I, too, will be a rulebreaker to say that I would not buy that litter box because I bought a self-cleaning litter box and it has been my best ridiculous investment ever. The cats love that it cleans up after them and so they have no incentive to use the basement floor instead. And I, as litterbox cleaner, am mostly out of a job I despised. But there's no palm tree.
Oh, and happy birthday!
Want the cat; not bothered about the cat box/planter.
You're not breaking the rules when you fail to pick the same item as me. You all are breaking the rules for a much more fundamental reason.
Wishing people "Happy Birthday" is so Facebook. Gawd.
The plant pot is actually quite large. That's a really big cat in the photo. Also, It seems difficult to access it to scoop. Besides, it's not really a present for you.
I only have access to Skymall when I don't have access to the internet.
I only have access to Skymall when I don't have access to the internet.
Exactly! This is why I know you all have some secret wish buried there. I'm just trying to unlock it.
I'll take the radio silence to mean that everyone is trying to decide between their top three possibilities.
HBHG!
This is not an object exactly, but I want it.
Thanks for trying to play, tierce? Am I always this poor at communicating with you all?
On the other not-quite-playing-yet hand, I don't actually want this but it surely demands to be linked to.
I want five North Koreans playing a Norwegian pop song on accordions in a huge empty room with a sunflower. Can I get that on Skymall? Please?
Maybe under "Entertaining"? "Home furnishings"? Have you checked?
I want a cotter pin (?*) for my chain saw and I spent twenty minutes at the HD site but couldn't find a picture.
*a little circular wire thingy that slips very tightly into a groove in a pole thingy and holds a washer/separator in place
I also need ten feet of garden hose and some termite spikes. And a bolt for the tree trimmer.
I'm gonna have to float a loan.
Is this how you all conduct yourselves in other areas of your life?
A partial match was made for termite spikes
Fine, I'll sweeten the pot. First person to play along has to buy themselves their item.
Besides me. It just wouldn't go with the rest of our decor.
First person to play along wins a date with Lunchy.
I had a quick look, but can't really see anything I'd fancy. Does that make me a bad person?
First person to play along gets the pictures of my ass that circulated around 2006.
I haven't looked at a SkyMall catalog for a while, but if they still have the audioanimatronic chimp, I'll take that.
Bad is such a strong word. How about "out of compliance"?
I don't think I've ever posed a puzzler that has taken this long to get a correct answer.
28: Shearer will be here with his top skymall picks any minute now.
Are you all scared to make yourself vulnerable? I swear there will be no bullying.
I'm not sure I understand the concept of Skymall. Is it supposed to be upmarket, or down?
That's always been a mystery to me, too. I think the goal is to hold your attention while you're stuck on a plane.
We tried the continuous flow cat fountain, but it didn't work very well. At least not for its intended purpose.
I'm really eager to hear LizardBreath's top choice.
Not Skymall, but I've been tempted to order a Japanese Shouting Vase from similar catalogs on Japan Rail.
Did you like to own the continuous flow cat fountain, knecht? If so, that counts.
It is better to give than to receive: this will solve Flippanter's tie-related dilemmas
I'm not sure I understand the concept of Skymall. Is it supposed to be upmarket, or down?
It's for a particular segment of the mass affluent. The topic was discussed at length in this thread.
I followed the rules before the game even existed, linking to the makers of the Skymall belt buckle wallets that I not only want, but actually bought. It's in the thread about how much stuff to pack:
http://www.unfogged.com/archives/comments_11932.html#1413618
I've already got the prize in 20.
Did you like to own the continuous flow cat fountain, knecht? If so, that counts.
If it means I get the picture of your ass, yeah, I loved it! It was great! Everyone should buy two!
Ah, 38 makes sense. Yeah. I was looking at the things in the categories I might buy things in -- stereos/headphones/cameras, etc. And largely thinking, 'wtf would I buy this shit?' and 'I know people who would definitely buy this shit'.
I think they're also for the insanely fearful. Watch this Nano Wand video! He recommends bringing it with you to work in case you need to use the bathroom.
If you had the electric breakfast taco maker from SkyMall, you wouldn't have to leave your house.
