Las Vegas is on the verge of a renaissance, thanks, in part, to the fantastical vision and persuasive passion of Zappos CEO and Delivering Happiness author, Tony Hsieh.

Credit Marc Burckhardt

What began as a relocation project, moving the online shoe and apparel shop headquarters from its Henderson location to downtown Las Vegas, has blossomed into a revitalization project, breathing new life into an area all too often described as seedy and run-down.

By the end of 2013, Zappos will take over downtown’s old City Hall building, which will receive a major renovation to accommodate 2,000 of its employees (the Henderson office is home to approximately 1,200), and several blocks of surrounding real estate have been procured to round out the “Zappos campus,” serving as a spark plug to the surrounding area.

It’s all part of Hsieh’s vision to make downtown Las Vegas a vital community — attracting families, urban dwellers, and business owners — to not only visit, but to live and thrive, with art galleries, yoga studios, coffee shops, book stores, sporting events and charter schools.

Hsieh is investing $350 million into the Downtown Project, with $200 million in real estate development, including residential, $50 million for small business investment, $50 million for education, and $50 million for start-up investments, in companies who are already in Las Vegas or are willing to relocate to downtown.

The start-up investment is a ripe opportunity for seedling companies looking for the right environment to get off the ground. Besides providing a lower cost of living, compared to many start-up hubs, the Downtown Project offers access to mentors, space and peers.

When I asked Zach Ware, who oversees campus, urban, and start-up development, about the strategy to attract start-ups and compete against fertile start-up grounds like Palo Alto, San Francisco and Seattle, he explained:

We’re less about comparisons and more about creating something new. Most cities have their fair share of incubation programs and other formal ways to accelerate learning and happiness. We see an opportunity to create a form of an incubator in an entire city, but without the formalities. So if you consider the elements that make up an incubator (proximity to mentors, proximity to others like you, access to capital and space) we think those things can be more organically scaled if they are a part of a city. 

Taking a cue from the edicts in Triumph of the City, the project aims to make downtown Las Vegas a great place to eat, meet, work, live, learn, and play.

After witnessing first-hand the kind of company Tony Hsieh has built with Zappos — during my recent headquarters tour, one senior woman commented, “Boy, would I have loved to work here when I was young” — I have no doubt the project will be a success. In fact, it’s the only Vegas bet I’ll make.

What if I offered you a keyhole view into the seedy underbelly of the Internet, a journey into the world of cybercrime, cyber-espionage and other threats? Would you want a look?

If the answer is yes, you’re in luck, because that’s exactly what Charles Koppelman is offering with his film ZERO DAY, a documentary exploring “the dark side of the Internet.”

Embedded with Facebookʼs Security Team at its Menlo Park headquarters, given unprecedented fly-on-the-wall access to intrusions, hacks, and criminal activities, Charles and his crew deep-dive into the most high severity cases of e-crime at Facebook.

Add in the investigative journalism of former Washington Post “Security Fix” reporter, Brian Krebs, who takes the audience on the wild ride of money laundering for the Russian mafia (that sadly prey on “mules” through work-at-home job scams), and you have one compelling narrative.

Now the film is in its final push to completion, looking to Kickstarter to bring in the remaining dollars needed to make the project a theatrical reality. I’ve already kicked in $10 and in return will receive the finished film (in down-loadable format).

If any of this sounds at all interesting to you, I recommend checking out ZERO DAY’s Kickstarter page and help it cross the finish line.

Last month at The Women in the World Summit, Meryl Streep delivered a rousing tribute to U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, which seemed to make even the consummate actress and orator a little nervous and tongue-tied.

Streep struck home the point that while the world has been busy “judging [Hillary], assessing her hair, her jackets, supporting her, worrying about her – is she getting enough sleep?” our Madame Secretary has been ”busy working, doing it, making those words ‘Women’s rights are human rights’ into something every leader in every country now knows is a linchpin of American policy.”

Streep also reminded the audience:

“…it is not a simple job to be a role model. It is not just being endlessly compassionate, polite, and well-groomed. It’s equal parts being who you actually are and what people hope you will be. It’s representing, for all women, our very best selves. It’s an enormous burden to be placed upon any sweetly rounded shoulders. But that’s what we ask of her.”

And she thanked Hillary for “her willingness to take it all on – the hostility and the sniping and the special scrutiny and the heavy artillery.”

In light of the recent “Texts from Hillary” phenomenon, I sincerely hope “scrunchie time” makes it into the inevitable Hillary-Clinton-Played-By-Meryl-Streep-Biopic.

A fascinating, well-researched and convincing read, what I found most compelling about The Happiness Advantage was Principle #7: Social Investment. With it, Achor highlights the study, “Very Happy People,” in which researchers sought out the characteristics of the happiest 10 percent among us. Of all the factors considered, including wealth, warmth of climate, and physical fitness, only one characteristic distinguished the happiest 10 percent from everybody else: strength of social relationships.

