BS: Switzerland

Subject: the Boston Marathon 2017
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 03:34 PM

On Patriot's Day, it is no surprise when the winners' group for the Boston Marathon includes people from countries outside North America.

...including the wheelchair division.

Today, however, both wheelchair winners were from Switzerland:
Manuela Schar
Marcel Hug, by one second

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 04:36 PM

Betraying my ignorance here:

The reason Switzerland is not in the European Union?

Is it neutrality/pacifism?

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 06:25 PM

As John Seymour said, and I may be misquoting, a thousand years of Swiss civilisation has resulted in---the cuckoo clock.

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 07:18 PM

And now my mind's eye is preoccupied
with an ill-advised visual:

as the wheelchairs hit the finish-line tape,
there sounds a loud
"Kuckuck! Kuckuck! Kuckuck!"

It was an unseasonably warm day for the Boston Marathon,
since you ask....
far more runners than usual with heat prostration.
But the wheelchair entries lucked out
with a helpful tailwind.

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 07:26 PM

Last July, my wife and I and two other California couples spent a "botanische Woche" in Zermatt with 10 Swiss wildflower enthusiasts and a Swiss guide. Every day, we took some sort of transportation up into the mountains, and then hiked down. Our 78-year-old guide handled the climbs like a mountain goat. We ate all our meals together, and I arranged to sit at tables where Schweizerdeutsch was the primary language being spoken. We had lots of interesting discussions. I felt like I was among "my people," people who had a broad worldview, broad cultural interests, and a mindset that considers it ordinary to absorb various languages and cultures.

The Swiss acknowledge that their politics are somewhat conservative, but they are proud of their social services network. They also think that they have been very good at welcoming refugees, and claim that they have accommodated a proportionally larger refugee population than most European nations.

They have a very favorable view of the EU, but they see it to be to their advantage to maintain their historic neutrality and not to join the EU. They think they serve as a good balance to the EU. They also consider the EU to be overly bureaucratic to the point of being somewhat repressive, and the Swill prefer their freedom. The Swiss Confederation is a rather loose union, and each canton is largely autonomous - and they like it that way.

I found Switzerland and the Swiss people to be absolutely delightful. And I loved their train system, and the Swiss people I met on the trains.

We wish we could go on another botanische Woche this year; but, like everything in Switzerland, it's too damn expensive.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 07:52 PM

You should have called in at Cornwall, Joe. Our scenery is every bit as lovely, our botany is wonderful, and we won't rip you off. We don't do cuckoo clocks but I can show you where to get a damn fine pasty. And I'll buy you a pint.

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: keberoxu
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 07:58 PM

WOOOOOOOOOPS.
"The Swill prefer their freedom." That one is worthy of....me.

Did you observe, Joe Offer, that Schweizerdeutsch contains not a little French?
as in "excusez" and "merci" ?
Unless the ones I heard were actually saying "scusi"....

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Joe Offer
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 08:32 PM

Uh-oh. I thought I corrected that "Swill" error before anybody caught me. Guess it's hard to get past sharp-eyed Mudcatters...

I mean to stop in on you in Cornwall someday, Steve. I just picked up a great book from Francis Boutle Publishers titled Shout Kernow: Celebrating Cornwall's pub songs, by Hilary Coleman and Sally Burley. The book and its two CDs make we want to go and hear for myself.

Cheers!

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 08:42 PM

Do it, Joe!

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 08:58 PM

As John Seymour said, and I may be misquoting, a thousand years of Swiss civilisation has resulted in---the cuckoo clock.

If John Seymour said that he was himself quoting Graham Green's Harry Lime in The Third Man.

Mind you, there's also LSD...

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 17 Apr 17 - 09:23 PM

Dammit, it's late and I know where the quote is, but I'll do the sifting through the book tomorrow!

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Mr Red
Date: 18 Apr 17 - 03:40 AM

Don't use the internet, the world thinks Orson Welles said it - which he did. Grahams Green wrote it. As to who coined it - Goggle can't tell you.
John Seymour obit doesn't help.

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 18 Apr 17 - 08:47 AM

Here are Harry Lime's comments

Subject: ADD: Friedensruhe
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 May 17 - 12:36 PM

Here is Switzerland's answer to the question:
how does a pacifist/neutral national identity
get put into a patriotic song?
The author of the lyrics, Hermann Krüsi (1775 - 1845), was a student and protégé of the legendary Pestalozzi. He was recruited from the poorest of schoolhouses at a young age, and ended up becoming a teacher of teachers -- it is quite the life story.
Here is Krüsi's text.

FRIEDENSRUHE

Vaterland,
ruh' in Gottes Hand!
Wenn wir deinen Namen nennen,
Wird das Herz so froh entzückt,
Wenn wir deinen Wert erkennen,   
Fühlen wir uns hoch beglückt!
Schütze Gott
Dich von Noth,
Ruh' in seiner Hand,
Theures Vaterland!

Fried' und Ruh'
Wende Gott dir zu!
Nur auf milde Friedensauen
Kann dein Glück erfreulich blüh'n,
Nur im hohen Gottvertrauen
Krönet Segen dein Bemühn.
Gott ist gut,
Fasse Muth,
Ruh' in seiner Hand,
Theures Vaterland!

