I was sitting at my computer, waiting for SD to load. Suddenly there was a loud POP! and an almost sonic boom kinda feeling. I looked all over the room and didn’t find anything, there were no smells, the light bulbs were all still on, nothing in the room looks disturbed in any way. The dogs looked at me, I looked at them. ::::blink:::
What the hell was it? Was it a disturbance in the Force? A doorway from another dimension opening? My imagination? What could it have been?
It was the sound of the SDMB converting to version 3. 
Possibilities:
A power spike causing noise in your speakers (especially if you have decent PC speakers with a subwoofer)
An arc in the high-voltage circuits in the back of your monitor (if you have a CRT monitor, that is) - often accompanied by an odd burning smell, but not always. Usually an indicator of impending monitor failure in my experience.
An imploding vacuum caused by the abrupt disappearance of an item that you weren’t looking at and had totally forgotten about (if you completely lose track of an item, the universe is allowed to steal it and sell it on eBay)
Oops. Pardon me. :o
Perhaps is was the 1920’s Style Death Ray going off.
It’s simple really. You obviously have a small black hole living in you house and it just ate something or spit something back up. They usually don’t do it in the presence of humans, but yours must be an exception.
I know this because I’ve had one in my house for years. It’s particularly fond of tape measures, pencils, and notepads.
The GirlChild has one in her house that eats keys.
power surge!? high voltage arc?! I won’t mention any names (Mangetout) but I think someone has been reading too many technical papers.
After a thorough investigation, I have come to the conclusion that it was, in fact, an alternate dimension opening in my general vicinity. I was listening to Bobby Darin at the time, it could be his ghost trying to contact me, but I think it was the alternate dimension, yeah, that’s what it was.
This happens to me all the time and after a thorough investigation, I have come to the conclusion that it is, in fact, a small black hole opening in my genital vicinity.
Upgrade to Reality v4.2
Reality has recently been upgraded to version 4.2. This was necessary to remove a number of security flaws in version 4.1. And, frankly, v4.1 sucked anyway.
In order to complete this upgrade a reboot was required, so you may have noticed a discontinuium in the reality cortex for 0.0038 seconds. Please do not be alarmed.
We hope you will enjoy Reality v4.2 and we hope no-one screws up this release this time. Thank you.
Obviously, someone wearing an invisibility cloak disapparated from your living room. Have you checked with the Order of the Phoenix about this?
Electrical discharge through your speakers. If you don’t have a humidifier you can build static on just about anything. Heard a little crackling today when I touched the desk my speakers are on.
Could also be your house shifting.
An imploding vacuum caused by the abrupt disappearance of an item that you weren’t looking at and had totally forgotten about (if you completely lose track of an item, the universe is allowed to steal it and sell it on eBay)
AHA!! I knew it!!! That’s the best theory yet. It explains a lot… and I do mean, A LOT. :dubious:
It was just a small explosion that the Little Blue Men misplaced as they coordinated the second-by-second reconstruction of your house. Once they realized their mistake, they no doubt restored it to its proper location in their next reconstruction.
This means, of course, that somewhere in the world, someone is very confused because the firecracker he/she set off at that moment made no noise whatsoever.
I’ve heard it once, followed by a odd burning smell, and internally my right ear hurt ALOT, like almost making me pass out. In one room of house, 2 computers, but my monitor is really high quality and fairly new, and it sounded like it came from behind me to the right (like from the direction of the door).
This happened regularly to me whan I was living in Texas (as if that mattered). The noise always seemed to come from under the bed. sometimes it would first start by a sound like air escaping from a nozzle and then the POP! although usually it was just the pop. But there was nothing under the bed. Nothing! Nobody ever believed me.
Now I know where all those individual socks are going!
No, no, no. Weren’t you aware of the fact that paired socks/stockings are the praying mantises of the clothing world? You see, in about 95% of cases, one out of each pair will succeed in devouring its mate. It is unclear as to whether it is the male or the female that carries out this act of cannibalism, since gender is notoriously difficult to distinguish in hosiery.
One factor that has been fairly consistently demonstrated is that the dominant (or “aggressor”) stocking tends to be the one that develops holes, tears, runs, or stains sooner. The evolutionary advantage of this is unclear. It has been suggested that either the pristine condition of the “submissive” stocking induces a state of jealous (or ravenous) frenzy in its mate. Other observers believe that the apparent “injury” is merely a ruse whereby the aggressor stocking lulls its mate into a sense of false security, making it easier to overpower.
If the surviving stocking is not disposed of promptly, it will continue feasting on its hapless cousins, starting with the newest or most fashionable specimens, before moving on to any other garments, watches, car keys or sunglasses that have the misfortune of being kept in the same drawer. This is the explanation behind the frustrating phenomenon of opening one’s sock/underwear drawer only to find it empty save for a single unwearable stocking. Careful observation of such occurrences has lead many to conclude that particularly ugly or unfashionable stockings are most prone to aggressive behavior.
Everybody got that?
Now just don’t ask me about coathangers.
OUCH!!! and I complained about that baseball.
Obviosly a small part of your ear spontanously detonated. You really should be more carefull about letting that happen.
Ooh! Ooh! I know this one!
Coathangers, in their larval stage, are known as “paperclips.”