September 2, 2006 - Saturday

Here's a consumer tip from a reader about Amazon.com's grocery store. It was news to me, and perhaps to other readers as well. I've changed the Amazon link to the right to display organic food items from their store, but if you start with those links you'll be able to search for other items.

You might be interested to know that Amazon's grocery ships to Hawaii FOR FREE. We get our diapers (7th gen no chlorine eco-baby stuff) from them shipped in bulk at roughly 80% off the local price in the grocery stores. They are not carried in the warehouse stores. The prices at Amazon are roughly comparable to the warehouse stores but, say, you are located in Kaawa, you don't HAVE to drive anymore. They also have far more items than the average warehouse store -- 14,000, roughly as many as a traditional supermarket. They are ALSO running a deal that gives you $10 off any order of $50 or more and don't seem to care if you break all your orders into increments of $50 as close as possible. So we have a bit too much organic pasta, a cabinet full of organic canned diced tomatoes, so many healthy snack bars its insane -- any, just sharing.

When I finish this post, I'll be browsing that grocery section looking for good buys or items otherwise unavailable here.

This is Roo, one of our favorite morning dogs, posed like a movie star on the sand as waves wash around her. Roo was happy to be there, and very happy to get a dog biscuit for the morning. Click on the photo and see a few more of our canine friends as well. Thanks for looking!

September 1, 2006 - Friday

Ryan Ozawa slaved away last night and has produced a transcript of the Akaka-Case joint appearance on Hawaii Public Television.

He also managed a detailed blow-by-blow reaction, including this overall assessment, which pretty much sums up the hour:

Overall: Case "wins" on technical grounds, simply because he fumbled less and relied less on notes. But, he didn't beat the spread. Akaka muddled through, and Case failed to totally shine.

Art Harris at Hawaii Political Watch.has produced a podcast on the debate, which I mistakenly attributed to Ryan in my early post this moring. Sorry, Art.

Frankly, this non-debate probably didn't change many minds or give much direction. Both candidates were stiff and somewhat uncomfortable, neither displayed to full advantage. It just wasn't a forum where either could really show their stuff. Although case is obviously more at ease in this kind of public speaking, it doesn't necessarily translate into the sense that he's a better candidate.

Here's another interesting browse for the morning, a blog called "Making Light".

Oh, did you have a chance to click on "Ian's Amazon Store" over there at the top right? The folks at Amazon.com made it simple to gather some favorite items, in this case a sample from our list of all-time favorite movies. Our taste in movies is quickly evident. Nothing profound. Pretentious, maybe. But funny.

And here is Friday's feline, Ms. Wally. She's pictured in her regular food fuss pose, a peaceful vigil for fresh food. But Wally's experiencing a serious bout of fan anxiety after yesterday's installation of two ceiling fans in our living room. The fans hopefully will serve two purposes--cool the room a bit, and get enough air circulating to inhibit the mildew that has been growing on the ceiling.

But the unexpected blur of motion up there has left Wally hiding down the hall for most of the last 24 hours. Most of the other cats couldn't care less if the fans are on. Only Wally and Annie seem to key on the motion and go into major retreat mode. It must appear to be some mythic bird of prey from a cat's perspective.

There were ceiling fans when we first bought this house back in 1988, and two of our cats at the time--Miki and Kua, the calicos--took one look and then spent a couple of days hiding in a closet before deciding they could calm down. So Wally's following in their paw prints.

August 31, 2006 - Thursday

The more than a bit insensitive advice given to laid off employees by Northwest Airlines made the rounds earlier this month, including a report on National Public Radio, as flight attendants gear up for a strike.

Checking further on the threatened strike, I was interested to see that the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) which represents Northwest flight attendants is part of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), parent union of The Newspaper Guild. It's considered a solid, progressive and democratic union which has been taking an aggressive approach to organizing. Perhaps that will nudge local reporters to pay a bit more attention to the ongoing NW negotiations. The AFA-CWA Honolulu Council has its own web site to update members as they await a judge's ruling on whether they are free to strike.

Yesterday I ran across OpenTheGovernment.org, a site urging "less secrecy, more democracy." It's worth bookmarking.

Alternet features an interesting look at what defense contractors tell their investors about war profits.

And then there are...chicken diapers? I suppose a diaperless chicken can create household problems, but I still wonder if this is for real.

It rained hard for a while yesterday morning and, along with a strong wind, prompted us to cut our walk short. Earlier in the week, though, it was beautiful. Here's one photo to whet your appetite. Click for a larger version.

August 30, 2006 - Wednesday

The Advertiser's web site is running traffic advisories daily, such as this one yesterday that caught my eye.

Lanes to close near Crouching Lion
Lanes will be closed along Kamehameha Highway between Waiahole Valley Road and Crouching Lion Inn through Friday for roadwork. One lane of traffic in either direction will be closed and contra-flowed from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.

