The OFFICIAL Unofficial Achewood Message Board
Trivial Pursuits => Wild Card => Topic started by: Choop on August 26, 2003, 02:23:05 am
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(http://www.10mar2001.com/images/grabs/nosmells.gif)
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:lol:
Okay, okay, we get it. No one loves you. Personne ne t'aime.
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Must... have... interesting smell-related experience to post here!!
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I have one simple word for you.
Asparagus
Discuss.
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What was the problem alluded to in the first post? That there is a dearth of posts in the Smells forum?
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I have one simple word for you.
Asparagus
Discuss.
Well, if I read that, I think 'mmmmmmmm asparagrass', but then this would naturally (I would hope, being on topic and all) be about the smell, and I don't recall (though I don't tend to smell my asparagus) it not smelling all that great...
Then there's people who think cheese sauce is the best thing to do to asparagus - no no no, too strong a flavour!
Butter, with a hint of lemon, and maybe made into a light cream sauce, but no cheese people!
[/rant]
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Moving to "Tastes"... ;)
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THE SKINNY ON ASPARAGUS PEE
http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970115/skinny1.html
by Hannah Holmes
"This is of no practical importance," the urologist tells me. "It wasn't part of my training. It's something we contemplated over pizza and beer." When I admit that I have actually timed the arrival of the distinctive odor in my pee after eating asparagus (about 15 minutes), the good doctor suggests, facetiously, that my groundbreaking research might lead to a tenure-track position at a fine university.
It is a sadly neglected field. But I'm not the first to ask.
In 1891 a scientist named "Nencki" had so very little to do that he convinced four guys to eat seven kilograms of asparagus (that's about three and a half pounds each). He collected the pertinent pee, worked some medieval magic on it, and concluded that the smell was due to a metabolite called methanethiol.
So there you go. Nencki claimed that as your body metabolizes asparagus, it produces this smelly chemical, which your discriminating kidneys see fit to dump into the bladder.
This probably doesn't qualify as red-hot science, but it's warm enough to spark differing opinions.
In 1975 a chemist from California claimed in Science that gas chromatography had fingered a different culprit: S-Methyl Thioesters, to be precise. No methanethiol.
Then there's the 1980 reference in the British Medical Journal that simply refers to "metabolites." Another asparagus scholar favors "six sulfur-containing compounds."
I'm voting for methanethiol, partly because the guy who did the gas chromatography left no forwarding address, and partly because the methanethiol entry in my aging Merck Index of chemicals is so interesting.
Methanethiol is composed mostly of sulfur with a splash of hydrogen, plus some carbon, a brew famous for its effect in rotten eggs, cabbages and paper mills. Convincing, no? Merck also notes the asparagus connection and, most intriguing, warns that methanethiol may be a narcotic in high concentrations.
Now if you're scowling at your screen and muttering, "My pee doesn't smell like asparagus," first ask yourself if you eat asparagus.
Even if you do but lack the smell, you're still OK. In fact the fabulously funny book, The ReSearch Guide to Body Fluids (by Paul Spinrad, Juno Books, N.Y., 1994), says just 22 percent of survey respondents experience asparagus pee.
Early investigators thought genetics had divided the world into stinkers and nonstinkers. That was until 1980, when three researchers had the presence of mind to wave pee from the nonstinkers under the noses of the stinkers.
Lo and behold, the problem proved to be one not of producing the stinky pee but of being able to sniff it out.
If you've been deprived of this gift, don't give up hope. To increase the concentration of methanethiol molecules available to your snoot, you could either intentionally dehydrate yourself before you dine (this is unhealthful); or pee into a cup and sniff that. Or eat three and a half pounds of asparagus for lunch.
And if you experience a narcotic effect, you could be looking at a tenure-track position at a fine university.
Vocabulary
Asparagus fleet, n. Roman emperors were so fond of asparagus, which probably originated near the Mediterranean, that they kept special boats for the purpose of fetching it.
Check out more of "The Skinny On..." stories:
Traffic Jam "Ghosts"
Hannah Holmes sniffs out answers to life's oddities in Portland, Maine. She's a regular contributor to Discovery Channel Online and also writes for Escape, Outside, Sierra, Backpacker, Eco Traveler and Women's Sports and Fitness. Write her at skinny@online.discovery.com.
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Finally, I understand one of my favorite Leisure Town strips (http://www.leisuretown.com/library/acc/8.html).
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Good God, Satchel, yikes! That strip is NUTS.
I'm guessing there are people who now understand why there was asparagus in that scene in Austin Powers where he is peeing in the fountain, too...I thought that was hilarious.
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Leisure Town (http://www.leisuretown.com/) is a rather rad ‘comic.’ I’ve actually been disturbed by some things I read on there, which is no mean feat. The Tristan fellow who makes it is closely connected to JerkCity (http://christpuncher.jerkcity.com/) so you’ll occasionally see some jokes echoed back and forth, but overall it’s a great pleasure.
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Aww, hell, this'll end up in Sights now.
Until then, comrades, keep posting! Post away!
I'll just be over here on my imaginary tour of the Flavor Factories of North New Jersey.