What gifts that you received for Christmas this year are already in the trash?
For me, there were several dollar store trinkets that already broke, and one toy for my kids that was a huge sparkly styrofoam mess waiting to happen, so I threw it out rather than curse anyone else with it.
At the other end of the spectrum: My wife and I made a minimal gifts pact. We each got each other minor crap we needed for around the house. It was perfect. No waste. No extravagance. Just stuff we were going to get anyway.
this is how my family has it set up too, everyone writes a list of some reasonable stuff they’d quite like to get anyways and we just pick a thing from each list while coordinating with each other to not duplicate anything.
Just don’t gift anything and enjoy a peaceful evening? Why does one need a special day to gift anyway?
My family did it and it was honestly amazing (obviously kids should get something if possible).
As I mentioned elsewhere in this thread, in Iceland they buy each other books and on Christmas Eve they open the books and everyone sits around reading them.
We always get stuff for the kids and the nieces/nephews, and our moms. But we haven’t gotten a gift for each other in years now. We both buy something if we want it bad enough throughout the year, and it’s both of our money anyway, so what’s the point? We will some years get a “household gift” that’s something we need or everyone can benefit from, that shouldn’t go to just one kid or "you two share this and try not to fight over it, or that they will care less about. Nice air fryer one year, Nintendo switch another, etc. But nothing really needed or wanted this year so we’ll probably just take a pass.
Actually they are all the same, and none of them are, that’s why they are all the same. The plan was made before fire codes required updated sprinkler systems or something and since they keep reusing the same plans they all are fire hazards.
A fire fighter buddy of mine was ranting one night and I caught the tail end of the discussion.
Oh ok, that makes sense. Thought he might have meant that at first but second guessed because I only see them in strip malls or other buildings they didn’t build themselves these days but thinking about the aisles does make me think fire hazard now. At least they usually keep the lighters by the cash, though I wonder if someone learned that one the hard way.
You can get a new top with metal gears for cheap from their website. This thing is a tank and will never need to be replaced. Also for clean up it gets wiped out with a paper towel when cool, and placed back on the kitchen rack. Whirley-Pops are awesome. Simple does not equal cheap.
The one I got has metal gears. They are the main point of frustration. They don’t really make a full rotation without getting bound/jammed up. Slow, fast, or somewhere in-between, it always felt like I was fighting to get the only moving parts to move.
I’ve no problem with simple. I like simple. For me, this thing isn’t simple, it’s frustrating.
Maybe I just got a bad one. A lot of people seem to have an appreciation for it that matches yours. I’d be inclined to exchange it for a different one. Sadly, Amazon refuses to accept it as a returnable item.
It’s a made-up story. Depleted uranium is a byproduct of uranium enrichment and places that do uranium enrichment aren’t even going to talk to you unless you have a host of government licenses. Depleted uranium only has a few applications like:
Armor penetrating munitions
Counterweights for aeronautics
Ironically, as radiation shielding
This makes it very hard for collectors to obtain (it can take people years) and actual samples of DU are going to be more expense than regular uranium. The story makes as much sense as your grandmother buying cubic zirconia jewelry and being “scammed” with actual diamonds.
I have an ancient one, probably my great grandmothers, and the garlic just gets smashed into the square-but-actually-round holes and it’s impossible to get most of it out.
Mostly it makes smashed garlic, which I can do with a knife much more easily…
It’s not one piece. It looks like one piece but the rubber handles eventually separate. The past couple of years I have used it without the rubber handle covers.
Knife works better, since it’s a flat surface. A spoon would push it to the side instead of crushing evenly. Mortar and pestle is overkill unless you’ve got a lot of garlic to press.
“I see you spent a week researching PSUs for your computer and I see that you finally bought one. Would you like to buy a PSU? because even though we know you bought one we’ll be showing you nothing but ads for PSUs for the foreseeable future.”
Both. I bought one from this brand before and it rusted after the first use. I’ll admit I may not have washed it properly, but that’s not something I expect from my kitchenware. And I don’t see a use for a second garlic press, but I’m open to hearing one
Not really preferred, but I do have a printer already. A 20 years old HP PSC 1315. It still works, and I don’t even know how after my USB port replacement attempt which was also my first soldering attempt, and it ended terribly. But, it does seem to make a connection, so it works for now. I didn’t know what flux is, and I used the highest temperature, 520°C. As I said, no idea how it works, but it’s been like that for over 2 years.
