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Soda Machines for Geeks? 145

Posted by Cliff from the what's-your-poison dept.
PhaseBurn writes "In all my findings, I've yet to see things like Bawls or Jolt in a soda machine. Even bottled water is hard to come by... Working in a call center for an ISP, we don't have to worry too much about what's popular with the rest of the world, and so, I'm tasked with finding a vending machine replete for geeks. While Jolt can come out of any normal soda machine that supports plastic bottles, the glass Bawls bottles woultn't fare so well. Do they make a soda machine that would work for this? What's around your office... And what's popular among the geeks today, as I want it to appeal to the vast majority of our staff?" Why use a vending machine when a community cooler would work just as well. With that aside, what kind of beverages would you like to see more of in vending machines?
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Soda Machines for Geeks? More

Soda Machines for Geeks?

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  • Special Geek Beverages (Score:3, Insightful)

    by recursiv ( 324497 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @10:16PM (#3853910) Homepage Journal
    I'm a geek, but I don't need to have my special geek beverages just to prove it. And as far as water goes, the water fountain (bubbler if you prefer) suits me fine.

    • I agree. I don't think any true geek needs a special drink or sticker or t-shirt or anything to prove that he or she is a geek.

      But if you want drinks like Bawls here's what you need to do:

      1. Buy a large fridge

      2. Buy Bawls online at thinkgeek

      3. Set up repeat shipments using Scheduled Delivery [thinkgeek.com]

      4. Plug Fridge into power outlet somewhere near work area, keep stocked with Bawls.

      That's it, you can choose when to start your shipments, how often to send shipments, etc. Everything will work as long as you keep you shipping and billing info current.

      • I don't know about you man, but I'd be pissed if everyone got their Bawls for free in a company paid-for fridge. I mean, get some variety at least. Coke. Mt. Dew. Jolt. Beamish Stout. Dr. Slice. Those seem to be other "geek" drinks. That's probably because "geeks" drink the same stuff everyone else does.

        Even better, skip the Bawls. It's over-priced. Keep a bunch of lemon-lime soda, grenadine, and freebase caffeine powder [1] on hand, perhaps even mix it for everyone in a pitcher. Throw in a couple sliced oranges for a zesty citrus surprise. Hell, you could have various levels of caffeine per 12-oz glass, 0 mg to 100. Why not?

        At work, we have a water fountain and it works great. You know, one of those 5 gallon glug-glug-gluggers of purified water in a bottle, connected upside down to a fountain that dispenses very cool and hot-enough-for-tea water. Can't lose with one of those.

        [1] Pure caffeine can be easily isolated from caffeine tablets or ordered from chemical suppliers. Damn cheap.
        • Pure caffeine can be easily isolated from caffeine tablets or ordered from chemical suppliers. Damn cheap.

          Just by smashing them up? or is there more involved? I'd love a link to instructions, and a link to someone that sells caffine powder suitable for bevrage usage would be nice. I'll finalt be able to start my day with a nice healthy glass of caffinated orange juice.
          • Im waiting for the coffe patch!!
          • Heh. I was going to make some of that for my girlfriend, who was starting to drink a SoBe Energy Drink (caffeinated 5-Alive) every morning.

            There are a lot of places that provide "research" chemicals online. A lot typically provide to businesses, but can be kajoled into selling to an individual. Also, there are a handful of companies which sell smaller quantities directly to curious consumers. Caffeine is among various Tryptamines, DXM HBr, and others.

            Just make sure to get Food or Technical Grade Caffeine powder, which implies a certain (almost 100%) percentage of purity.

            As per the tablets, more than just smashing them up. However, that would work, you would just be drinking 3 grams of cornstarch or binder. If it dissolves and doesn't tastebad, I suppose it's not a big deal. Otherwise, if it doesn't dissolve in water, you could extract via water, perhaps 1 tablet per oz- then strain out the binders. You then could take this liquid and add it to a big 20 oz OJ. :) It would be a lot better on your teeth and stomache than coffee or even tea.

            There are much better methods, I've seen plenty of extraction procedures in HS/Intro College chemistry. Google around for "caffeine isolation" or something. Probably find info on isolating it from soda and tea as well.
          • What is it with caffeine? Why does everyone want it? Okay, it stops you falling asleep late at night, but are you really at work then? If you're so sleepy that you need coffee to stay awake, then you probably wouldn't be productive even after the cup of coffee.

            I find that I can't think straight after drinking more than a small amount of caffeine; it's okay for a quick boost before writing essays (or postings to Slashdot) where you just need to churn out drivel, but not for anything requiring real thought and concentration (like programming). Apparently, studies show that caffeine improves performance for repetitive tasks but makes you worse at doing anything new or difficult. (Also it really spoils your aim when shooting, probably due to small hand jitters.)

