Ask HN: So HNers, whatd'ya get for Christmas? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: So HNers, whatd'ya get for Christmas?

39 pointscolbyolson174 comments

I think I made out like a bandit! Lots to read now over the break.

http://i46.tinypic.com/24pmip2.jpg

I got the skin of a leopard. Completely unasked for, totally illegal and now I'm feeling very guilty, but unsure what to do. It's not good to have naive family members go on safari.

that's a weird ass present, is it skin skin, or some garment made out of it?

The entire skin. Quite thick - not really wearable.

It actually might not be illegal. I was on safari last year and I was told you could buy a license to hunt leopards, just they are very expensive. You can also hunt lions and other big game.

http://reviews.ebay.com/Leopard-ocelot-seal-otter-Endangered...

Depends on the country it was shot in, and if the animal was wild or not.

Wild Leopard is a CITES Appendix I species, meaning that it's pretty much illegal to trade in or to move across borders. It's possible to do it legally, but in order for that to be the case your family would have needed a special export permit from where they hunted it, and they would have had to get a similar permit from the Fish and Wildlife Service to bring it back into the US - and this is quite difficult.

If they can prove that it was bred in captivity, then it only requires a FWS import permit (since captive Leopards are CITES Appendix II), which is reasonably easy to get.

I say auction it off with the donation $ given to a fund that saves leopards...

  * Some guy who wants one gets it without having to kill yet another.
  * The charity will save more leopard lives.
  * You get a tax deduction via charity donation receipt.

That's what I would do.

Even if owning it may not be illegal, I think trying to make a profit by selling it will surely end up with me posting an AskYC: How do I get out of jail?

http://www.furisdead.com/donate.asp

Oh gawd. Please don't give it to PETA. I don't have any better ideas, but I wouldn't do anything to support PETA. They're reactionary, inflammatory, and probably do more harm than good for the cause they support.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2003/mar/03/advertising.mark...

http://www.activistcash.com/organization_blackeye.cfm/oid/21

http://www.consumerfreedom.com/news_detail.cfm/h/2628-hyperb...

http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

"They're reactionary, inflammatory..."

In what way is PETA reactionary?

They want medical science to go back to the way it was before drugs were tested on animals.

The humane society has a much better fur recycling program, I think. Also, they aren't PETA

http://www.hsus.org/furfree/campaigns/c4c/

At first I thought you meant someone had burned you a copy of Snow Leopard. I guess that probably would've been better...

That's what I first thought too. Lol.

It would be really smart if Apple picked up on this and created a campaign where folks could get a discount on the OS when showing a receipt from PETA for donating a leopard fur.

That's pretty disgusting. Good on you that you are figuring out a noble way to get rid of it.

I think I would like the Leopard Skin a lot better with the Leopard still in it. Not a very practical pet but they are a beautiful animal.

http://www.fugly.com/media/IMAGES/Strange/leopard_skin_sheet...

Okay, on further research and a bit of help from Wikipedia - I believe it's not leopard fur, but rather 'serval' fur:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Serval_in_Tanzania.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serval

Servals are not endangered, does not mean I'll be making myself a cape out of it though!

Awwww. I made a serval ethogram in my animal behavior class. =(

Since we're going on tangents here, I've taught an animal behavior class.

Since we are on tangents here, my downstairs neighbour owns a half-serval. It was illegally imported and abandoned: she takes care of it, together with another dozen of cats. When she has a litter, she needs to keep the serval away from the litter or it will kill the kittens.

What's the other half?

Probably regular domestic cat. They can and do breed.

She thinks that is indeed the case, but she isn't sure. She just knows it isn't a full serval.

she should breed it with a female house cat and make a ¼ serval

This probably isn't a popular thing to say, but assuming it's legal, I'd keep it. Anything that rare and precious is worth cherishing for the rest of your life.

Wait, what use is it if you're sitting there cherishing it? Especially if you don't particularly like it?

