Anti-Nuclear Shock Doctrine after the Japan Tsunami

Some things are so unpalatable, the mere suggestion of them is taboo. And herein lies the opportunity for some.; those willing to do whatever it takes to win.

Comparing and Contrasting Advanced Education with Mubarak of Egypt and Gaddafi of Libya

Understanding the current state and future of advanced education (i.e. College degree from a top university, Master degree, PhD, etc) is essential to deal with the critical problems we face in our country today such as competing with a global workforce, resource depletion, global warming, overpopulation, the future potential for a major military conflict between powers, clashing cultures, etc.  As an investor, board member, and CEO, one of the biggest challenges that I’ve always faced is a poorly educated workforce. I don’t have problems with people’s technical knowledge (i.e. knowledge of subjects such as marketing, engineering, finance, etc.). I have a problem with their “character” (for lack of a better term)

Facebook vs. WikiLeaks: How the quest for perfection impact our control tactics

I recently listened to an interview with a school teacher who was fired from her job because she had “inappropriate” pictures on her Facebook page – she was wearing a pirate outfit at a Halloween party holding a beer. I was amused to hear the two sides of the argument of whether teachers should exhibit exemplary behavior for their communities:

Sarah Palin is working out better than we expected

It’s amazing how easy it is to manipulate and sidetrack people. We put Sarah Palin in to ensure that Obama won the election.

A Sputnik Moment or a boiled frog?

President Obama has declared that America is facing a Sputnik moment. This has also been echoing around in the press. The suggestion is that China’s economic rise in overtaking the US, notably in education and technologies such as clean energy, is a defining moment. When the Soviets/Russians launched the world’s first satellite, Sputnik in 1957, it created a massive stir in the United States, galvanizing our space program, and culminating in the US first moon landing 12 years later. Is this a Sputnik moment? This question is really two different but related questions: Firstly, is this “event” as significant as Sputnik? Probably. Secondly, is the impact as significant – is it as noticeable? Probably not. Knowing that a Russian satellite is orbiting over your head is just more significant than knowing that China’s economic rise is threatening the United States even though you can’t directly see either one of them. It’s like the old tale of throwing a frog into boiling water – he immediately jumps out. But if you stick him in warm water and heat it up to boiling, he won’t notice, and will die in the boiling pot.

Brown or Whitman – what level are you thinking at?

A big topic of discussion in California at the moment is: Jerry Brown or Meg Whitman. In any election, when people ask me who do I favor, I always chuckle a bit on the inside, because who anybody votes for depends on how you view the purpose of elections and what you believe the long term prospects are for the political environment of your state or the Federal Government. You can’t have a conversation of substance about any election with anybody unless you first determine what level you’re operating at. Most of this is pretty obvious, but let’s review this.

A Risk and Downturn Analysis: Where should you be hiring?

One of the most common questions people are asking me: I want to hire in the US, but it’s so much more economical to build organizations overseas, how should I be looking at this problem. The first question I fire back is are you a public or private company?

Going Green with Electric Cars: Energy Policy or Just Sexy?

See video for a brief overview. This is a long blog entry; the latest version with complete edits is available on Kindle.
(c) Copyright 2010 Bernie Landoz, All Rights Reserved

 

Energy is on people’s minds. Oil addiction leads to global instability, possibly global warming, and the potential for a huge world wide economic collapse and conflict as we start running out of reasonably priced oil sometime in our children’s or grandchildren’s lifetime. Perhaps we take comfort in doing our part by using green products, for example Hybrid Cars or the new Electric Cars. Perhaps we take comfort in believing that those who have offered these new Electric Cars to us are taking part in an intelligent, well thought out, coordinated effort to solve our energy problems. Are the Markets wise? If so, what drives them? Let’s dig in. This is a holistic problem. In order to understand this extremely complex issue, we will have to dig into the source of our electric power, which by the way is the largest contributor to greenhouse gases in the US – about one third, but uses virtually no oil. Hmmm, this sounds like a fun and challenging puzzle….