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Weird Presents Anyone?
g8way writes "Now that Christmas is about, it's time for presents. A joyous occasion with much drinking, fruitcake, and butt-ugly sweaters. What's the weirdest gift you've gotten so far? Personally, I got toothpaste, tic-tacs, deodorant, and a McDonalds coupon book in the same package. What's your story of Christmas present mayhem?"
The weirdest gift was when I was 15, I got a $50 savings bond and a guaranteed plot at a funeral home
Did anybody get a /. subscription as a gift? Anybody?
My brother got a bottleopener that can record samples and replay them. That's pretty odd. Any suggestions of messages?
:D)
(On a side note: I got Band of brothers on DVD amongst other things - way cool
For me, the weirdest presents this year came in the form of clothes from my grandma that I wouldn't actually be embarassed to wear!!
:)
A really smart shirt from Next (clothes store in the UK, not the old UNIX company!), and a silk tie from tie rack - both of which were really smart, and totally suitable to wear to work.
I was stunned!
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
I was given (by a christian relative) an autobiography of christian golfer Bernhard Langer. A pretty poor attempt to turn me onto 'the right path'! Next year I'm going to buy them something by Richard Dawkins.
We ARE the peat bog soldiers.
My wife got a Caron-Monoxide detector from her secret Santa at the their holiday party.
Other people got wine, gadgets, chocolate...
Mind you we have a small house and we have two already detectors allready.
But, CO poisoning is serious stuff up here in the great northern state, so I guess the best way to look at it is that at LEAST one of her fellow employees would like her to survive the winter. (We had a family of five die this month from it.)
*A)bort, R)etry, I)nfluence with large hammer.*
My girlfriend gave toilet paper & laundry soap to her brothers and their families. Happy Holidays!
My uncle, who worked for the Air Force in some sort of intelligence/communications aspect, gave us an unusually heavy small package last year. Inside was our very own gurkha knife, leather holster, display stand (which I promptly broke), and instructions. According to the care and use instructions, this knife and other fine ones like it could be found in Muhammed's Knife Emporium, blah blah street, Kathmandu. The instructions included such gems as "Be sure not leave fingers on blade from cleaning". This year's present was a carved pen-sized fish with two screws coming out the bottom of the head. We have no idea what it is, where it came from, or what it does. This seems to be a typical feature of my uncle's presents, come to think of it..
An absurd gift, An Amish man (beard, hat etc..)puppet who's spring loaded arms can pack quite a nice hit - A completely bizarre gift from my equally bizarre sister... The company that makes it also makes a Nun punching puppet...
My dad's GF got me a vibrating pen. You press the little button on the cap and it vibrates. I don't quite get it, I mean, it's not even water-resistant. Such is electroschlock, I suppose.
I like the premise of your plan, but it won't work with helium. If it floats at all it won't float for long since the helium will seep out very quickly.
Interesting subject. Some people get really excited about the holidays, looking at it as a materialistic boon. Others loathe the idea that a social mandate dictates that they are to give items to everyone they know, and then have to make stressful decisions as to which of their friends fall into that "gift recipient" category and which don't. And then there's always the situation where someone who isn't on your list, gives you something and you feel weird about it.
i t's-something-you-like category. I used to think that I was one of those people who is very hard to buy gifts for, because I tend to get what I want, when I want and don't mull around much advertising things I'd like but don't have. But lately, I've had a few friends completely blow me away with things that I didn't even consider, but turned out to be great gifts. Anything that reflects some time, personal effort or thought is always rewarding. So I no longer buy into the idea that some people are hard to buy gifts for... it's not about money; it's about taking some time to pay attention to what they like.
I don't know what's worse. Running around trying to find something meaningful for someone as a gift, or opening presents from people you care about and wondering if you ended up with some impulse item that's devoid of any insight into who you are.
I've always tried to give things to my friends that didn't fall into that impulse or heres-the-latest-gadget-even-though-i'm-not-sure-
This year I found a number of otherwise mundane items that I could make special. For friends that are into cooking, I picked up some cookbooks by a famous chef in the area, and then tracked him down and got him to sign the books to my friends. Making things for people is also a good idea. One year I made up batches of herbed olive oil. Another year I smoked a bunch of hams and turkeys myself and gave them out. For friends that are into history or science, I'd keep my eyes open for interesting, very old artifacts on ebay. Wine also makes a good gift if you know what's good. A little research can yield some inexpensive, yet exceptional wines that are otherwise hard to find.
