Robert Thompson is a violinist living in China. He was reading Phillip Greenspun’s blog:
A friend got a water buffalo for Christmas from her dad. She won’t actually take delivery of the animal. The Web page says that it will be given to a family in Asia. If you read the fine print on the page, however, it turns out that there is no actual buffalo and no actual family and you won’t get a photo of your family and your buffalo. The money simply gets dumped into the common fund at the charity. We are trying to decide if this is the crummiest possible Christmas present.
Thompson acquired a real water buffalo and found a real family that could use it. He made an 8 minute video of the whole thing.
:: Kottke
