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Your Holiday Present Wish List
Paul Boutin from Wired approached me to help them do a Holiday Present list for last-minute shoppers ... but I'm lazy, so I figured I'd ask you guys to help (in exchange for your services, the $750 writers fee will be donated to the EFF to help make sure that the net is still free next Thursday). Anyway, this is part one: The Call For Recommendations. Read on to see what we're looking for. Part 2 will come in December, and it will run both on Slashdot and in the print version of Wired, in time for your last-minute shopping. (Yeah, that's months away, but print moves a little slower then us ;) )
We're looking for suggestions in 3 different price tiers.
- Cheaper Then a Playstation 2 ($300 or less)
- Cheaper Then a Playstation 2's rumored eBay sale value ($301-$1500)
- Unlimited (Mommy, can I have a stealth bomber for Christmas?)
The suggestions posted in this discussion will be milked for ideas for creating "The List". If you post an idea, you run the risk of seeing your name show up in Wired and Slashdot (Santa reads at least one of them right?) and helping distribute Christmas (or fill-in-the-blank with whatever excuse for presents you can come up with in december... Merry Yaksmas! ) cheer to good little boys and girls.
Try to include a URL to a site where more information can be found on your Present Proposal. And try to include helpful information like price, and just why this is a good present idea.
And we'll pick this up in December.
"...print moves a little slower then us."
That's because print takes time to proofread.
--
Non-meta-modded "Overrated" mods are killing Slashdot
(Hey Ryan! Here's your proof!)
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For Christmas, I would love an http://www.eco-sphere.com/. It's one of those self-contained glass globes with shrimp, algae and bacteria inside. All you have to do is add light and they should last for a few years. Very cool. Price ranges from $79 to $489, depending on the size (from 3.25" diameter sphere to 9" diameter sphere).
Education is the silver bullet.
Here's my present list:
Mobile phone: Ideally the 9110 or 9110i. If that's not availiable, I'll take a Matrix-esque 7110.
I wouldn't mind a Creative DAP Jukebox. Storage for 100 hours of MP3s (But only enough power to play them for about 5 hours).
I'll also take a Kawasaki Ultra 150 Jet Ski (Only £7,245!).
I wouldn't mind a BURN-proof 12x10x32 CD-RW drive.
Every slashdotter I know yould use one of These.
Leatherman Wave Multi-tools are nice, if I didn't already have one.
Want a rack for all your CDs? I'll have a Rolodisc rack. Cool!
If we're allowed whole new systems, I'll take an SGI 550 workstation, with the dual 866 MHz Pentium III Xeon processors and 2 gigs or ram, please.
I'll also have an Ergoview Task chair with headrest.
Since CmdrTaco's paying, I'll have a Panasonic Portable DVD player (Massive 7" widescreen LCD screen!).
If you have any spage change after that, $13,999.95 will get you (Well, me actually. We do GET this stuff, don't we?) a 16:9 Wide, 42" Diagonal Flat-Panel Plasma SDTV-Compatible Monitor. Cool!
A Radio Deadbolt would be cool (US only though
Head-mount Night-vision goggles would be nice.
This summer, I will mainly be avoiding traffic jams in my Armoured Hummer. I'll take the Scorpion III as well - it's cool.
$3,199 is enough for a nice Sony Digital video camera.
An SP9004 spud gun is on my list too, and a cair of Glasstron goggles. Nice!
Well, I'm going out now. If any karma whores would like to check out my links and use thier 1337 copy and paste skills in case there are errors, you can go right ahead.
Michael
...another comment from Michael Tandy.
"Goodness me, how unlike the FBI to abuse the trust of the American public." -- The Onion
Steps to the perfect gift. 1) Buy a TiVo ( http://www.tivo.com ) 2) Upgrade it with the instructios at http://www.tivofaq.com/hack/faq.html; 3) Buy the parts for the upgrade at http://www.9thtee.com/TiVoUpgrades.htm
This and recent discussions on moderation make me think /. could use a new moderation factor:
-1, Bad Spelling
-2, "Then" != "Than"
+5, Correct usage of "they're" and "their"
Or maybe just Open Source Spelling (tm) -- users could change one character of any post in each article. The community could then correct spelling errors: "then" => "than", etc.
:)
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D. Fischer
ShoutingMan.com
I love my Handspring Visor. Everyone college student should have one, or at least sort of PDA for keeping track of your schedule and assignments.
Handspring
_______________________________________________
All circuits busy.
Just a few cents...or maybe more
~KONala
The new offering is the "Beach World". These are salt water and have little red shrimp in them. The shrimp are bigger than the critters in the original sphere and the red color is truly striking - when they aren't being hassled! To avoid predators - and dickheads shaking the sphere - they turn clear when disturbed. It takes about an hour for the red color to come back, and you can bug them to death if this happens too often.
The other issue is temperature change. Both spheres can live in a about a 20 degree (F) range between 60 and 80. You need to keep the temp as constant as possible to keep them happy. Sudden or frequent changes can mean death. You can't leave these things in a window where they can get direct sunlight for even 10 minutes. The volume of water is very small - and in direct sunlight - it's only a few short minutes to micro boiled shrimp.
Sooooo......what this means is: I love these things and I have a couple. They are great pets for semi-responsible people and outstanding converstation starters.
BUT..... We quit selling them in the store because too many people were killing them. No matter what we said - they seemed to treat these things like paperweights instead of living animals. If you are going to give one of these as a gift, make sure the person you are giving it to is capable of keeping a dog or a plant alive. Also, keep these things in mind:
You MUST make sure they get enough light - you can't walk off and turn the lights off for a week - they will die.
You can't let it sit in your car while you finish your holiday shopping. 20 minutes in your 40 degree car is death - and not the manufacturer's fault.
It's better to give them a gift certificate for this and wait until April to actually send the sphere if they live in a cold climate. These things have to be shipped overnight Fed-Ex to live through the ordeal. Shipping gravely stresses them and they must recover - that means they must be removed immeditately on arrival. If grandma waits 3 weeks to open this at Christmas, she will get a nice ball of dead green slime to stare at while she cuts you out of the will.
You CAN NOT treat these things like a "snow sphere". Shake it and watch it snow dead shrimp on the minature beach.
Enjoy your Bio Sphere!
"Reality is independent from perception." - RDH
Got Rhinos?
I'll be handing out some of these Christmas Gift Exemption Vouchers during the weeks leading up to Buy Nothing Day.
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