One of my neighbors (an electrical engineering major), figured out how to get free cokes

The local Coca Cola company made the mistake of putting their machines on each floor of my dorm, where it was left to the mercy (or lack thereof) of the local inhabitants. A neighbor of mine was an electrical engineering major, and figured out how to get free cokes.

I now know that most Coke machines are based on electomagnetism--when you put enough money in one, the magnet is released enough to allow a can to be released. He realized that what can compromise this electomagnetism is--warm salted water. So, we pried off the slot of the machine, exposing a funnel, and poured the warm salty water down the machine. The magnetism stopped, enabling us to punch out all of the cokes. The coke people were dumb enough to refill it a couple of times, despite there being NO money!

Eventually the machine was inoperable, of course. They left it there, so early one morning we shoved it out the bathroom window. It fell eight stories, crashing through a concrete awning. Luckily, no one was killed. After that, all the coke machines were put on the first floor in a room locked at midnight. Several times after that, I wanted a coke late at night, but the room was locked. Served me right.