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Gifts For Geeks
Way back in October we solicited ideas for Christmas presents for geeks. This was done with Wired, and the results appear in the current issue (the lime-green colored one: unless you're blind, you can't miss it. You'll only be able to find the first copy, tho). The authors' money will be a nice Christmas present to the EFF. Thanks go to Paul, who did all the really hard work compiling the final list from all your ideas. Now read on to see the
list.
- PlayStation2 - Sony list price $299.99; winning bids on eBay $550-1,375. Supplies are extremely limited. CowboyNeal has been waiting for his for months.
- Beowulf parallel computing cluster; 3 nodes for $1,305.95. A build-your-own supercomputer: three bargain PCs with Ethernet cards ($415 each), one four-port network hub ($16), and one Building Linux Clusters book from O'Reilly and Associates ($44.95), which includes Red Hat Linux and cluster software on CD. Perfect for trolls who lack a single iota of creativity, or that guy you know who always wants to simulate weather patterns.
- Car MP3 player - empeg $1,199 (and it even runs Linux, if you're into that sort of thing).
- IC-R3 handheld wideband radio/TV receiver - Icom America $599. 500-kHz to 2.4-GHz spybox tunes in to everything but cell phones. Voyeurism isn't just for breakfast anymore.
- iPAQ H3600 Linux-compatible handheld - Compaq $499, but good luck finding one. Apparently there is quite the shortage.
- Nomad Jukebox - Creative Labs $499. Give this, instead of a CD player, to your loved one in the Napster T-shirt ...
- Matrix- and Blade Runner-styled trench coats - TrenchCo. $375-482.
- CD-RW drive, $150-350. No drive fits all machines, so verify compatibility before you buy. Many popular drives have to be back-ordered, but others are always in stock.
- Voodoo5 5500 AGP or PCI graphics card - 3dfx Interactive $299.99. Better graphics than PlayStation2, on your computer instead of your TV.
- Klein Bottle - Acme $25-250. Designed by astronomer-author Cliff Stoll.
- MindStorms - Lego MindStorms $50-200. Classic Lego building blocks, updated with motors and microchips.
- GlobalMap 100 GPS - Lowrance Electronics $199.95. I get lost in my backyard. I wonder if this thing has a map of my back yard.
- TiNi Pocket PowerPlier - SOG Specialty Knives and Tools $84.95. Just keep those fingers free of extra holes.
- Broadband Internet access $39-50 per month (plus installation charges). Check for availability in your area. Consider moving. I know I do almost every day.
- Interactive Yoda - Tiger $39.99. A Jedi craves not these things. But if he gets one for Christmas, that's different.
- Non-computer games - Looney Labs $5-35. Card games that modify their own rules, and board games for the brainy.
- EverQuest - Sony $29.95 (plus $9.89 monthly service fee). Addictive multiplayer game lets you collaborate with others on the Net. Suitable even for a 200-MHz PC with a 28K connection. And the graphics look like ass. But I have many friends who've lost countless productive hours all for the lucrative reward of being able to take a bear by yourself in a virtual world.
- Tech-book gift certificate - Fatbrain.com $10-25. Let her choose her own robot-building manual.
- Klein Bottle knit cap or Mobius ear band - Math Hatter $12-22.
- Penguin Caffeinated Peppermints - ifive brands $12 (four-pack). Essential fuel for all-night hacking: sugar and caffeine wrapped in a handy breath mint. I'll never forget the time Trae ate a whole tin at ALS and traveled forward through time.
We used to be able to feed his Who habbit on CD-Now, however I've not seen much up there. How do we get our favorite and revered /.'ers thier penguin mints (thinkgeek) or for that matter, anything. Oh well... I guess it will just be another for them...
Regards, the nutcase.
What I'd really like is a slashdot free from trolling. Just for one little day .. how hard could it be for you guys to let up?
(I'll admit some trolls are funny, but the most majority are unadulterated crap.)
Who's with me?
You know, it's really sad, here I am actually giving what I consider to be a useful and thoughtful suggestion and I get modded down from (score:0) just like when I'm trying to be an obnoxious asshole. Way to go mods, now you know why there are so many abrasive jerks on
So what was it:
HEY TACO! howzabout having two classes of mod points, positive and negative? Then there'd be mod points only usable for modding up good posts. Obviously the moderators aren't concerned with promoting quality discussion and much prefer punishing evildoers. bah, neither are you apparently.
Annnonymoose Cowtard -- "(score:0) -- that's for me"
I did reserve well over 2 months in advance. What did you think, I was sitting outside the local toy store waiting for a shipment to arrive?
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Yes, Virginia, there really is a CowboyNeal.
But you've forgotten Netrunner! While it's out of print, a lot of cards are readily available on ebay for a moderate price. A few friends and I picked up playing recently and it's a great game.
This sounds pretty likely. Ever noticed that the day after Christmas a bunch of hot toys are on the shelves that were in amazingly small quantity before Christmas? Are we supposed to believe a shipment came in on Christmas day, or what?
As for the Playstation 2 madness, I've heard from several people selling them on ebay that the auction winners mysteriously disappeared. Apparently in some cases people who were selling PS2s were bidding on other auctions to drive prices up, keeping them all artificially high.
Have you considered the number of geeks who are maladjusted socially? The sort of people who, when thrust into the middle of a bunch of relatives they don't like and whom they only meet once a year, are going to be less than socially acceptable?
Actually, that happens not just to geeks, but pretty much to anybody.
No Eco-spheres?
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Men with no respect for life must never be allowed to control the ultimate instruments of death.
GW Bu
pronoblem
Then again, I'm one of those people who likes buying gifts for the holidays, but is embarassed when receiving them and will go out of his way to avoid receiving them.
And no, I don't think being agnostic has anything to do with being uninterested in gift-getting. I guess I just do not feel comfortable allowing other people to spend their hard-earned money on me just to convey a sense of warmth and friendship.
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seumas.com
And your point would be...??
Like I said, it's nothing to do with Christ, and everything to do with consumer orgies.
It's not that your Muslim friends aren't celebrating Christ-Mass, but that they're not engaging in the gift-giving orgy of greed.
Commendable, but nothing to do with religion (and everything to do with good taste).
Wish my family would let me be a Grinch. I'm disgusted by the gift thing.
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Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
As long as your going for a small cluter; i.e., the cluster size less than or equal too a single board's number of pci slots plus one; why don't you go with all NICs and crossover cables. Can't get faster than that. Even if you outgrow the PCI+1 limit, there's a calulator (lost url, search for cluster topology calculator) that will give you the most bandwidth with max NICs, min switches. It's not too unreasonable a price increase. (especially if your using 100bT, or Gig)
USA-Democracy is 270 million YESes and NOes a day, not one every four years.
dude... that's so sweet... I could handle looking like an FBI agent at times... BIGGG pimpin'
-andy
hmm. I do actually want a decent trench coat - if you have to wear something to keep warm/dry (and trust me, in the UK that's very necessary) then you might as well wear something that looks good.
And those trench coats look good!
Of course, I'm more likely to stroll down to the local shops and buy a trenchcoat I can try on, that I can examine and feel before I purchase it, and more than likely spend a little less than theirs cost (the leather ones - if they are real leather - are not excessively priced, but I think the "Blade Runner Deckard" coat is seriously overpriced).
If someone bought me one though, I'd be a happy camper.
~Cederic
Wired: reading is not supposed to be a physical challenge.
Well, considering that rotating the magazine might be the most exercise some of their readers get that month, that's not necessarily true...
Well, actually, it's a list of things to get geeks to make them happy (Gifts for geeks). What do you want? Slashdotters advice on things to get sensitive artsy types? That's almost as dumb as going to slashdot for legal advice. Or is it geeks don't deserve gifts? What's your problem anyway?
Christmas was originally a pagen holiday. So it isn't really about Christ either.
Oh, *RIGHT*, I wonder why it's called Christmas, then.
As to the pagan holiday, it's just one more of them. Pagans have one large holiday for each season and one month for each goddess.
Christmas is about Christ and not about some forgotten goddess.
If things carry on, though, perhaps Christmas will be just about happiness and presents, despite it's name.
Anyway, it's not like you're doing it unknowingly.
Flavio
yes, the expansion options are cool. the two-board expansion is probably my favorite - although it makes game length increase superlinearly with number of players. :)
i'm also really looking forward to their translation of 'the starfarers of catan' - the german version looks very promising, and it seems the game itself is 'settlers' on steroids... alas, it won't be available till next year.
My other car is a cons.
I AM, therefore I THINK!
How about the Neo 35 (
http://ssiamerica.com/products/neo35/)?
I don't know if it runs under linux, but it sure does give bang for the buck.
if you read the website they say that there is no sugar in penguin mints, and its on the tins too
:P
first thing i bought when i got a credit card
There are others in our lives that would like to get something special for some geek they love. Being that we can be hard to buy for (unless you are into the same kind of technology), I personally appreciate this kind of effort.
Think about it: If you REALLY wanted to get something special for someone who's life revolved around say Electronic Engineering, but you had no idea what a transistor was even, wouldn't you find a guide helpfull?
(stolen from DaBum) I am dyslexia of borg - your ass will be laminated.
Still, I think the greatest gift I get every year is socks. I have one friend who buys me that every year because I annihalte them all by July and then walk around in flip-flops or sandals for the rest of the year claiming that I'm boycotting them.
How familiar is that? I used to do the same thing, but then I got married, and my wife bought me a pair of socks for EACH DAY OF THE WEEK! And she washes them after I wear them for a day! Who woulda thunk it?
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"Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
I did reserve well over 2 months in advance. What did you think, I was sitting outside the local toy store waiting for a shipment to arrive?
Okay, so I was a little harsh. If you like, I can try and make it up to you by describing some games. I really like smuggler's run, for example. I can describe at length what you can't play until Easter.
But if you reserved one, why haven't you got one? My understanding was that orders were based on initial reservations. Of course, it's probably different in the US. I understand your population is slightly larger over there.
And what, we should encourage people to be this selfish and/or introverted?
...celebrate the things that make us human.
