Inspired by this thread, what bits of knowledge have you acquired that might warrant a visit to Lacuna, Inc or a house call from the Men In Black?
My list:
[ul]
[li]Font kerning[/li][li]The “anti-vibration” wire across the middle of every Trinitron CRT.[/li][li]The reel change marker (cigarette burn) every 20 minutes in a film.[/li][/ul]
I’ve made a living as a video engineer, and my knowledge of compression artifacts has made it nearly impossible for me to just sit and watch TV.
I learned that something like 90% of the weight of an old pillow is actually the biomass of dead mites. (I am not sure about the exact percentage, but if you think I’m going to google the topic and risk learning more, think again.)
Going to bed at night hasn’t been the same ever since.
What I found said 10% “could” be dust mites. If you have good laundry practices (and follow some of the other tips about controlling dust mites) it’s probably a lot less.
Anything specific about the Spanish Inquisition. YEESH :eek:
I can handle almost any gross thing. I shouldn’t have even looked this up because I have been terrorized by this for 3 months and the image was starting to fade.
I give you, the man who turned into a tree:
I guess I get to start over my count now.
Wished I never had to learn how to remove the distributer on my Jeep, replace the drive gear, re-install and hand-time using only a 1/2 wrench and a nail while “in the field”.
But then again, re-creations of the Baatan Death March are no fun either.
This. And everything Elizabeth Bathory did. I pretty much would be a much happier person if I didn’t know torture existed.
Well that was about the saddest/grossest/weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.
[QUOTE=gaffa]
[li]Font kerning.[/li][/QUOTE]
Beat me to it. For a number of years my job was kerning every single font that existed at that time (about 6,000). I wish I could pound a white-hot spike into my brain and burn out whatever part knows about kerning. It’s my life’s continuous curse.
And don’t forget that poor woman who grew onto her toilet after sitting there for years.
The fact that a rabbit screams when you beat it to death (which I learned from a friend of mine who went through aircrew survival training with the Air Force) :eek: 
That is not dead which can eternal lie.
Why, oh WHY did I open that link? Because, you know, that guy is from INDONESIA.
I’m starting to itch. And I’m never going out of doors again.
And I found the best source of all although he’s talking about mattresses, not pillows. But we can assume similar rules apply.
So now I don’t have to worry about dust mites. But I have to worry about turning into a tree. :eek: :eek: :eek:
I had a better existence before I read this thread.
I didn’t open the link but have read about him before. IIRC, his condition is caused by some kind of immune deficiency that makes him unable to combat human papillomavirus. So if you’ve ever had a wart, this is what it could potentially look like in more advanced stages.
And for the rest of existence, I will be wishing that I had not looked up ‘kerning’. I can see now that knowing this is going to be the bane of my life.
A little like when you learn a new word, and then within 24 hours, you will come across it again, usually several times. But this is gonna be worse, because we are surrounded by letters. And I’m gonna do the kerning twitch.
Thank you, SDMB, for derailing my life in new and unexpected ways.
Even better, the scream of a rabbit dying sounds just like a a baby crying.
Holy freakin’ crap! :eek: I am far too curious for my own good, I think. Now I have a chill and I itch all over.
For my part, I wish my grandpa had never told me about some kind of seed that will work its way down into your skin and cause you terrible pain. (And once when I complained of aching nail beds, he asked if I’d played with any bamboo shoots lately. To this day, I have an irrational fear of bamboo. Thanks, grandpa! >:o )
Well! I’m off to show the tree-man to everyone I know!