themikebilly-blog

[themikebilly-blog]

Powdered alcohol bans are absurd

Originally published in The Times Newspaper: 

Imagine this scenario.

You just finished a long hike and you're ready to settle down by the campfire for the night.

You want to enjoy the atmosphere with a nice margarita so you pull a pouch of powder out of your backpack, mix it with water and, after a bit of stirring, your cocktail is ready to drink.

Sounds like the future, right?

Well not in Illinois, where the sale of all forms of powdered alcohol produced for human consumption have been banned.

Powdered alcohol isn't for sale in the United States yet, but one company has received approval to make their product, called Palcohol, from the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau.

So you might not be familiar with powdered alcohol. But Illinois politicians sure are and they seem to be convinced it will destroy the very moral fabric of society.

They're so certain, in fact, that not a single politician in the General Assembly voted against the ban and Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the legislation.

Ask critics of powdered alcohol why they dislike the product and their answer is simple.

"(Health officials) fear that people will add the powder to their cocktails to increase the alcohol content, raising the alcohol level to a dangerous degree," wrote Hiyaguha Cohen in a panicky entry on the Baseline of Health Foundation blog. "They also worry about the potential for spiking drinks on the sly."

Cohen also is concerned some people, especially teens, might consider snorting the product or injecting it into their veins.

The Illinois politician who sponsored the legislation made a similar argument.

State Sen. Ira Silverstein, D-Chicago, told the Associated Press he was worried it could be used to drug someone or be sprinkled surreptitiously on someone's food.

But anyone who is familiar with the product would know that all of these claims are overblown.

Palcohol, the only powdered alcohol product approved for distribution in the United States, contains a total of 29 grams of powder. The alcohol content is roughly equivalent to one standard shot of liquor, like vodka or rum. When it's mixed with the proper amount of water you end up with a six-ounce drink that is 10 percent alcohol.

To snort 29 grams of the substance would take about 60 minutes and would give the user the equivalent buzz of one shot of vodka, according to Palcohol creator Mark Phillips. It seems highly unlikely that someone would go through that much trouble for such a little effect.

To get a visual representation of just how much powder 29 grams actually is check out this video from Wired Magazine: http://bit.ly/1MiZ0Q8

Similarly, to inject the product you would need to reconstitute it to liquid form by mixing it with water. Why would you waste the time doing that when you have alcohol already in liquid form that is readily available?

The same thing goes for spiking a drink.

Twenty nine grams is a significantly larger volume than a shot of alcohol. So you have to carry more powdered alcohol than the liquid form to spike a drink. It also can take up to five minutes of stirring to dissolve and alters the color of the original liquid.

So using powdered alcohol to spike a drink is, again, completely impractical when liquid alcohol is more widely available and incorporates in the original drink almost instantly and isn't visibly detectable.

So where does all of the confusion come from?

It seems to stem from a misunderstanding of what powdered alcohol is and how it is made.

People, like those who believe it could be sprinkled on food to get someone drunk, don't understand the process. They seem to assume that making powdered alcohol creates a more concentrated version. But, in fact, powdered alcohol is a diluted form of alcohol.

To create it, a high proof liquor is mixed with a highly absorbent powder like cyclodextrin or maltodextrin extracted from starches in tapioca.

An article in Popular Science explains the process more thoroughly here:http://bit.ly/1mt2wcI

When you mix the alcohol with the powder you end up with a product that has a lower alcohol percentage than the liquor that was originally used.

Again, it would take 29 grams to incorporate the same amount of alcohol as a single shot of liquor. That's a lot more than a sprinkle and would be noticed both visibly and in the taste of the food.

So it remains true that powdered alcohol is actually less dangerous than the liquid form in almost every regard. Liquid spirits are more concentrated, easier to conceal, more conducive to abuse and more easily used to up the alcohol content in a drink.

But hikers and campers are going to be strapped with carrying around heavy glass bottles instead of packets of powdered alcohol for the indefinite future in Illinois.

Let's hope the legislature does some research next time before banning a product they don't understand.

Or maybe they should get out of the business of regulating what adults can put in their bodies in the first place.

[themikebilly-blog]

Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951 – August 11, 2014)

  I don't have much to say about Robin Williams. He was a funny man but he also battled addiction for a very long time. I liked his acting most when he was challenging himself, like in Good Will Hunting or doing offbeat comedies like Bobcat Goldthwait's World's Greatest Dad. For some reason the news of his suspected suicide reminded of this quote from the latter, spoken by Williams' character Lance Clayton: "I used to think the worst thing in life was to end up all alone. It's not. The worst thing in life is ending up with people who make you feel all alone." I hope neither was the case in his final days.

[themikebilly-blog]

The next season of The Big Bang Theory exists in two states right now. One with the original cast and one without. 

[themikebilly-blog]

Sometimes with the Supreme Court....

You win some...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>And then there's the Aereo case, where the Supreme Court got it totally wrong: <a href="http://t.co/TRJv1p5pXq">http://t.co/TRJv1p5pXq</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SCOTUS?src=hash">#SCOTUS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SCOTUSfail?src=hash">#SCOTUSfail</a></p>— Mike Billy (@MikeBilly) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeBilly/statuses/481899071582380033">June 25, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>And then there's the Aereo case, where the Supreme Court got it totally wrong: <a href="http://t.co/TRJv1p5pXq">http://t.co/TRJv1p5pXq</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SCOTUS?src=hash">#SCOTUS</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SCOTUSfail?src=hash">#SCOTUSfail</a></p>— Mike Billy (@MikeBilly) <a href="https://twitter.com/MikeBilly/statuses/481899071582380033">June 25, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

A unanimous Supreme Court decision today says that cops need a warrant to search cellphones. Every once in a while they get something right.

