Comments on: That crazy New York smell

Question: That crazy New York smell

.kobayashi. — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 09:26:07 -0800

New Yorkers: Did anyone figure out what that smell was?

By: jamesonandwater

jamesonandwater — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 09:28:19 -0800

This guy has an idea.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 09:32:50 -0800

No, it has not been identified. Big column in yesterday's Daily News about how the city had tested the air and determined there were no harmful chemicals present but no one had been able to pinpoint the source of the smell. A few manufacturers were eliminated as possible sources. Big mystery. My personal feeling is that someone should look at Al Sharpton's schedule for last week, because in the time I spent following him around as a TV cameraman in the mid-90s, he frequently smelled sweet enough to be mistaken for a syrup factory. Big surprise to me...I never would have expected it.

By: anthill

anthill — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 09:36:53 -0800

As an armchair commentator I'm putting my money on impromptu Army PsyOps experiment. For no reason besides it sounds the coolest.

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 09:38:20 -0800

Because if you're scared and then you find out there is no problem you feel safer. I vote for Sewer Psyops ..or common industrial pollution under hush hush

By: necessitas

necessitas — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 09:47:24 -0800

Maybe there was a spill or some sort of issue along the flavor/fragrance corridor in NJ and the aroma wafted into manhattan?

By: Miko

Miko — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:22:39 -0800

There was plenty of great speculation in kingfisher, his musclebound cat's thread the other day. As you'll see, I came down enthusiastically and joyfully on the PsyOps side.

I used to live near the fragrance corridor, and though you sometimes smell intriguing things, never did I experience a scent capable of wafting across a radius of more than 20 miles. If they'd had some sort of spill of superconcentrated maple-essence, they'd have had to cop to it, I think. Usually the smells are in small pockets along the highway nearby.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:43:33 -0800

That's not so far-fetched, anthill. It could have been a test to measure the dispersal characteristics of chemicals released in the subway, for example.

By: rolypolyman

rolypolyman — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:47:32 -0800

It's the sweet, sweet smell of New York's imminent demise.
That would be Random Acts of Senseless Violence. A great read.

By: quibx

quibx — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 10:50:56 -0800

I work at a DOD laboratory, and often, as i am coming in to work in the morning, the parking lot smells like maple syrup. I have no idea why. I am nowhere near NYC though, but I'll ask around.

By: Miko

Miko — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 13:37:35 -0800

I'm not normally a bog cloak-and-dagger person, but this one just seems too obvious to ignore. For those who think our government would never do such a thing, there does seem to be some evidence of possibly analogous experiments. One in particular occurred in 1966, when the Army released a bacteria believed to be harmless in the New York subway system, without the knowledge of the public. Although I can find mentions of this on academic web sites, my searches are resulting in a lot of tinfoil-hat sites as well. It does seem to be true, however.

Chilling stuff, some of it: VIII. BIOLOGICAL TESTS BY THE GOVERNMENT ON AMERICAN CITIES

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Army simulated biological attacks in or over US cities, including Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. In one of the biggest tests, the Army sprayed 'simulant' bacteria into the air from a boat off of San Francisco. They used Serrata marcescens, an organism that is easy to detect. Several civilians became sick; one died. Two important things emerged from these experiments. One was that nearly everyone downwind acquired the bacteria. Secondly, it was learned later that it causes a variety of GI disorders.

Again...I haven't been able to do a thorough evaluation of this stuff. I'm just saying it's plausible and worth considering, in light of the paucity of other explanations.

By: Miko

Miko — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 13:38:12 -0800

IN case it's unclear (and it is) the graf beginning "During the 1950s and 60s" is a quote from the site linked above it.

By: matteo

matteo — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 13:46:33 -0800

air quality report

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 14:09:27 -0800

[a few jokey comments removed]

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 14:58:01 -0800

Keto-acids, like those found in Maple Syrup Urine Disease, can smell like this.

By: intermod

intermod — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 18:50:52 -0800

Kangaroo musk smells like maple syrup.

By: intermod

intermod — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 18:51:30 -0800

[I've been there -- twice]

By: o0o0o

o0o0o — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 21:02:58 -0800

There is some sort of plant, or something in the plants on the coast of California that also smells like maple syrup.

Coincidentally I noticed this on the same day as that post, after friends' dogs had been running around in the area.

So either central park has a lot of whatever-it-is blooming, some kind of pesticide has been sprayed, or we can all expect to come down with "avian flu" sometime soon.