What's so wrong with being introverted? If it wasn't for introverts, we'd still be in the stone age.
Again, I come to the point: just because you (and, indeed, millions of others) think that being outgoing and extroverted are good things doesn't make it so. More specifically, it doesn't make introverted 'bad'.
I'll be going home on Christmas day. But my family have reconciled themselves to not getting much by way of pressies. It's taken a decade, but they finally accept that if I see something that someone I know would like, I'll buy it; I won't forbear just because it's not Christmas or a Birthday. Equally, I won't buy a present for someone just because I'm required by tradition to do so.
Don't get me started on this...
To avoid this is to admit that something is seriously lacking in your life.
Can you elucidate on this? I've no idea what you mean.
it isn't really a healthy state to be in psychologically speaking
I've no doubt that for the majority of the population, you're right; but that doesn't mean it applies to everyone. Even for the people to whom it does applay, it isn't the case all the time. Equally, for those of us with distinct misanthropic tendencies, we still enjoy the occasional conversation.
Serial killers in particular don't possess this emotional connection with other people, making them maniupulative and unable to empathise with their victims
And I thought I was capable of spurious arguments. I don't really want to start on this one; I doubt I could give anything approaching a complete answer in less than a few thousand words. Instead, I'll just say that it's rarely wise to illustrate a point by telling of how one character trait - introvertion, for example - can lead to nastiness (serial killing, in this case). Every trait humans possess can have its negative consequences; religous belief can lead to a willingness to believe in pseudoscience, intelligence can lead to disdain for the, ahem, cerebrally challenged... the list is endless.
the human need for companionship and love is part of what we are.
It's certainly what we were, and it's pretty much certainly still in our genes. But it's no longer necessary for our survival, and as such is expendable. We can do without it.
But we're straying from the point, here, which was Christmas/Saturnalia/Whatever. Let me ask you this: you advocate being nice to one and all at Christmas, and tolance for those we'd normally ignore. Which of these actions can we dispense with for the rest of the year?
This comment is an attempt to call a lot of people names, but without being a troll.
Here goes...
About a month ago, the Playstation 2 was released in Ireland. On the day of its release, thousands of people queued up overnight outside shops all over Dublin, frantic in their hopes. People outside were offering hundreds of pounds over the odds to people who were walking out of the shops with their little blue boxes.
THen I wandered in around lunchtime, handed over the receipt, and walked out of the shop minutes later. No hassle, and all it took was a reservation two months before the fact.
So Cowboyneal, and thousands of others worldwide writhing with jealousy: I've no sympathy. But I do have a playstation.
Oh, yeah. The topic. If anyone wants to buy me a present, I'd love a Twiddler 2
>>>A Female's Guide To Logical Thinking
>>>Feminists Worth Marrying - The Complete List
Uh, dude, you forgot
The Successful Dating History of Slashdot User "H*rus"
Silly Rabbit, sigs are for kids.
First off... yes.. you can play
with a p-200 and a 28.8 connection..
but it's gonna suck so bad you'll hate the game.
They just updated the game engine to use
directx 7.0a so be damn sure your hardware
works with those types of games.
and last. Thanx a lot for posting this on
a public site... the eq servers are mostly
already overloaded. *sigh*
Friends don't let friends buy Compaq's. (Dell/Gateway... same same) You want a good computer? Build it yourself.
I've spent over 2 months of play time
on bertoxx server
(one of the oldest and heavily populated now *erf*)
Friends don't let friends buy Compaq's. (Dell/Gateway... same same) You want a good computer? Build it yourself.
To all the 3dfx zealots who were planning to flame me now: don't! You will never change my mind! I get 125 fps in q3 at max geom detail and max graphical detail at 1024 with my GF2!
__________________________________________________ ___
rooooar
Sorry, should have prefaced it with quote from article:
"Beowulf parallel computing cluster; 3 nodes for $1,305.95. A build-your-own supercomputer: three bargain PCs with Ethernet cards ($415 each), one four-port network hub ($16), and one Building Linux Clusters book from O'Reilly and Associates ($44.95), which includes Red Hat Linux and cluster software on CD. Perfect for trolls who lack a single iota of creativity, or that guy you know who always wants to simulate weather patterns."
Right. Actually, I think Kunark looks pretty good. Especially some of the monster models. Granted, the terrain is still blurry and blocky, but hey. I haven't been as impressed with Velious, though. I get the feeling that the real talent has long been moved to other projects and that Velious was mostly done by newer modellers. Still, I think it looks pretty good for such an old engine that has been stretched way beyond what it was meant to. Besides, CmdrTaco's bitterness about EQ has been poorly concealed in the past. I think he was killed by a moss snake or something and never got over it.
That's why if I were selling a PS2, I'd insist on bidders having five or more positive comments - and then vigorously pursue them if they didn't pay for it after the auction closed (you can just ask the people who listed the five+ auctions they won before for addresses to send legal notices to. Most eBay sellers are delighted to have other people track down bad bidders).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You may want to consider a multitool other than the SOG pocket PowerPlier. I recently bought a leatherman wave and I love it. When I was doing some research, I came across http://www.WoodNet.net/toolreviews/multi.html. It had a pretty good comparative review of the various options. Check it out.
Offtopic?
WTF?
I was addressing the above "funny" comment, in which a man who fought to tear his country away from the grip of (mostly US) oppression and restore human rights was being incorrectly portrayed.
Sorry, I don't find that funny...not at all
I realize it was an innocent comment...but that doesn't make it right.
I swear, you moderators must be smoking crack
oh yeah....to make this ontopic...I...uh....want a pony for Christmas
i guess real men don't play many games then (:
It is:
I don't know how I feel about this. I am in a similiar situation. I usually make it home about once a month for a weekend. Invariably there will be someone in my family who needs some kind of help... installing hardware/software, problems, etc.
Sometimes I feel like just saying, "Hey, I'm not a hardware guy any more. I sit and write code all day. We've got kids we hire to do that stuff. Anyway, I'm not at work. I just want to be around family."
But they are there for me and help me whenever they can. I don't think that if I was unable or unwilling to help them with their computer problems that they would hate me or something. I know when I was younger (and poorer) my older brother spent many nights with me trying to keep my old junker car running.
Now maybe I can return the favor. Everybody's good at something. And if it helps other people, all the better.
Now not-close friends bugging me for help, that's a different story! ARGH!
load "linux",8,1
We always had manacotti for dinner. My mom would cook both cheese and meat manacotti so everyone would be happy.
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If I actually could spell I'd have spelled it right in the first place.
Most of the people here, I would imagine, could buy themselves most of the presents straight off (I just got a 17" TFT)
/.
....
i dont know about this. i bet i'm not the only grad student who reads
however, i do agree with you. christmas is too focused on purchasing crap. the people who really suffer are younger children of poorer parents. it really sucks to go to school and see all of the other kids with their new stuff. it's ok once you realize what is important, but society(at least the society in the us) tends to equate importance with massing alot of stuff.
it's a cyclic thing. the parents let the tv raise their children--> the tv tells the children to be comsumers and aquire stuff they really don 't need-->the parents try to buy their childrens love instead of taking an interest in their lives --> the parents have to work more
use LaTeX? want an online reference manager that
-- john
Mail this page to your non-geek family members to make their Christmas shopping easier - see I *am* thinking of my family!
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
If you try to do one or the other, you'll end up accomplishing neither.
A friend metioned this as the original economic motive behind the winter gift activity.
Because each group had some specialty, by gifting your surplus out, everyone is better covered for the rest of long winter.
It makes sense.
Maybe open/free source software will help us get through an upcoming computer/economic 'winter'?
Oliver's Law: Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
$50? A webcam and Powergoo (if they still make that). Oh, wait, 15 eh? The maybe two webcams so he and his gal can waste the evenings bit'ing into each others eyes... ;-p
Or just buy Quake3
Kinda like Moe, but just a little more Kool
The inclusion of the Lowrance GlobalMap 100 caught my eye, since I was involved in the development stage of the product. Curious, I looked at the original /. article. There were several mentions of GPS, but none that specifically mentioned any Lowrance products. So did the Wired folks decide that GPS sounded good, and then looked at their stack of press releases for one to include?
The unit itself is good, and has a nice EL backlight. And while including the maps on a CD for transfer to the unit was a great advantage in 1998 when it was introduced, I doubt that much development of the PC software has happened since then. The PC software was mediocre at best, and the layout/display of roads leaves a lot to be desired.
I gave up on wearing things on a belt, 'cause I got tired of things snagging on coats, banging on car doors, etc. and trimmed down to things which'd fit in pockets, then had a set of shirts tailored with pockets to hold the things which wouldn't fit elsewhere (Newton MP 100 and leather pouch for fountain pens and note cards).
William
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Lettering Art in Modern Use
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
And the blue lighting is awesome at night.
I have to disagree with that. I disabled the blue on the edges of my player because it was anoying me at night.
Now if I could just get rid of the blinking when the volume is changed....
Except for the Yoda and the caffeinated pills it's just a bunch of computer hardware that we spend all of our money on the rest of the year anyway. What about a deluxe soldering iron? Or perhaps some network anylyzing gadget? I, for one, would like some toys for Christmas. Anyway, there is another serious deficiency in the list IMHO - I guess you all know LEGO started a StarWars line that's pretty complete now... But did you also know that they've started making StarWars scale models? For now the choice stands between the X-wing and the TIE Intercepter -personally I can't wait to get my hands on that Intercepter, what about you?
How about the ultimate geek gift? Space travel pre-book here its £100K = ~$160K deposit, and they don't guarentee it will happen or that you won't have to cough up even more money, but its still the coolest present I have seen.
Any sufficiently advanced man is indistinguishable from God
err..unfortunately, it was us dutchmen who turned sinterklaas into santa claus, because it was cheaper (well.. what other reason did you expect?). Santa claus allows you to skip an expensive holiday. coca cola made up the silly outfit. And I have no idea who made up the elves, although I would like to know what they'd been smoking (and where I can get it)
//rdj
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
Christmas was originally a pagen holiday. So it isn't really about Christ either.
