Sunday, November 30, 2008

Results - 24 hours without Internet

Well, the bet is over...and it has ended in a push

We both held out.

24 hours without computers or Internet for me, and 24 hours without boozing for Ryan.

I am, however, protesting the decision of the judges.

I didn't find the task difficult. I woke up, watched some TV, walked Rosie, we went to the dog park, I made it to the gym, bought a Christmas tree, cleaned up, had friends over, made lasagne and spiked hot apple cider, watched a movie, and cleaned up.

Simple.

I do think it's peculiar that two of the impartial judges who witnessed the genesis of the bet quickly advocated against me.

What is under protest is Ryan's consumption of O'Douls. I went to the gym, only to return to find him having purchased a six pack of O'Douls and having consumed 2 1/2 of the already.

Immediately, I declared that O'Douls has a little alcohol in it, even though it is marketed as a Non-Alcoholic beer. I knew that even before inspecting the bottle. On the label, it calls itself non-alcoholic, but in the phrase beneath contradicts itself, stating that it had up to 0.5% alcohol.

Doing some simply Googling, it's obvious that O'Douls does indeed have between 0.4% and 0.5% alcohol depending. It appears that the FDA considers beer below 0.5% to be non-alcoholic (most beers start around 4.0% and go upwards into the low double-digits for some craft brews).

Hence the protest. I don't care what the FDA says, in its purely elemental state, O'Douls has alcohol. The bet was simple - no alcohol for 24 hours.

But when you have judges against you, any rational argument will fall on deaf ears.

I was robbed.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree with you -- O'Douls doesn't cut the "no alcohol" requirement. Would Ryan also have won even if he started swigging mouthwash?

Jason said...

If he had swallowed mouthwash, yes, in my book he would have lost. The bet was specifically for "no alcohol," which is a bit broader than one might think.

Anonymous said...

lol poor Jason, I can't believe the judges against you on that. All I know is you have to be "21" to enter O'Douls Website. If the beverage is truly non-alcoholic why do someone has to be legal age of drinking in order to enter. Also, 1 bottle of O'Douls contains around 0.5% or less alcohol, I might not be a mathematician, but consuming 2 1/2 bottles of those drinks should also mean that the total consumption is more than 0.5%alcohol. So, he should be the one who lost the bet since he drank more than 0.5% of alcohol in 24 hrs period.

Anonymous said...

Did you get a real Christmas tree already? Make sure you give it lots of water if you did.

On your bet...I think you clearly won. Why didn't Ryan just drink water instead of O'Douls?

Anonymous said...

You got robbed!