Ever since the first Free Sticker Week ended back in February '07, I've been sending out WTF Stickers to anyone that mailed me a SASE or a small Souvenir. Nothing specific, per the instructions page, "anything will do." Well, here goes anything, again! (first one here)

Guilken (Japan) sent "stuff he found on the ground on his way to work." I hate to tell you, Japan, but your 1 Yen coin is far too light and feels like play money. No wonder people throw them on the ground!

 

Artyom (Israel) sent a mix of Russian/Israeli souvenirs a few pages from «Компьютерра», a Russian boarding pass, a Poltinnik (50 rubles), an Israeli bus pass, and a Hebrew classroom exercise.

 

asdfghj Jenkins (UK) not only has an illegible hand-written first name, but sent along a fun little penguin. Nice try Europe, but I'm still not switching to your Ubuntu.

 

David Flores (Madrid, Spain) sent a map of Madrid's Plano Esquematico de la Red, which I'm pretty sure translates to Automatic Escalators from Below.

 

Paul (London) sent a pass from Live Earth '07, a postcard from his company (NineLivesLondon), and a pair of Hot Fuzz "beermats". Now Britain, I understand that you're into your own goofy names for things ("boot" instead of "trunk", "lift" instead of "elevator", etc), but "beermat"? What if I want to put a glass of water on one? Or Iced Tea? You see, it doesn't make much sense. Britain, I encourage you to switch to the multi-purpose word "coaster" for this particular item.

 

Rafael (Peru) set over a Sublime bar, which is apparently "Peru's most popular chocolate." And I can see why: it's muy extremo tastey. It's also nothing like that salmiakki that Finland tries to pass of as candy. Peru, you're okay in book!

 

Erwin J. van Eyle (Netherlands) sent three euro coins and three Dutch coins. I have to say, I was a little skeptical of the tiny little 10-something coin, but Erwin shared an interesting fact: "it is exactly the size of the inner hole of a compact disk... because, according to an old Philips engineer I know, the coin was the only small round thing around when he built the first CD player prototype." And I did verify the size thing: it's a perfect fit.

 

John Senner (Seattle, WA) sent this random assortment of stickers. I still have absolutely no idea what the bottom-left sticker is all about.

 

Richard Selly sent this Nuclear Waste mug from Poison Mugs.

 

And then there's this Kennedy Space Center pin from AMelinda Smith (Florida).

 

Alex (Germany) sent a metal postcard of the incredibly adorable Knut-bärenstark from the Berlin Zoo. By the way, ursus maritimus, such cuteness does not help your tough-bear image.

 

I received eight rare bus passes from Ming Han (Singapore)...

 

Ruiwen (Singapore) sent another rare piece of Singapore's history: calling cards for long-retired public telephones. They're much classier than the calling cards we have here in the US. Good job, Singapore Telecom.

 

Miikka (Finland) sent a patch from TechMu, a student organization whose main goal, I believe, is to bring together "tech" and "mu".

 

I was a bit nervous trying out this Finnish candy that Arto Nyhanen (Finland) sent. Even more so when I noticed the Lakritsi smelled like licorice. But it was actually good. Not Submlime good, but definitely not salmiakki bad. I'm still watching you, Finland.

 

I would have never guessed what this strange piece of french manufacturing that Adrien (Germany) sent in was. "This is clipped on your seatbelt," Adrien explained, "so that it can't rewind. That way, it doesn't press or run on your clavicle, thus avoiding skin irritation." Brillant!

 

David Rifkind (Tucson, AZ) sent in a rare piece of computing history: an authentic bottle of DEC terminal cleaner, once filled with 70% isopropyl alcohol.

 

And finally, direct from 1985, Hugues Johnson (Grayslake, IL) sent the 8"-Floppy installation disks for DEC's RT-11 v5.2.

 

 

There's still quite a bit to photograph, so stay tuned for the next Souvenir Potpourri. Feel free to snail-mail in your own in exchange for some WTF Stickers.

[Advertisement] BuildMaster allows you to create a self-service release management platform that allows different teams to manage their applications. Explore how!