Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

I had the privilege of flying in a helicopter the other day. I noticed that compared to the plane, the perception of taking off and being in the air was much less pronounced. Because the helicopter was not very well insulated, there was no pressure equalisation and because it flew very quietly, I hardly noticed whether I was sitting in a moving car or in mid-air. It was a question of consciousness...

I'm a city kid, grew up in the city and still live in the city. In a city you expect to see certain things - and also that you don't see certain things. I thought so. Recently, as I was going on my evening walk, listening to a podcast with my headphones on - there was an unexpected and conspicuous rustling to my right. At first I thought I was mistaken, but then I stopped and tried to make out som...

Do you know the traffic signs? I mean the common ones. I'm not so sure about some of them any more. On the one hand because I rarely pay attention to them as a cyclist, and on the other because I practically never drive a car and therefore don't have such a trained eye. I recently learned that modern cars can automatically recognise traffic signs and then trigger appropriate manoeuvres or actions...

A proverb says that a coin has always two sides, meaning that there are always two ways of looking at it. However, the coin indicates the value on one side and usually the currency system, on the other. Thus, the same number on one side of a coin can have a totally different purchasing power in one or the other currency. Both sides are therefore necessary to define the correct financial power, i.e...

There is this saying: "put it in your pipe and smoke it", meaning: even if you don't like your circumstances or what I'm saying to you, put up with it. Doesn't sound very encouraging. But strengthening. Strengthening in the sense you strengthen your muscles: they grow with resistance. If I don't like something but still have to comply, I can test my resilience and grow, become stronger. And even i...

Happiness or blessing - which do we prefer? For me, happiness is what happens to me by chance, over which I have limited influence, but which I can perhaps also acquire situationally. But for me it comes from an indeterminate source. Blessing, on the other hand, is for me a favour that I receive from someone, a concrete improvement or preservation in the positive sense of a situation. There is no...

Probably most of us think that a raindrop has the shape of a tear - but this is not true at all, unless it meets a resistance like a window. Otherwise it has the shape of a globe or sphere if the drop is smaller than one millimetre. If it is larger, it deforms. First it deforms into a kind of squeezed ball, then into a parachute, and then it disintegrates. This is due to forces acting on the drop....

I dreamt last night that I was in a football or soccer game as a player. We were even the better team. The ball fell to me. Actually I wanted to do something else with it, but somehow I suddenly stopped the ball for a teammate who shot from about the halfway line and scored the most wonderful goal you could imagine. We were all amazed - every one of our players but also the opposing team, because...

In Italian cuisine there are some dishes that come in layers: Lasagne, cannelloni, tara-mi-su and probably others. The special thing about them - it seems to me - is the combination. So the ingredient of a single layer - be it the pasta sheets or the bechamel or tomato sauce in the case of lasagne are also delicious on their own, but in combination they make the whole thing that much better. Or as...

It is a big issue today, especially on the internet, where we leave traces. So when we surf the web and look at websites, make queries, shop, etc., we leave our traces, which are analysed to create a profile of us. Many people don't want that - anonymisation is therefore a big issue. In nature, leaving traces is exploited. So when animals are mobile, on the move, they leave their tracks - for exam...

When we talk about hygiene, we usually mean cleanliness. So something we call hygienic expresses that it is clean and not potentially dangerous for an infection or contamination. The word originally comes from Greek. But there the meaning was much stronger: hygiäs meant healthy. So when, for example, Jesus healed someone, it was literally put that way: He made him hygienic. He healed him. On this...

When I wash dishes and set the washed dishes aside to drain, a corrugated surface is usually better for the drainage of the dripping water than a flat surface. But if I'm cutting or chopping something small, I prefer a flat surface like a chopping board. So a flat surface for drying is not ideal, nor is an uneven surface for cutting. Once again, circumstances either support or hinder an action or...

