The Most Dangerous Toys of 2011

theodp writes "If you've procrastinated on your Xmas shopping this year, fear not: Gawker's just published its tongue-in-cheek 2011 Top Picks for Gifts That Maim or Poison Children. Until President Nixon enacted the first national safety standard for playthings with the Toy Safety Act in 1969, the toy industry was pretty much anything-goes. As a result of the legislation, children may live longer, but they'll never know the joys of many beloved-but-dangerous classics, including Zulu Guns, Jarts, and Clackers."

Comments

Want!

[ackthpt]

What sort of psychology are they playing at here?

When I was a wee lad we have to burn ourselves with Thing-makers, pinch fingers in gears of Erector sets and poison ourselves with Chemistry sets. Kids today have it much harder.

Re:Want!

[confused one]

I recall accidentally starting a fire in the kitchen with an old chemistry set. Pinched fingers. Injury due to hard objects striking the body. These were the norm. BB guns were considered toys (they are currently classified as firearms in the city I'm living in) I learned to operate lawn mowers, drive tractors, and handle chain saws by my early teen years. You learned to respect things. Kids today are taught to be scared of machines that are safer than "toys" we played with as kids.

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[Anonymous Coward]

I remember a shy, nerd gal who became extremely proficient at full cycle clacker(ing), much better than everyone else. Everyone was paying attention to her, she enjoyed the attention - and the very next day, the school banned Clackers. She went back to being a wallflower, another nerd denied.

Re:Want!

[bill_mcgonigle]

BB guns were considered toys (they are currently classified as firearms in the city I'm living in)

They don't quite get the 'fire' part, do they?

Frankly a dartboard set is far more dangerous.

Re:Want!

[mirix]

Funny how that works. get rid of chemistry sets, and hobby chemistry becomes an endangered species.

It doesn't help that buying things as simple as labware probably get you thrown on some 'suspected meth cook' list, either.

If things were always like that, I imagine we'd still think there were only four elements.

Re:Want!

[confused one]

No they don't; but, there was an unfortunate accident involving a child shooting another child in the head, with the result of the second child dying. It happened and the reaction of the city council was to lump airguns firing metal projectiles under the same grouping as traditional firearms. It was easier than creating a separate classification with its own enforcement rules, I guess.

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[Forbman]

'cept a .22 cal air-powered pellet gun that shoots pellets at 1100 fps might as well be a firearm.

Re:Want!

[demonlapin]

FPS and pellet weight rules might be in order here. A .22 cal pellet gun that fires at 1100 fps also costs as much as a firearm.

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[hairyfeet]

Oh don't forget lawn darts, the "Hey lets throw sharp stakes at each other!" toy for the whole family, hell they even had a "Mr Atomic" chem set, I wonder if those kids glow in the dark now?

This reminds me of the old SNL bit, anybody remember Akroyd getting grief over his company's toys like "Johnny switchblade" or the "human torch" costume which was just some gas soaked rags and some matches?

But compared to the stuff we had when I was a kid the stuff on the list is a fricking joke! heck when I was a kid we all had minibikes starting as young as 5! Nobody wore helmets, everybody had ramps, the answer to every injury was "put a bandaid on it" and we all drove like maniacs! I can still remember buzzing around my small town at 8 with a giant 8 track duct taped to the handlebars so I could blast Kiss Alive II as I scared the neighbors dogs. We all had lawn darts and played with fireworks and yet we all managed to survive just fine!

I have to wonder if this isn't just "the march of the morons" at play here, as we at least had enough common sense not to do things REALLY stupid. Nowadays it seems like we are trying to babyproof the planet, are kids really THAT much stupider than when we were kids?

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[Baloroth]

are kids really THAT much stupider than when we were kids?

I don't think so, but the parents are that much dumber. Or less attentive (same thing, really.)

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[Pulzar]

'cept a .22 cal air-powered pellet gun that shoots pellets at 1100 fps might as well be a firearm

Everybody knows that a human eye can't perceive anything more than 60 fps. You need a pellet gun doing 1100 fps only because you have a small.... oh, wait, wrong thread?

Re:Want!

[Anonymous Coward]

We used to play with lawn darts with real metal points. I think that they are classified as WMDs today...

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[nospam007]

"It doesn't help that buying things as simple as labware probably get you thrown on some 'suspected meth cook' list, either."

If you're lucky, otherwise Homeland Security might become interested in you.

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[Mashiki]

Pretty sure I've still got parts of my old childhood chemistry set floating around somewhere, including some old childhood microscope set from the 50's. I know there was some interesting stuff in both of those. Yep, long gone is the era of unique and neat stuff.

Re:Want!

[sjames]

Or even harder, recognizing that some accidents are really freak events. They couldn't have been foreseen, probably won't happen again, and suggest no particular preventive action.

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[rev0lt]

You make me remember when I told my mum I was going to try some explosive recipes - and she replied very fast that if I want to do a mess and try explosives, to do it outside because she's not cleaning the kitchen.

Re:Want!

[rev0lt]

Yes, because sliding a nail with a clipped head in the barrel is just out of reach for most children with a BB gun. But yeah, to kill somebody, you'd need to get really lucky.

Re:Want!

[rev0lt]

But compared to the stuff we had when I was a kid the stuff on the list is a fricking joke! heck when I was a kid we all had minibikes starting as young as 5!

Today kids have that too. My almost-three-year old daughter has a bike that rides like the devil himself is behind her, and sometimes get some nice bruises from falling. She wears a helmet (hey I'm not stupid) and more clothing than average, and we try to watch her all the time, but she's pretty independant. More than I was with her age - she uses the bathroom, can count to 20, can sing whole songs, recognize some numbers, can use the fridge and pick her food, can go to the cabinet and pick silverwear without picking the knives, can say many words, and - since I've been showing her some american Sesame Street videos, she can say some english words. And when she plays outside, she sometimes eats dirt.
In contrast, I have some fellow parent friends with children of the same age that don't eat solid food and live in constant fear of germs. Everything must be sanitized. Who do you think is the bigger kid? :D
The problem is that my parent's generation was too laxing (mercury? eat it, is good for something or it wouldn't be in your food), and the current parents are too misinformed (everything is a threat and will kill your child! with mercury!), and there's no middle ground. And parents are such an easy prey for marketing pitches...

Re:Want!

[orangesquid]

If he has a small.. problem, maybe he can blame it on Playmobil -- though perhaps it's chicken-and-egg if it's that the Fairy Tale Pavilion caused BPA exposure versus if the BPA led to Fairy Tale Pavilion exposure. It's interesting that bisphenol A is compared to diethylstilbestrol in its wikipedia entry (the same age group affected directly by BPA might also be interested in third-generation DES [NSFW] gonadotropic effects).

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[SeaFox]

What normal kid would do that and shoot it at another person? You can kill someone with all sorts of household items when they're used maliciously. The solution is to hold individuals to a standard of behavior.

Or do you suggest we tell kids they can't play baseball anymore because it's possible to use a bat as a weapon? Maybe we shouldn't allow them to butter their own bread, either.

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[Zeroko]

When I was younger I separated some water into hydrogen & oxygen & then made it explode (in the kitchen, of course). Next thing they will be outlawing at least one of electricity, conductive objects, & water.

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[Anonymous Coward]

From The Onion: Fun Toy Banned Because Of Three Stupid Dead Kids

Re:Want!

[Bob the Super Hamste]

More in some cases. I bought a M91/30 for $89, I also have a .22 cal air rifle that shoots at 1100 fps, that cost me $169 on sale and this one wasn't even a fancy one, just something cheap to shoot targets and to control the yard pests.

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[hairyfeet]

I think you misunderstand dude, when I say "minibike" I mean with actual gasoline motors, goes about 50MPH. I actually didn't learn to ride a pedal bike until I was 11 because i always had a motorbike. my first bike was a Honda 50 minitrail at 5 years old! Everyone called it the mad bee for the sound that thing made, a high pitched 'meeeeeer' as i whiped through our little town (pop 350 on a good day). Lucky for mom we had a collie or she'd have never been able to get me home! She'd just stick her head out and tell the dog "Go fetch him for supper" and Ruffles would go flying after the sound and when he caught me he'd bark at me and head towards the house. Man I miss that dog, nothing like a really smart dog.

I agree though that parents go too damned far the other way. I had a little girl bump into me and the grocery store and when I said "excuse me little miss" I actually heard her momma say "stranger danger". Well needless to say I went off like an atom bomb on that mom and told her that if she and the other parents would be more worried about teaching their kids good manners instead of being afraid of invisible bogeymen the world would be a better place, all the people in the store cheered. Its sad things have gotten so stupid that when one of the children downstairs held the door open for me when I was loaded down and said "here you go sir" i actually went and knocked on his mom's door just to tell her what a polite and well mannered child she had.

Its just nuts, no wonder so many kids are fat and diabetic, their damned parents won't even let them go play anymore! We rode motorbikes, ran like wild injuns, did we get hurt? Hell yes, but what don't get you makes you stronger and gives you some killer stories to go with the scars, like the time I am sitting in an ER with a nice little puddle of blood in front of me where I did a faceplant at 60MPH thanks to a damned dog trying to bite my front wheel, and I'm sitting next to a kid that is holding the holes in his throat together where he popped over a field into a barb wire fence on a 3 wheeler, and we are both just laughing our asses off higher than kites because the ER doc took one look at the two of us and said "Look I know that has GOT to hurt but we had some kids flip a convertible and couple of them are missing limbs, so if I give you two a shot of morphine will you be alright?" We just looked at each other and stuck out our arms and were laughing like loons inside of 10 minutes, good stuff that morphine.

Kids today in their sterile little living spaces just don't know what fun is. My boys rode bikes (sadly their mother wouldn't let me get them the motor kind after my little face plant, I told her losing a few inches of skin builds character) and went swimming with the fishes in actual creeks, they had FUN dammit! It did them good too, as age may have finally got up with me and given me the family beer belly both boys are lean and trim and the oldest is constantly being asked out by the little campus cuties.

Re:Want!

[tsa]

What!? Are there more?

Re:Want!

[tsa]

That means no washing machines and kitchen appliances! Back to the 19th century!

Re:Want!

[Anonymous Coward]

Warning: do not attempt to perceive 1100fps with remaining eye.

Re:Want!

[m50d]

There's a selection bias here; the kids who died aren't here posting about how all that stuff never hurt them.

As life gets better it becomes more valuable, and smaller and smaller dangers become unacceptable. That's progress for you.

Re:Want!

[martin-boundary]

'cept a .22 cal air-powered pellet gun that shoots pellets at 1100 fps might as well be a firearm.

Let's do the experiment, shall we?

*Lights match*

*sticks flaming match into business end of pellet gun*

*phew*phew*phew*phew*phew*

Damn! The @#&!#*^ match got blown out again!

*Lights match*

...

Re:Want!

[Inda]

Lawn darts were for pussies!

Take one long bamboo cane. Sharpen the end.

Cut a cross in the other end and use some cardboard for the flights.

A little notch halfway down to aid the throw.

Another bamboo cane with some string attached in a loop. The loop goes in the notch of the spear/arrow/javlin.

We could throw these babies 100m if the wind was right.

They could kill a cow (but we always missed).

Re:Want!

[ikkonoishi]

Yeah its too bad none of those old SNL skits are on youtube. The networks must be real strict with the takedowns because the best way to sell dvds is to make sure nobody knows SNL used to be funny.

