this post was submitted on 28 Oct 2023
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Asklemmy

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[โ€“] mspencer712@programming.dev 33 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A 20 lb (or so) sealed lead acid battery and an inverter, at U Nebraska at Omaha around 2003-2004. I had imported a Sharp SL-C700 and it was very power hungry. Smart phones were barely a thing (blackberries) at the time.

I think I was vaguely aware of the possibility of some unexpected metal shorting the battery and getting hot enough to start fires, so I bought a green rubber bath mat (which I remember had little sucker feet on one side) and wrapped it around the battery.

I finished my undergrad in 2004 with no incidents.

[โ€“] JK1348@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago

Those blackberries were dope full keyboard texts

[โ€“] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I (still) don't have any friends, so on 1st year of high school I tried to be as interesting as possible. I kept bringing some electronics, but most interesting was fluorescent light bulb and Tesla Coil. OK, OK, it's not a Tesla Coil but a slayer exciter circuit, but it's close enough.
Other stuff I can remember is: USB buck/boost converter (basically a low power variable power supply), USB alligator clips, USB tester, smart load tester (FX-35), battery charge tester, hand crank radio/flashlight combo, low power FM radio transmitter, bootleg NES game console with composite video output, blank DVD, universal TV remote, 5 phones at once and other stuff.
Although, you could say the most unexpected was the HP PSC 1315 printer. One teacher told me I can take it home, and it fit precisely into my backpack.

Nowdays, 2 years later, the best you could find is RTL-SDR and the extendable dipole antenna.

[โ€“] PrivateNoob@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 year ago

Found the top post.

[โ€“] ikiru@lemmy.ml 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A brick.

No, I won't explain.

[โ€“] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I know someone who brought a brick with himself on 1st year of high school.

By any chance, did you also bring a PC motherboard?

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[โ€“] JK1348@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[โ€“] ikiru@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All I will say is that I wasn't doing anything related to construction/masonry, and it was not intended nor used for anything violent or illegal. And it wasn't a lucky charm nor meant for self-defense either.

But I carried my brick daily. Sometimes I would carry it in my hand if it got too heavy on my back though.

[โ€“] JK1348@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago

Comrade brick

[โ€“] NorthWestWind@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A bottle of mustard. I add it to my hot dog during lunch.

[โ€“] radix@lemm.ee 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Doesn't mustard need to be refrigerated?

[โ€“] NorthWestWind@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Idk. 14 yo me did not take very good care of it and it ended up getting everywhere inside my bag a week in

[โ€“] radix@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago
[โ€“] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 1 year ago

I don't think so. You may just need to use it quicker.

[โ€“] Nemo@midwest.social 3 points 1 year ago

No, it's mostly vinegar.

[โ€“] hexaflexagonbear@hexbear.net 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[โ€“] everett@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[โ€“] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 1 year ago

Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition!

[โ€“] Mothra@mander.xyz 17 points 1 year ago

Unexpected for ourselves or for the rest of the classroom/teachers?

Not a lot I can think of but I do remember with horror when a classmate opened his backpack an this cockroach just came out of it running for its dear life

[โ€“] 31415926535@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago

A dead rat. I found it, gave it funeral rites, put it in a tiny plastic coffin, stored it in the freezer. From time to time, I'd take the coffin out, put it in my bag, carry around with me for several hours, so the rat's soul wouldn't feel lonely. Then back in the freezer. This went on for at least a year.

[โ€“] al177@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 1 year ago

A large green pushbutton with a Molly guard labeled "OK" I found in a scrap pile behind the physics building.

[โ€“] JK1348@hexbear.net 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

I had a stink bomb, I had been a bit of a knucklehead and was kicked out from one high school to another.

When I got to my new high school they forced me too join JROTC because "PE was suddenly full". They just thought I was trouble...

Anyways, I took a really foul stink bomb that comes in this like glass container that you have to throw on the ground to crack open and stink up an area.

