13 Energy Drinks In 3 Sessions 374
circletimessquare writes "As a member of the cult of caffeine, as I suspect many Slashdot readers are, I was pleasantly amused by this story in The New York Times entitled Opening 13 Cans of Whoop (reg req). Our brave reporter sucks down a number of energy drinks of various parentages and gives us the lowdown on their taste, appearance, ingredients, overall effect, and dubious appeal. Example: 'At this point, my energy level was not only elevated, it was speeding toward the red line. I felt myself staring holes through my computer screen, typing at five times my normal rate and thinking far too creatively about life questions like how many AA batteries I needed to buy when I went to the drug store. My mood was chipper. Too chipper.'"
Reg Free (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Reg Free (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Reg Free (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Reg Free (Score:5, Funny)
Not picking on you, or even trying to tar ALL compusa people with the same brush, but they really are the mcdonalds of computers, and it shows.
I've overheard techies tell a customer to make shure his computer was ON when installing new ram to make shure it worked. A salesman say that Windows XP couldn't catch viruses anymore because of Security Proof 1("that's what sp1 means). And even try to sell a guy a 450 watt atx power suply for an old PII at system, so the computer would go faster.
Maybe it's just the two compusa's in my area that is that bad, and alot of the b.s. seems to translate to 'buy somthing expesisize for (insert gobledy gook here) and hey would like a service plan for that?'.
Mycroft
Re:Reg Free (Score:3, Funny)
I came across a guy trying to sell a Celeron 333MHz based computer to another and overheard him saying, "It's okay, you can overclock it to run at 1GHz."
I was feeling confrontational that day so I stuck my nose in and set the poor customer straight.
Do I get good karma for that?
Re:Reg Free (Score:5, Funny)
substitutes (Score:5, Funny)
Makes me think of the old joke ... (Score:5, Funny)
I put instant coffee in the microwave and went back in time.
Thanks Steve Wright..
Re:Makes me think of the old joke ... (Score:3, Informative)
The actual Steven Wright joke is:
I put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time.
The key word is 'almost'. That's what makes it funny.
Energy Drinks Vs. Sleep (Score:5, Insightful)
Sleep when you can. You won't regret it.
Re:Energy Drinks Vs. Sleep (Score:5, Insightful)
And again, if you drink coffee in limited quantities (like say, not more than a couple of cups a day), you will notice that when you need to stay up, having an extra cup or two really has an effect.
When you are a heavy coffee drinker who cuts back on coffee, the first couple of times you have more than your usual dose of caffeine, it takes you on a real alertness mode.
And the worst part is that the more the coffee you have, the less regular your sleeping habits become. You stop having good sleep, and therefore your waking hours become kinda blurry. At which point, you resort to more caffeine. A vicious circle.
A cup (at most two) a day is just about fine, IMHO.
Re:Energy Drinks Vs. Sleep (Score:4, Insightful)
You say that like it's a Bad Thing(tm). I've always had the view that sleep is for the weak anyway.
I remember reading an article where 'they' were doing research for a drug that 'replaced' sleep - you could go 4 or 5 days with out the negative side effects. My first and only thought was 'Gimme - I wanna beta test'
Re:Energy Drinks Vs. Sleep (Score:3, Funny)
Yeah... "beta test" new drugs. You need to get some sleep, it's affecting your judgement.
Re:Energy Drinks Vs. Sleep (Score:5, Funny)
So you say that its cheaper to get more sleep. well sir, i shall prove to you, beyond a doubt, that it is, in fact, cheaper to buy my Mighty Mighty Speedo Drink(TM) every day for a low low price of 2.59 per 5.9 oz bottle!
Now, my friend, assuming your salery is the very respectable wage of $5.15, and you are able to stay up 2.5 hours longer per day by using my Mighty Mighty Speedo Drink(TM) every day in the morning to wake yourself up, and in the evening to keep yourself up longer then, you are in fact making money by using my Mighty Mighty Speedo Drink(TM).
