Today's dangerous toys pale to those of past

Chicago Sun Times ^ | November 26, 2003 | MARK BROWN SUN

[NewRomeTacitus]

No, no. It was a regulation-size dart. A Jart would have surely killed her. Whew. Memories already fuzzing up at 41, not good.
We played Jarts for years without incident. Good game.

[Orangedog]

I guess the lawn chair guy killed himself not too many years ago. Probably had something to do with never living it down.

That one was almost as funny as the guy who mounted some JATO's to his car. I almost had to change my shorts when I read each the first time.

[Cboldt]

Effective December 19, 1988, all lawn darts are banned from sale in the United States.

I was wondering how far the thread would get before somebody pointed out that it is literally a Federal Offense to sell Lawn Darts. Yup. Klackers too. The cite is somewhere in the CSPS rules, a Federal Regulation. If you sell 'em at a yard sale, you're breaking a Federal Rule.

[NewRomeTacitus]

Lysol and lighter is for flying insects. Spiraling down in a wiff of smoke made me imagine WWI dogfights.
Also had to see what would happen to a garden slug in the new-fangled microwave. Cleaning every square inch happens.

Guess I'm not making PETA's Christmas list this year.

[Delta 21]

When Lawn Darts are outlawed, only Outlaws will have Lawn Darts.

[NCLaw441]

You said: The most fun I ever had as a young kid was with a plain old piece of cardboard. Rub that sucker with grass to get it slick and down the hill you go!

The best toys were always the home made stuff. We played for DAYS on an old mattress we dragged over to a swing set and jumped out of the swings onto it. That was so great!! One store-bought toy I remember consisted of two cardboard tubes, one barely smaller than the other. You attached a rubber "rocket" to the top of one tube, then inserted the tube into the end of the other tube, pushed down hard, and off flew the rocket. If that wasn't enough fun, the water rockets were fantastic, AND got you wet!! We only got in trouble when we started aiming them horizontally instead of into the air..... OH!! and how about those plastic parachute men!! The parachutes usually tore up pretty quickly so we would get handkerchiefs out of dad's drawers.... As Bob Hope would say, thanks for the memories!!!

[wardaddy]

lol....poor little toads....I will burn in toad hell one day for my (our) crimes!

Regards.

[forsnax5]

... the 1997 Darwin Award honorable mention!

I remember this event, but it was in 1982.

On the actual Darwin awards site, there are even pictures!

Click here.

[Orangedog]

Thanks for the good link. I took the first thing that google threw at me.

[Merdoug]

Those water rockets were one of the best toys ever invented. All you needed was the water, and you could have fun all afternoon. Wonder if they still sell them? Probably not; they're too much fun. One of my first science experiments was putting an ant inside the rocket and pumping it up with air to see how much "pressure" he could take. Didn't bother the little bugger a bit. They'll still be around when we are long gone! :)

[Fresh Wind]

The best toys were always the home made stuff.

Ain't that the truth. I remember the old wood crates my dad brought home from where he worked that, somehow, our imaginations turned into a tank, or a rocket ship, or whatever.

[Dianna]

How many still have their 60's clackers?

Those must have come back in the 70's! 1 week after they became popular they were banned from school. LOL!

[Major_Risktaker]

LOL!!

[NCLaw441]

I think I am going to have to go hunting for water rockets for my kids..... (ok, and for me too)
I have gotten them these air power rockets, and they are pretty cool, as are the airhogs airplanes powered by air... a little fragile though.

[Vermonter]

We used a wooden fruit crate, a two by four and two halves of a roller skate to make a scooter. Kept you busy all day. First making it and then riding it.

[Dianna]

Those water rockets were one of the best toys ever invented.

A couple of years ago one of my sons got a car which attached to a water pump thing. Pump it up and the car takes off, spraying water everywhere. They thought it was pretty cool. We like stomp rockets too.

[meowmeow]

My parents would have been locked up. Over our childhood, they bought kb2614 and me boxing gloves, pellet guns, glow-in-the-dark light sabers, plastic missile launchers and a host of other items we could use against each other. Then they wondered why we fought all the time.

[CARDINALRULES]

HGTV is going to have on Toys We Grew Up With tonight.

Will be on right after the show that is on now...Under the tree 2003.

[dalereed]

How about the match guns that fired a lit wooden match made from wood clothes pins?

[smith288]

I had one like this (little more simple)...Probably in my parents basement somewhere. lol