how to clean an ipad lcd screen made in china

I used to have this same problem, but not any more. I came up with the perfect method of cleaning the LCD panel. First of all, I had no idea that alcohol would damage the LCD. I normally use 90% Isopropyl Alcohol for cleaning everything on the smartphones and tablets that I repair. I might change that back to a pre-mixed 50% solution, but the 50% does not remove grease as well. I honestly don"t think a 1-time cleaning using the 90% will cause a problem. I could believe that continued cleaning with the alcohol could cause damage, however.

What works best for me is to follow this 3-step procedure. And take note, scrubbing an LCD with a back-and-forth motion will only get you frustrated, just as the previous poster had mentioned. I"ve been there, rubbing on an LCD for upwards of an hour, only ending with the same grease smudges that I started with. Well anyway, here"s my 3-step process:

1. Using a micro fiber or dust-free cloth, or even a soft toilet paper, put a liberal amount of the alcohol on your cleaning cloth and use "flood-strokes" on the LCD in one direction ONLY. Wipe down the LCD in as few strokes as possible, as wide of a stroke as you can with your cleaning cloth or TP. You should use enough alcohol that it leaves a wet film on the LCD.

2. Blow dry (with your mouth or a heat gun on low) the alcohol. It will disappear very quickly. If you see any spots, repeat step 1, and then do this again. You will see residue on the screen, but it should be very uniform, and in the direction that your flood strokes were in step 1. If you do this right, you may not see any streaks at all.

3. Using your hot breath (hopefully your breath isn"t so bad that you melt the LCD, so be careful here), steam up the surface of the LCD and use the lint-free cloth to wipe the steam. This will get rid of all the residue left behind by the alcohol. It"s okay to wipe in a back-and-forth motion when using the hot-steamy-breath application of moisture. In only 5 minutes, your LCD should be completely free of streaks, grease, and dirt. Blow away any excess lint, and get the glass digitizer put on it as quickly as you can before your LCD attracts dust out of the air.

One thing I would also recommend is that you have a good filter in your HVAC system. Some people I know of actually use a hood that forces air through a filter, and into the hood. This way, you don"t have any ambient air coming into contact with your LCD, because you are operating in a positive-pressure environment with incoming air that is filtered, and thus exhausting into the room after leaving the hood.

I will be writing a post on this and possibly doing a video for my blog site, which is the Carlton Zone Blog. Check the site soon. I would be glad to post videos and advice for repairs, because I do a lot of this.

Responsible for performing installations and repairs (motors, starters, fuses, electrical power to machine etc.) for industrial equipment and machines in order to support the achievement of Nelson-Miller’s business goals and objectives:

• Perform highly diversified duties to install and maintain electrical apparatus on production machines and any other facility equipment (Screen Print, Punch Press, Steel Rule Die, Automated Machines, Turret, Laser Cutting Machines, etc.).

• Provide electrical emergency/unscheduled diagnostics, repairs of production equipment during production and performs scheduled electrical maintenance repairs of production equipment during machine service.

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You rely on your computer for a lot—working from home, ordering groceries, retail therapy—so it"s no surprise when it starts to collect fingerprints, smudges, and generally look a little worse for the wear. But how do you clean a computer screen without damaging it and leaving those pesky streaks? Fortunately, you don"t need much—generally water and a cotton ball will do the trick. But here"s what you should keep in mind to ensure you"re doing it safely.

It"s always a good idea to check the manual of your computer to see what products they suggest to clean a screen, says Kimberly Button, a certified cleaning expert. If you don"t know where the manual is, many companies offer downloadable PDFs.

Generally, though, all you need is one or two simple electronic cleaning supplies: a soft, lint-free microfiber cleaning towel or cotton ball and a cleaning solution, if necessary, says Button.

If you"re concerned about germs, you might wonder whether you can use stronger household cleaners for the task. The bottom line: It depends on the type of computer screen you have, says Button.

Avoid using Windex on a screen. It"s only made for glass, and can be too harsh for delicate computer screens, says Button. And skip things like eyeglass cleaner, which won"t disinfect.

However, if you"re adamant about getting a little extra cleaning power, you can try Lysol wipes or a 1:1 dilution of rubbing alcohol and water on non-LCD screens.

This is not only safer if you"re using any liquids, but it also makes cleaning easier. Fingerprints and smudges are much more visible on a black screen.

Use a soft, dry cloth or cotton ball to gently wipe off any obvious dust, dirt, and debris, so as not to rub tiny specks of dust or dirt into the screen, says Button.

That may suffice for mildly dirty screens, but for a deeper clean you can spray another soft cloth with the cleaning solution outlined above. You only need a bit—a light misting will do. And note: You should never spray a solution directly onto the screen, because you could end up spraying liquid into the speakers, camera, keyboard, or parts of the monitor that are not compatible with water, says Button.

Using the slightly moistened cloth, gently wipe the computer screen from right to left without too much pressure, making sure you"ve cleaned every inch of the surface.

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In today’s day and age, technological devices are so numerous that they outnumber people. Due to the large use of devices such as computers, iPads and cellphones, the materials and energy that it takes to make these devices is tremendous. In my research, I looked at the life-cycle of one specific technological device, the iPad, and the materials that go into making this product. Designed and created by Apple Incorporated, the iPad is made up of materials from all over the world that are then manufactured into this “one-of-a-kind” product. Due to the consumer demand and changes to the design and software, the Apple iPad is a “cradle-to-grave” product; however, Apple is striving to create a “cradle-to-cradle” product with more efficient and recyclable materials.

The Apple iPad consists of many components that ultimately make up this inventive product. However, I will look at the lifecycle of the iPad as a whole before examining the individual lifecycle of each material that goes into making this product. Weighing only 1.44 pounds and measuring between 0.29 and 0.34 inches thick, the iPad has a slim and sleek design.[1] Due to its compact size and weight, you may think that the iPad does not consist of many materials; however, the iPad uses many different kinds of metals, including aluminum, silicon and steel along with trace amounts of rare earth materials and chemicals. All of these materials come from companies or are acquisitioned from places around the world.

