Knives that never need sharpening are usually more expensive than knives that dull over time. But from now until November 30th this Micro Edge 5-Piece Knife Set is 50% off it’s original price over at SharperImage.

About this Knife Set:
- Unique patented MicroEdge™ serrated blades always maintain their razor-thin edge.
- Surgical-grade stainless steel blades feature a full visible tang, secured by three rivets on the ergonomic handle for excellent balance and stability.
- Five-piece set includes paring, utility, chef’s, carving and bread knives.
- Each comes with protective blade sleeve.
- Dishwasher safe.

These would make an excellent gift for anyone who enjoys making food. Having the right knife that’s always sharp on hand is invaluable when preparing food. This five-piece set includes a 3″ paring knife, 7″ chef’s knife, 5″ utility knife, 8″ carving knife, and 8″ bread knife. Each patented Micro Edge knife comes with its own protective blade sleeve.

In order to get this set at 50% off (a savings of about $40) the regular price you must also purchase something else from SharperImage. If you are only looking to buy this 5 piece knife set then I’d recommend looking through the gifts from $5 to $50 section.

Posted by Sean in Household
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This is a good gift for all those dashboard drummers who just can’t help but drum out a beat when ever and where ever the feeling hits. With music being stored and played from our own personal computers more now than ever this finger drum mousepad can be a fun little toy for everyone.

This electronic drumpad is a Hammacher exclusive that also serves as a mousepad. Although from the looks of it I’d recommend it for someone who has a wireless mouse. The finger drumming mousepad allows you to play eight different percussion sounds, including bass, snare, two rack toms, a floor tom, hi-hat, crash, and ride cymbals using only your fingers. This fun device requires 4 AAA batterires (the kind most new TV remote controls use) and you can record up to 30 of your own rhythms.

I like to tease, so I think it would be funny to get this for someone who asked for a drum set for their birthday/Christmas/etc. and you let them open this gift first. Then when all the gifts are opened you can bring them out to the garage where the real drum set is set up. It makes for a bigger surprise in the end. Plus when they can’t practice their real drums because of noise, this little finger drum set will keep them busy.

Posted by Sean in Fun, Gadgets, Kids
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How many times have you or someone you know gotten a traffic ticket due to one of those traffic-enforcing cameras? Now, thanks to, PhotoBlocker Spray you can avoid those tickets with one easy application.

For much less than a traffic ticket, you can now fight back against traffic light camera robots that turn you in to the authorities. The PhotoBlocker spray goes on your license plate and looks invisible to the naked eye, but creates trouble for those pesky cameras. Once covered in this exclusive formula your license plate becomes overexposed in the picture due to the massive reflection caused by the flash of the camera.

This spray has been covered by most if not all popular television news stations and many newspapers, and it’s 100% legal. This would make a funny, yet extremely useful gift for anyone whose had the pleasure of getting a ticket from one of these traffic cameras. PhotoBlocker also sells simple clear covers for your license plate that do the same as their spray.

The website says that this works due to the high intensity of the flash the traffic-enforcing cameras use, but I wonder how regular flashes/camera prevail. Say for instance I was walking home from school and someone tried to kidnap me, but failed and as they drove off in their van I snapped a picture with my camera phone. Would the license number show up on my camera phone if they used the spray? What about at night with a flash? How long will this continue to be legal?
If celebrities were to wear big rain coats and covered them in PhotoBlocker spray would they be invisible to the paparazzi? Does anyone have answers or estimates to these questions?

Posted by Sean in Misc, Unique
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Looking for some unique and creative cutlery? Check out this saw shaped cake knife from Uncommon Goods. The first thing I thought of is how great it would look slicing into the world famous Bleedy Cake. I also thought this would make a good gift for the handyman or handy woman who likes to cook.

They say it’s great for cutting cake and other desserts, but I wonder how well it does on other things. I wonder if the serrated edge makes it hard to cut vegetables, or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? I’d like to use a novelty looking knife as my everyday knife. Maybe a mini clever or machete, or something shaped like a lightsaber for the handle, but with a regular looking knife as the blade. Anybody have any answers to these burning questions?

