There was some wonderful live and nearly live blogging yesterday as the court hearing considering the ferry injunction proceeded in a Maui courtroom.

Planet Kauai had live updates as the court session progressed, with summaries of arguments and the judge’s comments. Larry Geller (Disappeared News) provided some between-session sleuthing, and Joan Conrow (KauaiEclectic) managed both court updates and final commentary on the outcome. All depended on Akaku’s live streaming of the hearing on the web, and the whole thing was a demonstration of how public media is at least matching, and often beating corporate media in the effective use of the new technology.

The outcome is probably not a surprise. Although I haven’t seen the motions filed by either side, the assertion that the constitution was somehow violated by the Legislature’s action seems a bit tortured, and that’s where the judge’s decision eventually went.

For those so inclined, the Newspaper Association of America has started blog on the future of newspapers. It’s probably one to check on now and then. The current chair of the group is Susan Clark-Johnson, President, Newspaper Division of Gannett Co., Inc.

And here’s a blog worth checking daily–State Sunshine and Open Records, associated with the WikiFOIA cited here earlier.

The Advertiser reports today on Hawaiian Telcom’s continued losses. I have to say that my latest experience didn’t do anything to bolster my image of the company and its problems. Several months ago, I decided to abandon the phone that I’ve kept in my small office in town and consolidate calls on my cell phone. I made the move only after finally finding a good headset that functions well off the Treo 755p that I’m currently using. And I also decided to transfer the phone number from my office to the cell phone because it has been listed in the directory for years and is also easier to remember.

Arranging the switch with Sprint went smoothly, although the transfer itself hit a bit of a hiccup and needed tech support to sort out. It happened back in mid-August, but I kept getting billed by Hawaiian Tel. I dismissed the first billing, assuming it had been in the pipeline. But when October’s bill still treated the land line as intact and running, I started crawling up the customer service hierarchy.

After making initial contact, I got a nice reply back via email indicating that Hawaiian Telcom had searched their records and determined that I was correct about service being discontinued, but saying that the number had been ported to Sprint as of October 3. I had to reply that this record search was incorrect and to check again. A second somewhat sheepish reply confirmed what I had been saying, that my Hawaiian Tel line had ceased to exist on August 13. I was assured that anything paid past that date would be refunded.

Of course, the next bill included a refund only to October 3, but again it might have been already in the pipeline at the time the correct date was determined. But by the time this is sorted out, it will be about four months since service was discontiued. That has to be costing the company as much as its costing me.

Liz Reilly of Hawaii Kai Hui is looking for volunteers to serve on the Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board.

Notice: There are several Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board vacancies (Sub-district 3 (Hahaione Valley)) and (Sub-district 8 (Lunalilo Park, Mauka). If you live in the appropriate area we encourage you to consider running. The vacancies are for terms through May 2009. Candidates must be residents of their respective sub-districts – please review boundary descriptions, go to: www.co.honolulu.hi.us/nco/board+sub-districts+description.pdf.

Let us know if you have any questions-
www.hawaiikaihui.org

And the most important news of the day also comes from the Advertiser–Kliban cats are back! According to the Advertiser story, Crazy Shirts is reissuing their former Kliban cat designs, which were favorites of ours because of our generations of gray cats.

Here’s Crazy Shirts’ Kliban cat design, and then amended slightly to feature Romeo, currently our most Kliban-esque feline (apologies to Crazy Shirts and Kliban for the temporary expropriation of the design for illustrative purposes only). Kliban cats have that gray tiger design with a big nose, and Romeo’s just about perfect. Perhaps they need to sponsor a look-alike contest. We’ll enter Mr. Romeo, that’s for sure.