I come across some interesting places from time to time but don’t have any reason to mention them unless something related comes up. This thread will probably go nowhere, but if it does, it could be a useful resource for people in need of that odd, off-beat gift this season.
United Nuclear - I got my first radiation monitor from them and later the one I use to keep track of radon concentrations. But they have all manner of science gear. Think of them as Edmund Scientific’s crazy cousin.
Sadigh Gallery - It’s one of the only places I know of on the internet to buy every kind of antiquity - from ancient Egypt and Sumeria, to Greece and Rome up to and including the 19th century (they have a nice selection of US Civil War artifacts). However the web site is just the tip of the ice berg. You really need to call them and ask them to send you their latest catalog. It is mind boggling how much stuff they have. Nothing on the site is cheap, but when you consider that you can get a 4,000 year old Egyptian carved lapis lazuli scarab for about $100, that’s not such a bad deal.
American Science and Surplus - these guys have all sorts of stuff from working scale models of a steam engine to cheesy toys and everything in between. You really have to look them over to get a sense for what they have available.
Perusing those sites probably ate up more of my afternoon than they should have (though I’ve already got American Science and Surplus bookmarked). In return, here are a couple of other vendors from my bookmarks:
Adventure Rope Gear - No, not that kind of adventure. This is a source for climbing, spelunking, and ziplining equipment.
The Maker Shed - Tools, kits, supplies, and books for making…stuff. Stuff ranging from embroidery to robots (including an autonomous blimp, just the gift for Scylla!). Of course, they also have lots of silly junk, too.
Forcefield Magnets. If you’ve never used neodymium magnets, you’ve never truly lived. Their online catalog is cutting-edge web design circa 1994, but the Possible Uses page is worth browsing anyway.
I love rubber stamps. I know it’s gay (not that this is a bad thing I suppose), but I love to print dragonflies, hummingbirds and other creatures dancing across the back of letters I send. It’s really not as odd as it sounds - or at least that’s what I keep telling myself.
For some reason it never occurred to me to look for stamps online. I guess that’s the result of excessive compartmentalization. If something initially gets put in then non-online bin, it never seems to occur to me look online. So in the past I’ve been dependent upon places like A.C. Moore to find new stamps. They have a good selection normally, but not compared to AddictedtoRubberStamps.com. Please pay attention folks, that’s addicted to rubber STAMPS, NOT addicted to rubber. M’kay? (oblique S. Park reference)
I’m only interested in wood mounted stamps and they have over 7000. I’m still scraping up bits of my blown mind.
It’s a good thing my MIL has yet to get experienced with navigating the Web. She’s got drawers and drawers of wood-mounted rubber stamps, in addition to a considerable quantity mixed in with the rest of her junk. There have to be well over a thousand such stamps in her house.
If she were the sort of person to buy stuff online and if she found that link, it would be Katy bar the door.
700 pages of everything for the outdoors, from scientific sampling gear to snake-proof leggings, from devices to measure tree height to live traps for wild hogs. We first blundered across this company when a friend was going to leave town to go to geology school and we wanted to give him a real rock hammer/ pick axe type tool. Fulfill all your rugged outdoorsman / survivalist fantasies!
If you need some additional units for your Skaven army or just one more lascannon armed marine for a Devastator squad, contact these guys. Experts in hand painting miniatures for fantasy and sci-fi war gaming.
PS. Check out his political ranting. It gets…interesting.
Here are 2 more. I’ve been debating both in terms of how “unusual” they are - the first one especially, but I think both are “worthy.”
1.Think Geek: If you remember the novelty stores, like Spencer’s (???) they used to have in the mall (might still be around for all I know), this site is a high tech version. Really, it’s more like Edmunds Scientific, Spencers, Staples and Williams Sonoma had a freaky 4-way with a mad geneticist (5-way?).
Example1: night vision infrared flash camera that, like some early camcorders, can see through certain types of fabrics. Anyone remember that? It was a mini-gold rush for camera stores when the news got out - until the manufacturers bowed to pressure and filtered out that part of the spectrum.
Example 2: A $10 DIY kit to turn any juice into an alcoholic beverage in 48 hours. Add to the list, canned unicorn meat, NCC 1701 shaped pizza cutter and of course, Baconnaise.
2. Smarthome: If you’ve ever heard of home automation, this is the place to go. Their prices used to be pretty steep and still are for some things. Right now they seem to be pimpin’ Bose pretty hard. But to get an idea of what’s available, if they don’t have it, good luck finding it. The X10 standard for transmitting control commands over powerlines used to be the only real game in town, but now Insteon seems to be the way to go. They’re starting to have all of the most popular X10 devices - some with improved functionality - but they still have a ways to go.
Nostalgic Candy. Whenever there is a “what do you miss” thread someone always posts some candy they can’t find any longer. If it’s still made anywhere you can probably find it here. Anything from the politically incorrect candy cigarettes to Squirrel Nut Zippers and Zagnut bars.
This one’s goofy, and many have likely heard of it, but it’s upgraded a tad over the years.
What cracks me up about it is that you know you could put something neato in one of these, maybe for a co-worker or whatever, and see how long it takes them to actually open it and realize that no, they didn’t really get a BeerBeard or a motorized rolling pin.
O’Connell Lucas and Chelf: 1960s Ivy League trad-style clothing, mostly made in the United States and the UK. Also includes new old stock from the 1960s and 1970s; not tacky crap like leisure suits and wild polyester shirts, but the sorts of products one would find at an old money men’s store of the day.
Polish Posters Shop: Polish movie posters. Polish movie posters are very surreal compared to those released elsewhere in the world.
JetPens: cool writing instruments from Japan. I’m not a Japanophile, but I’ve bought many cheap fountain pens from the site.
(cuz I bought a case!)