Some cities are weathering the recession better than other

House price declines tied to job loss, says MetroTrends

For most of the metro areas in the “double trouble” group, the sharp downturn followed rapid gains in house prices and employment opportunities earlier in the decade. In fact, the bigger the boom, the harder the fall.

The double-whammy states of California, Florida, and [...]

US-Pakistan negotiations leave out Pakistani people

America is pursuing its goals in Pakistan by engaging in a Strategic Dialogue with a military dictator who uses terrorism to fuel conflict with India. But unlike the Pakistani and Pashtun people, you have a voice in this Strategic Dialogue. [...]

GoDaddy follows Google, stops doing business with China

As we learned when studying the case of the dancing hippie, it’s the first follower that “transforms a lone nut into a leader.”

May many more follow. Freedom is always better than repression and coercion.

China has every right to set rules about what happens inside its borders. However, companies working there also [...]

Bruce Sterling. Closing speech SXSW. To the geeks

Emphasis added.

Take Juarez. People talk about the extinction of the press, the demonetizing of reportage. In Juarez people are being shot. Twice the people we lost in 9/11. Why? Because the anti-terrorist anti-insurgency troops switched sides and decided to become a narco-terrorist regime. And something they were told was to ice the media. What [...]

Yike Bike. Electric. Portable

The Yike Bike is electric and can be easily folded then put in a case and carried with a shoulder strap. It looks quite amazing and could revolutionize city transport. Seriously.

S.F. icon Frank Chu turns 50

In some cities a harmless eccentric like Frank Chu would probably be tased or clubbed. In San Francisco, they let him be himself and appreciate him. This is a city with a fine and long history of tolerance towards outsiders, and that’s a good thing indeed.

Via another S.F. icon, Laughing Squid, where this [...]