Wii bowling ball accessory. That's some seriously overpriced tat they've got there. They're charging nearly double Amazon's price for console hardware.
I've actually been meaning to get this travel humidifier (uses random water bottles as the tank) for a while now.
Every one is just too embarrassed to admit that they secretly want this .
Perhaps complemented by this.
There're a few dog beds/crates/ that I'd like if I weren't too stingy to see any need to upgrade what we have.
I tried looking for DVD storage seeing as we are after new shelves, but couldn't see anything useful. Then tried laundry/cleaning, feeling that there must be some Lakeland-type gadget there I would desire. http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=102870451&c=10430 "> Oh yes. I think it would take us a long time to tire of these.
43 WTF is that thing? A light sabre for chopping lettuce?
37 is amazing. My 13yo would definitely wear that.
Why is "Komfort Kollars" spelled like "Kustom Kar Kommandos"? Is SkyMall Satanist?
http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=203767371&c=10605
I would turn off the lights in my office and wear these to read, so when people came into my office I could spin my chair around and shine into their eyes.
Oh, I screwed up - http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=102870451&c=10430
49: You probably won't be surprised to learn that it's a wand for making things safe. It makes food safe, keyboards safe, beds safe, toilets safe. Finally. You just have to pass it 1/4" exactly above everything, very very slowly, and everything will be safe. If something bad does happen to you, it's probably because you did not use the wand properly.
Maybe a little expensive, but I want to be associated with the IROC-Z brand.
Sifu and Blume need these http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=204090131&c=&cm_sp=Search-_-Suggested-_-204090131
It's not a skymall thing, I don't think, but i do always wonder if these are any good:
http://www.lightwedge.com/Welcome/LightWedge-2-0-Rechargeable-Book-Light
They look like the sort of thing Skymall would carry.
I'll take this please.
Note: may be the least expensive thing in the catalog
47.1: Who wouldn't want that? It turns you invisible!
59: Or maybe, since it's just a silver version, sort of transparent. Like, maybe, 30% opacity.
Amazing how many things are both crap and expensive. E.g the Thomas Acquinas bookstand.
I would actually buy the dress shield things. I haven't seen them elsewhere.
The Work of Sauron in the Age of Mass Reproduction: how are conflicts of to-rule-you-ALL jurisdiction resolved?
I still seem mainly to be finding gifts for others.
29
Shearer will be here with his top skymall picks any minute now.
Didn't see anything I especially liked. The stuff is not generally to my taste.
I looked, but I'm not finding a horse head mask.
"Your search for bondage did not match any of the products we carry. We searched for bandage instead."
I want this bridge. That way, I won't have an excuse to put off buying a stream again.
Heebie needs this.
I want this ("powerful Neodymium magnets in the Vintage Express realign particles in beverages"). Study it, enlarge it, turn it into a supervillain weapon ("No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to... age!")
63: You need to develop a sense of taste before you can appreciate the finer things.
Actually that bridge would be quite handy in my flat: I wouldn't need to tidy up the piles of notes and books behind my work chair, I could just march over them. So I pick that too, and finally solve the puzzle.
58: Why take free photos with your phone when you pay to have an inconvient stash of physical labels?
If you keep the photo on your phone, you run the risk of accidentally showing the liquor store's clerk a photo of someone's ass instead or in addition to the photo of the label.
Are these actually designed for illiterate wine buffs?
"No, Unfrozen Caveman Oenophile does not know name of vineyard or year of bottling. Unfrozen Caveman Oenophile does not understand mystery of little stick drawings that speak. Bring him more bottles with this label."
73: Spoken like somebody who has never bought wine from the fine people at the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board.
I'd get it, except how many Yellowtail labels does one really need?
I buy my wine in boxes, unless it's a holiday or somebody's birthday.
Also, Happy Birthday where applicable.
I buy my wine in boxes, unless it's a holiday or somebody's birthday.
Me too. 12 bottles to a box, and a label on every one of them.
"No, Unfrozen Caveman Oenophile does not know name of vineyard or year of bottling. Unfrozen Caveman Oenophile does not understand mystery of little stick drawings that speak. Bring him more bottles with this label."
