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The only place not affected is where The Lawyer was holding a bag against his chest. |
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| Back of shirt is completely covered. |
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| Close-up of the mystery spots. |
The Lawyer, being a non-medical person, said something more probable about a blueberry having possibly escaped into the laundry, which made perfect sense until we realized that the shirt was both uniformly covered and the only piece of clothing affected in the entire wash.
In fact, not even the white undershirts had a single spot on them.
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| Petechial hemorrhage! |
We have scoured the internet, and have no idea what this is. The shirt did not have any marks before it went into the wash, and now that it's dry, it looks like those marks are permanent. We don't really care that this shirt is ruined, but we would like to know what sort of toxic spray/rain we are living and working in.
Obviously, The Lawyer's suggestion of getting sprayed with something led to me being all,
"GAH!!! ANTHRAX!"
To which he responded,
"Anthrax? WTF...that doesn't even make sense."
And then, I was all,
"THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD LIVE IN VIRGINIA. BAD THINGS HAPPEN IN DC! THERE IS POISON IN THE RAIN! IT'S TERRORISM!"
So, yeah. Can someone please help The Lawyer solve this mystery, because his girlfriend is just vacillating between medical diagnoses of inanimate objects and hysteria--neither of which has been extremely helpful.
(Annnd...500 hits probably just came in from Homeland Security, because I just quoted myself being ridiculous. Sorry, government people! False alarm.)
17 comments:
I haven't got the slightest idea... it's a mystery to me.
Having pulled slices of ham out of the washing machine, I totally would have gone for the blueberry theory, until you mentioned all the other facts which negate it.
Hmmm...
If it makes you feel better, I have had something similar happen to some of my white clothes while in the DC/VA/MD area. Usually not while raining though, but a random shirt will get this annoying rust orange spray pattern for no good reason. Still can't tell if its something in the wash or something out of the wash.
Also, color wise, the pattern looks like potassium permanganate. But I don't think that really helps IDing whatever it is.
Sorry I can't be more helpful.
YDW- I know! It seems probable, right? But alas, no blueberries in the wash.
EMT- Gah! This has happened to you in the same area? What the heck? I'm sure The Lawyer is going to spend the night Googling "potassium permanganate." It seems like there was some sort of chemical reaction when things went into the washing machine. I thought about the type of laundry detergent too, but The Lawyer uses the same brand that I do and I've never had this happen after 5 years in the DC area. :(
Someone with alkaptonuria (or perhaps porphyria) urinated on the ground right before the lawyer walked by, and then the lawyer got sprayed with the fresh urine. Because the shirt was in the laundry, you didn't notice that the splattered urine had changed color when you put the shirt in the wash.
And voila! Pink dots on the shirt!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2uxQ9GEx2s
:-)
this is so crazy. maybe the rain did something and then the heat of the dryer? or did it even go in the dryer?
I did LOL at your joke, btw. you nerd.
OMDG- Lol! The Lawyer wanted to know what the comments were, and I had to explain your joke to him. When I finished explaining, he was like, "Hey, that's probable." (The urine part, I'm sure.)
vvk- Oh, Vik. You crack me up!
Elena- Nope, it never went into the dryer. Whatever happened was from the washer.
I don't know but now I'll think twice before going out in the rain in DC. Yikes!
it could certainly have grown mold in the washer over a day. i have never seen such bright pink mold, but there is pink mold in bathrooms sometimes. the dark spots definitely look like mold to me. i wonder if there was something in the rain, either spores itself or just some pollen or something that the mold really liked?
Not that this may be particularly helpful but I have spent 3 of the last 4 years working in a lab, so who knows what I have come across. It did seem to go away when I started using a different washing machine that was further away from DC (but this was also the time that I finished in lab 1 and moved to lab 2, so I don't know which was the chicken and which was the egg).
Also, if the Lawyer has come across potassium permanganate hanging out in DC, that one weird coincidence, since I have only ever seen it in lab or in air scrubbers for anatomy labs.
Good luck on the hunt for the answer!
Your joke made me laugh, but I must say I have absolutely no idea what caused that.
I have no idea! But I highly recommend either Clorox or tie-dyeing. :)
HAHAHAHA This is so funny! Love the analogy to petichiae
It's nice to have a small distraction during Boards studying. When are you a free woman?
That is seriously CRAZY! I am completely baffled.
Because of the white spot that was protected by his arm, I think it must have been the rain. That is some scary thought.
I laughed so much at your joke :D
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