http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois Mon, 09 Nov 2026 15:21:21 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/130/beating-vegas-bringing-home-the-bacon http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/130 Grill. Right across from the restaurant there was a Union 76 station where we had traded and knew the owner. This day the owner, Fred, offered to buy us a drink at Fosters, and that is when he told us about his divorce, and having the need to sell his station. We were hooked, made a deal, and tried to run the business with the existing staff. Fortunately, we didn't quit our jobs, because neither I, nor Dick, liked being grease monkeys, so, we owned the station from May to August that year. Sold it, and got our money out of it, no pain no gain. Not long after that, we heard about a bowling alley out by the Santa Anita racetrack, and as luck would have it, we were able to make a deal, and unbelievably I was a partner in a thriving operation. No sooner than I got over the euphoria of my good fortune the A.B.C., the alcohol licensing people, came knocking on our door. Bad news for the kid, the rules were that since I was a minor, and we sold alcohol on the premises, I could not be a partner. I decided to buy back my share of the partnership, and Dick and I parted ways. I think he probably went back to Oregon where his family was from, and that is the last I ever heard of Dick Rohlffs. Just two ships in the night, and I believe was was happy to have the whole pie. I of course wasted by good fortune on clothes, cars, and girls, but that is for later. Part II - Part I Next: Part IV Buying, selling a house, bringing my mom and sister from Ohio, renting an apartment and much more. The gold was not glittering as much as it had before but life continues. See you next time, if you're still with me. ]]> Thu, 07 Mar 2013 13:40:14 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/108/escapades-of-a-19-year-old-in-la-circa-1955-58 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/108 Los Angeles, CA We resume this story from Part I, Why I Fled Ohio & Went West, and begin with first things: get a job, and find a place to live. Now that I know I can't be a HVAC Estimator, and my $200 dollars is down to less than $100 dollars, the business who says, "Yes," will be my first employer in the city which we now call "The Land of the Fruits and Nuts." The lucky employer was Cadillac Motor Car Division in downtown LA.. My illustrious position was, Mail Carrier, or something like that. Now I can speak disparagingly about it, but at the time I was exceedingly grateful to have a paycheck, and to be able to get back and forth to work on the bus line. For a place to live, I chose an apartment in South Pasadena at Fair Oaks Parkway and the entrance to the Pasadena Freeway, actually the first freeway ever built in Los Angeles. My rent was $65 dollars a month, sans utilities. My new stipend from Cadillac Motors was $200 dollars or so per month. And, you know what that meant! I had to wait a whole month for some cash-o-las. My money won't last, so, I had to do something to get some walking-around-money until the eagle landed. Back to the want ads. I found an ad for a door-to-door salesman to sell Cutko Knives and Cutlery which paid cash for results. Sounds good! I liked the merchandise I saw and there was but one little obstacle, they wanted me to pay for the samples. Well, I talked them out of that by explaining my situation, and they lent me a couple of hunting knives and some nice brochures to market the rest of the line. I was pretty sure I could hustle those knives and collect cash on the spot (even then there were many Latinos there and they loved knives, that much I knew), and return the next day to deliver the goods. Instant cash. It worked, and I made twenty or so dollars the first week. By the third or fourth week Cutko trusted me enough to give me the full complement of samples, and I continued knocking on doors at night, and carrying the mail dutifully, daily, at Cadillac Motors. I decided that I could get appointments if I told people that I would come by and sharpen their knives for free, if they would listen to my sales pitch. It worked, and every week I would send out thirty or forty $.03 cent postcards with a hand written note saying I would be by one night the next week. This kept me from getting the door slammed in my face, and I actually sold some full sets of cutlery for a pretty good pop. I didn't like door-to-door selling but for the while it would have to do. Pretty soon I was able to get a telephone, keep all my bills paid, and was saving for a car. The one advantage of Cadillac Motors was that the used car sales manager got to know me, and I was able to get a 40's model four door Cadillac for about $150 dollars. Now I had wheels, some new threads, and everything was full speed ahead. My Draft-dodging Attempt In Ohio I was a member of the National Guard, and I had to go register in the California National Guard to keep up with my eight year obligation, so register I did. There I met a fella named, Richard Rohlffs, who was the Battalion Sergeant Major, that seemed to want to share a Murphy's bed walk-up apartment. It seemed OK with me, and now I could have a little more green stuff left over each month. We bunked-up together, and he saw to it that I was promoted to Sergeant right-a-way, so I guess I could call that fortuitous or lucky. It turns out that Dick worked for the National Guard full time and he offered me a job in one of the Tank Battalions as an ASMT, translated to: Administrative, Supply, & Maintenance Technician, paying a hundred bucks a month more than Cadillac Motors and that was nothing to sneeze at for me at that time. Money was still tight and driving my beat-up old Cadillac didn't attract too many ladies to date. So, we decided to look round for a full time night job, and then I could stop selling knives and get a pay check for sure. We both found jobs working in the transit clearing departments where the banks sent all of their check transactions daily. Each bank had their own central clearing. Dick went to work for Security Bank, and I went to work for the Bank of America, on the night shift making more than our day job, and we got free bank accounts! So, naturally our wardrobes improved, and we began to go out on some dates. In a few days, Part III, Vegas, a Union Oil 76 station, a bowling alley, the fiasco of my first sally into the world of business, home-ownership, and much, much more! La Jolla Ocean Shore midway between LA & San Diego,
