A German village raised thousands of euros for cancer patients this month by auctioning off a load of pristine snow on the Internet.
The mayor of Steinach, home to 4,700 people, thought up the idea one night.
"It was completely by chance, like so much in life, but it was worth its weight in gold," Mayor Maria Greiner said.
PHOTO: EPA
She put an advertisement on the Internet auction Web site Ebay that said, "Snow, impeccably white, soft, without any signs of use, fresh from the heavens and as much as you want."
A lot of people joined in the bidding, with a clothing company in Frankfurt making the highest bid of 1,420 euros (NT$55,625) and other bidders winning smaller amounts of snow. Hundreds of Steinach residents gathered in the middle of the village to cheer on the auction.
Other people added donations to increase the final total to around 4,000 euros (NT$156,655), which will be spent on children who have cancer.
Freezing temperatures made sure that the snow would not melt before the winners came to claim their prizes.
Meanwhile, there was good news for anyone else wanting to travel to the town. "For the next three weeks, we've got enough snow for everyone," Mayor Greiner said. (AFP)
德國 Steinach 村本月藉由在網路上拍賣潔白無瑕的雪堆,為癌症病患募得數千歐元的醫療費。
此村落有四千七百名居民。村長在某一晚想出這個點子。
村長瑪麗亞.格芮諾說:「就像生命中多半的事物,這完全是因緣際會,卻有黃金般的價值。」
她在 Ebay 拍賣網站登了一則廣告:「雪,潔白無瑕又柔軟,未曾使用,剛從天堂出爐,無限量供應。」
有許多人參與競標白雪,法蘭克福一家成衣公司喊出最高價一千四百二十歐元(新台幣五萬五千六百二十五元),其他投標人也贏得少量的雪堆。數百名Steinach 村民齊聚在村莊中心歡慶此次的拍賣。
加上其他民眾追加的捐款,總金額最後大約是四千歐元(新台幣十五萬六千六百五十五元)。這筆金額將提供罹患癌症的兒童使用。
寒冷的氣溫能確保雪堆在得標者來領取前不會融化。
同時,有好消息給想到此鎮旅遊的遊客,村長格芮諾說:「未來三個星期,我們有足夠的雪量供給每個人。」
(法新社/翻譯:鄭湘儀)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
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