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Paul's 2024 Holiday Gift Guide |
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by Paul Arnote (parnote)
Yep! ‘Tis the season! The season for holiday gift giving is once again upon us. No matter how you celebrate the holidays (or maybe you don’t), there’s a general spirit of giving and good will among people at this time of year. For the most part, at least. This year, as we’ve done every year since I’ve taken the reins of the magazine, we’re presenting our annual Holiday Gift Guide articles. This year, there are 10 gift ideas – EACH – from The CrankyZombie, Meemaw, tbs and me. That’s a total of 40 unique holiday gift ideas to help you find that perfect gift for those on your holiday gift list. Who knows … maybe you’re on your own gift list! Collectively, we’ve tried to include items that fit into just about every budget. The prices expressed are in U.S. dollars, and are accurate as far as we know at the time that the articles were written. Certainly, we can’t guarantee the availability of all items in all areas, but we hope that you are able to find what you’re looking for. If ordering online, be sure to order the gifts early enough that they show up before the holiday you’re celebrating. So, with further ado, here’s my 10 gift ideas…
If you spend any amount of time outdoors, or if you have an emergency preparedness stash for those unexpected emergencies, you most likely have a need for an economical lighting source that won’t fail you when needed the most. With my son and daughter both in Cub Scouts, and with us enjoying camping as a family, any kind of portable lighting is always “on our radar.” What I love most about this lantern is IT DOES NOT REQUIRE ANY BATTERIES (which always seem to be dead when needed most)! Simply fill the reservoir with 350ml of water, and mix in a tablespoon of salt. The electricity for the light is generated from a chemical reaction between the salt water and the replaceable aluminum plates on the interior of the lantern reservoir. The lantern will stay lit (producing light) for up to 140 hours on a single fill. The lantern can produce as much as 350 lumens of soft, diffuse light that’s sufficient to light up your immediate area. Be sure to drain the salt water (and rinse out the interior) to stop the chemical reaction in between uses to prolong the life of the aluminum plates that participate in that chemical reaction. This salt water lantern is an environmentally conscious emergency and camping light that requires no batteries. The lantern is versatile, suitable for outdoor activities like camping, hiking, and emergency preparedness kits. It’s compact and portable, being lightweight and easy to transport, ideal for travel or outdoor adventures. There is no fuel required, utilizing a safe and renewable energy source, eliminating the need for hazardous fuels or disposable batteries.
With today’s automakers attempting to make vehicles more aerodynamic, one thing that has happened is the increased “sloping” of the windshield. That sloping makes it an exercise in contortion-ism just to clean the interior of the windshield. In many cases, you cannot get to some areas of the windshield to clean. There simply isn’t room to get your hand in there to clean it effectively. That makes this tool super useful, allowing you to be able to clean your windshield from edge-to-edge, with ease. The handles telescope to give you not only the best angle to clean the windshield, but to also extend your reach. There are two different shaped microfiber pads (rectangular and triangular) to allow you to reach all of those areas of your windshield. This kit comes with three pads in each shape, two extendable handles, a soft brush, and a couple of small spray bottles. This turns the job of cleaning the interior of your windshield into a super simple job, that’s almost fun to do. The only thing you need to provide is your favorite glass cleaner, a little bit of time, and a little of your “elbow grease” to complete the job!
I stumbled upon this belt quite by chance, and it has become my absolute FAVORITE belt out of all of the belts I own. To be perfectly honest, I had never even heard of a “ratchet belt” before finding this. I hate belts with large belt buckles, and with buckles with sharp corners that dig into the physical evidence of my dunlap disease (don’t ask). I’ve tried all sorts of belts. Fabric belts. Check! Leather belts. Check! Canvas belts with the pinch roller. Check! The leather and fabric belts get “distorted” from using the same hole over and over and over. The canvas webbing belts that use the pinch roller can be troublesome to undo in a hurry (should that need arise). However, the ratchet belt is infinitely adjustable (like the canvas belt with the pinch roller), and is quickly released by the release lever on the right underside of the “buckle.” As an added bonus, the belt is reversible, giving you two colors of belts to choose from, with a simple twist of the buckle. And, the buckle is pretty minimalist in nature, preventing it from digging in when I bend over. The belt pictured here is the belt I have, with black on one side, and khaki on the other side. There are other color combinations available, including blue/black, coyote/black, gray/black, and coffee/black.
When I find them on sale, and when I have the extra money to spend, I tend to buy SSDs in various sizes. I use them to replace spinning rust drives in some of my computers, and use others for an assortment of external storage devices. This particular drive case is made of aluminum, providing a very stout and secure drive enclosure. It has ample air vents, to help ensure that the drive contained within runs cool and any heat is easily whisked away. It comes with drive cables that connect to an available USB-C port, and utilizes the faster USB 3.2 protocol to rapidly transfer files. If you don’t have an available USB-C port, you can plug in the USB-A cable adapter, and use that to transfer files (albeit somewhat slower).
