rmra on the web
cool stuff has been happening with the rmra page in the past couple of months. without doubt, the most interesting development was getting mintrubbing.org linked on some of the finer sites of the web. let's see now.
the crazyness began when memepool.com placed a link to the rmra site, stating "Mint in Romania? Rub it in. Everybody's doing it!". For reasons not discussed here,
memepool seems to be a pretty cool site. more important, they seem to get a lot of traffic, so mintrubbing.org got a whole lot of exposure in the past weeks. the effect was that a lot of people outside romania learned (and got confused)
about mint rubbing and related activities. great. other sites that directed a lot of traffic to us were boreatwork.com and ilovebacon.com.
lots of other sites did a pretty good job, too.
another effect was that people saw our site, liked it and linked it on their webpages. so here's the list of webpages linking to us that we've discovered in the past two months - it's pretty impressive:
>>> http://www.ovydyu.go.ro/links.html
>>> http://www.danteo.home.ro/links_fun_r.html
>>> http://www.diminishedresponsibility.com/
>>> http://www.bluefire.go.ro/home.html
>>> http://www.central-criativa.com/noticias.php?sorteio=6
>>> http://www.davelog.com/index.php
>>> http://www.centerofthestorm.com/websites/
>>> http://www.paulbv.home.ro/adrese4.htm
>>> http://www.livejournal.com/users/youmaylikethis/
>>> http://www.geocities.com/petcua1/jurnal.html
>>> http://ba.manilasites.com/
>>> http://www.sxsw.com/interactive/tech_report/
>>> http://hal.cs.tuiasi.ro/~lucip/link.php?l=Fun
>>> http://www.crazymum.com/
>>> http://www.funjunkie.co.uk/
>>> http://www.middernacht.be/udn/blogger.html
>>> http://jsnotes.blogspot.com/
>>> http://www.ariped.com/
>>> http://www.edwinek.com/main.php3
>>> http://www.pardel.net/utils_links.php?cat=20
>>> http://www.ilovebacon.com/083002/l.shtml
>>> http://www.livejournal.com/users/motomotoyama/
>>> http://www.correllnorth.com/home.htm
>>> http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/vcusco/
>>> http://www.boredatwork.com/
>>> http://www.livejournal.com/users/mad_shepherd/
>>> http://www.planetdumbass.com/
>>> http://eexcursii.go.ro/rofiles/linkuri.htm
>>> http://sepwww.stanford.edu/sep/nick/k/
>>> http://medlem.jubii.dk/troniu/2002_08_01_archives
we love all of you guys. you're simply the best (some sites removed their link to us in the meantime, but we still love 'em).
and that's just part of it. people on two more forums discovered us - check out their opinions here
and here. the people at improbable.com wrote a short article about the rmra site. in their own words:
"When we are asked about mint rubbing, our thoughts turn immediately to the Romanian Mint Rubbing Association. Why? The reasons are many.". check it out by clicking here.
the people at backwash.com reviewed our site and indexed it in their web index. this is what they had to say: "Need to relax? Try rubbing mint! Yes, you too can make more efficient use of your time,
relax and lead a more fulfilling life by practicing the time-honored Romanian tradition of rubbing mint, or 'a freca menta'.". click here.
all this activity concerning our site led to a dramatic increase in the number of visitors we got in august, as shown below:
messages from fellow rubbers
>>> we also got some unbelievably cool messages this month. check out some of the coolest:
- "Oameni buni am trait sa o vad si pe asta.Nu pot descrie in cuvinte ceea ce simt.De trei ori BRAVOOOO!!!!!
Ma intreb ce-o fi in mintea bietilor cititori de peste hotare... rubbing mint....suna ca o practica exotica.Te
pomenesti ca or incerca-o la propriu.Felicitari inca o data!" (laurian)
- "Va rog sa-mi spuneti ce pot face ca aceasta asociatie sa prospere pe cele mai inalte culmi ale istoriei nationale!
Sunt gata sa frec menta intr-o forma organizata cu voi, deci cand e de treaba don`t forget to contact me." (claudiu)
- "Letter to the President,
His Excellency Mr. William Foster
President, Founder, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Member of the Romanian Mint Rubbing Association
Dear Mr. President:
There is no greater threat to the future of our nation than the failure to educate our children, members and citizens about Mint Rubbing. Yet, the output for education continues to deteriorate, but hopes of this intolerable situation being resolved are arising through the monthly releases on your website. The current national outcry for standards of learning reflects the need for our educational and informational system to focus on Mint Rubbing.
It is my belief that in reading your website one will gain important and vital insight into the world of Mint Rubbing, therefore I, and, also on behalf of my colleagues and co-workers, commend to express our deepest appreciation for your works.
Thank You
Yours in outmost Sincerity,
Dragos R."
- "jesus h. christ, I just wanna let you know, your page fuckin blew my
mind, like, serious, maybe I had a few beers and a few bonghits
beforehand, but your page, dude....." (scott)
- "dear mr foster, it is unbelievable how you and the
team managed to produce the latest issue of rmra...
good kitsch is hard to find, and even harder to
design. as someone said (i think it was an actor, but
it doesn't really matter), it takes a truly
intelligent person to play a realistic idiot. it looks
so perfect i had to rub my eyes (instead of the
habitual mint), look again - and take an aspirin for
the headache that followed. you're teaching a sort of
crash course in web design history, it seems...
the succesion of styles is almost joyce-an... should
we expect a macromedia flash mrj issue? ;-)" (boogie)
>>> The rmra forum got its share of cool messages in the past weeks. we can't help
but mention a few of those:
- "My life has changed a lotr since I discovered mint rubbing. There I was, rubbing mint and - can you believe it - I wasn't even aware of it. Four or five hours of reading the incredible history of mint rubbing made it feel like mere minutes. My life will never be the same. My tears flow in thankfulness for the incredible chance you offered me to discover my own inner LazyLad. I praise the minute you people decided to give a friendly hand to all mint rubbers around the world. Truly yours, the Rushmanian vice prime minister, George W. Nastase"
- "In an ongoing effort to help my fellow colleague citizens, and members of the Mint Rubbing Associations, I will contribute my 2 cents and also propose a totally and equally enjoyable activity: Rubbing the Chestnut ( Rom. - A freca castana). I love it, so should you !!!"
