Understocked
by Jeff
Image meta text: My biology grad student friends tell me that different types of alcohol don't actually have different effects. I trust their expertise, not because of the 'biology' part, but because of the 'grad student'.
This comic is a reference to the situation that happened in Cambridge, MA between Harvard professor Henry Gates and a Cambridge police officer. The officer thought that Gates was breaking into a house, but it turned out that Gates was breaking into his own house. Heated words were exchanged and President Obama invited both men to the White House to "have a beer" and talk about the incident.
This comic takes that one step further and asks what if there was no beer in the White House that night and instead just tequilla. Instead of talking about the situation, all the men would end up having a wild night and all end up in jail. Anecdotal evidence points to the fact that tequilla makes someone wilder than just beers. However, the writer's friends say the opposite of what the cartoon presents.
September 4th, 2009
And the writer considers the evidence of their friends to be more reliable not due to academic expertise, but due to the stereotype that students are heavy and practiced drinkers.
February 6th, 2011
Is this the only xkcd comic in which all the characters are real people?
May 15th, 2011
no, it is not the only comic in which all the characters are real people (I would’ve just said “no”, but it made me make the comment longer because it was too short)
August 15th, 2011
Actually, the better way to make your comment longer would be to provide references to these other comics
May 15th, 2011
this is why I hate alcohol
December 29th, 2011
Tequila is a fairly high proof alcohol (i.e. high percentage of alcohol) and is more commonly done as a shot and not mixed with mixers.
While a 5% 12oz beer has the same alcohol content as a 1.5oz shot of 40% liquor (such as vodka or tequila), the additional water in beer and time it takes to finish a beer probably results in slightly less intoxication over time, as you can do far more shots in the same time it takes to finish a beer. Also, I was under the impression that shots are generally closer to 1oz, and beer is often less than 5% alcohol.
I would suggest (strictly on observational evidence) that people are more loose with taking many shots of tequila (vs. vodka, a similar proof alcohol that is sometimes done as a shot). I also find that Tequila shots are more commonly drunk by wilder and more party-minded people.
This could all combine to produce the result that Tequila appears to cause a greater “chaos” than other alcohols. Certainly you’d need to take a lot more beer than Tequila to ingest the same amount of alcohol