{"id":625,"date":"2006-10-22T23:04:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-22T23:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/wordpress\/?p=625"},"modified":"2006-10-22T23:04:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-22T23:04:00","slug":"moochnet-and-where-would-the-world-be-without-romania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/22\/moochnet-and-where-would-the-world-be-without-romania\/","title":{"rendered":"MoochNet, and where would the world be without Romania?"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Edited to add: The Romanian who sent me the video link e-mailed responses to my comments. See below.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Add The Tap Room on Beale to the list of places that don’t officially offer wireless Internet, but where you can mooch off the unsecured network of someone in the neighborhood. Connect to “belkin54g” – should get you two bars out of five, which is perfect for all but hardcore gaming.<\/p>\n

One of the Romanians who was here this summer – the itty bitty blonde who worked at the Flying Saucer – was reading my blog this morning and apparently thought some of my posts did not cast Romania in a flattering enough light. So she sent me this YouTube video entitled The World Without Romania<\/a>. Click the link and see what sad shape we would all be in if Romania had never existed.<\/p>\n

Edited to add: Okay, I just watched the video. They claim that we’d all be using pencils if not for Romanians, but I searched the Wikipedia article on “pen”<\/a> and nowhere does it credit anyone from Romania as having anything to do with the invention. It mentions that a Hungarian invented the ballpoint pen, and perhaps they figure since Hungary is right next door, no one will notice if they take credit. (The Romanian responds: “And by the way,the inventor of the pen IT IS A ROMANIAN,he’s name is Petrache Poenaru.” <\/span>I looked him up on Wikipedia<\/a> and she’s right; he invented the fountain pen in 1827. Apologies for the earlier incorrect information.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The video also claims Romania invented the jet airplane. True, according to Wikipedia<\/a>, but it also says that the Romanian jet aircraft assembled in 1910 crashed during its first and only demonstration. It does not mention development of a successful jet aircraft (in Germany) until World War II. (The Romanian responds: “and the plain that Henri Coanda built it flu,yes it crashed but because of the lack experience of the builter,because it was THE FIRST jet plain ever built,but it flu.” Fair enough. Me personally, I’d prefer to fly on a plane that doesn’t crash, but to each his own I suppose. Wonder if ValueJet had any Romanians working for them?)<\/span><\/p>\n

The video goes on to mention that Romania has the hottest women in the world (I won’t dispute that), and then they talk about Romanian beer. However, among the beers they show Pilsner Urquell (which is actually brewed in the Czech Republic) and Peroni (which is an Italian beer). As a former Beer Goddess, you would think the girl who sent me this video would have caught these inconsistencies. (The Romanian responds: “And about the beers,just because your are an alcoholic,doesn’t mean is making you an expert towards beers concern.And I think I know a little bit more about european beers than you,and I know were that beers come from.But nobody said in the video that does are all romanian beer.And in the end who the fuck cares about some beers.” Well, I guess I just assumed that because it was a video about Romania, that the beers pictured would be Romanian beers. My apologies for making such a silly assumption.)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"