(This was Bush era and I was very anti bush and influenced by 2pac, I didn't wanna prance around roleplaying in a white man's army youth camp)

Well I was really mad they were making me wear those dorky outfits and I didn't wanna wear it that day, so I popped multiple packs of stink bombs into the JROTC classroom. I had some spot on baseball โšพ aim because I threw 3 of em, from a good distance and they hit the $ spot right on the JROTC instructors podium under the BUSH portrait he made us to the pledge of allegiance towards, the US flag was next to the portrait. I threw it right before the class bell, and went to the bathroom. When I came back, lol everyone had evacuated the classroom it was unbearablem I played stupid asking what happened. Lol my fuckin squad leader whatever TF his rank was, told me that someone threw some stink bombs into class and that it would take place outside.

I'm very proud of that moment looking back. Oh and it was unexpected because I bought them and put them into my backpack from a swap meet trip earlier that week and I forgot to remove them at home.

One of the dorks from my JROTC class is the neighborhood LAPD pig where I live now not far from that High school, he remembered me and how I was trouble when he came to tell me to keep it down last year, when I threw a party.

[โ€“] blakeus12@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[โ€“] JK1348@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago

I'd fuckin do it again (goofy voice)

We used to have such fun with those stink bombs, I still have like 15 of em lol. One time a buddy of mine had em in his bag, coincidentally also in ROTC, and someone stepped on them lmao. The sgt came out with a gas mask on hahaha.

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[โ€“] STUPIDVIPGUY@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

A boa constrictor. Pulled it out in english class and suddenly I was popular for a few minutes

[โ€“] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Several times I've found cash I forgot I stuffed into my bag earlier. Always a pleasant surprise.

[โ€“] miss_brainfart@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you ever clean your room and find old christmas or birthday cards you never took the money out of?

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[โ€“] MrBubbles96@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In MY bag? Nothing really comes to mind. In someone elses bag tho?

It's been years and I still remember the guy that carried around a gym bag with wheels of cheese in em in my community college. Dunno if he was selling, but i was always kinda wanted one NGL

[โ€“] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Spotted the Skyrim player?

[โ€“] MrBubbles96@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Man was clearly doing a quest for Sheogorath lol

I try to keep it predictable (for a lack of a better word), but probably a supermagnet, like the kind you might get from the insides of an old computer. Helps adjust (or destroy) anything hands cannot.

[โ€“] auf@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[โ€“] dingus@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

In a similar vein...I once had a shitton of termites in my backpack. Freaked me the fuck out. I think a colony got lost.

[โ€“] JJhonson@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

Packets and packets of Tapatio. I would steal a shit ton during lunch in HS. I had so much I had two trash bags full of them

[โ€“] SecretPancake@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A built Lego set, specifically the 40567 Forest Hideout.

It was not unexpected thing for me though, but for everyone else.

[โ€“] mar_k@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When I was in middle school my brother was pissed at me so he replaced every piece of paper in all of my folders with pages of manga he ripped out of my one punch man book

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[โ€“] kuneho@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

set of screwdriver, a bag of PC screws and a battery operated soldering iron with some solder

I also used to carry around soldering equipment last year but it's because the irons my school has just aren't usable

[โ€“] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That sounds pretty normal. Although it depends on what school it is.

[โ€“] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 year ago

It was for a year at medical school. :p

[โ€“] kuneho@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

just your typical bog standard high-school

[โ€“] OceanSoap@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

My first try at college was in art school. I had wires with wooden handles on each end. They looked like strangulation tools, but they were to cut blocks of clay with.

...I'm pretty sure someone, somewhere has used them to strangle someone with.

Toilet paper. Because that stuff at the school was horrible.

[โ€“] mertn@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[โ€“] torvusbogpod@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Ah yes, S. Oke Bomb. On of my favorite 19th century authors. Fun fact: his full name was Samuel Oklahoma Bombita!

[โ€“] Whitebrow@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Large bottle of bleach.

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