- "Doresc sa multumesc si pe aceasta cale colectivului RMRA, pentru deosebita abnegatie cu care a ctitorit aceste pagini. Pentru dumnealor, cit si pentru publicul cititor, toate cele bune, sarutari de miini doamnei, la multi ani si sanatate si indeplinirea tuturor dorintelor, atit la munca cit si la invatatura, pe toate planurile de activitate. Traiasca lupta pentru pace, prosperitate si progres, pe cele mai inalte culmi de civilizatie!"
- "Should you need some entertainment, let me introduce you to a new practice: to burn it in the chewing gum (a o arde in ciunga - orig. rom). We can burn it in the chewing gum 2gether rite here or we can burn it by ourselves - your choice."
- ".....souveniri, souveniri, cine n-are amintiri....se cinta la minunatul "Tanase". Da, da, da, eu sint una din generatia care a inventat zicalele "frecam menta, taiem frunza la ciini si altele ca...."frecam tziparul", "munca iti da viata dar nici lenea nu a omorit pe nimeni" sau "munca este sanatate deci sa o dam bolnavilor"......Si cine spunea ca asta se adreseaza romanilor are dreptate caci savoarea zicalelor moare in traducere. OOPS! Summer hours, time to leave! have a great week-end everyone!"
- "Dear Madams and Sirs: The Undersigned wishes to commend and Thank You for your 2002 Mint-Rubbing preparedness.You have acted with leadership and responsibility in placing Mint-Rubbing on our nations ( and others ) agenda, improving our lives and homeland security! I am particularly grateful for your understanding that updating the Mint-Rubbing Association page requires a sustained, multi-year effort. I am confident that you are setting the nation on a path towards enhanced capacity to protect our communities not only against boredom, but also against emerging public health threats of many types. Mint does a body good !!! We look forward to working with your Administration to support and enhance these proposals. Dragos R. - New York aug.02 "
- "Nicole and I used to while away many a happy hour mint rubbing. Please continue to spread the word. - T. Cruise"
- "we have to turn all the people of this earth to the rubbing part of the mint!!! may the mint be with us all. love 3-leaves-of-mint kanobi"
- "pai shi eu sunt in timpul seviciului, asha ca n-am timp sa stau aci si sa frec menta, ca mai am un pic si termin programul...imi pare rau, insa chiar nu pot sa scriu mai mult, da, pe bune, prefer sa lucrez (se vede), decat sa stau si sa frec menta...nu mai termin odata cu scrisul asta, e prea obositor, nu shtiu ce o sa ma fac daca mai scriu asha mult, probabil o sa iau si o marire de salariu daca o sa lucrez si eu astazi ceva...macar o linie de cod sa apuc si eu sa scriu, fie-va mila, incetatzi cu astfel de idei provocatoare, ca uite cum se duce timpul meu, pe apa sambetei, si iar am reusit sa frec menta .... MAI HO! gata am terminat. C YA! A....era sa uit. cum itzi merge? e bine? bine... ma bucur pentru tine. Sotzia, copiii? ...merg la schoala?... e bine......shi-ai mei la fel....mda... gata! papa, sa fitzi iubitzi!"
There are more fascinating messages on the rmra forum, go check them out (the link to the forum page is available on the bottom of mintrubbing.org's mainpage)
>>> In related news, mint rubbing folklore is also starting to be developed. Such is the case with this mint rubbing joke posted on the forum:
"Mac to IBM : bisti ! IBM catre Mac : nu asa cu start...programs... Mac: auzi daca vrei asa intra pe mintrubbing si rezolva-te."
>>> Another interesting happening was the way some poor soul got to the mintrubbing.org site. Probably being overwhelmed with the difficulties posed by day-to-day life, the poor fellow launched google and ran a search for
"i have no direction". guess what turned out as a result? no hope? no direction? we have answers. click here to see for yourself.
>>> Apparently some people think that mintrubbing is a bad thing. Still, they use the mint rubbing concept as a marketing tool, as shown below in this banner:
>>> Last, but not least, the webmaster of referat.ro pointed a very efficient mint rubbing technique: "referat.ro cred ca este un exemplu bun pentru tehnologia pusa in folosul frecarii mentei." indeed, such sites cand greatly increase the mint rubbing experience if you're going to school and have a shitload of assignments to do. i even recognized some articles written by me (non-mintrubbing material) that were shamelessly copied and uncredited by some looser and posted on the site. mint rubbing efficiency at its best.
message contest on the rmra forum
since you people have written some damn cool messages on our forum this month, we decided to launch a message contest for you. it's as easy as 1-2-3:
1. put your brain into motion and think of something cool to say about mint rubbing or the rmra site.
2. click here to open the forum page (opens in a separate window).
3. type in your thoughts in the space provided at the bottom of the page. enter "[C]" at the end of the message, so it can be reviewed for the contest.
that's easy. so, what do you win? how about worldwide fame? the coolest message and its author will be featured in the next issue of the journal and will receive our deepest appreciation. now, get to work.
this is page seven of the 22nd issue of the mint rubbing journal. click here for page eight. click here to go back to page six.