Can you guess what this is? (Have on hand a McDonald's Happy Meal for a show-and-tell.)

Chicken nuggets, French-fries, something to drink, and most important of all – a schlocky piece of plastic that, at least for the next five minutes, spins, bounces, whirls, rolls, or whistles better than any other toy on earth.

You know what it is: a McDonald's Happy Meal.

Is there alive in North America an adult who's ever spent a lunch hour with a child without feeling compelled to buy a Happy Meal at some time or another?

The "happiness" this fat-and-calorie laden repast offers is absolutely momentary. Within minutes adults begin grousing at the child, "You aren't eating anything!" The child usually gets a toy that isn't the version they wanted; is one they already have; or is the wrong gender (b…