Women in Salzburg will again be able to pursue their shopping with abandon over the Christmas period, free from sourpuss boyfriends and husbands.
For the second year in a row, a "nursery" will be set up in the town center where women can leave their partners for a few hours so that they can hunt down all those last-minute presents, without a bored and whining spouse.
In a large white tent set up on Salz-burg's central Herbert-von-Karajan Square, the men will be able to play computer games, leaf through newspapers or magazines such as Playboy, or simply have a drink at the bar with co-suffering "shopping widowers."
PHOTO: AP
From Dec. 13 to 23, women can "surrender" their partners at the tent's entrance free of charge between 4pm and 10pm. They are given a numbered ticket which they then have to present on their return to collect their spouse.
Salzburg toymaker Andreas Stadlbauer came up with the idea of a so-called "Maennerhort" or "men's nursery" last year. It proved such a success - around 1,500 men found refuge there from the shopaholic tendencies of their "better halves" - that he decided to repeat the venture again this year. Indeed, Stadlbauer has even patented the name "Maennerhort." And with big-name sponsors such as the German luxury sports car maker Porsche, Playboy magazine and Nintendo, he is planning to set up similar nurseries in Vienna, Hamburg and Munich.
In Germany, where men have a reputation of being particularly averse to shopping, the nurseries might even operate all year round, the entrepreneur suggested.(AFP)
薩爾斯堡的女性又可以在耶誕假期盡情購物,將掃興的老公和男友拋在一旁了。
繼去年之後,今年是薩爾斯堡第二度在市中心設立「託管所」,女士們可以將伴侶留在那邊「消磨時光」,自己把握最後一刻去採買耶誕禮物,不用忍受覺得無聊又愛抱怨的另一半。
男士們就待在赫伯特:凡:卡拉揚中央廣場的一個白色大帳棚中,他們可以在那裡玩電腦遊戲、翻閱《花花公子》等報章雜誌,或是在酒吧和其他的「血拼鰥夫」喝上一杯。
十二月十三日至二十三日下午四點到晚上十點間,女士可以免費將伴侶「交寄」在帳棚入口處,她們會領到一張號碼牌,以便回來時領回配偶。
薩爾斯堡的玩具製造商安德列斯.史泰德包爾去年想到這個「托男所」的點子,結果大獲好評─將近一千五百位男士在那裡找到了「清靜」,免受他們另一半的購物癖所苦。有鑒於此,他今年決定再如法炮製。史泰德包爾甚至為「Maennerhort」這個名稱申請專利,有了德國頂級跑車製造商「保時捷」、《花花公子》雜誌和任天堂等知名企業的贊助,他還計畫要將類似的託管中心拓展到維也納、德國的漢堡和慕尼黑。
德國男性向來以極度厭惡逛街購物聞名,史泰德包爾甚至建議,也許可在德國設立常態性託管所。(法新社/翻譯:袁星塵)
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)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110