The Atlantic has a great piece on legendary photographer Timothy O’Sullivan and some amazing pictures from America’s “Wild West.” The Pictures were taken about 150 years ago by O’Sullivan but their emotion and abrasiveness still stun to this day. This was America’s last great frontier….that was explored (for good and for bad). We’re still exploring the seas of this blue planet and we’re still somewhat (half-heartedly) poking at the heavens but the drive we once had, has all but faded away.
We all notice when gas prices go up and we’ve all noticed how shitty the economy has been since 2008 but do we understand the intimate connection the two have with each other?
Why are oil prices rising and costs going through the roof? Seems like every time the economy starts to get stronger, oil prices go way up, and then the economy crashes again. In his book The Third Industrial Revolution, Jeremy Rifkin reveals the truth about the tie between our economy’s health and gas prices. Epipheo thought we’d help spread the word about why energy, power, and gasoline can cost so much money and be so expensive….
When you talk to people about online privacy – most of the time, they fall into three different camps: 1) the “I don’t really care – I have nothing to hide” – 2) the “Oh really, I didn’t know” – 3) and the “I know, I use a vpn, proxy servers and privacy mode on Firefox.” My main concern is the people that fall into the 2nd group because, like most anything, if you don’t know….you usually don’t care.
Online Privacy: The term is very broad and includes issues concerning your private personal information, browser history, surfing habits, purchases, digital footprint and much much more. Now, if someone was to ask you for your personal information (full name, age,sex,address,etc) in real life (in person), you might not be so inclined to just hand it over – but what if it’s being taken online, without your direct knowledge? Would this bother you?
As Apple becomes more and more transparent with its 3rd party suppliers and manufacturing process (one of a handful) we are beginning to understand how Apple makes its legendary products. Marketplace’s Rob Schmitz recently visited a Foxconn factory that was making iPads for Apple and posted the below video showing the assembly process for Cupertino’s tablet but Schmitz’s article was mostly about the people behind the manufacturing.
…He (Rob Schmitz) didn’t meet anybody who was poisoned on the job. He didn’t meet any 13-year-old workers. Nobody he talked to had been hurt in an explosion. He says the stories he heard were more about China than Apple….
Design. What is good design? Not such an easy question to answer but lets try with the help of an article written over at: StartUpsThisIsHowDesignWorks. Ok, so in its most pure form, “Design is the solution to a problem” – let’s start from there. Whether it be a logo or a business sign or a website – those were designs to solve specific problems: Marketing, Services or Information. So, when you’re thinking about a design, you’re problem solving.
So i came across this article about “The Waning Originality of Hollywood” yesterday and while I had always contemplated why it was so hard to find a great film (especially an original Sci-Fi movie) it wasn’t until I got a glimpse of the above info-graph, that it all started to make sense – so yes, info-graphs work. Simply put, Hollywood has been making sequels for the last 20 years because they are too chicken-shit to take risks on new ideas – they have always been “big-business” orientated but the present state of Hollywood studios is “bank-esque”.
Sometimes you hear about events or situations that make you seriously wonder: “How is this happening?” I’m not talking about a positive/inquisitive ponderance towards witnessing something that baffles you – I’m talking about a massive negative swell towards humanity – an oddly primitive hatred for something that was previously unknown to you.
Last week, I found this article written by Jim Verhulst about acid attacks on women in Pakistan – photography by Emilio Morenatti (AP). Over the last 10 years, we’ve heard the word “Terrorism” used in every which way and beyond but reading Jim Verhulst’s article, along with the source Op-End that was written by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times – this is a type of personal terrorism that is something completely new to me.
…I’ve been investigating such acid attacks, which are commonly used to terrorize and subjugate women and girls in a swath of Asia from Afghanistan through Cambodia (men are almost never attacked with acid). Because women usually don’t matter in this part of the world, their attackers are rarely prosecuted and acid sales are usually not controlled. It’s a kind of terrorism that becomes accepted as part of the background noise in the region…
The images below are of woman that refused marriage proposals and were subsequently attacked with acid by their suitors. Please take the time to read Nicholas Kristof’s New York Times article – must read.
Source: New York Times – Source: TampaBay
Last week, the New York Times published an article written by Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher intitled: “How the U.S. Lost Out on iPhone Work”. It was a brilliant article detailing the realities of why China constructs 70%+ of Apple’s products and why America can’t compete with China’s factories/workers. The article got so much praise, that now there is talk of it winning the Pulitzer but in its brilliance, there were some shockingly sad realities about America’s manufacturing past/present/future.
Let’s start at the beginning. About a year ago, President Obama came to California and had dinner with silicon valley’s heavy weights – C.E.O.s from companies like: Netflix, Genentech, Oracle, Google, Intel, Facebook and Apple. At the dinner, each C.E.O. was asked to have a question ready for President Obama. As the story goes, when the late Steve Jobs (C.E.O. of Apple) was talking, President Obama interrupted him and asked: “what would it take to make iPhones in the United States? Why can’t that work come home?” Without blinking, Steve Jobs looked at the President and responded: “Those jobs aren’t coming back.”
