May 28, 2005 - Saturday

The Green Bay News-Chronicle has now had a chance to report on its own closing. It all too familiar.

The first email came in from Paula not long after yesterday's entry was posted. It read like one of those ads that have been running on cable...

Is that a Russell Wright American Modern salad bowl in gray I see in the foreground cradling Meda’s salad? If so, what a find!

I don't get responses like that very often. And, yes, it was a Russell Wright salad bowl, and the plates were Russell Wright in bean brown.

Then came an update from former Hawaii reporter Bill Kresnak complete with photo. The poor guy writes:

Had to fly to L.A. for a new bike introduction hosted by Yamaha and immediately fell into the arms of Catherine Bell, the star of JAG. Then Yamaha lent me a bike for a week to ride the greatest roads that southern California has to offer for a story I'm writing called "Escape from L.A." OK, the photo of me sucks, but Catherine looks great. (She owns 12 sportbikes.)

Yep, this motorcycle-magazine writing is tough work, but somebody's gotta do it! Life is good. You can check out some of my other stuff at www.AMADirectlink.com.

And to think Bill had to give up a Gannett career to go off into motorcycle land. Do you suppose he wakes up nights missing the old capitol bureau?

May 27, 2005 - Friday

The end was probably inevitable once Gannett bought its former rival, the Green Bay News-Chronicle, last year, but the email yesterday afternoon from Ray Barrington, news editor and columnist at the newspaper, was still a jolt:

They dropped the ax on the N-C this afternoon; we'd heard rumors all week. Last issue is a week from tomorrow, so at least they're letting us write our own obituary.

The little newspaper's extended battle with Gannett was chronicled in Richard McCord's book, The Chain Gang, and had given hope to other independent publishers. Most of the mourning was done and goodbyes said following last summer's buyout, but this was sad news nonetheless.

"Hope it works out," Ray wrote. "Thanks for all your support."

And thanks to you and the others, Ray. The News-Chronicle will live on in journalism lore.

The Star-Bulletin's Tim Ryan scored with a fine story yesterday on the apparently bitter battle taking place inside the Honolulu Symphony. Such insider struggles normally remain off the radar, and as Tim reports there is a lot of pressure to keep it that way. Good job.

But the S-B didn't fare so well in its reporting of a Kauai man fighting for his life against a deadly bacterial infection. The Star-Bulletin story in the morning edition delivered in Kaaawa didn't say anything about the nature of the infection or its source, and I had to turn to Christie Wilson's story in the Advertiser to learn that this is a case of leptospirosis and, as Wilson explains, a serious threat that is all too common in Hawaii. Leptospirosis has been found in streams here in Kaaawa and around the islands, so it was a key fact to be left out of the Bulletin version. [note: I'm told that leptospirosis was mentioned after the jump inside in the same S-B story as it appeared in the p.m. edition.]

Assignment editors take note: Kaaawa Elementary School is celebrating its centennial (as in 100 years) today with a school-community event featuring entertainment and, if not a full-fledged luau, at least a Hawaiian lunch. We'll be there with some of our neighbors, although I never attended Kaaawa School, and there will also be a contingent of former students returning to share their memories. It should be an interesting day.

Wow. I see the Advertiser's Eloise Aguiar is on the job and has a story about the event in this morning's paper.

Speaking of food, I've been meaning to get back to this recent meal. That's Ms. Kili patiently awaiting a share of the bounty. Just click on the photo for more.

May 26, 2005 - Thursday

5:16 a.m. and the power just went out. My laptop shifted to battery power, but I probably won't upload this entry until power is restored.

Continuing after returning from our walk. The power apparently was restored relatively quickly, but we had already headed out early to see the sunrise. So now we're back, all is in order, coffee brewing, brain somewhat more awake.

I ran across this interesting and self-reflective report from a journalist currently embedded with a military unit in Iraq.

Okay. Put this little bit of travel advice alongside the "don't make any bomb jokes" rule: Try not to sneeze until you're on the ground and out of the airport. The Star-Bulletin's report this week on preparations for surveillance and screening of air travelers was casual but ominous.

A state health official is quoted:

"We want to make sure any tests are done accurately."
But he said, "The goal is to be as unobtrusive as possible" so travel isn't affected.

An earlier story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution paints a much more complex picture of what is happening behind the scenes and the fears that existing systems will be overloaded in the case of a global flu outbreak. How tourism will fare under such a circumstance is certainly a critical question for us. This week's further warnings are mighty unsettling.

An alert reader caught the mention of Kaaawa in this AP story detailing the locations where the series "Lost" was filmed.

I was "at home" in Kaaawa yesterday, catching up with some yard chores, installing the updated OS on my desktop Mac, and, for a while, stalking cats with camera in hand. Well, I had the camera in hand while stalking cats, not following cats carrying cameras. You get the picture. I did too, and I especially liked this one of Mr. Duke. He's gotten some rave reviews from the Digipets group over at Yahoo, especially those blue eyes.

Speaking of cats, the Seattle Times reported earlier this month that a woman was awarded over $45,000 in damages after her cat was killed by a neighbor's dog.

