Bloomberg's Patrick Clark notes that some real estate markets are so tight that companies are starting to offer their employees funding for their homes.

Facebook wants to keep its workers close to the office, and it’s willing to pay for it ( Read more... )

Bloomberg's Patrick Clark writes about the San Francisco area group that has been suing suburban municipalities for blocking much-needed construction. I have to say that I strongly agree with this goal: Cities need housing if they are to function.

In a speech last month, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman blamed zoning restrictions ( Read more... )

The Irish Independent featured the opinion piece "Tech overkill destroyed the loveliest, liveliest city on the West Coast" by Adrian Weckler.

Now if you're the mayor of a city and want model citizens to generate revenue and commerce, this is hardly a bad problem to have. These mild-mannered, job-obsessed workers cause little hassle. They earn a ( Read more... )

The Toronto Star's Robin Levinson King wrote earlier this month about an initiative by a San Francisco group to force suburbs to allow rental housing.

An advocacy group has a novel solution to the affordable housing crisis that’s gripped many cities across North America: sue the suburbs ( Read more... )

At Discover's Body Horrors, Rebecca Kreston notes how the American military tested biological weapons in 1951.

The Nuremberg Code was drafted in 1947 following the appalling revelations of human experimentation committed in Nazi concentration camps. The overarching goal of the Code was to establish a set of rules for the ethical conduct of ( Read more... )

Slate hosts this plausible-sounding argument.

In the Bay Area, the cities that have shut their doors to housing are the suburban municipalities that contain most of the region’s population. “The smaller communities, in my opinion, need to step up, and I don’t see that happening,” San Francisco planning director John Rahaim says. “There’s such a ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes plans for building a new condo complex at Front and Spadina.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper simulating the emission spectra of super-Earths.
• The Dragon's Tales suggests that the emergence of continents was crucial for the Great Oxidation Event and claims Mars took longer to lose its atmosphere than many people think.
• Joe. My. God. ( Read more... )

This is genius. From io9 comes the latest appearance of Kamala Khan, Marvel's latest superhero.

Well, this is just brilliant. Racist adverts promoting hatred against Muslims are currently being run on buses in San Francisco - but someone has started covering them up with anti-hatred messages from Marvel's première Muslim superhero, Ms. Marvel ( Read more... )

Al Jazeera reports on the inaguration of a high speed rail project in California.

Officials marked the start of work on California’s high-speed rail project, the nation’s first bullet train, which is designed to whisk travelers at 200 mph between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three hours ( Read more... )

Torontoist's Peter Goffin reports on a San Francisco initiative that has relevance for Toronto, with its buried waterways like the Garrison Creek.

A pair of San Franciscans have concocted a plan to bring new life to the city’s long-dead waterways through a public art installation. Designer Emily Schlickman and radio producer Kristina Loring will ( Read more... )