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Old discussion

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Does anybody know of a short hard plastic straw w/ 1 end serrated for driving into an orange. I had them as a kid in Florida and can't find them anywhere now. You use it by: "mushing" up the orange with its skin on, thereby making it very juicy, then rotate in the serrated edge of straw. After straw breaks thru skin, remove the roughly 3/4 inch diameter piece of skin, then drive straw in to center & have fresh-squeezed OJ...

75.85.171.107 00:59, 3 November 2007 (UTC) Gordon[reply]

Can anybody answer this perplexing question? Why do straws have stripes? Thanks (StrawLoverrr69)

i think there is clear plagerism involved. sections of this page were copyed from http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blstraws.htm i am not sure what the protocall is i will look it up. 70.109.191.242 22:29, 17 April 2006 (UTC)Ben[reply]

I don't see this so I am removing the banner Ckswift 23:41, 9 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

SQUIDs

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Drinking straws are also frequently used as sample holders for SQUID magnetometers. ...I sometimes put pencils in my ears and let them wiggle. Still I guess it is not that much of importance to say this on the pencil article. Or did I miss the significance of straws in SQUID applications? --Abdull 15:50, 2 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Materials

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The article mentions modern straws are made of plastic. Today, I unexpectedly became intensely interested in the origin of the straw and more importantly what materials were used for ancient straws. While I admit the bit about Sumerians is interesting, I came here expecting more about the history of the straw. And what were they made of before plastic? Wood? Metal?

This article seems a lot shorter than it should be. Besides the part about the sumerians, most of the research can be done by looking through the paper goods section of a grocery store. I think it needs more about straw manufacturing, history, companies, etc.

Most probably the precursor of the modern plastic straw was made of reed. The following is a passage from Chapter XVII of the novel Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens:
But Mr Tapley made no answer; merely plunging a reed into the mixture – which caused a pleasant commotion among the pieces of ice – and signifying by an expressive gesture that it was to be pumped up through that agency by the enraptured drinker.
This proves that the reed drawing straw had already been invented at the time Dickens wrote the novel – which was some decades before 1888. Jane Fairfax 11:44, 26 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]
In the 1950's I saw (and used) natural straws for cold drinks in cafés in Mediterranean countries. Perhaps it's chronicled somewhere, if anyone cares to go looking. __Just plain Bill 16:03, 8 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Picture

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I'm sorry I can see the confusion myself but although that man has stripes as in common with many drinking straws, he himself is not in fact a drinking straw.Dylanjbyrne 18:58, 27 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure what picture is meant by the user above, maybe the error has already been corrected.

A number of other straws (crazy straw, metal straws) are mentioned but no pictures are available.Jeffreyprows (talk) 17:06, 17 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Crazy Straw Safety?

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Does anyone know of any studies on whether curvy straws are safe? When I was a kid, my Mom wouldn't let me use them, because she said bacteria would get stuck in there. I'm wondering whether to let me kids use them.... Asbruckman (talk) 20:05, 8 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'd say there is no practical health difference between straight and curvy. If you re-use it, wash it out in hot water, they are equally (un)likely to contain bacteria, or do you any harm. Suck on! Amniarix (talk) 12:01, 21 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Also can anyone comment on the "drinking through a straw gets you more drunk" controversy johnnybriggs (talk) 23:13, 21 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Citing early straws?

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The page mentions that early drinking straws were literal hollow straws, but no citation is given. I have an old illustration from the 19th century from a magazine -- I think maybe Harpers -- showing a girl drinking from a reed straw. Would this count, and if so how would I cite it?--68.35.11.25 (talk) 10:40, 15 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Introduction

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I think the introduction needs a re-write, and all historical references regrouped together.

"A drinking straw is a short tube used for transferring a liquid - usually a drink from one location to another (such as from a cup, to one's mouth)."

"From one location to another"? Please tell me how the destination can be anything except your mouth! Otherwise how do you generate the suction? "Usually a drink"? It's a drinking straw! Sure you could suck up custard, crude oil or moon dust, but it's designed to be (and most commonly) used to drink with. Weasel words.

"The earliest drinking straws were hollow stems of grass [...] The first straws were made by the Sumerians [...]"

We can't have it both ways. Either the Sumerians got there first, or grass did.

I'll work on a new version. Amniarix (talk) 12:21, 21 April 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Probable RS

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Bendy straws

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The joint that lets you adjust the angle of a bendy straw is technically considered bellows joint, not a living hinge. A living hinge is strictly a two-dimentional feature, and is found on injection-molded or cast items. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.243.168.169 (talk) 16:47, 27 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

muscular action

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Is this another one of those things like breathing through the nose that I just never picked up on people doing? I thought you inhaled with your lungs, filled your mouth, then swallowed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.73.70.113 (talk) 02:39, 11 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Try this: Put your finger in your mouth and suck on it. While sucking, breathe in and out through your nose. If the sucking was via your lungs, this should be impossible. It isn't. Q.E.D. - SummerPhD (talk) 16:28, 22 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]
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Environmental concerns in lead

