• Coder (unregistered) in reply to Postie

    We at Europe have also coins like 0.01e and 0.02e, but many european countries don't use them. Instead shops round the total to the nearest 0.05e. But usually we don't even use coins at all, but plastic bank cards instead.

  • Sebastiaan Stok (unregistered)

    Not all are euro's, the silver ones are 'Guldens' (Dutch). The old coins we use't to pay whit, since 2003 this are euro's.

    And sometimes are want the old ones back...

  • js (unregistered) in reply to Da' Man
    Da' Man:
    The main goal of all Finnish student organizations - but even more so the "techie" ones - is to bring together Techies ("Tekkarit") and "Kossu" (Brandwine :-)

    I hope you mean teekkarit (technology students) and not tekarit (fake teeth). I don't think the combination of the latter and kossu would be such a good idea.

    Btw. Alex, ever heard of "mämmi"?

  • Jimmy Jones (unregistered)

    You don't have beer mats in your house, you only have them in pubs.

    ...and in British pubs you drink beer. No exceptions.

  • anonymfus (unregistered)

    Please, write «Компьютерра» instead of the latin mess of symbols (it's real WTF that you dont use cyrillic symbols on UTF-8 website!). Correct english transliteration is "Сomputerra".

    http://www.computerra.ru/

  • /dev/null (unregistered)

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

    OMG!!! COLLECTORS EDITION!!!

    Where do I place my bid?

  • (cs) in reply to sweavo
    sweavo:
    1) where does a coaster coast to? huh?
    1. britons drink beer and only beer when out on the town. beer + mat = beermat. The sooner you colonies fix your wayward language the better.
    Wot's a "Briton?" And where would I go to meet one?
  • (cs) in reply to Spectre
    Spectre:
    It's Компьютерра. Shame on you for not knowing Cyrillic alphabet, Alex!
    Aw, c'mon. The history of the Cyrillic language is well-known. A couple of Greek monks used Greek as a basis and added a few characters for those cute, squishy, Slavic sounds. One of them was Cyril and the other one was ... well, I forget now, but it wasn't Alex.

    That looks like "Comg...terra" to me.

    Damn. What was it supposed to be, again?

  • (cs) in reply to tezoatlipoca
    tezoatlipoca:
    Ooo! I know! I know what the bottom-left sticker is about! If I make my wife popcorn, she lets me cop a feel too!

    (usually. sometimes its "get the hell away from me, can't you see Im eating popcorn?")

    I'd advise against causing a domestic disturbance, then. You'd hardly want her to feel a cop.

    (I'm trying to avoid a conjugation of the verb "to eat" here.)

  • (cs) in reply to Hugues
    Hugues:
    Anonymous:
    I can't believe the last entry submitters name is Hugues Johnson. Is that supposed to sound like Huge Johnson?

    Either way, the 8" floppies rule! Visions of Wargames with Matthew Broderick. That and and acoustic coupler modem.

    Sadly, it's a real name. Pronounced like "Hugh" but I'll respond to anything even remotely close. I was so disappointed when my first modem didn't speak.
    Cathars, people, Cathars.
  • Yuval (unregistered)

    That Israeli ticket is train, not bus. Be'er Sheva to Jerusalem, by the way. Round-trip.

  • S.T. (unregistered)

    I really hope I'm not sounding like one of those usenet grammar/vocabulary Nazis, but it's illegible, not ineligible.

  • (cs) in reply to Postie
    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!
    "Brillant" like Paula Bean, or "brillant" like the French word that means "brilliant"? With French manufacturing, you need to specify! :-)
  • Lutzky (unregistered)

    The Israeli "Bus Pass" is actually a train pass, from BeerSheba Central to Jerusalem. (It's upside-down, too :))

  • dkf (unregistered) in reply to Ruakh
    Ruakh:
    "Brillant" like Paula Bean, or "brillant" like the French word that means "brilliant"? With French manufacturing, you need to specify! :-)
    You do? Are you really sure?
  • fnord (unregistered) in reply to real_aardvark

    Dictionaries are excellent tools for self-education when you find yourself a little confused by a word outside your limited vocabulary:

    Brit·on /ˈbrɪtn/

    1. a native or inhabitant of Great Britain, esp. of England.

