(emphasis mine)

> As a west coaster, I can't stand Chicago or New York. The weather sucks, the topology is boring, the people are either boring Midwesterners, or crass north easterners. I'm happy the west coast gets more play, though I would probably not want to live in SF.

While the stereotypes exist for a reason (and anybody who's lived in NYC or Chi-town testify to these particular ones), have to disagree with you on the being able to put up with "those" people. It's the west coast that is the outlier here as a (stereotypical) bunch of pansies who can't (again stereotypically) deal with rawness of reality.

I'm fortunate, or not, for having lived in western (Seattle) and eastern Washington, Bay Area, Portland, Toledo, New York City (well, Westchester County), Vicksburg MS, Boca Raton, Salt Lake City, Austin (some for a few months, many for a few or more years).

There is nothing wrong with the other areas of the US, and Americans are mostly the same, but I find the laid back style of the left west coast just to be the most suited. Well, Californians can take that a bit too far...

That's "topography." The topology at Chicago, Harvard, MIT, and Princeton is clearly less boring than the topology at West Coast schools, Stanford included.

Ah, true, oops. Yes mountains, not networking.

Go look up what topology means, I think I'll like it. It applies to more than just networking and some people find it fascinating.

I've lived in both the Bay area and NYC. I can tell you the culture in NYC is very strong and hard to match. My spouse and I often look back fondly at the fun times we had in NYC. Chicago also has a very fun vibe depending on where you are. The Bay area is weak in that department IMHO.

I lived in Beijing for the last 9 years and had lots of fun, but am looking forward to going back to the west coast in a couple of weeks to live a comfortable productive family life. I guess it depends on what you are looking for.

Good for you. I don't dispute that many people really like the culture and weather of California.

My problem is that a lot of people seem to be pretending that the only reason there's so much demand for housing in California is due to the favorable weather/people, when in reality a huge proportion of the people there wouldn't be there if it weren't economically beneficial.

I never said just California. I'm actually like further up the coast more.

It is nice that the economics and the nice weather coincide. It probably isn't a coincidence either, as tech is primarily limited by human resources.

Blame Shockley for wanting to be near his aging mom.