Buckyballs Throws In the Towel 383
RenderSeven writes "As previously reported the immensely popular Buckyballs office toys have been targeted by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Last week Maxfield and Oberton, the maker of Buckyballs gave up the battle and announced they would discontinue sales and close. However, being driven out of business is not enough for R Buckminster Fuller's estate, who has filed yet another lawsuit that they own all rights to the name "buckyballs" despite widespread use of the term. If you still haven't bought your own yet, a few thousand sets in stock are still available."
I have buckyballs! (Score:5, Funny)
Search for spherical neodymium magnets... (Score:5, Informative)
... on eBay, and you will find multiple vendors selling exactly the same thing, but not called buckyballs. They still exist - just not under that stupid name.
Re:Search for spherical neodymium magnets... (Score:5, Informative)
This is what they are, seriously?
Having never heard of Buckyballs, I had to check the site out. Turns out that $30-$40 per set won't exactly break the budget, but you can assemble a similar kit from eBay for a LOT less (including shipping).
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Search for spherical neodymium magnets... (Score:5, Interesting)
Well I think it's the coating.
the magnets are rather brittle and wont hold up well to being banged together from it's own magnetic field, so they are coated.
Cheap ones use cheap coatings that flake off easily, and expose the magnet underneath and it ends up breaking.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Search for spherical neodymium magnets... (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.magnet-shop.net/ [magnet-shop.net]
German outfit, huge range of Neodymium magnets, spherical, cylindrical, banana-shaped, what-have-you.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
Use just a tiny bit of intelligence [ebay.com]. Do you seriously think no one can sell spherical magnets? It's the NAME that is protected; that's all.
I will readily admit that ebay's search function sucks donkey balls. Generally you do get better results [google.com] just using google to search ebay for stuff. Or another good search engine, but google was the first one that worked and I still like them. IMO google search was the most innovative and critically useful tool to be invented for the web since the latter's creation.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/09/04/2012-21608/safety-standard-for-magnet-sets [federalregister.gov]
"Under the proposal, if a magnet set contains a magnet that fits within the CPSC's small parts cylinder, magnets from that set would be required to have a flux index of 50 or less, or they would be prohibited."
So, yes, I do think that no one can sell spherical magnets. (Or won't be allowed to, once this has passed.)
Technically, the proposal as is only applies to sets marketed by the manufacturer primarily as a man [federalregister.gov]
Re: (Score:3)
The ban isn't on buckyballs specifically, it is on all similar products. Zen Magnets [zenmagnets.com] (a competitor) also under the ban, their last update:
"CPSC Selects nuclear option. Magnet spheres may soon be harder to acquire than ammunition in the US.
[Update 11/2] The magnet fight is not looking good."
Re: (Score:3)
I seem to recall similar regulatory stupidities regarding chemistry science kits in the last decade? Both are examples of think-of-the-children regulation stretched beyond reasonable into the realm of authoritarianism for the sake of itself.
Re: (Score:3)
Congratulations on having YAKJR (yet another knee-jerk reaction). Yes, it IS mindless regulation to ban it outright. What wouldn't be mindless is to place reasonable restrictions on its sale and use such that it can still be obtained by people for use in environments where children cannot be endangered by it.
Re:Search for spherical neodymium magnets... (Score:5, Insightful)
What's next? Kitchen knives have killed enough kids over the years...guess we need to ban those.
Seriously, a few accidents happen....parents that don't keep things dangerous out of the reach of kids, or stupid kids putting anything in their mouth and swallowing it?
I think that is more Darwin's Law at work....should ban things like that that MOST adults can safely enjoy....
Re: (Score:3)
Cars, buses, trains, bicycles, and airplanes all kill kids. Ban them all. Won't someone think of the children?
The number of reported serious injuries/deaths from these magnets is tiny compared to the above sources of serious injury and death..
One of the injuries was to a pre-teen or teenage kid who was playing with them and swallowed them. Now, wouldn't you think a kid should go to their parent and say "hey, I accidentally swallowed a couple magnets" and that the parent would say "hmm... probably should tak
Re:Search for spherical neodymium magnets... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Search for spherical neodymium magnets... (Score:5, Insightful)
Um...yes it freaking is. I can think of a great many things it could be fatal to swallow. Even dihydrogen monoxide is fatal in sufficient quantities.
