5:00 PM -- Japan Times reports that thousands of Japanese kids are now sipping "Kidsbeer, a nonalcoholic brew aimed at children."

Kidsbeer (really a kind of guarana cola) is selling 75,000 bottles a month. Now, the makers appear to be capitalizing on kids' basic evolutionary imperative to copy whatever adults do... but maybe the explanation is even simpler than that?

As Kidsbeer's slogan puts it: "Even kids cannot stand life unless they have a drink."

Amen, brother.

— Red Panda, Philosophical Drunk, Light Reading