I am still puzzled why the daily newspapers squander the simplest opportunities to enhance their web sites with additional content of interest to readers.
Both the Advertiser and Star-Bulletin reported on an amendment to the federal lawsuit seeking a court injunction preventing the Department of Education from proceeding with Furlough Fridays. Neither newspaper included a link to the amended complaint itself.
The amendment argues that the decision to implement furloughs on instruction days falls within the definition of a new “rule” under state law and should be required to go through the formal rule-making process of Chapter 91 HRS, the Hawaii Administrative Procedures Act, with public hearings and other procedural safeguards.
“Rule” means each agency statement of general or particular applicability and future effect that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or policy, or describes the organization, procedure, or practice requirements of any agency. The term does not include regulations concerning only the internal management of an agency and not affecting private rights or procedures available to the public, nor does the term include declaratory rulings issued pursuant to section 91-8, nor intra-agency memoranda.
The amended complaint argues:
Here, Defendant’s new rule does just that; it delineates the future rights of public school students to instructional school days in Hawai‘i.1 The fact that the Defendant pronounced its “rule” through news conferences and press releases has no bearing on whether it was required to follow Chapter 91. The Hawai‘i Supreme Court has routinely invalidated agency action for failure to comply with Chapter 91 rule making procedures even when the rules were characterized by the agency as something other than rule making.
In any case, here’s your link to the amended complaint and supporting legal memo.
And in the continuing bewilderment over Amazon.com’s refusal to ship certain products to Hawaii, a new chapter, flagged by Denny McPhee.
In an email, Denny notes: “now they won’t ship Sure deodorant to Hawaii.”
Yesterday I was seeking a source for Feliway products.
eliway® is a synthetic copy of the feline facial pheromone, used by cats to mark their territory as safe and secure.
By mimicking the cat’s natural facial pheromones, Feliway® creates a state of familiarity and security in the cat’s local environment.
As a result, Feliway® can be used to help comfort and reassure cats, while they cope with a challenging situation and/or help prevent or reduce the stress caused to a cat during a change in their environment.
I’m ready to try this stuff out to see whether it reduces the stress levels of our cats.
When I first looked at Amazon, it said these products could not be shipped to Hawaii.
Later, though, Amazon showed the products as available through one of its dealers, EntirelyPets.com, which apparently has no trouble shipping to Hawaii at a very reasonable cost.
So you can’t order Feliway if sold directly by Amazon, but you can buy it from one of Amazon’s dealers through the Amazon web site.
Very interesting.
Last week I bought a cat trap in hopes of catching the orange cat that has been hanging around and fighting with poor Romeo.
I’m hoping that we know where he belongs and can reunite him with his person. If not, we’ll have to come up with a Plan B.
In any case, I’ve set the trap twice so far. Orange cat wasn’t around either time. But I did catch Ms. Annie last evening. It didn’t take her long to become the first cat to go after the handful of cat food that I carefully placed in the back of the trap.
I’ll give a plug to Petland in Kahala, which has a dizzying array of pet-related items, from varieties of food to things like traps. It would have cost much more to buy this online and ship it to Hawaii, so thank you, Petland.
And, hey, it’s Nanowrimo time again in November! For those not in the know, that’s National Novel Writing Month, billed as “Thirty days and nights of literary abandon!”
Yup. It’s a challenge to write a novel in 30 days. I’ve managed to watch from a distance, but I would guess that there have been Hawaii participants. That might be an interesting story.
Oh, for those who worried–No, we did not get flooded on Sunday. In fact, it was cloudy but mostly dry here in Kaaawa that afternoon, although in Waikane, not far away, there was extensive flooding. We didn’t have any idea that Kamehameha Highway was closed until a friend called to ask about it.
One final bit of news–Only 12.9% of the U.S. population now buys a daily newspaper, with fewer newspapers sold than in 1940. Read all about it.
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have you been to petco yet?
Nope. Petland is locally owned and I generally prefer supporting them.
well, i’ve been to both the petco in kapolei and the one in pearl city. the cat selection is pretty amazing. the cat food was a little high, but the kitty litter was very affordable. i was thinking more in terms of buying from a store here on the island versus ordering online. plus the petco in pearl city has been helping joey’s feline friends with their adoptions.
Hi Ian! I am one of the managers for Petland Kahala. I wanted to thank you for all your support and also let you know that we do have in stock the Feliway product. It is called Comfort Zone Diffuser with Feliway. Regular price is $37.49, although we do have a few on hand that are on sale for $17.95 because they are past the pull date. We’ve had some great feedback on this product. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions #734-7387. Thanks again!
On your question of the news sites not linking to the original sources, it seems one of these three elements is missing:
1) this requires the journalists know where the original sources can be found online;
2) this requires the editors to appreciate the importance of sources and be willing to invest the time=money in checking the links’ accuracy;
3) this requires the editors to have confidence in their readers’ intellect to want and appreciate the original sources.
I’m not sure which it is, but 2/3 point suspiciously to the editors who also have the power to make the decision.
My guess is #2 — in the hyper-cost controlled environment, anything that might add a bit of risk (wrong link / dead link) or cost (to verify links) won’t fly. So what if it might make a better quality product, the cost/benefit equation doesn’t work. And the system isn’t built to reward quality, it’s built to reward lowest common denominators that sell.
But thanks for pointing this out. Maybe someday, some folks reading this will give, or be allowed to give, quality a try. And at least it preserves hope that quality won’t be forgotten.
I bought my cat trap from the Hawaiian Humane Society for $50.
And I subscribe to the Star-Bulletin, but not to the Advertiser (which I read onine).
I agree, Ian. However, Petland is pretty far from Waikele. We have a Pet’s Discount, but I stopped shopping there when they started selling puppies at ridiculous prices, particularly mixed breeds one should be able to adopt from the Humane Society or shelter. It appears they support puppy mills.
Petco brings in the Humane Society to provide access to cats and kittens available for adoption. I applaud them for this effort.
So let’s get this straight.
You are importing exotic kitty-drugs?
Meow!
Thanks for putting the comments in chronological order — most recent comments at the bottom. Makes for an easier read.
There’s also Pet Discount near Foster Village where I live. Check it out.
And why does my picture appear in the comments, but yours and Burl’s don’t? You should fix that.
Let me get this straight. You support the locally owned store over the chain, but only if you can’t get what you want from Amazon?
Okay, Ian, we are impatiently waiting for your avatar.
So Ian what would you recommend for something to help a cat move on a long airplane flight?
I think the reason online newspapers don’t include the common sense links to other sites and source documents is a reluctance to reduce site stickiness.
They don’t want to do anything to have you leave their web site, and thus reduce the number of impressions of their stories and of the advertising.