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Seriously 0.2 is nothing and if that's thrice the limit, then the limit is ridiculously low.

Love from Germany, where the limit is 0.5.

According to this site, the blood alcohol limit in Germany is 0.05%, not 0.5%. That's a factor of ten difference. The limit in the US, according to the same site, is 0.08%, which is even higher than Germany.

The driver described in this article had a BAC four times the legal limit in Germany.

A slight exaggeration, but not at all hard to reach. Using http://www.rupissed.com/ a 160cm, 55kg woman drinking an English pint of beer at lunch, finishing 20 minutes before leaving, has a blood alcohol level of 0.049%. Assuming real beer of course, at 5% ABV. Add in wiggle room and other body factors and she could easily blow over the legal limit.

Yes she could drink less, or have a lighter drink, or stay longer, but there you go

Sorry to reply twice, but your friend would also have a fairly decent BAC after four shots of 80 proof spirits. If he did them all within an hour his BAC would be 0.068 according to this site. That's enough to get you a "driving while ability impaired" in NYS. Some people can handle it better than others though.

I am very interested in hearing what you, my fellow Slashdot readers, would consider to be 'mysterious piss'. Let me know your own thoughts and feelings on this issue! I'm looking for some real insightful comments here, so be detailed, and let your mind take you into the world of 'mysterious piss'.

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And remember, never, ever, piss into the wind, and always designate a driver!

You have got a real love affair with alcohol. Here are the effects of alcohol http://www.free-online-health.com/alcohol-effects. htm, http://www.rupissed.com/thebody.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_alcohol_on _the_body quite a bit more than just slowed down reaction times, in fact alcohol makes marijuana and other illegal substances look positively benign in comparison. As for alcohol being somehow a weaker intoxicant the only definer of affect is the quantity taken, and due to alcohols effects it often leads to excessive consumption.

A hangover is caused by a combination of the toxic by-product of alcohol metabolism (acetaldehyde), dehydration, and Vitamin A, B (particularly B6) and C depletion caused by the chemical action of alcohol on your system. The symptoms are usually a dry mouth, nausea, fatigue, dizziness and headache and are caused by a combination of these factors.

Apart from the obvious toxic effects, you should realise you're suffering the effects of a mild overdose of a depressant drug and your nerves are reacting accordingly, and you have also flushed a signifnicant quantity of vitamins and nutrients from your system causing a degree of metabolic shock that your body is struggling to compensate against. This is why hangover symptoms often include disorientation and "the jitters".

Some drinks give you worse hangovers than others due to the actions of impurities called Congeners. While it's the ethyl alcohol (ethanol) that gets you drunk, amyl alcohol, butyl alcohol, methyl alcohol, propyl alcohol, and isopropyl alcohol is also found in most drinks to varying degrees, and the concentration of these Congeners will go a long way to determining the severity of the hangover.

Vodka and gin (clear liquors) are generally lower in congeners than whisky, rum and bourbon, due to the filtering process involved, and hence usually give a less intense hangover. Unfortunately the congeners also give flavor, smell and appearance to alcohol.

Another contributor to the hangover is the "freshness" of the alcohol since the natural oxidation product of ethanol is also acetaldehyde. Finishing off an already open bottle of red, or drinking beer that's been in the boot of your car for a week, will provide you with a ready made supply of acetaldehyde so you don't have to wait for your liver to make it in order to have a really good hangover.

Umm, perhaps if that full grown man is 4 feet tall and weighs 80 pounds. According to this calculator, a 5'8 man @ 150 pounds who had two cans of "heavy" (4.9%) beer in a one hour period would have approx a 0.043 BAC. Two drinks barely gives me a buzz unless I'm on an empty stomach (by contrast, drinking enough to score a 0.08% on this calculator, leaves me quite tipsy -- and in that state I would never attempt driving).

I know my personal rule for driving is no more then three drinks over the period of 60-90 minutes. I will drive on four provided I have a few hours of "downtime" afterwards.

While the civil libertarian in me gets quite annoyed at the overaggressive enforcement of DWI laws (ever been pulled over coming out of a bar with a BS excuse like "loud exhaust"? It's happened to me twice, and neither time had I been drinking... neither time was I written any tickets either.... probable cause people...) and the fact that in many states (mine included.. NY) you are forced to give evidence against yourself (chemical test) or lose your license, I don't think you can make an argument that people are fit to drive at 0.08%+ BAC... I know I'm not!