Elon Musk Challenges the Utility Companies  

   

Elon Musk, a Canadian-American entrepreneur and engineer, is the CEO of Tesla Motors. He worked closely with a team of engineers in order to produce the Tesla Roadster, which led to the development of the Model S that became a huge success in the US. Elon has more recently announced that Tesla will begin the development of an all-new product called "Powerwall". The company claims the Powerwall will be capable of storing power generated by solar panels on people's property, essentially removing them from the national power grid. As a result of this, many companies are not happy with this idea and state that it should not be allowed to go into production.

In my opinion, Elon Musk has every right to continue his business plan. In order to back my claim up, let's look at oil companies, which provide a service that destroys our world. As a matter of fact, oil is one of the key contributors to the climate change we are experiencing today.

Many people recognize the threat of climate change and have bought hybrids and electric cars as a result. However, there are still people  who do not like hybrids. Is this a problem with hybrids? No. I have met many people who claim that they hate hybrids but almost all of them are car fans and dislike hybrids because the cars are not gas powered, which to them signifies their inferiority. I am a car fanatic myself, I love the smell of a race track, to me there is nothing better than the smell of burnt rubber and race fuel. With that being said, I would like to own an electric car when I am older. Why? Well it is quite simple really.  If everyone drove a Tesla or some other form of electric car, then they would not have to pay for gas and there would be no worries about affecting the environment, as long as the electricity  is produced in a green manner. As a result, there is more gas for racing and sports cars, meaning that the people who would want to drive a gasoline car or go to a gas-powered racetrack, like myself, would not have to worry about damaging the environment, given that there will be too few gas-powered cars to really impact the environment.

Given that Elon Musk has already created a car capable of producing zero emissions, why are we trying to stop him from a. saving us from even more pollution and b. of course saving our wallets by launching his new solar power company? A big reason is that most of the electrical suppliers want us to believe that it is a bad thing because they want continued business. If everyone can generate their own power, they will no longer have a service to provide; thus they will no longer get money.  So my question is: Why should I care? The utility companies don't do anything unless it makes them rich, meaning that the reason they don't want Elon's business to take off is because they don't want the competition. By that logic, Apple should be able to tell me that I cannot make a computer because I did not pay them for it. That is not supposed to be the way America works; it is supposed to be that if someone decides to make a company, they can. The only thing stopping a person from becoming an entrepreneur should be his or her own failures; not the laws set in place by the big companies. It should be up to Americans whether they want to buy something that can only help them, or if they want to flush their money and future down the drain. In the end, if Elon wants to sell his product in the U.S., nobody should stop him.  
Elon Musk Challenges the Utility Companies

Greece Asks Germany for $300 Billion in Restitution

I recently found an interesting article from Vice News about an odd political request.

Although I don't think that  Greece should have asked Germany to give them three hundred billion dollars, I do think that Germany should consider helping them to boost their economy. Given that both countries are part of the EU, they are tied in an economic bond.  Germany is ruining the EU economy by causing inflation to go up, and on the other side of the spectrum, Greece is ruining the same economy by lowering the worth of the money. Whenever Germany sells it products to other countries, they gain money, making the currency have more value. The German economy is able to provide more people with money and thus they will demand more. In turn, that process  will increase the inflation dramatically.  In contrast, when Greece runs out of money and is at risk of going bankrupt, then they pull down the value of the money because it no longer holds as much value.  In any economy you need balance, and when you have one country that causes a currency to lose value, and another that increases value, then the economy will become unstable.

I do not think that it is right to force the German people to cough up 875 Euros each (which is determined by taking the amount of money asked and dividing it by the number of citizens in Germany) just to pay off Greece. Many countries including Germany suffered great losses after World War II  and received little to no support afterwards.   Altho I don't think that Germany should bow to down to demands, I do think that they should consider helping Greece to get back on its feet. If Germany gave money that was spent on building some form of industry in Greece, then perhaps Greece would not drag down the EU, making both Germany and Greece prosper. If Greece did form a stronger industry, then the country would have an independent income, allowing for more independent growth. Germany has proven itself to be an extremely industrious nation that has survived losing two world wars and yet they remain one of the strongest economies in the EU. I think that because of Germany's economy, they should consider helping Greece. However, they certainly should not give them three hundred billion dollars on demand.       Vice newsVice news article

How I Began To Appreciate Steve Jobs

For many years, I had no respect for Steve Jobs. I thought he was just an arrogant person who got lucky. I always assumed that Steve Wozniak did all the work and Steve Jobs just had the idea of selling computers. Given that I have had access to both Macs and Windows, I can appreciate both and see their pros and cons. Because of that, when I would see Steve Jobs saying something along the lines of "of course the IPad is the best product of its kind on the market and of course we patented it", I would be aggravated because of what in my mind was a clear disrespect for technology and a way for Steve Jobs to release his ego. However, what always bothered me the most was how so many people blindly followed him and were amazed by what to me appeared to be an extremely egotistic billionaire. At the time, I did not have respect for his ability to make people love him while being so straightforward and generally overconfident.  

