Posted on 12/30/2014 3:11:58 PM PST by WilliamIII
A harmless symbol of Christmas cheer was once deemed so risky that the FDA had to regulate it. Tinsel once contained lead, which, as scientists realized in the 1960s, made it dangerous to kids. That prompted a deal between the FDA and tinsel makers to alter manufacturing methods, the American Chemical Society reports in a video. The 1972 change was at first kept secret, Popular Science reports, for fear “that many people preferring the lead variety would stockpile it,” an official said at the time.
Believe it or not, that wasn’t the first time tinsel had posed a threat: One reason lead was used is that some kinds of tinsel used to be flammable
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
Working at a machine shop, the owner’s wife came back and asked me to make her some shavings for tinsel. I chucked up a hunk of aluminum and dug in deep and fast with the lathe and caught the long curls until she had enough. Then she noticed some nylon chips in the pan and had to have some white nylon shavings, too.
I remember reading from the Bible, and saying the Lord’s Prayer in publik skool.
Guess I really am getting old.
A forerunner of the Festivus Pole eh.
We used to collect twigs to make our tree,
but most of the time we ended up eating them
before Christmas.
I remember my dad telling me about his Christmas as a
kid, they had candles on the tree and someone always
had to sit next to it to watch out.
One year he got some nuts and an orange, he was
happy with that.
Course they used to have to make their own wagons by
sawing slices off a log then burning holes in them
with a red hot iron and used green hickory for axles
mounted on a board, no turning but it would go down
hill. Jeez what a childhood.
Sure miss him.
Happy New Year, only two more to go!
Be glad she didn’t ask for cast iron.
We drank water straight out of a faucet.
We used to hang fresh caught fish on the Xmas tree so when it caught on fire, we’d have a fish fry for dinner.
Only stupid kids thought old style tinsel was spaghetti so we let them eat it. They are no longer with us and the gene pool has improved a little.
Two words:
Lawn Darts
Good times.
We would lay it across the train tracks to spark and reverse the train direction.
...and naughty kids got physically Spanked.
...an all men & boys carried pocket knives.
I ate the stuff and played with mercury too.
Lawn darts. I remember realizing it was dangerous to try and catch or knock the other kids darts away from the hula hoop target. I must have been 10...and it just clicked that this wasn’t a good idea.
That was right up there with “can we dig a tunnel in Kyle’s back yard”? We couldn’t, but looking back were in “digging our own tomb” territory.
And I actually LIKED cyclamate in my drinks!
I ate fried chicken, fried fish and fried Indian bread and other goodies all cooked in hog lard!
The lead-based tinsel was what I grew up knowing, and the substitute was not received well in our family. I guess getting crap tinsel and paint that sucks was a small price to pay to allow FedGov to begin handcuffing science and manufacturing to Marxist social engineering.
Mr. niteowl77
I bought .22 short ammo for a .22 rifle I got when I was 14! 45 cents for 50 rounds.
I bought my own .22 when I was 17! No paperwork!
Now, at 68, I wish I could find .22 ammo!
We drank water straight out of a faucet.
+++++++++++++++
We drank water straight from the hose all summer long. One kid right after the other.
“Christmas was never the same after the normal tinsel was replaced by the floaty, flighty, cling-to-nothing-but-the-person-hanging-it garbage.”
Correct. I don’t think anyone even bothers with it anymore, we sure don’t.
This was the first year in a long time we didn’t do a tree at all. We haven’t had a real one since we’ve been under construction since Hurricane Sandy, but the last two years I did put a little artificial one we have up. This year I got sick for 2 weeks after Thanksgiving, so I just forgot about it all together.
Hubby was good and put up lights outside, so at least we didn’t look like complete heathens.
Bubble lights! I remember the bubble lights! I could sit for hours and watch the bubbles form and flow up the center of the bulb on the tree!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubble_light
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