            If you are currently dependent on caffeine, then you get a day or two of headache on giving it up, which is a reason to keep taking it in the short term. (Some painkiller manufacturers must know this, because they put caffeine in their tablets, which I think is sneaky.) But avoiding headaches is not much of a reason to deliberately seek out Jolt, penguin mints and all the other 'geek' consumables which seem to maximize caffeine for its own sake.

            Anyone have different experiences? Does it really help to take a large cup of strong coffee (without sugar) at times when you're not sleepy? And have you tried the same after doing without caffeine for a week or so?
        • Uh, you should check an online material safety data sheet before you work with pure caffeine powder. There IS a lethal dose of the stuff - I'm not sure, so *don't just take my word for it*, but I think it's around ten grams. It's also unhealthy to inhale pure caffeine dust. We tend to forget it, but caffeine is DANGEROUS when in its pure, non-foodstuff or pill form.

          Here's a safer alternative: thinkgeek, in the caffeine section, has caffeinated syrups that are VERY highly caffeinated, in a variety of flavors. If you chugged a bottle of this stuff, you might get in trouble, but short of that it's a hell of a lot safer than the pure powder, and thinkgeek says how much caffeine there is in each ounce, so you can use this stuff to determine the caffeine content of your drinks pretty precisely. Just mix with soda water, maybe some fruit juices as well.

          In short, DON'T "FREEBASE" CAFFEINE. BAD IDEA.

    • Re:Special Geek Beverages (Score:4, Insightful)

      by pheonix ( 14223 ) <slashdot@i b l o v iate.org> on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @10:38PM (#3854022) Homepage
      Excellent point... I'm getting sick of the stupidity that plagues the ask slashdot questions recently... I mean, what beverages are geeky enough for geeks? Which pets [slashdot.org] are geeky enough? Which laptops [slashdot.org] are geeky enough? Even how do you be geeky enough with a SO [slashdot.org]? Come on people, if you don't have a real question, don't bother sending it. If you need to know how to handle your girlfriend, ask Ann Landers. If you want to know what car to buy, go to Car and Driver. Oh well... maybe it's just me being tired, but it seems a bit ridiculous that so many people are suddenly asking themselves, AM I GEEKY ENOUGH? Buy an identity...
      • Indeed. Pretty much everyone likes to feel like they belong. Some of us are lame enough to work towards being a part of a very inclusive group like the "geeks" that they have to make sure to get "geeky" shit. Whatever, whatever splits your bananna.

        It's called High School Clique syndrome. You know, the punks, goths, and raver kids that champion individuality, make fun of all the "preps" who "try so hard to fit it" and at the same time, put so much effort into fitting in with their little club.

        Not saying it's bad, it's just what humans do, I suppose.
      • Well then, I guess we'd better just shut down Ask Slashdot, since no question of late can pass muster with you.

        Better that people keep questions to themselves, and just conform, than to dare ask what others in their peer group think or feel about something.

        You're completely right; you should never ask which notebooks run your alternative OS of choice -- better to just keep the economy churning along by buying whichever one looks the coolest and hoping its equipment works with your stuff. Don't ask or even wonder how to conduct your geeky self with a significant other -- if you don't "just know," your relationship is doomed anyway. Never solicit opinions about pets that are pleasant to be around yet are easy to maintain -- that should be painfully obvious! Just buy a [insert your favorite pet here and argue with anyone who disagrees]!

        Really, fuck off. It's clear you're remarkably tired, or just intolerant of anyone musing aloud about topics you think you've mastered yourself. Have you got a perfect pet, a perfect laptop, a perfect relationship with your SO, and a perfect stock of beverages in your refrigerator/cooler/vending machine/drink dispenser of choice? (For the clueless, that's rhetorical; I'm sure I'll get responses to this question anyway :)

        I'm getting sick of every single fucking Ask Slashdot question having more replies of "Dur, this is a stoopid question!" and "What are j00, some kind of moron?" rather than an actual exchange of information.

        Maybe people don't want to google for random sites that might have real or bogus information. Maybe people don't want to write to that tightwad wench Ann Landers for a dose of conservative drivel. Maybe people don't want to read a magazine sponsored by the same companies they're supposed to be objectively reviewing to figure out which car to buy.

        Gasp -- Maybe people just want to hear what others in their peer group have to say about different topics.

        Then again, looking at your response, maybe people will just get sick of folks like you and stop feeding trolls like I'm doing now ;)

        As I've always said about "offensive" television and radio shows, magazine and newspaper articles, books, and web sites, articles, and posts, if it offends you, quit reading it, and move on to the next topic. There's plenty of kinder, gentler content on Slashdot or even Disney's site [slashdot.org] if these mind-bending questions twist your soul into painful shapes.

        • Re:Special Geek Beverages (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Wakko Warner ( 324 ) on Wednesday July 10, 2002 @12:31PM (#3857586) Homepage Journal
          I'm getting sick of every single fucking Ask Slashdot question having more replies of "Dur, this is a stoopid question!" and "What are j00, some kind of moron?" rather than an actual exchange of information.

