Dr. Evil found a new job! in charge of a school..

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/playground-fight-fairfax-county-schools-place-new-apparatus-off-limits-to-kids/2013/01/31/b95b0176-5a6c-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html

The playground structure is brand new and a child’s dream: soaring metal beams and a tantalizing spider web of climbing net. It sits outside Stratford Landing Elementary School, but all the students can do is stare at it from afar.

Behind the yellow caution tape fettering the apparatus are what parents describe as reams of bureaucratic red tape threatening the equipment, which was built with $35,000 from countless PTA silent auctions and bake sales.




bwhahahahahahahha sorry kids. you can look at the great new playground equipment but YOU CAN'T use it! mwhahahha
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,548
8,828
126
Fuckin' idiots. Just line kids up, and put bullets in their heads. That might seem harsh, but it would really be doing them a favor...
 

Phanuel

Platinum Member
Apr 25, 2008
2,304
2
0
Man, the best playground I ever had as a kid was made entirely of concrete ramps, bridges, etc, lined with redwood logs driven into the ground vertically that formed steps up even higher with no safety whatsoever, all above various giant tan bark pools.

I'm sure that playground now is completely flat and just a sand pit. :/
 

Newbian

Lifer
Aug 24, 2008
24,775
875
126
It's hard to see how big it is from that image but how does something like that cost $35k?
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
35...thousand....dollars?

It looks like a great playground, but is steel and paint really THAT expensive?
 

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
its more then the equipment. its how you have to setup the ground, drainage etc.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
58,548
8,828
126
35...thousand....dollars?

It looks like a great playground, but is steel and paint really THAT expensive?

A lot of the money is probably in the design. It's a niche product, so the price is jacked up for the people that buy.
 

SKORPI0

Lifer
Jan 18, 2000
18,463
2,397
136
Evos® Ages 5-12 - 29 pictures.

EVOS_Accessibility-Study.jpg

EVOS_Deerfield-Elementary.jpg

EVOS_Doha.jpg


I can imagine a kid not familiar with that kind of playground loosing their grip and falling or even catching their arms/legs then getting hurt bad.D:
 

sdifox

No Lifer
Sep 30, 2005
98,084
16,796
126
Stupid fucks. All they have to do is have all parents sign a release saying school is not risponsible for kids hurt playing in the playground.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,396
30,476
146
35...thousand....dollars?

It looks like a great playground, but is steel and paint really THAT expensive?

It looks to be designed by Frank Gehry, and so I'm pretty sure they left a 0 out of the cost...
 

Sheep

Golden Member
Jun 13, 2006
1,275
0
71
I can imagine a kid not familiar with that kind of playground loosing their grip and falling or even catching their arms/legs then getting hurt bad.D:

A kid falls and breaks a bone somewhere every day of the year. If you're that concerned about it, might as well wrap your kid in bubble wrap and never let him or her leave the bedroom, removing anything that can cause a stubbed toe or a paper cut while you're at it.
 

Nintendesert

Diamond Member
Mar 28, 2010
7,761
5
0
A kid falls and breaks a bone somewhere every day of the year. If you're that concerned about it, might as well wrap your kid in bubble wrap and never let him or her leave the bedroom, removing anything that can cause a stubbed toe or a paper cut while you're at it.



Or keep the degenerate fucks in a padded room where all this coddling and pussification lead to anyways.
 

unokitty

Diamond Member
Jan 5, 2012
3,346
1
0
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...5b0176-5a6c-11e2-88d0-c4cf65c3ad15_story.html

The playground structure is brand new and a child’s dream: soaring metal beams and a tantalizing spider web of climbing net. It sits outside Stratford Landing Elementary School, but all the students can do is stare at it from afar.

Behind the yellow caution tape fettering the apparatus are what parents describe as reams of bureaucratic red tape threatening the equipment, which was built with $35,000 from countless PTA silent auctions and bake sales.

bwhahahahahahahha sorry kids. you can look at the great new playground equipment but YOU CAN'T use it! mwhahahha

Best playground equipment I ever saw was an old air force piston engined twin that had crashed onto the highest courtyard of the Nakagusuku Castle Ruins on Okinawa. I was never up there when there wasn't between a half dozen and a dozen little Okinawan kids crawling over every part of it. Never saw any of them get hurt.

