While the housing market overall feels choppy, looking at trends over the past couple of years shows that trends in home values and income are turning positive, after a tough two-year stretch.

Nielsen presents an interesting analysis of trends in these metrics at the county level, which helps to capture the real performance of local markets. Overall, 69% of U.S. counties reported an increase in home value in January 2010 versus 2009, compared to just 46% the prior year.

This local trend in home values is supported by increases in media household income, suggesting local employment markets have strengthened.

The macro trends are being influenced by a significant population shift.

The analysis also revealed that population decreased in 43% of U.S. counties between 2009 and 2010. These levels of county population change are similar to changes seen with recent demographic releases. Wayne County, Michigan topped the list of population losers, which is consistent with the economic downturn and job losses seen in the Detroit area.

eMarketer sees online advertising growth rebounding to double-digit levels, after experiencing a lull during the recession.

The forecast projects online spending will come close to $100 billion by 2014. Online share of total media spending will gain significantly.

The internet’s share of total ad spending worldwide will jump from 11.9% in 2009 to 17.2% in 2014. Continued high growth in the online space coupled with a 2009 spending decrease of 10.5% for total media, followed by a slower recovery, will help online get an ever-larger slice of the ad spending pie.

This is one sign of an economic recovery: bullish forecasts.

The British Library has a remarkable collection of original manuscripts available online, including the handwritten manuscript for Alice in Wonderland. Click through to it and peruse.

The best comparison I can think of is William Blake for the absolutely organic relationships of image and text. The entire work is a piece of art, and the published versions that I have seen, despite their polished and colorful presentation, can't compare to this utterly engulfing world that Carroll created through the steady work of his hand.

Joe Strummer pays a visit to William Burroughs. It's Clash-era Joe, in the late 70's, probably sitting with Burroughs in his writer's den on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Here's the irony: Burroughs was an essential embodiment of nihilism and destructive violence. He lived the psychic quandry of Satre's Stranger: unfiltered pragmatism disconnected him from the nuance of common emotion.

And Strummer was a romantic, a humanist and a motherlode of social frustration.

Here's a classic quote from Strummer:

I nearly murdered somebody, and it made me realise that you can't face violence with violence. It doesn't work.

And here's Burroughs:

When I become death, death is the seed from which I grow.

Everything that you need to know about neural networks, micro-chips, electrodes & sanguinity, special effects and the power of love to overcome all obstacles.

For a heart-warming, time-warping triple feature, watch Tron with The Planet of the Apes and Time & Again.

Creativity comes in all shapes, sizes and packages. The one thing is, you know when it's not around.

Letter are symbols. What we understand when we look at letters is a combination of rules, context and experience. Typography excites when it takes the essence of the letter and combines it with an individual aesthetic. The most playful application of typography is the re-imagining a letter in combination with context and experience.

HappyCentro shows just how inspired that process can be with Alphaposter, a collaborative project that re-imagines the entire alphabet.

Covering the Plain White T's.