Image by Flickr user vernhart The legendary super-thumbs up, brought out only when the city is really, really proud.

Apexed by its recent ranking in Forbes as the 8th smartest city in the world, the City of Charleston held a press conference to say just how proud they are, and reiterate the cool things going on.

Read more stories on this subject in our city rankings topic page.Read about it at The Post and Courier.

Not seen in The Post and Courier's piece is what is a real undercurrent of grass roots tech and knowledge growth going on in North Charleston (part of this was seen in the recent BarCamp.) It's something I've got my own personal fingers in, so I'm incredibly biased there.