One of the weirdest gifts I ever got was from an ex-girlfriend (who at the time wasn't an ex). A gardenia bush. That in itself might not seem that weird, except I found a book she accidently left at my place on Voodoo spells, with a "love spell" page dog-eared that required placing Gardenia bushes around the target's house as a component!
Was the McDonalds coupon book labeled as a weird gift before or after the reports of Mad Cow disease in the US?
Cry havoc, and let slip the dogs of war
There was a pull-out panel with a circular cutout with a green ground glass in it with concentric circles and various tiny blobs painted on the back, and behind it, an revolving black plastic circle with a radial line cut-out. When the 60 watt bulb behind it was turned-on, it looked like a sweeping radar scope.
Some toggle switches allowed to control the light, the rotator and some other blinkenlights (which were blinking christmas lights in reality).
Altough made of plywood, the whole thing was finished in that wrinkling paint which was so popular for instruments 40 years ago and it looked awfully real.
Plus there was a crystal radio with headphones built into the thing...
My father had worked several weeks with a TV-repairman friend to make it. I suppose that this gift I got was the one that was the closest ever to the true Christmas spirit: my father made it himself - never mind it was a "radar scope" instead of a rocking horse, it rocked the same... I must have played with the thing until I was 10...
My folks decided not to give us presents this year, and give the money to charity instead. I think this is a good idea.
See, we're Hannukah people, not Christmas people. Most Christians think we celebrate Christmas with the serial numbers filed down, but it's really not like that. The presents we used to get were little things---some nifty pens, a t-shirt---certainly not the crap our fellow consumer-citizens are using to bury themselves in debt.
So, what am I missing? Twenty bucks---maximum---of various kitsch. What am I getting? A warm fuzzy. Not to mention that I already got one big-ticket item from my folks this year (a flat-panel monitor, at commencement) and getting stuff makes me feel obligated.
After all, isn't it really all about giving? Eh? Eh?
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
A co-worker of mine gave the best gift that I had heard of to date. His girlfriend is a Titanic buff and he found out that RMS Titanic, Inc., which holds the salvage rights funds some of its activities by selling the only item that they are authorized to...coal.
So guess what she got in her stocking.
2 believe || ! 2 believe
i got a digital signal processing enabled high-frequency transceiver optimized for carrier-wave communication! even more surprising, it was made in America by Americans (if you count people residing in Tennessee as Americans?) :-)
see http://www.tentec.com/tt516.htm
At least it sounds like you got hot sauce that everyone will not make bad jokes about.
Yes, I received Hot sauce called Chit. Hot Chit, Dip Chit, Spicy Chit, Mild Chit- all in a box that looks like an Outhouse.
At least it tastes good.
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life
My best friend gave me these two extremely odd presents. The wind up sushi is a set of little plastic pieces of sushi which wind up and zoom across the floor. The set includes shrimp, three pieces of tuna, and salmon eggs.
Jesus Christ: Serial Rapist is a DVD, the front of which has pictures of crucified naked women and says, "First he nails you... then he NAILS you!" The back summarizes the movie as, "A schizophrenic thinks he is Jesus, and he wants payback! He crucifies and rapes the wives of his enemies. He films his deeds because he wants to make a new gospel - the Gospel of Blood!!!"
Should be... interesting.
Your post made me get up from the computer and go talk to the TV with my mom, dad, and sister - that's a powerful post, and an eerily appropriate one for Christmas.
/.'er.
I just wanted to say thanks. As a college student especially, it's easy to overlook things that really matter - I'm sure I'm not the only person you had an impact on.
My religion says that everything happens for a reason - if you believe anything like that, I hope maybe you just saw a way that your mother's unfortunate death was able to help this lowly
Thanks again, sincerly.
Rent is debt, it's a continuing eternal debt.
Um, excuse me. What the hell are you talking about?
Rent is paying for the use of something temporarily. Debt is being a slave to the borrower, period. You can put it in whatever PC term you choose best. If you owe someone money, they control your finances until you are relieved of this debt.
Now, if you're speaking of leases, that could be considered debt because a lease is worth the entire term of said rent. This could be considered temporary debt at best.
This guy knows his shite. He's a pro-cash guy. And while I can't go full-tilt into his scheme, it's important to realize that rent is not debt, no matter how you see it.
Rent == Eternal debt. Where do you guys come up with this garbage?
My 7 y.o. daughter made a container for me. It is a small sample sized plastic coffee can with a, well my guitar pick taped to the top, and a swirly painted construction paper cicle glued to the bottom. She also gave me a digital watch with a bungee cord band.
