in chicago there's a northside neighborhood called uptown, and along argyle street, which is predominantly asian (vietnamese and chinese), newcomers (who have purchased expensive condos) are demanding that the asian store owners remove security bars on their windows.

the newcomers (aka yuppies) say that their newly adopted neighborhood looks "menacing" to outsiders (aka their yuppie friends) because of the security bars on the merchants' store windows.

the vietnamese business owners, who have lived and worked in the neighborhood since the 70's when it was crime-ridden and not so prosperous, feel that the newcomers are pressing their will on them at the expense of their business safety.

to this blog, why would one move into an ethnic urban neighborhood and attempt to remake it into a cookie cutter, suburban parcel, a place from where some -- if not most -- of these newcomers left?

a city has to fight to remain a city these days, while urban newcomers are attempting to re-image the city into a suburb.

remember white flight? well now that trend is reversing. let's call this phenomenon a "rollin' brown out," the movement of former suburban middle class and educated whites into the urban areas and the resettlement of ethnic peoples and artist to the suburbs. and when the newcomers have predominance over the urban landscape, perhaps they'll realize how cookie cutter it has become and a new white flight will ensue.

in an address on mlk day, john kerry said:

"thousands of people were suppressed in the effort to vote."

mr. kerry decided not to challenge the outcome of the 2004 vote, which in many ways the challenge would have had more teeth than the 2000 vote challenge by al gore and company. why do democrats seem like quitters?

four more years of bush, who was voted in by the ignorant, the uneducated, and the easily scared majority.

i'm just a little bit upset by the results.

as a user of apple products, i find disheartening that the company is headed down the houshold "appliance" route, one that's fit for everybody.

apple, for me and most of my friends/apple users, wasn't a designer of every-person-stuff, but a creator of productivity tools for artist and the right-brained. an invention for the world's producers.

with the recent announcement that apple is creating low-costing computers, the mac mini, and even lower cost music players, the ipod shuffle, i find my little macintosh hamlet on the verge of gentrification.

the writing is on the wall. like what goes on in modern day urban gentrification (e.g. wicker park and pilsen in chicago), all kinds of folks move in, and the building of mass appeal icons (i.e. corporate coffee shops and expensive clubs) begin. and what was once really interesting now becomes a can't miss spot on the city's visitors guide.

the time is ripe for something else to break out and creates the next artist neighborhood. it's the best (re)action to gentrification.

the government says americans need to take in less calories and exercise at least 30 minutes a day. sixty to 90 minutes a day if one is on a weight loss/control regiment.

that's welcome news because the rising cause of health care is due in large part to americans' thirst for super-sized foods and watching sports versus participating in them.

A boulder some 25 feet high blocks both lanes of the Topanga Caynon Road, Monday, Jan. 10, 2005, as electrical contractors fix broken power and communication lines in Malibu, Calif. No injures where reported, but the road remains closed. The storm system was blamed for at least nine deaths during the weekend in Southern California, including a man killed when his vehicle plunged into the surf off Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, and a homeless man killed when the hillside where his tent was pitched gave way. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

in my 40 years on this planet, i haven't been witness to the amount of precipitation that has fallen on san diego.

at times, the rain is a light mist that feels like silk on my skin. other times it comes down in bucket after bucket.

yesterday i heard birds chirping under the constant gray of the sky. the san diego sun has been absent for what seems like two straight weeks. since i have lived here and when the weather is rain, the following day usually is sunny. not now. it's can be depressing without frequent visits to sparky's, whistlestop, or turf club.

on the subject of depression, there are a lot of folks around south park who are sad the chargers football team lost their first round playoff game against the new york jets. the thought of the team losing never seem to cross their minds prior to the game.

the gray, rainy weather coupled with a chargers defeat creates a dark mood around these parts.

two women crashed their suvs in a head-on collision; one died and one may have broken her ankle.

if the hummer were a ford festiva the outcome would have been way different. or, another takeaway: you're never too safe in a crash, even if you're "protected" by a big suv.

out on the roads, there's always something else bigger.

The state of the working class.

Market outcomes are always the best outcomes (fairest & equitable), hasn't really been questioned with much veracity, says labor economist Jared Bernstein, senior economist at the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute.

there's a feral black cat, who i have named jah kitty, that lives in my back yard. (s)he doesn't like to have physical contact with humans, but loves to eat the can food that's served.

when it rains, as it has been the past weeks, she's been getting wet and cold.

if that's the life jah knows, still, why would (s)he not want to come in from the cold wet?