Slashdot Mirror
The Golden Age of Cup Manufacturing
jonerik writes "The Washington Post has this article today on the disappearance of traditional 'small' (8 oz.) cups of coffee in favor of a larger concept of 'small' (12 oz.). In the case of Starbucks, for example, a truly small 8 oz. cup of coffee is still available, but it's called a 'short' and isn't listed on the menu. Why not? 'We still have it,' says Starbucks spokeswoman Lara Wyss, 'but we don't advertise it because of the size of the menu board, the physical constraints.' Yeah, sure. Disposable cup manufacturers have taken notice of the popularity/compulsory nature of larger cup sizes. The Sweetheart Cup Co. started manufacturing a successful 24-ounce hot-beverage cup about two years ago, and Kathy Deignan, the company's national vice president of marketing and account sales says 'The eight- and 10-ounce cups are pretty much gone.' Sweetheart also manufactures 7-Eleven's 44-ounce Super Big Gulp cups, and Deignan says the company is considering producing an 80-ounce cold drink cup - that's 5 pints, folks. Christ, how much do these companies think people need to drink, anyway?"
I was going to reply, but I have to piss...BRB.
Has anyone else noticed that there is no longer a 'small' pizza at pizzahut? They start at medium... but the size has become smaller, and now they have extralarge... which is as large as their old 'large' size...
Well, at least here in Canada... Don't know about the US franchise...
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
Every fast food restaurant from Wendy's to McDonalds has been increasing the size of there portions based on demand. Fatty and sugary foods taste better so we are ticked into wanting more to eat. The same thing goes for soft drinks, drink an 80 oz coke everyday and see how long it takes before you are shooting up insulin twice a day.
....Guy took a job at a simple little manufacturing company, hoping for a stress free position, and then out of nowhere... his web servers get slashdotted....
I lost my concept of community when my community lost all concept of me.
Meanwhile, the 8 ounce asscheek has been upgraded to the 24 ounce asscheek.
There will be trickle down from larger pants to larger chairs to larger coffins.
I don't have an anger problem, I have an idiot problem
I'm in favor of the steady increase in cup sizes. I suppose this trend can benefit the ladies, too, since guys also wear cups.
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5 pints is a lot less blood that I have in my body. you might want to see what other people can accomplish with a few simple search engine queries.
hint: the human body has about 6 quarts of blood.
for a quick refresh on pints and quarts hit that link.
hint: there are 2 pints in a quart.
so 5 pints is 2.5 quarts, which is less than half of the amount of blood in the human body.
MORTAR COMBAT!
In Japan, at least, the largest drink size you can get at a fast food restraunt like McDonalds is smaller than the "courtesy cup" that they give people who order water in America. Several of my friends and myself got strange looks and comments from host families when buying 1 liter drink bottles for ourselves. I remember one guy was asked by his host family if he had a party of something when he threw away the empty bottle at home. In talking with a few of my foreign friends after I returned, I've been led to believe that America is the "Land of the Super-Sized Drinks."
Can anyone from another country or who's traveled abroad comment on this trend? Is oversized drinks just an American thing?
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
the famous paper cups in the dispenser that save dishes from piling up in the sink.
Funny, I just re-use dishes to keep the sink from over-flowing.
Get your Unix fortune now!
Useless facts about the human body
some juicy bits:
The average Human bladder can hold 13 ounces of liquid
You loose enough dead skin cells in your lifetime to fill eight five pound flour bags
your skin weighs twice as much as your brain
When you sneeze, all bodily functions stop--even you heart!
have fun. remember kids, use knowledge responsibly.
MORTAR COMBAT!
The best thing about it is that it even comes in a paper carton-like "cup" that very closely resembles a half gallon carton of milk, but with a hole in the top for a straw.
'Course, the second coolest thing is the fact that you get anywhere from 700 to 900 calories from one, depending on what soda you put in it (assuming that, like most teenageers, you are not a big fan of diet sodas). Mmmmm half my daily calories in carbonated liquid form....
My brother is what I'd call a caffeine addict. He's also a cheap SOB like myself, so when it comes to soda, he did some research to find the best price-to-volume ratio. His findings? Buy a 64oz Double Gulp from 7-11 once, save the cup and refill it for 85 cents a pop. Only problem is he's forgets the cup quite often, so empty Double Gulps litter his desk.
More relevant to the article, 7-11 charges the same price to refill any fountain soda, so there's no cost benefit for showing restraint.
