Drinking Age Debate

The Amethyst Initiative is attempting to get college presidents to sign a petition to have a reasoned national debate on lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. Those signing are not necessarily saying that the drinking age should be lowered, but rather agreeing that there should be a debate on it. What do Mod-Bloggers think about lowering the drinking age? In some countries, the drinking age is even lower than 18. Is there something about Americans that makes it in our best interest to keep the drinking age at 21? On the one hand, I'd hate to lower the drinking age only to have binge drinking move from a problem on college campuses to a problem in high schools. On the other hand, 18 year olds are allowed to vote and fight in the military. An article on the issue I think sums up the conundrum in my mind well:

The issue for many people is that 18-year-olds who can vote, marry, sign contracts in some states and join the military should be able to drink. We understand the seeming contradiction but can't get beyond the evidence that the current minimum drinking age saves lives.

Programming and Drinking

Never saw proof of it, but a college friend of mine used to claim he actually programmed better drunk. Comic from xkcd.com