Apple is a master of “global manufacturing” when it comes to its products.[2] The manufacturing of the iPad is known as one of the “fastest and most sophisticated manufacturing systems on Earth.”[3] Assembled in China by a company known as Foxconn, the Apple iPad is an accumulation of highly designed and manufactured products such as the LCD screen and the aluminosilicate glass which create a durable, high-class product. However, the manufacturing process of the iPad takes a great amount of energy and is responsible for 58% of the greenhouse gas emissions in the whole iPad lifecycle.[4] Specifically, one iPad uses 100 kilowatts of fossil fuels which result in 66 pounds of carbon dioxide.[5] Therefore, assemblage of the iPad is done in China by Foxconn due to the lower greenhouse gas emission standards and lower overall working standards by the Chinese government. Although China allows the manufacturing of Apple products with their high greenhouse gas emissions, Apple is trying to reduce the amount they emit by using more recyclable materials such as aluminum and glass and by reducing the amount of chemicals and toxic materials in their products by making such components as the aluminosilicate glass PVC-free and arsenic free.[6]

The global manufacturing of Apple iPad components and their dispersal for use worldwide begs the question of how Apple transports their products for consumer use. According to one report, Apple uses air and land transport to move products from suppliers to assembly plants in China and from these assembly plants to distribution outposts around the world. Specifically, Apple employs Boeing 777’s to carry products around the world as these airplanes are efficient, making a 15 hour flight from China to the United States without refueling.[7] Like with the manufacturing stage of the iPads lifecycle, Apple is trying to create more efficient and environmentally friendly ways of putting their products out into the global technological market.

Once in the consumers’ hands, the Apple iPad has many uses. It can be used as a computer with Internet and Wi-Fi or as a tablet to read books among many other things. All of these applications are made possible by the efficient silicon chips that make up the main processing board of the iPad. Although the use of the iPad makes up 30% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the iPad lifecycle, the lithium-ion polymer battery set inside the iPad can be recharged.[8] Thus, a consumer can, in a sense, re-use the iPads’ battery as it does not need to be replaced after the charge is gone but can be continuously re-used over a long period of time. This is another component of the iPad that is more efficient than previous products and that promotes a “cradle-to-cradle” lifecycle.

Finally, Apple has produced a recycling project that takes the recyclable material of the iPad and re-uses them in their own products or is sold in a secondary electronics market.[9] These recycling projects send old iPads to places like India where workers disassemble the products for bits of material that can be recycled or sold back to companies that can refurbish them.[10] Aluminum, glass, and plastic are some materials from the iPad that are easily recycled and re-used. However, due to trace amounts of gold and rare earth materials which cannot be recycled, some components of the Apple iPad still ends up in landfills where they may sit for decades, emitting harmful chemicals and materials into the Earth.

Now let us look at the major components of the iPad and their lifecycles individually. According to iFixit, the iPad consists of a back case, screen, frame, LCD screen, chips, and battery among other things.[11] Beginning with the iPad’s outer shell, the back case is made out of aluminum. Aluminum, the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust has a low density and resists destruction, making it the perfect material for the slim and delicate Apple iPad.[12] Therefore, in one iPad, 125 grams are made from aluminum, resulting in about 17% of the total weight of the iPad consisting of aluminum.[13] Although aluminum is abundant in the Earth’s crust and comprises a large amount of the iPad structure, aluminum is hard to extract for industrial use. Consequently, bauxite, an aluminum ore, must be acquisitioned from the Earth’s crust.[14] Then, through the Hall-Heroult process, aluminum is prepared for industrial use. Due to the difficulty in extracting aluminum from its ore the Hall-Heroult process adds cryolite, a mixture of alumina and sodium fluoride to bauxite.[15] Cryolite reduces aluminum smelting temperature from 3600 to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit.[16] This extraction process takes a lot of power, from 52 to 56 MJ/kg.[17] Once extracted and prepared for industrial use, Apple relies on Alcoa Inc. to make the aluminum back casing. Alcoa Inc. is the third largest producer of aluminum in the world with factories worldwide from Jamaica to Russia.[18] Alcoa uses coal-fired power plants, causing them to be ranked 15th among corporations emitting airborne pollutants like sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide.[19] Although it takes a lot of energy to produce and it emits a lot of airborne pollutants, aluminum is a highly recyclable material. Aluminum is a material whose quality does not degrade when recycled. Therefore, recycling aluminum is not only beneficial to the environment, but it also saves new Apple products from consuming more aluminum. Therefore, Apple tends to recycle this aluminum as backing for other iPads or for smaller components of their products, creating a more efficient production cycle along the way. Moving to the front of the iPad, the outer screen is made from glass. The glass is 155 grams or about 21% of the overall iPad’s weight.[20] Although the entirety of the iPad’s front is made out of glass, it is debated whether this glass is aluminosilicate glass or regular glass. Many believe that the iPad consists of aluminosilicate glass made by the company Corning.[21] This type of glass is a mixture of silicon dioxide, aluminum and oxygen which makes the glass more resilient than regular glass made from silica, limestone and potash.[22] According to Apple, the iPad’s glass enclosure is PVC-free and arsenic free.[23] However, reports of explosions in the Chinese assemblage factories of Apple products have found that toxic chemicals such as n-hexane, which can cause nerve damage in humans, have been used to clean the glass screens of iPads and other Apple products.[24] Cerium oxide, a rare earth material, is also used by Apple to polish the glass screens.[25] Although these materials and chemicals may be used to polish the front of the iPad, the glass can still be recycled. As noted earlier, Apple sends its products to be disassembled in other countries such as India where the glass is removed from the iPad and sold back to its manufacturers, who can melt the glass into liquid and then reheat it into another mold. Even though aluminasilicate glass may be rendered with more chemicals to make it more resilient, it still has the ability to be re-used in other products or in other forms, making it follow the “cradle-to-cradle” standards Apple is striving to set.

