Top SciTech Gifts 2002

Steve0987 writes "Scientific American has a list of suggested Christmas presents for the those technical people on your shopping list. There are a couple I might add to my letter to Santa." Um, I'd also like to add some wireless speakers, but the the coal from the Titanic seems a bit macabre.

Comments

For a lot of people out there...

[Wolfier]

The perfect gift is a job...

Care

[Trusty Penfold]

Technical gifts are cool; that microscope on page 5 is exactly what I was looking for for my brother.

But they soon lose their charm, run out of batteries and end up polluting the environment with mercury, Lithium, Chlorine and other heavy metals.

SciAm should also promote more ethical gifts, such as adopting endangered animals, areas of threatened land and donations to trusts promoting research in to disease cure and treatment.

It's cliched, I know, but christmas is far too commercial but I hope simple things like this can reverse the trend

Re:Care

[jc42]

ciAm should also promote more ethical gifts, such as adopting endangered animals

Actually, in a few cases, you can do this quite literally. A newcomer to our household is a blue-crowned conure whose previous owner was doing so much travelling that it was a growing stress on the bird, who was constantly being put up with strangers for a week at a time. We have two cockatiels (nowhere near endangered), so she asked if we could give the conure a good home.

Now, blue-crowned conures aren't yet officially endangered, but they are fairly rare in the wild, and their numbers are decreasing. A few years ago, we had a Goffin's cockatoo for a few years, until we sold her to a breeder. This species is rapidly going extinct in the wild. Their native islands in Indonesia are being converted to farmland. They are fruit eaters. They also chew on wood to shape their beaks. So a flock of them can not only destroy your fruit crop, but also do serious damage to the tree. Farmers shoot them on sight

Estimates are that Goffin's cockatoos will be extinct in the wild in a decade or so. But when raised with humans, they are very good pets. They will probably be saved from extinction only as pets, since the Indonesian government seems to show no interest in saving them.

This approach isn't generally useful for saving most endangered species. You don't really want a pet American crocodile, for instance. Or a pet condor, for that matter. But a few species can be saved this way, and maybe returned to the wild in the future if the appropriate governments decide that they've lost something important.

THG

[hitzroth]

Tom's Hardware Guide has their list up, too. Nothing spectacular, but looks like some neat ideas if you're stuck.

Re:Other people don't consider it news...

[burts_here]

it is funny to watch others get so worked up about whats posted on slashdot, i mean, i'd love to have the motivation to have a 40 post long flame war about why that post was taking up to much of their time, and why they object to slashdot wasting its server space with insignificant storys.

Re:Buy thing day - tomorrow

[Wyatt Earp]

Right or Wrong - much of the forcasting for the 4th quarter's end output is based on holiday shopping this weekend.

Retail sales are an important part of the whole economy in the winter.

If sales are soft, the Stock Market will play off the initial sales numbers. For people in a Public Employee Retirement System a soft market is the last thing those systems need.

While I understand the BND idea and I've followed in the past, this year I'm going to try and get my walk-in retail shopping done this weekend.

Stupid

[GoofyBoy]

Could someone tell me what is the message they are trying to get to retailers?

"Stop selling me so much stuff?"
"Thanks but I'll go shopping on Saturday/Sunday after Black Friday?"

Re:Stupid

[Xaje]

The message is actually aimed at consumers. This isn't an attempt to gouge the revenue of multi-national corporations for one day -- that would be next to impossible.

Instead, we're trying to get individual people to realize that they don't *need* to consume everything that's offered. Most people who go shopping on Black Friday do so because they know they'll find cheap stuff, without really having anything specific in mind. Buy this, buy that, it doesn't matter because it's all really cheap!
Buy Nothing Day poses the question, "Do I really need to buy this?"

If not, then don't! If so, do it Saturday. ; )

curb your consumption

Don't Buy Jack

[limekiller4]

Karma hit be damned, don't buy anyone a damned thing. Draw them a picture. Write them a letter. Fold them an oragami barn complete with animals.

I realize the point of this post is to be informative and this is a tech/nerd site. So be it. I'm suggesting that the best tech gift you can give someone is more of your time which, I might point out, is going to be spent working -- as opposed to spending time with them -- to earn the money for that runaway consuermism, optical, wifi, 3D, open-source imbedded OS GPS-capable caffienated, programmable biometric teeshirt.

Yeesh.

Re:Don't Buy Jack

[limekiller4]

forkboy writes:
"Imagine going to your boss and saying "Hey, I don't need as much money to live since I stopped buting things, so I'm only coming in 2 days a week now. You can cut my salary if you like." Tell me how that works out for you and what jobs you'll be applying for next. "

I've got this crazy thought. How about you find a part-time job? Perish the thought!

Besides, you sound like a guy saying, "man, my dealer isn't going to like that I'm going to stop using heroin." Who gives a flying !@#$ what your boss does or does not like. Is this not enough of an indication that you're a slave when you cannot even bring yourself to determine how much you're compelled to work??

"You see, there's this thing called disposable income. When you have a job that pays X dollars per year as a salary, once you remove the cost of living (rent, food, clothes, etc) the rest is what gets spent on toys, vacations, and all that other fun stuff. Sure people get caught up in material things, but how will it be any better if they hoard their money? "

Can you really be missing the point this badly? I'm not suggesting they work just as long so they can hoarde money, I'm suggesting they work less to begin with. I'm also not suggesting that you forego "fun stuff." I'm suggesting that you re-evaluate what qualifies as "fun stuff" and most importantly, what you're giving up to get it. Has it not occurred to you that perhaps you're giving up your time -- and thus your life -- to get something of lesser value?

My question is "should we?" Your answer is "we can," which doesn't really address the problem, does it?

Clever, but fatally flawed

[Lebannen]

Time Flows By
>Here's new twist on the time-honored hourglass egg timer.
>The Bubble Timer is a polished two-inch acrylic cube that
>reckons the minutes by the lazy ascent of a bubble through
>a tube. Depending on the face the cube is set on, the
>tube has three inclinations--and hence counts out three
>different times: ten seconds, one minute or five minutes.
>Invert the cube to repeat the measurement.
>bubbletimer.com/

First thought: ooh! Clever!

Second thought: My kitchen table/desk ain't flat.

Seriously, I do wonder how accurate these can be. The fact the cube is only a couple of inches per side must mean the slope is accurate to within a tiny percentage to get times of five minutes, however viscous the liquid. A couple of degrees out would be enough to really influence the time period.

Bah, I burn enough stuff already. Maybe not.

My Life for Aiur

[Lord Omlette]

Don't buy gifts for people, any idiot can wield a credit card. Instead, build something for someone. Use Legos, use paper (origami, cards, poetry), grab that game boy sowing machine and make clothes for someone if that's what you think they want, but don't just buy stuff. Make it meaningful, and stuff. Something that you put time and heart into will be appreciated much more than the stupid "duh, i bought you this because it was 15% off, here's the receipt if you don't like it" bullshit that capitalist pigs foist on us for their own pleasure. Or something.

And while I'm being cantankerous, I have a grand idea: why don't we be thankful before we worry about Our (ok, maybe your, but I'm still a little confused here) Savior's birthday?

Re:Dear Santa

[Guppy]

"Maybe your elves can built it. I have some schematics for it. Pr0... er... pencil holder schematics are becoming really big, with the internet and all, you know, Santa?"

I think that little slip of the tongue may have just landed you on the "Naughty" list.