Folks, the reason to bring up this guy is that the Red Solo Cup is a 'Murican party staple, and also a part of coming of age / rite of passage for, oh, just about every teen and young adult. Mentioning the inventor's death is no different than mentioning the passing of some video game notable: the person touched our lives in a small way, with something familiar to most of us. Not that it's a big deal for 300+ million people here, but that it's a touchstone for nearly all of us.

So the Red Solo Cup in itself isn't particularly significant since it's just another cup, yet it holds a specific cultural significance over here because of its ubiquity at celebrations. Basically, you see a Red Solo Cup and good times come to mind.

Got any ping pong balls? XD

Oh beer pong. No, but there are two Universities up here so I'm sure I can find some. Problem is there is a five foot snow drift keeping me from physically getting outside. :P

So you can't "rite of passage" with a different coloured cup?

Grab a couple of roombas for even more shenanigans.

Yes, that's exactly correct. One can not be considered an adult in the US - and you have to prove it in order to vote - unless one has partied with a Red Solo Cup.

/s

The Solo cups are cheap and more durable than other cups. They come primarily in red. They do make blue and yellow (as referenced in the video I posted earlier) but the most common color of the cups is red.

Both, but it would be Rest In Pieces for the cups and I'm sure you'll make better use of them than I do so I'll pass.

To be honest, I never knew there was a significance to them being "Red". I could swear I've seen as many blue ones as red. But lost in all this conversation is his other grand invention...the plastic coffee cup lid!

Yes, this is just one of those quirky bits about America, sort of like how your on Christmas Island, but I'm pretty sure you guys don't spend the entire year decorated like it's Christmas.

Although, it would be awesome if I were wrong about that.

It's become a sort of cultural short hand. They only come in a few colors, but for some reason, the red ones tended to get used by college students for parties.

They're synonymous with underage drinking to the point where drinking anything out of them in a picture on social media can lead to problems. There's been teachers fired over pictures of them drinking out of the cups, even in the absence of information about what they were drinking, because underaged drinking is a no-no.
It's not really a western thing, it's a developed world thing. It happens in places where people grow up expecting to more or less live out their entire life expectancy and die of some sort of illness decades down the road.

I highly doubt that folks in ISIS controlled areas would be thinking about random inventors and famous people dying unless they had a specific reason to. Whereas, in areas where the mortality rates are lower, we have the luxury of thinking about a famous person dying as rare.
For the Americans, that's probably roughly analogous. Those candies have been banned in the US for so long that they lack any cultural significance to us. But, I'm guessing that if you're from a place where those were available, that they probably have some fond memories.

I tend to frown on anything the FDA does, but putting a piece of plastic/toy inside of a piece of candy is totally fucked up. :P

I love prizes, but put them WITH the treat, not inside the goddamn thing! XD

I never understood Muricans. You're allowed to drive at 16, buy a gun at 18 but aren't allowed to drink until 21.

I honestly don't see the problem. The damn thing opens easily. No one tries to eat the whole thing, and even if you did, it would just fall apart and the little box with the toy will fall out.

I had no idea kinder surprise is banned in the US, and it's one of the saddest things I heard. What a joyless place it must be.