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Since November 2, 1999

What are you doing here? Today that's more than a rhetorical question. I really would like to know. So, please, take a minute or two and fill out a little survey that I've prepared. If enough folks fill it out, I'll have a better sense of the meaning of life. Well, perhaps that's an overstatement, but at least I'll know a bit more about what you're looking for. Click here for the survey.

March 9, 2002 - Saturday

People are still worked up about the newspaper war, nearly a year after its official beginning. Here's a comment sent my way yesterday:

I wish people understood business. You see when you are talking about thousands of newspaper subscribers there are always going to be some errors. What's funny is that only a few are documented about the Advertiser's circulation (and that is with a bunch of Bulletin faithful looking for trouble). And by the way, auditors go through those types of things, so those people won't be counted. I can't wait to see when a Star Bulletin audit is done. You see you have to send a bill before it can be counted as paid. I can name over a dozen people I know who have yet to receive a bill, but get the paper (well most days). I also know two people who have tried to get them to stop delivering their paper since the beginning (through email, calls and even a stop by at restaurant row). If your looking for bad in the people you dislike, it will be easy for you! Look for the problems in your own house and you become blind & stupid!

It is like that person that wrote they advertised their furniture in the Star Bulletin for four days, got one call! But they will never use the Advertiser! Would not use it even though it could help them - very smart! That $12.95 was money wasted instead of using it toward an ad that worked. Low prices and free give-a-ways usually mean somebody is trying to get rid of something that is worthless.

After wading through opinions from Star-Bulletin and Advertiser supporters, back and forth, I was trying to decide why I still want to see the S-B succeed. I think it's because we're watching the Bulletin fight for a slice of the market, while Gannett is throwing vast resources into destroying the competition and claiming a market monopoly. Two newspapers and competition have already yielded better news coverage and deals for advertisers and readers. Advertising clients, at least, already know what a noncompetitive future would bring.

I guess that's the bottom line, for now. I no longer see the Star-Bulletin as the better overall newspaper, but I know that we all benefit from its continued existence.

Two days of rain on our side of the island finally gave way to clearer skies yesterday, and we were greeted with color on both ends of the day. The sunset must have been spectacular on the other side of the island, because even the edges that spilled over the mountains were wonderful. I just grabbed this picture from our deck just as we got home last evening.

There's a guy who lives across the road from the beach at the other end of our morning walk. On some mornings, he comes across the street with a fishing pole and watches the sun rise and the day begin.

"I'm just renting the house from my parents until I die," he told us the other day, but then said the ashes of both his parents were scattered on the waters of Kaaawa. I suppose we're all just renting a bit of this world until we're gone. It's a useful and humbling perspective to adopt.

March 8, 2002 - Friday

A longtime friend and member of the "Save Our Star-Bulletin" group told me a little tale yesterday. It seems that after the breakup of the Star-Bulletin/Advertiser joint operating agreement last year, the Advertiser started delivering their new afternoon edition to his home. It came unrequested and continued for months, and months, and months. Then the bills started coming, which he ignored until the Advertiser threatened to turn it over to a collection agency and wreck his credit if they didn't get paid. In the end, Gannett backed off after being told repeatedly and firmly that the papers had never been ordered or requested. But I wonder how many others receiving those "free" PM papers finally just paid the bill to avoid threatened legal problems?

March 7, 2002 - Thursday

Sorry for the delay in posting this entry. It started with a RoadRunner glitch, then was delayed by a dental appointment, and is just getting up at noon, Hawaii time. Yesterday started gray and ended wet. It's been raining all night here in Kaaawa. There's even been a bit of thunder in the distance, so perhaps this is going to last a while. The cats all checked in, including Ms. Lizzie, who showed up last evening just before the rain started.

Wednesday morning in Kaaawa

The Star-Bulletin delivered here yesterday was apparently drawn from the wrong batch, since it included a note from Sheraton indicating refunds of 15 cents (daily) or sixty-five cents (Sunday) would be made if we didn't want to accept the paper. The note didn't indicate a specific Sheraton hotel, so it appears that the S-B is being distributed to visitors at all Hawaii Sheratons. Anyone have any more detailed information?

The Star-Bulletin is the only newspaper in the country to sign up for the joint advertising deal with Monster.com, according to a brief item in Editor & Publishers' Weekly Briefing, a regular review distributed by email. In light of the non response from the industry, Monster.com is now making its pitch to suburban newspapers, where it hopes it might get a spark of interest.

