Apple planning massive 12,000 employee 'spaceship' campus in Cupertino

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  • Reply 221 of 308
    prof. peabodyprof. peabody Posts: 2,860member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by boeyc15 View Post


    Just to clarify a bit, only if the corporation is for essentially 'private' use... if that makes sense.

    Remember the big ta-do from the supreme court few years ago? Allowed a mall(ie developers) to use ED to get land. Ruling was because the mall would be for 'public use'.

    See this all time really. Economic recover zones and the like....



    Well, this was my point entirely.



    It actually *doesn't* (yet) happen "all (the) time," and that ruling was one of the first in the USA.



    Everything a corporation does could be spun as "for the public good." It's actually a pervasive myth (that the USA is partly built on), that this is in fact the case, even though it isn't actually true.



    In most, if not all 'western' countries, this kind of thing is explicitly frowned upon if not outright illegal for exactly the reasons we are talking about. If a corporation can evict people from their houses though having a cosy arrangement with local government and by arguing that the overall development is good for the people as a whole, then you are most definitely not living in a democracy anymore.



    It's not hyperbole either. Government and Business *have* to be completely separate for Democracy to work. It's almost the government's entire job to protect the interests of the people from those of corporations and other massive organisations. This kind of corporate/government collusion is classic Fascism.



    Millions died defending civilisation from this junk in World War II. It's so ironic that it's not only happened anyway, but that it happens more often in the USA than anywhere else now. Mussolini would fit right in nowadays. He'd probably be on the guest list at Schwarzenegger's next house party.
  • Reply 222 of 308
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Flaneur View Post


    Very interesting. Like spokes in a wheel, they'll meet in the center. Or maybe with rings intersecting, like a web. Indra's Net comes to mind.



    From the drawings, it looks as if the center of the wheel will be basically parkland. My guess is that there will be lots of doors and windows facing inwards, with the circular design maximizing the amount of space so oriented. Plus the quickest way to get from A to B will be a nice stroll through the trees.
  • Reply 223 of 308
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by matrix07 View Post


    PS: and if you think brick is ugly, two words: Mario Botta.



    The man is a total genius with his chosen materials. Really beautiful buildings.
  • Reply 224 of 308
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Prof. Peabody View Post


    It's not hyperbole either. Government and Business *have* to be completely separate for Democracy to work. It's almost the government's entire job to protect the interests of the people from those of corporations and other massive organisations. This kind of corporate/government collusion is classic Fascism.





    I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.


    Thomas Jefferson



    In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

    Dwight D. Eisenhower



    Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power

    Benito Mussolini
  • Reply 225 of 308
    theothergeofftheothergeoff Posts: 2,081member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Flaneur View Post


    Exactly, and in many ways he's looking good.



    Given the survival studies relating to pancreatic cancer and liver transplants and all that, being vertical, ambulatory, and conversant without being noticably affected by painkillers is considered a superb outcome at this moment in his life.



    I'd rather look (and think and be remembered) like him than, say, Steve Ballmer.
  • Reply 226 of 308
    elrothelroth Posts: 1,201member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mister Snitch View Post


    All the city council clowns could think of was to ask "where's our cut?". Apple should move to Mountain View, sell off the land, and let the remaining Cupertino residents drag the council's pathetic corpses through the streets. I'm pretty sure Mountain View's (or almost any city's) leaders would show a lot more appreciation for what Apple brings to the table.



    Are you for real? Watch the video - they were fawning all over Steve. Even the councilwoman that asked about free Wi-Fi nodded her head and laughed at Steve's answer, then told him how great Apple is.
  • Reply 227 of 308
    acerbasacerbas Posts: 6member
    After Hubris comes Nemesis.
  • Reply 228 of 308
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    I couldn't help but smile at how Jobs pitched this like a keynote.



    First, talk about the problem that needs solving-- too many employees. Then, talk about the possible solutions that they considered and discarded as inadequate, or the extant examples that clearly just make Jobs weary to even think about-- multiple buildings, bland old office parks, etc. "We looked at those, and we thought we could do better."



    Then move on, with a quickening sense of drama, to how Apple assembled a team of the best at what they do to tackle the problem from the ground up. Pause. "And this is what we came up with. We think it's really nice." Linger on features. Suggest that it could well be the best of its kind, ever.