I can understand the basic idea behind it - I'm always trying to remember a particular wine I liked. It doesn't help of course, that drinking wine isn't exactly an aide memoire. But this seems to be the least practical and most expensive way of remembering, other than hiring someone to remember for you.
I'd buy boxed wine too, but three liters in one sitting seems excessive.
My guess is that they are intended not as an aide memoire, but as a souvenir. As in, you flip through an album of them and say "Ahhh, Honey, you remember the time we drank that 2000 Chateau Petrus?" This would be done in the presence of one's friends, who would appreciate it about as much as a slide show of your photos from your beach holiday.
I know someone who's rule is that every other day they may drink a bottle of wine, and then they aren't allowed to drink anything on the off days. I'm amused by this, although there's nothing really wrong with it.
Obviously you'd need to start in the morning.
And the fiber, if you get the gross kind with the pulp.
Just pour the mix through the Wine and Liquor Accelerator or the particles won't be aligned.
I wouldn't mind one of those giant maps, as in this Penny Arcade comic, if the map were a little more richly colorful and detailed.
89: We had one of those on our basement wall when I was a kid. Our was a bit bigger, but otherwise it looked the same. The top part of Alaska and higher was on the ceiling.
1: I was on my iPhone and getting called in to a doctor's appointment.
My guess is that they are intended not as an aide memoire, but as a souvenir. As in, you flip through an album of them and say "Ahhh, Honey, you remember the time we drank that 2000 Chateau Petrus?" This would be done in the presence of one's friends, who would appreciate it about as much as a slide show of your photos from your beach holiday.
Oh, I see now. It's for wankers.
92: Wait, are those wankers, poseurs or pseuds? It's hard for someone as effortlessly cool as myself to care enough to identify every strain of the great uncool.
93: You wouldn't do so well at this.
94: No, but I feel like I'd be a great judge for a round of "Who's More Grizzled?"
"I'm sorry, we were looking for 'grizzled'. That was 'wistful'."
I need a good piece of luggage, but my totally splurgy desire is this this pair of sound cancelling headphones.
You can get a fairly decent pair for £100 less.
If those ever get down to fifty bucks or so, I'm going to want a pair.
98: Yup. I really want them, and I would use them, but I won't pay that much for them. I can generally get about $80 total out of my four offspring for a combined gift.
Semi on topic, when did Brookstone become primary a store for selling vibrators? I wandered in there the other day looking for a gift, and the store was entirely taken over with a wall that said something like "for intimate relaxation.". Shocking!
100: Everybody was humping the shaking chairs, so they went with what works.
96-99: Are you two fucking? joking? My strong impression (from reviews) is that those things have about a 150% marketing premium.
These are basically just as good (maybe better!), and hit your under $80 price point.
102: Buy two and you'll have saved enough to pay a plumber to give me closure ensure your plumbing is safe.
If you don't need them to fold quite so small, these are $55.
There's no need to pay more than 25 cents/ear.
You say it's you birthday? It's my birthday too, yeah!
So, I don't have to pick from SkyMall!
Happy birthday to us. And a meryy feast of Saint Ansgar to all.
Say, has anyone heard from Pauly Shore recently? Should we be concerned?
107: He hasn't been around for a bit. While mostly relieved, I am a bit worried about him.
http://www.skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=203452350
looks fun.
Having greatly inferior moral character than LB possesses, I wish him nothing but illness and misfortune. He has not updated his blog since January 7th, so maybe the day is approaching that I can quit stabbing the voodoo doll with knitting needles. I'll continue for the time being, just in case.
Oh, how annoying. I claim: 106, 108, 113.
Remember personal info!
115: Thanks for clearing up everything.
My local Allstate agent just called and played a recorded message wishing me a happy birthday. Also the city sent me a happy jury duty letter.
96-99: Are you two fucking? joking? My strong impression (from reviews) is that those things have about a 150% marketing premium.
Well, yeah, that was my point. A decent pair of non-Dre branded noise cancelling headphones will set you back about £100 less.
I'm not sure what category to peruse for this, but for a while there was an enormous anthropomorphic container of Yoplait yogurt, with waving arms, retailing for $1800 or so. I think the idea was "YOUR BRAND HERE," but it still made a great visual impression. Has anyone else seen it? My birthday is late summer, if you want to commence the saving process.
