Chuckatron

Mere metres from the highest point in Africa, just before sunrise.

Pretty much my favourite photo from my climb of Kilimanjaro

Insects, dust, and other floatey bits illuminated by the last rays of light before the sun went down behind the mountains.

Handheld lens in front of the camera body on a slight angle. Looking forward to playing more with this.

I’ve been trying to experiment with keeping the camera in full manual mode, in order to get darker source images than what auto-exposure would give me. The auto exposure usually tries to prevent any blown-out highlights, but in this case there were no highlights to speak of, so it would have looked far too bright. I generally find darker images more aesthetically pleasing too, perhaps why i like B+W so much?

I was taking the bus home from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and had a guy sit down beside me and start talking to me. “Oh no,” I thought, “this is going to be a long ride.” (it is about a 30 minute trip).

The guy was total redneck. He had a NASCAR hat, and some autoparts company jacket with fake leather arms, you know the ones. His teeth were yellowed and in pretty rough shape. Turns out he also raced Formula 4 cars and was heading back home to race.

But appearances can be deceiving. While he may have been a redneck at heart, he was still plenty smart. As it turns out he sells photolithography equipment (used in the production of computer processors), and has a long history in the industry. He started off on a rant about how things are changing and that the only smart career to be in these days is Software. Then he asked me what I did. “Software,” I replied. He chuckled and slapped me on the shoulder. “Good boy!”. Hah.

Anyway, I’m glad the bus ride was as long as it was, because we really got to talking. He was telling all sorts of stories from personal experience about how so many good ideas and opportunities get bought up and buried by those with vested interests– he made reference to batteries, cars, oil, anything. He knows a guy who had some efficient car component bought up by a major car manufacturer, made a few million off of it, and the idea never saw the light of day. It’s not some conspiracy theory thing, it actually does happen all the time. The history of the Diamond cartels provides an interesting example.

His parting comment on that conversation was that, if you really want to make it in life, come up with an idea that can upturn or undermine an entire industry. Either you will be able to overtake the industry and become wildly successful (at least until the other players catch up), or as a consolation prize, you could at least get bought out for a large sum of money. Seems simple enough right? Well it sorta stuck with me the last few days, and I realized there is one industry that I would love to see die, or at least get shaken up. The beverage industry.

Third world country? Nope, Los Angeles.

Yup, burn in hell, Coca-Cola Inc. Why, why, why, do we have companies that bottle city water, package it in plastic bottles that are slowly but surely destroying the Earth, transport them hundreds or thousands of kilometers burning gas all the way, and then sell them for 1000% + markups? It is completely absurd, and completely out of control. Buying a can of coke for 50 cents sorta made sense. It was a fair price. But you can’t even buy cans of anything in a 7-Eleven anymore– the smallest quantity available is over half a litre, and they cost close to $2. No wonder kids these days are growing up fat and in debt, hm?

So, here’s my plan… you’re welcome to steal it as long as you buy me some land somewhere once you get rich (preferably waterfront; don’t cheap out on me, okay?).

Here it is: A beverage vending machine. HOLY CRAP! Isn’t that fantastic? Well okay, there’s a bit more.

The vending machine is hooked up to a water supply. It includes either a reverse osmosis water filter, or some other mechanism of getting pure, clean water from local water supply (a simple Brita-like activated charcoal filter would probably do). This would instantly cut out about 90%+ of the transportation costs of distributing soft drinks.

So much smarter than bottled beverages.

“Aha!” you say, “You’re talking about replicating the fountain drink machines in vending machine format!” Now you’re getting it! But wait, there’s more!

The beverages are created within the machine by mixing the water with various drink concentrates, syrups, or powders. The water can either be hot or cold, allowing for a larger variety of drink options. Of course the drink could be provided pre-mixed, as would be the case if you had some beverage which couldn’t be concentrated well. The drinks can either be still, or carbonated, with carbonation being provided by a modular CO2 canister. Obviously only a certified maintenance person would be allowed to muck about with the CO2 canisters.

A great thing about this design is that the entire stock of drinks does not need to be refrigerated. Most older/existing vending machines are only about 1/10 as efficient as the average home refrigerator, and uses 5 times the energy. The power savings would be stunning. The water could be sent through an in-line chiller or heater which would only run on demand, meaning the machine would use next to no energy when not in use.

You'll notice many of the items are repeats. This many machines in a row is stupidly unnecessary.

One of the problems with current beverage vending machines is that they are controlled by a single company, meaning you will only find the products of a single company within them. It’s a waste of space, and doesn’t serve the consumers well, since you either have 10 vending machines in a row, or you have only 1 with limited selection. My proposal would be to allow any company, of any size or capacity, to be involved with this distribution system. Each machine would have a set number of modular containers which would contain one type of beverage syrup/powder/concentrate (anywhere from 5L to 50L in volume). Currently, you can only get your product distributed if you let a distribution company handle it for you, and even then they’ll only bother if you’re large enough to supply nation-wide. Removing that restriction, it becomes possible for local “microbrew” type beverage makers to exist and compete in the local markets.

The drink companies would simply rent out a single module space in the machines they want, and could refill/replace their module whenever they liked, by just driving down and replacing it themselves. Each module would have a chip on it which would contain the beverage name, a logo to display on the machine’s touch screen, nutritional information, and more. Wouldn’t it be awesome to go down to a machine and grab a locally-made cola or root beer or ginger beer? Because of the ability to keep the scale down, it becomes possible for small beverage makers to exist.

Of course the self-serve local distribution model wouldn’t work for already-established larger companies, so the company which ran the machines would also serve as a distribution company, refilling those companies’ products in the machines as needed.