A shame that anymore the adults won't let kids be kids.

Uno
 

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
Officials say the school system wants to avoid potential lawsuits should a child be injured on the equipment. According to statistics from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 200,000 children visit emergency rooms annually after playground accidents.

When I was a kid, I went to the emergency room after busting my head open:

on a tree root after I fell out of a tree

on a bathroom counter

on a coffee table

there were others but my brain doesn't make memories anymore.

...I never got hurt on a playground, which had the typical big metal climbing structures most of us remember (similar to the one in the OP, but more simplistic and ugly).

By their reasoning, I should've had to live on the playground and be banned from my house.
 

MarkXIX

Platinum Member
Jan 3, 2010
2,642
1
71
Evos® Ages 5-12 - 29 pictures.

EVOS_Accessibility-Study.jpg

EVOS_Deerfield-Elementary.jpg

EVOS_Doha.jpg


I can imagine a kid not familiar with that kind of playground loosing their grip and falling or even catching their arms/legs then getting hurt bad.D:

SO WHAT?! That's what Obamacare is for! Kids need to experience their friends signing their casts and shit.

Seriously, kids get hurt on playgrounds, end of story. Nerf seriously needs to break into the playground business with all these risk averse, weak ass parents and administrators who are afraid to let a kid get a damn bruise.
 
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D1gger

Diamond Member
Oct 3, 2004
5,411
2
76
It's not really about avoiding the kids getting hurt, it is about the threat of litigious parents suing the school after the kid gets hurt.

Back in the day, kids got hurt all the time in playgrounds, playing sports, climbing trees, etc. but the parents weren't looking to get a pay-day out of it.

The play equipment looks OK to me, but you know the first time little Jimmy falls out of it and cracks his head open, Jimmy Sr will be looking for money.
 

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
its more then the equipment. its how you have to setup the ground, drainage etc.

Anything involving concrete is really damn expensive too. Call a contractor and ask how much it will cost to lower your basement by 1 foot. Make sure you're sitting down.

When I was a kid, I went to the emergency room after busting my head open:

on a tree root after I fell out of a tree
One of my friends broke her back on a tree. The branch broke and she landed on a root. Damn roots! Those things seriously mess you up if you land on them or trip on them. We should probably just remove all trees within city limits. It's safer that way.

The play equipment looks OK to me, but you know the first time little Jimmy falls out of it and cracks his head open, Jimmy Sr will be looking for money.
They should make sure the playground has lots of sand. Falling 5 feet onto a hard surface or even grass can be very painful, but sand is pretty good. The playground at my elementary school was very sandy.
 
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Cerpin Taxt

Lifer
Feb 23, 2005
11,940
542
126
It's not really about avoiding the kids getting hurt, it is about the threat of litigious parents suing the school after the kid gets hurt.

Back in the day, kids got hurt all the time in playgrounds, playing sports, climbing trees, etc. but the parents weren't looking to get a pay-day out of it.

The play equipment looks OK to me, but you know the first time little Jimmy falls out of it and cracks his head open, Jimmy Sr will be looking for money.

I agree with this post, and I wonder how much of the litigiousness is motivated by greed, and/or by rising costs of healthcare and poor insurance coverage.

It's ironic to read a story like this when there is simultaneously a large concern for childhood obesity.
 

ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
38,784
19,371
146
Sucks for those kids.

People saying "wtf why so much $", the new metal playgrounds are expensive. I live in a area where the kids playground had one that cost ~100k. At least that's the number given to the public..

We brought my kids to another one a couple months ago. My son swung too much on the monkey bars, fell, busted his lip open. Never wanted to sue, told my son he should hold on better next time :) But overhearing other parents, sometimes it's amazing what they'll get bent out of shape about.
 
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ichy

Diamond Member
Oct 5, 2006
6,940
8
81
God I hate our litigious culture. I wish we could throw a few thousand of the country's must successful personal injury attorneys into a pit of snakes and let them wallow with their own kind.