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May. 3rd, 2010 01:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
incandescensCaught up on some sleep today (after trotting around so much yesterday), did some housework, did some patchwork, did some writing.
What a nice thought it is that I have tomorrow off as well.
Incidentally, does anyone know any weird (but genuine) facts offhand about Germany? For various reasons we have an upcoming Awayday at work, and in honour of the World Cup, all the teams have been assigned a country and told to present an interesting fact from said country. I offered to research a bit on behalf of our team. So far I've got that:
a) The first known [beer] consumer protection act arose with the German Beer Purity Law of 1516, known as Rheinheitsgebot.
b) Germany has Europe's oldest universal health care system, with origins dating back to Otto von Bismarck's social legislation, which included the Health Insurance Bill of 1883, Accident Insurance Bill of 1884, and Old Age and Disability Insurance Bill of 1889. (Okay, this is not a particularly weird fact, but given we are all working for the NHS, it is a relevant interesting fact.)
c) Kolberg is a 1945 German propaganda film directed by Veit Harlan and Wolfgang Liebeneiner. The film was intended to boost the morale of the Germans in the last phase of World War II. At a cost of more than eight million marks, it was the most expensive film of the Nazi era. At a time when the war was turning against German fortunes, thousands of soldiers were used in the film, some diverted from their fighting positions at substantial cost. To film scenes with snow during summer, 100 railway wagons brought salt to the set in Pomerania.
I'm thinking that I should probably take in multiple choices for my team to pick a favourite from, given that not everyone shares my sense of humour or my opinion of what is weirdly interesting.
---
The Garden of the Golden Valley
Stories of passion make sweet dust,
Calm water, grasses unconcerned.
At sunset, when birds cry in the wind,
Like a girl's robe fall the petals.
-- Tu Mu, translated by Witter Bynner
What a nice thought it is that I have tomorrow off as well.
Incidentally, does anyone know any weird (but genuine) facts offhand about Germany? For various reasons we have an upcoming Awayday at work, and in honour of the World Cup, all the teams have been assigned a country and told to present an interesting fact from said country. I offered to research a bit on behalf of our team. So far I've got that:
a) The first known [beer] consumer protection act arose with the German Beer Purity Law of 1516, known as Rheinheitsgebot.
b) Germany has Europe's oldest universal health care system, with origins dating back to Otto von Bismarck's social legislation, which included the Health Insurance Bill of 1883, Accident Insurance Bill of 1884, and Old Age and Disability Insurance Bill of 1889. (Okay, this is not a particularly weird fact, but given we are all working for the NHS, it is a relevant interesting fact.)
c) Kolberg is a 1945 German propaganda film directed by Veit Harlan and Wolfgang Liebeneiner. The film was intended to boost the morale of the Germans in the last phase of World War II. At a cost of more than eight million marks, it was the most expensive film of the Nazi era. At a time when the war was turning against German fortunes, thousands of soldiers were used in the film, some diverted from their fighting positions at substantial cost. To film scenes with snow during summer, 100 railway wagons brought salt to the set in Pomerania.
I'm thinking that I should probably take in multiple choices for my team to pick a favourite from, given that not everyone shares my sense of humour or my opinion of what is weirdly interesting.
---
The Garden of the Golden Valley
Stories of passion make sweet dust,
Calm water, grasses unconcerned.
At sunset, when birds cry in the wind,
Like a girl's robe fall the petals.
-- Tu Mu, translated by Witter Bynner
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no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 06:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 06:58 am (UTC)I like fact B myself, because, as you mentioned, it's so relevant.
no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 01:38 pm (UTC)