It’s amazing how quickly technology evolves, even for someone like me who’s deeply involved in the programming world. Personally, I have minimal technological needs. I’m not interested in social media, location tracking, or constantly sharing mundane details of my life online. I prefer email over instant messaging, finding it less intrusive for everyday communication. I don’t even have a data plan on my smartphone. With internet access readily available at home, work, and most cafes in Xixón, I only see a need for mobile data when traveling internationally, where it’s usually prohibitively expensive anyway (thankfully, most budget accommodations offer free Wi-Fi these days).
Being organized and methodical with travel planning (a stark contrast to other areas of my life), I meticulously research destinations, compiling maps, articles, and other resources on my trusty (and affordable) smartphone and tablet. Although I’ve used smartphones since their early PDA/phone/GPS hybrid days (hard to believe, I know!), it was only recently that I genuinely needed my smartphone’s GPS. While in Dresden, I got turned around trying to find my hostel from the Neustadt Bahnhof. A supposedly 5-minute walk became an unexpected adventure, thanks in part to my tendency to mix up north and south. Offline Google Maps, a recent technological marvel in my book, saved the day.
This brings me to another impressive, yet often overlooked, advancement: Google Search by Image. A while back, I was searching for a powerful, poignant image depicting the devastation of war. It was an image etched in my memory, but I had no information about its origins or creator. Mistakenly associating it with the Crimean War (impossible, given the nascent state of photography then), my search proved fruitless. Days later, I stumbled upon the image again, this time used as a header on came across a blog, but still lacking context. Determined, I utilized Google’s Search by Image feature, and voila! Google delivered with this..
The photograph, aptly titled “Grief,” was captured by Dmitri Baltermants. While my Crimean War association was incorrect, the image was indeed from Crimea, taken during World War II. It’s a somber reminder of how conflict can repeatedly ravage a place. This page provides a compelling account of the image’s backstory: a 1942 Nazi massacre in the Crimean village of Kerch, where women are seen desperately searching for their loved ones’ bodies. The stark contrast between the vivid sky and the scattered corpses underscores the tragedy. This very poignancy, however, led to its censorship in the Soviet Union until the 1960s, deemed too raw and demoralizing for public consumption.
[
](my current device0)