May 2009 Archives

I often run into websites that end in .ch (instead of .com.) I've always thought that meant a Chinese registration, but did not think much more about it. (Except why China?)

Then I just read in Google co-founder Sergey Brin's annual Founder's Letter that the first web server was at the address http://info.cern.ch/. I knew CERN was based in Europe, and I couldn't imagine China had anything to do with the beginnings of the internet. I did learn the first server was developed on a NeXT computer (started by Steve Jobs after Apple and eventually folded back into Apple with his return.)

Turns out CH is short for Confoederatio Helvetica which is the Latin name for Switzerland. And if you read it again, yep, there is a familiar font name in there. Turns out the Helvetians were a Celtic tribe that lived in the area long ago.

Since I follow a lot of tech content, it is no wonder I run into so many .ch URLs. It is a "cool" top-level domain.

Some time ago when researching haiku, I ran into this "Basho classic":

the first cold shower
even the monkey seems to want
a little coat of straw

I imagined a drawing that could go with this and Mom could calligraphy. After reading later about the snow monkeys of Japan, I ended up making this: