As to not watering shortly before harvesting, well that makes perfect sense from the standpoint of slightly reducing the amount of water in the product at harvest (Slightly reduces drying time, but is most helpful in reducing/eliminating mold and rot).
The 36-hours of darkness thing is pure, 100% Bullshit. You can't do some magic trick at the end of your grow to suddenly make your stuff better. Either you did a good job on your grow, or you didn't.....The end result will tell. If you followed poor growing practices for months, nothing you do at the end is going to significantly help or suddenly reverse the damage you've already done.
Also, trich's don't suddenly develop overnight and suddenly disappear in light, despite the impression that some would give. Harvest whenever the time is right for YOU (assuming of course that your crop is actually ripe!)