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[Ihmhi]

I wonder how many laws we have that ruin the fun for everybody because a handful of people died in freak accidents or acts of incredible stupidity.

Re:Want!

[LongearedBat]

Don't you know? There are five elements.

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[flyneye]

The test of that theory lies in actually hitting a target.
Was there actual damage to the target?
Did the target run and tell Mom, or if big enough mount the "firearm" rectally in your britches?
When local statutes protect sparrows, I'm afraid you're outa luck for a kill unless you find a sick critter to stand a yard or two from the muzzle.
That 1100 fps was taken from their nice,fussed over, optimized prototype and printed on the package to give you an erection.
Truth will be much less considering; The disinterested monkey who assembled it with his mind on a cigarette break.
                                                                                                          The fit of the seal out of the box vs. the fussed over machined seal of the prototype..
                                                                                                          The wear on the seal that you inevitably forget to lube with any regularity.
                                                                                                          6 months into this you wind up with a "firearm" that wouldn't put a half inch dent in a bowl of whip cream.
Ahhh, you'll just shoot your eye out ,kid.
Don't think I'd be caught saying a bb gun is much more than a toy in front of any peers. Best just keep that under your hat.
Might wanna learn a bit more about "firearm" safety while you got one in your hand though. Because the thing is good for f**k else.

Re:Want!

[rikkards]

My dad picked up a BB gun last year and I will say the thing is heavier than his 60 year old .22. When most people think air rifle they think of the old red riders where you would have to pump it 10 times and you would be lucky to get it to go 20 feet. The air rifles today are wickedly more dangerous and really need to be respected

Re:Want!

[confused one]

There's the really hard part. It is natural that people just want to do something in response to a bad situation; and, even with the best of intentions, they sometimes make things worse.

Re:Want!

[Anonymous Coward]

How about a 91/30 for $79; which is an actual piece of history. Mine is old enough it very likely was used in WWII. A lot of people use these weapons for hunting. Mine shoots roughly 1.25 MOA at 100 yards, which is slightly better than average. The 7.62x54r has ballistics roughly equal to a .308 even though its been around since the dinosaurs. The weapon is not a refined weapon to say the least but its easily usable to drop large, North American game out to 500-600 yards or so; assuming you have the eyes to do so with its ladder iron sights. And if you know any WWII war buffs, its a very affordable gift. Add to the fact that surplus ammo is dirt cheap for it, its without a doubt the best bang for the buck.

If you want to "plink" with the rifle, a $10 rubber butt stock is an absolutely must. The straight stock will pound the holy crap out of your shoulder if you don't get the rubber butt which replaces the steel plate. My shoulder was literally black and blue for two weeks after thirty rounds without the rubber butt plate. Really makes you appreciate what they did in battle whereby they might have fired thousands of rounds over a couple of continuous days. It even has fairly accurate ladder sights good enough to hit a man-sized target out to 600-800 meters; depending on the shooter and rifle.

Cons: Jackhammer straight stock. Tough trigger which takes some practice; though it can be somewhat improved if you're so inclined. Ladder sight is calibrated for meters, not yards. Hard to use safety - has probably never been used. Very long barrel.
Pros: Piece of history and might have even been used in WWII. Frugal, fairly accurate (assuming barrel is still good), high powered rounds. $80 will buy a near lifetime supply of ammo. They're just cool and an frugal way to get into hunting and shooting.

And if you care, they can be pretty accurate rifles. The sniper variant was randomly picked from bulk lots. They were not specially made. This means its possible to get a rifle which actually shoots 1-MOA or better without ever having served as a sniper rifle. And if you've ever seen Enemy At The Gates, these are the rifles. These rifles, sniper and otherwise, killed many a German soldier and sniper.

Re:Want!

[shadowrat]

You were modded funny, but i think your post is actually insightful. The article is an attempt to poke fun at these "dangerous" toys. However, compared to the toys i remember these seem about as dangerous as a sponge. I can only assume it's written by someone who's much younger than I (40). Rather than a collection of amusingly poorly thought out toys, the article illustrates how generations following mine are big sissies.

I too had a thingmaker so i assume you are a child of the early 70s. We had to contend with lawn darts, near supersonic mazinga missiles, wrist rockets (they still have those, but it was common to give them to young children then), the irresistibly chewy but probably toxicly colored light sabers of obi wan kenobi and luke skywalker, micronauts (a toy that must have been an attempt to put as many choking hazards on one figure as possible, etc. Almost every toy from my childhood was a trial by fire, gas powered tethered airplanes designed to wrap a steel cable around your neck, japanese robots made from stainless steele with razor sharp edges, etc. Either you figured out how to use it, or you were maimed or killed.

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[bigrockpeltr]

now we have microwave ovens to do it for you

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[tomboalogo]

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/King-Co-requires-life-vests-for-swimmers-1432255.php

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[Anonymous Coward]

The air rifles today are wickedly more dangerous and really need to be respected

What do you mean by today?

Quoting wikipedia

In the 17th century, air guns, in calibers .30–.51, were used to hunt big game deer and wild boar. These air rifles were charged using a pump to fill an air reservoir and gave velocities from 650 to 1,000 feet per second (200–300 m/s).

Re:Want!

[rev0lt]

Huh? Every normal kid would probably try to shoot someone they don't like very much, just to see what happens. There are a lot of ways a kid can get killed, but most of them aren't a fraction-of-a-second activity. Also, it's easier to outrun a kid with a bat than a nail fired with a BB gun.

Re:Want!

[tehcyder]

Was that formatting deliberate?

Re:Want!

[tehcyder]

Funny how that works. get rid of chemistry sets, and hobby chemistry becomes an endangered species.

Funny how you can still buy chemistry sets on ebay so easily then isn't it?

Re:Want!

[tehcyder]

Hold on, you were riding motorbikes on the steet that were capable of 50mph at the age of 5?

Holy crap, I never realised how sheltered my life was.

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[tompaulco]

There's the really hard part. It is natural that people just want to do something in response to a bad situation; and, even with the best of intentions, they sometimes make things worse.
In my town, a portable electric heater started a fire (as they are occasionally known to do), and killed three children. The mother received third degree burns trying to save her children. Now, in addition to the unthinkable loss of all her children, she must also deal with the fact that she and her husband, who was at work at the time, are both rotting away in jail. After all, it was a freak accident so you gotta send SOMEBODY to jail.

Re:Want!

[CraftyJack]

I actually heard her momma say "stranger danger". Well needless to say I went off like an atom bomb

Hilarious. Sounds like momma's got a sixth sense about people.

Re:Want!

[tompaulco]

Funny how you can still buy chemistry sets on ebay so easily then isn't it?
Yes, and Amazon.com and toys-r-us, and scientificsonline, but why spoil the fun when we're having a good old fashioned "get off my lawn" party?

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[Anonymous Coward]

You need a pellet gun doing 1100 fps only because you have a small.... oh, wait, wrong thread?

Nope, deadly accurate!

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[tompaulco]

Oh don't forget lawn darts, the "Hey lets throw sharp stakes at each other!" toy for the whole family,
I remember the lawn darts, but I don't remember the part about throwing them at the rest of the family. The way we played it, there was a circular hoop on the ground about 30 feet away and you tried to throw your dart into that hoop. The family was all behind the thrower.

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[rwise2112]

If things were always like that, I imagine we'd still think there were only four elements.

Wait! When did they find the fifth one?

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[SleazyRidr]

It's a bit of an exaggeration, those minitrails sound like they're about to explode if you try to get them above 30, but growing up in a small town lets you get away with a lot of stuff that us city kids could only dream about.

Re:Want!

[jdgeorge]

"As much as a firearm".... Are firearms expensive? I mean, compared to a nearly ubiquitous children's plaything like a Nintendo 3DS?

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[TheLink]

What normal kid would do that and shoot it at another person?

Many? That's why the law makes a distinction between children and adults (even though it's arbitrary it's still sillier not to) and parents aren't supposed to let their kids do anything they want.

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[cyberchondriac]

Or even harder, recognizing that some accidents are really freak events. They couldn't have been foreseen, probably won't happen again, and suggest no particular preventive action.

Well said. However, no one (lawyers, politicians) makes any money or recognition off of that fact, so the laws just keep piling on. In 20 years, silverware (except spoons) will be outlawed in a home with children under 10.

Re:Want!

[Bob the Super Hamste]

Depends, they still make the old red riders and other $30-$40 BB guns, but for cheap accurate target shooting a .17 or .22 cal air rifle works great. Really good BB guns and air rifles are surprisingly expensive some costing in the $500 range as I found out when purchasing mine. The one I have is better than most as it is a target one that is used in competitions but is by no means the top of the line. It will easily kill a rabbit and shoots right through the gray squirrels and crows, it is even effective on the opossums that have started showing up in my neighborhood. Like you said definitely not a toy. The nicest thing is the pellets are substantially cheaper than bullets for the 91/30 so I can practice on targets for an afternoon and not run through $100 in ammo, than and I can shoot it in my backyard in the city limits.

Re:Want!

[cyberchondriac]

I can't believe some of the crap chemistry sets they sell today, unless you're willing to pay $250 or more. There's almost nothing to the reasonably priced sets, there are hardly any chemicals included and the stuff is really cheaply made. I had a kit when I was 12, back in the '70s, and that had 15 or more chemicals, and I'm pretty sure my parents didn't spend oobgobs of money on it. I'm reasonably sure the constant modern threat of litigation has a lot to do with it.

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[The Grim Reefer]

micronauts (a toy that must have been an attempt to put as many choking hazards on one figure as possible,

I had those too. Most of them came with spring loaded guns that shot all kinds of projectiles too. I remember several with projectiles that had very large & heavy rubber ends. Naturally these had very heavy duty springs in the guns. When you took the rubber end off you could still shoot the very light thin plastic part that now had enough velocity to embed itself in drywall from 10+ feet away.

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[Anonymous Coward]

God forbid they use a pencil or pen. Dulled crayons and chalk only!

But no, seriously, I'm disgusted with society nowadays and the ultra-safening of everything.

I grew up in the country, and my god, the shit we did out there would make a modern parent vomit in terror! Hell, I sometimes have fun TELLING them about the stuff we did just to see the expressions on their face.

But the next few generations are going to be an absolute nightmare. It'll suck to be my hopefully eventual retirement, and see what trainwreck will become of north america during that time. Maybe if/when I retire, I'll just head across the ocean to somewhere saner.

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[sjames]

I fear that I cannot count that high.

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[Anonymous Coward]

As a young child in the 60s/early 70s (aged about 10 or 11), I could go and buy both glue and modelling knives from shops to allow me to build balsa aircraft. I also walked the mile or so to and from the shops, crossing a couple of main roads. Now nobody under 16 is allowed to buy either of these items, and I suspect that any parent that allowed a child out in the same way would probably get a visit from a social worker.

Re:Want!

[StikyPad]

They couldn't have been foreseen, probably won't happen again, and suggest no particular preventive action.

Wrong. Maybe you're thinking of the spring-loaded Red Ryder guns they had whenever people with 4-digit UIDs were growing up. Those things had muzzle velocities in the range of 350ft/s, while many BB guns today have velocities nearly three times that, and some models going higher still. They should be treated no differently than any other gun capable of launching a projectile with enough kinetic energy to penetrate flesh. That is, they should be treated like they're loaded at all times, kept pointed away from people you don't intend to kill, and kept away from unsupervised kids. The fact that you can impart less energy with a single-pump doesn't change that fact. Just because you or some of your idiot friends decided to shoot at each other with BB guns as a kid, and lived to tell the tale, doesn't make it in any way a good idea.

