What Coke Contains (2013) • Hacker News Board

Re: What Coke Contains (2013)

#11

Post by d0mdo0ss » Fri, Sep 19, 2014, 9:22 PM UTC

> coca-leaf which comes from South America and is processed in a unique US government authorized factory in New Jersey to remove its addictive stimulant cocaine

According to Wikipedia "The Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant, which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agent for Coca-Cola, the Stepan Company extracts cocaine from the coca leaves, which it sells to Mallinckrodt, a St. Louis, Missouri, pharmaceutical manufacturer that is the only company in the United States licensed to purify cocaine for medicinal use."

Re: What Coke Contains (2013)

#12

Post by makmanalp » Fri, Sep 19, 2014, 9:25 PM UTC

My favourite version of this is a picture of a boeing 787 and where all the parts are manufactured: http://seattletimes.com/art/news/business/boeing/787/partsen...

Of course if you could break it down further into smaller parts and tools to manufacture those parts, you'd get an even greater variety of countries and companies.

The center where I work actually does work slightly related to this, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JC24CBVsdo

Re: What Coke Contains (2013)

#13

Post by themodelplumber » Fri, Sep 19, 2014, 9:37 PM UTC

d0mdo0ss wrote: post #11

> coca-leaf which comes from South America and is processed in a unique US government authorized factory in New Jersey to remove its addictive stimulant cocaine According to Wikipedia "The Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant, which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agen…

The Stepan Company slogan: "LET'S DO THIS GUYS"

Re: What Coke Contains (2013)

#14

Post by gokhan » Fri, Sep 19, 2014, 9:37 PM UTC

> The number of individuals who know how to make a can of Coke is zero.

This reminds me a fact I remember time to time. If civilization collapses after, say, a world war, I most probably can't make a pot, can't grow plants, can't differentiate if one is edible or not, can't dig for petrol, can't make plastic (or even glass), can't reinvent concrete, can't make gunpowder etc., you get the point.

I can only write software and maybe drill with tools and nail with a hammer but that's all.

Re: What Coke Contains (2013)

#15

Post by 27182818284 » Fri, Sep 19, 2014, 9:42 PM UTC

jstalin wrote: post #3

The same type of story as the classic "I, pencil," published in 1958: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%2C_Pencil

Thanks. I vaguely remembered a pencil story similar to this, but I'm glad to have the title now.

Re: What Coke Contains (2013)

#16

Post by ShawnBird » Fri, Sep 19, 2014, 9:42 PM UTC

gokhan wrote: post #14

> The number of individuals who know how to make a can of Coke is zero. This reminds me a fact I remember time to time. If civilization collapses after, say, a world war, I most probably can't make a pot, can't grow plants, can't differentiate if one is edible or not, can't dig for petrol, can't make plastic (or even glass), can't reinvent concrete, can't make gunpowder etc., you get the point. I can only write softw…

You should at least know how to splice and crimp an ethernet cable.

Re: What Coke Contains (2013)

#17

Post by nostromo » Fri, Sep 19, 2014, 9:44 PM UTC

d0mdo0ss wrote: post #11

> coca-leaf which comes from South America and is processed in a unique US government authorized factory in New Jersey to remove its addictive stimulant cocaine According to Wikipedia "The Stepan Company is the only manufacturing plant authorized by the Federal Government to import and process the coca plant, which it obtains mainly from Peru and, to a lesser extent, Bolivia. Besides producing the coca flavoring agen…

It would be interesting to see how the cocaine supply line works. I imagine they'd need armored vehicles and a lot of security for the entire trip from NJ to MO.