"Think of the children" has caused so much stupid regulation it should be an automatic fail ala Godwin's law.
Re:Search for spherical neodymium magnets... (Score:4, Interesting)
Also I'm fairly sure flamethrowers are legal. They even have practical applications that don't involve setting people on fire. People use them for weed control in rocky soil.
Re: (Score:3)
Hey, wanna buy a flamethrower?
As it happens, flamethrowers may be legally owned in most parts of the US.
Obviously somebody missed the "if it would be possible for a child to injure themselves with something, then it must be banned!" memo.
Re: (Score:3)
When you have a product that actually kills kids, it's not mindless regulation to ban it.
Here's a list of some products that I have within reach of my desk right now that have actually killed kids:
The fact of the matter is that these magnets really aren't any more dangerous than any number of common household items. If you're that frightened of them, keep them out of your own house. Banning them is utterly ridiculous.
More mindless federal regulation (Score:5, Funny)
Dammit, freedom isn't free. And if the price of my freedom to be entertained by buckyballs is measured in the lives of toddlers, so be it. And now, I think I'll go outside for a nice game of Jarts. Who wants to be goalie?
Re:More mindless federal regulation (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You being the adult need to protect your child from belladonna as well as magnets. You failing to protect your child is nature selecting against your genetic line.
I am not a fan of that line of thinking, but we should charge these parents with neglect before blaming a company when people abuse their product.
Re: (Score:2)
Remember -- these are being sold AS toys.
But not as children's toys: they have big warnings saying "keep away from children." You have to check-acknowledge reading the warning when you buy them from the site.
Re:More mindless federal regulation (Score:4, Insightful)
accidental deaths of children choking on balloons: ~1000 per year
accidental deaths of children by magnetic desk toys: 0
Greatest Country on Earth!
I'll need to stock up (Score:5, Funny)
I am a baker and normal dragées just don't work the same.
Re:I'll need to stock up (Score:5, Informative)
Well I learn a couple of things today because of this post. 1) A dragée is the name for that metallic decorative ball thing they put on cakes. 2) never accept candy from skipkent.
Hard to swallow (Score:5, Funny)
I don't see how kids can swallow these, not with their guts full of washing machine gel packs.
State gone Mad (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, look, the State destroying a business and free choice in the first part of the summary and then the State enabling people to harass other people over imaginary property in the second. Thank goodness they're around to keep things civil.
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Unless history is any indication, I suppose, but hyperbole and false indignation is all that separates us from animals.
Re:State gone Mad (Score:4, Insightful)
This is as bad as when Big Government sinisterly destroyed the hardworking Americans employed in the Asbestos industries.
Yeah! Who cares that in one case you could be harmed just by being in the same room with the microscopic deadly terror and wouldn't know it was happening, and the other you have to actually decide to deliberately eat more than one of the macroscopic fiendish killers? Yeah! That makes no difference.
Re:State gone Mad (Score:5, Informative)
They do not market them to children. The products have extensive warnings on them.
Lies, Lies and More Lies (Score:2, Informative)
They do not market them to children. The products have extensive warnings on them.
Here's the package that was sold at my mall [typepad.com]. I see no warnings. In fact if you can read that scribbling on the front in a playful font it says "The amazing magnetic toy you can't put down." Is that how you market to adults?
Jesus Christ, who's lying to who here? This company seems to not want to properly label their product and just throw their hands up and rage quit when a consumer protection agency makes them!
Re: (Score:2)
When was this?
They have not used that packaging in a long time.
Look at their current packaging on their website.
I am an adult, I buy toys. So it seems like reasonable marketing to adults.
Re:Lies, Lies and More Lies (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Lies, Lies and More Lies (Score:4, Informative)
Mind showing the left side of that package, or would such honesty interfere with your agenda?
http://www.getbuckyballs.com/blog/wp-content/themes/buckyballs/images/xblog-graphic.jpg.pagespeed.ic.KAJoHdy4ZS.jpg [getbuckyballs.com]
http://images1.vat19.com/covers/large/buckyballs-standard.jpg [vat19.com]
http://sale.images.woot.com/Maxfield___Oberton_216_Piece_Magnetic_Buckyballs_Set___2_PackuhdDetail.jpg [woot.com]
http://www.wired.com/geekmom/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/orig_box_with_case-350x486.jpg [wired.com]
http://alyssaroyse.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/screen-shot-2012-09-20-at-4-42-56-pm.png [wordpress.com]
http://media.oregonlive.com/themombeat/photo/11374268-large.jpg [oregonlive.com]
http://ds_product_photos.s3.amazonaws.com/large/16261.jpg [amazonaws.com]
Same exact packaging you show. Except in these pictures you can see the left side of the packaging more easily. The warning is pretty obvious to me.
