Thomil's Random Ramblings

I don't like unions. That's not really a secret, I've felt like that ever since I had to deal with the unions at my old workplace in Frankfurt. Verdi, as they are called, one of the large unions in Germany, have consistently proving to be nothing but a bunch of self-serving loudmouths that care only about lining their own pockets and taking money from their members. But, even with all their egomania and greed, Verdi doesn't hold a candle to the unions over here in Ireland. While Verdi et. al. may have a skewed sense of reality, the unions in Ireland, not least transport unions like the NBRU (National Bus and Rail Union) are nothing but a bunch of extortion rackets that regularly hold the entire country for ransom. There is not even a pretence of interest in the public good here. Not a welcome sight for travellers. All bus displays outside of Dublin currently show this message. Makes a great impression on visitors, doesn't it? Why am I bringing this up? W...

Samsung. Now there’s a company I have a love/hate relationship with. On one hand, they shamelessly copy hardware designs from other manufacturers, customise Android with their own horrible TouchWiz surface, and have an update policy for their smartphones and tablets that can best be described as Kafkaesque. On the other hand, they know their stuff, they’re pioneers in the field of OLED and AMOLED displays, and, the occasional exploding battery aside, they produce great hardware. In fact, my new TV is a Samsung. Still, as a former Apple employee, there’s always a bit of discomfort involved when it comes to Samsung. So when Samsung started promoting their Level On Wireless headphones back in 2015, I was less than impressed. They seemed like a cheap Beats copy to me, which is saying something considering the quality issues that Beats has. So, it seemed like another desperate attempt to copy Apple, which was of course compounded by some quality issues with the original Level On Wireless...