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History of covered hidden passages in Paris, as the main example of the 18th century Paris culture, architecture and lifestyle

Alexandre Carcel

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You may have visited or considered take some vacations in Paris. Yet, you may not have heard about “covered passages” in the heart of the French capital. These historical spaces represent 18th century Paris daily lifestyle. This show the will of wealth appearance of French architecture and culture. Let’s give an insight of one the most typical architectural Parisian style, and remind of their history.

At the end of the 18th century, former nobility and ecclesiastical domains were expropriated during the French Revolution (1789-1799), leading to an important real estate speculative bubble. The bourgeoisie bought a large number of mansions, buildings, and had organised Paris urbanization.
The most cost-effective type of construction were covered passages.

Credit : Naotake Murayama (Flickr)

Paris covered passages are a furnished lanes maze amid buildings, topped by glass canopy and sheltering shopping facilities. These are also shortcuts allowing you to move from one street to another one, being sheltered. This type of development allows speculators to make their bought fields the best profitable, at a lower cost than creating a new street.
Immune to the wind, the rain, the cold or the sun, new commercial grid was created.

At this time, streets are congested public spaces, badly illuminated, the pavement is narrow, water running off in the middle, without the sidewalk. Carriages and carts tried to find a way in this crowded environment, pedestrians are not covered from their splashes. Covered passages were created for luxury customers. These passages are not a simple commercial street, but a whole commercial centre with shops, cafés, restaurants, and show venues.

To remain attractive, covered passages localisation were primordial, close to superb locations (theaters, train station, etc …) and must have a traverse function (shortcut street).

Moreover, in this romantic period (early 19th century), loitering is trendy and covered passages became a privileged strolling zone. They became a “rendez-vous” location, where couples went to a restaurant after going to the theater, and then could take a walk due to the fact that at night time, these singular streets were lightened by gas since 1816.
This lifestyle corresponds to the privileged class: bourgeoisie. The new bourgeoisie, from finance and trading. The context was also peaceful, the end of Napoleonic wars brought back economic prosperity.

  • Covered passages architectural inspiration:

1/ Covered marketplace: in France, food retail had been organised in a vast space, covered by a roof or pillars frame or oriental souks.

2/ Bridges layout to commerce. Luxury shops installation on bridges: Rialto in Venise, Pont Notre-Dame or Pont au Change in Paris, therefore on a required passage.

Credit : Galerie Vivienne – Kathleen Conklin (Flickr)
  • Covered passages architecture

They’re covered by glass canopy offering a zenith lighting giving it a singular light. It’s formed as an indoor street, were shops on ground floor, with housing on the upper floors of the building framing the passage.

The facade decor is a neoclassic style: ledges molding. The decoration varies along the passage location. Sophistication relates to the will of appeal luxury commerce: plaster sculpture, bas-relief, a marouflaged canvas which brighten the whole. Colour effects are particularly appealing (EX Galerie Véro-Dorat).

Plenty of shops cares about their storefront look, reaching a wealth appearance. These storefronts are often composed of precious metals. For example, Véro-Dorat passage with elegant brass baguettes, and sophisticated painted roofs.
Luxury appearance was being sought: fake marble, fake wood, trompe l’oeil as a theatrical decoration.

Credit : Naotake Murayama (Flickr)

Covered passages were really fashionable in the 1st third of the 19th century, but after the July 1830 revolution, frequent riots made the city less safe. Epidemics as the plague (1832) made also the city insalubrious. From 1840, it was wanted to reorganise the city and giving it more transparency. This resulted under the Second Empire to a new conception of Paris urban environment. Baron Haussmann instituted a development project: large avenues, demolition, new topography, new department stores which short-circuited covered passages. These ones became disused and abandoned because insalubrious.

During the 20th century, these passages remained disuse and confronted to Parisians, tourists and state organisation ignorance. Only in the 1970s, following Pavillons de Baltard destruction (1972) the State became aware of the glass and cast-iron construction architectural and urban interest.

Aware of patrimony frailty, these passages are, for the most part, protected on the behalf of the French historic monuments organisation (ISMH).
This registration helps to limit abusive restorations or demolitions of these privates spaces. The Paris City act since 2004 to protect these areas.

Source credit: Ms. Vercier, Paris tourism expert, which provided essential knowledge about the covered passages history.

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Alexandre Carcel


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The trials and tribulations of an ESL Teacher

Elaine Brennan

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Being a TEFL teacher is one of the jobs that lets you travel to wonderful corners of the globe while also earning money. However it does depend on where you work. It is undoubtedly a most rewarding job seeing students being able to greet you in the corridor who would have balked at speaking a sentence three months before. However it is indeed not all roses, and certainly not lacking in work. Here are some of the many complaints I heard from teachers in our (sweetness and light-filled) staffroom:

1.Not being able to plan for any moment, in any form.

2. Asking students to repeat themselves until the conversation has gone past acceptability in awkwardness.

3. Talking about the finer points(or lack thereof) of Diceys.

4. Splitting a gut trying to switch the projector on on a teetering chair… culminating in explosion and (hopefully) laughter.

5. Explaining why tea with milk is the ultimate delicacy..not spuds or Guinness. And what’s so disgusting about it? Ungrateful sods.

6. Teaching the whole class Riverdance; then sitting back to watch the repeat performance yelling out instructions. e.g. KNEES HIGHER! WOULD MICHAEL FLATLEY BE PROUD OF THIS? JEAN BUTLER WILL HAVE TO GO BACK TO SELLING CHOCOLATES!

7. Making repair work seem like a life-changing classroom moment. (oh, look at the computer, it just rose from the ashes of the classroom!)

8. Practicing drama to perfection..cue Pink Panther music.

9.Working nine to five…and then some. Sure what were evenings made for only mountains of corrections….

10. Socialising in the pub on a Friday evening downstairs from the main building.

11. Literally living for the weekend.

12. But living through the week even more, and realising how lucky you are to be doing something you love. To teachers!

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Elaine Brennan

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I first met Jay Simmons (he/him/his) several years ago when I cast him as several different genders and roles in a production of QUEER! For Gadfly Theatre Productions. It’s a hard show, especially when you’re still finding yourself, and he completely stole the show multiple times. Since then I’ve followed his growth as both a genderfluid trans man activist and ludicrously gifted actor and overall theatre artist — since getting his start, he’s also performed with Mixed Blood Theater and with the Minneapolis syndicate of the One Minute Play Festival, to name just a couple. A lifelong love of improv has also turned into an artistic career for Simmons in it’s own right. He is one of the mainstays of Lavender Panic improv troupe and can frequently be seen performing at improv venues around the Twin Cities. That would be enough for a lot of performers, but as an artist with an overflowing cup of creative talent and passion to give, Simmons has recently taken up drag as well and is already gaining a bit of a following performing at amateur nights and contests as Jax Hoff. Here’s more from Simmons about himself, his art, and queerness.

How do you describe yourself as an artist?
I’m an actor, drag king, improver, writer, and a semi-good dancer. I want to make black trans people not only visible on the stage but put center as much as possible.

What made you choose theatre and improv as your original medium, and what are your current goals there?
It’s a funny story, I started acting at the age of 12 because I found out I couldn’t play basketball anymore due to a leg injury. I ended up becoming extremely passionate about it, doing it through out high school and I branched out to Improv after doing a couple classes on it and teaching it in high school for a summer program. I fell in love with the stage, with pretending to be another character, and both improv and theatre have given me the opportunity to play with my gender and gender expression a lot, so it’s helped me much with figuring that out in my personal life. My current goals right now are writing a performance/visual arts piece based upon transitioning along with just (acting in) any show that piques my interest, is unique or involves people who loves the arts as much as I do.

What’s your favorite acting you’ve done on stage so far? What theatre and comedy do you love and/or what work influences you?
My favorite acting I’ve done on stage has definitely got to be playing Beta in Mixed Blood’s production of Charm. It was my first time truly playing a part that represented me as a trans man, to the T (Pun intended). I also met some amazing people during the production that ended up being some of my best friends to this day, and I found things out about my acting ability and what lengths I could go that I never knew. What work influences me is spoken word. I feel that is one of the purest types of arts. There are so many different types. and so many things you can do with it. The barrier for how angsty it can be really does not exist. And while I understand the stigma behind angsty work, I feel angsty is good, it’s a person’s true, bare feelings. It often brings out the things in society that no one wants to talk about and that’s what I want to be able to do with my work.

How has your performance style changed as you’ve transitioned? How has it changed as the political climate has changed so much over the past couple of years?
When I first started acting, I used to go for roles that were for comedic relief. While those roles are still fun for me to do, many of them don’t have much depth to them. As I’ve continued to transition, I’ve sensed the want and the need to stray away from just getting a laugh, but to really challenge people’s minds. I feel that art is the one thing that can really open a person’s mind to feeling emotions that are usually bottled up. It can make people laugh, it can make them cry, it can make them feel pain and in a society where people are so apathetic to what’s happening around them I feel it’s my duty to open them up, to make them see what’s going on in the world. That’s why I tend to go for more roles that allows me to do that, to challenge them, to MAKE them SEE the people that are suffering from injustices and to what extent those injustices are.

