# Offbeat things you really want **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 29, 2014, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464 "2014-12-29T19:38:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/41 "2014-12-30T18:42:54Z")
I’ve always wanted 2 747s loaded with high explosive and rigged for pilotless flying. Then throw in a few tons of stuff that burns in pretty colors. They idea is to have a head on mid air collision result in the biggest single fireworks display ever. ---
**Author:** ![dream-scraper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@dream-scraper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dream-scraper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/42 "2014-12-30T19:03:58Z")
Amber with insect inside from prehistoric times… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/43 "2014-12-30T19:33:08Z")
> [@freckafree](#): > > Don’t know how far Buttcrack, Illinois is from central Ohio, but… Just south of Taintville. I’d like a coat rack made by attaching half a dozen glass doorknobs to a board. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/44 "2014-12-30T19:52:20Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > A neanderthal hand axe, flint blade, or anything of that sort. I mean, a tool crafted by a non-human species! Something about this strikes me as just incredibly cool. [Jenny’s Rock Garden](https://www.etsy.com/listing/209655107/neanderthal-flake-core?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product_listing_promoted&utm_campaign=vintage-antique-100_years_or_older-mid&ione_adtype=pla&ione_creative=54864782315&ione_product_id=209655107&ione_product_partition_id=92644404275&ione_store_code=&ione_device=c&ione_product_channel=online&ione_merchant_id=12768591&ione_product_country=US&ione_product_language=en&gclid=CNGhq5PD7sICFW4V7AoduV4Aiw). > [@dream-scraper](#): > > Amber with insect inside from prehistoric times… [Your wish is my command](https://www.etsy.com/listing/207995173/baltic-amber-inclusion-a3-beautiful-fly?utm_source=google&utm_medium=product_listing_promoted&utm_campaign=everything_else-low-other&ione_adtype=pla&ione_creative=49780388075&ione_product_id=207995173&ione_product_partition_id=81790940315&ione_store_code=&ione_device=c&ione_product_channel=online&ione_merchant_id=12768591&ione_product_country=US&ione_product_language=en&gclid=CN7k0K7D7sICFWRp7Aod2hoANA). Hm, not sure how offbeat. Ultimate item? I would need a significant influx of money, but [Winnie’s private yacht](http://www.classicyachtforsale.com/myAmazon.html) for a start 😃 A couple years back Lindburgh’s honeymoon [Elco](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Launch_Company) yacht the [Mouette](http://classicyacht.org/boats/la-mouette) was on the market for under a quarter million. [I really like the old style yachts, I would love a early to mid thirties 50+ foot flattop] More reasonable? I love trips, and there are some serious luxury train rides - a scotch afficianado one through Scotland, the Trans Siberian one, Tsar class of course =), and a couple in Australia [one is north/south, the other is east/west] and a real long one headed north from South Africa. Cunard has around the hemisphere Atlantic and Pacific [no longer do they have a no shit around the entire globe both Atlantic and Pacific with a transit through the Panama Canal _sob_] and doing Atlantic crossings both ways is very do-able, and with some schedule tweaking I would avoid needing to cross the atlantic in either direction on a plane! And I have mentioned I would love to go to Cuba as well =) ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/45 "2014-12-30T20:09:17Z")
> [@dream-scraper](#): > > Amber with insect inside from prehistoric times… I got something like that for Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/46 "2014-12-30T20:12:07Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Just south of Taintville. > > I’d like a coat rack made by attaching half a dozen glass doorknobs to a board. [Here you go](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sop=1&_nkw=door+knob+coat+rack&_frs=1). ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/47 "2014-12-30T20:26:06Z")
I want a Mitsubishi MU-2 like this [one.](https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR11ElWAD6Po4rOnuuXcyHJfJ19uUBC4NGToWBoPzqAZYJsqb2zNA) Can I perhaps borrow a million or so dollars? ---
**Author:** ![Lorene89095](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@Lorene89095](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lorene89095)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/48 "2014-12-30T22:11:58Z")
Just one more time. Horseback,flying gallop,bareback… Hand buried in the mane,war bridle on the horse,… I’m 16 again,hair flying,barefoot… Free,one more time… ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/49 "2014-12-30T23:50:51Z")
