As another commenter has pointed out, Coca-Cola is poison. But that's another story. I still love Diet Coke (DT notwithstanding), though I rarely drink it anymore, having over the years been forced to give up all my favorite vices. At nearly 70, I'm now down to caffeine, alcohol, and binge-reading novels.

My Coca-Cola memories, other than the soda fountain at my granddad's drugstore, are mainly of the march of price and quantity. I remember when the machine I patronized, one that charged a righteous nickel, was replaced by one that demanded an extra penny. Six cents instead of five! What an outrage! What a pain! On the other hand, I think that machine also started dispensing "king-size" cokes--10 ounces, up from 6.5. It was a few years later that I first saw 12-oz cans in a 20-cent machine.