8 Great Gift Ideas for Parents (& Other People Who Are Hard to Please)

I’m always stumped as to what to give my parents for Christmas — not so much because they’re hard to please but because I always want to give them the BEST gift ever. (I’m weirdly competitive that way.)

I’m sure there are special people on your list as well that you never know quite what to get for one reason or another — so here are some unique gift ideas that are actually much more affordable than you’d think.

1. Scottish Land & Titles

Honestly, if this doesn’t beat out all the other presents this Christmas, I’ll eat …umm… haggis.  Eww.

At OutofThisWorldGifts.com, you can obtain your parents (or anyone else) legal usage of the Scottish titles of Laird and/or Lady by purchasing part-ownership of the Kincavel Estate.

The ‘Laird of Kincavel’ Gift Pack contains:

• Laird of Kincavel gift announcement certificate
• Local map of the area and FAQ’s
• Welcome letter
• Information about the Estate & surrounding Area
• Map of Scotland showing location of the Kincavel Estate
• A little History of Scotland book
• Freepost Registration Card

Once your recipient sends in the Registration Card, he/she will receive a personalised Land Deed with a unique plot number.

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Geek Chic: 10 Awesome Accessories for the Fashion-Forward Geekess

In case you haven’t heard yet, Geekiness is the new black. And there’s no rule that says we have to sacrifice style to succumb to (or even set!) the trend. Here are ten awesome geek girl accessories that are both fashionable AND functional…

1. ORB Bluetooth Headset

 
The O.R.B (Orbital Ring Bluetooth) from Hybra Advance Technologies is an innovative Bluetooth headset that transforms into a ring with a simple twist.

The headset can be used up to 30 feet away from your phone and comes in four sizes, from small to extra-large. A scrolling display on the outside surface of the ring displays caller ID information as well as voice-to-text so you don’t even have to take it off of your finger to stay in touch. When you receive a call or set an alarm for a scheduled meeting, the ring vibrates on your finger to alert you.

2. Power Purse

 
Charge your electronic gadgets on the move, using only your handbag. The Power Purse, designed by mechanical engineering student Joe Hynek, uses solar panels to absorb the sun’s rays and turn them directly into electricity.

Just plug in your mobile phone, camera or iPod  —  and pray for sunny skies.

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Site to See: Wordle - Word Cloud Generator

I’m kind of in love with this site right now. Wordle is an online tool for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. You can copy and paste a block of text into the generator, or just just provide the URL of any website with an RSS feed. (The cloud below is generated from the Desktop Diva Home page.)

The word clouds clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text (the more a word is mentioned, the bigger it’ll appear). You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts and color schemes and then print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with friends. Very cool.

>> See the Site 

Marital Must-Have: The SpatSolver

OMG this infomercial is HILARIOUS — and my hubby will want to buy this product for sure

SpatSolver is a revolutionary electronic aid designed to cure all your relationship problems. SpatSolver is the first wearable device that continuously records the last five minutes of your conversation. Just tap, and listen!

For the first time ever, couples don’t have to fight over who said what. SpatSolver has you covered! Are you in the habit of zoning out when your spouse is speaking to you? Don’t worry, SpatSolver is listening for you!

10 LOL-Worthy Letters from Kids to God

Kids really crack me up.

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The Muppets: Bohemian Rhapsody

The Muppets doing Queen… seriously, how can you not love this?   Enjoy!

What You’re REALLY Having for Thanksgiving

Basically this pie chart from SF Weekly just makes me thankful that we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in the Philippines…

  Yup, over here, all this stuff happens at Christmas.

5 Cool & Creative Ways to Say Thank You

Thanksgiving is coming up, and even though it’s an American holiday,  it’s always a good time for all of us to think about the things and people we’re grateful for.

If you’d like to say “Thank You” to someone in a special way this year, here are 5 creative gift ideas you might want to check out:

1. An Action Figure!
So. freaking. cool. Honestly, can you think of a better way to make someone feel like a hero than to have his/her own ACTION FIGURE???

Just send a photo to Be-a-Doll.com, and they can create an action figure in as little as 2 weeks — though it might take longer than that to get to you.   (Bit late to order for Thanksgiving, but great for Christmas and birthdays!).  Be-a-Doll ships worldwide and accepts payments by Paypal.

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The Disconnect Effect: 5 Lessons I Re-Learned When I Went Offline

Just back from a week in Barcelona, where I somehow ended up living life as I no longer know it — single (hubby stayed home), car-less (ok fine, I admit I did take quite a few taxis, but I still walked more than I have in ages) and… wait for it… INTERNET-FREE (GASP! It’s true! Well, for the most part at least).

And you know what? It was pretty friggin’ awesome!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m actually very happy with life as I know it. But sometimes you really just need to disconnect and get some distance in order to discover (or maybe re-discover?) things that immersion in the instant Internet lifestyle can cause to blur over time. Here are 5 that really hit home.

1. Exercise. It’s good for you.

As obvious as this might be, I’m afraid it’s something I have to put at the top of every self-help list I will ever make for the rest of my life, because it’s a lesson I seem to refuse to learn. And O.M.G. it’s a painful one. 

I live most of my life seated at a desk, thinking I move around a lot because I zip through time zones and websites in the blink of an eye. NOT! Upon arrival at Barcelona, after a very long trip through 4 airports that required more walking and carrying than I’d done in quite a while, I stepped into a cab and suddenly… Madre de Dios… LEG CRAMP! Gaaah!

Naturally I was too cool to let my agony show, so I had to grit my teeth and grin while chatting in my mostly-forgotten Spanish to the cab driver who had no idea I was actually screaming inside my head. 