I feel that the massive cups are linked to another phenomenon that I have noticed. That is, the new need for people to always have a drink in hand.
Up until recently, when people got thirsty, they went to the kitchen and got a drink. They finished their drink in the kitchen and went about their business. People also drank at the table while eating. But now, people seem to be incapable of going ANYWHERE without a drink constantly in hand.
It doesn't seem to matter what the drink is or if they are even thirsty, just so long as they always have a drink. Regardless of whether it is a ridiculous 44oz Big Gulp or a 12oz bottle of water, they must have a drink in hand.
It appears to me that people have developed some form of security blanket complex where they are out of sorts unless they have a drink in their hand. You notice this with the constant sipping. They are obviously not thirsty but every couple of minutes they are compelled to sip a half ounce or so. They seem addicted to the act of drinking, rather like smokers are to the act of smoking.
What's up with that?
And rehashed an old Dennis Miller routine. It didn't start with coffee cups. First I remembered was resizing of McDonald's cold cups in the mid to late 80's. That was fine then, but now, when I want a small, it means I really want what is called the 'child size'. Ironically, when you get a happy meal, you don't get a 'child size', you get something even smaller.
The reason they don't put it on the menu board? It costs ten cents more for the 'small', but only has about 1 cent more cost involved. They 'lose money' (in the same way that pirates cause MPAA and RIAA companies to 'lose' money) by selling this size. That's why they push the barrel basket of popcorn at the movie theatre for 'only 25 cents more': because it only costs them 5 cents more, so they make an additional 20 cents.
"Do you want to supersize that?"
"No, moron. If I wanted to supersize it, I would have said 'Number 3, supersize', not 'Number 3, medium'" But I usually don't, as it is the owner/manager who will fire the drone if they forget to pimp supersize fries.
(BTW, call me in to testify against that fat bastard suing the fast food companies. Listen lard-ass, just order a medium! I'm fat, so fuck you, I'll call you lard ass if I want. I'm fat because *I* shovelled garbage down my gullet, not Mayor McCheese.)
Oh, and to those who say "the market will prevail": bullshit. McDonald's used to have an "All-American meal". Cheesburger (not 1/4 lb), fries (modern medium, traditional large), and a coke (modern medium, traditional large). It's exactly what I wanted. Doesn't exist anymore. Yes, the items are available separately, but have you ever ordered separate items at McDonald's? What a joke. Definately a roll of the dice as to whether those people get anything right. (I do this frequently. I'll get a medium two cheeseburger meal with an extra drink, sometimes extra fries for my wife and I to split. Then throw in a hamburger for junior.)
Blah. Gimme a gun, a knife, and an open fire. I'll get your supersized meal as soon as a buffalo comes walking by.
(Not even 30, and I'm becoming a 'bitter old man', ranting about 'the good old days')
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
The manufacturers wouldn't make them if people didn't want them.
Do you really know what you want? Ever heard the phrase "something I didn't know existed, but now can't live without?"
What about the old adage about the two shoe salesmen that go to Etheopia. The first calls back to the home office and says, "no one wears shoes here, there's no market," and packs up to go home. The second calls the home office and says, "no one wears shoes here, we can dominate the market, send all available supply."
The marketers make people want their products (yes, this includes you). Next time you're thinking of buying something on impulse, ask yourself why, and dig deep to find and answer. You may be surprised....
moto411.com
Drinking too much water can cause hyponatremia (too little sodium in your blood), which can make all your cells in your body swell up, including your brain cells, which would then cause brain damage. This is a fact.
A few points:
I take drugs seriously.
MORTAR COMBAT!
this is a very geek unfriendly story. i myself need the drug-like crutch of a gallon of sugary soda to keep my mental juices flowing while i program every day, all day. i have a feeling i am not alone.
;-)
sure, the sugar spike of modern soft drinks is completely unnatural for a human body evolved to deal with the slow rise and fall of digesting complex carbohydrates, but so what? and no, i won't become a diabetic because i run every day too. calories in, calories out. and yes, as i admitted, it's a drug-like crutch, but in the larger scheme of things, i can forgive myself my dependence upon sugar to get me through the day. surely there are greater addictions and crimes out there we can all worry about, no? (yes, i am aware the micromanaging moralizers amongst us have something to say here, but we don't care, k?)
programming may not be as calorie-intensive a process as say, the iron man competition, but the brain still eats calories. and is there a single programmer out there who doesn't appreciate the idea of getting into a mental zone and getting their most productive efforts out of that zone? do most of us prop up that zone with comfort-producing stimuli? music, furniture, toys, lighting, etc... but sweets and stimulants top the list. just go visit thinkgeek if you don't believe me and see what kind of stuff they hawk over there. if you've ever drank coca cola while at the keyboard, you have to admit the bonus it produces. what greater comfort-producing aid can there be than something that gives the brain what it naturally craves?
keep the brain sutffed with oxygen and glucose and it will reward you with good code! don't let the guilt-mongers get at you, fellow programmers, enjoy your code red big gulp, and have one every day. (just make sure you exercise too... don't become another stupid fat american.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Every fast food restaurant from Wendy's to McDonalds has been increasing the size of there portions based on demand.
