interesting! okay so maybe it's an admin problem. i'll test a bit from non-admin and see what i see.
Update: well dammit! Apple has gone ahead and locked the "Applications" folder. So that's the problem. If you want the current version of kJams to be able to auto-update, please set WRITE permissions on your "Applications" folder.
meanwhile, gar, i'll have to write a utility to enable the authentication dialog to come up and ask you for your password. grrrrrrrr. i've been putting that off for a long time. i guess i have to do it for reals now.