Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

In a review of the year, the national television station presented various events, social highs and lows, as well as local, national and global events in a short retrospective. In addition to political events, natural disasters and curiosities, sporting highlights were also covered. And there were individual athletes or coaches who were particularly praised and highlighted. One coach, for example,...

We humans and all of creation are subject to the dimension of time. That is why we know the daily routine of everyday life. Sometimes boring because it's always the same, sometimes relieving because it's always the same. And yet, in all this routine, we all too quickly forget that every moment, however mundane, even if it is a moment in a daily ritual such as brushing our teeth, is unique. It has...

Here in Switzerland we have an almost national card game called Jassen. Usually two people play against each other. The players try to score as many points as possible in order to be the first to reach the final score. Each player only sees their own cards and does not know what their opponent or partner has. It sometimes happens that you say 'if I'd known what else you had in your hand, I'd have...

A radiator grille is a distinctive feature of many car manufacturers. It was originally attached to the bonnet. Famous grilles include the Mercedes star and Rolls-Royce's Spirit of Ecstasy. Did you know that the Mercedes star is the most sought-after replacement part because it is so often stolen? On a Bentley there is no star but a flying B. For safety reasons fixed figures were banned in Germany...

A rope can be not only very practical, but also essential in certain situations. I'm thinking of a mountain tour where the rope holds the group together and if someone slips, the others can hold him and save him from death thanks to the rope. However, depending on the condition of the rope, this may not always be possible without injury. You may have rubbed your hands on a rope because the rope we...

As children, we regularly visited relatives in the former GDR. As there was no central heating, we heated the house in an oven. It was great for me to put wood in the stove, light it and watch and enjoy the warmth for hours. And there was an ash pan in the stove. It was a drawer under the grate where the wood would pile up and burn. The burnt wood fell into this box as ash and it had to be emptied...

Are you a morning grump, or the opposite, whose energy in the morning makes everyone around you grumpy because they can't keep up with you? Many people turn to coffee or espresso as an energy boost when they feel generally tired or exhausted. The latter in particular is said to help revive tired spirits. Apart from the fact that an espresso tastes delicious, depending on the type of bean and roast...

There is a gutter in front of our front door to allow rainwater to drain away. This prevents the water from backing up and entering the house during heavy rainfall. There is a grate above this gutter. This is designed to let the water through very well, but is so narrow that you can walk on it without getting your shoe caught, not even small children's shoes. The idea is to allow some water to pas...

They say ‘clothes make the man’. And this is not always meant in a positive - or negative - way. Clothes make the man: you can recognise someone's position or social status by their appearance. In certain situations, this may be inappropriate - if someone wants to stand out from everyone in an arrogant way. In others, it is very helpful: in a chaotic situation in the event of an accident or major...

In winter, snow falls instead of rain at higher altitudes. What makes some people happy is a pain for others, as large amounts of snow make certain areas inaccessible. Especially in the snowy regions, people have told me that they wait for the snow to melt in spring so that the snow is finally gone. This is hard to imagine for the people of the lower regions. But don't forget: Thank God there is s...

When you learn a new physical activity, you usually learn it gradually, growing into it, until you have mastered it or you can do it intuitively. This could be a new way of swimming, a new technique for jogging, or something as mundane as brushing your teeth or closing the door with your untrained hand. It often takes a lot of practice and patience. Step by step, they say. But step by step is unpo...

In our written language, the symbol for infinity is an 8 rotated by 90 degrees, probably because this symbol could theoretically be drawn infinitely often without beginning or end. It has no beginning and no end - unlike a 5 or a 1 or a 7. But I find the word 'infinite' more exciting. I don't know of any alternative term in the German-speaking world. Infinite actually expresses the complement of f...

From time to time I have to create slides for presentations or write documents that contain user manuals or other documentation. And I often support these with graphics that are as descriptive as possible. I have a lot of control over the shape, colour, fill, etc. of the graphics. Among other things, I can decide whether to draw a border and, if so, how. A border often supports the message and mea...

From time to time I ask myself: how would I feel if I lived in another place in the world or at another time? Would I even be able to live there, to survive? I think of slums or war zones. I live in such a materially and politically stable environment - what have I done to deserve it? Why me? Would I be the same and as grateful or balanced or confident in a different situation? I do not know. But...

A light source shines in all directions without being covered. As an example, the sun is ideal for radiating its light in all directions. It can only do this because it has this power of its own. A candle in our house or a lamp can shine in all directions, but not everywhere. They are blocked by themselves: the wick by the candle it carries, and the lamp by the socket it is plugged into. So anythi...

Almost everything that affects our lives is subject to the dimension of time. As far as I know, everything has a beginning and an end. Even radioactive radiation with its long half-life. So our actions, thoughts, feelings and plans are all subject to time. What if it weren't so? It's hard to imagine how different everything would be. The order, the sequence of events would not be the same as it is...

When my father was in charge of lunch, we often had fruit-pies. Pies in general can be topped with various fruits and we often had apples. Interestingly, I still like it to this day. It's different with other dishes. I'm a bit over them because I had them too much in my childhood. Not with apple pies It's the same with good habits. With age comes maturity, hopefully a little more wisdom, and you l...

It's exciting what you can do with language that doesn't exist in reality. For example, siblings are called brother and sister in German. But you could also make a feminine form of brother using the rule that applies to other nouns. So, by analogy with farmer and farmer's wife, it would be brother and brother's wife. Although this formulation is gramatically correct it has a different meaning. Ano...

I don't think there's anyone who hasn't made a snowman - or, to be gender-appropriate, a snowperson. Except those who have never been in contact with snow. Making snowmen is fun and you can be really creative. But we all know that snowmen only last while it's cold enough. When it gets warmer, they melt away, disappear, are no longer there, and no one can see that they were ever there. King David p...

We all find ourselves in tricky situations from time to time. Whether consciously or unexpectedly. We may feel under pressure or insecure, wondering what the right thing to do is, what the right thing to say is, what the right thing to keep quiet about is, etc. Such moments can occur at work, when dealing with clients, superiors or colleagues, in the family, in relationships or perhaps even in cou...

Maybe you are like me: I have a very spontaneous, emotionally driven opinion about certain things. For example: I may or may not like a brand logo, product design or other offering, or I may or may not identify with a brand or product manufacturer. And the stronger this identification, the more likely I am to buy a product - even if I don't necessarily need it or if, rationally speaking, there are...

Most of us can read. This is an enormously important skill and competence because it enables communication that is inaccessible to illiterate people. However, we may be able to read texts but not understand them. This may be because we are not familiar with the language in which it is written, which uses the same letters, or because the content is about something unknown to us. So we have the abil...

Most of us learned to eat with cutlery as children. First the food is portioned and the child picks it up with their hands and eats it. Then comes the spoon, and later the knife and fork. In Asian regions, chopsticks are still used. But I am not aware of any other utensils or types of cutlery. I find this interesting because there seems to be a kind of global consensus in this area. Across culture...

Animal skins are of interest to humans because, after tanning, they can be used as their own protection against the elements. Humans themselves, depending on where they live in the world, are not sufficiently protected from the outside world. However, they do not naturally have the same protection as animals. While many animals develop appropriate protection against external influences according t...

Our eyes normally have about 150 to 250 hairs between 8 and 12 mm long on the upper part of the eye and 50 to 150 hairs between 6 and 8 mm long on the lower part of the eye. The eyelashes. They fall out every 4 to 6 weeks and are therefore renewed. Their main function is to keep dust, foreign objects and bright sunlight out of the eyes. They therefore have a protective function - and for some, an...