Etch-A-Sketch UL
Nina Neudorfer
childhood (~60's) toys. Someone brought up the Etch-A-Sketch[1], which led
to the following new-to-me, in-the-wild UL:
From Maryland: It's possible that the first "urban legend" I ever heard was
the one about the silver stuff inside causing permanent tattoo like skin
discoloration if you touched it.
From the Pacific Northwest: I didn't hear that tattoo thing. I heard that if
you broke it and touched that stuff it was so poisonous that you would go
immediately into violent convulsions, followed by foaming at the mouth and a
hideously painful death. Amazing that the Consumer Protection Agencies let
such a dangerous toy on the market...must not have been as strict as they
are today.[2]
From Wisconsin: We always heard the stuff inside Etch-a-Sketch was just
plain old graphite - harmless - but then our parents told us not to eat it.
According to their FAQ (http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/faq.htm), aluminum
powder is what gives the sketcher its etchie goodness. Supplies come from
the famous Metallic Powder Manufacturing Plant, US of A.
I'm idly wondering if anyone has heard these, or similar warnings, before.
Obviously it would be wise to avoid the breathing in or ingesting of
aluminum powder, but instantaneous death? Or permanent skin dye?
--
Nina "tattoo you"
[1]TWIAVBP?: "Magic" drawing screen toy, invented in France,
prevalent/popular in US. See http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/
[2]Sarcastic, winking smiley edited from this space
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(P)lease don't start a cat falling, or cat w/buttered toast
falling thread.
------------------Don Middendorf, on alt.folklore.urban
Mitcho
<nin...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>From the Pacific Northwest: I didn't hear that tattoo thing. I heard that if
>you broke it and touched that stuff it was so poisonous that you would go
>immediately into violent convulsions, followed by foaming at the mouth and a
>hideously painful death. Amazing that the Consumer Protection Agencies let
>such a dangerous toy on the market...must not have been as strict as they
>are today.[2]
>I'm idly wondering if anyone has heard these, or similar warnings, before.
>Obviously it would be wise to avoid the breathing in or ingesting of
>aluminum powder, but instantaneous death? Or permanent skin dye?
Mitcho here, from California. Aye, the stuff would kill you dead,
instantly. Dunno about the mouthfoam and all that. We were very
careful never to break the housing to let any leak out. Also, we
didn't want to break it because it was a pretty cool toy.
Mitcho
--
The Urban Redneck o red...@employees.org o San Francisco, USA
http://www.employees.org/~redneck
Deborah Stevenson
On Sun, 16 Jul 2000, Mitcho wrote:
> On Sun, 16 Jul 2000 17:16:55 -0400, "Nina Neudorfer"
> <nin...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
> >From the Pacific Northwest: I didn't hear that tattoo thing. I heard that if
> >you broke it and touched that stuff it was so poisonous that you would go
> >immediately into violent convulsions, followed by foaming at the mouth and a
> >hideously painful death. Amazing that the Consumer Protection Agencies let
> >such a dangerous toy on the market...must not have been as strict as they
> >are today.[2]
>
> Mitcho here, from California. Aye, the stuff would kill you dead,
> instantly. Dunno about the mouthfoam and all that. We were very
> careful never to break the housing to let any leak out. Also, we
> didn't want to break it because it was a pretty cool toy.
I believe I ran into this one as well.
Actually, I think this ties loosely into the golf ball legends. I believe
a variety of sealed items were loudly reputed in my youth to have truly
hideous materials inside. I'm tempted to suggest this starts with parents
who really don't want to buy the rugrats a second Etch-a-Sketch, but
something about the inaccessibility of the various interiors and the
contrast with the apparently innocuous outside probably plays in there as
well.
But now I hit a problem. I've heard of other deadly toy/deadly interior
things as an adult, and I don't know if it's more vectorage or a possible
source for the other beliefs. I've heard that museum cases with various
kinds of taxidermy (including human mummies) have an air mixture that's
considered poisonous, and I've got some kind of 1950s make-yer-own-balloon
toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told was
quite lethal as well. I'm also thinking something about those old glass
bell preserved-nature things with everlastings and dead butterflies...
So I'd say it's either part of an old belief that goes back aways or there
are instances enough to make it not entirely illogical for people to
suspect such things. In the meantime, I'm not opening up *my*
Etch-a-Sketch.
Deborah Stevenson
(stev...@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu)
Meredith Robbins
<snip>
> I've got some kind of 1950s make-yer-own-balloon
> toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told was
> quite lethal as well.
A 1950s toy, perhaps, but one that is still very much extant today. The
toy store where I work stocks them under the name "Fantastic Plastic
Bubbles." *Why* we stock them, I don't know, because nobody ever buys
them -- I think it's some combination of the facts that a.) the material
involved is very flammable[1] and b.) it's really kind of a dumb toy.
If it was a really great toy, it might be worth burning your eyebrows
off for, but geez, it doesn't even look all that fun.