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[cellocgw]

Funny how you can still buy chemistry sets on ebay so easily then isn't it?
Yes, and Amazon.com and toys-r-us, and scientificsonline, but why spoil the fun when we're having a good old fashioned "get off my lawn" party?

yeah, now try comparing the contents of a post-2001 set to a nice 1960's set.
Now get offa my lawn before my GMO grass with auto-track and venom pumps locks on to you.

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[Anonymous Coward]

If you consider that normal, please don't have any.

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[cellocgw]

If things were always like that, I imagine we'd still think there were only four elements.

Wait! When did they find the fifth one?

It was wrapped in a long orange ribbon-y sort of thing.

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[StikyPad]

You mean like this? And what isn't included in that kit you can mostly find at your hardware store (acids) or here or here, etc.

The problem isn't that we "got rid" of chemistry sets -- we didn't -- it's that nerds these days are more interested in playing WoW (full time job) and setting up websites to track their WoW status in their free time. Ok, that's hyperbole, but the information tech industries and their associated pastimes are definitely getting the majority of attention these days, not to mention money.

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[cayenne8]

Wrong. Maybe you're thinking of the spring-loaded Red Ryder guns they had whenever people with 4-digit UIDs were growing up.

Are YOU kidding?

Back in the day (even with my dad especially) they had pump crossman, all wooden stock, metal 22 caliber pellet guns.

You could pump those things up and it would blow through just about anything!!!

Heavy duty weapon that thing was.

They do now make ONE gun I've seen close to that one of old...Benjamin rifle....those things are quite powerful.

Again..we had plenty of them as kids....we had fun with no real accidents except a couple of sliding glass doors blown out....they're ok for kids, just raise your kids and teach them some responsibility.

If it was ok for previous generations to have them, I don't see the problem today...unless all kids today are just stupider, meaner or untrainable.

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[cayenne8]

Oops..the link messed up..should have been:

They do now make ONE gun I've seen close to that one of old...Benjamin rifle....those things are quite powerful.

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[cayenne8]

Huh? Every normal kid would probably try to shoot someone they don't like very much, just to see what happens. There are a lot of ways a kid can get killed, but most of them aren't a fraction-of-a-second activity. Also, it's easier to outrun a kid with a bat than a nail fired with a BB gun.

So, are you saying that for some reason today....kids are more likely to do this, than when I grew up and these types of guns were normally owned by most kids my age?

Strange, we didn't do stuck shit like that back then....

What's wrong with the children of today that would make this type action more prevalent?

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[Politburo]

Citation needed.

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[sjames]

that she and her husband, who was at work at the time, are both rotting away in jail. After all, it was a freak accident so you gotta send SOMEBODY to jail.

Of the many prosecutorial abuses that pass for justice in the U.S. these days, that is by far the worst sort. They prove that the "justice' system is no longer about correction, deterrence, punishment, or even revenge. It is nothing more or less than a guild of adult playground bullies.

Re:Want!

[cayenne8]

"It doesn't help that buying things as simple as labware probably get you thrown on some 'suspected meth cook' list, either."

If you're lucky, otherwise Homeland Security might become interested in you.

My how times change...back in the day, we'd just steal those flasks and all from the HS lab...and people would make bongs out of them.

Re:Want!

[nmr_andrew]

I'm not sure whether to mod this Funny or Insightful...

Re:Want!

[sjames]

I am thinking of the modern pump BB guns. They certainly can cause injury and should not be pointed at others or otherwise used irresponsibly, but they are quite unlikely to kill or maim (they will hurt, and occasionally removal might involve lidocaine and forceps).

Pellet guns are limited by the aerodynamics of the pellet. Don't get too excited by claimed muzzle velocities, it'll fall off fast.

Note that a rubber band or a soda straw is capable of launching a projectile than can penetrate flesh if you know how to use them.

Really, it's just that those of us with 4 digit IDs are less likely to wet our pants when someone says BOO!

Re:Want!

[sjames]

Sadly true. It's not all understandable over-reaction. Some of it is cynical playing against that over-reaction. Much like just about everything since 9/11.

Re:Want!

[tompaulco]

Citation needed.
Del City Couple Arrested in Fire Deaths.
Update: It appears that their bail was reduced to $35,000 each and they were able to make bail now, so they are back out.

Re:Want!

[Anonymous Coward]

are kids really THAT much stupider than when we were kids?

I don't think so, but the parents are that much dumber. Or less attentive (same thing, really.)

A bit of both really. There's a theory that by not allowing young kids to do things that might result in minor injuries, they never learn to gauge how dangerous an action might be. So, they get older and do something really stupid that results in major injuries and parents screaming that something should be banned to protect their children from their own stupidity.

Re:Want!

[hairyfeet]

Not if you bore it out buddy! And lucky me I had an uncle with a machine shop that was a hell of a lot like Tim Taylor on Home Improvement. You could bring him anything and he'd find a way to get "more power" out of it. By the time he was done that 50 was closer to a 90 and with so little weight that damned thing would scream pal! The one I faced planted at 60MPH was a chopped down Yamaha 80 that he had bored out closer to a 110 and welded me some forks at the very end of the frame so I could get down on it like a pocket bike. We yanked the speedometer from a dead 125 which is how I knew how fast I was going when I hit the dog as I had hit a nice straightaway and was really laying in on her. i had just about reached the end of the throttle when BAM! Doggie in the front spokes.

So yeah we could fly low and nobody cared, and all the kids were always trying to top each other in the "need for speed" even before that saying existed. The record holder was the son of said uncle who my uncle built for him the front of a 73 350 honda and the rear end out of a totaled Chevy vega. that son of a bitch had so much power he could ride a wheelie through the first 3 gears on that thing! My uncle literally had to weld on a wheelie bar because if you didn't have one and popped first gear she'd flip.

Yeah it was nuts but you know what? It was FUN. And out of all the kids that rode together in that town only one died, and he got himself killed by climbing onto a roof trying to fix himself up a better radio antenna and took a header onto the concrete. As far as biking my face plant and my cousin with the supertrike needing a dozen stitches when he tried to take a curve too quick and wiping out were the only two real wrecks.

Re:Want!

[ChrisMaple]

Most BB guns aren't even air guns; they're spring powered, and can't even penetrate the skin.

Re:Want!

[demonlapin]

Compared to a BB gun. A Ruger 10/22 is about $200 new, vs $20 for a Red Ryder.

Re:Want!

[systemeng]

AFAIK, it is illegal to possess an Erlenmeyer Flask in Texas without a license.

Re:Want!

[mattack2]

What is "full cycle clacker(ing)"?

Re:Want!

[roc97007]

When I was a kid, we got shot in the head and *liked* it.

Seriously, I have a scar on my forehead from a direct shot to the head from a BB gun. Pretty sure it didn't diminish my IQ more than 10-20 points.

Our main concern at the time was avoiding our parents finding out. Yes, exactly like the Christmas story.

So, if Joel's parents are reading this, no it wasn't a freak ricochet.

Re:Want!

[roc97007]

...but that's not the way Government works...

Re:Want!

[roc97007]

A .22 cal gun with a supersonic projectile *is* a firearm.

Fortunately, it's more like 500-600 fps in an air rifle. (Where are you getting *your* air rifles, MI6?)

Re:Want!

[roc97007]

> We all had lawn darts and played with fireworks and yet we all managed to survive just fine!

Well, most of us did.

Re:Want!

[roc97007]

> I don't think so, but the parents are that much dumber. Or less attentive (same thing, really.)

Agree, but I don't think parents are dumber. I suspect parents these days are just less engaged with their kids. There's a tendency to just let the state take care of them during the day and the TV take care of them the rest of the time. Both the state and, oh, just about every bit of marketing you see, tends to encourage this condition. A couple generations, parents will be pretty much superfluous.

Re:Want!

[rev0lt]

I don't know how old you are (I'm in my thirties) but when I was a kid was pretty common for kids to try to optimize both the blast and the projectile type. And yes, I did try to shoot people, without success :)

Re:Want!

[mattack2]

Yes, it used to be funny. It's still funny.

Watch *entire* old shows. There are between a couple and a bunch of good sketches, along with a bunch of duds.. Just like nowadays.

Re:Want!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just blow your own glassware and mine your own chemicals...
I swear kids today are not learning anything!

Re:Want!

[KozmoStevnNaut]

I don't know, but it sounds delightfully dirty.

Re:Want!

[Anonymous Coward]

I had a similar experience, except it was the store owner phoning my parents... my mom's response was "Yeah, we know, he knows enough to not injure himself." Although, thinking back on it, their response would likely have been different if we hadn't been living on a farm...

It that time of year. .

[Master Moose]

You'll lose an eye

Re:It that time of year. .

[arthurpaliden]

I did. Luckily I had a spare.

Re:It that time of year. .

[nospam007]

Actually it was "You'll shoot your eye out, kid"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppOXpyhM2wA

Re:It that time of year. .

[voidphoenix]

Save that one for the laser.

The most dangerous toys

[wiggles]

...were covered 30 years ago here.

Re:The most dangerous toys

[Walt Dismal]

Well gosh, I dunno, you know, that Irwin Mainway High Voltage Power Supply only naturally goes with the 1KW CO2 Kid's Laser and the Junior Taser Experimenter's Kit and the Pet Restraints. And when I was a kid I enjoyed my Bag of Broken Glass and the stains were easy to get off the floor except for that one time. Kids. So coddled these days.

Re:The most dangerous toys

[DarwinSurvivor]

Well, now we know what country wiggles lives in...

It's an arms race..

[PopeAlien]

They keep making safer toys we keep making more dangerous children.

Re:It's an arms race..

[davester666]

To think, not so long ago, my siblings and I were all lobbing lawn darts at each other, yet we all lived and didn't even lose an eye.

Re:It's an arms race..

[Anonymous Coward]

More like an eye and a few fingers race.

Re:It's an arms race..

[mjwx]

To think, not so long ago, my siblings and I were all lobbing lawn darts at each other, yet we all lived and didn't even lose an eye.

I used to be an adventurous kid until I caught a lawn dart in the knee.

Re:It's an arms race..

[davester666]

Well that's just stupid. What did you think would happen running after and catching up to a lawn dart?

Re:It's an arms race..

[Anonymous Coward]

But were they curved lawn darts?

Re:It's an arms race..

[egnx]

My friends had no lawn darts so they came up with a game that involved a piece of foam rubber on each shoulder and an old open face crash helmet. Throw a dartboard dart high in the air and try and 'catch' it by letting it stick in your crash helmet as it comes back down. What could possibly go wrong!

Re:It's an arms race..

[geekprime]

In about 1971(ish) friend of mine's little brother managed to get a dart to the top of the head, he was about 7 at the time, and as I never hung out with him (I was like 4 years older than him) before that I cant say what he was like before that but I can assure you he was never quite right thereafter.

Re:It's an arms race..

[Maquis196]

Insightful? People it's supposed to be funny!

Slashdot mods don't play skyrim it seems :)

Re:It's an arms race..