          Have you ever stopped to consider that perhaps the reason that no meaningful exchange of information occurs in this section of slashdot is because the questions being asked here of late are completely inane?

          Ask slashdot used to be good. The questions used to be intriguing and required a little more thought thank simply linking to a fucking Google search. Nowadays, they're just Slashdot-Retarded, thoughtless ponderances with as much conversation potential as a pile of dogshit. "What kind of electric dork cars are there?" USE GOOGLE. "What kind of laptops have good linux driver support?" USE GOOGLE. "Where can I get good geek shit for my right hand^W^Wgirlfriend?" SHUT UP, ASK A REAL FUCKING QUESTION, AND USE GOOGLE!

          It's hard to engender any sort of worthwhile conversation when the only answers you can really give are pointers to websites. There hasn't been a thought-provoking question on Ask Slashdot in months.

          - A.P.
      • You said: need to know how to handle your girlfriend, ask Ann Landers.

        Yeah but she's dead! Died last week.

        Give CmdrTaco and crew a break. Besides, if there really was something interesting happening (there was, it got rejected from several submittors.....Gene Kan of Gnutella fame committed suicide) they still might post this stuff and the good stuff if they feel nice.

  • Soda? (Score:2, Funny)

    by MoodyLoner ( 76734 )
    I'd be happy if they had regular Dr. Pepper instead of just diet, but I've given up trying to get it and just bring my own.

    Besides, the baby makes sure I don't get any sleep anyway...

    • BYO rulez. I schlep two-liters into the fridge. Cans are just not cost-effective.
    • I'd be happy if they had regular Dr. Pepper instead of just diet

      But it's true, Diet Dr. Pepper DOES taste like regular Dr. Pepper. They BOTH taste like shit.
    • Besides, the baby makes sure I don't get any sleep anyway...

      You're almost over the hump, man. She'll start sleeping like a regular person soon enough. That doesn't mean you'll get more sleep, though. I find that as my daughter (born 5/4/00) gets more interested in doing what I'm doing, I have more projects that I don't really get to work on until she goes to bed. I have a lot of projects, of course, so that means I have a lot of stuff to do after 9pm. Oh well, it's worth it, as I'm sure you know...


      • I find that as my daughter (born 5/4/00) gets more interested in doing what I'm doing, I have more projects that I don't really get to work on until she goes to bed.

        *laugh* I hear that. I've been playing around with directional antennas for 802.11b (trying to link two buildings on the cheap) and my son can't understand why he can't help dad cut & bend sheet metal.

        -- MarkusQ

  • Mmmm... tea (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Copperhead ( 187748 ) <talbrechNO@SPAMspeakeasy.net> on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @10:24PM (#3853952) Homepage
    One of the more popular traditions I've started at my office is the 3:30 teatime [tea.co.uk]. A nice cup of Earl Grey with fellow programmers about non-work related subjects (strictly enforced!) is perfect for breaking up the boring afternoon.

    • Do you bring crumpets, too? Or do you have your tea over "chips"?

    • Re: Tea, and (Score:2, Interesting)

      by The_Guv'na ( 180187 )

      Tea is good and refreshing, I like mine with no milk and a slice of lemon. Too much coffee gets me feelin crappy after a while. Water is cleansing, but sometimes boring, but I guess that's only a problem if your job is boring.

      The ideal vending machine for me would be where I could make up my own recipe. Most soft drinks served in bars are usually just concentrates and carbonated water mixed in the nozzle, meaning only 1 large pipe is needed, and several small ones for the concentrates.

      I'd have a machine with a choice of coffee, tea, carbonated/still water, mineral water, caffiene solution [in 100 mg increments, up to a safe maximum of 500mg], several fruit flavours, cola, spirit shots [25ml, 3 per drink, max], and beers. Add a simple touchscreen interface, and you got yourself the coolest vending machine in the world! Many ingredients would take up relativeley little space. If the water could be taken from the main pipe and carbonated in the machine, then the machine can be pretty small, or can be made to accomodate a good selection of other drinks such as Bawls, various bitch pisses [Metz, Breesers, Reefs, Archers etc...], and/or whatever.

      Naturally, it will run embedded Linux and Apache to provide drink statistisc on the intranet, saving wasted trips and allowing prompt re-stocking. But beware the boss who sticks in a webcam!

      Comments invited... How about a casemod? ;-)

      Ali

    • "Earl Gray, hot."
  • Diet 7-up and Diet Coke are all you need.

    That and Love.

    And maybe some some cups. That 7-up really fizzes up something mean.

    • Re:The two diets (Score:1, Offtopic)

      by RevAaron ( 125240 )
      Ewww. Tastes horrible *and* gives you cancer. I mean, shit, I'd rather just drink water if I was on a "diet." And if not, give me real Coke. Better yet, bloodwine.