Underneath the iPad’s glass is a frame made of plastic. Plastics make up only 55 grams of the Apple iPad.[26] Apple uses polycarbonate plastic, a tough and stable plastic, which like other plastics comes from oil and are built by chemists.[27] Although it can be easily molded like glass, plastic is not as recyclable, due to the fact that plastics quality degrades when repurposed or recycled. Therefore, the plastic that Apple uses in iPads often accumulates in landfills for decades or is removed by those who disassemble Apple products and goes through a process of shredding, washing, drying and melting into smaller components that then can be sold back to plastic manufacturers such as Coxon.[28]

The LCD screen, the most expensive part of the iPad, is made from liquid crystals in what is known as the nematic phase.[29] The LCD display on an iPad takes up 155 grams or about 21% of the overall weight of an iPad.[30] Manufactured in clean buildings by robots, LCD screens are a mixture of the chemical elements SiN, a-Si, and SiN, with a layer of polyamide alignment film for cleaning.[31] Sitting between two polarizers, the LCD display relies on liquid crystalline substances in the presence or absence of an electric field.[32] The LCD screen is the most significant component of the Apple iPad as it allows the customer to view the screen in virtually any light and in any space without the presence of a glare. Even though the LCD screen is a thin layer in the iPad, it has great importance to the overall iPad as a product. However, it is unknown if Apple’s disassembling team takes the time to keep the LCD screen or if it goes to waste in landfills around the world.

Another significant component of the Apple iPad is the lithium-ion polymer battery. Sitting inside the iPad, the battery takes up 155 grams or 21% of the overall weight of an iPad.[33] The lithium supply for these batteries is in South America, most notably Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.[34] The lithium is combined with a metallic oxide catalyst, a dry solid polymer electrolyde and a metallic current collector.[35] To produce the battery, its producers require somewhere around 79 gallons of water per battery.[36] The battery in Apple products is free of lead, cadmium, and mercury; however, it is believed to contain rare earth materials such as lanthanum.[37] Once produced, the battery can be recharged over and over again, allowing one battery to be re-used for every iPad. Lithium-ion polymer batteries, like all batteries, can be recycled as well, causing them to be an efficient component of the iPad.

Finally, at the heart of the iPad and essential to its operations are three silicon chips made from silicon and trace amounts of chemicals. Silicon is found in sand, dust, and forms of silicon dioxide.[38] China, Russia, Norway, Brazil and the United States are the leading suppliers of elemental silicon.[39] However, due to the need for pure silicon to produce digital chips, companies like Samsung must mine and manufacture silicon through a process known as the Czochralski process.[40] This method is relatively cheap compared to other methods and can make a lot of pure silicon at once.[41] Silicon chip manufacturing begins in very clean buildings where robots do most of the work. Silicon wafers are produced through a heating and cooling system and then printed on through photolithography.[42] This process uses numerous chemical coatings to produce a digital chip like the ones in the iPad. However, the need for an extremely clean environment and different chemicals to produce a strong and stable chip causes silicon chips to be hard to re-use. It is only recently that silicon chips are being recycled into solar panels by IBM; however, Apple does not seem to be making the same strides in the recycling of silicon chips and consequently are bringing more waste to landfills.[43]

The production of the Apple iPad is a global effort with many materials acquired and assembled around the world. Consequently, the life cycle of an iPad is complex as some of these materials, such as aluminum and glass, are highly recyclable while others, such as the trace amounts of rare earth materials, cannot be extracted to be recycled. Therefore, while aluminum and glass can be recycled and cause reduction in the need to extract more raw materials from the Earth, other materials spend decades in landfills, seeping toxic chemicals into the Earth. While Apple is looking toward ways to make their iPads more environmentally friendly, it is still considered a “cradle-to-grave” product, but one that is unmistakably highly sought after.

[2] Duhigg, Charles, and David Barboza. "In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad." The New York Times, January 25, 2012. http://www.teamsters952.org/In_China_Human_Costs_are_built_into_an_ipad.PDF (accessed February 15, 2014).

[3] Duhigg, Charles, and David Barboza. "In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad." The New York Times, January 25, 2012. http://www.teamsters952.org/In_China_Human_Costs_are_built_into_an_ipad.PDF (accessed February 15, 2014).

[4] Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

[5] Goleman, Daniel, and Gregory Norris. "How Green Is My iPad?." The New York Times, April 04, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/04/opinion/04opchart.html?_r=0 (accessed February 8, 2014).

[6] Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

[7] Satariano, Adam. "The iPhones Secret Flights from China to your Local Apple Store." Bloomberg, September 11, 2013. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-11/the-iphone-s-secret-flights-from-china-to-your-local-apple-store.html (accessed February 13, 2014).

[8] Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

[13] Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

[16] Green, John. Aluminum Recycling and Processing for Energy Conservation and Sustainability. Materials Park, OH: ASM International, 2007. http://books.google.com/books?id=t-Jg-i0XlpcC&pg=PA198&hl=en

[17]Green, John. Aluminum Recycling and Processing for Energy Conservation and Sustainability. Materials Park, OH: ASM International, 2007. http://books.google.com/books?id=t-Jg-i0XlpcC&pg=PA198&hl=en

[20] Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

[23] Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

[24] Duhigg, Charles, and David Barboza. "In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad." The New York Times, January 25, 2012. http://www.teamsters952.org/In_China_Human_Costs_are_built_into_an_ipad.PDF (accessed February 15, 2014).

[25] Freudenrich, Craig. How Stuff Works, "How Plastics Work." Last modified 2014. Accessed February 13, 2014. http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic.htm.

[26] Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

[27] Freudenrich, Craig. How Stuff Works, "How Plastics Work." Last modified 2014. Accessed February 13, 2014. http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic.htm.

[28] Freudenrich, Craig. How Stuff Works, "How Plastics Work." Last modified 2014. Accessed February 13, 2014. http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic.htm.

