Weigh to go

FIRST IT WAS PORTION SIZES. Then airline seats. Now, super-sizing has come to bathroom scales. Scale-IT, a Vancouver, Washington-based company, recently redesigned its bathroom scales to register a whopping 1,000 pounds. Traditional scales top out at a little over 300 pounds, but apparently that wasn't enough; Scale-IT reports a brisk business for the newly upsized instruments.

And in case you long for slimmer days gone by--or simply have a burning desire to know how scales work--check out The Tale of the Scale by Solly Angel (Oxford University Press, 2004). It details Angel's quest to design a more elegant and accurate bathroom scale and the many obstacles he encountered along the way. Angel overcame money troubles, patent laws and legal loopholes to pursue his passion for the art of weighing in. A surprisingly substantial read.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Weider Publications
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group