states the website ficuswhisperer linked to.
depending on who you ask, figures range from 100 million to over 500 millon per day:
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Better buy a few quick, before the sale ends!
Really, these seem like somethings restaurants should provide, if they currently provide straws. Like they do with forks.
I think Miss Manners has addressed straws twice: If you enjoy drinking your margarita with a straw, you aren’t ready to be having margaritas.
And: if a restaurant provides straws, well, they know their dishwashers’ standards better than you do.
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And it was an excellent read, too (as nearly all Michael Marshall books are and he also publishes science fiction and horror as Michael Marshall Smith). His first four SF books were great, IMHO.
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And - paradoxically - they blow, too!
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Leaving aside the temptation to riposte with one of the many fine “I can’t help noticing” memes, I can tell you from experience that it requires no such thing. It’s sold with a brush, yes. I’ve had a set of these for years, came with brush, brush has never been used. I find the dishwasher gets them clean 10/10. No muss, no fuss.
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Hooray for gatekeeping.
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I don’t think anyone is proposing that the disabled should give up plastic straws if they need them, that’s a (ahem) straw man. I’ve seen an objection to restaurant straw bans (which are generally bans on automatic straw provision and not outright bans) on the basis of “won’t someone think of the disabled”. I think that’s bullshit, if a person’s condition is such that they can’t get by without a straw it’s not unreasonable to expect they bring it with them. Straws are no more a public utility that must be provided by every restaurant than, say, insulin.
I agree but in my experience it’s also terrible to try to drink hot bev through any straw. Who does that?
ProTip, you generally don’t have to accept the straw.
Today I learned that some people must use straws as chew toys. I’ve had a set of these for years, my front teeth are just fine.
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Alcohol consumption is one of those areas where we seem to want age-based gatekeeping.
This has nothing to do with age - it’s telling people the “right way” to enjoy their alcoholic beverages. Fuck that - if you want to drink your margarita or beer with a straw, you do you. As long as you’re enjoying it responsibly that’s all I care about.
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People who have poor motor control and can’t hold a glass still enough to tilt it gently to their mouth without spilling said hot beverage all over themselves. For starters.
Bad analogy. How about handicap-accessible counters and bathrooms? Or maybe silverware; by your logic, if you require a fork and knife to eat, it’s not unreasonable to expect you to bring them with you, and yet I suspect you’d be rather annoyed at the prospect of being compelled to find somewhere to carry a pair of utensils on a daily basis, on the off chance that you decide to go out to eat on a whim some time after you leave the house.
And if you think people with less visible disabilities aren’t starting to get policed for using straws, you’re not paying attention.
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As much as I would like to ignore Michael Gove, he is an MP (he is powerful in the Conservative Party, at least).
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But what if you drunkenly poke your eye out with the straw? Or one if those little umbrellas? /s
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To be fair, that is what people are expressly looking for when they write in to Miss Manners.
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Except that part where plastic straws make up a small percentage of plastic in the ocean…
IIRC 50% is discarded fishing nets. A problem that cannot be fixed while making money off of well meaning citizens…
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Gluten. /s
The most sensible thing I have read so far on this topic.
Alas, that means they need to be made cheaply like silverware first. Maybe eventually we will arrive there.
I think straws are more problematic because they stick in things. I’ve seen some very upsetting videos of straws being surgically removed from turtles.
From that I am guessing that you always bring your own plates and sliverware to any eatery you attend.
ETA: I notice that someone beat me to the punch there.
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Saw that video as well. Sample size one.
Needless to say, I do not use plastic straws much to start with. They seem wasteful, no skin off my nose not using them. I just am skeptical at .025% of the plastic in the ocean by weight that they are the biggest impact we can make in plastic consumption on an individual level.
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My issue is momentary lapses in concentration leading to bonking my teeth on the straw. Who chews on metal straws???
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