To: The Weatherization Department
The Friday Report Friday August 16, 1996
FromWright Energy's
Weatherization Network Since 1984
970-349-0551 fax970-349-0923 voice Doc@CrestedButte.com
CAP's For Profit Part II
In response to last weeks article on acquiring legal advice as the 1st step toward realizing a portion of CAP funding through profit making sub ventures, Mr. Russell Clark, Weatherization Administrator, Arizona Energy Office writes;
"If several CAP's invest in legal advice on the 'for profit' question and a legal framework-case history is built up on this question perhaps at some point further CAP investment (and putting the lawyer's children through college, paying off the Mercedes cars, etc.etc.) isn't necessary any longer. We don't want to see hundreds of CAPs across the country spending $1,000 each to answer the question for the next ten years."
Of course Mr. Clark is correct; While the wheel needs to be rounded out, smoothed, polished and greased, it does not need to be reinvented.
Though it is true that in many cases there are differences in CAP and State charters, etc. it must also be true that there are also multiple similarities.How to share this information?
The "Information Age" is truly upon us. The simple and continuing fact is that information via the World Wide Web is inexpensive, easy, and efficient. And it becomes more so every day.
To get the "wheels rolling" I would like to place this legal information in a special WebSite accessible to interested CAP personnel. It is a quite simple task to scan clearly written text into a computer and "upload" it on to the web.
If you have an interest in this please let us know.
Is Getting "On The Web" Worth It?
Do you spend time, money and effort communicating? Long distance phone calls? Mail? Heavy documents? Some CAPs probably spend the equivalent of a years web access plus the cost of a modem just in mailing out those big bid packages.
I know that many people lament and wish for the old days when, "things were simpler, slower" and all that, but I don't see too many people adding up figures by hand either. I love this stuff.
Often times I could communicate with three people via email while I'm on hold! Now you tell me which is more efficient?
Just how hard and expensive is it to go online?
First you buy a modem. ( The word modem by the way is "short" for modulate - demodulate) In other words one modem translates the computer gibberish into a language the telephone lines can pass on and then another retranslates the mess back into computer language. So think of the modem as a "Translation Station". But you don't have to know that.
All you really have to do is spent the $100 or so to get a nice 28.8 modem and plug it in.
WHAT! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT COMPUTERS! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO "PLUG IT IN!" Yes you do.
Think of the modem as like a telephone answering machine or VCR. Remember how scary those were? Remember how the VCR is just a link between the antenna or cable wire and TV? And the answering machine is just a link in the telephone wire? Same thing with the "Translation Station". One end of the phone wire goes into it / and another wire comes of of it and plugs into the back of the computer. ( The plugs only fit into certain sockets - like a puzzle.)
Then you look in your local paper for an Internet Service Provider (ISP). There are probably several of them so you can just call a few until you find someone to talk to that sounds like they've been in their job more that two weeks. Then you've found an expert that can easily help you through a few simple steps and Zing Zang Zoom! Your cruising!
(Remember. Every one who calls starts out by saying, "I don't know anything about this but". They are trained for it.)
When you get there please send me some email.
"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943
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