The Mythbusters people are pussies and terrible actors

[Lallapalalable]

I know, they gotta do that whole "safety" thing, but take this: In the one episode where they did the drunk driving versus cell phone driving, they had to get a BAC level of .08. To accomplish this feat, they had to consume A WHOLE BEER. I realize this would give an anhorexic quadropeligic midget a little bit of a buzz, but these two were acting like they downed a fifth of jack, and drove the as such. I mean, Im no drinker, but I once had a 40 and a half and drove without a hitch (shush).

As for the acting (the script reading, really), Ive seen better on public access. Im not neccessarily talking about Adam and Jamie, but the others...(shudders).

 

[Nelson]

Yeah, they are terrible actors, but no one watches the show for the acting. Yes, they seem to be lightweights in the drinking department, but no one watches the show to see them pound dozens of beers. The main point is that they are showing how you can compare your ideas against reality with science. This is, of course, a good thing. This is highlighted in this xkcd comic, with a guest appearance by my personal hero, albeit in zombie form.

 

[Aught3]

The thing with alcohol is that quite a lot of the effects can be placebo (or nocebo I guess). You can give people flavoured drinks, tell them it's alcoholic, and watch them get 'drunk'. Presumably this experiment wasn't blinded and the guys knew they were drinking and blowing a high BAC thus causing them to act more intoxicated than they were.

On the acting, I think the only one who is actually an actor is Adam so this doesn't bother me.

 

[SchrodingersFinch]

I checked on Youtube. Kari had a BAC of 0.075% after two beers in an empty stomach. Adam had a BAC of 0.070% after three beers, also in an empty stomach. Both of them did significantly worse in the driving test after drinking, but they failed it even harder when talking on a cellphone.

Perhaps a little of it was acting, or maybe it was the editing, but by no means are the results surprising. Drinking can affect your driving a lot, although it might not seem that way to your drunken self. It's true that alcohol affects people differently, but drinking 40+ beers and driving is still fucking stupid. I'm sure the guy driving in front of me yesterday also thought he was fine.

 

[Nelson]

but drinking 40+ beers and driving is still fucking stupid

I'm guessing he meant a 40 oz and a half, meaning 60oz or 5 beers. 2-3 is usually my "still feel safe to drive" limit, so 5 isn't that unreasonable depending on your tolerance. It would be a bit too much for me though.

 

[SchrodingersFinch]

I'm guessing he meant a 40 oz and a half, meaning 60oz or 5 beers. 2-3 is usually my "still feel safe to drive" limit, so 5 isn't that unreasonable depending on your tolerance. It would be a bit too much for me though.

Yeah, now that I think of it 40 beers is quite a lot for anyone (unless you drink them in a long enough time period). Anyway, it's almost 5 am here, so I'm not at my sharpest, and definitely in no condition to drive.

 

[borrofburi]

I know, they gotta do that whole "safety" thing, but take this: In the one episode where they did the drunk driving versus cell phone driving, they had to get a BAC level of .08. To accomplish this feat, they had to consume A WHOLE BEER. I realize this would give an anhorexic quadropeligic midget a little bit of a buzz, but these two were acting like they downed a fifth of jack, and drove the as such.

0.08 is the federal cut off. Many states have it as low as 0.06, and some (I think) as low as 0.04; for a BAC to test, I think that's fair.

I mean, Im no drinker, but I once had a 40 and a half and drove without a hitch (shush).

I don't know that I can shush, that's simply irresponsible and you deserve cultural shaming/condemnation for that.

Perhaps a little of it was acting, or maybe it was the editing, but by no means are the results surprising. Drinking can affect your driving a lot, although it might not seem that way to your drunken self. It's true that alcohol affects people differently, but drinking 40+ beers and driving is still fucking stupid. I'm sure the guy driving in front of me yesterday also thought he was fine.

Seconded. And for emphasis: yes, your impaired mind perceives itself as being fine. But why are we trusting your potentially impaired mind to judge its own impairedness?

I'm guessing he meant a 40 oz and a half, meaning 60oz or 5 beers. 2-3 is usually my "still feel safe to drive" limit, so 5 isn't that unreasonable depending on your tolerance. It would be a bit too much for me though.

Depends on your wait, the time period, and if you did it on a full stomach or not... If you slam them down on an empty stomach you'd have to be rather hefty with a high tolerance to be safe to drive.

I usually do it this way: if I have alcohol I don't plan to drive. But when drinking was spontaneous, I choose to drive or not based on reaction speed tests I did and recorded on multiple occasions in relatively controlled conditions so that I could correlate reaction speed tests with BAC. Anything above a 0.03 is "you should wait a bit" and anything above a 0.06 or so is a "it's going to take way too long to get sober enough, might as well just walk".

 

[Lallapalalable]

Hee hee, seems I struck a nerve with a few people . I realize nobody watches the show to see them act or get drunk, but its these little things that bug the hell out of me.

Despite that, I still dont go moist over the show, as they arent always as thorough as I would like and sometimes they do things a little, um, stupidly. For instance, the one where they tested whether a ferrari could skip across a body of water, they decided to do a full scale test before doing a model test, after which they were all like "Oops, guess we just wasted a whole car!"

Also, I forgot it was on an empty stomach, and I didnt realize they had more than one (you see, I saw this a while ago). Even still, I like to project my own limits on to others, and I can down about six or so before I feel inhebriated.

Lastly, Jamie just pisses me off to no end with his lack of an enjoyable personality, so, again, the little things (seriously, his mother must have been murdered by a clown, swearing him off humor forever).

