ok, so me and john conducted a scientific experiment at lunchtime comparing the taste of the new coke zero and normal diet coke. apparently coke zero has more of a different artificial sweetner than diet coke, and zero calories. the question: could we tell the difference? it's meant to taste more like normal coke. we'll see..
first, we enlisted norris to play the part of the egg-head scientist, and do the pouring. we got two pairs of standard plastic cups, marked with the numbers '1' and '2'. norris then marked the corresponding can either 1 or 2, and poured the correct fluid into each cup. he had control over this stage, and we did not look. i claimed i could tell by the sound of the ring-pull the identity. this was, looking back, optimistic. my senses are highly tuned, but not to the level of acoustic detection of taste variation.
next, norris presented me and john with our cups. we first smelled the liquid, to see if we could tell the difference. again, having faith in my senses, i claimed that cup 2 held the diet. next, tasting, and i was convinced with my choice. further tastings however complicated things. each had the qualities of coke, with a very subtle variation. perhaps by this stage my palate was being compromised. i said that 1 was coke zero and 2 was the diet. john dissagreed vehemently. perhaps his taste was better than mine, for norris turned around the cans to reveal the correct numbers. john was correct. that ended the experiment.
for posterity, we recorded in the form of pictures the experiment:
