Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

The Populace Really Can't be this Stupid

Right behind the opening instructions on the little cream containers at the restaurant, this stuff really makes me wonder who they are protecting.

Heat Gun Gets Wacky Warning Label Award

Associated Press

DETROIT (Jan. 6) - A reminder that a heat gun and paint remover that produces temperatures of 1,000 degrees isn't a good hair dryer is the nation's wackiest warning label, an anti-lawsuit group says.

The label reads: "Do not use the heat gun as a hair dryer" and was identified by Tom Brunelle of the southwestern Michigan community of Holland. Brunelle will receive $500 as a reward for tracking down the seemingly obvious warning.

The Wacky Warning Label Contest, in its ninth year, is conducted by Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch as part of an effort to show the effects of lawsuits ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú and concern about lawsuits ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äú on warnings.

"When judges see it as their job to dismiss cases that are rooted in frivolous theories, we'll see fewer wacky labels and more fairness in the courts," Robert B. Dorigo Jones, the group's president, said in a statement this week.

The group turned a list of finalists over to listeners of the Dick Purtan show on WOMC-FM in Detroit, which picked the top three.

For his find, Brunelle also will get a copy of the book "The Death of Common Sense" by Philip K. Howard.

A $250 second prize award goes to Jam Sardar of Grand Rapids for a label on a kitchen knife that warns: "Never try to catch a falling knife."

A $100 third prize goes to Alice Morgan of La Junta, Colo. She found a warning on a cocktail napkin with a map of the waterways around Hilton Head Island, S.C., printed on it that read: "Not to be used for navigation."

An honorable mention went to Kirk Dunham of Seabrook, Texas. He found a warning on a bottle of dried bobcat urine used to keep pests away from garden plants that said: "Not for human consumption."

See past years' award winners on the Net at www.wackywarnings.com.
01/06/06 14:23 EST
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press.
 

Doh!

One Too Many
Messages
1,079
Location
Tinsel Town
Years ago, my brother had wrinkled pants so used one of those handheld steamers to get out the wrinkles. Unfortunately for him, he was still wearing said pants so badly scalded his leg.

Moral of the story? Yeah, people are that stupid.
 

Mr. Rover

One Too Many
Messages
1,875
Location
The Center of the Universe
Well if you've ever seen those heat guns, they look just like big metal hair dryers. I think it would be a simple mistake if you didn't know it was a heat gun. They keep one in the drawer in my ceramics class in school...need I go on?
 
Yeah, people are that dumb. And just love to sue when they hurt themselves. This is what GW was getting at in the last election campaign with his crusade against frivolous lawsuits (tort reform, i believe), right?

On using a napkin for navigation, i seem to remember something that happened during the Kosovo intervention involving the chinese embassy and a bad map. There was also something about a hospital in Granada that used to be a fort and was still marked as such on a map being used by a certain military commander. This may all be false propaganda, but that's what i heard.

But, yes, it's sad that it's got to the point where these warnings need to be attached to the most mundane of items. It's harder to sue for these things in britain. You'd get a crazy old judge who'd tell you you were nuts and put you in jail for wasting his time if you complained that you didn't know coffee was hot.

bk
 

BellyTank

I'll Lock Up
As mentioned- heat guns ARE shaped like hair dryers. It would be a shame if a kid got loose with one and tried to use it as such. Maybe it's a good reminder for parents to use their brains when using and storing said appliance... I think maybe parents need to be MADE to think of the seemingly obvious and the possible sad scenarios when kids are around. Better safe than sorry- not SO dumb but yes, people are-

I've never been in a restaurant which has cream in containers...(?)

Is that like McDonald's cream/coffee whitener..?


B
T
 
BellyTank said:
Is that like McDonald's cream/coffee whitener..?


Coffee whitener?! Uh we call it cream but I suppose McDonalds has them. That is not exactly a place I go for coffee so I could not be sure though.
Geez, heat guns look like hair dryers where you are? They sure don't here. At least the ones I have worked with before. They look more like Falsh Gordon's phase pistol than a hair dryer. Hair dryer's here have not been chrome or metal here in the US since the 1960s. We have fake plastic-metal like this:
giladbarlev_1878_8848262


Now I am not sure how you could mistake this for this:
ecoheat.jpg

especially if it is in the original case with all the attachments and such.
Nah, adults really can't be that stupid. It boggles the mind.