Her lawyer says the public perception of cats puts them at a disadvantage.
"I think there tends to be a culture that says dogs are more of man's best friends and cats are aloof and can't bond," Karp said. "But if anyone has ever shared their bonds with a cat, they know that's utter nonsense. I think our society tends to devalue cats, and I think the judgment recognizes that cats, too, can mean the world to people."

May 25, 2005 - Wednesday

The extraordinary action in the U.S. Senate over the past week that culminated in a deal by what is being called the "gang of 14" shows the pretty sorry state of local coverage of our congressional delegation.

Although Sen. Inouye ended up as part of the group, there was no significant reporting by any local media of the negotiations or the outcome. Without any ongoing Washington coverage, none of our media appear to have sources they can tap in such circumstances. So we end up without any sense of what particular role, if any, Hawaii's senators played in the drama or politics of this ultimate insider battle.

Did you catch KHON's news last night? Joe Moore interjected a "clarification" of an earlier story on controversial grading in Kahaluu. We were driving and listening to the 6 p.m. broadcast. Moore referred to the subject of the earlier report, someone named Renoir, and had to "clarify" that Renoir had not been convicted of any crime here or elsewhere, and that neither Renoir or anyone linked to him has relations with the Gotti crime family. There were a couple of additional points along the same lines. Moore ended with an apology for any "confusion" caused by the earlier report.

Surprisingly, although this was quite a weighty "clarification", I can't find any mention of it on KHON's web site this morning.

From OpentheGovernment.org, an appeal for stories showing problems with use of the federal Freedom of Information Act.

In order to educate the public and our leaders about the problems with the Freedom of Information Act, please tell OpenTheGovernment.org of any problems you or someone else had getting information from government through the Freedom of Information Act.  The more specific the better.  It may have been a delayed response that prevented you from exposing a waste of taxpayer dollars or public safety hazard.  Or you had to waste time going through an appeals process, or you were wrongly denied documents but couldn't afford to take the federal government to court.  If you know where we can find out more and verify your story, please give us the website or other source and we'll track it down.

And thanks to Jeff Garland for this one: (Grocery) Store Wars! A great take-off on all the movie hype we've been subjected to.

May 24, 2005 - Tuesday

I missed this column about Star-Bulletin owner David Black when it appeared in Editor & Publisher last month. The column was spawned by Black's introduction of a series of free daily newspapers in British Columbia.

Black has also created a B.C. legislative bureau and hired an experienced reporter, Tom Fletcher, to staff it.

In a press release, Black said:

"Establishing our presence in the legislative bureau is a major step forward for Black Press. With 66 community, 17 daily newspapers, and eight press divisions, this important initiative further defines us as the leading independent newspaper group in British Columbia."

In one of his first columns, Fletcher let loose an anti-union volley in the form of commentary on the B.C. elections.

The PBS NewsHour's debate last night over a congressional move to loosen restrictions on stem cell research left me awed by the opposition. What are these people thinking? Here you've got the potential to move much closer to treatments for currently incurable diseases by retrieving embryos that are now simply discarded. No protests about that process, apparently because it is aimed at procreation. But to divert them from the trash bin, that would be sin. Hello?

It isn't a big step from here to legislation requiring full-time mandatory pregnancy. If each embryo is properly referred to as "embryonic human life" , then each missed opportunity to create an embryo might appropriately be seen as an offense against life, a form of criminal neglect. So come on, you pro-life Americans, don't wimp out. "You're pregnant, impregnating, or imprisoned". Simple.

Monty Python's song, "Every sperm is sacred", was the first thing to start running through my head. It was a satirical takeoff from the musical, "Oliver", which appeared in Python's "The meaning of life". You can download the song in mp3 format, or just check out the lyrics. These guys were so far ahead of their time.

May 23, 2005 - Monday

Now here is a real find--the "earth science photographic archive", an online library of more than 25,000 photos from the collection of the U.S. Geological Survey. There are quite a number from Hawaii, including the expected Volcano photos but also an array others of general historical interest. There's a search function, so it's relatively easy to browse. Thanks to coolgov.com for pointing the way to this treasure trove.

Kalihi gardening, 1909

Yesterday morning just couldn't make up its mind. It rained, with intermittent patches of hot sun. It rained harder later in the morning. Then the sun came out in the afternoon. An interesting Sunday.

May 22, 2005 - Sunday

Columnist Frank Rich makes an excellent point in a New York Times Op-Ed this morning, "It's all Newsweek's fault." A good campanion piece is this Juan Cole essay, "The lies that led to war." I also find Cole's blog a good source for current comment.

So much for the heavy lifting on this Sunday morning.

Here's a nice photo of Mr. Toby, the hand-raised, once-upon-a-time "October's kitten" now a handsome twelve pound sweetie, taken yesterday morning when he planted himself on the dining table in search of affection. We were just back from our morning walk and enjoying a cup of coffee, so it was easy to oblige.

Mr. Toby click for larger photo

If you're in the mood for more cats, check out this great gallery from the Digipets group. Some great shots here.

For those who track such things, I just upgraded to Apple's latest OS, dubbed "Tiger". I haven't figured out all it's features, but I've installed it on two computers without a hitch and it seems to have them running better than before, including older software that needs to run in "classic" mode.

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