Working for a major pop company, I can tell you right now that premix pop is downright cheap (premix is the syrup that's mixed with water and CO2 to get the pop that comes from the fountain). Since the pop companies don't have to worry about mixing it, packaging it, and labeling it in the bottling plant, they don't have to charge much for it.
Believe it or not, advertisements for "80oz. Fountain Drinks for $.99!!!" actually lure customers there. And they can do it because they don't lose money. So, when the fast food / convenience stores get cheap pop, they get more customers, they don't lose money, and the customer walks away happy.
The stores don't care about sugar levels or diabetes, and most customers don't understand that what they think is a "great deal" isn't doing much good for them, while it works great for the company.
You turn and say "Bitch, hold this" like any normal person. Sheesh.
Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
I recently stopped drinking pop all together. Now I only drink water, milk (one glass per day), and juice (2 glasses per day roughly). In the 6 weeks since I started this I haven't really changed anything else about my excerise and eatting habits. I have already dropped 8lbs. I used to drink close to 5 12-16oz pops per day. At the low end that is 60oz (smaller than the 80oz drink they are talking about). So I think you see the weight concerns here. This is truely making America fatter... :(
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Who's making your coffee? I'm not keen on sweat and creamy, I like the bitter edge that coffee has, but when made correctly, isn't rancid at all.
I definately agree, don't drink rancid coffee.
This is not the way to build a lasting empire.
With the growth of high level languages like Perl, Python, and TCL you'd think that coffee cups could be getting smaller, not larger. This is the strongest evidence against Moore's Law I've seen in a while.
-- Ken Kinder ken@_nospam_kenkinder.com http://kenkinder.com/
True. I should have said Can the digestive tract, bloodstream, and bladder combined handle 80 ounces of liquid before your first trip to the bathroom.
When I was in college, we used to have contests to see who could drink the most beer before having to take a leak (the loser would have to throw an extra fiver into the pot while playing poker or some such punishment). The record was eight beers (96 ounces). That's 80 ounces with a tall-boy to spare.
I take drugs seriously.
I hope they never do make that 80-oz cup. If I put one of those in my cup holder, the whole damn computer would tip over.
This is a subject that is pretty interresting to me since I started racing triathlons, I never really thought that things like Gatorade made sense until some people corrected me on this.
:
a tremia.htmle mia.html#Paul
The following is a first hand account of someone who experienced hyponatremia, pretty scary.
----------------
Hi everyone,
I'm writing this to "the big list", the PA Buzzards, Virginia Happy Trails
Running Club, the Montgomery County Road Running Club (in Maryland) and a
few others to say THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH for the Get Well Wishes, Cards,
Flowers, and overall concern and support. Wow! I have a lot of wonderful
friends!
I am writing to so many people for a few reasons - first, I have received
many inquires about how I am doing after the Vermont 100 miler. Also, many
people heard about what happened (which I'll explain below) but only got
parts of the story. So you'll get the story here - as best I know it, from
me, Michele Burr - the person who got a severe case of hyponatremia at
VT100. The people who do know about my getting hyponatremia have urged me
to post something so that people are aware of this very serious problem.
I must admit, I don't remember much because I had a seizure and went into a
coma but I have pieced together many things from people who saw me at the
end of the race and from talking with my husband, who thank God, was there
at the finish line and with me during my 5 day stay at two hospitals in
Vermont and then New Hampshire.
WHAT IS HYPONATREMIA? This is a condition in which there is a very low
concentration of sodium in your blood. It is also seen in conjunction with
WEIGHT GAIN (not weight loss) and most often occurs during endurance
exercise lasting more than 5 to 7 hours. (From:
http://www.halcyon.com/gasman/water.htm) More specifically, hyponatremia
develops as sodium and free water are lost and replaced by fluids, such as
plain tap water, half-normal saline, or dextrose in water. Basically, this
condition occurs when a person takes in too much water and not enough salt.
