Author: CBPS

Peter Mehit is co-founder and Managing Partner of Custom Business Planning and Solutions, a business consulting firm that provides problem solving, planning and process help. He has worked from private equity to the Fortune 100 at all stages. He can be reached at pmehit@wbpllc.com or at 800-741-8444.

Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Award of $27 Million to Fuel Nation’s Largest State-Sponsored Clean Energy Jobs Training Program

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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the 34 recipients of $27 million in grants jump-starting the California Clean Energy Workforce Training Program (CEWTP), the largest state-sponsored green jobs training program in the nation announced by the Governor on August 31, 2009. Under the this first phase of the program, anticipated to train 5,600 participants, workers will be prepared for hands-on jobs, such as installing solar panels and maintaining electric vehicles to computer programming and researching fuel cell technologies, to help develop the state’s low-carbon, clean energy economy of tomorrow.

“California’s goals in renewable energy development, climate change reduction, clean transportation and green building are driving green job growth – and these funds are pivotal to building a workforce to meet that demand,” said Governor Schwarzenegger. “This program represents the kind of innovative thinking needed to steer our economy toward a greener future while targeting the unemployed, underemployed and new workforce members at a time when we must do everything possible to help Californians return to work.”

Continue reading “Gov. Schwarzenegger Announces Award of $27 Million to Fuel Nation’s Largest State-Sponsored Clean Energy Jobs Training Program” →

Las Vegas Paper Sues Small Bloggers – Dispatches Withdraws Post, States Policy

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The article that used to appear at this URL, ‘The People Living in Drains Below Las Vegas’, has been withdrawn because it was published by the Las Vegas Sun, the sister paper of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The Journal has engaged the services of a firm named RightHaven, who is using the copyright law to sue little blog sites like this one for posting full text reprints of their articles, even though the paper is fully credited for it.

Their theory is they are losing money through lost clicks. Anyone with a website can tell you clicks do not a conversion make. So the truth is these are extortion shake downs of people who are, in reality,  promoting the sources of the articles.

We have always only posted excerpts of articles with links to their original sources. But the Journal is suing people for doing that. On that basis, we will not link to, or run any content from the Las Vegas Sun or the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Any links or posts linked to or referencing articles published by these two papers will be deleted as soon as they are discovered.

NOTE TO LAWYERS:

This site is a small community created for our friends and clients to share business news along with the cool things we bump into on the internet. We always include a link to the original source. If we cannot include a link, we do not post it, period. We always credit the source. We are not thieves.

We also promote posted articles using both Twitter and Facebook, expanding the marketing footprint of the originating source. We think this is a nice thing to do and we do not charge for it. If, however, a source does not wish to avail themselves of our kindness, please inform us and we will remove the article, just like we did here.

Otherwise, file suit. You won’t win and you know it.

Bloggers Must Disclose Payment for Reviews or Pay Big | Associated Press

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The Federal Trade Commission on Monday took steps to make product information and online reviews more accurate for consumers, regulating blogging for the first time and mandating that testimonials reflect typical results.

The FTC will require that writers on the Web clearly disclose any freebies or payments they get from companies for reviewing their products. The commission also said advertisers featuring testimonials that claim dramatic results cannot hide behind disclaimers that the results aren’t typical.
Continue reading “Bloggers Must Disclose Payment for Reviews or Pay Big | Associated Press” →

The Singularity and Society | Fast Company

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Once possible view of the future:

The use of the term “Singularity” comes from physics, where it describes a point of collapsed space-time, typically at the center of a black hole; the underlying claim is that all of our knowledge of how the universe works is irrelevant within a Singularity. This is the root of the metaphorical use of the term–after a Singularity event, everything we know will change in ways we can’t now understand. In the early 1990s, Mathematician and science fiction writer Vernor Vinge was the first to clearly articulate this usage of the term, and begins his essay as follows:

Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended.

Read Article.

The Cure For Unhappyness | Peter Mehit

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It won't go down!
It won't go down!

I would break into sweat. Not a glistening sheen but rolling drops down the side of my face. My back would soak through my shirt. It didn’t matter that room was air conditioned or that it was a Ventura winter day of fifty degrees. Anyone who looked at me would assume that I was crossing the Mohave in the teeth of summer.

My physician, a strikingly beautiful Italian woman whose calm green eyes and lilting accent I can still remember clearly, told me that I was having a ‘thyroid storm’. It’s a condition where the thyroid gland goes crazy and starts over producing hormones. The sweats were the spikes in production. She scheduled me for tests and prescribed Inderal, a blood pressure medication, saying that it would reduce the symptoms.

My girlfriend at the time and I had a good sex life. It was a long distance relationship and we enjoyed, no, needed it to be that way. So it wasn’t a happy event when the desire was there, but the ability to perform suddenly wasn’t. She was confused, I was embarrassed. Basically uncool all around.
Continue reading “The Cure For Unhappyness | Peter Mehit” →

Time Magazine’s Justin Fox: “Some Financial Market Conspiracies Are Real” | zero hedge

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If you’ve swallowed the blue pill, this article will be too strong:

Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge blew the whistle on Goldman’s high-frequency trading and other frontrunning activities, and has also been called a conspiracy theorist.

PhD economist, former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, and former Wall Street Journal editor Paul Craig Roberts says that the government and mainstream media are lying to the American public about how bad the economic situation really is.

PhD economist Dean Baker said in February that the true purpose of the bank rescues is “a massive redistribution of wealth to the bank shareholders and their top executives”.

PhD economist Michael Hudson says that the financial “parasites” have killed the American economy, and they are “sucking as much money out” as they can before “jumping ship”.

PhD economist Michel Chossudovsky says that the giant banks which received the most bailout money also finance a portion of the government’s debt, and are exercising their power as creditors to buy public assets for a song and to impose IMF-style austerity measures on the U.S. government.

If you want to understand so you can make a way for you and your loved ones read this.

Toyoda says company is ‘grasping for salvation’, fears big sales loss | AutoWeek Magazine

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We are grasping for salvation,” Toyoda said, adding that the company already has spiraled through the first three stages: (1) hubris born of success, (2) undisciplined pursuit of more and (3) denial of risk and peril. His self-admonitions echoed the apologies commonly made by Japanese executives who take responsibility for financial turmoil or corporate scandal.


Read Article.

With Latest Attack, Birds Send a Message to Humans, Sully | Daily Intel New York Magazine

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With Latest Attack, Birds Send a Message to Humans, Sully

Last night, a Delta flight approaching La Guardia was the victim of a vicious kamikaze bird attack that left blood, feathers, and a surprisingly large dent in the nose of the plane (which landed safely).

Not at all coincidentally, it was announced the day before that Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, hero pilot of the Miracle on the Hudson and the sworn enemy of birds everywhere, would be returning to the cockpit as some kind of safety adviser for US Airways, which seems pretty appropriate.

Clearly then, this collision, with its unavoidably gruesome results, was a symbolic act of muscle-flexing. Just as Iran or North Korea test missiles when they feel threatened, the birds meant this as a message and a warning:

We are not afraid. We can strike at will. And your precious Sully cannot protect you.

Bernie Madoff Gored By Wall Street Bull

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Bernie Madoff's wild ride (Photo AP)
Bernie Madoff's wild ride (Photo AP)

I appreciate the sentiment expressed by this sculpture by Chinese artist Chen Wenling, but it’s confusing. What is coming out of the ass of this bull? How would you frame a critique of this piece?

The criminal is pinned to the wall of justice by a raging, avenging, fart powered bull, demonstrating that crime is dealt a swift, brutal and smelly blow.

Sometimes, I just don’t understand fine art.