We all know that time IS money, and by using my Mighty Mighty Speedo Drink(TM) you are in fact generating money! By staying up 2.5Hours more per day, you recieving $12.88 more per day in personal or professional time, after subtracting the low low cost of my Mighty Mighty Speedo Drink(TM) you are in effect generating $7.70 of your time's worth per day! Multiply this by 365 days in a year, and by 10 years, and your gross profit in time will be in excess of $28,000. Would you pass up the oppritunity to make an additional 28 grand? Nooo sane person Wooould! so buy your Mighty Mighty Speedo Drink(TM) today at your local supplier, and prove to the world you are worth more than they are!
*Warning, it is necessary to get adequate sleep, improper or prolonged use of product may cause premature aging, bags under the eyes, and cause children to run away when they see your face. additional side effects may be experienced with prolonged use, results may vary from person to person. no children, puppies, or fish were harmed in the testing of this product.*
Nothing replaces getting quality sleep for the proper hours that your body requires.
Re:Energy Drinks Vs. Sleep (Score:5, Funny)
Marketing tip: You're not going to sell a lot of anything that sounds like it came from your Speedos.
Cheaper maybe... (Score:5, Interesting)
Not to denounce the fact that sleep is a Good Thing(tm), but...
Let's say that drinking the content of the $2 can allows you to stay up and awake, productive, etc. for 1 more hour.
At $40/hour pay, you just 'made' $38.
I know a few people who wouldn't mind making that trade-off if they could.
Re:Cheaper maybe... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Cheaper maybe... (Score:5, Informative)
Last Christmas it all caught up with me when I had an epileptic fit and woke up finding myself in the emergency section of the hostpital unable to walk. I was lucky that I only tore my back muscles and didn't break my spine from the violent jerking involved with the siezure. The only reason given to me for this fit, by the various doctors I saw, was that it occured due to my working hours and that I was pushing my body to the limit. They all told me to slow down before I killed myself or someone else. I am only 29.
Be carefull with your use/abuse of these products. It can cost you more in the long run. I was only having two of these things a day at the most.
Re:Cheaper maybe... (Score:3, Interesting)
What was I doing. I was driving a taxi and was also working on my laptop (number crunching/financial analysis) whilst waiting around for the next taxi ride. I was using 802.11 and hotspots for my internet connectivity. I guess sitting for most of the day without much movement was also a bit of a killer.
I had a great little setup for wardriving.
Money isn't eve
Pretax/aftertax (Score:3, Interesting)
Assume $25/hour. After taxes, you're probably making $18/hour. Minus the $2 (you buy most things with after-tax dollars, not pretax dollars) and you're left with $16 'profit'.
Considering the long-term health risks associated with that type of abuse, and the more likely ROI financially most people would actually realize, it's not as great as many people make it
Re:Cheaper maybe... (Score:3, Interesting)
Incorrect. Classical addiction has four components: tolerance, withdrawl, continued use in the face of negative consequences, and repeated failed attempts to quit. Some people's use of caffiene fits perfectly.
It has nothing to do with "being addicted forever". In anyone who successfuly overcomes an addiction, the body undoes the changes that resulted in dependance.
Re:Energy Drinks Vs. Sleep (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually, I find I am more effective at certain kinds of tasks (especially programming) if I attack them in long sessions. The longer I keep going, the more into the right mind set I get and the more productive I am. This is especially true for involved tasks that need a lot of separate considerations to be maintained.
For periods of up to about a week (and not _too_ often, I find it effective to stay awake through the night (so I end up working (with some breaks) from about 12 midday through to about 4 in the afternoon the next day), then relax and have a big long sleep.
Of course, everyones working habits are different...
Dan.
Re:Energy Drinks Vs. Sleep (Score:4, Interesting)
I always found that when working on a complex problem, sleep gives me a perspective that I just didn't have the night before. Coding for an hour in the morning, I can probably accomplish work that would have taken me three hours during the blurry zombie-like state that accompanies an all-nighter.
But then I also like sunlight...
Re:Energy Drinks Vs. Sleep (Score:3, Insightful)
This is true in the programming world, but the opposite is basically true in the creative world. If I spent 15 hours making a 3D model, I'll have gotten maybe 10 hours worth of productivi
No, man, you got it all wrong! (Score:2)
Thus, in the time that you could have been awake because of a $2 can of energy beverage, you could be losing THOUSANDS of dollars doing nothing!
