The Switzerland inventing the Internet joke

Complaints Corner
41
Very few Swiss actually know who these people are. However I cannot resist a certain interest for people like Jewel Kilcher or Cyndi Lauper who bear a name that directly links them to my tiny country. I see nothing wrong with that. I'm sure Italians feel the same about Madonna even though there's nothing italian about her.

42

Celine Dion did actually represent Switzerland at the European Song Contest. Nobody forced her to do that (I think).

43
No way, they cannot have Jewel. Jewel was a surfer girl hanging out on Southern California beaches.

They can have Cyndi Lauper.

44
Can Heidi stay in Switzerland then ?

45
So the point being,

A) Nations don't invent anything, it's people - most of those doing the inventing couldn't care less where it was done...

B) We (Swiss/Switzerland) like to follow the tracks of those that moved out of this country and their children, be it out of free will or because there was not enough to go around for everybody, and made it BIG! We like success-stories.... as long as it's not our neighbour next door ;-)

C) When do migrants or their offspring stop mentioning their origins... why are there still Irish-Americans, African-Americans, Italian-Americans (sorry, not as easy to find examples other than in the US), Italian-Swiss or Turkish-Germans... is one identity not enough?

Also, what is it with all those silly arguments lately. There were a few promising starts that all turned out in little tit-for-tat slap-me-silly discussions.... hmpf

46
Ok... My understanding was that the original Information Super Highway is a development of a US Air Force project aimed at the construction of a networked system that could survive Nuclear contact and operational in the case of a first strike from a foreign power. I thought this was done before DARPA, in the early 50's.

CERN has developed a newer, more powerful version for sharing the information from their experiments around the world with various Universities, Colleges, and Government departments in order to decrease the time taken to analyse the data, and to share the discoveries....

Well, thats how I understand it.

47
I don't think this country cares much about it's relevance to civilization. Most people here care mostly about their own lives instead of constantly belittleing other countries and cultures and measuring them by their own narrow minded standards and self centered versions of culture and history...

48
Elaborate way of saying an Expat at CERN developed the hyperlink.

I do hear quite a bit of put downs of other countries and culture from most people here.

49
The Bundespresident at the time didn't want to meet Miss Dion or hold a celebration for this success, because she wasn't really Swiss so it follows that it wasn't really a Swiss success.

I actually think that the Swiss are more honest when it comes to this kind of thing than other countries we could mention......

50
Wasn't she in the Swiss Farm Girl Calendar?

51
Well look, it's ALL good. We're all the human race. But puffed-up claims of superiority makes me gag.

52
Well, most of the post suggest that saying one nation is superior is wrong. But it's acceptable if you make everybody else seem worse...

Thin-skinned today... should get back to life!

(not to be meant regarding internet and Switzerland, just in general.....)

53
No, that was Ms. Widmer Schlumpf.

54
Swiss Farm Girl Calender? Where can I get? Need a new one to help stroke off the days this year as they whizz past.

55
Alright, then. Hopp Schwiiz! The 2nd best country in the world.

Or would you prefer tied for 1st?

56
Phos !! You know things, nothing's hidden from that man ...

57
Maximilian Schell

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_Schell

the only Swiss to win an Oscar for best actor (but not the only Swiss to win an Oscar) has a swiss father, grew up in Zurich and speaks perfect Swiss German and yet he never fully received the recognition he deserves in Switzerland simply because we believed the Austrians who never had any problems telling the whole world he is Austrian. I remember his sister Maria Schell on Swiss TV maybe 20 years ago when she angrily showed her swiss passport after being called a german actor. And when Maximilian Schell asked the swiss film commission to support his movie about her he was refused because the topic was not swiss enough. I think it's a great shame really.

58

René Baumann

a.k.a. DJ Bobo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DJ_BoBo

Peter René Baumann was born in Kölliken , Switzerland , to Italian father Luigi Cipriano and Swiss mother Ruth Baumann.

Responsible for the 2002 hit song "Chihuahua".

59
Ahem..

60
Nice shot. But without context.... ?