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Businesses Graphics The Almighty Buck Technology

Florida-Based Magic Leap Builds Its Team With Bay Area Hires 161

Posted by timothy from the hey-man-you're-supposed-to-eat-local dept.
Tekla Perry writes Stealthy 'cinematic reality' company Magic Leap may be based in Florida--but it's doing a lot of hiring from the Bay Area, scooping up engineers from Pixar, Google, Apple, and Intel--along with a few Willow Garage alums. And it's got openings for many many more. Are all these folks with long-term Silicon Valley roots really going to move to South Florida? Or is Magic Leap getting ready to open up a Silicon Valley research center to house the brain trust it is gathering? Here's what we know about Magic Leap and its technology, who's joining it, and what other kinds of engineers the company aims to hire. Magic Leap has a lot of money to do all that hiring, having just raised more than half a billion dollars, the bulk of it from Google. If you're working in the Bay Area now, would you look forward to a move to Florida, or rather stay where you are?
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Florida-Based Magic Leap Builds Its Team With Bay Area Hires More

Florida-Based Magic Leap Builds Its Team With Bay Area Hires

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  • Nice ad as story you've got there (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DaHat ( 247651 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @07:34PM (#48338223)

    How much did this plug cost Timothy?

    • Enough to pay of your student loans, maybe? Pot meet kettle...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by flyneye ( 84093 )

      Bay Area to S.Fla ... They could've just asked how many people would prefer to leap from one frying pan into another frying pan...
      Perhaps there would be a lower cost of living and fewer distractions from work to locate in Omaha, not to mention its centralized location.

  • And you get to live in Florida!!! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by russbutton ( 675993 ) <russ@@@russbutton...com> on Friday November 07, 2014 @07:59PM (#48338295) Homepage
    The move to Florida will be a bit difficult for man Silicon Valley folks. Florida is a Red State. Most of you aren't old enough to remember the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Consitution, which Florida never ratified. Floridia also failed to ratify the 19th amendment to the US Constitution until 1969. Which amendment is that you ask? That's the one which gave women the right to vote. It was the Law of the Land back in the 1920's because 2/3rds of the states had ratified it, but Florida only accepted it more than 40 years after the fact.

    Add in punishing heat, humidity and the fact that you're smack dab in Hurricane Alley with things only getting worse with climate change and you'll realize WHY Florida is a cheaper place to live. But if you don't care about any of that and like cheap seafood and good ol' boy values, then maybe Florida is the state for you!

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @08:31PM (#48338403)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Florida geographically is HUGE. This means a lot of different cultures. Assuming the panhandle is anything like key west is just plain wrong. Tallahassee, Tampa, Orlando, Melbourne, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Miami, and the Keys might as well be entirely different countries.

        Boca Raton resident here. I agree completely with the OP. Florida gets a bad rap in the media which is hard to apply to such a diverse state. Having been born here the heat and humidity seem normal.

        I work as an embedded software engine

        • I'm with you on the "many other things", but the weather? Really? And no amount of money?

          If I could make enough money to have my current lifestyle in coastal CA, I'd move tomorrow.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dbIII ( 701233 )

        Melbourne ... Miami, and the Keys might as well be entirely different countries.

        I thought they were. Another name recycled, but the Australian one is far cooler. It was founded by Batman! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Batman)

      • Orlando-area resident here, and I couldn't agree more. I like the jab about hurricanes too, especially since in my 20 years of living here, Charley was the only really bad hurricane we had [here in Central FL], and it's been beyond quiet since then. Anecdotal, but relevant given his "only getting worse" assertion.

    • Depends on where in Florida. You realize it is a big state...

      Here in N Florida (Gainesville) we've had snow as many times as hurricane hits in my life time.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Not state income tax, while in California your income tax fed + state can reach 50%.

      Probably why the company is in Florida, the state that ALLOWS you to do business, vs California where you pay your fees, taxes, and still get protested for daring to run a bus to pick up workers.

    • The move to Florida will be a bit difficult for man Silicon Valley folks.

