Category Archives: Consumer issues

Elements of a Hawaii agenda?

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Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York in November by a landslide, either because of his populist campaign platform or despite it, depending on your point of view.

Mamdani embraced the issue of affordabilty, and promised to attack it in several ways.

Housing received lots of attention in his campaign platform.

Housing

Freeze the rent.

Building affordable housing.

Cracking down on bad landlords.

Supporting homeowners and ending deed theft.

Affordability

City-owned grocery stores.

Fast, fare free buses.

Fighting corporate exploitation.

Early Childhood & Education

No cost childcare.

Baby baskets for New York’s newborns.

K-12

Paying for Our Agenda

Taxing Corporations & the 1%

Of course, it remains to be seen whether these campaign pledges can successfully become public policy. But the guiding vision is there.

It got me wondering.

Given the fact that the lack of affordability in Hawaii is certainly on a par with New York City, What would a Mamdani-like campaign platform look like in Hawaii?

What would be the primary elements of the platform?

I’m sure Lots of people have been thinking about this since the success of the Mamdani’s campaign. So let’s hear your suggestions.

Another example of Google’s AI search summary getting it wildly wrong

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While writing yesterday’s post about the demise of the last JOA, I used Google to search for some of the history. Results varied wildly, especially the AI search summary that precedes the display of individual links.

Here’s a good example.

I was looking back to 1992-1993, and trying to recall when Gannett dumped the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, which it had purchased back in 1971, and instead bought the Honolulu Advertiser, which had become the larger newspaper as American reading habits changed in favor of morning papers.

So I had a simple search query that I put to Google: “When did Gannett buy the Honolulu Advertiser?”

The response came back quickly.

Gannett didn’t buy The Honolulu Advertiser; rather, they sold it in 2010 to Black Press, which then merged it with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin to create the current Honolulu Star-Advertiser, with Gannett having previously owned both papers before the sale.

Had I been a high school student using AI to write a paper, I would have probably run with this answer and ended up in serious trouble.

But, luckily, I knew enough to know that Google’s summary was simply wrong. Period.

Today I went back and made a slight change in the search. This time around I put the question a little differently.

“When did Gannett take control of the Honolulu Advertiser?”

And this time, Google’s response got it right, contradicting its earlier answer.

Gannett took control of The Honolulu Advertiser in January 1993, purchasing it from the previous owners to keep it within its corporate fold, even as it sold the rival Star-Bulletin to maintain a Joint Operating Agreement for a few more years before the papers eventually merged in 2010. 

I haven’t give any deep thought to what this means, beyond “buyer beware” when it comes to using AI to get easy answers.

Renewing our passports online

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[Update: See the note at the end of the post.]

This is a surprising story of government efficiency.

Our passports expire late this year. However, some countries, including New Zealand, require passports to be valid for 6 months beyond a travelers entry date to the country, effectively ending their valid use for travel. Since we’re contemplating another visit to Auckland this summer, we decided it was time to renew.

So we were pleased to see that you can now renew a passport online. None of that earlier rigamarole of getting photos, filing out forms, delivering them to a post office and sending them off for processing.

Last Saturday, January 10, we went out into our garage mid-morning while filtered sunlight was streaming in through an upper window, turned on the light in the center of the garage, and found a place to stand against the blank white wall and took several photos to submit with the passport applications.

This proved to be the trickiest part of the whole online application procedure.

I then went through the application for my own renewal. It was straight forward. First, reenter and if necessary update the personal information on the old passport, provide the name and contact information for someone to be notified in case of emergency, upload your photo, and pay the $130 renewal fee. More if you also want to get a passport card for use driving to and from Canada or Mexico.

I had cropped our new passport photos to what I thought was a proper head & shoulder size. Well, my photo was rejected two, perhaps three times, saying it did not meet the guidelines. First, I lightened it just a bit. It was still rejected. Then a cropped it more tightly with my face centered in the photo, excess space on top removed, and just the top of my shoulders showing. On the third try, the system accepted the photo and I was rewarded with a message that the application had been successfully submitted.

You no longer have to return the old passport, but it is rendered immediately invalid when your online application is submitted.

Then we repeated the process with Meda’s renewal, with the same result except that this time I knew what to expect and it only took a single adjustment to successfully upload the photo.

We then both receive email receipts almost immediately.

Processing takes around 4-6 weeks
Processing time starts when your application is received by a passport agency or center. This does not include mailing time.

If there are no issues, you should receive your passport book around February 26, 2026.

On Tuesday, we received notices that our renewal applications were now being processed.

Okay, we prepared to wait.

But on Monday, just two days later, we both received notices an update.

Application Status: In Process

The U.S. Department of State has received your application for your passport book on 01/12/2026. We’re now reviewing your application and supporting documents.

You requested routine service when you applied. Routine service can take 4-6 weeks. Our processing times begin the day we receive your application at a passport agency or center, not the day you submit it.

But then came the first of two pleasant surprises!

On Wednesday, January 14, we both received notices from the U.S. Postal Service.

And this morning we got the next surprise when we checked the USPS tracking number.

This turnaround seems pretty remarkable. Our passports are scheduled to be delivered today, not in the 4-6 weeks we were initially warned about.

[Update. Perhaps I spoke too soon. Although my passport is scheduled to arrive today, Meda hasn’t gotten a USPS notice that it has been mailed. She did receive an update saying her application had been approved, the new passport printed, and it was ready for mailing, whiuch arrived at about the same time as my mailing notice. But she didn’t get the same USPS notice, and still hasn’t gotten one. So we’ll see. I hope we’re surprised and will have both renewals in hand by tonight.]

UH Press now offers open access to 140+ books online

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Back in early 2021 I called attention to the University of Hawaii Press’ “Hawaii Open” project which, at that time, offered free access to a list of 90 books online.

That list has now grown to 148 books, and so might be worth taking another look.

Hawai‘i Open is the latest home for the University of Hawai‘i Press’s Open Access book projects, featuring over 140 titles covering Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific studies. This online platform provides free access to these publications through the support of notable organizations such as the Humanities Open Book Program, the Sustainable History Monograph Pilot and Knowledge Unlatched.

Hawai‘i Open serves to highlight and promote the University of Hawai‘i Press’s rich backlist, facilitating the wide dissemination of valuable knowledge. This initiative is built upon the open-source scholarship platform Manifold, reflecting the University of Hawai‘i Press’s commitment to pioneering scholarship and innovation in the digital age.

You can browse the list and read any of the books online, or download in pdf or epub formats.