Close to Crouching Lion? Maybe, but it's quite a few miles--maybe six or more--from Crouching Lion to Waiahole Valley Road, so "close" might not have been the appropriate word to use.

Several items from the Star-Bulletin.

Reporter Helen Altonn is being honored by the Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii for "her long-standing contribution to Hawaii's health community and the health and welfare of the people of Hawaii." She will receive the President's Award from the group at a luncheon on Friday, October 6, at the Hawaii Prince hotel. For information and reservations, call HMHB at 951-5805.

Congratulations are due to S-B sports writer Kalani Simpson, according to an announcement in their newsroom on Monday:

Kalani Simpson has won second place in the Feature Writing category in the annual Best Writing Contest sponsored by the Football Association Writers of America. He was honored for his story on UH coach Jerry Glanville.

This is a big contest that does not separate out by circulation or media (note some of the big players in the feature category joining Kalani):


FEATURE
First place: Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com
Second place: Kalani Simpson, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Third place: Jon Solomon, Birmingham News
Honorable mention: Jack Bogaczyk , Charleston Daily Mail; Tom Dienhart, The Sporting News; Bruce Feldman, ESPN The Magazine; Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com; Bob Condotta , Seattle Times; Malcolm Moran, USA Today.

And this update was circulated yesterday afternoon:

Rod Antone was hired today by the Yakima Herald-Republic as the Selah/Features reporter. Selah is a suburb of Yakima that has a flamboyant mayor and a council that thinks it can do whatever it wants. Perfect targets for a guy used to chasing bad guys. He starts on Sept. 18.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sent out a message yesterday inviting bloggers to make use of a Hawaii blogger press kit full of information supporting the reelection of Dan Akaka.

We’ve tried to pack as much useful information into these kits as possible. There are things like ActBlue and Wikipedia links, blog ads, images you can post on your blog, RSS feeds, polling information, and bios. We're hoping this will be a useful resource for you and other bloggers, so if you have any ideas for something else that would be good to include, just drop me a line.

The email is signed by Michael Link, apparently in charge of online communications for the DSCC. If you're doing online communications, a name like "Link" certainly seems apt.

Hey, what about that Antiques Roadshow? I got a nice "thank you" email soliciting feedback.

For those that attended, we are conducting a brief survey where you have the opportunity to tell us about yourself and your experiences regarding your visit to the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW 2006 Summer Tour. It is through feedback such as this that we can continue to improve in the future.

Great. The survey started innocently enough. What city's event did you attend? How far did you travel to be there? How long did you wait? Was that way too long, a bit too long, or okay? So far, so good.

But then the survey turned to the sponsors. Can you recall their names? Can you choose them from a list? How do you feel about them in general? Are you more likely to see those sponsors as warm and cuddly corporations? And on, and on, and on. I made it through one or two long pages of questions, all about sponsors. Did you see the banners? Would you have objected to more banners or other advertising material at the event? Etc. Then, after dozens of questions, it started getting more specific with detailed lists of questions for each of the advertisers. Who answers all these things? And the survey form doesn't let you skip ahead to other questions until you've answered all the current ones. I quit, so I don't know how long it went on or if they ever got around to asking about the primary experience.

And then there was yesterday's "small world event", pointed out to me by my sister in California.

Following your link on (Tuesday's) post, I visited the website (www.blogher.org) and was quite startled to find a posting by Leslie Madsen-Brooks. Why startled? She is a cousin! Her mother is our cousin, Loretta (Lind) Madsen, of Long Beach. I believe Leslie and family (husband Peter, son Lucas born last year) are currently in Davis, California. Gina Hagman of Reno (her mother was our cousin Linda Lind) is Leslie's first cousin. Christie is 2nd cousin to both Gina and Leslie.What a surprise!!!!!  

You can check out Leslie's blog directly at the Clutter Museum.

August 29, 2006 - Tuesday

This sign went up recently at Kaaawa Beach Park, where the city is building a new rest room building. I immediately noticed something missing--the mayor's name. After decades of city construction projects that broadcast the mayor's name in large print, this is a welcome relief. I hope it's a shift in policy and not a one-time exception.

Ed Case says Dan Akaka is ineffective, and points to evidence gathered by a naational web site. The problem is that the same web site, using the same criteria, ranks Case quite a bit lower on the effectiveness scale. Richard Borreca has the story in this morning's Star-Bulletin.

I've been enjoying daily checks at BlogHer.org, "Where the women bloggers are." Lots of interesting things are going on there.

I was a bit slow this year in pulling together the record of our days of modest celebrating that come in August, with our anniversary and my birthday nearly back-to-back in mid-month. We were a bit distracted this year with a few jobs around the house, but here's a brief photo record of what we did manage. Just click on the photo for more.

