…and Target and Best Buy are really trying to play them up even more!

So, a lot of people have turned to gift cards as an “easy out” for getting a gift. Me personally? I love to get them, but that is probably because I’m the odd man that is a shopaholic. It seems that some of our big retailers are trying to remove one of the stigmas associated with giving gift cards…you aren’t giving something physical to the person, so it feels less like a gift. Therefore, let me introduce the proposed solution starting with Best Buy first.

The speaker gift card from Best Buy includes a speaker and a mini headphone jack so that you can plug it in to almost any MP3 player you may own. I guess if you don’t have an MP3 player, you can just use the gift card to purchase a new iPod (even though rumors are that they will stop making them soon) and then plug it in.

Now, the cooler of the two that I will be talking about is the Target Camera gift card. Now this one comes completely loaded…40 free prints, a self timer and averages over 50 pictures with the built in 8MB of space. I’m sure it isn’t the highest quality, but a nice free benefit for a gift card if you ask me. I’ll take either!

Product Info -Best Buy Speaker Gift Card-
Product Info -Target Camera Gift Card-
Retrieved from -Coolest Gadgets- and -Coolest Gadgets-

…but I think one could argue this could be used to cure claustrophobia.

There are some people in this world (namely my mother) who have an extreme fear of enclosed spaces…so much so that they will never be able to fly in an airplane. No traveling overseas, no cross country travels, you name it, they can’t do it. Could placing an airplane window like this beside their bed make them get used to the sight so that being in the actual plane wouldn’t be so bad? Probably not, and for $1500, I think they would be much better off buying tons of valium to make it through a flight.

So, if that’s the case, who would want to pay that for an airplane window?

Product Info -Airplane Window-
Retrieved from -Nerd Approved-

…at least, back from the 1940s.

Introducing Ma & Pa Kettle with their backwards view of math….enjoy!

…being that he loves Star Wars and all.

I could just imagine him waking up to a nice piece of toast that my sister fixes for him and having Darth Vader’s helmet burned into the toast. How cool would that be? Oh wait, my sister doesn’t cook…hmmm, maybe she can at least attempt toast! But, if he wants to grow big and strong, he needs to at least ingest the dark side of the force!

Product Info -Darth Vader Toaster-
Retrieved from -OhGizmo!-

…well, maybe the true reason isn’t that the machine won’t recognize the pencil lead, but that it could cause a catastrophic explosion as seen in XKCD’s comic.

Everytime I took a ScanTron test, the teachers harped incessantly about using a #2 pencil. I mean, what would happen if you didn’t? You would fail if you didn’t have one because the reader couldn’t see the graphite? The paper would disintegrate due to the sheer amounts of pressure applied under a harder lead? The tectonic plates would shift causing the big earthquake that’s due any day in Charleston? The world economy would collapse? Oh wait, that last one is in the process…Anyway, quite a funny take on the subject in the comic.

Retrieved from -XKCD-

…at least for construction professionals.

Over at “I Want One of Those“, they have an eating untensil set for chidren 3+ years old. And being that I deal with construction workers (I am a designer people, not a constructer), these have to be some of the most awesome ones around. The set has three pieces…a crane fork, a front end loader spoon and then my absolute favorite, a bulldozer utensil to push food around (like getting that last bit off the plate).

Not the easiest price to digest at about $25, but still cool.

Product Info -I Want One of Those-
Retrieved from -Coolest Gadgets-

…at least, that should be the name of the gallery that would show such “art”.

Do you ever get tired of the same old lamps beside the bed to provide light in your bedroom? Ever think you might need a different type of “mood lighting”? Well, designer Marie Thurnauer has the solution for you! Her 53 inch long light can satisfy almost any morose need you may have, with her light that is shaped like a noose. Granted, I actually kind of like it, but I could just imagine the lyrics from “you light up my life” coming from that artwork. I think the thought of Halloween is still stuck in my head…

Product Info -Petites Productions-
Retrieved from -OhGizmo-

…but man, I think I need to pass up the title to this person!

I’m just in shock…I don’t know how long this took. This is an AC/DC video made only in Excel spreadsheets. I can not imagine how long this may have taken! But, I have to say, I will gladly pass along my title give to me at work to this creator of a nerdy masterpiece. Bravo sir, bravo!

Direct Link to Video

…or hardcore video editing?

I have the toughest time believing this can really not be fake. But if it is, it is the best ragdoll physics I have ever seen on a video. If it isn’t fake, dang, how did that not rip the arms out of that baby’s sockets? Holy crap. Like I said, I have a tough time believing it, and it’s hard to dupe me.

…to put this much strain on a motorized cart for a grocery store?

I see this picture and try to refrain from any un-niceties. But it’s hard, so hard. They may have a legitimate reason for needing one of these, but you have to know there is a weight limit on them. I wonder if that thing even has enough power to go more than 1′?