The first time I entered ChatRoulette—a new website that brings you face-to-face, via webcam, with an endless stream of random strangers all over the world—I was primed for a full-on Walt Whitman experience: an ecstatic surrender to the miraculous variety and abundance of humankind. The site was only a few months old, but its population was... 
Little City Gardens is a blossoming urban farming business located in the Mission District of San Francisco. Farmers Brooke Budner and Caitlyn Galloway produce an artisinal salad mix, braising mix and culinary herbs, which they sell weekly to a restaurant, and neighborhood subscribers.
As they work, they are developing and analyzing the... 
The city of Houston is partnering with Nissan and Reliant Energy to make the city electric-car friendly (and get people driving the Nissan Leaf). From The Houston Chronicle:
To support electric vehicles like the Leaf, which will be available in Houston toward year's end, the city and Reliant are working to create an infrastructure that places... 
Are you still looking for a way to help Haiti? Are you in the Los Angeles area? Then read on! Our friends over at Causecast are hosting Cause on the Rocks at the Viceroy Santa Monica on Tuesday, February 9th, from 7 to 10 p.m. There will be a dynamic mix of cocktails, causes, and cool people on the Viceroy's heated patio.
With the pressing... 
Supporting local businesses is important. Local businesses help create vibrant downtowns, boost tourism, and participate in local charity projects. And when local businesses do well, they tend to spend their money locally, strengthening their communities with more jobs and business.
We're all familiar with those "buy local" campaigns. But... 
Here's a troubling piece of news for Far East fans of cozy flannel prints: Shanghai officials are aiming to crack down on the wearing of pajamas in public. From Boing Boing:
The wearing of colorful, boldly-printed pajamas in public has been popular in the city for years, and well-documented on Flickr as well as National Geographic. But with... 
Creating community is easier than you think.
Is it just me or, is the modern urban neighborhood getting remarkably old-fashioned? In the Los Feliz (locals pronounce this los-FEE-liz) community of Los Angeles where I live, it feels like everything that was old is new (and smart) again. Things my grandparents in Kentucky have... 
Cycling activists from the LA Bike Working Group in Los Angeles are trying to get the city on board with their Backbone Bikeway Network, a "freeway system for cyclists." It would create long-distance bike routes along many of the city's main existing arteries. This is a great idea. The fact that this network is simple and runs along routes... 
Named after the Japanese word for the sound of conversation, Pecha Kucha is a grassroots organization popular with creative and artistic communities that creates forums for new ideas and innovation. On February 20, 2010, 277 cities around the world will hold simultaneous 24-hour Pecha Kucha festivals as a means of responding to the crisis, with... 
