Slashdot Mirror
Top U.S. Tech Cities
srizah writes "Wired.com claims to have used a 'scientific methodology' to rate the top 10 tech towns in the US. They use some very reliable indexes, like 'Craigslist postings per capita' or 'Number of attendees at local meetings of dorkbot'. The usual suspects (Seattle, San Francisco) show up on the list, but some might surprise you. From the article: 'Raleigh-Duram - The jocks here may get worked up about college hoops, but the tech set is passionate about Linux distros and Mac-PC holy wars. North Carolina's Triangle is ground zero for Red Hat, SAS Institute, and an IBM center. Bonus: The area hosts two World Beer Festivals a year.'"
The best city in America... like suburbia on crank. Lots of companies, lots of jobs, nice people, lots of money to make. UCI represent!!!!
Assuming geek refers to users of the Internet.
There are other technologies and sciences out there with far geekier folks (e.g. biology, mathematics, physics, chemistry, various kinds of engineering etc.)
The Bay Area is missing too. How can you do that?!
I found a lovebird hiding in a bush one day a few years ago, in a row of hedges just outside work; obviously someone's pet had escaped. I forget what I originally used to capture it; I think I got it into a paper bag and brought it in. That bird was freaked.
I went on Craigslist and found someone in the neighborhood who was advertising free bird cages that he was throwing away. So I emailed the guy and he replied with his address, saying he was leaving for work, but the cages would be out front with the trash. I went over to his house with a friend of mine and they were by the curb like he said. We took one and left.
With the bird now in its free cage I posted "FOUND LOVEBIRD" on Craigslist and a guy up the street responded. He said he kept love birds and canaries in cages outside his business (he ran a day care), and that he was missing one of his two lovebirds. A few people in the office who were in the habit of taking walks confirmed this, saying yes, they remembered seeing birds there, it's obviously one of those.
So case closed. We took our lovebird in its free cage, and walked over to this guy's business. Lovebirds don't like being alone; they want to be in pairs. And they use a species-specific call to find other lovebirds. So as we approached, the birds started "pinging" each other back and forth with this call, which became more frequent as we approached. And they went nuts in their cages as they became fully aware of each other. It was actually a pretty cool thing to see. We let our bird hop into the cage with the other one, and they started chatting with each other and flying around like mad.
The guy was puzzled, because it wasn't the same lovebird that he lost. But we left it there anyway. It worked out well for everybody. My friend and I got to skip work for a while, didn't pay for anything, the guy got his free replacement lovebird, and the replacement lovebird not only survived but found a good home with his other lovebird. All thanks to Craigslist. I hope his original lovebird also found a good home.