"Straws remind me of Daylight Savings Time.Back in the day, when they were tinkering with the starting and ending dates for Daylight Savings Times, I knew that, rather than doing anything to solve whatever problem the were pretending to solve, they created a nuisance for everybody, which allowed everybody to realize that they were doing something, hence the inconvenience.  Can't they do something else that doesn't inconvenience us?  Of course they can't.  https://www.britannica.com/topic/Daylight-Saving-TimeNow, the same thing with straws.  The most trivial effort being made that inconveniences and annoys the maximum amount of people, yet accomplishes nothing.  Sure, some people use straws - I did as a kid, sometimes, and I think I used plastic straws, but mostly waxed paper straws (showing my age) - but...hey, everybody...use those soggy old inferior paper straws to make your contribution.  It's a negative contribution?  Oops.  "

"About 35 years ago, there was a salmonella-in-eggs scandal in Britain.  http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/december/3/newsid_2519000/2519451.stmMy impression at the time was that the problem arose because chicken carcasses were allowed to lay around at ambient temperature and then ground up and fed to chickens, and some of the carcasses had salmonella, and the salmonella-infested feed the chickens ate got into the eggs.    A few years later, there was the Mad Cow Disease scandal, which I'm sure arose because sheep carcasses with scrapie were ground up and put into cattle feed, and scrapie passed through the blood-brain barrier - something like that - and became Mad Cow Disease.  https://www.science.org/content/article/clues-scrapie-mad-cow-link"

"As a left-hander, I've noticed that the handle opening is larger on the side that would be gripped by right-handed people, which I've never understood.Looking at the jugs lined up in the top photo, it would appear that, maybe, this is to create a larger panel for the label, which would be displayed outward in the refrigerated display case. I supposed I can suspend my left-hander's grievance, thanks to this photo.   "

"Just  a comment to RC to say, what a great comment.  "

"Thanks."

"The GIF shows a plastic spring using polyoxymethylene plastic.  My patent application from 1990 shows a concept for a plastic spring to be used in a retractable writing instrument.  https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=EP12155006&_cid=P12-KLA73Z-44056-6The drawing seen at the link simply shows the concept, the intent being for design experts to perfect it.  The material at the time was polypropylene, which, perhaps, would not have worked properly, as does the decades-later polyoxymethylene.  Finally, the time is right for this concept for a retractable writing instrument with a plastic spring.  A design similar to that shown in the GIF should work perfectly.  Anybody know how to contact the people doing this "shape-haptic" work?  "

"I learned about this some years ago, and thought it was a brilliant solution to a world problem, but never heard anything more about it until this article.Even as I read it, I came to the same conclusion: what a great pair of inexpensive durable reading glasses.  The idea of being able to buy one pair and buy ten or twenty for people around the world is fantastic.  "

"Three-piece design for retractable rolling ball writer - with integral plastic spring - from 1991.  https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=EP12155006&_cid=P12-KLA73Z-44056-6Reverse engineered by Pilot and put on the market as the Explorer.  https://www.officeworld.com/Worlds-Biggest-Selection/PIL35360/14Q1/"

"Halloween.  Permanent pumpkins.  Fit rods into the three holes to create sort of a tripod.  Carve and decorate and fit them with LEDs.  "

"This is actually the first time I have seen this OXO Good Grips products.  Oh, wait...except that, functionally, it seems to remind me of Fig. 5 in my US Patent 4882816, issued November 28, 1989.   https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf;jsessionid=EC8A62CC7428CFA6D5A5C75E63A6068B.wapp1nA?docId=US37817892&tab=DRAWINGSI knew it was a good concept.  "

"Retractable writing instrument from 1990 that eliminated the metal spring with an integal plastic spring.  Nobody wanted to know.  https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/detail.jsf?docId=EP12155006&_cid=P12-KLA73Z-44056-6"