So he should cherish something just because it is rare and precious? It sounds like he couldn't care less and would probably store it somewhere in a closet. And good for him: we shouldn't care about what others think is valuable (except to prevent ourselves from needlessly offending them).

I got woken up at 1:30AM for a database replication problem, which wasn't a problem at all, there was no new data because IT WAS CHRISTMAS and there were no goddamn transactions to replicate. FFS!

Anyway, Merry Christmas!

At our ultrasound in October, we asked the sonographer to write the baby's sex in a sealed envelope. Instead of exchanging presents, my wife and I opened the envelope this morning.

It's a girl.

Congratulations! Our first girl is coming soon as well!

Congrats to you as well!

Congratulations! And Merry Christmas!

Congrats!

I'm Jewish... but I got a winter break from college to spend with the family. For that, I thank you all (while my patience with my mother lasts).

Amen from your Muslim brother. :)

And your atheist friend too :)

And from the Buddhist friend :)

From my dad: A card that says, "This card is redeemable for cash in the amount of the cost of the Feb 2010 bar exam if you pass it." He's trying to incentivize me to study since I'm such a procrastinator. I have to admit, that's pretty creative of him.

From my two younger married sisters who each have kids: a box with a stuffed baby bunny and a handwritten sign inside urging me to "MAKE BABIES!".

FYI: I'm 30, male, single, working on a law-related software startup, and considering a New Years' resolution of flying away from the bay area to other cities on weekends to meet more women. Good idea?

I agree there aren't as many girls here, although people on this site have argued vehemently against that conclusion (I choose to believe my own eyes, so I don't care what they say). The problem with weekend trips is that at best you end up with a distance relationship... I'd say crank on the start up, and when it's done (win or lose) move somewhere else.

"handwritten sign inside urging me to 'MAKE BABIES!'."

Oh, nice; a start-up idea!

One with very little return on your investment.

Not true. If all goes well, they'll be there when you are too old to do stuff on your own.

An IR thermometer! I've always wanted one but never got around to getting it. I've been measuring the temperature of /everything/ since this morning. It's awesome to see how fast heating elements get hot, or quantify just how cold your coffee has gotten.

Rejection from a grad school and a call from a collecting agency!

Hey I got that too, the collecting agency that is.

Hey, there are 12 days of Christmas, so I've got 11 more days to find out what I'm getting... ;-)

(Seriously, we celebrate most gift-giving on Epiphany, the traditional 12th day of Christmas, when the Magi brought their gifts to Bethlehem. Takes the "gift whammy" off Christmas itself, though we have a few minor gifts.)

Are you Russian Orthodox Christian?

I got Monopoly City, an old Chase Manhattan stock certificate, and a mint condition 100 trillion Zimbabwe dollar note.

I have (though I bought it myself) a Carolco bond (which covered Terminator 2), and framed it, and I point at it and go "Without this paper, no Terminator 2!"

I am a huge fan of finance. I used to collect assets from other banks for accounts I opened, and I always loved looking at the old stock certificates. By far, the most amazing certificate I have ever seen is one from Disney. It's a piece of art.

I had an arduino board and the books "don't make me think" http://www.amazon.com/Think-Common-Sense-Approach-Usability/... and "programming clojure" http://pragprog.com/titles/shcloj/programming-clojure

Yup I got an arduino too. Absolutely GREAT fun.

So far the best project I want to aim for is a UAV (http://www.diydrones.com) - either that or as a controller unit for a coil gun.

Any other suggestions for us?? :D

I got an Arduino last year and just finished a medium scale project. I hooked it up to a http://hexbug.com for remote control over a network with XMPP. If you want to take a look all of the code is at http://github.com/bnmrrs/HexBugNc

  Andrey Tarkovsky's Sculpting in Time
  Milorad Pavic's Landscape Painted With Tea
  A signed and framed picture by Will Cullen Hart
  Herzog Zwei for my Sega Genesis
  Planescape Torment for PC
  Leadbelly collection
  A brick of soft lead (I need this for swaging).Someone found it and thought of me :)

Just the coolest stuff this year. Enjoy your day :)

+1 for the tarkovsky. and the landscape. and the torment. Damn I want your presents!

