8 ms·

University of Florida gets a 1% cut of Gatorade profits

263 points by Anon84 5y ago

phasetransition 5y ago
Long ago I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Florida (UF). I remember when I started college, UF provided us a document that was entitled the IP passport, looked like a passport, and had all the IP related details you ever wanted to read about (which wasn't much for an 18 year old kid). But it was all there in plain language. UF had (has?) 3 major IP breadwinners, Gatorade, Sentricon termite bait, and a glaucoma drug. Likely as a result, they had a sophisticated IP licensing and commercialization operation. Later, when I went to Georgia Tech, I discovered their technology licensing services were rather amateur in comparison. There was a time when University of Florida and Florida State University, both state schools, were top 10 ranked for revenue from technology licensure. A professor at Florida State first developed the synthetic chemistry for the drug Taxol.
- fuzzfactor 5y ago
  When I was a child the NFL was still drinking Kool-Aid, and only the Gators had Gatorade. Other schools were envious and there was pressure to release it. It's hot down there in the SEC. By the time I got to the University they were starting to rake in the bucks on the Gatorade and there was an emerging culture where there was widespread pressure to "invent new things or new ways of making the same old things". It didn't usually work out and has long since faded, but it was an exciting time, not exactly shared by other universities, even some of the most prestigious. This was quite strong in the Chemistry department where competition was very fierce in this respect, which could be seen as unsustainable at the time. So when I was still a teenager I realized it was already too late and there would have to be a way to own my own inventions other than academic research, that had to be crossed off the list early. It looked like a pretty smooth track but it was not headed where I wanted to go. Therefore no PhD, no Bell Labs, no IBM, etc. I forked early without resources which always seems premature, but in hindsight it was almost already too late for entrepreneurial effort alone to allow me to later launch without outside capital. Interestingly, none of the other most lucrative university royalties today are nearly as many decades old as Gatorade.
  - clairity 5y ago
    i still drink gatorade all these years after being indoctrinated into it through basketball (via marketing agreements with schools), where we made it from powder in 10-gallon coolers. i still highly recommend making it from powder, so you don't pay the premium to transport water needlessly. it's also roughly 10× cheaper that way, and you can make it (much) less sweet, which is better for hydration/replenishment.
    - fuzzfactor 5y ago
      My employer has the packets in every port location so the field operators can always have some when they are out climbing the cargo tanks and boarding the ships. If they haven't got bottled water then potable water is OK too, just need to carry an empty Gatorade bottle in the truck. I guess Amazon workers would need two empty Gatorade bottles then, and really need to keep track of which is which.
      - sk5t 5y ago
        All the more reason to prefer blue or red solution (just don't eat too many beets).
      - Arrath 5y ago
        Yes, a co-worker learned on one particularly long drive never to buy a certain color after a mix-up of which bottle was which.
    - Alex3917 5y ago
      Interesting enough, you can order the large things of powdered Gatorade for in-store pickup from Target, but they don't have it on the shelves. They don't want anyone to buy it, but if you're going to buy it online then they'd rather sell it to you. On their website they list it as being on a "secret shelf" that doesn't actually exist in the store. As long as it's 50% diluted, it's still as good as all of the more modern products for most use cases.
    - runnerup 5y ago
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- NetBeck 5y ago
  A recent alumni gift from NVIDIA's cofounder will "Build Fastest AI Supercomputer in Academia" for UFL.[0] When I was researching colleges to attend, Florida seemed amazing for in-state tuition. Florida is still ranked one of the best states for higher education.[1] [0] https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/07/21/university-of-florida-nvidia-ai-supercomputer/ https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/07/21/university-of-flori... [1] https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education/higher-education https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education/h...
- ethbr0 5y ago