    (From dictionary.com)

  • Ulrich (unregistered)

    It would be a "REALLY BAD IDEA" (tm) to use this seat belt clamping thing to artificially loosen your seat belt. The whole point of a modern belt is to stay snugly to your body so that it can hold you back effectively in case of a crash.

  • Bob (unregistered) in reply to Ritchie

    Many people think it's so that the mat can absorb spills of draught beer that's just been poured, but really it's so you can do silly tricks with flipping them on a table and throw them at people.

    And you can rip them up and make a mess for the glass collector! Gives them something more interesting to do for five minutes, y'know!

  • (cs) in reply to Ulrich
    Ulrich:
    It would be a "REALLY BAD IDEA" (tm) to use this seat belt clamping thing to artificially loosen your seat belt. The whole point of a modern belt is to stay snugly to your body so that it can hold you back effectively in case of a crash.
    I wonder how that and a modern "seat belt pre-tensioner" would work??

    For the uninitiated, a "pre-tensioner" is a device that tightens the seat belt prior to a crash. It is triggered by the air bag deployment sensors, and uses a rocket engine(!) to yank the seat belt tight.

    When that has happened, you then have burstable stitching in the seat belt mountings that gives under extreme loadings to reduce G forces and limit injuies caused by the seat belt itself. Ah, science!

  • Nick (unregistered) in reply to relentless coward
    relentless coward:
    It can't be too clean with all that stuff on the ground. ;) Unless it was stacked in neat piles?
    It's Japan, space is at a premium, there are govenment employees that go around stacking the litter to ensure there is room for more.
  • Yorinaga (unregistered)

    Of the Japanese things, The receipt is for a rasin-roll, and the card just under it is a "proof of train delay card" that the station master at Shinagawa Station can fill out so that you can show your boss why you were late to work. Many companies will make you get up in front of everyone to apologize (public humiliation) for being 5 minutes late, or not "early" enough, so this card might save you from that fate.

  • Yorinaga (unregistered) in reply to yo mama

    Actually, Japan is definitely not known for its cleanliness. Certainly certain places are clean, but there's far more litter on the streets in Japan than in my hometown in the US.

  • GUI Junkie (unregistered)

    Of course, putting the clip on your seatbelt will increase your injuries if you should ever crash, as the slack will hit you.

  • Guilhem (unregistered) in reply to yo mama

    Ok, you got me. Most of those things were handed to me on the way (train delay ticket, conbini receipt, wet towel). I must say, seeing what others sent, I feel I should have spent a bit more time gathering stuff. I swear, if you're looking for strange things, Japan is your place!

  • (cs) in reply to Matt
    Matt:
    Nice try Europe, but I'm still not switching to your Ubuntu.

    Isn't Ubuntu a South African product?

    I always thought so... :-P

  • The real wtf fool (unregistered)

    Beer mats are for beer and dwell in public houses. Coasters are for other drinks. Got it?

  • (cs)

    Article wrote:

    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.

    Lakritsi is actually a Finnish word that means licorice. The subject was licorice, so should not be a surprise that it smelled like licorice.

  • sev (unregistered) in reply to Ritchie
    Ritchie:
    Oh, nice to see some 5.25" floppies again!
    Those are 8"
  • (cs)

    Iced Tea????! WTF? You can't get ice out of a kettle, mate. And if you put it in a glass, it would probably crack. Glasses are for beer. Tea goes in mugs, and is hot.

  • Rich (unregistered) in reply to Ritchie
    Ritchie:
    Many people think it's so that the mat can absorb spills of draught beer that's just been poured, but really it's so you can do silly tricks with flipping them on a table and throw them at people.

    Made of specially selected cardboard to allow the particularly exciting competition of 'How many stacked mats can you drive your little finger through.'

    Snappy title, with an occasionally snappy finale ;)

  • notme (unregistered) in reply to Ritchie
    Ritchie:
    Oh, nice to see some 5.25" floppies again! I only threw out my old drive a few years ago when the 3.5" part of it finally gave up the ghost.

    I still have some, full of C64 games. And they still work, amazingly! And so does the C64.

  • notme (unregistered) in reply to Alix
    Alix:
    Coasters are for household use, beermats are for use in pubs (where drinking water is outlawed).

    What...?

  • (cs) in reply to stevedclarke
    stevedclarke:
    Matt:
    Nice try Europe, but I'm still not switching to your Ubuntu.

    Isn't Ubuntu a South African product?

