The McFlurry Spoon Design Quandary

Today, as I was browsing through Facebook, I came across this interesting article posted in 

http://colinseymour.co.uk/mcflurry-spoon-design-quandary where one the writer's colleague posted an interesting question to them as he waved a McDonald's McFlurry spoon to them: Why is the spoon designed like it is?

If you guys are observant enough, you will noticed that on one end of the McFlurry spoon, it is designed in a shaped bit which you'd expect but it's the handle that puzzled us. It's hollow and square with a funny clip that looks like the clip from a pen. Now the spoon end is easy enough to work out why it's been designed as such: it's the get the ice-cream into your ice-cream hole, but how do your explain the odd handle?

Several possible suggestions came up including, to ease packing, save on plastic, to strengthen the spoon for those fatties who can't wait for the ice-cream to soften a bit and even as a consequence of the injection moulding process.

We were all wrong. A quick search on the Internet (where else) revealed the reason for the handle design:

The McFlurry Spoon is designed with a hollow, 12.5 cm long, 1.5 cm wide square handle made of translucent, heavy-gauge (1 mm thick) plastic. There is no straw functionality in the US version of the utensil, the handle is made hollow only to save material and to allow it to be mounted on the mixer. At the end of the handle is a clip, which attaches onto the rotating axl of the blending machine. The McFlurry-maker engages the mixer while holding the cup, and the spoon acts as a beater, blending the candy pieces into the ice cream. The domed lid ensures none of the McFlurry escapes, and using a disposable mixing utensil means less equipment needs to be washed by the crew at the end of the night.

Of course. Those brilliant geniuses. They had it all figured out. Thinking out of the box much?  

One thing for sure, the McFlurry spoon does not double as a straw! At least it's not supposed to. Though the hallow spoon looks like an uncomfortable, unwieldy straw, it is actually part of an ingenious design known as the "Flurry Spoon Agitator"

okay got to go study for my upcoming Company Law paper which is in two days time!!!!! *dies*

Anyway, Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all! For those of you who do not have  a clue what is this festival's all about, please, do your research. Nah, kidding. As I am in a very generous mood for knowledge sharing today.. 

Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of every 8th month according to the Chinese Lunar calendar, the Mid-Autumn Festival is the second grandest festival after the spring Festival. It takes its name from the fact that it is always celebrated in the middle of the autumn season. the day is also known as the Moon Cake Festival, as at that time of the year the moon is at its roundest and brightest. 

Mid-Autumn Festival is an inherited custom of moon sacrificial ceremonies. The ancient Chinese observed that the movement of the moon has a close relationship with the changes of the season and agricultural production. Hence, to express their thanks and gratitude to the moon and to celebrate the harvest, they offered a sacrifice to the moon on autumn days. 

So if you are scratching your butt, wondering why the moon is all round and shining brightly up there for these past few days, here's your answer (well not really much of a scientific factual truth, but oh well), its the MOON CAKE FESTIVAL MONTH BABY! My advise to you, get out there and go grab some moon cake for yourself. Cheers :)