[Anonymous Coward]

this is a skyrim in joke for those wondering why the parent's been modded funny.

Re:It's an arms race..

[OpenDude]

Fo*ced M*m*

Re:It's an arms race..

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not insightful.. this is a meme, and should be shot. Preferably in the knee.

Re:It's an arms race..

[tehcyder]

To think, not so long ago, my siblings and I were all lobbing lawn darts at each other, yet we all lived and didn't even lose an eye.

Lawn darts? We used specially sharpened javelins, but you try telling young people today that, they won't believe you..

Re:It's an arms race..

[Anonymous Coward]

... I've never thought about it that way but you're absolutely right. My mind has just been blown. Course, I haven't had coffee yet either so that isn't especially hard right now.

Seriously though, I grew up around guns, knives and, explosives. Not only do I have all of my body parts, I also grew to have a healthy respect for how fragile the human body is and how bad it can be if you don't handle the stuff properly. My boyfriend, having a far more normal upbringing than I, constantly asks me to use mace a friend who often makes stupid decisions. Also once almost poked himself in the head while mindlessly fiddling with my pocket knife.

So, anyone want to help me write a book or something about how it's better to let your kids have BB gun instead of the LeapFrog garbage?

Re:It's an arms race..

[ah.clem]

My brother and I had a similar game; one of us would toss regular darts into the air and the other would run around holding a dart board on his head, trying to catch it. Good fun. We also used to toss Boy Scout(tm) hatchets and "official, balanced" throwing knives purchased from Boy's Life ads at an old tree stump in the yard until one day my brother missed and hit the neighbor's LTD. We also used to empty the powder out of shotgun shells and put it into drinking straws with paper fins and fire them off that same stump. We were generally unsupervised and managed to survive all kinds of great stuff, like building mini-bikes, giant stilts, tree houses, stuff like that. When I see how my grandkids are being raised I feel sad. They don't get to do shit.

Re:It's an arms race..

[egnx]

When I see how my grandkids are being raised I feel sad. They don't get to do shit.

As I said to one of my kids - My youth was charecterized by what you could do, fly to the moon, travel at insane speeds, do fantastic stuff. His youth is charecterized by what he's not allowed to do. Sad indeed.

Re:It's an arms race..

[cayenne8]

Hell, remember during the months around the 4th of July....having bottle rocket wars with each other? Lighting them, and holding till the rocket just started so you could aim it at your opponent?

Re:It's an arms race..

[mattack2]

When I see how my grandkids are being raised I feel sad.

This book (I haven't read it) caused a bit of a stir a few years ago.

"The Dangerous Book for Boys"
www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Book-Boys-Conn-Iggulden/dp/0061243582

Re:It's an arms race..

[mjwx]

Insightful? People it's supposed to be funny!

Slashdot mods don't play skyrim it seems :)

A few years back, /. eliminated the Karma bonus for +1 funny mods so some people have substituted +1 insightful instead and just keep doing it for legacy reasons. Also +1 insightful is the first on the drop down list for lazy mods.

Not that I need any more positive Karma.

Zulu Guns?

[Anonymous Coward]

From Shaka Zulu?

toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

When I was a lad (50's/60's) we had a toy where you'd melt some metal (lead? or something with a low melting point anyway) in a little crucible over a burner and pour the result into a mold. It would cool and form a little metal soldier figure, whereupon you'd take the two sides of the mold apart and out it would fall.

I'm sure a few trips to the ER were caused somewhere or another due to this toy, but you know, I'd rather not lived in the kind of dumbed down idiot-proof world that comes from trying to save people from themselves. That's a surefire way to breed more idiots.

Re:toys with molten metal

[simcop2387]

It was probably wood's alloy. It's got a nice low melting temperature around 80C-90C and would probably have been perfect for those kinds of toys.

Re:toys with molten metal

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

It also has delicious cadmium!

Re:toys with molten metal

[Rob the Bold]

It was probably wood's alloy. It's got a nice low melting temperature around 80C-90C and would probably have been perfect for those kinds of toys.

Wikipedia: "It is a eutectic alloy of 50% bismuth, 26.7% lead, 13.3% tin, and 10% cadmium by weight."

What could possibly go wrong?

Re:toys with molten metal

[bill_mcgonigle]

I'm sure a few trips to the ER were caused somewhere or another due to this toy,

I totally burned the shit out of my thumb when I was a kid, by melting some glass with my dad's propane torch and generally being an idiot.

I did it again (to my palm) when I first bought a house and installed a boiler and had my hand directly under a solder joint (yeah, I way over-flowed that joint).

Hot molten shit hurts. A lot. I now have good plumbing gloves (never swung for the third strike after that). Besides learning to buy gloves, I'm now very aware of the dangers of being between the dangerous thing and the Earth's core. It would be great if we could give kids a big list of "don't do that" but humans seem to learn better from experience.

but you know, I'd rather not lived in the kind of dumbed down idiot-proof world that comes from trying to save people from themselves. That's a surefire way to breed more idiots.

Well, that is the point. Idiots are easy to control. When people are farmed as livestock for 'their' tax money, having rambunctious ones just decreases the profit per head. Best to keep them calm, dumb, and in front of reality TV.

Re:toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

Field's metal is far superior if you're making toys. It is pretty much non-toxic.

Re:toys with molten metal

[JoeMerchant]

I'm sure a few trips to the ER were caused somewhere or another due to this toy,

I totally burned the shit out of my thumb when I was a kid, by melting some glass with my dad's propane torch and generally being an idiot.

You don't need "tools" or "toys" - when I was 5, I tested what this "it's HOT! you'll BURN YOURSELF!" stuff was all about with my index finger on an iron. Lost the fingerprint on the tip of that finger - and yet, I lived.

Re:toys with molten metal

[FrankieBaby1986]

Metal Molders, 1997. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El9DwAycF04

Re:toys with molten metal

[elsuperjefe]

i have to believe that it isn't really the toy that induces creative brain-building play in children. in their toddler years my kids were usually more interested in creating forts out of Christmas boxes and wrapping paper than in playing with the actual toys that came in them. i doubt we are creating idiocy by tagging absurd toys as unsafe at any speed.

Re:toys with molten metal

[PCM2]

When I was a lad (50's/60's) we had a toy where you'd melt some metal (lead? or something with a low melting point anyway) in a little crucible over a burner and pour the result into a mold. It would cool and form a little metal soldier figure, whereupon you'd take the two sides of the mold apart and out it would fall.

I did this with my grandfather in the early 1980s. The molds were his from when he was young, but I'm pretty sure we went and bought the metal in a hobby shop. It definitely had lead in it, but it was some kind of alloy. This was in England, BTW.

Re:toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

What could possibly go wrong?

Autodidactism.

Re:toys with molten metal

[SEWilco]

I totally burned the shit out of my thumb when I was a kid, by melting some glass with my dad's propane torch and generally being an idiot.

Dad's propane torch? I bought the home's only propane torch. So I could blow my own laboratory glassware. Molten glass shrapnel from a blowout is oh so much more entertaining.

Re:toys with molten metal

[FSWKU]

You don't need "tools" or "toys" - when I was 5, I tested what this "it's HOT! you'll BURN YOURSELF!" stuff was all about with my index finger on an iron. Lost the fingerprint on the tip of that finger - and yet, I lived.

And sadly enough, it would be a completely different story for a kid today. The mother would scream her lungs out and floor it to the ER in her SUV (endangering tons of people along the way). Once there, she would scream at the charge nurse for having to wait behind a multiple-GSW patient who is bleeding into his lungs. After finally seeing a PA, she would get the same advice most people used to take for granted - put some ointment on it, keep it cool and dry, and make an appointment with the family doctor if it doesn't get better in a couple of days.

Oh yeah, and you better believe she would call for a MASSIVE lawsuit against the manufacturer of the iron because it was "too hot" and her precious little snowflake is now "permanently disfigured."

Re:toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sure a few trips to the ER were caused somewhere or another due to this toy,

I totally burned the shit out of my thumb when I was a kid, by melting some glass with my dad's propane torch and generally being an idiot.

I did it again (to my palm) when I first bought a house and installed a boiler and had my hand directly under a solder joint (yeah, I way over-flowed that joint).

Hot molten shit hurts. A lot. I now have good plumbing gloves (never swung for the third strike after that). Besides learning to buy gloves, I'm now very aware of the dangers of being between the dangerous thing and the Earth's core. It would be great if we could give kids a big list of "don't do that" but humans seem to learn better from experience.

Err... but doesn't your story point out that you didn't learn from your experience... and hence, burned your hand as an adult? (Which you did learn from. *knock on wood*)

Re:toys with molten metal

[shutdown -p now]

When I was a lad, we didn't have such a toy - we made it ourselves, out of discarded auto batteries. Yeah, that was lead alright. Molds were made from clay, and you used a steel cup or something similar to melt the lead in.

That was late 80s / early 90s. Then again, that wasn't U.S.

Re:toys with molten metal

[westlake]

When I was a lad (50's/60's) we had a toy where you'd melt some metal (lead? or something with a low melting point anyway) in a little crucible over a burner and pour the result into a mold. It would cool and form a little metal soldier figure, whereupon you'd take the two sides of the mold apart and out it would fall.

The cast metal hobby ("tin soldiers") is still very much alive.

The starter kit will cost about $25-$50. The Dunken Company

The difference is that - like many thiings - it has become an adult hobby. The molds will set you back about $20 each for a 54mm WWII soldier. These are substantial high-quality miniatures meant for hand painting.

"Model Metal" about 300 F. "Tin" 485 F.

I'd rather not lived in the kind of dumbed down idiot-proof world that comes from trying to save people from themselves. That's a surefire way to breed more idiots.

Lamarckism, I see, is alive and well in the geek.

Re:toys with molten metal

[ceoyoyo]

I remember when my dad first saw me walk into the house a bloody mess and clean myself up, no crying, no help. He was so proud. I think I was six.

Re:toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmmm if kids lick the lead off their fingers after playing with these toys they become members of congress,.

Re:toys with molten metal

[voidphoenix]

"Breed" doesn't always refer to genetics. For example, "well-bred" usually refers to upbringing, so the GPP isn't necessarily assuming Lamarckian inheritance.

Sadly for ourselves and our future, cultural idiocy is being passed down and improved upon from generation to generation.

Re:toys with molten metal

[petermgreen]

It's just too damn expensive for toys due to the indium content.

Retail price seems to be over $600 per kilo. Bulk metal prices will be cheaper of course but you are still talking hundreds of dollars per kilo. Looks like a metal toy soilder is about 100g so you are talking about $60 per toy soilder moulded.

Re:toys with molten metal

[Bob the Super Hamste]

Reminds me of a couple of years back with the new lead in children's toy ban here in the US because so many children were swallowing lead toys . It inadvertently made kid dirt bikes and kid ATVs illegal because they have a substantial amount of lead in them, the the starter battery. If you kid is trying to eat the starter battery on their dirt bike or ATV then you have bigger problems.

Re:toys with molten metal

[DarwinSurvivor]

If not for the bismuth, that would make half-decent solder!

Re:toys with molten metal

[LongearedBat]

Prince August moulds are still available. Amazing they haven't gone the way of chemistry sets (I enjoyed both greatly).

Re:toys with molten metal

[westlake]

You don't need "tools" or "toys" - when I was 5, I tested what this "it's HOT! you'll BURN YOURSELF!" stuff was all about with my index finger on an iron. Lost the fingerprint on the tip of that finger - and yet, I lived.