You’re getting into drag now, and in my opinion you’re doing awesome. What made you decide to pick up a new art form and go for it?
Aww, you’re so sweet! My drag name is Jax Hoff, I would recommend saying it out loud to see what I did there. But what made me pick it up is that I recently got into the ball scene. For anyone who doesn’t know who that is, they should see Paris is Burning. A lot of the ball scene is trying to pull off a character, and after seeing a lot of my friends getting into the drag scene I started to see the similarities of doing drag and walking in a ball. Plus, I love dancing and I love music, so it all just seemed to fit together.

How’s the drag scene been so far for you? What are some of your hopes and goals for a career in drag?
The drag scene has been amazing for me so far. I’ve met so many new people, reconnected with old friends, and it’s been refreshing to try out a new medium. It’s let me do some crazy things on stage that probably a year ago I’d never do. One of them may involve stripping down to my underwear. I’m just glad I gave it a try. In the future I hope to join a drag king group or do more duets with people. As much as I love dancing by myself, I want to incorporate other people’s styles with my routine and have fun together. I’m also thinking about throwing a benefit for my top surgery fund with a bunch of drag kings, so look out for that in the future.

Is there a through line across genres and mediums in the message in your work?
Yeah, black trans lives matter. I can’t say that in simpler terms. We’re here, we exist, we’re not going away anytime soon and people better get used to seeing us. Even when I’m not doing a show based upon my identity, it’s still very much about that and the strides were making into the world of art, theatre, etc. For instance when I played Sebastian in The Little Mermaid, of course the show wasn’t about any my identities, but I still was the first transman to play Sebastian. That’s still crazy for me to think about, but it’s showing strides are being made in the theatre world for people like me. Don’t sleep on us.

What events do you have coming up? How else can we support you?
Upcoming events: Hair – Opening April 21st at Century College; I’ll be playing Hud.
Drunk Queer History – March 1st with Gadfly Theatre
Look out for shows with my all queer improv troupe Lavender Panic! You can also find Lavender Panic on Facebook.

I have a Go Fund Me Up for my transition and you can find that at
www.gofundme.com/JaysTRANSformation; and you can find me at Lush doing drag most Thursdays. Come support me as Jax Hoff!

Anything else you want to say about art, life, queerness or anything else?
Support, support, support your local artists. Especially support your local queer POC artists, ESPECIALLY queer femme POC. With how our political climate currently is and how our government is being run, the society that was already set against queer POC people has tripled in danger and now especially is the time to come together, look past yourselves and your own comfortability and support communities that aren’t necessarily your own. Allyship is key in this hard time.

The Column is a community-supported non-profit news, arts, and media organization. We depend on community support to continue the work of solid LGBT-centric journalism. If you like this article, consider visiting Give MN to make a contribution today.


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Source: Wikipedia commons
DFL legislators in the Minnesota House introduced a bill during the legislative recess on Friday to repeal a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage from the 2012 ballot. The bill faces high hurdles as the Republicans still control the House.

Here’s text of the bill:

H.F. No. 1885, as introduced – 87th Legislative Session (2011-2012) Posted on Jan 13, 2012

A bill for an act relating to marriage; repealing a proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution recognizing marriage as only a union between one man and one woman;repealing Laws 2011, chapter 88.

Section 1. REPEALER.
Laws 2011, chapter 88, is repealed.

Section 1 is effective the day following final enactment.

The bill was submitted by Karen Clark of Minneapolis, Leon Lillie of North St. Paul, Kate Knuth of New Brighton, Rena Moran of St. Paul ; Marion Greene of Minneapolis, John Lesch of St. Paul, Mindy Greiling of Roseville, Carolyn Laine of Columbia Heights, Ryan Winkler of Golden Valley, Alice Hausman of St. Paul, Linda Slocum of Minneapolis, Joe Mullery of Minneapolis, Phyllis Kahn of Minneapolis, Dianne Loeffler of Minneapolis, Frank Hornstein of Minneapolis, Bill Hilty of Finlayson and Kathy Brynaert of Mankato

The Column is a community-supported non-profit news, arts, and media organization. We depend on community support to continue the work of solid LGBT-centric journalism. If you like this article, consider visiting Give MN to make a contribution today.
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Andy Birkey
Andy Birkey has written for a number of Minnesota and national publications. He founded Eleventh Avenue South which ran from 2002-2011, wrote for the Minnesota Independent from 2006-2011, the American Independent from 2010-2013. His writing has appeared in The Advocate, The Star Tribune, The Huffington Post, Salon, Cagle News Service, Twin Cities Daily Planet, TheUptake, and much more. His writing on LGBT issues, the religious right and social justice has won awards including Best Beat Reporting by the Online News Association, Best Series by the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and an honorable mention by the Sex-Positive Journalism awards.

  1. So happy for them to put this together! Hopefullythey have realized that Minnesota does not want this amendment! P.S. was repurchased by another webmaster – it is now a soft porn site – yikes – if an author of reads this, please redirect the link to – thanks! helps you keep your website reputable!

  2. I hope it is removed from the ballot. We don't need a "conversation". The insinuation alone is defamation and I believe can do more harm than good. It's a step backwards and a lose/lose situation for our character as Minnesotans and/or as LGBT people. If popular vote on individual issues is how we are going to govern ourselves then we don't need leaders at all. I know people would like to see this question stay on the ballot so we can defeat it and show the world Minnesota is truly a decent place. But it would be safer without the fuss and just a quiet, long overdue federal law ensuring equality be made for us across all the states not just here and there. The same across the board right to housing and employment would be nice too.


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Articles on Autism spectrum disorder

Displaying 1 - 20 of 49 articles

Researchers have identified a specific difference shared by most (but not all) brains of people who had autism. from

New study finds common link across autism spectrum disorders

One of the big questions in autism research is whether autism is a single disorder or many different disorders that happen to present in the same way.
Deficiencies in a critical nutrient can lead to an abnormally wired brain. Illustration of a network of nerve cells in the. brain. Benedict Campbell, Wellcome Images/Flickr

New autism research: a nutrient called carnitine might counteract gene mutations linked with ASD risks

A gene mutation that causes problems for neural stem cells – the building blocks of the brain – could be corrected by adding carnitine.
Navigating work and stress can be hard for anyone, but especially so if you have ASD. Woman at work via

How can we help young adults with autism thrive in the workplace?

The outlook can be bleak for people with ASD who have difficulty navigating the stressful work world. A trial project in Connecticut sought to find a new way to help them become truly independent.
Symptoms that can signify autism can also mean other things. from

The difficulties doctors face in diagnosing autism

A recent survey of paediatricians found they often lacked enough information to accurately diagnose an Autism Spectrum Disorder in children.
Mindfulness has been found to improve negative behaviours from intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. Vinoth Chandar/Flickr

Mindfulness can improve living with a disability

A recent review of studies has shown that mindfulness meditation helps people with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder reduce their mental and physical problems.
Research found children with autism understand social cues when prompted, but they usually choose not to interact. from

Children with autism shouldn’t be forced to socialise

People with autism spectrum disorder don't get the same benefits from socialising with other people. So why force them to with methods that aren't true to life anyway?

Top contributors


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Monday, July 7, 2014

How does my garden grow?

I never seem to have time to post in the summer. Where am I you ask? In my Garden of course. Let me show you what is blooming now and what I have been up to.

 Notice the pesty red beetle? I have been dusting and spraying and now I pick them off as I find them. He went in a jar of soapy water when I finished taking the picture.

As you can see lots of day lilies. I just love them and have been buying them for years.
The roses and cone flower look pretty too.

 Then I have gone a made up a couple little fairy gardens...more to come too.

Happy Gardening all!

Join me for Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer.OW_thumb2_thumb_thumb1_thumb1_thumb1[1]


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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

speaking of Christmas cards...

... So many of you have contacted me out of kindness, maybe pity, offering to send Christmas cards to me after my laments that every year I send out 60+ cards and get maybe 3-5 in return. Please don't waste your postage on me... instead send this young woman a Christmas card.

Rifqa Bary
c/o Angela Lloyd
255C Drinko Hall 55
West 12th Avenue
Columbus, OH 43210

Atlas Shrugs has the full story of how her parents have hired CAIR attorneys to stop her from receiving these cards. Back story: Rifqa is a convert to Christianity and fled her moslem family for fear of retaliation and threats of harm. Lovely family, really.

1 comment:

Smiley said...

terrible. thanks for this will send her a card, we should all send cards to her parents too. lets bug em to death iwth christmas cards.


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Bill Kristol Dooms McCain

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On Fox News Sunday conservative columnist Bill Kristol said that Obama is the Tampa Rays, while John McCain is the Red Sox. Their fates in the ALCS were linked, he said...

Down to their last chance, the Tampa Bay Rays left no doubt they were World Series-worthy, after all. The young Rays completed a stunning run to their first pennant, holding off the defending champion Boston Red Sox 3-1 Sunday night behind Matt Garza's masterful pitching in Game 7 of the AL championship series.

I'm kind of glad the Red Sox lost. It's not that I dislike them, frankly I don't care about baseball (and unlike their football counterparts, the Red Sox aren't cheaters), its just that I lived for 2 years in Massachusetts and was inundated with bellyaching about the curse. Now they've won two series, so its time to move aside.


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Thursday, July 23, 2015

Hidden Canyon Hike - Joshua Tree, CA

Surprise! I'm back! I just noticed that I haven't posted anything since last November. That's way too long, so here you have it! The above is a video slideshow of pictures I've taken with my Nikon and iPhone at Hidden Canyon in Joshua Tree, California. It was a beautiful day for a nice leisurely hike with our friends, Harry & Carroll.

