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Camden Blobs: Mystery Solved

Posted by michael on from the stay-away-from-the-black-oil dept.

jeffy124 writes "Recently there was a discussion about blobs in the sidewalks of Camden, NJ. The mystery has been solved. It's paraffin wax, which is used in industrial processes and in candles, and poses no health risks whatsoever. Some residents suspect a coverup, but then again, this is Camden were talking about."

15 of 36 comments (clear)

  1. How hard is it to detect Parafin wax? by Picass0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So why was everyone so f'n baffled by simple candle wax? Is parafin wax somehow beyond laboratory chemical analysis?

  2. i'm still wondering... by ceejayoz · · Score: 2, Insightful

    why it was falling out of the sky? Seems rather bizzare to me...

    1. Re:i'm still wondering... by jeffy124 · · Score: 3, Informative

      i live in the camden/philly area .... on the news last night they said it might be from candlelight vigils. Why residents didnt make a connection between vigils and the spots is beyond me, but like I said above, this is Camden were talking about.

      --
      The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
    2. Re:i'm still wondering... by ceejayoz · · Score: 2

      with black candles?

    3. Re:i'm still wondering... by ceejayoz · · Score: 2

      The original article stated that it started out 6 inches wide and shrank to the size of a half-dollar... didn't mention changing color either. I don't think it was from candles, somehow.

    4. Re:i'm still wondering... by Lars+T. · · Score: 2

      So the chewing gum stains on the streets only come from black chewing gum?

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    5. Re:i'm still wondering... by clem.dickey · · Score: 2

      When I was a kid (about 1960) candy stores sold waxy figurines filled with juice. You would bite off the head and drink the juice. The sidewalks had black blobs and there wasn't any mystery.

  3. Mystery Solved by one9nine · · Score: 3, Funny


    They're made of PEOPLE!!! Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!

  4. Duh by andy@petdance.com · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I'm just amazed at how cynical people want to be, and how they find problems that just don't exist.
    Sanders said she thinks she still doesn't know the truth. "I believe they're covering it up. I really do," she said.
    "They"? Which "they"? There's a vast conspiracy hiding the truth of sidewalk wax? Does Sanders have nothing else in her life to provide interest? Did the subscription to the Star run out? Maybe turning off the TV and taking a trip to the library to find a good book would help.

    She doesn't believe the health department, so what will she believe? Is there any source that she'd give enough credence to? Is she going to be monitoring SidewalkBlobTruth.com for the REAL UNCENSORED STORY?

    We're so jaded as a society that we have to come up with exciting fables to explain the most mundane of phenomenon.

    1. Re:Duh by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

      Generally I tend to respect cynicism, but this is just downright stupid.

      No wonder our nation is so fucked up, if retards like this get news coverage. Can't wait til next week, when they'll have a "NASA Shuttle launches causing tornadoes in the midwest" story.

  5. Blame Disney... by stefanlasiewski · · Score: 2, Funny

    Disney is coming out with a new movie called "Spots", which is about aliens who create mystious blobs on city sidewalks the world over.

    As part of the marketing campaign, Disney employees were going to paint spots on sidewalks in many major cities; to promote the movie via word-of-mouth.

    But since this is a low budget movie, they only made it to Camden...

    --
    "Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
  6. Parrafin WAx by xxcrackheadxx · · Score: 2, Informative

    I was wondering, anyone given the thought of skate boarders that use wax on curbs, leaving chunks around that melt? They use them to grease up curbs so th eboards slide on the edges of them. (this might be where the wax came from, kids on skatboards? just wondering)

    Any supermarket or shopping center, sidewalk neighbor hood has theses types of things all the time. And they all different collors, but its just simple candle wax or even zogs sex wav(like the surfers used to use)

  7. No health risk? by g4dget · · Score: 2

    Well, it's good that it isn't something worse. But droplets of dirty paraffin floating through the air might very well still constitute a health risk.

  8. Disappointing... by jzitt · · Score: 2

    Having grown up in Camden, I thought the idea of covering the city in black blobs was a distinct improvement.

    Now if this were New York City, the goverment would have immediately cut off funding to the city's museums. But this being Camden, it would require finding government officials who weren't currently in jail.

    1. Re:Disappointing... by nucal · · Score: 2
      Of course the Tweeter Center is not without its problems, including roudy suburban folk.

      By the time the night is over, drunk and high people will overwhelm the emergency rooms at Virtua-West Jersey Hospital, Cooper Hospital-University Medical Center, and Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center. Police will arrest or issue citations to 32 people on charges ranging from aggravated assault to urinating in public.

      This may sound like a typical night in an impoverished city with a reputation for drugs and crime.

      But it's not.

      This night, rapper Eminem is playing the Tweeter Center - and it's his fans who are wreaking havoc.