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Geek Christmas Gift Ideas 375

Posted by CmdrTaco from the last-chance dept.
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 ;)
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Geek Christmas Gift Ideas More

Geek Christmas Gift Ideas

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  • Tech TV (Score:3, Informative)

    by kpdvx ( 546561 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:39AM (#4906868)
    Tech TV has had a "Top 20" geek christmas list for a few weeks now. Good stuff-Told all of my friends to get it. And don't tell me you can't get Tech TV, do like me, and be a dishhead! Tech TV is free on Satcom C4 Transponder 12!

    • Re:Tech TV (Score:3, Funny)

      by uncoveror ( 570620 )
      Geeks don't celebrate Christmas. That's for consumer lemmings. Happy Festivus!

  • Geek Gifts (Score:5, Funny)

    by von Prufer ( 444647 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:40AM (#4906872)
    Anyone know where I can get a good penis enlarger or a new home mortage for Christmas? I've been searching all over the Internet without any success.

  • Micro RC Cars (Score:5, Informative)

    by Stavr0 ( 35032 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:41AM (#4906877) Homepage Journal
    Tomika Bit CharG / Hobbico Microsizers

    They're tiny (2" 1:66) Remote control cars that run off a rechargeable battery charged on the remote control.

    They're affordable ($20 for a starter kit) and upgradeable (faster motors, better tires, NiMH battery pack).

    Perfect for boardroom tabletop racing!

    • Re:Micro RC Cars (Score:4, Insightful)

      by BadlandZ ( 1725 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:58AM (#4907016) Journal
      You mean the ones I get about 2-3 spams a day that people are trying to sell? I'd not even consider them simply because of the spam factor.

      • Re:Micro RC Cars (Score:3, Informative)

        by ism ( 180693 )
        Actually, the ones I see in spam messages are the low-quality clones being sold by importers. They are usually not upgradable at all and only useful for parts cannibalizing. The Tomy Bit Char-G cars have both official and aftermarket upgrades in terms of gears, tires, and motors. There are also many modifications possible if you are handy with a soldering iron, as well as hobby modelling tools. Hobbico Microsizers are exactly the same as the Bit Char-G's and the same parts and mods will work. For more information of Micro RC Cars go here [microrccenter.com].

        I can understand your frustration with the spam, but it would be unfortunate to pass this up because of that. Boycott the individual spammers. There are many non-spamming businesses that sell these.
        • Good point. I didn't realize there was a difference.

          I don't think I'll be doing that this year though. My goal is high quality overkill wiring in at least 5 rooms in my house by 2003. So my entire Christmas list revolves around wiring bits. 2 high quality coax (DirecTiVo), 1 CAT7 (data) and 1 CAT5 (phone) in at least 5 rooms. Distribution rack in basement. Lot's of parts, lots of pulling wires, and I'll be happy when it's done... :-)

  • Real X-mas gifts (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tolleman ( 606762 ) <jens@tolOPENBSDlofsen.se minus bsd> on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:41AM (#4906883) Homepage
    What about the real geek gifts? World domination? A Beowulf cluster? Or what all geeks are in need of. A girlfriend.

  • exercise?? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by miltimj ( 605927 )
    Hokey Spokes? Cool...

    Oh yeah, but when do nerds have time to pull themselves away from the monitor to actually get some exercise?..

    • Re:exercise?? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Gudlyf ( 544445 )
      That's how a bunch of us get to work [totalbike.com].
  • These things are future-scary. How soon before we see Pepsi ads on the wheels of school buses?

    • Advertising not scary... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by bje2 ( 533276 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:56AM (#4907004)
      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...
      • A Simpson's quote to rebutle your quote:
        Troy: {[on TV] Now turn to the next problem. If you have three Pepsis and drink one, how much more refreshed are you? You, the redhead in the Chicago school system?
        [a window opens up on the screen to show the girl]}
        Girl: {Pepsi?}
        Troy: {Partial credit!}
        (http://www.snpp.com/episodes/2F15.html)

    • Re:Hokey Spokes-how soon for autos? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Nevermore-Spoon ( 610798 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:01AM (#4907042)
      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 [autodirectsave.com] that has similar lights to what I saw

  • My Christmas list (Score:5, Insightful)

    by bareman ( 60518 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:42AM (#4906889) Homepage Journal
    Well, for all of you that are still wondering what to get for ME for Christmas...

