Over 8M Thermos jars and bottles recalled after 3 people lost vision • Hacker News Board

Re: Over 8M Thermos jars and bottles recalled after 3 people lost vision

#111

Post by walrus01 » Tue, May 05, 2026, 2:46 AM UTC

ReptileMan wrote: post #78

Hobadee wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can make bombs out of pressure cookers. Since they are so good at holding pressure, you seal off the over-pressure release valves and then pressurize them until they burst (usually via some stupid or illegal means to begin with) then when they burst there is a ton of excess pressure. Big pressure = big boom.

They are exactly as good as any other pot made of 18/10 steel with similar thickness. Other vessels like propane tanks are much better. Boston marathon worked because - well pressure cookers at the time didn't draw much attention to them.

But if you're not working with cutting torches and welding equipment, there's no easy way to open a propane tank enough to put an explosive in it (assuming purely amateur equipment) and then seal it up again good enough to hold high pressure. A pressure cooker on the other hand is ready made to have a big opening to put lots of stuff inside and then seal it up again.

Re: Over 8M Thermos jars and bottles recalled after 3 people lost vision

#112

Post by sebastiennight » Tue, May 05, 2026, 6:06 AM UTC

fuzzfactor wrote: post #97

sebastiennight wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have younger kids, or software engineers, around, you definitely should keep your champagne in a protective enclosure.

I've seen Champagne disappear faster off the shelf more so around MBA's who are celebrating accomplishments having dubious value, compared to engineers who have actually achieved remarkable milestones ;)

Fair point :)

Re: Over 8M Thermos jars and bottles recalled after 3 people lost vision

#113

Post by RattlesnakeJake » Tue, May 05, 2026, 2:15 PM UTC

shepherdjerred wrote: post #92

walrus01 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there's tons of material online from religious radical groups on how to turn one into an IED

e.g https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspire_(magazine)

"Make A Bomb In The Kitchen Of Your Mom" sounds like the beginning of a teenager's bad joke

Re: Over 8M Thermos jars and bottles recalled after 3 people lost vision

#114

Post by baq » Tue, May 05, 2026, 2:44 PM UTC

RattlesnakeJake wrote: post #113

shepherdjerred wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

e.g https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspire_(magazine)

"Make A Bomb In The Kitchen Of Your Mom" sounds like the beginning of a teenager's bad joke

under no circumstances should you google the anarchist's cookbook

Re: Over 8M Thermos jars and bottles recalled after 3 people lost vision

#115

Post by x______________ » Wed, May 06, 2026, 10:12 AM UTC

jofzar wrote: post #30

x______________ wrote: post #2

Initially assumed it was due to some sort of contamination or production defect. Turns out people leave perishable and fermenting foods in the thermos, and after a while when opened, the pressure lifts the lid of the thermos at quasi-unimaginable speeds, striking the curiously unsuspecting humans straight in the face, with some instances causing permanent damage to vision. Coffee is hot, but a pressure release system…

I really hope we get a video out of this to see how bad it actually is and how much "pressure" is needed for this. > Incidents/Injuries: Thermos has received 27 reports of consumers who were struck by a stopper that forcefully ejected from these containers upon opening, including complaints of impact and laceration injuries requiring medical attention. Three consumers suffered permanent vision loss after being struck…

Found a comical video of the situation which required no intervention from the user[0].

Needless to say, storing food in a thermos as advertised is different than coffee is hot and should have been foreseen by the team who supervised the approval of "Oh we need more sales.. Oh right, let's double down on our market and tell customers to put food in their Thermoses!"

[0] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rTQ6c-_QYW4