<<Midwest Coffee Talk: The Tens>>

[bnk]

I am sure Decatur, Illinois has them all beat.

Lots of places have a distinct smell though but nothing like Decatur [ AKA Stinkatur! ] thanks to ADM ["supermarket to the world"*] , Staley and Caterpillar.

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8rWY3enhN0

http://amishamerica.com/do-we-romant...ish/?cid=16516

...the rancid stench that drifts through the town originates from both ADM and Staley, two big industrial grain processors with large operations in town. I really don’t know how to put this nicely, but for the time I lived there that was about the most stomach-churning agricultural or industrial stench I’ve ever had the pleasure to experience…nearly indescribable but something like rancid chicken, at least to these nostrils.

It seemed to roam about the town based on however the winds might have been blowing at the time…

The smell is so strong it can effect cities 30-40 miles away. Champaign and Springfield can pick it up depending on the direction of the winds.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/defin...&defid=3722613

Decatur is a medium-sized city in Central Illinois. The city is unique in that it is composed entirely of soybeans held together by a sticky adhesive made of sadness and dried Krekel's soft-serve.

Local History:

The city of Decatur was founded in the 1800's by the Chicago Bears, who at the time were coached by the legendary Abraham Lincoln.
...

The city's auspicious beginnings attracted a number of aspiring industrialists spanning a number of industries, including hog rendering, dirt recycling, garbage producing, and pollution. Many of these industries can still be seen today, though the long ago laid off most of their employees.

The city is home to a few famous inventions, such as the flyswatter, the automobile turn signal, and Dr. Dustin Ellison's Fabulous Rectal Plunger (patent pending).

The air often has a curious smell about it and can differ from day to day, often so much so that residents have been known to refer to days of the week by smell:
Monday: Burnt Cheez-Its
Tuesday: Soggy French Fries
Wednesday: Unholy Ass-crack of Satan
Thursday: Toasted Cat Litter
Friday: Recently Deceased Hobo Coated in Vaseline

Government:
The city is ruled by a small, exclusive club of wealthy men who are engaged in a large-scale game of Monopoly, with each one attempting to construct a "Speed Lube" or "Cash Loans" establishment on every street corner. They delight in sporadically bulldozing entire blocks of downtown to construct "parks," and relentlessly lobby for airline service to our airport (last month's passenger traffic: Three people, one ear of corn).

Geography:
The dominating geographic feature of Decatur is the large depression located east of Nelson Park (also in the minds of Decatur's inhabitants) that serves as a collecting pond for the liquid excretions of the populace. Termed "Lake Decatur", this muddy soup is rumored to contain fish, but mostly consists of dead bodies in 1973 Buick Lesabres, still clutching their buckets of KFC.

Activities/Tourism/Nightlife:
...

I spent quite a bit of time in Iowa and it does have some unique smells but nothing compares to Decatur ["the Soybean Capital of the World".]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decatur,_Illinois

The city's motto is "Decatur, We Like it Here". The old motto was "The Pride of the Prairie". "The Soybean Capital of the World" is the un-official, but popular motto.


Decatur is a sister city to Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan and to Seevetal, Lower Saxony, Germany.

...


Decatur was the original home of the Chicago Bears, from 1919 to 1920. The football team was then known as the Decatur Staleys and played at Staley Field, both named after the local food-products manufacturer.

[rockyi]

Originally Posted by Dralcoffin

Here in Iowa, we have several smaller stinky cities: Muscatine (probably the worst), Ottumwa (huge meatpacking plant), and Cedar Rapids (the City of Five Smells).

I actually think Clinton is worse than Muscatine. Never drive through Clinton when you are sick or hungover, you WILL puke.
I agree with Cedar Rapids, it can get pretty bad on a hot day. Davenport is occasionally nasty with Oscar Mayer/Kraft and Ralston Purina down the street from each other.

[mobyhead]

I forgot to mention. The other side of the river to my west is Lilly Pharmaceutical. I wonder what goes into some of those meds they make?

[vid]

Thunder Bay just has a pulp mill. Sometimes we get inundated with the smell of steamed broccoli, punctuated by wet-fart-in-a-shower.

When I first arrived in Winnipeg there was a breeze coming from the direction of a mushroom farm. It was the worst urban smell I have experienced in my life thus far.

[Buckeye Native 001]

I-5 past Bakersfield, CA is pretty bad, thanks to the slaughterhouses along the side of the freeway.

[mobyhead]

Originally Posted by Buckeye Native 001

I-5 past Bakersfield, CA is pretty bad, thanks to the slaughterhouses along the side of the freeway.

I forgot about Omaha. I lived in a house about 3 blocks from the slaughterhouses. Stinky, especially in the summer. When the wind blew just right you could hear the pigs being killed. The shriek was frightening.

No wonder I was able to buy that home on the cheap.

[rockyi]

Originally Posted by mobyhead

.....When the wind blew just right you could hear the pigs being killed. The shriek was frightening.

[Buckeye Native 001]

The sound of pigs shrieking?

High-octane nightmare fuel, anyone?

[rockyi]

Lets change this disturbing conversation for a moment to the wonder of nature. I walked in the door last night to see this cactus, that I've had for around 20 years, blooming in my kitchen. It might not seem like a huge deal but in 20 years that I've had it this is probably only the 5th or 6th time it's ever bloomed. The last time was probably around 8 years ago...........







......and now back to pigs shrieking.

[ChiSoxRox]

The old Chicago stockyards used "everything about the pig but the squeal." I read The Jungle to get an idea of what conditions were like in 1904; I still shudder whenever I think of Bubbly Creek and what must still be in the ground and water there.

Nice cactus. They're my type of plant. Park it in the sun and water it once a month.

[rockyi]

Originally Posted by Dralcoffin

.....Nice cactus. They're my type of plant. Park it in the sun and water it once a month.

I used to move it out on my sunny deck every summer but it's gotten so tall I can't get it through the door without tipping it and I fear it will break in half if I did that. It's in a south-facing window but in the summer the sun is right overhead so it doesn't shine directly in the window but it's the best I can do.
Lately I've been watering more than once a month, maybe that helped it bloom.

[vid]

1ajs says (1:19 PM)
k
brolie brussle sprouts hmm hmm good
the savage bastard says (1:20 PM)
you like brussels sprouts?
freak.
1ajs says (1:20 PM)
wat?
basthomy

He is so adorable it hurts.

[1ajs]

brocolie was a typo the other well yea i fail

[vid]

You have blasphemed against the Gods of English Orthography.

[1ajs]

:babyeat:

[vid]

[rockyi]

.............*crickets chirping*...............

[Ayreonaut]

So anyway. I love Brussels sprouts!

[ChiSoxRox]

Here's a Sporcle quiz I made on the 10 largest cities in Illinois for every Census year from 1840 to 2010. It goes from Chicago and small farming towns, to Chicago and inner ring suburbs, to Chicago and outer suburbs.

[rockyi]

Originally Posted by Dralcoffin

Here's a Sporcle quiz I made on the 10 largest cities in Illinois for every Census year from 1840 to 2010. It goes from Chicago and small farming towns, to Chicago and inner ring suburbs, to Chicago and outer suburbs.

It's funny....back in the early 1830's speculators didn't know where to invest their money, the new towns of Chicago or Rock Island.....looks like we failed big time. Our growth never made it past a slow crawl. We only made it into the top ten a few times.