Nanny won't you hold my hand?

[AE1PT]

You can't fix stupid--regardless of which side of the stupid fence an idiot stands on... :angry:

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/02/tech/web/apparently-this-matters-buckyballs/index.html?hpt=hp_bn5

[n2ize]

You can still purchase spherical magnets and construct your own "buckyballs" game. There are numerous scientific suppliers that sell spherical neodymium magnets. So this is basically a non-issue. If you want em you got em.

[KC9ECI]

So much for the government doing things to promote business growth.

[N8YX]

I like '3N's approach: Pull the warning labels off stuff and let Darwin do the rest.

[W5GA]

Someone probably tried to use these to make a 32oz. soda cup.

[KA9MOT]

A smart guy would buy a couple dozen sets, while he still could, wait a couple of years and then put them on ebay.......

[AE1PT]

You can still purchase spherical magnets and construct your own "buckyballs" game. There are numerous scientific suppliers that sell spherical neodymium magnets. So this is basically a non-issue. If you want em you got em.

While that may sound like a sensible course, the fact is that no one except nerds or geeks are going to explore that route. Desk toys are packaged goods--purchased by office rats to create temporary distraction. Many of them have never heard of neodymium--no less given a bit of thought to round magnets and putting together a bunch of them.

What's next? The rocks in my little Zen garden presenting a choking hazard? Maybe the clacking pendulum balls on my wife's desk could present a crushing hazard. FUCK, MY STAPLER DOES NOT HAVE A WARNING LABEL! I COULD HURT MYSELF...

[KG4CGC]

While that may sound like a sensible course, the fact is that no one except nerds or geeks are going to explore that route. Desk toys are packaged goods--purchased by office rats to create temporary distraction. Many of them have never heard of neodymium--no less given a bit of thought to round magnets and putting together a bunch of them.

What's next? The rocks in my little Zen garden presenting a choking hazard? Maybe the clacking pendulum balls on my wife's desk could present a crushing hazard. FUCK, MY STAPLER DOES NOT HAVE A WARNING LABEL! I COULD HURT MYSELF...
Do not, put salt in your eyes.

[WØTKX]

Excuse me, is that a RED STAPLER?

[n2ize]

While that may sound like a sensible course, the fact is that no one except nerds or geeks are going to explore that route. Desk toys are packaged goods--purchased by office rats to create temporary distraction. Many of them have never heard of neodymium--no less given a bit of thought to round magnets and putting together a bunch of them.

True.



What's next? The rocks in my little Zen garden presenting a choking hazard? Maybe the clacking pendulum balls on my wife's desk could present a crushing hazard. FUCK, MY STAPLER DOES NOT HAVE A WARNING LABEL! I COULD HURT MYSELF...
I know. The level of Nannyism is incredible and sickening. The nanny statists would get disgusted if they saw some of my vintage products. I often think how many of those products I have could never be sold in today's nanny world. Yet in those day's we weren't hurting or killing ourselves because we had common sense and understood how to use them safely. And some of the things we played with as kids. Model airplanes with gas motors we got for christmas with a sharp spinning blade in front. All of us kids who used them had cuts and nicks on our fingers from those blades. But our parents didn't call the CPSC to get them banned. They gave us a band aid and told us "be more careful with the damned thing next time". BB guns, pellet guns, not to mention some of the crazy fireworks we used to get our hands on. We managed fine without Nanny's protection.

In the case of this product I see no problem with it. If it was properly labeled and marketed for adults I see no reason why it should not be sold. I wouldn't mind having a set of them myself. My guess is that you'll still be able to order them from Chinese retailers... after all they sell & ship tons of other stuff that's banned/restricted here. Maybe they'll have customs search packages for magnetic desk novelties.

[AE1PT]

I recall reading a story earlier this year in which a 3 year old girl swallowed 37 of them. A quick google revealed this:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/oregon-girl-swallows-37-magnets/story?id=15850517#.UJf74obVoWE

A spate of alarmist stories and dire warnings emerged, and reached a crescendo about two months later. This Faux News burble is pretty representative:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/06/22/swallowed-magnets-growing-problem-for-kids-docs-warn/

I don't even care to think of the statistical insignificance of magnet ingestion of any sort--nor can I find any evidence of a death due to such an occurrence. However, the knee jerked, precautionary tales emerged--and the beat goes on. The novelty of buckyballs made them a low hanging fruit for many social agenda's.