If you rather look at the pictures then watch the above video or do both, click on the above image to view all. I love Joshua Tree! Enjoy!

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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Review: Great New Book Out with Container Gardening Emphasis

I'm a big fan of Gayla Trail, author of You Grow Girl and now Grow Great Grub. My reasons for adoration are simple: She advocates paying lots of attention to soil health & fertility, she makes gardening both young & hip, and she truly believes anyone can garden anywhere. to my ears. Especially the "anyone can garden anywhere" part. There are many things that work in shade, scorching hot, drought, windy, wet and other conditions. Gardening, especially edible gardening, used to be such a part of our daily life. And now it's a past time often left for retired grannies or crazy cat ladies with piles of newspaper. Thankfully, I feel like this stereotype is slowly changing; I've noticed many Gen-X & Gen-Yers are showing a "budding" interest in how things grow. I mean, frankly, if I can grow plants, anyone can. I'm pretty lazy.

Her latest book really focuses on edible gardening and includes easy-to-understand sections on soil (how to have good soil, what to use in containers, how to increase fertility, etc.), profiles of edible plants (growing requirements), garden-related crafts and recipes. All of this is put into one beautiful, interesting and fun package. Love it.

So, I bought myself a copy. Most of the information isn't new to me, although she does have several recipes, crafts and general gardening ideas I am dying to try out. I would highly recommend this book for anyone just starting out with gardening in general (would be a great housewarming gift for new homeowners that have expressed an interested in edible or container gardening, for example) or maybe someone that has "gotten their feet wet" with a few vegetable crops and wants to expand their horizons.

This book has definitely rekindled my desire to work more edibles into my ornamental landscaping. If anything good has come from the series of Snowpocalypses that we had this year, it's that some seriously ugly bushes in my front yard got damaged beyond repair. I'm going to wait to see how the light is there over the next few months (I never bothered to notice before since the bushes were mature), and perhaps replace them with blueberries and raspberries.

A line of blueberry bushes would make a lovely hedge, don't you think? Would just need to net them somehow otherwise my over-zealous robins would eat them all out of spite for me!

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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

I take the express bus from Broken Arrow to downtown Tulsa most every day. I totally love it because I don't have to fight the traffic, and I get to have knitting time each morning and evening. :)

I also get to walk through downtown and enjoy the beautiful sights and art deco architecture that Tulsa is famous for. These were taken with my cell phone camera.

This building is covered in these sculptures, (frescos?)

Look at this detail!!!

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LG G4 Pro could come with a plastic exterior and a removable battery

The #LGG4 is still fresh in the market as it’s only been a few months since it was released. However, the company is already looking to bring another flagship to the market as the company recently mentioned.

This handset could either be known as the LG G4 Note or the LG G4 Pro, said that report. And today, a new report is hinting that LG could be interested in revealing the G4 Pro smartphone sometime soon, sporting a plastic body in favor of metal as previously rumored.

It is said that the company is making this omission in order to accommodate a removable battery, which is becoming a rare feature on smartphones of late. At this point, we’re still nowhere near knowing when the handset will be officially unveiled, but given that LG has already dropped hints about a second flagship for 2015, we’re guessing the device could be shown off in time for the Holiday Season sales.

Since this is a premium flagship, expect there to be a beefy hardware specs sheet underneath.

Source: Daum – Translated

Via: GSM Arena

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Saturday, May 01, 2010

A dazzling spring so far

This past week has been simply stunning, packed with the herbie adventures that make life so enjoyable.
I will admit that it started out with a sense of being overwhelmed, but taking each day as it came, they unfolded full of fun and learning.
The week started with the typical Monday of packing orders for The Essential Herbal and Lancaster County Soapworks. Tuesday Maryanne and I taught separate soap classes and we each had a pretty good time doing it. Wednesday we caught up on orders again, and set about obtaining some items that we needed for another soap extravaganza.
On Thursday, we went to Emergence Farm. Last fall we met Haas, who has this wooded wonderland, and I asked if he'd like us to try to identify the things he has growing on his property - which is mostly a north-facing steep slope. Sarah Campbell came along, and we were met there by a few other people who were very interested in learning what was growing there. It was one of the most enjoyable weed walks I've been on in a long time! Everyone involved had something to share as far as knowledge, and the sense of kinship was palpable. It was such a great morning - perfect weather - AND.... we found lady's slipper and morel mushrooms. Those are 2 things I've been searching for a very long time. Just to see them in the wild. Naturally, there were many, many other amazing woodland plants, and we could scarcely take a step without tripping over black cohosh, bloodroot, sweet violets, and mayflower. The perfect morning. Only wintergreen could have improved it :-P.
That afternoon we finished gathering soap ingredients, and proceeded to make 8 batches of soap to refill the skimpy shelves.
Friday morning we rose early to cut the soap. The cutter wires snapped, so it took most of the morning to get that fixed and proceed to stack the freshly cut soaps before heading off for Union Mills Homestead Herb Fest off Rt 97 below Littlestown. The festival continues today and tomorrow if you're in the area....
We'd made arrangements earlier to take a class with Emily Shuey to learn how to make concrete stepping stones that included things like stained glass, broken pottery, seashells, crystals, and beads. We were a few minutes late for the class, but managed to catch up with everyone quickly.
This morning we had agreed to help our friend Kathy Musser at Cloverleaf Herb Farm. Before I left, I mentioned it on Facebook. What a GREAT surprise to get to see some friends because of that AND meet a Facebook friend that I'd never met in person before! That was really something special.
At some point I suppose the time will come to face the weed patch out back. Tomorrow looks to be wide open. But so far, this spring has been a whole lot of fun.

Carol said...

The stepping stones are cool.. I love making stepping stones like those with the grandkids when they come to visit.

comfrey cottages said...

glad you are having such a wonderful spring tina:) that stepping stone is cool

Vicky said...

Great Idea for stepping stones!

Athena's Armoury said...

I would love to find someone experienced enough to go on a weed walk with! Or maybe at least I need to find a really good field guide for central Florida. It sounds like you're having a lovely spring!

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Decor & Styling

Announcing a New Collaboration

Choose Your Favorite Sofa Style

Announcing a New Collaboration #theeverygirl

The Everygirl is working on a new and exciting collaboration with Chicago-based furniture company Interior Define and have all of you in mind as the target consumer. We are big believers in investing in neutral, traditionally shaped pieces for large home decor items so that it can mix easily with other pieces and last through ever-changing styles and trends. But we need your help to bring you exactly what you want! So over the next couple of months, we'll be posting fun sneak peeks and questions along the way.

Let's kick it off with this short survey on sofa styles! No need to answer in the comments–just answer the three questions below!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.


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VGM Forbin | Website Platform for Financial Institutions

Battle for the Ages in Financial Services

The two largest generations in history have vastly different financial needs and expectations. Are banks and credit unions prepared to deliver differentiated experiences?

Subscribe TodayThe Millennial generation’s entrance into the workforce has been dubbed one of the most disruptive and impactful in history. With different positions on optimal company culture, leadership and corporate social responsibility, Millennial ideals have clashed against some of those held in place by the Baby Boomers for decades. Both generations have strongly impacted corporate America, and they will continue to do so in the near future as the demographics of the working population continue to change.

In the same way, these two demographic segments will undoubtedly have an impact on the banking industry over the next 10 years. Millennials and Baby Boomers are the two largest generational populations ever to move through the economy, meaning significant economic changes will take place as both generations begin transitioning into the next stages of life.

Today, we’re on the edge of seeing this next generational shift occur, and financial institutions must adapt and shift their offerings to serve the changing needs of these two dominant segments.

Establishing Long-Term Relationships to Engage Baby Boomers

The Baby Boom generation is influential in the banking industry for several reasons.

1. Baby Boomers are retiring later in life, working at least two to five years longer than previous generations. This shift is a result of an increasing life expectancy, better health and rising education levels for men and women.

2. Because this generation makes up such a significant portion of the population, Baby Boomers are already placing a significant demand on the healthcare system. Healthcare costs are steadily rising, and this generation incurs costs that are roughly 85% higher than that of millennials.

3. Many Baby Boomers who were displaced by the recession elected to start their own businesses. According to data from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy, Baby Boomers make up nearly 50% of small business owners.

MailingLists.com | Verified UCC Data From D&B

These three characteristics of the Baby Boomer generation are already changing the economic landscape of the United States, and financial institutions must be prepared to offer the services that these changes dictate. In order for banks to develop long-term relationships with this valuable customer base, they must begin by first understanding this generation’s needs. As this generation shifts into the next stage of life, they will demand key services related to wealth management, commercial lending and financial services related to healthcare.

In addition to offering these crucial services, banks can take some simple steps to engage this generation. Nielsen data reports that only 5% of Baby Boomers prefer to use mobile banking channels to check their balances; however, more of them are starting to prefer online channels for paying bills and checking balances.

Even still, Baby Boomers also depend heavily on in-person interactions being available at their local branch. Ensuring that the in-branch experience is convenient and positive is crucial when serving this segment. In addition, the speed and level of customer service related to complaints and technical issues tends to be significant to Baby Boomers when determining impressions of their financial services provider.