Meredith "You'll shoot your eye out" Robbins
1. The package has a huge warning label about this fact -- the direct
result, I think, of a Consumer Reports toy safety expose I remember from
my youth.[2]
2. 1984-1992. Yes, I know, it's hilarious.
--
"If prices were a little cheaper and the police weren't shooting people
in the streets, it would be almost perfect." --Lonely Planet Online:
Destination Chad
http://www.eclectricity.org | http://www.exileinnetville.com
C. Ancona
"Deborah Stevenson" <stev...@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu> wrote in message
news:Pine.SGI.4.10.1000716...@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu...
<snip lethal Etch-A-Sketch discussion>
> I've heard that museum cases with various
> kinds of taxidermy (including human mummies) have an air mixture that's
> considered poisonous, and I've got some kind of 1950s make-yer-own-balloon
> toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told was
> quite lethal as well.
Does it make multicolored swirly balloons/bubbles? I wanted that when I was
little but my Dad wouldn't let me have it. I believe he was concerned about
the fumes. But then, he was a little overprotective, he taught me about
botulism, tetanus, and trichinosis before I was six. Anyhow, those glow in
the dark light sticks that you bend to activate were said to kill you. That
didn't stop kids from breaking them open and splashing the stuff around.
Caeli "turned eyelids inside-out to amuse others" Ancona
greg andruk
> But now I hit a problem. I've heard of other deadly toy/deadly interior
> things as an adult, and I don't know if it's more vectorage or a possible
> source for the other beliefs. I've heard that museum cases with various
> kinds of taxidermy (including human mummies) have an air mixture that's
> considered poisonous,
Bleah. If the case is full of anything but dry air, the sensible
choice would be something inert. I suspect the intnded effect is to
discourage the curious from pressing greasy noses and fingers against
the nice clean glass.
> and I've got some kind of 1950s make-yer-own-balloon
> toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told was
> quite lethal as well.
Super Elastic Bubble Plastic was the one they used to advertise on tee
vee around here, and many clones are still on the market. The solvent
that makes it work offers all kinds of real and imagined possibilities
toward nastiness.
> I'm also thinking something about those old glass bell
> preserved-nature things with everlastings and dead butterflies...
You mean the liquid-filled things? It was (is?) common to use
napthalene (moth ball material), which can make make you feel less
than wonderful if you inhale the fumes, and also wicked ill (or wicked
dead) if you eat/drink enough of it. A nearby MSDS says 5-15g of the
stuff is lethal.
rainbow
because the stuff was poisonous. Well, she didn't take me seriously, and
kept chewing. A few minutes later I noticed her teeth glowing. When I
pointed this out to her... she freaked out! We didn't take her to the
hospital or anything, and she lived, so I guess it's not toxic...
Tara P
C. Ancona wrote in message ...
>
>"Deborah Stevenson" <stev...@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu> wrote in message
>news:Pine.SGI.4.10.1000716...@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu...
><snip lethal Etch-A-Sketch discussion>
>
>> I've heard that museum cases with various
>> kinds of taxidermy (including human mummies) have an air mixture that's
>> considered poisonous, and I've got some kind of 1950s
make-yer-own-balloon
>> toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told
was
>> quite lethal as well.
>
rainbow
Bubbles." *Why* we stock them, I don't know, because nobody ever buys
>them -- I think it's some combination of the facts that a.) the material
>involved is very flammable[1] and b.) it's really kind of a dumb toy.
>If it was a really great toy, it might be worth burning your eyebrows
>off for, but geez, it doesn't even look all that fun.
>Meredith "You'll shoot your eye out" Robbins
You've got to be kidding! I *love* those. One of my favorite toys as a kid.
They are hard to find now. Around here anyhow... I guess they're marketing
to the wrong areas...
Tara P
Charles Bishop
<ma...@columbia.edu> wrote:
>Deborah Stevenson wrote:
><snip>
>> I've got some kind of 1950s make-yer-own-balloon
>> toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told was
>> quite lethal as well.
>
>A 1950s toy, perhaps, but one that is still very much extant today. The
>toy store where I work stocks them under the name "Fantastic Plastic
>Bubbles." *Why* we stock them, I don't know, because nobody ever buys
>them -- I think it's some combination of the facts that a.) the material
>involved is very flammable and b.) it's really kind of a dumb toy.
>If it was a really great toy, it might be worth burning your eyebrows
>off for, but geez, it doesn't even look all that fun.
>
>
My son wanted some of this stuff from a tv ad, I think, and I refused
since I had some as a child and it was not much fun then and no child of
the 90's, 00's would be happily amused with it. [1] It was goop in a tube
with a coffee stirrer straw thing. You were supposed to squeeze some goop
out, put it on the end of the straw and blow plastic-like bubbles with it.
The bubbles hung around for a bit since they were plasticy, but you
couldn't do much with them.
Charles, silly putty on the other hand, Bishop
[1] We didn't even have video games for ghod's sake and often amused
ourselves with rocks and pebbles and still this stuff wasn't much.
