In Pray for Coal, Paige Ferrari lists the 10 most dangerous play things of all time. At the top of the list we find, of course, lawn darts:
Removable parts? Suffocation risk? Lead paint? Pussy hazards compared to the granddaddy of them all. Lawn Darts, or “Jarts,” as they were marketed, would never fly in our current ultra-paranoid, safety-helmeted, Dr. Phil toy culture. Lawn darts were massive weighted spears. You threw them. They stuck where they landed. If they happened to land in your skull, well, then you should have moved. During their brief (and generally awesome) reign in 1980s suburbia, Jarts racked up 6,700 injuries and four deaths.
The real standout though is number two, the Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab. It’s fun, easy, and exciting! A.C. Gilbert, creator of the Erector Set, released the Atomic Energy Lab in 1951. It included the following components:
- U-239 Geiger radiation counter.
- Electroscope to measure radioactivity of different substances.
- Spinthariscope to watch “live” radioactive disintegration.
- Wilson Cloud Chamber to see paths of electrons & alpha particles at 10k mps
- Three very low-level radioactive sources (Alpha, Beta, Gamma).
- Four samples of Uranium-bearing ores
- Nuclear Spheres (used to visual build models of molecules)
- The book “Prospecting for Uranium”
- The “Gilbert Atomic Energy Manual”
- The comic book “Learn How Dagwood Splits the Atom”
- Three “Winchester” Batteries (size “C”)
The irony is that it probably was perfectly safe. As one commenter noted:
Long term effects? None whatsoever. Uranium 238 is only dangerous if in finely powdered form and inhaled. You can safely swallow a pellet of U238; it just passes through.
Number nine is the one that speaks to me — the Battlestar Galactica Missile Launcher.