It’s not perfect, but it works. It only has partial support by HPLIP, so to print in high DPI I need to use a Windows 7 VM with the drivers. That then takes 20 minutes per A4 page. The colors are quite poor and it has quite large borders. If scanning anything with color, I need to play with contrast and saturation in Scan2PDF, otherwise most colors are just invisible.
On the plus side, I found an app called NokoPrint that allows me to print from Android phone using this printer via USB.
So yeah, that smart tank would have been much better, but there would also be extra e-waste. I can deal with this printer. Actually, I got this from e-waste, so I even saved some. Also, they took it with extended warranty and some insurance, making it €207!!! I don’t want such an expensive gift.
I currently have a printer, also HP, but an old one (20 years).
When I’ll finally need a new printer, I’ll be deciding between HP and Brother. I am not sure about Linux support with Brother printers. I heard it’s great, but I need to search more. I know HPLIP works well, but I also heard these new HP printers don’t last long. Then there’s also the thing called HP+ (not to be confused with Instant Ink) that many of those printers have, which REQUIRES HP account AND a connection to internet.
Be a member of the Brother-hood. I have a big black multifunction Brother printer, scanner (even fax, wtf!), and it works on both Linux and Windows. Bought four years ago. It just wants a quiet corner and a wifi connection. I think it’d even print from my Android phone if I tickled it a little, but can’t be arsed now. It’s happy with cheapo ink as well. It also cleans itself and has survived in a definitely-not-an-office environment. If it makes another year I’ll give it a pet name, it deserves one!
Linux user here, can confirm a Brother multifunction laser printer/scanner monster from around five years ago works flawlessly and painlessly out of the box with multiple Debian derivatives.
Also the first toner I bought with it is still sealed in its box because the free starter toner which came with the printer still hasn’t run down. I’m never going back to inkjets!
My first laser printer was an HP Laser Jet MP5 that my boss threw away because ‘it was noisy’. Workhorse beast printed easily another 15,000 pages before I replaced it with a color laser from Brother. That beast (purchased in 2013) has gone through 3 toner carts for CYMK, and printed high res great output in glorious color for over a decade now.
Moral of the story: HP wasn’t always garbage, but they certainly are today; Brother makes a damn good printer.
My partner and I got scratch ticket packs for eachother for $38 total. I lost every ticket she won 20 dollar so we are starting the year 18 dollars short.
I was in line at a convenience store the other day, when the person in front of me bought a dozen or so scratch tickets. Normally, I wouldn’t have gave it a second thought, people gamble. But what made it stand out to me was that the person made the cashier just immediately scratch the QR code square and scan the ticket. Like, the person didn’t even touch the tickets. Just handed over the money, and made the cashier do the work. Not only that, but the cashier didn’t even bat an eye; as this seemed like a normal occurrence to them. And the person in front of me didn’t win anything, they just walked away with nothing.
So not only was it extremely sad to see this person, who is clearly addicted to gambling, waste their money. But, seeing how the industry has made it so easy and fast for someone to piss their money away was quite disgusting. These people don’t even play the game on the cards now. They just scratch off the code and scan it. Just sad all around.
Why not? They’re fun and benefit numerous good causes, such as services for elderly citizens and low-cost prescription medication programs. No one of stable mind really thinks they’ll get rich, but it’s nice to win a few bucks here and there.
Even though some of the money goes to good causes, taking advantage of people who are addicted to gambling is not cool.
Now, that’s not to say that every single person who has ever bought a scratch ticket is an addict, but the whole thing is designed to take advantage of those who are not in their right mind.
I’m so happy to be in a wealthy community with very few gambling addicts these days.
I sold lottery tickets in a very very poor community and I swear they’d blow everything they had and then try to bum the clerk to keep going.
The difference is absurd too. I would sell 3-4k (that’s low too) in lottery tickets every day in a poor community. In a wealthy community I rarely sell 100 dollars in tickets in a day.
I know a man who would be living like a king if he wasn’t addicted. He retired from a pretty high position in the military and then the post office. Every time he gets his money he spends the first 4 days of the month spending at least 4k on tickets. His wife makes him keep just enough to live in their tiny beat up house and take care of the terribly mentally ill adult children (all in their 40s).