Re:Energy Drinks Vs. Sleep (Score:4, Informative)
Sure there is. It's called Provigil. It's not a stimulant and it doesn't give you "energy". It just relieves the need for sleep.
Whatever (Score:5, Insightful)
Whatever! You'd think the guy was smoking crystal meth or something. Anyway, if you want to feel healthy and alert, try:
(a) Eating nutritiously and sparingly,
(b) Exercising every day, and
(c) Sleeping regularly (same time every day) for 8 hours.
Re:Whatever (Score:4, Funny)
And on a different subject, I don't think smoking Crystal Meth is possible. It's usually snorted or taken orally.
Re:Whatever (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Whatever (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Whatever (Score:4, Funny)
I thought that WAS slashdot?
Re:Whatever (Score:2, Informative)
As for energy, if you're that desperate for caffine just get some soda. A two liter bottle of Dr. Pepper is
Re:Whatever (Score:2)
Re:Whatever (Score:4, Interesting)
I live in Brazil, and this stuff (guaraná, and cofee) is cheaper. But really, it's not a good study helper - use it for fun, but not to speed up your brain or anything. Also, remember to listen to faster-than-light drum-n-bass music [jungletrain.net] to enrich the experience.
Re:Whatever (Score:5, Funny)
Wasn't that the active ingredient in Crystal Pepsi?
Re:Whatever (Score:3, Informative)
(a) Eating nutritiously and sparingly,
I want to add to this: Eat lots and lots of uncooked vegetables. You seriously can't have too many. Most of us are familiar with eating habits that tend to go with the geek lifestyle: TV dinners, ramen, spaghetti-o's, fast food, and soda (pop) by the truckload.
However, when I made a conscious effort to start eating raw vegetables with *every* meal (and not just a carrot or so a day), I noticed that I started having fewer headaches, had more energy, and just generall
Re:Whatever (Score:5, Funny)
However, when I made a conscious effort to start eating raw vegetables with *every* meal (and not just a carrot or so a day), I noticed that I started having fewer headaches, had more energy, and just generally felt all-around healthier. Now, if I don't eat my veggies, I find that those symptoms come right back. Carrots, celery, lettuce, and green peppers are almost always staples in my fridge.
Now see, what's going on here is that you've become addicted to these so-called "healthy" foods and have built up a dependency, as shown by your withdrawal symptoms. The effects of these food items are perceived increase in clarity and energy, and overall "health", exactly as you have described. But we all know the truth: you're addicted.
Re:Whatever (Score:5, Informative)
False. 100%, completely, absolutely, totally false. Sugar does not contribute to dehydration except insofar as it may contribute to diarrhea.
Sugar doesn't interferes with the takeup of water; is even specifically added to oral rehydration treatments because it improves bodily takeup. And the metabolization of sugar releases water, rather than taking it up.
Re:Huh? (Score:3, Informative)
The good old days.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The good old days.... (Score:4, Funny)
Ahh, yes. I'm sure many a regular slashdot reader remembers the days when coke used to contain coke...
Re:The good old days.... (Score:5, Informative)
...but not enough "to give a fly a buzz" (Score:2, Informative)
So, yes, at one time there was cocaine in Coca-Cola. But before you're tempted to run off claiming Coca-Cola turned generations of drinkers into dope addicts, consider the following: back
Re:...but not enough "to give a fly a buzz" (Score:4, Informative)
Re:...but not enough "to give a fly a buzz" (Score:3, Informative)
r "Dang, that feels better" j
I'm amazed (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course I don't understand Starbucks either. $4 for a cup of coffee? I like mine plain black, not that sissified crap.
Why go through the middleman? (Score:5, Funny)
And as for straight coffee beans... Try instant. Just shovel a few spoonfuls into your mouth, and wash it down with water. 10 seconds and you're super caffinated.
Of course the other secret is to eat 20mg of caffeine immediately before falling asleep. You will awake totally refreshed in about two hours, as if you had a full night's sleep. You do have to make very sure you fall asleep before the caffeine kicks in, or you just won't sleep at all. Long-term effects include improved GPA and complete cardiopulmonary collapse.