    Just make an anonymous donation to an open source project on my (or anyones) behalf.

    Thank you and may the joy of christmas be with you.

    • If I had mod points, you'd get one. I'd rather have someone give a subscription to KRUD [tummy.com] to their local library than buy me some geek toy I'll play with for a week and then forget about. There are a lot of great projects out there. Support them. It may be something some guy developed and put out there for free, not even asking for donations, but if you use it and benefit from it, send him (or her) ten bucks for the non-specific-winter-observance-of-your-choice season.

  • nah, the ultimate geek gift... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ElectronicEnima ( 634465 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:43AM (#4906895)
    the ultimate geek gift would definately be an early release of the linux nwn client (or getting it before everyone else)....

  • Greek Celibate Christmas? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:45AM (#4906910)

    Whoops, read it wrong.

  • toys... (Score:2, Funny)

    by BobRooney ( 602821 )
    Go to the back of radio shack and look for anything that resembles the inner workings of a computer...pick up said items and purchase for your geek.

    Also, let me know if you come across a flux capacitor or an oscillation overthruster!

    (shameless buckaroo banzai reference)

  • xmas gift (Score:5, Funny)

    by sstory ( 538486 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:47AM (#4906933) Homepage
    The best things you can get a geek are some non-stupid-looking clothes, and a course in how to not act like a doofus. If I see one more CS student with a sweat-stained Linux T-shirt, in public, making some snide comment between something and Queen Amidala, I'm going to throw up. I mean really. Some of these people make Comic Book Guy look like James Bond. Maybe get them a plaque for above their monitor that says "Knowing obscure Perl modules won't by itself stop me from appearing retarded."

    • Re:xmas gift (Score:5, Interesting)

      by kldavis4 ( 585510 ) <kldavis4@ g m a il.com> on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:19AM (#4907183)
      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!

      • Re:xmas gift (Score:5, Insightful)

        by poot_rootbeer ( 188613 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @12:09PM (#4908172)
        I work in an IT department at a major university and I don't see these extreme geeks you appear to be referring to.

        Two possibilities:

        1. No one you see at work is a real geek because geeks don't want to support PeopleSoft for a paltry $32K/yr, or

        2. The geek is YOOOUUUUUUUU.

        Hope that helps.

  • agh (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tps12 ( 105590 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:47AM (#4906935) Homepage Journal
    Enough already. There's more to life than consumer electronics and parts for your PC. "Geeks" has become synonymous with "xtreme consumer." You don't need a TiVo (or even a TV, for that matter), or a watch that uses Bluetooth to irradiate your testicles (okay, maybe that's a keeper), or a new Palm Pilot for writing out next year's Christmas list. Go outside, read a good book, snuggle with a loved one.

    • Re:agh (Score:2, Funny)

      by shivianzealot ( 621339 )
      Hear hear! I'm tired of be likened to the dimwits in Best Buy commercials. We play computer games, solder, slap our heads in the presence of lesser mortals, and occasionally endure a full body dip in sun tan lotion to embark upon the outside world... and sometimes we buy digital watches to irradiate our testicles, but that is only a minor part in our lives.

    • Re:agh (Score:5, Funny)

      by evilviper ( 135110 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:55AM (#4907462) Journal
      Go outside, read a good book, snuggle with a loved one.

      I would go outside and snuggle with a loved one... but I don't have an extention cord long enough.

      *rimshot*

    • As an anthropologist specializing in internet communities, I find it very interesting and indicative that this was modded +5 funny.
      I agree with you 100% ;o)
    • *snuggle with a loved one*

      Restraining Order

  • minivan DVD? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by JJ22 ( 558624 )
    Best Buy has POS DVD players for $39 - any thoughts on what would be necessary to strap that and a tiny tv into the back of the minivan for a less than $1800 (retail) auto-theater?

    • Re:minivan DVD? (Score:5, Informative)

      by stratjakt ( 596332 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:01AM (#4907047) Journal
      a dvd player (or a ps2/xbox), one of the LCD displays for PS1 or Gamecube, and a DC-AC adaptor works great to keep kids quiet on long car trips. I just strap the screen to the back of the front seat, sit the PS2 between the kids, and you're all set.

      A good mobile dvd player would no doubt be less prone to skipping, but if you aren't offroading (ie; highway driving) it's all good.