One of the "small guys" who actually did manage to get a distribution deal in North America.

One challenge would be in the allocation of the drink modules. How does one bid for a module? How do you prevent Coca-Cola or Pepsico from buying out all the modules and getting back their monopolies? How do fairly unestablished companies get a chance to compete in the same machines as multinational giants?

Of course, the machines would be tech heavy (this is my idea, after all)– each module would have a level sensor (or perhaps they’re just weighed), and this could be communicated in real-time back to whoever was interested, so the self-delivery people could know when they’ll need to whip up a new batch, and so the in-house distribution team knows when to refill the Coke. This saves labor in not having to send anyone around to check on a machine unless it’s needed. The drink selection would be done through a screen. You could also sort by nutritional information, price, etc.

The astute may have a question already: “What about the beverage container?”. Aha. You are astute. While it might seem like a relatively minor detail, I think this is the most important part of the whole thing. Aluminum cans, glass bottles, plastic containers. Billions of them each year. Most are not recycled (only 12% of plastic water bottles are). Even if you do recycle, it’s still inefficient and wasteful, and that is the major reason I don’t actually buy drinks when I’m out and about anymore, unless I’m desperate and have no other practicable choice. (Remember that “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” is in that order for a reason– ‘Recycle’ being the last, and least efficient option)

With a smarter lid/valve design, you could just take this with you in a pocket at all times

I have a travel mug for coffee. Why can’t I use that? I have a stainless steel water bottle. Why can’t I use that? Or maybe I previously bought a drink in a plastic bottle and am still carrying it around. Why can’t I use that? Platypus sells foldable, collapsible containers. People have reusable contains with them. They should be able to reuse them. People would only have to know the approximate volume, or maybe the machine even has a rudimentary laser scanner that can determine volume based on exterior dimensions. For bonus points, the machine would have a way of sanitizing or rinsing the reusable cup before filling it (steam? or by dispensing a small amount of water to allow you to swirl it around for aquick rinse before dispensing the product.)

As an alternative, the machine could sell you a flexible/foldable reusable container at the same time- something small enough to fold unobtrusively into a back pocket or purse.  And as a last resort, the system could vend a biodegradable paper cup for an additional cost (the extra cost incentivizes the use of a reusable container).

Did you catch that bit up there about knowing the volume of the container? Do you see what I’m getting at? I’m talking about a machine that vends any quantity you want. You could buy 2L of coke and stick it in your Camelbak (?). Or you could buy just a few gulps of filtered water to get rid of a dry throat. To the drink makers, it doesn’t matter– the drink makers set a price per volume of their syrup/concentrate/etc (perhaps of the form c + nx, where c is a base cost, n is the markup, and x is the quantity), and the machine owner adds on a markup and cost for using the water and carbonation, if necessary. I’m sure that for every person who buys a jumbo-size container in the 7-eleven because that’s all that’s available, there’s probably several more people who don’t buy it because it’s too big. I have a feeling it would all work out in the end– when the drink manufacturer sells out their module, they’ve made their set amount of income. What quantities it was sold in is of little consequence to them. Plus then maybe our kids wouldn’t be so fat.

But you remember that bit about undermining an industry? Where does that come in? Well, the pricing. See, call me old fashioned, but I think pricing should be fair. If it costs 2 cents to produce Coca-Cola syrup, it shouldn’t cost $2 to buy it, just for the sake of adding a bit of water and carbonation. Coke could continue to set whatever price they wanted. But other companies, the local ones, say, could charge whatever they think is fair. Then we would have something really novel– actual competition! If a local company decides they only want to mark up their beverage 50%, rather than 1000%, then they will have a vast competitive advantage.  The more expensive brand will have to adjust their prices or suffer the consequences. Perhaps there’s even a way for companies to monitor their sales and look at competitor’s prices in the same vending machine unit(s), and adjust them remotely. Yes, it’s possible that a large company would use its financial muscle to undercut someone by taking a loss, but in the end the consumer wins, so at least that’s something. The only caveat to all this is that the price for the filtered water would have to be set such that the machines are still reasonably profitable even if people only ever get water.

As the drink modules became more common, a stripped-down version of the machine could also be used to replace the fountain drink machines in fast food joints, restaurants, etc., with the same advantages being retained– allowing local drink makers to participate in those areas as well.

A vastly simplified version would see concentrate syrups sold in small efficient packets (like those Capri-sun containers), and used with a home carbonation device (with small, low-pressure CO2 containers you could swap for new ones at the local store, like this).

So there you have it. The future of spending money on glorified sugar water! But with no packaging, no waste, less electricity, less shipping, and less money. It would be a daunting task. Anyone up for it?

… Who me? Nah, I’ll stick to just coming up with random ideas, and drinking tap water.

Heading to Tofino in August. Rainy sunrise! It was stunning light. Shoulda taken more shots.

Ehh, I was really bitter when I wrote this apparently. Please read this with a sense of humor and don’t take it seriously!
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I’ve been getting a bit frustrated lately. Every time I meet someone new, inevitably that person asks about Facebook. I then have to explain why I have very little interest in it. This has been a little difficult, because so far it’s been more a concept and feeling about why I dislike Facebook, and I haven’t stopped to really take the time to put it into words, at least not tactfully. So, below is my explanation, my rant, my manifesto about why I generally refuse to participate in online social networks.

I suppose more than anything it is an idealistic argument I have against them, on several levels. The core issue for me is one of intent. Why are people so eager and interested in joining Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other sites? (continue reading…)