Today Switzerland, tomorrow the Pope

[Dixon Carter Lee]

So Switzerland has voted to join the U.N., and play a part in the world community, leaving Vatican City as the only state not in the world body.

Any Swiss here? Is this change felt at home, or are things pretty much business as usual? And, by the way, would you please send 25,000 troops to Kabul right away?

 

[Purple Haze]

I can't wait to see them all armed and dangerous with their Swiss Army Knives. They're gonna do a whole lotsa damage with those bottle opening devices.

 

[Isabella Thorne]

yes .... it's so true about the scary swiss army knives ...

and you gotta wonder about a country that puts holes in their cheese ...

i mean is that cheesy or what?

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

The holes come from the large tubes they use to select a sample from the cheese to see if it's ready. In other countries that make "Swiss" cheese and don't use this method, they just add the holes. I think this is why Switzerland is finally ready to come out into the world and kick some ass. They're tired of Faux Swiss Cheese, and someone's gonna' pay.

 

[Purple Haze]

That's why they have the Swiss Army Knives, to carve holes into the cheese.

I do it all the time, and I'm not Swiss.

I do like Hot Cocoa though, and I yodel.

And I wear little shorts.

I've always wanted a Saint Bernard, with a jug of brandy.

I yodel.

 

[kotori]

The Third Man

"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Although Graham Greene wrote the screenplay with Carol Reed, I recently learned that Orson Wells is credited with this line. One of the greatest films of all time.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Yup. It's Orson's. Great line.

 

[Spinaroonie]

Everybody knows the UN is the USA's patsy, there were probably some friendly pressure applied

 

[lavender]

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Actually I think we're more interested in leiderhosen jokes.

 

[lavender]

 

[kotori]

Since the Swiss actually provide the "Army" of the Vatican (personally, not governmentally--before I get flamed), I think the Papal States might just be ready to toss off the Lateran Treaty and get on with the getting on. Don't forget, there were all those Borgia popes. But I like the Barbarini best; the bee motif and all.

 

[lavender]

 

[kotori]

Lavy, is

that your way of telling me to buzz off (bee reference again). Yes, thanks--I think the drugs are working.

 

[JazzManJim]

As I recall my history, the biggest reason for Swiss neutrality was the Swiss Guard who were, in their time, the baddest motherfuckers in the world. And they could be hired by anyone with the money, with the proceeds going into the Swiss coffers. That made the Swiss rich.

After a time, the Vatican managed to work a deal whereby the Swiss wouldn't rent their killing machine to anyone but the Vatican, and that only for "garrison duty" in Vatican City. The Swiss would then officially hold a neutral position in world military matters, since no one was really interested in invading, and their chief arm of "diplomacy" was garnering them quite a handosme sum guarding the Pope.

In time, the Swiss came to be seen as the perfect arbiters, since their neutrality was assured by treaty and because their people embraced the "officially neutral" stance in the world. This also made them rich., The didn't arbitrate for free.

So know the Swiss are in the UN. I'm not sure this is such a huge deal since anymore, their diplomatic power doesn't carry the weight it used to. It would, interestingly enough, provide a great place to which the UN could relocate, if it so wished. There have been rumbles toward that, though I don't know how serious it is.

The other thing I found interesting is that, even though they've not been a member, the Swiss have been paying UN dues for a long time.

 

[lavender]

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

The other thing I found interesting is that, even though they've not been a member, the Swiss have been paying UN dues for a long time.

But that's just so they can get the newsletter crossword puzzle. (6 ACROSS: Bavaria’s traditional costume).

 

[freescorfr]

When you look at a map of the european community Switzerland is now an island in the middle of it. This "negative topographical" status makes it ideal for becoming the world's most inviolable offshore tax haven.
Their democratic system has many parallels with Lybias.

The country is a large scale electric train playground.

These are personal observations and I've never seen a naked swiss girl.

 

[Isabella Thorne]

Yo-da-lady-Yo-da-lady-Yo-da-lady-oooooo

The holes come from the large tubes they use to select a sample from the cheese to see if it's ready. In other countries that make "Swiss" cheese and don't use this method, they just add the holes. I think this is why Switzerland is finally ready to come out into the world and kick some ass. They're tired of Faux Swiss Cheese, and someone's gonna' pay.

oh my ... you certainly know a lot about cheese, cheri ... that has always been a big turn on for me in a man ...

but what's this all about, eh? - are you telling me that i am stuck with some sort of pseudo swiss cheese? yikes ...

hey that would mean i could become a pseudo swiss-cheese-eating psycho swiss miss ...

and i could wear one of those little swiss miss outfits with little shorts like Charlie's Angels wore ... will you be my Bosley, darling? - neutrally speaking of course ...
______________________
In the Swiss Alps,
with Swiss cheese
and Swiss accounts
Sippin' Swiss Miss,
hoes frontin', got me kissed it

~Charli Baltimore~

 

[kotori]

Re: Yo-da-lady-Yo-da-lady-Yo-da-lady-oooooo

but what's this all about, eh? - are you telling me that i am stuck with some sort of pseudo swiss cheese? yikes ...

Issy, stick with the Black Diamond Cheddar. Buy Canadian, eh?

 

[Mensa]

Their democratic system has many parallels with Lybias.



These are personal observations and I've never seen a naked swiss girl.

Where is "Lybias" ? I can't find it in my atlas. It's not one of those Middle Earth kingdoms, is it?

I have seen a naked Swiss girl. They are remarkably similar to other naked girls. The only real difference I noted was that when the reach orgasm, they yodel.

 

[lavender]

 

[Cheyenne]

Re: The Third Man

"In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Not to be picky, but as far as I know the cuckoo clock originated in the Black Forest of Germany. I spent a lot of hours in the Black Forest looking for the perfect clock to bring home many years ago. It is a beautiful place, with houses that look just like those you see in the clock designs.

http://www.allabouttime.net/history.htm


The History of the Cuckoo Clock

All over the world the cuckoo clock is regarded a symbol of the Black Forest. Since the 18th century the clockmakers of their region have specialized in the development of this type of clock. The cuckoo clock became known throughout the world thanks to the peddling "clock carriers" from the Black Forest who literally carried the clocks on their backs in
rucksacks.

The first model of a cuckoo clock was a painted wooden clock. The clock was composed of an almost square board for the clock face and a raised semicircle, and was lavishly decorated. The cuckoo itself was to be found in the semicircle behind a small door. This type of clock was made from approximately 1730 on and was considered to be the specific clock style of the Black Forest. However, the exact origin of the cuckoo clock is not totally clear to this day.

In the middle of the 19th century there were two principal visual forms of the cuckoo clock. The "framed clock", as its name suggests, had a strong wooden frame and a wide painted inner section to which the clock face was attached. The cuckoo was situated in the upper section of the decorated surface and was occasionally included in the other decorative scenes.

The "railway house clock" came into being at the same time and essentially represents the style which is still used today. The basic form is very simple; a rectangle or square on which an isosceles triangle is placed. The house-shaped basic form with wooden decorative elements was developed to include scenes from every day life. The earliest clock of this type had a wooden clock face with white numbers and hands and fir cone shaped weights. Today vine leaves, animals and woodland plants as well as hunting scenes are features of this typical form of cuckoo clock. Dancing couples in traditional dress automatically move to music or the mill wheel rotates on the hour, while a farmer chops wood. The cuckoo itself moves its wings and beak and rocks back and forth when calling. Despite fluctuations in demand on the clock market, the production of the cuckoo clock in the Black Forest has remained uninterrupted to this day.