Another key focus for banks in serving this generation must be a focus on longevity. Offering customers various options for managing their assets, such as estate planning services and planning for long-term insurance policies, play a key role in ensuring that banks remain a valuable resource for Baby Boomers, not just for simple tasks, but also for advice when making complex financial decisions.

Baby Boomers certainly represent a financially successful generation. Gallup Business Journal reports that half of Baby Boomers report more than $100,000 in investable personal assets compared with 37% of generation Xers, and 14% of Millennials. And, nearly one in five Baby Boomers are even more successful, with over half a million dollars in investable assets.

In addition to this large accommodation of wealth, Baby Boomers are valuable customers for banks because they often are involved in borrowing, spending and investing their wealth. The issue, according to the same Gallup research, lies in the fact that only about one in three Baby Boomers are fully engaged with their primary bank. However, banks that begin fully engaging their Baby Boomer customers have the potential to gain much success.

Winning Millennial Trust with Digital Services

Understanding what makes the Millennial generation distinct will also have a large impact on the banking industry in the near future. A large portion of the Millennial generation prepared to enter the workforce right as the financial recession hit, resulting in a delayed entrance into the workforce for many.

As a result, Millennials are one of the first generations to have lower levels of wealth and personal income, more unemployment and more student loan debt than previous or subsequent generations. These experiences mean that this generation will have a vastly different economic experience throughout its lifetime than that of the Baby Boomer generation.

Another key distinction to note about Millennials is the high level of entrepreneurship. A report from the Kauffman Foundation shows that from 2010 to 2013, 45% of business school graduates were self-employed entrepreneurs. Millennials are far more educated than any previous generation, and they have seen more technological innovation and change, leading to an attitude that embraces and highly values innovation.

The Financial Brand Forum 2017 | May 17-19 | Las Vegas

These distinct characteristics mean that the Millennial generation will demand new financial services from their banks, different than the generations before them. Millennials especially require services related to loans, whether student loans, car loans or small business loans, and services addressing personal revolving credit. And, the demand for these service interactions will be driven digitally.

The Millennial generation highly values online convenience as opposed to in-branch services. According to the American Bankers Association, internet banking became the dominant preference for consumers by 2009, and by 2014, internet and mobile banking were the preferred banking method for 41% of consumers, with branches falling behind at only 21%.

The purchasing preferences of Millennials are also vastly different from those of Baby Boomers as well. This generation grew up using Amazon, Google, Facebook and Twitter.

Digital engagement is an absolute necessity, and Millennial financial preferences reflect that. Quick decision making capabilities and faster movement of data are of the utmost importance. Banks without high-tech digital offerings may find it more difficult to fully engage this customer base.

High levels of engagement can also be difficult among the Millennial generation because they represent one of the least trusting generations in recent history and they are the most detached from traditional institutions. Data from the Pew Research Center data reflects only 19% of Millennials said that they believe most people can be trusted vs. 40% of Baby Boomers.

However, if banks can engage Millennial customers and earn their trust, they will gain access to another important customer base. Banks that view Millennials as having too few assets to represent a valuable investment are making a big error. Gallup research reveals that Millennials have a higher share of wallet with their primary bank than baby boomers.

Although Millennials may start at a lower base of wealth than generations before them, their banking needs will continue to evolve. For example, the National Association of Realtors found that buyers 35 and younger make up the largest generational group of home buyers. And Pew says that Millennials are quite upbeat about their economic status; more than 80% of the Millennials surveyed responded that they either currently have or believe that they will have enough money to maintain the lifestyle they desire.

Engaging Both for Success

Although the differences between Baby Boomers and Millennials are significant, similar economic trends among them do exist. Both represent a challenge for banks today because they must overcome considerable customer indifference in order to serve each of them. Understanding how these differences and similarities interact will be crucial to ensuring that financial institutions are equipped with the tools to provide for these large customer bases.

Financial institutions’ success in the near future will stem from addressing the changing demands of Baby Boomers and Millennials alike. A mix of investment in technology and customer care will best prepare banks to offer specialized services, from helping Millennials reduce student loan debt to assisting baby boomers in managing rising healthcare costs.

Millennials and Baby Boomers may have different characteristics, but their end goal of healthy finances is the same.

Russ Bernthal, President of ProfitStars®, a division of Jack Henry & Associates Inc. He has more than 35 years of entrepreneurial and leadership expertise in software products, consulting services and business development. Bernthal earned B.A. degrees in Business Administration and Psychology from Carthage College in Wisconsin, and an MBA with a Finance concentration from Loyola University, Chicago.

All content © 2017 by The Financial Brand and may not be reproduced by any means without permission.

The Financial Brand Forum 2017 | May 17-19 | Las Vegas

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Monday, September 5, 2011

A Highly Controllable Magnetic Substance with Potential Uses in Ultra-Fast Computers

Below is a press release I wrote while working at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, a synchrotron laboratory where researchers use various flavors of light frequencies to study matter. Click on the images for larger text.

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In Defence Of – Keijo: Hip Whip Girl

Editor Note

“In defence of” is a brand new article series in which we look at titles from all media that were criticised for whatever reason and champion them, standing up to the wave of overwhelming negativity. Whether the consensus was right to marginalise the featured titles remains to be seen, we will merely be making a case for these anime, movies, video games and comic/manga books with as little bias as possible.

Author: Daichi Sorayomi
Content: 13 Manga Volumes, 12 part series + 6 OVA
Studio: Xebec (Buso Renkin, Tokyo ESP, Love Hina, To Love-Ru)
Synopsis: In an alternate reality a women’s only gambling sport known as Keijo has quickly become a popular sport. Set atop floating platforms the combatants must try and knock each other into the water or incapacitate using only their breasts and buttocks.
The Problem: Immediately it’s easy to see where the hatred for this series comes from, this is a fan-service series that focuses on Breasts and Buttocks.

Keijo is one of those series that looks like it’s almost impossible to defend. However, it’s key asset is that it doesn’t need to be defended. It’s one of the few series that is honest with itself. You know by looking at the poster that you are getting a fanservice anime and within the first five minutes, you’ve already decided if this is a series you’ll enjoy or not because the series gets it’s biggest issue out of the way it has a lot of fun with the material. I would personally say this is the most unique and creative sports anime in a long time. You can sense the mangaka and the animators were clearly having a huge amount of fun in bringing this series to life. Something I’ve personally not felt in a sports anime since Eyeshield 21 all those years ago.

Having a fictional sports series as opposed to being based off a real one allows the series to go all out with its presentation. While other series embellish the truth to fit the world of the characters, creating a false sense of what the sports are like, Keijo has little rules save for the limits of what a human body can really do. Except the series is aware of this, managing to create ludicrous shonen-style over the top moves such as a Cerberus Butt slam which allows the user to chase opponents around the field (much like a rabid dog) or a Hypnotic Boob attack (which lets face it could be found within the realms of reality).

Characters are hit and miss, however, one thing I did feel the stood series in good stead was the use of different body types. Keijo implied ‘anyone can play!’, we have girls of all shapes and sizes. From the traditional perfect bodied girls to overweight to muscular. It’s one of the few series that embodies this and because of the nature of the sport, it fits in naturally whereas other series take extreme liberties. Sorry All Out, if pretty boys played Rugby it wouldn’t be long before they were beaten into more realistic shapes – and vitally, pretty no more. A nice added touch for me also was the fact that the series sets itself imposed the rule that each character is over 18. Allowing the series and characters to escape the creepy depths of being ‘underage’ in Anime.

Some of the characters are surprisingly deep too. The main character has a justifiable goal of wanting to be an Olympic Gymnast but ultimately has to settle for the higher paying Keijo in order to support her poverty-stricken family. It’s times like this that shows a sense of realism in the characters, with it  being normal and relatable to put one’s dreams aside in order to support loved ones.

The animation is actually pretty nice, too. It’s entirely colourful and you can easily tell that this was made by someone who worked on ecchi and hentai in the past. Being an ecchi, the series knows where to excel at and all of the ‘important’ parts to be featured. Keijo is an honest series. It knows what it is and is incredibly self-aware. It knows that people will decide if they like it before they watch it. This allows it to have so much fun with what it does. Keijo doesn’t lie. It doesn’t lure you in with a serious overtone. It doesn’t try and pretend to be a serious anime. It’s true with what it is and what it is nonsense.

It’s certainly not a series for everyone and it’s not even trying to be. It’s daft, it’s stupid and it has a lot of heart. If you can get past the butts you’ll be in for a fun treat.

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Thriving & Surviving Military Life: Waiting for Orders

One thing I’ve been wanting to do on this blog for a while is write more about what our life is like as a military family. Even though the whole reason I started this blog was because I wanted to share my strategies for making a home amidst frequent moves and living in base housing/rentals as a military family, I haven’t shared too much about what our life is like and the nuances of this nomadic lifestyle. I was so excited to see that many of you wanted to hear more about this aspect of our life (thanks to my reader survey!). Those results gave me the push I needed to start this monthly “column.” Once a month, I am going to share some of my thoughts on random topics related to military living. If this topic isn’t for you, just skip on through. But be sure to come back Friday for a room reveal! For those of you sticking around, today I’m talking about something that is gripping our household right now:

Military Thriving and Suviving-05

We moved to our 5th and current home in May of 2012. My husband’s orders (military word for assignment) were for three years, so we knew that this tour (military word for period of time at one base/duty station) would end and we’d be due to move in June-ish of 2015. Of course this isn’t a certainty: the unexpected orders come along or you can get extended at the same base/job for a second tour. But most likely, a move is coming this summer.

