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Strange New Social Media Trend: Licking Nintendo Switch Cartridges (macon.com)
Now that the Nintendo Switch has launched, "lots of people are just licking their video games," reports McClatchy.
According to IGN, the tech company coated the cartridges, which are roughly the size of a SIM card, in a bittering agent called denatonium benzoate, which is also used in rat poison and antifreeze to deter human consumption. The chemical is also used to deter nail-biting, per the Telegraph. Nintendo used the chemical as a safety measure to stop small children and pets from eating the cartridges. While there is no adverse health effects from consuming denatonium benzoate, it does leave a sour, bitter taste that lasts for hours, according to taste testers from BBC News, Quartz and IGN. But even as more and more people take to social media to let others know how bad the cartridges taste, more and more people seem determined to try it in what some are calling the Nintendo cartridge challenge...
"Humanity deserves no faith," opines Slashdot reader RavenLrD20k. But meanwhile on Twitter, one gamer was already complaining that their morning coffee tasted like a Nintendo Switch cartridge.
"Humanity deserves no faith," opines Slashdot reader RavenLrD20k. But meanwhile on Twitter, one gamer was already complaining that their morning coffee tasted like a Nintendo Switch cartridge.
Kids will put stuff in their mouths anyhow. If it isn't a cartridge, it's something else and more dangerous. It's not like there's a dearth of items that can be inserted in the head. And a bitter taste? Just find another orifice, then!
Consider it an evolutionary opportunity. Those who choke and die won't be in the gene pool.
This nanny culture isn't helpful. Kids don't get knives anymore, so they never learn how to use it, and when getting one, they have the experience of a hundred cuts to know how to use it safely, but are strong enough to hurt themselves far more. Playgrounds don't have climbable trees. So they don't develop skills while still soft-boned and light enough to survive falls. They can't swim under water, because flotation devices prevent them from learning. They've never flown a kite, nor shot a arrow from a bow. They're not allowed wooden pencils. They have to wear safety glasses when playing conkers.
We're raising a bunch of overprotected useless dolls.
I used to think that, and hell, maybe it's true and I was more right then. But now I just think we need to educate people more at all ages. Just force more information about everything into them until they a) get used to the idea of learning new things again and b) start to make connections with the information. I think a lot of these people are smarter than they'll ever know, because they've never learned to enjoy thinking.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
This is what happens when you have a society that can no longer make things that are productive and all become journalists and bloggers with nothing of use to write about. Nintendo did this to try to curb an issue they saw. Someone with no real news to report decided to try to make this news. Now it's an issue for no real reason. I'm not against reporting whatever you want, just noting how pathetic society is in its need to consume 'news' that really isn't.