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Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee (2012)

ianvisits.co.uk

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Re: Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee (2012)

#11

Post by smegger001 »

warning26 wrote: post #6
jonpurdy wrote: post #3

Having lived in Korea and visited Japan, ubiquitous vending machines is an absolute game-changer. Especially with a choice of hot or cold drinks, vending machines really make life super convenient. Pretty cool to see the Victorians had this idea over a century ago.

Completely agree; I'd love to see it in the US, but it's really a shame that Americans are completely incapable of not destroying a vending machine that isn't under 24/7 surveillance...

I have never understood that compulsion, why do people here constantly vandalize anything unsupervised. What is the motivation of these people they don't get anything out of it. Why break something when it wont benefit you to do so. Why do people rub feces all over public restrooms, break vending machines or graffiti hate filled messages on others property. why make to world a worse place for everyone including yourself for no gain.

Re: Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee (2012)

#12

Post by bobthepanda »

smegger001 wrote: post #11
warning26 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree; I'd love to see it in the US, but it's really a shame that Americans are completely incapable of not destroying a vending machine that isn't under 24/7 surveillance...

I have never understood that compulsion, why do people here constantly vandalize anything unsupervised. What is the motivation of these people they don't get anything out of it. Why break something when it wont benefit you to do so. Why do people rub feces all over public restrooms, break vending machines or graffiti hate filled messages on others property. why make to world a worse place for everyone including yours…

The people who are doing that are generally not thinking rationally in the first place.

Mental healthcare in the US is absolutely awful, and so is the safety net.

Re: Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee (2012)

#13

Post by smegger001 »

thedougd wrote: post #2

Neat. When I look at old pictures like the one in the article, I wonder, is it foggy, smokey, or just an artifact of the photograph?

In this case possibly all three. in Victorian England you probably had lots of coal smoke produced by everything form home heating & cooking wide spread rail travel, to powering every industry, being England fog is very likely, and the photography technology was fairly primitive. so all of the above

Re: Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee (2012)

#14

Post by arthurcolle »

bobthepanda wrote: post #10
arthurcolle wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Vending machines for everything seems pretty unsustainable. Is everything made of paper or something?

Cans have an extremely high recycling rate because (unlike plastic) it costs a lot more energy to get the stuff out of the ground than to melt it down and reuse. Cans are also fairly easy to get back clean (unlike plastic), and they don't degrade as much as plastic does. In the US, which is not very good at recycling at all, the EPA estimates that 70% of cans are recycled: https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-…

Is aluminum used for both hot and cold items? I haven't been to Japan so just curious. I was just imagining little disposable thermoses and thinking that maybe that isn't the move - but yeah it's an interesting subject. I try to avoid plastic cups a la $SBUX when I want to just grab a coffee so go to a place with little ceramic espresso demitasses instead of some plastic shell that will become a waste product.

I just moved down to Miami and it is pretty crazy how bad communities are about recycling down here. I rarely see specific recycle bins in almost any establishments, and my apartment specifically didn't have dedicated recycling dumpsters. Not sure if maybe they hide it or something, but definitely something to think about.

Re: Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee (2012)

#16

Post by Magi604 »

jonpurdy wrote: post #3

Having lived in Korea and visited Japan, ubiquitous vending machines is an absolute game-changer. Especially with a choice of hot or cold drinks, vending machines really make life super convenient. Pretty cool to see the Victorians had this idea over a century ago.

Over 10 years ago as a poor student I made a trip to Japan. I spent three weeks in Saitama, which is near-ish to Tokyo, to see if it would be worth it teaching English for a year (spoiler: no).

Anyways towards the end of the trip I was running out of money so my meals for that final week consisted of a 100yen (basically $1) chicken breast from their Lawsons (basically their 7-11) and a 100 yen can of warm corn soup from one of the many vending machines to be found on the street. It was cheap, tasty, and did the job of filling me up.

Re: Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee (2012)

#17

Post by smabie »

smegger001 wrote: post #11
warning26 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree; I'd love to see it in the US, but it's really a shame that Americans are completely incapable of not destroying a vending machine that isn't under 24/7 surveillance...

I have never understood that compulsion, why do people here constantly vandalize anything unsupervised. What is the motivation of these people they don't get anything out of it. Why break something when it wont benefit you to do so. Why do people rub feces all over public restrooms, break vending machines or graffiti hate filled messages on others property. why make to world a worse place for everyone including yours…

Because you are angry and unhappy and want to make other people angry and unhappy. schadenfreude is a very human and common emotion.

Re: Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee (2012)

#18

Post by bloqs »

smegger001 wrote: post #11
warning26 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree; I'd love to see it in the US, but it's really a shame that Americans are completely incapable of not destroying a vending machine that isn't under 24/7 surveillance...

I have never understood that compulsion, why do people here constantly vandalize anything unsupervised. What is the motivation of these people they don't get anything out of it. Why break something when it wont benefit you to do so. Why do people rub feces all over public restrooms, break vending machines or graffiti hate filled messages on others property. why make to world a worse place for everyone including yours…

If you are looking for a serious answer, vandalism is generally explained as a response to a social hierachy. When you feel you are at the bottom of the pile in relation to others around you, it has a variety of psychological effects. One of the most notable is that it increases your impulsivity and irrationality, and also causes you to feel "judged" by other people simply being near you, even inanimate objects feel like a judgement (a nice car you can never afford, a building made to a high standard with so much visible cost it's insulting to your very existence).

One reaction people can have to this is they can try to "dominate" their environment in the way it makes them feel dominated. Instead of facing the near impossible task of climbing the hierachy, they simply look to impulsively destroy it where possible.

Re: Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee (2012)

#19

Post by [deleted] »

smegger001 wrote: post #11
warning26 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely agree; I'd love to see it in the US, but it's really a shame that Americans are completely incapable of not destroying a vending machine that isn't under 24/7 surveillance...

I have never understood that compulsion, why do people here constantly vandalize anything unsupervised. What is the motivation of these people they don't get anything out of it. Why break something when it wont benefit you to do so. Why do people rub feces all over public restrooms, break vending machines or graffiti hate filled messages on others property. why make to world a worse place for everyone including yours…

[deleted]

Re: Victorian gas lamps that sold cups of hot coffee (2012)

#20

Post by bobthepanda »

arthurcolle wrote: post #14
bobthepanda wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cans have an extremely high recycling rate because (unlike plastic) it costs a lot more energy to get the stuff out of the ground than to melt it down and reuse. Cans are also fairly easy to get back clean (unlike plastic), and they don't degrade as much as plastic does. In the US, which is not very good at recycling at all, the EPA estimates that 70% of cans are recycled: https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-…

Is aluminum used for both hot and cold items? I haven't been to Japan so just curious. I was just imagining little disposable thermoses and thinking that maybe that isn't the move - but yeah it's an interesting subject. I try to avoid plastic cups a la $SBUX when I want to just grab a coffee so go to a place with little ceramic espresso demitasses instead of some plastic shell that will become a waste product. I just…

I've only visited; when I've had one, I would call it "warm" rather than "hot", mostly because when I think of hot coffee in the US I think of things that are too hot to drink like that McDonald's lawsuit. Google says there are a few ways around the "hot metal can" problem, like an insulated label.

Interestingly enough, Japan has some public trash cans, but not a whole lot in general; the cultural expectation is to bring it home and sort it there. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-23/where-are...

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