Someone glued razor blades to jungle gym.

Roxxsmom

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Glad the kid only had a small cut. Could have been a lot worse. And yet another sick bastard does something that will probably ruin things for a large number of people.

How long before people decide it's too risky to have playgrounds at public parks?

However, a small, probably unworthy thought has wormed its way into my mind. The overwhelming number of "poisoned candy" or "razor blade" apple incidents at Halloween turn out to be done by kids themselves seeking attention or very sick family members of the children in question, not random strangers trying to kill trick or treaters.

http://www.livescience.com/434-candy-fears-mere-halloween-phantoms.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoned_candy_myths

I hope this doesn't turn out to be something someone did for attention. No reason to believe it is, but I have a nasty, suspicious mind.
 
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Shadow Dragon

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I hope this doesn't turn out to be something someone did for attention. No reason to believe it is, but I have a nasty, suspicious mind.
If it was for attention, I would imagine that there's be a video up on youtube or facebook with someone bragging about doing it.
 

Monkey

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People do crazy, terrible things. But just because this happened one time in one place doesn't mean it's a trend. I wouldn't worry overmuch about it happening at a park near you.
 

robjvargas

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People do crazy, terrible things. But just because this happened one time in one place doesn't mean it's a trend. I wouldn't worry overmuch about it happening at a park near you.

I would.

But as I've said many times, I'm a paranoid S.O.B.

So it fits right in with the rest of me.
 

kaitie

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However, a small, probably unworthy thought has wormed its way into my mind. The overwhelming number of "poisoned candy" or "razor blade" apple incidents at Halloween turn out to be done by kids themselves seeking attention or very sick family members of the children in question, not random strangers trying to kill trick or treaters.

http://www.livescience.com/434-candy-fears-mere-halloween-phantoms.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poisoned_candy_myths

I hope this doesn't turn out to be something someone did for attention. No reason to believe it is, but I have a nasty, suspicious mind.

"Overwhelming number" implies that this has happened a number of times. Everything I've seen suggests that it is exceedingly rare.
 

DancingMaenid

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I think I would worry more about finding disgusting stuff at playgrounds, like dog poop or used condoms, more than something planted with intentional malice. Stuff like this is horrifying, but pretty uncommon, I think.
 

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There are 300 million people in the United States.

1 of them decided to put a razor blade on a playground set.

That's 0.00000033% of the population.

I'm officially not even slightly worried, not when we all ride in our DEATH BOXES every day to get to work. Yes, a razor planted on a playground implies deliberate malice, and car accidents are accidents. But still, incredibly rare malice isn't that big of a deal.

Not in my mind at least.

And if I were a parent...well, actually, I don't think I'd think to check playground equipment, because I'm a derp.
 
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Roxxsmom

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"Overwhelming number" implies that this has happened a number of times. Everything I've seen suggests that it is exceedingly rare.

Yes, overwhelming number was a poor word choice on my part.

Razor blade candy incidents are quite rare to begin with, but nearly all cases have turned out to be family members of the children and not strangers who were passing out candy. Hasn't stopped it from making everyone paranoid about Halloween. Regardless, I just hope this case isn't the beginning of a new sicko trend.

I can't help thinking back to innocent times, before the cyanide in the Tylenol bottles resulted in everything having to be packaged with extra safety seals and layers of blister pack.

Not sure what could be done to prevent random crazies from booby trapping playground equipment, except removing the playground equipment completely. That would be a sad day.

There are 300 million people in the United States.

1 of them decided to put a razor blade on a playground set.

That's 0.00001% of the population.

I'm officially not even slightly worried, not when we all ride in our DEATH BOXES every day to get to work. Yes, a razor planted on a playground implies deliberate malice, and car accidents are accidents. But still, incredibly rare malice isn't that big of a deal.
.

A very rational way to look at it, and of course you're right. But for some reason, people seem to be wired up to worry about random psychotic strangers or really strange and rare accidents that might harm them or their kids, to the point where kids are not allowed anything like the freedom to explore their world that previous generations were, but we regard automobiles (which kill far more kids) to be an acceptable risk. Illusion of control may be part of it. We feel like we have at least some control over the outcome when we drive (never mind that a random bad driver could slam into us).
 
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Zoombie

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Not sure what could be done to prevent random crazies from booby trapping playground equipment, except removing the playground equipment completely.

Embedded, comprehensive surveillance systems paired with intelligent automation that can alert the authorities when the equipment is being tampered with.
 

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It's beyond sick.

I can't say it would make me stop taking my children to the park, but you can bet that the next time we go I'll inspect the equipment before my kids get on it.
 

Myrealana

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People do crazy, terrible things. But just because this happened one time in one place doesn't mean it's a trend. I wouldn't worry overmuch about it happening at a park near you.

Until the story spread all over the internet and more sick fucks see it and think "hey, that is AWESOME. Gotta get me some of that action."
 

