Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

A rainbow is a natural spectacle that only occurs under certain conditions: it needs rain or at least correspondingly high humidity and the sun shining into this humid air. Then these magnificent colours become visible. It struck me that it is actually a constellation of strong opposites that makes this natural phenomenon possible in the first place: quasi bad weather - the rain - and good weather...

I have been travelling a lot for work in the past few weeks. This means that I am a guest in different hotels in different countries. I always look forward to the first sip of coffee in the morning. Because the coffee traditions in the individual countries are very different, the coffee - or what is understood by it depending on the country - also tastes different. So I have been pleasantly surpri...

At home we had an iron and also the matching or necessary ironing board. My mother used it to iron the clothes, especially my father's shirts. I had respect for the iron because it was so hot. And indeed: you want it to be really hot, but you also need a good grip so as not to burn yourself - which can end badly. I myself have always enjoyed ironing. One thing that always bothered me, though,...

These days we are witnessing obvious injustice on a global level. A military conflict that has been going on for over a year now, other numerous political tensions that are claiming their victims and we hear how children in particular are suffering enormously under these circumstances. But things are also happening very close to us that challenge our sense of justice - for example, the current sit...

Many years ago we were on holiday in the mountains. Very close to the house where we had our holiday flat, a streambed ran steeply down the slope. It was dead straight and a small brook meandered down there in this man-made course. The canalisation of the brook allowed for the use of the land area optimally. That means you could build very close to the canal or lay infrastructure like roads. So it...

A few years ago I saw sand pictures for the first time. It works like this: sand lies on a pane of glass and bright light comes from below. What is on the glass pane is projected onto a wall via a beamer. So actually it's just the sand, or how it lies on the glass. The artists now bring the sand into such shapes that figures or objects are created as if they were drawing. It is tremendous how...

In children's rooms they hang very often and not infrequently above the bed or the changing table: beautiful and sometimes very artistic mobiles. They are usually hanging figures or pictures that are connected by various fine threads or strings via thin wooden sticks and thus move in balance. If they are allowed to move freely, they turn or change position, usually at a steady and regular pace...

In the Old Testament of the Bible there is a story in which a god of the Philistines kept falling down in the temple because the stolen, holy object of the Israelites was in that temple. The broken parts of the fallen statue of the god were scattered and pieces lay on the threshold. Therefore, when the Philistines entered the temple, they no longer stepped on the threshold. A threshold is a transi...

It happens sometimes that you mix things up. Be it facts, or objects or people. Sometimes it happens unintentionally: you reach into the cutlery drawer in the kitchen to take a fork - and catch a knife. Or you talk to someone about an experience - and only realise later that you have mistaken the person for someone else. It can be worse when medicines are mixed up. It can also be bad if someone is...

I was recently on a business trip abroad in a hotel where there was a wellness area. When I was there, I found a small gym, a steam room and a swimming pool. No one was there but me. So I had all the freedom to use what I wanted. It was all included in the hotel price. But... there was a notice by the pool that it was not allowed to use it at the moment. I saw no obvious reason why not. It didn&#3...

The other day, when I was waiting for the lift, I saw an advertisement of a hotel chain next to the button, advertising itself with the slogan: Live a limitless life. My first reaction was what this could possibly have to do with a hotel stay. But then I went further in my thoughts while waiting and asked myself: do I want that at all? A life without limits? What does that mean? Limitless in relat...

In winter or when it is dark, a candle gives a bright glow and a beautiful atmosphere. Many of us still enjoy the warm light and mood that a candle brings. However, nothing works without a wick. Even if the candle wax is ultimately the fuel - if there were no wick, i.e. no place where the flame could exist, the burning of wax would not be possible. It is not enough to hold a burning match to wax -...

Maybe this has happened to you too: You meet someone and somehow your gaze is automatically directed to his or her mouth or teeth. There are those who have perfect teeth, while others have very badly cared for teeth or even teeth with many gaps. When I see such a sight, a pattern automatically starts: I draw conclusions about the person and his or her character. If the teeth are perfectly position...

In nature I find stones that are very sharp and others that are nicely polished and round. The latter can be found in bodies of water, for example. The former when you smash a stone with force, for example, or after a rockfall in nature itself. So you can contrast these stones: the one with the sharp edge versus the one with the round, soft transition. The fact that the same stone could have these...

When sending a letter or postcard, people used to stick a stamp on the envelope. Some people collected them. Especially rare specimens were popular and sometimes enormously expensive. My father also had a small collection. He collected stamps from various countries and went to the post office whenever new stamps or special stamps came out and bought them to keep his collection as up-to-date and co...

There is this saying "you can't have the cake and eat it". This roughly means: wanting two advantages that are mutually exclusive. Even though there are now advertising promises that advertise exactly that: being able to have both. In reality, however, certain things have their value and therefore require a corresponding investment. It is sometimes said, and not without good reason, that what cost...

A pocket knife is a great invention. They provide different functions and tools and can be taken almost anywhere. In the vast majority of cases, a pocket knife has at least one sharp blade, which - as the name suggests - serves as a knife. Depending on the grind, these blades are really enormously sharp and you have to be very careful not to cut yourself. To carry such a dangerous tool just like t...

I know the use of lemons only as a "juice giver". The flesh of the fruit remains largely unconsumed. This is perhaps also expressed in the idiom of squeezing something or someone like a lemon - that is, squeezing so that all the juice is used. And the rest? Just waste? After all, lemon peels are often still used in grated form in baking. Either way. You can only get at the juice if you open the le...

Maybe you are one of those people who are dog owners. If so, your pet will certainly have a collar. As a layman, I would say that it is used to control the animal. In other words, to put it on a leash and thus guide the dog and restrict its range of movement. But why is it a collar and not a body garment? I think it's similar to a snake: if you want to catch it and lead it or protect yourself from...

Columns or poles or pillars such as those from antiquity are impressive in their size, especially when you stand directly in front of them. Often - especially when they stand alone - they have a figure or some other important symbol on the top part. But what is their purpose? They are not really optimal for the viewer in the vicinity because they do not show what is presented at eye level. On the...

A drop of water on a stone - that's pretty ineffective and if it's warm, the drop will even evaporate. What remains is only a little lime on the stone. Nevertheless, the saying goes: a constant drop wears away the stone. So if such a drop keeps falling in the same place, the effect will be that the stone will be hollowed out. It is not the single drop, but the regular sequence. It is the persisten...

A pendulum of a pendulum clock indicates the beat in which the mechanism of the clock moves. It should be noted that the length of the pendulum indicates the period of oscillation: The shorter the pendulum, the shorter the period of oscillation and the more frequent an impulse on the mechanism and the more impulses per unit of time it takes. A linear but complex interplay. It's fascinating how you...

There are many fascinating things to learn about the lobster. For example, like humans, it can be left- or right-handed. With one claw it holds its prey and with the other it cracks its shell. Or it regularly renews its shell inside the carapace and grows steadily. It would grow very old if it weren't for its shell, which at some point restricts this constant growth. This reminds me of us humans a...

I have a sensor that is used so that I can attach it to a bag or anywhere else so that I can track where a lost or stolen item is via that sensor. I use it on my wallet. In fact, I lost it once or it fell under my bed when I was out without me noticing. When I couldn't find it anymore, the sensor helped me to find the place again and also the lost wallet. I was so relieved. It's interesting that t...

A chain consists of individual links that are connected to each other. So the sum of the links is the chain. And as the saying goes: the chain is as strong as the weakest link. So it is of no use to have a chain of enormously strong and unbreakable or unformable links if only one is weak. At this point, the chain will break if the load is too high. In families it is sometimes the same: everyone is...