Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

Surely you know the picture of the good shepherd. Jesus is depicted as the good shepherd who lovingly cares for the sheep. A very harmonious image. For many, however, it is perhaps inaccessible because they either have no connection to sheep and shepherds or are not religious. Or they find it too soft, too rapturous, perhaps too out of touch with reality. Regardless of how well this image fits int...

A convertible doesn't have it. Or not always: a car roof. It protects the occupants of the car from external influences, especially from rain or, in summer, from strong sunlight. In addition, the roof allows the car interior to be cooled in summer with an appropriate installation and warmed in winter by means of a heating system. The car roof is also an advantage in the event of a lightning strike...

I see in front of me a picture of a landscape with the typical houses of Tuscany... and immediately not only the pictures of it are awakened in my memory, but I also feel the matching smells of Italian cuisine or the fresh herbs that grow there, remember the blowing wind and feel the warmth of the sun. The sound of singing birds is also there and much more. I think this is what memory actually mea...

When we speak of the opposite, we often mean the exact opposite of something. Yet it is not at all clear what the opposite really is. Assuming the opposite - literally - is everything except that which defines the opposite, then the opposite would be the remainder. So if I have a black and white picture, the opposite of the white area is the black area. Obvious. And if the picture is multicoloured...

In the cooler season, soup is something wonderful. If it weren't for... the famous hair in the soup from time to time. The appropriate proverb means to find and emphasise something negative in something that is actually very good. Why do we actually do that? Why do we do this to ourselves? We could simply - if it happens at all - remove the hair and continue to enjoy. But we dwell on the hair. We...

Perhaps you know the term black box. In this context, it is about something going into a box, something happening inside it and something coming out at the end. So you don't know exactly what happens in the box, but something happens to what you put in and so something else comes out. A simple example is a drinks machine: Money in and desired drink out. But it can also be much more complex process...

I think about how the way we communicate - purely technically - has changed enormously in the past decades. In the past, there was almost only the spoken word between one another, then of course also the written word in the form of letters, later electronic transmission as telegrams or even for listening via telephone using land lines. Today, many things are completely digital and people "phone" v...

Spokes in a wheel transfer the load of the wheel rim to the hub located in the centre. This relieves the rim and the hub takes over all the pressure. If a spoke is broken, the wheel can deform. On a bicycle, one speaks of a wheel having a figure eight and then one no longer rides smoothly. If one of the spokes in a wheel is impaired, for example broken or bent, this affects the others and their st...

In nature, there are supposedly two alternatives for a reaction to a threatening situation: fight or flight. I imagine that animals assess: can I cope with this threat or do I leave the situation as quickly as possible? They then instinctively decide. As humans, we often do the same. We might ask ourselves: am I up to the challenge and do I accept it or do I retreat, leave this situation? This can...

I was recently in a technology-focused and experimental exhibition where you could try out many things. One's own perception was challenged. It was impressively shown how easily they can be deceived. It is so easy to pretend a reality that does not exist at all. On the one hand it was fascinating, on the other hand it made me think. My senses are my main organs of perception and I act on the basis...

When you bake biscuits, you can make embossments on the biscuits with the appropriate moulds. For example, a picture or letters. This can be done in two ways: imprinted, in which case I press the picture into the dough, or debossed, in which case I do the opposite: i.e. the entire surface except the picture is pressed down. In English it is called imbossed or debossed. Both are imprints. Applied t...

A river, the Rhine, flows through the city where I live. We have four ferries there. These are small boats that are not motor-driven, but shuttle back and forth from one bank to the other solely by the current, bringing people from one side of the Rhine to the other. It is something very leisurely, comfortable. Interestingly, the ferries can glide in both directions: to the left or to the right wi...

In the military environment, there are badges that indicate the rank of a military member and thus the area of his command or authority. Military personnel naturally know all the different ranks and the badges that go with them. This means that each of these persons knows exactly the area of authority of another military member on the basis of his rank and insignia. If, on the other hand, someone...

In nature, weather changes or weather situations announce themselves very frequently - for those who are used to and practised in perceiving and correctly interpreting these announcements. This means that clouds are not all the same. Some clouds are beautiful weather clouds, others announce rain showers or thunderstorms. It is the same with the evening redness or other phenomena. So if you have de...

I was abroad the other day and had to walk a considerable distance from the hotel to the venue in a suit and nice shoes. I was not prepared for it to rain. No umbrella with me. My path took me along an overland road lined with trees on one side. The canopy of leaves protruded slightly into the road space or at least partially covered the pavement at the edge. It was a blessing. I was able to walk...

When we were children in Germany and visited relatives, we always had coffee and cake in the afternoon. That was part of it, it was a given, like brushing your teeth regularly. I never doubted whether we would get a piece of delicious cake on any given day or not, no matter where we were invited. Such rituals give security, stability and as human beings we need them. Rituals or rhythms, regulariti...

In agriculture, the land is cultivated selectively. I imagine that nature would not of itself produce the same yields on the same amount of land, but that there would be mixed crops with weeds in between, etc. So the cultivation of the land has productive consequences. This means that thus - through the cultivation of the land by humans - there is an increase in yield and thus also an increase in...

In a sandwich, there is usually bread on the top and bottom and something in between. Cheese for vegetarians and meat for the others. Or a combination or just something green for vegans. With nut or almond bars it's similar: the dough around, the filling inside. A friend of mine used to eat the nut bar in such a way that he first ate all the dough and then - in his eyes - the best part: the fillin...

I find shadows fascinating. They exist, but somehow they have no mass, you can't touch them or grasp them. And: they are totally dependent on a light source. Without such a source, they don't exist. We also have the saying that someone casts a long shadow, meaning that his or her influence remains until long after they are gone. In the natural, the length of the shadow is not only dependent on the...

A helmet protects the head on impact after an accident. As far as I can tell, it protects the circumference of the head against blows and when hitting hard surfaces. But the helmet also has a weak point - where the visor is. That is, where the helmet wearer looks out. If the visor is defective, the basic function of the helmet as impact protection is not significantly impaired, but the wearer can...

We know the question: chicken or egg? So: which came first? With this we usually ask the question whether a need was first with the corresponding offer or whether the offer first awakened the need. So concretely: did we really need a mobile phone back then and were happy when they finally came on the market? Or did someone have the idea, brought out the devices and thus awakened a previously non-e...

We do not live in one or the perfect world. Therefore, we are at the mercy of many adversities, some of which we can only influence to a very limited extent. This sometimes triggers fear, tension, despair, worries, etc. What helps there? In ancient Greece, there were the Stoics who tried to master inner turmoil through emotional self-control and devotion to fate. The problem is that success depend...

I don't think any of us likes pain. On the contrary, we avoid it. It's somehow also logical. Depending on the situation, we quickly take painkillers - in English they are called pain-killers. But pain is actually something good to a certain extent: it indicates that something is harming us, that we should change something immediately if possible: if we burn ourselves, we have to get away from wher...

I suspect a far greater proportion of our daily food is processed in some form, by which I mean it is not consumed in its raw form. So apart from raw food like fruit and some vegetables and salad, most of it is cooked, grilled, simmered etc., so it goes through a process that probably mostly involves heat. Meat is best cooked on the grill, i.e. in the fire - in my opinion. Other things were also c...

A grain of rice has a certain size. Well, it's not exactly big, but it's also not so small that you can't see it or touch it. In some parts of the world it is the daily main food and is consumed in much the same way as bread in Central Europe. Does a single grain of rice fill you up? Hardly. No, actually not at all. So if I eat a lot of something that doesn't fill me up - then I shouldn't be full...