Ahh, 'tis the season. Normally this would have been an easy "Overrated," since it's snippy and misses the obvious non-religious nature of the parent post. But seriously, I am an atheist and I still celebrate the togetherness of Christmas. Yes, there's a lot of commercialism, but it's fun to buy or make gifts that other people will enjoy.
If you still want to make the point that not everyone is from a cultural tradition that doesn't celebrate Christmas, fine. But then it wouldn't be an issue, would it?
Just think, I passed up the opportunity to mod the Dan Hayes troll account down to post this. What strange things Christmas does to us!
Walt
For those of us who have no rich parents and no car to drive around for mp3 amusement, Amazon.com is selling Philips eXpanium CD mp3 player for $150 after coupon code. it's much better than mptrip.
Agreed. Who can say no to a warm, used 1 Meg video card. A case fan is always welcome. Memory modules, too. And how about some bulk ethernet cable, a crimper, and some connectors. they are always good to keep around.
A real sincere gift is a gift that takes a little time and thought. This holiday season, why not burn him your favorite...."picture/video of beautiful ladies."
It's always easy to pick up food for your geek friend. A gift certification from his favorate pizza joint, some of his favorate beer, and your halloween leftover chocolate are will definitely not go to waste.
and who will reject a whole new deck of CDR? You can never have too much printing paper. Just about all of us are too lazy to get haircuts, so you can also give a gift of a haircut.
... i'll post more ideas when I got time. but this get you started.
i thought the site was lame too, All and all it shows you that us fat geeks will not look good even if you get the best clothe on them. until...
check out the video where the coat actually expands when you walk fast. that's oughta get you tons of chix. d-r-o-o-l---
i'm willing to lose 50 lbs for this visual
You know, I used to think this way too, and then something occurred to me. I figure there's at least three (* somebody pointed out to me years ago that there's a fourth) stages of looking at Christmas (or gift giving in general):
This used to actually be my attitude, but it's a little different this year. I don't really do the whole Christmas thing at all - personally I think it's a pretty ridiculous holiday (I'll gladly take the days off of work though :). But far be it from me to ruin it for everyone else. For the past 5 years or so, I've just told everybody not to get me a present, I don't want them, thanks for the thought, but please, I really don't want one. Well, every year they give them to me anyway. That's nice and all, but I honestly do not want to be given presents on Christmas. So this year I told everybody if they really felt like blowing some of their money around Christmas, just use the money you would have spent on my present, and give it to charity. Just pick one, they need it more than me. They seem to be a bit more accepting of it. I'd suggest it to anyone else who shares my views on Christmas, besides, isn't it really more in line with the "Spirit of Christmas"?
Just my $0.02.
Could you please elaborate? I can't understand why you connect Christianity with insane commercialism, they actually have nothing what-so-ever in common.
I doubt it. The store would have to realize there was a possibility they may buy the other present elsewhere. A bird in the hand is worth a bunch of poop in your hand...or something......anyway, take the money and run.
If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
I want a really geeky tie. We have a casual office so I started wearing ties again to be different. Gimmee a really wide-ass tie with penguins on it. I want, like, a bib.
And some new speakers for my PC. Something like minature DCM Time Windows. I want teenagers to call and complain about the noise.
If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
One word: women !!!
Just another coder...
The $1199 price for the Empeg is justified by the components, the build quality and the added-value you get from your CD collection. Think about it -- with a 40 Gb upper limit, you can MP3 encode *all* of your collection (and your S.O.'s as well), and play tracks which normally never get heard. Most people with 6xCD changers listen to the same six CDs for weeks before changing, and tend to skip over albums which contain only one or two "good" tracks. With the Empeg, you can choose to sequence _only_ the good tracks, and with the random option, you hear parts of your collection that you'd never normally choose. This represents an economic value-added to your existing CD investments, because you're increasing your utilization by reducing opportunity costs.
Furthermore, I can download free upgrades for my Empeg (firmware and PC loader) anytime. Now that they've been bought by the company that makes the RIO, you can bet that the economies of large-scale manufacturing and improved access to the components market will bring the price down, while adding neat new features. Look for a top model to come out next year for less than $999.
Disclaimer: I have no inside knowledge about the Empeg -- I'm just a satisfied customer.
And a post-script for audiophiles -- the Empeg has some great options for shaping the sound. Here's a quote from their home page:
On the audio side, a Philips in-car DSP deals with the DAC and provides digital loudness, bass, treble, balance and fader for the four outputs. It also gives a 20 band fully parametric equaliser which can be arranged as stereo 10-band or quad 5-band. The final stage is provided by Burr Brown pre-amps.
--
Paul Gillingwater
Paul Gillingwater
MBA, CISSP, CISM
Drawn into a debate by what sounds like a troll... But anyway.
Christmas is a holiday based on many of the traditions of numerous european pagan religions, many of which go back prior to ancient Greek civilization. Now unless Christ was around prior to 500BCE, there is no way that Christmas was originally about Christ, no matter what the name has to do with it.
Personally, I myself am and agnostic buddhist, but before that I spent a fiarly significant amoutn of time (about 5 years) studying the religions of the world (just to see what every side had to say).
First, if you hold the "shepherds guarding their sheep" part of the Christ's birth story to be true, then you should also realize that the only time shepherds guard their sheep are in the spring. In the middle of the first millennium CE (about the year 500 or so) the still young Catholic Church decided that if they could not stop people from celebrating Saturnalia, they'd incorporate it into a celebration of the birth of Christ. Saturnalia is (essentially, apologies to Pagans for abridging it so much) a holiday about birth, specifically the rebirth of the Sun and ending the winter. This birth theme made a convinient starting point for the co-oping of Christ.
There's a lot more involved, like the Horned God, the tree, and all the other trimmings associated with Christmas that have nothing to do with Christ. For a quick introduction, please read this page to learn at least an introduction to the true meaning of the holiday.
The Horned God is the reason for the season...
Happy holidays everyone.
-Jason
If I could only live my life with my threshold at 4...
Interesting indeed ...
----- rL
For me I just want a Spoon watch. In particular the Side Strap.
"I'll take the red pill. No! Blue! AAAaaaahhhhhhhhh"
- Monty Python meets the Matrix
Hmm.. I'd be at stage 3 as well. However, I don't think I *ever* had a stage 2. I might go on to stage 4 if I was bored enough, though.
Seriously, I really *really* REALLY am beginning to dislike this whole gift-giving stuff. It was fun when I was a child (yay, things for free!), but now all I wind up with is a whole buch more stuff that I have to find space for. I've already bought all the things that I want. Anything else is much too expensive to give me as a gift.
All of the above, of course, doesn't even touch on the fact that I really suck at buying presents. I don't like spending money to begin with, and I'm claustrophobic in malls and stores. This year I've bought about half of my gifts online. Next year, I think I might shoot for damn near all.
They have some nice shirts at http://www.kmflu.com/, they feature a badass cat creature with a napster logo for a head, beating up on lars ulrich. Looks like they got BRUTE! of kmfdm fame to do the art, just like KMFMS
I know plenty of Muslims who don't celebrate Christmas at all. No tree, no fancy dinner, no gifts, no cards, nada. And yes, they live in the United States and have Christain friends.
--
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Nvidia support ??? what are you talking about...
uhm I do belive that 3dfx is the only chip manufactuer that will release chip specs to driver writers. so you must not be talking about linux when you mention support because there never has been any support from nvidia as far as that is conserned
Perhaps they're not very..er...wired.
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
$954 for *pleather*, though? A bit ridiculous. You could find nicer jackets in actual leather with the 'Matrix-look' from a leather shop or department store from anywhere between $300 (for mid-length) and $600+ (for full-length)...Earth-friendly or not, there's no way any person should dish out almost 1k for pleather *anything*...
Mike Roberto
- GAIM: MicroBerto
Berto
I think you had that thinnest book list a little wrong:
The Emotional Intelligence of Geeks: Hackers describe their feelings about love and relationships
A Treasury of North American Irony - The Slashdot Chronicles
Knock 'em Down, Knock 'em Up: White U.S. Men Share their Romantic Secrets
Integrity Under Pressure: U.S. action against human rights abuses by Israel, Indonesia, and other significant trading partners.
Yep, just find an outside group and ridicule how different they are. Instant classic humour! Oh wait, you mean it's not 1952 any more? :7
Man, everybody here must be a buncha white, pathetic fat, socially inept losers with no sense of humor whose only exposure to women is porn on the internet.
Get a clue and get a life please!
Hey, you think your house is cool?
The Stowaway portable pocket keyboard. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004TL5Q/ o/qid=976571893/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_ce_1_3/107-84509 68-6454919
A complete history of Italian War Heros.
I would like to return your so-called "Ultimate Belt".
You forgot "French Heroes"
I've actually tested a pair of these little monsters, and they sound really good given their capabilities and price, but I can't recommend them.
The primary problem is that they have a 40-second boot-up time! This is not a Palm, folks. For some reason, these things are not instant-on, and most of the things you want to do with them (wireless chat, play a cheesy game, etc.) are spur-of-the-moment spontaneous sort of things, and waiting over half a minute to "boot" sucks out all of the spontaneity.
The "keyboard" kind of sucks, and the plastic casing seems like it's really brittle -- the kind that will crack if you drop it from table-height (untested). Even so, I'd forgive these minor problems if it were instant-on. Caveat emptor
Over here in the Netherlands we do the gifts on the evening of the fifth of december, without a church anywhere near, though the tradition is crumbling under the weight of foreign traditions combining it with Christmas.
Stefan.
It takes a lot of brains to enjoy satire, humor and wit-
The truth shall make you fret. (Ankh-Morpork tImes motto)
This seems to be mostly fanciful. A bit heavy on the amazingly expensive stuff.
To be a bit more down to earth, why not some accessories that geek you know who just got a handheld computer? Depending on their budget and the handheld, getting a handheld can potentially be a dent in the wallet, so to speak, preventing them from getting accessories for a little while.
This has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I want a Kodak PalmPix for my PalmIIIxe...
-J
Karma: T-rexcellent.
- You have to make sure that it is mounted securely or it will skip.