Achor buoyed the argument with his own research:

My empirical study of well-being among 1,600 Harvard undergraduates found a similar result—social support was a far greater predictor of happiness than any other factor, more than GPA, family income, SAT scores, age, gender, or race. In fact, the correlation between social support and happiness was 0.7. This may not sound like a big number, but for researchers it’s huge—most psychology findings are considered significant when they hit 0.3.

He then goes to explain one of the key mistakes people make that utterly disembowels of our central happiness. During times of challenge and stress, people will retreat into themselves, producing an emotional retraction. Perhaps it’s the perceived stigma of showing fear, of feeling shame, that causes us to divest from our social network. But in doing so, we only isolate ourselves, lose perspective, and most importantly, lose the benefit of having a support network in the first place.

After all, what’s the point of having social capital if we can’t tap into it when we need it most?

I recently experienced this phenomenon while going through some major life changes and relationship issues. I kept retreating, putting on a happy face while hiding the fact that I was dealing with some pretty heady stuff, and in the process, only made the situation worse. Finally, I hit a wall. I realized I couldn’t continue repressing and be happy.

So I finally opened up to a few trusted friends and family members. I even talked to a therapist. And to my own stubborn, arrogant surprise, it worked, as if my soul let out an exasperated sigh of relief.

As Achor warns in The Happiness Advantage, even though basic instincts might compel us to turn inward, positive psychology knows better. It can prove the difference between our ultimate success and failure.

Last night, I attended the D.C. Environmental Film Festival Premiere kick-off film, You’ve Been Trumped.

As someone who has experienced Scotland’s breathtaking beauty and decadent history, the Scottish government’s decision to overturn its own environmental policy to allow Donald Trump to build a golf course on Europe’s most environmentally sensitive stretches of coast, described by one leading scientist as Scotland’s Amazon rain forest, is certainly intriguing. After all, this is a fiercely nationalistic country with a Freedom to Roam policy and a strong record for preserving its environmental landscape and natural heritage.

But tough economic times call for tough economic decisions.

Trump’s development proposal “to build the world’s greatest golf course” was initially rejected in 2007 by a local subcommittee of elected members; however, in 2008, John Swinney, the Scottish cabinet secretary for finance and sustainable growth, overturned the council’s decision by announcing permission for the development, as Trump promised to create over 6,000 jobs:

With latest official statistics showing unemployment in Scotland has risen to 7.6 percent, the move has been welcomed by the country’s government who are anxious to bring investment to the area.

A spokesman for the ruling Scottish Nationalist Party told CNN: “Ministers agreed with the public inquiry conclusion that there was significant economic and social benefit to be gained from the application by Trump International Golf Links Scotland to develop a golf resort at Balmedie.” (via CNN)

Many economists, nonetheless, have been challenging Trump on his economic estimates:

Paul Cheshire, professor emeritus of economic geography at London School of Economics and Political Science, carried out his own assessment of the economic case for the development of the Menie Estate. He was surprised to find that the Scottish government had not commissioned its own independent analysis of the likely benefits – instead, the government relied on an economic impact assessment carried out for TIGL by Strathclyde University.

Professor Cheshire describes that assessment as “wildly optimistic” because of its assumptions about the creation of new jobs for local people. He points out that constructing a golf course is not like building houses because very few specialist companies are capable of doing it. As it turns out, an Irish company is managing the construction of the resort, using mainly its own labour. (via The Guardian)

Trump also promised to leave the dunes in better shape and condition than they were before. Evidence, thus far, however, has proven otherwise as documented by local residents and You’ve Been Trumped filmmaker, Anthony Baxter:

In an interesting twist, Trump is now embroiled in a fight to prevent the building of an offshore windfarm near his luxury golf resort which he deems will be “an eyesore.”

Whatever the outcome, You’ve Been Trumped (funded via @IndieGoGo) was a tremendous start to the festival. I’m looking forward to checking out more films in the coming two weeks (March 13-25): http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org/

Owen Wright

Australian. 21. 6’3”. Laid-back, sweet demeanor. Killer smile. And an Australian accent to boot. What more can a girl ask for?

Dane Ward

The epitome of the Southern California surfer boy, how can you not adore a guy who chooses Acai over coffee?

Kelly Slater

The #1 surfer in the world, I thought I was looking at a 1950s movie star when I saw this photo of him.

Andy Irons

Known for his long-standing rivalry with Kelly Slater, Andy devastated the surfing community with his death in November 2010, brought on by a heart attack due to prescription drug use. Andy talks about his love of surfing and his “inner demons” in this great ‘Why I Surf‘ video.

Gerry Lopez 

Born in Hawaii in 1948, Gerry Lopez was and still is widely recognized as one of the best tube-riders in the world. He embodies the soul surfer and is revered as a legend in Indonesia where he mentored many young local surfers.

Tom Curren

Born to Pat Curren, a big-wave legend and shaper, Tom was world champion three times (1985, 1986, 1990) and led the surfing revolution in the early ’80s, inspiring many of the surfers today. He made a high-profile decision to retire from competitive surfing in the mid-1990s and now is a musician.