where real estate costed an arm and a leg! At this rate, this sounds more lake a soap-opera; so, we will see. When you get a little jingle in your pocket, it's amazing what can and does happen. See you in a couple of days. Other parts; Part I ]]> Tue, 19 Feb 2013 21:57:53 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/90/why-i-fled-ohio-went-west http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/90 ON THE ROAD TO PROSPERITY? Home, the weather, and a lot of confusions at, Rimbach Waterless, set my sights on Altadena, California , where my wealthy Aunt with two daughters about my age lived. I decided not to tell her I was going to descend upon her right then; but, I did so upon arrival at the Los Angeles Greyhound bus terminal, crowded with every form of humanity known to man. This was the image I held in my mind, when I set my sights on going west. This was supposed to be paradise, you know! Movie stars, Hollywood, where opportunities abounded back in 1954. Having been able to succeed at HVAC estimating I had no fear of not being able to be employed. Boy was I shocked to hear that you have to be certified, and have a four year degree to be an estimator. Bad news bears for the kid. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. I only wanted to take one suitcase, so I packed summer like clothes, and left all of the winter Ohio gear for the moths. I had about $ 200 s in my pocket and a lot of hope. The telephone call to my Aunt Ruth upon my arrival in LA beggars all description. I had never experienced rejection like that ; but in closing she said, You can stay for a couple of days, and then youre out. That was clear, crystal clear; so, the only good news was that I could get to her house by bus, and I could get back downtown LA by bus to look for work. After I said goodbye to my Aunt Ruth, that was the last time we ever spoke. I was told that I was not welcome, and I was admonished not to socialize with my cousins. Well, that door was definitely closed. My other Aunt, Medora, lived in West Covina, raised Scotties, and worked at the California Hospital in downtown LA. But, after the Aunt Ruth shock, I decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and that I would find an apartment, and a job before I called Aunt Medora. That proved to be the right decision. SOME OF THE EMOTIONS ALONG THE WAY During the two day+ bus trip hundreds of ideas were flying around in my head. To say I was having second thoughts and was fearful would be an understatement. I thought I had the job and the money thing would be under control, but when I hit the LA bus station I was struck with a slight panic attack. I had never seen so many people in one place even in NY , and the traffic in the city was bewildering, and frankly it was very intimidating, but I kept telling myself: I declared my independence to my parents, and come hell and high-water I was not going to admit that I had my doubts. Keep a stiff upper lip. Little did I know that those very trepidations would become reality in less than an hour. My complete and utter rejection by my, so called Aunt Ruth, really shook my confidence, and hurt my feelings no end, but there was no turning back. Shock number one was reading the newspaper, the LA Times, and seeing that nothing was like what I had imagined. I think I stayed at Ruth's house a day and a half. Made phone calls, and in short order I surveyed the job possibilities, but mostly I had to locate a place to live much sooner than I had planned, and my shekels were in short supply. I found an affordable one-room pull down bed apartment (Murphy Bed) with a bus stop right across the street. Problem solved for being able to get to work. If my money would just hold out until I could get a paycheck. My first job prospect of being a HVAC estimator flew out the window while I read the want ads, because all of those jobs required college degrees, 1-2 years experience. So, what to do? Get the first job, doing anything, I could find. On my first foray, I found the Cadillac Motor Car Division wanted a mail boy. They told me on the phone that they were on the bus line and I had struck pay dirt. I was hired on the spot...starting the very next day. That was the good news! The bad news was that the salary was less than I estimated my bills right now would be. I only brought clothes that fit in suitcase. Not quite office attire, but that would have to do. By the second or third day the girls in the office were teasing me unmercifully about my only clothes which of course I would never tell that that was all I had to wear. Payday was 2 weeks away, and all of it was already accounted for. No clothes this time around, but I guess I can stand the jibes. I breathed a short sigh of relief as I worried about trying to make ends meet. Now all I had to do was figure out how to make some money on the side. It was not easy, and I had to get scammed a few times before I figured out a short term fix. Amazingly, I got through those days with lots of time to lament and worry. The bus ride to downtown LA was like 30-40 minutes one-way so, the worry-monster took its toll on me. My eating was a can of tuna and crackers. That's it! But, I was over my first hump not thinking about the next one, but they sure came fast.