  Ironically, wikipedia lists the history as UF originally turning down a patent offer. Then, when Robert Cade commercialized it and demonstrated sales, they sued him for a cut. The two parties settled on 20% for UF, plus reinvestment of some of the proceeds in Cade's research at the school. [0] So apparently all schools are amateur at commercialization. UF just has more experience than most. And generally, it seems like most universities do better spinning applied research and licensure off into an associated organization, who can focus on that. E.g. Ames, Argonne, JPL, LLNL, Lincoln Lab, ORNL [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cade https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cade
  - busyant 5y ago
    > Then, when Robert Cade commercialized it and demonstrated sales, they sued him for a cut. Someone once told me that no one gives a shit about your IP until you start making money. If you start making money, then people will remember one of the following: a) your patent is invalid because they discovered it before you or b) they helped you with your discovery and they deserve a slice.
    - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
      > they helped you with your discovery and they deserve a slice. Using the "Gator" trademark entitles UF to a slice.
      - chrisco255 5y ago
        The word Gator is not a trademark, it's a common term for an alligator that dates back hundreds of years. "Florida Gators" is, within the context of football, athletics and academics.
      - weird-eye-issue 5y ago
        It's Gatorade, not Gator
  - geoduck14 5y ago
    >So apparently all schools are amateur at commercialization. UF just has more experience than most. The professor that originally created the buckey ball (forerunner to carbon nano tubes) was at a community College, and he didn't realize what he had done. Then a nearby university (the one you are thinking of) saw his research and recognized what was happening - so they bought it and expanded it. The university professors eventually got a Nobel prize out of it.
- slap_shot 5y ago
  > Likely as a result, they had a sophisticated IP licensing and commercialization operation Because UF fucked up the Gatorade deal so badly. I went to UF and worked for a seed investment fund that spun technology out of UF's research labs (and later one of their portfolio companies). Their research to company pipeline is a beast because they're deathly afraid of making that mistake again.
roland35 5y ago
When I was a student at University of Florida, they didn't have - grades (i.e. A-, B-, etc). I heard it was due to a faculty protest against grade inflation, which in the end benefited me since a 90.0% was a full A on the 4.0 scale! It looks like they have minus grades again, but I can't find any sources online - this was in the 2000's. Also, it looks like the "New Engineering Building" is now just "Engineering Building". Maybe naming rights are still available if someone wants to donate a few million?
- Maursault 5y ago
  Probably unrelated, but New College of Florida [1], once part of the University of Southern Florida, never used grades. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_College_of_Florida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_College_of_Florida
  - fuzzfactor 5y ago
    When I was at UF they often didn't give an A+ every semester or even every year, even though it had always been considered top attainment by an outstanding student. It could not bring your GPA above 4.0 anyway. New College, Nova University, and FAU were considered to be the destinations for the experimental high school students who attended the original Nova from 7th through 12th grade. The high school had a bizarre stanine grading system that could not directly translate to mainstream ratings. This was years before they invented "Middle School" for everyone else to replace Junior High.
- mandelbrotwurst 5y ago
  Sounds like the protest wasn't very effective!
- meowkit 5y ago
  Yes they have minus grades. NEB is still called NEB or the "ECE" building along with Larson/Benton Halls. There is the new Herbert Wertheim Engineering Lab which is the "New"est Engineering Building. The Malachowsky Data Science Building is under construction south of the Reitz Union, replacing the parking lot at the top of the Center Drive hill. Source: Finished masters in 2019.
gatronicus 5y ago
I hope they use some of that money for a study regarding the nutritional value of Gatorade fed plants.
paulcole 5y ago
When I was there (2001-2005), the campus had a contract w/ Coca Cola where all the vending machines on campus were Coke products only - only exception was that there were Gatorade machines everywhere. Go Gators!
- jacquesm 5y ago
  I find this kind of connection between commerce and university a bad influence.
  - fidesomnes 5y ago
    If you think university is not a business you have some growing up to do.
  - elzbardico 5y ago
    Well, but on the bright side "it got electrolytes!"
  - paulcole 5y ago
    What drinks should they have for sale on campus?
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      Whatever the students request, and with the size of a typical university that's probably a fairly large selection, as long as it can be sold before the best-before date it should be fine. Note that that no doubt will include the products of the companies that now have the monopoly.