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I would like to suggest that the paragraph on environmental concerns be removed from the lead. There is a section on this in the body of the article and it does not seem critical for inclusion in the lead. Other sources of plastic pollution such as plastic bags, disposable cups, styrofoam, and disposable products do not have similar paragraphs in the lead. While inclusion of environmental concerns might be warranted if public awareness of the item in question is largely driven by environmental concerns (e.g. greenhouse gas), I do not think that is true in this case and the widespread concern is only relatively recent. Cloudspert (talk) 19:08, 16 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

history

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The Aardvark Straw company says that it is the original paper straw company. Kdammers (talk) 21:07, 30 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

That's nice for them. Are there any independent sources to verify this? Andy Dingley (talk) 21:31, 30 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know; that's why I put it on the talk page rather than modifying the entry. Eco-Flex: Aardvark, The Original Paper Straw". Found online Mar. 11, 2016 at aardvarkstraws.com. Page dated Apr. 12, 2015. Retrieved from http://web.archive.org/web/20150412085058/http://www.aardvarkstraws.com/eco-flex/.Kdammers (talk) 01:57, 31 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]
Interesting. So there is some basis to this. It seems to be the unusual combination that the inventor of the paper straw, Marvin Stone, is both clearly identifiable as the novel source of that invention, and that he proceeded to make some money from it too. Aardvark are a brand of Precision Products Group, who claim to be a commercial descendant of Stone's original company. That's plausible, but would still need sourcing.
One thing this article does need (see the growth figures at [1]) is some up-to-date coverage on the current controversies over both plastic straws (evil, must be removed as a scourge upon the land and seas) vs the disabled community demanding them as the only viable flexible straw. Aardvark claim to be offering one of the few disposable, degradable, yet usefully flexible alternatives. Andy Dingley (talk) 12:20, 31 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

90% of plastic really only from a few rivers?

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I did read the SciAm article, yes, with the title "Stemming the Plastic Tide: 10 Rivers Contribute Most of the Plastic in the Oceans"

"Our seas are choking on plastic. A staggering eight million metric tons wind up in oceans every year [..] A recent study estimates that more than a quarter of all that waste could be pouring in from just 10 rivers, eight of them in Asia.

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Schmidt and his colleagues dug up published data on the plastic concentration in 57 rivers of various sizes around the world. These measurements included bottles and bags, as well as microscopic fibers and beads. The researchers multiplied these concentrations by the rivers' water discharge to calculate the total weight of plastic flowing into the sea. They then fed these data into a model that compared them with the estimated weight of plastic litter generated per person per day along each river

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show that rivers collectively dump anywhere from 0.47 million to 2.75 million metric tons of plastic into the seas every year, depending on the data used in the models. The 10 rivers that carry 93 percent of that trash are the Yangtze, Yellow, Hai, Pearl, Amur, Mekong, Indus and Ganges Delta in Asia, and the Niger and Nile in Africa. The Yangtze alone dumps up to an estimated 1.5 million metric tons of plastic waste into the Yellow Sea."

Despite the title, 2.75m tons is only 34% of 8m tons, so at most 34% down to 5.8% of all plastic comes from ALL of the rivers? Thereof 93% comes from these few rivers. I'm guessing, we on the west do not just dump stuff as much into the rivers, and clean first but then pump out to sea. I don't know how much of the plastic is collected, and how much goes through. Note in the article, waste may mean more than plastic (and of course just a tiny bit of that plastic are straws). comp.arch (talk) 20:31, 20 November 2018 (UTC)[reply]

more conveniently

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The page starts with "A drinking straw or drinking tube is a small pipe that allows its user to more conveniently consume a beverage." I am looking for a source that shows the benefits of using a straw, and can't find any. Yet this is here without any citation. How exactly is it more convenient? --83.81.54.75 (talk) 16:18, 10 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Health Risk of Straws

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The wording in the article is really hazy on the dental concerns of straws. The research is way more ambiguous than the wording implies, and the phrasing seems to imply that drinking straws have a definite increase to one’s risk of cavities. The research has found that where in the mouth the straw is has a massive impact on its risk to developing cavities. In some cases it has been found to decrease the risk of cavities.

The point on gas is likely true but disingenuous. Even drinking without a straw causes a person to ingest air. Bloating is rarely caused by the ingestion of air. The main cause of bloating is typically tied to the food or drink that was consumed.

The point of straws leeching chemicals is pointlessly nebulous as written in the article. Looking at the source, it specifically refers to the possibility of polypropylene straws releasing estrogenic compounds. There is evidence of compounds that interact with estrogen receptors being released by polypropylene, but the health risk of this is highly disputed. This is partly because certain foods that have been consumed by humans for millennia also have and release compounds that can interact with estrogen receptors.

Snaperkids (talk) 03:05, 24 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]


Combining/Adding to the types and materials section

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I've noticed that the types and materials section of this article can be expanded on and even combined to make the flow of the article more cohesive. At the moment there are alot of references listed in the materials section with little to no explanation of what is contained in the references

MJS4253 (talk) 20:55, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Alternatives

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Why is that part missing the obvious alternative, which was used before plastic, namely cellophane? Cellophane is already mentioned in the mass production section, so why is it missing from the alternatives section? It could be nice to know the advantages and disadvantages of cellophane in the context.212.97.248.18 (talk) 04:58, 1 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Bans on drinking straws

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Should the information about bans on disposable plastic drinking straws be moved to its own article? Maybe with a title like Phase-out of plastic straws? Bohemian Baltimore (talk) 05:35, 23 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

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