Author Archives: Ian Lind

February’s Final Feline Friday!

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You can see the dynamic this week.

When two or more cats of our cats gather together, Bessie is probably not one of them.

She’s the social isolate. Not completely, but odds are if one is left out, she’s the one.

We don’t know how to account for this, except that the other three all spent significant time in a cat colony, and were well trained in managing relationships with other cats. We were told Bessie had been dumped at the colony only a short time before we agreed to adopt her. Perhaps she lacked the necessary training in responding to bullying.

In any case, we’re now just a few days away from the big vet visit. Kinikini is due for his annual checkup, and Kali is due to be doped up just enough, we hope, so that she can’t successfully defend against a routine vet exam, including a check on the condition of her teeth. Fingers crossed. We start the night before with the visit her first dose, repeat after 12 hours, and then give her a final dose a couple of hours before her appointment.

Hopefully all will go smoothly!

But then this happened! Meda got up to get another glass of wine, and when she opened the door, Kinikini trotted right past her and out onto the deck. He had one eye on me as I stood up to try and block him, trotting right along the deck just out of my reach, and then down the stairs onto the ground in front of our bedroom. With me in pursuit, he doubled back and disappeared under the house.

None of our current generation of cats has made a break-out like this. Romeo did it, once. Spent 10 minutes or so exploring under the house, seemed to figure out we weren’t in Kaaawa any more, and appeared to let me pick him up.

Kinikini didn’t take that long.I asked Meda to bring out the container of Temptations to lure him back, but before she could bring them out to me, Kinikini emerged and let me pick him up.

Now we have an unresolved question. Was that enough of the unfamiliar outdoors for him, or is he likely to be looking for the next opportunity to slip outside? That’s going to give me heartburn for a while!

And now the cats make their final appearance of February, and they make the most of it!

Feline Friday-Feb. 27, 2026

The value of vaccines

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I saw this study referenced in a lawsuit filed by 15 states seeking to overturn the Trump administration’s reversing of longtime child vaccination protocols supported by years of evidence.

It provides estimates of the value of childhood vaccinations in sharp contrast to the actions of the current adminiatration.

The study: Health and Economic Benefits of Routine Childhood Immunizations in the Era of the Vaccines for Children Program — United States, 1994–2023

Link: CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report of August 8, 2024

Abstract
Since 1994, the U.S. Vaccines for Children (VFC) program has covered the cost of vaccines for children whose families might not otherwise be able to afford vaccines. This report assessed and quantified the health benefits and economic impact of routine U.S. childhood immunizations among both VFC-eligible and non–VFC-eligible children born during 1994–2023. Diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis vaccine; Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine; oral and inactivated poliovirus vaccines; measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine; hepatitis B vaccine; varicella vaccine; pneumococcal conjugate vaccine; hepatitis A vaccine; and rotavirus vaccine were included. Averted illnesses and deaths and associated costs over the lifetimes of 30 annual cohorts of children born during 1994–2023 were estimated using established economic models. Net savings were calculated from the payer and societal perspectives. Among approximately 117 million children born during 1994–2023, routine childhood vaccinations will have prevented approximately 508 million lifetime cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1,129,000 deaths, at a net savings of $540 billion in direct costs and $2.7 trillion in societal costs. From both payer and societal perspectives, routine childhood vaccinations among children born during 1994–2023 resulted in substantial cost savings. Childhood immunizations continue to provide substantial health and economic benefits, while promoting health equity.

A copy of the lawsuit is attached below.

Puzzle solved with an unexpected twist at the end

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In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, it’s deja vu all over again!!

While I was spinning my wheels yesterday afternoon, several readers were doing their due diligence and solving the puzzle.

A reader commenting as “Joel” was the first to point out late Sunday afternoon that I went through this same exercise in a “Throwback Thursday” post almost exactly 10 years ago!

“Hi Ian, I think the consensus the last time this was discussed is that it’s the contessa taken from hale manoa,” he wrote in a comment.

Honestly, I had no recollection that this was the second time around on this littel mystery, but it’s true!

And back in 2016, several people quickly recognized the location.

The photo is taken from Hale Manoa at the East West Center. For a period in 1970, I was the primary photographer for the East West Center, paid as a student worker. It was a lot of fun and gave me my own darkroom to work and play in. I must have spent some time in the Hale Manoa living quarters and took this photo of the view looking down toward Waikiki.

Screenshot

The street is East West Road, heading towards Dole Street, where the low rise building shown is Johnson Hall B, a student dorm.

The building under construction across the street, at the corner of East West Road and Dole Street, is the UH enginerring building, Holems Hall.

And at the very bottom of the photo, in the center, is the back of the sign welcoming welcoming visitors to the East West Center.

And this Google Map shows the approximate line of sight from Hale Manoa to the Contessa down on King Street, where construction appears to have been nearing completion.