Part II , THE FIRST YEAR IN LOS ANGELES, a ride you wont believe, I guarantee it! ]]> Thu, 14 Feb 2013 10:58:06 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/78/the-self-destruction-of-newsvine http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/78 Mon, 11 Feb 2013 10:22:55 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/63/print-a-bicycle-with-a-3-d-printer http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/63 Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:30:03 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/62/new-3-d-printer-technology-can-turn-a-garage-into-a-manufacturing-hub http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/62 Chris Anderson, CEO, 3D Robotics
Carl Bass, President and CEO, Autodesk, Inc

Thanks to 3D printers and other increasingly cheap and easy digital desktop fabrication machines, the Web generation is now turning making physical things on a global scale. This is more than just tinkering and DIY; it's also spawning a new sort of manufacturing entrepreneurship, powered by crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and the spread of Makerspaces like TechShop.

How will this revolution impact traditional manufacturing and supply chain processesand how soon? How will it transform engineering? Where are the biggest opportunities for innovation and economic growth on the near horizon? What are the challenges? Don't miss this provocative and inspiring discussion between Chris Anderson, CEO of 3D Robotics and author of the new book, Makers: The New Industrial Revolution, and Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk, a leading 3D design software company.

Sponsor: SRI International Category Nonprofits & Activism License Standard YouTube License ]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:10:21 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/61/democratic-drama http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/61 Thu, 17 Jan 2013 22:26:33 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/59/laugh-about-the-three-preachers-joke http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/59 the students of Northern Michigan University at Marquette in the Upper
Peninsula of Michigan. They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk
shop. One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn't really all
that hard, a real challenge would be to preach to a bear. One thing led to another, and they decided to do an experiment. They would
all go out into the woods, find a bear, preach to it, and attempt to convert it to their religion. Seven days later, they all came together to discuss their experiences. Father Flannery, who had his arm in a sling, was on crutches, and had various bandages on his body and limbs, went first. 'Well,' he said, 'I went into the woods to find me a bear. And when I found
him, I began to read to him from the Catechism. Well, that bear wanted nothing to do with me and began to slap me around.
So I quickly grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and, Holy Mary Mother of God, he became as gentle as a lamb. The Bishop is coming out next week to give him first communion and confirmation.' Reverend Billy Bob spoke next. He was in a wheelchair, had one arm and both legs in casts, and had an IV drip. In his best fire-and-brimstone oratory, he exclaimed, 'WELL, brothers, you KNOW that we Baptists don't sprinkle! I went out and I FOUND me a bear. And then I began to read to my bear from God's HOLY WORD! But that bear wanted nothing to do with me. So I took HOLD of him and we began to wrestle. We wrestled down one hill, UP another and DOWN another until we came to a creek. So I quickly DUNKED him and BAPTIZED his hairy soul. And just like you said, he became as gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the day praising Jesus..Hallelujah! The Priest and the Reverend both looked down at the Rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed. He was in a body cast and traction with IVs and monitors running in and out of him. He was in really bad shape. The Rabbi looked up and said: "Looking back on it, ....circumcision may not have been the best way to start." ]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 10:38:13 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/58/corporate-greed-of-the-nra-gun-makers-fueling-massive-gun-and-ammunition-sales http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/58 Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:01:11 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/57/spiritual-reflection-seeing-faithfully http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/57 Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:29:07 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/56/who-is-charlie-courtois-great-great-grandfather http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/56 Dijon, France Died 27 September 1838 (Age 61) Nationality French Occupation chemist Knownfor discovering iodine Spouse(s) Madeleine Morand Parents Jean-Baptiste Courtois
Marie Ble Fairbanks Bernard Courtois , also spelled Barnard Courtois , (12 February 177727 September 1838) was a French chemist born in Dijon, France . My father, Fernand Pierre Courtois (1902-1974), was given Bernard's brother, Pierre's first name. Source: Wikipedia some years ago French chemist (17771838) Iodine is a chemical element with symbol I and atomic number 53. Courtois was the son of a saltpeter manufacturer from Dijon in France and as a small boy he worked in the plant showing an alert interest. He was later apprenticed to a pharmacist and subsequently studied at the Ecole Polytechnique under Antoine Fourcroy. During his military service as a pharmacist he became the first to isolate morphine in its pure form from opium .
