Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

We recently had Fasnacht, like many other places. This is very special in Basel. It goes so far that on Epiphany Day, a bakery hides not a king but a porcelain carnival figure in the Epiphany cake. Many collect these figures and thus have a kind of cross-section of Fasnacht. For an active and committed Fasnächtlcher, these figures are more than just colourful collectible figures. They embody emoti...

Not long ago, after the Second World War, a new nation or country was founded in the middle of Europe: the German Democratic Republic, or GDR for short. The GDR's national coat of arms consisted of a hammer and compasses surrounded by a wreath of ears of corn as a symbol of the alliance of workers, farmers and intelligentsia. The life of the state did not last very long - barely 41 years. It was a...

The Greek term autos means self and we know it from words such as autonomy, autobiography, etc. This means that autos is about me, about oneself. So the car, the vehicle, is a vehicle that drives the way I want it to, that is, I steer it myself. A lot of things today have this veneer of autos, that is, of myself, of me, I am at the centre. That is sometimes very important, and a certain degree of...

I was wondering where the image of the elephant in the china shop came from. I can't imagine that in Africa or India, where elephants live, porcelain is very common and here, where porcelain has a tradition, elephants don't occur naturally. So the picture must come from a time when either colonisation was advanced in the countries mentioned or zoos were already common in our country. Either way, I...

As a child, I loved watching advertisements. I always found it fascinating what exciting things were shown in such a short time. Today I also like to watch advertisements - if they are really good - and I have my favourites... I think they really hired a good advertising or marketing agency. What strikes me, however, when I compare today with the past: Back then - that's my impression - there was...

There are those wonderfully manicured gardens where the bushes are cut with such excellent precision, as if they had been peeled out of a mould. There is not a leaf overhanging or a branch too long. With the help of electronic pruning shears, the experts manage to trim these plants accordingly, as they say. However, I find that these electronic pruning shears are also enormously dangerous. I suspe...

We live in a country of which we can probably say that freedom reigns here. The term alone is, of course, philosophically rather loaded and exhausted and one can probably debate endlessly about what freedom means and where it also has its limits. Especially when it comes to togetherness. So where does my freedom end in favour of my neighbour and vice versa? Well, freedom is often understood to mea...

When you take a cake out of the oven when baking, for example, the surface is quite rough or broken up. So you add a glaze so that in the end the cake with the glaze looks perfect and nice and smooth. For cakes, you turn the baked part so that the original top but uneven side after baking comes down and the flat smooth bottom side comes up - so that a near perfect side is shown here too. This make...

If you visit Venice, you will see the winged lion. It is a symbol of St Mark the Evangelist and was also a symbol of the Republic of Venice and now of the city of Venice. It is the representation of a being that we do not know from the natural world. But where does this lion with wings come from? It comes from a vision described in the Bible. Other beings appear in this vision. But the fact is tha...

When we make decisions, we are influenced by various factors. Depending on the decision, we are guided more by our intellect or our emotions. Our senses also play a role, depending on the situation. A small example: I was recently in Germany and they have excellent cakes. So I wanted to buy a piece. I was mainly guided by my eyes - and in the end I was surprised or rather disappointed and wished I...

I was recently travelling to a place I didn't know and wondered if I could find something small to eat in a shop on the way. But since the area was unknown to me and I couldn't find an option on my smartphone either, I was in the dark. Without making any further effort, I went to my destination and to my great astonishment, I found a petrol station shop practically opposite my destination where I...

Bartholomew is a name I kind of like. It has something noble, special, dignified in my imagination. The name comes from Hebrew and actually means "son of Talmai", where Talmai probably means great. So he is the son of a great father. Whether this referred to his character or his physical appearance, I do not know. But I like the identity: son of a great one. Inherently expressed: there was someone...

The purpose of a graphological report is to make statements about the person who created the handwriting sample on the basis of a handwritten sample. This is how one interprets and derives statements about temperament, drive, will, concentration, endurance, social skills, thought structures and other competences. This is not infrequently done in connection with a job application or a personality a...

In canals or artificial river courses, there are so-called flotsam rakes here and there. These are vertical iron bars placed in the canal at a rather narrow distance, which catch the flotsam floating in the water. When there has been heavy rain or thunderstorms, there is quite a lot of such flotsam. This means that the rake has to be cleaned relatively quickly so that no flooding or similar mischi...

I distinguish between three types of apple eaters: the softies, the normies and the hard-core. The softies are those who remove the core from the apple, peel it and then eat it. The normalos do the same except that they don't peel the apple, so they just remove the core and eat the apple with the skin. And the hard-cores are those who eat everything except the stalk. I count myself - how could it...

When flowers are given, it is often an expression of recognition, appreciation, love, gratitude or simply to make an ordinary moment special. Mostly women receive flowers, men less often. Unfortunately. There is something special about giving flowers, because flowers combine many things: they look beautiful with their colours. I think that the vividness is inspiring, exhilarating, motivating, ener...

When I look at the inside of a toaster, I see fine wires that get hot when the toaster is turned on. Within the confined space of the appliance, they then generate a sufficiently high heat to allow the toasting of the inserted bread. The way it works - as far as I can tell as a layman - is roughly as follows: The electrical voltage difference causes the wires to glow. So it needs a certain voltage...

Hotels usually have very nice breakfast buffets. And there are all kinds of things to choose from. I find it interesting that, depending on the hotel, the offers are either open or in portions. So jam is sometimes offered in portions and sometimes open for you to scoop yourself. Both have advantages and disadvantages: with open scooping, there is much less waste and you can take as much or as litt...

In life, there are forms of expression that reveal a lot about a person's character. For example, a lot can be read from the posture or the clothing chosen, and much more. We communicate in this way - whether consciously or not. And we interpret accordingly. For me, one of these linguistic elements is the desk. There are desks that are totally tidy and everything is in its place or there is hardly...

When I was a child, I was enormously happy to have my own house key. A key is somehow fascinating: there may be a large or small room or a cupboard with important documents or even a strongbox with contents of very great material value - locked and without a key, all these things are inaccessible. But with the right key, this is suddenly possible without any problems. A key is thus also an object...

As human beings, we move forward on our feet. This means that we walk step by step and thus cover a path. However, we do not walk this path completely - that is, we only ever touch the path where we put our feet, but not in between. If we were to touch the ground the whole way, we would probably have to move like a snake or otherwise creep along the ground. This means that we actually skip a large...

In interaction with other people, we come closer to some, less to others. Sympathies - or in the worst case antipathies - also play a role. Last but not least, first impressions count, how we judge others, how we perceive them and then - usually sooner than later - form an opinion of them. This is formative for the further course of the relationship. If we have a not-so-good impression, we treat t...

When I was a child, there were comics about superheroes. Superman, Spiderman and others. They fought against evil and were victorious in the end. Later, the comics were joined by film adaptations. I think it's a desire or dream that has existed since the beginning of mankind to act beyond one's capabilities or to be able to do the impossible, to be stronger than one actually is - or at least super...

In the military there is a clear hierarchy in every country and it is probably the intention of every ambitious young professional soldier to be as high up in this hierarchy as possible at some point. The individual levels or ranks are marked with corresponding badges. The experienced viewer can see exactly which rank a military member has by looking at the drawings of these badges. I find it inte...

I consider myself as a Christian. And therefore my relationship with Jesus is very important to me. So I sometimes imagine him sitting at my bedside or facing me. I have certain images, thoughts, maybe even wishes of what he would be like. I am sure that my ideas are very limited and not complete, but hopefully not completely off the mark either. When he was still living in the world, many of the...