When I posted this OP, I was also thinking about a couple of lines from Toni Morrison’s first novel, The Bluest Eye. The narrator says that what she really wants for her birthday is to sit in the kitchen with a lap full of lilacs while her grandfather plays the violin, just for her. Or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/50 "2014-12-31T01:42:40Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > They will be more possible if we can manage to move to the Pacific Northwest this summer than they are now, while we live in Buttcrack, Illinois. My husband is investigating the yurt situation out there already. He came up with a platform tent campground last night. No dice, buddy. This Girl Scout done slept in plenty of platform tents already. Maybe this [site](http://www.parks.wa.gov/403/Cabins-Rustic-Shelters-Yurts)for yurt rentals in some of the Washington State Parks. These may be more “yurt” in name but more of a platform tent. I have stayed in many Tibetan yurts (made from yak felt but that was a while ago in my backpacking days. Me, I thought I wanted a real brick oven in my backyard but after experimenting this week I’m past that. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/51 "2014-12-31T09:56:53Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Two weeks in London England with enough $ to cover any museum entry fee I desire! > > When I was a curious child I began to think everything worth seeing was somewhere in a British museum. It seemed whatever my latest obsession it somehow always led back there somehow. It’s on my bucket list. The BM has been free to public entry since 1758, so all you need is airfare and accomodations 🙂 (Most museums in London are free; the extortionate stuff is stuff like the Tower, Westminster Abbey, &c). What _is_ fun is fooling around in the British Museum at night after all of the tourists have gone. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/52 "2014-12-31T12:52:09Z")
This information, makes me swoon! How incredibly civilized! I’ll be thinking about it all day! Thanks for the info! ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/53 "2014-12-31T16:37:43Z")
> [@Octarine](#): > > Paragliding would also be incredible. Powered paragliders. I’ve had the opportunity to play around with one (only on the ground though :() _They_ are awesome! > [@LSLGuy](#): > > I’ve also seen concrete stegosaurus & triceratops. There’s a store near me that had ≈ 3’ tall concrete T-rexes; different shades too. For experience: I want to go thru the Kumba Icefall to Camp 1 at Everest. No desire to go to the top; people _die_ there. For item: I think I’m gonna go with the powered paraglider. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/54 "2014-12-31T16:55:53Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > T I’d like > > 1.) Zero Gee experience. A “Vomit Comet” would be fine. I’d even go for one of those “indoor parachuting” experiences. These can be had for more money than I want to part with right now, though. > [@Shagnasty](#): > > They have indoor skydiving in nearby Nashua, NH. I don’t know what you consider a lot of money but you can do it for as little as $55 for 2 minutes or $95 for 4 minutes. Four minutes sounds like plenty of time and is still pretty affordable if you only do it once.[http://www.skyventurenh.com/skyventure\_nh.php](http://www.skyventurenh.com/skyventure_nh.php) I’ve done this, and while fun, indoor skydiving is nothing like a zero G experience. The opposite, more likely. Do you know the feeling of sticking out your hand of a driving car and feeling how the wind strongly pushes against your hand, blowing it upwards? Multiply that feeling by five and over your entire body. Also, you’ll be wearing a heavy suit with flaps everywhere for the wind to grip. It is more like leaning in against a very, very heavy gale. Not at all like being weightless. Still fun though. Me, I want to swim in water with luminescent algae. But it can’t be planned, as the algae can’t be predicted to appear somewhere at a given time. I’d also like an opportunity to try out some more nice hallucogenic drugs, in good company who are willing to babysit me. I could just visit a rave party and buy some mdma, but I hate loud music, crowds, and I don’t trust the makers and sellers and don’t want to support an illegal industry. I’d also like more good beauty treatments. Last week I visited a permanent-make-up artist and got an eyebrow tattoo and lip line tattoo that I’m very happy with. Very natural looking, but a definite improvement. While I was lying in her chair, she saw some age spots and burst cappillaries on my cheek and the back of my hands and offered to laser them away for me. She had aquired a new and chic laser machine to remove bad tattoos made by other salons, and she was eager to use it. Lasering my spots away took no more then five minutes of slight discomfort, about twenty extra bucks, and boy does it make a difference. That woman is a wizard. I’d like to meet other wizards like her, because I’m vain and enjoy being made prettier. