The Mint Rubbing Journal #40 / Mar 2004

ancient romanian wisdom

this month's topic is caution. click here (page opens in new window). as far as ancient romanian wisdom entries go, i remember that a couple of years ago we were worried that we'll run out of ideas. well, at this very moment there are no less than 36 more entries waiting to be published. maybe we'll start presenting two at a time or we'll just feature 5 or 10 in one issue at some point, just for the fun of it. this could actually work if we weren't so damn lazy.

featured sites of the month

yes we know. days at the office are long and boring, there's lots of mint to rub, but only four little articles in this issue of the mint rubbing journal. what is an honest mint rubber to do? as usual our online mint rubbing research team has been busy scouring the web for quality sites. here are the results of their work:

- http://www.turnofftheinternet.com/ - sick and tired of all this bullshit they call the internet? turn the damn thing off. finally a safe way to shutdown the internet. access this page every time you leave your computer.

- http://www.emotioneric.com/ - eric likes to convey emotions using his rubbery-like face. might not sound that interesting, but trust me, you will not stop until you click on all emotion links listed on the site. good clean fun. (eric, move your ass and start updating again)

- http://www.kamikazee.freeserve.co.uk/2003/squish/squish1.htm - for more good clean (but somewhat nerdy) fun check out this page about things that go squish on a a guy's scanner. not bad at all (the exploding mouse in the top right corner looks neat).

- http://www.shardsoglass.com/index.cfm - "At Shards O' Glass, our goal is to be the most responsible, effective and respected developer of glass shard consumer products intended for adults." The site is part of an anti-smoking campaign. Not that I give a shit one way or the other, but the idea is really clever.

- http://adevaratu.go.ro/ - we're generally disappointed with the romanian internet, and you probably know the feeling. rarely do we get to see a romanian site that's both original and cool. well, this is one of those rare moments. in the author's own words: "Pă saitu ăsta să traiască măta vreau să vănvăţ să fiţ sî voi adevăraţ ca mine cei mai tari dîn cartieru vostru că dîn al meu naveţ cum că ios cel mai tare sî vă fac fără discuţie."

- http://www.danhard.3x.ro/shotaie.html - believe it or not, there's more cool romanian fun this month. yes, we're talking about the already legendary journal of shotaie. think a romanian version of the legendary "bastard operator from hell" series. yes, just as cool. "Pe la vreo 12 a venit chelu alarmat din rectorat. Cica unul, pulica sau asa ceva, laborant de nu-stiu-ce ii povestea decanului cum a dat el mana cu papa, george w. bush si saddam hussein in acelasi timp si i-a sunat mobilul si de partea cealalta s-a auzit ete sa-mi bag pula in el de amplificator in trepte in curent monofazat, si sa ma pish pe el de ampermetru ca nu arata nimic si i-a inchis. Cica nu se astepta a ramas ca cocostarcii stand intr-o rana cu hands free-ul infipt in ureche." read it before it's gone.

- http://www.mfinante.ro/tineret/index.jsp - best award for involuntary romanian humor? you be the judge: "Tata, mama, toti cei dragi tie si restul oamenilor mari pe care ii vezi zilnic mergand la munca platesc taxe si impozite pentru ca noua tuturor sa ne fie mai bine. Cu banii astfel stransi statul ne poate oferi lucruri si servicii de care toti avem nevoie. Te invitam sa participi la o calatorie in lumea cifrelor." this comes from the official site of the romanian ministry of finance. disturbing, to say the least.

- http://cs.plici.ro/dld/pinguin.swf - finally, a neat little mintrubbing-type game for those long overtime hours at work. link sent by mircea.

- this one we just like: www.deci.ro. that's it.

messages from fellow mint rubbers

"Stimate domn Foster,

Ma numesc Prabuseanu Damigean (cunoscut si sub numele de Bibi Jupanu), si detin postul de sef de sectie la FIM Carbunesti. Cu ceva timp in urma am descoperit site-ul si organizatia dumneavoastra. De atunci, ocazional am vizitat site-ul fiind fascinat de conceptul de Mint Rubbing, o ocupatie pe care am practicat-o cu deosebit profesionalism chiar dinainte de a afla despre organizatia dumneavoastra.