Jadson Andre

The Brazilian-born, 21-year old became the first rookie to win an ASP World Tour last year at the  Billabong Pro Santa Catarina, beating out the top-seeded Kelly Slater.

Jesse Heilman

He tweets, he blogs, he has beautiful brown eyes.

Matthew McConaughey

Gratuitous butt shot…celebrity surfers are beautiful, too.

If you’re not familiar with Pinterest, the visual bookmarking site/service that allows users to “pin” interesting images found online, along with notes and links back to the original source, take note.

TechCrunch recently attained exclusive data from comScore showing the site just hit 11.7 million unique monthly U.S. visitors, crossing the 10 million mark faster than any other standalone site in history.

The majority of Pinterest users are women (97 percent) with its largest growing demographic being women ages 18-34, located in middle America. And apparently this is a lucrative demographic, as Pinterest drives more traffic to retailers than Google+.

I’ve had an account for about 4 months, but haven’t really started using it until recently. The reason I like it is the same reason I enjoy screenwriting: it’s a visual art form. I may not fit the “scrapbooking” middle American female stereotype, but I do like being able to see information I save and organize from the web, in an aesthetically pleasing way (check out my Screenwriting Board, as an example).

Not only does Pinterest provides a practical service, but it does so in a manner that matches the way I like to process information. Which just goes to show, women are visual.

A new study in Clinical Infectious Diseases shows that Google Flu Trends can predict surges in hospital flu visits more than a week before the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

For the study, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine researchers compared Baltimore-specific data from the Google Flu Trends website, which estimates influenza outbreaks based on online searches for flu information, to ED crowding and laboratory statistics from Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Using Google Flu Trends, researchers found that the number of online searches for flu information increased at the same time that the hospital’s pediatric ED experienced a rise in cases of children with flu-like symptoms. The Google Flu Trends data had a moderate correlation with patient volume in the adult ED. Moreover, Google Flu Trends signaled an uptick in flu cases seven to 10 days earlier than CDC‘s U.S. Influenza Sentinel Provider Surveillance Network. (via Advisory.com Daily Briefing)

Yesterday, The New York Times posted Questions To Ask Before You Marry, which I then re-shared  in Facebook, setting off an interesting debate. Several of my happily married friends laughed, saying it’s overly pedantic. Me, I like to be thorough about any type of investment or venture I pursue, especially when there’s a contract involved.

What do you think? Does it scream “Written by an MBA” or should couples approach marriage more like a business investment/venture?

Here are the 10 questions:

1. What is our “mission statement” as a couple?
2. To what extent are you willing to go to have a family, medically?
3. What will we do if we find out our child has severe disabilities?
4. Who should I have on speed dial for the days when I just can’t figure you out?
5. Can you name two couples that you admire and would hope to emulate?
6. How do we stay sexually engaged with each other?
7. Will we share our credit reports with each other?
8. Should we have an exit strategy for the marriage, and if so, what would it be?
9. If married previously, why did it end and what did you learn from that relationship?
10. What are our conflict management styles, and are they compatible?

And in response to the “absurdity” of these questions, my friend, John Bordeaux, wrote this response, ”Breaking Down Loves Checklist” – which is worth reading and reflection.

Question in Quora: http://www.quora.com/Should-couples-approach-marriage-more-like-a-business-venture-investment

Craig Stecyk, Tony Hawk, Stacy Peralta

Hear the name Stacy Peralta and you instantly think either: A) I love Stacy Peralta! or B) Who the heck is she?

He is the highest-ranked skateboarder of his time, turned multi-million dollar businessman, turned filmmaker. He is also the creator of, and father-figure to, the Bones Brigade, a skate team that featured the era’s top competitors, including Tony Hawk.

While heading up the Bones Brigade, Stacy went on to produce almost a dozen videos, which became some of the most influential skateboarding flicks of their time and set him on a path to film-making. His film Riding Giants, which traces the origins of surfing, specifically focusing on the art of big wave riding, became the first documentary film to open the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 and established him as a powerful filmmaker and storyteller.

His latest documentary, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography is not only a look-back at his life, but more importantly, an insider’s view on the evolution of skateboarding and how its pioneers and legends (like Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen, Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain, Tommy Guerrero, and Mike McGill) were driven by sheer passion to create an art form. They were true innovators.

This was hands-down my favorite film from Sundance 2012 and in this intimate interview at the Sundance Cinema Cafe, Stacy shares his secret to success:

The secret is I had to learn how to fail. That’s the secret to success…is that you’ve got to learn how to fail. Because you fail more than you succeed.  You’ve got to get up off the ground and that’s the thing about success. You have to learn how to take those punches. When we skateboarded, we banged ourselves up all the time. But if you didn’t learn how to fall, if you didn’t learn how to bang yourself up, you couldn’t continue.

The film, expected to get a distribution deal for a theatrical release, is not a movie about skateboarding, but an emotional journey about passion, self-expression and the drive to create something meaningful and beyond the realm of possible.