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Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

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Re: Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

#101

Post by goldenkey »

dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #76
cowboysauce wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And it's sad that people associate having a sugary beverage as a 'good time with friends.' Lets enjoy poison together?! :-/ Oh boy, just wait until you learn about alcohol.

I might be able to compartmentalize slightly better than GP, but as much as that machine is charming as hell and brings warmth to my heart, soda has more or less been a plague on humanity. Unlike soda, alcohol has a lot going for it, because unless you abuse it, it can be a pretty wonderful, unique inebriant.

I agree with you. A good beer like Guinness is full of micronutrients and if you only have a few, it's not a bad tradeoff for the stress relief. Soda on the other hand, because it's not associated with drugs, is overdrank and made into a habit.

Re: Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

#102

Post by cmckn »

futhey wrote: post #3

Background: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/capitol-hills-magi... Restocking: https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2014/05/spoiler-alert-mys... Disappearance: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/seattle-mystery-soda-m...

Aw man, they should have at least blurred the license plate :(

Really cool story, I just moved to Seattle last year. Anyone know of something else I could check out?

Re: Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

#103

Post by autoexec »

abeppu wrote: post #64
ComputerGuru wrote: post #2

I feel like we live in a world where it is becoming increasingly impossible for things like this to exist. I don’t have much commentary on the matter other than to say it makes me sad.

What are "things like this"? Is it things that exist in public but which don't have clear attribution? B/c in 2020 there were the "monoliths", which were pretty cool. Or, you know, Banksy still exists. Or @fog_karla / @karlthefog for that matter. Is it playful, non-scalable experiences? There's Improv Everywhere. My city has a number of curb-side bird-house sized "libraries". There's a guy who keeps doing extremely l…

For anyone else who hadn't seen these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_similar_to_the_2...

Somehow I'm not surprised that in addition to local artists copying the one in Utah several companies also put them up as advertising.

Re: Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

#104

Post by jeramey »

chickenbane wrote: post #63
hereforphone wrote: post #5

Spoiler alert: it was the locksmith in front of whose shop the machine was allowed to exist (rent free)

I live in the neighborhood and have bought a few sodas from the machine. I always assumed it was locksmith, they are powering the machine and I've never seen nor heard a reason to believe it was anyone else. It was a cute novelty, and if you're not picky it's a fast soda, but honestly it was just stocked with cheap, off-brand gross soda. Would have been genius if occasionally it gave you something interesting (or at…

It certainly used to! That machine introduced me to a weird variety of things when I lived near it almost 20 years ago. Cheap thrills as a broke young 'un.

Thanks to it, I still have to try strange sodas when I am traveling--especially abroad. It's not always good, but it's always fun.

Re: Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

#105

Post by nuclearnice1 »

ajhurliman wrote: post #86
ectopod wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banksy is a marketing man. He pretends to be anti-establishment but his organisation defends his IP as fiercely as Disney defends its. He is all about the money. I agree that that the world is full of weird, creative people, but you won't find them at Sotheby's.

I don't think defending your IP makes you a sell-out. It's basically his alter ego, why would he let his identity be co-opted by strangers?

Right. It helps him make money. It helps him maintain attention. It lets him do his art. What does he gain from letting dozens of Banksy-like copies proliferate? He probably loses his ability to do his art his way.

Re: Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

#106

Post by b112 »

cryptoz wrote: post #87
as-j wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure…it’s fun. But also feels disingenuous in a way. People are rocking the machines in an attempt to get a free soda are killed. This is compared against unprovoked shark attacks. Probably a fairer comparison if you only count unprovoked vending machine deaths too then. Sigh, ruining fun facts. ;(

I don't think there's such a thing as "unprovoked shark attacks". First, it's called an encounter now, not an attack, and that change is relevant to the question at hand. When sharks hurt people, I think it is typically the people that have invaded the home of the shark (and thus provoked it) and not the other way around (and thus unprovoked). There are no shark attacks when humans are minding their own business on l…

That's the same as saying a shark will attack, any place it can get to you at!

Next you'll be saying all bear attacks are due to me not standing in the ocean.

You know, animals have personalities too. Some are just asshats. I knew a dog that was an asshat. Smug bastard. Could see it in his eyes. Doesn't mean all dogs are!

Re: Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

#107

Post by slavboj »

peanut_worm wrote: post #83
as-j wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure…it’s fun. But also feels disingenuous in a way. People are rocking the machines in an attempt to get a free soda are killed. This is compared against unprovoked shark attacks. Probably a fairer comparison if you only count unprovoked vending machine deaths too then. Sigh, ruining fun facts. ;(

That implies that there are a lot of provoked shark attacks I bet the sum of provoked and unprovoked shark attacks is still less than the unprovoked and provoked soda machine deaths ;)

Overworked and underpaid shark attacks

Re: Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

#108

Post by goldenkey »

cowboysauce wrote: post #68
goldenkey wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

80s soft drinks is cool but when you realize what a plague upon humanity that sugar beverages are, it kind of detracts from the playfulness tbh. I stopped drinking soda years ago and haven't looked back. It is one of the largest causes of metabolic disease globally. And it's sad that people associate having a sugary beverage as a 'good time with friends.' Lets enjoy poison together?! :-/ I predict this won't go over…

>And it's sad that people associate having a sugary beverage as a 'good time with friends.' Lets enjoy poison together?! :-/ Oh boy, just wait until you learn about alcohol.

Alcohol isn't as big of an insidious detriment. It is bad, sure, but we are aware of that. The biggest difference is the mutual understanding that society has about the negative effects of alcohol. It's understood to be a drug. Soda on the other hand doesn't have that cultural awareness.

Re: Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

#109

Post by [deleted] »

ALittleLight wrote: post #84
dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I might be able to compartmentalize slightly better than GP, but as much as that machine is charming as hell and brings warmth to my heart, soda has more or less been a plague on humanity. Unlike soda, alcohol has a lot going for it, because unless you abuse it, it can be a pretty wonderful, unique inebriant.

Soda can make you fat and brown your teeth. It doesn't create addicts who destroy their lives over it. Soda doesn't kill people via Drunk Driving. Soda doesn't contribute to violent crimes and domestic violence.

[deleted]

Re: Capitol Hill's mystery soda machine

#110

Post by autoexec »

dmitryminkovsky wrote: post #76
cowboysauce wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>And it's sad that people associate having a sugary beverage as a 'good time with friends.' Lets enjoy poison together?! :-/ Oh boy, just wait until you learn about alcohol.

I might be able to compartmentalize slightly better than GP, but as much as that machine is charming as hell and brings warmth to my heart, soda has more or less been a plague on humanity. Unlike soda, alcohol has a lot going for it, because unless you abuse it, it can be a pretty wonderful, unique inebriant.

Why is it that alcohol be a wonderful unique inebriate but soda can't be? It used to be my preferred source of caffeine. If you don't abuse soda, it has a lot going for it too. It's basically liquid candy that also makes you more alert and attentive.

If there's a problem with sugar filled soda it's how it has been aggressively advertised in ways which normalized it as something to drink regularly and included filling schools and restaurants with the stuff crowding out or even forbidding other options.

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