Both the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin report today that there were 27,829 runners in yesterday’s Honolulu Marathon.

Advertiser headline: “27,829 runners weather Honolulu Marathon”

Star-Bulletin story summary: “A big-time Hawaiian blessing — rain — welcomed the 27,892 runners of the 35th Honolulu Marathon yesterday, turning the turf around the finish line into a sea of mud.”

But a close reading indicates the 27,892 figure was for registrations, not runners. One of the local broadcast channels we flipped through last night reported that 7,000 runners registered but didn’t show up at the race itself.

That’s a significant difference and, if it’s true, a significant error in reporting for the enthusiastic newspapers. It’s like tickets sold versus actual attendance at games. Details make a difference.

I note that House Speaker Calvin Say has made several appointments to the Superferry Task Force, which were noted on the House Blog on Friday.

What else is happening at the beginning of this week? Well, I’ll be busy today getting our house ready for termite tenting, which is scheduled for tomorrow. All the food has to be packed into double plastic bags, including stuff in the freezer and refrigerator. I didn’t ask about the catnip toys, but we’re not taking any chances. Cats also will have to relocate, and those plans are still several steps short of completion. Hopefully all will go well.

Even though it’s not Friday, there are a couple of other cat items of note. Several people, with our neighbor and favorite cat sitter at the front of the line, forwarded a New York Times Magazine story suggesting that our brains may be altered by a burrowing parasite attempting to increase the chance of ending up being eaten by cats. That sounds very wierd, but check the story.

And another thing landing in the in-box was “The 12 cats of Christmas”, to be sung to a familiar tune. Here’s the final verse:

On the twelfth day of Christmas I looked at my poor tree
12 cats a-climbing
11 broken branches
10 tinsel hairballs
9 chewed-through light strings
8 shattered ornaments
7 half-dead rodents
6 fallen angels
5 shredded gifts
4 males a-spraying
3 missing Wise Men
2 mangled garlands

and my 12 cats laughing at me!

And equal time demands a bit of canine energy here, so I’ll take the opportunity to slip in a few recent morning dogs. Just click for more.