      The move to Florida would be insanely difficult for any human being with two brain cells to rub together. Even if you ignore the insane politics and wacky residents, living in a pancake-flat state with no recreational opportunities outside of Disney World, with dripping-hot sweaty weather, is not most people's idea of fun. Florida is popular amongst the 70+ year old set; desirable Silicon Valley engineering staff is around 30 years old.

      Personally I'd be perfectly willing to move there.... at $5 million a ye

      • Re:And you get to live in Florida!!! (Score:4, Insightful)

        by knightghost ( 861069 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @09:35PM (#48338605)

        After having worked in both SoCal and Florida, I'd choose Florida hands down. Maybe you should get out more.

      • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @11:15PM (#48338887)
        Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Weather wise - I mean - you can have your pick.

          Sure, you can have hurricanes with hot, humid weather, or you can have hurricanes with humid, hot weather.

          • Weather wise - I mean - you can have your pick.

            Sure, you can have hurricanes with hot, humid weather, or you can have hurricanes with humid, hot weather.

            I moved to Florida from the SF Bay Area a few years ago. I have yet to see a hurricane. The area that I live in hasn't seen a hurricane since something like 1994. That's only 5 years more recently than the Loma Prieta earthquake. The weather is usually in the high 70's or low 80's during the spring and fall. Most of the summer the weather hangs out around 92 degrees. Some summer days are nicer here than in the Bay Area (like when you have a high pressure system over the Sierra Nevada mountains). Duri

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Octorian ( 14086 )

        A regular silicon valley salary would be an insanely good income in Florida, at least for someone in the tech industry. I left Florida to move to silicon valley, and got a very nice bump (which exceeded the living expense difference) in the process.

        Of course having left Florida, I'm not sure I'd want to move back there.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cusco ( 717999 )

        Don't forget to mention six inch long cockroaches that fly.

    • *BLUB* (Score:2, Troll)

      by TiggertheMad ( 556308 )
      I would hope that a company with a half a billion dollars in spending money would have more sense than than to put down stakes in a region that might well be underwater in 20 years. Anyone moving TO south Florida at this point is mentally deficient, or a climate change denier who is really drinking the kool-aid.

    • But if you don't care about any of that and like cheap seafood and good ol' boy values, then maybe Florida is the state for you!

      Well with the rise of Brogrammer culture, it seems like the under-30 men should fit in just great in Florida and its good ol' boy values.

    • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Wow, really? Your example of Florida backwardness is the ERA from the 1980s, and women voting from the teens?

      Shame on you! Those examples are how Florida was backwards generations ago. Florida is backwards in an entirely new way now! This is the state that required people on welfare to get drug tests. (Despite people on welfare using drugs at lower rates than middle class americans). Or how about the truly moronic "Stand your ground" laws?

      Floridians have worked VERY hard to make their state stand out

      • I was stationed at Eglin AFB from 1975 - 77. Of course the Florida panhandle really is just Southern Alabama. I was there just 6 weeks when we got hit by Hurricane Eloise. Major damage.

        Being white and a military officer definitely had its advantages and enabled me to fly under the radar for the most part. Leaving in '77 was one of the happier days of my life.

        Old Times there are not forgotten, look away, look away Dixieland.

    • Re:And you get to live in Florida!!! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by R3d M3rcury ( 871886 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @10:07PM (#48338709) Journal

      Well, I looked for a location for the company and it said Dania Beach, which is along the Atlantic Ocean side probably about 20 miles north of Miami. While Florida may be "red" state, the Miami area is pretty "blue."

      That said, a company I used to work for got bought and we all ended up moving down to Miami. I was in my mid-20s and Miami was a pretty fun place. Lots of fun bars in Coconut Grove and South Beach (which stay open until 4AM!). You have a warm ocean, so you don't need to put on wetsuit if you're spending more than 10 minutes in the water.

      The heat and humidity? Yeah, it can be bad. Make sure you live someplace with a pool. That solved the problem for me. Also, it's one of those cases where pretty much every place you live has central A/C. If they don't, you don't want to live there.

      About the only issue I had was that after a year or so in Miami, I felt like I'd been everywhere and done everything. And once you get out of Miami/Dade, you're in The South which definitely was grating.

