Bigger Than Biggie

When is a medium not a medium?

When it is a Biggie.

Wendy's recently said they were going to do away with the Biggie sized items on their menu. However, before you start celebrating the death of the huge fast food meal, know this: Biggie now equals medium.

Their Biggie drink -- 32 ounces or 4 cups or 1 quart of liquid-- is only the second largest drink on their menu. The new large is a whopping 42 ounces.

Even the small drink got bigger. It now comes in at 20 ounces.

By comparison, at McDonald's, a 16 ounce drink is called a small, a 21 ounce drink is a medium and a 32 ounce drink is a large.

And it doesn't stop at the drink. A large order of french fries now comes in at 6.7 ounces -- just a shade under 1/2 pound.

So much for the slimming down of America.

The problem lies more within us rather than in the restaurant industry -- although they are enablers. We always want to make sure we are getting our money's worth and want more for our dollar.

So, you get larger and larger portions.

Forget about the fact that there are probably enough calories in one large meal to sustain you for the entire day -- and you are likely to eat at least two other meals in the day. So what if you have to buy bigger clothes or pay more to your doctor because you have to see the physician more often.

At least you are getting your money's worth, right?

But at what cost?

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Okay, I promised you something this time. Here it is: Hawking says pope told him not to study beginning of universe

I'm going to ignore the religious implications on all this and simply state that anyone who stands in the way of the pursuit of knowledge is blind to the future. There is no danger is finding the answers to questions, but there is a responsibility to understand those answers as well.

Asking "why?" is mankind's greatest gift. Answering that question is our greatest task.

"You shouldn't kiss a horse on the lips before it gives you its presents." -- Omi