To stay on topic I got a Michal Palin book signed by himself! :)

I've been apprehensive about the Tarkovsky book, which was why I never bought it for myself. But he's my favorite director. It just seemed badly translated to me, from the preview I read on Amazon.

But now that I've read a few chapters, I have to say that this book is a must own for anyone who loves Tarkovsky. It still may be the case that the translation sucks, but I am over it. I'm going to to go through each of his movies one-by-one again, and read his corresponding chapters.

I recommend this book.

Herzog Zwei is excellent. Congrats on getting that.

A food processor! I can't wait to use it!

http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DFP-14BCN-Processor-Brushed-...

Will it blend!

I've got one, the home Blendtec, it has yet not to blend.

The best thing my wife and I ever purchased was a food processor. We use it sooo often.

I got a similar one (smaller white Cuisinart) last year for Christmas and it has been fantastic! You should break it in with some stir fry.

A WakeMate! Well, a printed email confirmation of a WakeMate preorder.

Rejection letters from several banks for a small RV loan, even with a co-signer. So my Christmas gift to myself, an RV, will have to be paid for with cash, and will be a few years older than the one I thought I was getting. I'm also wondering where my tax dollars are going, if they aren't going into consumer loans for people with great credit and reasonable income. (Note to other startup founders: Getting a loan as a startup founder is really difficult, even if you have a reasonable salary and credit score in the 700s; plan accordingly.)

A Kindle. Which allows me to get rid of all of my books, making my transition to RV living that much easier.

Cash from my parents, as contribution to my RV fund.

I'm also wondering where my tax dollars are going, if they aren't going into consumer loans [...]

Is this some young geeks joke that old geeks don't get?

I think he is referencing the fact that politicians gave money to banks to encourage loans to consumers and it apparently didn't help this case

Is this some young geeks joke that old geeks don't get?

No, I'm an old geek, by the standards around here.

And it wasn't intended as a joke. The bank bailout bills included 0% loans to banks, funded by taxpayers...my understanding was that these 0% loans were intended to encourage consumer and small business lending. But, in my recent experience, banks are simply not lending, even to people (me, in this case) with really good credit.

To put it into perspective, five years ago, I was able to get a similar-sized auto loan, and with really good rates, and my credit back then was awful and there was much less of it, and I was self-employed back then, too (technically, I'm not self-employed now, but because my employer has only existed for three years, they're considering me self-employed). So, by all measures, I'm a much better risk today than I was back then, but my ability to get a loan is nil.

So, not joking, just ranting because I'm grouchy about not getting a loan, since I didn't expect to have any trouble with the loan process and it's thrown my schedule off a bit, since I was shopping for an RV that I could put 25-35% down on, and get a loan to cover the rest. Now I have to go through the process again, except shopping for only RVs I can pay cash for.

I had an HN-Christmas. I got stuff that I saw other HN'ers recommended over the last year.

First was the CDs. Arvo Part Fratres. Arvo Part Tabula Rasa, Gorecki' Symphony #3, and Steve Reich Music for 18 Musicians (These are REALLY GOOD) I am enjoying the heck of of them so far this morning.

Then, from another HN thread, the ultimate nerd game, Settlers of Catan. Can't wait to try it out later today.

Finally some custom teas. Good stuff! I'm drinking a double-spice chai with milk and Splenda. Delicious.

By the way, if you haven't figured it out yet, you can be bad and Santa still brings you cool stuff. I think this whole "making a list" stuff is just a big lie. If you ask me, the big fat man is a pushover.

Settlers is great. It has a bit of a learning curve, though, so if you have any friends who know how to play (and who would be okay with a few "open hand" rounds), you might invite them over. Have fun!

