You can stand the iron in a ceramic mug and that will keep it safer than the little wire stand they provide for it.
Apparently, you have to plug it in and heat it up and cool it off a few times before it gets as hot as you need it to be. I didn't realize this when I first bought it and assumed until I read this that mine was just a dud. One of these days, I'll take it out and heat it up a few times. Would be cool if it worked.