The Urban Grind

Via Townhall.com

1. He was a horrible employer. He maligned employees in public meetings, and often axed staff members for no good reason. When he needed to reduce the head count at Pixar, he insisted on firing people immediately without any severance. One of his lieutenants pleaded with him to provide two weeks’ notice, to which he replied “OK, but the notice is retroactive to two weeks ago.” Can you imagine what would happen if Bank of America ever did that?

2. He exercised maniacal control over his products, adamantly refusing to consider open platforms. When he developed the Macintosh, he didn’t allow slots for other cards, and even created customized screws to ensure that only Apple employees could open the boxes. He maintained this closed platform philosophy for the iPod, the iPad, and the iPhone – which is one reason why sales of Google’s Android-based smart phones have now surpassed the iPhone (and also why sales of Android-based tablets will exceed iPads within the next year). Zelda adds: I remember when several tech companies launched an anti-trust suit against Microsoft, accusing the computer OS giant of being a monopoly. How come they never complained about Apple. Personally, I’m no fan of Windows. It’s made to be buggy and obsolete after a short time. I’m more of a Linux woman.

3. Through extensive marketing, he convinced people to pay more for his products than comparable products offered by his competitors. On the average, iPhones cost about $100 more than equivalent Android-based phones, yet people buy iPhones because of the marketing. How capitalistic. Apple also gets its customers to replace their existing products with newer models (even if the original product isn’t obsolete) by refusing to supply major software upgrades. That’s pretty predatory marketing.

4. Steve Jobs was always – and Apple continues to be – a monumental exporter of American jobs. While President Obama is running around accusing Mitt Romney of exporting jobs, he is well aware that Jobs was the master, creating over 700,000 manufacturing positions in China. To his credit, however, Jobs did tell the President to his face that he exported jobs because the educational system in America is disgraceful due to its domination by teachers unions.

5. Using these business practices, he rang up the largest profits in American history, but does anyone complain about Apple’s outsized profiteering? The Left complains about banks and oil companies and drug companies because they’re not “cool” like Steve Jobs. But Apple’s profit margins are 29.66%, compared to Shell Oil’s 6.74% or Citibank’s 11.73%.

6. And after earning exorbitant profits, he practiced serious tax avoidance (which I wholeheartedly endorse for any entity, but the Left hates.) What’s fascinating is how the Left protected and excused him for this; in fact, the New York Times just published a serious analysis of Apple’s tax avoidance schemes. It’s obvious that the Times knew about this for years, but chose not to write about it when Jobs was alive.

It’s also obvious that Jobs was intimately involved in this tax strategy. This was a maniacal man. Isaacson writes that at the gala event celebrating the launch of NeXT, Jobs was involved in everything with no detail being too small. For example, he personally reviewed the invitation list and approved the menu – behavior that was typical throughout his business career. He clearly knew Apple was engaged in every possible scheme to avoid taxes. To be fair to the Times, at least they contrasted the tax rate of Apple with that of the Evil Empire (WalMart). Apple’s federal tax rate was 9.8% while the Evil Empire paid 24%. What is a liberal to do?

7. It wasn’t until late in life that he started to make substantial contributions to charitable organizations. Compared to Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, he was never a generous person and chose to live in quite a luxurious life-style. Compare that with a contemporary who also earned huge amounts of money, but lived on less than 1% of it and started a foundation early in his career that directed millions of dollars to charity – the evil Michael Milken.

The point of all this is that the Left has always chosen its favored capitalists. Unions anoint business people whom they favor, and our President has been a major practitioner of crony capitalism – picking winners and losers. If Steve Jobs (and Apple) gets a pass for whatever reason, then every business in America should be treated the same way.

And we didn’t even mention the child and slave labor used to manufacture Apple’s products.

Via the Powerline Forum

Let’s see Obama try and worm his way out of this one.

Case Name
Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank Fair Housing/Lending/Insurance

Docket / Court 94 C 4094 ( N.D. Ill. ) FH-IL-0011

State/Territory Illinois

Case Summary

Plaintiffs filed their class action lawsuit on July 6, 1994, alleging that Citibank had engaged in redlining practices in the Chicago metropolitan area in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), 15 U.S.C. 1691; the Fair Housing Act, 42 U.S.C. 3601-3619; the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and 42 U.S.C. 1981, 1982. Plaintiffs alleged that the Defendant-bank rejected loan applications of minority applicants while approving loan applications filed by white applicants with similar financial characteristics and credit histories. Plaintiffs sought injunctive relief, actual damages, and punitive damages.