As I mentioned earlier, both my son and daughter are in Cub Scouts. In fact, my wife and I are the hiking chairs for our Cub Scout Pack, charged with arranging a monthly hike for our entire pack (yes, even during the winter). After getting a few “try ‘em and see” hiking sticks, I finally found these. Some of the “other” hiking sticks I tried weren’t tall enough for an adult. Others were so flimsy that they were barely useful as hiking sticks. Not only are these lightweight AND sturdy, but they also extend to an acceptable height for use by an adult (for what it’s worth, the “proper” height adjustment for a hiking stick is to a height where your arm is bent at the elbow and your forearm is parallel to the ground). These come with four different attachments for the ground-contact end of the hiking poles, as well as a storage bag for the sticks and their attachments. The handle is very comfortable, made from cork that flexes slightly in your hand to give you a sure grip.
This high power monocular telescope provides 10x magnification with a 42 mm objective diameter wide lens. It provides a 305 ft/1000 yards of large field of view. Perfect for bird watching, hiking, hunting, sporting events, etc. The monocular is waterproof, anti-fog, dustproof, shockproof, and slip resistant. The lens cap protects the lens from dust and moisture. It is nitrogen filled, providing protection in any weather and in any condition. This monocular has a fully multi-coat lens, offering a brighter view and clear low light vision. High light transmittance of up to 99.9 percent provides clear, high contrast, and color accurate images. Only 6.38 inch x 3.03 inch x 2.28 inch and weighs 0.86 lbs, the mini design is perfect for one handed and fits easily into your pocket or backpack. The rubber armor with stripes increases the friction, helping to keep it from slipping out from your hand. The monocular is packed with an English instruction manual, flannel pouch, lanyard, cleaning cloth, and lens cap, as well as sporting a socket for mounting on a tripod.
Of all of the knife sharpeners I’ve tried over the years, this is the latest one that has become my favorite. Most of the sharpeners I’ve tried over the years only sharpen your knife blades at one “universal” angle (that doesn’t exist). However, this one has a dial (the yellow knob on top in the image) that allows you to choose from five different grinding/sharpening angles: 15°, 18°, 20°, 22°, and 24°. That is for the coarse sharpening slot. The fine sharpening slot is self-adjusting, and fine tunes the sharpening. The third sharpening slot (behind the tip of the knife in the picture above) is specially designated for sharpening your scissors (and there’s little else as frustrating as a dull pair of scissors). The sharpener has an anti-slip base, and an offset handle to help keep your “other” hand safe. It also comes with a nice storage bag (lower left in image). There’s even a brief guide on the side of the sharpener to help you select the proper sharpening angle for the various knives you might want to sharpen with this sharpener.
I love this little radio! It has SO MANY features packed into such a small package! First of all, there’s the 1940s/1950s styling, reminiscent of many radios from the era it copies its styling from. Even the tuning dial is the “old fashioned” analog tuner. Tuning is easy, and the stations come in very clear. Simply select (top front knob) the band (AM or FM) you want to listen to, and manually tune in the station with the large tuning knob. The sound from this radio is exceptionally clear and rich, even if it’s not stereo sound. If that was all this radio did, that would be enough to rank it right up at the top of its competitors. But, it does do more. You can play music (or other audio media, such as podcasts) stored on a USB flash drive, or on a TF (microSD) card. The radio can also run off of 2 common D-cell batteries, and it also has its own built-in rechargeable LiON battery. Plug the supplied USB cable into a charger, and you can recharge that built-in battery. The LED on the tuning dial will turn red while charging, and changes to green when fully charged. Plus, you can also stream music via Bluetooth from your mobile devices, and play them back over this radio. It also has an earphone jack to allow you to listen without disturbing those around you.
Our Men’s Value T-Shirt is an everyday essential! This short-sleeve midweight fabric T-shirt is comfortable, economical and made to last. Designed with a traditional fit that runs true to size, you’ll show off your personality, humor and interests with an easy, relaxed style. Comfortable, midweight Men’s Value T-Shirt is made of 100% preshrunk cotton; gray colors are made of a cotton/polyester blend. Short-sleeve tee shirts for men available in 15 colors. Double-needle stitched bottom and hems for extra durability. Crewneck T-shirts professionally printed with sharp, vivid designs that resist fading. Designed for the cost-conscious shopper. Machine wash cold with like colors, inside/out, then tumble dry low.
The holiday gift giving season is ripe for making a donation to keep PCLinuxOS going, so you can make a donation either in your name, or in the name of the PCLinuxOS user on your holiday gift list. Texstar’s sole occupation is working on PCLinuxOS, and he could use your donations to help keep himself stocked with tacos and beer. Server space doesn’t come free, so there are “other costs” associated with making your free (as in beer) and favorite operating system available to as many users as possible. You can enter the amount you can afford, and pay using a credit card, or from funds drawn on a U.S. bank account. No reasonable amount is too small.
There you have it … my 10 holiday gift ideas. If nothing I’ve listed strikes your fancy, I’m sure you’ll be able to find something that does on either Meemaw’s, The CrankyZombie’s, or tbs’ holiday gift guide. Happy Holidays, from all of us here at The PCLinuxOS Magazine! |
