How about that David Black! Now he’s reportedly been down kicking the tires of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Black got a nice write-up in free-daily.com a blog covering the free newspaper industry, which calls him “an overlooked baron of free dailies.” Meanwhile, though, Ohio Media Watch provides a little update on what’s happening at Black’s Akron Beacon Journal.

Thanks to Maui Brad for an assessment of rapidly falling oil prices on Hawaii’s near-term economic future. He notes that less than 3% of mortgages are in foreclosure, and that most homeowners are not threatened with foreclosure, leaving them free to pursue their travel to Hawaii. If this proves true, then the Legislature may be able to avoid the worst-case cuts envisioned for the upcoming budget.

On the other hand, my friend Chuck Smith notes this assessment from theoildrum.com:

Despite the dramatic drop in oil prices during the last three months, recent developments have only made the supply and demand situation worse. Oil consumption in the U.S. has fallen by 1.8 million barrels a day (b/d) or nearly 9 percent as compared to last year due to a combination of high prices, a slowing economy, and the shortages resulting from the hurricanes that tore up Gulf coast production and refining last month. During September, however, Chinese imports increased by 2 million b/d as Beijing took advantage of the low prices to start building its strategic reserves -so much for falling American demand. The major oil forecasting agencies are now saying that the increase in worldwide demand for oil will slow from rates seen in recent years, but that worldwide oil consumption is still forecast to increase this year and next.

By the way, Chuck was interviewed this week on the popular web site, Boing Boing.

Not bad for a Lanai High School grad. At least I think he was on Lanai through high schoo, but perhaps I should check that out.

And what do you think about these funny Friday Felines?

That’s Romeo, on the left, standing on a chair at our dining table while he shovels up another mouthful of Science Diet’s best. And Mr. Silverman, on the right, has this thing about drinking while laying down and sort of just lifting his head enough to get to the water. I just happened to catch both of them in the act this week, so thought these pics were worth sharing.

It’s Friday. Enjoy.