Tag: ABC

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Reddit Runs International Secret Santa

It’s no surprise the economy is shrinking and so is the number of presents under most people’s trees but thanks to one Web site, nearly 3,000 people will have one special surprise from someone they’ve never met before. The members of Reddit.com, a Web site where users share links to breaking news stories, photos and more, have gathered together in what they believe is the biggest secret Santas ever and I participated in the event along with a roommate of mine, both of us who have been members of the site for a couple of years now.

The idea started simply enough, with one member “kickme444” asking if anyone was interested in a gift exchange and, like most social media, the idea exploded in just days. I am really excited to see the idea take off and see some of the press coverage it has received over the past week or so including the ABC article and CBC clip I have attached at the bottom of the post.

Kickme444 and members of the site designed a site, wrote programming to match up givers to receivers and come December packages will arrive from around the country and possibly around the world. Unofficially 3,500 participants are from the United States, but the rest of the 1,000 members hail from 53 other countries varying from Canada to Australia to Japan and beyond.

The current Guinness Book record holder for the largest secret Santa is more than 1,500 people, held by the staff at UK’s pharmacy chain store Boots. This exchange is set to double the number and smash the record.

This Secret Santa is unique in its relative anonymity. When signing up, Redditors could volunteer information about themselves and participants can look at their recipient’s past comments to get an idea of their interests and personality.

Suggested value of gift and shipping is around $15 but so far the average gift has cost about $27 with another $10 spent on shipping. The organizers have stated, “Handmade awesomeness is suggested, thoughtfulness is required!” Some are opting for homemade gifts – original art, photos, mix CDs, pepper seeds or items unique to their area. Discussion of ideas and requests have been flying on the site for the past few weeks.

Initially I did not know what to get as a present for my Secret Santee as he had very limited participation on the community site but a submitted form allowed everyone to enter some items they are interested and it listed a couple of television shows they were interested in and they wanted a poster from those shows. That made my

Gifts were scheduled be shipped out by Dec. 10 and assuming plenty of redditors are procrastinators, a lot of gifts including mine were shipped out on the last date. Upon receiving the gift, community members have begun posting photos of their present on a thread for Reddit Gifts for the rest to see.

Another noteworthy piece from an ABC affiliate out in Seattle titled “Web Site Runs Elaborate Secret Santa Gift Exchange“.

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McCain’s Shows Off Foreign Policy Experience

Yep the very same John McCain whose campaign is based on his long-time foreign policy experience (still really looking for substantial evidence on that one), told ABC that’s he very worried about the Iraq/Pakistan border. As scary as he may try to play that situation, there is one problem with that state… there isn’t one. There is no border between Pakistan and Iraq. A small, rarely mentioned country is located between the two nations by the name of Iran. I am certain you can certainly understand how he did not know where such a small country was since it is of little importance when regarding foreign policy or issues with Middle East.

I can probably let him slide on the issue of not being able to use the internet efficiently as the previous generation wasn’t as computer illiterate as the upcoming one. I can probably let him slide for mis-speaking a country’s name twice in as many days because countries that are not in the news now but once were when he was growing up could be engraved in his head as existing now. However, I cannot let an issue that has been pretty much in the news for the past 3-4 years slide just as easily.

Here is the excerpt:

And it was McCain who owns the first big gaffe of the trip — appearing to confuse Iraq and Afghanistan.

Asked by ABC’s Diane Sawyer Monday morning whether the “the situation in Afghanistan in precarious and urgent,” McCain responded: “I think it’s serious. . . . It’s a serious situation, but there’s a lot of things we need to do. We have a lot of work to do and I’m afraid it’s a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq/Pakistan border,” said McCain, R-Ariz., said on “Good Morning America.”

Iraq and Pakistan do not share a border. Afghanistan and Pakistan do.

As AmericaBlog posted earlier,

Pretty basic stuff. Pretty big mistake for John McCain.

If McCain knew how to use the internet, he could do “a google” and find National Geographic