quote:

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Originally written by Alec, dareva, and Saunders:


Alec: In early 2003, I believe it was, I was playing Fallout. I had just cleansed Antium by holy fire when something popped. Real loud, inside the monitor, and the screen flickered out. Then it came back -- upside down, at half the normal width, in grayscale.
A split second later, I caught the most terrifying odor I've ever smelled in my life.
In a small room, illuminated by the hostile glare of a CRT that chose that moment to buy the farm loud, fast, and hard, I smelled roasting ham.

I was out as soon as it took to rip the surge protector out of the wall and run like hell. Days later, the monitor still smelled like ham. I imagine it still does, but have no way to check.

dareva: I am curious, yet horrified, about what caused the ham smell.

Saunders: Alec had been using the monitor to cook his morning bacon by irradiation for years. Unbeknown to him, a slice had fallen down one day into the dark recesses of the casing, and had mutated into a unique life form. As it began to explore its world, it accidentally shorted the power supply, causing havoc to the perpheral operation, and ending its brief existence in a blaze of ham smell.

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