[30] Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

[33] Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

[34] Kumar, Aswin. Waste Management World, "The Lithium Battery Recycling Challenge." Last modified 2014. Accessed March 3, 2014. http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/print/volume-12/issue-4/features/the-lithium-battery-recycling-challenge.html.

[36] Goleman, Daniel, and Gregory Norris. "How Green Is My iPad?." The New York Times, April 04, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/04/opinion/04opchart.html?_r=0 (accessed February 8, 2014).

[37] Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

[43] "IBM to recycle chips for solar panels." The New York Times, October 30, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/technology/30iht-ibm.4.8118325.html?_r=0 (accessed March 7, 2014)

Apple Inc., "iPad Environmental Report." Last modified April 03, 2010. Accessed February 14, 2014. http://images.apple.com/environment/reports/docs/iPad_Environmental_Report.pdf.

Duhigg, Charles, and David Barboza. "In China, Human Costs Are Built Into an iPad." The New York Times, January 25, 2012. http://www.teamsters952.org/In_China_Human_Costs_are_built_into_an_ipad.PDF (accessed February 15, 2014).

Freudenrich, Craig. How Stuff Works, "How Plastics Work." Last modified 2014. Accessed February 13, 2014. http://science.howstuffworks.com/plastic.htm.

Green, John. Aluminum Recycling and Processing for Energy Conservation and Sustainability. Materials Park, OH: ASM International, 2007. http://books.google.com/books?id=t-Jg-i0XlpcC&pg=PA198&hl=en

Goleman, Daniel, and Gregory Norris. "How Green Is My iPad?." The New York Times, April 04, 2010. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/04/opinion/04opchart.html?_r=0 (accessed February 8, 2014).

"IBM to recycle chips for solar panels." The New York Times, October 30, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/30/technology/30iht-ibm.4.8118325.html?_r=0 (accessed March 7, 2014).

Kumar, Aswin. Waste Management World, "The Lithium Battery Recycling Challenge." Last modified 2014. Accessed March 3, 2014. http://www.waste-management-world.com/articles/print/volume-12/issue-4/features/the-lithium-battery-recycling-challenge.html.

Satariano, Adam. "The iPhones Secret Flights from China to your Local Apple Store." Bloomberg, September 11, 2013. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-11/the-iphone-s-se

Shakhashiri, "Chemical of the Week: Aluminum." lecture., University of Wisconsin, 2008. http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/PDF/Aluminum.pdf.cret-flights-from-china-to-your-local-apple-store.html (accessed February 13, 2014).

Apple Incorporated is an extremely successful American company that creates, develops, and sells electronics, computer software, and personal computers (Wikipedia, 2014). In one year, Apple sold 9.8 billion dollars of merchandise, which included one of their most popular items, the iPad (Business Insider, 2010). The iPad is a sleek line of tablet computers weighing in at 1.5-1.6 pounds per device. Some of its various capabilities include taking photos, surfing the web, playing games, reading books, and watching movies. Because it is such a phenomenon, an astounding 14.1 million iPads were sold in 2013 alone (TechCrunch, 2013). As consumers, we focus much on the great functionality and glory that products like the iPad provide for us. In result, we tend to overlook the intensive multi-step process, and how it affects the Earth. After much research, one can conclude that the amount of energy involved with the life cycle of an iPad is extremely high, despite Apple’s efforts to be environmentally friendly.

The first step in producing Apple’s iPad is acquiring the necessary raw materials that are used in the manufacturing process. Some of the most basic elements found in an iPad are aluminum, silicon, plastic, polycarbonate, glass, lithium-ion polymer, and polyurethane. In terms of mining raw materials, aluminum is one of the main elements in the iPad and is used for the back cover. According to Rain Forest Relief, Aluminum is one of the most destructive mining products in the world due to the large amount of waste it produces (Rain Forest Relief, 2014). For every ton of Aluminum produced, 20-30 tons of ore are mined and dumped. In addition, it takes an enormous amount of energy to extract the ore from the Earth. After the materials are mined, Apple relies on over 200 suppliers from all across the globe to cater to corresponding factories. Some of these suppliers are located in China, Ireland, Texas, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Austria (Apple, 2014). According to Bloomberg News, Apple ships their materials and products using a family of long-range, wide-body, jet airliners referred to as Boeing 777s. They are one of the few jet airliners that can last a 15-hour flight without refueling. All in all, to consider the amount of energy that goes into acquiring raw materials, we must think about the energy that goes into mining the materials in combination with the energy it takes to transport them to factories. With the amount of iPads that are being sold each year, we can gather that the amount of energy used in this step alone is extremely high.

After acquiring necessary materials, iPads are manufactured and assembled in factories. Apple’s main manufacturer is a company called Foxconn located in Shenzhen, China (SFGate, 2014). To assemble the iPad, manufacturers put together a variety of specific parts. Some of the main components of the iPad include a thin film transistor liquid-crystal display, glass touch screen, aluminum backing, 3 silicon chips, main processing chip, NAND-type flash memory, and battery. Although the process is highly secretive, it is known that the production of the iPad is a combination of manpower and machine power. Assembly lines are utilized to make manpower highly efficient and machines take care of more precise tasks such as packaging. According to an article by New York Times, it takes approximately 100 kwhrs of fossil fuels to manufacture an electronic reading device like the iPad (New York Times, 2010).

Once the iPad is fully assembled and packaged, it is ready to take the multi-step journey to reach the hands of consumers. According to SFGate’s article, Where in the World is my iPad?, iPads travel to many places before they reach consumers or retail stores (SFGate, 2014). First, they depart from Foxconn’s factory in China and arrive in Anchorage, Alaska. Next, they make their way to Louisville, Kentucky. Finally, UPS ships the devices to households and local Apple retail stores all across the United States. Based on the research that I could retrieve, I came to the conclusion that a flight from China to the US takes approximately 7,200,000 MJs. In order to come to this conclusion, I gathered necessary information about how much it costs to fuel a Boeing 777 to make its way from China to the US. A 15-hour flight from China to the US using a Boeing 777 costs about $242,000 to charter and can carry about 450,000 devices (Bloomberg News, 2014). Fuel takes up half that cost, which brings it to $121,000. According to Ask.com, aviation fuel costs $2.81/gallon (since April 2013), which means it takes 43,060 gallons of fuel to fly 450,000 devices from China’s Foxconn factory to various locations in the US. It is not certain what type of Aviation fuel Apple uses in their Boeing 777s, but assuming they used BP Av gas 80, a common fuel used in Boeing 777s, we can say that the fuel used to carry iPads across the world contains 44.65 MJ/kg. Taking that into account, we can convert the 43,060 gallons to 163,197.4 kg and assume that it takes roughly 7,200,000 MJ to ship items from China to the US. In addition to the energy it takes to transfer raw materials, the embodied energy is already extremely high. However, the iPad’s life cycle has just begun.