Posted by Sean in Household, Unique
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The next 3 days or so is the final rush for online Halloween shopping, so retailers are offering some good deals. Costumes are flying off the shelves too, so if you don’t have your costume yet then you need to either buy RIGHT NOW or plan to wear a DIY get-up. Some of the coupons and deals below expire this weekend, so don’t wait!

Extremely Time-Sensitive Deals

• Fright Catalog: Same day shipping on most orders placed by Noon EST. Variable shipping costs. Place an order of $50 or more TODAY (October 21st, 2006) and receive 2 R.I.P. Rewards cards worth $10 each for future purchases of $40 or more (details here).
• Buy Costumes: $0.99 FedEx Ground shipping and $5.99 FedEx Express shipping for orders over $60. Expires Sunday October 22, at 11:00 P.M. CST. Not sure which shipping method you will need? Check their handy “order by” chart.
• Hot Topic: 50% off all pre-packaged costumes. Orders must be received by Monday, October 23rd to arrive by Halloween.

More Great Deals

• Spirit Halloween: 15% off pirate costumes, sexy costumes, and theatrical quality costumes. Use coupon codes “pirate15“, “sexy15“, or “theatrical15“, respectively. Or save $5 on any purchase of $15 or more. Variable shipping costs. Not sure which shipping method you will need? Check their handy “order by” chart.
• Half Price Costumes: Free economy shipping on costumes. Not sure which shipping method you will need? Check their handy “order by” chart.
• Costume Craze: $5.99 flat rate shipping. All Orders placed by 3:00 pm MT on weekdays will be shipped the same day
• Flirty Lingerie: 10% off using coupon code “spooky“. Variable shipping costs.
• Spook Shop: $5.99 flat rate shipping for most costumes. Most orders ship within 1 business day.
• Nickelodeon Shop: 20% off costumes, plus free shipping on orders over $75.
• Target: Free shipping on most costumes (and a lot of other items), plus 10% off your entire order.

Posted by Lauren in Halloween
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While this isn’t the most amazing concept in the world it does lend it self to be quite useful for it’s everyday convenience. Normal shower curtain rods only hold a curtain and serve no other purpose, but this shower curtain rod comes with a towel rack. Well, it’s just another bar to hang stuff from, but it works perfect for hanging towels or other garments that need to air dry. This is because when you hang your towel to dry over a wet shower curtain you’re inviting mildew and mold growth due to the material of most shower curtains. Mildew and mold are stinky and don’t make a bathroom visit any better. This extra rod is also perfect for those who use a shower curtain and a decorative liner.

The chrome-finished steel and aluminum-alloy rods mount without tools or hardware, using tension mounted rubber gaskets to hold themselves firmly in place above a standard 5′ tub without damaging tile or drywall. Also includes hardware for more permanent installation if desired.

RELATED: Uniue Shower Curtains

Posted by Sean in Household
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Did you miss your chance to get 15% on the last O-Day Sale? Well this is your lucky weekend because Overstock’s got a sweet deal at 12% off everything plus only $1 shipping. But you better hurry because the deal ends 10/23/06 @ 2 PM EST.

Just in case you miss this O-Day sale this weekend they are also offering 10% off on all orders made by 10-31-06. But you don’t get the awesome $1 shipping deal you could get if you buy something this weekend.

For those of you who will be ordering the big stuff, we’ve got a special deal for you. Take $15 off any order over $125. This deal also expires 10-31-06.

Helpful hint: If your purchase total is over $125 but under $150 then use the $15 off deal. But if your purchase total is over $150 then I’d suggest the 10% off deal as you will get a bigger discount.
Math:
(10% of $125 = $12.50) $15 off is better than 10% off
(10% of $160 = $16.00) 10% off is better than $15 off

Posted by Sean in Misc
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When redecorating your new living space for that retro/vintage look, one of the easiest and most effective ways to go retro is with lighting. Most places have built in lighting so let’s take a look at what kind of retro makeover we can do for cheap.

