Barack Obama’s 50th birthday – your suggestions

An Oxfam donkey, gardening trousers, a night out in Leeds? Just some of the suggestions for the US president Barack Obama to mark his 50th birthday.

Readers have been sending us their gift ideas, nuggets of advice, and celebration tips via Twitter, Facebook and in comments to mark the president’s birthday on Thursday.

Here’s our pick of the top 50 things readers suggested for the president – from the random to the witty, in no particular order.

Gift ideas

1. I think we should get him a nice pair of gardening trousers. I hear he’s the weeder of the free world @marnanel on Twitter

2. I don’t know why but the first thing that popped into my head was a budgie From @BenPeopleFront on Twitter

3. Well as it’s my Dad’s birthday today as well, he could join the both of us down the local BQ to pick out a present, which is where we’re off in a minute From commenter addz

4. An invite to look at the NHS From Steff B on Facebook

5. He has this already, most probably, but if not, then every President needs to have his very own box set of “The Wire” From @petinagappah on Twitter

6. Someone should make him a STILL NIFTY AT FIFTY t-shirt, preferably deploying a recent facial pic along with presidential design features such as those on the mini-platform presidents use at the White House. Embarrassing, naff, trivialising, not really in a respectful spirit of either the occasion or of such a serious man – yes From commenter MrEdge

7. I’d get him an oxfam donkey, he’d enjoy the warm glow of a gift that helps others I think @MrsJRD on Twitter

8. A gilt [sic] framed copy of his long Birth Certificate @JillyCL on Twitter

9. I’d probably get him a card or something, maybe a gift voucher, I don’t know him that well From commenter PsychoAngus

10. The box set of The West Wing so he can learn how it should be done From Dave S on Facebook

11. I’d buy him a Franklin D. Roosevelt costume, that he could wear under a Ronald Reagan costume From @kandidan

12. A foam mallet. It wouldn’t cause any lasting damage, but a few well placed thwacks in the senate would be very satisfying, I bet From commenter HannahDee

13. What he should receive – a day doing whatever it is that he loves. What he should know – those of us who voted for him have not given up on the dream and expect him to take bold action to make it real From Patricia T on Facebook

14. The complete bob the builder dvd box set so he see what “Yes we Can” is really about From commenter ukbazza

15. Buy him what all 50 year old men want… A motorbike. I think he should get some leather racing gear too with the presidential seal on the back. But do it up so instead of the eagle holding arrows and an olive branch it should be holding a snake and a flaming skull From Greg C on Facebook

16. Bill Hicks compilation From ILoveLuka in comments

17. A million packets of chocolate chip cookies, with which to kick-start a new centre-left activist movement, based on the principles of liberty, welfare and reason: The Biscuit Party From commenter Asha28

18. I was browsing his Amazon wish list and he’s actually asked for the box set of On The Buses ( the one with the extra disc which has the three On The Buses movies including the oh so hilarious Mutiny On The Buses), if not that, then pretty much any series of Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em From Nick S on Facebook

19. A lynx set and a new pair of slippers… What? He’s still a human being despite his flaws. Happy B-day Barak! [sic] From Liam M on Facebook

20. Menthol cigarettes. Brent T on Facebook

21. 3 trillion $s….. From @cjpoupazis on Twitter

22. an isolation tank to give him a break from all the world for a bit From Jennifer G on Facebook

23. A biography of Lyndon Johnson From commenter JohnCan45

24. I’d give him a sound proof room where he could go and scream all the obscenities he probably wishes he could at any number of people From doublevision in comments

25. I may send Mr Obama a book on how to live within you means for his birthday From Libertarian101 in comments

26. I’d get President Obama a new birthday on behalf of all 4 August babies in the world! You’ve got to pity us, Brits especially, for years we had our special day overshadowed by the Queen Mum’s celebrations, now she’s drinking gin the other side of the pearly gates, another A list celeb comes along and takes all the attention… again! After all, half of America doesn’t believe his birth certificate is real in the first place, so it wouldn’t be hard to make him a new one… From andrewbradley in comments

27. A framed copy of FDRs Second Bill of Rights From welshpenguin in comments

28. I’d buy him absolutely nowt ‘cos I’m skint, he’ll understand, right? From Sally C-G on Facebook

How to celebrate

29. He deserves a day off. I think Michael Tomasky, ex Guardian America, should fill in for him while Mr Obama takes some time off eating cake with Michelle and the girls From commenter themcquade

30. For #Obama50 I think @BarackObama should hit up the Obama Bar in Barcelona obamabcn.com It is, um, surreal to say the least From @alias_alice on Twitter

31. I’d give him a day off – no reporting whatsoever allowed, no matter what he gets up to From commenter scrap

32. Release 50 balloons or night lanterns to celebrate Barack Obama’s 50th From @sophieebizzle on Twitter

33. A tour of Stoke on a rainy Tuesday night From commenter sayitloud

34. Dare I say with a tea party? From Nick S on Facebook

35. a beer and a great big steak From Karyn C on Facebook

36. For his birthday Id go round legoland with President Obaman and afterwards we’d go for a lovely lamb lunch in the centre of Windsor From harrysullivan in comments