When the iPad is in the hands of the consumer, it is in constant need for more energy to keep up with its usage. Because the iPad has so many features and is continuing to improve, consumers become more reliant on its functions and use it for longer periods of time. Om Malik, writer of the blog Gigaom, says that his iPad makes, “frequent visits to the electrical outlet – at least twice a day” (Gigaom, 2014). Apple claims that the latest model of the iPad offers up to 10 hours of battery life (Apple, 2014). According to research from Palo Alto, CA based Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the cost of charging an iPad every other day for one year costs $1.36 (Gigaom, 2014). In terms of energy, the iPad consumes less than 12 kwh of electricity over the course of a year. Comparing this to a television that consumes 358 kwh a year, an iPad is relatively energy efficient. However, when you take into account the 14.1 million devices sold, the average energy used by all iPads in the market is about 590 gwh (Gigaom, 2014). Gigaom predicts that new iPads will consume about 65% more electricity per year. That is a strikingly large increase in the amount of energy consumed by iPads. Because of the increase in demand of iPads each year, Apple has made huge efforts to make their products more energy efficient. In the iPad specifically, Apple included an A6X chip, which is designed to allow the iPad to complete complex tasks without sacrificing its battery life. It is designed to be extremely powerful yet energy efficient. However, the collective energy use of an iPad worldwide is extremely high, which undermines the energy efficiency ideals that Apple attempts to instill in their company.

Although the iPad is designed to be long lasting and durable, they are oftentimes left behind due to damages or because they become outdated. Therefore, certain parts are recycled as a part of Apple’s overarching vision to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Although recycling is an effort to preserve the environment, it also takes a large amount of energy to deconstruct it to make it reusable. Aluminum is the main component of the iPad, with 125g of it in the product. To recycle aluminum, it must go through an intensive process in a recycling plant. First, it is transported to the recycling plant where it is sorted and cleaned using human power. Next, it goes through a melting process. Aluminum melts at an extremely high temperature of 1,221 degrees Fahrenheit (Wikipedia, 2014). The energy it takes to melt aluminum is approximately 52-56 MJ/kg. In addition, we must take into account the resources used to create this heat and the energy it took to retrieve it. Once the aluminum reaches 1,221 degrees Fahrenheit and melts, it is molded into large blocks called ingots. Finally, it is sent to mills to be rolled out and prepared to be re-used. Recycling the aluminum component of an iPad is only a part of the recycling process. In regards to the other components of the iPad, some of them are reused, modified, or resold. Apple also states that they partake in mechanical separation and shredding of recyclable parts. Ironically, recycling to benefit the Earth’s sustainability takes a great amount of energy, resources, and manpower.

Throughout the process of producing an iPad, waste is inevitably produced and requires energy to manage it. According to Apple, “[their] commitment to environmental responsibility extends deep into [their] supply chain” (Apple, 2014). Their commitment involves hazardous waste management, wastewater management, storm water management, air emissions management, and boundary noise management wherever Apple products are produced. In addition, Apple refrains from including hazardous materials in their products such as lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, and brominated flame-retardants (BFR) PBB and PBDE (Apple, 2014). Apple does a great job of associating minimal waste management with their product. However, as a researcher, it is almost impossible to get hard numbers and facts about how much waste is actually produced and how much energy it takes to minimize and manage that waste.

Through in-depth research, it is evident that Apple has made great efforts to reduce the amount of energy that is used to create and distribute the iPad. However, with consumer’s high demands and large amounts of iPads being distributed and used around the world, their energy consumption is still high. Considering the acquirement of raw materials, assemblage of the product, distribution and transportation, usage and maintenance, recycling processes, and waste management, it is evident that iPads require a lot of machine energy and manpower to exist. In large, we consume far more than our Earth can handle. If we were to continue using our resources unsustainably the way we do currently, we would need 5 more Earths to keep up with our consumption levels. Unfortunately, we only have one. In order to reduce energy consumption world wide, each individual must make an effort to rely less on products that require multiple processes and much energy to produce such as the iPad. In result, we will be more in tune with the Earth and how to utilize its sources more sustainably.

"Aluminum." All About Aluminum. Rain Forest Relief, 2006. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. .

"Apple Sold 33.8 Million IPhones, 14.1 Million IPads, And 4.6 Million Macs In Q4 2013." TechCrunch. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. .

"How Green Is My IPad? Op-Chart." The New York Times. The New York Times, 03 Apr. 2010. Web. 12 Mar. 2014. .

"How Much Energy Does It Take to Power Those IPads? — Tech News and Analysis." Gigaom. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. .

"What Materials Are Used to Make the IPad?" WikiAnswers. Answers Corporation, n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014. .

"Where In The World Is My IPad? (AAPL)." SFGate. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

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HONG KONG/TAIPEI (Reuters) - A debt-laden Chinese technology firm seeking to ban all shipments of Apple’s popular iPad tablet into and out of the country has been told that China’s customs authorities are unlikely to intervene in the trademark battle.

Proview Technology, the Chinese company embroiled in a legal battle with Apple Inc over the iPad name, said on Wednesday that customs authorities had told it that the sheer size of the market and the popularity of iPads would make it difficult to impose a ban.