William Haskins

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cry me a river.

try waking up one morning to shave only to find you're dragging a jungle gym across your face.
 

kaitie

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But for some reason, people seem to be wired up to worry about random psychotic strangers or really strange and rare accidents that might harm them or their kids, to the point where kids are not allowed anything like the freedom to explore their world that previous generations were, but we regard automobiles (which kill far more kids) to be an acceptable risk. Illusion of control may be part of it. We feel like we have at least some control over the outcome when we drive (never mind that a random bad driver could slam into us).

I think the reason is publicity. It's what we see and hear all the time. There are constant news stories of abducted kids, for instance. Now, it's true that only 1 in 1000 kids who was abducted or harmed was harmed by a stranger and not a family member, but people these days are so afraid of a stranger abducting their child that they don't let children play in the yard by themselves. The chances of children being involved in school shootings are exceptionally rare, in the one in millions range, and yet we hear enough about them that companies actually make (and sell) bullet proof backpacks, and mothers who show up at school when called are arrested.

We don't hear about the millions of children who played outside safely every day, or the millions who went to school without incident, or the millions of parents who showed up at school for legitimate reasons and didn't then try to murder everyone in sight.

And it's not just the news media. It's shows like Law and Order and it's incarnations, and NCIS, and CSI, etc. etc., that are constantly showing us bad things happening to people.

We're exposed to it now. When I was a kid, most people wouldn't have really known the word "psychopath." Now it's everyday vocabulary.

Awareness of these things is commonplace, and as we get more nationwide news we hear more of the rare cases, and it makes it seem like the risks have increased, whether they actually have or not.

For what it's worth, I complain constantly about the unsafe drivers (can we say three people running the red at ONE light yesterday while I was already in the intersection, the last of whom was reading a stack of papers while he was driving?) and the fact that people seem to be too selfish to not run red lights or put away the cell phones (I see so many texters driving beside me), etc. I dread Google Glass becoming commonplace and seriously consider moving to a place with good public transportation if it isn't outlawed while driving.
 
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The same thing was done in a playground here in my community several years ago. For a time, there was great anxiety about a repeat, but it didn't happen. And in this case, a blade was spotted before anyone was hurt, and a quick inspection revealed the others. I can no longer recall if the culprit(s) were caught, but I believe they were.
 

Don

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I think the reason is publicity. It's what we see and hear all the time. There are constant news stories of abducted kids, for instance. Now, it's true that only 1 in 1000 kids who was abducted or harmed was harmed by a stranger and not a family member, but people these days are so afraid of a stranger abducting their child that they don't let children play in the yard by themselves. The chances of children being involved in school shootings are exceptionally rare, in the one in millions range, and yet we hear enough about them that companies actually make (and sell) bullet proof backpacks, and mothers who show up at school when called are arrested.

We don't hear about the millions of children who played outside safely every day, or the millions who went to school without incident, or the millions of parents who showed up at school for legitimate reasons and didn't then try to murder everyone in sight.

And it's not just the news media. It's shows like Law and Order and it's incarnations, and NCIS, and CSI, etc. etc., that are constantly showing us bad things happening to people.

We're exposed to it now. When I was a kid, most people wouldn't have really known the word "psychopath." Now it's everyday vocabulary.

Awareness of these things is commonplace, and as we get more nationwide news we hear more of the rare cases, and it makes it seem like the risks have increased, whether they actually have or not.

For what it's worth, I complain constantly about the unsafe drivers (can we say three people running the red at ONE light yesterday while I was already in the intersection, the last of whom was reading a stack of papers while he was driving?) and the fact that people seem to be too selfish to not run red lights or put away the cell phones (I see so many texters driving beside me), etc. I dread Google Glass becoming commonplace and seriously consider moving to a place with good public transportation if it isn't outlawed while driving.
Without these stories, there would be no cries for "embedded, comprehensive surveillance systems paired with intelligent automation that can alert the authorities when the equipment is being tampered with," and a willingness to ignore the costs in taxation, bureaucracy and grant of power to those in authority that would be required to implement such a scheme.

In my younger days it was the "Evil Empire" about to reduce us all to radioactive dust; these days it's random acts of twisted individuals, and protection from those fears can justify almost any act of coercion.
 

shaldna

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What assholes! What is wrong with some people?
 

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I really hate humans sometimes. Really.

I want to exit the world and join the universe.
 

Zoombie

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Without these stories, there would be no cries for "embedded, comprehensive surveillance systems paired with intelligent automation that can alert the authorities when the equipment is being tampered with," and a willingness to ignore the costs in taxation, bureaucracy and grant of power to those in authority that would be required to implement such a scheme.

Hey, she asked for a solution that wasn't removing the equipment, I offered one.

There are three things to do.

1) Accept that sometimes sick freaks do sick, freaky things and deal

2) Attempt to remove the things that allow their sick, freaky things

3) Attempt to monitor and stop people before they do sick, freaky things.

With this incident, considering how rare it is and how comparatively little damage is done, I'd say the first answer is the best.