Re:State gone Mad (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem here is how they sell this product. The market this product as a toy for children.
Actually, they don't.
If they wrote on the package "MAY CAUSE DEATH" or listed a number of lives and surgeries the product has caused, I don't think anyone would care. Of course they'd go out of business.
Actually, they do write this, and nobody cares. Unfortunately, rather than treating these injuries as the evidence of child neglect that they are, the feds have taken the approach of banning something that, when used appropriately, is perfectly safe.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, they do write this, and nobody cares. Unfortunately, rather than treating these injuries as the evidence of child neglect that they are, the feds have taken the approach of banning something that, when used appropriately, is perfectly safe.
The problem is that they are a harmless-looking toy, but the only safe way to use them is to make sure no small children are present, take them out and play with them, then count them to make sure none have been lost, and lock them up. If someone loses two of them, then children are in grave danger.
As for child neglect, if you were visiting someone with your small child and a teenager was playing with a bunch of magnets, would you immediately think "those are very dangerous, I must keep my child on my lap s
Re: (Score:3)
The problem is that they are a harmless-looking toy, but the only safe way to use them is to make sure no small children are present, take them out and play with them, then count them to make sure none have been lost, and lock them up. If someone loses two of them, then children are in grave danger.
This is actually much easier than it sounds. Thanks to the design of the package, one need not even count them: just rebuild the standard 6x6x6 cube that the balls came packaged in. It's one of the simplest structures to make, takes no more than about thirty seconds, and will instantly tell you exactly how many are missing, if any are.
As for child neglect, if you were visiting someone with your small child and a teenager was playing with a bunch of magnets, would you immediately think "those are very dangerous, I must keep my child on my lap so that he doesn't pick one of those up"? Of course not.
No. However, whether or not there was a teenager with magnets, I would keep an eye on the kid, as is standard and reasonable parental responsibility.
Since you have not seen the package, you have no way of knowing that these particular magnets are much more dangerous than those which you played with as a child.
And, as stated above, this
Re:State gone Mad (Score:4, Informative)
I didn't say 100% of the time, though we are talking about babies and toddlers here, and they do require considerably more supervision than older children. If the kid's in an environment with things he's not ready to handle -say, small shiny objects- then you watch, or else you don't bring him into that environment. This is what it means to have a kid.
Re:State gone Mad (Score:5, Insightful)
Where are these rules, and lawsuits, for Legos? Just as small. More prevelant. more pieces to "kill" the poor children.
Your apparent (and probably typical) ignorance of the difference between a piece of plastic and a high-powered magnet demonstrates the exact reason that the government felt compelled to act in this case.
Re: (Score:2)
That's completely untrue. They don't market them to children, and have prominent warnings all over the packaging saying to keep them away from children and that swallowing them can cause death. I counted no less than 5 copies of that warning in the last package of them I opened. One of the warnings was on a sticker holding the package closed - you can't even open them without seeing a large warning that they can kill you. There's also a warning on the little plastic box they give you to store them in.
The la
Re: (Score:2)
If it takes a few hideous and painful deaths to get people to stop leaving potentially dangerous things around, and to teach their children not to eat random things, then it's a price well worth paying.
Re: (Score:2)
They changed the packaging a long time ago. Look at their website and you will plainly see it.
Taking your claim to the logical extreme and you will say 3 year olds can't read.
Here is a better idea; if a child eats these magnets charge their parents with neglect.
Zenmagnets has cheaper, better magnets... (Score:5, Interesting)
So if you want rare earth magnets before they're officially banned, get them from zenmagnets.com. Cheaper and higher quality. Also, they're not jerks like the buckyballs guys are.
Fun video here comparing the two http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7Tka4NUmUo [youtube.com]
I know it looks like an advertisement posting, but as someone who owns a crudload of rare earth magnets, zenmagnets seem to me to be the best. I keep a mandala set on my desk at work for downtimes, and I have a manager who keeps trying to make the perfect soccer ball when I'm not looking.
