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August 2, 2003 - Saturday
Do you remember that flap several years ago when Gov. Ben Cayetano went ballistic against then-PBN reporter Malia Zimmerman and her vocal defender, Republican Sam Slom? The governor complained to the Honolulu Community-Media Council, and Zimmerman eventually was terminated by PBN. Bob Rees, in his typically tempered language, put the spotlight on it in this Honolulu Weekly story.
At the same time, Slom was involved in an extremely bitter divorce in which his personal relationship with Zimmerman was a simmering issue, court records show. In court filings, Mrs. Slom referred to Zimmerman as Sam's "girlfriend" and acknowledged changing the locks in their home "before my husband and I separated when he insisted on possessing both the keys to our home and the keys to the home of his girlfriend."
Mrs. Slom's lawyer asked the court to adjust the divorce settlement to allow her to recover her share of the money Mr. Slom allegedly spent "for the direct or indirect benefit of Malia Zimmerman" in the form of gifts and other expenses. Under Hawaii law, he argued, half of that money legally belonged to Mrs. Slom.
That request was turned down by Judge Lillian Ramirez-Uy, who ruled the "claim of wasting marital assets attributable to defendant’s alleged relationship with Ms M. Zimmerman is not supported by a preponderance of the evidence."
Mrs. Slom's lawyer claimed his case had been hobbled by Slom's refusal to answer questions about Zimmerman during his deposition or to turn over financial records.
Even after the divorce was granted in September 2002, Senator Slom stayed on the attack, asking the court to force his now former wife to pay nearly $29,000 of his legal costs because she failed to accept his last offer. The request was denied, but Slom is appealing.
| Meanwhile, with the sun rising just a bit later each day, we're starting to catch up with the brilliant colors of dawn. Here's the view we got yesterday--just click the photo for a larger version. |
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August 1, 2003 - Friday
Portland's commercial murals are the focus of another political fuss, and this story from the Oregonian explains Clear Channels' role in the evolution of the issue.
Editor & Publisher offered up a summary of the latest in the fight over the Seattle newspaper Joint Operating Agreement. According to E&P, the Committee for a Two-Newspaper Town hasn't decided whether to seek a buyer for Hearst's Post-Intelligencer.
For the last two weeks, I've been trying to analyze traffic to this site using a demo version of Sawmill. The numbers are incomplete, because the hosting service, HostRocket, resets the log file at irregular times. But over a two week period, I'm guessing that it sort of evens out. In any case, here are some summary numbers for the past two weeks.
Total unique hosts: 2,090
Total session page views: 15,211
Total sessions: 6,485
Total days covered: 14
Average sessions per day: 463
Average page views per session: 2.35
Repeat visitors: 543
Sessions by repeat visitors: 4,938
One-time visitors: 1,547
Two-time visitors: 151
Three-time visitors: 60
Four-time visitors: 42
Five-time visitors: 33
Six+-time visitors: 257
Average visits per visitor: 3.10
Median visits per visitor: 1.00
Average session duration: 00:02:46
As you can see, there were 543 repeat visitors during these two weeks, including a "hard core" of 300 or so people who visit at least once every few days, and a couple of hundred more who stop by about once a week on average. Then there were 1,547 more who checked in just once. There's a lot more data available, including tracking how visitors negotiate the site and what pages are most popular. I'll have to decide what all this means, and whether it's reason for encouragement or the opposite.
July 31, 2003 - Thursday
If you missed the PBS Watergate special last night, definitely check the schedule for a rerun. The story was told through the words of all the young eager Nixonites, now 30 years older and very much wiser than during their White House days. Outstanding.
The University of Washington is having a difficult time in its search for a new president, so I dug around for the current salary there. The Seattle Times reports as follows:
Lee Huntsman, interim president of the University of Washington, has a salary of $296,400. Washington State University President V. Lane Rawlins makes $254,065.
Both well below what UH President Evan Dobelle is paid.
Here's another for the "read and weep" file--an environmentally destructive project in the Amazon rainforest appears to benefit Bush buddies. Maybe not surprising, but disturbing nonetheless.
And if you need another reason to stay out of those mainland coats and ties, here's a tidbit for you--ties can cause glaucoma. At least that's the conclusion of one study. And the headline writer scored with "The ties that blind."
Here's an interesting cable industry take on the war over FCC rules over broadcast ownership.
| I was trying to explain to Mr. Duke that there's disagreement in the readership as to whether he's "frosting on the cake" or a less than welcome "subscription fee". He just stuck his head out through the railing on our front deck and gave me this look. I guess he's not real concerned about reaching a concensus on the matter. |
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July 30, 2003 - Wednesday
Did you catch the PBS News Hour on Monday with Watergate figures Jeb Stuart Magruder and Sam Dash? Dash really stole the show, including his outspoken opinion that President Bush is seizing powers not allowed by the constitution. Along those same lines, pay a visit now and then to Civil Liberties Watch for perspective on the Bush/Ashcroft "Justice" Department.
