WSJ - The falling stock prices of Facebook Inc. Zynga Inc. and Groupon Inc. are causing some investors to pull back from Web start-ups.

Perhaps they're the kinds of investors who believe in money and momentum but aren't quite sure if the Internet is a fad?

They believe in growth. When growth slows or tops out, they leave.

That doesn't sound long-term thinking. ;)

Nope. Where have all the determinate optimists gone?

Hint: I found a bunch of them at Zappos/Downtown Project.

That's cool! Tell me more -- we don't get much news about that project in Silicon Valley but it sounds fascinating.

Openness. Vision. Community. Transparency. Humility.

Magic

Those are the words I'd used to describe what I've witnessed. A community and city known for something else...that wants to be known for something greater.

Tony's apartment -- where he lives -- is opened to hundreds of visitors a week to show them the shared vision for this city.....

I'd call it, Zappos or Hsieh University, but he's too humble for that. But that's what he's building; a university community in the middle of a city...

"I see a beautiful city and a brilliant people rising from this abyss. I see the lives for which I lay down my life, peaceful, useful, prosperous and happy. I see that I hold a sanctuary in their hearts, and in the hearts of their descendants, generations hence. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

That sounds awesome!