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
      - deserted 5y ago
        So how should they should stock a 12 can vending machine? Coke Pepsi Diet Coke Diet Pepsi etc
nikkinana 5y ago
Tax the rich and learn to code.
dhosek 5y ago
And then proceeds to replace tenure track teaching positions with adjuncts paid poverty-level wages.
- whoknowswhat11 5y ago
  It depends on the field. Center for Latin American Studies Director is around $210K - Carlos De La Torre Espinosa. Others make a lot more - would be curious if this includes some type of payout that is not standard UF DAVID NELSON PROFESSOR $957,900.00 UF BRIAN HOH PROFESSOR $942,946.10 UF LEON HALEY PROFESSOR $874,750.00 UCF DEBORAH GERMAN PROFESSOR $850,000.00 UF THIAGO BEDUSCHI PROFESSOR $830,000.00 UF MARK SCARBOROUGH PROFESSOR $812,528.74 UF TOMAS MARTIN PROFESSOR $801,940.00 UF GILES PEEK PROFESSOR $781,740.00 UF PHILIPP ALDANA PROFESSOR $750,236.01 UF WESLEY FUCHS PROFESSOR $731,587.09 UF THOMAS BEAVER PROFESSOR $705,956.38 UF PAUL DOUGHERTY PROFESSOR $702,960.00
  - da-bacon 5y ago
    Those are mostly doctors. Any school with a decent med school will have top earners like this.
    - tkojames 5y ago
      Yes and they should get paid that much. When I went to school at University of California we would look up the salaries of our teachers. Most of the highest paid people were football coaches. But a few doctors making around 1.5 million. Looked the person up they invented a way to do liver transplants. They have done over 800 transplants over there career at the school. They also taught how to do the surgery. That is money well spent.
  - metaphor 5y ago
    Other than Fuchs (who is the current UF president), everyone you listed is a MD.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
infocollector 5y ago
Policies and politics like these, made the University of Florida kill its Computer Science program [http://tiny.cc/y5bjuz http://tiny.cc/y5bjuz] - almost. So when you "Go Gators", perhaps its time to look at the UF contracts for hiring faculty.
- Clubber 5y ago
  I remember that. I believe it was pushback that the state government was cutting funds and UF wanted to make a media splash to bring light to the situation. UF has a CS department as seen here: https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/colleges-schools/UGENG/CPS_BSCS/ https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/colleges-schools/UGENG/CPS_BSCS...
  - chrisco255 5y ago
    No it was purely a university political issue, not a state funding issue. The UF CISE was a revenue a producing department and more than made up for its costs in tuition and grants.
- Spooky23 5y ago
  Florida has uniquely toxic politics for a variety of reasons.
  - swarnie 5y ago
    Because their representative is a drugged up pedo? Edit: I'm sorry to whoever flagged this, Matt Gaetz is fucked. Just like those underaged girls he molested.
    - HumblyTossed 5y ago
      Because the worst examples from every other state move to Florida.
  - dkdk8283 5y ago
    The only state worse off is California.
internet2000 5y ago
What does Frost Glacier Freeze Gatorade taste like?
- wibagusto 5y ago
  Hurricane Matilda.
- HumblyTossed 5y ago
  Woolly Mammoth piss.
esalman 5y ago
With that kind of free money in its coffer, you'd think factulty and students would get a cut of the share and be better off. Yet one of the most high-profile cases of grad student suicide in recent years happened over there- https://www.wuft.org/news/2021/04/23/university-of-florida-professor-resigns-amid-investigations-into-students-suicide/ https://www.wuft.org/news/2021/04/23/university-of-florida-p...
- t-writescode 5y ago
  That's not much money at all for a large institution. This statement seems a bit ... tripe in light of real world complexities.
  - Grakel 5y ago
    Trite? Tripe is something else.
    - northwest65 5y ago
      Tripe is also another slang word for bullshit.
  - esalman 5y ago
    That's a lot of money for graduate researchers who make <30k a year.
    - t-writescode 5y ago
      It wouldn't even cover 100 of them.
- listenallyall 5y ago
  Are you suggesting this person's mental health issues and other contributing factors would have all gone away had he been handed a check for a few hundred dollars?
- Rebelgecko 5y ago
elzbardico 5y ago
An university sponsored by Blando(tm). This is so America!
- benatkin 5y ago
  Brawndo. Indeed, straight out of Idiocracy!
durnygbur 5y ago
Producers of sweetened coloured caffeinated water have far too much influence on American economy. But that's your backyard so why should I care. Then you agressively push this sewage down the throats of kids over here, and here start the problems. Hope this will sink you Idiocracy-style.
- dang 5y ago
  Please don't fulminate on HN, despite the social ills of soft drinks. I'm sure you can make your substantive points thoughtfully; please do that instead. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