Amateur muckrakers got a boost yesterday when a federal judge in Boston ruled that amateurs are entitled to the same First Amendment rights and protections accorded media professionals. The decision came in the case of a public access cable television producer who grilled local politicians but had her broadcast blocked by the public access system. I would grab a good link to the decision, but Oceanic's RoadRunner service is mostly down at this time, so that will have to wait until a bit later in the morning. In fact, I don't know whether I'll be able to get this uploaded at all.

March 6, 2002 - Wednesday

We just received a bill to renew our Star-Bulletin subscription. That seems like a positive step, after so many tales of others continuing to get the paper without ever paying.

Another reader offered this view:

In addition to buying a Star Bulletin on the way in to work each morning, and subscribing to the afternoon home delivery edition - seven days a week -I try to support the paper in other ways as well. E.g., we have some miscellaneous furniture items that we're trying to sell, and so I called Star Bull Classified. I got a four-line ad for $12.95 to run for a week and then they threw in a second week free (if the stuff hasn't sold by then).

The ad started running on Friday, March 1. Much to our dismay, we have had a total of one (1) call in the subsequent four days.

I really had no idea what to expect as a response; perhaps this is not untypical. We're going to go the garage sale route next; definitely will NOT buy an Advertiser ad.

Another friend told me his S-B classifieds have been very successful, both as an employer seeking job candidates and in selling a car. But obviously it's not a universal view.

Former Star-Bulletin writer Pat Bigold sent me this interesting note over the weekend:

Reading Saturday of how John Kerry defended the right to dissent in the war against terrorism, I was surprised no account mentioned Kerry's role with Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

When I first met him, he was political doo-doo because of his anti-war activities as a decorated veteran. What he said to the Senate Foreign Relations Comm. in 1971 was pretty graphic

It brought back memories to me of why the conservative publisher I worked for in 1972 ordered me not to even interview him.

I was editor of a small weekly in Billerica, Mass., when Kerry was making a run for Congress. He couldn't even get the nomination that fall. What helped my belief in this guy evolve was his consistency of philosophy.

Seeing him pop off about dissent made me think of the young Kerry. I know he wants to be president, but it sure is refreshing to see he's exhibiting traits of his old character in that pursuit.

Love a pol or hate him, you have to give him credit for consistency.

And thanks to Doug Matsuoka for this link to the text of a lecture on the situation in Argentina presented at the "Basement Dojo", an eclectic Buddhist group in Australia.

Morning officially disrupted by the appearance of a very large moth just outside the window behind the coffee maker. Its rattling against the screen sends Leo into a fit, first trying to figure out what's going on, then climbing the glass louvers trying for a kill, a necessarily disappointing move since the moth was outside. But after about five minutes, the ruckus attracted Kili, who set up shop on the railing of the front deck, just outside the window. On its next pass, the moth was history, and Ms. Kili proudly paraded inside, through the kitchen, now followed closely by a very excited Leo, and then on into another room where she sat under a desk and considered what, if anything, is edible on a large moth.

March 5, 2002 - Tuesday

Pacific Business News let it's bias leap onto the front page of its current issue with a top of the page headline, "Budget request adds to bureaucratic bloat".

"Bloat" appears in the headline, but nowhere in the story. And the story lacks any analysis to support the concept apart from ideological "less government" claims from Republican lawmakers. There's no data from which a reader could distinguish "bloat" from basic need. And the $10 million price tag cited in the story works out to about $6,300 per position being requested, indicating that many or most are part-time or short term, but that isn't addressed in the story, which leaves the impression that thousands of permanent full-time positions are being added to the state payroll.

But Debbie Sokei redeems the issue with another of her excellent stories on the status of the Star-Bulletin/Advertiser battle. Sokei reports that a PBN count of display ads during the week of February 10-17 shows the Star-Bulletin's share has remained essentially stagnant at about one-third of the total, lagging well behind Gannett's Advertiser. The one-week snapshot suggests the Star-Bulletin is still struggling to increase its base but is able to draw on revenues of MidWeek to remain viable, at least for the short or intermediate term.

The Advertiser added another excellent story by John Duchemin yesterday, pointing to possible insider dealings at the state's Employee Retirement System. Following Dooley's piece on Sunday, it made a hard to beat 1-2 punch. Can they keep this up? Time will tell.

I've gotten about 100 survey responses so far, and am hoping for more as occasional visitors stop by.

Merrill Lynch cut its investment rating of Gannett to "neutral" this week after the stock's recent run-up in price, but not before a string of Gannett insiders sold large blocks of shares. One of them, Ardyth R. Diercks from Gannett's Television division, made an estimated $1,138,871 by selling 15,535 shares on February 11. Remember that when the company starts asking for concessions from the rank and file.