If you find yourself enjoying Settlers, take a look at BoardGameGeek's top 20 list of games: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame

While Settlers is a nice gateway game, there's a fair amount of chance involved that can be frustrating. I'd highly recommend Puerto Rico, Tigris & Euphrates, and Caylus. Good games, although they're a bit more involved than Settlers.

Dominion is the best game I've played in a long time. Easy to learn, and incredibly addictive. I'd gotten bored with most strategy games, but we've been playing hours of Dominion a night for a month.

Puerto Rico is indeed amazingly chess-like; deterministic to a point where you start to pull your hair out because you didn't take the corn field in the beginning when you could. It also has the nice point that the situation can turn extremely quickly and your opponents start pulling their hair :)

I would also add Agricola which is similarly deterministic but notoriously diffucult to develop a strategy for!

I'd argue that Agricola isn't deterministic. The cards dealt out at the beginning are done so randomly and often lead to asymmetry. Beyond that, I don't recall any chance.

One feature of Agricola I don't like much is that it's difficult to assess another player's score at a glance. In Caylus, for example, it's quite clear how well another player is doing.

Environmental attributes in board games: http://www.cognitivesandbox.com/posts/board-games/

Certainly the deeper strategies of the game can take a while to develop and master, but the basic mechanics are fairly simple...

Hackers: Minimalist music, complicated board games, and sophisticated teas.

Yes.

If anyone else is wondering, I think http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=913946 was the thread the music is from.

I just got cash. I'm impossible to shop for, since I just buy whatever I want. So about 5 years back we just agreed that I just get cash, since that allows me to buy the stuff I really want, when I get the itch.

My rule is exactly the opposite - I have cash and I can buy anything I want basically, and I can always save for more expensive things.

So the rule is simply - I neither give nor receive cash or gift certificates. That way I get things I may not have known I wanted, or unexpected things. It also brings a lot more fun into unwrapping presents.

Gift certificates are like being given a ToDo list.

I get the same thing, typically. I'm a starving college student (well, not really starving, but generally broke), and random gifts can't pay the rent.

My present was my extended family agreeing to play Werewolf for the first time. I've been dying to play ever since I heard about it, but haven't had enough people to try it. (It requires at least nine; eight players and a moderator.) It was a huge hit and we're playing it again tonight with even more people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_%28party_game%29

I also got a kegerator.

2010 scion tC... Totally sweet ride, korman book, and much needed socks

I have an '07 tC and love it. I've put 40k miles on it in 2 1/2 years, and I haven't had a single problem besides bent rims. Speaking of the rims, I don't know if they've changed in the past three years (doubt it), but if they haven't, be careful with them. My dad bent one hitting in pot hole in San Antonio, and I bent two at some point (no idea how). It might not be immediately obvious they're bent, but they can suffer pretty nasty blowouts when the sidewall does finally deteriorate. Neither my dad nor I have done that in any other car, so I think it has something to do with the rims (although we can be a little rough on cars).

Four days off. :)

The Guggenheim Museum & Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright in Lego.

http://architecture.lego.com/en-us/default.aspx

Ordered by Mrs Nailer and shipped to the UK.

I've loved Lego and modernist architecture since I was a child.

From my girlfriend: an Atari shirt (since I'm always lamenting that the one I have now is literally falling to pieces); a copy of The Bro Code; A bunch of amazingly delicious homemade chocolates; A stocking shaped like Kuribo's Shoe from Super Mario Bros 3 (http://bit.ly/kuribo).

From my mother, a $25 sbux gift card and chocolates.

Given that I don't actually celebrate christmas and didn't want gifts, it's a pretty good haul.

I also got my girlfriend a sock monkey patterned after Rorschach from Watchmen (http://bit.ly/5h0nfB), which she liked (huge Watchmen fan and loves sock monkeys).

I got CDs of the Brandenburgs, a desktop sundial, and a build-it-yourself 1/20 scale model of the Wright flyer.

Also socks and some other stuff. But there are more presents to come tomorrow as we visit the in-laws.