Regards to all,

J
 
Messages
11,579
Location
Covina, Califonia 91722
The question is do we have to let THEE most sensitive direct what should be common sense and sensibilities. There is a part of me that knows ina Survival of the Fittest sense, if somenoe dies because they took the blow dryer in the shower with them, the average IQ of the remainder must go up a tick.

At the same time if you do things with out thinking you can get hurt. I myself have been electrocuted a couple of times. Once by touching the chrome body of the Osterizer and turning on the kitchen faucett, Yowzer!

And similarly, touching the brass lamp light socket to turn it on while holding a plugged in Shure microphone in my brother twin reverb amp. I sputtered a bit, luckily i was able to let go of the lamp even though the electrical current was closing my hand. Zaaaaappp!

This is why we learn things in school early on like "No running with the scissors."

When you try to make things idiot proof, the idiots always rise to the challenge!
I like to say; the difference between genuis and stupidity is, genius has its limits!
In todays courts maybe we can say stupidity has its rewards.
 

Mr. Rover

One Too Many
Messages
1,875
Location
The Center of the Universe
jamespowers, I'll take a picture of my ceramic classroom's heat gun. It looks like a big, red, metal hair dryer.
Does a 10 year old know that metal hair dryers haven't been made for 40+ years? I don't think so. Suppose a kid spills water on himself, there's no paper towels, and the teacher is out of the classroom for a minute. He looks through the drawers and finds a big, red, metal hair dryer. Turns it on, and presto- the plastic in his shoes are melting and half his leg has been scalded.

ray

btw, if you had looked at my name, I'm living in Taiwan. And before you think of typing some anti-foreigner bull, I lived in New York for 15 years. I'm just as American as anyone else here.
 
Messages
11,579
Location
Covina, Califonia 91722
btw, if you had looked at my name, I'm living in Taiwan. And before you think of typing some anti-foreigner bull, I lived in New York for 15 years. I'm just as American as anyone else here.[/QUOTE]
*** There are a lot of people that think NY is unamerican anyway!
Out of the frying pan into the fire.
 

BellyTank

I'll Lock Up
As you can probably see now James- your Economy model is not of the examples which closely resembles a blowdryer. I was writing a reply to you a while ago but McWindows did its thing. Wouldn't you hazard a guess that the fateful scenario HAD happened at least once(?) hence the warning. Probably some legal matters necessitated the warning.

I was guessing at the McDonalds cream thing- having never had coffee there- and the establishment being recognised as a 'restaurant' Srateside. If you really didn't know, coffee whitener/creamer is for those who don't take milk or cream in said beverage.

Here's an example of a heat gun which resembles a hair dryer-

towr3200.jpg


B
T
 

Lincsong

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,907
Location
Shining City on a Hill
The question is not are...

people are that stupid. The question ought to be "Are lawyers that greedy?" The answer is yes they are that greedy. A person can have a swimming pool in his backyard, fully surrounded by a fence, rottweillers patroling the deck, and if some bozo climbs up on the roof, dives head first into the shallow end, and breaks his arms he will sue you and win because swimming pools are an inherent danger. Although he was trespassing the owner of the pool is liable for having an inherent danger. Sounds stupid, sounds ridiculous but it is common law. If two dogs are fighting, a man picks up a stick to break them up, lifts it above his head to swing and knocks some guy in the head with the stick he's liable for battery. It was an unlawful touching. We live in a Common Law nation. There's a lot that judges can read into any law. No matter how obvious the law. Take the Kelo decision; Constitution plainly states that government cannot take private property unless it is for a public use. Five seniles on the Supreme Court say that the government can take it as long as there is a public benefit, such as higher tax revenue going into government coffers. Wow, with 535 members of Congress and 37 states required to amend the Constitution, 5 seniles just usurped all that power to amend the Constitution and insert the word "benefit" for "use".
 
Geez, like this was a show and tell about what heat guns look like. :rolleyes: I also stipulated previously that this does not apply to children---however, as John mentioned, adults should be supervising or placing dangerous items out of reach whatever country you are in.
I suppose these responses actually answered my previous question.

Regards to all,

J
 

Twitch

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,133
Location
City of the Angels
It's pretty widespread that hair dryers have disclaimers that read "Warning! Do not use in the shower." Guess that's for those in a big hurry.:cool:
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,327
Messages
3,078,966
Members
54,243
Latest member
seeldoger47
Top