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Steve Jobs' Missing License Plate

An anonymous reader writes "One of the famous stories about Steve Jobs is that he used to drive around in a Mercedez Benz sports car with no license plates, and that he would sometimes park in Handicapped spots on Apple's Cupertino campus. Jon Callas, who used to work on OS security at Apple, explains how Jobs was able to do this legally."

13 of 579 comments (clear)

  1. Legal loopholes by sohmc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He's okay with exploiting legal loopholes but when people want to jailbreak their phones, it's all of the sudden "let's get litigious and sue anyone that does this!"

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  2. Sounds like a Slashdotter by unassimilatible · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The tinfoil hat crowd, "government out of my life" - unless they are talking about big companies they don't like, then it's, "rain down the wrath of Big Government on them!"

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    1. Re:Sounds like a Slashdotter by Fred+Ferrigno · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Corporations and people are different. Different rules ought to apply according to those differences. Do we need inspectors to visit your home kitchen to make sure you're cooking all your meat to 165 degrees and don't leave food out? No, of course not. You have the choice to prepare your own food however you'd like because you're only taking the risk upon yourself. But they'd damn well better inspect factory farms and commercial restaurants as those have the potential to affect thousands of people.

      It isn't about "small government" or "big government". Those are just slogans. It's about applying the policy that suits the situation without deciding that it has to be one way or another ahead of time.

  3. OWS by should_be_linear · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You know this economic system is broken when 40M people cannot see a doctor when they need to, and guy celebrated as next prophet is changing AMG Mercedes every 6 months, so he can avoid having a damn license plate.

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    1. Re:OWS by StikyPad · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not to mention getting a liver transplant with full-blown pancreatic cancer* which had already metastasized**, possibly due to his unwillingness to undergo surgery at an earlier date***, by adding himself to the transplant list in multiple states****. And he actually bad-mouthed Bill Gates for doing full-time philanthropy... I'm no Gates fan, especially during his reign at MS, but give me a break.

      * Generally a no-no, but I guess they make exceptions for billionaires.
      ** According to second-hand accounts, though it's unlikely he'd need a new liver unless the cancer had already spread. And transplanting an organ due to secondary (metastasized) cancer is a HUGE no-no, but again, I guess they make exceptions for billionaires.
      *** There's no way to know for sure if his delay made any difference, but regardless, it's almost as bad as giving a lung transplant to a patient who keeps smoking after their diagnosis.
      **** Not illegal, but most people can't afford to do it.

  4. can we please stop the steve jobs postings? by rla3rd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The guy undeniably left his mark on the industry, and general consensus is that personally he was an ass. Nothing else new to see here, please move along.

  5. Re:Parking in Handicap by digitalsushi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There was no reserved parking at apple. It was one of those "round table" things - first come first served, no one felt superior about their parking place. Very frustrating since there wasn't visitor parking either. You're really left to the wolves if you show up at 11 :)

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  6. Re:Legally... by chill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You are making the assumption his ego wasn't this big before he made his money. From all indications, it was. His fortune didn't change him. It just let him act on some of his impulses.

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  7. Re:What does "flaunt law" mean? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I haven't read the biography but I'm pretty sure Jobs was an asshole and I don't need a story like this to confirm it. He also did good things but parking illegally wasn't one of them. From what I know, he's always done it. I don't know what belief system others have but my opinion is that dying from 9 years of cancer at 56 is karma. Now don't misunderstand that I wish anyone dead but I believe you have to answer what you've done in the end.

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  8. How to park illegally by ThatsNotPudding · · Score: 3, Insightful

    We all know everyone in Cupertino down to the dog catcher was terrified of Steve Jobs getting pissed off and moving his giant filthy lucre machine. He could have shot a nun in the face inside Cupertino City Hall and there would have been no witnesses.

  9. what a dick by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 3, Insightful

    People who get busted for parking in handicapped stalls should be forced to use a wheelchair for a week instead of a ticket. It's inconsiderate, lazy and just plain douchebaggery. Don't care who you are.

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  10. I don't understand why people worship this guy by geman · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Makes no sense to me why people worship this guy. No one who ever worked with or for him really liked him. He treated people like shit. Thought the rules that we all have to follow don't apply to him. Thought he could cure cancer with herbs and diet. Yea... he was a good businessman, I will give him that. Every apple product I have ever bought has broken within a year or two, honestly i think the zune is a better product that the ipod. Speaking of Zune. Poor freaking Bill Gates. This guy is a brilliant programmer (which Steve Jobs could never do) and a businessman. And if he dies no one is going to be crying outside of best buy and putting post it notes on windows. In addition Steve Jobs ignored and denied one of his own children for the first 10 years of her life, and also never gave a cent to any charities. Bill Gates is giving away basically his entire fortune to help the less fortunate. Gates has done more for the world that Apple ever will. Yea sucks that he died, we all will die, move on.

  11. Re:Legally... by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The laws only apply to the 99%.

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