      • Re:The two diets (Score:2, Informative)

        by ObviousGuy ( 578567 )
        Aspartame != Saccharine. The worst you get with Aspartame is headaches and possibly brain tumors.

        Additionally, saccharine has only been shown to cause cancer in *lab mice*. Are you a lab mouse? If not, then there are no studies that show that you will get cancer.
        • Brain tumors? Is that supposed to make me want to drink that rubbish?
        • The worst you get with Aspartame is headaches and possibly brain tumors.

          Yeah, what's he complaining about? Brain tumors aren't so bad..

          (Back to reality, now).. one of the great things about (regular) Coke is that it's sweetened with Corn Syrup, which just happens to be almost pure glucose..

          Of what importance is this? Simple: Glucose is the brain's primary source of fuel! Research [bbc.co.uk] shows that the brain "burns" glucose when you think... so to keep your brain in the best working order, you need a steady supply of it!

          Regular Coke has at least one redeeming feature, whereas the diet stuff has none.

      • Re:The two diets (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        Try Lemon Diet Coke - it's fucking awful, I'm hooked. I mean the diet already tasted hollow, but now it tasted like hollow dishwash liquid. Fucking great, I tells ya.
        • So I've noticed. It's like Pledge- but (kind of) safe to drink!
        • > Try Lemon Diet Coke - it's fucking awful, I'm hooked. I mean the diet already tasted hollow, but now it tasted like hollow dishwash liquid. Fucking great, I tells ya.

          ROFL.

          I used to take Diet Coke and add vanilla/sugar syrup. Gives me the sugar rush, and tastes sweeter. I'll probably try the Vanilla Coke when it comes out.

          (Hey, idea for soft drink dispenser makers - serve Coke, and an optional switch to dribble in either lemon or vanilla flavoring in the right proportions while pouring it. 3 beverages available to customer, only one big-azz syrup tank required.)

          Speaking of which. How can I get my hands on soft drink syrup? I'm sick of what gets drawn out of the soda dispensers. We've got soda in cans at work, but having a dispenser at work would be fun. "You want your Coke straight-up, or double-strength?" (Double. I'm a JOLT guy anyways.)

          • Heh. When I was a wee lad in high school, I was on the policy debate team (LD is for wusses!). A senior on the team used to get these 32 oz. Nalgene bottles full of Mt. Dew syrup and sell it to the caffeine tweaking speech and debate kids. Asked him where he got it, but that was a very closely guarded trade secret at the time. :P
          • (Hey, idea for soft drink dispenser makers - serve Coke, and an optional switch to dribble in either lemon or vanilla flavoring in the right proportions while pouring it. 3 beverages available to customer, only one big-azz syrup tank required.)

            QuikTrip [quiktrip.com] convenience stores, at least in metro Atlanta, offer cherry & vanilla syrup at their fountains.
        • You don't need syrup of epicac in the first aid cabinet. Just keep a bottle of lukewarm Lemon Diet Coke in there. Works every time!
      • Ewww. Tastes horrible *and* gives you cancer.
        I'm one of many that is getting tired of the cancer boogey-man being put out about stuff like this.

        Do you know how the scientists test for the carcinogenic effects of products like this? They take lab rats and either force-feed or directly inject them in a matter of hours or days with a large multiple of the amount of the substance a normal human would consume in a lifetime. Hell, you can even overdose on water [reuters.com].

        I've thought a bit about cancer lately and I've had two ideas so far. First, look at the process of human aging. Basically, the body slows down it's reproduction and replinishment of cells in the body--it slows down maintaining itself. I tend to think of cancer as likely a side-effect of this slowing-down process (misplacing the resources used in the replinishment?). The second idea is what if it's a (momentarily detrimental) part of our evolutionary process? Perhaps we're in line evolutionarily for enhanced abilities to heal and slower aging--which would require greater regenerative abilities of the cells of the body.

  • The obvous programmer drink... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ralian ( 127441 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @10:28PM (#3853974) Homepage
    Beer. Lots of it.
  • I drink Coke, and lots of it. BUT, I bought my own bar fridge and moved it next to my desk =) So now I can stack the fridge with Coke from the value packs, costing me about half of what it costs to drink from the vending machines (well .. not really cosing me half, allowing me to drink double is more correct). Not only that, I can sell the drinks to my workmates and make a small profit on them ... muahahaha
    • Yeah we used to do that at my school that recently bumped the soft drink can prices up to 1.2 AUD. In value packs, you can get cans each (Coke and Pepsi varieties - eg fanta, Dew, etc) for 0.4 AUD which is like a 1/3rd of the price. Then sold it to people for 0.8-1.0 AUD and made a fair profit - enough to keep drinks for yourself and friends free. Pissed off the school administration though.
  • >Why use a vending machine when a community cooler would work just as well.

    Because the day after you set up the community cooler, it's going to be empty, and believe me there won't be any quarters inside.

