Thomil's Random Ramblings

The Office. It's been my natural habitat for most of my working life, apart from a brief period as a private gunslinger for the US Army in Germany back in 2005. In those fifteen years, I've gathered quite a bit of insight into this rather peculiar ecosystem, and it is really rather fascinating, though a bit disturbing sometimes. If you're a desk jockey like me, you'll most likely spend eight hours per day inside the office, most of them at your desk or in the common areas of your workspace. If you add the daily commute, you'll likely spend more time in the office than at home. So it makes sense that you want to make yourself at home at your office. A picture of a loved one, a few souvenirs from the trips you've taken, the ones  without  recourse to hallucinogenic chemicals naturally, and maybe a banner of your  favourite  sports club, all those items just make sense, and any sane employer or manager will tolerate or encourage these things, as long as they rema...

RTÉ – It’s one of those things the Irish love to hate. To say that the state broadcaster has a questionable reputation here in Ireland would be an understatement. Many people just simply hate it, revile it. And it’s not just RTÉ either. Whether it’s BBC in the UK, ORF in Austria, or ARD, ZDF, and the regional public broadcasters in Germany, the amount of vitriol directed against them is almost unbelievable, and has grown immensely over the last few years. The fact that all these broadcasters finance themselves through a TV license fee of some sort while also taking in millions with advertising deals may be one explanation, but it certainly does not explain the sheer volume. Where does that come from, and why did the state get involved in broadcasting in the first place? To explain that, we’ll have to go all the way back to the dawn of the 20th century. When the first reliable wireless voice transmission came around, it was nothing short of a miracle, especially since nothing of ...