Runner-up: the caption on, I think, a pewter bald eagle sculpture which began, "They say that God is in the details..."
Also daycare called to with me a happy "your son hurt his foot and we're icing it, but come get him."
I wonder about noise-cancelling headphones. I have a nice enough pair of headphones:
http://www.whathifi.com/review/audio-technica-ath-es7
But it would be nice to have a bit of noise cancelling for commuting. Shame there isn't [or is there?] a noise-cancelling app for the phone.
120: I was advised not to forget about Dre.
I already do the foam earplug thing. I wanted to listen to music at the same time, and I now see I can get that just at my $80 price point.
And Ginger, I read your comment to mean one could get them for £100 or less, which did not compute down to my $80 price point.
And I never claimed to have actually looked very hard for these things, so I don't know why I got the F bomb lobbed my way.
And Ginger, I read your comment to mean one could get them for £100 or less, which did not compute down to my $80 price point.
Having owned a few pairs in my time, I'm not too keen on sub £70 noise cancelling cans. I mean, even non-noise cancelling headphones in that price range aren't that great. I don't know how good the Dr Dre ones are, but I'm sure they're massively overpriced for the quality.
I know that I've seen things in skymall that seemed tempting. Not in the, "I want to own that" kind of way but more in the "I'd want to play with that if I didn't have to bother to find a place to store it.
Let me take a look.
I'd like this as a coffee table support.this as a coffee table support.
This just makes me laugh, it's equally as absurd as various sky mall monstrosities but on a much, much, smaller scale.
Wait, Pauly has a blog? For realsies?
131: Oh, wow. I am a couple degrees of separation away from the guy who invented that. We (unkindly) nicknamed him the earnest banjo guy until we found out about his invention. Apparently, he makes a living selling them.
It's probably not a good idea to click on that link to check it out. Why remind him if he's moved on?
133: The sponge rack or the sasquatch?
The thing I love about the sponge rack is the idea that the problem with a "evil sponge" is that it's going to contaminate your other sponge, rather than, say, the surfaces you clean.
The rack itself is idiotic, but the concept of an 'evil' sponge makes sense -- it's for gross cleanup of non-food-related surfaces. Wiping stuff off floors and such.
The rack itself is idiotic, but the concept of an 'evil' sponge makes sense -- it's for gross cleanup of non-food-related surfaces. Wiping stuff off floors and such.
Oh, totally. But when you're done cleaning the toilet or whatever, you throw away the sponge.
Aren't you going to clean it again next week?
Also, don't you have a separate brush just for the toilet bowl. The rest of the toilet gets cleaned with baby wipes.
but the concept of an 'evil' sponge makes sense
How about an 'evil' sasquatch?
I have to admit that I keep my gross cleaning materials in a completely separate place from my shower things and dish cloths, and I kind of assumed other people did too.
141: It's easier to just gargle with Scope between chores. And better for the environment.
See 43! You no longer need two sponges! Just Nano Wand the sponge after you clean the toilet, and it'll be ready for the dinnerware!
Aren't you going to clean it again next week?
Yes, with a new sponge. And, as with 141, in actuality I use those Dettol disposable wipes for the toilet. But I do have evil sponges, and they get thrown out.
142: Well, yes, that's why the rack is stupid.
So, re Friday Puzzler, here's a thing that happened. I ordered a thing from a website. The price for the thing, including tax and shipping, was $x, as shown on both the final "review your order before confirmation" screen and the subsequent "congratulations, your order is complete! We'll send you an email confirmation." screen. But then I opened my email and saw the email confirmation, which showed a price of $(x+75)! (That's an exclamation mark, not a factorial.) I called the customer service line and was only able to reach a recording, where I left a message. I also sent an email about the error to the customer service email address, and asked for a corrected email confirmation. I never heard back about either. A few days later, I discovered that my card was in fact charged $(x+75) for the order. I called and emailed the merchant once again. When I didn't hear back, I called my credit card to dispute the charge. They initially agreed and issued a credit on the charge, but then reversed course when apparently the merchant said its records showed that the charge was valid. WTF? The credit card company acts like they can't do anything else, and I've still gotten nothing but silence from the merchant. What's my next step?
Did you save the confirmation screen?