There is little problem finding millions of cases of children eating other objects. They are quite the Epicurean purveyors of risky praxis. Today's relative rarity of the safety pin has reduced consumption of these items. Yet children ingest marbles, keys, small toy parts, and a myriad of other objects with gusto. Yes, some actually die as a result of it. We will not include pica or psychiatric disorder in the equation--bad things happen.

I believe that these bad things need to happen, and are a crucial component of socialization and survival. Humans require examples and precautionary tales to shape behaviors and outcomes. Too many such things inure people--children and adults--to outcomes. Think of it as a form of desensitization. To few examples lead to a wholesale ignorance of behavioral consequence--as there is no method to gauge risk, nor any internal or external reinforcements to moderate the behavior. A certain number of individuals must be injured, maimed, or die as a result of bad choices to provide those exemplars of avoidance to the rest of us.

While some of us may declaim risk; especially the childhood modality--eyes were put out with sticks. Scissors did impale the swift. Bones were broken, appendages severed, and funerals conducted. Through all of this we find a happy medium. People still make risky, ignorant, or capricious choices. They always will, and no amount of legislation will deliver any great social relief.

[XE1/N5AL]

Anybody else remember the almost thirty year-old Saturday Night Live skit about kids eating refrigerator magnets? I couldn't find a video of it, just this transcript. (http://snltranscripts.jt.org/84/84cmagnets.phtml)

[n2ize]

I like this statement from the article...


"If we had any idea what those magnets could have done to our daughter's intestines I would have never had them in our house, " Kelli Bushnell told KPTV.

So I presume this woman had had her electricity disconnected because that can do terrible things to a child. I suppose that she keeps no OTC or prescription drugs in the house. I hope she doesn't have any kind of fuel piped or delivered to the premises or any kind of heating system. I hope she doesn't use a car, etc..etc... I hope she doesn't have any thumbtacks, sewing needles, or any product that may contain small parts inside. The typical home is extremely dangerous.

What happened to common sense. When I was a child my parents warned me of things that are dangerous. They told me things like , don't put your fingers near the electric fan, or stand too near the stove... don;t touch the electric outlets and then they explained why. As a result I developed a sense of respect for things that could be dangerous and I stayed away. What happened to this line of common sense ? Don't parents explain things that are dangerous to their children anymore ?

[XE1/N5AL]

How about some delicious looking soda, ...errrr floor cleaner, to wash those magnets down?
(this Colgate-Palmolive product is actually one of the most popular floor cleaners in Mexico)
7895

[W5GA]

What happened to this line of common sense ? Don't parents explain things that are dangerous to their children anymore ?
You should ask the folks that had Lawn Darts or Honda 3 wheelers.

[AE1PT]

What happened to common sense. When I was a child my parents warned me of things that are dangerous. They told me things like , don't put your fingers near the electric fan, or stand too near the stove... don;t touch the electric outlets and then they explained why. As a result I developed a sense of respect for things that could be dangerous and I stayed away. What happened to this line of common sense ? Don't parents explain things that are dangerous to their children anymore ?

Somewhere in the 70s, Ken Gergen came along. Since then, we have been on a voyage of self-discovery and illumination--where everyone constructs their own frame of reference in absentia of underlying schematic reference. It's one of the primary wrecking balls that destroyed the American primary and secondary educational system.

Anyone want to imagine what 6 x 6 is? Remember, there are no wrong answers...

