Parisians Elect City's First Female Mayor

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo
(Image: wwd.com)

Socialist Party candidate Anne Hidalgo now has a unique claim to fame: she is the first woman to be elected mayor of Paris. Ironically, a female was the runner-up in the contest, as the Los Angeles Times reported in today's online edition.

Winning the Parisian election is a big deal in France. The position, unlike its counterparts in New York or Chicago, provides a major springboard into high-profile national office. We'll see what the Spanish-born Hidalgo does while running the French capital's local government.

To Rent or To Buy a Home?

Image: realtor.com

Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway recently contributed a piece on the decision to rent or to purchase a home. Her article discussed the emotional and practical reasons each choice presents. Kellaway also gave the story a personal touch, when she noted her own predilections (decidedly in the home buying camp) and those of her family.

The journalist also contrasted her perspective with that of a British designer, who apparently penned a piece lauding the rental option. Kellaway didn't think much of her countryman's point of view.

I read the FT article with some interest. My wife and I have spent what seems a Ulyssean time frame in our efforts to purchase a home we can afford. It's not quite as simple as that. We also want to live in a community we like. In the New York-New Jersey area, our champagne tastes for neighborhoods and towns don't quite match our beer budget. What's more, we're somewhat torn over residing in the cramped, but exciting city versus a sedate, yet appealing white-picket-fence suburb. The issue is that we enjoy both styles, but can barely afford one. My wife jokes about winning the lottery (any lottery) and having enough cash to swing both worlds. Well, we haven't won yet.

Image: redfin.com

In the years we have searched for a proper home, my wife and I explored a variety of houses and condos. We were the proverbial "bridge too far" on a couple of offers. We've seen desperate structures with valuations to match. We've toured houses that contain one, very small closet. One house, for nearly one million dollars (profoundly beyond our means, in case you're keeping score) did not have a garage. When the house market mania was at its peak, we were "encouraged" to enter bidding wars. My spouse and moi found the idea repellent, and didn't bite.

The rent v. buy conundrum is difficult for me. Since my pre-teen years, I've lived nearly my entire adult life in apartments. It's challenging to contemplate owning a home, and having to mow the lawn, clean the gutters, and perform other maintenance. (For the record, I'm not handy around the house.) On the other hand, I could enjoy home ownership and savor its rewards.

Image: realestate.msn.com

Not so long ago, my wife and I visited friends in Wisconsin. They endured the minuses and enjoyed the plusses of home ownership in ways I could only imagine. I was a little jealous, as house prices were lower than the NY-NJ scale. More significantly, knowing my college peers took out and paid a mortgage made me feel as if owning a home was something I could really accomplish. The concept didn't feel so distant, the reality didn't seem so daunting.

That latter feeling reminded me of a remark in Kellaway's article. She noted her daughter, a recent university graduate, was renting without hope of purchasing something she could call her own. This was a depressing observation, but I took some solace in knowing that it took Ulysses twenty years to return to his home. My wife and I haven't searched that long, but if we're on a Homeric timeline, then we're getting closer to making a down payment on that elusive house or apartment destined to have our names on it.

Ultra Music Festival -- Miami

Ultra Music Festival 2014/Miami
(Image: downtownmiami.com)

The Ultra Music Festival is in full swing right now in Miami's Bayfront Park. The three-day event features electronic music DJs and a cast of literally thousands of fans. The multitude paid at least $400 per person (not including taxes and "fees") for an event pass. That's a lot of money, even by today's wildly inflated standards for admission to a live event.

I'm not there, and probably the crowd would take one look at me and many would think I was a cop, anyway. Nonetheless, I am intrigued by the festival, or at least what I can view and hear online. I do like some of the acts, such as Kaskade. Check it out now on UMFTV, as the show ends tomorrow.

US Department of Defense Gives High-Security Green Light to Amazon Web Services

The Amazon-friendly Obama Administration has found yet another way to reward the tech giant from Seattle. Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported that the Department of Defense (DoD) gave Amazon's cloud computing juggernaut a high-security clearance. That means Amazon Web Services (AWS), as the enterprise is commonly known, is in the driver's seat to obtain very lucrative, often secret business from federal agencies producing and managing the government's classified information needs.