    • Although for the right company it could be considered, one that can forward your career, is fun to work at, etc. But Magic Leap? Never heard of it, won't even bother looking it up because it sounds stupid on the face of it, probably infested completely with marketing types with no real engineers.

      I take that back, I looked them up. I still can't tell what they do. But they sure to waste a ton of time making flashy web pages that say nothing at all. Anyone who moves to Florida to join them deserves what

    • Re:And you get to live in Florida!!! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Jim Sadler ( 3430529 ) on Saturday November 08, 2014 @01:38AM (#48339265)
      I have lived in Florida for 60 years and would not reccomend life in the Miami, Ft. lauderdale or Palm Beach area including Boca raton. The southeastern coast of Florida has been destroyed by growth and the deliberate attraction of excessive population. Also considerable racial strife as well as a vivid gap between the haves and the have nots has resulted in an area prone to crime and violent crime at that. There are areas in Florida that could be ideal for major businesses. Areas not too distant from Orlando that are still rural or uninhabited enable land purches at sane prices. Crime is much less of a problem in these areas and if you consult locals you can fine out about the effect of storms in the specific region. With intelligent designs and placements buildings and homes can be quite safe in almost any potential hurricane. Casually buying into just any old place in Florida is a huge mistake. For example if a person dreams about buying land in California knowledge is required or you might end up in a really nasty desert or a wooded area prone to frequent forest fires. You need to know and understand exactly what you are buying.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dbIII ( 701233 )
        Makes sense. Right next to Orlando is the perfect site for the city of the future, or a magic kingdom come to think of it.
      • I went to flight school in Florida. Number 1 thing I loved about Flordia - by FAR - was I was one hour from the Bahamas! LOVED IT :) What I didn't like was every kind of nut, psycho killer, dirt bag, crack dealer, and every other kind of riff-raff seemed to migrate there. I very narrowly avoided the "Palm Bay Shoot Out" if you remember that.

  • Perhaps the answer is taxes (Score:3)

    by Trachman ( 3499895 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @08:01PM (#48338305) Journal

    While Florida is not the most attractive and friendly place to do business, but it surely beats California, which has for several years been elected as the worst place to do business, in the same bucket with New York and New Jersey.

    Florida has no income tax, climate is subtropical and, more importantly, Florida is giving additional tax incentives to move jobs to Florida.

    My own employer has opened office in Tampa and relocated 250 jobs from NJ; that is probably only the beginning.

    • Re:Perhaps the answer is taxes (Score:4, Insightful)

      by iluvcapra ( 782887 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @08:23PM (#48338367)

      The first thing I though of was, apart from being a (slightly) Red state, Florida is also one of those states that makes it impossible to form labor unions, which is quite relevant to a company that wants to make "cinematic" experiences. South Florida, Miami in particular, is a sorta notorious hothouse for non-union filmmaking and is a really popular destination for "venture capital" types that want to try to do movie or movie-like things while avoiding the entertainment guilds.

      Sure, the Apple and Pixar people don't care about unions. But, if this company is a cover for some kind of content operation, they'll need need writers, actors, directors, camera crews that know all about 3D and MoCap, trained grips and stagehands, editors, sound people... South Florida is well stocked with relatively qualified people in all these job categories.

      People who do VFX and animation generally haven't joined the stage guilds, but their employers here in LA have been so abusive (really just flaky) lately that there's been buzzing that the animation guild, IATSE 829, was finally making a push to get them signed -- 829 has jurisdiction in SF as well. But not in Florida.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by dbIII ( 701233 )
        I always find it funny that despite all the blame on unions there's so much Hollywood outsourcing to places like Australia and Canada with much stronger unions. It's cheaper in those places and has nothing to do with unions, it's because the film companies don't have to pay a shitload in extra employee on-costs like health cover. However it's fashionable for many in politics to blame unions, oppose any attempt to fix the situation and take a few more dollars under that table from big pharma etc instead of
        • The problem isn't unions per se, it's Wagner Act unions. American labor law is awful.

        • I always find it funny that despite all the blame on unions there's so much Hollywood outsourcing to places like Australia and Canada with much stronger unions.

