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.
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.
My 2.5 toddler got a little collectible car. It somehow exploded into all its tiny parts on the first trip to the ground, which of course was shortly after opening.
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.
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
My neighbour gave me a TV. To be precise, he rushed it to me unannounced at the exact moment I was leaving to go to a party. I accepted as quickly as I could in an effort to still make my train.
It turns out it’s about 15 years old and I have no use for it. He’s a lovely man but I intend to post it as free to a good home then drop it at an e-recycling station if nobody is interested.
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.
Not in the trash, but I regifted something a friend sent me the week before Christmas. Wrapped it in fresh paper and gave it to another friend on Christmas Eve. No-one need know…
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.
The in-laws know I love to cook and got me a (to me, they're familiar with the author through some TV show) random cookbook. It's aimed at people who don't know how to cook and lack confidence trying. Also who cook with things like Velveeta and cream of mushroom soup.
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