- It seems that some units are more prone to skipping. Mine is mounted in a '96 Dodge Ram and doesn't have problems (unless I drive into a huge pothole), but my coworker's unit would skip for no apparent reason. He took it back to BestBuy and got another unit that works fine.
You're right about being gaudy. It also flashes the blue lights on the sides everytime you manipulate any of the controls on the head unit. Thankfully, it includes a steering-wheel mounted remote that doesn't do thisCut the Spam to email.
Fear the Government that fears your Computer.
Thanks, this has been helpful feedback about the gift prices. We were, honestly, striving to find lower-cost alternatives to the PS2 and P4 -- 50 percent of the items are intentionally lower than the PS2's list price of $299, and we asked the O'Reilly Beowulf book author) to spec the cheapest usable cluster he was comfortable suggesting. But I guess we should have lowballed it even futher. I'd be interested to hear what price ceilings we should use if we were to do something like this again. You can post here or email me.
Paul Boutin | writer for Slate, Wired, etc
Yep, we're busted, as noted in an earlier post. Thanks for keeping us on our toes.
Paul Boutin | writer for Slate, Wired, etc
One of the requirements for list items was that they be *available*
Paul Boutin | writer for Slate, Wired, etc
it's all about me, and what i can accumulate in a show of my capitalist wealth earned on the backs of blue-collars the world over...
PS - If I had mod access, I'd give you +1 for effort. Next time, try to make it less obvious.
All generalizations are false.
--
I like to watch.
On the other hand, I always thought the whole goth-trenchcoat thing was sort of lame, so maybe it's for the best. Not that I doubt our gothic friends' ability to devise even stupider fashions.
All generalizations are false.
--
I like to watch.
Oh hi, Paul, is that you?
All generalizations are false.
--
I like to watch.
But do you pronounce the trailing 'i'?
OBTopic: Fluxx -- highly recommended! "Starbucks" == coffee + money.
Bizarre. See, I interpreted this list as things to give to others. As a socially-maladjusted geek, I'm having difficulty figuring out what some of my local peers (friends) would truly enjoy. A list of gifts that would bring them happiness is a great boon to me. Were you reading it as Taco saying "I want I want I want, gimme gimme gimme"?
Who's going to have a happier Christmas, here? The geek who can't wait to see the smiles on his friends' faces when they discover what perfect gifts they've received, or the geek who resents all those gift-grubbing rat-bastards that he has the misfortune to associate with?
On an off-topic note, I'm giving my 1.5 year-old nephew a set of cardboard tubes wrapped in bright contact paper. I'm sure he'll get a kick out of 'em.
Any sufficiently well-organized community is indistinguishable from Government.
Check out the TINI, a SIMM sized embedded Java device. It has built in Ethernet and serial communications, and can be had for under $100, including the SIMM, and appropriate mounting board. It's also got a built in webserver, and telnet server....and you can write your own Java programs for it, and upload them over the ethernet!!
Well Vaseline and Kleenex will sort out the problem in his sig anyway...
Grab.
Got 'em from Action Electronics, btw... they have 'em for $14, which was the best I found after a bit of web searching. (Anyone know of cheaper places?)
Wired: reading is not supposed to be a physical challenge.
SO YOU'RE GOING TO DIE: The Comic for Dealing with Death
What about the children who are only athy, or perhaps just a little athier? Don't they get presents, too, or is it some kind of competition?
Slashdot's token middle-aged housewife
I know not this "sleep" of which you speak.
My mom is not a Karma whore!
then you just need a CCD camera and an internet connection for remote viewing
...from two perspectives. First, the tired old "get a life" one, get away from the computer screen and get out and live a bit more.
Second, and more importantly, why not cut back on rampant consumerism and just ask for small presents, donate money to charity, hell, tell your friends you want a receipt from their favourite charity as a prezzie. Most of the people here, I would imagine, could buy themselves most of the presents straight off (I just got a 17" TFT) so why not break away from spend, spend, spend, and instead win, win, win with it being better to give than to receive?
"
Rather than spending days searching the net for things you want, why not spend that time thinking of how you can make other people happy? Christmas should be a time when you don't think of yourself, but instead go all out to bring happiness to other people.
"
Maybe, geeks have friends that are other geeks and they'd like to buy them some presents?
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. (Einstein)
Hey Thats pretty much what I got this summer, and it's really cool, just make sure you put it somewhere where you can turn it up. Damn neighbors always complain, butthe sound is awesome.
I just called up and talked to the dude* MAKING and selling the Klein bottles. He has about fifty orders for them at the moment which he has not filled, and is not accepting new orders.
* Three cheers for you if you poke around his website and figure out who he is. His initials, though, are "CS".
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I'd like one of those Photon LED lights, for my keychain. I've never seen one in person though. Are they as cool as they sound?
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
I find it amusing that your signature is a witty quip from German-born Albert Einstein.
Another place to pick up Penguin mints are Sheetz gas stations. They are a Maryland, Virginia, Deleware, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia Chain. A box of 12 tins is about $30. Plus you can keep the box. No more waiting for the Fed Ex man with my express shipment.
BigCat79
"The dead have risen and are voting Republican!" --Bart Simpson
----------
----------
"Rock over London... Rock on Chicago..." -Wesley Willis
I beg to differ. I've got one (18 gig, amber). I bought mine for the explicit reason that I was tired of carting CDs around, having em get scratched, etc. No, I don't care it runs linux. It makes me geekier in my friends eyes, which is always a good thing, though. Fine, you go buy your Aiwa car CD player, burn CDs of mp3s (Uh oh, what if you want a different playlist!) and be happy. I'm thrilled that manufacturers are building car MP3 players.
As for limited functionality, what's limited? At least with a hard disk and an OS there is room for upgrades and improvements, where as if you purchase a factory unit that decodes mp3s off of CDs, ok, that's all you get. This can be patched in the future for ogg, wma, wav, any new format. I can use the software and build playlists that include beastie boys, classical, kid rock, and natalie merchant without having to swap CDs. It's great.
True, it's pricey. I'm just glad that at the time when my number came up in the queue, I had the money and was willing to spend it.
Kligh
Voodoo5 for $299.99? Shop around.
2 47 918&hdwt=31001
Buy.com has them for $175.95:
http://www.us.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=10
Most slashdotters who contributed to the list were doing it only to make others happy by making them not have to work too hard to make slashdotters happy :-)
40 gig harddrive, and candy, im set for armageddon, and yes, i know i dont know how to spell armageddon.
---
``ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country did to you'' --kmfdm
-kaitos
The best way I have found to consume these, are by dropping two in a liter of coke and getting that chemical reaction, then you have mint coke, kind of flat, but good nonetheless.
If we don't make light of everything, we are just stumbling in the dark - Blank
Image here. Happy holidays! You can build a man a fire and keep him warm for a day, or you can set a man on fire and keep him warm for the rest of his life.
I just bought it last week...it's actually a belated graduation present for myself too.
New parts for a new system. GHz Athlon...would you believe those things are in the $300 range already? Got one of those 32 meg DDR Radeons from ATI...bought it for $290, then realized I got ripped off, took it back and bought one for $200 elsewhere. SBLive Platinum 5.1....VERY nice. 21" monitor...man...I got lots of nice hardware in this machine.
Man...I need to cut work so I can go home and be with it...my baby...
What was the topic again?
"It is well that war is so terrible, lest we grow too fond of it."
Time is fun when you're having flies.
-Kermit the Frog
Wait a minute! I for one have lots of geek friends. Wouldn't it be good to make them happy by buying them geek toys?
sulli
RTFJ.
Even the regular geForce 2's are a better choice than 3dfx...
I can testify that it's big enough for my mouse, a cup of coffee, AND an ashtray. It's also durable enough to handle a cup of coffee, and if you spill something on it, you can just rinse it with water. As far as mousepads go, it's the last one you'll ever buy. I have actually ordered two, but that's just because I wanted one at work, too :)
Instead of going on about it, I'll throw you a link to the main site. You can buy them there, or find links to other distributors (mainly overclocking/cooling stores like 2CoolTek or Plycon).
--
--
______________________
Anyone that sees the words 'Christmas' and 'commercialism' in the same sentence will already have a pretty good idea of the mindless preachings to come. Or how about 'Christmas' and 'sellout'? Hm, let's analyze it and clear away some of the mystique.
What do we enjoy about Christmas? Firstly, Christmas boosts morale (to use the most horrible of sappy phrases) and gives us something to look forward to. I know this because of the feelings of anticipation that run through me when I think of leaving my wonderful place of study in the Greatest of Britain to venture on home to Luxembourg for the three-week family and friends event. Not that I'm a 'family' style cosy-on-the-couch-watching-the-9-o'clock-news sort of person at all, but, for me and others that I know, going back represents something exciting, an annual event the details of which remain under wraps (forgive the pun) until I'm actually there.
The more 'traditional' of us cry out that Christmas is simply a time where everyone spends and spends to each other's material gain. My oh my, what a horrible idea it must be to stimulate the (often depressed) economies of the Christian world for a couple of weeks. The religious meaning of Christmas is far from lost - on the contrary, it's something we are submerged in from beginning to end, from television broadcasts to omnipresent Christmas carols and Christmas-tree figureheads. In fact, one must wonder if the festive period is not simply the time deemed most appropriate by the more conservative Christians to air their frustration at the dwindling numbers of their flock, via the usual channels of accusations of distorting religious events into capitalist spending sprees.
'Peace and good will to all men' (okay, I've taken off the faded argyle pullover) is actually realized at Christmas, but perhaps not in the manner of which The Flock might approve. Instead of walking around with painted-on toothy grins and shaking hands with yesterday's enemies to form temporary pacts, we hit Christmas parties (oh, the shame) like it's everyone's birthday, reunite with old friends at such occasions and enjoy the double-hit of simulateously giving and receiving chosen items. What can do that, if not Christmas?
The worst of it is that, in the end, the majority of those that spoke out against the commercial side of Christmas (which, ultimately, is a means to a more noble end) also attend the gathering and reap the benefits I described. Wiping the words 'hypocrite' and 'bigot' from my vocabulary - at least for the next couple of weeks - I shall promptly opt for the Route of Good Will and party myself insane.