          I don't know if Australia has stronger film unions than the US, Britain is another common runaway production destination and their union is moribund (thanks Maggie). These place aren't attractive due to the cheap labor, they're attractive because Australia and Canada use government tax revenues and credits to pay producers to shoot there. Many med

    • Re:Perhaps the answer is taxes (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Grishnakh ( 216268 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @09:26PM (#48338585)

      There's a lot of better states to move than Florida; two of them are directly north of California.

      California is an excellent place to be an employee:
      1) there's tons of companies there, so if one job doesn't work out, just walk across the street and get a new one.
      2) non-compete clauses are unenforceable in California, so employers can't prevent you from working within your industry if you leave that company. The same isn't true in most other states.

      There's a reason (or really, many reasons) why Silicon Valley is so successful, and why no one has been able to copy that success though many have tried (like "Silicon Alley" in NYC--what a joke). Many foolish places keep trying to pitch themselves as "the next Silicon Valley", but for most of them it's a pathetic joke because they don't make the changes actually needed to make such a place successful.

      Florida is a terrible place to try to set this up for reasons others have stated here: it's a Red State (remember, you're trying to attract hip and well-educated 20- and 30-somethings who are generally non-religious, and a GOP stronghold is not attractive to them), it's full of old people and crazy people, the politics are insane, the weather is terrible (remember, we're talking about people living in the Bay Area, which has excellent mild weather), and of course, it's not already a tech hub unlike places like Boston, Seattle, or RTP, so if this job doesn't work out, they'll have to move back to California. The whole idea is just dumb.

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by AaronW ( 33736 )

          Silicon Valley weathered the 2008 bubble better than most of the country and bounced back very quickly. Unemployment is quite low and there are a lot of new tech companies going in. Currently things are far more diverse than they were when the dot com bubble burst.

          Part of it is the whole environment of Silicon Valley which is not easy to duplicate. Silicon Valley rewards failure. If your last two startup ventures failed, you're more likely to get support for a new one. People also hop from company to compan

        • Re: (Score:3)

          by dbIII ( 701233 )
          Is it diverse enough that someone from Hungary (Intel) or Russia (Google - ok so he grew up in the USA so maybe not a good example) can get finance from locals with nothing much behind them apart from an education? That's a major reason for Silicon Valley, the other is that there is plenty of stuff there to provide a supply chain.
          Silicon Valley really should have happened in Texas, but the one thing they didn't have was a willingness to let people from all over the world bring in their good ideas to a plac
    • This company goes under and then where do you get a job in Florida for IT? Yup, California's taxes suck but at least in SV there are plenty of IT jobs (at least for now)

    • No income tax. How does the government function? Or are you the type of state that thinks no government is good government, shrinking it down until everyone is forced to be home schooled because schools can't exist, and no roads for buses to travel on to take kids to school.

      I am not a liberal, but sheesh the no-tax people need to get some sort of clue.

  • Crazy (Score:4, Insightful)

    by zieroh ( 307208 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @08:02PM (#48338309)

    You know, California and Florida both have more than their fair share of crazy people. The main difference comes down to what flavor of crazy you're talking about. In California, it's an asset. In Florida, it's fucking frightening.

    So no. I would not move from the Bay Area to Florida.

    • Re:Crazy - fairly good summary (Score:5, Funny)

      by echtertyp ( 1094605 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @08:22PM (#48338365)
      From a Euro perspective it would be difficult to prefer Florida over California, all else held equal. But you bring up a good point which is in CA's favor: - in California, having crazy people means they will stick flowers in your car - Florida, having crazy people means they will get amped on bath salts meth and try to eat your face

    • Really? (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Which breed of crazy? Fuck you, I'm stealing everything you have crazy? Yeah, I made the move. We're small, 23 jobs, but that's 23 jobs that CA threw away with the fuck you taxes, and all of the same shitty school and drug problems.

      • Which breed of crazy? Fuck you, I'm stealing everything you have crazy? Yeah, I made the move. We're small, 23 jobs, but that's 23 jobs that CA threw away with the fuck you taxes, and all of the same shitty school and drug problems.

