January 3, 2008 -- Drinking Straw Trivia

Happy New Year to everyone on the Net. Today is the 3rd day of the year and the first Net of 2008 (or MMVIII in Roman Numerals...).

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Today we say Happy Birthday to the drinking straw!


Well, not really, but kind of...

Drinking straws have been around for a long time. The first straws were made by the Sumerian's, and were used for drinking beer (as to avoid the solid byproducts of fermentation). The earliest drinking straws were hollow stems of grass, literally made of straw.

But on this date in history, January 3rd, Marvin C. Stone patented the modern drinking straw.

TRIVIA QUESTION:

In what year did Stone patent the drinking straw?


TRIVIA ANSWER:

1888.

Early paper straws had a narrow bore similar to that of the grass stems then in common use. It was common to use two of them, to reduce the effort needed to take each sip. Modern plastic straws are made with a larger bore, so only one is needed for comfortable drinking.

In the United States, most straws are plastic. Ted's Montana Grill claims to have "re-invented the paper straw" (not produced in the United States since 1970) as part of its effort to be an environmentally-friendly restaurant.

>>>>>>>> NET CHECK IN's <<<<<<<<

Congratulations to all who got the answer to tonight's Trivia Question and a hearty thank you to everyone for playing along.

Here is the list of stations that checked in to tonight's net along with their answers:


* WB6A - Pat - 1940
* AC6AJ - Lee - 1878
* WB6ATV - Ron - 1919
* KE6CZH - Robert - 1800
* KG6DBL - Bill - 1903
* W6DTS - Ted - 1888
* K6FCC - Khalil - 1888
* KB6IS - Madeline - 1883
* N6KAS - Andy - 1894
* KG6KTC - Leon - 1887
* NY6L - Jay - 1924
* K6LMN - Roger - 1890
* KE6MSS - Thomas - 1869
* N6NGU - Leigh - 1886
* KD6NIW - Oliver - 1884
* W6NVY - Gary - 1886
* KG6NWJ - Barry - 1860
* KD6OBM - Jason - 1875
* KF6PIH - Scott - 1895
* K6QVZ - Joe - 1883
* KG6RDA - Sidney - 1890
* AD6UP - Louie - 1886
* KF6YBM - Henry - 1870
* KF6ZQM - Harry - 1890
* N6ZZK - Theo - 1935
* KF6MKN - Brad - 1806
* W6ELL - Jim - 1890

73. de N6CIZ.