Great Steve Jobs Quote from 1995

Courtesy of John Siracusa:

Heathkits were really great. Heathkits were these products that you would buy in kit form. You actually paid more money for them than if you just went and bought the finished product if it was available. These Heathkits would come with these detailed manuals about how to put this thing together and all the parts would be laid out in a certain way and color coded. You'd actually build this thing yourself. I would say that this gave one several things. It gave one a understanding of what was inside a finished product and how it worked because it would include a theory of operation but maybe even more importantly it gave one the sense that one could build the things that one saw around oneself in the universe. These things were not mysteries anymore. I mean you looked at a television set you would think that 'I haven't built one of those but I could. There's one of those in the Heathkit catalog and I've built two other Heathkits so I could build that. Things became much more clear that they were the results of human creation not these magical things that just appeared in one's environment that one had no knowledge of their interiors. It gave a tremendous level of self-confidence, that through exploration and learning one could understand seemingly very complex things in one's environment. My childhood was very fortunate in that way.

Why You Should Listen to Warren, Not Buffett

John DeFeo, writing for The Street:

The reason for Elizabeth Warren's newfound internet stardom is simple. She was able to articulate -- in a few words -- what the Democratic Party has been unable to communicate for years.

Class Warfare, Elizabeth Warren Style

This is a must-watch video of Elizabeth Warren aggressively rebutting the GOP's "class warfare" charge that has gone viral across the Internet. Once you see it, you'll understand why:

Amazon Responds To Complaints About Poor Working Conditions In Warehouses

Matthew Panzarino, writing for The Next Web:

We reached out to Amazon to see if it had any thoughts regarding these claims and it replied to us with this statement:

At Amazon, the safety and well-being of our employees is our number one priority. We have several procedures in place to ensure the safety of our associates during the summer heat, including increased breaks, shortened shifts, constant reminders and help about hydration, and extra ice machines. Our fulfillment team was dealing with record hot temperatures this past summer. We have air conditioning in some FC’s – Phoenix, AZ for example — but we haven’t historically had air conditioning in our east coast fulfillment centers. We’re in the process of adding air conditioning to additional FC’s so that we’re prepared in case what we saw this past summer becomes the new normal.

Inside an Amazon Warehouse

Spencer Soper, reporting for The Morning Call on the working conditions in Amazon’s Allentown, PA warehouse:

During summer heat waves, Amazon arranged to have paramedics parked in ambulances outside, ready to treat any workers who dehydrated or suffered other forms of heat stress. Those who couldn’t quickly cool off and return to work were sent home or taken out in stretchers and wheelchairs and transported to area hospitals. And new applicants were ready to begin work at any time. An emergency room doctor in June called federal regulators to report an “unsafe environment” after he treated several Amazon warehouse workers for heat-related problems. The doctor’s report was echoed by warehouse workers who also complained to regulators, including a security guard who reported seeing pregnant employees suffering in the heat. via John Gruber.

Fans? In A Tablet?

Two links courtesy of John Gruber. From the This Is My Next review of the new Samsung Windows 8 Tablet:

However, fan noise is very noticeable, as is the heat coming out of the top vent, and a fast boot doesn’t excuse the slow wake-up times compared to ARM-based cellphones and tablets. As John pointed out, it sounds similar to this commercial:

Getting Bin Laden

I had read this compelling piece a few weeks ago but had been procrastinating about posting a link as it sat stagnating in my Instapaper queue. If you haven't read this article yet, please do so now. Nicholas Schmidle, writing for The New Yorker:

Four months after Obama entered the White House, Leon Panetta, the director of the C.I.A., briefed the President on the agency’s latest programs and initiatives for tracking bin Laden. Obama was unimpressed. In June, 2009, he drafted a memo instructing Panetta to create a “detailed operation plan” for finding the Al Qaeda leader and to “ensure that we have expended every effort.” Most notably, the President intensified the C.I.A.’s classified drone program; there were more missile strikes inside Pakistan during Obama’s first year in office than in George W. Bush’s eight. The terrorists swiftly registered the impact: that July, CBS reported that a recent Al Qaeda communiqué had referred to “brave commanders” who had been “snatched away” and to “so many hidden homes [which] have been levelled.” The document blamed the “very grave” situation on spies who had “spread throughout the land like locusts.” Nevertheless, bin Laden’s trail remained cold.

Sickening

One Michigan woman's horrible experience about being racially profiled by some goober passenger on the plane and then having her rights violated by federal agents:

Silly me. I thought flying on 9/11 would be easy. I figured most people would choose not to fly that day so lines would be short, planes would be lightly filled and though security might be ratcheted up, we’d all feel safer knowing we had come a long way since that dreadful Tuesday morning 10 years ago. But then armed officers stormed my plane, threw me in handcuffs and locked me up.