It was not till Tim Cook became Apple’s CEO and led one of their famous release conferences (where they unveil their most recent technologies) that I began to see the true genius behind Steve Jobs' business strategy. What caught me first was the way Apple captured their audience and then begin to explain the advanced technology in a way that anyone could understand, and furthermore make it seem like something everyone needs. A little while after, I happened to stumble across an interview with Steve Jobs from the early nineties, where he explained one of Apple's biggest accomplishments, simplicity.

    I never liked how simple Macs are. When I was told that Macs are amazing because they cannot get viruses or they rarely break, I would always reply by saying that the reason is that they cannot do anything, and to keep in mind that when they did have problems, that  you could not fix them like you can with Windows . For example, if you have a computer that is not capable of running a good percentage of the applications that are out in the cloud, then you are not downloading them. Thus, your computer will remain virus-free. Although Macs are capable of downloading and running lots of applications, a good majority of these applications will not run as well as they would on Windows.  Another thing to keep in mind is that although Macs might appear to be prominent in the U.S. and Europe, remember that in most other countries, Windows is the clear winner. Also keep in mind that a lot of viruses make money by stealing your information, so why would a hacker make a virus that is designed for a computer that is used far less?

         In the interview, Steve said that he was working on computers and did not think the average person would ever be able to use one because they would not understand the code. Then all of a sudden he realized that computers got to the point where anyone could use them without having to understand even the most basic code, and that is when I realized that Apple had really made a personal computer that was not that changeable and yet more personal than what any other company could have achieved at the time. Then Steve would go on to make it not only personal but beautiful. For example, he was the first person to make interesting fonts and to this day Apple still makes extremely simple, well polished designs that really do make the owner feel like they own something that is advanced and modern and yet their grandfather could use it.

      In the end, Apple made an amazing product, giving Steve the right to brag. Once he got such a strong group of  dedicated customers, Steve could get even the most simple products to seem revolutionary, and in my opinion that is an amazing accomplishment. Although he may have come across as an egotist know-it-all, in the end I believe he was a good person who learned how to harness his egotistical tendencies in order to make the amazing accomplishments and gain the respect from the people who worked under him, and the people who bought his products

The Dyslexic Misconception.

From the moment I was told I had dyslexia, people told me that I should not worry because famous people who were extremely  successful and often rich have it as well. A lot of the time I was told they got their because of their dyslexia. Although that statement might have initially made me more confident, I feel that after a while it hurt my confidence.  

 The main problem is that when I am told "Richard Branson is dyslexic and he is a billionaire," and that he was successful because he understood how to run a business and was a great entrepreneur, I feel like I need to do what he did. But when I realize that that is not where my strengths are, I become frustrated. Often times kids with dyslexia are forced to look up to people they might not consider to be their idols. Thus they feel like they need to have talents they are not good at or don't like. Unfortunately, the students will most likely start to feel bad because they are not good at what their idols are good at. Another thing that happens is that kids are told they may have dyslexia but that that will make you good at art, entrepreneurship, and many other things. However, no one ever mentions that you may not know what you are good at. This is especially true for Elementary school children. In a lot of cases, they may be interested in things that are not mentioned in the discussion of dyslexia and so they change what they say they are interested in to something else that they do not enjoy, to fit into the social norm.

 In my opinion, that is the biggest problem of all, because all throughout school, dyslexics students are told that they are different and do not have to fit in with everyone else, and that it is fine that they can not spell. Sadly, the people telling dyslexics this are trapping the students into a whole new social norm, where theKy feel like they have to become billionaires. If you consider how challenging it is for a person who has dyslexia to feel important, imagine how much more difficult it is when they do not even feel  like they fit in to the group of people who have the same problems as them. As a result I think the best thing to do is tell people with dyslexia the advantage however, strongly emphasized the fact that they do not have to have  all  the advantages and may not know what they are good at for a long time.