      Be warned: many, if not most, children will get carsick trying to watch a movie or play video games while driving. Whether you spend 2000$ or 400$ on your car entertainment center won't make kids puke any less.

  • Hokeyspokes (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jaavaaguru ( 261551 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:49AM (#4906948) Homepage
    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?

    • Re:Hokeyspokes (Score:5, Interesting)

      by John Harrison ( 223649 ) <(moc.liamg) (ta) (nosirrahnhoj)> on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:59AM (#4907024) Homepage Journal
      The website says that they are fully programable. You can use the ir port of a Palm Pilot to communicate with them. So yes you can make them say dirty words or your web address. If anyone is looking long and hard enough to read the words though they are likely to hit you unintentionally if they are in a moving car. Other patterns might hypnotizethem or trigger siezures. Maybe these aren't a saftey product after all...
    • I had seen in the Noah's Ark fun house in Kennywood Amusement part something similar to these mounted on a wall. It was just one vertical row of LEDs. They were blinking seemingly randomly. I looked at them for a bit trying to figure out what it was. It wasn't until I turned my head that I saw what it was doing. The persistance of vision as I turned my head painted a picture in the air.

      Has anyone seen these wall mounted LED things, and know where I can get them?

      I guess I could look into building my own.

  • A doll would be great .. (Score:3, Funny)

    by ciupman ( 413849 ) <luis.pintoNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:50AM (#4906950) Homepage
    .. a real doll [realdoll.com] would just be great ..

    here goes my karma again ;)

  • How about... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mschoolbus ( 627182 ) <travisriley@@@gmail...com> on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:50AM (#4906954)
    A few pounds of Sodium [slashdot.org]...

    I could have so much fun with that stuff...

  • Geek Gift Links (Score:5, Informative)

    by StCredZero ( 169093 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:50AM (#4906956)

  • Vectron (Score:3, Interesting)

    by YrWrstNtmr ( 564987 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:50AM (#4906960)
    Vectron Blackhawk [vectronblackhawk.com]

    UFO-like semi-remote (wired) flying thingy. Before I wrapped it for my son, I HAD to try it out. Hard to fly initially, but very cool.
    • Just took a look at the site, and darned if that thing isn't tethered to the base via a PS/2 connection! If someone were to reverse engineer the protocol (as long as the power requirements are compatible) it could easily be computer controlled for precision flight and more adaptable messages.
      • A couple of things we'll be trying is a longer cord (PS/2 extension cable), and a pinhole video camera velcroed to the bottom, pointing straight down.

  • Why pay $179 for a mouse... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Gudlyf ( 544445 ) <<gudlyf> <at> <realistek.com>> on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:51AM (#4906962) Homepage Journal
    When you can just get a Touchpad Mouse [amazon.com] that'll probably do the same and be more compact to "slip easily into your travel bag as the perfect external USB pointer for your laptop."

  • Hokey Spokes (Score:2, Funny)

    by mizukami ( 141102 )
    At $30 per blade, the text message should probably read "Steal Me". :-)

  • The Best gift for a techie... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by FortKnox ( 169099 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:52AM (#4906971) Homepage Journal
    ...is cash. The cold, hard kind. Techies know exactly what they want, and if they don't have it, its cause they don't have the moolah to buy it. Don't sit and dream of what they want, cause you have a 90% chance of being wrong. Give me cash, and I'm happy. Who is going to object to cash??
    • [this was blatantly copied from http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/check.htm ]

      Gift-giving is an integral part of the holiday season, and one is expected to expend not just money on the endeavor, but time and effort too. To write a check or enclose money in a card is to distill the process down to only one aspect of the tradition, arguably the least important. One, in effect, puts an explicit pricetag on a relationship, making a cold but straightforward assessment of that person's worth in the giver's life. It is for this reason etiquette frowns upon the practice -- though the cash might be welcome, the lack of sentiment behind the present is not.

    • Right. So if I give my girlfriend $150 for Christmas, and she gives me $150, then we have achieved what? Cash is a miserable gift if only for its fluidity; no gift should be cancelled out by its reciprocal.

  • the best gift (Score:5, Funny)

    by tanveer1979 ( 530624 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:53AM (#4906983) Homepage Journal
    In my view the best view will be "Kharma Whorer 2002, Enterprise edition" This is for the geeks who do not know how to/or dont want to post insightful/funny/interesting/underrated posts. So what happens. Their Karma goes for a toss. this software will see the slashdot main story... then do automatic googling... and find out more information. In case of the story being a repeat it will also copy the insightful comments from previous one and post them on the story. This will earn insightful points... And googling will get informative points.

