LaserMonks Offer Prayer, Printer Cartridges

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LaserMonks Offer Prayer, Printer Cartridges

Posted by simoniker on Monday January 12, 2004 @12:21PM from the unknown-if-monks-are-electric dept.

Minnesotan writes "According to a Twincities.com article: If you need discounted inkjet- or laser-printer cartridges, Wisconsin's LaserMonks say they'll give you a doozy of a deal while you 'support prayer for the world'. The Cistercian priests - yes, they're actual Catholic monks - oversee a novel e-commerce enterprise out of their rural abbey. Proceeds go to maintain the monastery and finance charitable works around the world."

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Well somebody has to say it... by tekiegreg · 2004-01-12 12:23 · Score: 4, Funny

Noticed they were using ASP, from the Evil empire....heathens!!! Oh wait they're monks, and they offer me prayers so does that cancel out and make them ok again?

--
...in bed
1. Re:Well somebody has to say it... by Elgon · 2004-01-12 12:25 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  ASP??? They should be using Perl, shurely??
  Perlmonks
  Elgon
Oh, so that has been my problem ... by ThisIsAnExampleAccou · 2004-01-12 12:23 · Score: 4, Funny

All of this time, I have been cursing at my printers, rather than blssing them.
Michael Bolton: Load Letter? What the f*ck does that mean?!?!?? You wanna step to this? I didn;t think so!
/end office space quote

--
ThisIsAnExampleAccountGL@yahoo.com
With These Guys by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-12 12:24 · Score: 5, Funny

Refilling your Lexmark cartridge isn't just a DMCA violation -- it's a sin!
1. Re:With These Guys by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · 2004-01-12 12:55 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Refilling your Lexmark cartridge isn't just a DMCA violation -- it's a sin!
  
  Joke apart, those monks could do it : can you imagine Lexmark dragging them to court over this? Sure they'd be guilty, but Lexmark's sales would take a big dip, so they'd never do it. How's that for a DMCA circumvention scheme?
  
  --
  "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
time honored tradition by drenehtsral · 2004-01-12 12:25 · Score: 5, Interesting

This is an updated verson of a very old (middle ages) tradition of monastaries doing some specialized task (and doing it well) and using thier product to sell or barter for needed supplies, food, etc...
This practice kept a lot of trades and information alive that might have otherwise died out. It would take a reel jerk to sue them for DMCA violations too =:-)

--

---
Play Six Pack Man. I
1. Re:time honored tradition by dogfart · 2004-01-12 12:28 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  It would take a real jerk to sue them for DMCA violations
  A DMCA suit then appears inevitable.
  
  --
  "dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope"
2. Re:time honored tradition by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-12 13:08 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  This is an updated verson of a very old (middle ages) tradition of monastaries doing some specialized task (and doing it well) ....
  And a particularly appropriate task. After all, one of their primary functions was copying books.
3. Re:time honored tradition by Anonymous Coward · 2004-01-12 13:47 · Score: 5, Interesting
  
  This is an updated verson of a very old (middle ages) tradition of monastaries doing some specialized task (and doing it well) ....
  
  And a particularly appropriate task. After all, one of their primary functions was copying books.
  And those scribe monks got very pissed when the printing press made their skills obsolete. Maybe this is their revenge: undercut the overpriced inkjet sinners.
4. Re:time honored tradition by Eccles · 2004-01-12 14:04 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  A priest selling duck poo? Holy shi....
  
  --
  Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
sinners by arcanumas · 2004-01-12 12:26 · Score: 4, Funny

I wonder if slashdoting the website of monks is actually a sin...

--
Slashdot Sig. version 0.1alpha. Use at your own risk.
1. Re:sinners by NanoGator · 2004-01-12 12:34 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  "I wonder if slashdoting the website of monks is actually a sin..."
  
  Only if you get modded up for joking about it.
  
  --
  "Derp de derp."
Borrowed scripts by ctrl-alt-elite · 2004-01-12 12:27 · Score: 5, Funny

Looking over the page's source, it looks like they borrowed a lot of their JavaScript. Talk about copying scripture...

/rimshot
Maybe we could find... by HotNeedleOfInquiry · 2004-01-12 12:33 · Score: 4, Funny

A witchdoctor toner refiller who could put a curse on SCO with each cartridge purchase.