Some old Piers Anthony/David Eddings books from my 14yr old son, which was possibly one of the most personal gifts anyone has ever given me. My daughter got me a laminated Spanish vocab foldout which was really awesome because I've been meaning to make up my own. Finally spending a Christmas with my European wife was the best though. ;)

My gift to us all as a family was to go see Avatar in IMAX 3D tonight. It was amazing.

bought myself another 80GB X25-M SSD along with MCE optibay so I can RAID-0 them in my 17-in unibody macbook pro. Also a 32GB Class 10 SDHC card for my Kodak Zi8. And a UI stencil set for making website mockups http://www.uistencils.com/

I got my family a 23andme ancestry DNA test and they LOVED it. Gave bro-in-law & sister a Flip MinoHD for baby vids

That optibay, is that the thing that replaces the DVD drive? I have been tempted to do that too.

Yup, that's the one. The only issue I ran into with install today was that in my unibody 17-inch (latest gen, got it just a few months ago), the bluetooth module does not screw into the optibay (it was originally screwed into the superdrive). There are holes in the optibay for it, but the screws don't fit. Not a big deal though, the module is very small and won't move if left by itself (attached to a larger display cable).

A Novation Launchpad, which I have already hacked to play Connect 4 with. I really wanted to play with a Monome a couple years ago but I could never get my kit to work very well (electronics were no problem, building the case was), so this is perfect.

Also the world's most awesome toy car: http://www.geekfu.org/things/delorean-1.JPG

I got a watch, scarf, and gloves. I am at the airport on my way to visit my girlfriend and am interested to see what she gives me (she is getting a sweet camera).

But now that I have kids the giving is so much more fun than the getting. I got them a Samsung N130 netbook, mini helicopters, some books (DIY Diary of a Wimpy Kid looks fun), moleskines and no socks or underwear. Being santa is fun.

Am not a Christian but happened to close a big project last week so took the Christmas week off; so got holidays! Am using this time to explore new MacBookPro my wife gifted me earlier this month for my b'day.. ..and (this is the part where I remm saying 'Jesus sure does not love me all that much') results were out for one of the professional exams I gave in Sept and I flunked.

I received a Kindle 2 from my boyfriend and this awesome ceramic electric slow cooker. Anyone for pot roast? :)

Kindle 2 is absolutely amazing. I bought "The Business Of Software" and noticed that the graphs and tables didn't render legibly at all. So I emailed the Kindle feedback folk and within an hour I had a reply offering a refund. Best service ever, Amazon - and on Christmas Day too!

I got a really nice citrus press - http://www.amazon.com/Breville-800CPXL-Die-Cast-Stainless-St.... I make orange juice with breakfast every morning and this will cut juicing time from 5-15 minutes to 2 depending on how many I'm juicing for.

Nice digital picture frame (I was running out of room on my desk for all the photos, so it's nice to have them all in one frame on a slideshow),some DVDs, new speakers.My biggest joy today has been watching my daughter, who is 7.5 and has taken a serious interest in digital art/design, as she learns all the ins and outs of how to use her first WACOM. :)

I got Lego! Brilliant idea from my brother, and I must say that I enjoyed it just as much now (I'm 22) as I did ten years ago.

Samsung N130 Netbook, A $50 bond and a coffee mug. Oh, and a Rubik's cube that has been eating up far too much time.

For my Dad, I promised to pay for a golf club he has on backorder. For my girlfriend, I got a PS3 with MGS4 and Little Big Planet (which is really so I can play LBP). Still trying to get my Mom to tell me what to get her, sadly.

I bought my kids an N130 too. Pretty sweet little machine and you can put a 2GB RAM chip in there (which I did for $60).

Capicola and some Italian bread dipping sauce from my Mom, with a bottle of raspberry ice wine (yum!) on the way. New York hard rolls (oh how I miss New England sometimes) from my dad. Investments by Bodie, Kane, and Marcus and a hangover from myself. It's been a good Christmas already.