Re:Why go through the middleman? (Score:2)
Extract, Potential Health Effects: Ingestion: Toxic. The adult mean lethal dose is approximately 10 gm. Large doses may produce palpitation, excitement, insomnia, dizziness, headache and vomiting.
If you need energy drinks... (Score:2, Insightful)
Normal people in normal sleep routines should be able to get by without caffeine. Hell, I've stayed up all night on nothing more than water before.
related info: why jolt was limited. (Score:5, Informative)
which ironicly is less then coffee can be (normally 65-175 mg per 8 oz serving) and less then espresso (100mg per 1.5-2oz)
http://www.freshcoffee.com/html/caffaq-1.html
these energy drinks are not "soda" to get around the limit.
LD50 for caffine is 150mg/kg
(take your weight in kg * 150mg of caffine = a dose that has a 50% chance of killing you)
200 pounds = 90.7 kilograms => 13.6 grams
100 pounds = 45.3 kilograms => 6.8 grams
Re:related info: why jolt was limited. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:related info: why jolt was limited. (Score:5, Interesting)
To get LD50 you feed x mg of caffeine to 100 rats, and see how many die. Then you adjust up or down until you do it and get 50 of them to die - viola - the value of LD50. For some reason people have ethical problems with doing this with human test subjects...
cutting down on caffein (Score:5, Insightful)
1. If you are going to be doing a lot of intensive work, in need of intense concentration (such as coding), you shouldn`t pour down coffee like you never saw it before. The coffee dehydrates your body, leading to less-than-optimal body functionality and can actually make you less suited to do the job intented.
2. If you, as we all do once in a while, drink buckets of coffee - remember to drink lots of water or other beverage to compensate for the water loss brought on by the caffeine. It`s important to have enough water in your body, we're water creatures after all ^^.
but, who am I kidding - Coffee is G-O-D
Re:cutting down on caffein (Score:5, Funny)
Oops. Sorry. That's a smiley.
Dehydration... (Score:2)
Coffee dehydrates - yes. But just drinking water isn't going to re-hydrate you. Indeed, drinking too much water is toxic.
The problem is that even though you drink the liquids, you don't have enough salt (to put it simply) in your system to *retain* that water.
So my advice : If you drink a lot of coffee / water, be sure to have some salty snacks as well. E.g. licorice, chips/fries, bacon - whatever.
Re:Dehydration... (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, but.....
From webmd.com:
You would need to chug down about three quarts of water or more all at once to come down with a case of true water intoxication. It does happen, but so rarely that I couldn't find statistics on the number of cases. These people become drowsy, lightheaded, and weak. They have trouble coordinating bodily movements and thinking straight, looking and feeling as if they just stumbled out of the local bar.
Re:Dehydration... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd disagree with your characterization of hyponatremia as a problem with "elite" endurance athletes; in my experience, it's more of a problem with people who are, for example, first-time marathonners. These people think that they're supposed to down a cup of water every mile, don't eat anything else, and by the 20th mile or so they can't even walk straight because their sodium levels are so screwed up.
It's not a pretty problem.
Ritalin (Score:4, Interesting)
ANSI (American Neurological Speed Institute) (Score:5, Funny)
his eyes make holes in the screen? (Score:3, Funny)
Caffiiineeee yeah yeah yeah! uhuh! im good to go! hey i can quit! i can quit anytime!
Re:his eyes make holes in the screen? (Score:2, Informative)
the cup's shaking I don't want my coffee shaking! (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes, I know this is a spider and not a human; but it's still some food for thought....
Fry: Fancy cigar why don't you smoke it already? Puff puff go go go go go!
Super Size Me fad (Score:2, Insightful)
I don't see how this evaluation of energy drinks means anything, because he had more than one per sitting. Who's to say which one did what, or how they cross-reacted?
Taurine vs. Caffeine (Score:5, Interesting)
The NYT article itself is a lark, and a poorly written one at that. As one who consumes espresso regularly and *energy drinks* occasionally, I can assert, experientially (corroborated by several friends & coworkers with whom I've discussed this in the past), that the defining active ingredient in Red Bull and its myriad spawn is Taurine, not Caffeine.