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/55 "2014-12-31T17:05:49Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Me, I want to swim in water with luminescent algae. But it can’t be planned, as the algae can’t be predicted to appear somewhere at a given time. I serendipitously ended up swimming with luminescent jellyfish during a night dive off the coast of Bonaire. Hey, isn’t that a Dutch island? You should go! ---
**Author:** ![butler1850](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@butler1850](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butler1850)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/56 "2014-12-31T17:08:50Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > _shooting_ such a rifle wouldn’t be much different than firing any other rifle. _Loading_ and _priming_ it, on the other hand… > > [URL=“[Allison V-1710 - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allison_V-1710)”] On the most basic level, it’s the same. On the entire experience level, it’s a whole different world. I started in the modern firearm world, and wandered into the 18th century reenacting world. They really are different experiences all together, whether firing live (lead balls) or blanks. The experience of a jet of flame a foot high and 6 inches from your face, the gentle push of the recoil vs the sharp slam of a modern rifle, the delayed ignition of the powder in the pan followed by the ignition of the main charge vs the instantaneous bang of a modern cartridge… I could wax on all day like _ **flatlined** _ , but I’ll stop here and I’ll also extend an invite if you find yourself in the New Hampshire area. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/57 "2014-12-31T18:08:32Z")
> [@butler1850](#): > > On the most basic level, it’s the same. On the entire experience level, it’s a whole different world. > > I started in the modern firearm world, and wandered into the 18th century reenacting world. They really are different experiences all together, whether firing live (lead balls) or blanks. The experience of a jet of flame a foot high and 6 inches from your face, the gentle push of the recoil vs the sharp slam of a modern rifle, the delayed ignition of the powder in the pan followed by the ignition of the main charge vs the instantaneous bang of a modern cartridge… I could wax on all day like _ **flatlined** _ , but I’ll stop here and I’ll also extend an invite if you find yourself in the New Hampshire area. Ooh, I bet my husband would love to meet up with you to have a try. He has been talking of getting blackpowder equipment to make a change from modern for hunting Bambi. He has actually been fascinated by blackpowder for a while but hasn’t done anything about it yet. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/58 "2014-12-31T18:15:06Z")
A scale model of a Minneapolis-Moline [UDLX](https://www.google.com/search?q=minneapolis+moline&safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=kTykVOe7IoyyyATa6YGgAw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=989&bih=844#safe=active&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-Address&tbm=isch&q=minneapolis+moline+udlx) tractor. My son saw it in a book of tractors, and we both this it’s one of our favorites. There are models out there, but they’re kept outrageously expensive by collectors. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/59 "2014-12-31T21:12:49Z")
Here’s the slow-motion video of a flintlock mechanism firing that I referred to. Just love to watch this. Unfortunately, New Hampshire is very much out of my usual sphere ☹ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/h7PsqljH8Fk/hqdefault.jpg "Flint Lock Firing") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7PsqljH8Fk) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464/60 "2014-12-31T21:31:30Z")
Wow, that’s a cool tracktor Sicks Ate. I want a Boehm Sterling engine. They are beautiful… [http://www.en.boehm-stirling.com/engines.html](http://www.en.boehm-stirling.com/engines.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/offbeat-things-you-really-want/708464.md?page=4)