August 28, 2006 - Monday

More on the background of Jumbo, the circus elephant facing an uncertain future in New Zealand (first discussed here last Thursday).

Cathy Goeggel found this item on the Honolulu Zoo web site: ""In 1974, the donation of a camel, elephant, chimpanzees and deer by the Dairymen's Association sparked a renewal for the Honolulu Zoo."

Then she received the following information Debbie Leahy at PETA found in the North America Elephant Stud Book. The formatting has been lost, but the meaning can still be deciphered:

Stud # Name Sex Birth Year Sire Dam Location Event Date Event

364 Mele Kahea F 1973 WILD WILD AFRICAN 1/1/1975 Capture

364 Mele Kahea F 1973 WILD WILD Honolulu Zoo 11/1/1976 Transfer

364 Mele Kahea F 1973 WILD WILD Whirlings Circus (New Zealand) 10/8/1978 Transfer

364 Mele Kahea F 1973 WILD WILD Whirlings Circus (New Zealand) 10/8/1978 Lost to follow-up

She was captured in Africa. Dairymen's donated her to the Honolulu Zoo (that was confirmed yesterday by Meadowgold).

So it looks like Jumbo really did start her Pacific journey in Hawaii as Mele Kahea, and was then sent to a circus in New Zealand. Thanks for all the digging!

Speaking of digging, Greg Palast has a new story for the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina that's worth reading (along with listening to the program on Democracy Now!).

BBC had quite a fascinating report last week, a conversation of sorts with residents of a heavily bombed area in Southern Lebanon, facilitated by a reported armed with a laptop computer and some kind of Internet connection.

If you're planning on flying anywhere, take note: Don't drop your iPod. One person who did have the misfortune to make that mistake was first written up in a brief news item, and later told his long and quite interesting tale.

For those who might be interested, the sunrise is at 6:13 a.m. today, and has been moving a minute later every few days. You can get your own sunrise/sunset table online.

August 27, 2006 - Sunday

Spending the day at the Antiques Roadshow yesterday proved to be a lot like a Vegas casino--lots of people excitedly entering with their hopes and dreams in hand, lights and sounds of jackpots being hit but always in other parts of the crowd, hours of shuffling through endless lines, and then people leaving, most tired and disappointed.

So the event itself was, well, a serious letdown. The lines were killers, seemingly endless snaking through the large entry hall just to get to the first screeners who then direct you to the appropriate next line for your particular category of object. There was lots of time while in line to talk to people nearby and to hear why they had brought certain objects and not others to be appraised, which usually involved family tales and occasional unintended admissions.

Here's some of our advice for future attenders at the Roadshow:

--Bring only small or easily carried items. Even moderate items like books start getting very heavy after hours carrying them while shuffling through endess lines.

--If you've got a sentimental attachment to an item or feel ego involved with it, leave it at home. Watching people find that former treasures are worth less than the gas burned to get to the convention center is not a pretty sight.

--Carry one of those light weight folding chairs. If you don't need it, you'll make someone else's day by having it available.

We asked several people around us if they would visit the Roadshow again in the future if given the opportunity. Almost all quickly said no.

But while choosing the two things to take along for appraisal, I discovered that I'm not the first in the family to live through the closing of a daily publication.

One of the things I found stashed away in a closet is a menu from the last Captain's Dinner served on the final day of the final voyage of the last of the famous white ocean liners that cruised the South Pacific and Hawaii for 40 years for Matson and, later, Pacific Far East Lines, until PFEL pulled the plug.

The "farewell dinner" was served on the S.S. Mariposa on April 6, 1978, somewhere at sea en route from Honolulu to San Francisco, near the end of the ship's 216th and last voyage.

My uncle, Jimmy Yonge, a Waipahu boy and Iolani grad who spent his life at sea, was chief purser on the Mariposa, a position he filled on the white ships for nearly 20 years. He was also, I was surprised to learn, editor of the shipboard newsletter, The Daily Polynesian.And he was the editor who signed off on that publication's final edition, a letter-size sheet tucked carefully into the ship's "aloha" menu.

Besides the Polynesian, we print menus, signs, invitations, notices–everything required aboard–and we have also been called upon to proint material for our shoreside offices. When you consider our entire opration is handled by two printers using a very old Model 31 Mergenthaler Linotype and an even older Chandler and Price open letter press, pressed into dailyl service by a non-professional editor, we made every issue. We feel we've done one hell of a job. We are sorry to see it all come to an end, but as Ernie Gann once wrote, "Fate is the Hunter," and she finally caught up with us.

"This is –30–," Uncle Jimmy wrote on that April morning in 1978. "We are proud to have served."

Great story, great history. The appraiser took a few seconds to dismiss it as having "little value", $5 or less.

And so it goes.