    Been there, done that. At my previous job (non tech related) they brought in a full-sized refrigerator and installed it in the break room. For a few days, the fridge was actually stocked on the company's dime with soda, fruit juices, and even iced coffee. I think they underestimated what people would drink. By the end of the week they'd already announced that they would no longer be stocking it, there was a memo hanging on the fridge door that said they'd spent over $600 in beverages just in the first few days.

    So, no biggie, everyone can bring in their own drinks, right? Yeah, right! You show up for work, pop a few Mountain Dews or Frulatte's in the fridge, and by the time you go to grab one they're all gone. Even if you wrote your name on them, someone else would swipe them. Unless you have a very small office where everyone can view the fridge at all times, community coolers/fridges aren't going to work, cause the community is gonna nab your drinks.

    The fridge was still there when I left, but nobody really used it. It was more a rite of passage than a utility. New hires would think "hey cool, a fridge" and quickly learn that it was a magic fridge, which made anything you put into it disappear.

    Go with a vending machine. If people start stealing out of that, you can prosecute!
    • thats the reason ours has a webcam inside it, that quite frankly is hooked up to a black box that does nothing, but we got an led from a flashlight to turn on with a few lithium batteries. the only people that really know are all or once were in the IT dept. cheers.

    • Re:Why not a community cooler? (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      A friend of mine fixed this problem by pissing into mountain dew bottles and putting them in the fridge. The theft stopped shortly thereafter.
    • It's too bad your workplace is so dishonest that such a thing didn't work out.

      IMO anyone caught taking others things (no matter how insignificant) should be severely disciplined immediately, and possibly terminated.

      Its evidence of dishonest and bad character; traits you don't want ruining your team.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • Someone opened up my lunch bag one day and took my roast beef/horseradish sandwich.

        Place I used to work at, someone kept doing that to one of the machinists. He got even by making a dog-shit sandwich and bringing it in his lunchbag. He discovered it was one of the janitors when the janitor puked in his trashcan. The machinist had no further troubles.
    • I worked at a medium-sized company that had free soft drinks in the fridge at all times, and had no problems keeping them stocked. $600 is a *lot* of cola in bulk -- they should probably skip the not-from-concentrate fruit juices and iced coffee and go with the budget stuff -- it can't possibly actually be that expensive. I mean, when you're paying your employees tens of thousands of dollars a year, you can afford a few cans of soda. Makes people happy, and keeps 'em dosed up on caffeine, which is good for productivity, especially for us ADD programmer types.
  • You could try finding an old bottle vendor (like the old coke machines) that have a door and allow you to take one, and only one, bottle when the door is opened.

    --MonMotha
    • You want a Cavalier model CS-72 (or -96 if you folks are real thirsty) They were made up until 198?, and can be found on E-bay for under $500 for a good used unit. If you want a restored round top from the 50's, more like $2K-$4K

      They will hold almost any size or shape bottle, although it will scrape the labels off 20 oz. coke products (.5 liter bottles work fine)

      Mechanism is analog and all the parts are available. Or you can mod it - I would expect nothing less.
  • ...and no one has brought up modding one? Get an old one from E-bay [ebay.com] and make it suit your needs! Hell, you could even cut a window in it and put neon lights inside. Maybe even a biohazard logo. Or something.

    "And what's popular among the geeks today, as I want it to appeal to the vast majority of our staff?"

    Including Jolt is a good idea. Other than that, I would say wouldn't it be a better idea to ask your staff what they like to drink instead of us?
    • That's what I did.

      One day, someone said, "Gee, let's just buy a coke machine." So, I clicked onto ebay and got one for one hundred dollars. I needed to rent the rack, the pumps, and the carbonator. That came to a whopping 9 dollars a month.

      The killer was ice. The machine was cooled by ice, (must be cooled to allow the syrup to "take" the carbonation) and depending on the weather we used quite a bit. It was the greatest expense, probably between 15 and 30 dollars a week.

      Coke rents their machines out for 75 dollars a month. The problem is the original install which costs 750 dollars. So, it's cheaper to get your own, assuming you can find one (cheap enough and) that is refrigerated, and not cooled by ice.

      We had Coke, Root Beer, Surge, Grape, and others. Beware of the pungant flavors that'll kill the pump for other flavors. You can clean it all you want, but certain flavors never go away.

      Assuming to do get it hooked up, make sure to clean it once in a while, or mildew can end up in your drinks.

      The BIBs (Bag-In-Box) range from about 40-50 dollars for 5 gallons. Assuming you go with the standard 5/1 ratio (5 parts water for each ounce of syrup) that'll give you 25 gallons of drink.

      There are also FCBs (Frozen Carbonated Beverages), they are the same as BIBs except they also have a foaming agent. Unless you like unbelievable amounts of fizz (on top of your drink) do not use FCBs.