147: Do you have screen shots of the review and congratulations pages? Is the item still for sale? If so, you can get to the review part and show the selling price before the fraud started.
People have no recourse against corporations. They can randomly charge you extra money at any time and there's simply nothing you can do. Better to start resigning yourself to that.
Can you just return it and be out only the cost of shipping?
I mean, in theory I should be able to do that, but I'm not sure at this point why I wouldn't except a $350 restocking charge to apply.
You could retain documentation (i.e. shipping labels or whatever people use) when you return it.
Oh, hey, this is the 'ordering stupid stuff online' thread. SodaStream: people here have said they liked them, but there was some political issue. (A) if you have one and it's good, what model precisely? There seem to be a lot of variants. (B) Walk me through the political problem? Something about a factory in the West Bank?
Also, 156 seems hugely suboptimal. It's like paying mobsters a small amount not to terrorize you anymore.
If you aren't going to save any documentation, what do you want?
What about Biohazard's 151.last? If you had any way of showing it was on sale for your price, that'd be something. If you don't, I can't think of anything to tell you.
I mean, the shipping was $15. Plus whatever I'd have to pay to ship it back. And that's assuming they actually refund the money appropriately.
Maybe that was an important detail: no, the item is not still for sale. I mean, it's still being sold, but $x was actually a sale price, and I bought it on the last day of the sale. $(x+75) is the regular/current price.
The sponge thing, enabling us to call him the 'Sp/ngester'
This merchant has a physical store in NYC. Can a local go there and fuck shit up on my behalf?
161: I got one a couple of weeks ago at Costco.
http://www.sodastreamusa.com/Dynamo-Deluxe-Machins-C62.aspx
Mine works quite well. The trick is to use very cold water and do the charging slowly so the CO2 has a chance to dissolve in the water before the next hit. That way there are plenty of bubbles and no spilling problems.
I don't know a thing about the politics.
167,169: Sounds like one of the camera stores. C-4 might work.
167: Is your confirmation email dated? If you can get someone to admit that on [DATE] the product was on sale for your price, and you have an email with that date, that might get you somewhere.
(Although, really, I'm starting to wonder if maybe you left the page open for long enough that the price changed before you hit the checkout button.)
I'm starting to wonder if maybe you left the page open for long enough that the price changed before you hit the checkout button
This happened to me (it was a time zone thing). I contacted customer service, and the vendor refunded me the difference. They were Christians, though, so YMMV.
No, I didn't. The whole transaction happened at a normal pace, and I was staring at a $155 price plus $15 in shipping.
This happened to me (it was a time zone thing).
Oh, huh, that's vaguely plausible, since it's a European company, and my order was placed right at 2:00 EST. (But that's not midnight in Europe.)
So, not a RealDoll.
If you ask for just the head, and are willing to take one with a few cosmetic defects, you can get a very good price.
On Sodastream's illegal West Bank factory, see here.
Basically, the product says "made in Israel" when in fact, it is made in illegally seized territory by workers who effectively have no rights, working for a company that receives massive subsidies from the Israeli government so that they can act is if the land is theirs.
We bought one before we knew about where it was made. I wish I could say that it is a piece of shit, but actually it works fine.
Is there a cached webpage showing the sale price?
Basically, the product says "made in Israel" when in fact, it is made in illegally seized territory by workers who effectively have no rights, working for a company that receives massive subsidies from the Israeli government so that they can act is if the land is theirs.
So it should say "made by Israel" to be accurate.
With the toilet I mostly use paper towels that I can throw out. (I use a brush on the bowl itself.)
I do usually have two sponges for the kitchen sink and throw one in the dishwasher whenever I run it.
147
... What's my next step?
I believe you need to dispute the charge as fraudulent in writing with your credit card company. It is my understanding (which may be out of date) that without a signature the merchant cannot win. Obviously I am not a lawyer much less your lawyer.
82: your friend is an alcoholic. sorry. also, happy birthday!
no, actually this or this would be better.
Does the SodaStream do anything that this can't?
186: The SodaStream uses much higher capacity CO2 cartridges. It's more of "system" for making filled bottles than a seltzer-maker. There's probably a cost of operation comparison somewhere on the net.