Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

Certain people have perfect pitch. They hear almost perfectly and they notice when something in the sound is not pure or inharmonious etc. and that probably instinctively bothers them. I think most of us have a similar behavior when it comes to shapes and symmetries - we have a sense of balance and even small deviations from this are noticeable to us and may bother us - think, for example, of cutt...

The well-known Latin proverb alea iacta est is translated as "the die is cast". This refers to a situation following an event, the outcome of which can no longer be influenced. However, if you take the more literal translation of the Latin expression, you would have to translate: the die is cast. And somewhat sophistically, one could then say: the die has been thrown - i.e. an event has...

Football is one of our favourite sports. The reports sometimes look back to very early times in the history of football and then you can also see how the materialisation of the footballs has changed over time. What has remained the same over the decades, however, is the fact that the round leather ball is never made from a single piece, but from smaller individual parts that are then sewn together...

A funnel is super practical for filling liquids because it is wide open at the top and therefore makes it easy to fill the liquid and then guide it through a narrow opening into the actual container without loss. This provides good support during the filling process without the risk of losing some of the liquid by spilling it and there is also less risk of scalding yourself with hot liquid. Howeve...

Perhaps your path has already led you through a very narrow passage when hiking or in the forest. It could be a thicket of plants or a narrow traverse through a rock massif in the mountains or a narrow passage when caving. For some people this is depressing because they may struggle with claustrophobia. But it can also be very uncomfortable for everyone else and you may wish for a little more spac...

When we were children, we used to wear a pellicle or one of those yellow, sturdy rain jackets that were guaranteed not to let any water through. So you were 100 per cent protected from the outside moisture. However, the disadvantage was that these jackets did not allow for breathability, as is the case today with modern rainwear. As a result, you naturally sweated when you moved around or when it...

I have never seen a radar in real life, but I have memories from films of specialists sitting in front of a monitor and then looking spellbound at the screen and seeing green dots that become visible when a beam rotates in a circle at high speed and makes these dots visible. It is often exciting in the film because it is an enemy attack or something else unexpected. Recognising that something is n...

We talk about someone being exploited when they are squeezed dry like a lemon. This is meant negatively, in the sense that everything is squeezed out of them with great pressure and the person is destroyed or exploited in the process. When I think about how we deal with lemons in terms of nutrition, I see no other use for them than to either cut them into slices or wedges or to squeeze them. Then...

A monocle was a single lens that was still in use until the beginning of last year. It served as a visual aid and was either held by hand in front of one of the two eyes or clamped to the corresponding eye. The monocle often hung on a chain, which was then attached to a piece of clothing. Today, compared to glasses, a monocle seems a little old-fashioned, impractical and not quite mature, like an...

We live in a networked world, that's nothing new. Here in the West, and in many other places, it is quite normal for us to use our electronic devices - a hairdryer, mobile phone, toaster or microwave, computer, fridge, etc. - in a connected way. - We connect it to the socket via a cable and it works. Who realises what infrastructure, larger and then smaller cables and voltages are needed and w...

A friend of mine is really good when it comes to not only hearing bird calls and recognising them as such, but also assigning them to the right bird species. I am deeply impressed. Not only do I find his ability to recognise and correctly match birds exceptional, but he also knows a lot about the appearance, nature, lifestyle etc. of these birds. To me, that sounds like a special talent, like some...

A good 2000 years ago, the following story took place: Jesus retreats with his friends to the border region of Israel. There he is recognised by a foreign woman who runs after him and shouts that he should please help her sick daughter. Against all our expectations of Jesus, he ignores her. Only when the disciples are annoyed by the persistence of the woman calling for help does Jesus approach her...

I recently had to go to a photographer to have passport photos taken. It was actually a nice experience, because in these times of digitalisation, virtualisation and artificial intelligence, it seems as if computers and machines are taking over everything mundane and making people increasingly superfluous. Anyway, I got dressed up and then took various positions and poses during the photo shoot, w...

In summer, when it's hot, many of us are happy to cool off in a swimming pool or a public fountain. It's good for you, refreshing and fun. However, a lot of water is needed to fill the pool or fountain so that it can even get that far. But not only a lot of water is needed, but also a lot of patience. Expressed in figures, it looks something like this: An average swimming pool 50 metres lo...

A refreshing shower is a wonderful experience. I often feel really refreshed afterwards. This requires running water - which is not a matter of course for many people in the world - and the necessary water pressure so that the water doesn't just trickle out of the shower head. And a shower curtain is also practical. It's not absolutely necessary. But if you shower in a bathroom without one...

When transporting liquid in a container, the worst-case scenario is that the liquid leaks. Therefore, make sure that the container is well and tightly sealed. A screw cap is the best way to do this. However, you need to be able to close the lid so tightly that nothing can leak out. It is quite possible that you can screw the lid on tightly, but the seal is still not tight. The lid must therefore f...

With the regular wave movements of the sea, these things that are in the sea wash ashore. This is how you can find shells, but also rubbish and waste that has been emptied into the sea. Although holiday brochures constantly advertise pictures of beautiful beaches with bright blue skies and turquoise-coloured water, the reality is sometimes different or it takes a lot of effort to get the scenery l...

In pirate films or films set in the Middle Ages about kings and royalty, treasure chests usually appear at some point. In pirate films, such treasure chests are stolen or searched for or hidden treasure chests are lifted and in royal houses they can be seen here and there in the palaces. They are often relatively large and filled with gold coins or valuable jewellery. They are massive and fitted w...

Perhaps you have already been to the ophthalmologist. I am allowed to go there regularly. My eyes are then examined with a special device. The ophthalmologist looks into my eyes using a combination of lenses and a very bright light. She then sees things that I can't see myself and that I have no idea even exist. She can assess whether my eye pressure is OK or not and then draw up a report on t...

With AR or VR glasses, you see a virtual world or an extended world in which you see what is visible and additional information superimposed on the real view. For example, you can see a mountain panorama and above it the virtual information about the mountain names in the appropriate place, i.e. information that is not visible to us in the naturally visible area. On the one hand, virtualisation is...

For spectacle wearers, it happens from time to time that the lenses get dirty for whatever reason. This is always annoying because it somehow impairs vision. I don't see any worse because of it, so of course it doesn't affect the cut of the lenses and therefore the dioptres or the corneal curvature correction - but it still disturbs my vision. It's like itching after an insect bite and...

There used to be a brand in Switzerland that produced yoghurt and sold it in a very special jar with a very characteristic shape. The same applies to the bottle of a caffeinated cold drink from the USA. So when you see the empty glass, you automatically associate what the contents were. But the container itself - the jar or the bottle - can also be filled with any other content. The yoghurt jar ca...

The tip of the ski, called the rocker, is cambered to make it easier to penetrate the snow and to improve the ski's steering behaviour. This camber also helps the ski to glide better over uneven terrain and makes it easier to turn and manoeuvre in different snow conditions. It's hard to believe that all this is possible thanks to this cambered tip. In such cases, I always ask myself: how d...

No matter how strongly the wind blows, it cannot crush grains and turn them into flour. Nevertheless, the wind has great strength, which is valuable for the task of producing flour. And so the windmill, with its mechanics and the grinding stones inside it, takes on the task of grinding the grains. However, this process is only successful if the two work together: The wind drives the mill and the m...

You are probably familiar with stracciatella ice cream. The term stracciatella comes from the Italian "stracciare" and means "to tear" or "to shred". The name comes from the production process that adds warm, melted chocolate to the milk ice cream. Why do people like this particular type of ice cream? Because of the chocolate? Then you could just eat chocolate. Becaus...