July 2002 Archives

Too much M5 Technology?

If you ever watched the original Star Trek episode "The Ultimate Computer" there is a scene where the out of control M5 computer is about to destroy a robot spaceship to which Dr. McCoy utters the memorial line "Fanastic machine this M5, there is no off switch."

Jeremy Harris' Other Shoe

Long suspected in previous discussion here and elsewhere, Jeremy Harris' sudden decision to withdraw from the race for Hawaii governor had to have been prompted by something bigger than a few points in the polls.

While we haven't felt the Big One yet, there sure seems to be a pretty tangible tremor down below.

Pineapple Lottery

I wasn't fully listen in to the radio ad but it seems that Andy Anderson if and when he is elected governor would try to setup a Pineapply Lottery to help pay for school system.

Hawaii's Route 66

Actually, Hawaii doesn't have a Route 66. But we've got 61, 63, 64, 65, 72...

A fun article in today's Honolulu Advertiser explores a topic that I've frequently mused on — the fact that Hawaii highways are numbered (almost) like those in any other state, but that almost no one, save tourists, ever refers to them that way.

New Gathering, New Topic

Time's flying fast, which means that it's about time we discussed having another Hawaii Stories picnic/hui. We had so much fun at the first one that we thought it would be good to have another one - that is, if we can find another date. :)

Oh, You Mean That Bill?

A Mazie Hirono for Governor TV ad highlights her efforts to repeal an act that criminalized improper disclosure of medical records (which was well intentioned, but so poorly written it put insurance and medical companies into a tizzy). It was a bad idea, a financial disaster. "No one was willing to help but Mazie Hirono," the ad says.

Which is all good and fine, except for one small detail: It was Mazie Hirono who signed said bill into law.

Is anyone else here having problems with my site?

I just want everyone to know that I've been having problems with Angelfire, which is currently hosting my online journal. Part of the reason stems from the fact that the Angelfire folks are currently dialing down the disk space allotted to my site from 50 MB to 25 MB; while the rest of my site are currently accessible, virtually all of my journal entries are unable to load properly - the background shows up, but the text does not. And I've also upgraded my web hosting service from free to paid ($4.95/mo) so that could be the bug.

If anyone else is having this technical problem, please do let me know.

Edited 07/15/2002: As soon as I had this complaint up, I went back to my site and found it up and running - and not only that, I don't have pop-up ads any more!

The Long and Winding Road to Perdition

There are huge benefits to being an overworked, underpaid teacher of ungrateful learners--not the least of which is summer vacation!

I took full advantage today, leaping from my bed at the ungodly hour of 10:30, and cruising down to the Dole Cannery Theaters to catch whatever movie struck my fancy.

The new Paul Newman & Tom Hanks film, Road to Perdition, opened today, so I eagerly plunked down my five bucks and slid into my space in the sparsely-populated movie theater.

What Lava Turns to when it Gets Old

The best of the so-called "alternative" stations (not counting KTUH), 105.9 Lava Rock, switched last Friday to a classic rock format, and I say "hallelujah." We've been without classic rock ever since "Live 98.5," which had been steadily declining, made the absurd move to "island music."

If the thought of being able to hear Pink Floyd or The Who on the radio again isn't by itself enough to get one excited, another huge plus is the possibility of concert sponsorship. While you may disagree, I think it would be awesome to see Eric Clapton, Van Halen, or Yes in concert, but with no local radio station playing their music, we've had even more severe a concert drought than we used to have.

I gave the station a good half-hour listen beginning at 12:14 a.m. this past Sunday, and this is what I heard.

In Memorium Download As Much Stuff From Gnutella Net

If you haven't heard by now, Gnutella key programmer, Gene Kan, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on June 29. At 25, he was a leader in his field of peer-to-peer technology and a multi-millionaire, having sold his company, Infrasearch, to Sun Microsystems.

A couple of years ago, I briefly corresponded with him when I had questions about a project that I was working on based partially on Gnutella. It's really a shame that things ended this way for him. Kan had everything in the world, and yet, apparently, the one thing he needed most, he didn't have.

Like any tech genius, he kept a blog if you're interested.

In memorial, we should all download something from gnutella net. I think he would like that. :)

Hip Hop, Nippon Style

True story: I was listening to 102.7 Da Bomb this afternoon. And right in the middle of their scheduled back-to-back playings of Nelly, the DJ starts spinning a snippet from this song that their intern from Japan brought back from a recent trip - a song by a rapper named Sword, signed to Def Jam, with a chorus sung by R&B starlet Christina Milian.

The catch? The rest of the lyrics, as rapped by Sword himself, are in Japanese.

Yes. Rap. In Japanese.

They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To...

WARNING: This story has been posted by an otherwise car-loving commuter who Still Needs To Learn How To Drive.

From MSN Carpoint: Here is this year's list of ten vehicle models that will no longer be offered next year. The article cites the various reasons for the phaseout of certain models, from lagging sales (and the popularity of "utility" vehicles) to possible redevelopment, and (in the case of Oldsmobile) the phaseout of entire brands.

The vehicles named on this list may actually come as a surprise...

Bush's Aloha Connection

A couple of weeks ago, President Bush called the WorldCom scandal — the latest case of big business malfeasance, following Enron, Xerox and others — "outrageous." Today he's giving a speech on Wall Street in which he's expected to call for a crackdown.

His cries for corporate responsibility are ringing hollow for some, though, as a 1989 Bush business deal makes its way into the headlines. It involves a Texas company called Harken Energy, and a little subsidiary named Aloha Petroleum.

Look Ma, No Wires!

Wannabe geek that I am, I've just now made the jump to WiFi. (That's the cool term for the IEEE 802.11b standard.) Of course, for hardcore folks — particularly on the East Coast — this stuff is old hat. But I'm tripping out.

Anyone else gone wireless? Are there any wardrivers in Honolulu yet? Planning on making some cryptic chalk marks downtown?

Just testing

Hi,
Just signed up to this web site. This is a test post that was done under the influence of KFC Popcorn Chicken and some fruit punch.

Tobacco taxes

Now that the no-smoking law has gone into effect for restaurants, and given that the tax on the evil weed will go up on September 30, this editorial from the NYT seems germane. Y'all may know that the tax in NYC went into effect yesterday, raising the price of a single pack of cigarettes to nearly $7.00.

All Asians Look Alike...Or Do They?

Found this really neat site...since we've got a large Asian contingent here, I thought it might be good for discussion. Given a set of faces, can you determine if they're Chinese, Japanese, or Korean?

http://www.alllooksame.com/

(I sucked...I got only 5 out of 18.)

Jennifer Who?

A somewhat cryptic article came across the Associated Press wire today — "Hawaii Singer Marketed in Asia, U.S." — about Japan-based Victor Entertainment's "novel" and "circuitous" strategy to help a Japanese-American singer from Hawaii make it big here, then in Japan, and then, finally, in the rest of the United States.

The artist? "Jennifer." Just "Jennifer." You know, like "Cher," or "Madonna," or "Ming-Na." (She "is known by her first name only according to her family's wishes.") Of course, that won't help folks much when trying to find more information about her.

Fortunately, the Honolulu Advertiser outted her last week as MPI sophomore and TV kids' show host Jennifer Perri. Anyone know much more about her?