“The customs have told us that it will be difficult to implement a ban because many Chinese consumers love Apple products. The sheer size of the market is very big,” Yang Long-san, chief of Proview Technology (Shenzhen), told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, lawyers representing Proview Technology (Shenzhen) Co Ltd said the company would seek a ban on exports of Apple’s iPads from China, a major manufacturing base, a move that could deal a blow to the U.S. technology giant’s sales globally.

Authorities in some Chinese cities had ordered retailers to stop selling Apple’s iPad due to the dispute. Proview has asked authorities in about 20 cities, including Shijiazhuang near Beijing, to stop the sales.

“We will be asking commerce departments of more cities to investigate and deal with the case accordingly,” said Roger Xie, a lawyer with Grandall Law Firm, which is representing Proview.

Yang said the best option to resolve the legal dispute would be an out-of-court settlement. The next hearing of the case is due for February 22 in Shanghai.

Apple lost a case to Proview Technology (Shenzhen) in a Shenzhen court in southern China late last year, when the court agreed that Proview owned the iPad trademark. The next hearing for this case is on February 29.

Local media reported recently that Proview was taking legal action, seeking up to 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) in compensation from Apple for trademark infringement, saying that the compensation could be the last hope to help rescue the company.

“Some people say that Proview wants to take the chance to make a sum of money from Apple and this is tarnishing our company’s reputation. We need to clarify what’s the truth behind it,” Yang said.

Proview Technology (Shenzhen) is a unit of troubled Hong Kong-listed Proview International Holdings, which used to be one of the world’s top monitor makers until the financial crisis in 2008 crippled its business and operations.

Reuters correspondents visited the site of its operations in Shenzhen listed on its website and found that the building has largely been abandoned, with its windows shattered and debris strewn liberally.

Proview International, whose shares have been on a trading halt since August 2010, posted a net loss of HK$755.8 million ($97 million) in the six months ended December 2009, which was the last time it published financial results.

Proview International’s shares last traded at HK$0.20. On Tuesday, Apple’s shares ended at $509.46, setting a record high on hopes of strong iPhone 4S demand and investor optimism over the potential launch of a new iPad in 2012.An employee stands next to an empty display desk which was used to put Apple iPads at a dealership in Hefei, Anhui province, February 15, 2012. A Chinese tech firm that claims it still owns the iPad trademark will seek a ban on exports of Apple Inc"s computer tablets from China, which could deal a blow to the U.S. technology giant"s sales worldwide. REUTERS/Stringer

Apple says it bought Proview’s worldwide rights to the trademark in 10 different countries several years ago, including rights to the iPad name from a Taiwan subsidiary of Proview International.

Back then, the Proview Taiwan unit had sold the rights to IP Application Development Ltd, a London-based company that was set up by Apple, for 35,000 pounds, Proview’s executives and lawyers said. IP Application Development then sold the iPad name to Apple for 10 pounds months later, they said.

“We spent a lot of resources on it. It’s the same concept as the iPad today, except that back then, there were practically no LCD screens,” Yang said.

Apple is always looking to diversify its suppliers; this helps to improve existing technologies and make them less expensive. This time, TCL’s subsidiary CSOT wants to enter Apple’s LCD supply chain for upcoming Macs and iPads.

The publication says that CSOT is a “fierce competitor” to BOE in the global LCD market, but the company is ahead of CSOT in LCD panels for notebooks, tablets, and monitors as well as with the OLED technology for smartphones.

BOE, as you probably know, has for years been a third supplier of displays for Apple’s older LCD iPhones, but only started making OLED panels for Apple as of the iPhone 12. It was on track to pick up orders for 30-40M iPhones this year. It will also be responsible for around five million units of iPhone 14 OLED panels.

Not only that, but BOE is also supplying LCD panels to Apple for MacBooks and iPads. Analyst firm Omdia says the Chinese company will be the largest supplier of LCD panels for iPad this year.

CSOT also formed a team during the first half of the year to review building an OLED production line aimed at iPhones. CSOT’s expansion plan will, besides BOE, also threaten South Korean display maker LG Display, which leads the supply of LCD panels to Apple for high-end devices.

LG Display is expected to supply 14.8 million LCD panels to Apple for MacBooks this year, according to Omdia, making its share in this specific supply chain 55%. Having another competitor in the supply chain like CSOT could add pressure on LG Display to cut unit prices.

We got to the Foxconn Zhengzhou Science Park around 1 p.m., just after workers" lunch break. While a few workers milled around the gates, it was a ghost town — an eerie vibe for a factory that employs 350,000 of Foxconn"s 1.3 million employees in China.

Since it began producing iPhones for Apple in 2007, Foxconn has faced accusations of labor abuses, poor working conditions, and harsh penalties for workers who make mistakes.

Another worker killed himself in January at the Zhengzhou factory. Because of the suicide — and reports that the factory had more aggressive security than some military compounds — I assumed we wouldn"t be able to get in. To my surprise, we walked right past security into the campus.

Spanning more than 2.2 miles and dozens of buildings, the business park looks like any other. Trees are everywhere, police and security guards stand on every street corner, and workers on break camp out in the shade. A decade ago, this area had only dirt and fields of corn and wheat. In 2010, the government bought out local farmers, and the factory was up and running within the year.

The complex was built in 2010 — almost exclusively to serve Apple"s iPhone production needs — with $600 million in assistance from the provincial government.

Even now, the government provides Foxconn with tons of support, tax incentives, and subsidies to keep production in Zhengzhou. It paved new roads to the factory, built power plants, helps covers energy and transportation costs, and pays bonuses to the factory for meeting export targets.

The government even helps recruit, train, and house workers for the factory during peak iPhone production periods. In the summer months, a speaker can be heard near the entrance saying: "We"re recruiting the cream of society. Your personality must be optimistic, your work diligent."

Meeting Foxconn"s never-ending need for workers requires considerable effort from the government. The province enforces quotas for the number of workers that local villages and cities must provide to the factory.