RRS
>
> Deborah Stevenson wrote:
> <snip>
> > I've got some kind of 1950s make-yer-own-balloon
> > toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told was
> > quite lethal as well.
>
> A 1950s toy, perhaps, but one that is still very much extant today. The
> toy store where I work stocks them under the name "Fantastic Plastic
> Bubbles." *Why* we stock them, I don't know, because nobody ever buys
> them -- I think it's some combination of the facts that a.) the material
> If it was a really great toy, it might be worth burning your eyebrows
> off for, but geez, it doesn't even look all that fun.
I used to love the stuff because it felt so goopy when you put it on the
end of the straw and because the color was an intense purple, but what I
loved most about it was the sweet chemically smell of it, sort of like
intensified mineograph ink.
Robin "they still make it, you say, eh?" Storesund
Stephen Churchill
stood up and said the following in alt.folklore.urban:
>>> and I've got some kind of 1950s make-yer-own-balloon
>>> toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told
>>> was quite lethal as well.
>>
>>Does it make multicolored swirly balloons/bubbles? I wanted that when I was
>>little but my Dad wouldn't let me have it. I believe he was concerned about
>>the fumes. But then, he was a little overprotective, he taught me about
>>botulism, tetanus, and trichinosis before I was six. Anyhow, those glow in
>>the dark light sticks that you bend to activate were said to kill you. That
>>didn't stop kids from breaking them open and splashing the stuff around.
>>
>>Caeli "turned eyelids inside-out to amuse others" Ancona
>A friend was chewing on one once (we were 12 or so) and I warned her not to
>because the stuff was poisonous. Well, she didn't take me seriously, and
>kept chewing. A few minutes later I noticed her teeth glowing. When I
>pointed this out to her... she freaked out! We didn't take her to the
>hospital or anything, and she lived, so I guess it's not toxic...
Toxic? Probably not. Dangerous? You betcha. The little vial inside
that you break to mix the two fluids used to be made of very thin
*glass* [1].
We cut one open once at a Scout camp and were merrily smearing the
green glowing liquid on each other when we one of the recipients of a
big smear on his leg yelled... we saw odd dark splotches on his leg
(we weren't using any other light source). When we turned on the
flashlights, we discovered we has given the poor kid a whole bunch of
small cuts on his leg!
Stephen "and other mayhem committed at camp" Churchill
[1] No, it didn't fl*w, don't worry.
________________________________
"An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like
a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove passes like an hour.
THAT'S relativity." -Albert Einstein
-------------------------------------------
stephen....@bigfoot.com ICQ#1806322
Larry Palletti
<ma...@columbia.edu> wrote:
>Deborah Stevenson wrote:
><snip>
>> I've got some kind of 1950s make-yer-own-balloon
>> toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told was
>> quite lethal as well.
>
>A 1950s toy, perhaps, but one that is still very much extant today. The
>toy store where I work stocks them under the name "Fantastic Plastic
>Bubbles." *Why* we stock them, I don't know, because nobody ever buys
>them -- I think it's some combination of the facts that a.) the material
>involved is very flammable[1] and b.) it's really kind of a dumb toy.
>If it was a really great toy, it might be worth burning your eyebrows
>off for, but geez, it doesn't even look all that fun.
A popular item and a big seller, for sure, in the early 50s in
Philadelphia (at least). Foul-smelling crap, with an odor I now
associate with ethyl ketone*, but it made great bubbles that outlasted
the soapy variety by several orders of magnitude. Of course, I'm
still not sure why that's a Good Thing.
"Bubble Stuff," it was called, although I think there were other
brands. Don't recall any burnt eyebrows.
On the Etch-A-Sketch machines: I recall warnings about the poisonous
contents shortly after I bought one for my kids, which would have been
around 1965. They got the same advice from me about the E-A-S as they
did about their Barbie dolls and other toys: it's best not to bust 'em
open and eat the insides.
* Ethyl Ketone: a cousin of Polly Esther Cord, whom I dated in college
Larry Palletti East Point/Atlanta, Georgia
http://www.palletti.com http://www.booksonscreen.com
--
Opinionated, but lovable
"No neams no." -- Rambler III
Rachel J. Miller
stuff came out of it.. No I did not eat any of it but My hands are not
still stained and I am not dead either and I remember having that stuff ALL
over my hands and legs...
rj-miller
"Nina Neudorfer" <nin...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:8kt8ou$qam$1...@slb7.atl.mindspring.net...
> Not long ago, I was involved in a discussion with other USAans about
> childhood (~60's) toys. Someone brought up the Etch-A-Sketch[1], which led
> to the following new-to-me, in-the-wild UL:
>
> From Maryland: It's possible that the first "urban legend" I ever heard
was
> the one about the silver stuff inside causing permanent tattoo like skin
> discoloration if you touched it.