Conduct the experiment yourself: get a double espresso one night, followed the next night by an 8oz *energy drink* (adjust qtys. for your tolerance). Note the differing effects of the caffeinated espresso vs. the taurine+caffeine *energy drink*.
Re:Taurine vs. Caffeine (Score:5, Insightful)
Missing Option (Score:2, Funny)
Pah! I laugh! (Score:5, Interesting)
What's the most caffeine you've had, anyway? My above experience with SkyRocket spiking (plus spiked OJ and Coffee in the morning) resulted in about 1g (not mg, mind you) of caffeine intake over a period of about 6 hours. First time I've ever noticed my heartrate go up from caffeine. With my weigh of about 115 lbs, the LD-50 for me is around 7 grams.
(-:Stephonovich:-)
Re:Pah! I laugh! (Score:3, Insightful)
Just keep in mind LD-50 is the point where HALF of the HEALTHY subjects are dead. Many die well before that, many also get ill. I don't know about YOUR particular physique, but most slashdotters I know in real life (myself included) are not exactly healthy.
Careful man, you could suffer short or long term health effects.
Anywho, I gotta stop typing, my BAWLS with guarana is nearly 45 F, I gotta finish it now.
Reporter has no Bawls...... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Reporter has no Bawls...... (Score:3, Interesting)
I've got a whole case of 24 sitting in my room right now... which reminds me, I need to go out and buy some more soon!
But yeah, for me... Bawls is the ONLY way to fly.
"I was pleasantly amused by this story" (Score:2, Funny)
Raise your hand if you have any recollection of this swill (or any recollection the day after comsuming it).
It's Norwegian. (Score:2)
and what is Blaa in Norwegian?
-Grump
Google translate doesn't do Norwegian to English.
Re:It's Norwegian. (Score:2, Informative)
From negative to postive in one day - neat
Re:It's Norwegian. (Score:2)
well keep up the informative posts then.
thanks.
-Grump
Why bother? (Score:5, Funny)
But, for those who can't give up drinking their high.. there are new coca enhanced energy drinks coming out of Peru [reuters.co.uk]. Not coming into America any time soon, but still..
MORE INTERESTING (Score:5, Interesting)
A: Carbonic acid
B: Phosphoric acid
C: Sodium Benzoate
D: Sugar activated plaque
E: Anything else in a drink including colours (colors), flavours, (flavors), preseratives etc.,
Once we establish the "average tooth", we need to obtain sufficient samples which are sufficiently similar in size, type and quality of dentyne layer.
Incidentally, we also ought to test fillings and see what happens to them. We could look for loosening due to tooth decay or the disolving of metal amalgum, (or whatever filler they use).
I'd be particularly interested in the gases liberated from metal fillings and glues/resins by the corrosive action of the acids.
While we are at it, IF these drinks are made from
domestic water, what effect does the fluoride have
on the tooth. Fluoride is added to water supplies so that poor unfortunate people who apparantly don't buy toothpaste don't have to worry about their teeth falling out.
Obituary: J Bloggs croaked on Friday due to liver failure as a result of Fluoride overdose. The Coroner did note however that the deceased had a lovely set of teeth.
While we are at it, where are MY RIGHTS? I didn't demand fluoride in the water. If you brush your teeth with toothpaste containing fluoride AND drink copious quantities of water containing Fluoride (BECAUSE SOME MF SOB DECIDED IT WAS IN YOUR BEST INTERESTS WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!) they can get stained black. Whoopee! Might as well issue black crayons. Why are polititians and tooth fairy campaigners so IGNORANT of long term health issues. They wouldn't have shares in fluoride mines perhaps now would they???!!!
Colours, sweeteners and preservatives are used to make products attractive to look at and cheap to produce. Medical help and therapy costs millions, maybe billions$. WHO PAYS IN THE END?
Sorry for the soapbox moment but some stuff has to be said.
Re:MORE INTERESTING (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:MORE INTERESTING (Score:3, Insightful)
The toothpaste on my shelf contains 0.24% sodium fluoride; that's about one part in a thousand that's fluoride, by mass. If we assume that I go through 250 g of toothpaste per year--about half a pound--that's 0.25 g of fluoride I consume each year. Over a quarter billion or so Americans, that would be sixty or seventy tons of fluoride.
