CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@tomjennings that's awesome

@Andres4NY I think that's entirely true. I have received handwritten notes from US sellers, but it seems to kind of depend on what sector they're in. I know that when I ocasionally sell things, I at least try to hand-write a "Thank you" on the packing slip.

@aud I just ordered 4 model kits from different sellers in Japan and I'm very excited to see if this trend continues.

@aud That rules

@chipperdoodles that is the cutest shit I ever heard

Large Whisker Array

The last time I got a package from Ukraine, the seller put a spent rifle cartridge and a "Russian Warship, Go!" sticker in with his "please leave a 5 star review" note.

This was somewhat affecting, but also felt like the reason my package was bounced back out of the country on first inspection.

eBay packages as shipped from different regions:

China - ePacket, no packing slip, item miraculously undamaged

Eastern Bloc - World's flimsiest cardboard box, newspaper packing, item got wet at some point

USA - Cardboard box damaged to an improbable degree, bubble wrap and chunks of foam, packing slip generated by some Pitney-Bowes owned software service, "please rate 5 stars"

Japan - Meticulously wrapped, packing slip, hand-written thank you note, origami crane.

@dank Fuck yes Warhead 2000, that rules, hahahaha

@projectgus That sounds cool as hell. They really did some impressive things with portable CD near the end of that tech tree. I had a pretty cheap portable CD player when I was a kid that I think my dad bought me to keep me away from his Walkman and even that thing had great anti-skip and was pretty easy on batteries.

You want to lose the crowd at a rural Virginia high school in 2003? Interrupt their Top 40 with this:

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=3rUrCwIn2QM&si=goTDeVE6aPkUeUaJ

I did meet the first guy I ever saw wearing fishnets and painted nails at that event, though. He was a punk kid, I wanna say his name was Gabe? He told me the DJ Krush was sick as hell.

@projectgus I'm thinking about it. If it comes apart as easy as I remember, I'll probably do it! I'm sure it's a single flimsy PCB inside with a blob on it, but it'll be fascinating to see.

My stepmom was a party DJ when I was growing up and I once, in middle school, convinced her to put on my newly acquired copy of DJ Krush 'The Message at the Depth' at a High School dance and I was never allowed to make requests after that.

(It has never been safe to hand me the aux)

@psf After I started working at Radio Shack, I replaced this JENSEN thing with a Zune 8, which I consider my first serious MP3 player and which I still prefer aesthetically to the iPod. It lasted me until I got my first "smartphone" (Motorola Q) and my phone acted as my primary music player ever since.

Ironically, I'm now looking at buying a serious dedicated MP3 player again.

Here's a sample of what might have been on my JENSEN CYBERO 16Mb MP3 Player when I was in Highschool:

• Happy Hardcore - Paradise of Rave
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=di8LPAtQsuU&si=lTGnLNQOD9YHNB2N

• Benny Benassi - Cocaine vs. Ecstasy
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm7yBNCqlaU&si=oVxgDZJBZBU4A4S4

• P.J. Olsson - The Whistle Song
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=AqamYqT4784&si=yN8shSllgUMfreZR

• Iron & Wine - Such Great Heights
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=j_2MZMDkyOg&si=ihfe5l900Jw2mDZK

• The Mars Volta - Roulette Dares
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=z26eM4Gr0cA&si=nRtSVNFdsAbNRrfl

• David Bowie - I'm Afraid of Americans
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5UDkRpqO-b0&si=0QTiTdhHJqdTEDcv

In a moment of weakness I _did_ buy my first MP3 player new-in-box on eBay.

What am I going to do with it? I don't know but it was $20 and it was impossible to even find a picture of the thing for a long time.