What are the wierdest things you've learned gaming?

[megamania]

What I learned was more from players and their perspectives that true researched info. I have two certified NRA members whom carry firearms to the game each time. I have a player whom grew up in England so I learn cultural swears and mannerisms from him.

From the game only... I've worked on my writing skills. I've learned another 101 ways to superglue and how to remove it from fingers, clothes, parts, knives.

 

[kirinke]

Hmmm...
I learned that mules can be just as large as regular horses depending on their parentage. In fact, the stats for the mules should be the same as horses. (light, medium and heavy) instead of the simple single stat.

 

[Ferret]

I can't think of any through gaming, but something I learnt just because I'm curious....

Octopuses have 3 hearts, have little control over their tentacles.
Ferrets claws are attached to bones in there feet so declawing them is a bad idea.
When you add lead to glass (some how) it magnifies things.

 

[Richards]

Some of the strangest gaming-related things I've learned are some real-life sexual practices of various members of the animal kingdom. (No, I don't have strange game sessions - these were researched in preparation of "Ecology" articles.) Specifically, octopi, praying mantises, and a species of arthropod called the Scutigerella.

Some animals are just plain weird.

Johnathan

 

[Impeesa]

For that matter, under the right conditions and circumstances, anything can be highly explosive.

Water's easy, though. Brand new cup with a shortage of microscopic scratches, and a microwave.

Speaking of microwaves, I can use one to get an arc of plasma from a grape. Didn't learn that one gaming, though... that was from work.

--Impeesa--

 

[Khayman]

Not by practical experiments I hope!

Yep --- cadavers donated for scientific purposes sometimes get put through their paces.

I have friends who have studied decomposition time by burying bodies in different conditions. Frequently pigs are used as a substitute. The other other white meat.

 

[Khayman]

The saliva of the common shrew is now considered toxic in some circles.

And is now being used for medicinal purposes .

 

[Evilhalfling]

That in Rome the tanners guild was in charge of public bathrooms. They would put out large jars on public streets for urnials, then at night come by and collect the jars to use it to tan leather.

 

[Krieg]

According to my buddy who was studying forensics at the time 5-6 hours.

FWIW that's about how long it takes in a dedicated crematorium, throwing randon corpses on the campfire is probably going to take a bit longer.

Now the real question is...which organ takes the longest to burn?

 

[NiTessine]

Well, in addition to the usual trivia about medieval weapons and armour and obscure English vocabulary, like knowing what's a Dacian falx and being able to use words like 'verisimilitude' in everyday conversation...

I used to know an obscene amount of stuff about the development of guns during the 19th century, though I've forgotten most of it. I still do remember that LeMat is really, really cool.

For a gnomish gun fetishist PC, I did some studying on early firearms.

For a gnoll ranger, I researched hyenas and can tell the tomcats aren't the only ones with weird stuff down there.

Via my hobby, I've also learned a lot of stuff about American legislation that I probably wouldn't otherwise know. Heck, I know more about American laws than I know about Finnish ones. Of course, the stuff I know about American laws is the kinda stuff I don't ever want to need to know about Finnish ones...

By the way, I also used to be able to list the men accused at the Nürnberg Trials and their sentences, plus the order in which those sentenced to death marched to the gallows. This isn't strictly due to gaming, though, more because I strayed while studying for a history exam. I did receive top marks from that exam, though.