Really. My in-laws are disturbingly materialistic at Christmas. I made it clear there was nothing I really wanted, and with some appropriate hints via my wife, instead, they went through a charity organisation (possibly world vision, but don't have the details handy) and bought a goat for a poor family. The goat provides them with fresh milk, and can be bred with other goats to sell the kids (baby goats) for a profit. It helps break the poverty cycle.
My sister in laws were excitingly comparing their expensive new perfumes, and said "so what did you get?". The answer did put a slight damper on them.
I don't want to be mister "holier than thou". Sure, there's stuff I'd like. But that's all it is, stuff. It's nothing that's going to have any real impact on my life, not in the same way a goat will to the life of that family. And I don't want to be scrooge either. There's nothing wrong with presents. But let's keep things in perspective here.
Read reviews of shopping cart software
A few days ago, slashdot had a discussion about people's first computers. My first computer was mentioned and there was even a link to see it. Somehow seeing the picture made me miss the little fella, so I called my parents up and asked them if they might still have it in a box or drawer somewhere. My father said "No, sorry, I haven't seen that thing for years". I wasn't surprised... until on x-mas day when I went to my parents' house for dinner and found that my dad went up in his attic and found that old thing. I couldn't wait to plug it in and hook it up to an old TV to see if it still worked, and it did! The nostalgia almost brought a tear to my eye. This was the machine that I wrote my very first program on. I was 9 years old and am now 30. The only sad part of the story is that the first thing it displays when turned on is "Microsoft Corporation Copyright 1982". I didn't remember that... I must have subconsciously blocked it out of my memories. I wish I could find the book and/or other documents that came with it though. Anyway, my father also found an old TI99/4a with 2 games: football and some math learning 'game' or is it spelling, I dunno. The TI99/4a isn't that significant to me, but I'm sure it would be to someone who had one as their first computer and can no longer find it (one). So in the spirit of the holidays, I'm willing to send it to the first slashdoter that would get a kick out of seeing / using a TI99/4a again and emails me with a request for it. You'll have to pay for the shipping though. Cheers and Happy Holidays!
If you can't just be yourself, then be more like me, ok?
This is untrue. For instance, here are Darwin's words, in his diary, on the death of his father in November 1848:
"I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my Father, Brother and almost all of my friends, will be everlasting punished.
"And this is a damnable doctrine."
But he was not quite an atheist. In later life, he wrote in his Autobiography, intended only for the consumption of his family:
"[A] source of conviction in the existence of God ... follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capability of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting ... I deserve to be called a theist."
His beliefs wavered constantly, and for this reason he avoided making public statements on his religious beliefs, but reserved his statements to constantly stressing that evolution was compatible with theism.
In his last years, he wrote in his autobiography:
"A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life ... only to follow those impulses and instincts ... which seem to him the best ones ... I believe that I have acted rightly in steadily following and devoting my life to science."
Source of all the above:
Darwin's Diary
Who are these "most people" you are talking about. Only a subset of Christians believe that the theory of evolution and christianity are incompatible. Most non-christians either do not agree with you or do not care.
Your statement that Darwins theory of evolution has no relation to current evolution theory is ridiculous. Current evolution theory is based on Darwins theory, we just have many more years of observation and a better understanding of the acutal biological mechanisms involved. We also have better mathematical tools like complexity theory. Just because Darwin expected smoother evolution than current theory posits and that, like all early geneticists, he knew nothing about DNA, only that traits were passed on somehow.
There's nothing irrational about Christianity.
The beliefs in souls, heaven, hell, God, Satan, demons, angels, walking on water, talking donkeys, flaming swords, flaming and flying chariots, transfirguarions, resurrections, ascencions, demon-possessions, etc, etc, etc are all superstitious, irrational beliefs. There is no evidence to support any of them.
Oh, there is the Bible, you say! I have made a hobby of rational analysis of scripture. I know scripture better than most Christians. Would you like to discuss it with me?
The life of Jesus of Nazareth is a matter of historical record, backed up by thousands of written texts
You have been listening to your preacher too much. Outside of scripture, there are very few references to the life of this "Jesus" character. Most Christians are well-trained enough to spit out "Josephus" and "Tacitus" here, but few have actually read their words which actually mention a "Jesus". There is no way that there are "thousands" of written texts, unless you are actually referring to the thousands of contradictory manuscripts from which the Bible was compiled and then choosing to impose Jesus on the Old Testament.
The Bible is widely regarded as a work of literature and a chronicle of history in addition to being divinely inspired.
Ad numeram.
I don't make the rules. I just make fun of them.