Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

If I tell you the name of an animal, you might see it in your mind's eye if you know it, and if not, you might have an idea based on the name. Suppose I were to tell you about a little killer or abuser - you would certainly associate certain characteristics with it and imagine what the animal would look like. Now I will tell you about a fly... a butterfly, exactly. Let's be honest: we don't think...

Surely you know the feeling when you take a chocolate or something sweet - or salty - of which only one is left and you eat the last of it. The pleasure is different than if there were many of them left. The exclusivity of the individual influences the enjoyment. Although this is actually only something in the mind and not caused materially. But it has an effect: What is rare seems to have higher...

Hedgehogs are out and about in autumn. I think we all find these animals totally cute. I once learned that you shouldn't touch them with your bare hands, but only with gloves. I actually feel sorry for these animals that they have to protect themselves so much with this spiked armour. They remain motionless as a ball of thorns. Tragic. Maybe you know people in your environment who put up their spi...

In our neighbourhood there is a kind of advertising pillar on which many posters hang - and inside there used to be a telephone booth with a public telephone. I remember how I myself used to be very grateful from time to time for such an opportunity to find a public telephone. Today, this is practically non-existent. It is assumed that everyone has a mobile phone. This development has been rapid....

If we want to listen to music as undisturbed as possible, we use headphones. They come in small buds, with and without cables, and some cover the entire ear. Some even have active noise cancellation, so that the noise coming from outside the ear is neutralised by a counter-frequency. But what about our inner hearing? Do we have "heartphones" instead of headphones? Can we exclude disturbing influen...

Perhaps you are also present in so-called social media or even more specifically in social networks. There are quite a few of them and they all have somehow speaking names: Xing is a kind of play on words with the X, which stands for intersecting, meaning that life paths cross. Or LinkedIn means integrated. Especially with the latter I like the meaning: I am not only purposefully linked with other...

In our language, I always notice that compound terms are sometimes very original to funny and that the individual partial terms do not necessarily indicate the compound term. Examples: cheese-cake. Who doesn't think of a salty bite when they think of cheese and of sweets when with cake? Or: roof-top. What else could be topping a roof? But it's the combination that makes it. So individual words not...

As far as I know, the woodpecker knocks on the tree to get to its prey, i.e. its food, among other things. This is different for other animals: predatory cats see their prey and chase it until they have killed it. The woodpecker knocks the bark of the tree until it splinters away and then he finds cavities where he finds the food. So he does something in faith without sight. That impresses me. He...

I was able to watch a baker prepare bread for the baking process the other day. He was so skilled and nimble that I could only marvel. I don't think I could have done it that way. Of course, he was trained for that too. Still... the example reminded me how each and every one of us has special gifts, talents and a calling. My wish for you today is that you can rejoice in the uniqueness and skills a...

When I want to explain something to someone who doesn't speak English, I look for the corresponding word in their language. So when I talk about a table, I look for "table" for a French person. Then they know exactly what I am talking about, because they have already seen and used a table themselves. But if I'm talking about something for which there is no suitable foreign language word - for exam...

In the past, before the PET age, drinks were almost only available in bottles. These often had a characteristic shape specific to the very drink. You could distinguish a Coke bottle from a seven-up bottle only by its shape without contents or without tasting it. Today, with PET bottles, this is more difficult - even though I absolutely understand and support the ecological aspects and reasons. Wit...

There are certain items that can be used beyond their intended purpose. For others, this is not possible. An electrical plug, for example. And as ordinary and inconspicuous as it may be - if you want to charge your mobile phone, for example, but don't have a suitable plug - think of a stay abroad with other sockets - then you quickly have a problem. I find everyday life is often similar. In our ro...

You have probably eaten Rampon salad before - and then there were strange noises between your teeth - as if you were biting on sand. This often happens with Rampon salad if it has not been washed well. And then the whole salad can be as good as it is - but the moment when you think you're eating sand then spoils the whole other far greater part of the pleasure. It is the same with our appearance t...

Surely you have used or at least seen a carabiner. It allows to fix something like rope or anything else to another object by a loop or a ring. Fixing or attaching is very easy, because only a small piece of the carabiner, which is movable and closes automatically via a spring, has to be opened briefly for attaching. After that, this part is closed again and the link holds. Loosening is more compl...

If you know more than 365 people, it is statistically likely that one of them has their birthday today. Then you will congratulate him or her - on the birthday. Strange. Congratulations are usually given for something that someone has successfully achieved. On their own birthday, however, no one has ever been able to contribute anything to it. Nevertheless, we congratulate... what for? Perhaps thi...

Depending on the time of year, there is a beautiful fog or band of fog over a meadow or river in the morning, which then dissipates as the day progresses. These are wonderful views. That is, the meteo conditions allow something to become visible for a certain time that is already there - namely, a certain amount of moisture. Our circumstances also allow things that are inside us to become visible...

Do you know the difference between singing and stinging? It's just one line, one 't'. So around 88% are identical, 12% are different. But stinging has nothing in common with singing. Today we live in a time when many things are considered very similar. Also in the field of religion: it doesn't really matter whether you believe in God or are a Buddhist, an Islamist, a Jew, and so on. This reminds m...

I suspect that the huge industrial chimneys were used to vent the harmful gases produced during production as high up in the air as possible, so as to contaminate the air as little as possible. This works if there is not too much output and there is enough wind. But if there is too little wind and too much emission, bad air is created, which can lead to respiratory illnesses and infections. There...

During my studies we played the game Tetris on our pocket calculators, which were quite new programmable at that time and had a multiline display. It works like this: differently shaped pieces fall down from the top of the screen. As a player, you have to turn and push them while they fall so that they fit into gaps at the bottom. If you manage and a level is continuously occupied from right to le...

It sounds like a contradiction: white chocolate. Because chocolate or cocoa is actually brown. But...in the production of white chocolate only the cocoa mass is omitted, but the cocoa butter is used. So it is still chocolate, even if it is white. Sometimes in life we feel the same way: outwardly something may not seem real to us, but in its essence it is real. We may judge an action of someone as...

Your toes are essentially responsible for keeping you balanced, standing and walking well. The big toe is the most important of all. When it is in contact with the ground, it signals to the body that you are balanced. When your foot leaves the ground, it assists in cushioning. Of course, I don't always think about it when I'm walking or standing. But for the fact that my toes provide me with so mu...

I still belong to the generation that grew up with books. I like books. I don't always read the same amount, sometimes more, sometimes less. But I like books. They have something comfy, like a fire in the fireplace. A book - when it is closed - has something mysterious for me. Only when I open it do I discover its contents. An open book, on the other hand, sends a different message than a closed o...

Our pinna is a fascinating organ. As a funnel-shaped organ, it serves to capture sound waves and transmit them to the eardrum, while also exerting an amplifying effect. furthermore, it is capable of determining the location of the sound source so that we can perceive where what we hear is coming from. So on the one hand the perception in the first place, then the amplification and localisation. Cl...

I suppose it's mostly men or boys who are fascinated by fire brigades. There is also so much equipment that can be used in a possible incident - be it a fire, a flood or a wasps' nest. But the fact is for the equipment: it has to be maintained regularly and the use of it has to be practised so that in an emergency both the equipment is used correctly and is available fully functional. What applies...

Have you ever noticed that in nature, for example, seeds can either be used to plant a new generation, i.e. to invest the seeds, or to use them for consumption as food. In both cases, the seeds are no longer present, but they served a different purpose and that purpose exclusively. This means: I cannot plant and consume the same seed. Either or. In one case, it is an investment with no immediate b...