I think (Qu)easyBakeOven is such a crazy (good) thing, its kinda weird how kids need training wheels for using a microave lol but ok
There was a science toy in the I think 40s or 50s they came with ACTUAL FUCKING URANIUM.
Edit. Oh, just saw someone else said this already with more in depth info
I forget the name, maybe it was called slip and slide? Water Park at home!
Dangerous if you don’t follow the instructions and easy to get fractures. Like the kids across the street who borrowed it, broke their wrist, and tried to sue us. I’m pretty sure it was ”yeah borrowers parents needed to supervise them".
You’re probably aware but for those who aren’t this is a pun/riff on the Easy Bake Oven, which has been selling since the 1960s (it uses the heat of an incandescent light bulb to cook stuff). It’s one of the most successful toys of all time.
As far as unhinged, I think the winner had to be the Atomic Energy Lab Kit with Uranium, which did in fact come with a chunk of (low-level) radioactive Uranium. It sold for $49.95 in 1950, which is equivalent to almost $700 today.
I assume when you say “low-level” its < 1 microcurie. Thats asking for radiation poisoning otherwise (unless you are taking extreme precautions)
I ask this because uranium sources i use in lab are around the 1 microcurie to 10 microcurie range that i know you can get without a license.
The kid actors/models always kill me 😂
Was the unit of uranium inert or could it cause health effects even at that level?
It was a commercial flop (probably because it cost $700 in today’s money and could do 4 only somewhat-interesting things), so even though it looks crazy today, safety wasn’t the reason it was pulled off the market. That said, the U-238 samples came in tiny glass vials that you were instructed not to break. But if you did break them and then ate one of the chunks of Uranium it could do some pretty serious damage inside of you if it wasn’t expelled quickly. But that point you’d also have broken glass and a rock-swallowing habit and probably other problems that would kill you before any kind of radiation-induced cancer would.
How could you even operate on the uranium if the instructions didnt allow you remove it?
You weren’t “operating” on the Uranium in as much as observing its radioactive decay. The radiation (alpha particles, which are basically Helium nuclei) go through glass. So I think you’d put the vial in front of the Geiger counter and it would click. Or you’d put it into the little cloud chamber and you could see the trails of the alpha particles as they shot out.
All of that is hilariously and sounds objectively insane for a childs toy, I cant even 😂
IIRC it was not inert and over time with enough exposure, was radioactive enough to potentially cause health detriments.
Fid you patronize any other Gilbert Hall of Science(!) project-products?
I’m several decades too young to have, thankyouverymuch. But there’s lots of info on them online. They kind of captured that early space age cultural zeitgeist of the time.
As they deserved to.
Now i just want to find out which executive was responsible for this 🤣 i cant even bring myself to condemn them, this is such a crazy and random thing,
kids probably enjoyed it with a cigarette and a nice port
Gonna go with (metal-tipped) Lawn Darts.
When we were kids we went on a vacation with our folks through the hills on the east coast (US). There were some cowboy and Indian type souvenir shops. Well we both (brother and I) picked bow and arrows for souvenirs. The arrows were target practice type arrows and we started ahooting them straight up and dodging them as they came down. Pretty sure we could have died had one actually hit us.
Its crazy its to be thrown underhand rather than oh
I miss lawn darts sometimes. I’m just glad they all missed me.
Why not buy some?
At least in Canada and the US, they are federally illegal to sell. There are safe versions out there now with balls for tips, but metal darts can’t be legally purchased anywhere.
Seriously, what if you drtboard?
Lawn darts aren’t dart board darts. Metal tipped darts are legal for dart boards.
Lawn darts are significantly larger, thrown up in the air, and were the cause of many injuries back in the day.
Couldnt a manufacturer just include an oversized dartboard to go with the totally coincidentally matching-sized “dartboard” darts?
Since when is it forbidden to use dartboard darts on ur lawn?
Since it literally killed kids. Imagine if you will a dartboard dart that was about a foot long and weighed 5-7 pounds with a sharp point. Now toss that up in the air with kids below it.
Thats definitely insane but why cant they just not be giant sized?
Also wtf pleys lawn darts with children running around
How about a smooth, round, vibrating lightsaber toy?
Why would be unhinged??
To me, vibrating dildo shaped childrens’ toys seem a little… weird.
It was the vibrating Harry Potter brooms that were pulled off shelves. Nobody was shoving these flimsy lightsabers up their ass, especially not kids.
Nuh-uh!
The heated inflatable bouncy castle some Chinese businesswoman was advertising on Twitter.
That is not a bouncy castle. That’s a military decoy. But yeah, that probably fits under “unhinged.”
Hey, what do you have against Iranian children having a little fun?
I don‘t even know what to tell you about this one:
The hell am i looking at?
„Kacka Alarm“ Please don’t ask for a translation. And yes, of course i own one.