— Mike Billy (@MikeBilly) June 25, 2014

And you lose some...

And then there's the Aereo case, where the Supreme Court got it totally wrong: http://t.co/TRJv1p5pXq #SCOTUS #SCOTUSfail

— Mike Billy (@MikeBilly) June 25, 2014

[themikebilly-blog]

Sidney Crosby is four days older than me. In his lifetime he has won two Olympic Gold Medals, a Stanley Cup and various other prestigious awards. He also earns millions of dollars each year. I can't help thinking I need to step it up a little bit.

[themikebilly-blog]

The stakes at an Olympic Hockey showdown have never been higher! 

[themikebilly-blog]

Halfway through the second season of House of Cards I can’t help but think of that somewhat notorious quote that is often attributed to Edmund Burke: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

If I had to boil down the theme of the whole series, I think that would be it.

[themikebilly-blog]

Nozick has a surprise for you this Valentines Day.

[themikebilly-blog]

A Valentines card for the Libertarian or Anarcho-Capitalist in your life.

[themikebilly-blog]

A Valentines eCard for the philosopher in your life.

[themikebilly-blog]

The Bitcoin community right now :-) Speaking of, here is my address. I take donations: 16tVwTnPpsNAXbUMRpTuWUvTp3HvcASQy9

[themikebilly-blog]

Watch the Nagasaki bomb, which killed over 60,000 people, from preparation to detonation.

[themikebilly-blog]

My world is a little bit darker knowing that I will never have the chance to meet Philip Seymour Hoffman. I know that I likely never would have, but having the opportunity suddenly and oh so permanently shut off (he was only 46) is a real downer.

He was a hero of mine. And like many, he is gone way too soon.

For now, I'll just leave you with this quote from Synecdoche, New York which Hoffman starred in. I'm sure I will have more to say about him later, if I can find a way to put it all into words. 

"I will be dying and so will you, and so will everyone here. That's what I want to explore. We're all hurtling towards death, yet here we are for the moment, alive. Each of us knowing we're going to die, each of us secretly believing we won't." — Philip Seymour Hoffman as Caden Cotard in Synecdoche, New York.

[themikebilly-blog]

Today's How I Met Your Mother was pretty fantastic. There's not really much else to say about it. Also, I particularly enjoyed this exchange between The Mother and Naked Man:

Naked Man: Even if it sounds completely crazy, what is it you want to do with your life?

The Mother: I want to end poverty.

NM: Great. Then every decision you make from here on out should be in service of that.

TM: Wow. Thanks. You know, for a minute there, I totally forgot you were naked!

NM: In a way, aren't we all naked?

TM: Yeah, but your balls are one my couch.

[themikebilly-blog]

Bryan Cranston is reprising his role on “How I Met Your Mother”

In Season 2, Cranston (Breaking Bad, Malcolm in the Middle) played Ted’s super annoying boss, Hammond Druthers, who was demoted after his phallic building design was hated by a customer at their architectural firm. Ted ended being Druthers’ boss and had to fire him. Ted’s timing wasn’t great as the firing happened while Druthers’ was having a heart attack. To be fair to Ted, he thought Druthers was faking it.

Who wants to bet he’ll end up being the Mother’s father? I’ll put that prediction in writing right here.

[themikebilly-blog]

Yesterday's season premiere of How I Met Your Mother was pretty fantastic. Admittedly, I was a little worried at first about the writers stretching a wedding weekend over 23 episodes, but the way they handled flash forwards in this episode made me more optimistic. They've done strange things with story structure before and my faith has been restored.

Also, since we can be pretty certain that Ted will meet the mother in the final episode, I was somewhat concerned that we, the constant viewer, wouldn't get a chance to learn about the mother. Even though she was revealed at the end of last season, I thought there was a chance the writer's wouldn't give her much screen until near the end of the season.

Instead, the writers are handling this beautifully. The mother met Lilly (and they had wonderful chemistry) in the very first episode of this season and we learn some things about her right off the bat. It seems as though she's going to meet all of Ted's friends before he meets her, essentially putting her through an interview with the audience where we get to learn about what makes her perfect for Ted before the titular meeting.

This just reinforces what I've always believed — the best part of HIMYM really is the innovative story structures and the clever writing. 

This season is going to be legen…. wait for it….

[themikebilly-blog]

Nintendo superstar Hiroshi Yamaguchi has died

I recently found out that Hiroshi Yamaguchi died yesterday  This is the guy who single handedly changed Nintendo and, in their early years in electronics, decided what games they would release, making him responsible for hits like Donkey Kong and Mario Bros. Though the games were designed by others, namely Shigeru Miyamoto, they would have never seen the light of day without Yamaguchi's approval. Not only that, but he fostered an environment where teams of designers competed against each other for his approval of their games. This undoubtedly made them work harder to produce such gems. He is literally responsible for millions of hours of entertainment enjoyed by people all around the world.

He will be missed.