- and if you get the colored ones, just beware - the color tends to come off very easily if you're rough at all with them. You've been warned.
Re:Zenmagnets has cheaper, better magnets... (Score:5, Insightful)
they're not jerks like the buckyballs guys are.
In what way are they jerks? They seem a little peeved at the CPSC but I would be too. Also note that the CPSC has targeted Zen Magnets as well: Zen Magnets was the first company to receive an administrative complaint from the Consumer Product Safety Commission without a record of injuries.
Re: (Score:2)
Those disclaimers aside, if you have rare earths at home, pleas
Re: (Score:2)
I played Jarts growing up. The hole in my arm doesn't cause me any problems at all.
See (Score:2, Funny)
Regulations work! If it wasn't for these bureaucrats we'd all be dead from lead poisoning, asbestos, and big gulps. Thankfully these unnamed heroes from the government are here to save us from ourselves.
Re: (Score:3)
Lead and Asbestos regulations were needed. Those are things that still threaten lives, since the Chinese seem to love to add lead to everything.
These magnets should be regulated to be sold only to those over 18. Like many other potentially dangerous products.
Re: (Score:2)
Re:See (Score:5, Interesting)
Actually 12 year olds are a decent size group that is eating these. They use them to simulate tongue, cheek and labret piercings.
Limiting it to 18 plus might stop some of those idiot preteens. It would also make it more clear that these products have some level of danger involved.
Re: (Score:3)
If you're 12 and eating these, I consider that natural selection that's good for the gene pool.
Re: (Score:2)
They use them to simulate piercings then accidentally swallow them.
I blame the parents and the 12 year olds for misusing this product.
Re: (Score:2)
Actually 12 year olds are a decent size group that is eating these. They use them to simulate tongue, cheek and labret piercings.
Or, you could just put the blame where it lies. Parents who don't teach their children the dangers of incredibly strong magnets before giving it to them as a toy.
If you take your kid hunting, and don't teach them proper gun safety, it's not the fault of the guns when an accident happens. It's the same issue here. Why the hell can't people take personal responsibility for their mistakes? What's next? People blaming mcdonalds that their super-sized fries are making them fat? Oh, wait...
Re:See (Score:4, Insightful)
Why the hell can't people take personal responsibility for their mistakes?
Because they don't.
They never have, and they never will. No matter how much naive libertarians wish for it.
It's not naivete. We don't think they will. We just want them to pay the consequences for not doing so, instead of making the rest of us pay.
If give a bunch of supermagnets to your kids, don't supervise them, don't teach them about the dangers, and then they swallow a couple and die...congratulations: You just paid for being a dumbass with the life of your child. Why do I have to give up my magnets as well?
Re: (Score:2)
These magnets should be regulated to be sold only to those over 18. Like many other potentially dangerous products.
Like candy bars, or batteries?
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking more like spray paint, glues, industrial solvents, and heavy metals.
Re: (Score:2)
I was thinking more like spray paint, glues, industrial solvents, and heavy metals.
You just HAD to include loud rock&roll bands there, eh?
Protecting the children. (Score:4, Insightful)
magnets.. bad.
Guns, assault rifles, knives, mace spray, tazers, baseball bats, and realistic 3rd person shooters... good.
Glad you guys have got your retail priorities straight and are protecting your kids so well.
Re: (Score:2)
Magnets aren't in the constitution.
Re: (Score:2)
Magnets aren't in the constitution.
:grins:
Re: (Score:2)
Don't forget Kinder eggs [cnngo.com]. Maybe we can get Colorado and Washington to legalize these too.
Re: (Score:2)
magnets.. bad.
Guns, assault rifles, knives, mace spray, tazers, baseball bats, and realistic 3rd person shooters... good.
Glad you guys have got your retail priorities straight and are protecting your kids so well.
The difference is that most of the things you name are obviously dangerous. A coffee-table toy is not. They are also easy to lock up. A toy consisting of tens of tiny pieces (with any two sufficient to cause severe injury) is not.
Re: (Score:2)
Let's see... Guns - Sporting equipment (so toy-like). Knives - Standard issue Boy Scout tool. Mace - Not toy. Tazers - Not toy. Baseball bats - Sporting equipment (so toy-like). FPS games - Definite toy.
