Thread: VendingMachine

VendingMachine,

I have been reading your posts on this board for a few hours. You seem very interesting and intelligent. You obviously have a very strong command of English and your insight into Russia is the most valuable one on this board.

You defend Russia against the stereotypes of westerners on this forum relentlessly. I wonder how you have not run out of patience and abandoned this board all together.

Could you talk about yourself? How you got into linguistics and translating, etc?

Thanks

I just couldn't resist my emotions:

БУ-ГА-ГА-ГАААААААААААААААААААААААА ААААААААААААААААААААА!

VM — суперзвезда!!!


I'm sorry if it's stupid!

Ну вы даёте Андрей Михалыч!

Originally Posted by andrei_michaelovich

VendingMachine,

I have been reading your posts on this board for a few hours. You seem very interesting and intelligent. You obviously have a very strong command of English and your insight into Russia is the most valuable one on this board.

You defend Russia against the stereotypes of westerners on this forum relentlessly. I wonder how you have not run out of patience and abandoned this board all together.

Could you talk about yourself? How you got into linguistics and translating, etc?

Thanks

THIS PRODUCTION HAS BEEN SPONSORED, WRITTEN AND PAID FOR BY THE ASSOCIATES OF THE VENERABLE AND GREAT VENDINGMACHINE:
RATED R :FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vending_machine


Introduction
Cigarette vending machine. Frankfurt, Germany (October 2005)

In the United States, vending machines generally serve the purpose of selling snacks and beverages, but are also common in busy locations to sell other items such as newspapers. Another common class of vending machines are photo booths.

Items sold via vending machine vary by country and region. For example, some countries sell alcoholic beverages such as beer through vending machines, while other countries do not allow this (usually because of dram shop laws).

Cigarettes were commonly sold in the U.S. through these machines, but this practice is increasingly rare due to concerns about underaged buyers. Sometimes a pass has to be inserted in the machine to prove one's age. In some European countries, by contrast, cigarette machines are still common. Oddly, vending machines were used from the 1950s well into the 1970s to sell life insurance policies covering death in the event that the buyer's flight crashed. Such policies were quite profitable, because the risk of any given flight crashing was (and remains) very low, but this practice gradually disappeared due to the tendency of American courts to strictly construe such policies against their sellers, such as Mutual of Omaha.[1]

History
An older soda vending machine.

The first vending machine is believed to have been invented by Hero of Alexandria, a first-century inventor. His machine accepted a coin and then dispensed a fixed amount of holy water. When the coin was deposited, it fell upon a pan attached to a lever. The lever opened up a valve which let some water flow out. The pan continued to tilt with the weight of the coin until it fell off, at which point a counter-weight would snap the lever back up and turn off the valve.

Despite this early precedent, vending machines had to wait for the Industrial Age before they came to prominence. The first modern coin-operated vending machines were introduced in London, England in the early 1880s, dispensing post cards. The first vending machine in the U.S. was built in 1888 by the Thomas Adams Gum Company, selling gum on train platforms. The idea of adding simple games to these machines as a further incentive to buy came in 1897 when the Pulver Manufacturing Company added small figures which would move around whenever somebody bought some gum from their machines. This simple idea spawned a whole new type of mechanical device known as the "trade stimulators". The birth of pinball is ultimately rooted in these early devices.

Mechanism

After paying, a product may become available by:

* the machine releasing it, so that it falls in an open compartment at the bottom, or into a cup, either released first, or put in by the customer
* the unlocking of a door, drawer, turning of a knob, etc.

Sometimes the product is not just released, but prepared; this may be the case e.g. in the case of coffee, french fries, or a ticket that is printed after paying.

Vending machine giving access to all merchandise

The main example of a vending machine giving access to all merchandise after paying for one item is a newspaper vending machine (also called vending box). It contains a pile of identical newspapers. After a sale the door automatically returns to a locked position. A customer could open the box and take all of the newspapers or, for the benefit of other customers, leave all of the newspapers outside of the box, slowly return the door to an unlatched position, or block the door from fully closing. The success of such machines is predicated on the assumption that the customer will be honest (hence the nickname "honor box"), which is helped by the fact that having more than one newspaper is not often useful.

Compare a coin-operated pay toilet.



p.s. just a joke

Originally Posted by mishau_

Compare a coin-operated pay toilet.

p.s. just a joke

:P

VMs a rude antagonist, but does have the occasional whimsical snipe at someone. and if i remember correctly, he's not a translator, has a deluxe hotel business or something.
word has it that DDT is his personal scalp massager, but its unconfirmed

It appears, VM has just created yet another account

я, по крайне мере, купился

Originally Posted by Lt. Columbo

я, по крайней мере, купился

Originally Posted by Ramil

It appears, VM has just created yet another account

Has just created? Look at the date: July 2006.

Ты дооолго готовился ©

Sorry to disappoint you all, especially you olya, but I am not VM. I guess there would be no way to actually prove this.

Go back and read some of his early posts. In one of them, he comes out and says that he has made professional translations from English to Russian. Also, he was very helpful on this website until people started spouting off about Russians drinking vodka alll the time, which I suppose offended him, as he is muslim and does not imbibe.

Originally Posted by andrei_michaelovich

especially you olya

Especially me??
Моя реплика здесь чуть ли не самая короткая и все-таки - "especially me"? Как интересно У тебя ко мне какое-то особое отношение?

Olya, its always hard for me to let pretty girls down. Hence, "especially you."

He's muslim??? Since when? Or I am missing something.

I think April month has already passed quite some time ago... Андрюшка, вы хоть читали его последние 200 постов?

Vending Machine is just rude. He, like some other Russian posters on this forum, will shout-down anything a westerner says about Russia because anything they do say is western propaganda.

Is VM Russian then?

Originally Posted by TATY

Vending Machine is just rude. He, like some other Russian posters on this forum, will shout-down anything a westerner says about Russia because anything they do say is western propaganda.

Isn't it?