March 4, 2002 - Monday

The Sunday Star-Bulletin includes a special section of features from the Wall Street Journal Sunday edition (which I perhaps mistakenly referred to earlier this morning as a reprint of the Journal's weekend edition), and there was a particularly ironic bite in yesterday's column by Joann Lublin on questions to ask before agreeing to salary cuts. I have to wonder whether S-B newsroom staffers, who accepted "voluntary" salary cuts, and staff at MidWeek, who were hit with mandatory cuts, will have copies of this column on their desks this morning.

One "salary coach" consulted for the column advised that "pivotal players" can demand "personalized perks" in bargaining over "voluntary" salary cuts. Another example warns of ways that salary cuts impact other benefits, such as retirement accumulations, and can also impact bonuses, scheduled salary increases, etc. This was probably advice that was needed several months ago when the terms of the newsroom cuts were first being negotiated.

We were here at home yesterday, and there were whales passing Kaaawa throughout the day. I didn't see any major breaches or other displays, but whales were visible just about any time you stopped and took a couple of minutes to stare out at the ocean.

When we first moved out to Kaaawa and discovered that you could see whales from our living room, we were obsessed, spending hours with binoculars watching spouts, fins, displays of competitive tail slaps, and an occasional breach as a whale would launch itself out of the water. In recent years, though, we find ourselves hardly paying any attention on a day-to-day basis. One of life's luxuries that we've perhaps grown too accustomed to.

This is Anna Banana, the next door gal who caused all the trouble this past week by staging a sit-in high in an African Tulip tree. This photo was taken yesterday, perhaps 28 hours after her dramatic dismount. She lost a bit of weight but otherwise displays no harm from either the week in the tree or the flying leap that ended it. And I did take a few minutes yesterday to update the photo gallery, so click the gallery banner at the top of the page for a look at this week's pics.

Anna Banana

March 3, 2002 - Sunday

Jim Dooley's back at the Advertiser and beginning to hit on all cylinders. Today's story on "high tech" tax breaks going to the producers of a surf movie is a great read. The Star-Bulletin's going to have to work hard to match his efforts.

By 9 a.m. yesterday, it was starting to buzz on our end of Haahaa Street as three households began searching for a means to get Anna Banana out of the tree. She took up a position back on Monday, and by Saturday her only movement was to have moved higher up the tree. We were all searching the Internet for information on how long cats can go without food or water. Not much consensus out there, and we were all increasingly worried. Elizabeth, Anna's person, spent another fruitless hour begging folks down at the Kaaawa fire station for help. Someone did come and take a look, and said their tallest free standing ladder wouldn't reach high enough. Calls to Hawaiian Electric and Verizon, both with trucks that could lift a person that high, yielded quick negatives. Sandy and David, who live on the other side of Elizabeth, tried calling Channel 2, which boasts of its "Action Line", and talked to someone who didn't know where Kaaawa is and didn't much care.

Rescue underway- Mark climbs towards Anna

By late morning, we knew we had to find an experienced climber, someone with the equipment and experience to go up the tree and snatch Anna from her perch. I made a few phone calls, while Elizabeth set off to check with a couple of other people she knows in Kaaawa. David then said he would check with Amy and Chris, who moved in down the street late last year and who own and operate a company that installs cable.

You may recall that our relations got off to a very rocky start. We reacted pretty strongly when their dogs, a pair of Chows, began a series of escapes and neighborhood jaunts that scared the heck out of the cats. And Elizabeth had her own issues which added to recent tension.

But just a bit later, there was a group heading up the road towards Elizabeth's place. Kids, parents, and then there was Mark, stomping our way in climbing boots and carrying his gear, assorted ropes, straps, belts, etc.

"You're looking for a climber?", Amy said as they approached. "Guess you didn't know there's one down the street."

"Grandpa's going up the tree," the kids shouted as we traipsed to the base of the African Tulip.

In short order, Mark was strapped on and up the tree, petting Anna Banana. All seemed fine, until he turned to haul up the cat cage, which was dangling at the end of a long rope. While his attention was directed elsewhere, Anna looked around, made up her mind, and jumped. With us all in a collective gasp, she launched herself straight out in the opposite direction, dropping into the top of a mango tree, spinning through the leaves, and eventually hitting the ground on all four feet. She looked around for a split second as we all watched in awe, and then she took off running up under David and Sandy's house, then back somewhere under her own house.

None of us could find Anna, but she made a grand appearance as soon as Elizabeth returned. And she was apparently just fine, thank you, and feisty as well. Her first official act was to chase Ms. Harriet out of the disputed border region between our houses.

I think the whole street was relieved. And the crisis, and our newest neighbors' immediate willingness to jump right in, offered a bridge over past differences. Thanks to everybody who pitched in to get Anna down.

And we learned quite a bit about the cat-in-tree problem, didn't we?

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