Geek Gift Ideas 2001

Once again its time for Slashdot readers to chime in on what they think would make good gift geek christmas presents. Please put approximate prices in the Subject so Santa can more easily decide your gift ;) I'm still stuck for ideas for a few people yet. Of course I'll have to post my ideas anonymously so people don't know what they're getting ;)

Gamecube + Rogue Leader

[Raster Burn]

A new game console, plus a Star Wars related game... what else could a geek possibly want?

Flat Screen Monitor ($500-1000)

[Anonymous Coward]

Great idea for those with limited desk space

Strange ideas...

[Krapangor]

..most ideas I've read here are rather strange.
The ultimate geek gift is a computer.
Always.
Ever.
All the time.
If a geek has 1 computer he can always use another one.
If a geek has n computers he can always use n+1 computers.

In fact, the necessary (but no sufficient) condition for being a geek is to have always use for another computer. If someone hasn't he isn't a geek.

For the knowledge whore

[lordbyron]

30 discs of the Complete National Geographic from 1888 to 2000.

Every article, Every picture, and of course every Cool ass map

Lordbyron
www.wylywade.com

Re:A girlfriend -- priceless

[OmegaDan]

hehe ... freedom from a bad woman, priceless ... endearment to a good one, also priceless.

Unconventional gifts.

[Christopher Thomas]

I'm sure we'll have hundreds of suggestions for nice hardware in short order, so I'm going to post a few gift suggestions that can't run Linux but still have geek appeal:

• A good soldering iron, a stack of vector board cards, and a bucket of BJTs, resistors, caps, and LEDs.
  
  Every once in a while I pull out a soldering iron and rediscover the fun of building widgetry from the ground up. Project books giving an introduction to electronics and a set of simple but neat building block circuits are still kicking around, and would be a useful addition to the pile as well.
  
  
• A very large pile of Meccano or Construx.
  
  I'll dig out my own pile of each someday. Geek appeal comes from trying to build things that most people would never think of (a working mechanical clock out of Construx was my biggest accomplishment with that medium).
  
  
• Decent origami paper and a couple of books on the subject.
  
  This falls under the "intricate hobbies" category, and so has a good chance of being welcome. I know I'm not the only geek with folded paper critters gracing his cube (a dragon, a Pierson's Puppeteer, and a Federation starship - yes, it can be done!).
  
  
• Gift certificates for the nearest bookstore that has a decent computer reference section.
  
  At $50-$100 Cdn apiece, one reference book costs as much as a large stack of sci-fi books. Help with getting new ones is always welcome, and I'm sure I'm not the only geek who likes documentation on the nifty tools I'm thinking about using (or am already using, for that matter).
  

There's no need to stick with hardware that will be obsolete in six months :).

Caveat with most of these - make sure your recipient is interested in them first. Yes, it ruins the surprise, but it's better than getting a bucketful of transistors when the sight of copper and lead make you cringe.

Robot cockroaches?

[peter303]

I pased through the mall yesterday and saw many toy store pushing "robo-bugs". The gift for little boys, or shelf-filler on Dec 26?

Apple iPod

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that Apple is counting on a nice holiday season to bolster sales of the iPod. It's a shame that it isn't a little cheaper but I think the true geeks out there will get one regardless.

A nice Chess Set

[SCHecklerX]

Hand carved stone, stone board, etc.

Re:Home made cards and company

[the_2nd_coming]

but I like to play the rich uncle who shamelessly spoils his niece and nephew (since their mother doesn't).

while at the same time pisses the mother off because she does not want her kids to have such trinkets :-).......

I loved my Uncle !! :-)

Re:Gift ideas that are good...

[FatRatBastard]

An 80's Arcade Game. One of those real-life 6' stand-up arcade games. Any self-respecting geek wouldn't snub his nose at one... well, unless it was a really bad title. "Oh, wow! Pit Fighter! I've always wanted one of THOSE."

Or a pinball machine. The best god-damn disposable income purchase I ever made. Lots of fun to play, and lots of geeky TLC needed to keep it in tip top condition.

