Comments on: Gas

By: Don Ulrich

Don Ulrich — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 22:44:42 +0000

Just two words: Greens Point :-)

By: Mercaptan « Rowan Simpson

Mercaptan « Rowan Simpson — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 11:32:35 +0000

[...] Mercaptan Published January 24th, 2007 Software Development A couple of weeks back Jeffrey Zeldman posted about a gas leak in New York. This sentence jumped out at me: We knew that the smell was not natural gas but mercaptan, a chemical that is injected into natural gas to let people know when there’s a leak. [...]

By: Piper Guy

Piper Guy — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 01:33:18 +0000

Jeff,

LOVE how you tell it! Thanks for the update, was wondering what really actually happened.

Justin

By: N.J. suspected as source of stench - The Brian Alvey Weblog

N.J. suspected as source of stench - The Brian Alvey Weblog — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 04:59:11 +0000

[...] hadn’t been for Jeffrey’s blog post on the gas smell in NYC.Great work, spammers!PermalinkEmail thisComments[0] [...]

By: Ian Adams

Ian Adams — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:06:00 +0000

I have to say that I’m really impressed with how you handled yourself. Calm and rational. I’m glad everyone there is okay. Did your wife and kid have to at least evacuate the building to avoid undesirable effects from the gas leak? Or was it not really noticeable in your home?

By: the grubbykid

the grubbykid — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 06:32:45 +0000

Today was just silly; I had relatives from out of town calling me about the “mysterious smell!” I thanked them for their concern; but no, the City did not blow up; and yes, I am OK.

Although, I wish it was the Maple Syrup smell, this time.

By: David Sleight

David Sleight — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 05:22:16 +0000

I walked into work this morning, traversing 20 minutes worth of midtown Manhattan, and never smelled a thing. My only hint that something was amiss came when I got to the office and some TV reporters from the neighboring building were outside, portable lights blaring, lathering themselves up into a frenzy of non-reporting ecstasy. “A fire truck just passed by! It’s probably going to the source of the odor!”

By: Jonathan Dobres

Jonathan Dobres — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 02:36:10 +0000

CNN’s headlines of “Mystery Stench Baffles New Yorkers” struck me as kind of redundant. Isn’t there always a kind of odor permeating Manhattan? And when the reports started to include Newark, well, come on. The Jersey jokes just kind of write themselves, don’t they?

In any event, I’m glad that nothing bad has come of it so far. Sometimes the world just does odd things. Remember “Everybody Poops”? Maybe megacities need to do that occasionally as well.

By: jsdoorman

jsdoorman — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 01:14:59 +0000

I am a doorman in lower Manhattan & our super & I also got hammered with calls from almost every shareholder in our building this morning about the gas smell.

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 22:51:13 +0000

Jeffrey, do you personally use Ruby on Rails for your current projects? My experience with it has been poor and I'm more into symfony. And, uh, I should probably comment on the leak, but I guess I don't really care that much. You and the fam are alive and the leak sounds minor.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 22:25:35 +0000

Jeez. I come from Hamilton, Ontario where when the wind changes directions (every few weeks) you get a powerful smell of sulphur from the steel companies on the waterfront. I’m sure this sort of thing happens in any major industrial city. I lived several kilometers from the steel factories; Manhattan island, despite its self-image, is a small, small place, only a few klicks wide. Its no wonder the whole place experienced the smell but the idea that this is/was life-threatening is a little hysterical. Plus, for natural gas to ignite, it needs to be quite concentrated – not something thats too likely if its atmospheric. No offence, but this is the type of thing that makes people in the hinterland snigger at nervous New Yorkers. So good on you Zeldman and bad-on the media for playing this up.

By: Ross

Ross — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 22:14:06 +0000

One thing’s for sure… today was the day for fart jokes in NYC.

By: Mau

Mau — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:52:55 +0000

It is good to hear that nothing bad happened.

Of course, good to hear that Mr. Z, The Wife, the kid, and the dog are just fine.

Oh, and regarding the smell… Wasn’t me. =)

By: Brian

Brian — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:51:44 +0000

hehe. Jeff, your news posts are SOOOO much more interesting than the networks. =P