37. Play basket, hang out with his buddies and drink beer. Gift suggestion: iTunes card. From Rosa H on Facebook

38. He should do what I just did and eat 3 biscuits. Celebration! From @SoozUK on Twitter

39. Happy birthday Mr President. @AlecBaldwin suggests a bloody Mary this morning to cure that “hangover” from @mcarothers2011 on Twitter

40. My birthday gift for President Obama would be a pair of walking shoes and an invite to Wisconsin next week for our recall elections From Sara G on Facebook

41. happy 50th lion. i know u r too busy, but give urself a treat by taking a beautiful horse for a ride in the countryside From @untamednada

42. Nancy Pelosi leaping out of a giant stripper cake From porcospino in comments

43. With the President being a keen #WHUFC fan, I’d take him to keep me company at the Boleyn on Sunday! #terraceBaracking From @alexshilling on Twitter

Advice and other things

44. “You think life’s been hard? Well, you ain’t seen nothing yet, it gets a lot worse from now on in.” From Ieuan in comments

45. Happy Birthday and more from Mohammed Ali: Barack Obama may find a way he could cope with the United States and the World and learn how: ‘to move like a butterfly and sting like a bee’ From Workshop in comments

46. Celebrate progress, work for more Build a meme around the truth, support your elected officials for doing the best they can, and give them more and better Democrats to work with From Zorroremade in comments

47. Congratulations and remember to do the best for the United States, not for your party or yourself as a person From @Elbefanatic on Twitter

48. extend the vegetable garden make an orchard on the white house lawn include mulberry apple pear peach apricot plum tree From @KateCorder on Twitter

49. Ask him to spot us the money for the move to Canada Travis N on Twitter

50. A small box of Jellied fruits for a gift, and a night out in Longsight, Manchester ended by a meal at Abdul’s Kebab house, I would recommend the Seekh -Donner mix From fanningtheflames in comments

Thanks for all your comments, suggestions and contributions all! Feel free to continue to add them to our opening article here.

Share and Enjoy

Facebook tampering can be a felony

Have you been tempted to do something like this? You somehow get access to someone else’s Facebook account, so you hop on and alter the profile, then maybe send a few offensive messages to the person’s friends. It’s a harmless prank, right? 

 

Whoa. According to a California appeals court, that could constitute identity theft and could be a felony punishable with jail time.

 

The case came to light in a post by lawyers Venkat Balasubramani and Eric Goldman at Ars Technica. It began when a male juvenile, Rolando, received a text message from an unidentified source sharing a girl’s password to her email account. He apparently used access to her email to change her Facebook password and then signed on to her FB account. He “posted, in her name, prurient messages on two of her male friends’ pages (walls) and altered her profile description in a vulgar manner,” the appeals court ruling said.

 

Her dad called the cops and the kid confessed, saying he meant it as a joke. He was found guilty in juvenile court of a felony. The kid, who had a recent prior offense, was sentenced to 90 days to a year in a juvenile offenders program. His lawyer appealed and lost.

 

The California statute says it’s illegal when someone:

willfully obtains personal identifying information (of the victim and) uses that information for any unlawful purpose, including to obtain, or attempt to obtain, credit, goods, services, real property, or medication information.

Even though the perp was the unwitting recipient of the victim’s email password, the appeals court said he was guilty of willfully obtaining personal identifying information because he kept the password and used it, Balasubramani wrote.

 

The court said Rolando used that info for an unlawful purpose when he defamed the girl. Also, the court found a criminal offense, Balasubramani said. “The defendant’s actions violated section 653m, which makes illegal any contact with another person using ‘obscene language … by means of an electronic communication device … with (the) intent to annoy.” (Oy. How many times have you done that today?) Post continues after video.

How can you protect your Facebook account? A few tips:

But was the outcome of this case overkill? Kids will be kids, especially when they come across another kid’s password. Goldman said, “It was unquestionably wrong behavior, but given its inevitability, it probably shouldn’t be felonious.”

 

Some commenters at Ars Technica agreed. “Stryker137″ wrote:

If this happened to me when I was a kid, my dad would have told me to man up, change my password, and get over it. And that’s what I’ll tell my kids when this inevitably happens to them. And later in life, this is the kind of thing my college roommates would do to each other as pranks, and everyone laughed, cleaned up their pages and life went on.

“EatingPie” said it should be a crime.

Impersonation is illegal IRL, why not on the Internet? And impersonation is typically done with intent to harm — or generally results in harm — so, again, what’s wrong with the law?

Eric Limer shared his view at Geekosystem:

I think it is pretty clear that what Rolando did was willful and wrong and that he deserves to catch some flak for it, but I also think it is dangerous to consider it identity theft. California apparently does not agree, considering that a relatively new statute, Section 528.5, doesn’t even require the “willfully obtained personal information” part, effectively meaning that going online and pretending to be someone, despite not stealing (or even claiming to have) anything to prove it, is identity theft.

More on MSN Money

• Estimate your credit score for free

Share and Enjoy