Gambling addiction is so crazy to me, I could never tell if anyone was addicted though at the counter. I used to work at a pharmacy with a lotto machine so that probably determined customers a bit. The older retired ladies coming in with their pouches was kind of charming and they weren’t very big spenders overall, they seemed to just enjoy organizing and managing it all.
Slot machines in casinos really affect me in a depressing way though, seeing rows of people just pressing buttons over and over while they stare at the machine I find disturbing.
I’m in Virginia and about 6 months ago I had some guys pop on here trying to get me to install those slot machines. They told me how much money the store could bring in, blah blah blah. I told them I’d rather die than sit here with people drooling and throwing their lives away. I’d feel like shit for every penny it brought in. Funny thing is, not long after they came in with the big pitch, the machines were outlawed haha. They were trying to do a quick dump before the law changed, the assholes.
Fortunately my uncle (the owner) is very religious and principled about such things.
He sells the tickets, but he has little things in place these days that keep the hardcore gambler away. No purchases on credit or debit cards, standing and scratching is considered loitering.
We call them a “stupid tax” but infrequently buying them is pretty harmless. I don’t mind group lotto either it can be fun to buy in and run the numbers out over a course of a few months. There’s some charity lottos I’ve done before.
When I was 18, I worked in a convenience store. I was behind the counter with my manager and some lady decided to throw a few bucks at some dollar scratch tickets. I was behind silly and put my finger on the middle one and said it would get her at least five dollars. She laughed and took them out to her car. A few minutes later she came in looking like she saw a ghost. She asked how I knew and I just told her that I guessed. She won exactly five dollars on the ticket I pointed out.
As someone working in my family’s gas stations for the last two decades, this is something that happens at least a few times a month for me.
9 times out of 10 the big winners have sat and played on a roll until it hits something and they move on to the next making it nearly impossible for an average, non addicted customer to get anything. The gambling addicts will spend 200k to win 10k and jump up and down like the 10k winner is going to change they life.
Customers who always share their winnings, I point them to the ticket that hasn’t hit in awhile. Customers who aggravate me and bounce in front of people like someone pissing themselves at a slot machine, I lie and tell them a ticket hasn’t hit even if it has. It’s probably wrong, but my thinking goes that the longer a particular ticket has gone without hitting, the closer it is to a winner. Someone smarter than me can probably call me an idiot on that one.
Pointing people to winners (which is a total freak thing every time I do) has paid me probably 6k in the last 20 years. If decent folks think you assisted them in their luck, they always want to share in the luck.
I’m sorry I’ve pretty much just sat and typed nothing here. Too far in to back out now. :p
My wife and I have decided to adopt the Icelandic tradition of buying each other books, and opening them on Christmas Eve. We then have a wonderful quiet read that evening.
We might buy each other small presents aside from the books, but nothing is expected or required.
My husband’s mom bought our cats a chirping kicky toy that I guess is supposed to look kind of like a ferret. It was really shrill and annoying and they wouldn’t leave it alone because the noises made them so curious. It mysteriously vanished later on christmas day lmao.
My parents gave me one of those 2023 Guinness World Record book. I appreciate the gesture, but it screams “we didn’t know what to get you, and there were a pallet of 'em at Costco”. I can see the book’s appeal for a child or teenager but I’M 37.
I’ll be re-gifting it to my father in-law 😎 I’m 100% sure he’ll love it.
A relative gifted me a really ugly tree ornament. I don’t put up a Christmas tree and haven’t ever in my adult life. Relative knows this and delivered it alongside comments about me needing to get a tree and get more into the “religious” spirit of the holiday.
Normally I would at least look to donate or something I don’t want, but ugly, religious proselytizing junk goes in the trash.
Yep, from Rome to Rīga, they used to mark the death of nature with plants that refuse to die. Later, they started decorating them to symbolise the blossoming or the harvest of the year’s last feast.
Source: school education from the last pagans of Europe.
Oh yes, we all remember that well established in the bible parable about Jesus dragging a pine tree into his house in a dessertic weather town for his birthday party every year and how mad Mary and Josef were when it started to rot in February because Jesus just refused to take it out.
Yea, fully agree. Our workplace had a sweater selection one year for birthdays (the second sweater selection actually) and I deliberately took a size too large for myself. Super nice in a chilly winter day
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