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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.
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.
Oh, don't be a dork. Christmas has bugger all to do with Christians these days, and everything to do with crass commercialism.
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Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
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.
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--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Yep. I have a yellow one. It is damn bright for its size, next to weightless, and can run continuously for days on a single battery.
I want one of the turquoise or white ones, although the turquoise/white/blue use a lot more juice and the batteries are expensive.
"Free your mind and your ass will follow"
>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 sometimes think that the moves towards introversion and extroversion as such pronounced character traits are really a sort of reaction to trying to live in an environment for which humans are not really optimally designed. We are geared for a lot more social continuity than we can expect.
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.
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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
I'd opinion that the former is a very rare occurance and indicative of serious mental disorders, whereas the second is what a person who is "introverted" suffers from
I think you're underestimating the flexiblity of the human beastie. I'd contend, for example, that most of us have the potential to become world-class nerds, but those who do only do so because of the lack of human interaction during the pre/teen years.
Eventually, this lack of ability becomes lack of desire. Every introverted nerd realises eventually that s/he's quite capable of carrying on without trying to spend the day on inane conversations with coworkers/whatevers.
*sigh* That's not what I said.
Sorry for misunderstanding, but see above.
social interaction is just as necessary as it ever was.
From an individual POV, certainly. But the species is in no danger of dying out from underbreeding, so there's no imperative on indiviuals to procreate. Adolescents don't think in such terms, but as we get older, we realise that we're capable etc etc.
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.
Of course, if people do stick around, I do get to know them better and become more socially active.
Having just moved to the USA from the UK, I now know virtually noone so it's important that I socialize more and yet old habits are hard to break.
Rich
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.
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
its about paid time off from work whilst you play with said presents.
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"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
excuse me, but last time I studied set theory:
setof(christians) {is-subset-of} setof(humans)
putting it another way, not all humans believe as you do. fortunately.
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--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
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.
Something lacking in my life?! I should call my Rabbi and ask him what it is.
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.