  • My Christmas Wish for Bill. (Score:4, Funny)

    by airrage ( 514164 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:56AM (#4907002) Homepage Journal
    You know, I'm thinking, Bill Gates has all this money and yet, he's probably the loneliest guy in the world. Does anyone ever say, 'Hey Bill, wanna go fishing?' or 'Did you catch Letterman last night?'; yeah, I thought it sucked too.

    So this Christmas, as Bill is drinking Crystal and eating Beluga Caviar, I just wish Bill would get his little Christmas wish of new best friend.

    So Bill, I don't know what your getting this year man (maybe a H2 Hummer), but I really hope you find someone you can really talk to.

    Merry Christmas Bill...and Happy New Year.

  • Gifts for Brainiacs & Gadget Lovers (Score:3, Informative)

    by overunderunderdone ( 521462 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:57AM (#4907009)
    [amazon.com]
    Amazon.com has lists of gifts for different types of people including:
    Gifts for Brainiacs [amazon.com] (mostly books & brain-teaser party games) and
    Gifts for Gadget Lovers [amazon.com] (uh... gadgets).
    Their Impossible to shop for [amazon.com] list is also worth looking at (all sorts of weird stuff).

    For your non-geek kith and kin here are all the other Gift lists by recipient [amazon.com]

  • Oh look, it's all "Me, me, me!" (Score:5, Insightful)

    by flatpack ( 212454 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @09:59AM (#4907022)
    Yet again Christmas rolls round, and yet again we get an article in which geeks across the world can indulge in willy-wangling posts about who wants the latest and greatest geek toys. Since when was Christmas just about how much consumer electronics one can acquire?

    What about intangible things such as goodwill, family and happiness? I know these things are deeply unfashionable to modern corporate consumers in USia, but they're what Christmas is supposed to be about. Whether you believe in God or not, you should be spending time trying to make others happy, not indulging in naked avarice.

    I'm sure this is going to get me flamed, but why can't we have more focus on how we can make others happy rather than how we can make ourselves happy, before Christmas truly does become nothing more than Giftmas, the celebration of all things commercial.

    • Re:Oh look, it's all "Me, me, me!" (Score:5, Insightful)

      by mccalli ( 323026 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:01AM (#4907045) Homepage
      Since when was Christmas just about how much consumer electronics one can acquire?

      About mid-1980s.

      Cheers,
      Ian

    • Re:Oh look, it's all "Me, me, me!" (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:12AM (#4907123)
      Exactly!
      I want WORLD PEACE for Christmas. But I want to watch the news reports about world peace on a new 60" plasma screen.
    • Spoken like a true poor person.
      • Spoken like a true poor person.

        Are you being serious? Do you really equate caring about things other than possessions with a lack of money? Or vice versa, that having money means that you can suddenly ignore things like decency and happiness? That's a monumentally scary attitude similar to that of sociopaths and other people with serious mental problems.

        Please someone tell me that this isn't the common geek attitude around here.

    • This will come off bitter, but hear me out before you just think 'troll'. The human race is flawed.

      It's not about group survival.. it's about good ol' #1

      It's not about good will to all man, but just so long as it makes ourselves look good.

      It's about feeling guilty because your parents taught you better.

      It's not about keeping jobs in the US instead of hiring in India, or having our president elected by a corrupt system, or dumping our electronics in China.

      The people I love, and I care about, I make sure htey know it every day.. and if not every day, at least once a week. And if not every week, as soon as fesably possible. X-mas has become a cookie cutter holiday where everyone is supposed to be nice, and then go back to the daily grind.

      When people start to change their ways, maybe i'll see x-mas as a real holiday, where we all celebrate as a reminder of the ones we love vs a day to nag our consciouses to "do good".
      • The people I love, and I care about, I make sure htey know it every day...

        That should be the case for everyone, but let's face it, it just isn't the case for many in today's self-centred world. As much as we might with it wasn't so, at least at times like Christmas people are reminded to think about someone else other than themselves.

        But nowadays even that is being lost under an avalanche of greed; people are using it as a day for getting what they want, and not doing what they can to make others happy.

    • Hey, when they slap some blinking LEDs on the front of World Peace I'll be all over that! Until then, I want a MiniDisc player!