Right before Thanksgiving, we found out that my husband was selected for school (it’s more complicated than this, but at each rank, there are schools service members can attend to enhance their knowledge and skills in military training and leadership). School wasn’t really on our radar since we just came from school before this assignment. In almost 10 years of receiving news that relates to our impending move, this is the first time I broke down in tears when Greg told me. Not because school is a bad thing. In fact, in a lot of ways, it’s a really good thing. It’s great for Greg’s career. He won’t deploy, his hours will be “normal,” and school is known for having lots of family time (which is much needed after this current assignment!). However, school is most often (although not always) a one year assignment.

1 year. That means we will pack up, paint this house back, un-do all my hard work, say goodbye to friends, and move somewhere new…to then unpack, re-paint (probably not, actually), find the new grocery store/doctor/dentist/hair dresser/school/playgroup/gym, make new friends, and decorate…for one year. To then do it all over again to get to our next (hopefully) three year assignment. We’ve done a one-year school once, and it was one of my toughest tours as a wife. It’s like putting your whole life on pause for an entire year. You can’t get really get settled, you don’t really bother to fully decorate, you don’t put yourself out there to meet new friends or embrace a new community because…well…you’re “just there for a year.” For a gal who loves to decorate and build a home, who is trying to build a small career off her home/blog, and who takes a little while to make friends…a one year move is really, really tough…and so I cried.

The good news is that I rebound fast. Greg told me the news at lunch and by dinnertime, I was daydreaming about a new house (yay!!!!!), new projects (yay!!!!!), a different State (yay!!!!) and a different life.  We dove into learning about his various school options, where they all are, what they each have to offer, and what would be a good fit for our family at this stage of our lives. We made our wish list and talked excitedly about all the possibilities. He submitted his preferences at the end of November.

USA Wall Plaque-006

So…this is the part where you are probably expecting me to say: “We’re moving to _____!” And honestly, friends…I thought by now, we’d be able to. But…even though June is…oh…5 months away, we.don’t.yet.know.where.we’re.moving. And you better bet it’s making us cra-zay!

Military T and S-002

And the craziest part of all? This type of timeline is pretty standard for us military folk (whether you’re headed to school or not!). In 6 months time, we could be living down the road, on the other side of the country, on the other side of the world, and anywhere in between…and most often, we won’t know for sure until a few months before the moving trucks arrive!

For the last 6+ months at any assignment, you start to occupy this weird state. This we-know-we’re-leaving-but-we-don’t-know-where-to-or-exactly-when-yet state. The house starts to feel small and constraining (instead of brimming with possibilities). You stop putting yourself out there to make new friends or create new opportunities. You start to knock off all those things you wanted to see and do in the local area (that you could/should have been doing over the last 2+ years!). You start to purge and de-clutter and plan yard sales. You start to mentally pack boxes and make lists about what all needs to be done even though it’s too early to start any of it.

And there’s one more thing you do. You wait. You wait and wait and wait for “the word.” “The word” that can come in the form of a list, an email, a phone call, or even a piece of paper. “The word” that will tell you where the moving trucks are headed and where your new life will be. Sure we submit preferences and make phone calls and talk to people (and pray!) to get what we want, but we are ultimately NOT in control of where we go next. And so we wait to be told. I guess that’s why they are are called orders.

Right now, we are waiting. The news could come any day now, at any minute. The not knowing and waiting has practically paralyzed us into perpetual breakfast/lunch/dinner conversations of “what if” and “how about this” and “what will we do if we get sent here?” and “oh gosh, I don’t want to go there?” None of these conversations are fruitful, but we can’t help ourselves. This is the next chapter of our lives and our story. It’s important and life-changing and exciting and terrifying. But the uncertainty is exhausting, and we’re growing very weary. We do really well when we can plan and research and start lists and (better yet) start checking things off that list. But the waiting and the lack of control over the decisions (and when that decision is finally released) can drive one a little nutty. Consider us well on our way to the nut house 😉

I channel my frustration and anxious energy into house-related stuff (of course.) I’m already decorating our next house, whatever it looks like, wherever it is. I’m dreaming of a white kitchen and lots of windows…and a basement. A basement would be so lovely. I’m thinking about what furniture will be moved into what new rooms and wondering if I’ll hang curtains or not (probably…I always do ;). I’m also excitedly brainstorming how I want to document this next chapter here on the blog for all of you, because I recognize a one-year move is a unique opportunity (at least I’m trying to view it that way!), and I’ll have a lot to share with you guys (both emotionally and decor-wise!). I’m trying to focus on the exciting aspects of moving and not let myself lose too much sleep over the more troubling ones (like the MESS when everything comes out of closets and into boxes and back out of boxes again!). Yes, I’ve already had my share of late night fretting.

And what makes this period of time so strange is that at the same time I’m dreaming about our new place, I am rapidly trying to “finish” the final few spaces of this house before we literally have to start tearing it all down. I know, I’m ridiculous. Most would give it up by now! I wonder if I will ever get that darn family room to a spot where I can say “I love it.” You better bet I’m going to try. I’ve got 5 months, right? And if not, then there’s always the next house…and another one 1 year after that!

And so…with just a few months left in this little home of ours, it’s time for me to start wrapping up rooms and show you the final few spaces you haven’t seen finished yet. I still have to show you the “final” kitchen, master bedroom/bathroom, garage, and living room/playroom (all other room reveals can be found HERE). We’re going to slowly start closing this chapter of our home story on Friday with the reveal/recap of our Master Bedroom!

See you then!

Make your next move a smooth one with this FREE printable Smooth Move Binder and Spreadsheet. Subscribe here and it will be delivered right to your Inbox!

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12 Responses to Thriving & Surviving Military Life: Waiting for Orders

  1. I've been told I should have been a military wife because I love to move! Or maybe a gypsy 😉 Like you, I completely decorate in my mind before we even pack. God bless you both in this new adventure!

  2. The word that crossed my mind was limbo. Living in limbo would be tough. But you are right, you have 5 months to get things right before you move.
    I love your continent cutout with the words on it. So pretty. I want one that says land of the free because of the brave.
    Good luck!

  3. Woof. Between September 2010 and April 2014 we moved four.times and point B to point C was cross country. I can't even imagine knowing we had to move but NOT knowing where. Makes me queasy.

    Having said that, I can't wait to see you trot out your moving-ninja-moves in the next few months. 😀 I have ZERO plans to move EVER again (obviously, I've learned that life does not respect all caps declarations – lol) but it never hurts to learn from the Masters.

  4. You are a very strong woman……just remember. ….behind every great military man is an even greater woman!
    while I cannot say I know how you feel as I have not lived a military life, I hold you guys on a pedestal for living the life you do to keep us Americans safe. Moving is hard….no matter where it is. I've moved across the street, down the block and to 2 different countries in my time, and I can't say which was the hardest!
    but one thing I do know….YOU CAN DO IT! Your family deserves the family time for a year.

  5. We've been at our current duty station for 1.5 and I'm thinking it could be this summer? In my husband's career field in the AF, we usually get orders in March for a summer move. I feel ya, dog. We've also done 2, one year assignments. The first one wasn't so bad because the kids were all school aged and it was like a one-year vacation in San Antonio. The second one, I had 3 high schoolers and a middle schooler :-(. I think it is fun for you that you know you will be in school but you don't know where?!?! That is different! And I so admire you that you commit so deeply to your base housing! You are an inspiration to me! We are living off-base in a rental this time and I still have very few pictures up. I can't wait to live vicariously through your Marine (?) orders!!

  6. Awesome post!! I loved hearing about life of a military family. I know the waiting is hard and nerve wracking. Can't wait to hear where you are going. Praying you find out soon!!

  7. My husband has been in the Navy for 10yrs-
    We've lived in 6 houses and have finally settled in our forever home, as he is getting ready to separate!!! Good luck to you guys on the next move- they are never easy!!!

  8. Megan, my dad was in the Indian army for 40 odd years… I spent my 12 years of school at 16 different ones… in India you move every eighteen months or two years, sometimes less! I pain your feel! Still, I don't regret a minute of it!

  9. Megan, my dad served 40 odd years in the Indian army, and we moved so often it was crazy…. spent my 12 years of school in 16 different ones, but don't regret a single minute! Even now that I live in one city, I itch to move!

  10. We've had four 1 year tours now. The school one was the best, for all the reasons you mentioned, but also because my husband's class was very small, only 13 folks, so we all became very close. Instead of taking six months to make friends it only took about a month! I do know what you mean about the limbo status though. I've had to make a concerted effort to remain mentally where my body was instead of moving onto the new home. Otherwise I was cheating my daughter (and myself) of those last precious months with friends!

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People Who Still Support Marijuana Prohibition Really Should "Think of the Children"

Nov 07 2016

People Who Still Support Marijuana Prohibition Really Should “Think of the Children”

Monday, November 7th, 2016

Make no mistake, the war on marijuana has our children squarely in its crosshairs.

Although ostensibly enforced to protect our young, marijuana prohibition actually puts them at heightened risk in two major ways: First, by denying kids the honest drug education that would improve health and in some cases save lives; and second, by making them the targets of police action, with all the negative life consequences that brings.

