Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous • Hacker News Board

Re: Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous

#141

Post by coding123 » Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:16 AM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #109

TimTheTinker wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true, but it's a bit late for that, at least in the US.

Our gun industry produces more than 11 million guns a year. Sure, many of those wind up in Mexico and Central America via the drug trade, but that's still a lot of supply being sustained through the system. Guns wear out, simply cutting production would do a lot to reduce the number of guns in the system (outlaw or not).

It will take a long time for guns to wear out such that simple and possibly deadly armed robberies, bank robberies and church and school shootings would be possible well into a few hundred years. Beyond that in this political climate, even if you pulled that off, you would literally have tens or hundreds of thousands of citizens making their own (not from 3d printing, but actual metal working). Then assuming they can reclaim half, you still have a hundred million guns in the wild.

We'd save more lives by forcing car manufacturers to install ML based drunk detection systems in the driver seat.

Re: Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous

#142

Post by achenatx » Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:17 AM UTC

My kids (11,6, 3) are so lame they are scared to play outside by themselves. I bought 100 acres with a creek so we would have a place to hike, camp, explore, build forts, shoot guns etc.

My kids have been so coddled, they cant even play in the yard for long before they want to come in. Over the last year they are getting better, but when they have friends over, many of them wont even go into the forest and will only stay close to the house.

Re: Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous

#143

Post by starpilot » Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:23 AM UTC

achenatx wrote: post #142

My kids (11,6, 3) are so lame they are scared to play outside by themselves. I bought 100 acres with a creek so we would have a place to hike, camp, explore, build forts, shoot guns etc. My kids have been so coddled, they cant even play in the yard for long before they want to come in. Over the last year they are getting better, but when they have friends over, many of them wont even go into the forest and will only…

Why is that? Did you make the mistake of teaching them to code?

Re: Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous

#144

Post by Cogito » Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:23 AM UTC

umvi wrote: post #21

You're right - anything that provokes fear or outrage gets instant attention. Everything else doesn't. North Korea imprisoning a single idiot American who crossed the border = national dialogue because it's outrageous School shooting where 3 people die = national dialogue on gun control because it's outrageous. DUI accident that kills a family of 5 = small blurb in local news because it's not outrageous (even if it s…

I don't think it's as much an outrage thing as it is a control thing.

Sure, cars are unsafe and thousands of people die on the roads every year, but I am a good driver and I won't have a bad accident like that. If I do it's my own fault.

Yes, eating too much is bad for me but it's my own fault - I could just eat less.

(side note - if I believe it would be my fault if I die of something, I'm going to believe if you die of that thing it's your fault)

Kids getting shot at school - not their fault and there is nothing they could do to avoid it.

Being blown up by a terrorist's bomb? Nothing you could do as an individual to avoid it.

Re: Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous

#145

Post by novaleaf » Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:25 AM UTC

achenatx wrote: post #142

My kids (11,6, 3) are so lame they are scared to play outside by themselves. I bought 100 acres with a creek so we would have a place to hike, camp, explore, build forts, shoot guns etc. My kids have been so coddled, they cant even play in the yard for long before they want to come in. Over the last year they are getting better, but when they have friends over, many of them wont even go into the forest and will only…

fyi, I think age has a lot to do with it. my kids were 8 and 6 before they started playing outside (0.83 acres) no neighborhood kids to speak of.

Re: Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous

#146

Post by SCUSKU » Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:26 AM UTC

starpilot wrote: post #143

achenatx wrote: post #142

My kids (11,6, 3) are so lame they are scared to play outside by themselves. I bought 100 acres with a creek so we would have a place to hike, camp, explore, build forts, shoot guns etc. My kids have been so coddled, they cant even play in the yard for long before they want to come in. Over the last year they are getting better, but when they have friends over, many of them wont even go into the forest and will only…

Why is that? Did you make the mistake of teaching them to code?

Why is that a mistake?

Re: Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous

#147

Post by throwaway9980 » Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:27 AM UTC

achenatx wrote: post #142

My kids (11,6, 3) are so lame they are scared to play outside by themselves. I bought 100 acres with a creek so we would have a place to hike, camp, explore, build forts, shoot guns etc. My kids have been so coddled, they cant even play in the yard for long before they want to come in. Over the last year they are getting better, but when they have friends over, many of them wont even go into the forest and will only…

My kids are about a year behind yours, but are quite adventurous despite growing up in the city. My parents live at the edge of the metropolis and have a similar sized property with forest and stream and a small lake. It’s quite often that the older two simply vanish on a nice afternoon at grandparents. What’s disturbing is my own panic at not knowing where they are when they’ve gone off exploring the same land that I did as a child.

Re: Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous

#148

Post by soulofmischief » Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:28 AM UTC

achenatx wrote: post #142

My kids (11,6, 3) are so lame they are scared to play outside by themselves. I bought 100 acres with a creek so we would have a place to hike, camp, explore, build forts, shoot guns etc. My kids have been so coddled, they cant even play in the yard for long before they want to come in. Over the last year they are getting better, but when they have friends over, many of them wont even go into the forest and will only…

Perhaps you could show them what they're missing out on. Have you been able to talk them into camping yet? With 100 acres and a creek you've got to have a couple of nice spots.

Re: Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous

#149

Post by TheDong » Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:28 AM UTC

TomMarius wrote: post #86

loup-vaillant wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a difference between playgrounds and work environments: as far as I am aware, workers aren't any more miserable in safer work environment. Children in "safer" playgrounds, are . The value of life is not infinite. It is perfectly reasonable to sacrifice a few to improve the conditions of the many. Funnier, riskier playgrounds do exactly that. That said, the article stated the "safer" playground engendered more…

> The value of life is not infinite. The whole western civilization is standing on the assumption that it is.

The concept of a micromort [0] argues that people often to put a value on their life, at least probabilisticly.

Valueing life is also not unique to western civilization. Yes, it values individualism highly, but confucian values are also highly concerned with humaneness and the value of life.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micromort

Re: Making Playgrounds a Little More Dangerous

#150

Post by alexhutcheson » Thu, May 16, 2019, 1:28 AM UTC

There is good evidence that the rubber "safety" matting that's common on new playgrounds causes significantly more long-bone injuries (broken arms and legs) than previous surfaces like wood chips. Kids test the limits and play up to the point of pain, so they'll leap off structures onto rubber matting in a way that they wouldn't do onto wood chips or pea gravel. In the name of "safety", we're using surfaces that prevent scrapes and road rash, but have higher risk of more significant injuries when you account for the change in kid behavior.