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15 Feb 2011 21:18

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Tech, World: Apple, Foxconn worked really hard to stop worker suicides

  • Recognizing that we would need additional expertise to help prevent further tragedies, we launched an international search for the most knowledgeable suicide prevention specialists — particularly those with experience in China — and asked them to advise Apple and Foxconn.
  • A statement from Apple’s annual Supplier Responsibility report • Describing the process that Apple went through to help stop the spate of suicides at Foxconn’s Chinese factories last year. Apple personally sent Tim Cook, the company’s Chief Operating Officer and the guy covering for Steve Jobs while he’s on medical leave, to China to check out the factories. They brought in psychologists and Buddhist monks. They played calming music. They did a survey of employees, along with personal interviews of workers. They put up nets in the factory to prevent people from committing suicide on a lark. They made a room for releasing stress, complete with punching bags. Foxconn is even working on making more factories in China, so people can live closer to their homes. The result? Suicides are reportedly way down. Apple doesn’t mess around. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 20:46

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World: On Lara Logan and journalists who do difficult, dangerous work

Lara Logan

  • » And one journalist died during the crisis: According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a watchdog group, three journalists have died in Egypt since 1992. One of them, Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, a journalist for the state-owned newspaper Al-Ta’awun, died February 4 from gunshot wounds sustained while attempting to shoot video of security forces and demonstrators fighting. Security forces noticed him, and a sniper shot and killed him. “They meant to kill him; they aimed at his head with live ammunition,” said his wife, Inas Abdel-Alim. “The perpetrator did this to him because he was filming what was happening. They didn’t want us to cover the massacre that happened that day.” And as awful as this all is, it pales in comparison to what journalists faced in nearby Iraq. Journalists do difficult work. Bloggers? We type into laptops. The biggest danger we face is spilling a macchiato on our hands while fervently typing. Don’t forget who does the real work.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 15:43

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Politics: Another day, another call to compromise from President Obama

  • I expect that all sides will have to do a little bit of posturing on television and speak to their constituencies, and rally the troops and so forth. But ultimately, what we need is a reasonable, responsible, and initially, probably, somewhat quiet and toned-down conversation about… ‘where can we compromise and get something done?’
  • President Barack Obama • Setting the stage for the looming budget kerfuffle breaking out in Washington, the President urged measured and bipartisan conversation with the ultimate goal of compromise. If this ends up looking anything like his previous calls for bipartisan rigor, though, you’re likely to see Republicans get a pretty generous compromise that liberals will be asked to stomach, followed by the Republicans insisting that President Obama is a far-left Spendocrat who didn’t really compromise on anything. Which, it bears mentioning, is infuriating to watch once, let alone over and over again. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 15:21

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U.S.: Three Medal of Freedom recipients you should get to know

  • one John Sweeney, he of a prototypically heart-warming “America” story, grew up the child of Irish immigrants (his mother a domestic worker, his father a bus driver) to later become head of the AFL-CIO.
  • two Dr. Tom Little, a New York optometrist who was murdered in Afghanistan, where he lived and raised his family for over 30 years, while working to provide eye care to any Afghans who needed it.
  • three Sylvia Mendez, who as a young child was the central figure in a legal battle over segregation in California. Her family’s victory in 1946 was a precursor to the Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 14:19

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World: Iranian leaders, lawmakers call for execution of political rivals

  • What makes Iran different from Egypt: Well, innumerable things, really, but here’s a good example: the Iranian parliament, chanting from their chamber for the executions of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The extent of the totalitarian power the Iranian regime holds over its people is immense, and to this point the strategy of media blackout has worked far more successfully than it did in Tahrir Square, but make no mistake – a video of a parliament chanting for the deaths of their political opponents should chill you no less than a video of some thugs beating up people in the streets. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 13:52

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Politics: Secretary Clinton throws U.S. weight behind Iran’s protesters

  • What we see happening in Iran today is a testament to the courage of the Iranian people, and an indictment of the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime – a regime which over the last three weeks has constantly hailed what went on in Egypt.
  • U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • The American official issued a strong statement of support for the protests currently taking place in Iran. It will be interesting to see what tact the Obama administration takes towards these new protests in light of the criticisms of fence-sitting they absorbed during the Egypt affair, as well as their relative inaction during the protests of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fradulent election two years ago. The line then was that vocal American support would undermine the Iranian opposition’s appeal to their own people, implying a western interference. But now tasting some revolutionary blood, will the U.S. try to fan the flames against the Iranian ruling authorities? Can’t think of a better time to try, right? source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 13:33

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U.S.: If you build it, a carefully managed number of people will come

  • coming soon The World Trade Center memorial is on pace to be opened for public attendance by the ten-year anniversary of the attacks (which, as it always bears mentioning, betrays a shamefully slow process).
  • not so fast Due to the expected volume of visitors, size of the memorial, and transit/security concerns, it’s anticipated that visiting the memorial will be crowd-restricted at about 1,500 people. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

15 Feb 2011 13:13

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World: Tunisian unrest has human cost as refugees flee uncertainty

  • 5,700 Tunisian refugees in Lampedusa, Italy source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 11:22

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Biz: What happens when two stock exchanges merge? Well, this

Germany’s largest stock exchange, Deutsche Boerse, is merging with the world’s largest stock exchange, the New York Stock Exchange, presumably to make greedy spawn. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Feb 2011 11:08

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Tech: Facebook’s protest game plan: Don’t favor anyone, ban fake accounts

  • Don’t ask Facebook to take sides in the Middle East. The massive social network may have played a key role in the recent protests in Egypt and in other countries, but they’re downright ambivalent about the trend – a major difference from Twitter, which has associated itself with being a communication tool for political movements, and Tumblr, which has a news tag devoted to Egypt. Facebook, meanwhile, has been banning pseudonym-based accounts created specifically to hide people’s names from the government, based on fraud concerns – including Wael Ghonim’s account. This has led to criticism, including a letter to Mark Zuckerberg from Sen. Richard J. Durbin. Look, Facebook, making it easier to facilitate protest isn’t the same thing as supporting protests. What, is the free spread of communication outside of your game plan? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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