Why aren’t those jobs coming back? Why can’t we complete with China and its workers? Why is Apple, a company with cash assets now worth almost 100 Billion and a stock price that puts it only second to Exxon (market Cap) not doing more to return some of that wealth back to America. These are some hard questions to answer and unknown to most of us, these questions have some very uncomfortable answers. Answers that not only define our country and what it has become but also, how we live and buy things. Here is where the answers start:
Weeks before the first unveiling of the iPhone 4, Apple decided to make last minute changes to the screen – last minute changes that effected every aspect of the iPhone’s assembly line. The decision to change the screen was made in the afternoon – by midnight, the whole assembly line was re-worked for the proper changes and the foreman of the factory woke up 8,000 workers (middle of the night) – putting them to work (each had been given a biscuit + some tea). 96 hours later, the factory was producing 10,000 iPhones a day – with production ramping up daily.
Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher go on to point out that executives they spoke to said: “The speed and flexibility is breathtaking…There’s no American plant that can match that…” when speaking of Chinese factories. So, Here is where we start to see the real divide:
Similar stories could be told about almost any electronics company — and outsourcing has also become common in hundreds of industries, including accounting, legal services, banking, auto manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.
But while Apple is far from alone, it offers a window into why the success of some prominent companies has not translated into large numbers of domestic jobs. What’s more, the company’s decisions pose broader questions about what corporate America owes Americans as the global and national economies are increasingly intertwined.- New York Times
So let’s go back to President Obama’s question to the late Steve Jobs: “Why can’t that work come home?” The sad reality is not so complex but it is tragic on many levels and Mr. Jobs was right in saying: “Those jobs aren’t coming back.”
1) The Establishment: The established factory and factory cities in China make moving full scale manufacturing back to America nearly impossible. At just one of Foxconn’s factory cities, nearly 1 million people work, sleep, live and eat. Imagine moving all that infrastructure back stateside.
2) The Chains That Bind: The established Asian supply chains would make mass production, assembly and changes much more expensive, if factories were located in America. The majority of the hundreds of small parts that make up the iPhone 4S are made in Asia – meaning that they would need to be shipped all the way to America for assembly.
3) Information Economy: While America has quickly adopted an information economy, we have also abandoned the manufacturing economy that made this country grow. We no longer have the facilities necessary to bring jobs back (look at Detroit’s buildings) and if we were to start building our infrastructure, it would take years to catch up to China.
4) They’ve Got Skillz: While skilled workers can be trained anywhere, China has industrialized training – with specific manufacturing positions being filled within 2 weeks. Workers go to training schools, within massive factory cities and study 15+ hours a day. This is expected in China and the average factory worker has “submitted” to this type of treatment/work. Americans have never experienced this type of industrialized learning and treatment, at least not in the last 3 generations. Maybe during the industrial revolution and after the 1929 stock market crash, did American workers see that type of life.
5) I’ll work for 30¢/Hour: The most prominent difference between manufacturing jobs in China and America are the laws. This includes hundreds of labor, safety and wage laws. What is the minimum wage law in your state? $8.25/Hour? How about 30¢/Hour and you work a 36 hours work shift! That’s right – there have been reports of people working 36 hours straight.
6) I’ll buy that for a dollar: Buy “Made in America.” People have speculated the cost of an American made iPad 2. The numbers have ranged all the way up to $1,140 – please keep in mind that these are fact based estimates and not tested. Yet, for the sake of argument let’s say Apple made two versions of the iPad: One made in America and the other made in China – how would the average capitalistic american consumer react? Right now, you walk into an Apple store and see on the shelf two iPads – times are tough – the economy is hard – your wallet is not what it used to be. The Chinese iPad on the right has a sign that reads: $499 – the American made iPad on the left has a sign reading: $699 (they are the same iPad/build quality/specifications) what do you pick? I think it’s fair to guess that the majority of people would still buy the Chinese built iPad.
It’s not that we can’t compete – we aren’t even playing the same game. The average Chinese worker and the average American worker can’t compete, they live in two different worlds. Over the years, Americans have fought for standardized labor laws, protecting the standard of life and living they desired. China has essentially sold the majority of its population into slavery to the world. This is the brutal truth to why those jobs will never come back to America. It isn’t a matter of Americans not being able to put together an iPhone, its a matter of, “I won’t do it for 30¢/hour!” The “Jobs” issue is immensely complex and while I have done my best to cover the main points – this is not solely an economic problem. This is a social, economical, moral and cultural problem. Sadly, there will be no real solution and no “jobs” will come back to America until people truly understand what they are asking for when they say, “I want those jobs back!”
Charles Duhigg and Keith Bradsher have written what I consider, (hands down) the best article of the year….so far. Please go and read it in its entirety, as my summarization does not do it justice. You can find it here – New York Times.
Source: New York Times – Image Sources: Pic1 – Pic2 – Pic3
Source: Imgur
In this video by Riley Morton, photographer Chris Jordan discusses his Midway Project; a fine art photography series documenting the tragic phenomenon of the death of the local albatross population due to excessive intake of plastic from the Pacific Garbage Patch. Be responsible people.
