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Ask HN: What to get for my brother's 50th birthday?

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Re: Ask HN: What to get for my brother's 50th birthday?

#51

Victorinox Cybertool https://www.victorinox.com/global/en/Products/Swiss-Army-Kni...

Got that as a gift about 22 years ago, still use it at least once a month.

Mine got stolen by baggage handlers from checked luggage when I first flew to France 5 years ago. I now use the Camping version I bough when I was in grade school.

Re: Ask HN: What to get for my brother's 50th birthday?

#54

I know the ISS speaks to folks on Earth via ham radio - I don't know if those sessions are scheduled in any way, but talking to an Astronaut or Cosmonaut could be a treat for him.

Fortunately that's not something you can buy.

These contacts are occasionally scheduled with organizations (schools etc.), but unscheduled for the general public.

Exchanges tend to also be one short question (how does earth look from above right now?) and one short answer (earth looks beautiful), and then it's on to the next person. Not just due to congestion, but also because the ISS is only visible for a few minutes.

Re: Ask HN: What to get for my brother's 50th birthday?

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His wife made him give up his motorbike when they had kids! She'd not appreciate that from me :)

the track is the safest place to be! everyone's going the same way, the roads are meticulously well maintained, and there are no cops! (I know a few people who exclusively track their bikes now to the point that they're not even plated any more; it's just where they want to go to enjoy the skills, and they've kind of lost interest in road riding entirely)

> the track is the safest place to be! everyone's going the same way, the roads are meticulously well maintained, and there are no cops!

anecdotal, but in my experience with driving race cars : tracks are pretty far from meticulously well maintained.

perhaps meticulously documented; "T12s soft berm had been eroding for years, take a rain line around it.", but rarely meticulously maintained.

that said, maybe motorcycles have a different experience?

Re: Ask HN: What to get for my brother's 50th birthday?

#58
For my 40th, my wife rented out a theatre and paid them to project my favourite film (2001 A Space Odyssey). It was all done in secret. My wife dropped me off in front of the theatre to look for parking (we were going shopping, or so she said), and then I noticed that the theatre had 2001 posters up with MY FACE photoshopped onto the characters. Talk about triggering an identity crisis! When I walked into the theatre with her all my friends were sitting ready to watch the movie. I am tearing up now just reminiscing :)

Re: Ask HN: What to get for my brother's 50th birthday?

#60
if he likes cars, i'd HIGHLY recommend a 1-day course at Dirtfish up in Washington: https://drive.dirtfish.com/

caveat: i celebrated my "early" 50th this year at dirtfish. it was an absolutely incredible experience and i never realized how different car control in rally is vs on the track/street. completely mindblowing!

pro tip: if you can wait, they offer a 20% discount (+ $100 merch gift card) on black friday. :)

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