        Wow. That was so lucid. I don't know what state you're in, but it's where I don't want to be lol.

      • Re:Really? (Score:4, Informative)

        by Grishnakh ( 216268 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @09:28PM (#48338589)

        The breed of crazy that will shoot you dead for walking home at night from a convenience store.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by IANAAC ( 692242 )

          The breed of crazy that will shoot you dead for walking home at night from a convenience store.

          Or on a Bart platform.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by zieroh ( 307208 )

        Which breed of crazy? Fuck you, I'm stealing everything you have crazy? Yeah, I made the move. We're small, 23 jobs, but that's 23 jobs that CA threw away with the fuck you taxes, and all of the same shitty school and drug problems.

        Sounds like you made the right move. That is, good riddance. Glad you're gone.

    • I would move there just to watch California and Florida drivers mix it up.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by s.petry ( 762400 )
        Most boring mix up ever, I'd fall asleep. Most drivers in SV do 10-15 _under_ the speed limit even when traffic is open, and most of the time the Freeways are parking lots. Florida is a lot of elderly doing the same exact thing.. except they have their turn signals on 24/7 too

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AaronW ( 33736 )

          Most drivers in SV do 10-15 _over_ the speed limit when traffic is open. Elderly generally stay off the freeways except on Sunday... Sunday drivers tend to be slow road boulders.

  • ALL of Florida is further South than ANY part of California.

  • The North Easterners are already destroying our state we don't need West Coasters to finish it off.

    • That's just real America trying to finish the nation building we left incomplete after the civil war. I'm not sure why we bother; but I suppose somebody has to.
  • No way. Very Red state. Hot & humid. Hurricane prone. Ground zero for sea level rise.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by CatGrep ( 707480 )
      seems much more likely that they're opening a Silicon Valley office. Google would probably like to have them close by as well to look after that $542Million investment.
  • I've lived in CA most of my life, been wanting to leave for a few years now. The only thing keeping me here is dad, I won't leave until he's gone.

    That said, the first 6 years of my parent's marriage they lived in a dozen states (dad worked for the military, they moved him like a PFC). The only state they both hated was Florida. Not due to politics, taxes, or any of that other stuff. It was the bugs and the weather they hated.

    I spent a couple weeks in Key West a decade or so ago and enjoyed it tho.

    • The Keys are a chain of islands with a very different culture from the rest of Florida. They even called themselves the "Conch Republic" at one point during a political stunt.

      I imagine the weather in Key West is rather different than much of Florida, being a Caribbean island, whereas much of mainland Florida is swamps.

      So don't let your experiences in Key West give you the wrong idea about the place where this company is setting up shop (Fort Lauderdale I believe).

      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

      • The Keys are a chain of islands with a very different culture from the rest of Florida. They even called themselves the "Conch Republic" at one point during a political stunt.

        Rent there, don't buy, unless it is a boat. Rising sea levels could turn your beautiful beachfront property into underwater property. The boat might help you escape.

  • Yeah, watch your money do a disappearing act and take a 'magic leap' offshore...

  • I lived in the North Miami/South Broward area for 12 years before moving to the Bay Area and I can certainly say there will be substantial culture shock when immersing yourself into the South Florida social and professional environment. I would never live in the South Florida region after living in the Bay. The cost of living is substantially cheaper but the quality of living is exponentially worse. I wish them all the best of luck, maybe an influential group of active, tech savvy citizens can inject some l

  • Basically a warmer and poorer version of New Jersey. But it does have one major thing going for it compared to the Bay Area -- you don't have to be a dot-com millionaire to buy a house.

  • I was one of those who thought Florida was all wrong until I moved down and figured it out for myself. Obviously, it's a big place with a lot of everything but altitude and snow. We've got enough people and enough "money" so if you don't want to come we don't care.

  • Finally, something I'm qualified to answer! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by sootman ( 158191 ) on Friday November 07, 2014 @10:42PM (#48338801) Homepage Journal

    As a former Bay Area resident who now lives in Florida, my advice is to stay in California if you can afford to and if you're okay with your current job. Florida isn't totally horrible, but CA is a million times better, ESPECIALLY the Bay Area. Two things off top of my head: the weather is better out there, and there's a whole lot more going on. Every month, it seems, I see an ad for some cool event or something happening right there were used to live. I'd move back in a second if I could afford to. Never should have left, but oh well, that's how life goes sometimes.