Cu putin timp inainte de a scrie acest mail (circa 3 minute 27 secunde), citind edita din Octombrie 2003 a jurnalului dumneavoastra, la sectiunea Featured Sites of the Month http://mintrubbing.org/j35/j7.html#two am observat cu imensa surprindere ca in lista se afla un profil ce imi apartine. http://www.dmcproductions.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=6. Acestea fiind spuse nu va pot descrie starea mea de totala beufozerie stratacombica in momentul in care mi-am vazut acel profil pe site. Acest lucru m-a determinat sa va inaintez o lucrare de-a mea cu speranta ca o veti publica in urmatorul numar al jurnalului.

Este vorba despre un "Scurt Chestionar Cu si Despre Diferite Lucruri" (sau SCCDDL), un Quiz sau Trivia in termeni occidentali

Nu ezitati sa ma anuntati daca doriti o versiune TXT a acestui chestionar In caz ca veti fi surprins in mod placut de lucrarea mea nu ezitati a ma anunta in vederea trimiterii si altor lucrari personale Permiteti-mi sa va multumesc pentru timpul acordat si sa profit de aceasta ocazie in a promova institutia pe care o reprezint respectiv FIM Carbunesti ce face parte dintr-un amplu program guvernamental pentru reabilitarea si primirea in NATO si UE a zonei Targu Carbunesti (Jud. Gorj). Fabrica noastra se mandreste cu faptul ca este singura de acest tip pe tot mapamondul, specializandu-se in impachetarea maracinilor si aducearea acestora din faza initiala de "tufis" (sau "boschete") in faza de balot compact destinat depozitarii. Produsele noastre acopera astfel o nisa in piata mondiala si anume nevoia de a umple un spatiu gol. Studiile din laboratoarele noastre au dovedit ca nu exista o solutie mai buna pentru a umple un spatiu decat folosind un (sau chiar mai multe) balot(uri) compactizat(e) de maracini tratat(e) impotriva eroziunii si efectelor neplacute ale potarnicilor." (bibi jupanu).

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"Bravo omule... bun site shi te felicit! Pacat ca nu multzi vad lucrurile cum ar trebui ... Noi Sa Fim Sanatoshi" (andrei)

"I also provided a direct link for the mintrubbbing organization. After all, we're all trying to help people, aren't we? " (silvia and her website)

"A small contribution to the mintrubbing activity: www.condomerie.com" (andrei)

"cea mai tare chestie de mult timp :)))))) felicitari ps: ma duc sa imi cumpar alta menta, ca asta s-a uzat" (calitate)

"de unde mama masii aveti atatea idei??? ideea e geniala, si reflecta realitatea, da' imaginatia depaseste orice limite constitutionale..." (nimeni)

as usual, check the rmraforum for additional neat stuff.

more stuff

when it comes to supporting the mint rubbing movement, we always appreciate creativity. thus, a word of appreciation for the folks at mintrubbing.go.ro (not affiliated with mintrubbing.org/rmra) who created an IRC channel dedicated to mintrubbing. let's face it: what better way to rub mint then wasting some quality time on IRC? there's even a "bot de trivie" available. these guys also got their page certified by rmra - now that's mint rubbbing dedication. go check it out.

researchers and organizations around the world have started using the information provided by mintrubbing.org for their research projects. a remedy for gingivitis website lists our mentha piperita article among its resources (the page seems to be generated automatically, but the idea is still cool).

That's not all, though. An article entitled "Accessible yet exotic, mint lends a cool taste to summer dishes" made the following statement:

"Mint is actually a large family of plants, whose members have historically been associated with wealth, good health, and even magic. For centuries, Romanians rubbed fresh mint on themselves as a health practice; today, the Romanian Mint-Rubbing Society boasts 23 million members worldwide."

Isn't this great? This article is no joke - it's a serious article about mint and its culinary uses. And it obviously used mintrubbing.org as a resource. Sadly, this document is only available by subscription on this site.

until next time,

rub it well.

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