The investment world operates in cycles - things go up and get frothy before they come eventually down. It's the way of the world - always has been, always will be. So, I can say with some degree of confidence that we're heading for another bursting of the dot-com bubble. The signs of doom are increasingly evident - VCs are scrambling to get a stake in start-ups with limited track records; valuations in the M&A market are climbing, and 20-something entrepreneurs are being seen as cool and credible again. Take a look at the video market where several companies have recently raised VC money, including Veoh, which attracted $12.5-million from a group of investors that includes Michael Eisner.
    But perhaps the most troubling indication of  the impending dot-com meltdown is a story in the San Francisco Chronicle looking at the resurgence of the city's South Park district. During the boom, South Park was teeming with well-financed dot-coms willing to pay sky-high rent for office space - when they weren't burning money on open-bar parties and billboard campaigns. The Chronicle story talks about how people are moving back into South Park to the point where it's difficult to get a parking spot. If you're looking for a sign of the apocalypse, just read the first four paragraphs of the story, which have easily been written in 2000 or early-2001. Then, start running for the doors as quickly as you can:

The unofficial meal of the Internet comeback is a bowl of Kellogg's Crispix and some fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice - served with pleasure at the Monday morning "cereal bar" hosted by the six-person Internet start-up Rubyred Labs
A few dozen people gather each Monday at Rubyred's Brannan Street offices in the resurgent South Park neighbourhood, eating ceral and chatting about the latest conferences, latest blog posts and latest Flickr photos.
South Park once heralded as the "town square of Multimedia Gulch" and then nearly abandoned when the dot-com bubble burst, is making a comeback.
"All those companies are going back," said Scott Beale, proprietro of Laughing Squid, a Web-hosting service. "It just blows my mind."

    Well, it blows my mind there is so much enthusiasm within the dot-com world again. It's fun, it's exciting but it's starting to get unhealthy. The end is near! PeterMe, who worked in South Park during the dot-com boom, has an insightful post - including photographs - of what went on and what's happening now.