Let’s consider the sheer scale and disproportionate impact of that second point. FBI:Uniform Crime Reporting reports that marijuana possession violations accounted for over 40 percent all drug arrests in 2015. And up to 75 percent of those detained were black and brown teens and young adults under 29 years of age.

Marijuana prohibition is responsible for rampant violent crime and corruption, illicit markets that neither protect consumers nor contribute taxes, and the racist criminalization of entire communities of color who shoulder the burden of the school-to-prison pipeline and mass incarceration. Introduced in the US in the 1930s thanks to fear-mongering and anti-Mexican prejudice, and subsequently exported to the rest of the world, prohibition currently provides the pretext for selective law-enforcement and police murders—both of them much bigger threats to young people’s wellbeing than marijuana itself.

Of course, we all want to protect our children from any kind of harm. So what’s a parent to do?

Concerned adults everywhere now question whether the punitive policies of the last century are justified or effective. But the litany of alarmist warnings about marijuana that we’ve all been exposed to make it hard to know what to believe. Over many decades, anti-marijuana campaigns like Reefer Madness, “Just Say No” and “This is Your Brain…” have obfuscated the facts and juxtaposed rational concerns onto an irrational set of policies to which, we were always told, there was no alternative.

Those campaigns exploited the fact that none of us relish the idea of our kids using any non-prescribed drug. Yet if abstinence for kids is our aim, what we do isn’t working now and hasn’t for decades: Over 40 percent of high schoolers have used marijuana by the time they graduate.

Drug education is rarely based on what works, but instead, on stakeholder agendas. The best/worst example of this is DARE. Developed by LAPD Chief Darryl Gates in the 1980s and once used in 75 percent of schools nationally, reports of its ineffectiveness caused it to fall out of favor.

Yet although DARE itself no longer dominates the prevention field, its zero-tolerance ethos persists—along with a fatalistic perspective of youth that stigmatizes those children who do use marijuana, denying them understanding, dignity and practical advice. By thereby teaching kids to lie and hide risky behaviors from us, we make it much less likely that they ever come to us for help. Zero-tolerance approaches cannot engender the deeper understanding we need of the complexities of young people’s lives.

What’s more, when we use scare tactics to “educate” young people about marijuana—which can, like any drug, be used problematically, but has not, used alone, caused any overdose death and is emphatically not a “gateway” drug—we destroy our credibility as educators and role-models.

The schism between what we often tell young people about marijuana and their own observations is so great that it only breeds cynicism, mistrust and even more curiosity. If we were lying about that, kids are entitled to ask, were we also lying when we advised against other drug use and risky behaviors?

For the record, I do not endorse underage marijuana use. Abstinence or delaying use is the always the best choice for youth.

But experience makes it very clear that many kids will use marijuana or other substances even if we tell them not to. And my message to parents is, discussing marijuana should be based in truth—even when the truth is uncomfortable. We must give young people the tools and knowledge they need to protect themselves. Mottos for 21st-century drug education should include: “Safety First” and “Just Say Know.”

The repeal of marijuana prohibition, which is happily well under way and gathering pace, is a chance for us to replace ineffective fear-based and punitive ideologies with sensible educational approaches that work at a time when children needs their parents most.

It may seem counterintuitive to some, but the legal regulation of marijuana specifically helps parents.

Legal regulation provides a framework ensuring real control over age restrictions, packaging, vendors and outlets. Responsible adults will have better ways to limit young people’s access to it than now.

Ending punitive marijuana policies eliminates the criminalization of our children and the life-altering consequences of a criminal record—above all for youth of color.

Regulation shrinks the illicit market and related crime, while generating new tax revenues that will provide dedicated funding (at a time when there is little money for youth education) to develop innovative tools that empower parents and educators to help kids effectively if trouble arises. And it eliminates current restrictions blocking the objective scientific research needed to better understand marijuana’s medical benefits for adults and kids.

Imagine if your own child developed a real problem with marijuana. What would be more helpful: a visit to a qualified professional, or a criminal record?

Read more from The Influence:

Marijuana Legalization Without Racial Justice Risks Being Another Extension of White Privilege

Is Drug Decriminalization the Way to Go? Well, Portugal Did It 15 Years Ago and Just Look

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up to receive daily stories to your inbox.

The fact is, restricting adult freedom does not protect kids from harm. Instead, the inherent hypocrisy and prejudice of prohibition undermines parents’ ability to raise ethical, law-abiding young citizens.

No, we don’t want our kids to do drugs. But they still deserve our love and support if they do. And any responsible parent should want to dismantle a brutal system that has devastated countless families and communities by feeding generations of their children into the prison-industrial meat grinder.

I am looking forward to being there as my 22-year-old son bears witness to a social movement organized under the banner of equity, liberty and justice ending marijuana’s use as a tool of oppression.

As parents, fighting to end prohibition is a wonderful thing we can do to set an example, declare who we are and reassure our youth that a fairer, more rational world is possible.

Jerry Otero (aka Mista Oh) is the founder and chief troublemaker at Trained as a psychologist, he has served as the youth policy manager at Drug Policy Alliance and supervisor of NYC public high school drug education programs.


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Strategies, advice and opinions helping to define and develop the role of IT leaders and their staffs.

The Greatest CIO Interview of All Time

Most interesting CIO

He fixed a catastrophic mainframe failure with the pointy end of a rat-tail comb.

He refereed an arm-wrestling contest between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.

He was a moustache double for Tom Selleck during season four of Magnum PI.

He correctly texted the Declaration of Independence while running with the bulls at Pamplona.

He is… “The Most Interesting CIO in the World”.

It is doubtful that there is anyone in IT today who is not familiar with the exploits, accomplishments, intrigues and affaires of The Most Interesting CIO in the World. His brash – some would say swashbuckling – approach to IT management, as technology head of three of the world’s leading organizations, is the stuff of legend.

But until now, this very public figure has proved devilishly difficult to pin down for an interview. Happily, that ends today with the publication of this conversation, which I recorded with my famous seatmate during a flight to Rio, where he was delivering a paper on “Superstring Theories and their Impact on IT Management”.

Me: You are amazingly knowledgeable on a host of different subjects. You could have been anything you wanted. What made you decide to become a CIO?

TMICIOITW: It was not easy, my friend. After my return from the New Guinea rainforest, where I spent nine weeks in a 60-meter high tree house as a guest of the lost Korowai tribe, I decided that my life was lacking the kind of challenge and exhilaration to be found in only a few professions: black mamba wrangler, Formula One driver, tornado chaser. But after much consideration, the choice was clear. No profession held more excitement for me than that of CIO – these digital high-wire artists who, it could be argued, control the fate of corporations, of nations, of humanity itself.

Me: It has been widely reported that the world was spared from the global Y2K computer meltdown because of a hundred lines of code you wrote on the back of a napkin while waiting for a hamburger at Solly’s Grille in Milwaukee. Is there any truth to that?

TMICIOITW: Like many things written about me in the press, the story is inaccurate. It was a bacon double cheeseburger.

Me: You have been linked with some of the most beautiful women of our time: Angelina, Scarlett, Jennifer, Mila, to name a few. Why do you think that you, in particular, and CIOs in general are so sought after by such women.

TMICIOITW: My fantastico moustaches notwithstanding, beautiful women are naturally attracted to men of great power, gravitas and sexual magnetism – traits common to all CIOs, men and women alike. We are a rare breed, my friend.

Me: Some say that you invented the Internet two years before Al Gore. Is that correct?

TMICIOITW: Al Gore is a great man. Perhaps not the fastest off the mark on some things, but a great man, none the less. That is all I will say on the matter.

Me: You are said to be working on a personal digital device that will be more popular than tablets, cell phones and GPSs combined. What can you tell us about that device?

TMICIOITW: I do not like talking about things before they are a reality. But I will offer you two words, my friend – make of them what you will. Electronic hamster.

Me: According to the latest rumours, you have set your sights on creating Canada’s answer to “Burning Man”, the annual temporary community built in the Black Rock Desert, dedicated to radical self-expression. What can you tell us about that project?

TMICIOITW: In this case, the rumours are indeed true. I am in the early stages of organizing “Freezing Man”, to be held every February on the Barnes Ice Cap on Baffin Island. This event will be dedicated to radical self-preservation. Like its counterpart in Nevada, it will be clothing optional.

Me: That sounds pretty extreme.

TMICIOITW: Only for those who are unprepared. As every CIO knows, preparation is everything. I have already begun immersing myself in a bath of ice cubes for one hour every night.

Me: You have been CIO of the world’s largest bank, the world’s biggest entertainment conglomerate, and the world’s most successful agribusiness. You have helmed IT teams larger than the population of Iceland and Tonga combined. Is there anything left for you to do as a CIO?

TMICIOITW : Never fear, my friend, there are plenty of things to do. Only last week I was lining up an eagle putt on the 13th green at Augusta, when my partner, Barack, said more or less the same thing to me. I reminded him of the words of another famous man, the great tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who once lamented, “You just can’t buy Beatle boots no more.” As my double-breaking 30-footer found the centre of the cup, I said to him, “The challenges for the CIO are endless, Barack. With exceptional IT management, we can make a world in which we will want for nothing – not even Beatle boots.”

