The Golden Age of Cup Manufacturing 785
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?"
Not just drinks... (Score:3, Informative)
Well, at least here in Canada... Don't know about the US franchise...
Re:2 observations (Score:4, Informative)
hint: the human body has about 6 quarts of blood.
for a quick refresh on pints and quarts [athens.edu] 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.
the human bladder and other useless facts (Score:5, Informative)
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.
44 oz? Try the DoubleGulp! (Score:3, Informative)
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....
Re:and we wonder americans are so ... big (Score:2, Informative)
For you big-gulp drinkers... (Score:2, Informative)
Now imagine one over two and half times the size... over 100 teaspoons of sugar.
Then wonder why so many Americans are obese... "but the bigger size is a better deal!"
Re:Drinking is good for you. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:2 observations (Score:3, Informative)
A few points:
water intoxication (Score:5, Informative)
Uber Gulp (Score:2, Informative)
It brings to mind the July 8th cartoon from PvP Online [pvponline.com].
Even funnier, though, is what I found when I hit google with "uber gulp" [earthlink.net].
Eeeek.
Re:Supersize is in. (Score:3, Informative)
Seems to me that that would make your head explode.
Re:Quick reply (Score:3, Informative)
Does anyone else here time themselves while urinating?
I started timing myself after a long movie where I drank a large pop (~30-40oz.), refilled and drank it, and then didn't go to the bathroom until two hours later. It was a very long piss.
I find my average to be 12-15 seconds. My longest was 43 seconds, again after a long movie with lots of cola involved.
This isn't a flame, troll, or whatever. I'm just amazed that my body can hold three times the amount it usually takes to make me urinate without my kidneys or bladder popping out my back.
If 12-15 seconds worth of urine is enough to fill my bladder and make me go to the bathroom, where does my body find room for 2-3 times that amount?
Are these 40oz. plus cups two- or three-pissers? Meaning you end up going to the bathroom a few times before you can actually finish the thing?
Just curious.
Re:Quick reply (Score:4, Informative)
As for where your body finds the room for it, that is also simple physics, when you drank the cola in the first place, you expanded your mass and volume, starting in the stomache and then moving on to the blood stream, and finally ending up in your bladder, and when you relieve it, your mass/volume is restored to where it was before, since the volume being talkeed about is under 2% you'd never notice such a miniscule change or variation unless you habitually measured your weight or diameter 10-20 times a day.
Also keep in mind that the flow rate of urine is affected by the gravitational and muscular forces on the urine inside the body, so the only accurate mesurement is to measure the actual volume of urine, and ignoring the time elapsed, since that is such a highly volitatle variable.
A slight disclaimer, I'm not an expert, but it's pretty clear that bladders follow basic physics the same as anything else.
Re:Not just drinks... (Score:4, Informative)
A first hand report about hyponatremia (Score:5, Informative)
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
Re:Quick reply (Score:1, Informative)
So what happens is, you piss as much as you can. Then you stop. The bladder slowly regains its original size, but since it isn't completely empty (plus anything added since), the pressure slowly builds. The muscles, already tired from holding before, complain and you feel like you need to hit the bathroom again.
Re:geek unfriendly story (Score:3, Informative)
IANAD either, but my girlfriend is a surgical resident. I'm handing her the keyboard at this point.
You're wrong. Type I diabetes mellitus has a strong genetic link (80% concordance in twins), but type II diabetes appears to be completely linked to sugar intake. It's correlated to obesity too (75% of patients are obese at time of diagnosis), but that appears to be a secondary correlation. Because type II diabetes is a slow, progressive disease, it's usually not diagnosed until many years after onset. A diet high in sugar leads to both obesity (sometimes) and diabetes. That's where the correlation comes from.
The mechanism works like this. When your blood sugar level rises, the pancreas is stimulated to make and release insulin. The insulin signals cells in muscles, fat, and the liver to absorb sugar from the blood and transport it into the interior of the cell.
People with type I diabetes have an auto-immunity to pancreatic insulin-producing b-cells. In other words, your immune system seeks out and destroys the cells that produce insulin, so your body can't regulate its blood sugar level. Type I diabetics require total insulin replacement to live, but that's all. It's a relatively simple disease that way: take your shots, monitor your blood sugar, and you'll be fine.
The pathology of type II diabetes is more complex. It's often a combination of insufficient insulin production in the pancreas and a resistance at the cell to the activity of insulin. In other words, type II diabetics may not have enough insulin, or their body may not respond to insulin, or a combination of both.
When you eat, your body pancreas starts releasing insulin, which your muscle, fat, and liver cells absorb. If you eat A LOT of sugar, all at once, your body has to produce A LOT of insulin, all at once. If you eat a lot of sugar frequently, your body becomes "used" to it. It becomes less sensitive to high blood sugar, and starts producing less insulin. At the same time, your cells become "used" to having a lot of insulin around, so they stop absorbing it as much. When that happens, you can no longer regulate your blood sugar.
You can treat type II diabetics with insulin sometimes, but not always. If their cells aren't receptive to insulin, then giving them more won't help. In those cases, the patient is usually treated with metformin.
So taking good care of yourself in other ways won't necessarily keep you from developing type II diabetes. If your diet includes too much sugar, especially if you ingest it in a way that drives your blood sugar up dramatically, then you're at serious risk.
Do you suffer from excessive hunger or thirst? Do you get tired 2-4 hrs after you eat? Do you urinate frequently? Do you ever suffer from blurred vision? Your doctor can test your urine to see if you're peeing out glucose. If you don't eat for several hours and your urine still has glucose in it, that's an indication that you may have some degree of type II diabetes.
If you do develop type II diabetes, chances are you won't know about it for years and years, because it's so gradual. By then, moderate to serious neuropathy may have set in, as well as a degree of retinopathy. Circulation to your extremities will have been reduced. If you let it go for too long, you could end up losing your sight, or your legs. I did a BKA (below knee amputation) on a 67-year-old type II diabetic on Tuesday. He wasn't obese, either.
Re:ounces? (Score:2, Informative)
A traditional unit of liquid volume, called the fluid ounce to avoid confusion with the weight ounce. In the U. S. customary system there are 16 fluid ounces in a pint, so each fluid ounce represents 1.804 687 cubic inches or 29.573 531 milliliters. In the British imperial system there are 20 fluid ounces in an imperial pint, so each fluid ounce represents about 1.733 871 cubic inches or 28.413 063 milliliters. A fluid ounce of water weighs just a bit more than one ounce avoirdupois.
Re:Not just drinks... (Score:3, Informative)