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Soda straws have been with us for a hundred-and-twenty-five years. The first patent was issued in Eighteen-Eighty-Eight. And you used to get one at soda fountains for fountain Cokes and milk shakes.

How is it that all of a sudden, even in nice restaurants, a glass of ice-water comes with a soda straw stuck in it? I don’t ask for a straw. Yet, every cold beverage arrives with a soda straw. Why is this?

Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, an Austro-German traveler, visited Memphis a few months after the 1878 Yellow Fever epidemic.

He described his mixed reactions to the city in his memoir Travels on the Lower Mississippi.

He wrote, “After traveling to the four corners of the world, I cannot remember impressions anywhere as disagreeable as those upon entering this Memphis.

Chefs Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman are getting plenty of national attention lately for the Southern-meets-Italian cuisine they serve at their two East Memphis restaurants.

Randy Boyd is a somewhat unlikely pick as a special advisor to Governor Bill Haslam on issues of higher education. Boyd is the CEO of Radio Systems Corporation, a pet company best known for their brand names Invisible Fence, Pet Safe, and Sport Dog.

“It seemed it was natural to go from animal welfare to higher education,” Boyd joked, “[but] there is one segue between animal welfare and dog products and this current educational initiative.”