5 ms·

You'd think the radiation symbol would be universally understood by even the least educated metal thieves. Apparently you'd be wrong.

gus_massa 4y ago
Repeating an old comment by myself: Some idiots are using the extremely scary-looking radiation symbol (or something too similar) to sell soda, for example: * https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Radioactive-Mulberry-Marciano-Individual-botella/dp/B01H5VYBPG https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Radioactive-Mulberry-Marciano-In... * http://rad-60.com.ar/ http://rad-60.com.ar/ [1] IIUC this is just water with sugar and a fluorescent dye, not radioactive material (except the natural amount of radioactive deuterium and potassium, that is not enough to make it glow). [1] Thanks to kragen for the second link in a reply in my old comment. I remembered the advertisement in tv, but I couldn't find the exact name or webpage.
- HarryHirsch 4y ago
  Is that idiocy even legal? We had the mirror case at a previous workplace once, when an arts class drew artsy warning signs, but then they hung them up in the Science Building to serve as genuine warning signs. Several "Emergency Exit" signs went about the doors, there was a neat "Inflammable" sign on the steel cabinet for solvents & so on.
phendrenad2 4y ago
They probably thought "eh, there's no way they'd throw it away with the dangerous parts included".
vidanay 4y ago
Very wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5tEjXGHNeg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5tEjXGHNeg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident
- spywaregorilla 4y ago
  > A 1992 episode of Captain Planet and the Planeteers depicts a somewhat loosely-based version of this event in the episode "A Deadly Glow," albeit with a happier ending for all involved, and blaming the contamination of the town on an eco-villain. However, it did feature caesium-137 as the radioactive contaminant, as well as portrayed two young children unwittingly playing with it in a similar manner to Leide das Neves Ferreira, who, unlike the children in the cartoon, received a fatal dose. Fascinating
  - farnsworth 4y ago
    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39u6p1 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39u6p1
duskwuff 4y ago
Which is one reason why the IAEA introduced a new symbol for use on interior components of radioactive sources: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/new-symbol-launched-warn-public-about-radiation-dangers https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/new-symbol-launched-war... Even if you don't know what the radiation trefoil means (a lot of people interpret it as a flower or a fan), the added message of "death, run away" is pretty clear. And, unlike the existing radiation symbol, this one is reserved for use in places that most people should never see (like inside radiation therapy devices), so there's little risk of people becoming accustomed to seeing it.
- c7DJTLrn 4y ago
  Now that's good UI design... wavey lines, black skull on red background, GTFO!
- asddubs 4y ago
  to me the added message reads more like "death, exit"
  - gus_massa 4y ago
    Too similar to https://www.gjplastics.co.uk/fire-exit-sign/ https://www.gjplastics.co.uk/fire-exit-sign/ ?
- kube-system 4y ago
  I think this is a good move, this symbol has the same problem that the biohazard symbol has. Not sure if the trefoil was designed under the same rationale as the biohazard symbol, but at least in that case, I think the idea to make a new symbol that is recognizable but with no existing meaning is a bad idea. People end up putting it on t-shirts because the symbol looks interesting but never learn what it means. It ends up both losing its impact and not conveying anything inherently.
  - ajsnigrutin 4y ago
    But it's hard to gauge how dangerous something is. Radioactive sign? Is it on an old smoke detector? Sure, it technically is radioactive, the sign is there, but the danger is on "meh" levels. And the size of that is relatively similar to the capsule lost recently in australia, which indeed was a lot more dangerous. Biohazard sign? Could be a smallpox sample... also could be an old bag of used tongue depressors. Firs one would cause (another) global catastophe, and the second one can be safely cleaned in most dishwashers on the "normal"/high heat setting.
HarryHirsch 4y ago
Meth is powerful and apparently common in Thailand. That said, the scrap dealer ought to be informed and quickly run the other direction when a tweaker walks in with a radiation source.

gus_massa 4y ago

Repeating an old comment by myself: Some idiots are using the extremely scary-looking radiation symbol (or something too similar) to sell soda, for example: * https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Radioactive-Mulberry-Marciano-Individual-botella/dp/B01H5VYBPG https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Radioactive-Mulberry-Marciano-In... * http://rad-60.com.ar/ http://rad-60.com.ar/ [1] IIUC this is just water with sugar and a fluorescent dye, not radioactive material (except the natural amount of radioactive deuterium and potassium, that is not enough to make it glow). [1] Thanks to kragen for the second link in a reply in my old comment. I remembered the advertisement in tv, but I couldn't find the exact name or webpage.

HarryHirsch 4y ago
Is that idiocy even legal? We had the mirror case at a previous workplace once, when an arts class drew artsy warning signs, but then they hung them up in the Science Building to serve as genuine warning signs. Several "Emergency Exit" signs went about the doors, there was a neat "Inflammable" sign on the steel cabinet for solvents & so on.

phendrenad2 4y ago

They probably thought "eh, there's no way they'd throw it away with the dangerous parts included".

vidanay 4y ago

Very wrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5tEjXGHNeg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5tEjXGHNeg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident

spywaregorilla 4y ago
> A 1992 episode of Captain Planet and the Planeteers depicts a somewhat loosely-based version of this event in the episode "A Deadly Glow," albeit with a happier ending for all involved, and blaming the contamination of the town on an eco-villain. However, it did feature caesium-137 as the radioactive contaminant, as well as portrayed two young children unwittingly playing with it in a similar manner to Leide das Neves Ferreira, who, unlike the children in the cartoon, received a fatal dose. Fascinating
- farnsworth 4y ago
  https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39u6p1 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x39u6p1

duskwuff 4y ago

Which is one reason why the IAEA introduced a new symbol for use on interior components of radioactive sources: https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/new-symbol-launched-warn-public-about-radiation-dangers https://www.iaea.org/newscenter/news/new-symbol-launched-war... Even if you don't know what the radiation trefoil means (a lot of people interpret it as a flower or a fan), the added message of "death, run away" is pretty clear. And, unlike the existing radiation symbol, this one is reserved for use in places that most people should never see (like inside radiation therapy devices), so there's little risk of people becoming accustomed to seeing it.

c7DJTLrn 4y ago
Now that's good UI design... wavey lines, black skull on red background, GTFO!
asddubs 4y ago
to me the added message reads more like "death, exit"
- gus_massa 4y ago
  Too similar to https://www.gjplastics.co.uk/fire-exit-sign/ https://www.gjplastics.co.uk/fire-exit-sign/ ?
kube-system 4y ago
I think this is a good move, this symbol has the same problem that the biohazard symbol has. Not sure if the trefoil was designed under the same rationale as the biohazard symbol, but at least in that case, I think the idea to make a new symbol that is recognizable but with no existing meaning is a bad idea. People end up putting it on t-shirts because the symbol looks interesting but never learn what it means. It ends up both losing its impact and not conveying anything inherently.
- ajsnigrutin 4y ago
  But it's hard to gauge how dangerous something is. Radioactive sign? Is it on an old smoke detector? Sure, it technically is radioactive, the sign is there, but the danger is on "meh" levels. And the size of that is relatively similar to the capsule lost recently in australia, which indeed was a lot more dangerous. Biohazard sign? Could be a smallpox sample... also could be an old bag of used tongue depressors. Firs one would cause (another) global catastophe, and the second one can be safely cleaned in most dishwashers on the "normal"/high heat setting.

HarryHirsch 4y ago

Meth is powerful and apparently common in Thailand. That said, the scrap dealer ought to be informed and quickly run the other direction when a tweaker walks in with a radiation source.