Your kid will be asking what an "iron" was --- because his clothes and bedding are permanent press.

The fundamental job of the engineer is to make tech safe and practical enough for everyday use. . Nolstagia for the difficult and the dangerous is not really his thing.

Re:toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't need "tools" or "toys" - when I was 5, I tested what this "it's HOT! you'll BURN YOURSELF!" stuff was all about with my index finger on an iron. Lost the fingerprint on the tip of that finger - and yet, I lived.

Your kid will be asking what an "iron" was --- because his clothes and bedding are permanent press.

The fundamental job of the engineer is to make tech safe and practical enough for everyday use. . Nolstagia for the difficult and the dangerous is not really his thing.

My kid will be wearing wrinkled natural cotton shirts because 1) we don't believe in soaking our bodies in "miracle chemicals", and 2) who the fsck cares if your shirt is wrinkled - yeah, I can name a lot of people - now, does their opinion really matter? We'll keep the iron in the attic and bring it down when he's 16 and needs to learn how to make good first impressions on shallow minds who control his employment.

110V 60Hz is about as dangerous as tech comes, silent, invisible, deadly, and everywhere. I don't see engineers making that any better during my lifetime (although, if the bastards would ever standardize wall-warts at a couple of common voltages, I _could_ see wiring a house in 12 & 5 VDC, pretty much everywhere except the kitchen and laundry room. (and, yes, our family could live on 12V in the bathroom, though I know some that couldn't.)

Re:toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

So it's almost as expensive as Warhammer?

Re:toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

We made our own version of this: 1 propane torch, a bunch of old lead pipes, and some home-made playdough. We mashed 12" G.I. Joe dolls between slabs of the playdough, pried them apart, removed the dol, put them back together and melted lead into a hole into the mold. The lead was heavy, so it tended to distort the mold a bit, but then the heat cooked the dough, which firmed it up. The resulting slightly melted looking 12" lead statues were grotesque and scary!

Re:toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it was probably pure lead. I had one of these, which must have been one of the most dangerous toys ever. My dad brought home tire balancing weights, which we melted down as the source of the lead. You'd pluck the steel rim clamps out of the molten lead with pliers when they float to the surface. To make the solders release from the molds, you first coated the molds with soot by holding them over a candle. About 70% of the soldiers turned out to be malformed mutants because the lead didn't flow into the extremities, so the best part was sticking them back in the crucible and watching them slowly melt, ala Terminator 2. So let's see, you've got:

630F molten lead
lead fumes
open flame (candle)

and when you're all done, unpainted lead solders to play with! 'Best toy ever.

Re:toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh! I love those! Cadmium cream eggs are the best!

Re:toys with molten metal

[Anonymous Coward]

Aprilia motorbikes in the 90's had a warning label on the tank, after all the "wear a helmet" "read the manual" was one saying "no part of this motorcycle is edible"

Re:toys with molten metal

[tehcyder]

If not for the bismuth, that would make half-decent solder!

Well, it's 50% bismuth, so you just chuck half away and you've got your solder.

Re:toys with molten metal

[tehcyder]

I remember when my dad first saw me walk into the house a bloody mess and clean myself up, no crying, no help. He was so proud. I think I was six.

Yeah, nowadays he'd be all like "I'm going to report that paedophile to the police" and what good would that do apart from send a good priest to prison?

Re:toys with molten metal

[Bob the Super Hamste]

This should surprise more than it does.

Re:toys with molten metal

[Just Some Guy]

And sadly enough, it would be a completely different story for a kid today.

Yeah. Today you'd have to explain to the police why you allowed your kid to be near a hot iron, and even though they'd roll their eyes, abuse reporting laws would compel them to call Child Services who would then launch their own investigation.

In some ways, being a parent sucks these days. My youngest daughter fell on the driveway and bonked her head a while back. She started acting goofy so we took her to the ER to make sure she was OK. I lost track of how many different staffers we had to explain the injury to. How'd it happen, again? Who was present? Has she been injured before? How many injuries have your other kids had? How much food do you have in the home? Do you own firearms?

I think a good part of the reason people are so quick to blame is that the law doesn't allow accidents to happen anymore. Whenever something unfortunate happens, it has to be someone's fault. Parents have to find someone else to blame to deflect likely punishment. How many times have you heard "why wasn't someone watching"? The correct answer is "because kids don't require 24-7 supervision and how often did your parents watch you as a child?", but that reply will get your kids sent to a foster home.

Re:toys with molten metal

[hankwang]

"you'd melt some metal (lead? or something with a low melting point anyway)" http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_soldier

Re:toys with molten metal

[ChrisMaple]

110V 60Hz is about as dangerous as tech comes, silent, invisible, deadly, and everywhere. I don't see engineers making that any better during my lifetime

Many extension cords come with plastic fillers for the sockets, and you can buy fillers for wall sockets. Building code in many places for outdoor outlets require a big plastic box around the outlet, and that's fairly new. 60 years ago, lamp cords were rubber and fabric, now they're plastic, and the plastic has probably improved over the decades, too.

The fundamental of having 110 V in the house isn't likely to change unless we insist on inductive coupling. Materials and ergonomics are going to advance incrementally.

Re:toys with molten metal

[petermgreen]

Warhammer models (bought online in the US in the US) seem to range from about $4 per model (sold in packs of 10) for basic troops to about $70 a model for big vehicles. You can buy "starter kits" for about $100. Moulding your warhammer army out of fields metal would probablly be 10 times more expensive than just buying the models.

A toy moulding set that only had enough material for a couple of soilders and cost over $150 or so just wouldn't be attractive because you can get much better presents in that price range.

I used to shoot metal pellets...

[Anonymous Coward]

Now they're worried about foam darts. Not to mention the velocity difference.

One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[NoisySplatter]

Many of the toys on this list aren't very dangerous. I'd go as far as saying that a pencil is more dangerous than every single one of them. I can't fathom why this article appeared on this website.

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[Master Moose]

Agreed, It is a sad reflection of our cotton-wrapped world that this list constitutes even one persons idea of dangerous toys.

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[R3d M3rcury]

I'd go as far as saying that a pencil is more dangerous than every single one of them.

Agreed. Which is why we should ban them from our classrooms.

(Note that the above link is not serious. On the other hand, if you read the reasons, these reasons have been used in plenty of other cases...)

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[ShakaUVM]

Many of the toys on this list aren't very dangerous. I'd go as far as saying that a pencil is more dangerous than every single one of them. I can't fathom why this article appeared on this website.

From TFA: Obviously you haven't seen the type of damage two large plastic blocks can cause when kids fall off it because they're trying to play NBA on stilts.

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[owlnation]

Many of the toys on this list aren't very dangerous. I'd go as far as saying that a pencil is more dangerous than every single one of them. I can't fathom why this article appeared on this website.

I can fathom it: 1. viral marketing. 2. Samzenpus

They day samzenpus posts an article that isn't "idle", or sub-idle actually, will be the day that we all have our own personal Nuclear Fusion generators.

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[Qzukk]

I have absolutely no love lost for companies that turn to cadmium when lead gets too hard to smuggle in to the product, but yeah, most of this is bullshit that we survived and in doing so, we became stronger, smarter, and given slightly reduced depth perception.

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[thegarbz]

This all reminded me of an ad I saw on TV recently talking about the first ever trampoline which had the springs positioned outside the safety net. Looked kinda like this one.

When I do a google images search for trampoline, not a single trampoline is pictured without those foam bits covering the springs and about half have these weird safety nets. I have been on the damn thing since I was about 6, I still jump on it today 20 years later (though a bigger one), and lack of safety was never an issue. My sister snapped her arm on the thing and even then we didn't go out and buy any barriers.

The only difference between then and now? Well now kids practice parkour and climb trees because all the safety devices take the fun out of the trampoline.

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[dkf]

I'd go as far as saying that a pencil is more dangerous than every single one of [the list of dangerous toys].

Agreed, and a pen is more dangerous still. You can't sign a declaration of war with a pencil; nobody would take you seriously, not even your own troops!

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[Canazza]

agreed. Although the poisonous metals one are pretty dangerous.

I really don't get why the rope-and-can-stilts are listed as dangerous, considering they were a popular home-made toy back at the start of the 20th Century. Atleast in the UK they were.

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[drinkypoo]

I can't fathom why this article appeared on this website.

Because Slashdot loves to pick up the ignorant and inflammatory articles produced by the assmonkeys over at Gawker Media, because the discussion will lead to page views, and the page views will lead to ad impressions.

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[dyingtolive]

Yeah, I even remember having some of those toys some 20 years ago. I can think of far more dangerous ones. I was using a soldering iron by the age of 14, and that's a pretty dangerous "toy", when you think about it. Hell, as you said, a pencil is even more dangerous. When my brother was about 5 or 6, he had just sharped a pencil and was running over to finish a drawing he was working on. He tripped, caught the sharp end of the pencil just above his eye, and broke a piece of the lead off sandwitched between his skull and flesh.

It was not a fun trip to the emergency room.

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[Anonymous Coward]

Many of the toys on this list aren't very dangerous. I'd go as far as saying that a pencil is more dangerous than every single one of them. I can't fathom why this article appeared on this website.

Actually, the pen is mightier than the sword, not the pencil.

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[tehcyder]

I can't fathom why this article appeared on this website.

Because Slashdot loves to pick up the ignorant and inflammatory articles produced by the assmonkeys over at Gawker Media, because the discussion will lead to page views, and the page views will lead to ad impressions.

Don't people have to RTFA for Gawker to get the page views?

Re:One of the worst articles I've ever seen on /.

[drinkypoo]

Don't people have to RTFA for Gawker to get the page views?

Slashdot doesn't care if Gawker gets page views, it's about page views here.

Somebody call the police

[tp1024]

Erm, are you serious?

How are they raising kids these days in the USA? Perpetually strapped into a car seat? I don't see any other way in which you could prevent them from "maiming" themselves with such murderous toys as those. I mean, they could get the hang of climbing stairs!!!11!!11!eleven

Re:Somebody call the police

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously. We used to make them ourselves: Drill or hammer two small holes each into the bottom of two empty tin cans, thread some string through the holes, make knots on the inside of the cans. Voila, $19.99 saved and instant gratification achieved. I also learned how to walk on a free rolling empty beer keg. Yes, you fall. Learning to fall without hurting yourself is important.

Re:Somebody call the police

[whoop]

Perpetually strapped into a car seat?
No, even leaving a baby in a car seat isn't safe...

Re:Somebody call the police

[tp1024]

This presumes that the car seat is in a car. Which I didn't.

Lame

[oldmac31310]

I RTFA just to make sure it would be as lame as I expected. It is. The Gawker sites are just a horrible waste of space. Less of this crap please!

Re:Lame

[guruevi]

I agree, I RTFA, most of the stuff isn't even dangerous (as far as I consider dangerous) and some of the other stuff should (or is) recalled for being either badly constructed or using certain (what should be illegal) chemicals.

