Happy Holidays!

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Droidel, Droidel, Droidel

StarWars.com gives you all you need to create your own "Droidel" for Chanukah. From the description:

Some religious scholars believe that the dreidel game originated during the times of the Greek-Syrians, and is closely connected to the Chanukah holiday. Because the ruling Greek-Syrians outlawed Jews from learning the Torah, the Jews needed a way to hide their studies. The dreidel became a clever decoy. When Jewish students saw the Greek-Syrians coming, they would hide their books and play with dreidels instead, which tricked the Syrians into thinking they were just playing a harmless game.

In this Star Wars variation, the dreidel and the droid R2-D2 combine to make Droidel!

 Just print out the design (pdf), glue to to thin cardboard, cut along the lines and assemble. Easy and fun!

(via Popgadget)

Christmas and Holiday Cards for Geeks

The Telegraph has rounded up a great selection of Christmas and holiday cards for geeks. Most are available through either Cafe Press or Zazzle, or as *cough* inspiration for printing your own.

Shown: May All Your Christmases be #FFFFFF by slagathor at Zazzle

Which element would you like for Christmas?

The Chemical Sisters and "Periodic Table of the Videos" team has asked chemists at the University of Nottingham which element they would like as a Christmas gift: 

I'm not sure where you can legally buy pure cesium or rubidium outside of a chemistry department. You may have to shop around . . .

Amazon.com Gift Cards

Not sure what to get for your geeky girlfriend, mom, sister, or  lab partner? Why not give an Amazon.com Gift Card. That way she can find the perfect gift for herself! There are several options:

1) E-mail a personalized gift card for immediate delivery.
2) Print a personalized gift card on your own printer. (Remember to have your credit card handy when you're ready to print).
3) Mail a personalized gift card (shipping is free, of course). Please allow 5-7 business days for delivery.
4) Add a $25, $50, or $100 Gift Card – or a box of them! – to your other purchases in your Amazon.com shopping cart.

Perfect for everyone on your holiday shopping list!

Molecular Holiday Cards

Made With Molecules sells festive solstice-centered holiday cards with molecular flair:

The DNA Transcription Tree card has "an electron micrograph of a gene being heavily transcribed into RNA, an early and fundamental step of gene expression." It's tinted a holiday green.

The PEACE Peptide card spells out "peace" in amino acids: Proline (P), Glutamate (E), Alanine (A), Cysteine (C), Glutamate (E)


The Holiday Spice Card celebrates the molecules that give the winter holidays their flavor: chocolate, peppermint, clove, sinnamon, ginger, siguar

Dalek Christmas Tree Cards & other Doctor Who geekery

The Dr. Who Dalek Tree cards by Etsy seller babywalls are ideal for spreading the Dr. Who spirit during the holidays. 

Or if your girl geek prefers snuggling up to the TV screen this time of year, perhaps a Doctor Who video collection would be the perfect gift.

And just for fun, here's the BBC promo for this year's Doctor Who Christmas special:

Circuit Snowflake Cards

The Circuit Snowflake Cards at Fractal Spin are perfect for sharing the holiday geek spirit!

Totally geeky yet subtle, the snowflakes on these cards are made entirely from electrical symbols--the one in the foreground, for instance, features the "ground" or "earth" symbol at each of the tips.

Xmas Tree Plasma Light

If you are looking for a geek-tastic holiday decoration, you might consider the Xmas Tree Plasma Light from gadget.brando.com.hk . A plasma globe is a pretty demonstration of electromagnetic fields, and the Christmas tree makes it particularly festive!