[Noisebridge-discuss] Vending machines

[Jonathan Lassoff]

On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 1:18 AM, Andy Isaacson <adi at hexapodia.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 22, 2010 at 01:04:39AM -0800, Nicholas Iannone wrote:
>> So I've been looking into the costs of a vending machine, after the
>> discussion at the business meeting and it looks like we can get a
>> fairly standard used soda vending machine off craigslist for around
>> 300 - 500 bucks.
>>
>> I stand by my offer to contribute $100 toward it and also offer to
>> take care of delivery and negotiations etc if we can get enough money
>> together.
>>
>> I've got emails out to a few sellers and can probably do some more
>> legwork tomorrow. Looking for feedback and fellow contributors.
>
> We've long held that "any vending machine at Noisebridge will
> immediately get hacked".  (This was one of our very first arguments
> after moving into the first Noisebridge space at 83c Wiese.)

I think at that point, our group was small enough and we all more or
less knew who people were -- such that the honor system for the mini
fridge worked pretty well.

Personally, I think a vending machine would be awesome (so long as we
can easily turn it off when noone is going to get drinks. 3am-11am or
something, or just a switch) since we really don't need another fridge
sucking down coulombs of electrons if it's not going to get used.

As far as hacking the machine goes. I'm of the opinion that if you can
figure out an elegant way to get at a free drink (no brute force or
machine destruction), you deserve it. Heck, I'll just pay for your
drink if you can pick a vending machine open or get the crontroll to
dump a free drink out.

If someone wants to coordinate a project to get a machine (including
collecting donations, finding a machine, and getting it to 2169), I'll
pitch in some money.

Cheers,
jof