    The only thing different is the planning process obliged him to show a prototype, which Apple never does. I'm sure if he could have, he would have had the council meet him at the site, and pulled a huge cloth off the finished building for the big reveal.



    Also amusing: "We're pretty high tech, you can draw right on the slide!" "That's OK, I don't really need to draw, it's pretty clear." As if Jobs was going to doodle around on his carefully orchestrated sequence of images.
  • Reply 229 of 308
    donarbdonarb Posts: 52member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by melgross View Post


    Jobs did mention conferences. He specifically did mention the WWDC, so with over one million square feet in the building, which is wider than you may think, it's likely that they will do their presentations there. Remember that at theWWDc, he apologized for the size of the conference, and states that it was the biggest space they could get. Possibly, they will have more room here. The cafeterior will seat 3,000, so a bigger conference area is certainly possible.





    Jobs did NOT say he wanted to hold WWDC at the new campus. He mentioned presentations like when they announce a new iPhone which are normally held at the Performing Arts Center in San Francisco for hundreds of journalists. He only mentioned WWDC as a point of reference since he had just been there.



    As for space, there aren't enough hotel rooms in Cupertino Within walking distance to hold thousands of people.
  • Reply 230 of 308
    nhtnht Posts: 4,522member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    Wake me up when Corn, Wheat, Barley, Oil, Coal and the rest are economical without subsidies.



    Ding ding ding...this is your wake up call...
  • Reply 231 of 308
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mister Snitch View Post


    All the city council clowns could think of was to ask "where's our cut?". Apple should move to Mountain View, sell off the land, and let the remaining Cupertino residents drag the council's pathetic corpses through the streets. I'm pretty sure Mountain View's (or almost any city's) leaders would show a lot more appreciation for what Apple brings to the table.



    Quid pro quo. They gotta say stuff like that.



    I thought it was funny nobody called their bluff. "So you really want to move into Google's backyard?"
  • Reply 232 of 308
    suddenly newtonsuddenly newton Posts: 13,819member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    I couldn't help but smile at how Jobs pitched this like a keynote.



    First, talk about the problem that needs solving-- too many employees. Then, talk about the possible solutions that they considered and discarded as inadequate, or the extant examples that clearly just make Jobs weary to even think about-- multiple buildings, bland old office parks, etc. "We looked at those, and we thought we could do better."



    Then move on, with a quickening sense of drama, to how Apple assembled a team of the best at what they do to tackle the problem from the ground up. Pause. "And this is what we came up with. We think it's really nice." Linger on features. Suggest that it could well be the best of its kind, ever.



    The only thing different is the planning process obliged him to show a prototype, which Apple never does. I'm sure if he could have, he would have had the council meet him at the site, and pulled a huge cloth off the finished building for the big reveal.



    Also amusing: "We're pretty high tech, you can draw right on the slide!" "That's OK, I don't really need to draw, it's pretty clear." As if Jobs was going to doodle around on his carefully orchestrated sequence of images.



    I see somebody has been paying attention!



    Presenting is in his blood. I'm sure the Cupertino public officials were glad to receive an audience with Jobs, coming to them with hat in hand (well, not really--Jobs know what cards he's got).
  • Reply 233 of 308
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post


    I don't believe there is such a risk in your supposed scenario, this is basic vector math. PV panels that are on a motorized mount face the sun for most efficiency. In that case, the light not absorbed is reflected in the opposite direction - back toward the sun. In the case of upward facing panels, light not absorbed would back up to some other part of the sky, reflected across the surface normal, not refract them down to the ground. Remember, we were talking about panels on the top of a 4th story building.



    It is Optics and Vectors in which some of the Solar Magnetic Light is reflected and some is refracted. Depending on the angle the complementary angle of reflection [the sum total of the incident vector plus the reflecting vector equaling 90 degrees in Trigonometry] guarantees a portion of the electromagnetic light will be refracted and reflected between two material mediums.



    http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol211/proplight.htm



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_internal_reflection



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refractive_index



    It sure would be nice to produce a true Black Body material medium that allows for the collection of all energy dissipation [To be able to absorb all light radiation and then have it converted in a thermal cycle] but last I checked Carnot Cycle for Gas Engines and even the Sterling Cycle are bragging about it's 22% Engine Efficiency where 78% is lost in the form of Heat Out.
  • Reply 234 of 308
    mdriftmeyermdriftmeyer Posts: 7,503member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nht View Post


    Ding ding ding...this is your wake up call...