In 2016, state-owned coal companies lent workers to the factory. And last year, the Financial Times reported that trade schools were requiring students as young as 16 to work at the factory to gain "work experience" to graduate. In the run-up to the launch of the iPhone X, many students were found to be working overtime, which is illegal under Chinese law.

"Every city"s department of labor and ministry of human resources is involved," Liu Miao, the head of a private recruiting center in Zhengzhou, told The Times in 2016.

Workers on the day shift begin streaming in through the factory"s gates around 7 a.m. Those who can afford it ride motor scooters, but most walk from the nearby dorms or take a bus if they live in the buildings farther away.

Foxconn"s iPhone factory in Zhengzhou does "final assembly, testing, and packaging," or FATP. That stage of manufacturing requires about 400 steps to assemble the iPhone. Most workers do one task repeatedly all day, such as polishing the screen, soldering one component, or fitting a single screw into the back of the phone.

One worker in charge of wiping a special polish onto the LCD screen told The Guardian that she handled 1,700 iPhones a day, or about three screens each minute for 12 hours a day.

The complex has wide boulevards for the many buses bringing workers in and the freight trucks carrying products out. The provincial government made the campus into a "bonded zone," meaning the Chinese government views it as foreign soil. The arrangement allows Foxconn and Apple to virtually import and export goods to be sold in China or anywhere in the world.

The "bonded zone," a strange arrangement, is one of a slew of perks granted to Foxconn by the Zhengzhou government. The Times has a great exposé about how it works.

Most workers at the factory are between 18 and 25, though interns are as young as 16. Among the employees we saw over the course of a day, there was a fairly even split between men and women. Most come from Zhengzhou or villages around Henan, a province of 94 million people and one of China"s poorest.

Just outside the entrance gate is a makeshift district of low-slung storefronts to serve factory workers who don"t want to eat at Foxconn"s canteen on campus. Many restaurant owners are former Foxconn employees or people from nearby villages who moved to capitalize on the new factory.

The alleyways of the makeshift village were deserted during the hot, dusty May afternoon. A vendor told us we had come during the tail end of the factory"s low season. By the end of June, it"s ramping up production for the release of a new iPhone in the fall. During those days, the vendor said, the workforce swells to 350,000, and the alleyways are packed.

We met Liu, a 31-year-old from Qianhoucun, an hour"s drive from Zhengzhou. Liu and her husband have run one of the larger restaurants serving workers since the factory opened in 2010. "We don"t make special food here," Liu told Business Insider. "We just make whatever is cheap and will fill the workers up."

Like many of her fellow vendors, Liu is from Henan and used to work at a Foxconn factory. When she was 18, she and her husband, who she had just met through a matchmaker, left their village to move to Shenzhen.

The two worked for several years at Foxconn"s Longhua factory, once its largest complex. But when they heard the company was opening a factory closer to their lao jia, or hometown, they took their savings and opened a restaurant to serve the workforce.

"People like to work at this factory because you are close to your family if you are from Henan," Liu said. "You get Sundays off, and you can go home and visit your family. That"s the perk."

Liu and the other vendors" lives move to the rhythms of the factory. Running a business catering to the factory"s workers is harder than working at the factory, according to Liu. "We wake up earlier and go to sleep later so we can serve both day- and night-shift workers," she said.

After the lunch crowd leaves around 1 p.m., they clean up and sleep for a few hours. They reopen around 7 p.m. for dinner and the night-shift workers.

They stay open until the night workers" lunch at 1 a.m., then go to sleep around 3 a.m., after cleaning the restaurant. Most nights, Liu and her husband sleep only three or four hours.

Liu worries a lot about business. This year, the factory seems quieter than usual, she said. Half of the businesses in the makeshift village are closed, as the district is scheduled to be demolished by the end of the year. But even with less competition, Liu and her husband are making a fraction of what they did in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

By way of evidence, Liu motioned to trays of premade food behind a deli counter. Two years ago, she said, all that food would be sold in the half-hour after opening in the morning, even during the slow months. We were there around 2 p.m., after lunch, and the trays were still more than half full.

The threat of demolition has scared most vendors and restaurant owners out of the makeshift village. Many were afraid they would pay their landlord rent for the year and be unable to get it back when the trucks arrive, Liu said.

No one is positive what will replace the village, but Liu has heard rumors that the government wants to turn the scrublands around the factory into gardens. A new airport is situated next to the factory. No one wants to look at a shantytown and dirt when they fly in.

Every day, new workers show up to work at the factory. As we sat near the entrance of the campus, it seemed as if every few minutes a new person arrived via taxi or bus with a large suitcase and a shopping bag of food. Some come with a job secured, while others show up in hopes that nearby recruiting agencies can get them an interview.

Most of those arriving know about the factory"s reputation for long hours and consistent overtime hours. There are tons of factories to work at in China. Many workers come to Foxconn specifically for the overtime, not in spite of it.

While almost everyone in the area works for Foxconn, you can tell who works on production by the blue and red vests emblazoned with employee numbers. Foxconn workers told Business Insider that salaries at the factory started around 1,900 yuan ($300) a month.

The pay at the Zhengzhou factory is lower than at the one in Shenzhen, but many employees prefer to work in Zhengzhou because it is closer to their hometowns and the cost of living is cheaper, they said.

Many workers can raise their monthly salaries to about $676 by taking on as much as 20 hours of overtime a week. Chinese law limits overtime to 36 hours a month, but several reports suggest that workers take on much more during peak production periods.

"Most people want to work overtime," said a 27-year-old factory worker whose family name is Zhang. "If you have something to do, maybe you don"t do overtime. If you don"t have anything to do, you"ll probably work overtime."

After a 45-day probationary period, base salaries can rise to about $390 to $500. Still, the pay this year seem identical to the base wage at the factory included in a 2015 Recode report.

The nonprofit Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior estimates that the living wage for iPhone workers should be around $650, meaning workers would need to take on tons of overtime to make ends meet.

At 5 p.m., the day shift ends, and workers stream out of the factory"s gates. Because it is still the low season, there isn"t that much overtime. The street becomes clogged with people, cars, motorbikes, and buses. Vendors set up shop along the road to get the business of the thousands heading home.