Klein bottle ($25 - $45)

[YourMessageHere]

For the geek who has everything, a bottle of ... nothing. Zero volume, to be precise. Get yours at Acme Klein Bottle [kleinbottle.com]. Geek klein trivia: this company is owned and run by author Clifford Stoll [amazon.com].

Beer.

[supabeast!]

I just want an entire keg of Guiness, and a keg-er-ator that can hold it!

Re:How about an XBox?

[SilentChris]

"How about a gift for the planet?"

How does this help the planet? Slowing the economy down even more helps the planet?

Re:Real Geek Gift Ideas

[AtaruMoroboshi]

Um, you've offered no proof at all.

I would ask that you seek reason out, learn how to think clearly, and watch as you realize that you sound pretty silly.

Re:Real Geek Gift Ideas

[Neurowiz]

On Topic Part ->

Pre-ordered seats for LotR ($8)
21" Flat LCD Screen ($2569)

Off Topic Part ->

I seriously have to question any religion that advocates or has advocated the elimination of another religion or belief (Crusades, current Moral Minority are good examples).

I seriously have to question the concept that a signle thing 'died' for us so that we 'believe' this person died for us. The focus should not be on that - it should be on that we believe in doing good and not adding to entropy.

I seriously have questions about a single religion when you have 5 dominant religions in the world, each suited for their civilation and ecology/economy of origin, and they all purport to be the One True Way, all you have to do is believe!

I seriously have questions about a religion which is more set up for the benefit of a governance than for a belief in a higher purpose and being.

Maybe the real gift would be inner peace, inner enlightment and inner acceptance that all have a different Path.

Re:A girlfriend -- priceless

[aidoneus]

I almost agree, except in my case it would be getting my almost fiancee back. She broke things off right before my birthday, and since that time we've been trying for a friendship, but there's too much hurt for things to be working right. So what am I doing? What any self respecting geek would do. I stopped pouring my money into her and instead am redirecting it to hardware. Sad, but hey I've got some neat new toys to play with so I can try and forget what happened.

Hint for anyone in a serious relationship: if you and the one you love start taking it for granted that you have each other, you'll lose each other. We stopped treating each other as the most precious things in each others lives (instead we just would talk about work, not how we really were) and that was the beginning of the end. Guys, when you're in a place like that listen to your girlfriend and let her know how much you care and respect her. Respect is vital.

Ok, too much off-topic rambling.

...continuing off-topic religious thread...

[kilgore_47]

I don't give a damn about the demographic statistics of your childhood friends. I said likely because many people inherit their belief system from their parents and/or childhood surroundings so it seemed likely this was the case with you too.

It comes down to this: you've got one book that you are 100% sure is the word of GOD, and your childhood best buddy (or, if he's been "saved", any one of the other millions of people dedicated to a non-christian faith) has another book that he/she is also 100% sure is the word of GOD. A debate about religion between you and your muslim best friend would quickly result in the two of you reading off translations of translations of books written by people who died thousands of years ago.

Why not think for yourself, live in the present, and stop living your life by what a bunch of people on the other side of the world wrote down a few thousand years ago? Seriously! Get a grip, man! Can you honestly relate to the stories in the bible? They were written for a different people, in a different time! If the men who wrote the bible were brought here today (by time machine or something, stay with me for a quick hypothetical situation) they would be utterly confused by our society. They certainly wouldn't be able to solve our problems! Yet you live your life by what they wrote, after they "talked to god", two thousand years ago (actually, it was probably a little less than that since by accepted records the oldest parts of the new testament wern't written until almost 100 years after christ's death).

If you can't deal with reality and need to pray to the "one and only" god when times get rough, thats your right. But keep that stuff off the "news for nerds" discussion board, because I'm pretty sure most people here aren't interested in being "saved".

Re:Real Geek Gift Ideas

[kilgore_47]

The problem with the God vs. Parents predicting events comparison is that parents can predict their kids most of the time. Being able to predict with relative accuracy what someone is going to do is not uncommon, but children also still surprise their parents on a regular basis.

To hear it from a christian, god knows everything before during and after it happens. THAT kind of foreknowledge logically requires fate, and hence no human free will, even though parental predictions of a child's behavior (ie lettuce vs ice cream) doesn't.

Got, gi-tux? If not, have a bowl of ice cream and think it over.