One of the biggest new toys of the year is a thing called “Aqua Dots”. It uses water and some soluble plastic mixture that you squirt into a sort of grid template to make a picture of something, then, after the plastic solidifies, you can remove it from the tray and play with the object. We see this thing advertised on the assorted Nickelodeon channels constantly, and Charlotte would LOVE to get one for Christmas.
So, I’m a bit unhappy to see this post at The Consumerist this morning. A virtually identical toy being sold under the name “Bindeez” in Australia, the U.K. and elsewhere, is being recalled in Australia because the chemical compound in the plastic mix is identical to the illegal drug GHB. GHB is used as a “date rape” drug, but can also be toxic. Children who might eat the solid plastic things they create could become seriosuly ill, go comatose, or even die from consuming the substance.
No word of an American recall yet, but you have to think there will be one, what with all the attention to toy recalls from Chinese manufacturers right now. Bridget has actually already bought one for Charlotte and has it stashed away for Christmas, but I think we’ll be taking it back now.
It’s going to be a long two months waiting for the iPad to actually ship so that all the tech bloggers and their hangers-on will stop writing so much speculative bullshit about iT and turn their attention iNstead to some other thing that’s going to Change Life As We Know iT.
Since you cannot click a [...]
Please, please, PUH-LEEZE stop talking about “What do we call the last decade?” Nobody could come up with an acceptable choice ten years ago, and nobody’s going to come up with one now. “Aughties” and “Naughties” are contrived and stupid, and so is the very idea that anything wraps up all nice and [...]
Thanks to Shelley for alerting me that last night’s edition of the local TV newsmagzine “Chronicle” featured Harvard Humanist Chaplain Greg Epstein, whom I blogged about recently in conjunction with the various atheist billboard campaigns around the country. I was busy helping Charlotte do her homework, so I didn’t watch the show, but WCVB’s [...]
Update to yesterday’s post about boiled eggs:
The picture at the top is what I got by boiling two eggs in 180-degree-ish water for 6 minutes. Sorry for the so-so photo, I only had my cell phone handy.
The eggs were indeed nicely done. The cooked ring of egg white was consistent in its thickness [...]
I see a rush on the market….