A short walk away is one of the sprawling dormitory complexes. There are at least a dozen 10- or 12-story apartment buildings. Small businesses that cater to the workers line the streets. "There is everything the workers could want in this area — food, massages, movies, everything," Ma, a 25-year-old masseuse from Zhengzhou who moved to the area last year, told Business Insider.

Like the makeshift restaurant district outside the factory"s gates, the complex moves to the rhythm of the factory. When we walked in around 3 p.m., the area was deserted. Most of the shops were closed, and business owners were sleeping in the backs of their cars, taking a break before the end of the shift in a few hours.

Just a few hours later, the town sprang to life. Street vendors sold socks, smartphone cases, and clothes, and mobile-phone companies and banks offered services to workers getting off their shift.

Ma said lower employment at Foxconn affected the livelihoods of those in the town. During the summer months, Ma said, she can"t get a ticket to the movie theater because there are so many people. But now, everyone is struggling. "All of the businesses here are losing money until the workers get back in June," she said. "They can"t afford the rent right now."

After work, people usually sit at a restaurant in the complex to eat dinner and drink beer with friends. At one of these restaurants, we met a group of four Foxconn workers who invited us to sit with them. We explained that we wanted to understand their lives.

The others at the table were Zhang, a surly 27-year-old who spent most of his time fiddling with his smartphone; Hu, a 28-year-old woman married with two kids; and Guo, an affable 40-year-old with a set of pearly white fake front teeth.

They had worked at the factory for about a year, except for Chen, who was coming up on his two-year anniversary — an eternity, he says. Most leave after a year.

Chen and the others at the table aren"t exactly friends. They all work on the same team, inventory control, making them "drinking buddies," Guo said. It"s a pretty plum job compared with those stuck on the factory floor soldering components.

But it"s not as if they chose to do that. You don"t apply for a particular role, just for a job at the factory. The department that needs people is where you get assigned.

"Although they can make up to about 5,000 yuan per month, which is quite high in my eyes, I feel that these workers are not in good health because of all the overtime," one worker who makes 3,000 yuan (about $470) a month as a clerk told the South China Morning Post.

According to Chen, the worst job at the factory is the assembly line, where workers do the same task repeatedly for eight or 10 or 12 hours a day. Chen was on the assembly line at his previous job. It wasn"t long before he grew to hate it.

"You do the same thing every day; it never ends," Chen said. "After a while, you get annoyed at the thing you are doing. You don"t even notice it at first."

But Chen said he was lucky. Because he didn"t have a family yet, he could leave his job and go after a better one. Many people on the assembly line, he said, have to provide for children. Leaving isn"t really an option.

Zhang had little sympathy for those who don"t like their jobs or complain about the overtime hours. He kept repeating: "If you want to do, do it. If you don"t, leave. That"s freedom. There are other jobs around."

It hadn"t seemed to cross his mind that a better opportunity might mean doing a less monotonous job or that a higher salary would mean he — and others in his position — could afford to work fewer hours.

Chen wasn"t working at Foxconn when he was on the assembly line. He has been in the workforce for four years, going from factory to factory, moving when a new and better opportunity arises. Chen, like the others at the table, had done stints at other smartphone factories for Chinese manufacturers like Oppo or Xiaomi, at air-conditioning factories, and in construction.

Chen"s main post-work outlet seemed to be drinking. Over a few hours, he slugged back half a dozen or more pint-sized bottles of beer. Halfway through, he was slurring his words, while Zhang watched and fiddled with his phone.

Others, they said, play billiards at a bar nearby, sing at a karaoke lounge, play sports in the apartment complex, or play video games at one of the internet cafes. Cover at a club in the town might cost about $1.60, Australian Reseller News reported.

But everyone is different. Chen and Zhang were careful not to generalize. With a workforce the size of a small city, experiences vary, Chen explained.

Both Zhang and Chen play video games on their phone, usually the wildly popular Tencent mobile game Honor of Kings. But they have only enough time for a few rounds before they go to sleep around 10 or 11 p.m.

Like almost everyone, Chen and Zhang live in the dormitories. The provincial government spent about $1 billion building the housing to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of workers at the factory. And it looks as if it isn"t done — we saw at least half a dozen buildings still under construction in the area we visited. And there are other dormitories on other sides of the factory campus.

Each dormitory room sleeps eight people with bunk beds. Rent is about $25 a month, while internet costs an additional $3. But because everyone works a different shift, the dorms rarely feel that crowded, Chen said.

Others have complained. A Foxconn employee at the Zhengzhou factory told the South China Morning Post in December that the alternating shifts meant it was hard for anyone to get a good night"s sleep.

Living conditions have frequently been a point of contention for workers at Foxconn and other Chinese factories. In 2012, several employees rioted at a Foxconn factory to protest poor food and sanitation conditions and overcrowded dorms. One report said the dorms in Shenzhen reeked of rotting trash and sweat.

Though Chen and Hu are both married, their spouses work elsewhere. Hu"s husband works at a different factory in Zhengzhou, while Chen"s wife works in his hometown. They see each other on Sundays and vacations.

Most workers eat breakfast and dinner at the restaurants near the dorms or the factory gates and lunch in the Foxconn cafeteria. The food is more or less the same — noodles, vegetables, and skewers of meat and fish. Meals on campus are slightly cheaper, at about $1. Food at the stalls or restaurants costs about $1.30 to $3.15, depending on the dish.

Zhang and Chen thought little about economic mobility or a brighter future. When we asked what they hoped for the future, Zhang shrugged. At 27, Zhang seemed to have resigned himself to his current situation. After pausing for a moment, he said, "Whatever opportunity is better, that"s the future."

"Life was very simple in the village. We never really thought about the future. We just played marbles," he said. "I have no idea how long I"ll be here. One day, there may be a better opportunity. If there is, I"ll take it."

That better opportunity didn"t seem to be a promotion, a different career,