Here’s a brief roundup of how the rest of the world has been looking at us lately.

• For a full-page “36 Hours” feature, today’s NYT looks at Austin. The accompanying maps show such small-time streets as Gibson, Monroe, and Annie (NYT travel section, 29 November, byline Jaime Gross). The site includes a slide show and lots o’ links to Austin recommendations, and readers may add their own. See what you think. Austin’s lack of useful public transportation is noted, by the way, leading to advice to find other means of getting around town.
• Time magazine’s long cover feature on “helicopter parents” includes a section set in Austin that’s introduced in this way: “Eleven parents are sitting in a circle in an airy, glass-walled living room in south Austin, Texas, eating organic, gluten-free, nondairy coconut ice cream.” It’s a Slow Family Living class. Austinites Carrie Contey and Bernadette Noll come in for a mention by name.
• It’s thanks to the December issue of Vogue that I learned of a locally based outfit called Home Grow Micro Farms. This outfit says on its Web site that it delivers pre-planted, self-watering vegetable gardens in containers measuring 1 foot by 3. The article itself is an interview with Jesse Kamm, who touts Spartan on South Lamar.

“Keep Austin Weird” appears only in the NYT coverage. If “Live Music Capital of the World” popped up anyplace, I didn’t happen to notice it (or perhaps it was there somewhere and my eyes glazed over). It’s always a plus when any reporter writes anything that’s even the tiniest step away from the beaten path.