Trampoline - who never used a trampoline? Just because the lingo is lawyer-proof doesn't make it a bad toy.
Foam-shooting Bow - As with any shooting toys (Nerf comes to mind) kids should be thought how to use it well. I made freaking real bows by soaking hard wood tree branches in water, some rope and a couple of my mother's plant-straightening bamboo sticks as arrows. Yeah, I bruised and cut my fingers and hands several times either making the bow or shooting the arrow with it's sharp edges and it was inaccurate as shit but I didn't aim to kill anyone. Are kids really that stupid these days?
Plastic sword - Same as the bow or a baseball bat. You learn real quickly that these things hurt if you get hit yourself. Several wooden sword fights with my brother and other kids made that clear to me.
Very low stilts - How is that dangerous? You can fall and hit your head or twist your ankle but that's how kids learn. You want to tie them down to a chair so they'll die of boredom?
Shrinky dinks - What's dangerous about a heating chamber? Those things zapping anyone how exactly? Unless there's some really shoddy engineering and the wires are exposed inside I don't understand. A halogen light bulb is hot. I touched one before. A stove exhaust pipe is hot, found out when standing too close to it trying to heat up in winter.
Playmobil - Make it illegal with huge fines to make products with such chemicals intended for kids. Not slap-of-the-wrist pay this $500k settlement so everyone gets a $1 coupon on their next purchase but "the families affected will own 30% of your company if you fuck up".
Swiss army weapon - You're a moron. Couldn't find anything dangerous after 4?

Re:Lame

[Pentium100]

Not slap-of-the-wrist pay this $500k settlement so everyone gets a $1 coupon on their next purchase but "the families affected will own 30% of your company if you fuck up".

In my opinion a huge fine (for example, combined income of the product sold in the country + some fixed amount) that goes to the government is better. The families affected should only receive compensation for the actual damage (treatment costs etc), so that nobody gets the idea of deliberately exposing their child to those toys with those chemicals (hmm, this toy has lead and cadmium, probably the company will get fined soon) just so they could profit from it.

There would probably be less microwaved dogs if the owner of the dog only got the money for a new dog (or however you determine the financial loss of a dog dying) and not $100k because the user manual of the microwave does not state that you shouldn't put a live dog in it, unless you intend to kill it.

Re:Lame

[broken_chaos]

I'm still not convinced the article wasn't a sarcastic commentary on how stupidly safe toys have become.

Re:Lame

[thegarbz]

No these are the biggest risks that our children face today. Seriously all the other toys on the market are not remotely as dangerous as these. I will know now to keep my kids away from these to further ensure their safety.

Mind you I don't have time to go christmas shopping because I need to supervise my kid at all times so he can't attempt to stand up. I haven't received my critical child protective equipment yet and I'll be damned if I let him do something as dangerous as try and stand up without it!

- A concerned parent (who's kids will probably rebel and do drugs at the age of 8).

Re:Lame

[oldmac31310]

Thudguard! I was really hoping that was a joke but the site looks genuine enough. Frankly if these stupid hats actually exist, they would probably be worse for the baby than the odd bump on the head. What about little Timmy's developing brain getting overheated under all of that synthetic material?

Re:Lame

[systemeng]

There is also the point that the dangers of Bisphenol-A are so incredibly minute as to be largely insignficant. Everybody posting here probably grew up with plastic containing bisphenol-A including plastic cups etc. Compared to any of the others items on the gawker list or any actual dangerous items, the inclusion of playmobil stuff as dangerous due to the normal BPA content in some plastics is pretty much absurd.

Re:Lame

[thegarbz]

The last part was a joke, the thudguard thing. Sadly what wasn't a joke is that these toys really ARE the most dangerous things kids face today. What with the chemical sets being chemical free these days.

but is it a joke?

[Anonymous Coward]

Gawker may think it's a joke, but the site they got most of those items from http://toysafety.org/worstToyList_index.shtml is serious as far as I can tell.

Re:but is it a joke?

[wierd_w]

The idea of these toys being dangerous is rediculous.

Want a dangerous toy?

Here's one. Sort of a cross between child of chucky and disney fantasy, to create a truly diabolical toy:

the cabbage patch 'snacktime kid' doll!

This toy, in its original incarnation, had a one way only electric motor which turned a textured cylender inside the doll's mouth, which would activate if something (anything) was inside it. Fingers? OM NOM NOM! Hair? OM NOM NOM! Bits of earlobe and other bits of tender skin? OM NOM NOM!

Essentially, a doll with an insatiable hunger for human flesh.

All the while, its voice circuit would coo about it being yummy.

Now there was a dangerous toy.

Re:but is it a joke?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the idea that you think "ridiculous" is spelled with an "e" is dangerous.

Re:but is it a joke?

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously it was so diculous that it was rediculous all over again.

Re:but is it a joke?

[Canazza]

that's rideculus

Tongue in cheek?

[stephathome]

I'm thinking the article sounds more tongue in cheek than serious. That said, my niece has the trampoline, and the kids all go pretty wild on it. No big injuries yet. My daughter's preschool and kindergarten had the stepper stilts, and even with crowds of kids playing, they were never a problem. One of the more popular recess activities, in fact.

So let me get this straight...

[edxwelch]

trampolines, plastic bow and arrows, etc. are deadly, but rifles and shotguns are okay for children?
http://www.crickett.com/

Only in America

Re:So let me get this straight...

[meloneg]

You got me all excited thinking Crickett had a kid's shotgun. Tease.

My daughter loves her Pink Crickett. Although, US law does require that, technically, I own it until she's 21.

Re:So let me get this straight...

[confused one]

Weird isn't it. I grew up around guns. Was given my first BB gun at 9yrs old. Handled and fired rifles and revolvers by my early teens. Of course I was also cutting grass, splitting wood, and driving a tractor by that age. Almost unthinkable today, in most places. Hold on, I have to go tell my kids to be careful with that foam ball...

Re:So let me get this straight...

[demonlapin]

I got my first BB gun at six, my first rifle (still have it, a nice little straight-shooting .22) at ten, and my first shotgun at eleven. Hell, I'm still using the 20-gauge shotgun I got at thirteen - Winchester ran a pretty neat deal, you bought the gun with a short "youth" stock and you sent in a coupon for an adult-sized stock a couple of years later. It's an absolute pleasure to use on the sporting clays range.

Guns are lots of fun, you just have to respect that they're inherently dangerous objects. Kids who grew up with guns are, in my experience, a lot less likely to do stupid stuff with them, because their dad took them out when they were six and blew a watermelon into a fine mist with one and said "that's what it will do to your head". Those who meet guns for the first time at 19-20 are a lot more cavalier.

Re:So let me get this straight...

[evilviper]

trampolines, plastic bow and arrows, etc. are deadly, but rifles and shotguns are okay for children?

To tell you the truth... yes. Go look up some casualty statistics for yourself. It's not unusual to see rather young kids walking around carrying their own rifles when up in hunting country. And yet accidents are exceptionally rare.

Now, if rifles shot candy 90% of the time, and live ammo 10% of the time, you'd have a real point... There's a big difference when you're talking about a dangerous tool, versus a toy that is supposed to be safe, but which sometimes does maim (or kill) when used (at least mostly...) as instructed.

If this is falling on deaf ears, and "gun" is just a scary word to you, many parents also give their kids knives, matches/lighters, hatchets, axes, etc., etc. at fairly early ages. If you're still aghast at the very idea, all I can say is that life in rural areas just doesn't resemble life in the city, and kids learning how to be responsible and take care of themselves at an early age is actually a good thing. You're worried about the kid innocently walking around carrying his hunting rifle, I'd be more worried about the kid without one, walking through bear and cougar territory.

With the majority of people living in cities, and the ratio only rising, I can't help but wonder what's being lost. On the other hand, absolutely everybody moving out to the country would be devastating, so it's actually a good thing for the rest of it.

Re:So let me get this straight...

[smpoole7]

> all I can say is that life in rural areas just doesn't resemble life in the city

Exactly. Well said. The way I was raised in the rural south, we were around guns and responsible gun owners all the time. It was understood that guns were extremely dangerous *tools.* Any responsible parent would beat a dozen rules into the kid's head before he/she ever allowed the child to get near a gun: never, ever point that gun at someone, not even as a joke, not even if you're 100% sure it's unloaded. Always look twice before firing to make sure you know what you're shooting at.

Things are getting rough here north of Birmingham, AL, and for the first time in years, I've thought about owning a gun again. I asked my next door neighbor, who's a Birmingham Police officer, where to buy one, and we started chatting. He pulled out his Walther and handed it to me -- but NOT before he popped out the clip, checked the chamber, and so on. He did this automatically and without thinking; gun safety had been beaten into his head when he was a child.

In rural areas where people hunt regularly, in fact, there are several rights of passage: getting your driver's license and your first car. Your first kiss. Making the ball team at school .. . .. and, when your parents judge you to be old enough and responsible enough, your first rifle.

It's the way you're raised. People who are afraid of guns think that people like me are backwoods hicks who live in the past. Fine; to me, people who have a knee-jerk, "ban all guns!" nanny-state mentality strike me as just plain silly. :)

Nothing personal. It's just the way I was raised. I'd never force you to own a gun, but don't ever tell me I shouldn't own one, either.

Re:So let me get this straight...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes. It's a great country, isn't it? I got my first .22 rifle at about 8 or so. The first thing my father did was teach me how to handle it safely. Never, ever, have I pointed a firearm at anyone or used them in an unsafe manner....

Re:So let me get this straight...

[Bob the Super Hamste]

their dad took them out when they were six and blew a watermelon into a fine mist with one and said "that's what it will do to your head"

I see I am not the only one who got dad's introduction to firearm safety. I learned how to shoot from my dad and grandfather using my grandfather's 12 gauge when I was only 8, it was like holding a bazooka.

Re:So let me get this straight...

[Just Some Guy]

My dad sufficiently terrified me of the 12 gauge that I'm still nervous about firing it, fully expecting it to dislocate my shoulder and launch me backward.

My kids have two simple firearm rules:

1. If you want to shoot a gun, let me know and we'll go to a friend's place in the countryside and shoot one. It's no big deal and not a special occasion; just ask and we can go fire off a few rounds.
2. If you ever, ever touch a gun outside of rule #1, I will kill you.

That's it. They're not some mystical forbidden fruit to play with when no one's looking, but just another recreational object that's OK to enjoy under supervision.

Conkers

[sqldr]

Probably not so popular on the other side of the atlantic, but here in Britain, every october is conker season, where we attach horse chessnuts (invariably hardened by baking, soaking in vinegar, hand cream, galvanisation, you name it) to string, then smash them into an opponent's conker (or your own elbow if you miss) until one shatters into many pieces. If you drop it, you have to try to pick it up while your opponent repeatedly stamps on it. Joy and safety goggles all round!

Re:Conkers

[oldmac31310]

I think your string is too long mate!

Re:Conkers

[Anonymous Coward]

We didn't have that, but we had an improvised version in jr. high. (7th and 8th grade, 12-14 years old). After eating with plastic forks or sporks, we would take them out and have "fork fights". You snap the fork back against the other guy's fork and try to break his tines off without breaking yours. Between fork fights turning into real fights, and the plastic litter on the lawn, they banned it after a few months.

Re:Conkers

[NoisySplatter]

We did that with pencils. I'm sure our parents loved us for it too.

Re:Conkers

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh wow, totally forgot about pencil fights. That happened too.

Re:Conkers

[Elky Elk]

A tradition first brought over in 1066 by William the Conker.