From funding and revenue perspectives, the approval represents a bonanza for Jeff Bezos' tech empire. Barring an act of folly, Amazon is now in a position to reap federal financial rewards for a generation. The formidable barriers to entry in this field would likely daunt all but the strongest, largest, and most connected players. Amazon's desire to grow and monopolize this consistent money maker should not be underestimated. Certainly IBM and other blue-chip firms, which have had their way in this arena for decades, will find Amazon's seizure of this financial high ground a "disruptive" business development.

Jeff Bezos doesn't have to send Barack Obama a "thank you" card. In fact, 44 sent one to Amazon's monarch earlier this year, when the president visited an Amazon warehouse in Tennessee and characterized its dogshit-wage jobs as an entry point to the middle class. One wonders why the most powerful person on the planet felt -- and continues to feel -- compelled to provide Amazon with such gratitude.

Jonathan Schell -- RIP

Jonathan Schell
(Image: thenation.com)

Jonathan Schell, a former writer for The New Yorker, passed away this week at age 70.

For better or worse, Schell was largely known for two nonfiction works, The Fate of the Earth and The Village of Ben Suc. Often lumped together into "an exploration of war," the books shared Schell's desire to explore the nature and consequences of evil as manifested through organized armed conflict. In that sense, Schell followed in the footsteps of one of his mentors, Hannah Arendt.

Another mentor in Schell's professional and personal life was William Shawn, The New Yorker's second editor. My understanding was that the Schells and the Shawn household were muy simpatico, with young Jonathan a close friend of one of The New Yorker editor's sons. Harvard and The New Yorker seemed natural fits for the well-connected Schell. However, what was striking about Jonathan in person, whom I met when I worked at The New Yorker, was his constant courtesy and his appealing modesty. He was genuinely surprised that The Fate of the Earth became a best-seller. (So were a lot of other people.) He was much more heartened by the public interest in an issue he found so compelling and urgent. It's easy to forget that the book's publication coincided with Ronald Reagan's thoughtless nuclear sabre-rattling that downplayed modern war's human and planetary consequences. Schell's work gave articulate voice to a fragmented anti-militarist movement. For those who assert that books, especially works on important topics, have diminished impact in a visual age, one should consider Schell's courageous effort and its useful results.

I once asked Schell whether he had seen the movie Apocalypse Now. He had not. Why? He didn't view depictions of war -- especially the Vietnam War, which Schell had witnessed -- as suitable entertainment choices. I didn't agree with his opinion, but saw his point. I've never forgotten it, either.

Jonathan Schell was generally considered William Shawn's personal preference as his successor to The New Yorker's throne. That sentiment was not shared by all senior editorial staff members. As it happened, destiny intervened: The New Yorker was sold to Si Newhouse. The magazine world's Sun King preferred a different editorial direction and leadership than those Shawn and Schell represented. Schell soon realized he wanted to publish his work elsewhere. He did so, and slowly slipped from the heights of public prominence.

With Jonathan Schell's passing, one more voice from an era spawned by the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, and the triumph of liberal politics is no longer among us. What and who will replace the moral conscience Schell and others so bravely advanced?

Journalist Peter Delevett Leaves the Newspaper Biz

Peter Delevett
(Image: twitter.com) 

I didn't realize journalist Peter Delevett had left journalism this past week. I had followed him -- and still follow him -- on Twitter, LinkedIn, and until the third week of March, silicon valley.com and the Mercury News. His sayonara to his profession appeared on redroom.com with a March 19, 2014 dateline. The heartfelt piece contains some inconvenient truths about about the "evolving" media biz that are transforming bona fide American journalism into an endangered species. Delevett's well-written, reflective article also discusses his reasons for becoming a journalist and the many positive experiences he gained from his first career choice.

Whether one involuntarily leaves a career or changes it on one's own terms, such a departure represents a personal milestone from which there is rarely any turning back. Delevett presented his move with grace and wisdom. He also has a new job, a fresh career, an exciting opportunity. He's among the fortunate few who can say so. Delevett also wondered with far less optimism about legitimate journalism. "Tough" would only soft-sell what is a challenging, often unappreciated profession. I admire those of my friends and acquaintances who have pursued it. While I understand why someone with Delevett's experience and stature would "move on," as Americans like to say, I wonder how legit news will be developed and offered to our public.