Recht und Pflicht
Wanken ewig nicht!
Wo das Recht den Vorsitz führet,
Ruht auf ihm auch fest der Staat,
Wo die Pflicht den Sinn begieret,
Folget Segen jeder That.
Fromm und frei,
Gott getreu,
Ruh' in seiner Hand,
Theures Vaterland!

Set to music, here is a partial list of composers:
Hans Georg Nägeli (four-part chorus)
Josef Greith
Franz Abt
Ignaz Heim

Translation ? Anybody besides me, interested? It's anybody's to pick up the ball and run with.

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: keberoxu
Date: 01 May 17 - 04:39 PM

A quick and sloppy summary of the preceding is:
it's a patriotic prayer.
Dear Fatherland, rest in the Hand of God,
says every chorus.

The verses speak of:
good fortune and happiness in calling on God and knowing His worth.
Peaceful meadows as the best place for good fortune to bloom and grow,
for endeavors to be crowned with success,
with God bestowing tranquillity and peace thereon.
Justice and Duty guide the nation's leader,
and the State will then be strong and unwavering.

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: leeneia
Date: 05 May 17 - 02:32 AM

That saying about the cuckoo clock is both trite and snide. The Swiss have accomplished a lot, both technically and socially.

I've been there once, wish I could go again.

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 May 17 - 12:20 PM

A couple of names from Switzerland's history.

Doctor Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.
A difficult person to live with, by some accounts, rather complicated -- one of a set of triplets, and relationships were always tricky for her.

But in her adopted US of A, she braved the wrath and scorn of the medical profession for the sake of dying patients.

Kubler-Ross, like many of her compatriots, revered the heritage and memory of Pestalozzi. Which makes me stop and think.
Why don't schoolteachers (AHEM) know more about Pestalozzi?

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Jan 18 - 07:01 PM

So president Trumpasaurus is in Switzerland.
I can't think of a snappy one-liner for that one.
Can anybody else?

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Jan 18 - 08:27 PM

Poor guy. He's likely to be outclassed, and end up looking like a boor.

The percentage of polyglots in Switzerland must be astronomical, and Poor Trump can barely speak literate English.

We have some beautiful mountains in the U.S., but somehow they're not as stunning as the Alps. And the technology of Switzerland - everything works, and everything is on time.

I wanna go back, but I can't hike as fast as those Swiss folks.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: BobL
Date: 26 Jan 18 - 04:33 AM

To get back to the original post - maybe the Swiss get a lot of muscle power doing wheelchair mountaineering.

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Jan 18 - 05:51 AM

Well, BobL, I'll attest to the fact that the Swiss people are physically fit. They're remarkable.
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: keberoxu
Date: 26 Jan 18 - 01:02 PM

Well, here is one description of how it played in Davos.

What Davos thought of Trump's speech

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Jan 18 - 08:23 PM

Well, I have to admit I'd never heard of Davos until this week. I traveled Switzerland extensively in 2016 and had been there once before, but didn't get anywhere near Davos. The famous "Glacier Express" train goes there. I saw the train in Zermatt, but didn't go east of there.
From the looks of things, Davos is southeast of Zurich, almost on the border of Liechtenstein.
Have any of you been there, and can you tell us about it?
-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 27 Jan 18 - 12:36 PM

Any Swiss naval songs??

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: DaveRo
Date: 27 Jan 18 - 12:54 PM

They won the America's Cup - twice. But that requires deep pockets rather than deep water.

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: keberoxu
Date: 27 Jan 18 - 12:59 PM

Well, the Swiss are passionate about their lakes . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: keberoxu
Date: 16 Apr 18 - 01:56 PM

Marcel Hug with his wheelchair
in last year's Patriot's Day Marathon
(wheelchair race)
was the winner by one second (2017).
This year,

Marcel Hug with his wheelchair
won by 46 seconds.
The fellow who came in second, a South African,
in the past is a ten-time Marathon winner.

However, the women have their own wheelchair race;
and last year's women's winner from Switzerland
is not a repeat winner this year.

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: keberoxu
Date: 18 Apr 18 - 02:48 PM

This link, thankfully, is in English.

Twenty Telltale Signs you have Gone Native in Switzerland

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Apr 18 - 12:36 PM

I went to Switzerland 50 years ago and loved it. We went by train and had to divert because of the student riots in France. Made us about half a day late but I like train travel anyway:-)

We spent about a week based out of Brienz, including visits to Interlaken, The mountain railway part way up the Jungfrau (I think) and the Richenbach falls at Meringen. Just added a revisit to my bucket list:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 19 Apr 18 - 12:45 PM

3 of us missed the train back from Meringen (sp?) to Brienz and ended up walking back. A good few miles! We went past a camouflaged hangar type door in the side of a mountain and got shood off by armed soldiers! It was there, at the tender age of 15, that I got my love of good beer :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Switzerland
From: Long Firm Freddie
Date: 22 Apr 18 - 05:57 AM

One of the twenty things revealed in keberoxu's link is a liking for Rivella, a soft drink made with milk whey. I remember having that regularly as a lad. No wonder I grew up so big and strong!

Oh, and this one:

"You are forever telling people cuckoo clocks are actually from Bavaria…as if anyone in the rest of the world cared."

LFF