Re:Conkers

[sqldr]

there should be a way to temporarily ban people from posting due to poor jokes :-)

Re:Conkers

[Anonymous Coward]

Saftey glasses, you must be joking. All the schools in Hull have banned conkers all together. Along with thinks like marbles and hopscotch (because the kids use a stone).

I had to go into my sons school the other day to put some ointment and a plaster on him as the school aren't aloud to do that any more. If they aren't aloud to use anything else other than an ice pack why the hell do they have a school nurse?

Re:Conkers

[ah.clem]

We did this as kids until the "Chestnut Blight" forced the cutting down of virtually all the chestnut trees in the town I grew up in. I can remember collecting bags of chestnuts, and how beautiful they looked upon opening the shell; they never looked that pretty no matter how much shellac or varnish I put on them. Great game, thanks for the memory!

Congress.

[Anonymous Coward]

Congress.

Old News

[Anonymous Coward]

This process of making safe and 'sane' toys has been going on for a long time. When I was a lad back in the 1950's my aunt gave me her 1944 chemistry set (with extra glassware). It had a lot of experiments that had just quietly disappeared from the safer sets of my day. We could make gunpowder and thermite - whee! While yes, some overzealous experimenters could end up minus a digit or two (or worse), for the most part one learned to respect the dangerous components. Problem with this overly padded, no sparrow shall fall, society is that once the kids grow up (if ever) they will expect society to provide the same level of coddling/protection from the real hazards of life. Somehow respect, caution and awareness just aren't being passed on. Witness the number of folks who march off into the wilderness and then expect someone to bail them out. Life is dangerous and no one gets out alive. Deal with it...

Little Clara Cadmium

[istartedi]

New! From China, it's little Clara Cadmium. Lick her tummy and hear her giggle. Feed her led pellets and watch her gain weight. Realistic BPA-based skin is soft to the touch. Just $9.99. Turn the price upside down and learn little Clara's secret.

Re:Little Clara Cadmium

[Anonymous Coward]

"Turn the price upside down and learn little Clara's secret."

And Herman Cain's, to boot.

Dangerous toys

[Nonillion]

I used to have a set of Clackers in the mid 70's, nailed myself in the head once, smashed a finger or two but it wasn't long before the novelty wore off. Even had a set of steel tipped Yard Darts, never had an accident. Perhaps the coolest toy I ever had were the electrified versions of Hot Wheels called Sizzlers. You plugged them into a charging station that held four "D" cell batteries, was shaped like a gas pump and held the top button down for 60 seconds (I always held it down for two or three minutes), unplugged them, turned the power switch on the bottom of the car and raced them on a track...

Ahhh, memories..

Re:Dangerous toys

[billybob_jcv]

You must be that same age as me! I had Clackers and Sizzlers - loved them both - but I used my clackers as a sort of bolos weapon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolas) - I used to fling them at posts, poles, small trees and occasionally the dog.

Sizzlers rocked!! I took mine apart and taped a 9-volt battery to the roof and wired it to the motor. That made them go like a bat out of hell!

The classics are still the best

[cvtan]

Who could forget the "Bag o' Glass" from SNL?

Re:The classics are still the best

[artor3]

And let's not forget the the magical electro-bunny!.

Re:The classics are still the best

[Polo]

Do not taunt happy fun ball.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/happy-fun-ball/229058/

JARTs

[Anonymous Coward]

Where I come from a jart is a fart in a jar.

For those about to shop

[PopeRatzo]

For the record, "Dangerous Toys" was the name of my '80s hair band. We disbanded in 1991 after our second album, titled Jarts in my Heart. We reunited in 2000 for a world tour, but we had to abandon it when my hernia started acting up and the bass player's hair plugs got infected. I told him it was gonna happen if he didn't wash his bandanna a little bit more often, but you know how bass players are. We used to know which way the stage was slanted by which side of his mouth had the drool coming out. You know what you do if your bass players drowning? Throw him his amp. How do you tell if the bass player's out of tune? You don't.

Anyway, I'd still be playing with them if they just made spandex tights in a relaxed fit. These days, I need a skosh more room in the seat and waist if I'm going to do the jumping in the air splits while windmilling chords on my Dimebag Darrell Signature three-pickup 7 string guitar, which I could totally still do. But not in these tights. That ship has sailed. Nowadays, I just take them out on the odd night when the classic rock station is playing a Get the Led Out commercial-free album set of Houses of the Holy.

Re:For those about to shop

[TeknoHog]

My upcoming band will be called Zinc. It represents the subgenre of heavy metal called Sacrificial Metal.

Catching lawn darts . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

When I was a kid we would play lawn darts and catch them out of the air. No big deal. Just think of the fun kids are missing these days.

Surviving lawn darts

[perpenso]

To think, not so long ago, my siblings and I were all lobbing lawn darts at each other, yet we all lived and didn't even lose an eye.

Of course only those of us nimble enough to dodge are here to make and read these lawn dart posts. :-)

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[QuantumLeaper]

Someone will have to pry my Jarts out of my cold dead hands. I am really glad, my family kept them, I found them a couple of years ago in a box.

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[hey!]

Someone will have to pry my Jarts out of my cold dead hands.

HAHAHA! Oh, wait. That was intended to ironic, wasn't it?

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[davester666]

Really, if you're too slow and unable to avoid a large, brightly colored, hand-thrown dart lobbed in the air, you probably should be driven to school and back and not allowed to play any sport involving more than one person at a time.

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[tlhIngan]

Really, if you're too slow and unable to avoid a large, brightly colored, hand-thrown dart lobbed in the air, you probably should be driven to school and back and not allowed to play any sport involving more than one person at a time.

If you're playing with it actively, not a big deal. But then again, the sun does have a nasty habit of getting in your eye, so during the glare of day can make it quite difficult to see.

And given children may toss it and have it go off in a random direction because they released it wrongly could mean hitting someone who doesn't expect it. Like someone walking down the sidewalk, your neighbour, etc. Nevermind that people seem to be constantly distracted by their cellphones whilst walking down the street to even notice that there might be an object heading their way (this includes street furniture, cars, and lamp posts, too).

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you find all those extra commas in the box too?

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[Anonymous Coward]

I remember lawn darts! Damn those were fun. I got hit with one once, right above my left eye. Big fiasco. I don't remember much about it. I've had trouble remembering things since. But I remember that the lawn darts were fun

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[Anonymous Coward]

We used to play lawn darts over a hedge fence. We had to stop when one put a hole in the neighbours metal shed.

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[Anonymous Coward]

To think, not so long ago, my siblings and I were all lobbing lawn darts at each other, yet we all lived and didn't even lose an eye.

Of course only those of us nimble enough to dodge are here to make and read these lawn dart posts. :-)

That sounds like an argument in favor of lawn darts, not opposition. ;)

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[StikyPad]

Yeah, thank God, otherwise where would you find a Jarts in this day and age?!? (Jarts are to lawn darts what Nerf guns are to real guns).

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[cayenne8]

Hell..I remember people actually having swimming pools....with diving boards. Even at hotels, and public pools....

*sigh*

I think we're a bit too safety conscious....actually strike that, I blame it on the litigiousness of all the freakin' lawyers...

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[cayenne8]

I'm amazed they still allow skateboards to be made today...they do still have those, don't they?

Or..do kids even play outside anymore these days...without it being some schedule, regimented, planned parent monitored activity?

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[Smallpond]

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/06/27

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[JustSomeProgrammer]

Those are the wuss version of lawn jarts. It isn't real lawn jarts if it isn't made of metal with a 3 inch spike on one end.

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[GrumpySteen]

> Someone will have to pry my Jarts out of my cold dead brain.

FTFY

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[dubbreak]

The original Jarts look like any other lawn dart I've ever seen. The version currently available on Amazon is a watered down version of the original.

Re:Surviving lawn darts

[roc97007]

"Take one 'a' those things to the head and you're going to get coloring books for Christmas for the rest of your life."

in 50 years we'll all be chicks

[csumpi]

Adam Carolla was optimistic giving us 50 years. If the we really think the toys on this list are most dangerous, we are already a bunch of p-ssies.

Re:in 50 years we'll all be chicks

[Anonymous Coward]

nah just Americans in the home of the brave.

Anything by Playmobil ?

[margeman2k3]

Sure, BPA is "toxic" (if you eat stupid amounts of it, and you're under 6 months old...)
Seriously though, I'd hardly classify Playmobil as "dangerous"...

Clackers

[GrahamCox]

Have a set of original 1971 clackers in the kitchen drawer. Already introduced our 5-yo daughter to them - she can already do them better than me. I just cower, expecting them to explode violently...

Re:Clackers

[dragonturtle69]

They did teach coordination. :-)

Re:Clackers

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think clackers have ever been banned at the Federal level in the USA. They are available where I live too. I assume they are now shatter resistant.

Re:Clackers

[JoeCommodore]

My sister had broke hers - one of the balls split in two, I don't recall what damage happened, I think it was on a down clack so it hit the carpet.

Re:Clackers

[Anonymous Coward]

They were all over the place at the North Carolina State Fair this year. To my dismay -- I hated the noise when I was a kid, and forty years later, I feel exactly the same way.

It doesn't take labware...

[Roger W Moore]

It doesn't help that buying things as simple as labware probably get you thrown on some 'suspected meth cook' list, either.

Labware? In Canada just trying to buy nasal decongestant tablets is enough to require asking the chemist (the tablets are behind the counter), showing photo-ID and having your name recorded. When I asked why I had to do this when tablets with exactly the same decongestant, but including paracetamol (acetaminophen) as well, were on the shelves the reason given was that without the paracetamol the tablets can be used to make meth.

So by the time you are up to labware I'm sure you are being added to a terrorist watch list!

Re:It doesn't take labware...

[artor3]

Don't feel too bad about Canada. We have the exact same restrictions on buying pseudoephedrine in the states, for the exact same reason.

Re:It doesn't take labware...

[Ellis D. Tripp]

Our restrictions are worse, actually. Down here, EVERY pseudoephedrine product is behind the counter, even the products with APAP or other active ingredients that would be nearly impossible to make meth with.

Re:It doesn't take labware...

[ceoyoyo]

Assuming you're from the UK because of the word choices, pseudoephedrine incompletely illegal there. The chemist gave me a good long look when I went in and asked for it.

Re:It doesn't take labware...

[Bob the Super Hamste]

Yet the requirements to buy pseudoephedrine are about the same as buying a long gun in my state and take the same amount of time. In both cases you go and show you ID to the sales person, the go and enter some data, you sign and walk out after paying for your item. The biggest difference is that when buying a long gun you can actually hold it and check it out before you purchase it.

Re:It doesn't take labware...

[Bowdie]

incompletely illegal?

I can confirm that pseudoephedrine is legal here in the UK. I have some on my desk right now. You do have to ask for the correct sudafed as the good stuff is always behind the counter, but that's just modern life. ;)

Re:It doesn't take labware...

[arth1]

Whenever I buy cough remedies requiring registration, I make sure to combine the purchase with something else, just to amuse the poor DHS/DEA clerks.

Ok, so this guy bought NyQuil and ... french ticklers?

Re:It doesn't take labware...

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes they even do a special high dose version that is in slow release caplets but you can only buy 6 at a time

Re:It doesn't take labware...

[Rising Ape]

No it's not, I bought some earlier today. It's just pharmacy only, so you can't buy it in supermarkets or the like (unless they have a separate pharmacy).

Re:It doesn't take labware...