Me: I would be remiss if I did not ask you about your predilection for a certain brand of Mexican liverwurst, which seems to be ever present when you are caught by the cameras. Some say it is made of horse meat.

TMICIOITW: I don’t always eat liverwurst, but when I do I prefer Dos Equus.

With a wry smile, he added, Stay hungry, my friend.

He then reclined his seat and soon began to snore gently.

Past Attendees

ADP - VP Architecture & Infrastructure

AESO - VP, Information Technology

Agnico Eagle Mines - VP, IT

Agrium - Global Mgr., IT Security

Agrium - Senior Director IT Shared Services

Aimia - SVP & Global CIO

Ainsworth Engineered - Director IT

Air Canada Vacations - Director IT

Alberta Energy Regulator - Director, Office of the CIO

Anthem Properties - VP IS

AON Risk Solutions Canada - Head of IT

Aviva Canada - VP, Architecture & Strategy

Bank of America Merrill Lynch - CTO

BC Ferry Services - VP & CIO

Bellatrix Exploration - Director, Information Technology

Bentall Kennedy - VP IT

Black Press - CTO

BlackBerry - VP Corporate IT

BMO Financial Group - Head of Services Delivery

Bombardier Aerospace - CISO

Bonavista Petroleum - Head of IT

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP - Global CIO

Bow Valley College - Director, IT Services

Bridgewater Bank - Head of IT

BuildDirect - VP IT

Bulk Barn - Head, IT

Burnco - CIO

Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec - VP, IT Planning, Architecture, Governance, Operations

Calfrac Well Services - Head of IT

Canada Mortgage and Housing - VP, Information & Technology

Canadian Depository for Securities - CIO

Canadian Direct Insurance - CTO

Canadian Payments Association - VP & CIO

Canucks Sports - Head of IT

Cardel Homes - VP MIS

Cargojet - CIO

CCS Corp. - VP IT

Centerra Gold - Director IT & Comm

CIBC - Senior Director, Infrastructure Planning & Engineering

CIBC - SVP & CIO, Retail and Business Banking Technology

CIBC Mellon - AVP, Enterprise Architecture

CIBC Mellon - SVP & CIO

Cineplex Entertainment - CTO

City of Brampton - Senior Manager, IT Architecture & Planning

City of Toronto - Director of Strategic Planning & Architecture

CN Rail Service - Chief Information Security Officer

Coast Capital Savings - VP Technology

Concordia University - AVP & CIO

Crescent Point Energy - Head of IT

Dairy Farmers of Ontario - Head of IT and Administration

Dale Parizeau Morris Mackenzie - VP, IT

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP - Director, Information Technology

DealerTrack Canada - Director, Technology

Defence Construction Canada - Corporate Manager, IT

Dentons - Canada CIO

Devon Energy - Director, Integrated Business Services

Direct Cash - VP IT & Security

Dynamic Tire Corp - CIO

eHealth Ontario - VP, IT Systems & Services

Encana - Director, InfoSec

Enerflex - CIO

Enerplus - VP. IS

Essential Energy Services - Director, IT

Expedia Cruise Ship Centers - VP IS

FGL Sports - VP, Information Technology

Fix Auto Canada - COO & SVP - CIO

FT Services - CIO

FundServ - CIO

Genus Capital Management - CTO

Genworth Financial Inc. - VP IT

Golder Associates - CTO

Gran Tierra Energy - Director IT

Grant Thornton LLP - CIO

Greenwin Inc - VP, Information Technology

Groupe Dynamite - Director, IT

GSK Canada - IT Director

GTAA - Acting CIO

H&R Block Canada - VP IT

Hewitt Equipment Ltd. - VP & CIO

Hitachi - CTO, Americas

Home Trust Company - CIO

Home Trust Company - CTO

Home Trust Company - VP & CISO

Horizon North Logistics - CIO

Indigo Books and Music - CIO

ivari - SVP & CIO

JP Morgan Chase Canada - Executive Director, Information Risk Management

Keyera Energy - Director, Information Technology

KnowledgeOne - CIO

LaFarge Canada - Director, IT

Landmark Cinemas Canada - VP, IT

LCBO - Director, Applications Systems

Leisureworld Senior Care Corp - VP IS

Lightstream Resources - Head, Information Services

London Drugs - GM IT

Loto-Quebec - Corporate Director, InfoSec

Magna International Inc - VP & Global Leader, IT (CIO)

March Networks - VP Professional Services & CIO

McCain Foods Limited - Manager InfoSec

McInnis Cement - Director of Information Technology

Medical Pharmacies Group - VP, Information Technology

MEG Energy - Manager, Information Technology Solutions & Services

MMM Group - CIO

Montreal Police Service - CIO

Morguard Investments - CIO

Moulding & Millwork - CIO

National Bank of Canada - Information Security Officer

National Capital Commission - Chief, IT infrastructure & Support Services

NHL Players' Association - Head, Security & Technology

Northbridge Financial Corp - CIO

OEC Group Canada - Vice President, Information Technology and Client solutions

Oildex - VP, Architecture & Infrastructure

Olympia Financial Group - CIO

Ontario Pension Board - CTO

Ontario Trillium Foundation - CIO

Ottawa Police Service - CIO

Pacific Western Transportation - CIO

Packers Plus - Global IT Director

Patient News - CTO

Peel District School Board - CIO

Pengrowth Corp - Director IS

Penn West Exploration - Snr. Manager, IT Operations

Peterson Investment Group - Head of IT

PFB Corp. - CIO

Pizza Pizza - CIO & VP, IT

Precision Drilling - VP, IT

Precision Drilling - Director, IT Infrastructure & Security

PSP Investments - Snr. Director, Internal Audit & Business Infosec

Public Works and Government Services Canada - Director, IT Security Directorate

PwC - Managing Director, Real Estate Technology Advisory

Qantas - Global CIO

Queen's University - Director, Information Technology

RBC Royal Bank - Head of Application Security, Data Protection & Security Consulting

Regal Lifestyle Communities - CIO

Revera Inc. - CIO

Revera Inc. - Security Architect

Ricoh Canada - VP,IT

RioCan Property Services - VP IT

Rogers Communications - SVP, Customer Experience IT

Russel Metals - VP,IS

Scotiabank - VP - International Systems Technology

Scotiabank - Director, Architecture & Engineering

Sears Canada - Divisional VP, Information Technology Services

Secure Energy Services - GM, IT

Shaw Communications - VP, Technology Operations

Shaw Communications - Director, Risk Management

SMART Technologies - Director, IS Corporate Services

Smartcentres - Director IS, IT

Societe de Transport de Montreal - Division Head - Security and Compliance

Street Capital Financial - CIO

Sun Life Financial - AVP, Data & Business Intelligence Services

Sun Life Financial - VP Application Ops & Services

Suncor Energy Inc. - Director, Application Portfolio Optimization, I&PM, Business Services

Symcor - CTO, VP Technology Services

Talisman Energy - SVP IT & Business Services

TD Bank - Enterprise Architect

Teknion - SVP, CIO

TELUS - Chief Security Architect

Tervita Corporation - VP, Information Technology

The Hudsons Bay Company - VP Technology

The Hudson's Bay Company - SVP & CIO

The Source - VP, Information Technology

TMX Group - VP, CISO

Toromont Industries - VP & CIO

Toronto District School Board - Chief Technology Officer

Toronto Hospital for Sick Children - Director of Technology

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) - Chief Enterprise Architect

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) - CIO

Toyota Canada - National Manager, IS

Transamerica Life Canada - CIO

Trican Well Services Ltd. - Director, Business Information Systems

Tridel Corporation - CIO

Trillium Health Partners - IT Director, Applications & Clinical Informatics

UFA Cooperative - VP & CIO

University of Calgary - Executive Director, Development Services

University of Ottawa - CIO

University of Ottawa - Senior Director IT Services & Infrastructure

University of Waterloo - Director, Technology Entrepreneurship

Vancity - VP Technology & Solutions

Viterra - Director Enterprise Technology

World Health - Director IT

Yellow Pages Group - Director - Enterprise Data Management

York Region District School Board - CIO

Leadership Archive


text:
Strategies, advice and opinions helping to define and develop the role of IT leaders and their staffs.

CIOs Need Alternatives

During a pressure-packed situation aboard the retrofitted USS Enterprise in Star Trek: the Motion Picture, Commander Decker explained to Admiral Kirk, “It's my duty to point out alternatives.” Allow me to do the same with you.

Sure, it’s pretty easy to maintain the status quo when you hold all the cards, when you can make all the decisions. If I were in your shoes, I would focus on command and control too – house all my applications and workloads in a data centre that I maintain personally, mostly in a traditional row by row, discipline by discipline architecture while dipping my toe in workload-specific private Clouds. I might even try appliance or converged deployments, as long as I could touch and feel them.

Unfortunately, very few IT executives can maintain that level of autonomy with their IT assets. A good portion of the IT decisions are moving to the Lines of Business, to the leaders that control the entire P&L of the company. This includes what technologies are implemented to enable the company, and what price the company is willing to pay for them. LOB leaders have options around where to buy their applications, and those options include significantly diversifying the workloads across a variety of models (public Clouds or external infrastructure provision and management):

IT command and control evolves into IT Cloud brokering across a variety of data centre models. IT executives focus on what’s best for the rest, versus what best for IT.

