Tuesday, January 14, 2020
BBC accidentally breaks its own rule
BBC describes an admirable effort to preserve the hardest thing of all: Smell.
Without knowing it, the BBC writer violates BBC's absolute policy:
But these particular smells, while omnipresent to those living in the city, will not be around forever. “What we increasingly see is the arrival of a transnational aromascape or flavourscape,” says Rhys-Taylor. “It is pretty much the same in every global city now: smell of pulled pork, flat whites, roasting coffee beans is an increasing one, microbreweries. There is a global constellation of transnational aromas and flavours associated with a transnational class, people that move around from city to city.”BBC just acknowledged that Populists might have a point after all! The methods of preservation are interesting and could finally lead to Smell-O-Vision:
One method involves exposing a polymer fibre to the odour, so that the smell-causing chemical compounds in the air can stick to it. Then Bembibre analyses the sample in the laboratory, dissolving the compounds stuck to the fibre, separating them and identifying them. The resulting list of chemicals is effectively a recipe for the scent. “We characterise the smell from the human point of view,” adds Bembibre. “This is important because if we want to preserve it for the future, it depends on many factors. Not only the chemical composition but also our experience.”Bravo for acknowledging that places are different, and for recognizing that human perception matters. In an era when "multiple chemical sensitivity" wipes out smells, in an era when all physical things and activities must be EXTERMINATED leaving only raw abstract numbers manipulated by NYC, this is an important way of defending both modularity and the universe itself. The effort is probably too late for most unique local smells. EPA wiped them out in the '70s. Thinking about Okla: Shawnee was peanuts. Ponca was crude oil. SW OKC was the slaughterhouse. Enid was wheat. Stillwater had an odd iron-ish smell that didn't seem to come from any industry. Fortunately I already have a tag for this subject!
Labels: defensible spaces, defensible thymes
¶ 5:21 AM
