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May 10, 2003 - Saturday
Lots of reader responses over the last few days. Here's one regarding Thursday's entry on the Kaimuki Theater:
I almost cried looking at the pictures although I wouldn't move to Hawaii for another 13 years. It's so ironic. During the awful 80s we were so quick to embrace hideous fast money, cinder block everything, sell it all to the Japanese and go commercial. Now that we have ripped out the majority of the most attractive cultural history of Oahu and the island is in danger of losing huge amounts of business to the neighbor islands which didn't fall into the same hideous building and over development trap (comparatively, at least), all these cultural landmarks seem even more valuable in hindsight because they make a city liveable, beautiful and human.
I look around Kaimuki now compared to the photos and it makes me sad. They could have retrofitted those buildings instead of building heaps of hideous new ones. But that's not the nature of thought here in Hawaii, even though on the mainland people have been thinking that way for the past decade. We don't do *real* restoration, only replication for tourists and in a way that exaggerates kitsch to the point of hilarity.
And people wonder why Honolulu has trouble attracting people to live here even though its consistently rated as one of the most liveable cities by statistical measures. I think in part that's because we excised a large part of its soul in our rush to cash in on modernity.
Also a lot of feedback on the issue of this domain name, iLind.net. Thanks to everyone who took time to respond.
I was offered use of HawaiiMedia.org and MediaHawaii.com by the folks who registered the names but have never used them. One person suggested HawaiiMonitor.com (the name of the newsletter I published before going to work for the Star-Bulletin back in 1993). I've got that one registered and in reserve as I toy with the idea of resurrecting the newsletter in cyberspace. I've also got kaaawa.net, which is sort of a back door entry that makes sense to folks out this way, but, as another reader noted: kaaawa.net is out of the question as you know they will leave out an "a".
But the majority reaction is simple. Leave it alone.
Anybody who thinks you've got the rights to island.com must think you are a very wealthy businessman who can afford such valuable internet real estate (island.com appears to be for stock trading)
Therefore, they are naive, and deserve to be punished. Keep the name. And don't change a thing
And along the same lines:
Keep the now-infamous "ilind.net." When I first saw that address, I thought it bordered on the spectacular. I'm thinking 'lucky guy, for his URL he gets his name - Ian Lind; he lives on an - island; there's even the 'I Claudius' connotation.'
...to make a long, boring story short, keep ilind.net. It's become an institution.
Finally: "i've always been jealous of your name. figured your parents did it on purpose. I-lind. perfect."
A postscript. When I spell checked today's entry, my program flagged "iLind.net" as an error and returned these suggested "corrections":
indolent
indent
inclined
indented
indolently
indents
militant
And so it goes.
May 9, 2003 - Friday
Gov. Lingle yesterday appointed two interim regents for the University of Hawaii--Ted Hong, her chief labor negotiator, and hotel industry figure (and former Republican Party chief) Jane Tatibouet.
Wait a minute. Hong's appointment strikes me as quite odd. Doesn't Hong have enough on his plate without worrying about the responsibilities of a regent? And although he's the chief negotiator for the state, and presumably for the University, doesn't the UH have its own interests which will be undercut by Hong's presence on the board? And, once again, although Lingle talks the talk about avoiding politics and reaching out to find qualified appointees, once again she's gone back into the tight little campaign circle for key appointments. So these selections are both odd and disappointing.
Lingle also made a series of other appointments to boards and commissions, which I haven't had a chance to digest yet. If you can decipher the patterns in these appointments, please let me know.
Here's a little end of the week identity problem. When I originally set up this page, I thought iLind.net would be a fine name. It fits the initial plus last name convention used so often in email. And, after all, everything Internet was popping up with that introductory "i" to add a silicon sizzle.
But turns out it doesn't communicate, or doesn't stick. Someone asks how to find my site, I say, iLind.net. They look blank. They try island. Doesn't work. Island.com. Still doesn't work. Even people who know me don't pick up the i(an)Lind connection.
So after all this time should I make a switch? To what? Something people can remember? And what might that be? If you've got thoughts--well, if you've got thoughts on this question--again, please share.
May 8, 2003 - Thursday
Ka Leo editor Mary Vorsino had a stinging article on University of Hawaii administrative salaries in yesterday's edition. According to the story, the salary of the highest paid administrator in 1999 wouldn't even have made it into the top 10 just two years later.
Honolulu attorney and former Bishop Estate special master Colbert Matsumoto is among the group of local investors who put money into the Honolulu Star-Bulletin last year. But how he got his start in newspapers is a little known local fact which is slipped into a personal history page of Bay Area writer and web designer Charles Hugh Smith.
The "Cop Out," 1970
Colbert Matsumoto and I threaten the powers that be by launching the first (and no doubt only) underground newspaper in Lanai High School.
Smith says their underground newspaper was produced on the mimeograph machine in the ILWU's Lanai office. Since I wrote this comment earlier today, he's added scans of all issues of the nespaper and has added his own recollections of the effort.
| Speaking of scanning, my new scanner has me dipping randomly into a box of old photos. I hit a box of slides for the "you're local IF..." file:
"You're local if...you watched the Kaimuki Theater coming down."