>
> From the Pacific Northwest: I didn't hear that tattoo thing. I heard that
if
> you broke it and touched that stuff it was so poisonous that you would go
> immediately into violent convulsions, followed by foaming at the mouth and
a
> hideously painful death. Amazing that the Consumer Protection Agencies let
> such a dangerous toy on the market...must not have been as strict as they
> are today.[2]
>
> From Wisconsin: We always heard the stuff inside Etch-a-Sketch was just
> plain old graphite - harmless - but then our parents told us not to eat
it.
>
> According to their FAQ (http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/faq.htm),
aluminum
> powder is what gives the sketcher its etchie goodness. Supplies come from
> the famous Metallic Powder Manufacturing Plant, US of A.
>
> I'm idly wondering if anyone has heard these, or similar warnings, before.
> Obviously it would be wise to avoid the breathing in or ingesting of
> aluminum powder, but instantaneous death? Or permanent skin dye?
joe_...@my-deja.com
childhood that the stuff inside an Etch-a-Sketch was very bad for you in
some way. I think one of our little-rascally pack eventually broke open
a unit that no longer functioned and lived to tell about it, so plainly
whatever's in there wasn't as bad as, say, the concentrated acid that we
knew was important in making a golf ball bounce so high.
I wonder if the origin of this story might have something to do with the
phosphor inside fluorescent tubes and television picture tubes, which
(though not exactly death) is not good for you.
Never heard the "tattoo/skin dye" variant.
--Joe
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Don Middendorf
>
> It was certainly part of the common knowledge of a southern Indiana
> childhood that the stuff inside an Etch-a-Sketch was very bad for you in
> some way. I think one of our little-rascally pack eventually broke open
> a unit that no longer functioned and lived to tell about it, so plainly
> whatever's in there wasn't as bad as, say, the concentrated acid that we
> knew was important in making a golf ball bounce so high.
In my Southern Indiana childhood, it was common knowledge that, while
golf balls contained concentrated acid you could make one explode if you
hit with a hammer. Experiment later yielded only a very *long* rubber
band and hard blue sphere, which, when cut in half with a hacksaw, was
just blue. Although I'm pretty sure I knew what we'd find by then. We
tried dissolving a nail in a coke bottle, starting a fire with a
magnifying glass, as well.
Don todays tom sawyer Middendorf
joe_...@my-deja.com
> In my Southern Indiana childhood, it was common knowledge that,
> while golf balls contained concentrated acid you could make one
> explode if you hit with a hammer. Experiment later yielded only
> a very *long* rubber band and hard blue sphere, which, when cut
> in half with a hacksaw, was just blue.
The hammer part is interesting, since good golfers smack the thing *very*
hard (125-135 mph off the tee, with the ball experiencing a momentary
acceleration of some megaboss number of gees -- this from an interesting
article in the June 1999 issue of Golf Digest on what happens when the
ball or the club smacks somebody in various ways, and how to avoid having
that happen).
I was surprised to discover, from the ads, quite a bit of variability to
the innards of a modern golf ball. Titleist, just to take one handy
example, makes no fewer than eight combinations of cover and innards,
some with elastic windings and some without. These are advertised as
haivng different characteristics so that you can choose the right one for
your game. They even have a "Ball Fitting" Web site and CD (ball fitting
turns out to be more complicated than my non-golfer's assumption of
"bigger than the tee, smaller than the hole, cheap enough so the fact
that some of 'em land in the duck pond doesn't get too costly").
Anyway, if you browse around http://www.titleist.com you can see the
construction of the different balls, sectioned like the Earth in your old
science book. Four of them, interestingly, have a liquid-filled rubber
center. All of these, but only one of the non-liquid-center ones, have
elastic windings. Presumably other brands have a similarly diverse
assortment of ball technologies.
How much of this present-day variety was present in the 1960s, I don't
know.
Nick Spalding
> Anyway, if you browse around http://www.titleist.com you can see the
> construction of the different balls, sectioned like the Earth in your old
> science book. Four of them, interestingly, have a liquid-filled rubber
> center. All of these, but only one of the non-liquid-center ones, have
> elastic windings. Presumably other brands have a similarly diverse
> assortment of ball technologies.
>
> How much of this present-day variety was present in the 1960s, I don't
> know.
The liquid filled elastic wound ones were certainly around in the
1940s when I was at school.
--
Nick Spalding
Mike Holmans
<nin...@mindspring.com> decided to impart
>Not long ago, I was involved in a discussion with other USAans about
>childhood (~60's) toys. Someone brought up the Etch-A-Sketch[1],
>
>I'm idly wondering if anyone has heard these, or similar warnings, before.
>Obviously it would be wise to avoid the breathing in or ingesting of
>aluminum powder, but instantaneous death? Or permanent skin dye?
Look, the stuff inside an Etch-a-Sketch is *highly* magnetic, and that's
*very* dangerous. Or at least, if you break it, the stuff will go
everywhere and get on things and then all the furniture will be
magnetic, and we don't want that, do we?
