Dave’s Cool Toys Blog

Archive for August, 2010

Today’s post has nothing to do with toys. It’s a "unique" video I came across today.

Enjoy.

An excellent video of soap bubbles by Sterling Johnson on Stinson Beach. That’s all.

Peepee Teepee in action. Well, waiting for action.

This past weekend we visited Gift Fair in New York City. Had a great day wandering around and visiting vendors.

One of the oddest things we saw was the Peepee Teepee. It’s a little cloth teepee that you put over a baby boy’s penis during changing to avoid those dreaded urine fountains.

As far as I can tell, the Peepee Teepee doesn’t adhere in any way, so I don’t really see how it could possibly stay in place during a diaper change. And, as one reviewer on Amazon pointed out, one good stream of urine would knock it right off. Now you have urine spraying and flying, wet Teepees too.

They come in a set of five in a little laundry bag. They’re made of cotton and are machine washable. You can also get different patterns such as Camouflage.

My guess, not too practical, but would make a talked-about gift at a shower.

Peepee Teepee, set of five, washable. Selling for about $10.00 on Amazon.

My Dream Home

The next time you rent a Bouncy Castle for your kids party, you may be getting something a little extra… lead poisoning.

OK That’s a bit extreme.

The New York Times reports that the California Attorney General has filed a lawsuit that claims that some, if not all, of the rented inflatable houses, castles, and amusements contain unsafe levels of lead in the vinyl they are made from.

An investigation by the Center for Environmental Health, in Oakland, tested several dozen houses and found that they contained between 5,000 and 29,000 parts per million of lead. Those measurements are way above the federal limit of 90 to 300 parts per million.

Robert Field, a defendant in the suit, and senior vice president of Cutting Edge Creations argues that the suit could put thousands of small-business owners that rent the inflatable fun-houses out of business, hurting California’s economy.

OK. His argument is "let us continue to rent party toys that have thousands of times the legal limit of a harmful substance because the economy is bad and you should ignore the problem for financial reasons".

The suit and investigation did not include Bouncy Castles sold to consumers. These should fall under the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and require testing prior to being sold. I only found one recall which was for a problem with the fan housing breaking and one alert in which children were bouncing out of a Playskool Moon Bouncer due to overinflation.

What is a parent to do if you want to rent a Bouncy Castle? One spokesman for the Center for Environmental Health recommends that parents should have wet-wipes available and children should wipe their exposed body parts (hands, feet, face) after bouncing to reduce the risk.

Haven’t you ever wondered what The Chimpmunks really sound like? Here’s the The Chipmunk Song, Christmas Don’t Be Late, slowed down to hear their actual voices.

The song isn’t really slowed down, rather pitch shifted. Althought when they made the original, they recorded the voices at half speed, and, when played back at full speed, their voices would be higher. I would guess they needed to also speak and sing more slowly when they recorded it. But by electronically shifting the pitch in this video, the song stays the same length.

My friend, Rich, sent me a link to this video of a Wooden steam engine model. It is clever, useless, fun, and beautiful. What every toy should be! The engine is powered by a vacuum cleaner and runs quite fast.

The creator has posted a website with detailed information on how he built the engine and plans available to purchase ($10.00).