[n2ize]

I remember in the 1970's when Ralph Nader wanted to ban smoke detectors because they contain a tiny miniscule chip of radioactive material used to ionize the detection chambre. The point being that the tiny chip of radioactive material is so small and so insignificant that ther chances of it causing any kind of radiation illness was next to nothing at all. In fact the detectors themselves are harmless yet the number of lives they save is enormous. I myself have tested some of these smoke detectors with a geiger counter and found no increase in background radiation whatsoever unless I physically opened the smoke detector and stuck the geiger tube smack right against the detection chambre. And even then readings were quite low. Matter of fact since Americium is primarily an alpha emitter the majority of its radiation is stopped completely by the metal surrounding the chambre and by the plastic case of the detector itself. Matter of fact my old vintage 1940's radium dial luminous pocketwatch is far more radioactive. Put a Geiger counter next to it and it's like Chernobyl compared to a smoke detector.

Still and all, science, fact and common sense didn't stop Nader and his cronies from raising a panic over the smoke detectors, scaring some people into believing that their smoke detectors were all deadly mini-Chernobyls in meltdown. Fortunately in this case more sensible heads prevailed and Nader never got the smoke detectors banned. By then statistics had shown that the benefits of having smoke detectors far outweighed the non-existent risks of radiation from the devices.

[WØTKX]

I like this statement from the article...



So I presume this woman had had her electricity disconnected because that can do terrible things to a child. I suppose that she keeps no OTC or prescription drugs in the house. I hope she doesn't have any kind of fuel piped or delivered to the premises or any kind of heating system. I hope she doesn't use a car, etc..etc... I hope she doesn't have any thumbtacks, sewing needles, or any product that may contain small parts inside. The typical home is extremely dangerous.

What happened to common sense. When I was a child my parents warned me of things that are dangerous. They told me things like , don't put your fingers near the electric fan, or stand too near the stove... don;t touch the electric outlets and then they explained why. As a result I developed a sense of respect for things that could be dangerous and I stayed away. What happened to this line of common sense ? Don't parents explain things that are dangerous to their children anymore ?


Don't forget to use these so the electricity doesn't leak out...

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/25-SAFETY-FIRST-AND-GERBER-CLEAR-ULTRA-CLEAR-ELECTRICAL-OUTLET-COVERS-PLUGS-/00/s/MzQ1WDQwOA==/$(KGrHqFHJBsE-+yefv7lBQBMdRv3WQ~~60_12.JPG

[K7SGJ]

While that may sound like a sensible course, the fact is that no one except nerds or geeks are going to explore that route. Desk toys are packaged goods--purchased by office rats to create temporary distraction. Many of them have never heard of neodymium--no less given a bit of thought to round magnets and putting together a bunch of them.

What's next? The rocks in my little Zen garden presenting a choking hazard? Maybe the clacking pendulum balls on my wife's desk could present a crushing hazard. FUCK, MY STAPLER DOES NOT HAVE A WARNING LABEL! I COULD HURT MYSELF...

Maybe there should be a warning label on them. I knew a guy who stapled his nuts together. He said, "if you can't lick em, join em".

[n2ize]

Don't forget to use these so the electricity doesn't leak out...

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/25-SAFETY-FIRST-AND-GERBER-CLEAR-ULTRA-CLEAR-ELECTRICAL-OUTLET-COVERS-PLUGS-/00/s/MzQ1WDQwOA==/$(KGrHqFHJBsE-+yefv7lBQBMdRv3WQ~~60_12.JPG

Thiis is one of those things your utility company doesn't want you to know about... ;)

[kf0rt]

I ordered some.

Magnets are FUN!

[AE1PT]

I ordered some.

Magnets are FUN!

And now a strange child who cannot resist an attractive nuisance is going to sneak into your house and eat them. The little tykes intestines are going to be turned into hamburger--and they will spend the rest of their life shitting into an ostomy bag.

It will all be on your head because you defied the CPSC and had to feed your addiction for socially irresponsible consumer goods.

I hope that you can live with yourself...

[kf0rt]

And now a strange child who cannot resist an attractive nuisance is going to sneak into your house and eat them. The little tykes intestines are going to be turned into hamburger--and they will spend the rest of their life shitting into an ostomy bag.

It will all be on your head because you defied the CPSC and had to feed your addiction for socially irresponsible consumer goods.

I hope that you can live with yourself...

Ohhellno. I'm going to take 'em to work and feed 'em to management. ;)