Apple (AAPL) loves to develop futuristic, elegant designs -- even for its office buildings.
The company has asked the city of Cupertino, Calif., for approval to build an office complex that looks like it's ready for outer space. And none other than chief executive Steve Jobs himself went to the City Council this week to ask for the green light.
"We do have a shot at building the best office building in the world," Jobs told the council members, according to TechCrunch. "Architecture students will come here to see this."
The four-story building, at least as planned, does seem like an architectural marvel. It won't use a single piece of straight glass; the design calls for curved glass all the way around. The building will have its own energy center, using mostly natural gas and tapping into the grid only for backup power. - source
Is it just me, or is this somewhat outrageous considering...
An investigation into the conditions of Chinese workers has revealed the shocking human cost of producing the must-have Apple iPhones and iPads that are now ubiquitous in the west.
The research, carried out by two NGOs, has revealed disturbing allegations of excessive working hours and draconian workplace rules at two major plants in southern China. It has also uncovered an "anti-suicide" pledge that workers at the two plants have been urged to sign, after a series of employee deaths last year.
The investigation gives a detailed picture of life for the 500,000 workers at the Shenzhen and Chengdu factories owned by Foxconn, which produces millions of Apple products each year. The report accuses Foxconn of treating workers "inhumanely, like machines". - source
Why not retrofit an existing building (recycling), use your engineering prowess to design more efficient energy utilization systems (conservation) within that building, and plough the rest of the savings into improving production methods so the process can be brought out of Chinese manacled slave factories (responsibility, common sense), and back to the North American wage slave factories?
Why? Because Jobs and his fellow tools are more interested in narcissistic pursuits, self-aggrandizing edifices, and assisting the PTB in suppressing freedom at every turn.
http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Pars ... 0110128384
