January 3 - Drinking Straws Patented

    Posted on January 3, 2022

This is an update of my post published on January 3, 2011:

Before Marvin Stone invented a way to manufacture paper drinking straws, people used natural rye grass straws, which gave beverages a bit of a grassy taste. The only alternative was to suffer the indignities of drinking without a straw at all. (I'm thinking of the way all the ice in the glass conspires to stay in the bottom as you tip your glass to drink—and then does a massive, coordinated strike that makes you choke and splutter. Thanks, Eddie Izzard, for pointing out this common ice behavior!) 

Anyway, grassy taste and ice-cube attack didn't suit American inventor Marvin Stone. He patented - on this date in 1888 - a spiral winding process to make straws out of paper. After he came up with the paper-winding-and-gluing apparatus, he had to experiment with different sorts of paper that wouldn't get soggy when wet. He ended up with paraffin (wax) coated manila paper straws about 8-and-a-half inches long.

Since Stone's paper straws burst upon the world, drinking straws have been re-invented many times. Now many drinking straws are made of plastic - but single-use plastic straws are a big no-no environmentally speaking!

Because of the environmental impacts of disposable plastic straws, paper straws are making a comeback. But also washable, re-useable straws are being manufactured - and hopefully they will catch on. These re-useable straws are made of metal, silicone, bamboo, or glass. If you aren't yet carrying around a re-useable straw - and avoiding disposable straws - consider making the switch!

Above, silicone mouthpieces, stainless steel straws
Below, silicone straws

Stainless steel straws
Bamboo straws

In the straw world, some straws bend and some are straight, some straws are cute and individualized, some straws have special shapes, and some straws come equipped with spoons on the end. There are even candy straws and Pixy Stix!

Check out some of the available straws:

Try a drinking-straw craft! There are tons of ideas here. 

And here are 10 games using drinking straws. 

Also on this date:

Anniversary of Alaska's Statehood

Anniversary of Rutherford changing one element into another element  

Anniversary of Vi Hart + Khan Academy

The anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci NOT flying

J.R.R. Tolkien Day

Great Day for the Yankees

Anniversary of the founding of the March of Dimes

Anniversary of a Coup in Burkina Faso

Memento Mori Day

Festival of Sleep Day

Takai Week in Niue

Back to Normal Monday

(First Monday after January 1)

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest pages on:

• January holidays
• January birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in January

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

• February holidays
• February birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in February
  

August 13, 2012 - Happy Birthday, Lucy Stone

She was a pioneer in so many ways. But not the little-house-in-the-prairie way!

Lucy Stone is credited as being the first woman from Massachusetts to earn a college degree, and the first woman in all of America to keep her own last name after marriage. She spoke out against slavery and for women's rights at a time when women weren't supposed to speak publicly about anything.

She helped set up the first National Women's Rights Convention, and later the Women's National Loyal League, which helped pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (which abolished slavery), and later the American Woman Suffrage Association, which helped to (eventually) win the right for women to vote.

And at one of Lucy Stone's speeches, she inspired another woman to take up the cause of women's suffrage. That woman was Susan B. Anthony.

Born on this date in 1818, Lucy Stone's last words to her daughter were, “Make the world better.” I think that should be a motto to live by for all of us, don't you?

• Celebrate Lucy Stone by watching this short, info-packed video. 

• You might want to check out this short biography, written by a student. 

Also on this date:

International Left-Handers' Day

Sharp-shooter Annie Oakley's birthday