Yes, this is one of those "when I was a kid" threads. But that wasn't too long ago - mostly the late 70's into the 80's.

I miss Jarts. I miss how insanely, completely, over-the-top dangerous they were but nobody really realized it at the time. I mean my friend Ryan and I did put one through his sister's foot once, but hey, she shouldn't have been in that spot in the first place.

I miss my old chemistry set. I distinctly remember the instructions had me making gunpowder. I loved the smell of sulphur. I wonder how lame chemistry sets are now. I didn't learn anything about chemistry, really, but I learned a lot about what happens in the experiment I called "let's mix all of this crap together and/or try to light it on fire and see what happens."

I remember buying caps, meticulously ripping each one open, collecting the gunpowder or whatever it was, and then seeing what happens when you whack it with a hammer. What happens is that it explodes quite impressively and you get some of it in your eye but you don't tell your parents for fear of being murdered by them. I don't know if you can buy caps anymore, but if not, the world is a sadder place without them.

I had a Stretch Armstrong once. What happens when you stretch Stretch too far? Some purple liquid comes dribbling out and actually burns the crap out of any skin it comes in contact with. I have no idea what this stuff was, but knowing what I know now, I'd guess some type of highly radioactive very low pH acid.

Now toys are kind of plastic and generic and very safe I am sure. That's a shame.