More where this came from at www.scandal.org.
And the blue lighting is awesome at night.
Mail? Put "slashdot" in the subject to pass the spam filters.
bleah.
pezpunk
Internet killed the video star,
i could live a little longer in this prison
This has been my experience too. I just had a Vodoo3/3000, go out and had to replace it. So I thought I'll get a GF2, they are supposed to be great. The problem is, that the computer kept locking up with this card in, about every 30 minutes, more often if I was doing anything graphic intensive. So I yanked the card out and took it back. The store let me return it and get their last Vodoo3/3000 with no questions asked. I even saved a substantial amount of money. When the card did work, I didn't notice any great improvement worth spending an extra $100 dollars on.
But to get on topic. You could always buy that geek in your life the rest of the Monty Python DVD's that he/she is missing.
I don't see how turning off the computer would make my loved ones happier. Almost every time I see them the first thing they say is "Can you sort out this computer problem for me?"
Now, as far as making me happier is concerned...
--
I would be a paid subscriber if Taco and Hemos weren't such cunts
- Eddie Murphy has this line in a Beverly Hills Cop movie; "you know; if you guys get your jackets cut fuller your guns won't stick out the back like that." I now understand what he's talking about. A cell phone and a PDA in a conceal holster add about 4-6 inches to your chest measurement.
- I have the full leather rig and the flaps on the holsters are pretty long and big. Since the flaps are velcro, they can get hung up on your jacket/coat.
- Especially when it's warmer, I usually wear my rig openly. Only once has a cop actually come over and talk to me about how people could misconstrue my rig. However, YMMV depending on where you live.
All in all though, it's damn nice piece of gear. Gets the big things off your belt, gives you more covenient access to your high-usage stuff, and it does look pretty schmove with slacks and a dress shirt.Again, I come to the point: just because you (and, indeed, millions of others) think that being outgoing and extroverted are good things doesn't make it so. More specifically, it doesn't make introverted 'bad'.
No, being introverted isn't a bad thing, but at the same time it isn't really a healthy state to be in psychologically speaking. Humans are social animals and we thrive on interacting with other people - this has been the case since before we had language, and modern culture certainly hasn't changed this.
Just look at the internet - despite it's potential for creating sad, lonely people the main use it is put to is communicating between people, through email, newsgroups, IRC, ICQ or weblogs. People want to communicate.
It is people that have difficulties in relating to other people that generally end up with emotional problems. Serial killers in particular don't possess this emotional connection with other people, making them maniupulative and unable to empathise with their victims. Sure, introverted geeks aren't this bad, but it's still not healthy, and people shouldn't be encouraged to hide themselves away as a "valid life choice".
Can you elucidate on this? I've no idea what you mean.
See above, the human need for companionship and love is part of what we are. Whether or not we admit to it, we all crave that feeling, and people that deny it are punishing themselves and those that love them, to the overall benefit of nobody.
It takes little effort to make the attempt just once a year, and it can make people very happy.
I don't see how turning off the computer would make my loved ones happier. Almost every time I see them the first thing they say is "Can you sort out this computer problem for me?"
That's hardly very healthy is it? Sure, it's nice to be able to help people out, but when that seems to be all they're asking you for then I'd step back and take a look at the status of your relationships...
Have you considered the number of geeks who are maladjusted socially? The sort of people who, when thrust into the middle of a bunch of relatives they don't like and whom they only meet once a year, are going to be less than socially acceptable?
Nonsense, surely they can make the effort for at least one day every year? It's not like it's that difficult to socialise, especially with people who are closer to you than anyone else. Sure, there may be some relative strangers there, but there will also be the people you grew up with.
Oh, and Christmas may be a time when you don't think of yourself for you, but for may others it's a time for thinking only of themselves. For others still, it's a time of peace when they can have the office to themeselves. For many more, it's a time to get pissed.
And what, we should encourage people to be this selfish and/or introverted?
Why am I going through all this? Because Christmas may have its origins in religous festivals, but these days it's no more about Jesus than it is about Saturnalia.
Hence the lack of religious references in my post. Just because you don't believe in Jesus doesn't mean that you have to deny everything Christmas should stand for - family, giving and happiness. People who deny the validity of Christmas just because of their lack of religious beliefs are missing out on an important part of humanity.
It pisses me off to see people talk about Christmas as a time of good cheer and of being nice to your neighbours, as if it's perfectly acceptable to be an asshole for the rest of the year.
Of course it isn't acceptable to be an asshole for the rest of the year, but at Christmas everyone has the chance to get together and celebrate the things that make us human. To avoid this is to admit that something is seriously lacking in your life.
I cringe everytime I get the question "What do you want for Christmas?" because I don't know the answer! If I could think of something I wanted, I would buy it :) So I saw the geek list as some good ideas to give my family (who won't stop asking)
dynamo
--trb
Well I'd been sitting here for the last month trying to think of what to ask people to get me having decided that the race boat is probably outside of my families budget, but I was distressed to see my dream gizmo not on the list, how come the automatic solar powered lawn mower never made it? It can mow the lawn whilst I hack away at the pute.
Now? I hate to break it to you, but if it weren't for the bigger-better-stronger-faster mentality concomitant to the meta-culture of capitalism, we geeks wouldn't exist. Geeks were spawned as technology began to reach beyond the complexity at which a single human could fully understand the complexity of a machine... that means -all- the bells and whistles, from the hardware (be it gears and motors or quietly humming electronics) to all the various kinds of software, from loom patterns (and I'm not talking Jacquard looms, either) to opertating systems. There are geeks because there are people who take advantage of the technology we have, only to create more technology. What, after all, were geeks before the mass advent of megatechnology? Those of us who are educated were the scholars, the mathematicians and the philosophers, and those of us who are not were the shopkeepers, bumbling apprentices, and nobility. Wait, that means geeks are just like everyone else! So of course we've been overtaken by consumerism. It's a viral meme. It propagates itself with little or no effort -- as the Christian missionaries taught indigines that they were "dirty" and "sinful" by demonstrating that their own ways were holy, we show non-capitalist societies that our way is the Right way by purchasing them with technological gadgetry, saying that life is better when you work less.
Life is -easier- when we work less. Easier isn't necessarily better, it's just easier.
End Rant.
MCH/VO S* W- N+++++ PEC+++ D(s++/r) A a+>+++ C* G++(++++) Q+ 666 Y
Then the Star Wars action figures must be number 21...
- if you love something, set it free; if it doesn't come back, hunt it down and kill it
A question on this...
How resistant is this to temperature changes? Up in the Northern US and Canada, it gets well below zero. How well will the internal hard drive function when the temp. is below zero?
But Personally, my letter to Ol' Saint Nick will include:
Car MP3 player
Lego MindStorms!
AND the Beowulf Cluster (of course)
And forget the Voodoo 5 5500, it's hyped, and way too much money for what you're getting (besides, 3dfx left the video card biz, lest we forget)
Merry Xmas /.!
Contrary to popular belief, I don't actually make my website for other people to look at.
In a related story, the IRS has recently ruled that the cost of Windows upgrades can NOT be deducted as a gambling loss.
Christmas never had anything to do with that mythical figure known to christians as jesus christ. In europe it was an old pagen winter festival. If you look at cultures around the world (christians are incapable of understanding non-western culture), it is almost universal to have some festive occation around the time of the winter solstice. The sun is very important to peoples over the world, and many cultures will recognize the day of the year that the sun appears furthest south in the sky.
And remember, today is the first day of the rest of your life.
I Am an American. Only the Best deserve to get stuff.
- Dan I.
OK, it's not exactly straight forward for Joe-Sixpack to grasp, but when you think about this it does, in fact, scale up the discounts quite nicely the more you order. For quite large quantities of things, you get a quite realistic scaling of work/packaging involved vs number of items actually in said packaging. I think this is actually a very neat method of working out realistic P&P for a number of identical items.
I'm still somewhat stunned over spotting this Klein bottle as I'm a sucker for things like this and just had to have one ;-). Then I spotted the name "Cliff Stoll"; and went on the hunt for the answer to the "Cuckoo's Egg" question - as I've just finished re-reading the above book this was quite a nice find; talk about kismet!
This is going to be a good "Giving the atheist kids presents" I feel.
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
wired is not for real nerds. it died that death years ago - along with the 'geek page'. for slashdot to collabbbbberate widdem further deepens its karmic debt. smarten up, losers, before someone comes along and makes a commodore out of youse.
Oy, Mr. (or Ms.) Moderator. How can a post with Christmas in the title, that references a well-known seasonal campaign, be offtopic in a discussion about Christmas gifts?
</rant>
Taco, maybe we need a "-1: Not Funny" moderation option for humor-impaired losers like this one.
Also: - The Irish Cookbook - Italian War Heroes
Ceci n'est pas un sig
Looks like even geeks now are overtaken by consumerism... Most of the items on the list are consumer electronics, which, personally, I live fine without. I computer and a few books on the shelf is good enough for me, buddy. -alpha out
Wizwar from Jolly Games is a Great card/board game for 2-4 Players... and What says X-mas more than a game of Nuclear War? Talk about a great card game.. From back before card games were hot. Check out flying buffalo games for Nuke War and many others.
-Jason
The Season Three Buffy box set. Pretty cheap and hours of slayer-stylin' fun. Unreal Tournament for DreamCast (yeah, fat chance) Winsock enlightenment so I can finish my videogame before new year. :)
Tron Software -= Kickin' Butt and Writin' Code =-
I just thought that I'd point out that an average start-up time for the empeg is about 2-3 seconds. If that's too slow for you, then booting your PC must feel like an eternity.
About the wireless connection - you can do it yourself.
As for everyone in this thread claiming to know things about the empeg player, how about all of you actually do some research before complaining about things that already exist, are already conceivable, or are not what you think. Check out the unofficial BBS at empeg.comms.net and do some searches.
Then again, spewing backless statements around is alot easier.
I believe there are 2 users on the empeg BBS (http://empeg.comms.net) who live in Alaska. At least one of them performs regularly in IASCA competitions.
