You’d think a large toy company like Hasbro would have kids’ safety in mind, but one of their online interactive games is the kind of thing that makes parents cringe with its sheer foolishness.
Hasbro’s GI Joe - The Grip game allows kids to choose various items for a big GI Joe hand to squash. While most of the things being squished are funny and harmless, one of the choices is a light bulb. It’s not a cartoon hand that’s doing this either – it’s a video of a bare hand crushing these items. Among the other things are glass jars and full coffee cups.
Their response to this when I emailed them was a bland pre-canned reply saying how important children’s safety is, but several months later, GI Joe is still encouraging kids to crush lightbulbs with their bare hands.
It’s too bad there isn’t an option for parents to get GI Joe to reach out and give the approvers of this game a good head squeeze…
Cadbury is running an ad campaign that’s got an interesting cycling theme to it.
www.thebicyclefactory.ca will see Cadbury build and deliver up to 5,000 bikes to Africa based on UPC entries being entered by consumers.
According to the contest rules, eligible products include “Canadian labeled Dentyne*, Stride*, Cadbury*, Maynards*, Trident*, Bubblicious*, Certs* Chiclets*, Clorets*, Jersey Milk* and Halls*, but excluding some seasonal products.”
There are some pretty nice prizes, including a grand prize trip to Africa.
All in all a pretty sweet deal for just eating some candy…
There’s lots of negative press about social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, decrying their value and claiming that they add no real value to our lives.
When you think about all the pointless info on Facebook or time-wasting Tweets like “I’m standing in line for a coffee” it’s easy to agree. However, every once in a while social media sites provide a service that is so immeasurably valuable that they put the formal processes and tools to shame.
Here’s an example of a recent story about a missing girl. She didn’t fit the formal profile for triggering an Amber Alert so the family fell back on their informal online networking contacts.
One of the blogs over at FineWoodworking.com has a great video showing old-school woodworking techniques. Although the old video is in black and white and there’s no sound, the rustic handtools being used are clearly much sharper than any of the tools in my workshop…
One of the wildest memories I have of grade 10, is when my shop teacher dropped a piece of wood onto a tablesaw blade to illustrate how dangerous tablesaw kickback could be.
That memory stuck very well, and I’ve been lucky (so far) to have never experienced kickback.
If you’re going to use a tablesaw (or other big power tool) understand how to safely use the tool — especially these days, when there’s so much online info.
This idiot guy, however, demonstrates (numerous ways) how NOT to use a tablesaw…
Teaching kids how to ride a bike is easy, but how many parents teach their kids how to ride safely?
There are plenty of websites that provide good safety information for parents to pass along, but none of them are as creepy as the one produced by the Highway Safety Division of Virginia in 1972.
Thanks to Comics With Problems, you can view the comic that features Danny and the Demoncycle - a quaint story about a little boy who wreaks havoc on his neigbourhood with his unsafe cycling.
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