Nathalie Bouffe

Unbelievable!!

"Nobody is going to feel sorry for you getting six weeks of free travel in Europe," he said.

A Job with Travel but no Vacation, from the New York Times

Wikipedia, a beautiful thing

What Jean Gottman calls BosWash, the megalopolis that extends from Boston to Washington, D.C., and includes NYC, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, contains 44 million people, or 0.7% of the world's population.

Is that a lot or a little?

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Saskia Sassen talks about global cities, or cities that have a direct and tangible effect on global affairs through socioeconomic, cultural, and/or political means.

Criteria for global cities includes:

• International, first-name familiarity (Tokyo rather than Tokyo, Japan)
• Active influence and participation in international events and world affairs (The UN in NYC, the EU in Brussels)
• A population of at least one million.
• A major international airport
• An advanced transportation system that includes several freeways or a large mass transit network
• Several international cultures and communities (like a Chinatown), or a lot of foreign business and expatriate communities. 
• International financial institutions, law firms, corporate headquarters, and stock exchanges that have influence over the world economy. 
• Advanced communications infrastructure that modern trans-national companies rely on, such as fiberoptics, Wi-Fi networks, cellular phone services, and other high-speed lines of communications.
• World-renowned cultural institutions, such as museums or universities
• A lively cultural scene, including film festivals, premieres, a thriving music or theatre scene; an orchestra, an opera company, art galleries, and street performers.
• Several powerful and influential media outlets with an international reach, such as the BBC, the New York Times, Reuters, Le Monde, etc.