--
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Re:It gets weirder by a-aiyar · 2004-01-12 12:33 · Score: 5, Interesting

Not that weird. Trappist monasteries have been brewing beer for centuries. They've been making cheese as well. Perhaps the best known Trappist beer and cheese are from the Scourmont abbey in southern Belgium -- can you say Chimay :-)
no affiliation by chocolatetrumpet · 2004-01-12 12:33 · Score: 4, Interesting

I have no affiliation with Trappestine Quality Candy except that Mom orders it every year around the holidays and it's really good. Just sayin'.

Ok, so I have an affinity. Check my nick. :sigh: Yum!

--
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
Re:It gets weirder by gwernol · 2004-01-12 12:34 · Score: 5, Informative

I heard some of these monasteries actually make money off brewing beer!

There is a great and long tradition of Trappist monastaries brewing beer. The Belgian trappist ales are some of the finest in existence. If you like your beer dark, rich and potent then there is nothing finer. The best known are the Chimay ales which are truly excellent, especially the chocolatey Trippel.

Goodness I think its time to leave work and find God at the bottom of a bottle...

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Sailing over the event horizon
Re:You insensitive clod! by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · 2004-01-12 12:36 · Score: 4, Funny

I'm an athiest!

and a dyslexic too.

--
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
Re:Blasphemy by Black+Jack+Hyde · 2004-01-12 12:38 · Score: 5, Funny

Could be worse. They might be Shaolin monks, in which case Taco's going to get seven kinds of stuff kicked out of him for putting their bandwidth bill into the stratosphere.
I for one... by tekiegreg · 2004-01-12 12:39 · Score: 5, Funny

Welcome our new monk overlords, well actually they kinda are if they talk to god and all.

In my prayers tonight: "God, give me strength to put up with my job to take care of my Fiance..."
God: "I can do that for you, but buy some new toner for your HP Laserjet 1100 for only $50 at http://www.lasermonks.com and you'll get a raise and your Fiance will love you forever..."

--
...in bed
A reasonable question by Maigus · 2004-01-12 12:44 · Score: 4, Informative

Are there going to be any comments to this story which aren't modded "funny"? I mean really, what can you say?
New twist on an old idea. by mikeophile · 2004-01-12 12:48 · Score: 4, Insightful

Monks used inks to copy and illuminate manuscripts throughout the middle ages.
Now they are selling us the ink to copy and illuminate whatever manuscripts we want.
Since I'm pretty sure those ancient monks never had permission to copy any of the works they did, does that make them the original data pirates?
1 0WnZ0r y3 0ld 4$5
1. Re:New twist on an old idea. by gerardlt · 2004-01-12 13:32 · Score: 5, Interesting
  Actually, copyright did not begin to form as an idea until the 17th - 18th Centuries.
  
  The huge cost of reproducing a book meant that it was not a problem until the movable type printing press became popular at the end of the fifteenth century - which ultimately put the monks out of that kind of business.
  
  Interestingly, the way that reproduction happened in the middle ages (and before) was was very similar the way that people copy music now. Essentially, a monastery would swap works with it's "friends" (other monasteries, generally).
  
  Sources:
  
  http://www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/end middle/bluedot/print.html
  
  http://arl.cni.org/info/frn/copy/timeline.html
  
  The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco (Fiction).
  --
  /* This sig is disabled. Press CTRL-W to enable. Thankyou */
Other Monastic Geek Suppliers by CaptainCarrot · 2004-01-12 13:05 · Score: 4, Informative

And where would geeks be without caffeine? Try Monastery Blend Coffee from the Christ the All-merciful Saviour Russian Orthodox Monstery on Vashon Island near Seattle. Excellent stuff.

--
And the brethren went away edified.
Re:It gets weirder by steeef · 2004-01-12 13:08 · Score: 5, Interesting

The best alcohol made by monks comes in the form of Chartreuse:

Only three monks know the identity of the 130 plants, how to blend them and how to distill them into this world famous liqueur. They are also the only ones who know which plants they have to macerate to produce the natural green and yellow colours. And they alone supervise the slow ageing in oak casks.

(text from http://www.chartreuse.fr/pa_green&yellow_uk.htm)

Wonderful liquer. Tastes like drinking a Christmas tree, but one made of 55% alcohol.
Re:It gets weirder by Xenographic · 2004-01-12 15:15 · Score: 4, Interesting

"No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for your stomach's sake and your frequent infirmities."

1 Timothy 5:23, New King James version.

Only the Mormons are against all drinking, really, though a few other denominations (e.g. Methodists) did participate in Prohibition, ages ago. The Bible only really condemns being drunk (not just drinking) as parent says.