And happened to have a camera, and can remember what ever happened to those pictures (or can stumble across them at random).
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January 1982 (I think)...
the Kaimuki Theater is demolished.
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May 7, 2003 - Wednesday
Check out this Seattle Weekly story on that city's JOA. A lot of what they've gone through sounds remarkably similar to the Honolulu experience.
Don't miss Paul Krugman's Monday column on the president's "Top Gun" act last week. Why do we keep getting these almost Stalinist propaganda scenes reported without context and comment? Like why in the world are reporters dutifully referring to former Iraqi officials by their places in a bogus deck of cards? Besides their obvious role in continuing the dehumanization of these former officials for propaganda purposes, these cards are just another public relations gimmick. Should reporters just be ignoring them instead of building these references into stories?
| Here's a bit of history, courtesy of the new Minolta film scanner that arrived yesterday from J&R. I reached into an old box of negatives and came up with a batch from the original protest landing on the island of Kahoolawe in January 1976. That's yours truly on shore during the several hours before the U.S. Attorney & Coast Guard showed up and started detaining us.
As a first scan, it's not bad. I guess I'll be poring over old negatives for awhile in search of other tidbits.
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Kahoolawe - January 4, 1976
(click for larger photo)
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May 6, 2003 - Tuesday
More server problems at HostRocket delayed today's entry. Sorry about that. It's out of my control unless I change companies, and these guys are both inexpensive and generally pretty good.
I heard from several people yesterday who said their Sunday Star-Bulletin's came fully equipped with a Long's booklet insert. So our booklet was perhaps a victim of the long supply lines necessary to get the newspaper from Kaneohe to Kaaawa in the dark and not a sign of the status of the newspaper war.
Ka Leo, the student newspaper at UH Manoa, had an interesting story on the University of Hawaii Foundation yesterday, with Part 2 to follow.
Ka Leo reports somewhat positively that the foundation raised over $500,000 for capital improvements over the past two years. Say that again? If that figure is correct, it certainly doesn't seem like a very good track record. At that rate, it's going to take another century or two to come up with the promised private matching funds for the new UH medical school complex, not to mention any other CIP projects.
The story also quotes a former student worker complaining that funds often don't go where a donor expects, specifically referring to donations for academic purposes being diverted to football and other athletic programs.
It's going to be interesting to see Part 2, and whether the dailies pick up on this story and folo.
Well, remember that mouse we saw last week? The little daredevil appears to still be around. Most recently sighted in the vicinity of the computer desk. Wally has spent several long minutes staring into space back there, but so far no results from the huntress.
May 5, 2003 - Monday
I've got an early appointment, so this morning's entry will be brief.
Here's an interesting Gannett story from the Nashville Scene--another example of the chain using it's muscle in a local market.
Noted yesterday: The popular Long's booklet of specials was stuffed inside the Sunday Advertiser. No companion in the Star-Bulletin, although there were several pages of Long's ads.
The organization MoveOn, which worked to rally public opinion against the war in Iraq, is now urging public involvement in the FCC's debate over media ownership rules in a bulletin, "Showdown at the FCC".
I received this note in reaction to my small piece on the end of the Hawaii chapter of Common Cause:
Just a side mention on your Common Cause piece in the Hon. Weekly.
Desmond Byrne, God rest his soul, also was a big part of Common Cause during the early and mid nineties. I remember attending a meeting of CC at his office in downtown in 1998, noting that he still had a great presence in the organization, despite the fact that he handed over the reins of the organization to Larry [Meacham] by that time.
Desmond continually berated the lawmakers of the time, some whom were found to be corrupt only after his passing away, about accountability, and the nonsense they would try to pass during the legislative session. I very much respected the fact that he at times was the lone voice outside of the mindless telling everyone that what was really happening in the Leg was sheer horsepucky.
Only after Desmond passed away did the organization start it's fall. I don't think it can be blamed on one person specifically, like Larry, as the organization lost it's firm voice when Desmond passed on. I feel that when a "Des Byrne" person comes to the forefront again in the Hawaii Common Cause organization, that they will again find their niche, and become again the voice that Common Cause is in other states.
My $0.02.
The writer is absolutely right about Desmond's role. We still sorely miss his presence.
| Tini, who lives next door, celebrated her 9th birthday with friends on Saturday down at the beach. We ran into her at the end of our morning walk as they were setting up a base camp. This is my official birthday photo--she wanted the view of the ocean in the background. So here's your photo. Happy birthday, Tini. Click on her photo for a larger version.
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May 4, 2003 - Sunday
In case you missed it, the Advertiser reported yesterday that former KHON reporter Mary Zanakis will get $175,000 from the station to settle her federal lawsuit.
Speaking of KHON and the Advertiser, KHON anchor Joe Moore's letter to the editor defending himself against charges of plagiarism is currently a featured item on Jim Romenesko's Medianews.
Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE) has added a feature to their web site showcasing the latest investigative writing from around the country. It's worth checking out every week or so.
| Yesteday's morning walk turned out to be a dogfest. We met several new dogs, including this pair of beautiful greyhounds. For photos of the whole affair, just click on this picture. |
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