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Techcrunch item today, An Outsider’s Flawed View Of Silicon Valley had me recollecting the highs and lows of a career spent in the County of Santa Clara.  And the college years, too.  I've never wasted cycles on the relative merits of Seattle versus the Valley. It's a stupid, pointless comparison.  People prefer one or the other and there are no absolute positives and negatives.  I know people who've lived in, worked in, and succeeded serially in both locales.   In the 1990s I hired a direct-marketing agency, Herring-Newman, up there, to work for me down here.  Smart people who did good work.  Some were homegrown in the Northwest, some were transplants.  They were driven and conscientious.  Much like many of the professionals with whom I've been associated here in S.V.  Just so happens that Silicon Valley is my sense of place.  I don't think about it terms of access to venture capital and intellectual horsepower. Same way the Northwest is the ideal "place" for many people who happen to be placed there.  I happen to like sunny and mostly dry springtimes, warm summers and autumns under predominantly blue skies.  That's why I live here.  As for this "debate", it's a colossal waste of time.  Just don't get me started on Vancouver...