263 points by Anon84 5y ago

Long ago I received my undergraduate degree from the University of Florida (UF). I remember when I started college, UF provided us a document that was entitled the IP passport, looked like a passport, and had all the IP related details you ever wanted to read about (which wasn't much for an 18 year old kid). But it was all there in plain language. UF had (has?) 3 major IP breadwinners, Gatorade, Sentricon termite bait, and a glaucoma drug. Likely as a result, they had a sophisticated IP licensing and commercialization operation. Later, when I went to Georgia Tech, I discovered their technology licensing services were rather amateur in comparison. There was a time when University of Florida and Florida State University, both state schools, were top 10 ranked for revenue from technology licensure. A professor at Florida State first developed the synthetic chemistry for the drug Taxol.

fuzzfactor 5y ago
When I was a child the NFL was still drinking Kool-Aid, and only the Gators had Gatorade. Other schools were envious and there was pressure to release it. It's hot down there in the SEC. By the time I got to the University they were starting to rake in the bucks on the Gatorade and there was an emerging culture where there was widespread pressure to "invent new things or new ways of making the same old things". It didn't usually work out and has long since faded, but it was an exciting time, not exactly shared by other universities, even some of the most prestigious. This was quite strong in the Chemistry department where competition was very fierce in this respect, which could be seen as unsustainable at the time. So when I was still a teenager I realized it was already too late and there would have to be a way to own my own inventions other than academic research, that had to be crossed off the list early. It looked like a pretty smooth track but it was not headed where I wanted to go. Therefore no PhD, no Bell Labs, no IBM, etc. I forked early without resources which always seems premature, but in hindsight it was almost already too late for entrepreneurial effort alone to allow me to later launch without outside capital. Interestingly, none of the other most lucrative university royalties today are nearly as many decades old as Gatorade.
- clairity 5y ago
  i still drink gatorade all these years after being indoctrinated into it through basketball (via marketing agreements with schools), where we made it from powder in 10-gallon coolers. i still highly recommend making it from powder, so you don't pay the premium to transport water needlessly. it's also roughly 10× cheaper that way, and you can make it (much) less sweet, which is better for hydration/replenishment.
  - fuzzfactor 5y ago
    My employer has the packets in every port location so the field operators can always have some when they are out climbing the cargo tanks and boarding the ships. If they haven't got bottled water then potable water is OK too, just need to carry an empty Gatorade bottle in the truck. I guess Amazon workers would need two empty Gatorade bottles then, and really need to keep track of which is which.
    - sk5t 5y ago
      All the more reason to prefer blue or red solution (just don't eat too many beets).
    - Arrath 5y ago
      Yes, a co-worker learned on one particularly long drive never to buy a certain color after a mix-up of which bottle was which.
  - Alex3917 5y ago
    Interesting enough, you can order the large things of powdered Gatorade for in-store pickup from Target, but they don't have it on the shelves. They don't want anyone to buy it, but if you're going to buy it online then they'd rather sell it to you. On their website they list it as being on a "secret shelf" that doesn't actually exist in the store. As long as it's 50% diluted, it's still as good as all of the more modern products for most use cases.
  - runnerup 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
NetBeck 5y ago
A recent alumni gift from NVIDIA's cofounder will "Build Fastest AI Supercomputer in Academia" for UFL.[0] When I was researching colleges to attend, Florida seemed amazing for in-state tuition. Florida is still ranked one of the best states for higher education.[1] [0] https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/07/21/university-of-florida-nvidia-ai-supercomputer/ https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/07/21/university-of-flori... [1] https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education/higher-education https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education/h...
ethbr0 5y ago
Ironically, wikipedia lists the history as UF originally turning down a patent offer. Then, when Robert Cade commercialized it and demonstrated sales, they sued him for a cut. The two parties settled on 20% for UF, plus reinvestment of some of the proceeds in Cade's research at the school. [0] So apparently all schools are amateur at commercialization. UF just has more experience than most. And generally, it seems like most universities do better spinning applied research and licensure off into an associated organization, who can focus on that. E.g. Ames, Argonne, JPL, LLNL, Lincoln Lab, ORNL [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cade https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cade
- busyant 5y ago
  > Then, when Robert Cade commercialized it and demonstrated sales, they sued him for a cut. Someone once told me that no one gives a shit about your IP until you start making money. If you start making money, then people will remember one of the following: a) your patent is invalid because they discovered it before you or b) they helped you with your discovery and they deserve a slice.
  - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    > they helped you with your discovery and they deserve a slice. Using the "Gator" trademark entitles UF to a slice.
    - chrisco255 5y ago
      The word Gator is not a trademark, it's a common term for an alligator that dates back hundreds of years. "Florida Gators" is, within the context of football, athletics and academics.
    - weird-eye-issue 5y ago
      It's Gatorade, not Gator
- geoduck14 5y ago
  >So apparently all schools are amateur at commercialization. UF just has more experience than most. The professor that originally created the buckey ball (forerunner to carbon nano tubes) was at a community College, and he didn't realize what he had done. Then a nearby university (the one you are thinking of) saw his research and recognized what was happening - so they bought it and expanded it. The university professors eventually got a Nobel prize out of it.
slap_shot 5y ago
> Likely as a result, they had a sophisticated IP licensing and commercialization operation Because UF fucked up the Gatorade deal so badly. I went to UF and worked for a seed investment fund that spun technology out of UF's research labs (and later one of their portfolio companies). Their research to company pipeline is a beast because they're deathly afraid of making that mistake again.