U.S. District Court Judge Ruben Castillo certified the Plaintiffs’ suit as a class action on June 30, 1995. Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 162 F.R.D. 322 (N.D. Ill. 1995). Also on June 30, Judge Castillo granted Plaintiffs’ motion to compel discovery of a sample of Defendant-bank’s loan application files. Buycks-Roberson v. Citibank Fed. Sav. Bank, 162 F.R.D. 338 (N.D. Ill. 1995).

The parties voluntarily dismissed the case on May 12, 1998, pursuant to a settlement agreement.
Plaintiff’s Lawyers
Alexis, Hilary I. (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Childers, Michael Allen (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Clayton, Fay (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Cummings, Jeffrey Irvine (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Love, Sara Norris (Virginia)
FH-IL-0011-9000
Miner, Judson Hirsch (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Obama, Barack H. (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-7500 | FH-IL-0011-7501 | FH-IL-0011-9000
Wickert, John Henry (Illinois)
FH-IL-0011-9000

Recently, I made the switch from Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux, and I’m glad I did it. With Linux, you don’t have to worry about viruses and spyware. And best of all, it’s open source, as are all the software programs you can download.

Also unlike Windows Vista, Ubuntu Linux is not a bloated, clunky, memory hog. It runs very nicely with 512 megs of RAM.

Another reason I would go with Linux is that Microsoft will soon stop selling Windows XP on computers.

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) – Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) (MSFT) is scheduled to stop selling its Windows XP operating system to retailers and major computer makers Monday, despite protests from a slice of PC users who don’t want to be forced into using XP’s successor, Vista.

Once computers loaded with XP have been cleared from the inventory of PC makers such as Dell Inc. (DELL) (DELL) and Hewlett-Packard Co., consumers who can’t live without the old operating system on their new machine will have to buy Vista Ultimate or Vista Business and then legally “downgrade” to XP.

Microsoft will still allow smaller mom-and-pop PC builder shops to buy XP for resale through the end of January. A version of XP will also remain available for ultra-low-cost PCs such as the Asus Eee PC.

I should also add the support on the Ubuntu forum is amazing! I was very impressed when one of the members spent a few hours helping me get Real Player on my machine. But now everything is working beautifully. My only problem is that I haven’t found a Linux based RSS reader that I like. But I’m now using the web based Netvibes, which I like.

I have this one in black with Windows XP. I just had to have something at home when my Vaio was being fixed. The Asus is indeed very little, cute, and very light. You can take it almost anywhere. It’s great for checking web sites, and email. Typing on it was a challenge, since I have very big hands. Luckily I have my Vaio back with its new hard drive, and I’m using it as I type this post.

Hat tip: Newman

The sooner we tell the rogue Arab oil states, and their catamites in the multinational oil companies to shove their oil up their asses, the better. And frankly, people like Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan (and their followers) are full of excrement when they whine about George Washington warning against foreign entanglements. They just can’t get it through their walnut-sized brains that depending on terrorist rogue regimes for our life-blood of oil IS A MAJOR foreign entanglement. After all, why should any other country be able to have a veto on our foreign or domestic policies?

Hopefully that will change, being that French car manufacturer Renault is considering the idea of building an electric car plant in Israel.

French carmaker Renault SA is studying a possible plan to build a manufacturing plant for electric cars in Israel, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Renault is exploring a potential partnership with Israeli entrepreneur and high-tech star Shai Agassi, spokeswoman Rochelle Chimenes said.

Few details about the project have yet been released.

Agassi and his partner Iden Ofer have founded an eco-minded joint venture called the “Better Place Project,” aimed at helping reduce greenhouse emissions by building a network of charging stations for electric cars across Israel.

Agassi and Ofer are to begin testing the pilot project in early 2009, according to an article that appeared in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper.

If Renault decides to get involved, an agreement could be signed in the first half of 2008, Chimenes said.

Hat tip: Newman

Israel is developing it.

A unique system that can produce Hydrogen inside a car using common metals such as Magnesium and Aluminum was developed by an Israeli company. The system solves all of the obstacles associated with the manufacturing, transporting and storing of hydrogen to be used in cars. When it becomes commercial in a few years time, the system will be incorporated into cars that will cost about the same as existing conventional cars to run, and will be completely emission free.

This is great, but who knows if anything will come of this? The oil companies will never stand for something like this eating into their profits.

Some farmers are now considering robots to pick their fruits.