    • Here's the important thing: lose a job in Silicon Valley, there are many nearby and you wont' have to relocate. Maybe a longer commute though. Lose a tech job in Florida and you're in trouble.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ildon ( 413912 )

        As long as you don't mind working in military simulation, there are always tons of jobs in Orlando and Melbourne. Can't speak for the other cities in Florida.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ildon ( 413912 )

      There's always cool shit going on here in Orlando. Where do you live?

  • Between the high housing costs, traffic jams, and dysfunctional politics, I think many people are looking to leave the Bay Area.

  • And even then, the money I no longer paid to California in income tax more than paid the mortgage on a 3000 sq ft house I had built.

    Yeah I had to give up some stuff - never ending traffic jams, earthquakes, brush fires, wine snobs, ethnic variety of restaurants, shitty service everywhere, shitty public schools, milder weather, nice views from places I could never afford to live, but I managed to survive.

    California is a great place if you are rich enough to be able to afford to live there without working. For everyone else it is hell on earth.

    Florida? Hmmm. I lived there once. Not too sure about the politics- the frightened old people population ensures that it will remain hard core republican for at least another generation. Dallas wasn't much different- there it was frightened stupid people who kept the politics "amusing". The weather can be rough for some, but if you like water sports Florida has nice, warm seas.

    Yeah, I think I'd take Florida over California.

  • You should have looked through the jobs before writing this entry, a few reference Florida positions working with the teams in California. It sounds like they are keeping teams in both places.

    Also Dania Beach is basically Hollywood, FL, where FLL airport is located. The Magic Leap offices there are in the Design Center of the Americas, just off I-95. One could easily do the commute from Miami, which is a great place to live (I've been here 14 years and coincidentally work for a company that has a team h

  • Moved to CA from FL.. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ...about 6 months ago, for a tech job. Lived in FL for 30 years, and our families/friends were there too. Hard decision. I have learned a few things:

    Housing/COLA - FL wins hands-down. CA is insanely expensive if you want a decent neighborhood with above-average schools (not perfect, but good). We won't own a home anytime soon. In FL I could have half the salary and still get a nice place in a good neighborhood. Rest of costs of living are mostly similar.

    Weather - CA wins (mostly). FL weather was 90 degrees,

  • To be honest, I like California weather. What I DONT understand is why all these startups cluster so close to downtown San Francisco. I'd love to be up somewhere a bit farther north like Ukiah, or Willits CA.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zieroh ( 307208 )

      I'd love to be up somewhere a bit farther north like Ukiah, or Willits CA.

      The weather up there isn't the same. The SF bay has a fairly profound effect on the weather around the bay area (the infamous "microclimates") and that changes pretty radically just immediately outside of the hills that surround the Bay Area.

      That said, the weather in San Francisco proper -- the 7x7 city itself, plus a few of the cities immediately to the South -- pretty much sucks balls. It's cold in the summer, and kind of drizzly and blah in the winter. Silicon Valley weather, on the other hand, is (IMHO)

  • ... thanks to the magic of high speed Internet service. I've been importing cash from the Californian job market to Key West for 7 years now, with no apparent end in sight. I'm not interested in convincing you to live here, though, particularly since so many appear to already have their minds made up, and besides, this place is about as full as it needs to be. I would urge you however, to seriously consider living in a free state (Washington perhaps?) in an area with reasonable-enough rent that you may cons

  • If you're in Tampa or St. Petersburg, FL, or really anywhere in Florida, the term "bay area" means the area around Tampa Bay. It's the common usage of the term--you have a bay in your state, and you know that's the area "bay area" refers to.

    It is a pet peeve of mine that people mistakenly/rudely use the term as if it can only refer to one specific bay area in the world, instead of saying "SF Bay Area" in a headline, for instance. No matter how popular such incorrect and rude word usage is, using the gener

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