So you are probably wondering...was I taking Suceed! caps? Was I drinking
electrolyte fluids? Yes to both of these questions but obviously I was not
taking enough of either one of these things and yes, I was also eating
potato chips, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fig newtons, and potatoes
-but again, it wasn't enough salt and I was taking in too much water. My
weight was up 5 pounds at the last weigh-in. To give you an understanding of
where my sodium level was compared to a normal person....most people have
about 140-145 mEq/L - this is some sort of measure of the amount of salt in
your blood. I had 113 mEq/L. This is extremely low. So, why is this a
problem? Because you need sodium in your blood for your brain to function.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS? The answer to this question is the scary part and why
this is such a medical emergency when it occurs.
****Many of the symptoms are NEUROLOGICAL in origin.**** Level of alertness
can range from agitation to a coma state. Variable degrees of cognitive
impairment (eg, difficulty with short-term recall; loss of orientation to
person, place, or time; frank confusion or depression). Other symptoms
include seizure activity and irrational behavior. In patients with acute
severe hyponatremia, signs of brainstem herniation, including coma; fixed,
unilateral, dilated pupil; decorticate or decerebrate posturing; and
respiratory arrest. Coma and seizures usually occur only with acute
reduction of the serum sodium concentration to less than 120 mEq/L.
(Remember my sodium level was at 113 mEq/L.)
I didn't recognize where I was or who my friends were or who my husband was
at the end of the race. I walked the last 5 to 10 miles which is very
unusual for me and people said I didn't know who they were and it appeared
as though I didn't even know I was in a race. Shortly after I crossed the
finish line on Saturday night I started to vomit uncontrollably then I had a
seizure then I went into a coma. I remained in a coma for 3 days. At some
point before I woke up out of the coma I began the "irrational behavior"
mentioned above. I pulled out all my IVs and ripped off my EKG patches and
tried to kick and hit the nursing and neurosurgeon staff. I was very
combative whenever someone tried to touch me and was eventually given
antipsychotic medication.
When I woke up I didn't know where I was, what
had happened, what month, or year it was. Upon being forced to give a guess
for the month I told the neurosurgeons, "I think it's Vermont" for the
month. I couldn't read and I couldn't add numbers. On Tuesday after the
race I started to feel much, much, better. I could read again and I had
watched a car commercial to figure out what year it was. I also got a lot
of the story about what happened from my husband. It was on this day (or
maybe Monday?) I learned I had been in another hospital earlier. Why was I
first in a small local hospital (Ascutney in Windsor, VT) and then
transferred by ambulance to Dartmouth-Hitchcock? That has to do with the
scariness about how to treat this medical emergency. It you don't do it
right, it will lead to further and permanent brain damage.
HOW IS HYPONATREMIA TREATED? From http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/heat.html: It
says that the condition is frequently mis-diagnosed as dehydration and that
the consumption of water makes matters worse because it dilutes the blood
sodium concentration even further than it already is.
From http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic275.htm
"The principal causes of morbidity and death are when chronic hyponatremia
reaches levels of 110 mEq/L or less and cerebral pontine myelinolysis (an
unusual demyelination syndrome that occurs when HYPONATREMIA IS CORRECTED
TOO QUICKLY).
Much has been written about treatment of hyponatremia and the potential
adverse outcome of central pontine myelinolysis. This condition is
demyelination of the pons, which can lead to mutism, dysphasia, spastic
quadriparesis, pseudobulbar palsy, delirium, coma, and even death.
Raising the serum sodium concentration more than 25 mEq/L or to a normal or
above-normal level in the first 48 hours increases the likelihood of central
pontine myelinolysis.
The main controversy in the literature surrounds treatment of chronic
symptomatic hyponatremia because, as mentioned, central pontine myelinolysis
may result if the condition is corrected too rapidly. Therefore, although
treatment in these patients is similar to that just described, the rate of
correction should be slower (0.5 to 1 mEq/L per hour). Aggressive therapy
should be discontinued when the serum sodium concentration is raised 10% or
symptoms abate."
Upon being admitted at the first hospital in Vermont my soium level was 113
mEq/L but then quickly went to 116 and the next reading was at 126. The
hospital felt uncomfortable and kept telling my husband it was possible I'd
get "PONDS" - which is central pontine myelinolysis (permanent brain
damage). They also told him to think about long term care for me and that
"things could turn out a number of ways". They also asked him if I remained
in a vegetative state, would I want my organs donated and did I have a
living will prepared. At this point, an ambulance took me to New Hampshire
to Dartmouth-Hitchcock. Needless to say, I think I aged my husband about 10
years during these 5 days.