OK, OK, so I was a sucker to be satisfied with that explanation. But
then I remember how foul it tastes when you try chewing on the lump of
rubbery goo that's left after you've blown up as many Fantastic Plastic
Bubbles as you can and you've failed to get anything useful out of the
last bits of debris all grunged together for one last go, so it's not as
though I didn't test *some* things to destruction.
Mike "you know the snow in those snowstorm thingies you shake up and it
all flutters down to the bottom is poisonous, don't you?" Holmans
--
"It is obvious that I'm am really confused. I am going to shut up until I have
all the facts." - James Pruitt
gr...@apple2.com.invalid
"Nina Neudorfer" <nin...@mindspring.com> wrote:
> According to their FAQ (http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/faq.htm),
> aluminum powder is what gives the sketcher its etchie goodness.
> Supplies come from the famous Metallic Powder Manufacturing Plant, US
> of A.
And perfectly harmless. Just ask Buddy Ebsen.
--
__ _____________ __
\ \_\ \__ __/ /_/ / <http://www.war-of-the-worlds.org/>
.\ __ \ | | / __ /----------------------------------------------------
^ \_\ \_\|_|/_/ /_/ Don't mail me, I'll mail you.
Lon Stowell
<gr...@apple2.com.invalid> wrote:
>In article <8kt8ou$qam$1...@slb7.atl.mindspring.net>,
>"Nina Neudorfer" <nin...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>> According to their FAQ (http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/faq.htm),
>> aluminum powder is what gives the sketcher its etchie goodness.
>> Supplies come from the famous Metallic Powder Manufacturing Plant, US
>> of A.
>
>And perfectly harmless. Just ask Buddy Ebsen.
Having made a few neatly pyrotechnic effects with aluminum
powder [pick your favorite metal oxide, mix, ignite, and
run like hell if it is a heavy metal] I am very sceptical
of using aluminum powder in any household item, much less
a child's toy.
Perhaps the contents were an "aluminized powder" say of
some inert plastic with a few molecules of aluminum coating?
Or small plastic particles with a very small amount of
aluminum powder....a small enough amount to avoid running
afoul of laws from folks such as OSHA, the local bomb
squad, etc. If there IS plastic mixed with the alleged
aluminum powder, and the powder/plastic manages to get
near an ignition source when dispersed [e.g. a sneeze]
the plastic would just serve as additional fuel for the
resulting impressive pyro display.
If anyone has an old sketch, care to risk taking the
powder out and blowing it over an open flame, or
sprinkle loosely over ordinary water....or worse alkaline
water?
dado...@my-deja.com
Granted...I heard about the explosive (or was it contact-poisonous?)
liquid at the centers of golf balls when I was in the 5th grade...in the
7th, I got an update from the kids in the new neighborhood I was then
living in...apparently if you chuck a golf ball into an incinerator (we
all had those in the back yard in those days!) eventually all the rubber
bands will ignite and send the ball whizzing around like ball
lightning--something about the fire releasing all that pent-up
kinetic energy...if you've forgotten to close and latch the incinerator
door, you can burn down the whole neighborhood with this fireball....
Eventually we arranged to have one dismantled...result: one mass of
tangled rubber bands the size of an adult fist...it was fun to play with
for about a week before the rubber dried out enough that pieces started
falling off....r
Andrea Jones
><snip>
>> I've got some kind of 1950s make-yer-own-balloon
>> toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told
was
>> quite lethal as well.
>
>A 1950s toy, perhaps, but one that is still very much extant today. The
>toy store where I work stocks them under the name "Fantastic Plastic
>Bubbles." *Why* we stock them, I don't know, because nobody ever buys
>them -- I think it's some combination of the facts that a.) the material
>involved is very flammable[1] and b.) it's really kind of a dumb toy.
>If it was a really great toy, it might be worth burning your eyebrows
>off for, but geez, it doesn't even look all that fun.
Oh, no, they're great fun, especially when combined with those foot-long
wooden matches. Plus, there's nothing that says you _have_ to make the
stuff into a balloon, or that the balloon has to be some sort of
conventional shape, or that you can't try to fill it with flammable
liquids, although this plan doesn't work so well.
Andrea "blowing things up isn't just my job, it's my hobby as well" Jones
--
"You hear that? Listen... hear it? That, my friends,
is the baying of the liberty hound. Now if you'll excuse
me, I have to go catch my dog."
--an anonymous Tomahawk instructor on leaving early
Rob Novak
message news:kia5ns4ru731j1d00...@4ax.com...
> Toxic? Probably not. Dangerous? You betcha. The little vial inside
> that you break to mix the two fluids used to be made of very thin
> *glass* [1].
And it produced glass shards sturdy enough to puncture the heavy-duty
plastic outer tube. I bent an already "cracked" stick to have a shard
pierce the outer shell and send a shower of glo-stick solution into my
eyes. That stuff burnt like hell! No lasting damage, due to my running
to the bathroom and sticking my whole head under the cold bath-tap. I
did have some mild chemical irritation for a day or so afterward.