Ceiling fixtures are a great place to start because of how easy they are to replace. Plus they are readily available on eBay, and if you are lucky you’ll be able to find one close to your location so you don’t have to pay much for shipping. Searching eBay for retro lighting turns up so many results that you’re forced to weed through it all to find the good stuff, so I’d recommend narrowing it down by category. In this case we can go straight to the Ceiling Fixtures section within the Lamps, Lighting, Ceiling Fans category. Then just search with the keyword retro and pick and choose the style that looks best to you.

Some of these ceiling fixtures are so simple and easy to install it just takes a couple minutes to unscrew the one thumbscrew that’s holding the fixture in place and replace it with your new retro fixture. A good example, and one of our favorites, of this is the light shade type cover (pictured at left). It’s usually in a square shape, hides two light bulbs, and has one hole in the middle from which it’s held in place.

A lot of retro and vintage items on eBay are from people getting rid of their old stuff. So buying retro decor items from eBay gives your home the unique look that isn’t available at your nearest IKEA or Target.

RELATED: Retro Kitchen Appliances, Retro Aprons.

Posted by Sean in Household, Retro and Vintage
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Have you ever wanted your own lemon tree, but were bummed because you didn’t have a yard, or afraid you’d be moving soon? Yeah, me too. That’s why I was excited to see an organic dwarf lemon tree that produces fruit all year-round. This dwarf tree produces full size lemons with a taste that is sweeter and less acidic than Eureka lemons and can grow healthy indoors or outside.

Available from Viva Terra, there’s also an option to get a more earthy styled pot for this dwarf lemon tree called the Root of the Earth Bowl. This bowl is hand-carved from discarded root balls of Chinese fir trees and comes is many sizes with each bowl unique in its carvings and shape. The dwarf lemon tree in the Root of the Earth Bowl would look great in a room with nature inspired home decor or nature inspired runners.

This would be a great gift for those garden dreamers who live in small apartments when combined with the Miniature Edible Garden we blogged about a while back.

Posted by Sean in Household, Outdoors
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Despite a propensity to be painstakingly organized and “on top of things”, I’ve realized that I waste too much time trying to store and recall information. It sort of hit me one day when I was driving in a neighborhood that I haven’t been in for over a decade, and yet could find my way around without really trying to recall. “How much useful information is floating around in my subconscious?” I wondered. Turns out everything I’ve ever experienced is supposedly locked away in there, waiting for me to learn to access it. Supposedly, anyway ; )

That’s where products like the Genius Code Training Program step in. It claims that “you are brighter than you think“, and it will teach you to use your brainpower more efficiently. Dr. Win Wenger, the creator of the system, has learned in his 30 years of study that genius is not a result of genetic superiority, but of a pattern of mental conditioning. Which means, genius is within your grasp. While the complete skeptic in me initially wants to debunk this claim, everything I have learned about memory and brainpower support it. In theory, nearly everyone has genius potential. It’s up to us to discover the learning and recalling methods that allow full use of our brains, though.

One of the cornerstones of the Genius Code and other “become a genius” programs, is subconscious photo reading. I love how this part is phrased: “PhotoReading exposes printed materials to the brain at phenomenal rates, a page per second, all beyond the conscious mind’s processing capability, but within the capabilities of the subconscious. Now, reread that sentence to make sure you got it. It is a wild concept. We actually teach you to ‘mentally photograph’ the printed page at 25,000 words per minute.” I voraciously read for pleasure and education, but being able to absorb and recall 25,000 words per second is far beyond what I am currently physically able to read. Imagine being able to learn a new hobby, language, or skill that quickly! The next time someone points to a helicopter and asks “Can you fly that thing?”, you could actually answer Trinity-style, “Not yet”, and be well on your way in seconds. Genius Code has received excellent reviews, and at $159.99 (shipping is free) it’s a bargain for what you can potentially receive. It’s even easy enough for kids to use, so you and junior can study together.

If anyone has used this system, or any other accelerated learning course, please let us know in the comments how it worked for you.

Posted by Lauren in Unique
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