The new pickers rely on advances in computing power and hydraulics that can make robotic limbs and digits operate with near-human sensitivity. Modern imaging technology also enables the machines to recognize and sort fruits and vegetables of varying qualities.

“The technology is maturing just at the right time to allow us to do this kind of work economically,” said Derek Morikawa, whose San Diego-based Vision Robotics has been working with the California Citrus Research Board and Washington State Apple Commission to develop a fruit picker.

The process involves sending a mechanized scanning unit into orchards and orange groves. Equipped with digital-imaging technology, it creates a three-dimensional map displaying the location, ripeness and quality of fruit. A robotic picker then follows the maps, using its long mechanical arms to carefully pluck the ripe produce.

While these machines may be expensive at first, I predict that the prices will come down as more farmers begin to use them. It’s certainly beats making American citizens pay for all the illegal workers through their taxes.

The open borders crowd frequently caterwauls about how illegal aliens are doing the jobs Americans refuse to do. They frequently put out doomsday scenarios about how there will be no one to pick grapes or lettuce, and how the prices for these items will rise drastically, if not for their beloved illegals.

Well unfortunately for the traitors at the ACLU, LULAC and MALDEF, Carl Capps of Oregon has invented and just sold his powerful New Holland Braud grape harvester, which can do the work of 40 handpickers in a fraction of the time.

The harvester is a powerful and controversial symbol as Oregon and the nation struggle with the economic realities of immigration. As public pressure drives a border crackdown and increased enforcement, farmers nationwide face labor shortages as high as 30 percent to 50 percent during harvest. Further complicating matters, large numbers of former migrant laborers have switched to construction jobs for the higher pay and year-round stability.

The high-tech machine — which uses “shaker rod” technology to coax grapes off the vine into molded silicon rubber collection baskets — may herald a future of all-mechanized agriculture.

As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Once this machine is used, others will want to get in on a growing market, and the price for such machines will come down.

These religious fanatics in the Middle East must be getting really desperate. That’s the only reason I can think of they would get all bent out of shape over the new Apple Store on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. And they also have way too much time on their hands.

Last month the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reported that “an Islamist website posted a message alerting Muslims to what it claims is a new insult to Islam” [MEMRI, Special Dispatch Series, No. 1315]. As reported by MEMRI, the Islamist site claims that the Apple Store, Fifth Avenue “is meant to provoke Muslims” because it is called the “Apple Mecca” and “is intended to be open 24 hours a day like the Ka’ba, and moreover, contains bars selling alcoholic beverages.”

This “new insult to Islam” is a cube-shaped building where customers enjoy test-driving the various lines of Apple computers and peripherals in an ultramodern but cozy environment. Within the store, they can even stop by the “Genius Bar,” not for a shot of scotch but to benefit from the knowledge of an expert Apple support rep.

Frankly, this has nothing to do with praising or insulting Islam. It’s more about the world Islam becoming such a well known brand that the word is commonly used to describe things. For example, I’ve seen trade magazines described as industry bibles because they are well known. That’s not insulting Jews or Christians. Or take the word xerox. Xerox has become such a ubiquitous brand that people will say “go and xerox this document for me” rather than “make a photocopy of this document for me.”

These religious fanatics are just plain paranoid, among many other bad things.

I’ve often said on this blog that the best way to defeat Islamic terrorism once and for all would be (along with a ferocious military response) to have a moratorium on immigration from the Middle East, and to become independent of foreign oil.

Now given the situation with the multinational oil companies with their sweetheart deals with rogue states, and the hysteria of our own envir-wackos, I don’t see that happening in the forseeable future.

However, Israel is doing some interesting research.

Institute scientists have already come up with several original approaches to producing alternative energy, such as the production of methanol, which is now extracted from fossil fuels, from the sun?s energy instead. If that method proves successful, it could provide a relatively clean, renewable, and environmentally friendly fuel, researchers say.

Physics and chemistry research groups are focusing on energy conversion, storage, and conservation. One research team, in the Institute?s life sciences department, plans to investigate ways of utilizing plants and biomass as energy sources.

A new bill, called the United States-Israel Energy Cooperation Act, was submitted to the U.S. Congress in July. The bill was sponsored by 100 congressmen, both Democrats and Republicans.

The bill passed in the House of Representatives and has moved to the Senate for ratification.

In other news, an Israeli company has struck oil near the Dead Sea, possibly worth $350 million.

Now that’s nowhere near what Saudi Arabia, Mexico or other OPEC countries produce, but it’s a start. The sooner foreign oil from these rogue states becomes worthless, the better off we’ll all be.