities of beings who live at a greater density, and then at the end scientists from the underground city are looking through the documents, having wiped out humanity accidentally just by coming to the surface.

Can you help me identify a NW tree that's in my yard? Info, photos and ...

lois1950 — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:39:25 -0800

Stumped! Can you help me ID a tree in my yard? (In the Northwest)? Here's a 'before' photo of the tree, which was trimmed today and looks awesome but everyone I know, including a few arborists ID it differently.
Here's a close up of a branch and needles

Here's what I'm pretty sure it's not:
Cryptomeria japonica
Calocedrus decurrens (Incense Cedar)
Sequoia giganteum.

If it's a juniper, what kind of juniper???
The branches smell a little like pines.
The needles are soft and sharp when green and very prickly when brown and dead.
When you look head-on at a stem, the needles are arranged like organized little x's, not spiral.
The tree is <20'
I'm in the northwest.
It's an evergreen conifer and has very small cones.
Thank you!

Identify this orb weaving spider.

sevenless — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:05:48 -0800

Spider identification. Outside my ground floor window a spider has set up shop in a corner. It's an orb weaver, but it does something I've never seen before. It has made an orb web 25-30 cm in diameter. The largest openings at the edge of the orb are about the same size as the spider. It doesn't sit in the orb though. Instead it has also made a sort of blind up against the window frame, and it hides behind it. It backs into the blind and appears to peek out over the top. Whenever something hits the web it rushes out to the center and systematically plucks on the strands. It appears to be testing "sectors" of the web to precisely locate where something has gotten caught. If it's food it wraps it up and takes it back to the blind. If not food it cuts out whatever is stuck and repairs the web. The spider is about 1 cm across. I don't know if it has any markings since it moves really fast, and I can't see it's back. It's behavior is remarkably stereotyped and has incredible economy and precision. Is it an Aculepeira species? That's the closest I could find, but I couldn't find a whole lot of information. The spider and I are in the northwest US.

What is this movie?

starscream — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:10:56 -0800

Movie Identification Filter: Can anyone identify this movie based upon my faint recollections? So, I remember seeing this movie on tv when I was in my teens, let's say mid to latish 80's.

Who I believe to be the main protagonist was this bottle blonde girl, always getting the raw end of the deal, possibly aged in her early 20's, who was always wearing nylons with a stripe down the back. Whenever a bad situation happened she always just took off because she had "a million and one better places to be" or something like that.

I remember the movie being a bit grey in character and a scene with a record player playing something seriously heroin inspired (at least to my young ears)!

I also think that this was an urban movie, set in a city.

Hopefully this is enough for an identification! This movie has been bugging my brain on and off for some years, and I reckon it's time to watch it again.

Can you identify these plants?

H. Roark — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:03:58 -0800

Can you help me identify this berry plant in my backyard? I am in Santa Fe, NM at about 7500 feet. The whole plant is about 3 feet high and spreading to around 10 feet around. My Curious-George inspired 3 year old is picking them and who knows if she is eating them...

Thanks in advance!

Would like to learn something about this painting

FortyT-wo — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:19:23 -0800

Can you help me identify at least the painter of this impressionist painting? (sorry for blurry iPhone photos -- our camera chose this moment to give up the ghost.)

I recently was given this painting ... Am wondering if there is any info to be had about the painter or about when it might have been made? Here's a larger/blurrier shot of the painter's signature. On the back of the painting is a stamp, sort of oval shaped but pointy at the two ends, possibly with writing in it, though nothing is legible whatsoever. Also on the back of the canvas, someone has written "BOOK STALLS along the Banks of the Seine with Notre Dame" in pencil.

What is this tree with black berries ?

llc — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 16:35:57 -0800

What is this tree with black berries ? I would like help identifying a tree that has volunteered in my yard in the Pacific Northwest, US. I know a picture would help but I don't have a camera. I don't guess that this tree is native to my area.