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- B. Franklin (Historical Review of PA)
http://ugotawanit.homepage.com
Simon Slavin
joe_...@my-deja.com wrote:
> It was certainly part of the common knowledge of a southern Indiana
> childhood that the stuff inside an Etch-a-Sketch was very bad for you in
> some way. I think one of our little-rascally pack eventually broke open
> a unit that no longer functioned and lived to tell about it, so plainly
> whatever's in there wasn't as bad as, say, the concentrated acid that we
> knew was important in making a golf ball bounce so high.
It's finely powdered aluminium. It's dangerous to inhale
anything like that. I'm trying to figure-out what would happen
if you rubbed it into your skin: it'd either crush harmlessly
or scratch the hell out of you and give you a very nasty rash.
Simon.
--
http://www.hearsay.demon.co.uk | If Servalan is a walking stereotype, then
No junk email please. | Travis is doing a sprint right behind her.
| -- Ariana
Casady
Stowell) wrote:
I have lurked a bit, and even actually posted some at
alt.engineering.explosives, and... well, the finely powdered
aluminum used as a pigment in paints tends to oxidise in
air, which does not interfere much, if any, with that application.
When I was a kid we had three plastic vials labled bronzing
powder, bronze, gold, and silver, color, and a matching bottle
of fluid, brown in color, linseed oil perhaps, and you could
make your own paint for, for example, 'gilding' wood picture
frames, and I think we used the gold stuff for a mirror frame.
The stuff was so fine it floated in the air, and was difficult to
feel with the fingers. Felt greasy, if anything, certainly not
gritty. The stuff is likely still there in the basement of the
parents house. Those who post to the explosives groups, and
perhaps the writers of the army manual, improvised munitions,
point out that preparing finely divided aluminum for use in
explosive mixtures is not all that easy, and you can only
oxidise the stuff once. You seem to need to grind it in an
inert atmosphere, and mix it with your molten TNT, whatever, without
exposing it to air. So I suspect that the stuff is not quite
the fire hazard that it might first appear to be. Not that I
say there is no possibility of hazard. On the other hand,
coarse machine shop scrap, from drills, lathes, will work
for the thermit reaction, as the surface to volumn ratio
gives lots of interior metal relative to the very thin skin
of the oxide nearly always found on aluminum. I have an
etch a sketch around here somewhere... and I may expend
the thing, in the interests, of, if not science, perhaps some
useful ideas for delinquent behavior. I don't think the stuff
is dangerous, but we can hope....
I have burned steel wool for the iron oxide and used aluminum
foil as well as filings and drillings from a aircraft piston, to
make thermit and it worked, more or less, as something
cool to watch, although the stuff was a bit crude for use
for welding, to say the least. Flakes is what you want for
that more than the powder.
Casady
Nobody Knows
"C. Ancona" <twia...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:Dvtc5.1183$BR....@news1.atl...
>
> "Deborah Stevenson" <stev...@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu> wrote in message
> news:Pine.SGI.4.10.1000716...@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu...
> <snip lethal Etch-A-Sketch discussion>
>
> > I've heard that museum cases with various
> > kinds of taxidermy (including human mummies) have an air mixture that's
make-yer-own-balloon
> > toy (it squeezes out of a little Krazy Glue-like tube) that I was told
was
> > quite lethal as well.
>
was
> little but my Dad wouldn't let me have it. I believe he was concerned
about
> the fumes. But then, he was a little overprotective, he taught me about
> botulism, tetanus, and trichinosis before I was six. Anyhow, those glow in
> the dark light sticks that you bend to activate were said to kill you.
That
> didn't stop kids from breaking them open and splashing the stuff around.
Nah, that stuff in the light sticks won't kill you, you just have to be
careful about the glass. You have to dump them through a strainer after you
cut them open, then you can play with the glowing stuff, that doesn't even
really stain...
I went to a WAY out of hand party many years ago where this was the activity
for fun.
Besides, ever seen the little ones you crack and put in your mouth so your
mouth glows at the dance club?
Nobody Knows
<joe_...@my-deja.com> wrote in message news:8kvul6$e59$1...@nnrp1.deja.com...
>
>
> > In my Southern Indiana childhood, it was common knowledge that,
> > while golf balls contained concentrated acid you could make one
> > explode if you hit with a hammer. Experiment later yielded only
> > a very *long* rubber band and hard blue sphere, which, when cut
> > in half with a hacksaw, was just blue.
>
> The hammer part is interesting, since good golfers smack the thing *very*
> hard (125-135 mph off the tee, with the ball experiencing a momentary
> acceleration of some megaboss number of gees -- this from an interesting
> article in the June 1999 issue of Golf Digest on what happens when the
> ball or the club smacks somebody in various ways, and how to avoid having
> that happen).
>
> I was surprised to discover, from the ads, quite a bit of variability to
> the innards of a modern golf ball. Titleist, just to take one handy
> example, makes no fewer than eight combinations of cover and innards,
> some with elastic windings and some without. These are advertised as
> haivng different characteristics so that you can choose the right one for
> your game. They even have a "Ball Fitting" Web site and CD (ball fitting
> turns out to be more complicated than my non-golfer's assumption of
> "bigger than the tee, smaller than the hole, cheap enough so the fact
> that some of 'em land in the duck pond doesn't get too costly").