      Kintanon

  • Denial phase (Score:5, Funny)

    by codexus ( 538087 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:01AM (#4907044)
    CmdrTaco may already be in the FedEx numbers tracking phase but I'm still in the denial phase. It's easier to pretend that christmas doesn't happen this year until the last minute where I'll enter the panic phase and be forced to go buy stuff. I hate christmas :(

  • A real christmas gift... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tigress ( 48157 ) <rot13.fcnzgenc03@8in.net> on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:01AM (#4907050)
    Personally, I think the best christmas gift for a geek is... a christmas without computers. I'm serious, christmas should be a time for relaxation and spending time with your family.

    I know for a fact that I will be spending my christmas with my family. Sure, I might bring a laptop to entertain myself during the trainride, but the christmas itself will be spent without any computers or network connectivity at all.

    For you other geeks out there, please do consider giving yourself and your family the rare gift of time spent together. =)

  • Last Year (Score:2, Informative)

    by stratjakt ( 596332 )
    I got a NeoGeo Pocket, and a Flashlink adaptor and 2 blank cartridges. I had tons of fun boxing day hacking homebrewed stuff, and whatnot. Though I pretty much had to spell out *exactly* what to get and where to get it for my wife.

    I'd frankly rather let people surprise me with whatever. A far as the 'geek' stuff goes: computer parts, video games, etc, I know what I want better than anyone I know. It's less fun when you have to give people the exact part numbers of what you want.

    It's better to give than to recieve, so this year I'm giving the geek gifts. I bought up a couple of abandoned 'barbie' pc cases for 6 bucks, fitted them with Shuttle FV25 flex-atx mainboards, 1.0A Celerons, a chunk of ram, some dvd players, and am giving each kid their own media PC. One painted up to look like Scooby's Mystery Machine (for the boy), the other upholstered in mock leapord-skin fur (for the girl).
  • Think Geek [thinkgeek.com]

    Lots of neet stuff, T-shirts, coffee mugs, gadgets, etc. Mostly stocking-stuffer type stuff, but some larger items as well.

    TM

  • Beyblades!!! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by X-Nc ( 34250 )
    I just got some Beyblades [beyblade.com] for my son who's birthday was Monday (he just turned 6). I don't know where they would stand on the Geek-Coolness-Meter but they are absolutely a blast. I got Dracile and he's got Dragoon. I haven't had so much fun in years.
  • I just have to gush about my early Christmas "gifts". Even if they are from me to me - with a little help from a few "elves".

    Last night I received a call from the one and only Lars...letting me know that the dagger that I ordered from Lundegaard in Sept. was being shipped to me today! So I should be getting this really cool dagger with a kris blade (dubbed shorty) on Monday...at work! Can't wait! Woo Hoo. Just in time for Christmas.

    Also, I received in the mail today my very first Invasion danglie! I want to thank William Iserman for taking care of ordering the danglies and shipping them off so quickly. He was also generous and did not take payment for them.
    Merry Christmas to you all. I also look forward to seeing many of you at Thursday's Slashdot Meetup (slashdot.meetup.com).

  • mod points (Score:3, Funny)

    by JonKatzIsAnIdiot ( 303978 ) <.moc.oohay. .ta. .0002_1624a.> on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:11AM (#4907118)
    mod points

    'nuff said
  • Hokey Spokes look pretty much like a spirograph for your bicycle...

  • Best thing for a geek... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Apathy costs bills ( 629778 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:13AM (#4907129) Homepage Journal
    ...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.

  • Not doing Christmas (Score:5, Insightful)

    by EllF ( 205050 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:15AM (#4907139) Homepage

    My family and I are entering the second year where we don't swap gifts, but instead just get together and enjoy each others' company. It's wonderful.

    When I was seven or eight, the excitement of the holiday was "getting stuff", and if there were kids in the picture I imagine we'd all still do the gift thing. What's the point of a bunch of adults spending money they don't have on shit they don't need, though?

    The most enjoyable part of the non-loot-oriented approach is how relaxed we all are. There's no rush to the stores, no fretting over our wallets, no concern that someone's been left out. Our only obligation is to drive home and see each other, share a meal, and talk.

    I suppose it's a minority view, especially among the /. crowd, but I'm still really surprised by how many comments mention the stress and dread of this time of year.

