Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What Coke Contains

medium.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 142 posts

Re: What Coke Contains

#111

Post by aneth4 »

The most interesting part of the story lies here:

"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"

Consider the implications of one of the largest American companies being singularly authorized to buy and import hundreds of tons of coca leaf, which is banned in nearly every country and produced primarily by illegal drug manufacturers. Does anyone believe there's no funny business going on here?

(For the record, I think coca and cocaine should be legal.)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/apr/19/20040419-093...

Re: What Coke Contains

#112

Post by jacques_chester »

vacri wrote: post #107
jacques_chester wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's a leading question. From the other side of the debate I'd attack the concept of subjective value. Why do people value this? We don't know. They just do. How do you know they value it? Because of their actions. Why do they take those actions? Because of their valuations. But it's also difficult to argue the counter-case. Outside of corner cases such as depression, psychotic episodes etc, if people aren't act…

The problem with this argument is it's too simplistic. When you respond with "people will sometimes do things against their best interests out of a sense of duty", the counter is to reduce the human to a stimulus-response box and say "aha! but they must be doing that because it benefits some psychological issue, so it is increasing their happiness" The issue comes when that extremely mangled definition of happiness i…

I agree with the shifting sands of the "self interest" view.

Economists, though, don't fuss as much about motives because they're not observable. I mean you can build a reasonably explanatory model by simply assuming people are greedy hyperrationalists. But nobody really does that because it's just too simplistic.

If I had a point, I guess it's that economics thinking is much more textured and subtle than people give it credit for. "Neoliberal" is a label that was invented by critics and so its meaning is basically "whichever strawman fits right now".

If we're naming names amongst the arch-neoliberals, I think these days I prefer Hayek to almost anyone else. I think he really spent time in the stew of ideas and didn't retreat from the revealed complexity of the world into equations.

Re: What Coke Contains

#113

Post by rdl »

I'm curious if coca cola contains real vanilla extract vs. synthetic; seems implausible for them to use the real plant product.

Re: What Coke Contains

#114

Post by primitur »

likethateh wrote: post #90

> on the Murray River in Western Australia called Pinjarra always jarring to read something you know to be so obviously false so early in a piece. *waves to fellow Sandgropers

I grew up in Pinjarra, and swam in the Murray River almost every day. So I don't know what your point is, exactly - that Western Australia doesn't have a Murray River? It does.

Re: What Coke Contains

#115

Post by DanBC »

toast0 wrote: post #86
k33 wrote: post #13

eh, I just don't feel like the writer understands or cares to explain how that whole process is actually detrimental to the world despite the fact that it "unites" it. Coke is just addictive sugar water that does nothing for anyone. When has coke given you something other than diabetes? Kevin Ashton fails at pointing out the impact of this collaboration. Couldn't all of these talented people that made such a sophisti…

A can of coke (in the US) gives me 140 calories, every time I drink one. That's 140 calories I would have had to get from somewhere else, or do without. It would be better if I got those calories along with some fiber and other nice things by eating a fruit, but to say that Coke does nothing for anyone is absurd; sugar water clearly has utility.

> That's 140 calories I would have had to get from somewhere else,

Most people are not struggling to get calories. Most people don't have to work hard to eat their 2000 calories a day.

Re: What Coke Contains

#116

Post by izakage »

shabble wrote: post #19
lostlogin wrote: post #2

>>The top of the can is then added. This is carefully engineered: it is made from aluminum, but it has to be thicker and stronger to withstand the pressure of the carbon dioxide gas. Eh? The pressure is greater at the top of the can?

It may also be a result of greater stiffness required for the captive pop-tab opener to work properly. There's an interesting Slate article[1] about the complexity of what appears to be a such a simple feature; in order to achieve the force necessary to rupture the can opening, the tab pivot transitions between a first and second class lever. There's a good video somewhere showing the principles, but I can't seem to…

Here's a link to the mentioned video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekv0kprA3AY

Re: What Coke Contains

#117

Post by jacquesm »

aneth4 wrote: post #111

The most interesting part of the story lies here: "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" Consider the implications of one of the largest American companies being singularly authorized to buy and import hundreds of tons of coca leaf, which is banned in nearly every country and produced primarily by…

Where does pepsi get theirs?

Re: What Coke Contains

#118

Post by jacquesm »

Zenst wrote: post #5
lostlogin wrote: post #2

>>The top of the can is then added. This is carefully engineered: it is made from aluminum, but it has to be thicker and stronger to withstand the pressure of the carbon dioxide gas. Eh? The pressure is greater at the top of the can?

Good point, though I suspect it is down to the ring pull being the weakest part by design of being able to open it along the indented outline of the tab. Though it could also be so possibly from the aspect of the carbon dioxide want to rise to the top and that extra force would only incure more pressure towards the top (assuming the can is upright). There again thats a bit of a wild guess, but the only plausable expl…

> Though it could also be so possibly from the aspect of the carbon dioxide want to rise to the top and that extra force would only incure more pressure towards the top

Pressure inside an enclosed volume is equal everywhere.

Re: What Coke Contains

#119

Post by blaze33 »

And what Coke no longer contains: alcohol, cocaine. Also without sugar and caffeine if you want, sometimes I wonder what's the point of drinking it.

I remember reading it would be more interesting to use steel cans because it's easier to catch them using magnets. Are we now able to sort and recycle aluminum cans better ?

Re: What Coke Contains

#120

Post by jacquesm »

lifeformed wrote: post #85
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a large enough supply of electrons, protons and neutrons, and you can combine them at will, you can make anything.

Anything except for quarks.

If you bang some of the electrons hard enough into some of the neutrons or protons you'll even get quarks.
Post reply on HN