      If you like non-carbonated drinks, make sure to get a carbonator with a non-carbonated out. Not all of them have it.

      If you're interested, I'm looking to sell my coke machine (ice cooled), with a rack.

    • You may laugh at the idea, but that is exactly what we did here - and the old 60's era soda machine now runs a web server [uiuc.edu] - and it's got a window, a biohazard logo, and while it's missing the neon lights, those might be added later. I must say, that was one hell of a project. The biggest problem with it so far? It is damn near impossible to get the key to the machine duplicated.

      If it seems down, it's probably not its fault - there have been connectivity problems in the office where it lives this morning, I am heading in to work on it right now.

  • What there should be in there (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 09, 2002 @10:46PM (#3854054)
    Condoms - for scoring the new helpdesk chick before she realises you are a geek.

    Whisky - for dealing with people who have no idea about using a computer.

    Caffeine Pills - for running the helldesk late at night.

    Bananas - In case a management type fella visits the area.

    Deodourant - because geeks always forget that sort of thing.

    Post It (tm) Notes - for attaching to the machine when it breaks down.

    CD-Rs of mp3s - for those boring times in between.

    AK47 - for those stress related shootings.

    Mold - to make a geek feel right at home.

    Pizza - Dead cold and with extra cheese.

  • Kratingdaeng-L (Score:2, Flamebait)

    by Pathwalker ( 103 )
    Just pick up a few cases of this stuff [ofdoom.com] (I usually saw it for $0.70 or so a bottle at the local Oriental Mart [ofdoom.com]) and the caffine problems of your staff are solved.

    This stuff was vital for my schedule of sleeping for 6 hours every other night when I was in grad school.
    I still have a dozen or so bottles lying around that I give to people who think they can handle caffine.
    So far they have all bowed down to the fury of the real red bull.
  • The glass bottles look like they'd fit very easily into one of the machines that dispenses nestea. Also, for bottled water there already are vending machines for Aquafina (I've seen and purchased from them). Call up the manufacturer of the drink you want in there and talk to them. I believe they'll work out a deal for the machine if they believe there is enough of a profit to be had, and they will know exactly where to get an appropriate machine from.
  • ...a Caramel Frappuccino from Starbuck's [starbucks.com]. I believe Starbuck [kamikazecowboy.com] himself enjoys one after a hard day (night? does it matter in space?) fighting with Apollo [richardhatch.com] against the tyranny of Lucifer, Baltar and the evil Cylons [battlestargalactica.com].
  • balls is apparently made with guarana. i thought i read somewhere that guarana is a natural aphrodesiac. that and daimana.

    is that why its called "balls" ?!?
  • there's nothing like a $0.25 can of Busch at 10:00.

    • Re:beer (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Sure there is: pissing into an empty Busch can at 9:55.

      No... Pissing is better.
  • Pabst Blue Ribbon beats Jolt any day.

    I also like those Japanese cold coffee drinks and the fruit drinks with the fruit still in 'em.

    Yum.

    And I wouldn't mind plain seltzer either.

    • Maybe it's different where you are, but I can't buy PBR in my area anymore. Folks in the local bottleshop claim they can't order it anymore. (No longer made? Out of business?)
      • Indeed, Pabst went out of business about two years ago. Their brewery was purchased by a company that makes a beer called City Lager. It's almost as terrible as PBR, but I think that it's only distributed in a very small area near LaCrosse, WI.
      • Come down to the South sometime.
        the trendy bars, where guys who wear black turtle necks and gotees have PBR (in a can) available.
        the 'alternative' bars, where guys and girls wear their 3rd grade Don't Do drugs t-shirts have PBR (in a can) available.
        Shoot, even the upscale grocery stores around here carry PBR (in a can and in bottles!)

        yup, doesn't get any better anywhere else...(note, Atlanta is not in the south)

  • I discovered how to get two for one sodas out of the machine at my old job, that was definately a nice feature. If you chose the bottom button and, about a third to a half second after pressing it, pressed one of the other buttons, you'd get both sodas. Dunno how I discovered it, but I did get a few strange looks from others in the breakroom when a couple of cans would come clunking out.

    Oh, speaking of that soda machine, it was supposed to contain Pepsi products but since we stocked it, it contained both, with a printout of the actual contents taped next to the buttons. Joy of Joys when that list was re-created slightly out of order. You'd think that the original partners would have had the buttons memorized but no, they were still going off that list. And I have no idea why someone could get so uptight about recieving the wrong soda...

    • that second paragraph is supposed to read something like "Oh, speaking of that soda machine, it was supposed to contain Pepsi products but since we stocked it, it contained both Pepsi and CocaCola products, with a printout..."

      Preview works better when you read the whole post before submitting...

    • And I have no idea why someone could get so uptight about recieving the wrong soda...

      The wrong soda [dietcoke.com] can kill some people [ukonline.co.uk]

      Seriously. The sweetener aspartame used in diet coke and pepsi is very bad for people with PKU.