I would also like to state my opinions on the empg:
A few quick points:
-empeg is designing an additional AM/FM tuner which, while adding to the price, will give me a better radio than any regular car stereo and the Aiwa I'm willing to bet.
-To those complaining of skipping- the empeg simply doesn't. The HDDs are shock protected and were tested extensively without fail.
-I don't have MP3's on my computer anymore. I bring the empeg inside and hook them up to my line-in or to my stereo system. No more Winamp taking up CPU cycles during games.
-I gladly got rid of all my CD's from my car. My CD collection isn't even within 100 miles from me at school. If I want to listen to a CD, I use the old portable I have connected to the AUX-in cables on the sled connections.
Now, to the person who said it had limited functionality - how? That's absolutely ridiculous. Just from looking at the pics on the Crutchfield and Aiwa sites, it is plain to see that playlist navigation will be limited for the Aiwa player. I imagine it is a bit tough to know exactly what you have on each CD, and will probably take even longer to find the music you want than if you were using a regular CD player! You may say that I don't know that, but you haven't used an empeg, either, so don't judge something you've not done any research on.
The player software is more than I could ask for. I can play "Houses of the Holy" by Led Zeppelin in 5 keypresses, never having to change a CD. I can also put all 2609 tracks that are currently on my 12GB on shuffle and hear songs that I didn't even know I had! If I hear a song while on shuffle and think "gee-I'd like to hear more from that artist", I just press the "2" button on the remote and another song by the same artist is queued right after the current one.
You should also remember that the player software is upgradeable. This is a BIG thing. The current software, IMO, is absolutely fine. However empeg, as we speak, is programming a new version with countless additions suggested on the unofficial BB by the members there. Try getting any of that from Aiwa, who's site is annoying and un-navigatable, not to mention lacking in information. I have also had several one-on-one email correspondences with empeg staff members.
I understand the price of the empeg seems steep. Hell, I spent almost all my summer job money on it. It's worth it for more reasons than I can state here. I suggest that people actually do some investigating rather than saying something uninformed like "you only like it because it runs on Linux". If price is the one concern over all that you must adhere to, don't get the empeg. If you have a choice, get it.
Actually, Looney labs sells a set of gaming pieces called an Icehouse Set, and one of the games you can play with it is RAMbots, which is much like RoboRally. I prefer it, personally. I also really like Falling, sold by their Contagious Dreams site.
Look, we celebrate Yule, the Winter Solistice, etc. as a time when we finally ahve all the prep. done for the winter, and all we have to do is wait it out. We celebrated this Holy Day tens of thousands of years before the Christians came along. It is a time of Celebration sort of like what you do at the end of a big programming crunch to get a product out. You go a little crazy, have some fun, partake of some recreational chemicals (booze mostly), and celebrate a job well done.
This whole Buy Buy Buy has been perpetrated by the Christian culture that treats religion like a commodity. Stop being so uptight about it! It is supposed to a celebration. If you celebrate by giving gifts, then fine...just don't make a big show about it. Gifts are given from the heart, not because you are hoping to influence the opinion of someone!
Blessed Be, Kallisti, 93!
Farrell McGovern
CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
Okay, maybe I'm just amused easily, but the cover of January's Wired is pretty cool! At first i thought I had greesy hands when I touched it, but then realized what the huge "TOUCH ME ALL OVER" meant. :)
--
Scott Miga
suprax@linux.com
-Isaac
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. For Entertainment Purposes Only.
For a price of US$10 to US$500+, you can donate to one of the few global charities that puts by far most of its money toward helping people, instead of paying the executive directors outrageous salaries.
[http://heifer.org/] -- where you can donate everything from honeybees to heifers, to an impoverished third-world villages. The animals are not directly used for food: they will be used as breeding stock and the beginning of a business foundation that will ensure an increased standard of living for the community.
It's a good gig. Checkitout, and help make the world a better place.
--
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
>nobody mentioned companies like cheapass games
Yes!!
Starbase Jeff would make an excellent online game,
or at least I've always thought so.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
I've got two of the mugs, and actually Cliff suggests that you not put hard to dissolve things in the Mug. It's fine for beer and wine (ugh!), but Milk/Mochas are a definate no-no.
You can also take care to ensure that the fluid doesn't flow down the neck into the middle (?) part of the mug so you don't have such a cleaning problem.
Awesome furniture, accessories and cabinetry in Santa Rosa, CA: http://humanity-home.com/
Sorry, no sugar in them; it's Nutrashit.
-
Kenwood also makes an in-dash MP3 player, the Z919, which should go for around $650. It's in their eXcelon series, so I suspect it has more "audiophile" features than the $300 Aiwa.
I've heard of this one. The thing that surprised me was that the Kenwood, for $650, supposedly doesn't allow you to search within an MP3 song. (You can jump track-to-track, of course.) As far as I know, the Aiwa can search within an MP3 track. So can winamp and xmms. Somehow it seems inexcusable for an "audiophile" system to lack this capability...
Deven
"Simple things should be simple, and complex things should be possible." - Alan Kay
I'm just curious why Voodoo5 5500 went on the list. If we're going for true-geek, which means the fastest and best available, then why not go for the NVIDIA GeForce2 Ultra? It's much faster than the 5500 and has onboard Transform & Lighting abilities.
Not only that, but you'd be secure that you're buying from a company that will definitely support its product....I'm not sure how long 3dfx is gonna be in the biz anymore....
-Julius X
-Julius X
remove "-whatkindofspamdoyoutakemefor-" from email to send
Come on people, can't we stop thinking of ourselves at least once every year? Make the effort to turn off the computer and do something that will make your loved ones happy.
Humbug.
Have you considered the number of geeks who are maladjusted socially? The sort of people who, when thrust into the middle of a bunch of relatives they don't like and whom they only meet once a year, are going to be less than socially acceptable?
THey'd be doing themselves and their families a favour by staying at the computer.
Oh, and Christmas may be a time when you don't think of yourself for you, but for may others it's a time for thinking only of themselves. For others still, it's a time of peace when they can have the office to themeselves. For many more, it's a time to get pissed.
Why am I going through all this? Because Christmas may have its origins in religous festivals, but these days it's no more about Jesus than it is about Saturnalia.
It pisses me off to see people talk about Christmas as a time of good cheer and of being nice to your neighbours, as if it's perfectly acceptable to be an asshole for the rest of the year.
So your position is that it won't make other people happy to buy me cool stuff?
But if you're going to get all meaning of Christmas on me, I guess I can't pass the chance to point out that the 'point' of Christmas is a little deeper than even you claim.
Try reading a bit of this for some background.
--
And because I'm sure you don't know why, she wrote the first compiler, invented COBOL, and helped coin the term "bug".
She had MA and PhD degrees in Math from Yale, was the first American to be made a "Distinguished Fellow" of the British Computer Society and the ACM in 1971 instituted an award in her name, won first by Donald Knuth that year.
She passed away in 1992, but I bet she could out-logic you from her grave.
I don't know about you, but why would I want to play a multiuser game with graphics that look like ASS?
Video game or arcade geek?
Remember the Atari 2600p? (Go back and read the Slashdot stories.) If they've got a video game fetish, how about an Atari 2600 and a handheld television to kick-start a project?
Something just as good is one of the old arcade games which can be purchased for far less money than you think!
Best advise for buying for a geek: Talk to another geek who knows your geek well. Admit that you don't know much, but you want to get him something technological, and maybe components to build a project with. (Otherwise, they'll say things like "CD ROM Burner" or ""Electric Cattle Prod".
Best thing to go with a geek present: receipts. They're hard to please! PS: Television watching geeks LOVE having a TiVo, but I recommend NOT connecting it to the primary television in your house, otherwise you'll never see the news (or anything else) because Babylon 5 and Doctor Who are being recorded during YOUR favorite shows. (Unless you get a super fancy model.)
A bandolier with that Palm, cell phone, pager, MP3 player, Leatherman, along with a MagLite and batteries (AAA & AA) filling the rest like ammo would be cool. Sort of a Nerd Rambo effect.
Blah. You have the problem that when you try to use the pliers, you're gripping against the tool side. [Same problem with SOG, which made the list of toys].
b home.htm
If you search around, you can find them significantly cheaper, too. With a quick check, I found a place that seems to have everything 30% off or so (I've never ordered from them, so it's at your owk risk) -- http://www.wholesalehunter.com.
They don't have the TiNi one, but they do have about as complete of a line of Gerber tools as you can get, without the BYO stuff -- http://www.wholesalehunter.com/product/gerber/ger
Personally, I normally carry the original SOG Power Pliers, [but I've changed out some of the blaces], as it has a great phillips for small screws, a Gerber MultiPlier 600 [better for larger phillips, such as when rack mounting stuff, and better pliers], a Latshaw PocketWrench II, and a Leatherman Micro on my keychain. If we're pulling cable, then I may also carry a Mini Mag Lite, and Gerber MultiLite [better scissors, as only my Leatherman Micro has scissors on it]
Oh...and I don't carry a pager as my cell phone does text paging. Unfortunately, I think the Palm IIIc is the heaviest/bulkiest thing I carry. But I don't keep those two on my belt.
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
Well, I'm not Christian (I was nominally "Christian" until I realized I wasn't practicing, and didn't really agree with much of the religion; this happened to coincide nicely with adolescence), but plenty of other religions have a mid-winter "gift-giving" sort of holiday. Now, I'm as rabidly anti-consumerism as the next trendy leftist, but I realize that whatever I think of this holiday, it means something to others.
So I guess I'll just have to come up with some religion neutral name for this gift-giving thing I do.
It's 10 PM. Do you know if you're un-American?
RoboRally kicks ass. Lots of ass. A smorgasbord, a veritable cornucopia of ass is kicked by RoboRally.
For a grad school simulations course, we did a RR simulator and told it to find the best overall strategy for winning a game. I think move-before-turning won.
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
Sorry, in their attempt to make me happy, my family is driving me crazy. Not a day goes by that I don't hear "What do you want for Christmas?"
I don't understand. I've lived with these people for YEARS! I have almost no trouble buying them gifts.
