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I was a little surprised to see that KITV’s Daryl Huff not only stopped writing his blog, but also obliterated its history by deleting even the completed entries. Enter the web address and you get a message from WordPress.com: “The authors have deleted this blog. The content is no longer available.”

Steve Laudig makes an excellent point in a comment on Saturday’s post. Steve points out that privacy claims about the names of those who traveled to the Sugar Bowl at state expense could only be valid if those involved had actually treated their travel information as private.

If I don’t tell anyone that I applied then I am acting as if it were a “private” matter. If I get approved and I don’t tell anyone that I was approved for travel then I am acting as if it were a private matter. If I travel in disguise then I am acting as if it were a private matter. If I attend the game in disguise then I am acting as if it were a private matter. If I stay in the hotel under an assumed name then I am acting as if it were a private matter. All right I’m getting a bit long here but… does anyone think the people who got the freebies acted as if it were a “private” matter?

Good point, Steve.

The State of Hawaii has signed another 5-year contract with NIC Inc. to operate the state’s official web portal (www.hawaii.gov). The company’s press release says it “has never lost a competitive rebid for a current state enterprise portal.” The contract is funded via fees the company collects when processing online transactions.

Larry Geller’s comments on “development oriented transit” (from his Disappeared News blog) are recommended reading on this holiday. He’s got a mess of interesting references and links for your edification. Thanks. Larry.

The reason I couldn’t be at this weekend’s state Democratic convention is that we’re spending Memorial Day weekend in Northern Virginia visiting our former neighbors and favorite twins.

Note that they are wearing their Toby shirts. They miss Toby just about as much as he appears to miss them.

We’ve had a great visit. It’s important to keep in touch.

And we arrive back in Kaaawa on Wednesday, barring any airline problems.