Think Twice About That "Organic Milk" Label in California

Image: nytimes.com

The drought in California, one of the worst in the state's recorded history, doesn't get a lot of attention east of the Hudson River or inside the Beltway. However, the dry spell is having a powerful impact on agriculture in America's most important farming state.  Right now, nearly all California dairy farms are experiencing a dramatic absence of grass, thanks to the drought. Suffering perhaps most of all are organic farms, which are resorting to feeding cows organic hay or alfalfa. A story relating what's happening to farmers, bee keepers, and others in the Golden State's organic farming community recently appeared in the UK newspaper Guardian, and was picked up by siliconvalley.com.

One curiosity in the article was the USDA's definition of "organic milk." Apparently, all it takes for the designation is for the cows to eat "local" grass four months of the year. The other eight months? Well, do you really want to know what you're pouring on your corn flakes?

FBI Reluctant to Run Background Checks on Prospective Washington State Pot Employees

Pot
(Image: dea.gov)

Do you wonder who the people are who own and operate legit marijuana stores? Where does one find these fine citizens? I don't suppose GE's once-vaunted management program is one's first stop here. The top MBA programs? Wall Street? (Well, maybe there.)

I don't have the answer. However, in Colorado and in Washington State, prospective pot store employees and management wannabes are literally lining up for the opportunity to sell legal Mary Jane. One issue that quickly emerges is a background check.

According to a story in today's Seattle Times, the FBI ran such checks during Colorado's inaugural run for the weeds. However, the Feds are apparently reluctant to repeat the procedure in Washington State. While no official reason or confirmation has been issued from the J. Edgar Hoover Building, some have speculated the Feebies are in a legal bind.

You see, pot remains illegal in most states. That may be a complication for a federal law enforcement agency lacking legal or congressional mandate on the issue. For the time being, a propos of the law, the FBI appears to taking the "high" road.

Court Nixes Feds Request to Keep NSA Phone Records Longer Than Five Years

Federal judge Reggie Walton

In a story that slipped under the radar during SXSW, the Ukraine crisis, and the Malaysian Airlines plane disaster, a federal judge ruled that the NSA could not keep phone records longer than five years. According to an article in theverge.com, the judge in charge of NSA oversight asserted that privacy protections trumped the government's contention that five years just wasn't enough time to hold gathered data for evidentiary purposes.

The ruling jurist, Reggie Walton, is a George W. Bush appointee. The judge has tended to see the merits of protecting individual privacy versus sweeping, secret government encroachment of it.

Harris -- RIP

Three decades ago, a very close friend introduced me to his father, Harris. The son's parent was a gracious host, blessed with an inquiring mind, a curiosity about others, and a worldly perspective on people and events. He lived in a west LA neighborhood consistent with his business success. Harris was not a California native; born in Texas and raised in Chicago, he was among the many who found fortune and a good life in LA in the post-World War II era.

I found Harris' commercial acumen quite interesting. He had built a business more or less from scratch, and sourced many of his manufacturing materials in Southeast Asia. At that time, trade from that region to the United States was a sliver of the volume known today. Phone calls and air flights were expensive. Above all, personal connections -- the true currency of Asian trade -- required time and patience to cultivate and manage. I made the most of my opportunities to learn from Harris, but I would have benefited from obtaining even more insights into his business wisdom, and how he managed to create success out of thin air.

Harris enjoyed prosperity's pleasures without making others feel small or jealous about his condition. He was generous with his son's close friend and made me feel welcome. We could easily talk about a number of subjects, and he spoke his mind with grace and without pretension. He cared about his family, took care of his children and step-children as best he could, and enjoyed being close to them.

I visited southern California recently for business, but I couldn't manage a visit to see Harris. It bothered me, as Harris was in his nineties and birthdays at that stage of life become precious events. Now he has passed, and I wish I could been able to say to him how much I would miss him and how his life impacted my own.

Good bye, Harris. and thank you.