Now that the business is taking the lead, LOB heads are shopping for alternatives to traditional IT. They prefer:

  • a cost model that aligns with their revenue model, which could be entirely transactional, and entirely unit price driven. LOB leaders like the scalability of Cloud financial models that significantly minimizes the “keep the lights on” base expenses inherent in traditional IT investments
  • the introduction of new products and offerings that are not dependant on the long lead times associated with acquiring, installing and configuring applications and hardware associated with traditional data centre management
  • significantly changing their IT infrastructure to meet or exceed the security and risk requirements of their corporate customers, without massive transformational projects

HDS can help provide alternatives, but we require strong global partnerships, just like we have with CGI. HDS and our clients can now leverage CGI’s global footprint of infrastructure service delivery centres for a variety of enterprise storage, archiving, disaster recovery, and mobility services, including:

  • Secure data centres connected through a global network
  • Government and Industry Certifications audited annually
  • Local (in-country) and remote management capabilities
  • Technology vendor independence – customized solutions
  • 10,000+ Infrastructure services professionals

The new partnership directly creates value for the new ‘Business-Defined IT’ preferences:

  • Elimination of large up-front CAPEX investment, allowing for re-investment on more strategic business initiatives
  • New financial modes:
    • Pay As You Go utility model (pay only for what you use).
    • True flexible consumption model (flex model up/down).
  • Reduction of overall customer risk by providing disaster recovery, and increased SLA and QOS
  • Dramatic improvement in time to market: capacity on demand and onsite buffer to absorb the customer storage burst and new projects requirements.

For more information, see the CGI/HDS partnership announcement.

Live long and prosper.

Paul Lewis is the CTO of Hitachi Data Systems Canada.

Past Attendees

ADP - VP Architecture & Infrastructure

AESO - VP, Information Technology

Agnico Eagle Mines - VP, IT

Agrium - Global Mgr., IT Security

Agrium - Senior Director IT Shared Services

Aimia - SVP & Global CIO

Ainsworth Engineered - Director IT

Air Canada Vacations - Director IT

Alberta Energy Regulator - Director, Office of the CIO

Anthem Properties - VP IS

AON Risk Solutions Canada - Head of IT

Aviva Canada - VP, Architecture & Strategy

Bank of America Merrill Lynch - CTO

BC Ferry Services - VP & CIO

Bellatrix Exploration - Director, Information Technology

Bentall Kennedy - VP IT

Black Press - CTO

BlackBerry - VP Corporate IT

BMO Financial Group - Head of Services Delivery

Bombardier Aerospace - CISO

Bonavista Petroleum - Head of IT

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP - Global CIO

Bow Valley College - Director, IT Services

Bridgewater Bank - Head of IT

BuildDirect - VP IT

Bulk Barn - Head, IT

Burnco - CIO

Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec - VP, IT Planning, Architecture, Governance, Operations

Calfrac Well Services - Head of IT

Canada Mortgage and Housing - VP, Information & Technology

Canadian Depository for Securities - CIO

Canadian Direct Insurance - CTO

Canadian Payments Association - VP & CIO

Canucks Sports - Head of IT

Cardel Homes - VP MIS

Cargojet - CIO

CCS Corp. - VP IT

Centerra Gold - Director IT & Comm

CIBC - Senior Director, Infrastructure Planning & Engineering

CIBC - SVP & CIO, Retail and Business Banking Technology

CIBC Mellon - AVP, Enterprise Architecture

CIBC Mellon - SVP & CIO

Cineplex Entertainment - CTO

City of Brampton - Senior Manager, IT Architecture & Planning

City of Toronto - Director of Strategic Planning & Architecture

CN Rail Service - Chief Information Security Officer

Coast Capital Savings - VP Technology

Concordia University - AVP & CIO

Crescent Point Energy - Head of IT

Dairy Farmers of Ontario - Head of IT and Administration

Dale Parizeau Morris Mackenzie - VP, IT

Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP - Director, Information Technology

DealerTrack Canada - Director, Technology

Defence Construction Canada - Corporate Manager, IT

Dentons - Canada CIO

Devon Energy - Director, Integrated Business Services

Direct Cash - VP IT & Security

Dynamic Tire Corp - CIO

eHealth Ontario - VP, IT Systems & Services

Encana - Director, InfoSec

Enerflex - CIO

Enerplus - VP. IS

Essential Energy Services - Director, IT

Expedia Cruise Ship Centers - VP IS

FGL Sports - VP, Information Technology

Fix Auto Canada - COO & SVP - CIO

FT Services - CIO

FundServ - CIO

Genus Capital Management - CTO

Genworth Financial Inc. - VP IT

Golder Associates - CTO

Gran Tierra Energy - Director IT

Grant Thornton LLP - CIO

Greenwin Inc - VP, Information Technology

Groupe Dynamite - Director, IT

GSK Canada - IT Director

GTAA - Acting CIO

H&R Block Canada - VP IT

Hewitt Equipment Ltd. - VP & CIO

Hitachi - CTO, Americas

Home Trust Company - CIO

Home Trust Company - CTO

Home Trust Company - VP & CISO

Horizon North Logistics - CIO

Indigo Books and Music - CIO

ivari - SVP & CIO

JP Morgan Chase Canada - Executive Director, Information Risk Management

Keyera Energy - Director, Information Technology

KnowledgeOne - CIO

LaFarge Canada - Director, IT

Landmark Cinemas Canada - VP, IT

LCBO - Director, Applications Systems

Leisureworld Senior Care Corp - VP IS

Lightstream Resources - Head, Information Services

London Drugs - GM IT

Loto-Quebec - Corporate Director, InfoSec

Magna International Inc - VP & Global Leader, IT (CIO)

March Networks - VP Professional Services & CIO

McCain Foods Limited - Manager InfoSec

McInnis Cement - Director of Information Technology

Medical Pharmacies Group - VP, Information Technology

MEG Energy - Manager, Information Technology Solutions & Services

MMM Group - CIO

Montreal Police Service - CIO

Morguard Investments - CIO

Moulding & Millwork - CIO

National Bank of Canada - Information Security Officer

National Capital Commission - Chief, IT infrastructure & Support Services

NHL Players' Association - Head, Security & Technology

Northbridge Financial Corp - CIO

OEC Group Canada - Vice President, Information Technology and Client solutions

Oildex - VP, Architecture & Infrastructure

Olympia Financial Group - CIO

Ontario Pension Board - CTO

Ontario Trillium Foundation - CIO

Ottawa Police Service - CIO

Pacific Western Transportation - CIO

Packers Plus - Global IT Director

Patient News - CTO

Peel District School Board - CIO

Pengrowth Corp - Director IS

Penn West Exploration - Snr. Manager, IT Operations

Peterson Investment Group - Head of IT

PFB Corp. - CIO

Pizza Pizza - CIO & VP, IT

Precision Drilling - VP, IT

Precision Drilling - Director, IT Infrastructure & Security

PSP Investments - Snr. Director, Internal Audit & Business Infosec

Public Works and Government Services Canada - Director, IT Security Directorate

PwC - Managing Director, Real Estate Technology Advisory

Qantas - Global CIO

Queen's University - Director, Information Technology

RBC Royal Bank - Head of Application Security, Data Protection & Security Consulting

Regal Lifestyle Communities - CIO

Revera Inc. - CIO

Revera Inc. - Security Architect

Ricoh Canada - VP,IT

RioCan Property Services - VP IT

Rogers Communications - SVP, Customer Experience IT

Russel Metals - VP,IS

Scotiabank - VP - International Systems Technology

Scotiabank - Director, Architecture & Engineering

Sears Canada - Divisional VP, Information Technology Services

Secure Energy Services - GM, IT

Shaw Communications - VP, Technology Operations

Shaw Communications - Director, Risk Management

SMART Technologies - Director, IS Corporate Services

Smartcentres - Director IS, IT

Societe de Transport de Montreal - Division Head - Security and Compliance

Street Capital Financial - CIO

Sun Life Financial - AVP, Data & Business Intelligence Services

Sun Life Financial - VP Application Ops & Services

Suncor Energy Inc. - Director, Application Portfolio Optimization, I&PM, Business Services

Symcor - CTO, VP Technology Services

Talisman Energy - SVP IT & Business Services

TD Bank - Enterprise Architect

Teknion - SVP, CIO

TELUS - Chief Security Architect

Tervita Corporation - VP, Information Technology

The Hudsons Bay Company - VP Technology

The Hudson's Bay Company - SVP & CIO

The Source - VP, Information Technology

TMX Group - VP, CISO

Toromont Industries - VP & CIO

Toronto District School Board - Chief Technology Officer

Toronto Hospital for Sick Children - Director of Technology

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) - Chief Enterprise Architect

Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) - CIO

Toyota Canada - National Manager, IS

Transamerica Life Canada - CIO

Trican Well Services Ltd. - Director, Business Information Systems

Tridel Corporation - CIO

Trillium Health Partners - IT Director, Applications & Clinical Informatics

UFA Cooperative - VP & CIO

University of Calgary - Executive Director, Development Services

University of Ottawa - CIO

University of Ottawa - Senior Director IT Services & Infrastructure

University of Waterloo - Director, Technology Entrepreneurship

Vancity - VP Technology & Solutions

Viterra - Director Enterprise Technology

World Health - Director IT

Yellow Pages Group - Director - Enterprise Data Management

York Region District School Board - CIO

Leadership Archive