Thomil's Random Ramblings

This week brings with it a rather poignant and sombre anniversary. January 27th 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camp at Auschwitz. While it likely didn’t register for many if not most people in the western world, who went  about their daily lives like on any other day, it is still a potent reminder of the savagery that humanity is capable of, and a demonstration of just how thin the veneer of civilisation still is. For modern Germans like me, Auschwitz, the Holocaust, the Second World War, and the Nazi era in general have been more or less constant “companions” for a lack of a better word since our school days. The phrase “Nie wieder” or “Never Again” has been seared into our national consciousness to a degree seemingly not present anywhere else. Flag-waving patriotism or military bravado are alien to the point of being incomprehensible for many people of my generation, and the memory of what happened appears to be omnipresent. As a nation...

I’ve been writing for quite some time now. This very blog for example has just celebrated its eight birthday and is well on the way to reaching 200 articles, with topics ranging from travelogues to tech reviews to political commentary. What started out as simply an English-language companion to my older and larger German blog has long since evolved into a project of its own, with its very own focus and audience, and even long before that, I’d taken to writing short stories for my own enjoyment, so this passion goes back a long way. Over these eight years, one thing has become clear to me more than anything else. No, I’m not talking about the atrocious payout rates of Google Adsense. Seriously, despite running ads on two blogs for over three years, I have yet to receive a single payout. No, I’m talking about the importance of developing a pleasant writing style. In this day and age, blogs are easily set up with just a few clicks and the competition is therefore immense. With such...

Smart Home – it’s one of those buzzwords that have been flying in every which direction for the last few years. The term, vague like most IT buzzwords in recent times, is pretty vague, and depending on who you ask, it holds either the promise of a fully automated home that takes most of the mundane tedious stuff off your shoulders, leaving you to spend more time with your loved ones…or posting selfies, whatever floats your boat. For others, it spells certain death once the machines invariably rise up, with connected locks, blinds, & windows all sealing you in and slowly killing you. And invariably, it has drawn the ire of certain circles of conservative-minded people who see it as just another step in the “feminisation” and emasculation of white males, who are now to weak and wimpy to even throw a light switch, a view that also seems widely shared in Germany. So of course, I had to get in on the action ;) First, let’s talk about what this term “smart home” actually means. In ...