      • Even if you don't have PKU, aspartame is bad news for a lot of people.

        In my case, I can tolerate the equivalence of one diet soda per day. If I have more, I don't die... but it does trigger a mild bipolar mood swing. Within a week or so it will be enough that I need to take action... or start looking around for my prescription drugs. Since I *really* hate the side effects from them, it's a no-brainer - I'll do whatever it takes to eliminate the aspartame from my diet. Then, within days, I'm fine again.

        I'm sure that most people wouldn't notice this connection - *I* only made the connection because of a nasty drug interaction between aspartame and one of my prescription drugs (which made a single diet soda hit me with an effect comparable to a six-pack of beer), but I'm sure I'm not the only problem with this sensitivity.

        BTW, before somebody tries to challenge me without all of the facts, remember that aspartame breaks down into two amino acids and a methanol (wood alcohol) molecule. One of the amino acids can cross the blood-brain barrier, and that's what kills people with PKU. But even normal people will find that the sudden saturation of their bloodstream by one amino acid will essentially flood out all other amino acids for the limited B3 capacity. It should go without saying that anything that affects the B3 or relative concentration of amino acids in the brain has the potential to cause mental effects - mood swings, irregularities in hormone levels, etc.

  • H2O!!! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by EvlG ( 24576 ) on Wednesday July 10, 2002 @01:55AM (#3854715)
    I don't know why more people don't go for the old standby, water.

    I used to be a heavy soda drinker, consuming at least 5 every work day. One day, I didn't have enough change to buy sodas, and I drank water all day.

    I can not adequately describe how much better I felt, and how much more productive I was. I felt like my whole body was just flushed out, especially my brain.

    Ever since, I have only gone for a soda when I need a really quick rush of sugar or calories. This is usually true in the last hour or two before I head home to eat dinner.

    Try drinking nothing but water for an entire week at work, and see if you find yourself feeling better and thinking better as I did.
    • True - I inhale the 16 oz bottles of water from the local SAMS. Just fill them up and put them back in the fridge. If it's cold, it'll taste REAL good.

    • Re:H2O!!! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by iankerickson ( 116267 ) on Wednesday July 10, 2002 @10:45AM (#3856564) Homepage
      And tea is a good middle-ground between soda and water. No jitters or stomach problems like people get with soda or coffee. Ironically, it's cheaper than either, as long as you don't buy the overpriced yuppie-oriented brands like you see in coffee shops. You're talking about bottled water, right? People drink everything but tap water because most tap water is disgusting (whether or not it's any different than what you get in a bottle). If you live where the tap water is clear, clean, and free of clorine, you're pretty lucky.

      If you're addicted to caffienated soda or coffee, you can wean yourself off of it without the withdrawal symptoms (bad headache, being disoriented, mood swings) by switching to tea. Two tea bags, 1/3 cups of sugar, some lemon or lime juice (very little), and a quart of boiling water in thermos makes something as powerfull as Mountain Dew. The sugar thickens the mix to get a similar consistency to uncarbonated soda. I used to make tea so strong that it scared my co-wokers who tried it. If you learn how to do it right, there's nothing weak or bitter about good tea. I've backed off on it to a more conservative recipe, but it's something that's cheap to experiment with. It's true you can make a tea that's as bad for you as soda or coffee, but there's nothing stopping you from adjusting the strength of it over time, which you can't really do with coffee or soda.

      Don't leave the tea bags in more than three to five minutes (it varies with how hot the water is and the container) or it will be too bitter. Or get an iced tea recipe off the web. Or just pour the tea (after it's brewed for 5 minutes) into a metal or glass pitcher and leave it in the fridge overnight. (Rubber or plastic pitchers leave an aftertaste in the tea). For cold tea, you can make huge batches in advance on the weekend with little extra effort (making tea is a procedure that "scales up"). Adjust the ingredients until you find a mix you like, as the proportions make a big difference in the final product.

      You can save a lot of money over time this way. I think I was losing an easy $2 a day on soda. I did the math on what it costs to buy tea, lemon juice, and sugar, now that I've bought the thermos, it's less than 25 cents a day. I don't know if you can get bottled water that cheaply (because I hate the plastic taste in bottled water). I don't find tea as addictive as soda either, so it's not like you're trading one craving for another.

      For your vending machine, think about making a hot water tap available for people to use, and maybe an ice machine too. That way they can make hot or cold tea at work, if they don't want to or forget to make it at home. Some places go so far as to supply the tea bags and sugar, but it doesn't sound like you can do that.

      • Okay, I've gotta say something here when it comes to bottled water versus tap water.

        I live in San Antonio, Texas. We have the Edwards Aquifer, Carizo Springs, hell even Medina river water. We have one of the highest rated public tap water qualities in the world. Ever had Utopia bottled water? That's our tap water.