Sheesh,
ErikZ
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Off the top of my head, you could try these:
Tornado Lamp or something else from here (You may be able to find something at your local store that is similar)
T-Shirts featuring some geek slogans or high tech company logos, Linux shirts...etc.
Black Lights are cool
I find hardware is really expansive, so stay out of that department. Try visiting a store like an "It" store. If it looks cool and not cheesy, they he'll prolly like it.
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
Like other people have mentioned. Most price ranges for younger people are between $30-$40.
The only thing I could think of were items I listed for a 16y old girl who posted a similar message:
> Tornado Lamp or something else from here (You
>may be able to find something at your local
>store that is similar)
>T-Shirts featuring some geek slogans or high
>tech company logos, Linux shirts...etc.
> Black Lights are cool
>I find hardware is really expansive, so stay
>out of that department. Try visiting a store
>like an "It" store. If it looks cool and not
>cheesy, they he'll prolly like it.
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
I was kind of hoping to find something on the list that wasn't too expensive. But I guess that all Geeks stuff costs a pretty penny. Are there any cheap geek toys out there? (I don't mean 100 floppies for 15 bucks either) :P
"Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality." -Jules de Gautier
Check out e-Holster. Not quite the same thing (it's more for those "I wanna look like a geek FBI agent" moments :-) but fills a similar need.
And, yes, I'm getting to the point where I need a Sam Browne belt for all my gear. Cell phone, pager, Palm, Swiss Army knife--and that's just the everyday stuff! There's also the GPS, the digital camera, the walkie-talkie, the MP3 player....
- The emptool, which is used for synchronization, has been open sourced with the GNU Public License.
- The new player has Serial RS232, USB and Ethernet connections, which makes it real easy to link to. I even have the DB9 in my car, in case I want to hook it up to my laptop or GPS.
- It runs Linux, and is extensible, so you can write your own projects.
- The Staff are very helpful and friendly, and have built a strong community of users through their mailing lists and BBS.
- The company was just bought by Sonic Blue (formerly S3) and will therefore join the RIO family of products.
- My model has 10 Gb of a laptop-spec hard drive, (resistant to vibration/impact) which means hundreds of hours of my favourite music, nicely organized into categories or just at random.
- The head unit is removeable within 1 second, and can then be used (with the remote control) as a useful component in a standard home HiFi system, and as a great anti-theft option.
- Warranty works -- I dropped my unit, breaking the display (great graphic visualizations BTW!) and they fixed it and returned it within a few days.
Bottom line is, this unit deserves its place on the top-10 list of Geek toys, and has all the functionality I need in a music system. Plus the bragging rights for saying your car runs Linux is also extremely valuable...--
Paul Gillingwater
Paul Gillingwater
MBA, CISSP, CISM
exactly one minute if I recall correctly ...
...
oh wait, that was Einstein in the Hill Valley Mall parking lot
----- rL
What makes this game even more fun is, after you've played the standard variations, you can search the Internet for even more variations - dozens of them. There are even expansion kits you can get. The latest, Cities and Knights, will become available this week. That's for the English version - the game is originally from Germany so the German version has been out for a while.
--
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
In fact, when it comes time to open gifts with my family, it's those unexpected gifts - the ones I get and the ones I give - that I enjoy opening (or watch being opened) the most.
--
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
We need to this again with gifts that are a little less expensive and more practical. There needs to be stuff on this list besides mints that I can give my geek friends...
FoonDog
______________
______________
OTTERS RULE.
G this sounds real great and all, but when the equivalent can be done with the Aiwa, and other devices in concert, why spend the money? If I wanted to spend that much I can have more then just AM/FM, MP3 and RDS. I could have GPS display (maybe someday when a map program for Linux is available, I could actually use something other then windows.), I can have AM/FM, TV and DVD (passenger only), internet (again passenger only) and the base system, not counting wireless internet cost, would cost LESS the 999 (if u find a cheap LCD source, if not, a bit more the 999). The EMPEG, for all it is and as cool it is, just does not impress me for the cost!
Gorkman
Speaking of DA MINTS, I found a source here in the US where I would not have to wait for them, and I can pick them up ANY time of day, any day, except Christmas Day. That would be Meijer! At least the one I go to here in Ohio carries them. If they don't at yours, ASK! I find it IS possible ot get them if you can get enough people asking the management about them, which is probably why they have them at our store. Meijer managers LOVE satisfying the customer. They are also around $2.50 a box too! I save shipping and 50 cents a tine to boot! I get them every week! :)
Gorkman
Yeah I want one, but not cuz they look cool in the Matrix. I want one because they'd be warm!
Gorkman
AND it has a radio too! Looks like with EMPEG you'd have to ditch radio for the sake of lost of MP3's. Radio is good sometimes (like trying to figure out what's causing the traffic jam infront of you.).
Gorkman
Yep, I was going to post about this until I saw yours. I have a tin with me right now, and I quote:
* NOT A NON-CALORIC FOOD. SUGAR FREE
I also thought they'd have more caffeine in them, but apparently 3 mints is the same as a standard cola drink. Still, they're really nice, and I'm hooked on them (or is that my caffeine addiction growing..?).
Fow all you residents of Sydney, Australia who want some without having to wait 5 years for them to be shipped from the US, Gowings on George St. (opp. QVB) in Sydney sells them for AU$10 a tin. Not as cheap as ordering in, but you save on postage and it's more convenient (no I don't work for them.. sheesh..).
Then green cover is Jan 2001 and mine was delivered yesterday. The TechnoLust Gift Guide was in the Dec 2000 issue.
Hollow words will burn and hollow men will burn.
Oh, and FONS.
All generalizations are false.
--
I like to watch.
Nope, just caffine. On the advice of dentists, Adam Smith (incredibly cool name) and Brett Canfield decided not to put sugar in their mints. Which makes the fact that they taste good quite amazing to me.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Right. it's about large checks from wealthy aunts.
Father Christmas, give us your money.
We've got no time for your silly toys.
We'll beat you up if you don't hand it over.
We want your bread so don't make us annoyed...
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
Settlers of Catan is far and away one of the most brutally addictive games I've ever played. Basically, the jist of the game is that you and at least two others are settlers on an island, vieing vor its resources (grain, brick, coal, wool, wood). You start out with a small town and eventually build trade roads leading to other small towns, all of which border lands with said resources. You can try and block others with your roads, cooperate with another weak player to destroy the strong opposition, and send out thieves to steal resources from the other settlements. It's part politics, part economics, and with all the devious fun of Monopoly without having to wait forever after 80% of the property is bought. Games only last about 30-60 minutes, depending on how good you are. If anyone is into board games, I HIGHLY recommend it.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
other than that, if you can ignore its gawdy looks, it seems quite a nice player.
I'm more inclined to use a hard-disk player, like the NEO 35 . add your own hard drive, order the remote lcd panel and install it and you're good to go. it can be more stealthfully mounted (the aiwa is a detach face - not sure if theives are deterred by this) and you have ALL your music online at all times.
--
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
its about paid time off from work whilst you play with said presents.
--
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
You can now get a 5 port 10/100 ethernet switch for only slightly more then the cost of a hub. If you're going to be doing any serious MPI [or other parallel] programming, why limit total bandwidth by using a hub? Seems silly.
---
man sig
---
the pen is mightier then the sword. the sword is mightier then the court. the court is mightier then the pen.
Will this be hackable like the Furby?
Young Jedi Geeks want to know!
(the initial looksee seems to be YES!)
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Who says the list is all about personal greed and making yourself happy? Maybe I want to read the list for ideas on what to buy my geek friends and geek relatives.
/. is about is technology (i.e., material goods) and it is a relevant article. The day /. puts up the article "how to tell your friends and relatives you love them" will be a strange day indeed!
And besides, even if you disagree with the materialistic undercurrent of this article, a lot of what
-- dR.fuZZo
- Useful
- Educative
- Durable (now that he is old enough to play this, I am sure at 40 he will still enjoy these
:-)
I just wonder why Aibo didn't appear in this list, even if it is might not seem as educative as the Lego/Mindstorms, I am sure that it could be interesting to exploit.--
Trolling using another account since 2005.
Those are nifty devices, but here is what every true music/technology geek wants in their car:
A smart music device, with an interface similar to the empeg, but which:
- Starts up instantly.
- Has a slot to play regular CD's or MP3 CD's. Offers to store the music on the inserted disc on the internal hard drive.
- Can be pulled out and connected to your computer with USB like the empeg, BUT more importantly, has a built-in 802.11 wireless connection! You pull into your driveway, and sync up your car with your computer or Intertainment Appliance[TM]. That's at least 10 times faster than USB, and much more convenient.
I've been thinking of this dream device for a while now. I even tried building it using spare parts and BeOS R5, but the main stopping point for me was getting it to connect to my car audio system. I wanted to use a small tower in my trunk, and hook that up to the CD changer cables. Then I'd write a custom program to turn the CD changer commands into navigation commands... it got too expensive and too complicated so I gave up.
Then I read empeg would eventually be adding 802.11 wireless support... WHEN WHEN WHEN!?
"And like that
While not a huge strategy game fan in particular, I enjoy games in general, Settlers is great for casual parties with friends. (To me, it's like a board-game version of my fav old-school computer game "M.U.L.E.")
What I really enjoy is playing with 6-8 people using two sets -- you can combine multiple Settlers sets to create larger boards for more people.
-----
D. Fischer
ShoutingMan.com
It's nice to see that even /. is wholeheartedly promoting the idea of Christmas as a time for getting expensive presents and shiny new toys rather than a time for reflection and family, when you come together to celebrate something other than the usual materialistic way of life that we revel in in America.
Just look at the list. It reads like a "gimme" list of things that you want from people, a list of toys that you want. It totally misses the point of Christmas, which is to make other people happy, not to gratify your lust for electrical goods.
Rather than spending days searching the net for things you want, why not spend that time thinking of how you can make other people happy? Christmas should be a time when you don't think of yourself, but instead go all out to bring happiness to other people.
Come on people, can't we stop thinking of ourselves at least once every year? Make the effort to turn off the computer and do something that will make your loved ones happy.