A carafe usually has a kind of pouring aid called a spout. This means that there is a kind of bulge on the upper rim that makes emptying easier and more concentrated and thus helps to avoid spilling. Actually just something small but with a big effect. In German with certain animals, the word for mouth is the same - although there is probably more of an aspect of what goes into the animal's body a...

It is well known that the shortest connection between two points is a straight line. So far so good. But if I change this line at certain points by making it wavy, i.e. longer, the total distance will also be longer. That's logical. Theoretically, on the other hand, I can replace an infinite number of short straight lines with small waveforms at the smallest level - and then the total distance sud...

I have always been amazed how a petrol station works. It is often relatively small in terms of area - but I have never experienced that I or anyone else went there and didn't get any fuel. How does that work? Of course, there are relatively large logistics behind it and a large underground tank that has to be filled regularly so that the vehicles that come can fill up. It's the same in our lives:...

In nature shapes are not necessarily designed for practical use in our sense. For example, fruits or vegetables do not grow in such a way that they can be stacked or boxed optimally. They are much more optimised for their purpose, sometimes spiked for self-protection or other things. Very often we see round fruits - why this is so is not completely clear, but is probably related to the fact that g...

Crystals are fascinating. How can these wonderful formations come into being, how can nature produce something so special, so pure, in so many different types, colours and shapes! It made me think even more when I learned that crystals are formed within rocks, so they are not visible or recognisable per se. It seems to me to be similar in the sea with pearls, which - as far as I know - can only be...

In the Swiss card game Jass, there is the ace, which is the highest card, followed by the king, the queen and the jack. So the latter is in the middle, with a few less valuable cards below it. So it's in there somewhere in the middle and you can't really strategise a game with it. Unless... unless his colour is designated as the trump colour. Then it's suddenly the highest card in the whole game t...

I recently saw an animated picture in which a train was passing by very quickly. The picture said that you could decide for yourself in which direction the train should run. At first I only saw it moving quickly from left to right. But when I knew that it could also travel in the opposite direction, I tried it out. Indeed, after a few moments of concentration, I saw it going in the opposite direct...

Where I work, I can only get into the building with a personal number, a so-called PIN, and a personal card, a so-called badge. So my appearance may be as it is - if I have the pin and the badge, I can get in. On the other hand, I could come in the most appropriate outfit representing the company - without badge and PIN I would not get in, then I would be denied access, I would stay outside. Acces...

I think we all know what I call the perfume effect: when we have a new perfume, we immediately notice the different scent. It only takes a little of the substance and we notice it - why? Because our olfactory nerves have not yet become accustomed to it. But only a short time later, the same amount of the same substance is hardly noticeable or perceptible to us. Habituation dominates. Let's be hone...

In ancient Greece there were these beautiful columns, some of which are still visible today in the ruins of temples or other impressive buildings. I like these columns, their design, the care with which they were created. For me, when I look at them, their practical use - the support, the main task - recedes into the background. Rather, I see in them an architectural masterpiece. Today, for reason...

I hope you are a coffee lover... A really good coffee today is not only one with a very good taste - but also with a nice crema. This crema is what makes a good coffee perfect. Of course, you can say that the coffee has to be good. But to make good coffee perfect, you need this crema. It confirms the good quality. When you take your first sip of coffee or skim the crema with a spoon - it's simply...

I dreamt last night that I was in some kind of church service and suddenly we were all told to pray and pray loudly. That's what happened. But somehow I was totally overwhelmed because everyone was talking loudly and I couldn't understand anything in the babble of voices. I was overwhelmed because I thought I couldn't hear or understand the individual voices or hear what the individual request was...

Headlights are amazing. They enlighten things with much power. I like the fact that the spotlight actually throws light on what is hidden in the dark, makes it visible. That can be interesting and literally enlightening, and depending on the situation, life-saving or life-saving. We humans sometimes find it difficult to step into the light, especially when it comes to our thoughts and feelings. Bu...