Disney to eliminate plastic straws from owned theme parks

The last cruise I was on had Macallan 12 included. No straws here :)

I know it matters. And I have seen the video of the sea turtle or whatever years ago now.

But what bothers me about this wave is how fad like it feels. One day everyone I know is sucking on straws like they have an oral fixation, the next dirty looks and judgments fly when you request a straw at the restaurant. I was like, what the hell just happened? Yes, please, let me put my lips directly on your half-washed restaurant glass because Facebook is shaming me again.

It does seem like a fad with a bunch of companies jumping on the bandwagon presumably to get some good press. I had one of the paper straws somewhere recently (don't remember where) and it only lasted for half of my drink before it collapsed and I had some paper mulch in my mouth. No thanks. For what it's worth, the food service company at my place of employment took away the straw dispenser and makes you request a straw. I always do, Facebook be damned.

Raven-Phile said:

The last cruise I was on had Macallan 12 included. No straws here :)

Mimosas at breakfast, frozen drinks at the pool (straw request), beer after lunch, wine with dinner, whiskey at night.

It's a very strict regimen, but I give it my best. Thank God for the Ultimate Beverage Package!

My actual regimen was similar, but I would start with a Bloody Mary and I kept whisky or beer going with dinner, depending on what I was eating. During the day at the pool, if I wasn't drinking beer, it was captain and cola or ginger ale or a Mai Tai/Mojito etc.. I rarely did anything frozen, but I definitely need a straw for that.

This conversation made me realize that I’ve never been the straw type. My entire life I’ve preferred to drink straight from the glass or cup. My dad was the same way. Even milkshakes, which I prefer on the runny side anyway. (Hazard warning: that last glob of ice cream WILL slide down the glass and cover your nose and epic mustache)
I’ll admit for frozen drinks a straw is best, but I don’t like em all that well anyway. I’m the boy who sucks all the juice out of his Icee, sno cone, or margarita and is left holding a cup of grainy, plain ice. Then there’s that hellish notion of brain-freeze...

Although I usually trust her judgement, I’m not even going to let Carrie frighten me with tales of bacteria-laden, half-washed glasses.
Ew....
Nope.
Ew....

If the glass is bacteria laden and half washed even with a straw you are still drinking something that is stored in the bacteria laden half washed container so I don't know that the straw is helping any...it's more a perception of grossness. It may feel cleaner in your mind but I don't think it matters either way.

I have kids and dogs. I can't put anything in my mouth worse than what's already been there.

Carrie J. said:

Yes, please, let me put my lips directly on your half-washed restaurant glass...

Aren't you eating off of half-washed restaurant plates? And the half-washed restaurant forks and spoons are going right in your mouth. Why is the glass any worse than that?

It was a joke.

I am on the front that every bit helps but I would rather see plastic bags go before straws.

And how about those foam milkshake cups? Just the thought makes my teeth hurt.

Dale K said:
I am on the front that every bit helps but I would rather see plastic bags go before straws.

But plastic bags can actually be recycled. That’s the biggest problem with straws.

Raven-Phile said:

Dale K said:
I am on the front that every bit helps but I would rather see plastic bags go before straws.

But plastic bags can actually be recycled. That’s the biggest problem with straws.

It depends on your recycling center. My recycling center will take straws but not plastic bags.

I think the reason it’s so faddish all of a sudden is the fact that the EU is banning them, so companies are likely noticing the writing on the wall.

This explains in a single action why (much of) the UK voted to leave the EU.

As for the half washed tableware...

Restaurant dishes are typically sanitized, then stacked in places of questionable cleanliness. But they typically aren’t “half washed”. You’re thinking of the drinking glasses in a hotel room.

But people who handle and serve drinks in restaurants DO often have the disturbing habit of handling the glassware by its upper rim. The tumbler may be 6” tall, but the waiter picks it up by locking his fingers on the top half-inch of the glass like a human arcade crane. It’s less prevalent than it used to be, but I swear some of these servers were trained by flight attendants or something.

(Flight attendants almost ALWAYS handle cups by the upper rim because the design of the cup makes them awkward and hazardous to handle any other way)

—Dave Althoff, Jr.

Straws caused the UK to leave the EU?

Maybe that’s why so many want to stay and regret their vote.

The Britts are much better off without the EU as would most of Europe. I was happy to see the UK vote for sanity.

No, not straws.
But European micromanagement.
The EU was envisioned as a single economic market where independent countries could participate as a trading bloc both with each other and with the rest of the world. Originally, the Euro wasn’t even supposed to be a real currency; the idea was that the individual currencies would all have values pegged to the Euro, but intranational transactions would generally be conducted in the local currency. The idea was a common market for independent States.
What these States ended up with, though, was an increasingly meddlesome European government with no respect for the sovereignty of the member states. Far from managing the rules of international trade, the EU, in the interest of harmonization has promulgated a great number of often burdensome and frequently unwanted regulations that should be local concerns. In short, the EU does what a Federal bureaucracy normally does...and some representatives of a member State have had enough. After all, they have their own bureaucracy that should be doing these things. To put it another way, it only took the Europeans about 20 years to get to a point where the Americans needed more like 80. I guess everything happens faster these days.

—Dave Althoff, Jr.

Pete said:

The Britts are much better off without the EU as would most of Europe. I was happy to see the UK vote for sanity.

That's debatable. Economically, it looks like a lose for the UK, even from the POV of the Wall Street Journal, which is not usually a fan of the EU.