her conclusions are pretty much what i figured (although she's much braver than i am!)

urban legends like this have been going around forever, especially among kids, but in this age, they spread WAY faster. still i find it highly amusing that people never bother to stop and think logically about it for a minute (as the article's author pointed out, when she brought up the fact that even trying to attempt this is difficult...and painful).

while i find most of these legends pretty hilarious, i do find it a little disturbing that so many media outlets pick up on this stuff and repeat it as fact, when the reality is that it rarely is (and thus, they obviously didn't do their due diligence in corroborating the story). talk show hosts like Oprah have always been notorious for spreading this around, often taking whole hour-long episodes to scare the crap out of parents with that whole "what you'll hear over the next hour will shock you! parents, do you really know what your kids are up to?" BS at the beginning of said episodes.

remember that whole "Rainbow Party" story going around a couple years ago? Oprah spread that story like wildfire...except she left out the part that those parties NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPENED. or my personal favorite, the whole "Satanic Panic" thing in the 80's, what with the "evil" heavy metal bands and so-called "Satanic ritual killings". Geraldo was pretty fond of that one and it went on for quite a while as far as these stories go...except even the FBI finally admitted that they couldn't pin ONE SINGLE CRIME on the supposed "Satanic epidemic". ah, good times.

it still blows my mind that even well-known and famous "journalists" can't be bothered to spend the 60 seconds it takes to log onto a website like Snopes and see whether an urban legend has any truth to it.

it's true, i could have very well interpreted what the article said regarding just under half being consumed to qualify incorrectly. still, it would be nice if articles like this at least explained where any of the leftovers went...otherwise these kinds of stunts kinda reinforce the stereotype that Americans are fast food-obsessed fatties.

i still stand by my statement that stunts like these seem to have no real redeeming qualities. i guess they're not quite as bad as the "eat a 5lb steak in an hour and it's free!" type restaurant contests: with stuff like that, they're not legally allowed to donate any leftovers for health reasons (and the thought of trying to polish off several pounds of food in a relatively short amount of time just sounds super-nauseating, no matter what kind of food it is!)