Tag: ohgeorgia

The Racial Map

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Source: based on 2010 census data, an interactive map was created that displays a dot for every single person that participated, which is color-coded to what they entered as their ethnicity.  The result is what is being called the most comprehensive racial map ever created.

I have to say that this thing is really cool to tinker around with.  I don’t hide the fact that my interest is often piqued at the topic of race; some of it happens to do with the fact that despite my American upbringing, my Korean heritage technically makes me a minority, and then there’s the fact that I live in Atlanta, where in spite of the general perceived progression of the rest of the world, is a place where the topic of race and inequality is still a topic on almost a daily basis.  The race card is still flung around here like Gambit credit cards, in a far-fetched stretch to incorporate this analogy.

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Oh, Georgia vol. 77

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Part of my morning routine is reading the local news.  Yeah, I know the world is full of enthralling stories on a daily basis, but the AM hours are a time in which the days are young, so why should I expand the wings so early in the morn, when there’s still so much time ahead of me?  Needless to say however, the local news is sometimes all that I need in order to find an impetus to write something.

And in days like today, sometimes I get a couple of things that catch my fancy, that aren’t necessarily enough to justify warranting an entire wall of text, but combined, make for a hearty post nonetheless.

Another day, another MARTA fight recorded – you know how people believe that as people grow up, they tend to leave certain behaviors behind, like judging people irrationally based on nothing more than physical differences?  Yeah, not so much in this particular case.

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The chaos of subjectively judging Georgia cities

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Real estate blog Movoto listed the “10 Best Places to Live in Georgia,” and it’s mostly filled with towns and cities on the outskirts of Atlanta.  Notably absent are any towns or cities within Atlanta “proper,” also known as “inside the perimeter (Interstate 285)” also known as “ITP.”

This, naturally has those who live ITP and think they rule the state completely up in arms, and when things happen that they don’t agree with, they do something about it: bitch about it on the internet.

Now I’m not entirely sure which side of which fence I stand on, but since I think I sometimes lean on the chaotic neutral side of the spectrum, ultimately I think I can find a bone to pick with all involved parties in this little online e-fracas.

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Oh, Georgia

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s that time of the year again: where you’re probably at work, and I am not, for today is the recognized Confederate Memorial Day.

It’s a paid day off, so I’m not complaining about that part, but it never fails to amuse me when one of the Mondays of April is recognized as such an ironic day of remembrance.  Sometimes, it’s hard to believe people who publicly exclaim their excitement of the approaching holiday, because they’re not really paying attention to why we’re getting the day off, as much of the knowledge that it’s a day off.

Ironic in that regard, is the fact that it’s unavoidable to not acknowledge that Atlanta is a very predominantly black city, and there were people in my office who happen to be black, being overheard talking about how they couldn’t wait for the “holiday weekend,” because it meant having an extra day off, and their subsequent plans to accommodate the extra time.

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Well I’ll be damned

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Long story short: House Bill 459 passes, declaring that it is now a misdemeanor to be puttering down in the left lane on a divided highway.

In other words, it is now a ticketable offense in the state of Georgia to be cruising in the left lane when there are faster cars that would like to pass.  When this bill was initially proposed, I didn’t think it really had any chance to actually pass, as there was too much gray area, too much subjectivity, and too much room for error for it to be a viable law.  It took pretty much an entire calendar year, but not only did it pass, it passed with a landslide margin of 162-9.  Apparently, a lot of legislative talking heads are really passionate about the ability to drive without Driving Miss Daisy clogging up the left lanes.

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This is what is crippling Atlanta this week

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

It’s hard to tell from this shot of my backyard, but although it doesn’t look like a whole lot, there’s a lot of ice coating everything. This ice has managed to knock out all the power in my neighborhood and this has been the case for the last four hours.

I’m posting this from my warm bed, where I will remain for the next few hours, reading books I guess. While I have some daylight, I may as well get started on the 924 page behemoth, Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. And when I lose daylight, then it’s iPad kindle.

geeg Mother Nature, geeg.

Ownage or overkill?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Long story short: Man gets speeding ticket for going 40 in 25 zone.  Goes to trial to plead for reduced fine, ends up getting fined $1,000, a year of probation, driving school and a lifetime ban from the county.

At first glance, it’s basically an epically large punishment for a seemingly innocuous 15 mph over the limit offense.  Now most people probably wouldn’t really care about getting banned from Walton County, Georgia, considering it’s outside the perimeter, east of Atlanta and really isn’t known for anything other than being a scenic route on the way to Athens.  Honestly, in spite of the fact that the punished claims to feel that it’s unfortunate that he can’t legally visit friends he has in Walton County anymore, or capitalize on free babysitting, I can’t imagine the ban is the end of the world for him either.

The thing is however, the probation that he’s put on, which makes him legally incapable of leaving the country during the year in which it’s in effect.  Considering he’s a legal US citizen having emigrated from Jamaica, it doesn’t sound like he has a habit of visiting his homeland on a regular basis, but now it’s off the board as an option for the next year; I know people simply don’t like it when the options are taken away from them.

So ultimately, the question is was this punishment justifiable or was it overkill?

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