    • Re:Not doing Christmas (Score:4, Interesting)

      by imadork ( 226897 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @11:00AM (#4907520) Homepage
      We do a variation on this theme. On both my side and my wife's side of the family, we get together sometime in December for a big Christmas party. That in itself is a present for me, especially since my family is in NYC and that party is the one time of year I get to see some of my cousins.

      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.

  • This page is completely shut down. Slashdot readers don't like it. I'm sure the people whose server is down don't like it. Perhaps, in the next version of Slash, there could be a method of locally caching linked pages. I'm thinking that Slashdot should just mirror a copy of the page and include that link in the story, with an additional link to go to the actual site if the reader chooses. The majority of readers will just read the Slashdot copy, and the server will survive.

    As much as it would be a benefit to the Slashdot reader, I think it should be done as a courtesy to the site linked (as well as their hosting provider).
    • A freenet-like solution that partially cached visited pages on individuals' machines and then allowed them to be fetched p2p style would be even better :).

    • RTFF (Score:2)

      by Adam9 ( 93947 )
      RTFF [slashdot.org].

      • Re:RTFF (Score:3, Insightful)

        by bwalling ( 195998 )
        I'd bet that if you asked the sites, you'd get some that wanted the cache. They're not serving up any ads at all right now, and their regular visitors are being shut out. Sure, it's not a simple issue, but it is one that needs to be addressed a little better than the weak answer in the FAQ.
  • And Santa can't bring it to me. Probably the only one with the power to do it is an executive vice president at DirecTV, damnit.
  • So I can play it 24/7 until March and pretend its still on the SciFi channel.

  • EFF (Score:5, Interesting)

    by cetan ( 61150 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:30AM (#4907283) Journal
    Give them a gift that keeps on giving. Donate money in their name to EFF!

  • Puzzles! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by oever ( 233119 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:35AM (#4907311) Homepage
    give puzzles! [pentangle-puzzles.co.uk]

    You can have a lot of fun and satisfaction from solving these puzzles.

    There's a belgian website with even better puzzles, but I forgot the link and and google isn't helpful. Look for Eureka! puzzles from Belgium.

    • I've been trying to solve this one [completelybonkers.com] for a while now.

      The objective is to untangle the cords so that you end up with seperate wooden rings with a single cord on each ring.
  • You know, those little things you used to have to set on motherboards?

    I'd like a million of them, half the standard size and the other half the little tiny hard-drive size.

    I can never find one when I need one...

  • ...I had a very hard time buying this year... but then I started to go down the unusual gift way. Sure, you could get mp3 players, pda's, etc... how geekishly boring. Or, you could get cool educational things that are just plain fun.

    Consider these products [teachersource.com] from Teachers Source. That link should bring you directly to their magnetics page. There's lots of cool things on this page... but scroll down to the 4th item which is a Diamagnetic Levitation Demo. Now that's cool! Other things on that page are also cool, like the Eddy Current tubes.

    Or check out their UV DETECTING PRODUCTS [teachersource.com] page. Those multi-colored UV detecting beads are pretty neat!.

    The site is chock full of things that are unusual, conversational, and just play cool.

    Note that the site is a FRAMES site and the links above take you right to the frame. The site home page is here [teachersource.com].

    Aloha

  • Do you want tech gifts? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by briancnorton ( 586947 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @10:55AM (#4907457) Homepage
    I buy enough geeky crap ove the course of a year that what I really want for xmas is a clothing, personal hygine products, or books. If I want something techy, I want to pick it out and play with it first.
  • Like, maybe a full-color brochure of the Great Outdoors(tm), you know, something we haven't seen for a while.

  • Socks (Score:2, Interesting)

    by TexTex ( 323298 )
    How often are you going to actually run out and buy some socks? Never. Just look at 'em. They're probably raggy and in pathetic shape right now.

    Socks. The Christmas gift I once hated but now hate to buy for myself.

  • Gifts for the working geek? (Score:3, Funny)

    by phorm ( 591458 ) on Tuesday December 17, 2002 @11:26AM (#4907832) Journal
    Aspirin, alka-seltzer, stomach tablets.
    Perhaps some muscle relaxants, a gift certificate for a massage parlor.

    And for when he/she gets home... I nice big bottle of 80 proof.

    It may not be exactly what your geek was looking for, or even considered, but all those things will probably come in handy on those days when he/she is dealing with users...

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