Meanwhile his father's saltpeter business had been running into difficulties because the product could be manufactured more cheaply in India, and Courtois returned to help his father. Saltpeter was obtained from the seaweed washed ashore in Normandy; the ashes (known as varec) were leached for sodium and potassium salts. Courtois noticed that the copper vats in which the lye was stored were becoming corroded by some unknown substance. By chance, in 1811, during the process of extracting the salts, he added excess concentrated sulfuric acid to the lye (the solution obtained by leaching) and was astonished to see a vapor of a superb violet color that condensed on cold surfaces to form brilliant crystalline plates. Courtois suspected that this was a new element but lacked the confidence and the laboratory equipment to establish this and asked Charles Bernard Dsormes (17771862), the discoverer in 1801 of carbon dioxide , to continue his researches. His discovery was announced in 1813, and Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac and Humphry Davy soon verified that it was an element, Gay-Lussac naming it iodine (from the Greek for violet). ]]> Fri, 11 Jan 2013 11:48:54 -0500 http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/55/some-things-few-know-about-me http://thenewstalkers.com/charlie-courtois/blog/55
The most important person I ever met in my life was Winston Churchill. Not only did I get to meet him, but I was able to play bridge with him when he was the guest of honor at a friend of my mom's, fifty room castle in Stockholm, Sweden, just before his death. In the twenty's Countess Gunilla Hamilton, the second family of Sweden, and mom were roommates at finishing school in Paris. I was a guest in their home for two weeks while I was stationed in Gelnhausen, Germany in the Army. I had already begun to play tournament duplicate bridge and I was playing on the Dutch team in Frankfurt at Goethe Universidad attending night school. Christmas dinner was served for over a hundred guests in solid gold. There was a servant behind every chair, and naturally I was in complete awe forever more That I became the water melon king, Wassermelon Koenig, of Germany in the most daring entrepreneurial endeavor of my life, is an understatement. In 1963 I represented AGREXCO, the Israeli body which sold fruits and vegetables to Europe and it had been very profitable until I bit off more than I could chew. I purchased for my employer, Diversified Marketing International, five steamships full of watermelons, 100+ boxcars full. The melons came packed in eight-hundred kilo wooden boxes, and when I received a wire of their arrival in Trieste, Italy the ship captain's had dumped the whole lot on the pier there. It took eight or nine men to move a box - - so I had to fly fork-lifts in from Switzerland. By the time it was all said and done, I had lost $40,000 dollars, plus $18,000 in duty which court said I had to pay, despite the fact that the carrier delivered nothing but juice, maggots, flies and rotten melons to every major wholesaler in Germany. And, that wasn't the half of it.
As a result of experiencing my first merger and acquisition first hand, Norton Simon, buying my employer, Max Factor just when I thought I had been promoted to a regional manager, VP, position of the east coast, I bravely ventured out into my own self-employed venture. In little of no time I represented over forty companies, was manufacturing sun glasses under license from Italy, and I had become a part of a newly formed cosmetic manufacturing venture called Monica Simone. After W.T. Grant collapsed into bankruptcy, Sear Roebuck and Penny's discontinued all items under $5.00 dollars retail, a newly formed public company, Monica Simone, suffered a humiliating demise. After trying more schemes than I care to go into, I vowed never to sell another thing again. For the next twenty-two years I sold concepts and ideas - - - very successfully, and at a lot more profit than my watermelons or cosmetics. This concludes this piece, and a few exciting parts of my world-wide escapades. ]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:21:44 -0500