8 Responses to “Idle Speculation”

1. Nick Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 11:43 am

   And how many skyscrapers would it fill, if you could seal them well enough to prevent leaks? Imagining a downtown skyscraper sterilized on the inside, hermetically sealed, and filled with coffee, with a row of spigots just above sidewalk level…

2. Neuro Says:
   November 18th, 2009 at 9:00 pm

   – Assume 3 million working in City of Mists during business hours.

   – Assume 2 out of 3 of them have an 8oz cup’s worth of coffee waiting for them in the pot or in their cup.

   – 8oz * 2 million = 24 million oz = 125,000 gallons

   I don’t know about skyscrapers, but that much java would fill this thing, which I think would be an appropriate carafe for City of Mists.

3. yoko Says:
   November 19th, 2009 at 9:44 pm

   too much coffee.

4. Ace Says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 12:17 am

   The smallest size of regular brewed coffee that one can purchase at the Whole Foods where I’ve been buying my coffee is 12 ounces. If that were true for say, only 1 out of every 4 people, it would still mean a net increase in your estimated total of 15,625 gallons.

   On the other hand, though, maybe that’s the size of the cup, not the amount of the contents.

   Also, I ask for room for milk.

5. Neuro Says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 1:06 pm

   Yes, and also apparently I am under the impression that 8*2 = 24! (I tried the numbers a number of different ways and forgot to change them at one point; but 8oz * 2 million still comes out to 125,000 gallons).

   However it turns out, I want that ominous dark gray sphere to be the coffee pot. :D

6. Ace Says:
   November 22nd, 2009 at 10:41 am

   Yeah, I have to say, I came across that image later doing my own research, and I’m fairly impressed that you managed to come up with a visual on something that was exactly 125,000 gallons! I noticed it’s normally used for liquid oxygen, though– better make sure you take the right one out of the hangar. S’like using the cold cup instead of the hot cup…

   I do really like Nickykaa’s image of the skyscraper with the spigots, though. It has a certain weird futurist-Communist je ne sai quoi.

   I’m also mystified that this one and a half line post I tossed off has become the second most viewed post on the site. Go figure…

7. Church Says:
   November 24th, 2009 at 2:46 am

   Does that include lattes or just regular brew? :)

8. Ace Says:
   November 25th, 2009 at 9:49 pm

   I had wondered whether those kinds of distinctions were meaningful when phrasing the question. I like the way Neuro’s referential framework sidesteps the debate by assigning a numerical average relative to the consumer. That 8 ounces of coffee could be one 8-ounce cup of regular brew, or two 4-ounce espressos, or four 16-ounce lattes with 2 ounces of espresso in them apiece, or whatever, and distribution between cup and pot doesn’t matter.

   Statistically maybe more people drink lattes than espresso, I don’t have data on that. But as a way of approximating, it doesn’t seem unreasonable.