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Reminds me of some of the now dangerous toys we used to play with when we were kids. A relative of mine had one that involved some kind of Bunsen burner, and w

Reminds me of some of the now dangerous toys we used to play with when we were kids. A relative of mine had one that involved some kind of Bunsen burner, and what we would, today consider a kiddie glass blowing kit. He used to try to make ever longer, and thinner glass strings similar to this. There was also another one that wasn't glass, but some kind of reactive plasticy chemical that you could similarly blow into spheres, or stretch into strands, and would eventually harden into a glass-like substance that looked like it was tye-died. I don't know what it was called, but I can still remember the chemical smell very well. So many wonderful things of youth that are now forbidden for our safety.

borski 4y ago
I mean, my dad would tell me stories of playing with balls of mercury, so there’s that, heh
- ASalazarMX 4y ago
  My dad was gifted a vial of mercury, and he let us handle the mercury until it got dirty. And he was a primary school teacher! Back then, some toys not only had lead paint, they were literally made of lead! There were capsules that "walked" down an incline. They were easy to open, and inside they had a lead ball lubricated by metallic dust (which I hope wasn't lead because it stuck everywhere). Crazy to think that was normal.
  - nemo44x 4y ago
    > some toys not only had lead paint, they were literally made of lead! Some still is. Lookup reports on cheap toys from China that aren’t associated with a real brand. And not just toys. Many cheap items like ceramic ware has detectable lead in it today. This stuff gets through in the global market, even at mainstream stores that source and brand but don’t oversee manufacturing.
- jonstewart 4y ago
  In the early 90s, I had a plastic maze with a transparent cover where the object was to tilt it so that the blob of mercury in the middle would move around the maze. No idea what happened to it, I’m sure it’s heavily polluting a landfill somewhere.
- SapporoChris 4y ago
  https://www.thoughtco.com/when-you-touch-liquid-mercury-609286 https://www.thoughtco.com/when-you-touch-liquid-mercury-6092... This article suggests that the fears of mercury are exaggerated. Still very present, but exaggerated. Unfortunately, it's all anecdotes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001828/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001828/ Actually eye opening account of a child swallowing mercury and was just fine. I found lots of articles touting that mercury can vaporize at room temperature and then be absorbed through the lungs but none of them had details of how much exposure this would cause.
  - tsol 4y ago
    My mother grew up in India. There were apparently some asectic 'sages' that would play with mercury she told me about. I don't really know what they were doing, just that my mom always remarked that she didn't understand how they would hold the mercury in their hands and seem to be fine. There's apparently something to it, whether it's a trick or otherwise.
- klyrs 4y ago
  I had mercury as a kid, taken from an old thermostat. I knew it was toxic, so I didn't handle it directly and certainly didn't show my parents. Eventually, I melted some solder into it to and made it my chemistry teacher's problem. I definitely played with glass wool insulation too. How could we not?
knodi123 4y ago
or as I was taught "All of the fun stuff was outlawed by the survivors."
thedigitalone 4y ago
Plastic bubbles, that brought back memories. Strong chemical odor for sure, you can still find them online: https://www.oldtimecandy.com/products/plastic-bubbles https://www.oldtimecandy.com/products/plastic-bubbles
shuntress 4y ago
They were just as dangerous then as they are now. And, regardless, you can still buy glass, torches, and tubes of plastic.

borski 4y ago

I mean, my dad would tell me stories of playing with balls of mercury, so there’s that, heh

ASalazarMX 4y ago
My dad was gifted a vial of mercury, and he let us handle the mercury until it got dirty. And he was a primary school teacher! Back then, some toys not only had lead paint, they were literally made of lead! There were capsules that "walked" down an incline. They were easy to open, and inside they had a lead ball lubricated by metallic dust (which I hope wasn't lead because it stuck everywhere). Crazy to think that was normal.
- nemo44x 4y ago
  > some toys not only had lead paint, they were literally made of lead! Some still is. Lookup reports on cheap toys from China that aren’t associated with a real brand. And not just toys. Many cheap items like ceramic ware has detectable lead in it today. This stuff gets through in the global market, even at mainstream stores that source and brand but don’t oversee manufacturing.
jonstewart 4y ago
In the early 90s, I had a plastic maze with a transparent cover where the object was to tilt it so that the blob of mercury in the middle would move around the maze. No idea what happened to it, I’m sure it’s heavily polluting a landfill somewhere.
SapporoChris 4y ago
https://www.thoughtco.com/when-you-touch-liquid-mercury-609286 https://www.thoughtco.com/when-you-touch-liquid-mercury-6092... This article suggests that the fears of mercury are exaggerated. Still very present, but exaggerated. Unfortunately, it's all anecdotes. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001828/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5001828/ Actually eye opening account of a child swallowing mercury and was just fine. I found lots of articles touting that mercury can vaporize at room temperature and then be absorbed through the lungs but none of them had details of how much exposure this would cause.
- tsol 4y ago
  My mother grew up in India. There were apparently some asectic 'sages' that would play with mercury she told me about. I don't really know what they were doing, just that my mom always remarked that she didn't understand how they would hold the mercury in their hands and seem to be fine. There's apparently something to it, whether it's a trick or otherwise.
klyrs 4y ago
I had mercury as a kid, taken from an old thermostat. I knew it was toxic, so I didn't handle it directly and certainly didn't show my parents. Eventually, I melted some solder into it to and made it my chemistry teacher's problem. I definitely played with glass wool insulation too. How could we not?

knodi123 4y ago

or as I was taught "All of the fun stuff was outlawed by the survivors."

thedigitalone 4y ago

Plastic bubbles, that brought back memories. Strong chemical odor for sure, you can still find them online: https://www.oldtimecandy.com/products/plastic-bubbles https://www.oldtimecandy.com/products/plastic-bubbles

shuntress 4y ago

They were just as dangerous then as they are now. And, regardless, you can still buy glass, torches, and tubes of plastic.