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Geek Christmas Gift Ideas
Anonymous Coward writes "EDN magazine for December 12 has an article on Christmas gifts for techies. The best are a mouse pad that uses your hand as the mouse and Hokey Spokes (Why didn't I think of that?)." Getting desperate for ideas yet? I'm currently in the juggling fedex tracking numbers phase of christmas ;)
My first thought when I saw them was: can they be hacked? Can I change the message they display to a custom one? Can I advertise my web address on them?
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why is advertising so scary? schools already take money from soft drink makers (mostly Pepsi) to have their vending machines solely in their school districts...school districts advertising has a couple of possible benefits as far as i see...first, schools would have more money to spend on quality teachers, materials, facilities, etc...second, with the added income, the money the schools would need from taxes could go down, and thus taxes would go down...both of these are positive benefits to something that has relatively benign side effects...
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
The Craziest coincidence I saw lights similar to hotkey spokes on a chevy silverado this morning on the way to work! So I googled for this link that has similar lights to what I saw
I have great faith in fools; My friends call it self-confidence. Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1845
...is something that isn't geeky. Chances are a geek is going to know more than you do about sdram, a tivo, an ipod, a palmpilot, or anything else geeky you can get them. The best thing to do with the gift giving opportunity of Christmas is to buy someone something they wouldn't know how to shop for themselves. Shopping is a skill as those of you with girlfriends know well. If you know a lot about comfortable hiking socks or shot glasses, consider getting some of those for somebody.
In short, the gift you're giving isn't just the amount you're spending (otherwise, give cash) but the knowledge you have about good products and where to find them. The worst thing to buy a computer geek is computer stuff - the worst thing to buy a carpenter is a new drill. Both will object to you usurping their extremely picky opinions. Buy them something they suck at shopping for - something you're great at shopping for. This will vary from person to person.
I stole my father's old slide collection from the attic and spent a couple months with a slide scanner digitizing it. He lost our family's photographic history when he lost his slide projector, and I'm going to give it back. Over a thousand images from when I was growing up that he hasn't seen in years, built into one DVD with a custom viewer application so all he has to do is put it in his computer and autoplay will do the rest. Just one idea, but you get the picture.
Kill Trolls Dead. Here's
Who are these people you are referring to? I work in an IT department at a major university and I don't see these extreme geeks you appear to be referring to. Even if they are there, why the hate? What are they doing to you?
Live and let live already!
Give them a gift that keeps on giving. Donate money in their name to EFF!
In Soviet Russia...michael would be rotting in Siberia!
But while we'll buy presents for the kids in both families, once you hit 18, you go into a kind of "secret santa" thing where you're assigned one person to buy for. This is good because when you only have to buy a few present, you can put some real thought into them. Sometimes, it gives an excuse to call extended family members and talk about what you might buy where otherwise you wouldn't make the call. It's especially interesting when I need to buy for an older or younger member of my family and have to think outside my generation when finding something to buy.
It gets Christmas back to basics with an emphasis on giving and not on getting.