    I'm waiting.



    The entire Ag Industry [I come from the PNW and Eastern WA the home of the Palouse] and the pay to not farm half your crops, store them in silos are standard.



    Cancel the Corn subsidies and eliminate all High Fructose Corn Syrup from Food Science would suddenly wake up all the whining Conservatives to stop messing with their subsidies.



    Hell, the Coal industry gets massive subsidies.



    http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php...coal_subsidies



    How pathetic.



    The Oil Industry rapes the public with subsidies.



    If the Bio-Algae, Solar, Wind got those subsidies in the form of R&D to produce higher efficiency solutions I think we all would have to shut up and thank the Government for taking the right action.



    Instead, we pay Old Industries to get rich. Talk about ass backwards.



    The Hydroelectric subsidies currently received would make more sense if those subsidies were designed solely for power distribution expansion. And more importantly, for Power transmission research into better transport material mediums resulting in actual higher savings and thus make those subsidies for R&D only.



    Instead, we subsidize old solutions to prop them up. What a waste of finite resources.
  • Reply 235 of 308
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    It is Optics and Vectors in which some of the Solar Magnetic Light is reflected and some is refracted. Depending on the angle the complementary angle of reflection [the sum total of the incident vector plus the reflecting vector equaling 90 degrees in Trigonometry] guarantees a portion of the electromagnetic light will be refracted and reflected between two material mediums.



    http://www.tulane.edu/~sanelson/geol211/proplight.htm



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_internal_reflection



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refractive_index



    It sure would be nice to produce a true Black Body material medium that allows for the collection of all energy dissipation [To be able to absorb all light radiation and then have it converted in a thermal cycle] but last I checked Carnot Cycle for Gas Engines and even the Sterling Cycle are bragging about it's 22% Engine Efficiency where 78% is lost in the form of Heat Out.



    Nice references, but I think you guys may be over-complicating the original problem/question. Even for a perfectly reflecting planar array, and ignoring atmospheric scattering, the maximum point increase in solar insolation in the path of the reflected light would a factor of two (the sun and a reflection of the sun are incident in the same place) - not enough to damage anything. In practice, even if they were arranged so that reflected light reached the ground, it is no different to the reflected light from large glass-covered office buildings, some of which are much more reflective than solar panels. Distracting, possibly - dangerous, no.
  • Reply 236 of 308
    futuristicfuturistic Posts: 599member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    It's in California, a lot of commies and liberals live there.



    You make it sound like that's a bad thing. </snark> Being that the state California is, what, the seventh largest economy in the world, those "commies and liberals" must be doing something right!
  • Reply 237 of 308
    realisticrealistic Posts: 1,154member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Apple ][ View Post


    ... but do they have a pyramid somewhere yet? That has to be coming, as there are only so many simple, geometric shapes that they can choose from.



    A pyramid wastes too much land for its' base compared to cubes and cylinders.
  • Reply 238 of 308
    realisticrealistic Posts: 1,154member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer View Post


    I'm waiting.



    Instead, we subsidize old solutions to prop them up. What a waste of finite resources.



    Go find a soapbox someplace else if you want to rant off topic.
  • Reply 239 of 308
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by acerbas View Post


    After Hubris comes Nemesis.



    This building expresses something quite other than hubris. Skyscrapers and massive rectangles are about overweening pride. This building is clearly about bringing people together in some kind of meditative or enjoyable space.



    If that's too sappy for your acerbic self, then you may think of it as a demonstration to the world of how to do a company headquarters in human scale and in accord with nature.



    But it really is about the end of prideful corporatism, I think.
  • Reply 240 of 308
    esummersesummers Posts: 953member
    Apple already gives Cupertino free advertising: "Made in Cupertino." I know they were in good spirits, but do they really need to ask for more free stuff?



    Any idea what powers the campus? Arc reactor?
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