Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

Peas grow in a pod. The pod serves as protection and thus keeps the little balls together. Theoretically, peas could also grow like berries. But this way they are hidden and protected in the protective shell of the pod. Only when the pod is opened do we have access to the fruit that we can eat. And so we talk about eating peas - not even thinking about the protective effect of the pods, which made...

In nature, nuts protect themselves from access by a hard shell. We humans can often only open them by force and a lot of strength. Nature obviously has a different solution. When the ripe nuts fall to the ground, moisture causes the nut to germinate as a seed. The rest is then growth, first underground via the roots, then of course above ground. However, it takes several years to decades until the...

I don't know if anyone likes coffee by nature. As a child I found it disgusting - today I like it. Obviously, something happened at some point that influenced, significantly changed my preference. I suspect it was habituation. I ingested something I originally disliked, became familiar with it, got used to it, and today I like it. It's an amazing progression and anything but natural. It shows in a...

I assume most wristwatches have a dial. This is more or less decorated depending on the model. Some are totally simple or blank and the hands indicate the time to some extent, others are very precisely indexed with the individual minutes, so that a very accurate time reading is possible. However, this precision is only meaningful or useful where I can assume that the time is set correctly, i.e. ac...

I had tried varifocals some time ago. These are lenses that are ground in such a way that corrections for both near and distance are corrected, thus avoiding the need to wear two different pairs of glasses. I didn't really get on well with them. After a while, I put them away again and went back to the version with both glasses. However, there are people who get along very well with such a combine...

Cups usually have one handle, those for small children even two. The handles - in my opinion - do not necessarily look nice. I like a cup better. But: the handle has its functional purpose: if there is a hot drink in the cup, you would often not be able to hold it with your bare hand because of the heat. Thanks to the handle, however, you can bring the cup to your mouth, blow a little and then dri...

The difference between rain and snow is the state of aggregation. Rain is liquid, snow solid. When rain falls to the ground, the water usually runs off or seeps away. Snow, on the other hand, remains on the ground. Both have advantages and disadvantages: if the rainwater runs off, the natural soil is supplied with the necessary moisture, and paths or roads are cleared of water more quickly. The sn...

When I wake up in the morning, I hear birds chirping. I have wondered whether the chirping is a language and the birds are communicating with each other, or whether it is simply sounds that make the birds peculiar. Or I have seen documentaries about bees, which mainly perform a special dance with which they communicate real messages to the other bees, for example where to find honey. Fascinating....

Do you know where your nearest petrol station is? Often we simply drive past them without noticing them - unless our vehicle indicates that the tank will soon be empty and refuelling will be necessary. If you know the area well, this is usually no problem - you know where to get fresh fuel and how far it is. But if you are in an unfamiliar area, the warning message of an almost empty tank can be t...

In colloquial usage, air is used for meaningless. If someone tells me that I am air to him or her, it is not positive, but means: I am not interested in you at all. Air is also not visible and hardly perceptible. However... if we are travelling fast enough, we feel the air resistance. Depending on the surface of attack, this can be considerable in combination with the wind. So air is not nothing o...

Do you remember the taps from your childhood? Back then, I didn't have mixer taps. Hot and cold water were separate and you always had to mix it yourself to the desired temperature. Sometimes there were even only taps with cold water. These had this typical turning handle that hurt you when you had to open it. That's how quickly technology and mechanics can change. Maybe in the future we will cont...

Do you know the Petit-Beurre biscuit? These are relatively simple but still very tasty butter biscuits - as the name suggests. They come in different sizes and some have a chocolate plate on top. Anyway, the ones I know look like they are rectangular and the edge is wavy. The rim. It could have been made straight. The advantage would be that it would be much easier to produce, there would be less...

I recently bought a baking mat. It's a silicone sheet that I roll out and use to work the dough for baking on: Be it kneading or rolling out. It's a great thing: it's non-slip and it's wonderful to work on and the surface underneath stays clean, it's much easier to wipe up, clean up. Especially after processing, there is often a lot of flour residue and other things that are sticky. I can detach t...

Do you like cheese? A few years ago I was able to visit a cheese dairy and we were given a guided tour. I find it remarkable and still marvel at the fact that the original substance, milk, becomes a solid body, a cheese wheel. Of course, this certainly requires framework conditions. But the right environment, the peace and quiet and the necessary time lead to the once liquid milk becoming a tasty,...

It is said that certain feelings can simply overtake you. You are overcome by them. In fact, there are moments when certain feelings come over you really unexpectedly: joy or sadness, anger or contentment. I don't think we can produce feelings per se. The most I can probably do is open myself up to them and actively seek them out. For example, I consciously remember something I'm grateful for - ma...

When travelling by public transport, appropriate stops such as bus stops are really important. Why? Because you know exactly where you have to wait. You could walk all the way along the route of the means of transport - but if you wait at the wrong place to get a lift, all your waiting is for nothing. So the where is important and therefore it is even more important that the stop points are recogn...

I had heard a few years ago that no matter in which country you go to a McDonald's, you always get the same fries - both from the preparation, by which I mean: how they are cut and cooked - and the variety. This impressed me on the one hand, but irritated me on the other. Impressed because I thought: if you like these fries and they are good quality, then it is a kind of seal of quality and you ca...

We are lucky to still have a water wheel in operation in our neighbourhood. The way it works is that part of an open watercourse is branched off and diverted. The diverted water flows in a separate channel close to a house and drives a water wheel there. This is connected to a millstone or something else by a mechanical construction located in the house, so that the water power is directly transfe...

A microwave oven can heat food or liquids in a very short time. It is not possible to see exactly how this works. It is waves at a certain frequency that cause the food in the microwave to vibrate - especially the liquid in the food - and thus cause it to heat up. If you set the time too long, it can be devastating: Liquids can boil over, food can splatter and also be brought to the boil or someti...

The horizon is, so to speak, the limit of what is visible to us. At the sea, this horizon is very far away, whereas in the mountains it is relatively close. This is a fitting analogy for our everyday life: Where we feel calm and are at peace - analogous to the calm sea - there is much expanse, inner peace. But where we have worries, fears, where we carry burdens - analogous to the threat of the ma...

A garden fence often has pointed ends on the wooden slats. This indicates that you should not actually climb over it, which means: this is not a permissible way into the garden. The correct way is via the garden gate. This is closer or further away depending on how you get to the garden. This means: in order to enter the garden correctly, one must accept a certain distance, perhaps even a diversio...

When going to the pool, I used to watch with fascination those who, full of courage, climbed onto diving towers and jumped from there over the diving boards into the pool. I was never brave in that respect. Just jumping off the 3m tower was a challenge for me. I think it was this short phase of falling with the corresponding speed that scared me and that I avoided. The springboard is the last firm...

There are health insurance companies that advertise that health is the most important thing. Is that really true? What then in the case of chronically ill or disabled people? Would they be second-class citizens because they no longer have or never had this highest good? Health is important, for sure. But I don't think it's the most important thing. People can also give meaning to their lives with...

As children we asked ourselves this joking question: what is heavier 1kg of feathers or 1kg of lead. And when someone pointed to lead, we would gloat and shout with delight: no, both are the same weight. Of course. But still, one is tempted to think lead. One associates, and not infrequently one is led by such associations to a one-sided opinion. Of course lead is much heavier than feathers - but...

The Russian nested dolls are world-famous. One wooden figure can be placed inside the next larger one. This can be repeated as often as you like, and when all the dolls have been fitted, there is only one doll in front of you. But in reality there are many, simply not visible. The smallest - so I have read - can be as small as a fingernail. Amazing. When they are made, the artist starts with the s...