The tree is deciduous with dark green to black bark in the winter. In summer the bark is green stippled with brown. The leaves are mostly in whorls of four but there are some whorls of five and some alternate leaves. The leaves are dark green on top and lighter green on bottom. The newest leaves are paler with tinges of red. If I remember the flowers correctly they are small, whitish and in clusters. These become black berries on red stems. The tree is currently eight feet tall and doesn't seem done yet.

I haven't found this tree in on-line keys. If you have a recommendation for a key, or a suggestion on identification, that would be great. Thank you.

Help identify an auto?

apollo — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:41:33 -0800

A friend's recent blog post featured a picture of her father standing next to the ol' family car. She can identify the dad, but not the car. I'd love some help. Here's a link to the picture. Thank you!

Are there more communities like Flickr's ID Please?

k7lim — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 17:50:43 -0800

I really love the Flickr "ID Please" group, which I originally found here. Are there other services/communities online that allow you to submit a photo (or other media item) for discussion/identification by experts? This particular group tends to focus on identifying types of flora/fauna. I have a friend who's obsessed with getting "deeper information" about his photos and other digital artifacts of travel/living for a blog.

Ask Mefi (or other, lesser, question answering sites) would be a good venue for one-off questions, but I'm interested in a place that's devoted to this kind of media request/ expert discussion.

I've found another good example on Flickr: the Translations group where people post images of non-English text for translation.

I'd love to be able to post pictures of famous people's faces, notable monuments, pieces of IKEA furniture, etc, and get comments/information from people who know these things very well.

I've thought about Amazon's Mechanical Turk for this, but that's not quite what I'm looking for, because I'm not about to teach my friend how to define Turk tasks.

Aardvark has helped me with this style of question, but it's not exactly what I'm looking for either.

Liar liar

ashaw — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 12:05:25 -0800

Liar: I found the following picture on my computer. Can someone tell me what film/photo/piece of art this picture comes from? It's such a strange question, I don't even know where to begin!

Fabulous flower folk, please help!

taz — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 09:32:42 -0800

A flower question in three parts: 1) what are these flowers: a1; a2; b1; b2? (I included versions w/my hand to show scale, since I have a lot of trouble figuring that with most internet pix) 2) what are other potted flowering plants that will do as well as these in my climate/situation? 3) Help me help myself? Suggestions for plant/flower identification sites. Much Longer: I end up spending quite a bit of time and effort, and a lot more money than I'd like, trying to find potted plants and flowers that will survive our sun-drenched courtyard situation (southern Greece) - especially flowers. Our plants get plenty of water (I water every day during the hottest part of the year), but the sheer intensity of heat and amount of direct sun exposure means that many (way too many, really) don't survive.

The photos of the two flowering plants above do survive, and thrive; the second does well in full exposure, and the first (climbing, vine-y one -- my favorite!) does well in a sort of half-and-half position: strong sun for part of the day, but some shade; with either too much sun, or too much shade, it doesn't flower. But I don't know what they are called, so I can't get more information about them, or find similar flowering plants. I had the idea that the first one might be a primrose, but the photos I've seen of primroses show very different leaves.

Aside from these, I have some of what I think of as "desert flowers" - succulents, that can stand our sun and heat, but most other flowering plants just don't make it. Even the old reliable geranium can't take the heat (actually, the exposure, I guess; I see flowering geraniums elsewhere in our neighborhood, but they get more shade than we have). Chrysanthemums can survive and continue to flower, but not thrive in the summer; they always end up looking sickly. Likewise, petunias, even if they are in the areas that receive the most shade (which isn't a whole lot, compared to what most people probably have). Even bougainvillea don't do that well (which they should, really), maybe because they get too much water... I haven't quite figured that out.

Non-flowering and thriving plants include ficus trees, yucca plants, Australian "bottle brush" plants, and something else I don't know the name of, but which are very common almost everywhere.

All our plants are in pots; they get plenty of water... and way too much sun.

What are these happy flowering plants we have? What plants (especially flowering ones) should we get? What site(s) can I can use to identify flowers/plants when I don't know what they are?