The average per capita water use in the United States is (rounded up) about two hundred gallons
..at least he can buy any softdrink he want to (Score:2, Insightful)
SoBe Adrenaline rules (Score:2, Interesting)
Just on Adrenaline I made it out there in under 40 hours only stopping for gas/bathroom. Not a huge accomplishment for most, but a triumph for me. When I got to the pan handle I was downing one
Who is this guy trying to kid? (Score:3, Funny)
Who is this guy trying to kid? Keith Richards has done every drug there is and he's still alive. You just can't seem to kill the guy. I'm pretty sure that he'd just laugh at these energy drinks. You know what they say, If there's ever a World War 3 only two things will survive: the cockroaches and Keith Richards!
Weeeeellllllll....... (Score:5, Funny)
*thud*
energy drinks can be BAD (Score:5, Interesting)
He said within 15 minutes, they were rushing him to the emergency room cause his poor heart was thumping out over 250 beats per minute.
don't tell me that stuff doesn't have an effect.
Any Better Reviews Out There? (Score:5, Interesting)
I've found that one or two of these will keep me from falling asleep after a three- or four-hour ride and a hot shower. I don't drink it before the ride, because keeping my heart rate under control is essential to maintaining speed on a long ride. Caffeine will give you tachycardia if you're pushing the edge of the anerobic threshhold.
Some of these drinks taste really foul. I've found that Red Bull does the job, but it doesn't taste very good. SoBe Adrenalin Rush tastes worse. KMX tastes ok, but doesn't have any kick, as far as I can tell. The best combination of taste and effect that I've found is AMP, but I'd like to hear some other opinions. The article was humorous, but it wasn't informative.
--
Opening a can of WhoopAss(tm) (Score:5, Interesting)
NYT doesn't know Guarana = Caffeine (Score:5, Informative)
Maybe that is because guarana is caffeine? Actually, guarana (Paullinia cupana) is a plant, which according to Erowid contains 5% caffeine [erowid.org] from which it derives its stimulant effects. There is no alternative to caffeine named guarana. Wikipedia's article on guarana [wikipedia.org] has more information. Yet more misinformation from the Times.
Just take a pill (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:big deal! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:big deal! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:caffeine (Score:5, Funny)
Re:caffeine (Score:5, Funny)
Re:caffeine (Score:5, Funny)
Re:caffeine (Score:3, Funny)
Re:caffeine (Score:5, Insightful)
Caffeine is a device that turns coders into caffiene joke posters on Slashdot.
Re:caffeine (Score:5, Interesting)
I do cheat if I have a really bad headache or if I'm going on a long drive by drinking Adrenaline by Sobe and Amp by 7up. That always does the trick but with being unaccusomed to caffeine these energy drinks are like taking speed or something.
Re:caffeine (Score:5, Informative)
Re:caffeine (Score:5, Funny)
Then maybe it's a good thing that Keith Richards didn't have these energy drinks available to him.
Re:caffeine (Score:2)
Re:caffeine (Score:5, Informative)
Adenosine is a chemical messenger that tells cells to slow down. Caffeine, being structurally similar, can block adenosine receptors in the brain, and thus prevent this slowdown.
However, your brain cells compensate to prolonged exposure by creating more and more adenosine receptors... meaning that you'll be really tired unless you block them with caffeine. Repeat ad addictum.
Check here [utexas.edu] and here [kidzworld.com] for more info.
On a more personal note, I always find that drinking something with tons of sugars in it keeps me active far longer than caffeine alone. Caffeine just makes me burn through my energy reserves faster, resulting in me being even more tired after a while.
Re:Cocaine? (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, here in the netherlands there are a lot of geeks who do smoke weed, I'm one of them, if its nicely grown weed it gives me a focus on what I'm doing. I code very well when I smoked a nice joint. The problem is starting the work, but when finally started its like your in your own coding world and you can visualise the entire structure of the code, even better than when you are sober.
I've tried cocaine a few times and didn't really like that, MDMA was more fun but one should not do that often either. And these are party drugs, not drugs you take when your alone in front of your computer.
But then again I think that weed as a drug is less harmfule than alcohol for many reasons which I won't go into unasked.