WHAT ARE THE LONG TERM EFFECTS? Well, so far I feel I am about 95% back to
where I was neurologically before the race. (Physically, I lost 10 pounds.)
I couldn't remember my password when I got to my office so I couldn't log
into my computer and I forgot a combination lock number I often used. I
also forgot a few people's names. I had a little bit of trouble typing and
signing my name but that seems to be gone now. The last clear things I
remember from the race are at the mile 18 aid station. I am also a bit
spacey (it's a bit difficult for me to concentrate) but I can drive. I am a
research scientist so it's important that I be able to generate and
interpret statistics. I haven't tried that yet but I'm optimistic. Here are
a few more links (in case you just can't get enough about hyponatremia):
http://www.spinalhealth.net/hypon
http://www.fred.net/ultrunr/hyponatr
Finally, the way to avoid this in the future (for me) is to drink less water
and eat more salt. I will also push for a blood test from my doctor before
I run another 100 (this was my 5th one) to make sure I am not starting out
at a deficit - which is what the doctors were suggesting at
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital. They said that my low sodium diet, combined
with a high volume of running (sometimes as much as 100 miles/week) and
sweating in the heat and humidity here in the Washington DC area were the
problem combined with the low volume of electrolyte fluids (relative to the
amount of water I was taking in).
This was scary. I hope some people will be educated by reading this and for
the many people who emailed and asked me what happened, I hope this answered
their questions.
Thank you so very much again everyone for your concern. My friends,
co-workers, relatives, and the ultrarunning community have been great!
Michele Burr
If you want to e-mail me, use my PGP Key.
This is just another example of economics being applied in an amoral fashion. For quite some time I've been lamenting the demise of the 12-oz can in convenience stores, which has been replaced with 20-oz plastic bottles. All too often I find myself falling prey to the "you've gotta finish it" mentality. No doubt this comes from being told as a kid to "clean your plate because people are starving overseas".
Of course, I could just pour out the extra soda or plan ahead by purchasing smaller units at the grocery store. However, if I were inclined to do that I wouldn't be at the convenience store to begin with. Planning ahead simply isn't... well... convenient.
So... what can we do with all that flat soda? I hate the idea of just dumping it, so here's my proposal: Flat soda collection centers.
It's not as crazy as you think. Since all non-diet sodas are essentially sugar-water with an acid pH, all we have to do is dump them in a vat, rebalance the pH, add yeast, and let them ferment. Then we can distill the product into ethanol and use it to power stuff.
Of course this will never work. Most people drink the whole 20-oz, or just dump the flat soda. If I were the tinfoil-hat type, I'd say there was a conspiracy to make America fat, but it's really just amoral economics.
The companies get a better margin on bigger bottles. They can afford to please the gluttons at the expense of the rest of us because the gluttons are their best customers. There are only 2 major soda companies. Any vendor that tries to carry the smaller sizes faces the same margins. They may also face pressure from the soda companies. Pepsico does a lot of its business because it owns restaurants. They should be forced to divest all their restaurant holdings, as this is very much against the public interst. Alternatively, their corporate charter could be revoked thus relieving them of both the benefits and obligations of being a corporation. Of course charter revokation is a futile proposal since the public service nature of corporations is all but dead and burried.
Both soda companies are guilty of using heavy-handed contracts on independant operators. All corporations (not just soda companies) should be barred from making deals that prevent customers from dealing in competing products. Such a law, were it in force, would solve much of the Microsoft problem too.
At any rate, the application of "economies of scale" to serving people drinks is just one of many examples of economics being applied without thought. These aren't refineries we're fueling here, THEY'RE HUMAN BEINGS. They require something other than maximum volume at minimum cost.
Don't worry too much though. Misguided economics works in the other direction too. Free Trade wags are actually seriously proposing the elimination of subsidies and tarrifs on agricultural products worldwide. As everybody who took basic economics knows, agricultural subsidies help ensure greater than "market" output. Market output could lead to food shortages in drought years. Tarrifs encourage local production. Take away the tarrifs, and US agriculture might flee to a lower cost producer. Yes folks... all of this means that Americans, yes AMERICANS. May someday be taking grain from UN workers throwing it out the back of trucks. And the Blue Helmet guys probably won't offer you the option of "super sizing" that sack of wheat.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?