Monday, November 12, 2007

There is a lesson to be learnt here

Over the past week or so I've noticed a toy coming up in the news a lot. Unfortunately it has not been for a good reason. Bindeez, or Aquadots as the seppos call them were until recently the toy to have. As a one use item I can see there appeal to retailers and manufacturers, but I think lego beats them hands down.

The reason these things are in the news is because of what they're made of. These things are coated in a chemical that when digested turns into a rather nasty drug that has some rather nasty effects and is known colloquially as Grievious Bodily Harm (the actual name has the initials GHB, which in my glossing over of articles had always read as GBH).

The lesson here is don't make toys that are essentially a collection of small dots out of chemicals that will react in an adverse way with the human body when ingested. Ideally, pick something that is either completely non-toxic or completely inert.

And another lesson. If you are going to build a business that involves customers paying a large amount of cash upfront for a service that may last many months, do not spend all that money straight away. Have some sort of investment fund that provides a moderate return, and invest a part of the money they pay. That way, if customers do dry up for a while, you won't be completely fucked trying to pay for everything your still obliged to provide.

I'm sure I could come up with numerous other quite obvious ideas that a business should use if they do not desire to become a synonym for disaster, but I will save them for another time

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