State Issues ‘Stern Warning’ Against Water Balls
BOSTON (CBS) — The Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Safety is issuing a stern warning against water balls after a 5-year-old girl nearly died in one at the Independence Mall in Kingston last month.
“I am deeply concerned about the inherent safety risks associated with these devices,” said Commissioner Thomas Gatzunis. “I want to make sure that people understand there is a potential threat to anyone who chooses to get inside one of these sealed devices, particularly for young children.”
All the important issues have been resolved in Massachusetts, folks. We can now concern ourselves with things that might potentially be a problem - to date, there's no evidence that these are any more dangerous than any other activity that a young child might engage in, and only one close call (where, it was later revealed, the girl had a pre-existing condition). Commissioner Gatzunis calls them "inherently unsafe", yet has only this one instance to point to for his opinion. n=1 is a statistical anomaly, Commissioner; it's hardly an epidemic or a reason to start talk of banning.
Side note: read the comments, they're rather humorous. People show their ignorance on a daily basis. Comments like "it's an airtight ball ZOMG" abound - no one stops and does the math and figures out that there's over 4 cubic meters of air (4,000L) in a 2m sphere, and the adult human body uses something like 7-8 liters of air per minute, there's enough air for an adult human to spend 8 hours inside one of those balls. Kids are inside for 20 minutes. Math is hard. Showing your stupidity is easy...
Massachusetts: We'll do the legislatin' so you don't have to do the thinkin'...
That is all.
5 comments:
I want one. It looks like the old Zorb, only far less suicidal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorbing
The don't need science, they have hysteria!
Remember, the plural of anecdote is not data.
Carbon dioxide buildup. I have no idea how long it would take to get up to lethal levels in one of those things, but I suspect it's quite a bit less than 8 hours (likely more than 20 minutes though).
It occurred to me after I hit post that if these things are so dangerous, it should be required that before you get in one you should be given a knife, so you can cut yourself out (aaaand watch the nannies heads explode in 3..2..1).
Aside from the carbon dioxide buildup... I'm not sure where you get your math for how much an adult uses.
My at-rest air consumption is about 600 liters an hour, divided by atmospheric pressure(one, at surface level). I know this because I am a diving instructor, and I know from experience how long a 12L, 200 bar(2400L total) tank lasts me, until it is at 50 bar. This is considered very good consumption rate, most people use significantly more.
Or in other words, I use 10L/min, and I'm on the lower end of usage. I'm basically meditation breathing at this rate, 10s or so for a complete inhalation/exhalation cycle.
Kids of course use less...
Post a Comment