Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

The writer of the letter of James in the New Testament writes in a passage about the tongue. He says: with it we bless and with it we curse. He also compares it to a small rudder of a big ship: this small part is able to steer the whole, big ship and determine the direction of travel. In fact, it is often not easy for us to keep our tongue - as they say - in check. In other words, to lead in the s...

I have never been on a cruise before. These ships are huge, enormous and I'm amazed that they can even move forward in the sea and be steered. I would probably not go on such a cruise myself, because on such a big ship I would feel somehow confined or in a synthetic world for a longer period of time. Maybe it's just prejudice, or maybe it's definitely like that. When I think about the fact that su...

We probably have some things in everyday life that are close to insignificance. Things like dust or crumbs or many other things. They usually don't interest us or somehow don't play a role, they don't drive us to action. But... nevertheless, these things have a name. We name them and sometimes also quite amusingly or differently depending on the dialect. Certainly, there are quite amusing names in...

Foam does not have a good reputation. People say disparagingly: dreams are foams. By this they mean that there is no substance. In fact, foam consists mainly of air and soap. It is created when washing dishes or taking a bath. Especially the latter we enjoyed as children - but only if there was really a lot of foam in the bath. It was wonderful to play with. And that brings me to my point. Foam ma...

Not long ago, there was a wall in Berlin that not only divided a city into two very different areas, but also the world into East and West. A wall as a transition between two very different cultures and values - but in fact with the same people. It was almost a matter of chance who would live to the right or left of the wall when it was built and the consequences were correspondingly dramatic. Wal...

I have been abroad regularly in recent months and have passed many an airport. Something struck me... I can be in an airport of a city that is anything but clean, whose infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired, whose streets and pavements are damaged and dirty - but the airport is almost without exception clean, bright, spacious, modern. Why that is, I don't know. Maybe it's to give tourists or g...

Luke the physician tells a story from about 2000 years ago about two main characters. A man called Jairus and his daughter and a woman whom he does not mention by name. Now it is culturally explainable that due to the social structures of the time, women were considered less important and were therefore not mentioned by name, precisely because of their lesser significance. What is interesting abou...

I only know a four-poster bed from films, where it becomes particularly romantic and the lovers withdraw into this four-poster bed and separate themselves from the rest of the environment. A four-poster bed is called that because there is a kind of roof made of curtains or wood over the bed. There are also curtains around the bed. The advantages are not only emotional, but this arrangement provide...

I think we all have different ways of relaxing. I have heard from people who smoke that smoking is relaxing. I don't know if it's really the substance or if it's more the ritual that helps you relax. Either way, if it helps you, you will practise it when you need to. The knowledge or realisation that smoking is unhealthy probably doesn't help either. And so, from a distance, it looks contradictory...

I remember as a child having a fascination with our radio set: I could turn it on and off and it received different programmes. What fascinated me the most were the buttons: first switching it on and off, then selecting the station and adjusting the volume myself. It probably gave me a certain authorisation over this device as a child. I could take control, perhaps a kind of feeling of power, but...

As I formulate this episode, I am in Greece by the sea. Certain ideas certainly come to mind. The sea... the vastness, the fine Greek cuisine, the bright blue sky with the whitewashed houses, pleasant climate, ideal for a beach holiday. The fact is: I am in a big city. It's dirty, the air is dirty, and I haven't seen anything of the sea except on the approach. In addition, it's rainy, windy and co...

Some football pitches are no longer played on natural grass, but on artificial turf. Artificial turf behaves differently from natural grass. I don't know what the exact differences are, but I do know that, for example, the ball behaves differently on natural or artificial turf. Externally, you might not see that much, except that the green might be a slightly different colour and the artificial tu...

There are favourite colours, I think, and perhaps everyone has theirs. For me, yellow is not necessarily one of them. But yellow is still a remarkable colour. It appears in nature in different places: in some flowers, the sun we would probably describe as yellow in its glow and in combination with black the colour stands as a warning for danger as for example in the case of the fire salamander or...

In physics - as I learned at school - there is a law: actio = reactio. This means that an impulse is immediately reciprocated by the opposite side. Or something like that. So the rubber ball falls to the ground and doesn't stay there, but because of its impulse (actio) it is propelled upwards again by the hard surface with a reactio impulse. Or you hit your head on the box - the reactio then hurts...

On cakes or in soups or creams or even on its own, whipped cream is a refinement. If you consider that the original product is a liquid - i.e. the liquid cream - then you would probably enjoy the same amount less compared to the further processed product, the whipped cream, which is so airy and offers a completely different enjoyment factor. But... the original liquid cream, with the appropriate r...

Rubber bands are used to hold things together or in the past we used them to roll up magazines and thus supply them or pass them on, etc. I find such a rubber band somehow fascinating: depending on the edition, it is very fine and yet very functional and for its fineness, I find it enormously tear-resistant and strong and just: functional. Since I have no idea how it is produced, I am also fascina...

Icy roads can occur in winter. This can be very dangerous. Appropriate tread is required on vehicles to prevent them from sliding and endangering themselves and others. The smoother the surface or the softer, the deeper and more pronounced the tread should be in order to have the best possible grip. If I transfer the example to social circumstances, I notice in our multi-culti and pluralistic worl...

Let's talk about coffee today from the point of view of what it takes for us to enjoy it - could of course also be tea or another product. When I treat myself to a coffee at a vending machine or at home, the process is quite simple. But what is behind it all! There are the coffee farmers who, as professionals, grow, ripen and harvest the coffee beans with their work. Then there is the transport fr...

You may also be one of those who like croissants. That's how I feel. There are different parts of the croissant: the crispy and rather concentrated thin ends and then in the middle the airy thick belly of still with a small crispy dough corner on top - ideally. Or perhaps everyone has their own preferences as to what makes a good croissant - whether the traditional or style or crusta or chocolate...

At my work, we share many files with each other and also edit them together. This means that only one person has write access at a time. For everyone else, the file is then not available for editing, but only for reading - or one can make a copy. I have caught myself time and again clicking through quickly when opening and then forgetting that I am working on a copy, saving my changes and forgetti...

Windows or sometimes entire building fronts are made of glass today. This has the effect that the rooms behind them become very bright, depending on the size of the glass surface. On the other hand, when viewed from the inside, large glass surfaces offer a wider view, a broader horizon, so to speak. In short: the more transparency, the more light and brightness and view. Always on the premise that...

Perhaps you have already thought about certain natural phenomena. Why does a river always have water, even though it is constantly flowing? Where do the winds come from and why is there no vacuum after a gust of wind? How can it be that it rains again and again and the clouds become sufficiently full again and again to give the soil and the plants the necessary moisture to have life? Today we are...

This input does not really make too much sense in English because it is some kind of play on words in German. Nevertheless I use it for today. I came across something strange the other day through a friend: there the term reconciliation was brought up along with glory and team as a problematic term in terms of gender-appropriate wording. It had never occurred to me that reconciliation might have s...

Doors are access points to new rooms or buildings. Regardless of whether the doors are locked or not - you have to open them. So an unlocked door is not access per se. Logical. But if I want to open the door - and I mean a conventional door that is anchored in the hinges on one of the two elongated sides - I have to step aside when opening it - otherwise I can't open the door past me and get in th...

We have a badge or large pin for carnival that you can put on your jacket. A kind of festival badge. In different variations and price categories. You can come to the carnival without the badge, but it is not welcome. With the price of the badge, you also support the event and all those who contribute time, energy and money. So it's a kind of appreciation for the people involved in the event. It's...