[ceoyoyo]

Either it changed since 2005 or your chemists lie then.

Re:It doesn't take labware...

[compro01]

Must be a provincial thing. I've never needed to show ID to get pseudoephedrine, even the extended release 120mg stuff, though it is kept behind the counter. The only thing I've ever needed to show ID for is ACC (aka Tylenol #1).

Mine

[the eric conspiracy]

Dangerous Toy? My new BMW M3.

Re:Mine

[Anonymous Coward]

If you think it's dangerous please do us all a favour, turn in your licence, go buy a gun, and abort yourself behind the garden shed.

Fucking lunatics.

Re:Mine

[Bob the Super Hamste]

And I am stuck without mod points.

How about a supercharged alcohol powered 68 MG midget with aluminum doors, hood, and trunk, converted to a modern coil over suspension, with a 5 speed.

The tone of this article is ill-suited for /.

[rebelwarlock]

Bubbly sarcasm is just about the most obnoxious tone in written communication. How did this make slashdot, exactly?

only three known deaths due to Jarts in the USA

[rubycodez]

and they ban the things? what a bunch of psychological marshmallows we've become. The body count for hot dog chokings goes into the thousands, bicycle made corpses would stack to the stratosphere....

Re:only three known deaths due to Jarts in the USA

[Anonymous Coward]

Hot dogs (arguably) provide nutrition. Bicycles get you places. Jarts, not so much with the benefit part of the cost/benefit analysis.

Re:only three known deaths due to Jarts in the USA

[rubycodez]

americans and their children need more exercise and to be outdoors more and to have more time together with families. lawn games beat typical evening of everyone sitting on one's ass in front of the idiot box with glazed over eyes stuffing oneself with junk food, the benefits are immense

Clackers

[GrantRobertson]

They still sell clackers at the street fairs here in Tucson, AZ. When I mention to the locals about how I thought clackers were banned, everyone looks at me as if I am crazy. Tucson is very "Live and let your children break their forearms."

When I was a kid

[Megaflux]

by Dennis Leary, says everything: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVUiCq8F2eY Dangerous toys are evolution catalysts.

Nanny state to the max!

[jwijnands]

"EZ Stepper Stilts" That's a plastic variant of a toy that's been know to exist for 800 years already. Suddenly it's on a list of things that "maim" children? Because you can fall of?! "Anything by playmobil" funny. We in Europe have stricter laws because we have less lobbyists and yet playmobil is a safe toy here. For the nanny state parents, be sure to wrap your kids in bisphenol free bubble wrap and make sure they learn nothing and have no fun!

Re:Nanny state to the max!

[Bob the Super Hamste]

Next year's list will include "Anything by Nerf"

This is called survival of the fittest.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's most likely a good thing that we are weeding out the slow and clumsy and stupid LONG before they are able to breed.

Still sad.. Yeah. But it might be a good thing for society in general. Weeding out the less able. We have plenty of people really. And people die all the time.

Still sad tho.

I did a great many STUPID things when i was a kid. From fireworks to flamethrowers, Bicycles to motorized vehicles and heavy equipment. rockets to home made guns, Explosives to electricity. And ya know. i survived. it's fuckin amazing i survived. but i DID learn alot. And i consider myself better for surviving all of them.

On the other hand you have the dipshit down the street who lit a 5 gallon bucket of gunpowder.... with a match. in his hand.
Yeah he didnt survive to pass on his genes. And yeah it's sad. But i still consider it a good thing overall for the state of the universe.

We already have a serious problem with the stupid and unintelligent breeding more than average and above folks..
Someday in the future. it's a problem we WILL have to deal with. it's a mathmatical fact.

But we COULD just let it work itself out by letting kids have some fun and learning something. And thinning the herd.

Yes yes i know. you hate me. this is a troll post. blah blah blah.
but. i played with everything dangerous. and. *i* survived. can't be too difficult... scared your kids are stupider than i am?

captcha:lifespan (whoa)

I would advocate

[dexomn]

GLOCK sidearms chambered for a 9MM round. They are light, clean, and can be field stripped with a single tool. With this sort of armament children can easily familiarize themselves with an anti-personnel weapon and it's maintenance without the need for expensive school books or extensive training beyond what is required for handgun ownership by state law. Remember this can do slightly more damage (in some cases) than objective C or martial arts and your child must be properly monitored at all times.

Remember

[PPH]

Its only funny until someone gets hurt.

Then, its hilarious!

I Remember

[thegarbz]

I remember lawn darts. We lost a lot of stupid kids with that one.

Re:I Remember

[lewoot]

I used to be a child once. Then I took a lawn dart to the knee.

Most frightened people in the world: USA?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is weird. You guys always act like the USA is the coolest, nothing can harm you, and you dare to go further, higher, deeper, and all that.
And the fact is, that for most of it, this is true! Or at least it was, and could still be. (I can't tell.)

But somehow every little danger or risk is either reported as, or actually does scare the crap out of you. (Again, I can't tell.)
"Oooh, we must forbid everything that is not clad in 10 inches of fluffy child-proof padding! And sue everyone whose producs aren't 100% idiot-proof!"
What the hell?? Why do I get the impression of the USA *actually* being the biggest pussies on the planet? That can't be right!?

Where is the spirit of "Hell, I may die in this, but it was damn fuckin' worth it!". Or maybe just taking a little risk for once in a while?
I know, I know.... all that fearmongering propaganda after 9/11... seems to have become a general state of mind.
But come on, this is not what you *really* are, inside, is it?

Please... let's get back out of it!
Terrorists? Scary? Bwahahahaha! A defense budget the size of VY Canis Majoris! THAT should scare the crap out of them!
Mortgage scam? Pfff, You are over 300 million people! You kick their fuckin' asses and take whatever you want!
Politicians lying to you and raping your constitution? Again: Three. Hundred. MILLION! Fuck them! They can be beheaded by tomorrow if you so much as blink!
China? Don't make me laugh! Their tech is from the 60s! At best! All they have is a shitload of people building pointless empty cities to give the illusion of progress and growth!

The only reason you think there is something you can't overcome, is because you think it!

Let's do something cool! Let's explore the universe! Let's play games and sports that are so extreme, that every 1000th person trying it dies, but 100% say if was fuckin' worth it! Let's do experiments that could leave the whole area in a weird quantum state, but give us progress worth a 100 years!
And let's be fucking EPIC again!

Re:Most frightened people in the world: USA?

[dyingtolive]

Oh, USA has the fear, bigtime. As a resident of the country, I have to witness it first hand. Not my fault the vast majority shuts their brains down when they hear the magic phrase, "...but its for the good of the children."

Most of them believe in invisible sky wizards too. I just shake my head sadly and try to get on with life at this point.

Re:Most frightened people in the world: USA?

[istartedi]

You guys always act like the USA is the coolest, nothing can harm you, and you dare to go further, higher, deeper, and all that.

It's true. It's just that some of those people are trial lawyers and they have gone further, higher and deeper than we thought they would.

Case on point, the US also has abalone divers. If you've never thought about abalone divers, you need to think about what it means: cold, dark, shark-infested waters, heavy currents, kelp that you can get tangled in, 50 feet down in that just so somebody can have some weird shellfish for dinner.

If the trial lawyers ever meet the abalone divers, all hell will break loose... and frequently has.

When I was little

[Bob the Super Hamste]

And just to think when I was little we would jump off the garage roof for fun. When my dad was little he wanted a toy machine gun and that was normal (early baby boomer), now if a kid writes in school that they want a machine gun toy then need counseling.

Lasers

[TheLink]

Speaking of lasers and toys. Some crazy school here was giving out laser pointers to school children as gifts.

The brother of one of the schoolkids told me these weren't the normal < 1mW laser pointers. They're extremely unlikely to be the "Wicked Laser" ones, but I won't be surprised if they could cause permanent eye damage.

you say here but no where else

[iggy3]

"We all had lawn darts and played with fireworks and yet we all managed to survive just fine!" I feel the same way, as do many others here. However, I notice most people never speak up when they are with their wives and friends and see something like this in public. Your wife or wife's friends say, "Do you see that? Can you believe they are letting that little one do that?" 9 times out of 10 you hear crickets as a response.

Clackers don't kill people...

[Em Adespoton]

I had a set of clackers made of celluloid when I was young, and then carved a pair out of cherry wood. They were great! They taught me how to pay attention to what I was doing. As long as you kept the knots secure and the string didn't break, they only bruised up your fingers if your attention slipped. And they doubled as bolos in those cases where you needed a weapon :D

Re:Clackers don't kill people...

[Em Adespoton]

I forgot to mention: the easiest way to make a set of clackers is to get two celluloid cue balls (the white ones), drill holes through the middle, and string them up, tying a washer in the middle to hold on to. You make them work by bouncing them together until you can get them bouncing on both the down and up swing. At this point you have two wildly caroming balls of kinetic energy, which you keep away from anything breakable, including faces and fingers.

Is this satire?

[Anonymous Coward]

I mean, come on, *stilts*? A plastic sword? Anyone who actually thinks the toys on this list are among "the most dangerous" is the person who the labels on lawnmowers warning you not to lift it up over your head to trim hedges are targeted at.

                  mark

Current? Really? Are you sure?

[Anonymous Coward]

I was reading the article when I stumbled onto this gem about the Shrinky Dink oven:

"...one that uses a 120-volt current to power..." ::shudder::

Buy JumpSmart Trampoline instead! $42 on Amazon

[JoshDM]

The article should offer alternatives. My kid has had the Diggin JumpSmart Trampoline since he was 2 and we have bought 3 for our friends since. They're not that expensive and they all love it. It doesn't tip over easily and it appears safer than any other trampoline. Here is where to buy it on Amazon: Diggin JumpSmart Trampoline.

It's freaking $42. I just bought one for $60 for my nephew 2 weeks ago. :/

Happy as a consumer

[Meeni]

As a consumer, I do not want to buy dangerous toys to my children. I am happy that everything that is sold as a toy is safe and tested so. If I feel like having my kids use dangerous apparatus for enjoyment, I prefer knowing that I am doing so, rather than having to weight the potential dangers of any and every "toy" on the market. Many toys are obviously dangerous (like the reviled Jarts), some are not as obviously wrong (think of lead painted toys, TNT capable chemistry set, etc. that look just like a safe entertainement, but are not).

Re:Happy as a consumer

[ChrisMaple]

There is no such thing as a totally safe toy. If it's too small or soft to knock yourself unconscious with, too soft and blunt to damage your eye, then it's too weak to stop you from chewing it up, stuffing it in your throat, and asphyxiating yourself.

Sure, put your infant in a padded cell, but once they're old enough to understand, introduce it to mildly dangerous things and lecture it about safety. Supervise. Repeat the lecture many times, kids forget. Upgrade as they slowly gain wisdom.

Cookware

[ChrisMaple]

I have a friend who (45 years ago) melted aluminum on the kitchen stove, using cast iron cookware. He used the aluminum to make duplicate keys.

How

[diego.viola]

How is this news for nerds?

Self-selecting posts here

[purplie]

Will nobody point out that all the posters saying "I lived through my childhood" are a self-selecting group?

Deadly Nerf guns...

[lonewolfx]

The most dangerous toy of all is a modified Nerf Maverick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEQKecMUawc It's cheap. It's easily attained. And it's easily modified into a lethal weapon. Now that's something that needs to be banned.