I hope you don't mean literally. I don't know anyone who was even alive tens of thousands of years ago. Personally I'm a Christian, so if you somehow placed me way back when, I wouldn't celebrate the Pagan holiday.
Not that I'd celebrate Christmas, either... I'd probably forget the date and die before it happened, anyway.
If you are modding me down because you disagree with me, use the "Flamebait" category, not the "Troll" one.
You forgot about: Women who get turned on by sexist jokes.
Although they are a minority, I'd like to remind you that there are women who read this site, and as of now, none of them will sleep with you. Neither will their friends.
Many of these women are very sexy. Some of these women are into crazy wild monkey-love that you only see in p0rn. Most of these women are intelligent. Most understand what you mean when you geek out in conversation, and could geek out with you.
None of them will sleep with you.
And you will never know who these women are, because when you post sexist crap like that, many female ./'ers decide that they don't want to reveal their gender because they know it could mean that they next time they post a strong opinion that you disagree with, you're going to argue intelligently about their post, but will instead dismiss them as being dumb girls with PMS who should get back in the kitchen after they get some much-needed lovin' from you to be all right again.
But that will never happen, because none of them will want to sleep with you.
I can spell. I just can't type.
--
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I remember this from last year too,
what is it, like a geeks wish list or something?
How about a set of Klipsch Promedia speakers and a SBLive?
Actually my christmas list goes as such-
1. SBlive
2. AltecLansing 5 speaker system set
3. Cambridge Subwoofer
4. Java: a beginers guide -by Herb something or other
5. I still have 50$ bucks left, and idea's for a 15 year old computer enthusiast?
Why don't, instead of spending a thousand dollars on something to make you happy (a Playstation 2), you contribute some money to a turkey sanctuary?
I don't think people think enough about turkey at Christmas. It's so selfish to go around buying presents and partying while, somewhere in Norfolk, turkeys are starving.
Is it only when you see those poor turkeys on TV, with their pot bellies looking fat, but actually a sign of their poor nourishment, that you can feel sorry for them.
Do we need to get Bob Geldof involved for you to do anything? Do you only care about yourself? Is your own amusement more important than the happiness of a turkey?
Have you not considered that while you're drinking the night away, there are millions of turkeys that won't even have a Christmas?
Please, don't buy any presents this year - just think how many turkeys you could save with the money.
And, please remember, a turkey is for life, not just for Christmas.
Free Anne Tomlinson!!
The shortages of PS2's may be artificially created. My nephew works in the warehouse of a well-known toy retailer. He called me Sunday (knowing I've been waiting weeks for a pre-paid PS2 to arrive) and said that they got several unmarked crates shipped in Saturday about the same size as the crates that their last shipment of PS2's came in. No markings as to what they were or where they came from, which is rather unusual. When he asked what was in them he was told they were for a special promotion and that the warehouse crew was not to open them under any circumstance. They were all placed in the secure area where all the expensive stuff is stored. However, one of the crates had a small rip in the outer box which the manager quickly taped over, but not before my nephew saw that it indeed contained PS2's.
My nephew suspects that the toy store is hoping the people who have PS2's on reserve, desperate for a gift for their kids, will go ahead and buy something else in place of the PS2's. Then the day before Christmas, the toy store will call all the people with reserved PS2's and tell them they've "just arrived", come and get it NOW or we'll drop your name back to the end of the list. And a lot of people will probably do it, too.
What a sneaky way to try and increase sales. And they'll probably get away with it, too.
Anonymous because I don't want my nephew to get fired. (even though it _is_ a crappy job)
electronics make fine gifts, but the above reads more like a list of cool concepts than a list of things people would actually want to get. i mean, i love the empeg and drool over the idea of a personal beowulf, but for a christmas gift i would much rather get some cool games, no matter whether or not they're computer-based.
:)
:)
speaking of games, i can't believe nobody mentioned companies like cheapass games, who make really cool and relatively inexpensive card, board, and dice games. make sure to check out 'brawl' and 'button men' - i'd take those over a thinkgeek gift in an eyeblink.
another good place for gifts is mayfair games, publishers of such fine products as settlers of catan or the original edition of cosmic encounter. and if you're into small/indie game makers, there's also the wizard's attic, who sell such twisted little games as black death, in which you play the plague trying to wipe out europe, or the non-verbal role-playing game the land of og.
is anybody else on slashdot a fan of non-computer games? if so, post your favorites! the more gift ideas, the better...
My other car is a cons.
Despite the coolness factor of running Linux in your car stereo, I simply can't imagine spending $1,199 for an Empeg. It seems like a tremendous waste of money to me, and I'm just not in the habit of throwing away money like that...
I'm much more interested in the Aiwa CDC-MP3 system. It's only $299, and can play CD-Rs, CD-RWs and standard CD's, including MP3s. And it's $900 less than the Empeg...
Deven
"Simple things should be simple, and complex things should be possible." - Alan Kay
That has to be the most depressing item on the list... That's what geeks want for Christmas?
Sheesh. I'm embarassed to be associated with y'all.
Check out the website, 'cause it's similarly depressing.
Assuming the Beowulf thing is supposed to refer to the parallel computing project, and not to some guy, the link should point to: http://www.beowulf.org/ and not http://www.beowulf.com/.
But fortunately the some-guy has linked to the project too. Thank you, some-guy.
Look here for this post on the 'magical disapearing Xmas post' from 12.05.00. This neat little toy is worth checking out for young Geeks on your list:
I just bought a Cybiko handheld 'Inter-Tainment' (eek Markatroid Buzz alert) computer for my 11 yr old niece. She loves my CasioE100 - so this seems appropriate. Ive been trying to geekify her for years, videogames/build-it-yourself robot (not a big hit)/Legos etc.
This Cybiko device has a decent little screen, a free SDK, 900MHz Adhoc networking (@19200baud), instant messaging & email repeated on the Cybiko Network you are a part of, Email via a internet gateway (ie xxxxxxx@cybiko.com where xxxxx is the unique ID of each Cybiko - requires syncing w/ a PC to Internet), free(gratis) games/software/PIM software daily online, has a vibrating alert and sound.
cheese_announcer_voice(start);
if (buy_right_now) {
recieve(MP3_AddOnModule.free(mail_in_rebate);
}
cheese_announcer_voice(stop);
You can buy them Online @ Cybiko for $90 USF. Pretty reasonable Id say.
Additional Links:
General Info - Hardware Specs - Software Specs - RF Specs
The list looks great - an honorable mention should be, IMHO, the Aiwa mp3 car player. Seems easier to transfer songs via burned CD's vs. USB/etc... Not only is the media cheaper, the Aiwa unit only costs $299, and is in stock at Crutchfield.
Not picking a fight or arguing - just making a (what I see as) a reasonable alternative. Sure, it runs Linux, but functionality is so limited, I'm not sure I see the point. (other than the seemingly unwritten standard of, "It runs Linux, therefore we must choose it.") I mean, it runs Linux, but practical application-wise... so? It doesn't really enhance the current use of "play music in car," although it does open up doors for expanded use...
This coffee maker runs Linux, and the CPU load average is 0.0, 0.0, 0.0 - you must buy it.
heh...I know what I need for Christmas. Let's see here....Palm Vx, cell phone, pager, Minidisc/MP3 player, Leatherman...anyone see Batman costumes on sale? 'Cause I could really use one of those belts... :D
My girlfriend loves everything about Christmas except for one thing.... buying a present for me. My family isn't too keen on it either, but then... they can just give me money and I'll be happy. It's always good People coming up with these lists... it saves me the trouble of saying "Okay Sweety, what I really want is a 21inch Trinitron to beat the 19inch I bought myself last year." and then smiling while she looks at me like I'm crazy.
....I hate finals....
Still, I think the greatest gift I get every year is socks. I have one friend who buys me that every year because I annihalte them all by July and then walk around in flip-flops or sandals for the rest of the year claiming that I'm boycotting them.
lim brain -> meltdown
From the Christian point of view, Christmas is to celebrate God's gift of Jesus to the world, and to look back at the Christmas story of Mary and Joseph travelling to Bethlehem. The angels and the shepherds, the three wise men, and "Peace On Earth".
Listen to the words of some old Christmas carols to see what Christians think Christmas is supposed to be about.
It's true that some Christian organizations do treat religion as a commodity, but that unfortunate fact is recognized and condemmed by many Christians, who know that it's not supposed to be that way. It's also true that many aspects of the western european style Christmas celebration were ripped off from pagan winter festivals. But that's not really relevant to the question of why Christmas has become so commercialized.
Most sincere Christians hate the whole commercial aspect of Christmas even more than you do.
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
Torrey Hoffman (Azog)
"HTML needs a rant tag" - Alan Cox
I'd like the Aquatic Pod Suite from Hammacher Schlemmer. It only costs $91,100, and that's including the Bose stereo and diesel generator.
The fact of the matter is, anything that costs little enough for someone to give it to me as a Christmas gift, I could buy for myself. However, it does feel good to get someone that perfect gift. And, if someone gives you a really good gift, defined as something that you want, but can't justify buying for yourself, it makes you feel positive things about the other person, because it shows that they really know you.
The point is not to spend as little as you can get away with, while guilt tripping others into getting you things. The point is to demonstrate what a great person you are by getting your friends even better gifts than they get you. Likewise, with open source software, the point isn't to contribute just enough to keep the movement alive, so you can keep getting free software, the point is to contribute more than everyone else, so you will be worshipped like Linus.
I apologize for the rambling nature of this email, but I've been up all night, and I'm tired.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
I think theirs is the geekiest shipping policy I've ever seen:
Canada Shipping: 1st bottle $7, primes (2nd, 3rd, 5th) $3, nonprimes(4th, 6th, 8th) free.
If these things weren't $US 80 a pop... :)
- if you love something, set it free; if it doesn't come back, hunt it down and kill it
Did no one want Natalie Portman for Christmas ?
Surely N P would be considered the ulitmate geek christmas present...
What, did you think Bill Gates invented "embrace and extend"?
/.
/. If the government wants us to respect the law, it should set a better example.
For those of you that are interested, CNN also has a geek gift list.