Business

USDA Celebrates National Small Business Week

• Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announces $4.7 million in additional investment for rural small businesses

He also announced the selection of recipients for USDA’s Rural Business Enterprise Grants. USDA remains focused on carrying out its mission, despite a time of significant budget uncertainty.

“Small businesses are the

TANM News:

“New Mexico Spirit” is a community-based customer service-training program being offered in Los Alamos and to tourism destinations and attractions.

This statewide program will train employees on the virtues of great southwestern hospitality and will teach them how to provide memorable experiences for our guests.

The training will take place 1:30-3:30 p.m. Friday, June 21 at 335 Central Park Square (third floor of 135 Central Park Square) and is hosted by the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce. The cost is $5 for Chamber members and $15 for non-members.

A mini-sumo robot construction class ending in a mini-sumo tournament is being sponsored by The Hive.

General contest rules are available at http://www.robotroom.com/SumoRules.html.

Specific rules or variations for this contest will be posted at www.pelowitz.com/contest.

The construction class and competition are free and open to all. Class will be limited to no more than 20 participants. Register with Dave Jones (ferljones@yahoo.com).
For the class, a mini-Sumo robot kit must be purchased by the class participant and brought to the first class.

Money IQ

The U.S. Economy 2013-So Far So Good

The U.S. economy has been fairly resilient so far in 2013, despite facing many challenges. The fiscal cliff, the combination of tax increases and government spending cuts that began at the start of the year were largely averted.

The debt limit was increased, avoiding a contentious debate with potential negative ramifications for the economy. Finally the $85 billion in spending cuts that were agreed upon in 2011 as part of the debt ceiling reductions started in March of this year and are beginning to be felt across the economy.

ALBUQUERQUE – Dr. Mike Sather, Director of the VA Cooperative Studies Program Clinical Research Pharmacy Coordinating Center in Albuquerque, was appointed for a three year term by the U.S. Secretary of Commerce to the Judges’ Panel for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. 

The appointment was effective March of 2013. The Panel of twelve judges meet three times during the award cycle to discuss the Award process, select Award applications to receive site visits and, ultimately, recommend Award recipients to the Secretary of Commerce.

Dr.

From Branding To Identity

I appreciate people taking the time to give me feedback. The branding piece last week evoked some strong feelings. 

I cannot claim that a large number of readers resonated with my piece; I can only say that the people who responded to me by and large shared my expressed sentiment. One of the suggestions that struck me – and I have heard this view repeatedly since we moved here in 2002 – is that this town takes forever to make decisions.

Based on my brief sojourn at the Lab, as well as the steady stream of stories I have been hearing for more than a

Column by Liviu Popa-Simil

• Earth population by March 2012 > 7 billion;
• Food a security issue;
• Fresh water abundance started to be a main concern and a problem too – desalinization technology may help – but not too much; and
• DOE funded SMRs.

But here we are of divergent opinions:

• DOE’s nuclear funding is more shy than ever; and
• SMR is just a trick to go around a misinformed public opinion, because all the technologies

The Thompson Ridge Fire has forced the cancellation of the annual Run the Caldera Marathon event.

Mike Lippiatt from the Los Alamos Chamber of Commerce said that more than 450 participants had registered up to the time the event was cancelled earlier this week.

Lippiatt addressed the short and longterm impact the cancellation of Run the Caldera may have on the local economy.

"It is impossible to quantify the loss of revenue due to the event being cancelled but the impact to our local businesses is quite significant," Lippiatt said in a news release.

Dave Pelowitz shows the class a microcontroller project using a LCD display. Photo by Greg Kendall/ladailypost.com

During May, The Hive held a free class for those interested in learning how to build projects using the Arduino Microcontroller kit. 

Dave Pelowitz provided each student with an Arduino kit and explained how to use it.

Your Money: Is Your Investment Philosophy Based On The Daily News?

Let’s face it: Many of us are addicted to the news, whether or not we want to admit it. Every second of every day, there is a non-stop barrage of fresh, new events to scare us.

Yes, to scare us.

Consider this: When you watch TV news or read a newspaper or follow your social media news feed, there is generally a smattering of feel-good stories.