Buckballs - Have "Not a toy" / "Not for kids" printed in no fewer than four places on the packaging.
But I do have one more for you: Dildos - Toy. Does that have any bearing on whether or not you'd give one to your apparently-retarded kids?
S
Re: (Score:2)
Dildo related fatalities - Greater than zero.
Buckyball fatalities - Zero.
You lose that bet.
No, but using phrases like "your apparently-retarded kids" does tell me what level of discourse is available here.
Hmm, survey SAYS - A step up from "dead toddlers", when not a single toddler (or stupid tween, or even stupid adult) has died from them?
Re: (Score:2)
However, there is a radical difference between a gun, which is not marketed as a toy, and a magnet set
Weapons are not marketed to kids as toys? I guess you have not watched much TV aimed at small boys. Or does GI Joe battle his enemies with fluff and sweeties and puppies on your TV?
The promotion of weapons and the use of force to impose your 'truth' on others is constantly marketed to young males, especially in America. The use of love, attraction and magnets less so.
Re: (Score:2)
The Daisy red rider is not marketed to children?
No one said anything about murder weapons, but BB guns and .22 caliber rifles are popular Christmas gifts for 6-12 year olds.
Re: (Score:2)
Your Freedom and Rights don't matter when... (Score:5, Insightful)
we have to protect another child on behalf of the parents not capable of using good common sense.
We need to stop making scissors of all kinds, stop the production of any toys that a small child might play with but not marketed to them, and even take kids balls away because someone might get hurt.
Stupid people doing stupid things... being going on for millenia, and every effort to stop them has failed.
Re: (Score:2)
Well said! You, sir, are welcome to play goalie in my Jarts tournament any day!
A Warning is as Good as a Ban (Score:4, Insightful)
We used to buy Magnetix. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetix [wikipedia.org]
They were great fun...simple...self assembling, but you could do some fun things. It seemed like a great toy for kids. After we had gathered a sizable collection, we heard about the warning of swallowing the magnets. Coincidentally we also started noticing the magnets falling out of their plastic housings.
So, we heavily increased the supervision as the kids were playing with them. Made sure to keep everything glued in tight and or disposed of. Basically I guess that means I'm a responsible parent.
In the end though, we stopped buying them and switch to a toy that was less hazardous. That means the warning effectively became a ban ...for my house...
I think that's how it should work with pretty much everything.
Zen Magnets (Score:4, Informative)
Zen Magnets [zenmagnets.com] hasn't yet caved to the CPSC.
Re: (Score:2)
That might have something to do with the fact that they haven't been targeted by the CPSC at all since they were a marginal player in the market compared to Buckyballs. Now that Buckyballs is going down, if Zen rises to fill that void, you can bet that the CPSC will go after them as well.
Re: (Score:2)
ANNNNNNND...I'm an idiot. Sometimes I wish there was a simple button you could press on your old posts to color them differently or somehow indicate that you no longer stand by what you said.
Re: (Score:2)
That's a really good idea. You should submit it.
Re: (Score:2)
Yep, I know. I already retracted what I said. Unfortunately, it doesn't show up in the original comment. :-/
R. Buckminster Fuller approves! (Score:2)
The estate's claim that the use of the name infringes on their rights (which is a patently ridiculous claim, in my view) is apparently quite consistent with R. Buckminster Fuller's views --- supposedly he would claim credit to his student's work but saw himself as simply protecting his own intellectual property by so doing.
Hey Entrepreneurs! (Score:5, Funny)
Still interested in starting a small business in the US?
Didn't think so....
Starting a small business in the US today is less like reaching for your dreams and more like Running Man where you get a 30 minute head start before the death lawyers start chasing you...
Re: (Score:3)
Wow I wish I hadn't posted so I could mod this - VERY good point!
Re: (Score:3)
Taking a look around today, there seems to be an awful lot of businesses laying people off after the Obama victory.
Obama would be president today - and for the next two months - even if Mitt Romney had won. So anyone laying off people today is doing it just to make a political statement, not because anything has actually changed.
way to fix (Score:2)
They could follow precedent and just rename the product "Butthole Estate"
There are other countries (Score:2)
If your #1 product kills children, you fail (Score:2)
If your #1 product kills children, you fail.
One of my favorite toys growing up was Girder & Panel. It was suddenly removed from the house after about a year because it was recalled. The reason? Kids were eating the rubber rivets and killing themselves.