The little schemer! I knew I forgot to ask for something. I seriously love getting books for Christmas.

Dude. . . this is a great book. I plan on finishing it today, in fact. Warning: the last two chapters are mind-bending.

I put the seasoned and reasoned schemer on my list. Will have to wait til next week until I see family to get them though.

I got a cool Threadless shirt (101 cameras), a nice vest, a David Sedaris book, a nice light, 'The Ruby Programming Language', 'The Definitive JavaScript Guide' and a wonderful day with family.

I'm digging into the JS book now and loving it, very comprehensive.

I got some beer brewing equipment. Now I won't have to use old water jugs and spill stuff all over the kitchen. Come to think of it, this may have been just as much a gift to my girlfriend as to me... (she got me the stuff)

2 hangovers in a row (maybe 3? we'll see...)

Coupla magazine subscriptions since I don't really want much else right now.

By the way, just finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance a few weeks ago. Great read even though I don't agree with it all.

A llama.

(Go, Heifer! http://www.heifer.org/)

My dad gave me bees.

A new set of tires for my car and a really nice scarf. I love practical gifts.

The foodstuffs I received this year. Didn't get much outside of foodstuffs. http://www.flickr.com/photos/brutimus/4216683268/

Batman cufflinks. Unfortunately they do not fire poisoned bat darts.... yet.

An Intel SSD. Best speed-up I could get short of getting a new laptop. :-)

Sleep! Having family over is forcing me to take a break. Bah! :P

A "Wiz" ARM-based open handheld gaming platform. And socks.

Logicomix. Paul Theroux travel books. Borges short stories.

Logicomix is brilliant, got it for my birthday in November. Enjoy!

Celestial navigation stuff. Books, including Nautical Almanac and some "layman" items, sextant, watch synched to radio time signal; all cool stuff!

Christmas came a bit earlier here, so I got a hangover!:), but I used the break to get my next Project to 95%, I am targeting release in January!

I got more ram, pocky, a gift card to amazon.com, and money.

Also lots of bdsm gear from my SO, including some really nice suspension cuffs. (Is this TMI?)

No, but I missed the "bdsm" and just went for an interesting Christmas jaunt on Google.

On second thought probably so?

A necklace, a lamp, a dress, the 'inventor's almanac' book 'They Made America,' and several socks, the limiting factor for startups.

Socks are indeed an important business asset. We've always said that when our startup is actually profitable enough to have a proper office, it will include a dry-erase floor and a large supply of corporate socks... you know, for all the planning meetings and UI sketches and what not.

That is a brilliant idea. I've wanted some dry-erase wallpaper http://www.walltalkers.com/ since I worked in an office that had it, but the dry-erase floor is now on my list.

Logitech DiNovo Mini Keyboard. If you have an HTPC, this is a must have. I have it working with ubuntu plug and play. It rocks.

i have a logitech mouse waiting for me in the states, which is a present to myself (i have a glass desk and they just introduced a mouse that works on glass).

but what i received was a very nice black jacket kind of thing. not sure how to describe it - like a thin fleece, but not very fleecy. i am sure it's a horribly technical piece of clothing for climbing up mountains or something, but i will be using it when i go north next week (summer here in the source - just had a xmas day picnic!).

2 Books, a grease gun and shop light (I'm teaching myself car repair) A case for my new droid phone and lots of candy.

The shop light was a good choice. I'm a little confused about the grease gun. I've worked on cars since I was really young, and honestly cannot remember pulling one out, except on farm equipment.

I'd recommend a set of wrenches, sockets, socket adapters (get EVERY combo you can here), and 2 really good socket wrenches. Don't skimp on the socket wrenches. Money well spent. Also, a hammer, (rubber mallet, and metallic kind). Last but not least, some sort of ginormous pry bar and a 2-3' section of 1/4" steel pipe, that fits snugly around your socket wrench. Trust me, you will understand why very soon.

Get those items, which shouldn't break the bank, and you are ready to tackle damn near everything, aside from a crankshaft replacement.

http://calcul.biz/amazon_covers/007054235X.jpg

New.