>
> construction of the different balls, sectioned like the Earth in your old
> science book. Four of them, interestingly, have a liquid-filled rubber
> center. All of these, but only one of the non-liquid-center ones, have
> elastic windings. Presumably other brands have a similarly diverse
> assortment of ball technologies.
I grew up on a golf course and we cut golf balls open regularly (put them in
a vice and use a hacksaw and the make this weird crackling noise as they
begin to release the pressure). The ones with liquid filled rubber centers
were very much believed by us to contain acid. I remember it did itch if
you got it on you, but it wouldn't kill you...quickly...
>
> How much of this present-day variety was present in the 1960s, I don't
> know.
>
> --Joe
KMP
is not affected by magnetism. More like steel powder, I'd bet....
Kathy - buit I don't gamble
<gr...@apple2.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:greg-222940.1...@news.binary.net...
> In article <8kt8ou$qam$1...@slb7.atl.mindspring.net>,
> "Nina Neudorfer" <nin...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
> > According to their FAQ (http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/faq.htm),
> > aluminum powder is what gives the sketcher its etchie goodness.
> > Supplies come from the famous Metallic Powder Manufacturing Plant, US
> > of A.
>
> And perfectly harmless. Just ask Buddy Ebsen.
>
Frank O'Donnell
>> assortment of ball technologies.
>
>I grew up on a golf course and we cut golf balls open regularly (put them in
>a vice and use a hacksaw and the make this weird crackling noise as they
>begin to release the pressure). The ones with liquid filled rubber centers
>were very much believed by us to contain acid. I remember it did itch if
>you got it on you, but it wouldn't kill you...quickly...
I sawed one in half with a hacksaw and had the pressurized central liquid
spray me right in the face. I washed it out of my eyes and had no immediate
or long term ill effects. I expect the white liquid was latex.
Golf balls have had lots of different stuff in their centers. I've found
liquid-filled balls, little steel balls, and just homogeneous solid stuff.
Rusty "No, I've not done something that stupid lately, thanks for
asking." O'Donnell
--
"Mankind is vile! But people are wonderful."--Peter Devries
gr...@apple2.com.invalid
"KMP" <kath...@NOSPAMhome.com> wrote:
>>> According to their FAQ (http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/faq.htm),
>>> aluminum powder is what gives the sketcher its etchie goodness.
>>> Supplies come from the famous Metallic Powder Manufacturing Plant, US
>>> of A.
>> And perfectly harmless. Just ask Buddy Ebsen.
> Er, if aluminized powder is used , magnertism couldn't be used , as
> aluminum is not affected by magnetism. More like steel powder, I'd
> bet....
> Kathy - buit I don't gamble
Who said magnetism was used?
Scott Sterba
Georgetown,TX
Lon Stowell
<gr...@apple2.com.invalid> wrote:
>In article <J5nd5.75523$lU5.5...@news1.rdc1.nj.home.com>,
>"KMP" <kath...@NOSPAMhome.com> wrote:
>><gr...@apple2.com.invalid> wrote:
>>>"Nina Neudorfer" <nin...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>>>> According to their FAQ (http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/faq.htm),
>>>> aluminum powder is what gives the sketcher its etchie goodness.
>>>> Supplies come from the famous Metallic Powder Manufacturing Plant, US
>>>> of A.
>
>>> And perfectly harmless. Just ask Buddy Ebsen.
>
>> Er, if aluminized powder is used , magnertism couldn't be used , as
>> aluminum is not affected by magnetism. More like steel powder, I'd
>> bet....
>> Kathy - buit I don't gamble
>
>Who said magnetism was used?
The guy over there in the corner with the aluminum hat was
mumbling something about it.
Mitcho
wrote:
>I grew up on a golf course
What? Raised by ducks, were you?
Mitcho
--
The Urban Redneck o red...@employees.org o San Francisco, USA
http://www.employees.org/~redneck
Gurn Blanston
KMP wrote:
>
> Er, if aluminized powder is used , magnertism couldn't be used , as aluminum
> is not affected by magnetism. More like steel powder, I'd bet....
> Kathy - buit I don't gamble
> <gr...@apple2.com.invalid> wrote in message
> news:greg-222940.1...@news.binary.net...
> > In article <8kt8ou$qam$1...@slb7.atl.mindspring.net>,
> > "Nina Neudorfer" <nin...@mindspring.com> wrote:
> >
> > > According to their FAQ (http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/faq.htm),
> > > aluminum powder is what gives the sketcher its etchie goodness.
> > > Supplies come from the famous Metallic Powder Manufacturing Plant, US
> > > of A.
> >
> > And perfectly harmless. Just ask Buddy Ebsen.