    I always thought so... :-P

    I can't find any info on the Ubuntu site, although the Canonical Website says that they are apparently 'headquartered in Europe'.

  • notme (unregistered) in reply to relentless coward
    relentless coward:
    It can't be too clean with all that stuff on the ground. ;) Unless it was stacked in neat piles?

    When the Japanese litter, they do it in an orderly fashion.

  • another clever guy (unregistered)

    beermats: you think beermats ist strange? visit Germany! They call it 'Bierdeckel'. Thats kinda beerlid!!

  • Spudley (unregistered)

    I had some circular drinks coasters once. I dropped one on the floor, and ever since then I've called them Roller Coasters.

    I even had one made of cast iron. It also rolled very nicely, so I called it a ferrous wheel.

    hehehe. Thank you. You've been a great audience. :-D

    (btw, for what it's worth, we in the UK do refer to these things as coasters... just with the specific exception of the disposable card ones found in pubs, which are called beermats)

    (oh, and Ubuntu is from South Africa, not Europe.... but I encourage you to try it all the same ;-) )

  • EdwardPfiffthriple (unregistered)

    Now, my dearest USA-kins. I do understand that you're into your own goofy names for things such as, "y'know, like, thing, like, y'know, whatever," instead of, "the separation of government into three branches:the legislature, the executive and the judiciary", and, "oh that's sooooo, like, y'know, thing, like, yeah, wow" instead of "the bill of rights comprises the first ten amendments to our most laudable constitution", etc., but "coaster"?

    It is called a beer-mat because it is a beer-mat, not a coaster. You'd never catch me placing my pink gin on something as common as a beer-mat and if you are so uneducated as to do so then you are a fearful oik with no more right to walk God's clean earth than a weasel.

    World, I encourage you to switch to the multi-purpose word "object" for all items, it'll make things ever-so-much more adjective, comparator, interrogation, adverb, comparator, modifier, object, affirmation.

  • EvadneCuspcolon (unregistered)

    Oh please do ignore my ex-husband-in-law, he's such an insufferable snob: aspirant middle class to the very last of his Surbiton-bred manners. (My great-great-grand-daddy, Field Marshal General Sir Everard de Laney Lord Haskett of Spume used the First Mounted Infantry for coasters and had a virtually inexhaustible supply of peasants for beer mats.)

    Do dry up, Edward dear.

  • (cs) in reply to another clever guy
    another clever guy:
    beermats: you think beermats ist strange? visit Germany! They call it 'Bierdeckel'. Thats kinda beerlid!!

    Yep, and they're also used to count how many beers you had in Roman notation.

    Anybody wanting to get into a fight with a guy named Hugues may just tell me so. I'll ring my next door neighbor's doorbell. :)

  • Kibi (unregistered)

    The Israeli "bus pass" is a train ticket to Jerusalem

  • Zombie_Hunter (unregistered)

    Ubuntu is NOT South African! Mark Shuttleworth is from South Africa. Ubuntu is not even a word from any of South Africa's 11 official languages. It is from Swahili, the lingua franca of East Africa.

  • Stickers? (unregistered)

    That block of 6 random stickers are actually US postage stamps!

  • Rooser (unregistered)

    "Ear Cleaning Services"? That sounds like an awfully specialized business model.

  • Student of Japanese (unregistered) in reply to yo mama

    Well, give it to the nearest policeman and I'm sure he can track down whoever it was that bought that raisin roll mentioned on the receipt...

  • (cs)

    I hope you realize that if you actually use that seatbelt clip and end up in an accident, you've greatly increased your chances of breaking either your collarbone or your shoulder...

  • David (unregistered) in reply to yo mama

    I know Japan is known for cleanliness, but to this extreme? Having lived in Japan for 3 years (2 1/2 years in Okinawa province, 6 months Tokyo) I remember watching a local news cast talking about people getting sick because of how clean it is.

  • It's like this (unregistered)

    All beermats are coasters, but not all coasters are beermats.

  • Andor (unregistered)

    Plano Esquematico de la Red is "Network Schematic Map" :P

    How horrific is that new Madrid's subway map...

    [email protected]

  • (cs)
    Peru, you're okay in book!

    I love book. I love lamp.

  • humble_monkey (unregistered)

    In regards to the stuff sent to you by "Artyom" from Israel - The item you described as a bus pass, is not a bus pass at all - it is a TRAIN TICKET!!! TRWTFZOMG

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