According to a story yesterday on CBSMarketwatch.com, Emmis Communications, controversial owner of the Hawaii 'duopoly' of KHON and KGMB, is considered a "potential bidder" for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite appearances, I guess they've got a bit of spare change laying around corporate headquarters.
From yesterday's mail...one reader had this assessment of the Kaaawa vanity plate: "... it's gotta belong to a lawyer, right?"
And another cat person chimed in on the value of iLind.net:
I agreed with everything your reader said except the part about the “cat bits” being his subscription fee. And I bet the writer was a man, too, although some women don’t like cats. I think your “cat bits” are the frosting on the cake of your diary. I love to read about them.
The cats thank you.
July 29, 2003 - Tuesday
One reader commented yesterday:
The real news is that Lingle's Chief of Media Relations reads iLind.net. As I always say, it's a must read for anyone doing anything in relation to the media in Hawaii (except for the cat bits, which I view as my subscription fee). You will now have to start worrying about people planting things with you as they attempt to attract the attention of your powerful readers . . .
I can always hope....
Did anyone else notice the front page of the Sunday Star-Bulletin? It was sort of the Sally Apgar edition, with her bylined stories about medical malpractice and the Kauai helicopter crash just about filling up the front page.
If you've got a few minutes, this is worth checking for a few chuckles.
This commentary from the Guardian, on the other hand, is no laughing matter. If you've been wondering about the heat, fires, floods, tornadoes, and other "natural" disasters, here's why Americans need to be worried, and angry. Global warming, the author argues, is now a weapon of mass destruction. An accompanying story adds a bit of context.
| Spotted parked at a Kaaawa home...and they paid extra for this one? I suppose there must be a story behind it. |
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July 28, 2003 - Monday
Saturday's entry about the spam message from newsfirsthawaii.com brought several quick reactions.
One reader reported getting the same spam message at his workplace.
This is NOTHING BUT SPAM, the scourge of the Internet.
It was even set up like a spam in that when I tried to forward it with headers to uce@ftc.gov, the headers wouldn't forward. They turned invisible.
I found a way around it by using a mailbox peek utility to view the source. I then forwarded the source to (my employer) and uce@ftc.gov.
The FTC address is their site for reporting unwanted email, or spam. Here's a link to the FTC's description of what to do about spam.
My weekend check of the registration for newsfirsthawaii.com shows it was set up by eTurboNews in Haleiwa. Another reader then pointed me to this Star-Bulletin column from early this year by Erika Engle regarding eTurboNews.
Then came this email from Gov. Lingle's office:
I'm Russell Pang, Governor Lingle's chief of media relations. I read your posting this morning (Saturday, July, 26) on ilind.net and am deeply concerned about the unauthorized use of the Governor's weekly e-newsletter by Mr. Steinmetz. Could you forward me the spam email you received so that we can make sure this does not happen again?
For your information, the Governor's weekly e-newsletter is distributed to a subscriber list, and there is a link to "unsubscribe" at any time. For the newsletter, we utilize an email distribution program that regularly screens out addresses that could be considered spam email. I appreciate your assistance in helping us resolve this matter, and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
So that's where it stands as of Monday morning.
It's 5:10 a.m., and we're in the midst of a sudden very heavy downpour after a persistent light rain through the night. The sun had taken over yesterday, and it looked like the rainy period was over, but apparently not.
| The rainy weekend reminded me that I never got around to posting any photos from our weekend in Portland several weeks ago. So, for those so inclined, here's a peek at Portland as we saw it. |
click for
Portland photos
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July 27, 2003 - Sunday
In another example of Gannett's copy cat strategy, the Advertiser is hyping its upcoming eSpree "online bidding extravaganza". Not to be confused, of course, with the Star-Bulletin's earlier and ongoing "Bidding Advantage" online auction. It looks like the Bulletin's auction was successful enough to prompt the Advertiser to try to claim the same turf.
| The other morning, I noticed that someone had linked to my photo of the old theater in Monte Rio, California, where we spent a few days last month. Turns out to be an interesting little description of the area by son of the man who did the restoration. |
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| Just after I finished writing yesterday's entry, the real storm arrived, with heavy rain and thunder that shook the house. The cats had varied reactions. Silverman didn't look scared, but he was in the house and made no moves to head back outside. Leo jumped up onto a valence that hides a fluorescent light fixture high up along one side of the living room, then he hunkered down and made himself invisible. Lindsey was sitting down in the garage. Harriet sat in her inside spot with wide eyes, but otherwise calm. Mr. Toby started out interested in the rain and lightning, but the thunder had him worried, and the roaring thunder directly overhead sent him diving under the bed. The other girls--Kili, Wally, and Miki--seemed to just take it in stride. Meda and I were just in awe at nature's show. |
Before the storm--
Saturday dawn
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