If you slam them down on an empty stomach you'd have to be rather hefty with a high tolerance to be safe to drive.

yeah, im on the chubby side, and Im polish/scotish, so my tolerence is somewhere on the Kieth Richards level.

 

[MRaverz]

I mean, Im no drinker, but I once had a 40 and a half and drove without a hitch (shush).

Can't believe that, being drunk makes you think that you're doing much better at something than you really are.

Which explains why everything is a good idea when you're drunk.

 

[borrofburi]

I can down about six or so before I feel inhebriated.

So? Before you "feel" inebriated? When did feeling inebriated ever even correlate to actually being inebriated? Why are you trusting your own potentially inebriated mind to diagnose its own level of inebriation?

 

[Doc.]

On that matter, there was an episode about an year ago when they had to get drunk and then cheat the alcohol detector the police is using. they drank a fair amount of whiskey, and Adam did get drunk, or at least pretty tipsy, it was no acting, Jaime was almost okay though, and he did not try to look drunk.

 

[Lallapalalable]

I mean, Im no drinker, but I once had a 40 and a half and drove without a hitch (shush).

Can't believe that, being drunk makes you think that you're doing much better at something than you really are.

well, you could ask the cop that pulled me over (for a broken tail light) to verify the whole "without a hitch" part. He even followed me for a few miles, and decided I wasnt a menace. I know I know, "knowing he was behind me made me focus more", but knowing I would have blown a DUI check also has the same effect.

Long story short, I am merely stating how I can drink more than the average person before the effects of inebriation begin to become apparent in my cognitive performance, and, as I already stated, I project my own limits and tolerances on others and judge them or myself on the shortcomings, hence my disdain for the hosts.

 

[Lallapalalable]

I can down about six or so before I feel inhebriated.

So? Before you "feel" inebriated? When did feeling inebriated ever even correlate to actually being inebriated? Why are you trusting your own potentially inebriated mind to diagnose its own level of inebriation?

Okay, change the word "feel" to "become".

 

[borrofburi]

So? Before you "feel" inebriated? When did feeling inebriated ever even correlate to actually being inebriated? Why are you trusting your own potentially inebriated mind to diagnose its own level of inebriation?

Okay, change the word "feel" to "become".

I guess it can happen. I've always been blown away by the amount of drunk driving that occurs, and after I turned 21 and got drunk a couple times just to understand, I can see how easy it would be to think "Oh I don't feel very drunk, I can drive" even though you're completely hammered.

 

[Lallapalalable]

I guess it can happen. I've always been blown away by the amount of drunk driving that occurs, and after I turned 21 and got drunk a couple times just to understand, I can see how easy it would be to think "Oh I don't feel very drunk, I can drive" even though you're completely hammered.

But I also had three other people who I was with who were almost unaware that I was even drinking. Again, tolerance is the issue, and Im guessing this forum isnt the biggest drinking crowd :| I know people who can blow a .09 (or a really high level, I never measured it) and arent even phased by it.

So, in the future, I guess I will downplay my chemical pastimes as to not give anyone the wrong ideas.

 

[SagansHeroes]

But I also had three other people who I was with who were almost unaware that I was even drinking.

That's entirely subjective and in the long run doesn't really have any weight in the matter. I've seen people who have drunken half bottles of gin/bourbon/vodka (that 40% stuff) and I couldn't tell if they were drunk. Later they don't even remember talking to me.

I'm more or less of a person to think that people shouldn't be drinking and driving at all. Like 1 beer an hour is the absolute maximum. Yes there are different tolerance levels etc. but then why even risk it, why push the boundaries of something so self centred as to assume you're "not inebriated enough to impair my driving ability". You're not just risking your own life/health but others as well, all for the convenience of not having to catch a taxi, or get a lift from a sober driver or some other form of planning ahead.

 

[ImprobableJoe]

But I also had three other people who I was with who were almost unaware that I was even drinking. Again, tolerance is the issue, and Im guessing this forum isnt the biggest drinking crowd :| I know people who can blow a .09 (or a really high level, I never measured it) and arent even phased by it.

So, in the future, I guess I will downplay my chemical pastimes as to not give anyone the wrong ideas.

Maybe you should stop pretending that you're special and that the laws and biology don't apply to you the way they do to other people. And I drink plenty, and used to drink a fuck of a lot more, so don't try to pretend that no one here can possibly understand,

Trust me, I get it... a certain number of drunks in every group think that they're an exception to the rule, and the lucky ones manage to not kill anyone or themselves, and it IS luck.

 

[DepricatedZero]

but drinking 40+ beers and driving is still fucking stupid

I'm guessing he meant a 40 oz and a half, meaning 60oz or 5 beers. 2-3 is usually my "still feel safe to drive" limit, so 5 isn't that unreasonable depending on your tolerance. It would be a bit too much for me though.

What, you've never downed 40 beers?

Shiiiiiit.....

 

[Jotto999]

Getting tipsy on very little alcohol isn't exactly a feat, it requires nothing more than having a low tolerance, or not having eaten much, or being slightly dehydrated, or even personality differences. So...whoop-dee-doo.

So, in the future, I guess I will downplay my chemical pastimes as to not give anyone the wrong ideas.

Don't forget the part about how you based this on a sketchy old memory that was inaccurate, in a context that was pretty judgmental and ignorant. That's going into your future considerations too, right?

I've experimented with alcohol (and a few other things too.) It's not my thing, except for the occasional glass of red wine, mainly for the resveratrol. I don't find the buzz alcohol gives to be anything special or interesting. Actually quite boring because I can't do my usual hobbies or activities very well on it.