roland35 5y ago

When I was a student at University of Florida, they didn't have - grades (i.e. A-, B-, etc). I heard it was due to a faculty protest against grade inflation, which in the end benefited me since a 90.0% was a full A on the 4.0 scale! It looks like they have minus grades again, but I can't find any sources online - this was in the 2000's. Also, it looks like the "New Engineering Building" is now just "Engineering Building". Maybe naming rights are still available if someone wants to donate a few million?

Maursault 5y ago
Probably unrelated, but New College of Florida [1], once part of the University of Southern Florida, never used grades. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_College_of_Florida https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_College_of_Florida
- fuzzfactor 5y ago
  When I was at UF they often didn't give an A+ every semester or even every year, even though it had always been considered top attainment by an outstanding student. It could not bring your GPA above 4.0 anyway. New College, Nova University, and FAU were considered to be the destinations for the experimental high school students who attended the original Nova from 7th through 12th grade. The high school had a bizarre stanine grading system that could not directly translate to mainstream ratings. This was years before they invented "Middle School" for everyone else to replace Junior High.
mandelbrotwurst 5y ago
Sounds like the protest wasn't very effective!
meowkit 5y ago
Yes they have minus grades. NEB is still called NEB or the "ECE" building along with Larson/Benton Halls. There is the new Herbert Wertheim Engineering Lab which is the "New"est Engineering Building. The Malachowsky Data Science Building is under construction south of the Reitz Union, replacing the parking lot at the top of the Center Drive hill. Source: Finished masters in 2019.

gatronicus 5y ago

I hope they use some of that money for a study regarding the nutritional value of Gatorade fed plants.

paulcole 5y ago

When I was there (2001-2005), the campus had a contract w/ Coca Cola where all the vending machines on campus were Coke products only - only exception was that there were Gatorade machines everywhere. Go Gators!

jacquesm 5y ago
I find this kind of connection between commerce and university a bad influence.
- fidesomnes 5y ago
  If you think university is not a business you have some growing up to do.
- elzbardico 5y ago
  Well, but on the bright side "it got electrolytes!"
- paulcole 5y ago
  What drinks should they have for sale on campus?
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Whatever the students request, and with the size of a typical university that's probably a fairly large selection, as long as it can be sold before the best-before date it should be fine. Note that that no doubt will include the products of the companies that now have the monopoly.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - deserted 5y ago
      So how should they should stock a 12 can vending machine? Coke Pepsi Diet Coke Diet Pepsi etc

nikkinana 5y ago

Tax the rich and learn to code.

dhosek 5y ago

And then proceeds to replace tenure track teaching positions with adjuncts paid poverty-level wages.

