What Is It? game 309

Hey look! It's time for our collaboration with the wonderful What Is It? Blog! Do you know what the object in this picture is? It doesn't really matter if you do, because we are looking for the funniest guesses. You can win a t-shirt from the NeatoShop! But first, read the rules:

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 who submit funny and/or clever (albeit ultimately wrong) answers 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?

There are more pictures of this thing, and other mystery items of the week at the What Is It? Blog. Good luck!

Update: the object in question was never authoritatively identified, and even the What is It? blog doesn't know what it is. That doesn't keep us from awarding prizes, because we were looking for the funniest guesses! Rubinsky said it was a Peppermint Patty trap. "Down on the farm, those little choco-minty delights would be zipping around all over the place at blazing speed, and the only way to catch one was to use this device." Randall told a story about it:

Remember POGS? This is 'the' pog press. Remember how many of them there was, there were millions, they were everywhere. All of them came from this damn press. This is the only one. I worked the midnight to eight shift, 3.75 an hour. Seventeen months in Minot, North Dakota, pressing pogs. Damn Damn Damn.

So Rubinsky and Randall both win t-shirts from the Neatoshop! See the answers to the other mystery  items of the week at the What Is It? blog.