cyg
31 Oct 2007
News / Things you might not know about Poland [76]
Old, old data. Credit cards are widely accepted in larger Polish cities and in many places in smaller towns. In the countryside it's still a bit difficult, but evil western capitalists are quickly making inroads there, too.
A few years ago this changed to 230 volts, in line with EU standards.
Regarding the Copernicus thing: you just can't apply today's national standards to the 16th century - just makes no sense at all. Here's a nice quote from the 1875 Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie I found on Wikipedia. I think it sums things up pretty well:
"The nationality question has been a subject of various writings; an honoring controversy over the claim to the founder of our current world view is conducted between Poles and Germans, but as already mentioned nothing certain can be determined concerning the nationality of Copernicus' parents; the father seems to have been of Slavic birth, the mother German; he was born in a city whose municipal authorities and educated inhabitants were Germans, but which at the time of his birth was under Polish rule; he studied at the Polish capital, Krakau, then in Italy, and lived out his days as a canon in Frauenburg; he wrote Latin and German. In science, he is a man who belongs to no single nation, whose labors and strivings belong to the whole world, and we do not honor the Pole nor the German in Copernicus, but the man of free spirit, the great astronomer, the father of the new astronomy, the author of the true world view."
Poland is essentially a 'cash country', and it is difficult to negotiate credit cards and travelers cheques in the cities, and well nigh impossible in rural areas.
Old, old data. Credit cards are widely accepted in larger Polish cities and in many places in smaller towns. In the countryside it's still a bit difficult, but evil western capitalists are quickly making inroads there, too.
Electricity: Electrical current is 220 volts,
A few years ago this changed to 230 volts, in line with EU standards.
Regarding the Copernicus thing: you just can't apply today's national standards to the 16th century - just makes no sense at all. Here's a nice quote from the 1875 Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie I found on Wikipedia. I think it sums things up pretty well:
"The nationality question has been a subject of various writings; an honoring controversy over the claim to the founder of our current world view is conducted between Poles and Germans, but as already mentioned nothing certain can be determined concerning the nationality of Copernicus' parents; the father seems to have been of Slavic birth, the mother German; he was born in a city whose municipal authorities and educated inhabitants were Germans, but which at the time of his birth was under Polish rule; he studied at the Polish capital, Krakau, then in Italy, and lived out his days as a canon in Frauenburg; he wrote Latin and German. In science, he is a man who belongs to no single nation, whose labors and strivings belong to the whole world, and we do not honor the Pole nor the German in Copernicus, but the man of free spirit, the great astronomer, the father of the new astronomy, the author of the true world view."