Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

A glider is one that is brought up to altitude with the help of another aircraft, more precisely pulled, then releases and begins to hover by itself. I find it fascinating that it can stay in the air without an engine and thus glide at high altitude. But for this to happen, another powerful aircraft is needed that can bring both planes to the appropriate altitude. I think we experience this again...

I am not a musician, but I think that on a piano you can play the music the way you want to play it by means of the keys. Of course, a piano also needs to be tuned from time to time, but compared to other stringed instruments such as a violin, guitar or cello, this is much less often necessary with the piano. As far as I know, the keys in their entirety are called the keyboard. This term is also u...

When I recently walked past a photo of our deceased son and got stuck, I was naturally reminded of him. In addition to emotions, this memory also brought back something like shared experiences. The memory was more than just thinking about something, it was like a moment of conscious experience, of a concrete situation. The picture in its small size of a few square centimetres had triggered this de...

We have the saying in German that people meet at eye level. By that we mean we are equal, whether that refers to a certain level of performance or to a certain status in a hierarchy. The image is actually very beautiful: I am standing opposite someone and this person is virtually of the same physical size as I am, so that our eyes are at the same level and neither I nor the other person have to lo...

Recently I noticed in myself that colours not only trigger the effect "I like" or "I don't like", but that they can have a far greater influence. So I looked at colours where I have the impression that they help me to relax. I found that interesting. Somehow they managed to influence an area in me that I can't control or regulate myself at all or not always with my mind...

Two groups of musicians are particularly well represented at the Basel Fasnacht: Tambourines and piccolo players. At Fasnacht, costumes and larvae - the correct term for masks - are worn. A tambour can be completely disguised, including his face. A piccolo player, on the other hand, not entirely. There must be a recess in his larva for the mouthpiece of the piccolo he plays. The larva then looks a...

As I write this episode, it is over 30 degrees outside. Who doesn't long for a cool, refreshing drink? Now I could just go to the fridge and drink chilled water from the bottle and my need would be satisfied. But if I had the choice of getting the cool drink in a nice glass, with my favourite flavour, a straw, in an iced glass and decorated with some greens or a fruit - I would probably choose...

Peppermint tea is quite popular among tea drinkers. Probably because of the menthol in the tea, which refreshes and invigorates. Peppermint is also a popular medicinal plant and the menthol is widely used. When I was a child, peppermint tea was THE tea to have at home. There was always a pot of cold peppermint tea and we could help ourselves. Well, or much more: there was actually nothing else to...

On our terrace we have flower boxes like many others. Ours are no longer home to flowers, but actually only soil and some weeds. At least that's what I thought. Next to the flower boxes is a basil plant that I bought in the shop. I love the fresh basil. Back to the flower boxes: recently I noticed that something small and green was growing there. Just like that. In the meantime, a wonderful, s...

Do you know this tremendous phenomenon of - I call it - child power? The children are actually already totally tired, etc., but they have such a strong will to experience something or to be part of something that they give everything to make it possible. Afterwards, they are totally exhausted, but at the moment they are full of energy. You can observe this very well at camps or similar events. Thi...

I am one of those people who forget things from time to time. Be it that I forget to do something where I have provided something or I forget what I just wanted. It's particularly annoying when I'm looking for something and know exactly that it must still be there somewhere - but I can't manage to remember where I last put it. Or I plan to pack something for the next day or for work -...

The yo-yo effect means that after dieting for a short period of time, people often gain weight very quickly. In fact, the initial weight is often even exceeded. This means that you weigh more afterwards than before and achieve exactly the opposite of what you actually intended. Stupidly done. Reasons include the fact that the body reduces its energy consumption during the diet and if you eat again...

When we speak of Fuchsschwanz in German (in English foxtail) - it is actually not quite clear what we are talking about. Is it actually the rear part of the animal, i.e. the fox, or is it the saw that serves as a tool for the carpenter or woodworker (which is the same word)? Supposedly, the saw is called that because it bears a certain resemblance to the tail of the fox, i.e. its rear extremity. D...

Have you ever had to change a watch strap or a battery and didn't have the right tools? This can be very tedious. On the one hand, small parts like the bridge pins can unexpectedly peck away and then the next challenge is to find them again, on the other hand, the existing equipment can simply be too rough or unsuitable for the task. How much easier it is when you have the right tools for the...

Did you know that the term carafe originally comes from Arabic? The beautiful vessel that usually stands on the table and offers water to guests originally means "water-lifting wheel with scoops". I was very surprised when I read that. But actually it fits very well: the carafe offers the vital element of water to the thirsty. After all, water doesn't just naturally flow everywhere o...

Many of us consume information from all over the world on a fairly regular basis, even from thematic and geographical areas that are actually far away from us. Be it the daily news, a free newspaper, the news app on the smartphone or something else. What do we do with this information? How do we deal with the latest news from places of war, political changes, elections in faraway countries or a na...

Do you know this effect: You look through a wire mesh or picket fence and you can see most of what is behind it, but still the pickets or wire interfere with your view and they affect your vision. So you have the impression that not everything can be seen clearly or undisturbed. The disturbing elements in the view distract from the actual. We sometimes feel the same way mentally and spiritually: w...

Have you ever operated a stopwatch? You have to press a button to start the timing process and then another button to stop it. So the measurement has a clear beginning and end. It makes sense - why else would you measure? However, when I put this into the current zeitgeist, I find it anything but contemporary. Today, most people are very opportunistic: they hardly ever commit, they want to remain...

I love fresh herbs with which I can refine food. Parsley is one of them. Whether curly or smooth, it grows in such a way that there is a stem and then the actual leaves branch outwards to be used. And what happens to the rest, i.e. the stem? I suspect that many throw it away and don't use it. I myself often cut it into small pieces like chives and eat it too. But even if I don't: the stem...

At some team sports events, the players' names are written on their jerseys. This helps spectators to recognise and identify them. So far so good. But at an international competition in a country with a different alphabet - which one is used? That of the host country or the country of origin. So let's say a Chinese team comes to us - do we automatically assume that the names of the athlete...

Many a kilo of charcoal is burnt during the barbecue season - and what remains is ash. In other combustion processes, too, what is left over is sometimes ash. From funerals we also know the saying "ashes to ashes" - this in the sense: we come from this world and in the end return to it as living beings with an expiry date as dead matter. But is ash all that remains of us? I think not. I...

Who among us would not want to be happy?! But what is happy? Is happy a state that is derived from happiness and thus means that life just happens to be good to you, i.e. without any effort or merit on your part? Or is happiness contentment? For us, happy seems to be a state that involves relaxation and well-being. Personally, I position happy closer to satisfied than to the randomness of the good...

When I was a child in Greece, I once saw a magnificent starry sky: individual stars were very clear and the Milky Way was wonderfully and impressively visible. This is really very impressive and gives you a certain feeling of humility in the knowledge that there must be a huge universe and that we as humans are just a tiny part of it. But because man in his modern world creates so much illuminatio...

Do you find it easy to take unexpected situations as they come or are? Some call this flexibility or composure. The latter is defined as an ability to remain calm and level-headed in difficult or unusual situations. In other words, "letting" things or situations be and accepting them as they are. The word also contains the word "let" - as in let go. There are many things that w...

It is said that there are people who love to spend their holidays in tents. Well, that already makes it clear that I am not one of them. A tent is actually very practical: you can often compress it a lot in terms of volume and modern hiking tents are also relatively light. That makes them very practical when you're out and about and want to spend the night outside. You have a certain amount of...