Dunno what made me think of this just now. When I worked for IT in a school district way back in the 90s, a librarian told me she kept a supply of mouse balls in her desk because kids would steal them out of the school computers. What I remember about those balls was they picked up dust and crud off surfaces. Pretty soon optical mice came along and they were history.

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    18 days ago

    The gunk is just compacted dust from the desk surfaces.

    Perhaps a bit gross, but it’s mostly stuff you’re breathing in daily, just now visible due to being compacted.

    Super gross to me would imply something like bodily fluids or other biohazard.

    Am I missing something?