whoknowswhat11 5y ago
It depends on the field. Center for Latin American Studies Director is around $210K - Carlos De La Torre Espinosa. Others make a lot more - would be curious if this includes some type of payout that is not standard UF DAVID NELSON PROFESSOR $957,900.00 UF BRIAN HOH PROFESSOR $942,946.10 UF LEON HALEY PROFESSOR $874,750.00 UCF DEBORAH GERMAN PROFESSOR $850,000.00 UF THIAGO BEDUSCHI PROFESSOR $830,000.00 UF MARK SCARBOROUGH PROFESSOR $812,528.74 UF TOMAS MARTIN PROFESSOR $801,940.00 UF GILES PEEK PROFESSOR $781,740.00 UF PHILIPP ALDANA PROFESSOR $750,236.01 UF WESLEY FUCHS PROFESSOR $731,587.09 UF THOMAS BEAVER PROFESSOR $705,956.38 UF PAUL DOUGHERTY PROFESSOR $702,960.00
- da-bacon 5y ago
  Those are mostly doctors. Any school with a decent med school will have top earners like this.
  - tkojames 5y ago
    Yes and they should get paid that much. When I went to school at University of California we would look up the salaries of our teachers. Most of the highest paid people were football coaches. But a few doctors making around 1.5 million. Looked the person up they invented a way to do liver transplants. They have done over 800 transplants over there career at the school. They also taught how to do the surgery. That is money well spent.
- metaphor 5y ago
  Other than Fuchs (who is the current UF president), everyone you listed is a MD.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

infocollector 5y ago

Policies and politics like these, made the University of Florida kill its Computer Science program [http://tiny.cc/y5bjuz http://tiny.cc/y5bjuz] - almost. So when you "Go Gators", perhaps its time to look at the UF contracts for hiring faculty.

Clubber 5y ago
I remember that. I believe it was pushback that the state government was cutting funds and UF wanted to make a media splash to bring light to the situation. UF has a CS department as seen here: https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/colleges-schools/UGENG/CPS_BSCS/ https://catalog.ufl.edu/UGRD/colleges-schools/UGENG/CPS_BSCS...
- chrisco255 5y ago
  No it was purely a university political issue, not a state funding issue. The UF CISE was a revenue a producing department and more than made up for its costs in tuition and grants.
Spooky23 5y ago
Florida has uniquely toxic politics for a variety of reasons.
- swarnie 5y ago
  Because their representative is a drugged up pedo? Edit: I'm sorry to whoever flagged this, Matt Gaetz is fucked. Just like those underaged girls he molested.
  - HumblyTossed 5y ago
    Because the worst examples from every other state move to Florida.
- dkdk8283 5y ago
  The only state worse off is California.

internet2000 5y ago

What does Frost Glacier Freeze Gatorade taste like?

wibagusto 5y ago
Hurricane Matilda.
HumblyTossed 5y ago
Woolly Mammoth piss.

esalman 5y ago

With that kind of free money in its coffer, you'd think factulty and students would get a cut of the share and be better off. Yet one of the most high-profile cases of grad student suicide in recent years happened over there- https://www.wuft.org/news/2021/04/23/university-of-florida-professor-resigns-amid-investigations-into-students-suicide/ https://www.wuft.org/news/2021/04/23/university-of-florida-p...

t-writescode 5y ago
That's not much money at all for a large institution. This statement seems a bit ... tripe in light of real world complexities.
- Grakel 5y ago
  Trite? Tripe is something else.
  - northwest65 5y ago
    Tripe is also another slang word for bullshit.
- esalman 5y ago
  That's a lot of money for graduate researchers who make <30k a year.
  - t-writescode 5y ago
    It wouldn't even cover 100 of them.
listenallyall 5y ago
Are you suggesting this person's mental health issues and other contributing factors would have all gone away had he been handed a check for a few hundred dollars?
Rebelgecko 5y ago

elzbardico 5y ago

An university sponsored by Blando(tm). This is so America!

benatkin 5y ago
Brawndo. Indeed, straight out of Idiocracy!

durnygbur 5y ago

Producers of sweetened coloured caffeinated water have far too much influence on American economy. But that's your backyard so why should I care. Then you agressively push this sewage down the throats of kids over here, and here start the problems. Hope this will sink you Idiocracy-style.

dang 5y ago
Please don't fulminate on HN, despite the social ills of soft drinks. I'm sure you can make your substantive points thoughtfully; please do that instead. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html