> >
> > --
> > __ _____________ __
> > \ \_\ \__ __/ /_/ / <http://www.war-of-the-worlds.org/>
> > .\ __ \ | | / __ /----------------------------------------------------
> > ^ \_\ \_\|_|/_/ /_/ Don't mail me, I'll mail you.
--
~Peace
Gurn Blanston
Bob Ward
wrote:
>Er, if aluminized powder is used , magnertism couldn't be used , as aluminum
>is not affected by magnetism. More like steel powder, I'd bet....
>Kathy - buit I don't gamble
There is no magnetism involved in an Etch-A-Sketch - the powder is
held to the glass by static electricity.
Bob Ward
>In article <J5nd5.75523$lU5.5...@news1.rdc1.nj.home.com>,
>"KMP" <kath...@NOSPAMhome.com> wrote:
>><gr...@apple2.com.invalid> wrote:
>>>"Nina Neudorfer" <nin...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>>>> According to their FAQ (http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/faq.htm),
>>>> aluminum powder is what gives the sketcher its etchie goodness.
>>>> Supplies come from the famous Metallic Powder Manufacturing Plant, US
>>>> of A.
>
>>> And perfectly harmless. Just ask Buddy Ebsen.
>
>> Er, if aluminized powder is used , magnertism couldn't be used , as
>> aluminum is not affected by magnetism. More like steel powder, I'd
>> bet....
>> Kathy - buit I don't gamble
>
>Who said magnetism was used?
Well, have you seen any NEW magnetism lately?
Nobody Knows
"Mitcho" <red...@employees.org> wrote in message
news:39764917...@news.pacbell.net...
> On Wed, 19 Jul 2000 11:35:43 -0500, "Nobody Knows" <ten.asu@rekrapmd>
> wrote:
>
> >I grew up on a golf course
>
> What? Raised by ducks, were you?
Yes, that's why many people call me a quack...
Chris Keating
Nina Neudorfer wrote:
> Not long ago, I was involved in a discussion with other USAans about
> childhood (~60's) toys. Someone brought up the Etch-A-Sketch[1], which led
> to the following new-to-me, in-the-wild UL:
Nina:
I read in a book about kitch culture that the Ohio Art Company bought the
prototype at a toy convention in France. The knew that they had a hit toy on
their hands when the executives began to fight over who got to use it next
during the flight home. That's about the only Etch-A-Sketch folklore I've
heard. Except for the claim that it's "impossible" to draw a circle with an
Etch-A-Sketch [1] which isn't really an UL and, some web site had the
Etch-A-Sketch help desk FAQ posted. [2]
Chris "shake well" Keating
[1] Has anyone ever heard that Ohio Art will give you a prize if you could draw
a circle with the toy? Just curious.
[2] To save you a google search, every answer (except one) was "Pick it up and
shake it."
R H Draney
>
> Except for the claim that it's "impossible" to draw a circle with an
> Etch-A-Sketch [1] which isn't really an UL and, some web site had the
> Etch-A-Sketch help desk FAQ posted. [2]
>
> a circle with the toy? Just curious.
No, but this probably belongs in the bin with the Tootsie Pop wrapper
with the star on it...I seem to recall an article some 20 (L) years ago
that may have been in "Byte" magazine (alternate sources: Popular
Mechanics and the like)...some hardware-geek project that hooked up
stepper motors to the knobs on an E-A-S to turn it into a plotter output
device...it seemed workable but tongue-in-cheek (how would you save the
output?)....r
--
"Tell Katie Couric she can take her TV camera and stick it up....
she did?...when?...hmmm, must have been sweeps."
Charles A Lieberman
Nobody Knows
Do you echo?
Charles "I know you jingle" Lieberman
--
Charles A. Lieberman | "Don't poop on the homeless!"
Brooklyn, New York, USA | -Meredith Robbins
http://calieber.tripod.com/home.html
Lorrill Buyens
went to heaven, and on their tombstone was carved:
>In article <J5nd5.75523$lU5.5...@news1.rdc1.nj.home.com>,
>"KMP" <kath...@NOSPAMhome.com> wrote:
>><gr...@apple2.com.invalid> wrote:
>>>"Nina Neudorfer" <nin...@mindspring.com> wrote:
>
>>>> According to their FAQ (http://www.etch-a-sketch.com/html/faq.htm),
>>>> aluminum powder is what gives the sketcher its etchie goodness.
>>>> Supplies come from the famous Metallic Powder Manufacturing Plant, US
>>>> of A.
>
>>> And perfectly harmless. Just ask Buddy Ebsen.
>
>> Er, if aluminized powder is used , magnertism couldn't be used , as
>> aluminum is not affected by magnetism. More like steel powder, I'd
>> bet....
>> Kathy - buit I don't gamble
>
>Who said magnetism was used?
She might've been thinking of Magna-Doodle, a similar toy that was
fairly heavily advertised [1] during the [L] 80's.
[1] ObTWIAVBP: In the US.
--
| Doctor Fraud |Always believe six|
|Mad Inventor & Purveyor of Pseudopsychology |impossible things |
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