Add to that awesome experience the succeeding days of muscle aches and joint pains earned from traipsing through the streets and shops of Barcelona, and I think the lesson finally became clear. I really need to get off my ass more. 

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The Fast Food Flowchart: Where Should I Eat?

Yay, new flowchart! And yes, I’m back from vacation. Post-vacation posts coming soon! In the meantime, here’s something you people in North America should find handy…

(Click the image for a larger view)

10 Terrific Tools for the Safe & Savvy Traveler

I know, I know, I’ve been missing in action for a couple of days. My apologies, I was traveling halfway around the world. I’m now up at a godforsaken hour, dealing with jet lag and waiting for room service to start operations. *insert stomach grumble*

Travel is a lovely but sometimes rather nasty business, so it’s always good to have a few tools that’ll make the nasty bits a bit more tolerable. Here are ten that I highly recommend:

1. Kindle or Nook

I’m not going to get into the Kindle vs. Nook debate. Take your pick, they’re both pretty awesome. Point is, get an e-reader. Why on earth would you want to lug around 3-4 bulky, heavy books when you can have over a thousand stored in a sleek, snazzy little package? That’s just crazy. 

Incidentally Amazon also just released Kindle for PC software (sorry, Mac freaks, yours comes later) which makes a lot of sense if you’re already traveling with a laptop and would rather cut down on the gadget count.  With the Kindle for PC, you can bypass the Kindle completely.  

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5 Sure-Fire Ways for Women to Stay Faithful

by Chinie & guest blogger Lally of MiCocina

Let’s get real. Women are just as likely to cheat on their spouses as men are — just not always for the same reasons… er… reason… ummm.. we mean just for sex. 

Whatever a potential cheating woman’s reasons might be, however, we like to think that we’re better equipped than men are to resist the temptation. If you’re not too sure about that, here are 5 methods that might help.

1. Think.

  Honestly. This is a gimme. When faced with tempation, all you really need to do is take a few minutes to THINK — about what you’re about to do, what the consequences will be, who’ll get hurt and whether it’s all worth it. More often than not it’s NOT worth the guilt and aggravation, and that should ideally be enough to keep you from straying.

Don’t be an idiot. Just walk away. 

If thinking isn’t your strong point, you may need some stronger solutions….

2. Don’t Drink.

FACT: Alcohol unleashes your inner slut. You know it. We know it. We all have some sort of experience to verify it.

If you haven’t walked away and are in a situation that could get a little too social (if you know what we mean) — don’t drink! People use “I was drunk” as an excuse so often, but oh puhleeezzz… the truth is we know exactly what we’re doing when we’re drunk — we just don’t care as much.  So don’t go there.

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10 Great Beer Gadgets for the Lush of Your Life

It’s been a while since I did a Christmas shopping post, and we’re running out of time, folks! If you aren’t planning ahead for the holidays, you’re bound to get all harassed, and believe me, I will say I told you so.

I just got my friend Jim the Beertender’s newsletter the other day, and it inspired me to find all sorts of goodies for our beer-loving buddies. Here are my top ten picks:

1. Thirst Aid Beer Helmet

Yeah, we’ve seen this around and it looks utterly ridiculous. It’s super convenient though, and any beer-guzzler who says he doesn’t want it is just lying.

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The Gadget Buyer’s Decision Making Flowchart

I love gadgets. And I love flowcharts. ‘Nuff said. 

Source: Gizmodo

The Top 10 Funniest Sports Photos of All Time

I’m not a a big sports fan, but I am a HUGE fan of funny photos. Consider it my personal spectator sport.

There are hundreds of funny sports photos on the web (you’ll find some links below) but these ten are the absolute CHAMPS! They never fail to make me laugh out loud. 

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How to Decide If You Should Buy More Shoes

Wouldn’t you know it, I found this on Cracked AFTER I’d already posted my article about the differences between men and women. Oh well, it’s amusing enough to stand on its own.

Check the original post on Cracked.com for the Boy version. 

Oooh, and if you like shoes, you’ll love this too: 10 Fab Finds for Shoe Fiends

Win/Fail: The YouTube Trivia Test

How well do you know YouTube? If you get all the way to the end of this interactive test, you probably spend waaay too much time on the Internet — so bear in mind that a WIN could actually be a FAIL.

5 Fascinating Letters from the Past

I recently came across a really interesting site called Letters of Note, which compiles all sorts of fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos.

If you’re into history (or just reading other people’s mail) you should definitely go have a look. Here are five letters I found particularly noteworthy.  

1. The Drunken Master’s Template of Shame 

In 9th century China, the ‘Dunhuang Bureau of Etiquette’ insisted that local officials use the following letter template when sending apologies to their hosts for the previous night’s drunkenness.

Translated Transcript
Yesterday, having drunk too much, I was intoxicated as to pass all bounds; but none of the rude and coarse language I used was uttered in a conscious state. The next morning, after hearing others speak on the subject, I realised what had happened, whereupon I was overwhelmed with confusion and ready to sink into the earth with shame.

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10 FFFFFUUUUUU-nniest Rage Comics

I’ve always found these rage comics I see on the web totally hilarious (in spite of the fact that they look they were drawn by a 3-year-old) — so when a brilliant slacker over at Sharenator spent half his workday compiling a collection of the best ones, I was extremely pleased.  

Here are ten of my faves — some from the Sharenator collection and a few others I found on Tumblr and  Fffuuucomics.

Lady Gaga’s Rage

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A Dozen Amusing Ways That Women Are Different from Men

When you enter a relationship, there’s one thing you should know from the get-go: You will NEVER really understand your mate.  It just isn’t meant to be. Men and women were just made different.

 Here are 12 funny (and kind of true!) illustrations to prove my point.

1. Unspoken Communication

Source:  ImageShack

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