Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/03/18/video-of-coney-island-rides-fr.html
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A lot of those still exist just with better ways of keeping you from moving about.
The one at the end looked fun.
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I would never call myself a Jeff Foxworthy “fan”, but his bit about the approach to child safety when he was a kid (along these same lines) is pretty good.
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The parachute drop always sticks in my mind. This was dad’s haunt growing up.
“rolling around with my brothers in our station wagon’s cargo area on long road trips.”
we used to sit on the station wagons real tailgate when my folks wanted us to hurry up and finish the paper route on a Sunday - stack of papers inside - we’d jump off going down the street & deliver to houses - jump back on. Fun!
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I guess childhood risk is relative when you’re living in the age of polio.
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My poor son wasn’t allowed to walk a quarter mile to school.
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There are still many old school ski lifts operating in this country that are at least as scary as anything in that video. Last year I took my family to a ski resort that heavily markets to families, and allows kids to ski for free. Just to get up to the main slopes you had to take a small, ancient, and quite tall 2-seat chair from the parking area that didn’t have any real restraints. But sometimes when it’s incredibly obvious that you’ll get hurt if not careful that helps you to behave more safely, I suppose. I certainly kept a firm grip on my kid and my armrest when riding the thing.
That said, I’m amazed these old chair lifts are still legal.
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The combination of the grins plus the lurching stumbles off the parachute ride at the end really make this.
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Aaaand, it’s been taken down. 
I often see that in AMP (curse, spit) and when viewing the article from within Feedly, but when I go to the BB site proper it’s available.
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I don’t get why people still use AMP, it’s a terrible platform that steals views and thus revenue in the interest of “speed” that isn’t really needed.
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Back when people were more at peace with the idea their lives were likely to be short and unpleasant. Might as well have fun where you can find it.
And I’ll admit, those multiple spinning plates look fun.
I also grew up with far fewer safety systems in place than there are today. It’s interesting the direction things are going.
Remember when lawn darts were banned by the CPSC?
“Lawn darts could kill you or someone you love!”
“But… I played with them, and neither I nor anybody I played with died. I don’t personally know anyone that has even been injured by them.”
“NO! It’s not safe! To protect you, we are banning them! You’ll thank us when you live to age 105.”
“Okay. Then what about guns?”
“SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH!!!”
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I think in BB’s case it’s crummy default behavior from their Wordpress configuration. If I click the wrong link in Feedly or click a link on the BB homepage while on my phone I get it, but I mostly remember to click “View Website” from Feedly, and so haven’t stumbled over it in a while.
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With the recent ruling on nunchaku, I wonder if one could apply the reasoning that anything can be considered a weapon, or “arm”, and therefore everything is made legal by the 2nd amendment?
There’s a traveling carnival that I saw setting up in a local parking lot, which they do every year around this time. So I know one thing. . . it’s going to rain this week.
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Someone determined can kill you with JELL-O.
Instead of looking at something and saying, "Can I kill someone with this?" since the answer is almost always “yes”, instead ask “How difficult would it be to kill someone with this?” and follow up with, “How many people can I kill at one time with this?”
If the answers are “easy-peasy” and “oodles”, consider placing strict restrictions on ownership that are higher than, “Can you afford it?” or banning it outright.
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For all the whinging about this, pretty much all the playgrounds my kid goes to have structures taller than this.
Also, since it’s 1900, the kids in the picture are probably half the height of modern kids, so it probably wouldn’t appear so impressive today…
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Coney Island’s been ruined by the injured and their damn lawyers.
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