        To me, and most people around here, bottled water tastes like CRAP...absolutely horrible and artificial. It's really a shame that so many people think this crap is better than their tap water. About the only bottled water I ever buy (which only happens when I'm on the road heading out of town) is Ozarka, which comes from more good Texan springs.

        Is the water in other cities REALLY that bad? I lived in Corpus Christi for two years, so I know what bad water is like (ever had tap water that smells like a fish died in it?). But I couldn't imagine so much of the country has to deal with that.
    • I drink mostly water and milk, but probably 3-4 liters of water a day. Why?
      • Water has no calories. Many other beverages add calories to your diet, but they don't alter your hunger, so you'll eat just as much - in addition to those empty calories.
      • Water doesn't rot teeth. I just had four crowns in one quadrant at age 29, and each tooth had decay all the way around from drinking too much soda.
      • Water doesn't have caffeine. If aspirin upsets your stomach, chances are caffeine does, too. Feel a little bothered? Try cutting caffeine from your diet. Besides, do you know what caffeine does to you? (See what it does to spiders! [stresstips.com]) I mellowed out quite a bit after giving it up - and tend to think more clearly.
      • Nothing beats H2O for hydration purposes. In fact, caffeine makes you dehydrate faster.

  • Snaple (Score:1)

    by wbav ( 223901 )
    Snaple has a machine that can help you out. it doesn't drop the bottle to the bottom, it uses a moving shelf to safely move the glass bottle.
  • After watching my waistline steadily increase from 128+ oz of Mt. Dew a day while I was at college, I switched to diet pops, which has helped greatly. Now I have gone even more extreme, and my prefered libation is Caffeine-Free Diet Coke. I think it tastes just like the real thing, while the diet caffeine-free pepsi tastes so watery. If they made diet caffeine-free Code Red, I'd drink that, but I am enjoying my non-caffeinated lifestyle now.

  • coincidence ? (Score:2, Informative)

    by NeonSpirit ( 530024 )
    The Register [theregister.co.uk] has an interesting article on how to set up a works drink vending machine.


  • This is slightly offtopic, but I wanted to ask if I can find Jolt or Bawls in Israel? From what I've seen, I can't order single bottles from ThinkGeek, but only cases of 24..

    Thanks.
    • Try http://www.popsoda.com - their storefront is around the corner from my house.

      If it's bottled and non-alcoholic, they probably have it.

      I used to stock the fridge in my old office with Black Lemonade - only one person ever stole one, and he turned out to be slightly allergic to the capsicum in the soda. It tastes like a liquid Sour Lemon Warhead, but it's black.

      Unfortunately, the dye that makes it black is non-digestible, and makes things *green*.

      Their soda prices aren't *bad*, but they're not great, either. Their selection is just flat amazing, though.

      I think it'll probably cost you more to ship a single bottle to Israel than the bottle costs.
  • You could try one of these [soda-vending.com] and put whatever you want in it. But it would have a much smaller capacity than a standard pop machine.
  • Why use a vending machine when a community cooler would work just as well.

    In all my experience, the office refrigerators are never very cold, and the vending machines always serve the cans nice and frigid.

    This summer, however, I've been hitting the local McDonald's twice a day to get a 42-oz diet Coke with extra ice for only 59 cents...

    • In all my experience, the office refrigerators are never very cold, and the vending machines always serve the cans nice and frigid.

      Get a fridge with good insulation and adjust the temperature dial. I had a bar fridge that could easily freeze everything inside it.
  • Why use a vending machine when a community cooler would work just as well.

    Well, I haven't used one since the late 80's, when I got a decomposing fly along with my water, and realized why my stomach had been queasy since I started that job :p

  • Well, if you need a soda machine that can hangle an assortment of glass botles. Go low tech, get a 1940 style soda machine. They still make then, or you could splurge and get an antique one.

    http://www.marketware-tech.com/noscoksodmac.html

    Personaly, I like the VENDO MODEL 81, from http://www.vintagevending.com/sodaCoke.cfm
  • The geniuos at coke who changed the formula of good ole Mr. Pibb to Pibb Xtra needs to pay, big time.

  • Speaking of geeks and vending machines, at my local acm [umr.edu] we are working on a computerized soda [umr.edu] machine. The idea is you press order on the web form and if there's money in your account, the soda drops out of the machine. We are in the process right now of figuring out which caffinated beverages will and will not fit into into the slots of our pepsi can vending machine.
  • Call your local Coke machine distributor.

    At the place I jsut started working, they have a machine that stocks regular plastic bottles, so technically, this isn't appropriate, but....

    The machine stocks them vertically, but they don't drop. Instead, a conveyer belt on an arm moves up to just underneath the particular shelf, the bottle drops onto it, the belt moves down to the outport, and rolls the bottle over to the side, where it falls about 4 inches, into the receptacle.

    So it isn't something you need to have built - they are out there, you just need to get your supplier to get one in your market.

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