March 20th, 2012
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[...]criticize the working conditions for those who put your iPhone together, tiny piece by tiny piece, and it’s likely you’ll get hit with some variant of this threadbare counterpoint: Well, by Chinese standards, it’s actually pretty good. Did you know they get free housing? And they’re sure better off than they are back in their village.
We’ve already established that “by Chinese standards” doesn’t mean much. And the Workers could always have it worse! fallacy, that it’s somehow acceptable to cheer a man sleeping in a slum because he isn’t sleeping in the mud, might go back farther in time, but it was put forth in its most racist, salient form 236 years ago, by Scottish philosopher and OG factory cheerleader Adam Smith:
Compared, indeed, with the more extravagant luxury of the great, [a common worker's] accommodation must no doubt appear extremely simple and easy; and yet it may be true, perhaps, that the accommodation of an European prince does not always so much exceed that of an industrious and frugal peasant, as the accommodation of the latter exceeds that of many an African king, the absolute masters of the lives and liberties of ten thousand naked savages.
This young boy’s parents tragically died, leaving him as an orphan. But when you hear his voice, even though it isn’t in English, it will touch your heart. The song translates to “Mother in My Dreams.” So beautiful.
From one of the commenters, the lyrics to the song translated:
Title: Mother In My Dreams.
The first daylight appears in the hazy morning.
At a devotional moment I recall my mother.
hoping her son will return.
staring into the distance till her desire fatigue.
My mother who lives in the distance.
is my dearest conviction.
In the boundless sky thin clouds are ethereal.
At the moment I pray I think of my mother.
boiling tea on the stove.
staring into the distance till her eyes fatigue.
My mother who lives in the distance.
is my dearest conviction.
The range of mountains ah…so imposing.
In my heart ah…. always with a lump in my throat.
I hold myself together in this world.
bear the weight of sustenance to seek my dream in the distance.
*My mother who lives in the distance is my dearest conviction*.
Groom-to-be Xiao Fan had a dress made of 9,999 red roses for his bride-to-be, Yin Mi, which allowed him to propose to his betrothed in style at the Chime-Long Paradise Amusement Park in Guangdong, China. In Chinese custom, the phonetic pronunciation of the number ’9′ sounds like the Chinese word for ‘forever’ which is what Mr. Fan hopes his marriage will be if he’s lucky.
via Crimson dress made of 9,999 red roses » Design You Trust – Design and Beyond!.
People walk under red lanterns on display during Lantern Festival celebrations in Taipei February 5, 2012. The Lantern Festival or Yuan Xiao Jie is a Chinese festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar year in the Chinese calendar. The Lantern Festival is also known as the Little New Year since it marks the end of the series of celebrations starting from the Chinese New Year. (REUTERS / Pichi Chuang)
via Chinese Lantern Festival 2012 Lights up the Sky » Design You Trust – Design and Beyond!.
A real-life recreation of the ‘Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival’ handscroll painting is photographed at a lantern exhibition in Fuyang, located in central China’s Anhui province, on January 16, 2012. The original painting that the exhibition is based on was created by Chinese palace artist Zhang Zeduan during the Northern Song Dynasty over 1,000 years ago. The lantern show runs until February 23, 2012.
via Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival, IRL » Design You Trust – Design and Beyond!.
Because when you pay $600 for an iPad, you shouldn’t have to feel bad about the people who died making it.
New iPad App Protects You From The Horrifying Truth Of How Your Ipad Was Made. | Happy Place.
In the last decade, Apple has become one of the mightiest, richest and most successful companies in the world, in part by mastering global manufacturing. Apple and its high-technology peers — as well as dozens of other American industries — have achieved a pace of innovation nearly unmatched in modern history.
However, the workers assembling iPhones, iPads and other devices often labor in harsh conditions, according to employees inside those plants, worker advocates and documents published by companies themselves. Problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety problems.
Apple’s iPad and the Human Costs for Workers in China – NYTimes.com.
On the eve of the Lunar New Year on January 22, 2012, performers in traditional garb strutted their stuff with a boisterous dragon dance in Beijing, China, while large crowds watched.
via Welcoming the Dragon for the Lunar New Year » Design You Trust – Design and Beyond!.
Why can’t that work come home? Mr. Obama asked.
Mr. Jobs’s reply was unambiguous. “Those jobs aren’t coming back,” he said, according to another dinner guest.
The president’s question touched upon a central conviction at Apple. It isn’t just that workers are cheaper abroad. Rather, Apple’s executives believe the vast scale of overseas factories as well as the flexibility, diligence and industrial skills of foreign workers have so outpaced their American counterparts that “Made in the U.S.A.” is no longer a viable option for most Apple products.
via Apple, America and a Squeezed Middle Class – NYTimes.com.
