I think the model they're concentrating on has a ripcord to start it.

And I had just accumulated a list of advice on gifts for kids...

Since the thread has spread in an other direction, I'll keep it short: bring a kid. It's fun, and they are the professionals.

Uhh. Sorry. Didn't mean to help slide the thread's rating toward NC-17.

My bad.

And I am sorry to propagate it...

They have used and/or refurbished models for sale?

Simple shocking.

Although the "Add to Wedding Registry" button on the side for it, is a nice touch (pardon the pun).

Oh, honey, don't cry, it probably just needs a little WD-40. Here ya go....

To skate back to topic:

For the kids, I say two words - "Pirate Costumes".

The worlds needs more pirates and the WGB needs more material for the "Friday!!!!" Thread.

ARRRRR!

here's what i got The Boy.



oh hell yeah.

Ant farms are cool - - ours was more technically complex, but came with dumber ants; at least, ones with poor survival skills.

Here's a brief, and incomplete, description of the farm. And a little bit more here.

And, from the ants perspective, sort of: current events
I'm particularly fond of the icon: .

whoa.... I really want an ant farm now. I mean, I'm sure I'd kill them or something. I had pet worms once when I was a kid. I killed them. And I felt horrible. We made their little habitats in science class. We took large jars, filled the bottom with sand, then a layer of dead leaves, then dirt, then some pebbles, then sand, then leaves, then dirt and so on until leaves at the top. We put in 3-5 worms. Wll you had to do was water it and keep it in a cool place. We put black construction paper around the bottle to keep it dark, but you could take it off and look in there. They'd tunnell all over the place, and right up against the glass some of the time.

Anyway I forgot to water it. It was horrible. I just left it under my bathroom sink and felt so guilty that I couldn't take it out and look at it.

Jake, my snake is getting similar treatment right now. I haven't cleaned his cage in ages, so in order to not think about that, I never take him out. I feel horrible about it, it's just that it'll take an hour or so to clean it out and I just haven't done it...

meth + OCD = clean cage

well shoot, I don't do crank so I guess it's not going to get cleaned...

Ant Farm Fun
I heard about an experiment with ants:
Four colonies of ants were used.
Two of the colonies were separated by a mesh screen corridor to separate food sources and two of the colonies were separated by a glass partioned corridor to separate food sources. The mesh separated ants could touch antennae through the mesh and did. The glass separated ants could not touch antennae. The two colonies separated by the mesh began producing more soldier ants. The glass separated colonies soldier ant production remained the same. (Reminds me of the Southpark sea monkey episode.)

it was only a few hours after buying it that i started having elaborate and ambitious insect farm fantasies. like wall-sized tanks filled with them. then i remembered the Sand Kings episode of the new Outer Limits and started to drool a lot.

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...and started to drool a lot.

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That is the way with your kind, no?

A giant ant farm would be nice (whether you apply the giant to the ants or the farm). At an Oz Museum exhibit on insects one time they had a beehive exhibit. If you put your hand on the glass you could feel the vibrations from all the buzzing.

Personally I've always wanted to see office buildings internally strung with clear plastic tubes to allow the free movement of hamsters, rats or the like. (Saw the same idea used for a goldfish tank in some HK flick the name of which permanently escapes me.) Actually, all office buildings should have an upper floor reserved for the roosting of bats.

So, er, yeah... gifts...

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...all office buildings should have an upper floor reserved for the roosting of bats

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With all the West Nile around here, you'd think that Westcheter county would relax their rules about putting up bat houses, but you'd be wrong.

Bats are too cool.

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Originally posted by digitalprimate:

quote:

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...and started to drool a lot.

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That _is_ the way with your kind, no?

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cheeky monkey.

I have to rethink a few gifts, since some of the deliveries didn't quite make it on time.

Has anyone seen Sarah McLachlan's world on fire web video*? Sure, I can't make that much of a dent, but I did donate to a bird sanctuary last year as a gift.

and it didn't even require batteries.

I didn't think of that option this year, 'til this morning.

* requires Quicktime

Now that many gifts have been delivered, I know someone who got one of this: Billy

Weird. Specially when his four years old niece wanted to play with it.

José

DP, there are some municipalities around here that are putting up bathouses for that very reason. Good sense. I'm sometimes amazed to find that in local government.