How do you keep the ladies at bay?

I have a /lot/ of Expos.

Suffering from a serious case of GAS (Gadget Acquisition Syndrome) :( Canon 70-200 IS 2.8 and a 17-55 IS 2.8.

70-200 is a great lens. The only non-prime I've owned.

Wow that's a nice x-mas, good pickups!

Some sweaters and $280 in cash. I'm thinking about a ebook reader to read scientific papers on any ideas?

Yes, you want the Plastic Logic Que reader when it releases next month.

Kindle (latest generation) seems like the best from the people I've asked.

Several nice sweaters, a suit, some decent stationary, a watch, and a plane ticket home to see my family.

For Christmas I got an ESX losing power and bringing ~10 clients down with it. Merry Christmas!

I got a book on making pop-up books and cards, and some glue sticks.

Time to make stuff people can touch!

Kindle (latest generation)

And some books, notably Hackers & Painters, although not in eBook format.

Cash towards a Canon 500d. Really looking forward to getting into photography.

Nothing.

Repair manual and performance handbook for my 1993 Mazda MX-5.

Even though I drive a Ford Explorer I think I would have enjoyed getting a repair manual for it. I derive way too much pleasure from fixing my own car.

The Little Schemer! You've got a lot of fun ahead of you :)

convertible mitts! http://www.ems.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3651700

I want a Winnebago.

I want the phone number of the girl with the uzzy gun.

A Panasonic DMC-LX3 camera was my big present.

Magic Mouse, an AeroPress and some cigars

How's the mouse?

Great, so far. I haven't used it much as I promised the wife I wouldnt get on the computer today :)

But so far, it seems like a keeper. And this comes from a guy who has never liked any of Apple's previous mice. (using a logitech until now)

Me too. It's my second one now. I already had one, so I'll use this one at the office. I think the Magic Mouse is the best mouse I have ever used. I love it!

Also got Fire Emblem DS and $100 check from my Grandpa.

I got my dad the Star Trek Blu-ray set.

I love the aeropress - so convenient at college

What kind of cigars? What's the flavor like?

Kitchenaid mixer. Totally awesome.

Massive wooden chopping board :)

Hopefully you'll get the knife set either for your birthday or next year?

Superstition says giving knives as gifts is bad.

Kindle ;-)

Kindle 2 or DX ?

Any idea how are the PDFs on Kindle 2 ?

PDFs on the Kindle 2 are effectively unusable in 99% of cases. There's no zoom function, so unless you break out a magnifying lens, you won't be able to read a damn thing on most PDFs. Quite sad, as I was looking forward to the update :(

With a DX in rotated mode I've never had a problem -- and I've downloaded and read dozens of different PDFs, including e-books with lots of diagrams.

They might be okay on the DX due to the bigger screen. But I agree that PDFs on the Kindle 2 are completely unusable.

Kindle 2. Haven't tried PDFs. I got the international version which comes with its own troubles (less and costlier books, no blogs, etc), but I have been managing to hack around so far.

Good news, its quite fast here in Mumbai and I am having fun. I mostly work on the go at coffee shops and I have always liked referencing a book more than the internet, and with kindle now i have my library on the go.

New tennis racket.

Chocolate :D

A massive hangover...

I was treated intolerantly and kicked out of a fat guy clothing store by a crazy catholic store clerk for not caring that the Pope fell down.

Given that most people would care if even a stranger were assaulted and pushed to the ground, perhaps the clerk reasonably assumed you didn't care because it was a Catholic figure who was the target. In that case, he would be right in assuming YOU were intolerant - of Catholics.

Well, at least people around you must be tolerant of fat people.

Forgive me, I don't watch fox nows, and generally do not find myself making a fist over the scandal of the minute. If anything, I'm intolerant of the tabloid nature of the press, and the people who find themselves filled with righteous indignation over every single sensation in the news.

PSP Go!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com