It's traditional in many parts of the world to buy (or make) presents for at least the closest members one's family around this time of the year. I would like to know if anyone here has ideas for presents to give to people from college age to middle age who are not rationalists, but not completely closed off to the idea.

So far I've considered mostly things that would help rid them of various superstitions, particularly astrology and the 2012 apocalypse myth. For this purpose I've looked at books and videos on

• the history of astrology
• the actual causes of various natural disasters
• modern cosmology

Has anyone else on LW faced this sort of situation before? Or does anyone here have general advice on this topic?

My friend is looking for some advice on what he should do after graduating from Harvey Mudd College. Some relevant bits of information about him are that he

• is not a US citizen, so he'd only be able to stay in the US if he's working or at a grad school. He's open to suggestions for other countries.
• is great at math and computer science, including doing real-world programming
• wants to help the world

He's currently looking for a grad school where he could tackle interesting problems with possible high benefits in the future. I've made my own suggestions, but I'd like to get a (somewhat) independent set of opinions from the LW community.

So please suggest away!