Re:If your #1 product kills children, you fail (Score:5, Informative)
It's not the fault of the product when parents don't supervise their children and allow them to eat random household objects.
And I realize its not easy. Parenting is hard. If you're not up for it, don't have kids.
This is an adult product. It says it on the box. It shouldn't be required to meet child toy standards.
Re: (Score:2)
If you make claims without citations like that you fail.
I do not believe anyone has died, some people did require medical care though.
I bet S&Ws #1 product could kill kids. There are lots of common household items that could kill kids. You think eating a AAA battery would go well for a child?
Re:If your #1 product kills children, you fail (Score:5, Informative)
Oh, wait, now you say 'I meant injuries not deaths'. OK lets play that one:
There are approximately 2.2 million Buckyball magnet sets in circulation, and as each set has 216 magnets, there is a grand total of 475.2 million individual magnet pieces. This equals to approximately 1 injury per 100,000 Buckyball sets and less than 1 injury per 21.5 million individual magnet pieces.
Dogs are statistically over 120 times more dangerous
Tennis injuries are 1,228 times more dangerous
Soccer, Cheerleading, poisoning through common household chemicals are all over 1,000 times more dangerous.
Skateboarding is 890 times more dangerous.
Pools, cars, kitchen knives, firearms, balloons, snowblowers are all statistically more dangerous than Buckyball magnets.
That is a LOT of fails by your criteria. Yet where is the CPSC outrage on dogs, racquets, soccer balls, draino, skateboards, pool life jackets, ginsu knifes, and so on?
Re: (Score:2)
The later sets that came out were basically the same, ex
Fucking magnets. (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Well, a North pole loves a South pole, and they spend a night sleeping with each other, then later the Stork Magnet comes along and reverses polarity at just the right moment to drop a new little bundle of joy.
Please note that many states have legislated against homo-polar relationships. Marriage can never work between North-North and South-South poles.
How about instead of arbitrarily banning products (Score:3)
How about instead of arbitrarily banning products that some obsessed mothers think are somehow more dangerous for their toddlers, mostly because it is new, we just force all packaging to list the number of lives the contents have cost.
Buckyballs (Killed 20 infants since 1995) For example (I have no idea how many, if any, have died of been seriously injured by BBs).
Then we can make informed choices and be held responsible if we allow children to kill themselves will objects we know are dangerous. BB are not designed to be given to infants, just like a nail gun is not designed to be given to an infant; That does not mean they should be banned.
Personally, I love dangerous things and would consider that as good advertising, for those of you with overprotected children well they do no have to buy one.
Warning Label (Score:4, Informative)
Keep Away From All Children!
Do not put in nose or mouth.
Swallowed magnets can stick to
intestines causing serious injury or death.
Seek immediate medical attention if
magnets are swallowed or inhaled.
It says right on the little plastic container that this isn't for children. The cardboard retail box gets torn up and thrown away, so I can understand a label on that *possibly* not being enough. The inner plastic cube is pretty explicit too, though.
There are a handful of stupid people somewhere out there, so bureaucrats close down a business that I like and decide that I can't have something that is of no risk to me or anyone around me. Gotta love this world we live in.
Bought the Blue Balls... (Score:2)
.... so men don't get them. /wink
They really do sell Blue Buckyballs. So now when I play with them, blue buckyballs, and I roll them around you blue balls won't feel all alone. /wink
Sorry, it was just so easy....
They are NOT going out of business (Score:2)
I have a feeling this was their plan all along, turning the CPSC action into a publicity stunt to sell out their remaining stock.
Re: (Score:2)
The CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission) was signed into law by Nixon. Blame him.
Re: (Score:2)
http://www.zenmagnets.com/index.php?p=1_20_November_Update [zenmagnets.com]
Great, extremely informative link, thank you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't have kids. Why should I be subject to restrictions because some parents can't watch their offspring and they manage to swallow random objects?
The world is full of objects that are dangerous if swallowed. Watch your kids and let me have my toys.
Re: (Score:3)
If you swallow one, it's fine. If you swallow a second one, it may stick to the first one... but the first one may have gone around the bend in the intestine first. The pressure from the magnets causes blood to be forced out of the tissues compressed between them, you get a dead spot, then a punctured intestine, which causes peritonitis, a potentially fatal condition.